This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie discuss an ongoing diaper-loving drama within the NaNoWriMo fandom (starts at 21:45). Plus, a Deadspin writer and Portland anarchists find themselves in the shit. Also: Jesse turns 40 and has a wild story about eggplant parmesan that really captures the onset of middle age.
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Trace needs a raise.
Seriously, they got incredibly lucky with Trace.
Agreed. A very good episode from a very good boy. Give him a treat.
On top of doing law school too. Hope that's going ok.
Absolutely. I’ve never put this much effort into anything in my life.
Only a matter of time before he gets a big head and wants to go Solo.
He already has a pretty excellent Substack of his own: Tracing Woodgrains. Check it out ;)
Let me whine once more about how I wish our hosts with the mosts would read their paid subscribers' comments before Reddit or whatever the hell other feedback venues they look at. Not because I want sweet sweet delicious attention, but because frequently we discuss things that get missed or glossed over or insufficiently perverted with nuance. Also because I think of Reddit as actual hell.
Don't we also pay? Surely we, the most devoted of fans, deserve attention.
I just can’t help but see this as a monkey’s paw wish. I’m sure they browse because they’re human but once they start responding to us directly then it starts this chain of suspicion thing where we are performing for their attention and we know they are reading, so we shift to meet their expectation, etc. I might just be a stick in the mud about this, though.
I wouldn't expect them to respond to anyone directly on here but at least to acknowledge occasionally that there was a comment or consensus on here worth addressing in a subsequent episode. Right now it seems like they pay a lot more attention to emails they get or to comments on the subreddit, and I can't believe it's because we are substandard commenters.
Yeah, I don't want them posting in the comments (they have a show to do!) or replying to us, it just seems like whenever they bring up a point from comments it's always from Reddit (shudder) or Discord (shudder extra hard), which makes me think they look way more at those communities than this one
Didn’t they do that with the pit bull episode?
You may be right, but the fact that we can remember one episode out of hundreds where this happened just confirms that we are inferior beings. ;-)
I think they’ve done it before when we’re mad but I have a terrible memory for that stuff.
I nit pick incessantly, but I usually do it in email form. That’s for Trace to deal with.
That is a good point
Your description of Reddit is.....not inaccurate. It depends on the subreddit but the toxicity is a feature, not a bug there.
Reddit is increasingly the only place you can find the answer you were looking for rather than AI generated paid advertising under fifty layers of adds for wrinkle cream and fat pills....
It’s getting to the point where the common Google searches end with “Reddit” because everyone knows that’s where the question will be answered.
I don’t disagree.
Like I said it depends on what subreddit you’re in.
We pay them to produce content, which they do. That’s the exchange in this relationship. They never promised to respond to us more- why should they? I get what I asked for with my donations and when I no longer do, I’ll stop paying...
Reddit is just the Anteroom to Hell.
Hell is Twitter.
I want to be there when someone tells the Portland Long-Covidians that bacteria can make you sick, too.
Seriously - this story was pretty compelling evidence for the “this is a death cult” theory.
The outbreak of URIs in China is probably caused by the bacterium mycoplasma. I want to watch when they find that out because way too many Covidians were hoping for a new dangerous coronavirus or a nasty strain of flu.
Speaking of Covidians, Taylor Lorenz has really been putting in the hours flogging Long Covid on Twitter. Talk about commitment!
But I sense she'd dump LC in a second if some gruesome new flu suddenly appeared
I hope that nobody you love or you yourself never develop long covid. The Monday before Thanksgiving, my sister, who developed long covid after her 2020 infection, was sat watching a film with two friends at home, relaxed & happy, suddenly developed a resting heart rate of 168 BPM. She turned bright red, and her eyes turned blood red and began swelling up. She was in the hospital for a week getting IV steroids, pain meds, blood thinners, anti inflammatories, beta blockers (not IV but liquid suspension) and other meds. She needs a walker in her 30's. The doctors specifically talked about persistent tachycardia in long covid as well as vascular microclots in the eyes.
I hope to God anyone who laughs at "covidians" never has anyone go through the torture and grief and pain that my family has since spring 2020.
I mask with an n95 everywhere I go. I don't ask others to and I simply wish to not be harassed on the street for attempting to protect myself from a bioweapon so I can work & care for my family.
that sounds terrible for you all, i wish you all the best
I’m sympathetic to long covid sufferers and to people who were genuinely injured by the vaccine. Both have or are suffering and have had their plights diluted by charlatans.
I wish your sister well in managing this mysterious condition.
Interesting
There's a decent chance we'll see a wave of mycoplasma pneumonia this year. I'm very curious to see if the parts of the internet that are still insisting that 10% of Covid cases lead to Long Covid will start going on about Long Mycoplasma or Chronic Mycoplasma.
I hope you and those you love never have to experience long covid. I hope nobody you love ever has a covid induced stroke or clot or dissection or aneurysm or weeks to months after infection. I hope nobody you love calls you in terror 4 months post infection because they have suddenly forgotten where they live. Long covid is real I saw it happen to my sister with my very own eyes.
And if the above happens to you or someone you love, I hope nobody tries to tell you it isn't real.
I know several people who have or have had the delayed recovery type of long covid. I also worked in healthcare during the start of the pandemic so I know full well that the more severe types of long covid are real. I've also seen how people who are vaccinated are so much less likely to develop any type of Long Covid.
That's why I'm so frustrated with social media influencers who exaggerate the chance of developing Long Covid or link it to fake diseases like adrenal fatigue. They make Long Covid look like a mass hysteria that mostly affects affluent women. I also know a couple of fully vaccinated people who have developed anxiety disorders around avoiding SARS-cov2 infections and are now arranging their lives around avoiding the virus. Those online influencers are reinforcing the things that their anxiety disorders tell them.
By "developing their lives by arranging their lives around avoiding the virus" do you mean masking and avoiding crowds? Can you be specific as to what criteria for anxiety disorders as outlined in the DSM they meet per their covid precautions?
I watched the closest person in the world to me suffer a cardiac arrest and arterial dissection in her brainstem from covid infection. I watched her develop long covid. I watched the utter and complete callousness of people I thought loved and cared about us dismiss and deny what happened to her. I cannot afford having what happened to my sister happen to me. Therefore, I mask on buses, trains, and in stores. I avoid indoor restaurants (I'm on EBT so it's not like I can do that anyway). I rinse 2x a daily with cetylpyridine mouthwash which is proven to lower viral loads, and I take supplements that degrade the spike protein (NaC, quercetin, vit C, vit D.) .
I was 3x jabbed with Pfizer when I got covid and I was sick for months. I actually was in the hospital for a bit during a bad bout of tachycardia and a forlorn looking nurse TOLD me she was seeing the boosters kill people and that just as many vaxed as unvaxed were dying. I'll never forget that, I cried so hard in terror and fear that the doctor had to shoot me up with Ativan and they sent that nurse out. I hope she wasn't fired.
I saw what happened to my sister with my very own eyes. It was horrible. Do the friends you know who you accuse of having "anxiety" have lovers ones that went through similar things? Have you asked?
As someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder regarding various things including irrational fear of throwing up, I understand WHY people develop these avoidant behaviors. It seems safer, who cares if you miss things, life is better alive. However, there is a balance. I had to go to therapy to go on an international flight, I had a total breakdown before I got married, and had many panic attacks at the beginning of Covid. When my daughter had her first bout of stomach flu I physically recoiled as she gagged and I had to remind myself I’m the adult in this situation and I can’t run away (it was actually very helpful). I now have adrenal insufficiency due to immunotherapy and legitimately end up in the hospital if I throw up. Through my behavioral “training” I’ve managed to walk myself off the “ledge” of anxiety despite potential risk because it’s unrealistic to hide from it. It’s hard, but if you don’t look at things realistically (what is the ACTUAL risk to YOU) the anxiety will take over and you’ll end up never leaving your home (extreme, but my mom is like this). Masking in public and avoiding large groups isn’t bad, it’s realistically helpful (assuming right mask). But if you avoid meaningful family gatherings, stop engaging in hobbies, or end relationships over it... it might be too much.
