People think Modi needs Punjab to win. He won without Punjab, not once, but twice, and what happens in the state does not impact his political prospects at all. Heck, he'd be long gone when Punjab runs out of ground water 15-20 years from now. Yet, he's taking the right call.

I was on the ground in Punjab in 2019, and what most Sikhs I interacted with told me was they would want BJP to play a greater role in the politics of the state. They narrated how they were sick of the Akalis, of the stagnant regime of the Captain, and they trusted Modi.

I was in Anandpur Sahib, the constituency that was won by @ManishTewari later. I interacted with a few folks, running shops of religious artefacts around the Anandpur Sahib, and most of them wanted more industry in the region. More industry, more jobs, more prosperity.

Yes, there are blessed families in terms of agriculture in the state but there are two extremes. The ones who are blessed, and the ones who are not. For the ones who aren't, there is a need for more infrastructure, more industry, more investments. The state has potential.

The new farm laws would have created a generation of agripreneurs, created the potential for cold-storage, formalised functioning of small farms, contract farming, and what not. The fertile lands of the state offered unlimited potential merely from an agricultural point of view.

Mega Thread:

I am so fed up with right wing hardliners on impeachment. I need to go on a rant. The more I interact with these people on here the more I'm pushed away from their position. On 1/6 I was adamant about Trump being at fault. He did not handle that day well IMO 1/

by that weekend, however, I'd started to reflect upon what he'd said and the events and begun to move away from the absolute position that it was all his fault. There were many reasons for this. One was that his rally happened while the break-ins were occurring, 2/

another was that so few people relative to his total followers showed up. Another was the fact that most of his followers I know were similarly outraged and disapproving. Another was that he explicitly said peaceful in all his remarks. And another was that 3/

upon reflection, I realized nothing he said was an escalation in his normal rhetoric, which had never caused any violence beforehand. But now, weeks later, I'm being radicalized in my aforementioned position by the right-wing hardliners who cannot discuss 1/6 4/

without resorting to the most melodramatic hyperbole imaginable. You simply will not gaslight me into viewing a small riot at the Capital as somehow orders of magnitude more grave and dangerous than months of left-wing rioting, or a left-wing insurrection 5/

#OnePunchMan139
1/ Heard this was really hype!
Especially after the events of last chapter with Saitama running into God
This going to be VERY interesting

Anyways “Abyss”, Love this cover page, it’s definitely one of my favorites Murata has done!

The moon is an eye & the cube

#OnePunchMan139
2/ Starting where we left off! Perfect!

Apparently none of them, not even Saitama actually sees God within the abyss

The darkness absorbs all the light, so it’s impossible to see what’s actually inside the hole 🕳

Suddenly...God speaks out to them!
OH SHIT 😯

#OnePunchMan139
3/ We know Homeless Emperor has visited God, surprisingly he seems shocked to have 3 people visit at once. Makes you wonder if he’s actually a God, if he was he’d been expecting them.

So was this encounter actually meant to happen? Or is this Saitama’s fate?

#OnePunchMan139
4/ God presents an offer to bestow his power to anyone that places their hand on that black box & makes a wish. However, you must be worthy to gain the power; otherwise you’ll likely die.

So does this imply God can bend reality & manifest anything into existence?

#OnePunchMan139
4a/ Reading again,it sounds like God has to be “injected” into someone to manifest their desires & give them power

He refers them as “vessels” & could be God transfers his essence to the vessel through the hand on the box 📦

BUT how is one determined as worthy?

Analyzing Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup through data and tactical analysis: a thread.

#MUFC’s plan was to progress the ball wide through the flanks to find runners and/or switch the players — and it was well executed.

Issues:

(A) Henderson’s ball distribution was not well utilized to find forwards through long balls.

(B) Weak verticality/central presence.

This can be better seen through the territory Manchester United occupied in both halves — although they dominated through the left flank, they progressed well through the right as well.

The height of central presence increased as a result of substitutions: Fred/Bruno.

EXAMPLE: #MUFC’s dominance in the left was seen in multiple formats which include:

(A) Construction of triangles — to cross, create space and perform third-man runs.

(B) Rashford dribbles > cutbacks.

(C) Overlaps from Luke Shaw.

(D) Long balls from deep to find runners.

So how did #MUFC move the ball?

In the first half — they looked to build-up *and* progress to the left flank to create opportunities to exploit #LIV’s high line i.e long balls, overlaps.

Directness improved in the second half with a more dangerous forward presence.

