The Left Side of the Church

The Left Side of the Church:

The fiftieth anniversary of 1968 has occasioned much reflection on that pivotal moment in the twentieth century. If the quintessential image of that year of upheaval is students assembling barricades in the Paris streets, or protests at Berkeley against the Vietnam War, it was also marked by challenges to political and social power throughout the world. Curiously overlooked, however, is the gathering in Colombia of the Medellin Conference of Latin American Bishops — a pivotal event in the development of liberation theology throughout Latin America. The declarations of the conference broke new ground in expanding the notion of theological “liberation” to imply a positive humanizing process, and attacking the political, social, and economic structures that kept millions of Latin Americans poor and oppressed.

The Story of the Famous and Foolish Children’s Crusade | About History

The Story of the Famous and Foolish Children’s Crusade | About History:

This Children’s Crusade was not an army of children, and it was not a crusade. Indeed, it was not even one thing, but a blanket term used to describe a variety of popular uprisings and processions. At its core was the long-held medieval belief in holy poverty—that the poor of Christ could achieve things by their pious righteousness that church prelates and secular lords could not. These were the kinds of ideas that gave birth to and propelled the “People’s Crusade” in the wake of the preaching of the First Crusade. Since then, Christians had become disillusioned by the failure of powerful crusades to achieve their stated goals. Perhaps, they reasoned, it was the weak and humble that Christ was calling to victory in the Holy Land. Had he not preached, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”.

Putin Runs The Russian State--And The Russian Church Too

Putin Runs The Russian State--And The Russian Church Too:

Kirill, who was the Metropolitan of Smolensk, succeeds Alexei II who died in December after 18 years as head of the Russian Church. According to material from the Soviet archives, Kirill was a KGB agent (as was Alexei). This means he was more than just an informer, of whom there were millions in the Soviet Union. He was an active officer of the organization. Neither Kirill nor Alexei ever acknowledged or apologized for their ties with the security agencies.

Ukraine: Poroshenko Embraces Orthodox Church as Political Ally - Bloomberg

Ukraine: Poroshenko Embraces Orthodox Church as Political Ally - Bloomberg:

On Dec. 15, Poroshenko attended the unification conference even though the Ukrainian Constitution ensures the separation of church and state. He told the audience of priests that spiritual independence was as important as the political kind. He described the prospective granting of autocephaly as a step toward Ukraine’s decolonization from Russia.

Liveleak.com - Ukrainian Church of the CIA?

Liveleak.com - Ukrainian Church of the CIA?:

After Ukrainian president Poroshenko announced creation of new "united" Ukrainian Orthodox church, Head of unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox church and close ally of Ukrainian president Poroshenko patriarch Filaret awarded the order of St. Andrew the Apostle, church highest award, to Jack Devine for "support of the independence of Ukraine and the creation of a single local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

Beyond Disease Transmission: Evangelical Missions and the Consequences of Colonialism | The Exchange | A Blog by Ed Stetzer

Beyond Disease Transmission: Evangelical Missions and the Consequences of Colonialism | The Exchange | A Blog by Ed Stetzer:

The reasons for this spread, in addition to contact with infected outsiders, were due to the disruption of indigenous foodways. The Russian and American commodification of Alaska’s forests and animals devastated regions where people survived by hunting and gathering. According to former Alaskan public health worker Penelope S. Easton, many of the food and care providers in indigenous communities quickly died off from tuberculosis and other diseases. These realities introduced widespread poverty and malnutrition, two significant risk factors for the spread of tuberculosis.

It in this season of mass death that many Protestant missionaries entered Alaska. Many missionaries saw the malnourishment, the strange homes, the alcoholism, and the disease, and concluded that Native Alaskans needed the gospel of civilization to save them from complete ruin. As missionaries established orphanages and industrial schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many instituted policies restricting the use of Native languages and the consumption of traditional Native foods.

Connecticut bishop appoints laywoman to lead parish

Connecticut bishop appoints laywoman to lead parish:

Less than two months after serving as delegate in the Bishops Synod on Youth which called women’s leadership within the Church “a duty of justice,” Bishop Frank Caggiano has established a new leadership model in a Connecticut parish, appointing a woman to serve as parish life coordinator.

The appointment of Dr. Eleanor W. Sauers, which was announced on Sunday in a letter to parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua in Fairfield, Connecticut, grants Sauers decision-making authority over a team of priests who will be responsible for sacramental ministry.

How to End a Novel: Writing Strong Story Endings | Now Novel

How to End a Novel: Writing Strong Story Endings | Now Novel:

1. Leave readers guessing: The open-ended story
2. Bring readers full circle: Ending where you began
3. Pull the rug from beneath their feet: Shocking twist endings
4. Create feel-good lingering: ‘Happily ever after’ endings
5. Build in ‘what next?’ – Cliffhanger endings
6. Create complex resolutions: Combining ending types
7. Avoid cliched and unsatisfying story endings: Ending ‘don’ts’

Christopher Tolkien and the legacy of his father J.R.R. Tolkien: The Steward of Middle-earth

Christopher Tolkien and the legacy of his father J.R.R. Tolkien: The Steward of Middle-earth:

In 1975, Christopher Tolkien left his fellowship at New College, Oxford, to edit his late father’s massive legendarium. The prospect was daunting. The 50-year-old medievalist found himself confronted with 70 boxes of unpublished work. Thousands of pages of notes and fragments and poems, some dating back more than six decades, were stuffed haphazardly into the boxes. Handwritten texts were hurriedly scrawled in pencil and annotated with a jumble of notes and corrections. One early story was drafted in a high school exercise book.

C.S. Lewis And J.R.R. Tolkien: The Unpayable Debt of Writing Friends (Throwback Thursday) | A Pilgrim in Narnia

C.S. Lewis And J.R.R. Tolkien: The Unpayable Debt of Writing Friends (Throwback Thursday) | A Pilgrim in Narnia:

A now-famous literary pact between Tolkien and Lewis, “Tollers” and “Jack,” confirms how different their approach was. Here Humphrey Carpenter records Tolkien’s recollection of a conversation they had, with Lewis speaking first:

“Tollers, there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.” We agreed’ (said Tolkien) ‘that he should try “space-travel”, and I should try “time-travel”. (Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien, 190).

C.S. Lewis’ space travel story, Out of the Silent Planet, appeared quickly in 1938. We don’t get to see what Tolkien was working on until after he died.

The Philosophy of Our Time | Boston Review

The Philosophy of Our Time | Boston Review:

Nearly forty years after his death in 1980, the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre is best remembered as the father of existentialism. We are most familiar with him as the theorist of freedom, authenticity, and bad faith in philosophical treatises such as Being and Nothingness (1943) and literary works such as Nausea (1938) and No Exit (1944). But eclipsed in this popular image is an appreciation of the staggering range of his dozens of volumes of published work, especially the fruit of his political activity from the end of World War II until his death—a period marked most notably by a rich and sustained engagement with Marxism.

