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Video Game Industry Veterans Launch New Fantasy Platform for Sports & Esports

HypSports bridges the gap between sports and esports, creates
year-round engagement for all sports fans

ORLANDO, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As the consumption patterns of sports fans change and interest in
esports continues to grow at a double-digit rate, a new mobile product
called HypSports brings all sports fans together in a year-round,
competitive, social fantasy sports platform.

Designing the new app is a team of industry veterans, led by Mike
Taramykin, a video game executive who previously led sports product
development at EA SPORTS, Zynga, and FanDuel.

“The sports world is evolving in two major ways,” says Taramykin, CEO of
HypGames. “First, the way people watch sports is changing, with more
fans choosing to engage digitally and in an interactive manner. Second,
the very definition of what is considered a sport is changing, as is
evident with the rapid growth of esports.

“What’s interesting to us is that both trends are primarily driven by
younger fans. So we created HypSports as a way to bridge the gap between
sports and esports and drive competition for sports fans of all ages.”

Taramykin and his team are responsible for more than two decades of hit
video game development. Their first company, Hypnotix, created the
popular Outlaw Sports series in the late ‘90s before being acquired by
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: “EA”) in 2005. At EA SPORTS, Taramykin was the
vice president and general manager of the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise
and launched the first groundbreaking free-to-play versions of Madden
NFL. From there, the team went on to lead new product innovation at
Zynga (NASDAQ: “ZNGA”) and Fanduel, before returning to their
entrepreneurial roots with HypSports.

HypSports leverages its founders’ experience by utilizing proven game
mechanics to drive season long fan engagement of live sports. The way
the platform works is simple; fans visit the app daily to acquire new
athletes for their rosters. These athletes can then be entered into
lineups that compete directly against other fans’ selections. Scoring is
based on the real-world stats of each athlete, similar to fantasy sports
but with a variety of innovative improvements.

Unlike traditional fantasy sports, where rosters are either determined
upfront with a draft, or created daily from scratch, a HypSports roster
grows over the course of a season, allowing fans to constantly improve
their lineups and their chances of winning.

Another HypSports innovation is that fans can benefit from playing
multiple sports at the same time because virtual prizes earned in one
sport can be used to benefit their rosters in another. With the help of
detailed stats and user-friendly features like the Best Lineup
button, fans of all knowledge levels can be competitive, and win. In
fact, more than 80 percent of HypSports users actively play multiple
sports simultaneously.

“We understand how to appeal to the digital sports fan because over the
years we’ve seen the industry from multiple vantage points,” Taramykin
says. “Our team has had a front row seat to the development of leading
console, mobile, and fantasy sports games, and that’s given us a truly
unique perspective.”

Currently, HypSports offers competitive play in major sports like
basketball, baseball, and football. Starting this summer, esports
leagues will be added as well so fans can compete using players from
their favorite esports teams.

The growth of esports has been massive. In 2016, an estimated 215
million people viewed esports coverage around the world. In 2014, more
than 27 million people watched the League of Legends Championship –
nearly twice as many viewers as the NBA Finals or the World Series.

Furthermore, the esports viewer is young, with 61 percent of the U.S.
audience under 25 years of age, according to 2016 analysis.

The sports eco-system is evolving and HypSports believes that the key to
attracting digitally engaged fans is making them feel like they are part
of the action, and not just watching from the sidelines. By combining
the proven retention mechanics of hit mobile games, the evergreen appeal
of professional sports and esports, and the naturally competitive nature
of sports fans, the HypSports platform turns spectators into competitors
and delivers year-round excitement to every fan.

HypSports is available to download today for free on the iPhone+and+iPad&index=1&md5=4803672c15704aa89b8685f1b3c76046″ rel=”nofollow”>App
Store for iPhone and iPad, Android+devices&index=2&md5=f15dd881cb0d8d2a2c9b10efcc5fdaad” rel=”nofollow”>Google
Play for Android devices, and on Facebook.

To explore HypSports, visit
For more information, contact Alan Byrd at
or 407-415-8470.

About HypSports: Led by a team
with decades of experience developing hit games, HypSports bridges the
generation gap between sports and esports by providing a social fantasy
sports platform that delivers season-long games based on popular sports
and esports leagues. HypSports’ unique combination of sports content
creates a next generation engagement eco-system for fans, teams,
leagues, and sponsors.

For HypSports
Alan Byrd, 407-415-8470


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Looking at a variety of different cards has helped me understand how different emotions are conveyed through the use of different medias and materials. I feel that the more celebratory cards have a wider colour scheme, using colours which spark a happy emotion. In comparison to this, I found that the sympathy cards use more of a muted colour scheme, an colours which derive compassion, and are more thoughtful in what kind of emotion is portrayed in the design.

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The Difference Between Stubborn and Tenacious

“The difference between tenacity and stubbornness is that one comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won’t.” – Anonymous

Stubbornness says:

  • I will do this on my own.  I don’t need help.
  • I don’t care what you say or what the data shows, this is the way it’s going to be done.
  • There is only one way and that’s my way.
  • It’s your fault.
  • You don’t understand the vision.

Stubbornness believes asking for or needing help is a sign of weakness. Stubborn is a child with his fingers in his ears, eyes tightly shut, saying “I can’t hear you!”  Stubbornness is obstinate refusal.

Tenacity, on the other hand, says:

  • How can we work together to achieve our goal?
  • What can we change or do differently to achieve a better outcome?
  • I need your advice.
  • Your support is valuable.

Tenacity works just as hard as stubborn, but welcomes and invites support from others.  Tenacity is open to ideas and suggestions and realizes that proof of failure is not failure; it’s merely an indication that a new path needs to be explored.  Tenacity is dedicated determination.

I know I’ve been guilty of stubbornness and chances are, it will happen again.  Latching onto an idea or a vision is a good thing, but when we refuse to share and invite others into the vision and the process, that stubbornness gets in the way of success.  Sometimes tenaciousness includes significant time and effort convincing others of the validity of the vision, but it’s worth the effort.

What do you think is the difference between stubborn and tenacious?

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Mexican Hot Chocolate & Chocolate Pie

Today’s delicious dish – Mexican Hot Chocolate

If your only experience of hot chocolate is what you get when you combine a packet of brown powder with hot water, you are in for a treat when you make this recipe.  Mexican Hot Chocolate is traditionally rich, sweet, and a bit spicy.  Some versions of it even have a small amount of powdered chili pepper incorporated for an extra kick.  I’m not that adventurous, though.  I like to use Abuelita chocolate, which comes in an interesting-shaped box, and has six paper-wrapped chocolate disks with sugar and spices added.

This hot chocolate can be served right after making, but it will be even better if you can let it sit a while, then reheat and whisk vigorously once more.  The extra time allows the spices to steep a little, and rounds out the flavors.  It keeps in the refrigerator for about 6 days, and this yummy delicacy gets better with each passing day.

If you aren’t worried about calories and want to make this hot chocolate extra-rich, use whole milk in place of 2%, and heavy cream in place of fat-free half and half.  If you want to make it into an adult beverage, add a tablespoon of brandy or crème de cacao to each cup.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

  • 5 1/2 cups 2% Milk
  • 2 Tablets Abuelita Chocolate (about 90 grams each)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup fat-free half and half

Pour milk into microwave-safe bowl.  Add Abuelita tablets, cinnamon, and ginger.  Microwave 3 minutes, then stir.  Microwave 3 more minutes, then stir again.  Microwave 2 more minutes, then whisk in vanilla extract and fat-free half and half.  Microwave 2 more minutes.  Whisk vigorously, until hot chocolate is well mixed and frothy.

Makes about 6 cups hot chocolate, or 6 servings (about 1 cup each)

Nutritional information (per serving):  271 calories, 9 grams fat, 5.5 grams saturated fat, 8 grams protein, 37 grams carbohydrate, 37 grams sugars, 0 grams fiber, 19 milligrams cholesterol, 121 milligrams sodium

 Cost per serving:   90 cents

 Preparation time:  15 minutes

What happens next?

 hot-chocolate-to-save-for-laterI store leftover Mexican Hot Chocolate in the refrigerator in small plastic jugs or canning jars – anything microwaveable with a secure lid will work.  To reheat, remove lid or vent lid, then microwave for 1 minute.  Cap or close the container and shake hot chocolate well.  Remove lid or vent, and microwave another minute, then cover and shake well again.  Repeat until hot chocolate is steamy and you are ready to serve it  Give it a good shake before serving.

This hot chocolate can be made into a wonderful chocolate pie, so I usually put aside 2 servings (a little less than 2 cups).  As long as I make the pie within 4 days, it is fine to keep the hot chocolate in the refrigerator.  This hot chocolate can be frozen too.  When thawed, it will have separated, but this is easily remedied by warming it up and shaking it well.

Another day’s delicious dish – Chocolate Pie

Some unsweetened cocoa powder is added to the leftover Mexican Hot Chocolate, along with sugar and thickening and enriching agents, to give you a delectable, silky pie filling.  It makes a great counterpoint to the crunchy chocolate graham cracker crust and rich whipped cream topping.

Don’t skip the step of covering the surface of the completed pie with plastic wrap – that’s how you keep a tough skin from forming on the top.  It takes longer for the filling to completely cool, but it stays uniformly smooth.

If you prefer it, you can substitute vanilla extract for almond extract.  If you don’t want to use butter, you can substitute coconut oil in the crust and in the filling.  Finally, you can buy graham cracker crumbs or crush up your own graham crackers for the crust.  The job is easy if you put the graham crackers in a zip-top bag and use a rolling pin to get the crumbs as small as possible.

