The news and views are continuing to pour into Dusty Towers, so this will be a two parter, dear readers. In Part 1 we have four reports from the States plus one excellent piece of news from Puerto Rico which is an unincorporated US territory, so I hope my American readers will be appearing in the comments 😊
We have been following the Sandie Peggie tribunal since it resumed and that will be discussed in Part 2 linked to Be Kind and followed by ‘dog whistles’ and Josef Mengele!! What more could you ask for?
Now we are back with Dusty’s film series and the latest version of the list is here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series
Please let us have your suggestions for films but please check the list first to see if it is there already. I am updating the list as we go along. We are going through them alphabetically and have got to F.
Next up is Flags of Our Fathers.
Flags of Our Fathers is a 2006 American film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood. It is based on the 2000 book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were involved in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and the after effects of that event on their lives. Taken from the American viewpoint of the Battle of Iwo Jima, the film is a companion piece to Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, which depicts the same battle from the Japanese viewpoint; the two films were shot back to back.
Letters from Iwo Jima will come later in this series, dear readers😊
Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Thanks also to Althea on the substack Woman: Adult Human Female for some of the reports featured below. https://wahf.substack.com/p/july-11-17-uk-labour-party-grudgingly?triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Inspired by the Sandie Peggie case, EDI Jester has had a mull and wonders on his substack in an essay and a video, in terms of DEI, whether ‘gross misconduct’ may be relevant. I have mulled on his mull. I was a ‘boss’ for abut 30 years ( I am now retired) and, based on that experience, and having regard to that renowned boss, Barry and his company, Barry’s Bumscrubbers Ltd, I think the essential first stage is not to allow DEI in in the first place. Not in policies and not in practice. Obviously we would want to employ and promote people based purely on merit and regardless of race, sex, colour, disability, sexual orientation etc ( this is ‘equality of opportunity’ as opposed to ‘equity’). But apart from that DEI has no place in Bumscrubbers Ltd.
“But, Barry, there’s no policy about pronouns.”
“That’s right, there is no policy apart from don’t use them in e-mail signatures and no badges.”
“But, Barry, can we have an LGBT WTF LOL group?”
“No, you can have a badminton club.”
Basically: “Get on with your f***ing work!”
Then you don’t even need ‘gross misconduct’. If you don’t do your job or turn out to be rubbish at your job, you’re gone!
All thoughts gratefully received.
And here is Barry 😊
https://edijester.substack.com/p/nhsfife-edidei-gross-misconduct
This Never Happens - France - ‘LGBT’ Activist
Anna Slatz on Reduxx reports:
Prominent French LGBT Activist Operated Pedophile Ring Using His Own Foster Children, Some As Young As 5 Months Old
July 11, 2025
CONTENT NOTICE: This article contains distressing references to the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers, as detailed in court proceedings. Reader discretion is appreciated.
Disturbing new information has been released in the case of the prominent French left-wing LGBT activist who ran an international pedophile network. Pierre-Alain Cottineau, 32, was arrested in September of last year after being traced back to the horrific sexual torture of a 4-year-old disabled girl.
Cottineau first became a target for investigators after OFMIN, a branch of the French police specifically focused on crimes involving children, became aware of a violent child sexual abuse video being exchanged through Telegram. The video appeared to show a disabled girl being sexually abused by an adult man. Incredibly, investigators were able to ascertain the whereabouts of the young victim by tracing the sale and shipment history of a very unique medical bed seen in the footage.
The child was reportedly placed into Cottineau’s care after he obtained approval from Child Welfare services to become a foster parent just months before the filmed abuse took place. Disturbingly, Cottineau had specifically requested to foster children under the age of 6.
After being charged with aggravated offenses against a minor in October of 2024, including the abuse of authority and distribution of illegal material, the investigation into Cottineau’s actions widened in February, with authorities determining that he was not just a child rapist, but the head of an entire pedophile network that stretched across Europe. In messages posted on dark web forums, Cottineau boasted about having “children available” for sexual abuse.
The full piece is here:
Puerto Rico - Good news
Great news from Puerto Rico!!!
NBC ( Puerto Rico bans hormone therapy and gender surgery for trans people under 21 17 July) reports:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico's governor has signed a bill that prohibits hormone therapy or gender-affirming operations for transgender youth, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from activists in the largely conservative U.S. territory.
The law approved late Wednesday applies to those younger than 21 and calls for 15 years in prison for any violators, as well as a $50,000 penalty and the revocation of all licenses and permits of medical staff.
