With increasing domestic pressure and indisputable evidence provided by internationally accredited experts, the Government has now appointed a new 11 member expert committee on 24.12.2020 comprised of reputed virologists and qualified experts. (1)

The stated position which has been disclosed repeatedly by the President, PM & Health Minister since the beginning of COVID-19 regarding permitting burials is to “go with the recommendations of the experts”. (2)

Similarly, the stance of the Muslim community since the very beginning has been that IF science proves that burial is harmful, THEN we will cease our claims immediately, as we do not wish to cause harm to anyone.

This has been conveyed to to all officials and the public. (3)

Over the last 10 months, science has proven overwhelmingly that in 194 countries and at least 1.5 million COVID-19 burials worldwide, there is no tangible evidence that burial is harmful. (4)

The formation of this new expert committee is due to the fact that it has now been proven overwhelmingly that the previous committee’s recommendations are disputed and were based largely on “unknowns”, with lack of substantial evidence to prove or disprove its recommendations.(5)

THREAD - Face Covering Regulations: How the UK government instructed supermarkets and major retailers to respond to exemptions. /1

Last year the heads of supermarkets and *major* retailers received a ‘secret’ Cabinet Office document about face covering exemptions /2

An important point to make here is that small independent businesses were NOT given the same details. And neither has the government ever shared it with the public. In fact, they REALLY do not want you to see it. /3

Although I’ve known of this document since September, I previously decided not share it for fear that it would make life even more difficult for people with genuine medical exemptions and disabilities /4

Yet, this week, the government has mounted a fear campaign that has caused widespread confusion and despair for people who are not able to wear a mask. Notably, those with hidden disabilities. It must now be made public /5

Dear media,

I am an anarchist.

I assure you, the Capitol Hill mob are NOT anarchists.

Anarchists support, among other things, social and economic egalitarianism; not extreme cultural conservatism, nationalism, and the like. That’s fascism. Do some actual research.

If you ever see an "anarchist coup", it won’t involve people storming government buildings and trying to take over

It will involve people ignoring those buildings and coming together in their neighbourhoods and workplaces, then deciding to run them autonomously and cooperatively

Liberals and conservatives alike throw around the word "anarchists" to mean "people who cause a fuss in public", regardless of their actual politics.

If you’re at all interested, there’s more to social anarchist political philosophy than causing a fuss in public.

Social anarchism is about trying to push society in a direction that is more

• free
• egalitarian
• cooperative

It sees the central antagonism within society as the conflict between

1. Sociality: the voluntary cooperation of free equals
2. Hierarchy in its various forms

Social anarchists propose replacing the various forms of social hierarchy that restrict both freedom and equality – statism, patriarchy, white supremacy, queerphobia, ruling classes – with various forms of horizontal organisation through free associations.

Yesterday, @MassAGO Maura Healey and her team issued a groundbreaking report finding that the Bristol County Sheriff's Office violated the civil rights of immigration detainees.

Let's take look at some key findings (thread

First, some background.

The BCSO is administered by Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. @GlobeAbraham has reported on his close relationship with Trump's White House. He corresponds with Stephen Miller, the notorious architect of Trump's anti-immigrant

Although the BCSO is a state facility, it has also contracted with ICE to hold people detained for federal civil immigration proceedings.

ICE essentially pays a per diem rate for each detainee.

In 2019, the Mass. State Auditor found that BCSO improperly failed to remit more than $300,000 in ICE payments to the

BCSO also has a 287(g) agreement with ICE. It allows BCSO personnel to be deputized to do some of ICE's work. ICE does not pay for their hours. It is essentially a donation of state employee time to federal immigration

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..."

