BC POLITICS
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

THREAD: ELECTORAL COUNT ACT DAY.

Usually no one pays attention to Jan. 6 after a presidential election. But today the world is watching. Follow along, if you dare, as we watch Congress. We know the outcome: Joe Biden's win will be official. But it could be bumpy. 1/

 What normally happens? A fairly boring, routine joint meeting of the Senate and House in which they open the electoral college votes from each state, in alphabetical order. Senators and House members can object, but it's usually not drawn out. 2/
The vice president presides as the the president of the Senate. There are two "tellers" from each House. The process goes through all 50 states and DC, and the winner is announced. All routine. Even Al Gore presided to announce his own loss in Jan 2001. 3/
But today, a few rogue Republicans plan to muck up the process to object to several states' votes. Not because they have any evidence of any problems--there isn't any. They are lying just because their preferred candidate lost. This is anti-democracy conduct. 4/
As @derektmuller explains in @nytimes, Dems objected to EC votes in 2001, 2005, and 2016. It takes an objection from a member of both Houses to move to a two hour debate. That happened in 2005. Big difference in context: the pres candidate had conceded. 5/ https://t.co/Rbvhaya3KZ
NEW: important letter from VP saying that he cannot unilaterally change the presidential election outcome. https://t.co/CSVE87HLpD
Wolf Blizter just said on CNN that "I'm sure this was a difficult thing to do for the Vice President."

Ummm...upholding your oath of office and the Constitution should not be difficult. 7/
Here we go...starting with Alabama. 8/
Pence clearly showing he is going to play this straight, not allowing an inquiry about how to make an objection from the gallery because debate is not allowed under the Electoral Count Act. 9/
Want to read some of the most convoluted law out there? Check out the Electoral Count Act, which governs this proceeding: https://t.co/KB5IWb12Es 10/
Here comes Arizona, which will likely be the first objection. If the objection is joined by one member of the Senate and one member of the House, then the chambers retire for two hours of debate. 11/
During those two hours, each member can speak for 5 minutes. Debate is cut off after 2 hours.

The Electoral College votes must be counted unless both Houses object. 12/
There was just a standing ovation for the objection to Arizona's Electoral College votes.

They were literally standing to object to democracy. Unbelievable. 13/
Let's be clear: there was ZERO problems with the election in Arizona. They are simply upset that Trump lost.

Democracy can't work if the losing side won't accept defeat. 14/
To anyone saying that it's ok for Repubs to do this because Dems did it in 2005 for OH:

1. Two wrongs don't make a right.
2. The context was very different--there, the losing candidate conceded he lost and objectors explicitly said they weren't trying to change the results. 15/
Meanwhile... https://t.co/T2XE6P7ZM0 16/
Debate in the House begins with Rep Steve Scalise. He claims that states didn't use the process required by the Constitution. (He's invoking the "independent state legislature doctrine.")

That is just factually inaccurate. He is lying. 17/
To be clear: states changed their election rules to respond to the pandemic. Some did it through the legislature. Some did it by executive order or SOS authority--given by the legislature! And fed. and state courts heard numerous challenges. 18/
Scalise won his election in Louisiana--which changed election rules.

So he thinks his own election should be called into question as well?! 19/
McConnell making a forceful statement explaining that there is no evidence of massive voter fraud or other problems.

BREAKING: I FINALLY AGREE WITH MCCONNELL ABOUT VOTING RIGHTS! 20/
McConnell: "This election was not actually unusually close."

When it came down to it, McConnell is standing up for democracy. 21/
This sure doesn't sound like the Mitch McConnell I've come to (not) love. Talking about bipartisanship, needing to work together, etc. Perhaps last night's results in Georgia are on his mind...? 22/
I mean, I love this speech from McConnell, but he should have said this two months ago. It could have reduced a lot of this chaos. 23/

https://t.co/rNoe1lnn7H
This: https://t.co/PxUPjJq1da
Chuck Schumer just used the "c" word (coup).
25/
What we're seeing: American democracy survives today.

