I am 67 not out today 😃🎉 You’ll be delighted to know that I am having tomorrow off and my wife and I will be going out for a meal. Gotta spend some of that money I get from the Heritage Foundation 🤣
Onwards with the short Westerns series and another strong female lead though a bit younger than ‘The Lady’ from the last film featured. This time we have Mattie Ross in True Grit. Able to roll a fag at 14 . Obviously not a mis-spent youth 😂
I think, when I was young, I always wanted to be Marshall Rooster Cogburn, scruffy, smoking rollies but ultimately heroic. Obviously I was basing that on John Wayne in the 1969 version but I am featuring here what I regard as the much superior 2010 re-make.
While on a trip to Arkansas, 14-year-old Mattie Ross's father is murdered by hired hand Tom Chaney. Sent to collect her father's body, Mattie learns that Chaney has likely fled with "Lucky" Ned Pepper and his gang into Indian Territory, where the local sheriff has no authority. She then inquires about hiring a deputy U.S marshall. The sheriff gives three recommendations, and Mattie chooses the "meanest" one, Rooster Cogburn, who initially rebuffs her offer.
Texas Ranger LaBoeuf arrives in town, pursuing Chaney for the murder of a state senator.
Jeff Bridges is Rooster Cogburn.
Hailee Steinfeld is Mattie Ross.
Matt Damon is LaBoeuf.
Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.
Scouting Ireland
A FFS Report!!!!
John McGuirk in Gript News ( EXCLUSIVE: Scouting Ireland embroiled in transgender row 27 March) reports:
Scouting Ireland, the governing body for boy and girl scouts in Ireland, has become embroiled in internal controversy over transgender policy on foot of a new safeguarding policy to be introduced later this year which would see biological men treated as women for the purpose of supervising female children.
Last weekend, Scouting Ireland held a training event for “Scouters” – adult volunteers who work with Scouts – at its flagship Larch Hill campsite and facility in the Wicklow Mountains. One of the purposes of the event was to brief Scouters on forthcoming changes to the organisation’s policy in relation to transgender individuals.
Scouters were told that, moving forward, Scouting Ireland would solely recognise individuals according to their “chosen” gender – ie, the sex by which they choose to identify. In practice this would mean that Scouting Ireland would consider an adult biologically male person who “identifies” as female to be the equivalent of an adult woman.
Where the issue arises, attendees told Gript, is where Scouting Ireland requires male and female adults to supervise children or to manage events.
For example, in the existing Scouting Ireland code of behaviour, there is a requirement on page 9 for “gender appropriate supervision” by Scouters of scouting groups. Further, on page 10, that requirement for “gender appropriate supervision” is specifically extended to “circumstances including changing rooms, sleeping areas, etc”.
Further, on page 15 of the existing code of behaviour, it is stated that “mixed gender sections must have mixed gender leadership”.
However, attendees at the Larch Hill event told Gript Media that on foot of the new policy, “mixed gender leadership” will now mean, for example, that two biological males could supervise a mixed gender group of children, so long as one of the males “identifies” as female and is therefore considered a woman by Scouting Ireland.
An attendee at the event told this outlet that “The safeguarding policy is still in the draft stage but the plans for the transgender rule seems to be fixed. No consultation has taken place with Scouters, members or parents. A number of attendees at the training were visibly alarmed, exchanging clearly concerned glances, but it was very clear that any dissent or discussion was not welcome during the training.”
The attendee further confirmed to Gript that “The head of safeguarding, Steven Maclean, confirmed explicitly that Scouters would be counted as their chosen gender and that a transwoman would count as a female leader.”
When Gript Media contacted Mr. Maclean, the head of safeguarding for Scouting Ireland, he issued the following statement:
“Scouting Ireland’s position is committed to proactively seeking equality of outcomes for all young people. It is the foundation on which relevant policies are developed and implemented in the best interests of our members. The Statement is informed by Scouting Ireland’s Constitution (Article 80) and its Strategic Plan 2021-2025 which aims to promote and support diversity and inclusion.”
