We live in a society that misunderstands boundaries and consent. Most people think the former is about just saying no, and the latter is about sex. And while that’s a part of it, they are about agency, autonomy, respect and interpersonal relationships.

1/

Unsolicited advice without consent is crossing a person’s boundaries. Even if the advice is good advice, even if the person giving the advice is a pastor or a parent, even if the advice is important. Most people aren’t talking about their life so that we may solve it.

2/

It is an honor to be trusted with someone’s life story*, with their thoughts and their challenges, with their struggles and their musings. But it is not an open invitation to try and solve their problems, control their behavior, tell them what to do.

3/

For a group of people that speak often of free will and claim to follow Jesus, Christians are some of the worst at boundaries and consent in general, and advice giving in particular. Think about how many sermons are not sharing spiritual truths, but just giving advice.

4/

Think about how much pastoral counseling is just advice giving. Think about the many books that tell you how to parent, how to be a good wife, how to be a good Christian, how to... and how much of it is general advice as though our lives were interchangeable?

5/

I cannot count the number of people who've tweeted at me about how masking and social distancing don't work, and how California's surge is proof. Florida is the most common point of contrast, since while California was suffering in December, things in Florida were quiet(ish).

Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pointed to CA as evidence that lockdowns and mask mandates are ineffective.

So, why was COVID calm in Florida when it was exploding in California? There's some randomness to when outbreaks hit , so everyone won't be hit at the same time.

Yes, CA has a higher compliance with masking and social distancing but CA *needs* higher compliance to stave off a New York-style disaster. CA is just far more vulnerable to a big outbreak, due to its higher levels of poverty, crowding & because it's a travel hub

The CDC measures "social vulnerability," -- how severely affected a region may be by a disease outbreak, based on average income, education, housing status etc. While 55% of CA residents live in counties with high “social vulnerability," fewer than a quarter of Floridians do.

So that's why, sometimes, it may seem that Floridians take fewer precautions, more businesses are open indoors etc, and they are not getting slammed with COVID in the way LA might be at that moment, for example.

Happy New Year! On Monday, we start tweeting about #AdamSmith 's whole #WealthOfNations at the rate of about a chapter a day! Don’t miss it! #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Today, we’re looking at “The Introduction and Plan of the Work” because although it is New Year’s Day, we, the SmithTweeters, are still Very Serious Smith Scholars. #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

TFW you start reading “The Introduction and Plan of the Work” and realize that elevator speeches were invented before elevators. #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

How hard people work &how many are working is more important to national wealth than resources &climate. So much for Montesquieu et al saying climate determines levels of industriousness or laziness. (Int. 3) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

We swear we’re going to come back to Smith and this “savage nations” phrase he keeps dropping. We just can’t do it on January 1st. (Int. 4) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

For those of us suffering & dying in Texas, the sociopathy of @GOP that leads to an astonishing lack of concern about our lives by evil folk like @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @TuckerCarlson @DanCrenshawTX et al who blatantly lie about what’s happening...1

...just to score political points - and protect the profits of energy companies - is almost incomprehensible. These are people who would claim Social Security caused 9/11 if it was convenient. What caused this catastrophe is vast vast majority from gas, then coal/nuclear...2

...then wind. The ONLY source of power that is delivering more than expected in budgeting is wind. But that’s not convenient to say for the oil/gas/coal industry, so the @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @DanCrenshawTX stand atop our dead bodies lying to protect the companies...2

...shockingly, the ONLY people in a position of state/national strength are the executives with the company that manages electricity in the state, @ERCOT_ISO. But they can’t tell the whole truth, because that would entail revealing how much stupidity was done here for profit...3

...of industry by Texas @GOP. If gas/nuke/nuclear/wind had been winterized - as they are everywhere else in the country - this would have largely been prevented. But it would have cost companies money, and that would cut into profits. If the gas lines has been buried deeper...3

Dixon Technologies con call was today at 4:00 PM.

"Company will be focusing on expenditure in R&D and disciplined capital allocation for future growth"

Here are the key takeaways of the call. 😀

@sonalbhutra @drprashantmish6 @varinder_bansal @Milind4profits @gvkreddi

🧵👇

Opening remarks

- Company had a good all around performance with highest sales.

- Growth of 120% in revenue

- EBITDA had a robust growth of 89%.

- Growth has been broad based.

- order book continues to be very strong.

- Growth is reflected across businesses.

- Overall demand outlook remains positive

- Due to global trade mismatch in commodity prices resulted in higher input cost and disturbed supply chain

- It could disturb the ODM revenue a bit

- Company is well positioned with robust balance sheet with good cash position.

- Company is focusing towards investing in people and R&D

- Company is extremely focused towards disciplined capital allocation

LED

- govt regulation has helped in growth.

- Company did well in this segment because of backward integration, operating leverage & sales of larger size tv.

- 4.4 million capacity that is 30% of India's total requirement

- Company is expanding its capacity to 5.5 millions

@AuthorMonika No; we have been British here long before we were Scottish. British comes from 'Pritani' which is what the people here called themselves and the whole island before the Romans invaded.