If you don’t have leftover Mexican Hot Chocolate, you can still make this recipe.  Heat 1 3/4 cups 2% milk with 2 ounces baking chocolate, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a dash of cinnamon and ginger.  When chocolate is completely melted, whisk mixture well and you are ready to go on with making a chocolate pie.

Chocolate Pie

  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 3 ounces, or 6 sheets, crushed)
  • 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 stick)
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

  • 2 servings (about 2 cups) Mexican Hot Chocolate
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 Tablespoon almond extract

  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

To make crust, turn oven on to 375 degrees.  Mix together graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, and sugar in a medium bowl.  Combine melted butter and almond extract, then pour liquid over dry mixture.  Stir together.  Press mixture over the bottom and up the sides of a 8″ or 9” pie plate.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

To make filling, heat Mexican Hot Chocolate in microwave for 1 minute, then stir well.   Combine sugar, cocoa powder, flour, and cornstarch in a medium bowl.  Whisk in half of hot chocolate to make a smooth mixture, then whisk in the rest.  Microwave mixture for 4 minutes, stopping each minute to whisk and scrape down sides of bowl.  Hot mixture should be thick.  Beat eggs in a smaller bowl.  Temper eggs by whisking in a few spoonfuls of the hot mixture, one at a time.  Carefully add tempered egg mixture to hot mixture, whisking until completely combined and smooth.  Scrape down bowl and microwave 1 minute.  Add butter and almond extract and whisk again until completely smooth.  Scrape down bowl and let stand 15 minutes.  Whisk once more, then pour filling into baked crust.  Cover surface of pie filling with plastic wrap, making sure plastic is actually touching the filling, and refrigerate pie at least 3 hours.

Before serving pie, whip together cream and sugar until soft peaks form.  Top each piece with a heaping spoonful of whipped cream.

Makes 8 servings

Nutritional information (per serving):   270 calories, 14 grams fat, 7.5 grams saturated fat, 4 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrate, 21 grams sugars, 1 gram fiber, 82 milligrams cholesterol, 145 milligrams sodium

 Cost per serving:  85 cents

 Preparation time:  45 minutes

Chilling time:  at least 3 hours

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Blonde Brownies

This is a favourite of the white chocolate lovers in my family – I hope you all like it too! I have it on good authority that the corners are the best bits 🙂

  • 230g butter
  • 240g dark brown sugar – I use Dark Cane Sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract/paste
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten in a small bowl
  • 280g flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 250g white chocolate, chopped as you wish
  • 4-5 tablespoon cranberries

Preheat your oven to 180°c or 160°c if using fan bake. Prepare your baking pan by lining it with baking paper (I use baking paper all of the time rather than buttering and dusting with flour)

Melt the butter in a pot and whisk in the sugar and salt. Add the vanilla extract/paste and whisk the mixture. Remove from the heat at this point.

Add the beaten eggs to the butter mix and stir well. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Take your time with this as you want to ensure everything is mixed well.

Leave the mixture to cool before folding the chocolate and cranberries into the mixture. (I have done this step too soon before and the chocolate melts – you want to have lumps of white chocolate – so good!)

Spoon the mixture into your prepared pan and spread out evenly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the outer edges are firm and the middle is still soft.

Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then cut into squares. Once cooled these  Brownies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week – unless the kids find them first!

Blonde brownies

Happy baking xx

Blonde Brownies

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In the capital of Canada, a country whose reputation for overall “niceness” is well deserved, open arms await all visitors. An outstanding collection of museums, art galleries, and restaurants and a plethora of markets and antiques to browse fill its gorgeous, oft-photographed streets, especially around the neo-Gothic Parliament Hill area and in the easily walkable downtown. In addition, there’s plenty of outdoorsy activities for active folks; live theatre; and even a little bit of history for the LGBT community—the first-ever gay and lesbian demonstration held in Canada took place right here in 1971.

Today, in addition to being a shining example of inclusion, Ottawa also has its own officially designated Village. Set on Bank Street and bounded by Nepean to James Streets and Kent and O’Connor Streets, this area is rife with shopping, nightlife, bars, plus gatherings of its many clubs, organizations, activities, LGBT events, and even support services. During Capital Pride, it’s also filled with boisterous fun that really showcases the diversity of the local community, the majority of which takes part in the celebration. Join in, but explore the rest of the city as well. After all, a visit here is bound to be a “capital” time.

Good to Know

  • Lively and actively expanding gay scene
  • LGBT life centered around the official Village on Bank Street
  • Generally inclusive
  • Gay marriage legal since July 2015

Featured Resorts:

Fairmont Château Laurier

Reflecting the confidence, dignity and style of Canada's capital city, Fairmont Chateau Laurier stands as a testament to this dynamic, thriving city. Located next door to the Parliament Buildings, the landmark Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa is a magnificent limestone edifice with turrets and masonry reminiscent of a French chateau. This luxury hotel in Ottawa enchants guests with its charm and stateliness.

Copyright 2017 Travel Impressions, Ltd. All Rights reserved. Users of this site agree to be bound by the terms of Travel Impressions Terms and ConditionsWeb Site Rules and RegulationsCustomer Internet Privacy Statement and Trademarks and Service Marks. CST#2029006-20, Washington UBI#602 425 801, Registered Iowa Travel Agency TA#758 Travel Impressions materials (including, but not limited to, names, trademark, service marks, logos, marketing materials, etc.) shall not be used, reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any way, except with the express written consent of Travel Impressions.


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Perfume as an Identity – A Short Musing

Perfume is something which has existed for an age. It is a strange human way of making themselves smell different, somehow more appealing.

Are you really yourself when you wear perfume? Is it akin to a mask, hiding your true self from the world?

Well, no. It is no stranger than using makeup, wearing specific clothes, putting your hair a certain way…

But at the same time it is intensely human. It is a mark of our society and in itself can become a mark of personal identity.

It can help a person feel themselves.

via Daily Prompt: Perfume

Classicist, Linguist and general appreciator of the world.

Tagged with: , , ,
Posted in Creative, Photography
2 comments on “Perfume as an Identity – A Short Musing
  1. Love the title…and content!

  2. mumsthewordblog1 says:

    Yep it can be your signature scent 😃🐻

Comments are closed.

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Day Trip to Cincinnati.

As a somewhat spontaneous, last minute decision, Marty and I decided to take a day trip to Cincinnati. We figured it would be a great opportunity to visit with his brother Grant, stop at Ikea for a new bedspread and visit with my aunt for a couple of hours. Three birds with one stone.

We left the house around ten this morning and headed down to pick up Grant. The three of us headed to Mt. Adams (a quaint little town overlooking downtown Cincinnati) and decided to eat lunch at the Mt. Adams Bar and Grille.

What a great selection! The establishment was full of character and really great food. I got the Southwestern Black Bean Veggie Burger. It was so tasty – the avocado literally melted in your mouth! Yum.

We then walked around Mt. Adams for a bit but it ended up being far too cold (and Marty didn’t have a jacket).

After leaving Mt. Adams, we said goodbye to Grant and headed to Ikea.

We picked out a really cute bedspread and some nice blankets. I’m really happy with them.

After our trip to Ikea, we headed to my aunt and uncles house and enjoyed a cup of coffee and almond cookies with them. And then it was back to Columbus (but not before stopping at Chipotle for a vegetarian bowl). A perfect end to a wonderful day.

One thought on “Day Trip to Cincinnati.

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Back in March I decided to go along to a Kettlebell class and try it out as it looked fairly easy and claimed to be a huge calorie burner. Wow, easy it was not! During my second session I had to leave halfway through because I felt physically sick and shaky, I was totally not fit enough for it.

However, I kept at it and soon I got into the swing of it. It’s a great class to attend as although fitness levels are different for everybody, you keep pushing yourself by going up in weights to ensure you’re still getting a full workout.

There’s some totally different classes to attend also, where I go it cycles between fast classes (where you have a set number of exercises to do and you do them as fast as you can and get a break after) HIIT Circuits (circuit training with specific Kettlebell and cardio exercises) and regular classes where you do as many of each exercise as you can within an alloted amount of time.

Although I haven’t seen any huge weight losses (I get wrong every week for not eating healthy when I get measured) I have seen a huge improvement on my posture and in my strength. I know for a fact if I get my head in the game the weight and inches will totally drop off. I just need some commitment.

If you’ve never tried Kettlebells I really recommend it, and if you’re in the South Tyneside Area definitely look up Karli Weir as she is amazing! However, one thing I will say, if you’re in a class where you’re using 4kg & 6kg bells you need to swap, even my first session I didn’t use those!

One thought on “Kettlebells

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Before the Manifestation

God cannot be rushed. He also does not joke with his promises. He uses his word with purpose. In addition,  he does not waste anyone’s time, including yours.

Whatever God has promised you is true. The manifestation will come   in due season.  Wait for it. Wait on him.

There is always an ideal way to do something. Today, I want to share with you on how to wait for the manifestation of God’s promise, drawing lessons from the conduct of an ideal model of faith, Abraham.

‘He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.’
Romans 4:20-21 (NKJV)

Four things are to be noted,here,from Abraham’s life as he waited for the manifestation of God’s promise.

1. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief:

Unbelief is not of God;it is not of the spirit. It should not be seen in the life of the new creature that is born of the spirit of God. Once you have received God’s promise, stay rooted in faith, rejoicing, because of the fact that he that has promised is faithful!
When you have faith, you won’t waver. You will be stable. You will be at rest. This rest will come from an assurance that God who has promised is able! Amen!

