On Erin Reed and the Washington Post Editorial Board

Benjamin Ryan on X

Activist-blogger Erin Reed has published a guest article:
"Washington Post Editorial Board Misleadingly Attacks Care Of Trans Youth"

In, fact, many of the claims in this essay challenging WaPo are themselves misleading.

I will go through them in this 🧵⬇️ 

"It selectively cites three European reviews critical of gender-affirming care, while ignoring the consensus of leading medical organizations—including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health—all of which support such care."
▶️While WaPo hyperlinks to three European reviews, there have, in fact, been a half-dozen systematic literature reviews of pediatric gender-transition treatment. All of them have found the evidence backing such interventions weak and inconclusive.
▶️This has lead the health authorities in the UK and four Scandinavian nations to reclassify such treatment as experimental, and to sharply restrict access, in some cases to research settings only.
▶️The Cass Review found that WPATH and the US medical societies that endorse such interventions have engaged in "circularity," which is a more polite term for "citation laundering." WPATH made claims that were not supported by strong evidence in its 2013 Standards of Care 7. Then other US medical societies referred to those claims. And then it its SoC 8 in 2022, WPATH referred to those other societies, not mentioning that the claim they were referring to originated with WPATH. The near unanimity in these organizations is in part a product of the same people cross-pollinating their ideas from one organization to the next.  

*Hilary Cass was chosen not in spite of her lack of experience in pediatric gender medicine, but because of it. Ideally, people assessing the strength of evidence in a field will not have financial or intellectual conflicts of interest, as did every single author of WPATH's SoC8.
*A couple of dozen members of the BMA moved to denounce and scrutinize the Cass Review this summer. But after an internal outcry and a letter of protest signed by over 1,000 members, the BMA backpedaled and now has a neutral posture as it conducts its review of the Cass Review.
*Despite the fact that the Yale Law School put up the white paper criticizing Cass on its website, claiming it is the product of experts at Yale is a stretch. There is a Yale Law author, and otherwise Meredith McNamara is the lead author. Speaking of people who have no experience with pediatric gender medicine: she is such a person. Under pressure in a deposition in a Alabama civil case, she admitted that in her entire career as a pediatrician, she has only ever referred two patients to a pediatric gender clinic and has never prescribed pediatric gender-transition treatment. And yet she presents herself in myriad forums as a leading expert on this medical care.

Critics of the GRADE system who feel it holds pediatric gender-transition treatment to too high a standard, one that demands randomized controlled trials, can look, if they like, to the University of York systematic literature reviews that fed into the Cass Review. They used the Newcastle-Ottowa Scale, which allowed them to assess the observational research that makes up all the literature in the field of pediatric gender medicine.

Even with this more flexible standard, the reviews found of puberty blockers: "There is a lack of high-quality research assessing puberty suppression in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria/incongruence. No conclusions can be drawn about the impact on gender dysphoria, mental and psychosocial health or cognitive development. Bone health and height may be compromised during treatment."

And of cross-sex hormones they found: "There is a lack of high-quality research assessing the use of hormones in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria/incongruence. Moderate-quality evidence suggests mental health may be improved during treatment, but robust study is still required. For other outcomes, no conclusions can be drawn."

This RCT gave natal females testosterone immediately or on a three-month delay. During the early days of taking this hormone, it can cause an immediate feeling of euphoria. But it typically takes longer than this for the physical changes to set it. So a three-month delay is likely to be biased by the first factor and not include the impacts of the latter, the impact of which is what the trial should be measuring. So no, this is hardly a definitive, high quality RCT that is free from bias and whose findings likely reflect real world impact. jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

