A special dispensation has been agreed, I will be allowed to open my Christmas present today because as my wife says,

"This is something special"

Off to the barn now....

I just opened the present from my family.

Many years ago like most young men I wanted a motorcycle but with only limited funds available I was only able to afford a rather tired and long past its best 1967 T120 Triumph Bonneville. Two tone dark red and white.

. I loved that bike, it took me all over the UK as well as to holidays in France, Austria and Germany. It was easy to work on and I did nearly all the maintenance myself, despite its age and mileage it never let me down and I always said I would never sell it.

After I became a soldier I put it into storage in my father's garage in London. I have on many occasions promised myself I would bring it over to France and start the restoration it needed but always something came along first that needed my attention.

THREAD — what history tells us

It’s a short book. But one of the most consequential in American history. Haunting.

And I keep going back to it now.

The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Vann Woodward

1/

And it’s scary as hell to say it, but the moment we’re in, and the next 2 years at least, greatly resemble the moment that the progress of Reconstruction hung in the balance.

(Let’s be clear about how dangerous ‘22 is. With a new round of districting

2/

primaries and a mid-term, some of the very extremists who fomented the insurrection could gain MORE power)

Strange Career is about how the Reconstruction era became the Jim Crow era, which lasted close to a century.

And it’s primary lesson could not be more clear:

3/

“The South’s adoption of extreme racism was due not so much to a conversion as it was to a relaxation of the opposition. All the elements of fear, jealousy, hatred & fanaticism had long been present, as they are present in various degrees of intensity in society. What enabled...”

“...them to rise to dominance was not so much cleverness or ingenuity as it was a general weakening and discrediting of the numerous forces that had hitherto kept them in check”

In the wake of that “relaxation,” dedicated extreme forces took over, locking Jim Crow into place

4/

Hey @caroljsroth, I was just listening to your podcast with @JesseKellyDC and I wanted correct some errors concerning the Dickinson/Jackson duel of 1806. I am working on my PhD thesis related to Jackson and host the @AgeofJacksonPod. 1/

The origins of their feud begin not with Rachel Jackson’s honor, but rather over horseracing. Jackson was a horseracing enthusiast, as were most southern gentlemen of the planter class. Cutting a long story short, it comes down to money. 2/

Basically, Dickinson was in on a bet against Jackson’s horse but withdrew and paid the forfeit. The problem is rumors began to fly that Jackson wasn’t thrilled about this, because they apparently wanted to use promissory notes as payment. 3/

Things start to get very testy between the two men are insults are exchanged and circulate around Nashville. Eventfully things get even more public when all this gets published in the newspapers, with the two calling each other cowards more or less. 4/

So, what about Rachel? That’s the funny thing, Rachel is not mentioned in any of the newspapers and in the letters between the men and their associates leading up to the duel. I’m not saying it was not a contributing factor, but it hard to find solid evidence for it. 5/

All in one place: our #BestiveBooks favourite-reads-of-the-year advent. Day 1 brought the joys of How to Read A Book by @kwamealexander & Melissa Sweet – a perfect starting point #BestiveBooks 1/28

Day 2 offered us a Lift created by @dsantat & @bottomshelfbks , published by @LittleBrownYR #BestiveBooks 2/28

Day 3 opened up new possibilities with How to be a Butterfly by @LauraMakesBook & @catellronca #BestiveBooks 3/28

Day 4 addressed the critical issue of coiffure-maintenance with The Hairdo that Got Away by @JosephACoelho & @fionalumbers #BestiveBooks 4/28

Day 5 got creative with How to Spot an Artist by Danielle Krysa #BestiveBooks 5/28

1. Very pleased that my article with @MBEGriffiths about the hostile environment policy has been published in the journal Critical Social Policy, after over four years of work on it. Thread on some of what we say.

2. We look at the origins, extent, operationalisation and impacts of the hostile environment in the labour and housing markets, public services, pricing, healthcare and education.

3. It is a policy over which, by design, the government lost control because it relies on third parties to implement it on the ground.

4. The modern policy has long antecedents but from around 2012 the approach was dramatically and recklessly expanded and any pretence at 'balance' by making immigration compliance easier was abandoned.

5. We argue the hostile environment was never an evidence-driven policy expected to achieve measurable immigration outcomes but rather an ideological policy propelled by a set of moral values.

THREAD ⚠ :-

THE-NOT-SO-ENTERTAINMENT-INDUSTRY.
One cannot make an omlette without breaking some eggs. The web series or any digital content released time to time is for the purpose of "entertainment" but there are following things that acts an impediment.