Our Targeted Income Grant Scheme (TIGS) offers desperately needed support to millions of business people who have been frozen out of Covid support, but … /

…it represents a beginning not an end. It’s an important first step in the right direction, but by no means delivers parity for those who find themselves unfairly excluded from help in these difficult times.

We will continue to fight for justice for all those who have fallen through the gaps.

A one-off TIGS grant will offer some groups desperately-needed help in the short-term, and allow the Treasury a little time to examine additional proposals in more detail /

If adopted by government, TIGS would be a huge step forward. But people are excluded from help for countless reasons, and we are happy to aid the Treasury in identifying solutions that reach everyone who needs support /

My two cents on the political economics of the first political crisis in Italy… with a shrinking Parliament. What are the incentives for Italian Senators, if they put themselves first and the country’s welfare next? Take the 2018 elected Senate, no subsequent party change

Let me assume that next election will be with a pure Proportional system -- no majority premium, no minimum thresholds. Strong simplifying assumption, I know: deciding the new electoral system is another interesting game on its own! I use yesterday SWG electoral polls

5 Stars movement (15.7% expected vote share) down from 111 to 31 seats: 80 current Senators going from MP salaries to….basic income (scary, um?). Democratic Party (19.6%) from 53 seats to 39 + 6 seats (counting Renzi’s Italia Viva). Forza Italia (6.3%) from 57 seats to only 13!

Even the most voted party Salvini’s League (23.5%) may lose seats: from 58 to 47. The big winner is Meloni’s Italian Brothers (16.3%) from 18 to 33 seats. So not surprisingly, Meloni & Salvini want early elections to get back in power. But the others?

5Star MPs will try to hold on to their seats: early elections cost each of them at least € 250k. Their leader may want to bet all their chips on a new Conte government, but do they have enough leverage to control their troopers if other govenments (options to stay on) emerge?

Ola Hovde, the number 1️⃣ in the world (Thread)

With half the season completed, I started to look at the number 1 in the world and how he has played

Ola Hovde has been number 1 ever since GW10 this season but what has he done to get there? What can we learn from it?

Some things I noticed while looking at his gameweek history: 👀

🔘 Was 88th in the world after 126 points in GW2 after heroics from Kane ©️, Son, DCL and Rodriguez

🔘 Played his wildcard in GW10 and has been number 1 ever since

🔘 Taken 2 hits all season (GW9 + GW19)

📅 Previous ranks:

2013/14: 2 582 055
2016/17: 2 609 556
2017/18: 3 912 938
2018/19: 2 726 178
2019/20: 1 635 618

⭐️ Favourite players throughout the season:

Justin GW1-
DCL GW1-11
Kane GW1-9
Son GW1-9
KDB GW10-
Bruno GW9-
McCarthy GW1-
Grealish GW5-
Dias + Cancelo GW10-

©️ Captaincy:

Salah 7x
KDB 5x
Kane 3x
Son 2x
Bruno 2x

Total points: 342

Total points for myself (rank 478k): 266

❌Popular players he has never owned this season:

Pope
Martinez/Villa defender
Stones
Zouma
Chilwell
James
Rashford
Sterling
Aubameyang
Werner
Vardy
Ings/Adams

MAJOR:
Dr Fauci Backed Wuhan Lab with $ for Risky Coronavirus Research

Over “200 scientists called for the work to be halted. The problem..is that it increased the likelihood that a pandemic would occur through a laboratory accident” in

Here’s a detailed 15min video investigation by UK PM David Cameron’s former Downing Street adviser @SteveHiltonx for his @NextRevFNC show on @FoxNews

The investigation is damning & implicates Dr Fauci & others.

Hilton calls for Fauci’s

Here are some further extracts from the @Newsweek article:

“last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology..for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses”

“Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release”

“with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7m over 6 years for research that included some gain-of-function work.. followed another $3.7m, 5-year project for collecting & studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4m”

Good morning to all of you well rested infosec folks who are just now waking up to this newest catastrophe :)

Fine, fine, I’ll be nice. While you were sleeping, Google security notified of a long term (allegedly DPRK) SE campaign targeting infosec researchers on Twitter, ingratiating themselves into the community with minor research and blogs, then sending them malicious links and code.

The list of accounts is in the blog and 3 or 4 accounts were very active, messaged and drew in a ton of researchers, and successfully got some to execute malicious code in the name of exploit research. My thread is full of stories and screenshots. They hit a ton of people.

Here is the blog.

