Who will leave Twitter?

I wrote articles — "Quit Twitter?" and "We May Not Have Twitter Tomorrow" — on Medium.

Umair Haque, writing on Medium, October 29, 2022:

"Racial slurs are hate, and “free speech” is about government interference, not your so-called right to hate someone. ...much of the rest of the world bans hate speech precisely because it has consequences. It manifests in violence. Hate is the intent to hurt someone, to do harm them, and in that sense, it is a form of violence itself, because it begs and calls for the real thing."

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Elon Musk tweet, November 9, 2022:

This has been happening:

.@yoyoel says new frameworks are coming incl. “reducing reach” of certain content.

Elon: “Big diff b/w freedom of speech vs. freedom of reach.”

Elon’s bringing back shadow banning, baby!

— Nandini Jammi (@nandoodles) November 9, 2022

Elon: “We need to be tolerant of views we don’t agree w/, but they don’t need to be amplified.”

Who is “we” in this equation? What is the values framework here?

— Nandini Jammi (@nandoodles) November 9, 2022

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Allowing deadnaming is literally the top content moderation policy that Musk is allegedly proposing. If you can squeeze him via advertising boycotts, he might walk that back. If you buy Twitter Blue, you embolden him to enact it. This has severe impacts on people irl.

— A. H. (@a_h_reaume) November 11, 2022

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Notable that this verification clusterfuck is happening in large part because online contrarians decided to pretend that “blue check” was synonymous with “elite liberal scold” rather than with “account from a user whose identity has been confirmed”

— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) November 10, 2022

someone is likely going to make a blockchain or extension that allows you to block all the $8 verified ppl. which could create pressure on everyone else to *not* sign up for it, lest they be blocked... https://t.co/94nBt97DEr

— Julia Serano (@JuliaSerano) November 10, 2022

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How'd it turn out? In April 2024 news, Musk will change the policy so "he'll be giving away blue checks to prominent users, but still offering the rest of us plebeians the option to buy one."

"'I think it’s an admission that (Musk) still doesn’t really understand what the value of the blue check has always been … the value in it was that when you saw a blue check on a person’s account, you knew that the person was who they were claiming to be,' said Jason Goldman, Twitter’s former head of product, who left the company in 2010. 'The value that accrued from that was for Twitter as a whole, not for the person who had a blue check mark.'"
— Elon Musk’s X is back to giving out free blue checks. It’s no surprise they were a tough sell, Clare Duffy, CNN, April 4, 2024

1/ Just want to put this news in plain language for people.

Senior people at Twitter have resigned in the last 48 hours. We now now why. They said in private Slack channels that @elonmusk is so desperate to recoup his money, he’s taking crazy risks with YOUR privacy and safety.

— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) November 10, 2022

2/ Right now, Twitter is extremely hackable. That puts every user here at extreme risk for DM leaks, identity theft and surveillance.

Elon doesn’t care. He wants his money. So they resigned. And top lawyers told Twitter employees to get whistleblower protections.

— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) November 10, 2022

3/ The FCC just announced they are investigating. They have power to fine Twitter billions.

Add this to historical pattern of @elonmusk endangering the public by unleashing a half-baked autopilot on public streets without basic technology, and one concludes he feels invincible.

— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) November 10, 2022

According to messages shared in Twitter Slack, Twitter’s CISO, chief privacy office, and chief compliance officer all resigned last night.

An employee says it will be up to engineers to “self-certify compliance with FTC requirements and other laws.”

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 10, 2022

“All of this is extremely dangerous for our users,” the message says. “Given that the FTC can (and will!) fine Twitter BILLIONS of dollars pursuant to the FTC Consent Order, extremely detrimental to Twitter’s longevity as a platform. Our users deserve so much better than this.”

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 10, 2022

The message ends with a link to https://t.co/ezZt0Ckd5Z

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 10, 2022

Strong statement from FTC, following the security and privacy departures at Twitter: "We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern. No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees."

— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) November 10, 2022

"Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”

— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) November 10, 2022

More in today's developing story w/ @josephmenn https://t.co/49Ft7o3qF6

— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) November 10, 2022

Also just a reminder to those watching the rapid changes to checkmarks on Twitter: That new consent order requires Twitter to assess the privacy and security risks of any product changes or new features.

— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) November 10, 2022

Oh, hey

Another fun edition of how it started vs how it’s going. youtu.be/LuZOLCvCbWo?...

