BC BIDEN
Saved by @Mollyycolllinss

BREAK: Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.

The Trump administration is over.

 Technically another 9 mins to go for the official handover. But it’s a formality.
Biden: "This is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope....Today we triumph not of a candidate but of a cause. The cause of democracy. The people, the will of the people has been heard. And the will of the people has been heeded."
"At this hour my friends, democracy has prevailed."

Biden thanks his predecessors from both parties "from the bottom of my heart."

With, perhaps, the exception of one.
Biden addresses the pandemic and its economic consequences: "Few people in our nation's history have found themselves in a moment as challenging as the one we're in now...but the dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer."
Biden says the country must confront and defeat the problems of domestic terrorism in America.

15 or 10 years ago American presidents would have been using that term to refer to Islamist terrorism. Post Trump administration, it's about the far right. Transformation.
Biden: "I know speaking of unity might seems a foolish fantasy these days...but our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we're all created equal and the harsh ugly reality of racism, nativism, fear, demonisation...the battle is perennial."
Biden: "Let's start afresh, all of us, let's begin to listen to one another agin. Hear one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying all in its path. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manufactured."
Biden believes in this unity theme. The danger for him is that (a little like Obama) he believes it can actually be achieved. And that is setting himself up for one alrighty fall.
Biden, referring to America's first female Vice President @KamalaHarris says "don't tell me things can't change."
Biden's best passage yet: "These last weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a responsibility, especially leaders...to defend the truth and defeat the lies."
And that's going to be the difference. A president who didn't like or care about fundamental democratic principles, conventions, institutions and norms (including the value of truth) has been replaced with one who does. Not necessarily more than another politician but Biden is.
Biden: "We'll lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example."
Biden: "I give you my word- I will always level with you. I will defend the constitution. I will defend our democracy. I'll defend America...together we shall write an American story of hope not fear, of unity not division, of light and not darkness."
It's hardly a unique insight but it is hard to overestimate how different the last two inauguration speeches have been. America's capacity for renewal (and rapid transformation) is breathtaking.

More from Lewis Goodall

Lewis Goodall
Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Earlier when asked about why the govt didn't act earlier the PM said “I think we were told about the new variant and the way it was taking off on 18th December and we went into T4 across the vast bulk of the country pretty much in the next 24 hours.”

This isn't entirely correct.

The new variant was identified in early December after genome data was paired with a curiosity that the rates of infection in Kent were not falling despite national restrictions and then T3.


So there was indicative sense that the variant may be playing its part as early as that and perhaps sport greater transmissibility.

On December 14th Matt Hancock informed the Commons, saying the new variant was in at least 60 local authorities already.

He told MPs in that over that week, there had been sharp, exponential rises in coronavirus infections across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.

He said they couldn't be sure whether that was due to the new variant but that caution was required.

As a result, London and several other places in the South East were moved to T3.

On 18th December NERVTAG reported that they believed the new variant was indeed more transmissible.

On the 19th, the govt acted. This is the action I assume the PM referred to today.
GOVERNMENT
Lewis Goodall
Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Trump’s doctor: “This morning, the President is doing very well.”

Conley: “the team and I are extremely pleased with how the President is doing.” Says that Trump’s symptoms are now improving.

Second doctor says that President’s kidney function, heart function are both normal. Says that he’s not on oxygen and in “exceptionally good spirits.” Says that Trump said “it feels I could walk out of this today.” Says he’s walking around the medical unit.

Doctor is repeatedly asked about whether Trump is on oxygen. Says he’s not on oxygen “now” or “today”. Sidesteps question about whether he’s received it up to now.

Doctor says “since Friday morning” Trump hasn’t had a fever
TRUMP
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Lewis Goodall
Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Charles Walker, Vice Chair of the 1922 Tory backbench committee in the Commons tells TWTW that he thinks the government knew it intended to “cancel” Christmas on Wednesday or Thursday but waited for Parliament to rise to do it. Says many of his colleagues find this “egregious.”

When put to Walker that Matt Hancock said this morning that wasn’t the case, it was the briefing on Friday which prompted the decision, Walker says: “Hmm yeah...well I’d have to disagree with the SoS on that.” So he’s either saying Hancock isn’t being truthful or is misinformed.

