Air Force One in the Twilight Zone

Bruno Twyla Civ 309 EMXG/QPQC

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8/19/2005 6:22:28 AM

Sports Day

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Robertson Gayle Contr 309 EMXG/QPQC <Gayle.Robertson@HILL.af.mil>

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We have been allowed a late lunch today at 1200 in conjunction with participation in the sports day afterward. If you do attend the Sports Day activities, please Let Rose know so she can annotate the time. We were thinking of meeting at Chili's on Antelope Drive around 12.

AN ALL-TIME CHILI'S FAVORITE

We have been serving up our fall-off-the-bone ribs for decades. Get a full order of Baby Back Ribs slow-cooked and smoked in-house in your choice of three flavors: House BBQ, Texas Dry Rub, or Honey-Chipotle. Served with fries & white-cheddar mac & cheese.

https://www.chilis.com/ribs

[251] 5. 1While eating they should be careful to observe temperance, decorum, and propriety both interior and exterior in everything. 2A blessing should precede the meal, and it should be followed by a thanksgiving which all should recite with proper devotion and reverence. 3While the meal is being eaten, food should be given also to the soul, through the reading of a book[4] which is devotional rather than difficult so that all can understand it and draw profit from it, or through having someone preach during that time according to what the superiors may order, or through doing something similar for the glory of God our Lord [E].

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Vice President Kamala Harris

August 12 ·

It is my honor to travel our nation as Vice President and fight for the freedom of Americans to make decisions about their own body, to love who they love openly and with pride, to be safe from gun violence and hate, and to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1084659100326245&set=a.287432416715588

"Build a dream firmament A review of the development of China's manned space program in the past 30 years Reporter Yu Jianbin and Liu Shiyao 2023-04-17 08:19 Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

On April 4, the Shenzhou 15 astronaut crew carried out the fourth out-of-cabin activity, setting a new record for the out-of-cabin activity of a single crew of Chinese astronauts. On September 1992, 9, China's manned space project was officially approved; On December 21, 2022, President Xi Jinping solemnly announced to the world in his New Year's message that "the Chinese space station is fully completed." Looking up at the sky, there is a "space home" Chinese its own in the vast space. The construction of China's space station and the construction of the national space laboratory is an important goal to realize the "three-step" strategy of manned space engineering, and an important symbol of building a space power and a scientific and technological power. 30 years of magnificent waves, the new era ten years of progress. From unmanned flight to manned flight, from one day to multiple days, from in-cabin experiments to out-of-cabin activities, from single-ship flights to space station surveys, China's manned spaceflight has emerged from scratch, spanning half a century of development in developed countries in 30 years. Fly from the blue planet to the vast starry sky, Chinese walk in space with confidence and calmness. The trajectory of spacecraft shuttling through space, and the figures of astronauts flying into space again and again, write the glorious history of self-reliance and innovation and transcendence of Chinese astronauts. Building Dreams: Building a Chinese "Space Home" "China is a big country and must become a big country in science and technology innovation." "Exploring the vast universe, developing the space industry, and building a space power are the space dreams we unremittingly pursue." Manned spaceflight is a concentrated display of the high-tech development level in the world today, and an important symbol to measure a country's comprehensive national strength. In the early 90s of last century, in the face of the new situation of rapid scientific and technological progress in the world and increasingly fierce competition in comprehensive national strength, the Party Central Committee made a major strategic decision to implement the manned space project. In September 1992, China's manned space project officially started, planning a "three-step" development strategy. The first step is to launch manned spacecraft, complete the preliminary supporting experimental manned spacecraft project, and carry out space application experiments. The second step is to break through the technology of astronauts' out-of-cabin activities and the technology of space vehicle rendezvous and docking, launch a space laboratory, and solve the problem of space applications with a certain scale and short-term manned care. The third step is to build a space station to solve the problem of large-scale, long-term manned space applications. From the successful launch of China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou V in October 2003 to the breakthrough of "zero" in many core technologies such as space capsule, rendezvous and docking, and on-orbit replenishment, after several generations of astronauts continue to struggle, China has become the third country in the world to independently master manned space-to-earth round-trip technology, space capsule technology, and rendezvous and docking technology. The "Shen Ten" mission completed the first applied flight of China's manned spaceflight; The "Shen 33" mission completed a <>-day mid-stay in space; China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-<>, and the Tiangong-<> space laboratory completed the first "space refueling"... Since the <>th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the manned space project has worked hard across the board, broken through and mastered a large number of key technologies, achieved many innovative achievements, achieved all the set mission goals of the "second step" of the manned space project, accumulated important experience for the construction and operation of the space station, and promoted China from a space power to a space power. With the third step of the manned space project, the space station stage is transferred, and the curtain of "space home" construction is opened. In the space station stage, 12 flying feats through key technology verification and on-orbit assembly and construction jointly weave this dream journey. The Tianhe core module was successfully launched, and the Shenzhou XII astronauts entered their own space station for the first time on behalf of Chinese; Shenzhou 13 astronauts completed a space flight mission that lasted for half a year for the first time... The key technology verification stage of the space station was completed as scheduled, laying a solid foundation for the space station to enter the on-orbit assembly and construction stage. the Tianzhou-2021 cargo spacecraft "grain and grass first"; Shenzhou 4 astronauts witnessed the "closing" of the three modules of the space station; "Ask Tian" and "Mengtian" were listed, and the basic configuration of the "T" character of the Chinese space station took shape; The Shenzhou 20 astronauts and the Shenzhou <> astronaut crew met in space victoriously... The space station was completed in one go, building China's "Heavenly Palace". In particular, since the launch of the Tianhe core module at the end of April <>, it took less than <> months to complete the full construction of the space station. With its excellent record of complete victory, the manned space project has run the "acceleration" of China's aerospace on the new journey of exploring the universe. In the new era, China's manned space industry continues to break records, and the Chinese space station has become a reality step by step from planning. On the evening of December 2022, 12, the Shenzhou 2 astronaut crew handed over the key to the Chinese space station to the Shenzhou <> astronaut crew. The Chinese space station officially opened the long-term manned mode. Tiangong Space Station is a space station that highlights Chinese characteristics. "If we follow the old path of others, we will always fall behind." Zhou Jianping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of China's manned space project, said. China's manned spaceflight has aimed at the world's advanced level since its inception and strived to achieve major breakthroughs in key technologies.

The Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation boldly put forward the idea of a big leap in technology, crossed the 40-year process from single cabin to multi-cabin abroad, directly developed the international third-generation spacecraft, and came up with a unique "three-cabin plan" with Chinese characteristics. Academician Qi Faxuan, the first chief designer of the Shenzhou spacecraft, said proudly: "The engines on China's space rockets and spacecraft are all our own. This is forced out of self-reliance. ” Before the construction of the space station, China's manned space project originally planned to launch three space laboratories: Tiangong-3, Tiangong-<> and Tiangong-<>. When he saw the rapid progress in the development of in-orbit propellant replenishment technology, an idea appeared in Zhou Jianping's mind: to merge the two missions of Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3, which were key technology verification for the construction of the Chinese space station. Ideas became reality, and billions of dollars were saved. Such an innovative leap is not uncommon in China's 30-year manned spaceflight history. The original integration synchronously designs the three modules of the space station to ensure the unified and optimal use of resources after the combination and reconstruction of each module; Innovative design of "horizontal 'T-shaped configuration' + dual degrees of freedom solar wing" space station configuration and common orbit flight spacecraft in-orbit service mode, greatly improving the operation economy and the convenience of technological upgrading; Independent research and development of space station robotic arm system with Chinese characteristics to meet the mission needs of the space station... The design and development of China's space station adheres to the concept of moderate scale, safety and reliability, advanced technology and economic efficiency, and generally reflects Chinese characteristics and technological progress. And it can be further expanded, leaving room for future growth. The Chinese space station, the new unique symbol of the Chinese nation, shines with the confidence and pride of China's manned space industry, and inspires everyone who moves forward for the space dream and the Chinese dream. Chasing dreams: Stepping out of the road of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics From the morning of November 2022 to the morning of December 11, 30, the three-cabin three-ship combination of the Chinese space station traveled in low-earth orbit. This 12-ton space station, with a working and living space of more than 4 cubic meters and a comprehensive technical level in the forefront of the world, is one of the only two space stations in space at present, reflecting China's comprehensive national strength and scientific and technological strength. "Strive to build a space power and a world science and technology power". China's space station is an important leading project for building a strong country in science and technology and space, and a landmark achievement in building an innovative country. The 30 years of manned space engineering is 30 years of adhering to scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement and achieving leapfrog development. When the manned spaceflight project officially began, almost everything started from scratch. Chinese astronauts braved hardships and dangers and rose to the occasion: the modern space city was erected, and a high-tech integrated command and control center and advanced aerospace monitoring and control network began to be put into use; The desolate Gobi Desert has built a world-class launch site; Lifting the "Shenzhou" flying launch vehicle, the reliability and safety reached 97% and 99.7%, respectively... When the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft, the first manned flight, returned to the ground, it took Chinese astronauts only <> years to miraculously turn the manned space system that only a few big countries have the ability to research and build into a reality. Since entering the new era, the pace of building a space power has been accelerating, and scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement have moved towards a high level. A single vehicle has developed from 8 tons to 23 tons, the on-orbit flight time has developed from more than ten days to more than 10 years, the on-orbit mission has developed from the initial short-term manned entry into space to the assembly and construction of a hundred-ton space station in orbit, and a number of astronauts have stayed in orbit for a long time, breaking through a series of key technologies such as propellant replenishment technology, regenerative health protection, power supply system, space station robotic arm, on-orbit assembly and construction, large-scale flexible combination control, on-orbit maintenance and so on... Since the 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the development of manned space engineering has always adhered to self-reliance and independent innovation, conquered more than 200 major core technologies such as rapid rendezvous and docking, space station assembly and construction, and more than 8 system-level key technologies, developed Type 3 aircraft and Type 100 carrier rockets, and the localization rate of components and core components reached <>%, embarking on a path of manned space development with Chinese characteristics. ——"Chinese Height", engraving the courage of astronauts to climb. In low-earth orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometers, the Shenzhou <> astronauts successfully built a "flyover" on the space station, and astronaut Cai Xuzhe achieved the first cross-cabin extravehicular walk through the "flyover", becoming the first person to reach the outside of the Mengtian cabin. "Thank you to all the aerospace science and technology workers." A glance at the whole picture of "Space Home" is what Cai Xuzhe wants to say the most. The realization of the dream of astronauts walking in space is supported and supported by countless Chinese astronauts who work hard day and night. Manned spaceflight is a grand system project, and the quality of China's space is guaranteed by all astronauts. A successful launch, a successful return, and a good feeling out of the capsule – more than 10,<> technicians work together to lift heroes into the sky. Sun Jiadong, the "two bombs and one star," said: "Without the power of the collective, individuals will achieve nothing." ” Adhering to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and giving play to the institutional advantages of the new national system, more than 110 scientific research institutes, more than 3000,<> scientific research units, and hundreds of thousands of scientific researchers have pooled their wisdom to tackle key problems and build Chinese their own space home. Building a space station in the vast space, every inch of progress is soaked with the sweat of astronauts. ——"Chinese precision", witnessing the ambition of astronauts to overcome difficulties. "Tianhe", "Qiantian" and "Mengtian" accurately entered orbit, "Shenzhou" anchored steadily in the space station, and the Long March 5B and Long March 2F carrier rockets shouldered heavy tasks. As China's first manned rocket, in the past 30 years, the Chang 100F rocket has participated in every step of the "three-step" strategy of manned space engineering, and has performed all manned spacecraft missions with a success rate of 0%. In order to ensure the safe entry of astronauts into space, the scientific and technological personnel of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation have made breakthroughs in solving a series of technical problems and developed a rocket fault detection and diagnosis system that can be called a world-class topic. The reliability index of the rocket was further increased to 9895.0, and the safety index reached 99996.<>. For a long time, in the field of aerospace, there has been an international practice that "the proportion of new technologies on new spacecraft does not exceed 30%". And on the Long March 90 series of launch vehicles, the proportion of new technologies reaches more than 20%! This kind of innovation is a true portrayal of China's aerospace self-reliance and self-improvement. The Long Five B rocket has gradually overcome major key technologies such as 5.<>-meter fairing design and separation, low-temperature power zero-window launch, and direct orbit with high thrust to meet the mission needs of the space station. ——"Chinese speed", full of astronauts' pride in innovation and transcendence.

