#thus is nothing new but you cannot tell an oppressed nation how to deal with their oppressors

[zozo-01]

with the escalation of the idf's siege on palestine, i'm constantly reminded of the clip of an old palestinian man saying that his hope is that palestine would be remembered by the next generation

[dailybiblelessons]

Thursday: Preparation for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Roman Catholic Proper 21 Revised Common Lectionary Proper 16

Complementary Hebrew Scripture Torah Lesson: Numbers 15:32-41

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to the whole congregation. They put him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.” The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

Semi-continuous Hebrew Scripture from the Latter Prophets: Jeremiah 6:1-19

Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,  from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,  and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looms out of the north,  and great destruction. I have likened daughter Zion  to the loveliest pasture. Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.  They shall pitch their tents around her;  they shall pasture, all in their places. “Prepare war against her;  up, and let us attack at noon!” “Woe to us, for the day declines,  the shadows of evening lengthen!” “Up, and let us attack by night,  and destroy her palaces!” For thus says the Lord of hosts: Cut down her trees;  cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished;  there is nothing but oppression within her. As a well keeps its water fresh,  so she keeps fresh her wickedness; violence and destruction are heard within her;  sickness and wounds are ever before me. Take warning, O Jerusalem,  or I shall turn from you in disgust, and make you a desolation,  an uninhabited land.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Glean thoroughly as a vine  the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer,  pass your hand again over its branches.

To whom shall I speak and give warning,  that they may hear? See, their ears are closed,  they cannot listen. The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;  they take no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;  I am weary of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the street,  and on the gatherings of young men as well; both husband and wife shall be taken,  the old folk and the very aged. Their houses shall be turned over to others,  their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand  against the inhabitants of the land,    says the Lord.

For from the least to the greatest of them,  everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest,  everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,  saying, “Peace, peace,”  when there is no peace. They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;  yet they were not ashamed,  they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;  at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,    says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look,  and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.¹ But they said, “We will not walk in it.” Also I raised up sentinels for you:  “Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not give heed.” Therefore hear, O nations,  and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,  the fruit of their schemes, because they have not given heed to my words;  and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.

¹This passage is reflected in Matthew 11:28-30, where our Lord urges us to rest in him.

Complementary Psalm 103:1-8

Bless the Lord, O my soul,  and all that is within me,  bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Semi-continuous Psalm 71

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;  let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;  incline your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge,  a strong fortress, to save me,  for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,  from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. For you, O Lord, are my hope,  my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth;  it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

I have been like a portent to many,  but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise,  and with your glory all day long. Do not cast me off in the time of old age;  do not forsake me when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me,  and those who watch for my life consult together. They say, “Pursue and seize that person  whom God has forsaken,  for there is no one to deliver.”

O God, do not be far from me;  O my God, make haste to help me! Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;  let those who seek to hurt me  be covered with scorn and disgrace. But I will hope continually,  and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,  of your deeds of salvation all day long,  though their number is past my knowledge. I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,  I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,  and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and grey hairs,  O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might  to all the generations to come. Your power and your righteousness, O God,  reach the high heavens.

You who have done great things,  O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities  will revive me again; from the depths of the earth  you will bring me up again. You will increase my honor,  and comfort me once again.

I will also praise you with the harp  for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre,  O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy  when I sing praises to you;  my soul also, which you have rescued. All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm  have been put to shame, and disgraced.

New Testament Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 12:3-17

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—

“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, ; or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.”¹

Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and ‘make straight paths for your feet’², so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears.

¹Proverbs 3:11   Proverbs 4:26

Selections are from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 1995 by the Consultation on Common Texts. Unless otherwise indicated, Bible text is from New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV) copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Footnotes in the Hebrew Scriptures that show where the passage is used in the Christian Scriptures are based on information from the The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) by David H. Stern, Copyright © 1998 and 2006 by David H. Stern, used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved worldwide. When text is taken from the CJB, the passage ends with (CJB) and this copyright notice applies. Footnotes in the Christian Scriptures that show where a passage from the Hebrew Scripture is used are from The New International Version Bible® ( NIV®), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. When text is taken from the NIV, the passage ends with (NIV) and this copyright notice applies. Image Credit: Hands image by Gerd Altmann, downloaded from Pixabay, text added by Michael Gilbertson using Photoshop. Hands image used under Creative Commons 0 license. Combined image may be used under the same license. Please credit www.Lectionaryreadings.org.

Year C Ordinary 21, Catholic Proper 21, RCL Proper 16: Thursday

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 109 Review

A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Edition

-From ch. 109

-From my review of ch. 102

YES! I WAS RIGHT! KISS MY ASS YOU FOOLS1

So just as I predicted, we are seeing the start of a schism on Paradis.

On one side of the divide you’ve got a right-wing extremist faction composed of Floch, Louise, Zeke, his cult, and Eren (the Eldian Freedom Caucus, if you will) and on the other, a moderate faction composed of the other members of the 104th, Hange, Levi, along with other high ranking members of the government. (The establishment, again, if you will)

The conflict between these two factions is an incredibly political one (squeee!) with both sides trying to out-flank each other and gain the upper hand.

Of the two, the establishment faction is the one currently on the defensive. Most of the maneuvering by it’s members involves containing the EFC and just trying to figure out who’s side Eren is on. In other words, they’re being reactive, playing defense. As a result, the EFC has the freedom to seize the initiative and go on the offensive, as they have in this chapter.

It makes sense that the establishment would be on the defensive right now. Eren is such an important figure that any plan against the EFC will involve him as a key player.

Thus, before they can formulate a strategy, they must know who’s side Eren is on. The 104th has openly debated this amongst themselves, but Hange has also gotten involved as well. Their scene with Eren at the start of chapter 108, in hindsight, can easily be read as them trying to get a read on Eren. As them trying to get a feel for his allegiances.

Levi and Zeke’s bromantic comedy in the woods is also a part of this maneuvering, but it doesn’t need much expounding upon because how this figures into things is obvious. Zeke is dangerous so they’ve secluded him in the woods with their top soldier to keep watch on him.

The maneuvering by the EFC, aka Zeke’s faction, is shrouded in mystery. Because of course it is.

Has anyone here been following the news? If you have you’ve probably heard of Robert Meuller’s investigation into L’Affaire Russe, Russia’s (failed) attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Part of this investigation involves determining whether President Trump was complicit in this attempted influencing.

In his writings on L’Affaire Russe, Josh Marshall, editor-in-chief of the left-leaning Talking Points Memo news site, made an analogy about conspiracies that can be applied to Zeke. Conspiracies are like black holes.

Black holes cannot be seen. All light that approaches them is sucked in so you end up with a black object against a black backdrop. But they can be observed indirectly. Scientists observe black holes indirectly by measuring the influence they exert on objects that can be observed directly. For example, the gravity from black holes distorts the light traveling around them resulting in a “lensing” effect. By measuring the degree of visual distortion, scientists can determine the black hole’s size, among other things.

Conspiracies are similar. Many aspects of a conspiracy may not be directly knowable. It’s size, scope, etc. But you can get a good feel for it’s size and scope by observing it’s apparent effect on things that are directly observable.

Take L’Affaire Russe for example. There’s the Veselnitskaya meeting, Trump’s inexplicable fealty to Putin, the fact that Paul Manafort, massively in debt to a Russian oligarch, chose to work for Trump’s extremely pro-Russia campaign for free, etc, etc. Conspiracies can’t be seen directly, but they can be indirectly seen.

And so it is with L’Affaire Zeke, which is the name I’ll be using to refer to the apparent conspiracy Zeke has masterminded against the establishment. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s a fuck-ton of smoke here. Seriously, I didn’t subtitle this post “a vast right-wing conspiracy edition” for nothing. Words cannot describe how fucked Paradis is if things are as bad as they seem to be. We’re talking “Donald Trump was a spy for the Russian government the whole time” levels of bad. 

The establishment was planning on feeding Zeke to Historia immediately, but then Historia conveniently got pregnant, thwarting their plans. This implies that Zeke somehow roped the queen in.

According to Pixis, there is reason to suspect Floch facilitated a covert meeting between Yelena and Eren, and during this meeting Eren was apparently turned to Zeke’s side. In other words, L’Affaire Zeke may have successfully infiltrated the military.

It doesn’t end there though. In this chapter the EFC leaked to the public news that Eren has been imprisoned, clearly in an attempt to undermine public support for the establishment. These people may be shithead nationalists, but they’re smart too.

Floch knew he couldn’t convince the establishment to free Eren, but you know what he also knows? That if enough public pressure were to be applied, they’d have no choice but to release Eren. Eren is seen by the public as a hero. As far as the public is concerned, Eren’s reckless action in Marley resulted in a resounding victory; the revelation that he’s been imprisoned for this will naturally stir outrage. Floch knows this so he leaked news of Eren’s imprisonment to the press knowing the people would support his call for Eren’s release.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Floch Forster is leading a fucking psy ops campaign to get what he wants.

We don’t know what Zeke is planning, but it’s clear his reach, even in the midst of enemy territory, is seemingly boundless. The sooner he’s dead, the better.

The story has low-key been building up to this for a while now. I’ve mentioned the contrast the story has drawn between Jean and Floch in an earlier post. And in hindsight, the scenes in chapter 108 strongly play into this as well. The scenes of Hange and the 104th trying to deal with their Eren problem, along with the implied existence of L’Affaire Zeke. Things will only continue to escalate from here. The heart and soul of Paradis is at stake.

This fight is exemplified in the conflict between Eren Yeager and Armin Arlert. And it is a conflict that mirrors not only the real world fight for the heart and soul of the United States but also the one for the heart and soul of Western civilization itself.

The ideology of the EFC, of Zeke, Floch, Louise, and possibly Eren, is an inherently backwards looking right-wing nationalism. They long for days of past glory, of days when Eldians ruled the world. It’s the politics of nostalgia at its most toxic. Eldians are oppressed and they don’t just want restitution, they want revenge. They feel a deep grievance over the indignity their race has been dealt.

(Note that “indignity” is an understatement here. I use it because that is exactly how they would describe what Eldians are dealing with.)

But the connection goes deeper than that. Right-wing nationalism, as a way of thinking, is strongly informed by a dominance centric worldview. The right-wing worldview is defined by an unshakable belief that there is a social Darwinian war of the races where defeat means death. They see the world in purely dichotomous terms. Strong vs weak. Dominators vs the dominated. Eldians vs the world.

And yes, there is a racial conflict brewing here, but the important difference is that the nationalists believe this conflict exists as a matter of course rather than as the result of circumstance.

This dominance centric worldview naturally leads to an obsession with strength, with being strong so you can win and achieve security.

“A human who used her strength to throw a titan to the ground. The day I saw you do that, I knew. You can’t defend anything without strength.” 

-Louise.

That is the ideology of the EFC, including Eren. Eren rejects the notion of interracial coexistence completely. We all saw what he said at the gun range in chapter 106. (It was 106, right?) But what’s notable about that scene is that it saw Eren’s nationalist worldview pitted against Armin’s worldview.

If the ideology of Eren Yeager is nationalism, then the ideology of Armin Arlert is cosmopolitanism. Armin thinks the races can live together peacefully. He believes in a world where people of different creeds and ethnicities, through compassion and understanding, can overcome their differences and find happiness together. Like a true cosmopolitan, Armin sees himself as a human first and as an Eldian second.

It’s funny. This series started with wannabe spider-men killing silly looking giants. Now look at where we are. The final conflict of the series will be just as much a battle of ideas as it will be a physical one. And it couldn’t be more politically relevant to our world. Nationalism vs cosmopolitanism. That is one of the central conflicts of the series.

Decades from now, when our children are in high school, they will most likely be taught that the defining social conflict of 2018, indeed, of the entire decade of the 2010s, was nationalism vs cosmopolitanism. Not just in the United States but throughout the western world.

In the United States, this cleavage is embodied by the conflict between the Republican Party of Donald Trump (the nationalists) and the Democratic Party of Barack Obama (the cosmopolitans).

In Europe the nationalists are the various nationalist political parties that have grown in popularity in most countries. Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France, the AfD in Germany, the Sweden Democrats in Sweden, etc. The cosmopolitans are the supporters of the European Union, a pan-national organization created to emphasize unity among nations so as to avoid another continent destroying war.

This is what we’re dealing with here. Nationalist vs cosmopolitan. Republican vs Democrat. Trump vs Obama. Eren vs Armin.

(Why yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, I did just lump Eren in with the Trumpmeister.)

(*dodges thrown chair*)

Who wins here, Eren or Armin, depends on what kind of story Isayama wants to tell. Are human beings more like Donald Trump, insular and petty. Or are we more like Barack Obama, flawed but ultimately judicious with a seemingly endless well of compassion.

So who will win?

In our world the winner will almost certainly be the cosmopolitans. People of different backgrounds can and do live peaceably together and what’s more, there are measurable benefits to this. There’s a reason why cities are the drivers of economic growth and not comparatively less diverse rural areas. Bringing people of different backgrounds physically together, like in a city, allows for an easier exchange of opinions and ideas, and that leads to more creativity and innovation. That means greater prosperity for everyone. Cosmopolitanism will win because the benefits are obvious and human tribalism always yields in the face of practical benefit.

This is in stark contrast to the world of Attack on Titan. In that world, the narrative is seemingly on Eren’s side. The nationalist one. The immoral light the EFC has been presented in notwithstanding, the narrative seems to nevertheless be saying that humans are nationalists by default and that this cannot be overcome. The story apparently presents it as a tragedy, but it is ultimately inevitable.

That’s wrong. It doesn’t have to be this way.

It was almost painful to read that scene at the gun range in chapter 106 because Isayama is so obviously siding with the nationalist camp. Eren the nationalist gets to make his points clearly, meanwhile Armin and Mikasa struggle to even articulate their views. Armin’s beliefs are framed by the narrative as being idealistic and naïve even though the facts are on his side.

In ways both subtle and obvious, the nationalist bug is spreading. The people of Paradis cheered at the victory in Marley just like how Floch and his ilk cheered on the airship. They cheered in a fit of nationalistic fervor. That is probably the clearest indication of where the series stands: people writ large are nationalists.

Okay, what else.

You know, one thing I find annoying is when writers try to give their stories an air of “seriousness” by using technical terms. Like how during Kiyomi’s conversation with Zackley she refers to him as the “head of state.”

The head of state for Paradis, the one tasked with performing the ceremonial functions of the executive,  is Historia Reiss, the reigning monarch. If I’m not mistaken the arrangement is that Zackley actually governs Paradis because the military are the ones in charge and Zackley is commander-in-chief. That makes him the head of government, not head of state.

This is me being petty, but as a politics nerd it comes off as try-hard and it rubs me the wrong way.

…

Alright, time to address the elephant in the room.

Gabi and Kaya.

Their scenes were one of the hardest in the entire series for me to read. I almost decided not to.

It has been speculated that Isayama believes in a right-wing nationalist politics. I have never had as much of a sinking feeling about that notion as I have after reading this chapter. At the very least, I think the message Isayama is trying to convey, if not pro-nationalist, is definitely misguided.

In the real world there are people who believe we should be more mindful of the crimes our ancestors committed. The imperialism of Europe, of the United States, and yes, of Japan as well.

Those people are opposed by the right-wing nationalists. “Social justice worker” is the term they often use.

If you ask one of these nationalists to describe a sjw, they’ll paint a picture of someone obsessed with “the unforgivable sins of our ancestors” to the point of raving lunacy. In the minds of nationalists, social justice workers think that crimes committed centuries ago taint the descendants of the perpetrators alive today and that those descendants cannot be forgiven for their ancestor’s actions. The clearest example of this is the case for reparations: some sjws believe that the United States government owes currently living black people reparations because of slavery, even though slavery was abolished over 150 years ago and no one currently alive lived through it. Right-wing nationalists think this is madness.

