The pope says God made gay people just as we should be – here’s why his comments matter

Francis’s reported remarks show a new Catholic acceptance of LGBT people and confirm what many of us have always known: God doesn’t make mistakes

The Guardian, Ruth Hunt, Mon 21 May 2018

Pope Francis has reached out to LGBT people. Composite: Rex/Shutterstock

It is immensely powerful to hear that Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic church, reportedly told Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay man: “God made you like this and loves you like this.”

Cruz is a survivor of clerical abuse who spoke privately with the pope a few weeks ago, and has since reported his conversation to Spanish newspapers. His abuser, Fernando Karadima, was found guilty of abuse by the Vatican in 2011.

As a practising Catholic, I find it deeply moving to have Pope Francis appear to confirm what many Catholics already know to be true: God made us just as we should be, there are no mistakes.

Lesbian, gay, bi and trans people exist in every community, from every ethnic background and in every religion. However, religion can often be the area of life that people find the most difficult to reconcile with their identity. Some people will say that LGBT people can’t exist in faith communities; that faith communities don’t accept same-sex relationships or those whose gender doesn’t match the one that they were assigned at birth. Some believe that LGBT people can and should be “cured”. As a result of these beliefs, LGBT people often need to find a way to God despite their leaders, rather than because of them. But the pope’s reported words are a striking affirmation that LGBT people of faith belong in church and in religious communities.

I have never felt excluded from the church and have always been made to feel welcome. But I have met many people who have had different experiences; people who have been damaged by being told to deny their sexuality or who feel rejected by God.

Churches can be unifying spaces. Religions teach that God is love, so it should be integral that all members of the community and their relationships are respected. Just as LGBT people need respect and acceptance in wider society, they also need to be included in their faith communities.

Francis’s reported words can help to build bridges between the Catholic church and LGBT people who have felt rejected and excluded from it. Many religious communities, groups and places of worship already include LGBT people. The church accepts that LGBT people exist, but I want us to get to a point where our love is recognised as being as valid as any other. While we have a way of celebrating our love through civil partnerships and same-sex marriage, we also need to keep working to allow LGBT people of faith to marry in church and declare their love in the eyes of God.

I would like to see the pope’s apparent openness mirrored by others in the Roman Catholic church. I want to live in a world where all people will be accepted – for their beliefs, their faith, their sexual orientation, their gender identity and everything else – without exception. The words of Pope Francis to Juan Carlos Cruz give me hope that we are moving in that direction.

Ruth Hunt is the chief executive of Stonewall UK

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"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Pastor Curry spices up royal wedding with power of love

Yahoo – AFP, Joseph STENSON and Pauline FROISSART, May 19, 2018

Bishop Michael Bruce Curry gave an impassioned address during the wedding
ceremony (AFP Photo/Owen Humphreys)

Windsor (United Kingdom) (AFP) - US pastor Michael Curry fired up Britain's royal wedding on Saturday with some dramatic oratory about the power of love that bemused the royal family but made him a social media hit.

Curry, the first African-American leader of the US Episcopal Church, opened his full-throttle sermon in front of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle by quoting Martin Luther King.

"We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world," he said, quoting the US civil rights icon.

With rhetorical flourish, the 65-year-old from Chicago said: "There's power in love. Don't underestimate it. Don't even over-sentimentalise. There is power, power in love.

"I'm talking about some power. Real power. Power to change the world," said Curry, who heads up the US branch of the Anglican church and is renowned as an animated and lively preacher.

Members of the royal family looked visibly bemused, not only at the lectern-banging, theatrical style and impassioned content -- but also his lengthy, off-script freestyling.

'Extraordinary and powerful'

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the world's Anglicans who married the happy couple, called it an "extraordinary and powerful sermon".

In the Windsor streets, crowds of royal fans watching on giant screens reacted with amusement at his 13-and-a-half-minute speech.

"He's STILL going on!" one man shouted from the crowd.

Kristin Glithero, 45, from nearby Wokingham, told AFP: "I wasn't expecting this American preacher. It is nice to see something a bit different.

"His message was lovely and the way he delivered it was very powerful. But maybe too long for the British public!"

At a street party in east London, retiree Janet Price, 69, told AFP: "It didn't go down well with some of the royals, judging by their faces."

