Some Nice Stuff For A Break - Clouds, Sunflowers, And The Power Of Teachers

First, here's the view I saw at Goose Lake yesterday.  Clouds can be so amazingly beautiful.  

And sunflowers at UAA.  

My own sunflowers - planted from seed - are just now budding.  There is time for them to bloom still!  (I'm trying to put this on the right and have the text on the left, but Blogger has created a new "improved" version and I haven't figured out how to align the pictures and text the way I want them.)

And finally, I found this AOC twitter thread truly endearing.  

pic.twitter.com/eUhZ3P21uR

— Alberto Cairo (@AlbertoCairo) August 13, 2020

{If it's too small to read, click on it.  It will take you to the Twitter post.  Then click on the image again and it will let you see each of the four tweets enlarged.]

This young member of Congress is so intelligent and so creative!! And then you look at the old men in power and scratch your head.  If more people with the energy, decency, intelligence, and imagination were in Congress, we could have such an incredible country.  My only hope is that when the people of AOC's age now gain power in Congress is that they won't have been worn down by the tedium of fighting entrenched power.  But meanwhile this exchange with her 2nd Grade teacher is priceless.  

"the onliest thing I can do is let 'em see they ain't broke me." AOC Pulls An Ollie Grimes On The Floor Of Congress

I just read the section in Leonard Pitt's novel The Last Thing You Surrender, where Oliver is beaten up by five white men led by Earl Ray, a poor white man.  It's World War II.  They are all working in a ship building factory near Mobile, Alabama.  No ambulance was willing to take Ollive and the factory supervisors allowed a couple of black workers to take him to

"a white hospital that maintained a small ward for Negroes in its basement. . ."

Thelma, who carpools to the factory with Ollie and four other black women goes to see him in the hospital that night.  She finds him sitting up, dressed, bandaged up and he tells her he has a fractured skull.

Thelma gasped.  "Well then, why you sitting up in bed?  Why ain't you lying down?"
He smiled  "'Cause I'm going home," he said.  "In fact, your timing couldn't be better.  I was wonderin' how I was gon' get there."
Thelma was scandalized, "Home?  I ain't takin' you home.  You need to stop bein' such a stubborn jackass and stay here so the doctors can fix you up."
Some indefinable sorrow crept into his eyes then.  "Honey, I aint the one sayin' I got to go home," he explained in a patient voice. "They is."
. . . Doctors done already give me my discharge papers and my prescription.  You gon' stand there all night, or you gon' help a man up?"

She gets him home and he tells her he'll be waiting for her to pick him up tomorrow.  She argues he can't go to work in his condition.  He says if she doesn't pick him up, he'll have to take the bus.

"Ollie looked at her. "That crazy bastard like to kill me."  he said.  "Ain't nobody gon' arrest him, 'cause they was all wearin' masks, so I can't swear in court it was him - and that's if they'd let a nigger testify in the first place, which they won't.  But it was him. . .
A fierce light danced in his one good eye.  "So the onliest thing I can do is let 'em see they ain't broke me.  That's the onliest revenge I get against 'em, to walk through that gate on my own two legs when the bell ring tomorrow mornin' and let 'em see - let 'em all see -even after what they done, Ollie Grimes still standin'." (emphasis added)

[Auto-correct hates this dialect.  I hope I fixed all its corrections and reconnections.]

This is what I immediately thought of when I watched the video below of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking on the floor of the US House of Representatives addressing the fact that Rep. Yoho of Florida had called her names and degraded her on the Capitol steps, and then the next day gave a non-apology apology.  Listen to her speak in her own words.  It doesn't matter what you think of her politics.  The Republicans have abandoned all decorum and decency.  There was a time when members of Congress, despite their differences, treated each other with, at least, outward courtesy.

