#churches on the mesa

[rolloroberson]

[firstchurchmesa]

Pastor Emeritus Cecil Lackore preaches "Hope is Not A Wish" during 9 am Worship on Sunday December 3rd, 2023. 

 Want to support the ministry at First United Methodist Church of Mesa?

 Donate at https://app.sharefaith.com/app/giving/firs6957441 

 Watch the full Worship Service at Livestream.com/FirstChurchMesa

[mariacallous]

Mormons!!?!?

https://www.rawstory.com/news/kamala-harris-mormons/

A group of Kamala Harris supporters convened in a virtual call Tuesday evening. It was an eclectic mix with attorneys, lawmakers, podcasters, singers and a mayor. There were, certainly, Democrats on the speaker lists, but also Republicans who have decided to step away from their party’s ticket this year.

What connected all of them? Their Latter-day Saint faith.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be a substantial force in presidential outcomes in deeply red Utah and battleground Arizona, according to speakers, including Mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles, who is Republican, but is a vocal Harris supporter; former Democratic U.S. representative from Utah Ben McAdams; and Salt Lake City Democratic legislators Sen. Luz Escamilla and Rep. Brian King, the latter also being the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Utah.

Data shows that Latter-day Saints are poised to support Harris “more than any other presidential Democratic ticket in 60 years,” said Jacob Rugh, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at church-run Brigham Young University, during the call. He cited his research and past races that have moved the needle left in Utah and Maricopa County in Arizona.

“My geospatial analysis shows that areas heavy with LDS chapels in the east valley were most likely to flip blue (in 2020),” Rugh said on Tuesday. Nationwide, in 2020, 1 in 3 Latter-day Saint voters picked the Biden-Harris ticket, and the majority of the faith’s millennial and Gen Z voters chose the Democratic ticket, according to Rugh.

The 2020 Biden-Harris ticket performance in Utah “was the best of any Democratic ticket since 1964. Salt Lake County flipped blue in 2016 and, in 2020, voters did what others said was impossible by flipping four precincts blue in Provo,” Rugh said. He predicts they “will flip even more in 2024.”

There are 2.1 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, according to data from the church. It’s the most prominent faith in Utah, which has historically voted red. There are also more than 442,800 members in Arizona.

About 1,400 people tuned into Tuesday’s call, a first from a group called Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz, which on its social media boasted of as many as 2,600 registrants. The event came the same day Harris announced she had picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

The remarks from presenters, mostly from Utah and Arizona, were preceded by a prayer. Speakers also cited scripture as they spoke about the character of the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, and to explain why, in their view, the most Latter-day Saint-aligned candidate is Harris.

Mostly, it was a discussion on how to organize to elect Harris. After all, Rob Taber, an organizer said, Latter-day Saints “from missions and ministering, (are) pretty good at reaching out to people and building bridges.”

However, Taber also advised those on the call not to use ward or stake membership lists when reaching out to people because that violates the church’s neutrality policy.

“But you can share on social media how you’re feeling. This actually does make a big difference,” Taber said.

‘Examine the character’

Ask Mesa Mayor John Giles why he decided to support a Democratic candidate and he may cite the arguments he made in an op-ed he wrote in Arizona Central criticizing Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and his disinvestment in cities like Mesa, and where he called on other Arizona Republicans to choose “country over party this election.”

But, he may also mention an admonition he heard at a Latter-day Saint church meeting that encouraged members to be good citizens, to participate in elections and to “examine the character of the candidates.”

“Man, I sincerely hope that we get that admonition this election season, because I think that would help our brothers and sisters to look with fresh eyes at this election,” Giles said on Tuesday.

Giles also cited the church’s stance on defending the U.S. Constitution and how different that perspective is from Trump’s view, he said.

Trump is “more than willing to compromise the rule of law and the United States Constitution to further his own gains,” Giles said. “I think that we have a particular mission as Latter-day Saints to step up and point those things out to our friends inside the church and outside as well.”

Some of the attendees, such as McAdams, said they vote Democrat “not in spite of our religion, but because of our religion,” arguing that “negativity, divisiveness, rage, political violence, discrimination and racism are not of God.”

Utah Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla said that, as she was preparing to teach Sunday School, it was clear to her that Trump may not be aligned with Latter-day Saint doctrine. She quoted Elder Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the church’s First Presidency.

“He said ‘knowing that we are all children of God, give us a divine vision of the worth of all others and the will and ability to rise above prejudice and racism.’ The current candidate for the Republican Party is literally working tirelessly to create prejudice and racism against Americans,” Escamilla said. “And that alone is a reason why all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be supporting Vice President Harris for President of the United States in the 2024 election cycle.”

Utah gubernatorial candidate Rep. Brian King also praised Harris’ running mate, arguing that Walz fits into the model he likes to see in the country’s candidates and elected officials.

“He’s the kind of candidate that leaders of our faith have called for us to support, a person of integrity, compassion, with a commitment to service,” King said. “I’m so glad that Vice President Harris has revealed her own personality so clearly in her choice of running mate.”

[nmnomad]

There are as many as 100,000 petroglyphs on Mesa Prieta, including the largest number of Historic Petroglyphs in New Mexico. Historic images include Spanish lions, lots of crosses, wagons, inscriptions, dates, names, initials, churches & humans.

[thelocalconstellation]

ough something about Chromia Scott finding the season 1 empires ruins years after their end. Being an adventurer at heart, but wandering through and having to wonder what happened? Why nobody remained, why nothing was left of the mechanical empire? The withered red vines that covered every inch of the mountain bound kingdom? The drained ocean and the dried up swamp, with a somehow pristine cod head sitting abandoned in its church? The grand palace in the mesa that broke? Why is the desert untouched by time? What happened? What occurred not a century ago that left this destruction and nobody to tell the tales of it all?

