Misplaced Lens Cap
Origami Around
Sade Olutola
TMBGareOK. The Official They Might Be Giants tumblr
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occasionally subtle
EXPECTATIONS
Cosmic Funnies
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Cosimo Galluzzi
hello vonnie
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
official daine visual archive
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oozey mess
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Not today Justin
$LAYYYTER
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@zoned-out-cat
April issue of my mail club is out! Please give comments and criticism!
What's included:
5x7 ish print
Story letter
Coloring page
Sticker
Themed music playlist with some small artist recommendations (not all small artists but a good amount!)
Become a supporter of Poppy's Mail Club today!
How to build a viable digital campaign for B2B tech? incl. strategy, channels, tracking, and KPIs
Digital campaigns are here to stay. The impact of speed on sales is slower than in B2C, and the methods and channels are different, but there is still work to be done.
This practical guide walks you through building a complete, measurable B2B tech digital campaign that includes search engine marketing (SEM/PPC), social media, email, landing pages, and the tracking/measurement needed to optimize and prove ROI. You will learn all about how to build a viable digital campaign for B2B tech. Included, you can find up-to-date benchmarks, real examples, recommended tools, and a ready checklist you can download when creating your next campaign brief.
Essential Abbreviations & Terms for B2B Digital Campaigns
Firstly, let's check out the terms involved. There are many abbreviations, and you can get tangled in that jungle. To release the Tarzan in you and let you swing the lianas with ease and speed, here are the terms explained.
Term / AbbreviationStands forWhat it meansWhat it’s used forICPIdeal Customer ProfileA description of the type of company that’s the best fit for your product/service (industry, size, location, etc.).Helps focus marketing and sales efforts on accounts with the highest likelihood of converting.DMUDecision-Making UnitThe group of people involved in a B2B purchase (decision-makers, influencers, users, and finance).Guides messaging and targeting across roles in a buying committee.SEMSearch Engine MarketingPaid advertising on search engines (Google Ads, Bing Ads).Captures demand from buyers actively searching for solutions.SEOSearch Engine OptimizationOptimizing content and website structure for organic search visibility.Builds long-term inbound traffic and credibility.CTRClick-Through Rate% of people who click an ad, email, or link after seeing it.Measures engagement and ad/email effectiveness.CPLCost per LeadAverage cost to acquire one lead through a campaign.Used to measure the efficiency of lead generation activities.CACCustomer Acquisition CostTotal cost of acquiring a paying customer (marketing + sales).Evaluates overall profitability and ROI.MQLMarketing Qualified LeadA lead that has engaged with content/campaigns and meets the criteria to be handed to sales.Bridges the marketing → sales handoff.SQLSales Qualified LeadA lead vetted by sales as ready for direct conversation/demos.Tracks conversion of marketing leads into real opportunities.ROASReturn on Ad SpendRevenue generated per dollar spent on ads.Key metric for measuring ad campaign profitability.LTVCustomer Lifetime ValueThe projected revenue from a customer over their entire relationship with you.Balances acquisition costs against long-term profitability.UTMUrchin Tracking ModuleURL parameters are used to track campaign performance in analytics.Enables source/medium/campaign-level tracking in GA4.GA4Google Analytics 4Google’s event-based analytics platform.Tracks cross-channel user behavior, conversions, and funnels.GTMGoogle Tag ManagerA tag management system for implementing analytics and tracking code without direct coding.Simplifies event tracking setup across digital assets.ABMAccount-Based MarketingTargeted marketing approach focusing on specific high-value accounts.Improves personalization and sales alignment in B2B.KPIKey Performance IndicatorThe specific, measurable metrics tied to campaign goals.Provides benchmarks for success and optimization.LCRLanding Page Conversion Rate% of visitors who complete the desired action on a landing page.Measures the effectiveness of campaign landing pages.SLAService Level AgreementAgreement between Marketing and Sales on lead handover and follow-up.Ensures leads are acted upon quickly and consistently.A/B Test—Experiment comparing two versions of an ad, email, or landing page.Optimizes performance by testing variables like headlines or CTAs.
