A German bishop has raved against “patriarchy” and traditional gender roles while claiming sexual and gender “identity” is part of God’s design for humanity.
Ludger Schepers, auxiliary bishop of Essen and “Queer affairs representative” of the German Bishops’ Conference, lamented in comments to the Catholic press agency KNA that the Church has “not only tolerated but actively promoted” patriarchal structures for centuries.
A patriarchal view of humanity has nothing to do with the Christian faith, but only with the will to power, Schepers argued. Anyone who still defends this today “betrays their own message,” said the auxiliary bishop of Essen. He said the Church must take a clear stance and not tolerate “discrimination.” He sees a return to traditional gender roles as a “misguided path.”
“The diversity of human identities – whether homosexual, transgender, or intersex – is not a modern construct, but part of God’s plan of creation,” Schepers claimed.
He furthermore stated that those who exclude people based on their perceived “identity” are not acting in the name of the Catholic faith, but in the service of an ideology that has nothing in common with Christianity.
He demanded that the Church include “queer people” and take “all genders” seriously.
He criticized the online “tradwives” trend as an “artificial aesthetic with no grounding in reality,” and he warned about reinforcing traditional gender roles and said that a return to such roles is “a threat to freedom and equality.”
Schepers is known as a radical modernist who promotes the LGBT agenda and attacks the Church’s teaching of there being only two sexes.
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
Likewise, the idea, based on gender ideology, that there are more “genders” than male and female is condemned by Church teaching and contrary to the natural law.
As Franciscan priest Father Terrance Chartier explained, “As an ideology, [transgenderism] contradicts natural law and divine revelation, so to affirm it would be sinful. It would be actually a sin against the First Commandment, so a sin against the virtue of faith, against the divinely revealed truth about human sexuality.”
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, echoed those remarks, describing transgender ideology as “self-mutilation of mind, soul, and body” and blasting its promotion as a “serious sin.”
The Vatican under Pope Francis had also repeatedly condemned gender ideology, including in Francis’ declaration Dignitas Infinita.
In the Main-Tauber district of Baden-Württemberg, the arms of a statue of Christ were sawed off. The incident took place in the Löffelstelzen district of Bad Mergentheim towards the end of March, as reported by the Fränkische Nachrichten. Around 1,100 people live in the district. The perpetrators remain unknown. There were no witnesses either. An employee of the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments inspected the damage to the wooden statue, which stands at the side of a path.
In the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, a statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated at the end of March. As reported by the broadcaster SWR, the statue in the Marian grotto in Klein-Winternheim had its head knocked off with a stone. Unknown individuals also stole rosaries and small angel statues and caused widespread damage. Ute Kipping-Karbach from the Catholic parish of St. Andreas called the act ‘cowardly’ in an interview with the broadcaster. She estimates the damage to property at 5,000 euros.
In early March, a historic 13th-century stele featuring a holy water font was reportedly knocked over, presumably by force, in Altenberg Cathedral, as reported by the newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. The holy water font detached from the column, which then broke. The verger of the Catholic parish rules out accidental toppling because the column was solid. He suspects that “someone let off steam and knocked the stele over with force”.
It is unknown how much vandalism occurs in churches in Germany. This is because only when a clear political motive can be established does the act appear under “politically motivated crime” (PMK) with the church as the target. In 2024, the Federal Criminal Police Office stated that there were 111 such politically motivated acts against churches nationwide. That equates to around two attacks on a church per week.
Facebook is under renewed fire ahead of Hungary’s elections after an analysis suggested its rules are tilting the playing field against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Drawing on data from the final week of March 2026, a report by MCC Brussels compares the online performance of Orbán and opposition leader Péter Magyar—and finds a striking imbalance built into the platform itself.
At the centre of it is how their accounts are classified. Orbán’s official presence operates as a political Page, meaning stricter advertising limits, reduced organic reach, and mandatory transparency rules. Magyar, by contrast, posts from a personal “public figure” profile, which is not subject to the same restrictions, giving him far greater freedom to reach and engage users.
That difference appears to show in the numbers. Despite attracting roughly the same reach—around 2 million video views each—Magyar’s posts generated more than three times the engagement of Orbán’s. His engagement rate hit 4.5%, vastly outperforming Facebook’s typical benchmark of 0.15%.