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— Blue Sedition Podcast (@blue-sedition.com) October 8, 2024 at 10:23 AM

Where you can learn more about "Nightmare on Elm Street"

The Movies That Made Us is on Netflix. Season 3 includes "Nightmare on Elm Street".

I wrote an essay about this film in It Came From the Closet (October 2022).

In ChristoQfascist conspiracy theory, Satan makes people transgender

"QAnon adherents believe that Donald Trump is trying to save the world from a cabal of satanic pedophiles. The conspiracy theory’s narrative includes centuries-old antisemitic tropes, like the belief that the cabal is harvesting blood from abused children, and it names specific people, including Democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities, as participants in a global plot. Experts call these extreme, baseless claims 'an incitement to violence'.
* * *
'QAnon is popular on the sovereign citizen child custody groups, in part because its believers claim that the government and child protective agencies are abusing the children they take from their parents’ custody,' wrote the Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer, who has published in-depth investigations of several kidnapping cases with links to QAnon."
— "QAnon: a timeline of violence linked to the conspiracy theory," Lois Beckett, The Guardian, October 16, 2020.

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"Ex-Gay Christian Author Calls Trans People Satanic Enemies of God." Esther Spurrill-Jones. April 7, 2023.

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Good morning from Mannheim, PA where I’ll be covering the Great Awakening show here the next couple days.

This is a Christian nationalist, QAnon-friendly conference featuring Michael Flynn and tomorrow - GOP candidate for governor Doug Mastriano. pic.twitter.com/tUwmVXFApK

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Pastor Greg Locke talking about how he’s been targeted by “BLM, antifa, witches and warlocks” pic.twitter.com/ma7NMqcJD3

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Book-burning, COVID-denying, QAnon pastor Greg Locke rides a horse pic.twitter.com/ekbfH1onNg

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Mike Lindell complaining how Fox and Newsmax wouldn’t let him talk about Dominion voting systems

Also keeps calling out NYT, WaPo, and HuffPost, who all have reporters here, for writing negative stories pic.twitter.com/ck6WDGlXWD

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Numerological prophecies on stage right now pic.twitter.com/nxGMSOtty2

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Crowd cheers as speaker Bo Polny declares prophecy that the “Angel of death” will be visiting these people by end of year

Ends speech by saying “45 is coming back!” pic.twitter.com/lSxEDMtz1l

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Tania Joy Gibson tells the crowd gender dysphoria is the work of Satan and then… pic.twitter.com/8DxuKsIzDp

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

Julie Green, who has close ties to GOP gov nominee Doug Mastriano, is a “prophet” who claims to have a direct line to God.

She delivered one of God’s new prophecies - about taking down the current government - on stage to big cheers pic.twitter.com/ViDDUvgvwI

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 21, 2022

READ more on Julie Green: "Doug Mastriano’s campaign “prophet”: Political executions are coming, Biden “is no longer alive,” Pelosi drinks “children’s blood”" Eric Hananoki, Media Matters, Aug 17, 2022.

Day 2 of the conference:

Mastriano was scheduled to speak but was too busy to come due to his political campaign schedule.

Katie Hopkins talked about how Muslims were out-reproducing non-Muslims in the UK, and about how Black gangs were attacking white farmers in South Africa - straight-up white nationalist shit. Gets huge cheers.

GOP gov nominee Doug Mastriano still scheduled to speak later pic.twitter.com/BdkxxGAJyh

— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 22, 2022

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The Federalist published an article: "‘Hail Satan! Hail Thyself’: What The Gender Cult And Satanism Have In Common" (Georgi Boorman. August 7, 2023). The final lines are that "it should come as no surprise that rebellion against God’s design for humanity is satanically inspired. That is, after all, his mission." On the way there, readers wind through ridiculous academic-sounding prose like: "While Baphomet has a complicated history of iterations and interpretation, it’s not unreasonable to imagine that gender-confused young people might welcome this binary-breaking symbol of 'balance and harmony' and see a satanic sect as a spiritual home for them." This is not serious.

Online course on fascism and racism

There's a free online course on "Against Oppression: Black Antifascism(s)"

One of the central issues that continues to inform our politics is whether or not Black Americans have the right to demand equality. That sounds very basic, but it's the defining question driving the current GOP white backlash movement following the 2020 BLM protests.

