Dr Yes

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

I retweeted this earlier today and received some hostile comments, so I thought I'd share a story.

The photo on the left shows Constable Sukhvinder Singh Sunger, a Canadian Sikh police officer who recently led the Vancouver Police Pipe Band at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The event is held at Edinburgh Castle, and it celebrates military bands from around the world. Thus, for the event, Constable Sunger wore traditional Highland dress with a ceremonial dastār (Sikh turban).

I think he looks resplendent for all the reasons I've mentioned in my previous threads: the use of "shape and drape," texture, and the semiotics of clothing.

But some were less enthused about a Canadian man of South Asian descent wearing Scottish clothing.

So I thought I'd share a story about Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, an adventurer and mercenary born in 1785 in what would become modern Wisconsin. By his own account, his father was Scottish, and his mother was Anglo-Spanish, although at least one of his contemporaries thought he was Irish. Either way, he would be considered "white" today.

At the age of 24, he traveled to Europe and, shortly after, began exploring Russia and Central Asia. It was in Central Asia, he claims, that he started to adopt the local customs and mores, often presenting himself as Muslim. Although one wonders how easily he was able to blend in, as he stood six feet tall and had a penchant for drinking.

According to him, he was captured in Afghanistan in 1824, but ended up joining a rebel force, commanding 180 horsemen, and marrying a local woman, with whom he fathered a child near Parwan. His wife and child were later killed after his patron's defeat, which drove him to Punjab.

It was in Punjab, he claims, where he joined the Sikh Army, eventually rising to the level of Colonel. He claims to have been present at Lahore, then the capital of the Sikh Empire, and says he killed 300 men during a fierce clash.

Much of Gardner's life is hard to verify, as many of his fantastical claims come from his much-contested memoir, which has little to no third-party corroboration. However, one thing is certain, if only because we have photographic evidence. Later in life, he had a striking style of self-presentation. In the photo on the right, you can see him in a tartan suit and Sikh turban. His facial hair is long because many Sikhs believe not cutting your hair shows respect for God's perfect creation.

Gardner was a man of American descent, European lineage, and Central/ South Asian cultural identity. He died with the name Gordana Khan. This complex form of diasporic identity goes back to 1785, shortly after the United States declared independence from Britain. In my opinion, it goes to show that culture is porous and identities can be complex, not as clear and "pure" as many would like to pretend.

[Pritpal Singh @PritpalASCC]

@JohnKiriakou has put his finger on India’s oldest wound: caste. Sikhs challenged the Brahminical varna order 550 years ago; We have paid in blood, including genocide; for refusing to bow. We are AntiFragile. We will bring this pyramid of evil down, stone by stone.

[Hal 10000 @Hal_RTFLC]

Number of Simpsons episodes as of 1990: 22
Number of Simpsons episodes as of 2026: 808

The Simpsons causes autism

[Ashish Joshi @bismil_prasad]

This is called aestheticization of politics.

The aestheticization of politics is a concept introduced by Walter Benjamin in his 1935 essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

He argued that fascism responds to the economic demands & problems of the masses by turning politics into a theatrical spectacle.

This gives people a false sense of expression while keeping property and power structures untouched.

The Core Mechanics of Aestheticized Politics Theatrical Spectacle are as under :
(a) Politics becomes a matter of grandiose parades, rallies, and media rituals rather than actual democratic power.Preserving Property: Regimes allow the working class to feel heard and unified, but protect existing class and economic property relations.

(b) Self-Alienation: People are reduced to viewing their own destruction and subjugation as high aesthetic pleasure.

#GovernanceBySpectacle

[Dhruv Rathee @dhruv_rathee]

BJP's New Propaganda for Gen-Z

[Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor]

Irony just died again. The cleanest man in Indian politics did not need an SC certificate of his integrity. Instead it is those who sought to implicate him in these charges who ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

[Big Timi @OrevaZSN]

So if I purchase a DVD and digitize it, that’s copyright infringement. But if an AI company buys my book and scans it to train their system, that’s perfectly fine? Once again, corporations are allowed to play by their own rules. I’m so sick of the hypocrisy.

[Saurav Das @SauravDassss]

🚨URGENT STATEMENT🚨

The interim order passed by the Supreme Court of India in the batch of PILs related to the CJP protest must ring alarm bells across the country. In particular, Direction No. 4, which permits governments to proceed with existing FIRs and carry out investigations, raises extremely serious concerns.

This direction stands in direct contradiction to the solemn assurance and guarantee extended by the Government of India to the youth of this nation on 25 July 2026, namely, that the FIRs would be withdrawn and that no protester would be directly or indirectly targeted for participating in the peaceful movement.

