Today Gardaí pepper sprayed, tasered and shot dead a young Black man with mental health issues. There will be an ombudsman inquiry, as there always is in the case of a death at the hands of Gardai. Some thoughts...

There have been many such deaths at the hands of police in the UK over the years. So many of them involve mental health issues. The @IRR_News has recorded many of those.

Police are rarely disciplined for the use of lethal force in the case of mental health issues, because the decision is based on the balance of threat versus force.

Butp police are not mental health specialists, and they make a judgement on the perceived safety of officers. Those judgements on threat are often based in biases that perceive ethnic minorities, particularly people of African descent, as more aggressive.

Policing of Black communities worldwide suffers from this bias problem, as do investigations into lethal force by police.
Police services rarely acknowledge these biases, nor do those bodies that investigate them.

On late Tunde Thomas #DNAtest & the MD, FCMB Adam Nuru, paternity fraud, let me share a story from one of my private investigations.

Mr Balogun (not real name) was married to Mrs Kemi (not real name) for 33 years. none of the 4 children from that marriage belongs to Balogun. 💔

According to Mr Balogun, he met Kemi, while she was serving (NYSC) they dated briefly, & got married. He was already successful at a very young age, why Kemi was trying to find her feet. He gave her everything any woman could dream of having. A good life, & a good home.

Unknown to Balogun, while Kemi was serving, she dated him, alongside one poor dude. She had Balogun, as the money bag or MUGU, why the Poor Boy as her true love. When she became pregnant, Balogun proposed, & married her. But Kemi kept on with that relationship, outside matrimony.

Just to have unhindered access to her true Love, Kemi lied to Balogun that the poor dude (Uncle Shola) was a family member, from her late mum's family. That being the only child of her late mum, since after her death, it is only Uncle Shola, that has been in touch & helps to her.

That lie from Kemi, made Balogun to love Uncle Shola even more. For being there for his wife, when she had no one to help. He gave uncle Shola unhindered access to his house 24/7. Calling him in-law. The two love birds comport themselves properly, whenever someone is around.

Thread: Can we be honest for a brief moment? There are 5 main arguments believers are having about racism. The conflict over race is not about CRT and its validity. The (1st) conflict is really over the evidence that proves or disproves the existence of systemic racism

What I mean is, who’s/what evidence is empirical to prove or disprove the existence of systemic racism? For those who affirm CRT, it is proof. And others go to Civil Rights Legislation for disproof. Saying that “Systemic Racism” ended in the 1964 Civil Rights
Era.

The second most prevalent argument is over the definition of systemic. And depending on the definition, it may be accurate to say there is no systemic racism. But that depends on the way one is using the word systemic. Yet ppl seem to rarely define what they mean by systemic

The third argument is over the validity of experience. How much does personal experience count in one’s evaluation of racism? Some say none. That is just Standpoint Epistemology. Personal Agency matters not Personal Experience. But how does one do that?

How does one say your personal experience is not truth, but your responsibility to act against that experience is? Personal Agency comes out of personal experience. There is no agency without experience. I’m responsible for what? My actions stemming from my experiences.

@gettleman only 1.9% of farmers in US are African Americans .. But you yap nonsense about India .. wonder when will you white pigs leave the lands you usurped from natives n return to Europe ? The world has had enough with you white arse h0les.. your entire history stinks

how many overseas bases have you decolonised ? Just last year the ICJ ruled against USA n UK but you white pigs refused to vacate Chagos , you made 1000s of Chagossians homeless for your military base...

USA has used Latin America like it's colony .. you killed people to just make profit out of bananas .. you converted ppl of bikini n Marshall islands to Shitianity but used them as guinea pigs for your radiation exposure tests .. your country should be punished

Today we lost 1820 of our citizens. Many of these deaths could have been prevented. I plead with our Secretary of State @MattHancock and @CMO_England to make changes to our community protective shield as follows: (1)

Face the data with humility. Latest data show only 32% of in-person test results were received within 24 hours...Way too slow. For all routes combined, 18.3% of tests from all test sites were received within 24 hours of a test. (2)

Since Test and Trace launched, 97.8% of all contacts managed by local health protection teams have been successfully reached. Performance of call centres is much worse. The % reached within 24h of the case that reported them reaching the contact tracing system fell to 67.7%. (3)

We should expect many more contacts than have been identified by call centres. And those contacted by call centre or online are simply asked to self-isolate. No follow-up. No link with primary care. No offer of local help. (4)

The MOST important statistic is not measured: compliance with 'self-isolation'. Surveys conducted have shown only 18.5% comply. And many of the poorest groups won't go for a test because they fear being asked to self-isolate. Why? (5)

My husband’s family history is complicated (on both side), to say the least.

Recently, he grew curious and wanted to learn more about his maternal grandfather—which was quite a force of nature.

Here’s a pretty long thread ⬇️

His maternal great grandfather was from a samurai family, so wealthy enough at the time to study at Todai and to become a judge. He got married, had 2 sons and then found nothing better to do than abandoned wife & kids to ran with a mistress and go do business in Manchuria.

Suffering from financial hardship, his ex-wife (from a merchant family) had to sell one of her son to another family.

She kept my husband’s grandfather with her, and remarried.

His grandfather received some good education, luckily, and studied at Meiji university.

The grandfather dreamt of becoming a prosecutor. But when he graduated, all the exams got cancelled—Japan was at war and the administration had no time to overview tests. He missed his one chance, and had to settle with becoming a public servant.

He married another descendant of a samurai family—my husband’s grandmother, an admirable lady and a nurse who had come from Gifu to Tokyo at 18.

They both were hardworking folks, who came from wealthy families who lost all their wealth in a fast changing world.

5th and Park Ave, apparently a group has gathered and some of them have lasers. Starting to march.

23:23

People are spray painting buildings at 5th and Park, possibly the Justice Center.
23:26

Police have observed several instances of graffiti and damage to property with this group.

Fireworks at 5th and Park, and more spray painting. 23:30

Medical Examiner's office was just tagged (graffiti). 23:33

I am a Seeker of Weblandia; I explore the less-traveled corners of Webtopolis, where the cool kids and adventurers like to stash rare and fantastic loot, and secret but extremely valuable information. These fringe corners and outskirts of Webtopolis are the last vestige of

2020 has brought many challenges and with them - a large volume of #disinformation. Here’s our recap! (THREAD 1/20)

In late JANUARY we collected the first examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation spinning conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID-19. (2/20)

In FEBRUARY disinfo outlets kept amplifying conspiracy theories about COVID-19, no matter how ridiculous. The @WHO warned that the pandemic was accompanied by “infodemic”: an unprecedented flood of false or inaccurate information about coronavirus. (3/20)

In MARCH Josep Borrell, the head of the European External Action Service, warned: “disinformation can kill”.

In APRIL global activist network @Avaaz found that harmful misinformation on coronavirus was shared over 1.7 million times on Facebook and viewed an estimated 117 million times. (5/20)

Clear communication is so important in times of national crisis. With no articulation of the goals and challenges, there is wavering trust in our leaders to lead us through this long dark period of Canadian history.

This is true for all levels of health care administration.

With the Covid pandemic, physicians and nurses locally rallied to the cause. We enjoined with our leaders on this great and patriotic national enterprise to keep our patients and our communities safe.

We were all in it together; and then we were not.

I am, through daily conversations with nursing and physician colleagues, coming to the sad realization that many health care providers now feel abandoned.

We know vaccinations are coming on stream and though we are seeing Covid patients, we also realize that there are individuals and communities in greater need and that we will have to be patient.

What is truly irksome is the total lack of communication from health care authorities and leaders.

They operate behind shrouds of silence. Information is limited, is released in dribs and drabs and is generally unhelpful.

