Blocked and Reported

After Katie provides an update about her elderly Trump-and-guns-loving neighbor, the hosts discuss a canine controversy Andrew Yang got himself into that features some of the very most annoying people on Twitter. Then they talk about Facebook's efforts to censor a news article about a Black Lives Matter cofounder's real estate holdings. The back half of the episode is dedicated to Lindsay Ellis's recent social-justice troubles, which, if you squint, are really stupid.Show notes/Links:The controversy that will forever haunt Yang: https://people.com/pets/andrew-yang-defends-giving-up-dog-after-backlash-national-pet-day-post/ NY Post article on Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ real estate purchases: https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/inside-blm-co-founder-patrisse-khan-cullors-real-estate-buying-binge/ Fox News on the censorship: https://www.foxnews.com/media/facebook-bans-sharing-new-york-post-report-blm-co-founder-home-purchases Lindsay Ellis's cancel culture video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7aWz8q_IM4 Ellis v. MovieBob -- lotsa gaslighting and such: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/lindsay-ellis-moviebob-snub This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse makes a shocking announcement (he's leaving the podcast in pursuit of greater glory), the hosts talk about a spate of bad GOP bills seeking to ban puberty blockers and hormones for minors and how difficult it is to communicate accurate, honest information to the public about this subject. Then they discuss a story Jesse wrote for Reason about a particularly crazy campus blowup in which a bunch of innocent white people were traumatized (physically) by disagreement.Jesse explaining why he is against these bills: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/why-the-hard-age-caps-on-youth-gender Jesse annoyed at conservatives 180ing his work: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/conservatives-are-lying-about-what Lupron: https://www.ktnv.com/news/investigations/more-women-come-forward-with-complaints-about-lupron-side-effectsReason story: https://reason.com/2021/04/05/a-professor-pushed-back-against-white-fragility-training-the-college-investigated-her-for-9-months/ FIRE: http://thefire.org/Jeffrey Sachs is good on campus free speech... https://twitter.com/JeffreyASachs...and was recently on The Fifth Column: https://shows.acast.com/wethefifth/episodes/229-w-jeffrey-sachs-how-to-be-a-dictator-anti-woke-hypocrisy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Soul too dead to provide any notes for this one tbh (plus we have notes for the episode we're discussing here). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Katie opens up about a gruesome injury and Jesse tells a story about a listener's travails at an upscale New York City climbing gym, the hosts discuss Jesse's book, which is out on Tuesday. Specifically, they dig into Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, an anti-PTSD Army program that doesn't work, and the implicit association test, an anti-racism test that... doesn't work. Also, it turns out both hosts are kinda scared of bridges, which feels like something they should dig into at some later date.Show notes/Links:THE BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Jesse's AMA on the subreddit about the book:https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/mhyflz/ask_me_anything_about_my_book_the_quick_fix_which/ Jesse's article on the implicit association test:https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.html Jesse on the contact hypothesis: https://www.thecut.com/2017/02/the-contact-hypothesis-offers-hope-for-the-world.html The Robin DiAngelo episode:https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/17 The Robin DiAngelo bonus episode, which is an interview between Katie and a survivor of one of these trainings:https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/bonus2 Kelefa Sanneh on This American Life on diversity trainings:https://www.thisamericanlife.org/648/unteachable-moment This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Jesse and Katie talk about Jesse's inclusion on a very special list of very special bigots, Katie's addition to the ever-growing list of people who got Doyle'd, and an annoyingly one-sided front-page New York Times piece about online censorship. Then they throw to an interview Jesse did with Jon Chait, an excellent writer and thinker who had a big impact on Jesse's own work over the years.Jesse on the disgraceful GLAAD clusterfuck: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/glaad-took-false-previously-disproven Jon Chait - Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say: How the language police are perverting liberalism: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2015/01/not-a-very-pc-thing-to-say.html One of Chait's most recent Russia pieces: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ex-kgb-agent-trump-russian-asset-mueller-putin-kompromat-unger-book.html NYT Mag on Robin DiAngelo: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/magazine/white-fragility-robin-diangelo.html Chait on that piece and Robin DiAngelo: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/antiracism-training-white-fragility-robin-diangelo-ibram-kendi.html Jesse on left-wing identitarianism: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/slate-pete-buttigieg-and-the-limited Chait - An Elite Progressive LISTSERV Melts Down Over a Bogus Racism Charge: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html Moral clarity: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/objectivity-black-journalists-coronavirus.html The tweet that got Lee Fang in trouble: https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1268390704645943297 Chait v. Higgins: https://twitter.com/jonathanchait/status/1329057894164279296 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After reflecting on the podcast turning one whole year old next week, Jesse and Katie talk about the massive online uproar over his (and others') continuing presence on Substack, Katie's impressive Brianna-Wu-related fundraising, and the underappreciated connection between GamerGate and 4chan. Then the hosts discuss media coverage of the awful massage-parlor shootings in Atlanta, and particularly the rush to slot them into an oversimplified race narrative.Please consider preordering Jesse's book The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Jon Kay's big Quillette piece on the rumors about Jesse:https://quillette.com/2021/03/18/the-campaign-of-lies-against-journalist-jesse-singal-and-why-it-matters/ Ryan Broderick’s dishonest article about Substack: https://www.garbageday.email/p/starting-to-think-we-are-acting-likeAn interview of Jesse's Ryan would have benefited from reading:https://www.vulture.com/2016/05/against-me-laura-jane-grace-playing-north-carolina.html Jude Doyle’s dishonest article about Substack: https://doyles.substack.com/p/in-queers-we-trust-all-others-payJude Doyle’s dishonest article about leaving Substack:https://doyles.substack.com/p/necessary-lossesBrianna Wu HAS RECEIPTS:https://twitter.com/briannawu/status/1371452139856392196Katie’s thread on Wu’s DMs about her and Jesse:https://twitter.com/kittypurrzog/status/1371484911773700098Wu’s threatening email to Jesse:https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1371470202030936067Jesse’s story on the Kenneth Zucker clinic:https://www.thecut.com/2016/02/fight-over-trans-kids-got-a-researcher-fired.htmlHerzog’s impressive fundraising efforts:https://twitter.com/kittypurrzog/status/1372583800480301065There appear to be myriad holes in Zoe Quinn’s story about Alec Holowka, who committed suicide after (but not necessarily as a result of) her accusations and his subsequent firing:https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-zoe-quinns-allegations-are-falling-apartFreddie deBoer’s apology:https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/statementFreddie deBoer’s essay about people’s unwillingness to accept his apology:https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/since-you-askedMelissa Jeltsen’s useful and nuanced thread on the massage-parlor shootings and the temptation of simple storytelling:https://twitter.com/quasimado/status/1372536018721734662Whiteness Doesn’t Cause Mass Shootings:https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/11/whiteness-mass-shootings.htmlBasic info on Robert Aaron Long:https://apnews.com/article/georgia-massage-parlor-shootings-leave-8-dead-f3841a8e0215d3ab3d1f23d489b7af81No, a police captain didn’t blame the shooting on a “bad day”:https://reason.com/2021/03/19/aaron-robert-long-spa-killer-atlanta-jay-baker-cop-bad-day/Everyone got the Pulse nightclub shooting wrong:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/5/17202026/pulse-shooting-lgbtq-trump-terror-hate This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After responding to some reader feedback about their last couple episodes, the hosts revisit one of the fiercer left-of-center Twitter controversies of the last half-decade: Woke Twitter vs. Brocialist Twitter. There are alligators! And corncobs! And forgotten and since-humiliated internet microcelebrities! It's quite. A. Ride.Please consider preordering Jesse's book, The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills -- pre- and early orders help a first-time author tremendously: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Show notes/Links:No dice for Neera: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/30/bernie-supporters-seethes-neera-tanden-441603Some of the deleted tweets: https://www.the-sun.com/news/2387776/what-did-neera-tanden-say-in-now-deleted-tweets/"I didn't slug him, I pushed him": https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/us/politics/tanden-sanders-.html Matt Bruenig pointing out the insanity of the Sarah Kendzior claim that set off Jacobinghazi: http://mattbruenig.com/2014/06/08/opportunistic-misreads/ Bruenig calling Kendzior a liar: http://mattbruenig.com/2014/09/23/what-would-it-take-to-make-sarah-kendzior-admit-this-is-not-true/ Wired on The Alligator Tweets: https://www.wired.com/2016/06/wish-unsee-vile-tweet-alligator-attack/ Bruenig loses his job over "scumbag Neera": https://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/matt-bruenig-neera-tanden-joan-walsh-hillary-clinton-223439 Matt Yglesias on Bruenighazi: https://www.vox.com/2016/5/21/11724298/bruenighazi-matt-bruenig-neera-tanden-demos German Lopez on Reid-gate-ghazwhatever: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/27/17286392/joy-reid-msnbc-lgbtq-gay-hack Jesse's brave investigative reporting on