Sound familiar?

“Have you already forgotten the utter atrocities the people of this island committed against the world? Each and every Eldian can only begin their path to eternal atonement when they come to have a correct understanding of their sins. No matter how good you try to act, your crimes are too heavy to ever escape.”

 -Gabi

Right-wing nationalists often caricature leftists as being people who’ll list off every single immoral act committed by their own country (or people) at the drop of a hat. Is Gabi, at least as far as chapter 109 is concerned, one of those caricatures?

Let’s back up a bit. I’ve told you about the caricature, now let me tell you about the truth.

There is indeed a strain of thought that overemphasizes historical sins. The most famous example of this is Howard Zinn and his book A People’s History of the United States. The series pushing against this way of thinking is not wrong.

What is wrong is the conceit this series has that the descendants of the perpetrators owe nothing to the descendants of the victims.

This is false for two reasons.

Firstly there’s the governmental perspective. At the end of the day the inescapable fact is this: Paradis is the legal successor state to the Eldian Empire and so the legal and moral obligations of the empire devolves to them. The Eldian Empire ceased to exist when, after Erwin’s coup, sovereignty was transferred from the Fritz family to the military. But the legal and moral obligations of the Eldian state also transferred.

That does not justify what the Marleyans are doing. And in light of the circumstances, I don’t even think reparations are called for. But Paradis owes something to the world; it doesn’t have to be much. A formal rebuking of the Empire’s actions would be enough.

Secondly: the impact of past actions resonate throughout history. No white person alive today partook in, for example, the partition of Africa. But that doesn’t mean white Europeans alive today don’t owe black Africans anything. The wealth white Europeans alive today enjoy is founded on a system of racist, imperialistic exploitation that had the effect of impoverishing the African continent. People in Africa continue to deal with that impoverishment.

This system, more or less, no longer exists, but regardless, ALL white Europeans benefit from it to this day which is why white Europeans are collectively indebted. Europeans, collectively, are wealthy because part of that wealth was stolen. Thus, there is a debt to be paid.

Note, though, that I’m using the concept of collectivity to argue for the existence of some intergenerational obligation. This is a facet of the debate the series completely ignores which is why its treatment of this issue is shallow at best and a kind of excuse making at worst.

The government of Paradis owes the world something but Kaya is right that Eldians as individuals don’t owe the world anything. This is not, however, because of the general principle that “the sins of the father should not be visited upon the son,” as the series would have you believe. It’s because the institutional system of oppression the Eldians used to dominate the world has been dismantled. Whatever benefits the Eldians accrued has since been taken away.

The end result, on a meta level, is a message that amounts to a tautology: that people who owe nothing to you don’t owe you anything. Not the most insightful of messages to be sure.

The series seems to have this conceit that denies the intergenerational nature of the oppression our racist society enables. That’s bad. In the context of a world still dealing with the consequences of racially motivated imperialism, it’s worse.

The subtext here is that the victims of imperialism aren’t owed anything by the descendants of the perpetrators because they (the descendants) weren’t personally involved. That is a common right-wing talking point. 

If I didn’t know this story was being written by an ethnic Japanese man, I would have said it was racist.

[pamphletstoinspire]

The Church's Year - INSTRUCTION ON THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

At the Introit pray with the priest for brotherly love and for protection against our enemies within and without:

INTROIT God in his holy place; God, who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house: he shall give power and strength to his people. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and let them that hate him flee from before His face. (Ps. LXVII.) Glory etc.

COLLECT Almighty, everlasting God, who, in the abundance of Thy loving kindness, dost exceed both the merits and desires of Thy suppliants; pour down upon us Thy mercy, that thou mayest forgive those things of which our conscience is afraid, and grant us those things which our prayer ventures not to ask. Through...

EPISTLE (i Cor. XV. 1-10.) Brethren, I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand: by which also you are saved: if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God; but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me hath not been void.

INSTRUCTION I. St. Paul warns the Corinthians against those who denied the Resurrection of Christ and exhorts them to persevere in the faith which they have received, and to live in accordance with the same. Learn from this to persevere firmly in the one, only saving Catholic faith, which is the same that Paul preached.

II. In this epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul gives us a beautiful example of humility. Because of the sins he had committed before his conversion, he calls himself one born out of due time, the least of the apostles, and not worthy of being called an apostle, although he had labored much in the service of Christ. He ascribes it to God's grace that he was what he was. Thus speaks the truly humble man: he sees in himself nothing but weakness, sin, and evil, and therefore despises himself and is therefore willing to be despised by others. The good which he professes or practices, he ascribes to God, to whom he refers all the honor. Endeavor, too, O Christian soul, to attain such humility. You have far more reason to do so than had St. Paul, because of the sins which you have committed since your baptism, the graces which you have abused, and the inactive, useless life you have led.

ASPIRATION Banish from me, O most loving Saviour, the spirit of pride, and grant me the necessary grace of humility. Let me realize that of myself I can do nothing, and that all my power to effect any good, comes from Thee alone who alone workest in us to will and to accomplish.

GOSPEL (Mark vii. 3I-37.) At that time, Jesus going out of the coast of Tyre, came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring to him one deaf and dumb, and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him, Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened: and immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that they should tell no man; but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it, and so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well: he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Whom may we understand by the deaf and dumb man?

Those who desire neither to hear nor to speak of things concerning salvation.

Why did Christ take the deaf and dumb man aside?

To teach us that he who wishes to live piously and be comforted, must avoid the noisy world and dangerous society, and love solitude, for there God speaks to the heart. (Osee ii. i4.)

Why did Christ forbid them to mention this miracle?

That we might learn to fly from the praise of vain and fickle men.

What do we learn from those who brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus, and notwithstanding the prohibition, made known the miracle?

That in want and sicknesswe should kindly assist our neighbor, and not neglect to announce and praise the works of God, for God works His miracles that His goodness and omnipotence may be known and honored.

SUPPLICATION O Lord Jesus, who during Thy life on earth, didst cure the sick and the infirm, open my ears that they may listen to Thy will, and loosen my tongue that I may honor and announce Thy works. Take away from me, O most bountiful Jesus, the desire for human praise, that I may not be led to reveal my good works, and thus lose the reward of my Heavenly Father. (Matt. vi. I.) .

ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES

What are ceremonies?

Religious ceremonies are certain forms and usages, prescribed for divine service, for the increase of devotion, and the edification of our fellow-men; they represent externally and visibly the interior feelings of man.

Why do we make use of ceremonies in our service?

That we may serve God not only inwardly with the soul, but outwardly with the body by external devotion; that we may keep our attention fixed, increase our devotion, and edify others; that by these external things we may be raised to the contemplation of divine, inward things. (Trid. .Sess. 22.)

Are ceremonies founded on Scripture?

They are; for besides those which Christ used, as related in this day's gospel, in regard to the deaf and dumb man, He has also made use of other and different ceremonies: as, when He blessed bread and fishes; (Matt. xv. 36.) when He spread clay upon the eyes of a blind man; (John ix. 6.) when He prayed on bended knees; (Luke xxii. q.i.) when He fell upon His face to pray; (Matt. xxvi, 39.) when He breathed upon His disciples, imparting to them the Holy Ghost; (John xx. 22.) and finally, when He blessed them with uplifted hands before ascending into heaven. (Luke xxiv. 30.) Likewise in the Old Law various ceremonies were prescribed for the Jews, of which indeed in the New Law the greater number have been abolished; others, however, have been retained, and new ones added. If, therefore, the enemies of the Church contend that ceremonies are superfluous, since Christ Himself reproached the Jews for their ceremonial observances, and said: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, we may, without mentioning that Christ Himself made use of certain ceremonies, answer, that He did not find fault with their use, but only with the intention of the Jews. They observed every ceremony most scrupulously, without at the same time entertaining pious sentiments in the heart, and whilst they dared not under any circumstances omit even the least ceremony, they scrupled not to oppress and defraud their neighbor. Therefore Christ says: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, that is, in the innermost heart, and not in external appearances only. -Do not, therefore, let the objections, nor the scoffs and sneers of the enemies of our Church confound you, but seek to know the spirit and meaning of each ceremony, and impress them on your heart, and then make use of them to inflame your piety, to glorify God, and to edify your neighbor.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE ABUSE OF THE TONGUE

There is no member of the body more dangerous and pernicious than the tongue. The tongue, says the Apostle St. James, is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. (James iii. 5. 6.) The tongue no man can tame: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. (ibid. iii. 8-10.) There is no country, no city, scarcely a house, in which evil tongues do not cause quarrel and strife, discord and enmity, jealousy and slander, seduction and debauchery. An impious tongue reviles God and His saints, corrupts the divine word, causes heresy and schism, makes one intemperate, unchaste, envious, and malevolent; in a word, it is according to the apostle a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue of the serpent seduced our first parents, and brought misery and death into the world. (Gen. iii.) The tongue of Judas betrayed Jesus. (Matt. xxvi. 49.) And what is the chief cause of war among princes, revolts among nations, if it is not the tongue of ambitious, restless men, who seek their fortune in war and revolution? How many, in fine, have plunged themselves into the greatest misery by means of their unguarded tongue? How can we secure ourselves against this dangerous, domestic enemy? Only by being slow to speak according to the advice of St. James, (i. 19.) to speak very few, sensible, and well-considered words. In this way we will not offend, but will become perfect. (James iii. 2.:) As this cannot happen without a special grace of God, we must according to the advice of St. Augustine beg divine assistance, in the following or similar words:

ASPIRATION O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, and a door round about my lips, that I may not fall and my tongue destroy me. (Ps. cxl. 3.)

[risalei-nur]

TAFSIR: Risale-i Nur: The Rays Collection:The Fourteenth Ray.Part56

                       The Addendum to the Sixteenth Letter

                                                     In His Name!

                       There is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.

Without reason ‘the worldly’ became suspicious of a powerless stranger like myself, and imagining me to have the power of thousands of people, put me under numerous restrictions. They did not give permission for me to stay one or two nights in Bedre, a district of Barla, or on one of the mountains of Barla. I heard that they say:

“Said has power equal to that of fifty thousand soldiers, we cannot therefore set him free.”

So I say:

You, unhappy people, whose view is restricted to this world! How is it that you do not know the matters of the world, despite working for the world with all your strength, and govern it like lunatics? If it is my person you fear, it is not fifty thousand soldiers, one soldier even could do more than me. That is, he could be posted at the door of my room and tell me: “You can’t go out!”

But if it is my profession and my being herald of the Qur’an and the moral strength of belief that you fear, then you are wrong, it is not fifty thousand soldiers, you should be aware that in respect of my profession I have the strength of fifty million! For through the strength of the All-Wise Qur’an, I challenge all Europe including your irreligious people. Through the lights of belief I have published, I have razed the sturdy bastions they call the physical sciences and Nature. I have cast down lower than animals their greatest irreligious philosophers. If all Europe was to gather, of which your irreligious people are a part, through God’s assistance, they could not make me recant a single matter of that way of mine. God willing, they could not defeat me....

Since the matter is thus, I do not interfere in your world, so don’t you interfere in my hereafter! If you do, if it will be of no avail.

What is determined by God cannot be turned by force; 

A flame that if lit by God, cannot be extinguished by puffing. 

‘The worldly’ are exceptionally and excessively suspicious of me; quite simply, they are frightened of me. Imagining things non-existent in me, which even if they were existent would not constitute a political crime and could not be the cause of accusation, like being a shaykh, or of significant rank or family, or being a tribal leader, and influential, and having numerous followers, or meeting with people from my native region, or being connected with the affairs of the world, or even entering politics, or even the opposition; imagining these things in me, they have been carried away by groundless fears. At a time even that they are discussing pardoning those in prison and outside, that is, those that according to them cannot be pardoned, they have quite simply barred me from everything. A bad and ephemeral person wrote the following good and enduring words:

If tyranny has cannon, shot, and forts, 

Right has an untwistable arm, a constant face.

And I say:

If the worldly have rule, power, and strength,

Through the Qur’an’s effulgence, its servant

Has unfaltering knowledge, an unsilenceable voice;

He has an unerring heart, an unquenchable light.

Many friends, as well as a military commander under whose surveillance I was, repeatedly asked:

“Why don’t you apply for the release papers and put forward a petition?”

T h e A n s w e r : I do not apply and I cannot apply for five or six reasons:

The First: I did not interfere in ‘the worldly’s’ world so that I should have been convicted and apply to them. I was convicted by Divine Determining; my faults are before it, and I apply to it. 

The Second: I believe and have certain knowledge that this world is a swiftly changing guest-house. Therefore, it is not the true homeland and everywhere is the same. Since I am not going to remain permanently in my homeland, it is pointless to struggle for it; it is not worth going there. Since everywhere is a guest-house, if the mercy of the guest-house’s Owner befriends one, everyone is a friend and everywhere familiar. Whereas if it does not befriend one, everywhere is a load on the heart and everyone hostile. 

The Third: Application is made within the framework of the law. But the way I have been treated these six years has been arbitrary and outside the law. The Exiles’ Law was not applied to me. They looked on me as though I had been stripped of all the rights of civilization and even of all worldly rights. To apply in the name of the law to those whose dealings with me have been thus outside the law is meaningless. 

The Fourth: This year, the local official applied in my name for me to stay for a few days in the village of Bedre, which is a sort of district of Barla, for a change of air. How can those who reject such an unimportant need of mine be applied to? If they are applied to, it would be a futile and degrading abasement.

The Fifth: To claim a right before those who claim a wrong to be right, and to apply to them, is a wrong. It is disrespectful towards right. I do not want to perpetrate such a wrong and show disrespect for right. And that is that. 

The Sixth: The distress and difficulty ‘the worldly’ have caused me has not been due to politics, because they know I do not meddle in politics and flee from it. Rather, knowingly or unknowingly, they torment me on account of aggressive atheism because I am bound to religion. In which case, to apply to them infers regretting religion and flattering the cause of aggressive atheism. Moreover, Divine Determining, which is just, would punish me through their tyrannical hand on my applying to them and having recourse to them, for they oppress me because of my being bound to religion. As for Divine Determining, from time to time it represses me due to my hypocrisy before ‘the worldly’ because of my deficiency in religion and in sincerity. Since this is so, for the time being I cannot be saved from this distress. If I apply to the worldly, Divine Determining would say:

“Hypocrite! Pay the penalty for applying!”

And if I do not apply, ‘the worldly’ say:

“You don’t recognize us, go on suffering difficulties!”

The Seventh Reason: It is well-known that an official’s duty is to give harmful individuals no opportunity to cause harm and to assist those who are beneficial. Whereas the official who took me into custody approached me, an elderly guest at the door of the grave, when I was expounding a subtle aspect of belief contained in

There is no god but God

as though I was perpetrating some misdemeanour, although he had not been to me for a long time previously. He caused the sincere unfortunate who was listening to be deprived, and me to be angry. There were certain people here, and he attached no importance to them. Then when they acted discourteously in a way that would poison the life of the village, he started to be gracious and appreciative towards them. Furthermore, it is well-known that someone in prison who has committed a hundred crimes can meet with the person who supervises him whether the official be of high or low rank. But in this last year, although two important people in the national government charged with supervising me have passed by my house several times, they have absolutely neither met with me nor asked after my condition. At first I supposed that they did not come near to me due to enmity, then it became clear that it was due to their fearful suspicions; they were fleeing from me as though I was going to gobble them up. Thus, to recognize a government whose members and officials are like those men and have recourse to it and apply to it, is not sensible, but a futile abasement. If it had been the Old Said, he would have said, like ‘Antara:

The very water of life becomes Hell through abasement,

Whereas Hell with dignity becomes a place of pride.