But just imagine if this had actually been a close election, perhaps down to one state and 537 votes in that state, to choose a not-random number. We could be in an even scarier place. 26/
Pretty stark contrast between Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer extolling the virtues of democracy and the losing side accept their defeat, and reports that House members are sheltering in place and their staffs evacuating. https://t.co/7v2yVzn7yV 27/
Ted Cruz says to Dems "your guy is winning right now. If Democrats vote as a bloc, Joe Biden will almost certainly" become the next president.

"almost certainly."

He's delusional. 28/
Cruz keeps talking about how many people think the election was rigged.

BUT THAT BECAUSE YOU KEEP SAYING IT WAS RIGGED!

29/
Cruz asks for an electoral commission, pointing to the Hayes-Tilden dispute of 1877. But Congress passed the Electoral Count Act of 1887 specifically because of the problems in how that election was resolved!

He wants a "credible impartial body." Over 60 courts don't count? 30/
Hopped over to House for a minute. Rep Mast from FL says election isn't final because Supreme Court hasn't decided.

That's of course ridiculous. SCOTUS doesn't take every case appealed to it. If it thought there was an issue needing resolution, it would have taken the case. 31/
Senator Toomey makes a intellectually consistent argument: why are they only objecting to the swing states that Trump lost? Why not North Carolina or California?

Nice to hear this from the R side. 32/
Meanwhile...what is happening at the Capitol is just heartbreaking and despicable. 33/

https://t.co/sxTpetKeZe
"stand back and stand by."

Words have meaning. This is so sad. 34/
A true American president would call on protesters to remain peaceful and would try to de-escalate the situation. Instead Trump tweets this.

Beyond despicable. 35/ https://t.co/5UCY6tEdDP
Joe Biden will still become president on Jan. 20. These thugs won't change that fact.

But it's still a sad day for American democracy. 36/

More from Politics

Murray \U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8
Murray 🇺🇸...
@Rothbard1776
NEW: @GenFlynn interview w/ @newsmax [on his view of the 2020 Election and what should happen next] "First of all, @realDonaldTrump won on the 3rd of November. The things that he needs to do right now [are]: appoint a Special Counsel, immediately; seize all of these Dominion and

2/ other voting machines that we have across the country; he needs to go ahead and prioritize by state, and probably by county [Fulton County, Maricopa County, as an example]. Exactly what they did up in Antrim County, MI, and what they discovered. I think if he looks

3/ at a random sampling of some of these counties, he's going to find exactly the same problem. These machines are clearly, CLEARLY, there is a foreign influence that is tied to this system, and it goes back to China. It likely goes to Russia. Likely goes to Iran. We know that

4/ Venezuela has participated in the development of these machines. There's been problems all over the country with them. Not only with Dominion, but with this Smartmatic software. He's got a couple of options that he can take, and he needs to take them right now.

5/ The President could, immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these machines around country, on his order. He could also order, within the swing-states [if he wanted to], he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states & basically re-run
POLITICS
Noah Smith
Noah Smith
@Noahpinion
1/Politics thread time.

To me, the most important aspect of the 2018 midterms wasn't even about partisan control, but about democracy and voting rights. That's the real battle.

2/The good news: It's now an issue that everyone's talking about, and that everyone cares about.

3/More good news: Florida's proposition to give felons voting rights won. But it didn't just win - it won with substantial support from Republican voters.

That suggests there is still SOME grassroots support for democracy that transcends

4/Yet more good news: Michigan made it easier to vote. Again, by plebiscite, showing broad support for voting rights as an

5/OK, now the bad news.

We seem to have accepted electoral dysfunction in Florida as a permanent thing. The 2000 election has never really
POLITICS
Advertisement
gwen frisbie-fulton
gwen frisbie-fulton
@gwen_fulton
Today in #GRAHAMNC I went to a permitted March to the Polls lead by Rev Drumwright and others. Starting at a Black AME church, Rev Drumwright started the march by asking folks what our intentions were. TO VOTE the crowd chanted. Its the last day of Early Voting in #NC.


We then marched, escorted by police, about half a mile towards the center of Graham, chanting and singing. We moved slowly, because of the many elderly folks and families with small children. Graham is a small town in #AlamanceCounty.