corncobs: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/08/why-is-everyone-on-twitter-suddenly-talking-about-corncobs.html Dril: https://twitter.com/dril Al Giordano accusations: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/al-giordano-sexual-harassment-school-of-authentic-journalism_n_5aeb5113e4b041fd2d24580c This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In a bonus interview episode, Jesse interviews Dr. Erica Anderson, a trans woman and Bay-Area-based gender clinician with years of experience working with transgender and gender nonconforming youth. The two discuss the white-hot debate over trans kids, including what comprehensive, compassionate assessment looks like in this field, and how clincians decide when a young person is ready for puberty blockers and/or hormones.Please consider ordering Jesse's book, The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Show notes/Links:Jesse's long article in The Atlantic about youth gender dysphoria: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/ Dr. Erica Anderson's website: https://www.drericaanderson.com/ Her Tretter Transgender Oral History Project video: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll97:194?q=%22Tretter+Transgender+Oral+History+Project+Phase+2%22&sort=title_sort+asc%2C+date_created_sort+desc A Washington Post article quoting Dr. Anderson on the 'trendiness' aspect: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-kids-come-in-saying-they-are-transgender-or-no-gender-these-doctors-try-to-help/2018/01/19/f635e5fa-dac0-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html Jesse's newsletter quoting her on the folly of laws banning youth transition, but also the importance of comprehensive, competent care for TGNC youth: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/why-the-hard-age-caps-on-youth-gender There's an insane amount of misinformatino on this subject: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/a-response-to-foreign-policys-deeply Lisa Littman's rapid onset gender dysphoria study: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202330 The World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care: https://www.wpath.org/publications/soc "In Which I Fail to Find You Any Gate-keeping" by Carey Callahan, a detransitioner: https://medium.com/@mariacatt42/in-which-i-fail-to-find-you-any-gate-keeping-622c447a835f "Gender identity is hard but jumping to medical solutions is worse" by Callahan: https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/12/03/gender-identity-is-hard-but-jumping-to-medical-solutions-is-worse This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Let's put a bow on this Donald McNeil Jr. story. McNeil has fired back with a 20,000-word opus about his travails trying to wrangle a group of young prep-schoolers with very strong feelings about social justice -- and without any booze! What did he really say? How did he say it? How did he handle the girl with the Latino/x boyfriend? Katie and Jesse also discuss media unionization and their exciting upcoming orthodontic endeavors.Show notes/Links:Donald McNeil Jr.'s Medium series: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-one-introduction-57eb6a3e0d95 The Daily Beast's original reporting: https://www.thedailybeast.com/star-new-york-times-reporter-donald-mcneil-accused-of-using-n-word-making-other-racist-comments This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

The liberal landscape is littered with race-related meltdowns. After a correction and an update to last week's Reply All episode, Katie and Jesse discuss Mike Pesca's suspension from Slate and a long, infuriating article in the New York Times about false accusations at Smith College.Reply All’s “The Confetti Cannon” episode:https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/dvh64gThe other side of the argument that Reply All got more political:https://www.reddit.com/r/replyallpodcast/comments/ju3ly4/hot_take_reply_all_is_not_getting_more_political/gca58cv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3Fresh Air on the nature of the protest:https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971319812/reporters-video-from-inside-senate-on-jan-6-shows-a-crowd-prepared-for-violenceNY Times on Deadspin’s implosion: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/business/media/deadspin-was-a-good-website.htmlDefector’s story on Mike Pesca:https://defector.com/mike-pesca-slate-suspended/NY Times on Pesca:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/business/media/slate-mike-pesca-suspended.html“Eschew the Taboo: The pernicious effects of banning words” by Christopher Hitchens:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/12/hatred-will-always-outpace-linguistic-correctness.htmlTa-Nehisi Coates on use/mention:https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/11/to-conversate/66929/John McWhorter on use/mention:https://johnmcwhorter.substack.com/p/the-n-word-as-slur-vs-the-n-wordMargaret Sullivan with a confusing column:https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/mike-pesca-donald-mcneil-n-word-media/2021/02/24/fe89d010-76a1-11eb-8115-9ad5e9c02117_story.html?itid=ap_margaretsullivanStefan Fatsis on this debate in Slate alllllll the way back in 2020:https://slate.com/culture/2020/07/scrabble-offensive-words-ban-player-reaction.htmlThe episode of The Gist where Pesca mentions nonbinary pronouns:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/acosta-out-emily-bazelon-charged-kamala-harris-gun-laws.htmlMichael Powell’s crazy story about Smith College:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.htmlThe ACLU ACLU-ing, hard:https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/smith-college-overhauls-policing-practices-after-blackCathy Young on the "Napping Whilte Black" story at Yale, which was significantly more complicated:https://thebulwark.com/standing-up-to-the-moral-outrage-industry/ Jodi Shaw's latter, as published by Bari Weiss:https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/whistleblower-at-smith-college-resigns Katie on disappearing lesbians:https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/where-have-all-the-lesbians-gone-0a7 Glenn Greenwald on his experience "trending as a transphobe and biphobe":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXXJoOsdoNE&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=GlennGreenwald This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boy. Reply All, an excellent podcast, is melting down. What happened? What does it have to do with Bon Apetit? Why does new keep breaking immediately after Jesse and Katie record an episode? Show notes/Links:Jesse on his rejection:https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1361125261220196356A couple great episodes of Reply All:The Case of the Missing Hit: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2h8bxShine On You Crazy Goldmanhttps://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/2oh933/44-shine-on-you-crazy-goldmanAdam Rapaport resigns (not fired, like Jesse says):https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872697289/chief-editor-at-bon-app-tit-resigns-after-racially-offensive-photo-surfacesTest Kitchen episodes of Reply All:https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/dvhzkdo/172-the-test-kitchen-chapter-1https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/awheda3/173-the-test-kitchen-chapter-2Eric Eddings' thread denouncing Reply All's alleged toxicity:https://twitter.com/eeddings/status/1361789128006897668 Everyone reflexively agreeing with it without knowing whether it is 100% true:https://twitter.com/eeddings/status/1361789128006897668/retweets/with_comments PJ Vogt's apology:https://twitter.com/PJVogt/status/1362233699220258818Sruthi Pinnamaneni's:https://twitter.com/sruthiri/status/1362254842270519296FdB is not A-OK with NYC (media): https://fredrikdeboer.com/2021/02/15/scott-alexander-is-not-in-the-gizmodo-media-slack This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Should Gina Carano have been fired from her job on the hit Star Wars show "A Candalabra" for being a dumb conservative with Boomerlike posting tendencies? The whole crew gets together to discuss. Also, Katie talks about her relationship with an old Trump supporter and Jesse looks back fondly on his grad-school trip to Israel and Palestine that solved that conflict once and for all.Show notes/Links: Bret Stephens in the New York... Post???????: https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/read-the-column-the-new-york-times-didnt-want-you-read/Haywire trailer aka Gina Carano waiing on dudes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpffbDjWlog&ab_channel=MovieclipsTrailersThe redubbing incident: https://www.slashfilm.com/gina-carano-confirms-voice-altered-haywire/ Robby Soave on Carano: https://reason.com/2021/02/11/disney-cancels-the-mandalorian-star-gina-carano-over-provocative-social-media-posts/ Deadline: https://deadline.com/2021/02/mandalorian-gina-carano-lucas-film-responds-to-controversial-statement-1234691898/The "anti-Semitic" post that clearly isn't: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1359701663901245442The Freedom for Humanity mural Carano eventually posted a version of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_for_HumanityA Carano-sympathetic take: https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/people-are-trying-to-cancel-gina-carano-for-what-exactly/Jesse in Ramallah, solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via the healing power of sport: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Jesse and Katie talk about a disturbing bit of listener feedback and the recent departures from the Times, under questionable circumstances, of Andy Mills and Donald McNeil Jr. Are the worst norms of campus culture seeping into major media institutions? To hear the answer, you'll have to listen. (It's 'yes.')