#and its really hard to discern which things to let lie because its been 11 years and which things to reach out and apologize for

[some-sort-of-ecologist]

genuinely trying to improve as a person by being vulnerable with people and actively trying to make connections and plans and build friendships and i s2g the vulnerability makes me want to vomit every single time

[ebp-brain]

Year in Review Meme

Tagged by @ruinsplume. Thank you! (posting on my fandom/personal sideblog)

1. List of works published this year (2017):

When The Wolf Comes Home (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, 2.5k, Teen)

Spent Q (Q/007, 3k, Explicit)

Pull Together Men (Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, 2k, Mature)

Split Q (Q/007, 2k, Explicit)

Brighton and Venice (Albus Dumbledore/Elphias Doge, 3k, Gen)

As if the World Should Roll Itself Out Like a Cloak (ACD Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, 4.5k, Gen)

The Weather Inside (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, 43k, Explicit)

Ghost of Winter (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, 3k, Teen)

Night Travels (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, 6k, Teen)

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

“The Weather Inside.” Hands down. It felt like a bit of a breakthrough for me, both in terms of prose style and what I was trying to do with it. I’d been thinking a lot about the experience of constructing a sense of self by keeping one’s thoughts and feelings tightly locked up, and both wanting and not wanting to let them out--about my own experience of doing this. And when I started writing I began to pour all that into the fic in a way I hadn’t done before. It’s both very personal and very theoretical (like, more or less inspired by a grad seminar about Eve Sedgwick) and that mix is just about where I’d like to be right now. I tried to stick really really close to Remus’ pov in order to investigate his internal experiences, and I feel like it mostly worked. And in trying to describe his intense inner life my language got sharper and more vivid. 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

I feel like the longer it’s been since I wrote something the more likely I am to give it the side-eye, so these relatively young fics still seem okay to me. (: The fics I’m least attached to are probably the Q/007 ones, which I’m not displeased with but which, as installments in the only true PWP series I’ve ever written, have the lowest “sex-to-thinking about sex” ratio of all my fics and are therefore are the most low-impact for me.

4. A favourite excerpt of your writing:

From “The Weather Inside”: But to let go of the way he feels about Sirius is to give up a part of himself and Remus isn’t sure he’s capable anymore of discerning how big that part is or even where its boundaries lie. Keeping his desire locked tight inside him for so long has given it precisely the power Remus wanted to withhold; with no outlet, no place to go, it has woven itself like a creeper vine into all the darkest recesses of himself, into all his hollows and chambers, his tiniest cracks and crannies; unfurling itself in the only way it knows how, insidious, climbing, it has woven itself into the very fabric of Remus. There is ivy at Hogwarts, Professor Sprout told his class once, that can never be removed, because it has become so entangled with the castle that the stones themselves would crumble without the plant to support them.

5. Share or describe a favourite review you received:

One comment on “The Weather Inside” articulated the dynamics between Remus and Sirius so clearly that I’ve been thinking about it ever since: that Remus says and believes he is opening up when he’s actually doing so very much on his own terms and is consequently still withholding a lot. I’ve thought about it in terms of the story and also, you know, my life.

Also, I have to share this one because it’s the most delightful way of describing the experience of reading a fic I’ve ever encountered in my comments: I'm shattered, really, I feel like I have been emptyed (emptied? Damn, I'm sorry, I'm Italian and I'm still learning) with a spoon, but oddly satisfied, as if the person who ate me said "Oh well, you were delicious, thanks!"

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

You know, the actual putting of words on paper for “When the Wolf Comes Home” wasn’t so difficult, but I wrote it after a serious breakup as a way to sort of get at the situation sideways (neither the feelings nor the events much resemble the real-life thing but the general angst needed to come out) and I listened to the Mountain Goats and felt intense grief the whole time I was writing, which is its own kind of “really hard.”

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

This is also not quite answering the question as intended, but I was surprised when I was working on “As if the World Should Roll Itself Out Like a Cloak” how much Watson’s voice still felt right, despite the fact that I was picking up a fic I’d written 9/10ths of four years earlier, in a fandom I’m still fond of but no longer frequent regularly. Although my thoughts about coming out and queer self-revelations have shifted pretty significantly since then, it was a little surprising to realize that Watson’s sudden life-changing epiphany in that fic actually does still resonate with me.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

1. I realized just how much I could articulate my own issues and perceptions through fic, and that that’s the stuff people actually end up liking most, and 2. I started this fandom/personal sideblog and actually worked up the confidence to start talking to people, and 7 years after first getting involved in transformative works-based fandom I finally understand what a rewarding social space it can be. And that has affected the way I write and think about writing in such joyful ways.

