When I was a kid, I played Deus Ex. I was about 17 years old at the time.

I was able to understand that DX was a cartoon version of its subject matter. But it nonetheless captured my imagination, asking

"What if the entire planet could be managed by mere mortals?"

In the story, of course, this has disastrous consequences. The systems are too vast and complex. The answer ends up being:

"They'd ruin everybody's life until they ran the whole system off a cliff."

But the genie was out of the bottle, for my young mind at least. The idea of secret cabals of the ultra wealthy and politically connected, exerting influence over the unfolding of history...

It was appealing. To imagine at least that someone was in a driver's seat.

Somewhere.

And look, it's not like there aren't clubs.

There are, literally, clubs. The Ivy League buys little hangouts in different major cities, so alums can efficiently transact that lucrative network. There's douchier, nouveau riche versions of the same. Cliques, associations, name it.

But it turns out, there's no board room somewhere secret.

In practice, there's no global board of directors. The system isn't that tidy. It's all the chaotic grasping of people desperate to keep themselves safe, and therefore powerful.

The alignment of the elites is emergent.

true TIs...

the saga of slander attacks in shite gobbles continues...time and again; i stated TRUTH in solid rebuttals that not only prove i am not anything perps LIE smearing campaigning me as but contained solid evidence sustaining that truth. i want to make a few things...

very clear 1. under NO condition, i do not and will not ever accept any "terms" irrationally demanded by a perp. 2. as of present day, i have NOT execute/done/committed any hurtful and/or harmful act towards a perpetrator. 3. i maintain my innocents, character, integrity,...

and genuinity in my self as a individual human being and in my work i did on behalf of true targeted individuals. 4. it was i; myself and me alone; whose originality of solid work; authenticity of thought; and credibility of morals helped induce the exposure of war crimes,...

atrocities, genocide program, technologies, and warfares for true targeted individuals. 5. my work on behalf of true targeted individuals did cause me to be targeted with extreme,severe targeting in me being "singled out" by perpetrators who infiltrated the TI community. ...

6. i maintain my right to freedom of speech, right to defend myself, and right to exercise solid judgment in who to help and who to not help due to preposterous fabricated LIES via perps' flying monkeys who seek to further in the smearing and slander attacks against me. ...

Sometime back my wife and I were having a conversation about who my close friends are. I only listed FIVE names. She was little shocked because she has observed my ‘close’ relationships with a number of people and thought the number might be a bit larger.

My response was I know a lot of people but not a lot of people know me.I used to think I had a lot of close friends but I started paying a bit more attention to who was there for me & who were my go to persons during tough times, spiritually,emotionally,physically & financially

I noticed how consistent these FIVE were during the good and the bad. The FIVE now form part of my inner circle. My go to persons for anything. They have my best interest at heart and would move heaven and earth for me where need be. I would do the same for them too.

Now if you are like me and you know a lot of people it’s very easy to think you have a lot of close friends but do not be deceived NOT everyone is your close friend, in fact even from your mere ‘friends’, not everyone is your friend period.

Not everyone wants you to prosper or would sacrifice their time, energy and resources for you. Therefore, it is imperative to discover who your real friends are. Just observe them in detail, scrutinize them on the grand scheme of things and even in the little things.

You know, one of the things I've been thinking about during this time of unimaginable grief has been bereavement leave, and how the little time given for grief points to the marginal space human life is given in the world we live in.

I've commented before that so much of the positive thinking or mindfulness seems to be part of a culture that not only personalizes so much struggle but creates this absurd place where your world could be falling apart yet you're encouraged to continuing performing as if it's not

So you have this really absurd existence where it's seen as embarrassing to speak or openly experience the natural and conditioned tragedies of the world, big and small. You lose somebody and after a while, people see it as a drag that you're still sad or not working again.

There's so many cliches around the "get on with it" attitude that sells it as the idea of strength and maturity, when it's really just one of productivity and avoiding making people uncomfortable. I sometimes think kids have it right when they cry openly when they're in pain.

Anyway, I was thinking about how a world can deal with the collective grief of this pandemic. So many lives have been lost, and lives are never singular. For each person, there's connected lives who will be changed forever by the loss. And even worse, the cruel nature of it.

You could look at the past week & reasonably think MAGA/Q folk MUST know it's over.

But the thing about conspiracy theories is that they never end: they morph into new theories while maintaining that they've ALWAYS been right.

For MAGA/Q, it's "the plan" - Let me explain.

Right now the narrative running through the darker parts of the Internet involves "The Storm."

The Storm is a conspiracy theory that ALL of this - the election loss, the rhetoric, the insurrection, the 2nd impeachment - are part of Trump's master plan to root out the Deep State.

You see, in Trump's infinite wisdom he realized he could never MAGA as long as there were traitors in his own party.

So he came up with The Storm as a way to know who was truly a believer in MAGA, and who was a RINO.

