Hi America — 2 things you should do this weekend after you be sure you voted:
1- if you have an emergency stockpile, this is a good time to go thru it, donate everything that will expire before the end of the year
2- you need to talk to your family and cancel thanksgiving
/1
On your stockpiles & emergency rations: if you laid in some goods at the beginning of covid, go thru, check expiration dates, consider what you have, stockpile better. Shift to more dry goods — beans lentils peas rice grains etc — which store better, longer, take up less space /2
Donate canned goods and other items to your nearest food bank in time to help families in need before thanksgiving. It’s going to be a rough holiday for a lot of people. Donate food or $$ if you can. Do it early so food banks can gear up before T-day /3
I love thanksgiving, it’s such a great American holiday.
You’re going to need to do it differently this year.
Stay local. Stay in your small group. Don’t encourage your family to drive all over the country and get together. The public health concerns are too many. /4
Plan now for something other than what you usually do.
Be creative! Thanksgiving is a holiday about survival and renewal. So many ways to do it, give thanks, reflect, celebrate. Mark another year off the calendar.
On Monday, DoJ unsealed the indictment of 6 hackers from Russia’s GRU for “worldwide deployment of destructive malware and other disruptive actions in cyberspace.” /2
It connected the dots between a wide array of cyberattacks over the past 5 years, which happened in France, Ukraine, Georgia, South Korea, the US, and the UK.
The indictment made clear that a multi-nation intelligence effort helped attribute these attacks to the GRU /3
On @NewDay, widow of police officer who died of COVID, on POTUS recovering from COVID:
“...and I thought then, wow, he could really show a human side. Well, I didn’t really think that. I would be silly to think that... He’s really spitting on all these loved ones graves... /1
...He had a choice to be more human and to show empathy. But it’s not possible for him to show empathy. I don’t think he can feel that emotion. He only thinks of one person, and that’s himself... He hasn’t called me to wish me his sympathies... /2
... I’ve heard from the governor of New Jersey. I’ve heard from Joe Biden. They showing empathy and caring and kindness, and that’s really lacking in the president.” /3
Pretty much EVERYTHING that every disinformation watcher warned you was going to happen is happening (except deepfakes):
1-malign foreign interference continues
2-POTUS drumming up rumors of election fraud and rigged results
3-“poll-watching” will add to the mess+intimidation /2
4-fears of inevitable violence and unrest are amplified from all directions
5-spurious Biden health rumors
6-Russia, others amplifying our attacks on each other instead of making their own
7-POTUS wackadoo conspiracies-of-the-day are getting way more extreme, pro QAnon /3
Strong intv today w/ @ABlinken on the foreign policy of a Biden presidency:
“America & liberal democracy remain the system of choice for people who can choose. And I think if anything what the last 4 years have shown is not their failure, but rather how important they are.../1
... to the strength of our democracy, and the vitality of our leadership is to our own country and the world.” /2
On engaging China from a position of strength:
“How do we put ourselves in a position of strength from which to engage China so the relationship moves forward more on our terms than it does theirs. And here’s the problem... /3
It’s truly hilarious watching conservatives lose their minds about the “repression of conservative speech on Facebook and Twitter” because they seem to have forgotten that Donald Trump is only president because of Facebook and Twitter.
Oh, are they finally ready to stop clowning in hearings and wasting time asking about bullshit conspiracies and Alex Jones and whatever, and actually show up to real hearings about how to regulate this nightmare? Cool. They weren’t before when social was the lifeblood of Trump.
Yes, let’s have an adult conversation about the nightmarish power of these platforms, which we in part have come to understand because they helped make Trump president and act as his conduit for comms every day. Let’s talk about social control and behavioral influence.