Twitter in the Sixth Month

June, June, June. It seems like a lot happened in you this year. At least, there were more people writing in all caps than usual.

First there is Ta-Nehisi Coates dealing with Twitter response to his detailed and clear call for the study of reparations to black Americans, first on the topic itself:

The wealth gap [between blacks and whites] is not the result of policy "overlooking" something. It's not "unforeseen events." It's policy "working as intended."

And it was not just "government"--it was banks, block groups and individuals. It was virtually every sector of society.

Housing policy in this country for much of the 20th century sought to preserve white supremacy. By that measure, it was a rousing success.

To be clear, government programs I outline didn't "fail." Intent was to increase white wealth and decrease black. They were remarkably successful.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

And also on the problem of having to respond to all of the stupidity that comes his way:

One way unserious people tire you out is by taking 15 minutes to write something unserious. It takes you four hours to undo their ignorance.

If you get enough people doing this, you won't actually have time to write anything serious again.

The ignorance eats you and they sit back and laugh and move on to write ignorantly about something else.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Then there was the ISIS invasion of Iraq, which somehow made the U.S. media feel it had to give a platform to anyone who advocated the original war:

Amazing how commentary about the Iraq mess is dominated by people who thought invading was a good idea in the first place.
By Robert Wright

Cheney calls Obama "weak," says he doesn't have the backbone required to start costly quagmires and not capture Bin Laden.
By Frank Conniff

Cheney's like a perpetual out-take from Dr. Strangelove, something Kubrick immediately knew just wasn't funny at all.
By William Gibson

In Rare Consensus, Sunnis and Shiites Tell Cheney to Shut Up.
By Andy Borowitz

Every time a Bush neocon speaks about Iraq, a giant Monty Python foot should come down and crush them.


By pourmecoffee

Never underestimate the number of DC folks who believe "bravery" = sitting in a comfy office ordering other people to die in a distant war.
By David Sirota

Hush you guys. The guy who thought Sarah Palin would make a good vice-president is explaining to us what we should do in Iraq.
By Tbogg

Followed by a flood of outrage and irony about the latest mass shootings (I can't even remember which ones these are), segueing into Eric Cantor's primary loss:

How Scott Pelley began the CBS News tonite: If it seems that there's been a school shooting a week since Newtown, that's because there has.
By Michael Moore

Well we could have better background checks for gun owners OR FULL BODY CHILD SIZED ARMOR AND TINY GUNS FOR SCARED CHILDREN.
By jamiekilstein

Let's have a race. You try to get an appointment with a licensed mental health professional and I'll try to get a gun. Ready? I'm done.
By Mike Primavera

In 50 years we went from "Put someone on the moon? Sure!" to "Keep kids from getting shot? Nope, can't be done."
By Matthew Callan

Imagine people who comment on the internet and then imagine them with guns because they actually have guns.
By T.C. Sottek

"Just don't have children!" - the NRA, eventually, probably.
By Connor Goldsmith

Hey @NRA I think there is a problem with your product. People keep using it to shoot children.
By jamiekilstein

Seattle shooting. Here's the rules: 1. Muslim shooter = terrorist 2. White shooter = mental illness 3. Black shooter = culture of violence.
By Michael Ian Black

The trouble with good guys with guns is that we have that already. THAT IS WHAT THE COPS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.
By KillerMartinis

Cantor's loss is "stunning," "an earthquake," and so on. Another school shooting is, well, not so much.
By Martin Austermuhle

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will wake up, check the news, and ask "Who's Eric Cantor?"
By daveweigel

When a political party incites their voters into an angry, paranoid, ignorant mob, they deserve everything they get when they lose control.
By Marco Arment

Finally, a nice selection of funny tweets and my usual hobby horses (education, climate change, public transit, Twin Cities weather).

Arsenic is 17 times more potent as a carcinogen than the EPA reports, and the agency has known it since 2008
By Public Integrity

Without war profiteers there would be no wars, including even the romance of war which is the cruelest manipulation of youth.
By Joyce Carol Oates

Ten years after students were in 7th grade they don't remember some teachers' names -- but we think they'd remember arbitrary content?
By Sisyphus38

The Transformers movies were written by playing Mad Libs with a room full of 11-year-old boys.
By Jenny Jaffe

Necronomemoticon:

By The Clarke Award

Supreme Court: a corporation is a person but someone who is pregnant is not.
By Joe Vaughan

Internet: please stop making everything with video tutorials. I can read faster than you can talk.
By Jeffry van der Goot

I propose a 2-year moratorium on the Gates Education practice of bankrolling policies from which they will later call for 2-year moratoria.
By John Kuhn

Greenscreen-clad workers secretly flip model's hair during shampoo commercials.


By Chris Steller

Invocations of morality (stop snitching, stop listening to hip-hop, stop watching tv) are so often just the sanctification of power.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Passed "Artisan Dental" in Plymouth tonight. It's right next to "Heritage Tanning" and "Handcrafted Orthopedics."
By Jason DeRusha

Never doubt that a large mass of selfish, fossil-fuel-addicted citizens can change the world. One degree at a time.
By God

I searched for "curiosity killed the cat." I was not disappointed:


By Give me Internet

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only robs today of its joy." – Leo Buscaglia
By Best Buddha Proverbs

Am I crazy for thinking that the problem isn't getting women *into* programming but getting the creeps *out* of it? Why is the onus on us?
By Jenn Schiffer

Did you know 2 spaces after a period actually means "please help, I'm being held hostage by my middle school English teacher."
By Aparna Nancherla

This movie has "adult situations"? So, they're gonna, like, get acid reflux and try to set up direct deposit?
By Caissie St.Onge

Idea: Use gypsy cabs to distribute gypsy moth treatments.
By Chris Steller

In USA, 64.5% of schools have 30% or more kids living in poverty - highest rate in industrialized world.


By Steven Singer

Funniest thing about "go back to Africa" is the person who says it has almost always been here less time than the person they're talking to.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

So weird it's not raining.
By Chris Steller

So cheap oil is gone. What are we doing with what's left? Fighting over it. Let's grow up as a species.
By Free Public Transit

The economic "miracles" of the last 200 years are actually cheap energy "miracles." We are getting a reality check.
By Free Public Transit

Don't reassure me that I'm attractive enough to be worthy. Convince me that your respect for me doesn't depend on my looks. #YesAllWomen
By RealSocialSkills

"I don't have time to read" has always struck me as a passive aggressive way of suggesting people who do read live less important lives.
By Mel Salisbury


By Brittney Gilbert

If men had to deal with the harassment women have to deal with we would all have panic rooms and body armor.
By jamiekilstein

Really enjoying the Redskins being upset about the US government taking things from them.
By Gerry Duggan

"Who really benefits when every child on the planet is educated in the same way?" Corporations and governments.
By Nikhil Goyal

Who came up with the idea of darts in a bar? A personal injury lawyer/genius?
By Aparna Nancherla

Why is it never racists who get accused of playing the "race card"?
By jamiekilstein

I'm a George Clinton guy in a Hillary Clinton world.
By Josh Greenman

To design better, write better. To write better, read more. To read more, give yourself quiet time.
By Randy J. Hunt

My analysis of a sneeze vs. a toot:


By Matthew Inman

The people promoting the theory of disruption somehow never seem to suffer from it financially.
By Helaine Olen

I want to live in a world where your gender won't affect your presidency, but your support of NAFTA and unending war will.
By jamiekilstein

When you're used to recycling being near-ubiquitous (as in Bay Area), trash cans in other cities look as barbaric as smoking on airplanes.
By Steven Johnson

Someone has pointed out that St. Paul is mentioned in the bible but Minneapolis is not, right?
By Melissa

Conservatives want big houses & liberals want walkable communities:


By Conrad Hackett

"Do you want your receipt?" is the new "Paper or plastic?"
By Chris Steller

"Diversity" is a defensible goal. It should not be conflated with destroying white supremacy nor with ending segregation.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

A great way to do planning is to watch people and see how they do things.
By William Lindeke

New Rule: If you don't accept science, you're not allowed to use a computer to explain why.
By Hemant Mehta

I want a world where the First African female Boeing captain Koki Mutungi gets more media coverage than a socialite:


By Comrade Brother B

LOL My son just said he thinks the Republicans are trying to solve the immigration problem by making this a really crappy place to come to.By Ann-Marie Poli

Jesus, take the wheel. Now grab this box. And the other end of this couch. Thanks for helping me move, Jesus.
By Jason Sweeney

I actually said this at a client meeting: "That sounds like we're putting the cart before the can of worms."
By Karl Pearson-Cater

I've reached that age where you realize most the issues with your family are indeed your fault.
By jamiekilstein

If the war on drugs were about anything but locking up poor black people the cops would be raiding music festivals instead
By Amber

Chelsea Clinton, Meghan McCain, Luke Russert, and Abbie Huntsman. Ronan Farrow walks in. "'Sup, guys. Wanna talk entitlement reform?"
By Matt Christman

Can't be unseen:


By Meredith Frost

Next generation: do me a favor and stop signing up for Wall Street. Go into the sciences, okay? Science is WAY COOLER than greed. Thanks.
By Kristen Schaal

French opinion polls '45, '94, 2004 — Who contributed more in defeating Nazi Germany? Amazing what Hollywood can do:


By A.X. Ian

Oh this bullet proof kids blanket thing isn't a joke?
By jamiekilstein

"How do you spell 'utilize'?" "U-S-E."
By Jason Sweeney

Something that even Lord of the Rings got wrong: You don't "fire" arrows, you loose them.
By Oliver Kealey

Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different. - C.S. Lewis
By Pamela Sutherland

Strong contender for the best New Yorker cartoon ever:


By Louise Brealey

It kind of bums me out that U of Minnesota students live in decked-out pseudo-dorm apartments instead of dilapidated 6-BR houses now.
By RandBall

You know what's great about reading the newspaper? The text doesn't move up or down or completely disappear while you're reading it.
By Robert O. Simonson

Press is focusing on Hillary in 2016 because nothing that is happening in 2014 will have any impact on your life at all.
By Frank Conniff

OK but energy drink companies are a close 2nd. MT @redbull: The biggest enemy you have to deal with is yourself:


By Chris Steller

You can't build a stable economy on top of an unstable climate.
By ClimateWisdom

SEVEN OTHER HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE: Nagging Scapegoating Narcissism Weaponry Inherited wealth Total lack of scruples Cocaine.
By God

Bill & Melinda Gates, Obama & Arne Duncan are parents of school-age children ... None of those children attend schools that use #CommonCore.
By Helaine Olen

It's amazing how someone's IQ seems to double when you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them. – Tim Ferris
By Bruce Van Horn

Really how evil do you have to be to just say "Let's put spikes on the ground so homeless people can't sleep there."
By Derek

If Game of Thrones has taught us anything, it's that you can keep events secret from the majority of people simply by putting it in a book.
By MostDeaf

Avoid comparing yourself with other people. You’ll never know the truth about them, and it’s just wiser to enjoy your own happiness.
By Life Advice

Which came first, the $4 coffee or convincing ourselves that $4 coffee tastes like it's worth $4?
By Janine Brito

When people say schools teach children "discipline," they really mean conformity and obedience to authority.
By Nikhil Goyal

At risk of sounding like an arrogant dick, I must say this grant writing job is the easiest thing I've ever had:


By Tant Aminella

Anytime somebody begins a statement with "The Bible is clear that..." it usually means they are about to say something that isn't clear.
By Brittney Cooper

The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.
By Just Do It!

Central time zone is far superior for TV timing.
By Matt Bruenig

Something about hearing a 13-year-old use the phrase "At the end of the day" is ineffably sad.
By Robert O. Simonson

For the $6.6B Walmart spent on share repurchases in 2013, it could give its 825k low-wage employees a $5/hour raise.
By Demos_Org

Re #Bergdahl: If we're trying people for causing the deaths of soldiers, I know of a lot of people more culpable than a depressed private.
By tom ricks

Parenting:


By Rusty Foster

Monthly reminder on the power of culture: in Iceland, horses are more a boy thing and math is more a girl thing.
By Kathy Sierra

White people declaring what the new civil rights issue of our time is while blacks are still incarcerated at 6 times the rate of whites.
By Maury Compson

I think that hard work, talent and phenomenal, life-changing luck can coexist in someone’s situation. It’s not either or.
By Rainbow Rowell

4-year-olds ask 340 questions per day on average, adults ask only 20. You can't innovate w/o asking questions.
By Neil Blumenthal

To those claiming climate protection will destroy the economy, here's how past claims panned out. (Updated to 2013.)


By Peter Gleick

Libraries should adopt the expression "On Demand."
By emilynussbaum

Corn ethanol is a bum deal… It produces 18 gallons of fuel pre acre. Algae produces 2500 gallons of fuel per acre.
By Stephanie Curtis (citing Ramez Naam who was speaking at the Top Coast gathering)

Fruit Leather sounds like an old hippie biker's nickname.
By Janine Brito

GOP's idea of the average voter: "I don't need food, housing or healthcare, as long as you nail this whole Benghazi thing."
By Frank Conniff

Grant me the wisdom to engage the critics I can learn from, the courage to block the trolls I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference.
By Laurie Penny

I like how Google's driverless car assumes we'd still want to sit and look out the windshield instead of eating pizza in a moving bathtub.
By Tim Siedell

Corporations are not people. Business interests are not people. Brands are not people. Stop valuing them more than humanity.
By Chris Kluwe

I experience an unusual amount of satisfaction from the process of formatting text.
By Nick Sherman

How did businesses manage to survive without after-hour emails and work done at home? It's a real mystery.
By trifecta

Handy always to have a shot of perspective:


By Alain de Botton

The capitalist imagination: It's easier to imagine a fleet of self-driving cars than cities with free efficient public transit. Or bike lanes.
By Astra Taylor

WE ALREADY HAVE DRIVERLESS CARS THEY ARE CALLED TRAINS AND THEY ARE PUBLIC AND GREAT AND THEY COULD USE SOME INFRASTRUCTURE BY THE WAY.
By Manjula Martin

And this nice little couplet to end it:

There should be separate terms for fonts designed for actual use & those made primarily to promote a person, brand or product.
By Nicole Dotin

Fonts for the former, ‘flaunts’ for the latter?
By Brook Elgie