BK Dems can't continue with business as usual until we see real accountability for hate speech. We're calling on
@bkdems leadership to hold DL Lori Maslow accountable & for candidates to boycott the Jan 31 public forum until they do. 🧵 https://t.co/DNYAumTuSJ

In early January 2021, hateful, xenophobic, violent and racist remarks against Chinese, Palestinian and other communities of color by District Leader Lori Maslow were uncovered on Twitter.

Since this discovery, there have been multiple calls from elected officials, BK political clubs, County Committee members, & Chinese, Muslim & Palestinian - American community groups for Leader Maslow’s resignation as District Leader & State Committeemember from the Dem Party

To date, Leader Maslow has not resigned nor has the BKDem Party officially called for Leader Maslow’s resignation or denounced her violent rhetoric. Instead the BK Dem Party made their Twitter account private, blocking access & communication to BK Dems & going silent on the issue

The issue is now not only the responsibility of Leader Maslow’s but has become one of the Party’s. This institutional problem with the Brooklyn Democratic Party must be addressed. We call on the leadership of the Party to take action on the following before the January 31st forum

THREAD:  A few quick thoughts on #Navalny and why the Kremlin opted for such a harsh sentence. 1/10

Ever since news broke about the failed assassination attempt last August it’s been clear the security services have been operating according with very simple logic.  2/10

The overriding goal was to destroy Navalny and to demonstrate that no move aimed against the security services would remain unpunished.  3/10

Thus, there was no way for the authorities to accept that Navalny could return and operate freely against Putin and the security establishment in the new political conditions created by the fact of the assassination attempt. 4/10

The current ruling is only the first part of a saga.The Kremlin has plenty of other potential criminal charges it can bring against Navalny.The goal is to make Navalny—and others-realize that they face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives behind bars. 5/10

Pelosi's mot that the chose "their whiteness over democracy" disappoints me. 1/

It disturbs me when liberals recourse to racism as a universal explanation for everything bad the right does. It's reductionist. And it's not to excuse the right and its racism to point this out... 2/

In fact, reducing everything bad the right believes and does to white supremacy limits our grasp of their terribleness: in most cases in's white supremacy PLUS (and in some cases, NOT white supremacy. Non-white conservative tradition deserve consideration on its own terms). /3

a major part of the PLUS is gender-based. In the late 1970s, the ideology that cohered the Christian right, and made them such a force in Reagan's coalition and beyond, was far more eliminationist rage against LGBT people than racism. /4

Most of the people traveling to DC to protest IRS rules on Christian schools in 1979, many of them former segregationists, were witnesses to their eliminationist rage against LGBT people (conspiracy theories held the IRS sought to force Christian schools to hire gay teachers). /5

@GMB @piersmorgan A bunch of people will hear "gay roles for gay actors" and say it's stupid or hypocrisy. But there are a few areas to consider:
(1) Do gay actors get roles?
(2) Can straight actors accurately portray gay people?
(3) Can gay actors accurately portray straight people?

@piersmorgan The first one is I think pretty clear - while it has become considerably easier for gay actors to get ahead in Hollywood, they still don't generally have access to the most common or most popular roles and it can be an impediment to their careers.

@piersmorgan The same is true in the UK. It is often the case that actors who are out and well-known as gay simply don't get given straight roles in movies or TV. They're considered 'not believable'. Whereas when a straight actor plays an LGBT role, they're (now) considered 'brave'

@piersmorgan To me that's a clear ethical argument right there - there aren't very many LGBT roles on TV or film. Until out LGBT actors are more able to act in straight roles (and lets be clear, there are a number who do so who are not out) then at least they should be able to play gay roles

@piersmorgan The second question is whether or not straight actors are able to 'play gay'. The truth is in theory absolutely yes, but in practice often no. Even in the 21st Century gay and lesbian kids still grow up feeling different, they have particular experiences with their families...

The argument against moving slightly slower on impeachment than it takes to send a tweet was something like, "It's the only way to get Republicans!"

Looks like that was ass-backwards, as anyone who understands basic psychology should have understood.

The notion that people change their minds immediately after an earth-shattering or traumatic situation that proves their priors wrong is not true. It often doesn't start to work until they've had some time to really sit with what happened to them. Which we're seeing here.