And now that we're all sorted with the terminology, time to tackle the actual campaign work.
Practical steps on how to build a viable digital campaign for B2B tech
1) Campaign overview with the goal first
Start with a crisp objective. Examples:
Short-term: Generate 250 MQLs in 90 days for a new product launch.
Long-term: Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by 15% year-on-year via funnel optimization and content automation.
Why start here? All channel choices, creative, and KPIs flow from the objective.
2) Planning & audience building
Steps
Define ideal customer profile (ICP) and buying committees (titles, company size, industries, tech stack).
Create 3–5 buyer personas (role, pain points, content preferences, channels).
Map buyer journey stages (Awareness → Consideration → Decision) and decide which channel does what.
Audience tactics
Use CRM data to build lookalike/re-targeting audiences (LinkedIn matched audiences, Google RLSA, Meta custom audiences).
Build intent lists: search keywords (SEM), topic interest audiences (LinkedIn), and IP-based lists for account-based campaigns.
Seed programmatic audiences via ABM platforms or DSP with firmographic targeting.
Benchmarks to keep in mind LinkedIn remains the dominant B2B social platform, the majority of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a primary channel.
3) Message building (creative + value prop)
Framework
Headline: state the problem (1 line).
Value prop: measurable outcome / ROI (1–2 lines).
Social proof: logos / short proof point.
CTA: single clear action (e.g., “Download the 5-step checklist” / “Request a demo”).
Write variations for each stage: awareness creative is educational; decision creative is demo/ROI focused.
Copy tip from data Landing pages written at a 5th–7th grade reading level convert significantly better than overly complex copy. Keep it simple, scannable, and benefit-led.
4) Ad & channel building and what to run where
Search (SEM / Google Ads)
Use keyword intent to capture demand (branded, product, problem/solution keywords).
Match types: broad-modified for reach, phrase/exact for intent.
Ad assets: 3–4 headlines, 2 descriptions, sitelinks, callouts.
Landing experience MUST match intent (search → targeted landing page).
Benchmarks Search ad conversion rates vary but average single-digit percentages; search usually outperforms display in conversion. Use these as sanity checks when setting targets.
Social (LinkedIn first, then Twitter/X, Meta where relevant)
LinkedIn: great for ABM, sponsored content, message ads, and Lead Gen Forms.
Use carousel/short video for awareness; Lead Gen Forms or Landing Page clicks for mid-funnel.
Run account-based campaigns using LinkedIn Matched Audiences.
Real example: Many B2B SaaS vendors use LinkedIn to drive high-quality leads, especially when targeting senior roles; LinkedIn’s B2B benchmarks and intelligence hub are a good reference.
Segment by persona and funnel stage.
Use nurture sequences: welcome → educational → case study → demo CTA.
A/B test subject lines, preview text, and CTAs.
Benchmarks Email open and CTR benchmarks vary by industry. So consult Mailchimp/Campaign Monitor/HubSpot for up-to-date industry figures when setting targets (B2B often sees higher-than-average opens for targeted lists).
Landing pages & microsites
Dedicated landing pages per campaign/ad group (match message to ad).
Include one CTA, minimal navigation, and a simple form (progressive profiling if needed).
A/B test headline, hero image, and form length.
Benchmark Average landing page conversion rate across industries ~6.6% (Q4 2024 baseline), use this as a starting goal, then optimize upward.
5) Tool & channel selection (recommended stack)
Analytics & tracking: Google Analytics 4 (GA4) + Google Tag Manager (for events). GA4 is the current measurement standard for cross-platform event-based tracking. Google Tuki+1
Ad platforms: Google Ads (search/display), LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads (if relevant).