I mean my mom is dead and my sister is disabled and I work 7 day weeks so we don't really have family gatherings. Re: hobbies, my hobbies were playing my modular synth and writing which are solitary anyway. I didn't end relationships over covid caution, I lost friends who said shit such as "viruses don't exist and your low 02 readings when you had "covid" were from masking." I was in the ER with covid induced tachycardia from omicron and was terrified. So yeah. Super fun times. Ah, and my other friend who said "I don't know if I can engage with your sisters "illness" the week she had a fucking cardiac arrest and her heart had to be restarted. That essentially shattered my heart and I haven't really gotten over it.
I find it so interesting when people say the "never leaving your home" thing to me when I work 7 days a week and take multiple buses and trains a day in and out of different residences for my job. I have had to go into hospitals to visit my sister and provide car for her up close and personal upon her discharges. I have lupus & emphysema and probably take more risks than most people because of my responsibilities. My roommate works at a supermarket and is a bit of a drunk/druggie so I know he wouldn't mask even if I asked (though he did say he would try to get my landlady to evict me if the govt mandated a new booster and I didn't get it...lmao) I'm sorry your mom takes a level of covid precaution you find unreasonable, that sounds frustrating.
I wasn’t talking about you specifically (poster before mentioned people who live by their anxiety disorders, you acted like that isn’t a thing). I was demonstrating how it is, in fact, a thing and people get caught up in their anxiety. Some of us are unlucky and get the shit cards in life. I am one of those too (2 cancer dx at 29, adrenal insufficiency, dependent on multiple medications to live, chronic pain) just don’t let it consume you.
You sound like you have it rough right now, and I’m sorry for what you have to experience.
I asked OP what DSM-V (are we still V? Has it updated?) Criteria for anxiety disorders their friends met via their covid precautions. Taking precautions against a deadly virus was the only diagnostic indicator she stated for this diagnosis, so I wanted know how exactly they fit the criteria. I'm sorry if it came across like I said anxiety disorders weren't real. I do know that so many women die from heart attacks and cardiac arrests because their symptoms are written off as anxiety. I am wary of medical gaslighting as I've seen it happen.
I am sorry to hear about your cancer! I hope you live a long, happy, and healthy life and I wish you no ill will and hold no animosity toward you or OP. Thank you for your kind words.
I think LC is a serious phenomenon for some people who caught the OG (and probably second) variant. I’m somewhat more skeptical of the penetration and severity for those who caught milder variants post-vaccination.
Oh damn, I had mycoplasma pneumonia back in August. It was two or three weeks, if I remember right, of walking pneumonia. It mostly consisted of a persistent cough the whole time, no other sever/lingering symptoms, but I'd still rather not catch it again. Hopefully I'm immune for a while!
As an evangelical Christian, I was going to try to clarify the whole Israel/end times thing. Then the episode got to the diaper mod fiasco. I don't even remember what my Israel points were. I actually don't remember anything prior to this episode. I don't even know my name. My mind is blown, confused, and intrigued. I want to know so much more, while also not wanting to know anything more.
Trace, amazing job.
I think your name is Julie.
Not to rehash the topic, but that poll leads to misleading conclusions: Yes, a lot of Evangelicals think some version of “God wants Jewish people to have Israel” to less or greater degrees, but if you think that’s the main reason they’re not pro-Palestinian, I have a Holy Land to sell you. In absolutely no world were normie conservative Christians going to lean towards the side with Hamas and the PLO on it lmao
Agree. And the annoying WashPost--which is totally circling the drain-- would never bother to ask mainstream Christians (Lutherans, Presbyterians Catholics) why *they* support Israel because there's a risk they wont sound crazy.
Instead they intentionally seek out the loons
Ya, as an evangelical Christian, I think I can clarify. I believe that there is prophesy that suggests qthat the temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount before Christ comes back. Is it something I really think about? Nope.
The Bible says that we, individually and corporately, should be the friend of His chosen people. Israel is also by far the closest thing to a successful democracy in the Middle East. Plus, Jews have been oppressed throughout millennia, so I'm naturally sympathetic to their situation; they're often asked to act in ways which no other country is.
In other words, while I think that there's legitimacy to the prophesies in Revelation, I don't really care. I'm not trying to hasten the day Christ comes back; why would I? I think that prophesies, while likely a part of how most Christians view Israel, aren't the predominate factor in how they view Israel and its challenges.
What do you think about the idea that George W. Bush, or members of his government, were influenced by this in their foreign policy?
That's the point at which I get worried - I grew up among conservative Christians in a region where fundamentalism was the norm, and prophecies about Israel didn't come up all that often. But I care less about individual people's belief in the prophecies of Revelations and more in the President's belief.
(Also, have you ever seen the modern anti-Israel Christian conservatives? *Extremely* sketchy crowd that does not need any encouragement, to put it mildly.)
If nothing else I would prefer Israeli governance for visits to the Holy Land.
If our most important religious sites were in Syria or Lebanon instead of Israel I would probably just never visit.
Or, they’d be met with a, in the eternal words of Peter Gabriel, sledgehammer.
I live in a hotbed of Christian Zionism (John Hagee’s hometown) that has been active since the early 2000s, saying we are living in the end-times. They are obsessed with Israel, largely as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy but it then has grown into a kind of infatuation. It is a huge congregation and they have many followers. I consider it a millenarian cult and not connected to mainstream Christianity but embedded within it, though it is a significant force even if localized in certain areas and it is largely in evangelical circles. I’ve taught students who believe this, had my plumber try to talk to me about the endtimes, my aunt brings it up... and I just don’t engage. They think about it all the time, which makes sense if a person actually believes the rapture is about to happen. And, they would probably support Israel anyway, but it is definitely born out of a religious belief in biblical prophecy. In contrast, I know non-religious conservatives, especially libertarians, who are antisemitic and hate Zionism. It is interesting. They have more overlap with my far left friends toward Israel but not on literally anything else. Odd bedfellows.
This is really interesting, thanks for sharing!
Yeah, I was thinking this as well. Evangelicals tend towards conservatism in the US, so support for Israel is the default position of their political group. The question about biblical prophecy also seemed to be pretty vague and was also not at the top of the list of reasons in that poll. While I would expect evangelical Christians are more likely than other groups to believe in the prophecy in revelations, I'm far more suspicious of this idea being disproportionally pushed to discredit support for Israel.
That wasn’t what Jesse was talking about though. One doesn’t need to be pro or anti Palestine to believe silly religious things about Israel. That’s just a different question entirely.
Furthermore, you can support Israel’s right to exist while mourning the deaths of Palestinian civilians without also supporting Hamas. I’d say that’s the overwhelming view in the west and it’s certainly where I land.
It's kind of adorable to think of young Jesse thinking "I like free healthcare, abortion rights, high taxes and government services, and Israel, so I need an explanation for why someone who *doesn't* like those first things would like Israel. It must be God!"
You know, I always felt bad that I kept forgetting to register my car on time and that I was such a forgetful person and I feel all guilty. And then I think of all those people who are maybe all Claudia and how much they like diapers and like like you know, I realize I’m fine.
I'm in my fifties now, and it's an age where you've made most of your choices and you have to accept that you are nearer the end of your life than the beginning and that this is how things are going to be, and maybe you think that you could have managed things better and been a better person with a better career and a better life generally. And then you listen to Blocked and Reported and you think, "well at least I haven't spent my time replying to myself on Adult Baby Diaper Lovers forums".
