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Tiana Lowe

27 Jul, 11 tweets, 3 min read

A brief thread on America's Sweetheart Simone Biles: the first thing to understand is that she is not in Tokyo for her own personal glory. She is already the #GOAT. She is there as a service, not just for the US, but also for every future gymnast in the country 1/x

The US grew from a nonentity in the world gymnastics game to the greatest in large part because of USA Gymnastics's embrace of the Soviet-caliber training of Bela & Marta Karolyi. At Karolyi ranch, gymnasts were bullied & starved into greatness outside of external supervision 2/x

It was this environment that allowed Larry Nassar's predation to flourish. He would gain the trust of his victims by offering food and comfort in an otherwise cruel & borderline abusive environment. 3/x

The Nassar scandal only blew up because of the extraordinary bravery of his victims coming forward, but it was specifically the political leverage of recent athletes -- ESPECIALLY SIMONE -- that forced the USOC to finally gut USAG. 4/x

Which brings us to Simone, who in 2020 was already pushing the upper age limit of the body's gymnastics peak abilities and is now 24. A *20* year old hasn't won the gold in all-arounds since '72. Only 3 gymnasts in history have won the women's all around gold older than 24. 5/x

But Simone knew that she had the political & popular clout to force the USOC to see the reform of women's gymnastics through & if she could deliver the US dominance again in 2020, proving the brutality of Karolyi-style training wasn't necessary, the game would change for good 6/x

So we still don't know what's going on with Simone right now, but here's what we do know: instead of retiring in glory, she pushed herself for another 5 years not just to give the US more wins but also force reform to protect generations of girls in gymnastics going forward. 7/x

TLDR; Simone Biles is the greatest of all time, not just as a gymnast, but as a leader. I'm rooting for her, and everyone in the US should too. /fin

https://twitter.com/DanWetzel/status/1420057608887496705

FWIW, I'm expanding this in an article to go into greater explanation, but here's the math behind why Simone probably saved her team today.

https://twitter.com/DanWetzel/status/1420057608887496705

Alright, before you dunk on Simone Biles, read this and understand that she has spent the last 5 years sacrificing her body & mind for her country & the future safety of gymnasts. Today she sacrificed herself for her team. washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/simone…

@baseballcrank

Also fellow 2016 Olympian Laurie Hernandez does a fantastic job breaking down for us plebs why Simone’s call to bow out was a matter of safety, not selfishness h/t @baseballcrank

https://twitter.com/linzsports/status/1420181275965542402

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More from @TianaTheFirst

Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

19 Jun

Physical brawling breaks out in front of the Western Conservative Summit at a Denver Hyatt after members of Antifa threatened to break my phone for reporting on their protest.

To be clear, I identified myself as a journalist, not an attendee of the conference, and they’re protesting on a public street

Antifa has already smashed one camera, tried to smash the camera of an attendee, and threatened to smash mine.

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Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

6 Apr

Florida COVID death rate: 157 per 100k people
FL unemployment rate (Feb21): 4.7%

NY COVID death rate: 261
NY unemployment: 8.9%

This is why the media must to destroy DeSantis. They bet on Cuomo as their perfect anti-Trump foil & lost, and DeSantis makes them look like morons.

Ron DeSantis is not Donald Trump. Sure, he has the same pugnacious energy, but unlike a reality TV star billionaire with the discipline of a goldfish, DeSantis is actually good at *governing*. The media is picking the GOP POTUS frontrunner, once again, at their own peril.

The media is inoculating DeSantis from charges of RINOism by making him their Enemy #1, so DeSantis won't need cringey stunts or far-right pandering to get more cred w/the base. That gives him an incredible advantage in a general, almost certainly against Kamala Harris.

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Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

16 Sep 19

A justice-fueled #MeToo movement is a necessary societal good. The unceasing smear campaign containing not a modicum of evidence against Brett Kavanaugh corrodes it, with actual victims of sexual abuse bearing the brunt of the consequences. A thread 1/x washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-an…

The #MeToo movement works as a social implementation of the justice process, abiding by the general rules of due process in demanding that allegations be evaluated with empathy but on the basis of evidence, not that we take allegations at face value. 2/x washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-an…

All the major men culled by #MeToo had accusers w/ contemporaneously corroborating witnesses & most had multiple accusers with similar allegations. The overwhelming majority of men who assault once will do so again.

Kavanaugh doesn't fit this profile. 3/x washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-an…

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Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

23 Jun 19

@johnrobertgage

.@johnrobertgage & I have news dropping at the @dcexaminer. Buckle up, gang.

EXCLUSIVE: I went to Ilhan Omar's district for five days. This is what I found. washingtonexaminer.com/news/dozens-of…

EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of documents obtained by the Washington Examiner indicate Ilhan Omar lived with Ahmed Hirsi during the years she claimed to be married by law and in faith to Ahmed Elmi. washingtonexaminer.com/news/dozens-of…

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Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

2 May 19

Serious question to "conservatives" who want the gov't to regulate social media: what do you do when the GOP loses control of the White House & Congress? That day will come, even if only temporarily. When it does, do you want President AOC appointing the regulators?

Two things can be true at once:
1. It’s immoral for social media platforms to call themselves objective platforms and then inconsistently regulate speech.
2. The government has neither the right nor the competency to regulate this problem out of existence.

Name me the last problem the government has made better and not worse by getting involved. The only answers involve public goods, externalities, agency dilemmas, and monopolies. Social media falls under none of these umbrellas. Gab still exists.

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Tiana Lowe

@TianaTheFirst

5 Oct 18

@benshapiro

USC SJP protesting @benshapiro. The girl saying "Do you think he's hiding under a table standing up?" runs SJP and led a harassment campaign against my Jewish writers and I two years ago. @benshapiro, do your thing. #FactsDontCareAboutYourFeelings

There's a time & a place to protest the actual bad guys *Ainsley Carry cough cough*, but I can't imagine what a miserable, anti-Semitic nerd you'd have to be to spend a Thirsty Thursday having a public meltdown about the JEWS instead of A. pregaming or B. doing actual work.

According to my friend watching the campus clown show, protestors yelled "punch him," directed towards Vice President Pence. I'm just spitballing here, but maybe that's why there's all of the law enforcement you claim is unnecessary to protect campus speakers?