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It's a collective endeavour, it's collective accountability and it may not be too late.
Christine Lagarde on Climate Change
Managing Director, IMF
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️
"The glory of life surmounts the fear of death. Good Christian's fear Hellfire, so to avoid it they are kind to their fellow man. Good pagans do not have this fear, so they can be who they are. Good or ill, as their nature dictates. We have no fear of God, so we are accountable to no one but each other."
― John Clare, by Penny Dreadful.
“How can I live without thee, how forego
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no, no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
However, I with thee have fixed my lot,
Certain to undergo like doom; if death
Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The bond of nature draw me to my own,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”
― Paradise Lost, by John Milton.
DETAILS:
Check my new blog where you can find everything, with picture, information, etc (blogspot).
And check my picture information here too. In my tumblr blog.
Florida Right to Clean Water
This is a #WatershedMoment. We can make this happen.
With your help, we can bring this initiative to amend Florida's Constitution to the voters in November 2024, so the PEOPLE can decide whether we should hold our State agencies accountable for harm to Florida's waters.
www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/?fbclid=IwAR1X_66bcAGf-z...
With heartfelt and genuine thanks for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, be well, keep your eyes open, appreciate the beauty surrounding you, enjoy creating, stay safe and laugh often! ❤️❤️❤️
In the name of accountability, I feel I ought to reveal what I ate yesterday. Ready?
2 slices of cold pizza (chicken, mushrooms, olives and garlic butter) at the top of Tom Heights (recce)
Part of a Gregg's Cheese and Onion Bake (binned, vile)
1 packet of Doritos Cool Original
1 Peanut Chunky Kitkat
That saw me through to about 12 when I'd finished photographing Mary's Shell. Hmm, I can't really turn up to my sister's hungry...
1 quarterpounder with cheese
3 mozzarella bites
Sister's house:
Toffee Crisp
Then managed to make it all the way through to 5pm:
3 slices of garlic bread (goats cheese and caramelised onion 😍)
Chicken with a Diane sauce (the 80s called and want their sauce back)
Chocolate icecream rolled in meringue and hazelnuts.
-- The end --
This is what eating carbs does to me, I turn into a voracious bottomless pit 😂
I blame the Met Office.
Frostwick and Ill Bell from a bloody lovely Kentmere Round on Saturday!
We cannot "heal" until every treasonous tyrant is held accountable. New information is coming out every day that this insurrection was far more violent than anyone realized with people having specific targets of congressional leaders as well as VP Mike Pence that they wanted to assassinate to re-install Trump in power. People may ask why impeach now? The answer is pretty clear:
"If a president is impeached, convicted, and removed from office, they lose many of the benefits awarded to former presidents, such as a pension, security detail, and travel allowance. A president who is removed from office via impeachment may also be barred from holding future office."
The violent white supremacists on Wed, should be held accountable as should every lawmaker who encouraged the incitement of violence. We cannot allow people who swore an oath to the constitution and refused to abide by that oath to continue to hold power and somehow represent Democracy. No, that will not stand, and no we will not heal without accountability.
www.cnn.com/2021/01/09/media/reliable-sources-january-8/i...
www.snopes.com/fact-check/impeached-president-lose-benefits/
**All photos are copyrighted**
This Nkisi Nkonde, captured at Faro Municipal Museum, is a type of power figure from the Congo Basin in Central Africa, specifically associated with the Kongo people. It is a form of Nkisi, a term referring to sacred objects in Kongo spirituality that are believed to house spirits or spiritual forces. The Nkonde (meaning "hunter") is a particular type of Nkisi known for its aggressive, protective, and judicial roles.
Key Features of Nkisi Nkonde:
Appearance:
Typically, these figures are humanoid in shape and made of wood.
They are often adorned with metal objects like nails, blades, or other sharp implements driven into their surface.
The inclusion of these materials is symbolic of the figure's activation or its use in fulfilling spiritual or legal purposes.
Function:
Hunter of Justice: Nkisi Nkonde was used to enforce laws, settle disputes, and exact punishment for wrongdoers. It was believed to "hunt down" those who broke oaths or contracts.
Protector: It served as a guardian against evil forces, illness, or malevolent spirits.
Healer: In some cases, Nkisi Nkonde was associated with healing, balancing spiritual forces within the community.
Activation and Ritual Use:
A spiritual specialist known as an nganga would "charge" the Nkisi Nkonde by embedding medicines (bilongo) into cavities in the figure.
The bilongo materials could include herbs, animal parts, minerals, or other substances with symbolic or spiritual significance.
The act of hammering nails or driving blades into the figure was a way to "wake" or "activate" it, often accompanying rituals and invocations.
Cultural Context:
Nkisi Nkonde reflects the Kongo people's intricate belief systems, which intertwine law, spirituality, and community order.
It was both a physical and metaphysical tool, acting as a tangible focal point for spiritual forces and social accountability.
Colonial Misunderstandings:
When European colonists and missionaries encountered Nkisi Nkonde, they often misinterpreted them as "fetishes" or objects of idolatry, failing to grasp their deeper cultural and spiritual significance.
Many Nkisi Nkonde figures were taken to museums, where they remain as artifacts of African spiritual heritage.
In Modern Times:
Nkisi Nkonde is studied as an important symbol of Kongo art and spirituality.
It is often featured in museum collections and exhibits focused on African art and the spiritual practices of Central Africa.
"Business should be finding profitable solutions to the problems facing people and the planet, not making a profit by creating problems."
Colin Mayer CBE, Oxford Professor
Apparently March is B-Corp month - so I had to look it up...
Rather than being driven solely by profits, every B Corp has a vision that's grounded in moral and social good. Certified B Corp status is awarded to those businesses that meet very high standards in social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Last night my city continued with a planned fireworks show to honor the front-line heroes of Covid19. Salt Lake City had a curfew because of the rioting happening. It was strange to sit and watch them with so much chaos in the city.
Today I was very deliberate in choosing the color red and the quote to accompany it. Though the chaos caused by the rioting is not beautiful the fires and burning anger are supposed to be represented. The tensions need to cool and the agitators stirring up the violence and causing destruction need to be held accountable. How is this going to end? The nightly curfews? Tear gas, rubber bullets? How did we get here? I have no answers and feel powerless.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Your comments and favs do not go unnoticed and are appreciated more than you know
As many of you are aware I hate Sundays.
There is no denying this I have been persecuted by a Church not far from where I live.
In so many ways I was made to feel like I was not part of a community. I was not accepted.
Of course I was never told this with those exact words.
I have taken comfort in a lot of what I have learned from the Bible.
I seen Matt say today about accountability. I love that Matt.
Because I find comfort in knowing that that account that a PERFECT person named Jesus Christ paid for was paid in full.
Dying on the cross
Jesus said the word.. "Tetelestai"
It means PAID IN FULL. It is an old accounting term!
So I know no matter how much I am made to feel alone. No matter how much I am stolen from. Talked about. I will be ok in the end.
As he also said to the sinner dying next to him
"Today you will be in Paradise"
But it is extremely difficult to experience.
Looking at it from the other angle.
Does it feel ok as long as everyone else is ok to do these things? As long as everyone else is going along well and happy who cares if there is that 1 person alone despised rejected broken struggling.
SUFFERING!
You can pretend all day long that you have done no wrong here.
At the end of it all on that amazing day when Jesus returns I find a lot of comfort in knowing that Judgement starts in his house and you know about the ones that get it harsher than others.
Stevie and Co.. Why be outside my house in the street gathered like that? Come on its Sunday go back to your entitlements! You should already know this is not a temporary issue!. I will keep going until the whole world hears. I did check the letter box thinking maybe someone paid the bill for my intellectual property that was stolen and used in some strange way to upset me but of course not!
Uber goobers the video is almost there now.
One thing about the photo now. What is the bee co existing here with? Is that a wasp nest I see?
Side on image www.flickr.com/photos/197602498@N04/53493166295/in/dateta...
Location , Wodonga , VIC , Australia 🇦🇺
📷 Olympus EM1 Mkii
🔎 OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO
⚡ Godox V1
♻ CJ Diffuser.
#CJDIFFUSER #TAAM
I've never been this accountable-less and within
I've never known focuslessness on any form
I've never had this lack of ache for dalliance
To let go ....
Ah to breathe
Stop looking outside
stop searching in corners of rooms
Not my business or timing
I declare a moratorium on things relationship
I declare a respite from the toils of liaison
I do need a breather from the flavors of entanglement
I declare a full time out from all things commitment .
Enjoy the photo and the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARBLIT95Im4&feature=related
The song is new & mind-blowing .. enjoy it's dark vibe.
This is gona be dedicated to the 1st commentor
and it goes to No.signal :)
EXPLORE
The egregious, obscene -- and all too commonplace -- death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in the United States was recorded by a woman's cellphone in Minneapolis and viewed by millions.
As a result, the heinous death of George Floyd has struck a collective nerve in America and around the world so severely, not even a pandemic without a vaccine has deterred people from publicly expressing their demand for accountability against police brutality and institutional racism. At the time of this posting, protests in America have continued for 12 consecutive days since the lynching.
This image shows the confrontation between protesters and the police in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
If interested, you can view my latest photo essay featuring images of the protests in Seattle against police brutality and institutional racism this week in my blog article: "The Pandemic, The Pandemonium & The Protests."
Please be well, be safe, and be mindful.
All you Nazis, Fascists, MAGAs, Republicans, and all other categories of Americans who abuse the law, cause people of the world harm, who steal our data, who take away jobs and healthcare from millions, who kidnap and deport innocent people to foreign prisons, who take away women's rights, who think compassion is a weakness--YOUR day of judgement is coming. You will pay for your crimes against humanity, for lives lost.
"Living free from violence is a human right. Yet millions of women and girls around the world encounter rape, domestic abuse, mutilation and other forms of gender-based violence. Too often no one is held accountable for these crimes. With your help, we can urge governments to hold perpetrators responsible and put an end to this cycle of violence against women ....."
Amnesty International Stop Violence Against Women
"Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. You may click once a day, every day. 100% of the donations raised go directly to Amnesty International to end the systematic violation of women's basic human rights ....."
Our world needs transformational change. It’s time for the world to hold sectors accountable for their role in our environmental crisis while also calling for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. This will require action at all levels, from business and investment to city and national government.
That’s where you come in: As an individual, you yield real power and influence as a consumer, a voter, and a member of a community that can unite for change.
Don’t underestimate your power. When your voice and your actions are united with thousands or millions of others around the world, we create a movement that is inclusive, impactful, and impossible to ignore.
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🌎 Visit The Nature Collective (and participating locations) and click on the Earth Day poster to learn more about what you can do to help (and grab a limited edition gift).
Get Inspired. Take Action. Be a part of the green revolution.
(Original artwork by Kup Haroldsen)
This was right after the March For Truth protest about a week ago in Chicago. I loved watching this kid, so carefree and happy after marching with others in his city who also very desperately want not only a new president but a new election because we are supposed to be a democracy and our democracy has been stolen. If you've been following the news from abroad, let me update you...Trump clearly wants no investigation into Russian connections. He is obstructing justice and Comey's testimony proves this. The idea that Trump would testify under oath and an oath would actually mean something is also ridiculous. This is a paid tv actor, a man who might not even know the difference between fasehoods and reality and we're going to cling to the idea that an oath carries some weight? No. Let's get real.
And, meanwhile, Americans were so distracted with Comey they didn't realize the House GOP fast-tracked Trumpcare so that they could drink beer and celebrate taking health care away from 24+ millions of Americans. If this doesn't exactly sound in line with the way a democracy should function, you're correct. It isn't.
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
Copyright Reserved to Noolelnool
Any member trying to use or copy or download photos in any non-official permission by the photographer presents to legal accountability
Strobist: AB800 with gridded HOBD-W overhead. AB1600 with gridded 60X30 softbox camera left. Triggered by Cybersync.