When asked in a follow-up email whether he was specifically denying any of the claims put to him by Gript Media about his comments at the Larch Hill event or the outline of Scouting Ireland’s new policy, Mr. MacLean did not respond.
The issue of transgender representation has been a major controversy in Ireland for years now, ever since the 2015 introduction of the so-called “gender recognition act”, which explicitly recognises individuals according to their chosen, rather than their biological, sex. However, it is not clear whether Scouting Ireland even requires a gender recognition certificate before choosing to recognise people according to their chosen sex. This is not always the case.
For example, in the ongoing Enoch Burke controversy, in which the teacher claims he has been discriminated against for refusing to use a particular child’s preferred pronouns, it is not disputed that the school had agreed to use pronouns which did not align either with the child’s biological or legal sex. That is to say, no gender recognition certificate was necessary in that case for the school to decide to “recognise” a new gender.
[Dusty - I would say that, even if they have a certificate, a larping man should not be in charge of scouts.]
Critics of this kind of gender recognition approach have long pointed out what they say are risks to child safety since the only requirement for somebody to be recognised as a particular gender is for them to say that they are that gender.
For example, an adult male person who is fully biologically intact, and who dresses in traditional male clothing, and bears traditional male characteristics – like a beard – can nevertheless be recognised legally or otherwise as a woman if that is what they say they are. In this case, attendees at the Larch Hill event expressed concern that in essence, a fully biological male could be put in charge of supervising young girls and recognised as a woman, simply by describing themselves as such.
Internationally, there have been moves in the opposite direction in recent weeks, with sporting bodies such as the International Olympic Committee exploring DNA testing for athletes to determine their biological gender, and restrictions on the participation of biologically male persons in female sports. In the United States, the Trump administration has taken steps to make it harder for people to “identify” as a gender other than their biological sex.
In Ireland, no reforms to the Gender Recognition Act have been introduced. Which is presumably why Scouting Ireland is now preparing to recognise male persons as female, based on nothing more than their say-so.
https://gript.ie/jmg-scouting-ireland-transgender/?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_5_17_2022_13_19_COPY_01)
UK - Free Speech
On his substack, Matt Goodwin features an interview with him by Michael Shellenberger.
They cover the spiralling free speech crisis in the UK including —the recent scandal of police arresting parents, non-crime hate incidents, the new definition of ‘Islamophobia’, the reaction to Southport, ‘Two-Tier’ Keir Starmer, the new sentencing guidelines, the attack on free speech in the universities, and more.
All thoughts gratefully received.
UK - Waitrose
I reported on the action against a Waitrose employee, Ben Woods, here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/scent-of-a-woman?utm_source=publication-search
Free Speech Union are assisting Mr Woods with his tribunal claim and they report on it in their latest newsletter ( 31 March):
Waitrose sacks wine expert over political tweets – help him fight back
FSU member Ben Woods, who worked at Waitrose for 25 years, ending up as a wine specialist at the Henley branch, has been dismissed for expressing his conservative views online.
The tweets that Waitrose deemed sackable offences included support for Reform UK, reposting a Telegraph cartoon and asking whether the children’s book In My Daddy’s Belly: The Story of a Transgender Dad Giving Birth was “spreading misinformation”.
According to John Lewis, which owns Waitrose, its social media policy forbids posts that could be deemed “bullying, harassing or discriminatory”. Understandably, however, Ben believes he’s been targeted for his political opinions. “Waitrose has been treating me like a criminal,” he says. “I’m a conservative. That’s not illegal.”
Ben will bring a claim for unfair dismissal and discrimination under the Equality Act.
Please help him by donating whatever you can here. Every contribution sends a message that sacking people for expressing their perfectly lawful beliefs mustn’t go unchallenged.
Best of luck to Ben.
The States - The Butcher of Louth
On his substack, James Esses reports on surely one of the most evil monsters in the gender industry, Dr Sidhbh Gallagher.
