BC POLITICS
Saved by @Alex1Powell

The flying was heavy as all the ballot boxes were being transported by helicopters .We were operating a single Mi8 detachment at Imphal . Night parking was at the Manipur University Helipad. We started our day at 0700h and had been flying for 7hours. 1/n

 It was 5 pm. Exhausted after a heavy days flying I was ready to retire to our rooms. As I was shutting down the helicopter , I saw a BSF Jeep pull alongside the Helipad with a commandant rank officer jump out. The urgency in his moves told me something was not right . 2/n
As the helicopter was being shutdown by the flight engineer , I asked the co pilot to take controls and walked out towards the BSF officer .The helicopter blades were still turning. The officer told me that a BSF party has been ambushed near likhai and they have 7 injured 3/n
We checked the fuel onbaord and immediately within 5 minutes got airborne towards likhai. We were told that the casualties have been brought to a football ground near the road going South of Churachandpur. I was airborne meanwhile I heard a flurry of radio calls of two other 4/n
Helicopters airborne for the area .They were near shillong and would take 40 minutes more than me. I told them that I am on the way and they turned back . From knowledge of the terrain I knew that a BSF unit wa stationed in the area with a Helipad. I headed for that helipad 5/n
We landed there asking for the exact location of the casualitues . A senior officer of the unit jumped into the helicopter and I brought him to the cockpit to direct us as we flew low over the trees .because of the thick forest in the region the road was hardly visible .6/n
As we crossed a bend on the ridge we came up over the jeep that was ambushed , was still burning in the middle of the road .About 2 kms further south we saw an open area which was the size of a large basketball court .With goal posts at both ends. The hill was sloping up7/n
I saw the men laid out on one corner of the ground with locals standing around. I assessed that the area might be able to land the Mi8 just vertically. We had the co -pilot , me and engineer and gunner sticking our head out to see that the rotor blades don't hit the trees 8/n
As they seem to close in. We managed to land the machine on that ground , back of my mind was the fact that the insurgents could be hiding in the hills overlooking the small ground and now my helicopter was a sitting duck ,if they decided to shoot .All 7 casualties were 9/n
Quickly loaded . After supervising the loading, I jumped in and within about 6 mins we were airborne back to the Manipur University Helipad , where we were told the ambulances would be waiting .I noticed that 4 of the men were not moving when they were loaded and all of them 10/n
Serious injuries. I was praying for those men at the back . As I was 30 minutes from landing the gunner came on radio and announced that the doctor said 5 of them are dead .only two alive . I could not have flown faster than I was already doing. As we descended for Imphal 11/n
The gunner came on intercom and told me , in a quiet voice one more has died .We landed at Imphal Helipad and all the bodies were taken away . The last was the still alive badly injured jawan who gave a sad look to me. The look pierced my heart as I stood there still 12/n
Later that night around 12 pm ,the local BSF unit called me and informed that the last jawan survived and was out of danger. Through all that pain that was a reason for me and my co pilot Rags to smile .13/n
Many years later , i was on a train journey from Jammu to Delhi . Typical as many times before, I arrived at the station to find that my waiting list was not confirmed. No berth . So I decided to board the general compartment ready to spend the night sitting .As d train was 14/n
Full of mostly army and BSF men returning from duty . Someone tapped me on the shoulder and said " Saab mera berth khaali hai " aap use karlo " I thanked the jawan and told him I am fine and refused as he looked tired and I was genuinely feeling fine not to sleep 15/n
He insisted that I use his berth with a smile . He asked me if he remembered me. After thinking long an hard , I said unfortunately No. He said with a beaming smile ." Saab aapka chehra zindagi mein kabhi nahin bhool sakta." that's when I really noticed his face .16/n
I hugged him ....Not sure , if he cried but I definitely had tears in my eyes . The joy of being a helicopter pilot . God was kind to both of us... Not sure where he is now........

More from Politics

George Pittman
George Pittman
@pittman_george
🚨 Thread: It’s Happening!

1. This may be the most important thread I’ve put together, yet. This is truly an exciting time for America. We are about to witness history in the making. It will, in fact, be Biblical. Not just for Us, but for the world.
POLITICS
David Rothkopf
David Rothkopf
@djrothkopf
Trump on climate: I don't believe it. Trump on Khashoggi: I don't believe it. Trump on Russia: I don't believe it. Idiocy? A canny game? Doesn't really matter as much as the underlying intellectual autocracy. In this administration only one opinion matters.

