BC LEGAL
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Anyone who is legally eligible to cast a ballot in an election should be allowed to do so in whatever way is most convenient for them. If that's in-person on election day, great; by mail, great; in-person in the weeks leading up to an election, great.

 That is the only acceptable way for a democratic republic to function. Voting should be easy and it should be encouraged. There should be:

- Automatic voter registration.
- No excuses needed to vote absentee.

This is not controversial.
It's telling how people defend more restrictive voting methods. Look at this ridiculous quote from Pete Hegseth about how everyone being able to easily cast a ballot somehow stripping people of the "recourse" of the ballot box.
https://t.co/4AcTPT2HfD
They know there's not widespread fraud. It's not about "fraud." It never was.

They just want to put as many obstacles in the way as humanly possible, to make it more difficult for people to vote.
"We could've voted in person. I can go to Walmart. I can go to a store, I can go to a restaurant, I can go to sports games in some places. You tell me we couldn't have voted? I just don't buy it."

No one stopped you from voting in person, Pete!
If you're a minimum wage worker who doesn't get paid time off, who lives in an area where the number of polling places is limited and always has hours of lines... you're going to be less likely to vote *on* election day.
Only Republicans could look at record turnout and treat it like a problem that needs to be solved.
Efforts to limit early voting, to make it harder to cast votes by mail, to make it easier to reject ballots on technicalities like whether or not it was sent inside a special envelope... those are efforts to disenfranchise people.
Because all of those things are designed to affect the ability of people who work hourly jobs with little flexibility and an inability to take hours off in the middle of the day and live in densely-populated areas to cast votes. It's no coincidence that those are people who
tend to vote for Democrats. It's an attack on people of color. It's an attack on democracy. It's unacceptable.

And it's time the press started treating it as such.
Look at how often mainstream media outlets adopt the conservative framing on these election restrictions: "election security measures," "anti-voter fraud initiatives," etc.

Shameful. It's not a matter of "this side says it's about security, this other side says suppression"
"Both sides" coverage is how we got to this place. A fascist mob tried to overturn the election results. Mainstream media played a role in it.
How often are the people trying to add various "election integrity" measures asked what the ratio of instances of fraud their bills will prevent to the number of disenfranchised voters is? Never?
A lot of the DC media acting shocked and appalled with what happened yesterday are the same outlets that have led us to this point.

And had they, personally, not felt threatened, could they have even mustered up what outrage they did have?
Yesterday needs to be a major wake-up call. This is what endless "in this Trump town, they never stopped saying 'Merry Christmas'" profiles and "Meet the dapper Nazi" pieces have created.
Do better. And that means more than just a single day of acting outraged. That means reevaluating what the role of the press is in a functioning society, and rethinking journalism. It can't be entertainment anymore. It just can't.
The people who make decisions at CNN, NYT, WaPo, CBS, ABC, the AP, NPR, Reuters, USA Today, NBC, etc., won't see this thread. Or if they do, it won't sink in.

I can hope, though.
(I use "in this Trump town, they never stopped saying merry christmas" as an example because, I kid you not, it's something the Washington Post actually published... as if the rest of the country had stopped recognizing Christmas https://t.co/DaO6vPXR5A )

More from Parker Molloy

Parker Molloy
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
My latest piece at @mmfa:

Fox News keeps trying to justify GOP efforts to object to the Electoral College vote by pointing to the number of people who think the election was stolen (after spending 2 months telling their audiences that it was

This is Fox, basically:

Another comparison to the role Fox is playing here via one of my favorite Onion articles:

Or maybe a human centipede, but with the front connected back to the end for a loop of shit-eating. Yeah, that's it. That's the role Fox is playing here.

But seriously, check out the *more than 2 months* of Fox-enabled conspiracy theories (a partial list):
NEWS
Parker Molloy
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
Rudy Giuliani did everything wrong before, during, and after 9/11. Just an awful person. People ask “what happened” to him, but the ghoul he is today is the ghoul he was 20 years ago. https://t.co/M18uZXd8OM


An absolute monster who only cared about his own fame.


One of the worst people on the planet, then and now


And then, after all of that, he tried to use the attack as an excuse to cancel the mayoral election and remain in power.
ALL
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Parker Molloy
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
This is what happens when the Trump cultists refuse to acknowledge anything outside their extremely insular bubble: they can’t grasp that the majority of the country thinks he sucks and voted him out.


