#official member of the tortured poets department

[slytherin-swift]

Anyone else get this on Spotify? I love it 💕

#Taylor Swift #taylor nation #ttpd #official member of the tortured poets department #the tortured poets department #spotify

[taylornation]

We hope someone comments on our sweater when our new tour merch arrives at the mailbox. 🤞📬

Order these updated designs now, featuring the newest member of the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour family, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. 💚💛💜♥️🩵🖤🩷🩶🤎💙🤍

#Taylor Swift #The Eras Tour #Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour #TS The Eras Tour #TSTheErasTour #TS TTPD #THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT #Official Tour Merch

[lavoixhumaine]

bobby nash is officially a member of the tortured poets department. i don’t make the rules.

#angela bassett #athena grant #tv: 911 #bathena #bobby nash #bobby x athena #911 on abc #peter krause #911 #911 abc #tv show 911 #ts ttpd #ttpd #ttpd era #the tortured poets department #taylor swift #ts

[dearreader]

hello fellow members of the tortured poets department.

today i enter into evidence so long, london and analyze it.

previous days: fortnight, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, my boy only breaks his favorite toys, down bad

oh… where to start.

so long, london is a song we’ve all discussed and talked about so much (because it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking) so most of what i’ll say might be redundant. but i still have stuff to say.

the song is done with so much intent to not only connect it heavily back to songs on reputation/lover/midnights etc. but also to really show just how much work taylor was putting in over the years and give hints into what led the relationship to ending.

the opening sound like the echos of church bells that you’d hear on a wedding day because she was left waiting at the alter for him to follow through on his promises and prove he loved her… similar to the reimagining taylor did of her life in its nice to have a friend where it ends with her being carried home from the wedding by him (and since that was a reimagining it can almost now be interpreted as a dream she was telling herself as she waited because she expected the end to be real but maybe none of it actually was).

the repeating of “so long, london” as if she’s telling not only him but herself, over and over, that it’s over… like they’d called it off before but he came back so all the past goodbyes are coming forth all at once

of course the repetitiveness being similar to the opening of death by a thousand cuts with “my” where in that song she would list parts of her he had touched so it felt like she just kept saying my over and over describing the loss. and with how taylor left all she knew for this place and made a new life here it would be like he touched every aspect of her life.

and even the first official line of the song reaffirms the idea of taylor picturing the future of past to get through the present

“i saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist/i kept calm and carried the weight of the rift/pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away”

fairy lights here can represent two things:

a bright warm and safe future. like in christmas tree farm where taylor closes her eyes and is taken away from the stresses of the modern world and imaging a cozy christmas with her lover surrounded by fairy lights or the christmas we see in the lover music video with the future of her lover and her with their child. so even through the worst moments where doubt was clouding her mind and worries for the future she just kept thinking if that warm bright future and kept trying to fix their issues while he was pulling back or glancing at others and possibly cheating on her. she just kept their future in her mind to keep pushing through the now

it’s another reference to how she constantly rewrote and looked back on how the beginning was to get through now. that he may be pulling away but he came in on a white horse with the winds of fate and he’d come back around if she kept trying. she just kept reminding herself of their love in its purist form before it started to die so she could keep trying to revive it

another interesting line connection i can’t stop thinking of is “stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped drying to drill the safe”//“stealing hearts/and running off/and never saying sorry” because taylor was doing everything to get his heart because he had stolen hers but he wouldn’t let her in to either let him love her or help him. also with cowboy like me in mind this hits hard because taylor saw herself in him and that’s why they could work and fall in love together… but he was the conman who didn’t leave his boots underneath her bed.

another one being taylor saying “i left all i knew/you left me at the house by the heath” because not only did she runaway with him but she left her country and old life behind. being an incredibly public celebrity who had her life monitored constantly to a life of complete solitude and finding different ways to get around together without being seen to not draw attention to them. this hurts harder when she says “and im just getting color back into my face/im just mad as hell cause i loved this place”. she is using london the place as a metaphor for him as she was living in his world for years and she did it because she really loved him. she would’ve stayed forever if he’d been there but he never came back…

and i’ll lastly touch on the boat line that i mentioned yesterday in down bad’s post. “and you say that i abandoned the ship/but i was going down with it/my white knuckle dying grip/holding tight to you’re quiet resentment.” this line feels like it’s referencing titanic, where rose was with jack until the end, even as the ship sank deep into the water and and was floating on a door that could only fit one and lost her love. it feels like taylor was on the boat until the very end and with the added line, didn’t even give up on it until she was taken away by someone else. who then kicked her off his ship and her waving desperately for him to come back but he left her alone to.