Strobist: AB800 with gridded HOBD-W overhead. AB1600 with gridded 60X30 softbox camera left. Triggered by Cybersync.
A 2 day adventure in Northwest Washington State.
This sculpture titled "Valley of Our Spirits" is in Mount Vernon's Skagit Riverwalk Park in the city historic downtown.
The 28 April, 2018 installed work is by artists Lin McJunkin, Milo White & Jay Bowen.
The Valley of Our Sprits story pole overlooks the Skagit River, bringing healing and remembrance to the Mount Vernon Riverwalk.
The animals reflected in the weathered steel tower all exist in Skagit Valley, from the bear at the base to the eagle soaring above.
The depth of meaning reflected in the story pole is meant to bridge cultures, and illustrates the fact that we have one Valley. We are all accountable to it, and for what happens in this place we call Home.
The interior of the structure is stone from the Skagit River.
Engraved on every stone are names of people from the Valley and the United States.
The story pole invites you to bring conflict, and allow time for contemplation and resolution.
Three species of salmon are reflected in metal - Chinook ('king'), Coho ('silver'), and Sockeye ('red').
The salmon neighbour the otters, ravens, and bear. The eagle, with its gold leaf beak, represents the creator. A hand is visible on each wing; one representing the New People and one representing the Native People.
Il. Title- ( - sang sur mains - ) Mike Mullen having a nice steak dinner with a 'clear conscience' ... ( On top of dead Afghani civilians & dead soldiers.. Egomaniac.. ) Yes Wikileaks shared this piece inspired by them & their work: twitter.com/wikileaks/status/21824111844 it & the entire Wikileaks series is not- for sale.
At some point there may be an exhibition with funds going towards WL & Bradley Manning.
But for now none of the pieces in the series are commercially available or for sale to private individuals.
They do have free use by Wikileaks however.
More work to be posted soon.
Dimensions: 18" x 24.5" acid free paper, acrylics, gouache & ebony pencil
"Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," Mullen said."
www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/29/pentagon-wikileaks-bl...
MMm no- Mullen..How can we end these wars ASAP- & STOP you from getting any MORE blood on YOUR hands..
( News from Wikileaks Twitter feed, 8 - 19 - 2012: "In fact, being from another planet, he might even have picked up on something that most Americans would be unlikely to notice -- that, with only slight alterations, Mullen’s blistering comment about Assange could be applied remarkably well to Mullen himself. “Chairman Mullen,” that Martian might have responded, “can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he is doing, but the truth is he already has on his hands the blood of some young soldiers and that of many Afghan families.” "
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/06/opinion/main6748239.shtml )
War Diary - wardiary.wikileaks.org/ Timeline: wartimeline.haineault.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mullen#2007_Senate_testimon...
& from the Pentagon- "“We want whatever they have returned to us and we want whatever copies they have expunged… We demand that they do the right thing. If doing the right thing is not good enough for them, then we will figure out what alternatives we have to compel them to do the right thing." mashable.com/2010/08/05/pentagon-wikileaks-demand/
The NERVE.. -
Wikileaks - "What we didn't hear from the Pentagon last week: "killing all those innocent people is bad. Sorry. We will stop that" Thursday, August 05, 2010
YES.
-
"Thousands of children and adults had been killed and the US could have announced a broad inquiry into these killings, "but he decided to treat these issues with contempt''.
He said: "This behaviour is unacceptable. We will continue to expose abuses by this administration and others."" - www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/30/us-military-wikileak...
-
( From Wikileaks twitter- Aug 19 2010 _ ) -
Wikileaks vs the Pentagon: Phony Fingerpointing
Tom Engelhardt:: Who Really Has Blood On Their Hands?
"Consider the following statement offered by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference last week. He was discussing Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks as well as the person who has taken responsibility for the vast, still ongoing Afghan War document dump at that site. "Mr. Assange,” Mullen commented, “can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.”
Now, if you were the proverbial fair-minded visitor from Mars (who in school civics texts of my childhood always seemed to land on Main Street, U.S.A., to survey the wonders of our American system), you might be a bit taken aback by Mullen’s statement. After all, one of the revelations in the trove of leaked documents Assange put online had to do with how much blood from innocent Afghan civilians was already on American hands.
The British Guardian was one of three publications given early access to the leaked archive, and it began its main article this way: “A huge cache of secret U.S. military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents. They range from the shootings of individual innocents to the often massive loss of life from air strikes...” Or as the paper added in a piece headlined “Secret CIA paramilitaries’ role in civilian deaths”: “Behind the military jargon, the war logs are littered with accounts of civilian tragedies.
The 144 entries in the logs recording some of these so-called ‘blue on white’ events, cover a wide spectrum of day-by-day assaults on Afghans, with hundreds of casualties.” Or as it also reported, when exploring documents related to Task Force 373, an “undisclosed ‘black’ unit” of U.S. special operations forces focused on assassinating Taliban and al-Qaeda “senior officials”: “The logs reveal that TF 373 has also killed civilian men, women, and children and even Afghan police officers who have strayed into its path.”
Admittedly, the events recorded in the Wikileaks archive took place between 2004 and the end of 2009, and so don’t cover the last six months of the Obama administration’s across-the-board surge in Afghanistan. Then again, Admiral Mullen became chairman of the Joint Chiefs in October 2007, and so has been at the helm of the American war machine for more than two of the years in question.
He was, for example, chairman in July 2008, when an American plane or planes took out an Afghan bridal party -- 70 to 90 strong and made up mostly of women -- on a road near the Pakistani border. They were "escorting the bride to meet her groom as local tradition dictates." The bride, whose name we don’t know, died, as did at least 27 other members of the party, including children. Mullen was similarly chairman in August 2008 when a memorial service for a tribal leader in the village of Azizabad in Afghanistan’s Herat Province was hit by repeated U.S. air strikes that killed at least 90 civilians, including perhaps 15 women and up to 60 children. Among the dead were 76 members of one extended family, headed by Reza Khan, a "wealthy businessman with construction and security contracts with the nearby American base at Shindand airport."
Mullen was still chairman in April 2009 when members of the family of Awal Khan, an Afghan army artillery commander on duty elsewhere, were killed in a U.S.-led raid in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan. Among them were his "schoolteacher wife, a 17-year-old daughter named Nadia, a 15-year-old son, Aimal, and his brother, employed by a government department.” Another daughter was wounded and the pregnant wife of Khan's cousin was shot five times in the abdomen.
Mullen remained chairman when, in November 2009, two relatives of Majidullah Qarar, the spokesman for the Minister of Agriculture, were shot down in cold blood in Ghazni City in a Special Operations night raid; as he was -- and here we move beyond the Wikileaks time frame -- when, in February 2010, U.S. Special Forces troops in helicopters struck a convoy of mini-buses, killing up to 27 civilians, including women and children; as he also was when, in that same month, in a special operations night raid, two pregnant women and a teenage girl, as well as a police officer and his brother, were shot to death in their home in a village near Gardez, the capital of Paktia province. After which, the soldiers reportedly dug the bullets out of the bodies, washed the wounds with alcohol, and tried to cover the incident up. He was no less chairman late last month when residents of a small town in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan claimed that a NATO missile attack had killed 52 civilians, an incident that, like just about every other one mentioned above and so many more, was initially denied by U.S. and NATO spokespeople and is now being “investigated.” "
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/06/opinion/main6748239.shtml
-
"What is interesting is who is responsible for the killings.
Of the 1,325 civilian deaths recorded by the Afghan human rights group, 23 per cent were attributed to Nato or Afghan government forces. The Taliban and their allies were responsible for 68 per cent of the deaths.
The UN study claimed the civilian death toll was slightly lower at 1,271 with anti-government forces blamed for 76 per cent of the casualties.
Chronicling precise figures is extremely difficult because most parts of the country are inaccessible.
Crucially, both studies suggested that the proportion of deaths attributed to Nato and Afghan government forces were down compared to last year because of fewer air strikes.
This is important because clumsy air strikes on innocent villages and unfair raids on their houses has been driving a lot of Afghans to pick up arms on behalf of insurgents."
by, Hamida Ghafour
More: www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100811/OP...
& -
"My countrymen called me a prostitute
(Filed: 26/10/2004)
Fourteen months ago, Hamida Ghafour went to Afghanistan to cover her native countrys postwar reconstruction for this newspaper. But, as a westernised Afghan, her homecoming wasnt as welcoming as she had hoped"
www.afghanistan.org/news_detail.asp?17220
I am skeptical about agendas.. It can be confusing, this is why for better or worse one must have THE FACTS - it would have been better if we had them from the START.
Without facts no one cares what we do- or who we kill, because we simply don't have ANY concept of how a decade long war is going..
“The government is engaging in selective prosecution to ensure that employees keep their mouths shut,” says Stephen Khon, a lawyer specializing in whistleblowing cases. “All of a sudden the whistleblower becomes public enemy number one. There is no proportionality.” www.alternet.org/world/147778/how_the_military_destroys_t...
This- - you MUST watch-- It's of Afghani's asking for peace & for us to leave- "Wikileaks Assange, stand freely for love & we in Afg will stand with you.." From: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9E_nXiPj9g
US war crimes: soldiers speak out. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj6s1V0Dpuw
From Wikileaks Twitter- "UNAMA Human Rights Unit issued recommendations in the report including:
• The Taliban should withdraw all orders and statements calling for the killing of civilians; and, the Taliban and other AGEs should end the use of IEDs and suicide attacks, comply with international humanitarian law, cease acts of intimidation and killing including assassination, execution and abduction, fully respect citizens’ freedom of movement and stop using civilians as human shields.
• International military forces should make more transparent their investigation and reporting on civilian casualties including on accountability; maintain and strengthen directives restricting aerial attacks and the use of night raids; coordinate investigation and reporting of civilian casualties with the Afghan Government to improve protection and accountability; improve compensation processes; and, improve transparency around any harm to civilians caused by Special Forces operations.
• The Afghan Government should create a public body to lead its response to major civilian casualty incidents and its interaction with international military forces and other key actors, ensure investigations include forensic components, ensure transparent and timely compensation to victims; and, improve accountability including discipline or prosecution for any Afghan National Security Forces personnel who unlawfully cause death or injury to civilians or otherwise violate the rights of Afghan citizens."
unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1741&ctl=Deta...
From Wikileaks Twitter- CBC
"A bomb is found tucked into a school typewriter. Insurgents dressed in military uniforms attack an education chief. School guards are tied up while the building is bombed to smithereens. Teachers and students at an all-girls high school are poisoned through the drinking water."
"School attacks
Year Number of attacks against schools
2005 98
2006 220
2007 236
2008 348
2009 610
Source: UNICEF. Data for 2008 and 2009 are from the UN Country Task Force on Children, and previous years are from the Ministry of Education."
"Education for children up in Afghanistan since 2002- .
"Nine years ago, about 100,000 students were enrolled in schools. The figure now stands at more than seven million students, one-third of whom are girls, according to the Afghanistan Ministry of Education.
"It's one of those sectors where we've seen radical and dramatic progress since 2002," notes Rowell.
"No one knows where the country is going … but education is a beacon of success."
Read more: www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/08/06/f-afghanistan-education...
& www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/database-afghan-war-logs/
""
"New Petition Gains Prominent Signatures: “Defend WikiLeaks – End the Secret Wars” - Sign: seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/64042
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Jung.
Treating Soldier Stress: www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2008931_2172992,00...
"Afghan War Diary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Afghan War Diary (also called The War Logs) is a collection of internal U.S. military logs of the War in Afghanistan published by Wikileaks on 25 July 2010.
The logs consist of 91,731 documents, covering the period between January 2004 and December 2009. Most of the documents were classified as "secret", which The New York Times called "a relatively low level of classification".
