Biology Is A Shit Show

Apr26

This has been posted elsewhere many times over the years and was composed by Rebecca Helm, a biologist and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina (at least at the time this was written).

Rebecca Helm, a biologist and an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville US writes:

Friendly neighborhood biologist here. I see a lot of people are talking about biological sexes and gender right now. Lots of folks make biological sex sex seem really simple. Well, since it’s so simple, let’s find the biological roots, shall we? Let’s talk about sex…[a thread]

If you know a bit about biology you will probably say that biological sex is caused by chromosomes, XX and you’re female, XY and you’re male. This is “chromosomal sex” but is it “biological sex”?

Well…

Turns out there is only ONE GENE on the Y chromosome that really matters to sex. It’s called the SRY gene. During human embryonic development the SRY protein turns on male-associated genes. Having an SRY gene makes you “genetically male”. But is this “biological sex”?

Sometimes that SRY gene pops off the Y chromosome and over to an X chromosome. Surprise! So now you’ve got an X with an SRY and a Y without an SRY. What does this mean?

A Y with no SRY means physically you’re female, chromosomally you’re male (XY) and genetically you’re female (no SRY). An X with an SRY means you’re physically male, chromsomally female (XX) and genetically male (SRY). But biological sex is simple! There must be another answer…

Sex-related genes ultimately turn on hormones in specifics areas on the body, and reception of those hormones by cells throughout the body. Is this the root of “biological sex”??

“Hormonal male” means you produce ‘normal’ levels of male-associated hormones. Except some percentage of females will have higher levels of ‘male’ hormones than some percentage of males. Ditto ditto ‘female’ hormones. And…

…if you’re developing, your body may not produce enough hormones for your genetic sex. Leading you to be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally non-binary, and physically non-binary. Well, except cells have something to say about this…

Maybe cells are the answer to “biological sex”?? Right?? Cells have receptors that “hear” the signal from sex hormones. But sometimes those receptors don’t work. Like a mobile phone that’s on “do not disturb’. Call and call, they will not answer.

What does this all mean?

It means you may be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally male/female/non-binary, with cells that may or may not hear the male/female/non-binary call, and all this leading to a body that can be male/non-binary/female.

Try out some combinations for yourself. Notice how confusing it gets? Can you point to what the absolute cause of biological sex is? Is it fair to judge people by it?

Of course you could try appealing to the numbers. “Most people are either male or female” you say.

Except that as a biologist professor I will tell you…

The reason I don’t have my students look at their own chromosome in class is because people could learn that their chromosomal sex doesn’t match their physical sex, and learning that in the middle of a 10-point assignment is JUST NOT THE TIME.

Biological sex is complicated. Before you discriminate against someone on the basis of “biological sex” & identity, ask yourself: have you seen YOUR chromosomes? Do you know the genes of the people you love? The hormones of the people you work with? The state of their cells?


Since the answer will obviously be no, please be kind, respect people’s right to tell you who they are, and remember that you don’t have all the answers. Again: biology is complicated. Kindness and respect don’t have to be.


Note: Biological classifications exist. XX, XY, XXY XXYY and all manner of variation which is why sex isn’t classified as binary. You can’t have a binary classification system with more than two configurations even if two of those configurations are more common than others.

Biology is a shitshow. Be kind to people.

A “Come To Jesus” Moment

Mar28

That’s actually an amusing title because I’m going to discuss why I’m agnostic/atheist and the inherent problems I see in religion in general.

And I’m bringing this up because I see Jews getting upset that Israel (and by extension, Judaism) getting criticized because of the apartheid state that Israel runs coupled with the ongoing Palestinian genocide that Israel is perpetrating. And no, don’t argue with me whether it’s genocide or not. It fits the UN definition and multiple international human rights organizations have all labeled it genocide. So I’m not arguing about this and if you come here to argue about it, your comment will just get deleted. I’m not playing games with genocide defenders (because YOU, the genocide defenders, are why Trump is in the White House right now).

