I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.
I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days.
Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.
However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.
When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.
The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.
Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?
I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.
The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest.
Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.
Charlie Kirk was truly one of a kind. A kind, loving, and courageous soul who lived what he preached. His view that our political, social, and spiritual differences should be debated freely and respectfully was something he put into practice every day — a living embodiment of the vision our founders had for our country.
The person who shot Charlie Kirk sought to silence him, using violence to take away his freedom of speech by ending his life and to terrorize those who think like Charlie into silence. This evil act is the very definition of terrorism: an unlawful use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political or "religious" aims.
Today, on the anniversary of 9/11, we recognize that whether it's Islamists like al-Qaeda, or the fanatics who try to stop Charlie Kirk and others from speaking the truth by banning them from campuses and ultimately by assassination, the one thing they have in common is that they are so afraid that their arguments, views, and policies will not stand when challenged in free and open debate, that they resort to violence — not only to silence the people they want to shut up but to terrorize everyone else into silence.
Charlie Kirk stood up to such fanatics who hate freedom and want to silence any who dare to challenge the so-called "liberal" establishment. This assassin killed him to prevent his voice from being heard, prevent him from inspiring others, as he did every day, and to terrorize and intimidate the American people into silence.
I was sickened, but not surprised, when I saw the propaganda media like MSNBC react by encouraging and justifying this evil. Within minutes of the shooting, they said, Charlie "brought it upon himself.” They said the very same thing about President Donald Trump after both assassination attempts on his life. And the Islamists who attacked us on 9/11 also make the same argument—i.e. that 'the American people deserved the attack.' What they're really telling us is: shut up, be quiet, or face the consequences.
We cannot allow their darkness and evil to perpetuate. Charlie truly loved our country and dedicated his life to protecting our God-given rights. We must honor his life's work, and the promise of America, by continuing to lift our own voices and defend our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.
I'm devastated that Erika lost her husband today, their children lost their father, and so many of us lost a dear friend. Our nation lost one of our greatest champions of freedom. I pray Charlie is now able to rest in the warm embrace of God's love. He will be dearly missed.
Putting Palantir’s valuation into perspective on a more relatable scale
My coffee shop generates $76,000/year in net profit
I’m looking to sell my business for $45 million
Anyone interested?
If you have a good entry system or strategy and a good read on the market most of your trades will work almost immediately and move in your favor allowing you to secure profits and establish trail stops. On the flip side, when a trade entry stops you out, accept the small loss( let it be 10 or 15%). If you win more than you lose you will definitely be profitable as long as you follow your stops on losers. It’s never about win rate it’s always about how you deal with losers.
Overconfidence is the first trap for traders.
Humility is what keeps you in the game.
There is a cognitive bias where traders overestimate their abilities, while more experienced traders realize how little we actually know.
Dear black men… mute all talk about woke shit rn. Nothing personal but they are distractions. We ain’t slow, all black men are aware that racism exist. But that was our grandparents generation that fought for our freedom. It’s our generation that must fight for our financial independence.
We don’t have to time to play victim rn. We must hold our heads high and lock in on this money. Again… the civil right movement in the 60s happened for a reason.
But when are we as black men going to shift our focus? We can’t keep playing victim forever. It’s bag time Niggas. Buckle up.
The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.
That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!
A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.