UCP ministers and MLAs have been given the talking points that Albertans are right to be angry (no kidding!), but that they will work hard to ‘rebuild’ our trust. Considering everything they’ve said and done in the last few years, there is no reason to ever trust them, but 1/12

here is my list of what I would need to see happen before I could even consider it. ALL of this:
1. Tell us right now who else travelled out of province for the holidays. Everyone. We know there are more. By waiting for them to be discovered, especially those who already 2/12

denied it, trust is further eroded. If that means more cabinet ministers have to resign, so be it. Why should this all fall on one when others are guilty?
2. Pass the recall legislation. You promised. It’s time. And it better be feasible and possible to use. 3/12

3. Put the doctors’ contract back in place. You were wrong. No excuses.
4. Answer ?s in the #ableg when NDP asks. That’s their job. Every time you deflect, repeat your talking points, or turn it into an insult to the opposition, trust is eroded. Just answer the questions 4/12

5. Consider amendments the opposition proposes, and accept them if they clarify or improve the legislation. Always rejecting them on principle does not build trust. Gaslighting about why they are not needed does not build trust. 5/12

How come the mayoral candidates haven’t been asked whether they agree with the de Blasio administration’s separate-but-equal defense to the Fair Housing Act lawsuit challenging NYC’s discriminatory “community preference” policy, @JeffCMays?

https://t.co/oEP4CxHgyp (1/10)

The candidates, @ShantRS, have been falling all over themselves claiming their civil rights bona fides. But, on this issue, they’ve been silent. (2/10)

There have been more than a MILLION households in NYC that have participated in affordable housing lotteries, @sallygold, so that system’s denial of a level playing field is a critical issue that any mayoral candidate genuinely interested in civil rights needs to speak to. (3/10)

Contrary to what you hear from those professionally invested in maintaining the status quo, @JCColtin, TONS of applicants are interested in applying outside of their community districts. (4/10)

In fact, @RossBarkan, about 85 percent of housing lottery applicants apply outside of their CD at least 75 percent of the time. True for all races. (5/10)

We sifted through thousands of videos taken by Parler users during the riot at the Capitol.

Then we created an interactive database that lets you sort through the footage.

Here’s how it works 👇

Dear @nsitharaman and @narendramodi, with having full faith in you & your government, I wish to draw your attention to certain facts. A thread

We haven’t come across or heard incident of corruption against your government which should be a normal practice but yet when compared with the previous UPA government, it is a commendable achievement

However the situation is not as good at the ground level. There has been lesser corruption because of use of systems driven techniques and lesser human intervention. But still there is rampant corruption in many departments & ministries, by bureaucrats & officers

Officers including IRS officers at Income Tax office both at investigation & assessments level, Enfircement Directorate dealing in FEMA, PMLA, IT. Customs offices, GST department again at all levels to name a few are highly corrupt

I and my office have been dealing with many of them on behalf of our clients and regularly come across several incidents of revenue officers asking for huge money and threatening to open old cases and harass clients on various counts

Ok. Its sinking in.... The Storm is UPON US!
OUR military is in position!!! 😱😱😱

I'm excited & nervous all at the same time!

Please read this thread!

🚨EVERYONE needs to read this.
Stay informed. Scary times we're in.

Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky,

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😱

1/9 My response to the announcement today that @10DowningStreet has appointed 16 new peers to the @UKHouseofLords:

My fundamental concern is about the number of new peers that have been appointed by the Prime Minister in his first 12 months in Office.

2/9 Mr Johnson has added 16 to his list of appointments bringing the total for the year up to 52 new peers over two lists. This list will bring the total in the House of Lords to over 830 - almost 200 more than the House of Commons.

3/9 I will not comment on the personalities involved, although perhaps I could personally welcome @JohnSentamu. But my concern remains that the central defect is the present system of appointments.

4/9 Unlike other senates in democratic countries, there is no limit on the number of members there can be. Any Prime Minister can appoint as many as he or she likes. To her great credit the previous Prime Minister, @theresa_may , committed her govt to a policy of ‘moderation.'

5/9 In a massive U-turn, those words seem to have been forgotten. It may also now be the time to review the role and the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC.)

@realmajordan @gheliason @RichHiggins_DC @tobeycakes @1GigiSims1 Wanna bet the UK govt wants to use the "Base" to smear the Pro Brexit populists in their country? Let's see if they use them as an excuse to persecute them once Boris thorough destroys their economy.

The 101 most un-popular news stories.
Dating from 2021-01-18 11:00:34 until 2021-01-18 17:02:34 (GMT).