The Old Said no longer exists, and the New Said considers it meaningless to talk with ‘the worldly’. Let their world be the end of them! They can do what they like. He is silent, saying, we shall be judged together with them at the Last Judgement.

The Eighth Reason for my not applying: According to the rule, “The result of illicit love is merciless torment,” Divine Determining, which is just, torments me through the tyrannous hand of ‘the worldly’ because I incline towards them, since they are not worthy of it. Saying, I deserve this torment, I am silent. For in the Great War I fought and strove as a Commander of a volunteer regiment. Applauded by the Commander-in-Chief of the army and Enver Pasha, I sacrificed my valuable students and friends. I was wounded and taken prisoner. Returning from captivity, I cast myself into danger through works like The Seven Steps, aiming them at the heads of the British, who had occupied Istanbul. I assisted those who hold me without reason in this torment and captivity. As for them, they punish me in this way for that help. Those friends here cause me in three months the hardship and distress I suffered in three years as a prisoner-of-war in Russia. And the Russians did not prevent me from giving religious instruction, although they regarded me as a Kurdish Militia Commander, a cruel man who had slaughtered Cossacks and prisoners. I used to instruct the great majority of my ninety fellow officer prisoners. One time, the Russian commander came and listened. Because he did not know Turkish, he thought it was political instruction, and put a stop to it. Then later he gave permission. Also, in the same barracks, we made a room into a mosque, and I used to lead the prayers. They did not interfere at all. They did not prevent me from mixing, or from communicating, with the others. Whereas my friends here, my fellow citizens and co-religionists and those for whose benefits in the form of religious belief I have struggled, have held me in a tortuous captivity not for three years, but for six, for absolutely no reason and although they know I have severed all my relations with the world. They have prevented me mixing with others. They have prevented me from giving religious instruction, despite my having a certificate, and even from giving private instruction in my room. They have prevented me from communicating with others. They have even barred me from the mosque which I repaired and where I acted as prayer-leader for four years, although I had the necessary certificate. And now, to deprive me of the merit of performing the prayers in congregation, they do not accept me as prayer-leader even for three private individuals, my permanent congregation and brothers of the hereafter.

Furthermore, if, although I do not want it, someone is to call me good, the official who holds me in surveillance is jealous and angry. Thinking he will destroy my influence, he entirely unscrupulously takes precautions, and pesters me in order to curry favour with his superiors.

To whom can someone in such a position have recourse other than God Almighty? If the judge is also the claimant, of course he cannot complain to him. Come on, you say! What can we say to this? You say what you like, I say this: there are many dissemblers among these friends of mine. A dissembler is worse than an unbeliever. For that reason they make me suffer what the infidel Russian did not make me suffer.

You unfortunates, what have I done to you and what I am doing? I am trying to save your belief and am serving your eternal happiness! It means that my service is not sincere and purely for God’s sake so that it has the reverse effect. In return, you torment me at every opportunity. For sure, we shall meet at the Last Judgement. I say:

God is enough for us and the best of protectors. (3:173)

The best of lords and the best of helpers. (8:40)

The Enduring One, He is the Enduring One!

S a i d N u r s I 

[lyonface]

World building, characters, and the DA Fandom’s propensity to ignore nuance.

I have borne witness to both some serious Cullen Critical posts and Pro Anders posts in the last twenty-four hours and...ugh. I feel the need to put something out there.

As people who have played the protagonists of the Dragon Age games, we are skewed to be more magic-leaning and forgiving than the normal, average joe of Thedas, and it’s disheartening and irritating that a lot of the fandom seems to have a very basic issue with noticing this and applying that mindset when they look at issues in the game, particularly with certain characters.

Under a Read More for length, and there’s a TL;DR at the bottom.

We started off as a member of a very misunderstood sect of warriors that dealt with a very vague threat that most people do not understand and were recruited into that militia/army/whatever 70% of the time due to committing crimes or somehow acting against an authority that forced us into the ultimatum between choosing the Wardens or death/imprisonment/banishment. In other words, we were Wardens only because we already were unsatisfied with the way things were, whether we were a City Elf murdering an entire estate of corrupt rapist humans or a Noble Human dealing with the politics and uncovered atrocities of their fellow countrymen. Or, you know, we could have started as a mage going through the Right of Passage and starting in the Circle to witness all that fuckery first hand. Basically, none of us were average by circumstance, otherwise we would never have become Wardens to begin with. Even then, the wealth of very diverse people we meet and fantastical circumstances we encounter educate us and change our mindsets regardless of our starting point.

Then we go to DA2 where we are just another run away Ferelden trying to escape the Blight. Again, luck and circumstance elevate us to extraordinary, and we are pitted firmly between fighting powers of protection and freedom, between Templars and Mages, among plenty of other shit. We, by that point if they had played Origins, are already predisposed to the plight of mages, we know to some extent what they can go through thanks to Wynne and Morrigan as our previous companions, doubly so if you play Awakening and meet Anders pre-Justice. Although Origins was decently framed as morally ambiguous between helping or hurting mages for various crimes (killing/helping the Circle mages or Keeper Zathrian or Jowain, etc.) we are forced to pick a side in DA2 and, not for nothing, but mages were the very clearly oppressed people in that game. It was a lot less ambiguous, despite the rampant blood magic because it was clear that most cases went to it out of desperation and not the pure desire for power over others. Meredith, no matter how she’s framed, is wrong with flexibly “good intentions” and Orsino is the only thing stemming the incoming tidal wave by Act 3. Origins is not ambiguous about the plight of elves, or the urgency of the darkspawn threat, or the danger presented in Ferelden’s political arena, but it leaves magic more or less up to you. DA2 does not.

In Inquisition, the civil war is in full swing and, if you were hot on the heels of it after DA2 like I was, the image of the Chantry exploding is one of the freshest things in your mind. By then, you understand at the very least the sheer power of magic when concentrated into one place, and you also understand that fighting magic with non-magic, by and large, does not work. You must use magic to curb magic. If you start Inquisition without playing the others, the prologue only further demonstrates this with your magic mark being the only thing that cures magic tears. In the beginning, most long term players go to help Redcliffe because of our nostalgia for it from Origins, or because we’ve known since Origins that Tevinter Magisters are shit and that’s only been reinforced for the last two games. If you’re new, Alexius is basically painted with a “Evil Bad Guy” brush and also time magic is terrifying; fuck the Templars, whatever their issue is isn’t nearly as bad. It’s a no-brainer. The only thing that really tests our understanding of things in Inquisition is nearly 90% about the Fade and magic and Elvhen history, a little less if you have Descent and you played it, then a bit about Dwarven history, but it turns out that just relates to Elves too, in the end. Magic is acceptable in Inquisition, as far as the narrative is concerned, and there is really no room for those that contest its merit or the use of it that can break that idea. The only character who comes close to being persuasive about Circles is Vivienne, and she harbors the middle ground and comes from a place of being a mage, but she has a high social status, so if you weren’t interested in playing the middle ground or being challenged, you can easily dismiss her.

Throughout the games, no matter where you start, the narrative increasingly treats magic as not only something that is normal for someone to accept but is harbored by people who are seen and generally treated as lower class, and thus are the most sympathetic and in need of assistance. Tevinter is an exception, but being a nation that uses people for sacrifices and slave labor can make it hard for people to find redeeming qualities in other practices. Before Dorian, all we saw of Tevinter were magisters that manipulated for power and elven slaves, so whatever their progressive stance on magic is gets covered under the oily grime of awful practices and racism. Dorian is an exception to his countrymen, even in Inquisition, and he’s framed that way in the narrative.

It’s easy to forget when we’ve been surrounded by magic and the Fade and spirits and shit for three games that mages make up just a fraction of the population of Thedas, and the Circle is just a concept to most of the people that live there. The average person in Thedas doesn’t encounter magic on a daily basis and isn’t educated or experienced in what mages are like or what the Fade does or how spirits work. In Ferelden, Orlais, and much of the Free Marches, the average citizen is educated through history and the Chantry which tells them that magic is dangerous and that Circles are to benefit mages by teaching them control and protecting them from hurting themselves or others. We have only seen the absolute worst case scenario for Circles, the one at Lake Calenhad and the one in Kirkwall, the former which fell apart and most only saw it in that state and the latter fucked up the second you reach the shores of the island. We’ve never seen a Circle function as its intended unless you played a mage origin in Origins, and that goes to shit real quick, so most players when proposed with the idea to reinstate them will obviously reject it.

Pro-Anders posts and Anti-Cullen posts seem to all stem from this predisposition about magic, both in terms of forgiving Anders for his terrorism and condemning Cullen for his words and mindset in DA2 and thus using it to dismiss his character arc in Inquisition. It is apparently very difficult to keep in mind what the normal, average, standard Thedasian thinks about mages and magic and I get that it’s stupid to dismiss what we’ve learned in the meta narrative, but it’s important to contextualize where characters are coming from and the application of their actions in the world they live in. Anders came from a place of oppression, pain, and fear due to his capabilities. Cullen came from a place of mental torture, pain, and fear due to the misuse of those capabilities. That helps to explain their actions, but it does not excuse them, and people like to excuse one and explain the other when they’re only showing their bias by doing so.

Let’s break down the viewpoints:

- Anders blew up a large facility that housed hundreds of people, including Chantry affiliates and leaders as well as low ranking sisters and other members of the faithful. These were people who had not contributed to the pain mages experienced in Kirkwall. Yes, they didn’t help them, but they didn’t help Meredith either, and remained neutral until their demise before Meredith or Orsino could argue their case to the Grand Cleric. Anders killed these people to make a statement, costing the lives of everyone inside that building for a political and social idea. In doing so, not only did he plunge the continent into civil war, he helped bolster the Andrastian narrative to the uneducated masses: that mages are dangerous, that magic can result in massive loss of life, and that people who wield it cannot be trusted at face value. An average citizen isn’t going to care about the oppression or tensions or abuse on either side, and they’re likely never going to hear about Anders’s good deeds in having that clinic in Darktown for all those years either; they’re going to care that their livelihood and their families are in danger as a direct result of his actions. That is why Varric speaks ill of Anders and why people do not forgive him for his actions en masse. No matter his agenda, murdering innocent people and thus causing the deaths of so many more due to some upheaval is not worth his intangible ideas.

- Cullen facilitated and assisted Meredith in the capture, torture, and deaths of mages and his fellow templars during his station in Kirkwall. No matter how you dice his conversations, particularly in Act 1 where he’s pretty fresh from the Calenhad Circle, he is terrified, severe, and staunch in his distrust toward mages and easily sanctions death as a punishment for blood magic. Meredith wants order, and he wants order, so he does what he’s told in eradicating rebel groups and assisting in keeping his men in line. Players seem to forget that Cullen gradually over the course of the decade starts to question Meredith more and more. When it becomes clear to him that she’s unhinged he tries to lie to himself about it until it’s far far too late. Normal Kirkwall citizens are going to see his actions as a good thing, despite the fear of Meredith. Once she uses her status to usurp control of the Viscount station is when they start to feel uncomfortable or afraid. The average person is either going to see Cullen as just another templar or recognize his services, and only a few will consider his actions to be against the common good. When he finally turns against Meredith, his loyal men follow him. He leaves the Order not long after that due to his disillusionment in what the organization stands for and what it actually does, including his own actions.

Thus, due to his previous ideas and oft-quoted “Mages aren’t people like you and me,” any chance that Cullen has for redemption is scoffed at despite his obvious change and his struggle to be a better person than he believes he’s ever been. Does his redeeming himself and being better excuse his actions? Of course not. Should his struggle to be better count for something? Yes, it should. Leaving behind his PTSD, his trauma, his lyrium addiction, the basic fact that he is doing better or attempting to be a force for positive change for the future of Thedas is a great thing and should at least be recognized, even if you don’t like him as a character for his past actions or his personality. Likewise, people can actively give Anders a pass in agreement or a chance to redeem himself as Hawke, but so far in the story we have not seen Anders or heard of him attempting to redeem his actions or reconsidering whether he did the right thing or not. By the end of DA2 and from what a romanced Hawke says in Inquisition, Anders assists Circles in disbanding to join the rebellion and aid the conflict in the civil war. At least for the foreseeable future, Anders continues to support his decision and assist in freedom despite the consequences to his fellows and to others.

Jesus this has gone on far too long. Let’s just...try and summarize whatever the fuck is in my head before this becomes a dissertation:

tl;dr - The average person of Thedas is told to be weary and distrustful of magic and mages and anyone who grows up in any place that isn’t Tevinter or a wandering tribe of Elves or Avaar is predisposed to think this way. We as players are in a unique position to see Thedas from many angles and thus experience and see things in the world that most people would never have the chance to encounter or understand. People don’t dislike mages because they’re unjustifiably prejudiced: they do it because there is a cultural and social predisposition to do so. Anders does not understand this, and thus only exacerbated the problem by committing terrorism, and continues to do so due to his continued assistance in the war effort without offering a proper solution. Cullen does understand this, but also learns that mages are not creatures to leash, and thus attempts to rectify not only his transgressions but help those that are being hurt.

Feel free to like/dislike either of these characters; I’m not here to police anyone’s opinions or their rights to have them. Just make sure that when you make an opinion and decide to stick to your guns that you’ve attempted to  consider everything that goes into it. Thedas has a lot of layers to it, just like any culture does, and no action from any character is as simple as “He hurt those people” or “It’s what needed to be done.” You don’t have to participate in character discussions or discourse either, but when you write something like that, expect criticism or responses. I always do.

[kristarangel-blog1]

HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

http://finalexamsolutions.com/downloads/hist410n-entire-course-latest-all-weeks-discussions-all-case-study-midterm/

 HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

 HIST410N Week 1 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 1900: The Age of Hope and the Age of ‘Isms’ (graded) Here’s a statement to consider: “Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations.” Defend or condemn the argument by giving examples of the interaction between Western industrial powers and traditional, non Western societies. Were these contacts essentially positive or negative? ” DQ 2 The First Total War (graded) World War 1 is said to have been the first ‘total’ war. What does that mean? And what does it mean for people and nations trying to pick up the pieces and resume normal life?

  HIST410N Week 2 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 The Rise of Totalitarianism (graded) Compare and contrast the two types of totalitarian governments that arose after 1917, that is, communism and fascism. What were the origins of these governments, their accomplishments, and their failures? What accounts for the fact that the masses mobilized to support these movements? Elaborate. DQ 2 Nationalism and the Treaty of Versailles (graded) What were reasons that led to the ultimate failure of the Treaty of Versailles? What were the challenges facing the newly-formed League of Nations, and why was it so difficult to form a lasting agreement that would prevent another war? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 3 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Dictatorship and Democracy (graded) Analyze Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and the policies he used to rule Germany. Textbook tyrant? Overheated Nationalist? Or the right man for at the right time for the right job? DQ 2

 World War II and the Holocaust (graded) The following statement was taken from a contemporary account of Germany in 1939: “Though the Fuhrer’s anti-Semitic program furnished the National Socialist party in the first instances with a nucleus and a rallying-cry, it was swept into office by two things with which the “Jewish Problem” did not have the slightest connection. On the one side was economic distress and the revulsion against Versailles: on the other, chicanery and intrigue…Hitler and his party promised the unhappy Germans a new heaven and a new earth, coupled with the persecution of the Jews. Unfortunately a new heaven and earth cannot be manufactured to order. But a persecution of the Jews can…”How do you interpret this contemporary account of the persecution of people who are Jewish? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 4 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The Cold War: Who Shot First? (graded) The United States accused the Soviet Union of breaking all its wartime pledges and holding Eastern Europe hostage while trying to subvert governments in the west. The Soviet Union accused the US and its allies of trying surround and ultimately destroy it. War of words? Or was somebody telling the truth? And where do our ‘Isms’ fit in? In particular nationalism? DQ 2

 Cold War Buzz Words (graded) The Cold War its very own verbiage. The West had more than its share: Cold War, Iron Curtain, Containment, Domino Theory were just a few. What did they mean in this strange new post-war environment?

