Okay, as my discussion with @rahulroushan, an excerpt of which was tweeted by @digikarma, has triggered yet another debate on beef, I feel I must pitch in with my 2 paisa fwiw. (1/10)

As I clarified in the podcast, not eating beef is a non-negotiable as far as I am concerned, no questions asked. It is absolutely not allowed for Hindus in this yuga. (2/10)

However, I like to take the debate away from the religious to the political for two reasons. One, there is no practical method available to throw out from H society those who do not comply with this requirement. (3/10)

So, if you can't excommunicate a beef eater as modern H society has simply lost all coercive power over the unhinged individual, what good is getting indignant on Twitter about this degeneracy? It is better to work towards a national legislation banning beef incl export (4/10)

Two, quoting Vedas/Upanishads is a double-edged sword because there seem to be many places where beef-eating has been described. I am not a sanskritist, but many H scholars mention this. (5/10)

MINI-THREAD: 1) Tea Pain has never been more ashamed of our government than he is now. Over 100 Republican members of the House and a dirty dozen GOP Senators are throwin' in with Trump's seditious attempt to overthrow a certified election.

2) True enough, Republicans don't believe America is a Democracy, rather a Republic, but by definition a republic is where "sovereignty rest with the people through their elected representatives." Republicans also believe in "States Rights" rather than centralized power.

3) Sadly the GOP are lookin' at these two foundation principles in their rear view mirror. Trump has transformed (more like deformed) the Republican Party into a cabal of sycophants ulceratin' to crown an authoritarian as their "Unitary Executive". In other words, a king.

4) Remember all those years GOP have stood on their little soap boxes and wept big crocodile tears for the weakenin' of "States Rights?" This Wednesday they are gladly, gleefully ready to overthrow 50 state-certified election results and circumvent the will of the people.

5) So, what is the Republican Party now? It's simple, because it can be defined by a new, single overridin' principle. "Power at all cost."

The rule of law has been forsaken in lieu of the "ends justify the means. "

I have some thoughts re: the responses that @GameMinimalist got yesterday when he expressed his discomfort with history-based conflict games, their Euro-centric nature, and imperialist overtones/undertones. 1/

There are many people who are uncomfortable with wargames (the term I'm going to use as shorthand for "games that attempt to engage seriously with, or to model, some aspect of history in some way"). And that's okay. 2/

If someone is expressing that discomfort, I personally think the first and in some cases only thing one can or should do is *acknowledge* that. Listen to them and their concerns. 3/

If they're misinformed - a lot of folks seem to think that wargames are about gore and violence and bloodlust, that they act as a pressure release for dark impulses, which simply isn't true. I mean, converting numbers to an odds ratio isn't exactly drenched in viscera -- 4/

go ahead and correct that misinformation, while understanding that they might still be uncomfortable with it, and it's perfectly valid for that to be the case.

This reminds me of my grandfather. 5/

First Chartstravaganza of the year … hoping for a better 2021!

Please comment, like and share. And of course … follow us!

Every Sunday, twenty charts, let’s go.

20. Investment Banking

(@ft)

19. Emerging Markets Flows

(@exantedata)

18. Population Growth

(@wellsfargo)

The VICE PRESIDENT of Jones Group International (Obama/Biden's National Security Advisor/owners of #ShadowNet), Gillian Turner, is still a correspondent on @FoxNews.

This is COMPLETELY OK with @laralogan & her MIC IIA PSYOP CTR husband Joe.

Do you

IMO, having spent nearly 2-yrs in Iraq/Afghanistan, it's like taking a big shit & wiping it on the grave of EVERY SOLDIER THAT EVER DIED protecting our Constitutionally protected freedom of press.

When you DESTROY journalism integrity, you're destroying our Constitution!