Indeed, if you interview anyone who works at a DV shelter, you'll find that one of the biggest advantages of getting a woman away from an abuser is so she can have a moment to herself to think and to realize she needs to leave him for good.

There were factors working against this tendency. For instance, widespread support for the coup from GOP voters may make some Republican politicians shaky. But on the psychological front, the notion that a trauma immediately changes opinions is more Hollywood logic than reality.

The larger point here is anyone who is absolutely certain they have the right answer, especially something like the exact timeline for impeachment, is talking out of their ass. The reality is this situation is chaotic, with lots of moving pieces. So really anything could happen.

County Board of Supervisors January 26,2021 In progress: I had a doctor's appointment. Diagnosis Twitter Thumb ;) Can watch meeting here

2.1 *Authorize the Board of Supervisors to sign a letter to Governor Newsom with Urgent Request for
Additional Vaccine Pacheco says County now is doing 30,000 shots a week. We are now efficient after so issues at start.

Magisg: local control is always best. California had been challenged to get the shots out to counties. (EDITORIAL ALTHOUGH I heard on radio that counties have been uneven in their approach too. ). Magisg: appreciates the team the county had.

Local control is better. Mendes was on a call a few weeks ago and he thinks Governor is out of touch.The higher you go up the chain the more out of touch they are. Brand: CAO modified one sentence from the letter. We are ahead of the game butter great work will

falter if we don't get more vaccines. (That was Brandau and not Brand). Public:Leslie from Leadership Counsel thought the farmworker event yesterday was great. If we need to lobby Governor let us know. Brandua: please get Arambula involved

not to go anthropological on everyone but america, the nation, truly does not have much culture and very little history.

we do not respect the land and it's people.
we do not respect each other or newcomers.

and although these aren't specific to america, they are stronger here

america is built on capitalism and very few other values under the false pretense of social and class mobility. but if that were true than most everyone in this country would not be as poor as they are. and we wouldn't have billionaires who profit off of dying people.

america might be the land of dreams but like most dreams there is a harsh reality to wake up to. the people here are probably worse off than most other nations under the skewed and inaccurate qualifier that is GDP per capita.

just because america is rich doesn't make it good.

and then there's america's political influence that pretty much forces other nations into becoming capitalistic, thus slowing all social progress in the name of greed.

I don't hate capitalism as much as you'd think but I do hate greed, and capitalism is rarely without greed.

since america is such a consumer culture as well, preservation is often looked down upon. for instance, cutting down trees for wood, or not respecting burial sites or sacred land in the name of progress.

this often has a multitude of consequences and some that we can't fix.

I think Romans 14 helps us on the matter of wearing masks, though I am not saying that those who believe we should wear masks are weak in faith.

Remember in Romans 14 the strong believed they could eat foods that were unclean according to the OT (Lev. 11 & Deut. 14), and they also believed that the sabbath and special feast days were no longer mandatory.

The weak thought one should refrain from eating food deemed unclean in the OT and also believed the sabbath and other feasts should be observed.

Paul clearly agrees with the strong theologically. No food is unclean now that the new covenant has arrived and Christ has come (Rom. 14:14, 20). The feast and sabbath days are no longer required (Rom. 14:5–6).

Still, when with the weak, they should refrain from eating unclean foods out of love for their brothers and sisters who think differently.

I was involved in getting the #oxfordvaccine @JennerInstitute manufacturing process and consortium up and running. Here is a thread of why there is an issue with doses, with some science and #sciencepolicy. The EU looks in the wrong to me.

To make the vaccine, you need to grow up a huge volume of cells, they make the vaccine, then the vaccine is purified. The manufacturing process is new. It relies on elements used before, but each new process has its own parameters.

That means each manufacturing site has to on board the exact process and get it running. Usually this takes many months, but is being done urgently for COVID.

When you book manufacturing capacity, you are booking the manufacturing slot. It might take 2 weeks to make a batch of vaccine. With a new process, you always get the same vaccine, but the yield can vary.

Maybe a good yield is a million doses per run (in reality, it depends on how big your cell culture is). But maybe the first few runs only yield 250 thousand doses.

