I wrote a lot of pieces in 2020! As we close out the year, I want to share a short list of my favorites. (thread)

In March, while we all watched in horror as the Trump administration botched the initial response to the pandemic, I wrote for @Independent about the bizarre and unjust access many healthy celebrities gained to COVID tests, which were quite scarce.

In April, when it was apparent Joe Biden was on his way to winning the nomination, I wrote for @washingtonpost on why progressives should have optimism about a Biden White House.

In June, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling affirming employment protections for LGBTQ people. It's cause for celebration, but as I wrote for @Cosmopolitan: this is a mere fraction of LGBTQ equality. We *must* pass the Equality Act.

That same month brought controversy as J.K. Rowling seemed to be completely unaware of the violence and discrimination faced by trans and non-binary people. So, I wrote about my own experiences in that vein for @USAToday in the hopes of educating folks:

27 Tweets That Will Hurt Like A Motherfucker

Thread:

You don't want a girlfriend, you just want to feel loved.

If you brag about not giving a fuck, you’re giving a fuck.

You only hate your parents because you're too scared to forgive them.

People you haven't forgiven will live rent-free in your mind until you do.

With all that's going on in the world, I wanted to introduce you all to the best thread on Twitter.

If you haven't heard of 'Eastbourne' and the old people that live in our town, get ready.

First up, it's the time when it kicked off between Edith and Dorothy.
#EastbourneEcho

After spending a couple of days engaging with #DisruptTexts and its most vociferous Twitter defenders, here is what I've learned:

1. Many of its most outspoken defenders are also outspoken racists. Almost every one that I spoke to focused on my skin color and whatever stereotypes they could fabricate from it in their responses.

2. On a related note, their primary means of argument seems to be largely ad hominem. There was very little discussion of the actual issues. Instead, insults, insinuations, and mockery seemed to be the rules of the game.

3. I think this need to focus on ad hominem arises from the ideological rather than evidential nature of #DisruptTexts itself. There's a lot of social justice jargon and feeling used to support it, but no talk that I saw about student outcomes or efficacy.

4. Relatedly, there is a religious feel to the whole thing. Heresy is not to be reasoned with but rooted out and destroyed. Only the truly initiated understand the secret gnosis. The plain meaning of words is disregarded in favor of a mystical interpretation.

Twitter is, by far, the fastest way to build a high-quality audience.

Why?

It's quicker to write insightful tweets than it is to produce 10min YouTube videos or 1400-word blog posts.

Here's a thread of actionable tactics from studying the fastest-growing Twitter accounts.

2/ Fast-growing accounts have two things in common:

1. They spend 30+ minutes per day sourcing and refining 1-3 daily tweets. They don't wing what they say, and they typically sit on each idea for a few days.

2. Key: They write tweets that get *retweeted.*

3/ Retweets bring followers.

We polled people to ask why they retweet. They said:

1. "Retweeting is my bookmarking system for ideas."

2. "I retweet when someone's put elegant words to my thoughts."

3. "I want my followers to know I relate to this statement."

4/ So, to get more RTs:

1. Tweet referenceable content that people will refer back to later.

2. Challenge the status quo with elegance and wit.

3. Pick a debate and argue your side with a novel take.

The most RTed tweets? *Threads with advice like this.*

5/ How to write a tweet:

• Open with a hook: Make it counterintuitive or counter-narrative.
• Concise body: Satisfy the craving your hook created.
• End with a punchy zinger: Summarize implications of your finding and what it means for the reader.

This year has been momentous, with a new virus, a new job writing about that virus (114 articles!) and many new sources, readers and Twitter followers. To chronicle this insane year, I'm compiling some of the stories I'm proudest of. A thread.

Exactly a year ago, my family and I were headed back from Vietnam, with no idea how close we had been to the outbreak brewing in China. It took me a while to realize the gravity, but this first story I wrote about the virus still (mostly) holds

In March, it became increasingly obvious from research being published that the virus could spread in the absence of symptoms. Yet US officials were still mostly pooh-poohing it. In this article I talked to scientists who knew

We know now that some of the worst effects of Covid-19 are because of the body's immune response, not just the virus itself. There were just early hints of that when I wrote this piece about cytokine

In this story in May, I delved into what we knew about the relationship between the viral dose and the risk of infection -- a topic we still know woefully little

What I learnt on the Twitter this week:

1. Well I know I learnt a lot more on Twitter this week than Trump did.
2. After Covid numbers skyrocket in Ontario for past four months, Doug Ford says the data modelling suggests he might have to stop his cross-province campaigning soon.