Walker: “Surely at some stage a senior government minister has say I’ve offered my resignation to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister has to say- very early I’ve had to accept this.”

Reminder- Charles Walker is Vice Chair of the Tory backbench committee.

Walker heavily implies it’s Matt Hancock he wants to see resign: “I’m not asking for the government to collapse. I’m asking for a Secretary of State to take some responsibility.”

The Charles Walker interview is extraordinary in what he is inferring. A senior Conservative MP is essentially accusing his govt and ministers of deceit about what they knew about the new strain and when and by implication the timing of the new lockdown.
GOVERNMENT
Lewis Goodall
Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Weird feeling. After 10.5 years and roughly £21,000 of debt- I finally paid off the last instalment of my student loan today.

Next month, for the first time- I’ll receive my full post tax salary, for the first time since I graduated.

Sharing as an example of how the system works in practice. In truth I only seriously started paying off the capital in the last few years, when I started to earn a good salary, paying roughly £400 a month off. I suspect many will never significantly eat into the capital.

That’s especially the case for those those under the new regime, who have over £50k of debt. I was lucky in a) lower fees (3k not 9k) and maintenance grant (not loan) still existed.

Indeed IFS forecasts that 83% of students from PST 2012 reforms won’t fully pay back their loan.

Of course those who don’t pay off their fees, the cost will eventually have to be absorbed by the Treasury. Having 17% pay back all and the rest some will still be cheaper for HMT than no loans at all. But we should recognise the a) odd conceit that we have a system of loans...

...which the vast maj will never pay back and that instead b) that graduates are paying in effect a topped up rate of income tax for many, many years.
FINANCE
Lewis Goodall
Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Overheard in a Newcastle cafe, two very despondent students, clearly not long arrived in the city: “I might as well just go home. What is the point in being here? I told my Mum last night, I just feel so lonely. Wish I’d taken a gap year.” The other nodded, in sad agreement.

More cafe conversations-a woman who has recently gone back to work and is now facing down the barrel of imminent unemployment again with the hospitality shutdown which is prob coming here: “I was so buzzing to get back to work. I can’t believe it’s back. Don’t know what I’ll do.”

A local bar owner who has popped in for a coffee: “up to now we’ve just about been making enough money on Saturday to survive and make it through the rest of the week. Depends what the government does. But we’re on the edge.”

And the cafe owner, been here 19 years: “things had been a bit better but this week trade has fallen off a cliff. I came in yesterday and the day before and I just closed because there was no point. Whatever they announce I’m praying it isn’t for long or they extend furlough.”

This cafe btw is a cracker, when I lived in Newcastle came all the time. If you’re ever in the area (restrictions permitting) @QuayIngredient is where you need to go.
SOCIETY

More from Biden

Jacob Reynolds
Jacob Reynolds
@jacobreynolds
A tentative thread on the Biden speech

Adam Curtis once leaned heavily on the book 'Everything was forever, until it was no more' by Alexei Yurchak - a slightly odd book about the way that language in the Soviet Union slowly degraded.

Instead of confronting reality, the job of propagandists, indeed of all official discourse, was to stitch together a series of recognisable banalities.

Ideas that once were essential parts of the concrete social project of the Soviet Union - building a worker's state - were now invoked in whatever context needed.

Thus, you could praise the 'trenchant labour of the workers' when discussing the publication of a new edition of technical guidelines for building tractors.

The incredible brittleness of this cut-and-paste discourse meant that no-one in the Soviet Union was able to process, let alone alter, the decay of the Union and its increasingly unstable economic system.
BIDEN
David C Lowery
David C Lowery
@davidclowery
Okay. That was quick. I’m done with Biden. Renata Hesse is total nightmare for workers. Her previous stint in DOJ had her tightening restrictions on songwriters while letting big tech off the hook. She is a pawn of Silicon Valley. Be very very afraid.


