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From 🇪🇺: One of the three German politicians vying to lead Merkel’s CDU party became the first major European voice to link today’s mass arrests in Hong Kong with the EU-China investment deal.

 A prominent critic of the deal in the European Parliament asked: “Democracy in HK is dying before our eyes, and the priority of our dear European leaders is to sell us their investment agreement with Beijing. How can we be so out of time?” https://t.co/392P5xZ3VV
Interesting take https://t.co/awMCzgSPFD
EU Commission spokesman @MamerEric defended the bloc’s decision to reach an investment deal, and added the need to engage China on issues like climate change, when asked about the impact of the human rights situation in Hong Kong on EU-China relations.
“The coordinated arrest of over 50 pro-democracy activists on accusations of subversion under the National Security Law sends a signal that political pluralism is no longer tolerated in Hong Kong. The EU calls for the immediate release of those arrested,” @ExtSpoxEU says.
Swedish FM on Hong Kong mass arrests: https://t.co/msgXS7BIbr
Head of the European Parliament’s trade committee - the body that will scrutinise the CAI deal - strikes a strong tone on the mass arrests in HK, saying they “mark a violation of the spirit of the EU-China investment deal sustainability commitments” - incl human rights. https://t.co/QCxMPSjaMz
The list keeps growing. Here’s ex-Belgian prime minister and high-profile MEP @guyverhofstadt’s take

➡️ EU Parliament “will never ratify” deal without “proof that the human rights of Hong Kongers, Uyghurs & Tibetans improve”. https://t.co/fXdaQgPhHx
5 @Europarl_EN members ask @eucopresident @vonderleyen @JosepBorrellF to take urgent action on Hong Kong, incl
• raising issue at UN Security Council
• sanctioning “at least” Carrie Lam
• providing lifeboat to persecuted democrats on member-state level

#ReportingNotEndorsing
Beijing and Hong Kong authorities “deliberately misled the world about the true purpose of the National Security Law”, which as the mass arrests show is being used to crush dissent and opposing political views, @DominicRaab says. https://t.co/e2yGIdlXSF

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Andrew Lawton
Andrew Lawton
@AndrewLawton
Chinese president Xi Jinping is the lead speaker at this week's Davos Agenda, the World Economic Forum's online summit.


Xi lays out four priorities for world:

1) Step up "macroeconomic policy coordination" and promote "strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the world economy";

2) Abandon ideological prejudice and "jointly follow a path of peaceful coexistence." Says no country is superior to another. "There would be no human civilization without diversity," he adds, taking aim at "arrogance, prejudice and hatred";

3) Close the divide between developed and developing countries. "With the growth of developing countries, global prosperity and security will be put on a more (solid) footing"; and,

4) "Come together against global challenges and jointly create a better future for humanity." "No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response, and global cooperation."
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Paul Furber
Paul Furber
@paul_furber
Good question: what proofs has BDA provided of his authenticity?

Let's go through some of them.


- BDA predicted the Saudis would assassinate Suleimani. They did.
- He said the dog that got Badghadi's arm deserved a Medal Of Honor. The next day the President posted a joke image showing him giving the dog a MoH.

- He said one of his ops in Syria would severely disrupt a CIA drug trafficking operation. This was proved true within a few days:
https://t.co/Hranupwcxj
- He sent gold to Brazil to help pay for an anti-trafficking operation there. That op became public soon afterwards.

- On May 31 this year, he predicted the President would be giving a speech the next day. June 1, the President gives a surprise address at the Rose Garden.
- He predicted the US would be making diplomatic moves on Greenland. True.

- He said the US would be pulling all troops out of Afghanistan. This was confirmed within the month.
- He claimed earthquakes would be hitting Iran's nuclear facilities in December. Yep.
- There were FOUR facilities hit, not the three made public. Also true.
WORLD
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Tweeting Historians
Tweeting Historians
@Tweetistorian
How do you explain the Trinity in Chinese? If you're a Christian in Tang China, there's a few ways!

I'm @ChenHuailun, back for my last #Twittistorian thread, this time on translating the names of God in Chinese Christian documents. ~ahc #jingjiao 1/


There are two main writers/translators credited in the extant documents of the Christian (called 'Jingjiao' 景教 in Chinese) corpus of Tang China: Aluoben and Jingjing. ~ahc #jingjiao /2

Aluoben (阿蘿本) was said to have been the Persian missionary responsible for bringing Christianity to China, arriving in Chang'an in 635 and building a church there with 21 monks. ~ahc #jingjiao /3


'Observing the azure clouds, he [Aluoben] bore the true sacred books; beholding the direction of the winds, he braved difficulties and dangers.' - Xi'an stele ~ahc #jingjiao /4


Let's pause on this name, Aluoben (阿蘿本). Some translate it as 'Olopen.' Is it a Syriac name, perhaps a rendering of Yahballaha or Abraham? Or perhaps a Middle Persian name Anōš-ruwān (meaning immortal soul)? ~ahc #jingjiao /5
WORLD
Faisal Islam
Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
NEW:
BBC has seen the official internal management data for the new post Brexit freight border - roll on roll off lorry outbound flows to EU now at 98% of last February - though was 73% in January... officials say “back to normal”...


That is reference to lorry flow rates - which is what Cabinet Office key committees most concerned about post Brexit in terms of knock on social impact for supplies of everything. Government now confident its “reasonable worst case scenario” of 7k lorries in kent won’t happen...