When the Romans were here they Latinised this to Britannia, but also, for example, the Vindolanda tablets found at Hadrian's wall record the locals north of the wall as 'Britunculi' ' the little britons'

Looking at the post Roman period the 'scots' were Irish pirates who started to invade and colonize from the west. There has been a tribal split known between the 'British' - which covered the central belt where most of 'Scots' still live now, and the 'picts' to the North.

Now the latest research on the Picts suggests from their language that they and the 'British' had an originally common source and both from a same root proto-british language.

Then if you move forward to the Declaration of Arbroath - it literally says that the Scots invaded from Ireland and 'expulsis primo Britonibus et Pictis omnio deletis' - 'first routed the British then destroyed every single Pict'

Argentina legalizing abortion offers an opportunity to reflect on the great unwritten media narrative of the past few generations: the lives of women and children got worse in so many ways after Roe v. Wade.

Media would never, ever write that narrative, of course - would never string stories together and search for a pattern that could be refined into a political point - but it's the net impact of their reporting on women's issues. Everything started getting worse in the 70s.

There is a valid "narrative" to be discerned from that ocean of bad news about women and children over the past few decades. It's not a coincidence. It's a direct result of the Big Lie pushed by the abortion lobby: that only one person is involved in the decision to give birth.

That's so obviously untrue that entire civilizations are driven mad when they are forced to accept it. It's like forcing everyone to agree that the sky is green or gravity is a myth. Cognitive dissonance inflicts far more social damage than politicians or academics want to admit.

Women and (born) children suffer after abortion becomes broadly legalized because men are erased from the picture. A lot of men - including rich and powerful men - LIKE being erased from that particular picture. Others are intimidated out of insisting they belong in it.

What is happening in the United States now is a fascistic insurrection to stop the transfer of power, instigated by Trump in an attempt to nullify the elections and overthrow the Constitution. 1/

The storming of the Capitol building in DC will also give an impulse to militias and far-right organizations in states throughout the country. Just this past October, a plot was uncovered to kidnap and execute the Governor of Michigan and other states. 2/

Trump has repeatedly declared his refusal to accept the results of the election, which he clearly lost. On Monday, he proclaimed at a rally in Georgia: “They are not taking this White House. We are going to fight like hell.” 3/

As we state in the perspective on the WSWS today, "In the face of Trump’s active effort to overthrow the Constitution, the Democratic Party and its defenders are doing everything possible to conceal and downplay the threat posed by Trump’s actions."

Throughout the election and post-election crisis, the Democrats have worked to cover-up the character of Trump's actions, from the threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in June, through the Michigan coup plot, up to the post-election refusal to transfer power. 5/

The worldwide movement toward "limited authoritarianism," already well under way but dramatically accelerated by the coronavirus, is driven by the elite consensus that ordinary people cannot be trusted with so much freedom.

"Limited authoritarianism" is the best phrase for what the elite have in mind. They have decided that a growing list of topics are simply off the table. Consensus has been reached, and no further input from voters will be permitted on those topics.

This is a natural consequence of the progressive ideology, which is inherently authoritarian, although it peddles itself in the early stage with lots of jibber-jabber freedom and liberty. Progressives by definition believe that the growth of the State can never be reversed.

Every time the State grows - taking more money from the private sector, issuing regulations, criminalizing activities that used to be free - it is declaring that the people can no longer be trusted to make certain decisions. This is the inescapable logic of statism.

You can't be trusted to spend that dollar wisely, so the State will take it from you. You can't be trusted to make those decisions about your health care, so the State will make them for you. You can't be trusted to sell your own labor, so the State will control employment.

On Wednesday 3 cis women gave evidence to the @Commonswomequ select committee on #GRA reform. These panellists spent the majority of their allocated time arguing that proposed reform has the potential to harm cis women due to the presence of trans women in ‘women’s’ spaces

Yet anyone who has knowledge about the issues at stake knows that changes proposed to the GRA would have absolutely no impact here. There is no connection as the Equality Act, by recognising trans women as women, ensures their right to women’s spaces such as toilets

The arguments presented at @Commonswomequ by these panellists were thus completely irrelevant- they might as well have been arguing that changes to the GRA would lead to a rise in the price of bread - and should have been told so by the committee Chair.

Moreover, they presented no evidence in support of their (irrelevant) claims. When pushed, one study from Sweden was cited. Anyone who knows this study, however, knows that it does not do what was claimed - indeed the author has explicitly asked for it not to be used in this way.

Their evidence therefore is based on the views of supporters of trans hostile organisations such as WPUK who all 3 panellists have some involvement with. In light of this, I also did some quick and dirty research.

