The morning was glorious like no other, for the August Sun was shining on Nehru-ji as it had never done before.

Wearing his trademark jacket, not a crease or a spot, and a lusty rose in the buttonhole, Nehru-ji looked as fresh as the morning dew, and this despite the midnight.

A few thoughts on Tooter, since it's trending and being discussed.

The landing page makes the indigenous angle quite apparent: "MADE IN INDIA" under the logo and "A Swadeshi social network" as the tagline.

It only accepts a Gmail or Yahoo! email address, for whatever reasons.

Tooter has taken to heart the indigenous angle, even comparing the American Twitter India with the British East India company.

I have no problems with this, for this is a pitch that Tooter has decided to grow.

Tooter is forked from Mastodon, which, to me, has been a sore point.

Mastodon has been around for some time, and if you remember, had become temporarily popular as left-liberals had infested the place.

After some trolling Mastodon went rogue and suspended accounts (yes, mine too).

Inditoot was based on Mastodon then, but was eventually shutdown.

While I agree that Tooter is a fork, and probably not dependent on the whims of Mastodon, the wholly indigenous part becomes simply a marketing pitch.

Someone knowledgeable can explain what a fork carries over and depends on.

Even the app is based on existing Mastodon apps.

Tooter started out on the wrong toot, I mean foot, by creating and verifying accounts of Prof. Vaidya, and making people automatically follow that. In fact, newly created accounts also automatically follow the founder, Nanda.

Prof. Vaidya has now said that he is NOT on Tooter.

"We are social creatures, and we don't go alone."

Somewhere inside a jungle, under the cover of lush trees, was gathered a curious collection of animals, and an old wolf was addressing the others.

"What in the whole wide world is a lone-wolf then?"

The other animals nodded.

"As if that were not enough," said another wolf, "we don't wear sheep's clothing either."

From the sheep that had gathered, a black one bleated, "What is wrong with a black sheep, eh?"

"Whoa!" exclaimed a rabbit, "say sheep of color."

They all agreed and threw the rabbit out.

The gathering was called by some animals in protest against being abused and insulted by figures of speech of humans.

Someone suggested they block roads in protest, but they did not want to stoop to that level. "We are better than Yogendra," they claimed.

So, here they were.

"When one of my pups bit our neighbors," said the wolf that had first spoken, "we justified by calling him a lone-human."

"It's funny," laughed a hyena.

"We told the other wolves," said the wolf, "that the lone-human does not represent our ideology, our beliefs, our wolfity."

"Give it back to the humans," guffawed the hyena.

"You #LLRC," tittered a monkey, at which the hyena felt insulted and there was a scuffle.

"Silence!" roared a fat lion, but the beasts had lost respect for him after he kept criticizing his own leader and supported the hyenas.

The Greeks gave us democracy,
The Romans gave us numbers;
If not for their presence, you see,
We'll all be dumb-and-dumbers.

The French taught us revolution,
And gave us Left and Right;
Imagine our evolution,
Without this great divide.

The Germans gave maths and machines;
Philosophies galore;
If not for half-moustache obscene,
They would've given us more!

The British, too, gave us in spate,
They built all roads and tracks;
Without knowing their language great,
What worth our thoughts and acts?

Of course they gave us sins and priests,
To wake us up from stupor;
Before, we were uncivilized beasts;
After, we became super!

Italians, their gestures grand,
Taught us cooking and wine;
The world elsewhere was raw and bland,
We knew not how to dine.

The Spaniards, in their own way,
An inquisitive crowd;
Gave us dances and omelettes fey,
And tomatoes flung around.

The Swiss, even, from mountains cold,
Gave us chocolates and knives;
If not for them, let truth be told,
Will Hindi flicks survive?

Europe, the land of Arts and Science,
And Culture and Refinement;
If not for their exquisite lines,
We'll be in dark confinement!

Europe, they found out tail and head,
From fairy tales to bacillus;
So what in some places they spread,
A new disease like syphilis?! //

1. Which politician in the post-Independence era do you most associate with vile, sinister destruction?

(A very positive, optimistic thread on politics in the post-Independence era. You can be frivolous or serious in your replies, but in either case, think before you answer.)

