The Podium Paradox

 Bud: You see the results of the big swim meet?

Lou: I’m trying to, but the math is making my head swim.

Bud: It’s simple. You’ve got the winner, the runners-up, and the girl in fifth.

Lou: Who’s in fifth?

Bud: No, Lia is in fifth.

Lou: That’s what I’m asking! Who finished in fifth place?

Bud: Hu finished in second.

Lou: I don’t care about second! I want to know who is in fifth!

Bud: Lia is in fifth. But she’s sharing it.

Lou: Sharing it with who?

Bud: No, Hu is in second! She’s sharing it with Riley.

Lou: Riley is sharing second with Who?

Bud: No, Riley is in fifth with Lia.

Lou: Wait a minute. If Riley is in fifth, and Lia is in fifth, who won the race?

Bud: Taylor won the race.

Lou: Taylor who?

Bud: No, Hu is second!

Lou: I don’t know who’s in second!

Bud: Exactly!

Lou: Look, I’m looking at the girl in fifth place. She’s very upset. She says she lost because of the person next to her.

Bud: That’s Lia.

Lou: The person she lost to is Lia?

Bud: No, she tied Lia. They both got fifth.

Lou: If they both got fifth, then she didn’t lose to Lia, she tied her!

Bud: Right.

Lou: So who did she lose to?

Bud: She lost to the four girls in front of her.

Lou: And who are they?

Bud: Well, Hu is one of them.

Lou: THAT’S WHAT I’M ASKING YOU!

Bud: And I’m telling you! Hu is in second!

Lou: I DON’T KNOW!

Bud: She’s in third!

Lou: Third base?

Bud: No, third place!

Lou: So let me get this straight. Riley is in fifth. Lia is in fifth. And Riley is mad at Lia because she didn't win?

Bud: She’s mad because Lia got the trophy.

Lou: Why did Lia get the trophy?

Bud: Because they only had one.

Lou: So they gave it to the person who won?

Bud: No, Taylor won. She got a gold trophy.

Lou: Then who got the fifth-place trophy?

Bud: Lia.

Lou: Why not Riley?

Bud: Because the official said Lia gets to hold it for the picture.

Lou: So Riley is mad about a picture?

Bud: She’s mad she lost!

Lou: To the girl she tied with?

Bud: No, to the three cisgender girls and the one trans girl ahead of her.

Lou: So she lost to four people?

Bud: Correct.

Lou: And she’s blaming the one she tied with for the fact that she didn’t beat the other three?

Bud: Now you’ve got it!

Lou: I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!

Bud: Stay out of the deep end, Lou.

White supremacy has stolen our soul

After being indoctrinated online into the world of white supremacy and inspired by a racist hate group, Dylann Roof told friends he wanted to start a “race war.” Someone had to take “drastic action” to take back America from “stupid and violent” African Americans, he wrote.

On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof attended a Bible study meeting at the historic Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina and murdered nine people, all of them black.

The act of terror shocked America with its chilling brutality. But Roof did not spark the race war he and others wanted. Far from it.

Instead, when photos surfaced depicting the 21-year-old white supremacist with theConfederate battle flag —including one in which he held the flag in one hand and a gun in the other —Roof ignited something else entirely. A grassroots movement to remove the flag from public spaces. In what seemed like an instant, the South’s 150-year idolatry of the Confederacy was shaken. Public officials responded to the national mourning and outcry by removing prominent public displays of its most recognizable symbol.

The Confederate flag's defenders claim it is a flag of "heritage, not hate". The heritage of white supremacy was not so much birthed by hate as by the impulse toward theft. The theft of humans, created in the image of God to be treated as and sold as property.

The driver of the car that murdered Heather Heyer in cold blood stole from a Mother and Father their daughter. He robbed them of someone that is irreplaceable. He stole from friends, a friend. Irreplaceable. The theft of white supremacy demands justice. The theft of white supremacy has stolen the gospel of Jesus Christ and perverted it into something evil, and ugly, and hateful.

I urge all Christians of conscience to call this out for what it is. White supremacy is theft. It's time we reclaim the gospel.