this song has so much more that i can’t touch on cause it’s so straight forward that i just say it and you know as well as just being an all around masterful song. it’s a truly gut wrenching track five. and with taylor’s monotone singing where she just sounds deflated and defeated through out it. just everything about it was done so perfectly and i can’t explain anymore without it being over kill cause like… yeah you get it when she says two graves one gun or saying she was the odd man out in her own lovers life. like even some stuff i said here is so straightforward i don’t need to add more cause you get it. its plain and straightforward cause at the end everything was so obvious to her.

list of parallels that i didn’t elaborate on/plan to elaborate on in the future:

“fighting in only your army/front lines/don’t you ignore me”//“my spine split from carrying us up the hill/wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill”//“i just don’t understand/how you don’t miss me in the shower/and remember how my rain-soaked body was shaking”

“is this the end of all the endings?/my broken bones are mending/with all these nights we’re spending”//“i think there’s been a glitch/five seconds later im fastin’ my self to you with a stitch”//“for so long, london/stitches undone”

“and the old widow goes to the stone everyday/but i don’t, i just sit here and wait/grieving for the living”//“you swore you loved me/but where were the clues?i died at the alter waiting for the proof”

“i can’t find a pulse/my heart won’t start anymore/for you”//“i stopped cpr. after all it’s no use/the spirit was gone. we would never come to”//“and my friends said it isn’t right to be scared/everyday of a love affair/every breath feels like rarest air/when your not sure if he wants to be there”

#kelly babels #so long london #ttpdminutes #song analysis #taylor swift #the tortured poets department

[cowboylikehannah]

THIS IS SO CUTE!! i guess i can truly call myself an official member of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT now 🤭🤍📜🪶 i’m beyond excited for april 19th! @taylorswift @taylornation

#taylor swift #swifties #the tortured poets department #tortured poets department #ts the tortured poets department #ttpd era #ttpd #taylor swift ttpd #ts ttpd

[bubblefemmefangirls]

forgot to post on this acc, but guess whos an official member of the tortured poets department!!

#taylor swift #swiftie #ttpd #the tortured poets department #ts11

[brideormonster]

I'm ready to become an official member of t̶h̶e̶ p̶s̶y̶c̶h̶ w̶a̶r̶d̶ The Tortured Poets Department this weekend 🪶🤍

#ts ttpd #ttpd #the tortured poets department #taylor swift #taylornation

[elxtrictouch]

meet the new official members of The Tortured Poets Department: “The Black Dog” & “White Horse” 🫡 🕵🏼 @taylorswift @taylornation

#taylor swift #ts ttpd #the tortured poets department

[djgblogger-blog]

What is hell?

http://bit.ly/2qIOtbF

The abyss of hell. Sandro Botticelli.

The recent dispute over whether Pope Francis denied the existence of hell in an interview attracted wide attention. This isn’t surprising, since the belief in an afterlife, where the virtuous are rewarded with a place in heaven and the wicked are punished in hell, is a core teaching of Christianity.

So what is the Christian idea of hell?

Origins of belief in hell

The Christian belief in hell has developed over the centuries, influenced by both Jewish and Greek ideas of the afterlife.

The earliest parts of the Hebrew Bible, around the eighth century B.C., described the afterlife as Sheol, a shadowy, silent pit where the souls of all the dead lingered in a minimal state of silent existence, forever outside of the presence of God. By the sixth century B.C., Sheol was increasingly viewed as a temporary place, where all the departed awaited a bodily resurrection. The righteous would then dwell in the presence of God, and the wicked would suffer in the fiery torment that came to be called “Gehenna,” described as a cursed place of fire and smoke.

Early depictions of the afterlife in ancient Greece, an underworld realm called “Hades,” are similar. There, the listless spirits of the dead lingered in an underground twilight existence, ruled by the god of the dead. Evildoers suffered gloomy imprisonment on an even deeper level called “Tartarus.”

