Bonus: Axios and Allies feat. Jael Holzman
Will talks to musician and climate journalist Jael Holzman (Ekko Astral, Heatmap News) about her experience as a congressional reporter at outlets like Axios and Politico, and the conditions that led her to quit. We discuss the institutionalized bias against accurate reporting on topics like climate change and trans rights & healthcare, the outrageous complacency with baseless stories from the likes of LibsofTikTok, and other incidents of casual “lavender scare” that permeate the D.C. press corp.
Check out Jael’s medium post on quitting congressional journalism here:
https://medium.com/@jaelholzman/why-im-leaving-congressional-journalism-ee97e2bbebf6
And get into Ekko Astral here:
https://ekkoastral.bandcamp.com/album/pink-balloons
Comments (66)
Of all the corruption in DC media that causes them to paper over issues...they seem pretty positive on lgbt. This seems like a personal issue of the last 3 years.
I'm going to be make the bold statement and say that Kamala is the wine-drunk suburban mom we all need right now.
Came out as trans over the last year and gender affirming healthcare has not only saved my life, it's changed it massively for the better. Really happy I didn't have to stop listening to Chapo either! It's rare to find a comedy podcast that doesn't directly call people like me child abusers 5 times an episode. Appreciate you all being cool Chapo crew 🏳️⚧️
“Think what you will about their reporting, everyone in this business is trying to do the right thing” Can the press go 5 seconds without congratulating themselves?
Totally agree. So telling that even when describing the laying out the absolute black and evil core of corporate journalism and it's complete indifference to people's suffering, this journalist still won't stop fellating her own profession and making excuses for all of her friends
Chris has flawless taste in music. Great interview!
Did anyone else hear this band open on the Idles tour?
oh yeah when I was a teen I used to read a lot of Iain M. Banks and I thought that the part where the Culture citizen can decide inside their mind to trigger an endocrinological change to switch gender was the coolest thing ever and that if I were one of them I'd swap out instantly. not trans irl tho
The track used as the outro actually does rip pretty fucking hard tbh.
I thought I was a good ally but when November from Trash Future changed her name my first reaction was, 'Hell no! You were born a trans woman named Alice and that's what you shall remain'. Sorry people. I'll try to do better
this was really illuminating and well done, thank you!
great sound. amazing analysis. fuck work.
More "fuck work" episodes, they give me life
I'm just concerned for trans people. When we as a society step on their throats, they have a hard time breathing and that's a problem
All love to Jael out here defending truth and science!
My mom got knee surgery and regrets it. Fuck this trans health care scare BS, my political issue that no one should get knee surgery!
HELL YEAH, LETS GO. Jael absolutely crushes this. This is how you approach this issue, which is very dear to my heart. What a fantastic person. Loved this.
Debate ep! Debate ep! Debate ep!!
ah shit dude the supreme court just abolished the regulatory state. the one part of the gov that worked kind of okay, now every dipshit circuit judge can overturn them
great ep. if you want to know more about the media just doing the trans-hysteria at the whim of activist bigots and terfs, check out michael hobbes on his twitter or the last couple eps of maintenance phase.
gonna be completely real here, at some point i was kind of wedge issue'd into being somewhat uncomfortable with underage trans gender affirmative care or transition or whatever but after hearing the account of a bunch of trans ppl about how traumatic it is to grow up and undergo puberty closeted and how basically convenient it is to use puberty blockers, and realizing that this fake made up issue is just the last bastion the bigots found that's still tenable, now i understand better. fuck the haters protect trans kids
I'm old. Its a little bit weird to me. Its relatively new, and I'm skeptical of either side claiming that the science is settled. one decision is absolutely better than the other, but I'm perfectly fine allowing medical organizations, doctors and the people involved, parents and children making informed decisions based on the best information available at the time. Its a complicated issue, like many medical treaments or procedures, there are absolutely 100% going to be people that go through transitioning that is detrimental to their wellbeing, but there are also going to be people who are restricted from care that would help them, and really we probably won't know the absolute answer for 20+ years, give people the freedom to make the choice themselves.
Awesome episode! Glad you're covering Trans issues 💙💙💙
I’m stupid. What’s the actual debate here. What’s stopping adults from getting gender affirming care they want?
oh i dunno, for starters some institutions and practitioners are citing religious beliefs to refuse care and states don't always enforce that?
This women is insufferable
I mean she was a journalist for Axios and Politico.... Nothing against her but to ever want to work for them is crazy.
is it just me or is the web interface for Patreon only showing the 2 most recent replies?
It's just you
Great question and the end, Chris.
Queer Slime and Lavender Scare are great band names
Media: we speak TRUTH TO POWER!! Meth addicted skinhead: trans people rape your kids and convert them to islam Media: tell us more!!!!
Incredibly funny that this entire episode can be summed up as "all us journalists are actually stupid and lazy, sorry".
Or overworked and don’t want to write something their boss will make them take more time to rewrite
Madison Cawthorn's Spurious claims?
Great new band name!
This rocked, great interview great guest
Such a great interview and bonus rocknrollllll
talking about “medicalizing” children is a ridiculous way to talk about trans healthcare. bringing in a kid for insomnia or the flu isn’t referred to as “medicalizing,” it’s exclusively a term that makes trans healthcare sound malicious
See also: "social contagion", a way of describing people changing their perspectives on exposure to new ideas in a way designed to make being trans seem like some kind of memetic virus that overrides human intelligence
stenographers to power Hard to feel anything but disdain for bourgeois journalism these days.
really important episode. well done lads
No hate but why do country’s we look up to in Europe for their health care ban the practice for minors?
because they're still reactionary capitalist states despite a better infrastructure.
How can I be anti-trans if I cheered for Caitlyn in the 76 Olympics? Thought so.
great interview. loved to hear her viewpoint. thanks for the content
There are some *insufferable* squares in the comments of this one already complaining about everything from punk music to their own taciturn disapproval of trans liberation. Some of you swapped your terminally online reddit enlightened atheist phase for leftist aesthetics and it shows man.
Vaush fan spotted; radical liberalism identified.
Great interview! Listening to the album now and it fuckin rocks. Thx for the recommendation, Chris!
Love the ep but I object to the notion that mainstream news is doing any sort of a good job covering climate change these days
Queen
This has been a powerful week for slop so far
Can I ask, is the health concern for the health of trans people is that if they don’t get transition treatment they will kill themselves? Don’t want to google this because all the anti trans stuff out therw
I mean I guess that's one way to put it sure
I know it’s punk but clipping microphone singing is just unpleasant, even if it’s the aesthetic you’re going for. It’s like running a boss HM2 directly into whatever you’re recording on, but the clipping singing doesn’t even get a cool name like the Swedish chainsaw. The ep itself was fine. If you don’t like this comment, come at me, Chris.
Nah Devorah is a banger
Lol she reading series'd Will
such main character syndrome
When you're being interviewed you can be the main character for 45 minutes, chill
YAY HI JAEL I LOVE YOU
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