#first presbyterian church

[detroitlib]

View of the First Presbyterian Church in Howell, Michigan. Printed on front: "First Presbyterian Church, Howell, Mich. Cost $80,000, seating capacity 800." Printed on back: "Published by C.S. Line. Made in U.S.A."

Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[coochiequeens]

Another freak In the trans community and the people in his community are doing nothing to distance themselves from him.

Content Notice: This article contains graphic descriptions of human torture some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is appreciated.

A former Presbyterian minister and Boy Scout leader convicted for the possession of child sexual abuse materials was a member of an online community lauded by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in the organization’s most recent Standards of Care.

Jack Wayne Rogers, who is currently incarcerated at the Federal Corrections Institute in Miami, first came to the attention of the FBI in 2002 during a pedophile sting known as “Operation Candyman,” named after a Yahoo e-group where child sexual abuse content was being traded. Rogers was initially detained for the possession and distribution of explicit child abuse materials, but was later identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Branson Kayne Perry, a 20 year-old in Skidmore, Missouri, who went missing in April of 2001.

Evidence gathered by law enforcement included Internet chat logs in which Rogers, using the screen names “BuggerButt,” “ohailsatan,” and “extremebodymods,” discussed various methods of torturing and mutilating children and swapped child abuse materials and snuff content with Michael Adam Davidson, a third-year medical student at the University of South Alabama.

On one occasion, Rogers bragged to Davidson in a chat that he had acted on his desires. Rogers boasted of having abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered a blonde-haired young man from Skidmore, Missouri, while describing the mutilation and murder in horrific detail. In April of 2003, Rogers was arrested on child pornography charges and became a suspect in the investigation of Perry’s disappearance.

While Rogers denied having committed the killing, he had been recounting the torture and slaying of an individual who matched Perry’s description at length.

“You can do it willingly by telling it you are going to let it go if it does what you want. Hope springs eternal until you smash it,” Rogers wrote, referring to the victim as “it” in his narrative.

“When it begs me to kill it—it doesn’t always happen—but when it does I know it is broken. Each mind is different and learning that mind is the real game to tearing down barriers. Destroying hopes. Building false ones.”

Rogers went on to say that he made the ordeal “an 18-hour experience” before disposing of the body by first removing the internal organs and sinking the corpse in a river.

He would never be convicted for the crime due to a lack of evidence, and Perry’s disappearance remains unsolved. One item connected Rogers to Perry: a turtle claw necklace that was believed to have belonged to the young man was retrieved from Rogers’ property.

However, during a search of Rogers’ home and devices, investigators uncovered at least 860 images of child pornography that included sexually explicit content involving prepubescent children. Rogers was found to have been sharing, via e-mail attachments, materials “showing male children engaged in sexually explicit content, including photographs of children chained and bound by ropes,” according to court records.

But upon further examination, investigators discovered numerous additional photographs of Rogers “posing with severed male genitals, wearing them on his head, placing them in his mouth and apparently chewing them, placing them in a coffee cup or on a plate, and attaching severed penises together.”

Surgical equipment, items used in bondage and torture, and a manual describing “how one could perform gender nullification” were found by authorities in Rogers’ home, office, and van. Officials also came upon a room Rogers had converted into an area for the practice of BDSM.

Photographs and other evidence led investigators to identify one of Rogers’ surgical ‘patients’ as Michael Abercrombie, a man who claimed to be transgender and used the feminine name Madison.

Rogers admitted to performing the makeshift “gender reassignment surgery” on Abercrombie in a hotel room. The two had met online, and Abercrombie paid $750 for the four-hour procedure wherein Rogers surgically removed his penis, scrotum, and testicles using only local anesthetics.

Rogers claimed to have performed over 100 similar procedures. He then took the severed organs and documented himself consuming them. Court records refer to the surgery as “nullification,” a term applied to the removal of male sex organs for fetishistic purposes among practitioners of BDSM. Abercrombie is referred to with feminine pronouns, with documents describing the removal of “her penis” and “her genitals.”

In addition to a 30-year sentence for child pornography and obscenity charges, Rogers was handed 17 years for first-degree assault and seven years for practicing medicine without a license.

According to Diane Fanning, a writer and researcher in the true crime genre, an employee who worked with Rogers recalled having seen him using office equipment to print copies of stories featuring acts of sadomasochism and mutilation with homosexual themes that he had written under the pseudonyms Jolly Rogers and BuggerButt. She told Fanning that he mailed these stories to prison inmates.