Far from being consigned to the ash heap of history, the mid-century encounter between Marxism and existentialism remains vital today. As we seek political and philosophical bearings in this time of renewed calls for a socialist alternative to capitalism, postwar efforts to bring Marxism and existentialism together have much to teach us—not only because of the continuing importance of each mode of thought to political thinking and organizing, but also because their interaction in Sartre’s work deepens our understanding of how we exercise agency under conditions we do not control.

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Existentialist | OUPblog

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Existentialist | OUPblog:

Sartre’s talk “Existentialism is a Humanism” was an instant legend. The venue was packed, the crowd spilling into the street. Furniture got broken. People fainted and were carried outside. Sartre had to push his way through to the podium, where he delivered a speech entirely off the cuff. Unsurprisingly, in the circumstances, it was rather sketchy and occasionally inconsistent.

Beauvoir’s altogether more coherent account was published a few weeks later as “Existentialism and Popular Wisdom” in the third issue of Les Temps Modernes, the cultural and political journal the pair had founded.
These were the keynotes of their rich programme of talks, articles, plays, and novels, which firmly established the fifth and sixth arrondisements of Paris as the centre of European intellectual innovation.

Hackers Are Targeting Createspace Author Accounts - The Book Designer

Hackers Are Targeting Createspace Author Accounts - The Book Designer:

Authors who have an account on Createspace should go change their passwords immediately — and while they’re at it, they should also double check their payment details.
Reports of Hacking

This story has for the most part been ignored by the press, but starting some time in March or April 2018, hackers began to target author accounts on Createspace.

I have read multiple independent reports in several closed Facebook groups, Reddit, and on Kbaords dated in April, June, July, August, and as late as the first week of November from authors who say that someone hacked their CS account.

Writers On The Move: The Three Most Important Components for Publishing Ebooks

Writers On The Move: The Three Most Important Components for Publishing Ebooks:

Formatting. I list this last because most e-book services like Amazon, Createspace, BookBaby etc. make it clear that formatting is essential and provide guidelines for getting it right. I included expanded step-by-step instructions for formatting your book for Kindle in the Appendix of my multi award-winning book on editing, The Frugal Editor.

Note:You should know that when a reader buys your e-book on Amazon, he or she gets to choose what reader format they prefer for his or her preferred device after clicking the buy button. When you use Createspace/KDP, you reach most everyone short of those who refuse to buy from Amazon and you save accounting time tracking different online e-book distributors. You will also saves time reformatting from a print version to an e-book and get distribution and marketing benefits when you use them exclusively.

PS: The fourth most important component of e-books is marketing. No e-book—no book!—is truly published if it hasn’t been marketed. It’s part of the publisher’s job no matter how it is published or who the publisher is. And if it is self-published, marketing is as much the author’s job as the writing of the book. Everything you need to know to market your book the way a professional would if you had the money to hire her is in The Frugal Book Promoter

SOCIALISTS LOSE PROPERTY IN REICH; All Party's Holdings and Those of Reichsbanner Attached for Eventual Union Claims. PAPERS' PLANTS INCLUDED Nazis Announce Corruption Proved and Union Funds Turned Over for Political Purposes. - The New York Times

SOCIALISTS LOSE PROPERTY IN REICH; All Party's Holdings and Those of Reichsbanner Attached for Eventual Union Claims. PAPERS' PLANTS INCLUDED Nazis Announce Corruption Proved and Union Funds Turned Over for Political Purposes. - The New York Times:

BERLIN, May 10. -- By order of the State prosecuting attorney in Berlin, the entire property of the German Socialist party throughout the Reich, including its newspapers, their publishing plants and the property of the Reichsbanner, has been attached to serve as security for eventual claims of the trade unions.

The Gay Love Stories of Moomin and the Queer Radicality of Tove Jansson | Autostraddle

The Gay Love Stories of Moomin and the Queer Radicality of Tove Jansson | Autostraddle:

Jansson’s queerness is often left out in stories of her life. Puffin editions of Moomin books talked about how she lived alone on her Finnish island; documentaries still talk of Pietil as a lifelong friend. Jansson is no
 misnomer, rather, she fits in neatly with the trend of avoiding the personal lives of gay people
 – particularly lesbians – that exists to this day.

De Lille; a sobering, brief history of her political time – Ed Herbst - BizNews.com

De Lille; a sobering, brief history of her political time – Ed Herbst - BizNews.com:

For those readers who think Patricia de Lille is something of a national hero for her part in exposing the arms deal that gave us an early heads up on Zuma and his then-incipient army of Zuptoids, reading this will make them think again. The kindest interpretation one can make of veteran journalist Ed Herbst’s time line on her many public statements over the years is that she’s a loose cannon of note, that she trims her sails to the prevailing political winds and brashly tailors her message to whatever audience, regardless of the wider truth.

Russia, Ukraine, and the Orthodox Church | Council on Foreign Relations

Russia, Ukraine, and the Orthodox Church | Council on Foreign Relations:

President Poroshenko and the Ukrainian legislature, the Rada, were crucial actors in the move towards a canonically legitimate national Orthodox church. One of the president’s key advisors, Rostyslav Pavleko, was charged with a long-term effort to lead out to the leaders of the world’s Orthodox churches and their home governments to build support for the process that was occurring and the dialogue that was ongoing with the Constantinople patriarch. And so that it was in fact a parliamentary resolution which was cited by the patriarch as one of the triggers for action by Constantinople.

Two Jesuits on the religious history behind witches, magic and Halloween | America Magazine

Two Jesuits on the religious history behind witches, magic and Halloween | America Magazine:

The historical witch hunt that people usually have in mind is not medieval; it is a little more recent than that. When we think of the witches who were burned or prosecuted, we are talking about something that emerges in the 15th century and lasts until the end of the 18th century.

In this period, a witch was defined as a person who made a pact with the devil. The pact was usually sealed by sexual intercourse with the devil, and witches formed a community of evildoers, gathering regularly at so-called sabbats. The pacts are what made their evil so powerful.

No evidence of ‘white genocide’ in SA, say experts – The Citizen

No evidence of ‘white genocide’ in SA, say experts – The Citizen:

There is no evidence of a genocide of white people or a specific group in the white community, according to an ISS senior consultant.

Telling the world there is a “white genocide” in South Africa to attract international attention is reckless, as no one has provided evidence of it, according to political experts.

As flags flew at half-mast at the US embassy in Pretoria yesterday to mourn the 11 people killed in a massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue by a white nationalist, a group called Black Monday gathered outside the embassy claiming to be telling the world about white genocide in South Africa.

What the ‘Grievance Studies’ Hoax Means - The Chronicle of Higher Education

What the ‘Grievance Studies’ Hoax Means - The Chronicle of Higher Education:

To hoax morally suspect fields like economics, one of the fake papers concocted by James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian and accepted for publication in Hypatia argued, is morally righteous. To hoax morally righteous fields like gender studies, on the other hand, is morally suspect.

This hilarious little piece of meta-textualism shows that the scholars behind Sokal Squared are more conversant in postmodern discourse — and more attuned to its lighter modes — than some of their critics seem to assume. It also shows that they know their enemies well enough to predict their reactions with uncanny accuracy.

Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia - The New York Times

Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia - The New York Times:

For almost as long as there have been monks here, women have been barred — considered a distraction and undue competition for the Virgin Mary, the patron saint. There are no hotels, no bars, no stores, no television and no swimming, plus a daily quota limits visitors.

Travelers arrive on boats providing the only public access to the peninsula. Collectively, the monasteries play host to an average of 1,200 people nightly, all without charge.

The difficult access and the high monastery walls once built against marauding pirates seemed to keep time at bay, too, but now the modern world penetrates on cellphone signals and internet connections.

Here's What's Really Going on with the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and Russia | The National Interest

Here's What's Really Going on with the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and Russia | The National Interest:

I am starting to get annoyed at the number of commentators who have no background in Orthodox ecclesiology and scant knowledge of Byzantine, Ukrainian and Russian history or about the contemporary realities of religious life throughout the former Soviet Union. These pundits nevertheless feel confident to deliver sweeping pronouncements about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church situation and its ramifications for the Moscow Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church as a whole. At a minimum, one would hope that anyone offering commentary would be well versed in the disputes over the interpretations of the canons of the Council of Chalcedon (451), the controversy over the creation of the Autocephalous Polish Orthodox Church nearly a century ago (in 1924), and the significance of the Pochaiv conclave (which attempted to create a unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1942). Ignorance of these and other developments should be seen as disqualifying to offering anything that purports to be an expert opinion on the matter.

Whiteness Is Blackness, and Blackness Is Whiteness - Commentary

Whiteness Is Blackness, and Blackness Is Whiteness - Commentary:

In its most basic form, intersectionality is a theory that posits interlinked and intersecting forms of oppression. For example, a woman of color can experience discrimination for being both a woman and a person of color; this sounds logical enough, but its deeper claim is that human interaction arises not from an individual’s behavior but is entirely due to the social group to which he or she belongs. Additionally, all so-called knowledge is merely the subjective reality of one’s group. Knowledge is a construct, not an independent thing. Finally, the proponents of intersectionality believe that the only social motive that exists is power.

What Really Happened in Constantinople Last Week

What Really Happened in Constantinople Last Week:

Although this decision seems to deal with the remote past, it has a wide array of political and ecclesial implications that apply today. The most important ecclesial implication is that the schism in Ukraine has effectively ended. Those faithful who belonged to unrecognized Orthodox churches are now in communion with the rest of Orthodox churches worldwide. The leaders of the unrecognized churches were restored to their episcopal and priestly degrees. Constantinople thus exercised its right to entertain appeals from outside its own jurisdiction. Constantinople also invited these churches to form a new ecclesial structure, which it intends to grant full independence (or autocephaly) by issuing a founding document, called a Tomos, to it.

Putin Is the Biggest Loser of Orthodox Schism - Bloomberg

Putin Is the Biggest Loser of Orthodox Schism - Bloomberg:

Moscow’s only hope in this lose-lose situation is that Ukrainians will shoot themselves in the foot, as they’ve often done before. To receive autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Ukrainian Christians must unite and select a leader. Whether this will happen depends in part on the two clerics reinstated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate – Filaret, who was excommunicated by the Russian church in 1997 for splitting off the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Makariy, who runs the relatively small Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Ukraine Is Dangerously Close to a Religious War - Bloomberg

Ukraine Is Dangerously Close to a Religious War - Bloomberg:

So far, Russia has taken a hard line. The Moscow Patriarchate has portrayed autocephaly in Ukraine as an unacceptable catastrophe. It has officially condemned Bartholomew’s intention to grant Poroshenko’s request, and has even stopped using Bartholomew’s name in prayers. Given the stakes, it’s entirely possible that factional violence could break out, much as happened when Russia incited parts of Eastern Ukraine to seek independence. To prevent that from happening, Russian and Ukrainian leaders must display wisdom and restraint.

Russia, Ukraine, and the battle for religion | European Council on Foreign Relations

Russia, Ukraine, and the battle for religion | European Council on Foreign Relations:

There are no fewer than three main Orthodox churches in Ukraine. Why so many? One of these, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), was set up in 1921 but banned under Stalin in 1930. It survived in the diaspora and returned to Ukraine in 1990. The current trio derives from an unsuccessful attempt in 1992, just after Ukraine’s political independence in 1991, to broker a merger between the UAOC and the existing Orthodox hierarchy in Ukraine. The merger created a new church, dubbed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kievan Patriarchate (OUC-KP). But there was resistance on both sides: many in the UAOC refused to join, because they saw the existing Orthodox hierarchy as compromised by the KGB. While most of that compromised hierarchy refused to join the Kievan Patriarchate, for additional reasons of ‘canonicity’, traditionalism, and Russian nationalism. They remained under the Russian church, but relabelled it as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (OUC-MP). Just for good measure, there is a fourth church, the Greek Catholic Church – half-Orthodox and half-Catholic – banned in 1946, but revived in 1989, largely based in western Ukraine.

“The Church does not bow to politicians”—Patriarch of Alexandria / OrthoChristian.Com

“The Church does not bow to politicians”—Patriarch of Alexandria / OrthoChristian.Com:

Pat. Theodoros also reiterated that he would speak to the primates of all the Local Orthodox Churches about what he “has seen with his own eyes” in Ukraine, as he promised in Odessa, here adding, “I will also tell all the patriarchs that the Church does not bow to politicians. The Church has the Apostolic rules… The canonical Church is guided by the canons. It lives by and will live by the canons.”

Hierarchs from around the Orthodox world have criticized Ukraine’s political interference in Church matters, and a Kiev district court recently decided to hear a case on President Poroshenko’s competency to interfere in Church affairs.

Ukraine Is Dangerously Close to a Religious War - Bloomberg

Ukraine Is Dangerously Close to a Religious War - Bloomberg:

For several centuries, since the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Moscow has pretended to the role of a “Third Rome” — a political and religious capital that would unite the Orthodox world, or at least its Slavic part. To that end, in the 17th century, the Russian church subsumed its Ukrainian neighbor. Even after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, most Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus remained united under one spiritual leader, the Patriarch of Moscow. In 2016, Putin inaugurated a colossal statue of St. Vladimir, the Grand Prince of Kiev who established Russian Orthodoxy, next to the Kremlin — indicating that Russia aspires to be his true heir.

Solzhenitsyn and Distributism

Solzhenitsyn and Distributism:

At first sight, it would seem that G.K. Chesterton and Alexander Solzhenitsyn have very little in common. The one has a reputation for jollity and rambunctiousness, the other for sobriety and solemn sternness. One penned swashbuckling fantasies about lovable eccentrics, the other wrote gritty works of realism set in prison camps or cancer wards. Although both have been described as prophets, Chesterton is a laughing prophet, capering with the anarchic joie de vivre of St. Francis; Solzhenitsyn, on the other hand, is a searingly serious seer, blasting the follies of the age with the excoriating scorn of a modern-day Jeremiah. In spite of such appearances to the contrary, and as I hope to show, these two giants of twentieth century literature are, in fact, kindred spirits who share the same political philosophy and the same religious orthodoxy.