2. He was strengthened in faith:
Faith can be reinforced or eroded. When the action of the entity in whom faith is placed negates expectations, faith is affected negatively. Our God is stable! He is the same through all ages! His faithfulness is forevermore! Your faith in him should be a constant factor. No external variables should affect the state of your rest in the living one who has promised. Reading the word and meditating  on a verse that is very applicable to your situation can strengthen your faith. Also, sharing experiences with other believers can also help you stand firm in the assurance of God’s faithfulness. Hebrews 11:6 makes it clear that we need faith to please God. As you wait on him, do not doubt him. He does not lie! Amen!

3. He gave glory to God:
It takes faith for one to praise God for what is yet to manifest physically. Romans 1:17 says that the just shall live by faith. That faith then spurs expectation, which in turn spurs thanksgiving. It is a lifestyle of the spirit man! Remember, how our lord fed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish? He gave thanks first(which can also be considered as giving glory to God), then the increase manifested!(John 6:11) Believer, even now, begin to give glory to God for those things that you are expecting from him! Glory to him! Amen!

4. He was fully convinced that God was able to fulfil his promise:
Ephesians 3:20 contains Paul’s testimony about God’s ability to meet our expectations, even exceedingly!
Jeremiah 32:27 also features a question from the Lord on his own unlimitedness! No promise in the world can be surer than God’s. No ability exists in the world without the Lord’s knowledge. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that all authority in heaven and on earth are his! How able can he be!

Abraham received the manifestation of God’s promise to him, you can too! Simply, stay connected to the vine(Jesus Christ),and keep the four things discussed above in mind.

Congratulations in advance! I look forward to hearing your testimony!

(Photo credit:

Righteousness is a gift to believers! Although we did not have to pay for it, it came at a price! Jesus paid that price at the cross so that we could get it absolutely free. This gift is not tied to terms and conditions that require our inputs or works to make God give it to us. Jesus died and acquired it for us and has made it available for free! We only need to receive it by faith(Romans 3:22, Philippians 3:9)!

Again,it is a gift that has been paid for! So, we should never try to work to earn it! It is already ours, bought and delivered by the blood of the lamb! Faith should be our ‘receiving decvice’ for the gift, so precious, so free!’

Till the end of time, we can never pay for God’s righteousness by ourselves.  NO WAY. Can sin purchase righteousness? God forbid. Can darkness purchase light? Never. Our old nature(the adamic nature) carried sin and darkness. That nature needed a change that it could not afford, so Jesus stepped in as the mediator, making peace via his death to end the division that sin had brought between God and man, and purchasing righteousness for us(Ephesians 2:16, 1 Peter 3:18)! Hallelujah!

Humans that were cut-off from God can now boldly approach him without fear or condemnation(Hebrews 4:16)!

Remember, it is a gift! You do not have to pay for it! You are as righteous as Christ is once you have received the gift by faith! By human standards, we can never be as righteous as Jesus is. This is because before Christ came to die for us, we were already fallen and condemned(Romans 3:23). By his death and resurrection, he lifted us to his status of absolute righteousness! So as he is, so are we in this world(1 John 4:17)! Amen! We should therefore dance, rejoice and make joyful noise to God, for this great gift, throughout our lives!

Christ’s great love for us propelled him to obey the father and willingly die for us, his friends(John 15:13)!
John 1:12 did not talk about people working to receive the status of being God’s children. All they had to do was believe! All we have to do too is BELIEVE! Thank God, we, who are born again, have believed!

We must keep believing that Jesus is the son of God who has brought us righteousness that we do not have to pay for! He has given us the best gift of all time! Hallelujah!

This wonderful gesture of righteousness which has been fully paid for should always be in our minds and make us worship the father in Spirit and in truth daily!

We must share this good news of righteousness being a gift with our friends and loved ones who are yet to know about it. We must tell them that they can also receive this gift by faith in Christ Jesus!

As Christ is, so are we!

‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.’ Romans 8:28 (KJV)

Those who worship the Lord in the spirit and in truth do not worship him for material rewards. No. They worship him for something more; something deeper, higher and glorious! In essence, they are Jesus-centred.

Believer, your salvation is Jesus-centred and there must your focus remain! Hebrews 12:2 gives us a cue to keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith! In him, we have everything made of the best and for our best. Jesus has our best as top priority at all times! So, we must simply, rest, keep resting and never stop resting in him!

He has not called us into a life of uncertainty where worry and sorrow torment. No. He has called us into rest(Matthew 11:28), divine peace(John 14:26), and joy in fullness(John 15:11).  Amazing!

So, with him, all things will DEFINITELY turn out good – so good in a dimension that mortal minds can’t completely conceive! He is our way and in him is eternal life(1John 5:11,12), grace, and truth(John 1:14)! Hallelujah!

Jesus is love, and the best has he planned for us!

Glory to God!

‘Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.’ Galatians 5:1 (MSG)

As humans, our bodies need blood to stay alive. As believers, our life in Christ needs faith. Just like oxygen is needed for breathing, so is faith needed for righteous living!

Jesus has called us to a life of righteousness in him, a life that has brought us into right standing with God. This righteousness is not based on our works, achievements, or philanthropy. No. It is based on faith alone; faith that accepts that Jesus is the only channel to truly pleasing God.

Human effort at good living cannot get one eternal life. No matter how hard humans try to earn a status of righteousness, without accepting Christ Jesus, they cannot. Only by faith, which brings us righteousness in CHRIST, can we please God(Hebrews 11:6)! No matter how badly a person has lived, they simply become righteous once they accept Christ. Human logic cannot decipher how that happens. Still, that is God’s way of saving us through Christ. He said that his ways are different from man’s(Isaiah 55:8). Furthermore, his method of salvation is very different from humans’ perception of how to be saved from eternal condemnation.

Many people think it is by doing ‘good things’ that one can please God and get into heaven. Jesus has said that no one is good except God(Mark 10:18). He said that he is the only way to the father(John 14:6). Still, he said that knowing him brings eternal life(John 17:3). So, friends, you see, only by faith can we become and remain righteous! That faith in Christ is what should give us rest that we are eternally saved, and that rest should also really be evident in the way we live;how we dwell in the peace that transcends all human understanding(Hebrews 11:4, John 14:27)! Hallelujah!

Even as we start a new month, we, who are born again, should remain in that place of righteousness by faith! We should always keep our eyes on Christ and stay in him! We must not accept any doctrine that tells us to try to work to be righteous. That is a doctrine of slavery. In Christ, are we completely righteous, today and forever! He is the author and the finisher of our faith(Hebrews 12:2), our proof of righteousness, our eternal friend and the soon coming King!

This good news of righteousness in Christ by faith, is what we should and must share with others who are yet to know the way- Jesus Christ.

Forever, God be praised! Amen!

(Photo credit:


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Archive for January, 2017

The Next Step in Caring

January 31, 2017

David Swanson via WarIsACrime.org david@davidswanson.org via sg.actionnetwork.org
9:29 AM (2 hours ago)

to me
The Next Step in Caring

By David Swanson

Airport resistance is the biggest step forward by the U.S. public in years.

Why do I say that? Because this is unfunded, largely unpartisan activism that is largely selfless, largely focused on helping unknown strangers, driven by compassion and love, not political ideology, greed, or vengeance, and in line with activism around the globe. It’s also targeted at the location of the harm, directly resisting the injustice, and achieving immediate partial successes, including very meaningful successes for certain individuals. It’s gaining support from people never before engaged in any activism. And it shows no signs of any significant undesirable side-effects. This is a movement to be built on, and I have an idea what a next step should be.

Of course it is not at all uncommon for people to selflessly act for strangers. Much of the charity industry is driven by that sort of generosity year after year. But activist organizations are constantly telling themselves that this is not the case, for example that ending the bombing of distant unknown families can only be accomplished by advertising the financial cost of it or instituting a draft or making known the harm to veterans of the military doing the bombing. Yet when the peace movement in the United States has been stronger, in the 1920s in particular and also in the 1960s, acting on behalf of others has been central, as it was to the first big activist campaign, that begun against the slave trade in London, and as it has been in countless campaigns. Working to protect the natural environment is work for future generations. You can’t get more selfless or enlightened than that.

But what’s unique about this moment of sympathy and solidarity with refugees from nations the United States has bombed (plus Iran which it has gone after in other ways) is that it runs counter to U.S. government propaganda, it replaces fear with courage, hatred with love. This isn’t just love stepping into a void. This is a transformation into love from its opposite. This is why I think another major step might be possible.

When I listen to people interviewed at New York protests, or look at the signs they bring to the White House and to airports around the country, I’m struck by the expressions of love and concern for others, more than by the presence of partisanship or hatred for Donald Trump (though it certainly is a factor). And I’m bowled over by the widespread recognition of the lesson from history of the damage done to European Jews by U.S. immigration policy. Protesters’ signs indicate an awareness that Jewish refugees were rejected by the West, that Western governments met and refused to accept their mass eviction from Germany, that the U.S. Coast Guard chased a ship away from Miami many of whose passengers later died in the camps, that Anne Frank’s visa application was rejected by the U.S. State Department. I had no idea people knew these things, much less learned and applied a lesson from them.

Of course, some protesters have personal connections to those put at risk by Trump’s Muslim ban (and that’s what it is, based on his campaign promises and his renaming of the Global War on [of] Terrorism to the Fight Against Radical Islamism). And others find ways to identify themselves with those at risk, such as: “We’re a nation of immigrants. My great-grandparents were immigrants.” But this doesn’t make the movement less altruistic. Identifying with people in some way, even as fellow human beings, is a common part of coming to care about them and to act for or with them.

There are indications that this sentiment is not limited to those protesting and resisting at airports. The ACLU has never raised more money before. And check out this tweet:

John Paul Farmer @johnpaulfarmer

I’m 20 minutes from landing at JFK. Pilot just warned us about delays due to #NoBan protests at T4. The passengers’ response? Applause.

There are also protests happening around the world, outside of the United States, allowing us to build a global movement against global injustices even when those injustices are headquartered in Washington, D.C. And in Washington D.C. and around the U.S. we see unprecedented resistance from an Acting Attorney General and from judges — a group that seemed to be mostly asleep for the past 16 years.

And Canada, which has resisted U.S. wars, aided those enslaved, given shelter to conscientious objectors, and protected people from all variety of U.S. injustice for centuries, stepped up too:

Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada

There are elements of partisanship in this uprising that could hold it back, and of nationalism as well. Some liberals are not so much concerned about human cruelty as about Trump disrespecting their sacred U.S. military. Where were these crowds when President Barack Obama was setting records for deportations, or when he was bombing the nations that Trump is now banning refugees from, or when he was purporting to create the presidential power to do what Trump is now doing?

Our task is not to erase mistakes of the recent past but not to focus on them either. Our task is to move forward with what we now have. And I think the way forward involves taking one additional major step beyond where the resistance is right now. Once people have come to resist injustices to refugees from wars, to identify with them, to contemplate lives lived in horror of immigration police, to consider the suffering of family members in distant lands suddenly blocked from visiting their loved ones, it seems to be a quite achievable step to begin opposing dropping bombs on those family members. If you’re going to oppose harm to refugees, why not oppose the destruction of their homes that makes them refugees in the first place? If you are willing to question government fear-mongering, you are ready to question the government dogma that says more weapons sales and more bombs and more troops will make things better rather than worse.

If that step is taken, then this becomes a movement that cares not only about that fraction of suffering populations that finds some tenuous connection to U.S. shores, but about that whole 96% of humanity that lacks any such connection. Then we really have something new under the sun. Then we really transform U.S. policy. Then the trillion dollars a year wasted on preparing for more wars can be cut into a little bit to fund human and environmental needs beyond our wildest imaginings.

I was heartened by this recent tweet:

Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof

Number of US citizens who traveled to Iraq, Syria to kills locals on behalf of ISIS: 250. Syrians or Iraqis who carried out attacks in US: 0

I replied:

David Swanson @davidcnswanson

What about number who went there to kill locals on behalf of US military?

photo by Ted Majdosz

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World to Trump

January 31, 2017

AVAAZ.org: The World in Action

Mr. Trump…
Sign the Global Open Letter to Donald Trump by entering your information below:

Avaaz will protect your privacy and keep you posted about this and similar campaigns.
4,500,000 4,215,010
4,215,010 are united against division, let’s get to 4,500,000
With the Muslim ban, Trump has shown that the worst fears about his Presidency are true. Add your voice to the open letter below to join the resistance — then spread it far and wide:

Dear Mr. Trump,

This is not what greatness looks like.

The world rejects your fear, hate-mongering, and bigotry. We reject your support for torture, your calls for murdering civilians, and your general encouragement of violence. We reject your denigration of women, Muslims, Mexicans, and millions of others who don’t look like you, talk like you, or pray to the same god as you.

Facing your fear we choose compassion. Hearing your despair we choose hope. Seeing your ignorance we choose understanding.

As citizens of the world, we stand united against your brand of division.

[Add your name!]

Tell Your Friends
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Breaking: Nuclear fuel found “beneath containment vessel” at Fukushima plant?

January 31, 2017

Latest Headlines from ENENews
Breaking: Nuclear fuel found “beneath containment vessel” at Fukushima plant? — Parts inside reactor “no longer there” — “Search barely begun for fuel that burned through” — Workers probe underwater below plant for molten cores (PICS & VIDEO)
Posted: 30 Jan 2017 03:10 PM PST
. . . → Read More: Breaking: Nuclear fuel found “beneath containment vessel” at Fukushima plant? — Parts inside reactor “no longer there” — “Search barely begun for fuel that burned through” — Workers probe underwater below plant for molten cores (PICS & VIDEO)

Make it illegal for Trump to start a nuclear war.

January 26, 2017

Meredith, Global Zero globalzero@globalzero.org via mail.salsalabs.net
2:27 PM (1 hour ago)

On the heels of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved up the Doomsday Clock to 2.5 minutes to midnight. The Clock tells us how close the world’s top scientists think humans are to destroying the planet. This is the closest we’ve been since 1953, when the U.S. and Soviet Union were testing hydrogen bombs.

In a statement explaining their decision, the scientists specifically pointed to Donald Trump’s dangerous positions about the use and spread of nuclear weapons. [1]

Help us #RollBackTheClock and demand Congress stop Trump from starting a nuclear war.

We’ve already seen Trump make good on a lot of campaign promises. He’s issued 12 executive orders in 6 days, from censoring scientists to starting his “border wall” to laying the groundwork for a ban on Muslims and refugees. That tells us two things: He won’t hesitate to use the power of the presidency, and every dark promise of the last 18 months must be taken seriously.

When it comes to nuclear weapons, nowhere are his promises darker or his power more absolute.

We’ve plunged into uncertain, dangerous times, and anxiety about nuclear war is higher than ever. But with bold leadership and a rising tide of resistance, we can stop Trump and roll back the Doomsday Clock.

Starting with last weekend’s Women’s March, powerful protests have erupted around the world in response to Trump’s agenda. Our resistance is only beginning: Just this week, two brave members of Congress proposed urgent legislation (“Restricting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act,” H.R. 669 & S.200) that can stop Trump from launching a nuclear war on his own. The law requires a Congressional declaration of war before nuclear weapons can be used, except in response to an incoming nuclear attack. In other words, it would limit Trump’s ability to impulsively light the world on fire and move us back from Doomsday.

Click here to urge your member of Congress to support the “Restricting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act.”

We have a lot of work to do, and at 2-and-a-half minutes to midnight, time is not on our side. We can immediately limit Trump’s power and rein in this threat — but only if we act quickly and with resolve.

Meredith Horowski

P.S. — If you can chip in right now, it would be a huge help in the many battles ahead.

[1] – “Thanks to Trump, the Doomsday Clock Advances Towards Midnight,” New York Time: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/opinion/thanks-to-trump-the-doomsday-clock-advances-toward-midnight.html

Sent by GLOBAL ZERO | 1342 Florida Avenue NW | Washington, DC 20009 USA

This message was sent to rdaido@gmail.com. To change your email address or update your contact info, email us.

Defeating the White House Refusal to Accept Comments

January 24, 2017

David Swanson via WarIsACrime.org david@davidswanson.org via sg.actionnetwork.org
12:03 PM (5 minutes ago)

The White House has stopped accepting comments by phone or email.

So, now you can submit those comments without joining the White House email list or any other, and do so publicly for all to see.

Just go to: http://commentstotrump.org

Forward this email to everyone!

Help support DavidSwanson.org, WarIsACrime.org, and TalkNationRadio.org by clicking here: http://davidswanson.org/donate.

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Experts: US hit with sudden spikes of rare radioactive material from Fukushima

January 23, 2017

Latest Headlines from ENENews

Experts: US hit with sudden spikes of rare radioactive material from Fukushima — Has 15.7 Million year half life — “Orders of magnitude” rise in levels on West Coast — Much higher amounts than were detected near Fukushima plant just after 3/11
Posted: 23 Jan 2017 03:42 AM PST
. . . → Read More: Experts: US hit with sudden spikes of rare radioactive material from Fukushima — Has 15.7 Million year half life — “Orders of magnitude” rise in levels on West Coast — Much higher amounts than were detected near Fukushima plant just after 3/11

Why Impeach Donald Trump

January 23, 2017

David Swanson via WarIsACrime.org david@davidswanson.org via sg.actionnetwork.org
11:23 PM (33 minutes ago)

to me
Why Impeach Donald Trump

By David Swanson, FireDonaldTrump.org

What are the grounds for impeachment?

They will likely be piling up rapidly. President Trump did use Day 1 to advise the CIA that the United States should have stolen all of Iraq’s oil. But here is a place to start. We already have a president who is violating two clauses in the U.S. Constitution, one forbidding any gifts or benefits from foreign governments, the other forbidding the same from the U.S. government or any U.S. state. This is the result of Donald Trump refusing to separate himself from major business interests as past presidents have done. Those interests will also inevitably involve Trump in violating the STOCK Act which forbids the use of non-public government information to make a private profit.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states: “The President … shall not receive … any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.” This means that the President cannot receive personal financial gains from the United States government or from the governments of any of the 50 states while he is president. This restriction is absolute and cannot be waived by Congress. Trump is already in violation of it and will be more so with every law, rule, regulation, enforcement, or lack thereof that his subordinates, Congress, or any agency of the federal government enacts to the benefit of Trump’s businesses and possessions.

For example, Trump’s lease of the Old Post Office Building violates an explicit clause in the General Services Administration lease contract which states: “No … elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.” The GSA’s failure to enforce that contract is an unconstitutional benefit to Trump.

Or, to take a state-level example: since 1980 Trump and his businesses have garnered “$885 million in tax breaks, grants and other subsidies for luxury apartments, hotels and office buildings in New York.” Continuing or increasing those subsidies puts Trump in violation of the Constitution.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under [the United States government], shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” This is essentially the same ban as above, but applied to foreign governments.