Rep @AOC: "I do not need Rep. Yoho to apologize to me. Clearly he does not want to. Clearly when given the opportunity he will not & I will not stay up late at night waiting for an apology from a man who has no remorse over calling women & using abusive language towards women." pic.twitter.com/XKymFh3Oyf

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 23, 2020

AOC has a little more power to confront her tormentor than Ollie had. But it's the same situation. A white man beating on a woman (this time) of color because he's got some sort of chip on his shoulder and thinks he can insult her with impunity. When are these guys going to learn?

I'd note that Wikipedia says Rep. Yoho, a veterinarian, is NOT running for reelection in November.

Bernie Sanders Rally at Venice Beach Today - Lots of Pics

When we preparing for this trip to LA I was thinking I should see if any of the presidential candidates were having rallies while we are there.  We just don't get this sort of thing in Anchorage.  Jane Sanders did come up to Anchorage in March 2016, and  the Alaskan Democrats went for Sanders in the caucuses.

 It seemed this was a chance.  And when I saw the poster the other day, for a rally with AOC and Bernie Sanders just two miles away, well, I had to go.  Glad I did.  Seeing candidates in real life with a big crowd makes a difference.  But, of course, that sort of chemistry also excites Trump supporters.


I got there about 9:45am.  It said doors open at 10:30, but I wanted to be sure I got in.  I needn't have worried. It was an outdoor rally just south of the skate board park.  It was extremely well organized and there were volunteers everywhere:  guiding where to go, with petitions to sign, selling T-shirts, hats, etc.  Passing out posters and pins.   Once I got through security, I found a spot on a small grassy hill.  There was already loud piped in music.  I was only two hours early.

A lot of people just settled in.















Then it switched to live music with a band called Local Natives. 












  Jessey and Joy played.  






And Young The Giant.











Bernie Sanders may be the oldest candidate, but the music was young and so was the crowd.

Councilman Mike Bonin spoke.












Councilman Gil Cedillo spoke

Treeman was there too.

Cornel West introduced AOC.

And finally Bernie came on to speak at 2:30pm.

 Here are two men who were close by during the whole event.  William (I think, but it could have been Michael - if you see this correct me) and James (he gave me his card - he's a stuntman.)  And no, they didn't know each other before today.  They're just posing for the picture.

And this is the back of Mark's shirt.  He was on the other side of me.













And I couldn't resist talking to the guy who made this giant Bernie flag in Thai and English.  J was hungry - it was 4pm and the only thing she'd eaten all day were the granola bars I had in my backpack.  So I only got part of the flag in the picture.

I understand that there are people who react to Bernie the way I react to Trump.  (Some have already made snide comments on my Tweets today (easier to do at the rally.)  But the problems I have with Trump were reflected in the Tweets - nothing substantive, just negative.  As I see the world AOC and Bernie Sanders understand the world and that humanity not cruelty and nastiness is what the US should be about.  They understand that Climate Change is like the waterfall we are headed towards and if we don't make serious adjustments now, everything else that people are fighting about simply won't matter.  

I've got some video and I'll try to get that up soon.  

Dem Debate Tweets With A Few Of My Thoughts

This first one captures my impression of the debate.

The most important thing is that everyone on that stage tonight is leaps and bounds better than Donald Trump. Tactically, mentally, morally. We have an incredible bench. 🥰 #DemocraticDebate

— Seattle for Pete Buttigieg (@Seattle4Pete) September 13, 2019

Andrew Yang really leans into the “model minority” stereotype and the immigrant exceptionalism tropes, and it makes me uncomfortable. #DemocraticDebate

— Aya M. Waller-Bey, MPhil (@Aya__Marie) September 13, 2019

I thought that Yang made a number of good points.  He's an outsider in a number of ways - as a Chinese/American, as a business man, his  lack of political/governmental experience.  And he's smart.  That lets him raise issues we wouldn't normally get.  But he also seems a little isolated from things as well as this Tweet  from a Filipina/American who calls out his use of the smart-Asian stereotype and his implied lack of acknowledgment of non-East Asian Asians, who make up most of the Asian/American population. But it's good to see his face and ideas up there in the Democratic debates.