(Correction: At around 8:00 in the recording, Jesse originally referred to Rukmini Callamachi as a "woman of color." She isn't one. The error has been snipped out and free listeners will never hear it. Jesse apologizes for the misracing. Also, race is a poisonous fiction.)Show notes/Links:The Cut on Andy Mills: https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/at-wnyc-an-uncertain-path-out-of-scandal.htmlHis resignation note: https://www.andymills.work/resignation The Times on both resignations: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/business/media/donald-mcneil-andy-mills-leave-nyt.html John McWhorter is skeptical of collapsing the use/mention distinction: https://johnmcwhorter.substack.com/p/the-n-word-as-slur-vs-the-n-wordNHJ not great on anonymous sources...: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1358780440774082561 ...or the question of whether the NYT has published "that word" much: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1358781725652975618 Because it has: https://rb.gy/pm6bpc This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse tells Katie a touching story about shoveling food into his face-hole, and the hosts discuss his latest Twitter-feud -- this one with a noted New Yorker food critic (not staff writer) -- the hosts discuss a Slate article about detransition that seems geared at painting that communtiy in a particularly negative and reactionary light. But Cary Callahan, a detransitioner, therapist, and activist (who, to be fair, Katie and Jesse already knew before this all popped up), doesn't think this is a fair assessment, so she joins the pod for a conversation about her own experiences and what she thinks the Slate article misses.Show notes/Links:Jesse criticizes Helen: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1354851768090439684 Helen's thoughtful response forces Jesse to reconsider his position: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1355200463029874693 https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1355974150129655813 The Slate article about detransitioners: https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/02/detransition-movement-star-ex-gay-explained.html Katie's detrans article: https://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/06/28/25252342/the-detransitioners-they-were-transgender-until-they-werent Jesse's detrans article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/ Carey Callahan's excellent stuff:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CareyCallsBS The Economist: https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/12/03/gender-identity-is-hard-but-jumping-to-medical-solutions-is-worse Medium:https://medium.com/@mariacatt42/in-which-i-fail-to-find-you-any-gate-keeping-622c447a835f https://medium.com/@mariacatt42/how-to-do-your-own-differential-diagnosis-and-why-its-total-b******t-that-you-would-have-to-461077985659 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Katie tells Jesse about a very disturbing dream she had about him, the hosts perform some valuable service journalism by explaining to listeners the nature of stonks and bons and hedge funs. Then they turn their attention to the story of Lauren Wolfe, a New York Times gig-editor who was fired after tweeting that watching Joe Biden's plane land gave her the 'chills.' Fair? Unfair? Inconsistently applied standards? Lot to unpack.Show notes/Links:STONKS:https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/stonks https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/the-complete-morons-guide-to-gamestops-stock-roller-coaster/Lauren Wolfe:Yashar Ali's thread: https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1352471654425743361 Josh Shahryar's thread: https://twitter.com/JShahryar/status/1353142366656372741 Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/25/lauren-wolfe-tweet-nyt-dismissal/ Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/inside-the-new-york-times-firing-of-lauren-wolfe Yascha Mounk on the firing of David Shor: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firing-innocent/613615/ Katie on Jack Smith IV: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/09/28/33049349/a-progressive-writer-was-bad-boyfriend-and-then-he-was-fired-for-it This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Katie and Jesse bring on Ethan Watters, an author and freelance journalist who helped debunk the recovered-memory craze back in the 1990s, to discuss the most recent development in that area: an article in The Cut that Watters does not think does a good and accurate job relating the (scant) scientific evidence for recovered memories. The hosts and Watters also discuss certain arguable therapeutic parallels between the recovered-memory movement and treatment for youth gender dysphoria, as well as the general tendency of liberals to violate their "We <3 Science" stance fairly regulary when moral outrage is afoot.Show notes/Links:The Cut article in question: https://www.thecut.com/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.htmlAnd the podcast: https://www.thecut.com/2021/01/the-cut-podcast-the-truth-about-false-memories.htmlEthan's books:Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Monsters-Memories-Psychotherapy-Hysteria/dp/0520205839 Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Crazy-Like-Us/Ethan-Watters/9781416587095 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse addresses the totally baseless rumor that he went to Yale Law School, the best law school in the country, where (in this false scenario) he got very good grades, the hosts talk a bit more about online content moderation and then discuss two recent stories about controversial right-wing media figures: the backfired attempt to deplatform Andy Ngo's book, and the widespread outrage among Politico employees that Ben Shapiro was allowed to author an edition of the Playbook newsletter.Please pre-preorder Jesse's book, The Quick Fix, if you can: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/Show Notes/Links:NY Mag: Why Deplatforming Might Be Useless — Or Worse — When It Comes to Preventing Right-Wing Violence - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/why-deplatforming-might-be-bad-answer-to-right-wing-violence.htmlABC News: Powell's Books says Andy Ngo's book will not be in store - https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/powells-books-andy-ngos-book-store-75239210NY Post: Inside The Suspicious Rise Of Gay Hate Crimes In Portland - https://nypost.com/2019/03/30/inside-the-suspicious-rise-of-gay-hate-crimes-in-portland/UnHerd: The Antifa thugs shame America - https://unherd.com/2021/01/the-antifa-thugs-shame-america/NY Times: The Events Leading to the Shooting of Trayvon Martin - http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/02/us/the-events-leading-to-the-shooting-of-trayvon-martin.htmlBen Shapiro's Politico Playbook: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/01/14/the-real-reason-most-republicans-opposed-impeachment-491399NY Times: Politico Staff Objects After Right-Wing Star Ben Shapiro Writes Newsletter - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/business/media/politico-playbook-ben-shapiro.htmlWashington Post: Politico’s revolt over Ben Shapiro guest-hosting Playbook went too far - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/15/politicos-revolt-over-ben-shapiro-guest-hosting-playbook-went-too-far/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After discussing whether Blocked and Reported led directly to the siege on the Capitol, the hosts discuss that strange, terrifying event. They debate whether it can be safely examined in something of a vaccuum, or should be put in the broader context of what appears to be a rise in political violence in the U.S. They also discuss some of the most unhinged responses. Then they talk about Bean Dad. Remember Bean Dad? We yearn for a world in which Bean Dad is the day's most important story on Twitter.Show notes/Links:Arthur Chu is normal: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1347381484584316929 Clymer backstory (refers to her as male because pre-transition): https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/14/living-by-the-sword/ Hawley book no more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/books/simon-schuster-josh-hawley-b BEAN DAD basic rundown: https://heavy.com/news/john-roderick-bean-dad/ Lit-uh-rull abuse: https://twitter.com/a_queer_ius/status/1345665171390394368 https://twitter.com/timaree_leigh/status/1345623027074142210 Bean Dad's problematic tweets:https://twitter.com/Laura_Nowlin/status/1345831569806733314/photo/1https://twitter.com/flore_rhea/status/1345846499121324032https://twitter.com/CatKnitty/status/1345840464595800064His apology: http://www.johnroderick.com/an-apology This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After reflecting on what a great year 2020 was, except for the many serious hardships Katie endured, the hosts start 2021 with a bang: specifically, a bang that sounds a lot like a racial slur neither of them can say. A white teenager in Virginia didn't get the memo, though -- what should the punishment be, if any? Then Jesse and Katie turn their attention to a story that is rather 'picante': Hilaria Baldwin's attempt at identity-forgery. What an estupido time to be alive!Show notes/Links:The New York Times: A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/us/mimi-groves-jimmy-galligan-racial-slurs.html Reason: The New York Times Helped a Vindictive Teen Destroy a Classmate Who Uttered a Racial Slur When She Was 15 - https://reason.com/2020/12/28/new-york-times-racial-slur-teen-jimmy-galligan-mimi-groves/ The New York Times: The Hilaria Baldwin Story: ‘I’m Living My Life’ - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/style/hilaria-baldwin-interview.html Aura Bogado's tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/aurabogado/status/1342554505880064000 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In a very special holiday episode, Jesse relates the story of Hanukkah to Katie, his ignorant Gentile friend, with stunning 100% accuracy. Then Jesse makes a fun announcement and an angry announcement. Then the hosts throw to a lengthy interview they did with Aella (@aella_girl on Twitter), a sex worker, OnlyFans one-percenter, and occasional rationalist provocateur who has lived a very interesting life. They talk about drugs and sex and life and online controversy. Plus, Julie Bindel pops in to raise issues with certain contemporary understandings of sex work.Show notes/Links:Aella on Twitter: @aella_girl Playboy: When Camming Is The Family Business: https://www.playboy.com/read/when-camming-is-the-family-business-1 Grace Lavery's 'response' to Jesse: https://twitter.com/graceelavery/status/1340001379998416903 She admits part of it was wrong but won't retract and then nukes the account she admitted that with: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1340355044433137667 Oh and Grace threatens to sue Jesse: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1340073029544636424 James Palmer does not like Jesse but his magazine looks set to do the right thing regardless: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1342167962803965953 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In a true sign that anything is possible in this crazy universe of ours, the hosts note that there were some errors in the previous episode and explain exactly what they were (to see them explained in written form, check out that episode's show notes). Then they discuss some mental-health-talk from Jesse that rubbed one reader the wrong way and continue on to the show's main event: a major court decision on youth gender dysphoria in England and an incredibly shoddy article in Foreign Policy about it.