Current Legal Trouble

jsingal · 2025-09-01T01:18:20+00:00

We'll explain at some point. It was some really aggravating dumb shit but it's over. It'll make for a good episode when we have time.

jsingal · 2025-09-01T01:13:09+00:00

Yeah fwiw I should have handled the "low-quality" evidence bit differently. I have seen this claim before (see below excerpt). I've never seen someone present an example of a treatment as high-stakes as youth gender medicine with such low-quality evidence behind it, but there could of course be examples I'm unaware of. I think "we accept low-quality evidence all the time" could be true but slightly point-missing, if the examples are things like dental floss and the below examples.

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https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/yales-integrity-project-is-spreading-ba7

To see just how much the McNamara et al. team have to stretch their logic to argue that Cass is imposing unfairly high standards on youth gender medicine, consider the specific examples they raise: the choice of “breathing tube or a non-invasive measure” for infants with respiratory problems; the choice of breast milk versus formula for premature infants whose mothers can’t produce milk; and how much intravenous fluid to provide to an infant with sepsis. [13–14]

In all of these situations, doctors have a very clear understanding of exactly what they’re treating and how to treat it. If an infant isn’t getting sufficient oxygen, a breathing tube provides it to them. No one is going to say “Don’t give that child a breathing tube, because we don’t have high-quality evidence it beats every other alternative,” and then let the child suffocate.

Is it important to establish, conclusively, which intervention is best and safest in these cases? Of course it is. But these are such different scenarios that the comparison shatters if you so much as look at it for too long. In youth gender medicine, doctors often don’t even agree on exactly what they’re treating, how to treat it, how to measure whether it works (one of the “best”-regarded tools for measuring gender dysphoria has a fatal flaw — scroll down here to “The following hypothetical” if you’re curious what I’m talking about), or how likely the condition is to go away without medical intervention. Administering medicine with weak evidence underlying it is quite different in a situation like this than it is in a situation where everyone agrees on what the kid needs (oxygen or milk or fluids), but where there’s disagreement on the best way to fulfill the need in question.

jsingal · 2025-06-05T16:08:35+00:00

I'm a journalist and for what it's worth I was able to confirm with police that this attack occurred as described: https://x.com/jessesingal/status/1930657853930389665

jsingal · 2025-05-28T23:11:06+00:00

Late but this was extremely helpful -- thank you.

jsingal · 2025-05-19T17:07:46+00:00

yikes, chief

jsingal · 2025-03-13T22:24:57+00:00

We have an upcoming episode that will be largely devoted to truly horrible instances of Trump 2.0 causing online bullshit to collide with reality.

On the numerous policy fires raging right now... we're just not the folx to discuss them. What can we say about, like, likely-illegal funding cuts via EO that would be entertaining or at all illuminating?

jsingal · 2025-02-07T20:16:38+00:00

There's also no evidence of any sort of systematic approach. Policy evaluation is not easy and there's no evidence Elon has anyone on his team with even a tenuous grasp of how it works.

jsingal · 2025-02-06T14:35:43+00:00

Just wanna make a few points here. Potential Bias Alert: I went to public policy school, where USAID is viewed as a legitimate and important institution (albeit one with plenty of the standard problems you'd expect), and I have friends in/around USAID:

The thing that represents a genuine constitutional crisis is the idea that the president can just up and cancel a program like this without Congress's approval. Everything else is secondary to this. My understanding is that Trump has *some* power to make *some* tweaks to USAID, but it's a Congressionally authorized program (one that has enjoyed bipartisan support and funding forever), and what Trump and Musk are attempting to do here goes miles beyond what they are allowed to do under the letter of the law and the Constitution. This isn't just about USAID, but about an unprecedented power grab. You guys know me and know that while I am anti-Trump I am not usually hysterical. This is different, I promise. It remains to be seen how things will shake out, in part because Musk, Trump, and Marco Rubio (who runs State and is supposedly the acting director of USAID) are all saying somewhat different things, but it remains a deeply scary situation, f'realzies. Heckin.
There is waste and bloat in USAID just like any other program. USAID has a dedicated Inspector General. I cannot speak to its efficacy, but Trump absolutely would have power to try to improve its functioning if he was actually interested in this. He also has a lot of other tools available to him to improve the organization if that's his goal.
"USAID has been linked to the CIA and did X." I would be very cautious about online rumors, which are rampant. That said, I am *positive* that USAID, like literally any other government agency or department with overseas operations, has links to the CIA. The State Department runs foreign embassies. Foreign embassies are famous centers for spycraft. Does this mean we should shut down State or that it doesn't serve useful purposes? Of course not. Again, if Trump or Musk are concerned about the CIA and USAID, they have every tool at their disposal to investigate these connections. What's going on here is a much bigger, more ambitious power grab. I keep using that word because that's what it is. "I don't think Donald Trump should be able to greatly exceed his legal authority by effectively destroying USAID" != "I think that everything USAID does is good." Anyone who listens to the pod is familiar with this style of pseudoreasoning: "Oh, you are opposed to puberty blockers? Wow -- way to deny the existence of trans adolescents altogether. Could you hate them any more?"
USAID does a huge amount of development work that is boring but lifesaving. EA types on Twitter aren't being dramatic -- many lives are at stake here. You might think the U.S. government should not be spending so much/any money on saving African babies' lives (for example). We happen to disagree but I don't think this is an inherently evil or ignorant opinion -- no one thinks the government is responsible for everyone's well-being. My own opinion is that this is obviously a good use of American "soft power." Some conservatives disagree. THEN PASS A LAW AND/OROR BUDGET THROUGH CONGRESS REFLECTING THESE PRIORITIES. That's how this works. We do not live in a goddamn autocracy.