Not once in 4 years of Gallup’s 3-day tracking of Trump’s approval rating was it ever higher than 49%.

He was the least popular incumbent since Carter to run for re-election. It’s not shocking that he got his ass kicked in the election. https://t.co/7BSCQR2vI2


But if you do nothing other than consume conservative media, you’d be under the false impression that he’s popular, that his ideas are popular, and that the people who oppose him are a small group of haters.

In Gallup’s last update before the election, Trump had a -6 net approval rating. The last time it was a net positive was in May when it was +1.


And here’s how you get numbers like that: you do absolutely nothing to try to win over people who aren’t already part of your base. Look at those numbers among independents.
GOVERNMENT
Parker Molloy
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
There are a number of reasons bills like these are wrongheaded. One is that it tries to implement the same kind of one-size-fits-all solution that opponents of trans inclusion claim to oppose.

But let’s get nuanced for a minute...


Do trans women and girls have an advantage in sports over other women and girls?

I’m here to provide a very unsatisfying answer: It depends.

What sport are we talking about?

How old are people competing in it?

What sort of hormone treatment has the person in question had and for how long?

Those are all factors that play into the fairness question.

Trying to implement broad policies in the name of ensuring fairness can actually have the opposite of the intended effect.

Take the case of Mack Beggs.

A few years back, Beggs was a high school student in Texas. He was a wrestler, and wanted to do it at the college level.

Beggs is a trans man, meaning his birth certificate said female on it. Like many trans guys, he takes testosterone as part of his medical transition.

He wanted to wrestle. Specifically, he wanted a spot on his school’s boys team.

He wasn’t allowed.
GOVERNMENT
Parker Molloy
Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
When Biden talked about unity, he was very specific about what he meant, and the insistence of right-wing tools like @Kredo0 to try to frame stuff like this as “betraying his own ‘unity agenda’” (what is that even a quote from?) shows how pointless it is to try to work with Rs.


Guys like @Kredo0 want to a.) put the onus of unifying the country entirely on Biden and Dems, b.) pretend that “unity” is the same as capitulation, while c.) not giving an inch on their end.

No. No, no, no. Nice try.

Really, get all the way the fuck out of here with that take. “Biden didn’t keep Trump’s POLITICAL APPOINTEES in their position, therefore Biden isn’t unifying the country.” Fuuuuuuck off with that bullshit.

When Biden said “unity,” he was talking about trying to help ALL Americans, not just the ones who voted for him. This, sadly, needed to be said after the Trump administration repeatedly tried to screw over people who didn’t support him.

Remember when the Trump administration INTENTIONALLY let the virus rage out of control (really should have been a bigger scandal, but 🤷🏻‍♀️) because it was mostly hitting states that voted for Dems?
BIDEN

More from Legal

George Peretz QC
George Peretz QC
@GeorgePeretzQC
A quick thread about the legal issues surrounding the imposition of a “quarantine at a hotel” requirement for international travellers. These are initial thoughts: would welcome thoughts and contributions! NB I’m thinking about 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 only but this probably applies equally to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

The basic power is in section 45B of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.


Subsection (2)(b) refers to the “detention, isolation, or quarantine of persons”.

So the legal basis looks clear. But regulations will also have to meet requirements of rationality. And since detaining people in a hotel room engages fundamental human rights (Article 5 of the ECHR), HRA tests of proportionality are in play too.

Though NB that Art 5(3)(e) ECHR expressly contemplates lawful detention for the prevention of the spreading of infectious disease.
LEGAL , QUARANTINE
Desta Haileselassie
Desta Haileselassie
@DestaUFO
@achpr_cadhp and its Chairperson is talking about all crises in #Africa, but no word so far on the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity being committed in his backyard. (1/22)

#WarOnTigray
#TigrayGenocide

At a time when clear evidence of horrific acts of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and elements of genocide are emerging from #Tigray, the @SolomonADersso and
@achpr_cadhp are issuing statements on #Uganda and another crisis? (2/22)

#WarCrimes
#WarCrimesOnTigray

Silence by @achpr_cadhp constitutes not only an endorsement of the genocidal war waged against the people of #Tigray, but it also violates the core principle and provisions of the African Union Constitutive Act. (3/22)

@_AfricanUnion

As @AUC_MoussaFaki's utter failure to respect and ensure respect of basic human rights of #Tigrayans, which are grossly and systemically violated by #Amhara militia, Abiy’s #Ethiopian and Isaias's #Eritrean armed forces. (4/22)

The African Union's responsibility under the Constitutive Act Article 4 is clear that African Union is to intervene in a member state if necessarily deploying peace operation where the government or any other forces commit a crime against humanity, a war crime, (5/22)
LEGAL
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Rhona Hotchkiss
Rhona Hotchkiss
@HotchkissRhona
1/9 A thread of testimony submitted by experts in psychiatry, paediatrics & cognitive neuroscience from around the world to the High Court in the Tavistock Puberty Blockers case.

