Taylor🥀

East Tennessee raised, living in Houston. Polymath & Pain in the ass.

[Ezra Klein @ezraklein]

In the last few years we've seen:

- The plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer
- The Storming of the Capitol and pipe bombs left at the RNC and DNC
- The break-in to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and the brutal on Paul Pelosi
- Multiple assassination attempts against Trump
- The assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the shooting of on State Senator John Hoffman and his wife
- Luigi Mangione's assassination of Brian Thompson
- The assassination of Charlie Kirk

Political violence is contagious. It is spreading. It is not confined to one side or belief system. It should terrify us all.

The foundation of a free society is the ability to participate in it without fear of violence. Political violence is always an attack against us all. You have to be so blind not to see that.

[onion person @CantEverDie]

this is unironically the blueprint

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@____selah I got that dawg in me

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

With my move to Houston this year, I’ve decided to sign up for the MS150! Never cycled before, but I’m going to give it a shot lol

If you’re able to, I’d be incredibly grateful for your support — whether it’s just $5 or $10

https://t.co/VD6FXJi7jH

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

6 sacks w/ 0 blitzes is crazy. How do you give the defensive line the Super Bowl MVP?

[Kev @klew24]

“SAY DRAKE…”

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

When is the last time a white guy caught a pick 6 in the Super Bowl? Someone get on that

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@AkilahObviously Bold of you to assume that they would be given the right to vote

[@jason @Jason]

There are plenty of valid criticisms of the H1B visa program that should be considered to improve it.

The most significant change is that you should be able to transfer your H1B to another company within, say, six or 12 months.

This would remove the “indentured servants” criticism I’ve made for years and is valid.

These visas should be benchmarked against the unemployment rate in the USA over the trailing five years…

For example, if unemployment is below 5%, we should keep importing talent. When unemployment hits 6, 7, 8, etc., we should reduce it by 20% per point of unemployment.

In this example, it would pause at 10% average unemployment over the past five years

These numbers are placeholders, and this suggestion is just that — a starting point for a creative solution

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@patrickbetdavid Disagree on the outcome you’re forecasting, but it is the best idea RFK has ever had.

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

Also, Vivek isn’t wrong. He’s just right in the most “Tell me you got picked on in high school without telling me you got picked on in high school” kind of way possible lmao

Nerd.

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

Watching the right-wing infighting in reaction to this has been so fun. This must be how the right felt for 4 years of watching us on the left fight the Democrats lol

[Vivek Ramaswamy @VivekGRamaswamy]

The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:

Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.

A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.

A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers.

(Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).

More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”

Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.

Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.

“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.

This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness.

That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

Interesting that my podcasts are right-wing coded despite me being far from that..

Anyone have any technology/educational podcasts recs that don’t have a right wing tilt?

[David Weigel @daveweigel]

Sanders keeps daring Trump to actually do something populist that Rs will probably kill in the crib (credit card fee caps, slashing defense budget) and the coverage is like "Bernie goes MAGA" https://t.co/tns9qDfpEQ

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

Me: “ I can’t believe Tennessee wouldn’t go for it and put the game away!”

Me, 1 minute later: “Woooooo!! Safety!!!” #Tennesseevols

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@Taylor_Made20 Right! Forgot about that one.. I expect a lot of M&A activity in the first year or so regardless of how the stock market responds to 47’s policies (probably not great, I think..)

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@AkilahObviously Wow, yes, that’s such a good point..

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@AkilahObviously Not to mention completely decimated communities and families…

[Taylor🥀 @Jonny_Maps]

@AkilahObviously I agree, I think it’s at the top of mind for people when it comes to their distrust in the pharmaceutical industry.

That distrust has led to so many conspiracy theories that push people to the right. “COVID hoax”, anti-vax, etc all fueled by very valid reasons for distrust..