Robin L Turner

I would like to mention again that menstrual products are covered by FSA funds. fsastore.com - so if you find yourself with money left on the table by the end of the year, consider using those funds and donate the products [pantries, homeless shelters etc...]

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

Excellent point!! A lot of people dont know:

1. FDR had to cut anti-lynching legislation to get votes from the South to even pass it

2. Black people were functionally stopped from using the benefits until the 1960s.

The question isn’t "why does Signal use AWS?" It’s to look at the infrastructural requirements of any global, real-time, mass comms platform and ask how it is that we got to a place where there’s no realistic alternative to AWS and the other hyperscalers. 3/

📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).

It’s also concerning. 1/

1000% respectfully disagree. White supremacy is a move to hoard power. By labeling it a mental illness, we are 1) making it less safe for people who have mental illness, 2) disregarding & endangering all the Black folks & folks of color with mental illness who don't subscribe to white supremacy.

Moderates had a WAR of D +2.2. Progressives had a WAR of R+1.7. Very close to the paper's own 4-point advantage estimate for Dems. Show more The New York Times' "Moderation Advantage" Is a Statistical Illusion After accounting for money and incumbency the supposed electoral bonus for moderate candidates vanishes entirely. OCT 24, 2025 • 95. Share The Democratic establishment is building its entire comeback strategy on a premise: moderate candidates win. The New York Times just gave this conventional wisdom its most prominent endorsement, in an editorial arguing moderates consistently outperform progressives. The New York Times editorial, however, rests its case on one simple metric: PAC endorsements. In my last piece, I explained why the electoral gains from a moderation-centric strategy are tapped out and proposed an alternative: a Clean vs. Corrupt anti-corruption platform that can actually win back voters. ç 16 t7 10 • 109. ill 18K Lakshya Jain & @lxeagle17 X.com A link to Bonica's piece is here. I confess I don't quite think it's logically consistent for Bonica to be mad about the NYT not controlling for incumbency/money when he also got mad about Split Ticket's WAR *using* incumbency/money, but whatever. data4democracy.substack.com/ p/the-new-york...

This misunderstanding from Jain is a great teachable moment (might use it in methods class)

Bonica pointing out that controlling for incumbency changes NYT’s result shows NYT’s estimate is biased and not causally identified

It does *not* mean that once you control for incumbency it’s more causal

Katherine McKittricks - Dear Science, Page 14 footnotes chapter

Ya welcome

ia903402.us.archive.org/31/items/dea...

Thinking about how poor disabled and aging people may be impacted this is a multitude of ways–they may not be able to get food, and their care workers may not either (for those who have them), leading to less good support for disabled folks as starving people don't make the best workers.

Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination

I’m sure you’ve read @alondra.bsky.social’s book on this but in case not, it’s fantastic

Take a lesson from the Black Panthers who understood how to feed people

one of my favorite classic tiktoks (from the old days).

If I were a betting man—like Nate is—I’d put my money on Grumbach and Bonica every time. Bonica is famously a very modest guy, so he won’t say this, but it’s wild he still has to explain basic stats to people who think they’re his equals and then they still speak w/ such certainty. Just crazy stuff.

Climate Disasters Are Destroying Black Retirements and the American Dream Early retirement withdrawals for hardship have tripled since 2020, as disasters strike and insurance fails — leaving workers on their own in old age.

Climate Disasters Are Destroying Black Retirements and the American Dream

Early retirement withdrawals for hardship have tripled since 2020, as disasters strike and insurance fails — leaving workers on their own in old age.
capitalbnews.org/black-retire...

Replacement of New Orleans public schools with charter schools is a case study of this and was intentional.

But use of AI instead of teachers takes it from bad to worse. The profit motive was always going to lead to this.

Free: archive.ph/2025.10.27-1...

Thoughtful thread by educator below 🧵

An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis | James Baldwin One might have hoped that, by this hour, the very sight of chains on black flesh, or the very sight of chains, would be so intolerable a sight for the American people, and so unbearable a memory, that...

James Baldwin really had a gift for precisely conveying his meaning in writing:

"But, no, they appear to glory in their chains; now, more than ever, they appear to measure their safety in chains and corpses." www.nybooks.com/articles/197...

Let’s have politicians who aren’t 1) Nazis 2) catastrophically corrupt 3) super committed to telling their constituents that there’s nothing they can do to make their lives better.

This is a DC area food bank that has helped laid off and unpaid government workers. They need help. If you have a few bucks to spare consider this charity. www.capitalareafoodbank.org?utm_referrer...

