Unsurprising that the malevolent clown show referred to the Cass review in his letter. Just as reminder, the New England Journal of Medicine (probably one of the most reliable and high caliber sources of medical knowledge and research we have) had this to say about the Cass review:
"...the Review transgresses medical law, policy, and practice,..."
And also this:
"...the authors failed to adhere to legal requirements protecting the integrity of the scientific process."
And this as well:
"Specifically, it lacked peer review, transparency of authorship, and equitable selection of nonauthor contributors."
Not mention this:
"..if the U.S. government issued a report in a similar manner, it would be violating federal law."
And a few other very damning things.
In conclusion the Cass Review is as garbage as the people who cite it.
Maintenance Phase podcast with Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon did an EXCELLENT overview of the issues with the Cass Review and why it shouldn't be used by anyone in citations, except maybe how not to do a review? Anyway, it's a great overview if that's what anyone wants.
I have been thinking a lot recently about an incredible NZer. He was an incredible communicator, and wonderfully empathetic community leader.
I have pondering this as I struggle to articulate the paucity of Luxon's deficits, and the leaders of this time.
I urge everyone to read the article and watch the video below. He is far too little known, only a single media person turned up when his knighthood was announced. He still has many lessons to give us on community, on listening and on coming together.
I'm saddened that this is the first I've heard of this amazing person. I so wish I had had the chance to meet him. My own son (also a Robert) spent a few months at Kimberley,about the same time Sir Robert lived there, my belief was that it would give us both respite. I was wrong. He hated it.
He ( my Robert) lives now at St John of God in Karori having been through the mill at many unbelievably horrendous "caring" institutions.
St John of God gives him in his old age a quality of care that we had hoped for forever.
I am so sorry to hear about your Robert's bad experiences but very happy to know that he is now safe and well cared for.
Yes, we have to keep telling these stories, and retelling them. Watching Robert in these videos always lifts my spirits, even while they anger me and sadden me. That was his gift.
🫂 Another testament to the wonderful Webworm space 👍 Thank you Molly for this reminder of this remarkable man - when I saw his photo I recognised him & with a vague idea of his back story (must have watched an interview as I recall him talking) but sadly agree that "the media" is more interested in All Blacks & whatever they are doing than heroes such as Sir Robert. In the end people such as him are more interested in the difference they are able to make than knighthoods - they accept them on behalf of the community they want to elevate, unlike many who only represent themselves. 💗💜
This feels as warm and fuzzy as any article that starts with a man pissing all over his own shoes possibly could I imagine.
And not to be a downer, but part of the reason right-wing conspiracy culture has spread so far and wide on the internet is that it's all free. There's no paywall that keeps it from spreading. Of course, journalism is also much cheaper when you can make things up.
It was just *such* an image. I could see it happening. It was like I was there.
Disgusting. And so fitting.
And you're right - bad stuff can spread as its free (just look most of the posts on X) - but I think that's even more of a reason the accurate stuff is not paywalled off. Else what chance do we have?
Happy to be here!! We’re all doing our best to spread information and good.
Shameless plug: If you want a little joy about the world right now, you should check out how much money the Our Flag Means Death fandom has raised for trans kids: https://www.32auctions.com/ofmdcraftfair?r=1&t=all
"Bizarre how libertarians who supposedly believe in individual freedoms are trying to police and regulate other people’s lives and genitals.”
In terms of political philosophy, I've been a libertarian for most of my adult life. But the label is meaning less and less. It's been absolutely bizarre watching people fall into authoritarian conservatism and alt-right nonsense while still calling themselves libertarians. I lost friends over the past decade or so because they seemed to lose their damn minds. All upper middle class, cis white men, of course.
I think some people become more attached to the label and the tribalism then any of the underlying ideology. It's politics as a sport, and the party is just their team.
It’s awesome that NZ is so small that when some wingnut ex-MP sticks their head up with some dick-swinging threat to people just trying to get by, there emerges readily provable stories of the aforementioned wingnut weeing on his own shoes in a presumably public space by someone within a degree or two of separation, therefore adding sure credence to their story.
Bravo Jackson; coming through with the goods! Anyone got anything else for a few other worthy candidates floating around at the moment?
