Well, September 2019. We're ending with sheer indescribability (I think the president encouraging civil war if he's impeached qualifies). A week of climate strikes around the world with more than 7 million people participating. And so many stories earlier in the month that I had mostly forgotten them in the midst of the latest weeks' havoc. Hey, remember there was more news about Brett Kavanaugh waving his penis in a young woman's face in college? And the Amazon was burning? And the thing with the hurricane and the Sharpie? That was in September too!
How can do I anything but start with the onset of impeachment, our dear leader in general, a few recent bad policy changes, and his swampy swamp:
Any president who would prefer civil war to being removed from office does not love their country and is certainly not serving itAt a few points, it was possible to pay attention to the Democratic primary race:
Katie Mack @AstroKatie
Gingrich went on Fox News and called this a coup. It’s obvious the talking points are out and the think tanks and strategists have decided to frame impeachment as treason. This isn’t an exaggeration. It’s just truth. People are going to die if this continues. Republicans and Fox News and everyone continuing to hitch their wagons to Trump need to realize that framing a legal investigation into criminal activities as a coup is going to result in deaths. Many, many preventable deaths.
Jared Yates Sexton
This quote from Mick Mulvaney, then in Congress, is just absolutely jaw-dropping:
David Roberts
Reminder: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) has spent more than $245,000 at Trump properties since Donald Trump was elected. Before Trump was elected: $743.93.
Zach Everson
So today Trump threatened a whistleblower, accused one or more of his top national security aides of being spies, demanded a House Chair be interrogated on suspicion of treason and threatened to foment a civil war if he is removed from office.
Josh Marshall
(She has no idea the stormtroopers are the bad guys):
[Original tweet by Ivanka Trump said: "The Force is strong in my family"]
Ben Wexler
that feeling when even the street signs seem to be screaming at you:
John Schwartz
Just a reminder that Giuliani’s son works for the Trump administration... Maybe he shouldn’t be talking too much about Joe Biden getting his son special favors when he has done the exact same thing
Roland Scahill
Trump has committed, like, 15 more crimes since they launched the impeachment inquiry lol. To be fair, it's probably very hard to make the pivot from mobbed up "legitimate businessman" to ethical head of state.
Bree Newsome Bass
Isn’t it interesting how a lack of English fluency is weaponized against immigrants of color, but when it comes to the white house, grammar and spelling inaccuracies are not only acceptable, but even seen as a sign of anti-elitism/populism?
@iamlisako
Donald Trump was so terrified of losing next year, he threatened to leave an ally helpless against Russian tanks. There. That’s the message.
The Hoarse Whisperer
Tip for other countries: Don't allow your worst person to become president.
LOLGOP
Someone called it the “Teapot Dope Scandal.”
Gordon G. Forbes
It’s so weird how the same people willing to take people’s children away from them for committing a misdemeanor BECAUSE IT’S ILLEGAL are so blasé about alleged collusion with foreign governments.
Jennifer Mendelsohn @CleverTitleTK
How many times does Trump have to commit treason before it equals one Obama tan suit?
Travis Allen
here's the thing: we are at the point where if pelosi stonewalls impeachment and trump wins reelection, "impeachment" as a constitutional remedy effectively doesn't exist.
@jbouie
I'm spending Saturday morning on Google trying to figure out what kind of system of government we can be with a president who is immune from the rule of law. You will NEVER SELL ME on the Framer's intent to be presidential legal immunity. And if the system they designed unintentionally produced it (hyper-partisanship rendered impeachment inoperable) they would expect us to fix the system. They would NOT excuse us for rolling over
@RachelBitecofer
Found it:
Justin Case
If Donald Trump is not impeached, we might as well remove the clause from the Constitution. Consider future generations when they say, "Well, you have to do worse than Trump to be impeached..." Not tenable. The death of "no one is above the law."
David Rothkopf
Among the varieties of intellectual rot that Trump and his GOP supporters have enthusiastically promoted includes American versions of Lysenkoism. (Who would would have thought?)
Langdon Winner (commenting on the administration's attempted interference with the National Weather Service)
Between Russia and the Taliban, the commander-in-chief sure does have a soft spot when it comes to the scum who attack America.
Adam Parkhomenko
whoever first called Trump a DDoS attack on democracy had it exactly right.
Tom Tomorrow
It’s times like these where it would have been nice if Mueller (or someone) had investigated all the secret financial ties between Trump, his family and administration and Saudis.
Jesse Eisinger
Trump has spent twice as much bailing out farmers from a trade war he started than Obama spent bailing out automakers from a recession he didn't start.
Noah Smith
$600K... That's how much Mike Pence charged taxpayers to ferry him between Trump's resort and his meetings in Ireland. We are becoming immune to Trump and his enablers subsidizing trips to his properties on the taxpayer's dime. We must demand an end to this corruption.
Robert Reich
Pence officials said on the record that the president suggested Pence stay at his hotel. Later in the day Pence’s office called stories quoting those statements false and blamed the press.
Maggie Haberman
I think I just heard Upton Sinclair’s ghost scream WTF! Risking food safety, USDA plans to let slaughterhouses self-police.
George Burgess
trump brags about "tallest building" on 9/11, lies about helping 1st responders, and seeing Muslims celebrate.
North Carolina Republicans hold a vote while Democrats attend 9/11 event.
GOP: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Spare me the fake fucking outrage on Ilhan Omar.
@mmpadellan
There’s just no world in which it’s remotely acceptable for the president to also own and manage an opaque web of operating companies, which is why candidate Trump promised not to do it.
Matthew Yglesias
I'm confused re the security strategy of:
-leaving the Iran deal that was working
-offering Kim Jung Un a presence on world stage without concessions
-cancelling Russian sanctions when they’re still in Ukraine
-conducting talks with the Taliban while they attack Afghans
-starting a trade war with China
Mark Hertling
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. Saudi Aramco, which was attacked, is state-owned. The state is the Saudi royal family, right? So we’re sending our military men and women to defend the commercial interests of Saudi royalty. Feel free to correct me if I’ve got this wrong.
Jennifer Bennon
You would think the opposition party would have a field day with a president cancelling a trip to commemorate WWII so he could monitor a hurricane only to then be spotted playing golf two days in a row at his personal club. But I can’t even recall seeing one Democrat take a whack
Sam Stein
NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump.
