#I can tell he’s really displeased about not being able to attend church there

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

that Arab Christian post reminded me:

my dad is living a year in Saudi Arabia for work and we’re requesting prayer that he’ll be able to get in touch with our denomination’s missionaries over there (whose locations/identities are secret for obvious reasons)

[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

Blue Eyes Part 3

Summary: After the Garrison is shot up, the youngest Shelby daughter finds a new home in London. She strips herself of her last name and tries to live a peaceful life far away from her brothers’ chaos in Birmingham. But fate leads her right back into it after she runs into Alfie Solomons.

Part 3: Ella attends the wedding of Tommy and Grace.

          Ella remembered always wanting to be a princess. As a young girl, her head was filled with stories of fantastic adventures. Her brothers spooked her with stories of dragons and a lady that played cards with the devil. Polly wove yarns of fairies and princesses. She decided, after careful consideration, she would be a princess who was also a knight. Why should she limit herself? She could rule the land and slay dragons. And of course, Ella found that she didn’t like being dressed up as a princess. Her Sunday clothes were itchy and stiff. Polly would scold her if she returned home with scuffed shoes and torn stockings. But a girl couldn’t ride a horse with a skirt, not properly anyway. She wouldn’t sit sidesaddle and let her brothers win races because she was slipping right off her pony.

          As she grew, she learned to appreciate dresses. They had their time and place. Tommy’s wedding was that time and place. But what would she wear to a wedding that was in such strange circumstances? She was sure her brother was trying to promote their family as a little higher end than from where they began. Especially because Ada had said Grace came from a military family. Figuring Polly would know best, Ella packed a few of her finer dresses and left London with Ada.

~~~~~~~~

          “El!” Arthur’s loud voice boomed across the front lawn. The boys were arriving back from a ride. Her eldest brother quickly dismounted and tossed the reins at a young stable hand. He jogged to embrace his younger sister, hoisting her up and spinning around about as he used to when she was much smaller.

          John and Finn followed close behind him, each getting their chance to greet her. Ella was nothing but smiles as she reunited with them. Sometimes it was hard to know how much you’ve missed someone until you’ve seen them again. And when she saw her brothers, her heart ached painfully.

          “Look at you! All grown up now.” Arthur shook his head in disbelief. “Feels like you’ve been gone for ages. Swear you've gotten taller s'well.”

          “It’s only been a few years, Arthur.” She reminded him gently. Her blue eyes wandered over his shoulder to see Tommy lagging behind his brothers. His hands were in his overcoat pockets as he looked on. “Are you going to just stand there?” She asked. “I haven’t been able to properly congratulate you.”

          “’Fraid you weren’t coming.” He approached her. Indeed, Tommy had called Ada a few times over the month to confirm that Ella was still going to attend the wedding. He was anxious to see his sister and hope they would be able to mend some wounds of their relationship. Not having her in their life was strange. There was always a gap in the family with Ella's absence.

          “I wouldn’t miss your wedding, pral.” She smiled and went to hug him.

          Tommy felt relieved that he could finally hug her again. “How’s London treating you?”

          “Good.” She smiled but a brief thought about Alfie Solomons poked at her. She wasn’t going to tell Tommy that she’d met him the day before his wedding, or ever. But she was hoping to get some more information from her brothers if she could.

          “Want you to come meet Grace and Charlie. You need to meet your cousin, Michael, as well.” Tommy was eager for her to meet his new family. He was hoping she and Grace got along. Perhaps the wedding would give her a reason to return to Birmingham.

          The chatted idly as they walked to the massive house. “I can see you’re doing very well for yourself,” Ella noted. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine being at such a house. It was a kind of house that lords and ladies lived in, not Shelbys. But it appeared that Tommy was trying to change that perception of the family name.

          “There’s always room for you to be apart of the company. You could be very useful. Michael and Polly are working on making the firm legitimate.” He informed her, hoping it would impress her and make her feel safer in Birmingham.

          “I dunno, Tom.” She said with a shrug. After agreeing to attend the wedding, she used the month to think through her relationship with her family. Part of her wanted to return to the people she loved more than anything. But she was afraid of getting herself into another scenario like the Garrison four years earlier.

          “Think about it, aye?” He said gently and held open the front doors of Arrow House for his sister.

          Ella nodded. “I will.” She promised and stepped inside.

          “Look who’s here,” A soft Irish voice floated down from the stairs. Grace came down with Charlie in her arms. She smiled warmly when she saw Tommy's sister. “We’re so glad you’re here, Ella.”

          The Shelby girl smiled. “It’s nice to see you again, Grace. And this must be my nephew.” Ella cooed.

          The young boy giggled and reached out for her. “Go ahead, love.” Grace handed Charlie to her to hold.

          “Oh, he’s precious.” Ella murmured. “Yes, you are.”

          Tommy chuckled. “He’s a rascal, that’s what he is.” He slipped off his coat and cap. “I’m sure you’ll get to see how he is when he’s cranky.”

          “That’s okay, he probably gets it from you, Tommy.”

          Grace smiled and nodded. “That’s what I said.”  

          “Guess London hasn’t changed you that much.” Tommy rolled his eyes and touched her shoulder. “Polly and Michael will be in the study I think if you'd like to see them now.”

          Ella gave Charlie back to Grace and followed her brother down the hall. “Did you find her daughter too?” She remembered brief memories of her cousins. She was very young but she remembered hearing about them being ripped away from Polly. They all thought it was nearly impossible to find the children again until Tommy gained such connections.

          “I found out she passed away,” Tommy answered quietly. “Pol’s handled it well though. Think she’s glad Michael’s back.”

          “That’s a shame.”

          When they entered, Polly stood in surprise and rushed to hug her niece. “Thank God you’re well.” The older woman touched her cheeks to make sure she looked healthy.

          Ella bit her lip and felt a little teary. Polly was practically her mother and the years away from her had been tough on the young woman. “I’ve missed you, Pol.”

          “We’ve all missed you too.” Her forehead creased and she sighed softly. “But I’m just glad you’re okay.”

          Ella saw the other person in the room stand up. “And you must be Michael, it’s been a very long time since I've seen you.” She smiled and took in the young man who seemed like he had thoroughly embraced the Shelby lifestyle. He was well dressed and holding a cigarette.

          He nodded.  “You're Ella, I don’t remember much but it’s very nice to meet you again. I've heard a lot about you.”

          Polly looked proud of her son. “He’s a big help in the company, very clever.” She boasted.

          “Then you really are Polly’s son.” Ella laughed softly. "Grey's are very clever."

          “Come sit and tell me what you’ve been doing in London.” Her aunt ushered her over to the couch. “Tommy, I’m sure you’ve got things to do for the wedding.”

          “Well, as far as I know, I just need to get dressed and make it to the church.” Tommy reached into his coat for a cigarette. “But I’ll let you all catch up.”

~~~~~~~~~~

          “Fucking uniforms,” John grumbled.

          Ella laughed softly and shook her head. She glanced across the aisle to Grace’s side of the family. The men had faces like stone and the women looked highly displeased with their surroundings. “I’m sure Tommy told you to be on your best behavior, John boy. Can't be violent at Tommy's wedding.”

          Her brother muttered a few curses under his breath. “Also fucking told me they wouldn’t be in uniforms.”

          “Try to ignore them, they'll only try to rile you up." She drew his attention away from the men. "Listen, have you heard much about a man named Alfie Solomons? From Camden Town?” Ella asked, trying to sound as casual as she could so she didn’t raise any alarms.

          John wrinkled his nose. It was hard to mention the name without garnering some type of reaction. The Shelbys normally had a bad reaction. “The fuck do you know about him?”

          “John!” Esme hissed and smacked her husband’s arm. “We’re in fucking church, don’t swear. Giving a bad example to the kids.”