In July 2014, an alleged victim of Rogers came forward to accuse the would-be genital surgeon of sexually abusing him when he was a child, in 2000.

Kristopher Schondelmeyer claimed that the First Presbyterian Church of Fulton, where Rogers had worked with children as a pastor, knew that Rogers had previously been convicted on child pornography charges in 1992, and had put youth at risk “by placing Rogers in direct authority over minor children” and failing to provide supervision.

According to the lawsuit filed by Schondelmeyer, the alleged abuse took place during the Connection 2000 Youth Conference in Maryland, for which Rogers acted as a chaperone for Schondelmeyer and several other teenagers from Fulton.

Notably, Rogers’ digital footprint can be found in the early logs of the Eunuch Archive forum, interacting with academics who have contributed to research published and cited by WPATH, one of the world’s more powerful transgender lobby groups. WPATH has set medical guidelines which includes recommending protocols for the medical “transitioning” of children.

As previously reported by Reduxx, the Eunuch Archive is an online community of men who have a sexual interest in castration. Of the approximately 10,000 stories hosted in the site’s fiction archive, over 3,000 are tagged with the search term “minor.” These erotic stories depict the violent castration of young boys by surgical and chemical means. Many involve sadistic and pedophilic sexual acts, and some incorporate the concept of Nazi doctors experimenting on children.

The Eunuch Archive began in the late 1990s in collaboration with Body Modification E-zine (BME), which was founded by Shannon Larratt. The pornographic fiction stories were initially hosted on the same site. BME operated as a community for those with body modification fetishes and featured extreme sadomasochistic content, including of amputations and genital mutilation.

In the newsgroup alt.eunuchs.questions, members shared castration fantasies, offered services, traded castration photos and videos, sought to connect with young men to “feminize,” asked for advice on chemical castration, and recommended doctors willing to perform surgeries without psychiatric evaluations. 

At least three academics who have been in leading roles within the Eunuch Archive for over twenty years have ties to WPATH. Surveys conducted with members of the Eunuch Archive have been published in The International Journal of Transgenderism, distributed by WPATH, and academics who gathered the anonymous responses regarding forum members’ sexual motivations for genital mutilation have spoken at conferences hosted by the transgender advocacy organization.

Thomas W. Johnson, a WPATH member and professor emeritus at California State University in Chico (CSUC), is also a formative member of the body modification fetish site, having joined in 2001. Johnson uses the name “Jesus” when interacting online, and has posted videos of genital surgery for other participants to use as pornography.

In one audio file obtained by Reduxx recorded in approximately 2007, Johnson can be heard joking about Viagra and eating testicles. “Smoked, barbecued, stewed, in a casserole … or pureed,” Johnson says in the recording.

Richard J. Wassersug has for over 20 years used the alias “Eunuchunique” on the forum. Wassersug was an honorary professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, but has also been affiliated with Dalhousie and La Trobe Universities.

Krister H. Willette, who has been active in the community since 1998 and uses the screen name “Kristoff,” previously posted to the group’s Usenet community requesting “assistance in performing my castration by Burdizzo.”

Johnson, Wassersug, and Willette presented research they co-authored together at a 2009 conference in Oslo held by WPATH.

In May 2010, the contents of the Oslo presentation were published in The International Journal of Transgenderism, an academic journal issued by WPATH.

Wassersug, Willette, and Johnson were again invited to speak at a 2011 WPATH conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It was during this conference that the decision was made to declassify Gender Identity Disorder as a psychological condition. In its place, Gender Dysphoria would become the recommended terminology.

Johnson also spoke again at a WPATH conference in Quebec last year, where he presented on the topic of “choosing castration.” An academic paper published in 2015 that incorporated the views of Eunuch Archive forum members disclosed that among the most popular story themes on the site were children being forcibly castrated.

It was within the Eunuch Archive’s Usenet community that Jack Wayne Rogers can be seen interacting with multiple administrators and founding site members in a thread from 2000 discussing a snuff penectomy video, in which a man dies after undergoing genital mutilation.

The video, uploaded by a user who drafted the community’s original FAQ document in collaboration with Larratt, caused some controversy within the group. Rogers, as well as WPATH-sourced “researcher” Willette, interjected to defend the horrific content.

