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Leonardo Carella
Leonardo Carella
@leonardocarella
A word of caution: many aspects of the social, political and informational mess that led to extremists storming the US Capitol are present in Western Europe too. (1)


I. Political Violence

Wednesday didn’t happen in a vacuum: it happened in a context of rising right-wing terrorism, aimed at their adversaries in the elite (pipe bombs mailed to Obama, Biden, Clinton, DNC) and among the public (Charlottesville, El Paso, Pittsburgh, Charleston).

Europe has seen its share of the same violence.

Against parliamentarians: Jo Cox, Labour Party MP, and Walter Lübke (CDU politician in Hesse) have been assassinated. Plots against other politicians, in Germany and the UK, led to further convictions. (3)

Against minorities: in Florence and Macerata, racist shooters targeted, injured and killed black people; there were mass shootings targeted at minorities in a synagogue and a kebab shop in Halle, and shisha bars in Hanau; in Finsbury Park a man drove a van into mosque-goers. (4)

Against seats of power: German protesters tried to storm the Bundestag during the coronavirus protests. The Gilets Jaunes broke into a ministry, after attempting to tear down its front door with a forklift. (5)
GOVERNMENT
ISM
ISM
@ISM_music
📢THREAD

Last week the Government announced, for the first time, that the EU rejected the UK’s proposals for ‘an ambitious agreement with the EU on the temporary movement of business travellers’ that would have ‘covered musicians and others’. 1/18

This is the first time the Government let it be known that they would not be able to make good on the assurances they had given the music sector regarding future travelling and working in the EU. 2/18

In February 2020 the Government stated that its objective was to negotiate a Canada-style trade agreement with the EU, similar to the free trade agreements the EU has previously struck with other friendly countries… 3/18

… and through its negotiations on mobility it was exploring how it could provide greater certainty for the music industry via reciprocal provisions based on ‘best precedent’. 4/18

But there was no precedent to this. A ‘Canada-style’ deal does little if anything for services. For example, Canadian musicians are treated as third-country nationals when travelling to the EU for work. It wasn't in the best interest of the music sector to seek this deal. 5/18
GOVERNMENT
President-Elect SG
President-Elect SG
@GREENESJ333
Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote,
"AMERICANS LIKE TO LOOK TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS, THE 10 AMENDMENTS TO THE US CONSTITUTION AS THE GREATEST PROTECTION OF LIBERTY,....
1)
GOVERNMENT
Andrea Upton \U0001f4da\U0001f331
Andrea Upton 📚🌱...
@UptonAndrea
For anyone who is interested in the goings on of UsForThem you may like to read this thread, it might be a bit long so bare with me! Firstly huge credit to @UsEngland who created a post yesterday that started this all off.

Yesterday UsForThem put out a position statement as you can see this has been written in partnership with @T4Recovery known as Time for recovery you can read about them on their website https://t.co/qyNu7yJfUb


I found it quite interesting that Time For Recovery is a ltd company which was incorporated on 17 Dec 2020, one of it's directors is listed as Jonathon Paul Dobson. TFR also have another company attached to them called Restore the Balance Ltd.

Restore the balance has the same registered address as TFR and was incorporated on 24 Sept 2020. Listed in it's directors is a Jonathon Paul Dobinson. Mr Dobinson is also the director of a creative media company called Other.

TFR have been responsible for various media campaigns across the capital
GOVERNMENT
ArtOfWar
ArtOfWar
@ArtOfWarNews
I know I'm in the minority in relation to my views on Pence. I'm still 50/50 as to whether Pence is deep state or working under deep cover with @potus and the military.

Why?

Logic. I do not think @Potus would have asked a deep state operative to be his VP. There's too much
GOVERNMENT
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@squirrel_hockey
🚨🚨DOMINION MAP🚨🚨 Look at GA! No wonder @LLinWood has been going after @GabrielSterling @GaSecofState @BrianKempGA so hard. Knowing the statistically impossible overperformance on Dominion, now we need to focus on Gabe and the contract deal 2/


2/Part of the steal. Across the country.


3/Simple stats across the country shows how Dominion perfectly lines up with the overperformance.