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

More friends! More self-analysis turned into self-insert fic! A continued ruthlessness towards my own prose until all cliches and boring sentences are burned to ashes!

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

I’ve had some incredible conversations with @bigblckdog about writing and thinking and feeling in the last few months that have been seeping into the recent writing I’ve been doing. And everyone who has said hi on Tumblr has warmed my socially anxious heart and made me feel encouraged and excited to keep working.

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Haha see #2 and #6. I don’t think any specific events or people showed up in a direct way in fic but the frustration and pain and relief and excitement and pleasure and self-scrutiny of the past year are all there in “The Weather Inside” and my other Remus/Sirius stuff. Also, Remus’ overwrought emotional response to rain in “Night Travels” is mine. 

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

WISDOM seems like such a big word. Write the stuff that’s closest to home, whatever that means, and it’s likely it’ll hit someone else right there too.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I keep mentioning this non-chronological Remus/Sirius fic about “thinking,” and I’m really truly working on it! I’m on chapter 4 of what will likely be 10 and because I’ve got my qualifying exam for my PhD program in the spring I’ve decided not to start posting until I’m at least halfway through, but it’s coming along. If “The Weather Inside” was about what I’d call interiority--the experience of a significant inner life--this one is about Remus’ relationship to thinking, broadly understood: the way that feeling and thinking don’t seem separate to him, and the way his erotic experiences are propelled by thought or some sort of headspace, and the struggle to be compatible with someone who is all about Doing Things, aka Sirius Black. It’s got too many references to Muggle literature and a lot of fraught conversations and I’m really excited about it. You know, also, I have a weird confusing relationship to femslash that I’d sure like to deal with at some point, so maybe some queer Ginny will come out of that.

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read.

Can I tag my Tumblr social anxiety? jk do these if you want no pressure you’re great sorry to bother you lol: @bigblckdog @toyhto @montpahrnah

*All answers should be about works published in 2017. Also, you can skip any questions you hate or don’t want to answer, but please leave them on the list so that others can do them if they want.

[gduncan969]

Running and Resting

Hebrews 4:11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (KJV)

It’s getting really hard to sort out fact from fiction these days.  Every time we get some major new announcement from the government about progress over the COVID pandemic we immediately get hundreds of opposing statements telling us not to believe it.  It used to be easier to dismiss the nay-sayers as a “flakey-fringe” group stubbornly refusing to accept any scientific evidence supporting the announcement, but now every such announcement is immediately followed by very un-flakey hordes of scientists, all with a long list of degrees and titles after their names and some with stellar reputations in their field, warning us not to believe the authorities and even accusing them of pushing a hidden agenda to take control of our lives. Where lies the truth?  Who are we going to believe? Certainly not our politicians fixated on their own secret agendas and self-interests as the recent election in the US clearly shows!  We used to feel safe because we could trust the science but that’s no longer the case when so many scientists hold diametrically opposite views and “truth” is now defined in purely subjective terms.  On one hand we might rejoice that there are now several COVID vaccines being made available but on the other, we have a former vice-president of Pfizer Inc., and a host of other medical professionals warning us to stay away from them because they are downright dangerous and may be part of a global reset designed to control us under a world government dominated by zillionaires.  Real warnings of forced vaccinations abound and believe it or not, some scientists are claiming the vaccine will contain---wait for it---“nanobots” (minuscule robotic implants) meant to control how we think!  Surely, this is all nonsense, fear-based science fiction from the flakey-fringe groups but wasn’t it just this week that the news media announced China is researching how to “bio-engineer” better soldiers for its army and wasn’t it just the other day they announced the birth of a healthy baby girl from a human embryo conceived twenty seven years ago!  Yesterday, I read on page one of a national newspaper that our prime-minister’s half-brother, Kyle Kemper, considers “the real battle is not between left and right, it is between authoritarianism versus libertarianism” and he is urging people to sign the petition by conservative MP Derek Sloan against the new vaccines which he describes as human experimentation with serious risks to those who take it and designed to prevent a disease from which 99% of the people who catch it survive.  As I turned to page two, I found an article about a retired Israeli general, the former head of Israel’s space security program and a university professor telling us that aliens exist and they are part of a “Galactic Federation” with “underground bunkers on Mars”.  Really!, a galactic federation? underground bunkers on Mars?  No wonder people today don’t know what to believe.  Is it really possible that a cabal of globalists has managed to pull off the greatest swindle in history—stealing the US election?  Is it really possible that China has infiltrated the corridors of power and media in the US and beyond right down to the municipal level?  Five years ago, such questions would have guaranteed you a visit to a psychiatrist.  Today, they are  becoming mainstream and being asked by some very highly qualified people..

