Dear MAGA, why do you follow this con? First he told you Mexico would pay for the wall. They didn’t. Then he warned you that caravans of illegal immigrants were invading. They weren’t. He said the ACA was a disaster and that he had an amazing plan to replace it. He didn’t.
(1)

He said he was the strongest against Russia. But he wouldn’t even condemn Putin for putting bounties on our troops. He said it was a perfect call. It wasn’t. He said he would save the coal industry. He didn’t. He said other countries would respect us. They don’t.
(2)

He said he only hires the best people. But fires those same people. He said if Clinton were elected it would be nothing but investigations. We’ve had nothing but investigations his entire 4 years. He said he would be tough on North Korea. They have more missiles than ever.
(3)

He said they’re coming for the suburbs. No ones coming. He said Covid was a hoax. It’s not. He said it’s just like the flu. Over 350K are dead in 10 months. He said he shut down travel from China. Not true. He said everyone who wants a test could get one. They couldn’t.
(4)

He told you masks don’t work. Let me say that again. He told you masks don’t work. Cmon. He said the day after the election Covid would just go away. Since the election every fucking day has been worse. Over 4K died just yesterday.
(5)

.@N12News assessment of Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi's tenure as IDF Chief of Staff at 2 yrs:

2-@n12news:IDF finishing 2 good yrs since Kochavi's appointment: few Israelis harmed by terror, terror attacks stopped at border, including sea and land penetrations from Gaza , bombs on Syrian border, rocket attacks, Cyber attacks

3-@n12news: On the offensive, IDF engaged in, intensifying "war between wars" -- most activity carried out by air or sea, small part through cross-border special forces ops. Not just in Syria, but also Iraq, Lebanon, Sinai, in addition to reported cyber attacks in Iran

4-@N12News: Significantly damaged weapons, bases, armament factories. "Iranians evacuated 50% of forces in Syria, moved bases east," mistakenly thinking this would complicate IAF missions. Damage also to Syrian Army, its missile factors and defense systems

5-@n12news: War Between Wars will expand in coming yr, but this brings Israel closer to point where opponents can no longer restrain themselves

GHANA’S ELECTORAL COMMISSION AND WHY I KEEP DEFENDING THEM BUT THEY KEEP DISAPPOINTING ME

A thread

Ghana has had 8 general elections under the 4th republic and every election has had its challenges
I must say that, the EC, political parties and other stakeholders have always tried to bring in measures or reforms to make an election and its processes better than the previous

From voting with opaque ballot boxes in 1992 to using voter ID in 2000 to using a biometric system in 2012, the integrity of Ghana’s electoral system has been difficult to undermine or rig

However it seems as someone who has championed the course of the EC and its activities, recent events has me worried and reason I think Ghanaians must ask for the right and legal things to be done to protect the sovereign will of the people

I had never trusted election figures until 2012 and these are my reasons; From 1992-2008, the electoral system had frailties that could be manipulated to the advantage of one party
There were reported cases of over-voting, multiple voting and others not on the register voting

One of the great mysteries of the Quranic reading traditions are their many phonetic irregularities, that seem to have no purpose except to show off some grammatical oddity. One of these is the ʾimālah of al-kēfīrīna. Ibn Ḫālawayh in his Ḥuǧǧah has an interesting discussion. 🧵

The plural of 'disbelievers', besides the now popular kuffār, is also kāfirūna in the Quran. In the genitive and accusative this becomes kāfirīna. Some readers read this (and ONLY this) as kēfirīna.
This is the reading of: ʾAbū ʿAmr, al-Dūrī ← al-Kisāʾī and Ruways ← Yaʿqūb.

In his al-Ḥuǧǧah fī l-Qirāʾāt al-Sabʿ, Ibn Ḫālawayh sets out to rationalize and explain the practices of the seven readers canonized by his teacher, Ibn Mujāhid. He also discusses al-Kēfirīna. Let's translate and give commentary along the way.

"As for the saying of the almighty 'wa-ḷḷāhu muḥīṭun bi-l-kāfirīna'", al-kāfirīna is read with ʾimālah or without ʾimālah whenever it is in the accusative or genitive.

So the explanation is that it is because of the meeting of four kasras within a single word"

"It is the kasrah of the fāʾ, rāʾ and yāʾ -- and the rāʾ can carry two kasras, so they pull the ʾalif, because it is quiscentent, by their strength, so they cause ʾimālah to apply to it".

So lots to unpack here. Where on earth is he getting four kasrahs from?!

The revelation that a former officer in Israeli military intelligence’s notorious Unit 8200 has been employed to work in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is of deep

Unit 8200 is a unit of the Israeli Intelligence Corps, part of the Israeli military. Part of its role includes surveilling Palestinians living under Israel’s belligerent and illegal occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The activities of the unit, which involve blackmail and harassment of Palestinian civilians in violation of international law, have been revealed in large part because of the testimony of brave whistleblowers,

including many who have become refuseniks and now resist the Israeli states’ oppression of the Palestinian people.