“If you don’t like it, don’t download it. Let’s stop giving sh*t to someone for posting what he believed was interesting. There were adequate warnings of the content. This is a free and open system,” Rogers wrote.

In response to one site member who objected to the obscene content, Willette responded, “Take your own advice and stop sh*tting on our group. None more sinful than the righteous.”

Eunuch Archive founding administrator Shannon Larratt also spoke up in defense of the snuff flick, saying, “Oh, who cares. At least it’s not the spam that 99% of the posts are. There is no clear place to post a penectomy video. Maybe he didn’t pick the perfect newsgroup, but we could argue endlessly about which one would be better.”

[nightcrowstudio]

Dark Church || Westfield NJ

Had the opportunity to photograph this amazing photo in Westfield while my car was being repaired, the dark tones of the brick work, the cloudy day. Truly Captivating

[valeroyeaux]

i’ve taken communion at a lot of different denominations of protestantism, and the worst communion is methodists, who make you dip the bread into the grape juice. should be illegal tbh

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Please consider writing down the words: "Thank You" and then drop that paper or card off to your local firefighters and police officers & staff or drop the note into the mail. I know from experience that it doesn't need to be fancy.

Proverbs 16:24 Kind words are like honey sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

“Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” Blaise Pascal

“With the help of grace, the habit of saying kind words is very quickly formed, and when once formed, it is not speedily lost.” Frederick W. Faber

“Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” Dale Carnegie”

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” Albert Schweitze

Good Samaritan

🚨I personally don't think our hearts and minds were created to absorb daily bad news and violence. I'm posting the bodycam video for our international friends who often hear terrible things about USA first responders. Our first responders have been demonized and thus demoralized because of a few rotten apples. They deserve our prayers & appreciation.

Good Samaritan

100 Year Old Community Member

[the-busy-ghost]

Look I love a Spooky Edinburgh Moodboard as much as the next person but I do wonder whether the people who tag pictures of St Giles and the General Assembly Hall as "witchy” or dark academia aesthetic have any idea what they’re looking at

[bard-powers-activate]

Tumblr I am NOT OKAY I just found out that the mean lesbian my spouse creature and I play D&D with (and with whom we are totally enamored and obsessed) is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the United States Presbyterian Church ratifying marriage as between any two people.

[bettertomorrows-world]

My problem? You don't have enough time for all those LOL. 😃 Fact is it's not the circumstances we encounter, & there always will be some, it's how we have become able to preserve & engage with & about those circumstances that speaks of the Mature Adults we have become. The things that are overwhelming, that's when it's better to look upward than at them or around us. There are many things We have to Leave At The Foot of The Cross. 

I like what Saint Francis Prayed, Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

Where There is Darkness, Let Me Sow, LIGHT. Where there is Sadness, HOPE. Where There is Despair, HOPE. Where There is Injury, PARDON. Where There is doubt, YOUR FAITH FATHER. Where There is dysfunction, Your Salvation LORD. We're There is Corruption Lord, Your TRUTH. For we have Learned Lord It Is in Giving that We Receive. Pardoning that We Are Pardoned. It Is Dying To This World, That We Are Born To Eternal Life With YOU LORD. May Your Will Be Done here on Earth, As It Is I Heavenly Realms. 

Change In Me What Will Make Me, I Pray Lord, What All will Make Me More Like You. How I Think, How I Speak, How I Feel, How My Intentions Are For Another. May They All Astound To The One That Lives Inside This Perishing Shell of Nature. 

I Love You Lord, Let Others know that by What proceeds From Me I make That My Commitment While Being Suited in The Full Armor of GOD DAILY. Being of a Renewed Mind & Strengthened Spiritual Powers In Jesus Majestic, Holy, Grace Filled & Never Ending LOVING NAME.... 

FALCON... Better Tomorrow's... 

PEACE 🙏🤠 👍 🤟 

[rabbitcruiser]

Lincoln's Birthday

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was born on February 12, 1809. Over the years, he has become known as one of the greatest American presidents of all time. At the time of his death, in 1865, many saw him as a martyr, and it wasn't too long afterward that his birthday began being observed informally. In the mid-1870s, Julius Francis of Buffalo, New York, began honoring Lincoln on his birthday and petitioned Congress to make the day a legal holiday.