          Ella giggled but her brother looked suspicious that she had brought up the Jewish gangster’s name. Before he could ask anything else, the organ music began, announcing Grace's arrival.

~~~~~~~~~~

          “No fucking fighting!” Tommy shouted after repeating himself many times in the kitchen. The Blinders all around him, grumbling and muttering about how unfair he was being.

          “Tom.” John adjusted the pick in his mouth.

          “What? Are you seriously asking a question?” His older brother asked, turning to him. “You can’t possibly be confused about what I’m saying.” Finn and Isaiah snickered at the comment.

          “No, it’s ‘bout Ella.” He clarified.

          Tommy looked concerned. His shoulders slumped slightly and he worried she had already left. Maybe he’d pushed the issue of her returning to Birmingham too much. “What about her?”

          “In the church, she was asking about Alfie Solomons.”

          “What?” Arthur demanded sharply. “What the fuck do you mean she’s asking ‘bout him?”

          John just shrugged. “I dunno, she didn’t tell me why.”

          Tommy paced a few steps and took a puff of his cigarette. “Fuck.” He muttered under his breath and dragged a hand over his face. “Just…don’t mention it again to her. I’ll take care of it.” He really didn’t want to discuss Alfie on his wedding day and he certainly didn’t want to know how his baby sister knew about him.

          “Don’t want Alfie fucking Solomons sniffing 'round her.” Arthur snarled. "If he does he'll regret it."

          “She might’ve just heard his name before.” Finn offered.

          Tommy shook his head. “Just drop it.” He ordered. “I don’t want to hear you bring it up ‘round her again.”

`~~~~~~~~~~~~

          After a few hours into the reception, Ella wandered off. She found the stables after a bit of roaming around the grounds. As she inhaled the familiar scent of horses, she realized she was much more comfortable there instead of in the lavish Arrow House. She came across a beautiful dapple-gray horse; a large gelding that certainly would’ve caught her attention as a young girl. She would never tire of braiding the horse’s silver mane and tail, brushing its coat until it gleamed in the sun.

          “You’re a beauty, aren’t you?” She let the horse sniff her hand before stroking his soft muzzle. “Maybe Tommy’ll let me take you out for a spin tomorrow.” It’d been a while since she’d ridden. She missed the horses at her uncle’s yard. She missed far more than she could even count. She sighed and stroked the horse’s cheek. “He’ll probably make me agree to come back to Birmingham though.”

          The horse snorted softly in reply. He sniffed her shawl for any treats, his tail swishing, and ears perked.

          “Thought I noticed you missing.”

          Ella glanced over to see Tommy walking into the stables. “Getting a bit rowdy for me. I don't think I could listen to another one of John's jokes. I forgot how fucking awful they were."

          Tommy chuckled and nodded. “Well, it’ll only get rowdier, the boys are coming to race.” He warned her.

          She nodded. “Okay, I’ll go back inside then.” She had a feeling her brothers wouldn’t let her stick around and watch the race. In fact, she had a feeling they were going to fix it just to get one over on the cavalry. So she made her way to the barn door.

          “Before you go.” Tommy reached out and grabbed her arm as she went to pass by him in the stable aisle. “You need to explain why you brought up Alfie Solomons to John.”

          “Alfie Solomons?” Ella raised an eyebrow. “I don’t…”

          “John told me you were asking about him in the church.” Tommy interrupted so she knew he wasn’t about to let her pull the wool over his eyes.

          “Oh,” Ella shrugged and tried to remain aloof about the subject. “Amelia might’ve mentioned the name to me. Have I told you about Amelia? She’s got all sorts of stories ‘bout London.” Technically, her best friend was the one who told her about the gangster. But Tommy didn’t need to know that was only after Ella had seen the man in person.

          “Why would she bring him up?” Tommy’s icy blue eyes studied her expression. He was usually very good at telling when someone was flat out lying to him. But it was hard to distinguish when Ella had mastered the art of lying like a Shelby. Be evasive, answer questions with other questions, omit details, and stay cool, calm, and collected. Plus, Tommy had a weak spot for her sister; he never assumed she was lying, unlike other people he encountered in his line of work.

          “She’s always got a story to tell.” Ella made sure to maintain enough eye contact so he didn’t grow more suspicious.

          Tommy let the cigarette in his fingers burn in the air for a moment. The smoke curled around his hand and disappeared out of the barn door into the dark night. “You should tell her it’s wise to avoid talking ‘bout that man.” He said firmly. “You don’t want to be connected to him even in passing.”

          “How do you know him?” Ella turned the spotlight back on her brother, hopefully, to acquire information John didn’t give her earlier.

          “We’ve crossed paths before.” He admitted. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

          Ella tilted her head to the side. “Do I have to worry about him finding out I’m a Shelby?” Of course, she didn’t think Alfie would be able to connect the dots just with a brief meeting.

          “Doesn’t matter, because you won’t be going near him,” Tommy replied with a stern look. “You keep away from Camden Town and the Jews there. They all answer to him as far as I know.”

          “You’ve changed, Tommy.” His sister noted quietly. “You’ve seen more things…done more things since I’ve been ‘round.”

          He took a drag of his cigarette to avoid the question for a moment. “You said you didn’t want to be part of it, don’t think that’s something you have to worry about.”

          “I’m your fucking sister, I can worry about you,” Ella replied, irked by his cold demeanor towards her when business was being spoken about. Back in Small Heath, when she was still just a teenager, he’d often tell her with a proud smile that they were moving up in the world. He’d promise her horses, luxuries, a new home, and when she was old enough, a car. Now he was acting like she had no right to even inquire about his well-being. “Tom, you used to tell me everything.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “You didn’t even tell me you had Charlie.”

          He didn’t look at her for a long while. “You told me you didn’t want anything to do with Shelby Company Limited.” He echoed himself. “You went off to London and I didn’t hear from you, El. M’too busy to keep track of someone who’s gone and done a runner.”

          “I didn’t run,” Ella argued, her temper was beginning to bubble up in her stomach, moving to her chest and throat. “Can you blame me for what I did?”

          Tommy shrugged and finished his cigarette. “You were keen to tell me you could make your own choices. I can’t blame you.”

          Angry tears stung Ella’s blue eyes. “Arthur and John were happy to see me. Polly understood my choice. Ada supports me in London. You’re the only one who’s still acting like a fucking brat!”

          Tommy’s jaw clenched. “Don’t speak to me like that.” He retorted fiercely and pointed at her. “You’ve no right to come in and pretend we’ve abandoned you when you decided to leave.” His face clouded over with anger. “Now either you’re apart of this fucking family and you put up with what the rest of us put up with, or you go back to London and pretend we all don’t exist. You can’t have it both ways, Ella. You’re not a child anymore.”

          Ella balled her hands into fists. Her Traveler instincts kicked in, the days she spent in the meadows outside Small Heath. The boys she had to beat up to prove she was a Shelby. The time she broke an older boy’s nose because he was running his mouth about their family.

          “Gypsies.” He taunted. “Gonna read my fortune? Pick me pockets?”

          It took both her older brothers to wrench her off the boy who dared make fun of her and her family. Now Tommy was questioning her, questioning the decision she made. Maybe she was wrong and being a hypocrite, but she was far too upset to think rationally.

          “Everyone talks about the curse on the Shelbys. Our fucking cursed family. It’s you. It’s you, Tommy! You’re the fucking curse!” She shouted and caused a few horses to stir in their stalls nearby. “You’ve poisoned this family and continue to do whatever you want, without giving a fuck what the rest of us think.”

          Tommy stood straight in front of her, not interrupting or moving away. He stood like a soldier, braced against her venomous words.

          “You can fuck your wedding. Fuck your company. Fuck your indifference.” Ella spat and turned on her heel to leave the stables.

          A group of men was staggering across the lawns, gearing up for the race they were about to fix.

          “Where’ya going, Ellie?” John’s voice boomed across the grounds. He grabbed her by the shoulder. “Come watch the race! We’re gonna show those uniforms how s’done!”

          “Fuck your big mouth!” Ella shouted at him and jerked away from his touch. "You're just a fucking little messenger to Tommy, aren't you?!"

          Arthur looked concerned at her sudden outburst. He thought everything had been going well with the return of his younger sister. But now she was glaring daggers at the group of Blinders. “El?”

          “Fuck this whole bloody cursed family!” She continued ranting on her way back to Arrow House. She promptly grabbed her things and took Ada’s car back to London without telling anyone she’d left.

~~~~~~~~~~~

          Ella was stewing for a week after the wedding. Her family members, minus Tommy, had been trying to reach out to her. But she ignored all their calls and letters. Ada visited her home a few times but Ella turned her away.

          She felt snubbed by Tommy who was once her closest confidante and friend. When they had nothing, she had Tommy to rely on. He'd comfort her if she was picked on by kids her age. He'd keep her company when she felt lonely after the death of their mother. He was more than just a brother, he was a support system.

          At night, she stayed up staring at the ceiling. Her mind raced and kept her awake for hours. Maybe she’d been wrong for leaving the family, but she was terrified. Tommy couldn’t appreciate how scared she was. He was unafraid of death. She almost thought she had gained the confidence and strength to return to Birmingham, but not after that debacle in the stables.

          Ella would toss and turn, thinking about what Tommy had to say. The way he’d spoken to her like she was nothing more than a stranger. How could he be so cold? If he was so twisted about everything else then maybe he was dead wrong about Alfie Solomons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          The next time Ella saw Alfie, she’d wandered close to the edge of Camden Town. She decided it was most likely an indirect middle finger to her brother who had warned her to stay away. Tommy didn't choose where she could go anymore. If he didn't want her in the family, then she could go anywhere in London.          

          “You on your own?”

          Ella was walking down a strip of stores when she heard his voice. She turned and felt a spark of intrigue.

          He stood just as he had in the club. Broad shoulders, exaggerated frame, and militant stance. This time, he had a large bullmastiff with him.

          “My friend was busy,” Ella answered with a faint smile. “Is that your dog?”

          He moved a little closer to her. The gangster had been happy to spot her piercing blue eyes in the crowd of shoppers and wanderers. Ever since the night at the club, Alfie had been unable to get her face out of his head. It was highly unusual for him to think twice about a woman he came in contact with. He hardly had the time to think about something so trivial as a chance encounter. Relationships were agonizingly complicated and his life was complex enough. He worked too much and lived too brutally for a woman to handle, or so he thought.

          But there was something about this woman that he couldn’t overlook. Beyond her blue eyes that were as hypnotic as they were alluring, there was something else. She wasn’t like anyone he passed by in the street. A keen eye could see she held secrets and a substantial past.

          And Alfie couldn’t help but appreciate the way she looked at him. It was so strange because she didn’t look at him the way others did. Not with hatred, like his enemies, not with malice, like his foes, and not with fear, like the rest of the population who knew his name. No, she looked at him like a person, nothing more, nothing less. Just a man. Not a man shrouded in myth and stories. Just a man.

          “Yeah, this is Cyril, s’a real softie.” He said. "Likes attention, he does."

          Ella smiled. She’d grown up closer to horses but as a child, she bonded with a few of the hounds they used for hunting or protection. Dogs and horses were similar in nature. You had to gain their trust, and when you did, they would be loyal to you until the ends of the Earth. “He is handsome.” She said and reached out to stroke the dog’s ears. His tail began to wag fiercely and his droopy face almost resembled a sad smile. He was a massive dog, his shoulder meeting her hips. He was nearly the size of a little Shetland pony but appeared to be just as Alfie had described him. He gratefully let her pet him, his head tilting to lean into her touch and his eyes closing contently.

          “You got a story, love?” Alfie asked out of the blue. He acted like it was a natural question between people who were near strangers.

          Ella glanced up from Cyril. “A story?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, I s'ppose everyone has a story, Mr. Solomons.”

          “Call me Alfie.” He corrected her with a gentleness that contradicted his appearance. He didn't address her with the harsh tone he took towards the bartender and club owner the first night they met.

          “Alfie.”

          The gangster didn’t know how he could be so affected by the way someone said his name. But the way she spoke his name was unbearable. She said it with a smile and a small nod. Her blue eyes shone in the sun that was starting to break away from the gloomy clouds. Alfie’s heart made itself known by beating heavy in his chest.

          “What’s your story, Alfie?” She turned the question back on him.

          He chuckled and ran a hand over his beard. “S’quite a long one.” He warned. "Not sure you'll want to stick around, yeah, to hear all the details."

          “Mine's long too. But I'm sure yours is much more exciting than mine is.”

