#devotional journal for women

[tyej49]

WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is defined as speaking to God. God is the all-powerful creator, so he can intervene in our lives. God is our father and he loves us. He cares about what concerns us and what our needs are.  God is all-knowing, so when he says yes it is in your best interest, and no when it will be detrimental.  

🕊️ Experience Divine Connection with 'Prayer Journal for Women'

Introducing the "Prayer Journal for Women," a captivating sanctuary for your soul. The cover of this exquisite journal features a serene image—a radiant cross nestled in a field of lush, green grass, accompanied by the gentle presence of a white dove, the symbol of peace and the Holy Spirit.

🌿 Key Features:

1. Inspiring Cover: The journal's cover artwork encapsulates the tranquility of a meadow, where your spirit can find solace and connection. The cross, bathed in soft light, and the peaceful dove invite you to embark on a sacred journey of prayer and reflection.

2. Guided Prayer Pages: Inside, discover 110 beautifully designed pages tailored to enhance your prayer experience. Each page provides dedicated sections for expressing gratitude, pouring out your heart's desires, and meditating on Scripture verses that resonate with your soul.

3. Uplifting Bible Verses: Throughout the journal, you'll find carefully selected Bible verses that offer daily inspiration, wisdom, and encouragement. These verses become beacons of light on your spiritual path.

4. Thoughtful Prompts: Thought-provoking prompts and questions are thoughtfully placed throughout the journal to guide your prayers, foster deeper intimacy with God, and encourage personal growth.

5. Spacious Layout: Enjoy generous writing space on each page, allowing you to pen down your heartfelt prayers, record personal revelations, and document your spiritual journey in exquisite detail.

6. Premium Quality: Crafted with top-notch, acid-free paper, this journal ensures the preservation of your sacred moments for generations. It accommodates various writing instruments without smudging or bleed-through.

7. Elegant Design: Beyond its spiritual purpose, "Prayer Journal for Women" boasts an elegant design that transforms it into a cherished keepsake or a heartfelt gift for the women of faith in your life.

8. Versatile Use: Whether you're new to prayer journaling or a seasoned practitioner, this journal adapts to your needs. It serves as a space for daily devotion, sermon notes, or a repository for your spiritual journey.

9. Strengthen Your Faith: Dive into prayer, explore God's Word, and witness the growth of your faith as you journey through these sacred pages.

10. Share the Gift of Peace: "Prayer Journal for Women" is a meaningful gift for friends, family, or fellow believers seeking to deepen their faith and find solace in prayer.

This prayer journal transcends the ordinary; it's a gateway to profound encounters with the Divine. Whether you seek serenity, guidance, or divine revelation, this journal provides a safe and sacred space to commune with your Creator.

Order "Prayer Journal for Women" today and let your prayers take flight on the wings of the Spirit.

Order Now and Embrace Divine Connection https://www.amazon.com/author/bestill

May your prayers rise like a gentle breeze, and may your heart find peace as you draw nearer to God through the pages of this exquisite journal. 🙏🕊️

110 pages, Size 6X9, generous space to write

A prayer list (record prayers and answers)

A prayer journal (Today's Passage, Preacher, Sermon Topic, Notes, Prayers, Key Verses, Key Points, Application)

Enjoy!

[lovandgrace]

Unrecorded Series 3: Unrecorded…but remembered.

Finally the end of this series! I hope you learned something valuable to bring into your hidden life!

Have you ever felt like your efforts and actions go unnoticed? Like the countless moments of kindness, sacrifice, and perseverance fade into the background, unacknowledged by those around you? In a world obsessed with recording every moment for validation and recognition, it’s easy to feel insignificant when your life seems unrecorded and forgotten. But what if I told you that in the eyes of…

[blessedbaddies101]

Blessed Baddies Mug

[childofapollo888]

aphrodite 🐚 offerings / devotional acts

offerings

◇ shells ◇ ocean imagery ◇ swan/dove/sparrow/goose imagery ◇ angel/cherub imagery ◇ heart imagery ◇ valentine's day gifts ◇ imagery/paintings of her ◇ roses/rose imagery ◇ rosehips/rose thorns ◇ rose quartz, amethyst, blue lace agate, ruby, moonstone ◇ skincare/hair care/body care ◇ perfume/cologne ◇ hair brush ◇ mirrors ◇ makeup ◇ water (moon/salt/sea water) ◇ honey ◇ wine ◇ hot chocolate/any chocolates ◇ apples ◇ strawberries/raspberries

devotional acts

◇ give compliments to strangers ◇ dedicate a glass of water to her ◇ collect all types of pretty things ◇ plan your outfits, wear things that make you feel like you ◇ wear jewelry that reminds you of her ◇ create a skincare and body care routine ◇ watch romantic movies or read romantic books ◇ listen to music that makes you feel good, dance to it if you are able ◇ give yourself love, forgive yourself for any mistakes ◇ wear perfume/cologne dedicated to her ◇ fall asleep to sounds of ocean waves or birdsong ◇ take a bath devoted to her ◇ spend time with your loved ones ◇ pour your heart out to someone, or pour your heart out in a journal ◇ donate to women's shelters ◇ create a Pinterest board ◇ eat foods that she likes (strawberries, chocolates, apples, & raspberries) ◇ write poetry about her ◇ talk to her ◇ create a playlist dedicated to her ◇ have a chapstick/lip gloss dedicated to her ◇ paint or draw something that reminds you of her

these are just a compilation of a lot of things i have read, as well as some things that work for me :)

[adviceformefromme]

From hating yourself to loving yourself in five simple steps....

1] You are going to set the fucking INTENTION to love yourself. You are claiming this. You are declaring this. Scream it out loud. In whatever words make sense to you. There is so much power in intention, its like the universe starts scrambling like crazy to make the intention possible. Books will fall off shelves, YouTube videos will drop into your homepage. A friend will start talking about an article she read on self-love. The universe will follow your energy. 