.@NYGovCuomo : "If the UK spread catches on in NY, hospitalization rate goes up, hospital staff gets sick - then we have a real problem. Then we're at shutdown again."

The problem with capacity now is staff shortage, he says. "We have beds, we have equipment." Primarily nurses.

Cuomo: Very worried about UK strain. Still just 1 case confirmed in NY, but believe we have more. Notes spread in UK only took about 3 weeks.

Says this concern + staff shortages at hospitals is why such a push for faster vaccination of health-care workers.

Cuomo: "We have seen a dramatic increase" in performance of vaccinations.

Were doing 10k per day for first several wks

On Monday, went to 30k

Tuesday, a little over 30k

Wednesday, went to 50k

And today going to be in excess of 50k

"That's 5 times the rate they were doing."

Cuomo: Refusal rate varies. Drs taking vaccine at much higher rate. Anecdotal, but would expect to see numbers around 80% for drs. "And drs know best."

Nurses, there's a variation. Would expect to see that 70-80%. 70 is the minimum threshold for viability of vaccination program.

Cuomo: 2M health-care workers in state. Only have 900k doses for the 2M.

"Any hospital that hits their refusal rate, fine, tell me, we'll reallocate it - bc overall we don't have enough dosages for half the population of health-care workers."

Actually myself & a few others were contacted by a Bernie FO to help find captains for districts & it got done. Bad actors in the campaign said “I made them look bad,” bc it was about optics, even if I was asked. Their anger went as far as forcing my # from my friends.

I was traveling to Iowa to cover the primary & kept getting calls incessantly demanding I take a tweet down. They badgered my friends until they gave my PERSONAL #. I refused to it was my gd right. Especially since I was asked to use social media to find help. The job got done.

There was absolute 0 “leaking of documents”. I have two other people who were also helping and someone very high up in the campaign who had to apologize to me & was angry I was harassed, bullied, emailed, & threatened via social media. We wrote a letter that never got an answer.

This was AFTER several on the ground activists knew there were bad actors in the campaign but were trying to work w it & stay silent for Bernie. One of the many mistakes the campaign made was put optics over honesty, & that was bc it was largely directed by DC consultants.

Ultimately I came to find out this whole “making us look bad” took precedent over listening to seasoned field organizers, Bernie 2016 volunteers, & many grassroots activists who had a different approach. It was all about the top dogs looking good & not very #NotMeUs.

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."

At least 1,090 have been arrested at protests around Russia against @navalny's jailing

One of the protesters in Moscow. Looks familiar somehow...

.@navalny protesters are young & angry. Riot police not in a good mood either

13 arrested protesting @navalny's jailing even in far-off Yakutsk, where it was -54F today (via @shaunwalker7)

Now at least 1,338 @navalny protesters have been arrested around Russia. Kids in Moscow start throwing snowballs at riot police (via @tggrove @OvdInfo)

Consider this: we’ve been told this is all a show, right? We’ve all been *hypnotized* (NOT asleep) for decades, and the spell is being broken, albeit slowly. These people are being forced to “out” themselves to wake us up. They were given a choice- play the role of your life, (1)

...or face much harsher consequences for their crimes against humanity. They’ve been acting for decades, and maybe there was some hypnosis mixed in to make sure they don’t break character. It’s done with their consent-remember, they’re facing their sentence for their CAH. (2)

They chose to either have all of their CAH aired, or provide community service such as they’re doing. Do you really think all of these people got where they are by doing such blatantly stupid shit? Nope, it’s part of the movie titled “WAKE THE F**K UP, PEOPLE!” (3)

How do you get busted trying to funnel money through ‘foreign aide’, (and wasn’t it the longest bill is history? Maybe close? That certainly called attention to it, didn’t it?) and then **continue to defend it** lol? How about the nipple rings, Pelosi’s hair cut, ad nauseam? (4)

The MSM rakes the POTUS over the coals- I’m onto this shit and I fell victim to it. Every person that hates DT (who loved him before the MSM told us to hate him) is going to be vindication that will replenish him when he drops the mother lode. (5)