2. What was the single most important reform in the post-Independence era that never happened?

3. What has been the worst foreign policy disaster in the post-Independence era?

4. If you have to pick the worst decade (47-56, 57-66, 67-76, 77-86, 87-96, 97-06, 07-16, 17-now) for politics, what would that be?

5. When defining religious minorities at the state level, which state is the worst when it comes to persecution of religious minorities?

The school reopened and after the rigmarole of logging in, the first class of the first day started.

"Good morning, children," beamed Padmaja, the Science teacher for the 5th standard. "How were your vacations?"

"I wrote a letter to the PM," said one with the screen name Marky.

Padmaja wondered why Maharshi became Marky, but she let it be.

"What did you write, Maharshi?" she asked.

"I wrote to him asking why constitutional provisions for freedom of speech were violated by his ministers, vitiating the principles of democracy."

Padmaja spilled her tea.

Before she could respond, Davey piped up with the lisp of a nine-year old, "A letter? So last century, Marky."

"Devi?" asked Padmaja, peering into the screen to take a good look at the kid.

"I recorded a HD video," said the kid, "asking the PM to reduce the GST on ambulances."

Padmaja took a deep breath and wondered whether she was in some cute but sinister nightmare.

"Anyone else?" she asked mockingly.

"I set up my YouTube channel," said Robby. "In my latest episode, I talked about minority rights during COVID-19."

"Roopini too?" thought Padmaja.

"I speak for those who cannot speak up," said Robby, "like my friend Safia."

Safia had not changed her screen name. She did not speak up.

"You speak for me too?" asked a voice.

"Shut up, Dinesh Jain!"

"Enough!" said Padmaja, exasperated, and said, "What did you do, Karnika?"

12 January 2020 #MAGAanalysis #EO13959

Did We Declare War Against China In November?

I was tagged on a video that's going round this morning. It's got our new, very strange friend Simon Parks, Charlie Ward, and a gal, don't know her last name, named Danielle.

210126 KYUNGSOO V-LIVE

Kyungsoo: Hi, I've been discharged from the military. To thank EXO-Ls, I started a V-Live~ I was discharged safely! I think y'all would have a lot of things you're curious about in my 1.5 years in army, it's a little awkward (doing this) but I'll try!

Kyungsoo: There's really a lot of things that I want to eat, as there are fixed menus in the military. I had lots of food made by Mum, I ate lots! Although things are tough now, I don't know how to say this but let's gain strength together and defeat this difficult time!

Kyungsoo: As for activities, there is a production called 'The Moon', it would be good if you could anticipate! There's a lot of things I wanted to try while in the military, like Guitar, I'm in the midst of taking lessons too.

Kyungsoo: There is music that I wish to try, so I'm planning hard to bring them to everyone! I read all the letters while in the military and I spent a lot of time reading them all- thank you so much! I'm really proud, and while reading them I felt really happy <3

Greece's new minister of interior, former far-right activist Makis Voridis. Not "allegedly" and without a hint of exaggeration.

His past is wikipedia-level stuff

Voridis was violently anti-Semitic amongst other things

He is closely connected to the French Front Nationale, but in 2017 he tried to distance himself from them. BY CLAIMING THEY ARE ACTUALLY SOCIALISTS

To paraphrase Phillip K. Dick: the Golden Dawn lost, but the Nazis won

BRITSH ARMY HEADCOUNT REDUCTION (Thread)
Looking back at personnel cuts made in 2010, a reduced Army of 82,000 didn’t help Britain regain its financial strength, it simply signified a hollowing-out of our ability to defend ourselves.
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It destroyed the credibility of David Cameron’s Coalition Government then and even more so in hindsight. It was military illiteracy on a grand scale. The problem wasn’t so much the reduction itself, but the fact that there was no real strategy behind it, no future plan.
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Back in 2010, the UK's involvement Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t really serve our national interests (See Ben Barry’s book). If these conflicts were sub-optimal uses of the Army, they raised the important question of what the Army’s underlying raison d’être should be.
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We hope the Integrated Review will provide a concrete response to this. In the meantime, the Integrated Operating Concept has been much talked about, but we have been left in the dark about what it signifies in terms of strategic priorities and a reconfigured force.
(4 of 25)

The resulting strategy will obviously be threat-driven with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran representing near-peer threats and Islamic terror groups in Africa and the Middle East posing an asymmetric threat. This suggests a mix of high-end and light forces.
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