3. After the assault on the Capitol this week, the CPC finally pulls camou MAGA hats from online merch shop.
4. With pictures of the CPC's Deputy Leader wearing a camou MAGA hat circulating, Michelle Rempel expresses outrage that Candice Bergen getting more attention than she is.

5. UCP MLA Pat Rehn issues statement after return from Xmas trip to Mexico. Says he is sorry, but also very excellent.
6. Jason Kenney says he knows he's failed Albertans and that's why he moved up to the Sky Palace to help him see things from the everyday people's perspective.

7. Westjet insists Kenney government provide more notice of planned out-of-country travel next time so airline can be sure to have enough planes ready.
8. Blogger Karen Bexte travels to DC for insurrection, asks to speak to Canada's manager after he's asked to take a Covid test.

9. Trump says the crowd he got to attack the Capitol was far larger than any crowd Obama ever got to attack the Capitol. Huge crowd. Tremendous crowd of terrorists.
10. After being shut down on every major social media platform, Trump seen at Radio Shack haggling over a CB radio.

Thread on censorship

1) Twitter told us last night that the reason hundreds of thousands of people was removed

from the platform is because they have to confirm their phone number or email

Then those numbers would be represented in our follower count

https://t.co/Q4HqU5GtQa

For those who are asking: Twitter froze my account for 12 hours and penalized me with "a warning" because of my reporting on a religious organization (initials E.C.) who is behind the current anti-Pornhub campaign. (1/2)

If you google public record information on the leader of that campaign (initials L.M., a public figure) plus the words "Justice Defense Fund," you can take a guess as to why I was "reported."

Twitter punished me for literally doing my job.

Religious groups are already abusing the "reporting" system WITH SECTION 230 IN PLACE.

Imagine the future of journalism once Section 230 is repealed or reformed.

(Yes, I have receip†s.)

(No, I won't be using this platform as I have been. I've been "admonished" on the word of a religious lobby.)

OK heres a thread I should have done a LONG time ago

HOW TO GET BACK ON TWITTER WHEN U BEEN BANNED

101

here goes

Step 1

U cannot connect Ur last account to Ur new one

meaning NEW PHONE NUMBER, NEW EMAIL.

ALWAYS have a VPN.

keep going
👇👇👇👇👇

I dont fully know wtf a VPN really is either. LOL
BUT I know that the FIREFOX browser is the BEST because it has an AUTOMATIC VPN in it if U always use a PRIVATE BROWSING WINDOW.
@CEOofgenz taught me this firefox trick, as well as VK suggested it a lot.

keep going
👇👇👇👇👇

Once U exhaust Ur main phone # on ur banned acct

then U need to create a GOOGLE VOICE NUMBER for Ur new acct.

They will allow U to make a new account with only email, but shortly in they will require U give them a phone #.

USE GOOGLE VOICE, download the app, connect it.

You are allowed ONE google voice number PER cell phone U have. So that means TWO potential twitter accounts PER cell phone U have. Once u burn thru those two #'s U have to buy a new burner phone to make a new account with a new #.

Keep going 👇👇👇👇👇

For Ur new email, its easiest to set up a new email account on

protonmail

its extremely FAST and they dont require all the vindication nonsense that the [DS] big tech email people do.

Use it.

ALWAYS WRITE DOWN ALL UR NEW #'s and emails and passwords. Keep them organized.

I didn't drink alcohol for 2020 and now I want to talk about it in a long twitter thread that should probably just be a blog post, but here goes:

(I get into topics like alcohol abuse, mental illness, homphobia, and parental death, just fyi)

Some background first: every year I do some kind of restriction. Last year I only re-read books, another year I didn’t buy any clothes. My dad is catholic and even though I hate the religion, something about the ‘fasting’ elements of lent and advent stuck with me.

I enjoy cutting myself off from things to create space in unexpected places. It's where Innovation and creativity flourish. I did some of my best work for Momofuku Nishi, and @davidchang told me I had to create an Italian cocktail program, but nothing could come from Italy.

My family also loved wine and used connoisseurship to cast consumption in a virtuous light. Opening that 4th bottle of Chateauneuf-de-Pape was *educational*

My mom once yelled at a wine steward for not letting my then-17-year-old brother have a glass of wine with our dinner.

Wine is great though! Beer, spirits, etc. They’re all fascinating things to study on many levels. (Hello I wrote a whole cocktail book)

Plus, they’re fun to drink and usually taste delicious and accompanied most major rituals in my life: birthday, Christmas, weddings, funerals…

Twitter: "We've removed thousands of accounts linked to Qanon."

Conspiracy theory spreaders:

Happy 2021, everyone!

To kick off the new year right, here is a thread of people that I love to follow. Check them out and follow them if you can. If we follow each other and you want to be added, please let me know.