(Corrections 10:10 pm 12/18/2020: In the course of correcting last week's episode, we managed to introduce not one but two new errors, and just uploaded a new version in which Jesse breaks in twice to explain them. First, Timnit Gebru's PhD is not in computer science, but rather in electrical engineering. This was just plain sloppiness on someone's part, possibly Jéssé's. Second, Gebru started at Google in 2018, not 2019. In this case, our excuse is that both The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review wrote that she was hired "last year." This is false, and thank you to the Google employee who reached out to correct us and pointed us to a 2018 tweet in which Gebru talks about her early days at Google. Wired has this right.)Show notes/Links:Bell v Tavistock, the ruling at issue: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bell-v-Tavistock-Judgment.pdf A High Court Decision in Britain Puts Trans People Everywhere at Risk: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/15/uk-transphobia-transgender-court-ruling-puberty-blockers/ Jesse's newsletter posts on key aspects of this controversy:A Response To Foreign Policy's Deeply Misleading Article, "A High Court Decision in Britain Puts Trans People Everywhere at Risk": https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/a-response-to-foreign-policys-deeply No, desistance hasn't been debunked, and no, there's no evidence it's all that rare:Part: 1 https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/how-science-vs-made-two-gender-dysphoria Part 2: https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/how-science-vs-accidentally-invented This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

For thousands of years, a small cabal of middle-aged lesbians known as 'TERFs' has been quietly pulling the strings behind the scenes, dictating the outcomes of major world events. They have one goal, and one goal alone: harming gender-nonconforming people. And unlike other political groups, who express their views with patience, reason, nuance, and logic, and who never harass anyone online, TERFs play dirty -- always. In this episode, Katie and Jesse applaud a brave expose in The Atlantic that finally pulls the curtain back on this dastardly coven of unhinged she-devils.The Atlantic: The Secret Internet Of TERFs - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/12/reddit-ovarit-the-donald/617320/4W: My Whole Conversation With Kaitlyn Tiffany Of The Atlantic - https://4w.pub/my-whole-conversation-with-kaitlyn-tiffany-for-the-atlantic4W: Fired For Feminism - https://4w.pub/fired-for-feminism/4W: Non-Binary Is the New “Not Like Other Girls,” and it’s Deeply Rooted in Misogyny - https://4w.pub/non-binary-is-the-new-not-like-other-girls-and-its-deeply-rooted-in-misogyny/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

A major blowup at at Google led to the firing or resignation (depending on who you ask) of Timnit Gebru and accusations that the company's social-justice efforts are performative at best. But behind the scenes, some Googlers are telling a different, slightly more complicated story. Who's right? Katie and Jesse bring on Jon Stokes, an Ars Technica founder who is much better connected in the tech world than they are, to help explain this tangled controversy. (Correction: In the original version of this episode we posted for our patrons, our guest, Jon Stokes, wrongly described Timnit Gebru's academic background as being in sociology, with her having also done some work in computer science. That should have been flipped: She has a PhD from the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, but has done plenty of work that intersects with sociology. Jon also said she was educated at M.I.T., but all her degrees are from Stanford. Whenever an error makes it into the final show, that is 100% the fault of hosts, and we apologize. We've snipped out the audio containing the errors and added a link to Gebru's Stanford page to the top of the show notes.) (More corrections, 12/18/2020: In the original versions of this pocast, both free and patrons-only, Jon also said at approximately 20:40 that Gebru had been at Google since 2016, though he hedged this with an "I think.". She had actually only been at Google since 2019 [YIKES -- actually 2018. Listen to the updated episode for a correction of the correction]. At about 56:30 [free version timestamp], he laid out a storyline, which he presented as informed speculation, in which Jeffrey Dean, head of Google AI, had promised Gebru and some of her allies in 2016 that they could do ethical work. Then, in this telling, Google pivoted to AI, and as a result Gebru and her colleagues' work was seen as a liability and came under more scrutiny. But that storyline doesn’t quite work, as Jon presented it, given that Gebru only arrived at Google in 2019, well after Sundar Pichai announced the company would be “AI first” in 2016. We've snipped out the audio containing these errors and will be discussing all of this episode's errors on the free episode of the podcast set to go live 12/21/2020, and earlier for patrons.)Show notes/Links:Timnit Gebru's background: https://ai.stanford.edu/~tgebru/ Jon Stokes: https://twitter.com/jonst0kes His site, The Prepared: http://www.theprepared.com The New York Times: Google Chief Apologizes for A.I. Researcher’s Dismissal - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/technology/timnit-gebru-google-pichai.html The New York Times: Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I. - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html Wired: Behind the Paper That Led to a Google Researcher’s Firing - https://www.wired.com/story/behind-paper-led-google-researchers-firing/ Platformer: The withering email that got an ethical AI researcher fired at Google - https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-an-ethical MIT Technology Review: We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says. - https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013294/google-ai-ethics-research-paper-forced-out-timnit-gebru/ Twitter: Yann LeCun on the data problem - https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1274782757907030016 Twitter: Gebru disagrees - https://twitter.com/timnitGebru/status/1274808654227619840 (Note: As of 10:45 a.m. on Saturday I'm having trouble finding the throaway Reddit posts we mention, but when I do I'll add those as well. Update: Thanks, John, for posting this in the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/k77sxz/d_timnit_gebru_and_google_megathread/gepq3u8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

One would not expect an online community devoted to discussion of dragons, vampires, and teenage heroes to be a cesspool of almost unimaginable toxicity. And yet! In this episode, Jesse walks Katie through a recent history of young adult fiction Twitter, aka "YA Twitter," and attempts to explain how it got to be such a Hobbesian hellscape. The latest scandal involves Jessica Cluess, a YA author falsely accused of racism and violent speech, and the opportunistic authors, consultants, and agents rushing to denounce her in as colorful and overwrought a manner as possible.Show notes/Links:Please pre-order Jesse's book, "The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills," if you can: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374239800?aff=macmillan Or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Fix-Psychology-Cant-Social/dp/0374239800/ Vulture: The Toxic Drama on YA Twitter - https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html Tablet: How a Twitter Mob Derailed an Immigrant Female Author’s Budding Career - https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-a-twitter-mob-destroyed-a-young-immigrant-female-authors-budding-career Reason: Teen Fiction Twitter Is Eating Its Young - https://reason.com/2019/05/05/teen-fiction-twitter-is-eating-its-young/ Reason: He Was Part of a Twitter Mob That Attacked Young Adult Novelists. Then It Turned on Him. Now His Book Is Canceled. - https://reason.com/2019/02/28/he-was-part-of-a-twitter-mob-that-attack/ Reason: A Review of a Book That Will Never Be Published, Thanks to the Young Adult Twitter Mob - https://reason.com/2019/03/15/a-review-of-a-book-will-never-be-publish/ Twitter stuff:Jessica Cluess' apology: https://twitter.com/JessCluess/status/1333906316247457794 Brooks Sherman denouncing Cluess but not dropping her: https://twitter.com/byobrooks/status/1333967020258373632 Brooks Sherman denouncing Cluess, amplifying a false rumor about her, and dropping her: https://twitter.com/byobrooks/status/1334685571449556994 Some tweetstorms by Jesse running down some highlights of the craziness:https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334156650467520513 https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334356668273070081 https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1334642155437101058 YA Twitter's Victims and Critics Speak Up (four-part series on Singal-Minded):https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-855 https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-4b5 https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/ya-twitters-victims-and-critics-speak-c56 Advertisers:dental products! - https://www.getquip.com/barpod bidets! - https://hellotushy.com/barpod This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After a very tense intro during which Jesse berates Katie for not being there when he needed her most, the hosts discuss a Vice News story about staffers at Penguin Random House Canada so overwhelmed by the existence of Jordan Peterson's new book that they broke down crying, and Guardian staffers so overwhelmed by the existence of a debate over certain claims about sex and gender that they drove columnist Suzanne Moore out. Show notes/Links:Vice World News: Penguin Random House Staff Confront Publisher About New Jordan Peterson Book - https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bv3x/penguin-random-house-staff-confront-publisher-about-new-jordan-peterson-book UnHerd: Why I had to leave The Guardian - https://unherd.com/2020/11/why-i-had-to-leave-the-guardian/The Guardian: Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced - https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2020/mar/02/women-must-have-the-right-to-organise-we-will-not-be-silencedSuzanne Moore's Substack: https://suzannemoore.substack.com/p/pull-up-a-chairThe Guardian: The Guardian view on the Gender Recognition Act: where rights collide - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/17/the-guardian-view-on-the-gender-recognition-act-where-rights-collide