MAJOR FAILURE OF COVID RELATED SERVICES AT UK BORDERS

Nearly 2 million passengers entered UK June to September 2020.

Launched by the Home Secretary, run by 2 private firms, the Isolation Assurance Service only made contact with 3.5% (66,800) to ensure they were isolating🤦‍♀️

2/ The Government’s half-hearted, privatised approach to critical COVID-related services also extending to virus control at Britain’s borders by the IAS appears to have failed to ensure self-isolation by international travellers.
Source: Private 👁 4-17 Dec 2020

3/ When launching the IAS in June, Home Secretary Priti Patel said Public Health England (PHE) would “undertake checks and ensure that people understand and are following the rules”....

4/ .... Later announcements revealed that the IAS would “attempt to contact randomly sampled arriving passengers to ensure that they are self-isolating”.

5/Sitel, the US call centre firm that shares the poorly performing contact tracing contract with Serco 🤦‍♀️, makes these calls

PHE wouldn’t say how much Sitel’s work is worth, & Govt hasn’t published details of the contract

Sitel already gets £310m for its contact tracing work😱

Even those casually following immigration are likely aware of the active role Trump's attorneys general played.

This participation entailed unprecedented use of "referral & review"... a power with a problematic & twisted journey beyond Trump...

More in my report out today⬇️

Referral & review dates back to a time when the immigration bureaucracy was housed within the Justice Department.

The power helped the attorney general to manage this system - knitting adjudications, rulemaking, & other decisions into one coherent immigration policy framework.

That's not to say it wasn't without its issues!

Allowing the attorney general—the country’s chief law enforcement officer—to intercede in individual immigration cases has raised questions about the true independence of the immigration adjudication system.

Plus, the attorney general can issue referral & reviews without transparency or briefings, which has negative implications for the legal and policy soundness of the decisions and their acceptance.

But then! 2003 happens.

Under the government restructuring following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, most of the immigration system was moved out of the Justice Department.

The attorney general was left with the immigration court system and...referral & review.

The GovLab's Stefaan Verhulst will be testifying on smart city oversight before the NYC Council's Committee on Technology at 1:00 PM. You can watch him and the other witnesses live in Virtual Room 2 at:

Chair Holden opens the meeting. by speaking to the promise and potential that smart city technology offers, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He notes how big data, the internet of things, and other innovative solutions could help New Yorkers address real challenges.

However, he stresses, these come with privacy and security risks. The chair talks about the need to mitigate these challenges and ensure the benefits provided by smart city technologies outweigh costs.

Following the Chair's opening statement, John Paul Farmer, Chief Technology Officer of New York, offers testimony from the Administration.

He notes his focus will be on the city's work in Internet of Things, where NYC leads nationally and internationally.

"The Mayor's Office of the CTO has focused on improving the connectivity infrastructure needed to operate as a smart city," says Farmer

"Equitable connectivity is a foundation of the smart city. Widespread broadband is needed to connect the tools and sensors that make up IoT."

Anti-deportation campaigners need to get real smart real quick. Patel is now considering deporting people with 6 month convictions. That’s petty theft, cannabis, minor offences like fraud.

In the context of #BlackLivesMatter and #windrush - the government response is to make it easier to deport people whose rights are being violated.

We need to work on this together - we cannot let this take place without a fight. Anyone who works on migrants rights, criminal justice reform, decriminalisation and a fair legal system needs to stand against this.

This is a two tier criminal justice system. Double punishment for people who live here, work here, have family here. One mistake punished twice. A lifetime in the UK overlooked because you smoked a joint or stole a purse. Rehabilitation no longer a consideration.

Patel is doing this a direct response to both successful campaigning and as a response to an incoherent strategy from activists so far. They know it will piss us off, they know they can do it. But the public can stop this if we make the right arguments.

THREAD 1-13

1/ How have we come to this, teetering on the precipice of a political extinction event? The Electoral Certification challenge will certainly fail but immoral political theater is damning. And also a victory. For stupidity, naked greed, personal ambition, raw power.

2/ In which cynical propaganda has superseded campaigning and fund-raising as the most effective political tools. In which endless shit-trains of conspiratorial nonsense cannot be differentiated from policy, from McCain’s bus or RFK entreating crowds on a whistle-stop tour.

3/ Why do we assume we've evolved? The leaders of Babylon similarly ran their society, culture, empire, and the verdant Eden that surrounded them into the ground, sheerly out of greed and willful ignorance. It is now Iraq, a pit of sand and blood and unabated violence.

