Lucius

The GOP will now put forth their Care Reconciliation Action Plan, followed by Strong Health Improvement Tactics.
 
If those don't fly, they'll try Family Universal Care for Kids, Youths, and Oldsters United.

If You Hear Someone Getting Harassed In An Online Game, Don't Stay Silent
 

You will be going on a journey. You would be wise to pack many weapons.
 
 
 
Soldier of Fortune Cookie
 
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Have palindromedary, will travel

And The Gods looked upon Their world, and found it good.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
SATOR
AREPO
TENET
OPERA
ROTAS

At least when Hero tried their version of the stunt, they had enough sense not to put a person behind the book.

Had an absolutely amazing Star Wars session last week, which mostly consisted of an extended crash sequence. There's no way I can do the whole thing justice, but here are a few highlights.
 
Our ship was smuggling Princess Leia (who in this continuity has become a Jedi) and a platoon of Rebels onto Endor so they can blow up a certain shield generator protecting a certain Death Star under construction. But our heavily jury-rigged systems gave out right as we hit atmo, causing a cascading systems failure throught the ship.
 
As our YT-1300 makes like a particularly-unbalanced falling rock, our Rhodian Navigator tries to make his way back to engineering to help with repairs. But despite having the best Athletics roll of any of us, he manages to fail literally every Athletics check and plays slapstick comic relief for a few turns.
 
Meanwhile my Protocol Droid PC manages to make his way to the bridge and climbs into the co-pilot seat to try and help our Captain/pilot regain control.
GM: "You realize one of the things making the ship so unbalanced and non-aerodynamic is your massively oversized sensor dish. You think cutting it loose would help balance the ship out."
Captain and Navigator: "Noooo! That dish is awesome!"
GM: "Fortunately/unfortunately the only opinion that counts in the person with their fingers on that switch."
Droid: "Would those be my fingers?"
GM: "Yep."
Droid: "Oh yeah, I don't even hesitate - cut it loose."
GM: "Great! The dish spins out ahead of you like a massive metal frizbee, eventually plowing into the trees below..."
Droid: "Wait wait!" [flips over a Destiny Point]* "How many Ewoks does the dish kill on the ground?!"
GM: "Oh yeah, it totally slices through two of those ginormous tree cities. Dead teddy bears everywhere!"
 
* Like spending a Hero Point or Bennie or whatever.
 
Meanwhile in the cargo bay...
GM: "Leia is using Force Suggestion to try and keep the other Rebels from freaking out. "Remain calm....All is well...""
Player 1: "If the cabin loses pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling. Put your own mask on first because screw that guy...."
 
Back in the cockpit, my Droid co-pilot has managed to fail every single Piloting Roll; not badly enough to screw us, but nothing to help out the Captain.
Droid: [pounds his console in frustration] "Is this thing even on?!"
Captain: [leans over, throws a toggle switch]
Droid: "...Ah. Thank you." [proceeds to make every subsequent Piloting check]
 
As we near the ground, the Navigator tries to find us a clearing to land in.
Navigator: "Gee, you know what would really help would be if we had a Big Ol' Sensor Dish or something!"
Droid: "Hey, at least the ship is right-side up now."
Navigator: "Not my department!"
GM: "OK, you think you've managed to find a clearing that might be bit enough...
Droid: "Wait wait!" [flips over another Destiny Point] "Is it the clearing made by the falling sensor dish?!"
GM: "Awesome! Yes, the dish has cut a perfect landing strip for you!"
 
Our Engineer has managed to repair enough fuel lines to restart the main engines in the nick of time. The Captain opens up a full burn to decelerate us as much as possible, pulling enough Gs to black out most of the crew but softening the crash enough that we all survive. (Tho our ship is probably damaged beyond repair.)
Captain: "As soon as I wake up, I unbuckle, pull myself over to the Navigator's console, shake him awake and yell "Tell me you got all that on camera!!""
We had briefly had a TV camera crew onboard and had kept their camera drones. So yes, we did get it!

Ummm ... this guy is still around, I see.

It's wrong but I keep hearing the Shaft theme tune

Well, for anyone who's interested in a bit of self-analysis I recommend The Righteous Mind by the aforementioned Jonathan Haight. It's his exposition of the "Moral Foundations Theory" he's developed through his years of research in political psychology. So far, he's identified six moral foundations -- standards of what constitutes good or bad behavior - that deeply, reflexively, and often unconsciously shape personal political beliefs and wider social narratives. Moreover, he finds that different self-described political orientations correlate very strongly with high valuations of different sets of moral foundations: Liberals fixate strongly on Care/Harm, to somewhat lesser degrees on Freedom/Oppression and Fairness/Cheating, and virtually ignore Loyalty/Treachery, Authority/Insubordination and Purity (or Sanctity)/Defilement. (I may not be getting these terms exactly as Haight labels them, but they are close enough.
 