*The entire pediatric gender medicine global field got started because of a tiny study of just 70 people, and 55 during it's last follow-up, out of the Netherlands (published in 2011 and 2014).
*The researchers at the NHS pediatric gender clinic, GIDS, attempted to replicate those findings with what ultimately included 44 participants. While the Dutch study had various positive findings (which have been criticized by many researchers, mind you), this study found null findings. The youth did not improve psychologically. But the purpose of the study was indeed to demonstrate that they would. Thus, the study was a failure. And so the researchers hid the findings for years until Oxford sociologist Michael Biggs smoked it out.
* The notion that puberty blockers provide a time to think should have been put to rest long ago. Numerous analyses have shown that almost everyone who starts blockers for gender dysphoria goes on to take cross-sex hormones. It is extremely unlikely that this is because the assessments for kids seeking blockers were nearly perfect. That just does not happen in psychology.
*The reference to the 72% suicidal ideation is misleading in various ways. For one, the study was mostly concerned with sports laws, not gender-transition treatment. So it is not right to hold it up as solid proof that such bans lead to suicidal attempts. Also, the study was about suicidal attempts ,not ideation. Actually, oddly, it found that there was evidence these laws led to attempts, but NOT to ideation. And it found that they led to such attempts 2 years later, but not 1 or 3 years later. It's a messy study to say the least.

The citation laundering diagram:

James Cantor’s critique and fact check of the AAP’s 2018 policy statement of the gender-affirming care method, which the organization has never responded to.

ohchr.org/sites/default/…

 

As for WPATH’s treatment guidelines, subpoenaed documents revealed that WPATH leadership suppressed systematic literature reviews it commissioned when they were unhappy with the findings; were aware of the weakness of the evidence behind their recommendations; papered over that weakness; added language like “medically necessary” that was not backed by science but was meant to help secure insurance coverage and win lawsuits; and coordinated with the ACLU on that final strategy.

 

There's other stuff I could've gone into in this Erin In the Morning piece. But you get the point.

The person who wrote this piece for Erin has once expressed that they saw it as a badge of honor that I fact checked them.

It is not.

Links - 22nd December 2024 (1 - General Wokeness [including Wicked, Emo Ontario Pride Flag])

What The Erasure Of Cynthia Erivo From Wicked Coverage Says About UK Media - "In the much-anticipated film adaptation of the iconic musical play Wicked, two powerhouse performers share the spotlight: Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Yet when scanning British press coverage of the European premiere in London, one might be forgiven for thinking this was Grande’s solo venture... Some have defended this discrepancy by pointing to Grande’s more dominant celebrity status and cult following. But this argument only serves to highlight the media’s role in making or breaking a star. In turn, the disparity in focus on these two leads speaks to a broader, troubling pattern in British media: the systematic marginalization of Black British talent, especially when it comes to Black women... This paradox of being simultaneously hypervisible when convenient and invisible when not parallels Meghan Markle’s treatment by the British press. The Duchess of Sussex’s experiences laid bare how UK tabloids can simultaneously obsess over and erase women of Black ancestry, wielding attention as a weapon, either through hostile scrutiny or calculated indifference. The same media apparatus that fixated on Markle’s every perceived misstep now seems determined to minimize Erivo’s leading role in one of the year’s most anticipated films. “White media in the UK repeatedly use their resources to systematically tone DOWN Black excellence to amplify white talent,” writes one Twitter user."
Obviously Grande and Erivo are equally big stars, which is why the latter not being covered is due to racism. Under 2% of the UK population is made up of black women, but they need even more media coverage. The media have a responsibility to promote black people, since they are all-powerful and can make anyone a star

Wicked Salary Dispute: Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo's Pay Clarified By Universal After Disparity Rumors - "Universal has clarified pay disparity rumors surrounding Wicked, which allege Ariana Grande-Butera and Cynthia Erivo didn't get paid the same amount. Following the release of The Wizard of Oz-based musical, unsubstantiated claims appeared online, claiming the leading actors in the cast of Wicked did not get equal pay for their parts. The rumor goes that Grande-Butera earned $15 million for her role as Galinda, while Erivo received $1 million for her part as Elphaba. These were later reported on by news outlets that added mounting pressure to the still unconfirmed information. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has received a statement from an unnamed Universal spokesperson, who has confirmed Grande-Butera and Erivo received equal pay for their roles in Wicked."
Assuming the original claim was true, apparently it's shocking that big stars get paid more than (relative) nobodies

