Diversity is America's greatest strength 🇺🇸

Diversity is Ireland's greatest strength 🇮🇪

Diversity is Germany's greatest strength 🇩🇪

Diversity is Australia's greatest strength 🇦🇺

Diversity is Belgium's greatest strength 🇧🇪

The Environment Agency has documented 243 violations of the “farming rules for water” since they came into effect in April 2018 - but there have been no prosecutions or fines issued to polluters.

My latest exclusive for The

The region with the most breaches recorded was Devon and Cornwall, with 75, followed by Wessex with 52 .

The breaches the Environment Agency has recorded are a fraction of the actual number, according to conservation organisations.

said: “This legislation is being violated on a regular basis across the country by farms and virtually nothing is being done to monitor it or enforce it.”

“Even when the Environment Agency identifies breaches, they don’t have the resources to follow up. All of the effort put into crafting the rules and consulting on this issue has proven to be a complete waste of time.”

The legislation, which was first announced in November 2017, gives the Environment Agency the power to prosecute or fine individuals and companies found to be polluting waterways with contaminated runoff water, or acting in a way that creates a high risk of pollution.

@ondakondratiev @PlzBeSensible @mattyglesias Okay, as promised, some links. @Burgerfacemcta1

This is from Canada:

@PlzBeSensible @mattyglesias @Burgerfacemcta1 This was in Psychiatric Times:

@PlzBeSensible @mattyglesias @Burgerfacemcta1 This is from a uni counseling center, and is a good overview of gendered victim-blaming for male victims:

@PlzBeSensible @mattyglesias @Burgerfacemcta1 This is tangentially about male victims of sex crimes and discusses gendered bonding and what men can admit.

@PlzBeSensible @mattyglesias @Burgerfacemcta1 Finally, RAINN has a summary, similar in theme to the UTK counseling center above:

Why did this young black man die after being arrested?

Mohamud Hassan was arrested, detained overnight, released from police custody without charge. The next day he was dead.

Support his family to help them find out why

#Justice4Mohamud

2/ In America, you're 5 1/2 times more likely to go to prison if you're black
In Wales, you're 6 1/2 more likely to go to prison if you're black

Mohamud's family are fighting for justice.
Watch the video & share it with the hashtag #Justice4MohamudHassan

3/ Mohamud's family are fighting for justice. You can support them by donating to their crowd justice fund to help them pay for legal representation and independent investigators. #Justice4MohamudHassan

4/ #Justice4Mohamud

On 09/01/21, Mohamud Mohamed Hassan, a healthy young black man, died shortly after his release from police custody with severe injuries. We want to find out why he died, and take appropriate action.

5/ How did our beloved Mohamud die?
Mohamud Mohamed Hassan, 24, was arrested by South Wales Police at his home on the evening of Friday 8th January 2021 for a breach of the

Yesterday, the CDC released new guidelines for schools. Clear, science-based guidance was long overdue, so everyone was agog all week.

Did they get what they wanted? This is a long 🧵, buckle in.

Before I dive in: I have no agenda here. I am not anti-kids, anti-schools or anti-teachers. The only thing I am is anti-virus. I follow the science, but despite what both sides insist, the science is not straightforward, or we wouldn't have this much division and dissent.

So, back to the CDC guidelines: Pro-opening advocates hoped for a sensible read of the evidence and teachers unions for strict precautions and vaccinations. Did they get what they want? Short answer: No.

There is no issue that is more divisive right now (ok, masks and vaccines). But kids of all colors are suffering, and the long-term loss of education and emotional toll might be devastating. OTOH: the rates in the US might be dropping but objectively they are still very high.

Schools should be the last to close and first to reopen, but many communities have not done that and probably will never. Those communities have not "budgeted" for schools by closing bars and restaurants. In fact, many are now reopening closed businesses before schools.

This makes me rage:

“San Francisco is about 48% white, but that falls to 15% for children enrolled in its public schools.

For all the city’s vaunted progressivism, it has some of the highest private school enrollment numbers in the country.”

"California is dominated by Democrats, but many of the people Democrats claim to care about most can’t afford to live there.

In California, we’re often symbolically liberal, but operationally conservative."

"The median price for a home in California is more than $700,000.

The state has four of the nation’s five most expensive housing markets and a quarter of the nation’s homeless residents.

The root of the crisis is simple:

It’s very, very hard to build homes in California. "

"In Los Angeles, Mayor @EricGarcetti persuaded Angelenos to pass a new sales tax to address the city’s homelessness crisis, but the program has fallen far behind schedule, in part because homeowners fought the placing of shelters in their communities."

"@toniatkins, Dem State Senate leader, sponsored a modest bill to allow duplexes on single-family lots. It passed the Senate, and then passed Assembly in slightly amended form, and then died because it was sent back to the Senate w/ only 3 minutes left in the legislative session"

New from me.

Alberta is exploring the idea of establishing a provincial police force. What are the motivations behind this move, how much is it going to cost, and do Albertans even want it?

#yeg #ableg

Alberta currently pays $262.4 million for its RCMP service, with the feds paying $112.4 million annually in a 70-30 split. This is the prime concern for Alberta’s small towns and cities.

“We could be saddled with some immense costs going forward without federal contributions.”

Dr. Laura Huey, a criminologist at the University of Western Ontario, estimates the cost is likely to be in the billions.

"I’m not convinced necessarily that people understand and appreciate how enormous those costs are, and that those costs are ongoing and forever.”

In the end, it all comes down to cost versus control, Dr. Huey argues. But with increased control comes the risk of politicization, an issue that concerns NDP Justice critic Irfan Sabir.

“I think the province shouldn’t be controlling directly how these police forces operate."

So why is Alberta pursuing this? Autonomy from Ottawa seems to be the largest driving factor.

Derek Fildebrandt, former MLA for Strathmore-Brooks and publisher of the Western Standard, suggests the UCP are in search of a “legacy project” to hang its hat on. #ableg

If someone’s an asshole to you, it’s your right to decide not to work w/them. Right?

If someone’s an asshole to your friend/mom/kid/neighbor, etc., it’s still your right to decide not to work w/ them. Right?

So...

If someone’s an asshole to people you don’t know personally, but you disapprove of the assholery... it’s still your right to decide not to work w/them.

It’s not a blacklist if people choose not to work with you b/c your views make them or others feel unsafe.

At a certain point, conservatives are going to have to recognize that “views” are not academic when they have real-world effects and consequences for other people.

Like, “X got fired for being conservative!” implies those conservative views exist in a vacuum and are purely thought experiments, whereas in actuality those views are likely affecting other people quite fundamentally.

If you insist that people who cut ties w/ bigots are doing it just because of pressure from “cancel culture,” you’re basically saying they can’t tell the difference between which values matter to them and which don’t. That’s pretty patronizing.