My partner thinks Musk is great. I read him the info from the rolling Stone article you linked about planes flying straight and his mental gymnastics to justify that Musk was technically right were crazy... in the end he admitted that technically he's right except for 500 exceptions and it was just mind blowing. He's a very successful, intelligent person but Musk is this blind spot that I do not quite understand. Being rich makes these men like idols to so many men and it's just bizarre.
This is so fascinating to me. Not here to barge into the inner workings of a relationship, but are there other blind spots he has with other personalities? Or is it literally just Musk?
I often wonder what the gender spilt is in those that think Musk is great. I feel like he is just a visible manifestation of the many immature man children so many women encounter and have to deal with in their daily lives.
I'm not speaking from any sort of authority here but I think your partner's attitude towards Musk is just down to basic Human Psychology.
People like Trump and Musk have what I refer to as the "salesman gene" in that they can talk with absolute confidence about any particular topic, even though it may be complete bullshit.
And to the Human Brain listening it, the content of what they're saying is less relevant than the tone or whether any of the content aligns with any pre-existing views.
Anchoring bias could also be at play here, in that maybe your partner's initial exposure to Musk was very positive and complimentary towards him.
Once that initial exposure had been anchored in the human brain, it can be very difficult to shift.
A really simple example of this is if a parent (as a joke) were to teach their child that tomatoes are the colour blue.
Once the child has that anchored fact in their brain, it can take a lot of work to paper over it, and I don't think it ever truly goes away.
My own initial exposure to Musk was a very negative one (the Pedo diver incident), so it requires a lot less effort on my part to think disparagingly of him now.
Webworm's resident psychologist Paul Wilson is usually lurking in the comments and will sometimes respond if summoned :)
"Anchoring bias could also be at play here, in that maybe your partner's initial exposure to Musk was very positive and complimentary towards him."
This is so, so true. I think of that first book about him which seemed to be EVERYWHERE in 2015-ish? So many friends had read that book. And loved Musk for it.
🙋Also not an expert, but know the "salesman gene" up close & personal for many years - his partner has shared that sitting next to him listening to him blatantly lie to someone, she has to pinch herself (literally!) to remind herself it is NOT true 😱 because he makes it sound so convincing. Hadn't heard of the "anchorage bias" before but applying that to my life experience, that resonates. In the case of Mu$k🐀 I admit to having a positive view of him as a "genius" entrepreneur until I saw how he behaved, & then read details of how for the most part he purchased other people's work (Te$la) & employed true engineers et al who actually do the "genius" stuff (plus hints that they are happy for him to be off twittering rather than interfering in their work ⁉️)
I think about the progress we could make globally if people like Musk turned their fortunes (by employing smart people who know what they’re doing) towards actually helping the energy transition/climate stuff instead of ridiculous feuds and trying to go to bloody Mars.
The irony is that fixing climate change is a lot easier than moving us to Mars.
Hell, I'd argue it would be easier to relocate to underwater cities 1km under the ocean.
Humanity has taken decisive action in the past to fix environmental and social issues.
We banned the chemicals that we're creating the hole in the Ozone layer.
We went to town with regulation on the financial system after the Great Depression (the 1930s one).
We switched our economies over to fighting the Nazis in WW2.
And at the end of it, we stared at the enormous debt mountain, just shrugged our shoulders and ended up increasing government spending on the welfare state, housing and jobs.
We’ve done it before, we can do it again - hopefully! We just need some collective action (easier said than done), it’s just that I now don’t trust a large proportion of humanity to actually work together for the common good and that’s sad.
As always ...love what you do, love this community and love the comments section. I rarely have anything that can be considered "useful" to add, but always enjoy reading what others have to say. Happy to be here! :)
Chip in any time, and thanks for saying this! Also never any pressure to comment, but it can just sometimes be nice for me to read stuff like this - as I know things are being read and appreciated.
Speaking of de-Musking, it took a few emails (include eventually direct to CEO) over the past year to get Starlink services removed from my One. NZ phone account*.
That was prompted by Starlink screwing visual astronomy and dumping several satellites a day into our atmosphere more than his more recent political and personal arsehole'ness.
