#a nigeria and america final would leave the world dead

[cryingforcrocodiles]

WHAT A FUCKING UGLY BRACKETT!!!! COME ON USA & NIGERIA!!!

#a nigeria and america final would leave the world dead #lets have it happen #theyre just kids :(( #gen.txt

[cielrouge]

YA SFF Books by Black Authors 

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow: About the strength of black sisterhood set in Portland, OR, best friends Tavi and Effie discover their true supernatural identity when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical siren voice during a police stop.

A Chorus Rises (A Song Below Water #2) by Bethany C. Morrow: Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw is an Eloko, a person who’s gifted with a song that woos anyone who hears it. Everyone loves her — well, until she's cast as the awful person who exposed Tavia’s secret siren powers. When a new, flourishing segment of Naema’s online supporters start targeting black girls, however, Naema must discover the true purpose of her magical voice.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown: Inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess, Karina, and a desperate refugee, Malik, find themselves on a collision course to murder each other, despite their growing attraction.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: Sunny Nwazue, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends use to catch a serial killer.

Akata Warrior (Akata Witch #2) by Nnedi Okorafor: Now stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny Nwazue, along with her friends from the the Leopard Society, travel through worlds, both visible and invisible, to the mysterious town of Osisi, where they fight in a climactic battle to save humanity.

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis: For fans of Us and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi: After he eats the sin of a royal, Taj, a talented aki, or sin-eater who consumes the guilt of others whose transgressions are exorcised from them by powerful but corrupt Mages, is drawn into a plot to destroy the city, and he must fight to save the princess he loves and his own life.

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray: Two Black teenagers, talented Beastkeeper Koffi and warrior-in-training Ekon, must trek into a magical jungle to take down an ancient creature menacing the city of Lkossa, before they become the hunted.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton: In the opulent world of Orléans, where Beauty is a commodity only a few control, Belle Camellia Beauregard will learn the dark secrets behind her powers, and rise up to change the world. 

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney: A whimsical and butt-kicking Alice in Wonderland retelling featuring a black teen heroine who battles Nightmares in the dark and terrifying dream realm known as Wonderland. 

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves: 16-year-old Hanna reunites with her estranged mother in an East Texas town that is haunted with doors to dimensions of the dead and protected by demon hunters called Mortmaine.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury: Set in near-future Toronto in which, after failing to come into her powers, 16-year-old Black witch Voya Thomas must choose between losing her family’s magic forever or murdering her first love.

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley: Set in Victorian England, African tightrope walker Iris cannot die; but soon gets drafted in the fight-to-the-death tournament of freaks where she learns the terrible truth of who and what she really is.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: 17-year-old Zélie and companions journey to a mythic island seeking a chance to bring back magic to the land of Orïsha, in a fantasy world infused with the textures of West Africa.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2) by Tomi Adeyemi: After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But with civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron: 16-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia flees, hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Crown of Thunder (Beasts Made of Night #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Taj has escaped Kos, but Queen Karima will go to any means necessary--including using the most deadly magic--to track him down. 

A Crown So Cursed (Nightmare Verse #3) by L.L. McKinney: Alice is ready to jump into battle when she learns that someone is building an army of Nightmares to attack the mortal world, before she learns of a personal connection to Wonderland.

Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron: In Jim Crow South, black teen Evalene Deschamps finds her place among a family of women gifted with magical abilities, known as jubilation - a gift passed down from generations of black women since the time of slavery.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: The Civil War is over, but mostly because the dead rose at Gettysburg—and then started rising everywhere else. Fighting the undead is a breeze for Jane McKenne, an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. But the fight for freedom? That’s a different story.

Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland: After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler. But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880’s America.

A Dream So Dark (Nightmare Verse #2) by L.L. McKinney: Still reeling from her recent battle (and grounded until she graduates) Alice must cross the Veil to rescue her friends and stop the Black Knight once and for all in Wonderland.

Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds: Jamal’s best friend Q is brought back to life after a freak accident … but they only have a short time together before he will die again.  How can Jamal fix his friendship without the truth?

Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley:  Before they can save the world from the monstrous phantoms, four girls who have the power to control the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water must first try to figure out how to work together. 

For All Time by Shanna Miles: Tamar and Fayard, two Black teens, are fated to repeat their love story across hundreds of lifetimes, from 14th-century Mali to the distant future, as they struggle to break the cycle.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: Inspired by the culture of West Africa, a feminist fantasy debut traces the experiences of 16-year-old Deka, who is invited to leave her discriminatory village to join the emperor’s army of near-immortal women warriors.

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls--they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape to find freedom, justice, and revenge.

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron: Set in a West African-inspired fantasy kingdom, Arrah comes from a long line of powerful witchdoctors, yet fails at magic. When Arrah trade years off her life for magic to stop the Demon King from destroying the world—that is if it doesn’t kill her first.

Legacy of Light (The Effgies #3) by Sarah Raughley: After Saul’s strike on Oslo—one seemingly led by Maia herself—the Effigies’ reputation is in shambles. Belle has gone rogue, Chae Rin and Lake have disappeared, and the Sect is being dismantled and replaced by a terrifying new world order helmed by Blackwell. If the Effigies can’t put the pieces together soon, there may not be much left of the world they’ve fought so desperately to save.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn: In this King Arthur retelling, Black teen Bree Matthews infiltrates a secret society of powerful magic wielders to find out the truth behind her mother’s untimely death.

Mem by Bethany C. Morrow: In alternate reality Montreal (1925), a young woman’s personality is the result of a startling experimental procedure, leaving her to struggle with the question of who she really is.

Miles Morales, Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds: But Miles Morales accidentally discovers a villainous teacher's plan to turn good kids bad, he will need to come to terms with his own destiny as the new Spider-man. 

Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard: Half-mortal teenager Helen Thomas goes to live with her father—who is Zeus, masquerading as a university professor—and must do her best to keep the family secret intact.

The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds: After falling for Kate, her unexpected death sends Jack back in time to the moment they first met, but he soon learns that his actions have consequences when someone else close to him dies.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith: Set in a futuristic, hostile Orleans landscape, Fen de la Guerre must deliver her tribe leader's baby over the Wall into the Outer States before her blood becomes tainted with Delta Fever. 

Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith: When Nubia’s best friend, Quisha, is threatened by a boy who thinks he owns the town, Nubia will risk it all—her safety, her home, and her crush on that cute kid in English class—to become the hero society tells her she isn’t.

A Phoenix First Must Burn: 16 Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell: Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron: In this contemporary fantasy inspired by The Secret Garden, Black teen Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants with a single touch. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family, when a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir.

A Psalm of Storm and Silence (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #2) by Roseanne A. Brown: As the fabric holding Sonande together begins to tear, Malik and Karina once again find themselves torn between their duties and their desires.

A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) by Amanda Joy: After learning the truth of her heritage, Eva is on the run with her sister Isa as her captive, but with the Queendom of Myre on the brink of revolution, Eva and Isa must make peace with each other to save their kingdom.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko: In a West African-inspired empire, Tarisai is raised by The Lady and sent to kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

Redemptor (Raybearer #2) by Jordan Ifueko: For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer.

The Ravens by Danielle Page & Kass Morgan: The sisters of Kappu Rho Nu share a secret: they’re a coven of witches. For Vivi Deveraux, being one of Kappa Rho Nu’s Ravens means getting a chance to redefine herself. For Scarlett Winters, a bonafide Raven and daughter of a legacy Raven. When Vivi and Scarlett are paired as big and little for initiation, they find themselves sinking into the sinister world of blood oaths and betrayals.

Rebel Sisters (War Girls #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Though they are working toward common goals of helping those who suffered, Ify and Uzo are worlds apart. But when a mysterious virus breaks out among the children in the Space Colonies, their paths collide.

Reaper of Souls (Kingdom of Souls #2) by Rena Barron: After so many years yearning for the gift of magic, Arrah has the one thing she’s always wanted—at a terrible price. But the Demon King’s shadow looms closer than she thinks. And as Arrah struggles to unravel her connection to him, defeating him begins to seem more and more impossible.

A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy: A North African-inspired feminist fantasy in which two sisters, Eva and Isa must compete in a magical duel to the death for the right to inherit the queendom of Myre.  

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves: In Portero, Texas, teens Kit and Fancy Cordelle, daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, bring two boys with similar tendencies to a world of endless possibilities they have discovered behind a mysterious door.

Siege of Shadows (The Effigies #2) by Sarah Raughley:  After Saul reappears with an army of soldiers with Effigy-like abilities, threatening to unleash the monstrous Phantoms, e-year-old Maia and the other Effigies hope to defeat him by discovering the source of their power over the four classical elements, but they are betrayed by the Sect and bogged down by questions about the previous Fire Effigy's murder.

The Sisters of Reckoning (The Good Luck Girls #2) by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The blockbuster sequel to an alternate Old West-set commercial fantasy adventure.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow: Set in the near-future, in which a captive teen human and a young alien leader—bonded by their love of forbidden books and music—embark on a desperate road trip as they attempt to overturn alien rule and save humankind. 

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi: Set in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria, sisters Onyii and Ify, separated by a devastating civil war, must fight their way back to each other against all odds.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst: When the goddess Bayla fails to take over Liyana's body, Liyana's people abandon her in the desert to find a more worthy vessel, but she soon meets Korbyn, who says the souls of seven deities have been stolen and he needs Liyana's help to find them.

The Weight of Stars by K. Ancrum: After a horrific accident brings loners Ryann and Alexandria together, Ryann learns that Alexandria's mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson: Black teen Marigold and her blended family move into a newly renovated, picture-perfect home in a dilapidated Midwestern city, and are haunted by what she thinks are ghosts, but might be far worse.

Wings of Ebony by J. Elle: Black teen Rue, from a poor neighborhood who, after learning she is half-human, half-goddess, must embrace both sides of her heritage to unlock her magic and destroy the racist gods poisoning her neighborhood with violence, drugs, and crime.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Thomas: In this Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut, two witches from enemy castes—one seeking power, and one seeking revenge—will stop at nothing to overthrow the witch queen, even if it means forming an alliance with each other and unleashing chaos on their island nation.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood: An Ethiopian-inspired Jane Eyre retelling in which an unlicensed debtera, or exorcist, Andromeda, is hired to rid a castle of its dangerous curses, only to fall in love with Magnus Rochester, a boy whose life hangs in the balance.

Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson: Black teen Andre Cobb undergoes a liver transplant and as a side effect winds up slipping through time from present-day Boston to 1969 NYC on the eve of the Stonewall riots, delivering a story that is part romance, part gay history, and part time-travel drama, exploring how far we have and haven't come. 

#yalit #black authors #ya sff #black ya sff #booklr #book recs #book recommendations

[pilgrimdrewbert-blog]

Never Enough: The Dream Destiny Pursuit of the Charismatic Movement

The dimly lit auditorium pulses with emotional choruses from Bethel as individuals line up to receive a word from the Lord. A visiting speaker just poured out his heart, pleading with folks to “pursue God’s dream”. The church’s prophet lays his hands on them one at a time, declaring their unique destiny in vague but exciting terms...

“I feel the Lord saying, ‘Your season of waiting is over. Your breakthrough is right around the corner. Press into the dreams I have placed within your heart. The world needs what I have entrusted to you’.” 

This scenario plays out frequently in many Charismatic churches across North America, Europe, and throughout large portions of Africa and South America. The “Dream Destiny” concept is not limited to Charismatics but is popular throughout so much of mainstream Evangelicalism. 

The Dream Destiny idea goes something like this...

