BC BOOK
Saved by @Alex1Powell

1. Yes, @FareedZakaria's new book, Ten lessons From a Post-Pandemic World argues we don't need a big or small gov- we need a GOOD one.

We don't have that now & that is bc for decades now, the GOP has intentionally hallowed it out. Stripping it of funding under the auspice that

 2. the only goal should be small. And as it turns out- that was stupid. And now we have a dysfunctional, as @maddow says, "big, bad" gov. Something that has been "wasted, and rotted and ruined." And its been intentional. Its been murdered, with no thought for how people would
3. suffer for it. COVID just put that suffering in a streamlined spotlight. But as @FareedZakaria points out- its the cherry on top of a 40 year plan that Bannon termed the final "deconstruction of the administrative state." As with the decimation of the economic tools that had
4. allowed the world's 1st middle class to emerge & flourish before The Great Lie ushered in the greatest wealth transfer in history. Not only were Americans bamboozled into voting away their wage increases, their pensions, & their health care (at least till 2010)- they were also
5. tricked into pissing away their country's superiority- its claim to fame, its ability to puff its chest out & say "look over here, we have the best _____. " I had no idea when I was a kid that we were not, in fact, the greatest country on Earth- at least not if you care about
6. actually BEING the greatest country on Earth for realz- and not just saying you are. Like college football. IDK- it matters to me. I want the Ducks to be #1 somewhere other than in their own heads. I mean, don't get me wrong- we've got categories! We're #1 in national defense,
7. & w all the damage the Republican Party has done to our NATO alliances w their elevation of an unqualified and legit crazy reality show criminal as their party's nominee in 2016 certainly cost us a lot in our global standings, so its a damn good thing that we've consistently
8. invested ludicrous amounts of money on national defense bc if the D Party can't fix what the Rep Party has done to America's image & standing abroad, we'll need it! We are also #1 in plastic surgery. But all the shit we USED to be #1 in- all the stuff that FDR & the Democrat's
9. New Deal that was created to fix the 1920s Rep Party's f'up that caused the Great Depression (I'm sensing a pattern here!)- that stuff we were kicking ass internationally on, for a nice long time. We had the best K-12 system & the best higher ed system. But bc of ideology
10. bc of this whole hang up about local control and schools, we blew that. We now have one of the worst K-12 systems in the world, guaranteed to suck bc its financed via property tax which is a system that perpetuates inequality and poverty. But our higher ed system has survived
11. #1- primarily bc we can milk int'l students to offset our costs. I should add- this is a small subset of schools, the broader system in the US is struggling & do you know why? Yep, bc the Rep Party has come for it too! Over the past few decades, the funding for colleges & uni
12. which used to be covered by states has been getting cut and with each cut, tuition and fees must rise!) and in state's defense these cuts, well maybe not in some Red states where starving government & public entities is part of the fun, these cuts have been necessary bc of
13. budget pressure & the rule that state's must balance out their sheets every year- no deficit spending at the state level! So FYI: we are expected to lose about 1/2 of the current colleges & universities we now have over the course of the next decade (I believe decade). Not
14. sure we'll maintain that #1 in the world status after that! And healthcare! We're not even in the top 50 in healthcare. Or retirement. Or things of that nature. In the U.S. life expectancy is lower than in western Europe, Canada, & Australia. The infant mortality rate
15. is higher. We're declining in these metrics even as some of our peer democracies rise. And the thing you should know, that you should understand, that we hope to make Americans see, to understand, is that this, for some reason, has all been by design. The product of specific
16. choices, policies, politicians, think tanks, & one political party that up to now has been able to operate w impunity.

A party that is no longer just a danger to itself- its a danger to us all.