(There's a complication with Purity/Defilement. Liberals score very low on conventional issues such as social limitations on sexuality, drugs, etc. But they often show a strong sense of reverence for the natural world, and disgust at its perceived defilement. So sometimes you need to look at a moral foundation obliquely.)
 
Libertarians fixate almost totally on Freedom/Oppression (no surprise), show some regard for Fairness/Cheating, and nearly ignore the other four foundations. Conservatives score about equally in all six -- which shows the frequent liberal accusation of moral simplicity is provably wrong.
 
Another of Haight's experiments involves asking people of different political persuasions to answer surveys as they imagine people of different views would, then comparing the results to the answers by people who really are of those political views. Social conservatives are consistently better at pretending to be liberals than liberals are at pretending to be conservatives.
 
Applying Haight's ideas to myself, I find that I don't fit well in any of the three political categories; the weight I give to the six moral foundations is, well, odd. (As best I can tell, anyway, from my attempts at introspection.) But people may be interested in trying to rate themselves in each of the six virtues, on a scale of 1-10, and ask how and why they feel as they do.
 
Dean Shomshak

I haven't been reading pulp, but I have been looking at pulp covers....
 
https://pulpcovers.com/tag/humansacrifice/page/6/
 
 
And just had to share this gem of description:
"Yes, the evil cult leader is spray painting the chained girl gold. No, I don't know why."
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary might hazard a guess

I don't think that would be a good idea. It would let insurance companies operate out of states with weak customer protection regulations.

This seems pertinent...
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/02/14/a-day-with-killology-police-trainer-dave-grossman/?utm_term=.7d4766aef5b5

Well, for anyone who grew up in the 70s (as Gygax and crew did), such a mixing of cultures had become a fixture of popular entertainment, and would have been thought of as pretty cool, not "odd":
 

Q: Why did the old lady fall into the well?
 
 
 

"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel" Superman.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
These aphorisms of yours just don't fly in a complex environment of palindromedaries and indoor heated variable power pools

Things being worn down over time

And Vance, God of Magic, Master of Dreams, Bringer of Change, and Lord of Luck looked about the nations forming... should he carve out one of his own? No. It wasn't needed. The City showed promise, and he liked much about it... but no, he needed a place that served his own purpose.
 
A place to shake the complacent out of their ease, to push the apathetic and dull. And so he created....
an inn/tavern and Fest hall where those who sat down for a drink, or to seek shelter on a storm, might find themselves the very next day transformed to one degree or another, and off on an adventure!  The building would change location now and then, often appearing where things overly orderly, overly traditional only to lure folks in who did not know it's true nature, and then begin their new lives of risk and possibly great reward.
 
A shy middle aged widow might find herself waking in the morning as a youthful amazon warrioress. A racist human merchant might find himself in the role of the very 'shifty  hobbit thief' he expected each to be. A farmer who never thought about going a day outside his home village might find himself a thousand miles from home the next morning but with a few spells in his head to give him a chance!
 
Secret Dreams answered (Even if some of those dreams be nightmares), Luck to be tested, and a change in life! All under the workings of a magical inn and tavern known as....
 
Geography Pick: The Twilight Tavern and Inn
 

Optional Domain: borders and liminal states. Entrances and exits, borders between nations, boundaries, places where one terrain gives way another - Arepo stands between all things that have a "between" to stand in.
 
 
Interference: Hybridization.
 
Yes, even the Kalu'un Qaroof with their ability edit their own genetics intelligently, can hybridize with other species if they want to. And as all such people are in-betweeners Arepo the Goddess of Death and Rebirth stands with them. Whoever your mother, Whoever you father, if they were not of the same People as one another, you will be known as a Child of Arepo.
 
Mythic Hero: Olivus the first child born to have heritage of all the Peoples. The virtues of all the Creator Gods were strong in him but as the ultimate hybrid he was above all the beloved of Arepo. He was a great hero who slew some of the first Outsiders to manifest openly and powerfully, and he will incarnate again and again, often among his own first incarnation's descendents but his line was only the first, not the only, lineage to unite all the world's tribes in one child. In each Age of the World he or she arises and passes away, always finding the tools and wisdom needed to confront the crisis of that Age.
 