This Woman Belongs In Prison
Mar 31, 2025
Meet Dr. Sidhbh Gallagher, dubbed the Butcher of Louth (and with good reason).
Gallagher is a surgeon who has made a name for herself in performing what she calls ‘gender confirmation surgery’ out of her private practice in Miami, Florida.
Her website states, without a hint of irony, that she “always seeks to combine her artistic flair with the latest cutting edge techniques”.
Gallagher hails from County Louth in Ireland. According to her online biography, she studied medicine at University College Dublin (UCD). She then moved over to the USA where she “completed eight more years of intensive surgical training”. Following her training, she “served as an assistant professor at Indiana University” between 2015 and 2020.
Gallagher is clearly extremely experienced. This is precisely what makes her dangerous.
Over the past number of years, she has performed thousands of surgical procedures on children and adults alike suffering from gender dysphoria.
She is particularly infamous due to her style of brand management and publicity, which she primarily conducts over social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. Her Instagram profile picture is a cartoon of her in her medical scrubs looking highly assertive, with a background of the trans pride flag colours. Her pronouns are proudly displayed next door. There is no doubt at all which segment of society Gallagher is attempting to appeal to.
Gallagher’s social media profiles can properly be described as showcasing the catalogue of bodies she has mutilated over the years, interspersed with photographs of her enjoying life at swanky hotels and bars (one assumes being paid for from the proceeds of her surgical procedures).
The full piece is here:
https://www.jamesesses.co.uk/p/this-woman-belongs-in-prison?r=7ogxh&triedRedirect=true
Rather marvellously, Miami Let Women Speak in 2023 took place outside Dr Gallagher’s practice
Scotland - An Update
Kate Deeming, on her podcast The Pink Elephant, interviews Mary Howden who formerly worked in social care but is now retired and works for Women’s Rights Network Scotland. They cover: inappropriate materials for children at school; children of surrogate mothers; the actress who talked about ‘sex work is work’; the religion of ‘gender’; the appalling LGBT Youth Scotland who still get loads of funding despite scandals (eg their CEO being convicted of serious paedophile offences); problems with the Care Inspectorate whose children’s service guidance is based on material from LGBT Youth Scotland; drag queen story hour and much more.
All thoughts gratefully received.
New Zealand - The Dodgy MP continued…
I reported on this in the last update: https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-quick-and-the-dead
Our friend, Katrina Biggs on her substack, A B’Old Woman continues to try and bring publicity to this issue.
The glaring NZ media bias between dishing the dirt on Left and Right politicians.
Ani O'Brien makes a compelling comparison on how differently the NZ media reports on politicians from the Left and Right.
Mar 29, 2025
In my previous post, I wrote a précis about an emerging scandal featuring NZ Greens MP Benjamin Doyle. That is to say, it should be an emerging scandal. The news broke on X during Friday afternoon 29 March NZT, and the silence from our mainstream media remains deafening.
So, we have a Leftwing politician who has some seriously dodgy stuff exposed from his personal hidden Instagram account, and the media suddenly gets all awkward and shy about reporting on it; but when a Rightwing politician touches a staffer on the arm, they’re screaming about that from the rooftops. What could the reason possibly be for the difference in deciding which is newsworthy, and which isn’t?
The full piece is here:
Katrina reports further about the Green Party circling the wagons!
NZ Greens go full DARVO in protecting MP Benjamin Doyle and his dodgy Instagram account
DARVO – Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.
Mar 31, 2025
In a stunningly executed dance of deflection, NZ Green Party co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson have asserted that everyone’s just being mean to MP Benjamin Doyle about his dodgy pictures with a child on his (now locked) Instagram account. Simply because it’s also partnered with dodgy language and dodgy symbols, doesn’t mean it’s all that bad. Just in-house jokes and irreverence amongst the neo-rainbow community, which normies don’t get, and it’s on a private account, so it’s all being blown up out of context.
The full piece is here:
Women’s Boxing
I followed the Olympics boxing fiasco throughout the tournament last year.
