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Saved by @Mollyycolllinss

fascinated by this man, mario cortellucci, and his outsized influence on ontario and GTA politics. cortellucci, who lives in vaughan and ran as a far-right candidate for the italian senate back in 2018 - is a major ford donor...

 his name might sound familiar because the new cortellucci vaughan hospital at mackenzie health, the one doug ford has been touting lately as a covid-centric facility, is named after him and his family https://t.co/bNaCYclNpB
but his name also pops up in a LOT of other ford projects. for instance - he controls the long term lease on big parts of toronto's portlands... where doug ford once proposed building an nfl stadium and monorail... https://t.co/weOMJ51bVF
cortellucci, who is a developer, also owns a large chunk of the greenbelt. doug ford's desire to develop the greenbelt has been well-documented
https://t.co/d2phLJHrrO
and late last year he rolled back the mandate of conservation authorities there, prompting the resignations of several members of the greenbelt advisory group
https://t.co/udWa1LhIm7
there he is again! https://t.co/dcuWfsFElp
back to mario cortellucci's italian senate run -- he ran under berlusconi's coalition that promoted anti-immigration and anti-lgbtq policies, as well as the closure of mosques. https://t.co/JFPwUDQXqJ
vaughan mayor maurizio bevilacqua faced an integrity complaint after endorsing cortellucci's run.
https://t.co/248XQmifev
while there's nothing illegal about cortellucci's senate run, or his donations - i think this stuff is important to know. ford and his donors rely on no one paying attention to these things so they can keep doing what they're doing.
but citizens should be aware of who is behind the decisions that affect them, to whom our politicians are beholden , and how having deep pockets means you can sway democracy in your favour - while hiding behind 'philanthropy'
this is especially relevant now, as doug ford ignores pleas for paid sick days, which he cut at the beginning of his term. @goldsbie looked into that... https://t.co/9IpiDOFvYI
and, while he protects the private long-term care home industry from the consequences of their actions during covid-19... for some reason.
i believe it is irresponsible to report on the actions of our leaders without giving context. stories don't happen in a vacuum. @fordnation isn't just sitting in a room making "the best decision" -- he has friends and family -- and favours to return.
and so far we know this is a guy who surrounds himself by far-righters, alt-righters and anti-vaxxers. food for thought. i'm very tired now.
and before you say "but politicians accept donations all the time" - don't forget that the fords have tried to keep this a SECRET since back in the robbie days!
and if you'd like to start on @Sflecce's ties to vaughan developers... here you go https://t.co/cJpdJ7JdA6

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Travel details of FSB team members show they followed Kara-Murza on a campaign trip outside Moscow that ended less than 48 hours before his first poisoning incident in May 2015.


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Zach writes, "In what amounts to intelligence tasking, China’s spy services order private Chinese companies with big-data analytics capabilities to process massive sets of information that have intelligence value, according to current and former officials."

“Just imagine on any given day, if NSA and CIA are collecting information, say, on the [Chinese military], and we could bring back seven, eight, 10, 15 petabytes of data, give it to Google or Amazon or Microsoft, and say, ‘Hey, we want all these analytics," said one official.

It's hard to overestimate the significance of this intelligence assessment.

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If you have been enjoying this series of scoops from @zachsdorfman, also take some time in your day to appreciate the skill and dedication that FP editor @BeijingPalmer has put into them.
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@HeshmatAlavi
THREAD

1)
Newsweek — #Iran has sent deadly "Shahed-136 suicide/kamikaze drones" to the Houthis in #Yemen. These advanced UAVs are deployed to the Houthi-controlled northern Yemeni province of Al-Jawf.

More reason why the West should not appease Tehran.
https://t.co/gtNDCGbtQs


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#Iran has long provided drones to the Houthis

March 22, 2017
“… seven Houthi Qasef-1 drones and one drone engine recovered by forces from the UAE. Six of the drones were captured in October on a known Iranian smuggling route that runs through

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US to designate #Iran-backed Houthis in #Yemen as a foreign terrorist org (FTO)
https://t.co/ILBCg3Pfvs

Iran’s IRGC long funded/armed/trained/provided for the Houthis.

Dec 30—Missile attack on Aden airport. Yemen gov holds Houthis


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#Iran provides at least $360 million, ballistic missiles, other ordnance, technology and training to the Houthis in

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Iranian Reformist Front (Jebheye Eslathalabane Iran) was officially founded yesterday in Jamaran, Khomeini's historic house near Tehran.

The founding meeting elected Behzad Nabavi as an interim head since he is oldest.

And also 5 people as a committee to draft the IRF's by-laws


The five are:

1- Outspoken Tehran MP @mah_sadeghi
2- Faraj Komijani, politician with a base in an official teachers union
3- Ali Bagheri (low-key politician)
4- @MansooriAzar , noted reformist politician
5- Rouhani's ex-VP @mowlaverdi

Some more pictures of the meeting.

The next meeting of the group is on Wednesday and will be held virtually.

The top question remains whether and who (and how many candidates) to run for the coming #IranElections2021


The founding statement says the reformists will run a single candidate agreed by all reformist parties but only if elections are to be "free, legal, competitive, just and constitutional"... which is obviously not what's going to happen!

The founding statement also includes big demands like call for a referendum to revise the constitution. But as usual these big words aren't followed by any actions.
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THE POSITION OF THE LAGOS STATE POLICE COMMAND ON THE PROPOSED RENEWED #EndSARS PROTEST (#OccupyLekkiTollGate) IN LAGOS BY THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, LAGOS STATE COMMAND, CP HAKEEM ODUMOSU ON THURSDAY, 11TH FEBRUARY, 2021.

@jidesanwoolu @Prince_Muyen


Gentlemen of the press, I deemed it imperative to jointly address you and the general public with the Honourable Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, on the stance of the Police command on the proposed Endsars protest slated for Saturday 13th February, 2021, ..

... being championed by some individuals, Hashtag #OCCUPYLAGOSLEKKITOLLGATE, at Lekki Toll Gate plaza, Lagos State.
Permit me to state in clear terms that organising any protest in furtherance of the recent violent and destructive Endsars protest ..

.. will be counterproductive to the ongoing series of inquiries and investigations into many cases related to the Endsars violence and the present security situation of the state.

Above all, the command has gathered intelligence that some hidden agents of destruction and shadow parties that planned and orchestrated the last Endsars violence have concluded plans to cause another set of mayhem in Lagos State and spread same to other parts of the country, ..
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Honestly, I don’t know. I wish I did.

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8 March 1679 - The date on which 300 saffron clad warriors gave their life to protect temples from mugal army. Thread➡️
Aurangzeb's huge army, which was adorned with artillery, elephant and horses, under the leadership of Commander Darab Khan had marched to punish the ruler of/1


Khandela Raja Bahadur Singh, who became a rebel due to the anti-Hindu policies of Aurangzeb, and to destroy the temples of Shekhawati. Bahadur Singh to compete with such a large army, vacated Khandela for the purpose of conducting guerilla warfare and went Kot Sakrai /2

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झिरमीर झिरमिर मेहा बरसे,मोरां छतरी छाई |
कुल में है तो आव सुजाण, फोज देवरे आई ||

if you are born in your glorious clan, then come, the army have come to destroy temple. /5
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India is wedged bw world’s 2 largest areas of illicit opium production, Golden Crescent & Golden Triangle, that has made Indian borders vulnerable to drug trafficking. It flows from 2 fronts, NW & NE, that possesses dual concern - violation of border & threat to national security

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