4/Reminder how CEO scoffs at “Chinese” money yet UBS is Chinese owned, they invested $400M in State Street Capital who owns Dominion. Pretty simple. CEO obfuscates like OJ trying on the glove.


5/Some more charts and evidence of malfeasance.
GOVERNMENT
Joe Colangelo
Joe Colangelo
@Itsjoeco
I’m ready to name 2020 the Year of Hypocrisy.

The year where organizations, governments, and companies destroyed their institutional trust across the board.

A thread of some of the biggest dumpster fires from the last twelve months. 🧵

Municipal leaders in NYC, who we trust to keep us safe, were far too concerned about their woke credentials than they were about public health. The result was the second-worst hit state in the country (after NJ)


Remember when the Surgeon General told Americans not to wear masks?

Then, a few weeks later reversed himself and taught us how to make them at home?

Wonder why so many people don’t trust government guidance on masks now? Maybe a reason there. https://t.co/cGkb0L328K


Remember when Dr. Fauci said not to wear masks in March on 60 minutes.

Then later said he knew masks were good but wanted to protect mask supplies for first responders?

Then he didn’t wear a mask at the ballgame?


Media - where do we even begin? Infinite examples to choose from on both sides of the partisan aisle.

For the vast majority of *national* media, their only consistency in 2020 was that they would take whatever position made Trump look good or bad.
GOVERNMENT
ProfB
ProfB
@AntheaButler
Ok, I've held my powder long enough, I am now going to come out SWANGING. Let me do a thread on what has been irking the hell out of me the last few weeks. Between the GA Senate race and Barack Obama, I've been REALLY ANGRY about how the Black church is being talked about.

Can someone tell me why former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama keep trying to dunk on Jeremiah Wright in their books? I mean damn, they treat the republicans and Tea Partiers who called them apes better. YES I SAID IT.

It has really really soured me on both of them. The man had a stroke. Yes, he did some things that didn't play well during the campaign but that sermon about God Damn America was taken out of context. And the same thing is happening to Rafael Warnock.

This vilification of Warnock and Wright is about taking the teeth out of the black church's prophetic tradition of speaking truth to racist power in America. Who knew that Loeffler and Obama would be on the same side to quench that message?

Folks, the problem is that politicians love the Black church for Photo ops, quenching unrest, and singing. When the Prophets start speaking about SIN, they get to criticizing scripture and pastor's characters. This is a Republican and Democrat practice.
GOVERNMENT
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al crespo
al crespo
@crespogram
1/ LISTEN UP MY PEEPS: In the 4 years of the American Civil War not one confederate soldier ever breached the inside of the US Capital, and walked around inside with a Confederate Flag. In the last days of the Trump administration, that happened


2/ Like it or not, these two guys will this morning and for a long. long time be considered heroes by millions of Americans


3/Tens of millions are Americans yesterday watched the storming of the US Capital not with alarm or concern, but with happiness and cheer that at long last the politicians in Washington were getting what they deserved.

4/ The only thing that many of those Americans were unhappy about was the fact that those storming the Capital did not show up with M-16's so that they could kill every Democrat in site.

5/ While all of this was occurring, talking heads on TV expressed alarm, pontificated about democracy, made appropriate comments reflecting their privileged status. and a few referenced the discrepancy between the treatment of these largely white protesters and BLM protesters
GOVERNMENT
Rob\u1d49\u02b3\u1d57 Graham\U0001f637, provocateur
Robᵉʳᵗ Graham😷, provoc...
@ErrataRob
Conspiracy theorists often sound rational, such as this video. He makes a good point that people simply dismiss their evidence ("you shouldn't say that") without taking the time to determine the truth.

I want to discuss why.


The issue is that it's not us rational people who won't take the time to determine the truth, but the conspiracy theorists. They keep dredging up things they don't understand and demand that rational people explain them.

Such is the case in the report cited in the video. The person in video hasn't spent the time to determine the truth about that document. He doesn't understand what it contains. Yet, he demands we explain it to

He claims it's by a military intelligence expert and that's why it's credible. It's not -- it's by a guy Joshua Merritt who worked in the motor pool who flunked out of his intro to military intelligence

No, this is not an "ad hominem". It's them saying the "evidence" is credible because he's an expert. Thus, we should point out the guy is not an expert, and that the "evidence" must be judged on its own merits.
GOVERNMENT
Hugo Gye
Hugo Gye
@HugoGye
NEW
Boris Johnson says 1.3m people have been vaccinated across UK, 1.1m in England.