Meme - "What I ordered from Ali Express" *Agatha All Along Wicked Witch, Kathryn Hahn*
"What I actually got" *Wicked Wicked Witch, Cynthia Erivo*

'Wicked' Star Cynthia Erivo Condemns Fans For Editing Film's Poster To Resemble Broadway Original: "None Of This Is Funny. None of This Is Cute. It Degrades Me." - "While the poster closely recreates the one used to promote of the original Stephen Schwartz penned musical, many fans were unhappy about the changes made to the image, such as Elphaba’s eyes no longer being covered by the brim of her hat and, perhaps most notably, the fact that her enchanting red smirk was now a lipstick-less green... Enter Erivo, who rather than either ignoring these edits or recognizing that, for the most part, they were made in order to pay homage to the original Wicked musical, instead took massive offense to the fact that fans had altered her image.  Taking to the auto-deleting ‘Stories’ feature of her personal Instagram account on October 15th, the actress’s first took aim at the above poster edit from Wickedmexicofans and declared that the ‘musical accurate poster’ was “the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen. Equal to that awful AI of us fighting. Equal to people posting the question, ‘Is your p*** green.”  From there, the actress broke into a all-out rant, declaring, “None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”  “The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION,” she argued. “I am a real-life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer… because, without words, we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes, is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.” However, rather than receiving a one-sided outpouring of support, Erivo instead found her post met not just by her supporters, but also numerous Wicked fans who believed she may have been overreacting to the edit, which they correctly noted were being made not out of malice, but again, out of a desire to see the live-action poster conform with the original Broadway one... Interestingly enough, her strong comments about the fan edits haven’t been shared by any of her “Wicked” co-stars, including Peter Dinklage, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, and the aforementioned Grande (who Erivo even directly tagged in her original Instagram rant)."
So much for 'white fragility'

Frank DeScushin on X - "Libs bemoan the growth of "far-right" discussion online by anonymous accounts, but they caused it. They created a real-world environment where people feared losing their job, friends, or reputation for sharing differing opinions. Libs always attack the reaction, not their actions that motivated it.  Here's Roland Fryer, the Harvard Economist Libs hate for sharing his study which challenged the narrative that police disproportionately kill black people due to racism, discussing how today's college students are different than when he was a student."

Meme - "I EXTREMELY debated posting this. First two photos I got from an old Tik tok account, I was 220 pounds liberal asf and a they them on antidepressants all that good stuff. This was probably about 2020. Now almost 4 years later I'm a republican which turned me into a functioning human being. Look how much better and happier I am. I literally want to throw up looking at these pictures. I just wanted to show everyone what a difference being a rainbow freak makes, and how miserable they truly are because I know from experience."

Geoffrey Miller on X - "You don't get to call someone a 'science denier' if you
- think that more than two biological sexes evolved in vertebrates
- think that mammals can change sex
- think that there are no sex differences in human psychological traits
- think that human evolution stopped more than 10,000 years ago
- think that general intelligence (as measured by IQ) isn't meaningful, predictive, or genetically heritable
- think that 'intergenerational trauma' explains mental disorders
- think that 'systemic racism' & 'systemic sexism' explain all group differences in outcomes
- think that 'implicit bias', 'microaggressions', or 'stereotype threat' remain reputable concepts in psychology"

can i just say like telling people not to smoke or drink alcohol while they’re pregnant is ableist and classist as fuck and it... – @ecchibeebuns on Tumblr - "can i just say like telling people not to smoke or drink alcohol while they’re pregnant is ableist and classist as fuck and it needs to stop  first off the majority of smokers/substance abusers are from disadvantaged and poor backgrounds or are struggling with mental health issues and they use it as a coping method so to tell them theyre a bad person for doing that is both classist and ableist  the main argument against it is that your child will come out disabled but honestly if that happens so what??? whats wrong with that??? this whole mindset has deep fucking roots in ableist thought process and im fucking sick of it. like. why do you hate people with disabilities lol"