Bernie is asked in #DemocraticDebate how his socialism is different than Venezuela, Nicaragua & Cuba. It’s a ridiculous comparison & Bernie says the Democratic socialism he supports is more like Scandinavia. Guaranteed healthcare, worker rights, & no accumulated wealth for the 1% pic.twitter.com/Dly5fZ7WGt

— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) September 13, 2019

Bernie seemed to have a cold, but he's been around a long time, has been fighting the status quo forever, and his ideas are now mainstream.  He's one I'd have full confidence in going one-on-one with Trump.  He knows the facts and he's got the passion.

Bernie went right to policy substance and Kamala goes right to the gloriousness of MEEEEEEEEE. Says so much. #DemDebate #DemocraticDebate

— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) September 13, 2019

I've been really impressed with Harris in her Senate role questioning witnesses.  But as someone pointed out tonight, she's a lot better at asking questions than answering them.  While I think this Tweeter exaggerates, she does seem to be caught off-guard with people questioning her credentials and record.

I remember a time when you would never hear a phrase like "the 1 percent", "the prison industrial complex", or "systemic racism" on the presidential debate stage.

I'm hearing it tonight bc of years of work by organizers and activists.#DemocraticDebate

— Rebecca Nagle (@rebeccanagle) September 13, 2019

Yes, I was struck by the kind of issues that were raised and how united most of the candidates were on the basic issues.  And the fact that Beto broke the tip toeing around gun issues wide open with his impassioned stance.

Beto O'Rourke:

"Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47s, we're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans any more!"

Beto DGAF, and I am HERE FOR IT.

Best line of the night. #DemocraticDebate#DemDebate

— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) September 13, 2019     

I've come to the conclusion that O'Rourke would make a much better Senator than a President.  He's got a way of saying things clearly and with passion.  I'm less confident of his overall common sense and ability to administer.  A role in the Senate is perfect for his talents.

And Butteig also made history for a presidential debate.

Pete Buttigieg's closing statement was a powerful, important message, regardless of where his candidacy goes, says reporter @ec_schneider. “Talking about coming out on a national, presidential stage is a remarkable thing.”

Catch up with the #DemDebate: https://t.co/6oalb9qphE pic.twitter.com/AOBKnRIrg9

— POLITICO (@politico) September 13, 2019

Let’s note that when asked about his comments about not giving a damn about what happened to African-Americans 300 years ago, Biden talked about playing record players to kids. Not a good answer. #DemocraticDebate

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) September 13, 2019

I'm afraid Biden is the great white hope in this group.  He's the link to the Democrats of old.  He's the 'safe' candidate.  Like Hilary.  (Who did actually win the popular vote and would probably have won the electoral college without Russian interference in the election - which includes what we know about things like FB ads and what we don't know about about the wins in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.)  But Trump would run circles around him in a one-on-one debate.  Trump's lies and insinuations would leave him tongue-tied.  The only possible way he could win would be because people felt sorry for him.  And that's not a good look for a president.

And talking about playing the record player to help kids learn is exactly the kind of thing that raises questions about his time having passed.  But there were folks who defended his reference to record players.

Everything old is new again including Biden 😂

— Dolly Madison ✌🏻 (@dollymad1812) September 13, 2019

I think tonight’s big winner in the #DemDebate was @CoryBooker. He put forward a clear vision for our country—one that’s optimistic and about uniting all Americans to rise together.

He's definitely on my shortlist. 📝#DemocraticDebate #DemDebate3

— Kyla Paterson is unabashedly feminist (@KylaGraceP) September 13, 2019

I think Booker is another candidate who could go head-to-head with Trump.  He too knows his facts and talks well.  And he's been a mayor and a US Senator.

Another is Elizabeth Warren:

“The mass shootings are terrible, but they get all the headlines. Children die every day on streets in neighborhood, on playgrounds. People die from violence from suicide and domestic abuse. We have a gun violence problem in this country." ~ @ewarren #DemDebate #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/VwrAq8anh7

— Moms Demand Action (@MomsDemand) September 13, 2019

I'd like to see her when she wasn't turned up to full indignation mode.  She has a right to be indignant, but I'd like to hear her sometime talking in a normal voice.