650,000 of them are over-80 which is 23% of that cohort.

DAILY UPDATES ON VACCINATION FIGURES ARE COMING FROM MONDAY!

It's @olyduff wot won it.


PM says there are 107 hospital hubs open for vaccinations now, plus 595 GP-led sites. This week another 100 hubs are coming on stream and 180 GP sites - next week the first seven mass vaccination centres open in stadiums and exhibition centres.

NHS refusing to give out the locations of the seven new mass vaccination centres 🤔
GOVERNMENT
Steve Herman
Steve Herman
@W7VOA
"We're debating a step that has never been taken in American history" to overrule the voters, says @senatemajldr. "This will be the most important vote I've ever cast."


"Nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale...that would have tipped the entire election," says @senatemajldr.

"We cannot declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids," adds @senatemajldr. Overruling states and courts would damage the republic forever.

Democracy "would enter a death spiral" and "every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost," says @senatemajldr.

"We cannot keep drifting apart into two separate tribes with a separate set of facts and separate realities," adds @senatemajldr.
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Jim Himes
Jim Himes
@jahimes
Catching my breath after the attack on the Capitol, I’m reflecting on all that we have to do. First, everyone involved in the insurrection, from the President to Josh Hawley to the Lectern Guy must be held accountable. That appears to be happening. But... 1/9

Long after Lectern and Viking Guy are in jail, and ex-President Trump is wrestling with various prosecutors, we will be struggling with the toxic apocalyptic violent hate religion that is their legacy. 2/9


Second, this isn’t just Lectern and Viking Guy and a deranged President. This letter was sent by a parent in New Canaan whose child’s teacher had offered suggestions on how to talk to kids about the attack. Every sentence is provably untrue and filled with hate and violence. 3/9


For context, New Canaan is an enormously affluent, educated center-right town. It’s GOP, but old-school New England Republican. I actually won the town for the first time in 2020, thank you Donald Trump.

And yet, one of it’s citizens produces a screed worthy of Alex Jones 4/9

Speaking of Alex Jones, here’s a video of him at DC’s pre-insurrection MAGA rally: grievance, rage, incitement of violence. IMO, it’s this stuff, not the wokeness of Professors of Semiotics at Middlebury that put 1A at risk. The professors have never tried to kill me. 5/9
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The Reckoning \U0001f4a5
The Reckoning 💥...
@sethjlevy
Here’s my question @SenTomCotton, if the Congress’s role is simply to rubber stamp the state certified electoral college then why include in the Constitution a mechanism, specific to the election of a President, that includes the ability to object to state certified electors? 1/
GOVERNMENT
The SNP
The SNP
@theSNP
First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "Firstly, can I thank you, Presiding Officer, for this recall of Parliament today and join you in wishing everyone all the very best for a new year that we hope, despite its very difficult start, will bring better times."

NS: "The Cabinet met this morning to assess the up to date Covid situation - which I must say at the outset is extremely serious - and to discuss what further action is necessary to minimise further spread of the virus. I will set out our decisions shortly."

NS: "However, I can confirm now, in summary, that we decided to introduce from midnight tonight, for the duration of January, a legal requirement to stay at home except for essential purposes. This is similar to the lockdown of March last year."

NS: "However, before I set out these decisions in more detail, I want to take the opportunity to explain in some detail why they are so necessary.

In the last few weeks, there have been two significant game changers in our fight against this virus."

NS: "One, the approval of vaccines, is hugely positive and offers us the way out of this pandemic.

But the other - the new faster spreading variant of the virus - is a massive blow."
GOVERNMENT
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Provost of Antifa / \u0633\u064a\u062f\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0641\u062a\u0646\u0629
Provost of Antifa / سي...
@MsEntropy
These are the people paid to analyze situations for us.

Good God, how frustrating.

Call me with questions, Chris. Happy to fill you in on a decade or so of work on the matter.


“Zip-ties: what are they for?”


