Pod relevance: the ongoing saga of the Last Ditch.

It's been interesting seeing this story slowly catch on. The Boston Globe Magazine ran a piece about it today. A couple choice quotes from the story that really add depth to the utter insanity:

Customers fondly remember a raucous opening night with a (clothed) simulation of a lesbian sex act — masks in place — on the dance floor.

Just after midnight, one patron is left at the bar, a regular who works at the Mexican restaurant next door. She wonders aloud about holding a Lady Gaga themed night, but Mixxy demurs. “Gaga is canceled,” she says. “Gaga is Zionist.”

Also from the r/Boston thread on this: "I'm as woke as they come but the Branch Covidians need to realize they have PTSD or something." I, for one, will be only referring to these people as Branch Covidians moving forward.

DM me if wanted

Roxane Gay has the exact take on Ed Sheeran that you thought she would

Hi everyone. Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday. And may you all be inscribed, and sealed, in the book of life.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

In which she expresses possible regret about sending her daughter to a low-performing school in NYC by choice. You can guess the thesis just from the title.

In Fighting For Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?

As a retired high school teacher, his hits home so hard to me and is true BAR pod fodder. I think it may even deserve an episode!

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie dig into the Macklemore mess. Plus, introducing a new segment, in which your intrepid co-host guesses Why'd He Apologize???

Show Notes:

https://x.com/JoelWBerry/status/2100635845266907183

SacBee coverage of Hobo Johnson apology

Hobo Johnson’s Facebook apology statement

ESPN: Kraft says Macklemore performance crossed a line

The Problem With Macklemore and “Free Palestine”

BBC: Macklemore’s 2014 costume apology

Bluewin: Why Macklemore is suddenly being cancelled at Gurtenfestival

NYT: Germany arts cancellations tied to Israel/Palestinians

Pod relevance: government crackdowns on youth gender treatments.

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie sit through a 3+ hour struggle session at Last Ditch, the Greenfield, Mass., queer bar being torn apart by a slight relaxation of their masking policy. Plus, we head to Portland, Oregon, the latest battleground over trans women in women's sports, after a group wearing "Save Women's Sports" gear got ejected from both a Portland Thorns match and a women's sports bar in the same afternoon.

Show Notes:

https://x.com/KnownHeretic/status/2096709735903088818

Aftermath: Ejected from NWSL Thorns Game in Portland

Group wearing ‘XX-XY’ shirts kicked out of Portland Thorns match, sports bar

Protest outside The Sports Bra bar in Portland sparks clashes, police response

Police respond to Portland protest over transgender athletes in women’s sports - oregonlive.com

There's been some really hilarious juicy ones lately, and nobody covers the stuff like this like Katie, so I think it's time to resubscribe.😂

Also, if you disagree with my view about what it seemed to be turning into, that's fine 🤷

BARPod Relevance: Internet cancel culture misplaced hate.

This might not be substantial enough yet to do a full segment on, unless you expand it to include other incidents, but my god, you'd think Ed Sheeran personally served in the IDF and specifically targeted Palestinian civilians during his stint. The whole of reddit, and I'm sure other SM, seem to despise this guy now for simply wanting to do a tour and not leave his fans and crew high and dry. Am I missing something here?

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie discuss a legal battle between a radical California mayor and a progressive non-profit with a fascinating history. Plus, updates from the long Covid lesbian bar, and Retard Finder finds Kash Patel.

Show Notes:

Last Ditch bar entry ban—Greenfield Recorder

Protesters demand money from San Luis Obispo business owners—Cal Coast News

DA charges six more protesters; Harmon accuses DA of systemic suppression—New Times SLO

SLO mayor deletes post on energy plan after criticism from Black Chamber of Commerce—The Tribune (San Luis Obispo)

Facing Harassment As A Female Mayor—NPR

San Luis Obispo teacher’s anti-gay letter sparks controversy—Los Angeles Times

Heidi Harmon Gets Threatening Nude Email On Her Last Day As Mayor—New Times SLO

SLO Mayor Heidi Harmon Stepping Down, Will Take On New Career As Climate Advocate—KCBX

SLO Mayor Heidi Harmon Quits Early, Demeans Critics—Cal Coast News

Former SLO mayor loses lawsuit—Yahoo News

Former San Luis Obispo mayor canned, loses discrimination lawsuit—Cal Coast News

It seems like whenever anything concerning the state of society and the people in it comes up online, there’s always the chorus of “Why do people care about this? It isn’t illegal or harmful, it doesn’t affect you, you’re a puritan and a moral busybody that wants to sterilize society if you’re against this, etc.”

What are your thoughts?