The report also flags what it describes as a “disappearing comments” pattern. Between March 26th and 28th, thousands of comments on posts by Fidesz candidates were visible to page administrators but hidden from the public. The phenomenon was recorded across more than 6,500 posts on 106 accounts, suggesting something more than isolated glitches. No similar behaviour was observed on opposition pages, including those linked to the Tisza Party.
All of this is unfolding as Brussels tightens its grip on online political content. The European Commission’s Rapid Response System (RRS), tied to the Digital Services Act and the Code of Practice on Disinformation, allows platforms to quickly restrict or demote flagged posts during sensitive periods such as elections. Facebook is part of this system—and Orbán-linked content has already faced limits under it.
The mechanism also relies on input from EU-funded organisations and NGOs involved in flagging content, adding another layer of scrutiny—and fuelling concerns about political neutrality.
Attention has also turned to Meta’s regional policy lead for Central and Eastern Europe, Oskar Braszczyński, who oversees aspects of content moderation. His publicly expressed support for Ukraine and LGBT causes has drawn criticism from those questioning whether political views are shaping enforcement decisions.
The issue has not gone unnoticed. Reports in recent weeks have suggested that Facebook is restricting content linked to Orbán while giving opposition figures greater visibility. Elon Musk–associated commentator Mario Nawfal has pointed to Magyar’s unusually strong engagement, noting that his use of a personal “professional mode” profile appears to sidestep rules applied to political Pages.
MCC Brussels research fellow Richard Schenk said the broader concern is clear: growing layers of EU-linked oversight risk distorting the digital playing field at election time.
“Hungarian voters are increasingly exposed to escalating EU regulatory interventions such as the Rapid Response System,” he said. “They deserve trust and clarity, not top-down oversight of political discourse.”
A British man has been charged with being linked to an Islamist terror group based in Somalia.
Jermaine Grant, 43, has been charged with directing the activities of Al-Shabaab between December 31, 2007, and January 1, 2010.
He was also charged with three counts of attending an Al-Shabaab commando training camp in Kismayu in Somalia, contrary to Section 8 of the Terrorism Act 2006, and two counts of possession of an article (AK47) for terrorist purposes, contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The charges follow an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London.
He is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter terrorism division Frank Ferguson said: “We have decided to prosecute Jermaine Grant with directing the activities of a terrorist organisation, three counts of attending a place for terrorist purposes and two counts of possession of an article for terrorist purposes.
“The charges relate to Mr Grant’s alleged involvement in 2008 and 2009 with Al-Shabaab, a terrorist organisation operating in Somalia.
“Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”
He continued: “We have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command as it carried out its investigation.
“We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“It is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Acting commander Kris Wright, of CTP London, said: “These are serious charges and come as the result of a long-running investigation
“This case shows we will always pursue anyone suspected of being involved in terrorist activity, no matter where in the world or how long ago it is alleged to have taken place.”
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has vowed to block visas to Britain from any country which demands slavery reparations from the United Kingdom.
Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf, who would be tasked with controlling immigration should the party take power at the next general election, announced this week that migrants from countries backing the leftist push for reparations would not be welcome under a Reform government.
Yusuf pointed to said that unless they drop their demands for reparations, he would block visas for nationals from Antigua, Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Yusuf said: “Countries who received 3.8 million visas and £6.6 billion in aid from Britain are demanding trillions in reparations. Britain’s decision to abolish slavery was the most expensive moral foreign policy in history. We won’t be punished for it.”
“Under a Reform government, if a country demands reparations, we will stop issuing visas.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “I’ve had enough of us being threatened by the UN and these countries. Reform UK will block visa requests from any country that demands slavery reparations. It’s time to make a stand.”
All of the countries on this list should stop insulting us.
Yusuf argued that such countries ignored the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the service of eliminating the Western slave trade.
Indeed, after becoming the first nation in the world to outlaw the slave trade, with the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807 and the owning of slaves with the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, the British Empire used considerable resources to stamp out slavery throughout the world.
