Everything is appalling, so here are some stories about the Navy's Coastal Forces (Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats) in WW2.

These small vessels had very powerful engines which were complex and hard to maintain.

As a result, base engineering staff sometimes had to remain on board to continue their work during operations.

On one occasion, an Engineering Officer was labouring in the machinery space when the boat went into battle.

Not having seen one before, he opened the hatch to look around. Every gun was in action, and enemy tracer zipped past his head. The noise was appalling.

The officer (unnamed in the story, but perhaps a nautical Wooster) took in the scene for a moment, then turned to the CO and remarked, 'Oh I say! Madly *war*, isn't it?', before returning to his tinkering.

During the raid on Dieppe an MGB picked up a German airman, who was sent below under armed guard.

If you are observing #ColumbusDay instead of #IndigenousPeoplesDay2020 here is a list of what you are celebrating...

1. Christopher Columbus's army used Indigenous people as dog food. They were known to feed live babies to dogs in front of their horrified parents.

CW: SA

2.) His "voyage" initiated the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade when he captured 1600 Taino people and shipped them to Spain for gold. Most died on the journey.

3.) Columbus sex trafficked Indigenous girls for his own personal profit. He journaled, “There are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.”

4.) Columbus's army required any Taino person 14 or older to bring them a thimble of gold dust every 3 months. If not, the army would chop off their hands and tie the victim's hands around their neck. Most victims bled to death. An estimated 10,000 Taino people died this way.

5. His army systematically raped Indigenous women. His close friend Michele de Cuneo wrote the following

“While I was in the boat I captured a very beautiful Carib woman... I conceived desire to take pleasure. I wanted to put my desire into execution but she did not want it...

1. Well this seems like the perfect day for a thread about old baseball stadiums in Toronto.

It's a history that stretches all the way back to the 1800s and a place called the Toronto Baseball Grounds…

2. It might not look like it, but this is the very oldest image we have of a baseball stadium in Toronto — the only surviving visual representation of the city's first ballpark.

You have to zoom way, way in to see it…

3. …but here it is, standing on Queen Street on a spot overlooking the Don Valley.

It was originally known as the Toronto Baseball Grounds, but would soon be nicknamed Sunlight Park — in honour of the nearby Sunlight Soap Works factory.

4. Spectators could walk in off Queen St or ride up & park their carriage on the grounds. Admission was a quarter — plus an extra dime for the best seats in the house.

The sheltered grandstand could seat 2,000 people & there was standing room for another 10,000 beyond that.

5. A sellout at Sunlight Park meant that 10% of the city's entire population was at the ballgame that day.

When the stadium opened in 1886, even the Lieutenant Governor came out for the event. Someone in his entourage had their hat knocked off by a foul ball.

With all this talk about Khalistan, one thing again is being buried in the narrative.

This is how a peaceful, law abiding state was made into a hellhole and the genie of Khalistan unleashed purely by Indira Gandhi and her minion Sanjay Gandhi.

Thread on how she did this

1/n note, this piece only talks about how the Frankenstein named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (JSB) was created by Sanjay Gandhi and Giani Zail Singhi. It does not touch on the whole Khalistani movement which would require a seperate write up on it's own.

2/n The primary party in Punjab was the Congress, but over time opposition arose in the form of the Akali Dal. The Akali Dal was primarily a Sikh party which took a hardline stance when it came to Punjab.

3/n The people of Punjab, sick and tired of the corruption and inefficiency of the Congress found in the AD a solid electoral alternative.

Things came to a head in 1977 when the AD+JP alliance swept into power and ordered investigations into corruption by

4/n the previous (and soon to be President) Giani Zial Singh who is in a way, the true villain of the story.

Sanjay Gandhi and Giani (mostly Giani) decided they needed a hardline front to combat AD and split the anti Congress votes and hence Bhindranwale was born.

1. My recommendations of great adventure novels that all boys should read. These books will instill in them a love of travel, a sense of daring, a respect for tradition, and a boldness of nerve. It will also impart a lifetime love of reading. So here we go.

2. H. Rider Haggard:

King Solomon's Mines (This book changed the course of my life)

She

Allan Quatermain

3. H.G. Wells:

The Time Machine

The Invisible Man

4. Robert Louis Stevenson:

Treasure Island

Kidnapped

5. Arthur Conan Doyle:

The Lost World

This week’s #SundayScientistShoutout is Betty Reid Soskin (born 1921)!

Soskin is a ranger with the @NationalParkService and at the age of 99, she is still serving as a ranger.

The oldest ranger to ever work as a National Park Ranger!

(1/n)
#DiversityinSTEM
#WomeninWildlife

Soskin was born in Detroit to Lousisanna Natives with Creole and Cajun backgrounds.

She spent her early childhood in New Orleans, LA until a hurricane/flood caused them to move to Oakland, CA.