What is the Christian to make of all of this?  

Many believers are bewildered by all of this and their anxiety levels are soaring as they search for clarity in the chaos.  “What will happen to me if this is all true? What can I do about it?  Will I be able to buy food if I refuse the vaccine?  Will I be able to keep my job, travel, visit friends or hug my grandchildren?  What kind of future will I have?  Will I be able to marry, raise a family, pursue my dreams without having to submit my independence to some internationally ordained collective “good”?  The short answer to all of these questions is the same as it has always been: TRUST IN GOD.  Us older folks have asked all these questions before and seen them answered.  In the years following WWII, nuclear annihilation was a very real threat.  The cold war was in full swing and my police-officer father-in-law was responsible for overseeing the civil-defense operations for an entire county in Scotland.  He trained his daughter, Eleanor, as a civil-defense warden in the event of a nuclear attack which many thought was only a matter of time.  Casualty estimates were in the hundreds of thousands and that was just for one bomb in one city.  Eleanor well remembers the struggle she had overcoming the thought that she would never marry and never have children, a thought shared by many young Christians today.   But God is faithful!  She did marry and had three children and now six wonderful grandchildren plus fifty five years of marriage to me!  In that light, the COVID “crisis” with its 99% survival rate is hardly worth the worry and even if the aliens are living on Mars and working with earthlings to control us, our God is bigger than them all and has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).  

Entering your rest

God has made provision for us by inviting us into His rest which is a place where we cease from all our striving and self-effort and simply rest in His accomplished work. That’s hard to do in the midst of a pandemic but it’s where He Himself dwells.  In that place we have nothing to worry about and nothing to achieve through self effort because He has done it all, so the antidote to all of this fear and worry is to climb back up into our place of rest.  Hebrews 4: 9 - 13 says:

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

The King James Version puts it this way: “Let us labour therefore to enter that rest” which tells us it will require some considerable work on out part to get in there.  In other words, God has called us to work hard at only one thing: TO QUIT WORKING AND ENTER OUR REST.  Our rest is a place where we recognize that He has already done it all and there’s nothing left for us to do except love Him, trust Him, follow Him and rest in Him.  He has it all under control and “will not allow you to be tempted—with worries and fears— beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). The “way of escape” is the means by which we escape the temptation to become fearful of all that is swirling around us in this crazy world and it refers to a “landing place” where a bird buffeted by a storm can take refuge while the storm rages on—a place of rest in the midst of the storm, a place where we remind ourselves of the pastor who said, “I have read the back of the Book and we win!”   As the world continues to lose sight of what is true, having swallowed the lie that all truth is subjective (your truth is not my truth), we can remind ourselves that we serve the One who is the Truth and He can be trusted to reveal Himself to us and lead us through these troubling times.  Life may get more difficult in the months ahead but Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to “run with patient endurance the race that is set before us”.  The race we are in is not a 100-metre dash but a lifelong marathon full of ups and downs that will both thrill us and challenge us and like any experienced marathon runner, we must reach that place in the race where we break through the fear and exhaustion and know that we are able to rest in the knowledge that we will cross the finishing line successfully as we continue to run on.  That place is His rest and may we all find it.

