BC WAR
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

In 1997, the Clinton administration created the "1033" program, whereby the Pentagon gave away its "surplus" equipment to local law enforcement agencies, leading to the nationwide militarization of America's cops.

1/

 In the decades since, 1033 became a $5B industry: beltway bandits lobby their pals in the DoD to place massive orders for weapons and materiel which are immediately declared "surplus" and transfered to undertrained cops nationwide.

https://t.co/vHlrkJ48W2

2/
Opponents of this program hypothesized that it would obey Checkhov's Law: "A machine-gun in the police armory in Act One will go off by Act Three. And then again, and again, and again."

3/
They were right.

Empirical studies show that cops who get milspec penis surrogates through 1033 murder the fuck out of the people who pay their salaries.

https://t.co/ntFwCaJ3Ie

4/
But 1033's defenders insisted (without any evidence) that turning Deputy Dawg into a USMC Fallujah Street Patrol Cosplayer seriously improved the quality of US policing.

They were wrong.

5/
The Pentagon Inspector General's September 30, 2020 report on the program is definitive: "firearms and tools ... were not supporting law enforcement activities."

https://t.co/tIVXJ2mpmr

6/
What's more, they have a pretty good idea why these "tools" weren't helping law enforcement: they were handed out like candy without regard to need, without training, without supervision, and without accountability.

7/
They gave out a LOT of stuff. Snow camouflage pants. Grenades. MRAPs. Assault rifles. And they gave 'em to everyone: local cops. Park rangers. Campus police.

https://t.co/dqazZvWysT

8/
Here's some specifics of the giveaways:

* 391 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters

* 2,885 Humvees

* 1,105 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles

* More than 75,000 firearms

9/
There's a lot of subtext in the IG's report, as @thomdunn points out on @boingboing: for example, they lavish a lot of attention on the Selmer, TN police department, which filed 1912 requests for military gear.

10/
All in all, the Selmer PD received:

* 77 pr cold weather boots

* 58 digital cameras

* 115 hammers

* 154 screwdrivers

* 106 tape measures

* 15 aircraft maintenance tool kits

* 38 laptops

* 4 dump trucks

Number of officers employed by the Selmer Police Department: 18.

11/
Why did Selmer need one dump truck for every 4.5 officers? It didn't. "The official requested extra LESO property and stored it in case of a future need because it was free."

But even that didn't work out.

12/
"Selmer PD requested and obtained 30 generators between 2013 and 2017 for use in the event of a disaster, but the generators are no longer available for use. The LEA official stated that some generators were not maintained and their condition deteriorated over time."

13/
Selmer's cops said yes to whatever was on offer. Other PDs got seriously strapped:

* Alpena County MI Sheriff: 30 M16 rifles for 16 officers

* Meigs County TN, Sheriff: 25 M16 rifles for 18 officers

* Massillon OH PD: 49 M16 rifles and 49 M1911 pistols for 44 officers

14/
1033 came to nationwide attention during the Ferguson uprising, when the country boggled at the cops' bizarre, militarized presence in the streets. In the years since, attention has waxed and waned.

15/
But police militarization demands sustained attention. The cops didn't get full battle-rattle by accident. It was a deliberate strategy, with a name and an office...and a business model. It's time to end it.

eof/

More from Cory Doctorow #BLM

Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
The US election news has largely overshadowed a seismic moment in global finance: Ant, a fintech company that spun out of Alibaba/Alipay, was scheduled to have the world's largest IPO, topping even Aramco, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Then Chinese regulators canceled it.

1/


As @yvessmith writes in her excellent @nakedcapitalism breakdown, the consensus narrative on this is capricious Chinese regulators changed their minds and jerked the rug out from under Ali's billionaire owner Jack Ma.

The reality is a lot

To understand it, you need to understand the difference between the Chinese and American "money story." In the US, there is widespread, unquestioning faith in the fairytale that money predates the state and is separate from it.

3/

In this story, people come together to trade but are plagued by disparate goods: if I want to pay for your chickens with a cow, how do you make change? They spontaneously decide that something (gold?) is money and price their cows and chicks in it.

4/

Then, governments come along tax our gold away, and then to add insult to injury, governments abandon gold and insist that paper is as good as gold, print too much of it and crash the economy!

This probably sounds familiar to you, but it's just not true.