Jesus died for you to have so much more than you’re currently experiencing. He wants you and even needs you to tap into your full potential, because when you do, you’ll be able to accomplish God’s epic plan for your life. There’s a dormant destiny within you that needs to be awakened. God is trying everything He can to release your inner champion. When you finally break out of your cocoon, you’ll do great exploits for Jesus and the world will never be the same.  

If you sat under Charismatic teachings for any length of time, you doubtless felt pressure to become a spiritual elite. If your experience was anything like mine, you were told to “press in” and strive for that “next level” experience. Just beyond your reach was a second tier of Christian living…You know, “Radical Christianity”?

According to the leaders and influencers, God wants you to spearhead a movement and inspire a generation. “Don’t settle for an ordinary life. Normal Christianity is radically supernatural.”

But you never pressed in hard enough. You never groaned deep enough. Your prayers just weren’t anointed enough. Every conference that promised to change your life failed to do so. No matter what, it was never enough.

The Burden God Never Gave

If you’re reading this and you haven’t felt this pressure from spiritual leaders, then praise God. But at this very moment, millions of precious souls are struggling underneath a burden that God never intended them to bear. 

Does the Bible teach that God has a special dream for your life which He’s waiting for you to discover? If so, what’s holding you back and why does it only seem to work out for the dynamic leader on stage?

Most American Evangelicals have heard the saying, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Coffee cups and journal covers are inscribed with Jeremiah 29:11,

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Does God frown upon those with an ordinary existence? Is He upset with His children if they are content and failing to dream of greater things?

Let’s be honest. Most of us have normal lives with mundane, repetitive jobs. Our schedules aren’t full of speaking engagements and mission trips to the far flung regions of the earth. Our lives are limited. We have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Reality has a way of leaving us stuck where we are, and mainstream Charismatic leaders would have you despise your hidden, seemingly insignificant life. 

Imagine today’s self appointed apostles and prophets telling first century slaves to “dream a God sized dream” and to discover their unique purpose. Slavery was extremely common in the Roman Empire. The slaves had no upward mobility and very few life choices. They pretty much had three options as a Christian slave.

They could...

1) Rebel against their master and run away, risking likely death.  2) Grudgingly serve their master and hate their life. 3) Look at their service as serving the Lord and do it willingly and to the best of their abilities with a gracious attitude. 

For a first century slave, living a godly life wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t complicated either. Peter writes some wonderful encouragement in his first epistle, 

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  - 1 Peter 2:18-25

Just like a Christian who was free, an enslaved Christian repented and believed in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and then, being accepted in the sight of God because of Christ’s merit, their redeemed life was to be lived to God’s glory and praise. But it was a simple life with a living hope. Christ transformed their heart and gave them His Holy Spirit. They would never lead a movement or speak to nations, but they would impact their master’s household. Even if their master never believed the Gospel, God assured the enslaved Christian that his or her service was not in vain. 

“Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”  - Colossians 3:22-24

Depending on who their master was, life as a slave could be very difficult. But their marching orders from God were simple...Honor your master with your work as one who fears God. Trust in Christ who will reward you when this brief life of hardship is over. 

For many Christians today, the same reality exists. Believers in China live at the bottom of the social food chain and suffer regular persecution and limitations on their freedom. Poverty stricken saints in India, Nigeria, Romania, etc don’t have the liberty to quit their day jobs and move into full time ministry. This doesn’t stop “anointed leaders” with high budget ministries from urging the poor to have faith for a breakthrough into their destiny. Not surprisingly, the breakthrough usually requires them to part with more of their hard earned money. 

These prophets of dreams and destiny preach that God wants to promote everyone to greatness, but there’s only so much room on the platform. In the end, the spotlight is reserved for the elites. Like a carrot on a stick, they dangle before you the Christian life of your dreams, but it’s always just out of reach. Will one more conference do the trick? One more book touting the secrets to unlock a fulfilling and significant life? One more e-course on how to “reign in life” and “live a life of purpose”? No, it’s never enough. 

Here’s the liberating truth: you don’t need to find your dream destiny because it doesn’t exist. If you are a Christian, you have been promised eternal life, and one day you will enter into the joy of your Master. There He will wipe away every tear and put an end to pain. But for as long as He calls us to walk here below, we are promised that a godly life will be accompanied by persecution and difficulty. 

God isn’t waiting on you to discover some secret ingredient to a life of significance. Rather, He’s spelled it out for you plainly in the written Word. 

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Ephesians 2:10 says,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Our good works have already been prepared for us and God’s Word is sufficient to equip us for the task. No extra revelation is needed. 

For the slave, the good works prepared beforehand consist in serving their master with respect and living to please God rather than men. 

The husband’s good works involve loving his wife so much that he lays down his life for her, following in the steps of his Savior. The wife does her good works by honoring her husband and following him as he follows Christ. Children are to obey their parents and parents are to patiently raise their children in the truth. 

Then all the “one another’s” of Scripture come into play. Disciples of Christ are to...

- Love one another (John 13:34)

- Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)

- Honor one another (Romans 12:10)

- Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)

- Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11) 

Click here for a list of the “one another’s”

As Christians, we are to be ready at all times to give an answer for the hope that’s within us. We live with certain hope and love our enemies with grace and forgiveness. When given the opportunity, we proclaim Christ crucified for guilty sinners. As we boast in our Savior and articulate Who He is and what He’s done, the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting, taking dead souls out of darkness and giving them new life in the kingdom of the Beloved Son. 

The stuff we need to be doing is written down for us in black and white. All that is needful for the Christian to know has been revealed in Holy Scripture. It is sufficient to teach us what to believe and how to live. Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf and set us free from its curse. We are now free to live for His glory and for the good of others. We have nothing to earn and nothing to lose. It’s a simple life. And it’s simply for God’s glory. 

Is it not a comfort to know that something’s not wrong with you if your life is not as epic as the "prophets of destiny” once foretold? God isn’t frowning upon your ordinary life with its simple joys and real hardships. If reality has you stuck, it’s okay. God orchestrated the circumstances that led to your limitations and He calls you to trust Him right where you are. You aren’t going to miss your dream destiny. Your destiny is with Christ in a new heaven and new earth and it will be better than your wildest dreams. 

But take a deep breath about your life. Christ said repeatedly not to worry about it. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?“  - Matthew 6:25

But you may be thinking, “Don’t I need to seek the Lord’s will for my life?” Yes, you do. 

“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”  - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

If you are a humble student of God’s Word, living daily with repentance and faith in Christ and pursuing holiness, then you can’t miss God’s will. He’s sovereign. He providentially arranges the details of your life and yet leaves you with decisions. Seek wisdom and make God honoring choices. Repent when you don’t and relax, knowing that you aren’t missing your purpose. Your purpose is to glorify the living God and enjoy Him forever. 

Let’s take an example. Phillip is 22 years old. He just graduated from college and wants to be a missionary to Bangladesh. Does he need to fast and pray for 20 days to confirm the will of the Lord? How would he know if 20 days of fasting is long enough? What if the confirmation of his calling was coming on the 24th day of fasting?

I’m not against fasting. It ought to be a time of honest prayer and searching God’s Word. But you don’t need a whisper from Heaven to make a wise decision, nor should you expect to hear one. People have spiritual experiences all the time that they mistake to be a sign from God. There is an endless supply of subjective experiences that could be used to justify a decision, but you need objective truth on which to stand. You’ll find such rock solid objectivity in the Bible. Take it up and read. Ask questions of those more mature in the faith. Pray for wisdom. 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  - James 1:5

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to move to Bangladesh is Phillip’s. God paves the way or shuts the door in His providence. He need not seek for a sign. Rather, he should seek clarity and wisdom from Scripture to make the best choice. Is he biblically qualified for the task? Can he faithfully handle God’s Word and proclaim Law and Gospel? Is he in a sound church that desires to send him and equip him? All these questions and more would help him to make a wise and biblical choice for God’s glory. He doesn’t have to worry about missing God’s wonderful plan. If the Lord wants Phillip to stay put, He’s able to arrange it. 

But you say, “When God shuts a door, He opens a window.” No, sometimes He leaves you stuck in the same situation indefinitely. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We get to serve Christ in every station. If at the end of your life, no one knows your name but a small circle of people, it won’t matter. What will matter is whether or not you walked in a manner worthy of the Gospel. You don’t need an angelic visitation to equip you for that. His Word informs you and His Spirit empowers you. Be free of the pressure to be significant. If you belong to Christ, you are significant to Him though all the world despise you.

He really does love you and He really does have a wonderful plan for your life, but His definition of wonderful might look more like the New Testament and less like your dreams. His will for you = your sanctification. It may look nothing like you dreamed, but He promises you, that in the end, it will be GOOD. His wonderful plan may involve tragedies and dark nights of the soul. Your last night on earth may be spent in a prison cell, but you will awake in the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Your first glimpse of Immanuel’s Land will more than confirm that YES, His plan was good...so very good. 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”  - Romans 8:28-30

Friends, there are not two classes of Christians. There aren’t those who discover and fulfill their unique purpose and those who don’t. There are only Christians who repent from sin, believe upon Christ, and live holy lives while awaiting their Master’s return. 

So what’s the problem with all of this emphasis on purpose, destiny, and so on? Well, who is the focus in this predicament? YOU! That’s right! You…but as I hope you’ve learned, Christianity isn’t about you. Christianity is about Christ.

You aren’t called to jump through hoops to reach a higher spiritual plane. You aren’t called to try harder. Christ calls His people to poverty of spirit. Despair of your own performance and failures and sins. 

Your first step toward the one true God is deep, profound awareness of your need. Your first step through the narrow gate is a contrite heart. God doesn’t dwell with the prophetic and apostolic elites but with the contrite and lowly. The LORD of Hosts revives the poor in spirit. He exposes sin and then exalts the Savior! His Spirit reveals your miserable condition and then lifts up the Lamb of God Who has fulfilled ALL righteousness and suffered your condemnation! Look and Live! 

Dwell much on Jesus, brothers and sisters, because for every flaw we find in us, we rejoice to find no flaw in Christ. For every failure we see in us, we rejoice to see perfect obedience in Christ. He is our righteousness and He has become our SALVATION!

Tell the “Next Level” Christians to cease striving and to remember the old saying of the beloved, Scottish Presbyterian, 

“For every look at self, take ten looks at CHRIST!” - Robert Murray McCheyne

Then hear the Apostle Paul,

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  - 2 Corinthians 4:6

Beloved, Christ is enough. You don’t have to know what He has in store for your pilgrimage here on earth. Expect trouble. Expect pain. Expect all that this fallen world can throw at you, but expect goodness and mercy to follow you all the days of your life. His loving hand will order your steps and His Word will light your path. Keep walking. You have an infallible Guide. 

Are you carrying the burden that God never gave? If so, put it down. There’s no secret to significance outside of Jesus Christ. If you are trusting in Him and growing in grace, then you ARE living a life of purpose...the purpose for which you were made...to know the living God. And because of the blood of the lamb, you will dwell in the house of the Lord...forever.

Be at peace. 

Further Resources

This is a lot to process, so if you’d like a deeper dive into this topic, please check out the following resources.