[pope-francis-quotes]

24th January >> (@romereports) Pope Francis’ Message for the 51th World Communications Day | Dear Brothers and Sisters, Communication is part of God’s plan for us and an essential way to experience fellowship. Made in the image and likeness of our Creator, we are able to express and share all that is true, good, and beautiful. We are able to describe our own experiences and the world around us, and thus to create historical memory and the understanding of events. But when we yield to our own pride and selfishness, we can also distort the way we use our ability to communicate. This can be seen from the earliest times, in the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 4:4-16; 11:1-9). The capacity to twist the truth is symptomatic of our condition, both as individuals and communities. On the other hand, when we are faithful to God’s plan, communication becomes an effective expression of our responsible search for truth and our pursuit of goodness. In today’s fast-changing world of communications and digital systems, we are witnessing the spread of what has come to be known as “fake news”. This calls for reflection, which is why I have decided to return in this World Communications Day Message to the issue of truth, which was raised time and time again by my predecessors, beginning with Pope Paul VI, whose 1972 Message took as its theme: “Social Communications at the Service of Truth”. In this way, I would like to contribute to our shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and to rediscovering the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth. 1. What is “fake” about fake news? The term “fake news” has been the object of great discussion and debate. In general, it refers to the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media. It has to do with false information based on non-existent or distorted data meant to deceive and manipulate the reader. Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests. The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible. Secondly, this false but believable news is “captious”, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration. The ability to spread such fake news often relies on a manipulative use of the social networks and the way they function. Untrue stories can spread so quickly that even authoritative denials fail to contain the damage. The difficulty of unmasking and eliminating fake news is due also to the fact that many people interact in homogeneous digital environments impervious to differing perspectives and opinions. Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue; instead, it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas. The tragedy of disinformation is that it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and fomenting conflict. Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth. 2. How can we recognize fake news? None of us can feel exempted from the duty of countering these falsehoods. This is no easy task, since disinformation is often based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms. Praiseworthy efforts are being made to create educational programmes aimed at helping people to interpret and assess information provided by the media, and teaching them to take an active part in unmasking falsehoods, rather than unwittingly contributing to the spread of disinformation. Praiseworthy too are those institutional and legal initiatives aimed at developing regulations for curbing the phenomenon, to say nothing of the work being done by tech and media companies in coming up with new criteria for verifying the personal identities concealed behind millions of digital profiles. Yet preventing and identifying the way disinformation works also calls for a profound and careful process of discernment. We need to unmask what could be called the "snake-tactics" used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place. This was the strategy employed by the "crafty serpent" in the Book of Genesis, who, at the dawn of humanity, created the first fake news (cf. Gen 3:1-15), which began the tragic history of human sin, beginning with the first fratricide (cf. Gen 4) and issuing in the countless other evils committed against God, neighbour, society and creation. The strategy of this skilled "Father of Lies" (Jn 8:44) is precisely mimicry, that sly and dangerous form of seduction that worms its way into the heart with false and alluring arguments. In the account of the first sin, the tempter approaches the woman by pretending to be her friend, concerned only for her welfare, and begins by saying something only partly true: "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" (Gen 3:1). In fact, God never told Adam not to eat from any tree, but only from the one tree: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat" (Gen 2:17). The woman corrects the serpent, but lets herself be taken in by his provocation: "Of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, “You must not eat it nor touch it, under pain of death" (Gen 3:2). Her answer is couched in legalistic and negative terms; after listening to the deceiver and letting herself be taken in by his version of the facts, the woman is misled. So she heeds his words of reassurance: "You will not die!" (Gen 3:4). The tempter’s “deconstruction” then takes on an appearance of truth: "God knows that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen3:5). God’s paternal command, meant for their good, is discredited by the seductive enticement of the enemy: "The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye and desirable" (Gen 3:6). This biblical episode brings to light an essential element for our reflection: there is no such thing as harmless disinformation; on the contrary, trusting in falsehood can have dire consequences. Even a seemingly slight distortion of the truth can have dangerous effects. What is at stake is our greed. Fake news often goes viral, spreading so fast that it is hard to stop, not because of the sense of sharing that inspires the social media, but because it appeals to the insatiable greed so easily aroused in human beings. The economic and manipulative aims that feed disinformation are rooted in a thirst for power, a desire to possess and enjoy, which ultimately makes us victims of something much more tragic: the deceptive power of evil that moves from one lie to another in order to rob us of our interior freedom. That is why education for truth means teaching people how to discern, evaluate and understand our deepest desires and inclinations, lest we lose sight of what is good and yield to every temptation. 3. "The truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32) Constant contamination by deceptive language can end up darkening our interior life. Dostoevsky’s observation is illuminating: "People who lie to themselves and listen to their own lie come to such a pass that they cannot distinguish the truth within them, or around them, and so lose all respect for themselves and for others. And having no respect, they cease to love, and in order to occupy and distract themselves without love they give way to passions and to coarse pleasures, and sink to bestiality in their vices, all from continual lying to others and to themselves.” (The Brothers Karamazov, II, 2). So how do we defend ourselves? The most radical antidote to the virus of falsehood is purification by the truth. In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true or false. The truth is not just bringing to light things that are concealed, "revealing reality", as the ancient Greek term aletheia (from a-lethès, "not hidden") might lead us to believe. Truth involves our whole life. In the Bible, it carries with it the sense of support, solidity, and trust, as implied by the root 'aman, the source of our liturgical expression Amen. Truth is something you can lean on, so as not to fall. In this relational sense, the only truly reliable and trustworthy One – the One on whom we can count – is the living God. Hence, Jesus can say: "I am the truth" (Jn 14:6). We discover and rediscover the truth when we experience it within ourselves in the loyalty and trustworthiness of the One who loves us. This alone can liberate us: "The truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32). Freedom from falsehood and the search for relationship: these two ingredients cannot be lacking if our words and gestures are to be true, authentic, and trustworthy. To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide, and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true. An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results. 4. Peace is the true news The best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people: people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language. If responsibility is the answer to the spread of fake news, then a weighty responsibility rests on the shoulders of those whose job is to provide information, namely, journalists, the protectors of news. In today’s world, theirs is, in every sense, not just a job; it is a mission. Amid feeding frenzies and the mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons. Informing others means forming others; it means being in touch with people’s lives. That is why ensuring the accuracy of sources and protecting communication are real means of promoting goodness, generating trust, and opening the way to communion and peace. I would like, then, to invite everyone to promote a journalism of peace. By that, I do not mean the saccharine kind of journalism that refuses to acknowledge the existence of serious problems or smacks of sentimentalism. On the contrary, I mean a journalism that is truthful and opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans, and sensational headlines. A journalism created by people for people, one that is at the service of all, especially those – and they are the majority in our world – who have no voice. A journalism less concentrated on breaking news than on exploring the underlying causes of conflicts, in order to promote deeper understanding and contribute to their resolution by setting in place virtuous processes. A journalism committed to pointing out alternatives to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence. To this end, drawing inspiration from a Franciscan prayer, we might turn to the Truth in person: Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Help us to recognize the evil latent in a communication that does not build communion. Help us to remove the venom from our judgements. Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters. You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the world: where there is shouting, let us practise listening; where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony; where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity; where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity; where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety; where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions; where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust; where there is hostility, let us bring respect; where there is falsehood, let us bring truth. Amen. From the Vatican, 24 January 2018, the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales. FRANCIS.

