BC FOR LATER READ
Saved by @Alex1Powell

OK, more housekeeping ahead of putting this account up on blocks.

#BurnNotice - search for that coming from my account, you'll learn some things about troubles in late 2020.

But this is going to be pretty meta, it's about what goes a #BurnNotice and why.

 We've used the #BurnNotice tag in the past to denote an entity that is in need of special attention. That practice dates back to 2011/2012 and lapsed some time ago.

This is a more traditional sort of #BurnNotice

https://t.co/vXH1B5WABs
Let's put some bounds on this. Those in a #BurnNotice are NOT:

1) people I dislike

2) people I think are competitors in some fashion

3) "feds", whatever you people mean by this undefined term.

4) informants. Got a list of those, too, it's handled differently.
The #BurnNotice is more focused on people who present as if they might be working for Erik Prince:

https://t.co/Ex9B7RQjZR
Or maybe they work for Tiger Swan:

https://t.co/WoLSixHUoq
One of the great faults of grassroots activists is that they think everything is tied to whatever bad actor most recently got immolated. Examples of entities that got roasted include:

HBGary Federal

Gamma Group

Hacking Team
The point here is that there are always corporate and nation state actors in the mix. Their presence is unavoidable, but that doesn't mean that YOU have to get infiltrated and have your time and energy wasted.
That being said, lets examine some primo examples current as of late 2020.

I can think of no better example than "Cody Webb".
The above tweet is a LIE. I know there is an actual person associated with the set of tactics and targets associated with the "Cody Webb" persona. Why does this one get a burn notice?
When I first encountered Cody, he was forever stirring shit in Talib Kweli's timeline. TK is suspended now, but he used to really dish it to right wing loons.

Cody was working on a GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER ZOMG at the time.
We had a phone call. He claimed to be a Navy vet, a sub nuclear power plant guy. That's a good cover story, unless, like me, your best friend from highschool was a helmsman on the same class of boat. Having an old boss who was chief petty officer on a Thresher class helped, too.
So in response to inquiries about his experience aboard a nuclear powered submarine, he couldn't change the topic fast enough.

This, by itself, is not disqualifying. Another veteran showed up, tank mechanic, didn't want to talk much about this. His DD214 was fine.
Next, he claims where he lives the only internet access he has is via hotspot. Those are great for non-attribution without a warrant or a drawn out civil process. I have a cell phone on my desk right now that provides this, when I feel the need.
I know two people who legit run hotspot only. One is in Ireland, the other in South Africa. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it is a bit unusual in the U.S., particular for someone constantly active online.
Third thing that was fishy. The GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER. He couldn't explain what he was doing or why. Another case of bad luck - take a look at how many research papers are in my SlideShare. Anything posted there, I've read.

https://t.co/SDXRLVxhhQ
Contributing to this "research" was, for Cody, like a salesman's appeal to a higher authority. Things that didn't make sense for the mark (ie YOU) would be explained as being associated with the research effort.
First @LibbyInPhilly got a look at Cody's GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER. She's a product of Drexel University's psych program, where they read and write A LOT.

Her judgment was that it would not pass IRB requirements.

https://t.co/5sWOgbBLG3
Someone else finally helped Cody with the writing and I saw the final product. It's a confession of recruiting individuals into various sub-groups, then inducing them to engage in infighting.

Precisely the sort of thing Erik Prince pays people to do.
So maybe "Cody Webb" is one of THOSE people.

The other explanation is that he's somewhere on the psychopathy spectrum and he does things like this to service the psychopath's need to "put one over" on victims.
I had intended to cover a couple different cases, but this is getting kinda long.

Spotting someone doing this is HARD. I spoke to him. I had specialized knowledge (submarines, peer reviewed research), I had a similarly skilled peer (Libby) also find him to be "off".
And then I watched him from a distance for about two years, while signs of him doing the same things I'd seen up close continued to surface.

