So here’s a theory about what’s behind the ongoing lockdown violations by the very people pushing lockdowns. It might explain why all of the officials who keep getting caught doing this seem to come from the same political slant.

Last year, there was talk about /1

The idea of “luxury beliefs”. The idea behind this theory is that as the differentiation between the working and upper-middle class blurs in terms of lifestyle and material status symbols, people will find other avenues of demarcation.

One of those avenues is to inflate extreme-niche issues to gigantic importance and/or to profess belief in absurdities while denigrating those who aren’t part of your in-group (and elevating oneself by implication).

For those who are trying to come up in life, /3

operating in a rational manner is probably very important. But what better way to show that you are of a superior class than to not have to worry about whether or not your professed beliefs make any sense...and you get to shit on everyone else in the process! Win/win. So, /4

what does this have to do with COVID and lockdowns? To relate to the luxury beliefs theory, the point is that it is inherently desirable to do things which those below you in status may not do. And so Gavin Newsom and London Breed dine at the French Laundry. Bill /5

So...let's have a lil chat about what's been going on and what's to come: a thread.
We now know, beyond a doubt as it's videoed:
1) Capitol cops were in on it
2) trump and his brood were right about orgasmic watching it
3) It was cosigned by many officials

1/

including the DOD appointees trump ushered in at the last second - this was why
4) the people who are resigning now stayed on to see if the coup would work.
Now, none of us who could tell this was coming are surprised one little bit.

2/

But what I think needs to be said is that *this was a test run*.
They are brazen enough to talk about it on Parler. This is how we all know that they're going to try it again on Jan 19th.
The @FBI I'm sure is aware by now that they had explosives ready to go too.

3/

If this doesn't terrify you, it should. This is exactly what Hitler had done with the Reichstag Fire. History repeats itself. These treasonous imbeciles are neo-Nazis; all of us who had seen this coming know the exact playbook. I'm sure that law enforcement knows it too.

4/

I could go on forever about everyone being warned about this. @HillaryClinton was all but psychic. I've already written about the media's complicit participation at my blog. Link:

I don’t think that yesterday’s fracas in the #PASenate is quite as straightforward as either side would make it out to be (shocker, I know). The politics are for others to analyze, but just a few points on the law. (THREAD 1/29)

Off the bat, it’s worth noting that what distinguishes this from the Trump mayhem is that there is a pending legal challenge that deals with enough votes to be dispositive of the election result depending how the court rules. That was not the case in any state for Trump. (2/29)

That doesn’t necessarily justify the GOP’s actions yesterday, but it is not an apples-to-apples comparison to say this is mere Trumpianism. (3/29)

The federal judge hearing the case, J. Nicholas Ranjan, is a Trump appointee, though he has ruled against Trump on election-related matters already this cycle. (4/29)

As near as I can tell, there are two potential legal issues here: first, is there a “case or controversy” per Article III of the U.S. Constitution and, if so, has the Ziccarelli campaign sued the right party (the Allegheny County Board of Elections). (5/29)

THREAD: DC Math > 1 + 1 = 2 or is it?

Kudos to the FBI on their quick action trying to locate the person responsible for the 2 pipe bombs in DC. Whew! What a close call, right?

My question is: What happened to the THIRD?

At Westminster Magistrates Court, eventually being let into the building, today as Judge Vanessa Baraitser rules on whether Julian Assange will be granted bail today after she ruled he would not be extradited to the US on Monday.

Clair Dobbin for the US government says the court should be in no doubt as to Mr Assange's resources and abilities to organise flights to other countries and the readiness of other states to house Assange.

There are countries that are sympathetic to Mr Assange... he may simply be able to enter another embassy in this country, says Clair Dobbin for the US. The history of his attempts to avoid extradition to the US show the lengths he will go to to avoid this.

C Dobbin now lists the previous reasons Assange has been refused bail.

Given all Mr Assange's previous conduct there is no surety that would secure his attendance say Dobbin... These were lengths Assange went to to avoid extradition to the United States.