Twitter is infested with some of the absolute dumbest takes I have ever seen on the issue of white supremacy, insurgency, and political violence.

Please vet your sources.

People are falling for so much utterly ridiculous shit, my God.
GOVERNMENT
Steve Herman
Steve Herman
@W7VOA
Cannon House office building being evacuated, per notification to staff.

Here's the official notification.


Update: Multiple buildings on Capitol Hill reportedly ordered evacuated.

Outside:


More video:
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EspeciallyFemale\U0001f3e1\U0001f637
EspeciallyFemale🏡😷...
@LoriSaldanaSD
This. Is. Horrifying.

Inside the Capitol siege: How barricaded lawmakers and aides sounded urgent pleas for help as police lost control

When I was Assembly presiding officer I worked closely w/our sergeant at arms. And when I introduced the bill to end Open Carry I had to travel with armed escorts to public events. There is no excuse for this type of breakdown of security in a professional law-enforcement body

This reminds me of an event in 2017 #ProudBoys began harassing attendees at an event in #SanDiego at the @SanDiegoCounty Admin Bldg. Deputies stood & watched so I called @SDSheriff Bill Gore on his cellphone & asked him: Why are your Deputies letting Proud Boys incite fights? 3/


I joined w/event organizers to meet w/@SDSheriff Gore in August re:this event. We also reported it to #CLERB.

A few days later: Heather Peyer was run over & killed by a violent white nationalist in Charlottesville & the #SanDiego #ProudBoys were arrested... in Berkeley 4/


It didn't stop them: They organized a "Pizza Party" at Chicano Park that required @sandiegoPD response. They put out invitations that used the @SDSheriff address as their own & called themselves "Border Patriots"

In other words: they've been hiding in plain sight for years 5/
GOVERNMENT
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Christopher Miller
Christopher Miller
@ChristopherJM
A 2012 recording of former Belarusian KGB chief suggests President Alexander Lukashenko sanctioned assassinations of opponents abroad. Specifically mentioned is Belarus-born journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was killed by a car bomb in central Kyiv, Ukraine, in July 2016.


Tape doesn't prove Belarus killed Sheremet but adds new wrinkle to unsolved case & weight to one of 3 "tracks" of investigation: organized & carried out by Russians; ...Ukrainians; ...Belarusians. Details about how KGB wanted Sheremet killed also similar to what really happened.


Ukraine arrested and is currently trying 3 suspects in Kyiv for Sheremet's murder. All have denied involvement and much of Ukrainian civil society has sided with them. Legal experts also say authorities' case is built upon weak evidence. I wrote about it:

I've covered the Sheremet murder from day one. I wrote a lengthy investigation about it for @pressfreedom in 2016-17: https://t.co/fFr4bAJdEy I found many failings on the part of Ukrainian authorities, who made their preference clear from the beginning: that Russia was behind it.

Another investigation into Sheremet's murder by @OCCRP and @Slidstvo_info also found failings in the official investigation as well as possible links to Ukrainian security service involvement.
GOVERNMENT
Rajeev Venkayya MD
Rajeev Venkayya MD
@rvenkayya
THREAD
There’s much debate around the UK's recommended use of the AZ vaccine with a two-dose schedule and flexible timing of second dose. Some thoughts on the AZ recommendation (not Pfizer) based on available data with refs to some excellent threads.


UK’s MHRA and JCVI are highly-experienced in vaccine assessments and recommendations, and they've surely weighed the benefits & risks of this recommendation carefully. That said, it would be good to see all the data underpinning their recommendation.


In general, vaccines should be taken on a schedule tested in an efficacy trial. But it wasn’t possible to conduct the typical dose and schedule optimization prior to these Ph3 trials, and those trials provided valuable data to inform these recommendations. 3/

The UK recommends a two-dose schedule, with the second dose between 4-12 weeks. This *is not* a single dose schedule. Given the data provided, and in the setting of limited supply, overstretched hospitals, and emergence of a more transmissible variant, this seems justifiable. 4/

The UK has important data on the AZ Vx that wasn’t available for Pfizer & Moderna at FDA's VRBPAC, including:
* single-dose efficacy through 4+ months; and
* single-dose immunogenicity (12+ weeks).
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