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/non-e-giusto-da8?utm_source=publication-search
One piece on this from the latest Women’s Rights Network newsletter ( 30 March)
Boxing Women In
WRN asks the new international federation for boxing to verify entrants to women’s fights are female
The new IOC-approved boxing federation, World Boxing, was founded in 2023 and will hold its first major competition of 2025 in Brazil starting on Sunday 30 March.
World Boxing has been appointed to run the sport for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, including the women’s events. The IOC has not established sex-based verification for entry into female categories, and neither has World Boxing.
As things stand, female boxers going into the ring next week have no guarantee that they will be fighting another woman. For all its visionary talk of running the sport based on ‘honesty, integrity and excellence that puts the interests of boxers first’ World Boxing has failed at the first hurdle.
After the shocking scenes in Paris 2024 we hoped the new federation would have pulled out all the stops to make sure the female category is female only. Instead, the only sex verification required is a medical form signed by a doctor to say a female boxer is female. This loophole must be closed as a matter of urgency if World Boxing is to retain any credibility.
World Athletics now requires all females to take a cheek swab to confirm eligibility in the female category. It can be done, and it used to be done.
WRN has written to the president of World Boxing asking him to put women’s safety as a top priority with policies explicitly stating that the female category is for females only and will be backed-up by independent testing of every female boxer.
Only then will women know that they have not been put at greater risk of serious injury, or worse, by the sports governing body that is supposed to protect them.
Mia Hughes Interview Part 2
I covered Part 1 of this interview here and thanks to Tenaciously Terfin for her great synopsis:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/undiscovered-country?utm_source=publication-search
Here is my synopsis of Part 2.
The first half of this discussion is a really useful history ( bookmark it!) as to how the madness of so called 'gender affirming care' arose in the first place. In 1960 Richard Green undertook a long term study into 'feminine boys' and this study was to cover 20 years!! Ultimately all but one of the boys turned out to be gay.However, whilst the results of this study were awaited, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) incorporated into their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) on Mental Disorders the concept of 'gender identity disorder'. Multiple studies were simply showing that effeminate boys will probably grow up to be gay. The introduction of puberty blockers (PBs) in the 1990s really started things off. There was 1 case study of a (lesbian) girl and for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that was enough for them to write their Standards of Care (SOC) 6. A lot of it with those suffering distress is internalised homophobia. Next up is the Dutch Protocol. The entire gender experiment is based on this. 70 boys who progressed on from PBs to cross sex hormones. Three studies were produced but nobody has ever seen the third study. In terms of the study into surgery, one boy died whose 'neo-vagina' had to be made out of his colon since his penis was too small. Also they flipped the survey - eg girls were started off with the girls questionnaire but, after they had had PBs and cross sex hormones, were asked the boys questionnaire. From 2014/2015 ‘runaway diffusion’ occurred which is where you do no further trials because you conclude that it is all decided. Mia describes this as 'negligence at the highest level.' The APA and others are now being sued. The Tavistock early intervention study - Polly Carmichael declared it a success but, in fact, the results were not good but we only found this out when Michael Biggs, via Freedom of Information requests, forced them to finally reveal it in 2021.
Mia and Peter then go on to disagree about giving ‘gender affirming care’ to adults. Mia concludes that it is not ethical for medics with their Do No Harm duty to carry out such procedures which are not effective or required. They both seem to say that you could have 'cosmetic' procedures for adults but I would not agree with any such surgery or procedures because there are almost inevitably complications and further procedures are then required.
All thoughts gratefully received.
Endpieces
From Tenaciously
From Liz
#BeMorePorcupine
#EndGenderAffirmingCare
#AdultHumanFemale
#LetWomenSpeak
#GrassrootsArmy
#FightForFreeSpeech
#ByeByeStonewall
#StayHuman
#LiveNotByLies
Dear readers
I am back from my short birthday break 😁
A heads up that Mr Menno premieres his interview with famous granny Jean from Aberdeen on Wednesday at 20.30 GMT.
See some of you in the chat 😁
Dusty
Happy Birthday, Dusty! (It was mine on Friday.)