Former Google attorney Renata Hesse when working at DOJ antitrust tried to change the details of the BMI and ASCAP consent decrees that would have made a $1 Billion lawsuit against Google go away. This is horrendously corrupt. This is a terrible terrible start for Biden.

https://t.co/yM5ej1rIBN

https://t.co/hkc1B31cR7

https://t.co/J5f3C90qsh
BIDEN
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ACLU
ACLU
@ACLU
BREAKING: We’re calling on President Biden to pause all federal government use of face recognition technology.

This tech is flawed, biased against people of color, women, trans people, and more.

Even if it worked exactly as advertised, it would be a nightmare. Let’s explain.

Study after study has confirmed this bias.

One study showed that face recognition tech failed in identifying Black women nearly 1/3 of the time, but was more accurate on white men.

Subsequent studies, including by @ACLU_NorCal and the government, have confirmed these findings.

These biases have real consequences that disproportionately harm Black people.

Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, and Nijeer Parks are all Black men who were wrongly arrested and detained because of this technology.

Even if face recognition tech worked perfectly, it would be a civil liberties nightmare — giving the government the ability to track us to houses of worship, protests, healthcare appointments, intimate partners’ homes — harming our rights to privacy, speech, and association.

And face recognition technology would surely be used to exacerbate over-policing of communities of color, immigrant communities, poor communities, and others already bearing the brunt of the criminal enforcement system.
BIDEN
Noah Smith \U0001f407
Noah Smith 🐇
@Noahpinion
1/Today's Substack post is about Biden's chances of becoming a truly transformational president -- someone who will move U.S. economic policy onto a leftward track, as Reagan once moved it onto a rightward

2/Political scientist Stephen Skowronek has a theory that says we're due for a "reconstructive" President who will define a new paradigm for the next few

3/Like most people, I thought Biden would be an incrementalist centrist who would get little done other than restoring competence and morality to the executive branch (and that alone would have been plenty of reason to vote for him!).

4/When I read Skowronek's theory, I read it as a prediction of a Bernie or Warren presidency.

I did not imagine that Biden could be a transformational president.

BUT, it's looking like he just might be one!

5/Check out @mehdirhasan's rundown of Biden's rapid blitz.
BIDEN
Nash Across the 8th Dimension
Nash Across the 8th Di...
@Nash076
These fucking hacks.

Look, Biden's still Biden, but these fucksticks covered Trump's vast conflicts of interests for 0.5 seconds before just giving up when it became clear Trump simply didn't care about ethics.

Expect them to keep ringing this bell on Biden each week, however.


Biden having a foundation is pretty much the same as it was for Clinton, for Obama, for pretty much every President in living memory except maybe Jimmy Carter.

Yeah, these "foundations" and everything should be a point of concern. They're kind of weird.

But.

These political reporters suddenly flipping to covering Biden's "ethics quandaries" are also the ones who nodded off about the Trump Foundation, the hotels, the golf courses ...

Remember his taxes? That was maybe a week of coverage then forgotten.

Politico in particular can't be trusted to act in good faith when their editorial staff makes decisions like giving Ben Shapiro a platform and higher profile via their site.

They're going to spend the next four years watching for any cough or hiccup and calling it a plague.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a national press who were capable of reporting on ethics violations in an ethical manner, and not one determined to sensationalise every little thing as if it were the beginning of a massive scandal?
BIDEN

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\u015b\u0101kta
śākta
@LearningShakta
Arya Samaj Exposed ( A Thread)


Today I'm going to expose these so called reviver of Sanatan dharma.

Arya samaj's main book which they treat as their bible is Satyarth Prakasha. Which was written by "Maharishi" Dayanand Saraswati.

Dayanand Condemned Idol worship and blamed it on jains . like really??


The book peddles hate against several Hindu sects.

here is hate against Vaishnavas
RELIGION
Shalini Singh Sengar
Shalini Singh Sengar
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Post Independence, Army wanted to select the most experienced Indian commander as Army chief. But Nehru without consulting anyone appointed Gen Rob Lockhart, a senior British Army officer as the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Army.


Most people were shocked to know that Nehru selected a British Man after fighting for independence for over 200 years! Major Gen A A ‘Jick’ Rudra of the Indian Army was completely upset with the decision.


