Normally at this time of year, I get to tout the successes we’ve enjoyed in #Chattanooga in the past 12 months, like initiatives that help our families, ribbon cuttings for park improvements, and economic development deals that bring good jobs.

This year has been different. 1/

As we enter 2021, it is also important to count our blessings. This painful, strange year, for example, has indeed brought renewed clarity to a lot of what is truly important. 2/

I’m thinking about the nurses, doctors, home healthcare staff, and medical providers who have been working harder than ever to care for COVID-19 patients and others. Every day, we witness their sacrifice and service. 3/

I’m thinking also about the police, firefighters, public works employees, teachers, child care workers, and other truly essential personnel who have shown unrelenting dedication to keeping us safe and educating our young people against truly staggering odds. 4/

The pandemic has been brutal on our small businesses and Chattanoogans already living on the edge. I appreciate our Economic & Community Development Dept giving rent and utility assistance and other kinds of support to the business owners and employees who need it the most. 5/

It's Friday afternoon, it's dark outside and school is over for the week. Let me tell you some truths about markets in 2021

The consensus view this year is all pervasive. Everything I see and read is based upon it. Parts of it may eventually come true, but it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows

To summarise, the mechanical recovery taking place will become self-sustaining as vaccines and "pent-up demand" combine to lead to an orgy of consumerism

Of course this is a very American fantasy because elsewhere, no one expects anything of the sort to happen, not least Europe or Japan, where we'll continue to be frugal

To add to this we have the Fed "backstopping" the market and a new Democratic administration stuffing cash into the hands of people who already have money

Christmas has been & gone, we are in a new year but it is all sounding & feeling very similar to where we were. This time we are ready. We are hurt, we are saddened but we are standing up for what matters and we are united with one aim to see our loved ones #rightsforresidents

Over the last week there has been a lot of anger & frustration building up. Will our loved ones get a vaccine, many still haven’t, goal posts get moved, &the gap widens between 1st/2nd vaccine, will it change the visiting guidance, will we ever see them again,no one will answer!

We hear that Covid+patients are to be discharged into care homes,again.There is a plan,does anyone know it? Where are these designated homes,how will they be managed, will staff be completely separate&where are they coming from?will our loved ones be safe? Can this happen again?

Rights for residents is just that, a campaign to stand up for the #Rightsforresidents in care homes, our loved ones - young adults, children and older people - ignored and forgotten, but not by us

These rights include vaccines, hospital visits/discharges but our primary campaign was & is visits rights. For too long we have been separated from our loved ones, families torn apart & plastic screen put between us - at best

Hi everyone, Welcome!
I am Claire Igwe. I would like to welcome everyone joining us to this tweet chat.

Our conversation today is a warm-up to the PAD PROJECT, an outreach planned by FIGURE (Feminist Inspiring Gender Unity, Respect and Equality)

In early March last year, the FIGURE family reached out to young girls in Ile-Ife with sanitary pads, some valuable sex education and smiles😇.

It would be a thrill to do this again this year, with your support of course.

We would be having @afrika_sisi (founder and facilitator of FIGURE) as our guest for this chat

We would be hitting a very pressing but commonly overlooked topic today; Sexual Harassment and Assault of Underage Girls in Secondary Schools.

So, we would get right on to the chat.
Please feel free to jump in with your contributions and retweet.

I used to talk more openly about my experience as a trans person, which is why I think so many people started following me. At some point last year, as I was about to hit 3 years of transition, I became deeply uncomfortable with trans community, discourse, & my lack of privacy.

My own gender dysphoria & internalized transphobia came raging back in ways that I didn’t expect it to. I’ve been struggling for the better part of a year. I rarely take selfies anymore. I closed my DMs, which I used to use to support others. I don’t talk about being trans much.

I spent most of 2020 becoming completely disillusioned by the effectiveness of hormones. Basically, I’ve built up a lot of resentment about finding myself on the wrong side of YMMV. I feel miles behind where I should be when comparing my experience to that of my peers.

In therapy, I’m back to working primarily on gender dysphoria, positive self-talk, & proactivity in transition. Like many people, my transition stalled completely in 2020. I accomplished nothing new, practically speaking. No documents signed, no dates set, no dreams coming true.

