Speaker 1: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon
to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you
want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,
my daily show prep with all of the links, become
a patron, go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you
hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right
to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so
much for your support. News Talk eleven, ten ninety nine
to three WBT our number two underway. Thanks a lot
for hanging out. I do appreciate it. There are few
things that I love me more than a struggle session
on college campuses, and so I was very interested to
hear that Davidson College is interested in doing a struggle
session apparently for some students part of the Young Americans
for Freedom group. Want to welcome to the program. Jesse Appleby,
an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression,
and is Fire welcome. Jesse? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right? So first tell us what is FIRE?
What is the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Speaker 2: Yes, we are a nonprofit and we originally started on
college campuses defending free speech and other individual rights, and
then in the past couple of years we have expanded
to defend free speech off campus as well.
Speaker 1: So this latest example of some of the work that
you guys are interested in is at Davidson College here
in Mecklenburg County and the Young Americans for Freedom. It's
a student group, right, I guess it's a Is it
a campus group? Are they on campus?
Speaker 2: Yes, it's there's a national organization and then there are
chapters at many schools across the country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so all right, what did what did they
do to get Davidson College to threaten what I am
referring to as a struggle session for the students? What
do they do?
Speaker 2: Well, technically they didn't do anything wrong, but what happened
is last October they tried to hand out pamphlets on
campus titled the five Myths about Israel perpetrated by the
pro Hamas Left. And then they also shared an Instagram
post commenting on sex, gender identity, and participation in women's sports.
Davidson received student complaints about these two instances and have
now charged the group with harassments for what they saw
was misinformation promoting Islamophobia and transphobia.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, so the school is concerned about misinformation they
you may want to I don't know, like, are you
working on this case yourself, because you may want to
relay to them that the Greeks on campus are not
actually like Greek organizations, they're just like letters. Also that
the subway shop they got there, that's not an underground train,
so they may not be aware of that misinformation that
they may be participating in themselves. But what exactly do
we have any examples that they provided that the school
like provided to say, like this is the misinformation that
you're handing out and like spell it out for us.
Speaker 2: No, they actually did not provide examples. And I'm not
clear after reading the pamphlet what is exactly misinformation in it.
It's clearly about an issue that many people will disagree with,
but I'm not clear what they are considering misinformation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the title alone, the five myths about
Israel perpetrated by the pro Hamas left. I know a
lot of the Lefties do not like that framing that
they are called pro Hamas, because they'll try to say, oh, no,
I'm just pro Palestinian. I'm not pro Hamas right, so
I guess that, but I don't. But they didn't give
any examples. I read through the Davidson College letter that
they sent to the president of the Young Americans for
Freedom chapter, and they didn't provide her any specifics, which
I think kind of makes it a little difficult if
you are, you know, if you're going to try to
defend yourself from this kind of an accusation.
Speaker 2: No, it does make it difficult to defend yourself. Although
I should mention even if there is a mistake or
a factual inaccuracy in the pamphlet, that does not render
it unprotected. It is still protective political advocacy, and why
AS has every right to share that advocacy on campus.
Speaker 1: So it seems like that's just the fig leaf, right,
this idea that it's misinformation that promotes whatever phobia that
is in you know, in vogue to accuse people of
What really, I think is the core of the issue
is that some students reported it, maybe some faculty I
don't know, reported feeling threatened and unsafe on campus as
a result of these alleged actions, which I always find
to be hilarious because you know, you're on You're you're
on the campus of Davidson College. Like, who do you
think is going to be attacking you because you're you're
pro Hamas or Palestinian or you are pro LGBT like that.
It's not Those are not the people that get harassed
or attacked or have to worry about their personal safety.
Speaker 2: Right. And it's the reason we have high standards for
true threats and harassment is precisely because we don't want
random complaints of I feel unsafe or I feel threatened
to shut down a whole loss of speech that should
be greatly protected as just normal political advocacy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because if you can shut down young Americans for freedom,
well they can file the same sort of complaint against
their political opponents. And now at this supposed institute of
higher learning, now you have no discussion of any issues.
