I read up on the last several men the federal government rushed to put to death this past month.

Sister Helen is 100% right. None of the defendants would have come anywhere near a death penalty had they had money and privilege.

1/

Take the person executed last night: Dustin Higgs.

Higgs, another man and a woman were involved in the murder of two people. The trio had picked the victims up and taken them to a desolate area where they were shot.

2/
The reasons for the shooting were unclear. To make their case, prosecutors offered a deal to Higgs’ two associates: testify that Higgs had orchestrated the killing and they would be charged with lesser offenses.

So, the two did.

3/
The man testified that he had actually been the shooter and had murdered the two women - but had been told to do so by Higgs.

The actual murderer avoided the death penalty. The other associate got a lighter sentence.

4/
I entirely 1,000% believe that prosecutors would have never even pursued the death penalty had Higgs had intimidating counsel.

Epstein got a walk for a boatload of crimes, in part, because prosecutors were intimidated of the fight they’d face.

5/
The death penalty case again Higgs entirely depended on the testimony with a huge motive to lie. The actual murderer literally saved his own life by accusing Higgs.

If Higgs had been wealthy, he wouldn’t have even faced the death penalty let alone been sentenced to it.

6/
And to make the weakness of the case that sentenced Higgs to death even worse:

The shooter recanted. Signed a statement that Higgs had not actually ordered the shooting.

The admitted murderer recanted the testimony that doomed the accomplice.

7/
Dustin Higgs was executed last night anyway.

He was put to death before the appeals court could even complete a hearing it had scheduled for two weeks from now on a new legal question.

8/
And the crimes for which Higgs was put to death were only eligible for the death penalty because they happened to be on a stretch of road owned by the federal government.

A mile further down the road, no federal jurisdiction, no death penalty.

9/
Our “justice system” is neither “just” nor a single “system”.

There are two systems. One for the rich and one for the poor. One for the privileged and one for the disadvantaged.

In the first, the guilty get off. In the second, the unlucky get executed.

10/10

More from The Hoarse Whisperer

So, in Trump’s narcissistic cycle, there is a predictable sequence of phases that play out whenever he is facing a public humiliation.

1) Double Down Donnie
2) Loco Lawn Sprinkler
3) Sad and Silent
4) Hunting for Scapegoats
5) Riding the Excuse Train

1/


Whenever Trump is facing a public embarrassment he sees coming, he first doubles down on all of the stupid shit that put him in that hole to begin with. He has no other tools.

Then he frantically spins like a lawn sprinkler desperately spraying unhinged nonsense.

2/

The worse the pending embarrassment, the more unhinged the nutbaggery out of his mouth.

See: the past week.

It has been just a firehose of industrial-grade batshit.

3/

Then, when the embarrassment arrives, he gets quiet and sullen like a chastised little boy and runs off to cocoon.

Listen to the clips from the thread in the first post. Talking about his presidency in a tired, dejected past tense.

No aggression. No real fight left.

4/

Trump entirely disregulates as the embarrassment train is bearing down. He seems out of control because he is. No control over himself. An overtired toddler x1,000.

Then the train passes the point of avoidance though and Trump shrinks into a sad ball (albeit briefly).

5/
This is the most significant window into Trump’s psychology since the election.

He is so gravely wounded by his loss, even the usual protections a narcissist employs aren’t saving him.

1/


The pattern for Trump has always been the exact same without deviation.

When faced with a public humiliation, he 1) broods; 2) scapegoats; 3) adopts a face-saving excuse; and 4) gets back on his feet.

He isn’t reaching #4.

2/

It is remarkable and striking.

He is so debilitated by the public humiliation of having lost, he can’t even function in the dysfunctional way he used to...

Normally, he’d be posturing about how his loss was actually somehow a win for him. He’d be claiming he benefitted.

3/

He would have fully adopted a narrative about what happened *in the past* and would be talking about how great things were for him *in the present and future*.

Instead, he is a month into a spiral he can’t pull himself out of where he is still trying to change the outcome.

4/

I thought a trip to Mar a Lago would pull him out of that.

He’d be surrounded by people who looked at him adoringly and nodded at his nonsense with love and reverence.

He’d see that his facade of specialness was still intact *there at least*.

5/
I’m just going to lay this down now so it’s on record:

Trump’s campaign has used the exact same strategy it used in 2016: smear his opponent; attempt to demotivate their base; and actively attempt to prevent or obstruct them from voting.

It is a push-down strategy.

1/


In 2016, didn’t win because he made a winning case to a big enough population.

He won because his opponent’s turnout was pushed down by a full-court press that tapped everything from misogyny to poll tampering.

2/

He is trying to run the exact same playbook against Biden.

But it isn’t working because:

1) We now understand it

2) Many who were effectively suppressed last time have had four years to see what that cost

3) Biden isn’t susceptible to the same illegitimate biases

3/

And 4) Many people who first engaged with politics because of Bernie are now well past the “...or Bust” vibe of 2016 and are now solidly active progressive voters

The media, pundits and analysts never fully reckoned with the extent to which Hillary’s vote was just suppressed.
4/

Instead, they overestimated Trump’s strength.

Trump only won by smothering just enough of his opponent’s support.

Some of the voters who that succeeded with in 2016 are vehemently un-smotherable this time.

5/

More from Government

Canada is failing to act on Climate Change. @wef @WorldBank @IMFNews @IPCC_CH @UNDPGAIN @AntiCorruptIntl @Pontifex @JustinWelby @OCCRP @StopCorpAbuse @TaxJusticeNet @FairTaxCanada @ecojustice_ca @WCELaw @CanEnvLawAssn @envirodefence @IBA_Canada #cdnpoli


Covid recovery money is going to the oligarchy.

Ottawa and the provinces have put very little on the table to help clean-tech companies directly during Covid 19 while targeting fossil-fuel producers with more than $16 billion in aid.

Coast to coast people have demanded treaties be honored. We demanded climate action, divestment and land back but Canada is not listening. This video shows 10 years of rallies in Waterloo Ontario. City & regional council declared a climate emergency. 🚨

The Bank of China (BOC), SNC-Lavalin and WE Charity were recipients of taxpayer-funded the Covid 19 Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
The Government is making the same mistakes as it did in the first wave. Except with knowledge.

A thread.


The Government's strategy at the beginning of the pandemic was to 'cocoon' the vulnerable (e.g. those in care homes). This was a 'herd immunity' strategy. This interview is from


This strategy failed. It is impossible to 'cocoon' the vulnerable, as Covid is passed from younger people to older, more vulnerable people.

We can see this playing out through heatmaps. e.g. these heatmaps from the second


The Government then decided to change its strategy to 'preventing a second wave that overwhelms the NHS'. This was announced on 8 June in Parliament.

This is not the same as 'preventing a second wave'.

https://t.co/DPWiJbCKRm


The Academy of Medical Scientists published a report on 14 July 'Preparing for a Challenging Winter' commissioned by the Chief Scientific Adviser that set out what needed to be done in order to prevent a catastrophe over the winter

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Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇

It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details):
https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha

I've read it so you needn't!

Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.

The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.

Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.