We as Christians have failed in our calling

I look around and see so much hate and division in our world, and outright bigotry toward others. I see the very same thing coming from many Christians, and their preachers. We as a collective have failed our highest calling, to love unconditionally, even sacrificially. To help the oppressed, to help the poor, and the foreigner among us. God never implied that we should check their papers to make sure they were 'legal', He said take care of them without exception, regardless of their legal status. To love the unlovable. To heal the broken. To turn prayer for others into action here and now. So many of our leaders hold up a thrice married philanderer, someone who bragged about being able to grab a woman by the genitals, whether he did it or not is irrelevant, and say he's a "good Christian"; and the world looks on these and same Christian leaders wonder why people are fleeing the church in droves. It's not because of liberal culture, or the media, or any such thing. It's because people no longer see Christ in us. Christian of conscience and courage, it's past time to reclaim Christianity. It's time we acknowledge that Christ really meant what He said in His sermon on the mount, and in so many other places, that He really meant that we will be known by how we love others, and how we serve others. I'll end with a quote from Rod Serling Quote: It's simply a national acknowledgement that in any kind of priority, the needs of human beings must come first. Poverty is here and now. Hunger is here and now. Racial tension is here and now. Pollution is here and now. These are the things that scream for a response. And if we don't listen to that scream - and if we don't respond to it - we may well wind up sitting amidst our own rubble, looking for the truck that hit us - or the bomb that pulverized us. Get the license number of whatever it was that destroyed the dream. And I think we will find that the vehicle was registered in our own name.

This is war.

I enjoyed at one time educating people on what it means to be trans, to challenge their preconceived notions, and erase stereotypes. But it's becoming exhausting, and I'm so tired.

I shouldn't have to fight for the right to be able to use a public restroom without threat of harm or arrest. I shouldn't have to defend myself and others having basic human rights. I shouldn't have to explain why I need surgery to fix my body, why it's medically necessary for me to move forward with my life. I shouldn't have to explain that I'm not mentally screwed up or delusional. I shouldn't have to explain the difference between gender reassignment surgery and female genital mutilation. I shouldn't have to dispel this "dude in a dress" bullshit day after day after day after day. I shouldn't have to defend my relationship with Christ from people who say I can't be Christian and transgender. I should be able to attend a Bible study for women, I should never be told I'm not woman enough. I used to go into these things with an open heart. But now it's a war every day and I'm furious, and I'm so full of anger and pain I'm shaking as I type. This is so beyond unfair. This is unjust. But I won't stop fighting. I don't have a choice.

Crazy Jackass on Twitter

First I need to apologize for the language, but I am so pissed right now. I think I've got like one reader left, so hi Sweet One <3

I got the steaming pile of shit below off Twitter.

Anyone who reads this knows I'm not supportive of Trump at all, as evidenced by other posts on the subject. An early church historian called Nero a noxious wild beast. I think that applies to Trump as well, but his assassination would throw the US into crisis, and I would be devastated. Not because I like Trump, but because the President of the country I love so much was murdered. To paraphrase Augustine "America is a whore, but she's still my mother."

Another reason I hate this Tweet, is because Conservatives will see this, and be all like "typical liberal, violent and crazy" and I'll be lumped in with this dick head. Thanks a lot, asshole.

I just realized he sent that to Speaker Ryan too. Great. Psychotic and stupid.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I am Jack's rampant hypocrisy

I'm probably going to lose some of the two readers I have, but this is important for me to say. I'm not excusing Donald Trump's words or behavior toward women. Please understand I'm eating buckets full of pride with this post, this isn't something I'm very happy about, and I'm still not voting for him.

Donald Trump has said some horrible things about women, and has sexually assaulted some. I initially was angry, and hurt, because for all of his shortcomings I do respect him. I wish he wasn't such a lecherous jackass, but you take the good with the bad.

 I was taken to the woodshed by God for not forgiving him. Emotionally, it was excruciatingly painful for me. I cried, I threw a fit, but in the end, I realized that I fall far short of God's best for me multiple times a minute every day. And I ask God to forgive me and try to do better. But what right do I have to ask for forgiveness, if I have no forgiveness for others? So I got smacked in the face with my own hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Two things I didn't realize were there, and that revelation made me hate myself.

So, DJ, if you ever read this, I'm sorry for holding forgiveness from you, while asking it for myself. I do forgive you, and I do love you. Let's both try harder to be better people.

Letter to Arec Barrwin

Alec,

I'm a transsexual. I get all kinds of shit flung at me, almost daily, so I understand how something like what the New Yorker said could hurt. It sucks when people talk trash about you, especuially if it isn't true. I deal with criticism by proving my detractors wrong , for example, those like me are labeled 'perverts', I live a celibate and single life to prove them wrong. I live above criticism. I know that for the most part so do you (the cocksucker thing was a bit much, but we all snap, I totally get it), so don't let what they (anyone) say hurt you. You're an awesome hubby and Daddy, and you've been knocked down several times in your career, but you always get back up. So get up, Alec. Your fans (including me) have and always will love you. We've got your back. Fuck the New Yorker. Prove them wrong.

All the Best,

Traci Kristine