“The Dream Destiny Burden: When False Dreams Become Real Nightmares” - by Steve Kozar

“The Radically Normal Life of the Christian” - by Tim Challies

“God Did Not Create You for a Purpose” - by Chris Rosebrough 

“Modern Spirituality and Your Mind” - by Voddie Baucham 

“What Does Sola Scriptura Mean?” - by John MacArthur

“Scripture Vs. Human Experience” - by Phil Johnson

“Hearing from Heaven: How to Know the Voice of God” - by Justin Peters

“Scripture’s Sufficiency for Sanctification” - by Mike Riccardi

[gtunesmiff]

Ravi Zacharias (1946 – 2020)

When Ravi Zacharias was a cricket-loving boy on the streets of India, his mother called him in to meet the local sari-seller-turned-palm reader. “Looking at your future, Ravi Baba, you will not travel far or very much in your life,” he declared. “That’s what the lines on your hand tell me. There is no future for you abroad.” By the time a 37-year-old Zacharias preached, at the invitation of Billy Graham, to the inaugural International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, he was on his way to becoming one of the foremost defenders of Christianity’s intellectual credibility. A year later, he founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), with the mission of “helping the thinker believe and the believer think.” In the time between the sari seller’s prediction and the founding of RZIM, Zacharias had immigrated to Canada, taken the gospel across North America, prayed with military prisoners in Vietnam and ministered to students in a Cambodia on the brink of collapse. He had also undertaken a global preaching trip as a newly licensed minister with The Christian and Missionary Alliance, along with his wife, Margie, and eldest daughter, Sarah. This trip started in England, worked eastwards through Europe and the Middle East and finished on the Pacific Rim; all-in-all that year, Zacharias preached nearly 600 times in over a dozen countries. It was the culmination of a remarkable transformation set in motion when Zacharias, recovering in a Delhi hospital from a suicide attempt at age 17, was read the words of Jesus recorded in the Bible by the apostle John: “Because I live, you will also live.” In response, Zacharias surrendered his life to Christ and offered up a prayer that if he emerged from the hospital, he would leave no stone unturned in his pursuit of truth. Once Zacharias found the truth of the gospel, his passion for sharing it burned bright until the very end. Even as he returned home from the hospital in Texas, where he had been undergoing chemotherapy, Zacharias was sharing the hope of Jesus to the three nurses who tucked him into his transport. Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias was born in Madras, now Chennai, in 1946, in the shadow of the resting place of the apostle Thomas, known to the world as the ��Doubter” but to Zacharias as the “Great Questioner.” Zacharias’s affinity with Thomas meant he was always more interested in the questioner than the question itself. His mother, Isabella, was a teacher. His father, Oscar, who was studying labor relations at the University of Nottingham in England when Zacharias was born, rose through the ranks of the Indian civil service throughout Zacharias’s adolescence. An unremarkable student, Zacharias was more interested in cricket than books, until his encounter with the gospel in that hospital bed. Nevertheless, a bold, radical faith ran in his genes. In the Indian state of Kerala, his paternal great-grandfather and grandfather produced the 20th century’s first Malayalam-English dictionary. This dictionary served as the cornerstone of the first Malayalam translation of the Bible. Further back, Zacharias’s great-great-great-grandmother shocked her Nambudiri family, the highest caste of the Hindu priesthood, by converting to Christianity. With conversion came a new surname, Zacharias, and a new path that started her descendants on a road to the Christian faith. Zacharias saw the Lord’s hand at work in his family’s tapestry and he infused RZIM with the same transgenerational and transcultural heart for the gospel. He created a ministry that transcended his personality, where every speaker, whatever their background, presented the truth in the context of the contemporary. Zacharias believed if you achieved that, your message would always be necessary. Thirty-six years since its establishment, the ministry still bears the name chosen for Zacharias’s ancestor. However, where once there was a single speaker, now there are nearly 100 gifted speakers who on any given night can be found sharing the gospel at events across the globe; where once it was run from Zacharias’s home, now the ministry has a presence in 17 countries on five continents. Zacharias’s passion and urgency to take the gospel to all nations was forged in Vietnam, throughout the summer of ’71. Zacharias had immigrated to Canada in 1966, a year after winning a preaching award at a Youth for Christ congress in Hyderabad. It was there, in Toronto, that Ruth Jeffrey, the veteran missionary to Vietnam, heard him preach. She invited him to her adopted land. That summer, Zacharias—only just 25—found himself flown across the country by helicopter gunship to preach at military bases, in hospitals and in prisons to the Vietcong. Most nights Zacharias and his translator Hien Pham would fall asleep to the sound of gunfire. On one trip across remote land, Zacharias and his travel companions’ car broke down. The lone jeep that passed ignored their roadside waves. They finally cranked the engine to life and set off, only to come across the same jeep a few miles on, overturned and riddled with bullets, all four passengers dead. He later said of this moment, “God will stop our steps when it is not our time, and He will lead us when it is.” Days later, Zacharias and his translator stood at the graves of six missionaries, killed unarmed when the Vietcong stormed their compound. Zacharias knew some of their children. It was that level of trust in God, and the desire to stand beside those who minister in areas of great risk, that is a hallmark of RZIM. Its support for Christian evangelists in places where many ministries fear to tread, including northern Nigeria, Pakistan, South African townships, the Middle East and North Africa, can be traced back to that formative graveside moment. After this formative trip, Zacharias and his new bride, Margie, moved to Deerfield, Illinois, to study for a Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Here the young couple lived two doors down from Zacharias’s classmate and friend William Lane Craig. After graduating, Zacharias taught at the Alliance Theological Seminary in New York and continued to travel the country preaching on weekends. Full-time teaching combined with his extensive travel and itinerant preaching led Zacharias to describe these three years as the toughest in his 48-year marriage to Margie. He felt his job at the seminary was changing him and his preaching far more than he was changing lives with the hope of the gospel. It was at that point that Graham invited Zacharias to speak at his inaugural International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983. Zacharias didn’t realize Graham even knew who he was, let alone knew about his preaching. In front of 3,800 evangelists from 133 countries, Zacharias opened with the line, “My message is a very difficult one….” He went on to tell them that religions, 20th-century cultures and philosophies had formed “vast chasms between the message of Christ and the mind of man.” Even more difficult was his message, which received a mid-talk ovation, about his fear that, “in certain strands of evangelicalism, we sometimes think it is necessary to so humiliate someone of a different worldview that we think unless we destroy everything he holds valuable, we cannot preach to him the gospel of Christ…what I am saying is this, when you are trying to reach someone, please be sensitive to what he holds valuable.” That talk changed Zacharias’s future and arguably the future of apologetics, dealing with the hard questions of origin, meaning, morality and destiny that every worldview must answer. Flying back to the U.S., Zacharias shared his thoughts with Margie. As one colleague has expressed, “He saw the objections and questions of others not as something to be rebuffed, but as a cry of the heart that had to be answered. People weren’t logical problems waiting to be solved; they were people who needed the person of Christ.” No one was reaching out to the thinker, to the questioner. It was on that flight that Zacharias and Margie planted the seed of a ministry intended to meet the thinker where they were, to train cultural evangelist-apologists to reach those opinion makers of society. The seed was watered and nurtured through its early years by the businessman DD Davis, a man who became a father figure to Zacharias. With the establishment of the ministry, the Zacharias family moved south to Atlanta. By now, the family had grown with the addition of a second daughter, Naomi, and a son, Nathan. Atlanta was the city Zacharias would call home for the last 36 years of his life. Meeting the thinker face-to-face was an intrinsic part of Zacharias’s ministry, with post-event Q&A sessions often lasting long into the night. Not to be quelled in the sharing of the gospel, Zacharias also took to the airwaves in the 1980s. Many people, not just in the U.S. but across the world, came to hear the message of Christ for the first time through Zacharias’s radio program, Let My People Think. In weekly half-hour slots, Zacharias explored issues such as the credibility of the Christian message and the Bible, the weakness of modern intellectual movements, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Today, Let My People Think is syndicated to over 2,000 stations in 32 countries and has also been downloaded 15.6 million times as a podcast over the last year. As the ministry grew so did the demands on Zacharias. In 1990, he followed in his father’s footsteps to England. He took a sabbatical at Ridley Hall in Cambridge. It was a time surrounded by family, and where he wrote the first of his 28 books, A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism. It was no coincidence that throughout the rhythm of his itinerant life, it was among his family and Margie, in particular, that his writing was at its most productive. Margie inspired each of Zacharias’s books. With her eagle eye and keen mind, she read the first draft of every manuscript, from The Logic of God, which was this year awarded the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Christian Book Award in the category of Bible study, and his latest work, Seeing Jesus from the East, co-authored with colleague Abdu Murray. Others among that list include the ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award winner, Can Man Live Without God?, and Christian bestsellers, Jesus Among Other Gods and The Grand Weaver. Zacharias’s books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into over a dozen languages. Zacharias’s desire to train evangelists undergirded with apologetics, in order to engage with culture shapers, had been happening informally over the years but finally became formal in 2004. It was a momentous year for Zacharias and the ministry with the establishment of OCCA, the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics; the launch of Wellspring International; and Zacharias’s appearance at the United Nations Annual International Prayer Breakfast. OCCA was founded with the help of Professor Alister McGrath, the RZIM team and the staff at Wycliffe Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of Oxford University, where Zacharias was an honorary Senior Research Fellow between 2007 and 2015. Over his lifetime Zacharias would receive 10 honorary doctorates in recognition of his public commitment to Christian thought, including one from the National University of San Marcos, the oldest established university in the Americas. Over the years, OCCA has trained over 400 students from 50 countries who have gone on to carry the gospel in many arenas across the world. Some have continued to follow an explicit calling as evangelists and apologists in Christian settings, and many others have gone on to take up roles in each of the spheres of influence Zacharias always dreamed of reaching: the arts, academia, business, media and politics. In 2017, another apologetics training facility, the Zacharias Institute, was established at the ministry’s headquarters in Atlanta, to continue the work of equipping all who desire to effectively share the gospel and answer the common objections to Christianity with gentleness and respect. In 2014, the same heart lay behind the creation of the RZIM Academy, an online apologetics training curriculum. Across 140 countries, the Academy’s courses have been accessed by thousands in multiple languages. In the same year OCCA was founded, Zacharias launched Wellspring International, the humanitarian division of the ministry. Wellspring International was shaped by the memory of his mother’s heart to work with the destitute and is led by his daughter Naomi. Founded on the principle that love is the most powerful apologetic, it exists to come alongside local partners that meet critical needs of vulnerable women and children around the world. Zacharias’s appearance at the U.N. in 2004 was the second of four that he made in the 21st century and represented his increasing impact in the arena of global leadership. He had first made his mark as the Cold War was coming to an end. His internationalist outlook and ease among his fellow man, whether Soviet military leader or precocious Ivy League undergraduate, opened doors that had been closed for many years. One such military leader was General Yuri Kirshin, who in 1992 paved the way for Zacharias to speak at the Lenin Military Academy in Moscow. Zacharias saw the cost of enforced atheism in the Soviet Union; the abandonment of religion had created the illusion of power and the reality of self-destruction. A year later, Zacharias traveled to Colombia, where he spoke to members of the judiciary on the necessity of a moral framework to make sense of the incoherent worldview that had taken hold in the South American nation. Zacharias’s standing on the world stage spanned the continents and the decades. In January 2020, as part of his final foreign trip, he was invited by eight division world champion boxer and Philippines Senator Manny Pacquiao to speak at the National Bible Day Prayer Breakfast in Manila. It was an invitation that followed Zacharias’s November 2019 appearance at The National Theatre in Abu Dhabi as part of the United Arab Emirates’ Year of Tolerance. In 1992, Zacharias’s apologetics ministry expanded from the political arena to academia with the launching of the first ever Veritas Forum, hosted on the campus of Harvard University. Zacharias was asked to be the keynote speaker at the inaugural event. The lectures Zacharias delivered that weekend would form the basis of the best-selling book, Can Man Live Without God?, and would open up opportunities to speak at university campuses across the world. The invitations that followed exposed Zacharias to the intense longing of young people for meaning and identity. Twenty-eight years after that first Veritas Forum event, in what would prove to be his last speaking engagement, Zacharias spoke to a crowd of over 7,000 at the University of Miami’s Watsco Center on the subject of “Does God Exist?” It is a question also asked behind the walls of Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. Zacharias had prayed with prisoners of war all those years ago in Vietnam but walking through Death Row left an even deeper impression. Zacharias believed the gospel shined with grace and power, especially in the darkest places, and praying with those on Death Row “makes it impossible to block the tears.” It was his third visit to Angola and, such is his deep connection, the inmates have made Zacharias the coffin in which he will be buried. As he writes in Seeing Jesus from the East, “These prisoners know that this world is not their home and that no coffin could ever be their final destination. Jesus assured us of that.” In November last year, a few months after his last visit to Angola, Zacharias stepped down as President of RZIM to focus on his worldwide speaking commitments and writing projects. He passed the leadership to his daughter Sarah Davis as Global CEO and long-time colleague Michael Ramsden as President. Davis had served as the ministry’s Global Executive Director since 2011, while Ramsden had established the European wing of the ministry in Oxford in 1997. It was there in 2018, Zacharias told the story of standing with his successor in front of Lazarus’s grave in Cyprus. The stone simply reads, “Lazarus, four days dead, friend of Christ.” Zacharias turned to Ramsden and said if he was remembered as “a friend of Christ, that would be all I want.” =====|||=====

Ravi Zacharias, who died of cancer on May 19, 2020, at age 74, is survived by Margie, his wife of 48-years; his three children: Sarah, the Global CEO of RZIM, Naomi, Director of Wellspring International, and  Nathan, RZIM’s Creative Director for Media; and five grandchildren. =====|||=====

By Matthew Fearon, RZIM UK content manager and former journalist with The Sunday Times of London

Margie and the Zacharias family have asked that in lieu of flowers gifts be made to the ongoing work of RZIM. Ravi’s heart was people.