But, as of 2019, Lincoln's Birthday is not, nor has it ever been, its own federal holiday. On the state level, a handful of states celebrate Lincoln's birthday on its actual date. In recent years, it has been celebrated as a state holiday in Ohio, Missouri, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut. It is celebrated as such in California as well, but since 2009, it has no longer been a paid holiday there. Some states, Indiana being one example, have officially celebrated Lincoln's birthday, but not on the actual date of his birth. In prior years, more states officially celebrated his birthday; twenty-four states celebrated it in 1940, and ten celebrated it in 1990.

Although Lincoln's Birthday is not celebrated on its own on the federal level, it is often implicitly or explicitly celebrated as part of Washington's Birthday, which is usually called Presidents' Day, taking place on the third Monday in February. In some states, this holiday is known as Washington and Lincoln Day. However, there are other variations of the day; some states specifically celebrate only Washington, and some celebrate Washington and another president, such as Thomas Jefferson.

Besides state observances and informal federal observances, Lincoln's Birthday is celebrated at many places associated with him. Each year, there is a wreath-laying ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky. Since its dedication in the early 1920s, there has also been a wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial, which is organized by the Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. The reading of the Gettysburg Address is also a part of this event. For his bicentennial, on February 12, 2009, the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission organized a special event at the Lincoln Memorial. That same day, four new Lincoln pennies were released, with backs that depicted different stages of Lincoln's life. Each year on the day, events are also held at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois. The Republican Party holds Lincoln Day dinners around the date because Lincoln was the first Republican president.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin just south of present-day Hodgenville, Kentucky. When he was two, his family moved to Knob Creek Farm, which is northeast of Hodgenville. In 1816, he moved with his family to Indiana. He did not get much schooling while growing up and often had to work to help support his family, doing things such as farming and splitting rails for fences.

In 1830, his family moved to Macon County, Illinois. He got a job on a boat, hauling freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He then settled in West Salem, Illinois, where he worked as a shopkeeper in a store as well as a postmaster. In 1832, he was a captain in the Black Hawk War and ran for a spot in the Illinois state legislature, which he lost. However, he ran again in 1834 and was successful. As a member of the Whig Party, he was influenced by other Whigs such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Some policy positions he held at the time were in opposition to slavery's spread to the territories, and a goal of expanding the United States with a focus on commerce and cities.

Lincoln decided to teach himself law and passed the bar in 1836. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Springfield, a few years before it became the state's capital. He married Mary Todd in 1842; they had four sons together, although only one would live into adulthood. Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846, but pledging to serve only one term, he returned to Springfield in 1849. His opposition to the Mexican-American War is the most remembered element of his term.

Politics were in Lincoln's blood, and he decided to return to them in 1854. That year, Democrat Stephen Douglas had helped get the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, which said there should be popular sovereignty when it came to slavery in the territories, meaning that voters should be able to decide for themselves if slavery should be allowed in them. On October 16, 1854, in Peoria, Illinois, Lincoln debated Douglas about the act. During the debate, he spoke against slavery and said it was incongruous with the Declaration of Independence. That same year, he joined the recently formed Republican Party, a party that was created in large part on the belief that slavery should not expand into the territories.

In 1858, Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. In June, he gave his house divided speech, which said the country couldn't go on existing half slave and half free. Lincoln lost the race but gained national recognition, in part because of the debates he had with Douglas.

The Republicans nominated Lincoln as their candidate for president in the 1860 election. It was a four-way race: Stephen Douglas was the nominee of northern Democrats, John C. Breckenridge was the nominee of southern Democrats, and John Bell was the nominee of the Constitutional Union Party. Breckenridge and Bell split the southern votes, and Lincoln won most of the north. He won the electoral vote count, and thus the presidency. By the time he had taken the oath of office in March 1861, seven states had already seceded from the Union; the Civil War began the following month.

The Civil War engulfed Lincoln's presidency, but he proved to be an adept war leader. After George McClellan failed to pursue the Confederate Army after the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862, Lincoln removed him of his position of Commanding General. Lincoln also issued the Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam, which went into effect on January 1, 1863, freeing slaves in the southern states (slaves in the border states loyal to the Union were not freed). The emancipation laid the groundwork for slaves to be freed everywhere—the Thirteenth Amendment went into effect in 1865, after Lincoln's death.

In November 1863, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at a dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg. It became one of the most famous speeches in American history. Although Lincoln has been lauded for fulfilling the commander-in-chief role, he did so not completely without controversy, as he suspended habeas corpus.