Meme - Diane Yap: "It's beautiful. It's a masterpiece. Look how well Armand answers his own question with zero awareness."
Armand Domalewski @ArmandD...: "honestly where did we reach the point as a Democratic party where the answer to "getting screamed at on the subway by a crazy person" is "shut up, you privileged fascist" or "welp there's nothing we can do""
Diane Yap @RealDianeYap: "Armand, just come join the sane side. We welcome you with open arms."
Armand Domalewski @ArmandD...: "I'm not fucking racist, Diane"

Meme - Perma Banned: "So, these tourists really came out and said that artists deserve harassment...because they drew fictional characters in the "wrong skin shade".  Very honest, creating evidence themselves through their unsavoury behaviour."
bell @bxllflowersss: "everyone in the quotes defending this bs can all go to hell
"dont harass the artist" man FUCK the artist, FUCK you, and FUCK everyone else defending this horseshi't just say yall hate black people and dgaf abt their very little representation as it is"
When left wingers bitch about "harassment", they mean disagreement with left-approved opinions. Harassing non-left wingers is called "accountability"

What a rock has to do with racism – Office of the Chancellor – UW–Madison
Comment: "The chancellor of the university even went so far as to write a freaking novel explaining why. The rock wasn't a well-known university landmark (most students didn't know of its existence prior to the publicity of its removal), it still exists on university-owned land, and geology classes still go to study it. So, basically, the university wasted thousands of dollars to relocate the rock so a few offended individuals didn't have to look at it 🤦🏼‍♀️"

Meme - Trevor Coult MC @TrevorCoultMC: "If your gay, bi, trans or whatever, i don't care. You have a pride month to celebrate who you are. Please dont take over the one day a year where i get to remember my friends and all those that died for this country. Leave the poppy alone and have some respect. *Rainbow Poppies*"

Meme - *Woman holding white styrofoam cup with T-shirt: "Decolonize the world" against barren landscape with no development*
This is a good illustration of what decolonisation looks like

Meme - Emily Elizabeth: "*edit to add; if you're laugh reacting you can unfriend me i don't want bigots on my shit anyways take that as a fuck you. genuinely. stupid fucks."
alex @aloomf: "the only thing america hates more than a rapist is a woman"
Richelle L Edd: "I hate it here."
Left wingers love to claim men are scared of women laughing at them, and that "authoritarians" hate being laughed at because they don't know how to respond to mockery, but they get super upset and block everyone who laugh reacts their nonsense. Once again, left wing projection strikes

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Facebook Group Bans Laugh Reacts - "Admins for the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Facebook group have outlawed the laugh reaction and are actively banning members who use it.   The entire gaming world is laughing at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. From the game’s cringe-inducing writing to cartoonish visuals, to the horrific sales numbers and cratering concurrent player count, the game has been the butt of many jokes. However, laughter in the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Facebook group will get you booted and banned. “Please remember that using laugh reactions on posts or comments that are not intended to be funny will lead to removal from this group, as we aim to maintain a positive atmosphere,” Admin Ezra Wren said to the groups twelve thousand members. “If your intention is to troll, promote negativity, or use reaction emojis as a weapon, we cannot guarantee that you will be allowed to stay. Feel free to laugh react this too, so I can weed some of you out now.” The post then quickly amassed thousands of laugh reactions.   It’s even listed in the group’s official rules. In the rule, the mods go as far as to call people laugh reacting bigots. “LAUGH REACTS will get you BANNED. We’re not going to tolerate ANYONE laugh reacting to a personal post of someone when it’s not meant to be funny, and you’re only laugh reacting because you’re making fun of them or being a bigot!”   The higher ups at EA certainly weren’t laughing in the wake of this game’s release. The troubled title shipped 1 million copies to retail locations, but quickly garnered a massive return ratio.   The game’s trade-in value plummeted down to just $22 after 12 days. As of this writing, there’s less than 16 thousand concurrent players on Steam. The game failed to reach 90,000 players following its release, with an all-time high player count of 89,418.   Veilguard also received only one nomination at this year’s game awards, and it wasn’t for one of the show’s larger categories. The only award Dragon Age: The Veilguard got a nomination for was accessibility features, which elicited quite a few laugh reacts among the gaming community."
Mirror 1 of rules, Mirror 2 of rules

Meme - "When crows recognize patterns"
"That's so intelligent!"
"When I recognize patterns" *interracial crime statistics*
"That's racist!"