The place in the mountains is especially disturbing, seeing the circle drawn, the sword, and the blood though no bodies nor bones sent lightning down his spine the way looking at his own grave might.

The entire place feels like one large graveyard he can't bring himself to disturb. He doesn't stay too long after that.

[heavenlybackside]

The Stations of the Cross Shrine in San Luis, Colorado depicts the events of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

You wind your way up a mesa lined with the sculptures and at the top is a beautiful church. Looking out from the top of the mesa you see the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west.

What a powerful experience this was and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't been there.

[elenavr13]

Darkiplier/Damien Playlist (Updated)

172 songs

Evermore- Dan Stevens

Everybody Wants To Tule the World- Lorde

Control- Halsey

Gasoline- Halsey

Dynasty- MIIA

Judas- Lady Gaga

Take Me To Church- Hozier

Castle- Halsey

Sing To Me- MISSIO

Kamikazee- MISSIO

Panic Room- Au/Ra

Isolate- Sub Urban

Elastic Heart (Rock Cover)- Written by Wolves

Crossfire- Stephen

Dead!- My Chemical Romance

Stressed Out- Twenty One Pilots

Look What You Made Me Do- Taylor Swift

Smooth Criminal- Michael Jackson

The Voice of Darkiplier- Markiplier

I’ll Be Good- Jaymes Young

I Wanna Be Yours- Arctic Monkeys

Do I Wanna Know- Arctic Monkeys

In His Eyes- Jekyll & Hyde (musical)

Can You Feel My Heart- Bring Me to the Horizon

Feeling Good- Michael Buble

Can You Feel My Heart x Favorite Dress (slowed)- Miro remix

My Demons- Starset

Achilles Come Down- Gang of Youth

Monster- Skillet

What’s the Use of Feeling Blue- Caleb Hyles

Where I Want to Be- Chess in Concert

Can’t Help Falling In Love- Ice Nine Kills

The American Nightmare- Ice Nine Kills

A Grave Mistake- Ice Nine Kills

Left Behind- DAGames

Farewell II Flesh- Ice Nine Kills

Below the Surface- Griffinilla

The Wrecked and the Worried- NateWantsToBattle

You Can’t Take Me Anywhere- NateWantsToBattle

Goner- Twenty One Pilots

You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid- The Offspring

Fake You Out- Twenty One Pilots

Miss You- Corpse

Epoch- The Living Tombstone

In the End- Linkin Park

Me, Myself & Hyde- Ice Nine Kills

The World In My Hands- Ice Nine Kills

Popular Monster- Falling In Reverse

Monster- Imagine Dragons

What I Could Have Been- Sting

Hushh- AViVA

Phantom of the Opera

Darkside- NEONI

Broken- DNMO & Sub Urban

Killer In the Mirror- Set It Off

Doubt- Twenty One Pilots

I’m Not Okay- My Chemical Romance

Friends on the Other Side- Princess and the Frog

Poison- WE ARE THE FURY

Apologize- One Republic

My Lullaby (metal cover)- Jonathan Young

I See Red (slowed)- Everybody Loves an Outlaw

Tear In My Heart- Twenty One Pilots

I Hate Everything About You- Three Days Grace

F.L.Y- Ice Nine Kills

Migraine- Twenty One Pilots

Car Radio- Twenty One Pilots

Demons- MISSIO

Snakes- PVRIS & MIYAVI

Villain- KDA

Royalty- Egzod & Maestro Chives ft. Neoni

The Red Means I Love You- Madds Buckley

Loser- Neoni

Not Ready To Die- Avenged Sevenfold

I Want You- Mitski

Poltergeist- Corpse

Life Waster- Corpse

All Of Me (slowed)- John Legend

Young And Beautiful- Lana Del Rey

Dark Paradise (slowed)- Lana Del Rey

How Villains Are Made- Madalen Duke

Love and War- Fluerie

Dark Things- Adona

Wicked Game- Ursine Vulpine

Neptune- Sleeping At Last

Enemy- Tommee Profitt

Far From Home (The Raven)- Sam Tinnesz

City Of The Dead- Eurielle

Throne- Saint Mesa

Paint it, Black- Ciara cover

Man Or A Monster- Sam Tinnesz

Dark On Me- Starset

Hell’s Comin’ With Me- Poor Mans Poison

Wires- The Neighbourhood

Liquid Smooth- Mitski

Little Dark Age- MGMT

Devil In Disguise- Elvis (LLusion)