Replying to myself on adult baby diaper lovers forums is actually my biggest regret at this point. And I voted for dole....
Yep, the time I’ve spent scaring the crap out of myself reading zombie apocalyptia seems almost well spent by comparison… it could happen, you don’t know.
Well... if you like scaring the crap out of yourself, may I recommend .... diapers?
Ha! I probably should have seen that one coming 🤣
I mean, that’s the kind of thing I worry about for myself, these minor things and then you look at this and you think I’m fine
Right, occasionally you get a clear-eyed glimpse into real dysfunction and realize you’re playing in the minor leagues
I just want to say that I respect people who reply to themselves. Truly....
Considering a legal name change right now. Yikes.
If it’s any comfort the mod prefers to spell hers “Clawdia”
This is important context that should have been mentioned in the episode.
sadly the whole “she’s an obsessive monster high fan who named herself after one of its characters and spent hours chatting with random teens about its plot” subplot had to be cut for space
I'd love it if there were more uncut primo versions released as a matter of course when these decisions are made. I listen in my car and pause and pick up again between errands. Keeps me motivated for as long as it plays.
Is there a technical reason the episodes can only be so long?
Boy do I wish sometimes the eps could be longer! For all of my griping about K & (sometimes) J's flippant & dismissive attitude towards certain topics or subjects they don't know or understand enough about, when they deliver, they absolutely deliver. I was on the edge of my (non-diapered) seat for the entire span of this one. I would love a close & detailed analysis of "Clawdia's" online persona- how it was developed, how it was honed, what she's currently up to, why this sort of behavior proliferates where & how it does. More like this! Good boy, Trace! Stay!
...my god in heaven
☹️
Also missed opportunity to name this episode “I, Clawdia”.
Classics nerd? ;)
Just a nerd
Trace, it absolutely is a comfort because that's an egregious spelling choice. ha.
Truly a tragedeigh
Okay, well, if I ever need a lawyer, I'm clearly going to hire Trace* because I would literally kill myself before every writing a 300-page report for a job.
*I initially wrote "Chase," and now I'm imagine an alternate universe where Chase Strangio pretends to be an ex-Mormon furry who works for Jesse and Katie because Chase is secretly anti-woke.
Full disclosure: most of the pages were just screenshots of posts scattered around the forums, since unlike with most stories where I can link to more concise sources, this story was spread out across random posts in the depths of the NaNoWriMo forums and a screenshot compilation of diaperforum.
The amount of actual writing I did wasn't too far out of line with a standard episode.
That might be true, but the depth and thoroughness of your research shone through the entire episode - I can’t imagine how much time and effort it took to wade through and make sense of this mess. I guess what I’m saying is thank you for your service 🫡.
Yep. I pity whoever is on the other side once Trace is a lawyer if they don't do their homework. Amazing research skills!!!!
Just make sure you keep law school on your front burner!
Thank god you're in law school. Someone needs to get Jesse off HIPAA probation and expunge his record. Nice research as well.
Yeah, but Katie can't even be bothered to look up how to pronounce "Qatar."
Diapers? Oh we’re so back
Diaper drama?! This is what I live for
*Long Covidians makes me think of Branch Davidians
They are called that for precisely this reason. It is a pretty awful way to hurt & discredit people who continue to take precautions against the chimeric viral bioweapon n-sars-cov2, which causes a constellation of cardiopulmonary, vascular, systemic, & neurological conditions known as covid19. The name, like the word TERF, is a slur. I find it quite ironic how people who would (rightfully) take umbrage at being smeared with the T-word employ similar phraseology in other areas. It is wrong to lump all people continue ti mask in with these terrorists in Portland. It is also wrong to assume they all have (or claim to have) LC. People with PASC (post-acute covid-sequelae, the actuel name for long covid) are people who have been maimed & disabled (or whose loved ones have been maimed & disabled) with a bioweapon. I truly hope it never happens go anyone here or to anyone they love. Vaccines don't make a difference, not one bit of difference, and in some people they induce long covid via damage from the toxic spike protein.
Trying to clarify because I’m curious. The people who have long COVID, are they claiming that is a result of getting the virus (presumed lab created ) and/or getting sick from the vaccine? It really sucks for all the people who are experiencing that, whatever the real or perceived causes. I’d like to think that there are dedicated scientists who are keeping track of all these adverse reactions and severe cases, but that’s probably naive.
I am saying that long covid is real, caused by both virus and vaccine. My sister developed long covid after her spring 2020 infection. Cardiac arrest 1 month after infection, arterial dissection in her brainstem 2 months after that. Prolonged issues afterward, she still suffers damage 3 years later. Everyone I know PERSONALLY (3 people) who has long covid, my sister being the most severe case I know, got it from their 2020/2021 infections. I have read and heard of many, many people getting a similar syndrome from the mRNA jabs. I was told by a nurse taking care of me at the ER when I had covid (after 3 jabs!) that she saw young people dying suddenly from the vaccine, especially from their booster shots. This terrified me as I had a booster shot 18 days before I got infected with covid (by my dad, who got it from my mom at the facility she was at). I have also read about and heard testimonials from people describing how they developed long covid after multiple reinfections of the virus, both vaxxed and unvaxxed.
The spike protein is toxic to cells no matter how it is delivered, via virus or vax. Some batches of the vaccine seem worse than others, just like some variants of the virus seem worse than others. This whole thing is a nightmare I feel like I can't wake up from. It truly breaks my heart when I see people making light of it or calling people crazy for being afraid of it.
I am not an antivaxxer, btw. I got a flu shot every year before the pandemic because of my Lupus. I even got 3 covid shots. Now I will never take another vaccine ever again unless God himself comes down from heaven to tell me it is safe. Even then, I might have questions.
"I'm not an antivaxxer, I just presume that all vaccines are harmful and refuse to take them!" Sure, Jan.
This whole sob story stretched the outer bounds of believability from the get-go, but at this point we're well past that into the point where I think you're just a generic antivax fabulist. I don't credit a word of it.
I swear to you I am not lying. I wish, I truly wish that what happened to my family wasn't real. It destroyed me totally. It was a nightmare. I got 3 covid shots. I still mask everywhere I go. What happened to my family isn't a "sob story" it is real. My twin sister contracted covid in spring 2020. I will never forget her calling me the first words out of her mouth "I can't taste anything.." Then the rash on her toes, the intense, dementia level brain fog. She kept saying she felt "poisoned." The virus is horrible. Horrible. Then one month into infection May 4th 2020 she collapsed on the stairs. Taken to ER, heart rate 208 , then cardiac arrest. Defibrillator saved her. July 22nd 2020 she suffered an arterial dissection in her brainstem. It was horrible. I was caring for my mother at the time and was exhausted and devastated. I lost friends I loved and trusted who refused to believe the virus wwas real. I agonized over getting the shots bc I was scared but I got my first in May my 2nd June 17th 2021. On December 5th 2021 the morning before I went to the hospital with my Dad to negotiate my mom's hospice care, I got an email from my best friend telling me that I had taken part in "demonic experimentation" by getting vaxed and that "half the country" didn't believe what happened to my sister and that covid was the flu. I swear to you this all happened. I am in therapy twice a week just so I do not end my life over it.
The nurse at the hospital really did tell me that about the boosters when I went for covid induced tachycardia on January 9th 2022. I was terrified.
I have no reason to lie. I am not an anti vaxer I swear. I even got the flu shot in 2021 along with the covid booster in Dec 2021, Dec 17th 2021. But when my mom passed and I had more time to research I started seeing that what that nurse had told me was true. Ppl were dying after the shots and they were dying suddenly after mild covid (had my sister not been in the hospital when she arrested she would have died.)
What happened to me and my family is real. I wish it wasn't. I cry for hours at night every night begging God to make it so it wasn't. But it is. Both covid & Vax harm & kill. Covid is probably worse for you than the Vax but the shots do not stop transmission and sometimes they don't even save people.