— Dr. William Horne (@wihorne) October 24, 2022

I’m looking at the history of the question & why it remains so important in my (free) online course, which you can sign up for here. A few notes from the course below. https://t.co/CryFttVUm0

— Dr. William Horne (@wihorne) October 24, 2022

Also

Speaking as someone who lives in Texas, a lot of Republicans are adamantly convinced that a luxurious cradle to the grave welfare system exclusively for illegal immigrants exists and it’s making everything expensive for regular citizens. bsky.app/profile/mtsw...

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— Adam Serwer (@adamserwer.bsky.social) September 18, 2024 at 11:10 PM

Most of these people do not consider themselves racist and a good number I have met share the ethnic backgrounds of the people being demonized. It is extremely difficult to talk them out of it bsky.app/profile/adam...

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— Adam Serwer (@adamserwer.bsky.social) September 18, 2024 at 11:12 PM

This is how the NYT literally whitewashes Trump's racist comment: "We’re just destroying the fabric of life in our country,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Democrats’ immigration policies. “And we’re not going to take it any longer. And you got to get rid of these people. Give me a shot.”

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— TVMoJoe (@tvmojoe.bsky.social) September 18, 2024 at 10:51 PM

Is 2°C warming inevitable?

The Washington Post editorial, Oct. 29, 2022:

"At the 2015 Paris climate conference, nations agreed to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius relative to preindustrial levels — and preferably to under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). According to a new report the United Nations released on Thursday, the more ambitious 1.5 degree target is now all but out of reach.

This year’s U.N. Environment Program’s Emissions Gap Report found that there was “no credible pathway” to remain under 1.5 degrees Celsius — and that countries are falling “pitifully short” in making good on their national commitments. Under the current policy framework, global temperatures are projected to rise 2.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. If nations scale up according to their agreed-upon climate pledges, the projected temperature increase will be between 2.4 and 2.6 degrees Celsius — which would threaten billions of people.

This prognosis comes on the heels of another U.N. analysis released Wednesday, which considered countries’ voluntary emissions commitments. It found modest increases in emissions reductions and adaptation goals over the past year, but not enough to put the world on a better trajectory. Though countries agreed to establish more rigorous emissions plans after last year’s climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, just 24 nations have actually done so. The additional Glasgow pledges would reduce emissions by less than 1 percent by 2030.

And their conclusion? "...the U.N. system represents the world’s best hope at averting catastrophe." So basically, we are in trouble.

'we not only need to end deforestation, but we have to meet the Paris Agreement targets..to reduce carbon emissions to limit warming to well below 2°C

“Unless we reduce emissions.. even if we get to zero deforestation, most of the forest will disappear.”https://t.co/bvMbwYJD0w

— Ben See (@ClimateBen) October 23, 2022

Dr James Hansen: 2°C global warming is baked in. It will be necessary to take temporary corrective measures almost surely including temporary purposeful use of aerosols [solar geoengineering] to avoid catastrophic implications. Don't despair. 🧵

— Ben See (@ClimateBen) October 26, 2022

"His [Robinson's] next novel is likely to be set in the Arctic, where scientists are debating controversial ideas for manipulating the climate in a bid to stop the region's self-fulfilling feedback loop of ice melt and warming waters. The techniques, which could be implemented in polar regions and elsewhere, range from injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to underwater curtains that shield glaciers from warm water, or seeding massive algae blooms that can sink carbon to the seafloor.

Some of these suggestions have alarmed certain groups of scientists who see hubris and the potential for distraction where Robinson sees noble desperation. 'I see immense resistance to geoengineering that is ignorant and reflexive and comes out of a moral calculus of, like, 1990,” he says. The moral hazard associated with continuing to burn fossil fuels because of the existence of an escape clause is 'not relevant', he adds. 'We know we have to decarbonise. We know we’re not. It’s desperate.'"

—Writer Kim Stanley Robinson: ‘If the world fails, business fails’ The cult sci-fi author on Mars, Musk — and how speculative fiction can offer real-life solutions to the climate crisis. Kenza Bryan. November 17, 2023.

