Our thanks to Rod for this (video, 8:47).

Rabbi Jonathan Romain is a prominent Reform Jewish rabbi, his Wikipedia profile is here. The start of the profile:

Jonathan Anidjar Romain MBE (born Hampstead, London, England,[2] 24 August 1954[1]) is a writer and broadcaster and minister of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England. He has a PhD in the history of British Jewry.[3] He writes for The Times,[3] The Independent,[4] The Guardian,[5] The Huffington Post,[6] and The Jewish Chronicle[7] and appears on radio and television.

Yesterday the two of us debated MGM on Jonathan Vernon-Smith’s Show, BBC 3 Counties Radio – here (19:03).

Our thanks to Stu for this.

Our thanks to Rick for this. The episode, which will cover (among other topics) the Icelandic parliament’s proposal to criminalise MGM, will be broadcast 20:00 – 20:45 this evening. The episode’s description (emphasis ours):

Orthodox faith schools have long been crucibles in which enlightenment values and religious freedoms have simmered uncomfortably. The bubbling grew fiercer this week with the prospect of more faith schools and the scrapping of the rule that they have to take in non-believers. The concern among many about what religious conservatives are teaching children has hardly been assuaged by a group of ultra-orthodox rabbis in Hackney, who are urging their schools not to accept government funding for teaching the ‘lie’ that the Earth is more than 6,000 years old. The influence of religious conservatism, of course, extends beyond the education system. Halal slaughter, considered cruel by many outside the Muslim faith, is on the rise and we’re increasingly and unwittingly eating the product of it, according to Lord Trees, former president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Many believe that such orthodox beliefs and practices have no place in modern society; Iceland, for example is proposing to criminalise male circumcision. Yet, conservative adherents of minority faiths believe such interference displays religious illiteracy. The attempt to snuff out thousands of years of tradition in the name of recently acquired ‘liberal’ values is, they say, ignorant, arrogant and oppressive, because truly liberal values should respect cultural and religious diversity, not flatten beliefs into state-sanctioned uniformity. Their opponents draw the line when they perceive harm to others – children, animals or society. Can we – should we – live in a society that accepts religious orthodoxy?

Witnesses are Dr Susan Blackmore, Prof Stephen Bullivant, Stephen Evans, and Jonathan Arkush.

Our thanks to HEqual for this.

With so much international media interest in what’s happening in the Icelandic parliament with respect to potentially making MGM illegal, our thanks to Jim for the suggestion that we post a link to Steve Brule’s interview (video, 16:14) of Tim Hammond at the 2016 conference. Tim’s presentation to the conference (video, 44:00) is here.

Karen has just published this:

Dear sir,

I’ve been led to believe that a company owned by Informa will be launching a lawsuit for defamation against my friend and associate, Alison Tieman. The allegations of defamation are so outrageous that I find it difficult to believe a corporation with a good public image, like Informa, would initiate, authorize or even allow one of its subsidiaries to threaten such an action. As such I’m writing to ask for clarification of Informa’s official position on launching said defamation suit against Ms. Tieman.

First, some background. A lawsuit alleging breach of contract and injurious falsehood was initiated by Ms. Tieman against Calgary Expo in the fall of 2015, and regards the eviction that occurred at the 2015 Calgary Expo.

Ms. Tieman is an independent comic creator who attended the Calgary Expo’s 2015 convention. During the event Calgary Expo expelled Ms. Tieman, without investigation, based on false allegations. This action constituted a violation of Calgary Expo’s own written codes and policies, and a breach of contract on the part of Calgary Expo. Following the eviction Calgary Expo publicly distributed defamatory false allegations made by its partner The Mary Sue against Alison Tieman. (If you wish to review all of the material supporting these facts, I would be happy to discuss it with you or provide it.)

The sequence of events is as follows:

False and defamatory statements about Ms. Tieman were publicly made by other parties, some of them associated with codefendant The Mary Sue (TMS), statements which Calgary Expo’s head of operations, Shayne Henkelman, then acted on without further investigation. His decision to act on these false statements resulted in Ms. Tieman’s eviction as an exhibitor, and a 10 year ban from all conventions then operated by Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo Inc.

Mr. Henkelman permitted Ms. Tieman and her colleagues so little time (approximately 20 minutes) to remove their belongings and leave the premises that substantial damage was done to Ms. Tieman’s expensive booth installation. This damage alone is in excess of $4000.

The false and defamatory allegations were, within an hour and a half of Ms. Tieman’s eviction, repeated and expanded on in an article published by codefendant and Calgary Expo cosplay contest partner TMS, an article which remains public and uncorrected as of this date.

