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Estonian opposition MPs propose referendum on joining Russia in protest against constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage
11 Jan 2021 13:12
FILE PHOTO Estonian parliament © AFP / Raigo PAJULA
The Estonian prime minister has slammed suggestions from opposition MPs that a referendum should be held over the Baltic state's accession to Russia. The idea was proposed as a protest against a law prohibiting same-sex marriage.
Writing on Facebook, centrist Prime Minister Juri Ratas explained that the country's constitution states “Estonia is an independent and sovereign democratic republic,” and condemned the proposal from center-left Reform Party MPs Urmas Kruuse, Ants Laaneots and Juri Jaanson.
“In my opinion, all Estonian political forces should unequivocally condemn this proposal,” he added.
Ratas' statement follows a joke suggestion for a referendum question from the opposition: ‘Would it be better to live in the Republic of Estonia if the country was part of Russia?’
According to Kruuse, one of the authoring MPs, the proposal was put forward to protest the country's upcoming initiative to vote on whether marriage should be restricted to between just a man and woman. His Reform Party opposes the constitutional amendment, which is being championed by far-right Finance Minister Martin Helme, who is leader of the Conservative Party. The prime minister is in coalition with Helme.
The Reform MPs withdrew their joke question following the objections.
In December, the referendum bill passed the first reading, but opposition parties have been trying to obstruct its procession through the second reading, and have submitted over 9,300 amendments. The other proposals include a referendum on withdrawal from NATO, the restoration of the Soviet Union and the banning of education in the Estonian language.
If passed, the ban on same-sex marriage could damage Estonia's reputation as a liberal post-Soviet republic. In 2019, the country's Centre and Conservative parties formed a ruling coalition, despite the center-left Reform Party winning the most votes. Late last year, Helme was named Estonia's most influential person. The politician is known for his anti-EU views, and has been accused of being xenophobic and racist, with “fascist neo-Nazi sympathies.”
In 2016, after a Swedish same-sex marriage was recognized by an Estonian court, Helme called for the judges’ “heads to roll.”
House introduces gender-neutral language in new rules for Congress
New reforms promote inclusion and diversity
Not to mention PCMadness and absurdity
By Anagha Srikanth | Jan. 4, 2021
Yes, the United States Congress does have rules.
The newly reelected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern introduced a new code of conduct ahead of the 117th Congress that includes "sweeping" reforms and promotes diversity and inclusivity.
"Democrats have crafted a package of unprecedented, bold reforms, which will make the House more accountable, transparent and effective in our work to meet the needs of the American people. These future-focused proposals reflect our priorities as a Caucus and as a Country – including crushing the coronavirus, addressing economic disparity, combating the climate crisis, advancing inclusion, and promoting integrity in government," said Pelosi, who was reelected this past Sunday, in a statement.
In addition to permanently establishing an Office of Diversity and Inclusion and other diversity measures, the proposed package would "honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral." Previously, Congress operated under a binary rule that “words importing one gender include the other as well.”
With a record number of LGBTQ+ lawmakers joining the new Congress, the latest rules acknowledge a spectrum of gender identities as well as same-sex relationships. Still, there are no nonbinary representatives in either the House or the Senate, and the nation’s first openly nonbinary lawmaker was elected just last year.
The influence of LGBTQ+ in the US government grows with every such congressperson or senator. Each step draws us closer and closer to the lifestyle of Sodom and Gomorrah. And each step draws us closer to the judgment of God.
Several anti-LGBTQ+ policy lawmakers decried the change, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who supported the Defense of Marriage act banning same-sex marriage.
If approved by vote, the rules package would not prevent the use of gendered language, but would rename certain official language. Included in the changes, the Office of the Whistleblower Ombudsman would become the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds. It would also make steps towards diversifying witness panels at committee hearings and framing legislation through the lens of inequity.
Twitter rejected pleas to remove child porn from platform because it didn’t ‘violate policies,’ lawsuit claims
22 Jan 2021 02:00
A new lawsuit has accused Twitter of turning a blind eye to child pornography on its platform, claiming that it snubbed repeat requests from an underage sex trafficking victim to remove explicit images obtained through blackmail.
The suit, filed by the teenage victim and his mother in the Northern District of California on Wednesday, argues that Twitter refused to pull the sexually graphic videos on the grounds that they did not violate its policies, allowing them to rack up well over 150,000 views.
The plaintiff in the case – identified only as “John Doe” in court records – says he was just 13 when he was manipulated into sharing nude images of himself with a Snapchat user he believed to be a 16-year-old classmate. After he did so, “the correspondence changed to blackmail,” the lawsuit claims, adding that the perpetrators threatened to share the photos with the victim’s “parents, coach, pastor, and others in his community” if he did not send additional material. He complied with the traffickers’ demands, sending sexually explicit videos of himself, some of which included another minor.