The Guardian U.S.: Why we take issue with the Guardian’s stance on trans rights in the UK - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/guardian-editorial-response-transgender-rights-uk Advertisers:Bidets! http://hellotushy.com/barpod Dental stuff! https://www.getquip.com/barpod HR services for your small business! https://www.bambee.com/blockedandreported This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After the hosts celebrate a major achievement and Jesse goes on a little rant that is Super Political, Katie and Jesse delve into three stories of profound internet nonsense involving privileged white people doing antiracism, a Toronto editor VERY mad about a new broth-joint, and some of Twitter's most neurotic people getting super mad about Barack Obama's college conduct.Show notes/Links:The New York Times: G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/politics/senate-intelligence-russian-interference-report.html The Phinney Neighborhood Association: Anti-racism work updates: Eliminating racist symbolism - https://www.phinneycenter.org/eliminating-racist-symbolism/ blogTO: New Toronto clothing store ditches broth bar after cultural appropriation complaints - https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/11/toronto-clothing-store-ditches-broth-bar-cultural-appropriation-complaints/ (Update: It's down. Try this cached link: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:p0Tmb1vnPZoJ:https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/11/toronto-clothing-store-ditches-broth-bar-cultural-appropriation-complaints/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.)Twitter: "The way Obama writes about women here ... uh. Wow." - https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1328900134575480835 Advertising links:http://getquip.com/BARPOD for $15 off dental-product refills with a purchase from the Quip online storehttp://bambee.com/blockedandreported for a free HR-audit for your small business This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Katie talks about her new dog-testicles-centered newsletter, the hosts discuss the latest events in the ongoing saga of Helen Lewis's voice getting erased by Ubisoft. Now that Rock Paper Shotgun has sacked a 13-year freelancer for the crime of being sympathetic to Lewis in the site's comments section, it's fair to ask: Does it make sense to fire people for expressing majority opinions? (No. No it doesn't.) Then Katie and Jesse discuss an article in New York Magazine about the internal tumult at The New York Times that, like everything else which happens in this crazy world of ours, simply proves the hosts were right all along. Plus: Jesse is triggered by a leaked screenshot from the Times' #diversity slack channel in which he is denounced for wrongthink.Moose Nuggets: https://moosenuggets.substack.com/ Rock Paper Shotgun: Watch Dogs Legion is booting a journalist off its fictional radio - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/11/06/watch-dogs-legion-is-booting-a-journalist-off-its-fictional-radioTim Stone disagrees in the comments: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/11/06/watch-dogs-legion-is-booting-a-journalist-off-its-fictional-radio/#comment-3120763RPS announces his sacking: https://twitter.com/rockpapershot/status/1326211540689821698New York Magazine: Inside the New York Times' Heated Reckoning With Itself - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/inside-the-new-york-times-heated-reckoning-with-itself.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In a very special episode, Katie and Jesse discuss a long, stupid week in which democracy had its way with the American people, vigorously and repeatedly. What should we make of the fact that, while Joe Biden is on the brink of victory, the election was closer than many expected and the Democrats were denied their "blue wave"? Is it because of the patriarchy? White supremacy? Wokeness? Minorities who cling annoyingly to 'agency' and "interpreting the world through their own values, rather than the media's?" Also: Jesse dissects Donald Trump's incredibly lazy, half-assed meltdown, and the hosts debate whether "Voter fraud stole the election for Biden!" is the new "The Russians stole the election for Trump!"(Quick note to patrons: This is the first episode we're doing with an ad break in the middle. Near the top, you'll hear us explain our general ad policy, just so it's clear, but you won't hear the ad itself, during this or any other episode. At the very, very bottom of the Patreon show notes of every episode with an ad, we'll put a one-line link to any applicable promo codes, simply because this is an easy way to support the podcast if you're already in the market for (to take this week's example) dental products. But other than that, you'll be completely unmolested by ads.)Show notes/Links:Katie's new newsletter: http://moosenuggets.substack.comThe Week: The left just got crushed - https://theweek.com/articles/947824/left-just-got-crushedChaos and recriminations on a Democratic caucus conference call: https://twitter.com/ericawerner/status/1324439295847968768The New York Times: Exit Polls Point to the Power of White Patriarchy - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/opinion/election-2020-exit-polls.htmlAdvertising link:http://getquip.com/BARPOD for $15 off dental-product refills with a purchase from the Quip online store This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse tells Katie a harrowing story about his recent journey into the heart of 'Manhattan,' the hosts discuss Glenn Greenwald's departure from The Intercept, an outlet he helped found back in 2014. Was this a case of censorship, as Greenwald argues, or did he overreact to standard editorial input? Then they turn their attention to Section 230, a law that made the internet what it is today (for better and for worse), and which seems to be attracting bipartisan ire of late, especially among people who don't really understand technology.Greenwald's posts on this controversy:My Resignation From The Intercept - https://greenwald.substack.com/p/my-resignation-from-the-interceptArticle on Joe and Hunter Biden Censored By The Intercept - https://greenwald.substack.com/p/article-on-joe-and-hunter-biden-censoredEmails With Intercept Editors Showing Censorship of My Joe Biden Article - https://greenwald.substack.com/p/emails-with-intercept-editors-showingThe Intercept: Glenn Greenwald Resigns From The Intercept (pushing back on some of GG's claims) - https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/glenn-greenwald-resigns-the-intercept/Reason's coverage of Section 230: https://reason.com/tag/section-230/Slate: Revising the Law That Lets Platforms Moderate Content Will Silence Marginalized Voices - https://slate.com/technology/2020/10/section-230-marignalized-groups-speech.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Lotta dicks this week. After addressing some reader reactions to their The 1619 Project segment last week, Katie and Jesse critique the idea of "involuntary conservatives" so enraged by wokeness that they have to vote for Donald Trump. Then the hosts turn their attention to a salacious media story involving a certain New Yorker staff writer and, well, there's no more polite way to put this, but, um, his penis.James Lindsay: "Frankly going to unhappily vote Republican, including Trump, until the left walks this s**t all the way back." - https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1318412252903604226Eric Weinstein: "InCons are a force this year. Involuntary conservatives are real. As I’ve told you: the failure to condemn @MayorJenny & @tedwheeler, acknowledge ANTIFA, admit to media bias or to level about cognitive issues etc. in a near octogenarian has created the Never-Trump Trump voter."https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1318590052511854594Dave Rubin: "Tyranny is here. Vote every Democrat out of office at every level everywhere. That is the only way to get things to start turning around. Or live like sheep going to slaughter, your call." - https://twitter.com/RubinReport/status/1318743358911574017Vice: New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Masturbating on Zoom Call - https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdgm4/new-yorker-suspends-jeffrey-toobin-for-zoom-dick-incidentThe Stranger: Seattle Times Reporter Mike Rosenberg Suspended over Twitter Messages - https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/05/06/40121238/seattle-times-reporter-mike-rosenberg-suspended-over-twitter-messages This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Well? Is he? Katie and Jesse discuss The Bone Man's recent, controversial tweet, revisit his glorious recent internet-history, talk about their own experiences with left- versus-right-wing haters and obsessives, and -- God help us all -- revisit certain aspects of GamerGate.Ken Bone: "All morning the Trump supporters have been nice to me even though I don't like Trump. The Biden camp has been shitting all over me because I don't like Biden. Do these people really not see how much this behavior pushes bystanders toward the right?" - https://twitter.com/kenbone18/status/1313858537991401475 INSIDE JOKE CLUE: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/inside-the-near-meltdown-of-the-feminist-tour-in-australia.html NY Mag: Gamergate May Have Just Won Its Most Disgraceful Scalp Yet (Updated) - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/03/this-looks-like-a-disgraceful-gamergate-win.htmlJesse "behaves like a predator" because he tried to get comment for a story: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/724818516189261824/photo/1 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Katie and Jesse discuss the recent and not-so-recent controversy over The 1619 project, the reputational perils of getting in constant fights with idiots on Twitter, and the tangled story of Hunter Biden, a blind guy at a laptop-repair shop, and a controversial New York Post story. Along the way, Jesse engages in some shockingly casual anti-Ukrainianism.The New York Times: The 1619 Project - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.htmlThe New York Times: The 1619 Chronicles - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/opinion/nyt-1619-project-criticisms.htmlThe Washington Post: How the 1619 Project took over 2020 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/1619-project-took-over-2020-inside-story/2020/10/13/af537092-00df-11eb-897d-3a6201d6643f_story.htmlThe World Socialist Web Site's coverage of the controversy: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awsws.org+%221619+project%22&oq=site%3Awsws.org+%221619+project%22&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.5606j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8The New York Times: On Recent Criticism of The 1619 Project- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/magazine/criticism-1619-project.html (note: this one went up after we recorded the episode)New York Post: Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad - https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/PolitiFact: A look behind the NY Post headline about Joe Biden and a Ukraine meeting - https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/oct/15/look-behind-ny-post-headline-about-joe-biden-and-u/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

[Update, 12:10 a.m.: For some reason the version I initially uploaded cut off before the actual ending. Apologies, but everything is fixed now. -J] The hosts discuss the Katie Hill revenge-porn/throuple scandal, which has gotten yet more scandalous in light of a tweetstorm supposedly authored by her former staffers (who are not fans), as well as Facebook's decision to ban QAnon from that platform and Instagram.The tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/RepKatieHill/status/1313703826646466562Politico: Anonymous ‘former staff’ of Katie Hill slam film adaptation of ex-congresswoman’s book - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/07/anonymous-former-katie-hill-staff-film-adaptation-427038The New York Times: Facebook Amps Up Its Crackdown on QAnon - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/technology/facebook-qanon-crackdown.htmlThe New York Times: QAnon Believers Say Being Banned From Facebook Is Proof of the Conspiracy - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/technology/qanon-believers-say-being-banned-from-facebook-is-proof-of-the-conspiracy.htmlReply All: County of Liars - https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhe5nm This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After a brief and sober discussion about President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis, the hosts devote most of the episode to two stories: a controversy surrounding a partially anonymous Arc Digital review of Kate Manne's new book Entitled that has led to accusations of obsession and WAR, and the blowup that ensued -- complete with a gleeful threat of mass executions in the streets! -- after the head of Coinbase took the radical stance that his company's purpose is to make money, not do progressive politics. Also: Katie sticks up for Jesse on Twitter without Jesse's awareness, New York Times staffers fail to revolt after a column that could Literally Endanger Lives is published, Jesse tries to get into the impressions game and almost commits a war crime in the process, and more.Show notes/Links:Arc Digital: Mannesplaining - https://arcdigital.media/mannesplaining-87d1cbf3f7ab Some of the relevant tweets: Jill Filipovic on the anonymity, Arc responds, Arc on the blocking, Jason Stanley on the 'war' (Arc, um, responds again), and Stanley on the 'obsession.' Arc Digital: Don’t Publish Personal Attacks Based on Misinformation - https://arcdigital.media/dont-publish-personal-attacks-based-on-misinformation-54cd66f7278c Coinbase is a mission focused company: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804 Forbes: Some Business Leaders Should Face A Firing Squad, Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Suggests In Angry Tweet - https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/10/01/some-business-leader-should-face-a-firing-squad-former-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo-suggests-in-angry-tweet/#247301c97b94 Coindesk: Relief and Regret: Crypto Twitter Reacts as Coinbase Says ‘No’ to Corporate Activism - https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-twitter-coinbase-corporate-activism This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Katie tells the story of her 12-hour banishment from Twitter for a biting piece of political commentary, the hosts discus "TFW No GF," a controversial documentary about losers who post too much online, some of whom are so-called incels, or involuntary celibates. When should we have empathy for people who disgust us (like podcasters)? Then they turn their attention to the controversy over J.K. Rowling's newest mystery novel, which, depending on who you ask, is either horrifically transphobic or not transphobic at all. As usual, the only two moral arbiters with enough integrity to cut through the online noise are on the case, telling you exactly what to think. (Minor correction: In the episode, Jesse refers to Ray Blanchard as 'Canadian,' but he was born in New Jersey and settled in Canada later on.)TFW No GF: https://www.amazon.com/TFW-No-Alex-Lee-Moyer/dp/B087N4632QJacobin: A Portrait of the Breakdown of Hope and Meaning in America - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/09/tfw-no-gf-incel-moyer-documentaryJill Filipovic's tweet: https://twitter.com/JillFilipovic/status/1307725535561293824Glenn Greenwald's rejoinder: https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1307761101979910145 The Telegraph: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith, review: JK Rowling fails to Strike again - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/troubled-blood-robert-galbraith-review-jk-rowling-fails-strike/The Daily Beast: How Transphobic Is J.K. Rowling’s New Novel, ‘Troubled Blood?’ Very. - https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-transphobic-is-jk-rowlings-new-novel-troubled-blood-veryThe Spectator: JK Rowling’s latest novel isn’t ‘transphobic’ - https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/j-k-rowling-s-latest-novel-isn-t-transphobic- This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Katie and Jesse discuss the online outrage surrounding the French film 'Cuties,' which has slightly more underage twerking than most 2020 cinematic releases. How did this film come to unite such a broad swath of people in disgust? What is Ted Cruz's strategy for getting the American government to investigate a French filmmaker? Then the hosts speak with Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown about the broader American sex-trafficking panic that seems to partly explain the reaction to 'Cuties.' Plus: the science of pedophilia. It's a light episode, top to bottom.YouTube: Cuties | Official Trailer | Netflix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0O7lLe4SmA&ab_channel=NetflixKXXV: Sen. Ted Cruz calls for a criminal investigation into Netflix film 'Cuties' - https://www.abcactionnews.com/entertainment/sen-ted-cruz-calls-for-a-criminal-investigation-into-netflix-film-cutiesYouTube: 'Cuties' Movie: Deconstructing The Culture w/Ben Shapiro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asxBUrx-Wfg&ab_channel=TheDailyWireReason: The War on Sex Trafficking Is the New War on Drugs - https://reason.com/2015/09/30/the-war-on-sex-trafficking-is/Reason: Enough Stranger Danger! Children Rarely Abducted by Those They Don't Know - https://reason.com/2017/03/31/kidnapping-stats/Reason (on YouTube): Ashton Kutcher Helped Promote a Bogus Sex Trafficking Claim. Will We Ever Shake It? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKnWByMs4DQ&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=ReasonTVReason: Secret Memos Show the Government Has Been Lying About Backpage All Along - https://reason.com/2019/08/26/secret-memos-show-the-government-has-been-lying-about-backpage/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

The hosts discuss Donald Trump's sudden fixation on ostensibly "un-American" critical race theory in government diversity trainings. What does a good-faith critique of these trainings look like that doesn't slide into fearmongering or red-scare-esque grandstanding and witch-hunting? Will the politicization of everything prevent people from focusing on what matters, which is whether these trainings work or cause harm? Also: A Vice story about an allegedly satanic Airbnb is super, duper racist, or so we hear.New York Magazine: Psychology’s Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn’t Up to the Job - https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.htmlNPR: NYPD Study: Implicit Bias Training Changes Minds, Not Necessarily Behavior - https://www.npr.org/2020/09/10/909380525/nypd-study-implicit-bias-training-changes-minds-not-necessarily-behaviorTake the Implicit Association Test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.htmlOur episode on Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility": https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/17Our episode interviewing the victim of a DiAngelo training: https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/bonus2Scott O. Lilienfeld: Psychological Treatments That Cause Harm - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=FC896FFD11373F2E8A80CB54A8D316C6?doi=10.1.1.531.9405&rep=rep1&type=pdfJezebel: 'Is the UVA Rape Story a Gigantic Hoax?' Asks Idiot - https://jezebel.com/is-the-uva-rape-story-a-gigantic-hoax-asks-idiot-1665233387Vice New: We Talked to the Host Accused of Doing “Satanic Rituals” In His Airbnb - https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/m7jnmb/we-talked-to-the-host-accused-of-doing-satanic-rituals-in-his-airbnbThe very serious racism accusation against Vice News: https://twitter.com/FredTJoseph/status/1304051476466073601 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse reveals yet another shocking secret about his mysterious life, the hosts discuss the case of Jessica Krug, a George Washington University professor who appears to have admitted to pulling a Rachel Dolezal: she pretended to be black. What a mess! But perhaps not all that shocking in our identity-obsessed age. Then the hosts respond, in depth, to an email from a reader who wants to be talked out of voting for Donald Trump, sparking an uncharacteristically earnest discussion about the upcoming election and why the right choice isn't a close call.Medium: The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies - https://medium.com/@jessakrug/the-truth-and-the-anti-black-violence-of-my-lies-9a9621401f85The Cut: There’s a New Rachel Dolezal - https://www.thecut.com/2020/09/historian-jessica-krug-admits-to-posing-as-a-black-woman.htmlVice: In Rachel Dolezal's Skin - https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvz79j/rachel-dolezal-profile-interviewThe weird right-wing rally Jesse stumbled upon next to City Hall in Manhattan: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DvdsAiHR1P4bfbED8 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In today's patrons-only episode, Jesse interviews Justin Tosi, a philosopher at Texas Tech University and the author, with Brandon Warmke, of the new book Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk. After discussing the book, Jesse and Justin move on to a broader conversation about the current, precarious moment for open inquiry in academia, as well as the turn toward activism in philosophy that has Justin worried about his field.Show notes/Links:Amazon: Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk - https://www.amazon.com/Grandstanding-Use-Abuse-Moral-Talk/dp/0190900156/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Twitter: A student gets a meeting with her dean after complaining about a syllabus that doesn't have the right racial breakdown - https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1300126499215937538YouTube: Gender Critical | Daniel Kaufman & Jesse Singal [Sophia] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ9MzhwflI4Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ergo/12405314.0005.014?view=text;rgn=mainJesse referenced the wrong NBA player in the episode -- it was Stephen Curry, not Steve Nash. See: "It tacitly communicates that at no point in time is Paige like Hillary Clinton or Catherine McGregor or any other woman (for whom she would be used); and likewise, that at no point in time is Paige like Stephen Curry or John Oliver (for whom he would be used). In short, if we use he or she for anyone, we either risk misgendering Paige with he or she, or we go back to the inegalitarian option of using a third catchall." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After an intro in which Jesse impresses Katie deeply with a brilliant, cutting-edge character he has clearly put a lot of time into developing, the hosts discuss a hellish few days in Kenosha, Wisconsin: first, the police shooting of Jacob Blake, and then Kyle Rittenhouse's killing of two protesters. Doesn't there have to be a better way for police to resolve altercations like the one that ensued with Blake? And will the unrest in Kenosha increase the chances Donald Trump is elected (Katie's view), or is there not yet much evidence to suggest it will (Jesse's)? Plus: You will never guess whether or not the hosts think mainstream outlets are doing a good job covering all this.Show notes/Links:The New York Times: Jacob Blake Was Shackled in Hospital Bed After Police Shot Him - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/us/jacob-blake-shackles-assault.html (lots of details about the overall context)The New York Post: This is why Jacob Blake had a warrant out for his arrest - https://nypost.com/2020/08/28/this-is-why-jacob-blake-had-a-warrant-out-for-his-arrest/ NYT: Tracking the Suspect in the Fatal Kenosha Shootings - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-shooting-video.html CNN: Kenosha shooting suspect faces more homicide charges - https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/us/kenosha-wisconsin-shooting-suspect/index.html Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Wisconsin's open-carry laws, self defense and more in Kenosha protest shootings - https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2020/08/26/wisconsin-open-carry-law-kyle-rittenhouse-legally-have-gun-kenosha-protest-shooting-17-year-old/3444231001/ (though see following links as well)PolitiFact: Did Kyle Rittenhouse break the law by carrying an assault-style rifle in Kenosha? - https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/aug/28/facebook-posts/did-kyle-rittenhouse-break-law-carrying-assault-st/ (note this from the end, indicating ambiguity: "Whether Rittenhouse violated Wisconsin law by possessing a firearm underage is the subject of ongoing litigation.") On the question of whether the misdemeanor doesn't apply here, the action seems to be in this bit from the Wisconsin state code: "This section applies only to a person under 18 years of age who possesses or is armed with a rifle or a shotgun if the person is in violation of s. 941.28 or is not in compliance with ss. 29.304 and 29.593." The argument is that those other conditions don't apply, Rittenhouse wasn't in violation, but we'll get a clear answer on this when he is or isn't convicted. Simple Justice: Prickett: Update on Kenosha - https://blog.simplejustice.us/2020/08/28/prickett-update-on-kenosha/ (legal analysis of both the Blake and Rittenhouse cases) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In this week's episode, Jesse addresses an ugly rumor about him posted to Blocked and Reported's Apple Podcast review page. Then the hosts discuss Conor Friedersdorf's article in The Atlantic, "Anti-racist Arguments Are Tearing People Apart," which centers around the accusation that it was racist for a white man to bounce his friend's black baby on his lap during a Zoom call (really!). In the episode's main segment, Katie unspurls the yearslong battle between Cliff Mass and seemingly every progressive in the Seattle metro area, which recently culminated in his media-gig firing after he made an..................... unfortunate comparison on his personal blog. Also: Jesse does a rim-rocking dunk, the hosts discuss a potential cargo-shorts-related spinoff podcast, racist babies are denounced, and Katie unspurls the story of how she was blacklisted from a Seattle radio station.Show notes/Links:The Atlantic: Anti-racist Arguments Are Tearing People Apart - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/meta-arguments-about-anti-racism/615424/ The Stranger: Cliff Mass Says Whatever He Wants (2011) - https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cliff-mass-says-whatever-he-wants/Content?oid=8309158 KIRO: UW Prof. Cliff Mass called racist for opposing carbon tax initiative (2011) - https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cliff-mass-says-whatever-he-wants/Content?oid=8309158 The Stranger: Cliff Mass's Responses to Women Scientists Make Seattle's Climate Change Discussions Toxic - https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/cliff-mass-says-whatever-he-wants/Content?oid=8309158 The Stranger: Cliff Mass Blames Liberals for the Lack of Progress on Climate Change - https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/06/25457183/cliff-mass-blames-liberals-for-the-lack-of-progress-on-climate-change The Stranger: The Culture of Harassing and Demeaning Women Scientists - https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/11/17/25572044/the-culture-of-harassing-and-demeaning-women-scientists Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The University of Washington Should Not Censor Faculty Social Media - https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-university-of-washington-should-not.html KNKX: KNKX Public Editor report: science, politics, and Weather with Cliff Mass - https://www.knkx.org/post/knkx-public-editor-report-science-politics-and-weather-cliff-mass Cliff Mass Weather Blog: A City in Fear Can Be Restored - https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/08/seattle-city-in-fear-can-be-restored.html KNKX: KNKX to stop airing Weather with Cliff Mass, effective immediately - https://www.knkx.org/post/knkx-stop-airing-weather-cliff-mass-effective-immediately Cliff Mass Weather Blog: My Firing at KNKX - https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/08/my-firing-at-knkx.html Petition trying to get Mass fired from his job as a professor - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WIZgiqt1wkyOdx369sSJeIPFoQ8Wr-RA3wKZzJ5uxHU/edit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In this week's threesome of an episode, which was recorded with enthusiastic consent by everyone involved, Katie and Jesse talk to Dan Savage about the strange case of Alex Morse, the young, gay, Democratic congressional candidate and Massachusetts mayor accused of... well, it isn't quite clear. But what is quickly becoming clear is that Morse appears to have been set up by college kids loyal to his opponent, the incumbent establishment candidate, Richard Neal. What can this episode teach us about power, consent, and the schizophrenic attitude some lefty zoomers have toward sex? Also: Has the queer community lost its sense of humor? Why does everyone forget what it's like to be 20 by the time they are 30? And how hot would president-on-president porn be? (Please do not send this episode to anyone who isn't explicitly asking for it.) (Update, 8/16/2020: Changing the title from "Dan Savage Deciphers Morse Code" to "Introducing Mount Holey Oak" because the latter is funnier and better and we want to use it for the public version dropping tomorrow. Re-uploading identical file with new title. Consider the old one a collector's item!)The Intercept's coverage of this whole mess:College Democrat at Center of Attack on Alex Morse Hoped to Launch Career Through Richard Neal - https://theintercept.com/2020/08/11/college-democrats-alex-morse-richard-neal/ Chats Reveal Plan to Engineer and Leak Alex Morse Accusation - https://theintercept.com/2020/08/12/alex-morse-college-democrats-chats/ Party Leaders Investigating Anti-Morse Campaign Helped Orchestrate It - https://theintercept.com/2020/08/14/alex-morse-richie-neal-state-party/ Dan Savage's stuff:Savage Love - https://www.thestranger.com/savage-love/2020/08/11/44269654/savage-love Savage Lovecast - https://www.savagelovecast.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

In one of the weirdest online controversies yet covered by Blocked and Reported, Katie walks Jesse through the wild, twisting tale of @Sciencing_Bi, a young anthropologist who just wanted to do good work, but who was tragically hindered from achieving this goal by the vicious anti-bisexual currents that dominate academic anthropology -- and by a university hell-bent on LITERALLY working her to death (and cutting her salary 15%). (Apologies for the weird underwater thing going on with Katie's audio for part of the episode -- it was a hardware issue and [probably] won't happen again.)Show notes/Links:(If you're unfamiliar with this story, note that a couple of the below headlines will likely spoil it, so scroll downward at your own peril.)........The New York Times: The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn't - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/style/college-coronavirus-hoax.html BuzzFeed: At First It Looked Like A Scientist Died From COVID. Then People Started Taking Her Story Apart. - https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/bethann-mclaughlin-twitter-suspension-fake-covid-death Science: This neuroscientist is fighting sexual harassment in science—but her own job is in peril - https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/neuroscientist-fighting-sexual-harassment-science-her-own-job-peril This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Things are not going so great in Portland, where months of rowdy and sometimes destructive protests have been met with a federal response that has understandably scared and infuriated residents. But what's really going on there? Have we reached a point where it's basically impossible to find credible, contextualized accounts of complicated situations like this one? Will the Wall of Moms be undone by jackbooted government thugs and/or its own alleged racism? As one of America's whitest cities speeds down the road to Crazyville, there's a lot to unpack.Show notes/Links:The New York Times: The Showdown in Portland (from The Daily) - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/podcasts/the-daily/portland-protests.html The New York Times: Times Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland (video) - https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007243995/portland-protests-federal-government.html Reason: What It's Like To Work in the Portland Jail During the George Floyd Protests - https://reason.com/2020/07/23/what-its-like-to-work-in-the-portland-jail-during-the-george-floyd-protests/ Michael Tracey: Two months since the riots, and still no “National Conversation” - https://medium.com/@mtracey/two-months-since-the-riots-and-still-no-national-conversation-12a7e3e4e006 The New York Times: Federal Officers Deployed in Portland Didn’t Have Proper Training, D.H.S. Memo Said - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/portland-protests.html ACLU: The Constitution in the 100-Mile Border Zone - https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone On the Media: What We Know About the Border - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/what-we-know-about-border This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Katie recounts a listener complaint and the cohosts announce a new focus for the podcast, the bulk of the episode consists of an interview Jesse conducted with Freddie deBoer, a brilliant thinker and writer whose first book, "The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice," is a searing indictment of the American education system's most entrenched orthodoxy: the idea that just about any child can succeed academically. The second, patrons-only portion of the interview, a wider-ranging conversations about social media, online leftism, mental health, and other subjects, will be posted by the end of the day on Saturday, 7/25/2020 at the latest, and when it's ready this text will be replaced with a link.Show notes/Links:"The Cult of Smart" (yes, it is that good, and yes, you should pre-order it) - https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250224491 Freddie's website - https://fredrikdeboer.com/ FdB: the educational standardization trap - https://medium.com/@freddiedeboer/the-educational-standardization-trap-25aca6c0121 FdB: disentangling race from intelligence and genetics, or how to rescue behavioral genetics from racists - https://fredrikdeboer.com/2017/04/10/disentangling-race-from-intelligence-and-genetics/ FdB: addressing some complaints - https://fredrikdeboer.com/2017/04/11/addressing-some-complaints/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse reluctantly reveals some incredibly embarrassing and personal details about his love life in the opening segment, the hosts discuss the week's two big media stories: Bari Weiss's resignation from The New York Times and Andrew Sullivan's firing from New York Magazine. Is this a sign that these outlets are narrowing their windows of acceptable opinion? Was Weiss's treatment in her workplace genuinely unfair, or is she reacting with the same 'safetyism' she has so forcefully criticized? If Jesse and Katie were trapped on a desert island, who would eat who? These and other questions, answered.Show notes/Links:-Bari Weiss's resignation letter: https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter -"See You Next Friday: A Farewell Letter" by Andrew Sullivan: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/andrew-sullivan-see-you-next-friday.html -"When Racism Is Fit to Print" by Andrew Sullivan: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/08/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-anti-white-racism.html -"How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?" by Andrew Sullivan: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/03/i-committed-four-cardinal-sins-around-the-iraq-war.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

After Jesse bravely expresses an opinion that is likely to get him cancelled by Cancel Culture, and to potentially destroy the podcast entirely, the hosts, who are clearly hated by God Himself (of maybe... HERself??), devote almost the entire episode to Letter Discourse and Counter-Letter Discourse. The discussion mostly concerns the harassment of a Vox staffer, which Jesse contributed to and feels bad about, even as he is aggrieved at the unhinged-in-light-of-the-evidence Jesse Did It narrative that took over bluecheck Twitter earlier this week. What are individuals' responsibilities during online pileons? Will journalists ever stop being full of s**t with regard to which acts -- screencapping, quote-retweeting, mocking -- are and aren't considered harassment? In the closing segment, the hosts briefly discuss President Trump's interesting strategy of fighting for free speech and open academic inquiry by unleashing the federal government to investigate universities, as one does.Show notes/Links:Rough week for Jesse on Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=jesse%20singal&src=typed_query (We said we would include links to the right-wing pieces and tweets bashing the Vox staffer mentioned in the podcast, but whoever wrote this summary began feeling guilty about doing so. If you search for her name and the name of the outlets mentioned, you will find it all -- we promise.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Katie and Jesse signed a letter that was published in Harper's! It's pretty basic but given Twitter's reaction you would have thought it was an excerpt from Mein Kampf. In today's episode, the hosts discuss why they signed the letter and run through some of the most unhinged and disingenuous reactions to it, discovering, in the process, that one of the letter's loudest critics tried to get them both fired. Katie also asks Jesse about the time he reported a fellow journalist to her boss, and the two hosts work through whether this is different from the behavior they themselves are complaining about. Also: Jesse's trajectory on the even more emotionally charged question of cargo shorts.Show notes/Links:Harper's: A Letter on Justice and Open Debate - https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ Jesse's too numerous and Mad Online tweets about the response to the letter:-on Matt Yglesias getting reported by a colleague for wrongthink: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1280603481531912192 -on one of the letter critics publicly calling for him to get fired: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1280577317421625346 -on someone literally editing the letter to make it offensive: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1280666236754579458 Medium: Katelyn Burns Fabricated Several Exchanges With Me That Never Occurred (archived version) - http://archive.is/UEsMj(current version, without screenshot-proof for reasons explained at the top, here: https://medium.com/@jesse.singal/so-about-that-katelyn-burns-thread-58c736647bc9)Medium: A (Hopefully) Final Update On This Katelyn Burns Thing (Updated) - https://medium.com/@jesse.singal/a-hopefully-final-update-on-this-katelyn-burns-thing-da17730e13aa This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

The gang celebrates July 4th by barely mentioning it. Instead, Jesse and Katie talk about Blocked and Reported's arguably FIRST EVER beef, which involves a very sensitive staffer at The New Republic. Then they relay two real corrections and one fake one from previous episodes, talk about the increasing possibility, in light of a new court decision, that at least one contributor to the Shitty Media Men list will be 'unmasked,' and discuss a thoughtful essay on what it feels like to be at the bottom of a Twitter pileon. Plus: Jesse finally addresses the rumors that have been haunting him about his relationship with certain New England horses. Soundcloud: The offending clip from our segment on Online Validiy Discourse - https://soundcloud.com/josephine-livingstone/blocked-reported-clipBlocked and Reported: Episode 5 - Katie And Jesse Decide Who Is Valid - https://barpodcast.fireside.fm/5 Snopes: Did Merriam-Webster Update Its Definition of ‘Racism’ To Say Only White People Are Racist? - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/merriam-webster-definition-racism/The Volokh Conspiracy: “Shitty Media Men” List Libel Lawsuit Can Go Forward - https://reason.com/2020/07/02/shitty-media-men-list-libel-lawsuit-can-go-forward/The Stranger: Anonymous UW Students Publish Rape Accusations Online. What Could Go Wrong? - https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/10/09/33615110/anonymous-uw-students-publish-rape-accusations-online-what-could-go-wrongQuillette: How An Anonymous Accusation Derailed My Life - https://quillette.com/2018/09/25/how-an-anonymous-accusation-derailed-my-life/ Medium: Hi, I’m on the Shitty Media Men list, but maybe you already knew that - https://medium.com/@mike_tunison/hi-im-on-the-shitty-media-men-list-but-maybe-you-already-knew-that-f446aed1f93bMedium: Katelyn Burns Fabricated Several Exchanges With Me That Never Occurred (archived version) - http://archive.is/UEsMj(current version, without screenshot-proof for reasons explained at the top, here: https://medium.com/@jesse.singal/so-about-that-katelyn-burns-thread-58c736647bc9)Medium: A (Hopefully) Final Update On This Katelyn Burns Thing (Updated) - https://medium.com/@jesse.singal/a-hopefully-final-update-on-this-katelyn-burns-thing-da17730e13aaSingal-Minded: Nicole Cliffe Is A Poor Choice Of #MeToo Moral Guardian - https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/nicole-cliffe-is-a-poor-choice-ofThe Critic: The eye of the storm: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/july-august-2020/the-eye-of-the-storm/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe

Jesse interviews Yascha Mounk about the threats liberalism is facing from both the left and the right, and Yascha introduces a new platform he is launching to help stem the tide. The duo also discuss Yascha's great but infuriating article in The Atlantic, "Stop Firing the Innocent," the origins of the gender wage gap, antifa, the racial politics of police reform, and more. Make sure to check out persuasion.community, which should be live by the time you read this. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.blockedandreported.org/subscribe