This article was then cited by Calgary Expo on it’s official Twitter social media account as a public explanation as to why Ms. Tieman had been evicted and banned. In addition to citing the article as the reason for the eviction, Calgary Expo reiterated to individuals questioning the article’s account of events that The Mary Sue’s reporting was accurate. This action by Calgary Expo served to substantiate the false allegations made in the article.

Within an hour or so of the Calgary Expo’s initial tweet citing the Mary Sue’s article being published, Mr. Henkelman ordered Calgary Expo’s social media director to delete the tweet. He did so because he understood that Calgary Expo citing TMS’s article in this way was legally actionable, and would expose Calgary Expo to potential litigation. He said exactly this to Ms. Tieman during a break in the trial proceedings where I was present. The additional tweet in which the Calgary Expo asserts that the Mary Sue’s reporting was accurate remains publically available to this date.

Later that same day, after much pressure from individuals on social media and Expo attendees, Calgary Expo tweeted a vague public statement on the matter that did nothing whatsoever to refute or correct any of the false allegations in the TMS article. At this time, Mr. Henkelman had evidence both in his immediate possession and readily publicly available to him that all of said allegations were false.

Calgary Expo has maintained radio silence on the matter ever since, adding further credibility to the allegations in the eyes of the public.

Despite TMS having reached out to Calgary Expo prior to publishing their article with a request for comment, no direct comment to TMS from Calgary Expo as to the reason Ms. Tieman was evicted appears in the article. All that appears in way of explanation, appended as an update, is the general public statement published by Calgary Expo that in no way corrects the record.

Soon after the eviction, Ms. Tieman sent a letter by registered mail to Calgary Expo requesting they correct the public record or she would be forced to consider legal action. No reply from Calgary Expo was forthcoming. Had Calgary Expo merely performed a retroactive investigation into the allegations and made a public statement clearing Ms. Tieman’s name, no lawsuit would have ensued. The inaction of Calgary Expo in this matter is particularly egregious, since it had in its direct possession and available to it at that time evidence that not only were the allegations reported by The Mary Sue and repeated by other media outlets entirely false, but that Calgary Expo had wrongfully evicted Ms. Tieman in breach of its contract with her.

Mr. Henkelman, for his part as head of operations, conducted no investigation whatsoever regarding the allegations against Ms. Tieman prior to evicting her—allegations he would have discovered were wholly false had he done so. I know this because he told Ms. Tieman, in my presence, that had he taken the time to give even a cursory glance at her evidence, he would not have evicted her.

Through its direct actions and its subsequent and continued inaction, Calgary Expo and its head of operations, Shayne Henkelman, substantively contributed to the destruction of the professional reputation of a female comic book artist who had devoted seven years of her life to creating an original graphic novel series. Calgary Expo’s actions and inaction have cost Ms. Tieman sales, marketability, and professional and networking opportunities. As an example of the latter, at the previous Expo she had attended, in Saskatoon, Ms. Tieman was offered a job teaching at an art school in British Columbia.

Being banned for ten years from such events means no similar opportunities will be made available to her. In addition your employee Shayne Henklemen informed Ms. Tieman, in my presence, that her 10 year ban will be upheld at all Informa exhibitions across North America, if she does not settle with Calgary Expo.

Being banned over public allegations that she harassed people, lied on her contract and further breached said contract—allegations your employee and representative has allowed to stand as fact for almost three years despite having evidence from the beginning that they are entirely false—certainly impacts anyone’s willingness to do business with Ms. Tieman, even outside of Calgary Expo.

In evicting Ms. Tieman without conducting an investigation, Calgary Expo breached its contract with her. In evicting her in the manner it did, Calgary Expo caused her more than $4000 in direct damage to her equipment and merchandise. In banning her for ten years with no cause whatsoever, it has impeded her ability to conduct business. In citing TMS’s article as the reason Ms. Tieman was evicted, and further, tweeting that TMS’s reporting was accurate, Calgary Expo publicly disseminated and substantiated false and defamatory statements about Ms. Tieman. This has negatively impacted Ms. Tieman’s ability to conduct business.

And to add insult to injury, Calgary Expo reported Ms. Tieman and her associates to police two days after the eviction. Ms. Tieman’s crime? Having a picnic in a park with fans a full kilometre from the Expo site. Two police vans and four officers attended the scene to inquire as to our intentions. Our intentions being, having a picnic in a public park, eating from cold cut and vegetable platters, and taking group photos. The police report is… surreal. The police officer seemed to have a difficult time explaining to Calgary Expo and its agents that citizens simply can’t be arrested for having a picnic in a public park while holding a different political opinion.