On November 2022, 11, after the Chinese space station formed the basic configuration of "T" in space, it welcomed the first "visitor"-the rendezvous and docking of the Tianzhou-12 cargo spacecraft and the space station combination, creating a record for the fastest rendezvous and docking of the space station stage, allowing the rendezvous and docking time of human spacecraft to enter the "2-hour" era. From 6.5 hours to 2 hours, it marks that the rendezvous and docking mode is more diversified, more functional, and more adaptable, which is of great practical significance to the long-term on-orbit operation of the Chinese space station. The "Skylink" satellite has built an "information sky road" to achieve 100% orbital coverage of spacecraft in medium and low orbits; The new generation of flying extravehicular spacesuit escorts astronauts out of the capsule safely, which has become one of the three extravehicular suit technology systems currently used in orbit in the world; The design of advanced, comprehensive, reliable and safe spacecraft recovery landing system not only ensures the safe return of the spacecraft return module, but also allows the Shenzhou spacecraft to rush out of the atmosphere "full of confidence"... In the past 3 years, we have made a leap from a space power to a space power. With the scorching sun and the waves gushing, the Xisha Satellite Observatory is busy preparing for the space observation mission; Through the woods, climbing steep slopes, drilling culverts, the space escort detachment of the communication station at the Wenchang launch site comprehensively checked the communication lines that were hundreds of kilometers long ... From the rocket and spacecraft assembly workshop to the launch site and satellite measurement and control site, astronauts have challenged, innovated and crossed all the way in the journey of building the space station. The construction of China's space station has embarked on a path of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics. Fulfilling the dream: witnessing the youth and growth of Chinese astronauts The 30-year road to the sky and the 10-year space covenant have witnessed the leapfrog journey of China's manned spaceflight, witnessed the sonorous steps of China's space industry from big to strong, and witnessed the youth and growth of Chinese astronauts. The vigorous development of the aerospace industry in the new era has given astronauts a stage to bloom their youth—— Ten years ago, Wu Hua was one of the youngest scientific and technological personnel at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Over the years, he has grown into the youngest "No. 10" commander in the history of China's manned spaceflight, and assumed the important responsibility of "starting officer" in the spacecraft launch area. Shenzhou 0 mission, Wu Hua walked from behind the scenes to the spotlight for the first time to carry out the mission of the "No. 11" commander. He eats and lives on site every day, inspects more than <>,<> sets of facilities and equipment, and climbs the <>th-story tower I don't know how many times. "Ignite!" Wu Hua's clear and loud password sounded, showing the confidence of Chinese astronauts. The rocket refueling system arrow ground connector is connected to the rocket body and the ground refueling equipment, and it is necessary to "grasp tightly" when refueling to ensure that it does not leak, but also to "put down", and fall off in strict accordance with the instructions every minute and second. From the re-flight of the Long Five rocket to the Long Five B rocket launch Wentian experimental module, 4 years and 5 launch missions, 30-year-old Ba Quankun, a professional designer of the refueling system and equipment of the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Launch Technology, has grown from a "learning post" to a person in charge. For Ba Quankun, dry aerospace is a cause that "if you catch it, you can no longer let it go". On the journey to realize the dream, a team with the heart of "the great of the country" tempered and grown—— The blue earth and the distant deep space were presented in front of Wang Xin through the cameras equipped with the sky and the core module. "The Tianhe core module is the first module of the Chinese space station, which condenses the efforts of our entire space station development team for many years." As the deputy commander of the space station system of China's manned space project, Wang Xin was excited for the launch of the core module, and also shed tears for the Shenzhou XII astronauts to enter the core module, "Chinese entered their own space station for the first time, we did it!" ” In the past 20 years, Wang Xin's team has made unremitting efforts to tackle key problems and complete major aerospace projects. "Every astronaut has a fiery dream, and these dreams have converged into the space dream of developing the space industry and building a space power." During the mission phase of the space station, the Wenchang Cosmodrome became the home port for the construction of the Chinese space station. Liao Guorui was responsible for building the "Heavenly Palace". He successively served as the "01" commander of the launch missions of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian experimental module, and the Mengtian experimental module, and issued a loud password for the assembly of the Chinese space station in orbit; Wang Yuliang was responsible for delivering goods to "Tiangong" and served as the commander of "01" for the launch mission of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, leading the team to ensure that the materials were delivered to space on time and accurately; As the youngest female sub-system commander in the history of the launch site, Zhou Chengyu, a girl from the post-95 Tu family, is known as the "rocket girl"... Such a young team struggles at the Wenchang launch site: the average age is 33.1 years old, of which 3.4% are doctoral degrees and 32.6% are master's degrees... With the ignition of one Long March rocket after another, on the great journey of building a space power, they have integrated their personal dreams into the space dream and the Chinese dream. In the inheritance, integration and leapfrogging, the spirit of manned spaceflight continues to condense, enrich and inject new connotations of the times—— Since the beginning of the manned space project, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee and the strong support of the people of the whole country, China's manned space industry has repeatedly created "Chinese miracles" in the vast space, and at the same time, it has also cultivated and forged the manned space spirit of "special ability to endure hardships, special ability to fight, special ability to tackle problems, and special ability to dedicate" in the long history of the Chinese nation. Perseverance and truth-seeking reflect the inner character of astronauts. In order to realize the localization of space station components, Berlin Hou, deputy chief designer of the space station system of China Manned Space Engineering and researcher of the Space Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, worked with the team to overcome difficulties. In the team, the enthusiasm of the "old aerospace" who has worked for more than 30 years is undiminished, the post-70s and post-80s research and development personnel carry the banner of independent innovation, and the post-90s and post-95s are not afraid of hardship, have new visions and new technologies, and they rush together on the road to conquering more key aerospace technologies. Carefully and meticulously outline the consistent style of astronauts. The main parachute of the 1200-square-meter Shenzhou spacecraft is the largest spacecraft parachute in China so far, and every pin and every line of stitches are full of scientific rigor; The dimensional accuracy is equivalent to 1/5 of the seal of the hair, firmly locking the pressure, temperature, humidity, gas composition in the space station module, and protecting astronauts in space for a long time... In the major systems of manned space engineering, reliability and safety are a "super project", and every small technical improvement must be verified by hundreds of scientific experiments. Innovation goes beyond the unswerving pursuit of astronauts. The Yuanwang 3 ship, which has traveled to the ocean for many times, completed the maritime monitoring and control mission of the Shenzhou 100 manned spacecraft with high standards, and achieved the 20th victory in the history of the ship. More than 10 subject researches, <> utility model patents and more than <> high-quality scientific and technological papers, dozens of masters and doctors... Aspiring young people from the south and north of the sea captured target signals between the sea and the sky, and also found the coordinates of their youth value. Every question about space is the beginning of the next exploration. In the time when generations of astronauts have not forgotten their original intentions and continued to struggle, the development of China's manned space industry has written a magnificent chapter, and it will surely "fly" more steadily and farther on the new journey full of glory and dreams. People's Daily (Version 2023, 04 April 17) (Responsible editors: Peng Xiaoling, Yi Lin)"

Building Dreams - News Report-Chinese Communist Party News Network http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2023/0417/c64387-32665816.html

"A famous Jesuit General Michael Angelo Tambourini once boasted, in 1720, to the Duke of Brissac: " See, My Grace [my Lord], from this room, I govern not only Paris, but China; not only China, but the whole world, without anyone knowing how it is managed."

"Andrew Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lea and Blanchard Publ.,/New York: Richard Bentley, 1848), pp.107, 168-169; see also, Constitution of the Jesuits, edited by Paris Paulin (1843); Eugene Sue (Marie Joseph), The Wandering Jew, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1844/ New York; Harper & Brothers,, 1845), Bk I, Chap. XV, P. 183; see also, p. 618, and Bk. II, p. 21; Abrige de I'Hist. Eccles. de Racine, Chap. xii. P. 77." page 129 Chapter XII "Unhesitating Obedience: The General And The Holy Office" Codeword Barbelon book One by P.D. Stuart

"Steinmetz was fourteen years a Jesuit; see also, Constitutions of the Jesuits, ed. by P. Paulin (1843); Morale Pratique Des Jesuites: Histoire De La Persecution De deux Saints, Vol. I (Cologne, 1669), pp. 50 and 51."

"Epilogue-For Such A Time As This"

Pope Francis Lord of the World

by P.D. Stuart

"Why Kim Jong Un Unveiled Daughter During ICBM Launch

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —

When North Korean state media posted pictures of Kim Jong Un attending Friday's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the big news wasn't the rocket.

What sent analysts scrambling was a young girl with a ponytail and puffy white jacket who was shown walking hand in hand with Kim after inspecting the ICBM. Other pictures showed the girl standing next to Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, as they observed the launch from a viewing station.

Yes, that's right — Kim, one of the world's most secretive leaders, apparently unveiled a daughter at an ICBM launch.

The girl, whose name is Ju Ae, has long been the subject of rumors in South Korean and global media, but until now had never been seen in public — at least in a confirmed appearance.