Toxic- 2WEI

Dark Room- Foreign Figures & EJ Michels

Heathens- Twenty One Pilots

Dance With The Devil- Breaking Benjamin

Black Out Days- Phantogram

Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

Monsters- Ruelle

Whispers In The Dark- Skillet

Salvaged- NateWantsToBattle

Saint Bernard- Lincoln

F*ck You- Silent Child

I Know Those Eyes/This Man Is Dead- Thomas Borchert, Brandi Burkhardt

Broken Inside- Broken Iris

Sweet Dreams- Besomorph

EVIL- AViVA

Saints- Echos

Screaming Bloody Murder- Sum 41

Dandelions (slowed)- Ruth B

Master Mirror- Ashley Serena

Everyday A Little Death- The Count of Monte Cristo

FREAK- Jordan Friction

Broken (slowed)- lovelytheband

Michelle- Sir Chloe

Like A Villain- BAD OMENS

If It’s Vengeance You Want- Unlike Pluto

Monster- Fight The Fade

Listen Before I Go- Billie Eilish

Mary On a Cross (slowed)- Ghost

R.I.F.P.- MOTHICA

Nervous- Lola Blanc

Unravel- Johnathan Young

Lost In Paradise- Evanescence

Lies- Evanescence

Haunted- Laura Les

Dread- Unlike Pluto

Monsters- Shinedown

Black Soul- Shinedown

Sorrow- Sleeping At Last

Seeing Red- Saint Chaos

Villain- Bella Poarch

Lithium- Nirvana

Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana

Down With The Sickness- Disturbed

Animal I Have Become- Three Day Grace

Greed- Godsmack

One of Us is the Killer- The Dillinger Escape Plan

All The King’s Horses- Karmina

Gilded Lily- Cults

Haunted & Unwanted- NateWantsToBattle

Symbol of My Regret- NateWantsToBattle

In My Head- NateWantsToBattle

Vendetta- Unsecret & Krigare

Nothing To Me- NateWantsToBattle

Chasing Cars- Sleeping At Last

Villain- MISSIO

Used to the Darkness- Des Rocs

Unforgiven- Ghost Nation

Monster- Starset

Eight- Sleeping At Last

Already Gone- Sleeping At Last

Devilish- The Phantoms

Motherland- Reach

Falling Away From Me- Korn

Just a Man- Jorge Rivera-Herrans & EPIC Ensemble

Something Wicked- Starset

Darkness in Me- Fight The Fade

I Would Die for You- In This Moment

Eye For An Eye- Rina Sawayama

Psycho in my Head- Skillet

Done With Everything- Line So Thin

Monster- Besomorph

Twisted Games- Night Panda, Krigarè

Killer Inside of Me- Willyecho

King For A Day- Pierce The Veil ft. Kellin Quinn

someone i’m not- Layto

[myemuisemo]

"On the Great Alkali Plain" part 2, from Letters from Watson, arrived in my inbox this morning, bringing with it a predictable cloud of dust from approaching horses (since this isn't a George R.R. Martin novel, so we're not going to introduce characters just to kill them off immediately).

But what a caravan! When the head of it had reached the base of the mountains, the rear was not yet visible on the horizon. Right across the enormous plain stretched the straggling array, waggons and carts, men on horseback, and men on foot. Innumerable women who staggered along under burdens, and children who toddled beside the waggons or peeped out from under the white coverings.

Either we're running late on the Oregon Trail (since Doyle did not have social media to live-blog progress across the dusty waste) or the year 1847 is important, and these are Mormons.

“Shall I go forward and see, Brother Stangerson,” asked one of the band.

These have got to be Mormons.

“Nigh upon ten thousand,” said one of the young men; “we are the persecuted children of God—the chosen of the Angel Merona.”

Tell me you're a Mormon without telling me you're a Mormon.

“We are the Mormons,” answered his companions with one voice.

OMG, they're Mormons.

This makes the geographic names a little dicey -- the Mormon Trail ran through Wyoming, similar but not identical to today's I-80, so the Rio Grande River should be nowhere nearby -- but Doyle didn't have access to Google Maps, and it's not like his readers in the UK would go factcheck. Even with the Transcontinental Railroad completed back in 1869, most places in the Great American Desert were still remote in the 1880s, and California on the far end was still feeling the effects of isolation. Doyle also misspells the Angel Moroni and uses a masculine-ending name on a Sierra, so he's working from popular myth and the memory of things he's read. I wonder how many letters with corrections he received.

(At the time Doyle was writing, "Mormon" was the term used by the group themselves. Since about the 1980s, church leadership started urging the use of "Latter-Day Saints" instead. When I lived in Phoenix, that's near a big LDS population in Mesa, so I wince at using the older term. From here on out, if I'm quoting Doyle, I'll use "Mormon," but if I'm talking, I'll stick to LDS.)

The big reason the LDS wagon train is headed west is because they practiced polygamy at the time, and this was considered both illegal and immoral in larger U.S. society. (That's not a critique of polyamory today, when enthusiastic concept and clear rules are normalized.)

So far Doyle's account of the LDS party is generally positive -- they're organized, efficient, knowledgeable about their surroundings, prepared for danger, and responsible toward people needing rescue, if a bit holier-than-thou -- but I can't believe he's going to handle polygamy with anything other than distaste.

Polygamy is the thing LDS have been known for (to their chagrin after the mainstream LDS church banned it), so at the end of this section, Doyle's original audience is split into two groups:

Readers who have no real idea what a "Mormon" is and accept it as just one more crazy American thing, who now figure Lucy is rescued and wonder what goes wrong later to lead to murder; and

Readers who know about polygamy and are feeling dread for Lucy.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024. It is the 205th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; Because it is a leap year, 161 days remain until the end of the year.

1584: Death in London of John Day, the foremost English printer of the Elizabethan era. He had introduced Roman type to replace Gothic fonts. Because he had printed devotional books for the Reformation, and continued to print Protestant books after the accession of Mary Tudor, he was imprisoned and then exiled. When Protestants regained power under Elizabeth, he returned and printed John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments (Book of Martyrs).

1702: The Camisards (pictured above), French Protestants of Languedoc, break into open revolt when they hear a rumor that a priest at Pont de Montvert intends to execute some of his Camisard prisoners, whom he has held and tortured. They burn his house, kill him, and liberate the prisoners. This begins a savage war that leads to their extermination.

1843: Baptism in Calcutta of Bengali convert Lal Bihari Day, who will become an ordained pastor, missionary, and educator. He will author Bengal Peasant Life (a novel) and Bengali Folk Tales.

1957: Nigerian church planter Joseph Adeyemo Taiwo is honored with the title of chieftan. Through his zealous efforts, he enlarged the Baptist presence in Nigeria.