  Devry HIST410N Week 5 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Africa and the West (graded) What accounts for the rather late emergence of African countries as independent nation-states? Is there something peculiar about Africa that delayed its drive for independence? (Begin with a specific African country, and argue your case.) DQ 2

 Israel and the Middle East (graded) Why has the Arab-Israeli conflict been so persistent? What religious and cultural factors have contributed to the persistent state of unrest in the Middle East and, in particular, in what some people refer to as the Holy Land?

  Devry HIST410N Week 6Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The End of the Cold War (graded) What impact did Mikhail Gorbachev’s ideas of glasnost (openness), perestroika (restructuring) and demokratizatsiia (democratization) have on Communist society? Were these principles compatible with collectivization and a command economy? Did Communist leaders favor these principles or did they feel that their hand were tied once they were introduced into Communist society? DQ 2

 The not so Cold War (graded) It would be easy to dismiss the Cold War simply as proof that Capitalism was a better theory than Communism. Easy, but not the whole story. In order for Communism to be relegated to the dustbin of history, it first had to be proven that its struggle against Capitalism unecessary and thus irrelevant. How do the US and the USSR close the gap in the last quarter of the 20th Century to allow Communism to go out with a whimper and not a bang?

  Devry HIST410N Week 7 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Cold War Nostalgia (graded) In the years after the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar order, the world has undergone significant changes. Chief among those changes has been a perceived deterioration of world stability, not only in terms of economics but also in terms of security. What indicators could lead one to conclude that in the years following the collapse of the Communist world, things have gotten more dangerous? DQ 2 Brave New World (graded) So…the Cold War is over. Time to do a victory lap and celebrate the primacy of American power. But the celebration seemed short-lived, as there were plenty of other concerns. Nothing is as it should be. Our adversaries are now our allies, and our allies are now competitors. The end of the Cold War knocked down the Iron Curtain, but it also destroyed conventional economic patterns. Is the end of the Cold War proving to be good for world peace, but not so good for world business?

  Devry HIST410N Week 1 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study # 1: Jules Ferry Jules Ferry was Prime Minister of France as that nation launched its imperial expansion. In a debate with member of the French Parliament, Ferry Defends the decision to expand. Read his remarks and respond to the following questions: 1. According to Ferry, what recent developments in world trade have made it urgent for France to have colonies? 2. What arguments against imperialism have been raised by Ferry’s critics? How does he counter them? 3. What non-economic arguments does Ferry offer in favor of imperialism? This 2-3 page assignment is to be submitted to the Week 1 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Devry HIST410N Week 2 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study #2: Versailles: The Allies’ “Last Horrible Triumph” This week, you will read the comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the conditions of the peace which ended World War 1. You will find that document in the webliography. Many have argued that it was the way World War 1 ended which made World War 2 inevitable. Read the document and answer the following questions: 1. According to the authors of Germany’s complaint, how will various provisions of the treaty hurt Germany’s economy? 2. In Germany’s view, how would the country have been treated differently if the principles they attribute to President Wilson had been applied? 3. To what higher “fundamental laws” does the document appeal to in order to strengthen German assertions? 4. Do you agree with the authors of the document that Germany was being poorly treated? What response to their complaints might defenders of the treaty have made? http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/world/conditions_of_peace.htm Submit your assignment to the Week 2 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Case Study: The Democrat and The Dictator Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler both came to power in 1933. They found themselves in charge of nations still suffering from the consequences of World War 1 and the Great Depression. Unemployment in the US was nearly 25%, while nearly one-third of Germany’s workforce had been idled. Americans and Germans had opted for new leadership in 1933 and were now looking to their new leaders for solutions, and perhaps a new vision of the future. Both FDR’s Inaugural address and Hitler’s first address as Chancellor of Germany have been analyzed for their similarities and differences. Now it’s our turn! In 2-3 pages, do the following: 1. Read both speeches and give an assessment of what these two leaders thought was the cause of the problems their countries faced. Provide quotes to support your view. 2. Using quotes from both speeches, tell how each leader intended to deal with: 1. Unemployment 2. Banking, finance and in general, the economy 3. Agriculture 4. Foreign Policy 3. Finally, in a concluding statement, tell where think these leaders find common ground in terms of their proposed solutions, and what you think their vision is with regard to the power of their position. Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300–400 words in length. Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information. Devry HIST410N Week 5 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech There are many ways to get a feel for the events of the 20th Century. One way is through the analysis of primary source documents. Few documents set the stage for the second half than Winston Churchill’s 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri. Officially entitled “The Sinews of Peace”, it came to be known as “The Iron Curtain Speech”, in which Churchill laid out the challenges for the West in general, and the US and Britain in particular, regarding what would soon be known as the Cold War. Your assignment this week is to not just read Churchill’s speech, but read between the lines to answer the following questions in a well written 2-3 page document: 1. Churchill believes the Soviet Union “desires the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” How might those expansionist desires challenge the Western principle of national political self determination, a cause it championed during World War 2? 2. Churchill’s speech acknowledges “Russia’s need to be secure on her western borders,” but at the same time it raises concerns about Soviet actions in Eastern Europe. Is Churchill being inconsistent? Or does he provide concrete justifications for those concerns? 3. In his speech, Churchill asserts “There is nothing they (the Russians) admire so much as strength, and nothing for which they have less respect for than military weakness.” If he isn’t advocating a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, then what is he saying? 4. Churchill delivered this speech to an American audience, but after reading it one might conclude it could have been given in any western country. Why did he pick the US? Devry HIST410N Week 6 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese Independence Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist? To many Americans he was. But to many Vietnamese he was a nationalist hero, and to even a few Americans he was that as well, plus a friend, and ally and a comrade in arms during World War 2. It may be hard to paint Ho with any color other than gray, and now, nearly 50 years after his death and 40 years after the end of the American war in Vietnam, even that color has faded with time. What we do have are his words. The link below will take you the speech Ho Chi Minh gave on September 2, 1945, in which he proclaimed Vietnam’s independence, and its arrival on the world stage. Your assignment will be to read the speech and provide answers to the following questions: Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300-400 words in length. Questions for exploration: 1. Ho’s speech proclaiming Vietnam’s independence contains a demand that the free world support that independence in part as payment for services rendered during World War 2. What ‘service’ did Vietnam render during that conflict? 2. Ho claims that Vietnam’s independence is consistent with the philosophical principles which the Allies claimed were paramount during World War 2. What principles was Ho referring to, and does he make references to occasions where those principles were reasserted? 3. In the speech, Ho mentions crimes committed by the French during their occupation of Vietnam. Which crimes, as you read them, were in your opinion most severe and justified Vietnamese independence? Devry HIST410N Week 7 Case Study Latest 2016 Case Study: Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech If the pace of improving US-Soviet relations seemed rapid, Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly would shift the process into overdrive. In this remarkable oration, which you can find by clicking on the link below,Gorbachev emphatically declared that all nations must have the freedom to choose their own destiny, that ideology had no place in foreign affairs, and that great powers should renounce the use of force in international relations. Review his speech and answer in essay form the following questions: 1. Why did Gorbachev choose the United Nations as his forum for this speech? 2. What did Gorbachev mean by “de-ideologizing relations among states? What implications did this have for superpower relations? 3. Why did he say that “force no longer can…be an instrument of foreign policy”? What implications did this have for the Soviet bloc? 4. What did he foresee as the future role of the superpowers in the world and the future relationship between them?

  HIST410N Week 4 Midterm Examination

 1.     Question : (TCO 1, 2) Analyze how World War 1 changed the economic, social, and political landscapes in the affected nations. Use examples to explain how the war affected men and women, government power, and the economy. Question 2. Question : (TCO 5, 6) Identify and describe the major cultural changes in the Soviet Union from 1917–1932. Give special attention to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1921–1928 and the first Five-Year Plan of 1928–1932. Use historical examples to support your answer. How successful were Stalin’s collectivization policies and the first Five-Year Plan by 1932–1933? Question 3. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Describe the rise of fascism in Germany. Indicate the conditions present in Germany that made it possible for Hitler to come to power. Then describe the Nazi persecution of German Jews leading up to WW2. Analyze how the Nazi government translated its hatred of the Jews into policies and practicies that in 1938 had forced over 100,000 Jews to flee. Question 4. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Compare and contrast the empires of Germany and Japan before the outbreak of World War II. Identify and describe the leadership qualities of their respective leaders. Make sure you use enough historical details to support your answer.

[growing420news]

The CYFS Succubus – And How to Fight It

S14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA) gives the fundamental right of freedom of expression. The Supreme Court has been careful to protect this right, going so far as to allow a protest outside a police officer’s house. Freedom of expression is all the more important in this instance because this site is itself a protest against the worst kind of oppression imaginable.

It is the common calling card of all evil and oppressive systems and regimes to destroy any source of information capable of challenging their oppression. This site being one of the few mediums to expose the monster that is CYFS is therefore one of the greatest threats to its monopoly.

Those of us who dedicate our lives or at least part of them to the pursuit of truth and wisdom sometimes call ourselves philosophers or lovers of wisdom. It is a dangerous pursuit, and the path is often called “the razors edge”. Buddha, Christ, Moses, Mohammad, Zoroaster, Hubbard and many others treaded that path and many were destroyed by the very darkness that they sought to dispel.

I do not even dare to say that I am worthy of speaking the names of these masters; but the fight for justice must be taken up even by the smallest of us whilst we have the breath to fight. Injustice begins with the bully in the playground who is not stopped, with the rudeness of an official that goes unchecked, with a child wrongly removed that is not challenged and ends in despotism, and the destruction of human liberty- a shadowy world of darkness.

All those who have had their children removed face the greatest of all deprivations of human rights, one of the greatest injustices short of imprisonment or death, the deprivation of one’s flesh and blood. The crime against you is magnified by the fact that your voice is not heard, forbidden, choked and no one listens. They have sought to censor the only forum where you can speak. Why? Why ban your cry for justice, your tears and your anguish- have you asked yourself that question? The answer -or at least one of them- is far darker than many of us would care to know, and like all evil most of us are afraid to face it.

The weapons of philosophy are only language and truth – I would like to begin with definitions so that we can agree on the terminology. It is only after this that any meaningful discussion can be had.

Succubus:

A succubus is a ghost that drains the energy out of the living. By its nature it is dead and hates life, it is vampiric and needs the lifeblood of its victims to survive. Legend has it that the succubus cannot enter until it is invited, if invited it will stay until its victim is drained of its energy and also becomes a succubus. The victims of succubi often become mad. Of the numerous legends and myths on succubi spanning all cultures one recurring theme is evident: succubi love to attack the weakest and most defenseless, especially women and children. The removal of a child by a succubus and the ensuing grief of the parents is the succubus’s greatest pleasure where it reaches the height of its power.

Nazi: Nazi stands for National Socialism. It is a particular brand of government and political philosophy that puts the values of society above the rights of the individual. It assumes that society knows best. Nazism is not as many assume simply limited to Hitler’s Germany. It takes its roots in fact from the Spartan philosophy that everyone’s life and liberty is subservient to the greater good of the community. the Nazi philosophy is that if a parent is not “fit” to mould a child into a good citizen (whether the parent is someone who others consider inappropriate -e.g. too ill, too intelligent, too politically incorrect, too non-conformist, etc then the state should and can remove that child. Nazism has complete contempt for human rights.

Crime: A crime is something that is against law and the rule of law, something against the international laws of humanity and human rights. The fact that a crime is committed using the help of the law by a decree does not make it less of an offence. For example if a child is removed in breach of international human rights conventions where the party removing the child knows full well that it is breaching these conventions, then that person is a criminal in the wider sense of the word.

There are a lot of people, many of them highly educated, in social work and psychology and medicine and law who have realized that the current practices of CYFS in a number of cases are abhorrent and criminal. I will not go into statistics or detailed facts as this is not the place but it is fairly correct to state the following observations:

• New Zealand CYFS workers are poorly trained, incompetent and underpaid. The internal culture of the organisation has traces of Nazism. This has been the subject of a great deal of press which has come to a head with the case of the British social workers who have left. These workers told the press that they were forced to remove children sometimes with police and dogs present. In cases when this was not needed and the children should never have been removed. These social workers who had consciences were made to sign documents prohibiting them from revealing certain matters to the public as part of their initial work contract. This shows that CYFS has something to hide. One asks why a governmental organsiation would force its workers to sign such agreements. Some of these social workers became extremely depressed and left their jobs. From this the following logical conclusion would follow: In addition it is not uncommon for CYFS to remove children from a birth mother at birth thus causing irreparable psychological trauma to the mother. This is justified on “possible” harm grounds and raises questions about whether human rights have any value in the removal process.

i. It is the opinion of many that CYFS workers who remain a long time in the in the system remain because they are either succubi and enjoy the power or are so incompetent that they cannot get a job anywhere else. Those who still have a conscience leave.

ii. It would follow that Such people see nothing wrong with breaking the spirit and the letter of the law, misleading the courts and lying to obtain their desired result. The removal of the child becomes a power game.

Further, CYFS uses psychologists to justify removal. These psychologists, without any scientific basis for their opinions, form vague and deliberately obscure assessments on the best interests of the child. These psychologists know that their opinion will be accepted by the judge without question. However, they forget to tell the judge that their opinions are about as valuable as those of a priest (probably less so) as psychology is not a science. Their assessments are often wrong and incompetent but difficult to rebut because only their friends and colleagues are permitted to provide such opinions in court because only those listed as “court experts” are in practice permitted to give evidence.

Many counsels for the child and CYFS workers actually advise the court that someone is writing on this web site as if it were a crime. This appears to be intended to influence the court’s opinion of that person and is a further vehicle of oppression.

I have personally witnessed the following cases:

1. A mother who had her child snatched at birth without any valid legal reason being provided.

2. A mother who had her child removed shortly after birth due to a deliberate misdiagnosis with a psychiatric illness which did not in fact exist.

3. A mother who had her child removed and given to an insane pedophile when the agency knew the man was a pedophile.

4. A mother who had her child removed and given to a violent and abusive father despite of a protection order in favour of her and the child.

I have been told of dozens of cases where CYFS have placed children of fairly normal parents with caregivers who abused them repeatedly sexually, physically and psychologically, and CYFS did nothing about it even after they have found out about the abuse. I have been told of one case where a child was put in a home where the caregiver was an alcoholic and her son was a marijuana user who made the child smoke, dance and perform monkey tricks under the threat of torture and even when the child escaped CYFS did not change that child’s caregiver status.

From this and many other cases I have witnessed and had reported I have formed the distinct opinion that CYFS care nothing about children. I have openly written of this in an article in the Investigate Magazine.

CYFS replied in the later edition that I was incorrect but pertinently they never told me why. This shows they really have no arguments in response because the above matters are true.

There are hundreds if not thousands of such cases where children are wrongly removed, given to abusive caregivers, and sometimes they suffer irreparable damage and are scarred for life. In fact a large number of those now in the criminal and psychiatric system are ex-CYFS children.

It follows that these cases are examples of breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) and the BORA, not to mention a number of other conventions ratified by New Zealand.

The removal of children in such circumstances is nothing less than a crime. All those who participate in this process are nothing less than criminals and hopefully the day will come when they are exposed and held accountable. In the meantime, unfortunately and for a number of reasons I would rather not say in print, the system is such that this web site is the only avenue for someone to expose the truth.

