As discussed previously, this is my weekly Twitter roundup. Note that tweets of articles generally include header images from the articles, which are not included here unless they happen to be available under a free license. Most are not. But I now add most of my commentary here, where I’m not restricted by the message length.

diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week

I also don’t generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.

9:03 – Mon 10 August 2020

Fed’s big move could help U.S. Treasury liquidity, but effects may not last long from Reuters

…will also purchase Treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support the smooth functioning of the U.S. debt market.

In other words, the government is manipulating the market to make it look like things are good, even with tens of millions out of work and mass evictions.

12:04 – Mon 10 August 2020

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

John Locke

9:04 – Tue 11 August 2020

6 in 10 likely voters support voting by mail from Futurity

We should all be ready for the possibility that it may take days or even weeks before we have the results from this presidential election.

I wish they had dug a bit into any reason why the other forty percent aren’t supportive. If the reasons are due to disinformation as opposed to legitimate concerns, it would make it easier to have the conversation.

12:01 – Tue 11 August 2020

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

John F. Kennedy

9:02 – Wed 12 August 2020

What if Central Park were home to a massive urban farm? from Fast Company

…the media of the time painted the region as a largely empty save for some poor squatters…

The important part of the story isn’t actually the urban farm idea. To summarize, the creation of Central Park destroyed Seneca Village, a neighborhood that was friendly towards Black people who, as the quoted passage mentions, were dismissed in order to gain access to the land.

12:03 – Wed 12 August 2020

Many people would be more truthful were it not for their uncontrollable desire to talk.

Edgar Watson Howe

9:05 – Thu 13 August 2020

Cops Are Very Sorry They Mistakenly Detained a Bunch of Black Girls at Gunpoint from VICE News

The Aurora Police Department has been plagued by other controversies and protests — most notably, the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after being arrested…

To summarize, they pulled over an SUV to pull their guns on and handcuff minors, because they were looking for a motorcycle and—I assume—aren’t sure how those two vehicles differ.

12:05 – Thu 13 August 2020

Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness.

George MacDonald

9:01 – Fri 14 August 2020

Ted Cruz’s Hearing on Anarchist Protest Violence Was a Total Farce from The Intercept

The political affiliations of the man charged in Underwood’s murder have been public knowledge for nearly two months.

It’s clear that Republican politicians are more than willing to overlook any abuses by their voters and donors, while attributing their acts to “the Radical Left” (whatever that might be) to fire up the very people they’re ignoring.

12:02 – Fri 14 August 2020

True friendship is like sound health, the value is seldom appreciated until it is lost.

Charles Caleb Colton

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, here’s a sixth article that didn’t fit into the week, but too weird to not mention.

TikTok Ban: A Seed of Genuine Security Concern Wrapped in a Thick Layer of Censorship from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

…proposed a ban without specifying what the ban would actually be or what authority allows for it.

I agree overall. There are legitimate security concerns about the app, but the idea that an administration that keeps weakening our security is guided by those concerns is far less believable than Trump himself wanting revenge for teenagers making him think he’d have a million supporters attending his rally in Tulsa.


Credits: Header image is Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week from a manuscript drafted during the Carolingian Dynasty.