The only reason the world knows her name is because former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman revealed it after meeting with Kim in North Korea during a 2013 visit.

Ju Ae, who was born around 2013, is believed to be the second oldest of Kim's three children with Ri. Their oldest child, a son, was born around 2010, according to South Korean spy agency assessments. The other children's names are not known.

In fact, next to nothing is known about Kim's family, which makes analysts wonder even more — why would he choose to unveil a daughter now, and why did he do it at a missile launch?

Theories abound. Was Kim sending a message about succession? Was it just his way of showing that he's a family man? On Twitter, many made cringe-worthy jokes about the world's most depressing "take your daughter to work day."

"This is not exactly a family trip to the zoo," said John Delury, a professor at South Korea's Yonsei University, in a written message to VOA. "No question it says SOMETHING about succession. The problem is, what?"

Kim, who is believed to be 38, is the third generation of leaders in a Kim family that has near-divine status in North Korea. Kim took over the country following the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011.

Since then, there have been repeated rounds of rumors about Kim Jong Un's health. The speculation was partly spurred by the enormous amount of weight Kim has gained in recent years, as well as several extended periods where he did not make public appearances.

If Kim were to die, it's not clear who would succeed him. His firstborn son is likely too young. His sister, Kim Yo Jong, has taken on a bigger public role in recent years, but analysts say she would struggle to overcome gender biases in North Korean society.

In this context, analysts are uncertain why Kim would unveil his daughter before he showed the world his son, who is likely ahead of her in any succession plan.

"I think we have to read it as a very early act of grooming," Delury said. "It's not entirely about 'succession' though, and we should take a deep breath. For example, the inclusion of his daughter softens the 'martial' spirit of the missile test.

"The implication is that Kim is not a warmonger, but a normal dad who cares about his kids like everyone else," he added.

But any softer message that Kim may have intended was offset by his comments at the ICBM launch, where he blasted U.S. "imperialists" and vowed to continue a policy of "nukes for nukes and frontal confrontation for frontal confrontation."

Some analysts say that by showing off his daughter at the launch of a Hwasong-17, the country's largest missile that appears designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads, Kim may be signaling that he is invested in nukes for the long haul.

"It could be his way of indicating that he expects the nuclear deterrence enterprise to be a multigenerational affair for North Korea," said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

In September, North Korea passed a new law further enshrining its nuclear weapons status, with Kim vowing to never give up his nukes or use them as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

Michael Madden, who focuses on North Korean leadership at the Washington-based Stimson Center, agrees with Panda's assessment. But he says Kim also may be trying to send a message that not only his nukes, but also his family, isn't going anywhere.

"He is showing his daughter the family legacy to which Kim Jong Un made a major contribution. This is also a way to smother out any long-term ambitions from other DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] elites about a post Kim Jong Un … political culture," Madden said.

The state media photos — particularly one that shows the profiles of Kim and his daughter watching as the ICBM soars into the sky in the background — had striking and clearly intentional optics, said Jenny Town, another Korea specialist at the Stimson Center.

"[The picture] has sort of a gravity to it — that this is now her legacy too," Town said. "It seems to underscore that this is here to stay — not something they plan to give up any time in the near future."

https://www.voanews.com/a/why-kim-jong-un-unveiled-daughter-during-icbm-launch-/6841377.html

Kim Jong Un[c][d][e] (English: /ˌkɪm dʒɒŋˈʊn, -ˈuːn/;[2] Korean: 김정은; born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984)[f] is a North Korean politician who has been supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012.[g] He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.

From late 2010, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "Great Successor". Kim holds the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs. He is also a member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of Marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. North Korean state media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un". He has promoted the policy of byungjin, similar to Kim Il Sung's policy from the 1960s, referring to the simultaneous development of both the economy and the country's nuclear weapons program. He has also revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.

Kim rules North Korea as a totalitarian state, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council report suggested that Kim could be put on trial for crimes against humanity. According to reports, he has ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia in 2017. He has presided over an expansion of the consumer economy, construction projects and tourist attractions in North Korea.

Kim expanded the country's nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and South Korea, as well as China. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and US president Donald Trump, leading to a brief thaw between North Korea and the two countries, though the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He has claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, as the country did not report any confirmed cases until May 2022, although several South Korean observers have questioned this claim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong_Un

Switzerland - The Oligarchy Strongbox

During the course of nine months, from September 1814 to June 1815, the crowned heads and their renowned diplomats had redrawn the map of Europe. They were not, however, secure in what they had accomplished. Although they scorned the theories of democratic government and opposed the doctrines of national self-determination, they feared the principles of the French Revolution. Not only had the Revolution endangered their sovereignty, it had compromised their wealth as well. The final agenda at the Congress was to remedy that problem.

The House of Rothschild had in the past played a significant role in the transport and protection of royalty's wealth, but in 1815 their banks were not in neutral nations. A nonpartisan location was needed to satisfy all parties. Austria was not acceptable. Moreover, the Merovingians were insecure in their remote headquarters in Vienna. Should the Templar Republicans revive, territory closer to the French border was more desirable for intelligence gathering. Switzerland had proven its strategic worth earlier. When the Big Four were closing in on Napoleon, Metternich had shifted Austrian imperial headquarters from Vienna to Freiburg, Switzerland, to better organize at close range his defense against the Corsican.66 Hence, the decision was made at the Congress of Vienna to create Switzerland as a bank with an army attached.67 Should the revolutions ever again regain momentum, and royalty be exiled from their respective lands, neutral Switzerland would protect them, as well as supply them with ample funds to live several lifetimes in luxury.

England, not hampered by the fears of the Venetian oligarchy and determined to safeguard her commercial and colonial interests, was fully agreed to ratify the neutrality of Switzerland. Before any financial moves were made, however, London required Swiss Grand Orients closed and replaced with Swiss Grand Lodges with English obedience. Only then would England cooperate.

In Paris on November 20, 1815, Switzerland's neutrality was guaranteed by France, Austria, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia. A century later, in 1919, at the Treaty of Versailles, neutrality was again confirmed. In 1920 the League of Nations acknowledged Switzerland as "conditioned by a centuries-old tradition explicitly incorporated in international law."68 The tradition of Swiss neutrality was again upheld from 1935 to 1945 - even while war raged around its borders.

