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.

9:04 – Mon 25 January 2021

How to Find and Bug the Correct Local Politician to Actually Get Stuff Done from VICE

…it’s the local officials, like mayors, state representatives, and even school board members, who make the greatest impact on daily life in your community.

This is good information to have on hand. As I’ve been saying for a while, now, the difference between a political movement and a mere political campaign is what happens when there isn’t an election coming. White nationalists have shown a willingness to pressure elected officials at all levels. Because white nationalists are wrong about…well, everything, the rest of us need to step up, too.

Always remember that noted racist Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law and right-wing criminal Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, actions that seem absurdly progressive in 2021. They didn’t do these things because they were secretly nice people. They did them because they were terrified of the pressure they’d feel—from pressuring smaller offices to mass demonstrations to general strikes—if they failed.

12:03 – Mon 25 January 2021

What you cannot enforce, do not command.

Sophocles

9:02 – Tue 26 January 2021

This gorgeous new children’s book celebrates Black Lives Matter from Fast Company

Others, like playwright August Wilson or painter Jacob Lawrence, may offer new sources of inspiration.

I’m always happy to see projects that work to surface a more diverse group of role models for people.

12:04 – Tue 26 January 2021

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

9:03 – Wed 27 January 2021

Facebook Is Still Letting Lies About George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and Breonna Taylor Spread Unchecked from VICE News

…at least several of the same accounts spreading the disinformation have in recent weeks urged their followers to attend the pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6…

There is a direct and unconcealed line from the Lost Cause narrative to the Southern Strategy to the Tea Party movement to the whiny and violent backlash against Black Lives Matter to everything done to keep Donald Trump in office. So, of course the same accounts are spreading misinformation about both. And, of course, my opinions on social media’s cozy relationship with white nationalists are probably well-known to anybody reading here.

12:01 – Wed 27 January 2021

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

William Hazlitt

9:05 – Thu 28 January 2021

State Legislatures Make “Unprecedented” Push on Anti-Protest Bills from The Intercept

…these bills were teed up long ago to criminalize peaceful protest, stifle speech, and obscure the clear distinction between First Amendment rights and a violent insurrection.

The article doesn’t make it nearly clear enough that these are reactionary (Republican) politicians trying to exploit the legitimate fear of further reactionary violence in order to silence peaceful liberal/progressive protests, because they’re terrified of being asked to consider the possibility that Black lives matter, women aren’t wombs with feet, and immigrants aren’t marauding villains.

12:02 – Thu 28 January 2021

A genius is just a talented person who does his homework.

Thomas A. Edison

9:01 – Fri 29 January 2021

1965 Klan crackdown has lessons for fighting white supremacy from Futurity

This led police to, for the first time, challenge KKK rally permit requests and aggressively investigate cross burnings and other intimidation tactics they had previously dismissed.

As I mentioned above, we’ve been here before. If we can’t be bothered to learn what happened those times, it’s easy to see that things aren’t going to go well at all.

12:05 – Fri 29 January 2021

If what I do prove well, it won’t advance.

They’ll say it’s stolen, or else it was by chance.

Anne Bradstreet

Bonus

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

Cops Arrest Essential Union Workers Striking for $1 Raise from VICE Motherboard

It is outrageous that after being called essential heroes for months, several of our members were arrested while peacefully protesting for a raise today.

Over the spring, I mentioned that a big part of early police duties included violently suppressing labor actions.

Hong Kong protesters’ ‘Brick Arches’ wins Beazley Designs’ People’s Choice Award from Global Voices

The “Brick Arches” emerged in Hong Kong’s major protest sites around November 2019 spontaneously as protesters made use of handy materials on streets to block police vehicles from entering protest sites.

OK, I’m impressed.

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