His passion and life’s work centered on helping people understand the beauty of the gospel message of salvation. 

Our prayer is that, at his passing, more people will come to know the saving grace found in Jesus through Ravi’s legacy and the global team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

[qandnoablog]

Help (Marvel Imagine)

Title: Discovered

Pairing: [In Progress, Open to ideas]

Warnings: Based on the movie - Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: Civil War

Part: 6, [5], [4], [3], [2], [1]

Key: Y/N - Your Name

Word Count: 3,845

Summary: After returning home, [Y/N] wants nothing more than just her normal life back. Still, that’s now impossible since she has stepped foot into the world of superheroes. Will the average life style she so longed for never be within reach again?

Note From Author: There might have been some confusion about why I made it 28 years for [Y/N] on Sakaar. Since the science of it wasn’t really solid and I didn’t want to just spout a random number, I decided to do the math with Loki’s two weeks to Thor’s one day (I tried seconds but the resulting number was too big...). That’s how I ended up with 28! I don’t know if anyone really cared about where I got that number, but if you were curious, that’s how I got it :) Again, thanks for reading my works!

Part 6 - Help

It had been a few weeks since [Y/N] had returned to Earth. What’s more was that it had only been a week since she had been gone, which was not what she had heard from both Loki and Thor back on Sakaar.

Time works real different around these parts. On any other world, I’d be like uh… millions of years old. But here on Sakaar…

The Grandmaster’s words echoed in her head as she thought back to the many years on that twisted planet. Somehow, the wormhole that she was sucked up in had dropped her off on Earth two years before the fated Ragnarok that would occur on Asgard. When she discovered this, she tried to get word out to Thor but he hadn’t been to Earth since leaving after their battle against Ultron.

Perhaps she should have been thankful. Before Agent Hill had shipped her off to New York to prepare to fight alongside the other Avengers, [Y/N] had crafted up an excuse to go on a trip with her partners from school for a project that would take about a week or two. Though her family protested, S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided excellent material for her lie and they eventually caved in. When she discovered that it wasn’t two years but just a few days since her disappearance, her family’s laid-back reaction was somehow more acceptable.

Of course, her family was relieved to have her back, though they were surprised at the state she returned in. Still, they didn’t question the timing of her arrival and merely only bombarded her about the injuries she had on her hands. Her mother continuously nagged over the few days of her return, both worrying about the wound and also scolding her for not being safe.

After a few check-ups and lies on how she received those injuries, her hands were patched up nicely. They were torn up too many times for them to go completely back to normal, but the scars on her palms didn’t really bother her all that much. In fact, they reminded her of the sacrifices she made and the mistakes she needed to correct. Her powers were not invincible and the results on her hands were proof of that.

In just a few days, she was able to go back to campus and continue her bachelor’s degree. It was a lot of work to catch up on, but the arrangements S.H.I.E.L.D. had made before she left to fight Ultron helped her greatly. In just a few more months, she would be able to graduate without any issues. But there was always that nagging feeling within her, telling her that normal was a luxury that wouldn’t last forever.

Whatever, [Y/N] sighed to herself as she settled back into her comfortable bed, throwing her gloved hands out on each side. I’m back home and that’s all that matters.

~

“Eleven Wakandans were among those killed,” the news woman reported as the TV hummed to life, “during a confrontation between the-”

“What are you watching?” [Y/N] interrupted, setting down her cup of water and settling beside her father on the couch.

“Shh,” he hushed, “I’m trying to listen.”

“...Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred,” the blond woman continued.

“Nigeria? Wakandans?” [Y/N] repeated, a bit confused, “What’s going on?”

“Just listen,” her father whispered, his eyes glued to the screen.

“...Not only because of the actions of criminals,” the man on the screen said, his title reading King T’chaka of Wakanda, “but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all.”

Another moral dilemma story? She thought to herself as she took a sip of water.

“Change the channel, Dad.” [Y/N] sighed as she reached for the remote. “This is making me depressed.”

“All the other channels are showing what went down in Nigeria too,” he replied as he snatched the controls away from her and flipped to another news channel.

“What legal authority,” a different reporter, this time male, droned on, “does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeria?”

She nearly choked on the water that had made its way halfway down her throat. Now that got her attention. She knew that name. She knew that girl. But before she could confirm it, the television blinked off.

“Hey!” she yelled as she turned to her father. He raised his hands up, showing no signs of the remote, as his eyes shifted to the one behind him.

“It’s time to eat,” her mother warned as she waved the controls over their heads. “No TV. Just because you graduated college does not mean you get to laze about the house, [Y/N].”

[Y/N] pouted slightly but yielded to her mother as she got up from her seat and made her way over to the dining room table. Still, her mind drifted back to the words she heard on both channels and couldn’t help but think back to the girl they spoke of.

Wanda… Her eyes watered when she remembered the news of her twin. Though [Y/N] hadn’t known him for long, she couldn’t help but tear up when she heard what had befallen him. It was a noble sacrifice, but the tragedy of it couldn’t have been easily erased. Especially not for Wanda, who only ever had her brother. I hope everything’s alright…

~

A few days had passed since then. All sorts of news were being discussed both at home and around the neighborhood. [Y/N] had no idea who the Winter Soldier was but if Captain America was on the run for helping him, he must have been a friend more than an enemy. She had known Steve for longer than she had known Stark and after battling alongside him, she knew she could whole-heartedly trust him. However, that didn’t mean she would readily jump into another one of their fights.

“We need your help,” a familiar voice rang on the other line the moment she answered her phone.

Oh no, not this again…

“Stop right there, mister,” [Y/N] scowled as she looked down at the unknown number displaying on the screen. “How’d you get my number?”

“It wasn’t that hard,” the man chuckled, “but that’s not important right now. You’ve heard about Steve, right?”

“Aren’t you retired?” she asked, countering his question with one of her own.

“Cap needed my help,” Clint replied with no hesitation in his voice, and she could almost see him shrugging from wherever he had called. “And he’s gonna need yours as well.”

“How’d you even know I was back?” [Y/N] questioned, knowing that many had presumed her dead or missing. No one from the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. had come looking for her so she thought she was in the clear. Maybe that was just her own naïve way of thinking after coming back to Earth.

“I’ll explain everything later but right now,” he began as his voice on the phone overlapped with another not too far from her. She quickly looked up and glanced around, finally spotting the man with the shades that waved to her in the driver’s seat of the black, sleek car. “Hop in.”

“Very subtle,” [Y/N] groaned as she hung up and ran over to where he had parked. She threw open the passenger doors and settled into her seat, making sure to buckle up just as he pulled away from the curb. “You are so cocky, you know that Clint?”

“Good to see you again, too, [Y/N].” He smiled, “You and I have a bit of talking to do along the way to the Avengers Tower.”

“Avengers Tower? I thought we were going to meet Steve,” she questioned, gripping her seat belt tighter as Clint pressed down on the accelerator.

“Yeah, but we gotta make a few stops,” he answered, “But first… What’s with the gloves?”

~

“Oh, Stark is not going to like this,” [Y/N] whispered as Clint hurtled another fiery arrow towards the burning trees.

“Relax,” Clint grinned as he sheathed his bow and began to sneak into the tower. “He’s rich. He’ll just plant more.”

Just as he had predicted, Vision phased through the walls of the compound and went off to inspect the damage. Wanda was left alone in the kitchen, looking out the window at the fire they had caused.

Suddenly, she turned around and laced the nearest knife with her powers, hurtling it towards Clint. Reacting on instinct, [Y/N] sent out her own abilities and knocked the blade off its trajectory, the force propelling it upwards and embedding itself deep into the ceiling.

“Guess we shoulda knocked,” Clint said, glancing up at the handle of the knife. It was the only thing that was visible, the metal digging deep into the roof. He looked over at [Y/N] and she sheepishly shrugged in response. Oops…

“Oh, my God!” Wanda sighed, walking over to the two, “Clint? And [Y/N]?!” She gave [Y/N] a quick hug, smiling with relief at discovering her to be alive. “What are you both doing here?”

“Disappointing my kids,” Clint replied as he walked past her and shot out two strategically placed arrows. Why he did that would probably have something to do with Vision. “I’m supposed to go water skiing.”

“That would be more fun than setting trees on fire and sneaking into the Avengers Tower,” [Y/N] mumbled, a bit jet lagged from the flight.

“Cap needs our help,” Clint continued, ignoring [Y/N]’s grumbles, as he grabbed both their hands and walked towards the exit.

“Clint!” Vision called, phasing through the wall just before they could take any more steps. “You should not be here.”

They paused and he slowly turned back to the artificial man who had stopped them in their tracks. [Y/N] groaned louder as she faced Vision and got ready to either fight or shield them from whatever attack was to come.

“Really?” Clint asked sarcastically, “I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to-”

“Please consider the consequences of your actions.” Vision interrupted as he slowly made his way towards the group, making [Y/N] rather nervous, when Clint looked both ways before answering.

“Okay, they’re considered.”

As if on cue, Vision curled in pain as electricity shot out from the arrows and paralyzed him from stepping any further. The static crackled in the air, making the hairs on [Y/N]’s arms stand on end. She rubbed them down, uncomfortable by the unstable trap, and turned away while Clint motioned Wanda to follow as he jogged towards the door.

The two stopped advancing when they noticed their party of three was now back down to two.

“It’s this way.” Clint pointed out.

“I’ve caused enough problems.” Wanda simply replied. She looked down at the floor, clearly uncomfortable with the news of her and the people's fear of her power. [Y/N] thought back to the Hulk, who also felt the same about Earth as Wanda now did, but she couldn’t quite phrase the words she wished to convey to console her friend. Thankfully, Barton beat her to the punch.

“You gotta help me, Wanda.” He began, now directly in front of her, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Look, you wanna mope, you can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass.”

“Shit!” [Y/N] cursed, getting the others’ attention, just in time for them to see Vision blast out a ray of energy at one of the arrows that trapped him in place. The metal shattered and the volts of electricity ceased, allowing Vision to advance towards the three once more.