The Congress of Vienna adjourned on June 18, 1815. Two days earlier Napoleon had been defeated at Waterloo. Over the next few decades the oligarchy's Grail bloodline moved their financial headquarters from Vienna to Zurich, Switzerland. Immediately they went to work absorbing the French Grand Orient Lodges, placing them under English Masonic obedience. Thirty-second degree Mason A.E. Waite, in A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, gives us a century of history concerning the Masonic maneuvers in Switzerland. He reports that Swiss Freemasonry was founded by the British as early as 1736. In 1775 the Swiss lodges transferred their allegiance from English Masonry to the German Strict Observance. Under Napoleon the French Grand Orient invaded Switzerland, and a certain number of existing lodges came under its obedience. Geneva was ceded to France during the wars of Napoleon, and Swiss Masonry then became an appendage of the French Grand Orient. In 1818, as demanded by London, English Masonic obedience began to replace the Grand Orients, except in Geneva where the aristocracy permitted one Grand Orient Lodge to function.69

By 1844 fourteen lodges in Switzerland had united under English obedience, agreed to a Grand Lodge Constitution, and organized the Grand Lodge Alpina in Zurich.70 Within a few decades Alpina headquarters moved to Geneva, next to its Grand Orient rival. From these two lodges, both within a neutral nation, both headquartered in the same city, Scarlet and the Beast would continue to plot their separate intrigues to dominate the world. From Geneva both the right wing and the left wing revolutions would spread over the face of the earth. In Geneva both would unite a century later.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

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The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

" In 1748 the Rite de Veilla Bru, or Faithful Scotsman, was established at Toulouse with nine degrees, the first three Symbolic, followed by the Secret Master, four Elu degrees, and the Ninth degree ' Scientific Masonry.^" " In 1750 and 1751, a Lodge styled ' St. Jean de Ecossais ' was established at Marseilles, which afterwards assumed the style of ' Scottish Mother Lodge of France.' Its regime finally consisted of Eighteen degrees, of which the Scottish Mother Lodge of France at Paris afterwards borrowed Eight."

" In 1752 a power of the High degrees was established under the pompous title of * Sovereign Council, Sublime Scotch Mother Lodge of the Grand French Globe.' It afterwards called itself* Sovereign Council, Sublime Mother Lodge of the Excellents of the Grand French Globe.' The ' Council of the Emperors of the East and West ' assumed that title also on the 22d January, 1780. — Ragon."

"In 1754, The Chevalier de Bonneville established a chapter of the High degrees at Paris, styled the ' Chapter of Clermont.' In it the Templar system was revived, and the Baron de Hund received the High degrees, there and thence derived the principles and doctrines of his ' Order of Strict Observance ' —Thory and Leveque—Ragon says, The regime of the Chapter of Clermont at first comprised only three degrees, viz., the three Symbolic, followed by the Knight of the Eagle or Master Elect, Illustrious Knight or Templar, and Illustrious Sublime Knight—but that they soon became more numerous."

" In the same year Martinez Pascalis established his rite of ' Elus C'dens ' with nine degrees. He did not carry it to Paris until 1767, where Martinism in ten degrees grew out of it." — Clavel.

" In 1757 M. de St. Gelaire introduced at Paris the ' Order of Noachites.' ^'

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THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH KITE, IN THIRTY-THREE DEGREES. KNOWN HITHERTO UNDER THE NAMES OF THE " RITE OF PEEPECTION" ^THE " EITE OF HEEEDOM" THE " ANCIENT SCOTTISH rite"—THE " RITE OF KILWINNING" AND LAST, AS THE " SCOTTISH RITE, ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED." A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING NUMEROUS AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, RELATING TO THE ORIGIN, PKO- OB£SS AND ESTABLISHMENT OP THE EITE—EDICTS, CIRCULARS, PATENTS, REGISTERS, AND THE OPINIONS OF NUMEROUS AUTHORS — ILLUSTRATED WITH "TABLETS," / BY ROBERT B. FOLGER, M. D., Past Master, 33d., iJi-SECRETARY GENERAL, &0. SECOND EDITION. ,c ^ j ;^ NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/The_ancient_and_accepted_Scottish_rite%2C_in_thirty-three_degrees_%28IA_ancientaccepted00folg%29.pdf

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us free:

free, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

free, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

free, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

On the continent of Europe, French Freemasonry is known as Scottish Rite, Grand Orient, French Grand Lodge, Continental, or Latin Freemasonry. The Templar York Rite in England was transported to America, where it remains to this day. English Freemasonry continued with the three Craft Degrees until 1860, when it adopted the thirty additional degrees of the Scottish Rite, but for competitive reasons refused to call it "Scottish." After the expulsion of the Stuarts to France, the Church of England and the British monarchy became subservient to Rosicrucian Freemasonry. Since 1737, every male monarch in Great 35 Britain has been a Mason, while the head of the Anglican Church (Church of England) is a member of the Masonic hierarchy. Masonry in England since has controlled both Church and Crown. Even today we see this alliance in effect. For example, Geoffrey Fisher, the past Archbishop of Canterbury, was a Mason. Likewise, Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch, is the Patroness of English Freemasonry, while her consort, Prince Philip, is a Freemason.62"

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Kim Jong-Un’s Regime Reportedly ‘Threw Toddler In Jail For Life’ Because Parents Owned A Bible; Other Christians Are ‘Tortured Or Executed By Firing Squad’

Story by Ariela Anís • Yesterday 10:19 PM

It is reported that officials in North Korea, under the Kim Jong-un regime, have thrown a “toddler in jail for life” after their parents owned a bible! Other Christians are even reportedly”tortured or executed by a firing squad.”

Kim Jong-Un’s Regime Reportedly ‘Threw Toddler In Jail For Life’ Because Parents Owned A Bible; Other Christians Are ‘Tortured Or Executed By Firing Squad’

In a report published by the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report, a two-year-old boy is set to spend the rest of his life in a prison camp after his Christian parents were found in possession of a Bible in their home.

The report said that the toddler and his entire family were locked up for their religious beliefs. In the country, other Christians have even reportedly been killed over their faith.

Some of these killings were even by way of a firing squad execution. One woman and her grandchild were killed this way back in 2011.

Meanwhile, other “offenders” had to face “pigeon torture,” which involved them behind suspended with their hands tied behind their backs, and not being able to sit down or stand up for days upon days.

A victim who endured “pigeon torture,” revealed that “it was the most painful of all tortures.” They added, “It was so painful, I felt it was better to die.”

Other forms of torture included depriving “offenders” of their sleep. One incident actually became fatal when one woman who was kept in solitary confinement was forced to stay awake by guards. It became so bad that the torture sent her to kill herself in 2020.

Furthermore, it is reported that under the Kim Jong-un regime, there are as many as 70,000 Christians in North Korea that have been arrested and imprisoned over their religious beliefs. This is out of a population of 400,000 people.

Due to the excessive torture and consequences of being a Christian — like with the toddler thrown in jail for life because his parents owned a bible — several thousand North Korean Christians had begun, and continue, to keep their faith from their children. Things have become so intense that they claim, “A Christian is never safe. Children are encouraged to tell their teachers about any sign of faith in their parents’ home.”

Meanwhile, according to reports, in its constitution, North Korea officially guarantees the people of its nation religious freedom. It’s also reported that as proof to support this claim, the Kim Jong-un regime has highlighted the churches that they have built in Pyongyang.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kim-jong-un-s-regime-reportedly-threw-toddler-in-jail-for-life-because-parents-owned-a-bible-other-christians-are-tortured-or-executed-by-firing-squad/ar-AA1bMVS0?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ae01603c84ae429b95787940ac62ce90&ei=32

"Pope Francis asks North Korea to invite him to visit

Seoul (AFP) – Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview on Friday that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace.

Issued on: 26/08/2022 - 07:38

A potential papal visit to the isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul's former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un.

Moon, who is Catholic, said during a summit that Kim told him the pontiff would be "enthusiastically" welcomed.

Pope Francis replied at the time that he would be willing to go if he received an official invitation.

But Pyongyang has largely cut off contact with Seoul following the collapse of a second summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump in 2019, which has left talks at a standstill.

"When they invite me -- that is to say, please invite me -- I won't say no," Pope Francis told South Korea's state broadcaster KBS in an interview that aired Friday.

"The goal is simply fraternity," he added.

Ties between North and South Korea have been at a frosty low since Seoul inaugurated a hawkish new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, in May.

Yoon offered aid to the North in return for denuclearisation, but Kim's regime ridiculed the plan.

The North blamed South Korea for its May outbreak of Covid-19 and earlier this month threatened to "wipe out" Seoul's authorities in retaliation.

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.

'Work for peace'

The pope has repeatedly urged Koreans on the peninsula to "work for peace."

"You, the Korean people, have suffered from the war," he said.

Religious freedom is enshrined in the North's constitution, but all religious activity is banned outside of state-sanctioned institutions.

In the early 20th century, before the division of the peninsula, Pyongyang was a regional missionary hub with scores of churches and a thriving Christian community that earned it the title "Jerusalem of the East".

But Kim Il Sung, the North's late founding leader and the current ruler's grandfather, viewed Christianity as a threat and eradicated it through executions and labour camps.

The North's regime has since allowed Catholic organisations to run aid projects, but direct relations with the Vatican are non-existent.

When Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014, he held a special mass dedicated to the reunification of the two Koreas."

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220826-pope-francis-asks-north-korea-to-invite-him-to-visit

"The Jesuit Oath

My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a Reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant; and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope.

You have been taught to plant insidiously the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and to incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace; to take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means.

You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope’s sake, whose servants we are unto death. You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labours with the blood of the heretic; for “without the shedding of blood no man can be saved”. Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me:

(Text of the Oath:) I_______________ , now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints, sacred host of Heaven, and to you, my Ghostly Father, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the pontification of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that His Holiness, the Pope, is Christ’s Vice-Regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given to His Holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical Kings, Princes, States, Commonwealths, and Governments, and they may be safely destroyed.

Therefore to the utmost of my power I will defend this doctrine and His Holiness’s right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and the nowpretended authority and Churches of England and Scotland, and the branches of same now established in Ireland and on the continent of America and elsewhere and all adherents in regard that they may be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now denounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or State, named Protestant or Liberal, or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates or officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the Churches of England and Scotland of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and others of the name of Protestants or Masons to be damnable, and they themselves to be damned who will not forsake the same.

I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of His Holiness’s agents, in any place where I should be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Ireland or America, or in any other kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Masonic doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare that, notwithstanding, I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propagation of the Mother Church’s interest; to keep secret and private all her agents’ counsels from time to time, as they entrust me, and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstances whatever; but to execute all that should be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by you, my Ghostly Father, or any of this sacred order.

I do further promise and declare that I will have no opinion or will of my own or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ. That I will go to any part of the world whithersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions north, jungles of India, to the centres of civilisation of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things, whatsoever is communicated to me.

I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex nor condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infants’ heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.

In confirmation of which I hereby dedicate my life, soul, and all corporal powers, and with the dagger which I now receive I will subscribe my name written in my blood in testimony thereof; and should I prove false, or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the militia of the Pope cut off my hands and feet and my throat from ear to ear, my belly be opened and sulphur burned therein with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth, and my soul shall be tortured by demons in eternal hell forever.

That I will in voting always vote for a Knight of Columbus in preference to a Protestant, especially a Mason, and that I will leave my party so to do; that if two Catholics are on the ticket I will satisfy myself which is the better supporter of Mother Church and vote accordingly. That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics. That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the Church either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope. All of which

https://www.jamesjpn.net/religion/the-jesuit-oath

"Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

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The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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The Sedlec Ossuary (Czech: Kostnice v Sedlci; German: Sedletz-Beinhaus) is a Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints (Czech: Hřbitovní kostel Všech Svatých), part of the former Sedlec Abbey in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have, in many cases, been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.[1] The ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic, drawing over 200,000 visitors annually.[2]

Four bell-shaped mounds occupy the corners of the chapel. A chandelier of bones, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs from the center of the nave with garlands of skulls draping the vault. Other works include piers and monstrances flanking the altar, a coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg, and the signature of František Rint, also executed in bone, on the wall near the entrance.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary

"The secret thought of Hugues de Payens, in founding his Order, was not exactly to serve the ambition of the Patriarchs of Constantinople. There existed at that period in the East a Sect of Johannite Christians, who claimed to be the only true Initiates into the real mysteries of the religion of the Saviour. They pretended to know the real history of YESUS the ANOINTED, and, adopting in part the Jewish traditions and the tales of the Talmud, they held that the facts recounted in the Evangels are but allegories, the key of which Saint John gives, in saying that the

p. 817

world might be filled with the books that could be written upon the words and deeds of Jesus Christ; words which, they thought, would be only a ridiculous exaggeration, if he were not speaking of an allegory and a legend, that might be varied and prolonged to infinity.

"The Johannites ascribed to Saint John the foundation of their Secret Church, and the Grand Pontiffs of the Sect assumed the title of Christos, Anointed, or Consecrated, and claimed to have succeeded one another from Saint John by an uninterrupted succession of pontifical powers. He who, at the period of the foundation of the Order of the Temple, claimed these imaginary prerogatives, was named THEOCLET; he knew HUGUES DE PAYENS, he initiated him into the Mysteries and hopes of his pretended church, he seduced him by the notions of Sovereign Priesthood and Supreme royalty, and finally designated him as his successor.

"Thus the Order of Knights of the Temple was at its very origin devoted to the cause of opposition to the tiara of Rome and the crowns of Kings, and the Apostolate of Kabalistic Gnosticism was vested in its chiefs. For Saint John himself was the Father of the Gnostics, and the current translation of his polemic against the heretical of his Sect and the pagans who denied that Christ was the Word, is throughout a misrepresentation, or misunderstanding at least, of the whole Spirit of that Evangel.

"The tendencies and tenets of the Order were enveloped in profound mystery, and it externally professed the most perfect orthodoxy. The Chiefs alone knew the aim of the Order: the Subalterns followed them without distrust.

"To acquire influence and wealth, then to intrigue, and at need to fight, to establish the Johannite or Gnostic and Kabalistic dogma, were the object and means proposed to the initiated Brethren. The Papacy and the rival monarchies, they said to them, are sold and bought in these days, become corrupt, and to-morrow, perhaps, will destroy each other. All that will become the heritage of the Temple: the World will soon come to us for its Sovereigns and Pontiffs. We shall constitute the equilibrium of the Universe, and be rulers over the Masters of the World.

"The Templars, like all other Secret Orders and Associations, had two doctrines, one concealed and reserved for the Masters, which was Johannism; the other public, which was the Roman Catholic. Thus they deceived the adversaries whom they sought

XXX.

KNIGHT KADOSH.

Morals and Dogma

by Albert Pike

https://sacred-texts.com/mas/md/md31.htm

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

"Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

"Revelation 13:18

New International Version

"18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666."

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A18&version=NIV

"BULL of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

[529] C. 1The entire purport of this fourth vow of obedience to the pope was and is with regard to missions; 2and this is how the bulls should be understood where they speak of this obedience in all that the sovereign pontiff may command and wherever he may send one, and so on."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a Roman work of the entire Society, 304 §2

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Skull And Bones

60-minutes

By Rebecca Leung

October 2, 2003 / 4:15 PM EDT / CBS

As opposite as George Bush and John Kerry may seem to be, they do share a common secret - one they've shared for decades, and one they will not share with the electorate.

The secret: details of their membership in Skull and Bones, the elite Yale University society whose members include some of the most powerful men of the 20th century.

Bonesmen, as they're called, are forbidden to reveal what goes on in their inner sanctum, the windowless building on the Yale campus that is called the Tomb.

When 60 Minutes first reported on Skull & Bones last October, conspiracy theorists, who see Skull and Bones behind just about everything that goes wrong, and even right, in the world, were relishing the unthinkable - the possibility of two Bonesman fighting it out for the presidency.

Over the years, Bones has included presidents, cabinet officers, spies, Supreme Court justices, captains of industry, and often their sons and lately their daughters, a social and political network like no other.

60 MINUTES

Skull And Bones

60-minutes

By Rebecca Leung

October 2, 2003 / 4:15 PM EDT / CBS

As opposite as George Bush and John Kerry may seem to be, they do share a common secret - one they've shared for decades, and one they will not share with the electorate.

The secret: details of their membership in Skull and Bones, the elite Yale University society whose members include some of the most powerful men of the 20th century.

Bonesmen, as they're called, are forbidden to reveal what goes on in their inner sanctum, the windowless building on the Yale campus that is called the Tomb.

And to a man and women, they'd responded to questions with utter silence until an enterprising Yale graduate, Alexandra Robbins, managed to penetrate the wall of silence in her book, "Secrets of the Tomb," reports CBS News Correspondent Morley Safer.

"I spoke with about 100 members of Skull and Bones and they were members who were tired of the secrecy, and that's why they were willing to talk to me," says Robbins. "But probably twice that number hung up on me, harassed me, or threatened me."

Secret or not, Skull and Bones is as essential to Yale as the Whiffenpoofs, the tables down at a pub called Mory's, and the Yale mascot - that ever-slobbering bulldog.

Skull and Bones, with all its ritual and macabre relics, was founded in 1832 as a new world version of secret student societies that were common in Germany at the time. Since then, it has chosen or "tapped" only 15 senior students a year who become patriarchs when they graduate -- lifetime members of the ultimate old boys' club.

"Skull and Bones is so tiny. That's what makes this staggering," says Robbins. "There are only 15 people a year, which means there are about 800 living members at any one time."

But a lot of Bonesmen have gone on to positions of great power, which Robbins says is the main purpose of this secret society: to get as many members as possible into positions of power.

"They do have many individuals in influential positions," says Robbins. "And that's why this is something that we need to know about."

President Bush has tapped five fellow Bonesmen to join his administration. Most recently, he selected William Donaldson, Skull and Bones 1953, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Like the President, he's taken the Bones oath of silence.

Ron Rosenbaum, author and columnist for the New York Observer, has become obsessed with cracking that code of secrecy.

"I think there is a deep and legitimate distrust in America for power and privilege that are cloaked in secrecy. It's not supposed to be the way we do things," says Rosenbaum. "We're supposed to do things out in the open in America. And so that any society or institution that hints that there is something hidden is, I think, a legitimate subject for investigation."

His investigation is a 30-year obsession dating back to his days as a Yale classmate of George W. Bush. Rosenbaum, a self-described undergraduate nerd, was certainly not a contender for Bones. But he was fascinated by its weirdness.

"It's this sepulchral, tomblike, windowless, granite, sandstone bulk that you can't miss. And I lived next to it," says Rosenbaum. "I had passed it all the time. And during the initiation rites, you could hear strange cries and whispers coming from the Skull and Bones tomb."

Despite a lifetime of attempts to get inside, the best Rosenbaum could do was hide out on the ledge of a nearby building a few years ago to videotape a nocturnal initiation ceremony in the Tomb's courtyard.

"A woman holds a knife and pretends to slash the throat of another person lying down before them, and there's screaming and yelling at the neophytes," he says.

Robbins says the cast of the initiation ritual is right out of Harry Potter meets Dracula: "There is a devil, a Don Quixote and a Pope who has one foot sheathed in a white monogrammed slipper resting on a stone skull. The initiates are led into the room one at a time. And once an initiate is inside, the Bonesmen shriek at him. Finally, the Bonesman is shoved to his knees in front of Don Quixote as the shrieking crowd falls silent. And Don Quixote lifts his sword and taps the Bonesman on his left shoulder and says, 'By order of our order, I dub thee knight of Euloga.'"

It's a lot of mumbo-jumbo, says Robbins, but it means a lot to the people who are in it.

"Prescott Bush, George W's grandfather, and a band of Bonesmen, robbed the grave of Geronimo, took the skull and some personal relics of the Apache chief and brought them back to the tomb," says Robbins. "There is still a glass case, Bonesmen tell me, within the tomb that displays a skull that they all refer to as Geronimo."

"The preoccupation with bones, mortality, with coffins, lying in coffins, standing around coffins, all this sort of thing I think is designed to give them the sense that, and it's very true, life is short," says Rosenbaum. "You can spend it, if you have a privileged background, enjoying yourself, contributing nothing, or you can spend it making a contribution."

And plenty of Bonesmen have made a contribution, from William Howard Taft, the 27th President; Henry Luce, the founder of Time Magazine; and W. Averell Harriman, the diplomat and confidant of U.S. presidents.

"What's important about the undergraduate years of Skull and Bones, as opposed to fraternities, is that it imbues them with a kind of mission for moral leadership," says Rosenbaum. "And it's something that they may ignore for 30 years of their life, as George W. Bush seemed to successfully ignore it for quite a long time. But he came back to it."

Mr. Bush, like his father and grandfather before him, has refused to talk openly about Skull and Bones. But as a Bonesman, he was required to reveal his innermost secrets to his fellow Bones initiates.

"They're supposed to recount their entire sexual histories in sort of a dim, a dimly-lit cozy room. The other 14 members are sitting on plush couches, and the lights are dimmed," says Robbins. "And there's a fire roaring. And the, this activity is supposed to last anywhere from between one to three hours."

What's the point of this?

"I believe the point of the year in the tomb is to forge such a strong bond between these 15 new members that after they graduate, for them to betray Skull and Bones would mean they'd have to betray their 14 closest friends," says Robbins.

One can't help but make certain comparisons with the mafia, for example. Secret society, bonding, stakes may be a little higher in one than the other. But everybody knows everything about everybody, which is a form of protection.

"I think Skull and Bones has had slightly more success than the mafia in the sense that the leaders of the five families are all doing 100 years in jail, and the leaders of the Skull and Bones families are doing four and eight years in the White House," says Rosenbaum.

Bones is not restricted to the Republican Party. Yet another Bonesman has his eye on the Oval Office: Senator John Kerry, Democrat, Skull & Bones 1966.

"It is fascinating isn't it? I mean, again, all the people say, 'Oh, these societies don't matter. The Eastern Establishment is in decline.' And you could not find two more quintessential Eastern establishment, privileged guys," says Rosenbaum. "I remember when I was a nerdy scholarship student in the reserve book room at, at the Yale Library, and John Kerry, who at that point styled himself 'John F. Kerry' would walk in."