The Trump Organization has licensing deals with two Trump Towers in Istanbul. Trump himself says, “I have a little conflict of interest, because I have a major, major building in Istanbul.” China’s state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest tenant in Trump Tower. It is also a major lender to Trump. Its rent payments and its loans put Trump in violation of the Constitution. Foreign diplomats have begun shifting their D.C. hotel and event reservations to Trump International Hotel. The Embassy of Kuwait was reportedly pressured by the Trump Organization to do so. Pressured or not, Kuwait’s business at a Trump hotel puts Trump in violation of the highest law of the land.

In November, there were reports (denied by Trump) that Trump had asked the president of Argentina for help with a building permit in Buenos Aires. Whether he did or not, and whether he receives that help or not, President Trump will be frequently granted or denied similar approval for his business ventures from numerous foreign and domestic governments.

Why punish a successful business man?

We can set aside the legality and morality of Trump’s business success, and the question of how successful he has been. A campaign to impeach him for his violations of the Constitution can hold the position that Trump is perfectly welcome to keep all of his businesses and loans. He just cannot simultaneously hold an office in which they create gross violations of the U.S. Constitution. Past presidents have sold off their assets or placed them in a blind trust. A blind trust would not, however, be blind for Trump who would inevitably learn of the approval of new towers or the sale of properties. Selling (and using a truly blind trust to do so) was Trump’s only option other than not being president. He chose not to take his only Constitutional choice.

Is this partisanship?

A great many people do anything political for partisan reasons. As I’m unable to put an end to that, it is inevitable that people will favor or oppose impeaching Trump for partisan reasons. But they need not. The above charges against Trump are unprecedented. They should apply to him and any future presidents who engage in the same abuses, regardless of party. Someone who voted for Trump as a way out of corruption should want him impeached as much as someone who voted against him for the same reason. Trump is now the worst possible “insider” — using public office for personal greed.

Is this morally worse than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking Saudi government and Boeing funds into her family foundation, and then working to waive legal restrictions on Boeing selling weapons to Saudi Arabia — weapons now being used to slaughter innocents? Some will think so and others not, largely along partisan lines. Personally I’m in favor of impeaching Clinton, Obama, and George W. Bush right now and imposing the penalties of a bar on holding future office and a denial of retirement benefits. But those efforts are simply not the same priority today as halting the presidency of the current president.

When I advocated for impeaching Bush I explained that if he was not held accountable his successors would expand further the abusive powers he had expanded. When I argued that Obama was in fact doing this and should be impeached, I was generally called worse things than partisan. But the longer presidents are allowed to act without a check on their powers, the more they will expand and abuse them. Numerous government officials and members of Congress would best serve the world by resigning. But the place to start is with an unprecedented and unique form and level of corruption in the single highest office in the land.

Is this personal?

A great many people focus their political interest on personalities rather than policies. They forbid themselves to praise a good action by a politician who mostly makes bad ones, or to condemn a bad one by a hero. They make heroes of whoever is not their enemy, and vice versa. They place greater importance on whether they’d like to be friends with someone than on whether that person will benefit or harm the world. Because I lack the strength to change this, many will support or oppose impeaching Trump based on whether they consider him obnoxious or inspiring. They shouldn’t and need not. President Obama oversaw activities that would have horrified his supporters had they not been so focused on his style. History does not look kindly on the impeachment of Bill Clinton for personal flaws, something the majority of the public opposed — while there were much better grounds on which to have impeached him. (History may also frown on Congress’s refusal to even attempt to impeach George W. Bush, something the majority of the public supported.)

Is the point to make Mike Pence president?

The question of who is worse, the president or the vice president, is a very different question from this one: Who is worse, President Trump in an era of total unchecked power and immunity, or President Pence in an age of popular sovereignty with the threat of impeachment looming behind every high-crime-and-misdemeanor that comes up for consideration by the White House? I believe changing the office of the presidency into one that can be lost for substantive crimes and abuses — a radical change from its current state — would be more significant than the personality, ideology, or party of the presidents who come next. I believe part of that significance would derive from the benefits of building the movement that imposes impeachment on a corrupt and partisan and reluctant Congress. Cultural change comes principally from movement building, and very little from the personalities of elected officials.

Why not impeach Trump for being a Russian agent?

Both an impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives and a trial in the Senate will require public evidence. The case made above relies on readily available and public evidence in great abundance that will grow daily, and may very well come to include benefits from the Russian government.

In contrast, if there exists any evidence of the Russian government hacking Democratic emails or of the Russian government giving those emails to WikiLeaks, it has not been made public. If there exists any evidence of Trump being complicit in those actions, it has not been made public. You may suspect that such evidence exists. If so, it could certainly become the basis for additional articles of impeachment once it is produced. Meanwhile the content of the DNC emails could arguably form part of the basis for a case against current or former civil officers among Democrats involved in manipulating their own primary.

Why not impeach Trump for helping to destroy the earth’s climate, or many other reasons?

I’m in favor of it, yes. But it should wait at least a week or two to allow the damage to accumulate. Removing all mention of climate change from the White House website is not sufficient. And the case will never be as easy a sell to the House of Misrepresentatives. The Constitution does not prohibit destroying the earth’s climate, unless we so interpret the preamble — or so interpret the mythical language that a militarized government has rumored to exist in the Constitution creating a presidential duty to protect the country from danger.

Impeachment is a political process. Individuals and cities and towns and organizations can demand it. Representatives can pursue it. We can impeach for continuing or accelerating the destruction of our natural environment, even if presidential predecessors did the same or similar. We can impeach for war or torture or drone murders or warrantless spying or proclaiming the needs to steal oil or kill families or ban Muslims, or for any form of discrimination or cruelty that we find sufficiently intolerable. And I wish we would. But which charges can clear the hurdles of the House Judiciary, the full House, and the Senate is not a simple moral question.

Why impeach Trump when he could prevent war with Russia?

Yes, Trump seems to favor deescalating the dangerous cold war created under Obama. He may favor this for corrupt or environmentally destructive reasons. Regardless, any steps away from confrontations with nuclear governments are highly desirable. But Trump’s vision is one of greater, not lesser, militarism. His preferred targets just don’t include Russia. And impeaching Trump for abusing his power hardly sends a message to future presidents that they should pursue more wars. Holding one president accountable creates a certain level of accountability in the entire government going forward. And that tends to move us away from war, not toward it.

Is the point to empower the CIA and the corporate media?

That might be the point of going after Trump over Russian hacking rumors. The result might be a failure to impeach if there is no evidence. It might be greater hostility with Russia. And it might be a feather in the cap of a couple of institutions worthy of mountains of scorn. But these are not issues when Trump is impeached for public offenses visible to the naked eye with no spying or journalism required.

Do you really think Congress will impeach a president?

Yes, it certainly might, especially as the evidence of high-crimes-and-misdemeanors accumulates and Trump’s popularity sinks even lower than its current record level — an effect that just opening an impeachment process has usually contributed to (Bill Clinton’s unpopular impeachment being an exception to the rule). But even an unsuccessful impeachment, like Truman’s or Nixon’s can have seriously beneficial results, including ending the abuses for which Truman was almost impeached, and ending the war and presidency of Nixon.

Do you really think everything is normal and nothing radical is needed?

I think all potentially useful strategies are desperately needed and that impeachment is one of them. Others are marches, sit-ins, petitions, media production, legislation, strikes, refusals to cooperate with illegal actions, protection of those in danger, peace initiatives, local and global moves toward sustainable economies, boycotts, divestments, foreign exchanges, art work, parades, etc., etc. But a nonviolent movement seeking to overturn an abusive government would fantasize about an impeachment provision if it didn’t exist. It’s the best gift that the drafters of the Constitution gave us. Much of the rest of the document is horribly out of date, and many of the best parts of it are routinely violated. Continuing to neglect the power of impeachment would be a terrible waste.

Do you really think something as radical as impeachment is needed?

I think it’s needed in much less extreme situations than this one. If it’s not needed now, when would it be?

Wouldn’t our time be better spent holding marches or blocking pipelines or burning limos or educating children or building a new party or designing bunkers or . . . ?

Yes, there are lots of good ideas and bad. I’d like to see all of the good ones pursued, with people putting their energies where their passions and talents lie. But we cannot ignore an out of control government. Taking it (not “taking it back” since we never had it) has to be high on our list of priorities. It is still what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it was 50 years ago this spring: the greatest purveyor of violence on earth. Leaving that entity in the hands of an attention-starved man who wants primarily to personally profit from it is playing with fire.

If I’ve persuaded you, or if you already agreed, please sign this petition: http://ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org

Help support DavidSwanson.org, WarIsACrime.org, and TalkNationRadio.org by clicking here: http://davidswanson.org/donate.

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Comment: We, with 4 billion year life of genes, are equal and free (familiar with all). We with all other species, who are also 4 billion years old, should not be slaves of Trump, Putin, Kim, et al. 99.9999@ of living beings must wake up and work for 100% life into future, avoiding nuclear holocaust, global warming, mass extinction, etc.

Impeach any despot, who pretends to be a leader of all, like South Korea did. No one should monopolize the limitless life, light, liberation, love!

Huge crane collapses on to Japan nuclear plant – Damages spent fuel pool building

January 23, 2017

Latest Headlines from ENENews
Huge crane collapses on to Japan nuclear plant – Damages spent fuel pool building – Area covered in mangled wreckage – TV: “Workers checking building’s functions to prevent radioactive materials from leaking” (VIDEOS & PHOTOS)
Posted: 22 Jan 2017 02:57 AM PST
. . . → Read More: Huge crane collapses on to Japan nuclear plant – Damages spent fuel pool building – Area covered in mangled wreckage – TV: “Workers checking building’s functions to prevent radioactive materials from leaking” (VIDEOS & PHOTOS)

Six Things We Should Do Better As Everything Gets Worse

January 21, 2017

David Swanson via WarIsACrime.org david@davidswanson.org via sg.actionnetwork.org
Jan 19 (2 days ago)

to me
Six Things We Should Do Better As Everything Gets Worse

By David Swanson

Here I am in occupied DC. The White House looks like a Green Zone. There was a time when you could walk up to it. Caravans of police cars and black SUVs zoom by with sirens blaring and everyone else forced aside. Do people look outraged? No, they grin and admire. We need more democratic perspectives. Here are six.

