Four years ago, I started saving the best of the incredibly bizarre, stupid and bad vibes photos being rapidly produced by the Trump administration to cathartically post today. Here is my Surreal Trump Photo Dump

Hell Dinner

these are in vaguely chronological order, most are of trump, but some are of other related weirdness. It's been played to death, but this was definitely a tone-setter

Another early banger, a sensible oil of this should be his white house portrait

probably the GOAT, my mind still reels when I think about seeing the ORB for the first time

Evangelicals, America, and their utter disgrace (Cracks Knuckles) A THREAD.

Now that Evangelicals have lost their most important political figure since, well Ronald Reagan (we may dispute on this but I'm going with Reagan) What Now? How should we write about them?

First off, let me state the obvious. Evangelicals supported a white supremacist president because they support White Supremacy. The theologies and practices are racist, and while you may say not all evangelicals are racists.....

I spent a year writing about about Evangelical Racism from the 19th to the 20th century. Let me assure you, this is not the History that NOLL, MARSDEN, KIDD or any of the rest of the old guard who created that history wanted to admit.,

Evangelicals have started the long tap dance to try to dance away from Donald Trump, their lord and Savior. Yep. Exhibit A, David Brooks article in the NYT yesterday

After voting in 2008, sat in my car and sobbed because I had the opportunity to vote for someone who looked like me.

Me, the granddaughter of folks who survived Jim Crow, who paid poll taxes in order to vote, who made the decision to send my mother to integrate her HS.

I thought about my grandmothers, who were living at the time and how stunned they were that this option would be available in *their* lifetimes.

I thought about the work I do and how it contributes to a larger ecosystem of work that led to that moment.

I sobbed. It was joy, sadness, pride, worry, indebtedness to the ancestors...It was more than a moment.

I sobbed again at both of the subsequent Obama inaugurations because #representationmatters.

To see my country respond with Trump was a stark reminder that many in the country expect BIPOC folks to mind our social status as less than. The last 4 years has been painful to watch for many of us--certainly not all--but it has been devastating...#400Klost

Last fall, I helped my own daughter complete her voting ballot that included a Black/SE Asian woman on the top ticket. Yep, I sobbed, because I imagine that I felt a little of what my parents & grands felt in 2008. That sense of inclusion, of being seen, of being valued.

1. Another batch of submissions to the @Commonswomequ GRA inquiry have been published, including our own. We will link to some of the most interesting in this thread.

https://t.co/w0TAYjMCOn
"We recommend the removal of the term ‘gender’ when they actually mean ‘sex’...

2. from all official documents, and a public information campaign to do the same across the whole of the UK."

"We recommend anyone issued with a GRC is told very clearly that their sex has not changed, and they are not entitled to the rights of the opposite sex."

3. From a @MerchedCymru woman:
"I know of one school in Cardiff where the School, despite complaints to the School and Governors, have deliberately replaced single-sex provision with mixed-sex provision........done in the name of

4. Very interesting from Judge Paula Gray, the President of the GenderRecognition Panel:
"Panel induction training included talks by trans people, and we were addressed on the background to the...Act through an academic approach by Prof. Steven Whittle.

5. From @AnnMSinnott at the AEA:

"The law is clear but the same cannot be said for guidance on EA2010 from the EHRC nor from the GEO."
(Ms Sinnott is seeking judicial review of this guidance, see her profile for

For all of you think sampling, is stealing....

Let’s visit first, literature...

The ILLIAD and The ODYSSEY, two works that samples from each other. A ton of 18th and 19th century literature takes the sample liberty, taking earlier works, to create new works, time after time, century after century.....even to the point that our movies are all, samples

Samples and bits and pieces of earlier works. Ray Charles...”I Got A Woman”, was a complete take from a song recorded in the 1920s...a “loop” if you will. Thousands of COLLAGES hanging in thousands of museums across the globe, are made from different mediums...

Even if you are a student, sitting in a classroom, studying to become a teacher OR producer, or a player that becomes a coach, a vast portion of your ideology, your thought process, and your instruction is derived from “loop”, that you were taught, but reformed.

