Categories Government

Chief Lamont Ruffin from D.C. District Court swears in 2000 National Guard troops as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals prior to the upcoming presidential inauguration: https://t.co/vw5OC3maqV pic.twitter.com/oG6n1JgpiZ
— U.S. Marshals (@USMarshalsHQ) January 18, 2021
The Biden-Harris administration has a massive to-do list because of the mess Trump left behind. But it wasnât just Trump. One of his most destructive accomplices came from right here in Wisconsin: Senator Ron Johnson.
Johnson added fuel to the fire of insurrection, pushing conspiracy theories and even saying he would vote against certifying electoral college votes. Then he flip-flopped, and now openly says that effort wouldâve disenfranchised voters.
GOP Senator Ron Johnson admits that voting against certifying President Biden's election win - as several Republicans did - was a vote to "disenfranchise" millions of voters. pic.twitter.com/DqJ2mCjV3Y
— The American Independent (@AmerIndependent) January 27, 2021
When COVID first arrived, Johnson loudly questioned the science. He never stopped. In December, after coronavirus had infected half a million Wisconsinites, Johnson held a hearing pushing quack pseudoscience. This puts us all at risk.
The pandemic has been economically brutal for Wisconsin, pushing people out of jobs and into poverty. What did Ron Johnson do? In December, he voted against the coronavirus relief planâjust one of six Senators to do so. Embarrassing.
And indeed it is...
Just like to dedicate this song to everyone commentating on the judicial review of TfL's streetspace plans due to receive judgement tomorrow.https://t.co/Kj7TVIjZ0O
— Alex Ingram (@nuttyxander) January 19, 2021
Transport for London proposed during the first wave of the pandemic to adopt a 'Streetspace Plan' (though a lot of 'people called is Streetscape) and rough theory was "hang on pandemic means fewer people can be on public transport, can't let everyone move to cars, do something"
This was of course at the same time as the government changed the Network Management Duty, which was sold as a major change in guidance that would make a lot happen, very quickly.
As campaigners may well be aware, it didn't quite pan out that way on a national basis and a lot of stuff happened, and then unhappened. Quite a lot of things were done that wasn't that great. Some great stuff happened that got ripped out. And some great suff remains.
A big problem was what to do with Central London. So, the Mayor proposed a series of corridors to be made traffic free. As is usual with a Mayor it was promised to be world leading.
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko authorised political murders in Germany in recent years, according to a bugged meeting of his former spy-chief. https://t.co/XWoiaemvuv
— EUobserver (@euobs) January 4, 2021
Tape doesn't prove Belarus killed Sheremet but adds new wrinkle to unsolved case & weight to one of 3 "tracks" of investigation: organized & carried out by Russians; ...Ukrainians; ...Belarusians. Details about how KGB wanted Sheremet killed also similar to what really happened.

Ukraine arrested and is currently trying 3 suspects in Kyiv for Sheremet's murder. All have denied involvement and much of Ukrainian civil society has sided with them. Legal experts also say authorities' case is built upon weak evidence. I wrote about it:
I've covered the Sheremet murder from day one. I wrote a lengthy investigation about it for @pressfreedom in 2016-17: https://t.co/fFr4bAJdEy I found many failings on the part of Ukrainian authorities, who made their preference clear from the beginning: that Russia was behind it.
Another investigation into Sheremet's murder by @OCCRP and @Slidstvo_info also found failings in the official investigation as well as possible links to Ukrainian security service involvement.
Good God, how frustrating.
Call me with questions, Chris. Happy to fill you in on a decade or so of work on the matter.
The reason I keep thinking about the gallows erected outside the Capitol is that it appeared to be *an actual gallows*, with a noose and a platform. And I truly wonder if this was intended for something more than just...symbolism. pic.twitter.com/QIAHvO69Ou
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 9, 2021
âZip-ties: what are they for?â
Layoff the cops, you guys - they really want to get to the bottom of this for us pic.twitter.com/IyQ5rnyJiM
— Provost of Antifa / \u0633\u064a\u062f\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0641\u062a\u0646\u0629 (@MsEntropy) January 10, 2021
Twitter is infested with some of the absolute dumbest takes I have ever seen on the issue of white supremacy, insurgency, and political violence.
Please vet your sources.
People are falling for so much utterly ridiculous shit, my God.
Gather round boys and girls! It's thread time!
First, thanks for engaging. As far as the kids, maybe use a different word to describe them? IMHO, far too many kids in the US could become brilliant soccer players or musicians or scientists but never have a chance because of the system. How do we fix that?
— Brian Urbancic (@SciGroupie) January 16, 2021
Where do we start? It's hard to say, as they're all priorities, and we would be fighting on many different fronts. These points will be addressed in no particular order.
Our first stop takes us to Iceland. In the US, there are so many unqualified coaches working with youths. Even many DOCs have low or no licenses. We need to get more licensed coaches, and higher licensed coaches, in front of our kids.
https://t.co/I4ZkCZIF4a