If we had type of normal regular covid shots available in Cuba and Iran for covid, I would take them. I am not an antivaxxer!
Cait, from what I've read, the Novavax booster is a similar type of vaccine (protein subunit type) to the Cuban vaccines, and it is available now. I don't know if that is reassuring to you, but I figured I'd mention it just in case.
Thanks for that response, it tracks with much of what I’ve read and heard from other sources. My family is fortunate in that we haven’t had any long term issues from either infection or vaccine (yet, that we know of), but I won’t be getting any more boosters as they seem to be ineffective. It’s frustrating to hear the narrative that everyone who is skeptical about this particular shot is an antivaxxer, or conspiracy theorist or lunatics. I’m just trying to keep myself healthy the old fashioned way, good food, good sleep, sunshine, fresh air, exercise and all that. I’m sorry about your sister. I lost mine years ago to a long illness and it is devastating to watch someone you love suffer. If I knew for sure that her illness was caused by medical malpractice or something, I’d be mad as hell too. I like to think that I could keep my rage contained and channeled into fighting for solutions, but do any of us really know how we’ll respond to the next crisis?
I'm with you. I had three initial shots, but I don't plan on getting any more, and I certainly don't plan on having my children get any more (they had two, over a year ago now). Especially since they only have effectiveness for around 6 weeks after vaccination.
I currently have COVID, and I'm lucky in that it's mostly the most annoying cold ever. Day 8 and tested positive again this morning... so that part's annoying but my symptoms are improving.
It’s a strange thing how different the experience is for people. I had it last year, felt exhausted for about 2 days, then yes, the most annoying cold ever. I’ve felt worse from the flu or food poisoning. I knew I had COVID because I felt exactly the same way after each of my 4 shots. I told my kids they don’t need to get anymore shots, spouse is still considering it even though he’s had COVID twice. I lived in a vague state of fear for two years, I’m done with it. I will still wear a mask if my doctor’s office requires it or I was visiting someone in the hospital, but not for everyday public life. I know a 20+ year out elderly transplant patient (seriously compromised immune system) has had many boosters and has never caught COVID. He goes about living his best retired life without any more masking. He was super paranoid about it in the beginning, with good reason. Life goes on; messy, amazing, and weird as it is.
I was paranoid at first, too. I freaking disinfected my groceries because I saw some (insane) doctor doing it on a video (maybe a couple of times). I won't make my kids wear masks anymore (haven't in a long time), nor did I wear one before recently getting ill (my I got it from my husband).
I had the vaccine and woke up in the night with a fever, fainted and banged my head on a radiator so hard that I blacked out.
Covid itself was a few days of a cold and a few weeks of slightly low energy.
There's no way I'm having any more vaccines - that one nearly killed me. And when they wanted my two-year-old vaccinated, I told them to fuck right off.
There's no way a 2-year-old needs that vaccine unless maybe there are some preexisting conditions going on or something else makes it urgent.
Glad you're okay now.
The nurse did not see multiple young people dying suddenly after boosters. That is a lie.
The rest is about as believable.
I am not lying, I swear to you. My hospital visit for covid induced tachycardia occurred on January 9th, 2022 at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Maybe she was lying to me, I do not know but I swear to God that this is what she told me. I cried my eyes out afterward, wracking sobs.
My sister does indeed have long covid. Her cardiac arrest occurred on May 4th, 2020 at UPENN hospital. The arterial dissection in her brainstem was found on July 22nd, 2020. Her infection as best we can tell, occurred in late March as her first symptom, loss of taste, occurred on April 1st, 2020. She worked at an international tourist attraction in my Northeast city. I will never ever forget her initial phone call to me, talking about the weird rash on her toes then all of the sudden saying "yeah and I can't taste anything." Then the chills, tachycardia, the dementia level brain-fog (getting lost in her own house, forgetting her roommates name. It was horrible. Horrible. I have flashbacks of her calling me confused and terrified. Then the tachycardia, etc. Then that awful day on May 4th 2020 when the hospital called, the attending doctor "Shannon heart stopped, very briefly, but we were able to bring her back." The name of the doctor who ordered the MRI in July is Dr. Alexis Ogde-Beatty, also at UPENN.
I wish that all I stated above never happened, trust me. I wish I was lying. I cry at night begging God to make it so it all never happened. What happened to my sister destroyed my family forever. My mother passed away on March 7th 2022 from complications of Lupus SLE, emphysema & congestive heart failure. I inherited Lupus SLE and autoimmune emphysema from her. I take great pains with my lifestyle and diet to avoid developing CHF. It was a nightmare caring for her alone while my sister got sicker and sicker, then the riots happened and my neighborhood became a war zone. I have flashbacks and nightmares and cry every day reliving what happened.
I wish I was lying. I would do anything, anything to make it so it all never happened. I would do anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk
I'm going to take a Norman Rockwell stand here and say that if your forum model depends upon the continual unpaid labor of a handful of profoundly mentally ill people, you need to either find a new forum model or shut down said forum. It sounds like NNWM is going the latter route, which probably makes sense for a small nonprofit that doesn't want to spend actual resources on this crap.
Is this a Christmas miracle? I liked one of your posts. It might be the first. You're spot on here. I don't even understand WHY NNWM needs forums. It seems like people who say they want to be writing novels are spending an awful amount of time writing in these forums (unless the smaller percentage of people who finish the projects are not included in the regular forum participants).
My Portland story: I was visiting recently and doing some shopping downtown. There was an Art Gallery called the Ori Gallery with a large “abolish the police” slogan.
And below that? A notice the property was under 24 hr surveillance. I guess only private cops are good cops
Anyway, you can look it up on google and see the signs for yourself.
(There was also the nonbinary teen in the specialty bra store, but I an just glad she wasn’t getting a binder--if you can shop at The Pencil Test, you probably shouldn’t even try to bind.)
Private police or better because you only deserve safety if you can pay for it. Because anti-capitalism?
I visited Portland in summer 2018 and it didn't seem that crazy to me. When did it change?
I think these extreme leftists have always been a part of the city and so long as they stuck to weird literature and hilarious sign juxtapositions it was fine but something in the Trump years negatively polarized the city against any kind of enforcement. When that happens, the worst parts of the community (no matter the ideology) run wild.
I do think it’s getting better, but it was bad for a while and some communities still behave as if they are immune to consequences.
Well this is the first Portland story that’s happened on Barpod so far that I didn’t know about before! Usually the portland subreddit keeps me up to date on the dumb bs that happens here. Thanks for keeping me aware of the absurdity in my city, Katie!
I saw Cursed Cancellations earlier today and I thought it was a joke.
Ill be honest it sounds too absurd to be true. But then the red house happened so idk everythings too absurd here.
Whenever I get grumpy living in NYC I think I could be in Portland and simmer down. I’m so sorry 😞 Have you read Nancy’s reporting from the city? Heartbreaking.
I have! I will say that living in ~mid SE portland I’m less affected by the issues she covers, but it really does bum me out about the city, because it really is such a beautiful part of the country. I just hope we find a way to turn the ship around here. But reporting like that is what we need to help push us in the right direction.
We're probably neighbors-ish! I live by Laurehurst Park. Also... what's Nancy's reporting?
I assume Nancy is friend of the show and cancelled heterodox heretic Nancy Rommelmann. Search her name and Portland - she’s written a ton in Reason and the Timeses et al about Portland problems. She also has a Substack https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/
and a podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smoke-em-if-you-got-em-podcast/id1621319884
Hey I'm located in Portland too and I also had no idea at all this happened. Almost seems kinda fake? I usually at least see some flyers or Portland subreddit talk about various events but no word on this anarchist event thing. Also I haven't encountered any hardcore mask people in a good awhile so if this wasn't fake it almost seems like a parody.
After listening to this episode finally I’m coming to believe the internet was a mistake.
It totally was.
So now we know how Portland dies: Cholera.
Back in my day, you died from cholera on the *way* to Portland, if the snakebite or fever didn't get you...
I tended to die trying to ford the river.
Wow this was an insane ride and an all timer of an episode! I had heard vaguely about the NaNo scandal, but what I knew barely scratched the surface. This kind of deep dive is what I love about this podcast. Amazing job, Trace!
A stray thought I kept coming back to is how much internet culture has become mainstream - irl mods, multiple identities, complete self-determination that must be validated by everyone at all times or else! Very interesting stuff. I wonder if there’s an alternate universe where that Deadspin guy is being cancelled for dead-racing that child and Jesse and Katie started this podcast after being cancelled for writing articles about de-adult baby diaper lovers.
Yes, I think that's exactly why this flap caused Nanowrimo so much trouble. How do you police adult males pretending to be female kids on a forum when you've made it a banning offence to say people aren't what they say they are? When you're an org that enthusiastically joined the hounding of JKR (Nanowrimo signed a letter demanding the new Potter show be cancelled), how can you possibly admit she might have been right about safeguarding?
An excellent return to form. Just gloriously bizarre.
How'd you get a picture of me?
No privacy for settler-colonialists. 🪶👹🪶
Stop doxxing Clanny!
Evangelicals love Israel because it’s a basically western society which is free and hated by Muslims. They also like it because you can go to Israel on a tour to see the places where their Bible says that Jesus lived. The apocalyptic bits exist but they’re actually very marginal as a justification for supporting Israel.
Fifty percent of Evangelicals believing apocalypse with Jesus coming in Israel is a not a marginal percentage. I see the Evangelicals here bending over backwards to say this belief is small. It is not. Why not just admit it.
You make it sound like most Christians are evangelicals, when they're not. It's this broad depiction of Christians as this evangelical caricature -- by people who are supposedly into nuance. It's just disappointing.
Notice I specifically referenced Evangelicals? If you think I am referring to most Christians, you are mistaken.
Most Christians are not evangelicals because about 40 percent of them are Catholic, but most Protestants are:
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/05/12/chapter-1-the-changing-religious-composition-of-the-u-s/
If anything, given how rapidly mainline churches have been hemorrhaging adherents, the percentage is almost certainly higher.
Setting all of this aside, however, Jesse could not possibly have been any clearer that he was referring to a viewpoint of some, not all, Christians. The whining about this from conservatives is based on totally misrepresenting what he said.
I think Evangelicals who are here with BARpod are embarrassed by this and go out of their way to minimize it. I say they should just admit that a huge percentage of their fellow Evangelicals believe this stuff and just stop denying that the end of the world starting in Isreal is a big deal for their sect. So what anyway.
I'm not, nor have I ever been an Evangelical for the record.
Got it! I would never say an angry mother was an evangelical if she said she wasn’t one. There would be hell to pay.
Eh, as implied in my other comment, I don’t think it’s really a big deal in evangelical circles...but also it’s complicated because “evangelicalism” is really a moving target and has meant many different things across the history of Protestant religion. American evangelicalism was much more apocalyptic in like the late Cold War/early post Cold War years. Then there was a popular, but not majority form of evangelicalism for which GWOT became a source of apocalypticism. Now even evangelical is a difficult concept because it has been subsumed into a political identity such that many actual evangelicals are becoming something different and many people who aren’t really Christian (they don’t go to church, don’t pray, don’t really care about religion as such) are calling themselves evangelical because they see it as meaning “Republican” rather than “Christian.” And of course interestingly, apocalyptic evangelicalism doesn’t necessarily wind up being coterminous with the theological stuff about Jews all going to Israel so Jesus can come back.
I think maybe my real complaint about the way this stuff gets talked about is just that it’s generally being done by secular people who often don’t even know people who hold those beliefs. As hard as it can be for a secular person to grok, it’s possible for people to literally believe that the end of the world is just around the corner without it having a particular impact on their day to day lives. It’s also normal to believe the stuff but not think the end is necessarily nigh.
Idk it’s just complicated. Surveys of beliefs can be an issue because they don’t do great at capturing intensity. I believe that when Moshiach comes, the dead will be raised and the world will be repaired...but like mostly I’m just a normal person whose biggest complaints are usually dyke drama or writer’s block who doesn’t believe in otherwise crazy stuff. And it might be because I believe some crazy religious things that I don’t believe in other kinds of crazy things.
Anyway this subject is way more interesting to me than it should be. Sorry.
Please tell me you intentionally misspelled Israel.
I’m Jewish, I know a lot of evangelicals and count some to be friends. They are very pro-Israel. If you probed the theological thing, they might say they believe it, but it isn’t the source of their support for Israel. They support Israel for some of the reasons that anglophone (especially American) culture is generally philosemitic. But the bigger things are even more prosaic. Israel is a basically western society which means that it’s easy to feel comfortable when you visit, and unlike places like France, people actually want to speak English with Americans and genuinely like American tourists. Israel has a whole industry of Christian Bible tourism which caters to these people which Israelis are generally positive about because it shows people that Israel is great and makes them more likely to advocate for Israel at home. Also, Israel is a militarily strong state and Muslims and leftists hate them for it, so like any culture war thing, Evangelicals are going to line up against leftists and Muslims. All of those things are more important to support for Israel than the theology and the politics aren’t the result of the theology.
As for the belief in an eventual apocalypse precipitated by the Jews all returning the land of Israel...it can be helpful to understand religious belief, which people in this environment often seem not to do. You may believe the things that your religion says but that doesn’t mean that you’re deeply invested in any specific belief as opposed to the religion itself and the suite of beliefs that goes along with it. I am a religious Jew who basically believes most of what you would expect from someone who is religious, but also socially moderate and homosexual. I believe the stuff my religion says about the coming of the messiah and the like, and as with anyone else, I pray for stuff like that as part of religious observance, but I’m not actually of the view that I’m likely to see this in my lifetime or whatever and so it doesn’t drive my day-to-day life. Being religious means having some wacky beliefs that you ultimately treat as being relatively low priority but that you will acknowledge believing in if pressed.
Thank you for your insightful reply and your overall points seem accurate about support for Israel.
This is one of the best episodes in a long time! I would’ve never heard of these stories otherwise. Priceless!
Wow, this episode has everything. Even Hatsune Miku!
I thought for sure that Hatsune Miku would turn out to be some weird genre of Anime porn.
Right after Katie said, "here's what [Trace] said," the game I was playing decided to show me an ad for Secret. So, for a second I thought Trace's response was, "Your deodorant has to work!" Which, frankly, is a plausible answer to a question about moderating forums in this situation.
But anyway, as an actual Conservative Christian(tm), my support for Israel is based on history, not on any end times prophecy. Also, based on the writing quality, I think I've had cases against ABDLstoryclub, Esq.
Kind of bored of this episode. Another sad lady creating sock puppets to boost her bullshit. At a certain point I’d actually love Blocked and Reported to maybe do an episode where they talk to some sociologists about why these communities so often fall to grift and petty in fighting.
I thought it was boring, too. Tedious. Another crazy person being crazy. I like your suggestion about bringing on guests.
That would be a great subject for a sociology dissertation.
About the whole oddity of certain rightwing evangelical Christians who love Israel because they think Apocalypse will happen there and bring off the Rapture and the Second Coming and they're eager for that..
You two are thankfully to young, but the #1 bestselling nonfiction book in the USA of the entire 1970s was The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Apocalyptic Christian prophecy spilling over with Cold War rightwing paranoia and conspiracy theories to boot. I read it when I was 10 because I read everything I could get my hands on then, and this one's like a psychedelic trip. In the 1970s, the culture and especially the lowbrow publishing industry was obsessed with the supernatural and paranormal: UFOs, astrology, cults, ghosts, psychic powers. The end of the world.
