Much misinformation out there about #Texaspoweroutage, @ERCOT_ISO, wind and solar power, and thermal generators (gas and coal). Let's review what we think we know right now. @TPPF @Life_Powered_ 1/10

Two problems in #Texas, one short term and exacerbated by the long term issue, and one long term. 2/10

The short term failure came at about 1 AM Monday when #ERCOT should have seen the loads soaring due to plummeting temperatures and arranged for more generation. 3/10

Texas came very close to having a system-wide outage for the whole state (ERCOT area, about 85% of the state) due to not arranging for more generation. 4/10

This tripped the grid, knocking some reliable thermal plants (gas and coal) offline. This was a failure of the grid operator (ERCOT) not the power plants. 5/10

THREAD: Last-Century thinking got humanity into a mess. It worked well though, just too well. Into the third decade of the new century and I am sad to see how little last century thinking is being named and challenged. 1/

OLD THINKING: Take that nature, use that nature. Same amount of land that we stated with, but going on four times the population and much soil erosion behind us. NEW THINKING: use it, put it back, regenerate it. 2/

OLD: Either you are good or bad. Promoted on almost every TV show. Reality is, we created a system and it grew and that system brings out the worst in us to an extent we have forgotten how to bring out the best in each other, almost. 3/

OLD: If you have money you should spend it on what you want. A few people had cars back in the 1920's. Now there are so many on the Earth that they alone can push the climate over the tipping point. NEW: Money should never give you the power and right to commit ecocide. 4/

OLD: the power in the economy is consumption. Using stuff up. Problem is, we are already using more stuff than our earth-society-earth can sustain. Successful ideas like that end badly when there is more human stuff on the earth than natural. 5/

BOYS ALSO SUFFER FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LIKE GIRLS

HON ROBSON MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for allowing me the opportunity to add my voice to the motion brought by Hon. Bhuda concerning gender based violence which is mainly targeted against women and children. @wlsazim

HON MAVENYENGWA: I am a parent, I have a girl child and it pains me to witness the girl child being abused especially when they live with people who are not their natural parents. If people live with a step mother in most cases, they are ill treated.@YetTrust @NAYOZimbabwe

HON MAVENYENGWA: They grow up in an environment that is not conducive for children. There was a case where we ended up having to call the police because the stepmother was ill treating the child. @Y4pdZ @Youth4SDGsZim @NYDT1 @Youthdecidezw @moysarzim

HON. MAVENYENGWA: The child would draw water, look for wood and do everything to the extent that the child was failing to go to school. The father was there and was seeing these events unfold with his own eyes. That also touched me as the local Member of Parliament.

HON. MAVENYENGWA: I ended up looking for the police& those from Social Welfare department to ensure they assist the child. We are saying that Govt should come up with laws& penalties that are deterrent especially in GBV especially where the mother has passed away.

The ever-incredible @SWACEO from @scotwomensaid is about to give evidence to the Australian federal government’s inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence on criminalising coercive control. I’m going to try and live-tweet.

Link to watch live: https://t.co/KpszEWL8C2

Chair Andrew Wallace is opening this evening’s proceedings and inviting Dr Scott to give evidence via teleconference.

Very awkward comment that the Chair wants Dr Scott to speak slowly because of her Scottish accent.

The Chair says in 3 months he hasn’t opened a newspaper with an article in it on criminalising coercive control. It’s a “hot button topic”.

While the Commonwealth won’t legislate in this area it could try and help find consistency in the legislation that is developed.

The anti-trans rhetoric masquerading as philosophical inquiry and political philosophy in our field is both intellectually vacant and manifestly harmful.

From an academic perspective it is an embarrassment to the profession that trans lives are "up-for-debate."

It should a matter of professional legitimacy taken up by our learned societies that people engage in and are rewarded for the kind of vapid pseudo-scholarship that I see crop up in the field around trans lives.

