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July 11, 2020

Jesse Singal hypocritically goes stanning for the Harper's letter

A lot of my closer regular readers are surely familiar with the letter that Harper's Magazine released earlier this week, decrying the so-called "cancel culture" without using that phrase explicitly.

Seeing nobody I recognize as an actual leftist among signatories was antennae-raiser No. 1.

No, Noam Chomsky, safely ensconced in the "duopoly-only" world on voting issues, and a co-signer of another letter this spring, one calling on Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins (just the leading candidate at the time) to run a "safe states only" strategy, is not a leftist. Howie politely, and I impolitely, told Chomsky to shut the fuck up. (Chomsky has LONG been a sheepdogger.)

Cornel West claimed Dear Leader fooled him, when it was rather that he was self-delusional. Update; And, given all the peregrinations, ramblings and background of his 2024 presidential run, this is more reason not to vote for him.

Jeet Heer leads me to raise an eyebrow. He's not horrible, but, I still question him. Nadine Strossen, since she tried to censor the ACLU's board, not a surprise. Wendy Kaminer, one of the targets of her would-be censorship, IS.a surprise.

At Current Affairs, Nathan J. Robinson has a further takedown on some of the names involved. Beyond Chomsky, the more problematic are West, Heer, Zephyr Teachout, Randi Weingarten, Matthew Karp and Samuel Moyn.

Update, Dec. 12, 2023: In light of the Israel-Gaza war, and having originally noted Bari Weiss, below, I suspect Zionist-related reasons for other signatories, too. And, speaking of, has a SINGLE non-Zionist signatory of this letter protested against the silencing of Palestinian voices?

More serious issues arise after that. And yet more after Jesse Singal wrote a column at Reason magazine defending an attempt to cancel free speech. So much for First Amendment absolutism from libertarians, eh? I quote:

The people furious at this letter largely have genuine ideological problems with liberal norms and laws regarding free speech.

Jesse, here's the mirror. Take a look and see yourself.

So, I shot out a thread of Tweets to Jesse about some specific problems. I'm going to drop them in, with additional comments on each.

Let's start:

Seriously? When I saw Fucking Bari Weiss as a signer? Game over RIGHT THERE. And the thing is, Singal has, elsewhere, called out BDS opponents. She's not the only one, by any means. But, trying to get Palestinian profs fired at Columbia? That itself is "cancel culture." (And now, Bari Weiss has quit the NYT op-ed staff, boo-hooing that she's a cancel culture victim.) Much of the activities of the most ardent anti-BDSers are exactly that. And, beyond active opponents of BDS, you've got a bunch of neocons, and a bunch more bipartisan foreign policy establishmentarians, all of whom arguably perform "cancel culture" on free discussion of Palestinian issues in the US. (Jacobin, to which I shall not link, gets this wrong. Hypocrisy may not be a sufficient reason to reject this dreck, but it is one of a group of necessary reasons.)

Pinker, and I assume wife Rebecca Goldstein, are both vigorously anti-BDS. So is Jonathan Haidt, though the way he phrases his opposition, I'm sure he'd deny he's an opponent. Robinson notes Pinker's ties to the so-called Intellectual Dark Web, too.

Haidt, and others on that list, also have a consistent history of overstating illiberalism, or often more specifically, anti-conservativism, in academia. I've specifically called out Haidt before, for ignoring how in much of both the social sciences and the natural sciences, religious conservatives self-select out of academia because of anti-intellectual stances.

And, I'm not just being metaphorical when I accuse anti-BDSers of their own cancel culture. From intimidation of Palestinian student groups at universities, contra Haidt's narratives about academia, to the variety of bullshit that Weiss pulled at Columbia, and on through getting universities to cancel speakers and events, this is literally cancel culture.

Even IF the letter were totally right otherwise, how two-thirds of signatories could have put their names to the other one-third, I don't know. Were I famous enough in the media world (I wish) to be asked to sign such a letter, I would have refused, even if it were totally right.

Note those IFs and let's go on in the thread.
That said, this is coming from someone who actually largely agrees with Jesse's take on the trans activists' portion of cancel culture.

Update: At Current Affairs, the spot-on Nathan Robinson agrees with me in general and specifically on this issue. He also calls out Harper's for its own in-house editorial hypocrisy. And, as usual, gotta love his writing style, such as when he talks about "a motley assortment of luminaries" who signed the letter. (Jacobin totally misses this angle, or rather, rejects it.)

BUT! While Jesse mentions trans activists' response to the letter in his column, that issue is nowhere mentioned in the letter itself.