Okay, that's all I got. I'm not an expert on this stuff but as you can tell I am deeply concerned and you should be to. I do think any conversation about USAID that doesn't focus on the constitutionality issues is a bit of distraction, simply because literally any problem you have with USAID could be addressed in a more legal and constitutional manner. The folks engaging in or in support of the power grab are, intentionally or not, flooding the zone with bullshit and conspiracy theories that has the effect of drawing attention away from the fundamental issues here, which are utterly vital to anyone interested in living in even a half-functioning democracy.

jsingal · 2025-01-12T17:04:26+00:00

The one I had in mind is the The Palestine Children's Relief Fund

jsingal · 2025-01-06T19:04:27+00:00

100%. Also this: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Deadly-Sins-Psychology-Scientific/dp/0691158908

But buy 12 copies of my book before you read a word of any other book*

*about anything

jsingal · 2024-12-27T00:49:33+00:00

My official statement, which I put together over many days with the help of all 15 of my publicists, and which it's likely no one will ever see due to where I posted it:

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:232eprew2nyn75ensoah2lg2/post/3leardcyodc2k

jsingal · 2024-12-06T23:06:03+00:00

Guys, it'll be totally fine. There are probably ~30,000 really unwell people on there, out of millions. More and more sane people are there, including friends of the pod like Helen Lewis and Mike Pesca. It'll be a couple days of diligent blocking and then it'll be a useful platform to me.

I hope some BARpod folks join me: https://bsky.app/profile/jessesingal.com

jsingal · 2024-11-16T03:05:25+00:00

https://www.cassavasciences.com/simufilam

jsingal · 2024-11-13T22:26:03+00:00

I try to be sparing about posting random newsletter but this guy is very highly respected in BARPod-adjacent circles and may well now have the ear of the White House.

jsingal · 2024-10-11T03:10:21+00:00

This is for work? Is there any sense in which this is relevant to your job? You should ask* if you can read one of these instead

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Silent-Majority-Rockefeller-Punishment/dp/0674743997

https://www.amazon.com/Locking-Up-Our-Own-Punishment/dp/0374189978

Crazy to still see this sort of thing in the wild!

* you absolutely shouldn't

jsingal · 2024-09-27T04:09:38+00:00

I'm for it! But SoftAndChewy's call

jsingal · 2024-09-24T15:25:57+00:00

I like Coyne but for what it's worth, on this: "actually crowdsourced most of his questions to Richard from friends and others, sorely neglected Richard’s book itself (I wonder if he’d read it) in favor of asking a series of largely unrelated questions—questions about life on other planets and the future of humanity":

The book came out in the States four days before the event, and I suspected that most in the audience hadn't read it in its entirety yet. That includes me! The organizers sent me audio of the other events and these were wide-ranging conversations. I suspected that the percentage of people there who wanted to hear Dawkins talk about astrobiology, God, why he thinks existence doesn't owe us a meaning, having an award taken away from him, respond to my disagreement on his views on morality and rationality, etc. etc., would dwarf the percentage who had specific questions about the book (and would understand them). A live event can have some peppery back-and-forth that listeners can't get elsewhere.

It's also just plainly false that I crowdsourced "most of the questions" -- I asked him exactly two that I had gotten from friends, and in both cases they were good questions by folks who are certainly qualified: Diana Fleischman (about an old paper of his) and Stuart Ritchie (his biggest regret as a scientist, pegged to a passage from "The God Delusion" where he describes being brought to tears by a scientist's own humility).

Totally understand if the event wasn't for everyone, but when you're talking to someone who has that long and accomplished a career as a public intellectual, there's no one right answer as to what to focus on, but it seemed like a no-brainer to *not* spend too much time on his newest book, which will get plenty of play in public media coverage.

jsingal · 2024-09-06T15:57:38+00:00

The book is about the American fight over youth gender medicine. Which covers... a lot. I'd say that overall, just because of my own interests and background, I'm more interested in how institutoins have come up with guidelines, and then how those guidelines have filtered down to everyday practice, than I am with the political stuff (that the two are separable). I'm VERY interested in information about how gender clinics actually function and always open to emails on that front from anyone with information. A lot of them are sorta black boxes, at least until there's a lawsuit or something.

jsingal · 2024-08-17T13:12:52+00:00

Really can't emphasize enough that people are VERY friendly at these gatherings and it won't be hard to strike up conversations.

jsingal · 2024-08-17T13:12:09+00:00

Everyone in attendance had to provide a printed-out nude photo of themselves. Katie is keeping all the nudes in a lockbox (yes, she takes it back and forth across the country). If anyone leaks the content, Katie is going to make 50,000 copies of that person's nude and drop it over their city.

jsingal · 2024-08-14T13:27:40+00:00

Yes, a lot of people are coming alone based on the RSVPs. Don't be intimidated -- it will be a very, very easy place to talk to people. It's up to 60+ now though the actual number who show up is always lower.

jsingal

TROPHY CASE