Countries were asked to submit new climate plans before @COP27P. 22 met the deadline. @UNFCCC have now re-assessed all climate plans.
Their findings:

— Esme Stallard (@EsmeStallard) October 26, 2022

If all pledges were met global temperatures will rise by 2.5C
Emissions will increase by 10.6% by 2030 compared to 2010
The @IPCC_CH (UN climate scientists) say emissions need to fall by 45% by 2030
Will post @BBCNews write up soon

— Esme Stallard (@EsmeStallard) October 26, 2022

"The United Nations reported Wednesday that global warming will rise to between 2.1 and 2.9 degrees Celsius based on the world’s current climate pledges – way beyond the 1.5 degrees nations are trying to stay below."
"World still way off track on goal to keep global warming below dangerous threshold, UN says." By Ella Nilsen and Radina Gigova, CNN, October 26, 2022

We just had another warning from the UN that we are essentially on course for the end of the world - it was hardly reported in the media, not heard anyone talking about it on the radio. Please do not moan when people block roads. This broken society deserves everything it gets

— Matthew Todd 🎃👻☠️🤡🧟‍♂️👽 (@MrMatthewTodd) October 27, 2022

Five years ago, scientists talked about 'business as usual' warming between four and five degrees celsius. Now they talk about two to three. What does that jagged new world look like? A tour of life at 2C. (1/x) https://t.co/BOaPHQW0cr

— David Wallace-Wells (@dwallacewells) October 28, 2022

Another perspective from Karl Burkart (Oct. 25, 2022):

"...the gnawing sense that solving climate change is just too difficult, and that exceeding the 1.5°C limit in global temperature rise at this point is a foregone conclusion.

Now let’s ask ourselves, who would benefit from this narrative? Why of course, the fossil fuel industry and the institutional investors...

* * *

Back in the mid-2000s, the industry devised a five-phased strategy to delay regulatory action on climate change. ...the final phase is to promote the idea that it’s just too expensive and/or too late to do anything about it.

This final phase has always worried me the most. There’s nothing like a sense of doom and perpetual anxiety to make people check out..."

The ocean is really good at absorbing carbon.

Update: The 1.5-degree climate goal may be ‘deader than a doornail,’ and scientists are bitterly divided over it Laura Paddison, CNN, January 18, 2024

1.5 is possible if you're "clutching at straws," says the Washington Post editorial board (January 18, 2024). But look at reality:

"Last week, the European climate monitor Copernicus reported that the globe’s average temperature hit 14.98 degrees Celsius last year, 1.48 degrees above that of the second half of the 19th century. Two U.S. agencies, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, followed suit, putting warming since then at 1.4 and 1.35 degrees, respectively. The synthesis by the World Meteorological Organization landed on 1.45 degrees above the preindustrial average, with an uncertainty band of plus or minus 0.12 degrees."

So what does that mean? It means we have to "put more tools on the table."

"If the fracturing of our once stable climate doesn’t terrify you, then you don’t fully understand it. The reality is that, as far as we know, and in the natural course of events, our world has never — in its entire history — heated up as rapidly as it is doing now. Nor have greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere ever seen such a precipitous hike.
* * *
The truth is that people can take being scared if they know there is still hope and that they can do something to make things better, or at least stop things getting worse."

Opinion: I’m a climate scientist. Am I obliged to scare you? Opinion by Bill McGuire, CNN, March 7, 2024

There's an increasingly good chance the world will stop runaway global warming. But I see no realistic route to 1.5C. We need to plan for 2.4C, understanding what that looks like and how we mitigate the impact on our lives. #climate

— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain.bsky.social) October 19, 2024 at 3:22 AM

To-read: Books I've seen mentioned on Twitter

An eclectic list.

Is the graphic novel emerging in #Latin America as a uniquely powerful force to explore the nature of twenty-first century subjectivity? Find out more in #Posthumanism and the Graphic Novel in Latin America: https://t.co/uxvPCENd5E #openaccess pic.twitter.com/0VQJtPiE10

— UCL Press (@UCLpress) December 16, 2021

Book haul @WordHorde Weird Emporium. Wonderfully curated bookshop. pic.twitter.com/WUA7uqKnoK

— Peter Fugazzotto (@PeterFugazzotto) November 12, 2021

Episode 17. @WKoewing and I discuss a @Peter_Orner piece.

Wilson was a lot of fun to talk to and we really get into this piece a lot. We drank as well.