I think I have one more pick.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
I already picked palindromedaries didn't I?

Optional Domain: borders and liminal states. Entrances and exits, borders between nations, boundaries, places where one terrain gives way another - Arepo stands between all things that have a "between" to stand in.
 
 
Interference: Hybridization.
 
Yes, even the Kalu'un Qaroof with their ability edit their own genetics intelligently, can hybridize with other species if they want to. And as all such people are in-betweeners Arepo the Goddess of Death and Rebirth stands with them. Whoever your mother, Whoever you father, if they were not of the same People as one another, you will be known as a Child of Arepo.
 
Mythic Hero: Olivus the first child born to have heritage of all the Peoples. The virtues of all the Creator Gods were strong in him but as the ultimate hybrid he was above all the beloved of Arepo. He was a great hero who slew some of the first Outsiders to manifest openly and powerfully, and he will incarnate again and again, often among his own first incarnation's descendents but his line was only the first, not the only, lineage to unite all the world's tribes in one child. In each Age of the World he or she arises and passes away, always finding the tools and wisdom needed to confront the crisis of that Age.
 
I think I have one more pick.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
I already picked palindromedaries didn't I?

The first part of the following myth is subject to veto by War and Winter. It posits relationships I regard as mythologically appropriate, but not inevitable. If repudiated, such passages will be blotted from the sacred scrolls and chiseled out of the temple inscriptions.

 
Winter and War were dining companionably with Arepo, Goddess of Death and Rebirth, when War put a question to Her.

"So tell me....animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

She raised an eyebrow and asked "We are playing twenty questions?"
 
"You know what We mean" Winter said, "When will You create or designate something sacred to You, like an ore or a crystal or poppies or My wonderful aurochs, to make your mark on our world?"
 
Arepo sat straight and shot back "You remember the First Sacrifice. It is My bones and blood and breath that form the substance of the world. What need have I to 'make my mark' upon it like a boy writing his name in the snow with his water?"
 
"What need?" laughed the Wargod, "The same need You had for reminding Us just now of what We already know! It was I Who severed You into the parts that made up our world. You touch every mortal in all beginnings and endings, even to their beating hearts, but that just means you fade into the background for them."
 
"Do not pretend to be above such things" spoke Winter, who was standing, "Create or not as You will, Lady, I must go aid an army of Giants to repel invading Dwarves." War rose and said "I too must be at that battle, to bless the bold and curse the cowards."
 
"Enjoy yourselves" said the Goddess, "I'm already there. I am everywhere."  But she smiled after they were gone, for She did not after all intend to fade into the background.
 
When She was satisfied with her creature, she made many of them, and then showed one to the First Priest, who had incarnated among the Bamfs.. "That beast" he said "Looks like two front halves of the same camel." She said "Wait until you see all of them together." And he said "You made a herd of them?" "Nay, call it an unherd of them, for until I made them they were unheard of." "What will you call it?" "I call it palindromedary, that which runs each way alike."
 
And Arepo sent the palindromedaries forth into the world, giving them messages for mortals.
 
A palindromedary went among kallu'un qaroof, and said "Nipson anomemata me monan opsin" but it was all Greek to them, so they ate it.
 
A palindromedary found a gathering of Brownies and said "Nipson anomemata me monan opsin" and they understood and washed the palindromedary's faces and fed it alphabet soup and let it rest in an unstable before each confided to it about their failings and shames, before sending it back to Arepo.
 
A palindromedary came among a group of Alephs in meditation and knelt among them in silence, and they understood its silence perfectly, and when it repeated itself backwards they understood that as well.
 
A palindromedary came among a group of Palladians, and said "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" and when they asked it courteously to repeat that backwards it did so from its other mouth, and then they demonstrated the profundity of their understanding by themselves reciting it sideways.
 
A palindromedary found a band of Dwarves and said "Live not on evil" and they understood and rejoiced to be called back to their better selves.
 
A palindromedary went among Humans and said "Repel evil as a live leper" and they claimed to understand but soon fell to arguing whether it meant that one who is virtuous is therefore repulsive to evil and to evil things, or if it meant that those who do evil should be cast out and shunned.
 
A palindromedary went aboard a ship of the Sky Elves, and said "in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni" and whether or not they understood, they were flying over the land, and so they were surely stood under.
 
