Phill Conrad 🇺🇦

I'm coming back to this site formerly known as Twitter only briefly to commemorate the ignominious end another of the boondoggles of that one guy, the one with more money than sense (or business or engineering skills). bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@hkedwards1970 True. Some folks have dragged her a bit for using "wolves" to mean "scary predator", but I think it works as a literary device.

@pconrad Good commercial. Wolves are beneficial to ecosystems. Our corporate oligarchy? Not so much.

Elect this woman Senator. Then in 2032, elect her President of the United States.

This quote has been living rent free in my head for about ten years now

@thejackhopkins There are numerous Quarter Horses bred in TX. When a mare is pregnant with twins, it is a dangerous situation. A vet will typically “pinch off” 1 twin, aborting it, hopefully ensuring a smooth delivery for the mare and a healthy foal. Livestock is treated better than women.

American progressives have the luxury of sitting in judgement on the Settler Colonial Genocide taking place in the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean because our own Settler Colonial Genocide was mostly complete and successful in its aims over 100 years ago.

Ok, it's time. I was telling a colleague that my days on this platform formerly known as Twitter need to come to an end now that Elon Musk has decided to let vile hate speech just go unchecked. So it's time to go out in a blaze of glory with my own hot take on Israel/Palestine.

@LeftistHank @itranslate123

I'm going to start trying to find the people I care about following on other platforms, and try to separate myself from this one. It's been fun, but I just can no longer ignore the way in which this platform is giving safe harbor to the worst excesses of hate and bigotry.

I want to be clear that I am *not* talking about legitimate disagreements about the policies of governments, or opinions on current events. Some folks label some of *that* as "anti-semitic", and there is a spectrum of opinion there. I'm *not* talking about that.

I reported several tweets that were posting vile anti-semitic tropes including but not limited to * caricatures of Jews with hook noses * assertions that "all Jews" are liars * assertions that "international Jewry" is a conspiracy The response was all of this is allowed.

I'm talking about stuff that could be lifted straight out of Third Reich or Neo-Nazi propaganda, that makes vile bigoted claims about Jews, period. Apparently Elon Musk has decided this is ok. That's a bridge too far for me.

@MikeJoPro @J__McCarthy The devil is in the details: is it a total dollar amount? Or is it what the money is spent on? But I trust that smart legislators could devise a formula to separate the sincere from the grifters.

@MikeJoPro @J__McCarthy Proposal: extend tax free status on income for religious organizations only up to some very reasonable dollar amount. The intent would be to *preserve* tax free status for legitimate free exercise of religion, while taxing those that use religion as a *grift*.

If a Christian Minister can drive luxury cars, live in a gated mansion, wear professionally tailored suits, fly in private jets and vacation in exotic destinations all from donations received in the name of God, then that church needs to pay taxes.

One bar manager in Iowa explained that they try to "stay away from violent programming, like mixed martial arts, to prevent drunken brawls from breaking out... The [GOP] debate, it seemed, also fell under that category." nytimes.com/live/2023/12/0…

@_Felipe @ShriramKMurthi In California we add Avocado to that and call it an IBLTA.

@pconrad @ShriramKMurthi Mine is the Invertible Bloom Lookup Table — IBLT for short.

It's kinda' sad that so many people have a favorite book or favorite song or favorite movie or whatever, but so few have a favorite theorem. Math is no less beautiful than the arts. (I feel fortunate to have some too.)

UNLV students were in the middle of finals. They were about to go home for the holidays; their parents were probably planning fun things to do with their kids in town—Christmas lights, nutcracker markets, or Santa pictures with younger siblings. For those who have now just lost their kids in America’s latest mass shooting, they’ll now have to plan a funeral for their children. Children they’ve seen play in plastic pools as babies, children they’ve seen walk across their high school graduation stage, children they had hopes and dreams for; plans to see them get married and live their lives. This is a nightmare and they do not deserve this. This reality where we see new victims created before we can bury other victims is a facet of life we must not tolerate. This is not okay, this is not normal, and this is not another headline we can glance over. Some may say “don’t politicize this,” but we have to. These statements, the 24/7 coverage, the immediate outrage will mean nothing if we do not act in a manner of substance. I’m praying for the new families that will now have empty chairs at their dinner tables this winter. This pain will never go away; and our failure as a nation to have prevented this pain will last forever. Enough is enough.

@marlene4719 Those stories generally don't involve people getting the great positions of power they always dreamed of. Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Saul/Paul... none of those stories of God calling someone aligns thematically with the testimony of Speaker Johnson. It doesn't pass the sniff test.

@marlene4719 I don't want to belittle or mock the experience of genuine religious faith. But my recollection of the stories in the Bible of God speaking to people is that God usually asks people to do things they are very reluctant to do, and require great sacrifice.

It’s called schizophrenia you delusional fool.