"Minors, having not yet reached the necessary emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity, are particularly vulnerable to making decisions that can have irreversible consequences," the law reads. "Therefore, it is the State's duty to ensure their comprehensive well-being."
It also states that public funds cannot be used for such purposes.
The full piece is here:
The States - Women’s Sport - Great News!!
ABC (Transgender athletes effectively barred from representing the United States at the Olympics and Paralympics 22 July) reports:
In short:
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee has changed its policy on its website to effectively ban transgender athletes.
The organisation said it was obliged to follow an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in February.
What's next?
The US is hosting the next summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women's sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an "obligation to comply" with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
The change, announced on Monday with a quiet edit on the USOPC's website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) earlier this year.
The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under "USOPC Athlete Safety Policy" and references Trump's executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to "rescind all funds" from organisations that allow transgender athlete participation in women's sports.
US Olympic officials told the national governing bodies they would need to follow suit, adding that "the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials" since Trump signed the order.
"As a federally chartered organisation, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations," USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland and president Gene Sykes wrote in a letter.
"Our revised policy emphasises the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment."
The full piece is here:
The States - ‘Gender Affirming Care’ - More Good News
Audrey Fahlberg in The National Review ( Exclusive: Trump Admin to Cut Off Federal Funding to Hospitals That Provide Gender-Transition Services to Minors 17 July) reports:
The Department of Health and Human Services will soon begin the rule-making process to prohibit the federal government from directly funding sex-trait modifications for minors through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), National Review has learned.
The White House is in “the final stage of review for a new rule that would make it a condition of hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid that they not provide sex trait modifications to minors,” according to an administration official. The prohibition will apply to hospitals that provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-transition surgeries to minors.
The full article is here:
https://archive.ph/ZSJ7w#selection-519.0-731.378
The States - The Democrats Need To Wake Up!
Mariah Burton Nelson on the substack, Stronger Women has done an analysis of the comments to an article in the New York Times:
Democrats Reject Magical Thinking, Declare "No Males in Female Sports"
Deep Dive Into a New York Times Comments Section
Jul 21, 2025
“They are so eager to virtue signal that they’ve thrown women under the bus for a radical agenda most people can clearly see is nonsense.”
How do progressive people feel about female athletes’ rights to play female-only sports? Curious, I took a deep dive into the comments on last week’s New York Times article: ”Democrats Lost Voters on Transgender Rights. Winning Them Back Won’t Be Easy.”
Having surfaced, I can report that the 624 comments tell a good-news story, though the author’s bias does not.
Times reporter Charles Homans argues that Democrats have alienated voters by advocating for “transgender rights.” I agree. Democrats shot themselves in the foot, if not the head, by pretending that men can magically become women; by teaching kids who reject gender stereotypes that they need to be sterilized, have their sexual function destroyed, and have their body parts amputated; and by telling female athletes to shut up and move over when boys and men step into women’s arenas and onto women’s podiums.
Homans does not phrase it like that. He frames it as a transgender rights issue – which is misleading, since people who identify as transgender already have the same rights as everyone else. He never considers women’s rights – even though women’s rights are compromised (along with gay rights) when males pose as women.
Key Numbers About the Article’s Focus and Bias
12: Number of times the phrase “transgender rights” appears.
0: Number of times “women’s rights” appears.
16: Number of times the phrase “transgender athletes” (always referring to males) appears.
0: Number of times the phrase “female athletes” (or female, woman, or women) appears.
None of the Most Popular Comments Defend Males in Female Sports
I sorted the comments (which were closed by 2:00 pm) by “Reader Picks”: those recommended by other readers. Of the 624 comments, the 168 most highly recommended ones contain zero support for males in female sports.
The most popular comment (recommended 1,715 times):
“I am as progressive as they come. I am also the mother of an elite athlete who has lost female races to transgender women [males]. I have not been influenced by the right. I have seen with my own eyes how unfair this is. I am demonized by the left for this position. And that is absurd.” – Lisa of Xanadu
The full piece is here:
The States - The Boston Marathon
Ute Heggen cross posts on her substack from The Daily Signal about the abuse a ‘gender critical’ woman running in the Boston Marathon has received. I hope that Ute will forgive me for quoting the whole of the short piece:
“Allies” Tell Boston Marathon Spectators to Throw Bottles at Female Racer Who Objected to Men in the Women’s Category.
Natalie Daniels faced online abuse, in person rejection and job loss.