4/ Sedition. Traitor. Quisling. Apostate. Benedict Arnold. Aldritch Ames. Tokyo Rose. Ezra Pound. Judas Iscariot. Julian Assange. Ted Cruz. Josh Hawley. Tommy Tuberville. Kelly Loeffler. Ron Johnson. Steve Daines. Marsha Blackburn. Mike Braun. James Lankford. John N. Kennedy.

5/ These people, Orwell’s Pigs, flaunting incomprehension and intellectual sterility, are lead weights, the Unbearable Darkness Of Non-Being, want us to knuckle under in exasperation and despair, exhausted from fighting generations of exactly this brand of deceit and moral ruin.

2020 has been a devastating year. We could all do with some good news.

Here are some of @CrisisGroup’s 10 reasons for hope in 2021.

1. Vaccines. Several vaccines developed in record time have already been approved against #COVID19.

Their roll-out gives good reasons to believe 2021 will see a dramatic turnaround of the pandemic.

2. Return to diplomacy. After 4 years of the Trump era’s erosion of multilateralism and tensions among the P5, the Biden administration could help restore U.S. engagement in multilateral conflict resolution efforts and at the Security Council

3. Climate. The U.S. is likely to rejoin the Paris Agreement and lead a renewed charge to fight climate change and its destructive consequences.

See @CrisisGroup’s research on the complex relationship between conflict and climate ☟


4. In Afghanistan, ongoing peace talks could lead to meaningful progress.

There are many obstacles on the road ahead, but the current negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban represent the country’s best shot at peace in a

1) Listening to the likes of Tucker Carlson, Lindsey Graham, Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz and many other traitors in our government warning us of the dangers of further division would be laughable...

2) if those comments, weren’t made in the wake of a failed coup that left 5 dead. A coup attempt where people brought guns, bombs and screamed hang Mike Pence.

3) They want to convince us that impeaching trump again would only serve to divide the country further, to enrage trump and his supporters, to create more chaos and invite more destruction…

4) And they don’t see or pretend not to see that this is the very reason consequences must be delt out. Trump can rant and rave out of the white house and preferably behind bars.

5) That people who created and participated in this failed coup attempt, think that they should not have to pay for their crimes because they think they did nothing wrong is the biggest danger facing the country now and in the future.

And now a happy-making Christmas story. “Alan Jones settles defamation lawsuit with SBS.” https://t.co/OhEaHlVea7

“SBS filed a defence of truth to the imputations that Jones was a racist, a misogynist, a liar and a disgraceful high school teacher.”

“SBS also denied the meanings claimed by Jones, pleaded the defence of honest opinion, and asserted that Jones’ reputation was already so bad it could not be damaged by the broadcast.”

This relates to a tribute segment on “the Feed” by Alex Lee which said Jones "made a career out of bullying people", "gleefully used racial slurs" and "spread lies and fake news".

As the story says: Jones claimed in court documents that the broadcast conveyed ten defamatory imputations about him, including that he "achieved his success as a broadcaster by habitually seeking to intimidate vulnerable people".

That SMH story goes on to list a number of other things that Jones claims the story suggested.

Anyway SBS said this was either all trust or honest comment. An agreement was reached to take down the segment, and no apology or compensation to Jones is needed.

Alejandro "Ale" Mayorkas is testifying on Capitol Hill today, as Biden's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security - the 3rd largest federal agency.

It's not his first confirmation hearing -- previously nominated by Obama as Dep Sec in 2013, confirmed in 2014.

Mayorkas, unlike some Senators in the hearing, has kept his mask on the entire time so far -- delivering his opening statement, and even now as he begins to take questions.

Sen. Portman asking what Mayorkas learned from an investigation into his involvement in investor visa cases while he was Deputy Secretary...

Mayorkas: "I learn each and every day to be better tomorrow than I was today...these weren't the only 3 cases I was involved in, whether they involved the rich or the poor...I became involved to ensure our agency improved each day..."

Mayorkas on leveraging DHS resources to support pandemic response:

-FEMA should to ensure supply chain
-CISA (cyber security) should protect supply chain from cyber attacks and ensure other agencies' work protected

"the reach of the department is significant..."

.@SteveSisolak, you state you support schools reopening.

Well, educators do also. We support schools reopening SAFELY!

Here is how you, our Governor, can support us in CCSD. 1/9

1️⃣ Ensure that there are enough vaccines for teaches to receive two doses in the preferred timeframe.
2️⃣ Encourage Superintendent Jara to make this a priority, as well as send out a statement to district employees of his plan to ensure we will not open schools until all 2/9

Hello, friend. It is the last day of the year & I have a few words for you. You had a good year & I am proud of you. You adjusted your entire life to get through a plague & pandemic & you did so w/little to no help from our Government. You switched gears, started new jobs, began

new projects & new home businesses. Some of you became homeschool teachers, & others became primary caregivers. You learned to bake, cook, clean, shop online, & manage your way through Zoom. You did so much & because we were all "In it", no one really was available to shout your

praises. Well, I am. You are awesome. You stayed being a good friend, even when you told your friends you would not gather. You constantly told friends & relatives to wear a mask, social distance, wash hands, don't gather - even when they no longer wanted to hear that message.

And you know what? You worked part-time to help elect your primary candidate & then most of us had to switch to supporting a different person but you rallied for the good of.. all of us, & you phone banked, texted, attended zooms, & gave money to get Biden/Harris elected. I know

you also struggled w/loneliness, grieved deaths, broke up, argued, became depressed, missed sleep, stopped exercising, & retreated from.. life. That is okay. You are okay. As my Teenlet said in all your youthful wisdom: Daddy, these are the days we will be talking about forever

American democracy has suffered attacks over the past decade.

It’s time for change.

The #ForThePeopleAct (#HR1) would enact some of the greatest improvements our democracy has seen in decades. What's in the bill? Here are some of the highlights:

#HR1 will protect access to the fundamental right to vote. It would ensure voters can always register on Election Day and are not wrongfully purged from voter rolls. The bill would also expand the right to vote by mail to every eligible voter.

#HR1 will end partisan gerrymandering & ensure #FairMaps for all. H.R.1 requires the establishment of an independent redistricting commission (IRC) in each state, a reform essential to restoring confidence that every vote matters. Learn more about IRCs:

#HR1 will help ensure transparency in our elections and in digital political advertising. Voters have a right to know which wealthy special interests are spending big money to secretly influence our vote and our government. 4/ #StopSecretSpending

Multiple sections of #HR1 will strengthen protections against foreign influence in our elections, by extending the foreign national spending ban to ballot referenda, improving donor disclosure laws & updating digital transparency requirements. 5/ #GovernmentByUS

This weeks “AMERICA THIS WEEK With Eric Bolling” monologue:

WELCOME TO AMERICA THIS WEEK... 
THERE'S NO SUGAR-COATING IT... LAST WEEK WAS TOUGH TO SEE...
TOUGH TO HEAR...
AND TOUGH TO RE-LIVE AS MORE AND MORE DETAILS EMERGED ABOUT THE ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL AND THE LIVES LOST...

LOST. 
BUT WE AS A COUNTRY HAVE TO FACE THIS HEAD-ON... 
THERE'S NO GOING BACK TO THE WAY WE USED TO BE. 
THIS MORNING, I REALIZED THAT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
  NO MATTER HOW I VOTE, NO MATTER WHAT I SAY, AMERICA IS NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME...

I'VE BEEN COVERING POLITICS FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES.. 
AND THIS MOMENT IN TIME... WE ARE FURTHER APART AS A NATION THAN EVER BEFORE.. 
AT LEAST, IN MY LIFETIME..
MY FRIENDS ARE SPLIT.. 
THE LIBERAL ONES WON'T TALK TO THE CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS...

"SEE I TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO END THIS WAY"...
YA KNOW WHAT..? 
THEY WERE RIGHT. 
THEY HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS WOULD HAPPEN.
MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS ARE STILL SHAKING THEIR COLLECTIVE HEADS.. 
WOW.. THINGS WERE GOING GREAT FOR FOUR YEARS..
  WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?...

THEY ARE RIGHT TOO...
THINGS WERE GOING GREAT FOR CONSERVATIVES.. 
THEY GOT THREE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES SEATED.. 
TAXES WERE LOWERED…
REGULATIONS WERE ROLLED BACK LIKE NEVER BEFORE SEEN.
  SO WHAT HAPPENED?
AS A LIBERTARIAN, I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING....

National Guard Gearing Up At Washington D.C. Capitol

#WashingtonDC

If you’re frustrated by this lockdown it is worth remembering that there is an alternative. Our country has had a year to build an effective system for testing to identify cases & isolate them & those they have exposed. We are all paying the price for the failure to do this.

The deaths that are occurring now were largely preventable. The people dying didn’t simply want a big family bash over the holidays nor have they all been breaking the rules. They are not all old or medically vulnerable.

They are key workers and people’s whose jobs and lives expose them to crowds. The situation is so desperately tragic it’s much easier to blame them. But really important not to blame them. None of us can reduce our risk to zero and all of us rely on people taking risks.

The deaths, suffering & long term problems caused by the repeated lockdowns are an equal tragedy. It is appallingly difficult for many people right now.

It is not beyond a wealthy state like ours to control the spread of the virus without simply shutting everyone at home but at the moment this is the only alternative we have.