5/
ECONOMY , {GIG MONEY} , BANKING AND REGULATION
Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
The Night of the Short Fingers saw many of the US's largest tech companies blocking Trump and trumpist platforms like Parler, provoking a storm of punditry about What It All Means for the tech companies to have taken this content moderation step.

1/


The best expert I know on the subject is @jilliancyork, my @eff colleague. She's published "an ongoing list" of "everything pundits are getting wrong about this current moment in content moderation."

You should read it.

Here's some highlights:

“Deplatforming Trump sets a precedent."

York: "The only 'precedent' set here is that this is indeed the first time a sitting US president has been deplatformed by a tech company."

3/

But political leaders around the world have already received this treatment: Lebanon, Burma, etc. Even the reach of the deplatforming is nothing new: last summer's US Iran ban saw blocks of everything, up to and including Etsy listings for "Persian dolls."

4/
HISTORY
Advertisement
Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
There is no shortage of takes about what's going on with Gamestop (and other surging stocks), Robinhood and Reddit's r/wallstreetbets, many of them contradictory - at least on the face of them. But I think it's possible for most of these takes to be right. Here's how.

1/


First you need to understand the underlying mechanics of the story. Stock markets are fundamentally a way of making bets, including bets on the outcome of other peoples' bets, and bets on the outcomes of THOSE bets.

2/

All this complexity creates lots of exploitable opportunities. Some of these opportunities are considered legitimate and are given respectable names like "arbitrage." Others are considered illegitimate, and are called disreputable things like "stock manipulation."

3/

A hypothetical Martian observing all this through a telescope could not tell you which kinds of bets were honest and which were dishonest, because the difference isn't about any objective standard, but rather, about power.

4/

The strategies of powerful people are legit, while the strategies of their would-be dethroners are not legit. Sometimes, even outright frauds are OK if they're done by people with enough power.

5/
TRADING , STOCK MKT
Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: ADT insider threat; Billionaires think VR stops guillotines; Privacy Without Monopoly; and more!

Archived at: https://t.co/nu1HbReiEX

#Pluralistic

1/


This Wednesday, I'm giving a talk called "Technology, Self-Determination, and the Future of the Future" for the Purdue University CERIAS Program:

https://t.co/po5IivZyr4

2/


ADT insider threat: If you build it they will spy.

https://t.co/kJrmtu8L3S

3/


Billionaires think VR stops guillotines: TARP with tasps.

https://t.co/MIKwvsICkr

4/


Privacy Without Monopoly: Podcasting a reading of the latest EFF whitepaper.

https://t.co/R2sl75y4rb

5/
TWITTER
Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Criti-Hype; Right to Repair is back for 2021; The free market and rent-seeking; and more!

Archived at: https://t.co/pXnzoWKJn2

#Pluralistic

1/


Criti-Hype: Tech bros will settle for "evil genius."

https://t.co/OyiM1vUS8Y

2/


Right to Repair is back for 2021: Will Apple sabotage this one too?

https://t.co/3gcyEZQWfk

3/


The free market and rent-seeking: Unauthorized bread and poor doors.

https://t.co/7Ob6AdmkDz

4/


#10yrsago Diane Duane’s crowdfunded publishing experiment finally concludes https://t.co/qsRnZxiL8b

#10yrsago Inside Sukey, the anti-kettling mobile app https://t.co/puGNKw5XgF

5/
SOCIETY

More from War

Forbidden Knowledge TV \u2b50\u2b50\u2b50
Forbidden Knowledge TV...
@FKTVis
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN FRANKFURT?

Is the evidence from the Frankfurt server raid so complete and so damning, that this is why Trump is so impassive and amused by the antics of his CCP-blackmailed staff, as they desperately try to force him to concede?

https://t.co/tKQa21zVCh
WAR
A\u1d0d\u026a\u0280
Aᴍɪʀ
@AmirIGM
New mass missile test of Zolfaqar and Dezful BMs, as well as use of suicide drones and Shahed-161 UCAVs.

Reporter in video claimed the BMs have ability to maneuver "outside the atmosphere" but since these missiles are quasi-BMs and don't leave the atmosphere, they may have...


...gas thrusters for extra maneuvering ability at very high altitudes where their control surfaces have less use in the thin air. This will make it much harder for ABMs to intercept.

