BC TWITTER
Saved by @Alex1Powell

OK. I may get slaughtered here, but there is a kind of pundit who doesn't know what he doesn't know. I'm not talking about ordinary people on @Twitter who shoot the shit on a variety of topics, but people with millions of followers, readers. 1/

 These are usually men, who will assume expertise because they've always been told they were the smartest in the room, were given a platform because of who they are, and feel no sense of humility when they decide to ramble off and take down others. 2/
Here I am talking about @NateSilver538 @mattyglesias and @DouthatNYT who have decided they are the arbiters of truth in science and public health. 3/
It started with the #ACIP recommendations on the next phase of #COVID19 vaccination (which as far as I know is still pending). All three of them are suggesting that #ACIP doesn't know what it's doing because there are discussions happening about how to manage trade-offs. 3/
All three believe age-based allocation is the only way to triage vaccine delivery and they've been scornful of the deliberation of #ACIP for talking about things like equity, essential workers, etc. 4/
I'll wait and see how the recommendations play out, but let it suffice to say that there are complex trade-offs that have to be considered and the "certainty" of these three gentlemen, their easy derision of the process is sorta gross. 5/
Don't get me wrong. I am all for criticizing scientists. I did it for years as an AIDS activist but what I think differentiates us from them is that we dug deep into the science, had mentorship from some great researchers, took on problems, analyzed them sometimes for years. 6/
We weren't spouting off for this week's column or a series of tweets. And we got things wrong and were ruthless with each other about our failures. 7/
But now @NateSilver538 and @DouthatNYT are going after "public health," suggesting they know the contours of what is scientific and "para-scientific." Go ahead fellas. Tell us what you really feel. 8/
Nate Silver in discussing ACIP over the weekend, decides that all of public health has got it wrong. 9/
I dunno Nate, is that the basic scientists who helped sequence the #SARSCoV2 genome, developed new tests for detecting the disease? 10/
Or the biostatisticians who analyzed the vaccine trial results, the modelers who have been helping hospitals gauge ICU capacity? 11/
It's all public health. I see. Yes. Those who've made sure the water you drink is safe, that you don't get food poisoning from your local restaurant, who've kept us from having other epidemics or battled other ones for, I don't know decades? 12/
Oh but it's not you, it's them the front-line public health workers who are making sloppy decisions out there. You mean, those who've gotten death-threats, who are screamed at from left and right for doing their jobs? 13/
One day we should go all Lysistrata on you. See how well you fare if public health went on strike. We would never do that because even if we get paid terribly, work long hours, get shit thrown at us, we do our jobs, from bench to the field, in research and practice. 14/
Now for @DouthatNYT who decided that once public health leaves the laboratory, it's all political, suspect and worthy of derision as "para-scientific." 15/
Again, dear Ross has no idea what people in public health do, but go ahead just now spray paint fraud, charlatan, all over us. Because that's "para-scientific" is a fancy word for. 16/
Politics. No politics in public health please for @DouthatNYT. No conception that public health in its practice is hemmed in by politics on every side. 17/
From the politics that make us sick--we call them the social determinants of health (I just heard Ross faint) to the policies we have to fight for to keep people healthy, public health is intertwined with politics, as it is a public not private science. 18/
What sends Ross off the deep end is that racial equity is being raised in the vaccine allocation discussions. Once we talk race, then it's politics for Ross, and he gets to weigh in. Ross always gets to weigh in. 19/
So, let's talk epidemiology. There are racial disparities with #COVID19 that have not be articulated with para-science," but a tried and true method called counting the bodies. The risk of death for African-Americans is far greater than that of their white counterparts. 20/
And when young people die? They are often again from African-American, Latino communities. This is what the data shows. So discussing racial equity in health isn't a conversation about affirmative action @Harvard. It's about understanding who gets sick, who dies. 21/
Yes a strong case can be made for age-based triaging of vaccine allocation. It doesn't take a pundit to see that. 22/
But in addition to age, race/ethnicity are a strong factor in predicting death from #COVID19 in the US. It's just the facts. 23/
So if you wanted to frame vaccine allocation around preventing the most deaths, you'd go with age+race/ethnicity. 24/
But some people might say you want to prevent "premature deaths,", which might skew vaccine allocation younger. 25/
You might also make a case for instance, for keeping schools open as a social priority, and that would mean teachers would be categorized as "essential workers," and be moved ahead in line. 26/
If you believe these vaccines actually prevent transmission rather than blunting serious disease alone you might want to cluster-bust and head towards prisons, jails, meatpacking plants and Amazon warehouses. 27/
The main point here? It's complicated. But not complicated for @NateSilver538, @mattyglesias & @DouthatNYT who've got the answers and will take down an entire field, well, a diverse set of fields under the rubric of public health with their arrogance and snark. 28/
Who is #ACIP? "14 of the members have expertise in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and/or preventive medicine; one member is a consumer representative." 29/
But sure, put @NateSilver538, @DouthatNYT and @mattyglesias in charge. How hard can public health be? 30/
It's hard, getting harder. 31/ https://t.co/fQwzUohiGC