The content released becomes a propaganda due to the statements of the artists in public domain. It is not a matter of suppressing Freedom Of Expression by any means but just like a judge who is adviced to never reveal their political biases because it questions their credibility

, the artists should also refrain from commenting on politics or endorsing any hate speech that will force audience to "relate anything to literally anything" resulting in Boycotts. These can also be PR stunts to promote the content but it certainly degrades one's reputation.

The content also influences people's thoughts and perceptions. Movies can control our brains. Artist use their art to shape their viewers, and advance their point of view. To some extent, all art is in the business of manipulating the thoughts and emotions of its audience.

You can google the research about how shows/digital content shapes our views, and is not always limited to "entertainment".

No beating around the bush. I am a Hindu, and it is important to call out hypocrisy of departments.

It's often said that the indigenous people of South America never developed a system of writing.

But this isn't entirely true. In fact, they created a unique and complex system of notation based on the tying of knots, known as quipu, which remain undeciphered to this day.

The quipu were usually made from string, spun from cotton fibers, or the fleece of camelid animals like the alpaca and llama.

The cords stored information with knots tied in vast assemblages of string, sometimes containing thousands of threads.

In some analysed quipu, the combinations of thread length, colour, knot type and knot position allow for up to 95 possible combinations, which could represent numbers, symbols or even sounds.

The Inca people used them for collecting data and keeping records, monitoring taxes, conducting censuses, keeping track of dates, and for military organization, all with immense success.

One early European eyewitness Hernando Pizarro records one early sighting of these quipu.

In fact, these quipu were the only system of notation used to administrate the Incas’ society, a vast stretch of land the same size as the Western Roman empire in Europe, containing more than 10 million people – all of which operated without a single word being written down.

Really good americana type songs I've been listening to to avoid podcasts/politics.

Saw a post that triggered a wild spirit journey of remembrance.

To make a covenant anciently they parted certain animals and 'passed through' the parts, then they partook of [consumed] their part. This was a ritual of purification and of covenant.

See here esp. v. 9-10, 17-18

Jeremiah explicitly supports this too; as do many other accounts in the scripture and in history all over the world, they attest to this tradition of parting a sacrificial animal [body] and passing through the parts and blood as a covenantal and a purification ritual.

This connected the dots to the Covenant with Israel as the Waters of the Red Sea [and various bodies of water later] parting and the purified 'passing through' - or back it up and transpose this idea to the marking of the door posts with the blood of the Lamb at 'passover'

Look now to the Baptismal covenant, a purification covenant [for the remission of sins], a symbolic "passing through" to our 3rd Estate and future resurrected life full of the purifying Holy Spirit of the Celestial Kingdom (as the Gift of the Holy Ghost).

The Priesthood 'parts' the bread and 'divides' the water, 'passing it to' the Saints to renew their Baptismal covenants by 'partaking' (consuming) the symbolic body and passing through the symbolic blood of the Lamb of God. The Divine Body and eternal atoning sacrifice.

1/9 For Holocaust Memorial Day, I drew this short comic based on one of the many stories my grandpa used to tell. When he was 14, he came home to discover his family was gone. With no where else to turn, he was forced to hide and live in nearby woods for years.

2/9 As much as he wanted a companion during this time of isolation and terror, he made the decision to tell the dog to go away, fearing that the barking would get him caught. Miraculously, the dog understood, left, and never came back.

3/9

4/9

5/9

EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE won the Printz Medal!

Okay I’ve had a minute to take it in, and dance w/my family. But I stayed up last night wondering what would I do with the 15 seconds of attention I'm so grateful to have. I wrote this thread. Hear me out if you would:

It is unfathomable (to me) that a refugee who showed up to this amazing country unable to understand the language would win literary prizes 31 years later.

But it happened! MOM, IT HAPPENED! And glory glory what do I say to you reading this, right now, with my heart overflowing? I don't know, but it was all freely given, so there’s nothing to do but freely give.

Can we try that? As it says in my book, "King or Queen Reader," can we try something together? I figure this is my best week of sales, and an author makes about a dollar per book. So what if we tracked the Bookscan sales for this entire week?

For every book you buy this week, I'll give my dollar to @Heifer a nonprofit that fights global hunger by giving livestock so that impoverished families can create sustainable livelihoods for themselves.

🧵THREAD🧵
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." - Reagan

I had a few Christmas stories that I thought of telling.
I thought of the one about Rocky de Blood with a Teardrop, a homeless lady that my husband picked up on the on-ramp.

Or the story about the Miracle Christmas.

But I think instead I will talk about my Quantum Christmas 🎄