Landing pages: Unbounce / Instapage / HubSpot / Leadpages (choose by scale and integration needs). Tech reviews/roundups can help choose the right builder. TechRadar
CRM / Marketing Automation: HubSpot / Marketo / Pardot / Salesforce + Marketo (or HubSpot) for lead scoring, nurture flows.
Email: Sendgrid, Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, or the email module of your marketing automation tool.
ABM & intent tools (optional): 6sense, Terminus.
Attribution & experimentation: Looker Studio, Funnel.io, and A/B testing tools (Optimizely, VWO).
6) Activation & tracking, and the setup rules
Minimum tracking to implement BEFORE launch
GA4 property + data stream for your site.
Google Tag Manager with tags for page views, form submissions, button clicks, and scroll depth (optional).
UTM tagging standard for all ads & emails (source/medium/campaign/content/term).
Conversion events in Google Ads and LinkedIn (import from GA4 or use platform pixels).
CRM lead ingestion & field mappings (source, campaign, UTM fields, lead score).
Attribution model Start with last-click for short-term reporting but plan to implement multi-touch or data-driven attribution for decision-making.
7) Measurement: metrics & KPIs (what to track by channel)
Overall funnel KPIs
Impressions / Reach (awareness)
Click-through rate (CTR) by ad type (search, social)
Landing page conversion rate (LCR) — target relative to average (6.6% baseline). Unbounce
Cost per lead (CPL) / Cost per MQL (CPL benchmark depends on industry & offer)
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) → Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) conversion
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for demand-gen/paid campaigns
Channel-specific KPIs
Search: CTR, conversion rate, average CPC, Quality Score, search impression share. Benchmarks: search conversion typically higher than display; aim for campaign-specific baselines. WordStream+1
LinkedIn: lead form conversion, cost-per-lead (often higher than other channels, but higher lead quality). business.linkedin.com
Email: open rate, click-to-open rate (CTOR), conversion rate. Benchmarks vary—compare to provider figures. Mailchimp+1
Landing pages: LCR, bounce rate, time on page, scroll depth. Aim to beat industry median (6–7%). Unbounce
8) Reporting cadence & dashboards
Daily: ad spend burn, major anomalies (spikes/drops in CTR or conversions) — automate alerts.
Weekly: channel performance (CTR, conversions, CPL), top-performing creatives, keywords.
Monthly: funnel conversion rates, MQL→SQL, pipeline influenced, CAC trends.
Dashboards: GA4 + Looker Studio (combine ad platform + CRM data); add LTV: CAC and pipeline metrics.
9) Optimization loops (test & learn)
Test 3 things at once? Don’t. Use sequential or factorial tests: headline, CTA, and form length across separate tests.
For SEM: pause low-performing keywords, shift budget to high-intent terms, iterate bids by conversion rate.
For social: test creative formats (static vs video), audience targeting, and landing page variants.
Use creative rotations and refresh every 2–4 weeks to avoid ad fatigue.
Example (real-life trend): Leading tech marketers are automating repetitive tasks with AI to scale content production and testing cadence, freeing people for strategy and creative review. Recent reporting shows teams automating large portions of content workflows while retaining human oversight for quality. (See a recent profile of a CMO describing automation adoption.) Business Insider
10) Follow-up: lead nurturing & sales handoff
Immediate: trigger a thank-you/confirmation email and push the lead to the nurture path.
Nurture sequence: educational content → case studies → invitation to webinar/demo → direct SDR outreach for SQLs.
SLA & instrumentation: set clear handoff SLAs (e.g., Sales to contact SQL within 48 hours). Monitor lead aging and re-engagement flows.
11) Example campaign at-a-glance (90-day hypothetical)
Objective: 250 MQLs in 90 days for mid-market SaaS product Budget: €60,000 (ads) + €10k creative/landing pages Channel mix: Google Search (40%), LinkedIn (30%), Email nurture (20%), Re-marketing Display (10%)
Targets (benchmarks-based):
Paid search conversion rate target: 4–7% (goal: 6%); CPL target: €120–€180. WordStream+1
LinkedIn CPL: typically higher, plan for €200–€400 for senior-targeted campaigns. business.linkedin.com
Landing page conversion target: 6–10% (baseline 6.6%). Unbounce
Email open rate target (segmented lists): 25–45%, depending on list health and persona. Mailchimp+1
(These figures are starting targets. Calibrate them to your vertical and past performance.)