I noticed a lot of obvious GOP Tweeters out to trash every candidate - except Tulsi Gabbard, who wasn't in the debate.

And here's an article about a despicable attack ad on ABC during the debate by paid for by donors to the GOP New Faces PAC,

 "opened with a photograph of the young Latinx congresswoman’s face being set on fire to reveal images of the 1970s genocide in Cambodia underneath." 

Republicans are running TV ads setting pictures of me on fire to convince people they aren’t racist.

Life is weird!

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 13, 2019

This is the kind of open hate the grew worse and worse in 1930s Germany.  No, this is not a frivolous comparison.  I've read Victor Klemperer's I Will Bear Eyewitness  in which he, among other things, documents the language used by the Nazis from the 30's through the end of WWII.  This sort of ad targeting AOC is not only blatantly untrue propaganda, but it's also a call to crazies to physically attack people like AOC.

And this reaction to O'Rourke's call to buyback assault weapons:

From the Texas Tribune:

Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain drew fierce ire Thursday night for a gun-related tweet that many considered to be a death threat against Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke.
Twitter took the comment down within hours because it violated a rule forbidding threats of violence and O'Rourke's campaign planned to report the tweet to the FBI, according to CNN. It's against federal law to threaten "major candidates" for president.

Comparing Congressional Tweets - AOC Shines

What is it that I like so much about AOC Tweets?
I think it's that she tweets the way I would if I were in Congress, and the way I blogged the Alaska Legislature back in 2010.  Showing us what new eyes notice about the place.  Not worried about 'what you're supposed to do or not do.'  Showing people what goes on behind the scenes that others either take for granted or think shouldn't be talked about.  She also does a great job of giving credit to others.

So here's a great one from today.  [If you click on the > at the bottom right of the Tweet, it will take you to the Twitter page of each of these Members of Congress.]

Let’s talk abt how Gov works behind the scenes: Remember that Big Pharma hearing last week?

Here’s how it happened.

A 23 y/o staffer in my office met w/ local HIV advocates. They argued the CDC held the patent for PrEP & Gilead was price gouging.

She picked it up + dug in. /1

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 24, 2019

My senior US Senator Lisa Murkowski:

As medicine and technology evolve, we must ensure that our healthcare professionals, even in the most rural areas, have access to the continued education that will allow them to provide the best care possible.

— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) May 24, 2019

My Junior Senator Dan Sullivan:

I’d like to commend @IvankaTrump for strongly advocating for #paidfamilyleave. There are a number of proposals—some bipartisan—in the Senate that I will be taking a serious look at in the coming weeks and months. pic.twitter.com/k1EVMSsuPe

— SenDanSullivan (@SenDanSullivan) May 24, 2019

And my member of congress, Don Young:

#OTD in 1919, the House passed the #19thAmendment, finally granting women the right to vote. 100 years on, we honor the women who fought to make history, and celebrate those who continue to do so. Learn more about the 19th Amendment: https://t.co/dQ1tQBmi3G via @librarycongress pic.twitter.com/Kuq0VAecMR

— Rep. Don Young (@repdonyoung) May 21, 2019

My assessment apparently isn't isolated.  Here's how many people follow each of the members of Congress on Twitter:

Ocasio-Cortez has 4.3M Followers
Murkowski has 260K Followers
Sullivan has 36.4K Followers
Young has 19K Followers

OK, AOC is part of the internet age, but it's more than that.  She's got

• 16 times what Murkowski has
• 118 times what Sullivan has
• 226 times what Young has

in just four months in Congress.  Other people must also appreciate her insights into how things work and her candor.

Obviously, this is just one measure of a member of congress, so take these numbers and put them into your mental notebook to compare to other measures you're tracking.

This Is Why So Many Establishment Politicians And Their Supporters Hate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Let me just say it out front.  I think AOC is one of the best things to happen in 2018/2019.   In this post I'm going to explain why I think she's pissing off so many people in Washington and beyond. But if you aren't interested in that, just scroll down to the bottom for her positive look to the future and when it gets trashed by the president and others, you can come back and see why I think they do that.

• She's smart in the sense that she understands how lots of things fit into the larger macro picture.
• She's articulate.
• She's able to show her love of life.
• She's able to respond to her detractors with wit, humor, dance, and hope.
• She's not shy.
• She's using her new Congressional seat to actually do things this country needs.
• She's savvy with social media.  
• She's able to give voice for women and people of color and working people.
• She's beautiful.  (This isn't something that we're supposed to comment on, but we all know that it doesn't hurt.)

OK, let's take a short side trip.  When I was a junior in high school, I delivered the mail as a Christmas break job.  I delivered in my own neighborhood, my own street even.  I was fast.  My supervisor was my regular mailman.  After a couple of days he pulled me aside and said, "Steve, you get paid by the hour and when you finish your route, your time is up.  What's your hurry?  Pace yourself.  When you get to your house, take a break before starting again."  

Later, as a grad student, I learned about 'soldiering' when I read Frederick Taylor's The Principles of Scientific Management.  He described how workers get into a comfortable pace or work and how frisky new workers (like me delivering mail) upset that comfortable pace.  So the workers first start to subtly hint to the worker (as my supervisor did) to slow down and take it easy.  If that doesn't work they get more aggressive, which could lead to sabotage and even physical violence.  

I think this is the reason there's so much negative press about AOC.  She's making everyone look bad.  

For the Republicans it's about everything:  

• Policy
• Climate change
• Immigration and demonization of immigrants
• Supporting the wealthy over the poor
• Style and Prejudices
• She's a powerful woman
• She's young (almost 30 years younger than the average age of Reps before the 2018 election which cut the average age by 10 years.)
• She's a person of color
• She pokes holes in all their pronouncements and her responses to their criticisms are way better than what they can do
• She's just smarter than most of them

For Democrats the issues are, perhaps, more procedural.  

• She challenges the speed they are moving toward change in Climate and Health Care etc.
• Her activity and social media savvy and presence make them look like they're doing nothing.
• She brings a bright spark of life to a job they're doing with less sparkle.
• She got elected by defeating one of their inner circle in the primary
• She's challenging the way they operate, their rules, their beliefs about what's possible

Trump's election showed weaknesses in the Democratic common wisdom.  He exploited the fact that Democrats championed people of color and women in a way that made white males the enemy.  The only terms negatively describing a group of people that Democrats didn't 'ban' were words like hillbilly and white trash.  Trump gave that group respect.   AOC's parents were poor.  They nearly lost their home to the 2008 housing crisis.  An event that led to her to find out about her congressional rep's power structure in New York.  Like many of today's college grads, she ended up doing minimum wage work.  So she's reached out to the Trump voter, whom she knows as someone who has lived their life.  

He also used social media to by-pass the press and talk directly to his followers.   And AOC is as good a politician in using social media.  She doesn't just use it, for her it's almost an art form.  

And while some Democrats embrace everything she brings to Congress and their party, others see her as interfering with their routine, their way of seeing what's possible and how to get there.  

Here's the video.  It's a bit of social science fiction. 

It looks to the future, what the world would look like if things got better because of the policies she's pushing.  And it's pretty close to how I envision things, though I'm less sanguine about what technology will do for us.  Like all predictions there are probably flaws, but the attacks on her New Green Deal are much harsher than other people's predictions of the future, predictions that are less imaginative, more mired in the past.

And the video is beautiful.  The artist [Molly Crabapple] does a great job. (If I find out the name I'll add it here.)  This format has come a long way since I wrote about The Story of Stuff and then the followup about Victor Lebow.

Hey Dems - Disagreement Is Human, But Don't Cut Off The Supply Of AOC's

"HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP WARNS IT WILL CUT OFF ANY FIRMS THAT CHALLENGE INCUMBENTS"  is the headline of an Intercept article that tells us the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)

"warned political strategists and vendors Thursday night that if they support candidates mounting primary challenges against incumbent House Democrats, the party will cut them off from business."