How to build your own Neural Network from scratch in Python

How to build your own Neural Network from scratch in Python:

How to build your own Neural Network from scratch in Python
A beginner’s guide to understanding the inner workings of Deep Learning

The English Language is doomed

Robert Fisk on the decline of English

My favourite is “space”. I belong to a generation in which space usually related to Outer Space, in which my British comic hero Dan Dare forever battled the Mekon, the over-brained monster who sought world dictatorship over all science from a levitating chair. More mundanely, “space” was the rather dull word my mum and dad used in furnishing a room. Is there enough “space” for the wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom? But no more.
Here, from my personal collection of clippings over 15 years – all can be referenced to the culprits if readers desire – are new uses for “space”:

“A spectacular space in which exploration in depth can take place” (Tony Blair describing a London house in which “interfaith interaction” can occur); “a socially relevant space” (film director Katherine Bigelow talking of her movie work environment); the “spaces created by imperial rule” (Edinburgh University Press on British rule in Aden); “to create a space for alternative thinking and writing” (Denis MacShane on Polish leader Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s cooperation with communist rule); “a functioning commercial space”, “bar-restaurant space”, “non-commercial space”, “public house space”, “two-storey space” and lots of other “spaces” (an English-language Lebanese paper reviewing a cafe in a 19th century Beirut building); “air exhibition space”, “performance space”, and “well-curated space” (all from a Vancouver art gallery brochure); “a reclaiming of space” (an FT reviewer on women in Paris); “a space for different arguments” (an Irish Times feature on a Northern Ireland human rights festival); “to retain a space” (Cambridge historian Hugh Drocon on Nietzsche); and “a radical step change in our development of leaders who can shape and articulate a compelling vision and who are skilled and robust enough to create spaces of safe uncertainty [sic] in which the Kingdom grows” (the Church of England on training bishops).

Six Pieces of Misunderstood Storytelling Advice – Mythcreants

Six Pieces of Misunderstood Storytelling Advice – Mythcreants:

When storytellers think conflict is defined by explosions and death, it can discourage them. Authors working on lighter stories often think their tales aren’t worth telling because no one dies in them. Worse, some authors reject the notion of conflict entirely because they think it needs to be spaceships shooting lasers at each other. That’s how we end up with stories where nothing happens for chapter upon chapter.

EXCLUSIVE: Cronin lifts veil on new draft expropriation law | Fin24

EXCLUSIVE: Cronin lifts veil on new draft expropriation law | Fin24:

A task team on expropriation, previously led by Cronin, identified land and property that could be expropriated without compensation as abandoned buildings, unutilised land, commercial property held unproductively and purely for speculative purposes, underutilised property owned by the state, and f land farmed by labour tenants with an absentee titleholder

The Patriarchal Parishes in the USA - Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the uncanonical intervention of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church

The Patriarchal Parishes in the USA - Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the uncanonical intervention of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church:

With profound regret and sorrow the Holy Synod the Russian Orthodox Church learned about the statement made by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople concerning the appointment of its two “exarchs” to Kiev. This decision was taken without an agreement with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine – the only canonical head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It constitutes a flagrant violation of the ecclesiastical law and an intervention of one Local Church in the territory of the other. Moreover, the Patriarchate of Constantinople presents the appointment of the “exarchs” as a stage in the implementation of a plan aimed at granting “autocephaly” to Ukraine. This process, according to the statements of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, is irreversible and will be carried through.

Angels: What the Bible Really Says About God’s Heavenly Host - Lexham Press

Angels: What the Bible Really Says About God’s Heavenly Host - Lexham Press:

In his latest book, Angels, Dr. Heiser reveals what the Bible really says about God’s supernatural servants. Heiser focuses on loyal, holy heavenly beings because the Bible has a lot more to say about them than most people suspect. Most people presume all there is to know about angels is what has been passed on in Christian tradition, but in reality, that tradition is quite incomplete and often inaccurate.

Aquarius Rising | by Jackson Lears | The New York Review of Books

Aquarius Rising | by Jackson Lears | The New York Review of Books:

Certain years acquire an almost numinous quality in collective memory—1789, 1861, 1914. One of the more recent additions to the list is 1968. Its fiftieth anniversary has brought a flood of attempts to recapture it—local, national, and transnational histories, anthologies, memoirs, even performance art and musical theater. Immersion in this literature soon produces a feeling of d�j� vu, particularly if one was politically conscious at the time (as I was).

Jim Forest's comment:

The religious dimension of American radicalism was what separated it from the student uprisings in Paris and other European cities during the spring of 1968. American radicals lacked the anticlerical animus of Europeans; priests, rabbis, and ministers enlisted in the front ranks of the civil rights and antiwar movements. King’s decision to bear witness against the war was central to legitimating resistance to it, while provoking government counterattacks as well as denunciations from both liberals and conservatives.

“Religion” may be too solemn a word for many 1960s radicals, but it helps to capture the depth of their motives: above all their longing for a more direct, authentic experience of the world than the one on offer in midcentury American society. What made radicals mad, what drove their deepest animus against the war, was their sense that it was a product of the same corporate technostructure—as John Kenneth Galbraith called it in The New Industrial State (1967)—that reduced everyday life to a hamster cage of earning and spending. The tribunes of the technostructure were men like Robert McNamara, who shuttled from the Ford Motor Company to the Defense Department to the World Bank, and who seemed to know everything about managerial techniques but nothing about their ultimate purpose, if indeed there was one. Elite managers were the high priests of an orthodoxy with a blankness, a vacancy, at its center.

The fundamental expression of this vacuity was the war machine that multiplied corpses in Vietnam and nuclear weapons throughout the world. King acknowledged the connection between managerialism and militarism at Arlington Cemetery in February 1968, when he said, “Somewhere along the way we have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.” A society of means without ends was a society without a soul....

The Empty Land Myth | South African History Online

The Empty Land Myth | South African History Online:

The Empty or Vacant Land Theory is a theory that was propagated by European settlers in nineteenth century South Africa to support their claims to land. Today this theory is described as a myth, the Empty Land Myth, because there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support this theory. Despite evidence to the contrary a number of parties in South Africa, particularly right-wing nationalists of European descent, maintain that the theory still holds true in order to support their claims to land-ownership in the country.

The Maker of the Maker of Middle-earth | Christianity Today

The Maker of the Maker of Middle-earth | Christianity Today:

Who was J. R. R. Tolkien? Nearly everyone knows him as the author of two of the most beloved books of the 20th century: The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Many also know him as a member of the Inklings and a close friend of fellow writer and scholar C. S. Lewis. Fewer know Tolkien’s work as a literary critic, a world-class academic in medieval literature, a linguist, an inventor of languages, and a visual artist or realize that he was also a devoted husband and father.

Much of this is captured this year in a nearly comprehensive exhibit at Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries on Tolkien’s life and legacy. “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” has been billed as the exhibit of a generation, and it is indeed that. But there’s a glaring omission: any mention of the author’s devout, lifelong Christian faith. Without that piece, we cannot have a true picture of Tolkien.

The 15 Most Common Books Never Finished, According To Goodreads

The 15 Most Common Books Never Finished, According To Goodreads:

Deciding not to finish a book can be a freeing experience. Our time as readers is limited and there are SO MANY good books out there. Choosing to DNF (or “did not finish” a book) isn’t an indictment of the book itself—usually—but a necessary aspect of the reader’s life nowadays. Some books, though, get DNFed more often than others.