I'll take it further: it was a redescription of the normal functioning of democracy by people who wanted to end democracy, but who used the defense of democratic principles as a pretext to declare a state of emergency.

The fact that some prominent Democrats defend a Maine Senate primary candidate’s Nazi tattoo while he isn’t even leading in polls, but not defend a NYC mayor primary winner from false smears even as he’s leading general election polls says a lot.

That doesn’t seem driven by voter preference.

U.S. Department of Education, AFPI, TPUSA, Hillsdale College, and Over 40 National and State Organizations Launch America 250 Civics Coalition The U.S. Department of Education, alongside the America First Policy Institute, Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College, and more than 40 leading national and state-based organizations today announced th...

ICYMI, the DOE is working with far-right groups to package white supremacist propaganda, pro-MAGA conspiracies, a false history, and Christianity as "civics."

City Council, we demand half a percent of the overall city budget for libraries! In response to the NYC FY2026 Budget, adopted this June, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Queens Public Library released a joint statement thanking City Leaders for in...

Good morning everyone. It's me again here to ask NYC residents to please send a letter to your City Council person in support of allocating 0.5% of the city expense budget to our local public libraries. Thank you. It will only take you 90 seconds. This time with the correct link:

„What if I told you that when the dude left your house, he was going to a troubled teenager to help them commit suicide? If he wrote their suicide note? If, when the teenager expressed hesitation, he persuaded him not to tell his parents? Are you still going to call the dude to do your homework?“

we would all do well thinking less about pointing out how much undeserved credibility the "wrong" sorts of groups have and start thinking more about how to get the credibility we clearly do not have and frankly don't at this point deserve

Keep Hope Alive: a Gaza Giving Circle We are a team of volunteers in the US and UK, led by two sisters passionate about helping our friends on the ground keep their families and neighbors alive with food, water, & shelter. We saw that…

11 hours left, please share 🙏🏾 Our urgent goal through the end of the month is to help six families & a camp secure priority needs—food, new tents, repairs to make rubble into some shelter, BABY NEEDS—that are still life-and-death.

They need your help. And it DOES help. 100/1000

YouTube video by Marginal Revolution University Birth Weight and Cash Transfers

In basic income experiment after basic income experiment, and cash program after cash program, a practically universal result of unconditionally providing money to pregnant women is that their nutrition improves, and as a result their babies are born healthier.

youtu.be/z5biBPNlKJs?...

OBSERVED EFFECTS OF UBI No significant reduction in labor supply (38 studies meta-analysis) Increased self-employment (301%) and part-time employment (17%) Slight decrease in alcohol and tobacco use (31 studies meta-analysis) New mothers extend their maternity leaves Birth weights improve due to better maternal nutrition Graduation rates and educational outcomes improve Hospitalization rates decline (8.5%) Crime goes down (15%–42%) especially illegal hunting (95%) Domestic violence decreases (30%–51%) Trust increases (13% in politicians | 6% in other people) Home ownership rates increase (17%–26%) Food security increases as does consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables Improved cognitive functioning (43%) and personality traits (31%) Savings go up, debts go down Source: scottsantens

I've been researching the idea of Unconditional Universal Basic Income since 2013. Here's a collection of findings I've compiled from various UBI experiments and studies of cash transfer programs around the world.

This will be a VERY LONG and ongoing thread focused entirely on empirical evidence. 🧵

Democrats’ New Abundance Platform Isn’t Playing Out Well in San Francisco Under billionaire rule, the city’s so-called abundance means more for the rich—and less for everyone else.

www.currentaffairs.org/news/democra...

A playbook, from locals to federal. A sort of public policy DARVO.

Monticello identifies six more people enslaved by Thomas Jefferson The six people include four adults—Moses, Nanny, Mary Ann Hern, and Robert—and two children whose names remain unknown.

Historians at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello have announced the identification of 6 additional individuals who were enslaved at the plantation. www.29news.com/2025/10/21/m...
It marks the first time new names have been added to the estate’s memorial dedicated to honoring the enslaved community.

I tweet: "people who see 50% of their monthly paycheck go to rent don't care if a candidate eats with their hands. they want to hear what your candidate is going to do about housing." John Galt 2025 replies: "Move if the cost of living is too high."

who creates the lively art and music scenes if the rent is too high? who makes cultural life? who serves you food or washes your dishes? who creates the fancy little restaurants that draw you to urban living? affordable housing is at the heart of what makes city life worthwhile.