For example, the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron freed some 150,000 African slaves after capturing an estimated 1,600 slave trade ships between 1807 and 1860. In total, 1,587 men died on the West Africa Squadron during efforts to stamp out slavery. Britain was also instrumental in combating the Barbary and East African slave trades as well.
Despite this, leftist campaigners have claimed that countries like Britain should pay “trillions” in reparations to the descendants of slaves.
The move by Reform comes in the wake of the United Nations adopting a resolution last month calling for reparations for slavery, put forward by the African nation of Ghana. Additionally, the resolution declared that the transatlantic slave trade was the greatest crime against humanity in history. This comes despite the Arab slave trade lasting far longer and often engaging in far more brutal treatment of slaves, including the castration of African males.
The left-wing British government of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that it would not agree to pay reparations. However, at a meeting of Commonwealth nations in 2024, the Labour PM signed a document calling for more “discussions on reparatory justice”.
A major new study has found that France’s food delivery sector is almost exclusively staffed by migrant workers, a majority of whom are living in France illegally.
The Enquête report, based on a survey of more than 1,000 riders in Paris and Bordeaux, reveals that 98.7 percent of delivery couriers were born outside France, with nearly two-thirds lacking legal residency status, highlighting the extent to which the platform economy depends on a highly vulnerable migrant labor force.
The workforce is dominated by recent arrivals from Africa, the majority of whom are not undertaking any other education or training in France.
A total of 55.2 percent of riders come from West Africa, making it by far the largest group. A further 17.4 percent are from North Africa, while 4.6 percent come from other African countries, meaning that over 77 percent of all riders are African-born. By comparison, 16.6 percent are from Asia, 4 percent from the Middle East, and fewer than 2 percent from France.
Most riders are new or relatively new arrivals. Some 98 percent of those surveyed had arrived in France after 2014, while 47.2 percent had arrived in the last five years.
🚴 « Ubérisation » et immigration clandestine
La quasi-totalité des livreurs de repas pour des plateformes numériques sont des immigrés récents.
➡️ Deux tiers des livreurs sont en situation irrégulière.
— Observatoire de l'immigration et de la démographie (@ObservatoireID) April 2, 2026
The vast majority do not have the right to work in France and are living there illegally — 64.4 percent of riders have no residence permit, meaning they are undocumented. Among the remainder, 12.4 percent hold a residence permit of at least one year, 9.7 percent have a permit of less than one year, and 13.3 percent have a 10-year residency card.
Many operate using accounts rented from third parties to circumvent work requirements, creating an additional layer of economic dependency.
The findings suggest that this structure helps explain the extreme working patterns documented in the report. Riders work an average of 63 hours per week, with most working six or seven days, often year-round. Despite this, average gross earnings were just €1,480 per month, with hourly pay equivalent to €5.83 before expenses.
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Education has wasted an incredible €40,000—not far off the average annual gross salary—of taxpayer cash on a language guide for civil servants, which advises them to call Father’s Day and Mother’s Day ‘You Day.’
This guide “against discrimination and racism” is, Dutch daily De Telegraafreports, intended to ensure that officials “include families of all shapes and sizes” in their communications.
It has received sharp criticism, including from former MEP Rob Roos, who described the guide as “WOKE S**T,” and as “evidence that we can save a hell of a lot on civil servants.”
Even Education Secretary Judith Tielen, who belongs to the liberal (VVD) party, branded the guide “patronising.” She admitted that it was “not necessarily the best” tool—raising the question of who is actually in charge at the ministry.
Writer Marieke Hoogwout lamented that “when the government dictates which words must be used, those in power control the language.” This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given that the administration is also working to hand the police more powers to monitor citizens online, even when there are no concrete suspicions of criminal activity.
Author Klaas Wilting said the language guide showed that “the Hague has gone absolutely bonkers, and that bonkers nonsense costs money too.”
What kind of crazy characters came up with this. Before you know it, kids won’t be allowed to call their dad or mom dad/mom anymore.
