It’s cute that people think Hawley’s latest autocratic grab is new.

This guy left DC, moved to MO + from the moment he stepped foot in Boone County he’s violated ethics laws, lied to the public + positioned his pawns in places of power to achieve his endgame—the Presidency.

When I was 25, I worked as a legislative assistant in the Missouri General Assembly.

It was a dream job, honestly.

But that dream dissipated the day the #MoLeg decided to name Rush Limbaugh as an “honorable Missourian” and place his bust in the “Hall of Famous Missourians.”

1/

The Hall of Famous Missourians sits in the Missouri State Capitol.

There are busts of Mark Twain, Dred Scott, Josephine Baker, Harry Truman and other legends of history.

The day I learned Rush Limbaugh would join their ranks, I thought it was a joke.

2/

We received phone calls from constituents appalled that Missouri would honor a man who had become infamous that year for calling a college student a “slut.”

And who just that week had continued spreading the racist birtherism lie about our then-President, Barack Obama.

3/

What I learned that day is that it wasn’t *despite* his racism, but because of it that he received this award.

It’s because he created a universe where it was permissible to lynch with language America’s first black President.

4/

Several State Representatives and their staffers intended to protest the vote and the selection.

By the time we made it to the doors of the House Floor, we weren’t allowed in. It was Republicans only. The doors were locked and secured by the Highway Patrol.

5/

I live in a community that never took their Trump signs down.

The kind of place where they hope Trump starts a second government.

I need you to hear me when I say this—these people believe the assault on the Capitol was a great victory for

Early polling after the terrorist attack shows that 45% of Republicans approved of it.

2/

More alarming is that nearly 70% of Republicans don’t think a terrorist attack at the US Capitol is a threat to democracy.

3/

And more Republicans would call those who stormed the Capitol “patriots” than “terrorists.”

4/

For those holding your breath, thinking Trump or Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz will resign—don’t.

There is no incentive for them to do so.

If they manage to stay in power after an attempted coup—they win.

If they are forced out by the “elite Washington establishment”—they win.

5/

What is happening on the floor of the United States of House of Representatives is tragic.

Tragic because it was preventable. Tragic because most of the Republicans in the House are themselves brainwashed into believing that this is all *just politics.*

1/

I take no joy in supporting impeachment against the President.

In fact, it pains my soul to know that the Commander in Chief launched an attack on his own people, on the People's House, on democracy.

It is tragic.

2/

Our checks and balances have failed.

Our institutions of justice have failed.

The only power that has not failed is the power of the American people. We voted and we won.

And that's why Trump attacked it.

3/

This is an attack on us as a people. It is an attack on those the autocrat cannot control. He has radicalized those who feel disenfranchised and he sent them into the Capitol as his pawns while he watched the attack with glee from afar.

4/

He was capable of doing this because he has not one or two or even three lieutenants in Congress--but over 150 of them.

Their loyalty to Trump--their thirst for power--their devotion to a political party--and, yes, their fear of exiting the cult--has ruined our country.

5/

I've been seeing a lot of discussion around the dosage gaps recommended by government for the Astra/Oxford & Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. My thoughts on the potential benefits & risks of such an approach, and the need for much greater transparency around these decisions. Thread.

The UK govt announced recently that both the Oxford & BioNTech vaccines would be now administered with a gap of between 4-12 weeks (so prioritise administration of first dose, given limited resources).

What is the basis of this?

The basis that's been discussed seems to be that
1) the first dose is likely to confer some degree of protection against disease, so better to roll this out as fast as possible, and
2) that for Oxford/Astra efficacy may be higher when the gap between doses is greater.

I discuss some of the technical details around the Oxford trial below for those interested in these. If you'd just like a summary of this, please skip to the summary tweet titled 'SUMMARY'.

What does published evidence show? The Astra/Oxford data are a bit messy because of protocol changes during the trial. This is because the trial was originally planned as a single dose trial, but a booster dose was added when developers realised that this would likely help.

UK Energy White Paper is here.

I'll tweet the key points here👇

1/

Link to press

UK commits to an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 1 January 2021.

Seems like a win for @beisgovuk, as @hmtreasury was known to be keen on a carbon tax

2/

Exploring the RAB model for new nuclear, as per @emilygosden article in @thetimes this

From press release, doesn't look like that many big new measures. Not surprising, as next year we're expecting:
▶️ Heat & Buildings Strat
▶️ Industrial Decarb Strat
▶️ Hydrogen Strat
▶️ Net Zero Strat
▶️ Transport Decarb Plan

And

A couple of hours later, and the White Paper is now here.

Powering Out Net Zero Future.

Details to follow

Is the European Union really being unreasonable over the City of London?

Or are we seeing an inevitable consequence of a Brexit that prioritised sovereignty over financial services?

A thread…🧵💵🏦🇬🇧🇪🇺

Andrew Bailey’s Mansion House speech this week showed clear signs of frustration about the EU’s foot dragging in granting “equivalence” to UK regulators on financial

The view among UK financial lobbyists and regulators is that the EU has various financial equivalence agreements already with a host of other third countries (even the US) so why not the UK, which is currently, of course, totally aligned?...3/

But the view in the EU is that the UK is different from those other countries because it’s so dominant in finance - and they fear outsourcing regulation to an authority outside the bloc when that regulated activity could potentially affect EU markets/business so profoundly ...4/

Andrew Bailey thinks the EU is gearing up to demand the UK be a simple “rule taker” in return for equivalence, unable to unilaterally change UK rules, which he says would be "intolerable"....5/