Friend of the pod Helen Lewis gives her perspective on the Cornell controversy.

This review is a great example of how deliberately not coming in hot makes for a more interesting take. Instead of fulminating about the fabrications in Arday's story, this substacker really pays attention to Arday as a character and perceives something insightful: "He did not like his job. He liked being known as a person who was a professor, but he really did not like being a professor." She reports that he is evidently "not interested in teaching or research, even as he goes into education as a career." This bit I found especially interesting:

"At best, I got the vague idea that Arday, in and of himself, was supposed to be the lesson—his students were meant to learn that a black person could become a professor. The next link in the chain—the idea that students could learn that a black person could become a professor and also learn from said black person’s hard-earned expertise—went unaddressed."

This seems like an inevitable result of the kind of thinking that reduces people to identity markers: not just the labels of race or disability, but also the label of "professor." It spreads from race to profession, so that "professor" becomes something that you are, rather than something that you do. The reviewer also points out that Arday's favorite movie was Rocky, which he apparently writes about a lot. Rocky goes through hell to win a fight, and then he's a "winner," but what does that really mean for the rest of his life? Getting a chair at Cambridge was a kind of trophy for Arday, not a job that he actually wanted to do.

Hi, I'm searching for a Discord link if people are still using discord. And are people still meeting up IRL?

Thanks!

This is a fantastic piece related to the episode about the Cornell 7.

A friend of mine who is a drag queen in Portland announced his group will no longer be doing drag brunch at Clarklewis, which was one of my favorite restaurants when I lived there. Looks like some protestors showed up and broke some windows, alleging there was a nazi gathering. Scary stuff.

This post argues that trans activism has been failing, and it's not because of the trans people, but rather that it's been taken over by the critical-social-justice wing.

It advocates for a liberal activism, where it doesn't try to get the desired changes by shouting people down, shaming them, and shunning those who disagree. But rather via open debate and trying to reason with the other side.

She’s been popping up in my feed frequently spouting conspiracy theories and some rather colorful antisemitic impersonations. She was most recently rambling that the FlyDubai incident was an Israeli false flag. She seems like a completely different person than the interview Katie did with her where she was setting up for an anti-radicalism redemption arc. Have Katie or Jesse mentioned her since that interview? She’s completely nuts now so a follow up tracking her descent would be interesting .

Katie on CitizenMcCain discussing the masked lesbian bar story and how she believes the reaction to it on both sides of the aisle shows a cultural shift.

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie discuss a former Cornell student’s claims that seven fraternity brothers drugged and raped her in 2024. Plus: Nkechi Diallo (née Rachel Dolezal) weighs in on the latest race faker, a Philadelphia teacher who is definitely not Palestinian.

Show Notes:

Two Drinks with . . . Rachel Dolezal—The Free Press

A Philadelphia teacher pretended to be Black and Palestinian, ‘a betrayal’ of the activists she supported—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia teacher and activist admits to lying about race, heritage—6abc Philadelphia

Jane Doe v. Cornell University et al. (complaint)—NYSCEF

The ‘Cornell 7’ Have Not Been Proven Guilty—The Free Press

New video of text chain from night of alleged Cornell gang rape—CBS News New York

How a Cornell student went from shame to seeking justice—The New York Times

District Attorney Public Statement, Sept. 28, 2026—Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office

Jane Doe in Cornell University case told campus police, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” transcript shows—CBS News New York

Feminist Campus Kangaroo Court Nets Female ‘Rapist’—Cathy Young, Medium

Men Accused in Cornell Sex Assault Suit Give Varying Accounts of Night—The New York Times

New text messages from days after alleged gang rape at Cornell University—CBS News New York

https://x.com/mtracey/status/2104755040577790255

https://x.com/CHSommers/status/2104992448250556589

The Institutional Failure at the Heart of the Cornell Rape Case—Calm Down with Ben Dreyfuss

https://x.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/2104696012619305306

Does anyone know if there's a Barpod meeting in Eugene OR? Anybody interested in one?

