@fvckinashman @KarlitoRichII @JoLuehmann 1. Thanks, Jay. Yeah... the Gracies have had connections with oppressive violence in Brazil from day one. Their recent interaction with the fascist dictatorship (1964-85) is still not sufficiently told. @UrbanAntonio has been collecting pieces here and there.

@KarlitoRichII @JoLuehmann @UrbanAntonio 2. There is another phenomenon that grew as an offshoot of Gracie-inspired BJJ: the neonazi BJJ groups in large cities like Sao Paulo, Rio and Brasilia. Their shady relations with the repression institutions is still not sufficiently documented, as a lot about ....

@KarlitoRichII @JoLuehmann @UrbanAntonio 3... what happened in the dungeons of the dictatorship. Anyway, they have established a strong tradition of fascist support in BJJ. They openly support Bolsonaro and we believe (but have no hard evidence) that several MMA ...

@KarlitoRichII @JoLuehmann @UrbanAntonio 4... fighters in Brazil were intimidated into publicly supporting Bolsonaro. It's not hard to understand why: their tentacles are long and they can end a career. If you go back to social media in 2018, all of them posted something ...

@KarlitoRichII @JoLuehmann @UrbanAntonio 5... supporting Bolsonaro.

If any of you find info written in Portuguese about that, send it my way and I'll translate it. We have some awesome people in the fights there like @souljacker and @JrGabrielBjj but the left is still microscopic in BR MMA.

I’ve thought long and hard about this. There is a constellation of circumstantial evidence around the most recently identified variant P.1, and what has been happening in Manaus, Brazil which makes me very seriously concerned. A thread 🧵

First Manaus has already been very hard hit by the pandemic. News reports in earlier stages told of rushed burials and bodies piling up

The crucial thing was the rapid rates of transmission, not really mitigated by ‘flattening the curve’ any. total per capita mortality was not as high as might be expected elsewhere, but only because the age structure of the population in Manaus skews young

(I just did the calculation, the numbers of deaths are quite consistent with independent estimates of age stratified IFRs as per

By October 2020, 76% of the population were estimated to have been infected. This is based on a convenience sample of antibodies found in blood donors. I don’t like convenience samples and the true figure might well be lower, but not a lot lower

How the Future of India and USA, was determined by the inability of the Austrian Kings Joseph I and Charles VI, to produce male heirs..

When Joseph 1, died of smallpox in 1711, he had two daughters but no son. As a result, his brother Charles VI, succeeded him on the throne

Given that it was 1700s and the presence of a Son was considered paramount for succession, and the Salic law, in effect at that time barred women from inheritance, Charles VI was the last male heir to the throne, unless Charles VI had a son.

Which he didn't.

But he had 2 daughters, Maria Theresa & Maria Anna. Realizing that his kingdom would be divided on his death, he decided to change the law, and allowed his daughters to inherit the kingdom

Which was pretty sad for thhe daughters of his elder brother, Joseph, who he disinherited

Every other European power was smacking their lips in anticipation, of devouring the wonderful Austro Hungarian empire as a sweet desert, as it's division was imminent.

Things came to head in 1740, when Charles VI died and Maria Theresa became the Empress of Austria.

Half the Europen powers, Like France, Prussia and Spain, sided with the daughters of Joseph, because they wanted to takeover Austria

Britain, Dutch and Russia, sided with Maria Theresa.

This resulted in an 8 year war called the war of Austrian Succession, in which 3,00,000 died

SHIFTING THE FOCUS

The world today is aghast at the cruelty of Islamic terrorism. The beheading of a French teacher and an old woman inside a church in french city of Nice has forced the French Government to take stern action against Islamic terrorism.

The Statement of the French President Macron to call spade a spade has resulted in large scale protest in Islamic world ranging from asking to kill French citizens to boycotting french products.

As always the victim card is out from the purse and as always the so called intellectual Jihadis are out to encash this Victim Card. The mere shamelessness to turn the terrorist as victims and the victims as the perpetrator is just amazing.

One way of changing the narrative is to portray a kind, merciful and intellectual image of Mohammad by using all the mass communication platforms. This so called intellectual jihadis who provide the covering fire for the foot soldiers are flooding the social media d.

with posts highlighting great character of Mohammad. It is similar to portraying Hitler as a Messiah.

One way of doing this propaganda is to post weak, fabricated and false hadiths. One such intellectual Jihadi is Arfa Khanum Sherwani,

This week data from all Brazilians were leaked, and when I say "all", it is in the literal sense. The refinement and depth of this data are frightening. @carissaveliz @TweetinChar @johnchavens @DorotheaBaur @privacyint @maria_axente 1/n 👇

There is still no certainty about where the data leaked, but there are suspicions (still not confirmed) that they are from Serasa: an Experian company in Brazil. The leak was of everything imaginable of 220 million inhabitants. 2/n 👇

Being all citizens, this includes ordinary citizens, including minors, police, ministers, presidents, judges, military, deputies, senators, judges, businessmen, religious leaders, people with disabilities, etc. But what kind of data? 3/n 👇

The list is really big: full name, date of birth, home address including lat/lon, social security numbers, ID, driver's license, relatives up to the 3rd degree, credit score, bank account, employer history, salary, working hours per week... 4/n 👇

...car brand, color, plate, chassis, phone number, phone provider, billing, credit score, social class, companies you own or have participation, where and when you graduated, 401(k), IRS, consumer behavior...well, think of any data, and it seems to be there 5/n 👇

In February 1981, pro-Franco army officers attacked the Spanish Parliament hoping to halt Spain's evolution toward democracy and liberalism. 1/x

The coup was soon suppressed, in large part because of a miscalculation by the dying Franco regime. In 1975, the regime had restored the old Spanish monarchy, hoping to glamorize authoritarianism. Instead, King Juan Carlos opposed the coup - and most of the army obeyed. 2/x

Here's where the story gets interesting for our current purposes ...

The coup launched to thwart Spain's shift to democracy instead consolidated Spanish democracy. The next year, 1982, social democrats won the biggest landslide in Spanish electoral history. 3/x

The elected social democrats formed a government without a single minister connected to the old regime. State support of the Catholic church ended. Family law was modernized, minority language rights were protected. If Franco had opposed it - the new Spain wanted it. 4/x

The process was not instant. Not until 2019 would the state remove Franco's remains from the lavish tomb he built to himself. But the process was inexorable. The pro-Franco attempted coup guaranteed the total doom of Francoism in Spain. 5/x

Amid the hail of accusations that the EU wanted to put a hard border on the island of Ireland last Friday, it's worth pointing out what the ill-fated resort to Article 16 was about:

2/ Under the Commission's trade mechanism, any Covid vaccines leaving the EU for third countries would need export authorisations, ie to ensure vaccines were not being exported which were actually part of an avanced purchase agreement between member states + pharma companies

3/ Any movements of exports from one member state to another would NOT have required such an export authorisation

4/ Because of the NI Protocol, Northern Ireland would typically have availed of NOT having to had export authorisations for any vaccines being sent there from Belgium (or wherever)

5/ However, someone in the Commission spotted the fact that, also under the Protocol, there was unfettered movement of goods between NI and GB

The presence of the #terrorist & intelligence arm of #QudsForce on Turkish soil. How #Turkey enables Iranians to operate as a central base country, for the logistical & operational operation of QF & #Iranian intelligence vis-à-vis target countries in Europe & the Middle East.
1

Iranian intelligence sees it as #Iran's "operational backyard" vis-à-vis the Middle East and Europe, as #Turkey has a number of clear advantages, including:
- proximity to Iran and relatively easy mobility of operatinal it and through it (air and land)
2

- Iranian citizens do not need a visa to enter the country
- This geographical location central and attractive holding secret meetings with #terrorist organizations throughout the world (Middle East, Europe, South East Asia)
3

- Cooperation With headquarters of #terrorist organizations operating from #Turkey & neighboring countries such as Syria and Lebanon.
An increase in the level of daring & impudence of Iranians is identified due to the feeling that everything is allowed & possible in Turkey.
4

Thread: There is the usual talking point going around the pro-Iran-Regime-Lobby in which Israel is once again presented as somehow doing something wrong by seeking to work with the US on Iran threats...or that Israel could start a "war"...the usual "war" bogeyman myth

The fact is that Israel is the one being threatened. Israel doesn't run proxy groups throughout the Middle East and arm them illegally by giving militias weapons...or have whole days devoted to bashing Iran or soldiers marching on Iran's flag. Only Iran does that.

There is never going to be a "war" with Iran, war is the talking point to claim that those who oppose the Iran regime far-right extremists are "hawks" or "for war"...which is nonsensical. Iran's regime can't afford a war, that is why it arms militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,Yemen

Iran knows how to get the poor to do the fighting for it...recruiting people from Pakistan and Afghanistan, not to defend their own communities, but sending them to Syria while they are attacked at home by extremists. Awful.

So the "war' talking point is always used to claim Israel wants "war"...or "drives wars"...but there is no evidence of this. Israel is totally open about its goals to deter Iran or keep its entrenchment in Syria away from the Golan. Israel found relative calm with hamas-Hezbollah

TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS IN PAKISTAN-INDIA HISTORY

Thread

1947/48 - 1st Pak-India War in Oct 47

1949 - Pakistan n India agreed to withdraw all troops behind a mutually agreed Ceasefire Line - 1 Jan

1949 - Agreement on a UNSC resolution calling for referendum in Kashmir

1/n

1954 - Accession of J & K to India is ratified by the state's constituent assembly

1960 - Signing of Indus Water Treaty in Sep

1963 - FMs of India and Pakistan - Swaran Singh and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto - held talks regarding the Kashmir dispute

2/n

1964 - Following the failure of the 1963 talks, Pakistan referred the Kashmir case to the UNSC

1965 - 2nd Pakistan-India War

1966 - On 10 Jan, President Ayub Khan and PM Lal Bahadur Shastri signed an agreement at Tashkent

1971 - 3rd Pakistan-India War

3/n

1972 - On 2 July, PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and PM Indira Gandhi signed an agreement in Simla. The agreement designates the ceasefire line of 17 Dec 1971, as the new "Line-of-Control (LoC)"

1973 - India agreed to release Pakistani Prisoners of War held since Dec 1971

4/n

1974 - Kashmiri state govt affirmed that the state "is a constituent unit of the Union of India"

1974 - India detonated a nuclear device at Pokhran on 18 May

1982 - President Zia's official visit to India on 11 Mar.

1986 - Exercise Brasstacks by India close to border

5/n

Man Jailed Ten Years over Farming Scam in Kaduna

Justice Darius Khobo of State High Court sitting in Kaduna on January 22, convicted and sentenced one Kamilu Tukur Ruma to Ten years imprisonment for obtaining N742,000 (Seven Hundred and Forty-two Thousand Naira) from one Zainab Garba as investment in a phony farming business.

After paying the said sum, Garba discovered that the farm land situated at Rigachukun Kaduna which the convict showed her, belonged to someone else.

The charge reads, “that you Kamilu Tukur Ruma sometime in April, 2018 in Kaduna within the Kaduna Judicial Division of the High Court being entrusted with the sum of N742,000,00 (seven hundred and forty two thousand Naira) by Zainab Garba...

...for the purpose that the money will be invested in farming business located at Rigachukun, Kaduna dishonestly converted the said money to your own use in violation of legal contract which you made in regard to the sum...

Let me clarify why is it next to impossible for #Hindus to win this ongoing Ideological/ civilizational war with us #Muslims:

If the #Hindu cause is +1, #Islamic cause is -1, and 0 is neutral, then we #Muslims are fighting hard for -1 while U Hindus R aiming for just 0!..(1/12)

..Let me explain:

V #Muslims attack #Hinduism.
U #Hindus attack only Traitors & Pakistan!

V fight for #Islamic cause.
U fight for #Nationalist cause!

We #Muslims want #Sharia state.
You #Hindus want #Secular state! ...(2/12)

... V R fighting #Religious war.
U just fighting political war!

V vote on Islamic grounds.
U vote on #SabkaSathSabkaVikas

V #Muslims never raise voice for #KashmiriPandits but burn cities for #Rohingyas!
U #Hindus speak for not only KP but also for Sufis & Balochis! ..(3/12)

...V #Muslims rename Rampur to Rahimpur
U #Hindus rename Aurangzeb rd to Kalam rd!

V speak for Junaid & Akhlaq only
U speak for GorakshakGopal & soldier Aurangzeb in same breadth!

V straight away abuse ur Religion & God
U only oppose the radicals amongst us! ...(4/12)

V want rights to abuse only ur religion
U want rights to abuse all religions including urs!

The flags of #Pakistan is fully #Islamic but the flag of India is just 1/3rd #Hindu!

Pakistan has less than 1% Hindus remaining but Indian #Muslims are grown to 25%! ...(5/12)

Now for something other than the United States: Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) are choosing their new leader next week. The winner has a very good chance of succeeding Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany. Here's what you need to know:

First, a little context. Merkel became leader of the CDU in 2000. After she stepped down in 2018, the party held a leadership contest in which Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), Jens Spahn and Friedrich Merz fought to succeed her. AKK won.

AKK, who is Germany's Minister of Defence in addition to leading the CDU, really struggled to bring the party together. I don't want this thread to run to 400 tweets so I won't go into detail here but it's fair to say that some of the losers never accepted defeat

AKK decided to step down as leader of the CDU early last year. A new leader was supposed to be elected quickly but corona happened and the party kept delaying. Logistical challenges aside, a lot of people worried about doing too much party politics while the world burned

That's how we got here. So what's going on? There are three candidates running to become new leader of the CDU: Norbert Röttgen (left), Armin Laschet (middle), Friedrich Merz (right)

After presiding over the backward march of Kenya, politically and economically through the arrogant support of Jubilee, the Kikuyu now have a solution – TO EXTEND JUBILEE MANDATE THRU UHURU’S DEPUTY. seventh thread on Railaphobia

A joke is told of a very difficult restaurant customer who would complain over anything. One day he rejected a chapatti served to him because it was small. The waiter took the chapatti to the kitchen, flipped it over on the other side and returned it to the customer.

It was the same chapatti WITH AN ILLUSION OF CHANGE.I have argued in a past thread that the biggest political fraud unfolding in Kenya is the repackaging of William Ruto from a top Jubilee potentate to a saviour who will lift Kenya from the abyss Jubilee has sunk us

Who is doing this repackaging? You are right: its the Kikuyu community. We defied the call history over ICC. We should have stood with the court to ensure the dragon of impunity was slain once and for all.

We lost the opportunity and now the country is many years backward, almost worse than where it was in 2002. This time, Kikuyu have chosen the wrong side of history AGAIN. They want to renew Jubilee’s mandate with an illusion of change

THREAD
1/8
I want to ask the good people of #Irish Twitter to not share the article in today's Sunday @Independent_ie about the 'mother & baby home' investigation report. It's no scoop, the report will be publicly available from Tuesday. #RepealTheSeal #Stand4Truth

2/8
All today's article does is add to survivors trauma, yet again, by having our personal stories & information splashed across a national newspaper for clicks, likes & increased revenue before WE have read the report. There is zero empathy in the decision to publish.

3/8
Equally, there is zero empathy in the leak. The cynical part of me believes it to be a deliberate act to take the heat off the minister, @rodericogorman, by creating a distraction from the contents so that he, & others, are seen to be outraged. Good for PR.

4/8
I wish that weren't true, but going on the evidence I've witnessed with my own eyes over the last 40 years in terms of trying to access my own records, lobbying for legislative change, trying to find & connect with my birth family, trying to find my father,

5/ 8
I have zero faith left that any Irish government has the will & the ability to take responsibility for a full & proper investigation. The legislation being brought to government on the same day as the report is to be presented will, effectively, prohibit a single inquest on

His nickname was “Sholay”, derived from Sola, a Yoruba name. He was two years ahead of me in high school. He did something that shifted my paradigm and that has stayed with me for four decades. #NewNigeria

The Inter-House Sports Competition was one of the most prominent highlights of the school year back then. But long before the competition that particular year, I observed something unusual. #NewNigeria

Very early in the morning, Sholay would put on his yellow track suit pants and white t-shirt, and run all by himself on the tracks. It did not make sense. The inter-house competition was still several months away. #NewNigeria

The months passed, and it was time for the competition. Sholay came first at the heats and eventually won the gold medals for the 100m, 200m and 4X100m races. I was stunned. My mind made the connection between his preparation and his success. #NewNigeria

That experience made me realise that God gives all opportunities, but most are just not prepared for them. I learned that today was created yesterday. If you’re trying to be ready when you should be ready already, you’re already late. #NewNigeria

Longthread: Who motivates the motivators?

#Nospin: I've been a part of the movement for #climatejustice since 2007, telling stories about how we can prevent #climatechaos.
Today, I'm tired. So tired. Please: tell me a motivating story.

1/x

transl. from:

2/x

Fighting & doubting.

"The constant fight for climate justice requires a mental effort that sometimes feels impossible."

May I step out of the role of climate justice agitator, political party basher, and movement romantic for a moment, and be completely honest with you?

3/x
I'm so tired. So very tired, from nearly 13 years of climate justice activism that has accomplished far too little, or come too late. I'm tired of demonstrating and blockading, of giving loud speeches and yelling at people on panels, in newspaper articles, and on twitter.

4/x
So today, in contrast to my usual take-no-prisoners-style, no attacks on the capitalistist fundamentalist within the Green Party and big Greens, or the completely inadequate climate positions of the German Left in general, and Sahra Wagenknecht in particular.

5/x
Today no degrowth propaganda and no #DanniVive-pathos. Today for something completely different, namely, a critical reflection on the style of language and argumentation that I, as a highly privileged bourgeois white male, use in public, and usually also in this column.