Four years ago this month, there was an uproar among analysts (and the public) about whether Cambridge Analytica was a PSYOP. The word is triggering; it tends to get people animated, makes people think of conspiracy theories, implies a grand master plan, shadowy operators, etc.

I have a good memory of that. What's happening now re: QAnon and whether it was a PSYOP and by whom is comparable. And it's a pointless debate. Any operation that 1) does target audience analysis, 2) deploys messaging against audiences, 3) tries to alter behavior, is a PSYOP.

The origin of this particular operation is complicated, networked, and muddied by people who wish to both claim and disclaim it. But it is functionally a PSYOP, has borrowed from that heritage, and can be analyzed in those terms. Miss me with claims to the contrary.

Researchers, journalists, and historians need to get to the bottom of how it evolved (and it did evolve, vs. a unified top-down plan), and we can do that if we work in good faith together. But we have to accept the fact that these kinds of operations are now commonplace.

It also helps to use the lens of emergence; information ops evolve, and incorporate DNA from everything that has come before: LARPs, ARGs, PSYOPs, the general public's participation + gullibility. In that context, one doesn't need top-down orchestration, necessarily.

In his recent article, @cjsnowdon claims that England's November lockdown was a good example of lockdown effectiveness. Let’s look at that claim using the ONS death-by-date registration data which have now been updated for the relevant period.

Although there is some uncertainty over the average lag between infections and death, we should expect any effect of lockdown to be visible in the deaths series after about three weeks.

If the 5th November lockdown had been effective, we might expect a beneficial effect on the deaths trend from about 26 Nov and an adverse effect from about 23 Dec, reflecting the relaxation on 2 Dec.

So what actually happened?

Nationally, deaths peak on 21 Nov, 16 days after the lockdown, almost certainly too early for that to be the cause.

Deaths increase again from 4 Dec implying infections increased right in the middle of the national lockdown.

That increase may be due to the new variant, but we would still expect to see a steeper increase 3 weeks or so after lockdown was released. In fact, there is little if any clear effect on the trend.

Not ok: “humans can’t change sex”
Ok:

Not ok: “women menstruate”
Ok:

Not ok: “only women have a cervix”
Ok:

Not ok: “my life was shaped by being female”
Ok:

Not ok: “pregnant women”
Ok:

When liars like @HawleyMO scream "Cancel Culture!" and "WOKE!" because they are discovering liars and those who attack democracy are in a Consequences Culture, remind them of all the people they tried to cancel for opinions or mistakes, not lying or attacking democracy:.../1

...
1. Dixie Chicks
2. @kathygriffin
3. @Toure
4. Chis Matthews
5. Graydon Carter
6. Bill Maher
7. New York Magazine
8. New York Times
9. Washington Post
10. CNN
11. MSNBC
12. CNBC
13. Dallas Morning News
14. Arizona Republic
15. Univision
16. Apple
17. WSJ editorial board.../2

...
18. Jonah Goldberg
19. NFL players who kneel
20. Harley Davidson
21. Paul Krugman
22. Chuck Todd
23. Facebook
24. Twitter
25. Nordstrom
26. Bed Bath and Beyond
27. TJ Maxx
28. Estee Lauder
29. AT&T
30. Bloomingdale's
31. Rep Tim Rice
32. Cindy McCain
33. Jeff Flake.../3

...
34. Doug Ducey
35. Simon & Schuster
36. French Fries (yes. French fries.)

...the majority of these "cancels" arent because the targets engaged in lying or attacks on Democracy. Many are because they had a political opinion that didn't express fealty to GOP's God King.../4

...or because they expressed an opinion that proved right (France didn't want to be part of the Iraq War, Dixie Chicks criticized Bush for engaging in Iraq War) - a war that the GOP NOW agrees with France and the Dixie Chicks about (And do their best to blame dems for it).../5

"It is day eight in a depot in Lymm just outside Warrington, Cheshire and a lorry carrying frozen carrots and mixed herbs is still waiting for clearance to board a ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast".
"because the paperwork for a single pallet of carrots is missing key information"

**Guardian Report**

Hundreds of miles away in Lisburn in Northern Ireland, the haulage firm’s operations team have had no luck in persuading the British supplier that the carrots that were ordered on 27 December are now, in the third week in January, classed as an export

and must be accompanied by a litany of documents and certificates before the trailer can be cleared to board the ferry at Birkenhead.
Another supplier on the lorry had been struggling with the documentation requiring it to supply what is known as an “Incoterms”, which determines

who pays the duty in any tariff but also establishes a specific record as to who is the importer. But that was resolved on day seven.
Then there was also the supplier who had provided a commodity code that was two digits short. A simple key stroke mistake could be difference

between the lorry getting the red or the green light for entry to NI.
“It took half a day yesterday for me to clear the supply chain. I’ve got one more issue to go,” says the visibly stressed operations man simultaneously dealing with a sheaf of about 30 documents for

The first mindf*ck we wrestle with when sh*t hits the fan is that for men, the answer to better relationships cannot be found by looking at the relationship, or even in looking at the person we’re with

Fact is that all our relationship issues have very little to do with either

Understanding that both women and children are naturally reflective beings, and their behavior is an outgrowth of our own, takes a while to settle in, to really get

Boys of the past 3 generations weren’t told we have that power. Conspiracy or not, this has been a cancer for us

Nature punishes men who look for anything in their relationships. That type of seeking and needing comes from childhood lack, and both women and children are scared by it

Fact is, no one cares what we need. No one owes us anything. Relationships aren’t “for” us (as receivers)

Women and children are fragile and can’t see beyond their own emotions and their own needs

Nature designed a protector for them, and that’s us

So stop talking about your “relationship”, get your body fit and learn to fight

Stop talking about “you’re needs” and make powerful moves with your money

Stop talking about “love languages” with a therapist, and practice mindfulness and mental toughness

Why a woman labor activist was arrested from Kundli industrial area?
On 12 January, Labor activist Nodeep Kaur was arrested, sent to Karnal Jail and booked under IPC 148,149, 307 and other sections of IPC. Since then Nodeep is in jail.