Grummz on X - "The Game Awards @thegameawards  is rigged from the start.  90% of the vote is from a voting jury.  Guess who's on that Jury:
PRIDE - @Pride_site A webmag that doesn't even focus on games and exists soley to push activism. I wonder why they are on the panel. "Storytelling is an act of resistance."

IGN - @IGN  fans of "everything is a 7" and "Stellar Blade is killing women" articles.
NPR - @NPR  famous of their "neutral reporting" and also little to nothing to do with videogames.
Kinda Funny - @KindaFunnyVids  whose Andy Cortez targeted @SmashJT , the same Andy who called gamers mislead by "grifters" for criticizing DEI.
PC Gamer - @pcgamer  who just published the BS ADL report about Steam "normalizing hate and extremism" in gaming.
None of this represents gamers or what gamers value. Most of these outlets have slandered gamers, gaslit them, or pushed for DEI in gaming.  The Game Awards has really curious picks for their jury, and it has nothing to do with great games.  Wukong and Stellar Blade will be snubbed. Dragon Age Veilguard will be lauded and propped up.   It's all fake."

Spider-Man game 'modded' to remove Pride flag - "An in-game example of the mod was posted on Twitter with the caption: “Someone made a mod for Spider-Man PC to turn the game homophobic… what the f**k. What the actual f**k.”"
It's telling that not displaying the Pride flag but the US flag instead is "homophobic" - it's compulsory to fly the Pride flag. It's funny that all the mod does is change the region

Thread by @BillyM2k on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "i don't understand how game developers and game journalism got so ideologically captured  gamers have always been trolls, anti-greedy corporations, anti-bs  gamers have always rejected dumb manipulative bs, and can tell when someone is an outsider poser  why lean into the bs?"

Ontario town fined $10,000 for refusing to celebrate pride month - "An Ontario town has been fined $10,000 and its officials ordered to complete mandatory “human rights” training after it refused to celebrate Pride Month. Emo is a township of about 1,300 people located in the far west of Ontario, along the border with Minnesota.  In a decision handed down last week, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled that Emo, its mayor and two of its councillors had violated the Ontario Human Rights Code by refusing to proclaim June as “Pride Month.”  The town was also cited for failing to fly “an LGBTQ2 rainbow flag,” despite the fact that they don’t have an official flag pole... “The record indicated the Township did not receive many requests for declarations or proclamations or requests for display of a flag,” the subsequent Tribunal decision would read. In a single 12-month period they received only four — two of which were from Borderland Pride... The claim of discrimination ultimately hinged on a single line uttered by Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker. When the proclamation came up for consideration, McQuaker was heard to say in a recording of the meeting, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”... In a statement celebrating the decision, Borderland Pride noted that Emo joins both London and Hamilton in the category of Ontario communities that have been “sanctioned for refusing to adopt proclamations in support of their local Pride organizations.”  In 1995, Hamilton Mayor Bob Morrow was fined $5,000 for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Week. That same year, London, Ont., was similarly fined $10,000 for refusing to officially recognize Pride weekend.  Borderland Pride said Emo was “explicitly warned” about the 1995 examples, but “ignored those cautions.”... The township was told they could avoid the hearing only if they apologized, imposed mandatory “diversity and inclusion” training for council, agreed to undisclosed financial terms, pledged to green-light future Pride proclamations without edits and provide free facilities for a “charitable drag event … the proceeds of which will support the Emo Public Library.”  Borderland Pride also said it would return one third of their financial reward to the Emo Public Library, but only if the library hosted a “drag story time event” on a “date of our choosing.” This is the second time in four months that Borderland Pride has won a five-figure award via legal action. In August, the group won a $35,000 small claims court judgement against a Fort Frances man who wrote a Facebook post saying a Borderland-organized all-ages drag show was a “pedophile show.”  In a statement to Dougall Media at the time, Borderland Pride director Douglas Judson outlined his intention to continue imposing “consequences” on anyone else who attacked them.  “As a lawyer who does this work that means I’m going to start taking people’s houses and their vehicles and their toys and draining their bank accounts and garnishing their wages because no one is going to stop behaving this way until there are real consequences,” he said."
Disobedience to the regime is punished - you must proclaim your fealty to it or be crushed. You're not allowed to reject the left wing agenda. If you are not with them, you are against them
Doubtless, left wingers will still deny that people are being forced to fly the Pride flag. Presumably the cope will be that you don't go to jail, therefore it's not compulsory
Weird. We're told that there is no discrimination against straight people