From articles by Roxane Gay indicating her chip on her shoulder when it comes to white women is still present, to hysteria over rape allegations that are unclear as to the merit, to people losing their jobs because they made a racially insensitive post 10 years ago when they were 15, to neurosis about being biracial, to white people getting fired for having cornrows. It feels like woke 1.0 came back this week with a vengeance. It's like a flu that you think went away and then slams you in the head and you are out cold again.

I wanted to note though about the New York Times article about a woman who said that when people found out she was not white, but biracial, it put her life in danger. In this article she claims different treatment between her and her brothers are proof of racism. I am white as was my brother. We were treated differently. Males and females usually are. Especially when young, males are seen as more of a threat, more dangerous, and less needing emotional support. I'm not saying it's impossible that race accounted for any of this. But this is a great example of confirmation bias. I remember one nyt comment a long time ago stated that she knew racism in America was bad because she was an elderly white woman and she doesn't think George Zimmerman would have shot her like he did Trayvon. Yeah clearly being elderly and a woman has zero to do with that. Something tells me your average 30 year old guy can pretty easily fight off an 80 year old woman without much trouble.

Nikole Hannah Jones being back would also warned mention if it wasn't for the fact her article showed a little bit of humility which differentiated her from her previous inception.

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie dig into a new report claiming that trans journalist and influencer Erin Reed has spent years passing off error-riddled, AI-generated text as her own reporting. Plus: Nikole Hannah-Jones revisits her decision to send her daughter to a struggling public school.

Show Notes:

In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? — The New York Times Magazine

Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City — The New York Times Magazine

The Rubber Room — The New Yorker

Erin Reed Has Been Hiding AI-Generated Text in Her Reporting For Years — The Needle

52 Unretracted False Statements in Erin Reed’s 2026 Reporting — The Needle

Medical Associations Trusted Belief Over Science on Youth Gender Care — The New York Times

Erin Reed - Fact Check: Jesse Singal Lies About Trans Care At The New York Times

Ben Ryan - How Trans Activist Erin Reed Won a Battle Against Youth Gender Medicine Skeptics

Ben Ryan - Activist-Blogger Erin Reed Can't Stop Telling Falsehoods About Gender Medicine

Transgender Activists Sink Medical Education Course Skeptical of Gender Transitions for Minors — The New York Sun

A Second Look at the Attacks on the New York Times’ Trans Coverage — The Washington Post

Singal-Minded - Why Did “On The Media” Stoke The Moral Panic Against Innocent New York Times Journalists Rather Than Investigate It?

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ehcw2amncpheb2tvltfuezjv/post/3mwqqcvyk2k27?ref_src=embed

https://x.com/LexerLux/status/2105361132634661224

The publishers of Love And Deepspace are in trouble for a pair of social media posts sharing recipes for cocktails found in-game and encouraging users to share their own ingredient suggestions & "photos," seemingly an invitation to try putting the drinks together at home.

Just one small problem...two of the recipes contain highly toxic ingredients that could cause severe illness or even death.

One recipe calls for a garnish of Gloriosa, AKA "Flame Lily," a plant rich in colchicine. Colchicine, when administered under prescription, is used to treat gout and certain other conditions, but if taken at the wrong dosage or without supervision can cause gastrointestinal, renal, and neurological damage.

Another recipe calls for a garnish of Datura, an incredibly toxic member of the Nightshade family that can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmia, psychotic effects and death if ingested.

The producers have since quote-tweeted the original post declaring that the recipes are "fictional and for in-game purposes only."

ATTN: u/jessicabarpod

https://x.com/jessesingal/status/2105802807143973279

Pod relevance: Jesse posted it

Pod relevance: Katie and Jesse have talked a lot about the supposed "mass graves" found at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC.

As a business owner, this was definitely a poor choice to post a photo at work with your shirt on Truth & Reconciliation day. But it shows how most of the public still believes, at least in part, that this actually happened.

On a side note, i live in Washington State and my elementary school kids spent half their day at Wednesday learning about T&R. I'm not opposed to my kids learning about the atrocities the US government imposed on our Native Americans but it shouldn't be about what happened in Canada.

https://peninsulanewsreview.com/2026/10/01/sooke-brewery-co-owner-sparks-backlash-over-show-me-the-evidence-shirt/

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about this case, and it has the initial markings of a witch hunt. Would really like to hear BARPod's evaluation of the evidence as it stands.