That leads to:
Seriously. We're now, as I told an email list, into massive muddle-headedness. That, too, is not something I would have expected from Harper's, but, I guess this is the new normal. Without listing a specific "redress of grievances," to get back to my second tweet, one can't even make a reasonable assessment of how close to proportionality we are. Is the "cancel culture" left one-quarter as bad as Trumpism? One-tenth? One-fiftieth? For that matter, to go back to my first tweet, is the "cancel quarter" left one-quarter as bad as anti-Palestinian Zionists? One-tenth? One-fiftieth?

Onward to No. 4.
And, yes, beyond other issues, I see a certain amount of privilege there. It's a word used a lot by SJWs, and often overused.

And, at Bloomberg, Pankaj Mishra nails it. These are people, who, whether through skill, luck, nepotism and cronyism, or whatever, (often luck plus connections) who have risen to positions of pre-eminience and don't like having their "right to blather" challenged. Mishra also points out foreign policy hypocrisy issues beyond what I have done, in several of the signees.

Per Idries Shah? This is another issue with more than two sides, though:


I think that privilege — of CLASS as well as race and sex (and religion versus secularism or atheism) — does exist, even if I agree that the idea is also abused and overused.

And, I see many of the signatories exemplifying that as well. So:
And, you chose to sign it, Jesse. You chose to defend it. And, by ignoring the hypocrites, you're choosing to defend it and their hypocrisy.

And, we haven't even tackled other illiberalisms and hypocrisies. Like this:
When I saw Gladwell's name, that Exiled Online piece at the Twitter link was the first thing I thought of.

Update: I've heard people claim that my "co-signing a letter with a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy" is wrong because even Trump has defended free speech.
1. I'm not familiar with any such recent speech
2. Comments of his in the past have been selective and hypocritical
3. I wouldn't make a pro-free speech defense along with Trump, either.

And, not part of the thread to Jesse, but worth including:
This dreck about Lee Fang etc. is what I refer to. His Tulsi-stanning? Referenced here.

And, it's not just Merika. Mondoweiss notes that Israel lobby cancel culture is alive and well in Canada.

That's more than enough food for thought, and I'll post this live instead of going up in the morning so I can link it to my thread.

Update, July 20: Here's a mix of muddle-headedness and hypocrisy for you. The Intercept's Zaid Jilani, a signer, thought bossman Glenn Greenwald should have been invited to sign. In reality, he was cancel cultured by a vote, and organizer Thomas Chatterton Williams, who looks more and more like a general douche, laughed about it.

So Zaid, watch Glenn own the frauds. Does that include you?
Boom.

Worse? Williams, with Matt Taibbi and elsewhere, uses the attacks on the letter to play the martyr card. Fraud indeed.

Update, speaking of Taibbi?

Matt started blathering on Twitter with comments about the Harper's letter. Behind that blather is his latest Substack piece. It's about 20 percent real concerns about SJW issues, about 30 percent overblown concerns and about 50 percent total bullshit.

Related? Taibbi has also started stanning for Sully, including claiming he's not a racist. Pretty much no Overton Window that Matt won't go slouching toward now, eh? As I said on Twitter:
The man is losing credibility by the column.

Emily Yoffe, another hardcore Zionist and anti-BDS signer of the letter, has now decided to Lean In further on the hypocrisy of reverse cancel culture. She even mentions actions on campus life while ignoring cosigner Bari Weiss. These people have no shame.
 
Update, Nov. 14: Letter signer and Ezra Klein flunky (flunky of a flunky) Yglesias has joined the piety brothers swill at Substack. And of course, it's Conor Friedersdorf taking this with utmost seriousness at Atlantic. (Yglesias is also an  overpaid classist if he's buying $1.2M DC condos.)
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July 10, 2020

Green Party cracking up over transsexual/transgender issues,
part 2? (from someone who rejects two-siderism on this)

I write this as the Green Party's 2020 presidential convention has launched, virtually, and it is unknown how much of a crackup, as asked in the question-marked header, may actually happen. That said, the label Just.Another.Political.Party™ is brand-new and introduced here for the first time.

Specifically, what has brought things to a boiling point is what constitutes "medical care" for minor children with gender dysphoria. But the kick-starter was the Georgia Green Party's approval of "Declaration on the Sex Based Rights of Women." The actual declaration calls for reaffirming women sex workers' rights as based on sex not gender. I agree!

Transgender or transsexual (yes, that word) advocates seem to be in a huge furor over that. They seem to be in a secondary furor because "detransitioning" is mentioned in one linked document (and maybe others), and its explicitly tied to treatment for gender-dysphoric minor children.

And now, questioning rushes to treatment is being reframed as "denying medical care."

Tosh.

I stand with the Mayo Clinic, which notes that puberty blocking medications should only be used for children who:
  • Show a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.
  • Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty.
Note that the first stipulation has an AND, not an OR. The dysphoria must be BOTH long-lasting and intense. Note also the second stipulation. Gender dysphoria that starts after puberty should NOT be treated with these medications. And these bullet points, plus two others, including one that says a child who is a candidate for such medications should at the same time be addressing any "psychological, medical or social problems" that could interfere with such treatment.