Alamance County is known as "No Chance Alamance" because of rampant inequality and a judicial system generally known to be hostile to Black and Brown folks, and poor white folks. We believe that we can change that at the polls this year.

As the march approached the center of Graham where a large Confederate statue is, we kneeled in rememberance of George Floyd. His neice and nephew were in the crowd.


Moments after we were done kneeling a police officer started to yell that we had to be off the street. Folks were confused because we had been escorted there and had a permit. I moved my child up onto the sidewalk. They started pepper spraying us. My child couldn't run because
POLITICS
JEN KIRKMAN \U0001f469\U0001f3fb\u200d\U0001f4bb
JEN KIRKMAN 👩🏻‍💻...
@JenKirkman
1. For people mad at Dems. Can we try to understand how politics (not justice) works? Here are some things: the Dems simply wanted the phone call information to be added to the record. They threatened to call witnesses as a negotiation tactic - thus getting the Republicans to

2. do what the Dems originally wanted - enter the phone call on the record. If witnesses were called - the trial would have gone on for weeks - in the middle of a pandemic when relief HAS to be sent out now. And Merrick Garland has to be confirmed so the DOJ can get to work.

3. However, I WANT WITNESSES CALLED. I want them to have such explosive testimony that the whole world once again knows what it knows - that Trump is guilty. I want more Republican Senators to change their mind and vote to convict. The problem is? We would NEVER GET 17 to do so.

4. It fucking SUCKS. It SUCKS that the Democrats can't just call witnesses and make the Republican Senators appear to the world even more cowardly than they were - hearing that testimony and STILL voting to acquit. BUT that's the fantasy version where the media doesn't once again

5. start blaming Dems during this fantasy-witness-calling-trial for not getting Covid relief out, etc. The issue here is that NO MATTER WHAT - if Trump himself with Jesus back from the dead as his witness says, "I did it" the Republicans will acquit. The issue is that the GOP
POLITICS
Maria \u23f3
Maria ⏳
@ml_1maria
How the CIA gets the media to lie to you

https://t.co/vsTrS43Fft


https://t.co/rUTYg42PYH


https://t.co/1r0MbPv8wG


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
POLITICS

You May Also Like

Carol Forden
Carol Forden
@CarolForden
1. The major problem most startups face is marketing and the ability to carve out a niche, find and retain paying customers.

Even with a stellar developer team and a stellar product, your startup may not grow or survive without a great marketing and sales teams.

2. Start growing your audience before you’ve a product or an idea.

You should start promoting yourself and building your audience before you have a finished product or even before you have a great idea that you want to build.

3. Don’t wait to start building your audience after you’ve launched a product.

Most first-time developers actually ignore marketing.

They’re oblivious to the challenge of attracting people to take a look at something they’ve created.

4. At least until they see their first project crash and burn within hours of the launch.

There are so many times that I have seen developers spend countless hours building something, releasing it with no fanfare...

5. and only then trying to figure out how to promote it by asking marketing questions on Indie Hackers, Quora or Hacker News. Don’t make that mistake.
STARTUPS
Andrew Chen
Andrew Chen
@andrewchen
1/ new essay: What's next for marketplace startups? Reinventing the $10 trillion service economy, that's what. Co-authored with @ljin18 https://t.co/fgKbrHTnH5. A short thread 👇

2/ Marketplace startups have done incredibly well over the first few decades of the internet, reinventing the way we shop for goods, but have been less successful services. It's bc services are complex, subjective, fragmented, and often in real life. Makes it hard

3/ There's been 4 major eras at making the service economy work online. The Listings Era, the unbundled Craiglist era, the Uber for X era, and the Managed Marketplace era


4/ Each era has added more value than the last, and utilized technology innovations, from internet to social / "read/write web" to mobile. The "Unbundling Craigslist" era was particularly epic at generating startup ideas