2] You are going to get fucking INSPIRED. You are going to use your resources to support you on your new found self-love journey. You are going to edit your feed, delete anyone who does not give the energy of loving yourself or inspiring you, hell even delete social media if you can! You are going to read books, listen to podcasts, listen to self-love music, subliminals on self-love and devotion, you are going to drown yourself in the energy of self-love and self-care. Book days off work, call in sick. Journal and meditate. Do a hot girl walk in nature. Create the space to allow the message of self-love to seam deep into your soul.

3] You are going to start speaking to yourself like a fucking QUEEN. No more slagging yourself off as you wash your hands and catch your reflection. No more of that putting yourself down BS. You are going to make the effort to point out something you love about yourself each time you look in the mirror. The shape of your ears, your eyes, your lips, whatever it is that you accept and like currently. Make an effort to tell yourself that at every given moment. Those compliments will start compounding day by day, and speaking kindly to yourself will become more easy.

4] Start seeing all the fucking beauty AROUND you. The flowers blooming, the shape of the trees as you walk, the woman you just smiled at, the sunset, just stop and look and observe the beauty everywhere. The more you start to focus on the beauty and loving what you see externally, it will start to make waves internally. 

5] FINALLY stop comparing yourself to others. Remember you are a MAIN CHARACTER in your movie. Every single person in your life right now, even me, is a supporting character in your movie. Know that is the power you possess. So go out there today, and remember who you are. Remember there is so much more to you than how you look, remember that loving yourself and accepting yourself sets the tone for every relationship in your life, and despite all the shit from your past you are now in control of how you speak to yourself, how you choose to think of yourself. The choice is yours. 

Resources:  Podcasts: Women’s Impact: https://www.youtube.com/@LisaBilyeu/videos Jerry Flowers: https://www.youtube.com/@officialjerryflowersjr  Sarah Blondin: https://www.youtube.com/@mzblondin On purpose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nxlc2UcVeY  Music:  Chanters Sheba: https://www.youtube.com/@ChantressSeba Mei Lan: https://www.youtube.com/@Mei-lan

[kupidachillea]

how I think Ancient Greek mythology boys would treat you hcs:

Achilles:

🏺-He’s a bit possessive, not entirely in a ‘red flag’ kind of way but a ‘My partner, I’ll kill you if you touch them” type of way

🏺- He doesn’t like to admit it but he loves to cuddle and hold you close. Especially after he takes a cold shower- he’ll just flop down next to you and shimmy over until he’s on top of you and he’ll just stay there; recharging from your warmth

🏺-he’s definitely more of a physical touch is his lover language type of guy. So holding hands, kisses on the cheeks, touching your hair, caressing you softly. Yeah- that’s what he likes

🏺- He seriously doesn’t like it when other men try to flirt with you..it rubs him the wrong way and it makes his anger bubble up, but he’s definitely not about to go over there and punch the guy in the face……at least..not when you’re around

🏺- He gets anxious when he sees you hurt, like I’m talking about, sprained ankle, flesh wounds, things like that. He grumbles to himself and makes you promise to be more careful.

Patroclus:

🌿- He’s not as possessive as Achilles, but he definitely has his possessive tendencies, like when you’re talking to another man, he’ll casually stroll on up and wrap his arms around you and just watch the guy with narrowed eyes

🌿- he’s a big old puppy dog, he loves hugging you whenever he can. He loves showering you with kisses. It’s just his thing. He especially enjoys holding you in bed and just listening to you heart beat

🌿-However, he loves giving gifts as well. From flowers to home cooked meals. You name it.

🌿- He doesn’t get as jealous as Achilles, but he only locks in when another man or woman is touching you inappropriately without your permission..he hates it.. he’ll try to be polite but stern about it.

🌿- If you ever get hurt, he doesn’t worry that much- because he’s confident he can heal any wound you appear to him with.,though he’d rather prevent than cure…

Perseus:

🛡️- He’s a big old golden retriever boy. He doesn’t get jealous easily because he’s confident that you wouldn’t leave him. He’s only a bit clingy and he almost always insists on carrying you places

🛡️- his love language is words of affirmation, or just loving words in general while he places soft kisses to your hand or palm. The look of devotion in his eyes when you stare back at him. The soft “My love…” or “my beloved..”..it just hits home for him.

🛡️- he loves to have you in his arms whenever he can. It just comes naturally to him, nuzzling your neck as he giggles and cuddles you on the sofa or bed or even the floor. He especially loves to tickle you just to hear your giggles.

🛡️- like mention before. He doesn’t get jealous that easily, instead he’ll probably loudly proclaim that you’re his spouse. And he gets a satisfied look on his face when he sees the scowl on other men or even women.

🛡️- if you get hurt he’ll apologise for not looking after you more carefully..even when you tell him it’s fine.he’s disappointed in himself for letting it happen. Especially under his roof. However anytime you do come to him to get it patched up. He’ll always give a small kiss to the treated wound. Like “boo boos go bye bye”

Orpheus:

🎼- He’s a bit sheepish with touch, but as soon as he warms up to it, he really loves to hold hands..and cuddle. It makes him feel safe and relaxed

🎼- He isn’t totally possessive, but he does make sure the person is at least an arms length away from you.. for their sake.

🎼- he loves to write odes to you. Songs, poems, the works. He’s got an entire book of love letters and an even bigger journal of songs and poems he’ll read to you.

🎼- He’s not really a jealous person but does get a bit moody and pouty, and sometimes he unintentionally stares at the man that’s flirting with you, and it’s so uncomfortable that the man leaves you alone. 🎼- when you get hurt, he’ll most certainly heal you. No doubt about, however he mutters to himself before you call him out on it. He apologises but it’s honestly cute, the way his brow furrows and his eyes are filled with worry. Afterwords he holds you in a soft hug.

sksksksksk I might do more of this. Eh if you see this and like it- drop more mytho boys for me to write about

[xiakato]

Interview with the Director(M)- NINGNING

“Took you long enough to get here,” The woman takes a sip from her glass, her office overlooking a beautiful mountain range in the valleys of Switzerland. 

