Ronald Reagan called Medicare & Medicaid dangerous socialism in 1961... he was a right winger of the Barry Goldwater variety, not the warm and fuzzy presidential muppet he has become in his canonization by the 1980s Alex P. Keatons in the commentariat.

Reagan launched his 1980 presidential campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi, just 16 years after Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were lynched there, 17 years after Medgar Evers' slaying and 12 years after Dr. King's assassination. https://t.co/hYBAygzQ9E
He did it send a message to white voters, not different from the message Donald Trump sent. He was letting white people who were resentful of civil rights advances know whose side he was on, further codifying the GOP as America's white interests party. https://t.co/UDEjnknZ8u
Reagan gutted what was left of the Great Society to shovel tax cuts into the pockets of the super rich. (My mother's federal job was deleted by his first presidential budget, though my absentee father was a big Reagan fan. Needless to say they divorced). https://t.co/l77mTA8I9X
Reagan tried to ignore the AIDS pandemic which killed more people than Trump's COVID pandemic has. He just didn't give it the time of day, even though at the time, it was something seemingly everyone thought about, talked about and was terrified of. https://t.co/VKtqHC0O7h
I will never forget in 6th grade people refusing to share milk at lunch because the myth was you could "get AIDS" from letting someone drink from your carton. Or years later seeing people in NYC who looked like zombies, who were clearly dying of AIDS. https://t.co/LUgBgFTFZh
Reagan seemed to have almost no reaction to that until 1985 -- about five years in. The administration even seemed to have great fun with dismissing it (with nuff respect to persistent journalist Lester Kinsolving). https://t.co/dSCZD8a5Yg
Reagan sold arms to Iran to fund an illegal war in Central America being waged by a drug dealing cartel/insurgent group called the Contras against the presumably communist Nicaraguan Sandinista government. And he should have been impeached for it. https://t.co/9CQqbbBByO
And to get his little anti-commie war, he let Central American crack flood America's poor and particularly Black communities so he -- the man who invented the fraudulent, racist meme of the "welfare queen," could lock hundreds of thousands of us up. https://t.co/YEJc8MqgGx
Reagan was belittling Black women long before Donald Trump was even a thing... https://t.co/biKwsdlv8H
And yeah, he gave one good speech written by a rich white lady who hates Kamala's laugh. But only after screwups at NASA under his administration cost 7 brave astronauts, including the first teacher in space, their lives. https://t.co/UnFJUWP1kN
So forgive me if I pass on the Reagan encomiums. He was just Trump with better hair, better breeding and a sense of humor. He even coined the term, "make America great again." https://t.co/ERCkZWtcLT

More from History

**Thread on Bravery of Sikhs**
(I am forced to do this due to continuous hounding of Sikh Extremists since yesterday)

Rani Jindan Kaur, wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had illegitimate relations with Lal Singh (PM of Ranjit Singh). Along with Lal Singh, she attacked Jammu, burnt - https://t.co/EfjAq59AyI


Hindu villages of Jasrota, caused rebellion in Jammu, attacked Kishtwar.

Ancestors of Raja Ranjit Singh, The Sansi Tribe used to give daughters as concubines to Jahangir.


The Ludhiana Political Agency (Later NW Fronties Prov) was formed by less than 4000 British soldiers who advanced from Delhi and reached Ludhiana, receiving submissions of all sikh chiefs along the way. The submission of the troops of Raja of Lahore (Ranjit Singh) at Ambala.

Dabistan a contemporary book on Sikh History tells us that Guru Hargobind broke Naina devi Idol Same source describes Guru Hargobind serving a eunuch
YarKhan. (ref was proudly shared by a sikh on twitter)
Gobind Singh followed Bahadur Shah to Deccan to fight for him.


In Zafarnama, Guru Gobind Singh states that the reason he was in conflict with the Hill Rajas was that while they were worshiping idols, while he was an idol-breaker.

And idiot Hindus place him along Maharana, Prithviraj and Shivaji as saviours of Dharma.

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First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods