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And here, I thought the US really didn't take the 23rd off.

This is my 23.12.22 This is Northumberland Calling offering (no guarantee for next week as it is the week between).

The Scottish parliament voted for self id after someone declares that they have lived as the opposite sex for 3 months. They voted down an amendment which would have paused the declaration if someone had been accused of sex crime (50% of trans prisoners declared after they are arrested apparently). One of the MSPs asked – if a fox says they are chicken, do you put them in the hen house? The UK government are looking at Section 35 in order to block the legislation as it will affect the entire United Kingdom. It is thought that Nicola Sturgeon has cynically used this in order to further her case for independence as no one really cares that much about women’s rights and it is only a tiny number of people who will actually transition. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/12/22/scotland-passes-gender-reform-bill-snp-nicola-sturgeon/

A multiple child murderer was left free to kill after blunders by the probation service as he was wrongly classified as being a medium risk rather than a high risk as he should have been after the man was convicted of arson. The probation officer who mainly worked from home has now been sacked for gross incompetence in preparing the pre-sentence report. Another probation officer who assigned the case to a trainee has also been sacked. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/22/murderer-damien-bendall-left-free-kill-probation-blunders

Several Oxbridge professors are trying to spearhead a movement which says that anyone who attends a uni should be aware that they are at risk of being offended and having their ideas challenged. If they don’t want to take the risk, they can withdraw from the university in question. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11563945/Universities-risk-woke-academics-students-consent-risk-offendes.html

And the Campaign for Real Ale has declared the words ‘pub crawl’ and ‘happy hour’ are not inclusive and should not be used. Various members were not impressed including one who remarked that he had never considered that a pub crawl meant getting so drunk that you could not literally progress to the next one. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/22/dont-say-pub-crawl-happy-hour-christmas-not-inclusive/

The Church of England decided to rewrite the words of God Rest Merry Gentlemen for a service. They were rather woke and erased the concept of Christmas. Updated lyrics removed references to Christ as saviour and to Satan, instead referring to “queer and questioning” and “women, who by men have been erased”. Somehow I think the original will stand the test of time. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/20/christmas-carol-rewritten-inclusive-pushes-woke-unbiblical-agenda/

The last person able to be buried in the village church of the village which was deserted during WW2 has been buried. The village is on military land and used for exercises. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/21/ghost-village-deserted-since-world-war-ii-host-funeral-one-last/

The Glaswegian who has the best claim to inventing ‘chicken tikka masala’ Ali Ahmed Aslam, has died. He ran one of the first Indian restaurants in Glasgow and created the dish in the early 1970s by adding tomato soup (presumably Heinz) and cream to chicken tikka pan to create a quick sauce as a customer claimed his chicken tikka was too dry. The man brought his friends by and they all requested the dish. . It has since become one of the more popular ‘curries’. Although born in what would become Pakistan, he emigrated to Scotland as a boy and proudly Glaswegian and very very Scottish. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/12/22/ahmed-aslam-ali-inventor-chicken-tikka-masala-britains-favourite/

A Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

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OMG is TGIF okay? Will it be back next week? Did TGIF get a booster shot? Is that why it’s gone? Is TGIF experiencing auditory processing issues? Did TGIF accidentally come into contact with trace amounts of fentanyl at the playground? Did TGIF start an NGO in Ukraine so now it doesn’t have to work anymore? Did TGIF get pushed onto the subway tracks by a released prisoner? Did TGIF do business with the Clintons at any point in the last 50 years?

OMG I know what happened. TGIF posted something true about Joe Biden on the internet. That’s why it’s gone.

RIP TGIF 🙏🙏🙏😭😭

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Dec 23, 2022Liked by Bari Weiss

As if I couldn’t be more grateful for Bari and The Free Press, now she delivers uncensored Sedaris for a holiday treat. This former NPR listener is thrilled!

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I look forward to TGIF every week! Nellie I hope you enjoy this break with your fam!