“Giselle doesn’t like giving me the answers I want,” You sit in one of the chairs in front of her desk. 

“She’s always been one to beat around the bush.” 

“Rather annoying, I had to fuck it out of her,” You sigh placing the audio recorder onto her desk. 

“Well if the stories I’ve heard about you are true, I can’t blame her,” The woman’s smile is captivating. Of course the low light that these women seem to rejoice in, added to the atmosphere nearly as much as their beauty. 

“You could see later, first and foremost it’s an interview my dear Ning Yizhuo.” 

“You’ve certainly done your research, even knowing that name I’ve long since forsaken.” 

“It was difficult, you’ve nearly scrubbed every record of your name besides one of course.” 

“My death certificate?” 

“Yes, why? Why go through all that trouble for everything else but leave that?” 

“Because Ning Yizhuo is dead to the world and anyone that may fall about the story of the Ning family, the family that was found dead in their home.” 

“Tell me about your family,” You pull out your journal, filled with the notes from the previous two interviews. The stories these girls hold you feel that they need to be heard. 

“Run of the mill family, I feel, well as run of the mill we could be for 1740,” She leans back in her luxurious chair, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows. The snow falling to the ground as if it’s a missing piece of a larger than life puzzle, “There were whispers, that my family was plotting to betray the Emperor, yet my family still tried and true. My father was a devoted man, my mother could care less, her only care was the children. Till a night such as this one,” she nods her head at the beautiful snowy night and the surrounding alps, “It was a cold night, the fire burned brightly. They descended about our house, blood lined the walls. The blood of the maids spilt in their living quarters sullied their footsteps. They dragged us out of our beds. The terror that encased my body, the tears that stained my cheeks. The cries of my family that fateful night fell on deaf ears as we were slaughtered one by one,” She pauses as a tear falls down her cheek, remembering that painful night of which changed her life, it haunts her, even now, tormenting her in her dreams, “I was left bleeding out on the floor, my vision slowly fading and that’s when I saw her. Skin was white as the snow that fell around her.”

“Is that how she got her nickname?” 

“You seem to know who it is already so yes that’s how she did get that name, Winter.” 

“What of Karina’s brother?” 

“Oh Sunwoo, a cutie, very diligent. He’s long since gone on to work for an unsavory group of vampires. One's hope is to turn the tide of the elders, hoping to get their hands onto power that is yet out of their grasp.” 

“What is this group?” 

She gets out of her chair, “Follow me,” You grab the recorder and follow, “The group is nothing less than a meager thorn in the side of the ones aligned with the elders. They wish to garner enough power and people that could use the power of elders, ones that aren’t an elder themselves. Much like you.” 

“What would they want me for?” 

“They seem to have found a way to extract the power of the hosts, killing them obviously. I heard recently that they’ve been rather busy. I could only assume they’re looking for you,” She opens the door to her bedroom, a lavish room decorated with black and red satin. 

“I see, well enough of them, how did you come to be in charge of this place?” 

“Elder Marius took a particular liking to me, he is long since dead. Watched him turn to ash.” 

“Thanks for your time Miss Ning,” You bow slightly to her and stop the recorder, turning on your heels to leave. 

“Where do you think you’re going manthing?” Her words stop in your tracks, “You seem to think you can just leave without giving me my payment.” 

“What sort of payment do you think you’re going to get?” You turn to look at her, your eyes falling to her perfect legs crossed as she sits on the edge of her bed. 

“The only thing of use that you can give, so strip,” She commanded, her eyes glowing under the light from the fireplace. You were hoping to avoid this as you didn’t want to fuck everyone you interviewed yet her you are pulling your trousers down. She gestures for you to get closer, you do without a second thought. Her soft and slender hand wraps around your cock, shivers run down your spine as you feel how cold she is despite being near a fire. She smirks to herself, “I see why Giselle decided to keep you around.” 

“She keeps more around for more than just my dick,” You tell her as you make her lay on the bed, hiking up her skirt making short work of her panties. 

“Rather confident about it, you should know by now anything that comes out of her mouth you can’t trust,” She chuckles which is replaced by a sharp inhale and a moan as you slide your cock into her, her tightness squeezes your cock not wanting to let go, “Fuck.”

You grip tightly onto her thighs using them as leverage as you thrust deep into her, she squeezes your cock at random intervals adding to your pleasure. Looking down at her, seeing her with that smirk etched on her lips. You part her lips with your thumb, her fangs grazing across it as you keep thrusting, getting her to feel every inch. Her legs wrap around you tightly as she reaches her climax. You slowly pull out as her juices cover the bed sheet. 

“We aren’t done here pretty boy,” She says between catching her breathing, she gets on her knees arching her back, spreading her ass, “Fuck my ass~” 

You don’t have to be told twice, as you push your tip into her ass, “So tight,” You continue to push deeper and deeper.

“No o-ne has fucked my ass since the 80’s, I had to do it myself~” She moans out as you bottom out in her tight ass, “Break me pretty boy, tear that ass up,” She smiles as she feels your cock piston in and out, “FUCK YES!” 

Her moans echo through the halls, the sound skin slapping against skin accompanies it. Your hand wrapped up in her hair as she takes your cock, her mind merely a blank slate. Her eyes glazed over as her ass was used just like she wanted. You pull out quickly, surprising her as she squirts adding to her puddle. Her whole body shakes as she looks back at you, ”You fucker.” 

“I’m only giving you what you wanted, remember that Yizhuo,” You pull her ass back up, spreading it, looking at your handy work. You smile to yourself as you slide back in with ease. She hasn’t recovered from her latest orgasm as you get back to your pace from before. You grip her hips tightly as you pound away chasing your own high using her like a sex toy. She digs her nails into your forearm. You go as fast as your own hips allow as you start to fill her ass with your cum. You keep going, you want to break her, and you will. Grabbing her other arm using them as leverage.