A palindromedary went to a town of Hobbits and said in "Live not on evil" and they understood and said "you took the words right out of our mouths"
 
A palindromedary went among the Sea Born and said "Doc, note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod." And those who had grown fat by trading with the surface folk understood and realized they could improve health by eating land grown delicacies only in moderation and consuming more of the foods from their own realm.
 
A palindromedary found a war party of Giants and said "Evoles ut ira breve nefas sit; regna!" from one mouth, and from the other said "Anger? 'Tis safe never. Bar it! Use love!" They understood and promised to think it over.
 
A palindromedary came in between three Dragons and said  "in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni" and they understood and with suitable ceremonies and incantations returned it to Arepo via incineration.
 
A palindromedary walked into an orgy of Satyrs and Nymphs and said "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" and they understood and said "Yeah, we knew Who sent you  when we saw you coming! The Word's getting around!" And one of the Satyrs said "She has promised - all that falls shall rise again, so mote it be!" and the Nymph caressing him said "Hey, it just did! Praise Arepo and lets hear it for palindromedaries!"

 
Lucius Alexander
 
Really, having one here would be redundant

The first part of the following myth is subject to veto by War and Winter. It posits relationships I regard as mythologically appropriate, but not inevitable. If repudiated, such passages will be blotted from the sacred scrolls and chiseled out of the temple inscriptions.

 
Winter and War were dining companionably with Arepo, Goddess of Death and Rebirth, when War put a question to Her.

"So tell me....animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

She raised an eyebrow and asked "We are playing twenty questions?"
 
"You know what We mean" Winter said, "When will You create or designate something sacred to You, like an ore or a crystal or poppies or My wonderful aurochs, to make your mark on our world?"
 
Arepo sat straight and shot back "You remember the First Sacrifice. It is My bones and blood and breath that form the substance of the world. What need have I to 'make my mark' upon it like a boy writing his name in the snow with his water?"
 
"What need?" laughed the Wargod, "The same need You had for reminding Us just now of what We already know! It was I Who severed You into the parts that made up our world. You touch every mortal in all beginnings and endings, even to their beating hearts, but that just means you fade into the background for them."
 
"Do not pretend to be above such things" spoke Winter, who was standing, "Create or not as You will, Lady, I must go aid an army of Giants to repel invading Dwarves." War rose and said "I too must be at that battle, to bless the bold and curse the cowards."
 
"Enjoy yourselves" said the Goddess, "I'm already there. I am everywhere."  But she smiled after they were gone, for She did not after all intend to fade into the background.
 
When She was satisfied with her creature, she made many of them, and then showed one to the First Priest, who had incarnated among the Bamfs.. "That beast" he said "Looks like two front halves of the same camel." She said "Wait until you see all of them together." And he said "You made a herd of them?" "Nay, call it an unherd of them, for until I made them they were unheard of." "What will you call it?" "I call it palindromedary, that which runs each way alike."
 
And Arepo sent the palindromedaries forth into the world, giving them messages for mortals.
 
A palindromedary went among kallu'un qaroof, and said "Nipson anomemata me monan opsin" but it was all Greek to them, so they ate it.
 
A palindromedary found a gathering of Brownies and said "Nipson anomemata me monan opsin" and they understood and washed the palindromedary's faces and fed it alphabet soup and let it rest in an unstable before each confided to it about their failings and shames, before sending it back to Arepo.
 
A palindromedary came among a group of Alephs in meditation and knelt among them in silence, and they understood its silence perfectly, and when it repeated itself backwards they understood that as well.
 
A palindromedary came among a group of Palladians, and said "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" and when they asked it courteously to repeat that backwards it did so from its other mouth, and then they demonstrated the profundity of their understanding by themselves reciting it sideways.
 
A palindromedary found a band of Dwarves and said "Live not on evil" and they understood and rejoiced to be called back to their better selves.
 
A palindromedary went among Humans and said "Repel evil as a live leper" and they claimed to understand but soon fell to arguing whether it meant that one who is virtuous is therefore repulsive to evil and to evil things, or if it meant that those who do evil should be cast out and shunned.
 
A palindromedary went aboard a ship of the Sky Elves, and said "in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni" and whether or not they understood, they were flying over the land, and so they were surely stood under.
 
A palindromedary went to a town of Hobbits and said in "Live not on evil" and they understood and said "you took the words right out of our mouths"
 
A palindromedary went among the Sea Born and said "Doc, note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod." And those who had grown fat by trading with the surface folk understood and realized they could improve health by eating land grown delicacies only in moderation and consuming more of the foods from their own realm.
 