In 1864, Lincoln faced the general he had relieved, George McClellan, in his bid for reelection. He prevailed, and at his second inaugural he spoke of the end of the war, and the need for a conciliatory reconstruction "with malice toward none; with charity for all." On April 9, 1865, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Two days later, Lincoln gave a speech on the White House lawn.

On April 14, which happened to be Good Friday, President Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth while at Ford's Theatre. He died early the next morning at a boarding house across from the theatre. Today we remember his remarkable life and his contributions to the United States at such a difficult time in its history.

How to Observe Lincoln's Birthday

The following are some ways to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday:

Visit the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. This encompasses both his birthplace south of Hodgenville, as well as Knob Creek Farm, where he lived next. A wreath-laying ceremony takes place at the park.

Stop at the Lincoln Museum in downtown Hodgenville as well as the nearby Abraham Lincoln Statue.

Stop at other places along the Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail.

Attend the wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.

Visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and The Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

Stop at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana or at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Tennessee.

Go to Ford's Theatre.

Read a book about Lincoln.

Read some of Lincoln's own writings and speeches.

Source

[libearyn]

The Lord Bless You and Keep You

“Now more than ever, I have learned that, when people die, they truly do live throughout those who love them.”                                  ~Caroline KennedyLet the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty…

[serious2020]

(via Mme. Mildred Aristide is coming to the Bay Area!)

[draftingboard]

Please consider writing down the words: "Thank You" and then drop that paper or card off to your local firefighters and police officers & staff or drop the note into the mail. I know from experience that it doesn't need to be fancy.

Proverbs 16:24 Kind words are like honey sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

Good Samaritan

“Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” Blaise Pascal

“With the help of grace, the habit of saying kind words is very quickly formed, and when once formed, it is not speedily lost.” Frederick W. Faber

“Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” Dale Carnegie”

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” Albert Schweitze

🚨Sensitive Content:

I personally don't think our hearts and minds were created to absorb daily bad news and violence. I'm posting the bodycam video for our international friends who often hear terrible things about USA first responders. Our first responders have been demonized and thus demoralized because of a few rotten apples. They deserve our prayers & appreciation.

Good Samaritan

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

my sister: anyways he asked for my number and then he brought me an extension cord bc I mentioned needing one for my electric heater

my mom: what did he think of your heater? had he ever seen something so ancient?

my sister: he wouldn't come in my house, he just gave me the extension cord at the door

my mom: I'm liking him already.

[yellowpsyduck]

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮

Thomas Shelby x Reader

Warning: Smut

Her dress was white like the Arctic Snow. 

Her cheeks were red like the Chrysler Imperial. 

A glance was all it took for one to deduce that Y/N Elliot stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the sea of greys in the grimy streets of Birmingham. 

With her short tight curls and her eyes that seemed untinged with the horrors that plagued the notorious English town, she was a sight to behold. 

Mr. Elliot was the preacher at the local Presbyterian Church, but his daughter evoked the urge to sin in the minds of the lads of the town.

 And again, a glance was all it took for one to fixate upon this seemingly other worldly apparition that roamed the streets of Birmingham with her teasing smile and her plump red lips. 

And Thomas Michael Shelby was no exception. 

Soon the occasional glances that he threw her way should they ever cross paths turned into waiting by the front of her house to escort her to finishing school, much to the dismay of the girl’s father. 

The young Elliot girl was infatuated with the older man. The boys that previously courted her couldn’t hold a candle to his suave. With his cigarettes and his well pressed suits, Tommy Shelby was simply a dream come true for the impressionable girl. 

She couldn’t care less about her parents’ disapproval of their relation, nor did she care about what the towns folk had to say. 

‘He loves me, and I love him and that’s all that matters’ she assured herself each night. 

The two soon became inseparable, the leader of the Peaky blinders even barged inside the school and pulled his darling out of the classroom simply because he ‘missed’ her. The teachers and staff knew better than to obstruct the infamous gangster. 

The two went to the fair that day. He bought her all the dainty little trinkets that her heart desired. She didn’t go easy on the spending too; she knew his pockets wouldn’t hurt from her silly purchases. 

And for his kind generosity, she rewarded him with her first kiss. 

A simple kiss on the lips; that’s how it started but it soon turned heated and passionate. 

