Come Back, Australia!

How can Australia have a Minister for Women when most people in Parliament can't define a woman???

I remember a time when some people around here thought that if the government got too oppressive, especially in places like California, they could always move to Australia, where people appreciate freedom. Somehow, that impression changed over the years - - and really changed with COVID.

But there are still some people pushing back against the totalitarian tendencies we see in Australia (especially worrisome because China is not all that far away) and elsewhere.

Pushing back against trans madness

It is shocking how people who question the current (U.S.) orthodoxy about "gender dysphoria" are demonized just for asking questions. Most European countries have backed off the "affirmation model" still being pushed here with something approaching rage, but I guess Australia hasn't really caught on to the European trend yet, either.

Dr. Jillian Spencer is a child psychiatrist who was kicked out of her job in Queensland for questioning the trans affirmation model, causing something of a stir:

The Australian Doctors Federation is in communication with Dr Jillian Spencer, a child psychiatrist who has been stood down in Queensland over allegations relating to the treatment of gender dysphoria in children.

Dr Spencer's situation raises serious questions about the independence of medical decision making, being a reminder that good clinical practice must determine what is in the best interests of the patient.

Gender dysphoria in children and its skilled and considered medical management are the subject of ongoing debate, both in Australia and internationally. There is a particular obligation to first do no harm when making medical decisions during a particularly volatile period of a person's development, especially should the outcome potentially not accord with later mature reflection.

It is essential for good medicine and societal well-being that there is open and unbigoted debate about the merits or otherwise of relevant treatment protocols, and that medical decision-making be guided by evidence rather than bias or ideology.

The ADF is aware that the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is currently revising its Position Statement 103: Recognising and addressing the mental health needs of people experiencing Gender Dysphoria/ Gender Incongruence and appreciates its commitment to considering an extensive range of evidence and its thoughtful and respectful approach to this sensitive topic.

Progress! Women's Forum in Australia has also started pushing back, with interviews of Dr. Spencer and also young detransitioners.

Mike Nayna is the Australian videographer who did the multi-part videos on the Evergreen State College crisis over Bret Weinstein. He has picked up a short clip from an interview of Dr. Spencer. In the video clip below, she connects the robot-like adherence to the "affirmation model" to deep problems in the academic publishing process. I recommend watching it. It's short. She doesn't seem at all like a hate-filled fascist, which is what she would be called by some of our journalists and politicians.

The part about a crisis in academic publishing is right up Mike Nayna's alley. See the Twitter thread.

"What this issue has revealed is a crisis in the published medical research"

Jillian Spencer, a brave child psychiatrist, has connected the dots between problems within gender clinics & a system-level failure that begins with the academic publishing process. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/7XoqdxWeFs

— Michael Nayna (@MikeNayna) September 4, 2023

Activist researchers are essentially laundering political opinions as established facts through the peer review process. The problem is a new form of epistemological (how we know what we know) activism that contorts knowledge resources from the source - academic journals.

This gives activists the appearance of expertise that grants them standing within institutions to make radical changes based on laundered evidence. The 'affirmation model' Jillian mentions is only one downstream effect of this problem & many more will surface.

Here in the USA, Dr. McNamara, pediatrics professor at Yale, recommends no safeguards for children because "children know who they are". However, she can't name a study that shows that transition helps kids.

Response to Dr. McNamara by Dr. Miriam Grossman. Clear language. Wow.

And here is Dr. Miriam Grossman at the testimony. https://t.co/M7wXBUwOVS

— BirdsNest🇨🇦 (@2022timeflies) September 4, 2023

Don't worry about being called transphobic.

Worry about "the authorities". In Australia, in California and in other states. Push back while you still can.

When they said they are coming for our children they meant it

If you do not transition your child the State will take your child from you

In parts of Australia you could be guilty of a domestic violence offence

Who benefited when children are lied to & removed from families? https://t.co/7laV37iDUo

— Katherine Deves 🇦🇺🚺 (@deves_katherine) September 8, 2023

Pushing back:

Some kids know they want a tattoo as young as 2-3 years old. Early signs include using markers to draw on their arms, repeatedly reaching for a pen placed in front of them, and making the sounds “t-ah,” and/or “t-ouh.”