Reformed, or texts and content explicated, to introduce that information to a new generation....it’s called “repetition with a difference”....

1/ Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin at Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing:

"Globally I understand that Asia must be the focus of our effort and I see China in particular as a pacing challenge for the Department"

2/ SecDef nominee Lloyd Austin on advance policy Qs

"Globally...most significant challenge I will face will be to ensure DOD's contd efforts to prepare & strengthen the US military for a dynamic, future security landscape driven by accelerating competitions w China & w Russia.."

3/ SecDef nominee Austin in written answers says strategic competition w/ China & Russia primary challenges but "because of its ascent and the scope and scale of its military modernization, China is the top priority"

4/ SecDef nominee Austin in written answers on his assessment of the military threat posed by China...

5/ SecDef nominee Austin on whether the NDS needs to be revised notes: "For example, the pace of China’s military modernization, its increasingly aggressive actions in the INDO-PACIFIC and its ability to threaten the US Homeland are concerning and must be continually reexamined"

1/ Who are the investors in GBTC?

Why is there a premium?

And what is the sweet trade they’re taking advantage of?

A thread 🧵

2/ Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust made headlines again with their record 1-day addition of 16,244 Bitcoin, adding to their stack of over 630,000 Bitcoin and an AUM of ~$23B. Evidently business is good...So who are their investors? And is GBTC’s premium an incentive or disincentive?

3/ What is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)?Grayscale owns BTC in the trust & investors buy shares to represent a # of BTC. There’s a 2%/yr fee+a “premium.”The premium is the diff. btwn underlying BTC value(Native Asset Value or “NAV”)vs. mkt price of holdings(what shares cost)

4/ There are 2 layers of investors. There are the base layer investors - accredited investors selected to buy into the private placement of the fund at the “NAV” price aka the price of the underlying BTC value

5/ They can send USD or Bitcoin and receive a # of shares equivalent to the BTC value (0.00094919 BTC/share). One catch is its 1 way - Once you put BTC into the trust, it can’t be redeemed. Investors can sell their shares, but the BTC will remain in the trust and off the market

"The MAD Primer of Bigots, Extremists and Other Loose Ends," from September 1969.

Seen a couple of these panels make the rounds from time to time, so here's the complete set of 10 (something to amuse and/or offend almost everyone).

Chapter 1: The Super Patriot

Chapter 2: The Ku Klux Klansman

Chapter 3: The American Student

Chapter 4: The Right-Wing Extremist

A Thread: The Law of One

The Law of One comes from the Ra Material, a series of conversations between Don Elkins, a physicist, pilot, and UFO investigator, and Ra, a multidimensional being who spoke through Carla Rueckert, a psychic, medium, and Don Elkins’ life partner. It was channeled in the 1980s.

The Trump Team lawsuits demonstrate perfectly why laches in the election context is not just a “procedural technicality” about when to bring suit.

This is premature, but I want to walk you though why some of the charges coming through are incredible significant. This is one of the recently unsealed complaints.

1512(b) is a very, very strong crime. Section 1512 is about obstruction of the administration of justice. The statute is supposedly about disrupting court proceedings, but it's broader. The way it's written, Congressional Proceedings count.

The statutory maximum for a single violation of 1512(b) is 20 years in prison. That's a lot. Most related federal crimes—231 civil disorder, 2101 riots—are only 5 years on the top end.

But that's not all.

See, federal sentencing is done via a complicated formula that computes sentencing guidelines.

Sentencing guidelines are based on the statute, the elements of the criminal offense, and the defendant's criminal history. It also factors in things like if the defendant takes responsibility, and takes a plea deal, etc.

an amazing thread of my favorite writers

; my bub i love you sm and your work is amazing! i always say this but your writing makes it feel realistic and a feel of emotion that amazes me. you are an amazing writer and inspiring (inspired me) please teach me your ways legend🤧

; ana bby, you are amazing! i was just a reader loving your work and how amazing you write and you are one of the many writers that inspired me to write and give it try! ily💗

; you are amazing and don’t let people tell you otherwise. i love your work you are so precious and you are a babie🤍

; i love your writing, your ideas are so amazing💗💗!

