Typically during an #FCCLive @FCC open meeting like today's 10:30, especially one with #NetNeutrality & #TitleII on tap, I tweet (a lot) to debunk the nonsense put out there by @AjitPaiFCC, @BrendanCarrFCC, and their enablers. But today let's take a different approach.

For today's remand order vote, with the Pai FCC botching the DC Circuit's mandate to look at how the repeal and reclassification decisions also harm public safety, broadband competition, and #Lifeline support for broadband, I decided to pre-but as much as I could. #FCCLive

Let's see how quickly my talking points bingo card fills up once the meeting starts at 10:30. But at very least I'll have succeeded in filling up Pai and Carr's mentions and the #FCCLive hashtag. (It's the little things that keep us going this week.)

The mega-thread that follows is long, but I wanted to draw on all of the great work @FreePress has done over the past week, year, and really more than a decade now, debunking the deregulatory fantasy figures put out by Pai and people like him. #FCCLive

So watch this space later for @freepress's final press statement by @danaflo on today's all-but-certain outcome. In the meantime, let's explore why Pai's predetermined outcome is outrageous, amidst all of the other outrages we can see right now. #FCCLive

Summary of the Michigan Kraken release. Once again, Happy Thanksgiving, America!

COUNT I
Defendants Violated the Elections and Electors Clauses and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Okay, let’s do this. A thread.

1. Donald Trump is *an* anti-Christ. He has twisted, perverted, & manipulated the Christian Faith. He has sowed seeds of discord & has nurtured profound disunity in the body of Christ & even garnered the support of prominent Christian leaders...

2. We keep talking about how he is power hungry, how he’s a Narcissist, & about how he is immoral; but we aren’t naming this stuff using the various categories scripture gives us when dealing with someone like Trump. The man is an “anti-Christ” (notice I said “an” & not “THE”).

3. He hasn’t just garnered the praise of right-wing Christian Nationalists who’ve never championed orthodoxy or the gospel; he has also garnered the unwavering support & affirmation of prominent preachers & theologians who only a few years ago declared him evil.

4. We too quickly dismiss this almost hypnotic power Trump has over otherwise respectable Christian leaders as if it’s natural; we have 3 options.

1. He has something on them.
2. They are just power hungry.
3. There is some dark hypnotic power Trump has.

Maybe it’s all 3. 🤷🏽‍♂️

5. We’ve seen Trump demand stage presence in the church of David Platt (a godly brother who I’ve met personally & truly believe is a faithful brother & pastor) and next thing we know he is on stage, in the middle of the service, & all Saints forced to pray for him.

Ok. We are 50 hours out from the first polls closing. Here's @NextIrishGE take on what to look out for on Tuesday night...… and beyond.

7PM EST (Midnight🇮🇪) Partial results from IN & KY will be joined by VT, SC, GA & VA.

Key here will be Georgia. It appears to be deadlocked, and if it goes blue it's game over for Trump. Atlanta Metro Area turnout will be key here.

In the Senate, watch GA and SC (both R-inc).

7.30PM EST (12.30AM🇮🇪)

Three states: NC, OH & WV. All Trump states in 2016, if Biden wins either NC or OH, it looks over for Trump. Both will report quickly, so likely calls will be made at some point.

Two Senate races here, but watch NC where R-inc Tillis looks to be behind.

8PM (1AM🇮🇪)

16 States + DC.

Florida will already have around 80% in at this stage, so a call could be made rapidly. Other swing states closing are PA and NH, but don't expect results from the former for some days.

Watch ME senate.

8.30PM (1.30AM🇮🇪)

Only Arkansas closing. Both Trump and R-inc Sen. Cotton expected to win easily.

So. Anyone who watched the Bobulinski interview last night now understands the seriousness of his allegations. He dropped bombshell after bombshell last night while also providing iron clad evidence to his claims. Text messages, emails, private meetings in dimly lit hotel...

Real talk on the burnout many of us living in the US are feeling days before this election. The burnout we feel isn't tied to work, but the political and social environment we've been swimming in the past four years, and particularly this year. (THREAD) 1/

Before I try to solve the GoodReserve vs. GoodStaking problem, which involves math and time and interest, let me solve something easier, which is all of modern politics.

Here's an example. When the pandemic was in the first wave here in Brazil, you could see lots of cultural noise about the fact that rich people were not dying because they got hospital care, whereas poor maids etc. were getting infected by rich people e.g. coming back from Italy.

Then, after a while, this story died. We "know" this now, but nothing happened.

When this sort of thing happens -- lots of noise, followed by normalization -- we are trained to think that that's *OUR* fault as cultural noisemakers.

IF ONLY WE MADE MORE NOISE, we think.

Why do we think that?