The artificial man took another step forward just as Clint pushed Wanda to the side and drew his bow. Another arm reached back and grabbed an arrow from his quiver, but Vision was already too close. The arrow phased through him as he pushed Clint back with inhuman strength.

The skilled ex-agent regained his footing as he drew out a weapon and mumbled, “I knew I should’ve stretched,” just before he got up and swung the rod at Vision. The weapon, like the arrow, phased through the man and Clint used his other arm and punched. It was easily blocked and all [Y/N] could do was drape Hawkeye with a layer of her power, protecting him from most of the damage Vision threw his way. When Clint foolishly tried to hit the red man with his bare fists, rather than phasing through him this time, his hand crashed against Vision’s face, which hardened against the oncoming blows. Thankfully, the protective shell [Y/N] wrapped around him prevented his knuckles from bruising, or even breaking, against the hardened flesh of the android.

Struggling against Vision seemed futile as he got behind Hawkeye and pinned him with his arm tightly wrapped around his neck. Vision’s artificial strength was just too much for a human and even [Y/N] knew her powers would lack the force it needed to even hinder him.

“Clint, you can’t overpower me,” the Vision stated, his grip tightening.

“I know I can’t,” Clint strained, “But she can.”

Vision and [Y/N] turned to Wanda who readied her powers in the palms of her hands. The red glow of her abilities twisted and turned as she drew closer to the two fighting.

“Vision, that’s enough. Let him go,” Wanda warned. “I’m leaving.”

“I can’t let you.” With his words, she pushed out her power and took control of the stone imbedded in the Vision’s head. His body involuntarily turned transparent as Clint phased through his intangible body.

“I’m sorry,” Wanda apologized as she drew her hands together, red energy twisting around the artificial man as he unwillingly crumpled to the floor, straining against her powers. The ground below him cracked under the weight of it all and [Y/N] held her breath at their struggle.

“If you do this,” Vision began, still grappling against the force of Wanda’s abilities, “they will never stop being afraid of you.”

“I can’t control their fear,” She replied, tears glistening in her eyes, “only my own.” And with one last push, the ground below Vision caved and he hurtled down floor after floor, being pushed further and further into the earth.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” [Y/N] teased, letting out a sigh of relief now that Vision was unable to stop them from leaving.

“Come on.” Clint huffed, trying to catch his breath from almost being knocked out from the choke hold, “We got one more stop.”

“One more?” [Y/N] repeated, feeling rather groggy from the lack of sleep. “Fine… I’m sleeping in the back until then…” And with that, the trio left the Avengers Tower and towards the dreaded battle that lay ahead.

~

[Y/N] awoke to the faint sound of voices outside the white van Clint had driven to pick up a man named Scott Lang, who also went by Ant-Man. She grumbled, tiredly massaging her face, as she sat up and peaked over the seat that divided her and the new recruit.

“What’s going on?” She asked, but was only replied with noises rather than words. He was no help, since he was more sleepy than [Y/N] was. She sighed and glanced out the tinted window, trying to get a feel for where they were. It appeared to be some sort of parking structure.

“How about our other recruit?” she heard a familiar voice ask, making her perk up slightly and rub out the sleep from her eyes. [Y/N] frowned at the lack of windows in the back of the van but rather than focus on that, she tuned in on the chatter that was going on right outside.

“We have two,” Clint answered and she could almost hear the mischievous smile that was plastered on his face. “The new guy’s rarin’ to go,” Clint continued as she felt the van door open, letting more light in that stung [Y/N]’s dry eyes. “Had to put a little coffee in him, but…” the loud sound of the door locking into place startled Scott awake. “He should be good.”

“What time zone is this?” Scott was still half-asleep as he stumbled out of the van, not noticing who exactly was in front of him. It was then that he looked up and his mouth gaped open.

“Come on,” Clint prompted. “Come on.”

As Ant-Man and Captain America greeted one another, [Y/N] rested her head on the back of the seat in front of her and motioned for Clint and Wanda’s attention.

“Who’s that guy next to Steve and the other stoic guy behind the blue car?” [Y/N] whispered, trying not to be rude. The last time she didn’t know who a superhero was, the shocked look on their faces was quite disheartening. She didn’t want to make that mistake again.

Wanda explained who they were, Clint adding in some snarky details that the other two smiled at, and filled [Y/N] in on the whole team. The Falcon and the infamous Winter Soldier. She learned a bit more about Bucky while on the ride with both Wanda and Scott. The information almost made her bawl like a child in the back of the car, but she held in her tears and nodded along to what the two had been saying during the trip.

[Y/N] peaked over at the Winter Soldier again and took in everything about this man. On the outside, his size resembled the Captain’s. The next thing she noticed was the metal arm that seem to almost glisten menacingly under the light of the sun. If that was all she accounted for, she would have avoided the man with all her power, but that wasn’t what stood out to her. The look in his eyes as he quietly observed his best friend’s interaction made [Y/N] feel a pang of sadness deep in her heart. They looked happy and yet lonely, as though he were proud to see his friend surrounded by good people while also feeling sad to no longer be a part of it. Or perhaps he even blamed himself for the situation the Captain now faced…

“Captain America!” Scott exclaimed, snapping [Y/N] out of her thoughts. He turned back to the group near the van with a fanboy smile on his face. “I know you too. You’re great!” Scott added to not leave Wanda out. “I don’t really know you, but I’m sure you’re great too!” He said, trying to add [Y/N] into the loop as well. Before anyone could question who he was referring to, Ant-Man turned back to the Captain and patted his broad shoulders.

“Jeez,” he stated, though it didn’t make it any less awkward, and continued to ramble on. “Ah, look. I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so thinks for thanking of me.”

[Y/N] stifled a laugh as he mixed up the words he wanted to convey to his hero. It was like watching a child getting starstruck when meeting his favorite celebrity!

“Who’s in the back?” Wilson interrupted, noticing movement within the van.

“Ah, I almost forgot,” Clint answered as he held out a hand for [Y/N] to take. “Let me introduce you to a fellow Avenger.”

“So I’m an Avenger now?” [Y/N] laughed as she took his hand and slowly made her way out of the van.

“Well, you’re definitely not a kid anymore.” He chuckled.

“Twenty-two is not that old.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he grinned, hinting at her actual age from her life back on Sakaar. “Fifty is-” Before he could finish, [Y/N] lightly punched his arm, her gloves absorbing the slight impact. He was the only one who had heard the whole story and knew what she had been through. He was also the only one who knew how old she really was.

“Shut up, old man!”

“Hey! I’m five years younger than you!”

Everyone else just stared at the two, unsure of what was going on, when [Y/N] heard someone call out her name.

“[Y/N].”

Steve breathed out as he stepped over to her.

“Captain,” she replied, saluting playfully as her eyes watered from all the years she had missed her dear friend. He was one of the first Avengers she had ever gotten to know and the one who had helped her out the most.

Before she could extend out her hand in greeting, however, he enveloped her in a warm hug. “Thank God, you’re alive!”

She was surprised by the sudden embrace, but she smiled at the familiar feeling. [Y/N] savored the super soldier’s warmth before recalling a distant memory. Her genuine smile turning to a mischievous grin as she patted his head just like he had done for her when she had thrown her arms around him way back after the attack in New York [Author’s note: Part 1 - Discovered].

“I’m glad to see you well,” she said while mimicking the awkward smile he had given her all those years ago. His chuckling rumbled throughout his body, reaching her just before they pulled apart.

“Where have you been?” he questioned. “Natasha and I looked everywhere for you when you disappeared.”

“Sorry, there’s not really much reception on an alien planet,” [Y/N] shrugged.

“That’s a long story that we don’t have time for,” Clint interrupted before Steve could question her any further, giving a firm slap to the Captain’s back to bring him back to reality.

“Right,” Steve agreed and looked to both [Y/N] and Scott, “They tell you what we’re up against?”

“Something about some psycho-assassins?” Scott answered, though it seemed more like a question.

“I got the whole story since Clint picked me up first,” [Y/N] replied with a playful thumbs up and an understanding smile as she looked both at Steve and Bucky. He was surprised at being noticed but returned her smile with one of his own.

“Then you know we’re outside the law on this one. So if you both come with us, you’re a wanted man.”

“Yeah, well, what else is new?” Scott sighed and nodded his head to the Captain’s words.

“We should get moving,” Bucky finally called over, his arm leisurely resting on the roof of their small, blue car.

“We got a chopper lined up,” Clint informed just when a warning blared in the speakers above.

“What? I don’t understand what they’re saying,” [Y/N] asked when she heard the foreign language.

“They’re evacuating the airport,” Bucky replied, answering her question.

“Stark.” Steve sighed. With that he looked to everyone with seriousness edging his features. “Suit up.”

[PART 7]

Tags: @themeanestlittlewitch @stressedandbandobessed7771

#marvel imagine #marvel #discovered #avenger #mutant!reader #avenger!reader #help #captain america #steve rogers #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #vision #clint barton #hawkeye #scott lang #ant-man #falcon #sam wilson #james buchanan barnes #bucky #winter soldier #captain america civil war #fanfics #myfanfic

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/maduro-1-abrams-0/

Maduro 1: Abrams 0: but this match is far from over…

[This analysis was written for the Unz Review]

The standoff between Venezuela and the AngloZionist Empire last week-end has clearly ended in what can only be called a total defeat for Elliott Abrams.  While we will never know what was initially planned by the demented minds of the Neocons, what we do know is that nothing critical happened: no invasion, not even any major false flag operation.  The most remarkable facet of the standoff is how little effect all the AngloZionist propaganda has had inside Venezuela. There were clashes, including some rather violent ones, across the border, but nothing much happened in the rest of the country.  Furthermore, while a few senior officers and a few soldiers did commit treason and joined forces with the enemy, the overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan military remained faithful to the Constitution.  Finally, it appears that Maduro and his ministers were successful in devising a strategy combining roadblocks, a concert on the Venezuelan side, and the minimal but effective use of riot police to keep the border closed.  Most remarkably, “unidentified snipers” did not appear to shoot at both sides (a favorite tactic of the Empire to justify its interventions).  I give the credit for this to whatever Venezuelan (or allied) units were in charge of counter-sniper operations along the border.

Maduro wins the first round

Outside Venezuela this first confrontation has also been a defeat for the Empire.  Not only did most countries worldwide not recognize the AngloZionist puppet, but the level of protest and opposition to what appeared to be the preparations for a possible invasion (or, at least, a military operation of some kind) was remarkably high, while the legacy corporate Ziomedia did what it always does (that is whatever the Empire wants it to do), the Internet and the blogosphere were overwhelmingly opposed to a direct US intervention.  This situation also created a great deal of internal political tensions in various Latin American countries whose public opinion remains strongly opposed to any form of US imperial control over Latin America.

In this respect, the situation with Brazil is particularly interesting. While the Brazilian government fully backed the US coup attempt, the Brazilian military was most uncomfortable with this.  My contacts in Brazil had correctly predicted that the Brazilian military would refuse to attack Venezuela and, eventually, the Brazilians even issued a statement to that effect.

Alas, there are still plenty of US puppet regimes in Latin America to mindlessly do whatever Uncle Shmuel wants them to (Colombia would be the worst offender, of course, but there are others).  But that is not the main problem here.

The main problem is that the Neocons cannot accept defeat and that they are likely to do what they always do, double down and make a bad situation even worse.  The head of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, has warned that the US has deployed special forces in Colombia and Puerto Rico in preparation for a possible invasion.  Uncharacteristically, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made intelligence information public, which described in some detail what kind of plans the Empire and its allies had, even before this past week-end’s confrontation.  See for yourself:

In fact, the leaders of the Empire and their puppets are not making any secrets about their determination to overthrow the constitutional government and replace it with the kind of comprador regime the US already imposed in Colombia.  Pompeo, Abrams and Pence have been particularly hysterical in their threats, but the entire “Lima Group” is still at it:

As for the Russian UN Ambassador, he was very clear on what Russia expects to happen next:

The Neocons are not even content to threaten Venezuela, and John Bolton could not help himself and publicly threatened Nicaragua as being next in line for a US-sponsored regime change.  He even spoke of a “Troika of Tyranny” reminiscent of the famous “Axis of Evil“.