Watching on a giant screen in Leeds, northern England, David Fryer said: "There was one little blip in the proceedings where the archbishop of wherever he was from just went on -- and on, and on, and on."

Star of the show

But reactions on social media were far more positive and he was trending worldwide on Twitter.

Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine, said he had stolen the show, as maid of honour Pippa Middleton did with her figure-hugging dress at her sister Kate's 2011 wedding to Prince William, Harry's brother.

"If Pippa was the unexpected star of Kate's wedding, Michael Curry is the star of this one. Wonderful, wonderful sermon," he wrote, offering the preacher a column.

Formula One commentator David Croft said: "I haven't heard anyone talk as passionately as that about the Power Of Love since Huey Lewis and the News."

The Times newspaper columnist Hugo Rifkind tweeted: "I love how the entire British royal family is visibly dying of embarrassment because somebody is shouting openly about love at a wedding."

Curry also referred to slaves singing spirituals about the healing power of love in their captivity.

The ancestors of Doria Ragland, the African-American mother of bride Meghan Markle, were slaves and her surname is that of a slave owner.

"I cannot believe there is a pastor talking about slave spirituals at a dang royal wedding. Hello 21st century," wrote one Twitter user, @kateyrich.

"This Reverend just won the Royal Wedding," wrote @nat_sinclair93.

Curry's sermon also featured lighter moments.

"Two young people fell in love and we all showed up," he told the crowd, prompting an outburst of laughter.

Finishing up, he turned to the couple and smiled, exclaiming: "We gotta get y'all married!"

The royal newlyweds kissed in front of the Windsor crowds (AFP Photo/Danny Lawson)

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave Windsor Castle for an evening reception at Frogmore House pic.twitter.com/q2MeMD1Y7C

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 19, 2018

UN votes to send war crimes probe to Gaza

Yahoo – AFP, Nina LARSON, 18 May 2018

Delegates gather for a special session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights
Council which voted to send a team of war crimes investigators to probe the
deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

The UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

The UN's top human rights body voted through a resolution calling on the council to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry" -- the UN rights council's highest-level of investigation.

Only two of the council's 47 members, the United States and Australia, voted against the resolution, while 29 voted in favour and 14 abstained, including Britain, Switzerland and Germany.

The text said the team should investigate all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018, ... including those that may amount to war crimes."

The special UN session comes after six weeks of mass protests and clashes along the Gaza border with Palestinian refugees demanding the right to return to their former homes inside what is now Israel.

The violence has claimed more than 100 Gazan lives, with 60 Palestinians killed and thousands injured in a single day of protests that coincided with Monday's move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein at 

a special session of the UN Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war 

crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

'Horrific events'

Opening the special session earlier Friday, UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein slammed the "wholly disproportionate" use of force by Israeli troops and backed the call for an international probe.

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," he said.

But Zeid insisted that many of those injured and killed on Monday "were completely unarmed, (and) were shot in the back, in the chest, in the head and limbs with live ammunition", he said, saying there was "little evidence of any (Israeli) attempt to minimise casualties".

He said, "some of the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used slingshots to throw stones, flew burning kites into Israel and attempted to use wire-cutters against the two fences between Gaza and Israel."

But he added: "these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force."

Israel has justified its actions, arguing it was necessary to stop mass infiltrations from the blockaded Palestinian enclave which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.

Israeli ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Aviva Raz Shechter, meanwhile slammed what she called a "shameful" and "biased" resolution.

"Hamas is the aggressor. Hamas is the one committing war crimes," she said, insisting that with Friday's resolution, the Human Rights Council "has reached a new height of hypocrisy".

"This resolution is void of any sense, and deserves nothing less than being torn apart."

Israel's Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter gestures during a special session of the 

United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war 

crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

US representative Theodore Allegra also lamented the council's "biased focus on Israel", charging that the resolution had a "one-sided focus, without any call for investigation of Hamas".

Delegates gather for a special session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

Israel's Ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter gestures during a special session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces

US representative Theodore Allegra gestures during a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council which voted to send a team of war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

EU vows to block blow of US Iran sanctions

Yahoo – AFP, Danny Kemp with Dana Rysmukhamedova in Astana, May 17, 2018

Iran once again faces US sanctions after Donald Trump's shock decision to quit
the nuclear deal (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The EU said Thursday it will begin moves to block the effect of US sanctions on Iran as efforts to preserve the nuclear deal with Tehran deepened a transatlantic rift.