(2/n)
#DiversityinSTEM
#WomeninWildlife
#SundayScientistShoutout

During WWII, Soskin worked as a clerk for Boilermakers Union A-36, a Jim Crow all-black union auxiliary where she assisted Black American workers who had to move frequently.

(3/n)
#DiversityinSTEM
#SundayScientistShoutout
#WomeninWildlife

After this, Soskin and her husband (Mel Reid) started a small black-owned business (Reid's Records) specializing in Gospel music before moving to Walnut Creek, CA, in the 1950s so their children could attend better schools.

(4/n)
#DiversityinSTEM
#SundayScientistShoutout

In Walnut Creek, they were faced with racism after moving into a white suburb

This lead Soskin to became an active member of the Black Caucus of the Unitarian Universalist Assoc. - becoming a songwriter in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s

(5/n)
#SundayScientistShoutout

Who should run NASA: a scientist or a bureaucrat? I don't have the answer, but I will share a little vignette from history (because I'm an historian) that I think is interesting and relevant... Please read on!

The Administrator typically changes with each President, usually to be politically in-line with the administration. When Kennedy took office, he wanted Jim Webb for the job.

Jim Webb arrived in Lyndon Johnson’s office on Jan. 30, 1961. The lawyer turned lobbyist and businessman who had been head of the Bureau of the Budget and as under-secretary of state during the Truman administration was wary of taking the job. NASA was considered a boondoggle.

Space stations and lunar missions were on the books for 1970 or later, so in the meantime, whoever ran the agency would have to stand up to the military trying to wrest control of space activities while managing an agency that might kill an astronaut in front of the whole world.

Not to mention, belief in Washington was that the country would lose interest soon enough. When the glamour of space faded, it would take its administrator down with it. It was, in essence, a career killer.

1. Yes Northern Nigeria had upper hand (not of their making btw), but they were first in the pecking order of things, had better interactions with the West (Britain in this context). But did all of that “western influence” penetrate into Northern society?

2. I understand history is a very delicate subject in Nigeria. It arouses sentiments & biases. Understandably so, Nigeria history is not GOOD, no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t favor the people of Nigeria. So the government would rather not allow it in Nigeria schools.

3. Like it or not, the North have LITTLE to show, for a people whom Britain favored. Much of Eastern Nigeria societies, resisted the colonial conquests. Benin Kingdom put up a resistance. But today, western ideals & influence has penetrated much of the East, even its hinterlands

4. In terms of growth & advancement (western influence altogether) SW societies tops all of that. One would think Northern Oligarchy had a plan for their people, had their people in mind during those early interactions with Britain.

5. But all they did with ALL the powers Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth vested on them, was control their people, to this day even. They control the information flow, the religious beliefs, they are still the gatekeepers of their culture.

Ancient Coin of the Day: Just got Hercules on my mind today, so the thread is going to look at the connection which Commodus forged with Hercules, starting with this aureus of AD 190. #ACOTD #Commodus #Hercules

Image: RIC III Commodus 221d. Link - https://t.co/NAOQJI8y21

The connection between the Emperor and the gods was one that had a long history, with Augustus being worshipped at Narbonne alongside the goddess Roma, but few emperors went as far as Commodus in explicitly associating themselves with a particular deity.

Dio (73.15.6) tells us that during Commodus' reign "vast numbers of statues were erected representing him in the garb of Hercules. And it was voted that his age should be named the 'Golden Age', and that this should be recorded in all the records without exception."

This culminated in AD 192, when Commodus had the Senate declare him a deity, assuming such titles as 'Roman Hercules' and re-founding Rome under the name of Colonia Commodiana. While Commodus himself did not see out AD 192, being assassinated on 31 December, his coins endure.

The Obverse of this coin shows a laureate and cuirassed bust of Commodus, with the Legend M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT P P - 'Emperor Marcus Commodus Antoninus, Pious and Felix, Britannicus, Father of the Fatherland'. The addition of 'Britannicus' to his imperial titles can be...

In 1615, historian Richard M. Eaton quoted, "one observer estimated the Mughal's annual revenue at 120 million silver coins, compared to 45 million for the Ottoman Empire and just 15 million for the neighbouring Iran (Safavid)."

- India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765, p. 371

Remember here the historian is talking about year of 1615 but by the year of 1700 the Mughal wealth had been increased even more.

In year of 1700 during the era of Aurangzeb, Mughal economy was more than to the combined wealth of Western Asia, Central Asia, North Asia, Southeast Europe, Western Europe and North Africa.

(Legendary Peacock Throne)

Yeah it is right that Mughal wealth was mostly held by nobles but the point is Mughal Empire was prosperous state not the welfare state.

We have to study the conditions of Mughal citizens from the perspective of middle ages instead of modern era

and their comparsion with other empires of that era.

As far concerns of living conditions of common man, the living standrads of Mughal citizens were higher than Eureopens.

Open Letter: Our democracy is at risk. Progressivism can save us.

We’re in trouble. We have been for a long time. Hopefully, Georgia goes well and tomorrow is just noise. But what if neither happens? We can’t continue to pretend it’s all a joke. So what do we do?