The Washington Post
Stop joking about Trump. Even his most buffoonish behavior is exposing that our institutions are wildly susceptible to authoritarian behavior.
Jared Yates Sexton
An article on how Twitter attacks on Kamala Harris have outnumbered the Twitter attacks on Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar combined. 181,795 against Harris vs. 86,169 against the other 5 candidates combined in the wake of the 1st debates.Climate change and turning the corner on fossil fuels, including the climate strikes:
David Darmofal
I think this should be a Elizabeth Warren's campaign slogan: "Wall Street Billionaires Are Afraid of Me."
Mrs. Betty Bowers
People who excuse Biden with "things have changed" and "he's just old-fashioned" ought to consider the possibility that women NEVER found it charming and what's changed is that more women are writing about politics now.
David Roberts
Biden is an insult to women who want to ask hard questions without being grabbed or told drily what a “lovely person” they are. He is an insult to African-Americans who raise their children with devotion. He is an insult to white people and to men actually working to evolve.
Anand Giridharadas
Joe Biden's answer on how to address the legacy of slavery was appalling -- and disqualifying. It ended in a sermon implying that black parents don't know how to raise their own children. This cannot go on. If you wonder what people mean when they say white supremacy is a problem broader than the KKK, consider how so many pundits thought Joe Biden did great last night, despite this racist, classist, incoherent, and disqualifying moment that should send him into retirement today.
Anand Giridharadas
Watching the Climate Town Hall all night. (ALL night.) Given the many choices we have, Amy Klobuchar supporting fracking is a non-starter. I used to think that this "bridge fuel" idea was viable. Then I learned. And that was before it was widely known how urgent this crisis is.
erica mauter
Biden: "This is America, we can do anything!"
Also Biden: "It's impossible to get the votes to ban fracking."
@custerwork
In organizing, people will often ask, "What's the world you want to live in? Dream big!" I don't think Joe Biden has ever even asked himself that question. It shows in his answers, and it's just sad.
Amity Foster
Record attendance at today’s #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate in Malmö:Sustainable cities and better transportation:
Extinction Rebellion Sverige
We can no longer abandon our neighbors in their time of greatest need. We need to relearn our interdependence. We need to know, deeply know, that there is an alternative to the way things are. There is a version of our story that doesn’t end in apocalypse.
Eric Holthaus
This is how it works: the oil companies say happy-sounding things on climate change, and reap the good PR, while the trade associations to which they belong lobby relentlessly to weaken or block any action on climate.
David Roberts
You can't have it both ways. You can't attack young folk for being self-absorbed and only concerned about makeup tutorials, celebrities and Instagram likes but also attack Greta Thunberg (and other young people) for giving a shit about the planet by saying they should just "be kids."
Tim Wise
Degrowth only degrades your "quality of life" if you've been the beneficiary of the past 30 years of it. For me the problem is that it's an untruth universally held that growth is what makes everyone's lives better.
Dr. Genevieve Guenther
Turns out the hippies were right about almost everything and no one will ever admit it even if it means the f'ing species dying out.
David Roberts
When people tell me it’s “impossible” to cut CO2 emissions in half in a decade, I know that’s just not true. My family and I did it in 2 years, back in 1999, for our own direct emissions — electricity use, heating (in cold Madison, Wisconsin no less), and transportation.
Dr. Jonathan Foley @GlobalEcoGuy
We need to be explicit and persistent in every planning meeting to remind people that things are changing as climate breakdown spirals. There is no status quo to cling to. The only question remaining is whether those who do the most harm choose to act out of their best selves. Yes, I’m subtweeting...anyone who has ever spoken out in favor of driving or parking or neighborhood character, or spoken against density, walking, biking, transit, accessibility, or racial justice. [Dusts off hands and sits.]
happify
The right wing is going hard after Greta Thunberg. Imagine the callous disregard for human decency it takes to troll a 16-year-old because she wants to save the planet and humanity.
Rabbi Latz
i think it’s so important to be fighting against the climate crisis, hence the work that i do. but imagine what it would look like if we had 3+ million students striking against police brutality, indigenous violence/pipelines, environmental racism, etc. there’s a reason why the climate crisis became a big issue. when u see white students striking, the issue is important. but when it’s black+brown students, the issue is barely covered. the climate crisis impacts everyone but we barely talk about the affects black+brown people face and nope this isn’t selfish to want people to care about black + brown people’s livelihood. we aren’t the ones that are the causes of the crisis and yet black and brown people suffer the most. everyone should care about black and brown lives and that should become the “norm”.
isra hirsi
Every time a media outlet gives updates on the stock market's performance, they should be made to also give updates on emissions, global temperatures, deforestation, soil depletion, insect biomass and species extinction.
Jason Hickel
Same:
Sunrise Movement
I'm tired of hearing how much politicians want to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, or 2040, or 2030. If you can't estimate how much your policies will cut emissions by the end of your first term, you're not seriously looking for effective climate solutions.
Max Ghenis
1/3 of the birds died and it's today's No. 16 news story
Chris Steller
I wonder how many Americans understand we've had enough climate insight to be clear that bold action is a good idea since at least the late 90s?
Alex Steffen
The #2 cause of global warming (black carbon) gets into the placentas of fetuses. Study finds air pollution reaches placenta during pregnancy
Mark Z. Jacobson
Amazon’s forest is on fire and the world’s super powers collectivelt pledge $22 million to help. Saudi Arabia’s oil field on fire and the U.S. is "locked and loaded," ready to go to war.