YA Books About Witches Perfect For Reading All Year Long

YA Books About Witches Perfect For Reading All Year Long:

What I love about witch stories is that for readers who are sometimes put off by either horror books or by supernatural/fantasy reads, witch books are often grounded enough in reality—a witch is often human, after all—to make them easy to access. The young adult books with witches below span those titles which lean more heavily toward realistic than fantasy, as well as those which are far more toward the fantastical than realistic side. In other words: there’s something here for every kind of witchy reader.

John Coltrane and the End of Jazz

John Coltrane and the End of Jazz:

The Renaissance, taking man as the measure of all things, produced music for soloists. The Age of Revolutions, gestating democracy and the nation at arms, expressed its collectivism in orchestral music. The 20th century saw the triumph of capitalism, eventually, and the musical format of the market economy was the quartet. A quartet is the cheapest way to mimic an orchestra’s range. Ringo plays the rhythm, Paul holds down the bass, John adds the chords, and George does the decorations. The logical consequence, economically if not musically, was for all four members to sing a bit and write their own tunes. Hence the Beatles, self-contained and self-commodified, with a little help from their friend Brian Epstein.

Of Course Christians Are Theocrats | Peter J. Leithart | First Things

Of Course Christians Are Theocrats | Peter J. Leithart | First Things:

In the final analysis, “human affairs” and “things divine” won’t stay put in their neutral corners. This is why I prefer Stanley Hauerwas’s straightforward confession: “I often enjoy making liberal friends, particularly American liberal friends, nervous by acknowledging that I am of course a theocrat.”

That “of course” is the kicker. For Hauerwas, it’s obvious that a Christian must be a theocrat. He’s right. “Theocracy” means “rule of God,” and the Christian gospel is, in a literal sense, a theocratic message: Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Against the Roman conviction that “Caesar is lord,” Christians proclaim that “Jesus is Lord.”

The big double standard on child sex abuse no one is talking about The American Vision

The big double standard on child sex abuse no one is talking about The American Vision:

while they are raking the Roman Catholics over the coals, they are totaling ignoring—averting the eyes, covering the ears, running to avoid—the same issue in the public schools where all indications are the problem is far greater.

Google and Facebook Didn't End Data Privacy - The Atlantic

Google and Facebook Didn't End Data Privacy - The Atlantic:
Online services are only accelerating the reach and impact of data-intelligence practices that stretch back decades. They have collected your personal data, with and without your permission, from employers, public records, purchases, banking activity, educational history, and hundreds more sources. They have connected it, recombined it, bought it, and sold it. Processed foods look wholesome compared to your processed data, scattered to the winds of a thousand databases. Everything you have done has been recorded, munged, and spat back at you to benefit sellers, advertisers, and the brokers who service them. It has been for a long time, and it’s not going to stop. The age of privacy nihilism is here, and it’s time to face the dark hollow of its pervasive void.

15,000 White South Africans Flee Racist Persecution, Plan Move to Russia - Russian Faith

15,000 White South Africans Flee Racist Persecution, Plan Move to Russia - Russian Faith:

...the whole notion that Boers see Russia as a possible new homeland is telling and it is huge in its implications. It is happening, as I predicted a few years ago, that white Christian peoples (which is by definition–a European root) will increasingly see Russia as their salvation.

Definitely a racist and idolatrous web site, to which I will no longer be following links.

Animal-headed Divinities in Christianity | Tsem Rinpoche

Animal-headed Divinities in Christianity | Tsem Rinpoche:

With the tradition of venerating the dog-headed St. Christopher and the manifestation of animal forms of Cherub and Seraphim angels it is clear that animal-headed divinities do exist within Christianity. It is not only something that exists in ‘pagan’ religions because divinity can manifest in a variety of ways, and divinity can certainly manifest in animal form. Mind you, pagan is something labelled by the Christians to denounce the gods of other religions calling them satanic or evil in order to denounce. Sometimes Christians would denounce in this way to show their superiority over other religions when all religions are actually equal. Nothing can limit the manner in which divinity or God can manifest in order to protect or benefit all beings. Hence, there is nothing wrong or demonic when divinity manifests in animal forms in any religion. It is, in fact, an expression of the divine reaching out to protect and benefit all beings.

Nazism, Socialism and the Falsification of History – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Nazism, Socialism and the Falsification of History – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

last week, Paul Murray complained that young people tempted by left-wing politics fail to understand that the Second World War was waged against socialism. Presumably by this he meant the Axis powers, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

This bizarre view fails to consider the inconvenient fact that the Allies included among its number the communist Soviet Union, the state that bore the brunt of the conflict in lives and domestic destruction. But inconvenient facts should not get in the way of a convenient narrative. "The modern culture doesn't understand WWII," lamented Murray. "Too many of this generation want socialism and don't understand what their relatives fought for and that's why we speak up about it."

Russia Welcomes White South African Refugees? - LewRockwell

Russia Welcomes White South African Refugees? - LewRockwell:

While blind and hypocritical West was hailing their thoroughly fake idol of Nelson Mandela, the Republic of South Africa was slowly being consumed by unprecedented black racism and non-stop assault on white Afrikaners. Rape, murder, robbery, barbed wire electrified fences around white South African communities–these are defining characteristics of modern South Africa.

So Lew Rockwell, an idol to many, is also thoroughly fake!

A New Schism in the Orthodox World Growing as Moscow Seeks Supremacy Over Constantinople - The Pappas Post

A New Schism in the Orthodox World Growing as Moscow Seeks Supremacy Over Constantinople - The Pappas Post:

A New Schism in the Orthodox World Growing as Moscow Seeks Supremacy Over Constantinople

Largely unreported events (in the Greek media) took place in Moscow in early December when Patriarch Kirill, head of the The Russian Orthodox Church hosted 380 Orthodox bishops from Russia and throughout the world, including representatives from the Slavic countries and the Near East, and ethnic Greek church leaders from Alexandria, Cyprus, Jerusalem and Albania.

The celebrations were taking place to commemorate the centennial of the restoration of the Russian Patriarchate following the Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Church went all out to make a grand affair of the spectacle– complete with a gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Christ the Savior Orthodox Church - Church Etiquette

Christ the Savior Orthodox Church - Church Etiquette:

The Holy Orthodox Church is perhaps one of the last social institutions where dignity, protocol, respect, and reverence are maintained. This is primarily because when we come to the church and its services we are entering the Kingdom of God on earth, His habitation, and we choose to honor this sacred place by our attentiveness to what is proper and ordered. We have the opportunity to reflect the image of Christ within us by our actions. “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” ( Peter 2:9).

Alternative to Euthanasia | Wellspring

Alternative to Euthanasia | Wellspring:

...a clear distinction must be made between what have traditionally been labeled “active” and “passive” forms of euthanasia. The latter term, “passive euthanasia,” refers generally to a withdrawing or withholding of life-support, rather than to active intervention. As such, it is a misnomer. Modern life-support technology can sustain biological existence even when the patient has lost autonomous cardio-respiratory functioning or has suffered the irreversible loss of upper brain activity. Although the brain stem may still be working, if the cerebral cortex is dead, life-support technology (ventilator, dialysis, antibiotics) is doing little more than sustaining a living cadaver. In liturgical language, this state signals that “the soul is struggling to leave the body,” and there is no longer personal existence in any meaningful sense.