A palindromedary found a war party of Giants and said "Evoles ut ira breve nefas sit; regna!" from one mouth, and from the other said "Anger? 'Tis safe never. Bar it! Use love!" They understood and promised to think it over.
 
A palindromedary came in between three Dragons and said  "in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni" and they understood and with suitable ceremonies and incantations returned it to Arepo via incineration.
 
A palindromedary walked into an orgy of Satyrs and Nymphs and said "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" and they understood and said "Yeah, we knew Who sent you  when we saw you coming! The Word's getting around!" And one of the Satyrs said "She has promised - all that falls shall rise again, so mote it be!" and the Nymph caressing him said "Hey, it just did! Praise Arepo and lets hear it for palindromedaries!"

 
Lucius Alexander
 
Really, having one here would be redundant

edit: The Myth of Summer is now considered apocryphal.

edit: I can delete this entirely if by chance D Shomshak wants to BE the God of Sumer.  
 
 
 
 
This is pure mythmaking, I am not exercising any options in this post.
 
The following myth is subject to fact-checking and approval by the Gods referenced. It implicates them in certain relationships that may be mythologically appropriate but are not inevitable. If they repudiate the tale, the relevant passages will be amended and any priests, scribes, or minstrels found trafficking in deleted mythical matter will be declared heretical and soundly mocked.

Earth and Sky have much in common - the entire horizon just to begin with - and so it was that they came together, and their joining bore fruit, and the fruit of their union was Summer.
 
Summer was a lovely God, and Arepo the Goddess of Death and Rebirth found Him fair to look upon, and craved to do more than to look.
 
One day Summer had wandered to the edge of the His Father's demesne, and trod the beach taking pleasure in the seashells and starfish he found. He heard a sweet song and looking about, spied something like a woman with the tail of a dolphin afloat on her back, lazily flexing her tail, and of course singing. "I know You" He said, for He was a God and could see Who it really was, "You are Arepo! Is something about to die or be reborn in the Sea?"  She laughed and said "I certainly hope so! Come into the water with Me, Beautiful God, I will show You wonders."
 
Now Summer knew that Water was a Realm with its own Deity, and by swimming He would put Himself beyond HIs Parents' easy reach. "Can you not bring wonders to Me?" He asked,  "Wherefore do you call Me out beyond the seeing and hearing of My Mother and Father?"
 
"Would you have Mother Sky and Father Earth see your first kiss?" teased the amorous Goddess. Summer flushed hot and shot back "What would You know of My first kiss? How do You know I have not kissed a hundred mortals, or perhaps several among the Gods?" "Have You?" She asked curiously. "I have kissed....My Mother," He said, looking Skywards as if He hoped She would put in an appearance and put an end to this embarrassing conversation. But Arepo had chosen Her time well and Summer's Divine parents were busy with One Another and in fact hoping their son would not interrupt Them at Their most pleasant business. "A mother's kiss is not like a paramour's" said Arepo, "But if You have no wish to learn the difference, stay there and admire the starfish." She lay back and gazed upwards and resumed singing as if She cared little what He might do.
 
Of course He was in the water before She finished the first stanza. When at last They broke the first kiss, She began to say "Come with Me to the grott- OH!" and there in the waves as the tide rose about Them, They went beyond kissing.
 
She took Him to the grotto as promised, then to a Temple on one of the floating Islands that was home to an order of priestesses devoted to Her, and always She veiled Him carefully from the Sight of the other Gods. She tried to feast Him on delicacies of the sea, salmon and krill-cakes and the roast claws of sea scorpions, but He betrayed an appetite only for more of Her and claimed to have no taste for food not from the Realms of Sky or Earth. . At last He spoke of visiting His parents, for surely They would be seeking Him by now, and He wished to let Them know what joy He had found. Then Arepo secured thirteen enchanted and very potent seeds of the sacred poppy and tempted Him into eating of them, so that He fell into Dreams. And She joined him in Dreams, where even Time becomes confused and lost, and She bound Him there so that He forgot His Mother and Father and Dreamed only of Her.
 
She could not always Dream with Him, for She was Lady of Death and Rebirth, but when not about Her business or Dreaming, She would often sit and admire His sleeping form, for even drowsing He was superbly beautiful. And the priestesses would bring messages, "War wishes to know when He might see You again, Lady," or "Winter would like Your leave to come for a visit soon." And She would say "Tell Him I have much to do and do not know when next I will have time for Him." But then Winter came unannounced and found her gazing upon the slumbering Summer, for She had never rescinded Her order that He be allowed even into her innermost Sanctum.
 