We think that because of all the times making noise worked.

Or did it? Did it actually work? Was it actually the noise that "changed" things?

Nope. The noise doesn't change anything.

EVER.

Here's how this works.

(Thread) Over the Cliff Notes: Impeachment #2

Let’s start with the Article of Impeachment itself: https://t.co/KRiPGstRwi

The charge: Incitement of Insurrection.

Spoiler: This is a slam-dunk in the impeach-and-convict department, and will create a moment of truth for the GOP.

1/ The basics:

🔹Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House. 

🔹Impeachment is followed by a Senate Trial.

🔹Conviction requires 2/3 of the Senate.

After conviction, preventing Trump from holding office again requires a simple majority vote.

2/ This is not a criminal trial.

The Constitution specifically says that a criminal trial may be appropriate AFTER impeachment and removal.

Defendants in a criminal trial have special protections because they stand to lose their liberty, property, or even their life.

3/ An impeached president stands to lose his job and the ability to hold the job again.

Therefore certain requirements for a criminal trial, such as the requirement that allegations be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, do not apply.

4/ In addition to charging Incitement of Insurrection, the Article invokes the 14th Amendment (sec 3) and Trump’s duty to faithfully execute the oath of office. 

Notice the 14th Amendment doesn’t give the procedure for determining when Section 3 applies.

Thread: (Read the whole thing)
"In brief, models can play a contributory role in thinking through possible mitigation measures, but they cannot be more than an ancillary aid in deciding policy." -- Until now, when all the so-called experts, knowing this, LIED.

2/
"Political leaders need to understand the likely benefits and the potential consequences of disease mitigation measures, including the possible loss of critical civic services and the possible loss of confidence in government to manage the crisis." -- Until this time.....

3/
"hospitals have often accelerated the spread of contagious disease because of the presence of highly contagious patients and their close proximity to the medical staff who care for them and to other patients who are ill and vulnerable to infection." - WE KNEW this would KILL.

4/
"Second, hospitals must establish strategies for coping with what will presumably be a large and relatively sustained surge in demand for medical care. At present, hospitals have little capacity to meet such demands." - We DID NOTHING despite FOURTEEN YEARS warning.

5/
"General respiratory hygiene, such as covering one’s mouth when coughing and using disposable paper tissues, is widely believed to be of some value in diminishing spread, even though there is no hard evidence that this is so." - We KNEW masks did not work; ZERO evidence.

(1) #ReplacePelosiJan3 & negotiate w/other Speaker candidates 2 THEN #ForceTheVote + get more changes. Why? We can't tolerate 2 more yrs of her leadership in the House. She has an awful record & is an incompetent negotiator.

(2) #ReplacePelosiJan3 & negotiate w/other Speaker candidates 2 THEN #ForceTheVote + get more changes. Pelosi led the Democrats to a disastrous defeat in 2010 after failing to pass MFA then. In 2020, she led Ds to lose 10 seats in the House & set them up 4 a disaster in2022.

(3) #ReplacePelosiJan3 & negotiate w/other Speaker candidates 2 THEN #ForceTheVote + get more changes. Pelosi is a fiscal disaster imposing paygo on the Dem Party for yrs & stopping progressive legislation requiring deficit spending. She is a fiscal hawk down with austerity.

#ReplacePelosiJan3 & negotiate w/other Speaker candidates 2 THEN #ForceTheVote + get more changes. Pelosi is a disaster when it comes to military spending. She never met a Defense spending bill she didn't like.

(5) #ReplacePelosiJan3 & negotiate w/other Speaker candidates 2 THEN #ForceTheVote + get more changes. What kinds of changes? Floor votes on GND bills such as a Federal Job Guarantee or a Basic Income, or Free College or Student Debt elimination or paid family leave.

1) Why we need the electoral college system. (A thread)

Using the popular vote and not the electoral college count would have made Hillary Clinton president last time and Joe Biden president this time, in a landslide, which is what we anti-Trump citizens wanted.

2) But what about "next time"? Trump is an incompetent bozo who killed 130,000 Americans, crashed the economy, embarrassed the nation and he's still very popular.

What if the next Trump is just as evil, but actually competent? The next Trump could win the popular vote, too.

3) Direct democracies ALWAYS commit suicide because the public always falls under the spell of a demagogue at some point, and they vote themselves into catastrophe.

Athenian Democracy lasted only 140 years -- far less than the US so far.

4) The Spartan system lasted 600 years, because it was more like our system -- the popular vote was merely the opinion of the people, and a wise few made their own choice -- usually with the popular vote, but not always.

5) In our system, the voters don't choose the president. Everyone thinks they do, but they do not. The president is selected by Electoral College electors on December 14.

The election we just had was the American public giving the EC our opinion.