Speaker 2: Exactly. And both of these issues are pretty staff brilliant
political issues that have been in the media quite a bit,
have been discussed to both on and off campus for
the past year. It would be a bit odd if
some of the hottest political issues or of the day
couldn't be discussed on a college campus in the United States.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if ever there is a place for that with
that actually one would think it would be there. Let
me ask you about this second part of their letter
where they say, in order to resolve the alleged violation
of the Code of Responsibility, your organization has several options,
and by several they mean too and both of them
basically arrive at the same conclusion, which is some sort
of an accountability plan, which sounds to me like a
struggle session. So what is your understanding of what an
accountability plan is?
Speaker 2: Basically, our understanding, based on Davidson's policy, is just that
those that would be the punishment or sanctions imposed on
the group. So if the group chose the first that
option and took responsibility, then an administrator at Davidson would
decide on the sanctions and impose them on the group.
If the group decided to go forward with a hearing,
it would be before the Council or the Code of
Responsibility Council, and if that council found the group responsible
for her for harassment, the council would decide on the
specific sanctions imposed. So it's really just a euphemism for punishment.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, So either you you plead guilty and we
punish you, or you plead not guilty, we hold a hearing,
and then we punish you. That's what it sounds like.
So yeah, so where does it stand and where is
it headed?
Speaker 2: Ah? As of now, it's in limbo. We are sending
a letter to the school today asking it to drop
the charges against the students. Do you think under its
free expression policy this these charges, this investigation never should
have taken place. So the charges, all right?
Speaker 1: And if people want to help real quick, how can
they do so? To Fire's web yourself. Sorry, your cell
phone is breaking up, Jesse, are you still there? You're
still yeah?
Speaker 2: Okay, sorry about that.
Speaker 1: No, that's right.
Speaker 2: We will have more information on Fire's website. Or you
can also reach out to the school yourself and tell
them that you object to what they're doing here, going
after this group for clearly protected political advocacy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Jesse Appleby an attorney with the Foundation for Individual
Rights and Expression, also known as FIRE, and you can
follow them on Twitter at the FIRE ORGRG and Jesse,
thanks so much for the work you're doing and thanks
for making time for us. I appreciate it. Thanks all right,
take care all right, that's Jesse Appleby. Here's a great idea.
How about making an escape to a really special and
secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive
up the mountain and Cabins of Ashville is your connection.
Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want
to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends
together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has
the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with
your loved ones and the things that truly matter. Nestled
within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the Pisga
National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the
heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Ashville
and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all
the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs,
Wi Fi, grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch.
Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a
great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville
has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and
they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two
eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out
all there is to offer at cabins Offashville dot com
and make memories that'll last a lifetime. All right, So,
Young Americans for Freedom, the president of this organization is
now being threatened with punishment for handing out a pamphlet
in October. So if I'm I'm gonna go out on
a limb here and say that it's possible that the
timing of this pamphlet, which is called the Five Myths
about Israel, perpetrated by the pro Hamas left, I'm thinking
that handing the pamphlet out in October might might have
had something to do with the October seventh massacre by
Hamas and other affiliated Jihattist groups and Palestinian civilians on
the Israeli people and anybody else that happened to get
in their way, like the poor Thai people, right, and
Americans and you know, really anybody that they just happened
to bond while they were just you know, rampaging through Israel.
So I suspect it might have been tied to that now.
The Five Myths pamphlet is authored by Robert Spencer and
at the Young Americans for Freedom Foundation. Here on the website.
This is a free pamphlet and they and they list here.