Now into the images; first up is the 8x8 TEL for Zolfaqar/Dezful missiles first seen in 2019. Proof here it's operational and being made in numbers


Another video showing a lot of very precise impacts from different angles


Here are 4 (visible) targets in close proximity with missiles (numbered according to target) going for each of their designated impact points. Incredible accuracy.
WAR
Advertisement
XVIII Airborne Corps\U0001f409
XVIII Airborne Corps🐉...
@18airbornecorps
1 of 11:

DECEMBER 20, 1944

BATTLE OF THE BULGE, DAY 5

At this point, the reserve forces (the 82nd and the 101st and the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne) are in sector and in their fighting positions. For the first time ever, the XVIII Airborne Corps is operating in combat.


2 of 11:

On this day 76 years ago, the 82nd Airborne establishes a defense against the 6th SS Panzer Army in the small Belgian town of Werbemont. This was the northern shoulder of the German bulge.


3 of 11:

It was freezing cold in Werbemont, as temperatures dropped to around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Light snow covered most of the ground.


4 of 11:

Meanwhile, the 82nd's sister Airborne division, the 101st, is now assigned to the VIII Corps. The Screaming Eagles are deployed to a crossroads town named Bastogne, trying to push back the southern shoulder of the German Bulge against the 5th Panzer Army.


5 of 11:

So, the XVIII Airborne Corps starts the day with the 82nd Airborne as its only unit. But, General Ridgway was looking for units to pick up (remember, back then a corps was a loosely organized HQ that picked up units as needed).
WAR
Elijah J. Magnier
Elijah J. Magnier
@ejmalrai
#Iran #Iraq #USA
Exactly a year ago, at 17 minutes past midnight (12:17), an Airbus A350 belonging to Ajnihat al-Sham flight arriving from Damascus landed at Baghdad airport with 5 Iranian commanders onboard, including Sardar Qassem Soleimani A #US SOF team was waiting close by.+

#Iran #IRGC brigadier general booked his flight under a different name. He was the first to leave the plane followed by his close companions. Abu Mahdi, along with two of his close aid-de-champ and his security trusted man (Sayyed al-Jaberi) were waiting on the runway.+

As the two cars drove away, at 12:37 (past midnight) two US MQ-9 Reaper drones fired 230 mph laser-guided Hellfire missiles, incinerating the bodies of Soleimani, al-Muhandes and all their Iranian and Iraqi companions.


A team of #US SOF guided the drones and later collected samples from the scene and took close pictures. During that day, on the 2d of January 2020, the US took unusual measures around the embassy and had more flights in the sky than agreed with the Iraqi government.

The 31st of December 2019, Pr. @realDonaldTrump called #Iraq PM Adel Abdel Mahdi and asked him to intervene with #Iran to de-escalate following the US killing of 28 Iraqi security forces at al-Qaem and the reaction of their companions in arms against the US embassy in Baghdad..
WAR
Defense News Nigeria
Defense News Nigeria
@DefenseNigeria
So some dude who clearly knows nothing about the military in the comment section claims i am dancing to the drum of my paymaster. The Nigerian army uses T-34 tanks made during World war two he claims. I wont bother replying comments like of this natur, but after seeing nearly


ten lines of replies of which nobody challenges or corrects such a ridiculous claim its only fair i point out his falacy. As of December 23 2020 these are the main battle tanks fielded by the Nigerian army.

VT-4 Main Battle Tank (Frontline tank of the Nigerian army). Arguably the most sophisticated Main Battle Tank in Africa today.


T-72 M Main Battle Tank.


Vickers Mk.3 Eagle Main Battle Tank
WAR

You May Also Like

Jig's Patel
Jig's Patel
@jigspatel1988
How to trade on Expiry day with Nifty straddle?
(System trading on Expiry)

Triple straddle is one of the best and accurate methods for expiry day

If nifty trading at 15720 then will sell three straddles above 50 points from ATM, below 50 points and ATM.

Ex.
Sell straddle 15700(ATM), 15650(ATM-50), 15750 (ATM+50)

Stoploss of 80% on every leg and run your trade till 3 PM

Once SL hit in any Leg just keep holding other leg till expiry with SL (Never or less chance to hit both SL on expiry day)

Trading timing at 9:20 the Morning
ALL , STRADDLE BACKTEST , STRADDLE
\U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8I Support Our Military & Law Enforcement\U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8
🇺🇸I Support Our Milita...
@TheWiseOwl_AZ
1. There are more people added on the list of arrests and executions of famous people but no further intel is available at this time.