          “Well then, right, can’t spend all day standing here telling our stories, aye? Guess I’ll have to take you out to dinner so we have enough time.” He stated coolly.

          Surprise marked Ella’s face. Inner warning bells chimed off but she shooed them away. The man seemed sweet and she had spent enough time around dangerous men to know that she could handle them. Her brothers had prepared her for that. If her brothers could get away with the things they did, then who were they to speak poorly about Alfie? Resigned and partially rebellious, Ella nodded. “I’d like that.” She replied gently.

          “Yeah?” It was Alfie’s turn to be surprised. What kind of delicate looking woman, who knew who he was, agreed to dinner with him? Thoroughly in disbelief, he nodded a few times too many. “Right, well…this Friday I’ve got some time.”

          “I’m free on Friday.”

          “Friday then. We’ll meet here.” He decided. “I know a nice place ‘round here for dinner.”

          “That sounds lovely.” A week was more than enough time to edit her brothers out of her life story.

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla​ @giftofdreams​

Tag list: @deaflikehawkeye​ @octaviareina​

Masterpost

Masterlist

[love-god-forever]

I Have Found the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven

By Ella, the Philippines

My name is Ella, and I am 53, from the Philippines. I was born into a Catholic family. Even though I believed in the Lord since my childhood, I barely knew about the Lord and had little faith in Him, and I was even pursuing to be rich like the unbelievers. In April 1987, I met Villan, a Filipino Christian, when I was a domestic helper abroad. She worked not far away from my work place. At that time she was a leader of a Christian church. She preached to me the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and invited me to attend her church. She also shared with me Romans 10:9-10 of the Bible, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation,” telling me that I could go to heaven if I believed in the Lord Jesus. Hearing this I was shocked because I was afraid of going to hell. So I accepted the Lord Jesus and started regularly living the life of church in this Christian church. Afterward, I saw 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness…” and 1 Corinthians 9:24, “Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.” Influenced by these thoughts, I actively pursued superficial good deeds, often giving my family financial support, helping those who were in trouble, giving offerings to the church frequently, being nice to others, and never quarreling with others. Besides, I attended the meeting every Sunday and never missed it, often preached the gospel in public places, and handed out tracts in the park. I lived this way for 7 years, and then I became the leader of a church.

After my belief in the Lord Jesus for 30 years, I found I still often committed sins and couldn’t control myself. Usually at home when I asked my daughter to finish her homework, she often complained in a low voice, and I would lose my temper. I often quarreled with my husband too. Because I memorized much more verses of the Bible than the others, I looked down on them and belittled them, thinking I knew the work of the Lord Jesus better than them and I was much more loyal to Him than the other believers. Sometimes when I asked my brothers and sisters about some verses of the Bible and they couldn’t remember them, I thought I was smarter than them. When I realized all these thoughts displeased the Lord, I often came to Him and prayed, “O Lord, I repent of my errors. I am so confused. Why do I always involuntarily commit sins even though I clearly know it is wrong. You know me better than I do. I really want to change these bad thoughts and wrong behaviors. O Lord! Please forgive me and help me.” But every time after I prayed to the Lord, I still committed sins repeatedly. I felt there was no way to go on. Especially when I thought of the words in 1 Peter 1:16, “Be you holy; for I am holy,” I felt miserable in my heart, thinking, “I have still committed sins like this even after believing in the Lord Jesus for dozens of years; would the Lord let a person like me go to heaven?” I was always confused by these questions.

In March, 2016, because lots of problems kept arising in the church, my husband searched the internet for his Korean friend (who was also a priest) and his church, hoping to communicate with him and find a way to solve these problems. During the search, he saw the name of The Church of Almighty God on the internet. He felt curious about it, so he googled The Church of Almighty God and saw the words of Almighty God. The words “cleanse man” in Almighty God’s words struck his heart. Then my husband contacted two sisters of The Church of Almighty God in North America and started to have meetings with them online. At that time I also wanted to make friends with the two sisters, Jessie and Jane, but because they all spoke English and my English was not fluent enough, I didn’t attend the meetings. During that period of time, my husband often fellowshiped with them till midnight. A few weeks later, once when my husband was having a meeting with them, I stood behind the door and listened to their fellowship. I heard they fellowshiped how to believe in God so as to be saved and perfected, and also heard two passages of Almighty God’s words, “Since you believe in God, you must eat and drink of His word, experience His word, and live out His word. Only this is belief in God! If you say you believe in God yet cannot speak out any of His words or put them into practice, you are not considered to believe in God. This is ‘seeking bread to satisfy hunger’” (“The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word”). “Eating and drinking the word of God is in order to know God and in order to satisfy God. Eating and drinking the word of God gives you a greater knowledge of God, only after which can you obey God. Only if you know God can you love Him, and the attainment of this aim is the only aim man should have in his belief in God. If, in your belief in God, you always try to behold signs and wonders, then the viewpoint of this belief in God is wrong. Belief in God is principally the acceptance of the word of God as the reality of life” (“All Is Achieved by the Word of God”). Hearing these words, I had a slight awakening: Although I have believed in the Lord for many years, and even have kept many verses of the Bible in mind and often preach them to others, I still can’t practice the Lord’s words in my daily life. I am satisfied with merely knowing and understanding many verses of the Bible, and often commit sins and then confess. I have no knowledge of the Lord and have no love for and submission to Him through His words. This kind of belief can’t satisfy God. My faith in God is in words only and isn’t the real belief. When thinking about this, I felt I couldn’t believe in the Lord in this way anymore and should investigate and seek with my husband. I hoped that I could know more about how to believe in God so as to come out of the state of committing sins and then confessing, and could practice the Lord Jesus’ words.

Later, my husband printed some of Almighty God’s words for me and shared a passage with me, “When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.” After reading this passage of God’s words, I understood I was wrong in thinking that as long as I worked hard, spent for God, and prepared good deeds, I could gain the Lord’s approval. Now I knew accurately that I only received the Lord’s redemption after believing in Him, but my sinful nature hadn’t been put off, and I often committed sins and then made confessions, so I wasn’t worthy to go to God’s kingdom and inherit God’s blessings. I also understood that the Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption and didn’t do the work of cleansing our sinful nature. The judgment work that is done by Almighty God during the last days is actually the work of cleansing man. So accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days was really important. These words of Almighty God made me more interested in studying Almighty God’s work of the last days. Afterward, I read many pieces of God’s words, such as “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God,” “Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God,” “The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age,” “Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement.” These words greatly helped me in understanding God’s work of the last days.

In April, 2016, my husband and I had a meeting with Sister Jessie and Sister Jane from The Church of Almighty God in North America. They shared these words of God with us, “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, reveal the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and disposition of God, and so on. These words are all focused on the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that reveal how man spurns God are spoken in regards to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation, dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that could not be understood by man. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of such work is actually the work of opening up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth”). Sister Jane fellowshiped, “In the last days, we humans have been deeply corrupted by Satan, and are filled with satanic dispositions such as conceit, arrogance, crookedness, craftiness, selfishness, and deplorableness. We covet the pleasures of the flesh, pursue fame, fortune, status, and have no place for God in our hearts. In order to save us who are living in sin, God returns to flesh in the last days and expresses the truths to judge man. These truths are all expressions of God’s righteous disposition, and are words that can be our very life. These words reveal the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and meanwhile Almighty God thoroughly reveals the facts and truths of our corruption by Satan and the source of sins, and points out to us the way of being changed in disposition and being cleansed. Hence, we will no longer search and be upset because of being unable to break free from the bondage of sins. As long as we practice according to God’s words, our sins can be cleansed. Therefore, only if we accept the work of Christ of the last days will we have the chance to be cleansed and gain God’s approval. Christ of the last days is the only way for us to gain the truth and life.”

Through Sister Jane’s fellowship, I was sure that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus, Christ of the last days, who came to express His words to carry on the work of judging and cleansing man. So I formally accepted Almighty God as my Savior. As I read more and more of God’s words and attended more and more of the meetings with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God in North America, I firmly believe that God’s word is true and undeniable and that God has become flesh in the last days just to save mankind completely. Thank Almighty God for allowing me to find the way to the kingdom of heaven. My goal of life and direction of pursuit are changing, and I am also experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God’s word and I am gradually being cleansed. I am willing to spend my life to pursue the truth and walk in the way of God so that I can bear witness for God to satisfy Him. All the glory, honor, and praise be to Almighty God!

[progressiveparty]

Trump made 56 false claims last week

Trump calls women he doesn't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.

President Donald Trump made 56 false claims last week, delivering his usual assortment of dishonesty about immigration, his popularity and his record.

Do you accept or reject Trump's lies?