The decision came as Russia and China took some of their most concrete moves yet to extend their economic influence in Iran, in the face of renewed US efforts to choke off Tehran.

US President Donald Trump last week controversially pulled Washington out of the 2015 international deal with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

European companies that invested in Iran after the deal are already taking fright, with French energy giant Total warning it could pull out, and Danish shipping giant Maersk and German insurer Allianz also saying they plan to wind down activities there.

After EU leaders discussed Iran at a meeting in Bulgaria, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the bloc would start measures on Friday to ease the effect of the US sanctions on European companies.

"We will begin the 'blocking statute' process, which aims to neutralise the extraterritorial effects of US sanctions in the EU. We must do it and we will do it tomorrow morning at 10:30," Juncker said at the summit in Sofia.

The "blocking statute" is a 1996 regulation originally created to get around Washington's trade embargo on Cuba, which prohibits EU companies and courts from complying with specific foreign sanction laws, and says no foreign court judgments based on these laws have any effect in the European Union.

However, the Cuba row was settled politically, so the blocking regulation's effectiveness was never put to the test, and its value may lie more as a bargaining chip with Washington.

'It's not a joke'

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that one reason for the efforts to prop up the Iran deal is "so that our businesses can remain" in Iran.

The EU leaders pledged at the meeting to keep a united front against Trump, whose decisions to pull out of the Iran deal and to impose trade tariffs on Europe have triggered the worst transatlantic crisis since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

EU President Donald Tusk renewed attacks on Trump at the summit Thursday, suggesting that the US administration was now as unpredictable as Iran's regime.

"The real geopolitical problem is not when you have an unpredictable opponent or enemy, the problem is if your closest friend is unpredictable. It's not a joke now," Tusk told a news conference with Juncker.

Tusk on Wednesday had slammed Trump's "capricious assertiveness", comparing him to Europe's traditional adversaries Russia and China, and saying Trump's approach had left the EU with "no illusions" that it could rely on anyone else.

China, Russia and EU members Britain, France and Germany were also signatories of the Iran nuclear accord, and have said they will stick to the deal if Tehran respects its terms.

Beijing and Moscow have also stepped up efforts to save the deal.

On Thursday, a Russian-led trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran and signalled plans to negotiate a free trade zone.

In the Kazakh capital Astana, the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran that lowers tariffs on hundreds of goods.

Russian firms have less to lose from bucking US sanctions. Many major Russian companies are already operating under tightening US sanctions over Moscow's seizure of Crimea and its role in the Ukraine crisis.

'Reinforce China'

Meanwhile, Iran's oil minister said that Chinese state-owned oil company CNPC was ready to replace Total on a major gas field project in Iran.

Beijing also signalled that it intends to continue "normal and transparent practical cooperation with Iran".

The US says its sanctions apply to any transactions that are conducted in dollars, which are used in most international transactions, in particular in trading of crude oil.

But China has for years been working to increase trade using its currency and in March a yuan-denominated oil contract was launched in Shanghai.

Trump's withdrawal from the deal is now likely to boost China's influence in the region, a European diplomatic source warned.

"The Iran issue will probably reinforce China in the region, because the European businesses that can't take on the cost of difficulties on their American markets will leave an important gap for a power that seems to have no problem with taking their place," the source said.

North Korea to join efforts for total nuclear weapons test ban

Yahoo – AFP, May 15, 2018

North Korea's missiles are regularly paraded in the capital Pyongyang but
estimates of its arsenal vary (AFP Photo/KCTV)

Geneva (AFP) - North Korea plans to join international efforts to implement a total ban on nuclear weapons tests, it told the United Nations disarmament body Tuesday.

"DPRK will join international desires and efforts for a total ban on nuclear tests," North Korea's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Han Tae-song said in an address to the Conference on Disarmament, using North Korea's official acronym.

His comment came amid a recent whirlwind of diplomacy and outreach by the long isolated regime.

Dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Kim last month announced that his country would halt its own nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, which was widely hailed as an important step towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

But Pyongyang has yet to rejoin the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it withdrew from in 2003.

It is also one of eight countries with nuclear test capacity, including the United States, China and Iran, which have so far failed to either sign or ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, blocking it from taking effect.

