BC GOVERNMENT
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Spectator thread: Among the Scottish parliament’s many crucial roles, there is none more important than its ability to scrutinise government and hold it to account. The same is true of a free press. Both are at their best when they hold power to account on behalf of the public.

 But neither can do this essential duty when crucial documents are withheld during important inquiries. The Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish Gov’s handling of the Alex Salmond affair decided last week that it would not publish crucial submissions, including Mr Salmond’s ....
... apparently because it would contravene reporting restrictions rightly introduced to protect the identity of complainants.
We have published a duly redacted version of Alex Salmond’s account on our website.
We felt that an overly-cautious interpretation of the court order by the committee was frustrating the due process of parliamentary inquiry — and the freedom of the press to publish matters of public interest and importance.
We were aware that the court never intended to obstruct parliamentary or public scrutiny; but because of how the committee had interpreted the issue, we today sought clarification from the High Court in Edinburgh.
We are pleased Lady Dorrian has, at our request, added further clarity to her order. This is what we hoped for: parliament + press cannot do their job properly without being able to refer to crucial documents relating to the integrity of the First Minister and her administration
We take no sides in the arguments around the Salmond case and firmly believe that anonymity for complainants in cases of sexual harassment — or worse — is vital. But in a democracy, transparency matters.
So all relevant papers should be able to be read and judged by parliamentarians and the public — and freely published by the media.
When the Scottish parliament building opened in 2004, Liz Lochhead read aloud to MSPs a poem Edwin Morgan. The verse is on display to this day:
“A nest of fearties is what they do not want
A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.
A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.
And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of ‘it wizny me’ is what they do not want.”
In recent weeks the Inquiry has been in danger of descending into farce, with fearties and forelock-tuggers to the fore. We hope Lady Dorrian’s ruling will allow sense to prevail in Holyrood. The public want and deserve transparency.
They expect the Scottish parliament to apply proper scrutiny. They also expect the media to do its job of holding power to account. We now hope and expect that the committee can release all relevant papers, so due process can recommence.

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PunisherPatriot
PunisherPatriot
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(Thread) Mid-2020 GITMO Update: Arrests, Indictments, & Executions


So before we get started, let us first understand that before Trump was POTUS GITMO (Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp) was a fraction of the size it now is. This can be clearly confirmed by the following visuals, identifying a significant amount of expansion...

for what is expected to be tens of thousands of new ex-elite prisoners. Well, those who are not executed via military tribunal at least. ow, if you are not aware of these indictments I am referring to, that makes perfect sense because they are still sealed and not yet...

Public knowledge. Please allow me to enlighten you. These equate to roughly 222,00 sealed indictments and pertain to the most disturbing and corrupt crimes against humanity. These range from human trafficking, organ trafficking...

child sex trafficking, slavery, treason, terrorism, fraud, misuse of AI, genocide, brainwashing, defamation, 5G endangerment, religious discrimination, misrepresentation, censorship, privacy infringement, and prevention of saving humanity from biotech endangerment.
GOVERNMENT
John Hayward
John Hayward
@Doc_0
Ever since 9/11, we've been instructed that tiny minorities of extremists are solely responsible for their reprehensible actions. There was no greater sin than blaming law-abiding people who share some of their beliefs.

That's how we got the "lone wolf terrorist" cliche. A great herd of lone wolves swept across the world, each completely isolated from anything but the most direct support for their heinous deeds. "Tiny minorities of extremists" were blamed for "hijacking" the beliefs of millions.

The Western world did backflips to completely firewall the actions of terrorists from the larger bodies of people they claimed to represent. We hired a legion of consultants to show us exactly where the line between extremism and legitimate belief was drawn.

We wouldn't even name the adversaries of civilization. We declared a "global war" on their methods, to avoid criticizing their beliefs. The Obama administration launched a huge, expensive "Countering Violent Extremism" initiative that pointedly treated extremism as generic.

The greatest of pains were taken to draw very sharp and bright lines between violent extremism and even the most provocative and incendiary acts of legitimate speech and political organization. This was true of the race riots in the Obama years, as well as terrorism.
GOVERNMENT
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Richard Murphy
Richard Murphy
@RichardJMurphy
The crisis in the NHS is overwhelming this week. It has reminded me of conversations I had with my late father on how to manage within the state sector. I think they're worth sharing.

