When we think about culpability for the events of Jan 6, who to blame, and how to move forward, there are parallels to be found in the torture era in the "war on terror." And there are so many mistakes from that era that we might usefully consider today.

Obviously there are significant differences in substance, and I am not seeking to draw some specific parallel between the actors themselves, only how we approach accountability at the top and at the bottom.

During the United States' torture era, for lack of a better phrase, we had, as here, elite and highly trained lawyers, public figures, and government officials condoning, legally justifying, and calling for--in that case ordering--certain actions.

The Office of Legal Counsel within the Justice Department issued memoranda, seeking to justify the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques," in an effort to legally sanction the mistreatment of detainees and provide legal cover for those carrying it

The truth is that despite these elite lawyers' willingness to turn the law into a pretzel to justify this mistreatment, it was unlawful. It was torture. And it was a war crime.

I have a dream that one day, a leader of the world will wake up and say all the things that are logical and heal us. Since they seem to be useless, I have written the speech for them. Please retweet it if you like it: 1)

2) "Society has been in the grip of a bad disease for a long time but we must look forward. We must understand the situation in its entirety and adopt new measures based on a realistic view. One year ago, we locked down entire countries because a new, scary, invisible enemy had..

3) presented itself. We didn’t really know how to react so we were really cautious and assumed that by creating minimal exposure to each other, we could protect you.
Today, we have so much information that it is possible for us to start living our lives in an almost normal way...

4) We now know that after the terrible first wave, the virus had a weaker effect when it came back because of medical advances and some immunity. We now know that while our lockdown initially was the right thing to do, it was mainly summer that defeated the virus last year.

5) It is a very strongly seasonal virus that is triggered at certain points of the year, twice, and each wave lasts about 3 weeks.
We now know exactly which age groups and types of patients are in real danger from this virus, and we know what parts of society we can make normal..

It strikes me that much of the anti-CRT pieces that charge Black Christians with being CRT proponents go to great lengths to root CRT in European philosophical streams of thought. This despite actual proponents rooting their thoughts elsewhere in the Black intellectual trad.
/1

So one has to ask the question: Why this tendency? Why press a movement often self-consciously located in one tradition into a tradition it sees as foreign to its thinking?

I'm sure there are many answers. But one answer seems to me to be it's an attempt to control the debate./2

A lot of the historical and philosophical excursus, insofar as it overlooks what the actual proponents claim, is simply another effort at colonizing thought, of insisting on a certain philosophical priority, and of demeaning the constructive thoughts of a group being rejected.
/3

This is partly why so little progress is made or can be hoped for in these discussions. The critics aren't willing to take justice proponents at their word and engage their actual arguments and tradition.

/4

Some need to "other" justice advocates both by (a) alienating the advocate from their own philosophical and theological resources and (b) positioning them within rejected and anathematized streams of thought in western society. It's a double-alienation that rigs the convo.

/5

Woo. Indemand have delivered again.

Do I wait two weeks to open it for my birthday, or just open it now? Decisions, decisions...

I do have other robots coming...

I kind of needed a pick me up, as yesterday was a pretty bad brain day. Plus I've got the Dominus set arriving on the 9th

Ratchet's gun was a pain to get out.
Let's look at Optimus.
He is so delightfully devilish. His purple and dark blue work exceptionally well. I kind of prefer it over the original botcon toy, partially because I don't own that due it's price, partially due to the use of the

Earthrise mold to deliver a more G1SG Optimus. It very much feels like a counterpart to G1 Optimus, as opposed to the general opposite-ness we got with 2008 Shattered Glass. I enjoy that.

He comes with a matrix that looks like it glows, but it's due to only being painted on the

Someone recently said of the American right that its Gramscian phase had come to an end and now it was in its Sorelian phase, meaning it no longer sought hegemony over institutions but was now animated by myths and the belief in redemptive acts of violence 1/

Just finished listening to Matt Stoller's Goliath, a political and intellectual history of the anti-monopoly movement over the last ~100 years. It gave me a better understanding of the intellectual history of 20th Century anti-monopoly thinking.

In particular, Stoller draws a distinction I hadn't thought very much about previously: between liberals who favor leaving monopolies in place and regulating them strictly vs. those who oppose bigness as such.