I also stand with the Mayo Clinic, vs those who I will consider and call "child transgender manipulation activists," in that these medications, from what we already now, likely DO have some long-term effects. I've seen, and it's a public Facebook group, so no privacy violations, direct claims that such medications have no such effects. When I pointed that out, the leading advocate just "moved on" to another talking point. PBS's Frontline has more about possible long-term effects. Any major multiyear hormonal changes on a pre-adult, a child, are almost guaranteed to have some brain effects. Frontline also notes (as of the time of the piece) that use of puberty blockers for gender-dysphoric children is an off-label use.

More here.
“The bottom line is we don’t really know how sex hormones impact any adolescent’s brain development,” Dr. Lisa Simons, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s, told FRONTLINE. “We know that there’s a lot of brain development between childhood and adulthood, but it’s not clear what’s behind that.” What’s lacking, she said, are specific studies that look at the neurocognitive effects of puberty blockers. The story also notes that there’s health risks behind transitioning hormones, and that these risks may vary based on the age at which they’re started.
Here's another piece about long-term effects for women who received Lupron for other reasons. (Leupron is the main trade name for leuproleptin, the only puberty blocker on the market.) Besides thinning bones, similar problems such as thinning tooth enamel and joint issues are listed.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported last fall that the newest British research study both found some possible mental health side effects and had ethical problems in the study itself. But, many Radically Active Transgenderism Supporters continue to claim that there's basically no problems.

Anyway, it’s a lie to claim there are no risks. These risks that we're seeing, like the tooth thinning and such, are only coming out decades later. If we have a new explosion in use, we'll have a new explosion in problems, in all likelihood. It’s a lie to claim that the benefits are guaranteed to outweigh the risks. It’s a lie to claim that, in the case of minor children, that issues behind the first or second lies don’t apply in spades. Therefore, I generally support "watchful waiting" being the first option for minor children with gender dysphoria.

And, a bigger therefore?

I stand AGAINST certain Greens like Brian Setzler, Noah Martin, and the hate-speeching Mike Gamms (calling people who disagree with him "genocidal" does approach that, IMO), along with Amergin Ó Kai and Aric Hopkins among newer ones, and it's from a public FB group, so no anonymity busting) who claim that trans activists aren't forcing or pushing anything.

In addition, per the Georgia Green Party's response to Dario Hunter's issuing a call for dialogue between the party and the caucus, among other things, it notes these comments and more. It also notes that Hunter was at the Georgia GP state convention and sat silent while the amendment up top was adopted.

I also wonder if Hunter saw this as a campaign wedge issue. And, if he did, if Howie Hawkins felt compelled to respond. The Greens as Just.Another.Political.Party™? I am shocked there are politics going on in this third party.

There is another reason for that. Without "prods" from reading too much social media or other things, 60-90 percent of gender dysphoric adolescents stay with their birth sex — and come out as gay or lesbian.

The author, Debra Soh says:
Previous research has shown that homosexuality is associated with gender-variant behaviour in childhood. All 11 studies following gender dysphoric children over time show the same finding – if they don't transition, 60 to 90 per cent desist upon reaching puberty and grow up to be gay.
There we go.

I have previously snarked on Twitter against the so-called “TERFs,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminists. While not saying they’re totally right, they’re not totally wrong, either. So, I’d like to withdraw the snarking.

There’s also the issue of whether or not, within the adult world, there are multiple varieties of transgenderism, or transsexualism.

Cue Alice Dreger.

Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in ScienceGalileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science by Alice Domurat Dreger My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Starts well, but one-sided on Ev Psych

I had thought about rating this as four stars, but ... couldn't quite do it.

I do think, per other commenters, some of Dreger's claims are overarching, but not the ones they think are.

First, the science on the two main issues. I have long thought, as some of Dreger's interviewees do, that there are (at least) two types of transgenders. And, I think she's spot-on on intersex issues as well.

Second, on the issue of "social justice warriors." I've been caught in their crosshairs more than once myself, so I agree with Dreger here — overall. Read below for caveats.

Third, I agree with her that science, when properly done, can indeed be part of social activism. Beyond examples she mentions, an obvious one is DNA showing that human "races" don't exist.

Truncating review at this point for purposes of this blog post.

View all my reviews

Now, many transgender activists hate, HATE the word “transsexual” because it cues up pictures of men with boob jobs on porn sites or something like that.

Well, you know, that might just confirm the idea that there are multiple versions of transgenders. It might also confirm that “transsexual," even if not a "good" word because of pejorative angles that became connotatively associated with it, was getting at the issue. And, some of those pejorative angles may have been fueled by activists.