In most countries, a coach cannot work at a particular level without a license. That's a huge barrier in the US, because of the way coaching courses are taught. They are expensive, centralized, costly, time consuming. It prevents coaches getting them.
Spain has about fifteen thousand pro or A licensed coaches. That's simple. Hold more courses, in more convenient locations. And with the advancements in technology, so much more can be done online. Coaches won't have to fly across the country several times.
TL;DR Absolutely nothing has changed in the civil service, apart from the identities of a few very senior office holders (1/20)
Significant - congratulations (if that is the right word for a reappointment; given the last 12 months I guess it is) to Tom Scholar. The survivor of the s**t list and HMT leadership recognised https://t.co/68FP1QGQ5c
— Alex Thomas (@AlexGAThomas) January 6, 2021
Firstly, the âwarâ does genuinely seem to be over. Congrats to Tom Scholar on his reappointment, kudos to the PM & Chancellor for a wise decision, and to Simon Case for whatever heâs done to bring these pointless hostilities to an end at such an important time (2/20)
But itâs worth asking: what has this latest attempt, accompanied as it has been by ferocious (if mostly anonymously briefed) rhetoric, actually involved?
The answer is, by historical standards, virtually nothing at all. There have been two discernible strands of activity (3/20)
First, thereâs been the defenestration of about half a dozen very senior officials, including, most unusually, the cabinet secretary.
But the replacements have been career insiders, cut from the same cloth. Sometimes theyâve been a good bit younger, but not always. (4/20)
Thereâs much debate around the UK's recommended use of the AZ vaccine with a two-dose schedule and flexible timing of second dose. Some thoughts on the AZ recommendation (not Pfizer) based on available data with refs to some excellent threads.
1. It's a real pity the UK drug regulator, MHRA, doesn't hold public advisory committee meetings to assess #Covid vaccines, in the way @US_FDA does. Would have been fascinating to listen to a detailed analysis of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine's emergency use application.
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) December 30, 2020
Thread
UKâs MHRA and JCVI are highly-experienced in vaccine assessments and recommendations, and they've surely weighed the benefits & risks of this recommendation carefully. That said, it would be good to see all the data underpinning their recommendation.
AZ\u2019s new claim is that they achieve 95% efficacy by increasing dose interval to 3 months. I see no efficacy data to support it in the new UK approval but it appears true that immunogenicity is much higher with that regimen (antibody titer nearly 3x higher than short interval) pic.twitter.com/ZtxSPjHUot
— Ed MD (@notdred) December 30, 2020
In general, vaccines should be taken on a schedule tested in an efficacy trial. But it wasnât possible to conduct the typical dose and schedule optimization prior to these Ph3 trials, and those trials provided valuable data to inform these recommendations. 3/
The UK recommends a two-dose schedule, with the second dose between 4-12 weeks. This *is not* a single dose schedule. Given the data provided, and in the setting of limited supply, overstretched hospitals, and emergence of a more transmissible variant, this seems justifiable. 4/
The UK has important data on the AZ Vx that wasnât available for Pfizer & Moderna at FDA's VRBPAC, including:
* single-dose efficacy through 4+ months; and
* single-dose immunogenicity (12+ weeks).
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. pic.twitter.com/mclqMDeMQ1
— Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) December 31, 2020