[thread]

Can I be the first to congratulate Boris Johnson

On getting a "British shaped deal"

On a "gold standard" trade deal

On making the UK "mightily prosper"

/joking

He won't

But he will sell it as such

And that is all that matters

British PM Boris Johnson will visit India in January to boost trade ties, his first major bilateral trip since taking office https://t.co/EjfCeYAaNK via @bpolitics
— Joe Mayes (@Joe_Mayes) December 15, 2020

More from ScottishPanda

ScottishPanda
@PandaScottish

[thread]

Let's unpack this

Since Brussels is convinced that leaving the EU is an act of unprecedented self-harm -- and it could be proved right, we'll see -- I don't understand why they want to crib and confine the UK within their imperial regulatory reach in perpetuity. Why bother with a basket case?
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) December 11, 2020

"Since Brussels is convinced"

I like that

Personalise it to Brussels

Not 27 EU nations, our friends, neighbours

"convinced that leaving is an unprecedented act of self-harm"

it has been an act of self-harm

see the damage so far

see why no deal has to be sold as an Australia style deal

see why it has to be hidden within the "massive success" of covid

"it could be proved right"

See UK government forecasts

Not a single one positive

See Liz Truss - unable to explain how any trade deal will make us better off

But not to worry we will "mightily prosper"

"I don't see why they want to crib and confine the UK"

The UK is asking for a deal

The EU will offer one

If the UK doesn't like it well perhaps you should have thought of that before selling simplist fantasy bullshit to lie to voters

ScottishPanda
@PandaScottish

[thread] on "sovereignty"

"Some fears have been expressed that if Britain joins the Common Market she will cease to be able to formulate her own foreign policy and will lose her separate identity. "

ScottishPanda
@PandaScottish

[thread] an intro from

August 13th 1949 Miss M. Roberts

"Once they saw a Conservative Government in power they and all Young Conservatives up and down the country would be able to say with Keats. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven.”"

COVID-19: For the first time in its history UNICEF will help feed kids in the UK https://t.co/BGIniuwUwi
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 16, 2020

ScottishPanda
@PandaScottish

[thread]

Drug policy is a complex area

It falls across social, health and criminal justice areas

I will leave the question of what Scotland is capable of in terms of devolved powers and what is reserved at Westminster

I just want to focus on "SNP cuts"

These statistics are dreadful and heartbreaking. Every death is a tragic loss of life that could have been avoided.

Drug deaths have doubled in a decade, and there's no doubt that the SNP's cuts to drug rehab and addiction programmes have a large part to play. https://t.co/MkmCFRAvir
— Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) December 15, 2020

ScottishPanda
@PandaScottish

[thread]

I want to write a thread with a simple theme

One from a sad day four years ago

We all have more in common

There are people who want divisive culture wars

And those who don't

Pick a side

Actually scrub that

Imagine there are no

Now I am going to make it clear at the start

I did not vote for Boris Johnson

I did not vote for Brexit

I did vote for Yes in 2014 for Scotland (although I am undecided how I may vote in any future choice)

I did vote to scrap FPTP

So as befits a Scot

I am a loser

I have "sucked up" all my losses

But

I want Boris Johnson and his party to succeed in their manifesto

I want Brexit to succeed

Within the manifesto's and campaigns they promised much

And I want them to simply deliver that

More from Politics

Melissa (she/her)
@LiteraryMouse

In regards to the #CapitolCoup, I’m in a unique position. I monitored forums ahead of time and then was present for the coup itself.

These are my observations based on what I saw and the evidence that’s been collected so far. I reserve the right to adjust my analysis as needed.

Let’s talk about the organization of the coup first. Seeing some people insist that the coup must have been highly planned and coordinated.

Yes and no. This was a #StochasticCoup. We’ll see little evidence of direct communication between Trump and the insurrectionists.

Within the insurrectionists, there was not one group that executed the storming of the Capitol.

Rather, there were a number of smaller groups working independently towards the same goal. I expect you’ll see little evidence that these various groups communicated with each other.

What you will see is detailed planning and coordination within these small groups.

Then there were the joyriders, those Trump supporters who weren’t directly involved in any plotting but who were more than happy to go along for the ride once the coup was in motion.

After four years, the insurrectionists were carefully attuned to Trump’s messaging.

Every tweet and statement of his was treated as marching orders and carefully dissected for meaning.

It’s why shutting down Trump’s Twitter account was so important.

Palmer Report
@PalmerReport

That new attack piece about Seth Abramson is full of easily debunked false claims. Whenever the mainstream media gets annoyed at an indie pundit like Seth, it just publishes a bunch of bullshit about him, and most people mistakenly believe it. They've done the same thing to me.

The sad part is that when the author of that piece tried to smear a bunch of mainstream media journalists for daring to compare notes with him, they all responded by lying and said they've never compared notes with him. Even though Abramson has proof that they have.