This is all hardly surprising: US politicians always resort to infantile comic-book kind of language when they want to give their threats a special gravitas.  Next we will be told that Maduro is a “New Hitler” and that he is “genociding his own people”, possibly with chemical weapons (“highly likely”, no doubt!).  If not that, then Maduro will be distributing Viagra to his forces to help them rape more women.   To those puzzled by the fact that presumably adult politicians use the kind of language one could find in grade school, I can only say that this just reflects the state of the political discourse in the USA, which has been dumbed-down to an incredibly low level.  Be careful, however, because while US politicians are rather comical in their infantile, ignorant, illiteracy, and while they have an almost perfect record of embarrassing failures, the past decades have also shown that they are quite capable of murderous rampages (in Iraq alone the US invasion resulted in over one million dead Iraqi civilians) or of wrecking even a very prosperous country (which Libya under Muammar Gaddafi definitely was).

Next, the Empire will probably strike-back

There is a small chance that Abrams & Co. will conclude that the situation in Venezuela is a total mess and that the Empire cannot capitalize on it in the short to middle term.  This is possible, yes, but also highly unlikely.

He is back…

The truth is that Mr MAGA and his Neocon puppet-masters have failed, at least so far, at absolutely everything they tried. And if taking on China, Russia, Iran or even Syria is no easy task, Venezuela is by far the most fragile country in what could be called the “Resistance countries”: Venezuela is far away from it’s allies (except Cuba), it is surrounded by more or less hostile countries (especially Colombia), it’s economy is crippled by US sanctions and sabotage and its armed forces are dwarfed by the immense firepower the Empire has available in the region.  Add to this the truly demonic mindset of Neocons like Abrams and the future for Venezuela looks bleak.

The good news is that the Colombians and the rest of the Lima Group “friends of Venezuela” probably don’t have the military power to take on Venezuela by themselves.  The preferred option for the USA would be to use the Colombians like the KLA was used in Kosovo or how al-Qaeda (and derivatives) were used against Syria: as boots on the ground while the US provides airpower, electronic warfare capabilities, intelligence, bomb and missile strikes, etc. The US also has immense naval capabilities which could be used to assist (and, of course, direct) any military operations against Venezuela (I highly recommend this analysis by my friend Nat South who describes in some detail the US naval capabilities and operations in the region).

My gut feeling is that this approach will not work.  As is often the case, the US has all sorts of impressive capabilities except for the main one: a military force capable of providing the boots on the ground (as opposed to a non-US proxy).  The problem for the US military would not be so much getting in, as staying inside and getting something done before leaving – what the US called an “exit strategy”.  And here, there are really no good options for the US.

It is therefore far more likely that the US will use the weapon which it truly masters better than anybody else on earth: corruption.

There is big money, really big money, all around the Venezuelan crisis: not only oil money, but also drug money.  And there are a lot of truly evil and corrupt people involved in this struggle who will use that corruption-weapon with devastating effect against the constitutionally elected government.  And, just to make things worse, Venezuela is already devastated by corruption. Still, there are quite a few factors which might well save Venezuela from being reconquered by the Empire.

First, while US Neocons are too arrogant to bother with anybody’s opinion except their own, and while the various US agencies primarily talk with the immensely wealthy rulers of Colombia and the rest of Latin America, it does appear that a strong majority of Venezuelans support their elected government.  Furthermore, US leaders simply don’t understand how hated the “Yankees” are in Latin America (at least among the masses, not the comprador elites) and how fantastically offensive the appointment of a felon like Elliott Abrams as Envoy to Venezuela is to the vast majority of the people of this continent.

Second, Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro did empower, for the very first time, the masses of the Venezuelan people, especially those who lived in abject poverty when Venezuela was still a US colony.  These people are under no illusion about what a Guaido regime would mean to them.  And while most of the supporters of Chavez and Maduro are not influential or wealthy, there are a lot of them and they will probably fight to prevent a complete reversal of all the achievements of the Bolivarian revolution.

Third, Latin America might well be changing, just like the Middle-East did.  Remember how, for years, the Israelis could attack their neighbors with quasi-total impunity and how poorly the Arab armies performed?  That suddenly changed when Hezbollah proved to the entire region and even the world, that the “Axis of Kindness” (USA, Israel, KSA) could be successfully defeated, even by a comparatively tiny resistance with no air force, no navy and very little armor.  As I never cease to repeat – wars are not won by firepower, but by willpower.  Oh sure, firepower helps, especially when you can fire from far away with no risk to yourself and your victim cannot fire back, but as soon as big firepower is met by big willpower the former rapidly fails.  There is a very real possibility that Venezuela might do for Latin America what the Ukraine did for Russia: act as a surprisingly effective “vaccine” against the AngloZionist propaganda.  An indigenous leader like Evo Morales, who has declared his full and total support for the elected government of Maduro, is an inspiration to the people of Latin America far beyond the borders of Bolivia.  The Russian ambassador to the UN got it right: there are already other leaders after Maduro which the AngloZionists want to eliminate and replace by a pliable puppet à la Guaido or Duque Márquez.  At the end of the day, this is a typical dialectical problem: the more brutal and overt the US aggression against Latin America is, the more successful coups or even invasions the US organizes, the stronger the anti-Yankee feelings generated among the people of the continent.  Think of it this way: the US has already terminally alienated the people of China, Russia and Iran, along with most of the Arab and Muslim world, and thanks to that alienation, the leaders of China, Russia and Iran have enjoyed the support of their people in their struggle against the AngloZionist Empire.  Could something very similar not already be happening in Latin America?

Conclusion: focus on the right question

To defeat the Empire’s plans for Venezuela, it is crucial that we all keep hammering over and over again: the choice is not between Maduro or Guiado, the choice is not between poverty under the Chavistas and prosperity under the AngloZionists.  This is how the agents of the Empire (whether paid or simply stupid) want to frame the discussions.  The real issue at stake here is the rule of law.  The rule of law inside Venezuela, of course, and the rule of law internationally.

First year law students are often taught that the purpose of the law is not “justice” per se, but to provide a mechanism to solve disputes.  That mechanism is, admittedly, a highly imperfect one, but it is understood by civilized people as being preferable to the alternative.  The alternative, by the way, is what happens in every time a so-called “humanitarian intervention” is launched: a humanitarian disaster.

Yet, this is the typical modus operandi of the Neocons (and of all imperialists, really). First, chose a country for destabilization, then use your control of the international financial markets and trade to trigger an economic crisis; then, send your “democracy promoting” spooks and agents of influence to foment protests or, even better, violent disorders; then send some “unidentified snipers” if the legitimate government does not use enough violence to quell the protests, then denounce the leader you want replaced as  “monster” “animal” or even “new Hitler” and threaten to overthrow him.  After that, declare urbi et orbi that it is “highly likely” that the “new Hitler” will massacre his own people, add a false flag op if needed, and then declare a “coalition of the willing” composed of “friends” of the country you want to occupy who will take action due to the “ineffectiveness of the US”, ditch any thoughts about international law and only speak of “rules-based order“.  Check out how Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov explains the meaning of this substitution:

When you listen to the supporters of Guaido you will always hear them talking about how terrible Maduro is, how horrible the economic situation of Venezuela really is, how corrupt the members of the regime are, etc. etc. etc.  This is all a smokescreen.  Even the accusation that the last elections were stolen by Maduro is just another smokescreen.  Why?  Because even if Maduro did steal the election, Guaido did not have the right to declare himself President, Trump had no right to recognize him as such, and the Empire had no business threatening a military intervention or even a violation of the sovereign border of Venezuela under the ridiculous pretext of bringing in humanitarian aid while, at the same time, keeping the country under draconian (and fully illegal) sanctions.  The solution to a crisis brought about by a violation of law cannot be a wholesale abandonment of the very core principles of law, but such a solution can only be a restoration of law and order by legal means.  Kinda obvious, but so many seem to forget this, that it is worth repeating.  And here, I will again post a graphic which really says it all:

Which elections are legitimate and which are not?

The most powerful tools in the arsenal of the Empire are not it’s nuclear forces or its bloated, if generally ineffective, armed forces.  The most powerful tool in the Empire’s arsenal is its ability to frame the discussion, to set what is focused upon and what is obfuscated.  The Empire’s legacy corporate Ziomedia even dictates what words should or should not be used in a discussion (example: never speak of “illegal aggression” but speak of “humanitarian intervention”).

This is why we must speak of “true sovereignty“, of “international law“, of “constitutional procedures” and of “aggression” and “threat of aggression” as war crimes.  We need to continue to demand that basic fundamental principles of civilized societies (such as the principle of “innocent until proven guilty”) be upheld by governments and by the media.  We need to deny the rulers of the Empire the right to declare that they have the right to completely ignore the most sacred principles of the post-WWII international order.  We need to continue to insist that a just international order can only be a multi-polar one; that a single World Hegemon can never deliver justice and that there shall be no peace if there is no justice.  Finally, we need to ceaselessly demand that each country and each nation live according to its own traditions and beliefs and reject the notion that a single political model must, or even can, be applied universally.

These are all principles which the Neocons hate and which they would love to bundle together under a single all encompassing concept, like George Orwell’s “crimethink“.  Mostly, the Neocons like to use the “anti-Semite” and “anti-Semitic” to dismiss these principles, and when that fails, then “terrorist” is always available for use.  Don’t let them do that: every time they try that trick, immediately denounce it for what it is and continue focusing on what really matters.  If we can force the Neocons to deal with these issues we win.  It is really that simple.

It is impossible for me to guess how this conflict will play itself out.  Will the brazen arrogance of “the Yankees” be enough to seriously red-pill the people of Venezuela and the rest of Latin America?  Maybe.  My hope and my gut feeling is that it might.

The Saker

#Venezuela

[mastcomm]

New U.S. Travel Ban Shuts Door on Africa’s Biggest Economy, Nigeria

The newlyweds had already been apart for half their yearlong marriage. Miriam Nwegbe was in Nigeria. Her husband was in Baltimore, and until she could join him, everything was on hold: finding a home together, trying for their first baby, becoming an American family.

Then, on Friday, their lives were thrown into disarray by the expansion of President Trump’s ban on immigration to include six new countries, including four in Africa. Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, was one of them.

“America has killed me,” Ms. Nwegbe’s husband, Ikenna, an optometrist, texted her when he heard. “We are finished.”

A year after the Trump administration announced that a major pillar of its new strategy for Africa was to counter the growing influence of China and Russia by expanding economic ties to the continent, it slammed the door shut on Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy.

The travel restrictions also apply to three other African countries — Sudan, Tanzania, and Eritrea — as well as to Myanmar, which is accused of genocide against its Muslim population, and Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet state.

The ban will prevent thousands of people from being able to move to the United States.

The initial ban, which was put into effect in 2017, restricted travel from some Muslim-majority countries as part of Mr. Trump’s plan to keep out “radical Islamic terrorists.” It has already affected more than 135 million people — many of them Christians — from seven countries.

With the new expansion, the ban will affect nearly a quarter of the 1.2 billion people on the African continent, according to W. Gyude Moore, a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, a research group, potentially taking a heavy toll on African economies — and on America’s image in the region.