Jul 21, 2025
……Below, the article from The Daily Signal about the abuse a new mother received when objecting to males running “as females” in the Boston Marathon. I often wonder what Neddy’s younger sister thinks about all of this, as she used to be one of the world ranked long distance runners, doing Iron Man triathlons and 100 mile races. She even looks like Natalie Daniels. Her brother, my crossdressing ex-husband, competes on a women’s masters martial arts team. He sticks out like a sore thumb in their photos.
Virginia Allen@Virginia_Allen5
Virginia Allen is a senior news producer for The Daily Signal and host of "The Daily Signal Podcast" and "Problematic Women." Send an email to Virginia.
Running in the Boston Marathon was a longtime dream for Natalie Daniels, and doing it six months’ postpartum, she says, felt like a way to celebrate the beauty and power of the female body.
That’s why Daniels says she was troubled to learn that the Boston Marathon was now allowing men who identify as women to compete in the women’s category.
Daniels, an avid marathon runner, shared her concerns regarding the Boston Marathon policy on social media and on a podcast with XX-XY Athletics just a few days before the marathon in April.
Almost instantly, people Daniels knew and did not know began attacking her over her opinion that men should not be allowed to compete in the women’s category.
The mom, in her early 30s, faced threats, with individuals online encouraging Boston Marathon attendees to throw bottles at her while she ran.
Following the race, Daniels was kicked out of her running club for refusing to state that a man, with sufficient hormones and treatment, could ever become a woman. Today, she has partnered with XX-XY Athletics, a pro-women athletic apparel company, to stand up for the integrity and protection of women’s sports.
Australia - The Greens
I resigned from the UK Labour Party in 2019 when I realised that they were going off with the Woo! However I respect Terfs who remain ( or attempt to remain!) within parties to try and change their policies on gender. I am not sure that it is worthwhile, however! All thoughts gratefully received.
As readers know, I rely a lot on the wonderful Australian Feminist Legal Clinic. Anna Kerr is their principal solicitor.
Two reports from FLC:
Pledge we’re inclusive or you’re out: Greens demand | The Australian (23 July)
A human rights lawyer, who was accused of transphobia, was made to ‘pledge’ that the NSW Greens were inclusive in a bid to save her membership. Anna Kerr is one of the dozens of women said to have been expelled for crossing a “transgender and queer cult”.
A human rights lawyer accused of transphobia was required to “pledge” she recognised that the NSW Greens were inclusive to save her membership, raising new concerns about the crushing of dissent inside the party.
Anna Kerr refused – and became one dozens of women said to have been expelled for crossing a “transgender and queer cult” that now calls the shots in the party organisation.
Her experience spurred Australian Greens co-founder Drew Hutton’s decision to speak out, leading to his expulsion in June, and outrage among the membership that has tested the mettle of new federal leader Larissa Waters.
More cases of alleged victimisation are emerging by the day, including that of retired teacher Marian Smedley, 70, who quit in 2023 after a “pile on” by trans activists. “You’re not even allowed to ask a question … it’s so Stalinist,” she told The Australian on Tuesday.
Ms Kerr, the principal solicitor of Sydney’s Feminist Legal Clinic, was put through the wringer after a series of run-ins with the Greens’ hierarchy over gender issues. This included her criticism in The Daily Telegraph in 2021 of a bid by state Greens MP Abigail Boyd to replace the term “woman” with “pregnant person” in legislation before the NSW parliament.
Ms Boyd said at the time: “There are people other than women who have the potential to have a foetus.”
A joint complaint made by 11 NSW Greens members including Ms Boyd and state Greens MP Jenny Leong accused Ms Kerr of contravening party principles and policies, as well as disrupting “Greens actions and discussion groups” with transphobic and trans-exclusionary views.
In calling for Ms Kerr’s immediate suspension, the complainants said: “We request that the member be required to make a pledge that they recognise the Greens NSW is a trans inclusive organisation and commit to not publicly undermining the actions and statements of our elected representatives in connection with trans issues, and commit to not sharing or engaging with trans-related debates in the party in a negative way, nor sharing content within the party that could be deemed transphobic.”
If she did not comply, her membership should be terminated, they said.
In reply, Ms Kerr said she was unable to defend Greens’ policies on gender identity when they clashed with both her personal ethics and professional obligations as a human rights lawyer. “There is nothing fair, compassionate or kind about policies which endorse medical experimentation on children and other vulnerable people, dismantle women’s sex-based rights and vilify, stigmatise and seek to silence those who speak about the harm being done,” she submitted.
Gender identity had been elevated into a “pillar of the party”, displacing grassroots democracy.