That was down from 78 false claims the week prior and 61 false claims the week before that. Where he made the biggest numbers: Trump made 26 false claims at his campaign rally in Cincinnati, 13 more in various exchanges with the media, seven on Twitter, five in an interview with C-SPAN. Top categories: Eighteen false claims were about the economy or trade; 10 were about Trump's popularity, his crowds or others' crowds; 10 were about immigration; eight were about former President Barack Obama's record. The most egregious false claim: Support from African Americans Trump's stories are peppered with unnamed validators -- "many people" who say he's right about something, "tough guys" backstage who break down crying in his presence, a "friend" who just called him to say something dramatic. Last week, as he faced accusations of racism for his attack on Baltimore as "disgusting, rat and rodent infested" and unfit for human habitation, he turned the black community into a validator. "What I've done for African Americans, no president, I would say, has done," he told reporters, citing his criminal justice legislation, the low black unemployment rate and the criticism of Baltimore itself. "Now, I'll say this: They are so happy, because I get the calls." Though Trump does have African American supporters, all the available evidence suggests African American voters are overwhelmingly unhappy with him. In one poll the week before last, he had a 6% approval rating with black voters; 80% of them said he is racist. We can't fact-check the existence of phone calls to him. We can note that he has invented phone calls before. The most revealing false claim: A Veterans Choice fable Trump has made a concerted effort to erase and distort Obama's record. He has claimed more than 75 times as President that he was the one who got the Veterans Choice health care program passed, though Obama signed it into law in 2014. Most of the time Trump talks about Veterans Choice, he simply asserts that he was the one responsible for doing what previous presidents couldn't. Sometimes, like at his rally last week, he invents an entire elaborate story. He said he was thinking about the problem of veterans' health care "during the campaign," and he approached "experts" with a "great idea" he thought made him "the smartest guy": Veterans, he had decided, should be allowed to see private doctors if they are facing long waits in the VA system. (Note: That is what the Obama program already allowed them to do.) As it turned out, he said, the "experts" had something remarkable to tell him: They had this same idea long before, but could never get it implemented. "Sir," Trump said the experts told him, "we've known about it for about 40 years, but we've never been able." Note the "sir," one of the most surefire signs Trump is making something up. The most absurd false claim: Hot air on wind When Trump uses his campaign rallies to rile up his supporters over issues like immigration, we say he is throwing them red meat. We need a phrase for when he uses his rallies to rant about a personal grievance that his supporters don't seem to be interested in at all. Green meat? One such issue is wind turbines, a longtime bugbear for him. Again and again, Trump has returned to the subject even as the people in his crowds have demonstrated little apparent excitement. At the rally last week, he did not repeat his infamous false claim that wind turbines cause cancer. He did, however, claim that wind turbines being built near your house means your house becomes "practically worthless." Not true, studies show. Here is this week's full list of 56: Crowds and popularity Empty seats "...I've never had an empty seat. ... I don't think we've had an empty seat. I don't think you've seen an empty seat, with thousands of people outside. ... We'll have a 22,000-seat arena, including like a basketball -- an NBA -- arena, or even bigger stadiums, we've never had an empty seat." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN "I'm going to Cincinnati. The arena is a very large one. And we've sold it out. We could sell it out probably 10 times, from what I hear. The applications for seats, as you know -- never had an empty seat. ..." -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: There have been empty seats at various Trump events, including a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, just two weeks prior to these remarks. Bloomberg News reporter Josh Wingrove tweeted a photo of what he described as a "smattering" of empty seats in the almost-full 8,000-capacity venue in Greenville. The Dallas News said of Trump's October 18 rally in Houston: "Many hundreds of seats were empty, including all of the boxes on both tiers of the mezzanine." At Trump's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, rally in April 2017, Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Jonathan Tamari tweeted a photo of rows of empty seats in the upper deck. Support among religious voters When Trump was asked about recent criticism from Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, who said the President's recent remarks had "deepened divisions and diminished our national life," he said he was unaware of the archbishop's remarks but that he is highly popular with "the church." He continued, "The church has loved me and I love them. You know, we've got about 84% of the vote. And the churches love Donald Trump and I love them." -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: Trump did not get anywhere close to 84% of the vote from Catholics in the 2016 election. Exit polls had him winning 50% of the Catholic vote to Hillary Clinton's 46%. Data from the American National Election Study had Clinton winning 48% to Trump's 45%. Trump might have been referring imprecisely to his level of support from white evangelical Christians. Exit polls found 80% of that particular group voted for Trump. Support among African Americans "What I've done for African Americans, no president, I would say, has done. Now, I'll say this: They are so happy, because I get the calls." And: "The African American people have been calling the White House. They have never been so happy as what a president has done." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: African Americans are overwhelmingly unhappy with Trump's job performance, polls have consistently shown. Trump began talking negatively about Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and Baltimore in a series of tweets on July 27. In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted from July 25 to July 28 -- two days before the tweets, the day of the tweets and one day after the tweets -- Trump had a 6% approval rating and 84% disapproval rating with black voters. Eighty percent of black voters said Trump is racist, while just 11% said he is not. A Fox News poll conducted from July 21 to July 23 had Trump at 75% disapproval among black registered voters, with 22% approval. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted June 28 to July 1, 81% of African Americans said they disapproved; 18% approved. Both of those approval numbers were substantially better than the one in the new Quinnipiac poll, but still: On the whole, large majorities of African Americans were displeased with him. 'Morning Joe' "Wow! Morning Joe & Psycho ratings have really crashed. Very small audience. People are tired of hearing Fake News delivered with an anger that is not to be believed. Sad, when the show was sane, they helped get me elected. Thanks! Was on all the time. Lost all of its juice!" -- July 30 tweet Facts First: The ratings for the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" have not "crashed." The show's viewership in the second quarter of 2019 was nearly identical to its viewership in the second quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2017 -- and significantly higher than its ratings in the second quarter of 2016, during the presidential election. "Morning Joe" averaged 1.03 million viewers in the second quarter of this year. That was down very slightly from 1.06 million viewers in the same quarter in 2018 and up very slightly from 997,000 viewers in the same quarter in 2017. All of these figures were higher than the 608,000 viewers "Morning Joe" averaged in the second quarter of 2016. Joe Biden's crowd size "I saw Biden's opening, where he couldn't get 150 people to an opening in a little basketball, high school gymnasium." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: About 600 people attended Biden's first speech after he announced his candidacy -- which was held at a union hall, not a high school gymnasium. Trump had previously claimed that Biden's launch event was attended by 150 people, not the reported 600. This time, the President claimed it was not even 150. The Atlantic reported that journalists occupied 100 of the 600 spots at the hall in Pittsburgh, but that is still 500 non-journalists. Biden did hold an event at a community center gym in South Carolina that same week, but he drew a crowd of 700, The New York Times reported. The crowd in Cincinnati "l'll tell you what: This is some crowd, some turnout. We've sold tens of thousands of tickets, and you know, at the sale prices, we keep it nice and low, but keep it nice and low." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnat Facts First: Tickets to Trump's rallies are not "sold" by the campaign. Contrary to Trump's suggestion that people had paid to attend this rally, attendance was, as always, free. It's possible Trump was making a joke, but that wasn't clear. The 2016 election "I say it all the time: never happened before. There's never been a movement like this. They've had movements, they never went -- they won a state, they did well in a state. We won 32 states, there's never been anything like it." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump won 30 states, not 32. Also, this was far from a historic number: Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984 each won 49 states; James Monroe won every statein the uncontested election of 1820. "There have been 45 presidential elections in which the winning candidate won a larger share of the electoral vote," The New York Times reported. Ohio in 2016 "We ended up winning Ohio by close to 9 points, which is unheard-of. ..." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump exaggerated very slightly. He won 51.7% to 43.6%, a margin of just over 8 points. That was the biggest margin in Ohio since George H.W. Bush's 11-point win in 1988, but not an unprecedented margin for the state. Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon all won the state by 20 points or more. Florida in 2016 "So we have a great governor in the state of Florida. Ron DeSantis. Calls me up -- doing a great job, Ron DeSantis. He was at 3 and he went to 70. That's a pretty good increase." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: DeSantis did experience a spike in support after Trump endorsed him, but he never came close to 70% in the polls. He won the Republican primary with 56.5% of the vote. We also could not find any public polls in which DeSantis was as low as 3%, though he was indeed polling poorly before Trump expressed support for him in December 2017 and before the President issued a "full" endorsement in June 2018. He was at 17% in a Fox News poll just before the endorsement. Immigration Immigration judges Talking about immigration, Trump said, "We're the only country in the world, or just about, where people come in, Bill, they come in and they get a trial, so we hire Perry Mason. And it's a big deal. And the trial we say, 'Come back in four years.' It is so crazy. But we're the -- nobody else has judges. They come in -- other countries, they come and they say, 'Sorry, you have to get out.' And in this country they come in, it's 'Welcome to litigation.' " -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: The US is far from the only country to grant asylum claimants the right to a legal process. In Canada, for example, refugee claimants who pass an initial eligibility test are given hearings before a tribunal called the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada; if their applications are rejected by the board, they have the right to seek reviews by the Federal Court of Canada. In Germany, claimants who are rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also have the right to file appeals in court. "This statement is patently false," James Hathaway, law professor and director of the program in refugee and asylum law at the University of Michigan, said in an email in response to a previous version of Trump's claim. "It is completely routine in other countries that, like the U.S., have signed the UN refugee treaties for asylum-seekers to have access to the domestic legal system to make a protection claim (and to be allowed in while the claim is pending)." If Trump was talking about undocumented immigrants who do not make asylum claims, it is not true that these people are welcomed in and granted a trial years down the road. Under a system of "expedited removal," people who are apprehended within 100 miles of a land border and within 14 days of arrival can be quickly deported without seeing a judge. (The Trump administration announced in July that it plans to expand expedited removal to include undocumented immigrants anywhere in the country who can't prove they have been in the US continuously for two years or more.) Democrats and the border "Despite the Democrats wanting very unsafe Open Borders. ..." -- July 30 tweet "But what we have to do is fix the loopholes, and the Democrats don't want. The reason is the Democrats want open borders." -- July 31 exchange with reporters "The greatest betrayal committed by the Democrats is their support for open borders. And these open borders would overwhelm schools and hospitals, drain public services and flood communities with poisonous drugs." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "But I watched (the Democratic debates) and I guess it's probably four or five (contenders). It's down to four or five. I can't imagine somebody else coming up. But I don't think it's what our country represents, number one. And when you look at open borders, how about the open borders, where everybody can just come in. ... But I'm just watching, and it's incredible to think people come up -- many of these people are not good people. They're convicted of lots of bad crimes, and they want open borders where they just flow into our country." -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: Some Democrats, including presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro, have advocated a significant loosening of immigration law, including a decriminalization of the act of illegally crossing the border. But none of them have proposed literally opening the border to unrestricted migration. During the Trump era, Democrats have voted for billions of dollars' worth of fencing and other border security measures. In 2018, Democratic leaders offered Trump $25 billion for border security in exchange for a path to citizenship for the "Dreamers," young undocumented immigrants brought to the US illegally as children. Family separation "The cages for kids were built by the Obama Administration in 2014. He had the policy of child separation. I ended it even as I realized that more families would then come to the Border! @CNN" -- July 31 tweet Facts First: Trump was correct that Obama's administration built chain-link "cages" to detain migrants. But Trump did not inherit an Obama policy of routinely separating migrant children from their parents. Separations were rare under Obama; Trump made them standard. In March 2017, John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, told CNN that he was thinking about implementing a separation program "to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network." In April 2018, Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, announced a new "zero tolerance" policy in which everybody caught crossing the border illegally would be criminally prosecuted -- a change he explicitly noted would result in regular separations. Separations did sometimes occur under Obama, but they were non-routine and much less frequent, according to immigration experts and former Obama officials. They occurred in exceptional cases, such as those where the parent was being criminally prosecuted for carrying drugs across the border or other serious crimes aside from simple illegal crossing, those where human trafficking was suspected and those where the authorities could not confirm the connection between the child and the adult. It is technically true that Trump is the one who ended the separation policy: In June 2018, he signed an executive order to detain families together. But he was ending his own policy, not Obama's, and he signed the order only after a furious public outcry. The wall "We're building the wall faster and better than ever." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "... Crossings are way down and the Wall is being built). Even with zero Dem help, Border getting strong!" -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Nothing resembling the wall Trump campaigned on has been built at any speed. Zero additional miles of border barriers had been erected as of mid-June. About 50 miles have been built over his two-and-a-half years in office, but all of them are replacement barriers rather than additional miles. According to Customs and Border Protection, 47 miles "of new border barriers in place of dilapidated design" had been completed as of June 14. The Washington Examiner reported July 20 that the total was up to 51 miles of such replacement barriers, but that no additional miles had been built. (Customs and Border Protection did not respond to our request for updated information in the wake of the Examiner story.) Trump has started arguing since this spring that replacement fencing should be counted by the media as his "wall," since he is replacing ineffective old barriers with effective modern ones. This is subjective, but we think it's fair to focus on the new barriers he promised during his campaign. Lottery system "We're replacing random migration and we're replacing the lottery system. How about the lottery system? How about lotteries? This was Chuck Schumer: You put the name in a basket. The country puts the name in the basket. And you pick people out of the lottery. 'Well, let's see, this one's a murderer. This one robbed four banks, this one ... I'd better not say ... this one, another murderer, ladies and gentlemen, another murderer.' " -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Almost everything Trump said here was inaccurate. Foreign countries don't enter people into the green card lottery conducted by the State Department, let alone deliberately enter their criminals and problem citizens. Individuals enter on their own because they want to immigrate. The people whose names are selected are subjected to an extensive vetting process that includes a criminal background check. Court hearings "It's time for Democrats to end sanctuary cities, end catch and release. You know what you do: You catch 'em and then you release 'em and you say, 'Would you please report back in four years from now?' But only 2% come back." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While it's unclear what subset of migrants Trump was referring to, the majority of migrants appear in court. In 2017, 89% of asylum seekers appeared in court to receive decisions on their cases. Among all kinds of migrants, 72% appeared in court. Foreign affairs China and nuclear arms "But I will say this: With Russia, if we could get a pact where they reduce and we reduce nuclear, that would be a great thing for the world. And I do believe — I do believe that will happen. We've — we have discussed it. I've also discussed it with China. I've discussed it with President Putin. I've also discussed it with China. And I will tell you, China was very, very excited about talking about it, and so is Russia. So I think we'll have a deal at some point." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: We don't know what a Chinese official might have said to Trump in private, but China is not "excited" about the prospect of an arms control agreement with the United States. After Trump first suggested that China wanted to participate in a trilateral deal with the US and Russia, a spokesperson for the Chinese government said: "We oppose any country's attempt to make an issue out of China on arms control and will not participate in any negotiation for a trilateral nuclear disarmament agreement." Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, noted that two days before Trump's new remark, Zhou Bo, a senior colonel in China's People's Liberation Army, published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he wrote, "To Chinese ears, Mr. Trump's claims make no sense. Between them, the U.S. and Russia possess 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. China has fewer nuclear warheads (290) than France (300), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. No wonder China's Ministry of National Defense essentially laughed at the idea of a three-way deal on arms control involving the U.S. and Russia." Reif told CNN: "The Chinese reaction is not surprising. China, which is estimated to possess a total of about 300 nuclear warheads, has never been party to any agreement limiting the size and configuration of its nuclear arsenal. Beijing is highly unlikely to engage in any such talks until the United States and Russia further cut their far larger arsenals, estimated at over 6,000 warheads each." The European Union "We are competing with other countries that know how to play the game against the U.S. That's actually why the E.U. was formed. ..." -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Competing with the United States economically was not a key reason for the formation of the European Union. "The President's claims are preposterous. The European Communities (forerunner of the EU) were formed in the 1950s as part of a joint US-Western European plan to stabilize and secure Western Europe and promote prosperity, by means of trade liberalization and economic growth, throughout the shared transatlantic space," Desmond Dinan, a public policy professor at George Mason University who is an expert in the history of European integration, said in response to a previous version of this claim. US presidents have consistently supported European integration efforts. "The EU was launched in 1993, on the shoulders of the European Communities, to promote peace and prosperity in the post-Cold War era, an era also of rapid globalization. American officials may have had their doubts about the feasibility of monetary union, and about the possibility of a Common (European) Security and Defense Policy, but the US Administration strongly supported further European integration in the 1990s," Dinan said. The war in Afghanistan "With respect to Afghanistan, we've made a lot of progress. We're talking, but we've also made a lot of progress. We're reducing it. We've been there for 19 years. " -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: This was a small exaggeration. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 -- less than 18 years ago, though Trump habitually says "19 years." Iran "To protect America's security I withdrew the United States from the horrible Iran nuclear deal, a horrible stupid deal. We gave Iran $150 billion." Trump went on to claim that the US also gave Iran $1.8 billion "in cash." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: The second figure is roughly correct, but the first is exaggerated. The Iran nuclear deal allowed the country to access tens of billions in its own assets that had been frozen in foreign financial institutions because of sanctions; experts say the total was significantly lower than $150 billion. Trump did not invent the $150 billion figure out of thin air: Obama himself mused in a 2015 interview about Iran having "$150 billion parked outside the country." But experts on Iran policy, and Obama's own administration, said that the quantity of assets the agreement actually made available to Iran was much lower. In 2015, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew put the number at $56 billion. PolitiFact reported that Garbis Iradian, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, put it at about $60 billion. Adam Szubin, a senior Treasury Department official, testified to Congress in 2015 that the "usable liquid assets" would total "a little more than $50 billion." The rest of Iran's foreign assets, he said, were either tied up in "illiquid" projects "that cannot be monetized quickly, if at all, or are composed of outstanding loans to Iranian entities that cannot repay them." As Trump regularly notes, the Obama administration did send Iran $1.7 billion to settle a decades-old dispute over a purchase of US military goods Iran made before its government was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Russia investigation "Treason" "Such a great victory in court yesterday on the Russian Hoax, the greatest political scam in the history of our Country. TREASON! Hopefully, the Attorney Generel of the United States, and all of those working with him, will find out, in great detail, what happened. NEVER AGAIN!!!!" -- July 31 tweet Facts First: Nothing about the Russia investigation comes close to meeting the definition of treason. Under the Constitution, treason is narrowly defined: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed and supervised by a Republican whom Trump appointed as deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. There is no evidence of any behavior that could even possibly qualify as treason. Mueller and obstruction "Well, I watched Mueller. I'm not sure Mueller knows what's going on, if you want to know the truth. But all I do know is he said, 'No collusion with us. No collusion,' and ultimately 'no obstruction,' because it led to no obstruction by a very smart group of people, including our attorney general. " -- August 1 exchange with reporters Facts First: Mueller's report did not say "no obstruction" in any way. Mueller laid out a case that Trump may have committed obstruction, but he explained that he would abide by a Justice Department policy that holds that a sitting president cannot be indicted. "... If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," the report said. As Trump said, Attorney General William Barr then determined that the evidence laid out by Mueller was "not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." So Trump was basically correct when he described what Barr concluded -- but he was incorrect in suggesting that Mueller himself had said "no obstruction." Mueller also did not use the words "no collusion"; his report explained that he was investigating the issue of conspiracy, since collusion does not have a precise legal meaning. With that said, "no collusion" is a much fairer paraphrase of Mueller's findings than "no obstruction" is. The economy and trade Steel plants before the tariffs After listing recent plant investments by American steel companies, Trump said, "And this was unthinkable, because four years ago, steel plants were closing, they weren't expanding and they weren't building." Facts First: While some steel plants were closing, being idled or otherwise doing poorly four years ago, some other plants were being built or expanding at the time. Investment was not "unthinkable." A simple Google search brings up numerous 2015 announcements about planned investments in steel plants. For example, Steel Dynamics announced a $100 million expansion at a mill in Mississippi. Commercial Metals announced a $250 million investment to build a micro-mill in Oklahoma. Nucor and a partner announced a $75 million investment in improvements at a mill in Arkansas. Ferrous CAL announced a $53 million investment in a Michigan plant to make steel for automotive companies. There were also multiple stories about US Steel and other companies idling plants and laying off workers at the time. But it's not true that it was "unthinkable" four years ago for plants to be built or expanded. Steel companies before the tariffs "... but they were dumping tremendous quantities of steel, and what was happening is United States Steel and all of our companies were going virtually out of business, and I stopped it. I put on a 25% tariff." Facts First: It is not true that "all" American steel companies were "going virtually out of business" before Trump imposed his steel tariffs last year. Though US Steel had significantly declined from its heyday and had faltered for much of the decade, it had earned a profit in 2017. Other American steel companies, notably Nucor, were thriving before the tariffs. US Steel earned $387 million in 2017, the year before Trump imposed the tariffs. The company had struggled so badly in the years prior that it was dropped in 2014 from the S&P 500 stock index, but it was not on the verge of quickly vanishing before the tariffs came into effect. Other steelmakers were faring much better than US Steel. Nucor, for example, reported consolidated net earnings of $1.3 billion for 2017 and $796 million for 2016. Steel Dynamics earned $813 million in 2017 and $382 million in 2016. Bloomberg reported in an October 2018 fact check: "In fact, US steelmakers Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc. were two of the healthiest commodity companies in the world before Trump took office." Unemployment, part 1 "We need good people. We're down to 3.5% unemployment." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: The unemployment rate for June was 3.7%. The rate for July, released the morning after the rally, was unchanged, holding at 3.7%, well above the record 2.5% set in 1953. The rate has not hit 3.5% at any point in Trump's presidency. It was 3.6% in April and May. So Trump was close, but this is not a figure that is usually rounded to the nearest half-point. Unemployment, part 2 "Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over half a century." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was close to true, but Trump was exaggerating. The unemployment rate over this spring and summer -- 3.7% each month in July and June, 3.6% each month in May and April -- has been the lowest since December 1969, slightly less than 50 years ago. We might be inclined to ignore this one if it seemed like a one-time slip, but it was not. Trump, a serial exaggerator, habitually turns "almost" into "over" and "more than." Employment in Ohio "One hundred and twenty three thousand more Ohio workers are employed today than when I was elected." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump was exaggerating. As of the most recent jobs numbers at the time Trump spoke, for June, the increase from the month of Trump's election was 77,600 people. Who is paying for tariffs on Chinese products "We're taking in billions and billions of dollars from China in the form of tariffs. Our people are not paying for it." -- July 30 exchange with reporters "And it's been proven that our people are not paying for those tariffs." And: "They're paying for these tariffs; we're not." -- August 1 exchange with reporters "And don't let them tell you -- the fact is, China devalues their currency. They pour money into their system, they pour it in and because they do that you're not paying for those tariffs, China's paying for those tariffs." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "The tariffs are not being paid for by our people; it's being paid for by China because of devaluation and because they're pumping money in." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: American importers make the actual tariff payments, and economic studies have found that Americans, not people and companies in China, have borne most of the cost. A March paper from economists at Columbia, Princeton and the New York Federal Reserve found that the "full incidence" of Trump's tariffs has fallen on domestic companies and consumers -- costing them $3 billion a month by the end of 2018. The paper also found that the tariffs led to a reduction in US income, by $1.4 billion a month. A separate academic paper also found that the tariffs led to higher consumer prices. It estimated that the tariffs will result in a $7.8 billion-per-year decline in income. The White House's Economic Report of the President also acknowledged that American consumers do pay some of the cost of these tariffs. Domestic producers, according to the report, benefit from price increases from the tariffs, but "offsetting these benefits are the costs paid by consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced consumption." Some Chinese suppliers might take on some of the burden of the tariff by reducing their prices to maintain a market in the United States, but these studies show that the burden heavily falls on US consumers and companies. The history of tariffs on China "Remember this: Our country is taking in billions and billions of dollars from China. We never took in 10 cents from China." -- August 2 exchange with reporters Facts First: The US government has been charging tariffs on imported Chinese goods for more than two centuries, and it took in hefty sums from such tariffs long before Trump's own tariffs. (Again, it is US importers, not China, who have paid these tariffs.) The Treasury received $14 billion from tariffs on China in 2014, to look at one pre-Trump year. Highest agricultural spending by China "And I will say that the farmers are very grateful. The most they've ever spent on agricultural product is $16 billion. So when they pulled out, I took just a small part of the money that China is paying us, and I gave it toward the farmers and the farmers are very happy." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: Sixteen billion dollars is not the most China has ever spent on US agricultural products in a year. As we noted above, studies have found that Americans, not China, are bearing the majority of the cost of the tariffs. And Trump's aid to affected farmers has required much more than "a small part" of the tariff revenue. China spent a record $29.6 billion on US agricultural products in 2014, according to government figures. The New York Times reported July 15 that Trump's tariffs on China had generated about $21 billion as of July 10. As Trump noted later last week, he has promised a total of $28 billion in aid to farmers over the last two years -- so the tariff revenue so far does not even cover the cost of his pledge. Baltimore Baltimore and corruption "What Elijah Cummings should do is he should take his Oversight Committee, bring them down to Baltimore, and invest all of it, and really study the billions and billions of dollars that's been stolen. It's been wasted; it's been stolen." And: "But the people of Baltimore are very thankful — they have let us know by the thousands of people — because of the fact that finally somebody is pointing out how corrupt Baltimore is, how billions and billions of dollars have been stolen." -- July 30 exchange with reporters Facts First: Though Baltimore has had a series of corruption scandals in recent years, there is no evidence that anywhere near "billions and billions" has been "stolen." We can't definitively fact-check Trump's claim that billions have been "wasted"; he is entitled to his opinion on the effectiveness of spending. But an allegation of billions in actual theft requires proof, and Trump has not provided any. "He has no idea what he's talking about," said Matthew Crenson, professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University and a scholar of Baltimore's political history. "I'd like to see those billions and billions." Corruption convictions or cases involving alleged corruption in Baltimore have tended to involve sums of money much smaller than "billions." In 2009, Mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of stealing about $1,500 worth of gift cards meant for low-income residents. Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned in May of this year over a scandal involving payments from the University of Maryland Medical System. Pugh, who sat on the nonprofit company's board of directors, received $500,000 for 100,000 copies of a children's book she wrote. (She called the deal a "regrettable mistake.") Baltimore's economy "Baltimore's numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy. Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!" -- July 29 tweet Facts First: Baltimore does not have the worst economic numbers in the United States, though it does rank poorly by several measures. Baltimore had the fourth-worst unemployment rate of major cities in 2018, but its 5.7% rate was substantially better than that of last-place Detroit, which was at 9.0%. In 2017, the Baltimore metropolitan area (which includes more than the city of Baltimore, on which Trump was focusing his attacks) ranked 19th in the country in gross domestic product out of 383 areas studied. The city of Baltimore had a 22.4% poverty rate over the 2013-2017 period, well ahead of such cities as Detroit (37.9%), Bloomington, Indiana (37.5%), and Laredo, Texas (30.6%). Baltimore did have the highest homicide rate of any major city in 2017, so Trump was accurate in his claim about crime. Obama's record Obama and energy "The previous administration tried to shut down American energy..." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Obama did encourage the use of renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, but he didn't try to "shut down" fossil fuel production -- which increased significantly during his tenure. For example, field production of crude oil increased in each of Obama's first seven years in office before declining in his last year, reversing a steady decline that had begun in the mid-1980s. CNN reported in 2015: "The greatest oil boom in this nation's history has occurred during the tenure of self-proclaimed environmentalist Barack Obama." Obama also presided over a significant increase in natural gas production, which hit a record high in 2015 before declining in 2016. In his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama called for the US to go "all in on clean energy," but he immediately added, "Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that's why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That's got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan." Coal Trump said the Obama administration tried to end the use of "American, clean, beautiful coal." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Obama did try to reduce the use of coal -- but nothing about coal is "clean." "Clean coal" is an industry term for particular technologies that attempt to reduce the many environmental harms caused by coal, a particularly dirty source of power. The term is not meant to be used to broadly describe coal itself, though that is what Trump generally does. Manufacturing While criticizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, from which he withdrew the US, Trump claimed Obama had said that "you can't produce manufacturing jobs anymore in the United States." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "President Obama said that manufacturing jobs are gone." -- August 1 interview with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW Cincinnati Facts First: Obama didn't say you can't produce manufacturing jobs in the United States. At a town hall event on PBS in 2016, he said some manufacturing jobs were gone for good, in part because of automation, but he boasted of how many were being created and his administration's investment in new technologies to attempt to create new manufacturing sectors. Obama mocked Trump for not specifying how he would bring back the jobs that had been lost to other countries. But Obama was not saying that it was impossible to produce manufacturing jobs at all. He said: "Well, in fact, we've seen more manufacturing jobs created since I've been President than any time since the 1990s. That's a fact. And you know, if you look at just the auto industry as an example, they've had record sales and they've hired back more people over the last five years than they have for a very long, long time. We actually make more stuff, have a bigger manufacturing base today than we've had in most of our history." His tweet about Obama Talking about his tweeting habits, Trump said, "I sent the one about the 'wiretapping' in quotes, and that turned out to be true. Remember the big deal that was? I heard like about a minute after I sent that, I was called by my people, 'Sir, did you say --' I said, 'Yeah, I did, what's the big deal?' And the reason it was such a big deal is it turned out to be true." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Trump's tweet about Obama allegedly wiretapping his phones has not been proved true. Trump was referring to the 2017 tweet in which he said, "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" (He repeated the allegation in additional tweets the same day, saying, for example, "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!") There is still no evidence that Trump was wiretapped, let alone that Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump. The Justice Department said in a 2017 court filing that there are no records related to wiretaps like the ones Trump described. Then-FBI Director James Comey told Congress in 2017 that "we have no information to support those tweets." Paul Manafort, who served as Trump's campaign chairman, was wiretapped before and after the election, CNN has reported, and Manafort had a residence in Trump Tower. But a wiretap of someone living in Trump's apartment building is not the same as a wiretap of Trump himself. And there remains no public evidence that Obama was personally involved even in the Manafort wiretaps. Wind turbines "The previous administration, they liked windmills. You know windmills: If a windmill is within 2 miles of your house, your house is practically worthless." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While some homes might fall in value when turbines are erected close by, studies in the US have not found that homes generally become anywhere close to "practically worthless" in such cases -- and some have found no significant decline at all. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Real Estate Research, for example, analyzed "more than 122,000 home sales, between 1998 and 2012, that occurred near (within 10 miles) 41 turbines in densely populated Massachusetts communities." The study found "no unique impact on the rate of home sales near wind turbines." Judicial vacancies Trump said of vacancies on federal courts: "And I came in, I had 148 openings. I said -- you're supposed to have none. I said, 'How many do we have?' '148.' I said, 'You've got to be kidding.' " -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Trump did not enter office with 148 judicial vacancies, and it is not normal for incoming presidents to be told they have "none." Like Trump, his predecessors entered office with dozens of vacancies. According to Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks judicial appointments, there were 103 vacancies on district and appeals courts on Jan. 1, 2017, just before Trump took office; 53 vacancies on Jan. 1, 2009, just before Barack Obama took office; 80 vacancies on Jan. 1, 2001, just before George W. Bush took office; 107 vacancies on Jan. 1, 1993, just before Bill Clinton took office. So Trump had the most judges to appoint since Clinton, but, clearly, other presidents also had appointing to do. Promises and accomplishments Veterans Choice "We passed VA Choice and VA Accountability on behalf of our great veterans. They've been trying to pass VA Choice for four decades. They couldn't get it done, we got it done, we got it." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati "But with all of the things that we've got -- I mean think of VA Choice, think of all of the things that we've got, you would think that that would make people happy." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Trump did not get the Veterans Choice program passed, nor had there been an unsuccessful 40-year effort to get it passed. The program was signed into law by Obama in 2014. In 2018, Trump signed the VA MISSION Act, which expanded and changed the Choice program. What Veterans Choice does "Trump contrasted the Choice program with the previous situation, in which he noted that veterans had to wait for health care for "three, four, five, six days, for three weeks, for five weeks." Trump suggested that this is no longer the case, saying that he had the idea to "let them go outside, go to a private doctor. We'll pay the bill, they'll be fixed up all perfect and they can do it immediately.'" -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: Neither the Obama version nor the Trump version of this program allows veterans to avoid waiting days or weeks to see a VA doctor. At present, most veterans can get reimbursed for private care only if they are facing waits of more than 20 days at the VA. Under the current version of the program, there is an exception to the 20-day rule for people who live more than a 30-minute drive from a VA facility. But people who live within a 30-minute zone are still forced to stay within the VA system if they are facing waits of just under three weeks. As we noted in the previous fact check, the program was not Trump's idea. It was created in 2014 under Obama. Firing people at the VA "You couldn't fire anybody. If they were treating our vets badly, you couldn't fire him for anything. People could steal, they could be sadistic to our vets. ... You couldn't fire anybody for almost anything." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: While Trump might have been exaggerating here for effect, it's not true that "you couldn't fire anybody" prior to the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act he signed into law in 2017. The VA fired on average approximately 2,300 employees annually from 2005 to 2016, based on data collected by the Office of Personnel Management. However, the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Mississippi did find several instances where VA employees who were registered sex offenders or had been indicted for killing patients, for example, retained their jobs. The legislation Trump signed simplified and expedited the process of terminating VA employees. Confirmed judges "You know we've been doing very well in the courts, by the way. ... We've been winning a lot of cases, a lot of cases, we really have. We really have been. You know, we've now appointed 148, think of this, federal judges, 148." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was a slight exaggeration. There were 144 judges confirmed during the Trump presidency as of the day Trump made this statement, said Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks judicial appointments. It was 99 district court judges, 43 appeals court judges and two Supreme Court justices, Wheeler said. Debt and spending Asked about the increase in debt during his tenure, and told that spending under his watch has been higher than spending under Obama, Trump said, "Sure, but the difference is, he wasn't building up the military. The military was getting depleted. I have to build it up, and I have to build it up from both Bush and from Obama, because with Bush, you know we were in these wars all over the place, and with Obama the same thing, they just never ended." -- July 30 interview with C-SPAN Facts First: Military spending is not the primary contributor to the increase in debt under Trump. According to a July analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, legislation signed by Trump will produce a $4.1 trillion increase in the debt between 2017 and 2029. Of that $4.1 trillion, senior vice president Marc Goldwein said, approximately a quarter is attributable to the increase in military spending. Trump's tax cuts are responsible for a much bigger share of the $4.1 trillion: about $1.8 trillion. "There's been across-the board-increases in the deficit, and defense is certainly a piece of it. But to use it as an excuse for the other three-quarters doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Goldwein said. Drug prices "Last year was the first time in 51 years that drug pricing for prescription drugs actually came down." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This was a slight exaggeration. Prescription drug prices declined last year for the first time in 46 years, according to one of several measures. The Consumer Price Index for prescription drugs showed a 0.6% decline between December 2017 and December 2018, the first calendar-year decline since 1972. As The Washington Post pointed out in its own recent fact check, some experts say the Consumer Price Index is a flawed measure of trends in drug prices, since it doesn't include rebates that drug companies pay to insurers. The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, which studies drug prices, found that "net drug prices in the United States increased at an estimated 1.5% in 2018." Trump can reasonably cite the Consumer Price Index. He was just off on the number of years. Preexisting conditions "... We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions, always." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: This claim is undercut by Trump's actions and those of congressional Republicans during his presidency. We usually don't fact-check promises, but this one has already proved untrue. Trump's administration and congressional Republicans have repeatedly put forward bills and lawsuits that would weaken Obamacare's protections for people with preexisting conditions. Trump is currently supporting a Republican lawsuit that is seeking to get all of Obamacare declared void. He has not issued a plan to reinstate the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions if the suit succeeds. Right to Try "They had no hope. For 44 years, they've been trying to get Right to Try. ... I got it approved, and it wasn't easy." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: There had not been a 44-year push for a federal Right to Try law, experts said. The law tries to make it easier for terminally ill patients to access experimental medications that have not received Food and Drug Administration approval for widespread use. Similar laws have been passed at the state level only since 2014, after the Goldwater Institute, a libertarian think tank, began pushing for them. "I have no idea what 'they've been trying to get' for 44 years. The Right to Try law was a creation of the Goldwater Institute, and it first became state law in 2014 (in Colorado), relatively soon after it was first conceived of," said Alison Bateman-House, assistant professor of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Health. Before Right to Try Trump said that, before the Right to Try program came into effect, terminally ill patients "couldn't get medicine." He said, "They couldn't get anything -- they'd travel to Asia, if they had money. They'd travel to Europe, they'd travel all over the world hoping for a cure. If they had no money, they'd just go home, they'd die. They had no hope." -- August 1 rally in Cincinnati Facts First: It is not true that terminally ill patients "couldn't get anything" or would simply have to go home and die until Trump signed the Right to Try law in 2018. Prior to the law, patients did have to ask the federal government for permission to access experimental medications -- but the government almost always said yes. Scott Gottlieb, who served as Trump's FDA commissioner until April, told Congress in 2017 that the FDA had approved 99% of patient requests. "Emergency requests for individual patients are usually granted immediately over the phone and non-emergency requests are generally processed within a few days," he testified.   This Piece Originally Appeared in CNN Read the full article