A party that was, if presented w a narrow victory & a workable pathway to
17. disqualify tens of thousands of Democratic voter ballots, perfectly happy to do so to reverse engineer a 2nd Trump term & a presidency. That plan thwarted by the size of Biden's margin of victory. Too big to pull it off discreetly.
Of course 2 mins after I post this, @RBReich's got a new book that will tell you the full story of how the GOP killed the American middle class. Serendipitous!

https://t.co/JW0CpKD8KE

More from Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer 📈🔭🍌

Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. Yes, as @danielsgoldman is talking about now on @MSNBC is playing a big part. Rep Senator reluctance to go after Trump is MUCH MORE now than mere political reluctance. And frankly Trump made these threats openly known. Yet, he had his "lists" for primaries. But there is much

2. more going on here, that I'll touch on in the article which will also include the survey results ( there is STILL TIME to get involved w the survey. It is on extremism in the GOP- focused on MTW, GA-14 but also GOP extremism broadly. Ultimately, I waited to field it until

3. after the impeachment trial bc the survey wasn't really meant to test that (trust me, the big org will cover it!) and bc I was afraid it would impact what we are trying to measure. So now its time to get this puppy in the field. UNLESS, y'all care to asses some of this stuff

4. Impeachment may or may not impact attitudes on MTG and tribalism. Lord knows it had so many elements of extremism that times in. In order to add anything I'd gave to raise more money. 10K is not enough- survey research, the kids you see in wapo and nyt and such are like 30K

5. Some quotes I get are even for 50k!!! For 10K, with me doing analysis, we'd get to ask 5 or 6 questions and the most critical demos. (If you are reading this and willing to add your won pro-bono work to mine PLEASE DM me. This isn't some silly horse race poll. The goal is to
TRUMP
Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. When I hear @clairecmc talk about Dems learning to talk to the Piggly Wiggly crowd, I hope she'll want to join/help w my moderate messaging electioneering overall for Ds effort. BC its CRUCIAL to understand- Ds & outside groups tried already to cater to these voters on the

2. persuasion. That in fact, this cycle was the product of a very concerted effort of that strategy driven by high profile data firms on the D side (many of which who've been critical of my work) & it was a complete and total failure for 2 reasons. The main 1 is that it wants

3. to ignore the effect that polarization is having on voter behavior & the limitations that is placing on certain electioneering techniques that USED TO BE EFFECTIVE and are now not. I want to make something really clear- it is only in places where at least 1 element of the D's

4. operation "went rogue" that Biden pulled out wins: GA, where Abrams made electioneering about turning out the new coalition, AZ, where the AZ state party did the same, but with Latino voters, MI & WI where the state parties put into effect base-centric voter turnout strategies

5. at odds w the party's conventional playbook to focus on turnout, and/or places where concentrations of the D's new coalition: college-educated whites + minority voters (and young voters) are so high (like NE 2) that sub-par strategy doesn't matter, turnout surges are naturally
POLITICS
Advertisement
Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. Been excited about @JoeNBC's sustained convo today about @KBAndersen's new book Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America which explains how the Republican Party radicalized OVER ECONOMICS over the past 30 years. It was launched w the radical tax cuts in Reagan's presidency, but

2. as the GOP evolved through the 90s & 2000s they became dogmatic about their economic philosophy- until it became a radical litmus test/position the party followed even when conditions screamed for different policy. It was a MIRACLE the party acted to stabilize the economy at

3. at the end of 2008 when it was crashing down around us (though they just barely did & some didn't and that's bc it was before the Great Purges of 2010,2012, & 2014). America doesn't know the hit job the GOP did on the American economy as they dogmatically pursued tax cuts to

4. the exclusion of everything else while denying any policy that could grow wages or improve the economic lives of the bottom 80% aside from the 2 or 3 times Ds managed to squeeze through policy while in charge (minimum wage increase in 2007-which was the 1st time in a decade

5. and now, of course, its been another decade. It's actually a miracle wages (all wages bc when the min wage is artificially low it affects all the wages above it, that's how you end up w $10 per hr EMTs & teachers) aren't even more out of wack w inflation. As @JoeNBC points out
ECONOMY
Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. Yes, removing @DebHaalandNM from NM CD 1 intros risk on losing the seat, but maybe less now that I am connecting w @RepSeanMaloney.

The GOP will start w descriptive representation on this one. In other words, they will seek to run a Native American. If there IS a Republican

2. American active in politics that resides (or can be said to reside!) in CD 1, they will run that person. This is bc the GOP is esp good at the "biography" end of politics in these specials- IE: Mike Garcia in CA 25.

Ds *think* they're good too. But they're not! All D's needed

3. in CA 25's special election to ensure they held that seat was a qualified Latino nominee who passably personable. They literally GAVE that seat away under this myth that it would be too hard to beat Garcia when the whole election was a story of % R ballots relative to % D

4. ballots- as we ALL watched in the special election. And even with a candidate people told me was "flawed", "a mess" or even "crazy" Ds lost the damn seat again, sealed the loss in the fall general by 333 votes! If that doesn't hurt YJEM, it hurts ME. Makes me want to PUKE!!


5. And although white people, and most particularly white men, who are, in most cases, still in the positions that make the decisions for these things and THUS leave their orgs vulnerable to blind spots that they themselves have huge incentives to not get stuck on, bc like all
ALL
Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
Yes, actually that's kind of the problem these days.

All the 🔥takes will be shown to be wrong once the voter file data & analysis like this one w the FULL RESULTS get done, which is why I'VE NOT PUBLISHED MY 🔥TAKE IN NYT yet

We'll have to decide if we want it fast, or right


There is ONE STORY in elections right now and its education. Its not rural vs urban, or Black and White, Latino and White

Its educated versus non-educated

And its global

1. I'll add that it's very imp that Ds understand, crystal clear, this fact (that edu is the divide that rules all other divides). After Parscale's success in 2020 the GOP will now double down on their efforts to come after non-college educated, non-white voters bc now they KNOW

2. they're gettable. The 2018 and 2020 cycle were "feelers." No doubt donors and strategists were skeptical. Now they have the analytic proof and the $ will be flowing. This is one reason that I decided that I had to get into electioneering myself. Someone is going to need to be

3. there talking to these voters from the Left (and talking to them with effective messaging- for ex they don't give two shits about insider trading corruption) or you'll see even more erosion in the D's vote share among non-college educated non-white voters, I'm sure of it. Its
POLITICS

More from Book

Beth Moore
Beth Moore
@BethMooreLPM
You know the old adage, “It’ll probably get worse before it gets better”? Oh, and this one: “It’s always darkest before the dawn” and, meanwhile, that coal-black night seems to go on for eons? Exodus 5 in my morning reading. If you didn’t know God was faithful, you might think

He liked getting you into trouble. Moses has returned to Egypt. Aaron’s reintroduced the former prince to the Israelite elders. Told them God has seen their misery. Moses performed a few signs. They’re bought in and bowed low in worship by the end of Exodus 4. Then Moses & Aaron

go to Pharaoh with the Lord’s message: “Let my people go.”
No. “Please.” Nope. Can’t lose my labor force. So Pharaoh commands overseers to drastically increase the Israelites’ workload without changing their daily quota. When they can’t fill it, the Israelite foremen are beaten.

The Israelite foremen go to Pharaoh & cry out for help. He says, “You are nothing but slackers! Now get to work!” So they do what you know they are going to do and do not blame them for doing and know you would do it, too. They go to Moses and Aaron. “What have you done to us?!?”

Moses then goes to the Lord. “What have you done to them??And why did you ever send me?? Nothing but trouble has happened since we did what you said. “AND,” Moses cries, “You haven’t rescued your people at all!”

It’ll be that way sometimes. It’ll get worse before it gets better.
BOOK
Adey
Adey
@MvObserver
I am reading and reviewing books of @SamHarrisOrg this December, with the extra time available after work. First book I read is following.


