Trump dead-ender Eric Metaxas continues to insist that nobody has provided an explanation of why Georgia election workers allegedly pulled out a "suitcase" full of votes after observers were sent home on election night. https://t.co/EeKBkkdDqP

Conservatives love to complain about the media.

But there's an inside baseball media that reveals how destructive the conservative media criticism environment can be to the conservative movement.

Enter, Fox News:

The story is pretty simple.

On election night, Fox News called Arizona very early. This surprised pretty much everyone. The Fox News team had improved their election model in 2020, and was confident their call was correct, even if unconventional.

Controversially, however, they called it for Joe Biden. Arizona has historically been a red state, and the polls (and final result) were close there. Nobody had a really strong expectation it was gonna go for Biden until Fox News just.... called it.

This hurled Trump surrogates into a desperate place. If they lost *Arizona*, that was a bad sign for the night. More importantly, it happened before midnight: it humiliated the President while millions were still watching.

The Trump campaign immediately turned on a dime. They pivoted from "Look, we're crushing it with Hispanics! Massive turnout! Incredible performance!" to "The election was stolen."

Who stole the election changed over time. Fox News. Some rando in Atlanta. Poll workers. China.

This is it, Canada. Election Day. The future of our country is up to you. 4 years ago, you chose real change and a better, more positive vision for Canada that we all shared. Today I’m asking you to keep that vision for Canada in mind. #ChooseForward

Believe me or not it doesn’t matter. The January 6th elector ballot count is going o go down as the greatest troll oof all time. You may or may not know, but the Vice President gets to count the electors. That’s the one thing the Constitution makes crystal clear. Apparently, the

Rs made gains in state legislatures in 2020. Even where manual audits are conducted, they rarely include state races. 😢

“Ds spent big to take control of state legislatures but lost their key targets. Now they’ll be on the sidelines as new maps are drawn”

I reported on the sorry state of election auditing laws in the US in this pre-election piece for @NYRDaily. This must change. #RobustManualAuditsNOW
1/

2/ “Earlier this year, ... Republicans blocked federal legislation, the SAFE Act, which would have required such [manual] audits for most federal races.”

3/ “America’s preeminent election-auditing expert, Philip Stark, a professor of statistics at...UCB, told me a few weeks ago that “only a few jurisdictions currently audit elections in a way that has a good chance of catching and correcting wrong reported outcomes.” @philipbstark

4/ “That requires a trustworthy paper trail—primarily hand-marked paper ballots kept demonstrably secure throughout the election and the audit—and [what is known as] a risk-limiting audit using that paper trail.” #HandMarkedPaperBallots

Ok so I thought I’d throw at least my opinion in about this whole “Chinese Troops in Canada” deal.

In my honest opinion..... hopefully this will be a breakdown that they wanted us to.... ya know to add to “Red October”

Canada and China’s main colors... Red. Month. October.

Where was there a wall built? Why was it built in addition to stopping trafficking?

Think dangerous animals and a cage....

Now where are the Chinese Troops mainly stationed? Along which state border?

Washington.... why? If you and your sick band of misfits had to make a dash to a border.... from California thru Oregon and then thru Washington State..... they would think “Well hell... it’s time for French fries and gravy!”

As Trooper Ramathorn would put it...

Now does one think that they would simply just be able to skip into the land of Maple Syrup, Hockey and Poutine?

Maybe if England still had control of Canada would that happen.... but silly goose.... the United States of America decided on July 13, 2018...

There are already calls for "forgiveness" and "healing" and "reaching out" now that Joe Biden is elected.

I understand the impulse behind these statements, but they are FUNDAMENTALLY immoral

Thread

The best version of the argument is something like this:

America is a divided country, and pursuing the politics of division will only exacerbate the existing split. It is necessary to model a more inclusive politics that celebrates differences.

The assumption is that SOMEONE needs to lower their weapon, and it might as well be the party that campaigned on tolerance. By demonstrating this better way, conservatives will give up their resentment of the left, and return to focusing on shared values rather than partisanship

One problem with this argument is that it is plainly wrong. America ALREADY TRIED THIS. A Democratic president with a legislative supermajority tried to demonstrate magnanimity. The Republicans REJECTED it, demonized it, and used the opportunity to DEEPEN the partisan divide.

