BC CULTURE
Saved by @SteveeRogerr

1. The problem with the Ben Shapiro Playbook isn't primarily the author. It's that the *content* of the piece is bad, in a way that was eminently predictable given the author.

I'm going to go through the entire piece and explain why.

 2. Shapiro's core argument is that House Republicans opposed impeachment because they saw it as a Democratic plot to undermine them — and, moreover, that they were right (or at least justified) in thinking that.
3. This logic has a glaring logical flaw: as @jonathanchait points out, Democrats couldn't use impeachment to tie Republicans to Trump *if they voted for it* https://t.co/DPoeiX167z
4. The problem goes deeper than that. The evidence that Shapiro uses to argue that Republicans are justified is that Democrats and liberal commentators have argued that the Capitol Hill riot vindicates their positions on *issues other than impeachment*
5. Of course they'd say that — they're Democrats! You can debate the validity of these claims, but that says nothing about the purpose of pursuing impeachment. There's just no real connection between Shapiro's argument and the evidence offered for it.
6. Next, Shapiro argues that Democrats want to blame all Republicans and Trump voters for the riot — and will use this as a pretext for "repression" for conservatives everywhere.
7. This is a dodge. It positions the argument that the GOP bears some responsibility is necessarily unreasonable and evil. That a party that made Trump its leader and backed him for four years is axiomatically innocent, and saying otherwise is the real problem.
8. Shapiro's "evidence" for this claim that Democrats want to "repress" the GOP? That corporations — not Democrats, *corporations* — punished outlets and politicians who either tolerated violent rhetoric or encouraged the election fraud delusion.
9. These were targeted actions against specific groups, not the entire Republican party. And yet Shapiro sees this evidence of a conspiracy to repress the entire GOP!

So you see the real argument here: it's not just impeachment, but any consequences, that are illegitimate.
10. Now, here's the next section. Virtually every claim in this is either dishonest or false.

In 2018, Abrams didn't try to overturn the election, telling supporters that "the law currently allows no further viable remedy" for an election she felt (justifiably!) was unfair.
11. Raskin's objections were pro forma and without support from a Senate member, so they didn't trigger debate. And the reputable First Amendment lawyers I've spoken to say there is a real case that Trump did incitement; Shapiro links out to a piece by Andy McCarthy, a crank.
12. Here's the last substantive section, which is really a con. Shapiro is arguing for "neutral standards" to "unite the country" while quite literally arguing for division — that Republicans are justified in seeing Democrats as evil and opposing impeachment to spite them.
13. But this is Shapiro's shtick. Out of one side of his mouth, he positions himself as a high-minded intellectual. Out of the other side, he offers up the most divisive conservative red meat imaginable. Some examples I compiled a bit ago:
14. So the real problem with today's Playbook isn't Ben Shapiro's identity. It's that the piece itself is poorly reasoned and outright dishonesty in a way that was predictable given his past work — and that no editor fixed the piece. It's just below decent journalistic standards.
15. Coda: there is an argument that Playbook is helping its more left-leaning readers understand the right better by publishing this. That's false, for reasons @AsteadWesley, @AdamSerwer, and @cjane87 explain here:
16. Coda II: this statement from Politico's EIC makes it worse, not better.

The logical and evidentiary flaws in the newsletter were glaring and obvious; if it was "very closely edited," then the editorial process failed. https://t.co/FNa8UlSO4S

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2) We were down in the lobby and I was kind of crushed. I don’t know what I expected, The Thing and the Yancy Street Gang to be sitting around smoking cigars? Anyway, my Dad was taking a beat to figure where we were going next and a guy came up to us.

3) He was wearing a white shirt and tie and said to Dad “Is he disappointed because. The Marvel offices were just offices?” My Dad said yes and then the guy who had gray around his temples and a mustache said “hold on a second” and opened one of those office mailboxes with a key.

4) He then handed me a thick stack of EVERY SINGLE MARVEL COMIC COMING OUT THE NEXT MONTH. “Here you go. Keep reading Marvel comics” he said and then walked off. I left in a daze and about 15 minutes later it hit me “Gray around the temples, mustache... That was Stan Lee!”