“FUCK FUCK!” She screams out as she starts to squirt as you rail her ass, making sure her ass will forever be able to take your cock whenever. Shooting another load into her, you finally let her go as she collapses on the bed, cum dripping from her ass. You catch your breath as you head over to your trousers. 

“Dirty slut,” You say getting dressed, and walking towards the door as she starts to giggle digging her fingers into her ass spreading it more. 

“Don’t you want to fill my ass more~?”

[thethirdromana]

I think last year I wrote something about how meaningful it is, and what a leap of faith it represents, that Mina chooses to marry Jonathan even when she has no idea when or even if he'll be able to work again. Only unmarried women could be teachers, so her ability to earn money is curtailed by the marriage; she may struggle to support them. It's both a statement of trust that Mr Hawkins will keep to his word and take care of them, and a declaration that - in a very immediate and practical sense - Mina chooses her love for Jonathan over financial security.

What I was less aware of last year is the extent of eugenicist thinking in the 1890s around the marriage of people who were mentally ill. Mina makes it very clear just how unwell Jonathan is:

He is only a wreck of himself, and he does not remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past.

And Jonathan is open about it too:

"I feel my head spin round, and I do not know if it was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I have had brain fever, and that is to be mad."

We know that Jonathan's experiences are real, but he doesn't and Mina doesn't. And neither of them knows if he will make a full recovery.

This was at a time when the British Medical Journal published articles claiming that "marriage was often contracted in a blind and reckless way by those who had a strong predisposition to insanity". In a wider discussion, the article suggests that doctors might advise against marriage not just for those known to be mentally ill, but even people "who come of a nervous stock".

I don't want to go into all the horrible things that the medical establishment of the 1890s believed. But I do want to emphasise the extent of Mina's devotion. She travels day and night to get to Jonathan, she spends a small fortune to do so, she sacrifices her career, she marries someone against the advice of a lot of the contemporary medical establishment, and she does it without hesitation.

Mina and Jonathan are both young. It would be entirely respectable and normal for them to stay engaged but wait to marry, to see if Jonathan recovers, to build up savings, to get home. But Mina says a massive fuck you to that and fuck you to contemporary ableism as well, and marries Jonathan precisely as he is.

[mrs-snape5984]

“Can we always be this close…forever and ever?”

“My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue. All's well that ends well to end up with you.” (“Lover” by Taylor Swift)

Today I want to share something more cheerful with all you lovely people of Snapedom, because - to be honest - considering my last few posts on this blog, they could suggest the idea, that I might not be the most zestful person around here. Well…guilty as charged! 😅So, please, take my apologies for my constant venting and complaining about ME/CFS and the ways, in which this bitch of a disease destroyed the life, I’ve known before. But this particular post will be dedicated to LOVE.

I know, I’m using this blog as my personal journal in order to cope with the hardships of my existence, always relying on my 21 years lasting connection with Severus Snape…who is undeniably the one true love of my life. Some of you might judge or mock me for being so pathetically devoted to a fictional character over such a long period of time, but believe me…my love for Severus is my safe haven!

Sure, I’ve tried to give other relationships a shot, but after some really traumatic experiences with men and women, as well as two failed marriages, I’m coming to the conclusion, that I’m better off alone. I must admit, that being doomed to endure a so called life in my bed, only surrounded by darkness and mostly solitude, definitely has an influence on this conviction. Who knows, if I’d have the same beliefs if I weren’t “un-dateable”…but this doesn’t matter anymore, since there’s still no cure for my disease.

And yet… (enter dramatic sigh here 😂)

And yet, I still believe in love, despite my own failures…despite all the pain, the sorrows, the humiliation and the traumas, I’ve been confronted with. I guess, being intelligent (or at least well educated) and overly realistic didn’t prevent me from being a hopeless romantic human being.

My adolescent twins are currently entering the phase of their first “loves”. I’ve taught my three children from the very beginning, that it doesn’t matter, whom they love, unless they’re feeling safe and happy about it. My daughter is proud to have her first girlfriend, even though she’s already facing some difficulties in her environment, due to her frank nature to enjoy her crush. For me - a woman, who’s living openly bisexual 🏳️‍🌈 since I’ve been 14 years old - it’s absolutely unbelievable, that there are still so many people in our society, who seem to stick to their restrained beliefs about sexuality and gender. I will always try to support my children in their journey of self-acceptance and self-discovery.

So, yes, I still believe in love…no matter how this love might look like. Even though I’m confined to this prison, which is formed by my disease, I was allowed to find some kind of deep love in my friends. I want to share a short poem with you (written by Whitney Hanson for her book “Harmony”) which reminds me of the love, that I feel for these friends of mine:

I have always loved the way

Music could make the world feel

Like it doesn’t exist

As if suddenly all my fears

Are swept away

Who knew

That there are people out there

Who could make me feel the same way

Another love, which makes my heart swell with joy, is my love to all those amazingly talented artists of Snapedom, for whom I’m rolling out the red carpet on my blog, by using their art as my very personal soothing balm for my troubled heart and soul. This time, I’ve commissioned the lovely @kruzbr for the very first time. I’ve been fallen for their Severitus comics, so I asked them to help me out with making my own version of Severitus, together with my undeniably self-inspired OC Jules, come to life.

Anderson, your understanding of my ideas and your kindness made it a pleasure for me to join the process of creating this mesmerising masterpiece of art. I’m beyond grateful for your service and I can assure you, that this won’t be the last time, I will commission you for another adventure of Sevy & Jules. The next idea is already stuck in my mind, so keep an eye on your postbox! Thank you for everything, my dear!

🖤Severus & Julia🖤

🖤Sevy & Jules🖤

[simply-ivanka]

Harris and Schumer Target the Supreme Court

Democrats make clear that if they win, they’ll push measures to destroy the judiciary’s independence.