The document also discourages the use of the words “white” and “Golden Age,” and proposes the capitalisation of “black,” especially when referring to “shared cultural identity.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is doing that peculiar French thing again…acting tough while looking weak. He gave a speech last Friday at Yonsei University in Seoul during which he demanded that nations not become “vassals” of China or the United States. Macron wants South Korea to join Canada, Australia, and the European Union in forming what he calls a “coalition of independence” (because “coalition of the willing” was taken) united by shared love for “international order,” “democracy,” and wasting money on “climate change.”
What a tool. I understand that “the powers that be” have so successfully co-opted the West’s political systems that they regularly install absolute nincompoops as nominal leaders (Biden, Starmer, Carney, Merz, and European Queen Ursula, just to name a few) and call it “democracy,” but Macron is such a doofus that his “leadership” is laughable.
Remember when the little Rothschild banker came to power a few months after President Trump had taken office and he couldn’t stop talking about standing up to “bullies”? After putting on some high-heeled loafers and taking some lessons on masculinity from his former-schoolteacher-turned-much-older-wife, Macron insisted on turning a handshake with Trump into a death grip meant to showcase French power. In that effete style of speech that Gaulish-Roman aristocrats enjoy — in which words sound as if they’re dropping from lips suckling grapes and licking honey — le petit fromage told the world that his fierce handshake and determined stare were the perfect weapons for countering President Trump. Trump just laughed and patted the little French boy on the shoulder as one does to help the weak feel strong.
Fast-forward a decade, and Macron hasn’t learned a thing about being tough. He still prances around the world like a eunuch looking for long-lost cojones. He says he wants countries to resist the “hegemonic powers” of China and the United States by clinging to the rules-based “international order.” Okay. Good luck, tiny dancer.
What’s left of the international order without the two most powerful nations on the planet? The United States has assumed the responsibilities of the globe’s police chief since WWII. Through its naval fleet, it ensures the security of maritime trade. Through its economic clout, it ensures the stability of the international financial system. Through its military might, it decides which dictators get black-bagged in the middle of the night. As China continues its geopolitical ascent, its tentacles have stretched further into international organizations such as the United Nations’ World Health Organization and across continents with its Belt and Road Initiative. Mark Carney has spent his time as Canada’s prime minister practically groveling at the feet of China’s Xi Jinping and begging the communist dictator to save his wintry vassal state from the bad orange man down south.
France, on the other hand, continues to be ejected from former African colonies whose peoples have grown tired of French meddling. The French military excels only at surrendering. And France remains distinct from Germany only because of the United States. When little Macron insists on restoring a French-led “international order,” he sounds a lot like little Napoleon, who insisted on being called “emperor” while imprisoned on Saint Helena.
As for urging all who hear his grating voice to unite in defense of “democracy,” that’s a lark! Europe is where “democracy” goes to die. Every time non-Establishment political parties win the most votes in former nations (now just multicultural zones of Islamic conquest within the federation of European nothingness) such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, “the powers that be” proudly block the winners from exercising any power.
Europe’s political class shamelessly calls this the “firewall” against “far-right” political parties. Of course, if you believe that nations should have borders and that government powers should be limited, you are designated “far-right.” Just as Democrats bastardize language in the United States by calling everyone who cares about the Bill of Rights a “fascist,” the European Establishment labels anyone who believes in self-determination and personal liberty a “Nazi sympathizer.” Then they prosecute the members of those fake “far-right” parties for expressing opinions out loud.
That’s right! Europe’s little gang of dimwitted yet dangerous dictators — Macron, Starmer, Merz, and the ruling queen — insist on locking up the “fascists” for their speech in the name of “democracy”! When the “firewall” fails — as it did in Romania a little over a year ago — the European oligarchy simply cancels the election and insists on a rigged do-over (or outright overthrows the government as it did, with the help of the U.S. State Department and CIA, in Ukraine in 2014).
When little European tyrants such as Macron stand on footstools, puff out their chests, and shriek about “democracy,” they have no intention of supporting the decisions of the people. What they mean is, let’s form a European Commission of aristocrats, have them choose a ruling monarch, and call that a “democratic” election. That’s how the nations of Europe lost their sovereignty and why the people of Europe must now bow down to unelected Queen Ursula von der Leyen.