DignitySA and COPE to bring advance directives Bill to Parliament | Synapses

DignitySA and COPE to bring advance directives Bill to Parliament | Synapses:

In a secular state, people should of course be free to exercise their religious commitments if those commitments don’t violate the law.

But citizens should also not be forced to adhere to laws that are motivated by non-secular considerations, such as the idea that life is granted and taken away by a metaphysical being, and where humans (who possess the property of existing!) having no say in when and how they die.

The good news is that we are about to inch a little closer to securing personal agency in end-of-life decisions, thanks to Deirdre Carter (of COPE) having lodged a notice of intent to introduce a Private Member’s Bill on advance directives to Parliament. This follows extensive consultation with DignitySA, who have played a key role in getting things this far.

An Alternative Approach to Outlining For Writers Who Don't Outline | WTD

An Alternative Approach to Outlining For Writers Who Don't Outline | WTD:

Some of the best novels of all time are elongated answers to really good questions. A few examples: What if all evil in the world was condensed into a single piece of jewelry? Or, what would a future without books look like? Or, what would happen if a group of boys was left to govern themselves? These aren’t necessarily complex questions, yet they provide a foundation for some truly excellent works.

Likewise, I recommend starting your Junk Doc with a single question. It need not necessarily be a high-concept question like those mentioned above, though it could be if you’ve got one. If you don’t know where to start, try this: “What do I know about my novel?”

Ramaphosa hands out title deeds in Tembisa during Thuma Mina campaign – The Citizen

Ramaphosa hands out title deeds in Tembisa during Thuma Mina campaign – The Citizen:

He said through handing over title deeds, the government was giving people their dignity back, giving them a store of wealth and empowering them economically.

“A house is the most important asset that one can own,” Ramaphosa said.

He urged title deed holders to treat their certificates as valuable assets, adding that title deeds would be handed out throughout the country.

Luke Shelton’s Tolkien Experience Project | A Pilgrim in Narnia

Luke Shelton’s Tolkien Experience Project | A Pilgrim in Narnia:

The basic format is that participants reflect on a set of five questions, and then respond to them in short-answer format. This means that answers can be one sentence, or a few paragraphs! The great thing is that there are no wrong answers, because you are just sharing your own experience!

The questions are:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?
What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?
What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?
Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?
Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

These questions are intentionally vague to allow contributors to talk about a variety of things. ‘Tolkien’s work’ is not meant to exclude adaptations, so they feel free to share experiences about movies, video games, board games, etc. All of these are important experiences in someone’s fan history! If they want to use ‘part’ in question two to talk about a specific scene from a book, great! They could also use ‘part’ to talk about their favorite book in general.

Participants can take as much time as they need to answer these questions, then they send their answers to me using the Contact page on my website or by direct email. I usually respond directly to the participant once or twice to clarify what they would like to be called on the post and to fix typos, but the answers are largely unedited/unfiltered.

Tech Hero Mark Shuttleworth Launches New Software Aimed at Robbing South Africa’s 1%.

Tech Hero Mark Shuttleworth Launches New Software Aimed at Robbing South Africa’s 1%.



Looks like very fake news

Time to put Nelson Mandela where he belongs | IOL News

Time to put Nelson Mandela where he belongs | IOL News:

Our leaders seem to have forgotten how to speak of and to us as a nation. It is one thing for our leaders to speak truthfully and honestly about economic and political disparities.

It is quite another thing, when leaders conceal their lack of a unifying vision of South Africans as a people, by pandering to sectional, provincial and tribal interests.

Every time a South African leader invokes the phrase “our people”, we look at one another with bewilderment, wondering which particular people he or she is talking about.

We have come to know instinctively and to take for granted, that today few leaders if any use the phrase “our people” to refer to all South Africans.

Pitch your book and convince Jacana Media it needs to be published! | The Reading List

Pitch your book and convince Jacana Media it needs to be published! | The Reading List:

We are offering you the chance to participate in a 15- to 20-minute session where you’ll be able to pitch your book to a panel comprising of three publishers and a high-powered bookseller. External panelists so far include Michelle Magwood from the Sunday Times and Sharon Naidoo from Exclusive Books. This is your chance to impress and persuade us in person to consider your work for publication. We realise this isn’t an approach that will work for all authors, but if you would like to be one of the 20 candidates who will present at the Live Pitching Session on 28 August 2018, we encourage you to submit an entry on our website.

CS Lewis Was a Red

CS Lewis Was a Red:

He did not believe that Christianity was the same as capitalism. He did not believe that Christianity had anything to do with material success. (Lewis gave away the money he made from religion—unlike many famous preachers and authors.) He did not hobnob with the powerful. He hated British imperialism.

The Boers are coming to Russia? | demographia.ru

The Boers are coming to Russia? | demographia.ru:

The Boers, descendants of the Dutch settlers of Africa, who are studying the possibility of re-deployment to Russia, may move to the North Caucasus. The Komsomol Prada informs that in the beginning of July the delegation is expected to visit the chapter with Jan Andrian Slebus. They want to communicate with the administration, the local population, politicians and religious figures. If approved by the authorities, over 15,000 Boers from the Republic of South Africa can move to the Stavropol Territory. If successful, other Boers may settle in the Crimea, the Krasnodar Territory and the republics of the NCFD.

The Shocking Truth About Jordan Peterson – Tablet Magazine

The Shocking Truth About Jordan Peterson – Tablet Magazine:

The rawest forms of identity politics, grounded in the metaphysical premise that “whiteness” and “masculinity” are constructs solely predicated on a domination that we cannot hope to escape until those toxic forms of identity have been “dismantled” or “abolished,” began as provocations by radical academics. They have since become viral memes infecting the thinking and rhetoric of a certain strand of progressive activist, and through them, an ever-growing swathe of the media-making class. The resort to them is indicative of a profound failure of the political imagination.

The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award: Call for Submissions | Jacana

The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award: Call for Submissions | Jacana:

If you are an aspiring author and want the chance to get published, then this is the opportunity you have been waiting for.

For the past 14 years, first as the European Union Literary Award and now as The Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, the submission process has unearthed great new South African literary talent. The books that have been published under this award have reflected the many strands of conversation that are woven together in the common language of fiction. The latest winner, Selling LipService by Tammy Baikie, is longlisted for this year’s Barry Ronge Fiction Prize.

This year, the prize is not only open to South Africans but also citizens of all SADC countries.

The overall winner, selected by a panel of judges, stands a chance to win R35 000, be published by Jacana Media, get great coverage as a debut author and be part of Exclusive Books’ Homebru campaign.

The JLF will also present the Kraak Writing Award, dedicated to the memory of Gerald Kraak. Valued at R20 000, it offers mentoring and intensive coaching from a published author, editor or a publishing expert, enabling the author to refine and develop their work further.

Submissions will be open from the 1 April 2018 to 30 June 2018. Enquiries can be directed to: awards@jacana.co.za.

