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.

Why is this installment late? I have no idea…

9:02 – Mon 15 March 2021

Consequences of unfair police treatment go far beyond initial act from Futurity

…individuals who reported unfair police treatment were more likely to also report detrimental social-psychological and behavioral consequences…

This, of course, is the point of harassment. The initial harm isn’t nearly as relevant as convincing the victim that it’s their fault for existing in a particular space.

12:05 – Mon 15 March 2021

A Senator of the U.S., a woman, is still a sort of political joke with our masculine leaders in party politics. But the trail has been blazed!

Rebecca Latimer Felton

It’s worth pointing out that Felton was…not great. She defended slaveholders and argued for Women’s Suffrage on the basis that she didn’t want Black men voting on what the government could do with her tax dollars without involving her vote. However, she was the first woman to serve on the United States Senate.

Normally, I don’t bother to detail the people I quote, on the basis that a good idea doesn’t need to come from a good person. But it seemed warranted, here.

9:05 – Tue 16 March 2021

How urban planning and housing policy helped create ‘food apartheid’ in US cities from The Conversation

For over a century, urban planning has been used as a toolkit for maintaining white supremacy that has divided U.S. cities along racial lines.

When people talk about “systemic racism,” this is a big part of what they mean: Even if everybody in society intends to be a good actor—something we know to be false, but assume it for the sake of argument—restrictions like zoning laws, where police patrols are allocated, and so forth, give white people unfair advantages in society.

12:03 – Tue 16 March 2021

Though we have occasionally made choices as a society that do not reflect our best selves, we are today the greatest nation in the world because of the founding ideals that have anchored our nation…

Tammy Duckworth

9:04 – Wed 17 March 2021

Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Get Rid of Helms Amendment—’A Racist, Colonial Relic’ from Common Dreams

There would be 17,000 fewer maternal deaths each year.

It’s worth pointing out that, if you look at the history, anti-abortion sentiment was basically irrelevant until Congress passed the Helms Amendment. I don’t want to dismiss abortion as a “wedge issue,” since women’s lives can depend on votes, but that started the process of Republicans listening to a small minority of religious fundamentalists instead of most of the population.

12:01 – Wed 17 March 2021

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Jane Austen

9:01 – Thu 18 March 2021

Texas: A Study in Private Gain at Public Expense from Other Words

Reports now say we were just four and a half minutes from a total grid failure in Texas, which could have caused blackouts for weeks and even months.

I’ve said many times that, when conservatives talk about building little utopian societies, they always look at moving somewhere with a functioning economy and infrastructure, rather than buying cheap land in the desert. This is why: Regardless of what the individuals think they’re supporting, the goal is to set up companies as parasites on the economy, while providing (less than) the bare minimum of service.

12:04 – Thu 18 March 2021

If Atomes are as small, as small can bee, / They must in quantity of Matter all agree.

Margaret Cavendish

9:03 – Fri 19 March 2021

Scientists Discover Chunk of Protoplanet Older Than Earth In Sahara Desert from VICE Motherboard

The volcanic space rock is “the oldest known lava” that has ever fallen to Earth and offers an unprecedented glimpse of planetary formation in the early solar system…

This is an interesting field, in that almost everything that we think we know is based on models and simulations, because the evidence is so scattered. So, when evidence literally lands in our backyards, it’s a big deal.

12:02 – Fri 19 March 2021

Do not be swept away by new slogans and leaders who had a doubtful past. Do not fritter away your time and energy in encouraging or participating in mushroom parties and organizations.

Fatima Jinnah

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, here are any additional articles that didn’t fit into the week, but too weird or important to not mention.

Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Argues Internet Access Must Be a ‘Basic Right’ from Common Dreams

Berners-Lee and Leith noted that the foundation is establishing a Tech Policy Design Lab to help realize the vision laid out in that “Contract for the Web”…

I don’t think that Berners-Lee necessarily has the prestige among people who aren’t interested in web history to push this, but it needs to start somewhere.

Five Common Anti-Union Myths, Busted from VICE

Anti-union rhetoric might come from managers, manager’s managers, a website with slick graphic design, a consultant or by a lawyer, or during a “captive audience meeting,” an anti-union session that’s as creepy as the name suggests.

What I find most interesting is how little the attacks on labor have actually changed.


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