🗣 @Ianblackford_MP: “Mr Speaker, this afternoon, millions around the world will breathe a massive sigh of relief when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are sworn into office.” #PMQs

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I will give a short update on today's figures. 1,656 positive cases were reported yesterday, which is 7.5% of all tests carried out. The total number of cases therefore is now 166,583."

NS: "As of yesterday, 309,909 people had received their first dose of vaccine. There are currently 2,003 people in hospital, which is 14 more than yesterday, and 156 people in intensive care, which is 6 more than yesterday."

NS: "I very much regret to report that, in the past 24 hours, a further 92 deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days and the total number of people who have died under that daily measurement is 5,468."

NS: "National Records of Scotland has also just published its weekly update. That, of course, includes cases where Covid is a suspected or contributory cause of death, even if it hasn't been confirmed through a test."

NS: "Today's update shows that, by last Sunday, the total number of registered deaths linked to Covid under the wider definition was 7,448. 368 of those deaths were registered in the most recent week, which is 23 fewer than in the week before that."

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I'm going to speak in a few moments about the announcements we made over the weekend, the announcements I set out here on Saturday evening..."

NS: "and I will also reflect on the decisions that have been made and intimated by some other countries, in respect of closing borders with the UK.

But first of all, let me begin with today’s statistics.

The total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 1,504."

NS: "That represents 6% of the total number of tests carried out, and the overall number of confirmed cases is now 113,050.

As you'll have noticed, today’s figure represents a significantly higher number of cases than we have seen in recent times."

NS: "We think that this may be, in part, down to a processing backlog last week within the UK Lighthouse system.

Please be aware that today’s figure may be affected by that backlog of cases now coming through the system and being reported on."

NS: "However we will be doing further analysis of these case numbers to confirm that."

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us today. I've got quite a lot to cover in my opening remarks today so please bear with me, but it's all by way of important and, I hope, useful update to you."

NS: "First of all, to today's statistics. The total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 2,649."

NS: "That is 11.3% of the total number of tests carried out, and the total number of confirmed cases is now 143,715."

NS: "660 of the new cases are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 389 in Lanarkshire, 357 in Lothian and 302 in Tayside. The remaining cases are across 9 other health board areas."

NS: "I can also confirm that 1,467 people are currently in hospital. That is an increase of 83 from yesterday."

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I want to update Parliament on Cabinet’s review of the current lockdown restrictions which took place this morning."

NS: "Let me confirm at the outset that - with one limited exception - I will not be announcing any immediate changes to the current lockdown restrictions."

NS: "The core stay at home requirement will remain in place until at least the beginning of March - and possibly for a further period beyond that although not for any longer than is absolutely necessary."

NS: "I will however confirm that the phased and gradual return to school that I said we were hopeful about when I updated Parliament two weeks ago will go ahead as planned from Monday."

NS: "I will say more about this - and about the importance of carefully implementing and monitoring it - later.

In addition, I will give an assessment of the current state of the pandemic."

🛫 As Boris Johnson sets off on his jaunt to Scotland, he'd hope people forget his catalogue of broken promises.

🔎 We thought we'd remind him.

👀 Their latest attack on workers' rights is only the most recent example of why you can't trust the

There's hardly enough space in an article to contain what Boris Johnson thinks of Scotland, devolution, Scottish spending, and the NHS... so here's a thread 👇

1⃣ Just a few months ago, Boris Johnson said devolution is "a disaster".

2⃣ While Boris Johnson seemingly liked devolution as Mayor of London, he told Tory MPs he did not "currently see a case" for devolving more powers from Westminster to Scotland and other nations.

3⃣ Boris Johnson's Leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, recently said that devolution amounted to "vandalism" and must be

4⃣ In 2007, nearly a decade after the Scottish Parliament was re-convened - Boris Johnson's current Secretary of Scotland, Alister Jack, indicated he was opposed to devolution and the Scottish Parliament.

My account in @thewire_in of meeting Muskan and Rashid, victims of a series of violent acts by the Bajrang Dal, and by a range of UP government authorities including the police, shelter home and hospital.

Advised by @SartajAlamIndia Muskan was taken to Bijnor, where she got an ultrasound done at a private clinic. The report shows that there are “retained products of conception” (foetal matter left over after a miscarriage or abortion) in her uterus.

The hospital denies causing Muskan to miscarry – but their denial rings false. They declared no miscarriage had occurred – which is now proven to be a lie. Most shockingly, in actions that befit a Mengele, they did not prescribe any antibiotics to Muskan after the miscarriage.

See how calm, confident Muskan is in the face of Bajrang Dal thugs: asked on camera if her father or “guardian” has given her permission to marry Rashid, she replies, “I am an adult, I am 22, I have married him of my own choice five months ago.”

Muskan told me: “I am an adult, know my own mind, was living on my own when I met Rashid. I knew he was Muslim. We loved each other. I converted to Islam of my own accord, & we married. My mother does not know him, she has just parroted whatever the Bajrang Dal men asked her to.”

(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.

For 25 years, the GOP has had almost exclusive control of the FL legislature & admin.

It fashioned every law it could to advantage Republicans, gerrymandered at a bionic level & stymied popular efforts to increase voter participation such as restoration of felon voting rights.

During that same time, the FL GOP poured MILLIONS into turning the state party into a sophisticated, permanent, well-funded voter contact machine.

This gave GOP candidates two massive advantages: 1) they didn’t have to spend on selling the GOP position, 2) all of

in-state messaging got backed up by the RNC, and most importantly, the constant drum beat of Fox News.

There is no biological way to overstate the advantage that Fox News gives to Republicans in red states. MSNBC is NOT the opposite of Fox News.

MSNBC does not structure its programming around whipping up white grievance and fear. Whereas Fox News is the propaganda arm of the RNC, MSNBC is the left leaning version of CNN, not the DNC.

So when I say that Fox News is a huge advantage for the GOP, I know of what I speak.

In FL, Dem candidates spend a inordinate amount of time debunking Fox News lies, even to died in the wool Dems.

Because GOP candidates at every level do not have to spend on messaging, and so not have to spend on attacking Dem policy, they spend almost exclusively on 2 things: