I'm not surprised at 2021 inauguration invocation pick, Obammas 1st inauguration was by evangelic/Baptist, Rick Warren, even then identity in black politics represented had a omen emitted within. Some of smart black folks seen the signs in

Heres 2021's pick Leo Donovan, a Jesuit Catholic.
Do you know what Jesuit were famous for?

The jesuits and catholics in Georgetown.

The votes are in! It looks like you want me to do a thread on monetizing your knowledge. There's quite a bit of ground to cover here, but I'm up for the challenge of doing it in a monster thread :)

So here we go: Monetizing Knowledge, from the ground up - the Thread. [1/39]

Let's start with the question of: What does it actually mean to "monetize your knowledge"?

There's two ways to go about this. The "simpler" one is to offer your knowledge as a service ("consulting"). If you know a lot about a particular problem area, you can sell your time.

But how do you accumulate this knowledge, and how do you know it's worth actual money?

I like to think there's a relatively simple formula for this, and comes down to doing the same thing over and over again: Solving problems.

In fact, you can think of it a little like mining.

We'll start with the problem. This can be almost anything - an obstacle, a bad situation, a shortcoming, the gap between how we want things to be and how they actually are.

If you can identify describe something in terms of a problem, you're already halfway to solving it.

For this to work, though, you have to pick a problem you're very interested in - because in order to level up, you're going to have to solve this problem *a lot*. As in, every day.

It could be anything from "how do I make this app suck less" to "how do I become a famous writer?"

To realize the extent of the treason committed on January 6, 2021, please watch this video.

https://t.co/FHmlTwkB5A

And then remember Canadian, especially Albertan, conservatives are moving in this direction and have been supportive of Trump’s cabal, since the beginning.

In fact many still are openly supportive of the far right even after January 6, 2021.

The violence in this video is disturbing. You’ll witness death chants, a scaffold with noose, a shooting and an officer suffering intense trauma from being crushed.

What is amazing to me are the videos of people relaxing in their hotels afterwards that are circulating on social media.

How mentally warped must you be to calmly sit down with drinks and bar snacks after attempting a violent coup?

And maybe that’s why Keean Bexte is rushing back to Canada. He was there. In full support of the initiative. Now he’s desperate to get to Canadian protection from American prison cells for supporting a violent coup in a foreign nation.

Bexte is a fugitive of sorts. His videos, rhetoric and behaviour choices are seriously in question. There is no doubt the FBI will want to confiscate his recordings. Extradition would make prosecution years away. Huawei’s extradition battle demonstrates that reality.

Tuning into the McCabe hearing.

Lindsey Graham is still boasting that CIA unmasked Hillary long before they unmasked Mike Flynn. He's legit complaining that Hillary ran a campaign and the CIA didn't

Whitehouse now explaining to Lindsey Graham that tying an opponent to a foreign country is not a criminal act. "If you look at CI investigation, obvious difference is that there were contacts bt RU intel operatives and campaign operatives."

"I don't think the FBI has any business interfering into that kind of campaign debate, you would be besides yourself with anger if FBI investigated Trump for trying to tie Biden to China."

Now Graham is talking about how Coffee Boy said working with Russia would be treason which 1) means that he thinks Roger Stone committed treason and 2) he demonstrably lied in that interview.

Now Lindsey claiming that the dossier created the impression that Trump was in bed with Russia, and not his open requests for Russian help.

IMP 🚨 INVESTIGATION

India's lockdown was called world's largest, strictest etc. @ BBC, we wanted to know how the govt planned it.

So, what're we looking at?

Govt docs that reveal every department/agency who was consulted by PM Modi before imposing #lockdown.

#Thread

How did we access the docs? Well, for months my colleague Arjun Parmar and I filed RTI applications with the relevant govt depts - State & Centre. Hundreds in fact. We then filed appeals, then filed second appeals..phew!

Background - this day last year, India had less than 600 cases and nine deaths. Some European & Latin American nations (with way higher numbers) had imposed lockdowns.

China, with thousands of deaths and cases by March 2020, never imposed a national lockdown.

One more thing - India started monitoring and preparing it's response to coronavirus from January 8, 2020. It was repeatedly mentioned that none other than PM was personally leading the effort.

Let's start with what we've got now.

India's lockdown was imposed by an @ndmaindia order. Who heads NDMA? Prime Minister.

So we asked NDMA - who all were consulted before lockdown? Also, how many NDMA meetings did the PM attend? Their response.

NIL to both. Yes, NIL.

#Thread Take action to defend free speech 📢

Stage 2 scrutiny of the Hate Crime Bill begins tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd February. Members of the Justice Committee will debate and vote on various amendments. It is vitally important that more, significant changes are agreed.

We still believe the best course of action is to drop the controversial stirring up hatred offences altogether. At the very least, MSPs must back changes previously promised by the Scottish Government.

The govt has pledged to: restrict the offences to ‘intent’ only; strengthen a free speech provision covering religion and insert a new provision on trans identity; remove provisions on 'inflammatory material' and provide an objective test for what ‘abusive’ behaviour means.

Other useful amendments have been lodged to: remove the vague term 'abusive' altogether; insert a broader trans free speech provision; provide a ‘dwelling defence’ for words spoken in the home; and insert a 'prosecution lock' requiring consent from a senior law officer.

Please take the time to write to Justice Committee MSPs and ask them to back these vital changes. Details of the amendments and how to contact MSPs are below.

#FreeToDisagree

So I’ve been wanting to do this thread for a while and as usual, I’m hoping people who know more than me, academics especially, chime in. The question: when did “bipartisanship” become an important value in American politics?

Obviously members of opposing parties have always worked and passed things together when interests align. But when did collaboration become not only an actual policy goal in itself but a virtue worthy of extolling?

Consider this 1960 article from historian Henry Graff in the NYT on the incoming Kennedy admin. “In domestic matters, bipartisanship is, naturally, impossible and undesirable. Although some legislation will...enjoy bipartisan support, our politics remain by nature partisan.”

“Naturally!” And Graff evidently wasn’t alone. An earlier article that year from one Douglass Cater suggested ominously that divided government after the 1960 election would be not only undesirable for domestic policymaking, but a national security risk.

If you think these were fringe ideas, here’s a '68 NYT editorial on Nixon's election. “Except in time of war...history suggests that self conscious bipartisanship does not work very well in this country…a peacetime coalition could only serve to blur the lines of responsibility"

1. The hot take that "D's need to learn to talk to the other side of the electorate" is absolutely the WRONG take.

I mean my god. Biden, Lincoln, the outside groups: they threw the best persuasion messaging in the history of persuasion campaigns at them.

What Ds need to do is

Here is the rough transcript and story of @realDonaldTrump's NI envoy, his meeting with @simoncoveney and the alleged threat of the EU using aviation as leverage over the UK if the Internal Market Bill led to a hard border on the island of Ireland.

2/ Mr Mulvaney was talking to the @iiea via video link.

Asked about the concerns in the US over the IMB, which breaches the NI Protocol, Mr Mulvaney said that in his meetings with all sides his worry was that the Bill could result in a border “by accident”.

3/ He told the presentation: “The best response I got on the matter was from Simon Coveney when I met with him in Dublin.

4/ “I said to him..., look, Simon, my fear is this: there’s a no deal Brexit. The IMB kicks in, the Brits don’t want to put up a border on the island, because they know what that means, the Irish don’t want to put up a border across the island because they know what that means.

5/ “The Europeans come in and say, well, if you’re not going to control the flow of goods from outside of the [European] Union [to] inside the Union, from Belfast to Dublin, for the sake of this discussion, we’re going to force you to ring the whole island of Ireland

🚨🚨Clinton Foundation --> Solar winds connection

🧵Thread 👇👇👇

Clinton money runs very deep. They’ve been involved with elections since 2014.... How was the foundation allowed to fund "projects" dealing with elections even while Killary was running as president?

~1~The Clinton foundation is the source of many well funded activities that allows them to control everything. Barrick Gold Corp is relevant to #Solarwinds & the Delian Project to Dominion. I'll cover Barrick once I get to Newmont through UBS. We will focus on the Delian Project.

~2~“In 2014, Dominion Voting committed to providing emerging and post-conflict democracies with access to voting technology through its philanthropic support to the DELIAN Project, as many emerging democracies suffer from post-electoral violence due to the delay in the...

...publishing of election results. Over the next three years, Dominion Voting will support election technology pilots with donated Automated Voting Machines (AVM), providing an improved electoral process, and therefore safer

~3~Dominion was bought by Staple Street Capital in 2018.

Watching the Congress hearing on Gamestop/Robinhood/Reddit. I'll let people know if there's anything super interesting.

Right now, it seems like both Democrats and Republicans are sympathetic with average Americans rather than the companies. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

I kind of like Rep. Patrick McHenry's (R) take. Basically, he says it's dumb that it's easier to buy a lottery ticket than to invest.