12) Practical checklist before launch
Tracking
GA4 property + GTM installed
UTM naming convention documented
Conversion events set up and tested in Google Ads & LinkedIn
CRM lead fields mapped & test lead ingestion done
Creative & landing pages
3 ad creatives per ad group
Landing page per campaign with a single CTA
1 A/B variant ready for headline or form-length test
Operations
Budget & pacing schedule in ad accounts
SLA agreements for lead follow-up with Sales
Reporting templates (daily/weekly/monthly) are ready
Download your ICP–Message–Channel Template For B2B Tech Marketing below.
Digital campaignDownload
Now, go launch your campaigns and win some new business. And if you want some help with the definitions, book a meeting.
Sources & further reading (key references)
Unbounce — average landing page conversion rates and benchmarks. Unbounce
HubSpot — State of Marketing (2025) and Marketing Statistics Hub. HubSpot+1
WordStream / Google Ads benchmarks (2024–2025 analysis). WordStream+1
Mailchimp & Campaign Monitor — email benchmark guides (open rates, CTRs). Mailchimp+1
LinkedIn B2B Marketing Benchmark & Intelligence Hub. business.linkedin.com+1
Google Analytics 4 overview (event-based measurement). Google Tuki+1
TechRadar — landing page builders review (2025). TechRadar
Business Insider — CMO case on AI-led automation in marketing (example of automation effects). Business Insider
Essential Abbreviations & Terms for B2B Digital CampaignsPractical steps on how to build a viable digital campaign for B2B tech1) Campaign overview with the goal first2) Planning & audience building3) Message building (creative + value prop)Framework4) Ad & channel building and what to run whereSearch (SEM / Google Ads)Social (LinkedIn first, then Twitter/X, Meta where relevant)EmailLanding pages & microsites5) Tool & channel selection (recommended stack)6) Activation & tracking, and the setup rules7) Measurement: metrics & KPIs (what to track by channel)Overall funnel KPIsChannel-specific KPIs8) Reporting cadence & dashboards9) Optimization loops (test & learn)10) Follow-up: lead nurturing & sales handoff11) Example campaign at-a-glance (90-day hypothetical)12) Practical checklist before launchDownload your ICP–Message–Channel Template For B2B Tech Marketing below. Sources & further reading (key references)
Source: How to build a viable digital campaign for B2B tech? incl. strategy, channels, tracking, and KPIs
Pomni in human form
A quick little doodle
10 books to get you out of a reading slump
I was recently asked tips on how to get out of a reading slump (you can find that ask here) and since I had been considering posting a list with books that could be helpful here is just that a random list of books I read that I feel could get you out of a reading slump. I might also write a more structured post in the future with tips on the matter, and there will surely be more recommendation posts like this in the future. All the books mentioned below will include a few lines of description and if I wrote a specific review post it will be linked in the title.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This was one of my favourites books of last year, it's a short fantasy novel that falls under the category of "no plot just vibes", which I know not everyone likes but in this case it works amazingly. I personally remember being incredibly capturated by this novel, I fell in love with its very unique main character. Piranesi lives in the House, a seemingly infinite building, filled with gorgeous statues, and inhabited only by Piranesi himself and the Other who he regularly meets to discuss his exploration of the House.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
This novel is again quite short and very lighthearted, it's very simply a fairytale, which in my opinion is a great type of story to get you out of reading slumps. It actually helped me earlier this year. This is a light fantasy novel following a boy's quest to find a fallen star he has promised to gift to the girl he loves.
Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
This was one of my favourite books of this year, and it got into my all time favourites list. It's a collection of short stories, which in my opinion is another great type of book when you are struggling with a reading slump. You can pick it up as you want with no fear of forgetting important plot elements, and you are most likely going to read each story in one sitting which is great. This book has stunning writing and some of the most creative ideas I have ever read, it's one of those books I wish I had written. The genre of the stories it's also quite varied from magical realism, to sci-fi, more horror-ish stuff, which is another great element when you are struggling on what to read because it gives you a lot of options.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Overall I think Agatha Christie's books are really good when struggling with a reading slump because they are quite short and mysteries will keep you glued to the pages. This is my personal favourite, it's in my all time favourites list because its idea is simply genious. Ten people are misteriously invited on an Island by an host that does not show up, and suddently they start to get murdered one after the other. Believe me when I tell you this book gets me out of reading slumps even though I know how it ends.
If Cats Disappeard From The World by Genki Kawamura
This is a short novel that deals with pretty existential themes in the lightest most captivating way possible. It seems like a book that requires a lot of focus, but it actually flows amazingly, and it will pull you in after the very first few pages. The main character finds out he will die very soon, when the devil himself shows up in his home to strike a deal, he will grant the main character one more day to live if he agrees on making one thing disappear from the world. It's a surprising book that will make you reflect on life and death and the importance of little thigs, I found it oddly comforting.
The Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman
Graphic novels are one of the best ways to get you out of a reading slump in my opinion. They are faster to read, the illustrations help you with keeping up with the story, they are an amazing option. This particular series you could read fully in one sitting if I am honest, it's lighthearted, heart-warming, and very comforting. It's a YA contemporary story of two boys Nick and Charlie who meet in school and become very good friends, and maybe something more. This is an amazing feel good read that will surely get you back into reading.
The Moustache by Emmanuel Carrère
This novel is so unique and unpredictable it will glue you to its pages, it's also pretty short, which is definitely a theme in this list. The story starts quite simply with a prank. A man who has always had a moustache decides to prank his wife by shaving it off without telling her. The first problems start to arise when his wife claims he has never had a moustache, and so a very surreal story begins. This was one of the most unpredictable and weird books I have ever read.
Art Matters by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell
I know I have another Gaiman book on this list, but this is a non-fiction. It can seem like a weird thing to recommend to help with reading slumps, but trust me. This short collection of non-fiction is one of the most inspiring things I have ever read, and the beautiful illustrations just make it that much better. It's all about the importance of creating, and what stories mean to us as people, it's a must read.
The Humans by Matt Haig
The book I cannot shut up about, and also the only book of the list without a propet review post cause when I wrote about my latester re-reading last year I wasn't yet so much into posting reviews. This is one of my top comfort books, it's the novel I re-read when I need my hope in life restored. An alien tells his story of how he disguised as a human on Earth, and how through that he learned what being a human means. You will see our world's simplest things described in ways that will make you laugh and reflect, and you will fly through the story. I cannot convey into words how much comfort this story brings me anytime I read it without feeling overwhealming.
A Man’s Skin by Hubert and Zanzim
Another graphic novel to finish off this list. This book is not only stunning, but it contains a very layered story that you will end up reading in one sitting. It explores gender roles, sexuality and so much more in an historical setting that resembles a lot renaissance Florence. It's the story of a young woman who will soon get married to a man she has never even spoken to. At this point in her life she is told the family's secret: the women of her family have been passing down for generations a man's skin, that will desguise her as a man in order to get to know a bit better her future husband before their marriage. I loved this graphic novel, and everyone I recommended it to loved it as well, it's one of those books you will struggle to put down.
You can find more tips on my original post masterlist here.
really really not enough people in the united states understand that the reason there is a free breakfast and lunch program in US schools is because of the Black Panther Party's Breakfast for Children program. it's so important to know this. you can't be educated about US history or about the relationship between the US government, US poverty, US formal education, and Black resistance movements without knowing this.