Sam Stein
The Bahamas' contribution to global greenhouse emissions is 0.01 percent of worldwide emissions, yet the country is facing increasing risks that come with sea level rise, warming waters and intensifying storms that can be exacerbated by global warming. InsideClimate News
gen z slang is comprehensive climate plans that have a focus on intersectionality
isra hirsi
Last night, at the Weeds town hall, a middle school teacher asked about the 9/11 anniversary and how it might be connected to climate change. I don't think I was very articulate, but here's what I intended to say. To me, 9/11 is a case study: we reacted to trauma with anger, ignorance, belligerence, blood lust, and a thoroughgoing refusal to engage in any kind of introspection. We took a tragedy and magnified it a hundred-fold, into thousands, millions of tragedies. It should have been a lesson in what that kind of reaction engenders. Talk to any therapist, read any book on trauma, they all agree: rage and revenge are utterly toxic. They do not bring closure, they do not bring resolution, they only extend the trauma. America's rage and lust for revenge led it into a whole series of horrible decisions: endless wars against misidentified enemies, a corrupt surveillance-state apparatus, an ugly, consciously demagogic politics. We indulged our worst impulses, *encouraged by our leaders*. Climate change is, above all, going to manifest as a series of traumas -- storms, heat waves, food shortages, mass migrations, etc. Over and over again, the countries of the world will be forced to decide, explicitly or implicitly, how to react to these traumas. If we once again indulge our worst impulses -- building walls, excluding outsiders, hoarding resources, hypnotizing ourselves with comfortable myths, drawing in our circles of concern -- we will spiral into the shit, like after 9/11, but globally, and irreversibly. That's what 9/11 can tell us about climate change: it is What Not To Do. If we do that, if we react to climate traumas like that, we are all of us irredeemably fucked. Our only hope is to react to trauma with grace, compassion, and solidarity. That's what I would like to tell the middle schoolers of the world: you are going to be tested, again and again. Don't be like your parents. Don't be small; don't retreat behind tribal walls; don't wallow in rage and self-righteousness. Be better. You have to be, or we're all f'd. Climate change will only be overcome if humanity learns to amplify its better instincts and work together for mutual benefit. 9/11 stands as a painful example of what can happen if it goes the other way. It's a choice you'll be forced to make again and again, so be prepared. It's a lot to ask of kids, and, if I'm being honest, quite a long shot, but that's where we are.
David Roberts
Today some of us from People and Planet went to visit the Northern Rebellion in Manchester! XR Northern protestors fighting for climate justice!
People & Planet UoM
When someone tells you to ignore the urgency of the climate crisis because we'll adapt, ask them who they mean when they say "we."
Meg Ruttan Walker @TricksyRaccoon
Humanity's epitaph: "We could have saved ourselves, but activists never messaged us exactly right so we couldn't be bothered."
David Roberts
Those who regard #degrowth as a fringe idea are in for a surprise when the IPCC’s 6th assessment report comes out. It’s going to have a full chapter devoted to de-growing energy demand and material throughput as key strategies for averting climate breakdown.
Jason Hickel
The person who made this mural deserves a medal. #Insectageddon:
GeorgeMonbiot
If the average person simply drove 25 miles per day, rather than 35 (because activities were closer and they no longer needed to) the carbon reduction would be incredible — even without buying an EV. Planning our cities differently is an underappreciated climate strategy.Racism, white supremacy, and police brutality:
Jason Segedy
Do you ever think about the possible regulations that would be great for the environment and public health that "livability" advocates never mention?
• Motor noise limits
• Banning gas-powered lawnmowers, snowblowers, leafblowers, weedwhackers
• No power washing cars
• Lawn chemical bans
Scott Shaffer
This isn’t hard. “I’m very concerned about climate change. That’s why I’m calling for massive investments in transit and infill housing that will reduce the need to drive, and also for investments in electrification of the few vehicles we’ll still need for mobility.” Both/and.
Matthew Lewis @mateosfo
“Flights from airports in the United States were responsible for almost one quarter of global passenger flight-related carbon dioxide emissions.” Aviation pollution is the production of climate injustice.
Dr. Genevieve Guenther
I was Googling Gene Hackman to see what he is up to and last year he bought an e-bike in his hometown of Santa Fe and he looks great at then 88. Thought y’all would want to know.
Lauren Modery @Hipstercrite
Carspeak translation cheat sheet:
"Share the road" = get out of my way
"Darted into traffic" = attempted to use marked crosswalk
"They came out of nowhere" = I wasn't paying attention
"Cyclists don't pay for the roads" = I have no idea how infrastructure is actually funded:
@CarHelmets
lol the streets are noticeably much less congested because of free public transit [in Montreal] for the climate rally today...
@por_ous
Bumper sticker: it will be a great day when public transit is free and the Auto Club has to hold a bake sale to keep a parking lot
Minivet
Kinda wild that gay men can’t give blood, but straight men are allowed to drive cars
Market Urbanism
The 'empty' lane is more space- time- and money-efficient, moving more people more quickly and equitably. It's better for the health of people and planet. Let's build mobility systems that put people before vehicles:
@VisionZeroCA
Everyone should drive around all the time paranoid/terrified of hitting a pedestrian. This is a healthy fear.
Angie Schmitt
"For model year 2017 vehicles, the average fuel consumption per vehicle distance is about 30% higher for SUVs than for cars."
Angie Schmitt
If you fly, you’re in the minority even in the US. If you fly more than once a year, you’re in a small minority. If regular flight seems normal to you, you’re in a social class with disproportionate individual power/influence to address climate breakdown. What if, instead of buying offsets, you committed your time and body to direct action and active agitation as an attempt to repair for the harm you do with each flight? How would that shift our world and your choices?
happify
"[It's not that] per capita emissions aren’t significant, but rather [that] the average American doesn’t fly that often. If you randomly choose an American and calculate their aviation carbon footprint, more often than not it would be zero."
Aarne Granlund
If aliens from space visited us and looked closely at how we’ve been building our cities and suburbs, it would be impossible for them to conclude anything except that we care more about our cars than our kids.
Brent Toderian
More Americans are killed in vending machine accidents than US pedestrians are killed by cyclists.
Peter Flax
Winnipeg’s IKEA parking lot is about the same size as its entire East Exchange District — more than 40 buildings. Interesting that the perception is downtown parking must be directly adjacent to the destination, when people will walk long distances across a mall parking lot:
Brent Bellamy
Honestly, taxing every plane ticket $5 to pay for a national rail program is something I could totally get on board with
Nathaniel Horadam
"In every US city where buses improve, it has happened only through efforts of reformers working in concert inside and outside of government. The big barriers to better bus service are not technical or technological — they’re political and institutional."
Adina Levin
When I am driving, and seeing the world at 40 miles per hour, our streets feel like luxurious, unimpeded freeways that can quickly whisk me to where I need to go. When I am walking, and seeing the world at 3 mph, they feel hostile, inhuman and dangerous.