2/9 One expert said it had been left to those coming to the end of their careers to speak out because the atmosphere of hostility & intimidation facing critical voices made it impossible for younger people to do so

3/9 A global expert on autism reported that girls with autism or anorexia were much more likely to say they wanted to become boys; all young people with difficult childhoods were more likely to say they wanted to transition

4/9 The same expert said autistic teenagers seize on the promise of online sites suggesting their life-long problems will be resolved by transition. Up to 26% of the trans population have Autistic Spectrum Disorder

5/9 A Swedish Psychiatrist reported research saying if left alone, dysphoria usually resolves & girls want to live as women, also that he had treated autism in girls for 45 years and rarely saw gender dysphoria before 2013
LEGAL
Goldstein
Goldstein
@MrGoldstein7
Why would Intelligence be interested in faking a serial killer? Simple: to create instability and fear. This was one of the prime goals of Intelligence at the time, and of course it still is.


In the 1960's, the FBI had COINTELPRO and the CIA had CHAOS, and both programs have been partially declassified now, enough so that we know the one of the directives of each program was destabilization.


And this was not just destabilization of the “enemy.” This was a general destabilization of the whole society. Since the entire society was seen to be moving left in the 1960's, the FBI and the CIA felt that general destabilization was necessary to maintain control.

Of course they had been creating fear since the end of WW2, but that was mainly to keep military expenditures high. They needed to justify continued military spending, as well as spending to expand Intelligence, and the best way to do that was to manufacture conflict and fear.

The Cold War was manufactured by both sides, since it allowed for massive “defense” budgets both here and in Russia. The Red Scare in the 1950's was part of that creation of general fear.
LEGAL
chika unigwe
chika unigwe
@chikaunigwe
Of all the stupidest things I read this week, none was more stupid than the Ekiti State Police Command standing behind their dismissal of a pregnant policewoman because according to Mr. Babatunde Mobayo, the command’s commissioner,

“Section 126 of the regulation (states) that married woman police (sic) who is pregnant may be granted maternity leave, while Section 127 (states that) unmarried woman police (sic) who becomes pregnant shall be discharged from the Force" & needs IGP's approval to be enlisted

So if Sis had been married, she would not have been punished. And if the man who got her pregnant had been a police officer one is to assume he wouldn’t have lost his job. It wouldn’t have mattered then whether he was married or not.

It is frustrating that in this 21st century, our women are still being treated like second class citizens with single women at the bottom of the ladder. In some cities, young women can’t rent because foolish landlords refuse to rent to unmarried women.

Some hotels won’t let them in because no man. What’s next? Single women can’t drive? Shop? Eat? Women need to show proof of marriage to teach? Enter cabs? Travel? The ridiculousness knows no end. Na who do us this thing?
LEGAL

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Christina Warren
Christina Warren
@film_girl
A brief thread on Jovan Hutton Pulitzer, the crazy con man who is now claiming to have hacked into the Georgia voting machines in Fulton County. 90s kids and tech aficionados might remember Jovan as the inventor of the CueCat, the dumbest gadget of all time.

Also, for anyone who wants to claim that Jovan Hutton Pulitzer (not his given name, but one he changed legally after the CueCat debacle) invented QR Codes: he did not. Like that other right-wing crazy man who claimed to have invented email, Jovan didn’t invent QR Codes.

He did invent the CueCat, a product that somehow raised $185 million dollars for a tethered barcode scanner for magazines and newspapers, so you could get ads from your ads. As I said, the dumbest product of all time. Good backup barcode scanners after they were hacked, however

Oh, that’s another thing. When CueCat was a thing, its systems were hacked. I guess that’s what makes Jovan a security expert. His bankrupt company from 20 years ago was hacked and widely mocked. He’s a genius.