Mayor says he refuses to be bullied or pay fine in Pride flag flap - "Canada may be a free country in some places. But not in Emo Township — 380 kilometres west of Thunder Bay on the Canada-U.S. border. In this township, defying LGBTQ demands can not only land you a stiff fine, but also an order to attend a re-education camp, too.  This story which has had coverage in the United States and Europe is happening in Premier Doug Ford’s Ontario where they can’t seem to keep repeat gunman from being let out on bail but they can throw the book at a soon-to-be 77-year-old rural mayor of a tiny village.  “I utterly refuse to pay the $5,000 because that’s extortion,” McQuaker told The Toronto Sun Monday... It sounds like a prison sentence — only tougher than most criminals ever receive. It also shows when the motion was brought to council in 2020 to fly a Pride flag for Pride month, it was not a request but a demand, punishable by fine should council not play ball... “Mayor McQuaker’s remark  . . . that there was no flag for the ‘other side of the coin … for straight people’ was on its face dismissive of Borderland Pride’s flag request and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the importance to Borderland Pride and other members of the LGBTQ2 community of the Pride flag,” ruled Dawson. “I find this remark was demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community of which Borderland Pride is a member and therefore constituted discrimination under the Code.” The problem, said McQuaker, was he felt he was just saying something factual.  “I don’t hate anybody,” he said. “We just don’t have a flagpole at our town hall.”  And there are only 1,400 residents in what is not a progressive hotbed.  Borderland Pride, however, called not granting the motion a “bigoted and discriminatory decision.”... Saying “I did not do anything wrong,” McQuaker countered “if anybody needs training it’s the LGBTQ2+ to quit pushing their weight around and make demands that people can’t live with.”  He also wanted to get on the record that he finds the reaction over the top and mean spirited and doesn’t accept labelling he’s a bigot, either."
Borderland Pride claims that this is not about the flag, but then demands that they display a flag somewhere (just not on a pole).

Mayor who stood up to Pride group has bank account garnished - "Although the Northern Ontario municipal leader vowed not to honour a $5,000 fine the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) levied against him for comments surrounding town council not approving a motion to approve Pride month, he wasn’t given a choice.  In fact, the winner of the judgement that McQuaker called “extortion” has boasted it has already gone into his bank account to collect the money.  “Sure, sex is great, but have you ever garnished your mayor’s bank account after he publicly refused to comply with a Tribunal’s order to pay damages?” states a Borderland Pride post on Facebook. It seems like they are enjoying this... “Mayor McQuaker’s comments in the Toronto Sun and other media were very clear that he did not respect nor intend to comply with the Tribunal’s orders,” Borderland Pride said in an email. “Consequently, it was apparent he would not voluntarily make payment of the damages ordered. We took immediate action to garnish his bank account.”... Turns out Mayor McQuaker is not in charge there – Borderland Pride is.  Cancel culture is cancelling this mayor and digging into his personal savings too. On a weak premise that there is discrimination of LGBT people there, the enforcement is harsher than most violent criminals receive. It seems like a heavy-handed, undemocratic move, not to mention a violation of personal finances, and cruel and unusual punishment. Article content  It’s also a slippery slope. The state using legal instruments to take from one person and give to others amounts to communism and authoritarianism that should scare every citizen. First, we saw government and banks freezing accounts of pandemic lockdown protesters, seizing donations to crowdfunding sites, and now in woke Canada comes word they can raid bank accounts, too.  A creeping police state is what should be cancelled, not a venerable village mayor. Just because people get the whip hand on somebody, does not mean they need to wield it. Power is not power when it’s abused. Restraint and fair play is power... This occurred because democracy wasn’t respected when the town decided to pass on having Pride month... This seems like a modern-day witch hunt."
A very clear example of how wokeness is about bullying people. The cruelty is the point