The reason why Republicans, namely Mitch McConnell @senatemajldr, will not consider the steps other first world countries have taken like monthly stimulus payments to their citizens, is because those are successful socialist based economies. We are a capitalist based society /1

in which our government isn't concerned about the welfare of their fellow citizen but moreover the welfare of their bank accounts. Being a member of congress in The United States is a business. They do not see people that need representing, they see products that need to be /2

utilized for profit. That's what we are is products of profitability to the Republicans. If we suddenly are all happy and getting along and well taken care of, they don't have the means to stir up drama and continue to milk donors for money. You see, it is our money, /3

not theirs, but they are certainly not going to let us have it. That wouldn't serve their profits or their partners. Corporate America is hand in pocket with the Republicans. The richest 1% got over a trillion dollars richer since February, Congress sold off stocks and bought /4

new ones that they knew would either do poorly of they kept them or do great if they bought them, based on the info they got about the pandemic. They know we all need help, they simply don't care. They know the virus has killed 305,000 American Citizens in the USA and /5

I talk with people I respect and wish to learn from.

I engage in discussion not to prove that I am right, but to test ideas and be open to learning how I may be wrong. Ideas are put through the crucible, refined, clarified, discarded.

Democracy was built on debate.
1/

1/

I try my best to be collegial, but also to appear to be. Twitter format doesn't always make it easy, and sometimes I fall short.

I sometimes worry that we are losing the art of discussion.

2 /

I think to our predecessors who without technology, would exchange and debate ideas across vast distances with lengthy, meticulously handwritten letters.

The act of forging ideas this way likely forced a thoughtfulness...

3 /

The cost of waiting a month for a reply only to have your idea misunderstood or easily refuted is quite high; this placed a premium on critical thinking - best to make your point well the first time.

It's easy to see how cordialities became so common in those eras.

4 /

Best not affront your pen pal after you spent several days composing your thoughts and weeks waiting to hear back.

Great ideas were forged this way. The enlightenment.

Twitter's format does influence how we communicate, how we think, and how we perceive each other.

5 /

Thread: 1/10

What surviving my first bereaved Christmas taught me about handling Christmas in a pandemic:

Mindset: Christmas is nostalgia, tradition, togetherness. But it's also just one day. When things get tough tomorrow, remember this is a Friday & a big chicken dinner.

2/10

Expectations: Let yourself feel what you feel. It is beyond sh*t that people will be alone & that families are separated this Christmas. You don't have to pretend. It's ok to be sad, angry, resentful. Let yourself feel what you feel without expectation to feel otherwise.

3/10

No guilt: It's also ok to have fun on the day. To laugh, smile & enjoy lovely moments even though you miss a relative who can't be with you in order to keep safe from the virus. No guilt. Allow those moments. For you can hold both sadness & joy at the same time.

4/10

Chunk it down: This Christmas Day may feel very long when you're lonely for loved ones who are in another house. Think of the day in sections. Have a focus for each section. Focus only on the section in front of you. Breakfast. Walk. Video call loved ones. Dinner. Movie.

5/10

Allow for differences: Not everyone handles things the same, so don't judge others if they're dealing with the day differently to you tomorrow. Let everyone get through this strangest Christmas Day the best they can. Let everyone find their own way.

In a few years the bar moved from saying that children weren’t undergoing irreversible procedures, to arguing in The New Yorker that children should get to sterilize themselves for life without regard to the “arbitrary historical boundaries of

Among those of us with left-of-center political ideals, it’s only radical feminists who will now stand up and say that it’s wrong to sterilize children because they’re different, or unhappy. It’s only conservatives who will platform us to say

Where are the other organizations that claim to represent lesbian and bisexual women, saying that these girls don’t need mastectomies? Where are the gay men’s groups standing up for the wholeness of these boys? Why are they abandoning their responsibilities?

Where are the groups for those on the autism spectrum, standing up to say that it’s completely typical for autistic young people to have social fit difficulties and be unhappy about this, as well as to obsessively perseverate on special interests?

Why are news outlets who’ve made their bones reporting on previous medical scandals ignoring the sterilization of these children? Whether they’re LGB, autistic, or caught up in social contagions because they self-diagnosed from a YouTube overdose in a vulnerable moment?