As of 28 July 2010, only 75,000 of the documents have been released to the public, a move which Wikileaks says is "part of a harm minimization process demanded by [the] source". Prior to releasing the initial 75,000 documents, Wikileaks made the logs available to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel in its German and English on-line edition which published reports per previous agreement on that same day, July 25, 2010."
&
"In June 2010, Guardian journalist Nick Davies and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange established that the US army had built a huge database with six years of sensitive military intelligence material, to which many thousands of US soldiers had access and some of them had been able to download copies, and WikiLeaks had one copy which it proposed to publish online, via a series of uncensorable global servers.
Wikileaks describes itself as "a multi-jurisdictional public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public."
In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that "we have a stated commitment to a particular kind of process and objective, and that commitment is to get censored material out and never to take it down." He contrasted the group with other media outlets by saying that "other journalists try to verify sources. We don't do that, we verify documents. We don't care where it came from." He denied that the group has an inherent bias against the Afghanistan War, saying that "We don't have a view about whether the war should continue or stop – we do have a view that it should be prosecuted as humanely as possible." However, he also said that he believes the leaked information will turn world public opinion to think more negatively of the war."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary
"War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford." -
Hannah Arendt
"The leak of tens of thousands of Afghanistan war-related documents tells us more than the sum total of many official communiqués about the war. On balance, more disclosure is a good thing, but the leaking of raw military intelligence is a special case that requires a careful, rather than a cavalier, approach.
There is not enough information about the war, and much official information is misleading. In Canada, the federal government's quarterly reports contain a few updates based on its goals in Kandahar, but little else that informs. The government has already shown itself to be an unreliable source on issues relating to Afghan detainees.
The situation is now too dangerous for the most trustworthy chroniclers – journalists, UN personnel – to go outside NATO-protected areas.
So reliable, independent information is lacking. The circumstances in this war make such information even more necessary."
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/we-neede...
"Instead, many eyes will now pore over this data from many different directions, looking for patterns and attempting to eliminate the noise, disinformation and fog of war.
Many will look to it to criticise and condemn the US presence in Afghanistan, but if those on the other side – those who support such military incursions – have any sense, they too will use it to understand better the war in which they find themselves and adapt their counsel to fit more accurately the facts on the ground.
That’s the benefit, usually, of an open society. We get to triangulate on the truth by gathering facts in the public space, then providing them to all sides to chew over. We use this against our own illusions and those of more closed societies who can only view the world through one narrow perspective.": www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0730/1224275801...
( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology )
"The first phase was chilling, in part because the banter of the soldiers was so far beyond the boundaries of civilian discourse. “Just fuckin’, once you get on ’em, just open ’em up,” one of them said. The crew members of the Apache came upon about a dozen men ambling down a street, a block or so from American troops, and reported that five or six of the men were armed with AK-47s; as the Apache maneuvered into position to fire at them, the crew saw one of the Reuters journalists, who were mixed in among the other men, and mistook a long-lensed camera for an RPG. The Apaches fired on the men for twenty-five seconds, killing nearly all of them instantly."
Read more www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khat...
"With the release of the WikiLeaks documents, Arab media may finally feel vindicated, as Western media finally start to give greater prominence to civilian casualties." newamericamedia.org/2010/07/wikileaks-documents-validate-...
"Wikileaks confirmed: A plan to kill American geologist with poison beer
The Wikileaks documents contain a claim that Pakistan and Afghanistan insurgents were working to poison alcoholic drinks in Afghanistan. While that's unproven, one US adviser in Afghanistan tells the Monitor he was almost poisoned that way in 2007." : www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0728/Wiki...
"This is duplicitous only if you close your eyes to the Pakistani reality, which the Americans never did. There was ample evidence, as the WikiLeaks show, of covert ISI ties to the Taliban. The Americans knew they couldn't break those ties. They settled for what support Pakistan could give them while constantly pressing them harder and harder until genuine fears in Washington emerged that Pakistan could destabilize altogether. Since a stable Pakistan is more important to the United States than a victory in Afghanistan—which it wasn't going to get anyway—the United States released pressure and increased aid. If Pakistan collapsed, then India would be the sole regional power, not something the United States wants."
www.billoreilly.com/site/rd?satype=13&said=12&url...
"How to read the Afghanistan war logs: video tutorial
David Leigh, the Guardian's investigations editor, explains the online tools we have created to help you understand the secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan": www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/video/2010/jul/25/afgha...
"Jonathan Foreman, writing for the right of center National Review's Corner blog, hopes the documents will force America to deal with the possible deceptions being made by ally Pakistan. "It is possible that the publication of documents that provide actual evidence — rather than rumors — of the role of ISI personnel in Taliban planning, logistics, and strategy will give the West greater leverage in dealing with Islamabad and might force Pakistan’s political elite to confront the reality of the ISI’s secret activities. If so, that would be a silver lining to what is otherwise a military disaster abetted by the U.S. and British media."
www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/NATL-The-Importance-o...
"The real significance of the Afghan war diaries lies in what Wikileaks represents as a movement, as an evolution in journalism. One analyst has called it the emergence of open source journalism. Julian Assange makes it possible for anybody anywhere in the world to submit secret documents for publication." www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Sevanti_Ninan/article541...
A War Without End: www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html
"Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs: 'They show the true nature of this war'
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, explains why he decided to publish thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan Afghanistan war logs expose truth of occupation": www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jul/25/julian-assange...
The history of US leaks: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10769495
Freedom of Information Act: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_...
"A long-delayed Afghanistan war funding bill, stripped of billions for teachers and black farmers, is back before the House and walking now into the storm over the Internet leak of battlefield reports stirring old doubts about U.S. policy and relations with Pakistan.": www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40254.html & www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40251.html
This is a large study/drawing, Assange/Wikileakers of the organization Wikileaks ( wikileaks.org ) uses 'matches from sources' to disclose US gov secrecy ( behind large black curtains ) & to also finally bring some much needed attention & closure to some of these revelations ( set ablaze ).
This ongoing series is dedicated to everyone who has needlessly had their lives destroyed, been injured or die in this almost past decade of war. For the sources, journalists & average citizens who risk their lives to inform us.
Reuters reporters Namir Eldeen, Saeed Chmagh & the good samaritan ( father ) who died trying to save them & of course his two surviving small children who will forever be impacted by the brutality of war for decades to come.
Please help Private Bradley Manning- www.bradleymanning.org/
"One surprising consequence of the war in Iraq is the surrender of postmodernism to a victorious modernism. This has been largely overlooked in North America.
In reaction to the U.S. intervention in Iraq, Jacques Derrida, a famous postmodernist, signed on as co-author of an article drafted by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, previously an opponent of his, in an unmistakable endorsement of modernist Enlightenment principles. Derrida, the apostle of deconstructionism, is now advocating some decidedly constructive and Eurocentric activism.
The article appeared simultaneously in two newspapers on May 31, in German in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as "After the War: The Rebirth of Europe," and in French in Libération, less triumphantly, as "A Plea for a Common Foreign Policy: The demonstrations of Feb. 15 against the war in Iraq designed a new European public space."
Other famous intellectuals joined in with supportive newspaper articles of their own: Umberto Eco (of The Name of the Rose) and Gianni Vattimo in Italy and an American philosopher, Richard Rorty. This provoked much discussion in Europe, but only a few comments so far in North America, the Boston Globe and the Village Voice being rare exceptions.
This week in Montreal, there was an anti-globalization riot in which windows were broken in protest against a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting. But the Habermas-Derrida declaration praises the WTO and even the International Monetary Fund as part of Weltinnenpolitik: maddeningly hard to translate, but something like "global domestic policy" or "external internal policy."
Yet it is not much of a stretch to claim the young anti-globalists as disciples of postmodernism and Derrida, who has hitherto been a foe of "logocentrism" (putting reason at the centre), "phallologocentrism" (reason is an erect male organ and, as such, damnably central) and Eurocentrism (the old, old West is the homeland of all of the above).
Derrida added a note to the article, observing most people would recognize Habermas's style and thinking in the piece, and that he hadn't had time to write a separate piece. But notwithstanding his "past confrontations" with Habermas (Derrida had objected to being called a "Judaistic mystic," for one thing), he agreed with the article he had signed, which calls for new European responsibilities "beyond all Eurocentrism" and the strengthening of international law and international institutions."
More: www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php
"In early 2003, both Habermas and Derrida were very active in opposing the coming Iraq War, and called for in a manifesto that later became the book Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe for a tighter union of the states of the European Union in order to provide a power capable of opposing American foreign policy. Derrida wrote a foreword expressing his unqualified subscription to Habermas's declaration of February 2003, "February 15, or, What Binds Europeans Together: Plea for a Common Foreign Policy, Beginning in Core Europe,” in Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe which was a reaction to the Bush administration demands upon European nations for support for the coming Iraq War[25]. Habermas has offered further context for this declaration in an interview."
More: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%c3%bcrgen_Habermas#Habermas_and_D...
Habermas: ”The asymmetry between the concentrated destructive power of the electronically controlled clusters of elegant and versatile missiles in the air and the archaic ferocity of the swarms of bearded warriors outfitted with Kalashnikovs on the ground remains a morally obscene sight
I consider Bush' s decision to call for a "war against terrorism" a serious mistake, both normatively and pragmatically. Normatively, he is elevating these criminals to the status of war enemies; and pragmatically, one cannot lead a war against a "network" if the term "war" is to retain any definite meaning.”
Derrida: “To say it all too quickly and in passing, to amplify and clarify just a bit what I said earlier about an absolute threat whose origin is anonymous and not related to any state, such "terrorist" attacks already no longer need planes, bombs, or kamikazes: it is enough to infiltrate a strategically important computer system and introduce a virus or some other disruptive element to paralyze the economic, military, and political resources of an entire country or continent. And this can be attempted from just about anywhere on earth, at very little expense and with minimal means. The relationship between earth, terra territory, and terror has changed, and it is necessary to know that this is because of knowledge, that is, because of technoscience.
It is technoscience that blurs the distinction between war and terrorism. In this regard, when compared to the possibilities for destruction and chaotic disorder that are in reserve, for the future, in the computerized networks of the world, "September 11" is still part of the archaic theater of violence aimed at striking the imagination. One will be able to do even worse tomorrow, invisibly, in silence, more quickly and without any bloodshed, by attacking the computer and informational networks on which the entire life (social, economic, military, and so on) of a "great nation," of the greatest power on earth, depends.”
www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php
I am incredibly- delighted at all the vital discussions about the war & US gov that are FINALLY taking place- & on a mass scale- as a result of this leak .. Simply miraculous..
FREEDOM & PEACE ( transparency, diplomacy & the evolution of such ) FOR ALL WAR NATIONS.
( WARNING - links ( after excerpt ) are NOT for sensitive viewers- ) "Wikileaks have released over 150 supressed images. This is the tip of the iceberg, keep looking, keep publishing.In the last week Wikileaks has released over 150 censored photos and videos of the Tibet uprising and has called on bloggers around the world to help drive the footage through the Chinese internet censorship regime — the so called “Great Firewall of China”The transparency group’s move comes as a response to the the Chinese Public Security Bureau’s carte-blanche censorship of youtube, the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and other sites carrying video footage of the Tibetan people’s recent heroic stand against the inhumane Chinese occupation of Tibet."
fortuzero.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/tibet-western-media-sa...
file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/index.html
FREE TIBET!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also other dire & serious issues ( out of countless ) - that expose corruption by corporations & gov's:
"A documentary about intensive pig farming due to be screened at the Guardian Hay festival on Sunday is facing a legal threat from one of the companies it investigates. Pig Business criticises the practices of the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, claiming it is responsible for environmental pollution and health problems among residents near its factories."
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/pig-business-document...
