Pay Taxes, Hold a Job, Go on a Date,' Sparking Fierce Backlash Kennedy called autism an "epidemic" at his first press conference as the secretary of health and human services on April 16

Pay Taxes, Hold a Job, Go on a Date,' Sparking Fierce Backlash

Kennedy called autism an "epidemic" at his first press conference as the secretary of health and human services on April 16

By Meredith Kile  Updated on April 17, 2025 02:51PM EDT

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing backlash for comments about autism made at a press conference on April 16.

In his remarks, RFK Jr. said that children diagnosed with autism are “suffering,” claiming they will never work, find love, write a poem, play baseball, and many will never "use a toilet unassisted." 

Celebrity parents of children with autism, like Rosie O’Donnell and Holly Robinson Peete, have spoken out against the claims.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, has come under fire for remarks made during his first press conference since being appointed to the role by President Donald Trump.

Responding to a new study by the CDC that found 3% of children in the U.S. have autism, Kennedy said the rise in diagnoses constitutes an “epidemic” and vowed to identify the “environmental causes” responsible for the disorder.

Kennedy, who has previously promoted a scientifically debunked claim that autism is caused by vaccines, denied that the uptick in diagnoses can be explained by experts learning more about the disorder.

“One of the things that I think that we need to move away from today is this ideology that…the autism prevalence increase, the relentless increases, are simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition or changing diagnostic criteria," he said. “This epidemic denial has become a feature in mainstream media.”

FDA's Top Vaccine Scientist Resigns Due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Misinformation and Lies'

 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., conducts a news conference to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Hubert Humphrey Building on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., conducts a news conference on April 16, 2025. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

Kennedy is also facing backlash for the stark, yet demonstrably false, claims he made about life for children who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. 

"Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this," he said. “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They'll never hold a job. They'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted." 

RFK Jr. Claims Children with Autism Can 'Never Play Baseball.' His Aunt Dedicated Her Life to Proving That Wrong

 U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services on April 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. Secretary Kennedy held a news conference to discuss the recent surge of autism cases

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference on April 16, 2025. Alex Wong/Getty

RFK Jr. Confirmed as Health Secretary Despite Caroline Kennedy Blasting Him as a 'Predator'

As part of the press conference, Kennedy also announced that HHS is preparing to launch new studies to “identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing [autism].”

On April 15, following the CDC report, Kennedy said in a statement that the HHS hopes to have “answers” by September. However, many experts say that’s not enough time, especially considering autism research has been prioritized by medical and scientific communities for the last several decades.

"We may have hundreds, if not thousands, of different neurogenetic factors that in combination with complicated environmental interactions influence presentations of autism," Zachary Warren, a pediatric psychiatrist and autism researcher at Vanderbilt University, told NPR.

"As a clinician, I wish I had better — and, quite frankly, simpler — answers for my families," he added. "But autism isn't a single thing; it is a word we use in an attempt to capture a spectrum of behavioral strengths, differences, and vulnerabilities in order to help optimally support children."

Jax Taylor Reveals Why He Was 'Nervous' for Ex Brittany Cartwright to Share Their Son's Autism Diagnosis (Exclusive)

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder, as well as parents with children on the spectrum, spoke out following Kennedy’s press conference to condemn his statements. Celebrity parents of autistic children, like Rosie O’Donnell and Holly Robinson Peete, also expressed their disgust.

“Robert Kennedy u should be ashamed of urself,” O’Donnell wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo with her 12-year-old child, Clay, who is autistic.

Peete also took to social media to speak out in support of her 27-year-old son, RJ, who was diagnosed with autism at age 3 and now works as a clubhouse attendant for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“My 27-year-old son with autism didn’t ‘destroy our family’—he gave us purpose and unity… oh, and he pays taxes,” she wrote, in part.

“I advocate for hundreds of fams over the years all across the spectrum it’s not just about my son,” she added in response to one commenter who pushed back on RJ’s high-functioning abilities. “But I don’t like the focus on what kids may Never do…I wish the focus was on diagnosis, acceptance and helping families cope."

https://people.com/rfk-jr-claims-people-with-autism-will-never-work-find-love-or-pay-taxes-11717083

Martyn Jerel Buchwald (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), known as Marty Balin (/ˈbælɪn/), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.[1]

Early life

Balin was born Martyn Jerel Buchwald in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Catherine Eugenia "Jean" (née Talbot) and Joseph Buchwald.[2] His paternal grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe. His father was Jewish and his mother was Episcopalian.[3] Buchwald attended Washington High School in San Francisco, California.[2] As a child, Balin was diagnosed with autism.[4][5]

Career

Early musical work

In 1962, Buchwald changed his name to Marty Balin,[2] and began recording with Challenge Records in Los Angeles, releasing the singles "Nobody but You" and "I Specialize in Love".[6] By 1964, Balin was leading a folk music quartet named The Town Criers.[2]

Jefferson Airplane

Balin (far right) with Jefferson Airplane

Balin was the primary founder of Jefferson Airplane, which he "launched" from a restaurant-turned-club he created and named The Matrix,[2] and was also one of its lead vocalists and songwriters from 1965 to 1971. Balin was one of four Jewish members of the band, including bass player Jack Casady, drummer Spencer Dryden and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen.[7] In the group's 1966–1971 iteration, Balin served as co-lead vocalist alongside Grace Slick. Balin's songwriting output diminished after Surrealistic Pillow (1967) as Slick, Paul Kantner, and Kaukonen matured as songwriters, a process compounded by personality clashes. Balin's most enduring songwriting contributions were often imbued with a romantic, pop-oriented lilt that was atypical of the band's characteristic forays into psychedelic rock. Among Balin's most notable songs were "Comin' Back to Me" (a folk rock ballad later covered by Ritchie Havens and Rickie Lee Jones), "Today" (a collaboration with Kantner initially written on spec for Tony Bennett that was prominently covered by Tom Scott), and, again with Kantner, the topical 1969 top-100 hit "Volunteers". Although uncharacteristic of his oeuvre, the uptempo "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover" (both written for Surrealistic Pillow) remained integral components of the Airplane's live set throughout the late 1960s.[6][8]

Balin played with Jefferson Airplane at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.[9]

In December 1969, Balin was knocked unconscious by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club while performing during the infamous Altamont Free Concert, as seen in the 1970 documentary film Gimme Shelter.[10] In April 1971, he formally departed Jefferson Airplane[1] after breaking off all communication with his bandmates following the completion of their autumn 1970 American tour. He elaborated upon this decision in a 1993 interview with Jeff Tamarkin of Relix:[8]

I don't know, just Janis's death. That struck me. It was dark times. Everybody was doing so much drugs and I couldn't even talk to the band. I was into yoga at the time. I'd given up drinking and I was into totally different area, health foods and getting back to the streets, working with the American Indians. It was getting strange for me. Cocaine was a big deal in those days and I wasn't a cokie and I couldn't talk with everybody who had an answer for every goddamn thing, rationalizing everything that happened. I thought it made the music really tight and constrictive and ruined it. So after Janis died, I thought, I'm not gonna go onstage and play that kind of music; I don't like cocaine.

Balin remained active in the San Francisco Bay Area rock scene, managing and producing an album for the Berkeley-based sextet Grootna[11] before briefly joining funk-inflected hard rock ensemble Bodacious DF as lead vocalist on their eponymous 1973 debut album.[12] The following year, Kantner asked Balin to write a song for his new Airplane offshoot group, Jefferson Starship. Together, they wrote the early power ballad "Caroline", which appeared on the album Dragon Fly with Balin as guest lead vocalist.[6]

Jefferson Starship

Rejoining the team he had helped to establish, Balin became a permanent member of Jefferson Starship in 1975; over the next three years, he contributed to and sang lead on four top-20 hits,[1] including "Miracles" (No. 3, a Balin original), "With Your Love" (No. 12, a collaboration between Balin, former Jefferson Airplane drummer Joey Covington, and former Grootna/Bodacious DF lead guitarist Vic Smith), Jesse Barish's "Count on Me" (No. 8), and N. Q. Dewey's "Runaway" (No. 12).[13][6] Ultimately, Balin's relationship with the band was beleaguered by interpersonal problems and his own reluctance toward live performances. He abruptly left the group in October 1978 shortly after Slick's departure from the band.[6]

Solo work, and reunion projects

In 1979, Balin produced a rock opera titled Rock Justice,[14] about a rock star who was put in jail for failing to produce a hit for his record company, based on his experiences with the lawsuits fought for years with former Jefferson Airplane manager Matthew Katz.[6] The cast recording was produced by Balin, but it did not feature him in performance.

Balin performing at a concert in Hallandale, Florida

Balin continued with EMI as a solo artist and in 1981, he released his first solo album, Balin, featuring two Jesse Barish songs that became top-40 hits, "Hearts" (#8) and "Atlanta Lady (Something About Your Love)" (#27). In 1983, Balin released a second solo album, Lucky, along with a Japan-only EP produced by EMI called There's No Shoulder. Balin's contract with EMI ended shortly thereafter.[6]

In 1985, he teamed with former Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner and Jack Casady to form the KBC Band.[6] After the breakup of the KBC band, a 1989 reunion album and tour with Jefferson Airplane followed.[citation needed]

Balin continued recording solo albums in the years following the reunion, and reunited with Kantner in the latest incarnation of Jefferson Starship.[6]

Balin had intended to record lead vocals for two tracks for Jefferson Starship's album Jefferson's Tree of Liberty. However, his art touring schedule conflicted with studio sessions, and instead, the track "Maybe for You", from the German release of Windows of Heaven, was included.[15][16]

On July 2, 2007, the music-publishing firm Bicycle Music, Inc. announced that it had acquired an interest in songs written or performed by Balin, including hits from his days with Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.[17]

Honors

Balin, along with the other members of the 1966–1970 line-up of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.[18] As a member of Jefferson Airplane, he was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.[9]

Personal life

Balin enjoyed painting all his life. He painted many of the most influential musicians of the last half of the 20th century. Marty Balin's Atelier was located at 130 King Fine Art in Saint Augustine, Florida, Balin's permanent signature collection gallery.[19]

Balin resided in Florida and San Francisco with his wife, Susan Joy Balin, formerly Susan Joy Finkelstein. Balin and Finkelstein had two daughters; Susan had previously had two other daughters.

Balin married Karen Deal in 1989. Karen died in 2010.[20]

Health and death

While on tour in March 2016, Balin was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City after complaining of chest pains. After undergoing open-heart surgery, he was transferred to an intensive-care unit to spend time recovering. In a subsequent lawsuit, Balin alleged that neglect and inadequate care facilities on the hospital's part had resulted in a paralyzed vocal cord, loss of his left thumb and half of his tongue, bedsores, and kidney damage.[21]

Balin died at his home in Tampa on September 27, 2018, at the age of 76.[22]

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

On September 27, 1540, Pope Paul III formally established the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. Founded by Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuits became one of the most influential religious orders in the Catholic Church. They played a crucial role in the Counter-Reformation and were known for their contributions to education, missionary work, and the promotion of social justice. The Jesuits have left a lasting impact on the world, with numerous educational institutions and social programs that continue to benefit societies globally.

https://m.edglentoday.com/articles/details.cfm?id=76112

The Woodstock Theological Center (1973-2013) was an independent, nonprofit Catholic theological research institute in Washington, D.C.

History

Founded in 1973, the center took its name from Woodstock College, a former Jesuit seminary located in Maryland.[1][2][3] The center was an associate member of the Washington Theological Consortium.[4] Until it closed, the center was housed at Georgetown University.[1]

In February 2013, the center announced that it was scheduled to close on June 30, 2013, citing a lack of Jesuit staff as a reason.[5] On July 1, 2013, the Board of Trustees announced the center would no longer be an independent ministry, but that the library would be maintained as the Woodstock Theological Library, a part of the Georgetown University Library.[6]

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

The Woodstock Experience is a box consisting of a set of studio albums and live performances from the 1969 Woodstock Festival by the artists Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, and Johnny Winter. Each set consists of the 1969 studio album by the artist as well as each artist's entire Woodstock performance. The set was released as both a box containing all five artists (10-CD box set), and also as individual releases separated by artist, each containing the studio album and live performance of that artist (2 CDs per artist).

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

Spitfire is the third album by American rock band Jefferson Starship. Released in 1976, a year after the chart-topping Red Octopus, it quickly scaled the charts, peaking for six consecutive weeks at No. 3 in Billboard and attaining an RIAA platinum certification. Stereo and quadraphonic mixes of the album were released.

Background

By early 1976, Jefferson Starship had become one of America's biggest rock bands thanks to the multiplatinum success of 1975's Red Octopus and its smash hit "Miracles". They were playing arenas and stadiums as well as headlining big festivals, and money was pouring in.[1] All seemed well within the group, although the beginnings of dissent began to appear when singer Grace Slick broke up her seven-year relationship with guitarist Paul Kantner, choosing to hook up instead with the group's lighting director Skip Johnson (Johnson was quickly fired from that position, although he would be re-hired in 1978).[1] There were also lingering problems with Marty Balin, who had refused to sign a long-term contract with RCA/Grunt and was working on an album-by-album basis, which gave him much leverage now that he was writing the hit singles.[2] Although he was enjoying his return to prominence within the group, the pressure was now on Balin to come up with another hit that would equal or surpass "Miracles".

In the meantime, there were also increasing charges that the group had betrayed their earlier underground credentials as Jefferson Airplane and "sold out" to corporate rock interests. Slick complained that Grunt kept sending her out to silly publicity stunts like cake-judging contests, later reasoning "I was smiling and going along with it because we had to keep the publicity machine oiled while we were waiting for Marty to decide whether or not he was going to go on the road".[2]

Songs and recording

Before going into the studio, the band assembled at their rehearsal space to exchange ideas. As guitarist Craig Chaquico noted, "We would sort of go through all our own song ideas at rehearsals until we found just what we wanted to hear and play together...often Grace would be jotting down new spontaneous incoming lyric inspirations in a yellow legal notebook. We all played what we wanted while riffing off each other live without a real arrangement in mind to follow or anything like a master conductor at first."[3]

Sessions for Spitfire took place from March 4–17, 1976 at Wally Heider Studios with Larry Cox producing, as had been the case for the prior two Jefferson Starship albums.[1] The band's lineup was the same, save for the absence of Papa John Creach who had recently quit the band to concentrate on his solo career. The pressure to produce another blockbuster release led to the group essentially repeating much the same formula as Red Octopus, starting with another "Miracles"-style soft rock ballad from Balin titled "With Your Love" which was co-written with former Airplane drummer Joey Covington and guitarist Vic Smith, who had worked with Marty in Bodacious DF.[1] Balin also sang lead on the opening track "Cruisin'", a funk-rock number by Charles Hickox (another Marty bandmate from Bodacious DF) about cruising down the road which fades out to a Chaquico guitar solo. The album closed with Marty also taking lead vocals on a number by his new writing partner Jesse Barish, the early rock-disco hybrid "Love Lovely Love".

The hard rocker "Dance With The Dragon" originated with a Chaquico guitar riff and initial set of lyrics by him that was later fleshed out by the other band members, in teamwork fashion.[3] Paul Kantner's psych-prog opus "Song For The Sun" was divided into two sections: the opening ambient instrumental "Ozymandias" (credited to all band members except Balin) and the longer "Don't Let It Rain", with lyrics co-credited to Paul and his daughter China. This would be one of the last numbers by the band, both musically and lyrically, to reference '60s countercultural themes. Another centerpiece of the album, "St. Charles", began as the first line of a poem by Thunderhawk, an acquaintance of Balin, with the rest of the lyric completed by Barish, Balin, and Kantner. A power ballad that moves into psychedelic and hard rock territory, it closes on another lengthy Chaquico solo meant to impersonate the heavy storm referenced in the lyrics; it purportedly took six weeks to perfect the vocals on this track. Slick contributed the funky "Hot Water" (co-written with Pete Sears) and soaring, Moog-layered piano ballad "Switchblade", while drummer John Barbata offered the retro-50s rocker "Big City", co-written with ex-Flying Burrito Brother Chris Ethridge. One outtake from the sessions, Freiberg's "Nighthawks" (with lyrics by Robert Hunter), was performed at least once on the supporting tour.

Overall, the album continued the vein of eclectic stylistic variety, with contributions from all band members, that had characterized Red Octopus, along with a polished, highly commercial sound. Chaquico remembers the album's recording as a period when group unity was at an all-time high,[3] although Slick later recalled that Sears wasn't allowed to contribute his longer, more progressive songs to the album.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitfire_(Jefferson_Starship_album)

Templar Military Lodges

The Templars also stealthily entered America through military lodges. Of particular significance are those chartered by the Irish Grand Lodge, which offered the higher degrees of Jacobite Masonry. Later these lodges incorporated the French Templar Scottish Rite degrees, further dividing colonial America between two rival forms of Freemasonry. While British politics in the colonies was dominated by English Masons in the Northeast, her military was under the influence of French Templar Field Lodges throughout the colonies - not a stable union for governing "13" rebellious colonies.25

European Templars Settle America

Another identifying characteristic of the Beast's revived Roman empire, according to our analysis of Daniel 7:7-8 in chapter 26, is that it must be populated by immigrants from the territory governed by the old Roman empire. Of course colonial America was populated by peoples from a Europe shaped by ancient Rome and later by the Holy Roman Empire. Templar influence in America began after Prince Charles Edward, the Young Stuart Pretender, failed to regain his British throne. As you recall, in 1746 he was soundly defeated, forever dashing the hopes of Scottish Templars recapturing England. As a result, many Irish and Scottish Templar Jacobites who had fought with Charles Stuart fled to America. Those who returned to France with the Prince founded the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Between 1745 and 1753, the British and European Templar population in the New World had increased dramatically. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin attempted to relieve population pressure by proposing a plan for the union of all 13 colonies. The British government rejected Franklin's proposal, fearing a united America would be difficult to control. Subsequently, the exploding population was forced to move west into French territory, which precipitated the French and Indian War in America, a phase of the Seven Years War on the continent of Europe. During this war the French military brought to the New World the Templar Scottish Rite, first setting up base at Boston, then Charleston, S.C.26 Michael Baigent, in The Temple and The Lodge, explains: 565 Prior to the Seven Years War, most of the Freemasonry in North America was orthodox pro- Hanoverian, warranted by Grand Lodge [London]. During the Seven Years War, however, "higher degree" [Templar] Freemasonry, by means of regimental field lodges, was transplanted on a large scale to the American colonies and quickly took root. Boston - the soil from which the American Revolution was to spring - exemplifies the process of transplantation and the friction that sometimes arose from it.27

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."

Satan Prince of This World

by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view

Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, also known as Adams Field, is a joint civil-military airport on the east side of Little Rock, Arkansas. It is operated by the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission.

The largest commercial airport in Arkansas, it served more than 2.1 million passengers in the year spanning from March 2009 through to February 2010.[6] While Clinton National Airport does not have direct international passenger flights, more than 50 flights arrive or depart at Little Rock each day, with nonstop service to 14 cities.[7] The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.[8]

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

The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"

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

Tragedy and HOPE: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization."

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

In his first year (1965) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).[1]: 94, 96 In 1991, Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy, when Clinton launched his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.[1]: 96 He said he learned from Quigley that “The future can be better than the past, and that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.” Bill Clinton told his audiences, “that is what the new choice is all about....We are not here to save the Democratic party. We are here to save the United States of America.” It was Clinton's most effective speech, and he repeated variations time and time again as the blueprint for his campaign message in winning the Democratic nomination and the general election for President of the United States in 1992.[21][22]"

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

Theorists also cite the inclusion of Bill Clinton at the meetings in 1991 before he was president and Tony Blair’s presence in 1993 before he became the British prime minister as examples of the group’s power. Past attendees have included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who will also be attending this year), former Chase Manhattan chief executive David Rockefeller, and British Prime Minister David Cameron."

Bilderberg Group: What To Know About the Secretive Meetings

https://time.com/4362872/bilderberg-group-meetings-2016-conspiracy-theories/

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner October 20, 2016 Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Henry Kissinger Gayle King Cardinal Dolan Katie Couric Chuck Schumer Mayor Bill de Blasio"

https://www.facebook.com/MariaBartiromo/posts/alfred-e-smith-memorial-foundation-dinner-october-20-2016-donald-trump-hillary-c/1353937201283479/

HOPE: all hope is to be placed in God, and with what degree of perfection [67]; eternal life alone is to be hoped for as a reward [82]; the extent to which this hope should be of assistance [288]; how hope should be shown by the dying | 595]; hope in the preservation and growth of the Society [812]. See also Faithfulness" The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms pg. 464

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

Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run

SLICK WILLY

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT /

Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976."

Codeword Barbelon

by P.D. Stuart

RFK Jr. says Deep State ‘is real,’ called FDA employees ‘sock puppet’ of industry

The HHS secretary’s remarks shocked staffers at the Food and Drug Administration, prompting some to walk out.

By Adam Cancryn, Lauren Gardner and David Lim

04/11/2025 02:33 PM EDT

Updated: 04/11/2025 07:14 PM EDT

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to the FDA Friday was supposed to introduce him as a trusted leader to agency employees. It did anything but.

Over the course of 40 minutes, Kennedy, in largely off-the-cuff remarks, asserted that the “Deep State” is real, referenced past CIA experiments on human mind control and accused the employees he was speaking to of becoming a “sock puppet” of the industries they regulate.

“Because of my family’s commitment to these issues, I spent 200 hours at Wassaic Home for the Retarded when I was in high school,” Kennedy said, in a reference to the Wassaic State School for the Mentally Retarded in Wassaic, New York. “So I was seeing people with intellectual disabilities all the time. I never saw anybody with autism.”

The remark jolted several FDA employees in the audience, who misheard the reference and thought he was making a derogatory remark about people with intellectual disabilities, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.

By the end of the event, billed as a welcome from the new commissioner, Marty Makary, several FDA staffers had walked out of the rooms where the speech was being broadcast at the agency’s headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said, according to a transcript and audio of his remarks obtained by POLITICO. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.”

He said “every institution that’s created by human beings” is inevitably captured by powerful interests, and urged FDA employees to take advantage of a four-year period under his leadership where he vowed that the Department of Health and Human Services would not be subjected to undue influence and would listen to “dissidents.”

“All of us are subject to those gravities of agency capture,” Kennedy said, challenging the audience to “be conscious of that gravity because it’s going to be pulling you every single day of your career. We want to break away from this so we can make our kids healthy.”

The speech alarmed and disheartened FDA staffers reeling from the mass firings carried out across the department just a week ago, according to several FDA staffers who heard or read his remarks. The speech was broadcast from a private room to agency employees who gathered in two of the largest spaces at the agency — the so-called Great Room and an atrium adjoining two central buildings on the FDA’s campus.

In a statement, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said Kennedy was “telling the truth that many Americans already know: for too long, the FDA has been captured by the very industries it is supposed to regulate.”

“Calling this out and encouraging radical transparency is not controversial — it’s leadership,” Nixon said. “The era of rubber-stamping and silence is over.”

Kennedy last week called the culling of roughly 10,000 employees a necessary action, promising that HHS would find ways to “do more with less.”

But in his first visit to the FDA, he offered little in the way of a vision for how the agency would come away from the layoffs stronger — instead devoting much of his speech to railing against the agency’s past failings and repeating his assertions that the U.S. was far healthier during his childhood than it is now.

“This whole generation is damaged,” Kennedy said, according to the transcript, claiming that rising rates of chronic disease, allergies and other illnesses are the result of some “environmental toxin.”

“The information is out there,” he said. “But those studies aren’t done because they may offend the financial interests of powerful entities.”

Kennedy said he’d soon be releasing “new data” from the CDC’s autism monitoring network that shows that 1 in 31 children now have been diagnosed with the neurological condition. The agency’s most recent estimate to date has been that 1 in 36 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/rfk-jr-hhs-fda-deep-state-00286826

The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries (currently Spain and Luxembourg). The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet (ruled 987–996).

Hugh's paternal ancestral family, the Robertians, appear in documents that trace the family back to his great-grandfather Robert the Strong (d. 866). His origins remain unclear, but medieval records hint at an origin in East Francia, in present-day Germany, an area then still also ruled by the Carolingians. In particular, Regino of Prüm (died 915) states that Robert the Strong's son Odo was said to be a relative (nepos) of a Count Meingaud, count of an area near Worms, who died in 892, and there are indications that Maingaud's family used the names Robert and Odo.

Modern proposals about their ancestry further back are based on the idea that there was one family which frequently named its sons Robert, including Robert III of Worms (800–834), Robert the Strong (d. 866), and Robert I of France (866–923). For example, one proposed ancestor is Robert of Hesbaye (c. 800), about whom there are almost no records.

The Robertian family figured prominently amongst the Carolingian nobility and married into this royal family. Eventually, the Robertians themselves produced Frankish kings such as the brothers Odo (reigned 888–898) and Robert I (r. 922–923), then Hugh Capet (r. 987–996), who ruled from his seat in Paris as the first Capetian king of France.

Although Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223) was officially the last monarch of France with the title "King of the Franks" (rex Francorum) and the first to style himself "King of France" (roi de France), in (systematic application of) historiography, Hugh Capet holds this distinction. He founded the Capetians, the royal dynasty that ruled France until the revolution of the Second French Republic in 1848—save during the interregnum of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Members of the family still reign in Europe today : both King Felipe VI of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg descend from this family through the Bourbon cadet branch of the dynasty.

Origin

The oldest known Robertians probably originated in the county of Hesbaye, around Tongeren in modern-day Belgium. The first certain ancestor is Robert the Strong count of Paris,[1] probably the son of Robert III of Worms, grandson of Robert of Hesbaye, and nephew of Ermengarde of Hesbaye, who was the daughter of Ingram, and wife of Louis the Pious. Other related family includes Cancor, founder of the Lorsch Abbey, his sister Landrada and her son Saint Chrodogang, archbishop of Metz.

History

Robert the Strong

The sons of Robert the Strong were Odo and Robert, who were both king of Western Francia and ruled during the Carolingian era. His daughter Richildis married a count of Troyes. The family became Counts of Paris under Odo and "Dukes of the Franks" under Robert, possessing large parts of the ancient Neustria. Although quarrels continued between Robert's son Hugh the Great and Louis IV of France, they were mended upon the ascension of Lothair I of France (954–986). Lothair greatly expanded the Robertian dominions when he granted Hugh Aquitaine as well as much of Burgundy,[2] both rich and influential territories, arguably two of the richest in France.

The Carolingian dynasty ceased to rule France upon the death of Louis V (d. 987). After the death of Louis, the son of Hugh the Great, Hugh Capet was chosen as king of the Franks, nominally the last ruler of West Francia. Given the resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire title and dignities in the West Francian kingdom, Europe was later believed to have entered a new age, so Hugh came to be known in historiography as the first king of France, as western civilization was perceived to have entered the High Middle Ages period. Hugh was crowned at Noyon on July 3, 987 with the full support of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. With Hugh's coronation, a new era began for France, and his descendants came to be named, after him, the Capetians. They ruled France as the Capetians, Valois, and Bourbons until the French Revolution. They returned after 1815 and ruled until Louis Philippe was deposed in 1848.

However, they have continued to rule Spain, with two republican interruptions, through the Bourbon Dynasty right down to the current king Felipe VI.

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

Pressured by the royal courts of Portugal, France and Spain, Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society, causing Jesuits throughout the world to renounce their vows and go into exile. Pope Pius VII, a Benedictine, restored the Society on August 7, 1814."

https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/video-resources/jesuit-values-videos/suppression-of-the-society-of-jesus

The Capetian dynasty (/kəˈpiːʃən/; French: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favor of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon house are still ruling over Spain and Luxembourg."

Name origins and usage

The name of the dynasty derives from its founder, Hugh, who was known as "Hugh Capet".[4] The meaning of "Capet" (a nickname rather than a surname of the modern sort) is unknown. While folk etymology identifies it with "cape", other suggestions indicate it might be connected to the Latin word caput ("head"), and explain it as meaning "chief" or "head".[citation needed]

Historians in the 19th century (see House of France) came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet. It was not a contemporary practice. The name "Capet" has also been used as a surname for French royalty, particularly but not exclusively those of the House of Capet. One notable use was during the French Revolution, when the dethroned King Louis XVI (a member of the House of Bourbon and a direct male-line descendant of Hugh Capet) and Queen Marie Antoinette (a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) were referred to as "Louis and Antoinette Capet" (the queen being addressed as "the Widow Capet" after the execution of her husband).

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

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et CAPUT,” meaning, “The mother and HEAD of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

https://www.simplycatholic.com/st-john-lateran-basilica/

In the second prelude, for Chief- Gene ral read highest Leader, and for captain read leader. For the first Leader the Spanish Autograph has Captain General, and for the second (leader), caudillo ; the former title expressing, as Father Rothaan remarks, a Commander-in-Chief of lawful warfare, the latter designating rather the leader of a faction, and being often used in a bad sense, as of a captain of robbers or malefactors. In order to express in some measure this distinction, he has made use of the terms Dux Generalis (LeaderGeneral) and CAPUT (HEAD) in his literal Version. The Common Version makes no distinction ; and hence, in order to render this Version with strict faithfulness, must read, both here and in the next two paragraphs, leader instead of captain, although (as the reader will already have perceived) this latter is the term which erceived) this latter is the term which corresponds the more nearly with the Spanish original. In all three places Father Rothaan has caput : in the third prelude he has again Dux instead of Imperator : see above. In the first point, in order to be strictly with the Common Version, readier?/ and smoky chair in stead of chair offire and smoke ; although this latter is what the Autograph has, a certain great chair of fire and smoke, " in which", observes Father Rothaan, there is no solidity, no true glory, but mere agitation and perpetual disturbance joined with thick darkness"; And this image", he adds, " exhibits the evil spirit such as he is, but not such as he offers himself to men's minds."

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.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://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/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

Lothair I (Dutch and Medieval Latin: Lotharius; German: Lothar; French: Lothaire; Italian: Lotario; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century Carolingian emperor (817–855, with his father until 840) and king of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (843–855).

Lothair I was the eldest son of the Carolingian emperor Louis I and his wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye,[1] daughter of Ingerman the duke of Hesbaye. On several occasions, Lothair led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains. Upon the father's death, Charles and Louis joined forces against Lothair in a three-year civil war (840–843). The struggles between the brothers led directly to the breakup of the Frankish Empire assembled by their grandfather Charlemagne, and laid the foundation for the development of modern France and Germany.[2]

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

The name Lothair traces its origins to German - Old High German and is derived from two elements: loth, meaning famous, and hari, meaning army. Thus, Lothair directly translates to famous army. This name gained prevalence during the 9th and 10th centuries in the Frankish Empire, which encompassed vast territories of modern-day Germany, France, and Italy.

In history, the name Lothair is notably associated with several prominent figures. The most well-known bearer of this name is Lothair I, who was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor in the year 817. Lothair I was a key figure in the Carolingian dynasty and played a vital role in shaping the political landscape of medieval Europe. His reign marked significant accomplishments and challenges, ultimately cementing his position in history.

In modern-day usage, the name Lothair has become less common but still maintains some presence. It is occasionally bestowed upon children as a nod to their Germanic or medieval heritage, giving them a sense of historical and unique identity. Moreover, the name may occasionally appear in works of literature, films, or other forms of popular culture to evoke a sense of nobility or historicity. Overall, the name Lothair encapsulates the fascinating historical connections of the Frankish Empire and its influential figures.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/lothair

The name Luther traces its origins back to English, where it emerged from the word leod meaning people and here meaning army. This etymology gives rise to the meaning Army of the People, making Luther a name that embodies strength and collective action. Over time, Luther has appeared in various historical contexts, leaving its mark on different cultures and regions around the world.

In history, the name Luther gained prominence with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Martin Luther, an influential German theologian and composer, challenged the practices of the Catholic Church and sparked a movement that would reshape the religious and social landscape of Europe. Martin Luther's prolific writings and his translation of the Bible into German played a significant role in spreading Protestantism. His name became synonymous with the reformist movement, and Lutheranism was established as a distinct Christian denomination.

In modern-day usage, the name Luther continues to resonate with historical significance and strength. It is often chosen by parents who desire a name that exudes resilience, leadership, and a connection to the past. The name Luther can be found worldwide, and its usage extends beyond German-speaking countries. As a testament to its enduring appeal, Luther has also found its way into popular culture. Whether it be in literature, film, or music, the name Luther maintains its authoritative presence, leaving an indelible impression on those who hear or bear it.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/luther

The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.

The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in 1378 after Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's election. A group of French cardinals declared his election invalid and elected Clement VII as pope. After several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa (1409) declared that both rivals were illegitimate and elected a third purported pope. The schism was finally resolved when the Pisan claimant Antipope John XXIII called the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The Council arranged the renunciation of both Roman pope Gregory XII and Pisan antipope John XXIII. The Avignon antipope Benedict XIII was excommunicated, while Pope Martin V was elected and reigned from Rome.

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

The Diet of Worms of 1521 (German: Reichstag zu Worms [ˈʁaɪçstaːk tsuː ˈvɔʁms]) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas. Although the Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have begun in 1517, the edict signals the first overt schism.

The diet was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521 at the Bischofshof palace in Worms, with the Emperor presiding.[1] Other imperial diets took place at Worms in the years 829, 926, 1076, 1122, 1495, and 1545, but unless plainly qualified, the term "Diet of Worms" usually refers to the assembly of 1521.

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

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls. [11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah,

and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine

Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called SOFIA or

Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the BLUE FIRE of alchemy, the blue virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.

The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient

Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness."

Rose Cross Over The Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing

Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).

This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager born and raised in West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his wealthy uncle and aunt in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, where his lifestyle often clashes with that of his upper-class relatives.

The series was considered Will Smith's star vehicle into television, and later his film career. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a top hit for NBC, running for 148 episodes over six seasons.[1][2] A reunion special/retrospective reuniting the surviving cast debuted on HBO Max in November 2020.[3][4] A more dramatic reimagining of the series, titled Bel-Air and based on the fan film of the same name, was given a two-season order for Peacock, and released on February 13, 2022.[5]

Will Smith and James Avery were the only actors to have appeared in all 148 episodes of the television sitcom.[6]

Summary

The theme song and opening sequence set the premise of the show. Will Smith is a street-smart African-American teenager, "born and raised" in West Philadelphia. While playing street basketball, Will accidentally hits a group of young people with the ball, causing a confrontation that frightens his mother, who sends him to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in the opulent neighborhood of Bel Air, Los Angeles.

Will's working class background ends up clashing in various humorous ways with the upper class world of the Banks family – Will's stern uncle Phil and tough but fair aunt Vivian and their children, Will's cousins: spoiled Hilary, pompous Carlton, impressionable Ashley and baby Nicky (introduced in season 3), as well as their sarcastic butler Geoffrey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fresh_Prince_of_Bel-Air

Domesday Book (/ˈduːmzdeɪ/ DOOMZ-day; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William the Conqueror.[1] The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester", where it was originally kept in the royal treasury.[2] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.[3]

Written in Medieval Latin, it was highly abbreviated[a] and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The survey's main purpose was to record the annual value of every piece of landed property to its lord, and the resources in land, labour force, and livestock from which the value derived.

The name "Domesday Book" came into use in the 12th century.[4] Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario (c. 1179) that the book was so called because its decisions were unalterable, like those of the Last Judgment, and its sentence could not be quashed.[5]

The manuscript is held at the National Archives at Kew, London. Domesday was first printed in full in 1783, and in 2011 the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online.[6]

The book is an invaluable primary source for modern historians and historical economists. No survey approaching the scope and extent of Domesday Book was attempted again in Britain until the 1873 Return of Owners of Land (sometimes termed the "Modern Domesday")[7] which presented the first complete, post-Domesday picture of the distribution of landed property in the United Kingdom.[8]

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

Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Fair (French: le Bel), Plantagenet, and of Anjou, was the count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also duke of Normandy by his marriage claim, and conquest, from 1144.

Geoffrey married Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, king of England and duke of Normandy. Geoffrey and Matilda's marriage led, through their son Henry II, to the 300-year long reign of the Plantagenet dynasty in England. Although it was never his family name or last name, "Plantagenet" was taken for the dynasty from Geoffrey's epithet, long after his death. Geoffrey's ancestral domain of Anjou in north central France gives rise to the name Angevin, and what modern historians name as the Angevin Empire in the 12th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Plantagenet,_Count_of_Anjou

Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip I from 1284 to 1305. Although Philip was known to be handsome, hence the epithet le Bel, his rigid, autocratic, imposing, and inflexible personality gained him (from friend and foe alike) other nicknames, such as the Iron King (French: le Roi de fer). His fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him: "He is neither man nor beast. He is a statue."[2][a]

Philip, seeking to reduce the wealth and power of the nobility and clergy, relied instead on skilful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom. The king, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and restricted their feudal privileges, paving the way for the transformation of France from a feudal country to a centralised early modern state.[3] Internationally, Philip's ambitions made him highly influential in European affairs, and for much of his reign, he sought to place his relatives on foreign thrones. Princes from his house ruled in Hungary, and he tried and failed to make another relative the Holy Roman Emperor.

The most notable conflicts of Philip's reign include a dispute with the English over King Edward I's duchy in southwestern France and a war with the County of Flanders, who had rebelled against French royal authority and humiliated Philip at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. The war with the Flemish resulted in Philip's ultimate victory, after which he received a significant portion of Flemish cities, which were added to the crown lands along with a vast sum of money. Domestically, his reign was marked by struggles with the Jews and the Knights Templar. In heavy debt to both groups, Philip saw them as a "state within the state" and a recurring threat to royal power. In 1306 Philip expelled the Jews from France, followed by the total destruction of the Knights Templar in 1307. To further strengthen the monarchy, Philip tried to tax and impose state control over the Catholic Church in France, leading to a violent dispute with Pope Boniface VIII. The ensuing conflict saw the pope's residence at Anagni attacked in September 1303 by French forces with the support of the Colonna family. Pope Boniface was captured and held hostage for several days. This eventually led to the Avignon Papacy of 1309 to 1376.

His final year saw a scandal amongst the royal family, known as the Tour de Nesle affair, in which King Philip's three daughters-in-law were accused of adultery. His three sons were successively kings of France: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. Their rapid successive deaths without surviving sons of their own would compromise the future of the French royal house, which had until then seemed secure, precipitating a succession crisis that eventually led to the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453).

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

Friday the 13th

"Friday-the-13th" has since entered the culture as a "bad omen" day. The Priory of Sion did not in ignorance choose Friday-the-13th for their attack upon the Templars. Well aware of the significance the Templars placed on the esoteric value of this number (its Order contained 13 degrees), the Priory must have realized the debilitating effect an attack on this day would have. King Philip, on the other hand, was probably less discerning. All he wanted was the Templars' immense wealth, which eluded him. It was never found, which is strange indeed, for in Paris was the Templars' central bank for all Europe. The preceptory there would have stored the largest cache of gold, second only to that which was allegedly hidden at Rennes-le-Chateau.

Another Double-Cross?

Had the Priory of Sion double-crossed King Philip, too? Circumstantial evidence supports this conclusion. For instance, throughout the period of this intrigue, Guillaume Pidoye - one of the king's men and guardian and administrator of the Templar goods at the Paris preceptory after the arrest of the Templars - was also a colleague of Guillaume de Gisors, the Grand Master of Sion. If Pidoye was himself a Sionist, which seems to have been the case, he would certainly have been more loyal to his Grand Master than to the King. The Holy Blood authors also suggest that Pidoye acted as a "double agent," warning the Templars of their impending arrest at the Paris preceptory. This would appear to have been an act of treason against both the king and Sion. According to legend, sometime before Friday the- 13th, the treasury in the preceptory, together with almost all its documents and records, was transported to the Templar naval base at LaRochelle, and loaded into eighteen galleys, which were never heard of again. Why would Pidoye warn the Templars? It is unlikely he would warn the enemy of his Sionist Grand Master. He would more likely inform Guillaume de Gisors of the King's impending move against the Templars. 77 The authors of Holy Blood hint at another explanation when they suggest that the Grand Master of Sion "might have been partially responsible for.. .the unexplained disappearance of its treasure."57 Alerting the Templars would then be part of an intricately woven plan. Pidoye may not have been a "double agent" as has been suggested, but a "triple agent." Pidoye knew Sion had no means of transporting Templar gold to the coast. Nor had they any ships. Only the Knights Templar had means of transport, with a fleet at La Rochelle. If tipped off in advance, the Knights could reach the port city in time. Pidoye, as representative of the king, would feign sympathy toward the Templars, warning them of impending danger, suggesting they transport their wealth out of the country before Friday-the-13th. As a triple agent, he would then inform the Grand Master of Sion of the gold transport. The Priory in turn would instruct its protector, the English navy, to intercept and scuttle the ships after confiscating the gold. The gold would then be taken to England.

English Complicity and New Power

Although this hypothesis can never be proved, it is interesting to note that England, over the next century, rapidly became the dominant power in the old world. The wealth of the Templars could most certainly lie at the heart of what was eventually to become the British Empire. Another indication that the English may have assisted the Priory of Sion is the fact that the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, or the Hospitallers as they came to be known, acquired the holdings of the Templars after their 1314 persecution. The Hospitallers were the 12th century English competitors of the Knights Templars during the Crusades.58Mter the Saracens regained Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, one group of Hospitallers landed on the island of Rhodes, changing its name to the Temple of St. John of Jerusalem, and the other landed on the island of Malta, changing its name to the Knights of Malta. British journalist Stephen Knight, author of The Brotherhood (1984), states that both orders are today English Masonic Military Orders.59 Moreover, the authors of The Messianic Legacy state that the Knights of Malta are also today viewed as an ideal conduit for English Masonic intelligence gathering.60 A third indication that the British may have assisted the Priory of Sion at La Rochelle is the fact that the Templars fled to Scotland soon after their suppression and there fought alongside King Robert Bruce, who was at war with England. Why would the Templars travel to such a remote place and take arms against England, unless it was related to the disappearance of their galleys at La Rochelle and the confiscation of all their holdings by the English controlled Hospitallers?

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

ABC News

Reels Apr 16, 2025

Health and Human Services Secretary Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said "autism destroys families" while calling the neurological and developmental disorder "preventable" during remarks on Wednesday.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a spectrum, which means symptoms vary by person, according to the CDC. Some individuals may need little support in their daily lives, while some may need more assistance.

There are currently no known preventable measures available for the wide ranging disorder.

RFK Jr. had previously questioned why autism rates have been rising over the last several years, remarking today about a new CDC report that found estimated rates of diagnosis are continuing to increase in the U.S. https://abcnews.visitlink.me/JTSJes

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1351829406069109

UFO footage captured by US Navy shows mysterious aircraft launching from sea, expert says

The UFOs were spotted over the coast of California by Navy sailors

By Julia Bonavita Fox News

Published April 17, 2025 10:58am EDT

A group of unidentified flying objects spotted by Navy sailors is raising eyebrows after witnesses reported watching the oddly-shaped aircraft rise from the ocean before jetting off in a synchronized fashion last year. 

The four aircraft were spotted by sailors aboard USS Jackson while off the coast of California last year, Jeremy Corbell, co-host of the "Weaponized" podcast, told Fox 11. 

"[This] is a machine that is able to outpace, outmaneuver, and outperform anything that we know of that's been made by technology and terrestrial nations," Corbell said. 

The UFOs reportedly emerged from the Pacific Ocean and were spotted by sailors before showing up on the ship’s radar, an unnamed witness told Corbell. 

Footage recorded by the Navy warship and obtained by Corbell shows the four aircraft grouping together before racing off in unison. 

"Everybody on the ship knew they were seeing something extraordinary," Corbell said. "So obviously people thought it was important to document and then finally witnesses came forward." 

The Navy and Corbell did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Corbell noted the footage shows the objects do not have a wing or tail, raising questions regarding the aircraft’s ability to fly. However, Corbell does not believe the unidentified objects are nefarious or operated by a foreign adversary.  

"I'd rather these things be from another planet than an adversarial nation, because if it was an adversarial nation then their ability to weaponize that technology would be unprecedented," Corbell said. "Luckily, we don't see a fingerprint for that."

However, military officials claim the sighting was never recorded.

"[The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office] has no record of this alleged UAP incident," a Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

The flying objects draw striking similarities to the infamous "Tic Tac"-shaped aircraft sighting by USS Nimitz off the coast of Southern California in 2004. The incident drew national attention in 2017, exposing previously unknown programs within the Department of Defense relating to UFO research. 

In 2020, the Pentagon released three unclassified Navy videos from November 2004 and January 2015. 

"The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified’," the Pentagon said in a statement. 

Last year, a Pentagon official testified to Congress that the Pentagon had solved a well-known mystery surrounding a flying object spotted by USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2016. 

The UFO spotted flying at high speeds above the Atlantic Ocean was nothing out of the ordinary, but instead a trick of the eye causing objects to appear as if they were moving much faster, referred to as a "parallax," according to Dr. Jon Kosloski, the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. 

"Through a very careful geospatial intelligence analysis and using trigonometry, we assess with high confidence that the object is not actually close to the water, but is rather closer to 13,000 feet," Kosloski said. 

As for the four aircraft spotted by Navy sailors last year, Corbell believes there is no cause for alarm. 

"This UFO phenomenon has been here for a long time, this is not something new, it's nothing to worry about," Corbell said. "It is something that we need to face head on and that's what Congress is trying to do, is get people to get past the stigma so we can know and understand what is this technology, who is operating it and what is the intent."

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report. 

Julia Bonavita is a U.S. Writer for Fox News Digital and a Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms and send story tips to julia.bonavita@fox.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ufo-footage-captured-us-navy-shows-mysterious-aircraft-launching-from-sea-expert-says

Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only current boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois, along Lake Michigan. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center and Navy Recruiting District Chicago. Naval Station Great Lakes is the largest military installation in Illinois and the largest training station in the Navy. The base has 1,153 buildings situated on 1,628 acres (6.59 km2) and has 69 mi (111 km) of roadway to provide access to the base's facilities. Within the naval service, it has several different nicknames, including "The Quarterdeck of the Navy".[2] It is also referred to as "second boot camp" for those attending Training Support Command.[3]

The original 39 buildings built between 1905 and 1911 were designed by Jarvis Hunt.[4]

The base functions similarly to a small city, with its own fire department, Naval Security Forces (Police), and public works department.

One of the landmarks of the area is Building 1, also known as the clocktower building. Completed in 1911, the building is made of red brick, and has a tower over the third floor of the building. It faces a large ceremonial parade ground, Ross Field.

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

The Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction oversees the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont.[1] This territory has existed since 1827 when the NMJ gained jurisdiction "over the then 14 states situated east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Wisconsin was not yet a state, but part of Michigan."[2]

Formed in 1813, the Northern Jurisdiction is divided into "Valleys."[3] Each Valley has up to four subordinate bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees. The four subordinate bodies are the Lodge of Perfection, which confers degrees 4 through 14, the Council of Princes of Jerusalem, which confers degrees 15 and 16, the Chapter of Rose Croix which confers degrees 17 and 18, and the consistory which confers degrees from 19 to 32.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Council,_Scottish_Rite,_Northern_Jurisdiction,_USA

Parris Island is a district of the city of Port Royal, South Carolina on an island of the same name. It became part of the city with the annexation of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on October 11, 2002. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau previously defined Parris Island as a census-designated place (CDP) when it was an unincorporated area of Beaufort County. The population was 4,841 at the 2000 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Parris Island is included within the Beaufort Urban Cluster and the larger Hilton Head Island–Beaufort Micropolitan Statistical Area.[2]

History

Parris Island was first colonized by Europeans in 1562, when members of a French expedition led by Jean Ribaut temporarily settled on the island. This was the first semi-permanent European settlement in what are now considered the United States. Four years later, a town named Santa Elena was founded here by Spanish Conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. It was the capital of La Florida from 1566 to 1587, during which time Spanish explorers sailed from Santa Elena to explore the Tennessee Valley and Chesapeake Bay. An expedition also traveled overland into the interior to western North Carolina and points west.

After coming under English control, the island was granted to Robert Daniell in 1706 and became known as Port Royal Island. It later came into the hands of Colonel Alexander Parris, sometimes spelled "Paris", Public Treasurer of South Carolina. After his death in 1736, it gradually became known as Parris Island (and the name Port Royal Island was applied to a different one to the north).[3][4][5]

Parris Island was captured by the Union Army in 1861 during the American Civil War. It became a coaling station during the war. After the war, through the efforts of African American Congressman Robert Smalls, it continued as a coaling station for the United States Navy and became known as the Port Royal Naval Station. The neighboring Port Royal Sound is the deepest natural harbor on the Atlantic coast of the United States south of New York. The island was purchased outright in 1883. In the early 1890s, a dry dock was constructed at the naval station. The dry dock was completed in 1895. The construction of the Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1901 resulted in the closing of the Port Royal Naval Station in 1903.[6]

In 1915, Parris Island became the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. In the early years of the Marine Corps presence it was referred to as Paris Island.[7]

The Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site and Parris Island Drydock and Commanding Generals House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parris_Island,_South_Carolina

On June 24, 1717, six months after the exile of the Stuarts, four lodges in London (names not given) met at Apple-Tree Tavern and united English Freemasonry under the name "United Grand Lodge," which has been nicknamed the Mother Grand Lodge, or Grand Mother Lodge.

The first French Templar Lodge was founded in 1725 by a contingent of exiled Stuart sympathizers. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, attempted to regain his Scottish throne and was soundly defeated in less than a year. Upon returning to France, the Scottish Templars founded the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, quickly developing it to 32 degrees by 1755. In 1801 all French lodges accepted the Templar Scottish Rite degrees. That same year the Scottish Rite of Charleston, S.C., created the 33rd and final degree in Templar Freemasonry.

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."'

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"

https://web.archive.org/.../scottish-rite-history.html

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]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

32 Let Christ the king of Israel now come down from the cross, that we may see, and believe. They also that were crucified with him, reviled him.

Mark 15:32

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015&version=GNV

Historical Basis for Believing Jesus was Crucified in AD 30

by Jim Liles

6 years ago

[Editor’s note: I asked Jim for clarification on his belief about this since I’ve encountered people equally sure of the years 29, 30, and 33 AD for the death and resurrection of Christ. This article is his response.

Although such a topic may seem far afield from our usual creation vs. evolution discussions, it is still at the intersection of the Bible and science. It may not change anything about how you interact with others, but it can strengthen your confidence that we have not believed cleverly devised fables, but historically verifiable reality!]

Is 30 AD the Year of the Crucifixion?

To answer this question, I will combine information from Scripture as well as extra-biblical material on which there is much, but not total, agreement.  Let’s begin with the year of Jesus birth:

Year of Birth: We know from Scripture that Jesus is born at the time of the first Roman census (Luke 2:1-2Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)) when Quirinius was Governor of Syria. A review of Roman documents describe this time frame as late October or November of 5 BC. We know that the second census, 10 years later, was in 6 AD at the same time of year when Caesar Augustus ruled.

Year of Baptism: This birth date above would mean that Jesus was 12 years old at Passover in 9 AD as described in Luke 2:41-52Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). From these two dated events we can determine that Jesus is about 33.5 years old twenty-one years later at Passover in 30 AD. This is consistent with the Baptism of Jesus in August or September of 26 AD, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1-23Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)) whose reign began in July of 11 AD. This is followed by a public ministry lasting a little over three-and-a-half years ending on Passover in 30 AD.

Date of Crucifixion: The year of the Crucifixion is confirmed by several historians due to the darkness that occurred from noon until 3:00 PM on Nisan 14-Passover in 30 AD. It is important to note that the term ‘Passover’ can refer to Nisan 14, the Preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Nisan 15-the first day of seven for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The historians Phlegon, Thallus, Africanus and Tertullian all mention this three hour period of darkness that does not have a scientific explanation. It was neither a lunar or solar eclipse for many reasons. Eclipses do not last three hours and cannot happen during the full moon of Passover.

Julius Africanus, writing about the historian Thallus states:

Upon the whole world there came a most fearful darkness.  Many rocks were split in two by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.

It seems very unreasonable to me that Thallus, in the third book of his histories, would try to explain away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun. For the Jews celebrate their Passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the death of our Saviour falls on the day before the Passover. But an eclipse of the sun can only take place when the moon comes under the sun, how then could an eclipse have occurred when the moon is directly opposite the sun? (Scientifically it is impossible to have a full moon on the same day that there is an eclipse of the sun.)

The Roman historian Phlegon is mentioned by Origen who describes a darkening of the sun in the eighteenth year of Tiberius on Nisan 14-Passover which would be 30 AD. A few people have used this Roman history report stating the year of the Crucifixion is 33 AD. They mistakenly start Tiberius’ reign in 14 AD after the death of Augustus instead of the start of his joint reign in 11 AD.

On the Gregorian-Hebrew solar calendar found in ESC, the date of the Crucifixion is Friday April 5-Nisan 14, 30 AD. On this Hebrew solar calendar Nisan 14-Passover always falls on April 5 in a non-leap year and April 3 in a leap or special year on the Gregorian calendar we use today. This is clearly new information about the accuracy and inerrancy of the specific dates in Scripture.

This type of assessment of the Bible’s accuracy was only possible in recent years with computers, Excel spreadsheets, Bible software, and calendar converters like www.rosettacalendar.com.

Resources:

ESC = Earth’s Sacred Calendar: The Dated Events of the Old Testament by Jim Liles; Pub 2014.

CARM: Is there non-biblical evidence of a day of darkness at Christ’s death?

Bible History.net The Crucifixion Darkness

https://thecreationclub.com/historical-basis-for-believing-jesus-was-crucified-in-ad-30/

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..."[1][2][3] – while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs.[4][5]

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

AI Overview

Learn more

When someone says "2000 years of age," it means a period of time spanning 2,000 years, often used in historical or astrological contexts to refer to a specific era or "age" like the "Age of Pisces" which is considered to have lasted for 2,000 years in some interpretations.

Key points about "2000 years of age":

Astrological usage:

In astrology, different "ages" are associated with different zodiac signs, and each age is often calculated as lasting around 2,000 years based on the Earth's axial precession.

Example:

Currently, many astrologers consider the "Age of Aquarius" to be starting around the year 2000, signifying a new era.

Not perfectly accurate:

While 2,000 years is often used for simplicity, the actual length of an astrological age based on precession is closer to 2,160 years.

https://www.google.com/search?q=age+meaning+2000+years&sca_esv=813837a4ab300c6b&sxsrf=ADLYWIIlFsM6w2q46pw2FDIKPtl6eHh4KA%3A1735980154611&ei=evR4Z4uCJdejkPIP2Oay2A4&ved=0ahUKEwiLp8-D1tuKAxXXEUQIHVizDOsQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=age+meaning+2000+years&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFmFnZSBtZWFuaW5nIDIwMDAgeWVhcnMyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEjKEVCTCVjSDXACeAGQAQCYAW6gAf8CqgEDMy4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIGoAKRA8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAggQABgHGAgYHsICCBAAGAgYDRgewgILEAAYgAQYhgMYigXCAgoQIRigARjDBBgKmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcDNS4xoAfoFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS

Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).

NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.

Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.

Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.

https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm

Lieutenant Harry S.L. Kim was a Human Starfleet officer who served as the operations officer aboard the starship USS Voyager during the seven years it was lost in the Delta Quadrant and, in the 2380s, he served as a tactical officer aboard the USS Dauntless. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Non Sequitur", "The Disease", "Warhead", "Nightingale": PRO: "Supernova, Part 1")

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_Kim

Ensign Harry S. L. Kim is a fictional character who appeared in each of the seven seasons of the American television series Star Trek: Voyager. Portrayed by Garrett Wang, he is the Operations Officer aboard the Starfleet starship USS Voyager.

The character first appeared in the pilot episode of the series, "Caretaker". The character continued to appear throughout the series in a main cast role, with his final appearance in the finale, "Endgame". In that episode, an alternative future version of the character is seen as a Starfleet Captain. He is typically shown as being naive, especially in romantic situations, but gifted. The character finds the ship's first possible route home, and in one alternative future, he manages to develop a transwarp drive which allows him and Chakotay to travel home in a matter of hours but kills the rest of the crew. The producers had considered whether or not to kill off Kim during the third season. Wang subsequently reprised the role of Harry Kim for the fan-made Star Trek: Renegades. In 2024, Wang reprised the role as several alternate reality versions of Harry Kim in Star Trek: Lower Decks penultimate episode "Fissure Quest."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kim_(Star_Trek)

Operation Warp Speed (OWS) was a public–private partnership initiated by the United States government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.[1][2] The first news report of Operation Warp Speed was on April 29, 2020,[3][4][5] and the program was officially announced on May 15, 2020.[1] It was headed by Moncef Slaoui from May 2020 to January 2021 and by David A. Kessler from January to February 2021.[6] At the end of February 2021, Operation Warp Speed was transferred into the responsibilities of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7]

The program promoted mass production of multiple vaccines, and different types of vaccine technologies, based on preliminary evidence, allowing for faster distribution if clinical trials confirm one of the vaccines is safe and effective.[citation needed] The plan anticipated that some of these vaccines will not prove safe or effective, making the program more costly than typical vaccine development, but potentially leading to the availability of a viable vaccine several months earlier than typical timelines.[8]

Operation Warp Speed, initially funded with about $10 billion from the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) passed by the United States Congress on March 27, 2020,[1] was an interagency program that includes components of the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA); the Department of Defense; private firms; and other federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.[1]

History

President Donald Trump formally announced Operation Warp Speed on May 15, 2020, in the White House Rose Garden.

On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump officially announced the public-private partnership.[4][1][9] The purpose of Operation Warp Speed was to coordinate Health and Human Services-wide efforts, including the NIH ACTIV partnership for vaccine and therapeutic development, the NIH RADx initiative for diagnostic development, and work by BARDA.[1]

Operation Warp Speed was formed to encourage private and public partnerships to enable faster approval and production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The name was inspired by terminology for faster-than-light travel used in the Star Trek fictional universe, evoking a sense of rapid progress.[10][11]

The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30, 2020, that a vaccine would need to be at least 50% effective for diminishing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms to obtain regulatory and marketing approval.[12]

In January 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the program was expected to undergo a restructure and renaming under the Biden administration.[13][14] Also in January 2021, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, former Operation Warp Speed lead, was told not to use the name Operation Warp Speed anymore.[15] At the end of February 2021, responsibilities of Operation Warp Speed were transferred into the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7][16]

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

Kim Jong Un[d] (born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984)[b] is a North Korean politician and dictator who has been the third supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012.[e] 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 to the revolutionary cause". 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 positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. 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 Jong Un rules North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship, 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 U.S. 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 independent observers have questioned this claim. Under his rule, North Korean soldiers have been deployed under Russian command in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Early life

North Korean authorities and state-run media have stated that Kim Jong Un was born on 8 January 1982,[4] but South Korean intelligence officials believe that the actual date is a year later, in 1983.[5] The US government lists his birth year as 1984, based on the passport he used while studying in Switzerland.[6] Ko Yong Suk, Kim's aunt who defected to the United States in 1997 also confirmed the 1984 birthdate, claiming that Kim was the same age as her own son who was a playmate from a young age.[7] It is thought that Kim's official birth year was changed for symbolic reasons; 1982 marked the seventieth birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, and forty years after the official birth of his father Kim Jong Il.[8]

Kim Jong Un is the second of three children of Ko Yong Hui and Kim Jong Il; his elder brother, Kim Jong Chul, was born in 1981, while his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, is believed to have been born in 1987.[9][10] He is a grandson of Kim Il Sung, who was the founder of and led North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994.[11] Kim is the first leader of North Korea to have been born a North Korean citizen, his father having been born in the Soviet Union and his grandfather having been born during the Japanese colonial period.

All of Kim Jong Il's children are said to have lived in Switzerland, as well as the mother of the two youngest sons, who lived in Geneva for some time.[12] First reports said that Kim Jong Un attended the private International School of Berne in Gümligen in Switzerland under the name "Chol-pak" or "Pak-chol" from 1993 to 1998.[13][14] He was described as shy, a good student who got along well with his classmates, and was a basketball fan.[15] He was chaperoned by an older student, thought to be his bodyguard.[16] His elder brother Kim Jong Chul also attended the school with him.[17]

The Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school in Köniz, Switzerland, reportedly attended by Kim Jong Un

Later, it was reported that Kim Jong Un attended the Liebefeld Steinhölzli state school in Köniz, near Bern, under the name "Pak-un" or "Un-pak" from 1998 until 2000 as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy in Bern. Authorities confirmed that a North Korean student attended the school during that period. Kim first attended a special class for foreign-language children and later attended the regular classes of the 6th, 7th, 8th and part of the final 9th year, leaving the school abruptly in the autumn of 2000. He was described as a well-integrated and ambitious student who liked to play basketball.[18] However, his grades and attendance rating are reported to have been poor.[19][20] The ambassador of North Korea in Switzerland, Ri Chol, had a close relationship with him and acted as a mentor.[12] One of Kim's classmates told reporters that he had told him that he was the son of the leader of North Korea.[21][22] According to some reports, Kim was described by classmates as a shy child who was awkward with girls and indifferent to political issues, but who distinguished himself in sports and had a fascination with the American National Basketball Association and Michael Jordan. One friend claimed that he had been shown pictures of Kim with Kobe Bryant and Toni Kukoč.[23]

In April 2012, new documents came to light indicating that Kim Jong Un had lived in Switzerland since 1991 or 1992, earlier than previously thought.[24]

The Laboratory of Anatomic Anthropology at the University of Lyon, France, compared the picture of Kim taken at the Liebefeld Steinhölzli school in 1999 with a picture of Kim Jong Un from 2012 and concluded that the faces show a conformity of 95%, suggesting that it is most likely that they are the same person.[25]

The Washington Post reported in 2009 that Kim Jong Un's school friends recalled he "spent hours doing meticulous pencil drawings of Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan".[26] He was obsessed with basketball and computer games,[23][27][28] and was a fan of Jackie Chan action movies.[29]

Most analysts agree that Kim Jong Un attended Kim Il Sung University, a leading officer-training school in Pyongyang, from 2002 to 2007.[30] Kim obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il Sung University and another as an Army officer at the Kim Il Sung Military University.[31][32]

In late February 2018, Reuters reported that Kim and his father had used forged passports—supposedly issued by Brazil and dated 26 February 1996—to apply for visas in various countries. Both 10-year passports carry a stamp saying "Embassy of Brazil in Prague". Kim Jong Un's passport records the name "Josef Pwag" and a date of birth of 1 February 1983.[33]

For many years, only one confirmed photograph of him was known to exist outside North Korea, apparently taken in the mid-1990s, when he was eleven.[34] Occasionally, other supposed images of him surfaced but were often disputed.[35][36] It was only in June 2010, shortly before he was given official posts and publicly introduced to the North Korean people, that more pictures were released of Kim, taken when he was attending school in Switzerland.[37][38] The first official image of him as an adult was a group photograph released on 30 September 2010, at the end of the party conference that effectively anointed him, in which he is seated in the front row, two places from his father. This was followed by newsreel footage of him attending the conference.[39]

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

MAJESTYTWELVE

by William Cooper

Copyright © 1997 William Cooper All Rights Reserved

 

Veritas News Service - The following is fact. It is not a theory it is a genuine conspiracy. I witnessed the Top Secret/Majic documents from which this information is excerpted while a member of the United States Navy attached to the Intelligence Briefing Team of Admiral Bernard Clarey, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet.

I certify that the following information is true and correct to the best of my memory and the research that I have accomplished. I will swear to it in any court of Law.

I can produce the names of approximately 38 U.S. Navy officers and enlisted men who witnessed these documents while in the service of their country. I can produce the names of approximately 8 people involved in the UFO deception who have witnessed these documents. I can produce the names of approximately 80 others whom I suspect have witnessed these same documents. I will not reveal the names except in a court of Law that is willing to prosecute the People and organizations involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States of America to bring about a socialist totalitarian world government.

For many years I sincerely believed that an extraterrestrial threat existed and that it was the most important driving force behind world events. I was wrong and for that I most deeply and humbly apologize.

Many years ago I had access to a set of documents that I eventually realized was the plan for the destruction of the united States of America and the formation of a socialist totalitarian world government. The plan was contained within a set of Top Secret documents with the title "MAJESTYTWELVE". There was no space between majesty and twelve. The term honored the planned placement of ultimate power in a body of wise men who are destined to rule the world as the disciples of a Messiah front man. This Messiah will serve as a buffer between the wise men and the sheople. I discovered these documents between 1970 and 1973 while I was a member of the Intelligence Briefing Team of the Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet.

MAJESTYTWELVE was in a tall thin font style... imagine the title squeezed together between the M and E with all of the letters stretched vertically. The key to access was a Top Secret (Q) (SCI) security clearance with the compartmentalization of "MAJIC" (not magic). I cannot remember the exact font except that it is a tall thin version of San Serif... the exact name escapes me after all these years... but it is a key to access.

The plan outlined the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government. It is to be ruled by a behind-the-scenes council of wise men. A so-called benevolent dictator, will be presented as the Messiah.

The Constitution for the united States of America and its Bill of Rights will be scrapped. A parliamentary form of government will take its place. All military forces and individuals are to be disarmed except for an internal police force which will carry only the minimum weapons needed to maintain internal order.

"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans... And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom.  When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it.  That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities." President Bill Clinton, 3-22-94, MTV

"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..." Bill Clinton  (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A)

The only military force will be a world police force under the United Nations in sufficient numbers with state-of-the-art technology so that it can field overwhelming force against any perceived threat to the world supra government - see State Department Publication 7277. The military of the united States of America is currently filling the requirement. The senior officer corps of all of our military forces have betrayed their oaths of allegiance to the Constitution and have joined the conspiracy. They are turncoats who are actively engaged in High Treason.

The source of this conspiracy will be found in the body known as the Illuminati. It is made up of the highest adepts of the combined total of the so-called fraternal orders and secret societies. They are bound together by blood oaths, a secret religion, and the promise of an elite status within regional government, or the world supra government. Their religion is based upon the Kabbalah, the Luciferian Philosophy, and the worship of the Sun. They are not bound by any oath or allegiance save their own. They are loyal to no government or People save their own. And they are Citizens of no country save their already in place secret world government. In their own words, "If you are not one of us you are nothing." To garner some sense of "feel" for the concept see the movie They Live.

"It is a largely 'open' conspiracy, in that much of its membership, structure, methods, and operations, are matters of public record, however scattered and obscure. Its manner of coordination is atypical. Two nuclei - the elite core of the Wall Street clique (orbiting the House of Rockefeller) and the elite core of the European financial clique (orbiting the House of Rothschild) - coordinate this global conspiracy by waging psychological warfare on the rest of the conspirators, telling each no more than is necessary for him to fulfill his designated role, often with explicit recognition neither of his role, nor of the unarticulated rules that govern him. Thus, the overwhelming bulk of the conspirators do not know, but only suspect, that they are part of and in service to 'a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it' (quoting Woodrow Wilson)." - Daniel Pouzzner

You cannot hope to understand the philosophy (Illuminism) of any branch of the "Mystery School" (Illuminati) without many years of study and a complete knowledge of their "symbolic" language. You must understand that like many other organizations they attract those who completely miss the boat... or are just too stupid to "get it". When an individual joins a branch of the "Brotherhood," by any name, Freemasonry, Theosophical Society, Anthroposophic Society, Fraternitis Rosae Crucae, Knights Templar, Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights of Malta, or any other fraternal order or secret society, no one ever sits down with them and explains the meaning of anything. An actual literal esoteric education would be too dangerous. It could result in a public expose'... something which the Illuminati must avoid at all cost. But to give those who might understand a shortcut... Illuminism is COMMUNISM.

The organization of the "Order" is a pyramidal structure of "Degrees". On the bottom are the so-called "Blue" lodges full of ignorant, materialistic, and opportunistic fools. Promising candidates are chosen to be guided up the ladder of initiation with the help of those who have gone before. The initiate is presented with the objects of study, books, symbols, ritual, and camaraderie... but Illumination must come from within. Each Degree of initiation provides a new key to ultimate enlightenment, but only for those who can truly understand the ritual and symbols of the Degree. Where understanding or the ability to keep the secrets stops... the progress of the candidate stops. Only those above the 29th Degree have the ability to understand the ultimate secrets and goals of the "Order".

The ultimate "secret" is the method of controlling large numbers of fools with the promise of a "secret" which they are led to believe will make them one of the "elect". The goal is the elimination of all religion save theirs, the elimination of all nation states, and complete control and ownership of everything, and everyone, everywhere, every moment of every day, forever.

A select few are hand picked for progress beyond the 13th Degree (York Rite) or 32nd Degree (Scottish Rite). Those chosen disappear behind the veil and become one of the "Thousand Points of Light," but they are more properly known as the "Magi". There are vertical and horizontal paths of initiation and many interconnecting degrees at the higher levels between the different orders and secret societies. A 32 Degree Freemason could, for example, actually possess over 100 different degrees.

The process of initiation and blood oaths have always been the protection of the Illuminati in a Christian world that has had a tendency to "burn at the stake" those who differed in belief or philosophy. The "burning alive" of Jacques DeMolay, the persecution of men like Gallileo and Giordano Bruno by the Catholic Church, and the persecution of their Orders has resulted in the "Brotherhoods" hatred of Christianity and the goal of the extermination of all religions save theirs.

You may verify the goal of the Illuminati by visiting the home page of Freemasonry's Grand Lodge of Scotland (if that link does not work click here). You will notice the flag of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the "Universal" flag of Freemasonry is displayed. The "Universal" flag of Freemasonry is the United Nations Flag. (We thank those of you who responded with affidavits confirming this paragraph.) Since this paragraph has become well known the Grand Lodge of Scotland has replaced the United Nations Flag (Universal Flag of Freemasonry) on their WebPages with a graphic of the earth.

The philosophy at the core of all the Mystery Schools is secular humanism, the foundation and the font of socialism/communism. Most socialists/communists don't have the slightest idea that they are puppets of an arcane philosophy bent upon world domination. They actually believe they will ultimately realize a world where everything is free courtesy of Big Brother and where all risk and worry has disappeared... any such world would only be a world of slaves dependent upon an elite class of "Masters".

The Knights Templar were an communist organization symbolized by the two knights riding one horse. Each initiate had to give up all wealth, property, and worldly goods to the Order. Each performed according to his ability and received according to the need of his position within the order. They were pledged to absolute and unquestioning obedience to their superior Knight or knights, the Grand Master, and the Order. In that respect every knight and every piece of property, all wealth, was totally owned and controlled by the Order.

According to MAJESTYTWELVE the Knights Templar have become the driving influence at the highest levels of all the secret societies among the adepts known as the Illuminati. The most accessible font of their influence will be found in the (Cecil Rhodes) Roundtable Group (The Group), The Royal Institute Of International Affairs, the Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, the Council On Foreign Relations, the Jason Society, the Skull and Bones Society (Russell Trust), the Scroll and Key Fraternity, the highest Degrees of the York and Scottish Rites of Freemasonry, the Ancient Order of Rosae Crucae, and many other secret societies which collectively make up the modern equivalent of the "Brotherhood of the Snake" also known as (a.k.a.) the "Guardians," the "Builders," the "Philosophers of Fire," or the "Illuminati".

The Philosophy of the Mystery Schools is the Luciferian Philosophy as espoused by General (Christopher) Albert Pike, one of the founders of the KKK. But it is not his original thought... he just expounded upon it in forms that eventually became accessible to those who seek it out. Christopher means Christ-like. To the adept, Albert Pike achieved a mystical apotheosis in the Lodge of Perfection and brought forth the Christ within. He thus became Christed taking on the name Christopher.

Watch "StarTrek" from the beginning episodes up to the present, and you will begin to realize that it was an indoctrination into the concepts of socialism through subliminal initiation of the youth of the nation. The Captains James T. Kirk (JTK = K(nights) (of the) T(emple) (of) J(erusalem) and Christopher Pike are symbolic salutes to the Order of the Templars, and to the Brotherhoods greatest philosopher and probably its most prolific writer the Christed General Albert Pike. The Enterprise represents their great work or plan which if navigated properly will lead them to the realization of their dream of a united socialist utopian world.

"As nearly as I can concentrate on the question today, I believe I am God; certainly you are, I think we intelligent beings on this planet are all a piece of God, are becoming God." Interview with Gene Roddenberry in "Star Trek Creator" by David Alexander, Roc, an imprint of Dutton Signet a division of Penguin Books New York, page 568, par 1

Those who understand the symbolic language will have noticed that the most recent Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award Ceremony recognized the coming of the New Dawn. The rising Sun on the backdrop and the two triple crowns of the Mysteries representing the Trinity of Osiris, Isis, and the child Horus were revealing. Trooping before it were the Stars, some of the thousand points of light, who make the movies that mold the minds of the sheople, creating the future world.

Very simply the Luciferian philosophy is, "Adam and Eve were held prisoner in the bonds of ignorance by an unjust and vindictive God in the Garden of Eden. They were set free from their chains (Evolution through "Primordial Knowing") by Lucifer (Prometheus) through his agent Satan in the guise of a serpent (ancient symbol of Wisdom) with the gift of Intellect (Fire). Through the use of his intellect man will perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and will himself become God (promise of Satan to Adam and Eve)." Any religion, church, organization, or People who believe they are God, will become God, or are becoming God is practicing the Luciferian philosophy of the Mystery Schools, and are acting in furtherance of the conspiracy.

The Luciferian philosophy is a metaphor for the development of the perfected man (Marxist/Leninist) through the process of evolution by learning how to dominate and control nature (called science). The result (they say) will be the apotheosis of the race of mankind and the elimination of all who cannot make this paradigm shift in the coming New Age. The Soviet Union was the most perfect expression of illuminist secular humanist philosophy that has ever been presented before the eyes of an ignorant but gullible public. Now they strive for enslavement of the human race in the new utopia. This will be brought about through deception, manipulation, and psychological operations which make up the art of illusion called magic.

The Alchemists had the same religion but disguised it under the profane interpretation of the exoteric or outward expression of mutating lead into gold. The search for the philosophers stone was the attempt to perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and lead the evolution of what the Illuminati believe to be the inferior races of mankind, what they believe to be useless eaters.

Those who are attracted to the Mysteries who are unable to grasp the esoteric meaning of their education often take the exoteric interpretation to be truth. They often turn to Satan or Lucifer (Light) as their object of worship never understanding the metaphor for a much deeper philosophy. These Satan worshipers are useful. They furnish a diversion and are often a source of large sums of money. The Brotherhood has seldom found itself lacking in fools or funds. Ex-FBI operative Ted Gunderson is the hegelian tool in this instance pointing you off after Satanists, a cull-d-sac where you will chase your own tail round, and round, and round. I do not believe that Ted knows that he is being used in this regard. I may be wrong.

Shirley McClain understands the philosophy, though probably not in its correct interpretation. She is a member in good standing. "I am GOD," is her message.

Fire (Intellect, Light, Illumination) is the God of the Mysteries and its Priests are the Philosophers of Fire (Illumined Ones or Illuminati). They believe that any concept of creation must contain the idea that all things are manifestations of a supreme force (Pantheism). Since man is the only creation with intelligence and original thought, they believe that the combined, or collective consciousness of mankind, is the mind of the Great Architect of the Universe, ergo Man IS GOD. And that should "enlighten" you to the source of some of the more difficult to understand concepts of the New Age movement.

Please do not get the fool (profane = you) mixed up with the adepts, or Fraternitis Rex Mundi, or Brotherhood (Illuminati) of the king of the World (Lucifer or Satan). Those who cannot understand this philosophy through the occult language of symbology and make the shift in thinking for the coming millenium may be doomed to extinction. The spokespersons for the New Age make no secret of their intent in that regard.

This is the age of deception. The world is on the razor. One half is scheduled to be exterminated if these people have their way, and the other half is scheduled to be enslaved when the mystical union between the moon IS (Isis or Church) and the sun RA (Osiris or Doctrine) greets the Son of the morning EL (Horus or full body of Adepts) on the horizon (Horus risen)  in the New Dawn (ISRAEL or realization of the New World Order). When the process is complete a new worldwide Soviet Union will emerge to thin the herd, shear the sheople, and march them off to enslavement or slaughter depending upon their individual ability to accept and adhere to their reeducation.

A prime illustration of the symbology of the Mystery Schools is the following Art Bell logo.

Notice the hidden messages, A.L. and R.T. Bel? Can you decipher them? Notice that a capstone is in place? Did you notice Bel is placed above the capstone by the flying arrow? Do you know what that means? Did you spot the all seeing eye?

Here is a clue... A.L. is the abbreviation for the Latin which translates Year of Light referring to the year 6,000 when the Illuminati believe Prometheus, Lucifer, Baal, Bel, Satan, the angel of light who was cast out of heaven, will triumph over God and mount the throne in the north (A metaphor for the triumph of socialism over religion, nation states, and the common herd). A.L. can be found by adding 4,000 to the current year, 1998 + 4000 = 5998. All who say they are Light Workers are engaged in the battle against God on Lucifer's behalf.

I have long recognized that Art Bell is a shill for the New World Odor. It is confirmed in his book . World government is, in fact, the theme of the book.

Did you know that the sea (mare or Mary) is a symbol of vast numbers of People, the masses in Marxist symbology? Did you notice that the pyramid rises from the sea (People) and dominates the scene as a promise, or savior? Did you know the pyramid missing the capstone represents the Great (unfinished) Work of the Mystery School? Did you know that the Great Work represents social engineering (socialism) working toward the apotheosis of the race (perfected man, sixth root race) as promised to Adam and Eve by Satan, and a New World Order? Did you notice that the name Art Bell straddles the capstone signifying that he is the Light Worker, or Illumined Man, or Master Mason, or Horus, or perfected god-Man, or Savior, who completes the Great Work? Did you notice the Bright Star fallen from heaven just above the capstone? Do you know who or what it represents? Do you see the Thousand Points of Light working in silence behind the veil (clouds) in the heavens. Illuminism is Marxism. It is a false promise that the human race will be perfected bringing a perfect utopian society through social engineering. This is a brainwashing mechanism whereby an ignorant slave race may be created to be ruled by a totalitarian socialist world government.

Art Bell is a Freemason. He is a member of the Illuminati. Art Bell's book The Quickening is one of the most blatant, in your face, pieces of new world order propaganda that I have ever seen. In it Art Bell, claiming to be a patriotic American, shamelessly advocates the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government.

"Will there be a global government with a benevolent dictator, overseeing global law, global police and a global judiciary in an attempt to make the world cleaner, peaceful and prosperous? If that's what it takes to achieve these ends, so be it." -- from The Quickening by Art Bell, page 309

The Art Bell Overnight and Dreamland radio shows dish up nightly servings of ridiculous, outrageous, and fantastic conspiracy fantasies. Occasionally Bell stirs in legitimate, real and dangerous conspiracies. Although Art Bell pretends to be serious, the mix of incredulous fantasy with fact serves to debunk all conspiracies. Bell effectively implants the idea that anyone who believes in any conspiracy is a whacked out nutcase that should be locked up in a mental institution. He is a most effective change agent operating on behalf of our enemies.

The conspiracy is racist, considering Blacks, Hispanics, and Aboriginal Peoples to be inferior races of useless eaters. They believe or at least profess that the Anglo/Aryan race is the true Israel (British Israel and Christian Identity for the dupes and an Anglophile Secular Humanism for the leaders) and thus the Master race. They have convinced the so-called useless eaters that they are friends, benefactors, and protectors. In the meantime they plan to enslave these poor People under socialism or eliminate them altogether. The Illuminati has convinced them that Karl Marx is their savior, and the sheople follow this Judas goat eagerly.

There will be no individual Rights only privileges. These will be granted or denied at will by the world supra government. All property is to be owned by the State. There will be a redistribution of wealth. They plan to eliminate class differences and reduce the standard of living to a lower level in the advanced nations, such as the united States, and to a higher standard of living in the so-called third world nations. This leveling of the standard of living will be accomplished through a global economic collapse which is in its beginning stages. The economic collapse will fulfill the goal of Marx and Engles' Communist Manifesto mandating the elimination of the middle class. The graduated income tax was the first implementation of this process and is one of the planks of the Communist Manifesto. NAFTA and GATT are a part of this process encouraging industry to move into third-world nations in order to exploit cheap labor.

All existing religions will disappear. The only religion will be the state religion (humanism or illuminism).

All County and State governments will be eliminated and replaced with regional government. These regional governments (Home Rule) are already in place. Regionalism is gradually taking control throughout America.

There will be no more cash. Trade will be accomplished by a system of computer credits with accounts accessed through debit cards or computer chip implants. The cards or implants will also serve as personal identification, drivers license, and etc. When this is completed the human race will be shackled to a computer in a never ending cycle of debt. No action or movement will ever again be private.

The plan for the creation of a socialist world government is protected by an artificial extraterrestrial threat from space. The entire UFO phenomenon and the uFOOLogy movement has been created to further the protection and activation of the plan.

Within MAJESTYTWELVE is Operation Majority justifying the plan by presenting an extraterrestrial threat as the reason for the necessity for world government ala "Who speaks for planet Earth... Argentina?" Exactly the manner in which Stanton T. Friedman ends his UFOs Are Real lectures.

Operation Majority is named after the original Bolshevik party which sparked the Russian Revolution. Bolshevik means the majority. The plan claims that if the American people are ever told of this extraterrestrial presence aliens will destroy the United States. All who have access to the plan or who inadvertently discover the plan are silenced by that warning. They believe in the government and thus believe the extraterrestrial lie. These dupes do not know that the Illuminati are the aliens who plan to destroy the United States of America in any event.

The natural skepticism of reporters insures that anyone who believes in extraterrestrial visitation or who links the so-called alien threat with the coming world government will be ridiculed and discredited.

When I saw Operation Majority while serving in the Navy I believed the alien threat was real just like everyone else. It was not until I had performed many years of research that I was able to fully understand exactly what it was that I had seen. It was extremely difficult for me to believe that my government and the United States Navy had used me, especially since I had dedicated my life to government and military service. Most government and military personnel cannot and will not believe such and idea.

The plan is real. The extraterrestrial threat is artificial. The threat is presented through the use of secret technology originally developed by the Germans in their secret weapons programs during WW-II, by geniuses like Nikola Tesla, and many others.

Military and government personnel who have access to this material believe it is real. None of them, however, has ever seen any evidence of the existence of any extraterrestrial creature nor any advanced technology other that that of human origin. It is not what they see that convinces them it is extraterrestrial in origin but the manner in which it is presented. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Top Secret government or military documentation could be lies. It is trust in government by men and women who have given their lives in its service that keeps this monumental lie a alive.

All so-called leaks are intentional misinformation projects designed to promote the alien threat scenario while allowing for complete deniability on the part of government. The antics of Vicki (Cooper) Ecker (CIA), Donald Francis Ecker III (Dupe), William Moore, Jaime Shandera, Stanton T. Friedman, Bruce Maccabee (CIA, ONI), Barry Taff PhD.(Pneuropsychiatric Institute of UCLA worked with recently deceased Dr. Louis Jollyn "Jolly" West), Whitley Strieber, Bud Hopkins (CIA), John Lear (CIA), Linda Moulton Howe Order of the Eastern Star and American Federation of Human Rights (American co-masonry), Art Bell (Freemason), Glen Campbell, George Knapp (Freemason), Colonel Philip Corso (CIA, a monumental liar now Deceased), Richard Hoagland and his Face on Mars, the so-called alien autopsy film, NASA and the Apollo Moon Missions, the so-called Mars Meteorite which was fraudulently promoted as containing fossil evidence of life on Mars, the War Of The Worlds, and many other people and events are projects of this type. Some (very few) of these People are unwitting accomplices in the charade and truly believe in the extraterrestrial threat.

Most of those named, and others not named, are active, and with full knowledge, agents of illuminism/socialism. The most well known are active Fellow Travelers, communist agents of the KGB, the Central Intelligence Agency, or one of the many psychological warfare agencies founded by the Rhodes Round Table Group (The Group), the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the Council On Foreign Relations.

Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C Exhibit D Exhibit E

The plan to create an artificial extraterrestrial threat to the Earth was first mentioned by the Marxist, John Dewey.

"Some one remarked that the best way to unite all the nations on this globe would be an attack from some other planet. In the face of such an alien enemy, people would respond with a sense of their unity of interest and purpose." John Dewey, New York 1917.

The premise was tested for credibility with the CBS presentation of War Of The Worlds on the CBS Radio Network by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre. At 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, on the evening of October 30, 1938, the night before All Saints Day, now generally celebrated as Halloween, an estimated six million Americans listened to the famous Orson Welles broadcast, War Of The Worlds. The broadcast described an extraterrestrial invasion from Mars. An estimated one million sheople responded with sustained credulity and fear. Thousands responded with sheer panic.

The broadcast was a psychological warfare experiment conducted by The Princeton Radio Project. The Rockefeller Foundation funded the project in the fall of 1937. An Office of Radio Research was set up with Paul F. Lazarsfeld as director. Frank Stanton and Hadley Cantril were named associate directors. Cantril used a special grant from the General Education Board to study the effects of the broadcast. Cantril published the study as a book titled The Invasion From Mars - A Study In The Psychology Of Panic. It contains a complete script of the broadcast. The book is one of a series of studies sponsored by the Federal Radio Education Committee.

War Of The Worlds, was broadcast by Mercury Theater on the Air, from a microphone in a New York studio of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Council on Foreign Relations member Frank Stanton was a CBS executive. Stanton would later direct Radio Free Europe. Regarding the programs realism Cantril writes, "The sheer dramatic excellence of the broadcast must not be overlooked. The unusual realism of the performance may be attributed to the fact that the early parts of the broadcast fell within the existing standards of judgment of the listeners..."

A few short weeks before this broadcast, millions of listeners had kept their radios tuned for the latest news from a Europe apparently about to go to war. They had learned to expect that musical programs, dramas, broadcasts of all kinds would be cut off in a serious emergency to inform or warn an eager and anxious public. A large proportion of listeners, particularly those in the lower income and educational brackets, have grown to rely more on the radio than on the newspapers for news... On this particular night when the listener tuned to the Mercury Theater, he heard the music of "Ramon Raquello" and his orchestra coming from the "Meridian Room" in the "Park Plaza Hotel" of New York City. Soon after the first piece had begun an announcer broke in: "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News."

...This report brought the story of the first explosion on Mars. The music was resumed only to be followed by another break: "Ladies and gentlemen, following on the news given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of the country to keep an astronomical watch..." This bulletin contains the information that a "huge flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey." The swing band gets in 20 seconds more. Then the invasion continues uninterruptedly..."

The last announcement comes from New York City, the Announcer says,

"I'm speaking from the roof of Broadcasting Building, New York City. The bells you hear are ringing to warn the people to evacuate the city as the Martians approach. Estimated in last two hours three million people have moved out along the roads to the north Hutchison River Parkway still kept open for motor traffic. Avoid bridges to Long Island --hopelessly jammed. All communication with Jersey shore closed ten minutes ago. No more defenses. Our army wiped out -- artillery, air force, everything wiped out. This may the last broadcast. We'll stay here to the end -- People are holding service below us -- in the cathedral. (VOICES SINGING HYMN). Now I look down the harbor. All manner of boats overloaded with fleeing population, pulling out from docks. (SOUND OF BOAT WHISTLES) Streets are all jammed. Noise in crowds like New Year's Eve in city. Wait a minute -- Enemy now in sight above the Palisades. Five great machines. First one is crossing river. I can see it from here, wading the Hudson like a man wading through a brook -- A bulletin's handed to me -- Martian cylinders are falling all over the country. One outside Buffalo, one in Chicago, St. Louis -- seem to be timed and spaced. -- Now the first machine reaches the shore. He stands watching, looking over the city. His steel, cowlish head is even with the skyscrapers. He waits for the others. They rise like a line of new towers on the city's west side -- Now they're lifting their metal hands. This is the end now. Smoke comes out -- black smoke, drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running towards the East River -- thousands of them, dropping in like rats. Now the smokes spreading faster. It's reached Times Square. People trying to run away from it, but its no use. They're falling like flies. Now the smokes crossing Sixth Avenue -- Fifth Avenue -- 100 yards away -- it's 50 feet --"

The announcer breaks off, and a field artillery radio operator is heard,

"2X2L calling CQ...

2X2L calling CQ...

2X2L calling CQ...New York

Isn't there anyone on the air?

Isn't there anyone...

2x2L_______ (MIDDLE BREAK)"

XX (Roman Numeral 20), X-2, or 2-X are espionage code names for a double-cross. The fictitious call letters can be interpreted by insiders to mean DOUBLE-CROSS [2X] TO HELL [2L].

Hadley Cantril was born in Hyrum Utah on the 16th June 1906. He graduated Dartmouth College with a B. S. in psychology in 1928. He studied in Munich and Berlin (1929-1930). He received a Ph. D. in psychology from Harvard in 1931. In 1949 Cantril received a LL.D. from Washington and Lee University. Cantril taught sociology at Dartmouth College (1931-32), and psychology at Harvard (1932-1935), and Columbia University (1935-36). In 1936 Cantril joined the Princeton psychology department. He remained a member of the department until his death in 1969. In 1950 Cantril authored a book called Tensions that Cause Wars (1950). Hadley Cantril was an active and influential member of the Council On Foreign Relations.

The public believed the War Of The Worlds was an actual news broadcast thus setting the stage for the implementation of an alien threat scenario. The only problem was that the state of the art of technology at that time did not allow for a believable presentation. The development of saucer shaped wingless and tailless flying machines by the Germans during WW-II and the implementation of psychological warfare against the sheople of the world solved the problem.

"In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us realize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world." - President Ronald Reagan, in a speech made to the 42nd General Assembly of the United Nations, Sept. 21, 1987

He inserted it in eight speeches during his time in office.

Say it again Ron.

 

The following recently released CIA document says it all...

 

 

The announcement of the Jewish Holocaust, the proposal of a World government which would prevent future genocide or wars by the formation of the United Nations in 1945, and the announcement of sightings of "flying saucers" by Kenneth Arnold, an ex-intelligence officer, in 1947 launched the deception.

The natural guilt harbored by the men of the 509th Atomic Bomb Wing after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made them eager conspirators in orchestrating the faked crash of an extraterrestrial craft and discovery of shaved and surgically altered monkeys near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The artificial extraterrestrial threat was thus implanted in the mind of the public.

This recently released FBI document blows the lid off Roswell.

 

 

Applying Hitler's concept of the big lie the artificial extraterrestrial threat was nurtured and built into an always present possibility over the next 50 years. Eventually a large percentage of the worlds population found themselves believing in alien ships, extraterrestrial visitation, alien mutilation of animals, and alien abductions of humans, with absolutely no proof that extraterrestrials exist anywhere in the universe, much less that any have ever visited this planet.

The artificial threat is further advanced through the mind control programming of Marxists and communists in Hollywood, radio, television, advertising, publishing houses, and the uFOOLogy movement all of which are in the complete control of the Illuminati and the Intelligence community. Fear is instilled through the incidental use of terror inspired by the cattle and animal mutilation by-products of the governments secret low level radiation monitoring, and the so-called alien abduction scenario induced by state-of-the-art and extremely sophisticated mind control operations.

The propaganda attack against the American People continues through movies. In Star Wars Luke Skywalker (Apollo, Horus, Osiris), the SON of a widow (initiate) goes in search of himself (Secret, lost Word, or Great Work). Jedi Knight Darth Vader (Osiris, Sun Father, Apollo, Doctrine, Lucifer, Master of the FORCE [magic] who has gone over to the Darkside (religion, nationalism, superstition) separates the Princess (the title signifies BECOMING) Lea (Isis - Moon - Church) from the Doctrine (illumination).

Luke falls in love with Lea and begins a sexless, but spiritual relationship with the Princess. This mystical union produces the child HORUS (falcon headed God) which, in the movie, is personified in the illumination of Luke transforming him into an Adept or Priest (Jedi Knight - Sun Son - Adept - Reincarnated Osiris - Apollo - God - Doctrine). He embarks upon a Quest in the Millenium (saviors always return at the millenium) Falcon (Horus as savior) to rescue Princess Lea which results in a confrontation with Vader who imparts knowledge (Intelligence - Fire) resulting in Luke finding the Holy Grail (Bloodline, Identity, Lost Word, Obelisk, Penis, Creative Force, apotheosis). With this knowledge he succeeds in reuniting (uniting in marriage) the Force (doctrine) with Princess Lea (Church) which reestablishes the Order of Jedi Knights (Congregation - full body of Adepts or Priests - sixth root race - evolved and matured mankind - God Race, Horus) producing chaos, rebellion, and the establishment of the New Dawn on the horizon (Horus Risen), the New Age, the New Atlantis, a New World Order, the socialist utopian world.

Same message in the Lion King. But this motion picture goes even further revealing the true malevolence of this deception. The Hyenas portray what the "Order" considers to be the "useless eaters of the world," blacks, Hispanics, and aboriginal peoples. The Lion is the symbol of the Tribe of Judah, the so-called Israel, Christian Identity, British Israel, International Zionism, the Anglo/Aryan race. Don't even think you understand any of this as "important". It is only the manipulation through which the Illuminati plans to wrest complete control of the world... in other words total bullshit.

The true history reveals that "King David" was never the ruler of the nation of "Israel" but conquered "Israel" as the King of "Judah". It was that war into which he sent off the husband of Bathsheba to be killed in the forefront of battle.

The three entertainment programs offered in the Luxor (source of light) Hotel in Las Vegas teach the same thing. Together they are called "The Search for the Obelisk" and is in reality the three degrees in six acts, the number of which is 18 or 6+6+6, the symbol of a man, the illumined man Horus, or the Priest Adept of the Mysteries. All of the "Profane" who attend this program of entertainment emerge as "Master Masons" without portfolio... like the education from Star Wars, the Lion King, and StarTrek, the indoctrination is embedded in the subconscious mind of all who see this propaganda.

These movies represent an insidious indoctrination of the Peoples of the world into the Doctrine of the Mysteries. Children are especially susceptible. If it continues throughout their young lives they are certain to join one of the secret orders or at least lend their approval. You must learn to read the "symbolic language" of the Mysteries in order to guard the minds of your children against the subliminal indoctrination which is being implanted into their eager minds.

Socialists who make movies have desensitized the nation (particularly impressionable youth) to violence and bloodshed. They have fostered the notion that anything goes as long as you don't get caught... that morals are bad. Motion pictures, television, and extremely sophisticated mind control operations are destroying our society.

Who among you really believes that all of a sudden and for no reason whatsoever young children all over the nation pick up firearms and decide to murder their parents, classmates, and teachers? How many of you realize that the majority of these children were receiving treatment (hypnosis and drugs) from mental health professionals? How many of you realize that it is these same mental health professionals who have created the "alien abduction" and "abused children" phenomenon which has surged across the nation? How many of you have ever realized that most so-called mental health professionals are self confessed Marxists. When are you going to stop being ignorant sheople? Have you ever asked yourself why these incidents always happen just before legislators must vote on important gun legislation?

To make interstellar travel believable NASA was created. The Apollo Space Program foisted the idea that man could travel to, and walk upon, the moon. Every Apollo mission was carefully rehearsed and then filmed in large sound stages at the Atomic Energy Commissions Top Secret test site in the Nevada Desert and in a secured and guarded sound stage at the Walt Disney Studios within which was a huge scale mock-up of the moon.

All names, missions, landing sites, and events in the Apollo Space Program echo the occult metaphors, rituals, and symbology of the Illuminati's secret religion. The most transparent was the faked explosion on the spacecraft Apollo 13, named "Aquarius" (new age) at 1:13 (1313 military time) on April 13, 1970 which was the metaphor for the initiation ceremony involving the death (explosion), placement in the coffin (period of uncertainty of their survival), communion with the spiritual world and the imparting of esoteric knowledge to the candidate (orbit and observation of the moon without physical contact), rebirth of the initiate (solution of problem and repairs), and the raising up (of the Phoenix, the new age of Aquarius) by the grip of the lions paw (reentry and recovery of Apollo 13). 13 is the number of death and rebirth, death and reincarnation, sacrifice, the Phoenix, the Christ (perfected soul imprisoned in matter), and the transition from the old to the new. Another revelation to those who understand the symbolic language of the Illuminati is the hidden meaning of the names of the Space Shuttles, "A Colombian Enterprise to Endeavor for the Discovery of Atlantis... and all Challengers shall be destroyed."

Exploration of the moon stopped because it was impossible to continue the hoax without being discovered. And of course they ran out of pre-filmed episodes.

No man has ever ascended much higher than 300 miles, if that high, above the Earth's surface. At or under that altitude the astronauts are beneath the radiation of the Van Allen Belt and the Van Allen Belt shields them from the extreme radiation which permeates space. No man has ever orbited, landed on, or walked upon the moon in any publicly known space program. If man has ever truly been to the moon it has been done in secret and with a far different technology.

The tremendous radiation encountered in the Van Allen Belt, solar radiation, cosmic radiation, Solar flares, temperature control, and many other problems connected with space travel prevent living organisms leaving our atmosphere with our known level of technology. Any intelligent high school student with a basic physics book can prove NASA faked the Apollo moon landings

If you doubt this please explain how the astronauts walked upon the moons surface enclosed in a space suit in full sunlight absorbing a minimum of 265 degrees of heat surrounded by a vacuum... and that is not even taking into consideration any effects of cosmic radiation, Solar flares, micrometeorites, etc. NASA tells us the moon has no atmosphere and that the astronauts were surrounded by the vacuum of space.

Heat is defined as the vibration or movement of molecules within matter. The faster the molecular motion the higher the temperature. The slower the molecular motion the colder the temperature. Absolute zero is that point where all molecular motion ceases. In order to have hot or cold, molecules must be present.

A vacuum is a condition of nothingness where there are no molecules. Vacuums exist in degrees. Some scientists tell us that there is no such thing as an absolute vacuum. Space is the closest thing to an absolute vacuum that is known to us. There are so few molecules present in most areas of what we know as "space" that any concept of "hot" or "cold" is impossible to measure. A vacuum is a perfect insulator. That is why a "Thermos" or vacuum bottle is used to store hot or cold liquids in order to maintain the temperature for the longest time possible without re-heating or re-cooling.

Radiation of all types will travel through a vacuum but will not affect the vacuum. Radiant heat from the sun travels through the vacuum of space but does not "warm" space. In fact the radiant heat of the sun has no affect whatsoever until it strikes matter. Molecular movement will increase in direct proportion to the radiant energy which is absorbed by matter. The time it takes to heat matter exposed to direct sunlight in space is determined by its color, its elemental properties, its distance from the sun, and its rate of absorption of radiant heat energy. Space is NOT hot. Space is NOT cold.

Objects which are heated cannot be cooled by space. In order for an object to cool it must first be removed from direct sunlight. Objects which are in the shadow of another object will eventually cool but not because space is "cold". Space is not cold. Hot and cold do not exist in the vacuum of space. Objects cool because the laws of motion dictate that the molecules of the object will slow down due to the resistance resulting from striking other molecules until eventually all motion will stop provided the object is sheltered from the direct and/or indirect radiation of the sun and that there is no other source of heat. Since the vacuum of space is the perfect insulator objects take a very long time to cool even when removed from all sources of heat, radiated or otherwise.

NASA insists the space suits the astronauts supposedly wore on the lunar surface were air conditioned. An air conditioner cannot, and will not work without a heat exchanger. A heat exchanger simply takes heat gathered in a medium such as freon from one place and transfers it to another place. This requires a medium of molecules which can absorb and transfer the heat such as an atmosphere or water. An air conditioner will not and cannot work in a vacuum. A space suit surrounded by a vacuum cannot transfer heat from the inside of the suit to any other place. The vacuum, remember, is a perfect insulator. A man would roast in his suit in such a circumstance.

NASA claims the spacesuits were cooled by a water system which was piped around the body, then through a system of coils sheltered from the sun in the backpack. NASA claims that water was sprayed on the coils causing a coating of ice to form. The ice then supposedly absorbed the tremendous heat collected in the water and evaporated into space. There are two problems with this that cannot be explained away. 1) The amount of water needed to be carried by the astronauts in order to make this work for even a very small length of time in the direct 55 degrees over the boiling point of water (210 degrees F at sea level on Earth) heat of the sun could not have possibly been carried by the astronauts. 2) NASA has since claimed that they found ice in moon craters. NASA claims that ice sheltered from the direct rays of the sun will NOT evaporate destroying their own bogus "air conditioning" explanation.

Remember this. Think about it the next time you go off in the morning with a "vacuum bottle" filled with hot coffee. Think about it long and hard when you sit down and pour a piping hot cup from your thermos to drink with your lunch four hours later... and then think about it again when you pour the last still very warm cup of coffee at the end of the day.

The same laws of physics apply to any vehicle traveling through space. NASA claims that the spacecraft was slowly rotated causing the shadowed side to be cooled by the intense cold of space... an intense cold that DOES NOT EXIST. In fact the only thing that could have been accomplished by a rotation of the spacecraft is a more even and constant heating such as that obtained by rotating a hot dog on a spit. In reality a dish called Astronaut a la Apollo would have been served. At the very least you would not want to open the hatch upon the crafts return.

NASA knows better than to claim, in addition, that a water cooling apparatus such as that which they claim cooled the astronauts suits cooled the spacecraft. No rocket could ever have been launched with the amount of water needed to work such a system for even a very short period of time. Fresh water weighs a little over 62 lbs. per cubic foot. Space and weight capacity were critical given the lift capability of the rockets used in the Apollo Space Program. No such extra water was carried by any mission whatsoever for suits or for cooling the spacecraft.

On the tapes the Astronauts complained bitterly of the cold during their journey and while on the surface of the moon. They spoke of using heaters that did not give off enough heat to overcome the intense cold of space. It was imperative that NASA use this ruse because to tell the truth would TELL THE TRUTH. It is also proof of the arrogance and contempt in which the Illuminati holds the common man.

What we heard is in reality indicative of an over zealous cooling system in the props used during the filming of the missions at the Atomic Energy Commissions Nevada desert test site, where it is common to see temperatures well over 100 degrees. In the glaring unfiltered direct heat of the sun the Astronauts could never have been cold at any time whatsoever in the perfect insulating vacuum of space.

As proof examine the Lunar Lander on display in the Smithsonian Institute and notice the shrouded and encased cone of the rocket engine INSIDE the Lander which is attached above the rocket nozzle at the bottom center of the Lander. It is this rocket engine which supposedly provided the retro thrust upon landing on the moon and the takeoff thrust during takeoff from the moon. In the actual Lunar Lander this engine is present but in the film and pictures of the inside of the Lunar Lander that was "said" to be on the moon the engine is absent. Then examine the Lunar Lander simulator and you will see exactly where the fake footage was filmed.

It would also be a good idea for you to measure the dimensions of the astronauts in their spacesuits and then measure the actual usable dimensions of the hatch that they had to use to egress and ingress the Lander. Also measure the inside dimensions of the actual Lander and you will see that the astronauts (liars) could not have possibly left or entered in their suits through that hatch. Notice the position of the hinge of the hatch and then examine the Lunar Lander training simulator and measure all the dimensions noted above taking care to note the position of the hinge on the much larger hatch and you may become "illumined"... so to speak.

NASA claims that the space suits worn by the astronauts were pressurized at 5 psi over the ambient pressure (0 psi vacuum) on the moon's surface. We have examined the gloves NASA claims the astronauts wore and find they are made of pliable material containing no mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical devices which would aid the astronauts in the dexterous use of their fingers and hands while wearing the gloves. Experiments prove absolutely that such gloves are impossible to use and that the wearer cannot bend the wrist or fingers to do any dexterous work whatsoever when filled with 5 psi over ambient pressure either in a vacuum or in the earth's atmosphere. NASA actually showed film and television footage of astronauts using their hands and fingers normally during their EVAs on the so-called lunar surface. The films show clearly that there is no pressure whatsoever within the gloves... a condition that would have caused explosive decompression of the astronauts resulting in almost immediate death if they had really been surrounded by the vacuum of space.

If you don't believe it try it yourself... it is a very simple experiment and does not require a rocket scientist to perform. These are just a few of over a hundred very simple and very easy to prove valid scientific reasons why NASA and the Apollo Space Program are two of the biggest lies ever foisted upon the unsuspecting and trusting People of the world.

We attempted to obtain data on Solar activity and in particular Solar flares which may have been active during the Apollo Moon Missions. We found that data is available for any day of any year during which data has been collected EXCEPT the days and hours of all of the Apollo Moon shots. That data can not be obtained from any government agency including NASA, NOAA, or the Naval Observatory. This is data that is normally collected and would have been used in calculating the dates of launch, dates and times of EVAs, and extreme radiation hazard. It would have been monitored during times of extra vehicular activity (EVA) of the astronauts while on the moon... that is if any astronauts were ever on the moon. The data is not available because it would demonstrate that the so-called astronauts would have been fried crisp. They would have returned to the earth DEAD if they had actually attempted any such missions.

In addition most, if not all, of the photos, films, and videotape of the Apollo Moon Missions are easily proven to be fake. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of studio photography, studio lighting, and the reality of Lunar physics can easily prove that NASA faked the visual records of the Apollo Space Program. No color film known to man, then or now, had or has the latitude to produce the excellent detail found in shadow and highlighted areas of the photographs supposedly taken on the moon. Any professional photographer can tell you that those photographs could only have been produced in a controlled environment using studio lighting and could not possibly have been produced in full sunlight in a vacuum on the moon. Some are so obviously fake that when the discrepancies are pointed out to unsuspecting viewers an audible gasp has been heard. Some have actually gone into a mild state of shock. Some People break down and cry. I have seen others become so angry that they have ripped the offending photos to shreds while screaming incoherently.

Kleinknect, the head of Operations at NASA at the time of the Apollo Space Program, is now is now a 33rd Degree Freemason who's brother is the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction. It was his reward for pulling it off. All of the first astronauts were Freemasons. There is a photograph in the House of the Temple in Washington DC of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon (supposedly) in his spacesuit holding his Masonic Apron in front of his groin. All of the senior officials of NASA have been, and are, members of the Illuminati, Marxists, or communists.

The Soviet Union planned only one manned moon mission. Soviet cosmonauts related to me that their astronauts were literally COOKED by the extreme radiation in space when sent into high orbit through the Van Allen Belt. The USSR never again attempted to send men into or above the Van Allen Belt. If man could not survive the extreme radiation of the Van Allen Belt how could they put a man on the Moon? The Soviet Union scrapped their Man On The Moon program.

The effect upon the people of the world was that if we could go to the moon other creatures from other worlds could travel to our Earth. The escalation of the artificial alien threat scenario since that time is obvious.