Even if mini-mouse Macron’s calls for “international order” and “democracy” fail to rally a sufficient posse of vassal states willing to take on the United States and China, he’ll surely find ready volunteers who want to keep shooting their economies in the gonads over “climate change,” right? Who doesn’t want to continue wasting taxpayer dollars on fighting the weather? While Russia, China, and the United States continue spending more on their militaries than ever before, the soft-headed “leaders” of Europe have been pretending to wage war against nature. “Tilting at windmills” was one of Cervantes’s best jokes in Don Quixote. The Europeans — having jettisoned their civilization for that of their Islamic invaders — no longer understand why pretending to fight imaginary monsters is funny!
For decades, Europe’s quixotic “leaders” have spent their military budgets on wind and solar energy. In the name of “fighting climate change,” Europe’s brilliant tacticians severely limited hydrocarbon exploration, extraction, and processing. Germany ignored scientific reason after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and rid itself almost entirely of nuclear energy. First, Europe’s braintrust made the sub-continent dependent upon the Russian Federation for energy. Then, that same gaggle of Mensa geniuses sanctioned Russian energy in the name of Ukrainian “democracy.” Now Europe is largely dependent on the United States, Russia, and the Middle East for energy. Europe’s producers must spend more to make things. Europe’s consumers must pay more to buy things. Europe’s middle class keeps getting poorer. How many times can Europe’s moronic “leaders” cripple their economies before Europe’s peoples raid the museums for functioning guillotines?
If little-bitty Macron doesn’t want France to be a “vassal” of China or the United States, he should strive to deregulate his nation, protect private property, incentivize innovation, grow the economy, and encourage self-sufficiency. Instead, France and the rest of Europe embrace bureaucratic rule-making, collective ownership, expansive welfare, centralized economic planning, and dependency upon U.S. military muscle. If you spend your country’s wealth on fighting bad weather and providing Islamic invaders “free” food and housing, don’t complain when China and the United States refuse to take you seriously.
To be fair to Europe’s retarded governing class, we’re fighting similar idiotic policies being promoted by the fifth-column Democrat Party in America, too. The difference is that Americans are actively trying to right the ship, and, as President Trump continues to demonstrate, our military can still blow things up.
Reality is not kind to those who prefer handouts and fantasy to handwork and preparation. Because Europe’s “leaders” have hollowed out their economies and militaries for decades, they are in no position to influence the future. They will take what they get and be grateful…as all desperate vassals must.
Calin Georgescu, former independent candidate. via Facebook
A Romanian news channel that repeatedly questioned the cancellation of last year’s presidential election has had its broadcasting licence revoked.
The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) pulled the plug on Realitatea Plus yesterday after the station failed to pay 28 fines issued in 2024, totalling 605,000 lei (approximately €122,000).
The operator, PHG Media-Invest SRL, had settled more recent penalties but not the older ones, triggering automatic revocation under audiovisual law.
The decision, taken unanimously in a CNA meeting yesterday, comes amid claims from the channel’s supporters that it amounts to political censorship.
Realitatea Plus – rebranded from the original Realitatea TV – had positioned itself as a staunchly sovereignist outlet, fiercely critical of Romania’s political establishment and vocal in its support for independent candidate Călin Georgescu.
While being privately owned, the channel was paid substantial amounts by the leading opposition party, the Alliance for the Union of the Romanians, led by George Simion, for electoral advertising and promotion.
Critics saw it as paid promotion disguised as journalism; supporters saw it as legitimate access to media for an anti-establishment party often sidelined elsewhere.
The channel’s flagship programmes, including Culisele statului paralel hosted by Anca Alexandrescu, openly referred to Georgescu as “the elected President” even after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the 2024 vote.
🚨The coup d'état is moving forward: they’ve just REVOKED #RealitateaTV’s broadcasting license!
Realitatea was the only major TV station in Romania🇷🇴 that gave us a platform to speak.
On November 24, 2024, Georgescu – a little-known nationalist who campaigned almost entirely on TikTok with a “Romania first” message – stunned the country by topping the first-round poll.
A run-off against centrist Elena Lasconi was scheduled for December 8. Two days before voting, though, the Constitutional Court cancelled the entire process and ordered a full rerun.
The court’s justification rested on declassified intelligence reports from Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) and domestic security service the SRI.