By 

David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew M. Grossman -- Wall Street Journal

Democrats have made clear that if they win the presidency and Congress in November, they will attempt to take over the Supreme Court as well. Shortly after ending his re-election campaign, President Biden put forth a package of high-court “reforms,” including term limits and a “binding” ethics code designed to infringe on judicial authority. Kamala Harris quickly signed on, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made clear that bringing the justices to heel is a top priority.

Democrats proclaim their devotion to democratic institutions, but their plan for the court is an assault on America’s basic constitutional structure. The Framers envisioned a judiciary operating with independence from influences by the political branches. Democratic “reform” proposals are designed to change the composition of the court or, failing that, to influence the justices by turning up the political heat, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt achieved with his failed 1937 court-packing plan.

Now as then, the court stands between a Democratic administration and its ambitions. The reformers’ beef is precisely that the court is doing its job by enforcing constitutional and statutory constraints on the powers of Congress and the executive branch.

Roosevelt sought to shrug off limits on the federal government’s reach. What’s hamstrung the Obama and Biden administrations is the separation of powers among the branches. President Obama saw his signature climate initiative, the Clean Power Plan, stayed by the court, which later ruled that it usurped Congress’s lawmaking power. The Biden administration repeatedly skirted Congress to enact major policies by executive fiat, only for the courts to enjoin and strike them down. That includes the employer vaccine mandate, the eviction moratorium and the student-loan forgiveness plan.

That increasingly muscular exercises of executive power have accompanied the left’s ascendance in the Democratic Party coalition is no coincidence. The legislative process entails compromise and moderation, which typically cuts against radical goals. That was the lesson self-styled progressives took from ObamaCare, which they’ve never stopped faulting for failing to establish a government medical-insurance provider to compete directly with private ones. Similarly, Congress has always tailored student-loan relief to reward public service and account for genuine need.

Then there’s the progressive drive for hands-on administration of the national economy by “expert” agencies empowered to make, enforce and adjudicate the laws. The Supreme Court has stood as a bulwark against the combination of powers that James Madison pronounced “the very definition of tyranny.” Decisions from the 2023-24 term cut back on agencies’ power to make law through aggressive reinterpretation of their statutory authority, to serve as judge in their own cases, and to evade judicial review of regulations alleged to conflict with statute. By enforcing constitutional limits on the concentration of power in agencies, the Roberts court has fortified both democratic accountability and individual liberty.

That explains the Democratic Party’s attacks on the court. The New York Times’s Jamelle Bouie recently praised Mr. Biden for identifying the court as the “major obstacle to the party’s ability” to carry out its agenda and commended the president’s “willingness to challenge the Supreme Court as a political entity.” That explains the ginned-up “ethics” controversies: The aim is to discredit the court, as has become the norm in political warfare.

An even bigger lie is the refrain that the court is “out of control” and “undemocratic.” Consider the most controversial decisions of recent terms. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) returned the regulation of abortion to the democratic process. West Virginia v. EPA(2022) and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) constrained agencies’ power to say what the law is, without denying Congress’s power to pursue any end. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy (2024) elevated the Seventh Amendment right to a jury in fraud cases over the SEC’s preference to bring such cases in its own in-house tribunals. And Trump v. U.S. (2024), the presidential immunity ruling, extended the doctrine of Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) to cover criminal charges as well as lawsuits, without altering the scope of presidential power one iota.

Meanwhile, the administrative state has scored wins in some of this year’s cases. In Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association, the justices rejected a challenge to the CFPB’s open-ended funding mechanism. A ruling to the contrary could have spelled the agency’s end. In Moody v. NetChoice, it reversed a far-reaching injunction restricting agencies’ communications with social-media companies seeking to censor content. And in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, it reversed another injunction, against the FDA over its approval of an abortion pill. The last two decisions were notable as exercises of judicial restraint. In both cases, the court found the challengers lacked standing to sue.

What Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Mr. Schumer and their party are attempting to do is wrong and dangerous. They aim to destroy a branch of federal government. For faithfully carrying out its role, the court faces an unprecedented attack on its independence, beyond even Roosevelt’s threats. Unlike then, however, almost every Democratic lawmaker and official marches in lockstep, and the media, which were skeptical of Roosevelt’s plan, march with them.

As Alexander Hamilton observed, the “independence of the judges” is “requisite to guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals” from the actions of “designing men” set on “dangerous innovations in the government.” The political branches have forgone their own obligation to follow the Constitution, which makes the check of review by an independent judiciary all the more essential. Ms. Harris and Mr. Schumer would put it under threat.

Mr. Rivkin served at the Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Mr. Grossman is a senior legal fellow at the Buckeye Institute. Both practice appellate and constitutional law in Washington.

[citylawns]

Any life advice for teen girls? I’m fifteen living at boarding school with no friends, and I’m not interested in the boys here (never even kissed a guy). I’d like to know if you have any tips, or things you wish you did or could change at my age. I’m just very lost and need some guidance, I don’t really talk to my mom so I can’t ask her. She never really taught me girl stuff and I’ve never had a best friend. I look up to you some, I would really love and appreciate some insight.

Hello lovely! It's taken me a while to think about how to reply to this, sorry to have kept you waiting. I was also very lost and lonely when I was fifteen, and I also didn't really talk to my mum, or if I did it was about comforting her or her shouting at me. She also never taught me girl stuff and I've had to learn how to cook, how to clean, how to wash and shave and perform proper maintenance myself so you can always ask me anything in that regard.

I have a few things here that I think might be helpful and things I did for comfort.

Find comfort in art, music, books, films, but in the end don't isolate yourself too much. This is something I have just spoken about unlearning today with my friends. A lot of us tend to retreat into an internal world to survive and it can be necessary and life saving but you also need to force yourself to open up too. It's important to keep taking the risk to open up to people and find friends, even when it goes wrong over and over. It's taken me until 26 to find some real friends. I hope it comes sooner to you.

You can find mother figures everywhere. In older women you meet in your life, in aunties, your friends and partners parents, older girls, in your friends, in work colleagues. You can ask them the things you could never ask your mum.