One must not forget that all movements for human liberty were conceived in such small and seemingly insignificant beginnings. The civil rights movement in America exposed the racist laws and attitudes of governmental departments through information, civil protest and the few civil liberties lawyers who had the gall to take on the system. It was the light of information and court action which eventually changed the system from within. Succubi hate the light and so do the institutions who serve them. I want to raise at this point a small irony. Not so long ago, many New Zealanders who considered themselves human rights activists protested apartheid with such vehemence yet today there are no protests in the streets about wrongful removal of children- why?

In this article I have of course made a number of generalisations. There are of course a lot of people who beat, molest or hurt their children in a number of foul and unforgivable ways. These people undoubtedly deserve to have their children removed, but ironically such people rarely fall under the radar of CYFS and are unlikely to be reading this web site. Indeed a number of such people are CYFS approved caregivers and there is a body of information to support this statement. Indeed ask yourself what kind of person would volunteer to look after someone else’s children full time for a small amount of money?

The other generalisation is that CYFS workers are succubi. Not all CYFS workers are succubi but the ones that are not are encouraged to either leave as soon as practicable. It is difficult to work in a Nazi organisation without becoming part of the culture. You cannot, for example, be a member of the Ku Klux Klan without sharing their values to some degree.

Finally it appears that I have stated that CYFS is a completely valueless and useless institution. Statistics show that it is just that. Despite having one of the toughest and most brutal agencies in the world we have the highest rates of child abuse and sexual abuse per capita. Why? Because CYFS does not solve abuse, it is impotent in the face of abuse it does not have the skill to recognize it. Without CYFS there would be no greater abuse, indeed abuse and neglect are already crimes and can easily be handled by the criminal courts and the police.

So I have made numerous completely un-PC statements. That is because PC is the same as Nazism. Human rights and freedoms are not about political correctness, it is no longer politically correct to be fearless and forthright lest you offend anyone. For example, CYFS and family court considers that pedophiles have a right to contact with their children whereas mothers with “mental problems” can have their children permanently removed without any meaningful contact. This is PC logic. If one has even an elementary training in anthropology one would have read Foucault, the right of taking a child (usually the first born) from the parents has been used by all conquerors against conquered nations. The removal of the child is the symbol of the impotence and powerlessness of the slave, it is a testament that if we can take your child we can do anything we like. You are nothing- in fact less than nothing. This symbolic social castration is the ultimate unconscious symbolic subjugation of the modern citizen. Today it is practiced on the weak and defenseless; tomorrow it will be extended to reach all citizens. Logically, having no right to raise your children is tantamount to having no rights at all.

Let us look further at the irony of this -people would be shocked to hear of a state which forbids mentally ill people to bear children. That state would be condemned. Yet no one even points to the irony that in new Zealand your child can be removed just because a psychologist thinks you “may” be mentally ill or “improper” parent. So you can have a child if you are considered mentally ill but you are not allowed to raise them. This is one of society’s logical fallacies a skeleton kept ina dark cupboard and not spoken about. In fact the removal of children are in many cases based on value judgements that the parents are alcoholics, mentally ill, poor parents or some other undefined factor without defining accurately what these things mean. It is nothing else than a social sterilization. I am talking about cases where there is no proven physical harm to the child and no actual psychological harm but CYFS is not happy about the environment in which the child is raised. These are in fact the majority of cases.

So now I wish to provide you with at least some guidance on how to fight the succubus. I have deliberately left out legal terminology and case law due to this being a hands-on paper on the basics. However, in time I will try to reference this with links to the relevant web sites and cases:

STEP-1 THE Family Group Conference(FGC)

Apart from the emergency powers CYFS have to remove children when they are in imminent danger, most removals occur after a family group conference is held. That is because a declaration by the court authorizing removal can only be made after CYFS convenes and holds and FGC.

There is a vast amount of literature and policy statements written by CYFS as to how the FGC is such a wonderful, fair and democratic process. This is almost always window dressing and in many cases the FGC is simply an informal precursor to removing the child.

Many parents have said that If you let CYFS run the FGC in the way they want to you will find yourself misquoted, misstated and having been on the record as agreeing to the fact that your child is at risk from you. Then it becomes impossible to change the record. This FGC is the window for the succubus.

For the record you have the following rights:

• To be informed of the exact reasons for why the child is in need of care and protection. • To have your family members attend including extended family. • To have the child informed, the consequences explained and the child’s views heard. • To have a support person and your lawyer present. • To view and comment on any proposed plan that CYFS proposes for the care and protection of the child. • To possibly ask for a second FGC • However, the most important purpose of the FGC (on paper) is to find a way to keep the child in the family if possible. That indeed is the statutory obligation of CYFS. Unfortunately, this principle is often ignored.

You must therefore prepare carefully for the FGC, insist on every right provided by the policy and legislation and take detailed notes because if you fail to do so, you will find a completely different account at court and you would be in an unenviable position of having to prove your case. Request an audio recording and if not allowed, as for reasons. Make sure your support person takes notes of everything and signs them as witness. Finally NEVER EVER AGREE THAT THE CHILD IS IN NEED OF CARE AND PROTECTION UNLESS HE /SHE ACTUALLY IS IN NEED OF SUCH PROTECTION FROM YOU. YOUR AGREEMENT IS INDEED ONE OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE POWER TO REMOVE.

STEP-2

You will now have a court date whereby you have to prepare a defence to the declaration. In many cases your child will have already been removed and access denied or supervised access imposed. This will have occurred ex parte i.e. without hearing your side of the story and in many cases based on incorrect statements by CYFS staff and officers or misdiagnosis or incompetent reports by CYFS psychologists. The court will undoubtedly believe these people over you.

In order to have a chance you must do the following:

• Control what you say and do, any signs of anger and protest will be twisted to label you as aggressive or mentally unstable. Appear calm, never meet with CYFS staff or especially with your child unless you have a support person there to record everything said. The support person must be someone who is credible in court and who is prepared to take notes. The best is a social worker from an outside organisation because they have the most credibility. All contact with CYFS should be in writing wherever possible.

• Get a social worker whom you trust or can find to make an independent assessment of you and provide an affidavit to the court as to your suitability.

• Find a psychologist willing to be an expert witness engaged by you, he will be able to give evidence as to the false and misleading reports filed by CYFS and to challenge any inaccuracies in the psychiatric reports.

• Find as many people as possible to be witnesses on your behalf. The evidence of people who have known you and can attest to your being a good parent makes it much harder to find against you.

• If you have a psychological condition, make sure that your doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist is available to explain the condition properly. It is a sad fact that a majority of people discriminate against and are prejudiced against people with perceived mental illnesses to the extent that they hold (secretly) the view that mentally ill people or depressed people should not be near children. This was view held by the Nazi psychiatrist who destroyed and sterilized Germany’s mentally ill and created an organsiation very similar in concept to CYFS designed to take children away from the unfit. This view has influenced modern New Zealand family law and psychology. Therefore someone professional and able to allay the prejudices would be a great asset. Of course such experts are hard to come by.

The following applications should be considered:

1. An application under the Official Information Act 1982 for the entire file. On many occasions despite this the entire file is not released. Third parties such as doctors’ notes etc should also be considered in a discovery application to the court. You will be surprised how much information you can get.

2. An application that the court allow your expert to access to all psych reports so he can critique them.

3. An application for access (urgent interim access).

4. If the child is of age and counsel for the child is not doing his/her job to ascertain the wishes of the child, then make an application that either your psychologist or a court appointed psychologist, or even the Judge to ascertain the child’s views. This is dangerous territory because depending on the timing of the application it could be that the child has already been brainwashed and has been told what to say.

Indeed on a similar note I have been witness to a case where a caregiver was willing to testify for my client as to the child’s wishes to be returned and CYFS threatened that if she did so she would be penalised by having her parenting “investigated”. This incident was carefully noted by the Citizens’ Commission of Human Rights.

STEP 3 -COMPLAINTS AND INFORMATION.

Document your case in detail but avoid emotional language, swear words and emotive phrases. Succinctly document the acts that have been unfair or wrong in law. At this stage you have the right to use the media and this web site but you must be careful to do so in away that does not break the law. This requires a number of detailed considerations. One possible interpretation of the family legislation is that you cannot talk about a case if it identifies the children or the parties. Nothing is stated about mentioning the CYFS workers and the facts of the case. I once had this argument with the Judge when I pointed out that the BORA permits my client to write about the case, the Judge ordered that I seek permission, I asked her for an order that my client is not permitted to publish so that I could appeal it. The order was never made because, I believe, the Judge knew that basically to forbid freedom of expression was contrary to law. You do not need a judge’s permission to express your opinion that CYFS breaches fundamental human rights and has done so in your case. However, at the same time you should follow the letter of the legislation by not mentioning the children’s or parents’ names. Try also to use formal language because the statute actually makes an exception that a case may be written about in an academic publication. This site could actually with stylistic changes become an academic publication and hence conform to the category.

Issue press releases so that the press can cover your case. If you knock hard enough, press attention can be extremely powerful, for example, David Bain’s case. In fact many of your cases are just as atrocious as Bain’s- children are imprisoned by the state against their wishes and torn from their parents.

The Commissioner of Children will usually write that they cannot get involved because there are court proceedings, making their role virtually nonexistent. While they are correct in assuming that they cannot get involved in the very issue before court the Commissioner can nonetheless get involved with CYFS’s wrongful actions which are not subject to court proceedings. So complain anyway.

Ombudsmen also have the statutory power to inquire into administrative misconduct and unfair treatment. Make a complaint to them also.

Amnesty international is an organization dealing with human rights and breaches. The same complaint should be made to them if there is evidence of rights being breached.

Human Rights Tribunal/Commission. A written complaint ghoul be made to them too.

The Citizens’ Commission of Human Rights is a body that will impartially and fairly investigate your complaint and give you access to some resources and provide assistance.

There is a principle that CYFS uses effectively- if you sling enough mud some will stick. This is used to devastating effect to paint a picture against defenseless parents who are often weak, traumatized and financially deprived. Expose this practice by joining together, sharing stories and getting statements of other parents who have been through the same ordeal. After a while these documented testimonials can be used as background support for your complaints to various bodies and courts.

Finally and not least in importance is civil protest. Form a group and protest your rights to get media attention and public acknowledgement. It is a sad truth that the majority of the New Zealand public still believes that we have one of the best fairest and most child centered systems in the world. Nothing really has changed since Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels, at least in New Zealand.

Step-4

If by this time you have come to realise that you cannot get any fair treatment from the system, and the family court has not properly considered your rights or is simply not properly dealing with your matters then you should consider one of the greatest weapons available but hardly used in family law in New Zealand -judicial review. Strangely judicial review is common place in England against CYFS with powerful results. Here, it is virtually unheard of in the CYF arena but it is really only the High Court that will properly consider whether the family court has properly considered international conventions such as the UNCROC and the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Thus the above conventions and rights are relevant considerations that must be taken into account. Some family court judges consider openly that they are irrelevant. Indeed I have been told by a family court Judge that UNCROC-the right of a parent and child to be together is not relevant in care and protection proceedings where the test is the best interest of the child. Clearly the Judge cannot be right because the best interests test must be read in light of and pursuant to UNCROC but this mistake is actually the reason why so many kids get removed. Judges apply the best interests test without really understanding what that means and that usually means what CYFS and the psychiatrists say it means.

Judicial review is actually far simpler than many make it out to be and relatively fast. Unfortunately legal aid is rarely available. Judicial review also has another advantage -you have an automatic right of appeal to the Court of Appeal, whereas in family appeals you must seek leave after the High Court has decided. This belies both the statutory rule that leave must be sought in family matters because most think that they are “unimportant”..

One must always remember that the case law and the statute state explicitly that a child can only be removed if there is evidence of serious risk to the child. This is conveniently ignored in many cases. I have seen some people who replace this with a vague opinion by psychiatrists that the parent has poor parenting skills I am not entirely sure of what this means because there is no definition of good parenting skills and indeed no possible scientific evaluation of parenting skills.

Why, you may ask, would a governmental agency wish to remove children from perfectly fit parents? Well you should know that for every permanently placed child agencies like Barnardos and CYFS get approximately $100,000 of government funding. The more children removed the more funding the more powerful the agency becomes. It is good for everyone, at least except for parents and children -but they do not really factor in the equation.

Step 5

It is of course understood by all that the higher one climbs the better the justice, but also the colder the air and the harder the path. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are the final New Zealand avenues. You have an appeal as of right if you file judicial review and it is rejected. The Court of Appeal actually works on principles and is more open to human rights arguments. It is getting to the Court of Appeal that is difficult.

There is a final avenue and indeed your whole case should be geared to this avenue, It is outside New Zealand, it is the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. New Zealanders have recourse to this commission if they have been rejected elsewhere, but you must exhaust all remedies available locally i.e. you must go to the High Court, Court of Appeal and if leave is granted, the Supreme Court.

The UN Commission has recently made a declaration that New Zealand has breached the UN Convention on Civil and Political rights in a case far less serious than many CYFS cases related to not giving access in a timely manner. The reason why more people do not bring cases to the UN Commission is that it takes so long and most people get destroyed by the process and give up somewhere along the way.

Do not give up. That is what the succubi want you to do and your child is the most precious gift you have. The UN Commission is free, it does not take much effort to draft a claim but you must exhaust all remedies.

Conclusion:

Although garlic holy water and certain sharp stakes can in popular legend destroy the succubus, the true destruction of the succubus can only be brought by someone with heart full of love, faith and strength in the endurance to complete the task. Love is the beginning, the middle and the end, without its power the journey of struggle should not be commenced at all.

Source by Evgeny Orlov

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More Marijuana info :

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Should I Quit Weed Cold-Turkey Or Cut Down Gradually?

Defending a Charge of Public Urination

from 420 Growing News http://www.growing420.net/2017/08/10/the-cyfs-succubus-and-how-to-fight-it/

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The CYFS Succubus – And How to Fight It

S14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA) gives the fundamental right of freedom of expression. The Supreme Court has been careful to protect this right, going so far as to allow a protest outside a police officer’s house. Freedom of expression is all the more important in this instance because this site is itself a protest against the worst kind of oppression imaginable.

It is the common calling card of all evil and oppressive systems and regimes to destroy any source of information capable of challenging their oppression. This site being one of the few mediums to expose the monster that is CYFS is therefore one of the greatest threats to its monopoly.

Those of us who dedicate our lives or at least part of them to the pursuit of truth and wisdom sometimes call ourselves philosophers or lovers of wisdom. It is a dangerous pursuit, and the path is often called “the razors edge”. Buddha, Christ, Moses, Mohammad, Zoroaster, Hubbard and many others treaded that path and many were destroyed by the very darkness that they sought to dispel.

I do not even dare to say that I am worthy of speaking the names of these masters; but the fight for justice must be taken up even by the smallest of us whilst we have the breath to fight. Injustice begins with the bully in the playground who is not stopped, with the rudeness of an official that goes unchecked, with a child wrongly removed that is not challenged and ends in despotism, and the destruction of human liberty- a shadowy world of darkness.

All those who have had their children removed face the greatest of all deprivations of human rights, one of the greatest injustices short of imprisonment or death, the deprivation of one’s flesh and blood. The crime against you is magnified by the fact that your voice is not heard, forbidden, choked and no one listens. They have sought to censor the only forum where you can speak. Why? Why ban your cry for justice, your tears and your anguish- have you asked yourself that question? The answer -or at least one of them- is far darker than many of us would care to know, and like all evil most of us are afraid to face it.

The weapons of philosophy are only language and truth – I would like to begin with definitions so that we can agree on the terminology. It is only after this that any meaningful discussion can be had.

