kirkwy.bsky.social

i do not hesitate. They are bad parents, at best.

Glad people are settling on the term "pervert glasses". Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg's pervert glasses.

"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee... as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability. As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people. The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not. As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that. Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes. It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade. Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government's handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein's crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide. You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions. You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner's deposition. This institutio…

as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf. I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better. In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others - with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder. If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he's far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal. It's a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll. My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers. As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses. The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete…

Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House. That is a tragedy. It's a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight. A committee endeavoring to stopping human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008. A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files. It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies. It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes. It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the "wildest party" on Epstein's island. It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated. It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers. It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need. It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act. But that's not happening.

Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers. If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files. If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up? My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein's crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking."

Here is Hillary Clinton’s opening statement to House Oversight on Epstein.

Clinton says she does not recall ever encountering Epstein and says she knew nothing about his crimes.

She also says that Trump should testify under oath and criticizes the committee for not holding any public hearings.

I picked a heck of a week to be scheduled to fly to Puerto Vallarta!

The US deported a gay asylum-seeker to a third country where homosexuality is illegal A woman who sought asylum in the United States after fleeing a country where homosexuality is illegal says the Trump administration's third-country deportation system sent her to another one.

The US deported a gay asylum-seeker to a third country where homosexuality is illegal

apnews.com/article/trum...

As a gay man, I understand the sentiment. But as a gay man native to the Bay Area, I’m shocked at the Thiel/Atlman/etc narrative. Sadly, living abroad it is correct that they tie down the unique South African white nationalist narrative

Zojirushi ride or die

I want Leo to visit ICE detention centers insisting on celebrating mass with detentees. Repeatedly. The ones in America after he visits the European ones.

I sometimes think about the worst people in the world. And then I think about financial corruption. And then I think about Ponzi schemes. And fascism. And a generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs microdosing. And I lost my train of thought because I have to enter the US again this year.

Screen shot from Paul Embery’s X account: Respect to this police officer. Confronted by radicals demanding the arrest of a Christian preacher on the grounds that Whitechapel "is a Muslim area" she was calm and professional and gave them short shrift. Let's see more of this from the police. Has a video of a woman police officer talking to a group of Muslim men

This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too!

The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression.

🧵
1/19

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Kavanaugh dissented?

I suppose he thought the tariffs would be briefly detained then returned to their owners automatically.

His alleged mistress left her precious heated blanket on the other plane, so Corey Lewandowski demanded the pilot turn the plane around to go get it.

When he refused, Lewandowski -- who has zero authority to fire anyone at any time -- tried to fire the pilot IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLIGHT.

“Readers should be able to assume that every word between quotation marks is what the speaker or writer said… The writer should, of course, omit extraneous syllables like ‘um’ and may judiciously delete false starts.”
-NYT ethical guidelines

(1/11) If you live in NY, you’ve probably started seeing a new warning: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” This mandatory disclosure went into effect late last year, and it’s the first attempt by a US state to grapple with a new generation of surveillance pricing.

#4 in so many events it’s silly. A single gold meant I missed the first two skates in the men’s individual final group. Including the winning Kazakh. Cause they had to interview his father and siblings. Welcome to GB in the Winter Olympics

It reminds me of when Simone got the yips. These are athletes being asked to risk their bodies on potentially life threatening stunts. If you have no basis to understand what they’re going through you have no basis to discuss it with them except through their emotional response

If a sportsperson has a disastrous run (and it has happened several times to GB this season [we’re #4!]) the press lets them work through the emotions. But figure skating is different. I did figure skating. Normies can never understand and I never got anywhere within comprehension of what they do.

I’m so happy that UK viewers missed the winning performance of the men’s ice skating to provide extended coverage of a single medal (albeit our only one so far). Didn’t even cut from a hockey match for it. I’d @ mention the BBC but the UK establishment only uses Twitter and boycotts Bluesky.

Absolutely shocked! He is gutted and still an amazing sportsman congratulating the winner.

Wanna watch a man drown and root for it?

Can someone mention me if this sack of DNA ever decides to come to the UK? Speech has consequences on this side of the Atlantic.

read this whole thread. Read till the end

Expat American here and the two things that 100% trigger an ID check visiting NYC or Chicago are buying alcohol retail or entering a gay bar. Or going into a high rise office block. I don’t carry one in London, I need it daily there but my UK drivers license works fine.

Deleted as I don’t want fake internet karma about being wrong

That’s entirely possible. I left North America decades ago. So my knowledge is very dated. If things have changed I’m very happy to get new knowledge!

Everyone should have enough to not die. Tax us relatively rich people more to fund it. Societies collectively would be a lot better for it.

I’m 100% agreed with that! Give me money from taxes and then tax me more!

I’m in the UK. We have a lot of “tax credits”. The administration costs a *fortune* and gets it wrong a lot. And results in situations where people earning money have cliffs where you lose all benefits unless you earn above the cliff. Just. Give. Poor. People. Money.