More from Gregg Gonsalves

Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
I think @SamAdlerBell in his quest to be the contrarian on Fauci gets several things wrong here. 1/


First, the failure last year actually was driven by the White House, the #Trump inner circle. Watch what's happening now, the US' scientific and public health infrastructure is creaking back to life. 2/

I think Sam underestimates the decimation of many of our health agencies over the past four years and the establishment of ideological control over them during the pandemic. 3/

I also am puzzled why Tony gets the blame for not speaking up, etc. Robert Redfield, Brett Giroir, Deb Birx, Jerome Adams, Alex Azar all could have done the same. 4/

Several of these people Bob Redfield, Brett Giroir, Alex Azar were led by craven ambition, Jerome Adams by cowardice, but I do think Deb Birx and Tony tried as institutionalists, insiders to make a difference. 5/
HEALTH
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
One thing I will never understand. In 2020, we let ~340,000 Americans die, sometimes in the thousands per day. And we watched. There were no protests, no daily banner headlines befitting a national tragedy on this scale. It's as if we watched 9/11 in a loop for 300+ days. 1/

It was the non-chalance of all of it, the sangfroid. Yes, of course, there were stories in the media, some great ones, but we were shoving bodies into makeshift morgues in America in 2020, and it all became background noise. 2/

And no one rose up. Punctuated outrage from some. But no one on the streets in any substantial numbers asking for, demanding answers, action. 3/

If it weren't for the #BlackLivesMatter protests you'd think most of America was already dead. 4/

You don't have to ask what would I have done if I was present at one of history's great tragedies where people made choices to let barbarism flourish. We've done it now. 5/
SOCIETY
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Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
I've spent the past year as angry as I've been since the early days of the AIDS epidemic when I had to bury friends in their 20s, 30s because our government didn't care if gay men lived or died from a new virus among us. 1/


Some were put off by my anger, some thought scientists shouldn't be political or if they were tone it down a bit. 2/


I work in public health. I am not a basic scientist or a theoretician. I work in a field that is hemmed in by history and politics on every side. 3/


From the 19th century onwards, we've known that who lives and who dies isn't just a function of biology. The data support this thesis, we call them the social determinants of health. 4/


My friend and colleague Paul Farmer calls out these determinants in more direct terms as pathologies of power, structural violence. 5/
LIFE
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
Eight years ago, Spencer Cox died of #AIDS. He had access to #antiretroviral therapy, but in his own struggles with #depression and substance use, he stopped taking them. 1/

Spencer left college, dropped out like me in the 80s, and we both found ourselves in @actupny where we joined the Treatment and Data Committee, doing battle with drug companies, the @US_FDA, the @NIH on a quest to save ourselves and our friends from near-certain death. 2/

Now everyone knows what those dark days before the advent of antiretroviral therapy were like. Waves upon waves of dying friends. A government who couldn't care less for the sick and dying. 3/

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again. AIDS. #COVID19. The next pandemic. The fire next time. 4/

And it changes you. Seeing so much death so young. Seeing those in power turn away from the catastrophe, even joke about it (find, listen to the tape of Larry Speakes in Oval Office w Reagan laughing about AIDS). 5/
HEALTH
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
Here @playbookplus goes again: ‘HOW MUCH IS BIPARTISANSHIP WORTH?’ I don't know @politico, how many more months would you like the pandemic to drag on for? How many more dead? How many more people, businesses ruined economically? I'm sorry but this is garbage framing in a crisis.

Oh but this is what powerful people are talking about in DC! Might that point itself be examined with more seriousness than taking this BS at face value? Don't you understand, we just reflect back what people are saying? We are mirrors on the world, we offer no commentary.

If "very serious people" are talking about what "nice number" would be $1.3T, 1.2T and not what we need to get out of this mess, might it be worth saying, perhaps, this conversation w/o reference to epidemiologic or economic reality is just a failure of leadership, governance?
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More from Twitter

Sir Dickson
Sir Dickson
@Wizarab10
THE DANGERS OF FEMINISTS THEORIES OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Mary(Not real name) was a friend I met on Twitter. We had good conversations but disagreed on how Twitter court of public opinions handled rape issues. We agreed to meet and our first meeting was at her place.

She brought up the issue of why I always sat on the fence and why I always wanted to hear from the other party because it means I support the “rapist” – RAPIST? I found it funny because how do you label someone a rapist just from an allegation?

You didn't hear from the accused & never want to hear the details of the allegation because you deem it insensitive. Mary explained that she was a victim and she is still traumatized and she asked if I knew just being a guy suffices to make her feel unsafe because she was alone?