Listen/share/GET INTO IT. WE AIN'T STOPPING THIS TRAIN AGAIN BABYhttps://t.co/bSKonLzPSN

— No Edit (@NoEditPodcast) November 11, 2021

My reviews of Disquiet by Zülfü Livaneli and Refugee Tales IV ed David Herd & Anna Pincus publ in @OtherSideofHope - do buy a copy of this terrific mag. Timely - given what's happening on the border between Belarus and Lithuania. @commapress @otherpress https://t.co/zq4djRa7W5

— Lucy Popescu (@lucyjpop) November 10, 2021

133. Tell Me I'm Worthless - Alison Rumfitt
Astoundingly good, one of my books of the year. So ridiculously readable, regardless how disturbing it gets. England's deep-rooted sickness, hatred soaked into its soil, the constant fight against the fascism that lurks in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/b83aMXItzY

— big connor's big campbell (@ConnorJCamp) November 10, 2021

I finished reading Vonda N. McIntyre's DREAMSNAKE today, which I really enjoyed. I'd like to read more of her work: does anyone have a favorite next book of hers I should check out? pic.twitter.com/uq3aQQK4ms

— Matt Bell (@mdbell79) November 8, 2021

Big thanks to @IndieBookView and Alexandra Barbush for this thorough and thoughtful review of ETERNAL NIGHT AT THE NATURE MUSEUM.

I really love this: "His characters are largely frustrating but incredibly earnest."https://t.co/ydpWGRnJgc

— tyler barton (@goftyler) October 25, 2021

Our coverage of #FantasticFest continues with a review of MIDNIGHT - a heart-pounding exploration of deafness and horror in South Korea. https://t.co/zbEQqJPltY pic.twitter.com/VO45XBGxJt

— InterstellarFlightPress (@IntFlightPress) October 18, 2021

Honored and thrilled to have gotten a starred review from @PublishersWkly for my collection SHIT CASSANDRA SAW, out 1/11/22!!! It's so wild that my Cassandra is being read out there in the world! @sarahburnes @slipperyredhead https://t.co/WA6ziIR3QH

— gwen e. kirby (@farfromgruntled) September 28, 2021

“Sweeping and subversive and anxious and heartfelt, FUTUREPANIC by Amish Trivedi is a Four Quartets for the Millennial set.”https://t.co/87IlLSLdTi

— Amish Trivedi (@AmishTrivedi) September 22, 2021

Look how beautiful she is! Congratulations to the one and only @AvniDangerfield @BurrowPress 🦩🦤🎉🥳 pic.twitter.com/fencMYMaqh

— MelissaScholesYoung (@mscholesyoung) September 21, 2021

Bored? Finished with Netflix? Want to read something *different*? How about an alternate 1851 where Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll team up to find a serial killer? Why, yes, I wrote it, why do you ask? #althistory #mystery #newbooks https://t.co/c2qzicrK08 pic.twitter.com/fmqFZZQXAf

— Nicola Cameron (@YesItsNicolaC) September 18, 2021

Rereading Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series, and although it is still so very obviously 80s in terms of consent, homophobia, and treatment of women, my GOD what a well-crafted universe!!!!

— Lis/Valentine Wheeler ليز / فالنتين (@Ghostalservice) September 20, 2021

This year, my first short fiction collection came out from @SubPress. If you read it and wanted to nominate it for anything, I’d be so happy. pic.twitter.com/gCsZ7MEbOz

— Kelly Robson (@kellyoyo) November 14, 2021

You can preorder ⁦@jolene_mcilwain⁩’s SIDLE CREEK ⁦@melvillehouse⁩ — can’t wait to get my paws on this! https://t.co/R3yjpXIhgy

— Mr. Bear (@MrBearStumpy) October 6, 2022

I finally got around to reading Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped & it absolutely WRECKED me. Wow, wow, wow. And now, next up is Solito by Javier Zamora. I'm reading more BIPOC memoir for inspiration to help me finish drafting my memoir by Dec 2022 ✍️🏾 #amwriting

— Cecilia "Do You Think I'm Spooky?" Caballero 🎃 (@la_sangre_llama) October 8, 2022

Don’t discount what small press publishers can do for our books.
Mil gracias, ⁦@Somosenescrito, for creating this spectacular trailer.⁩
Special thanks to Nicolasa Chavez, deputy historian for the state of NM, for endorsing my book. ⁦⁦#NM https://t.co/44g3VHMTc1

— Carmen Baca (@carmen_author) October 7, 2022

He's not on Twitter, but please check out my friend Wesley Attewell's forthcoming book, THE QUIET VIOLENCE OF EMPIRE (@UMinnPress, April 2023).