[paulatoo]

To impeach or not to impeach has taken center stage... for a minute anyway.

Now that the Mueller report is out the question of to impeach or not to impeach has taken center stage.  Sadly even before the time that President Trump took office there was a ruling that lying politicians are allowed to because campaign rhetoric, for some reason, doesn't carry the same weight as a lie in any other situation.  To some extent there's a benefit to that for any otherwise honest candidates who get into office and find themselves unable to fulfill campaign promises.

However, in a situation where you have individual chronically, habitually and intentionally disseminating false information, especially when they are using the Office of the President of the United States as their platform, we need to have an option for removal.  For those reasons I think the Republican Party should have moved to remove him at most three months into his presidency.

The Mueller report is detailing a lot of the ways Russia has attempt to interfere with our elections, actual areas of interference, covering some of the interactions between Donald J Trump and Russia that predate his candidacy,  and his obstruction of/attempts to obstruct the investigation in to those things, impeachment is a buzzword.

I'd like to look at these options even though I'm more strongly in favor of removing him from office via the 25th Amendment and think that that is long overdue as well.

First question: Is there enough evidence to impeach successfully?  Although we do not have option to view the unredacted information in the Mueller report, that may contain information that could verify a successful impeachment, is there enough evidence to bring a strong enough case to actually successfully impeach Trump?

