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Mangy Jay Profile picture
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12 Oct, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Democrats won the 2020 popular vote by 7 million votes, flipped 2 red states, & are proposing popular legislation. Meanwhile, the GOP attempted to stage a coup & has so thoroughly politicized a **virus** that death & disease now correlates w/ partisanship. Who needs saving?
The whole column reads like it was written by the ghost of George Wallace's campaign manager. In actuality, Joe Biden is *right over there* signing anti-discrimination EOs, talking about racism, & proposing some of the most pro-woman legislation in U.S. history. Which is popular!
Further, it's ahistorical to say Biden wasn't progressive on race in 2020. He talked about it all the time! I know a lot of people really, really wanted him to throw Black people under the bus, but he didn't do it. And he won.
A 2020 story that never gets told: Massive protests against racial injustice. Everyone saying, "oh it will be like 1968. Bad for Dems! Biden should bury the issue!" Biden did the opposite. He talked about racism. Selected a WOC as VP. And then he won by 7 million votes.
Now--to be clear--I am concerned about the Democrats' prospects, mostly b/c of immense structural disadvantages (reminder: we haven't lost the popular vote in a presidential election since 2004). But there's very little reason, at this moment, to think the party needs saving.

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Mangy Jay Profile picture
12 Oct
Last week, the NYT published “Who is the Bad Art Friend?,” a story that caused quite a bit of controversy. I wrote a piece for @Slate about one aspect of the debate: whether living kidney donors should share their stories. The answer is YES. slate.com/technology/202…
Now, I want to be clear: Bad Art Friend is a complicated story. I'm not taking a side, here. What I care about is this small sliver of the story, combined with the tone of some of the responses. I care about kidneys. I care about kidney patients. That’s what I want to talk about.
~100,000 Americans languish on the kidney waitlist, many dying every month. What makes this shortage so tragic is that it doesn’t NEED to be a shortage. Kidneys aren’t like other organs. You can donate, save a life, & live a long & happy life yourself slate.com/technology/202…
Read 11 tweets
Mangy Jay Profile picture
12 Oct
Believe it or not, there were folks in 1500 who thought it was wrong to cut out people's tongues, chop off their other body parts, & otherwise torture them. I'm not full of praise for the Spanish Monarchs, but even they were embarrassed by Columbus' barbarism
That said, I also reject the premise of this argument. If we accepted it, we couldn't make judgements about Soviet leaders, either. "Who are WE--with all our modern mores--to judge Joseph Stalin? He was a product of his time!"

Further, the issue is not really that we are abusing history by documenting Columbus' barbarism. "Antihistorical political control" actually comes in when historical figures become national symbols that we elevate in heroic statues, myths, & celebrations
Read 4 tweets
Mangy Jay Profile picture
12 Oct
Democrats get a lot of criticism for their messaging. Some justified. Some not. This is *great* messaging about climate change and I wish these arguments were reflected in headlines and coverage. The press doesn't have to endorse. But they should report the arguments themselves.
When I looked back at coverage of LBJ & the Great Society, one thing I noticed was that LBJ's quotes were contained in headlines. The headlines featured his arguments. Imagine headlines that said: "Biden: 'Fighting Climate Change Will Support Millions of Good-Paying, Union Jobs'
I wrote more about press coverage of Biden's legislation in this piece for @AlterNet. The comparisons with headlines from the 1960's are, I think, illustrative of how the press is currently doing a poor job of informing the public about Biden's vision. alternet.org/2021/10/joe-bi…
Read 4 tweets
Mangy Jay Profile picture
11 Oct
Extreme vaccine resistance--such that one would quit one's job--is not a working class phenomenon. Individuals who state they will "Definitely Not" be vaccinated are equally spread across income brackets:
-32% make less than 40k
-30% make between 40-89.9K
-29% make 90k+
Note, too, that the income distribution within the "Definitely Not" group mirrors the income distribution within the group of vaccinated Americans. Similar proportions within each group make less than 40k, between 40-89.9K, and over 90k.
Insofar as there is any effect of income on *who* is unvaccinated, it's likely limited to communities who have been poorly reached by public health, such as some immigrant communities. These individuals are not anti-vax extremists who are quitting their jobs.
Read 5 tweets
Mangy Jay Profile picture
7 Oct
Talking about birth rates can be tricky, b/c conservatives use the topic for either misogynistic or racist ends. That said, as a society, people who *want* to have children should be able to do so. At this moment, many face disincentives. Seems like we should work on fixing those
Many people who want to have children put it off bc they simply can't afford to. Parents-primarily women-have to make wrenching decisions about their careers vs children bc childcare is so exorbitantly expensive. That's upper/middle class folks. Much worse for lower income folks
I fail to see how, "The government will support childcare for this woman as she works 40 hours a week & makes 40,000 or less a year" is an "entitlement mentality."
Read 6 tweets
Mangy Jay Profile picture
6 Oct
I just read Bad Art Friend & I don't have any desire to comment on the specifics of the story or to defend/criticize either woman. However, I have seen some comments arguing kidney donors shouldn't brag about their donations & PLEASE don't let that be the message you take away
Again, I don't really care about this story. I care about KIDNEYS. Our country uses diseased donors & living donors, the latter being moved by altruism. We need MORE people to give their kidneys. A major way to get more people to give is for them to talk about their donation.
Sometimes we might find this irritating! "They only gave a kidney so they could feel good about themselves." Well, "kidney donation will make you feel good about yourself" is one way to get people to donate.

The National Kidney Donation Organization: "Be Someone's Gift of Life"
Read 9 tweets

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