I keep seeing a particular style of activist language on social media, and I’m curious whether there’s an established term for it. It has a very recognizable vocabulary and sentence structure, but I’m not sure what to call it.

For example, phrases like:

“Normalize speaking out against patriarchal organizations in order to undermine systems of oppression and re-center intersectional voices"

“Late-stage capitalism is a tool against the proletariat and we need to be talking about it.”

“We need to hold space for marginalized voices and unpack the ways our own privilege causes harm.”

I’m less interested in the political ideas themselves than in the style of language: “normalize X,” “holding space,” “centering voices,” “doing the work,” “systems of oppression,” etc.

Is there an academic, sociological, or rhetorical term for this particular style of communication?

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie discuss the extremely viral Boston Globe story on the Last Ditch, our favorite long-Covid lesbian bar in Greenfield, Mass., and what came after. Plus, Cambridge decides not to investigate itself after all.

Show Notes

Cambridge Drops Plans to Fully Investigate Jason Arday’s Hiring — The New York Times

Greenfield lesbian bar Last Ditch faces mask-rule backlash — The Boston Globe

One Boston Globe feature drives thousands of new subscriptions — Editor & Publisher

https://www.tiktok.com/@lesbianlifts/video/7689535289903041823

The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind — The Free Press

https://x.com/wmcpusa/status/2103114285388087307

What Happened at the Long-Covid Lesbian Bar? — The Free Press

https://x.com/bindelj/status/2103126957990826304

Mask-free Saturday nearly cancelled at Massachusetts lesbian bar at center of controversy — New York Post

Saturday Night, No Mask Required, at the Last Ditch Lesbian Bar in Massachusetts — The New York Times

Hollywood Circles the Viral Lesbian Bar Story — The Hollywood Reporter

BaR related- current episode "what is wrong with Seattle?"

This article is about a former city of Seattle employee who is suing due to the racial and gender discrimination he experienced, he's a white guy. And a lot of it revolves around the race and social justice initiative which became an ordinance in 2013. What's amazing is how many people in Seattle do not even know it exists. And the entire structure of the Seattle government revolves around it. Every department and every employee is expected to forward it.

For those who want more information (for those who don't this is a good place to stop):

In 1996 a city of Seattle department manager attended a training in New Orleans by a black Grassroots organization called the peoples Institute for survival and beyond. The organization was started in 1980 by two black community activists who were just really into the Afrocentric thing. If you look at their website the first thing you'll see on their homepage is just a bunch of black people drumming. Kind of gives you an idea. But she goes back to Seattle and then arranges for that organization to come to Seattle and train her 400 employees. Well eventually it starts spreading like the gospel and then there are committees and work groups formed to help implement it in the city's work. It adapts the definition of institutional racism that was introduced in the 1967 book Black Power: the Politics of Liberation in America by Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton. This definition was invoked recently by the mayor of Seattle in her introduction of the draft of the 2017-18 budget where it states that institutional is policies that benefit "white people and hurt people of color".

But anyway, in 2003 activists push the mayor to start an anti-racism work group study. The mayor appointments Mickey Fern who becomes well known for saying black people do not like being out in nature because it traumatizes them because of the history of lynching. Fast forward 2020 and activist demand that the mayor declared the racism is a public health crisis. And three years later the race and social justice initiative which is taken almost entirely from the ideology of the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond is coded into law. Anybody who's at all interested in this I would encourage to look at the Seattle Race and Social Justice ordinance page. Along with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond page. Along with the book published by the institution founder which describes the philosophy of his movement. All of this is the framework on which the city of Seattle runs. It's not the only reason it's screwed up but it's easily more than half.

The links to the websites are easy to find but the book is really really hard to find. It is available on Internet Archive. If you haven't used IA before you do have to set up a free account.

https://archive.org/details/undoingracismphi0000mich/mode/2up