First off, we need to ask how we get here?

America defeated Fascism (totalitarian rule enforced though a violent commitment to a national or racial or identity) embodied in the Nazi Party. We are not a perfect nation. We too are a nation stained by hate, apartheid . . .

slavery, Jim Crowe casteism. But there have been great moments. Defeating the Nazis was one of those moments. FDR was our leader. Like America, he wasn’t perfect. He turned away Jewish refugees. Like his counterparts in Erurope, he was also slow to recognize the Nazis as...

the danger they would become. But when economic and moral calamity threatened certain doom for all, he rose to the moment. He chose well. He led without fear. He made a promise to America. Fight this evil, and we will create a “New Deal.” Healthcare. A social safety...

net. Our soldiers carried government issued commemorative coins into Germany memorializing these sacred promises that they fought for. Sadly, not every one of these promises was fulfilled, but FDR helped rebuild America, literally. Those trails in our state parks? Many of our...

The Jewish avenger who killed an Ukrainian nationalist leader (THREAD)

The year is 1919 in the Ukrainian People's Republic ruled by president Symon Petliura.
For 3 years the Jews suffered from pogroms by the government and gangs as in 1919 they reached their peak.

In various localities throughout the republic, murders and rapes of Jews were carried out. The estimated number of Jews murdered ranges from 50,000 to about 200,000.

Following thousands of riots and pogroms, about 300,000 Jewish children became orphans. Hundreds of Jewish women experienced abuses and traumatic cruelty such as amputation of eyes, ears, and limbs.

The Jewish population in Ukraine has decreased significantly and hundreds of thousands have become refugees as they fled from Ukraine.
According to the Jews, Symon’s government did nothing to protect the Jews and actually caused some of the pogroms.

@KEBrightbill Since 1980-90s WS successful ongoing intentional strategy to blend w/fundamentalist W Christian & infiltrate/integrate/take over these spaces; emerging in homeschooling tied to natural CB, attachment style parenting, Le Leche League, Natural child rearing & ecological mov'nts

Theres not a lot 1 can do abt this either. There are SOME divisions but not as many as one might like to think & there are an infinite number of fuzzy boundaries ie., as in vaccinations. This is a highly fluid & often volatile life stage to navigate married or single & 2/

things are muddy as hell (this is an area I've researched tracked, and personally experienced as part of that natural child birth community). Women are isolated by society and thats a problem on both the right and the left. Women are vilified & looked down on when they do 3/

have kids, and are pilloried if they stay home, go to work, if they breastfeed, for how long or not and are essentially cut off from an elder community that might help them navigate the enormous shift in their lives not to mention having to put up with petulant manbaby 4/

husbands who drag them via their own negative ideals, expections, insecurities fears angers hurts at the sudden usurping of their position as number 1 in a womans life when she has a baby, & especially the first baby. BOTH WHITE SUPREMACY AND FUNDAMENTALIST WHITE CHRISTIANITY 5/

After a visit to the archives last week I came across an interesting order in relation to 'Burials'. Issued to the 27th Armoured Brigade ahead of Operation Overlord, section 29 lists the conditions for the burial of the dead.

1. Burial site for those killed on beaches and in assembly areas will be reserved by Beach Sub area immediately inland of beaches.

Two examples of these areas that spring to mind is one a hundred yards to the east of Montgomery's statue on Rue de la Mer, Colleville-Montgomery. The other close to Canada House in Bernieres. The men buried there would be moved at a later date during grave concentrations.

2. Units may arrange temporary cemeteries in case of need, but isolated site are to be avoided. Whenever possible enquiry should be made of the nearest formation H.Q with a view to use of a site already established.

An isolated site can be seen here on June 7th. Trooper Barton, 1st East Riding Yeomanry had been killed in action on D-Day. The crew returned to the tank the next day, sadly they had to cut him into two with a knife to remove him. Harrowing but the reality of what the men faced.

Not sure if people want a historical comparison thread, but here’s one on insurrection and a violent attempt at a coup in 1874 New Orleans, often called the Battle of Liberty Place. Thread includes a white supremacist monument. 1/

During Reconstruction, there was a lot of white supremacist violence in the South, as former confederates and whites in general wanted to reclaim full political power. Image from Harper's after the New Orleans Massacre in the summer of 1866.

In the summer of 1874, the White League in New Orleans was galvanized by false stories spread by former confederate officer Frederick N. Ogden. Those false stories were that groups of Black men were going to incite violence. This was all false.

Political tension was high in New Orleans in 1874. Rather than concede the 1872 gubernatorial election, Democratic candidate John McEnery set up his own dueling government. (Remember that this was before the parties changed, as @KevinMKruse has detailed on here before.)

On Sept 12, 1874, a steamer came into the port of New Orleans with guns and ammunition for the White League. When the ship was seized, Ogden and others claimed their 2nd Amendment rights were being trampled.