Jason Segedy
Pilot project in Stockholm - photo radar cameras measure speed of passing cars. Those above the speed limit receive a fine. Those below are entered into a lottery for a chance to win a portion of the fines from speeders (up to $3,000). Average speeds fell from 32km/h to 25 km/h:
Brent Bellamy
Whose time matters? Whose safety matters? The answer to these questions explain why we spend $1 billion on a single interchange for suburban commuters but make bus riders wait in the mud in highway ditches.
Angie Schmitt
“62% of Copenhagen residents are now commuting to work or school by bike — an increase from 52% in 2015 and 36% in 2012, when the City Council launched a 14-year-plan...there are more bikes (675,000) than people and 5X as many bikes as cars.”
Brent Toderian
....The reality of American life is not only that younger people are being preyed upon by climate delay, but also that they're largely shut out from building the lives they want. We see this in myriad ways, from the housing shortage caused by anti-housing planning policies to the death grip of car commuting on transportation planning, to the massive costs of education for the young (and its out-dated lack of focus on the tools they really need). Almost everywhere in America, it's hard to build the low-carbon new, even though younger people have shown that the new is exactly what they want, from walkable neighborhoods to clean energy to bikes to green multifamily buildings. So, if you're a younger person, what you want is a) fast action, b) the chance to build a new low-carbon life and c) a good and meaningful job. Young people have a massive self-interest in pushing that boom to happen as fast as possible—a self-interest every bit as strong (and far more ethical) as the self-interest that older people pursue through gradualism and delay.
Alex Steffen
One of the most under-explored transportation trends is the decline in carpooling. We could double or triple the efficiency of cars RIGHT NOW if we would just put more people in them. The only light vehicle type that averages more than two occupants in the U.S. right now is minivans, and they only have an average of 2.1 occupants. That's so much waste. So much of the problem with cars is that they're mostly empty all the time.
Angie Schmitt
Americans are set to buy 170+ million new cars between now and 2030. At an average cost of around $38K, that's about $6.5 trillion—before accounting for gas (or electricity), insurance, repairs, etc. Imagine what people could do with that money if we made driving optional.
Shane Phillips
Living in a city taught me that I missed out big time not growing up in one. Cities are fun! Living in a suburb taught me that urbanites miss out big time by not having kids around. Kids are fun! Let's build housing so families can live in cities.
Max Ghenis
I have rarely encountered something where there is so much ignorance on when so much is at stake. The basic concepts of traffic calming, safety stats, how speed kills, were well established by the 70s. There is really no "Big xxx" industry opposing change — just bad habits, bad thinking. It's hard work, but most people actually come around once exposed, in my experience. It's just such a huge cultural/education leap, it's really tough sledding. People spouting on Facebook don't come around but when I work someone through it over several conversations, they get it.
kar nels
This is exactly right. Traffic engineering is not a value-free profession, although its practitioners present it as such. It is full of values, but those values are generally not well-aligned with community values.
Charles Marohn
Floating curb bulb:
Dongho Chang
It is also worth pointing out that Urban Renewal as a set of what turned out to be disastrous urban public policy ideas was not solely (and perhaps not even primarily) the work of "urban planners." In many cases, "urban planners" were simply the functionaries. Urban Renewal as a set of policy ideas was the work of a complex web of actors — including elected officials, business leaders, engineers, architects, and even many everyday citizens who bought into its philosophical premises. Those philosophical premises were based on a distillation of modernist ideas from a wide array of thinkers, including LeCorbusier, the Bauhaus school, and even Walt Disney (Tomorrowland opened in 1955).
Jason Segedy
If you want to know how angry a city is, ride a bike through it.
Robin Mazumder
We need to frame it as "lose a parking space or lose a planet" if we’re framing it as loss.
happify
What do I get for living in a multi-unit building and barely ever driving at all? Hint: starts with a z and ends in "ilch"
Avocadoplex (in response to a story about a $12.5k Colorado government rebate for buying a new electric car)
Why is building bike lanes considered “trying to force people out of their cars and onto bikes” but not building bike lanes isn’t considered “trying to force people off their bikes and into cars?”
John Riecke
"The total number of residential housing units permitted in 2018 was roughly the same as the number permitted in 1994, when the country's population was 20 percent less than it is today."
CityLab
To the man who yelled "that's child abuse" at my family today: no, what's child abuse is you sitting in a stationary vehicle (stuck behind a delivery lorry) with your engine on, pumping out toxic fumes:
@bikesandbabies
A proposed plan in Memphis, Tennessee would create a $145 annual sustainability fee for each car registered to a household beyond the second. The proceeds, estimated at more than $9 million, would be dedicated to transit.
Smart Growth America
Today, our eldest transported herself to badminton, while our youngest biked to his friend‘s house. That’s four fewer car trips than if we had driven them each way. Now extrapolate that over a typical week. Cycling cities don’t just make happier kids; they make happier parents.
Modacity
We assume Dutch cities didn’t make huge mistakes like this, but for 40 years, there was an 11-lane motorway cutting right thru Utrecht’s city centre. Now they’ve torn it out to bring back the water:
Brent Toderian
it's interesting that cycling is seen as this activity of effete urban elites while motorcycle riding is what real american do when a touring harley costs, like, tens of thousands of dollars. –Pumpkin Sara Luterman
Matthew Zeitlin
I've wanted to create a version of "Extreme Makeover" but for streets. A crew of tactical urbanists and designers descend on a town and in just 24 hours turn a dangerous arterial into a safe neighborhood street with bike lanes, parklets, planters, etc.
Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke
Cars exactly like this are 100% legal to drive in every city that has banned e-bikes and e-scooters for "safety reasons":
@CarHelmets
I think this is why personal action matters. Affluent culture is fully invested in high-energy lifestyle. Changing what people see as appropriate and want is part of creating the economic and political pressure to make structural change:
Scott Wahlstrom
If your climate action plan doesn't include rapid de-car-ification as part of rapid decarbonization, it's not actually a climate action plan commensurate with what we face.
happify
Every misguided reason people have to oppose bike lanes is a strong reason for more high-quality public transit: people with disabilities, winter, not enough car parking spaces, roads already too small for all the cars on them. And yet they don't support transit either.
kar nels
"While sitting in my plush, luxury SUV, I saw a pedestrian that wasn't fleeing for their life. They were engaged in a behavior I am guilty of all the time from behind the wheel of a massive machine! I am incensed!" –10,000 columnists
Angie Schmitt
The reduction in walking and biking among kids has been one of the most effective social engineering initiatives of the past 50 years. Look at that behaviour change!