Love,
Rata

My friend @EduCelebrity has been doing a #YearInReview tweet thread (check it out), in which he relives some of his best tweets from 2020.

I’m opting to do a #YearInPreview thread where I predict what will happen over the next 12 months in education...here we go...

January:

Teachers come back to school (virtually or in-person) fired up and ready to implement some great new ideas and strategies as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

Mid-January:

All new ideas flamed out as teachers begin their summer countdown. #YearInPreview

February:

Valentine’s Day parties include students exchanging virtual cards with each other via their virtual Valentine’s Day boxes. Joey’s mom hires a professional web designer so Joey’s virtual box is the best in the class and puts pictures of it on Instagram. #YearInPreview

March:

Depressed that St. Patrick’s Day has been cancelled (again), teachers put Irish Cream in their morning Starbucks and get rewarded by admin for their creativity...just kidding, they get fired. #YearInPreview

April:

Test prep is in full swing. Teachers try to prepare students they’ve never actually met, and whom have never participated in online instruction for a test that doesn’t matter. Principal asks if she’s ever contacted the parents to which she replies with a middle finger.

#Twitter once again suspended our acct. Their targeted harrassment of us has never ended since day we began using 3 yrs ago under massive shadowban ever since 99% of the time. Once again they wrongly suspended us. We did a study on it to share & learn since they provide ZERO info

2/
We strongly invite @twittersupport to enter a deep dive discussion on this since they provide ZERO support, NEVER answer questions in over 100+ tweets we sent them, 8 appeals letters ignored & months & months of unlawful arbitrary suspensions without cause EVER mentioned.

3/
We have NO IDEA what they suspended us for here & of course their TOS says nothing about it nor could anyone EVER possibly discern what they could possibly be complaining about. Their TOS ALSO protects our Freedom Of Expression in the EXACT WAY we spoke the tweet under #18.

4/
Since Twitter's Dorsey has been COMPLETELY CLEAR that it is not the position of twitter to answer appeals but for ppl to languish in suspension unless they delete the tweet, & 37+ day suspensions when waiting are common & to be expected otherwise according to Dorsey on TV, Del

5/
This explanation in DETAIL is what is needed by Twitter on their website but they have REFUSED to EVER do this. They should do it for EVERY CASE have some commentary section for explanations so people can learn but they deliberately choose against this. Why? it seems obvious

Happy new year!

Long thread.
Someone in or behind twitter gave me a "this account violated the twitter rules..." supposedly for this reply (image 1 at bottom of thread). I appealed with "A question is hate?" They upheld their decision with: "Our support team has

determined that a violation did take place, and therefore we will not overturn our decision."

To proceed I deleted / removed the reply as prompted and was informed of a temporary limit of tweets, replies, likes, etc. for 6 hours (image 2). I could still access twitter and

see content. To test the restriction, i clicked the like button on a tweet and then was immediately greeted with the limit page but it increased 11 hours (image 3). After that i was then unable to browse twitter content and was met with the same "we've limited your

account" message every time i re-loaded it or clicked "continue to twitter" (image 4, @ 1am est)

In my experience, when a construct like a clique, fraternity, employer, or another attempts to elicit an emotional reaction or accept some aimless quest to divine the actual

cause or just toil in fear of a whipping for an unkwon reason at some unkown time, it's time to look elsewhere to maintain interest as who knows when, why, what, and how it will impose next. And that experience tells me accepting such nonsense terms brings more nonsense.

What I've learnt on the Twitter this year:

1. The State of Hawaii makes Jason Kenney honorary Premier.
2. Rod Phillips and John Tory say Rod nodded off on a TTC streetcar and somehow ended up in St Barts.
3. New Conservative Task Force created to locate their MPs and staff.

4. Michelle Rempel says, because some other Conservative politicians did the wrong thing, now she can't do the wrong thing, because the media will report she did the wrong thing, and that's wrong for the media to do. That's it. That's the funny part.

5. Mike Harris awarded the Order of Ontario, which basically makes the whole thing an attendance award.
6. Doug Ford announces that a large order of McDonald's fries and a box of Philadelphia Cream Cheese will also be awarded the Order of Ontario this year.

7. UCP MLA Tracy Allard says she left the country and flew to Hawaii because her family can't celebrate Christmas properly without eggnog served in genuine coconuts.
8. UCP MLA Jeremy Nixon says he only travelled to Hawaii to personally forward a really funny email joke to Allard

9. After appearing more than an hour late for the press conference he'd called, Jason Kenney says Alberta's vaccination rates are low because Trudeau screwed up and delivered the vaccines early. That's it. That's the funny part.
10. Doug Ford sent Jason Kenney a Thank You card.