That is why she normally prefers having her flatmate around or at least pretend her flatmate was around when she had a male visitor. I said her fears were valid because, stranger danger.
We ate lunch, gisted, played scrabble (which she cheated to win. Lool) and saw a movie.

When it was time to leave, I turned and asked her, do you know if you went on Twitter to say I raped you, nobody would ask question? They will believe because you are a woman. She nodded in the affirmative and said she knows.
TWITTER
Ghost Rat (Rata Fantasma) \U0001f47b\U0001f400\U0001f637
Ghost Rat (Rata Fantas...
@The_Ghost_Rat
My updated recommended follows for February 20, 2021. Let me know if you want to be removed or added. To be added, we need to be following each other.

Faves (1/1)
@AndyPopeInTheW1
@CHQM8_tx
@Dubes123
@daralynn13
@_HypoLuxa_
@KtBoBt
@kharly
@ImpeachmentHour
@liberal_elder
@LtUhura2017
@MysterySolvent
@Natgcoh
@officialHJesus
@orangepeel18
@RancidGinger
@RKJ65
@robinskyleigh
@Ronnis_Joy
@Texan_21C
@umanoid
@wendimyb
@Wikweko

The Rat follows… (1/9)
@1Angry_lioness
@admiralmpj
@AFlyover
@afrugal1
@agent_orangutan
@ALT_MyName
@american2084
@AquaVelvaBoy
@AndraDoesCare
@AreYouis
@AryaKicksButt
@AshidMapanzigan
@bamableu
@benFranklin2018
@BeyondBlonde3
@bfs2020
@BiglyPrez
@bkaydw
@Black2thBone

The Rat follows… (2/9)
@Blackbear5
@Brasilmagic
@Brian_Chovanec
@briansantacruz
@CajunSiouxsie
@Carpediem4989
@CaliPhil
@carlisamantha
@ChafedCharlie
@ChampagneSane
@ChanningStephe5
@chaturner
@Chewythewookie1
@ChrisA_425
@CIAnderson3
@ColleenHenley
@Cosette2016
@da_kotarski

The Rat follows… (3/9)
@DarbysCastle
@DarrollHough
@DawnChristine2
@dawnwc
@DeepInTheHills
@DocAtCDI
@DonPayne17
@DrEttaM1
@Eiggam5955
@elle_desylva
@fleurdeliselle
@georginapond1
@GirlNamedBoston
@GonzoBaggins
@grammytammyd
@grannieof10kids
@gypsyphototaker
@HIHKatharine
TWITTER
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Sunshiny AKA Cassandra
Sunshiny AKA Cassandra
@sunnshiiny
A lot of people are trying to figure out what UCP means by putting this biblical quote out into the twitter verse at Christmas.

Many have piped up with commentary and criticized the mix of religion and politics. A convention long held in Canada.


The quote is often repeated at Christmas. “A child is born...” makes reference to the birth of Jesus. Makes sense.

But what does it mean?

Christians (and other religious observers with their religious texts) have made an art form out of interpreting what passages mean.

To those most radically devout (some might say zealously faithful), hidden divine meanings are gleaned from “correctly” reading the bible.

That’s what Dominionists believe. That god himself wrote the bible. Through inspiration of the actual authors, & only they can interpret.

And thus, the “inerrant“ bible serves as a strict road map to save ones soul.

Many devout Christians view the passage as a prophecy made centuries before the birth of Christ. A promise made by god through one of his prophets. Jews interpret the passage very differently.

The Anglican Priest is (obviously) correct about this being supersessionism, and a form of Anti-Semitism.

Troublesome as it is for a Canadian provincial govt to be tweeting out Anti-Semitic propaganda, that’s not the only meaning this passage has for Dominionist Christians.
TWITTER
CEO of Sex
CEO of Sex
@swer_alt
How To Twitter For SWers (thread):

Twitter can be a great place to grow your fan base, client list, following, etc. It can also be a nightmarish, drama-filled, confusing hellscape. Here are my tips to maximize your Twitter experience.

1/

First understand that Twitter and all social media is only valuable if it adds to your business, as it makes you more money. We’re not tweeting for honor, notoriety, fame. We are tweeting to increase sales. Remember this always, in everything you do, especially social media. 2/

Is Twitter even necessary? Listen, for a long time, SWers were able to make bank without the aid of social media, so the argument can definitely be made that you don’t need to be on social media at all to be successful. And if you’re doing as well as you want to be and/or you 3/

don’t enjoy social media, then you by no means have to master, or even have a Twitter presence. I personally believe in using all the free advertising I can, so while Twitter still allows SWers, I’ll be 4/

here taking advantage of the free exposure. Don’t feel the need to be a Twitter personality if you don’t like it, don’t want or need more exposure or simply don’t find that it adds to your revenue. However, if you hope to improve in these areas, Twitter can be a great way to 5/
TWITTER
John deBary
John deBary
@jnd3001
I didn't drink alcohol for 2020 and now I want to talk about it in a long twitter thread that should probably just be a blog post, but here goes:

(I get into topics like alcohol abuse, mental illness, homphobia, and parental death, just fyi)

Some background first: every year I do some kind of restriction. Last year I only re-read books, another year I didn’t buy any clothes. My dad is catholic and even though I hate the religion, something about the ‘fasting’ elements of lent and advent stuck with me.