If he's not a paid plant, I'm OK with putting this out now, because he's in the other category - someone who is always going to fuck you.
Recently he's gotten into a mode of trying to discredit Libby. Her work is good - you can see some of it actually published here:

https://t.co/kM1LdAAlNg
Cody has also been all about interfering with the stuff that Libby, Kirtaner, and I are doing. Take the article about 8kun operator Jim Watkins trafficking child pornography as an example.

https://t.co/B25bKexAqh
The pain for Watkins was the first, then there was some suffering for Parler. Next to get time in the barrel will be the person who did the legend for the Q persona, and then ONAforums operator Josh Moon.

You might not like any one of Libby, Kirtaner, or I ...
But given the role those entities play in dragging this country towards civil conflict, if you're not setting aside whatever personal grudges you have and just staying out of the way, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

And that will be assumed to be intentional on your part.
So there you have it. #BurnNotice for a persona (not proven to be a person) whose methods are either those of a paid disruption artist (he's here nonstop) or someone with a character disorder *who would certainly be a tool of such actors*.
Didn't realize how many column inches would be required to explain why I arrived at a certain view regarding the Cody Webb persona. That's enough for now, I'll have to do some more #BurnNotice work later this month.

/ends
@threadreaderapp unroll

More from For later read

Kirsti Miller
Kirsti Miller
@KirstiMiller30
@FionaPearman @ScottMorrisonMP Morrison is our statue of unempathic neoliberalism - erected by evangelical and corporate Australia to celebrate their victory over compassion, equality and secular humanism. 

Hopefully it gets pulled down like the statues of dubious heroes of oppression from an earlier age.


@ScottMorrisonMP The two-party-preferred system in 
Australia politics isn’t working for people, and it sure isn’t working for the planet.

@ScottMorrisonMP My collapse of faith in our democracies isn’t an accident. It’s one of the central victories of the neoliberal project, delivered through two generations of privatisation, outsourcing and deregulation, underfunding of government services (locked in by tax cuts),...

@ScottMorrisonMP restricting freedom of information, targeting whistleblowers and raiding the media who report on them, delegitimising and gagging public interest advocacy, and criminalising protest.

@ScottMorrisonMP Politics in Australia today relies hugely on the fact that most people don’t know most of what’s going on so as to get away with stuff that couldn’t be done under real scrutiny we have seen a clear example of this with the National Coronvirus Cabinet.
FOR LATER READ
Abir Ballan \U0001f60a
Abir Ballan 😊
@abirballan
Humans inherently like the act of solidarity. We are social beings. We like to huddle up and be together.
They used this against us.
They convinced us that it was an act of solidarity to flatten the curve, to wear a mask for others, to take the vaccines for others,


and to reach #covidzero for others. They convinced us that this was for the greater good of society.
In reality, this couldn't be further away from the truth. They have divided us and broken the core structure of our society. They have dehumanized us with their masks.

They set us against each other into clans on opposite sides of a spectrum. They have turned us into aggressive beings fighting for our survival. Some of us fear harm from the virus, others fear harm from the vaccine, and yet others fear harm from the attack on our civilization.

We are all on a flight or fight mode. We are all operating under the influence of fear. We must collect ourselves and reflect on what has happened over the last year.
How is this for the greater good of society?

They used a tactical warfare strategy against us.
'Divide and conquer'.
We fell for it.
Now we must become aware of it and fight back.
We must reunite. We must find true solidarity to save our world. To free ourselves. To regain our autonomy.
FOR LATER READ
Advertisement
Robbie Maakestad
Robbie Maakestad
@RobbieMaakestad
@The_Rumpus is open for essay submissions until February 28, so here’s a #RumpusEssays thread in which our amazing editors share what they would like to see in submissions. Give them a follow and send your essay our way via @submittable

Features Editor @happiestwerther is “still (forever) in love with the researched essays that teach me something about a subject while I also learn about a narrator.” #RumpusEssays

Assistant Features Editor @sarahkasbeer would like to see “essays with unexpected engines / innovative structures / emotional and intellectual depth / good ole narrative tension.” #RumpusEssays