The book is written by the neo-atheist Sam Harris. I am a passionate sunni Muslim. I would like to learn and review some of his work, and judge them from my personal view based on Islamic theological perspective. It shall be interesting because as you would know, the neo-athiests

want to abolish religions altogether and suggest a world where things are based on science and logic. How is that coherent and how is it relavent? Let's see for ourselves. I would like to thank the local Muslim handles and atheist handles who actively participate in discussions.

I would advice everyone to stick to a more academic discussions and not to deviate the discussion with mockery of Islamic and atheistic beliefs.

This book talks about lying and it's ill effects on the individuals and at large on the society. In a nutshell here are some of the gists of the book. The book basically identified specific ways in which lying is detrimental and why we should avoid lying.
BOOK , MORALITY
Advertisement
Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
@bethsawin
I am reading seed catalogs in the morning sun. A thread. 🌻🥦🌽🍅🍆🥔🥒

Seed catalogs are good reading my friends. The best ones are little glimpse into possibilities emerging. Of course there's the possibility of your amazing next season garden. But also the possibility of change in the world.

Especially this is true for the companies with social missions, like worker-owned Johnny's or FEDCO. Both are more than 40 years old, part of the organic movement, the local food movement, and trusted providers of good seed and good advice in the northeast US.

Seed catalogs can be a connection to the past and to the future, especially the ones, like my favorites, that also encourage seed saving by offering open pollinated varieties, and tell the stories of some seeds origins.

They also reflect what's changing in the society. And there's a lot that is inspiring in my morning reading even before you get to the luscious tomatoes or the bright green peas and all the promises of the next growing season.
BOOK
frankie\u2694\ufe0f\ufe0fthese violent delights hangover
frankie⚔️️these violen...
@viciousdelights
MY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK RELEASES OF 2021, A THREAD

(mostly by BIPOC and LGBT authors. you know the drill 😉)

1. WINTER'S ORBIT BY EVERINA MAXWELL

I got an ARC of this and have been yelling about it nonstop. A slow, soft, and utterly romantic space opera with an m/m arranged marriage? Reads like a fanfic? Focus on relationships and court politics over spaceship battles? PREORDER NOW!!


2. WE FREE THE STARS BY HAFSAH FAIZAL

This is the sequel and conclusion to WE HUNT THE FLAME, a YA Arabian fantasy. If you like tortured dark princes, headstrong huntresses, and epic worldbuilding... this is for you.


3. THE OBSESSION BY JESSE SUTANTO

Filipina author? Girl going after her stalker? GIVE IT TO ME


4. THE GILDED ONES BY NAMINA FORNA

My friend got an ARC of this and absolutely loved it. Dark, dark YA African fantasy. A heroine fighting to free herself from a patriarchal society. So hyped.
BOOK
Carlos E. Perez
Carlos E. Perez
@IntuitMachine
A children's book written in 1954 inspired by Wiener's Cybernetics that explains some common day analog systems:

Analog computation originally meant the construction of a simulation of another system by means of a mechanical or electrical system that represented the same dynamics as the physical system. That is an analog of what's being simulated.

Nobert Wiener generalized this idea in Cybernetics to describe control systems that through negative feedback promoted stability.

W.Ross Ashby argued that negative feedback was insufficient for maintaining the stability (homeostasis) of complex system. Ashby proposed the Law of Requisite Variety.

These machines that 'seem to think' are examples of what was known as analog computation. Cybernetics, control theory, biology are examples of analog computation. But what does this mean other than being the opposite of discrete/digital computation?
BOOK

You May Also Like

Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Velimalai Kumaraswamy Kshetram
Kumarakovil, #Kanyakumari
#Tamilnadutemples 🚩

Velimalai Kumaraswamy Temple is a Murugan temple located in Kanyakumari District of Tamilnadu.