I don't want to be unclear. When I say "because of the BPP's Breakfast for Children program" I do not mean that the Panthers had some sort of lobbying program that advocated for children to be fed breakfast at schools which was met with some kind of positive recognition by the United States government. I mean that the Panthers had a program that fed Black children breakfast before school, and J Edgar Hoover described the Black Panther Party as "the greatest threat to internal security of the country" and the Breakfast for Children program as "the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for." Media coverage of the Breakfast for Children program exposed U.S. child hunger on an international scale, and the program itself nurtured Black revolutionary community, and in order to ameliorate the former and undermine the latter, the United States federal government was forced to institute a program to feed children breakfast in schools. Almost 80 years later there remains in the United States an assumption that children should and will have access to breakfast and lunch at school and it is because of how much Hoover feared the Panthers. (Quotes are findable various places including this article.)
The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants, Aristid Lindenmayer and Przemysław Prusinkiewicz.
You can freely read it here.
What to say to someone who leaves the door open after coming in in European languages.
Once upon a time I worked in this little burger/coffee/ice cream shop and a lady came in one winter and asked if we had a caramel apple drink and we were like ‘well we have cider’ and she was like ‘no I don’t remember what it’s called but this place made a drink that was chai tea, apple cider, and caramel’ and Breezy offered to try and make something for her but she changed her mind and left so Breezy and I were like ‘alright let’s try this’ because we had chai tea, instant cider mix, a shit ton of caramel, instant hot water from the espresso and too much free time.
And let me tell you it was delightful. It tastes like watching the leaves changing color and dancing in the wind. It tastes like picking out pumpkins and gourds and fresh apples at the farm up north. It tastes like witches and freedom.
I make it every year now and this year I walked in the house on the morning of October first with all the ingredients and shouted ‘FALL DRINK’ and my roommates were like ‘????’ so I made them Fall Drink and now every time they get home from work they’re like ‘Fall Drink pls?????’
Anyway I remember literally nothing else about that woman but I’m very grateful to her.
for anyone wondering about proportions/etc here’s op’s answer from the repiles:
@gaslightgallows I feel this would be relevant to your interests.
I don’t like caramel but I can vouch for hot chaider being amazing.
Deareat @simonalkenmayer I feel like this is relevant to your interests.
Also, I do something like this in the crock pot with the overly sweet Growers Pumpkin Apple Cider, chai spices, cloves, a bit of orange juice, and some super dry Pinot Grigio.
Mix, heat, and serve on a nippy night best spent cuddled under blankets with a book.
My friend, you have essentially backward engineered a wonderful winter drink from the Stuart period.
White sack wine, cider, spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger) tea, sugar, and if you want it authentic, a bit of cream or whipped egg. All this is brought together in a low temperature and then stewed for a time. It can also be “pulled”, a process in which one “stirs” the concoction by using a ladle and pouring it repeatedly from high in the air. Makes it foamy and frothy.
Serve warm.
On a cold night, this is a delightful thing. Believe it or not, we also used to make it with a stout beer instead of wine. For a darker richer flavor.
One Black Tea Bag, One Cup Apple Juice, 2tsp butter, 2tsp brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste will also accomplish something similar (just melt the butter and brown sugar together and whisk them around a pan a bit - don’t bother making proper caramel) Make your faux-caramel then you add the apple juice and then the rest; heat it up to a boil then turn off the heat, drop the tea bag in and let it steep for 3 minutes, serve with gingersnaps.