It's going to give us an incredible way to think about development, counterinsurgency, and racial capitalism.https://t.co/uIr5mB7SSu

— swagapino studies (@aadeleon) October 5, 2022

Finished @housleydave ‘s MASSIVE CLEANSING FIRE and loved it — like if Don Delillo’s The Silence didn’t suck, a collection of connected stories in which each one would stand alone beautifully

— Sam Milligan (@sawmilligan) October 5, 2022

I’m an ALICE!!! 🙏🏾 to Carey for the care she’s shown me & my work since we started talking about this project around this time last year. And also: @notsumatra, CM Burroughs (my thesis advisors) & my MFA cohort for guiding this project through the many stages it’s been through. https://t.co/Ryr7cNovZW

— Ayokunle Falomo (@mrAFalomo) October 4, 2022

My baby! I’m beyond excited to share the cover of my debut book Monstrilio.

(Coming out March 2023!) pic.twitter.com/n4pKMi6FKd

— Gerardo Sámano Córdova (@samanito) October 4, 2022

Recent tweets about climate (Oct 2022)

What we’re facing *right now* & in the next *few years* is unprecedented in human history. While not inevitable, there’s a very significant risk of a total collapse of our food systems & a mass starvation event. https://t.co/FdycgLw4xK

— Dr. William Horne (@wihorne) October 16, 2022

Today I learned the Amazon is approaching a tipping point, beyond which it would begin to transition from a lush rain forest into a much drier climate, which would be devastating for the entire planet. Extreme action on climate is starting to seem like the reasonable approach.

— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@JoshuaPotash) October 16, 2022

The Amazon is approaching a tipping point where it will transition from a rainforest to a drier climate, a process which would dramatically alter world weather patterns. Brazil’s fascist president Bolsonaro is enabling this, and defeating him would be a victory for the planet.

— Slow Factory (@theslowfactory) October 17, 2022

Our rain water is poisoned with forever chemicals, glaciers are melting, countries are flooding, millions of people are being displaced, micro plastics are being found in breast milk, micro plastics are found in fish - this is the climate and biodiversity crisis.

— Sommer Ackerman (@lifewithsommer) October 17, 2022

How many journalists will point out that scientists indicate economic growth equates to a horrifically rapid, ecosystem-wrecking, species-obliterating shift to 2°C - 3°C of global warming within a few decades?

Just an extraordinary news story. https://t.co/rdnwQXZwTt

— Ben See (@ClimateBen) October 18, 2022

Learning that the US keeps about 700 million barrels of oil in old salt mines along the gulf coast.

— Tobias Wilson-Bates (@PhDhurtBrain) October 19, 2022

Mass extinction.... Jennifer Abbott’s deeply felt film The Magnitude of All Things brings this down to a human & local scale. We are screening the film (in person & online) Nov 2 to celebrate the launch of our newest publication Borrowed Time. Book now https://t.co/JIBIHmDKBF pic.twitter.com/RrT8bApBqd

— art.earth (@artdotearth) October 20, 2022

Four ways to look at global CO₂ emissions.

1. Which countries have contributed most historically?

Share of cumulative CO₂ since 1750:
🇺🇸 US: 25%
🇨🇳 China: 14%
🇷🇺 Russia: 7%
🇩🇪 Germany: 5.5%
🇬🇧 UK: 4.6%
🇯🇵 Japan: 4%
🇮🇳 India: 3%
🇫🇷 France: 2.3%
🇨🇦 Canada: 2%
🇺🇦 Ukraine: 1.8% pic.twitter.com/nraWTwvg0T

— Hannah Ritchie (@_HannahRitchie) October 20, 2022

one of the worst things colonization took from us & the natural world is the loss of plant varieties.

for example, in India prior to the green revolution in the 1970s, there were 110,000 landrace varieties of rice. post-revolution, 90% of rice varieties were lost.

— jules 🧸 (@smokeyrgreens) October 20, 2022

A leading climatologist calls the record October heat around the world a sign that the climate is “spiralling out of control.” From Africa to Asia, Europe to the Middle East to North America, October heat is setting records - with more to come in the next week 🧵

— XR Cambridge (@xr_cambridge) October 22, 2022

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It’s 4am in Montreal and after several years of negotiations, governments have just adopted an historic Global Biodiversity Framework for saving nature. Here’s a thread with my take on what's good and what's bad in it.