My father worked for the nationalised electricity industry from the late 1940s to late 1980s. He spent much of that time as a fairly senior engineer. He was committed to what he did. He believed electricity supply was a human right. And he sought to delver it.

He left the industry and retired when he realised that privatisation challenged what the believed in. The priority was no longer supply. It was, instead, profit. He had a clear example of the difference this made. It was about emergency management.

In his day the state electricity boards ensured that they had all the capacity they needed to manage emergencies to keep supply going as well as possible, come what may. It meant there was excess capacity. But it wasn't wasted - maintenance and training was done instead.

Privatisation saw that excess as waste, and it went. It was assumed contracts could buy in support when needed. My father believed that was dangerous - because when demand was strongest the most inexperienced people would be put to work on the job.
GOVERNMENT
Ulrich Speck
Ulrich Speck
@ulrichspeck
Macron on tensions with Russia: “We continue sometimes to fight against an ideology or an organisation that no longer exists with a geopolitical logic that no longer exists and that has continued to fracture Europe.”

And on Nato: “Nobody can tell me that today’s Nato is a structure that, in its foundations, is still pertinent. It was founded to face down the Warsaw Pact. There is no more a Warsaw Pact.”

In other words, the partly confrontational policy of the West towards Russia is anachronistic.

Yet the "geopolitical logic" of today's more confrontational policy towards Russia has nothing to do with the Warsaw Pact or the Cold War. It's not true that the West is caught in anachronistic thinking.

Sanctions and the renewed focus of Nato on territorial defense was a response towards Russian aggression against Ukraine: Putin started a war of aggression against Ukraine and has annexed parts of the country, with over 13.000 people killed.
GOVERNMENT
stephen fowler
stephen fowler
@stphnfwlr
NEW: the Georgia House Special Committee on Election Integrity is meeting at 3 this afternoon and just added HB 531 - a 48 page omnibus elections bill that proposes a *lot* of changes. #gapol

Here's the text:

First, it would ban county elections offices from receiving outside funding to run elections.

This, after CTCL and Schwarzenegger gave money to both D and R counties in 2020 to help with pandemic.

(although I wonder if the county gov't could take the grant, then disburse?)


Next, it outlines ways that poll workers can serve adjacent counties (currently, you can only work in your county of residence)


This section mirrors an SOS-backed bill from 2020 that would require more machines, more poll workers or splitting up precincts if a 2,000+ person precinct has lines of more than an hour.

More on that proposal: https://t.co/7BfIcrI81q


This is an anti-Fulton County mobile voting bus section

(although I still believe that it's using the wrong code section since the busses are for *early* voting and fall under 21-2-382)
GOVERNMENT

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"How the Avengers would respond to the Capitol riot" (a thread)

CAPTAIN AMERICA - tells Falcon, "I fought Nazis once before. They're extremely dangerous." They then see the guy scaling the Capitol wall fall into the shrubs. Falcon: "You sure these are the same Nazis?"

IRON MAN - lands by the guy carrying the podium. Says, "Mind if I borrow this?" then tosses it to Hulk, who swings it like a bat at the mob. Guy: "Hey, that's MY podium!" Iron Man: "Actually it's the Speaker's. And technically, it's a lectern." Then punches him through a wall.

BLACK WIDOW - enters hotel room where Jack Dorsey is tied up. Rips duct tape off his mouth. Jack: "I'll do anything you want!" BW: "Disable POTUS's Twitter. NOW!" Jack fumbles with his phone. "Done. Anything else?" BW: "Yeah. Trim your beard for God's sake." *tosses him clippers*

HULK - grabs a selfie stick from one of the guys and beats him over the head with it. Deeming it too small, he grabs another guy's Confederate flag and takes out a whole swath of rioters. He then tosses the flag to Cap, who uses it as a javelin to impale a fleeing Ted Cruz.

HAWKEYE - hears Iron Man in his earpiece say, "Looks like Orange Julius is tweeting from another account." Hawkeye: "On it." He locks in on Trump through the White House window and fires an arrow, knocking the phone out of Trump's hands. Hawkeye: "Damn that felt good."
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Janmajit Sinha
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#Thread - 1/21

A story of a brave woman who let her "breast" cut to protect the life of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose!