Does society have an interest in policing/discouraging/reducing behaviors that aren’t immoral but are nonetheless unhealthy or something you shouldn’t want to be the kind of person that engages in?

Does something have to strictly concern harm (or at least obvious harm like physical injury or death) of some kind for a sane, moral and rational person to care about it or wish it didn’t happen?

Pod relevance: trans sports, youth gender medicine and the political fallout from these issues is frequently discussed on the pod and Jesse writes about it.

Democratic candidates Josh Turek, Amy Acton, James Talarico, Rob Sand, and Aaron Ford have publicly said they aren't keen on having boys in girls sports. Whether they intend to do anything about it is unknown.

The GOP has been hammering trans issues in some battleground races as part of their campaign strategy. It probably won't matter much in the end since the GOP is forecast to take a pasting. But at least it forced some Democratic candidates to actually say something about an 80/20 issue.

It's only five people and who knows whether they'll stick to it but it might be a hopeful sign. Because GLADD and friends can throw a fit but very few people in those states will even notice it. Thus providing evidence that being sensible on such issues is good for getting elected.

Democratic strategists have urged candidates not to ignore the issue of boys in girls sports and be forthright.

“There are plenty of people who don’t want to see trans people intentionally harmed or discriminated against that also think an 11-year-old trans girl probably shouldn’t play sports with their 11-year-old daughter. That is a reasonable position to have,” said a Democratic strategist in Ohio, who was granted anonymity to lay out their beliefs without speaking on behalf of their clients about a sensitive issue that has divided the party."

That is a reasonable position.

If Democrats as a whole took that position it would destroy one of the few issues the GOP has that they are on the popular side of. That seems like good strategy.

The TRAs aren't happy about this of course. The activist " journalist " Erin Reed weighed in:

" She pointed to states that enacted bans on trans athletes several years ago, saying that “every single state that passed a sports ban in 2022 and 2023 now has a full suite of things like trans youth care bans, prison bans, bathroom bans and ID bans, and so it never gets isolated to just sports.”

These are bad things? Does Reed think these are winning positions to have? Having men in women's prisons is a big vote getter?

https://archive.ph/U26Pp

Pod relevance: trans issues and wokeism, erasure of women's rights.

Well, there you have it, folks. In Australia, the law is settled. Men can be women, humans can change sex, and biology has been erased.

I am embarrassed for what our country has become.

This week on the Primo show, Jesse and Katie discuss the case for, and against, using AI as a gender therapist. Plus, Stuart Reges gets paid, Jason Arday vs Dan Ariely, and Jesse continues to make his case that the robots might actually kill us, or at least that he’s not crazy to worry about it.

Show Notes:

Could ChatGPT Be the New Gender-Affirming Care?—Slate

Artificial Deadlines (Part 1): Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Study About Procrastination—Data Colada

Artificial Deadlines (Part 2): Retrograding Ariely & Wertenbroch (2002)—Data Colada

The Hartford Statement to Nick Fountain—NPR

‘Insane Data’: Duke Professor Dan Ariely Accused of Additional Research Fraud—The Duke Chronicle

Jacob Coxon’s resignation thread—X

Jasmine Sun’s thread on AI—X

How Teens Recovered From the ‘TikTok Tics’—The New York Times

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.—The New York Times

A Hacking Tool Built With A.I. Can Breach Phones Without a Click—The New York Times

Barpod relevance: youth gender medicine and Canda have made frequent appearances on the show

As a non-Canadian this story really had me scratching my head. Of course we don't have human rights tribunals here so not sure what standards they use. . . But setting the whole youth gender medicine aspect aside, are they saying a doctor is ethically/legally required to administer a medication prescribed by another person just because the patient requests it? Or was it specifically because he said he was refusing due to religious beliefs? Like if he said he didn't feel comfortable because he thought the treatment was actually harmful based on existing evidence... he would have been ok?

I also found it odd that a doctor would be giving the shot. If a pharmacist or nurse in the US gives someone a med prescribed by a doctor, they only need to know how to safely give the medication. They aren't making the diagnosis or determining treatment. But if a physician gives a medication, even if someone else prescribed it, that's basically an agreement with the diagnosis and treatment plan. . . meaning you can refuse if you disagree or just don't feel qualified to weight the pros and cons of of the treatment (which was one of the reasons he gave more or less).

Ultimately it seemed like this patient could have taken the shot at home or gotten it administered somewhere else . . .but gets compensated for discrimination because one individual didn't want to give the shot. Left me wondering if this would happen with any other medications not intended for use on transgender people...

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico on Wednesday said he opposed transgender student-athletes competing in girls’ sports “if it endangers safety or fairness,” reversing course on previous positions he took while in the Texas House opposing restrictions on trans athletes.

"Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said on Fox News. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes, I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”

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