In a few years the bar moved from saying that children weren’t undergoing irreversible procedures, to arguing in The New Yorker that children should get to sterilize themselves for life without regard to the “arbitrary historical boundaries of

Among those of us with left-of-center political ideals, it’s only radical feminists who will now stand up and say that it’s wrong to sterilize children because they’re different, or unhappy. It’s only conservatives who will platform us to say

Where are the other organizations that claim to represent lesbian and bisexual women, saying that these girls don’t need mastectomies? Where are the gay men’s groups standing up for the wholeness of these boys? Why are they abandoning their responsibilities?

Where are the groups for those on the autism spectrum, standing up to say that it’s completely typical for autistic young people to have social fit difficulties and be unhappy about this, as well as to obsessively perseverate on special interests?

Why are news outlets who’ve made their bones reporting on previous medical scandals ignoring the sterilization of these children? Whether they’re LGB, autistic, or caught up in social contagions because they self-diagnosed from a YouTube overdose in a vulnerable moment?

@paddua @USMarshalsHQ @SebGorka Remedy has been sought from both the Legislature and the Judiciary. Notice was given time and time again...people were given the opportunity to do the right thing. In every case they refused. What has not been used thus far to effect remedy is the Executive.

@USMarshalsHQ @SebGorka Donald Trump knew before he ever took office what needed to be done. He has quietly rooted out corruption in key positions and departments while manipulating the media since he took office...always talking loudly to keep people focused where he wanted them to look.

@USMarshalsHQ @SebGorka The pieces are now in place...Washington DC is occupied by 25,000 soldiers that the DEMOCRATS called in. Those soldiers answer to Donald J Trump and have been deputized as Federal Marshall's.

@USMarshalsHQ @SebGorka Marshalls are authorized to make arrests without warrants for federal crimes committed in their presence or for which they have evidence. On January 6th, the whole world watched approximately 90% of our congress commit treason by knowingly certifying a fraudulent election.

@USMarshalsHQ @SebGorka Donald Trump went on camera before the American people and told us that he has tried every legal means to fix this problem. Right now a state of emergency exists in all 50 states and DC. The head of FEMA is a 26 year veteran who was ALSO just appointed acting secretary of DHS.

As an Emergency physician and a Navy veteran, I'm calling on social media companies to permanently ban Dr. Simone Gold and America's Frontline Doctors from their platform. Here's why. 1/x

Gold may now state that she regrets being part of the group of insurrectionists who attacked our democracy on Jan. 6th. But she WAS a part of it, and their traitorous actions resulted in five unnecessary deaths. 2/x

Not only that, but from a medical perspective, Gold was extremely reckless in joining a group of largely maskless rioters who didn't socially distance whatsoever. These actions go directly against the science we know helps prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19 disease. 3/x

Sadly, this isn't the only thing Gold and her extremist "America's Frontline Doctors" have done to worsen the pandemic. Since summer, they've spread dangerous disinformation, like touting hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 cure, even though it's not and can be harmful. 4/x

And while the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is the best tool we have to eradicate the pandemic and save lives, Gold has incorrectly referred to it as an “experimental, biological agent deceptively named a vaccine.” 5/x

Cliff breakdown.
🇺🇸

Today we lost 1820 of our citizens. Many of these deaths could have been prevented. I plead with our Secretary of State @MattHancock and @CMO_England to make changes to our community protective shield as follows: (1)

Face the data with humility. Latest data show only 32% of in-person test results were received within 24 hours...Way too slow. For all routes combined, 18.3% of tests from all test sites were received within 24 hours of a test. (2)

Since Test and Trace launched, 97.8% of all contacts managed by local health protection teams have been successfully reached. Performance of call centres is much worse. The % reached within 24h of the case that reported them reaching the contact tracing system fell to 67.7%. (3)

We should expect many more contacts than have been identified by call centres. And those contacted by call centre or online are simply asked to self-isolate. No follow-up. No link with primary care. No offer of local help. (4)

The MOST important statistic is not measured: compliance with 'self-isolation'. Surveys conducted have shown only 18.5% comply. And many of the poorest groups won't go for a test because they fear being asked to self-isolate. Why? (5)