NEW: @StateDept's top counterterrorism official says the Jan 6 siege of the #USCapitol "wasn't just an assault on the Capitol. It was an assault on democracy, w/a violent mob trying to interfere with the results of the election"

"Nothing is more sacred to our constitutional democracy than the peaceful transfer of power" per Amb. Nathan Sales speaking to @AEI

Adds that those who rioted "desecrated the Capitol & the principals for which its stands"
"There's no room for complacency" @StateDept's Sales warns on the fight vs terrorism, repeating warnings that there needs to be a focus on #ISIS, #alQaida in #Africa
#StateCTatAEI
CT needs to remain "an urgent priority" per Sales

"Counterterrorism & Great Power Competition are not mutually exclusive" he says "CT is a competitive advantage for our country...security cooperation can forge durable relationships that blunt our rivals' malign influence"
"The basic architecture of American counterterrorism has been remarkably durable & stable" per @StateDept's Amb Sales, noting border security keeping out #ISIS #alQaida, plus the success of sanctions
"Counterterrorism is one of the ways that we can compete w/our rivals" per @StateDept Counterterrorism Coordinator Amb Nathan Sales "We do counterterrorism better than anybody else"

re #terrorism #GreatPowerCompetition #Russia #China
#StateCTatAEI
"If we're not making them play defense, they're going to start playing offense...they will plot external operations" per @StateDept's Amb Sales says of #ISIS #alQaida
#Iran-#alQaida - @StateDept's CT Coordinator affirms @SecPompeo's assessment that they've "made common cause" with AQ using Iran as its new home base
The designation of the #Russia|n Imperial Movement, aka #RIM, "shouldn't be the last" by @StateDept for a white supremacist/ethnically motived terror group, per CT Coordinator Amb Nathan Sales

"We need to continue to identify potential targets for designation"

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I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.


I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
MDZS is laden with buddhist references. As a South Asian person, and history buff, it is so interesting to see how Buddhism, which originated from India, migrated, flourished & changed in the context of China. Here's some research (🙏🏼 @starkjeon for CN insight + citations)

1. LWJ’s sword Bichen ‘is likely an abbreviation for the term 躲避红尘 (duǒ bì hóng chén), which can be translated as such: 躲避: shunning or hiding away from 红尘 (worldly affairs; which is a buddhist teaching.) (
https://t.co/zF65W3roJe) (abbrev. TWX)

2. Sandu (三 毒), Jiang Cheng’s sword, refers to the three poisons (triviṣa) in Buddhism; desire (kāma-taṇhā), delusion (bhava-taṇhā) and hatred (vibhava-taṇhā).

These 3 poisons represent the roots of craving (tanha) and are the cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain) and thus result in rebirth.

Interesting that MXTX used this name for one of the characters who suffers, arguably, the worst of these three emotions.

3. The Qian kun purse “乾坤袋 (qián kūn dài) – can be called “Heaven and Earth” Pouch. In Buddhism, Maitreya (मैत्रेय) owns this to store items. It was believed that there was a mythical space inside the bag that could absorb the world.” (TWX)