Anyway, let’s get back to religion. Over and over again throughout history, you find a recurring pattern – every religion that has a deity or deities, and where those deities separate human beings based on whether they worship said deity(ies) or not, you have a religion that ultimately others non-worshipers and then commits atrocities, and often genocides, in the name of said deity(ies). Full stop. Historically, this is an irrefutable fact.

You cannot get around this flaw. Religion is completely just opinion because faith is just opinion about whether something invisible is real or not. You cannot scientifically test it. You cannot see, hear, taste, smell, or feel it. It’s just opinion and, to make matters as much worse as possible, it’s an opinion that, in the historical record kills non-believers.

Every religion that others non-believers has committed atrocities! Every religion that others non-believers is, therefore, a prime enabler of genocidal behavior.

No, I don’t care that your religion is “nice”. Look at the numbers. When you consider the “kind” versions of Christianity versus the Catholics and evangelicals, the Catholics and evangelicals are about 95% of the total. Again, don’t try to argue here. Catholicism and evangelicalism have been prime movers and supporters of colonization, imperialism, and destruction of non-western cultures. History is utterly clear on that too.

So why do we even bother trying to focus on the 5% who are usually “nice” versus the 95% who are hateful, murderous, imperialistic assholes?

I mean, statistically, if I were an alien visiting earth and I looked at religion, I’d conclude it drives humans to act in utterly irrational and violent ways. Sure, there are a tiny few who are special because of their religion, but there are kind atheists and agnostics too, and they didn’t need “faith” to get that way. Meanwhile, religion continues to drive genocides, “culture wars” that actually kill people the so-called “religious” don’t like, and these religions also seek to impose their opinions (their faith) on everyone else whether you like it or not.

So I am left with this question of why do humans even consider bothering with religion? Are y’all that afraid of death that you’ll murder others to guarantee yourselves seats in some fictional afterlife that absolutely does not exist?

Religion, all religion that tries to separate people into believers and non-believers, is toxic as hell. It’s violent always and it always devolves into mass murder eventually. Every single time. That is an inescapable conclusion of history.

Further, as we see in western nation after western nation, religion demands special treatment and to be exempt from the rule of law of the secular state. Christianity does this. Islam does this. And so does Judaism. Hell, the conservative Jews in Israel are now openly calling for a “civil war” to stop the leftist Jews, to kill other Jews because they see those Jews as a threat to their continued genocide of Palestinians.

I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t believe in a deity. I’m not going to tell you to stop being a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. But I am going to ask you to honestly try to justify to yourself if the very few decent Christians/Muslims/Jews that you know are worth the cost to humanity of all of the violent and hateful Christians/Muslims/Jews that you see daily on our news channels.

Because if you are going to cling to an opinion (a belief, without any factual backing) that some people are “lesser” just because they don’t believe the way you do, then no matter what else you say, you are not a safe person. Because, in the end, the safety of anyone is conditional on your belief in your particular sky daddy (or daddies, or mommy, etc.) and that’s neither safety nor trustworthy.

You Did This

Feb4

This is to every single person who told me I was “hysterical” for predicting the rise of theocratic based fascism in the United States as long as 11 years ago (before Trump even announced his candidacy)

This is for every single person who told me “that can’t happen here”.

This is for every single person who said our institutions would save us.

The entire time, conservatives have said in advance, publicly, precisely how they would undermine everything, destroy every safeguard, seize control of every institution.

Even if a given court rules Trump in contempt of violating a court order, who’s going to arrest him now? Who’s going to enforce anything?

And now we have the first concentration camp since WWII. We have citizens being threatened with deportation. Kids being denied medical care. An entire group of human beings being actively erased from existence and history (that’s called “genocide” for you who are too f*cking stupid to get it).

Some of you are just NOW finally asking how do we mobilize against this to “save” our country? You should have mobilized a decade ago. In waiting til now to realize this, you’ve already lost. The United States of America is already dead. And you can’t face that, can you? You killed it by your inaction, your refusal to listen to what they openly said.

For those that can get out, do it as soon as you can. For those that can’t, your lives and the lives of your descendants for generations will become a living hell.

You were warned and ignored every warning. You deserve what’s coming. Those of us who told you don’t deserve this but we’re the direct targets. Our blood will be on your hands too. Trump didn’t do this alone. You let him.

Carry that guilt to your grave. And to every spineless Democrat in Congress seeking “common ground” with these fascists? May you burn in hell.

Trump Is Moving Faster Than I Expected

Jan22

Trump and his Heritage Foundation allies are moving far faster than I expected. Let me ponder a few things here.

If you’ve followed me any length of time, you’re probably aware that I am pretty convinced that Putin is using every lever at his disposal to shatter the United States as a political entity and Balkanize North America. His motive for this is pretty clear. The Balkanization of the USSR led to intense international pressure on the then newly independent former Soviet states to get rid of their nuclear weapons. This is what I believe is driving Putin’s funding and support of right wing extremism and isolationism in the United States.

If he accomplishes this, he removes the USA as a global nuclear power, leaving Russia as the most powerful nuclear armed nation in the entire world. Britain, France, and China have nuclear forces but not on the scale of Russia. Israel’s nuclear forces, though never officially admitted by the Israeli government, are assumed to be similar to those of France and Britain. India, Pakistan, and Iran are wild cards but are not, so far as we know, nuclear armed at this time though they have the potential. The only other state that is fully capable of producing a nuclear warhead in very rapid fashion is Japan and they have not (yet).

The reason I bring this up is because Trump’s latest executive orders, ordering the Attorney General to prosecute state and local officials who refuse to obey his anti-immigration executive orders, and his “anti-DEI” executive order, urging federal employees to report any federal contract with a private company or any other federal employee who they believe are DEI contracts or DEI hires to the new White House “snitch” hotline.

Both of these moves are going to create intense backlash against the federal government. It’s almost like Trump is intentionally driving wedges between the states and the federal government (I think it is intentional) and eventually that pressure may lead to what I’ve been talking about for years – certain Blue states leaving the union.

I remain convinced that the West Coast states are the most likely ones to go first purely on the strength of their economy. If you are not leaving the United States and you are on the West Coast, you MAY be situated to benefit from this. A pro-freedom social democracy consisting of California, Oregon, and Washington would easily be the third largest economy in the world. Part of Nevada might want to go to – Reno and Nevada. And if Arizona could pull its head out of its ass, it might want to as well.

Events are happening faster than I expected. I expected the US to shatter several years from now (in the 2030s) but, again in my personal opinion, that breakup may now occur during Trump’s term.

You may become witness to the end of the United States as we have known it.

Don’t get me wrong. Other Blue states may break away as well. Blue Minnesota, Purple Wisconsin, Blue Michigan, plus the very northern part of Illinois (Chicago area) might try to become part of Canada. New York and the New England states might break away and try to form an alliance with the EU and Canada.

We really cannot predict with precision what might happen here but the United States seems hellbent on following a path that leads to one of two ends – either a nuclear armed right wing fascist dictatorship (Putin doesn’t want that because he can’t guarantee he can control it downstream) or a shattered United States (this renders the US irrelevant on a global scale and accomplishes Putin’s goals).

If you can’t leave the US, you may want to plan to get to a solidly blue state. And my bet remains on the west coast leaving the union first.

We are in a constitutional crisis right now and have been since Trump’s first presidency and it just got far worse with his inauguration for his second term. Brace yourselves. It’s going to get bad before it gets better. The number of really bad executive orders is astounding. They will be fought in court, but with the courts stacked with pro-Trump judges, we can’t count on courts to save us.

The End Of The United States As We Know It

Jan14

Some folks are talking about resistance, about saving the country. I don’t think the country can be saved. Worse, I don’t expect the United States to survive. If you’re talking about resistance, consider at least thinking what a shattered United States might look like, what the politics of each region might be, and where you’d prefer to live. (Sample map above is just a sample of how the US might shatter. All sorts of other arrangements are completely possible too.)