Features Editor @kaytaybayy: “I'd love to see essays that are imbued with kinetic energy. I don't care what they're about. Just sweep me into your experiences and thoughts. Compel me to shake my dust off.” #RumpusEssays

Asst Feat Ed @DJ_theoretical: "I’d love to read about that weird, niche topic you’re obsessed with. Your Pog collection, those ribbon candies that seemingly only grandmas buy, your new obscure hobby. Distract me from the horrible big picture with your hyperfixations."
FOR LATER READ
Elbridge Colby
Elbridge Colby
@ElbridgeColby
There is some valuable analysis in this report, but on the defense front this report is deeply flawed. There are other sections of value in report but, candidly, I don't think it helps us think through critical question of Taiwan defense issues in clear & well-grounded way. 1/


Normally as it might seem churlish to be so critical, but @cfr is so high-profile & the co-authors so distinguished I think it’s key to be clear. If not, people - including in Beijing - could get the wrong idea & this report could do real harm if influential on defense issues. 2/

BLUF: The defense discussion in this report does not engage at the depth needed to add to this critical debate. Accordingly conclusions in report are ill-founded - & in key parts harmful/misleading, esp that US shldnt be prepared defend Taiwan directly (alongside own efforts). 3/

The root of the problem is that report doesn't engage w the real debate on TWN defense issues or, frankly, the facts as knowable in public. Perhaps the most direct proof of this: The citations. There is nothing in the citations to @DeptofDefense China Military Power Report...4/

Nor to vast majority of leading informed sources on this like Ochmanek, the @RANDCorporation Scorecard, @CNAS, etc. This is esp salient b/c co-authors by their own admission have v little insight into contemporary military issues. & both last served in govt in Bush 43. 5/
FOR LATER READ
Christ is the Cure
Christ is the Cure
@Christ_the_Cure
My view on lent:

My biggest problem with lent is the public display of fasting which is contrary to scripture: Matthew 6:16-18

Just as well, overhearing discussions of humble brags, “oh man, this is so hard fasting from x” while displaying ashes on one’s forehead seems overtly contrary to scripture. Again, Matthew 6:16-18 is clear.

Additionally it has been my experience that repentance and fasting lose much of their substance for those practicing the tradition.

However....

We cannot oversimplify and call lent a “Roman Catholic invention” or a “pagan” practice given its presence, minimally the term, in the early church with people like Athanasius.

In the modern conception: Advent is to Christmas what lent is to Easter. While asceticism is removed and shallow tradition enters into the practice, this can happen in most everything.
FOR LATER READ

You May Also Like

Sam Rocha
Sam Rocha
@SamRochadotcom
THREAD

I get asked for writing tips a lot. Of all the ones I’ve given, here are a few of the ones that seem to hold true and remain somewhat universal or at least mostly unobjectionable:

#amwriting #writingtips

1. If you are a fast writer (i.e., if you compose first drafts very quickly) then you absolutely must become a slow editor. Much of what I call “writing” is really, for me, editing.

2. If you don’t read you cannot write a lot or well. Sure, maybe you can read like a maniac for a decade and then read less after that, but without some large volume of intake, there will never be a meaningful output.

2.1 I sometimes say that I feel like writing without reading is like trying to run a marathan on a cracker. And sadly I see many students struggling to write when they have simply never read enough to fuel that demand of the task at hand.

3. All writing is writing if one decides to treat it that way. If one takes some degree of intentional will when sending emails, posting on social media and writing notes and marginalia, then all of that can count as meaningful daily writing.
ALL
\u09a8\u09bf\u09ac\u09c7\u09a6\u09bf\u09a4\u09be
নিবেদিতা...
@NiveditaNarayan
Remembering the Bengali scientist Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay- the Pioneer of IVF in India, the creator of India's first and world's second child using IVF on his birth anniversary. The Father of IVF in India who was rewarded with suicide was born on 16.01.1931in Hazaribagh.
#Thread