That isn't the part that makes it IMMORAL. That is just what makes it EVIDENTLY STUPID as a strategy for national harmony. It didn't work pre-Trump, there's no substantive difference that would make it work post-Trump.

1. (On politics) I was once in a conversation with an elderly friend of mine who is American. He is deeply involved in politics in the States and I asked about what he had learnt. He said, "our movement pushed and mobilised and we got (.........) into the white house."

2. "However, we saw that our interests were not executed by him then we realised in a democratic setting sometimes its the people that surround the president or anyone in executive positions that really matter. Those he speaks to first and last.
We therefore changed our strategy"

3. We do support but now with the intent of placing people around the elected officers.
There is a lot of space for influence in positions that are non elective. Every executive leader leans on people to help in developing ideas and in executing them.

4. The young folks should be looking here. Elective positions like Governorship etc can be very expensive. Legitimate costs will run into hundreds of millions but there are positions for assistants, tech advisers, etc that wield alot of influence in shaping policy and direction.

5. If you want to change things you must get your foot into the room and have a seat at the table. The least position there will wield more power than being an critic on the outside. In positions like this skill, loyalty and confidentiality are the requirements and not money.

1/ This thread is an attempt to capture some of the week's discussions about Q*non and how to handle the cult followers and the danger they embody

(Side note, I plan to ask the Trumpites I know who're still clinging to their hate, "How's Q?" so they can confront the association)

Thread on elections:

1) Only CPIM can compete with BJP in hypocrisy and shamelessness. I mean they are calling the opposition coalition (Muslim League + Congress) communal in Kerala, equating Muslim League with RSS and subtly consolidating Hindus using Islamophobic

2) campaigns while in West Bengal they're themselves in alliance with Congress and a Muslim party ISF, founded by an Islamic cleric. In West Bengal they are appealing on the lines of social justice, Dalit emancipation and Muslim empowerment.

3) Their candidates in Bengal, most of whom would distance themselves from anybody visibly Muslim and would leave no chance to demonize them, are now flaunting pictures with Muslim men and women covered in skullcaps and Hijab. In Kerala, they once disowned their own party leader

4) because he performed Umrah. Meanwhile, their PR agency called NewsClick is publishing pieces suggesting how TMC's violence helped BJP make inroads in Bengal while ignoring that it was CPIM's vote that shifted to BJP and hence it should be them who should be called out for not

5) being able to keep their votes intact. I am not in support of Mamata in Bengal or Congress in Kerala. I only hope and wish ISF, IUML, SDPI, AIMIM, AIUDF, Welfare Party and other Muslim outfits win as many seats as there are! #ApniQayadat

End.

Ok as a French Muslim, i think, i must to explain to EVERYONE what’s this exactly about the “Halal” ban slaughter (1/8)

Recently, many have seen some tweets saying that the slaughter of animals with the "halal" ritual will be banned in France. (2/8)

But, unfortunately, this is the problem of the networks, no one will go digging to know more, laziness trivialized in these modern times surely. (3/8)

Know what you must to know it’s they banned only those who use the electronarcosis then they slaughter the animal with the halal ritual.
Before it was permissible by the French law but not by the European rules. (4/8)

Also theses three mosques (Evry, Paris, Lyon) who’re mentioned on many articles about this, you must to know now, they already cheated with the whole French Muslim community. (5/8)

Lots of talk over the past year about repealing Section 230. I though that it might be helpful to have a thread about what might happen if Congress entirely scraps 230.

We don't know for sure, because 230 has been on the books since 1996. Very few court opinions have examined platforms' liability for 3d-party content in a world without 230. So we have to look at pre-Internet cases involving bookstores and other distributors of content

and examine the protections for these distributors under the common law and 1st Amendment. The bottom line is that without 230, the platforms at minimum would face substantial litigation risks for 3d-party content.

For instance, under the common law, defamation plaintiffs can only succeed in suits against distributors such as bookstores if they can prove that the bookstore knew or had reason to know of the defamatory content.

Under this standard, there is a strong argument that a platform knows of allegedly defamatory content if it gets a complaint, and that the "reason to know" provision even exposes platforms to liability if they are aware of the defamatory character of some posts.

NEW: European Commission president @vonderleyen: As things stand I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not, but I can tell you there is a path to an agreement now. The path may be very narrow but it is there.