Societal conditions of gender, such as whether a biological male wants to wear a dress or not, or whether he wants to wear makeup or not, are different from biological conditions of sex. That's why, versus an older word, I question whether transgenderism is the best word to use.

Per the one person who seems to be the most vocal advocate of child drug treatment, and lying about no side effects? And others?

I asked rhetorically how many of them who find no harm with these drugs call circumcision "mutilation." And I asked rhetorically how many of them who think "Big Pharma's" every action, including on vaccines, of course, is a big conspiracy, but that this is somehow pristine and different.

Given what I said above about gender vs. sex, the detransitioning issue, to the degree transgender has been fused with transsexual, is not the same as gay or lesbian detransgendering and therefore is NOT "anti-trans." Certainly, watchful waiting for minor children is not "anti-trans."

These crude attempts at framing are lies.

And, since I did tweet something, I got a response from Lavender Greens:
Thanks for not being too snarky with that last line. "Thanks" also for ignoring the distinction I pointed out in my tweet to which you were responding:
I'm more and more inclined to be less and less charitable on this issue. While this was a politer reframing than I met in the GP Facebook group, I still see it as an attempt to reframe.

Speaking of? There used to exist a private, semi-official GP issues and discussion Facebook group. As of March 20, it was "archived," apparently to cut off discussion on this issue. (And then was revived and turned into a fucking Dario-stanners group.)

Sooo ...

If you're not Dahlia Blackthorn, AND you have more enlightened stances on puberty blockers, then you need to educate her, as I indicated back without naming names.
If you are her, or someone like her? Then you need to either educate yourself, or to undo any "re-education" you've received on this issue.

Want further education? Good old ethology. Nautilus notes that there are no genders among non-human animals.

And, I basically stand with feminists if men presenting as gender females but still clearly biological men, not women, invade their spaces. And, we're not talking reassignment surgery. If you're not even taking reassignment hormones, and it's a simple refusal, not a financial issue? But you're still wearing women's clothes, etc?

That's called being a "transvestite."

Some people may consider that word even more pejorative than "transsexual."

That's your problem.

As for Dahlia herhimself? And a subset of others? Maybe the old "transvestite" IS a more appropriate word, especially if associated with some sort of autogynephilia. That concept, and its apparent growth, was floating around the scientific world well before the trans movement. See this piece. (Yes, it's Quillette; still good stuff.)

Related? Starlene Rankin, a moderator for the GP Facebook group, has publicly said she wants Howie to pick Dahlia as his Veep.

I also wonder, per the information above, whether some of these people don't have an undercurrent of homophobia. Maybe that was learned from their parents, and it became safer to them to think they were really the other gender rather than to think they actually had gay or lesbian, rather than straight, sexual orientation. As homophobia is most pronounced by men, and against gays, rather than by women, or against lesbians, this would explain why the problems above present themselves much more in biological men than women.

I hadn't really jumped into details of controversy the last couple of years on this issue, especially the "TERFs vs transgender advocates" stuff. The Green Party and the Georgia state party have brought it to the forefront of my mind and I'm sorry I hadn't better informed myself sooner. Apologies for snarking aside, that's not to say that some of the transgender-excluding radical feminists don't have problems or issues of their own, and not limited to sexual identity issues. Many are still SJWs; witness Stephanie Zvan throwing Julian Assange under the bus, including refusing to even consider that Sweden's history of actions against him might have an international geopolitical background.

I also support the Georgia Green Party and outsiders for responding to Lavender Greens' call for expulsion with a call, and petition, for dialogue instead.

And, I also don't like Dario Hunter appearing to try to politicize the issue.

As for nominee Howie? He has said, in an online response to questions from the Lavender Caucus, that he opposes de-accrediting Georgia Greens. That, at least, is good, but what will he say if the party votes to do that at the convention. That said, how does he know enough to suspect the majority of the party opposes the declaration? It passed by a strong margin at the state convention. 

That said, for Greens on this issue? The not-so-noble advocates seem to be at least as lacking in science as anti-GMOers or antivaxxers, with the additional handicap of being even more shrill.

Calling opponents of "pushed" transitioning words like "genocidal" are repellent.

And, for both Greens and non-Greens? The amount of threats of violence, and attempts at intimidation. on this issue that it seems many trans activists engage in, and others support, at least tacitly, has just really come to light for me. I consider it disgusting. And it needs to be repudiated. Period.

As for the transvestites? If you want to be like RuPaul, that's your choice and you already have the freedom to do so. If you want to be RuPaul but walk into women's bathrooms, attend women's-only events, and otherwise invade women's only spaces? You shouldn't have that right, and I don't support your desire to do so.

AT THE SAME TIME ...

Adults who are making sex-based transitions have the right to be called by their new pronouns. Contra another Green, Chelsea Manning is not "he."

Contra some opponents of Lavender Greens and their like, having a functional uterus is not a sine qua non for being a woman. If you're doing what you can to biologically transition sexes, then you "qualify." In short, I may be a "gender critical" person of some sort, in looking critically at attempts to substitute "gender" for sex, but I am not a gender critical "radical" anything.

To put it another way? On this issue, just like with GMOs, as well as with climate change, I do my best to understand the science and follow the science, rather than doing so only on the last of the three issues.

Once again, there are more than two sides to this issue. But to the degree one VISIBLE side tries to lump everybody who doesn't have a Maoist-level of agreement with them into a second, and allegedly but falsely the ONLY other side, I resist.

Again:

Sex is biology. Gender is culture. Human reproductive development sometimes badly botches sexual development, but sex is still biology and gender is culture. Gender, gender roles and gender ideas are based on biology, yes, but they're ultimately cultural expressions.

So, to bluntly conclude?

— Everyone, whether a Green Party member or not, who engages in this crude set of lies by willingly and willfully confusing and conflating gender and sex issues? 
Go fuck yourselves. Repeatedly.
Per Wittgenstein, I'm not playing along with your "framing" attempts any more.
at 3 comments:

July 09, 2020

Texas Progressives talk primary runoffs, other things

Lots of stuff to dig into this week, as we await the results of primary runoffs and continue to watch the surge in Texas coronavirus cases, with more details on that, statewide, nationally, and globally, in the split-off portion of this week's Roundup.

That said, politicization claims aside, COVID and GOP politics do intersect. Let's dig in.

Both Strangeabbott and Danny Goeb have officially confirmed they have no balls, as the Texas GOP has said its state convention remains on to meet in person, but all bigwigs will speak virtually. Abbott has none over facing wingnut-plusers calling him out for "Masks On," and Patrick has none on matching words to mouth on dissing COVID, or on being 70-plus and not considering himself personally dispensable. Surprised? Sadly, since that initial story, Helltown Mayor Sly Turner removed their balllessness excuse by canceling the in-person convention.

That privately built border fence in the lower Valley? A stupidity that's going to fall into the Rio Grande sooner rather than later.

Meet the Texas GOP wingnut political candidates touting Q, whether as true believers or as political grifters. (Also note how many of them refused to talk to Texas Monthly.)

The challenges of being young, liberal (and, overlooked by Texas Monthly) wedded to the Democratic Party in Austin and having to deal with old, white liberals, especially when they demonstrate that they're far from free from implicit bias.

Trump and Cruz have dueling endorsements in the runoff in CD24 to see who will try to replace Will Hurd. Ronny Jackson, Trump's choice in CD13, will almost certainly get smoked. Trump's choice in Colorado CD5 got smoked by someone even more nutbar. Especially for endorsements to the "less nutbar" side of the GOP than Trump's, if they win nominations, whether or not general elections, how many of these will it take for the GOP to distance from Trump? And, if Trump loses re-election, how involved will he personally be in 2022?

SocraticGadfly had two third-party items of note. First, he said RIP to Mimi Soltysik, 2016 SPUSA presidential nominee. Second, he called out losing Green Party presidential candidate Dario Hunter for "going there" with identity politics and various other matters.

Related? The Supreme Court unanimously ruled states can punish so-called "faithless electors" in the electoral college. This is of a piece with state and federal courts boosting the duopoly parties and supporting third-party voter suppression, although mainstream media, and even a Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog fail to recognize this.

Off the Kuff has two more polls to analyze.

DosCentavos' early voting experience was quick, yet harrowing. The moral of the story ... don't leave until you click "CAST BALLOT."

Long read, but Scott Ritter has the nuanced truth about alleged Russian bounties on US troops. Have the MSM been hyping this to try to keep us in the hellhole of Afghanistan?

Federal judge rules the Dakota pipeline must be shut by early August, and stay shut for the duration of a review that's expected to last a full year.

Grits for Breakfast presents a primer for new, local police-reform advocates in Texas.

Dwight Silverman updates the "how to cut the cord" manual.

Christoph Spieler discusses why race is always there when we talk about transit.

Pedro Noguera wants a focus on equity when we reopen the schools.

Gadfly also offered a media analysis of the Democratic Senate runoff between MJ Hegar and Royce West.
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July 07, 2020

Confederate statues and Holocaust buildings

While I don't think that any U.S. military bases should be named after men who were traitors (even if Grant's surrender terms offered to Lee at Appomattox arguably let at least the Army of Northern Virginia's officers off the hook, they still were, as were officials of the CSA government), I'm more agnostic on statues.

That's especially true if a statue is not to Lee or Stonewall Jackson, but to the "Confederate war heroes."

I know the history of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erecting these statues, basically in the 1910-20 period. I know the turd-polished history they were presenting. I also know, per such things as the 1913 "great reunion" at Gettysburg, rather than the Lost Cause using a bulldozer to rewrite history, many northern Whites were at least halfway willing, and halfway actively willing, to go along.