Mitchell Reardon
The urban transportation problem was already solved in like 1905, but people refuse to believe it because it didn't involve individual cars.
Adam Kotsko
Something is wrong in America when Michael Thompson, a Black man who sold 3 pounds of weed in 1994, is still in prison in Michigan, a state where it is now legal, yet Beau Maurice Gormley, a white man on probation for rape, raped another woman and got...probation, AGAIN.Sexism, misogyny, and toxic masculinity:
Bishop Talbert Swan
I’d rather be associated with people who drop the f-bomb in public than with people who use the n-word in private.
The Volatile Mermaid @OhNoSheTwitnt
Y'all know damn well that if a Black man had shot and killed an unarmed white woman inside her own apartment, claiming he had entered by accident, wouldn't nobody in this society have time for his tears. The cops probably would've shown up and shot him on the spot.
Bree Newsome Bass
"They found white Americans are exposed to 17 percent less air pollution than what is caused by what they consume."
happify (linking to a study on air pollution)
It's 2019. Capitalize the "B" in Black and stop disappearing us into the white supremacist construct around race. I don't capitalize the "w" in white because whiteness is a fluid social construct that's organized around anti-Black racism and the exclusion of ethnicities.
Bree Newsome Bass
I remember when a white quarterback was taking a knee during the national anthem against abortion and not one person said it was disrespect or called for a boycott.
Spencer @pacers714
Notice that whether white people are using racial slurs or murdering people in a church, the focus is always on whether people of color will behave as model minorities in showing forgiveness for the ongoing brutality of white supremacy.
Bree Newsome Bass
Contrary to the belief that affirmative action denies spaces to "academically talented affluent students while admitting low-income students with lower ability in their place," the easiest category for colleges to admit is actually "below-average students from high-income families." "SAT scores can provide [colleges with] a convenient justification for admitting [these] academically undeserving rich kids" who can pay full tuition. Thus, SAT/ACT – and US News rankings – undermine efforts to promote not only equity but also excellence. "Tuition discounts" (aka "merit aid" to non-needy applicants) are a particular impediment to fairness in higher ed. US colleges now give more aid to students with family income >$100K than to those with family income <$20K!
Alfie Kohn
On racial drug disparities: not only were black addicts treated like criminals while white addicts are now treated like victims, black drug dealers got the book thrown at them and put in jail while these corporate white opioid drug dealers just get to pay a fine and walk away.
Charles M. Blow
Homeless Black woman sends 5-year-old to wrong school: 5 years prison
Wealthy white woman bribes college officials with tens of thousands of dollars: 30 days jail
This is what institutional white supremacy in the criminal justic system looks like. Reprehensible injustice.
Qasim Rashid, Esq.
Thing I said elsewhere that feels shareable: "It's weird how the only white dudes who think I have a problem with white dudes also think I shouldn't mention the term 'white dudes.' Like, they feel called out by a simple mention of their existence." And thus do oppressive systems defend themselves. Even acknowledging that they exist and miiiiight mmmmaybe be unequal is NOT ALLOWED and wrong and how dare u be so political.
N. K. Jemisin
I always say if you think slavery wasn't that bad, how about I come to your house, put you in chains, make you work for me, for free. Beat you when I feel like it. Barely feed you, work you all day, sell your kids, then at night, well ... Any takers? We just getting started. You know I would. Just can't believe none of the folks, who think slavery wasn't that bad, want to be a slave. I say we start with folks still flying Confederate flags. They think the wrong side won so we'll go back to slavery, only we won't be the slaves, they will.
Monica Haynes @thetalkdiva
when people say they hate white people, they don't hate you Karen, they hate the system of whiteness
isra hirsi
This is one of the most famous paintings in American history: Declaration of Independence. I decided to put red dots on all the men who held slaves. Next time someone puts them on a pedestal and says we can't question their judgement on guns or whatever, show them this image:
Arlen Parsa
Dear MenAnd then there was the particular thing about Brett Kavanaugh while he was a Man At Yale:
When you need to get past other men in public spaces, do you touch their lower back and/or hips to gently move them out of the way? If not why not?
Thanks
The Raw asking for (probably) ALL WOMEN
Helen Raw
Men don't dress up as women to harass and rape women. They dress up as cops, judges, and presidents.
@hannahfleche
I would like to know who came up with the idea of telling a woman that she basically scares the hell out of you is a suitable compliment/flirting technique. It’s in these moments that I truly wish I could spontaneously grow horns and breathe fire.
Cacje
Research repeatedly bears this out: Men are actually quite good at detecting the difference between a woman who desires sexual contact with you and one who rejects it.
Amanda Marcotte
“Any woman who puts on pants is considered strong because pants are associated with the patriarchy...a man puts on a dress and it’s disgusting. So what you’re saying is: men are fabulous, women are disgusting. I’m not doing that anymore” —Billy Porter
Mona Eltahawy
Asking men to do better is not misandry. Saying that men should be able to treat women like human beings is the opposite of hating men. What’s hateful and insulting is the assumption that men are born violent and cannot change--and that comes from conservatism, not feminism.
Laurie Penny
“We need to get more girls interested in STEM” doesn’t work if it stands for Scientists Taking Epstein’s Money
Kate Marvel
Dudes, it’s ok to have emotions and to show them. How can being more human make you less of a man?
Hari Kondabolu
A note from a very weary editor, to all male writers: Women's breasts are not communication devices. They are not sending you, or your male protagonists, encoded messages. They are, in fact, insentient. They neither dance nor issue invitations.
Katherine May
Anyone who uses the term “alpha male” unironically when referring to how to interact with women should not be regarded as a credible source for that subject matter whatsoever.