It's an assault on facts and reason. It's an assault on good governance. It's an assault on the bureaucracies that are being discounted. It's an assault on science and history. But it is also an assault on one of the underpinnings of democracy.

We live in a system that is grounded on the idea of collaborative government. Leaders may have a final word but even then, there are typically checks and balances. Hopefully, in this case, such checks and balances may work. But they also are being tested.

The president's position that he is smarter than all the world's scientists, than the entire intelligence community, than experts who have studied any issue all their lives, is, of course, asinine. But his belief that government turns solely on his opinion, is monarchic.

Louis XIV reportedly said, "L'etat est moi." That he was the state. Trump asserting that he knows better than all, discounts all advice, that his brain is enough to chart the course for America alone, is essentially saying the same thing.
POLITICS
Advertisement
Stephen Bush
Stephen Bush
@stephenkb
Some quick thoughts on Sam Gyimah's resignation after conversations with various Conservative MPs: 1) the chances of a second referendum are a lot higher than I thought:

2) At this point, if you are a young and ambitious Tory MP it is now so overwhelmingly in your interest to vote against the withdrawal agreement. V v hard to see how Julian Smith can cap rebellion at under 100:

3) Really just to reiterate 1) Gyimah is the kind of "No, never gonna rebel" vaguely pro-EU Tory you'd need to get on side to outweigh Labour Leavers and Real Concerners.
POLITICS
Alex Seitz-Wald
Alex Seitz-Wald
@aseitzwald
NEW w/@akarl_smith: Republicans see an opportunity to begin winning back the suburban voters they lost under Donald Trump's presidency by capitalizing on widespread frustration with pandemic life and directing it at an old enemy: Teachers

New NRCC Tom Emmer told staff as soon as he took over to go all in on schools: "It's the teachers unions that want to keep the schools closed. Dems are ignoring the science, and they're standing with their special-interest donors instead of the students."

Going after public sector unions is a throwback to the last time the GOP was locked out of power in DC in 2009/2010 and it's a message that every faction in the party can get behind -- with the potential for crossover appeal to indies and some Dems.

The politics have changed since circa 2009, when the school reform movement was at its height w/ broad bipartisan support, including from the Obama admin.

Now, support for unions is at a nearly 20-year high and teachers unions favorability has gone up a bit during Covid, BUT...

But the frustration over shuttered schools is real and Republicans think they can channel that anger into a grassroots uprising to drive a wedge between suburban voters and the Democratic Party.

"This is the suburban-parent revolt," said Corry Bliss.
POLITICS
Jean-Michel Connard
Jean-Michel Connard
@torriangray
so my eldest brother, who is a moron, has been playing soldier with his moron friends in the deserts of texas for the last year preparing for the collapse of civilization if biden won (lol). they were burying food and ammo stashes out in the desert, running drills, crazy stuff

this included getting a cb license so he could be their lifeline to other groups of white idiots when the cell towers all went offline. wouldn't want to violate federal law while communicating with your resistance groups after the fall of the federal government i guess.

anyways, you would assume given that they've been prepping for the end of the world for at least a year they're well situated to ride out the rolling blackouts right?

wellll

their plan for cooking and heating during an extended power outage was natural gas, but like a lot of homes their gas service is out. the food in their freezer and fridge is already toast due to the power outrages, so they're down to canned stuff, but there's a catch.

they can get into the pull top cans just fine, but the ones that require an opener? their only can opener is electric. so a good 3/4 of his canned food store is inaccessible to him unless he goes after it with a knife, which i sincerely hope he does.
POLITICS , PREPPERS

You May Also Like

Steve Stewart-Williams
Steve Stewart-Williams
@SteveStuWill
THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE


2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less. https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n


3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)


4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3


5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
LIFE
Jeannette Ng \u5433\u5fd7\u9e97
Jeannette Ng 吳志麗...
@jeannette_ng
So, you’re a writer and you’re worried about writing outside your immediate experiences and identities.

Here is the thread of practical advice for you.

EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES. Why do you want to write this?

Are you trying to solve racism/sexism/colonialism with your work?

As writers we love stories about heroic writers whose work has changed the world. And as such we like to look to our own writing to solve societal problems.

