Thusday Tweets -- today's word is "Omphaloskepsis"

It would have been a busy Monday morning for the public editor 😂 https://t.co/3UQJuhr79R

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) May 7, 2023

Those who follow this sort of thing will remember that Sullivan did a stint as NYT public editor. She was great, but the paper didn't listen to a damned thing she said, which was a great loss for them and for us.

This is just disgraceful for the @nytimes to publish.

The paper got basically the correct response of "sir this is a Wendy's" when you demand someone publish your rant at a place it doesn't belong. https://t.co/pS1RpqD2qY

— Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) May 6, 2023

NYT reporter @anniekarni calls Nancy Mace "savvy and irreverent" for accusing the Bidens of running a prostitution ring.

Does anyone there realize just how fucked up that is? https://t.co/EaQ6MGCS2Z pic.twitter.com/3TR8DzFHxb

— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) May 9, 2023

You'll never guess which paper this is in.

Meta-point: *No* election is sure thing 18 months out.

—Summer 2011, despite Bin Laden assas, Obama was >10 pts down in approve/disapp ratings. https://t.co/Hms0nT0uNi

Spoiler: in 2012 he won

-Almost as bad for Reagan 1983

C'mon pic.twitter.com/jHH3BDm3se

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) May 9, 2023

thought

You also might be inclined to believe this not because you “hate Elizabeth Holmes,” but rather because she did in fact perpetrate an elaborate scheme to defraud investors, as established by a mountain of bulletproof journalism, federal investigations and a criminal trial. pic.twitter.com/hSfFCjlKAi

— Sam Baker (@sam_baker) May 7, 2023

You'll have to take my work on this but when I first saw this Elizabeth vs. Liz Holmes, I also thought about a rehabilitation piece on Manson, though I have to admit pitchbot did it better than I would have.

Chuck Manson Wants You to Forget About Charles

The scraggly beard is gone. So is the swastika tattoo . As the convicted cult leader awaits prison, he has adopted a new persona: devoted father.

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 8, 2023

...should have been the central theme of the story, not the two people she is said to be. As Chozick writes, "she truly believes that she could have — and, in fact, she still could — change the world."

Here's a gift link. Should be no paywall. 2/2 https://t.co/9a0NyIbXqZ

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) May 8, 2023

My understanding about editing -- based on a brief, 40-year stint -- is that if you think your reporter got rolled by a profile subject, then you either spike the piece or you overhaul it. And at least, you excise the first-person omphaloskepsis*

*(learned this from @ericuman) pic.twitter.com/hDhS6uovBw

— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) May 7, 2023

Don’t read the puff piece about Elizabeth Holmes published in @nytimes today. Instead, read this brilliant (free) piece by @jeremyfaust.https://t.co/TO7CSnMeYV pic.twitter.com/GxPzuAAf01

— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) May 8, 2023

 

Let's check in on Elon.

Perhaps Tucker thought the best way to bond with Musk was to lie about a business agreement.

Tucker announces he is partnering with Elon Musk and bringing his live show to Twitter. pic.twitter.com/zTnxGlQOcq

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 9, 2023

Kinda hard when the owner reinstated every conspiracy theorist, insurrectionist, Russian propagandist and racist who was permanently banned, and now spends every day interacting with and putting 138 million sets of eyeballs on their accounts. pic.twitter.com/cScQr0NLrO

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 8, 2023

This gets weirder by the moment

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023

Experts say far-right extremism within the Latino community stems from three sources: Hispanic Americans who identify as white; the spread of online misinformation; and anti-Black, antisemitic views among U.S. Latinos that are rarely openly discussed https://t.co/mKp2H14GlD

— Bruno J. Navarro (@Bruno_J_Navarro) May 7, 2023

Very moderate guy Elon Musk liked this MTG tweet pic.twitter.com/HoxzIUW9D0

— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) May 7, 2023

Destruction of blue-checks has 98% destroyed Twitter's value as news-event sensory network.

The checks never mattered to check-holders. They mattered to let everyone else know, when news happened: Who was a real weather service, real news agency, real public official.

Gone now

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) May 8, 2023

Dear followers: I am not paying for a check mark. It just magically reappeared.

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) May 10, 2023

The culture wars have reached the point where far right advocates are desperate for something to be offended about.

This is vile: In Tennessee, a teacher planned a Mother's Day lesson that was sensitive to kids without moms. Activists smeared her as a groomer. The lesson was canceled.

Incredibly, one of the books they objected to is about a bear who raises goslings! https://t.co/V5qHsu98vW

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 9, 2023

"None of the counter-protestors the Post spoke to seemed to have attended SM North or had children attend the school, but one man said he pays taxes to the school district."

Shawnee Mission North students walk out in protest over teacher's anti-'woke' op-ed https://t.co/cFoKtv3jJT

— Shawnee Mission Post (@shawmissionpost) May 10, 2023

I've been meaning to do a post on how self-interest no longer explains the actions of these people.