Neera Arya was born on March 5 1902 in Khekra Nagar, Uttar Pradesh in a distinguished & eminent businessman Seth Chhajumal's family. Since her childhood,


2/21
She was a true nationalist & always had a vision of becoming a part of the freedom fighter movement. She was also reportedly accused as an undercover by the British Govt.

That was the time when her father's business was flourishing in Calcutta, though his business was..

3/21
spread across the country but Calcutta was the center of his business and that was one of the reasons why her education was done in Calcutta. During that period of time, she had learned quite a few languages along with Bengali, Hindi, English.

4/21
Her father got her married to a CID Inspector "Shrikant Jairanjan Das" in British India but they were two different individuals, Neera Arya was a true nationalist but her husband was a true British servant. She was highly motivated & she had an urge of getting us freedom..

5/21
so she ended up joining the Jhansi Regiment in Azad Hind Fauz after the marriage. It was the regiment that the British always accused them of spying on British Govt.

It was the time when Neera's husband Jairanjan Das was given the responsibility to spy on Netaji Subhash..
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Vibhu Vashisth
Vibhu Vashisth
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Do you know?

Multiverse is mentioned in several of Hindu Scriptures.

In 1927 came a theory named 'Big Bang' which was a scientific effort to provide some explanation about how our Universe came into existence. It suggested that Universe started as a tiny, hot and dense...


...something that expanded rapidly from the singularity with a big explosion or Big Bang from which formed the galaxies, stars and the rest of the Universe.
However, the science in our Vedas explained these concepts since millennia. Rig Veda mentions Hiranyagarbha and Brahmanda..

...Visphotak which talks about a similar theory.
The concept of Parallel universes may be novel to the modern scientists but it rests very comfortably in ancient Hindu Cosmology. The Puranas are replete with descriptions of many worlds whose inhabitants are ruled by kings in...


...the human plane and Gods in a higher plane. The many Gods in turn belong to many different worlds and planes of existence. At the highest level of hierarchy are the trinity namely Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha, ruling the divine Kingdoms. Brahma is the creator who dreams...


...the Universe into being, which is maintained by Vishnu. What Humans perceive as reality is in fact the dream of Brahma, misled by matter. Brahman( not to be confused with Brahma) is the ground of all reality & existence. Brahman is uncreated,external, infinite & all-embracing.
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Ryan Caldbeck
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1/ I am seeing more and more founder secondary in venture rounds (Secondary = founders selling some of their shares before some other shareholders are able). Series B-D. I see both as an investor and through entrepreneur circles.

2/ I like secondary for entrepreneurs. Moderation is key but in a lot of situations I think it helps accelerate the co. Lots of very smart investors disagree. Here are my thoughts.

3/ Magnitude: My basic rule of thumb from what I see is market is 4+ yrs and up to 10% of founder’s equity stake with some $ cap that makes sense given stage etc. (typically <$10m)

4/ The entrepreneurial journey is brutally hard. Giving some financial relief helps remove one piece of pressure. I don’t think that secondary in the magnitude mentioned impacts the drive/persistence of great entrepreneurs.

5/ That secondary means they will be able to just sleep knowing they can pay their kids’ tuition. Secondary will make most founders better at their jobs, thus accelerating the co.
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(っ◔◡◔)っ 💙 𝑀𝒶rymo Belfa...
@MarymoBelfast
THREAD PART 1.

On Sunday 21st June, 14 year old Noah Donohoe left his home to meet his friends at Cave Hill Belfast to study for school. #RememberMyNoah💙


He was on his black Apollo mountain bike, fully dressed, wearing a helmet and carrying a backpack containing his laptop and 2 books with his name on them. He also had his mobile phone with him.

On the 27th of June. Noah's naked body was sadly discovered 950m inside a storm drain, between access points. This storm drain was accessible through an area completely unfamiliar to him, behind houses at Northwood Road. https://t.co/bpz3Rmc0wq


"Noah's body was found by specially trained police officers between two drain access points within a section of the tunnel running under the Translink access road," said Mr McCrisken."

Noah's bike was also found near a house, behind a car, in the same area. It had been there for more than 24 hours before a member of public who lived in the street said she read reports of a missing child and checked the bike and phoned the police.
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