And I understand this completely, not the least because I’ve felt the pull.

But if you’re looking to play saviour with your words, it is unlikely that you will do the marginalised people you are trying to save justice.

And I understand this very often comes from place of good intentions, but there is a reason that most of the moralising plays written by white abolitionists are deeply uncomfortable to read.

It is incredibly easy for works looking to play saviour to become patronising or traffic in simplistic stereotypes that ultimately hurt the people they are looking to rescue.
WRITING
Advertisement
Daoyu
Daoyu
@Daoyu15
@franciscodeasis https://t.co/OuQaBRFPu7
Unfortunately the "This work includes the identification of viral sequences in bat samples, and has resulted in the isolation of three bat SARS-related coronaviruses that are now used as reagents to test therapeutics and vaccines." were BEFORE the


chimeric infectious clone grants were there.https://t.co/DAArwFkz6v is in 2017, Rs4231.
https://t.co/UgXygDjYbW is in 2016, RsSHC014 and RsWIV16.
https://t.co/krO69CsJ94 is in 2013, RsWIV1. notice that this is before the beginning of the project

starting in 2016. Also remember that they told about only 3 isolates/live viruses. RsSHC014 is a live infectious clone that is just as alive as those other "Isolates".

P.D. somehow is able to use funds that he have yet recieved yet, and send results and sequences from late 2019 back in time into 2015,2013 and 2016!

https://t.co/4wC7k1Lh54 Ref 3: Why ALL your pangolin samples were PCR negative? to avoid deep sequencing and accidentally reveal Paguma Larvata and Oryctolagus Cuniculus?
ALL
Jaya_Upadhyaya
Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
RISHI BHRINGI AND ARDHA-NAREESHWAR SHIVA

Rishi Bhringi was a devoted bhakt of Mahadev. However, in his devotion to Shiva, he ignored Mata Parvati.

Once, he visited Kailasha along with other Rishis. All the Rishis did parikrama of Shiva and Parvati both except Rishi Bhringi.


The same situation continued whenever Rishi Bhringi visited Kailasha. Mata Parvati decided to teach him that Shiva and Parvati are one and inseparable.
So on one such visit, Mata Parvati sat on the left lap of Mahadev when Rishi Bhringi came.


Seeing this, Rishi Bhringi took the form of a bee(some say bird) and did pradakshina/ parikrama only around Shiva’s head and ignored Ma Parvati.
Angered Mata took away the Shakti from his body. Rishi lost his blood and flesh and was left with a bare skeletal form.


Seeing him in such a situation where he was unable to support himself, Shiva granted a third leg to him.
Shiva then fused one half of his body with that of Ma Parvati and appeared as Ardha Nareeshwar.
Rishi Bhringi finally realised that Shiv and Shakti are one and the same.
🙏🏻
ALL
SK
SK
@sk_diary1
Andhakasuravadha Samharamurti -#story #Thread
Sculpture of Bhagwan Shiva as the destroyer of the Asura Andhaka - Cave 29,Ellora caves

Asura Andhaka hangs on to a trishula held by 6-armed Shiva.

Once Parvathi & Shiva were relaxing in the pleasant gardens of Mount Mandhara.


Bhagwan Shiva sat down there to enjoy the happiness.Parvati closed the eyes of Shiva playfully & darkness covered the whole universe.Parvati was perplexed & her palms were wet with perspiration.A few drops of her sweat mixed with sweat from Shiva’s body& fell to the ground.

From this sweat,a fierce creature was born,it started to roar.Child was born blind as Shiva's eyes were closed so was named as Andaka.Andha means darkness&also ignorance.Around the same time Asura Hiranyaksha was performing rigorous tapas Shiva for a boon of powerful son.

Bhagwan Shiva was pleased by tapas of Hiranyaksha & blessed him with darshan.Hiranyaksha asked for a powerful son,Shiva told him that he cannot have his own son,but can adopt a blind child who would become very powerful later.Shiva gave child Andaka to Hiranyaksha.

Hiranyaksha returned to his kingdom with Andaka.Later after the vadh of Hiranyaksha, Andaka is said to have lived with his cousins.He was ridiculed,so dejected Andaka went to forest.He did severe tapas for over many years towards Brahma Dev. Brahma dev appeared before him.
ALL