Meme - Rob Cassidy @Cassidy_Rob: "Posting "wow pretty problematic" under every single person's Spotify wrapped and then responding "it's not my job to educate you" when they ask what I mean by that."

Left leaning media sources have really been trying to push this new censorship filled platform recently. It is surprising how the left now craves censorship instead of free speech and expression. What caused this change? : r/Canada_sub - "I can't use reddit as an app. It keeps tracking information about you, and I was perma-banned by a mod in r/CanadaPolitics for - get this - presenting information directly from Health Infobase Canada about how few people have died from Covid-19 under the age of 30. It's less than 250 complete, over the past 5 years. Granted this was in 2022, but yeah... I have to use "incognito" browsers to log in now, or get a new phone & tablet (some day I suppose)."
"R/canada banned me for linking the definition of civil discourse lol, that'll teach me to be civil"
"I've been perma banned without explanation from my own cities sub for pointing out that bus shacks shouldnt be used as homes and sharing the race of the person in my own experience with it.  Remember to never include the race of the bad guy when you report a crime. That's racist"

Mother of Aurora teen fatally shot by police wants answers - "while police Chief Jim MacSween calls the killing “tragic,” he said officers were “ambushed” when they arrived for a report of a break-and-enter in progress at the teenager’s home on Downey Circle, southwest of Bayview Avenue and St. John’s Sideroad, at about 7:45 p.m. that night.  “What I can tell you is the reality of that situation was our officers were actually ambushed when they arrived. So, this was an ambush type of situation and then the exchange of gunfire occurs almost immediately thereafter”"
Teen killed in Aurora police shooting 'just a normal kid,' acquaintance says - "We, as Muslims, we want to know the truth,"  Ismail said.  "Was this an act of racism toward the Muslim community? What actually happened? What actually went down? Why did they shoot down a 17-year-old in his own property? Does the YRP not understand how diverse of a community Aurora is now?" he asked...  York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween did not extend condolences to the teen's parents, but said the incident is an example of the dangers faced by police daily.  "The Oct. 30 shooting brings to the forefront the increasing levels of violence experienced by our front line members while they work diligently to maintain order and public safety," MacSween said.   He called the incident "tragic" and added that York Region has experienced an increase in violent crime this year.  "With these increases and more guns on the streets, our residents are feeling increasingly vulnerable to becoming a victim of crime. On a daily basis, I am speaking to people who are expressing to me that they are not feeling safe. This is concerning to me and simply unacceptable," he said. In the past five years, he said there have been 952 incidents in which York police officers were assaulted. This year, 116 officers have been attacked or assaulted and in 13 of the assaults, there was a weapon involved, he added."
‘Emulated goodness’: Friends mourn 17-year-old shot by police in Aurora - "Mikail’s body has been held by the province's Special Investigations Unit as it undertakes its investigation of the shooting, which has prevented the mosque's members from holding funeral prayers.  “His family, his community, we can't even mourn him,” he said. “The community is just in a state of shock.”"
The police are not allowed to defend themselves when attacked, because this is racist
If his body had been released straightaway, the police would be slammed for not investigating properly (but maybe that's the idea - if they don't investigate properly, they can be blamed for the original incident)