At some point in 2019, a “compilation video” featuring the footage extorted from John Doe surfaced on Twitter through at least two accounts, eventually making their way to the victim in January 2020 after “he learned from his classmates that [the] videos of him and another minor were on Twitter and that many students in the school had viewed them.”
Due to the circulation of these videos, he faced teasing, harassment, vicious bullying, and became suicidal.
Immediately, the victim – who by this time was 16-years-old – informed his parents of the situation, prompting his mother, named as “Jane Doe” in the suit, to take up the issue with school officials, local police and with Twitter directly. That followed at least one previous complaint from a concerned Twitter user in late 2019, who reported one of the accounts that shared footage of the victim. The company took no action and the videos remained live.
By January 21, the plaintiff filed his own complaint with Twitter, telling the platform “These videos were taken from harassment and being threatened. It is now spreading around school and we need them taken down as we are both minors and we have a police report for the situation.” At the request of Twitter, he provided a photo of his driver’s license to confirm his identity.
Jane Doe also filed two additional complaints with the company one day later, to which Twitter replied with identical automated messages promising to review the content in question.
After a full week without a response from the company, despite repeat attempts by the victim’s mother beyond her initial complaints, Twitter finally replied on January 28, stating that it found no problems with the sexually explicit videos and would do nothing to have them removed.
“Thanks for reaching out. We’ve reviewed the content, and didn't find a violation of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time,” Twitter said, while insisting without a hint of irony that “your safety is the most important thing.”
The victim replied on the same day, outraged over the platform’s inaction, asking “What do you mean you don’t see a problem?”
We both are minors right now and were minors at the time these videos were taken. We both were 13 years of age. We were baited, harassed, and threatened to take these videos that are now being posted without our permission. We did not authorize these videos AT ALL and they need to be taken down.
While the company ignored John Doe’s final plea, within a few days his family “was able to connect with an agent of the US Department of Homeland Security” through a mutual contact, according to the suit.
“The federal agent also initiated contact with Twitter and at the request of the US federal government, the [explicit content] was finally removed from Twitter on or about January 30, 2020,” the lawsuit continues, adding that the offending accounts were also banned.
Twitter has come under fire in the past for its handling of child pornography, with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection finding in a review last year that the platform makes it “extremely difficult” to report such content, forcing users to locate a form separate from its “easily-accessible report function” found on every tweet.
As of March 2019, Twitter claims to enforce a “zero-tolerance child sexual exploitation policy,” and in its communications with John Doe and his mother said it forwards all reports of such material to the National Center Missing and Exploited Children. However, despite aggressive efforts by the victim to have images of himself removed from the platform, the company only did so after being contacted by the US federal government, failing to relay John Doe’s case to the Center until that point.
The company’s apparently lax stance on child pornography comes in stark contrast to its forceful policing of political content it deems “hateful” or to spread “misinformation,” regularly purging thousands of posts and users – among them even former president Donald Trump – over technical policy violations.
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‘Sad day for women’s sports’: Row erupts after Joe Biden signs gender discrimination order paving way for transgender athletes
22 Jan 2021 17:22
© David Gray / Reuters | © Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
US President Joe Biden's newly-signed executive order on “combating discrimination” has sparked controversy among many critics, who say it will destroy women’s sports by allowing transgender athletes to participate.
Biden proudly signed dozens of new orders during his first day in office, including one on gender discrimination which many believe will oblige colleges to approve transgender athletes for women’s sports.
Titled "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation", the order allows athletes to compete in high school and college sports in accordance with their gender identity, not biological sex.
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” it states.
“It is the policy of my administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.”
The order sparked outrage on social media, with many saying the influx of transgender athletes will ruin women’s sports.
Of course, the policy does the exact opposite to its stated purpose. It discriminates against all women in women's sports except those who are transgendered. This will do nothing to decrease bullying of trans women but will cause it to increase dramatically.
This is an attack on normal people and one that takes a big step toward Sodom and its madness.
While LGBT activists praised Biden’s decision to battle discrimination, critics said public schools will now be afraid of losing funding if they do not allow transgender female athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
“Sad day for women’s sports," wrote one. "Women must compete against biological males at the risk of injury and loss of title, thanks to a new Biden executive order. Don’t ever tell me this is ‘pro-woman.’ It’s not. It’s destructive and malicious."
“I don’t know how to feel about Biden’s executive order on transgender females playing in female sports. It seems like a disadvantage,” another tweeted.
“I don’t think its a good idea to have biological males competing with biological females regardless of what they identify as,” read one comment, while another said: “If you had a daughter competing in sports who wants to get a college scholarship, you might see the other side."
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