Devote your time to learning a skill or hobby related to your interests. I wish I had been more dedicated to learning guitar and music theory, you can learn these things at any age (its never too late) but I wish I had the years put in early. It's also a way to find community and friends - music has been fundamental for that aspect of my life.

Please, please don't worry too much about how you look. I don't know if that's something you worry about, but it was something I worried about a lot. I wished my face was different for so many years but you really do grow into your face and your body. As you age you see parts of yourself in other people (your friends, relatives, anyone) and you realise you can appreciate them in yourself too. Insecurity and comparison still happen, but you realise that owning everything about you is the most enigmatic and attractive quality about a person.

Keep a journal. Write about everything you feel and everything you think and all that's happening in your life. Even if it seems boring and mundane. Most importantly - write about what your hopes and dreams and aspirations are. Your older self will need them to look back on to remind her to keep going. And to remind her of how far she has come.

Be your own best friend. Your relationship to yourself is the most important relationship you will ever have in your life. Be kind to yourself, don't say mean things about yourself, notice when you have done something well. If there's no one else to stick up for you and no one to recognise your achievements you need to be that person for yourself. This will get you through everything.

Sending you a really warm hug, stay strong, I hope boarding school gets better.

[masayomi]

i just finished reading Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China by Leta Hong Fincher and during this part where the author discusses the central role woman played in the development of revolutionary thought and activism in the early 1900's and the eventual founding of china's communist party (part of her broader argument that women's rights in china have actually decreased in the last 50ish years) this passage really stuck out to me:

Liu argues that the “liberated” images of women presented through Socialist Realism and the bare faces and colorless uniforms—designed to further the goal of equality—“end up denying difference to women.” “The category of women, like that of class, has long been exploited by the hegemonic discourse of the state of China,” she writes. “In the emancipatory discourse of the state, which always subsumes woman under the nationalist agenda, women’s liberation means little more than equal opportunity to participate in public labor.” Ding Ling joined the Communist Party in 1932 after her husband, the author Hu Yepin, was murdered by the Nationalists. She was then kidnapped by the Nationalists and kept under house arrest for several years until she escaped to Yan’an, which became the Communists’ base after the Red Army completed its legendary Long March to escape Nationalist forces. As a prominent Communist Party member, Ding Ling renounced writing about sexuality and romantic love and embraced the Socialist Realist form of literature for the revolutionary masses. Even so, for International Women’s Day in 1942, Ding Ling vehemently criticized the Communist Party’s gender politics in a damning essay about the Party’s treatment of “women comrades.” “When will it no longer be necessary to attach special weight to the word ‘woman’ and raise it specially?” she began. She discussed the pressure on women comrades to marry, as single women were the target of “slanderous gossip”: “So they can’t afford to be choosy, anyone will do: whether he rides horses or wears straw sandals, whether he’s an artist or a supervisor.” Ding Ling pointed out the Party’s double standards, with its expectation that women have children, only to deride the same women for “political backwardness” and insufficient devotion to the revolution. “I myself am a woman, and I therefore understand the failings of women better than others. But I also have a deeper understanding of what they suffer,” she wrote. “Women are incapable of transcending the age they live in, of being perfect, or of being hard as steel.” She called on men in the Communist Party to consider the suffering and “social context” of their female counterparts: “It would be better if there were less empty theorizing and more talk about real problems, so that theory and practice are not divorced, and if each Communist Party member were more responsible for his own moral conduct.” Party officials accused Ding Ling of having “narrow feminist” feelings and holding “a nonrevolutionary view of the relationship between women’s liberation and class struggle,” according to Rebecca Karl. In retaliation for her criticism of the Party, Ding Ling was fired from her position as editor of a literary journal and ordered to re-educate herself. She later recovered politically, only to be sent for re-education among the masses during the anti-rightist campaign in 1957 for speaking out about women’s “double burden”: “Women were celebrated in their public role as ‘iron women,’ for their heroic contributions to production. Meanwhile, they were forced to silently struggle with household chores.”

all men across literally all of space and time, no matter their race, religion, or political views, have relied on women's physical and intellectual labor to prop up their movements then turn around and denounce them for not meeting their standards. never forget that any male-centered political movement, no matter how feminist it may seem, will find its own way to exploit women

[invisibleicewands]

‘Theatre changed my life,’ says Michael Sheen. ‘Now my passion is for helping others’

Theatre can change lives. And I should know. It’s changed my life more than I’d ever have imagined. Back in 2011, a play called The Passion took over the streets of my hometown of Port Talbot. And I haven’t been the same since.

Perhaps the perception of actors before a play is that we’ll learn a few lines, try on a few costumes... break a leg. But with The Passion, I went all in like never before.

I also met the people doing vital work in the community I grew up in, helping vulnerable people who need it the most, often at make-or-break moments. Being at this coalface of community opened my eyes.

This patchwork of people holding society together with the thinnest of threads, going over and above each and every day to help people in almost every aspect of their lives.

I saw then – and I continue to see – kind-hearted, warm, tolerant people helping out their fellow humans to bring communities together. These are the people who make our nation what it is.

The good deeds that these people did – from giving young carers a night off to go bowling, to setting up the only grief counselling service in the area – generally worked under fragile funding and often were under-appreciated by the wider community.

I knew then that I had to devote as much time and energy as I could to helping, however I could.

In the decade and a half since The Passion, I’ve started projects around homelessness, high-cost credit, care, and local journalism. And for the past 18 months, these have come under the banner of a movement known as Mab Gwalia.

Mab Gwalia believes that opportunity should not only be available to those who can afford it. The ambition is to build a movement that makes change.

We support people and projects which work in three ways: projects creating opportunity and fighting for fairness; projects rooted in communities, helping people directly; and projects that work in new and ambitious ways to deliver change.

My work on The Passion made me realise there’s so many people out there doing this. And Mab Gwalia has supported as many of them as we can.