That is not same as saying trade has normalised - drawing on multiple sources - ferry manifests, Kent checks, french official data - the level of empty lorries on the short straits is around 50%, and was normally around 30%... ...

traffic here was 67% normal in Jan - 82% in feb

Combining those and you get to around 2000 fewer laden export trucks a day in January, still notable fall now. Officials say much was displaced into last year by stockpilers. On other hand French transport sources suggest the higher value Tunnel export empties more like 50-60%

Officials have been tracking the commodity codes on the ferry manifests and have distinguished between freight flows hit so far in 2021 by general COVID downturn - eg clothing and apparel, and post Brexit transition - agriculture, food and groupage
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Coraje \u271d \U0001f1e6\U0001f1f7
Coraje ✝ 🇦🇷...
@CorajeTaringero
@atsumori5834 An Argentinian variant of Italian fascism with stuff from German National Socialism that took an unexpected turn and led to a globalist and progressive ideology. Menemism was a conservative variant but not faithful to the doctrine and from that new generation arose Kirchnerism.

The Kirchnerists are antifascists and "supercapitalists", which is a term used by Juan Perón to refer to a deformed, monstrous style of government, the result of the fusion between Marxism and Capitalism (Globalism).

The Kirchneristas dubbed themselves Peronism and little by little they are making the orthodox Peronists treated like outdated garbage and surely soon persecuted as if they were authentic NationalSocialists. A tragedy.

Peronism is full of progressives, globalists, left liberals, feminists, zionists...
Left: Juan Perón, creator of the Peronism movement.
Right: Alberto Fernandez, actual leader of the Peronist movement. Pathetic.


In addition, the Kirchnerists give our sovereignty to the Chinese, and they do not recognize the value of our Japanese brothers. But Perón admired the Japanese a lot. Carlos Menem also maintained excellent relations with Japan
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Mike DiCenzo
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"How the Avengers would respond to the Capitol riot" (a thread)

CAPTAIN AMERICA - tells Falcon, "I fought Nazis once before. They're extremely dangerous." They then see the guy scaling the Capitol wall fall into the shrubs. Falcon: "You sure these are the same Nazis?"

IRON MAN - lands by the guy carrying the podium. Says, "Mind if I borrow this?" then tosses it to Hulk, who swings it like a bat at the mob. Guy: "Hey, that's MY podium!" Iron Man: "Actually it's the Speaker's. And technically, it's a lectern." Then punches him through a wall.

BLACK WIDOW - enters hotel room where Jack Dorsey is tied up. Rips duct tape off his mouth. Jack: "I'll do anything you want!" BW: "Disable POTUS's Twitter. NOW!" Jack fumbles with his phone. "Done. Anything else?" BW: "Yeah. Trim your beard for God's sake." *tosses him clippers*

HULK - grabs a selfie stick from one of the guys and beats him over the head with it. Deeming it too small, he grabs another guy's Confederate flag and takes out a whole swath of rioters. He then tosses the flag to Cap, who uses it as a javelin to impale a fleeing Ted Cruz.

HAWKEYE - hears Iron Man in his earpiece say, "Looks like Orange Julius is tweeting from another account." Hawkeye: "On it." He locks in on Trump through the White House window and fires an arrow, knocking the phone out of Trump's hands. Hawkeye: "Damn that felt good."
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Shaun Russell
Shaun Russell
@_ShaunRussell
"I really want to break into Product Management"

make products.

"If only someone would tell me how I can get a startup to notice me."

Make Products.

"I guess it's impossible and I'll never break into the industry."

MAKE PRODUCTS.

Courtesy of @edbrisson's wonderful thread on breaking into comics – https://t.co/TgNblNSCBj – here is why the same applies to Product Management, too.


There is no better way of learning the craft of product, or proving your potential to employers, than just doing it.

You do not need anybody's permission. We don't have diplomas, nor doctorates. We can barely agree on a single standard of what a Product Manager is supposed to do.

But – there is at least one blindingly obvious industry consensus – a Product Manager makes Products.

And they don't need to be kept at the exact right temperature, given endless resource, or carefully protected in order to do this.

They find their own way.
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Simon DeDeo
Simon DeDeo
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"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."


We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.

Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)

It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.

Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
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Jeet Heer
Jeet Heer
@HeerJeet
1. Now that Stan Lee is being eulogized far and wide, it's important to remember how marginal Stan Lee and his collaborators (Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko) were in the 1950s and 1960s.

2. Marvel Comics (before that Atlas) was just a cog in the machine of a bottom pulp publisher run by Martin Goodman, the husband of one of Lee's cousins. It was the lowest of the low in the publishing world.

3. Now Mario Puzo (not yet the author of the Godfather) shared offices with Stan Lee in the 1950s and 1960s. Puzo wrote for garrish men's adventure magazines and, like Lee, dreamed of writing a novel & breaking out. But Puzo looked down on Lee.

4. Flo Steinberg, 1960s secretary at Marvel: "They were always making jokes about us. They'd come in and giggle. mario Puzo would look in and would see us all working on his way to the office and say, 'Work faster, little elves. Christmas is coming.'"

5. When JFK was killed, the whole office of Magazine Management was stunned and quiet. Except Lee. He continued working. "He was still working on the comic books," Puzo said. "Like that was the most important thing in the world."
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Facebook originally a CIA program called "LifeLog".
LifeLog, via DARPA, terminated on Feb 4th, 2004.
Facebook was launched on Feb 4th, 2004.
Many of the LifeLog team became execs at FB.
Zuckerberg is a figurehead.
CIA allowed Cambridge to help Trump win

https://t.co/enzOXDCogV


Pentagon Kills LifeLog
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