In recent years, Jovan pivoted to being a treasure hunter who was featured on and widely mocked on Curse of Oak Island, because the man is insane.
POLITICS
Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Nanganallur Anjaneya Temple
#Chennai
#Tamilnadutemples 🚩

Bhaktha Anjaneya temple at Nanganallur in Chennai is one among tallest Anjaneyar Vigraham. Here Anjaneyar blesses with relief to all illness. Vigraham is about 32 feet height made of single  stone.
Anjaneyar here is 👇


Sri Vishwaroopa Aadhivyathihara Baktha Anjaneya Swamy.

Sthala Puranam says that, this is the place where Indra Deva hit Hanuman on the cheek by his Vajrastram. Sri Raghavendra Swami and Sri Kanchi Paramacharyar were behind in building this temple. Temple is constructed to


Realize power of Anjaneyar who is seen both in Ramayana and Mahabharatha.
Vadamalai is important offering to Anjaneyar here. It is believed that vigraham contain powers to heal any disease. Shri Ramanavami is celebrated here.

Jai Sri Ram
Jai Hanuman
🙏🕉🙏
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Rudy Havenstein, listening to Nas all day.
Rudy Havenstein, liste...
@RudyHavenstein
I hate when I learn something new (to me) & stunning about the Jeff Epstein network (h/t MoodyKnowsNada.)

Where to begin?

So our new Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was "longtime lawyer and confidant of...Robert Maxwell," Ghislaine Maxwell's Dad.


"Pisar was one of the last people to speak to Maxwell, by phone, probably an hour before the chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers fell off his luxury yacht the Lady Ghislaine on 5 November, 1991." https://t.co/DAEgchNyTP


OK, so that's just a coincidence. Moving on, Anthony Blinken "attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York City"...wait, what? https://t.co/DnE6AvHmJg

Dalton School...Dalton School...rings a

Oh that's right.

The dad of the U.S. Attorney General under both George W. Bush & Donald Trump, William Barr, was headmaster of the Dalton School.

Donald Barr was also quite a


I'm not going to even mention that Blinken's stepdad Sam Pisar's name was in Epstein's "black book."

Lots of names in that book. I mean, for example, Cuomo, Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen - all in that book, and their reputations are spotless.
EPSTEIN NETWORK
Coffee Sloth \u2615
Coffee Sloth ☕
@CaseyExplosion
*Heads-up that this thread will feature some extreme examples of homophobia and transphobia.*

Hey folks, have you ever wondered why trans people face constant accusations of fetishism, sexual predation and child abuse/grooming? Well, today let's talk about stochastic terrorism.

So, first we have to talk about what stochastic terrorism actually is. Remember when there was a conspiracy that there was a pedophile ring operating out of a pizza parlour basement, and a crazed gunman showed up? It's that sort of incitement that stochastic terrorism describes.

It's the demonisation or incitement against a group of people or individuals with the intent that other, unaffiliated parties will act upon it; it's the releasing doctored footage and a shooter show up at Planned Parenthood as a direct result of what he's been led to believe.

So with that in mind, let's talk about Russia's extreme anti-LGBT laws that banned the "promotion" of LGBT lifestyles to children. A move that specifically marked LGBT people as a threat to children, and resulted in neo-nazis meting out vigilante "justice" against gay men.


Groups such as this would lure unsuspecting gay men via dating sites, and brutalise and humiliate them on camera. They did so under the guise of combating child abusers, one group calling themselves "Occupy
SOCIETY
Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Agastya Muni & Kaveri River
#story
This is a story which describes how River Kaveri was brought on earth by Agastya muni. There was a king named Kavera lived in the Brahmagiri hills who prayed to Brahma for a child. He was blessed with a daughter whom he named Kaveri.


Agastya muni married her. A demon, named Shoorapadma, wanted to trouble people so he prevented rain from reaching South India. As a result famine occurred in South India.
Agastya Muni who came that way was very sad seeing this. He started to pray Mahadeva for a solution.


Shiva gave him small amount of Ganga water in his Kamandalu (small pot) and said wherever you spill this water the river will flow from there. Agastya Muni travelled lot of places to find a suitable place to pour water. Feeling tired he kept his Kamandalu and took rest.


At that time Ganesha took a form of crow and perched on the Kamadalu and made a hole that water began to flow as river Kaveri. This place is now called as Talakaveri (Karnataka), located in the Brahmagiri hill.


Tala Kaveri has temple for Agastheeswara, which denotes the story between Kaveri and Agasthya muni. Kaveri is a part of Ganga, thus, also called Dakshina Ganga.
🙏🕉🙏
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