Mar 29PHRF for Humans? A Modest Proposal for non-Binary Fairness in SportsThere seems to be a whole lot of argle-bargle going on right now about “trans women in sports,” i.e. whether M-to-F trans people should be allowed to compete in “women’s” sports. On the one side is the passionate advocacy of the trans community that one’s gender self-definition should be officially…Transgender9 min read
Mar 15Bully For Them (part 2)Some People Like Dictators — (click for part 1) As I write, Ukraine is resisting an armed invasion by Russia. Today, Ukraine is the underdog standing up to bullying by a larger, more dangerous country: the little kid getting pushed around by the big kid on the playground. Those of us who are cheering for…Bullying10 min read
Mar 14Bully For Them (part 1)Don’t be shocked or surprised… When vocal, strident antivaxxers die of Covid-19 it often happens that their family immediately deletes their long history of anti-mask, anti-mandate, anti-science memes on Facebook. Sometimes they delete the entire account. People don’t like to remember moments when we or our kin were squarely on the wrong side of history…Politics7 min read
Mar 10States’ Rights Comes Full Circle?In Missouri, far right politicians are proposing a law that would effectively criminalise seeking a legal abortion in another state. In Idaho, far right politicians are proposing a law that would effectively criminalise travel across a state line to obtain medical support for one’s trans child. Whatever one’s position on…Rights Issue3 min read
Feb 18I’m mad, I’m mad, I’m angry…If you didn’t already know, there’s a subReddit called “QAnon Casualties.” It chronicles the struggles of people whose friends and family members have gone down the Q rabbit hole. …Covid 196 min read
Feb 14Black(sweat)shirts in BostonI ran across this repost on Reddit. Somehow, among all the frightening stupidities of the day and week and month — the Qonvoy Qlownshow on the Canada/US border, the on-going tragic drip-drip-drip of antivaxxers dying slowly in ICUs because they trusted some sociopathic grifter on Youtube, the uncertain (or do…White Supremacy3 min read
Feb 14Washroom Wars: are we ducking the real problem?In watching (from a safe distance) the ongoing war over washrooms and who gets to use which ones, I feel like something is missing from the coverage and debate I’ve been exposed to thus far. Maybe it’s been discussed somewhere I haven’t yet stumbled across. …Feminism4 min read
Jan 22The Last Great Kapu (Taboo)?It’s amazing how effective it was, the great Red Scare of the 50’s — thanks so much, Papa Stalin, the Dulles Bros, JEH and the mil/industrial complex. The Red Scare achieved a successful — and incredibly durable — demonisation of any political position left of Eisenhower (who himself was significantly…Politics4 min read
Nov 4, 2021Film Review: Hot (and Sandy) Take on Dune 2021TLDR: Saw it (big screen VR). Enjoyed almost every minute. Best attempt yet to adapt this amazing novel to the screen. Not perfect, but perfection probably unattainable. Some mixed feelings alongside the Wow. — — — - So for context, I have been a fan of the book since first…Film Reviews8 min read
Apr 25, 2021In Our Own Backyard: QAnon, Cults, and Conspirituality (part 5: Why Worry?)[This is a five-part series based on a couple of hours of interview for community radio. The aired version will obviously be much shorter, but I thought the content was interesting enough to warrant an unabridged text version. …Qanon Conspiracy21 min read