"What Ho?" cried the Chill God, "Is that not the missing Son of Earth and Sky? Now I know why You have been leaving Me out in the cold!" "You are ALWAYS out in the cold, You old frost giant" said the Goddess of Death and Rebirth, "now You know My secret, let us lie together to celebrate Your promise to keep it!" But He responded "And shall We Lie Together to Summer's parents? Neither Your charms nor Your power can stop Me from restoring Their child to Them."  And Winter took up Summer and bore Him away in His arms, to summon the Gods to Council, and the Goddess of Death and Rebirth made no move to interfere, for She knew better than any God that all things with a beginning must have an end. Still She defied the assembled Deities, and would not give up her claim upon the sleeping God. "It is I Who hold the key of HIs dreams" She proclaimed "And what I have taken hold of is held in the grip of Death."  And soon all voices were raised in quarrel, Earth and Sky were laying violent hands upon She they saw as their son's abductress, and Peace barely restrained War from drawing His terrible Sword. Mortals knew their world had gone amiss, for the time was marked by great sudden storms and earthquakes. No one noticed that Summer was beginning to stir.
 
Then All fell still and silent when Summer sat up and looked around and blinked and said "Is everyone fighting over ME?" His parents let go of His paramour to embrace Him, and the Goddess of Death and Rebirth looked more surprised than Anyone had ever seen Her. "How are You awake?" She asked, "I gave you thirteen poppy seeds, one for each turning of the Moon in the course of a year."  Summer said "I did not eat them all. I had said I was hungry only for more of You."
 
Now that Summer could speak for Himself, it seemed that speaking for Himself was to be demanded of Him. Wither would He go now, back to His family or back to the Goddess of Death and Rebirth? He looked thoughtfully at She who had led Him into Dream and sought to keep Him there. "This is what You meant to spare Me by keeping Me in Dreams, isn't it?" He asked. "You meant Me to taste some of the joys of adulthood but not face the making of hard choices." She confessed "I had to try, although I of all Gods know all things arise and pass away and arise again." Summer turned then to Time and Wisdom and said "I think the choice is made already, at least in part?" They nodded, and Time said "For each seed eaten, You belong to Her for one month of the year. But if all the Gods agree, I can undo even that and restore You to full freedom." Earth and Sky then clamored for that to be done, but Summer said "No. Beloved Mother and Father, I will stay with You for part of the year and with She I have chosen for the rest. It is My right to make this choice, and even You cannot dispute that."
 
And so it is that for some months each year Summer is with Earth and Sky and the world and all living things rejoice and celebrate and only Winter's hard land remains cold all the time. And during that time the Goddess of Death and Rebirth distracts Winter from His pursuits of brewing blizzards and covering the world with bitter cold. And then for much of the year Summer is hidden away and Winter rages and stalks the land with cold and hunger, as if sending Her more souls would win Her over to His side from that of the God of Warm Days.
 
And while Summer has few Temples to Himself alone, in each temple of moderate size belonging to Arepo, there is a small shrine to Summer and a similar shrine to Winter.
 
Wow, that took longer than I thought.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

I don't find fault with any of this reasoning, except for one thing.  I am greatly troubled by the shocking lack of respect for truth and the rule of law, as demonstrated by elected officials and by a very large proportion of the voting public.  It bothers me when private email servers are used to conduct government business out of the public eye.  It bothers me when lies are used to justify ruinously expensive land wars in Asia.  It bothers me when science is treated as an opinion.  And yes, it bothers me when presidents lie under oath about oral sex.
 
So today we have an administration that literally lies faster than people can keep track, which is nakedly guilty of using public office for personal gain, violated laws against nepotism, blatantly withholds financial information, lied about meetings with Russian officials and taking Russian money during security clearance interviews, tried to arrange back channel communications with the Kremlin that could not possibly have a legitimate reason to exist, and openly admitted to obstruction of justice on live national TV, ...and waaay too many people are okay with all of this.
 
Are we a nation of laws, or are we not?
 
So yeah, in theory my "side" would be better off leaving this crook in office, surrounded by the other crooks who are protecting him, and hoping really hard that somehow the next election will solve it all.  But as an American I think we would be better off actually holding crooks accountable and enforcing the laws that they break, because otherwise we will have a country not of laws, but of expedient politics.  And it will not last long.

Okay, I'll start updating. Only, I can't update the original. I'll copy it and put it in a new document.
 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cVp5ULJrkVCpRauW-0TvWwEe30-K4tz5LM6SrPc-45E/pub