I don't know if that would have prevented Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez from knocking off one the most senior Democratic representatives last year in the primary.  I don't think they took her seriously or even considered he might lose.  Though the demographics of the district had changed in AOC's favor.

But look at yet one more example of how this young, articulate Democrat is shaking things up among the old white guys in Congress.  And, because of Youtube and other social media, the world gets to see her doing it.




Any one being honest with themselves has to be impressed with her content and delivery.   She's calling out people who have been getting away with murder (if you count all the lives lost because of poor health care access, because of the hundreds of thousands civilians who have died in our war in Iraq to avenge the three thousand or so who died on 9/11.  That's like a hundred eyes for an eyes for an eye.

But let's take heart in the powerful young, diverse, often female voices that are shaking things up in Congress.  I understand that the Democratic establishment is used to doing things a certain way and they have good reasons to believe in things like supporting incumbents.  But do you think you would be watching inspiring videos today if Joe Crowley had beaten AOC in that primary?  Did ordinary people even know who Joe Crowley is?

Competition makes incumbents stronger when they get in the general election.  DCCC back off.  Let the best candidate win the primary.  These young members of Congress will bring younger voters to the polls.  AOC says in the video she will turn 30 soon.  We remember Alexander the Great even though he died in his 3rd year.

The DCCC should be encouraging new young leaders.  It should also be teaching candidates how to run competitively, but fairly and on the issues.  If they must enforce anything, it should be personal attack against other Democrats.  It should help staff and candidates with addiction problems, with relationship and other problems.  Life is difficult in the US these days.  Our moral and emotional support systems are falling apart.  And campaigning is particularly challenging to one's social life and offers lots of temptation to compromise one's ethics.  

[Conservatives who see her as a threat, well, you should.  Your party is supporting the wealthy at the expense of everyone else and your inability to see that climate change is the biggest threat to humanity because of your personal vested interests, is not only tragic for you, but for all the rest of humankind who will suffer because you've refused to take action.  I'm sorry.  All your arguments on this topic are dead wrong.  Fighting climate change, as AOC says, will be much cheaper than not doing anything.  Actually, a carbon fee with dividend (a bill is already in the House) is the easiest and most effective first step.  Working to develop and support alternative energy not only will create significant numbers of jobs and help keep the US competitive in the post carbon world.  Though that won't have much meaning in a world of endless floods, storms, droughts, heat waves, that will result in disrupting agriculture that feeds the world and the wars that will follow.   You believe in the Rapture, but not Climate Change?  And the delay in countering climate change that AOC talks about is already costing us lives and health and disrupting how humans live.  Just a note - the war in Syria was preceded by a multi-year drought that forced farmers off their land and into the cities where they made up a large pool of unemployed and discontented revolutionaries.  There were other issues, of course, but the disruption of the economic system caused by drought was a big factor. But working together to fight this shouldn't be based on fear, but on the much better world that will come of it.]

Vampire Blood Offer, Anti-Semitic Comment, GND And Anti-AOC Tweeters, And "That Ain't Actually True"

There's so much to write about, but not nearly enough time to do it well.  So let me just offer some highlights.

On my post Vampire History Of Alaska, I got a comment from Leonard who has become a vampire and is offering vampire blood to others.  Is this like ISIS recruitment?  Just a joke?  A scam?

On a 2010 post Does Lisa Murkowski's Religious Preference Matter? I got a new comment that makes allegations about Jews that I really can't understand.  I do understand that part that suggests Murkowski is a secret Jew who's made her way into a power position.

Both of those comments force me to decide if I should just delete the comments, or leave them there to let people see how bizarre some people are.  I've responded, with some hesitation, to the anti-semitic one - because I think people should see the kinds of things people right, and to put them into context, though I couldn't commit to dealing with every allegation in detail.