"In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004,[79] it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. A sample of drinking water from a well near the site had levels of contamination 500 times higher than the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization.[80]
In 2009, a day before the 25th anniversary of the disaster, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based pollution monitoring lab, released latest tests from a study showing that groundwater in areas even three km from the factory up to 38.6 times more pesticides than Indian standards."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
-
The Blue Mask - Lou Reed - www.goear.com/listen/9960779/the-blue-mask-lou-reed ( & O Superman ) www.goear.com/listen/02cf55d/o-superman-(for-massenet)-la...
Lou Reed The Blue Mask
Lyrics:
They tied his arms behind
his back to teach him how to
swim They put
blood in his coffee and milk
in his gin They stood over the
soldier in
the midst of the squalor
There was war in his body and
it caused his
brain to holler
Make the sacrifice
mutilate my face
If you need someone to kill
I'm a man without a will
Wash the razor in the rain
Let me luxuriate in pain
Please don't set me free
Death means a lot to me
The pain was lean and it made
him scream he knew he was alive
They put a
pin through the nipples on his chest
He thought he was a saint
I've made love to my mother,
killed my father and my brother
What am I
to do
When a sin goes too far, it's
like a runaway car It cannot
be controlled
Spit upon his face and scream
There's no Oedipus today
This is no play you're thinking you
are in What will you say
Take the blue mask down from my face and
look me in the eye I get a
thrill from punishment
I've always been that way
I loathe and despise repentance
You are permanently stained
Your weakness buys indifference
and indiscretion in the streets
Dirty's what you are and clean is what
you're not You deserve to be
soundly beat
Make the sacrifice
Take it all the way
There's no won't high enough
To stop this desperate day
Don't take death away
Cut the finger at the joint
Cut the stallion at his mount
And stuff it in his mouth
---
-
"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. "
Albert Einstein
IMAGINE THE HAPPINESS & GREAT WORK AHEAD OF US WE COULD HAVE AT THE END OF THE WARS!!!!!!!!!
www.goear.com/listen/48d6016/hora-de-la-mehedinti-romania...
NO MORE WAR & FREEDOM FOR ALL WAR NATIONS!!!!!!!!!
Peace.
The accountability of fallen leaves
The accountability of fallen leaves.
Vagrant clouds across the night sky.
Accountability.
The insinuated and sorrowful.
And the corruption from within.
Submitting to be changed.
By a systemic imperative.
Endowed through pressure and lip service.
Read more: www.jjfbbennett.com/2021/08/systemic-delusion-modellhut.html
There wasn't a major event in Chicago this weekend but I was heartened to see that the people standing up against hate in Boston and other cities massively outnumbered the neo-Nazis. I will continue to protest of the neo-Nazis hold a rally in Chicago.
I have a few thoughts about some recent events and, as I wait for the eclipse, I just wanted to get some of it out.
First, the title of this photo is a major chant of this movement from day one. It was shouted when the day after the "election" It was shouted on Not My President's Day. It was shouted at the Women's March. It was proclaimed at the March For Truth, The Tax March, the LGBQT March, the Muslim Ban protests, the Inauguration protests, the Science March.
I feel like the conversation liberals have constantly had with centrists and conservatives kind of goes like this...
Liberal: Trump is actually a nazi.
Centrist/Conservative: You can't believe that! He has a son in law who is Jewish! He can't be a nazi!
Liberal: His parents were both proud to be KKK members and he has appointed and supported white power neo-Nazis in his cabinet. This Muslim ban is the first step in a long agenda.
Centrist/Conservative: Oh, no, the Muslim ban is just to keep us safe.
Liberal: Explain to me how it keeps us safe. Did you ever stop to look at how the countries not banned are those that have business transactions with Trump whether or not they have a record of terrorism?
Centrist/Conservative: I haven't really looked into it...
Liberal: And, how do you think Muslim grandparents are exactly endangering this country?
Centrist /Conservative: I haven't really been paying attention...
Liberal: And what about the sharp increase in hate crimes that are occurring across America...how is that keeping anyone safe or making American Great Again?
Centrist/Conservative: I've just been really busy to look into it.
Ok, so I actually had a conversation like that as early as February. FEBRUARY. It's now August.
Second, sometimes people talk about how the media is so negative against Trump vs. how it's the job of journalists to hold our elected leaders accountable and get information out to us. Sometimes, I applaud journalists in their ability to do this but I am very frustrated over the media picking up on this self proclaimed "Free Speech Rally"
Let me tell you how I see free speech...I see it as if you have something to say that doesn't harm anyone, you can say it. But, if your idea of free speech is you bring weapons, beat up and murder people then that interferes quite a bit with another Constitutional Right: Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. So, it's not on governments where even the police force doesn't have your same level of weaponry to allow you a platform to proclaim hate speech and commit bodily harm on those who don't agree with you. Governments are supposed to keep all of their citizens safe. The police force in Charlottesville allowed people to be murdered and badly beaten under their watch because they were outnumbered and terrified. The same kinds of things started happening in Germany leading up to WWII. I was recently glad to see the ACLU proclaim they weren't going to defend dangerous hate speech but it's also important that the media does not call these "Free Speech Rallies" but instead calls them "Neo Nazi Rallies." Call these people what they are and call their rallies what they are.
Third, I hate to say this one. Thanks Heather Heyer....you were brave and courageous and just and you did the right thing. Heather Heyer's mother also has a sense of dignity not acknowledging Trump's phone calls after his "both sides" comment. However, I have a sinking suspicion in my heart that if Heather Heyer had been a woman of color, Trump never would have even acknowledged her. I know this because of the many women and men of color who have lost their lives simply for being who they are who have not been acknowledged and used to galvanize a movement. Take the example of Nabra Hassanen, for instance, a young teenager who was murdered leaving an IHOP earlier this year. Did she get a tweet acknowledging her life and this grave injustice? Of course not, because she was killed because she was Muslim. Many of our beautiful Americans who are trans also do not get acknowledgement when they are murdered and many of them are men and women of color. So let's stop deluding ourselves with saying that black lives actually do matter in our country. They don't. People are getting arrested for taking down shitty racist statues but the nazis who brutally attacked Deandre Harris in Charlottesville haven't been charged even though there is tons of video evidence of their crimes.
Fourth, there are a few people who suddenly claim "art" and "history" as a reason for wanting to keep a bunch of poorly constructed racist statues. These people only seem to want to honor a certain history supporting an erroneous narrative that the Civil War was about states rights when it was very much about slavery. These deluded fools don't seem to care much for history when they are ruining sacred Native American grounds, stealing their artifacts, poisoning their water. Perhaps, it would be more accurate to state they really care about "White history and art." Now, that seems highly likely. But, if it's history and art that define a culture, I don't want a bunch of deplorable statues defining mine. How about we create a narrative of hope and strength around Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes...how about these statues are replaced with pioneers for just causes and we replace all the confederate flags with rainbow flags to show we are not divided by the color of our skin or who we love?
Fifth and Last, I have been glad to see some members of the GOP come out over the past week and say they don't agree with white supremacy and Trump's racist comments but I would like to remind them that actions speak louder of words. When you try time and time again to take away healthcare from millions of Americans, you're not targeting rich white people. When you try to take away any funds for helping poor African Americans get through college, that's racist. When you make sure that the pubic education system is a dismal failure by making sure that public schools don't have libraries, music, art, social workers, and funds for kids who speak English as a second language or who have disabilities and you target specifically poor urban areas, who exactly do you think you are claiming not to be racist? When you support the National Rifle Association, a racist organization that seeks to arm white power advocates just because they have lobbyists who give you kickbacks, who are you to claim you aren't racist? When you support incarceration of minorities for minor crimes like possession of marijuana, who are you to claim you aren't racist? When you support ensuring that those who have entered this country never have a chance to become citizens, who are you to claim you aren't racist? When you support a privatized prison industrial complex that preys upon minorities and introduces a modern system of slavery right before our eyes, who are you to claim you aren't racist.
Dear GOP-you are just as racist as your leader. You have proven it time and time again.
To Sum:
"Free Speech Rallies"=Neo Nazi Rallies.
Liberals have been aware of how harmful Trump is right from the beginning and trying to warn the rest of the country. Please listen instead of claiming we're just reactionaries. There are actual nazis marching in the streets. This is NOT ok.
Black Lives still don't matter to the powers that be in this country.
Confederate Monuments perpetuate harmful myths and are racist.
The GOP should not fool you into thinking they are not racist until they start legislating a whole lot differently.
**All photos are copyrighted. Please don't use without permission**
Last year I decided that I was going to start reading more and I read 255 books. This year, I wanted to up my game a little bit and do more like a reading marathon and ended up the year reading 365 books, a book for every day. Even though I am a pretty athletic person, I can't run because it hurts my knees. I am not as graceful and elegant as I would need to be for professional dance and sports has never interested me. But reading is the one thing I can do and I like to do at the gym, on planes, in bed, and in the bathtub primarily. So, I made an effort to read for a minimum of 2 1/2 hours per day and sometimes ended up reading for more like 4 hours a day on weekends and when I had other days off from work. I didn't read to show off but to escape the reality of our current country's political situation and to learn more about the lives and perspectives of others unlike me. Reading a mixture of novels, nonfiction essays and immigrant stories, collections of poetry and short stories, I read less than 10% of these books by white people and of those 10%, most were by women. I can say that I really enjoyed the vast majority of the books I've read and don't have any significant regrets for this reading marathon.
I should also note that, although some of these books did come out in 2019, many did not. The following are my favorite books of this year that I read this year (regardless of their original publication date). I know I am also probably forgetting some and I feel remiss in that too, but I spent hours writing the following (even longer than that reading these) and I hope some of you get some good recommendations of books you might also like to read or can connect with me on a book you have read. Feel free to share your favorites as well! I am highly interested in having conversations about books and finding out about literature I may have had less exposure to living in America.
1. Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi
This book is an astounding work that covers so many different states and personal backgrounds to reflect on race in America. If you like Humans of New York, this is a little like that in the sense that it explores what makes us human but it's a great more complex and thorough than that-maybe a Humans of America. The fact that Guo and Vulchi were able to travel all across the US to gain an understanding of so many people and how their race has affected their lives is a daring and meaningful venture in and of itself but it's also clear that they make a concerted effort to explore the things these people like and enjoy so that there's a fuller sense to some things they have in common with others. In addition, the photographs of these people really add to a sense of them. if you do not fall in love with these humans along with this work as a whole, that is a loss for you. We must change in our country. We must develop more empathy and patience. We must be able to listen to others who we think we share nothing in common with and find the things we do share whilst respecting individual differences. This is the only way we will be able to heal and move forward.
This book is a masterpiece and should be celebrated in every household across America.
2. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
This book is so relevant to what is happening at the border with the unfair treatment of families from Mexico right now in all of our names but it also manages a personal touch with an extended road trip and the link between the mother/protagonist and her own family and how she handles her own children being separated from her. This is a harrowing read, especially because there is truth in the weight of our names as Americans being tied to the deep sins of mistreating other humans. This is also, however a very poetic read, haunting in its lyrical quality and in the way that Luiselli is able to adeptly convey the range of emotions she feels, desperate and distraught but also so very insightful. You will read these pages wit your heart in your throat, worry that if you are not careful, you may actually end of swallowing it.
www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/03/lost-children-archi...
3. Frontier by Can Xue
2019 was the year I discovered Can Xue, the experimental fiction author from China who, at first, everyone thought was male as her pen name isn't especially gender specific. Can Xue is not understood fully by probably most people and I myself had to read several sentences over again a few times, especially this work, the most esoteric of what I've read (three novels and one short story collection this year). The imagery is especially potent here and you don't really know exactly what is happening in the way the human form can transform. You really don't know quite what could be actually happening....and what could be a dream or a hallucination. This would be a book I would read at the end of the world cuddled under a blanket and remembering the most imaginative humans could be then hoping there were some creatives still left out in the tundra of the world.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mysterious-fronti...
