New DHS center countering human trafficking https://t.co/mKU6XlEsO8 via @AddThis

2016, Obama's last White House Correspondent's dinner. Some interesting "confessions?"

“We have been reduced to a community of paranoid hypochondriacs, afraid that every breath will kill us” - Rabbi Chananya Weissman

“that the most basic human contact is an unreasonable roll of the dice, that everything we once considered normal and even obligatory must be off limits indefinitely – in some cases even forever.

This is insane. This is against everything the Torah teaches us.”

“not denying that covid is real & should be taken seriously. At the same time, I am denying...the angel of death is roaming among us, felling people left & right like Biblical plagues. This is not a Biblical plague. There are a million ways we can die...covid is just another 1.”

“I don't want to get it, and I don't want to give it to anyone else, but the terror that we have been living with for the last year is unjustified. Because of this terror, one third of Israel is currently living in poverty, with many others barely hanging on.”

“Drug and alcohol abuse are up; domestic abuse is up; suicides are up; social workers are overwhelmed; elderly people are dying from loneliness; children are traumatized; parents are falling apart; thousands of businesses have closed forever; and so much more.”

Chinese troops on U.S. soil?

Chinese troops on Canadian and Mexican/S. American soil?

Underground tunnels facilitate movement between the three?

This is a thread to follow up. I won't have enough time to do all the research necessary in one shot.

F-16 Crash Tuesday night (12/8/2020) and speculation about whether "50,000 Chinese troops were killed." Further research links on this

They report, you decide.

Mike Pence to confirm Biden then leave the country, says report https://t.co/oIkb1SU6wX via @YahooNews

"The leaked email communication from an executive of #Stratfor says that, as Deputy National Security Advisor in 2010 to #Obama, #Brennan and the White House were determined to:

'go after anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda.'"
#NoCPTPP

"#Stratfor has been dubbed the 'Shadow

"In an email written by #Stratfor President #FredBurton to work colleagues, Burton wrote on November 21, 2010:

'#Brennan is behind the #witchhunts of investigative journalists learning information from inside the beltway

"[#JohnBrennan] Was to Be Subject of Exposé by Rolling Stone Reporter #MichaelHastings Before Hastings Mysteriously Killed in

"Speculation became rampant that the #CIA had something to do with [#MichaelHastings’]

Anjanette Young. A 20 year social worker. Just back from work. Police invaded her home. Naked. Begged for clothes. Cuffed. 40 minutes of terror. Apologized & left. Then tried to cover it up. Defender: "What happened that night is the norm in Chicago."

"Chicago police & city officials fought to suppress the truth of what happened that night. They almost succeeded. Now, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is calling for accountability. But would she have done so if her legal team or police had been successful in burying the facts?"

"We also must acknowledge how Young’s innocence & class are connected to her believability as a victim. Change one of these factors-if they had the right house, if she was not a professional, if she was using or dealing drugs-& maybe we would all be less concerned about her."

If Anjanette Young were, in fact, "guilty," or a less "sympathetic" victim of police abuse, "her experience would be consistent w/ the logic that assumes Black women should be treated w/ suspicion. And, most likely her experience would never be made known to the general public."

The normal course: "Victims & accused are dehumanized,. Many are moved through the system in complete silence. The state decides how their stories are told & what forms of accountability are just. Neither the victims nor the accused are centered in any processes of healing."

Thread on the killing Iran's chief nuclear scientist.

Thread on the missing 100 Kgs gold from CBI

In an unusual order, perhaps for the first time in history, the Madras HC has ordered a state Crime Branch CID probe into 100 Kgs of gold which went missing from the custody of CBI. 1/n

State CB CID officials will now probe the role of the elite CBI agency in the missing ingots weighing more than 100 Kgs.

When the CBI probed this case, the role of several IAS & ITS (Indian Trade Service) came to light. The role of Dr. Swarna, IAS, then Joint Development Commissioner, Special Economic Zone, Chennai also came to light. 3/n

Dr. Swarna is now the Secretary to government, P&AR, Government of Tamil Nadu. When an Addl SP went to examine Dr. Swarna with regard to this case, she threw a tantrum as to how an ordinary Addl SP can examine her and rang up TN Home Secretary to suspend the Addl. SP. 4/n

All the All India Service Officers involved in this case, using their bureaucratic clout in Delhi, ensured that this case never saw the light of the day.
5/n

1/ In September 1993, then-Microsoft exec Nathan Myhrvold wrote his landmark memo "Road Kill on the Information Highway", laying out a dozen-ish predictions on the rise of the internet

27 years later, I think it's a super interesting case study. Let's evaluate the predictions -

2/ PREDICTION #1: The rise of a surveillance society - police bodycams, CCTV, 24/7 personal recording, and deepfakes

GRADE: A-

Pretty close!

3/ PREDICTION #2: Telecommuting, an end to the "tyranny of geography" and gerrymandering

GRADE: B-

Alas, the electoral college still matters today. The WFH prediction hits closer, but turns out it took two and a half decades + a pandemic to get things going

4/ PREDICTION #3: Telco convergence - phone companies become cable providers and vice versa

GRADE: A-

Honestly this one was a bit of a layup, although it took 15 years longer than anyone expected

5/ PREDICTION #4: The rise of online neo-banks

GRADE: C

Three decades later, and physical banks still exist. Neobanks have a presence in emerging markets, UK, and basically nowhere else. Regulatory inertia: officially a thing