Santayana famously said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. Maybe keeping the statues visible — albeit with modern explanatory plaques — would help.

Something on Twitter Monday night, or maybe it was Facebook, is part of this thought.

And that's that Germany did not tear down all the concentration camps inside the country. Nor did Poland tear down the true death camps. One can still go to Auschwitz today, of course.

Arguably, this alone hasn't stopped anti-Semitism, or even Holocaust denial, in Germany. It may have helped somewhat. But, Germany also has severe laws against Holocaust denial language, laws that would never fly in the U.S.

And?

Chancellor Angela Merkel's admission of Syrian refugees became the match to light the Alternative für Deutschland gasoline.

Another analogy, per this New Yorker piece, is with 1989 and the fall of Communism. Some eastern European states destroyed anything that even smacked of Leninism. Others took a more hands-off approach. So far, it's hard to argue one has done better than the other, at least where a larger educational effort wasn't applied. In much of Eastern Europe, Communism has been replaced by authoritarianism of some sort, such as in Belarus, or a drift away from democracy has started (Poland, Hungary) or gained steam (Ukraine, and of course, Russia itself). And I haven't even talked about the former Soviet Central Asia.

The museuming isn't a bad idea. That said, in many cities, racists might make a shrine, or try to, out of the now-barren spot on a courthouse lawn. Or they might demand city and county governments spend more money on the museum, put up a pro-Lost Cause sign on those lawns, etc., etc.

One might say: "But there's no statues at any of those places."

And I might respond: "The infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' inscription on the gates at Auschwitz is still there." Or, "Lenin's mausoleum, complete with theoretically preserved body, is still on Red Square." (That's not the best example, that one, I know, because Russia had but a limited window of semi-openness and it was largely wrecked by American capitalist grifters conspiring with Russian capitalist plunderers.)

I don't claim easy answers.

So, I refer again to old philosophy friend Idries Shah:


Some people may think him hackneyed. I don't, other than I am even more skeptical of human social psychology than him, and reject the idea of "complete solutions."

Other than the passage of time moving people beyond the desire for "complete solutions" do we get even close to that.

What is the best way, out of more than two sides, with truly moving more of America beyond this past, with making more Americans realize how deeply embedded "Lost Cause" ideas in general, and still-systemic racism in particular, are in America.

That said? More than two sides? I'm not of the position of some leftists who think issues of race almost always ultimately reduce to class, but I at least 50 percent agree with the general idea, if not more.

As far as possible ideas other than the two sides? One would be plaques on these statues that
A. Describe the UDC's history;
B. In any former CSA state, like Texas, where slavery was explicitly cited as part of the reason for secession, quoting line and verse from the secession ordinance.

Or a motion-sensor triggered audio recording that played the same. The advantage of this is, if you just place it very close to the statue or its pedestal, but don't actually attach it, you don't need Texas Historical Commission approval.
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Texas progressives talk coronavirus, week 15,
as we learn more about its lethality

A separate pullout for coronavirus issues in this corner of the weekly roundup is in place for another week. It will probably be in place for a couple more weeks, as in Texas, we await seeing what "Masks On," on top of the previous rollback of reopening Texas, does — or does not — do.

With that, let's dig in to the latest state, national and global news about the coronavirus. There's plenty of it to look at as new medical news and new nuttery both pop up.

First, how deadly is it?

Newest work on the fatality rate and the spread rate of COVID-19? It's 100 times as deadly as "just the flu." And, James Scott of U Texas, one of the researchers in that story, was expecting just what Texas is currently getting. The New York Times weighs in with its own piece, which among other things, notes that coronaviruses can have a better transmission rate than the flu. It's not clear from reading the two in parallel, but both are referencing the same WHO meta-analysis out of Australia as a centerpiece of their work.

Breaking addition

State Fair of Texas is officially cancelled. How long before wingnuts call the fair's board snowflakes or similar?

Texas

Meanwhile, Gov. Abbott said "masks on"? But will it hold? 

Abbott's already getting pushback from some wingnut counties, not all of them small. Ellis, Johnson and Upshur counties are among those where county judges said they won't enforce the mask order. A county with less than 20 active cases, Cass County, doesn't have to enforce the order IF it opts out. But, Judge Becky Wilbanks claiming Abbott's orders have been ambiguous? Not this one. His previous "blood on his hands"? Yes. Ellis and Johnson counties are both problematic. Both are over 150K and both are part of the Metromess. (Dunno about Johnson, or cities like Cleburne, but Ennis in Ellis County used to be a hotspot of racism to boot.) Smith County? That's Tyler. Over 200K people in the county, and also, a longtime wingnut hotbed of racism.

Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree, who looks like some home fries, says he won't enforce Abbott's order, either, and now there's a petition calling for his removal by trial for official misconduct. Petition is here.

Following up on the Bar Lives Matter stupidity from two weeks ago, over Abbott's orders to shutter bars, bar owners are suing the state. Dear bar owners, and a substantial minority of patrons. If bar lives really mattered, many of you bar patrons would get your ass to a sobriety meeting and many of you bar owners would tell those who needed to go that they indeed ... needed to go. Beyond that, as bobbies know, drunks can't socially distance.

Part of the problem of "superspreader churches"? It's superspreader church choirs. And, while I don't think bar owners have a legal leg to stand on, Abbott continuing to exempt churches is hypocritical.
Learn more about the false mask sales world.

The Texas Medical Association has reversed court on an in-person GOP convention (of which it was one of the sponsors) and said do it virtually.

If Abbott isn't primaried, Libertarian wingnut of wingnuts Dan Behrman, without mentioning names, called out Abbott, and has announced he's running for gov.

National and Global

Trump believes the coronavirus will disappear. Just like Hitler believed Gen. Felix Steiner was going to rescue him in late April 1945. As it turns out, a couple of days later, the White House word was that Trump was disappearing himself as the daily coronavirus voice.

Experts say, per my wonderings about summer AC, that indoor airborne transmission is looking like it's more and more part of the issue. Scientists saying this note that WHO is conservative and risk-averse on its medical angles and not willing to adequately consider aerosol transmission, as well as having its funding further tightened by Trump cutting off US funding. (That said, the "conservative and risk averse" is of little doubt to me; sounds just like the UNPCC on climate change.) On the other hand, for less developed countries, WHO saying, in essence, "Masks On," may require a significant financial diversion in controlling COVID. The group of scientists calling out WHO on aerosol transmission is releasing a public letter.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' famous, or infamous, or just plain wrong, five stages of death and dying is being used as a cheap counseling tool in the time of COVID. (IMO, her stages appealed to Americans from the start, as our cultural DNA is a country that believes it can always be in control, likes things in black and white, likes quick ways to allegedly get in control, like lists and action plans, etc.)

Tony Fauci's boss, NIH head Francis Collins, talks COVID issues. That said, given that this is the man who saw proof of the Trinity in a waterfall, it should surprise nobody that, from the likelihood of when we get a vaccine to how well Americans are addressing the pandemic, Collins has been smoking some Pandora-level crack.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn disagrees with Collins' (and Trump's) rosy scenario on a vaccine. While not a pessimist entirely, he says "year's end or early next year," which I think is still too optimistic.

Hahn also disagrees with Trump on something else. He said it's "still too soon" to say that an in-person RNC can safely be held in Jacksonville. What if people a month from now say it can't? How many people still march into J-ville if Il Duce says march?

Ex-FDA Commish Scott Gottlieb, a voice indirectly critical of Trump while in office, also weighs in, saying that overuse of remdesivir could deplete all the stock the US bought from from Gilead last week.

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July 06, 2020

#BlackLivesMatter in Gainesville, Texas;
so does Young Republicans PR

Just a typical Friday night last week in Gainesville, with the delayed kickoff of the Summer Sounds music series, and a few people at the corner of the courthouse square greeting attendees, amirite?

(Update, Aug. 17: The Cooke County Commissioners Court voted to keep its CSA/UDC statue. Blog post coming for later this week.)



What's that at the left hand edge, behind the "White Silence is Compliance" person?

Why, I think that's the base of one of those 100-year old United Daughters of the Confederacy statues.

And it says?


Note: Bobby Lee didn't write that, contra what some may say or have heard. It was actually written by an Oxford don, who'd just done a new translation of the Iliad. In the preface, he included a poem of his which likened the Confederacy to a new Troy. That's the lines you see there. That said, in 1868, he gave a copy of his Iliad, complete with poem, to Slave Marse Robert. (Picture that being said by Shelby Foote on Ken Burns semi-racist by silence Civil War series.)

That said, the lead speaker among young adults at a recent commissioners court meeting only referenced the issue of treason, indirectly, and not race. Also, Tucker Craft said he's a registered Republican and made sure to make that the very first thing he said. And, he pulled out the old BS about the "Democrat party being the party of Jim Crow." As salutatorian of Gainesville High and someone who interned at the county attorney's office, he knows that "DemocratIC" is the preferred usage. And, that most the Jim Crow Democrats went on to become Jim Crow Republicans before they died.

So, sorry I missed the first minute of the speechifying, Tucker, but having heard the whole thing now? Sounds like Cooke County Young Republicans PR first, and anything and everything else second.

Here's the county's video of the meeting. Listen for yourself. His comments start at about the 3:30 mark.