@GSmarts9
Probably not a good sign that if you say “that illegitimately installed sexual predator needs to be impeached” you have to be more specific about who you meanImmigration had a hard time getting the attention it deserved in this cluster of a month, but there were a few:
Jess Dweck
Of course Kavanaugh should be impeached for serial sexual assault, perjury + FBI malfeasance, but also: Every single judge Trump is crowing about must be impeached because they were nominated by a lawless crime-boss hero-of-American-Nazism inciter of massacres. This is non-negotiable.
Eli Valley
would just like to point out that the evangelical right who told me i'd go to hell if i had sex before marriage is now shrugging off a man shoving his penis in a woman's face as "just boyish fun."
Dianna E. Anderson
I’m reminded today of the tear-streaked faces of the clusters of women who were huddled around phones in the Hart Atrium watching Susan Collins’ floor speech announcing her vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. We all knew.
Katelyn Burns @transscribe
Never forget: Mitch McConnell kept one Supreme Court seat vacant for an entire year to get the POTUS he wanted — but the next vacancy couldn't wait 2-3 additional weeks for a real FBI investigation of credible sexual assault charges against the nominee #KavanaughLied
Will Bunch
I want to make sure that we are clear that the New York Times didn't just minimize sexual assault. They are literally framing sexual assault as cool fun at a cool party that a person of color was just not cool enough to understand
@marcformarc
“he was drunk, it’s not his fault”
vs.
“she was drunk, it’s her own fault”
@FeministEmiIy
The guys who cover up multiple sexual assaults by Kavanaugh are the guys Biden and Schumer say we can go back to being super pals with after the Trump unpleasantness has passed.
Oliver Willis
Kavanaugh was essentially raised and groomed by the conservative white elite for his current SCOTUS position. Being empowered to assault women at Yale, then hold a lifetime judgeship making decisions over their bodies, is what makes him part of the ruling white patriarchy.
Bree Newsome Bass
POTUS who got 3 million fewer votes appointed one justice to stolen seat and another credibly accused of sexual harrasment. Senators who voted to confirm Gorsuch and Kavanaugh represented 22 million and 38 million fewer Americans than senators who opposed them. This is not democracy
Ari Berman
the kavanaugh stuff is so fucking depressing because it was never that they didn’t think it happened, it was always that they just didn’t think it was a big deal
Andrea Long Chu @theorygurl
This happened to me at Walmart: A lady just asked me why was I talking in spanish and I told her “I’m sorry ma’am, I speak four languages so this is not your motherfucking business at all”Politics in general:
Day Camacho
Just a reminder that more kids have died in ICE custody than from vaping, just in case you actually thought Trump gave a shit about kids.
Travis Allen
Trump to plow through 20 precious archeological sites in Arizona to build a massive monument to white supremacy and American stupidity.
Steve Silberman
My parents voted to Leave to "stop all these immigrants." They have both subsequently died in the past 3 years. We watched, as each in turn were nursed to a dignified and comfortable death by nursing and care staff from the European Union. The irony was not lost on us.
@Bright_on_Eye
I retired from the Army in 2018 after serving for 21 years. If you are a Republican who supports money being stolen from the military and used for The Trump Wall, do me a favor. Stop thanking me for my service. Stop saying you support the troops. Because you’re full of shit.
@PeoplesCourt79
Today's must-read, highlighting how much of immigrant panic is based on myth and amplified by propaganda. "A recent study found that Americans ... think the foreign-born make up around 37% of the population; in reality, they are only 13.7%."
Jennifer Mendelsohn @CleverTitleTK
I'm still not convinced that "moderate" is an actual political position because it's entirely predicated on finding common ground between both sides, even in an era where one side is fascism.There were more than a few about the guns overrunning our country:
Bree Newsome Bass
Thinking about the forthcoming U.S. and U.K general elections makes me very anxious and nervous. It represents the greatest opportunity for the progressive left to seize power and transform society for the poor and working class in modern history. We cannot squander this moment.
Nikhil Goyal
What's the point of this thread? Same point I always make. Defending democracy was easier for the major parties when they understood the republic to be whites only. Now there are prominent young women of color in the House and upholding Constitutional democracy means confronting white supremacy.
Bree Newsome Bass
There are a lot of really angry people in my mentions who probably don't understand why their grandkids never come to visit.
Kevin M. Kruse
Republicans only seem to believe in “states rights” when it comes to denying people freedom and advancing their personal agenda.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Trump: “Having lost the popular vote but assumed office anyway, I passed unpopular legislation thanks to a gerrymandered House and am now relying on the unrepresentativeness of the senate to get away with a huge crime spree.”
Journalists: The country is too polarized.
Matthew Yglesias
The Brexit mess is teaching the UK that it needs Europe more than the reverse. The Trump mess teaches the US the same about the world. The turn inward to isolationism reflects their systemic problems and only makes them worse.
Richard D. Wolff
Trump and Brexit are rebellious against many things, but in part they are rebellions against complexity, and the fact that life is full of complex trade-offs and ambiguities. The constant simplifying anger of social media (on all sides) helps this mindset
Johann Hari
Every time a civil protester is treated like a terrorist, democracy retreats a little further.
GeorgeMonbiot
If conservatives got as mad about the gun violence epidemic or the climate crisis as they do about teenagers trying to solve those problems we could actually solve those problems.Health care, but really mostly health "insurance":
Adam Best
Joseph N. Cohen
There is no way you will ever convince me that arming yourself to shoot a fellow American is somehow patriotic.
David Hogg
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Jesus did not own a glock.
Ashley C. Ford @iSmashFizzle
Imagine if we had a 9/11 style terror attack every month. THAT is the toll of gun violence. 40,000 people a year. 13 9/11 equivalent attacks. Every. Single. Year.
Rhonda Hart @KimsMom3
If one weighs the benefits of having millions of American children engage in active shooter drills vs. the anxiety, mistrust, questioning and lack of control being instilled in generations of American children, I would lean toward not having the drills.
Andrew Yang
Second Amendment history: Until 1959, every law review article on the amendment concluded it didn't guarantee an individual right to a gun. Law review pieces saying the opposite started to appear in the late 1970s, some funded directly by the NRA.
Brennan Center
Hear Me Roar @Stop_Trump20
The NRA was quite uncharacteristically against open-carry rights in '67 when the Black Panthers were packing heat. But sure, it's irrelevant.