4. Though the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita
Another new author I discovered was Karen Tei Yamashita and, though I also enjoyed reading a collection of her plays entitled Anime Wong, I even more so enjoyed reading this novel. Yamashita is Japanese American but you get more of that specific perspective from her plays. Set between Japan and Brazil, this novel features a very vivid cast of interesting characters not to mention the protagonist that is the rotating ball in front of the Japanese train conductor's head. This is one of the most unique books I have ever read in my life and it's no surprise that the forward is from one of the most highly intelligent authors in the world, Percival Everett. This novel is a real treat and is a riveting surreal adventure.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karen-tei-yamashita-2/...
5. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
I've spent many years not knowing very much at all about the lives of those who live in North Korea, much as the citizens of North Korea have spent their lives knowing not too much about others outside of their country. This non fiction work follows the lives of North Koreans who escape into China and South Korea and manage to be granted refugee status and follows them up until the early 2000s. It's another book that disarms you in its brutality. Demick records the stories of their lives, how they bought into propaganda, and how they started to gather inklings of the truth while they were in their home country. The depth of the poverty and brainwashing is immense from the time that these people are schoolchildren. Even if they were starving, if someone came by and saw that their picture of Kim Jong-il then Kim Jong-un weren't immaculate, they could be taken and forced into a labor camp. If they didn't weep loud enough at the death of Kim Jong-il, they were also suspect and no one could trust their neighbors, who could also very likely be government informants. The only media that they had access to was North Korean and Russian propaganda films and even their literature was greatly restricted. In addition, even having a bowl of rice a day was seen as a great luxury. Many starved to death and were happy to have less mouths to feed in their family. The clothing women could wear was also severely limited. This was (and possibly still in many ways is) a super suppressed society (from the point of view of an American especially.) I'd be curious if anything has changed and what but really what honestly struck me is how the government deliberately misled their citizens into thinking that they were producing things they weren't and that the rest of the world was under the same amount of hardship. This is a government who would rather see their people starve than to stoop to accepting aid from abroad. It's eye opening and terrifying for me to think of the people who have suffered and died under these regimes.
www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/nothing-envy-korea-...
6. The Pretty One by Keah Brown
There has been a real paucity in literature of valuable and unique human perspectives and this work of nonfiction is an incredibly valuable addition to the canon of literature as a whole and adds to our collective human empathy and understanding of the range of experiences one can have while being alive. Keah Brown is a woman like none other-honest about the world and her own growth as a human, friend, and twin sister, insightful about the racism and ableism in our current present world and humorous in her observations of pop culture. Keah Brown has a different ability level and many might say she has a disability. I say she has an ability that most other people do not possess and may not ever possess. That doesn’t mean that our physical environment does not need to become more accommodating (it does) and that people don’t need to develop more empathy (they do). But, it does mean that we would all be wise to learn from her perspective.
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/disabledandcut...
7. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
One of the most astounding books of fiction I read this year was a book that feels incredibly brave and is loosely based on actual incidents that happened in the Rodney King riots of LA. Steph Cha is Korean American but it became widely clear from this novel that she is very invested in promoting healing between the Korean and African American communities. The novel goes back and forth between 1991 and 2019 and explores racism with a deep and personal delving that made me literally at times gasp out loud. There’s a question of human accountability, retribution, and these are treated with care and contentiousness. This is the kind of wholly relevant novel we can all learn something from even despite it being technically fiction. There are still lots of truths to be found here.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steph-cha/your-house-w...
8. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors
If you live in America and are even remotely aware of the racist systems and acts of violence that are committed against those in the African and African American communities, you should be appalled. I can tell you just reading even what is considered to be “liberal” news outlets I am appalled by how quickly and often they show any mug shot of a person of color but (I always call this correctly), when it’s a white terrorist who has committed a hate crime, we don’t see his face for several days or longer. The fact of the matter is, most of the time these acts are not even classified as terrorism and yet they are just as damaging and politically motivated. This book explores the heartache and mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the police brutality and death and the systems in place that keep white people especially profiting. One day, I hope to live in a world where all are treated equally but we have a long ways to go and, as a human of privilege in this current world, I believe the only way we’re going to get there is if all people, including white people, advocate for an end to these racist systems and a place of acceptance, love, and respect for everyone in this world. I’m never going to claim I know the fear and the danger and the distrust that one must feel being Black in America but I do feel extreme sadness when I see cops having no accountability for murder, for profit prisons capitalizing on modern day slavery, and a whole range of racism happening in terms of regentrification, lack of funding for public schools in neighborhoods where there are more people of color, food deserts, and other appalling neglectful practices by our own government. It is shameful. There should be reparations. And, even more so, I do believe that the police in this country are currently doing more harm than good and that we should abolish at least 90% of our prisons. (I’d say abolish all but I want there to still be a place for Trump and all his friends.) This is a must read for all humans who want to come to a better understanding of what it takes to make a movement and the real human damage to what has occurred in several cities across America where the blood on our hands cannot ever be washed off.
patrissecullors.com/call-terrorist-black-lives-matter-mem...
9. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
I’ve read several novels by Miriam Toews and, though I have enjoyed all of them, this is one of her stand alone masterpieces. Miriam Toews comes from a Mennonite perspective and often her stories focus on Mennonite life with some personal anecdotes seemingly inserted here and there. This novel feels much different and offers an important aspect of feminism in terms of exploration of the human female mind after the real life events taking place in Bolivia in 2005-2009 when these women were raped consistently by men in their Mennonite community and were basically told by these men that these abuses were not happening and that these women were psychologically unsound. Most books of this nature explore the deep wounds of being a victim. This book offers a different sort of perspective. While still putting a human face to the damage done by men, it focuses more on the action of these women in discussions and meetings to decide how they will solve this problem going forward. Will they kick out the men? Will they leave completely? If they leave, will they take the children including the male children? At what age does a male stay behind? These are complex and very real questions and all choices are intellectually explored with great discussion. It made me feel the strength and empowerment of women vs. another book that would have focused more on these humans as victims instead. Well worth the read!
www.npr.org/2019/04/06/709530968/these-women-talking-buil...
10. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
This is a daunting read. When I say daunting, I should clarify that while I have read a few 1000+ page novels before, they are usually separated into separate sentences. Ellmann clearly was going for a marathon level of stream of consciousness when she wrote this one. Most of the novel (I’d say 900+ pages of it) are The fact of___ the fact of______ the fact of____ the fact of___ and Ellmann reveals what haunts her the most-Trump and corporations valuing profit over people, gun toting MAGA white terrorists on the loose, poorly built bridges, cops shooting unarmed African Americans, and sort of what I can only say I would consider the collective disease process of being American in this present day. But, there is also the overarching story line of being a mother, a daughter whose mother has passed away of Cancer, remarrying after divorce, and oddly enough being a pie baker. She goes through several harrowing real life incidents in the book where she and her family are put in danger but that doesn’t give us a break from her very loud internal monologue that will suddenly just start listing off facts of films, every city she can think of, and random products. The reader’s only reprieve from this great feat of literature is when we see the perspective of a lioness running from hunters and trying to protect her progeny. I do think this book is worth reading, especially if you can get in the groove and feel the pulse of the first person female protagonist but you do need to obviously put in a huge time and emotional commitment. In order to help things flow more smoothly for you if you decide to take up this challenge as a reader, I suggest reading about 100 pages for 11 days straight or 50 pages a day for 21 days straight. If you do this, you manage to get into a certain groove by page 300 or so. Slowly but surely, all the tangential word salad starts making a weird sort of sense and you begin to really feel for the sense of this woman’s personal story and what she’s going through. Maybe it says something about me that I found her relatable even though I haven’t lost my mom to Cancer, haven’t gone through a divorce, do not have kids, and don’t have a clue how to bake a pie. But, I understand being caught in a state of almost helplessness about what my country has become and what I witness in terms of how people act towards each other. Anyway, a lot of people have abandoned this but it might be the perfect book to add to the next time capsule. Hopefully, things will get better in the new year.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-one-sentence-capt...
11. In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
I still haven’t watched the show Orange is the New Black, which stars Diane Guerrero, but I fell in love with her as Jane the Virgin’s good friend/sidekick Lina early on. (You can’t NOT watch Jane the Virgin if you live in Chicago. So many of my co-workers went to high school with Gina Rodriguez and always talk about how nice she was to everyone which is literally the opposite of what most people say about you in high school). That being said, I usually don’t read books just because they are by celebrities but I enjoyed this one as well as America Ferrera’s American Like Me: Reflections of Life Between Cultures and Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn. All three nonfiction autobiographies are worth reading and pondering over but Guerrero’s personal struggle against adversity when she literally came home as a teenager and found herself completely alone after her parents had been deported to Colombia struck a real sense in me of how, first it’s gotten even worse with ICE raids, and second, these children are such victims and we’re not even considering all the collateral human damage of what we do as a country when this happens. I found this autobiography brave, brutally honest, and even at times a little funny but mostly I found this to me about the power of perseverance and not giving up no matter what, not just in the struggle for survival, which was very real for Guerrero, but also in the struggle to do what you love and follow your dreams and actually make it. Guerrero is talented, that is for sure, but she is also a sort of superhero as well in what she has overcome and she has given us all a real gift of letting us glimpse the power of her human spirit.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-guerrero/in-the-...
12. A Particular Type of Black Man by Tope Folarin
This is a complex portrait of a Nigerian family who immigrates to Utah of all places and it seems like some of this story must be based on Folarin’s own life experience in that he did have a family who immigrated here from Nigeria and spent some time growing up in Utah and other areas that are also mentioned in this book. What makes this book more unique than many immigrant fiction or pseudofiction is the exploration of the human mind and exploration of mental health and illness within the protagonist as well as this family unit. What also makes it worth reading is the sense of a celebration in Nigerian culture vs. complete desertion. There were insights and information in this book that really astounded me, even having lived in this country all my life (though, to be fair I have never been to Utah). Well worth the read!
www.npr.org/2019/08/24/751917486/tope-folarin-was-a-parti...
13. The Memory Police by Yoko Agawa
This is the second full length novel I’ve read by Yoko Agawa (I’ve also read and liked The Housekeeper and the Professor as well as her short story collection entitled Revenge). I enjoyed all three of these works but I liked The Memory Police by far the best…the concept that you slowly lose the memory of everything around you and hold dear and the including literally parts of yourself-limbs, for instance, and that anyone who still has the ability to remember is not safe but is taken and separated from society at the very least is a really intriguing concept but where the book really succeeds is in its exploration of memories in the sense that they make us human and are truly a part of us. It’s also a book within a book as we experience this cruel postmodern society from the protagonist while, at the same time, experience her own protagonist of the horror typewriter story she’s been authoring. I really enjoyed the strong sense of mood and contemplation on the nature of existence.
www.npr.org/2019/08/12/749538789/quiet-surreal-drama-and-...
14. Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
This is a mixed sort of book between prose and poetry with some aspects of experimental fiction as well. One cannot help but fall in love a little bit with Guerra as she travels to Mexico, falls in love with an actor, tries to escape persecution from the Cuban government who are constantly monitoring every move she makes, and above all keeps writing as she attempts to discover the truth of the death of her parents as well as gain a sense of her place in the world as a woman, a poet, a human. Some of these lines of poetry are completely haunting and there’s some real themes in this novel about deconstruction and reconstruction.
www.npr.org/2018/12/05/673387723/complicated-challenging-...
www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/books/review/wendy-guerra-revo...
15. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
Lefteri is British but has worked with immigrants in Athens, which is where this story takes place at least in part. This is a really harrowing fictional account of a Syrian husband and wife who have lost their child and are each coping with it in their own ways (the mother soon after goes blind and the father suffers from delusions and hallucinations). This is also a story about the struggle for survival after witnessing the tragedy-the destruction of your home and everything you love, and the process of immigration to a safer space and country and the real life troubles to be found in these places as well. Oddly enough, I also learned a great deal about bees from this book but I still feel it is more focused on the desperation that people in Syria must feel and trying to get over incidents that have devastated them and should have never happened in the first place. On a personal level, I don’t believe in borders and I’d rather have more Syrians in my own country than horrible rich white men. No thanks!
www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beekeeper-aleppo-novel
16. Those Who Wander: America's Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho
America is a country of great wealth but, unfortunately, until our tax structure changes, it is a wealth owned by the very few whose greed is overpowering (I mean, everyone needs a 100th house while the homeless are dying on the streets, right). In California, especially the Bay Area, where this nonfiction work concentrates on, this is even more vividly so. The book explores the reasons behind actual murders that took place but also the desperate conditions that drive people to become homeless, the psychologies behind being homeless, and the resources that are available and kind people who have tried to help. This book is a really difficult read because of the subject matter but it is important that none of us look away and turn our backs on those who struggle. No one should have to live in poverty just so the most affluent people can become more powerful. But, of course, these uber rich are miserable too, you know. They too won’t be free until every other human is free.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/vivian-ho/those-who-wa...
18. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Oluo is incredible candid and honest not just about racism within our structures such as our for profit prison industrial system but within our daily interactions. She answers some questions white people might be too scared to answer and illuminates other things white people might be oblivious about in terms of their/our own sense of privilege. And she does all of this, I’m guess, with the hope that speaking truth to power will lead us all to be better people regardless of our race and also because communities have suffered because in 2019 (now 2020), white privilege is still very much a thing and is going strong.
www.thenationalbookreview.com/features/2018/2/1/pzq0lfjcp...
19. Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng
I wouldn’t call myself a Mathematician by any standards. I can do basic algebra without a calculator and I see the artistic nature of geometry and can read and extrapolate from a variety of graphs but, most of the time, I still prefer art, literature, and music to Mathematics. Still, the one time I became really and truly excited about Math happened when I leared about Mathematical/Logical proofs and Cheng explores the art of proofs within the context of several political arguments relevant to this period of time in our shared human history. She touches on the less controversial to the extreme controversial and offers insights into personality and how she herself has changed when she has thought of an argument or a collection of facts in a different context. This book will help you see multiple points of view and have richer discussions about everything from mandatory voting practices to abortion.
www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/19/the-art-of-logic-by...
20. Making Comics by Lynda Barry
Many of the books I have written about have touched me and I have learned a great deal from them but this is one of those books that gave me very concrete ideas about activities to do with children at Chicago Public Schools. Not all of these activities are written to be done with children but many can be adapted and I have found that giving kids a 4-5 minute free draw at the end of my Occupational Therapy sessions not only motivates them to complete other challenges but also addresses a visual motor need they might have. I have really enjoyed tremendously seeing kids draw their favorite monster and also as themselves as an animal in particular. I think drawing can definitely be like dreams….you never truly know exactly what you are thinking and feeling until you let your mind and your hands go across the paper. This book also inspired me in a different way, which is to look at my own drawings not as technically good or bad but as a product of my own mind and spirit and, in that sense, it’s less damaging to me and less frustrating when I can’t draw something exactly how it looks in real life, for example. I loved all the exercises and visual examples in this book! It really can change your life if you let it!
www.npr.org/2019/11/27/782921983/cartoonist-lynda-barry-d...
21. Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
I have to admit, I fell in love with the protagonist of this story, Kiran Sharma, who identifies with the deity of Krishna and is trying to find how own way in the world as both a boy who is discovering his own sexuality and the fact that he is gay, as well as a young man coming to terms with his identity as an Indian American boy living in middle America (Cincinnati, Ohio). Kiran is dramatic and perfect and Satyal really succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of growing up with obstacles but still being yourself despite these challenges. There were scenes in this book that made me laugh until I cried but also made me cry until I laughed. Wonderfully written with a true celebration of the human spirit and of the joy in being able to be yourself and learn to love everything that makes you: you!
www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/fiction/06/08/blue-boy-by-...
22. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous By Ocean Vuong
First and foremost, Ocean Vuong is a poet and even in prose this comes out more than the vast majority of novel writers. This is his first actual work of fiction and feels a little traumatic and haunting it it’s deep feeling sense of the experience of life and family. Vuong’s deep feeling protagonist is trying to come to terms with the actions of and his relationship to his mother as well as some of his own life choices. You get the sense that each day brings its own struggles and is definitely not easy and that reality is a cruel sort of mistress that keeps revisiting him. But, the poetry above all will make you remember and want to return to this book.
www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729691730/on-earth-is-gorgeous-all...
23. A Woman is No Man By Etaf Rum
This book is about many things-family, tradition, but also feminism and a new generation of women who think and reach beyond their metaphysical borders. It follows three generations of a family who immigrated to Brooklyn from Palestine and the abuses they suffered at the hands of their men as well as the secrets they covered up. Most devastating is the way that the grandmother and mother expect (though much more so the grandmother) the conforming of the younger women to submit to all the male wishes and hide any evidence of their true selves that might appear ungrateful and difficult. This is a family that would rather kill than be seen as dishonorable and, though it is technically fiction, it is shocking in the depth of abuse these women take and how they themselves as humans are taken for granted. This book was full of surprises for me on virtually every page.
www.npr.org/2019/03/02/699051434/for-better-or-worse-new-...
24. Broken Places and Outer Spaces Nnedi Okorafor
I’m a big fan of the science fiction of Nnedi Okorafor, most notably Lagoon is my favorite, but this book is one I read this year and is a highly personal autobiographical account of her learning to break free from paralysis after a Scoliosis surgery that did not go as well as expected and finding her own unique voice and inspiration in the work of other artists to explore her own realm of Science Fiction in a way that is wholly worthwhile. I had no idea that the author I’ve read so many fiction books from had this extreme experience but I was indeed inspired by her own perseverance and coming to terms with the surgery and not letting limitations define her but pushing beyond these with a strength and dedication that doubtless has made her one of the very best authors in her field.
nnedi.com/books/broken_places_outer_spaces.html
25. John Edgar Wideman: Fanon
This is one of the more complex books of fiction I’ve read this year…it is truly a story within a story within a story based on some of Wideman’s real life with his brother as well as the actual life of the revolutionary Frantz Fanon..it’s about not wanting the cruelty of history to be repeated and about drawing connections between timelines and the way racism continues to impact people across continents today. It is at times highly poetic and at other times so visceral you might have to put it down but in any case very worthwhile reading and incredibly adept and masterful in its exploration of all of these connections and reconciliation between past and present with a hope for a better and different future. There are many passages here that are profound and all are thought provoking.
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Siegel-t.html
26. The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai
I have learned a great deal about the political crisis in Sri Lanka in the 1980s from Selvadurai. If you want to try to understand what was happening between the Tamil and Sinhalese people, this is a topic that Selvadurai visits often as well as coming of age as a man who is gay and being an immigrant in Canada. There’s also a real delving into the classism inherent within the Sri Lankan society between these people and also, between the protagonist’s own grandmother and her tenants and the abuse and neglect that happens to the poor. Meanwhile, the grandmother manages to distance herself from her actions and convince herself that these people brought these things on themselves with bad karma…by her own standards, she should expect a much worse life in her next one. There are many similar topics in terms of Sri Lankan politics and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality in Funny Boy but this seemed more of an in depth work so I would recommend reading The Hungry Ghosts if you have limited reading time but you may find you’d like to read his others anyhow.
nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviews/book-re...
27. Taina by Ernesto Quinonez
I read two of Quinonez’s novels back to back and while I liked the emotional drama and complexity of Bodega Dreams, I really liked the sense of Puerto Rican tradition and strong female main character here. This involves everything from the idea of magical realism to deep religious beliefs. Could Taina be a postmodern virgin Mary? Could this be immaculate conception? The other protagonist, a young male, is willing to believe anything she says and fight for her virtue. While this story takes place primarily in Spanish Harlem, it also shows the inherent racism and classism in NYC as a whole while adeptly pulling one into the personalities and tribulations of the characters. Well worth reading!
apnews.com/f8209640f0554191a893cbe61a4583b9
28. On Black Sisters Street Chika Unigwe
This book explores the lives of African women immigrating to Belgium in hopes of a better life and being lied to with the idea that they could be housekeepers and nannies but then are sold into a sex trade where they are basically enslaved until they raise an inordinate amount of money to “pay back” their immigration fee. It is about living unsafely as an illegal and being forced into prostitution just to survive, which happens far more frequently than many people might realize. Women on our own are valuable in terms of our ideas and our empathy but the world will still look at women as a whole and women from African especially as only worthwhile as a body to rape. This is a very difficult read, mainly because of the aspects of truth that this happens but also because you get attached to the characters and don’t want them to suffer, which is the work of a great novelist in and of itself.
www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/books/review/book-review-on-bl...
29. Home a Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah
This is a really insightful read for anyone who is looking to hear about the author’s escape from Syria to refugees in Canada. We learn a lot about the power of the human spirit and it is also in many ways a testament to why all countries should welcome refugees. It is also valuable in terms of giving ideas on how we can do better in terms of supporting the transition between countries when there is a new language, culture shock, and when families need to keep something similar in place such as even a space to pray in schools. We need to all make sure we are being kind and sensitive and welcoming as well as aware of the probably trauma that refugees have suffered, especially coming from war torn countries. This also shows us how valuable it is to listen and to help refugees tell their stories, as the work of Rabeeah’s Language Arts teacher Winnie Yeung is the reason why we have this remarkable autobiography.
quillandquire.com/review/homes-a-refugee-story/
30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
There were many times reading this book I felt fascinated, wondered about the choices of the characters and what they would do next, and drawn to the mystery surrounding the death that unites all of them from the beginning of the Moroccan American father who owns a restaurant and is suspiciously killed by a hit and run. This is a work of fiction but the way it explores racism and xenophobia is all too real and Lalami really helps the reader sense the loss of humanity when incidents like this take place as well as the complexity of it between the investigation and trial and the level of dishonesty too. It’s also interesting because it involves an unlikely inter-racial love affair and there’s a sense that when these two people can fall in love, maybe we can all reconcile our differences with each other…maybe….hopefully we are capable.
www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-lailalalami-otheramericans...
31. The Making of a Dream: How a Group of Young Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change What It Means to Be American By, Laura Wides Munoz
This is a really comprehensive work of nonfiction chronicling the 1,500 walk of a group of Dreamers and a decade of work beginning with Obama and coming up to the published date of January 2019. It makes no qualms about exposing the frustrations and stalemate of the Obama presidency in getting protections but also the horrors of our current political situation for these young and determined humans that are also vulnerable despite their bravery and fierceness. We get to know the inner workings of their lives and family situations, their education and history of what drives them the most in terms of their advocacy. Munoz also exposes how some movements such as gay rights and marriage are pitted against others like the movement to protect Dreamers and how a single year cut off can arbitrary ruin human lives and mean deportations. This is an important read for anyone who still thinks these amazing humans don’t belong or deserve to be here (They do!) and who still thinks it’s easy to become a legal immigrant if you’re just willing to go through the established process….this line of thinking is an ignorant myth. These humans deserve so much more than this. Let’s hope 2020 brings us a new president who is willing to provide more protections and also welcome more immigrants to America.
www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/books/review/laura-wides-munoz...
32. Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraquib
Hanif always brings himself into his writing about music and this is why, even if you are not the biggest Tribe Called Quest Fan, you will still find many reasons to fall in love with this book. That being said, my partner has always loved Tribe and I finally fell in love myself when I saw them perform and was able to photograph them (see: www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/35348763944/in/photolist... ) Hanif made me love both him and the band even more in the way that he explores their history, why their music is groundbreaking, and their contemporaries as well. Hanif also explores his own love of music and how music was seen in his family. There’s also a story early on that shows the racism of his music teacher at school that made me feel so devastated that these things happen from teachers who are supposed to be loving and nonjudgmental. There is so much to love and learn from in this book and, even if you don’t fall in love with Tribe, you might still fall deeper in love with humanity and our relationship to nourishing sound.
www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/go-ahead-in-the-rai...
33. Call Me American Abdi Nor Iftin
Oh my God the lengths that this man goes to in order to survive civil war in Somalia, escape to Kenya then to the US is insane. My heart was in my throat for the vast majority of this book…a really survival against all odds life story. It also gives a glimpse at how much tragedy some of our immigrants are carrying with them when they come here and the love and supports we should all give them. Abdi Nor Iftin is extremely intelligent and also funny but I can’t imagine going through even 10% of what he went through when he was trying to escape warring tribes and seeing so much death around him and still being able to lift my head off the pillow each morning.
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/books/call-me-american-abdi-no...
34. Passing by Nella Larsen
I read both Passing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen this year and liked them both quite a bit. Both have a lot to offer in terms of insights into classism and racism but Passing feels a little more vivid to me maybe because it is set between Chicago and NYC whereas much of Quicksand takes place in Denmark. Both novels are well worth reading though and Passing has both a personal component between these two women with a shared history and that of secrets and racism as one woman is passing for white in trade of an elevated place in society at the time. In addition to giving us glimpses of both cities in 1929, it shows a little bit about what it was like both living as a white woman and living as a black woman and the level of anxiety felt by those who tried to keep their race a secret.
electricliterature.com/in-nella-larsens-passing-whiteness...
35. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card Sara Saedi
In many ways, this is about a family torn because of their differing immigration statuses and how arbitrary all that seems when we’re talking about real humans and not just letters and numbers on a page. This is a family that will go to all lengths in order to get citizenship for themselves and others and will fight to be Americans even though America does not treat them as kindly or with justice. This is also a great deal about the joys of family, of Iranian culture, and also of coming of age and pop culture in America. Saedi, who now writes for iZombie (I still haven’t seen this show myself but now I might give it a try), is at times poignant and at other times really hilarious. You really get a sense of her personality in this autobiography and it really makes you again realize how much immigrants have to offer America and how they deserve far better than what they are given most of the time. It’s a tragedy that we treat humans the way we do simply because they aren’t born here. That needs to stop.
www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597600898/americanized-recounts-wh...
36. Lindy West: The Witches are Coming
Lindy West is hilarious in her examination of racism, sexism, whole bodyism and all that really needs to change about reality. I learned things I somehow missed, like how “Grumpy Cat’s” owners came up with a ridiculous far fetched story so cover up for the fact they were using an insult/slur used for those with different ability levels. I also found the chapters about Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers pretty insightful as well. There were many times I felt like, “Yeah, I agree with that” but she has a really great cutting way about how she presents information and also her opinions that make it a good read.
www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/lindy-west-casts...
37. The Reactive By, Ntshanga, Masande
I’ve never read a book quite like this. If you want to know what it was like to be HIV+ in the late 1990s-early 2000s and living in South Africa, this book is the one for you. But also, this book is about family, about overcoming loss, about deep friendships and has a great deal of existentialism and in general bizarre interactions, drug trial and substance abuse, and an analysis of racism in Cape Town as well. I felt very strongly that I both learned something and gained an attachment to these fictional characters and what they were going through.
slate.com/culture/2016/07/masande-ntshangas-the-reactive-...
38. Brother by David Chariandy
Set in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, this follows second generation Trinidadian immigrants and the racism they encounter living there in the early 1990s. This is a really well written look at family, especially these two brothers and the bond between them and how the family deals with all of life’s small and large tragedies. It’s also a book that will likely devastate you, though I don’t want to spoil anything by saying more.
www.cbc.ca/books/brother-by-david-chariandy-1.4246382
39. A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian
This could be another book about class warfare and profit over people but the layers in it are exceptional and what Subramanian does really well is to delve into the different personalities and power in the women in this place ironically called Heaven and illustrate the need for women to stick together.
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/books/review/mathangi-subraman...
40. Dinner By, César Aira
I read a couple of novels/novellas by César Aira and a collection of short stories called The Musical Brain and Other Stories, which was also phenomenal. Dinner was even more unexpected and hilarious because it combines the need to be remembered and the power of names with a zombie uprising in the little town of Pringles in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love the politically astute sense to this and the twists in the plot. Really a very unique book not just about zombies but about the power of human memory.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cesar-aira/dinner-aira/
A couple of really highly recommended books of poetry:
The City in Which I Love You Li-Young Lee
Rangoli by Pavana Reddy
A couple of quick cat related books
I don’t think the following books are necessarily life changing but I did want to mention to them in case you are a cat lover like I am! I think animals bring out the best in humans when we find ourselves at our most compassionate and so I’ve always enjoyed reading books that feature cats. Here are the couple I read this year and enjoyed:
If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
We could give up movies and time but could we give up cats? What if we were terminally ill and this could buy us one more day on Earth….what would we give up?
The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
For the vast majority of this book, we really don’t know why the protagonist is looking for someone to take care of his cat but we get to meet a lot of different types of people from his past and learn about them, which is both interesting and philosophical.
September 23, 2022: The Special Master met with DOJ and Trump attornies at Federal Court in Brooklyn. Rise and Resist was outside.
Over "The Death of a Civil Nation” That is a title to one of my photos, I posted years ago; while being RETALIATED AGAINST, working in Yosemite National Park. One of the many posts I’ve made; WARNING of THE TOXIC, HATEFUL, LIFE DESTROYING, MOBBING CULTURE IN AMERICA….
As I predicted on my last post “Waiting for the Storm”, the Retaliation rained down upon us. No folks, I’m not psychic. These are the same acts of mobbing, stalking, baiting, harassment and sleep deprivation we received in; California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah and now Wyoming. Seriously, we are out here in the wilderness of Wyoming; Koda and I can’t step out of our Motorhome without being MOBBED. With my intense Military Training; I’m more than qualified to document, record and debrief this. But, it seems no one, with any AUTHORITY, will give me the time of day. Or, anyone that reports these types of crimes.
This Mobbing mentality has been threatening our DEMOCRACY for centuries. All you have to do is look at the TRUE HISTORY of The United States of America. And, if your doing so; take a long look at the history of our own FBI. Especially when the average citizen rises to fame (Not Me) for expresses civil rights or the shortcomings of our Nation.
The people involved in Gang Stalking, Community Mobbing will not stop until they are held accountable. If STORMING the CAPITOL WASN’T A RED FLAG! What the hell is? Please help me stop the Civil Destruction of this Nation. If you know of anyone that can TRULY help many of us; please send them my way through Flickr mail.
As I type this; all quits down, must be another Storm coming.
And, a few minutes after I posted; IT BEGINS AGAIN.
I have Hundreds, maybe Thousands. I call the FBI to inform them of Domestic Terrorism (I have definitive proof), and they hang up on me. I was told to contact Local Law Enforcement; if you’ve read through my post, you know how that goes. They all have excuses; its just a big circle of Plausible Deniability. I want to repeat this before I go into the description: I inform the FBI of Domestic Terrorism and I’m abruptly hung up on me. And, we wonder how Jan 6th could have happened; when the FBI was fully aware of the Threat. Now, do you know what I mean, about Selective Policing in America.
The picture you see, is one of the many people that Stalk, Bait and Harass; my Service Dog and I.
We moved camp today. While I was packing up at the last camp; we received a Convoy of Hate before we pulled out. One man went as far as putting on a Red Jump Suit, stands up on his motorcycle as he passed. This was because Koda was up front, looking out the window, as I loaded the car on it’s dolly.
Now, here at our new camp, many, many miles from our last camp; we are here a few minutes and Karen comes walking from a Fire Lane, to watch. It is the same woman in this picture, but she didn’t have the dog, or backpack. She came up to a fork, that could be seen from our camp. I was setting up the solar panels, Koda was tied to the front side of the Motorhome. She stood at the fork, doing something to cause Koda to growl. When I came around front she stopped. I have it on Video.
Hours later, I was playing fetch with Koda, he was having to much fun: the same woman drags this poor old dog, up the Fire Lane. She does this, so it and she could be seen by Koda. This was just an act to get him excited (he loves to play with other dogs). She literally pulled and yelled at the dog she had; the poor thing could not keep up. Take a good look at it. I have pictures of it all. She was in a hurry to spread her hate. These people could care less about a dog, or their own children it seems. They use children often to harass Targets.
This is a prime Example of people involved in Domestic Terrorism. You Can call it Gang Stalking, Community Stalking, Community Policing; it is Actually Domestic Terrorism. These people spread nothing but Fear, Hate, Intimidation, Mobbing and Terror. They even teach children to do so. Once we were set up; it didn’t take long for the same people that Stormed pass our camp, show up here. One man in a Red Jeep, pulled up on a hill a couple hundred yards behind us and Watched us. . It was just another attempt of Intimidation. It didn’t work….
Direct Energy Weapons are used during this Stalking, Mobbing, Baiting and Hating. Not every time, but they are used. I know its a bold statement, but its the TRUTH. Many Government Employees, along with CIA Agents have reported being Attacked by these Weapons (Havana Syndrome). For years our Government turned its back on them. Now the CIA is supposed to be investigating it. We know how that will go. And, the FBI, apparently doesn’t want to hear about it. BUT, they are doing nothing for the Average American Citizen.
I could care less what others think of my statements. I have TWO thing on my side; TRUTH and HISTORY. History does expose the truth, and one day I’ll be vindicated. If someone you know, is a victim of this type of Domestic Terrorism; please give them the benefit of doubt. Don’t turn your back on them; like our Local/Federal Law Enforcement and Government. “Disgusting”, is and understatement.
I’m not against Law Enforcement, I am against Selective Policing and Cover-up….
As I post this on Flickr, an ATV stops with rows of bright lights, in front of our Motorhome.
You still have trouble believing, read this: www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&s...
Thanks for visiting our photostream
Governor Hogan Signs an Executive Order Regarding School Accountability Initiatives. by Joe Andrucyk at Governors Reception Room, 100 State Circle, Annapolis MD 21401
August 8th, 2021
Today was kind of more of nothing.
Went grocery shopping alone bc my parents are going to Italy tomorrow. I can’t lie, I missed my dad! As much as he can annoy me sometimes, I enjoy going with him for the most part.
So I watched Scream 4 last night because it’s one of my faves but then I caught the bug so I watched the rest, but in reverse order. My ranking is as follows:
1. Scream
2. Scream 4
3. Scream 2
4. Scream 3
While I looooove Scott Foley as the killer in the 3rd, Courteney Cox’s bangs nearly ruin the entire film. Lol jk but idk it just felt kind of lost to me. Empty but also too much? The lack of Sydney is just palpable. But honestly Scream is one of my all time fave horror series. It’s just so good.
I made a step in trying to feel better by putting all my feelings out on the table with the person with whom I’m having issues with. Likely won’t hear back but that wasn’t really the point. And if I don’t, it just proves what I already knew which is the person I’m dealing with is a small, sad, person with zero accountability or integrity. That isn’t news. I did it for myself, and for the person who I was last year who didn’t say a word when she wanted to SCREAM every day.
foto: firoz ahmad firoz
On OCTOBER 17-19, 2008 Stand Up & Take Action
Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals.
"At a time when $700 billion can be found overnight to bail out the richest bankers in the world and $1000 billion can be spent on one single "war", when sovereign wealth funds in a few rich countries alone are at $2500 billion and growing, it stretches credulity when we are told that the world can't find an extra $18 billion a year to save the lives of millions of children and women and meet the basic needs of the majority of the world's population."
(Director, U.N.Millennium Campaign Salil Shetty, October 8, 2008,The Hindu, New Delhi)
Eight years ago,in 2000, leaders of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration agreeing to do everything in their power to end poverty. They pledged to do this by achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap to end extreme poverty by 2015.
Still, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women. We have the power to change this.
Campaigners worldwide will STAND UP and TAKE ACTION to push their governments for more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, healthcare, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability.