1993: Death of Demos Shakarian in Costa Mesa, California. Of Armenian origin, he had founded the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International.

[nerdygaymormon]

Gather Conference - Day 2

On Sept 15 & 16, 1400 people gathered together, making it the largest-ever Conference of LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints and their friends, relatives, and leaders.

The speaker's messages were powerful

The day began with GENTRI The Gentleman's Trio performing. They concluded by having their pianist share his story of coming out and being upset at God, and receiving a message from God which became their song Believe.

Most people first heard of Liv Medoza Haynes when at the 2021 BYU Women's Conference she introduced herself and included the label "queer."

In a church that emphasizes being of good cheer, she points out that Jesus wept and cried, he got angry, and it's fine that we also feel our emotions.

She was wearing a shirt that said, "Keep queer children safe," and she said in choosing what we wear and in our other decisions, choosing to promote love and not hate is the only choice worth making. She also said the only thing straight about her is her hair 😂

Her most powerful statement is that "no verse of scripture is worth losing another life over"

Michael Soto is a transgender man who grew up a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa, Arizona and is a leader in the U.S. LGBTQ+ rights movement. He spoke about Bridge Building. Choose to be uncomfortable, to learn, to grow, to change. God gave us agency so that we can change and be better to each other. The most important change you can make is to love yourself the way God loves you.

Ben Schilaty is well known inside the LDS Church as a gay man who is active and chooses to follow church standards. He said sharing our stories is letting people see and feel our wounds as Jesus did. When they can feel our hurts, they can share in feeling the pain and empathize with what we've been through. Ben is co-host of the podcast Questions from the Closet and their episodes which receive the most interaction are those where someone has been very vulnerable as they emotionally shared the difficult choices they had to make and the situations they were forced into as a queer person.

Ben Schilaty shared this poem by Carol Lynn Pearson that really hit home for me

I dim I dim I do not doubt If someone blew– I would go out.

I did not. I must be brighter than I thought

After 50 years of experiencing gender incongruence, Bree Borrowman came out as trans in 2019. Bree shared that the hiding, sneaking, and shame led to a loss of Spirit. Being authentic, being vulnerable, leaning into the LGBTQ spectrum brought the Spirit back into her life.

Coming out as trans has brought her great blessings. She feared she would lose everything, but God and Jesus turned out not to be the vindictive judges she thought they were. She was able to lay down her burden and has discovered and learned about herself.

Ashley Hess was a finalist on the 2019 season of American Idol. She performed 4 songs for us, each were beautiful, and each were meaningful. "To the Girl I used to Be" and "Grain of Salt" were wonderful, but my favorite was "Yet." I don't hear many songs from this perspective of ‘I'm trying, so God please don't give up on me.’

Charlie Bird shared with us that he is now married!!!! Big congratulations to him and Ryan. Charlie gave a powerful talk.

Satan's big lie is that an integral part of who we are and which we can't separate ourselves from is incompatible with God. We feel like we are only half a child of God, that we are only half worthy. These beliefs damn us and marginalize an entire demographic.

We do not have to choose between being a child of God and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. We are both.

Allison Dayton is the founder of Lift+Love and along with Ben Schilaty she conceived of the Gather Conference.

She shared a number of scripture verses about God's people in the wilderness and said we find God in the wilderness. Queer people and their families often feel like they are in the wilderness and that's where they find God.

Allison also shared that we are not supposed to be just friends, Zion means we are to be one. We are to be united, not dividing up people by who is good enough and who isn't.

We were never meant to be alone. Ever! The very first thing God called "not good" was loneliness. We can start Zion in our own homes by pulling people in who need a place to belong and welcome them

Jenny Richards & Kelly McConkie Stewart are musicians, members of the LDS church, and committed allies to the LBGTQ community.. They played the piano and cello. Their music was beautiful. At the conclusion of the conference, one of them said they wanted to buy some LDS/LGBT swag from the vendors in the lobby. I offered them some swag that isn't for sale out front. Jenny took the pin and said she is going to wear it to church the next day. Kelly took a sticker while commenting she will put it on her cello case

Jeff Case says we shouldn't focus on outcomes but on the process. For example, we can focus on the outcome of exaltation, or we can focus on the process of becoming Christlike. The process is what will lead to the the outcome we desire.

There are many processes which can lead to the outcome, but when we focus on the outcome we tend to shortcut the process. He spoke of being the father of a son who likes to play Yu-Gi-Oh! and he would tease him, like 'Aren't you too old to still play that game?' He was focused on what he wanted his son's life to look like when he grows up that he lost focus on the process. This is something his son loves so he could choose to participate as a way of spending time with his son and strengthening their relationship. Instead, by focusing on the outcome, he is indicating to his son that he may need to hide things from his dad, which, ironically, would not lead to the outcome that Jeff would want.

Tom Christofferson interviewed Darius Gray, and it felt like we were in the presence of one of the great ones as Darius shared his experience of choosing to join the LDS Church, being one of only 2 African-American students at BYU, meeting regularly with 3 apostles about how to improve life for Black members of the church, and living through the 1978 announcement and change. I nodded in agreement when Darius declared he's heard more Jesus talk at this conference than he hears in a typical LDS Sacrament Meeting.

John Gustav-Wrathel is married to his husband and chooses to attend church despite having been excommunicated many years ago. He said that when he looks back on his life, even as he was one of the most faithful people he knew, he was convinced he had no faith because he was taught that if he had enough faith that his sexual orientation would be changed. He believed the teachings of the time instead of listening to God and the Spirit and trusting his own experiences.

Steven Kapp Perry was host throughout the conference and took a moment to share a thought. You can never know that you are truly loved unless you share who you truly are.

Meghan Decker is a gay Latter-day Saint and has written 2 books. She began by sharing that life is hard and can be dark. She encourages us to share with each other what is saving our life now.

She grew up in the 1970's hearing all the harmful church teachings about queer people and it has left scars in her. She now knows that God loves her and has good intent for her.

When Meghan moved to Provo, UT, the first person in her ward to greet her was Janice Kapp Perry. Janice composed a song for the Gather Conference. She recognized the LGBTQ experience is not hers and needed help to get the lyrics right. She contacted Meghan and Meghan's words were used to create the verses of the song.

While reviewing what Meghan had written, Janice commented that the word "broken" is so strong and they should find an alternate word, but Meghan insisted that's how she and many other queer Latter-day Saints have felt. Meghan pointed out that during this day of the conference 8 of those who spoke used the word "broken" to describe how they felt.

Janice then asked, "Do you think my two boys felt that way?"

That question really hit my heart, a mom gaining insight into the pain of her queer children.

Janice wrote a song titled "All Are Alike Unto God." It was performed on the first day of the conference by Molly Flake and John Bowers. I wished I had recorded it as the words mean a lot to me. The final act of the conference before the closing prayer was for all those in attendance to sing the song. Janice has made the song available for free, you can access the sheet music on the Gather Conference website

Click here for a summary of Day 1 of the Gather Conference

[firstchurchmesa]

"Lord Have Mercy" Pastor Jeff Lust, November 26th 2023

Pastor Jeff Lust preaches "Lord Have Mercy" based on Luke 17:11-19   during 9 am Worship on Sunday November 26th, 2023. 

 Want to support the ministry at First United Methodist Church of Mesa?

 Donate at https://app.sharefaith.com/app/giving/firs6957441 

 Watch the full Worship Service at Livestream.com/FirstChurchMesa

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

JD Vance, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, keeps appearing alongside anti-LGBTQ+ extremists and spreading lies about gender-affirming care, immigration, and more. Vance spoke Wednesday at Generation Church in Mesa, Ariz., at an event cohosted by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Kirk is known for anti-LGBTQ+ and other far-right views, as is the church’s pastor, Ryan Visconti.

Vance used the event to attack his Democratic rival for the vice presidency, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on the topic of gender-affirming care for trans youth. Vance, claimed that the Minnesota law signed by Walz that makes the state a refuge for young people and their families seeking such care actually allows for the “legalized kidnapping” of children whose parents oppose this care. “He signed legislation, he supported legislation, that would take children away from their parents if their parents don’t want to do sex changes,” Vance told Kirk in an onstage interview. “He wants the government to steal your children from you if you don’t agree with Tim Walz’s values,” Vance went on. “That is not small government. That is disgusting, and he should be ashamed of himself.”

Vance has made this assertion before, and it’s not remotely true. “The law now gives Minnesota courts temporary jurisdiction to hear child custody cases when a child is in the state with a parent to seek gender-affirming care,”PolitiFact reported in August, after Vance had made a similar statement at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wis. “It does not authorize the government to take custody of children whose parents don’t consent to them getting gender-affirming care.

“Courts will not automatically rule against a parent who doesn’t consent to a child receiving gender-affirming care. Courts seek to determine parental custody based on evidence about what is in children’s best interests.” Journalist Erin Reed has debunked the claim as well. “The legislation contains no provision allowing the state to ‘kidnap’ children when their parents do not support their gender transition,” she wrote in a column carried by The Advocate in August. “These claims arise from an intentional misinterpretation of a provision that specifically applies to custody disputes between parents in different states.”

JD Vance’s Pinocchio nose of lies grows larger by the day.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: J.D. Vance claims trans ally Tim Walz wants government to “steal your children”

[mask131]

Magic the Gathering: Innistrad (Innistrad block)

My favorite Land cards

The plane of Innistrad is divided in four great regions, called the "Provinces".

The first province, Gavony, is the "safest" area for humans in Innistra, and thus the province with the highest number of humans. Gavony is home to Thraben, the High City. Ah, Thraben! The largest city of the continent. The center of the Church of Avacyn. A fortress built to resist all supernatural attacks. It is here that Avacyn the Archangel once resided, wthin Thraben's Great Cathedral, and the city is located on the mesa of a lake known as the "Lake of the Herons" (in Innistrad, herons are believed to the the birds of the moon, and by extension symbolize goodness and Avacyn's power). At the northern edge of Gavony, Thraben is a city of cleanliness and order, inhabited mostly by clerics, merchants and artisans. Everything is neatly divided and organized within the city, usually in ways reflecting the social order. Take the Great Cathedral. During worship, it divides itself in three parts: the Chapel of Noble Peers (opulent, gilded chapel for high-level clergymen and nobility) ; Midvast Hall (larger and less opulent hall, for ordained people and the lesser clergy) ; Common Cloisters (covered corridors alongside Midvast Hall, where commoners stand during worship). The divisions extends to the numerous walls that surround Thraben - some old, some recent, some well-kept, some in ruins, some great, some small, they form a complex interwoven puzzle. There are five main walls: the Outer Wall (main defense of the city, thick and high wall that has been several time expanded to avoid the overcrowding of the city) ; the Merchant's Wall (a series of halls that acts as the market square and commerce-center in the city) ; the Bloodless Wall (a prison for vampires, where they are chained to the wall and left to starve to death) ; the Fang Wall (an execution ground for werewolves, their fangs are embedded between the stones of the wall) ; and the Child's Wall (Thraben's oldest wall, surrounding the Old Cathedral, with the name of every child born in Innistrad engraved on it - it is a pilgrimage site for new parents, who believe having their child's name on the wall expands their life).