My therapist & I are working on learning to be happy if - hypothetically - transition were over right now. No more puberty, no surgeries, no changes. How do I go from feeling unsatisfied, jealous of others, & resentful to feeling happy, hopeful, & secure in my body & my identity?

(Thread)
1/ It doesn’t matter whether you’re black, white, brown, or anywhere in between- if you were born in America, you won the world lottery.

Our nation, which makes up under 5% of the world population, holds the vast majority of its wealth and power.

Long, VERY LONG thread👇👇👇:

1- Reflections on yesterday’s storming of the Capitol, and the responsibility borne by the sensationalist inflammatory indecent dishonest Media of the 21st century for those events, their clones, their antecedents, and their aftermath.

2- To be fair, 21st century media are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand they suffer a paucity of old-style journalists & beat-reporters; on the other hand they face stiff competition & “news” overkill from new forms of media, what the French call GAFTA;

3- that is to say Google Apple Facebook Twitter Amazon and 24-hour news channels etc.) Thus the Media today are no more than glittering (that is to say cheap vulgar bling bling) platforms for sensationalism, scoops, “citizen journalism,” oversimplifications, jingles, slogans,

4- punchlines, shock-jock “fast-food” type of opinion (not to say opinionated) journalism and talk-show-type “reporting” at the expense of substantive probing investigative journalism and transmission of knowledge.

5- In this world of superficiality, where the “honor” of being a journalist (or for that matter a cognoscenti) is given to those who don’t deserve it, EVERYONE becomes an expert, a pundit, an analyst, an interpreter, a philosopher…

I wish everybody a Happy New Year 🎆. 2020 was a year like no other. The pandemic put normal life on pause. 🇲🇻tourism collapsed, thousands lost jobs and incomes, children missed schooling, some of us lost loved ones. Few of us will miss 2020. Thread (1/9)

The new year brings hope: of the speedy roll-out of the vaccine, and the eventual end to this horrible virus. I urge all Maldivians to take the coronavirus vaccine as soon as it becomes available. 💉👊🏾🦠(2/9)

worked well this year -- passing many important bills. No longer a corrupt, rubber stamp, Majlis now holds Government to account, upholds Constitution, debates important issues and passes legislation crucial to our country’s success. 🇲🇻🇲🇻🇲🇻 (3/9)

I'm very pleased @mvpeoplesmajlis helped ensure the international border reopened in July. Re-opening quickly was a good decision, and led to mini-boom in tourism we see today. We would have been in a much worse position if we kept the border closed. 🛬=💰 (4/9)

I hope 2021 sees 🇲🇻unite behind a peaceful and more tolerant vision for the future, without the bigotry and hatred we have sometimes seen in past months. We must learn to listen to the other side, and forge compromise where possible. (5/9)

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 every MAJOR comic in New York City was doing NOTHING but 9/11 jokes and crushing.

Patrice O'Neal did a bit about how he kept buying cheap leather jackets because the Arab vendors were having an "I didn't do it" sale.

A Syrian comic named Hood would go onstage, announce that he would like to open his set by doing something in the name of ALLAH, and he'd open his jacket to reveal a DYNAMITE VEST strapped to his chest.

The joke KILLED, figuratively. And it showed me how comedy has the ability to take the power away from unimaginable torments for a few seconds at a time. It unites people who don't agree on an issue by pointing out universal truths we HAVE accepted on the issue.

Patrice's joke about Arabs feeling persecuted spoke honestly about the mood at the time. Hood's dynamite vest joke, however insane, played on a suspicion that nobody would ever admit to feeling today because they'd be called racist.

Back to work. Kids back to school (in the next room). Tough for them.

Didn't see many people or do much over Christmas, obviously, but so nice to have some time to wind down.

2021 has got to be a big year for climate. Some thoughts: 1/11

Of course COP26 is *the* big climate happening. Crucial chance to step up global co-operation. With a Biden-led Whitehouse, that's very possible.

But in terms of wider outreach, I worry that COPspeak galvanises climate wonks & no-one else. Big engagement challenges here... 2/11

For business, it's about putting some flesh on those much-welcomed net zero pledges which have sprung up everywhere. Many companies are over-reliant on carbon removals, which is hidden in the 'net' bit of net zero.