This is the EXACT same strategy that certain mainstream media outlets used against me in 2017-2018. First they lied about me. Then they attacked my mainstream media associates for associating with a "fake news" pundit like me. Then some in the media felt compelled to disown me.

Sadly, it didn't matter that I had overwhelming proof that everything said about me in those attack pieces was false. When you defend yourself, no matter how factually, the average observer merely decides you're being "defensive" and therefore guilty as charged.

Ask yourself why the mainstream media is choosing now to dishonestly attack Abramson. The media's ratings are way down now that Trump is gone. Abramson presumably still has his entire niche audience intact. So the media gets jealous and takes it out on him.

Joel Kotarski
@joelkotarski

Let's track some of Donald Trump's solutions to problems: Give Hurricane victims paper towels (to sop it up), rakes to wildfire fighters (make America rake again), teaching kids to look at solar eclipses (they're too smart for that), and asking for global warming in cold winters.

This is the perfect asymptotic approach to the extremes of both Republican and Democratic rhetoric (which are both inevitably devoid of any sound logic) - you eventually get presidents like this. This is a warning call to dissolve the Republican and Democratic parties.

It seems to me our nation is now tossed between two insane extremes, bickering and arguing with each other, embodied in the Republican and Democratic parties. When you get extremist politicians who adhere fully to broken logic and rhetoric, our future is laid waste.

New parties must emerge soon. For fun, I propose a new party : "Uniters" and call the other parties "Dividers" (Republicans and Democrats). We can say that the Uniters believe in uniting people rather than dividing people.

That implies that one 'dominant' world view cannot prevail (including the illusion that we are in fact a set of states United right now) - we have to work and labor hard together to fulfill the promise the founders sought to build this country upon.

$Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c$

Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer

1. "They're leaving! They're leaving!"" yell seditionist as they watch House members fleeing the floor through the glass doors the only thing (+ some under-armed officers + office furniture" that protected our elected REPs (same ballot as Trump, each & everyone

@McConnellPress

2. of them felt so inclined towards martyrdom and/or possessed the weapons (Jesus, what if they'd has a grenade & guess what, in America, yes, you can come up w functional equivalents of that bc barring people from them is a betrayal of freedom so great we must simply acquiesce

3. their eventual death tolls. One functional "freedom grenade" down that hallway, tossed w ease through a hole in the glass door, could have easily hit anyone fleeing.Unless it was Mo Brooks, MTG, or one of their well-known crazy boosters, here's a thing @LeaderMcConnell ought

4. to reflect upon as he makes his CRITCAL pivot decision, which he could rally 17 people & start a fight for control of the party that rest of the country will help him with,EVEN AFTER ALL THE SHIT HE'S DONE TO PEOPLE, YES, THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WOULD HELP HIM IF HE WAS TO

5. RALLY 17 SENATORS FOR IMPEACHMENT, he'd find his whole 🌎awakened. And Mitch, as far as I understand it, you could do it anonymously!! How much would THAT fuck w them?? How great would it be, for the 1st time in 5 yrs, to be the one w power- you LOVE power! Think of the FUN!

$Maria \u23f3$

Maria ⏳
@ml_1maria

How the CIA gets the media to lie to you

https://t.co/vsTrS43Fft

#OTD 73 years ago, CIA was born after President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947.
\xa0
Separated into five directorates, the Agency collects, analyze and disseminates intelligence to top U.S. officials.
\xa0
Learn more about today's #CIA: https://t.co/diMVOoC3jT pic.twitter.com/ljoTxBYbAc
— CIA (@CIA) September 18, 2020

https://t.co/rUTYg42PYH

War is being pushed upon us by 'news'
Journalists are bribed to write pro-American and anti-Russian
Bribed to lie, betray, manipulate & push for war #CIA #propaganda
Dr Udo Ulfkottehttps://t.co/MsPh5vOwTW pic.twitter.com/Z5GVEzSKBd
— Maria \u23f3 (@ml_1maria) April 21, 2018

https://t.co/1r0MbPv8wG

Former CIA agent and whistleblower Phillip Agee explains that the USA wages economic war against socialists nations because it is threatened by a successful example of an alternative economic system. 1/ pic.twitter.com/NUpdpxnYgw
— \U0001d482\U0001d48d\U0001d48a\U0001d484\U0001d48a\U0001d482 (@alicia_dl_1) July 23, 2020

War on democracy - installing US-puppet dictators in Latin America in order to control their economies
#Guatemala #Arbenz #RedScare

Propaganda, "harmless bombing" and a CIA terror campaign

CIA war on Nicaragua

CIA operation in Nicaragua

Destabilisation program: rip apart the social and economic fabric - make the people suffer as much as you can, until the country plunges into chaos, until at some point you can step in and impose your choice of government on that country. pic.twitter.com/dlxoMZX6xw
— Maria \u23f3 (@ml_1maria) July 19, 2020