Why consider this? Because Putin is doing to the USA what the USA did to the USSR – funding internal dissidents, getting people into power who oppose central governments generally, and who then make that central government incompetent, or worse, make that central government into an actual detriment. (Trump vs California for disaster assistance is going to show this clearly.) As the central government becomes increasingly irrelevant, blue states are going to have to ask themselves why they are staying. When Trump and Republicans deny disaster aid to California, California is going to have a big WTF moment when they ask why they are subsidizing red states because that’s a fact – blue states subsidize the red states, except for Texas which also subsidizes other red states.

Trump’s policies are also going to turn into issues that make people question why they are part of the United States of America at all. Increasingly, there are deep divides that I do not think can be surmounted by simple politics. People are going to get hurt, some may get killed because of this. Blue states are going to find that Trump will be prepared to browbeat them into submission for his way or the highway. And the highway is going to look better and better as time goes on.

And that is going to turn into large incentive to leave the union and keep all that tax money at home. California is the 5th largest economy in the world. With Oregon and Washington state, it would be the 3rd largest economy. California’s GDP is $4.08 trillion. Washington state’s is $850 billion. Oregon’s is $329 billion. Germany is the 3rd largest economy in the world right now, at $4.9 trillion. Those three states would pass it and be worth $5.29 billion. If they kept their taxes at home, they could fund their own military, have universal healthcare, and a wide range of social programs for the working class just like in Europe.

New York plus Pennsylvania plus the New England states could be the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world. They could afford those things too and would likely ally with NATO and participate in the EU in some fashion. As Trump, Bannon, etc., achieve their goals of “dismantling the administrative state”, the incentives for blue states to stay will continue to drop. As Trump implements policies that go against what blue states want, the incentives to leave will continue to rise.

Further, Trump is openly talking about arresting blue state elected officials who do not bow to his demands. How long will that be accepted? Will every National Guard member, particularly officers, allow the arbitrary arrests of elected officials just because they oppose Donald Trump’s policies? Remember, The Heritage Foundation is saying this as well. They want to turn the US into Hungary, a thin veneer of “democracy” lain over top of a vast oligarchy that focuses on enriching the already rich at the expense of everyone else.

I do not expect the survival of the United States of America beyond the 2040-2045 time frame and it may collapse even faster than that, especially if Trump gets the 22nd amendment overturned. And remember, they’ve publicly said they’re going after the 19th too. But the next 10-20 years are going to be rough in this country, very rough. If you’re an older minority and can afford to relocate to another country, consider doing so.

Remember, Putin has a goal here that many are missing. The collapse of the USSR taught Putin that when a nuclear power collapses, the rest of the world brings tremendous pressure on the newly independent states to denuclearize. With the USSR, all did except Russia. Nobody wants a nuclear armed Montana or Arkansas, so if the US does collapse, Putin gets to remove the United States as a global power in one fell swoop without ever firing a shot. It’s a brilliant strategy and it appears to be succeeding slowly but steadily.

This is why Putin has funded white nationalists in the US. This is why Putin funneled $30 million dollars through the NRA to right wing political entities. This is why every secession movement so far has been headquartered in Russia. And unfortunately, this approach is working. This is why Putin supports incompetent politicians – to render the central federal government of the United States inept, incompetent, and corrupt, thus further driving the wedge between the federal government and the individual states.

Thus, I do not expect the United States to survive. My advice is relocate to a blue state and wait for the collapse or get out of the country entirely. Either can work but in the long run, I don’t expect there to be a United States of America.

My final comment is this – if the United States does survive as a single entity, I expect it to end up as a Christofascist Neo-Nazi theocracy based on rigid right wing evangelical values. LGBTQ people will be fully persecuted. People of color will be ghettoized fully again by Jim Crow laws, or worse. Non-Christians may find themselves persecuted and subject to a functionally apartheid state set against them and for evangelical right wing Christians.

The best outcome I can see is the Balkanization of the United States but if the United States survives as a single political entity, it’s going to be a nuclear armed third world theocratic hell hole.