This has included: Army veterans in Merthyr Tydfil. Autism support for children in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Food growing in Pembrokeshire. Opportunities for women in Swansea who’ve suffered knock-back after knock-back. Community skills hubs in Rhyl.

Theatre changed my life. Now I want the spark it set off in me to do the same for others.

My ancestor, Nanny Blower, the lion tamer

My great-great grandmother was called Mary Ann-North. Or Nanny Blower, as we know her.

She left Wales for New York in 1896 where she became, wait for it, an elephant and lion tamer for the Bostock and Wombwell Circus. Fast forward to today and young people in the Upper Neath Valleys don’t have to run away to join the circus. Organised Kaos comes to them.

Kaos stands for “keeping adolescents off the streets” and that’s what they do. I first met them on The Passion (riding BMXs through fire – them, not me) and now Mab Gwalia has helped fund their work.

Manics band drum up £15,000 for drama study

“Libraries gave us power” – the opening lyrics to Wales’ second national anthem, A Design For Life.

The Manic Street Preachers wrote a version of the song for The Passion, performing it at The Last Supper in the Seaside Social & Labour Club… before being arrested and hauled off stage for the show’s added drama.

The band is working with Mab Gwalia to fund a drama scholarship, providing financial support to students who need it. Since 2021, 11 students have received up to £15,000 each academic year.

We’ve just committed to another three years. The students tell us it gives them a chance to believe. The arts should be for everyone.

Mothers Matter, like my mum and partner Anna

My mum’s going through a tough time as my dad is living with Alzheimer’s. It’s a lot to take. I’m thankful every day for how my partner Anna is with our daughters.

It’s an understatement, but mothers matter. That’s the name of an organisation Mab Gwalia has supported. Mothers Matter helps mums suffering from loneliness and isolation through support, counselling, wellbeing hubs and workshops. Mothers in South Wales don’t have to do it alone.

We give a voice to working class writers

A summer reading recommendation: Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands. It’s Cora’s story – a teenage girl with ADHD finding her way through life in the early 90s in post-industrial Scotland. She’ll change the way you think about neurodivergence. It’s an unforgettable debut novel.

Tom was part of A Writing Chance, a project I developed alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, New Writing North and Northumbria University. The Office for National Statistics says nearly half all authors are from the most privileged backgrounds.

So we’re trying to redress that balance. To turn up voices not always heard. Tom was one of the first group – 11 writers who received bursaries and mentoring with industry leaders including regular writer of this column, Ros Wynne-Jones.

You can hear their stories in the BBC Sounds podcast Margins to Mainstream with Michael Sheen. Now, 16 more writers are on board. Think of the stories to come.

My debut at the ‘brilliant Welsh party’

With origins dating from 1176, the National Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival. A celebration of Welsh language culture with performances and competitions in everything from composition to cynghanedd (a type of Welsh poetry). And, last weekend, in Pontypridd, I made my debut on the maes (site or field).

My four-year-old daughter now refers to it as “that brilliant Welsh party” which neatly describes the atmosphere. On stage, the actress Sian Phillips said the sounds of words in Welsh “echoed with the language”.

I felt those echoes all day. Spoken in the park by families. Performed by young actors. Sung with emotion by choirs. It was a beautiful thing.

Homeless World Cup a beautiful game

Next month, the Homeless World Cup takes place in Seoul, South Korea. Bringing the tournament to Cardiff in 2019, seeing 500 players with experience of homelessness represent their nation on the football field, was something I’ll never forget.

If you can’t wait until then, watch The Beautiful Game on Netflix. Keep an eye on Callum Scott Howells, a brilliant young Welsh actor who I directed in BBC drama The Way (available on iPlayer).

Nye NHS vision seen on world stage

I’ve spent much of this year playing the man who had the vision and valour to create the National Health Service. Nye was theatre at its most far-reaching.

There were sold-out runs in the National Theatre in London, the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. And cinema screenings were viewed by people all over the world.

On the night we filmed the NT Live screening, NHS workers from around the country were invited to be in the audience. They knew that at that moment, a global audience was learning about our welfare state and the man who was behind it.

My dad came along one night. He was just a little kid when Bevan’s idea became reality. Soon there’ll be very few left who can remember what life was like before the NHS.

Let’s hope it stays that way. Can the new government come up with a progressive policy that inspires a story which packs them in 75 years on? We can but dream.

[ukrfeminism]

A UK academic who has completed a project creating a Wikipedia page for a woman in every country in the world is calling for more women to contribute to the world’s largest encyclopedia.

Lucy Moore, an archaeologist and curator who also works as an unpaid carer, began the mammoth project in 2021 from her sofa in Leeds, completing it last week – “unsurprisingly, perhaps, I got really stuck on Vatican City”.

She has now written biographies of 532 women since 2019, when she first became a Wikipedia editor, including scientists, monarchs, activists, writers and women whose faces are well known but their stories are not, such as Sharbat Gula, the refugee with striking green eyes pictured in the famous Afghan Girl portrait from 1984.

Less than 20% of the biographies on English language Wikipedia are about women, although this is an improvement on 16% in 2014, when “a range of different editors started to get together and say, ‘Actually, we really need to change this’,” said Moore.

She began by making a table of UN member states and partially recognised UN states, such as Kosovo and Taiwan, and worked through the list based on who caught her eye.

She has now also written dozens of entries for women in autonomous regions such as Hong Kong, Zanzibar and Tibet, and those in overseas territories.

There were many women she had expected to find already had pages, such as Julia Chinn, an enslaved woman who was the common-law wife of the ninth vice-president of the United States, Richard Mentor Johnson.

“She’s really interesting and I was really surprised no one had written about her before,” she said.

She tended to focus on women who share her interests, she said, such as poets, activists and coin specialists, known as numismatists, which is her own field.

“I find it really calming,” she said. “I can go and bury myself in something that is totally, totally different from my day to day.”

But it has not been easy. She said one of the issues was that Wikipedia required three reliable sources for each biography and, while there may have been a lot written on social media about some of the women, they may not have appeared in newspapers, especially in countries where women’s achievements are not taken seriously.