Be an inclusive adult. Tell them about people with tattoos.… pic.twitter.com/ccMJ6QSNLQ

— Chanel Pfahl 🇨🇦 (@ChanLPfa) September 6, 2023

Check the thread.

Crisis in Academic Publishing, Climate Division

Does anybody remember back in 2007 when Richard Fernandez in Australia wrote in the old Belmont Club about post-normal science and its use as proof of global warming? So, basically this is science which ignores or opposes science that does not fit a political narrative. I loved the comment threads on those posts.

And the posts above were too prescient. Some people have pushed back since then, but they have generally faced a lot of opposition, including ostracism and even legal actions.

This is from just a few days ago. Hope this guy's timing and advanced preparation allow his action to be effective without too much blow-back.

Patrick T Brown, September 5, 2023:

I Left Out the Full Truth to Get My Climate Change Paper Published

I just got published in Nature because I stuck to a narrative I knew the editors would like. That's not the way science should work.

Well, no.

What you are not likely to see much about in congressional hearings:

Global warming from Underwater Tongan Volcanoes.

Doesn't fit the narrative, exactly.

Not sure if you will hear in Congress from this guy, senior advisor at Washington, D.C.'s Atlantic Council and the prime author of the "shock and awe" military doctrine (how did that doctrine work out in the long run?). He wrote a position piece in The Hill reminding us that fossil fuels solved a big problem with horse pollution in New York City. He said something nice about fossil fuels and cars!!!!

He suggested that innovation would save the day with regard to climate change, but also noted that we needed to do some other things, like creating a national energy policy, since China and India cannot do things like that.

He hopes that maybe when the Panama Canal goes dry it will shake up the wokesters and most on the right enough to get over their fear of nuclear power.

But 100 million Americans already live or work within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, so I don't think fear is the primary obstacle. Those plants seem to be working out better than wind and solar in Texas. Or even in Australia.

Germany's phase-out of nuclear energy (and return to coal) seems to have been driven by the political class and is opposed in polls. Nuclear power takes the focus off equity.

The author of the piece in The Hill suggests that "climate change" would be the only reason for water shortages in the Panama Canal for the first time since 1914. It was an El Nino year this year and some fully loaded ships had to offload part of their loads, and wait times for ships were increased. He knows that "climate deniers" would never accept that climate would be the only reason for the canal going dry. But CBD wrote a post back in 2016 based on a long NYT article which suggested that the newly expanded canal was a risk right from the start. This year is actually the second year with traffic reductions since 2016.

The piece in The Hill doesn't seem to me to be based in sound science, since neither the author nor the editors even seem to have realized that the canal system is much bigger than it was in 1914.

Don't know that the think tanks are going to be the source of much planet-saving innovation.

He does mention the need for lots more charging stations for the hundreds of millions or billions of electric cars which will be needed to replace gas cars. But this could take longer than we think:

The Harris Ranch Tesla Supercharger has a couple of things going for it that have made it a part of Tesla enthusiasts' lore: It's one of the electric car giant's first Supercharger stations, and with 98 charging bays, it's also the biggest in the world. . .

But as with many Tesla-related things, there is a secret, thinly obscured by an Oz-like curtain, at the Harris Ranch Supercharger. Hidden in plain sight across the way from the Harris Ranch Supercharger's main stations, behind a Shell station, is a small diesel plant that has helped power Tesla's footprint.

To be fair, that's pretty consistent with Tesla's overall strategy: When the Going Gets Tough, the Electric go Petrol. Electric car-maker Tesla isn't taking any range risks in Australia with their support vehicles. When they need to repair their breakdown-prone plug buggies, Tesla use reliable, petrol-powered Mitsubishis.

And what is all this talk about billions of electric cars when Mayor Pete is talking about moving us away from personal vehicles?

The Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy has no idea what he is doing. How could he possibly have any idea what he is supposed to be doing, given the emotionalism of current progressive climate policy and "climate science"?

“Renewables” are a ten-trillion dollar scam. And they’re just getting started.“

It’s the oldest marketing scam in history - self-interest wrapped in altruism.

And $10 trillion is just the start. pic.twitter.com/W1JuGmuE2N

— Douglas Ritz (@douglasritz) September 8, 2023

Push back. Clarify. Make them be specific.

Music

Let It Shine

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, September 2, Some of the kids are okay

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

From our own Dr _ No:

posted by K.T. at 11:03 AM

| Access Comments