5) Later when I wrote on the Ant Man movie I told Kevin Feige the story, the year, look of the guy etc and Kevin said “That’s exactly the kind of thing Stan would do and he would have been there then. That was him.” Rest In Peace Stan Lee and thank you for the comics.
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The Eye of Horus. 1/*


I believe that @ripple_crippler and @looP_rM311_7211 are the same person. I know, nobody believes that. 2/*

Today I want to prove that Mr Pool smile faces mean XRP and price increase. In Ripple_Crippler, previous to Mr Pool existence, smile faces were frequent. They were very similar to the ones Mr Pool posts. The eyes also were usually a couple of "x", in fact, XRP logo. 3/*


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The Blank Sheet Method that will 10x your reading comprehension.

Here is how it works.

Before you start reading a new book, take out a blank sheet of paper. Write down what you know about the book / subject you’re about to read — a mind map if you will.

After you finish a reading session, spend a few minutes adding to the map with a different color.

Before you start your next reading session, review the page.

When you’re done reading, put these ‘blank sheets’ into a binder that you periodically review.
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Dr. Leah Stokes
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For my book, I interviewed Texan Republicans, Democrats, oil guys + clean energy pioneers. Texas was once leading in wind energy, with GOP support. Now we get lies, from the Gov on down on renewables. What happened?

Lessons from Short Circuiting Policy https://t.co/KtxaBci5oC 🧵


Texas' challenges are not from "learning too many renewable energy lessons from California.” - Rep. Crenshaw

Texas passed its first renewable energy target in 1999, 3 years before California. The law was signed by, Gov. George W. Bush — you may recall he’s a Republican.

Gov. Bush was so proud of Texas’ leadership on wind energy, that he campaigned on it when running for President in 2000.

The "bill he signed in 1999 will make Texas the country’s largest market for renewable energy by 2009."
https://t.co/T4dKZ5qGnA


In 2005, Texas passed another big wind energy law, which included $7 billion for transmission.

It was sponsored by Republican state Senator Troy Fraser and signed by Republican Gov. Rick

With Gov. Abbott going on TV this week and lying, blaming the boogeyman “Green New Deal” and wind turbines for Texas’ current crisis, GOP leadership on renewables feels like ancient history.

What happened over the past 15
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One of the most Monkey's Paw things about my life is my relationship to books. When I was a teenager, I read all the way through the school and public libraries, spent everything I had on books, and still couldn't get enough and dreamt of more.

1/


Today, as a reviewer, I have more books than I can possibly read, huge, teetering mountains of books that I'm desperate to read, far beyond my ability to ever get through them. Periodically, I declare "book bankruptcy," sweep away the backlog and start over.

2/

Even then, my eyes are bigger than my stomach: I keep back a few books that I can't bear to part with and promise myself I'll read them someday. Usually I don't, but I just did, and boy did I ever make the right call with @TheUniverse's BROAD

I have read a LOT of histories of computing, and I had a front row seat for a lot of the events depicted in this book - people I worked with, people I worked against - and yet I was surprised over and over again with details and perspectives I'd never encountered.

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For example, for some reason, my ninth grade computer science course included lengthy readings on ENIAC, Univac, the Mark I and the Mark II, but none of those mentioned that they were all programmed exclusively or primarily by women.

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Tekkanappan ( Sudarshana).

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THE BATTLE OF TALIKOTA and the destruction of Vijaynagar (Hampi)
26 January 1565

A tale of valor, deception and decimation.

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This decisive battle was fought between the Vijayanagara empire and the Deccan sultanates resulting in a rout of Vijayanagara and ending the last major medieval era Hindu kingdom in south India.(1)

The seeds of 1565 encounter were sown more than 250 years earlier when the forces of the Delhi Sultanate, during the time of Alauddin Khilji and later Md Bin Tughlaq swept through southern India in an expansion spree.(2)

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