I have a chapter in my thesis about the problem of anti-trans propaganda which focuses on the *central* argument in that propaganda: that trans women, by virtue of their socialization as men, pose a credible threat to cis women if allowed in to gender-regulated space.

I'm going to tweet out some of the points below.

Canada has a data problem when it comes to sexual violence perpetrated against anyone other than cis people.

While @staceyabrams credits me & my wife w/ investing in GA "before it was logical," the signs were there if you knew what to look for. The question now is who's next?

In my latest for @thenation, I point to 4 factors for turning a red state blue. THREAD

1.) Favorable demographic trends

Texas has the second-largest pool of nonvoting people of color (after already blue CA), and the numbers of potential voters of color far exceeds the margin of difference in statewide elections.

Joe Biden lost Texas by ~600k votes, and despite the record turnout on both sides, 4.5 million eligible people of color still did not vote according to exit polls and census data.

2.) "Level 5 Leaders" also known as:

Leaders who combine personal humility with indomitable will and are "infected with an incurable need to produce results" for the cause.

and Brianna Brown are Abrams-like Level 5 leaders who have built a relentless and effective civic engagement machine that has helped tip electoral outcomes in cities and counties across the state.

Thread on Al Qaeda & Taliban:

Ever since Joe Biden has won the elections, we’ve seen some fascinating proposals about the future strategy of Afghanistan. Almost all the analysts and think tanks were dissatisfied with Talibans commitment to break ties with Al Qaeda,...

1/9

... which is a serious matter of concern for the United States.
Although the Taliban have agreed to break ties with Al Qaeda but we’ve seen some recent reports that the two groups are sill collaborating.

2/9

The relationship between Al Qaeda & Taliban is decades old, they’ve helped & stood for each other in most difficult times. When the Taliban agreed to begin negotiations with the U.S, they knew that they would have to break ties with Al Qaeda or other Islamist militants.

3/9

Taliban knew that breaking ties with Al Qaeda will be America’s primary demand, they entered the negotiations after they had a consensus on breaking ties with Al Qaeda.

So far we’ve seen evidence that Al Qaeda has endorsed US-Taliban peace agreement, this suggests that...

4/9

... Taliban had Al Qaeda’s consent for negotiations with the US. Both parties agreed that breaking ties was the only viable option in order to achieve their primary goal of expelling ‘all foreign forces’ from Afghanistan.

5/9

There is a lot of conflicting "information" about the TX blackouts. Here's the bottom line: the root cause of the TX blackouts is a national and state policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind/solar energy over reliable energy.

THREAD

For the last decade+ policy in TX and in the US has been focused on mandating or subsidizing as much wind and solar as possible. TX has bragged about being the biggest wind generator in the US.

The TX focus on wind has come above all at the expense of coal, which has the resiliency advantage (along with nuclear) of being able to store large quantities of fuel onsite; gas mostly requires "just in time" delivery from pipelines.

“In 2009, coal-fired plants generated nearly 37 percent of the state’s electricity while wind provided about 6 percent. Since then, three Texas coal-fired plants have closed...In the same period, our energy consumption rose by 20

Because intermittent wind and solar can always go near zero--as we saw recently in TX--they don't replace the cost of reliable power plants, they add to the cost of reliable power plants. This is why the more wind and solar grids use, the higher their electricity prices.

I’ve been seeing tweets from women demanding not to be treated as sex objects so I figured an exposition on the subject matter may help us all. First, let’s remind ourselves what a sex object is. In simple terms, a sex object is a person who is regarded primarily...

1/12

in terms of their sexual attractiveness or availability.

When women post pictures that highlight their boobs and ass on social media, (which they do all the time) they primarily want men to see how sexually attractive they are. In other words they want men to see them...

2/12

as sex objects and that external validation in turn, boosts their self esteem.

It's called thirst trap because that's exactly the effect they want to achieve. They want men to thirst for them. On a conscious and subconscious level, they want you to see them as an...