To remind you Despite what Donald says, there is a lot of evidence in the Mueller report, he definitely repeatedly at least attempts to obstruct justice or ordered an obstructionary act.  Fortunately for him now, the people who President Trump told or ordered to obstruct the investigation, or fire someone, or otherwise stop, silence, etc. didn't listen to him.  His reaction to that has been to trash those individuals all over the place on Twitter and in the press, when he should be thanking them so that takes us back to the 25th Amendment.  Then there is Trump & Putin referring to all of this as a ‘mouse’. 

If they attempt to impeach Trump and fail( primarily due to the overly Republican Senate having and cashed in the security of the country in favor of maintaining a unified front, regardless of the fact that's a President could potentially be working on behalf of Russia, or even another foreign national to bring down the country. It's not like we're seeing the 1990s Lindsey Graham trying to hold Bill Clinton accountable, sadly he's gone the opposite direction this time, quoting misleading statements. Do they have him too? Btw I was not Bill Clinton’s biggest fan back then either) would that preclude him being charged once the protections of the office of a sitting President are removed?  Reportedly no, even post successful impeachment, he could still be charged, but post impeachment the court would most likely go easier on him since he already had penalties placed on him by virtue of the impeachment.

At this point it is my understanding that the Trump 2020 campaign could be run under the slogan: ‘Please vote for me, I don't want to go to jail’. Will he be charged when leaving office if he's not impeached or removed under the 25th amendment? We will have to wait and see. http://time.com/5123598/president-trump-impeach-criminal-constitution/

What will the tear in the societal fabric be when unfortunately, despite the evidence in both the congressional election interference investigations and Mueller report, many Republicans still don't understand what has been happening with Donald Trump and Russia. The stuff he keeps claiming is a hoax (when there's definitely, proven times over, been interference and interference attempts by Russia and other countries in our electoral process and in our society as a whole.) Information that the Senate Investigative Committee publish in 2018 (The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) July 3, 2018 https://www.burr.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SSCI%20ICA%20ASSESSMENT_FINALJULY3.pdf ) (Remember they also released information on many of the false Facebook pages & ads as well as other social media accounts involved.) The things Trump has still been dismissive about if not straight up denying.  More of Trump & Putin’s ‘mouse’.

What will the cost of not acting be?  The lack of action on the part of the Republican majority and super-majority has already made it acceptable for another highly contradictory, pathological liar to behave in the ways that Donald Trump has behaved in office going forward. God knows Nixon must be on full spin rotation in his grave during this Presidency. I am not sure we can afford this Presidency let alone this precedent.

If no action is taken will the message going forward be that it's okay to at least strongly attempt to obstruct Justice? Will being charged, and possibly landing in prison, after leaving office be enough of a deterrent to prevent future presidents from obstructing justice?

As I said earlier I think the Republican party should have removed him from office very shortly after he took office for all the other things he does wrong.  The whole of the country should remove him from office, invoking the 25th Amendment because of the things he does and says, and the way he behaves so very inconsistently and untruthfully.  Not long ago he was claiming his own father, born in New York City, was actually born in Germany.  Prior to his campaign he was claiming President Obama was not a United States citizen.  

There are lines that can be drawn to separate the difference of a misstatement, or something that turns out not to be true(singular event, or very infrequent event done without the intent to fool or defraud) from a fraud, and intentionally, pathologically misstating information and flat out lying, as well as the crazy statements he makes to prevent abuse of this precedent in the future.

As badly as I want this incompetent, divisive, liar out of office, even I am weary of the continual hearings. If you don’t know me I am sure it is hard to read this & believe I am nonpartisan, but it’s not about Rep vs. Dem or Ind or any of the other 20+ political parties.  It is about behavior & protecting my country.  All I can do is assure you that I would react the same way to anyone from any party behaving this way.

Again, I was not Bill Clinton’s biggest fan back then either. The Republican Party has lost me at least the Democrats have done a better job of consistently presenting factual information this century to date. Hopefully when DJT is done breaking the Republicans they can choose truth over spin, and we will all have more honest trustworthy politicians until we  https://paulatoo.tumblr.com/post/176167819317/tired-of-congress-not-getting-things-done-not  anyway. 