1/13
I don’t know how many GOP members of the House and Senate watch @VelshiMSNBC so I have a favor to ask of you: If you know any, or know anyone who knows any, could you pass this message on to them for me? #velshi

2/13
While the GOP is busy trying to tear down democracy, there are some difficult realities facing America right now that could really use their attention. We are starting 2021 off in bad shape, considering that this is the most prosperous country on earth. #velshi

3/13
America is not the most populous nation in the world; it’s only about 4.25% of the global population. Yet America accounts for nearly a quarter of the world’s coronavirus cases and deaths. #velshi

4/13
55 million Americans are living in poverty. You’ve seen images of cars lined up at food banks. 1 in 6 Americans are now food insecure, meaning they aren’t certain whether they will have the resources to put food on the table for their next meal. #velshi

5/13
In America, most people’s health care coverage is, stupidly, tied to their job, so 29 million Americans now don’t have health insurance. Up to 40 million renters are far enough behind on their rent to be living in fear of eviction. #velshi

1) Let's talk about a key part of the Chinese creator economy. The creator management and incubator agencies known as Multi-Channel Networks (MCN). We''ll summerise key lessons for the western creator economy.

And know how Li Ziqi got her 12m YouTube subscribers

2) MCNs are modern-day talent agencies (but more) who target influencers and creators as their clients. It originated in the US but has proliferated in China, with industry estimates of 5k-7k Chinese MCN operating as of 2020.

3) Typically, as creators gain enough following, they find it difficult to be an-all-in-one content creator, editor, customer support rep, accountant, lawyer, and marketing guru that the job demands.

Enter the MCNs who offers the creator the following:

4) Audience and traffic growth, PR management, monetisation through ads & e-commerce and support with retail fulfillment.

Their services are more holistic than western MCNs, who's offerings are more domain-specific.

5) Agreements between Chinese MCNs and creators can get into guarantees of the number of followers provided, copyrights, subtitling and distribution help, as well as providing analytical feedback on their content.

THREAD

1)
One year ago today, the U.S. military took out #Iran’s IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, the world’s No. 1 terrorist.

Don't listen to MSM. He was a ruthless killer loathed by people in Iran & across the Mid-East.

Please watch to the

2)
Iraqis dancing in the streets following news that Soleimani is no

3)
Poster of #Iran's terrorist-in-chief Qassem Soleimani being torn down in Gaza just

4)
A family in #Iran danced in their home after hearing about the “terrorist Soleimani's” death while chanting “Death to the Dictator,” in reference to

5)
Persian notes from inside Iran:
"We had a really joyous day after a very long time"
"Thank you, dear Trump"
"Long live Trump"
"Hats off to you, President Trump - From the people of Iran"

Credit: @IranNW

Everyone in church knew him. He was a difficult man and would make boast of this.

“Even Pastor sef know say I stubborn”. He once boasted.

“Sir, you can’t reason with my husband! Many have tried including Pastor and he hasn’t changed”. His wife said.

He had a drinking problem; that much was evident. His eyes always looking beady.

Even with the AC in church, he would sweat like someone who was running a marathon.

He had an easy smile but at the edge of that smile was a man with a fierce temper.

He would beat his wife and send her out of the home. His teenage sons never wanted to be around him and he knew this so he made life difficult for them.

Several times have the Pastor, a wonderful and kind hearted man, done to entreat him speaking love to him.

Yet, he persisted.

One-day, the church had a new Men’s fellowship leader, one who had the heart for men whom have missed or failed to understand their sonship in Christ.

He paid him a visit one evening and they got talking about the Holy Spirit.

He paid attention.

The brother, with the Spirit of God upon him started operating in the gift of word of knowledge.

He revealed things to him that even his wife didn’t know. He watched as this brother shared his life’s experience going through life without the Holy Spirit.

OK, so it's a fortnight away - the "Digital Party Conference" of the CDU to decide who the next party leader will be

And whoever wins this is going to have a good chance of being Chancellor, succeeding Merkel after the election in September this year

There are three main candidates in the running - all middle aged men from Nordrhein Westfalen
- Friedrich Merz
- Armin Laschet
- Norbert Röttgen

So who's going to win?

For ages it looked like Laschet was the clear front runner. Prime Minister of Nordrhein Westfalen (NRW), and with a kind of folksy-beergarten manner, it looked good for him.

But then came COVID, and in the first wave it looked like NRW was pushing to open up too early, and questions started to be raised as to whether he would be up to the job...

Laschet's star is falling

The candidate profiting is Merz. The comeback kid at 65 years of age would take the CDU more to the right - which seems to be what a slew of the 1001 delegates (esp those from the states of eastern Germany) want. That despite the pragmatic line of Merkel being +popular than ever.

the product manager is responsible for the product's success...

simple. But....wait....