Succubus:

A succubus is a ghost that drains the energy out of the living. By its nature it is dead and hates life, it is vampiric and needs the lifeblood of its victims to survive. Legend has it that the succubus cannot enter until it is invited, if invited it will stay until its victim is drained of its energy and also becomes a succubus. The victims of succubi often become mad. Of the numerous legends and myths on succubi spanning all cultures one recurring theme is evident: succubi love to attack the weakest and most defenseless, especially women and children. The removal of a child by a succubus and the ensuing grief of the parents is the succubus’s greatest pleasure where it reaches the height of its power.

Nazi: Nazi stands for National Socialism. It is a particular brand of government and political philosophy that puts the values of society above the rights of the individual. It assumes that society knows best. Nazism is not as many assume simply limited to Hitler’s Germany. It takes its roots in fact from the Spartan philosophy that everyone’s life and liberty is subservient to the greater good of the community. the Nazi philosophy is that if a parent is not “fit” to mould a child into a good citizen (whether the parent is someone who others consider inappropriate -e.g. too ill, too intelligent, too politically incorrect, too non-conformist, etc then the state should and can remove that child. Nazism has complete contempt for human rights.

Crime: A crime is something that is against law and the rule of law, something against the international laws of humanity and human rights. The fact that a crime is committed using the help of the law by a decree does not make it less of an offence. For example if a child is removed in breach of international human rights conventions where the party removing the child knows full well that it is breaching these conventions, then that person is a criminal in the wider sense of the word.

There are a lot of people, many of them highly educated, in social work and psychology and medicine and law who have realized that the current practices of CYFS in a number of cases are abhorrent and criminal. I will not go into statistics or detailed facts as this is not the place but it is fairly correct to state the following observations:

• New Zealand CYFS workers are poorly trained, incompetent and underpaid. The internal culture of the organisation has traces of Nazism. This has been the subject of a great deal of press which has come to a head with the case of the British social workers who have left. These workers told the press that they were forced to remove children sometimes with police and dogs present. In cases when this was not needed and the children should never have been removed. These social workers who had consciences were made to sign documents prohibiting them from revealing certain matters to the public as part of their initial work contract. This shows that CYFS has something to hide. One asks why a governmental organsiation would force its workers to sign such agreements. Some of these social workers became extremely depressed and left their jobs. From this the following logical conclusion would follow: In addition it is not uncommon for CYFS to remove children from a birth mother at birth thus causing irreparable psychological trauma to the mother. This is justified on “possible” harm grounds and raises questions about whether human rights have any value in the removal process.

i. It is the opinion of many that CYFS workers who remain a long time in the in the system remain because they are either succubi and enjoy the power or are so incompetent that they cannot get a job anywhere else. Those who still have a conscience leave.

ii. It would follow that Such people see nothing wrong with breaking the spirit and the letter of the law, misleading the courts and lying to obtain their desired result. The removal of the child becomes a power game.

Further, CYFS uses psychologists to justify removal. These psychologists, without any scientific basis for their opinions, form vague and deliberately obscure assessments on the best interests of the child. These psychologists know that their opinion will be accepted by the judge without question. However, they forget to tell the judge that their opinions are about as valuable as those of a priest (probably less so) as psychology is not a science. Their assessments are often wrong and incompetent but difficult to rebut because only their friends and colleagues are permitted to provide such opinions in court because only those listed as “court experts” are in practice permitted to give evidence.

Many counsels for the child and CYFS workers actually advise the court that someone is writing on this web site as if it were a crime. This appears to be intended to influence the court’s opinion of that person and is a further vehicle of oppression.

I have personally witnessed the following cases:

1. A mother who had her child snatched at birth without any valid legal reason being provided.

2. A mother who had her child removed shortly after birth due to a deliberate misdiagnosis with a psychiatric illness which did not in fact exist.

3. A mother who had her child removed and given to an insane pedophile when the agency knew the man was a pedophile.

4. A mother who had her child removed and given to a violent and abusive father despite of a protection order in favour of her and the child.

I have been told of dozens of cases where CYFS have placed children of fairly normal parents with caregivers who abused them repeatedly sexually, physically and psychologically, and CYFS did nothing about it even after they have found out about the abuse. I have been told of one case where a child was put in a home where the caregiver was an alcoholic and her son was a marijuana user who made the child smoke, dance and perform monkey tricks under the threat of torture and even when the child escaped CYFS did not change that child’s caregiver status.

From this and many other cases I have witnessed and had reported I have formed the distinct opinion that CYFS care nothing about children. I have openly written of this in an article in the Investigate Magazine.

CYFS replied in the later edition that I was incorrect but pertinently they never told me why. This shows they really have no arguments in response because the above matters are true.

There are hundreds if not thousands of such cases where children are wrongly removed, given to abusive caregivers, and sometimes they suffer irreparable damage and are scarred for life. In fact a large number of those now in the criminal and psychiatric system are ex-CYFS children.

It follows that these cases are examples of breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) and the BORA, not to mention a number of other conventions ratified by New Zealand.

The removal of children in such circumstances is nothing less than a crime. All those who participate in this process are nothing less than criminals and hopefully the day will come when they are exposed and held accountable. In the meantime, unfortunately and for a number of reasons I would rather not say in print, the system is such that this web site is the only avenue for someone to expose the truth.

One must not forget that all movements for human liberty were conceived in such small and seemingly insignificant beginnings. The civil rights movement in America exposed the racist laws and attitudes of governmental departments through information, civil protest and the few civil liberties lawyers who had the gall to take on the system. It was the light of information and court action which eventually changed the system from within. Succubi hate the light and so do the institutions who serve them. I want to raise at this point a small irony. Not so long ago, many New Zealanders who considered themselves human rights activists protested apartheid with such vehemence yet today there are no protests in the streets about wrongful removal of children- why?

In this article I have of course made a number of generalisations. There are of course a lot of people who beat, molest or hurt their children in a number of foul and unforgivable ways. These people undoubtedly deserve to have their children removed, but ironically such people rarely fall under the radar of CYFS and are unlikely to be reading this web site. Indeed a number of such people are CYFS approved caregivers and there is a body of information to support this statement. Indeed ask yourself what kind of person would volunteer to look after someone else’s children full time for a small amount of money?

The other generalisation is that CYFS workers are succubi. Not all CYFS workers are succubi but the ones that are not are encouraged to either leave as soon as practicable. It is difficult to work in a Nazi organisation without becoming part of the culture. You cannot, for example, be a member of the Ku Klux Klan without sharing their values to some degree.

Finally it appears that I have stated that CYFS is a completely valueless and useless institution. Statistics show that it is just that. Despite having one of the toughest and most brutal agencies in the world we have the highest rates of child abuse and sexual abuse per capita. Why? Because CYFS does not solve abuse, it is impotent in the face of abuse it does not have the skill to recognize it. Without CYFS there would be no greater abuse, indeed abuse and neglect are already crimes and can easily be handled by the criminal courts and the police.

So I have made numerous completely un-PC statements. That is because PC is the same as Nazism. Human rights and freedoms are not about political correctness, it is no longer politically correct to be fearless and forthright lest you offend anyone. For example, CYFS and family court considers that pedophiles have a right to contact with their children whereas mothers with “mental problems” can have their children permanently removed without any meaningful contact. This is PC logic. If one has even an elementary training in anthropology one would have read Foucault, the right of taking a child (usually the first born) from the parents has been used by all conquerors against conquered nations. The removal of the child is the symbol of the impotence and powerlessness of the slave, it is a testament that if we can take your child we can do anything we like. You are nothing- in fact less than nothing. This symbolic social castration is the ultimate unconscious symbolic subjugation of the modern citizen. Today it is practiced on the weak and defenseless; tomorrow it will be extended to reach all citizens. Logically, having no right to raise your children is tantamount to having no rights at all.

Let us look further at the irony of this -people would be shocked to hear of a state which forbids mentally ill people to bear children. That state would be condemned. Yet no one even points to the irony that in new Zealand your child can be removed just because a psychologist thinks you “may” be mentally ill or “improper” parent. So you can have a child if you are considered mentally ill but you are not allowed to raise them. This is one of society’s logical fallacies a skeleton kept ina dark cupboard and not spoken about. In fact the removal of children are in many cases based on value judgements that the parents are alcoholics, mentally ill, poor parents or some other undefined factor without defining accurately what these things mean. It is nothing else than a social sterilization. I am talking about cases where there is no proven physical harm to the child and no actual psychological harm but CYFS is not happy about the environment in which the child is raised. These are in fact the majority of cases.

So now I wish to provide you with at least some guidance on how to fight the succubus. I have deliberately left out legal terminology and case law due to this being a hands-on paper on the basics. However, in time I will try to reference this with links to the relevant web sites and cases:

STEP-1 THE Family Group Conference(FGC)

Apart from the emergency powers CYFS have to remove children when they are in imminent danger, most removals occur after a family group conference is held. That is because a declaration by the court authorizing removal can only be made after CYFS convenes and holds and FGC.

There is a vast amount of literature and policy statements written by CYFS as to how the FGC is such a wonderful, fair and democratic process. This is almost always window dressing and in many cases the FGC is simply an informal precursor to removing the child.

Many parents have said that If you let CYFS run the FGC in the way they want to you will find yourself misquoted, misstated and having been on the record as agreeing to the fact that your child is at risk from you. Then it becomes impossible to change the record. This FGC is the window for the succubus.

For the record you have the following rights:

• To be informed of the exact reasons for why the child is in need of care and protection. • To have your family members attend including extended family. • To have the child informed, the consequences explained and the child’s views heard. • To have a support person and your lawyer present. • To view and comment on any proposed plan that CYFS proposes for the care and protection of the child. • To possibly ask for a second FGC • However, the most important purpose of the FGC (on paper) is to find a way to keep the child in the family if possible. That indeed is the statutory obligation of CYFS. Unfortunately, this principle is often ignored.

You must therefore prepare carefully for the FGC, insist on every right provided by the policy and legislation and take detailed notes because if you fail to do so, you will find a completely different account at court and you would be in an unenviable position of having to prove your case. Request an audio recording and if not allowed, as for reasons. Make sure your support person takes notes of everything and signs them as witness. Finally NEVER EVER AGREE THAT THE CHILD IS IN NEED OF CARE AND PROTECTION UNLESS HE /SHE ACTUALLY IS IN NEED OF SUCH PROTECTION FROM YOU. YOUR AGREEMENT IS INDEED ONE OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE POWER TO REMOVE.

STEP-2

You will now have a court date whereby you have to prepare a defence to the declaration. In many cases your child will have already been removed and access denied or supervised access imposed. This will have occurred ex parte i.e. without hearing your side of the story and in many cases based on incorrect statements by CYFS staff and officers or misdiagnosis or incompetent reports by CYFS psychologists. The court will undoubtedly believe these people over you.

In order to have a chance you must do the following:

• Control what you say and do, any signs of anger and protest will be twisted to label you as aggressive or mentally unstable. Appear calm, never meet with CYFS staff or especially with your child unless you have a support person there to record everything said. The support person must be someone who is credible in court and who is prepared to take notes. The best is a social worker from an outside organisation because they have the most credibility. All contact with CYFS should be in writing wherever possible.

• Get a social worker whom you trust or can find to make an independent assessment of you and provide an affidavit to the court as to your suitability.

• Find a psychologist willing to be an expert witness engaged by you, he will be able to give evidence as to the false and misleading reports filed by CYFS and to challenge any inaccuracies in the psychiatric reports.

• Find as many people as possible to be witnesses on your behalf. The evidence of people who have known you and can attest to your being a good parent makes it much harder to find against you.

• If you have a psychological condition, make sure that your doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist is available to explain the condition properly. It is a sad fact that a majority of people discriminate against and are prejudiced against people with perceived mental illnesses to the extent that they hold (secretly) the view that mentally ill people or depressed people should not be near children. This was view held by the Nazi psychiatrist who destroyed and sterilized Germany’s mentally ill and created an organsiation very similar in concept to CYFS designed to take children away from the unfit. This view has influenced modern New Zealand family law and psychology. Therefore someone professional and able to allay the prejudices would be a great asset. Of course such experts are hard to come by.

The following applications should be considered:

1. An application under the Official Information Act 1982 for the entire file. On many occasions despite this the entire file is not released. Third parties such as doctors’ notes etc should also be considered in a discovery application to the court. You will be surprised how much information you can get.

2. An application that the court allow your expert to access to all psych reports so he can critique them.

3. An application for access (urgent interim access).

4. If the child is of age and counsel for the child is not doing his/her job to ascertain the wishes of the child, then make an application that either your psychologist or a court appointed psychologist, or even the Judge to ascertain the child’s views. This is dangerous territory because depending on the timing of the application it could be that the child has already been brainwashed and has been told what to say.

Indeed on a similar note I have been witness to a case where a caregiver was willing to testify for my client as to the child’s wishes to be returned and CYFS threatened that if she did so she would be penalised by having her parenting “investigated”. This incident was carefully noted by the Citizens’ Commission of Human Rights.

STEP 3 -COMPLAINTS AND INFORMATION.

Document your case in detail but avoid emotional language, swear words and emotive phrases. Succinctly document the acts that have been unfair or wrong in law. At this stage you have the right to use the media and this web site but you must be careful to do so in away that does not break the law. This requires a number of detailed considerations. One possible interpretation of the family legislation is that you cannot talk about a case if it identifies the children or the parties. Nothing is stated about mentioning the CYFS workers and the facts of the case. I once had this argument with the Judge when I pointed out that the BORA permits my client to write about the case, the Judge ordered that I seek permission, I asked her for an order that my client is not permitted to publish so that I could appeal it. The order was never made because, I believe, the Judge knew that basically to forbid freedom of expression was contrary to law. You do not need a judge’s permission to express your opinion that CYFS breaches fundamental human rights and has done so in your case. However, at the same time you should follow the letter of the legislation by not mentioning the children’s or parents’ names. Try also to use formal language because the statute actually makes an exception that a case may be written about in an academic publication. This site could actually with stylistic changes become an academic publication and hence conform to the category.

Issue press releases so that the press can cover your case. If you knock hard enough, press attention can be extremely powerful, for example, David Bain’s case. In fact many of your cases are just as atrocious as Bain’s- children are imprisoned by the state against their wishes and torn from their parents.

The Commissioner of Children will usually write that they cannot get involved because there are court proceedings, making their role virtually nonexistent. While they are correct in assuming that they cannot get involved in the very issue before court the Commissioner can nonetheless get involved with CYFS’s wrongful actions which are not subject to court proceedings. So complain anyway.

Ombudsmen also have the statutory power to inquire into administrative misconduct and unfair treatment. Make a complaint to them also.

Amnesty international is an organization dealing with human rights and breaches. The same complaint should be made to them if there is evidence of rights being breached.

Human Rights Tribunal/Commission. A written complaint ghoul be made to them too.

The Citizens’ Commission of Human Rights is a body that will impartially and fairly investigate your complaint and give you access to some resources and provide assistance.

There is a principle that CYFS uses effectively- if you sling enough mud some will stick. This is used to devastating effect to paint a picture against defenseless parents who are often weak, traumatized and financially deprived. Expose this practice by joining together, sharing stories and getting statements of other parents who have been through the same ordeal. After a while these documented testimonials can be used as background support for your complaints to various bodies and courts.

Finally and not least in importance is civil protest. Form a group and protest your rights to get media attention and public acknowledgement. It is a sad truth that the majority of the New Zealand public still believes that we have one of the best fairest and most child centered systems in the world. Nothing really has changed since Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels, at least in New Zealand.