Beginning in the fourth century B.C., after the Greek King Alexander the Great conquered Judea, elements of Greek culture began to influence Jewish religious thought. By time of the first gospels, between 65 and 85 A.D., Jesus refers to the Jewish belief in the eternal fire of Gehenna. Elsewhere, he mentions evildoers’ banishment from the kingdom of God, and the “blazing furnace” where the wicked would suffer sorrow and despair and “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus also mentions the Greek Hades when describing how the forces of evil – “the gates of Hades” – would not prevail against the church.

Depiction of the seven deadly sins and the four last things of man (death, judgment, heaven and hell). Hieronymus Bosch or follower.

Medieval ideas of hell

In early Christianity, the fate of those in hell was described in different ways. Some theologians taught that eventually all evil human beings and even Satan himself would be restored to unity with God. Other teachers held that hell was an “intermediate state,” where some souls would be purified and others annihilated.

The image that dominated in antiquity eventually prevailed. Hell was where the souls of the damned suffered torturous and unending punishment. Even after the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world, the wicked would be sent back to Hell for eternity.

By the beginning of the fifth century, this doctrine was taught throughout western Christianity. It was reaffirmed officially by popes and councils throughout the Middle Ages.

Medieval theologians continued to stress that the worst of all these torments would be eternal separation from God, the “poena damni.” Medieval visions of the afterlife provided more explicit details: pits full of dark flames, terrible cries, gagging stench, and rivers of boiling water filled with serpents.

Cerberus, with the gluttons in Dante’s third circle of hell. William Blake

Perhaps the most fulsome description of hell was offered by the Italian poet Dante at the beginning of the 14th century in the first section of his “Divine Comedy.” Here the souls of the damned are punished with tortures matching their sins. Gluttons lie in freezing pools of garbage, while murderers thrash in a river of boiling blood.

Hell is God’s absence

Today, these images seem to be part of a past that the 21st century has outgrown. However, the official textbook of Catholic Christianity, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” reaffirms the Catholic belief in the eternal nature of hell. It omits the gory details found in earlier attempts to describe the hellish experience, but restates that the chief pain of hell is eternal separation from God.

The Vatican insisted that the pope was misquoted by the journalist. But theologians have pointed out that Pope Francis has stressed the reality of hell several times in recent years. Indeed, for today’s Catholics at least, hell still means the hopeless anguish of God’s absence.

Joanne M. Pierce is a Roman Catholic member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the USA, a national ecumenical dialogue group sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and The Episcopal Church.

[asyouare-workshop]

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[taylornation]

Since our chairman got so many new outfits for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, we thought it was only fair to release new Department uniforms for our members! Shop new styles straight from THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT while supplies last at store.taylorswift.com. 🤍

#Taylor Swift #THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT #TS TTPD #Merch

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

While political prisoners released, Myanmar’s judicial reforms stall

YANGON (Reuters) – Hundreds of political prisoners have been released from Myanmar’s jails in amnesties in recent years, including dozens freed in January 2016, days before democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s party took power for the first time.

Former President Barack Obama announced the lifting of U.S. sanctions in October 2016, citing the release of political prisoners and improved human rights as well as the elections that brought Suu Kyi to power. Suu Kyi herself had been under house arrest for 15 years before being released in 2010.

Prison reform, however, has been put on the back burner under the new government.   

A new prison law was discussed in parliament in 2015, but was not passed. It has not been taken up since then by a new set of lawmakers – most of them from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) – who took their seats in early 2016.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Myanmar group formed by former detainees, says prison reform should include repealing a law that gives police broad powers of arrest and pre-trial detention. 

The AAPP advocates overhauling vague or outdated rules in the Jail Manual and Penal Code, much of it written during British colonial rule. 

But the AAPP and rights groups caution that any new legislation on prison reform would not stop politically motivated prosecutions, which would need to be addressed with specific judicial and legal reforms.

Suu Kyi’s government pardoned, released or dropped charges against hundreds of political prisoners in the month after it took office. But today, 46 people are serving prison sentences for political activities, and another 52 political prisoners are in jail awaiting trial, the AAPP says.

        OTHER PRIORITIES

NLD Party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters prison reform was not yet on the legislative agenda because of other priorities.

“There are so many things to do as MPs, it may be a part of the reasons for not including prison reform in the parliament discussions,” Aung Shin said.

He also said, however, prisons should be part of a broader examination of legal and judicial reform that the party and legislature was planning. He did not give a time frame for any contemplated legislation. 