1/n There are many $ successful products that are terrible for humans (both inside/outside a company). Is that success?

2/n Conversely, what about "great products" that end up being "not successful" ?

Did the product manager do their job? Where does their role begin and end?

3/n Success over the lifespan of the product? next quarter? until they leave? while company exists?

There are many ways that short term success can come at the expense of mid/long term impact

4/n Success can mean very different things depending on the stage of the company, and the maturity of the product.

In an early startup, company/product are inexorably linked. In a more established company "the product" may be one of a dozen bets, most which will fail.

5/n What if a company has very low product aspirations?

What if it doesn't believe that their products can be a source of differentiated, sustainable mid/long term growth?

Is the role responsible for success *insofar as success is defined*? Something else? Who decides/defines?

I gave masks the benefit of the doubt in the spring/summer of 2020. I have since changed my mind and see no scenario where it makes sense to wear them in public.

Even if they provided 100% protection, I believe masks to be harmful. An explanation below 👇👇👇

Let's say masks provide 100% protection to both the wearer and others (perhaps non-masked individuals) in close proximity. This is perhaps the worst scenario.

The immune system requires a consistent influx of both microbes and viruses to remain trained.

Halting the exposure to microbes and viruses is extremely harmful in the long run and leaves you exposed to enormous risk in the future.

Without training, you will become susceptible to even weaker microbes that your immune system would have normally handled with ease.

This is no different than laying in bed for a prolonged period of time. Walking up stairs, an activity that normally would not be a challenge, would all of a sudden become difficult.

Your immune system would slowly degrade similarly not able to complete previous tasks.

This is particularly harmful to children who's immune systems do not have the training of adults and would leave them more vulnerable. Children have the most life to lose so it harms them the most.

Dear anons and Secular Maldives proponents: 12,020 is over, and we made a lot of progress on the #SecularMaldives front. We pushed many important conversations publicly, drove controversial positions in the country while exposing those ideas to a bigger audience. 🧵 /1

We also engaged with the public and started discussing secular politics by injecting our selves into strategic conversations and we forced ourselves into relevance hile changing the entire face of public discourse in the country. /2

We gave a strong message that we exist and we matter. Now we must scale up the activism. Recent Vaguthu article showed the extent of problem. Regular folks were scared and silenced off while Islamists dominated comments and conversation around the article. /3

This needs to change and that change can only be achieved through sustained engagement and dialogue. Keep this up, and we will start chipping away their ideological dominance in the country, eventually towards a win. This is in your hands. /4

When you engage, and gain traction, you begin changing public perceptions. This is described in political science as shifting the Overton Window. /5

🚨🚨DOMINION MAP🚨🚨 Look at GA! No wonder @LLinWood has been going after @GabrielSterling @GaSecofState @BrianKempGA so hard. Knowing the statistically impossible overperformance on Dominion, now we need to focus on Gabe and the contract deal 2/

2/Part of the steal. Across the country.

3/Simple stats across the country shows how Dominion perfectly lines up with the overperformance.

4/Reminder how CEO scoffs at “Chinese” money yet UBS is Chinese owned, they invested $400M in State Street Capital who owns Dominion. Pretty simple. CEO obfuscates like OJ trying on the glove.

5/Some more charts and evidence of malfeasance.

Hello comrades and friends and friends of comrades!

You might have seen posts or hashtags about Canadian Shield relating to a pandemic response plan

It's not like our federal, provincial, and municipal governments have been doing a great job so I decided to investigate

THREAD

So Canadian Shield is a report sponsored by Global Canada which appears to be a corporate/business minded think tank

You can read the report

A few influencing figures on this site have been promoting this so my first question was who wrote that report?

What expertise does that group collectively have?

Among the authors we have:

Chamber of commerce guy
Bell Canada corporate services guy
Economics prof
CEO FN health NGO
Yukon Minister of economic development
Businessman/consultant
PolSci associate professor
Scotiabank economist
Hobbyist biostatistician
QueensU NGO businessman

Epidemiology grad student

Infection model math expert
MD and public health expert
Emergency physician
Public health professor
Physician infectious disease specialist
Assistant prof public health