I think it’s beyond time that Republican members of Congress start using facts to educate their party and American’s in general, but most of them are acting like a Democrat will replace an impeached Trump instead of Pence, that’s concerning on it’s own.

We didn’t start the fire, but we need to put it out!  What other choice do we have to preserve our legal & behavioral standards for the office of the president, or any office really? I am already very concerned about what we are going to do when another Donald Trump type candidate, without the 30 years of public red flags, comes along.  If people could be so fooled by this one how will we ever avoid another less obvious one?

Some resources for the honest politicians & honest ads movement

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/great-leaders-may-lie-but-great-liars-dont-lead-2016-07-06

I think between partyist political spin machines & multination interference via social media inroads manipulating opinions https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/when-lying-demagogue-authentic-candidate Lying ads https://www.natcom.org/communication-currents/political-speech-protection-and-supreme-court-united-states Sword cuts both ways http://www.klrn.org/blogs/texas-week/this-isnt-first-time-a-judges-ruling-considered-political-rhetoric/ “Where false claims are made to effect a fraud or secure moneys or other valuable considerations, say offers of employment, it is well established that the Government may restrict speech without affronting the First Amendment. See, e.g., Virginia Bd. of Pharmacy, 425 U. S., at 771 (noting that fraudulent speech generally falls outside the protections of the First Amendment)” &” But to recite the Government’s compelling interests is not to end the matter. The First Amendment requires that the Government’s chosen restriction on the speech at issue be “actually necessary” to achieve its interest. Entertainment Merchants Assn., 564 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at12). There must be a direct causal link between the restriction imposed and the injury to be prevented. See ibid.” Justice Kennedy, UNITED STATES v. ALVAREZ    https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-210d4e9.pdf  I think the last few years prove we are closer to establishing a link to demolish lies told from being protected as political rhetoric, hopefully anyway.  In an environment where so much spin & misinformation is allowed to grow & spread too many people seem unable to discern truth from lies at the expense of all of us. 

Please note that I rabbit holed my way into that First Amendment information by, instead of just emotionally reacting to the headlines(in this case a synopsis I found inflaming):” The Court held that the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime to lie about having received military honors or decorations, violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.” https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/first-amendment-center/supreme-court-cases/ I read on to discover it wasn’t pro imitator as much as anti-poorly written law.  Researching past click bait headlines is part of our best defense against manipulation and poor decision making.  One thing we can thank the Trump campaign above others for is pointing out how misinformed how many people are, even in the information age.  I pray we learn from that soon, but sadly still see people sharing opinions, articles & videos with headlines they support, but content they may not agree with.

[dailychapel]

Lord, we ask today for more of Your Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, it can be easy for us to become consumed with the fears that surround us in life, but we know that just as Your eye is indeed on the sparrow, so also do You care for and see us.

Teach us today to become more reliant on You. Bring us into a greater discernment of how You operate, so that we may come into a deeper understanding that all we see with natural eyes is not all that is. Today we ask for eyes to see Your hand in all matters, and hearts open to Your work. Amen.

Numbers 11:24-35 NLT - "24 So Moses went out and reported the LORD's words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. 25 And the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again. 26 Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" 28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' assistant since his youth, protested, "Moses, my master, make them stop!" 29 But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!" 30 Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel. 31 Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. 32 So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. 33 But while they were gorging themselves on the meat--while it was still in their mouths--the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means "graves of gluttony") because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the Israelites traveled to Hazeroth, where they stayed for some time."

Psalm 36:1-4 NLT - "1 For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. 2 In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are. 3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good. 4 They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil."

Luke 5:1-11 NLT - "1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." 5 "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again." 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me--I'm too much of a sinner to be around you." 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!" 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus."

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send us out with confidence in your word, to tell the world of your saving acts, and bring glory to your name. Amen.

[openlyolivia-blog]

offense, bitterness and unforgiveness

offense, bitterness and unforgiveness

These three things have the power to keep you from everything (or the fullness of everything) that the Lord has intended for us

The Greek word for offense is skándolon :

It is defined (literally) as the trigger of a trap (the mechanism closing a trap down on the unsuspecting victim); (figuratively) an offense, putting a negative cause-and-effect relationship into motion ; (“the means of stumbling”) stresses the method (means) of entrapment, i.e. how someone is caught by their own devices (like their personal bias, carnal thinking).