Their testimonies have been widely published in The Guardian and New York Times.

Shockingly, whistleblowers within the unit have confirmed that LGBT Palestinian’s sexuality is used to blackmail the unit’s intelligence targets into becoming informants.

1. Institututional religions function as quasi-governments, and either take over the state (Islam), undermine it (Judaism), compete with it (Cathoicism), work with it (Orthodoxy), or Abandon it (Protestantism).

2. Institutional religions resist evolution and reform. Protestant religion continuously reforms by creating a market for sects, that for all intents and purposes, provide messaging for about every half standard of deviation in iq and class - with the same underlying strategy.

3. The Catholic church had the opportunity to reform multple times, and spawned a history different movements including sects, Augustinian Synthesis, Monastic movement, Classical Restoration's Scholasticism, Literacy, the protestant reformation, and the Darwinian revolution.

4. But the Church merged semitic christian and european classical Aryan thought, with the Catechism of of the Church, the catholic encyclopedia, and much of the doctrin is an imitation of european legall structure from the premise of charity instead of natural law's reciprocity.

5. But the institution itself like any bureaucracy dependent on income streams failed the natural law restoration, the Darwinian revolution, and the Romanitc revolution. And tragically failed completely under Vatican Two.

I have watched with concern the recent development in Oyo and Ondo States in which quit notices were given to Fulani herders, with the subsequent burning of the property of Fulani herdsmen in some parts of Oyo State.

These happenings have increased the tension and unduly raised the temperature in the country.

The ugly development in these two states are symptomatic of the continued threat to the unity of our country that we have witnessed on a higher scale in recent times and in different parts of the country — including the South-East and South-South zones.

I strongly appeal to all of us to work for peace and take initiatives that can douse the tension. All Nigerians have a responsibility to begin to take measures that will reassure people across board that a united Nigeria will benefit everybody better than a disintegrated country.

The deafening silence by key stakeholders, leaders and others who we think should speak out is worrisome. This silence is a dangerous tell-tale sign that things are wrong. This is not good for our country.

HOW CHINA CHOOSE THEIR LEADERS

On twitter, I have seen many people say China is evil because it’s an Autocratic Government and Why don't Chinese support western style democracy? Why do Chinese people support President Xi, who has no votes?
Now, let’s enlighten ourselves.

1/n

Unlike the so-called "democratic countries," the Chinese people value experience more than votes or other abilities for government officials.
From the Sui Dynasty on (1400 years ago), officials were selected and promoted by examination, not by blood or birth.

2/n

In today's China, if you want to enter politics, you have to take a hard and competitive road. Whether you come from a grassroots family or a political family, you have to go through every step. Only in this way, you can reach the top of power, like President Xi.

3/n

To get started, you have to own a college degree, at least for most Chinese govt officials. You have to take the national civil service examination and be admitted. In 2019, 92000 people took the exam and 14537 were admitted, with the admission rate of 1.58%.

4/n

The ruling party in China is the CPC. In addition, there are 8 other parties. You have to join one of them. If your idea is to become the supreme leader of China, I suggest you join the CPC. You will be one of the 90 million CPC members. They are all your competitors.（5/N）

Last October, Israelis were rightly horrified to hear that ~400 acres of forest burned down as a direct result of an IDF training exercise carried out in a nature reserve,despite warnings.
Now look at what happened when the IDF insisted on training in a Palestinian village today:

This is Jinba, a village in Firing Zone 918. Large-scale artillery forces arrived there this AM w/ armored vehicles. In response to @acri_online who reminded them of the damage caused last time, the IDF promised to avoid damaging residents' property. But somehow, this happened:

And this is what some of the agricultural lands looked like this morning, after the heavy armored vehicles flattened them. The residents depend on this land for their livelihood. Several months of hard work can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. (Video: Guy Botavia)

Destroying agricultural fields isn't new. Here's what a Nahal Brig soldier saw in 2004-05: "There was wheat that overflowed beyond the fields, so the instruction [...] that the platoon commander got, or at least what he said to us, [was] to trample."

Here's another picture from this morning, this time from fields belonging to residents of the neighboring Bir al-Eid:

I look at young Nigerians from not-so-privileged homes despising those with privilege. You’re short changing & limiting yourself. In life, there will always be those born with privilege, those who grow into it, and those who get it from relationships. Let me explain. Thread

Those born with privilege don’t start from ground zero-they attend good schools(quality education), they don’t struggle with physiological needs for their family, they have resources to fund their passion w/o having to labor or save, & ultimately they have strong social currency.