Dr. Subhash was the son of a doctor and studied at the National Medical College in Kolkata after completing his schooling. Fascinated by innovations in gynaecological surgery from his early days as a medical student, he completed his PhD in reproductive physiology +


from the University of Calcutta before going to the Edinburgh University in UK for a PhD in reproductive endocrinology. On his return to India in 1978, he started researching ovulation and spermatogenesis. Soon after, he teamed up with Sunit Mukherji, a cryobiologist +


and Saroj Kanti Bhattacharya, a gynaecologist, to work on a method of in-vitro fertilization for a patient (Bela Agarwal) with damaged fallopian tubes. +


Mukhopadhyay with a double PhDstarted work on IVF techniques in the mid 60s and created history by becoming the first physician in India and second in the world after British physicians Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe) to perform the In-vitro fertilisation. +
INDIA
Advertisement
katya adler
katya adler
@BBCkatyaadler
Again, at such a key moment in UK and at such high political levels, evidence of deep misunderstanding of EU: The PM is under pressure in some quarters to delay #Brexit vote to allow her first to “improve” deal in Brussels BUT EU is determined not to budge at this stage

2) All EU leaders watching tomorrow’s vote. Of course they want to avoid a no deal #Brexit BUT they feel the deal - so painfully negotiated between EU and UK - is too fresh to re-open. Clarifications, yes but fundamental renegotiations, no.

3) The EU’s international reputation as a tough deal-maker is at stake here too. If Brussels now suddenly “gives in” to U.K. on EU red lines (eg backstop) then that would weaken the EU’s reputation in future trade negotiations with other non EU countries

4) Also on backstop the EU is unlikely to cave in to favour a relationship with a leaving member state (UK) against the explicit wishes and ignoring the deep concerns of a continuing member: Ireland.

5) Both the EU and the PM signed up to a guarantee to protect the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. If either the U.K. or EU can leave the backstop unilaterally then this clearly is no longer a guarantee.
POLITICS
Jaya_Upadhyaya
Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
ARULMIGU SRI PARTHASARATHY SWAMY KSHETRAM, CHENNAI (TN)

Divya Desha where Perumal appears with moustache of a Sarathi (charioteer) to conduct Arjun’s Rath in Kurukshetra war.
Here, Venkatkrishna-Parthasarthy is present with his entire family.


He is flanked by Sri Rukmini, Sri Balarama, Satyaki, son Pradyumn and grandson Anirudha.
It is said that on the request of Raja Sumathirajan, Sri Perumal appeared and stayed here as Arjun’s charioteer (Partha-sarathi).


He is without chakra as he had promised not to wield weapons in Mahabharata war.
The face has scars caused by Bhishma’s arrows on Arjun. Prabhu took the arrows on himself to protect Arjun.


The Naivedyam offered here does not have spices. Ghee is used in it to cure Prabhu’s wounds. Sarkarai Pongal is famous here.

It is said that Rishi Bhrigu found Devi Lakshmi (as Vedvalli) in Alli flower in the mandir pushkarini. Later, Sri Ranganatha came here to marry her.
ALL
foone
foone
@Foone
So I was talking to @gewt about Job: A Comedy of Justice and I came up with a theory that I think explains why Heinlein's late-period work is so kinda-terrible and why I still enjoy it so much


So Heinlein had always been very interesting in the short parts of his novels, like the little snippets inside chapters. He had a very fun writing style, and wrote some fun dialogue with fun characters, right?>
It probably comes from how much of his early stuff was short fiction

And I think what happened with a lot of his longer works is that he'd just start writing fun bits and hope it would end up going somewhere or having a bigger plot by the end. like eventually he'd figure out where this was going, then go back and rewrite it into a cohesive whole

and I'm sure he had editors that'd help this process. No editor would let you publish something as rambly and changing-gears-every-other-chapter as The Number Of The Beast, for example... unless you were God-King Of Science Fiction 1980s Robert Heinlein.

so basically I think what happened is that by the 80s (when he was in his seventies!!) he lost the drive to go back and rewrite and he was too Untouchable for editors to make him.
CULTURE