This has all been an elaborate trap to catch those traitors.

The Storm starts w/Trump discovering, many months ago, that the voting machines had been hacked by Bill Gates' associates.

Trump ALLOWED the votes to be flipped, but they have PROOF that Trump won 410 electoral votes.

Of course, he let them THINK they had won.

By APPEARING weak & disjointed, he encouraged the Dems to lash out and the RINOs to jump ship.

Even the departures from his admin were carefully planned to give the appearance of disorder so that ALL the traitors would think it was time to show their true colors and strike.

IF I GET DEMENTIA...

1. If I get dementia, I want my friends and family to embrace my reality.

If I think my spouse is still alive, or if I think we’re visiting my parents for dinner, let me believe those things.

I’ll be much happier for it.

2. If I get dementia, I don’t want to be treated like a child.

Talk to me like the adult that I am.

3. If I get dementia, I still want to enjoy the things that I’ve always enjoyed.

Help me find a way to exercise, read, and visit with friends.

4. If I get dementia, ask me to tell you a story from my past.

5. If I get dementia, and I become agitated, take the time to figure out what is bothering me.

6. If I get dementia, treat me the way that you would want to be treated.

7. If I get dementia, make sure that there are plenty of snacks for me in the house.

Even now if I don’t eat I get angry, and if I have dementia, I may have trouble explaining what I need.

8. If I get dementia, don’t talk about me as if I’m not in the room.

I still have feelings though I may not even remember what you said after a few minutes of listening to it.

Don’t really need to see #MLK quotes today unless you are living and breathing the fight against anti-Black racism wherever you are. Good will on #MLKDay or any other day is grossly insufficient if you have a shallow understanding of the systems of racism at play. 1/9

In fact, as MLK said, this kind of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. So you must #dothework. Racism is embedded in every societal system. It is insidious and it takes time and effort to understand it and/or be critical of it 2/9

Black folks have to constantly do this work to fix a problem we didn’t create while we live in a system that is stacked against us so the least you can do is do that work as well. Doing that work is not simply soliciting feedback/perspectives or consulting with Black folks. 3/9

Doing the work is reading the work of #criticalrace scholars and mapping that on your social/professional location and then making systemic and ITERATIVE changes to the systems you are a part of. Simply reading “How to be an antiracist” is not enough. 4/9

Doing the work is not asking me who the critical race scholars are when you have google literally at your fingertips. There are no short cuts in anti-racism. What you dedicate your time to signals who you are. 5/9

For those with friends or family in QAnon, tomorrow will be quite a day.

The Inauguration is going to plunge many Q believers into doubt and dismay.

The most committed will simply double down, but others will want a way out.

If you're able, give them an off-ramp. No mocking.

@BeschlossDC It was my sophomore year of high school. I was taking a Drama class, it was taught in the auditorium and had 60 or so students in it, so we generally had 2 teachers present. The intercom system didn't function correctly in there, so when we heard an announcement one of the (1/)

teachers went out to see why something was coming over the intercom in the middle of the day. I was in the Orlando area, less than an hour from KSC, so launches were normal for us. We'd grown up watching them & many of us had been to KSC to see them in person. So we weren't (2/)

really thinking about the launch, it was business as usual. This is where it's important to note I was in a drama class. In the first week of class the teachers had staged an incident where one of them was telling the class a story about a student, and a football player (3/)

who was in the class jumped up, screaming "you promised not to tell!" and attacked one of the teachers. It was all staged, and given that this was 1986 so before people thought about school shootings or mass violence it was scary but not something that would be considered (4/)

"out of bounds" like it would be today. It did, however, make us HUGELY skeptical of anything the teachers in that class told us because we didn't know if it was another "exercise." So when the teacher who'd gone out to check the announcement came in looking upset and saying (5/)

It was a Wednesday. I don't go to salon on weekdays. I do that on weekends, but this day, a Wednesday, I had the strange urge to do so, against character. So I did, and it changed my life or should I say, it made me remain alive for the moment. Try to follow intuition.

A thread.

It was some time in February 2007. I had just returned to Lagos after being ill in my home town during the Xmas break. So I was still recuperating and hadn't resumed work. I saw a friend off and decided against character to have my hair cut in my favorite salon. They didn't know

me by name. Just a customer. As I sauntered into the salon, I heard voices screaming and threatening, "we'll kill him". "We must kill him" they screamed. I saw 6 men inside the salon, excluding the barber. I entered and looked at the men, while they now shouted less. I recognized

2 of the men. Have met them at the salon before. Didn't recognize the other 3, then I saw the last man. My former boss. WOW. A man I served for about 4 years after school, and he sent me away,without a dime.
I casually greeted him. He nodded slightly, stood up and left the salon.