"There was always a little buzz," adds Rosenbaum. "Because even then he was seen to be destined for higher things. He was head of the Yale Political Union, and a tap for Skull and Bones was seen as the natural sequel to that."

David Brooks, a conservative commentator who has published a book on the social dynamics of the upwardly mobile, says that while Skull & Bones may be elite and secret, it's anything but exciting.

"My view of secret societies is they're like the first class cabin in airplanes. They're really impressive until you get into them, and then once you're there they're a little dull. So you hear all these conspiracy theories about Skull and Bones," says Brooks.

"And to me, to be in one of these organizations, you have to have an incredibly high tolerance for tedium 'cause you're sittin' around talking, talking, and talking. You're not running the world, you're just gassing."

Gassing or not, the best-connected white man's club in America has moved reluctantly into the 21st Century.

"Skull and Bones narrowly endorsed admitting women," says Robbins. "The day before these women were supposed to be initiated, a group of Bonesmen, including William F. Buckley, obtained a court order to block the initiation claiming that letting women into the tomb would lead to date rape. Again more legal wrangling; finally it came down to another vote and women were admitted and initiated."

But Skull & Bones now has women, and it's become more multicultural.

"It has gays who got the SAT scores, it's got the gays who got the straight A's," says Brooks. "It's got the blacks who are the president of the right associations. It's different criteria. More multicultural, but it's still an elite, selective institution."

On balance, it may be bizarre, but on a certain perspective, does it provide something of value?

"You take these young strivers, you put them in this weird castle. They spill their guts with each other, fine. But they learn something beyond themselves. They learn a commitment to each other, they learn a commitment to the community," says Brooks. "And maybe they inherit some of those old ideals of public service that are missing in a lot of other parts of the country."

And is that relationship, in some cases, stronger than family or faith?

"Absolutely," says Robbins. "You know, they say, they say the motto at Yale is, 'For God, for country, and for Yale.' At Bones, I would think it's 'For Bones.'"

First published on October 2, 2003 / 4:15 PM EDT

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skull-and-bones/

The shadowy world of Skull and Bones

Yales secretive Skull and Bones society has long generated conspiracy theories about its hidden power. Now, two Bonesmen are facing off for the U.S. presidency. Whats behind the groups mystique?

BY THE WEEK STAFF

LAST UPDATED JANUARY 8, 2015

What is Skull and Bones?

It’s the oldest and most impenetrable of Yale University’s several “secret societies,” a fraternal club ostensibly dedicated to forging young men (and now women) into leaders in all walks of American life. Only 15 students are selected for membership each year. For much of the society’s history, the chosen few were the elite of the elite—top athletes, campus newspaper editors, the leaders of student organizations, wealthy scions of high breeding. The 2,600 “Bones” alumni include President William Howard Taft, diplomat W. Averell Harriman, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, Time magazine founder Henry Luce, conservative patriarch William F. Buckley Jr., both Presidents Bush, and Sen. John Kerry. This elite roster, coupled with its persistent secrecy, has bred intense speculation about the group’s power to determine world events.

How did it get started?

The group was founded in 1832, by a Yale senior named William Russell. At the time, hush-hush fraternal organizations like the Masons were all the rage in the U.S. But the Masons’ popularity and power generated a backlash among people who resented their elitism; dark rumors arose about the group’s secret rituals. Anti-Masonic sentiment grew so strong, in fact, that Phi Beta Kappa, the national academic honor association, distanced itself by renouncing its own oath of secrecy. Offended that Phi Beta Kappa would succumb to such populist passions, Russell responded by forming an even more secret society with 14 other students. He called it the Eulogian Club, after the Greek goddess of eloquence. The Eulogians adopted as their symbol a foreboding death’s-head, and that skull and bones eventually became the society’s name.

Is there an initiation ceremony?

Yes, though for decades it was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, rumors circulated that initiates were stripped, beaten, and forced to lie in a coffin while relating their sexual history, thus baring their souls to their new comrades. But as Alexandra Robbins related in her 2002 book Secrets of the Tomb, the modern-day ceremony is far less dramatic—and far more sophomoric. Initiates are led to the group’s unmarked, Greco-Egyptian vault, in New Haven, where the clocks run five minutes fast. There, in rooms filled with shabby furniture, stuffed animals, and old engravings, they are met by members dressed as outlandish figures, like the devil and Don Quixote. At various points they are blindfolded, jostled violently, given a secret oath, and forced to drink “blood” (some say it’s Kool-Aid, others Gatorade) from a skull called a “Yorick.” Eventually, the neophytes kiss the toe of a member dressed as the pope and are dubbed “Knights of Eulogia.”

Why do they do this?

It’s all part of the bonding process. “It was an opportunity to build friendships with 14 people whom I otherwise wouldn’t have come across in college years,” one member told Robbins. The camaraderie is reinforced by weekly meetings and bizarre traditions. Bonesmen refer to nonmembers as “barbarians,” employ cryptic references to the club’s totemic number of 322, and deliberately leave the room if any barbarian mentions their society’s name. Bonesmen vow to take care of their brothers after Yale, as they move into positions of wealth and power. Some say a Bonesman, once initiated, is virtually guaranteed wealth and security for life.

Is that true?

Not exactly, but the Bones has served as one of the nation’s most effective old-boy networks. President George W. Bush stands as a case in point. He partly bankrolled his first oil company, as well as his run for Texas governor, with loans and donations from fellow Bonesmen. Five of them, including SEC head William Donaldson, now serve in his administration. It’s this tight web of influence that has fueled a host of conspiracy theories.

Such as?

It’s whispered, for instance, that Skull and Bones helped underwrite Hitler’s rise to power. In fact, Hitler’s financier once stashed $3 million in the Union Banking Corp., whose directors included Prescott Bush, father of the first President Bush and a Bonesman himself. Similarly, several Bonesmen in the FDR administration, including Secretary of War Henry Stimson, were key players in the Manhattan Project; from this, some have deduced that the dropping of the atomic bomb was a Bonesmen plot. The society has also been blamed for the Bay of Pigs fiasco and for plunging the U.S. into Vietnam—because Bonesmen like William and McGeorge Bundy held prominent foreign-policy posts during the Kennedy and Johnson years.

So does the society run the world?

Not quite. It’s true that Bonesmen have occupied top-tier positions at an impressive array of powerful institutions, like the CIA, the Council on Foreign Relations, Morgan Stanley, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Federal Reserve. But the same could be said of Yalies in general, or Harvard graduates, or other Ivy Leaguers. And in future years, Skull and Bones is likely to be far less influential than it has been in the past.

Why is that?

Like most campus organizations, it has become politically correct. Skull and Bones now actively seeks out women and minorities; white, Anglo-Saxon males have become a minority within the current membership. Bonesmen—and Boneswomen—now spend much of their time sharing “life histories” with the group, to better understand one another’s perspective. Members no longer consider themselves part of an elite cadre destined to run the world; they defensively joke about “the old white guys” who used to run the society. On the Yale campus, Bones members are now viewed with bemused scorn—not envy. “It almost seems,” wrote Franklin Foer in The New Republic in 2000, “that the current crop of Bonespersons maintain vows of secrecy because they are genuinely embarrassed by their affiliation.”

https://theweek.com/articles/528748/shadowy-world-skull-bones

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