[lethriloth]

Who's Who (And: how do you spell that?)

This is the first of what will (hopefully) be fortnightly updates on one of the D&D games I”m running. Because session logging turned out so well last time, and I really should get around to doing it again now. This first post got really long by the time I was done introductions, so I'm separating it out and posting the first actual account later.

Before I begin telling our story, I’d like to introduce the player characters (And some pertinent setting details). Before I can do that, though, I need to discuss spelling – transcription, rather – conventions. Largely at my players’ urging, (Though they might be regretting that now) I did some rudimentary conlanging for the setting. While I have not yet developed any scripts for these languages, when I asked VulgarLang to give me vocabulary, it was kind enough to also give me phonological rules for each language. Sometimes rather a lot of them. This means that some of the spelling is, if not irregular, somewhat unintuitive. Add to that the fact that there are some sounds simply not heard in English, and you have a few difficulties. So, what I intend to do is this: Whenever a name is introduced for the first time, I will include a phonetic transcription if the pronunciation is not obvious. After that, I will simply write the name as it is spelled in the Vulgar output and my notes. If you don’t care about pronouncing names right in your head, skip the next paragraph.

While I will give the phonetic transcriptions in proper IPA, I do not want to go through the hassle of installing and learning an IPA keyboard, nor do I particularly wish to copy-paste IPA characters more than ~once per name. So, outside of the phonetic transcriptions I will be using the following spelling conventions: Nasalized vowels – which are fairly common in Ohi – will be marked with a tilde, long vowels will be denoted by repeating the vowel character, â will be used for [æ]. “gg” will be used for the glottal trill, [ʀ] “rr” for the alveolar trill [r], and “r” for both the alveolar approximant [ɹ] and the alveolar tap [ɾ] because in-universe the only people who bother to distinguish them are extremely pedantic elves; Both are used in older dialects of Raxak [ɾaxak] (elvish), but nowadays most people treat the sounds as if equivalent. The combination “th” will be used for the voiceless dental fricative, even though in Ohi “th” (pronounced as separate consonants) is a valid cluster; in a probably fruitless attempt to minimize confusion I will write the latter as “t’h”. “sh” will denote the postalveolar fricative, and “x” the velar fricative. Also, Raxak names are whispered when spoken by elves or people sufficiently enamored with elves (*cough* @theunitofcaring​ *cough*) to be stubborn about precisely correct pronunciation. A generally safe assumption is that the names of elves are correctly pronounced whispered, and that all other names are generally voiced.

To understand the characters, you will need to know a few things about the world. Orcs and Elves are variants on humans, descended from tribes that were taken from the world at a time when the boundaries between the planes were thin. When they returned to the world, centuries later, they found themselves physically transformed by their experiences; the gross physical changes are of little consequence for the moment, apart from the effects on their fertility: though each kind remains fertile, they are no longer interfertile with each other, and their children with unaltered humans are themselves sterile. The inability for a cross-race union to produce a fertile heir has shaped the customs of all three races, especially among the nobility of each. A married noble couple generally has a shared set of concubines of different races – sometimes infertile halfbreeds who will produce no children at all, but more often other-race purebloods. The couple’s children by their concubines are valuable, trusted family members who, in theory, are unlikely to scheme against their parents or siblings due to their absolute inability to legally inherit. With that explanation out of the way, on to the PCs themselves:

Thiet of Ishto Theit is a half-orc who embraced the role his parents had planned for him as a member of the clergy. He eagerly and earnestly devoted himself to the worship of Ggita [ʀita], the god of knowledge and of the Sun, and was rewarded with His blessing and a limited ability to directly call upon His aid. Unfortunately for him, Thiet ran afoul of church politics – specifically, he unknowingly made an enemy of the full-blooded scion of a more influential noble house, and was quietly shuffled off and discouraged from further pursuing a church career. Not knowing the true reasons for his dismissal, he concluded that his faith must have lapsed and set off in search of some sort of righteous task to prove his faith.