It goes without saying that she lost her purity to him, right in the backseat of the black Ford. 

Still clad in her school attire, she sat on his lap with his hands encircling her lithe waist. 

He left a trail of kisses down her exposed collarbone, his hands working to unbutton her shirt which her mother had carefully pressed that morning. 

The chemise underneath soon found itself discarded on the floor of the vehicle. 

Her pink coloured bra was on full display for him. The more conservatively fashioned fabric did little to hide the fullness of the plump breasts underneath. 

Her breath was shallow as she looked at him with those beautiful doe eyes of hers. 

Her cheeks tinted with arousal and her eyes misty with desire. 

She was a sight to behold as she guided his hand to cup her left breast, telling him that she was ready. 

Tommy couldn’t contain himself any longer and his fingers found themselves unclasping the fabric that shielded her modesty. He sucked with urgency on her perky nipples while he kneaded the other, giving equal attention to both of those glorious mounds. 

Y/N was a squirming mess. She loved the feeling of his hot mouth as he showered her with his touch.  

She could feel her panties dampen with each passing second. No boy had ever made her this hot and bothered. 

She needed more of him. She needed his touch. 

Tommy could feel the wetness on his thighs as the girl began grinding herself on his thighs. 

“Eager, aren’t we?” he teased with a raspy drawl. 

God! This girl was driving him crazy. 

He continued trailing his kisses down her stomach and halted at the waistband of her skirt. 

He swiftly tossed the heavy garment aside along with her garter and knickers. 

She was on full display for him. For him and his eyes only. 

He couldn’t peel his eyes off her body. 

She had bewitched him.  

Sure, Thomas Shelby had been with his fair share of women before her, but he had never felt so strongly for any woman before, nor did he think he could ever. 

Not after this. 

Not after her. 

His thumb slid across her clit, eliciting a beautiful moan from her. 

Gently, he prodded her glistening hole with a finger. 

She was too tight. 

He thrusted his finger inside her as she coated him in her lewd liquid. 

Now two fingers. 

He was thrusting her insides with just two fingers, yet it completely filled her up. 

She was a panting mess. 

She could feel his now bulging erection poking against her bare butt. 

Just as she could find her release, he extracted his fingers from the throbbing pussy, making her cry in desperation. 

“Tommy please.” she purred as she met his pale blue irises. She was a whimpering, desperate mess. 

“Just a minute darling.” he assured her as he hurriedly unbuckled his belt and freed his pulsating swollen cock. 

Y/N wasn’t sure how he was going to fit his fat cock inside her tight pussy, but she didn’t care anymore. All she wanted was for him to fill her up and make love to her. 

He carefully lined his cock that was leaking with precum to her entrance and gently entered her hole.  

Just the tip was in and even then, Y/N was threatening to spill teardrops from her lustful eyes. 

“It’ll only hurt for a second, Darling.” he whispered in her ear as he forced himself inside of her virgin cunt. 

Y/N was seeing stars. 

Oh! The pain and the pleasure; both feelings intertwined as she felt him thrusting inside of her giving rise to this otherworldly feeling of ecstasy. 

Tommy couldn’t control himself inside of her as he pounded into her. 

Her tight pussy was driving him mad with pleasure. 

He could see the scarlet testament of her purity flowing down her thighs as he corrupted her innocence. 

She was his. 

No one else’s. 

The two continued their lovemaking, completely engulfed in the throngs of their union.  

That night, as they lay in the meadow on the English countryside, with his hands around her and her head on his chest, they looked up at the sky that bear witness to their passions.  

And that faithful day, Thomas Shelby made a woman out of Y/N Elliot. 

[an-architect-of-words]

Bunny’s Moral Crisis and Julian being Anti Judeo-Christian

I was positive I got the impression, during my first read of TSH, that Bunny was truly morally bothered by the farmer-killing. Then I started wondering, post-reading, if I was being too generous, and Bunny legit was just worried for his life and was angry that the group was keeping secrets from him (that second one is what Henry told Richard).

But I got to the part in my on-and-off listening to the audiobook where Julian tells Richard he’s wondering what’s going on with Bunny. Julian says Bunny keeps approaching him and asking to talk about morality (particularly sin and forgiveness). Julian says he’s getting concerned that Bunny may convert to Marion’s religion. He asks Richard what denomination she is, and Richard says he thinks she’s Presbyterian. Julian is disappointed and says the only Christian denomination he can gracefully accept losing a student to is Roman Catholic.

