Several Problems Press
@severalproblems.press
Analysis, commentary, and citizen journalism in the era of hate.
Posts by @epistemophagy.myatproto.social unless otherwise noted.
Posts by @epistemophagy.myatproto.social unless otherwise noted.
We aren't terribly happy that a lot of reporting on this has reproduced the wording used by the Trump administration and its courtier journalists verbatim, because that normalises their worldview. Here is our description of UPenn's collaboration agreement, which we believe is more factually correct
![An excerpt from our article on UPenn, describing the ways they've decided to collaborate with the Trump administration. The text reads as follows:
"* falsifying UPenn's NCAA Division I women's 'swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions' to indicate that those which were received by a transfem athlete were actually received by the cis woman athlete who would have received them if no trans women had been allowed to compete;
* issuing a public statement that:
** trans women will not be allowed to compete as women and that they will not be allowed to use correctly gendered UPenn locker rooms and other gendered facilities;
** UPenn will 'adopt ... definitions' of the words 'male' and 'female' which treat an individual's 'male' or 'female' status as being determined by their sex assigned at birth;
* posting that statement 'in a prominent location its main website and on each of its websites for women's athletics';
* 'rescind[ing] any guidance ... [and] remov[ing] or revis[ing] any internal and public-facing statements or documents' that treat trans people as having their correct gender, and notifying 'all staff and women's athletics of all such rescissions'; and
* sending personalised letters of apology to Paula Scanlan and any other anti-trans activists on the UPenn swimming team."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nxse2nxhy5tks6wvhnfvirnj/bafkreigj5j632hxrv2rlndmpxovwzp2xyoi5gjvd4onf7zq6tbyyymii3y@jpeg)
July 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM
We aren't terribly happy that a lot of reporting on this has reproduced the wording used by the Trump administration and its courtier journalists verbatim, because that normalises their worldview. Here is our description of UPenn's collaboration agreement, which we believe is more factually correct
Well ... as spam we've received goes, this is definitely among the more worrying
![A screenshot of a comment waiting in our comment moderation queue. The original entry contains the author, IP address, provided email, and provided website URL as metadata, all of which we've redacted.
The comment body reads:
"This platform allows you to get in touch with experts for temporary hazardous missions.
You can easily arrange support for specialized needs.
All contractors are qualified in managing complex operations."
[The post is interrupted here by the HTML syntax for a hyperlink. We've blocked out the href value (the actual target of the hyperlink) while leaving in the rest. The display text for the link is "hire a killer". Then the post continues:]
"Our platform guarantees private interactions between requesters and workers.
Whether you need immediate help, the site is the right choice.
Submit a task and match with a skilled worker in minutes!"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nxse2nxhy5tks6wvhnfvirnj/bafkreickitxy56zqcj4efedl5ecylxevp5uihltq6yq5jysvlefao7gvem@jpeg)
May 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Well ... as spam we've received goes, this is definitely among the more worrying