Then there's the Green New Deal.  I've started a post on that, but I need to do more research.  As someone who has spent a lot of time finding out about climate change, I'm for the idea, but I realized I didn't know all the details.  What I have learned through my involvement with Citizens Climate Change is:

• Climate Change is real
• It's caused by humans
• 'Fighting' Climate Change isn't going to bring economic ruin, but rather will add jobs to the economy, and keep the US competitive as the world shifts to new sources of energy
• A carbon fee with dividend is a market based approach that is the most politically viable and technically effective way to go 

All the scare stuff is by those with vested interests in fossil fuel based energy, people who use it to stoke partisan enmity, or those who who just resist change in general.

And as I read about the GND, I've noticed an unusual number of attacks against it and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.  When she tweets, there are way more anti-AOC responses than there should be.  People who follow her only to attack her it would seem, or are getting sent to attack her tweets by others.  I have checked out a few of these people.  Like Forrest Cook.  His Twitter page says he signed up in July 2009, he's got a total of 13 Tweets and 6 followers.

Of those 6, three are clearly from Kansas (as is Cook). Four have 25 or fewer followers and aren't very active.  Two followers, including Shinobi Ninja, have lots of posts and followers.

Cook's first tweet was July 21, 2009.  
Cook's second tweet was Feb 19, 2019.  And 17 more since then - including today Feb 24, 2019.
He's following 45 Tweeters - including all the Democrats who have announced for President, AOC, Bill Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi.  (He's also following Trump, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, and Kevin McCarthy.

How many newly reactivated Tweeters are out there?  Was Forrest recruited to reactivate?  Was his Twitter handle taken over?  Or has just gotten back into this on his own?   I sent him a tweet asking what got him started again. Here's his response:

"I just never got into Twitter until recently...time to enter another fold of Social Media...although, no mater the venue, the message, the hate and the angst is still the same"

There's more:

Andrew Sullivan  reacts to a new book - Frédéric Martel's In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy.  Here's just a snippet.  You can read it all here.

"I’m no naïf when it comes to the gayness of the church. I’ve lived in it as a gay man for all my adult life, and my eyes are open. And so the book did not surprise me, as such, but it still stunned, shocked, and disgusted me. You simply cannot unread it, or banish what is quite obviously true from your mind. It helps explain more deeply the rants of Pope Francis about so many of his cardinals, especially his denunciations of “Pharisees” and “hypocrites,” with their sexual amorality and their vast wealth and power. “Behind rigidity something always lies hidden; in many cases, a double life,” he has said. He has excoriated “hypocrites” who live “hidden and often dissolute lives,” those who “put makeup on their soul and live off makeup”; he has exclaimed in public that “hypocrisy does a lot of harm: it’s a way of life.”
The only tiny consolation of the book is the knowledge that we now have a pope — with all his flaws — who knows what he’s dealing with, and has acted, quite ruthlessly at times, to demote, defrock, or reassign the most egregious cases to places where they have close to nothing to do. And if you want to understand the ferocity of the opposition to him on the Catholic right, this is the key. His most determined opponents are far-right closet cases, living in palaces, leading completely double lives, backed by the most vicious of reactionaries and bigots on the European and American far right, and often smarting at their demotions."

Finally, a very subtle and essay by a black Southerner on the difficulty of speaking honestly - Kiese Laymon's "That's Not Actually True."

"Weeks after I finish my audiobook, I will be interviewed on NPR by a much older white man from up north. I will imagine him sliding around his office in his socks. Near the end of our interview, he will sincerely ask me why I still talk to my mother. I will say, “Oh my god.” Then I will tell him the question should be why do we still talk to y’all when, northern or Southern, y’all refuse to critically engage with your investment in your belief that niggers ain’t shit. I will answer the question before the older white man from up north can answer and say, “If y’all ever paid us what we worked for, we wouldn’t talk to y’all. You know that right? We really wouldn’t. But we ain’t got no money so we talk to y’all. And we hope it makes our checks bigger.”
That’s not actually true."