From Thraben, all sorts of "smaller towns radiate outward", throughout Gavony's rocky moors, and rolling hills and heaths, dotted with "small copses of trees". Safety is the main concern and currency in Gavony: the rich, wealthy and powerful live comfortably within fortified manors, while the poor spend all of their money on talismans, magic wards and blessings of the Church (because the Church does ask for a bit of money in exchange of their heavenly power). And while there is a growing resentment towards the Church's greed and self-centeredness (the higher ups of the Church, with sheltered and comfortable lives, tend to not understand the harshness of the rest of the continent), there is still a very strong sense of community within humanity in the province, and the Church stays the basis of human society. As the Guide to Gavony explains: the basic social unit of Gavony is a parish, organized around a local chapel, and they can be as tight as clans. In Innistrad, the Church is the State and the State is the Church: judges and lawyers are ordained by the Church, and in return the Church keeps confirming and supporting the rule of the law. All education across Innistrad is the domain of the Church. Merchants and artisans are the only jobs that are technically free and independant from the Church, but even them have to respect the Church, because their guilds and organizations (called "fellowships" have to be sanctioned by the Church.

Unfortunately, having a high population of humans also means Gavony has the largest numbers of cemeteries across Innistrad - which also means more undeads and more geists than elsewhere on the continent.

The second province is Kessig, the "vast, wooded hinterland" of Innistrad. It is said that autumn is perpetual within these deep woods, for the green constantly mixes itself with golds and muted reds ; and at night, under the moonlight, everything become "stark and steel-like". Humans carved themselves farming villages and rolling farmlands within the dense, dark woods ; and if they are not farmers, they will be hunters and trappers. But everybody knows that it is a suicidal act than to venture in the woods at night: Ulvenwald, the misty woods, are haunted by both ghosts and werewolves. Ulvenald is almost "supernaturally dense" - no normal wood can have so much aspen, birch and maple trees growing in such a dark, sinuous and compact ensemble. Travellers of the forest at best will be haunted or attacked by spirits and beasts - at worst, they will mysteriously disappear in the mist.

The humans who live in Kessig have a life strongly focused on work. You need to work to survive: Kessigers learned to be self-reliant, pragmatic and plainspoken. They are farmers, millers, weavers and stonemasons: they don't purchase their tools, they do it themselves ; they do not learn mathematics or history, they learn the harvest cycles and the edible weeds. They are hard-headed and unpretentious - and are part of Avacyn's religion in their own way. They do not trust the cathars (holy warriors) of the big cities ; they do not like the Gavony ghost-hunters who are too pritine and shiny ; they do not understand the decrees of the aristocrats of the High City of Thraben... But they believe in Avacyn with all their heart, and their motto is: "The worked earth below us, the hand-hewn stone walls around us, and the angel above us". This is their world. Given superstition and fear rules in Kessig, it is polite when you meet someone for the first time to show that you wear an item made of silver (unfortunately there is a lot of "counterfeit" silver going around, especially sold at Nephalia). Wreaths of living wood are a common gift, and are placed on the door of homes where a child was just born. Before going onto a journey, people either fast up to a whole day, or eat sour root soup : it is believed it makes humans less appealing for werewolves and hungry beasts. To be fat and well-fed in Kessig is to become an easy prey. A local tradition in Kessig is the "Sleep Revel". On the anniversary of a person's death, they are celebrated - or rather, one successful year stayed in the ground is celebrated. The "undisturbed sleep of one's ancestors is seen as almost a greater blessing than the continuing birthdays of one's living relatives".

The werewolves are the main dangers in Kessig, because they haunt the woods in packs or as lone wolves. It is known that the "howlpacks" as they are called wane and waxe with the moon, and that many werewolves live secretly among Kessigers (causing a lot of suspicion and speculation among Kessig's human communities). Add to that the fact nobody agrees on how to detect, hunt or cure werewolves - let's just say persecution and prejudice can run rampant around. Kessig is also a land plagued by geists - but not "regular" geists like other provinces, oh no! These are green-aligned geists, that is to say not ghosts of the living, but wild spirits of nature opposing the civilized life. Mischievous poltergeists, blood mists that devour the living, surreal fires that burn of a cold flame, beautiful nature spirits of vine and thorn, feral possessed beasts... Due to the omnipresence of werewolves and nature spirits, most of the other supernatural threats are banished, but it doesn't mean they are not absent... For example, at the foot of tall stone hills, a smoking and boiling fissure called the "Devil's Breach" is known to cause minor and sporadic demonic activity.

Trivia: Due to not having much around, Kessigers consider zombies as symbols of the "evils of the big city", and in their mind they associate and equate "necromantic alchemy" with all the other vices of "big cities": murderous conspiracies, black market, religious heresy, and prostitution.

I will place the two other provinces under the cut:

The third province is Stensia, which is fully and completely under the control of vampires. Stensia is known as the "darkest" part of Innistrad, figuratively and literaly. The sun never manages to fully shines beyond Stensia's perpetual cover of oddly-colored clouds - only the light of the moon can truly appear. It is a very mountainous area dominated by the "Geier Reach", a mountain chain of impossibly high peaks of indigo and black rocks. The forests there are of evergreen, forested midlands of black pine "riddled with whisps of thick fog". The mountains split the region into two distinctive valleys with a dusky pastoral charm, and two distinctive bogs, where old graves and dead conifers slowly sink. The mountains also separate the wary human villages inhabited by fearful, if not paranoid humans, who stay however loyal to their land and passionate about their lifestyle ; from the vampire manors and the blood-thirsty rulers of the region. Right in the middle of the mountains, you can find Ashmouth, a deep chasm glowing with magma at the bottom - and a literal gateway to Hell...