1/11
It may sound counterintuitive to be having a conversation but there are some issues that just don’t have two sides. Nobody is in favor of tornadoes, or cancer, or against pizza – maybe pineapple on pizza, but not pizza itself. #velshi

2/11
There are, in fact, things that we can all agree upon. Unanimously. Or at least within a very VERY small margin of error. What led to the second impeachment of the former president is one of those things that doesn’t have two sides. #velshi

3/11
There are many who claim to be against the 2nd impeachment but, when you examine those claims, they are political, or maybe even constitutional when considering impeaching a president whose no longer in office. #velshi

4/11
On the specifics of what happened on January 6th, there’s no debate. Exactly 2 weeks before we inaugurated a duly elected president – a fact determined not just by 50 secretaries of state but by MORE than 50 courts of law - a violent mob ransacked Congress. #velshi

5/11
The mob attacked the building itself, and then members of the mob went in search of its occupants. A mob that, by admission of many who actually participated, & have since been arrested, was doing what it did because the former President motivated them to do it. #velshi

It's been a whole day since we tweeted Part 2 of this chapter, so let us remind you: #AdamSmith just said that the colonies got nothing that helped them succeed from the mother country. (IV.vii.c) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

So these two opening sentences are pretty heckin’ sarcastic:
Now we've seen the great advantages the colonies got (they got nothing!) (IV.vii.c.1)
So what have been the great advantages to Europe! (IV.vii.c.2)

Seems like there’s a...tone there. #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Europeans buy goods from America, and Americans buy European goods as well. Even countries that don’t trade directly with America have benefited. (IV.vii.c.3–8) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

The mother countries restrict colonial trade (esp the exclusive right to buy from or sell to their colonies). That's a dead weight on the increase of the wealth of nations. Everything is more expensive, everyone enjoys less of it. (IV.vii.c.9) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Maybe European countries get added security? In ancient times, empires expected military support and revenue from their colonies, and they got it.
18thC colonies? Not so much. (IV.vii.c.11–13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Thread:
A year ago, at this hour exactly I was in Maujpur in northeast Delhi. For days, weeks & months, I -- like several other reporters -- filed multiple stories on the #DelhiRiots. On the violence, the perpetrators, the victims, the burnt homes & shops, the fear.

I remember every minute of Feb 23, 2020 -- from the speeches to smoke billowing from afar. What I can't ever forget is the face of a man who sat alone in front of a shop, his kurta dusty and torn, blood on his forehead, unable to answer who he was & where he wanted to go.

I've his photo, I never posted it anywhere, and I won't either. He was in such shock, and there was no help around. I tried talking to him but he didn't say a word. He was numb.

It'll take me years before I can fully write down what happened that afternoon -- a stampede, stones flying all around me, a colleague who held nu hand & ran, another who lost her slipper for a minute, tear gas, my inhaler, salt.

I sent my mother messages, my hands trembling. At 1 am, I was home -- my head buried inside a pillow between my parents.

Now Ministering: Pst Clem Imaku
Topic: Pursuit After God; Becoming a God Chaser
Text: Psalm 63:1
Pursuit is the act of chasing after something. The pursuit after God is the act of chasing after God in other to know him.

#ChurchGRA
#HappyNewYear
#FirstSundayOfTheYear
#Restoration

When there is no hope, put your trust in God.
In everything you do, put God in it. David is an example of a God chaser. In the midst of his trouble, he pursued God continually.

#ChurchGRA
#HappyNewYear
#FirstSundayOfTheYear
#Restoration

For you to pursue God, you must have a personal relationship with Him. Those that chase after God, have a hunger for God.

#ChurchGRA
#HappyNewYear
#FirstSundayOfTheYear
#Restoration

God chasers desire God they desire to know the power of god Philippians 3:10.
For you to be a God chaser, you must have a hunger for his presence.

#ChurchGRA
#HappyNewYear
#FirstSundayOfTheYear
#Restoration

What you never pursue, you won't get.
Psalm 14:2. God is looking at us to see if our attention would be on him. He wants to release his power and glory but if you don't desire him, He won't.

#ChurchGRA
#HappyNewYear
#FirstSundayOfTheYear
#Restoration

Having spent 2020 telling covid denalists that they were overly optimistic about the pandemic, I now look forward to spending 2021 telling covid maximalists that they are overly pessimistic about the end of the pandemic.

Telling a denialist in May that we shouldn't open bars back up = telling a maximalist in February that we should open schools back up.

Look, folks, the math is straightforward. ~13% of Americans have been vaccinated as of this

And the 7 day average continues to rise; we're approach 2 million vaccine doses per day. Meaning that we'll double that ~13% much faster than the two months it took us to get there.

So it's entirely reasonable that absent any other intervention, we should expect to hit ~30% vaccinated by the end of March.

The other day I was accused: “you can’t just make up a new theory of gender based on your vague feelings of discontent.” Hold my beer.

The old "theory" of gender, (as if it had scientific grounding) the one you can literally lose your livelihood for opposing, though only if you are a man, seems to me to have been fashioned exclusively by women feeling vague discontent

Quite on my own I had been reading about some of the early feminist texts, and it happens that modern gender theorists mostly disavow them. Obfuscation and dissimulation are to women as violent imposition of will is to men

The view of xerstory laid out in such books as The Second Sex is such a powerful and compelling lens that nearly all moderns look through it. We don’t even see it, the world now looks alien without it, and yet it colors everything

We must destroy the claim that women are “historically oppressed” and that this bottomless well of injustice demands a similarly endless ream of legislation to nullify all male advantages.