Here is the story. As farmer’s protest at the borders of Delhi enters the 57th day, lakhs of farmers are staying in thousands of makeshift tents. One tent among those marks a stark difference -- it houses industrial labourers protesting against non-payment of salaries.

A little known organisation Mazdoor Adhikar Sangthan (MAS) emerged at the protest site of farmers on December 6th, around 10 day, thys after the farmers reached the Singhu border, to echo the complaints of the workers of Kundli Industrial.

Initially, they reached the site with hopes that their pain too would be heard along with that of the  farmers. However, they have also voiced their  support for the farmers against the new agri laws and are ensuring the participation of laborers in farmer protest.

On 2nd of December, MAS brought 2,000 laborers to participate in the protests.  Farmers protest had started on 27 November, MAS set up tent on 6 december.  Since then MAS is fighting for rights of laborers.

The pandemic highlighted how decades of pushing for socialism have utterly destroyed our ability to measure costs against benefits and evaluate risk. We're down to people refusing to take vaccines until they're 100% effective and demands for lockdown until we have 0% coronavirus.

Here's the challenge with disrupting militia plots: most militia dudes are Dunning-Kruger levels of incompetent, but not Dunning-Kruger levels of dangerous.

So the problem is that militia culture is wrapped up in this sort of virtue signalling nonstop. It's all around trying to project yourself as a leader, a military expert, a tactical master, based entirely on what you've read in Tom Clancy novels

So a militia might say things like, alright, here's the plan. We're gonna get 1000 guys, and we're gonna set up a barricade at each of the three entrances to the statehouse, and then we're gonna neutralize the security forces.

Super scary stuff! Just one problem.

Where are they gonna get 1000 guys? How are they going to implement a Command and Control structure for 1000 guys? What are they gonna make the barricades out of?

This requires a high-level of coordination and logistics support that they really just don't actually have the talent or network for. Let alone that the number of guys they claim is always a factor of 100 larger than the number of guys who actually guy.

Thread.. @NicolaSturgeon There should be no place for Transphobia in ANY party.
However, women wanting to retain sex based rights and protections is not Transphobia.1/2

If you are going to call women Transphobic, you must be able to define what actually constitutes a Transwoman, because so far we are seeing drag artists, cross dressers, non binary etc all defined as Transwomen by Stonewall..2/3

Women have been subjected to vile mysoginistic abuse by some of the young members who are suddenky leaving Snp...and why are they leaving?
Because some weak protections for women were incorporated into the Hate Bill..3/4

I saw someone call @joannaccherry the most vile names, a C*** and other sex based insults. This and the other abuse has not been called out by our First Minister.4/5

Women I know personally have left @theSNP in their droves because of the attitude towards us voicing our concerns "Jeremy Hunts" etc..to the way we are being treated by these young people and others.5/6

@jeffmason1 1/n I want to talk about why this doesn't hold up, @jeffmason1. Black Lives Matter and other groups protesting in 2020 never attempted to assassinate heads of state. They were seeking to uphold the constitution, not torch it. LEO response was so strong it violated human rights.

2/n The police response to those protests was so strong we had a hearing. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper testified about the military role in wake of the killing of George Floyd.

3/n Milley said, "I have many policemen in my family, and I am personally outraged by George Floyd's brutal and senseless killing. The protests that have ensued not only speak to this injustice, but also to centuries of injustice towards Black

4/n..We, as a nation and as a military, are still struggling with racism, and we have much work to do." Milley said the vast majority of protests were peaceful. "Peaceful protests mean that American freedom is working." He talked about the response, too.

5/n Milley: "I...advised it was not necessary to employ active-duty troops in response to the civil unrest." "It was my view then and...now, that local, state and federal police backed by the Nat. Guard under governor" could handle the situation. So, what was the response like?

NOTE:

If you see papers/media that show very low sensitivity for rapid Ag tests (i.e. 30%-60% sensitivity) the report is most likely making a common mistake:

Comparing a test meant to detect viable virus to a test that can detect minuscule amounts of RNA is a mistake.

1/x

PCR RNA stays around long after live virus is cleared

So if you see a paper that shows very low sensitivity, ask:

"Are they comparing rapid antigen tests to "anytime" PCR RNA positivity? (Especially studies asking about sensitivity among asymptomatics)

2/x

To interpret this, you should know that only 25%-40% of the time someone is PCR positive are they infectious w live virus.

So... even a test that is 100% sensitive for live virus should only show a 25%-40% sensitivity against PCR among asymptomatic people.

3/x

(For various more epidemiologically complicated reasons having to do with the growth or decay rate of the epidemic, the sensitivity range is actually more like 30% - 60%... but that's for another tweet sometime)...

But to interpret studies of rapid antigen tests...
4/x

Simply put... If you see reports of rapid antigen tests "only" 30% - 60% sensitivity in asymptomatics (vs PCR) - you should think:

"Great! That could well be an exceptional test with sensitivity as high ~905-100% sensitive for likely contagious virus - and its rapid!"

5/x