Han, who made no reference to the treaties, told the UN assembly that his country aimed to make more "efforts to achieve the development of intra-Korean relations, defuse acute military tensions and substantially remove the danger of the war on the Korean peninsula."

"It will make sincere efforts... to establish a durable lasting peace mechanism" with its neighbour to the south, he said, urging the international community to "extend its active support in encouraging and promoting the current positive climate."

'Historic opportunity'

US ambassador Robert Wood meanwhile told the same forum that his country "welcomes the professed commitment by North Korea to end nuclear tests and missile launches and the shut-down of its nuclear test site."

The United States, he said, was looking forward to the June 12 summit between Kim and Trump, who only a few short months ago were swapping insults and both openly threatening devastating direct action.

Trump last year threatened North Korea with "fire and fury".

Wood described the summit as "a historic opportunity to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula."

"We hope North Korea will seize the moment and take the bold steps necessary to lead North Korea to a peaceful and prosperous future."

The recent diplomatic frenzy comes after tensions on and around the peninsula had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes attracted increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the US, EU, South Korea and others.

Asked about the continued threats of sanctions from Washington, Han warned Tuesday that they were "a dangerous attempt to ruin the hard-won atmosphere of dialogue."

Satellite photos indicate North Korea has begun dismantling its nuclear test site ahead of a historic summit with UShttps://t.co/cwjDJpJGie pic.twitter.com/Y0PWgDPAz7

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 15, 2018

Pompeo: US will help make NKorea rich if it disarms

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2018

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has met twice with North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un in the run-up to US President Donald Trump's summit with Kim, set for
June 12 (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that if North Korea agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal, Washington will work with Pyongyang to rebuild its tiny economy.

"If North Korea takes bold action to quickly denuclearize, the United States is prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on par with our South Korean friends," he said.

Pompeo was speaking after talks with his South Korean opposite number Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to prepare for a historic June 12 summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Some observers are concerned that South Korea's desire to build peaceful ties with the North may distance it over time from the US policy of seeking nuclear disarmament at any cost.

But both Kang and Pompeo insisted that they agreed on the need for the "total, complete, permanent and verifiable" denuclearization of the divided peninsula.

And Pompeo said the United States would remain on board to help develop the North's economy, which has been devastated by its own mismanagement and crippling international sanctions.

Pompeo has had two recent meetings with Kim to prepare for the summit and, last weekend, to negotiate the release of three Korean-Americans held in the North's jails.

He said he had had good conversations with Kim, who he found to be a focused and rational interlocutor.

"We had good conversations, conversations that involve deep complex problems, challenges, strategic decisions that chairman Kim has before him," Pompeo said.

The pair, he said, talked "about how it is he wishes to proceed and if he's prepared, in exchange for the assurances that we're ready to provide him, if he is prepared to fully denuclearize.

"We'll require a robust verification program, one that we would undertake with partners around the world which would achieve that outcome," he warned.

But he added: "I'm confident that we have a shared understanding of the outcome that the leaders want -- certainly President Trump and chairman Kim, but I think president Moon as well."

"I think that we have a shared vision for what we hope. I think there's a complete agreement about what the ultimate objectives are," he said.

VIDEO US Secretary of State Pompeo says there is "complete agreement about what the ultimate objectives are" in terms of the much-anticipated summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/eftumE7qik

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 12, 2018

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Trump v Mueller: to speak or not to speak

Yahoo – AFP, May 2, 2018

Special Counsel Robert Mueller (L) is probing possible obstruction of justice as
 well as collusion in Russia's meddling in the US elections (AFP Photo/
SAUL LOEB, Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants to interview Donald Trump, and his questions indicate he is probing what the US president knew of frequent contacts between his election campaign and Russia, and whether he tried to obstruct the investigation.

But so far Trump has resisted, and his lawyers are already signalling a possible showdown over his constitutional powers. The apparent Plan B from the White House is to convince voters -- and Congress -- that Mueller's investigation is an illegal witch hunt.

Does Trump have to speak to investigators?

Not absolutely. Since George Washington, US presidents have invoked executive privilege to protect confidential information involving White House business.

In 1974, special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski sued president Richard Nixon to obtain tapes of White House conversations. In a landmark unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court said executive privilege has limits, and that Nixon had to release the tapes because they contained important evidence in a criminal proceeding. The tapes proved deeply damaging and, facing impeachment, a month later Nixon resigned.