5/ The problem is, all the low-hanging fruit has been picked off. The techniques that got us to here won't get us to the next phase. So we have to do some pretty different things. That's why "Managed Marketplaces" have been a big deal - hire folks as W-2s, certify quality, etc.
STARTUPS
Advertisement
Vibhu Vashisth
Vibhu Vashisth
@VIBHU_Tweet
महाभारत की कहानी कौन नहीं जानता।लेकिन क्या आपको पता है कि महाभारत के ज्यादातर पात्र किसी न किसी श्राप में फंसे थे।अगर ये श्राप न होते तो कदाचित महाभारत की कहानी कुछ और होती।हिन्दु पौराणिक ग्रंथों में विभिन्न श्रापों का वर्णन मिलता है व हर श्राप के पीछे कोई कहानी अवश्य होती है।


आइए आज जानते हैं महाभारत कथा में वर्णित कुछ श्रापों के बारे में।

1) राजा पाण्डु को ऋषि किन्दम का श्राप

एकबार महाराज पाण्डु शिकार खेलने वन गए।झाडियों के पीछे कुछ हिल रहा था। मृग है सोचकर राजा ने बाण चलाया जो जाकर ऋषि किन्दम और उनकी पत्नी को लगा।वे दोनो रति-क्रीड़ा में लिप्त थे।

जब राजा ने उन्हें देखा तो बहुत दुखी हुए कि ये मुझसे क्या पाप हो गया।बहुत क्षमा याचना के बाद भी किन्दम ऋषि ने पाण्डु को श्राप दे दिया कि जब भी वो किसी स्त्री को काम भावना से स्पर्श करेंगे उसी क्षण उनकी मृत्यु हो जाएगी।पश्चाताप करने, वे सिंहासन पे अन्धे राजा धृतराष्ट्र को बैठाकर...


..स्वयं अपनी रानियों कुंती व माद्री के साथ वन चले गए।पांडवों का जन्म भी कुंती को ऋषि दुर्वासा द्वारा दिए गए मंत्र से हुआ था जिसमे किसी भी देव का स्मरण कर उस देव से कुंती,पुत्र प्राप्त कर सकती थी।एक बार माद्री पे मोहित हो जब पांडु ने उसे स्पर्श किया,उसी क्षण पांडु की मृत्यु होगयी।


2) उर्वशी का अर्जुन को श्राप

महाभारत युद्ध से पहले जब अर्जुन दिव्यास्त्र प्राप्त करने स्वर्ग गए तो वहां उर्वशी नाम की अप्सरा उन पर मोहित हो गयी। अर्जुन ने जब उन्हें अपनी माता के समान बताया तो यह सुनकर उर्वशी क्रोधित हो गयी और अर्जुन को श्राप दे डाला कि तुम नपुंसक की भांति...
ALL
\u0936\u094d\u0930\u0940\u092e\u093e\u0932\u0940 \u0939\u093f\u0924\u0947\u0936 \u0905\u0935\u0938\u094d\u0925\u0940
श्रीमाली हितेश अवस्थी...
@HiteshAwasthi89
Sri Parasurameswara Swamy Mandir, Gudimallam, Andhrapradesh

Gudimallam is a small village located in Chittoor district. It is seven miles away from Tirupati. This small village came to significance,due to it's very beautiful Shiva Mandir with history of thousands of years. 1/n


The main importance of the mandir lies in the Linga which is housed in the Garbhagriha of the temple & considered as the only one of such type. It is the earliest Linga discovered so far and it has been assigned to the 3rd century BCE.(Satavahana period) 2/n
ALL
Respectable Lawyer
Respectable Lawyer
@RespectableLaw
There's been a lot of talk about the missionary killed by the natives of North Sentinel Island. They're probably so aggressive because of this weirdo, Maurice Vidal Portman. So here's a big thread about this creep and some facts from my decade-long obsession with the island.


The Sentinelese are often described as “uncontacted,” but this not strictly true. They had a very significant contact in 1880 with Commander Portman.

Portman, the black sheep third son of some minor noble, was assigned by the English Royal Navy to administer and pacify the Andaman Islands, a job he pursued from 1880-1900 with the full measure of his own perversity.


Portman was erotically obsessed with the Andamanese, and he indulged his passion for photography by kidnapping members of various tribes and posing them in mock-Greek homoerotic compositions.


During his 20 years in a sexualized heart of darkness, Portman measured and cataloged every inch of his prisoner’s bodies, with an obsessive focus on genitals.
SOCIETY