The Late Great Planet Earth was a doozy to top them all and phenomenally successful. One can laugh at its claims but it's frightening to think how many tens of millions in this country absorbed its beliefs and believed them to be true faith articles. Like President George W. Bush who constantly evoked or hinted at its ideas during his invasion and destruction of Iraq. He alluded to its apocalyptic evangelical tenets constantly and alarmingly.
It was wild to try to explain to my old Irish dad when Bush made unmistakeable references to bringing on the Rapture. Explaining to Dad what the Rapture is in evangelical Christian beliefs- he couldn't believe his ears, or that a US President held such crackpot fantasies as literal truths for desirable destruction. Insane.
I mentioned this in the original thread. Hal Lindsey was pretty bfd back in the day.
I was going to mention that book.
More recently, there was the Left Behind series, which sold like 80 million.
GW Bush vs Gore was my first election and I only voted for Gore bc I thought Bush was a scary religious quack.
He’s a scary religious quack or a hapless puppet of Dick Cheney, depending on the point we want to make.
I love Jesse's happiness over images on the internet of giant islands on the backs of turtles. He should watch Avatar the Last Airbender.
And read Terry Pratchett! A'Tuin is a pretty cool turtle.
Most of my eggplant Parm related injuries have been on the gumline or roof of the mouth, and they have been numerous.
I think Jesse might find MKH’s perspective on the Ask a Jew podcast illuminating.
https://open.substack.com/pub/askajew/p/youve-got-a-friend-with-mary-katherine?r=7enhd&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
And as Yael would probably say: If you don’t listen, you’re an antisemite.
This episode is definitely worth a listen! Thanks for sharing, Kathleen!
Thanks for the link
I'm starting to suspect that some of the left wing activists in Portland are actually undercover operatives for some very right wing organization. It's exactly what you would do if you wanted to make them look crazy and ridiculous. Then I remember all the other stuff that's happened in Portland and maybe they really do think this is a good idea.
I would love Katie to do a deep investigation into who the Portland city subreddit mods are. Those psychos need to be revealed
NaNoWriMo?! oh boy!! finally some drama from MY part of the internet!!
I really could have gone the rest of my life without knowing what ABDL means or that it was a even a thing.
I find the way that the worst of the ABDLs conduct themselves online mirrors the way that a lot of activists in other identity movements successfully forced their way into mainstream liberalism. I also have seen a lot of overlap between these various, self-determined identities (not just in this episode with Claudia).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I find ABDL icky too (though what happens between consenting adults in private is none of my business), but I think studying the worst behaviour of these fringe identity groups can perhaps provide some clarity, or at least entertainment, in light of our current cultural moment. Just my feeling on it though.
I enjoyed the episode, truly. I was just joking about how while entertaining it's also demoralizing. I also don't care what consenting adults do but I do care when they broadcast it or proselytize. It's really a slippery slope from "who cares what you do in the privacy of your bedroom" to "Why do you care I'm teaching about diaper fetishes to school children, bigot!"
I'm into weird stuff too but I'm never talking about it openly. Not necessarily even because I'm ashamed but because I know no one wants/needs to hear about it.
I think we agree. While I don’t think shame is a productive emotion, there is a such thing as privacy.
It really... isn't? Like no one thinks that there's no need to design a sex-ed curriculum that's age-appropriate-- that would make no more sense than designing a math curriculum that's not age-appropriate.
But the mere existence, without more, of gay and trans people is never age-inappropriate.
THIS. And they keep doing shows on it.
Tbf, ABDL was little more than a footnote in a broader tale of yet another organization stumbling blindly into ideological capture and the attendant missteps and malpractice along the way.
That’s good to hear.
My comment was a bit of a joke. I do enjoy when they cover degenerates far more than when they were talking about Israel and trans stuff.
While I do feel depressed, it still is entertaining which is why I'm here.
Yeah, well, I recently visited my father in a nursing home, and hearing people appropriate incontinence as a fetish is pretty vile to me (as well as environmentally when these are not people who are incontinent). It always seems the stories about them drift towards pedophilia, as we heard in this episode, too.
It’s all just part of the rich stew of self-obsessed, porn-addicted narcissism the Internet has turned us into. ABDL, DEI training, pretendians, all fruit of the same poisonous tree.
Pulitzer nominee Carron J Phillips was featured in a Primo episode, back in November 2021.
https://open.substack.com/pub/blockedandreported/p/premium-lets-discuss-accidental-ratfuckery?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ua049 around minute 28.
Circa 2010 I had a roommate who did NaNoWriMo. She was very into 1) Her identity as a “writer”; 2) Vampires; and 3) the pin-up aesthetic. I wonder if her kind is still NaNoWriMo-ing or if it’s all just LOLCows.
I listen to a book podcast that discusses (humorously) the NaNoWriMo forums in November (this scandal has ruined my fun this November, since I love those episodes, but now I know the back story). Anyway, from what they've shared from the forums, your roommate's kind are like the main participants.
Did she get any of her writing published?
I'm torn about NNWM because I remember writing so much bad fiction as a teenager and I'm mortified that I submitted it to publishers. I hope they shredded the submissions. The first novel most people write is usually bad and plenty of people go on to write good novels after their bad first novel that never should see the light of day.
Why not both?
OMG, to say these people are pathological fabulists is an insult to ordinary, decent liars. I didn't have that many different identities when I was working for the CIA! Yikes.
Another update for those who enjoyed Katie's "Britain's Strictest Headmistress" tale. Here's my interview with that very headmistress (it was taped before Katie's segment). Enjoy! https://technoskeptic.substack.com/p/michaela-headmistress-katharine-birbalsingh
I like a lot of things about Katharine Birbalsingh. I think she makes a lot of great, insightful points. But then she goes and makes a spectacular own-goal by flipping out over a harmless department store advertisement and somehow she doesn’t realize it’s fuel to people who want to portray her as extreme. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/katharine-birbalsingh-marks-spencer-christmas-advert-b1118005.html
Dear Reader: Why I Support Our Troops In The War On Christmas
I found this quite cathartic, having just got banned from the Nanowrimo forums myself, after 20 years of participating (I was the founding ML of our region), for saying they shouldn't sack an ML a month before the event for having a pronoun joke in his profile. Samma-Jaye, mentioned at the beginning, threatened to ban me last year for criticising the org for asking low-income participants to donate hundreds of dollars a year. I think Jesse is absolutely right that they need to ban under-18s – and he said that not even knowing (I think) that there are in-person meet-ups. It's just such an obvious target for dodgy people. Our current ML organised an all-night writing event and told us to bring our sleeping bags and pyjamas…
I can’t be the only person here who frequently eats food at has-a-chance-to-burn-your-mouth temperatures. Jesse’s eggplant parm debacle is a somewhat frequent occurrence for me when trying to wolf down a little Caesar’s pizza on my half hour lunch break haha.
Caesar should allow you a longer break!
I can't tell if it's because Katie is not doing a good job at telling this story or if Jesse is interrupting too much but the reporting of this entire situation is annoying me. Like good lord, just spit it out in a clear and straightforward way with minimal interruptions. Still a pretty crazy story though!
I had a hard time following the story, too. Sometimes keeping up with the names was too much and I questioned why this was even a story worth telling. There have been other episodes like this which seem like exploiting the tales of obviously mentally ill people.
I could follow it decently, but that probably says a lot about my familiarity with and exposure to this kind of story.
Yeah not their best delivery.
"the royal we, meaning Jews."
now that's funny.
Big ups to SoftandChewy
This story has big MsScribe energy.
I love this comment, though I had to google MsScribe!
Hot take. But maybe you’re responsible for your rating on Apple Podcasts and not your listeners. Maybe your content/advertising/delivery/reporting/quality needs to be 5 stars if you want 5 stars.
I do love in many industries the please for perfect ratings from people who know their product is far from perfect.
How was our hotel on a scale of 1-10? Umm a 5, it was a totally normal hotel that met expectations but exceeded them in no way. "Oh so you hated it? I am going to get in trouble now" ...arggghhh...
Well in the case of Uber you'll get deactivated if your rating isn't basically perfect, so it's understandable that people get freaked out even by a four-star rating.
Yeah and its a shitty stupid corporte practice and I fight it whenever possible.
How would you change it? At some level you need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff - low quality products, dangerous drivers, dirty hotels, etc.
Stop treating a 9/10 as a fail?
There are people who basically refuse to give a full mark score to anything besides stellar service that not all people even have the opportunity to offer. Also people who give full marks for anything that was sufficiently good enough. Then there is corporate who uses these ratings to determine "quality" of a subjective service. Besides the fact that it's lazy as all hell, they aren't getting the truth of what they want to know, and they're supposed to be smart enough to recognize that. Unfortunately they're not perverts for nuance here.
No change is needed except the level at which they place these ratings playing a serious role in determining if, and what action needs to be taken. Want to know the quality of your product? They already pay third parties to do this. Dangerous drivers? Almost every service vehicle has a number for you to call and report dangerous drivers. Videos are welcomed. Dirty hotel? They already have trusted employees doing walkthroughs called managers.
At some level you have to understand that public ratings doesn't separate the wheat from the chaff. They're filled with uncontrolled biases, some of which may even be straight bigotry, or take the recent movement to cancel some people just for having a certain opinions on certain topics. It's all way to subjective to be making any decisions on. It may, however, be useful in directing you toward investigating if any improvements can be made. But again, it's by no means grounds for decision making.
The point isn't to make reasoned decisions, it's to keep the definitely-not-employees-no-sirree-bob in a perpetual state of servile terror. In that respect, the more arbitrary the system the better.
It really cannot be overstated that Uber's entire business model is a perversion of law-- a perversion our feeble public sphere has proven completely incapable of dealing with.
Third post of yours I've liked now.
What. Is. Happening?
Can I blame Greg somehow? I want to blame Greg.
Haven’t had the chance to listen, but when I got the email from NaNoWriMo (did it for years when in college) I thought it was Barpod fodder. I had no idea what the story was, but it sounded BarPod.
Then I looked into it and decided that I still had no idea what was going on and it NEEDED to be BarPod.
This is what I pay for. Good boy trace.
It's fitting that I listened to this one day removed from the most amazing party ever in the history of podcasts. Really enjoyed meeting Jesse and others, even saw Nick Gillespie, really felt like I made it.
This episode, then, I consider, as a long time Barpodian & Primo, to be your MAGNUM OPUS. I know I know, it is high praise, but Singal & Herzog really outdid themselves with this one.
Side note: After meeting Tracing I was expecting him to be hairier for some reason.
At one point Jesse said, "I'm team Claudia," which was a missed opportunity to say, "I'm club penguin."
I've only listened to five seconds of this and what I know is that Jesse needs to get over turning 40. But I get that he won't because it's new for everyone who experiences it.
I'm just saying it's not even close to the big deal people make it out to be.
If you've so over microwaved something that you've burned yourself, that's not age related, that's intelligence related. Not that I don't love Jesse.
Instead of marshmallows in that one study on impulse control, they should've used hot pastries.
Back to the diaper shit, I see. You’re really that out of ideas?
https://i.imgflip.com/881wej.jpg
I listened the episode today. It was one of the harder ones to follow. 😂
Yep. She'd be way more effective if she's stuck to education reform, which she has the results to prove, and kept herself out of the culture wars.
Being publicly belligerent doesn't really help whatever message you're trying to get across. She was quite reasonable when I interviewed her, but seemingly as with a lot of people, who they are in person gets conflated with their online persona, usually not to the benefit of their particular project
A huge +1 to Jesse’s suggestion that they should make a diagram to help keep track of all the threads in the episode’s main story. For stories like this (or e.g. keffels), diagrams would be tremendously helpful.
The chiefs’ colors are red and yellow. Right? They never wear black.
Wait, what? I figured the more sports-oriented people knew what they were talking about, but apparently you are right. So the kid is racist after all!
I mean, no. But it’s a weird choice for him to do red and black instead of red and yellow. Red and Yellow is such a clean combo. Opportunity missed, kid.
Missed opportunity to be accused of yellowface?
Maybe he didn't have yellow paint, that is my guess.
So then, just do red? I think all the "blackface" allegations are completely stupid, to be fair, but black is not now and never has been a KC Chiefs color. It doesn't really make sense at all, but whatever, he's 9.
I wonder if it will turn out to be his own school or team colors. I heard he's a good player himself for his age
I bet it was “Liquid Ass Prank Fart Spray” (available on Amazon) ” they put on the playground, not actual liquid human shit…just going to go ahead and believe that.
I regret that I spent any amount of time contemplating how they sourced the uh, bioweapon.
This must be it. Even the maddest activists wouldn't source and use the real thing, surely? Especially activists whose activism centres around the enforcement of anti-disease measures.
Regarding Christians supporting Israel - Jesse mentioned a survey in which most Christians indicated that the reason they support Israel is as a fulfillment of biblical prophesy. As a Christian, I get how that would sound like Christians are solely concerned with Israel becoming a nation in order to bring about the pre-requisites for the apocalypse. However, I think it would have more to do with biblical prophesy in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the original arrival of a messiah (who Christians believe was ... Christ). I think part of the support for the nationhood of Israel stems from the fact that our savior was from "Israel" (the province of Judea during the Roman Empire). Jesus was born into a time when the Jewish diaspora was largely regathered in their homeland, but still not its own sovereign country. Anyway, to get to the point, I think that 'biblical prophesy' regarding Jesus' birth in Israel (how it came about, etc.) is a bigger factor in that answer than the 'second coming' of Christ. (Especially since many denominations of Evangelical Christians are divided on what the Book of Revelations - where the idea of the apocalypse comes from - means.) - Your politically moderate Christian listener/primo subscriber, Hope
“Meanwhile, over at the ABDL subreddit”-- idk why but it’s like I suddenly realized what I was listening to and I started laughing so hard I had to pause.
Katie's refusal to look up how to pronounce ANY word is getting less cute, especially in light of the revelation that Trace basically wrote a PhD dissertation on this drama on behalf of these two.
I think it's part of their schtick by now. But a big WOW to Trace!
Happy birthday Jessie get out there and clap some cheeks. Have some kids we need more men like you out there.
Jesse, as someone who was raised Catholic, I have a secret to share with you: most Catholics don’t actually believe they’re eating the literal blood and body of Christ when they take communion. They might not announce that to the world, but most realize that what they’re doing is symbolic, despite what the Pope might say. All this is a long way of saying, most Evangelical Christians probably don’t actually believe you’re going to hell.
LOLWUT Have you never heard of "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames"? (It's a "play", the aim of which is to put the fear of hell into its viewers, and it's quite popular amongst evangelical types.)
One of the most B&R espisodes ever!
So, basically, American Jews invented negative polarization. Good job....
Damn nano rhino has some huge nuts
Only one like?
Happy 40th Jesse! 😊
I am sorry you got your finger burned by that darn appetizer *shakes fist*
I loved this episode. It had everything. Thank you, Katie and Jesse and Trace! I appreciate you digging into all this, ahem, shit.
I am no fan of religion but what you have written here is very interesting. You should have your own Substack.
please, for the love of god, don’t clip the audio
As an enjoyer of weirdly petty forum drama, this hit the spot.
I don’t know if I’m prepared to hit play on this one.
How does everyone pronounce NaNoWriMo? Emphasis on the "Na", the "No", the "Wri", or the "Mo"? (Or... The "Na" & "Wri", or the "No" & "Mo"?)
I guess I put a slight emphasis on the Na and the Wri, but I think of it as a phrase more than a word, so idk if I’ve ever really pondered the question.
Atomic Cafe Coffee Clatch Convo.- read Thomas Merton’s “Original Child Bomb”.
We’re such an exceptional people with a well tread sense of history...........
Katie’s best “...and remember:”
great ep good pacing
Happy birthday Jesse!!
Hey Katie, it's a bit weird for you to call the Portland terrorists "long covidians" considering that the person I know with long covid uses a walker and has cumulative cardiovascular & neurological damage from her 2020 infection. Why do you always have to take digs at long covid sufferers? I truly hope it never happens to you or anyone you love, and if it does, I hope people don't laugh at you about it or tell you it wasn't real. I wish it wasn't real and I beg God each and every day to make covid disappear forever and for my sister to recover fully.
Katie doesn't read these comments
Jesse & Trace comments here sometimes, so I was addressing her in the hopes it would get back to her or someone else affiliated with the pod. I've seen other commenters address her in the comments for the year + I've been active here, so I don't believe I've done anything out of the norm by constructing my comment the way I have. Thank you for your input.
It was a joke, so...
The running joke in the open threads is that Jesse & Katie read the subreddit comments but not the Substack ones. If you really want to offer direct feedback, you're better off e-mailing them rather than posting here.
Oh, thanks for the heads up, sincerely. Is there a place on the substack page that states how to email the pod? I've looked but see nothing.
Sure thing. I looked and don't see it on the page anywhere, but in past "housekeeping" segments they've stated their email is blockedandreportedpodcast@gmail.com.
Given that the issue was about people wearing masks outside, calling out that irrationality really doesn’t have anything to do with anyone else’s health issues.
Sorry...of topic but They cancelled Medi Hassan's show on MSNBC abruptly yesterday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/30/mehdi-hasan-show-canceled-backlash-msnbc/
I'm not sure why They would cancel a show featuring a prominent Muslim who was critical of Israel during a time that they are committing genocide on the Palestinian People. It's almost like They were silencing him...
Why would They want to silence the only Muslim with his own news show on Western Corporate owned Media in the middle of a violent genocidal campaign to annihilate Gaza?
Can somebody possibly give me a theory?
“They” capitalized lmao. Just commit to the triple parentheses already.
The triple parenthesis is used to indicate Jewish people.
We have an open thread; why are you posting this here?
I think you probably already have decided on the answers to your questions, right?
I'm asking bc I'm unable to come up with any plausible theory aside from the one we all fully understand to be the unspeakable truth.
If you have another theory I'm very interested to hear it. You don't though...bc we all know why his show was cancelled and who ordered it to be cancelled.
I don't care why he was fired. There's a myriad of articles speculating as to why. You can google it and find one that reaffirms your priors. Probably he was just a bit too pro-Palestine for MSNBC and the network is worried about their ratings.
I am guessing your 'unspeakable truth' is that the 'They' you insist on capitalising is the 'Jews that control the media' and that this is a bad thing? I think that's a tired, lame-ass antisemitic trope I'm disappointed to see anyone use, let alone a fellow fan of B&R.
"Probably he was just a bit too pro-Palestine for MSNBC and the network is worried about their ratings."
Ok good we are having a conversation. Why would his position of being being "pro-palestine" impact ratings negatively on a liberal channel when the vast majority of Americans (especially liberals) opposed Bidens unconditional support for Israel. 75% of Democrats want a cease fire and negotiations.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-public-support-israel-drops-majority-backs-ceasefire-reutersipsos-2023-11-15/
Medhi Hassan is actually representing the MSNBC audiences real position. So that can't be it.
"I am guessing your 'unspeakable truth' is that the 'They' you insist on capitalising is the 'Jews that control the media' and that this is a bad thing?"
I never said Jews...you did. Why would you think I meant Jewish people? Kinda weird that you immediately thought I meant all Jews inherently control the media like some sort of collective consciousness. That's a pretty wild leap. Also there's many many many good Jewish people who oppose genocide. They protest all over the place and They attack these honorable Jews as Antisemites.
Question for you: Is it a bad thing when one particular racial, ethnic, or political group has sole control over the media? If all the corporate media was run by say... Evangelicals Christians Would you be upset about that? Or what if the media were controlled by Russian Bots?
Oh Cam. Why did I bother.
I've made that mistake before, too. We're all learning.
Here's a palate cleanser, Claudia.
Ever wonder who that guy is who counts how many Jews there are in things?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Aq7SLzRj48
Eh, we all have our irresistible bêtes noires on here...
Well there's the theory explicitly offered in that piece, which is that his show wasn't drawing as well as the other potential chopping-block targets.
We often tend to be on the same side of these arguments, so take it from me if not from others that you're now well into Homer-backing-into-the-hedge territory here. I want nothing to do with this conspiracy shit.
And that theory is a lie by the Corporate Media and is proved by his shows ratings. He was far from the worst show on MSNBC. All Muslims hosts were removed from MSNBC with the exception of Medhi earlier in the Israeli genocide.
Is there anything the Corporate media tells you that you don't automatically believe without question?!?!?! It would appear not!
Hasans show continued but was cancelled immediately after his aggressive interview with the IDF spokesperson in which he forced the IDF to admit they lied about alleged evidence they showed from the hospital raid. Specifically the calendar they claimed was a list of terrorists.
Hasan was cancelled the very next day. According to you...that's merely a coincidence! The Corporate Media would never silence a Muslim who is being critical of Israel!
You don't believe in conspiracies? Like you think nobody has ever conspired before? How old are you?
Hasan literally proved an Israeli conspiracy live on his show and forced the IdF spokesperson to admit it!
Why do you ignore that? Why shill for the Corporate Media? I thought you said you opposed Genocide in Gaza?
You asked whether there was any other theory. I have relayed that there is such a theory. Whether that theory is supported by the relevant evidence is a separate question, and one that I do not HAVE the evidence to evaluate. Far from "believing it without question," all I've done is put it forward as a plausible but unproven hypothesis, which is, to reiterate, precisely what you asked for.
The rest of this bad-faith nonsense is not worth a response.
"You asked whether there was any other theory. I have relayed that there is such a theory. Far from "believing it without question," all I've done is put it forward as a plausible but unproven hypothesis, which is, to reiterate, precisely what you asked for."
The level of intellectual dishonesty here is astounding. You're not only repeating the reasoning given by the Corporation which fired Hasan, but you're also editorializing that it is "plausible" while at the same time admitting you don't have any evidence?!?!
Here: https://ustvdb.com/networks/msnbc/shows/mehdi-hasan/
You can see that his show would fall between 19th and 20th on the current list of 31 shows. So why are those other shows not cancelled first?
I was asking for alternative theories and all you did was regurgitate what the Establishment Media PR Department told you.
I heard his ratings sucked. (edit: reading further... you probably think that's a conspiracy theory or something). 🙄
Wait, deadspin is crap now? Huh.
Forty and Naughty!
It’s the only way I’ll make it now. Sometimes I skip the crunchy breadcrumbs, but they really do add something special. I have also subbed in zucchini with very good results. Next summer I should try making it with both!
I've never seen an eggplant parmigiana recipe that only serves 2. What's the point of all that work? I want a tray full.
I cannot wait for B&R to do a FF house episode. I feel like it might break them.
It's a joke now but I wouldn't rule out somewhere people try to do that.
I just think it's important to block potty-training until there's time to make a decision. It's completely reversible, give or take the bullying!
Let me guess, you're an ABDLERF?
😂