"Executive privilege is contestable," said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and author of a book on the issue.

"Even though the president has secrecy rights, and may claim under certain circumstances executive privilege, that power has to give way to the needs of criminal justice in an investigation of possible high-level wrongdoing."

What are the risks for Trump?

Mueller has the upper hand, legal experts say. He can demand a face-to-face interview with the president, with Trump's attorneys present. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Mueller has already threatened a more severe alternative: a subpoena for Trump to testify in front of a grand jury, without the lawyers.

For a president with a penchant for speaking his mind, face-to-face questioning with Mueller, a tough former prosecutor and ex-FBI director, is fraught with risks. Trump could easily be caught lying, or reveal new information damaging to himself.

Indeed, his lawyers have already floated the idea that the Mueller interview is an attempt to catch the president out. On Wednesday Trump himself tweeted that the obstruction investigation is "a setup & trap".

But faced with a subpoena, the lawyers could pursue a compromise, as in president Bill Clinton's 1998 perjury case.

Then, special prosecutor Ken Starr subpoenaed Clinton to testify in front of a grand jury over the allegation that Clinton had lied under oath about having sex with Monica Lewinsky.

Not prepared to fight the subpoena, Clinton offered to answer Starr's questions directly, with his lawyer present but without the grand jury. In a compromise, Starr agreed to Clinton testifying under oath to the grand jury from the White House by video, with his lawyers present.

Can Trump refuse to testify?

Trump can still refuse to testify, claiming presidential immunity. That could force Mueller to sue the White House, and the case could head to court, where the Nixon ruling would loom large.

"The precedent is pretty terrible for the president's position," said Andrew McCanse Wright, an associate professor at Savannah Law School.

Wright points out that Trump has already liberally spoken about details of the Russia case, arguably undermining his claim of privilege.

Trump can also refuse to speak claiming his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

"But it would be a disaster politically," leading the public to assume Trump's guilt, said Wright.

What if Trump still refuses?

"It will be up to Congress at that point, whether to impeach the president," said Rozell. "At that point, I think it could get really ugly."

What is Trump's strategy?

The White House has yet to officially rule out Trump answering Mueller's questions in one form or another. But analysts say Trump appears to be preparing for the worst case, a possible impeachment battle in Congress.

There he would need the entire Republican majority on his side to survive in office. By branding the Mueller probe a politicized "witch hunt", Trump and Republican supporters are already trying to shore up their defenses.

"This isn't about 'the law' anymore," said Bradley Moss, a Washington national security lawyer at the law office of Mark S. Zaid, P.C.

"The president seems well aware that his political future rests in holding the line in the Senate and avoiding conviction by that body in the context of impeachment."

"The strategy has been for the last few months -- and appears likely to remain -- a focus on discrediting the integrity of the investigation," he said.

"So that no matter what Mueller ultimately finds or concludes there is no way the president's political base will ever accept it."

In the meantime, the White House confirmed Wednesday that Ty Cobb, Trump's lead lawyer in dealing with the Mueller probe, is stepping down -- the latest in a series of departures from the president's legal team as it debates whether Trump should agree to be interviewed.

He is reportedly to be replaced by Emmet Flood, a Republican defense lawyer who represented Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.

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"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)

".... The Wild Card of 2016

Remember: No emotion now. You have come from another planet and you’re looking at the end of 2016 – and there is the election. Understand without bias.

So for 2016, let’s do the numerology. You add the numbers and get nine. Nine is completion in simple numerology, and when you see a nine it often means the completion of something. Often it is of a time cycle, an energy or the completion of a paradigm. But it’s very strong.

The nines are stronger than many of the other numerological aspects and you feel them. The president-elect (at this writing) is a strong wild card. He is scheduled to become the 45th president. What a coincidence! Forty-five is a nine. A nine and a nine together are more than significant. They tell a story about what is happening. I will tell you something else. This story is not finished yet and there is more coming. You don’t know what you don’t know, so don’t make up your mind in advance about any outcomes. You’re from another planet, remember? There’s no emotion, no bias, no politics and nothing to judge. Look at it for what it is.

A big stick has just been inserted into what is normal and it’s going to be turned. As the big stick turns, other things will respond that never would have responded otherwise. I wish to tell you, dear one, old soul, relax with upcoming wild cards. They do what they do on purpose so that you will have a better civilization in the future. Sometimes they show you what won’t work, and sometimes they change paradigms that would have never changed otherwise. But what you have now is a profound wild card. That is the message.