* I have a traditional PLB for off network emergency use
Using the R word is despicable. Threatening health providers who provide care to trans people is also despicable. The legal details from the brainy lawyer show that the laws suck and need to be amended to stop this bullshit from happening to people who are just caring for other people
Side note after you mentioned Musk’s comments about the Thai cave rescue, I listened to an excellent British podcast recently titled ‘Elon’s Spies’ and it features Vernon Unsworth, the rescuer. The whole podcast is great/scary but that particular episode is titled ‘Pedo Guy’.
Here's the thing that caught my attention about it here in Chicago. First, thanks for being in the US during this time. Bet you didn't have this on on your Kiwi Bingo card. :) Also, I feel like this may be what breaks the hold we see now with the powers taking over in various places including the White House. Quality reporting is always worth paying for and if I had more, I would give more. Hopefully someday soon :). Also, I commend you for letting some of your work be free to spread and be shared. The more people who see it the better. We all need to care and do our fair share.
Legal threats. We, a large group of locals took a case to the Environment against a large subdivision in a then rural area. We all received a letter from the applicants lawyer threatening us with costs. Most of our group withdrew and left a very nervous few to continue with the case. We lost the case but the judge ruled costs should lie where they were. Planting mitigation was accepted by the court but years on has still not achieved much.
Unsurprising that the malevolent clown show referred to the Cass review in his letter. Just as reminder, the New England Journal of Medicine (probably one of the most reliable and high caliber sources of medical knowledge and research we have) had this to say about the Cass review:
"...the Review transgresses medical law, policy, and practice,..."
And also this:
"...the authors failed to adhere to legal requirements protecting the integrity of the scientific process."
And this as well:
"Specifically, it lacked peer review, transparency of authorship, and equitable selection of nonauthor contributors."
Not mention this:
"..if the U.S. government issued a report in a similar manner, it would be violating federal law."
And a few other very damning things.
In conclusion the Cass Review is as garbage as the people who cite it.
Pinning this. Thank you.
Maintenance Phase podcast with Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon did an EXCELLENT overview of the issues with the Cass Review and why it shouldn't be used by anyone in citations, except maybe how not to do a review? Anyway, it's a great overview if that's what anyone wants.
I have been thinking a lot recently about an incredible NZer. He was an incredible communicator, and wonderfully empathetic community leader.
I have pondering this as I struggle to articulate the paucity of Luxon's deficits, and the leaders of this time.
I urge everyone to read the article and watch the video below. He is far too little known, only a single media person turned up when his knighthood was announced. He still has many lessons to give us on community, on listening and on coming together.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/23-07-2024/sir-robert-martin-and-the-way-we-view-disabled-people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNiQm6AKSrw
I'm saddened that this is the first I've heard of this amazing person. I so wish I had had the chance to meet him. My own son (also a Robert) spent a few months at Kimberley,about the same time Sir Robert lived there, my belief was that it would give us both respite. I was wrong. He hated it.
He ( my Robert) lives now at St John of God in Karori having been through the mill at many unbelievably horrendous "caring" institutions.
St John of God gives him in his old age a quality of care that we had hoped for forever.
I am so sorry to hear about your Robert's bad experiences but very happy to know that he is now safe and well cared for.
Yes, we have to keep telling these stories, and retelling them. Watching Robert in these videos always lifts my spirits, even while they anger me and sadden me. That was his gift.
Arohanui to you and your Robert.
🫂 Another testament to the wonderful Webworm space 👍 Thank you Molly for this reminder of this remarkable man - when I saw his photo I recognised him & with a vague idea of his back story (must have watched an interview as I recall him talking) but sadly agree that "the media" is more interested in All Blacks & whatever they are doing than heroes such as Sir Robert. In the end people such as him are more interested in the difference they are able to make than knighthoods - they accept them on behalf of the community they want to elevate, unlike many who only represent themselves. 💗💜
Thank you for this, Molly. A truly remarkable man.
Absolutely. It is criminal how few views the docos have.
Do yourself a favour people and watch them they are absolutely heartwarming and will give you much courage for the struggle ahead.
Pinning this.
This feels as warm and fuzzy as any article that starts with a man pissing all over his own shoes possibly could I imagine.
And not to be a downer, but part of the reason right-wing conspiracy culture has spread so far and wide on the internet is that it's all free. There's no paywall that keeps it from spreading. Of course, journalism is also much cheaper when you can make things up.
It was just *such* an image. I could see it happening. It was like I was there.
Disgusting. And so fitting.