Those without privilege have little - no legacy funds or elite education, at times even no decent shelter & living conditions for their families. So your journey is longer, laced with struggle to improve the lives of your parents & yourself. You have to first work to survive.

So as someone without privilege, your fastest way to privilege is competence/value/talent and a painstaking attempt at building your social currency by yourself. Top on the list of those you need to build networks with are the privileged. They already have larger networks.

So as you’re growing in your capabilities, you focus on creating value - value you can offer to those with privilege- you build sufficient wealth from that value. You can’t afford to stay hating those with privilege, when you should be sweating to build privilege for your kids.

1.I just hope that the Nigerian youths most especially the Soro So ke werey Generation will learn a thing or two from what is happening in America. That they will learn something about PATRIOTISM and LOVE of Country. Citizens has the rights to criticise or protest against the

2. gov't but allowing foreigners to help you destroy and burn down your Country while they protect theirs jealousy is the most stupid thing anybody can do.

The earlier you and all African youths understand that the problems you are facing and complaining about in Africa are

3. orchestrated by the same people you always call upon whenever there is a problem the better for you. Let me give you an example, every Country borrows, and the World Bank and IMF are created for these reasons. But when Countries like America and the other developed countries

4. borrows from them, they get the loans at 1.5 -1.9% interest rates. Meanwhile, African Countries will get those same loans at 9-10% interests. Loans they may never be ever be able to pay. This is because the plan is to make sure Africa never succeeds, because if we do the West

5. will be in serious trouble. Africa's success will mean their failure and our failure means their success. So they will do everything to make us never to succeed. Too sad that the African youth has failed to realise this even with the huge access to informations in this

THREAD ON CHINA AND GLOB0HOM0

The conventional understanding of right & left, liberal & conservative, breaks down when applied to China

China, while ostensibly communist, differs from other communist countries and from Western leftist ideology in several important ways.

I.

China's "socialism w Chinese characteristics" is heavily nationalist & even racialist, in contrast to the internationalist & anti-racist bent of Western leftism. They have a clear (though somewhat flexible for political expediency) understanding of who is and isn't Chinese

The Han ethnic majority forms the core of Chinese identity, while other (Asiatic) ethnic groups within Chinese territory are still considered Chinese w equal citizen rights but who will be fiercely repressed if they cause problems (Tibetans and Uighurs)

Everyone else a foreigner

II.

China is fiercely protectionist

Their banning of Western social media served 2 purposes: 1) keep glowy foreign subversion out of their cyberspace, and 2) create domestic alternatives such as Weibo and WeChat for greater economic benefit to themselves

China was let into the World Trade Organization thanks to efforts by Bill Clinton (who took CCP $$$) and George W. Bush. They said China would become more liberal and democratic

POLICE ARREST ABDUCTOR/KILLER OF A SIX-YEAR OLD IN KOGI
•       AS 25 CRIMINAL SUSPECTS MEET THEIR WATERLOO, 5 AK47 RIFLES RECOVERED

Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested one Friday Domozu, 23years native of Jarkama Village, Bassa LGA of Kogi State, the leader of the kidnap gang responsible for the abduction and killing of a six year old, ...

Farida Yahaya ‘m’ at the Gabije Area of Kogi State on 2nd November, 2020. The victim was abducted alongside one Abdulraheem, ‘m’ 14years old who narrowly escaped from the kidnappers den.

Investigations by the Police team revealed that the kidnappers demanded a huge sum as ransom from the family of the little girl before she could be released, but eventually killed her owing to the inability of the family to meet up with their demands.

Efforts by the Police team to rescue the little girl led to the arrest of the principal suspect, Friday Domozu who led the Police Team to a deep forest at Gabije area of Kogi State where the remains of the little girl were recovered.

The subject of true and false prophesying has been raised recently. See @derekradney especially. It’s important because as @PLeithart notes in his fine commentary on 1&2 Kings, Israel’s history is not so much political as it is prophetic.

One example - Ahab. Not only does he despise & reject the three prophets God mercifully sends him, but he embraces the hundreds who falsely prophesy in God’s name. That latter fact is the issue. It’s not that the false prophets are invoking Baal but YHWH.

Ahab’s prophets are false for numerous reasons but let me cite just one. They aimed to reinforce an unholy alliance between Judah’s future king and Ahab’s daughter Athaliah, a disaster that resulted in the attempted destruction of the Messianic hope.

Prophetically backing unholy alliances - defending the union of what God has separated - nearly led to the disastrous destruction of Judah. They are false not simply because of false predictions but because of errant theology.

I’m going to put this as plainly as I can. The Church today is disturbed, divided, and misled because of false prophets. They aren’t false in an obvious sense (or only in a narrow ‘charismatic’ sense) because they operate within otherwise orthodox settings & use orthodox terms.