Upon his departure, the other men started detailing how they'll catch "the useless boy". They have his address. They'll kill him for f#*king Chief's wife. I watched and listened how the supposed "useless boy" slept with Chief's wife and said nothing will happen. So they will show

5 Ways To Develop Discipline And Use It To Crush Your Goals.

Motivation will not make you successful.

Discipline will.

Look at the lives of truly successful people and you'll see this is true. (Thread)

Many people misunderstand what motivation means.

They think motivation is a 'positive feeling' that helps you do things.

When they feel this certain kind of way, they take action.

But when they don't feel this 'positive feeling' they resign.

That isn't motivation.

Motivation is a combination of two words:

Motive + Action.

Motivation is the motive behind the action.

It is the reason for the action.

The why!

For example, why do you want to start a business?

So you can have freedom, yeah?

That is the motivation.

It is that 'why' that should provide you the determination to take action.

But even with a strong 'why' many people still struggle with staying dedicated to their goals.

Why?

They lack discipline.

Today I'll share 5 ways you can develop godlike discipline to crush your goals.

Discipline from the the word 'disciple' means 'to train.'

When you decide to discipline yourself what you are saying is that you want to

'Train yourself to become a disciple to certain principles and ways of life.'

Here are the 5 ways to Get It Done:

Quick story of how I see things. It's going to be multiple tweets, so bear with me.

I have privilege. I'm white. I'm male. I was born in one of the richest countries in the world.

My parents had privilege. Its a dynastic thing. They are Tories. This has caused much 1/

conflict with them. Still does.

I went to boarding school at 9. Nothing says "I love you" less than kicking a kid out of their home at 9.

It affected me deeply. I didn't realise it till many years later and therapy.

However, I never felt I fitted in. Ever. To the system. 2/

I took psychedlics. Mushrooms. Heroic doses, as Terence McKenna would describe them. I don't condone this.

But, it showed me a path.

I took that path but my family hated me for it. I cared for them. They are family after all.

I changed direction. I took the blue pill. 3/

I was succesful in the capitalist machine. But I still rebelled. Or so I thought. But then, the rebellion and the machine merged.

I got lost. I started to see life and money as a way of measuring success, as so many do and I lost touch with that humanist used to be. I still 4/

yearned to be out of that system but I was part of that system as well. It was an existential crisis.

It killed my mental health. I lost touch with the beautiful people that really care about me and tread the right path and live their life that way.

I thought that I was 5/

My problem with the enemy (and I refuse to give them a more nuanced name than that) is nothing ideological.

It's that they're crazy, evil, and a solidly double digits percentage of them are possessed by demons.

And thus, they're categorically unfit for power.

There's nothing I can discuss that'll make them stop being crazy, evil or demon possessed. No amazing argument that'll turn them around.

They just need to be resisted (and preferably actively suppressed) by whatever means are available, as a moral imperative.

They feel the same way about me and anyone I sympathise with and any who claim otherwise are absolutely, 100% take it to the bank because it's as good as gold, lying.

You can't live with these people or negotiate with them. Pretty much the only time I recall them being even remotely tolerable was near the start of Brack Obama's presidential term.

That was an interesting time. "Oh hooray! Bush is finally gone! We can finally have fun again instead of being 24/7 butthurt about him in every available form of media. Hey, do you mind if we do away with Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it's a bit silly, don't you think?"

ever wondered about my personal life? no? well let’s pretend (i’ve actually never done one of these before)

1. i have not been a virgin in *checks notes* over a decade

2. 100% sub bottom. my bdsm test results are so bottom that the dom top options do not even register. i have been told i have top energy tho whatever that means

3. i am not picky about who i have sex with as long as they top but ideally someone who could kick my ass (but won’t unless i ask them to bc they’re nice). also caregiver doms. i am actually very transparent LOL

4. receiving any art is a blessing that i will treasure forever 💕

Since "at 22" is trending and I coincidentally changed my profile picture to this on facebook yesterday, here I am at 22 back in 1984 and in my final year at university. 1/14

Earlier in the year I'd dyed my hair pink and yellow as a rag week stunt, and then all pink so as it wasn't quite so crazy. In a way, dying my hair like this may have helped determine the course of my whole subsequent life. 2/14

A few weeks later, with the hair dye still very much showing, I landed a job at a small software company based in a farmhouse near #Peterborough. I turned down an interview for a job with a big company, Ferranti, because I'd become aware of its links to the defence industry. 3/14

My mother thought I was making a big mistake, passing up the chance to work for a famous and long-established blue-chip company, and choosing a company that would probably go under quickly. 4/14

The software company often struggled. Sometimes when we got our pay cheques we were asked not to pay them in just yet, until those who were married and had kids had got their pay cheques cleared, in case some of the cheques bounced. 5/14

@Will_Bunch OK, so 25 years ago I set off with 3 friends (one who I am now married to) to hike amongst the Dogon people of Eastern Mali. Little did I know that the research I made for that trip was to have this moment for me to shine. A thread: