When liars like @HawleyMO scream "Cancel Culture!" and "WOKE!" because they are discovering liars and those who attack democracy are in a Consequences Culture, remind them of all the people they tried to cancel for opinions or mistakes, not lying or attacking democracy:.../1

It's infuriating to watch conservatives continue to misrepresent/misunderstand basic scientific findings for the purpose of portraying Trump as a genius. Once again, they're misrepresenting the findings of a study on hydroxychloroquine, putting out disinformation that harms.../1

...those who actually need the drug - people with autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis -by creating a run on the drug with their disinformation. Nothing has *ever* even suggested that hydroxy is a prophylactic that prevents COVID, that it keeps infected.../2

...people who are not hospitalized from getting worse or that any possible benefits outweigh the risks except for very severe situations where doctors do not need an uneducated reality TV star to tell them how to treat. The first, since retracted, study showed that with.../3

...people who were severely ill & hospitalized from COVID, with hydro and an antibiotic used in tandem, saw a decrease in the viral load. That was it. The meaning was next to nothing. It was based on a handful of people, observational. Trump took that, based on an tweet he.../4

...saw, and declared hydro to be a miracle cure, causing a mass rush from people who wanted to use it to prevent infection. Trump did not understand the difference between preventative (like a vaccine), treatment for bad cases (steroids, blood thinners) and remdesivir.../5

Why I was constantly urging caution about being too confident:
* People underestimate how much Fox-induced hate of democrats drives decisions now. (Look at @RichLowry who argued - even with NATO near collapse and Covid exploding - to vote Trump to give dems "the finger")...

...literally, to so much of this country, including people who are supposed to be smarter than this like @RichLowry, politics is a game of self-affirmation, having to do with imprinting fantasies of democrats without a care about the real world. This "team" mentality is what...

...is destroying us. It is why, no matter how terrible everything Trump did was, his numbers never budged. The more upset those who opposed Trump became because of his abject incompetence and stupidity, some on the right saw the dem upset at objective reality of chaos as an...

...affirmation that Trump is "great." If you put a chimp into the White House, running under R, and he started wrecking the place, if dems got upset, too many republicans would support it. They hate half the country.

*The multi-billion dollar effort by wealthy conservatives...

...to create a media bubble of an alternative reality to deceive viewers that tax increases for the rich are tax increases for everyone, and that the money raised would go to "undeserving" poor people. Then they harp on all the other lies, solely to secure tax cuts and judges...

For those of us suffering & dying in Texas, the sociopathy of @GOP that leads to an astonishing lack of concern about our lives by evil folk like @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @TuckerCarlson @DanCrenshawTX et al who blatantly lie about what’s happening...1

...just to score political points - and protect the profits of energy companies - is almost incomprehensible. These are people who would claim Social Security caused 9/11 if it was convenient. What caused this catastrophe is vast vast majority from gas, then coal/nuclear...2

...then wind. The ONLY source of power that is delivering more than expected in budgeting is wind. But that’s not convenient to say for the oil/gas/coal industry, so the @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @DanCrenshawTX stand atop our dead bodies lying to protect the companies...2

...shockingly, the ONLY people in a position of state/national strength are the executives with the company that manages electricity in the state, @ERCOT_ISO. But they can’t tell the whole truth, because that would entail revealing how much stupidity was done here for profit...3

...of industry by Texas @GOP. If gas/nuke/nuclear/wind had been winterized - as they are everywhere else in the country - this would have largely been prevented. But it would have cost companies money, and that would cut into profits. If the gas lines has been buried deeper...3

How to not run/and run a business:

In 1976, my family was Big Thompson River flood. 2 hotels survived -locally owned one we were in, which let people stay free & doubled up rooms, & Holiday Inn, which tripled rates. I’ve never again stayed in HI for 45 years because of that..1

...we’ve seen the opposite in Texas disaster - a community minded business that wins public affection & is better managed than the state. @HEB is beloved in TX, more so since the recent crisis. In a town where people were in financial trouble, HEB gave away groceries for free...2

...literally, you would walk into the store, head to the cashier, and they would thank you and send you on your way. They were prepared for a disaster. Why? Because at the beginning of the pandemic, this grocery store chain -GROCERY STORES! - commissioned John’s Hopkins to do...3

...a pandemic report that correctly predicted how things would go (badly), consulted experts on how best to keep their workers and customers safe, and then spent the money required to get it done. They shared all of their information with mass killer Governor @GregAbbott_TX.../4

....a man they did not know how already deep-sixes a report put together specifically for the state to show how to open up safely. Just like his ignoring the 2011 warnings about an electricity collapse and the need for Abbott’s bagmen at the energy companies to spend money to...5

Now, before the stupid conservatives begin sneering and laughing AGAIN about climate change and a massive snowstorm, one more time trying to educate:

A warming climate causes extreme weather events, *including* huge snow and plunging temps. 1 example why: (Note: I realize.../1

...that no matter what is said, anti-science and arrogant conservatives who failed high school science will still sneer and laugh because this is more complicated than "temp goes up, it gets cold. HAHAHA!" Plus, they don't wont read anything longer than 20 words. But this.../2

...will at least help reply to their foolishness.)

Here is what is happening right now: there is a large area of low pressure and cold air at both poles. That cycles around the poles and is contained there by higher pressure surrounding it. However, a warming planet changes.../3

...that. The higher pressure/low pressure contains the cold air, but as that warms, what essentially serves as a fence weakens. Plus, simultaneously, the warmer climate is changing the jet stream. Even before this, sometimes the contained area expanded and hit the jet stream.../4

...which brought the polar cold down, thus plunging temperatures. However, with a warming climate - because of the change in pressures and the moving jet steam - the polar air is coming down more frequently. A few years back, *Texas* was hit by polar air. That's how far down.../5

Spent a quaint half hour in a cafe listening to a guy yell at his dad after his dad said that the women Trump molested wanted it: "Dad, that's like saying the Jews who died in the Holocaust were asking for it!" ENJOY YOUR TERRIBLE FAMILIES THIS WEEK!

"Mom, has a man ever touched you without your consent?"
"Of course."
"Did you report it?"
"No."
"Dad, your WIFE has been through this!"

Dad was unmoved and told the guy to stop arguing with him.

At this point we learned the boy child has allergies.

I forgot to remark upon the presence of the very cute grandson, who was very small and gave not one shit about the yelling. I believe a sister or aunt was present and feeling very stressed. I wanted to hand her a Xanax or seven.

It was really hard to not jump in and say, "Sounds like you guys are going to have a fun meal tomorrow!" so they could unite in hatred against me, the outsider, and stop squabbling. Instead I exchanged glances with a nearby fellow lady patron, who also emotionally ate a cookie.

Anyway, I want to thank the random family for yelling about rape and the Holocaust in an Israeli cafe in the US of A today because it reminded me that while this country isn't the greatest, it is inevitably my stupid favorite and I am never, ever bored.

We should stop confusing what someone was doing when we became aware of them with all they are capable of, interested in, or ever hope to be

Let folks have their many talents, interests and gifts. Life is far more fun with variety, loves.

A lot of folks have come to know me as an activist & I’m grateful that folks care to know me at all.

But I wasn’t born in 2014. I was a whole teacher, executive, policy person, speaker, arts and culture lover, reader, writer, woman of faith, fashion and more before 4 yrs ago 🤷🏾‍♀️

We rightfully complain that marginalized people are not allowed to be fully human.

But we internalize and transfer our oppression daily. It’s a smog. We all breathe it in & act it out.

And then tell WoC “girl ain’t you supposed to be a _______? Why you doing ____?”

Can I live?

And don’t go reading anything personal into this-this isn’t about me necessarily and it’s no subtweet (I try hard not to do that.)

I’ve just been observing that behavior more and more lately. Especially when it comes to marginalized folks.

Evolution should be our aspiration.

“Can’t knock the hustle” should be our anthem.

As long as someone isn’t bringing active and continual harm, why can’t they explore their many sides?

When I was 25, I worked as a legislative assistant in the Missouri General Assembly.

It was a dream job, honestly.

But that dream dissipated the day the #MoLeg decided to name Rush Limbaugh as an “honorable Missourian” and place his bust in the “Hall of Famous Missourians.”

1/

The Hall of Famous Missourians sits in the Missouri State Capitol.

There are busts of Mark Twain, Dred Scott, Josephine Baker, Harry Truman and other legends of history.

The day I learned Rush Limbaugh would join their ranks, I thought it was a joke.

2/

We received phone calls from constituents appalled that Missouri would honor a man who had become infamous that year for calling a college student a “slut.”

And who just that week had continued spreading the racist birtherism lie about our then-President, Barack Obama.

3/

What I learned that day is that it wasn’t *despite* his racism, but because of it that he received this award.

It’s because he created a universe where it was permissible to lynch with language America’s first black President.

4/

Several State Representatives and their staffers intended to protest the vote and the selection.

By the time we made it to the doors of the House Floor, we weren’t allowed in. It was Republicans only. The doors were locked and secured by the Highway Patrol.

5/

For Black History Month, Vox is publishing a big series on rethinking policy for Black America.

I wrote 3,200 words on eradicating exclusionary zoning.

It's a 3 step formula: Persuade, incentivize, and if all else fails, SUE THE SUBURBS.

Thread

We know that exclusionary zoning is locking millions out of opportunity.

Work by @OppInsights, Richard Rothstein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, @nhannahjones, @RickKahlenberg, Chang-Tai Hsieh, Enrico Moretti and @ProfSchleich details the economic impact of these discriminatory policies.

51 years after the Fair Housing Act, it's never been seriously enforced. It's time to change that.

First things first, Biden has work to do to convince whoever can be convinced that there is a racial, environmental, and economic imperative to undo residential segregation.

Use whatever explanation works!

For sympathetic progressives Biden should link racial and environmental justice to ending exclusionary zoning.

For everyone else, he can simply make an economic

Second, there are many tools to incentivize localities that rely on federal dollars to reform their zoning codes.

There is a ton of federal money that can be conditioned on reforming exclusionary zoning laws. @ebwhamilton has some good ideas on this front.