It was on the strength of that solemn assurance, and in complete good faith, that the Cockroach Janta Party called off its nationwide protest.

We now have a credible apprehension that the Government of India and BJP-ruled states may seek to use and weaponise this order of the Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to continue FIRs against individual protesters and subject them to great harassment. This was precisely our concern from day one: that courts could be used, directly or indirectly, to achieve political ends by targeting peaceful dissent.

Equally troubling is the fact that the interim order was not opposed by the government's lawyers, despite the Central Government being fully aware that talks/assurances with the CJP had continued until as recently as late last night and that a solemn agreement had already been arrived at on 25 July.

The court's uninformed order is therefore wholly unacceptable.

A solemn public assurance given to thousands of young students and protesters cannot be diluted, undermined, or rendered meaningless through subsequent legal developments, in a surreptitious manner. It only results in breach of public trust.

In any event, nothing in the interim order prevents the Government of India or the concerned BJP/NDA ruled State Governments from withdrawing the FIRs or deciding not to proceed against peaceful protesters, like done by Bihar and Assam governments. The power to withdraw or not pursue such cases continues to rest with the executive. The court has not mandated that governments must definitely continue with the FIRs. That would be a deliberate misreading. The Government must not invoke the Court’s order as a justification for reneging on the commitment it made on 25 July.

We therefore demand that the Government of India and the concerned BJP/NDA State Governments immediately place the terms of this solemn assurance before the Supreme Court in the pending proceedings so that there is complete transparency regarding the commitments already made to the youth of this country and so that the court can withdraw and make an informed order in the future.

The youth of India entered into this understanding in good faith. That good faith must not be betrayed. Institutions of constitutional importance must never be politicised and weaponised to not honour the guarantees.

The deadline for the Government of India to honour its guarantees expires today. We once again call upon it to fulfil every commitment it made: withdraw the FIRs, ensure that no protester is subjected to future punitive action, and honour both the letter and the spirit of the assurance that brought an end to the protest.

Failing this, and as previously declared, the Cockroach Janta Party will have no option but to resume its nationwide protest to protect the students and young protesters who stood up not for themselves alone, but for the future of this nation. A government that breaks its word cannot expect the youth to remain silent. If the guarantees are dishonoured, the streets of India will once again become the voice of its young.

[Prateekaaryan 𝕏 @AaryanPrateekX]

A topper who thinks every problem can be solved by studying harder is exactly why common sense isn’t part of the NEET syllabus.

The people protesting aren’t trying to improve their scores, they’re trying to improve the system that decides them. The irony is that the freedom to say, “Why Go To Protest When I Could Study,” exists only because people before you chose to protest instead of staying silent.

[Tractor2ਟਵਿੱਟਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ @Tractor2twitr_P]

After yesterday’s police brutality, thousands of students found refuge in Bangla Sahib and other gurdwaras in Delhi.

It is not that other places are not economically capable to provide food or roof (no disrespect to any religion), but they lack sense of religious sovereignty which gurdwaras embraced via concept of Miri and Piri. Every gurudwara is a sovereign institution and rejects to bow down to political pressures, and that is why ultra nationalists hate gurdwaras.

1984 Operation Bluestar was not an attack on Bhindranwale, it was an attack on Akal Takht, the temporal authority which powers this ‘sense of sovereignty’.

ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰ

[Ambedkarite @_ambedkaritee]

The priest of hanuman mandir at CP closed the temple gates upon seeing the injured girl students while sewadars at Bangla Sahib standing guard outside and let the students enter the Gurudwara.

[@sindizulu86 @sindizulu86]

Me showing up at the bar again after they put me in the uber to go home 😅😅😅😅

[Lion @LionInCrisis]

i live rent free in his head

[IcyVert @IcyVert]

Get ready for an all time offsides graphic

[B/R Football @brfootball]

2026 World Cup legend, Vozinha 🧤

[Iain Cameron @theiaincameron]

In the state of Wyoming, USA, lies a real hydrological oddity. It's a small stream (creek) that is thought to be one of a just a few examples in the world. It is placed so precariously and perfectly that it's hard to believe it is able to exist.

1/n

[Big Timi @OrevaZSN]

The World Cup is proof that, if it weren't for our leaders, the vast majority of people around the world would get along just fine.

[Dr. Parik Patel, BA, CFA, ACCA Esq. @ParikPatelCFA]

He stopped making his coffee at home

[Pattaas 🍉 @jokeperaalta]

ain't nobody gonna be alive to vote in 2029 fellas.