The trial proper began on November 28 of last year. Ms. Tieman gave direct testimony for the majority of the first two days. The morning of the third day, both defendants expressed interest in talking about a settlement, despite Ms. Tieman not even being finished giving direct testimony.

If and when this case goes back to trial, Calgary Expo (and TMS, for that matter) will lose. I predict they will lose on the strength of Ms. Tieman’s evidence alone.

But they will also lose because they are unable to call Mr. Henkelman, their only first-hand eyewitness to events, to the stand, as doing so will either suborn or reveal perjury on his part. Which is why, I believe, a week or two before the trial commenced, he was quietly dropped from the defence’s witness list.

Put plainly, the defendants have no defence. They have no case. Even if they had, they can’t bring a defence because their only viable witness has already perjured himself in a sworn affidavit. Shayne Henkleman is the person who made the decision to evict Ms. Tieman, and he will not be testifying. The judge is allowed by law to speculate as to why this is the case, and to draw what inferences he chooses.

While I cannot publicly disclose the settlement terms that were discussed, Ms. Tieman was extremely generous in not only allowing Calgary Expo an opportunity to publicly correct their error and at the same time save face, but was (in my opinion) overly conciliatory on the issue of financial compensation. She has bent over backwards to come to an agreement that would paint all parties in a decent light while simultaneously compensating her for the financial toll the defendants’ actions have taken on her.

Ms. Tieman has done everything in her power to negotiate in good faith. Yet, apparently as part of their own “negotiations”, the Calgary Expo’s counsel has threatened Ms. Tieman with a SLAPP defamation lawsuit over a two word tweet made by her friend and collaborator Brian Martinez, via his personal Twitter account–a tweet made without Ms. Tieman’s knowledge, let alone her authorization. Mr. Martinez, upon hearing that the defendants were willing to discuss a settlement, tweeted “We won.” This tweet in no way constitutes defamation against either defendant, and there are multiple affirmative defences that could be successfully brought in a court of law.

Unlike Mr. Henkelman, however, when Mr. Martinez discovered people were misconstruing his tweet, he immediately and publicly corrected the record with a clarification that no, we did not win the lawsuit, we are in settlement negotiations, deleted the problematic tweet, and then continued to correct the record whenever he discovered someone had gotten the wrong idea.

For this innocuous tweet, that was in no way defamatory but even so was immediately clarified and corrected in the interest of accuracy, your counsel is threatening a defamation litigation against a man who was undergoing chemotherapy at the time he made it, and who has since had surgery resulting in nerve damage such that he may never walk normally again.

That’s certainly going to be a good look for Informa. It will look especially good next to Mr. Henkelman and Calgary Expo’s own public dissemination of defamation against Ms. Tieman, which he has allowed to stand uncorrected for almost three years now.

I am aware that most of this occurred before Informa acquired Calgary Expo. Neither I nor Ms. Tieman hold Informa in any way morally responsible for actions committed by others long before Informa was associated with Calgary Expo. However, at this point Mr. Henkelman is employed by you. Calgary Expo is an asset you now own. As such Elmer Chiu is now your council. You are paying his legal fees. Informa is, I can only assume, now responsible for Calgary Expo, Shayne Henkelman, Elmer Chiu and any actions they have taken or failed to take since Informa acquired Calgary Expo. I can only assume this includes how this matter is resolved.

At this point in time, unless you inform us otherwise, we have to assume this threat of a SLAPP defamation suit was authorized by Informa. It was made by agents on your payroll, after all.

Ms. Tieman, myself and our associates—many of whom have a massive reach online—will do everything we can to publicize this new recalcitrance and obstructionism on the part of an entity you now own and control and whose actions you apparently sanction.

Since 2015, Calgary Expo has suffered a decline in attendance of nearly 10%. While I have no hard data proving that this decline is a result of this ongoing legal issue, I have plenty of anecdotal evidence that many regular attendees were so disgusted by how Ms. Tieman was treated, and continues to be treated, by Calgary Expo they were not planning to attend future Expos.

Ms. Tieman’s company, Honey Badger Brigade, has maintained public silence over most of the developments since the trial proper began. Due to the overconfidence and incompetence of Calgary Expo’s counsel, I was present in the courtroom the whole time. I plan to publicize everything I saw. None of it will make Informa’s property, Calgary Expo, look good.

I am, at this point, prepared to hold Informa morally immune from responsibility for this debacle should I learn that Shayne Henkleman and Elmer Chiu were acting without your direct and informed authorization. If you fail to inform me as to the accuracy of this assumption while allowing them to continue to behave in this manner, including holding the threat of a frivolous defamation lawsuit over the head of my friend, that will change.

If Shayne Henkleman or Elmer Chiu have acted on their own autonomy without your direct and informed authorization, they apparently believe they can initiate potentially disastrous legal actions on Informa’s behalf. And they believe they can win by attrition—delay and obstruct and delay some more, and threaten a frivolous lawsuit on your behalf and in your name until Ms. Tieman is exhausted of will and resources..

I’m writing to you to assure you that that is not going to happen. Ms. Tieman will not stop until she gets what she reasonably feels is justice. She will not run out of resources as she has the full financial backing of her community, which includes many people from Informa’s future customer base.

Calgary Expo, under the leadership of Shayne Henkelman, committed a wrongful and legally actionable act against an independent comic creator, a wrong that has cost her thousands of dollars and her professional reputation. His refusal to correct the public record has only exacerbated the damage caused by his wrongful actions. He testified to falsehoods on a sworn affidavit, and is unable to be called to the stand by his own counsel because of this. It is my belief that Mr. Henkelman is prioritizing his own reputation and his continued employment above what I must assume would be the broader interests of Informa–that is, to bring an end to this matter with as little damage to all parties as possible.

I am aware that within large corporations, often the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. I’m here to tell you what your left hand is currently doing, and to inform you of the ways his behavior and decisions may ultimately damage your reputation.

Allow me to reiterate. Calgary Expo will lose on at least one cause of action, and will almost certainly lose on both. A decision by a judge, even one that favors Calgary Expo, will itemize and detail every single wrongful act committed by Calgary Expo, and all of the legal responsibilities and contractual obligations they neglected, relating to the events material to this case.

However this trial ends, Calgary Expo will be exposed as having acted against its own policies and guidelines in order to wrongfully expel and ban a female comic creator. It will be exposed as having allowed the false media narrative it helped create, that has besmirched Ms. Tieman’s business reputation, to stand uncorrected for THREE years. Mr. Henkelman, in settlement negotiations, has indicated that he needs approval from “higher ups” before making any offer or concession. As far as I know, he’s in charge of events across western Canada, so I can only assume the higher ups he was referring to are you, Informa.

Mr. Henkelman, during one of the breaks at trial, informed us that since Informa took over, all of the policies and codes at Calgary Expo, particularly regarding politicized speech and expression and investigative procedures into alleged harassment, have changed, in part because of what happened to Ms. Tieman, with the intent that such a thing never happen again.

If Informa is willing to drastically change policy such that no one will ever find themselves in Ms. Tieman’s position, certainly Informa is implicitly admitting that Ms. Tieman was egregiously wronged. If she WAS wronged, then surely she is deserving of amelioration and compensation, including a public correction of the record and maybe even an apology from the individuals responsible.

Ms. Tieman’s reputation can be repaired if Calgary Expo, even three years later, is convinced to uphold its contractual obligation to thoroughly investigate this incident and make public its findings. If Calgary Expo refuses, Informa’s reputation can and will be damaged simply by your appearing to endorse and authorize the ongoing egregious and recalcitrant actions of people in your employ. I will do everything in my power to make your inaction public. And unlike the codefendants in this lawsuit, and I won’t have to utter a single false or legally actionable word to do it. You have the power to end this injustice, Informa. An injustice you had no hand in orchestrating, but which you preside over now as the owner of Calgary Expo. You will either choose to do so, which will be to your credit, or you won’t.

Best regards,

Karen Straughan

I’ve just had an email exchange with Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir MP, the Icelandic MP behind the bid to make MGM illegal in Iceland. She has asked me to make public the following information:

The bill is at the moment in process in the Icelandic parliament. My arguments for the proposing the bill

“At the moment the bill 183 is discussed in the Icelandic parliament. Circumcision on girls and women was banned by law in Iceland 2005. Bill 183 is exactly the same as the law we already implemented, except the word „girls“ is now „children“. We should have the same law for all children.
Circumcision is not common in Iceland. People were surprised that boys didn’t have the same protection as girls, in accordance with the law from 2005. I would also point out that The Ombudsmen for Children in all the Nordic countries published a common statement 2013, were they encourage all the Nordic countries to ban circumcision on boys, since it goes against the UN Convention of the Right of the Child. Save the Children in Iceland published a similar statement.