Offense is a literal trap, a place of captivity in your mind. It has such a strong hold and an unrelenting grip on your mind and in your life almost to a point where reality is twisted to bring you back to that place where you can validate the hurt that you feel in this “trap”

The definition alludes even that someone in offense is caught in their own devices and carnal thinking

That definition makes me wonder how many times we stumble and limp along in life because we are so caught up in snares of offense that we have decided to dwell in

Hebrews 12:5-15

“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled ”

The Lord disciplines those he loves.

So often, when we are offended we look for the thing we want to hear and for someone to lick this wounds of bitterness.. We often get angry with the Lord because we want to be validated in our offense and unforgiveness.. And the lord is not terrible for commanding us to get rid of offense,and to reconcile with people. When we live in offense, often we don’t want to be humble or healed, we want to be right instead and then we choose to stay held in the trap of the enemy.

I think when we hold on to offense were are putting ourselves where we cannot receive what the lord has intended for us to have .. Even if you were hurt and there is no “delusion” and your pain is real,there is great value in honoring others and blessing those who despitefully use you. No one ever truly succeeds from a place of bitterness and dishonor.

This scripture talks about a “root of bitterness” in verse 15. The word "root" to me implies depth, I can look at a root in the natural and see that it has “claws" attached to that center root. I think of a rotten tree and when it needs to be removed by the root it involves lots of digging. Obviously, to dig there’s work involved because I am going to have to dig that thing up to expel it and get rid of it. The same applies for our bitterness. Forgiveness is a daily choice and decision and it is hard work. We have to surrender and give it up to the lord for his Holy Spirit to come and help us remove these roots.

Not only do we have to dig that root up and get rid of it, it is necessary of us to seek repentance with the lord and reconciliation with those we have held bitterness with.

Verse 15 goes on to say if we need to hold on to the Grace of God because if we don’t that “it will spring up and cause trouble and leave many defiled”

The lord’s kindness leads to repentance and our repentance leads to restoration.

I had this thought about how in traditional communion we ask for forgiveness (mark 11:25; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34) before we partake. To me communion is a direct representation of intimacy with the lord, being whole and cleansed… It shows me in these mentioned scriptures, how important it is for us to forgive and repent of bitterness, offense and unforgiveness so we can live in true intimacy and proximity with The Lord.

Colossians 3:12-14

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, iif one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

It’s our responsibility as the chosen ones of God to be gracious to those who offend or hurt us. To forgive each other and to have love which brings true peace. It’s not an option, it’s what were called to do.

Proverbs 14:5-12

“A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies. A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving. Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance. The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

This section of proverbs is so powerful with direction for us: - that a false witness breathes out lies — they “breathe out lies” .. Its amazing that this person is so rooted in bitterness that their entire reality is consumed in it, to the point where they cannot help but breathe out lies - breathing is involuntary, we don’t think about it, we don’t even know we’re doing it - it is the same for people kept in offense, they speak lies like they don’t even know they’re doing it.

-It tells to leave the presence of a fool and to use our discernment, it shows me there are people and their thoughts and conversations that we do not need to entertain ‭‭ -that the heart knows it’s own bitterness and no one enjoys in it, this tells me that bitterness is often going to take you to a place of isolation

Ephesians 4:25-31

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice"

- Its okay to be angry but to not sin by spreading lies, or being in division with the body of Christ - We have to put away lies and offense and not give opportunity to the devil - many times even as Christians, when we engage in lies, gossip and offense, we are being used like vessels for the enemy’s work - ( that alone draws me to repent no matter how I feel) - We do not need to let anything come from our mouth that is corrupting - Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.. It breaks my heart to think that because I choose not forgive for the sake of my selfishness and satisfying my earthly dignity and pride that I can grieve the Holy Spirit of God

Who really wants to live in a place where you are trapped all because of what someone has said or done or neglected to do for you? We hold onto our “pride” but we really end up looking pitiful. Offense is a sad cycle of sin and hurt, all the Lord wants for us is to be humble, give it over to Him, let him heal us, and be free. I choose that option any day so I can follow him where he needs me, instead of stuck in the snares and traps of my own offenses.