1. Get active around policy not personality. And try to nudge newly active or re-activated people in that direction. To take one example of thousands, we should be cheering more loudly for the commutation of Chelsea Manning’s sentence. And we should have raised a lot more hell than we did over the idea of locking her up to begin with — and Obama’s pronouncing her guilty before his subordinates tried her — and over all the other whistleblowers still in cages or facing persecution. More support for not bombing Syria in 2013, and more condemnation for arming proxies instead. More — hell, any — support for Trump deescalating hostility with Russia, and more opposition to his proposals to “kill their families” and “steal their oil.”

2. Recognize that the crisis is not new. It’s just ever more urgent, with environmental or nuclear apocalypse threatening. Obama increased military spending, dropped more bombs on Iraq than Bush did, still occupies Afghanistan, is now helping to destroy Mosul, and radically expanded presidential war powers for his successors. Each president does a lot more harm than good. Each should be protested and resisted and impeached and removed — but for good reasons, of which there are always plenty, not for bad ones.

3. Promote a positive vision. We can move toward a better future in which reduced or eliminated military spending makes possible what we don’t now even try to dream of.

4. Go local and global. Build power in towns, cities, states, and through alliances across borders. The latter is crucial for avoiding war and protecting the planet.

5. Take on Washington too, but recognize what we are up against. The activism that may have saved Chelsea Manning, delayed the bombing of Syria, prevented as of yet a war on Iran, and led to Trump campaigning on the idea that attacking Iraq and Libya was stupid, could do more if it knew its own strength. But the wars have now gone secret, outsourced, privatized, and taken to the skies rather than the ground. The lies have become slicker too, though that may be about to change. We have to up our game. A nuclear war is not one that can be criticized after it starts on the grounds that it costs too much money or hurts someone sympathetic or because the people nuked are not showing gratitude. We are also up against a permanent government sending troops to Russia’s border, facilitating a coup in Ukraine, sabotaging peace in Syria, and making recent accusations against Russia that have in some cases proven false and in no case yet been proven true.

6. Resort to the most powerful tool: nonviolence. You cannot expect violence to work on children, even presidential children. It does not educate or control. Children need attention, positive when they do right and negative when they do wrong. The CIA, “Homeland-” “Security,” and “Democrats” are effectively telling Trump that he can only be loved or respected if he joins in spitting in the face of a nuclear armed government. The people who found the one candidate who could lose to Trump are finding the one way to oppose his agenda that will fall apart under scrutiny if it doesn’t kill us all first. Let’s have no more partisanship. No more cults of or against personalities.

We need principles. Policies. Peace.

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Be a Part of History: Ban Nukes

January 21, 2017

Nuclear Ban Treaty Negotiation

Participate/Sign your name to your UN ambassador:


text:
Alpha Male

Note:  Mac was 15 years old this past November, and he was in a lot of physical discomfort.  He was still dedicated to my daughter, but he had so many problems that she knew it was time.  She had him put down a week ago today.  We will all miss this great little dog, who had a wonderful life and brought a lot of happiness to the whole family. I wrote the following story about a year ago.

The last Christmas our daughter lived with us, we got her a puppy.  He was the offspring of a friend’s tiny little Maltese and the neighborhood Dachshund who came visiting one day when she was out on a running leash in their back yard. This little five-pound momma had a litter of six finger-length pups, with all the varieties of color and markings you can imagine from such a combination.

Our daughter used to babysit for this family, and she immediately fell in love with one puppy in particular. When she first met him, he fit nicely into the palm of her hand. She talked about him all the time. That was in the late fall.

My husband got busy and built a crate for the pup, without telling our daughter, of course. Just before Christmas, he passed the crate over to our son, who stopped  at the home of the puppies and picked up the one our daughter loved.  He was too cute for words by that time.  If memory serves he was about six weeks old.

When our son walked in the door on Christmas morning with the crate in his hands, Deb was completely taken by surprise. She was in tears pretty quickly, and Mac the Dachtese became our entertainment that day and for many months following.

That spring, Deb got her first phone call from the young man she would marriy.  He was quickly a frequent visitor in our home, and Mac wasn’t especially thrilled. At four or five months old, Mac’s attachment to our daughter was very strong. When Aaron showed up, Mac would raise his little black lips and snarl. There was never an all-out attack, just the snarl.  Often, Mac would insinuate himself between Deb and Aaron if they were sitting on the sofa. We laughed. Well, most of us did. Aaron wasn’t so sure.

Although Mac was doing well with house-training, we kept him off the living room carpet  by propping a piece of plywood across the opening between the living room and dining room, exiling poor puppy to the back side of the house. One day when Aaron came over, Mac was especially unhappy. He growled and howled, but no one took much pity on him. We all went about our business.

In maybe fifteen minutes, I realized Mac was nowhere to be seen.

“Deb, do you know where the dog is? I haven’t seen him in several minutes.”

“Uh oh.  Better check.”  Deb got up and stepped across the plywood, checking first in the kitchen and then coming back through the dining room to the bedrooms.  I’d gotten busy with something else, so when I heard her say, “Oh, NO! Mac! Bad dog! NO!” I  had to go see what the problem was.

She found him in the bathroom.  He had spun all the toilet paper off the roll and trailed it all over the place.  Fun new trick.  But that wasn’t all.  In several places, this tiny little dog had dropped enough  doodoo to make a whole new version of himself!  Piles of it, all over the bathroom floor.  Then he had sneakered out to a corner in the dining room, leaving another pile in one corner.  When Deb found him, he was hiding behind the bathroom door.

“Oh gross!  Oh man!  I can’t believe this!  How could such a little dog have that much in him!  Mac, you little brat!”  As she cleaned up the mess, though, she began to laugh. And so did all the rest of us–except Aaron. This was  such a perfect display of alpha dog marking his territory, letting Aaron know who was boss, keeping Deb’s attention on himself.

Well, things are better now.  Mac has reluctantly accepted Aaron’s alpha male position, and has even  welcomed three new little people into the mix.  He and Aaron aren’t exactly what you’d call soul mates, but they do all right.

Friends At Last!

So I decided to mix up a DIY recipe for an all-purpose cleaner.  Simple ingredients:  cleaning vinegar, water, and a little baking soda mixed with  water.

What I forgot was that was the same kind of recipe we used to make volcanoes for science projects.

Everything went great until I poured the water/baking soda mixture into the  vinegar I had already poured into my spray bottle.

All OVER the place, including all over me!  What a mess.  I’m glad I hadn’t put in my aromatic essential oils yet.  But at least my kitchen floor is clean 🙂

The second try was more successful.  Mixed my ingredients more slowly, waiting for the soda to dissolve before adding it to the vinegar. Slowly.  In the sink.

The Note

Everything Changes

Walking down the street, you encounter a folded piece of paper on the sidewalk. You pick it up and read it and immediately, your life has changed. Describe this experience.

“Help Me!  555-6349”

Maddie stood with the scrap of paper in her hand, not even knowing why she’d stooped to pick it up.  One of those serendipituous moments?  Or just a fluke?

Well,  what on earth was she to do now!  Anyone with an ounce of common sense would toss the scrap in the nearest trash bin and forget it.

Maddie had never been famous for caution or common sense. Following her instincts, she pulled out her cell phone and punched in the numbers. She figured she was safe, standing in the middle of a sidewalk crowded with scurrying Christmas shoppers intent on their next purchase.

The phone range once, twice,  and the beginning of a third time when it was picked up. A breathy voice, whispering, said , “Yes?  Yes?  Are you calling to help me?”

“I found this scrap on the sidewalk,”  said Maddie. “Are you in trouble? Do you need the police?”

“Oh yes!  Please! No sirens, though.  They have to come quiet and quick. I live  right above where you’re standing, over the bakery. Look up.  Look up!”

Maddie glanced up to see a curtain twitch, and then the phone went dead.

She wasted no time in dialing the operator, asking for the police, and reporting what had happened.

“Ma’am, are you sure this isn’t some kid playing a prank?”

“I have no way of knowing that!  I only know the voice sounded desperate, afraid.  Please!  Can’t you send someone?  Quietly?”

“Okay, lady, but we’re going to need you to stay right there.  Don’t leave!  And I want your cell number.”

Maddie gave them her number, and backed up against the window of the bakery.  When the cruiser slid up to the curb, she waved to let the police know who she was.  One of them made a “stay there” motion with his free hand, pulling out his weapon with the other.  He and his partner opened the door to the apartment above and went into the buidling.

Maddie’s heart stood still.  She couldn’t imagine what might be happening right over her head.

Suddenly, there was a lot of  yelling, a loud scream, the sound of pounding footsteps.  A man in dark clothing came flying out the door, and Maddie moved purely on instinct again, sticking out her foot as he ran past her.

He sprawled, and the two officers were on him instantly, cuffing him and reading him his rights.

A woman  carrying a one-year-old baby came out of the stairway entrance, crying and holding the child as if she’d never let go. She spotted one of the officers talking to Maddie.

“Are you the one who saw my note?  You saved my life, and my baby as well!  That was my ex-husband, and he’d been drinking.  He was drunk enough that I was able to drop that scrap before he shoved me up the stairs. Thank you!  Thank you more than I can say for stopping, for caring enough to risk your own safety.”

Maddie’s life was changed.  She became close friends with Julie, met Julie’s brother and fell in love with him.

And yes, they all lived happily ever after 🙂

The Guilt that Haunts Me

Share a time when you were overcome with guilt. What were the circumstances? How did you overcome you guilt?

Elise fought the memories day and night.  During the day, she had to deliberately block them from her mind, replacing them with other thoughts.

At night, though, when she was asleep, there was no defense.  Over and over again, she struggled and tossed and turned through the events, waking up in a sweat, often with tears pouring down her face and onto her pillow.

Jed, her husband, didn’t have a clue.  She’d never told him, never revealed what it was that so often tormented her dreams and robbed her of sleep. She shrugged off her miserable nights with, “Just a bad dream.  I don’t even remember what it was.”

The lie compounded the guilt, of course. Jed didn’t deserve to have such a weak, deceitful woman for his wife.  He was a strong, godly man; a man of character and infinite patience.

“Elise, there’s something.  Something you’re not telling me, something you  need to tell me.  The sooner you do, the sooner we can get past this nonsense.  Why can’t you trust me?  Don’t you know that there’s nothing you could tell me that would stop my loving you?”

The tears would flow afresh, and she would always burrow her face into his broad chest so he couldn’t see the pain and confusion in her eyes. He would hold her, comfort her; but she began to feel a distance opening up between them. She knew she was the one who had to bridge the gap. Finally, one night after the dream was particularly vivid, she broke.

“All right!  All right, I’ll tell you, but you’ll never be able to love me again, and you’ll never want me in your life.  You just don’t know. . . .

“I was raped when I was 15 years old.  It was my own fault.  I went sneaking out with a man who was 25, and my parents had forbidden me to see him.  One night, when I met him at his apartment, he’d been drinking.  I didn’t know anything about that, because Dad never drank.  Anyway, we started to make out, and I was so dumb. . . .I really didn’t get what was happening.  When he started pulling at my clothes, getting really aggressive, I tried to tell him to stop.  It enraged him.

“It was awful.  He really hurt me.  And after it was done, he pretty much threw me out and told me never to come back, that I was just a stupid little girl and he needed a ‘real woman.’

“So now you know.  If you want me to leave, I will.  I wouldn’t blame you.”

Jed was silent.  He gathered her up against him, gently but firmly.  She could feel his chest heaving, then felt the hot tears he was shedding as they dropped onto her head and her face.  She was shocked!  Jed was crying?  Why?

“Elise.  My poor Elise.  It was NOT your fault!  Sure, you were wrong to disobey, to sneak out, to meet that jerk.  But it was HIS choice to rape you, and HE is the guilty one.  We need to talk more about all this, and if you think it will help we can go to the pastor or a counselor and get you some help to get past this.  But know this:  I will always love you.  You are not defined by what someone else did to you.  This changes nothing between us, except that I’m glad you finally told me.”

It took time.  Months.  But gradually Elise was able to forgive her attacker, to let go of her guilt, and to trust in the love of her husband and her God.

No guilt has to be permanent.

In non-response to the daily prompt, which held no interest for me today, here’s a story I’ve been thinking about developing.

“Write about what you know,” came the sage wisdom of experienced writers.

Well, good grief.  What did Ellie know?  Growing up in a preacher’s family wasn’t all that unique.  Being poor wasn’t, either.  Having parents who learned how to scratch and scrimp was pretty common for the baby-boomer generation. Some of those boomers, like Ellie herself, had applied a lot of what she learned from her Depression-era parents, and she and Trevor had managed to make a pretty good life for their family without ever becoming well-to-do.

There were lots of nevers in Ellie’s life.  Never been divorced.  Never had an affair. Never even been unfaithful in her thoughts. Never lost a child to illness or accident.  Never had a miscarriage. Never touched alcohol, never smoked a cigarette. Never watched porn, even after the computer era brought it right to her fingertips. Never ran away from home, never touched illegal drugs or got addicted to legal ones. Never had sex before marriage.

So what  was there about her life, and her experiences, that would make an interesting read for people who were used to watching the most horrifying violence in movies and on TV?  What could she write about love and romance that would appeal to people  who treated sex like  a casual event, and indoor sport?  What could she write about childrearing when her own kids had all turned out to be  normal, law-abiding citizens rearing their own families the same way she and Trev had done it?

Who wanted to read about people she knew?  People who went to church, believed in God, loved their country, and lived their lives the old-fashioned way—God, home, and country?

Wouldn’t they rather read about horrific murders, the evil minds of sociopaths who had no conscience, the sexual escapades of men and women who were physically beautiful but had no moral compass?  Look at the popularity of those Fifty Shades books!  Why, even some of her own friends claimed to enjoy the books and get all hot and bothered by the sexual violence they portrayed.

As Ellie sat quietly in her living room, hands busy with the afghan she was knitting, quiet music filling the room, she wondered why she had this strong urge to write when it seemed to her that she really had nothing to write about.   Nothing new, nothing sensational, nothing that hadn’t already been written to death by hundreds of other wannabe authors.

Write about what you know.  Hmph. “I know about being a normal girl, with hopes and dreams; making dumb choices, making embarrassing mistakes, floundering through the process of falling in and out of love; learning to curb my impulses, tame my tart tongue, train my temper.  I knew abour rearing normal kids.  Well, they’d all been amazingly smart. I never had the homework struggle that a lot of my friends did, because my own brood just didn’t need much help.  That had been a blessing, especially during the years I’d been a teacher in their school. “

She knew about hard work. Plenty about that. She was grateful for these senior years of relative peace, calm, and quiet. These years weren’t nearly as labor-intensive as her forties and even fifties had been.

She knew about going back to school at the advanced age of 50, competing with students half her age.  She knew about being a psychotherapist, and she knew about being thankful for how normal her own life had been compared to that of a lot of her clients.

She knew about pain, both physical and emotional. She understood suffering.  She was glad she’d started the counseling career after she’d been around the block a few times.

Still, was there really an interesting story in all of that?  In any of it?

Ellie’s eyelids slid cosed, her head nodding off to one side and her hands going still.  Her thoughts had opened lots of windows on memories long past, and her afternoon dream took her through one of those windows. Transported back in time, she found herself riding in the back seat of her dad’s 1955 Chevy, legs and feet pushing and shoving against her sister’s to keep a few inches of leg room as they drove through what seemed like endless miles of nothing.

Oh, yes, now there was a story.

Another Day on the Beat

Ripped from the Headlines!

Head to your favorite online news source. Pick an article with a headline that grabs you. Now, write a short story based on the article.

A suspected Oklahoma DUI driver plowed a stolen SUV into a cop and his squad car, called herself God as she was Tased and sang Christian hymns while handcuffed — a bizarre saga chronicled on the officer’s body camera.

I don’t really have a favorite news source, since they’re all questionable in my mind–liberal or conservative, it doesn’t matter.  There’s always more than one truth.
This article caught my eye on my Facebook feed this morning, and I haven’t read the whole thing, but it sure triggered my imagination. . . .
     It had been a long, tiring day for Luke and his partner, Chad, as they patrolled their beat in the racially charged city. It seemed to Luke that there was just constant, unrelenting anger and hatred bubbling up from the very pavement of the streets and sidewalks.  It was a tough time to be a cop.  It was a tough time to be a white cop or a Black one, it really didn’t matter.  You couldn’t do anything right, and there was always the likelihood of some  fruit loop out there taking a couple of head shots at him and his partner.  They knew they risked their lives every day.  It wore on you after a while.
     During the course of the day, they’d written up the standard traffic stops, dealing with  people who were either irate, nervous, hateful, or contrite. Sometimes, all of the above.
     Then there were the hysterical calls from people who had injured themselves and needed help RIGHT NOW!  The truly serious injuries, the nothing-to-it stuff, all had to be handled with professionalism and dispatch.  And of course there were always the groups of “I’m a tough guy and no cop can scare me” young hoods who were so brave that they could only operate in gangs.  Catch one of them alone and you had a different kid on your hands, scared to death and willing to rat out all his buddies.
     Well, their shift was almost over, and Luke was looking forward to home and a shower, and time with his family.
     Until the big SUV came roaring straight at their squad car from what seemed like nowhere.  Luke immediately hit his lights and siren, hoping to wake up the oncoming driver.  He  pulled his weapon out of its holster, ready to shoot out a tire or whatever else he needed to do.  At the same time, he tried to figure out what direction to swerve his vehicle into without doing damage to other cars on the road.  He quickly pulled to the right,  other cars giving him room, and the SUV whizzed by on his left, too close for comfort.
     The SUV kept going, so Luke did a quick turn-around and went in pursuit. He came right up on the  speeding vehicle, pulled alongside, and motioned for the driver to pull over.  Something–his lights, the siren?–must have gotten through to the driver, because she did slow down and pull over. Rolling to a stop,  she put her head down on the steering wheel and began to sing  Amazing Grace in a gravelly, tuneless voice. When Luke approached her side of the SUV, she looked up at him and said, “Hi, I’m God!  What can I do for you?”
Then she started to laugh hysterically. Without warning, she whipped her door open. Luke stumbled backward, nearly fell, but managed to keep his balance. As the woman,  obviously drunk, rolled out of the car with her arms flailing and hands balled into fists, Luke drew his taser.  She kept coming at him, laughing and yelling that she was God. When she got close enough to land a punch, he warned her again and let go with the taser.
      Bam!  She went down hard, twitching and drooling.  He and Chad, who had come up on the other side of the SUV, rolled her over and cuffed her.  When she came around, they would put her in the back of the squad car and take her in.  Drunk driving, assault on an officer–that would be for starters.
     Of course, quite a crowd had gathered.  They were your standard looky-loos, along with some folks who just always seemed to show up with their race-baiting venom.
     “Hey, man, why didn’t you shoot her?  ‘Cause she’s white?”
     “Hey, Cop, how come you didn’t beat her up?  No Black woman would have gotten away with that!”
     “Police brutality!  I saw the whole thing!  Nobody deserves to be tased like a dumb animal!  I want your names and badge numbers!”
      Luke and Chad let it flow over their heads while they finished securing the SUV, and then getting the woman up on her feet.  She continued to sing, laugh, cry, and talk crazy. She reeked of liquor and was stumbling drunk, seeming to be unaware that she was cuffed and in custody.
     Just another day, and a perfect way to end a long shift.  Luke was startled, though, when a young woman approached him and place her hand on his forearm.
     “Officer, I just wanted to thank you for getting this person off the road.  You probably saved her life, and maybe the lives of other people. Good job.  Thank you.”
     Yeah.  A good way to end the day.