Muruga faces east and is said to be facing Sthanumalayan (Paramashiva) of Suchindram. Muruga is of


eight feet vigraham and Valli thayar is six feet tall. Eventhough Thiruthani is believed to be the place where Subrahmanya married Valli, it is also believed that Valli’s thayar's marriage took place with Murugan here.

There is a Kalyana Vinayakar sannidhi
who helped Muruga's


marriage with Valli. Kumarakovil is also known as Kumara Kshetram and Subrahmanya Sthala. The Tamil epic Chilapathikaram refers to the temple as Chera Nattu Aeragam

Wedding of Valli and Murugan is celebrated here in the Tamil month of Panguni (March-April).

Om Muruga
🙏🕉🙏
ALL
Dr Amanda Moehring
Dr Amanda Moehring
@FlyBehaviour
In Academia, people aren’t always supported when they need it. I want to share what @WesternU did when my husband died right after the pandemic shutdown. It should be shared with other uni’s as a model for empathy and proactive care when someone is in crisis.
1/
#AcademicChatter
SCIENCE
Advertisement
sriram
sriram
@SriramKannan77
Swami Ramanujar:
Important personalities in Sri Ramanujas Life :
🌸ASURI KESHAVA SOMAYAJI-Father of Sri Ramanujar .Asuri keshava somayaji was a learned brahmana living in sriperumbudur.


🌸KANTHIMATHI-Mother of Sri Ramanuja. Kanthimathi was the sister of sri periya thirumalai nambi .
🌸SRI YAMUNACHARYA-Acharya of Sri Ramanuja.Also known as Alavandar.
🌸THIRUKOKOSHTIYUR NAMBI-Also known as Ghosti Purna.He instructed the Rahasya Traya to Sri Ramanujar.

He lived in thirukoshtiyur.
🌸THIRUKKACHI NAMBI-Kanchi purna was born in puvirunthavalli near kanchipuram and met the young ramanuja at an important time.He did the service of Lord Varadha.

🌸THIRUVARANGA PERUMAL ARAIYAR-Important acharya lived in srirangam and rendered the service of playing music for lord Sriranganatha.

🌸PERIYA THIRUMALAI NAMBI-He was the maternal uncle of Sri Ramanuja.He taught sri ramanuja about the epic of sri ramayana and other ithihaas and puranas.Served sri venkateswara at tirumala.
ALL
Groww
Groww
@_groww
You want to buy a house.

You take a loan from the bank.

The bank asks you, “what if you don’t pay back?”

You say, “take my home and sell it”.

(Thread)

That makes sense. The bank gives you a loan and in case you don’t pay, the bank will take over your house and sell it and recover its money.

That’s collateral.

Banks also lend money to big corporations. With them, banks don’t always have collateral.

So a loan where the bank has collateral is considered safer for the bank.

In the early 2000s, the banks in the USA were giving out loans to people for buying houses.

The economy had just recovered from the tech bubble in 2000 where many banks had given out loans to businesses that had shut down.

In that backdrop, the banks found giving home loans safer.
ALL , 2008 CRASH , 2008 RECESSION
dan spaceman
dan spaceman
@ohlaika
I'm gonna do my other star wars thread tomorrow, which will primarily be me yelling at a @RowanKaiser-shaped strawman for calling the First Order and The Resistance "cosplayers who the rest of the galaxy has to deal with"

the deal w/the New Republic, the First Order, and the Resistance is very weird and complex and I actually take issue with how Story Group frames the actual conflict.

pre-TFA stuff is presented as a "cold war" between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire that form the First Order, which 100% makes sense.

But they frame the First Order's attack on the Hosnian system and the subsequent battle that takes place across TFA and TLJ as a full on war when it's very clearly a coup. A war implies at least equal standing, but the First Order completely wrecks shop and takes over the galaxy.

ok never mind I'm fucking doing this now.

The First Order fleet we see in TLJ is *not* the entire fleet of the First Order (I don't even think Starkiller Base was their main base of operations honestly, it couldn't have been considering they were operating out of Wild Space)
CULTURE