If you believe in free market capitalism, don't complain about inflation hurting you now. This is how the economic policies put in place since Reagan by Republicans and Democrats alike are supposed to work. 1/x
In fact if you are a free market capitalism true believer you should be cheering! Businesses are able to charge whatever they want and your billionaire heroes are getting richer! 2/x
May 12, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
When Running Lean Is Bad! We probably should have learned this lesson before the pandemic (note the shortage of PPE, ICU beds, ICU personnel, etc). But we definitely should have learned our lesson during this ongoing pandemic. (1/9)
My current situation is not even directly caused by the pandemic. In the broad field of IT, we're taught to eliminate Single Points of Failure (SPoF) in our infrastructure. But we're often willing to tolerate SPoF when it comes to people. (2/9)
Feb 28, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
The only way you can be stunned or amazed by what's happening in #Ukraine right now is if you're unaware of the long, bloody #history of #war in so-called Europe: totallytimelines.com/wars-fought-in… You should be more surprised by the peaceful period from 1949-1988.
I say so-called Europe because there is really no geographical feature dividing Europe from Asia. Remember the armies of Genghis Khan RODE HORSES all the way from the steppes of Mongolia to central Europe.
Jan 12, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
4 Key Indicators of Authoritarian Behavior
1. Rejection of (or weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game
"How Democracies Die" by Levitsky and @dziblatt
2. Denial of the legitimacy of political opponents
"How Democracies Die" by Levitsky and @dziblatt
Aug 5, 2020 • 43 tweets • 11 min read
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by @TimothyDSnyder
01. Do not obey in advance. 02. Defend institutions. 03. Beware the one-party state. 04. Take responsibility for the face of the world. 05. Remember professional ethics.
1/x
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by @TimothyDSnyder
06. Be wary of paramilitaries. 07. Be reflective if you must be armed. 08. Stand out. 09. Be kind to our language. 10. Believe in truth.
2/x
1. Watching snippets of the #CohenTestimony I'm struck by how similar this is to an organized crime trial. LEO gets one bad guy to admit to crimes he's committed but makes a deal to get to the higher ups. That's typical right? And of course the defense attorneys...
2. The defense attorneys for the higher ups attack the credibility of the "flipped" witness. He's a liar. He's a criminal. He's going to get a book deal. But here's the thing...@GOP members of the House & Senate are NOT supposed to be defense attorneys for the @POTUS ...
Sep 19, 2018 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
The concepts of doing well by doing good, impact investment funds & the like substitute "generosity" for "justice". Justice often requires the powerful to lose something, to stop standing on someone's back. 1/x
Generosity in this context is like continuing to stand on someone's back while throwing them a bone. Generosity of this kind where the system doesn't change but scraps are thrown has become a very powerful idea. 2/x
Jul 4, 2018 • 254 tweets • >60 min read
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass July 5, 1852 Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens:
He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as 1/
a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. 2/