And you're right - bad stuff can spread as its free (just look most of the posts on X) - but I think that's even more of a reason the accurate stuff is not paywalled off. Else what chance do we have?
Absolutely! I think more outlets should adopt the Webworm model of making (at least some of) their public interest stories free.
Or go the ProPublica or NPR route and run it as a nonprofit. Journalism is too important to be run as a business.
Yes David,
l agree entirely, You are someone l trust to report and research accurately and thoroughly and add more details as they come to light.
We need trusted, principled journalist more than ever.
To navigate this hellscape of humanity that we find ourselves living through.
Best place on this internet, here 💖
Happy to be here!! We’re all doing our best to spread information and good.
Shameless plug: If you want a little joy about the world right now, you should check out how much money the Our Flag Means Death fandom has raised for trans kids: https://www.32auctions.com/ofmdcraftfair?r=1&t=all
$62,0000! This is dope. What a fandom!
Update - We're at over $89k and definitely going to hit $100k with donations by folks who didn't win stuff. People want to help!
"Bizarre how libertarians who supposedly believe in individual freedoms are trying to police and regulate other people’s lives and genitals.”
In terms of political philosophy, I've been a libertarian for most of my adult life. But the label is meaning less and less. It's been absolutely bizarre watching people fall into authoritarian conservatism and alt-right nonsense while still calling themselves libertarians. I lost friends over the past decade or so because they seemed to lose their damn minds. All upper middle class, cis white men, of course.
I think some people become more attached to the label and the tribalism then any of the underlying ideology. It's politics as a sport, and the party is just their team.
It’s awesome that NZ is so small that when some wingnut ex-MP sticks their head up with some dick-swinging threat to people just trying to get by, there emerges readily provable stories of the aforementioned wingnut weeing on his own shoes in a presumably public space by someone within a degree or two of separation, therefore adding sure credence to their story.
Bravo Jackson; coming through with the goods! Anyone got anything else for a few other worthy candidates floating around at the moment?
My partner thinks Musk is great. I read him the info from the rolling Stone article you linked about planes flying straight and his mental gymnastics to justify that Musk was technically right were crazy... in the end he admitted that technically he's right except for 500 exceptions and it was just mind blowing. He's a very successful, intelligent person but Musk is this blind spot that I do not quite understand. Being rich makes these men like idols to so many men and it's just bizarre.
This is so fascinating to me. Not here to barge into the inner workings of a relationship, but are there other blind spots he has with other personalities? Or is it literally just Musk?
Joe Rogan. 🙈 He's just asking questions. It's gross.
I often wonder what the gender spilt is in those that think Musk is great. I feel like he is just a visible manifestation of the many immature man children so many women encounter and have to deal with in their daily lives.
I'm not speaking from any sort of authority here but I think your partner's attitude towards Musk is just down to basic Human Psychology.
People like Trump and Musk have what I refer to as the "salesman gene" in that they can talk with absolute confidence about any particular topic, even though it may be complete bullshit.
And to the Human Brain listening it, the content of what they're saying is less relevant than the tone or whether any of the content aligns with any pre-existing views.
Anchoring bias could also be at play here, in that maybe your partner's initial exposure to Musk was very positive and complimentary towards him.
Once that initial exposure had been anchored in the human brain, it can be very difficult to shift.
A really simple example of this is if a parent (as a joke) were to teach their child that tomatoes are the colour blue.
Once the child has that anchored fact in their brain, it can take a lot of work to paper over it, and I don't think it ever truly goes away.
My own initial exposure to Musk was a very negative one (the Pedo diver incident), so it requires a lot less effort on my part to think disparagingly of him now.
Webworm's resident psychologist Paul Wilson is usually lurking in the comments and will sometimes respond if summoned :)
*Edit: replaced "anchorage" with "anchoring"
"Anchoring bias could also be at play here, in that maybe your partner's initial exposure to Musk was very positive and complimentary towards him."
This is so, so true. I think of that first book about him which seemed to be EVERYWHERE in 2015-ish? So many friends had read that book. And loved Musk for it.
I blame that book!