It says, according to a recent poll, seventy three percent
of Jewish students have experienced or witnessed anti Semitism. It's
so bad that Jewish students are rightly suing Harvard for
the rampant anti semitism on campus. Did you see what
happened at Barnard College the other day? A bunch of
pro Hamas or if you would prefer hamas holaes, I
can call you that instead. You know, oh, no pro Hamas,
but justification for supporting Amas. But I will call you
hamas holaes if you prefer. Actually, even if you don't prefer,
I'm going to call you that. So the these these kids,
they dress themselves like terrorists, like Palestinian gih hottists. And
they stormed the Line Library and they came in through
a back door, and they videotape themselves doing this, and
they all rush in through a back door, climb up
the stairs. They got you know, hoodies on, they got
their masks on, some of them are wearing the the
larper's costume there of the Kafia, you know, that's scarf.
And they take over the library lobby area, the ground
floor and they are like tons of students hanging out
studying being students, you know. And the next thing you
get this massive demonstration. They just take over the area
and they start banging the drums and they're on the
bullhorn screaming their slogans and stuff and singing songs badly,
and and the administration can't get them to move. They're like,
can you please move? I'm asking you to move, like,
this is what's been going on for now? What three years?
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 1: It has it been three years? Two years? Two years?
Wait a minute, No, it was October seventh, twenty twenty three,
so it's been over a year, right, So we are
now we're into the second year. Sorry, since October seventh,
Hostages still being held right in Gaza, terrorist attacks still
being carried out in Israel by jihadists. And so this
pamphlet The Five Myths, written by best selling author and
Young Americans for Freedom speaker Robert Spencer, it's a free
ebook and it says it offers a rich historical breakdown
of hatred against Israelis while exposing five myths that the
pro Hamas left continued to push about Israel, including they
only gave us three here. I mean, these are promotional material,
so they don't want to give away the whole thing, right,
It's like a movie trailer. So here are the three
of the five myths. Israel is occupying Palestinian land, myth
Israel is really an apartheid state, quote unquote, myth Palestinian
leaders are willing to negotiate in good faith, okay, And
so by handing out this pamphlet, which is simply, I
would argue, is simply pushing back at misinformation right at
a propaganda war that is being waged globally by the
left and their allies in the jihottest movements. They are
advancing lies in order to win the propaganda war because
they cannot win militarily. They cannot win militarily, as evidenced
by the fact that they slaughter innocent civilians. That's who
they target. They go after civilians. That terrorism, that is
literally the definition of it. It is to target civilian
populations in order to affect some sort of policy shift
at their governing levels. That's what they have been doing.
They've been doing it for a very, very, very long time.
So you're telling me that if I were to distribute
an anti Israel pamphlet, that would be okay, but if
I do an anti Hamas one, that's not okay. That's
what Davidson College here in Mecklenburg County, that's what they're doing.
They're going to punish this organization for handing out this pamphlet,
and the punishment will be some form of a struggle session.
Right publicly denounce what you've done, which, by the way,
will earn you nothing. It'll earn you nothing. Use talk
eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT seven zero four
five seven zero eleven ten. Email is Pete at the
Pete calendershow dot com talking about Davidson colleges attempt to
punish the president of the college Chapter of Young Americans
for Freedom, accusing her of harassment. The Dean of students
sent a four page letter. They apparently did have some
kind of a meeting. It's referenced. It's referenced in the
letter here. On Wednesday, February twenty sixth. During our meeting,
I won discussed the pertinent information from the report. Two
gave you an opportunity to respond to the report. Three
collected additional information to help determine the best way to
resolve the issue through Davidson's student accountability process, and four