As Stoller tells it, New Dealers erected a complicated legal system designed to tilt the playing field in favor of small companies.

For example, there were laws against discounting to prevent big retailers from using their market power to win lower prices from suppliers and undercutting small retailers. A law capped deposit interest rates to prevent big banks from outbidding small banks for deposits.

Stoller situates Teddy Roosevelt, JK Galbraith, and Ralph Nader in the camp of liberals who (mostly) favored regulating monopolies instead of breaking them up. Also Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and most modern Democratic leaders.

Everybody knows the old adage “Son, this is gonna hurt me more than it’s gonna you.” Let me explain something to you people who feel the sadistic need to provoke me so that you can talk about my so called “anger issues” or anything else that you think you can find to...

“Constructively criticize” me about. Do I have your “attention” now?😊

When somebody takes a “certain type” of “shot” at “me” no matter how “subtle” you think you are “clever” enough to be, you aren’t just taking a “shot” at “me.” I’m just the one who is responsible for appropriately responding to it and/or appropriately handling it and the way...

in which I handle it can say good things about me or it can say bad things about me. There are certain people who have been on this planet for quite some time now and have “NEVER” been held “accountable” for their actions! Some of them may even be capable of being “arrogant”...

Enough to think that just because something happened maybe 8 or 10 years ago or however long ago and I haven’t mentioned it since and may have even “forgiven” them for it, it must mean that either A)I “forgot about it” or B) they are “delusional” enough to think that I....

Taoiseach singles out the finding that mother and baby homes had significantly higher mortality rates than broader society

He also singles out Catherine Corless for the work she did on researching the burial records of Tuam which prompted this State inquiry

Taoiseach says he will issue the State apology in Dáil Éireann tomorrow

Roderic O'Gorman says the report reflects a society which was "stifling, oppressive and deeply misogynistic"

O'Gorman: Every person who spoke out led us to the truth that we see today… this is an extraordinary moment for those for whom this is not history, but everyday living pain

O'Gorman: Legislation allowing dignified excavation of Tuam, and testing on remains, will be passed this year

Quick thread on why I think EDM will finish better than most models and pundits predict
1) Pundits underestimate how much playing with “meh” players can drag down even the best in the league. McDavid having “meh” help from Jan 1 on effected his results until Nuge got there (1/

Nuge w/ 97 to start will be huge for 97
2) McDavid was on a rehabbed knee all year and looked slower/tired by the last couple months. Fresh and healthy this year
3) Drai having his own line with reasonably good player in Yamamoto and Kahun gives EDM a good 2nd line. (2/

4) I project 97’s line at 55% GF and Drais at 52% GF. There ‘s ~32 5v5 minutes per game won
5) Turris wasn’t good last 2 years in NSH, but I can’t come up with any way of seeing him replicate Sheahan’s 31%(!!!!) GF% last year. JP could be good help there (3/

Turris' line penciled in at 45% GF

6) Wingers like Ennis, Neal and Chiasson will be fine if not above their level and penciled in on 4th line, they’ll be good. I got the 4th line being close to 50% GF (4/

7) EDM won’t miss Klefbom as much as feared. Jones looks like the real deal. Klef’s Achilles’ heel has been defensive and I don’t think Jones is a down grade there much if at all with quicker feet. (5/

1/n

I am working on a paper on why interest rates and yields are as low as they are. I will share some preliminary results here.

2/n

What I will share are some of the output from a simple model for US 10-year Treasury bond yields.

3/n

It is key to me that the model not only is statistically significantly, but is also economically significant. We need to understand economic developments within economic theory.

4/n

I have estimated a model for the US 10-year bond yield based on the following fundamental variables.

5/n

1) Nominal GDP growth (per capita).

Thread: Going through my TL, pulling out relevant tweets that show facets of things that have been happening in the past weeks/months, trying to use pattern recognition to put together a coherent picture, I'm struck by our cultivated allergy to nuance. (1/x)

the new tabletop simulator update.... oh no

hey @BerserkGames, please hire freelance translators instead of doing whatever the fuck you're doing

oh god

mais je gueule

press V to pâte

@ukcynic01 Yes, you are right on the number.... they, including Regeneron, pay this Murray guy now for instance to make sure not to utter a word about niacin

https://t.co/d58DAM88q1