diff --git a/lib/assets/Lib/_thread.py b/lib/assets/Lib/_thread.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/assets/Lib/_thread.py
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+"""Drop-in replacement for the thread module.
+
+Meant to be used as a brain-dead substitute so that threaded code does
+not need to be rewritten for when the thread module is not present.
+
+Suggested usage is::
+
+    try:
+        import _thread
+    except ImportError:
+        import _dummy_thread as _thread
+
+"""
+# Exports only things specified by thread documentation;
+# skipping obsolete synonyms allocate(), start_new(), exit_thread().
+__all__ = ['error', 'start_new_thread', 'exit', 'get_ident', 'allocate_lock',
+           'interrupt_main', 'LockType']
+
+# A dummy value
+TIMEOUT_MAX = 2**31
+
+# NOTE: this module can be imported early in the extension building process,
+# and so top level imports of other modules should be avoided.  Instead, all
+# imports are done when needed on a function-by-function basis.  Since threads
+# are disabled, the import lock should not be an issue anyway (??).
+
+error = RuntimeError
+
+def start_new_thread(function, args, kwargs={}):
+    """Dummy implementation of _thread.start_new_thread().
+
+    Compatibility is maintained by making sure that ``args`` is a
+    tuple and ``kwargs`` is a dictionary.  If an exception is raised
+    and it is SystemExit (which can be done by _thread.exit()) it is
+    caught and nothing is done; all other exceptions are printed out
+    by using traceback.print_exc().
+
+    If the executed function calls interrupt_main the KeyboardInterrupt will be
+    raised when the function returns.
+
+    """
+    if type(args) != type(tuple()):
+        raise TypeError("2nd arg must be a tuple")
+    if type(kwargs) != type(dict()):
+        raise TypeError("3rd arg must be a dict")
+    global _main
+    _main = False
+    try:
+        function(*args, **kwargs)
+    except SystemExit:
+        pass
+    except:
+        import traceback
+        traceback.print_exc()
+    _main = True
+    global _interrupt
+    if _interrupt:
+        _interrupt = False
+        raise KeyboardInterrupt
+
+def exit():
+    """Dummy implementation of _thread.exit()."""
+    raise SystemExit
+
+def get_ident():
+    """Dummy implementation of _thread.get_ident().
+
+    Since this module should only be used when _threadmodule is not
+    available, it is safe to assume that the current process is the
+    only thread.  Thus a constant can be safely returned.
+    """
+    return -1
+
+def allocate_lock():
+    """Dummy implementation of _thread.allocate_lock()."""
+    return LockType()
+
+def stack_size(size=None):
+    """Dummy implementation of _thread.stack_size()."""
+    if size is not None:
+        raise error("setting thread stack size not supported")
+    return 0
+
+class LockType(object):
+    """Class implementing dummy implementation of _thread.LockType.
+
+    Compatibility is maintained by maintaining self.locked_status
+    which is a boolean that stores the state of the lock.  Pickling of
+    the lock, though, should not be done since if the _thread module is
+    then used with an unpickled ``lock()`` from here problems could
+    occur from this class not having atomic methods.
+
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.locked_status = False
+
+    def acquire(self, waitflag=None, timeout=-1):
+        """Dummy implementation of acquire().
+
+        For blocking calls, self.locked_status is automatically set to
+        True and returned appropriately based on value of
+        ``waitflag``.  If it is non-blocking, then the value is
+        actually checked and not set if it is already acquired.  This
+        is all done so that threading.Condition's assert statements
+        aren't triggered and throw a little fit.
+
+        """
+        if waitflag is None or waitflag:
+            self.locked_status = True
+            return True
+        else:
+            if not self.locked_status:
+                self.locked_status = True
+                return True
+            else:
+                if timeout > 0:
+                    import time
+                    time.sleep(timeout)
+                return False
+
+    __enter__ = acquire
+
+    def __exit__(self, typ, val, tb):
+        self.release()
+
+    def release(self):
+        """Release the dummy lock."""
+        # XXX Perhaps shouldn't actually bother to test?  Could lead
+        #     to problems for complex, threaded code.
+        if not self.locked_status:
+            raise error
+        self.locked_status = False
+        return True
+
+    def locked(self):
+        return self.locked_status
+
+# Used to signal that interrupt_main was called in a "thread"
+_interrupt = False
+# True when not executing in a "thread"
+_main = True
+
+def interrupt_main():
+    """Set _interrupt flag to True to have start_new_thread raise
+    KeyboardInterrupt upon exiting."""
+    if _main:
+        raise KeyboardInterrupt
+    else:
+        global _interrupt
+        _interrupt = True
+
+# Brython-specific to avoid circular references between threading and _threading_local
+class _local:
+    pass
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