provided you with support resources. In other words, here's the
code of conduct. This is what you did wrong. You
made people feel unsafe. This is the RVO portion of DARVA,
which is a form of psychological abuse. It's how narcissists, sociopaths,
how they reverse victim and defender r v O, reverse
victim and defender right. If you are going to tell
me that what I have been witnessing, which is the deed,
the denial right, the in DARVO. If you're going to
tell me that what I've been witnessing on college campuses
and throughout the society, this rise of anti semitism. Right
and Jews are the canary and the coal mine on
this sort of stuff, the rise of anti semitism, the harassing,
the abuse, the discrimination, the threatening, the threatening behavior, and
the insults and stuff that have been directed towards Jewish
kids on campuses. You're going to deny that that's been occurring,
and then you're going to reverse victim and offender here
and say that passing out a pamphlet, I don't even
think she was, Like, I haven't seen any any write
up as to what exactly about the pamphlet was cited,
or whether the student in question here, whether she said
stuff while handing out the pamphlet. It doesn't seem. So
it just says that you distributed a pamphlet which allegedly
includes misinformation that promotes Islamophobia, allegedly includes who's doing the
alleged right? Who's doing that? Is that some other student
that disagrees politically they're a Hamas hole and so they're like,
we love Hamas, sorry the Pelstinian people. And so I
don't want that pamphlet being handed out because I don't
agree with it. And so I'm going to accuse you
of making me feel unsafe. Have again, have you been
witnessing the rise of anti Semitism? It is the largest
group of hate crimes by data collection in America annually,
the hate crimes against Jews always. So you're going to
tell me that the misinformation promotes Islamophobia? Is there any
misinformation promoting anti Semitism too, or no? Or what so
you're allowed to beat the drums and walk around like
face masked up and scarf wearing and river to the
sea chants and all of that. That doesn't make anybody
feel unsafe. In the immediate aftermath of October seventh, as
the bodies were still warm from the slaughter, and people
were saying, what did you think decolonization meant? Which, by
the way, just as an aside, I will point out
yet again that the Muslim world is one of the most,
if not the most prolific colonizing philosophies ever on this planet.
Like they have conquered They came out of the you know,
Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula right and spread all the
way to the far reaches of Spain and Portugal, right,
I mean, like all the way through they have in
rapid fashion. So that's not colonization, of course, it is,
of course they did. Jews have been on that land.
If you want to talk historical roots, what a thousand,
fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ something like that,
I mean, And there's evidence to this now, I know,
I know a lot of the colonizing societies that you
know came out of the Arabian Peninsula. I know they
like to, you know, destroy all of the artifacts of
any previous civilization and that sort of thing, but we
do have artifacts of the Jewish presence in that land.
It's called Judea for a reason, and the people are
called Jews because they came from that area. It's very
simple anyway, This is where you're supposed to have these
conversations is on a campus, is at college, which is
where ideas are discussed, arguments are made, research is conducted.
Shutting down a group that is talking about a topic
that is not only in the news but also has
like this long history, right, these questions of good and evil,
wrong and right, colonizer oppressed, Like all of these types
of questions should be hashed out in precisely that venue.
The idea that you would bring somebody in there for
handing out a pamphlet. Oh and also she made a post.
She shared a post from libs of TikTok. That's it.
She shared a social media post by the account libs
of TikTok, which I will remind you the libs of
TikTok account simply takes videos of leftists and reposts them.
That's what it does libs of TikTok liberals. It just says, hey,
look at what this person said, and that creates a
lack of safety on campus. You are not unsafe because
somebody disagrees with you, Okay, And the sooner colleges start
teaching their students, they're infantilized students that concept. That all right.