The recent revelations of the fraudulent nature of NASA and the Apollo space program by the Intelligence Service and others has resulted in a flood of propaganda, television programs, and films designed to keep the sheople trapped in an ignorant deep sleep. The most ambitious are "Apollo 13" and "From the Earth to the Moon", both involving the actor/producer Tom Hanks. The latter opens with a monologue by Mr. Hanks who walks forward revealing a huge representation of the "God" Apollo (Sun, Osiris, lost word, etc.) guiding his chariot pulled by 4 horses through the heavens.

Why Apollo? Why the Sun? Why the dawn? Get a clue. Go to the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., stand in the exact middle of the Rotunda and look straight up. Covering the inside of the dome for all to see is a the painting entitled "The Apotheosis of George Washington". The huge painting depicts George Washington transformed as Satan promised into a new "Sun god" (Apollo) in the chariot of Apollo being pulled by four horses across the heavens. The painting is surrounded by all the old pagan "gods" of the old Roman Empire.

Ask yourself why we use an Egyptian obelisk as the Washington Monument honoring the General who led us in our fight for independence and who became the first American President. Then realize that it represents a ray of light (Ra), Illumination, the Penis of Osiris, the "generative" or "creative force," the "Lost Word" of the Mysteries, the Sun, fire (intellect), Apollo.

A result of the Genome Project at Las Alamos Laboratory, the recent success of cloning and advances in biochemistry will produce laboratory created creatures that will ultimately be presented to the People of the world as extraterrestrial in origin. The only reason an extraterrestrial has not yet been presented to humanity is that they have not yet succeeded in making one that is believable. For an in depth explanation of this "artificial alien threat" scenario read The Report From Iron Mountain, The Probability and Possibility of Permanent Peace.

Socialist change agents known to you as William Moore, Jaime Shandera, and Stanton T. Friedman presented the hoax known as Operation Majestic-12. These fake documents were printed in the socialist New York Times. It was an attempt to lead the sheople away from the truth by presenting an artificial alien threat as a "government cover-up" of extraterrestrial visitation. Most of the well known uFOOLogists and so-called UFO researchers are Illuminati, Marxist, CIA, or KGB change agents operating in furtherance of propagandizing the American People.

You wouldn't buy a used car from any of these people... why are you buying "flying saucers"? Stanton T. Friedman ends every lecture with an appeal for world government which he justifies by asking, "Who speaks for planet Earth... Argentina?"

Would you buy a flying saucer from this man?

I was told by one wide eyed attendee at one of Friedman's lectures that, "As a nuclear physicist he has great credibility." A thorough research of his employers for the past 25 years did not yield even one who would verify that Stanton T. Friedman had ever worked for any of them as a "nuclear physicist."

Ruby Ridge, the Waco Massacre, the attack against Patriots and Militias, and other acts of aggression against the American People who might combat this fraud are acts of war. These acts are designed to demonize fundamentalist Christians, Jews, Moslems, the lawful Militia, and anyone else who might fight in defense of the Constitution or Freedom. These terrorist acts deliver a message to the American People that any opposition to the new world supra government will be met with overwhelming force and the complete genocide of the enemies of socialism.

MAJESTYTWELVE revealed that drugs are brought into the United States by the Central Intelligence Agency, the military intelligence organizations, the Mossad, the KGB, and their partners in organized crime. The reasons given were to finance "black projects" that can never be revealed to Congress or oversight committees, and for social engineering. Within the past 2 years it has been revealed that Jewish Rabbis were at the head of drug organizations in New York and elsewhere, while other Rabbis provided the means of laundering drug money for others who imported and sold the drugs in order to finance their religious organizations or fund Israeli and Zionist projects.

Drugs have been a big help to the Illuminati's secret government. Society can be controlled by the control of drugs. This industry brings in unimaginable amounts of money which is accountable to no one. By making drugs plentiful at little or no price many people can be addicted and reduced to a form of euphemistic slavery under the complete control of the suppliers. An addict will do literally anything for a "fix". It is incomprehensible that the sheople actually wanted to elect Ollie North to the United States Senate after having been involved in trading cash for arms for drugs for more cash for more arms for more drugs... and delivering all those weapons to the enemies of the United States of America. It is my opinion that Ollie North is a disgrace to the uniform of the United States Marine Corp.

By making drugs hard to get and jacking up the price the controllers can create massive crime waves at anytime and at any place whenever they wish. These waves of crime frighten innocent law abiding People into agreeing to give up Rights and Freedoms in order to, "get the crime and drugs off the streets". Recent polls have claimed that a majority of the American People are willing to, "give up some of their Rights and Freedom in order to get the crime and drugs off the streets". After passing draconian legislation removing Rights and Freedoms the drugs are once again made plentiful and prices are lowered. And, what do you know... the crime disappears making the new laws look like they are actually working. This technique has been extensively used in the socialists war against the Second Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America.

The first and largest drug smuggling operations were established on behalf of the CIA by George Herbert Walker Bush while he was the President and CEO of the offshore division of Zapata Oil. Fishing boats would deliver the drugs to the offshore rigs where they were transferred to helicopters and crew boats which were never inspected by customs or any other law enforcement agency. Most of the drugs flowing into the United States are owned and controlled by the CIA, the military intelligence organizations, and the Israeli Mossad.

MAJESTYTWELVE stated that the first terrorist attack in the United States would occur in a large city such as New York or Los Angeles. Based upon that statement I accurately predicted that it would occur in New York, and it did when the World Trade Center was bombed.

MAJESTYTWELVE stated that terrorism would continue until the American People consented to be completely and thoroughly disarmed. The document stated that the second major target would be, "somewhere in the heartland such as Oklahoma City". The actual target was not named. Since the document was not specific as to the actual target and its location I did not predict Oklahoma City... but my prediction of continued terrorist attacks including major attacks upon the "heartland" of America was accurate.

The World Trade Center bombing, the bombing of the Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and mass shootings by mental and ex-mental patients of large numbers of men, women and children (Stockton California and many others) were, and will continue to be intentional acts of war designed to spread terror and a feeling of helplessness. Most of the ex or current mental patients who have perpetrated these acts are in fact innocent victims of mind control projects that are in activation to further the interests of the socialist new world order.

The demonization of the lawful Militia following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City caused many People to abandon the cause of Freedom. The sheople were psychologically "shock" programmed to believe that the Militia and Patriots were the cause of the bombing even though the FBI issued a statement admitting that there was absolutely no Patriot or Militia involvement of any kind whatsoever.

The FBI appears to have orchestrated the attack upon the World Trade Center. Information was printed in the New York Times that proved the FBI taught the terrorists how to drive the van, build the bomb, place it in the building, and detonate the bomb. One of the FBI operatives/informants attempted to secure permission from the FBI to substitute inert ingredients so that no explosion would take place and no one could be injured. The Senior FBI agent in charge denied the request. The informant taped all of his conversations with FBI agents. A transcript of the applicable tapes was printed in the New York Times. The judge refused to allow the tapes to be presented in court in defense of the FBI operative/informant and, as usual, he was thrown to the wolves.

The attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was designed to affect the "Heartland" so that no one will feel safe. These acts in the manner of Hegel's Dialectic are leading to a need for the elimination of the Rights of individuals and the disarmament of all peoples so that the world supra government can step up to provide the solution which will be artificial safety and security from terrorism. Thesis against antithesis equals synthesis. One result, there were many more, was the Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act which followed that gives the President the power to label any group or organization a "terrorist organization" and to arrest, imprison, and/or deport any political opposition, without trial, without Habeas Corpus, and without explanation of any kind.

If these acts of terror do not succeed there will be more bombings, chemical, or biological attacks. They will escalate in the destruction, maiming and killing of men women and especially children. More shootings at shopping centers, restaurants, and schools will occur. As a last resort, if all else fails, the Illuminati are prepared to detonate an atomic weapon in a large American city such as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. A war may be promulgated in the Middle East in order to provide the excuse needed to explain terrorist attacks upon the United States of America to the American sheople in order that they will accept personal disarmament in the interest of peace and security. (Not long after we posted this paragraph President Clinton attempted to justify another Middle Eastern war but was embarrassed on national television by students, during an "Town Meeting" at a well known and very large American University, who made it quite clear that his war was racist and totally unacceptable... BRAVO!)

Since the United States Army's announcement of the inoculation of all of its personnel with Anthrax vaccine I can safely predict that the next large terrorist event within the borders of the United States of America may be biological using Anthrax as the agent of destruction and death. Anyone care to take me up on this with a substantial bet?

Saddam Hussein was trained by the CIA. Saddam Hussein was put in power in Iraq by the CIA under George Bush. The United States armed Iraq and gave Saddam Hussein the technology and scientific knowledge to create weapons of mass destruction. The United States sold Anthrax to Iraq.

Saddam Hussein functions as the big "bogeyman" of the world so that the United Nations can cement its authority over so-called sovereign nations. That is why Saddam Hussein was not killed during the Gulf War. His purpose is to function as an "Anti-Christ" to create terror in the minds of the sheople of the world. The Gulf War actually helped Iraq solve a serious population problem that was also in line with the goals of the new world order. Saddam was only going by the script given to him and played his role very well.

A best selling videotape called "The Late Great Planet Earth" concerning prophecy and narrated by Orson Wells (once again he plays a significant part in the mind control of America) was shown on television and sold worldwide for several years preceding the Gulf War. It showed a Muslim "antichrist" as the clone image of Saddam Hussein, uniform, beret, and all. Even the facial features of this "video antichrist were those of Saddam Hussein.

The goal, of course, will be the destruction of national sovereignty worldwide, the establishment of a one world socialist government under the United Nations, disarmament of all nations, and the establishment of a world police force.

The Gulf War was actually rehearsed every year for many years in "Operation Bright Star" which actually named Kuwait as the "small nation" which would be attacked by a "larger neighbor nation". Operation Bright Star was outlined thoroughly in a book published by Arco Press entitled "U. S. Rapid Deployment Forces" several years before the Gulf War took place. In the book Kuwait was named as the small nation that would be attacked by it's larger neighbor nation. Saddam Hussein played his part well... and you wondered why we never killed him. Ask the Illuminati's George Bush.

The terrorists attacks which will be launched in the United States will be blamed upon middle eastern religious fanatics, Christian fundamentalists, white supremacists, Patriots, or Militias. A more immediate result of these operations will be the increased use of military forces, weaponry, and equipment such as tanks and armored personnel carriers in civilian law enforcement, the suspension or elimination of Habeas Corpus, the elimination of jury trials, the attempted disarming of the American People, and the institution of martial law with show-trials conducted by a tribunal of judges.

When you continue to hear this Constitutional Republic referred to as a "democracy" you must remember that V.I. Lenin said, "Democracy is indispensable to socialism." When you hear our military referred to as "UN Peace Keepers" remember that both Marx and Lenin defined "peace" as, "the elimination of all opposition to socialism." If you really want to discover exactly what type of government we are supposed to have read Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution for the united States of America.

When you wonder where this is all taking us remember that both Marx and Lenin stated that, "The ultimate goal of socialism is communism." And if you think the fall of the Soviet Union was the end of communism read Anatoliy Golitsyn's New Lies For Old, then The Perestroika Deception. You had better believe me when I tell you that the highest ranking communist mole in the CIA was James Jesus Angleton. The highest ranking communist mole in the government at that time was Henry Kissinger. Today it is William Jefferson Clinton.

"The hunt for Soviet spies within the CIA started after Kim Philby was forced to resign as British Security Service Director in 1951. James Jesus Angleton and Kim Philby worked very closely together and shared an office in London during WW-II. In 1963 Kim Philby defected to the USSR. In 1964 the HONETOL Committee was formed to look into the mole question. It was in existence from November 1964 to April 1965, and consisted of ANGLETON, Newton S. Miler and Bruce Solie from the CIA's Office of Security, FBI domestic intelligence chief William C. Sullivan, FBI CIA liaison Sam Papich and two others. About six members of CI/SIG worked on HONETOL, including Edward Petty. Author David Wise reported other CIA officers assigned to HONETOL included Jean M. Evans, who had worked with Reinhardt Gehlen, Albert P. Kergel, John D. Walker (former Chief of Station in Israel), Charles Arnold and William F. Potocki (a former subordinate of William K. Harvey). CIA Soviet Bloc Division officers Tennent Bagley and David Murphy were the targets of this mole hunt. Both were found innocent of being moles.

"When William Colby became Director/Counter-Intelligence on May 10, 1973, he was the recipient of a report prepared by Clare Edward Petty which stated ANGLETON was the KGB mole in the CIA. Clare Edward Petty's report suggested that ANGLETON had studied under, and been too close to, Kim Philby; had spread misinformation when he suggested the Sino/Soviet split had been contrived; and had trusted Anatoliy Golitsyn. Clare Edward Petty suggested ANGLETON demoralized the CIA: "ANGLETON put forth the proposition that the KGB was so totally superior, and so all-knowing, that anything CIA or any of the other allied intelligence services tried to do was negated from the word go. The operational side was totally frustrated over a period of years. ANGLETON propounded the proposition that operations against the Soviets were doomed to failure." To William Colby, Edward Petty's report was a product of "the ultra-conspiratorial turn of mind" which he disliked in ANGLETON. " - from "The Mole Hunt"

The truth is that Angleton did all of the above except "trusted Anatoliy Golitsyn". James Jesus Angleton never trusted Golitsyn although Angleton convinced Golitsyn that he did. Angleton did everything in his power to discredit and debunk Anatoliy Golitsyn. It was primarily because of Angleton's opposition to Golitsyn's information that it was ignored by the majority of senior officials within the government. I know this to be fact as I was privy to many of the official analysis' regarding the "Golitsyn Debriefings" and Angleton's many warnings that Golitsyn's revelations regarding the Soviet's long range plans to disarm the west were misinformation.

Another Russian defector and ex-GRU colonel Stanislav Lunev recently confirmed Anatoliy Golitsyn's warning. Lunev testified that Russia continues to develop elaborate war plans against the United States including domestic sabotage: assassination of American political leaders and the use of chemical and nuclear weaponry.

The Turner Diaries were actually written by the CIA prior to 1972. They were not written by Pierce. The concept of leaderless resistance was promulgated to enable easy destruction of any resistance to the world supra government. Small scattered units without a concerted tactical plan and a solid reliable command structure will be defeated in a very short period of time. No such movement could ever affect the necessary political control to restore order and re-institute government of any kind even if they managed to win the war, an impossible feat using leaderless resistance.

William Pierce, who claims to have written the Turner Diaries, is a Marxist change agent provocateur operating in the Hegelian dialectic for the purpose of creating a racist enemy of the new world order establishing an Aryan racist Christian Identity movement which he will label "Patriot" and "Militia" that will be scorned by the populace... thus turning the sheople to world government and away from Patriotism or religion as the solution to their problems.

Many of the so-called Patriot leaders such as Lt.Col. James "Bo" Gritz Freemason/Illuminati, Tom Valentine Stelle Group/Illuminati, Lars Hansson Stelle Group/Illuminati US Customs Service, Mark Koernke Change Agent (misinformation), Kurt Saxon Illuminati, Dr. Peter Beter Illuminati, and many others are actually change agents of Illuminati socialism or the Intelligence community as a part of Project Trojan Horse. Hegel would be proud to see how the socialists have engineered and controlled both sides of the conflict in order to control the ultimate outcome.

World War III is being fought NOW. It is being fought with "Information Warfare" using psychological warfare, sophisticated mind control techniques, propaganda, misinformation, intimidation, fear, and manipulation. It is, in fact, a usually quiet war being fought mostly with silent weapons... but it will become very loud and very destructive. "Ordo Ab Chao" dictates that the old order be completely and thoroughly destroyed before the "new order," the Third Wave, or Third Way, can be established.

A one world socialist government is the stated and avowed policy of the United States government. The United States created the United Nations. The United States State Department wrote the policy in the document known as State Department Publication 7277. State Department Publication 7277 outlines the merger of the military of the United States with the military of the old Warsaw Pact nations and Russia as a World Peace Keeping Force under the United Nations as the ultimate goal of the foreign policy of the united States of America.

"Here is one optimist's reason for believing unity will prevail... I'll bet that within the next hundred years, nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. A phrase briefly fashionable in the mid-20th century -- 'citizen of the world' -- will have assumed real meaning by the end of the 21st ..." -- US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, TIME magazine column, July 20, 1992.

"The goal is to create a new social contract for a global economy... If there is a name for the Clinton approach as a politics, it is this: One nation politics..." -- Senior Assistant to the President Sidney Blumenthal, Kennedy School, Harvard, April 23, 1998

"Today, I say that no nation in the world need be left out of the global system we are constructing... those of you who have graduated today will live global lives..." -- Secretary of State Albright, Commencement Address, Harvard, June 5, 1997.

NATO is a part of the United Nations and was created under its auspices according to the UN Charter. The Warsaw Pact was a Part of the United Nations and was created under its auspices according to the UN Charter. The cold war was a scam which allowed both governments to levy large taxes which were used to develop the technology and experiment with techniques and technology which will be combined to control the population of the world. The inclusion of old Warsaw Pact nations and eventually Russia as new members of NATO is Phase II of the merger of forces outlined in State Department Publication 7277. Nato will become the police force for the New World Order.

President Kennedy presented the plan to disarm the nations and People of the world to the United Nations. The United States planted the seed of an European Union, nurtured that idea, and has supported its formation. When Kruschev, the leader of the USSR, banged his shoe on his desk at the United Nations and screamed, "We will bury you... We do not have to invade the United States we will destroy you from within," he was absolutely correct.

The progression of accomplishments toward the completion of the plan to implement one world socialist totalitarian government is guided and controlled by the hierarchy of the Illuminati in the groups known as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Round Table Group, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, top United States government officials, the senior ranks of all or our military forces, and many others including the Illuminati in government bureaucracy and industry who are members of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern and Northern Jurisdictions, the Supreme Council of the York Rite of Freemasonry, International Zionism, B'nai B'rith, the Grande Lodge of France, the Grande Lodge of England, the Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ordo Templi Orientalis, the Rosae Crucae, the Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights of Malta, the Knights Templar, the Jason Society, the Vatican, and many others too numerous to list, see the "Occult" and other links on our home page.

The propaganda attacks become obvious when People like Mr. Leavitt and Mr. Harris are arrested and falsely charged by the Gestapo murderers (World Trade Center - Waco - Ruby Ridge - Oklahoma City) of the FBI with planning an Anthrax attack. The Marxist press immediately mounted a viscous campaign of propaganda lies. Leavitt and Harris were accused of being white supremacist militia members who were followers of "Christian Identity" who planned to launch an Anthrax attack upon New York City. Leavitt, a Jew, could not possibly be a white supremacist. Harris certainly is not. They were attempting to manufacture a vaccine which could be used to protect the general population from such an attack. The fact is that the so-called "deadly biological Anthrax weapon" which they were alleged to have was the very vaccine which they had developed. Even though these facts were eventually admitted to the public the sheople will only remember that the bad white supremacist Militia Christian right wing extremists were going to loose Anthrax upon the nation. The end result is that Harris was ordered by the court to close his home laboratory thus ending any hope for a vaccine easily obtainable by the general public.

Politicians are controlled through the accumulation of dossiers by the FBI, the IRS, the BATF, CIA, the Mossad, MI6, the ADL, the KGB, and other Illuminati controlled organizations. Those who do not have incidents in their past that allow control by blackmail will be put in positions by one or more of the above organizations that will result in one or more incidents which will allow control by blackmail.

The Las Vegas Brothel run by Robert (Bob) Lazar was found to have video cameras throughout and was used for the collection of information with which to blackmail politicians, military personnel, and anyone else who needed to be controlled by the Illuminati. Anyone who will not play by the Illuminati rules are weeded out and quickly disappear from politics.

Remember that it was an Attorney General under 33rd Degree Freemason Franklin Roosevelt who with the stroke of a pen created the Federal Bureau of Investigation run by 33rd Degree Freemason J. Edgar Hoover. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith are the political Gestapo for the Illuminati in the united States of America. Agents of the ADL frequently pose as agents of the FBI and IRS apparently with the full knowledge and permission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service.

The Constitution for the united States of America makes no provision for a "national police" or "Gestapo" nor does it grant any authority to anyone or any agency of government to create such an organization. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not an agency of the United States government. It was not created by Congress. The FBI was created by a United States Attorney General as an investigative office of the Justice Department for the purpose of internal investigations. The FBI has no lawful authority or jurisdiction over State Citizens or within the several States of the union.

The Internal Revenue Service is a fiction that was created by an acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue to implement the graduated income tax as one of the planks of Marx's and Engles' Communist Manifesto. The Internal Revenue Service is not listed in the Organizational Structure of the Department of the Treasury in the United States Code as required by law because the IRS is not an agency of the Department of the Treasury or the United States government.

The Constitution for the united States of America does not give Congress the authority or power to delegate its power to legislate to anyone or any agency of government. No one has the power to create law or agencies of government. That responsibility rests solely and only with Congress. Congress did not create the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, or the Secret Service.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms derive their only authority and jurisdiction from the Corporate Tax Act, the later Public Employees Salary Tax Act, treaties between the corporate United States, the Crown of England, British Commonwealth nations in the Caribbean Ocean, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The IRS and BATF are in reality one organization. These agencies are unregistered agents of foreign powers and have no power or authority to tax Citizens of the several States of the Union.

The IRS, the BATF and the Secret Service are not agencies of the Department of the Treasury or the United States government and are not listed as required by Law in the United States Code under the "Organization of the Department of the Treasury" or any other department of the united States government.

These outlaw organizations were not created by Congress. The IRS, BATF, and Secret Service have no lawful authority or jurisdiction over State Citizens or in the several States of the union. The terrible truth is that any Citizen residing within the territorial boundary of any Union State who files and pays the bogus so-called income tax is voluntarily contributing to the elimination of the Middle Class (opposition to socialism) and the ultimate destruction of the United States of America. In addition it might disturb you to know that the new soviet style IRS headquarters in the Federal Building at New Carrollton, Maryland is, in fact, an Illuminati Temple.

The end result of all of this will be the destruction of the sovereignty and Constitution for the united States of America which will result in the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government. All those in and out of government who support the policy of one world government are knowingly and willingly engaged in High Treason.

Regardless of what you have been led to believe Senator Joseph McCarthy was absolutely correct, and in fact, the recent opening of the files of the KGB proved that he knew the exact number of communist agents who had infiltrated our government. The revelations of history, the records of the KGB, and the recent release of the NSA deciphered cables to and from Moscow by the Venona Project have vindicated Senator Joseph McCarthy. His investigations using "guilt by association" with known communists were legitimate as "birds of a feather" really do flock together. He was destroyed by the Marxist owned and controlled news media and Hollywood. The branding of anyone who dared to expose communists and their goal of the ultimate destruction of the United States of America as "McCarthyites" insured the increased infiltration and rapid takeover of our government by Marxists, communists, and "fellow travelers" over the intervening years.

Y2K is most definitely a technical problem. Most computers have already been fixed and will not fail when the year 2000 rolls up on the calendar. Some failures are bound to occur to some critical infrastructure but it will not be the problem doomsayers are making it out to be. Technical problems can and will be fixed. At most the population may be inconvenienced for a few days or maybe even a couple of weeks. Any responsible person who is always prepared for emergencies will survive with little if any discomfort.

The panic being promulgated by the Illuminati and socialist change agents will be the greatest problem we will face. If they succeed in causing a full blown Y2K panic, including a run on banks for cash, martial law will be declared and you will see troops on every street corner. The potential panic is the problem, not Y2K. A run on banks will cause a complete collapse of the economy, rioting, shut down of transportation, shortages of everything including food, and the opportunity to suspend the Constitution and implement the New World Order by military force. In other words Y2K, a technical problem which can and will be fixed, is not the danger. The danger is the ignorance, and stupidity of the common herd.

Those who believe in the Book of Revelation in the King James version of the Holy Bible and other religious and/or superstitious People are being intentionally led into "millenium fever" so that they will offer no opposition to the new world order while they calmly await the workings of what they believe is the hand of God. After all, Who can oppose the bringing to fruition of the inspired prophetic Revelation of God? Apparently these People don't even read or understand the teachings of the Bible they purport to follow. The Bible says, paraphrased but accurate, that when you think he is coming he won't be here. The Bible says he will come like a thief in the night... even the elect will be fooled. Why do you think their plan calls for a charismatic world leader to be presented to the world as the Messiah?

There is more... much more... as you will come to realize on your own over the coming months and years. Seek out and join a lawful Militia or form one in your area. If you wish to remain Free you will have to fight for it... not because we want to fight, or you want to fight, but because the traitors will give us no choice in the matter. There will be either a revolution (the Marxist's choice) or there will be a serious attempt to restore Constitutional Republican government under Law (the Patriots choice). In any event there WILL BE WAR between the Citizens of the united States of America and the Marxist minions of the subversive corporate United States' new world odor.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211065921/https://hourofthetime.com/majestyt.htm

Vice President Kamala Harris Archived

August 12, 2024  ·

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

Beelzebub or Baʿal Zebub (/biːˈɛlzəbʌb, ˈbiːl-/[1] bee-EL-zə-bub, BEEL-; Hebrew: בַּעַל־זְבוּב‎ Baʿal-zəḇūḇ), also spelled Beelzebul or Belzebuth, and occasionally known as the Lord of the Flies, is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron. In some Abrahamic religions he is described as a major demon. The name Beelzebub is associated with the Canaanite god Baal.

In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan. He is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony and envy. The Dictionnaire Infernal describes Beelzebub as a being capable of flying, known as the "Lord of the Flyers", or the "Lord of the Flies".

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

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matthew 4:8-11

Rabbinic tradition equates Baʿal Berith with Beelzebub, "the lord of flies," the god of Philistine Ekron (2 Kings 1:2).[12] He was worshipped in the shape of a fly; and Jewish tradition states that so addicted were the Jews to his cult that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. Baʿal Zebub was called Baʿal Berith because such Jews might be said to make a covenant of devotion with the idol, being unwilling to part with it for a single moment.[13] According to another conception, Baʿal Berith was an obscene article of idolatrous worship, possibly a simulacrum priapi.[14] This is evidently based on the later use of the word "berit" to refer to circumcision.[12]

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

Smith's Bible Dictionary - Baal

Baal, [N] [B] [E] [H]

the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity. Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. It prevailed in the time of Moses among the Moabites and Midianites, ( Numbers 22:41 ) and through them spread to the Israelites. ( Numbers 25:3-18 ; 4:3 ) In the times of the kings it became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes, ( 1 Kings 16:31-33 ; 1 Kings 18:19 1 Kings 18:22 ) and appears never to have been permanently abolished among them. ( 2 Kings 17:16 ) Temples were erected to Baal in Judah, ( 1 Kings 16:32 ) and he was worshipped with much ceremony. ( 1 Kings 18:19 1 Kings 18:26-28 ; 2 Kings 10:22 ) The attractiveness of this worship to the Jews undoubtedly grew out of its licentious character. We find this worship also in Phoenician colonies. The religion of the ancient British islands much resembled this ancient worship of Baal, and may have been derived from it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel, ( Isaiah 46:1 ) or Beaus, as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form. The plural, BAALIM, is found frequently, showing that he was probably worshipped under different compounds, among which appear--

BAAL-BERITH (the covenant Baal ), ( Judges 8:33 ; 9:4 ) the god who comes into covenant with the worshippers.

BAAL-ZEBUB (lord of the fly ), and worshipped at Ekron. ( 2 Kings 1:2 2 Kings 1:3 2 Kings 1:16 )

BAAL-HANAN. a. The name of one of the early kings of Edom. ( Genesis 36:38 Genesis 36:39 ; 1 Chronicles 1:49 1 Chronicles 1:50 ) b. The name of one of Davids officers, who had the superintendence of his olive and sycamore plantations. ( 1 Chronicles 27:28 )

BAAL-PEOR (lord of the opening , i.e. for others to join in the worship). We have already referred to the worship of this god. The narrative (Numb 25) seems clearly to show that this form of Baal-worship was connected with licentious rites.

[N] indicates this entry was also found in Nave's Topical Bible

[B] indicates this entry was also found in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary

[E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible Dictionary

[H] indicates this entry was also found in Hitchcock's Bible Names

Bibliography Information

Smith, William, Dr. "Entry for 'Baal,'". "Smith's Bible Dictionary". . 1901.

Smith's Bible Dictionary - Baal

Baal, [N] [B] [E] [H]

geographical. This word occurs as the prefix or suffix to the names of several places in Palestine, some of which are as follows:

BAAL a town of Simeon, named only in ( 1 Chronicles 4:33 ) which from the parallel list in ( Joshua 19:8 ) seems to have been identical with BAALATH-BEER.

BAALAH (mistress ). a. Another name for KIRJATH-JEARIM, or KIRJATH BAAL, the well-known town now Kuriet el Enab . ( Joshua 15:9 Joshua 15:10 ; 1 Chronicles 13:6 ) b. A town in the south of Judah, ( Joshua 15:29 ) which in Josh 19:3 is called BALAH, and in the parallel list, ( 1 Chronicles 4:29 ) BILHAH.

BAALATH (mistress ), a town of Dan named with Gibbethon, Gath-rim-mon and other Philistine places. ( Joshua 19:44 )

BAALATH-BEER (lord of the well ). BAAL 1, a town among those in the south part of Judah, given to Simeon, which also bore the name of RAMATH-NEGEB, or "the height of the south." ( Joshua 19:8 )

BAAL-GAD (lord of fortune ), used to denote the most northern, ( Joshua 11:17 ; 12:7 ) or perhaps northwestern, ( Joshua 13:5 ) point to which Joshuas victories extended. It was in all probability a Phoenician or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal under the aspect of Gad or Fortune.

BAAL-HAMON (lord of a multitude ), a place at which Solomon had a vineyard, evidently of great extent. ( Solomon 8:11 )

BAAL-HAZOR (village of Baal ), a place where Absalom appears to have had a sheep-farm, and where Amnon was murdered. ( 2 Samuel 13:23 )

MOUNT MOUNT BAAL-HERMON (Lord of Hermon ), ( Judges 3:3 ) and simply Baal-hermon. ( 1 Chronicles 5:23 ) This is usually considered as a distinct place from Mount Hermon; but we know that this mountain had at least three names ( 3:9 ) and Baal-hermon may have been a fourth in use among the Phoenician worshippers.

BAAL-MEON (lord of the house ), one of the towns which were built by the Reubenites. ( Numbers 32:38 ) It also occurs in ( 1 Chronicles 5:8 ) and on each occasion with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was Moabite, one of the cities which were the "glory of the country." ( Ezekiel 25:9 )

BAAL-PERAZIM (lord of divisions ), the scene of a victory of David over the Philistines, and of a great destruction of their images. ( 2 Samuel 5:20 ; 1 Chronicles 14:11 ) See ( Isaiah 28:21 ) where it is called MOUNT MOUNT PERAZIM.

BAAL-SHALISHA (lord of Shalisha ), a place named only in ( 2 Kings 4:42 ) apparently not far from Gilgal; comp. ( 2 Kings 4:38 )

BAAL-TAMAR (lord of the palm tree ), a place named only in ( Judges 20:33 ) as near Gibeah of Benjamin. The palm tree (tamar ) of Deborah, ( Judges 4:5 ) was situated somewhere in the locality, and is possibly alluded to.

BAAL-ZEPHON (lord of the north ), a place in Egypt near where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. ( Numbers 33:7 ; Ezekiel 14:2 Ezekiel 14:9 ) We place Baal-zephon on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, a little below its head, which at that time was about 30 or 40 miles northward of the Present head.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/baal/

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

Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and temples have been the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and hills where fires were lit below the open skies.[58] In the wake of Achaemenid expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today, enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the temples.[59]

The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like.[60][61][31] Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids.[62][33][63][64][65]

In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters (re. which conception see Apam Napat). Both water and fire are considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any source of light), and the culminating rite of the principal act of worship constitutes a "strengthening of the waters". Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom are gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom. Both fire and water are also hypostasized as the Yazatas Atar and Anahita, with worship hymns and litanies dedicated to them.[citation needed]

A corpse is considered a host for decay, i.e., of druj. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation. These injunctions are the doctrinal basis of the fast-fading traditional practice of ritual exposure, most commonly identified with the so-called Towers of Silence for which there is no standard technical term in either scripture or tradition. Ritual exposure is currently mainly practiced by Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent, in locations where it is not illegal and diclofenac poisoning has not led to the virtual extinction of scavenger birds. Other Zoroastrian communities either cremate their dead, or bury them in graves that are cased with lime mortar.[citation needed]

The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma.[67] Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism.[68][69] The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals.[70] High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobads with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta.[67][71]

A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual.[31][72] After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.[73][31][72]

Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community.[74][75] Zoroastrian prayers, called manthras, are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil.[76][77][52] Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.[78]

Late antiquity

As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands.[115] The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion. During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).[citation needed]

Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival since Parthian times, the Sassanids were suspicious of Roman Christianity, and after the reign of Constantine the Great, sometimes persecuted it.[116] In 451 CE, The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr, making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) saw the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline,[117] but as late the 5th century CE, it was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.[118][119]

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

The House of El Douaihy (also "Al Douaihy" in some cases Doueihy, Douaihi, Doueihi, Dowaihi, Duayhe, Duwayhi', Dwaihy, Arabic: الدويهي, French: de Douai), is an important Lebanese and Levantine noble family of French origins of which can be traced up until the 7th century. The first prominent feudal northern Lebanese Maronite Sheikhs (Lords) to have governed Zgharta and Ehden, (Zgharta District) in northern Lebanon came from the Douaihy clan.

Throughout history, the Douaihys endowed the community with research, faith, commerce and art. The Douaihys are also a religious family, among whom are recognized four Patriarchs, seventeen Bishops, hundreds of monks and nuns, dating from the 14th century to the present day.

On January 26, 2006 the Congregation of Saints in the Vatican has proclaimed the beginning of the process for Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy’s canonization.[1]

It is a large and well-rooted family in the lands of Ehden, Kadisha and Khazahia, where its roots combine with the history of the Maronites for at least one thousand years. The clan had a substantial presence in the Galilee prior to 1948, but its numbers have dwindled in the Holy Land in general since then, with most Palestinian clan members moving to Europe and South America, as well as Lebanon.

The Douaihy family lineage continues to contribute meaningfully on the national and international scene as professors, academics, artists, diplomats, police and army generals, healthcare representatives, parliament members and minister.The family slogan, known by many as "Ana la min?" (Who am I for?), is being upheld by the rightful heir of the family, Duks III, who carries the torch of this legacy. [2][3][4][5][6][7]

Origins

Genealogy in the Middle East, especially of Christian families in Syria, Lebanon and the Holy Land, is complicated and depends on oral traditions much more than written ones.

In the Middle Ages when Tripoli was governed by the Crusaders, a mixed people lived in the area, a result of the intermarriages between the Christians from Europe and the local Christians (Maronites, Melkites, etc.). It was not unusual for a Tripolitan to be of French origin (but of local Christian culture), married to a local Christian, with a Greek son-in-law and an Armenian or Syriac daughter-in-law.

To this day you can find many people of Crusader origin in Lebanon, the Holy Land, Jordan and Syria. The El Douaihy clan are descendants of the French who came from the northern French city of Douai, the capital of the ancient Frankish Duchy of Ostrevant (the arms of the Douai family are still used as a blason of Ostrevant). In the First Crusade, Count Anselme II De Ribemont d’Ostrevant was the “right hand” of Godfroi de Bouillon in the East, so one would assume that his progenitors were related to the De Ribemont d’Ostrevant family.

If Jeremiah Al-Amshiti had been one of the Douai clan, as Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy claimed, the family progenitors would have been “easternized” just after the First Crusade 1096 -1099. The Douaihy clan spread across the Levant, including to Syria and Israel.

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

Istifan al-Duwayhi or Estephan El Douaihy (Arabic: اسطفانوس الثاني بطرس الدويهي / ALA-LC: Isṭifānūs al-thānī Buṭrus al-Duwayhī; French: Étienne Douaihi; Latin: Stephanus Dovaihi; Italian: Stefano El Douaihy; 2 August 1630 – 3 May 1704) was the 57th Patriarch of the Maronite Church, serving from 1670 until his death. He was born in Ehden, Lebanon.

He is considered one of the major Lebanese historians of the 17th century and was known as “The Father of Maronite History”, “Pillar of the Maronite Church”, “The Second Chrysostom”, “Splendor of the Maronite Nation”, and “The Glory of Lebanon and the Maronites”. After his death, he was declared a Servant of God by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[1] On 3 July 2008 Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable.[2] On August 2, 2024, he was beatified at a ceremony held in Bkerké, Lebanon.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istifan_al-Duwayhi

Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (née Fajardo García; born September 1, 1957) (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡloɾja esˈtefan]) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard.[2] Estefan's record sales exceed 100 million worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female singers of all time.[3][4] Many of Estefan's songs became international chart-topping hits, including "1-2-3", "Don't Wanna Lose You", "Coming Out of the Dark", "Turn the Beat Around", and "Heaven's What I Feel". Other hits include "Bad Boy", "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You", "Get On Your Feet", and "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".

A contralto, Estefan started[5] her career as lead singer of Miami Latin Boys, which was later renamed Miami Sound Machine. She and Miami Sound Machine earned worldwide success with their 1985 single "Conga", which became Estefan's signature song and led to Miami Sound Machine winning the 15th annual Tokyo Music Festival's grand prix in 1986. In 1988, she and Miami Sound Machine achieved their first number-one hit with "Anything for You".

In March 1990, Estefan sustained a life-threatening cervical fracture of her spine when her tour bus was involved in a serious accident near Scranton, Pennsylvania. She underwent an emergency surgical stabilization of her cervical spine and post-surgical rehabilitation that lasted almost a year, but made a full recovery. A year later, in March 1991, Estefan launched her comeback with a worldwide tour and album, Into the Light.

Estefan's 1993 Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra, won the first of her three Grammy Awards for Best Tropical Latin Album.[6] The album was also the first Diamond album in Spain. Estefan has been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame and was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2017 for her contributions to American cultural life. Estefan won an MTV Video Music Award, was honored with the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has been named BMI Songwriter of the Year. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has received multiple Billboard Music Awards. She is also a recipient of the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.[7]

Billboard has listed Estefan as the third-most successful Latina and 23rd-greatest Latin Artist of all time in the U.S., based on both Latin albums and Latin songs chart.[8] Hailed as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by the media,[9] she has amassed 38 number one hits across Billboard charts, including 15 chart-topping songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart.[10][8]

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

Genesis 3:15

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203%3A15&version=DRA

Genesis 3:15

1599 Geneva Bible

15 I will also put enmity between [q]thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break thine [r]head, and thou shalt [s]bruise his heel.

Genesis 3:15 He chiefly meaneth Satan, by whose motion and craft the serpent deceived the woman.

Genesis 3:15 That is, the power of sin and death.

Genesis 3:15 Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203&version=GNV

PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.

GGGGGG

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

TRANSLATED FROM

THE AUTOGRAPH

BY

FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

I.H.S.

NEW YORK

P.J. KENEDY & SONS

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

The Douay–Rheims Bible (/ˌduːeɪ ˈriːmz, ˌdaʊeɪ -/,[1] US also /duːˌeɪ -/), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church.[2] The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees (spelt "Machabees") plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament (Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Esdras, and 4 Esdras), was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douay%E2%80%93Rheims_Bible

The former Jesuit College of Reims is a 16th-century building located in Reims in the Marne, a French department in the Champagne area of the Grand Est region. Founded in 1608 by Jesuits, the college was closed in 1762 when the Jesuits were banished from France. The buildings were used for other educational projects during the 19th century. Since 1976 they have belonged to the City of Reims, which has used it to provide a space for various regional and international organisations. Its library and refectory are recognised monuments of Baroque art.

History

Buildings

Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery asked Henri IV for permission for the Jesuits to open a college in Reims. The king authorised, by letters patent of 25 March 1606, the Jesuit fathers to found a college in Reims. His brother François (†. 1630), who was chaplain to the king, bought the Hôtel de Cerny on 12 March 1608 for them to set up there. He donated 3 000 pounds for the fitting out of the establishment.

On 18 October 1608 the Jesuits inaugurated their classes there. They taught Humanities, Philosophy and Mathematics.

In 1610 François Brûlart donated a farm and a priory for the maintenance of a chair of philosophy, then in 1614 an annuity of 1,000 pounds for the opening of a second chair of Philosophy.

In 1615 the Jesuits bought the neighbouring priory of Saint-Maurice to extend the premises and in 1619, François Brûlart made a further donation of 6 600 pounds, which enabled it to be given its present layout: a central chapel with a courtyard surrounded by buildings. The teaching was then completed by theological instruction.

In May 1762, when they were banished from France, the Jesuits' property was seized and the College of Reims was reunited with the Collège des Bons Enfants. In January 1766, the General Hospital took possession of the buildings, which served as a hospice until 1772. The Magneuses, a foundation created by Nicolas Colbert's widow, moved into part of the college in 1791 to take in poor girls aged between 10 and 15 and give them an education. They occupied the college until the middle of the 20th century before it was used to house law students in 1967. The buildings were acquired by the municipality in 1976, and major works were undertaken from 2013 to 2015 to adapt the premises to current teaching.