Last day of the Donald Trump presidency. Let's see where we're at on those 2016 campaign promises!

1. "I will build a great wall, and Mexico will pay for it!"
Only 80 miles of new wall was built where there was none before. Mexico didn't pay for it... you did.

2. "If I become president, we're all going to be saying 'Merry Christmas' again."
...

3. "I'll eliminate 'Department of Environment Protection' (EPA)"

He did cut the budget, but the EPA is still alive and well. In fact, he felt the EPA was necessary enough to look into his claim of “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once."
No, really.

4. Heavily surveil and close some mosques in the US, and create database of Syrian refugees.

Good news! No mosques were closed on government order.
But if you really think mosques weren't being surveilled before, or that Feds didn't already have refugees in a database...

As the confirmation hearing for retired Gen. #LloydAustin gets underway, here's a roundup of what should be covered and what he will face as defense secretary.

"Does Austin still see himself as an apolitical actor removed from the politics of policymaking, or does he believe that accepting a Cabinet nomination places him squarely in the political realm?" -- @jblankshain

"At Austin’s hearing it will not be enough to accept the tired statements of ‘this is not who we are’ or that ‘the military has zero tolerance’ on issues of gender discrimination, but to pinpoint exactly how he proposes to bring real change to the military." -- @Jason_K_Dempsey

"What is your view on whether the power to decide who is prosecuted for what under the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be transferred from nonlawyer commanders to uniformed lawyers independent of the chain of command?" -- @globalmjreform

"The new SecDef will have to meaningfully re-center character as a requirement for military service: the need for all service members to work respectfully and effectively with their teammates regardless of race, gender, or religion." -- @suefulton

Society often assumes that good support will be available to childhood abuse survivors if they reach out for help & “talk to someone”. You assume this because you know it’s what we deserve, at the very basic level. But I’m here to tell you tonight that we do NOT get this support.

Most of us (especially women) just get a diagnosis of BPD/EUPD, which opens us up to stigma and abuse from the services who are supposed to help us. We are told constantly ON A LOOP that our behaviour needs to change and that we need to build resilience and “do better” at coping.

We are shamed into thinking that we’re not coping with the aftermath of abuse in the same way other survivors do, and that this is our own fault. We are silenced by the very people who Society assumes will help give us our voice back. We are abused and gaslighted all over again.

Hardly any of us get offered trauma therapy, and those who do are only offered time limited therapy. A therapy so short in time, that survivors often have to bend over backwards to “prove” that we are ready for it.

Voluntary services are often recommended to abuse survivors as suitable alternatives to NHS MH services, but pretty much all of them are closed to new referrals for therapy because their waiting lists are huge. There are even waiting lists to get on to the actual waiting list.

For those with friends or family in QAnon, tomorrow will be quite a day.

The Inauguration is going to plunge many Q believers into doubt and dismay.

The most committed will simply double down, but others will want a way out.

If you're able, give them an off-ramp. No mocking.

We just got off the call between @polina_marinova and @jackbutcher during @visualizevalue office hours.

These are 9 incredibly useful mental frameworks discussed during the conversation.

// A Thread 👇 //

Framework for your work:

You never know who's reading, you never know who's watching.

Do quality work, all the time.

Framework for working on first principles:

Ask "Why?" until you get a valid answer.

"It has always been done this way" is not a valid one.

Framework for writing:

Have empathy for your reader.

Always write for the benefit of them, not your ego.

Framework for editing:

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Does this makes a point?
2. Does need this to be here?
3. Does this benefit the reader?

✨ Today, I started my ８ＴＨ ＹＥＡＲ working full-time in #Bitcoin.

I've been a journalist, I've worked at a global exchange and I've spent thousands of hours down the rabbit hole.

If you're just starting out, here are the lessons I'd pass along 🧵