Step-4

If by this time you have come to realise that you cannot get any fair treatment from the system, and the family court has not properly considered your rights or is simply not properly dealing with your matters then you should consider one of the greatest weapons available but hardly used in family law in New Zealand -judicial review. Strangely judicial review is common place in England against CYFS with powerful results. Here, it is virtually unheard of in the CYF arena but it is really only the High Court that will properly consider whether the family court has properly considered international conventions such as the UNCROC and the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Thus the above conventions and rights are relevant considerations that must be taken into account. Some family court judges consider openly that they are irrelevant. Indeed I have been told by a family court Judge that UNCROC-the right of a parent and child to be together is not relevant in care and protection proceedings where the test is the best interest of the child. Clearly the Judge cannot be right because the best interests test must be read in light of and pursuant to UNCROC but this mistake is actually the reason why so many kids get removed. Judges apply the best interests test without really understanding what that means and that usually means what CYFS and the psychiatrists say it means.

Judicial review is actually far simpler than many make it out to be and relatively fast. Unfortunately legal aid is rarely available. Judicial review also has another advantage -you have an automatic right of appeal to the Court of Appeal, whereas in family appeals you must seek leave after the High Court has decided. This belies both the statutory rule that leave must be sought in family matters because most think that they are “unimportant”..

One must always remember that the case law and the statute state explicitly that a child can only be removed if there is evidence of serious risk to the child. This is conveniently ignored in many cases. I have seen some people who replace this with a vague opinion by psychiatrists that the parent has poor parenting skills I am not entirely sure of what this means because there is no definition of good parenting skills and indeed no possible scientific evaluation of parenting skills.

Why, you may ask, would a governmental agency wish to remove children from perfectly fit parents? Well you should know that for every permanently placed child agencies like Barnardos and CYFS get approximately $100,000 of government funding. The more children removed the more funding the more powerful the agency becomes. It is good for everyone, at least except for parents and children -but they do not really factor in the equation.

Step 5

It is of course understood by all that the higher one climbs the better the justice, but also the colder the air and the harder the path. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are the final New Zealand avenues. You have an appeal as of right if you file judicial review and it is rejected. The Court of Appeal actually works on principles and is more open to human rights arguments. It is getting to the Court of Appeal that is difficult.

There is a final avenue and indeed your whole case should be geared to this avenue, It is outside New Zealand, it is the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. New Zealanders have recourse to this commission if they have been rejected elsewhere, but you must exhaust all remedies available locally i.e. you must go to the High Court, Court of Appeal and if leave is granted, the Supreme Court.

The UN Commission has recently made a declaration that New Zealand has breached the UN Convention on Civil and Political rights in a case far less serious than many CYFS cases related to not giving access in a timely manner. The reason why more people do not bring cases to the UN Commission is that it takes so long and most people get destroyed by the process and give up somewhere along the way.

Do not give up. That is what the succubi want you to do and your child is the most precious gift you have. The UN Commission is free, it does not take much effort to draft a claim but you must exhaust all remedies.

Conclusion:

Although garlic holy water and certain sharp stakes can in popular legend destroy the succubus, the true destruction of the succubus can only be brought by someone with heart full of love, faith and strength in the endurance to complete the task. Love is the beginning, the middle and the end, without its power the journey of struggle should not be commenced at all.

Source by Evgeny Orlov

#seolinksdiv h3{ color:#000000; } #seolinksdiv ul li a{ color:#000000; }

More Marijuana info :

Marijuana

Should I Quit Weed Cold-Turkey Or Cut Down Gradually?

Defending a Charge of Public Urination

from 420 Growing News http://www.growing420.net/2017/08/10/the-cyfs-succubus-and-how-to-fight-it/

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HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

https://homeworklance.com/downloads/hist410n-entire-course-latest-all-weeks-discussions-all-case-study-midterm/

 HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

 HIST410N Week 1 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 1900: The Age of Hope and the Age of ‘Isms’ (graded) Here’s a statement to consider: “Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations.” Defend or condemn the argument by giving examples of the interaction between Western industrial powers and traditional, non Western societies. Were these contacts essentially positive or negative? ” DQ 2 The First Total War (graded) World War 1 is said to have been the first ‘total’ war. What does that mean? And what does it mean for people and nations trying to pick up the pieces and resume normal life?

  HIST410N Week 2 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 The Rise of Totalitarianism (graded) Compare and contrast the two types of totalitarian governments that arose after 1917, that is, communism and fascism. What were the origins of these governments, their accomplishments, and their failures? What accounts for the fact that the masses mobilized to support these movements? Elaborate. DQ 2 Nationalism and the Treaty of Versailles (graded) What were reasons that led to the ultimate failure of the Treaty of Versailles? What were the challenges facing the newly-formed League of Nations, and why was it so difficult to form a lasting agreement that would prevent another war? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 3 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Dictatorship and Democracy (graded) Analyze Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and the policies he used to rule Germany. Textbook tyrant? Overheated Nationalist? Or the right man for at the right time for the right job? DQ 2

 World War II and the Holocaust (graded) The following statement was taken from a contemporary account of Germany in 1939: “Though the Fuhrer’s anti-Semitic program furnished the National Socialist party in the first instances with a nucleus and a rallying-cry, it was swept into office by two things with which the “Jewish Problem” did not have the slightest connection. On the one side was economic distress and the revulsion against Versailles: on the other, chicanery and intrigue…Hitler and his party promised the unhappy Germans a new heaven and a new earth, coupled with the persecution of the Jews. Unfortunately a new heaven and earth cannot be manufactured to order. But a persecution of the Jews can…”How do you interpret this contemporary account of the persecution of people who are Jewish? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 4 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The Cold War: Who Shot First? (graded) The United States accused the Soviet Union of breaking all its wartime pledges and holding Eastern Europe hostage while trying to subvert governments in the west. The Soviet Union accused the US and its allies of trying surround and ultimately destroy it. War of words? Or was somebody telling the truth? And where do our ‘Isms’ fit in? In particular nationalism? DQ 2

 Cold War Buzz Words (graded) The Cold War its very own verbiage. The West had more than its share: Cold War, Iron Curtain, Containment, Domino Theory were just a few. What did they mean in this strange new post-war environment?

  Devry HIST410N Week 5 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Africa and the West (graded) What accounts for the rather late emergence of African countries as independent nation-states? Is there something peculiar about Africa that delayed its drive for independence? (Begin with a specific African country, and argue your case.) DQ 2

 Israel and the Middle East (graded) Why has the Arab-Israeli conflict been so persistent? What religious and cultural factors have contributed to the persistent state of unrest in the Middle East and, in particular, in what some people refer to as the Holy Land?

  Devry HIST410N Week 6Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The End of the Cold War (graded) What impact did Mikhail Gorbachev’s ideas of glasnost (openness), perestroika (restructuring) and demokratizatsiia (democratization) have on Communist society? Were these principles compatible with collectivization and a command economy? Did Communist leaders favor these principles or did they feel that their hand were tied once they were introduced into Communist society? DQ 2

 The not so Cold War (graded) It would be easy to dismiss the Cold War simply as proof that Capitalism was a better theory than Communism. Easy, but not the whole story. In order for Communism to be relegated to the dustbin of history, it first had to be proven that its struggle against Capitalism unecessary and thus irrelevant. How do the US and the USSR close the gap in the last quarter of the 20th Century to allow Communism to go out with a whimper and not a bang?

  Devry HIST410N Week 7 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Cold War Nostalgia (graded) In the years after the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar order, the world has undergone significant changes. Chief among those changes has been a perceived deterioration of world stability, not only in terms of economics but also in terms of security. What indicators could lead one to conclude that in the years following the collapse of the Communist world, things have gotten more dangerous? DQ 2 Brave New World (graded) So…the Cold War is over. Time to do a victory lap and celebrate the primacy of American power. But the celebration seemed short-lived, as there were plenty of other concerns. Nothing is as it should be. Our adversaries are now our allies, and our allies are now competitors. The end of the Cold War knocked down the Iron Curtain, but it also destroyed conventional economic patterns. Is the end of the Cold War proving to be good for world peace, but not so good for world business?

  Devry HIST410N Week 1 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study # 1: Jules Ferry Jules Ferry was Prime Minister of France as that nation launched its imperial expansion. In a debate with member of the French Parliament, Ferry Defends the decision to expand. Read his remarks and respond to the following questions: 1. According to Ferry, what recent developments in world trade have made it urgent for France to have colonies? 2. What arguments against imperialism have been raised by Ferry’s critics? How does he counter them? 3. What non-economic arguments does Ferry offer in favor of imperialism? This 2-3 page assignment is to be submitted to the Week 1 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Devry HIST410N Week 2 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study #2: Versailles: The Allies’ “Last Horrible Triumph” This week, you will read the comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the conditions of the peace which ended World War 1. You will find that document in the webliography. Many have argued that it was the way World War 1 ended which made World War 2 inevitable. Read the document and answer the following questions: 1. According to the authors of Germany’s complaint, how will various provisions of the treaty hurt Germany’s economy? 2. In Germany’s view, how would the country have been treated differently if the principles they attribute to President Wilson had been applied? 3. To what higher “fundamental laws” does the document appeal to in order to strengthen German assertions? 4. Do you agree with the authors of the document that Germany was being poorly treated? What response to their complaints might defenders of the treaty have made? http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/world/conditions_of_peace.htm Submit your assignment to the Week 2 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Case Study: The Democrat and The Dictator Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler both came to power in 1933. They found themselves in charge of nations still suffering from the consequences of World War 1 and the Great Depression. Unemployment in the US was nearly 25%, while nearly one-third of Germany’s workforce had been idled. Americans and Germans had opted for new leadership in 1933 and were now looking to their new leaders for solutions, and perhaps a new vision of the future. Both FDR’s Inaugural address and Hitler’s first address as Chancellor of Germany have been analyzed for their similarities and differences. Now it’s our turn! In 2-3 pages, do the following: 1. Read both speeches and give an assessment of what these two leaders thought was the cause of the problems their countries faced. Provide quotes to support your view. 2. Using quotes from both speeches, tell how each leader intended to deal with: 1. Unemployment 2. Banking, finance and in general, the economy 3. Agriculture 4. Foreign Policy 3. Finally, in a concluding statement, tell where think these leaders find common ground in terms of their proposed solutions, and what you think their vision is with regard to the power of their position. Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300–400 words in length. Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information. Devry HIST410N Week 5 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech There are many ways to get a feel for the events of the 20th Century. One way is through the analysis of primary source documents. Few documents set the stage for the second half than Winston Churchill’s 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri. Officially entitled “The Sinews of Peace”, it came to be known as “The Iron Curtain Speech”, in which Churchill laid out the challenges for the West in general, and the US and Britain in particular, regarding what would soon be known as the Cold War. Your assignment this week is to not just read Churchill’s speech, but read between the lines to answer the following questions in a well written 2-3 page document: 1. Churchill believes the Soviet Union “desires the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” How might those expansionist desires challenge the Western principle of national political self determination, a cause it championed during World War 2? 2. Churchill’s speech acknowledges “Russia’s need to be secure on her western borders,” but at the same time it raises concerns about Soviet actions in Eastern Europe. Is Churchill being inconsistent? Or does he provide concrete justifications for those concerns? 3. In his speech, Churchill asserts “There is nothing they (the Russians) admire so much as strength, and nothing for which they have less respect for than military weakness.” If he isn’t advocating a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, then what is he saying? 4. Churchill delivered this speech to an American audience, but after reading it one might conclude it could have been given in any western country. Why did he pick the US? Devry HIST410N Week 6 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese Independence Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist? To many Americans he was. But to many Vietnamese he was a nationalist hero, and to even a few Americans he was that as well, plus a friend, and ally and a comrade in arms during World War 2. It may be hard to paint Ho with any color other than gray, and now, nearly 50 years after his death and 40 years after the end of the American war in Vietnam, even that color has faded with time. What we do have are his words. The link below will take you the speech Ho Chi Minh gave on September 2, 1945, in which he proclaimed Vietnam’s independence, and its arrival on the world stage. Your assignment will be to read the speech and provide answers to the following questions: Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300-400 words in length. Questions for exploration: 1. Ho’s speech proclaiming Vietnam’s independence contains a demand that the free world support that independence in part as payment for services rendered during World War 2. What ‘service’ did Vietnam render during that conflict? 2. Ho claims that Vietnam’s independence is consistent with the philosophical principles which the Allies claimed were paramount during World War 2. What principles was Ho referring to, and does he make references to occasions where those principles were reasserted? 3. In the speech, Ho mentions crimes committed by the French during their occupation of Vietnam. Which crimes, as you read them, were in your opinion most severe and justified Vietnamese independence? Devry HIST410N Week 7 Case Study Latest 2016 Case Study: Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech If the pace of improving US-Soviet relations seemed rapid, Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly would shift the process into overdrive. In this remarkable oration, which you can find by clicking on the link below,Gorbachev emphatically declared that all nations must have the freedom to choose their own destiny, that ideology had no place in foreign affairs, and that great powers should renounce the use of force in international relations. Review his speech and answer in essay form the following questions: 1. Why did Gorbachev choose the United Nations as his forum for this speech? 2. What did Gorbachev mean by “de-ideologizing relations among states? What implications did this have for superpower relations? 3. Why did he say that “force no longer can…be an instrument of foreign policy”? What implications did this have for the Soviet bloc? 4. What did he foresee as the future role of the superpowers in the world and the future relationship between them?

  HIST410N Week 4 Midterm Examination

 1.     Question : (TCO 1, 2) Analyze how World War 1 changed the economic, social, and political landscapes in the affected nations. Use examples to explain how the war affected men and women, government power, and the economy. Question 2. Question : (TCO 5, 6) Identify and describe the major cultural changes in the Soviet Union from 1917–1932. Give special attention to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1921–1928 and the first Five-Year Plan of 1928–1932. Use historical examples to support your answer. How successful were Stalin’s collectivization policies and the first Five-Year Plan by 1932–1933? Question 3. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Describe the rise of fascism in Germany. Indicate the conditions present in Germany that made it possible for Hitler to come to power. Then describe the Nazi persecution of German Jews leading up to WW2. Analyze how the Nazi government translated its hatred of the Jews into policies and practicies that in 1938 had forced over 100,000 Jews to flee. Question 4. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Compare and contrast the empires of Germany and Japan before the outbreak of World War II. Identify and describe the leadership qualities of their respective leaders. Make sure you use enough historical details to support your answer.

[peggydecker-blog]

HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

https://homeworklance.com/downloads/hist410n-entire-course-latest-all-weeks-discussions-all-case-study-midterm/

 HIST410N Entire course latest all weeks discussions all case study Midterm

 HIST410N Week 1 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 1900: The Age of Hope and the Age of ‘Isms’ (graded) Here’s a statement to consider: “Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations.” Defend or condemn the argument by giving examples of the interaction between Western industrial powers and traditional, non Western societies. Were these contacts essentially positive or negative? ” DQ 2 The First Total War (graded) World War 1 is said to have been the first ‘total’ war. What does that mean? And what does it mean for people and nations trying to pick up the pieces and resume normal life?

  HIST410N Week 2 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1 The Rise of Totalitarianism (graded) Compare and contrast the two types of totalitarian governments that arose after 1917, that is, communism and fascism. What were the origins of these governments, their accomplishments, and their failures? What accounts for the fact that the masses mobilized to support these movements? Elaborate. DQ 2 Nationalism and the Treaty of Versailles (graded) What were reasons that led to the ultimate failure of the Treaty of Versailles? What were the challenges facing the newly-formed League of Nations, and why was it so difficult to form a lasting agreement that would prevent another war? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 3 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Dictatorship and Democracy (graded) Analyze Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and the policies he used to rule Germany. Textbook tyrant? Overheated Nationalist? Or the right man for at the right time for the right job? DQ 2

 World War II and the Holocaust (graded) The following statement was taken from a contemporary account of Germany in 1939: “Though the Fuhrer’s anti-Semitic program furnished the National Socialist party in the first instances with a nucleus and a rallying-cry, it was swept into office by two things with which the “Jewish Problem” did not have the slightest connection. On the one side was economic distress and the revulsion against Versailles: on the other, chicanery and intrigue…Hitler and his party promised the unhappy Germans a new heaven and a new earth, coupled with the persecution of the Jews. Unfortunately a new heaven and earth cannot be manufactured to order. But a persecution of the Jews can…”How do you interpret this contemporary account of the persecution of people who are Jewish? Elaborate.