Now, Congressional hearings in committees are often more about figuring out problems than attacking each other; I fully expect both Democrats and Republicans to have good insight here.

Rep. Al Green says that fines -have- to outweigh the benefits from breaking the law. I completely agree.

THREAD

My country is dying

Drowning in the blood of poor

My country is dying

Under the pretenses of a cure

The children of my people are starving in a corner

With their mother dressed in black, playing the role of a mourner

My country is dying, and yet no one cares

1/5

Because the tragedy that happened was yet to be theirs

My country is dying because of its people

Those who turn the other cheek when they witness evil

Acts of defiance resulted in death

Do not defy the king called Macbeth

For he knows no rules, no law to abide

2/5

And his wish remains to conquer and divide

His puppets, they dance to the rhythm of the gun

For they do not care who they shoot, a daughter or a son

It is not in their interest to care for the people

Not the old, nor the young, the fit or the cripple

3/5

This is not a stranger who lays dead on your feet

It is your brother, a comrade, a statistic on repeat

My country is dying and it's begging for help

From its children, the people, to look out for themselves

My country is dying and it's only a matter of time

4/5

Before your life will worth nothing, not even a dime.

And now your country is dying, so why don't you care?

When your home remains here, and not elsewhere.

5/5

Consent-Manufacturing For Patriot Act II Continues

The way to stop far-right extremism would be to reverse the crushing neoliberal policies which led to Trump. Instead Biden's already pushing new domestic terror laws and reducing people's stimulus

President-elect Biden promised unambiguously that if voters gave the Democratic Party control of the Senate by electing Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia earlier this month, checks of $2,000 would "go out the door

SEN. LANKFORD: December 2016, a poll said 32% of Americans believed that the Russians had influenced the outcome of the election. Based on that belief, we spent millions investigating it, we had 6 congressional hearings, etc because 32% of Americans didn't trust that election.

2/ A few days ago, a poll said 46% of Americans believe there was election & voter fraud in the 2020 election. 80% of Trump supporters and 16% of Biden supporters believe there was fraud. Now, amazingly after the 2020 election, everyone is saying "lets move on and ignore this."

3/ In my state on election night, like 27 other states in the country, by that evening, we were counting votes, and all absentee ballots had been received. There was much less opportunity for fraud because all of our absentee ballots were in.

4/ Amazingly, a week after this election, some states were still telling us, they weren't sure how many ballots were left to count. That gives opportunity for fraud, questions, and problems. It's reasonable to ask if there was fraud when you mail a ballot to everyone in a state.

5/ Even if they didn't ask for a ballot. Especially, when the state did not first purge or verify those addresses & they sent thousands of ballots to people that no longer live there. That's a problem. There were at least 91,000 registered voters that are dead. That's a problem.

Court upholds conviction of Chinese businessman linked to Hunter Biden

A federal appeals court upheld the criminal convictions against Patrick Ho, a Chinese businessman and think tank leader linked to President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

When Ho, one of Chinese energy tycoon Ye Jianming’s lieutenants, was charged by the Justice Department in 2017, the first call he reportedly made after his arrest was to Joe Biden’s brother, James, who has said he thought the call was meant for Hunter Biden.

Ho was indicted and convicted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for his role in a global money laundering and bribery scheme aimed at government officials in Africa.

The Justice Department also accused Ho of helping with Iranian sanctions evasion and working to use the Chinese company’s connections to sell weaponry to Chad, Libya, and Qatar. Ho was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2019 and was deported to Hong Kong in June.

"He's not just unprepared -- he's temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility."

- @HillaryClinton, 2016

Four years ago this country failed itself, bigly.

We got everything wrong.

All of it.

1/

We are where we are today because of the mistakes we made then. Period.

It could have and would have- gone so very differently.

This is true whether you believe Trump actually won fairly, or, that he and Russia stole the election in 2016.

We fucked up either way.

2/

"We cannot put the safety of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump's hands. We cannot let him roll the dice with America."

- @HillaryClinton, 2016.

She sounds like a prophet now. She told us out loud every single day of that campaign who Donald Trump was.

3/

Many of us were screaming with her from the sidelines, but out front it was pretty much just Hillary.

Everyone else was too busy trying to tear her apart to hold him accountable for anything.

Even the left.

The fucking left

It was shit storm and it rained everyday.

4/

.

All kinds of fun stuff happened during that time. Things that should have made everyone sit up straight and pay attention.

In Dec 2015 Jill Stein ate dinner in Russia with her, ahem, good friends Michael Flynn and Vladimir