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Issues Sometimes Need More Than 280 Characters

Welcome to the The Issue. Day one. Post one.

I expect most of you reading this have come directly from my Twitter feed and know me primarily as the Covid-19 data purveyor with the pastel charts and cute dog. While I have technically maintained a Twitter account for almost 9 years, the overwhelming majority of my activity on the platform has come in the past year tracking and presenting Covid-19 data. I have attempted to present data, trends, and thoughts as apolitically as possible in our hyper-politicized world.

Twitter can be an effective and fun medium, but it has obvious limitations. Stuffing large amounts of information into Twitter threads isn’t ideal. Key points can fall flat or get overlooked entirely. Also, “dunkers” using out-of-context tweets is as old a practice as the platform. Worse, it seems like the algorithm encourages such engagement on the poles—raw, seething hatred and blind, unflinching support—above all else.

The Issue is my attempt to add context and depth to my Twitter discussions. The reason for the name is simple: in a world where opposition or agreement with a “bad” or “good” person/group has become the reflexive position of so many, issues still matter. I suspect I’m not the only person who thinks adopting a platform-wide position on everything from pandemic behavior to tax policy to incarceration policy is laughably simplistic. Yet here we are.

Many of you have followed me for months now to get a daily dose of Covid data with mild annotation, but my daily updates will end before too long. I expect much of the initial content to be Covid-related deeper dives as we (hopefully) continue our march toward an end to the pandemic here in the United States. But I have other interests outside of Covid that I will weave in as well—and not simply politics and pol-adjacent topics, but everything from raising a Gen Z kid to why Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are the best dogs to flying a fighter plane . . . and many others.

I enjoy non-legal writing but seldom engage that part of my brain. I have also enjoyed the good-faith engagement with so many of you on Twitter, whether in agreement or disagreement. Hopefully The Issue provides a forum where you and I can connect a little more deeply on all the issues, light and heavy, that shape our lives.

If any of the above interests you, please consider subscribing here (it’s free!):

Don’t worry, I don’t have enough time to spam you with frequent posts. I’m shooting for one a week (with maybe the occasional short, fun post sprinkled in from time to time). Also, if you want to know a little more about me, click here: About

Welcome, and thank you!

-Craig