It’s so common for you to respond certain ways when you are invested in the process. The knee-jerk reaction is expected or you wouldn’t be a Human. However, for this lesson, you’re from another planet and you’re looking down and you’re seeing it. Pretend.

Isn’t that interesting about a nine and a nine together? It means that truly the end of something is here. Perhaps it’s the end of the old way things were done? Perhaps it’s a shake-up of the system so it can correct itself? Don’t dare make up your mind where it’s going, because it’s not finished yet. However, wait a moment. Did you also realize that 2017 is a “one” year? Not only is the energy one of completion with a double nine, but it moves into “a new beginning” (the definition of a one in numerology).

I have more to tell you about numerology, and also something that will be clearer about this whole situation. I will give this to you in the next channelling.

Can you relax in the face of uncertainty when it’s your own country? Can you relax in the face of not knowing what’s next? When you’re so involved, can you disengage from either side of the fray? That is the test of a Lightworker.

There’s something else coming. Dear ones, this is beautiful. No matter what you think and no matter what your reaction is to this channelling, what is happening is correct for your time and needed for your immediate future. I will speak of this later. The beauty is when you step away and see how grand it is, that Spirit cares enough that it would allow a big stick to occur that would stir your complacency at this time. The real reason? The shift is here.

How do you feel? I want you to relax and smile at what the shift has brought you. For those of you who felt all the “shift talk” was nonsense, this may be your wake-up call. It’s real. Here it comes.

This is the message of the day. I am Kryon, in love with humanity, and for good reason.

And so it is.

KRYON

"The Field Part Two" - Aug 7, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - ("The Field" - Text version)

"... Interaction with Others

There's another attribute as well. This is difficult to talk about because it has to do with Human nature, personality, old bad habits and fears. It's personal, but necessary to bring forward. Let me ask you: For anyone listening or reading right now, how do you talk to others? What's the natural, neutral point? I'm asking the audience who is listening and reading now. Perhaps you would say, "Well, I have to be a little forceful to get what I need because I live in a difficult place. So I approach things perhaps with a little more aggressiveness than most people do." I would ask you this question, "Does that mean you are unkind to them?" The response: "Well, I don't mean to be, but sometimes they say I am. But this is the only way I can get what I need." And I say, "Really?"

Something is going to happen soon, and I want to tell you what it is because of The Field. Dear ones, for many years I have said that within this new energy there can be no more fence-sitting. What I mean by this is that you cannot claim to be one thing and then go out and be another. This has many names, but the fence-sitter is the best. For example, you like my message, but you don't want to necessarily commit to these esoteric things when the channel is over.

How do you treat the server who comes to your table when you have dinner? Is this person a servant or family? How do you treat those on the road who cut you off? What do you say about others when they're not present? Now, you might say, "Well, that's good advice. Thank you Kryon. I'll be more kind." That's not what I'm telling you. I would like to tell you that there is something going on. You see, The Field wants harmony. It tries to put things together and it's starting to increase its effect. "What?" you might ask. "How can physics 'want' anything?" Water runs downhill. Does physics want that? Not on a conscious level. It creates it due to the law of gravity. What if there are also additional laws of harmony? What if harshness creates unwanted results? Stay with me.

The Field is all around you. You listen to Kryon perhaps, and you've been to esoteric meetings perhaps. You've heard everything that I have had to say about the beauty of compassion and how you're moving into the age of compassion. You've even heard what compassionate action means. You listen and you listen, nodding your head, then you go out and do whatever you want to.

When somebody is not pleasing to you, you're unkind to them. The reason? Habit. It's the only way you've lived before. Perhaps insulting people and being harsh gets you results, and that works for you? For you, it's just the way of it. Then you'll come back to our meeting, listen to Kryon, and feel very good. You're very spiritual until you leave the meeting. Then the habit continues. This isn't going to work anymore, at all. Let me tell you why.

Dear ones, The Field wants to create harmony and put things together. If The Field cannot put things together, things become more unbalanced than ever. If water can't flow downhill in a groove, it spills over into places and it creates floods and destruction. How would you like to age faster and die quicker? If that's what you want, then continue, fence-sitter, because you're very cellular structure will be pushed by The Field towards harmony, which you reject due to your habits. That rejection creates unbalance in your chemistry. That will result in unbalance in your personality. There is still another attribute for this unbalance, and some of you will feel it and wonder why you're so tired all the time. Are you somehow fence-sitting?

This is so profound, yet many of you don't even know it's happening. I will tell you that the ones who have learned compassion will live a lot longer. Right now, things are happening that we told you might happen if you passed the marker. When I got here 26 years ago, I told you to expect some of these things and now they're happening. One of them is this: You cannot sit on the fence. You either are connected in some way to Spirit with intent or you're not. You can't pretend, because your body knows.

Dear ones, this is not a punishment, but rather a balance within a physical system. It's a system of beauty. It wants to harmonize that which you do, and it's a very benevolent system. There are those who say, "Well Kryon, I hear you. I'd like to do this; I'd like to harmonize more but I've had a whole life of this habit. It's just the way I work. What can I do?" Here's what I want to tell you: With this new energy comes a much higher reaction to a certain given consciousness. Your intent and affirmations to change into a more compassionate person can work miracles. Let your body hear it and The Field will hear it. Your intent is energy. The Field is energy. This is physics, and The Field will help this process for you. It's going to be the wind behind your back and you're going to find yourself thinking about things differently, looking at others differently, using different words, and changing your habit.

Many are even reporting that they have more energy due to this refreshing change. You're going to feel your cellular structure healing when it never did before. Sores on your body will heal up faster, did you know that? This is real. Hair will grow faster, nails will grow faster. The reason? Because there is a harmony here that hasn't been here for a very long time. You are creating a groove for the water that was never there before. How would you like to take everything that I've said through the years and finally apply it to your persona so that you become a more compassionate person and slower to anger? All of this is possible because The Field is on your side. Think of it as a magnificent angelic presence that is ready to help you with everything that you're asking to become - more compassionate, more master-like.

I already told you the results, and it's not just that you're going to live longer. People will notice your shift, people directly around you. If you're young enough, your children will notice. May I say, even your animals will notice! They'll come to you when they didn't before, because now you emanate peace on the patterning of your Merkabah, a multidimensional patterning that is totally different than the pattern it was before. Animals can sense this. No anger, very little drama, a peaceful countenance - you actually invite compassion!

Dear ones, I would not give you this information if it were not so. I want you to get ready for more of this. It's starting to happen everywhere on the planet, but especially I speak to old souls who are fence-sitters and wish to change. Come and enjoy the energy! You will find that the results of new compassion on others is far grander than the results of what your old habit was able to do.

It's time to come to alignment with the creative source, which is an energy of awakening all through your body. It is here for you and always has been. The easiest thing you can do is to relax and find the compassion that has always been there. These are the things that I wished to tell you today. These are the things that need to be said. This is what is happening within the shift. You're going to see it in so many ways, and you can watch it as well, for even those on the planet who are not invested in spirituality will have some similar results by applying compassion.

Listen, dear ones, old energy and dark ways will be with you for a long time, trying to re-establish themselves. Some will even tell you that you should NOT be a kind person. They will tell you that kindness is weakness, and ask you, "Do you want to be weak?" It's an old ploy to trick you into going backwards into the ways of the past, and many will buy into it. What are the results?

Those who are unkind will bring unkindness; they will bring unbalance; they will manifest their own demise. Those who are gracious and compassionate will attract that which is beautiful, and it works. Watch for it. Also, watch for the tricksters, for there is still a battle. It used to be that how you acted was neutral on this planet. Not now. There are those who would ask, "How could that person exist and be so ugly to other people? How can they sleep at night?" You've heard that before. Well, I'm going to tell you something. Those days are over and they won't sleep at night. They will create their own eventual demise. There are situations coming up that will show you this very thing.

Here's the payoff: There's more light on this planet than ever before. It creates several things, and we have said it before. Watch for the darkness to fight you like never before, and watch for The Field of harmony to invade everything. It's almost like the beauty of Mother Nature is starting to affect humanity as well. The Field will try to create symbiotic systems that work together with compassion and beauty. It's going to change Human nature and we've said that before as well. Hang in there, old soul, and expect good things no matter what you see or expected in the past.

I am Kryon, in love with humanity, congratulating you on your part of the shift.

And so it is. 

KRYON