Erkad [eɾkad] of Ishto Thiet’s brother Erkad followed the other traditional path for halfbreed children: Going to special schools to learn to command and lead the family’s personal armsmen. Of course, personal martial skill was valued as highly as an understanding of tactics or inspiring speeches, and so as a crowning accomplishment before graduation, Erkad was tasked with completing some sufficiently heroic deed. When his brother mentioned his own self-imposed quest, Erkad saw a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Ksea of Shuu Ksea grew up loving children. She would never have any of her own, being half-elf, but she helped raise her younger siblings. When her younger sister came of age, her parents arranged a marital alliance between house Shuu and house Ishto. To sweeten the deal for the higher-ranked and more prestigious Ishto, Ksea was included as a part of her sister’s dowry, to act as a nanny and caretaker to her sister’s children. She did this gladly, growing quite fond of the kids and picking up a bit of magical talent in the meantime. When her nephews Erkad and Thiet, now fully-grown, asked for her help on some damn fool hormone-driven quest for holy relics or something, she agreed to come along, if only to keep an eye on them.

Ero [eɾo] Ero is an example of a rather rare phenomenon in this nation: an actual bastard. To be precise, she is the bastard daughter of the king-consort. Now, the king is obviously not a bright man – he cheated on the queen, and, what’s more, he did it with another human – and he was compassionate enough not to have the evidence of his poor life choices killed or abandoned, so he hatched a… cunning… plan to hide the evidence of his folly. He claimed that the child was the bastard of one of the orc men in the royal harem, then contacted an alchemist to make this story more plausible. The alchemist devised a potion, which Ero was raised to believe was essential medicine for a life-threatening medical condition. The potion drained her of color, giving her the superficial characteristics of a half-orc, which served to prop up the lie for a decade or so before it was bowled over by pubescent hormones. Specifically, Ero found herself pregnant, which should have been quite impossible for a half-orc. After suffering a miscarriage, Ero fled the capital, seeking to meet up with her academy friend Erkad and get away from the city long enough to resolve her identity crisis.

Sothet [hoθet] of Thâthikis [θæθikit] (Raxak name) Sothet’s human parent was given away in an attempt by their family in to solidify an alliance with the more prestigious elven House Thâthikis. For all her life, Sothet has been aware that she exists only because of that now deteriorating alliance. With her parent’s status in the family perilously unstable, Sothet was never trusted with real responsibility in the way that halfbreeds usually are. This left her relatively free to pursue her own path in life, while still being able to draw on family connections. Sothet chose to express that freedom by studying various magical arts, primarily taking up wizardly magic but also for a time attending seminary alongside Thiet to learn as much as possible about miracles. Growing increasingly displeased with both her parents, as well as the system that put them together, she focused her studies on one goal: Having a child, and in doing so turning the political system grounded in halfbreed infertility on its head. When she heard about the half-orc Ero’s miscarriage, she thought she had found the key – or at least part of them – to the puzzle, and so arranged to join her friend Thiet’s expedition in order to get close to Ero and learn her secret.

[automatismoateo]

Lost my best friend because of Christianity. Just want to get this part of my life off my chest. via /r/atheism

Submitted November 10, 2017 at 06:09PM by Life123456 (Via reddit http://ift.tt/2i1z6Yg) Lost my best friend because of Christianity. Just want to get this part of my life off my chest.

My former best friend and his now wife (who was also a close friend) just got married. He asked me to be his best man this time last year, but after everything we went through I barely had the strength to show up to the wedding.

I'm 25, I've been Agnostic for as long as I can remember and I remain Agnostic even after deep diving into Christianity this past year. What a year it has been. I was sort of a loner in high-school and in college. My last year of college however I commuted myself to making friends, and it became one of the greatest years of my life because not only did I meet and make many new friends, I met someone who would become my best friend. He and I decided we wanted to be roommates about two years ago. We got along great! We always had conversations about life, spirituality, and always came to the conclusion together that it is who you are that matters...Your character, not your creed. I was so happy. Then he got a girlfriend, who he fell head over heals for, only there was a big compromise to be made for their relationship. Monica had been a Christian all her life, and told Nick that in order for them to be together long term he would need to be born again in the name of Jesus.

So Nick started going to church with her. At first, nothing seemed to change all that much. Nick's values still reminded me of why he was my best friend. The more he and Monica talked about the bible, their experiences at church, the people they were meeting, the more I became interested in giving it a chance. So then I started going to church with them last summer. How could it hurt, maybe I would find a new perspective.

The services were unlike anything I remembered from my early childhood Catholic upbringing. The sermon started with about 20 minutes of loud worship music. Most of the songs were about how 'worthless' we are and that we deserve sin, but Jesus is King and saved us but we're still worthless' Okay... But the 30 minute sermon delivered by the Pastor was usually very good. Opened up my eyes to some things- but the general premise was always the same, Sunday after Sunday...'You are a sinner- we are all sinners, but we are going to Heaven because Jesus died for our sins. BUT, you are only saved if you believe in Jesus, and that the bible is the literal word of God otherwise you are damned to hell'

This is where things go slightly downhill. Just beneath the warm, loving surface, most people were extremely intolerant and judgemental. ESPECIALLY my friend and his girlfriend. My friend and I began to have far too many religious talks (no longer spiritual, religious) where he would insist the bible 'must' be true, despite the fact that you literally have to forgo logic and reason to arrive at that conclusion. He used to agree when I would say "Listen- we all have our believes, but at the end of the day none of us KNOW. Just be a good person" But then he began saying he did know that he was right. Being a good person doesn't 'save' you, you have to believe in him etc. Things were beginning to get very frustrating.

Around this time, I was also attending a bible study with them thinking I might learn more about the history and symbolic meaning of the text. NOPE. The time was spent with everyone trying to convince each other (and themselves) that the bible is God's word. This made me the most uneasy out of everything, as the bible study had a cult-ish feel to it. I remember a particular time when a woman was talking about how she destroyed a statue of Buddha in her basement with a bat because she thought it was displeasing to God. Everyone in the room congratulated her with a job well done. Meanwhile, my mouth was left agape at how backwards and barbaric that act was.

Witnessing the psychology behind it was fascinating. People spoke at the bible study not really to share, but to get acceptance from other humans. My friend for instance, would not listen to what people were saying but think about what he wanted to say, what would sound good. And then he would come up with something, and keep raising his hand until he got an opportunity. Then while he was saying whatever it was, would have a huge smile on his face, and then he'd blush after he was done and look around the room for approval. It wasn't just him, it was everybody that behaved like that. Misfits that just want love and acceptance.

One night after bible study, Monica came home to our appartment with us and started celebrating the fact that she converted me and I'm now a follower of Christ. I was very afraid to tell the truth at this point, because I felt like if I didn't become a Christian my friends wouldn't love me the same (I was right). But at the time I was naiive and believed Nick would always be my 'brother' best friend' etc. so I told the truth, that while I believe a God may exist I still firmly believed the Bible was a man-mad concoction. She ended up telling me I was going to go to hell if I don't believe, no matter how good of a person I think I am. We had a 2 hour talk about it, and my best friend remained silent throughout most until the end when he began siding with her "If you actually believed in JESUS, then you would be a real CHRISTian... JESUS says this in verse bla bla" That was hard. I cried a lot that night. The next day, when it was just he and I, he said he didn't believe I was going to hell, that he'd be a horrible friend if he thought that. That made me feel much better, but he couldn't say that with her there?

The intolerance, inability to accept, refusal to listen to reason, and fright of leaving their Christian bubble just got worse. Monica stopped talking to me, Nick said I was right that she is purposefully withdrawing from me as a friend but wouldn't tell me why. I can only assume it's because I still have a slight ability to keep Nick out of the Christian bubble, and because she wasn't able to get me to abandon what makes me me at my core as she did with him.

Soon after, Nick tells me we can't be roommates because I'm not Christian enough...He needs to find someone he can pray with all day, not just before meals, and read the bible with constantly. It's all an ego thing... "I believe in this, so I MUST be right, those who don't agree with me are lesser". It's how wars start, it is what is wrong with the world. I was devastated but still foolishly tried to believe I was his best friend.

We were fighting a lot. But things finally got bettered when he apologized, and said his judgement of me was not 'Christ-Like' but that he still didn't want tot renew the lease. Whatever I thought, it sucks but atleast we'd still have eachother in our lives. We decided to spend a 'bro' day together the next day after work...This was the end. On our way back from the gym, he decided he missed Monica (Even though he saw her every day) and made plans to hang out with her that night. I was really hurt because he knew I was in a vulnrable place with all of the religious stuff and he was being such a shitty friend. He felt really bad and said it was a stupid move, that he was sorry and he felt like a dick. I said it's allright. Before he left we bought tickets for the three of us to go visit Nicks family in CA, something we were planning for months.

He goes to see Monica...He avoids me the next day...Two days later he said he felt very uncomfortable with the trip, that he wants to cancel and is moving out immediately. Because according to him and Monica, I manipulated him into buying the plane tickets. Even though it was HIS idea, and HE was the one who kept saying things like "I can't wait to see your face when you see the redwood forest, I can't wait to show you this restaurant, etc. etc." I don't remember ever feeling that level of pain in my life. I drove to my moms and sobbed like I hadn't since my brother died. We had so many good times together. We never feared to tell the other what they meant to us, "You're my best friend" "I love you" "You're the brother I never had". We had the deepest conversations, we knew everything about eachother. It was the most fulfilling friendship I've ever experienced. And he just walked out of my life.

He's tried to apologize since, but it will never be like it used to be. He uses words to say the right thing, but he never means this. His words are bullshit, it's his actions that show his true intentions. If he really was sorry, and really wanted to rectify things he would have asked me to be in his wedding party. I got shivers going to his wedding, because the whole thing was held in that culty church. It was really hard not being in the wedding, even though in hindsight I realize he's a shitty person and my life is better off without him. But my current best friend (who is not religious) was his best man (another long story, but the three of us were like the three amigos). That was hard, I really wanted to be a part of that like he asked me to be.

That is my experience with Christianity. It has left me very bitter towards religion. It has taken my best friend and my roommate away. It has devastated me. I will no longer be going to church, but I will continue to live as I always have, believing that you should do unto others as you would have others do unto you. The Christians I've met have all seemed to miss that part.

TL;DR -Submerged myself in a Christian church with best friend and his new, always Christian gf this past year. I don't believe bible was divinely inspired. She does, so by association he does, which has lead to the downfall of our friendship because of her inability to accept people for who they are, and his insecurity of losing her.