🙋Also not an expert, but know the "salesman gene" up close & personal for many years - his partner has shared that sitting next to him listening to him blatantly lie to someone, she has to pinch herself (literally!) to remind herself it is NOT true 😱 because he makes it sound so convincing. Hadn't heard of the "anchorage bias" before but applying that to my life experience, that resonates. In the case of Mu$k🐀 I admit to having a positive view of him as a "genius" entrepreneur until I saw how he behaved, & then read details of how for the most part he purchased other people's work (Te$la) & employed true engineers et al who actually do the "genius" stuff (plus hints that they are happy for him to be off twittering rather than interfering in their work ⁉️)
Elon Musk is definitely someone benefits from people not reading into him too deeply. On the surface it's very easy to see him as some kind of genius.
However, when you start digging into things (like you say) you find it's often other people's work he is getting the credit for.
From my understanding, Gwynne Shotwell is largely responsible for the success as SpaceX and he keeps out of the day to day stuff.
The Tesla CyberTruck on the other hand screams of Elon getting too involved in the design process.
I mean like what happened to the cheap, everyday electric car he was promising that would have a much wider appeal?
Or the terraforming of Mars?
Sounds sensible on the surface, but do you really think that is a practical solution to climate change?
How about we terraform some of the deserts on earth or... you know... fix global warming?
I think about the progress we could make globally if people like Musk turned their fortunes (by employing smart people who know what they’re doing) towards actually helping the energy transition/climate stuff instead of ridiculous feuds and trying to go to bloody Mars.
Exactly!
The irony is that fixing climate change is a lot easier than moving us to Mars.
Hell, I'd argue it would be easier to relocate to underwater cities 1km under the ocean.
Humanity has taken decisive action in the past to fix environmental and social issues.
We banned the chemicals that we're creating the hole in the Ozone layer.
We went to town with regulation on the financial system after the Great Depression (the 1930s one).
We switched our economies over to fighting the Nazis in WW2.
And at the end of it, we stared at the enormous debt mountain, just shrugged our shoulders and ended up increasing government spending on the welfare state, housing and jobs.
We’ve done it before, we can do it again - hopefully! We just need some collective action (easier said than done), it’s just that I now don’t trust a large proportion of humanity to actually work together for the common good and that’s sad.
That's fascinating! Thank you.
As always ...love what you do, love this community and love the comments section. I rarely have anything that can be considered "useful" to add, but always enjoy reading what others have to say. Happy to be here! :)
Chip in any time, and thanks for saying this! Also never any pressure to comment, but it can just sometimes be nice for me to read stuff like this - as I know things are being read and appreciated.
Ditto xx
Me too, Lauren (and David). Happy to be here. I can't do much but I can (and do) spread the Webworm word! :)
Speaking of de-Musking, it took a few emails (include eventually direct to CEO) over the past year to get Starlink services removed from my One. NZ phone account*.
That was prompted by Starlink screwing visual astronomy and dumping several satellites a day into our atmosphere more than his more recent political and personal arsehole'ness.
* I have a traditional PLB for off network emergency use
Fucking good work, Robin.
Using the R word is despicable. Threatening health providers who provide care to trans people is also despicable. The legal details from the brainy lawyer show that the laws suck and need to be amended to stop this bullshit from happening to people who are just caring for other people
Why are people so terrible??? But I'm grateful you shine a light on it.
Classic Farrier..
Side note after you mentioned Musk’s comments about the Thai cave rescue, I listened to an excellent British podcast recently titled ‘Elon’s Spies’ and it features Vernon Unsworth, the rescuer. The whole podcast is great/scary but that particular episode is titled ‘Pedo Guy’.
Oh, many thanks! For anyone else interested: https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/elons-spies/pedo-guy
Here's the thing that caught my attention about it here in Chicago. First, thanks for being in the US during this time. Bet you didn't have this on on your Kiwi Bingo card. :) Also, I feel like this may be what breaks the hold we see now with the powers taking over in various places including the White House. Quality reporting is always worth paying for and if I had more, I would give more. Hopefully someday soon :). Also, I commend you for letting some of your work be free to spread and be shared. The more people who see it the better. We all need to care and do our fair share.
Legal threats. We, a large group of locals took a case to the Environment against a large subdivision in a then rural area. We all received a letter from the applicants lawyer threatening us with costs. Most of our group withdrew and left a very nervous few to continue with the case. We lost the case but the judge ruled costs should lie where they were. Planting mitigation was accepted by the court but years on has still not achieved much.