Now that many businesses and governments have strong stated climate ambitions, it's a tough job - and one that will probably fall to NGOs and campaigners - to scrutinise plans, and separate bluff from genuine action. 4/11

For government, it's about looking across the whole economy, understanding that climate policy is investment policy, infrastructure policy, tax policy (I could go on). And that covid recovery is also climate policy. 5/11

1/ I want to say something as an atty who worked in Pedowood until 2018. The very famous ones who were "suicided" were all guilty. I want you all to know that. They ALL signed the cabal's contract and took the deal. They knew EXACTLY what they were getting into. I'll tell you how

2/ it happens. You come here or are groomed for here or whatever. You seek fame and fortune for your art. Whatever you seek you will find. Except justice, truth and God. Not among the puppet masters. (keep reading I'm still going).

3/ Alot of young ones come here from all over the country hoping to be discovered. They go to parties, clubs, bars, whatever hopping to meet that one person who is goign to help them. Meanwhile, the Luciferian order/cabal/shitshow - whatever you want to call them, is looking for

4/ these young folks. Yes, they are young, but so was I. I never took their stupid deals. I never signed up. I have good judgment and morals. Let me continue (I was a writer hired for Paramount LONG ago and I said NO THANK YOU).

So there is a structure to this system, like any

5/ company or organization. And its called "The Family". Yes that is what they call it.

Ok, time to talk about my psychiatrist experience.
For the course of approx 12 months from mid 2018 to mid 2019, I was abused and mistreated by a psychiatrist who is considered to be one of the main 'experts' in Adult ADHD in Melbourne.

I shrugged off my concerns initially because I was so happy to finally be treated and medicated for my ADHD. In my first appointment, he pressured me to let me Mum join the appointment even though she was only there because she gave me a lift.

he directed almost of the questions in that first appointment. I barely got a word in. Within 45 minutes, after a series of very leading questions asked to my Mum (not to me), he had diagnosed me with two serious mental illnesses and written me several scripts.

every appointment after that, I walked out with at least two new scripts. I didn't fill most of them because I was uncomfortable with the pace at which he was changing my meds and adding new ones.

He never actually listened to my concerns about my meds, and he was very blunt and unhelpful with his general advice. He talked down to me like I was a child, cut me off while I was speaking, and after a few appointments he took to directly insulting my intelligence.

Outside the Capitol now. A crowd is starting to gather. Definitely larger than the previous ones I've seen.

Signs spotted so far:

'Knucklehead Gordon's
'Legislature must convene, fix election fraud.'
'Masks don't work.'

One counter protestor on the corner.

It's started.

Clem: "we are here because we love our freedom, and because the man in that building is a tyrant."

Several hundred people here. Shouts of 'RINO' in the crowd. A few rifles on display.

"Only legislators can make law," he said. Said there was no public input on the health orders.

If you are still suffering from cognitive dissonance and can't seem to interpret what is going on around you, let me see if I can at least help you understand what is happening within broader evangelicalism and the Roman Catholic Church:

(2) The "church" is becoming the state church. The church that doesn't just obey the state and governmental authorities but that is incorporated into the state.

Ecumenism will be based upon subjective economic, social, and supranational policies: and you must believe.

(3) And along with this transition you must obey and do whatever the state tells you to do. This is now "loving thy neighbor". This is the new collective.

And you must hate the old nation, the old constitution, the old economy, the old ways.

You must embrace the new systems

Lately, I've been thinking about Communities.

Thread 👇🏽

A community is where people with similar interests hang out. They feel a sense of identity. They feel at home.

In a community, people share common values. They feel identified.

When you build a community, you host the conversation. When you build and show you have an audience. It's not bad, but It's not great.

A community is a two-way avenue. An audience is a one-way street.

With a community you will get better feedback, and new ideas.

With an audience, you are going to push content not ideas.

You can't value your community on metrics. Each user will have a different experience. It's Subjective.

People hang out in a place because they are learning or they are having a good time. Aim to entertain or teach.

Build a space where people want to be.