Brent Williams @hbw@social.cleverlibre.org

Morning folks, time for my first Mastodon thread (!)

Ahead of the #midterms tomorrow, I want to talk about the tragic politicisation of science in the US.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the Republicans became the anti-science party, but the process probably began in the 1980s, when the Christian right first emerged as a major force in conservative American politics.

Since then, the journey has been smooth and swift, and there is now a stunning partisan divide on confidence in science 😥

Books I’ve recently read and highly recommend on the challenges to democracy.
Jane Mayer’s Dark Money goes deep into how politics in the US is now controlled by a few billionaires.
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die.
Barbara Walter’s How Civil Wars Start suggests the US could see another civil war.
Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow details how the war on drugs is used to legalize discrimination and strip African Americans of power.

I tell you what Mastodon is a heck of a lot more fun than LinkedIn that's for sure 😁

History is being made in #go #baduk #weiqi #囲碁 today. Choi Jeong will play her first match against Shin Jin-Seo in the Samsung Cup final. Choi is the strongest female player in the world and Shin the strongest male. Choi's overall ranking was in the 90s at the start of this tournament. This is the first time in history a woman will be playing in the finals of an international tournament. On her way here she has already defeated the 13th and 3rd strongest players in the world.