Twenty Minutes

You have 20 minutes to write a post that includes the words mailbox, bluejay, plate, syrup, and ink. And one more detail… the story must include a dog named Bob

“What a beautiful day,” thought Maisie, as she put her outgoing letters in the mailbox.  Raising the red flag at the side of the box, she turned around to go back across the street and up her driveway.  Enjoying the fresh cool scents and breezes of early morning, she paused for a moment before going back inside.

There were huge old pine trees guarding her driveway, and a brilliant bluejay arrowed from the west sentinel to the east sentinel, filling the air with his unmusical screeching. How could anything that looke so pretty be so discordant?

“Well, back to work,” she thought.  She had a mountain of paper to clear from her desk before she could get down to the four hours of writing she scheduled for herself every week day. Keeping that schedule was an endless battle. There were so many distractions!

And one of those distractions was still at the kitchen table, mopping syrup from his plate with the last few bites of the pancakes Maisie had made for the family. The only one still at home with her was blue-eyed Matthew, not quite five years old. His mop of black curls always made her fingers itch to wander through that coarse, messy  mop.  Matt, however, had other ideas. Finishing his breakfast, he jumped down from his chair, gathered  his plate, cup, and fork, and took them to the sink where there was hot soapy water waiting for the last of the morning dishes.

“Mom!  Mom!  MOM!!”

“What, Mattie?  I’m right here!”

“Mom, can me and Jeffie  go swimming in his pool this morning?  His mom said!  Can we?  Please? “

“Matt.  ‘May Jeffie and I. . .’ sighed Maisie.  She wondered how many thousands of times she had made a similar corrections as her children grew up. Well, this was the last one.  Patience.

“Yeah, that.  So, ca—may we?  Boy, that sounds weird!”

“Yes, you may, if Jeffie’s mom will be there with you.  We’ll talk about it when she comes to pick you up.”

The doorbell rang, and it wasn’t long before Matthew was waving to her from the back seat as Jeffie’s mom drove him away for the day to play with his best friend.

“Silence.  Just a couple of quick chores, and then I can sit down and get to work.”

Maisie flew through the house, setting things to rights, throwing a load of laundry into the washer, setting out a package of chicken breasts for a stir-fry for supper.

Finally, she filled Bob’s water and food bowls, and her long-time companion rose slowly from his rug, stretching and sighing. He shook as only a dog can shake, smiled up at Maisie, ignored his food and water, and ambled off to the study where he knew she would spend the morning. When Maisie got there, Bob was already stretched out on his  favorite bed, slapping his tail against the floor as she pulled her chair up to her computer desk.

After changing the ink cartridge in her printer, Maisie glanced over at him. “Well, Bob, time for you to nap and me to work. You sure do have a nice life, you know?”

Bob smiled again, closed his eyes, and snored rhythmically to the tap of her computer keys.

Grandma’s Story

Write about anything you’d like, but make sure the post includes this sentence:

“I thought we’d never come back from that one.”

“Grandma, what’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?”

“Oh, my, I hardly know if anything really scary has happened to me.  Let me think.”

The children tucked in on either side of her watched her face, intrigued by the lines and wrinkles that graced her cheeks and eyes. They thought she was beautiful. They waited quietly, wondering what story they were about to hear.

“Well, I guess it was pretty scary during the last war, although your grandpa and I were too old to be involved directly.  We helped as much as we could, secretly and quietly.   The government had succeeded–well, they thought they had, anyway–in taking away all gun, from us common folks.  They promised us that if no one had guns, there would be a lot less crime.  Of course, you know how silly that is, because when all the legal guns were ‘confiscated,’ then the only folks who had them were the ones with illegal guns. You know, the bad guys who robbed and killed.

“But some of us were smart enough to hide our weapons, knowing that we may need them for protection against our own government sometime soon.  So we hid them, and we hid the ammunition.  What we didn’t know was that so many other people had the same idea.

“You see, we’d been watching the news from around the world, watching as terrorists took over cities and countries, murdering people who wouldn’t agree with their religion.  We watched hundred of thousands of helpless, unarmed people being marched off to be executed.  And we knew it could happen right here in America. So we tried to be prepared.

“You see, our founding fathers in this wonderful country had provided in our Constitution that every citizen had the right to keep and carry weapons, including guns.  When a government tries to take away guns from all the citizens, it’s because the government wants complete control. They’ll tell you it’s for your own good, but it really isn’t.

“Anyway, when government troops began patrolling every town and city, to keep us ‘safe,’ we knew it was time to prepare to fight.  Word spread like wildfire that there were citizens willing to take a stand, even though we knew we might not survive.

“Then, the most wonderful thing happened!  In a town not far from here, the troops had been ordered to attack a home where it was suspected that the people were hiding weapons.  When the troops stormed the house, they were fired on by the people who lived there. They were shocked!  And one of the leaders  got to thinking, and realized that he shouldn’t be attacking ordinary citizens who had done no harm.  He ordered his men to halt, to cease fire, and they did. Troops are always taught to obey orders instantly,even if they disagree or don’t understand.

“Then the leader stood up and addressed his men.  He told them he was no longer willing to attack and/or arrest good citizens who had done no harm.  Was anyone with him?  Would anyone stand with him?  And all his men stood strong and tall and said they would stand; they said they would fight against their own government to protect law-abiding people who had done no wrong!

“Word spread pretty fast, and soon there were hundreds of thousands of troops all across this country who took a stand against tyranny.  It was a long and ugly war, but the tyrants were defeated, and that, my dears, is why you can still live in freedom and even have a gun in your house if you want to.”

“Wow, Grandma!  That does sound scary.  It sounds like a fairy tale!”
“Yes, I know. At the time, we just did what we had to do to survive, but there were times when I really didn’t think we’d come back from that one!”

Time Stood Still

Feb. 16 2014 Mondays Finish the Story:

Little did they know when the photographer took their picture that they would find themselves trapped in a painting.  With the flash of the bulb in the old-fashioned camera, everything went deathly still. No birds twittered, no water lapped at the shore. No breeze stirred the trees, and no clouds floated serenely overhead.

The tantara of the trumpet stopped. The drumsticks went silent. The oom didn’t pah, and the voice of the singer stuck in his throat. Unable to move, to even blink an eye, the four musicians remained caught in the poses they had struck just before the flash.

The photographer smiled as he rolled them up into a scroll, took them to his shop, and carefully framed them.

It wasn’t long before someone bought the picture and took it home.  His guests would often stop to gaze at it, saying things like, “Those men look so familiar!  I wonder where I’ve seen them before.”

The Case of the Intriguing EMail

Here’s the title of your post: “An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse.”

Set a timer for ten minutes, and write it. Go!

I opened my email account, and right there at the top of the list of new messages was this one from someone named Van:

“You have been selected to participate!  If you want to earn a LOT of MONEY, reply to this email RIGHT NOW!!”

I was completely turned off by the capital letters and the double exclamation marks.  What a bunch of hooey.  But I had nothing better to do, so I clicked on “reply.”   Couldn’t think of a thing to say, so I just sent it that way, blank.  Had no idea where it would go or if I’d ever hear from Van again.

The next morning, there was another message: “Thank you for your interest in this opportunity!  You were the very FIRST person to respond!!  Just fill in the form attached to this email, and you’ll be on your way to earning LOTS of MONEY!!”

Well, why not?  Nothing to lose, right?

So I filled in my name, birthdate(not the year), and occupation.  Van wanted my banking information, but I’m not completely stupid.  I wrote a message at the bottom of the form:  “Dear Van, You must think people aren’t very bright.  I’m not giving you my banking info, or my social security info, or any other info.  What is your deal?  How do I make all this MONEY!!!”

Clicked “send.” To my great surprise, an answer came back almost immediately.

“Dear Linda, You have passed the test!  You have shown that you are not naive!! You have earned a prize of ONE MILLION DOLLARS  just because you were smart enough to refuse to give me certain information.  Not that I couldn’t get it, but still.  All you have to do now is go to your front door and watch for a white limousine.  When it comes, get into it immediately and you will be taken to the office where your MONEY  awaits!”

Well, it was an offer I couldn’t resist.  What’s the harm?  I could always tuck my little pistol into my purse in case some pervert was setting me up for something I didn’t want.  And who knew?  Maybe this was legit.  I could use ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

But I can’t tell you what happened next, because my 10 minutes just ran out.