One day Lockhart met Nehru with a strategic plan and proposed many government directive defence policies for the country. He placed it on the table and explained the point to PM Nehru. After a while Lockhart walked out of the room and met AA Jick Rudra,+

Lockhart looked shell shocked and stunned. When asked what happened he said “The PM took one look at my paper and blew his top. Rubbish! Total rubbish! We don’t need a defence plan. Our policy is ahimsa (non-violence). We foresee no military threats. Scrap the army!”

One year after the incident the Kashmir crisis had increased and Gen Lockhart used to exchange ideas with the Gen Douglas Gracey who was commander in chief of Pakistan Army.There were many infiltrations along the border which Lockhart knew and took no action. But Lt Gen Cariappa+
HISTORY
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Hindu Media Wiki
Hindu Media Wiki
@HinduMediaWiki
Speech Delay is most common in children nowadays

In ancient times, our grandparents used to follow typical natural way of caring the needs of a child. All they used were more of natural products than chemical based for the growth of child.


One of major step followed was to feed Gurbach Jadd/ Vasa Kommu/ Acorus Calamus for initiating good speech ability in a child. This stem was needed to babies on Tuesdays and Sundays in mother's milk.

Vasa is feed to baby after the 1st bath on 12th day in week. Weekly only thrice it is fed and named as :

Budhwar - Budhi Vasa
Mangalwar - Vaak Vasa
Ravi Vaar - Aayush Vasa

This stem is burnt and rubbed against the grinding stone in mother's milk or warm water to get a paste


The procedure to make it is in the link

https://t.co/uo4sGp7mUm

It should not be given daily to the child. Other main benefits are

1. It clears the phlegm in child's throat caused due to continuous milk intake. It clears the tracts and breathing is effortless.
2. Digestion

For children who haven't got their speech and is delayed than usual should feed this vasa on these days in week atleast for 6months. Don't get carried away with this dialogue
"Some gain speech little late"
CHILDREN
Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Mangottu Bhagavathi Temple
#Palakkad #Kerala
#keralatemples 🚩

Mangottu Bhagavathi Temple is situated in Athipotta near Alathur of palakkad district. Devi is kshipraprasadi here and grants relief to those who worship with full faith.
Mookken Chathen, situated on the Northern 👇


side of the temple, is guarding Devi here.
Story says that, once there lived a weaver named Kuttan who was a Devi Bhaktan. During one festival time Kuttan was so pleased by the Devi Vigraham that he requested her to come along with him. At that time wind blew heavily and Cloths


in Vigraham flew. Kuttan immediately decorated Devi with his cloth which stuck to Vigraham and returned to his village and with his Umbrella. Devi came with him in that Umbrella and stayed in his place. This place is Mangottu Bhagavathi temple now.

Amme Narayana
🙏🕉🙏
ALL
Temitope Badejo
Temitope Badejo
@TemitopeBadejo1
It's another day to expose Peter Alabi @pastorpeealabi of @HoFChurchNG & @ChristTribe. More victims have reached out to us. Unknown to many, Peter Alabi is actually an unrepentant serial sexual abuser. We know that he's been lying that he has repented and that the stories...

... we have put out so far are only with reference to what happened years back. But we can also confirm that he continued to prey on more victims even after he left Ife in 2016. We also know that Peter Alabi made serious attempts to sleep with some ladies during the lockdown...

A victim, who was one of those Peter Alabi tried to sleep with during the Covid-19 lockdown has shared with us some of the chats between her and Peter Alabi, which were initiated by Peter Alabi. According to the victim, when Peter Alabi's intentions became obvious, she decided...

... to play along and act like she was in concert with him. This eventually made Peter Alabi to reveal his covert intentions to sleep with her. The chat began on Instagram in March 2020 and continued on WhatsApp till June 2020. We will be sharing screenshots of the Instagram...

... chats below. Later today, we will share the WhatsApp chats which are more revealing and expository. Please see the screenshots of the Instagram chats between Peter Alabi (peterayoalabi) and the victim below👇🏾 @oauchristians @HoFChurchNG @peterayoalabi @funlola_alabi
CRIME , PASTOR , ALL