Stensia is divided between "human culture" and "vampire culture". The human villages are prepared for vampire attacks: they are all circled by moats (that vampires cannot cross when the moon is out), and they have nearby hawthorn tree groves to keep access to "living wood". Large cottages and rich people place mirrors on their frontdoors, and build their house near a hawhthorn tree, that the eldest child of the family must care for. Due to the rocky soil and dim light of the region, Stensia humans are not farmers, but relies on sheep for their woll, milk, leather and meat - Stensian wool is said to be the finest of all Innistrad, and thanks to the vampires' presence, werewolves do not haunt the area. Generations of seeing their children and neighbors die, and of living near the vampire threat, made humans stoic, non-expressive and non-demonstrative. They are proud and fervent, but will seem rude, violent and cold to outsiders.

Vampires meanwhile, are self-centered narcissists who believe themselves the guardians and "shepherds" of humanity, and that the sacrifice of their humanity is somehow something humans should "honor". Vampires are basically the most decadent nobility you will ever find, living in days of feasts, balls and parties, keeping all sorts of grudges and organizing betrayals just to amuse themselves, demanding the finest and most luxurious items for themselves. Olivia Voldaren, a prominent vampire of the area (I posted her card in the Multicolor section), invented a disturbing three-days feast called "The Court of the Vampire King/Queen". The principle is simple: kidnap a human being, bring him to the greatest gathering of vampires of Stensia, and name them "King of the Vampires" or "Queen of the Vampires". This is a vampire's Carnival or Feast of Fools: the mock-queen is served the best foods and drinks, entertained by all sorts of shows, and the vampires around must obey the human's every command (except those of making the ruler "abdicate"). At the end of the three days of party, the human is killed and their blood shared among all the revelers.

The last province is Nephalia, the coastal side of Innistrad. Nephalia is the watery region of the continent - nearly treeless, it faces the foggy and dark sea of Innistrad, and all the rivers of the inland end up here, creating all srots of deltas, marshes and bogs. The beach is made of a silvery sand, the towns are all here small or medium-sized ports, and the region is filled by a system of tunnels, underground pathways and sea-caves known as the Erdwal or "The Ditch". It was originally a set of trenches between the three main towns to resist zombie and werewolf attacks. Then it became a "network of defensible walkways" to transport the goods and ensure the trades in a region filled with hungry zombies, angry geists and demons. Merchants turned this system into the true "artery of trade", and then a "bustling underground economy" appeared within it, "in all manner of grey and black market goods". On the Erdwall you can buy assassins, human blood, curses, necromancy spells... It is a "trench marketplace of colorful rogues, seedy merchants, filfthy sailors and gaunt stangers, all doing business in dark alleyways and roughly hewn tunnels branching off the main trench". Alchemists, skaberen and ghoulcallers have a notably active presence there - selling human blood, buying pieces of corpses for their flesh golems, dealing with transmutation of base metals into pure silver... Sometimes a "defective" creation of a skaberen can get loose and slaughter all those in the tunnels. Nephalia managed to create a cold "understanding" and an uneasy "truce" with the Church of Avacyn - as long as those dark dealings happen below the ground, the Church won't do anything. This is why it is commonly said that "sloughs, sea mists and mysteries cloak Nephalia's commerce and crimes".

Nephalia is notorious for being the most "mixed" province in terms of population. Human, geists and vampires alike haunt the region, seeking business, secrets, or solitude. It is money and commerce that unites them. Nephalia needs the Church of Avacyn to maintain a general order ; but they also buy or sell human beings to vampires as "food". Skaberen and ghoulcallers profit of the illegal "corpse market" of the region, and can find little secretive places where they carry on their experiences - as long as they stay discreet and hidden. The "metzalar", the merchants of Nephalia are truly the glue that maintains the region cohesive, keeping each party separated from each other, and yet linking them all in a web of exchanged goods and money flow.

There are many more info about Nephalia on Magic's official Guide to Innistrad, but a last trivia: the region suffers from the "Breath of the Sleepless", a phenomenon where the spirits and geists come and go with the tide. Given the tide is related to the moon, its ebbs and flows have something mystical that attracts or repels ghosts. While there are many geists in Nephalia, the most common types are "niblis" (frost phantoms) and "marei" (the ghosts of drowned sailors).

[lexiloos-currentobsession]

Memorable moments, lines, and my observations from season 4:

Smoke

-Howard saying “Jimmy, don’t” while standing in front of the coroner van right before it drove off made me gasp

-Jimmy’s reply to Howard bearing his soul about causing Chuck’s suicide sent a chill down my spine

Breathe

-Lmao at Jimmy fawning shock over the printer being so good it could counterfeit money. Bob played that so well.

-Kim goes OFF on Howard, like DAMN. I would watch this woman scream the phone book

-Kim kissing Jimmy on the couch 🥹

Something Beautiful

-Me when Jimmy opened the door for the twins at the Vet’s 😳

-I feel confident the Vet saying “can you not hit every damn pothole, please!?” was a Joe DeRosa ad lib

-The printer shop guy sleeping in his office specifies he wants his pizza sliced- in my head cannon that’s a Breaking Bad call back to the pizza place that doesn’t slice their pie

-HEY GALE!!!

Talk

-The cell phone store aesthetic is spot on. My dad had a few Nextel/Sprint stores in the early 00’s and like Jimmy I had to make my own fun while hanging out there for hours on end

-The twins raiding the compound was v Breaking Bad-esq

-Just realized the advice Mike gives Jimmy after Bag Man about realizing you can forget came from Stacy talking about Matty in group!