AAPP says that 120 former political prisoners from the NLD party are members of the national parliament or regional assemblies.

“There are so many former political prisoners in the NLD party, and even in the current parliament,” said Aung Myo Kyaw, head of AAPP’s Yangon office. “It’s sad they aren’t considering this issue.”   

The military did not respond to requests for comment.

The home affairs ministry says it has improved prison conditions across the country. A ministry report in March said the Correctional Department had relaxed rules on family visits and improved education programs.         

     RULE OF LAW

Many of the political prisoners, including some today, were jailed in Insein, a 19th-century prison in the north of Yangon that had a notorious reputation for torture, hunger strikes and rioting over inhumane conditions until Myanmar began transitioning to civilian rule in 2011.

A security officer stands guard in front of Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar December 29, 2017. Picture taken December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

For decades, Insein prison, which has held politicians and poets alongside murderers, thieves and drug dealers, was emblematic of oppressive junta rule and Myanmar’s poor record when it came to the rule of law.

Some prisoners were kept isolated or were physically and mentally abused while in jail, former inmates say. Amnesty International said misbehaving prisoners, including political prisoners on hunger strike, were still kept shackled in filth in kennels meant for dogs as recently as 2011.

Suu Kyi herself was briefly held in a hut in the prison compound between spells of house arrest. Leaders of the NLD spent time there before Myanmar’s military rulers started a transition to democracy in 2011 that brought both the release of hundreds of political prisoners and an improvement to prison conditions.

Insein is where Reuters journalists Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27 have been detained as they face an investigation into whether they breached Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act after the two were detained on Dec. 12. 

Built during British colonial rule in the 19th century, Insein covers about 200,000 square meters – larger than New York’s Grand Central station.

By some accounts, conditions there have gotten a lot better.

Kyaw Zwa Naing, detained in Insein for two weeks in June after writing a satirical article mocking the military, said “the prison officers treated us well”.

“We could access food supply without limitation. No one threatened us,” he said.

         OVERCROWDED

After an inspection in March, the government-backed Myanmar National Human Rights Commission identified overcrowding as a problem and recommended building new dormitories. 

“The unlucky ones have to sleep right next to the toilet. In Myanmar, we can’t provide international standard cells for inmates,” Commissioner Yu Lwin Aung told Reuters.

Political prisoners and those accused of other non-violent offences are housed with inmates both accused and convicted of violent crimes, according to the AAPP, which regularly interviews recent inmates.

Family members say the Reuters reporters each have their own cell and sleep on mats on raised platforms. However, they say the two are fearful because they are being held in the same block as both suspected and convicted criminals.

Min Tun Soe, a deputy director and spokesperson for the Prison Department said overcrowding was no longer a concern – the prison now houses 12,000 inmates after increasing its capacity to 10,000.

“There’s lots of reform going on in the prisons, such as new budgets for food supplies, healthcare and education opportunities for inmates, and also reforming the moral behavior of inmates,” he said.

“The situation is different than it was before,” he said.

       Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post While political prisoners released, Myanmar’s judicial reforms stall appeared first on Sports News, Transfers, Scores | Watch Live Sport.

[riverdamien]