The reaction to her project has been positive, she said. “No one’s said anything nasty on Twitter, though I expect that will come.”

Moore points to the work of her fellow editor Jess Wade, who wrote a number of Wikipedia pages about female scientists, “and then another editor came along and nominated them all for deletion. It was really nasty.”

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She said there was some general criticism on social media that Wikipedia editors were “making (the gender balance) more of an issue than it actually is”.

“And I find that attitude really annoying, to be honest, because it’s men who say that primarily.”

She pointed to research from 2022 that found there were more Wikipedia entries about football and footballers than there were about women.

However, Moore added: “Some of the most prolific people who work to redress the gender balance on Wikipedia are men and I’m not sure they would all describe it as being a feminist, but that’s what they’re doing.”

Run as a non-profit, open-source encyclopedia that is free to use, Wikipedia can be edited by anyone but only a fifth of its 124,000 regularly active editors are women.

“We do need to get more women to edit, but it’s not just as simple as saying, ‘Hey, women, come and edit’, because we have so much more pressure on our time. There’s all these different studies that show that women have less time to devote to things of interest. And that’s before you even get on to being able to access sources, being able to access particular academic journal articles, which are paywalled.”

Class was also a factor in who contributes and appears on Wikipedia, as was access to education, especially in countries where women are not routinely educated.

“It just gets more and more systemic, the more you look at it,” she said.

Some of the women recognised by Moore

Julia Chinn (c. 1790 – July 1833) was an American plantation manager and enslaved woman of mixed race, who was the common-law wife of the ninth vice-president of the United States, Richard Mentor Johnson. She had two children with the plantation owner and congressman Johnson, who inherited her when his father died, though she would fulfil what at the time was considered the role of the wife of a politician. She was never freed.

Sharbat Gula (born c. 1972) is an Afghan woman who became internationally recognised as the 12-year-old subject in Afghan Girl, a 1984 portrait taken by American photojournalist Steve McCurry that was later published on the cover of National Geographic. The portrait was shot at Nasir Bagh, Pakistan, where Gula was living as a refugee after fleeing the Soviet–Afghan war. Having raised a family in Pakistan for 35 years, Gula was deported to Afghanistan in 2017, later being granted asylum in Italy.

Jeanne Gapiya-Niyonzima (born 12 July 1963, in Bujumbura) is a human rights activist from Burundi. She is the chair and founder of the National Association for Support for HIV-Positive People with Aids (ANSS) and was the first person from the country to publicly admit they had HIV. Gapiya-Niyonzima won the World Food Program prize in 2003, in 2011 addressed the United Nations committee for HIV/Aids in New York and was selected as the Burundian Woman of Courage of the Year in 2012.

Ólafía Einarsdóttir (28 July 1924 – 19 December 2017) was an Icelandic archaeologist and historian, becoming the first Icelander to complete a degree in archaeology. She taught at the University of Copenhagen and published many works about Icelandic sagas and Viking history. Ólafía was awarded an honorary doctorate by the faculty of history and philosophy at the University of Iceland in 2009. The journal Ólafía, published by the Icelandic Association of Archaeologists since 2013, is named after her.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Advent Devotionals, 2023

I wanted to share some devotionals for this coming Advent (it starts December 3!) that are queer affirming & center marginalized perspectives. If you know of others, please add on!

What Are You Waiting For? An LGBTQIA+ Affirming Advent Devotional

Format: A short written devotional or poem for every day of Advent, shared as one PDF document linked above

Creators: The Collective of Queer Christian Leaders, including Rev. Nicole Garcia of the National LGBTQ Task Force and members of the Transmission Ministry Network

Another Starry Black Night: A Womanist Advent Devotional

Format: Short written devotionals, one for each Sunday & Wednesday of Advent, as well as Christmas day

Creators: Black women, most of whom are ordained Presbyterian ministers, some of whom are queer

Posted on Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice

Abolition Advent Calendar: "Freedom for All Bodies"

Format: daily written devotionals that you can sign up to receive as emails. Each week expands the theme of abolition & racial justice to include 1) reproductive justice; 2) trans/nonbinary justice; 3) disability justice; and 4) body positivity

Shared by Join the Movement, a UCC organization

"Todos! Todos! Todos! Advent Reflections and Meditations on the Scriptures

Format: Zoom calls with a reflection followed by discussion groups every Wednesday of Advent, 8pm-9pm EST

Creators: DignityUSA, a Catholic LGBT-advocacy organization

An Advent Guide with Reflections on Palestine/Israel

Format: a devotional for each Sunday of Advent, shared as one PDF linked above

Creators: "Each week during Advent read firsthand accounts from recently returned Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) of their experiences during their deployment with the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (WCC-EAPPI). Along with their stories and photos are bible readings, further resources and prayers to offer."

[deadpresidents]

Do you think Lem Billings and JFK were really a couple?

I don't know what on Earth possibly gives people that idea...

...okay, well, I understand.

But, even with that compelling photo in mind, no, I do not believe that John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings had a sexual relationship with one another. It's widely believed that Billings was gay and he was absolutely devoted to JFK and the Kennedy family, but there isn't any evidence that they were anything more than extremely close friends. There's a very short book that was released last year called John F. Kennedy's Hidden Diary, Europe 1937: The Travel Journals of JFK and Kirk LeMoyne Billings (BOOK | KINDLE) that includes JFK's diary and Lem Billings' scrapbook journal as they traveled through Europe together from July to September 1937. While it's unlikely they would have recorded it if something had happened between the two of them on the trip, JFK doesn't hesitate to write about his many observations and interactions (and attempted interactions) with women basically every other day for two months. It's not a very detailed diary, but the number of times Kennedy mentions "girls" is a reminder that he was always a notorious womanizer. Does that mean he couldn't have been bisexual? Of course not, but there's also nothing more than baseless, decades-old gossip suggesting that.