Nothing better than tumblr recipe posts
Started making something similar last year, old cider (Irish, alcoholic), chai tea bags and a mulled cider flavour sachet (sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg mainly). You don’t need caramel because it’s already pretty sweet and lightly boozy! Great with popcorn, banshee bones or Halloween picnmix
kloir_art on Instagram
"Oh, that's pretty nice. And it looks like something I could dra-"
Witchcraft
Doodling
I went to a bookshop and I got dizzy at the amount of books on stuff like “astrological feminism” “reclaiming womanhood through numerology” and all that shit…… One was called “cosmic fanny” or for my french speakers out there, “foufoune cosmique”. I think the fight against patriarchy is going really well
“But I didn’t and still don’t like making a cult of women’s knowledge, preening ourselves on knowing things men don’t know, women’s deep irrational wisdom, women’s instinctive knowledge of Nature, and so on. All that all too often merely reinforces the masculinist idea of women as primitive and inferior – women’s knowledge as elementary, primitive, always down below at the dark roots, while men get to cultivate and own the flowers and crops that come up into the light. But why should women keep talking baby talk while men get to grow up? Why should women feel blindly while men get to think?”
Ursula K Le Guin, from What Women Know
One night we had a thrilling summer storm… We hadn’t been in the house long, and it was the first time in this house we’d had to close all the windows. In the morning I smelled gas, strong, unmistakable. “I smell gas,” I said to my husband. “I don’t smell it,” he said. He had a friend come over. “Why are you having a friend come over,” I asked, “when it doesn’t matter if he can smell it or not, and none of us can fix it?” His friend didn’t smell it, either. I called the gas company. The gas company employee didn’t smell it, either. He waved his reader around and it blasted off in three places, substantial leaks behind the stove and in the basement. “Always trust a woman’s nose,” the gas company employee said.
Yes, I thought, believe us.
Then, No, I thought, I’m not a fucking witch. Believe anyone who smells gas. If someone smells gas, believe them.
– Jane Dykema, What I Don’t Tell My Students About “The Husband Stitch”
i literally can’t listen to tik tok by kesha without thinking about that goddamn star trek tos fanvid…you know the one
this fucking video
Congrats to the creator of this video for being the only funny person on the internet ever
🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
you know what. i am physically sick as hell this week so i'll bite. i read the original slate article, which is free to read so i don't know why OP chose to screenshot instead of let people draw their own conclusions. i agree with MANY of the writer's points on the need for comprehensive criminal justice reform, but i also care a lot about numbers and stats and increasingly, this bullshit "democrats are the same as republicans" messaging is straight-up delivered using propaganda tactics
this is going to be an incredibly long post and i had to use GOOGLE SLIDES and GOOGLE SHEETS which i hate so so much so in the words of twitter kpop stans please don't let this flop
let's look at the numbers, claim by claim
claim #1: "the number of people held in ICE detention has increased by 70 percent since Biden took office"
if you click through 3 link layers from the slate you land at cbs as the source for this which tells you that mainstream media is certainly not immune to playing with stats to make the democrats look bad
fortunately ICE detention stats are easily publicly available thanks to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which does the lord's work of crawling through federal agency publications and submitting tedious FOIA requests to collate useful data
here is the data -- not only was cbs not wrong about the total number of detainees at the time of publication (25k in aug 2021), but the increase from when biden was inaugurated is actually 90%, not 70%. look:
well holy shit!!! that's terrible. biden is the worst and he hates immigration reform and the democrats are no different from trump, right?
but if you zoom out
actually, Jan/Feb 2021 was at the absolute low for detainees, after a full year of covid restrictions slowing down or minimizing gov't operations of all kinds AND reducing border volume
and if you actually want to compare the biden admin to the trump admin?
relative to Aug of 2019, after 18 months the biden admin has reached a 56% decrease in the number of detainees. even if you look at only the month before COVID lockdowns really hit, it's still nearly a 40% decrease
and to put the total numbers in perspective, at NO point before COVID did the trump admin have fewer than 30k people in ICE detention. most of the time it was well above 40k, or about 2x more than under biden
that's not to say that immigration reform isn't still needed, but it IS to say that myopically comparing current-state to january 2021, aka one of the WEIRDEST months statistically on record ever, is going to give you crap perspective
claim #2: "the federal prison population has grown for the first time in a decade"
by now we know that federal data is public so let's go look for it
and indeed the federal bureau of prisons has made 45 years of federal prison data available for download
so this should be straightforward! it looks like the inmate population did in fact peak in 2013, the start of obama's second term, before decreasing. obama made reducing the number of people in prison one of his key focuses and was in fact the first president since jimmy carter (term 1977-1981) to leave office with fewer inmates than when he started
this trend continued under trump. in fact, the rate of decrease at the end of trump's presidency was even bigger than obama's -- turns out the republicans were BETTER than the democrats at criminal justice reform?!