In Kansas, wind power supplies around 45% of the electricity generated in-state. But at least 5 counties have recently placed moratoriums or bans on new wind or solar projects, joining 18 others that already restricted wind development. https://t.co/DMnPVoxHIn

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) May 8, 2023

These tactics are politically self-destructive. Somerset County, where Bernards Twp is located, was a GOP bastion before Trump, home of Christie Whitman and Steve Forbes. Then nonsense like this started. Every county elected official is now a Democrat. https://t.co/1evTKIYuHt

— Julie Roginsky (@julieroginsky) May 6, 2023

I know we said we were going to lay off Ron for a while, but how often do we get to do a monorail tweet?

Disney has the most heavily used monorail system in the world that has safety transported 50 million people, but now Desantis’s new “ inspectors” have the ability to shut down the main means of transport between the parks anytime they feel like it. https://t.co/uPEweFQ4Eh

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 7, 2023

As we said before, the biggest political impact of Dobbs lies in the secondary and tertiary effects.

Another example of how far anti-abortion laws can be stretched to punish women: In Dec, an Alabama woman was thrown in jail for exposing her fetus to drugs — but she **wasn’t pregnant.**

The “suspicion” of pregnancy was enough to put her behind bars.https://t.co/98ymKToEPp

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) May 8, 2023

New commercial during the Trump rally broadcast. The guy who personally recommended ivermectin to Trump has invented a supplement to ward off spike proteins that can supposedly infect your body, which are being shedded by vaccinated people into others. pic.twitter.com/UI7XxQIspL

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 27, 2023

Church of Christ without Christ

Guy at Trump rally says he doesn’t believe in God but has a Christian conservative worldview and wants to be a history teacher. pic.twitter.com/VyPTy3e2hG

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 27, 2023

Wiki -- Bryan Lee Slaton is a former pastor and American politician. Slaton represented the 2nd District in the Texas House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023.

MAGA Rep Bryan Slaton—who intro’d a bill mandating death for women seeking abortion because his Biblical morals apparently command it—has resigned after investigators found he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teen staffer after getting her drunk😑

This is the GOP. pic.twitter.com/MKrJKA7GcJ

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) May 8, 2023

 

One of the reasons I think we need more Christians in politics (actual Christians).

Critiquing a gun-related bill today, TX Rep. James Talarico—a Presbyterian seminarian—rejected 'thoughts and prayers' rhetoric.

"There is something profoundly cynical about asking God to solve a problem that we're not willing to solve ourselves. God moves, God works through us." pic.twitter.com/dBFdr20nen

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) May 10, 2023

Russian stooges are back in the news. It's a retro thing, you know, like vinyl.

He’s not just a conspiracy theorist. He’s completely lost his mind. And the one he had before he lost it wasn’t great. Complete Manchurian Candidate chaos agent. https://t.co/xwV1Av3no9

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 9, 2023

This one from our friends at the PayPal mafia.

Just Russian propaganda nonstop from this fella. https://t.co/5Amhq2m9gw

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 5, 2023

Apparently, Robin Hanson is still a thing. I hadn't heard from him for a while and I'd assumed he was just a frozen head by this point.

Me before reading: "this study, like ~every study, will detect no effect on all-cause mortality because that needs a crazy big sample size"

After reading: "this study, like ~every study, detected no effect on all-cause mortality because that needs a crazy big sample size" https://t.co/5zTskB0XMd

— Alyssa Vance (@alyssamvance) May 7, 2023

Agree.

Some locations in Navajo country are so remote, that voters must travel 200 miles round trip just to vote. It’s time to bring polling sites to the reservation. Agree? pic.twitter.com/W2YoMoeQaU

— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) May 4, 2023

Back on the Sparta debunking beat.

In some ways this episode is the most Spartan thing ever: they talk tough, fail miserably and are somehow remembered as badasses anyway by folks who don't bother to do the damn research and ask the simple question "*then* what happened?"

— Bret Devereaux (@BretDevereaux) May 7, 2023

I did some research and this checks out.

my favorite part of the Spartan state is when they were turned into an open air museum for upper-class Romans to gawk at cause they wore goofy hats and did silly things.

ironically, this probably did more to keep the legends of Sparta alive than anything else.

— Freak of Nurture (@khankayso) May 6, 2023

This is really bad.

These local newsrooms will be abandoned and replaced by Sinclair’s “The National Desk,” a nationally-distributed news show. https://t.co/fy4jNC1VaW

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) May 1, 2023

Let's stop by and visit with Grady.

I disagree with every one of his claims, so there’s that. https://t.co/lsctin4au3

— Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) May 8, 2023

Indeed.

To be clear, contemporary LLMs are architecturally incapable of reasoning. https://t.co/O8KynFrvs9

— Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) May 8, 2023

TBH, this is really cool (assuming we can count on the quality).

Now, let’s do this for the human connectome. https://t.co/6P6jeol9R0

— Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) May 10, 2023