Quite a Ride

-We get our first flashback to the Breaking Bad timeline!

-Jimmy’s hair is SO fucking cute in phone selling montage

-I did not enjoy seeing Howard so broken in the courthouse bathroom

Piñata

-Fuck you, Jimmy

Something Stupid

-The “Need to call? Buy from Saul!” business card we see in the opening montage is just the next step in his catchphrase evolution. I wholeheartedly appreciate the attention and care that went into showing us exactly how Jimmy got to Breaking Bad Saul

-I love that you don’t know who Jimmy is giving the office tour to and it’s Huel lol

-You’ve been selling drop phones? On the street?

-KIM’S FACE when Suzanne Erickson refers to Jimmy as a scumbag disbarred lawyer

Coushatta

-SO many silly one liners:

-I’ll leave the bottle

-Are you prosecuting Santa Clause!?

-Clarence is going at the organ, I’m gonna step into the vestibule

-I will be with you PRESENTLY!!!

-The fake donations on the church website is some tasteful foreshadowing/calling back to Saul laundering Walt’s money through fake online donations

-The staircase kiss!!

-I love the painting in the boardroom at Mesa Verde. It’s called The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne Sunrise

-PACA PACA PACA it’s LALO!!!

-Overall this episode is a 10/10. It’s silly and entertaining but also feels so pivotal on a rewatch because it sets the stage for everything else that will happen. The entire show can kinda be divided into pre and post Coushatta

Wiedersehen

-Slow down, I’m wearin flip flops!

-I didn’t know I needed an origin story for that fucking bell until I got it

-The! … suspense… ! They really make you think Werner is gonna explode and then he does but not how you expected

-Jimmy driving like a bat out of hell through the S&C parking garage is a vibe

-The way Jimmy’s voice quivers when he says to Kim “you look at me and you see Slippin Jimmy” 😭I just want to comfort him

Winner

-ICONIC karaoke scene

-Mike’s gum trick was so slick. What can I say the man knows parking

-Two details about Kristy Esposito reinforce Jimmy seeing himself in her: Howard’s question to her was about working with elders and she’s the only candidate wearing a fun funky shirt

-Michael, is that you? 😏

-I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of the name McGill… changes his name 5 minutes later

[heavenlybackside]

The Stations of the Cross Shrine in San Luis, Colorado depicts the events of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

You wind your way up a mesa lined with the sculptures and at the top is a beautiful church. Looking out from the top of the mesa you see the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west.

What a powerful experience this was and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't been there.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 135 - The Mudstone Abyss, Part 1

Read the rest here!

Featuring the voice of Kevin R Free as Kevin of Desert Bluffs!

The phrase "beautiful smile" is redundant. Welcome to Desert Bluffs.

Kevin and the citizens who now live in the DOW have more or less successfully rebuilt Desert Bluffs. Important to note (maybe?) is that Kevin only refers to it as Desert Bluffs and not Desert Bluffs Too here.

Kevin has started a church of his own, the DB Temple of Joy, based around his own written accounts and understanding of a Smiling God and how to worship it. His 'close friends' Ken, Kelvin, Keegan, and Kellen helped him found the church. They are also the City Council.

He has appointed Lauren as mayor but it's clear that nobody really respects her, respecting and listening to Kevin more. She tries to announce the opening of a new library, but Kevin texts her and tells her to announce the building of a deep Mudstone Abyss in the name of a Smiling God instead, which she does.

The citizens are not happy about this forced labour and rally outside of the mayors office. Kevin assumes it must be that Lauren delivered the good news wrong as he can't see why anyone would actually dislike his plan. He goes down to city hall to give his support for 'the mayors plan'.

Kevin tells them of wandering around the DOW looking for a sign and eventually having a vision of the Mudstone Abyss which seems to get them on his side. Although any protestors are forced to agree so...construction begins tomorrow!

Weather: “Living On Light” by Silo’s Choice

A man called Charles has come to town. He is a theologist and very handsome, with teeth like a Steinway and a winsome jaw. Kevin greets him personally and gives Charles his number. They are really hitting it off with arrangements for dinner and Kevin showing him around town being made. Charles was born in Cactus Park and lived previously in Pine Cliffs where he was studying their whole ghost thing. He is 41 and wants to become a teacher, settle down and have a family. He drives a maroon Honda CRV.

Every night everyone in Desert Bluffs has a shared dream where they're standing in a reaped cornfield as birds zig and zag across a blood red sky, recklessly turning and swirling in panicked fits until crunching into the rocky soil below, their wings bent and bodies broken.

Every Friday they have a Smile Parade where they gather in front of city hall and smile at each other, staring deep into each others eyes.

Kevin was in the play 'Death of a Salesman' when he was in high school. He also owns something called a 'Smiling Knife'.

Some DB citizens mentioned; Grandma Josephine O'toole (who lives with helpful demons, who eat lightbulbs and give people money), Savannah Hernandez and Jesse Pritchard (and their children Agnes, Armand, Yolanda and Leon. Savannah moved to DB after flying a helicopter out of Red Mesa to evade tax), Olin Haywood, Shontell James and Kurrozk (all refugees from a Blood Space War with Kurrozk being a neutron orb from the Horsehead Nebula) and Ryan Nichols from Alabama (a place that Kevin can't pronounce) who just kind of ended up in DB.

And also, he'd love to take me up on my offer to show him around town, and that maybe we could start with dinner. Well, I will let you know how that goes. But as always, until next time, Desert Bluffs, Until next time.

Proverb: On second thought, a million dollars IS pretty cool. Finger guns to you, million dollars.