My Father's Calling | Hazlitt

My Father's Calling | Hazlitt:

I don’t remember the eulogy spoken for my father at his funeral.

On that day almost six years ago, I sat in my childhood church’s well-worn pews of pale wood unable to comprehend the words offered as both a supposed comfort and a celebration. Although my body ached with loss, it wasn’t the fogginess of grief that created this disconnect for me. I couldn’t grasp a single word because the eulogizer spoke in Russian, a language my father did not speak and a language none of his family, including myself, understood. The man who took this honor of remembrance was the Bishop assigned to our Russian Orthodox parish, and he barely knew my father.

The demise of the nation state | News | The Guardian

The demise of the nation state | News | The Guardian:

Nothing advertises the crisis of our nation-state system so well, in fact, as its 65 million refugees – a “new normal” far greater than the “old emergency” (in 1945) of 40 million. The unwillingness even to acknowledge this crisis, meanwhile, is appropriately captured by the contempt for refugees that now drives so much of politics in the rich world.

Submitting Your Novel: Key Tips for Success | Now Novel

Submitting Your Novel: Key Tips for Success | Now Novel:

Submitting your novel to an agent or publisher is a multi-stage process. It helps to know the fundamentals of what makes a strong submission. At book fairs, aspiring authors often ask, ‘How can I get ‘discovered’? What can I do to make my submission stand out?’

Racism, Justified: A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory | The Harvard Law Record

Racism, Justified: A Critical Look at Critical Race Theory | The Harvard Law Record:

By now, most of you have heard of Critical Race Theory. Its narrative, ideology, and even vocabulary have become a familiar refrain. “Systemic oppression,” “institutional racism,” and “white privilege” have become common topics of debate. At Harvard Law, a group of protestors calls for $5 million and three tenure-track faculty to establish a program on Critical Race Theory at HLS. But, beneath the demands, there remains a lack of clarity about what Critical Race Theory actually means.

ANC Floats New Deal On Land Expropriation Without Compensation

ANC Floats New Deal On Land Expropriation Without Compensation:

The ANC is trying to provide for land reform without uncompensated expropriation, to ensure that the Constitution does not have to be amended and take the sting out of the party's latest attempt to get more land into black hands.

A parliamentary motion for muscular land expropriation sponsored by the EFF and supported in an amended form by the governing party sailed through the legislature in February and has raised fears about property rights in general.

Since then, the number of sporadic land occupations by poor, homeless and landless South Africans has increased. The seaside town of Hermanus faced an attempted occupation, as did Midrand and other areas in Johannesburg, over the past week.

Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson | Mere Orthodoxy

Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson | Mere Orthodoxy:

Before they get carried away, the Christians now tuning into Jordan Peterson need to realize that this man is not the next C.S. Lewis. On the contrary, Jordan Peterson is the man C.S. Lewis warned them about. It’s not that I don’t understand why Christians are attracted to Peterson’s message of personal responsibility, especially as it is addressed to young men. For one thing, everything Alastair Roberts wrote in his recent essay is basically true. Peterson really is an effective communicator (though a better speaker than a writer), who could teach most pastors a thing or two about sermonizing. And Peterson has many admirable personal qualities, especially intellectual virtues but also compassion and a strong sense of justice.

We must end the manipulation of history

We must end the manipulation of history:

Systematic lies and propaganda have colored the Zionist agenda to keep alive the myth of Zionist Israel as a Democracy. Jews-as-victims is hammered in, to include many references to the Nazi Holocaust and quite horrifyingly has twisted, lied and distorted the reality of Zionism, which includes jailors, occupiers, murderers, persecutors, torturers and profoundly fiendish victimizers. The obsessive propaganda reference to Jews as victims has colored many in the older generation of Jews who maintain a strong allegiance to Zionism. In this way, references to the Nazi Holocaust are used to imprint and inflame the fear of a second Holocaust. The identification is as eternal victims destined to be wiped out. This time the perpetrators are “Arabs,” hated would-be destroyers of Israel, sub-human monsters who must be countered or destroyed in order for a Jewish state to be born. Yes, Zionism an ideology of Nationalism and racism has managed to keep the lies alive through domestic intimidation that obscures the violent agenda of genocide that continues to reign.

Jordan Peterson & Fascist�Mysticism | by Pankaj Mishra | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books

Jordan Peterson & Fascist�Mysticism | by Pankaj Mishra | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books:

12 Rules for Life is only Peterson’s second book in twenty years. Packaged for people brought up on BuzzFeed listicles, Peterson’s brand of intellectual populism has risen with stunning velocity; and it is boosted, like the political populisms of our time, by predominantly male and frenzied followers, who seem ever-ready to pummel his critics on social media. It is imperative to ask why and how this obscure Canadian academic, who insists that gender and class hierarchies are ordained by nature and validated by science, has suddenly come to be hailed as the West’s most influential public intellectual. For his apotheosis speaks of a crisis that is at least as deep as the one signified by Donald Trump’s unexpected leadership of the free world.

Fox News and Alex Jones could pay for pushing fake news about real people.

Fox News and Alex Jones could pay for pushing fake news about real people.:

It’s been a bad week for white supremacists and fake news. First, Matt Heimbach—the founder of the neo-Nazi group the Traditionalist Worker Party and a man famous for shoving a black woman at a Donald Trump rally—was arrested for assaulting another woman (his wife). Since Heimbach was also accused of choking the co-founder of the party as part of what seems to be a complicated love rhombus, it now appears the entire group is defunct. Also this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center discovered that the wife of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the alt-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers, had filed for a temporary restraining order, claiming her husband was abusive and violent. Alt-right servers are being shut down, as are YouTube channels, albeit too slowly. And Richard Spencer, who was meant to be the alt-right’s palatable offering, has ruefully declared that his white-supremacist rallies—as a result of which at least one woman has been killed—are “not fun anymore.” He says he is considering canceling his whole not-fun, poorly attended speaking tour. He’s also dropping his lawsuits against colleges that had barred him from speaking. Also, he can’t get a lawyer to represent him.

And in a law suit against fake news:

Are lawsuits like the two filed this week attacks on newsgathering in general? Not really, because both suits distinguish between what real media does and what media scams and hatchet jobs do, and how the latter victimizes literal bystanders. As the Gilmore complaint puts it, in describing Alex Jones and his ilk:

Fact-based journalism is essential to our democracy, because it provides citizens with objective, reality-based information on issues of public concern. Defendants are not fact-based journalists. Defendants spread lies to construct false narratives that terrify a gullible audience, all in a desperate attempt to generate revenue and momentum for a hateful agenda. The First Amendment necessarily creates space for democratic debate, but it does not and cannot protect the spread of deliberate lies driven by hate and designed to incite violence against private citizens. In this era of ubiquitous smartphones and social media saturation, ordinary citizens like Mr. Gilmore increasingly find themselves in situations where they capture breaking news and are compelled out of civic duty to share it. The consequences for fulfilling this civic duty cannot include becoming the target of premeditated character assassination, based on lies and carried out by professional conspiracy theorists instrumentalizing their throngs of followers.