@Filtheon
its weird that only white men get the type of mental illness that causes people to do mass shootings
@ManlnTheHoody
I still can’t believe people are citing debunked studies to argue violent crime rates determine police killings rates. That study used 2015 data, in which levels of police killings didn’t at all reflect levels of violent crime:
Samuel Sinyangwe
The same people who wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the country because they said it was a safety issue refuse to ban assault weapons despite the carnage these guns have caused in the US!
@DeanObeidallah
Say I am in a church in Texas (humor me) .. a guy walks in with his big gun.
How do I know if he is a bad guy with a gun or fancies himself a good guy with a gun?
Do I have to wait until he starts shooting - or not?
Do I dive under the pews or wait for the first body to fall?
@Sabrina_McDa
This is pretty typical for gun and #2a enthusiasts who slide into my DMs...
igorvolsky
has anyone ever done a study on the negative health effects of the stress of dealing with health insurance companies?Wow, there were a lot about education this month, at multiple levels. Maybe because it was back-to-school month:
Tom Tomorrow
People generally don’t understand how much they’re getting screwed over by our current health insurance system
James Medlock
NEW: Health insurance costs for a family top $20,000 per year. “It’s as much as buying a basic economy car, but buying it every year.”
John Tozzi
Thinking about how 50 years of price gouging has made it true that revoking access to health insurance means revoking access to healthcare. Health insurance was supposed to be for stuff like car wrecks and debilitating illness. Now an ER visit for a broken wrist is $15,000.
Kameron Hurley
I have to say I disagree with Bernie and Warren on Medicare for All because I am emotionally attached to Aetna. I love my incomprehensible co-pays and deductibles and co-insurance. For Valentine's Day fingers crossed they'll add an administrative fee.
Matt Stoller
“I’ve never met anybody who likes their insurance company.” Elizabeth Warren channeling anyone who has dealt with an insurance company!
Lydia Polgreen
New paper: More than 40% of white Harvard admits are athletes, legacy, Dean’s interest (donors' kids), or children of faculty. Researchers find:Income inequality, wage theft, and better ways to organize an economy:
1. 70+% of such admits would be rejected without preferences.
2. Without these preferences, total admits would be more diverse.
Derek Thompson
Teachers, please don't tell students to "be respectful" when what you really mean is "be compliant." It's really confusing.
Katy Purviance
Teachers who listen to kids’ conversations, observe their projects, and read their writing don't need to use tests. But this assumes kids have a chance to converse, design projects, and write. If they just listen to lectures and do worksheets, there’s not much authentic learning to BE assessed.
Alfie Kohn
Eminent math educator C. Kamii used to believe that teaching kids algorithms - i.e., formulas/procedures, like borrowing - would just be less effective than having them construct their own problem-solving strategies. She found that teaching algorithms is actually harmful. Kamii: "Children become mindless after being taught algorithms and it's very hard to cure them. [Also,] the lower the child's cognitive intellectual level, the more the child is harmed. [Struggling kids] become rigid, mindless machines. I wouldn't EVER teach them algorithms!" Research confirms this - across topics and kids' ages. Oregon study: "Children lose conceptual knowledge when they learn these rules." Louisiana study: "Initial rote learning of a concept can create interference to later meaningful learning." Yet direct instruction in math is still the rule.
Alfie Kohn
Liberal arts grads are the tortoises of the workplace: They start slow, but eventually win the race. STEM grads take an early earnings lead. But over time, as tech skills grow obsolete, humanities ans social science grads usually catch up and often surpass.
Daniel Pink
my kids have homework in fourth grade I didn't do until junior high. they're trained in what to do if a person with a gun comes into their *school.* and kids just a couple years older than them are flooding the streets with political purpose. that's *focus.*
Saladin Ahmed
Just before his death in 1952, John Dewey reflected on how little of his vision had made it into schools, how the changes that did occur were merely "atmospheric" and hadn't "really penetrated the foundations of the educational institution," leaving its "fundamental authoritarianism" intact. Other observers have agreed. Historian Ellen Lagemann: "One cannot understand the history of education in the United States during the 20th century unless one realizes that Edward L. Thorndike won and John Dewey lost." New essay by @DLabaree: "Dewey's undiminished prominence in the realm of educational ideas is a sign of his failure in changing America's schools," whereas many of the behaviorists are forgotten precisely because their ideas have triumphed.
Alfie Kohn
Shower thought: for all the attention and angst over "teaching to the test," we seem pretty complacent with "teaching to assess" as a purpose for learning. If that's not the case, how else do students talk about their learning except through the language of assessment and grading?
Nick Covington
Not only is the term "grit" patronizing AF...but it also masquerades as inspiration when in reality, it's dystopian to tell children of color that facing brutal systemic barriers designed to erase them simply requires them to suck it up.
Arash Daneshzadeh
I will never understand how republicans get the ‘fiscally conservative’ label when they give billions of dollars in tax breaks to multi-billionaires WHO DON'T NEED IT. And in the meantime, teachers can't afford supplies for their classrooms #smdh
Valerie Bertinelli @Wolfiesmom
Legacy college admissions are insane, and good on the New York Times for coming out against them. But this BS has to stop: “The policies originated in the 1920s, coinciding with an influx of Jewish and Catholic applicants to the country’s top schools.” It wasn’t a fucking coincidence.
Dr. Joanna Scutts
While there are 77% more female teachers than male, men make up 77% of administrators. Men still experience accelerated career advancement in a female-dominated profession. And of those administrators, 91.8% are white. There's layers to the inequality.
@thesassyteach
What do people think about public ownership [in Britain]?
76% want publicly owned railways
83% want publicly owned water
77% want publicly owned energy
81% want publicly owned schools
84% want a publicly owned NHS
70% want publicly owned parks
Public ownership is popular
We Own It
once a month some hedge fund manager or another goes on TV and says like "if you vote for anyone who says the rich have too much power I swear to god I will dictate the course of this election"
@The_Law_Boy
THERE IS NO ETHICAL CONSUMPTION UNDER CAPITALISM AND TRYING TO CALL PEOPLE HYPOCRITICAL FOR ACTUALLY LIVING IN THE WORLD WHICH CAPITAL AND INDUSTRY MADE AND ENFORCES UPON US IS IDIOTIC WHICH IS WHY IT APPEALS SO MUCH TO CONSERVATIVES
@JewishWorker
I'm not trying to take sides here, but when something is so clearly work and when people are so clearly acting as workers, let's not deny reality, let's not do Orwellian somersaults, let's call work work, let's call workers workers and let's call employees employees.