“I will certainly not be making any pledge to a party constituted in this manner,” she wrote.
In March 2022, the NSW Greens’ conflict resolution committee found her online communications had caused distress and hurt to other members, while her public “protests” breached accepted standards of behaviour. Her membership was to be cancelled with immediate effect.
Asked whether her party accepted alternative views to its gender policies backing the rights of young people to transition, Senator Waters said: “We have processes to deal with differences of opinion … people can do that respectfully.”
That was not Ms Smedley’s experience, however. The retired teacher, who joined the Victorian Greens in 2010, said she was “jumped on” when she posted on a substack platform questioning trans ideology and its effect on children.
“One of the reasons I joined the Greens was because they are very democratic … and respectful,” she said from her new home in Perth.
“(But) the Greens have completely corrupted their internal processes to make sure that nobody who doesn’t agree that transwomen are women, or anyone that supports biological reality, cannot hold any position.”
https://feministlegal.org/pledge-were-inclusive-or-youre-out-greens-demand-the-australian/
Greens Co-Founder Considers Legal Action After Being Ousted From Party Over Trans Post (23 July)
Drew Hutton, co-founder of the Australian Greens, says a “cult mentality” has taken over his now-former party after he was officially expelled for a social media post regarding transgenders.
The party’s Constitution and Arbitration Committee’s (CAC) moved to expel Hutton on May 30, following a suspension in July 2023 because he refused to delete comments left under a Facebook post of his.
On July 20, he attended the Queensland Greens’ state council meeting to appeal the decision, but members voted overwhelmingly to reject his appeal, with a 75–23 vote.
The 23 votes in support included Greens founder Bob Brown and the party’s first female leader, Christine Milne.
The issue stems from a 2022 Facebook post, where Hutton weighed in on the decision to annul the election of the Victorian branch’s state convenor Linda Gale and a New South Wales member Anna Kerr over their supposed transphobic comments.
Hutton labelled these moves “authoritarian and antidemocratic” and his post generated heated discussion, some of which he himself deemed “hurtful and disrespectful.”
The Facebook post read: “I believe in full human rights for trans people at the same time as supporting the right of women to be free from patriarchies’ oppression. I am also prepared to say these things publicly. Unfortunately in the Greens at present that would seem to make me a transphobe.”
While the CAC found Hutton himself had not demeaned trans women, it did find that he provided a platform for others to do so by not removing comments under his post, which is deemed to have violated the party’s code of ethics.
Hutton said he is “very disappointed” with the direction of the greens are taking.
“They seem to be obsessed about transgender rights and not taking a strong enough stand on environmental issues,” he told The Epoch Times.
“The party that I founded here in Queensland 30 years ago saw itself as having an historic mission to help move the world towards ecological sustainability.
“The emphasis now seems to be on the rights of particular identities. That’s not the sort of party that I think Australia needs at the present time.”
The former party leader, known for initiating the “Lock the Gate” campaign against coal seam gas mining in 2010, said a “cult mentality” had taken over.
Terf Island Discs
Thanks to an excellent suggestion from Tenaciously Terfin, we are pausing Endpieces for the time being and giving Tenaciously and Liz a well earned rest from their hard work. So welcome to Terf Island Discs. Please let us have four of your favourite songs or pieces of music and provide a link if possible. They need to be reasonably short. We can’t expect to have readers listening to the whole of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto in B flat minor, albeit it is magnificent. Obviously, the choices don’t actually have to be from Terf Island - anywhere in the world! We will feature one piece of music in each general update. Thanks to all those readers who have already sent in their choices.
Please send in your choices via the comments section at this link: https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/terf-island-discs
Next up!
Chosen by: Iain McGlade
‘Baby, I Can Hell’ by Deap Vally
#BeMorePorcupine
#TerfIsTheNewPunk
#AdultHumanFemale
#LetWomenSpeak
#LGB✂️TQ
#JoinFreeSpeechUnion
#LeaveKidsAlone
#StandWithSandiePeggie
#NeverSurrender
#NeverForget
#TruthWillTriumph
#WeWillWin
Thanks Dusty, some very good pieces of news. But what kind of ideology incites people to throw bottles at a female runner because she stands up for reality and fair sports for women! I suppose it’s the kind of ideology that attracts paedophiles who hide behind the glitter and rainbows and an ideology which wishes to destroy all boundaries and safeguarding. The people who allowed that depraved man to foster children despite the warnings from his own mother should be slung in jail with him and the key thrown away. Sickening beyond words.