“Chinese, Turkish, Russian, and British firms, backed by their governments, are staking positions on a continent that will define the global economy’s future,” he said, adding, “One hopes that the United States would follow suit and fully engage with the continent — but that hope fades.”

The rationale for the new restrictions varies depending on country, but the White House announcement said that most of the six countries added to the list did not comply with identity-verification and information-sharing rules.

And Nigeria, it said, posed a risk of harboring terrorists who may seek to enter the United States. The country has been hit brutally by the Islamist group Boko Haram, though the extremists have shown little sign that they have the capability to export their fight overseas.

Critics, many of whom also denounced the initial ban, saw something far more venal at play.

“Trump’s travel bans have never been rooted in national security — they’re about discriminating against people of color,” Kamala Harris, the former Democratic presidential candidate, declared on Sunday. “They are, without a doubt, rooted in anti-immigrant, white supremacist ideologies.”

Two Democrats still in the race also weighed in. Elizabeth Warren described the measure as a “racist, xenophobic Muslim ban.” Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called it “a disgrace.”

And Nancy Pelosi, the house speaker, said Democratic lawmakers would push ahead with a measure to forbid religious discrimination in immigration policy.

Beyond those people who may now never make it across American borders, the new ban could also affect millions who have no plans to travel to United States themselves but may have benefited from the billions of dollars in remittances visa holders send home each year.

The United States may also emerge a loser, studies suggest. Nigerians are among the most successful and highly educated immigrants to America. (Mr. Trump, demanding to know why immigration policies did not favor people from countries like Norway, once disparaged those from Africa and Haiti, and said Nigerians would never go back to their “huts” if they were allowed in.)

Hadiza Aliyu lives in Borno, the Nigerian state at the epicenter of the Boko Haram crisis that has left tens of thousands dead. But she thought she had found a way out.

Ms. Aliyu was preparing to apply to move to the United States, where she once studied and where her two brothers live.

She was furious when she heard about the extended ban.

“Trump has been looking for a way to get at us Africans for a very long time, and finally got us,” Ms. Aliyu said. “To hell with Republicans and their supremacist ideas.”

Mika Moses moved to Minnesota from Nigeria nine years ago to join his mother and siblings, who were allowed entry after the family was attacked in religious riots in their northern city of Kaduna in 1991. His wife, Juliet, and their daughter were planning to join him, but are stuck in Kaduna, where Ms. Moses sells soda in a small store.

She said they were heartbroken by the news that the move would now be impossible.

“I have been struggling to raise our daughter alone,” she said. “Why would Trump do this to us, after we have waited for nine years?”

Nigerians already living in the United States have been calling lawyers to try to figure out whether they will have to leave. Marilyn Eshikena, a biomedical research ethicist, has lived in the United States for the past seven years, but her visa expires this year. Her employer sponsored her application for a green card.

“If it turns out that everything needs to stop, they will feel cheated, because they spent a lot of money on this process,” Ms. Eshikena said. “I will also feel cheated, because all the time that I spent working here will ultimately be for nothing. I can’t even imagine what packing up and leaving will mean for me.”

Her departure may also have serious consequences for her brother, who is studying in Canada. Ms. Eshikena has been sending part of her earnings to help pay his rent.

Some Nigerians praised Mr. Trump for his decision, arguing it might make it more difficult for those responsible for stealing government money back home to find cover in the United States, and force the country’s leaders to be more honest and work harder to develop Nigeria.

In 2018, 7,922 immigrant visas were issued to Nigerians. Of these, 4,525 went to the immediate relatives of American citizens, and another 2,820 to other family members. An estimated 345,000 people born in Nigeria were living in the United States in 2017, according to the census bureau.

If the visas are coveted in Nigeria, they are just as prized in African countries like Eritrea, where government repression is rampant and those who try to leave face obstacles and danger. With more than 500,000 refugees living outside the country, Eritrea was the ninth-largest source of refugees in the world in 2018, according to the United Nations, but fewer than 900 Eritreans received immigrant visas to the United States that year.

Abraham Zere, a journalist who moved to the United States from Eritrea in 2012, had dreamed of living in the same country as his mother since leaving home. On Saturday, he said his plans to bring her to the United States had been thrown into disarray. His family has been in constant communication on the messaging platform WhatsApp trying to understand what the ban will mean for them.

“This decision complicates everything and creates fear,” said Mr. Zere, 37, a doctoral candidate at the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.

Mr. Zere and other Eritreans say they can’t go back. They fear they will be punished for criticizing the government or leaving without approval.

“If I can’t be reunited with my mother,” Mr. Zere said, “it nullifies the whole notion of protection and punishes innocent citizens for reasons they had no slightest part in.”

With nine siblings scattered across Europe, Africa, and the United States, Mr. Zere said their family has never had a full family portrait taken.

The economic consequences of the ban could be far-reaching, experts said.

“Being cut off from the largest economy in the world systematically is problematic,” said Nonso Obikili, a Nigerian economist.

The biggest impact, he said, could be on remittances.

Nigerians abroad send home billions of dollars each year, $24 billion in 2018 alone, according to the accounting firm PwC. With Nigeria’s economy highly dependent on oil and its unemployment rate at 23 percent, this money provides a lifeline for millions of its citizens.

The new restrictions come at a time when the United States says it wants to jockey for power in Africa, particularly through its “Prosper Africa” initiative announced last summer, which aims to double two-way trade and investment.

“If on the one hand you’re trying to make a push into Africa, and on the other hand you’re barring the largest African country by population from moving to your country, then it does send mixed signals,” Mr. Obikili said.

In January 2017, Mr. Trump’s travel ban targeted several other African nations, including Chad, Libya, and Somalia. Chad was later removed from that list, but the executive order halted the plans of thousands of Somali refugee living in camps in Kenya who were about to travel to the United States and start new lives.

According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, nearly 30,000 Nigerians overstayed their nonimmigrant visas in 2018. The number of Nigerians visiting the United States dropped sharply after the Trump administration made it harder for visitors to obtain visas last summer.

The new restrictions affect those who want to move to the United States, not visit it.

The six countries newly added to the immigration ban are not easily categorized together by religion. Nigeria, for exampleis thought to be home to more than 200 million people, roughly half of them Muslim and half Christian. Of the four African countries newly singled out, only Sudan has a significant majority of Muslims.

The United States has left Sudan on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, even as the country works to reverse decades of authoritarian rule under President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who was deposed in April.

“This ban contributes to the overall impression that Sudan remains a very fragile state,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, a research group.

Many people from the countries newly targeted by the ban said the uncertainty was the hardest thing to bear. Ms. Nwegbe, the newlywed, who works as the chief operating officer of a tourism company that tries to encourage people to visit Africa, said the ban came as she and her husband were building their future.

“We’re in limbo and our relationship is suffering,” she said. “This is unnecessary hardship.”

Ruth Maclean reported from London, and Abdi Latif Dahir from Nairobi, Kenya. Reporting was contributed by Zolan Kanno-Youngs in Washington; Eromo Egbejule from Lagos, Nigeria; Isaac Abrak from Abuja, Nigeria; Ismail Alfa from Maiduguri, Nigeria; and Emmett Lindner from New York.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/new-u-s-travel-ban-shuts-door-on-africas-biggest-economy-nigeria/

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[newssplashy]

Sani Abacha: 20 years after the death of the late Head of State, what is his legacy?

2 decades after the death of General Sani Abacha, it is important that we never forget his legacy.

Today, June 8, 2018, marks the 20th anniversary of the death of General Sani Abacha. He was Nigeria's 10th Head of State.

I remember the day the clearly. I had just gotten back from school and was on the balcony because there was no power supply. My mother ran into the living room and screamed these words 'Abacha is dead'.

I saw a lot of people rejoicing on the streets that day. I too celebrated. As a matter of fact, I stepped on an iron nail but couldn't care less about tetanus. The troubler of Israel was no more. 

 With his trademark RayBan aviators, the General from Kano, born in 1943, ruled the nation with a tight grip.

After his death, the process to return the country to democratic rule was swift.

On May 29, 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo (a former military Head of State jailed under Abacha's regime) was sworn in as a civilian president.

Nigeria's has had four democratically elected presidents since 1999, Obasanjo, Yar'Adua, Jonathan and Buhari.

For some, the memories of Khaki boys is nothing but the distant past. As Nigeria gears up for another election, the days of military rulers are now blurry to many young people.

Abacha does not bring up the fondest or happiest of memories for many who lived during this period. Yet, older Nigerians have a habit of glorifying the past no matter how bad it was.

In January 2017, I posted a video of the late General addressing Nigerians for the first time on my Twitter account.

 I was shocked to see people express their admiration for the dictator. Some even called for a reset to these days to flush Nigeria of its corrupt politicians. A tired and old sentiment used by many soldiers to stage coups.

Tunde (not real name) a 21-year old undergraduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University believes Nigeria needs a strong leader like Abacha. "All this nonsense that is happening in th country now, if Abacha was a live it won't happen. Do you think Boko Haram would be killing people anyhow?" he asked me.

It's hard to even start discussing with him. He wasn't even born when Abacha took power and was just a year old when he died.  Tunde represents a number young Nigerians who are disillusioned with the current political system of the country.

The recent disturbing praise heaped on the late dictator has not only come from millennials. People who were aware to know how Nigeria was from 1993-1998 have had nice words for Abacha.

One of them is our present leader, President Buhari. He praised the late dictator for building roads.

"No matter what opinion you have about Abacha, I agreed to work with him and the PTF road we did from here to Port Harcourt, to Onitsha, to Benin and so on... On top of other things in the institution, education, medical care and so on" he said. It was a controversial statement.

 In 2014, the Goodluck Jonathan administration chose Sani Abacha as one of Nigeria's greatest heroes for "unity, patriotism and national development." 

Even in popular culture, the reverence of Abacha as a 'bad guy' is present. There are T-shirts with his image printed on them. His RayBan aviators, a symbol of fear in the 90s, served as an inspiration of a rap song by a popular Nigerian rapper.

 One of the lowest moments of the General Sani Abacha regime was the execution of the 'Ogoni Nine' made up of human rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa along with Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine.

A kangaroo court (more or less) found them guilty. The Ogoni 9 were hung afterwards.

 The tragic incident was condemned, both home and abroad. It further made Nigeria a pariah state.

Ken Saro Wiwa's daughter Noo Saro Wiwa exclusively spoke to Pulse. She described it as strange for some Nigerians to look back on the Abacha years positively.

"The idea that we can look back favourably on the 90s is strange. It shows how low our expectations have fallen. There was no press freedom or space for political protests in those days, and child mortality was lower.

As a nation, we need to stop looking backwards and start thinking forwards. Recycling old leaders hasn’t worked" she told Pulse.

The Abacha regime is also synonymous with corruption. It is alleged that the Abacha family made way with £5 billion of the country's wealth.

There have been several claims that Abacha did not steal the country's money but rather kept in Swiss banks for safekeeping. As ludicrous as it may sound to you, it holds weight in some quarters.

Former Chief of Army Staff, Ishaya Bamaiyi in 2017 echoed these sentiments and further went on to claim that the late Head of State transferred money to some European countries to enable Nigeria to continue peacekeeping missions in the West African region. 

 Unfortunately, this claim has filtered down from the hills of power to the streets.

In May 2018, popular Nigerian fashionista Noble Igwe wrote this about Sani Abacha while rocking a t-shirt with his face on it, "... the former Military head of state whom after his death became the country’s saving account in diaspora." It might have been a joke but it's a sentiment that a lot of people harbour.

And herein lies the major reason why some Nigerians look back at the Abacha years favourably.

1994-1997, his regime increased the foreign exchange reserves from $494m to $9.6b. He also reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36b to $27b in three years. General Sani Abacha was able to also reduce the inflation inherited from the IBB administration.