There are still a lot of unsubstantiated rumors and humble brags floating around about what else they did, so I would stick to the blog for now.

Must say, Modi Sarkar had brilliantly so far in the face of extreme provocation.

Do u think Delhi Police is so useless that they can't stop a few hundred people from entering Red Fort? Not even a single body has fallen so far

(1) #FarmersProstests

The Horn-Locking Exercise: State Governors versus Herdsmen

The dangerous insecurity experienced nationwide got to a head in Ondo State with a vacation order from the government to all illegal occupiers of the State's forest reserve areas.

#EndInsecurity
@edobong_akpabio

Ondo State has been in the news for months now for the high rate of kidnapping, armed robbery, murder and callous attacks on citizens travelling on the highways, in broad daylight, by criminals hiding in the bushes and forest reserves and suspected to be herdsmen.
#EndInsecurity

The story is the same all over the country - brazen criminals, masquerading as herdsmen attacking, maiming and killing innocent people, even razing down whole communities with impunity. Farmers have been some of the hardest hit, with loss of lives and property.
#EndInsecurity

Some of the scenario described by the farmers include; farms invaded/crops destroyed and farmers kidnapped/murdered/injured in unprovoked attacks by the criminals; crops harvested illegally to feed their cattle, farms razed in arson attacks, ambush attacks, etc.
#EndInsecurity

Today, there are terrorists in the NE; bandits in the NW; kidnappers-for-ransom on the highways; & criminal herdsmen (+ others) attacking the rest of the country. In most cases, the criminals are alleged to be herdsmen of Fulani extraction, carrying AK-47 rifles.
#EndInsecurity

The Melbourne Stars' 10 years of Big Bash history is genuinely some of the most hilarious sports in Australian history. Don't do this normally but, a thread:

BBL01: a somewhat conventional semi final loss to Perth, but look at the batting lineup they were rocking, they had Matty Wade at 8. 2/88 chasing 175 until Ben Edmondson (!) takes a double wicket maiden.

BBL02: The hilarity begins. Faulkner "captains" as Warne is risking a ban for slow over rates from the H&A stage. Scorchers need three off the last ball and Faulkner bowls a noey. Calamity. As an aside, Alex Keath on debut goes 1-0-27-0.

BBL03: Stars go 8-0 in the H&A with a NRR of 2.2. Utterly dominant. But it's a knockout 1 v 4 in the semi and you know what happens...Hobart restrict them to 141 and Paine makes 65 as they chase it down easily.

BBL04: Third time in four years, Stars lose a semi in Perth. Only chasing 145, with KP batting with Luke Wright, nine wickets in hand at halfway, all out 126.

/1 on the advantages of replacing high leverage margin swap/futures positions with options

/2 have heard anecdotes of participants losing large parts of their crypto holdings by chasing the bull market with mistimed leveraged longs and see thousands of nameless participants in the billions in notional that are liquidated on any material move in the markets.

/3 there are two enormous costs to engaging in this behavior:

1) poor traders tend to chase, margin longing after significant price moves up have already happened. combined with high leverage, this means they manage to lose money by being liquidated (force sold) on pullbacks.

This results in somehow losing money longing in a bull market.

2) Derivatives exchanges charge a maintenance margin when you are liquidated to give them a buffer to close losing positions prior to the bankruptcy price.

Any excess goes to the insurance fund. This excess necessitates that margined positions do not capture their full EV.

“Hey DDD, men will sleep with anything? Right?🐷” Oh boy! That’s a view I’ve heard many times before. Like a lot of folk psychology, there’s a tiny kernel of truth🌽here that's blown way out of proportion. And I think I know what it is… [1/17]

First of all: There's a full spectrum of mating pickiness both sexes. Men so picky they never lose their virginity and women with unusually low standards. There’s a lot of noise and variation. Thus, we should be sceptical about neat black and white🐧claims about the sexes. [2/17]

That being said, there are often patterns to be found in the noise. Enough to draw some conclusions about the *typical* mating behaviour of each sex, but not enough to predict the behaviour of individuals with a high degree of accuracy. [3/17]

One of those patterns appears to be that more men than women “lower their standards” when it comes to sex. But, and here’s the important part, it’s in a particular context: short-term mating. [4/17]

Humans, by and large are pair-bonded mammals. From megacities to small bands of hunter gatherers, humans seek a special partner to fall in love💕and share their life with. And as far as we know, this has been the case thousands (perhaps millions) of years. [5/17]