— Stuart Butchart (@stubutchart) December 19, 2022

Book bloggers

Hi, who are some of your favorite queer (especially trans!) book bloggers? If you’re a queer book blogger, you’re encouraged to say yourself. 👀

— H.E. Edgmon (@heedgmon) June 25, 2020

Hey ya'll! If you're a queer book blogger who reviews a lot of SFF and want your reviews linked to in the queer SFF database, could you reply to this tweet?

I'm especially looking for book reviewers of color!

— Sarah Waites 💜🖤🤍 (@coolcurrybooks) July 21, 2019

For pride month, I want to do another collaborative LGBTQIA+ set of blog posts, this time about what queer readers want to see in queer books. 🏳️‍🌈 If you're a reader/book blogger and identify as queer, drop me a DM or reply to this if you'd like to be involved! 🌈

— Kate 📚 (@Katelovescolour) June 4, 2019

Are you an indie author looking for review? You can send me a request at margaret.laupp@gmail.com

Be sure to check out my review policy for what to include! https://t.co/Y49r8bPzNh

— Margaret A-Spell 🎃 (@margaret_adelle) August 31, 2022

Latest round of antisemitism and transphobia

See also: "The Biggest Conspiracy Theories Are All-Consuming". It's a 7-minute read on Medium.

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There are anti trans groups who are 1-2 steps away from JK Rowling who have literally said that transgender women are raping womens bodies by existing. https://t.co/96pyzAj71N

— a wailing banshe/her (@notCursedE) October 16, 2022

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TERFs don't care that their views are incoherent nonsense based on projection and paranoid bigotry as old as civilization. They're high out of their minds on their own outraged self-victimization and any attempt to argue with them will be cast as persecution.

— Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable) October 16, 2022

They're fascists and they can only be defeated through solidarity, humiliation, and refusal to compromise.

— Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable) October 16, 2022

Jean Paul Sartre's quote on antisemites applies to bigots across the board. "Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies."

"They delight in acting in bad faith"

— Hack The Risen-Dead Author (@ZachRoseWriter) October 16, 2022

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Most Americans do not have a good framework for understanding Jewish identity, because it does not fit well into Christian understandings of religion as premised on belief and confession, but also doesn't perfectly map onto American racial, ethnic, or national categories.

— Joel S. (@jh_swanson) October 21, 2022

The logical endpoint of the way the US political right talks about 70%-80% of American Jews as inauthentic and too secular to qualify as Jewish is going to be the claim that the Evangelicals are the "real Jews." I predict that claim will become increasingly mainstream in the US.

— Joel S. (@jh_swanson) October 21, 2022

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Neo-nazis in Los Angeles are displaying antisemitic banners over the 405. Location was the 405 South a few exits north of the Howard Hughes Center. photo by @BrookstoneUSA pic.twitter.com/zkwqJ7TF8e

— Chad Loder (@chadloder) October 23, 2022

"Experts said the climate is the product of a stew of forces including a digital culture that spreads misinformation and hate and right-wing political forces focused on protecting White Christians’ status. Some said current antisemitism is also aggravated by more people downplaying it as merely an interreligious issue instead of a dangerous form of racism; in the past majorities from Germany to America made clear they saw Jews as a distinct and inferior race."
— "Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Kanye West: ‘Something is different’." Michelle Boorstein and Isaac Arnsdorf. Washington Post. October 27, 2022.

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Update

May 15, 2023 on Twitter: Elon Musk continues to spread antisemitic tropes. (He is, of course, also transphobic.)

Here's Musk in December 2024:

I think this should be kind of a big deal: Elon Musk tweeting at 1:03am, “Only the AfD can save Germany.” The AfD is Germany’s neo-Nazi party.

— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 6:25 AM

Elon Musk has thrown his support behind The Alternative for Germany (AfD), "the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since the Nazi era." (CNN, Sept) Don't buy a #Tesla. Sell $TSLA. Tesla board members are culpable. #CorpGov www.reuters.com/world/europe...

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— Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 (@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 10:14 AM

The below statement by Elon Musk is authentic. The AfD demands a “reversal” of Holocaust remembrance in Germany and states that the Nazi Schutzstaffel were “not criminals”. More here—> amp.dw.com/en/how-much-... …and here—> www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10...

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— Michael Clemens (@mclem.org) December 20, 2024 at 6:20 AM

here's some more AfD background from a story i did last year on the afd and the resurgence of the far-right in germany newrepublic.com/article/1716...