We put bill 183 forward to protect the rights of children, first and foremost, and the individual freedom of the child to choose when it is old enough to do so – to give it´s informed consent. Until then, child’s body should be intact, in our opinion.“

About the process in the Parliament of Iceland

“The bill is put forward by representatives from four political parties. This is an internal affair and we are still discussing the bill. When the first round of discussions is over, a parliamentary committee will further research the matter and then take their conclusion into the floor of parliament, for another round of discussions. It is uncertain when discussions will conclude and what the outcome of the vote will be. It is totally normal that we, as Icelandic MP´s, take complicated matters, such as male circumcisions up for discussion in parliament. We cannot be afraid of talking about difficult, sensitive and highly debated issues. It is our job to do so and form the legal framework in our society.“

About child protection, not put forward against religion

“Circumcision on boys and girls is technically different, as we all know. But in both cases the individual right of the child to choose, is taken away. Those procedures are unnecessary, done without their informed consent, non reversible and can cause all kinds of severe complications, disfigurations and even death. Thankfully, many do not have any complications, but some do and one is too many if the procedure is unnecessary.

The bill is not put forward against religion. It is put forward to protect children and their right. Banning circumcision of boys does not go against the religious right of their parents.“

Here are information about the links mentioned above and some more

This is a link to the statement of the icelandic ombodsman of children. Further down there is a attached pdf letter with the common statement of the Nordic countries.

https://barn.is/frettir/2013/10/umskurdur-brytur-gegn-rettindum-ungra-drengja/

The Convention of the Right of the Child (United Nations)- English:

http://www.boes.org/un/engun-b.html

Informing article; Pediatrics 2013, written by 38 pediatrics, where they question the health benefits of circumcision, if they exist at all.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/03/12/peds.2012-2896

Banning circumcision of boys does not go against the religious right of their parents.“

#HisBodyHisChoice

Arguments from The Ombudsman for Children in Norway in the mass media 20. February 2018:

https://www.nrk.no/norge/barneombudet-haper-norge-kan-folge-islandsk-lovforslag-mot-omskjaering-1.13924043

 

All the best,

Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir,

Member of the Parliament in Iceland

Jonathan Vernon-Smith (JVS) has long been a popular presenter on BBC 3 Counties Radio (Beds, Herts & Bucks). In 2013 I appeared on his show – here (45:35). In the video description there’s a chronology of the piece, and at one stage Caroline Criado-Perez called in to claim she knew of studies showing a causal link between greater gender diversity on boards, and enhanced financial performance. She got the first of her three “Lying Feminist of the Month” awards for the claim, and when asked on the ITV programme This Morning why she got the awards, she did a jazz hands thing, laughed, then said shamelessly, “Because I lied!!!” We have the sequence on our YT channel.

More importantly, JVS has been, to the best of my knowledge, the only BBC presenter prepared to tackle the issue of MGM sympathetically and rationally. In January 2016 I debated in the studio with Dr Simon Hochhauser of Milah UK – here (14:50) and in December 2016 with Rabbi Natan Levy – here (33:38).

I’ve just been invited to contribute to the show again about MGM, from around 10:30. JVS will be taking callers, so I invite you to phone in with your comments.

You can listen to the show online here. Contact details:

Phone: 03459 455555
Text 81333
Email: jvsshow@bbc.co.uk

My opinion of Wikipedia is fast diminishing with each passing day. Someone posted a reference to ICMI18 onto my personal Wikipedia page at 18:57 this evening. It was in the section on J4MB, and consisted of this:

Conference on Men’s Issues
The party will be co-hosting the fourth International Conference on Men’s Issues in London, 20-22 July, 2018. <reference leading to a link with the conference website URL>

Anyone visiting the page could then click on the link to go straight to the conference website, as here. If you look at the screensave, the added text takes up the two lines at the bottom of the page.

Just five minutes later, at 19:02, Philip Cross – a Wikipedia ‘editor’ who we’ve had reasons to criticise before – removed the entry, as you can see from the Wikipedia history of his action, here.

It seems that someone tried to post something onto the same page this afternoon, concerrning the series of ICMIs, but it linked to the AVfM website, and apparently this isn’t permitted on Wikipedia, so Philip Cross removed that material too.

Soviet-era censors would surely have been delighted to be able to censor so easily. At least we have a record of this censor’s work. Dean Esmay was writing about the corruption of Wikipedia by gender ideologues years ago.