Episode 123: A "Fake" Story Turns Out To Be Real And A "Real" Story Turns Out To Be (Mostly) Fake
Blocked and Reported
Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2022
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Katie’s true reason for dressing up as a horse all those years ago is finally revealed. An old friend of the pod returns for his revenge. A heart-wrenching story involving a 10-year-old rape victim seeking an abortion turns out to be fake, but then turns out to be real anyway. Jesse discusses a viral internet rumor involving trans kids in Leon County, Florida schools and explains how indignant he is he had to do one of his least favorite things — “work” — in order to debunk it.
Links:
Intro
Katie has a crush on Jesse confirmed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/vyb507/katie_has_a_crush_on_jesse/
Katie’s initial attempt to seduce Jesse, c. 2010:
Prof. Stuart Reges sues University of Washington with FIRE’s backing:
Last episode on Reges’ case (skip to 3:48):
The Victim That Was(n’t?)
Indiana Star story about the 10-year-old:
Indiana’s new abortion law:
https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2919.192
Megan Fox (no, not that one) expresses skepticism, does some digging:
The WSJ is incredulous:
The Washington Post’s semi-skeptical column (paywalled, but only on desktop for some reason):
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him:
Rebecca Fishbein uses this to dunk on her political outgroup:
Mike Daisy, who QRT’d this tweet, was himself caught fabricating a story:
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/460/retraction
Fox grabs the political football, scores some political points for the right:
Bethany Bruner was the only one in the courtroom as the perp was arraigned:
Asheville Watchdog:
https://avlwatchdog.org/
Leon County:
Jesse’s story:
A screenshot of the Tweet that started all this (deleted):
The Tallahassee Democrat story that it linked to:
Kaitlyn Greenridge, features director of Harper’s Bazaar, on how this may represent an irreversible step towards fascism:
Leon County School District’s LGBTQ Inclusive guide with amendments — old version before the final amendments that was linked to in the Democrat piece:
Chase Anderson, child and adolescent psychiatrist, on this policy (deleted):
NBC repeats the claim from Twitter:
Vanity Fair then repeats the claim from NBC from Twitter:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/07/ron-desantis-florida-dont-say-gay-goes-into-effect
Turns out the guide was actually written by a PFLAG activist:
https://www.wtxl.com/news/local-news/leon-county-schools-board-to-finalize-lgbtq-guidance
In Leon County, even the Republicans are liberal:
https://tallahasseereports.com/2017/05/03/school-board-member-alva-striplin-becomes-a-democrat/
The lawsuit that got this policy rewritten:
Leon County’s reaction to the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill:
Previously, Leon County school board got their salaries withheld by the state gov’t over their mask policy:
The journalist fact-checking this story:
https://www.tallahassee.com/staff/7775150002/ana-goi-lessan/
Image: DAYTON, OHIO, UNITED STATES - 2022/05/14: Protesters hold placards expressing their opinion at a pro abortion rights rally. People from many different cities gathered to support and rally for abortion rights. In light of the Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade that leaked roughly two weeks ago, hundreds of people in Dayton, spoke and marched for abortion access. (Photo by Whitney Saleski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm pretty good Katie. |
| 0:12.2 | Do you uh, do you have anything you want to say to me? |
| 0:15.6 | No. |
| 0:16.6 | Why? |
| 0:17.6 | Oh, you know, I was just uh, surfing around on an interesting website called Reddit.com |
| 0:23.1 | slash block reported and I saw someone named LaZoon's had posted this. |
| 0:29.0 | Katie has a crush on Jesse dot dot dot. |
| 0:31.8 | I need you to give me this person's name and information so I can see them for defamation |
| 0:35.9 | right now. |
| 0:36.9 | Well, I first of all, I think it's probably a sock puppet account from you from me, right, |
| 0:41.3 | right? |
| 0:42.3 | Yeah. |
| 0:43.3 | LaZoon's it sounds like lesbian, which is what you are. |
| 0:45.8 | Katie has a crush on Jesse dot dot dot. |
| 0:47.8 | That's the title. |
| 0:48.8 | Then in the body, evidence is as follows. |
| 0:51.1 | In an obvious attempt to seduce Jesse, Katie converted to Judaism in episode four. |
| 0:55.3 | I did. |
| 0:56.3 | Check. |
| 0:57.3 | I did. |
| 0:58.3 | Katie later Katie later converted to Islam, which was an obvious attempt to appeal to Jesse's |
| 1:03.4 | rebellious nature after Judaism conversion. |
... |
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