South Africa votes through motion to seize land from white farmers without compensation | The Independent

Fake news:

South Africa votes through motion to seize land from white farmers without compensation | The Independent

Thousands Sign Petition Asking Trump to Let White Farmers in South Africa Migrate to U.S. After Country Votes to Force Them Off Land

Fake news from Newsweek.

Thousands Sign Petition Asking Trump to Let White Farmers in South Africa Migrate to U.S. After Country Votes to Force Them Off Land

Mondli Makhanya: The great land return lie | News24

Mondli Makhanya: The great land return lie | News24:

The ANC has over the past two decades developed comprehensive policies on land reform and restitution and put in place an institutional infrastructure to give effect to these policies. Study after study – including those by the ANC government – have shown that the failure is due to capacity weaknesses, corruption and shoddy implementation, not any constitutional impediment.

Meoliberalism and fascism in Ukraine - The Heavy Anglo Orthodox

The Heavy Anglo Orthodox: There’s always a Hitch…:

Is the current Ukrainian government ‘far-right’ or ‘fascist’? No. It is neoliberal. That is a distinction that critical observers need to continue to make. However, that same neoliberal government continues to rely on far-right and fascist support, for everything from the rewriting of its history to the maintenance of the status and geopolitical alignment of its current political �lites. It shouldn’t take someone like me to explain why that’s troubling.

Bermuda legalized same-sex marriage a year ago. This week it abolished it. - The Washington Post

Bermuda legalized same-sex marriage a year ago. This week it abolished it. - The Washington Post:

In an unusual move, Bermuda has abolished same-sex marriage less than a year after it was legalized, replacing the same-sex unions with domestic partnerships.

Bermuda Gov. John Rankin signed a bill into law Wednesday that reverses an earlier Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The new law gives domestic partners in the British island territory similar rights as married couples — but without the legal title.

This Country Has Become The First To Scrap Same-Sex Marriage

This Country Has Become The First To Scrap Same-Sex Marriage

: The Bermuda House of Assembly and the Senate have already passed the Domestic Partnership Act, which, in replacement of their same-sex marriage law, states that any Bermuda citizen will be allowed to form a domestic partnership. The Bermudan
government says the new act will offer equal rights.

It's a Book Thing: South African Book Bloggers

It's a Book Thing: South African Book Bloggers:

If you too are a South African who has a book reviewing blog, or if you regularly review and promote South African fiction and would like to be on this list, please contact Lauren Smith at violininavoid(at)gmail(dot)com with the following information:

the name of your blog
a link to your blog
your tagline, if you have one
the genres you most often review
(optional) any other important information eg. If you also write movie reviews, if you specialise in indie fiction, etc. Please keep this brief (1-2 lines max).

10 top writing tips and the psychology behind them - without bullshit

10 top writing tips and the psychology behind them - without bullshit:

1 Write shorter.

Why it matters. Readers are impatient and will give up on your blog post, email, or document before you’ve made your point. Every extra word makes readers antsy.

Why you write long. It’s far easier to type than to edit. So people just keep adding things.

How to fix it. Edit. Delete your “warming up” text and start with the main point. Cull extraneous detail and repetition. Work as if each word you eventually publish or send will cost you $10. I’ve often had writers who were outraged that I had redlined two-thirds of what they wrote . . . only to read the shortened doc and respond “that’s so much more powerful.”

Former Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden: Trump's military parade is 'third world b*llsh*t'

Former Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden: Trump's military parade is 'third world b*llsh*t':

Adding to the list is Robert J. O’Neill, the former Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011.

A military parade is third world bullshit. We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation.

— Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) February 8, 2018

How Anti-Semitism’s True Origin Makes It Invisible To The Left – The Forward

How Anti-Semitism’s True Origin Makes It Invisible To The Left – The Forward:

Underlying this pervasive point of view is the notion that Jews, who are often conflated with whites, should “check their privilege,” because anti-Semitism just isn’t as bad as other forms of racism. On campus, where the ADL notes an acute rise in anti-Jewish hostility, alarmed Jewish students are sidelined for being white and middle-class and the Holocaust is trivialized as “white on white crime.” Elsewhere, Jews who protest anti-Semitism are dismissed for failing to ante up sufficient concern about people of color.

The dark aftermath of 1968's murder, revolution and protest is nearly forgotten - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The dark aftermath of 1968's murder, revolution and protest is nearly forgotten - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

It's hard to pinpoint precisely the moment when the switch was flicked and 1967's Summer of Love turned into the year of murder, revolution and protest that was 1968.

January 31, and the start of the Lunar New Year (Tet), in 1968 must be close.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono say end the war
Photo: The Beatles came under enormous pressure to declare their allegiance to the anti-establishment cause. (Flickr)

That was the time chosen by North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces to begin co-ordinated attacks on the city of Hue, its fortified citadel and multiple America bases across the already war ravaged country.

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 54 Writing Contests in February 2018 - No entry fees

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 54 Writing Contests in February 2018 - No entry fees:

For such a short month, February certainly delivers when it comes to writing contests. There are no fewer than 54 free contests this month.

As always, every form and genre is represented. There are prizes for novel manuscripts, poetry, short stories, essays, works of nonfiction, children's books and more. Some of these contests have age and regional restrictions, so be sure to check submission guidelines before submitting.

Many contests are offered annually, so if you miss your ideal contest this year, you can always enter next year. For a month-by-month list of free contests see: Writing Contests

Copious Flowers | not even Solomon in all his glory • surrounded by goodness, beauty and truth

Copious Flowers | not even Solomon in all his glory • surrounded by goodness, beauty and truth:

Father Stephen Freeman recommends Walter Wink’s book Naming the Powers:

A book worth looking at viz. the powers is Walter Wink’s Naming the Powers. As successive volumes of this came out, I thought it got a bit strange, but I remember this volume as very much worth the read.

I just read Wink’s book, found it eminently worthwhile, and have shared selections here.

In addition, below are my brief responses to Wink’s book. This book recommendation from Father Stephen comes in the comments to his blog post “When Chaos Ruled the World – Part I” (January 9, 2018).

CS Lewis’ Response to Critics of The Lord of the Rings: The Dethronement of Power | Earth and Oak

CS Lewis’ Response to Critics of The Lord of the Rings: The Dethronement of Power | Earth and Oak:

When Tolkien began there was probably no nuclear fission and the contemporary incarnation of Mordor was a good deal nearer our shores. But the text itself teaches us that Sauron is eternal; the war of the Ring is only one of a thousand wars against him. Every time we shall be wise to fear his ultimate victory, after which there will be “no more songs.

An Argument for a Liberal and Rational Approach to Transgender Rights and Inclusion - Areo

An Argument for a Liberal and Rational Approach to Transgender Rights and Inclusion - Areo:

The rights and social inclusion of trans people is a heated topic right now and, as usual in our present atmosphere, the most extreme views take center stage and completely polarize the issue. On the one hand, we have extreme social conservatives and gender critical radical feminists who claim that trans identity is a delusion and that the good of society depends on opposing it at every turn. On the other, we have extreme trans activists who claim not only that trans people straightforwardly are the gender they experience themselves to be but that everyone else must be compelled to accept this, use corresponding language, and be fully inclusive of trans people in their choice of sexual partners.