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— ALI BRELAND (@alibreland.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 10:15 AM

other parts of the american right are starting to take tips from the AfD too, including people with power, influence and connections within the party. i saw this firsthand at the annual new york young republican club gala this week www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

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— ALI BRELAND (@alibreland.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 10:17 AM

Here’s the New York Times from two years ago, telling us we were silly to think Elon Musk was a right-winger. Yes, the same Elon Musk who just endorsed Germany's far-right party. 🧵 1/2

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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 9:01 AM

The New York Times bent over backwards in its 12/10/22 story to cast Musk as a moderate. Here’s a gift link. 🧵 2/2 www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/b...

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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 9:01 AM

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In May 2023, Rep. Lauren Boebert, expresses her sense that complaints about "antisemitism" are really about Republicans (who are also, as we know, the party of transphobia).

The White House press secretary had to respond with the obvious: "Congresswoman Boebert is mistaken; antisemitism is not ‘conservative’ ― it is evil."

December 2023

From Judd Legum in Popular Information: On December 2, 2023, "the Executive Committee of the Texas Republican Party considered the following resolution: 'BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas have no association whatsoever with any individual or organization that is known to espouse anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi sympathies, or Holocaust denial.'

The committee voted it down, with one member telling the Texas Tribune that the word "anti-Semitism" was a "slippery slope." Another Republican, Texas Senator Bob Hall (not on the committee), told the Texas Tribune

"that the Texas Republicans should have the flexibility to meet with Nazis and anti-Semites. 'I've had meetings with transgenders, gays and lesbians,' Hall said. “Does that make me a transgender, gay or a lesbian?' Asked if he was comparing LGBTQ people to white supremacists, Hall said they are all people 'who are political hot potatoes.'"

Legum also reminds us that the Texas Republican Party in January 2021 adopted the QAnon slogan "We are the Storm" and in June 2022 adopted a platform "adopted a platform that described homosexuality as 'an abnormal lifestyle choice.'"

March 2024

Here's J.K. Rowling saying that the Nazis' arson on Magnus Hirschfeld's library "might've been a fever dream" of people who today remember it.

Rivkah Brown works at Novara Media.

On March 13, Alejandra Caraballo said:

Those two links:

• New Research Reveals How the Nazis Targeted Transgender People: Last year, a German court acknowledged the possibility that trans people were persecuted by the Nazis, Laurie Marhoefer, The Conversation, September 21, 2023
• Magnus Hirschfeld, Holocaust Encyclopedia

Rowling accused her of "lying," because trans people were not necessarily the Nazis' first victims nor were necessarily all their books burned — stronger points that Caraballo apparently did not say.

Though someone else in Rowling's replies did say that trans people were the first victims, that person had "no apparent connection to the original poster, Caraballo or anyone else." (Gemma Stone)

After someone else asked Rowling to "google Magnus Hirschfield," whose library the Nazis burned, Rowling accused them of wanting to use Hirschfeld as the model for "trans medicine."

Now the goalpost is to show that Nazi persecution based on sexuality was somehow "distinct" from their persecution based on gender. This is going to be difficult since, if a persecutor wants to portray a trans person as gay, they will do so, citing either the trans person's pre-transition or post-transition gender (and regardless of how the trans person identifies, including whether they are asexual), and also since now the goalpost is not to prove whether the Nazis persecuted trans people but exactly what the Nazis said or thought about the trans people while they did so, because if the Nazis said "gay" rather than "trans," the trans people somehow become un-murdered. This is a classic of intersectionalism: people siding with the oppressors by saying that, since a multiply marginalized person may not be able to prove on which marginalized trait they're being discriminated against at any given moment, they aren't permitted to claim discrimination at all.

Even supposing that the Nazis did not have a concept of trans and/or did not object to trans people existing that they only knew of and targeted gay people, the fact that the Nazis' targeting of gay people resulted in catching and killing trans people too would be important to note.

Outcome:

On April 15, Brown tweeted: "On 13 March I tweeted that JK Rowling 'is a Holocaust denier'. That allegation was false and offensive. I have deleted it and apologise to JK Rowling." (Evidently, Rowling legally threatened Brown into posting this "apology.")

Observation: "The only person JK Rowling threatened legally for calling out her holocaust denialism is a Jewish reporter.
There is already legal precedent in Germany that denying trans people were targeted by the Nazis is a form of holocaust denial." (Alejandra Caraballo, Mastodon)