  Devry HIST410N Week 4 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The Cold War: Who Shot First? (graded) The United States accused the Soviet Union of breaking all its wartime pledges and holding Eastern Europe hostage while trying to subvert governments in the west. The Soviet Union accused the US and its allies of trying surround and ultimately destroy it. War of words? Or was somebody telling the truth? And where do our ‘Isms’ fit in? In particular nationalism? DQ 2

 Cold War Buzz Words (graded) The Cold War its very own verbiage. The West had more than its share: Cold War, Iron Curtain, Containment, Domino Theory were just a few. What did they mean in this strange new post-war environment?

  Devry HIST410N Week 5 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Africa and the West (graded) What accounts for the rather late emergence of African countries as independent nation-states? Is there something peculiar about Africa that delayed its drive for independence? (Begin with a specific African country, and argue your case.) DQ 2

 Israel and the Middle East (graded) Why has the Arab-Israeli conflict been so persistent? What religious and cultural factors have contributed to the persistent state of unrest in the Middle East and, in particular, in what some people refer to as the Holy Land?

  Devry HIST410N Week 6Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 The End of the Cold War (graded) What impact did Mikhail Gorbachev’s ideas of glasnost (openness), perestroika (restructuring) and demokratizatsiia (democratization) have on Communist society? Were these principles compatible with collectivization and a command economy? Did Communist leaders favor these principles or did they feel that their hand were tied once they were introduced into Communist society? DQ 2

 The not so Cold War (graded) It would be easy to dismiss the Cold War simply as proof that Capitalism was a better theory than Communism. Easy, but not the whole story. In order for Communism to be relegated to the dustbin of history, it first had to be proven that its struggle against Capitalism unecessary and thus irrelevant. How do the US and the USSR close the gap in the last quarter of the 20th Century to allow Communism to go out with a whimper and not a bang?

  Devry HIST410N Week 7 Discussion DQ 1 & DQ 2 Latest 2016  DQ 1

 Cold War Nostalgia (graded) In the years after the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar order, the world has undergone significant changes. Chief among those changes has been a perceived deterioration of world stability, not only in terms of economics but also in terms of security. What indicators could lead one to conclude that in the years following the collapse of the Communist world, things have gotten more dangerous? DQ 2 Brave New World (graded) So…the Cold War is over. Time to do a victory lap and celebrate the primacy of American power. But the celebration seemed short-lived, as there were plenty of other concerns. Nothing is as it should be. Our adversaries are now our allies, and our allies are now competitors. The end of the Cold War knocked down the Iron Curtain, but it also destroyed conventional economic patterns. Is the end of the Cold War proving to be good for world peace, but not so good for world business?

  Devry HIST410N Week 1 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study # 1: Jules Ferry Jules Ferry was Prime Minister of France as that nation launched its imperial expansion. In a debate with member of the French Parliament, Ferry Defends the decision to expand. Read his remarks and respond to the following questions: 1. According to Ferry, what recent developments in world trade have made it urgent for France to have colonies? 2. What arguments against imperialism have been raised by Ferry’s critics? How does he counter them? 3. What non-economic arguments does Ferry offer in favor of imperialism? This 2-3 page assignment is to be submitted to the Week 1 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Devry HIST410N Week 2 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study #2: Versailles: The Allies’ “Last Horrible Triumph” This week, you will read the comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the conditions of the peace which ended World War 1. You will find that document in the webliography. Many have argued that it was the way World War 1 ended which made World War 2 inevitable. Read the document and answer the following questions: 1. According to the authors of Germany’s complaint, how will various provisions of the treaty hurt Germany’s economy? 2. In Germany’s view, how would the country have been treated differently if the principles they attribute to President Wilson had been applied? 3. To what higher “fundamental laws” does the document appeal to in order to strengthen German assertions? 4. Do you agree with the authors of the document that Germany was being poorly treated? What response to their complaints might defenders of the treaty have made? http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/world/conditions_of_peace.htm Submit your assignment to the Week 2 Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Case Study: The Democrat and The Dictator Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler both came to power in 1933. They found themselves in charge of nations still suffering from the consequences of World War 1 and the Great Depression. Unemployment in the US was nearly 25%, while nearly one-third of Germany’s workforce had been idled. Americans and Germans had opted for new leadership in 1933 and were now looking to their new leaders for solutions, and perhaps a new vision of the future. Both FDR’s Inaugural address and Hitler’s first address as Chancellor of Germany have been analyzed for their similarities and differences. Now it’s our turn! In 2-3 pages, do the following: 1. Read both speeches and give an assessment of what these two leaders thought was the cause of the problems their countries faced. Provide quotes to support your view. 2. Using quotes from both speeches, tell how each leader intended to deal with: 1. Unemployment 2. Banking, finance and in general, the economy 3. Agriculture 4. Foreign Policy 3. Finally, in a concluding statement, tell where think these leaders find common ground in terms of their proposed solutions, and what you think their vision is with regard to the power of their position. Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300–400 words in length. Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information. Devry HIST410N Week 5 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech There are many ways to get a feel for the events of the 20th Century. One way is through the analysis of primary source documents. Few documents set the stage for the second half than Winston Churchill’s 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri. Officially entitled “The Sinews of Peace”, it came to be known as “The Iron Curtain Speech”, in which Churchill laid out the challenges for the West in general, and the US and Britain in particular, regarding what would soon be known as the Cold War. Your assignment this week is to not just read Churchill’s speech, but read between the lines to answer the following questions in a well written 2-3 page document: 1. Churchill believes the Soviet Union “desires the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” How might those expansionist desires challenge the Western principle of national political self determination, a cause it championed during World War 2? 2. Churchill’s speech acknowledges “Russia’s need to be secure on her western borders,” but at the same time it raises concerns about Soviet actions in Eastern Europe. Is Churchill being inconsistent? Or does he provide concrete justifications for those concerns? 3. In his speech, Churchill asserts “There is nothing they (the Russians) admire so much as strength, and nothing for which they have less respect for than military weakness.” If he isn’t advocating a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, then what is he saying? 4. Churchill delivered this speech to an American audience, but after reading it one might conclude it could have been given in any western country. Why did he pick the US? Devry HIST410N Week 6 Case Study Latest 2016  Case Study: Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese Independence Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist? To many Americans he was. But to many Vietnamese he was a nationalist hero, and to even a few Americans he was that as well, plus a friend, and ally and a comrade in arms during World War 2. It may be hard to paint Ho with any color other than gray, and now, nearly 50 years after his death and 40 years after the end of the American war in Vietnam, even that color has faded with time. What we do have are his words. The link below will take you the speech Ho Chi Minh gave on September 2, 1945, in which he proclaimed Vietnam’s independence, and its arrival on the world stage. Your assignment will be to read the speech and provide answers to the following questions: Complete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300-400 words in length. Questions for exploration: 1. Ho’s speech proclaiming Vietnam’s independence contains a demand that the free world support that independence in part as payment for services rendered during World War 2. What ‘service’ did Vietnam render during that conflict? 2. Ho claims that Vietnam’s independence is consistent with the philosophical principles which the Allies claimed were paramount during World War 2. What principles was Ho referring to, and does he make references to occasions where those principles were reasserted? 3. In the speech, Ho mentions crimes committed by the French during their occupation of Vietnam. Which crimes, as you read them, were in your opinion most severe and justified Vietnamese independence? Devry HIST410N Week 7 Case Study Latest 2016 Case Study: Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 UN Speech If the pace of improving US-Soviet relations seemed rapid, Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly would shift the process into overdrive. In this remarkable oration, which you can find by clicking on the link below,Gorbachev emphatically declared that all nations must have the freedom to choose their own destiny, that ideology had no place in foreign affairs, and that great powers should renounce the use of force in international relations. Review his speech and answer in essay form the following questions: 1. Why did Gorbachev choose the United Nations as his forum for this speech? 2. What did Gorbachev mean by “de-ideologizing relations among states? What implications did this have for superpower relations? 3. Why did he say that “force no longer can…be an instrument of foreign policy”? What implications did this have for the Soviet bloc? 4. What did he foresee as the future role of the superpowers in the world and the future relationship between them?

  HIST410N Week 4 Midterm Examination

 1.     Question : (TCO 1, 2) Analyze how World War 1 changed the economic, social, and political landscapes in the affected nations. Use examples to explain how the war affected men and women, government power, and the economy. Question 2. Question : (TCO 5, 6) Identify and describe the major cultural changes in the Soviet Union from 1917–1932. Give special attention to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1921–1928 and the first Five-Year Plan of 1928–1932. Use historical examples to support your answer. How successful were Stalin’s collectivization policies and the first Five-Year Plan by 1932–1933? Question 3. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Describe the rise of fascism in Germany. Indicate the conditions present in Germany that made it possible for Hitler to come to power. Then describe the Nazi persecution of German Jews leading up to WW2. Analyze how the Nazi government translated its hatred of the Jews into policies and practicies that in 1938 had forced over 100,000 Jews to flee. Question 4. Question : (TCO 5, 11) Compare and contrast the empires of Germany and Japan before the outbreak of World War II. Identify and describe the leadership qualities of their respective leaders. Make sure you use enough historical details to support your answer.

[esttna]

New Beginning.

January 21, 2017 Los Angeles County Museum of Arts

I am officially restarting with Tumblr, as I have finally decided to share publicly my moments on the blog once again.

I started way back in 2010 when I was in my sophomore in high school. I was still using my other page etsnshne that now has turned into a re-blogging site of erratic posts from numerous profound and extraordinary bloggers out there. Of course, all the reposts on the mentioned page still reflect my inner thoughts and feelings I want to convey to people sincerely. Unfortunately, I had to stop blogging as I had reached partially the “climax” of my life’s story. But I considered multiple reasons and excuses on why I had stopped doing so. Perhaps, because I got worn out of typing and telling stories on a site that I knew for a fact gets to be read by no one. And also because my grammar was immensely poor—it still is. I mean, let’s be real. I am no native so, pardon if you happen to see any mistakes as you proceed reading the following sentences. Yet, I still treasure those hysterical entries of mine—a proof of my advancement to this contemporary day compared to when I was about 13. 

But most certainly, I thought of three main reasons why I actually stopped sharing my personal experiences with the public. I felt immense fear. I was frightened—frightened of my changing self, the monstrous media, and the potential prejudices of others.

So much had happened these past few years in my life. I got busy with school and life in general. As you may not know, I—along with my dear brother—moved to the New World about 2 years ago. This was no decision of mine nor of my brother, but of our parents. They reasoned, “it’s for the better.”  Growing up Asian and in a really traditional family, my brother and I as kids had no power to defy the wishes of our parents at all unless we are stable enough to be kicked outside of the house and live our own.  Of course, that was not the case during that period of time, so I had decided to stop attending my university in the Philippines and re-start life from real scratch. In all honesty, I did not mind for I live by the cliché saying parents know best. Gladly, after years of getting ourselves adjusted to the new country besides working like any other American young adults, both my brother (Karl) and I are also finishing schools at the same time: I’m in my sophomore year in college (again) and he’s graduating high school soon.

Of course, it was given that changing the environment also meant changing the people around—new place, new faces. And in the beginning, I found myself in a very difficult situation. Coping is no joke. Because I am an introvert (so I had been told after I took a temperament test in one of the workshops I participated in school), I don’t really like partaking into people’s conversations unless I am being asked directly of my opinion, sure. But no. I do not like jumping-in, which then to others seems as if I am a very reserved and quiet person (I am not. I can really be annoying). And trust me, it’s not that I do not want to hang out with people. I adore being surrounded by people and I love socializing. I am somehow just bad at it. Nevertheless, I guess it just takes time for me to blend in and be with the crowd. Contrariwise, I am no doubt affable and considerate. Yet, I found myself in a difficulty of making friends in such a diverse state especially in here California. I was having a culture shock and it was overwhelming. It took me a year to finally open up my wings and get out of my cave. But more so, having many unexpected and unwanted episodes occurred in my life after moving to the New World, I lost confidence. So, I hid. For a year or two, I was on hiatus from my family and “friends” on social media.

It was during this time, however, that I also happened to realize that SNS is not everything. It is something, yes, but not everything. At some point, it makes people’s lives miserable. It changes peoples’ views on egotism and foolishness and interchanges those words with beautiful, goddess, and cool. Also, the rare-but-existing “fake news” concerns the public now and the exaggeration of simple circumstances get many folks to react briefly and ragingly without digging facts and hearing sides.  Although, I have accepted that self-doubts can come across from time to time to anyone in this world and only through “likes” and comments individuals can get their own sense and form of validation. Nonetheless, social media adds enormous pressure to the individuals. Indeed, it is place where people already have judged & misjudged others base on the profiles perfectly advertised. So much façade.

Of course, the opinion of others cannot be neglected. Our generation has been molded as people of the society that are entitled to freedom of everything including speech. Yet, this right has been misinterpreted and abused often by the many people who let anger and hatred blind reason. At the end of the day, it is true that the citizens of the world have become unstoppable and frankly, quite scary. And as I admit that my generation has been nurtured and cherished as growing poor students—including myself—ignorance has become really a bliss.

In my case, I have come to the conclusion that I finally overcame my sense of self-scarcity and confinement. Having been feeding my self-ego through posts and likes in my SNS accounts these past recent months, I realized one thing: that life will always be imperfect no matter what and that people (including myself) will always feel imperfect in so many ways anytime. People will always need some sort of validation and some “things” to feed their egos. And I think that this should be perfectly normal. I have accepted this idea and thus, I decided to look compliments as some sort of candy to make me improve myself more and my ego to obtain that little confidence despite knowing my flaws. These two combined, I think, is an encouragement for me to do better each day. I guess, sometimes it is okay to be in the illusion of something as long as we know how to go back and give importance to reality again.

Ultimately, despite my strong realizations and aforementioned opinions, I am back with the netizens. This time, however, I will not let the aforesaid reasons that held me back in believing fully in myself before affect me now once again. Indeed, I was soul-searching the previous years. But now, I have finally found my soul—although still weak and growing, but definitely have been found by me which is all that matters. So, I am not afraid of exposing myself anymore. I shouldn’t be. And I will try not to if I suddenly feel otherwise. Although, it is good to remind myself that exposure has its own restrictions to some extent. Nonetheless, even though ego can mostly be negative as it is usually perceived, the ego can be good if the individual knows how to manipulate it. 

This blog will be with a purpose of sharing my stories—not that people will take an interest—to advertise the places I have been to, things I find interesting, a little bit of my personal moments and thoughts, perhaps, including photos and/or videos (if present) too. Doing this for myself will satisfy me greatly knowing that I will have stories to laugh and cherish in the future as I look back.  

Thanks for the patience in reading this.

xo,

-Y.

[dailyofficereadings]

Daily Office Readings January 06, 2019 at 11:00PM

Psalm 103

Psalm 103

Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness

Of David.

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live[a] so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word. 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Footnotes:

Psalm 103:5 Meaning of Heb uncertain

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 114-115

Psalm 114

God’s Wonders at the Exodus

1 When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became God’s[a] sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

3 The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.

5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? 6 O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.

Psalm 115

The Impotence of Idols and the Greatness of God

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. 8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; 13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great.

14 May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time on and forevermore. Praise the Lord!

Footnotes:

Psalm 114:2 Heb his

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Isaiah 52:3-6

3 For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Revelation 2:1-7

The Message to Ephesus

2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

2 “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

John 2:1-11

The Wedding at Cana

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.