If you're listening to this show, you know I try
to keep up with all sorts of current events, and
I know you do too, And you've probably heard me
say get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because
it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've
been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and
it's a website and it combines news from around the
world in one place so you can compare coverage and
verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground,
dot news slash Pete. I put the link in the
podcast description too. I started using ground News a few
months ago and more recently chose to work with them
as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how
stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature
shows you which stories get ignored by the left and
the right. See for yourself check dot Ground dot News
slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen
percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to
get unlimited access to every feature Your subscription then not
only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News
as they make the media landscape more transparent. Talk eleven
ten ninety nine to three WBT seven oh four five
seven zero eleven ten next hour, We're going to start
a new tradition. Will give you more details as we
get closer in the next hour. One of the things
that the president of the Young Americans for Freedom Davidson
College Chapter president got in trouble for by the college
was because she shared a post from the libs of
TikTok on Instagram speculating the sex slash gender identity of
Emmane Khalif. I think it's how that's pronounced the Algerian boxer,
which allegedly includes misinformation that promotes transphobia. Right, this was
the boxer that nobody could tell what their gender is,
what their sex is, and they went in there and
whipped up on all the women won a bunch of
medals at the Olympics. Outrage ensued, right and So because
this student to Davidson published or reposted on Instagram something
from libs of TikTok that got her in trouble with
the Davidson College Dean of students, and now she's facing
some sort of punishment. Oh, by the way, because it
made it. It made somebody not sure who, classmate, teacher,
don't know, right, made somebody feel threatened and unsafe. We
should not be governed. Our rights should not be determined
by the most emotionally fragile people in the society. Okay,
that should not be a standard. We strive for to
allow to allow our behavior to be dictated by people
that perceive violence and threats based on simple disagreement or
difference of opinion. It's not healthy. And this is really
going to send you over the moon. The Journal of
Sexual Medicine February twenty fifth, twenty twenty five brand news
study just released titled examining gender specific mental health Risks
after Gender Affirming Surgery. Okay, so, and they use all
of the words, right, They frame it all as gender
affirming and like all of the words that the activists
and leftists have dictated to us. So this is not
some sort of right Wing publication. Okay, this is based
on a national database study. This report the aim was
to evaluate mental health outcomes in transgender individuals with gender
dysphoria who have undergone gender affirming surgery, and then they
break it up based on gender and the time since
their surgeries. The primary outcomes were differences in mental health disorders,
specifically depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, body dysmorphic disorder, and substance
abuse or substance use disorder as they call it, among
transgender individuals after they get the surgeries. From this database
survey or study of one hundred and seven thousand, five
hundred and eighty three patients matched cohorts demonstrated that those
who undergo the surgery were at significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety,
suicidal ideaation, substance use disorders than the people who did
not get the surgeries. Higher risk, higher risk after surgeries,
higher risk. I feel like I need to keep saying
that because for some reason, right the narrative has been
that this is the only way that you could prevent
somebody from killing themselves. Yet they are at higher risk
of doing that exact thing after the surgeries. Males with
surgery showed a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety twenty
five percent versus eleven percent for depression. Males with the
surgery versus without higher rates of depression and higher prevalence
of anxiety thirteen percent versus three percent. Females exhibited similar trends,
with elevated depression at twenty three percent versus fifteen percent
who don't get the surgeries, and anxiety way higher at
like ten and a half to eleven percent among women
that get the surgeries. By the way, I have no
idea what they're talking about when they say females and
males because they use they right, because they're not using
like they're calling females females. Does that mean they're like,
actually females or are you using like are these the
males who then transition to females? Is that it's hard
to it's this is the problem when you corrupt the language.
You're not clear. I can't tell, but I'm guessing that
they are using females as in biological females that undergo
the surgeries because they have higher rates of anxiety, and
that that tracks across the demographics. Women have higher rates
of anxiety than men do, So that makes sense. Clinical
implications findings suggest the necessity. So like, okay, you've determined
this stuff, Now what do we do about it? Like,
what's the recommendation, what's the solution? What do you think
they're going to propose? Well, if you guessed more resources,
you would be correct. There you go, that's right. The
finding suggests the necessity for gender sensitive mental health support
following the surgeries to address post surgical psychological risks. So
they go through the surgeries, these risks increase, and your
response is to say, keep doing the surgeries, but let's
just give them more therapy. Is it possible that they
ended up in the surgery on the surgeon's table because
of the therapy? Is that possible? Gender affirming surgery, while
beneficial in affirming gender identity, is associated with increased risk
of mental health issues, underscoring the need for more mental
health support after surgeries. Don't say no surgeries, don't do that. No, no, no,
it's more therapy. All right, that'll do it for this episode.
Thank you so much for listening. I could not do
the show without your support and the support of the
businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like,
please support them too and tell them you heard it here.
You can also become a patron at my patreon page
or go to thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so
much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.