I don't know if the other two speakers were associated with him or the "Progressive Rights Organization" he claims to represent but that doesn't even have a Facebook page. Nor do I know if everybody in the pictures above is affiliated with him. Nor do I know — whether or not they are affiliated with him — they've heard things like what he told the commissioners court and, if they have, if they've parsed his words carefully.

Finally, Mr. Craft was not at the music event last Friday. The people he claims to represent may or may not be these people.

The Gainesville Register had a story about some of the protestors. In it, the group was now called "PRO Gainesville." They have a website and a Facebook group, of which Mr. Craft is NOT one of the admins. The group talks about systemic racism, something Mr. Craft didn't mention. They have a Facebook page, as well as a group. The page is public.

And, I waded through about two dozen posts and more than 200 comments and subcomments. Saw Tucker Craft's name there not once. I went back more than a week before he spoke to the commissioners court. Went back to the June 14 start date of the page. Didn't see a single comment by him. Didn't see a single photo of him, either.

Further update, July 8: I stopped by the courthouse square on the way to Tom Thumb, during this night's vigil. People on "both sides" videotaping each other and more. About 10 Gainesville cops, couple of sheriff's deputies and a couple of state troopers. About 20-30 activists. Half a dozen I'd identify as clearly anti-activist. Three-four pickups with (likely made in China) American flags in their beds. About 20-30 observers of the activists, perhaps half "antis" and half curious. A few were open carrying. The Dallas Observer has more on Gainesville and other exurban areas, including the involvement of Denton County NAACP head Jessica Luther Rummel. Interesting that Granbury, possibly has open-minded people. TOTALLY non-shocking that Waxahachie and Ellis County do not.)

Anyway, Tucker? I walked around the whole square. I don't personally know you, and the time you spoke in court was the first time I'd seen you. Nonetheless, with your hair wave up front, I'm fairly sure I'd recognize you even with a mask on. Especially if you had a PRO Gainesville shirt like others. I didn't see you.

So, Tucker Craft? You're either a huge slacktivist, a grifter for a bit of  local personal fame, or you're trying to derail or co-opt a movement you don't actually represent, and lying to do that, as far as I can tell with this level of searching. And, if you want to really care about justice, you can start at the local level, go to County Attorney Ed Zielinski under whom you interned, and tell him to stop prosecuting low-level pot cases.

I know that I've now hit the borderline between skepticism and cynicism. If I see any new information to modify that impression, I will. But, I'm not going out of my way for it. Using old Republican PR lines is clear evidence of where you come from. As for the PRO Facebook page, per the scientific bon mot, absence of evidence  isn't necessarily the same as evidence of absence. BUT ... under Bayesian-like probability adjustments, enough compilation of absence of evidence points more and more toward evidence of absence.

I mean, you stated in your speech to commissioners that this was their chance to be better than Democrats. You politicized this from the start.

(Update: He signed up for the July 13 public forum, but chose not to speak. In stories in the Gainesville paper, let alone beyond, like the Denton Record Chronicle, PRO founder Torrey Henderson has been interviewed. Michelle Angus has been interviewed. Craft? Not so much.)
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July 05, 2020

Top June 2020 blogging

No. 1 was an old piece, years old, that, perhaps in the light of coronavirus and some states putting restrictions on church attendance as part of social distancing rules, has perhaps become popular with Googling wingnuts. It's about whether or not a college can discriminate, or "discriminate," against a religious organization.

No. 2, timely for the Green Party's national convention this week, and one update on the one person, was my look at convention speakers, with the main focus on Minneapolis City Councilman Cam Gordon and his being a squish in some ways.

No. 9, getting out of order, is also related to the GP convention, and wondering if the party is going to crack up over trans activism issues.

No. 3 is related to the party in the fall, with my kicking the butt of Jesse Ventura for saying he would write in his own name in November.

No. 7, to jump back out of order a bit, is related to the Green Party and my vote in the fall, the second in my pieces (so far) about Green Party censorship on its official Facebook group.

No. 4? I took Matt Taibbi to task for a screed claiming to defend Lee Fang against charges of anti-Black racism without looking at the amount of smoke that indicated at least a small fire might be present, and then going beyond that to agree with Tom Cotton and other things that smacked of his being one of the allegedly outside-the-box media stenos of the left-liberal world suddenly having a partial merger with conservativism.

No. 5? It's fun to kick Ted Rall, especially when he presents a narcissistically easy target.

No. 6, and with his belated "Masks On" order, this may gather steam in days and weeks ahead — does Greg Abbott have coronavirus blood on his hands? In case you can't guess, that's a rhetorical question and you should know the answer but here's the details.

No. 8 is my quick take on Barton Gellman's new book about Edward Snowden and whether or not Gellman can shed some light on some of the massive holes Snowden had in said book.

No. 10? The latest installment in my love-frustration relationship with High Country News.
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