Now this scene is interesting to me for a couple reasons. Firstly, it does indicate there may be more going on with Bunny internally than the Greek class gives him credit for. If Bunny is trying to approach Julian privately to talk about ethical dilemmas, this shows some level of genuineness in his questions (Julian also believes it to be earnest questioning). But secondly, Julian’s comment about only finding the Roman rite to be a worthy foe is so, so interesting to me.

The scene shows that something more is going on with Bunny, but it also reveals that Julian hates Judaism and Christianity— making exceptions for people like Dante and Giotto. The thing that’s fascinating to me about this detail is that Julian’s statements show the central theme of the whole book: that beauty is worth something if it’s backed by things of substance (Georges Laforgue says this, and the same thing is said by Theo in The Goldfinch. This is a concept important to Tartt’s writing).

Julian has a basic respect for Catholics, because Catholicism traditionally also has emphasis on art, philosophy, and classical aesthetic beauty. And, perhaps most importantly, Roman Catholics have kept Latin as the language of the Church and Vatican. The medieval Catholic Church was perhaps the biggest patron and commissioner of artists, and from the Catholic Church came Notre Dame, Aquinas, Dante, etc. Here, Julian mentions that the Catholics make “worthy foes” for the pagans, and what he means is that there’s all this aesthetic beauty and classical study within the Catholic Church. But it’s key here that Julian hates other branches of Christianity. The scene emphasizes that the only thing he enjoys about Catholics is their specifically classical history.

The thing I like about this detail is that it is a really specific bit of characterization to show that Julian does not care about morality or the search for truth that’s at the heart of all religions and mythologies. He’s different from people like Aquinas because he does not see human art and language as a means to articulate and pay homage one’s moral beliefs. He sees art/language as the highest good in and of itself. Once you remove the classics aspects of Catholicism, Julian does not care. And we see this because of his apparent disdain for Protestants and Jews. This also reminds me of Bunny saying Henry thinks Jamaicans have no culture. Obviously, they do, but it’s not the particular kind of culture and expression Julian and Henry find legitimate.

I guess I like how Donna Tartt understands her own theme and can show how it’s applicable so naturally just in the way her characters talk. We get a lot of hints about how closed-minded and shallow Julian actually is before we get to the end of the book where it’s confirmed.

[crooked-wasteland]

Something I am working on after the live blogs. I came across a very easy to find, but under shared bit of information regarding Medrano that has really recontextualized the show for me. It still isn't a good show, but I missed a crucial component when I said the series had nothing to say. It still doesn't have much to say, but once you realize that Vivienne Medrano was raised Presbyterian, and seems to still adhere to most of those teachings, a lot of decisions make sense. The particular denomination of Christianity is one based on Trinity doctrine, and also strongly adheres to the idea that depicting god is a biblical transgression. So that explains why God and Jesus are not characters within the series and will never be.

Additionally, the Presbyterian Church is one of the few sects that has a relatively strong belief in the Calvinist ideology of Predestination. Specifically that one is born chosen by God or not, which explains pretty much everything in Hazbin. Angels are "winners" because they were born chosen while a random select of unchosen people are damned to hell. Some versions of the Presbyterian Church still hold to the belief that one's lifestyle, be you a good or evil person, is irrelevant. If you are chosen, nothing you do will remove that.

And that is why these characters being in hell doesn't matter. They didn't do anything to get there. They still adhere to Christian beliefs of what sort of people are not chosen (drug addicts, sex workers, mean people), but there is an inherent lack of nuance because the doctrine renders it unnecessary. Adam and Lute are awful and allowed to be in heaven because heaven is forever. Chosen are forever chosen regardless of Sin. It also explains why the LGBT aspect of the show is irrelevant to the plot.

This background knowledge is paramount to understanding Hazbin and Helluva (Hell is like the living world because a mixed bag of people are in Hell in the first place. Hellborn characters are not that different from humans and still exist in a realm of morality because morality isn't the reason they are in Hell).

My issue with trying to get into Hazbin's themes was because I didn't understand this was the origin of the plot. A lot of critiques and proposed rewrites miss the point entirely because Predestination in this sense is not a common belief. The world building requires a relatively intimate understanding of Presbyterian teachings in order to grasp the basic foundation of the story.