3/12

object of sexual desire.

And contrary to what some would have you believe, it's absolutely normal for heterosexual men to see women they're attracted to as sex objects.

It has nothing to do with misogyny and this is proved by the fact that homosexual men see men they...

4/12

are sexually attracted to as sex objects. If heterosexual men are misogynists in this regard, then homosexual men are man-haters.

Go through the TL and you'll see tweets like "If you can't AFFORD EXPENSIVE women, stop trying to date them" They've made themselves into...

5/12

The notion that only western Caucasians can be racist is, in itself, racist, since it implies that white folk are somehow morally superior and should know better - and judging 'superiority' and 'inferiority' are the basis of racism. /2

2. There are many examples of non-white people's racism, often to sub-groups of their own race: the Hindu caste system; the treatment of Chinese Uighurs; even racism amongst light and dark-skinned American blacks.

So why are whites always targeted as 'racists'? /3

3. Why is racism often found where clearly none/little exists? As a specific example: a bearded, long-haired and hirsute man being called an ape by a 13yo girl and booed by crowds, but 86 other Indigenous players not being subjected to 'racist' comments and actions similarly. /4

4. Why is it that the Left is so preoccupied with race and racism? Is it simply to be morally superior? Is it to be the guardians of society? Is it to control a narrative? Is it to be the arbiters of good and evil?

Or is it about their own prejudices and insecurities? /5

5. Those who see racism everywhere are those who look for it. The Offence and Outrage Industry thrives on it, if only to put them in the beatific limelight to signal their virtue loudly and clearly.

Does racism exist? Of course. Does it exist to the degree the Left suggests? /6

The @ONS have decided that it's no longer possible to ask people simply what their sex is, even though this has been asked in every census since forever. Women have used the resulting data to prove that we face ongoing and widespread discrimination, at large and small scales 1/10

The people making decisions about the census, however, have been persuaded that some (unknown number of) people won't respond to the census at all if they have to answer this very basic factual question. 2/10

They have therefore changed the guidance so that an unknown number of people are advised to answer it according to their 'official documents' - which may contradict each other. Since it's easily possible to change the sex marker on a passport or driving licence 3/10

just by asking for it to be changed, this guidance effectively means that (an unknown number of) people unhappy about their biological sex are advised to answer the sex question however they choose. 4/10

The most immediately damaging impact of this decision will be on trans people. It means the opportunity to gather robust data from the new gender identity question in the same census is lost. We will not be able to tell how many trans people are male or female. 5/10

@ThyConsigliori

This is not in response to your work, Pat  but...

this is well, ummm

MY FIRST THREAD😳

I am posting  what I sent to my Reps in D.C., in hopes that others will follow. The time is now or never to say HEAR ME!

(1)To: (my reps),

It is your duty to stand and represent, as our reps, to not only vote to elect Trump, but also with your objections to electors that are falsely claimed for Biden. 

You are bound by the constitution to uphold what the maj. of YOUR constituents

2. believe to be true.

(A)That Donald J. Trump won this election in a grand way and should be inaugurated on Jan. 20. 2021. 

(B)That Biden electors in certain states are falsely claimed by the use of lawlessness and deception.

(3) As a public servant it is your duty, first and foremost, to represent your constituents. You are our voice in Washington and our voice needs to be heard. We know much about what happened in this election, and on what we don't know, there are very strong

(4) suggestions and unexplained anomalies. If you don't stand up to fight for America herself today, to fight for the truth to be uncovered, then you will never have this chance again. Even if you have been "promised" a "bright future". To surrender today only means one thing.

Normally at this time of year, I get to tout the successes we’ve enjoyed in #Chattanooga in the past 12 months, like initiatives that help our families, ribbon cuttings for park improvements, and economic development deals that bring good jobs.