This is my first comment. The Free Press and Honestly Podcast changed my life. I used to be a radical leftist, parroting the latest ideological dogmatic nonsense of the day, incapable of thinking for myself, and constantly trying to virtue-signal my way into acceptance and to prove I’m not an oppressor.

I began to question things slowly but it snowballed the more podcasts, videos, articles and books I read (turns out the reason leftists don’t want you to interact with Conservative thinkers is because a lot of what they say is true). “The Coddling of the American Mind” absolutely shattered my previous worldview and I’m finally on my way to becoming a free-thinking and functional adult. Yay!

Now I’m a closeted right-leaning Moderate and am more terrified to come out than I was to come out as bisexual (at least that was celebrated by the people around me). I’d say only 30% of the people I’ve already shared this part of me with absolutely flip out on me - so that’s good. I’m getting tired of living a double life but I’m aware that to share this new point of view and change of heart is going to mean social death for me. My friends are all radical leftists and I will probably lose them even though I know we could still be friends and disagree - but as we’ve all seen, most radical leftists cannot tolerate interacting with people from the other side (that used to be me). I’m aware I’m catastrophising and that a better world awaits me.

I’m wondering if anyone here has any advice for me on how to meet likeminded people IRL and how to “come out” as politically and spiritually changed. How to stay courageous in the face of potential personal attacks and shunning - especially because I also want to return to Christianity, and expect pushback/judgment from my family as well as friends. Family is the most important thing to me. For context I’m a woman in my late 20s and I live in a progressive city in a conservative state.

Not trying to turn the comments section into an advice column but I’ve really enjoyed following all the comments on here, and as I’ve said, I don’t feel like I have a place to turn to right now as I wake up out of the cult I found myself in.

I hope everyone has relaxing holiday and a happy new year!

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Please start providing transcripts.

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Dec 23, 2022Liked by Bari Weiss

Im with you Nellie. The fire is on. I’m looking at the tree with colored lights, drinking my first latte of the morning (Illy coffee machine capsules - the best) and ready to tune in to the two Davids - long time fan of both. Bravo for this Friday morning treat!

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Nellie, this is a crazy time of your, everyone needs a break. Enjoy the first holiday with your new baby!

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founding

No transcript?

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I now know Bari and the crew have made it with the introduction of the Davids, Sedaris and Mamet, to The Free Press. Let’s each of us not let it go to our heads. We must, must stay grounded (Bari and Nellie in particular) and not ever lose sight of why we are here.

Doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy this moment though, Mamet and Sedaris all in one week - whooo hoooo! Santa’s definitely in town!!

Absolutely delighted Nellie is focusing on family and taking a break. Even though I’m gutted there’s no TGIF today. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but there is more to life than TGIF. Isn’t there?

Merry Christmas everyone! May God bless you and keep you always. ✝️🎄🎁🎅🏼❤️

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I tried but I couldn't. I really did.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Stay safe during this truly insane weather.

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For an 11 minute deep dive, behavior analysis of cross-dressing (Fallacies of Cross-Dressing) and why it is not a "true life test" for ideating you are the opposite sex for the rest of your life, with speech expert Exulansic (Isle of Ex YouTube channel) and me, Ute Heggen, trans widow and author:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rhmYp2Wq2E&t=1s

Body dissociation with a sex identity fixation is a psychiatric illness. The increased rate of detransitioners and desisters demonstrates that it's a phase in the vast majority of cases, stemming from childhood abuse/trauma (my ex-husband), grief (Richard Hoskins) or porn exposure (Richie Herron, now suing the NHS). Two female detransitioners, Chloe Cole and Camille Keiffer (The Get Better Researcher youtube channel) are suing the therapists/doctors who rushed them to irreversible surgeries and testosterone. It is going to be heartbreaking, enjoy your evenings by the fire, be grateful for grounded friends and relatives. I'm grateful for the David Sedaris clip where he declares he's now "straight," but with a boyfriend.

Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)

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I listened yesterday to the podcast, much needed laughter!!

Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! May everyone’s heart be light (at least for a few days)

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I'm considering (wood stove blazing-hot coffee in hand) C.G. Jung's belief that we have entered an entirely new age ( it's cold-the birds at the feeder look like airballs). That the 'imago Dei' and the attendant mythos of human transcendence and experience is no longer above, but now resides within the human psyche ( I'm eyeballing that pumpkin pie I promised I'd save 'till Christmas morning). That we are no longer little fish swimming in the ocean of living consciousness but have become vessels meant to carry it (just a small piece won't hurt anything). That it now resides within each of us. That it is the intent (the axe needs sharpening) of what ever the core reality informing the fact of existence is, to consciously dwell within the human.

I'm thinking of this (I'm not worried- I can work off the extra weight at the gym next week) because, so far, the ire and consternation (justified) usually appearing (guilty) in the comments section is missing. The simple acknowledgement by common consent that these days are Holy seems to allow a shared indwelling of peace and clarity ( got to get water out for the deer-the trough is frozen solid).

The newborn child is sacred. It represents the only future in mankind's possession. The establishment of a Temple acknowledges that at the center of the world a force exists that orders all creation informing the fact of all existence and human experience. It proclaims that what we do here, how we live our lives, how we treat one another, matters. (The sound of horses hooves on cobblestone is a wondrous thing.)

There is entirely too much Scrooge and 'bah humbuggery' surrounding our lives. The lie is legion. But none of this is new. A family on the run fearing for their lives. A father and mother sheltering their child against butchery. A people under assault rebuilding a Temple in the face of avaricious venal graft and murder (children ask so little of us).

This 'thing' that we are experiencing here-this reprieve from madness- (hate for sale at bargain prices) is the experiential presence of something transcendent and beautiful. The living universe is smiling. And all we did was acknowledge its presence.

As the RABBI said: "The kingdom of Heaven is spread out upon the earth but men do not see it."

Or, refuse too.

Stay strong. Stay clear. (Merry Everything!!)

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Dec 23, 2022·edited Dec 23, 2022

I enjoy the quirky comedy of David Sedaris, but wish to say something about David Mamet, perhaps our greatest living playwright.

His pithy book, The Secret Knowledge, came out in 2012, foreshadowing our current cultural divide. In a nutshell, it’s his personal story of how he, a celebrated and committed Hollywood liberal, came to the realization that The Left is bad for America, and he felt impelled to discard his liberal ways. My summary doesn’t go near to doing the book justice. Every serious person, especially those not smugly ensconced in a political tribe with tunnel vision, should read it.

David Mamet the cartoonist? Good stuff. David Mamet the playwright, screenwriter, and director of films? Brilliant! David Mamet the political sage? Eye-opening.

As for the podcast: It strikes this amateur psychologist that David Sedaris uses his readers and live audiences as participants in his therapy, thereby saving the cost of professional sessions, himself on the proverbial couch. He confesses at one point that every comedian goes on stage to plead for love. I will add that he was funny years ago, before feeling the need to spew F-bombs. Didn’t Bari recently vow to swear less? Yet she chortles along with this neurotic, “straight” man’s obscenities, seeming to find humor in his every utterance. Incisively funny, he often is. But I see him as something of a tragic figure, too - which is fitting: The masks of comedy and tragedy often coexist side-by-side.

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In south Texas it is 23 degrees right now; “real feel” 5. I’m a little worried about my plantings but after losing all my fruit bearing citrus trees and several palms in the great freeze of Feb 21 my landscaping isn’t what it once was anyway.

I’m trying to talk my husband into moving to South Dakota. Last night it was 17 below, feels like 51 below in Sioux Falls. Lol. He was not amused.

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To David Mamet:

Tom Stoppard wrote "Leopoldstadt" in his 80s. Well?

Happy Chanukah and Happy New Year.

Bob

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