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Cake day: June 9th, 2023

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  • Following the investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches programme into Brand’s alleged behaviour, published earlier this month, Olivia says she tracked down a recording of the programme.

    The episode, which aired on 21 June, 2008, features this exchange between Brand and Matt Morgan.

    This exchange on The Russell Brand Show was recorded minutes after the incident

    Morgan: It’s been 25 minutes since he showed his willy to a lady.

    Brand: (Laughing) Very easy to judge! Very easy to judge!

    Morgan: The receptionist…

    Brand: (Laughing) Look…

    Morgan: Receive this!

    Morgan adds: “He got told off for ringing a bell, minutes later he’s showing his willy.” Brand can be heard laughing in the background.

    Olivia, who has never worked as a receptionist, says she felt disgusted when she heard it.








  • Look, organisations with unpleasant views aren’t universally stupid. Turning Point states upfront that its mission is to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom”, but dig down and you find fun stuff like this: https://www.tpusa.com/live/pro-choicers-are-sick-and-twisted

    I’d also like to note that praising some historically left-wing policies, and criticising some loonies, should not mean that you stop looking critically at the other things a person says.

    Authoritarian policies that deny women choice aren’t limited to right-wing governments. If you support women’s rights to choice, Hungary is not a country you would praise.

    ‘Baby machines’: eastern Europe’s answer to depopulation The conference in Budapest opened with a sand animation video of migrants rushing towards Europe, and was laced with references to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which suggests that shadowy forces want to replace so-called “native” Europeans with outsiders. “There are political forces in Europe who want a replacement of population for ideological or other reasons,” Orbán told the conference. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/04/baby-bonuses-fit-the-nationalist-agenda-but-do-they-work





  • Not really. If your goal is to undo “retreating state support,” you can do that without praising far-right regimes aiming to restrict women’s rights to bodily autonomy.

    The fact that they gloss over that little aspect is suspicious.

    Their website is conspicuously opaque regarding its funding, and “stop population decline” is curiously close to (but notably more palatable than) the 14 Words, while still acting as an effective dog-whistle for people familiar with those words.



  • They have a bunch of stuff about “promoting fertility”, eg

    the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel offer lessons. These countries have managed to increase fertility rates by introducing pro-natal policies — a combination of cash incentives, subsidised childcare, and housing assistance

    which all sounds lovely and idyllic, but in reality the far-right government in Hungary has been throttling access to abortion with new legislation that is

    an extension of the government’s anti-abortion policies, aimed at boosting the birthrate

    meaning that

    legal abortions [have] become increasingly difficult as the compulsory counselling sessions were becoming more aggressive and difficult to schedule

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/13/hungary-tightens-abortion-access-with-listen-to-foetal-heartbeat-rule

    I can’t definitely figure out the angle either. But they are a pro-fertility organisation praising a far-right regime that is implementing regressive “pro-life” policies at the expense of women’s rights, and they are very careful not to highlight the true nature of these policies on their website.

    They’re also headquartered in Texas. So… draw your own conclusions.