This year has been different. 1/

As we enter 2021, it is also important to count our blessings. This painful, strange year, for example, has indeed brought renewed clarity to a lot of what is truly important. 2/

I’m thinking about the nurses, doctors, home healthcare staff, and medical providers who have been working harder than ever to care for COVID-19 patients and others. Every day, we witness their sacrifice and service. 3/

I’m thinking also about the police, firefighters, public works employees, teachers, child care workers, and other truly essential personnel who have shown unrelenting dedication to keeping us safe and educating our young people against truly staggering odds. 4/

The pandemic has been brutal on our small businesses and Chattanoogans already living on the edge. I appreciate our Economic & Community Development Dept giving rent and utility assistance and other kinds of support to the business owners and employees who need it the most. 5/

.
"AOC proposes funding to deprogram white supremacists"

The problem is: ANY expression of #WhiteIdentity, on which America was originally founded, is equated with #WhiteSupremacy.

There is a coup in progress, initiated long ago, by #BigBrother & #TheMatrix of state capital.

America's founding fathers knew it would be difficult enough forging a nation from different European peoples (English, French, German, Dutch, etc.) of the SAME race, & impossible to include other races, which is why the 1790 Nationalisation Act restricted citizenship to Whites.

By modern standards, the founders were indeed White supremacists, but also had enough sense to know that multi-racial nationhood could never work. And so it has proven.

America never became a genuine nation, but just a bigger, more powerful, mercenary #PatronState than Britain.

This is profoundly important to understand.

America's #FoundingMistake was to equate state & nation.

It is by deceitfully posing as our nation that the state tricks us into loving #BigBrother.

The famous line from Lincoln's #GettysburgAddress, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" was Orwellian newspeak (long before Orwell was born) for "Government of the elites, by the elites, for the elites.

Lincoln, remember, was a lawyer & one of the elite.

Nearly every day I take a walk, grab a coffee, and sit for a while in front of Baltimore’s Camden Station. This is where Abraham Lincoln was nearly assassinated on the eve of his 1861 inauguration. Thinking about that little known story a lot lately, so today, I’m sharing it. 1/

Short bit of context: prior to Lincoln’s election, the was a goddamn disaster. Ideologically divided, hateful, and violent. The President, James Buchanan, has long been considered the worst in American history. I wrote this about him a few years

If you spent even 15 minutes learning about the Buchanan presidency, you could have predicted nearly everything that’s happened in the past few years. As you may have heard, history has a way of repeating itself. But now, to Lincoln! 3/

So after Lincoln won the election, half this country was PISSED. He was going to abolish slavery and whatever whatever ‘MURICA! (Change the policy details, and it’s the same hysteria, generated by the wealthy classes to get the poor to do their bidding) 4/

Try to remember how different the world was back then. News came from the paper; not everyone was literate. Opinions were decided for many by those who controlled information. Some said Lincoln was going to destroy their way of life, and needed to die. 5/

PUBLIC DEBT HYSTERIA IN ITALY 🇮🇹
Each passing day, I'm more and more astounded at the hysteria surrounding public debt in Italy. This hysteria has country-specific peculiarities. In Italy it's somehow different from the US, the UK or Germany. 1/18

This hysteria is due not only to ideology, but also to provincialism, pusillanimity, rancor towards the State and disregard for legitimate national interest. Let's analyse these issues. 2/18

IDEOLOGY. The Italian free-marketers ("liberisti all'amatriciana") are often a parody of their American and British counterparts. They seem to lack (or pretend to lack) basic understanding of the functioning of government bonds. 3/18

There's no such thing as a free market of government bonds. Or better: a free mkt of gov't bonds can exist only in a monetary union where the central bank doesn't guarantee that single national governments will not fail. We've seen the negative effects of such architecture. 4/18

However, thanks to PEPP, the @ecb implicitly prevents governments' failure. At least for the moment.
This means that the mkt for gov't bonds is controlled by a public authority:it's what usually occurs(and should occur) in every well-functioning modern economy(and democracy) 5/18