I enjoy cutting myself off from things to create space in unexpected places. It's where Innovation and creativity flourish. I did some of my best work for Momofuku Nishi, and @davidchang told me I had to create an Italian cocktail program, but nothing could come from Italy.

My family also loved wine and used connoisseurship to cast consumption in a virtuous light. Opening that 4th bottle of Chateauneuf-de-Pape was *educational*

My mom once yelled at a wine steward for not letting my then-17-year-old brother have a glass of wine with our dinner.

Wine is great though! Beer, spirits, etc. They’re all fascinating things to study on many levels. (Hello I wrote a whole cocktail book)

Plus, they’re fun to drink and usually taste delicious and accompanied most major rituals in my life: birthday, Christmas, weddings, funerals…
TWITTER

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Vilwamangalam Swamiyar was passing this area after Prathista of Padmananbhaswamy Temple, he felt Devi chaitanyam and recognized as Karthyayani Devi. But Devi seeing Vilwamangalam went inside the pond. Swamy searched for Devi continously for 6 days and on 7th day Vilwamangalam


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A thread on how absurd the UK is on transgender issues and how the UK got so transphobic

In 2015 Parliament held an inquiry looking into the state of Transgender equality. Trans people of all stripes outlined many different problems across many, many different areas.

As a result Parliament created a list of recommendations including legal recognition for non binary people, gender recognition act reform, allowing 16 year olds to change their legal gender and reform of NHS gender identity services.

The government under Theresa May ignored everything that was recommended except for Gender recognition act reform. This act came into law in 2003 and gave trans men and women (but not non-binary people) the ability to legally change their gender on their birth certificates.

The process at that time to change your birth certificate under the GRA was to make an application to a panel of cisgender people who would decide if you were sufficiently trans based on your payslips, photo ID and bank statements. You would not get the option to speak to them.

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@VIBHU_Tweet
Santkumaras-The four adorable kids of the Universe.

The Kumaras r the four sages who roam the Universe as children from the Puranic texts of Hinduism named,Sanaka, Sanatana,Sanandana& Sanatkumara.They r described as the first mind-born creations &sons of the creator God Brahma.


Brahma,who had received the knowledge of Puranas from the Universal being(God Himself), imbibed this to his 4 Kumaras.
Sanat Kumaras then taught the Puranas to Narada.Narada transmitted it to Krishna Dwaipayana who in turn scripted them in monumental epic documents of 18 Puranas.

The Vishnu Purana is recorded in two parts,the Vishnu Purana & Naradiya Purana.The teachings of Sanaka of the Kumara brothers r contained in the Naradiya Purana which is also divided in two parts, the first part containing the teachings of Sanaka &second part,teachings of others.


Born from Brahma's mind,4 Kumars took lifelong vows of celibacy against their father's wishes.They r said to wander throughout materialistic &spiritualistic universe without any desire but with the aim to teach.All 4 brothers studied Vedas from their Childhood&travelled together.


The Bhagwata Purana lists the Kumaras among the 12 Mahajanas(great devotees or bhaktas) who although being eternally liberated souls from birth, still became attracted to the devotional service of Vishnu from their already enlightened state.
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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/*


The smile XRP-eyed face also appears related to the Moon. XRP going to the Moon. 4/*


And smile XRP-eyed faces also appear related to Egypt. In particular, to the Eye of Horus. https://t.co/i4rRzuQ0gZ 5/*
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❤✈️🌎 2 years ago today @JamesIvings and I sold all our belongings and left the UK to travel for a year. We've never been happier and we have no plans to ever return there 🙂

Thread 👇

Since then we've started a remote web dev company @SquarecatWebDev and been lucky enough to have completed several freelance projects 💻 that have kept us on the road.

In the last few months we've become a huge part of this amazing new Maker community and have found so many new friends from @makerskitchen, @women_make_ and several others! 🥰

We love travelling together (even if I'm only a glorified laptop watcher 😒) but we're both much happier being able to share our ideas outside of our own little bubble and our products have benefitted too!

Here's to another year of nomading with my favourite person and to the Maker community continuing to grow with our help! Maybe one day we'll all get to meet each other ✌️ 💛
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