CLICK on these links and you will find images plus information:
www.flickr.com/people/standagainstpoverty/
Experimental Salvation
by Arthur Pink
SALVATION may be viewed from many angles—and contemplated under various aspects. But from whatever side we look at it we must ever remember that "Salvation is of the Lord!" Salvation was planned by the Father for His elect before the foundation of the world. It was purchased for them by the holy life and vicarious death of His incarnate Son. It is applied to and wrought in them by His Holy Spirit. It is known and enjoyed through the study of the Scriptures, through the exercise of faith, and through communion with the triune Jehovah.
Now it is greatly to be feared that there are multitudes in Christendom who truly imagine and sincerely believe, that they are among the saved—yet who are total strangers to a work of divine grace in their hearts. It is one thing to have clear intellectual conceptions of God's truth—but it is quite another matter to have a personal, real heart acquaintance with it. It is one thing to believe that sin is the dreadful thing that the Bible says it is—but it is quite another matter to have a holy horror and hatred of it, in the soul. It is one thing to know that God requires repentance—but it is quite another matter to experimentally mourn and groan over our vileness. It is one thing to believe that Christ is the only Savior for sinners—but it is quite another matter to really trust Him from the heart. It is one thing to believe that Christ is the Sum of all excellency—but it is quite another matter to LOVE Him above all others. It is one thing to believe that God is the great and holy One—but it is quite another matter to truly reverence and fear Him. It is one thing to believe that salvation is of the Lord—but it is quite another matter to become an actual partaker of it through His gracious workings.
While it is true that Holy Scripture insists on man's responsibility—and that all through Scripture, God deals with the sinner as an accountable being; yet it is also true that the Bible plainly and constantly shows that no son of Adam has ever measured up to his responsibility, that every person has miserably failed to discharge his accountability. It is this which constitutes the deep need for GOD to work in the sinner—and to do for him what he is unable to do for himself. "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom 8:8). The sinner is "without strength" (Rom 5:6). Apart from the Lord, we "can do nothing" (John 15:5).
While it is true that the Gospel issues a call and a command to all who hear it—it is also true that ALL disregard that call and disobey that command, "They all with one consent began to make excuse!" (Luke 14:18). This is where the sinner commits his greatest sin and most manifests his awful enmity against God and His Christ: that when a Savior, suited to his needs, is presented to him, he "despises and rejects" Him! (Isa 53:3).
This is where the sinner shows what an incorrigible rebel he is, and demonstrates that he is deserving only of eternal torments. But it is just at this point that God manifests His sovereign and wondrous GRACE. He not only planned and provided salvation, but he actually bestows it upon those whom He has chosen!
Now this bestowal of salvation is far more than a mere proclamation that salvation is to be found in the Lord Jesus: it is very much more than an invitation for sinners to receive Christ as their Savior. It is God actually saving His people! It is His own sovereign and all-powerful work of grace toward and in those who are entirely destitute of merit, and who are so depraved in themselves that they will not and cannot take one step to the obtaining of salvation! Those who have been actually saved, owe far more to divine grace, than most of them realize! It is not only that Christ died to put away their sins—but also the Holy Spirit has wrought a work in them—a work which applies to them, the virtues of Christ's atoning death!
It is just at this point that so many preachers fail in their exposition of the Truth. While many of them affirm that Christ is the only Savior for sinners, they also teach that He actually became ours only by our consent. While they allow that conviction of sin is the Holy Spirit's work and that He alone shows us our lost condition and need of Christ—yet they also insist that the decisive factor in salvation is man's own will. But the Holy Scriptures teach that "salvation is of the Lord!" (Jonah 2:9), and that nothing of the creature enters into it at any point. Only that can satisfy God—which has been produced by God Himself! Though it is true that salvation does not become the personal portion of the sinner until he has, from the heart, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ—yet that very BELIEVING is wrought in him by the Holy Spirit: "By grace are you saved through faith, and that NOT OF YOURSELVES; it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).
It is exceedingly solemn to discover that there is a "believing" in Christ by the natural man, which is NOT a believing unto salvation. Just as the Buddists believe in Budda—so in Christendom there are multitudes who believe in Christ. And this "believing" is something more than an intellectual one. Often there is much feeling connected with it—the emotions may be deeply stirred. Christ taught in the Parable of the Sower that there is a class of people who hear the Word and with joy receive it—yet have they no root in themselves (Matt 13:20, 21). This is fearfully solemn, for it is still occurring daily!
Scriptures also tell us that Herod heard John "gladly." Thus, the mere fact that the reader of these pages enjoys listening to some sound gospel preacher is no proof at all that he is a regenerated soul. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees concerning John the Baptist, "You were willing for a season to rejoice in his light," yet the sequel shows clearly that no real work of grace had been wrought in them. And these things are recorded in Scripture as solemn warnings!
It is striking and solemn to mark the exact wording in the last two Scriptures referred to. Note the repeated personal pronoun in Mark 6:20: "For Herod feared 'John' [not 'God'!], knowing that he as a just man and a holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly." It was the personality of John which attracted Herod. How often is this the case today! People are charmed by the personality of the preacher: they are carried away by his style and won by his earnestness for souls. But if there is nothing more than this—there will one day be a crude awakening for them! That which is vital, is a "love for the truth," not for the one who presents it. It is this which distinguishes the true people of God from the "mixed multitude" who ever associate with them.
So in John 5:35 Christ said to the Pharisees concerning His forerunner: "You were willing for a season to rejoice in his light," not "in the light"! In like manner, there are many today who listen to one whom God enables to open up some of the mysteries and wonders of His Word—and they rejoice "in his light" while in the dark themselves, never having personally received "an anointing from the Holy One." Those who do "love the truth" (2 Thess 2:10) are they in whom a divine work of grace has been wrought. They have something more than a clear, intellectual understanding of the Scripture. The Bible becomes the food of their souls, the joy of their hearts (Jer 15:16). They love the truth, and because they do so, they hate error and shun it as deadly poison. They are jealous for the glory of the Author of the Word, and will not sit under a minister whose teaching dishonors Him; they will not listen to preaching which exalts man into the place of supremacy, so that he is the decider of his own destiny.
"Lord, You will ordain peace for us: for You also have wrought all our works in us" (Isa 26:12). Here is the heart and unqualified confession of the true people of God. Note the preposition: "You also have wrought all our works in us." This speaks of a divine work of grace wrought in the heart of the saint. Nor is this text alone. Weigh carefully the following: "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me" (Gal 1:15, 16).
"Unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" (Eph 3:20). "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it" (Phil 1:6). "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Heb 10: 16). "Now the God of peace...make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight" (Heb 13:20). Here are seven passages which speak of the inward workings of God's grace; or in other words of experimental salvation.
"Lord, You will ordain peace for us: for You also have wrought all our works in us" (Isa 26:12). Is there an echoing response in our heart to this, my reader? Is your repentance something deeper than the remorse and tears of the natural man? Does it have its root in a divine work of grace which the Holy Spirit has wrought in your soul? Is your believing in Christ something more than an intellectual one? Is your relation to Him something more vital than what some act of yours has brought about, having been made one with Him by the power and operation of the Holy Spirit? Is your love for Christ something more than a pious sentiment, like that of the Romanist who sings of the "gentle" and "sweet" Jesus? Does your love for Him proceed from an altogether new nature, that God has created within you? Can you really say with the Psalmist: "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You."
Is your profession accompanied by true meekness and lowliness of heart? It is easy to say, "I am an unworthy and unprofitable creature." But do you realize yourself to be such? Do you feel yourself to be "less than the least of all saints?" Paul did! If you do not; if instead, you deem yourself superior to the rank and file of Christians, who bemoan their failures, confess their weakness, and cry, "O wretched man that I am!"—there is grave reason to conclude you are a stranger to God!
That which distinguishes genuine godliness from human religiousness is this: the one is internal, the other external. Christ complained of the Pharisees, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence!" (Matt 23:25). A carnal religion is all on the surface. It is at the heart God looks—and with the heart God deals. Concerning His people He says: "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Heb 10:16).
"Lord, You will ordain peace for us: for You also have wrought all our works in us." How humbling is this to the pride of man! It makes everything of God—and nothing of the creature!
The tendency of human nature the world over, is to be self-sufficient and self-satisfied; to say with the Laodiceans, "I am rich, and increased with goods—and have need of nothing" (Rev 3:17). But here is something to humble us—and empty us of pride. Since God has wrought all our works in us, then we have no ground for boasting. "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Cor 4:7).
And who are the ones in whom God thus works? From the divine side—His favored, chosen, redeemed people. From the human side—those who, in themselves have no claim whatever on His notice; who are destitute of any merit; who have everything in them to provoke His holy wrath; those who are miserable failures in their lives, and utterly depraved and corrupt in their persons. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound—and did for them and in them what they would not and could not do for themselves!
And what is it which God "works" in His people? All their works!
First, He quickens them: "It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). "He gave us a new birth by the message of truth" (James 1:18).
Second, He bestows repentance: "Him has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel" (Acts 5:31). "God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25).
Third, He gives faith: "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).
Fourth, He grants a spiritual understanding: "And we know the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true" (I John 5:20).
Fifth, He effectuates our service: "I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (I Cor 15:10).
Sixth, He secures our perseverance: "who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (I Pet 1:5).
Seventh, He produces our fruit: "From Me is your fruit found" (Hosea 14:8). "The fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22). Yes, He has wrought all our works in us!
Why has God thus "wrought all our works in us?"
First, because unless He had done so—all would have eternally perished! (Rom 9:29). We were "without strength," unable to meet God's righteous demands. Therefore, in sovereign grace, He did for us—what we ought but could not do for ourselves.
Second, that all the glory might be His. God is a jealous God. He says so. His honor He will not share with another. By this means He secures all the praise, and we have no ground for boasting.
Third, that our salvation might be effectually and securely accomplished. Were any part of our salvation left to us—it would be neither effectual nor secure. Whatever man touches he spoils: failure is written across everything he attempts. But what God does is perfect and lasts forever: "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him" (Eccl 3:14).
But how may I be sure that my works have been "wrought in me" by God? Mainly by their effects. If you have been born again, you have a new nature within. This new nature is spiritual and contrary to the flesh—contrary in its desires and aspirations. Because the old and new natures are contrary to each other, there is a continual war between them. Are you conscious of this inward conflict?
If your repentance is a God-wrought one, then you abhor yourself. If your repentance is a genuine and spiritual one, then you marvel that God did not cast you into hell long ago. If your repentance is the gift of Christ, then you daily mourn the wretched returns which you make to God's wondrous grace; you hate sin, you sorrow in secret before God for your manifold transgressions. Not simply do you do so at conversion, but daily do so now.
If your faith is a God-communicated one, it is evidenced by your turning away from all creature confidences, by a renunciation of your own self-righteousness, by a repudiation of all your own works. If your faith is "the faith of God's elect" (Titus 1:1), then you are resting alone on Christ as the ground of your acceptance before God. If your faith is the result of "the operation of God," then you implicitly believe His Word, you receive it with meekness, you crucify reason, and accept all He has said with childlike simplicity.
If your love for Christ is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:25), then it evidences itself by constantly seeking to please Him, and by abstaining from what you know is displeasing to Him: in a word, by an obedient walk. If your love for Christ is the love of "the new man," then you pant after Him, you yearn for communion with Him above everything else. If your love for Christ is the same in kind (though not in degree) as His love for you, then you are eagerly looking forward to His glorious appearing, when He shall come again to receive His people unto Himself, that they may be forever with the Lord.
May the grace of spiritual discernment be given the reader to see whether his Christian profession is real or a sham; whether his hope is built upon the Rock of Ages or the quicksands of human resolutions, efforts, decisions, or feelings; whether, in short, his salvation is "Of the Lord"—or the vain imagination of his own deceitful heart!
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