(it is worth noting at this moment of sarcasm that a bipartisan group of senators did actually manage to get the First Step Act bill through the senate gauntlet and onto trump's desk for signature, which lowered some sentences)
(note i've only included data from 2005 onward so it's easier to actually see what's going on in the last 10 years. for those who like math, these are CAGRs calculated over each presidential term)
but there it is -- decline in populations accelerated under trump. surely both parties same. surely democrats actually worse than republicans
but wait, what's that?
that can't be ...
SPIDERS GEORG????
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE
ARE YOU SAYING THAT ... THERE IS AN OUTLIER?
THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN COUNTED?
so it turns out that under trump, the trend had decelerated to less than half the rate of change at the end of obama's last term
that precipitous drop we see is ... covid. it's pretty much just covid, during which federal prisons stopped accepting new prisoners, courts were closed and couldn't hand down sentences, and parole officers weren't sending people in for minor violations
here's what things might have looked like had there been no covid outlier:
now that assumes trump wasn't successful at slowing down the momentum from the obama years
this is what it might have looked like had we perhaps ended up with a second trump term:
again this isn't to say that biden is pure and perfect on criminal justice, even if there were some agreed-upon definition of what pure and perfect legislative or policy priorities would look like
it's to put the context back into place around the data
are the democrats and republicans actually the same or are we being fed a diet of pruned stats and catchphrases to make us simultaneously angry and disempowered
last claim: "federal covid relief funds are being used to pad local police budgets"
you know what, this one is relatively not decontextualized
for example, $10B of ARPA grants to state and local gov'ts has been committed to “public safety programs, including domestic violence prevention efforts, drug abuse and mental health services, and bonuses for hiring and retaining police officers”
it's hard to know how much went to cops, but knowing how much cops take up of local jurisdiction budgets it's unfortunately probably a significant share
biden doesn't help his case by going on record telling states and local jurisdictions to use ARPA funds to shore up before summer, when crime typically goes up (same source as link above)
that said in the grand scheme of even just ARPA funds, this is what $10B looks like, so like ... is this the hill to die on
SO all of that to say
we don't stop pushing for immigration or criminal justice reform
or any other reform that is sorely needed
but using data in incredibly selective ways, out of context, to promote a narrative that somehow democrats are the same or even worse than republicans
ESPECIALLY the republicans of today
is literally propaganda
propaganda by definition uses kernels of truth and then presents it in a biased way to attempt to push a narrative
pretending that the democrats are exactly the same as the republicans is propaganda, and i'm like 80% sure it's right-wing propaganda designed to discourage left-wing turnout that has somehow been accepted by an online population that doesn't understand statistics
so like
understand statistics
do a bit of research
draw conclusions that you can back up
and for fuck's sake, vote
God thank you so much for this detail. I knew OP was bullshit but didn't have the time or energy for this level of clap back. Bless.
The left is not immune to propaganda. If you see something that enrages you... Maybe read the article? Do your own research? Don't just believe everything you read on Tumblr?
Also OP literally just copies tweets that make it seem like Democrats Are Bad with no context. Which, in 2016, was a Russian psyop play. It's helpful to know what agenda someone has when they post things.
sorry for looking like i just cried for an hour. it’s just that i cried for an hour
Okay we get it, the band that carried every middle school emo through their emo years has released again. Get off my feed I want to read fun facts about extinct fish