Witness Against Torture

We remember Terry Darnell Edwards who was executed in Texas yesterday: WAT Letterhead - Black - 8.5x11.jpg Dear Friends, We wanted to send out a recap of our witness at the Inauguration Resistance and the Women's March in D.C. You may view more photos at the following links: Inauguration protest Women’s March on Washington We direct you again to WAT’s statement opposing Trump’s agenda on torture and detention, and to the new video that Justin made to break down what needs to happen to close Guantanamo, now that Trump is president. Our friends, the Peace Poets created a new spoken word video to challenge and encourage us in these difficult times - view it here. Lastly, we have included an ask from our partners the Coalition of Concerned Mothers - please sign their petition here and read about their work below. WAT Witnesses at Trump's Inauguration, Attends Women's March O crisis, intensify! The morning is about to break forth. Even though the bands tighten and seem unbreakable, They will shatter. Those who persist will attain their goal; Those who keep knocking shall gain entry. O crisis, intensify! The morning is about to break forth. --from the poem O Prison Darkness by Abdulaziz in Poems from Guantanamo We reflected on this poetry as thirty WAT members circled up at First Trinity's Church Hostel on January 20 before we went into the pre-dawn darkness at 6:30 am to demonstrate at the Inauguration. We processed to a nearby security checkpoint close to the Mall. We had a long row of folks in orange jumpsuits and black hoods; a robust team of guides, given the darkness; a security team, given the potential for hostile Trump supporters; as well as a choreographer, a medic, and people assigned to media and leafletting. We were ready. We joined a huge crowd of Palestinian human rights supporters and antiwar protesters at D St. and First St. NW. Our banner holders silently faced the police amid a raucous sea of chanting. As dawn broke, we extracted ourselves from the crush and moved a half block away. There we faced the line of people waiting to enter the inauguration. Back at the intersection, riot police moved in, but we stayed safely out of the fray. Our hooded detainees holding anti-torture banners provided a dramatic tableau that drew hundreds upon hundreds of people snapping photos or recording videos. The steady flow of humanity, which included Trump supporters and protesters, was, for the most part, respectful and peaceful. Whenever a person seemed hostile, a member of the security team was right there beside the WAT member being confronted in order to provide a united, nonviolent front. We received some derisive comments that echoed words we’ve heard from Trump concerning torture and Gitmo. We understood the challenge that faces us as we go forward from this day. We stayed at our post until 10:00 am, having committed to occupy that space while other protest groups went to another check point where Black Lives Matter had completely blocked entrance to the inauguration. We later heard from one BLM member who told us how wonderful it had been to look up from their protest and see all the white faces surrounding and supporting them. Many of our activists stayed another night, so we could attend the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21st. This time we carried our own personal messaging as women and as men supporting women. All 25 of us stepped off together, but we split into smaller groups, intentionally and unintentionally, as the day progressed and we moved through an incredible sea of humankind. One group actually heard and saw some speeches on a jumbotron. Many of us, however, had no idea there were any speeches, but we found the crowd itself to be fabulous. A couple of first timers kept asking when we were going to get to the march, and we told them they were in it! The throng was so big that the march had to self-assemble on at least 5 parallel streets. The big hits of the day were the creative signs and the sense of love and community that enveloped us all. But how shall we educate men to goodness, to a sense of one another, to a love of the truth? And more urgently, how shall we do this in a bad time?—Daniel Berrigan, S.J. Coalition of Concerned Mothers Banner a Big Hit at the Women's March: Sign Their Petition to Demand Reporting of All Deaths in Police Custody The Coalition of Concerned Mothers is a dynamic group of women who are trying to make sure no other mothers suffer what they have: the killing of their children by police or by senseless community gun violence. During this January's fast, WAT met with members of the Coalition, as we have in years past. Hearing the stories of how their children were killed and their struggles for justice, was heartbreaking, but strengthened our resolve to support their efforts to stop the senseless killing. Please sign their petition demanding the Department of Justice begin enforcing laws requiring the reporting of all deaths in police custody: http://petitions.signforgood.com/DeathsinCustodyReportingAct?code=CofCM According to President Marion Gray Hopkins and Vice-President Cynthia deShola Dawkins, “Because of the Death in Custody Reporting Act and Arrest Related Death Act the Department of Justice has the legal responsibility to require law enforcement agencies to report any and all deaths of people while in custody. To date, although this law has been in place for several years, the financial penalties on law enforcement agencies for not complying have not been enforced.” We need this information. The victims of police brutality are not just hashtags. They are brothers, daughters, mothers and fathers, many of whom we never hear about. Police brutality, especially against people of color, is systemic and in order to address this national crisis legislatively our elected officials need these reports. We hope this will help you to take action. Thank you for your continued support. Please keep sharing your local events and news stories with us. Witness Against Torture on Social Media We will be using #CloseGitmo and #guantanamo Please “like" us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter & Instagram. Check out our latest news and updates on Tumblr. Post any pictures of your local activities to our flickr account and we will help spread the word. Donate to support our work and Fast for Justice. We are asking our supporters to donate $45 to Witness Against Torture to symbolize the 45 men remaining in Guantanamo. Witness Against Torture is completely volunteer driven and run. We have no paid staff, but do have expenses associated with our organizing work. We need your financial support. We are fiscally sponsored by the Washington Peace Center. The Washington Peace Center is a verified US-registered non profit.If you are able, click here to donate. Attachments area Preview YouTube video The Moment We Blush

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