With all that’s going on in the world and here in the U.S., it’s easy to forget that Israel is coming apart at the seams. (1/30) Since the end of last year, Israel’s internal politics has been upended, an indicted Prime Minister was returned to office and, in a situation echoing American politics, is trying to use his power and influence to remain in power to avoid prosecution for fraud, breach of… (2/30)

In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, icons are often hung not only in church but in the homes of the faithful. It is traditional to hang icons of saints or other religious figures in what is known as the “beautiful” or “shining” corner of one’s home. (1/18) These corners typically face East, towards the rising sun, because it was once believed that Christ would return to earth from that direction. Such corners were and are considered the spiritual heart of a home. (2/18)

I need your help. Seriously.
I need your help explaining something. Or at least discussing it. And I mean it. Because I’m truly stumped.
It came to a head this week with the indictment. (1/41) As you know, I read the whole thing, out loud, for a podcast, so that those who didn’t have the time to do so, could hear what is in it. And it *is* damning. (2/41)

Gender equality is "vanishing before our eyes.”

That was the warning from the U.N. Secretary General ahead of #InternationalWomen's day last week. 🧵 He made special reference to Afghanistan, saying that women and girls have been “erased from public life” under the Taliban, and he singled out Afghanistan as the most repressive nation in the world for women and girls.

Back in 2013, after I had boarded a flight at New York's Kennedy airport, en route to cover the funeral of Nelson Mandela, I looked up to see President Jimmy Carter standing in front of me, facing me.

We discussed Mandela until the flight staff insisted he take his seat. We ended up speaking throughout the flight. As we neared our descent I asked him if we could continue the conversation, on tape, after we landed in Johannesburg.

He said to give him a 30 minute head start and then meet him at the hotel.

Mike Pompeo - former congressman from Kansas, former director of the CIA, and former Secretary of State in the Trump administration - is preparing for a Presidential run in 2024.

He said last week that he'd be making that decision in the next few months. 🧵 His new book, "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America that I love" was released last week.

In the words of one reviewer in the Washington Post, “Hatred animates this book.”

TW: Mention of suicide

In 1971 a psychiatrist wrote an article which was published by the AMA. In it, he tells the story of two young women - college students in the Midwest - who stood on a busy street corner for hours, benignly staring at each other, as if in a trance. 🧵 There was, of course, no law against people staring at each other. But their bizarre behavior attracted confused spectators, who called the police, who eventually took the two women into custody for questioning. But, even at the police station, the two women refused to speak.

NBC NEWS EXIT POLL: Majorities of voters say they trust Republicans more than Democrats to better handle crime, inflation, and immigration. NBC NEWS EXIT POLL: Democrats enjoy a sizeable lead over GOP on handling abortion.

“Zan, Zindagi, Azadi.”
3 beautiful words you may never have heard before, ringing out in the streets across Iran.
These 3 words form a protest chant; their meaning tells you everything you need to know about the protests in which people are demonstrating – and dying – in Iran. 🧵 “Zan” means “women”, because it is the women and the girls of Iran who were not just the spark of the current protests, but the heart of them.

If you were on Twitter five years ago this weekend, it was *buzzing* even more than usual.

Every FEW tweets you’d come across #MeToo.

With each scroll down your timeline, you were witnessing the galvanization of an enduring, worldwide movement. 🧵 Millions of people - mainly women – were empowered to tell their stories of sexual violence and harassment. If not for the community the hashtag created, many of those women may never have told their stories.

BREAKING: Biden tells fundraiser crowd this is the first time since Cuban missile crisis that “We have a direct threat of the use nuclear weapon, if in fact things continue down the path they are going.”

1/4 “I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”
 
2/4

1/27
This week President Biden announced a plan to streamline the process of admitting Ukrainian refugees into the United States. The new program will require Ukrainians to have a sponsor in the U.S. who can “attest to their ability to support them.” #velshi 2/27
This builds on Biden’s earlier promise to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war. The United Nations says more than 5.1 million people have fled Ukraine from the start of this conflict. And even more are displaced inside the country. #velshi

1/16
“Ukraine hath not yet perished, nor her glory, nor her freedom,
Upon us, fellow Ukrainians, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies shall vanish, like the dew in the sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.” #velshi 2/16
That is a verse from the Ukrainian national anthem, translated to English. The State Anthem younger than Ukrainian democracy itself, written about 30 years ago as this nation aspired to, but had not achieved democracy. #velshi

1/24
If, for whatever reason, you have lingering questions about Russia’s intentions in this war, let me remind you of what we know. This is the missile that killed dozens of civilians at a train station in Kramatorsk, as they attempted to flee the bloody war. #velshi 2/24
On the side of the missile that struck the station, and killed those civilians, including children, were the words, in Russian: “for the children”. No one knows who wrote those words or what they meant. Russia denies responsibility for the attack. #velshi

1/28
There are various organizations that rank democracy in the world, typically measuring how well a country stacks up against 5 core measures:

Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Association and Assembly
Judicial Independence
Effective Parliament
Media Integrity

#velshi 2/28
By these measures, America is backsliding, largely because of the after effects of Donald Trump’s undermining and denial of the outcome of the 2020 election. But democratic backsliding is the norm today. #velshi

1/5
#Ukraine update: Russian forces continue to advance & isolate Kyiv, Kharkhiv & Chernihiv, and continue to be met with strong #Ukrainian resistance.
U.S. intel assesses about 95% of Russian troops amassed along the Ukraine border prior to the invasion are now inside Ukraine. 2/4
Fighting between Russian forces and the #Ukrainian military and civilian resistance continues around Mariupol, as Russian forces attempt to encircle the southeastern Ukrainian city, which is suffering widespread water and electricity outages.

1/20
One of the reasons I’m here in Beregsurany, Hungary on the border of Ukraine is because thousands of Ukrainians who have been driven from their homes are seeking safety right here. #velshi 2/20
Hungary has welcomed around 145,000 refugees since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. On Thursday night, I was at a train station in Budapest at which thousands of refugees were arriving. #velshi

4/22
Telex - not just the machine, but the system it worked on - was the network used to send written messages between businesses - and most commonly between banks. #velshi 5/22
So, between 1930 until the 70’s, if you needed to transfer or “wire” money to someone - you were using Telex. Without getting too technical, this is how the process worked: you would go to the bank or business - maybe it was an insurance company. #velshi

1/21
If you've been watching our show recently, you'd know that we've been keeping a close watch on the hundreds of books that have either been challenged, barred, or face proposals to get pulled from schools, curricula, and libraries across the country. #velshi 2/21
Hundreds of books, new and old. They’ve been deemed "controversial," for a variety of reasons. #velshi

1/20
Imagine this: you and your family live on the land you’ve owned for decades - maybe even close to a century. You live a simple, peaceful life in a small village within a community of people you’ve known for as long as you can remember. #velshi 2/20
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a new group of people, build their own village right on your village’s land. Not like neighbors though - rather, they are intent on displacing and replacing you. #velshi

1/19
On 1/6/22 within the 1st hour of the assault on the U.S. Capitol, Merriam-Webster dictionary reported that the word “sedition” was at the top of its searches. More people were searching “sedition” than “coup” or “insurrection”. #velshi 2/19
At the time, then-President-elect Joe Biden even said of the attack that “It borders on sedition”. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time “sedition” was used to describe the actions of the pro-Trumpers who breached the Capitol that day. #velshi