Steven Greenhouse (referring to Lyft and Uber and similar enterprises)
We are told we have to go to college to get a job. We are told we have to go into debt to go to college. We are told we have to work for the rich to pay off our debt to the rich. We are told this is freedom.And after all that, the best of the rest:
Existential Comics
Whenever wealth taxes come up, one should point out that Switzerland, that socialist hellhole, has one.
Kevin Schawinski
New research: If you want to help low-income communities, don't help people move away to richer places, or pay big firms to move in. Help strengthen local economic activity and support many small bets on business growth. I would add to the article's proposed policy solutions: support walkable communities and their associated local-serving businesses. This creates highly efficient, low-cost communities with maximum access to the opportunities generated by nearby humans.
Tristan Cleveland @LUrbaniste
They should make a Totalitarian Monopoly game to teach kids about what's happening in U.S. government right now. Everyone gets $200 at start, but when they pass go, the player that's the totalitarian flips the board over and seizes whatever they want while the other players point to the rules
Bree Newsome Bass
if we didn't structure the market to give all the money to rich people we wouldn't have to work so hard at making the tax system more progressive (which we should)
Dean Baker
In 1968, a full-time worker earning minimum wage could support a family of three, according to an analysis by @metaCoop. Today, it's not enough to keep a family of two out of poverty, nor to afford rent on a 2BR apartment in any state, county or metropolitan area.
Economic Policy Institute
This graph from Economic Policy Institute is one of the most important graphs of the United States that exists. The single best way to fight income inequality is to support unions. They make society more fair, make work better, and, according even to places like the IMF, are good for growth:
Bobby Kogan
There are two types of people on Neighborhood Facebook:
I need a Contractor
and
I need a Therapist
@TomBasgen
if George Carlin were alive today alt-right conservatives who are now trying to appropriate him for their cause would be calling him an "easily triggered snowflake social justice warrior who loves cancel culture"
@zei_nabq
In the 1920s, the phrase “the 21st Century” was already pop-ubiquitous. How often do we see the phrase “the 22nd Century” now?
William Gibson @GreatDismal
We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications executives has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold.
Scott Galloway @profgalloway
Cyamus boopis is a species of louse that lives exclusively on humpback whales. It is often found in the genital folds and wounds. [There were photos in the original. Yum.]
@StrangeAnimaIs
My Peach Cosmos seeds arrived late and are just now starting to bloom. Worth the wait:
James @eBikeSTP
Differences in the chemical composition of urine caused by changes in diet mean that many medieval recipes for paint etc don’t work right unless you get the urine from someone whose diet resembles a medieval one. (Tested in illuminated manuscript labs, thank you book historians!)
Ada Palmer
i wish more illustrators understood that tall women tend to have big feet.
Nnedi Okorafor, PhD
Driving a Jeep doesn’t make you cool or youthful. It’s just like this triumph of corporate branding. Based on militarization of cars. They’re unsafe and overpriced.
Angie Schmitt
One of the jarring things about getting older is the realization that an increasing number of the people that you know who die are people that you can remember vividly from when they were younger than your current age. It focuses your mind on how short our time here really is.
Jason Segedy
WeWork CEO Adam Neumann:
1. Hopes to “live forever”
2. Is considering running for “president of the world”
3. Is trying to become the world’s first trillionaire
4. Runs a company that loses $500 million every 90 days
Judd Legum
I can’t remember who said that antivaxxers are just “faeries took away my child and left a changeling” in modern form, but damn, does that thread ever make it clear.
@courtneymilan
British politics, pick a side:
Andrew Ellis
If we still feel rage at blatant injustice, there's still hope for our country. Rage and hope are the same.
Eric Holthaus
if you’re starting a question with, “this might sound offensive...” then it’s probably a sign that you shouldn’t ask the question.
isra hirsi
"Fat shaming is just bullying... While you're encouraging people to think about what goes into their mouths, think a little harder about what comes out of yours." –James Corden
Joan Price
Disability IS fluid. This isn't arcane knowledge. Many (most?) Disabled people have good days and bad days. Often we pay for "good" days with a whole string of "bad" days.
@EbThen
Twitter too stressful for you? Follow more botanists. [Which was followed by the next tweet.]
Jarrett Walker @humantransit
There are wattles ... and then there's the flat wattle, Acacia glaucoptera. Also known as clay wattle, it comes from the south of Western Australia. This one is growing at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne:
Stuart Williams
Comedians: we are the bold speakers of truth to power, shining a light on society that no one else can Also comedians: hey, it's just a joke that doesn't mean anything. Lighten up.
Party Thrash Dad @bornwithatail_
Hill I will die on: American cereals are just desert you pour milk on.
@Neomischa
That feeling when you find a graphic you've been looking for forever. In 1949, LIFE magazine broke it down:
@carolineavenue [click to enlarge... lots of details]
In a country where Christians get mad when Starbucks cups aren’t Christmas-y enough, it’s hard to imagine conservatives have what it takes to die for their faith.
Sarahbeth Caplin
In Germany, the percentage of convictions that lead to a prison sentence is 6. So, 6 percent of the people convicted of a crime go to jail. In the Netherlands, that number is 10 percent. In the United States, it's … 70 percent.
Lydialyle Gibson
joke's on you if you think i'm remembering which one Jonathan Franzen is
@RubyGraceLevine
Tonight. Manhattan DA Cy Vance's office requested that a person charged with petit larceny for *stealing a loaf of bread* be sentenced to 30 days on Rikers. With good time, they'd serve 20 days. At approximately $800/day, that's $16k. And upon release, they'd still be hungry.
Scott Hechinger
Suicide is the number-one killer of autistic adults without intellectual disability after heart disease. Too many of my friends have attempted this year already. This is the real autism crisis, and almost nobody is doing anything about it.
@slooterman
Conventionality is not morality.
@BigIndianGyasi
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