ARRESTS and EXECUTIONS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE 2020 UPDATED
Explanation of the latest military tribunal arrests and executions of famous people in 2020.

2. The tribunals are arresting these people in plain clothes. We saw the Obama’s arrest, although we didn’t know it was an arrest at the time. The arrest was done nonchalantly so as to not get noticed by the public.
All arrests of these famous people were done this way.

3. If the person is convicted of child sex trafficking, crimes against humanity or treason, they will be executed.
If the person arrested has evidence on someone else to help their prosecution, or is willing to help Trump, & they want to cooperate, they may be allowed to do so.

4. A sentence of execution down to life in prison may be accepted if their evidence is worth anything.
When a plea deal is done, the defendant must present evidence they have to make their sentence lighter. This information is given to the prosecution, defense, and to the judge.

5. If evidence is accepted, they are presented the plea deal. They will have to make a guilty plea to the crime with a video confession & written statement. That is how all plea deals work.

All famous people arrested were either treasonous or involved in satanic worship rituals.
CRIME
Advertisement
The Troll Zoo
The Troll Zoo
@TrollZoo
1. This is "Hollie The Card".

She's a Doctor, Physician, PhD, MA, Clinical Psychologist, Hospital Consultant, PTSD consultant, Long Covid Consultant.

(Thread)


2. Although sometimes she’s also an AUTHOR and English Academic.


3. A Hospital Consultant and ex Gymnast.

(Pinterest public profile)


4. A Physician, Doctor, or hospital consultant.

A “Hospital Consultant”, would probably mean a senior doctor, in the UK at least.


5. Hollie changes her Twitter picture and bio so often, it’s hard to keep up with her qualifications.
TWITTER
\u0100yudhika
Āyudhika
@Satyamev1310
Ashta Siddhi

Ashta Siddhi is mentioned in Patanjali Yog sutra and can be obtained by very few through countless years of practice and devotion to all eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

Siddhi can loosely be translated as accomplishment or a special power or unusual skill.


The eight Siddhis are:

1. Anima: Reducing one’s physical self to the size of an atom.

2. Mahima: Expanding one’s physical self to infinite level

3. Garima: Making one’s physical self so heavy as immovable by others

4. Laghima: Becoming almost weightless


5. Prapti: Being able travel anywhere in the Universe

6. Prakamya: Can know & understand what is going on in one’s mind. Can understand other person’s min.

7. Ishitva: Possessing title of Bhagwan

8. Vashitva: A seeker can subdue any person/thing

(Hanuman Jayanti is coming)


Hanumanji not only possessed all eight siddhis, but was also blessed by Sita mata as “Ashta Siddhi Nau Nidhi Ke Daata”.

When Hanumanji first reaches to Lanka on his mission to find Sita, he makes use of anima so as to be discrete in enemy territory.


He uses it again when he approaches Sita mata for the first time – reducing his size to that of a schoolboy, to avoid scaring her. He uses mahima to outwit & overpowers
the demons.
ALL
Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) Pre-election Russia collusion may take down Trump. It's equally possible the Trumps' pre- and post-election collusion with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel will do it—a course of collusion also connected to the Kremlin. I explain here. I hope you'll read on and retweet.


1/ I must stress how unbelievably complex the "Grand Bargain" theory of the Trump-Russia case is—a different thing from saying it's not substantiated. It's substantiated in *almost every single particular*—it just *also* happens to be very confusing. Not byzantine—just confusing.

2/ The basics: Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the UAE all view Iran as their chief regional enemy. Iran is propped up by Russia. Therefore the Saudis, Israelis, and Emiratis all need a US government willing to find a way to get the Kremlin to *stop* supporting Iran in the Middle East.

3/ The best way to get Russia to stop supporting Iran—or reduce support—was/is to drop all sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, as that'd be worth *trillions* to the Kremlin over the next decade. Everyone knew that Clinton wouldn't do this—and that Trump would.

4/ Per the NYT, on August 3, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. met secretly at Trump Tower with a Saudi and Emirati emissary, George Nader, as well as an Israeli intelligence expert, Joel Zamel, with *significant* ties to both Israeli intelligence *and* Russian oligarchs allied with Putin.
POLITICS