2/ VDL - it is therefore our responsibility to continue trying.

3/ Commission president says the "good news" is we have found a way forward on most issues, but this is now a case of being "so close and yet being so far away from each other."

4/ VDL - level playing field: our aim is simply fair competition on our own market.

Says the "architecture" of a level playing field provision rests on two pillars: state aid and standards

5/ On state aid we have made progress based on common princples, guarantees of domestic enforcement, the possibility to autonomously remedy the situation where needed [ie, either side can take action if distortions of trade etc]

In b/w 1998 - 2003, Congress and Liberals adopted strategy to defeat Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee (NDA). The key points were:-
• Intolerance
• Fascism
• Islamophobia
• Kargil Coffin Scam
• Orthodox Thinking Process
• Saree Culture
• Dalit Slaughter
• Cow Safety

• Jai Shree Ram (Communal Slogan)

This was how Sonia Gandhi and liberals, with the help of International Media, organisations and other NGOs misleaded India and defeated NDA in 2004 general elections.

They tried the same strategy in 2014 & 2019 but got fail. I

In 2019, Rafael Scam was the core agenda of Congress and they gave a slogan "Chaukidaar Chor hai".

For 2024, General Elections Congress has apoted a new strategy based on 2011. In 2011, Anti - Corruption Protest had shaken the roots of Congress in India. Again, the hike in

Petrol Price shocked Congress and NDA called for "Bharat Bandh". It was the rise of Mr. @narendramodi jee as National Leader. From that day, NDA never looked back.

Now Congress is adopting the same policy. Firstly in 2019, they saw a ray of hope of protest in CAA and

there was a pan India protest along with #shaheenbagh for 3 months and leads to #DelhiRiots2020. In 2020, the same is repeated as #FarmerProtests.

Till 2024 General Elections, You will observe such protests as common weapon of @INCIndia #Liberals #AntiNationals and #Jihadis.

anyone currently shocked by the fact that the politicians in power recant and reverse the views they held when they were in opposition (and vice versa) has simply not paid any attention to history.

that's 100% to be expected.

where you stand depends up where you sit.

always.

this latest biden refusal to commit to a view on packing SCOTUS until after the election is just this same phenomenon.

if he wins, he's for packing it. if he loses, he'll be against it.

this is because almost none of these people stand on any principles.

they just seek power.

this is why it's so hard to trust any of them.

and why shouldn't they act this way?

it's what we reward. we all accept their lies even when we KNOW they are lies. we elect them anyway.

we accept that all we ever get is the lesser of evils.

will biden pay any price? nope.

it's behavioralism 101

the fault lies not w/ these narcissistic liars & sociopaths, it lies with us

we're the ones electing them & putting up with monstrous & dishonest behavior because "it's not as bad as what the other guy would do."

those are the railroad tracks to tyranny.

it demands a question:

if the outcome of an election is so impactful that it can make or ruin your life or save or lose the republic (as many claim it is) is that not proof positive that the government is FAR too powerful?

do you really want to gamble for such stakes?

1. The Real State of Affairs in America; All will change in the Public’s Eye within Weeks!

Patriots and awakened souls, what you witnessed on 1/20/2021 was an illusion of [B]iden getting sworn in. This was fantasy and a big joke, just like many optics that past [d]eep state...

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

AIKS condemns @PMOIndia's resort to lies and deceit to deliberately mislead Indian farmers about Kerala Agriculture and role of the Left Democratic Front Government. His comments expose his ignorance about Kerala’s agriculture. THREAD. /0

Kerala never passed an APMC Act due to the predominance of spices and plantation crops in the cropping pattern. Kerala's agriculture primarily revolves around commercial crops which occupy about 82% of the cultivated area. /1

Crops like coconut, cashew, rubber, tea, coffee, different spices like pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon etc grown by Kerala farmers have had their own specialised marketing channels sponsored by the concerned commodity boards under by the Ministry of Commerce, GoI. /2

Different Commodity Boards like Rubber Board, Spices Board, Coffee Board, Tea Board, and Coconut Development Board and a system of auctions are in place in the State. /3

The prices of all these crops are dependent on the world market prices and except for one crop that is copra (Dry Coconut) the central government does not even announce any MSP. /4