These alleged a Russian “hybrid aggression” campaign involving co-ordinated TikTok accounts, influencers and disinformation designed to boost Georgescu.
Officials pointed to similarities with Russian operations in Ukraine and claimed illegal campaign financing and algorithmic manipulation.
Yet, as critics – including Realitatea Plus – immediately noted, the publicly released documents contained no concrete, verifiable evidence of Russian state involvement, vote tampering or direct funding of Georgescu’s campaign.
The papers were described by one detailed analysis as briefing notes full of redactions, contradictions, vague assertions and circumstantial details that could equally describe ordinary digital marketing.
No smoking gun was produced in open court or for public scrutiny.
Realitatea Plus’s coverage of the annulment – framing it as a “coup d’état” and highlighting the absence of hard proof – earned it repeated sanctions from the CNA for alleged breaches of impartiality, balance and the dissemination of false information.
The station was by some margin the most heavily fined broadcaster in 2024-25, with dozens of penalties linked directly to its Georgescu-focused output and alarmist reporting on the Romanian “deep state”.
Channel representatives argued in court that many fines were politically motivated and contested their enforcement.
They paid 2025 penalties but left the 2024 batch unpaid, citing ongoing legal challenges.
Yesterday’s CNA session saw last-minute attempts to produce payment orders but these were deemed insufficient.
The licence was withdrawn with immediate effect; the station says it will continue online and appeal.
Ownership lies with businessman Maricel Păcuraru, whose media interests have long been associated with anti-establishment voices.
The closure also affected sister station Gold FM for the same unpaid-fines reason.
Supporters of Georgescu and the sovereignist Right, including AUR leader George Simion, denounced the move as “a coup d’état” and an attack on free speech.
Former prime minister Victor Ponta reacted with fierce criticism on the closure of the channel.
“I am not at all happy to see that the CNA has shut down Realitatea TV! And I’m not a masochist; they turned me into a punching bag for years, spreading countless lies and nonsense about me! But still, I don’t think it’s right for them to be shut down. The reason given by the CNA — ‘unpaid fines’ — is absolutely frivolous!
“I believe the CNA, and especially the civil judges, should convict the journalist and force the station to pay damages to those who were slandered; but so far, they haven’t done that (maybe the “order” or “green light” hadn’t come yet?). As it stands, this looks like political revenge — and an undemocratic precedent that resembles Russia or Moldova!,” Ponta said.
“We shouldn’t celebrate the closure of a TV station we dislike—because it means that tomorrow, other TV stations, accounts, podcasts, etc., could be shut down, and we won’t have the right to criticise if we don’t do so now.
“And the people who watched that TV station will be even more dissatisfied with the country we live in and will feel even more persecuted by the ‘System’!
“So, I don’t like today’s decision; there are others doing the same or even worse and more unjust things on TV and online—but they face no consequences. There should be one rule for everyone, not just for those who are ‘unlucky’!,” Ponta concluded.
Establishment voices and the CNA maintain it was simply the law being applied to a serial offender that had abandoned any pretence of editorial neutrality.
There is “absolutely no evidence” of Russian interference in Romania’s annulled 2024 elections. https://t.co/LH2PkGkjhs
A female inmate in Maine’s only women’s prison has filed a lawsuit alleging harassment and assault committed against her by a trans-identified male transfer. Katie Mountain has filed the lawsuit against two prison officials and her former cellmate, a double-murderer named Andrew Balcer, who now goes by the feminine name “Andrea.” Balcer is serving a 40-year prison sentence in the women’s prison at Windham for the grisly murder of his parents, a crime that was defended in court on the basis of Balcer’s self-declared “gender identity.”
Mountain is a 41-year-old married Baptist woman from Dexter, and is currently serving a 10-month sentence for a probation violation. On April 3, Mountain filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of housing males with female inmates in Maine.
Mountain first went public with her allegations against Balcer last month by sending a letter to a local news outlet detailing the abuse she had faced while housed with Balcer. Mountain claimed that he sexually assaulted her and had been a “terrorizer” who targeted female inmates.
“She’s shoved me against the bathroom wall and tried to force me to kiss her,” Mountain wrote in her letter, using feminine pronouns for the convicted killer. “I would wake up to her just staring at me and then making comments like: ‘If you don’t wake up, it’s because I smothered you with a pillow.’”
Mountain said she went to her sergeant “six times” and her unit manager at least twice in an effort to be moved, and that correctional staff did not offer her a new arrangement until she physically refused to re-enter the cell with Balcer.
Now, Mountain’s lawsuit is seeking to challenge a state policy which requires inmates to be housed according to a self-declared “gender” rather than by their biological sex.
“Female inmates at the MCC face two horrific choices: bunk with Andrew Balcer—a violent, ‘intact’ male—and endure sexual assault and harassment, or face discipline and segregation for complaining,” reads the complaint.
“Katie Mountain, who is 5 feet 2 inches tall, was forced to bunk with Balcer, a 6-foot, 310-pound male,” the lawsuit states. “While bunking together, Balcer subjected Mountain to graphic sexual stories, trapped her in a bathroom to forcibly kiss her, and made repeated threats of rape and impregnation. Balcer talked disturbingly about putting a baby in her, and pointing to his crotch said, ‘look at my ten-man tent’ and ‘we can’t go for a ride, but you can ride me.’”
From the lawsuit filed by Katie Mountain.
According to the lawsuit, Mountain became so distressed as a result of the sexual abuse that she had difficulty eating and sleeping. In a heightened state of anxiety, she told prison officials she would do anything, including physical self-defense, in order to protect herself from Balcer.
Mountain says that she was then punished by prison officials by being transferred to segregation and denied medication, clean clothes, and hygiene supplies. It was at this point that Mountain decided to write to The Maine Wire, a local news outlet, describing her situation. After taking her complaint public, she says she experienced further retaliation from the Department of Corrections (DOC).
Mountain’s complaint also details additional disturbing allegations against Balcer from other female inmates.
Female inmate “MR” gave other women therapeutic back massages to ease tension and promote wellness. One day, Balcer offered to give MR a massage and while MR was lying face down, Balcer rubbed down her sides to touch her breasts and rubbed her backside in a sexually inappropriate manner. MR was very uncomfortable and offended and made a complaint about it to DOC staff.
MR was then placed in segregation, where the doors and windows do not open. She was pressured by correctional staff to apologize under threat of not being able to leave.
BREAKING: A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Maine inmate Katie Mountain, who was abused by trans-identifying male murderer Andrea Balcer when she was forced to room with him. https://t.co/EgZiE9L5rp
Her lawyer, @dillesquire, is a member of the group I co-direct, New England…
In a second case mentioned by the lawsuit, female inmate “MS” was subjected to sexually harassing comments from Balcer and another trans-identified male inmate. MS is a sex trafficking victim serving time for a non-violent drug charge.
Another female inmate, “DF,” complained of her time being forced to share a room with Balcer while he was exhibiting disturbing sexual behavior.
DF explains that Balcer had a crocheted doll, and would lick the doll suggestively while asking DF if she wanted it done to her. DF also says that she once woke up to see Balcer standing in the cell naked, and that he later remarked “imagine what I could do to you in your sleep.”
From the lawsuit filed by Katie Mountain.
One anonymous woman quoted in the suit says that all inmates who speak out about sexual abuse at the hands of males in the facility are sent to segregation while the men are allowed to stay in the Women’s Center, adding, “we are being punished because of our complaints.”
Mountain also alleges that the conditions at the Maine Correctional Center — including forcing Mountain to bunk with Balcer despite his repeated threats, sexual assault, and sexual harassment — constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The legal claim argues that the gender identity policy implemented by the DOC in January of 2023, which was nearly three months after Balcer was transferred to the female estate, “removed previous considerations regarding a prisoner’s physical stature, tendency toward predatory behavior, or the safety of other prisoners.”
Initially approved in 2021, the policy states that an inmate’s “gender identity” must be “respected and acknowledged, irrespective of anatomy or physique, including ensuring housing and search procedures that are consistent with the gender identity and for all staff and representatives of the correctional or detention facility use the pronouns, titles and names as identified by the person.”
Andrew ‘Andrea’ Balcer. Source: Maine Department of Corrections
“Maine ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender affirmation’ laws and policies empower and enable Andrew Balcer to prey on and terrorize female inmates in the Maine Correctional Center and the Commissioner and Warden know it and are doing nothing about it,” the complaint states.
Balcer is currently serving a 40-year sentence for murdering his parents and their dog.
In 2018, Balcer was convicted of fatally stabbing his own parents, Alice and Antonio Balcer, inside their home in Winthrop. The murders took place on Halloween in 2016, and at the time, he was 17 years old. After committing the double homicide, during which he also killed the family dog, Balcer was recorded confessing during a 911 phone call. He told the dispatcher that he stabbed his mother in her back when she reached to give him a hug goodnight.
“She went to hug me and I just put my knife in her back,” Balcer can be heard saying in the recording. When the dispatcher asked him why he did it, he said he didn’t know.
Balcer then told the dispatcher that his father tried to intervene after hearing his mother’s screams for help.
Laughing, the teen remarked, “I stabbed the (expletive) out of him.”
The Maine Chief Medical Examiner testified in court that Alice Balcer had been stabbed nine times, while the father, Antonio, was stabbed 13 times.
Police Officer Tyler Nadeau arrived on the scene to arrest Andrew, and described how the teen appeared unapologetic for the brutal killings. “He was just kind of smiling,” said Nadeau. “He was kind of joking with me that his brother would need help [for what he witnessed].”
Balcer ultimately pled guilty to two counts of intentional or knowing murder and one count of aggravated cruelty to animals. Prosecutors played a nearly three-hour long taped confessional Balcer gave to detectives, in which he said he had no mental health struggles or issues with his parents, according to local media.
Following his conviction in 2018, Balcer was moved from the Maine State Prison to the women’s section of the Maine Correctional Institute in Windham. In November 2022, having received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria after claiming a gender identity while incarcerated, Balcer was quietly relocated.
During his trial, Dr. Debra Baeder, a forensic psychologist who evaluated Balcer, said he had been suffering from depression and “significant gender confusion.”
Dr. Baeder argued in court that Balcer had expressed “gender confusion” to his mother and that she did not readily approve of his belief that he was a woman.
“I killed my parents because they forced me to be someone I wasn’t for so many years,” Dr. Baeder quoted from an interview she conducted with Balcer.
Balcer is not the only male currently housed in the Maine women’s prison, and is just one of multiple male inmates referenced in Mountain’s lawsuit.
Another, who was referred to using the initials NV, can be identified as Nathan “Natasha” Venable, who is serving a 40-year sentence for the repeated sexual assault of a young girl.
Venable has a lengthy sexual offense record dating back to 2007, when he was convicted of possessing 32,000 still images and 763 videos of child sexual abuse while serving in the US Army. For that crime, he was sentenced to 5 months in prison, ordered to a lifetime registration on the state’s sex offender registry, and was designated a sexual predator. But following his release, he left Illinois and began living in different states.
In Washington, he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender, but appears to have fled the state prior to being arrested. Venable eventually settled in Maine.
Local news reports from the time of his arrest indicate there were two young victims, but one case was never prosecuted. The second victim appears to have moved to Maine with Venable and her mother, though their exact relationship is unknown.
Venable began sexually abusing the victim when she was 10 years old while the two lived in close proximity in another state. After moving to Maine, the abuse continued on an “almost daily basis,” according to Central Maine, which referred to Venable as a “woman” throughout their coverage.
A transgender sexual predator is being housed at a women's prison in Maine while serving a 40-year sentence for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child.
Nathan "Natasha" Venable is currently classified as a "female" inmate by the state.https://t.co/BTXuFhDZXq
The child eventually confided in her mother about her abuse in 2022, prompting law enforcement to get involved. The mother then confronted Venable in a phone call she recorded and gave to police as evidence. In the call, Venable claimed he did not remember sexually assaulting the child.
While investigating Venable, police also found a trove of child sexual abuse material on his devices, almost all of which depicted the victim.
Venable ultimately pleaded guilty, and Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy sentenced him to 30 years in prison on charges of gross sexual assault of a child, and another 10 years on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. Venable is currently expected to be released in 2060.