Within the current economic context, it might be tempting to hail the late dictator as an economic genius.

"Even Abacha who was a dictator left the economy to be run by experts and the economy did well then," said Akpan Ekpo, former Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Not surprisingly, in 2016, Abacha's economic stats were reproduced by his oldest daughter on her Instagram account. (Gumsu Sani Abacha was reached severally for comments about her father. She did not respond to any of them.)

She did however write this about her father today on her Instagram page, "20 year's gone by... may ALLAH swt bless your soul. May he forgive your shortcomings and may Aljannah Firdaus be your final abode. Ameen. ALLAH ya jikan ka da rahamar sa. We miss you so much."

 Apart from the economy, Abacha paid a lot of attention to political stability within the West African region also. The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) during his rule was successful in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In sports, Abacha's performance was mixed. The Super Eagles won the 1994 Nations Cup, gave a strong performance at the World Cup in America and won the U-23 football competition at the Atlanta '96 Olympics.

 The Olympics in 1996 was also Nigeria's best performance at the event with 2 gold medals, one silver medal and three bronze medals.

 However, because of human rights violations, Nigeria was not allowed to participate at the '96 and '98 African Cup of Nations.

Fans and sports journalists saw these as missed chances for the Super Eagles to further dominate African football.

By the time the ban was lifted for the Super Eagles to participate in 2000, the talent of the golden generation had started to dwindle.

I tried to reach out to sports journalists to speak on the state of football and sports during the Abacha era but they were unwilling to talk. 20 years after his death, he still strikes fear in the heart of many.

And right there is the legacy of the late Head of State. Fear. The Sani Abacha regime struck fear into the hearts of Nigerians.

 The administration of General Sani Abacha could best be described as a reign of terror and blood, of fear and violence, of bullets and whips.

Human rights activists were assassinated, hung, and locked up in prison. To speak up against the Abacha regime was to dance with death.

Kudirat Abiola, Pa Alfred Rewane, two human rights activists were allegedly assassinated by the leader of Abacha's hit squad, Sgt. Rogers.

 The late Alex Ibru and Abraham Adesanya had attempts on their lives during this period. Luckily they escaped. Professor Wole Soyinka went into self-exile in 1994. Three years later he was charged with treason in absentia.

Soyinka was not the only one to have gone into exile during this period.

Many members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) including present political juggernaut Bola Ahmed Tinubu left Nigeria for fear of being killed.

 We can't also forget MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12 elections in 1993. In 1994, after an international trip to gain support from foreign countries, MKO came back to Nigeria and declared himself President.

Abacha's regime did not take this move lightly. Abiola was declared wanted, arrested and accused of treason. The billionaire turned politician stayed in detention for four years. Abiola died with the June 12 mandate, 29 days after the death of Abacha in 1998.

 The former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo was arrested during the Abacha years and imprisoned for his supposed role in a phantom coup.

While Obasanjo made it out alive, his deputy when he was Head of State wasn't so lucky. Shehu Musa Yar'adua, former Chief of Staff, died in captivity in 1997.

Abacha not only dealt with his political opponents but the media as well.

"It was a period when journalists, civil society activists and the few principled politicians in the country were targets of the regime," said Olusegun Adeniyi who was the Assistant Editor at Sunday Concord during the Abacha years.

"Bagauda Kaltho was bombed to death. Kunle Ajibade, Chris Anyanwu and others were jailed for being accessories after the fact of a coup. Many were forced into exiles. My editor (at African Concord magazine), Soji Omotunde was dragged from a moving vehicle on the street of Lagos, leaving him almost crippled while my friend and colleague, Mohammed Adamu, should have enough stories to tell his grand-children" he further remembered.

On Christmas Day in 1995, Nosa Igiebor, then Editor-In-Chief of TELL Magazine was arrested by security operatives. He spent six months in detention and was later released on June 26, 1996.

At the end of the day, Abacha is not a fashion icon or economic guru. He was a totalitarian, a dictator that ruled Nigeria with fear.

According to the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor, in 1971 Abacha's superiors recommended that he should not be promoted beyond the rank of colonel because he was not "stable enough for higher command."

Yet, in 1990 when he became a full General, Abacha became the first Nigerian military officer not to skip a rank.  By 1993, he became the ruler of the most populous black nation on earth via a palace coup.

 There are many millennials who do not totally understand what it meant to live in Sani Abacha's Nigeria. Some older Nigerians have forgotten the reign of terror as they groan and moan about this present administration.

There is no negotiating the legacy of Sani Abacha. It is absolute in its brutality.

"General Abacha established a distinctive record of brutal rule. Nigerian human rights groups, clandestinely active in the country and openly critical in exile, have charged that more people were arrested in his five and a half years in power than in the five decades of British rule" wrote the New York Times in Abacha's obituary.

 A few months before his shocking death, The Christian Science Monitor described him as "most dangerous leader in the world."

Noo Saro Wiwa defines his legacy as "the regime reached such lows that a return to democracy was the only option: the Commonwealth had expelled Nigeria, and British Airways suspended its flights after my father and his eight colleagues were murdered. The Abacha years increased the cynicism and distrust among Nigerians, which served to entrench corruption."

Despite the Sani Abacha regime's execution of her father, she does not have any hatred for the man.

"No, my family doesn’t hate him. We don’t waste our mental energy on someone like him. Abacha was one of the most brutal dictators but he was also the symptom of Nigeria’s problems, which means there were other men equally capable of doing what he did.

Many players were involved in the murder of the Ogoni Nine, and millions of people besides our family have suffered. So my anger is diffused in many directions within this morally bankrupt system. It’s not all about one dead man" she told Pulse.

The system that produced Sani Abacha still exists today. It might no longer produce military dictators but it still creates corrupt and inefficient leaders.

 Nigeria has made a lot of progress from the dark days irrespective of what cynics say but there is still a lot of work to be done.

"There are more technocrats, and the political scene is not as strongly ethnic-based as before, but we still have no electricity and other basic amenities," said Noo Saro-Wiwa during her brief interview with Pulse.

"No administration has dealt with Boko Haram effectively or addressed its root causes, and we still depend too much on oil revenues. It feels rather cyclical. I have much more hope in the younger generation, however. The under-40s will be the ones to turn things around" she further said.

 These are the set of Nigerians who should know what it meant to live in Nigeria during the Abacha years. They must know that his legacy was that of fear and terror. We cannot afford to go back and glorify our dark past.

We must shed light on it so that we might never forget. 20 years after we must still remember.

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/06/sani-abacha-20-years-after-death-of.html

#News

[kfeltz]

Kelsi Reads ‘16

Hey friends. Still noodling on this past year. For now, peruse this list of Kelsi Reads from 2016. I think I captured them all. Favorites are bolded. Read on!

Fiction

All Our Worldly Goods: A Novel Between the Wars by Irène Némirovsky - a novel of two young lovers who marry against their parents’ wishes and their story across generations set in France during the war years. I’m a mush for this kind of thing; Némirovsky has a real talent for poignant, frank observations of daily life during this period.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - a novel set in occupied France during WWII tracing the paths of a blind French girl and a German boy turned soldier as their lives dovetail. Great storytelling and I’m a big fan of the weaving together of disparate stories. Rich with detail.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi - the novel tells the story of a young, Nigerian woman who emigrates to the U.S., alternating between life in the U.S. and her past in Nigeria. I can see why Ngozi has won such critical acclaim. Her characters have a real voice and personality. This is a great current novel reflecting on the realities of globalization / emigration.  

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier - a family epic detailing one pioneer family's attempt to settle the Ohio frontier and subsequent generation’s own pioneering journeys.

Beast of No Nation: A Novel by Uzodinmalweala - if you’ve seen the movie, it follows the book pretty accurately. I thought it was well-told and moving but at the same time it was interesting to learn that it’s not a first-hand account and while I haven’t teased out exactly why, the fact that it’s an author writing as if it is a first-hand experience kind of made me uncomfortable. Still noodling through it, but definitely worth a read. The movie again is excellent.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling - meh. A play about the famed Harry Potter and friends’ children and their misadventures. Don’t waste your time unless you’re a diehard HP fan.

The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante - a 4-part bildungsroman (I wanted to use that word so badly!) set in 60s/70s Italy of an enduring, real female friendship and the external forces that shape the two women’s lives. Take Austen, make her darker and change the focus to female relationships, drop her in Italy. Recommended by my boss. This was my favorite fiction read of the year.

My Brilliant Friend

The Story of a New Name

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

The Story of the Lost Child

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - fun. Again I love historical fiction and this retelling of the famous epic was fantastic and unexpected. Read for something fun.

The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese - I picked this up because I enjoyed Cutting for Stone so much. Verghese recounts a story of a friendship between two men - one a physician with a crumbling marriage and the other a medical student with a drug addiction.

Non-fiction

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (in progress) - short essays and stories covering a range of topics. Humorous. A lot of these kinds of texts really turn me off because they can be overly prescriptive or limiting to a particular point of view. I think Gay’s is an approachable feminism that really picks up on the shades of gray, while not getting bogged down in them.

Between the World & Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - this book ought to be required reading. Coates writes a series of essays / letters to his son exploring personal, historical and larger societal events concerning race and how it has shaped and continues to shape America. I’d like to think if white people read this and were forced to truly grapple with the text, there’d be less cognitive dissonance and more understanding of the black experience in America.

Bossypants by Tina Fey - I like Tina Fey. I like books. I really don’t think these celeb books I read this year were worth my time. They didn’t make an impact and I didn’t think they had much to say.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson - Larson picks an event from history and unveils the mystery behind it. Like listening to my favorite social studies teachers from middle and high school.

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink - a reconstruction in the vein of investigative journalism, the novel dives into the events through the eyes of emergency workers, investigators, patients and families, and more breaking down the systematic failure that occurred. Excellent, excellent and hugely time intensive undertaking thanks to the meticulous background research.

Gratitude by Oliver Sachs - too short to leave much of an impression but the man has a way with words. If I take away anything, it’s that I can only hope to face death with such calm acceptance and grace.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by JD Vance - the author recounts his experience growing up poor in Appalachia. The book goes beyond memoir to offer some social commentary. A really interesting look at how class and culture can combine to form a unique identity particular to the area. Especially meaningful given the recent election.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling - of all the celeb books I read, this was probably my least favorite.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - see above re: Fey. Ansari gets stuck between the scientific and more of the opinion/memoir/essay style replicated by other celebs. The actual science and research is interesting. He didn’t need to mire it in the little jokes and distractions (felt like pandering).

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - in this book, the author goes ‘undercover’ to work several different minimum wage jobs. I finally got around to reading this and I have to say I was unimpressed. My reaction was “so what?”. I guess I see why it was more revolutionary when it was originally published (2002) but now I find it a bit depressing when I read it and find that so little has changed. Also I’m left wondering why we need to send authors, etc. undercover instead of just talking to people who live in these realities.

Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family by Anne Marie Slaughter - I’ve read a couple of these women-boss books and I’ve found this one the most helpful / real. Still has its faults, but worth a read.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi - I don’t have the words for this book. I kept reading late into the night to finish it and bawled. Moving. Dr. Kalanthi contemplates what makes a life worth living as he faces down stage IV lung cancer at the age of 36 shortly before he would have completed his training as a neurosurgeon.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler - same thing as what I said for Tina’s book. It had a bit more of a voice.

Other

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur - a book of poetry split into four chapters: the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing. I normally have a hard time with poetry, but the rhythm and the topic matter really resonated. I found this book at a time during a time of need.

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan - Keegan famously wrote an essay on loneliness shortly after graduating from Yale. She died in a car crash shortly thereafter and her family posthumously published this work of essays and short stories.

#reads