Conservation

Restored, the building was converted into the multi-activity centre it is today. To protect the architectural and cultural interest of this complex, including its garden, courtyard, refectory, hallway, kitchen, elevations, and interior decoration; the vines that escaped phylloxera are classified[1] as an ancient grape variety,[2] the Verjus;[3] all are under legal protection: this complex has been classified as a historic monument since 2 September 1933, while the 17th century staircase has been classified since 25 December 1921.[4]

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

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid0t3DdgbxP5MsJDVk3X1zisrZNfPory5P1hta4FoUPu6mMwWuPXcJJXwjGaR9dcrh9l

8 And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go GAY: so do they take gold and make them up.

Baruch 6:8

Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis[1] following the release of the debut album Village People, which targeted disco's large gay audience. The group's name refers to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, with its reputation as a gayborhood.[2] The characters were a symbolic group of American masculinity[3] and macho gay-fantasy personas.[4] As of January 2020, Willis is the only original member of the group.[5]

The group quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream, scoring several disco and dance hits internationally, including the hit singles "Macho Man", "In the Navy", "Go West", and "Y.M.C.A.", which was their biggest hit. In March 2020, the Library of Congress described "Y.M.C.A." as "an American phenomenon",[6] and added the song to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[7]

History

1977–1979

The original members of the group during the shooting of their debut music video San Francisco in 1977

French musical composer and producer Jacques Morali and his business partner Henri Belolo, known collectively as Can't Stop Productions, were enjoying a successful string of hits in France and Europe. In 1977, they moved to New York City to attempt to break into the American market. Morali had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. After hiring Willis to sing background vocals on the four tracks, Morali approached him and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the debut album Village People.[8]

Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead wrote the lyrics for the first album (Willis would subsequently take over writing duties in 1978 for the group's biggest hits). The Village People studio band was called Gypsy Lane and was conducted by Horace Ott. Ott also provided many of the musical arrangements for Morali, who did not play any instruments.[9]

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

4Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you. 5 But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord. 6 For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls. 7 For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot speak. 8 And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up. 9 Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads: whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves. 10 Yea and they give thereof to prostitutes, and they dress out harlots: and again when they receive it of the harlots, they adorn their gods. 11 And these gods cannot defend themselves from the rust, and the moth. 12 But when they have covered them with a purple garment, they wipe their face because of the dust of the house, which is very much among them. 13 This holdeth a sceptre as a man, as a judge of the country, but cannot put to death one that offendeth him. 14 And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but cannot save himself from war, or from robbers, whereby be it known to you, that they are not gods. 15 Therefore fear them not. For as a vessel that a man uses when it is broken becometh useless, even so are their gods: 16 When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by the feet of them that go in. 17 And as the gates are made sure on every side upon one that hath offended the king, or like a dead man carried to the grave, so do the priests secure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by thieves. 18 They light candles to them, and in great number, of which they cannot see one: but they are like beams in the house. 19 And they say that the creeping things which are of the earth, gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their garments, and they feel it not. 20 Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house. 21 Owls, and swallows, and other birds fly upon their bodies, and upon their heads, and cats in like manner. 22 Whereby you may know that they are no gods. Therefore fear them not. 23 The gold also which they have, is for shew, but except a man wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten, did they feel it. 24 Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is no breath in them. 25 And having not the use of feet they are carried upon shoulders, declaring to men how vile they are. Be they confounded also that worship them. 26 Therefore if they fall to the ground, they rise not up again of themselves, nor if a man set them upright, will they stand by themselves, but their gifts shall be set before them, as to the dead. 27 The things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and abuse: in like manner also their wives take part of them, but give nothing of it either to the sick, or to the poor. 28 The childbearing and menstruous women touch their sacrifices: knowing therefore by these things that they are not gods, fear them not. 29 For how can they be called gods? because women set offerings before the gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood: 30 And priests sit in their temples, having their garments rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. 31 And they roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead. 32 The priests take away their garments, and clothe their wives and their children. 33 And whether it be evil that one doth unto them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: neither can they set up a king nor put him down: 34 In like manner they can neither give riches, nor requite evil. If a man make a vow to them, and perform it not, they cannot require it. 35 They cannot deliver a man from death nor save the weak from the mighty. 36 They cannot restore the blind man to his sight: nor deliver a man from distress. 37 They shall not pity the widow, nor do good to the fatherless. 38 Their gods, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, are like the stones that are hewn out of the mountains: and they that worship them shall be confounded. 39 How then is it to be supposed, or to be said, that they are gods? 40 Even the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them: who when they hear of one dumb that cannot speak, they present him to Bel, entreating him, that he may speak, 41 As though they could be sensible that have no motion themselves: and they, when they shall perceive this, will leave them: for their gods themselves have no sense. 42 The women also with cords about them, sit in the ways, burning olive stones. 43 And when any one of them, drawn away by some passenger, lieth with him, she upbraideth her neighbour, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken. 44 But all things that are done about them, are false: how is it then to be thought, or to be said, that they are gods? 45 And they are made by workmen, and by goldsmiths. They shall be nothing else but what the priests will have them to be. 46 For the artificers themselves that make them, are of no long continuance. Can those things then that are made by them be gods? 47 But they have left false things and reproach to them that come after. 48 For when war cometh upon them, or evils, the priests consult with themselves where they may hide themselves with them. 49 How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils? 50 For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, by all nations and kings: and it shall be manifest that they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them. 51 Whence therefore is it known that they are not gods, but the work of men’s hands, and no work of God is in them? 52 They cannot set up a king over the land, nor give rain to men. 53 They determine no causes, nor deliver countries from oppression; because they can do nothing, and are as daws between heaven and earth. 54 For when fire shall fall upon the house of these gods of wood, and of silver, and of gold, their priests indeed will flee away, and be saved: but they themselves shall be burnt in the midst like beams. 55 And they cannot withstand a king and war. How then can it be supposed, or admitted that they are gods? 56 Neither are these gods of wood, and of stone, and laid over with gold, and with silver, able to deliver themselves from thieves or robbers: they that are stronger than them, 57 Shall take from them the gold, and silver, and the raiment wherewith they are clothed, and shall go their way, neither shall they help themselves. 58 Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power: or else a profitable vessel in the house, with which the owner thereof will be well satisfied: or a door in the house, to keep things safe that are therein, than such false gods. 59 The sun, and the moon, and the stars being bright, and sent forth for profitable uses, are obedient. 60 In like manner the lightning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country. 61 And the clouds when God commandeth them to go over the whole world, do that which is commanded them. 62 The fire also being sent from above to consume mountains and woods, doth as it is commanded. But these neither in shew, nor in power are like to any one of them. 63 Wherefore it is neither to be thought, nor to be said, that they are gods: since they are neither able to judge causes, nor to do any good to men. 64 Knowing therefore that they are not gods, fear them not. 65 For neither can they curse kings, nor bless them. 66 Neither do they shew signs in the heaven to the nations, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon. 67 Beasts are better than they, which can fly under a covert, and help themselves. 68 Therefore there is no manner of appearance that they are gods: so fear them not. 69 For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so are their gods of wood, and of silver, and laid over with gold. 70 They are no better than a white thorn in a garden, upon which every bird sitteth. In like manner also their gods of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, are like to a dead body cast forth in the dark. 71 By the purple also and the scarlet which are motheaten upon them, you shall know that they are not gods. And they themselves at last are consumed, and shall be a reproach in the country. 72 Better therefore is the just man that hath no idols: for he shall be far from reproach.

Baruch 6:4-72

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Baruch%206&version=DRA

 6 And I said to the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?  7 And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn, by him that liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished.  8 And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my lord, what shall be after these things?  9 And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time.  10 Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand.

 11 And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days,  12 Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days.  13 But go thou thy ways until the time appointed: and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days.

Daniel 12:6-12

Douay-Rheims Bible

https://www.drbo.org/chapter/32012.htm

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with fourteen chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

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

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

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

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

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

20. It is better and safer to make alliance and amity with [Moslem] Turks, [Communist] Infidels, or [Talmudic and anti-Torah, Zionist] Jews, than with [Reformation Bible-believing] Heretic Protestants [and Baptists], because they may draw us into the errors of their novelties. {1}

Absolutist Papal Maxims of the Jesuits

Q. 150. Who, I beseech you, are those who are not to be accounted members of the

Church?

A. All such as are not in the unity of the church, by a most firm belief of her doctrine, and

due obedience to her pastors; as Jews, Turks, Heretics, &c.

Q. 151. Why may not Heretics and Schismatics justly claim to be in the Unity of the

Church and Members of Christ's body?

A. Because Catholics can show to each sect of Heretics and Schismatics the time they

began; the date of their separation from the Church: the name of the person or persons of

their sect who first separated themselves, and the cause of their condemnation; whilst the

Catholic Church always was from the beginning.

Q. 152. What if a Protestant should tell you, that the difference between them and

us, are not differences in fundamentals, or in faith, but in opinion only, and

therefore do not exclude them out of unity of the Catholic Church?

A. I should answer, they contradict themselves; for they accuse us of robbing God of his

honour, in holding priestly absolutions from sins; in adoring Christ's body and blood, as

really present in the eucharist, and holding the Pope's supremacy in things belonging to

the spiritual government of the Church, also the infallibility of the Church and general

councils, in delivering and defining points of faith, which are no matters of indifference,

but high fundamentals.

Q. 153. How do you prove all obstinate Innovators to be Heretics?

A. Because they wilfully stand out against the definitive sentence of the Church of God,

and submit not to any tribunal appointed by Christ to decide religious controversies; but

follow their own interpretation of the dead letter of the scriptures.

The Douay Catechism of 1649

by Henry Tuberville, D.D

https://www.remnantnewspaper.com/The%20Douay%20Catechism%20of%201649.pdf

"God is dead" (German: Gott ist tot [ɡɔt ɪst toːt] ⓘ; also known as the death of God) is a statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The first instance of this statement in Nietzsche's writings is in his 1882 The Gay Science, where it appears three times.[note 1] The phrase also appears at the beginning of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

The meaning of this statement is that since, as Nietzsche says, "the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable", everything that was "built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it", including "the whole [...] European morality", is bound to "collapse".[1] The time of the Enlightenment had transformed collective human knowledge to the point where many would question their beliefs. The framing of the construct suggests that God could exist, from an atheistic perspective, in the minds of men rather than in reality, and so widespread disbelief would equate to God's death.

Other philosophers had previously discussed the concept, including Philipp Mainländer and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The phrase is also discussed in the Death of God theology.

Early usage

Discourses of a "death of God" in German culture appear as early as the 17th century and originally referred to Lutheran theories of atonement. The phrase "God is dead" appears in the hymn "Ein Trauriger Grabgesang" ("A mournful dirge") by Johann von Rist.[2]

Before Nietzsche, the phrase 'Dieu est mort!' ('God is dead') was written in Gérard de Nerval's 1854 poem "Le Christ aux oliviers" ("Christ at the olive trees").[3] The poem is an adaptation into a verse of a dream-vision that appears in Jean Paul's 1797 novel Siebenkäs under the chapter title of 'The Dead Christ Proclaims That There Is No God'.[4] In an address he gave in 1987 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the literary scholar George Steiner claims that Nietzsche's formulation 'God is dead' is indebted to the aforementioned 'Dead Christ' dream-vision of Jean Paul, but he offers no concrete evidence that Nietzsche ever read Jean Paul.[5]

The phrase is also found in a passage expressed by a narrator in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables:[6][7]

"God is dead, perhaps," said Gerard de Nerval one day to the writer of these lines, confounding progress with God, and taking the interruption of movement for the death of Being.

Buddhist philosopher K. Satchidananda Murty wrote in 1973 that, coming across in a hymn of Martin Luther what Hegel described as "the cruel words", "the harsh utterance", namely, "God is dead", developed the theme of God's death according to whom, to one form of experience, God is dead. Murty continued that commenting on Kant's first Critique, Heinrich Heine who had purportedly influenced Nietzsche spoke of a dying God. Since Heine and Nietzsche the phrase Death of God became popular.[8]

German philosophy

Hegel

Contemporary historians believe that 19th-century German idealist philosophers, especially those associated with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, are responsible for removing the specifically Christian resonance of the phrase relating to the death of Jesus Christ and associating it with secular philosophical and sociological theories.[2]

Although the statement and its meaning are attributed to Nietzsche, Hegel had discussed the concept of the death of God in his Phenomenology of Spirit, where he considers the death of God to "Not be seen as anything but an easily recognized part of the usual Christian cycle of redemption".[9] Later on Hegel writes about the great pain of knowing that God is dead: "The pure concept, however, or infinity, as the abyss of nothingness in which all being sinks, must characterize the infinite pain, which previously was only in culture historically and as the feeling on which rests modern religion, the feeling that God Himself is dead, (the feeling which was uttered by Pascal, though only empirically, in his saying: Nature is such that it marks everywhere, both in and outside of man, a lost God), purely as a phase, but also as no more than just a phase, of the highest idea."[10]

Hegel's student Richard Rothe, in his 1837 theological text Die Anfänge der christlichen Kirche und ihrer Verfassung, appears to be one of the first philosophers to associate the idea of a death of God with the sociological theory of secularization.[11]

Stirner

German philosopher Max Stirner, whose influence on Nietzsche is debated, writes in his 1844 book The Ego and its Own that "the work of the Enlightenment, the vanquishing of God: they did not notice that man has killed God in order to become now – 'sole God on high'".[12]

Mainländer

Before Nietzsche, the concept was popularized in philosophy by the German philosopher Philipp Mainländer.[13]

It was while reading Mainländer that Nietzsche explicitly writes to have parted ways with Schopenhauer.[14] In Mainländer's more than 200 pages long criticism of Schopenhauer's metaphysics, he argues against one cosmic unity behind the world, and champions a real multiplicity of wills struggling with each other for existence. Yet, the interconnection and the unitary movement of the world, which are the reasons that lead philosophers to pantheism, are undeniable.[15] They do indeed lead to a unity, but this may not be at the expense of a unity in the world that undermines the empirical reality of the world. It is therefore declared to be dead.

Now we have the right to give this being the well-known name that always designates what no power of imagination, no flight of the boldest fantasy, no intently devout heart, no abstract thinking however profound, no enraptured and transported spirit has ever attained: God. But this basic unity is of the past; it no longer is. It has, by changing its being, totally and completely shattered itself. God has died and his death was the life of the world.[note 2]

— Mainländer, Die Philosophie der Erlösung

Nietzsche

In The Gay Science, "God is dead" is first mentioned in "New Struggles":

After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave––a tremendous, gruesome shadow. God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. ––And we––we still have to vanquish his shadow, too.[17]

Still in The Gay Science, the expression is stated through the voice of the "madman", in "The Madman", as follows:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

— Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Book III, Section 125, tr. Walter Kaufmann

In the madman passage, the madman is described as running through a marketplace shouting, "I seek God! I seek God!" He arouses some amusement; no one takes him seriously. "Maybe he took an ocean voyage? Lost his way like a little child? Maybe he's afraid of us (non-believers) and is hiding?" – much laughter. Frustrated, the madman smashes his lantern on the ground, crying out that "God is dead, and we have killed him, you and I!". "But I have come too soon", he immediately realizes, as his detractors of a minute before stare in astonishment: people cannot yet see that they have killed God. He goes on to say:

This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars – and yet they have done it themselves.

— Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125, tr. Walter Kaufmann

Lastly, "The Meaning of our Cheerfulness" section of The Gay Science discusses what "God is dead" means ("that the belief in the Christian God has become unworthy of belief"), and the consequences of this fact.[18]

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, at the end of section 2 of Zarathustra's prologue, after beginning his allegorical journey, Zarathustra encounters an aged ascetic who expresses misanthropy and love of God (a "saint"). Nietzsche writes:

[Zarathustra] saluted the saint and said "What should I have to give you! But let me go quickly that I take nothing from you!" And thus they parted from one another, the old man and Zarathustra, laughing as two boys laugh.

But when Zarathustra was alone, he spoke thus to his heart: "Could it be possible! This old saint has not heard in his forest that God is dead!"

— Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, tr. R.J. Hollingdale[19][20]

What is more, Zarathustra later not only refers to the death of God but states: "Dead are all the Gods." It is not just one morality that has died, but all of them, to be replaced by the life of the Übermensch, the overman:

'DEAD ARE ALL THE GODS: NOW DO WE DESIRE THE OVERMAN TO LIVE.'

—  Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part I, Section XXII, 3, tr. Thomas Common

Explanations

Nietzsche recognized the crisis that this "Death of God" represented for existing moral assumptions in Europe as they existed within the context of traditional Christian belief. "When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident [...] By breaking one main concept out of Christianity, the faith in God, one breaks the whole: nothing necessary remains in one's hands."[21]

Interpretation

Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger understood Nietzsche’s declaration "God is dead" as a commentary on the end of metaphysics. For Heidegger, Nietzsche’s statement signifies not merely a theological or cultural shift but marks the culmination—and, consequently, the demise—of philosophy as metaphysics. Heidegger argued that metaphysics, which had structured Western thought from its inception, had now reached its maximum potential and, in doing so, had exhausted its relevance. The "death of God," then, is emblematic of this end, signaling the dissolution of any metaphysical worldview. According to Heidegger, metaphysics had been bound to end in this way since its origin.[22]

Heidegger viewed the death of God as a pivotal moment in the history of thought, representing a transformation in humanity’s relationship to "Being." This shift, he argued, invites a new mode of engagement with existence, one that transcends human-imposed structures of meaning and value. Unlike Nietzsche, who proposes the "will to power" as a means for individuals to assert their own values, Heidegger critiques this as a lingering form of human-centered valuation, one that still attempts to impose meaning onto existence.[23]

Instead, Heidegger advocates a contemplative approach, suggesting that we "let Being be"—appreciating existence without the constraints of human valuation or the demand for purpose. This approach marks a philosophical divergence: while Nietzsche encourages the active creation of values in a world absent of divine authority, Heidegger calls for a more fundamental openness to Being itself, free from valuation. In this sense, the "death" of God is not only a loss but also an opportunity for a new, radically different understanding of existence.[23]

Death of God theology

Main article: Death of God theology

Although theologians since Nietzsche had occasionally used the phrase "God is dead" to reflect increasing unbelief in God, the concept rose to prominence in theology in the late 1950s and 1960s, subsiding in the early 1970s, as the Death of God theology.[24] The German-born theologian Paul Tillich, for instance, was influenced by the writings of Nietzsche, especially his phrase "God is dead".[25]

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

Jesuit Matteo Ricci, Father of Communist China, 1583/1983 #572

The Order’s 16th Century’s conspiracy was to first conquer Japan and then China. Failing for over 200 years, the Order finally conquered Japan in 1868, Emperor Meiji to build an empire serving as “the Sword of the Church” during WWII. Using its American “Sword of the Church,” Japan was submitted to the rule of the Black Pope in 1945, as was China in 1949. Though Chairman Mao OPENLY expelled the Order in 1949, the Jesuits SECRETLY were Communist China’s masters, using their American Empire to both erect and support the Order’s Inquisition in the Far East. Since the “end of the Cold War,” the US has given high technology to Red China preparing her for America’s Sino invasion. The “Senior Honorary Advisor” for China’s COSCO, is SMOM Alexander Haig. Jesuits: A Multibiography, Jean Lacouture, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1995).

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing

Shima Hospital (島病院, Shima byōin) is a Japanese hospital, now clinic, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the exact location where the atomic bombing of Hiroshima took place on August 6, 1945. Shima Hospital is considered to be ground zero.[1]

In 1948, the hospital was rebuilt from the ground up by Dr. Kaoru Shima. The reconstructed Shima Surgery is still in operation to the present day under the name Shima Internist Hospital (島内科医院 Shima naika iin).[1] Specialities of the present Shima Hospital are surgery, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and endoscopic treatment of the digestive organs.[1] Adjacent to the Shima Hospital is a monument marking the hypocenter of the atomic blast, which is located about a five-minute walk away from the city's Atomic Bomb Dome or "A-Dome."[1]

Beginnings

Dr. Shima's family had overseen an established medicine practice in Hiroshima since the late 18th century. Proof of this can be found in a map[2] of Nakanomura dated approximately 1780, in which the residence of the Shima family, birthplace of "Shima Hospital" founder Dr. Kaoru Shima, is noted as a clinic.[3]

Dr. Kaoru Shima (1897–1977) graduated from the Osaka medical school, the present Osaka University medical department, which originated in the "Tekijuku" school.[3] After graduating, he travelled throughout Europe and the United States to further his medical studies.

Following his quest to learn the latest developments in medicine and surgery and with his reputation as an excellent surgeon[citation needed], he became lecturer of medicine at the Osaka Empire University (now the Osaka University), considered a high honor at the time, as the title of "honour lecturer" did not exist and Dr. Shima had a full-time occupation in Hiroshima.[3] On August 31, 1933, Shima Hospital was founded. The Mayo Clinic served as Dr. Shima's model of choice.[3] Shima Hospital was a two-storey building of brick construction with reinforced walls and a modern design.[3] Kaoru Shima applied the rational hospital management concepts he learned in the United States, resulting in Shima Hospital's popularity as an inexpensive clinic with a high standard of treatment.[4] Shima Hospital, following the Mayo Clinic model, is an exception to the usual profile of hospitals found in pre-war Japan that were based on German models and medical procedures.

Atomic bombing

On August 6, 1945, Shima Hospital was completely destroyed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima; the atomic bomb detonated directly above the building and the blast was directed downwards.[3] Because the epicenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was over the hospital, the hypocenter, or ground zero, was the hospital itself.[5] All the medical staff and the patients who were in Shima Hospital, about 80, died instantly.[3] At the time of the detonation, Kaoru Shima was away from Hiroshima city, as he had gone to assist a colleague with a difficult operation at a hospital in a nearby town. Thus he and his attending nurse were the only survivors of the Shima Hospital staff.[3]

Dr. Kaoru Shima returned to Hiroshima on the night of August 6 and began treatment of the injured people.[3] On the afternoon of August 7, Shima found an operation tool he had purchased in the U.S. at the site of the destroyed hospital, the only remaining trace of the structure.[3] Kaoru Shima and the nurse found a large quantity of bleached bones at the bottom of the debris, as the corpses had immediately become skeletonized by the blast.[3][dubious – discuss][better source needed]

Shima learned American medical care and practised American medical care at his hospital. Therefore, the war with the U.S. was a considerable shock for him.[3] Shima disagreed with the Pacific War, and risked being killed by special political police.[citation needed]

Shima's son had evacuated on August 6, 1945, and had also survived. He would also become a doctor, and later became director of the hospital in its second incarnation.[4]

In October 1945, a member of Riken who joined the academic investigation team arrived at the site and declared the Shima Hospital to be the hypocenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In 1969, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission published the report The Epicenters of the atomic bombs which announced the coordinates of the hypocenters after reviewing U.S. Army maps.[6]

Rebuilding

Shima rebuilt the hospital at the same site during the difficult post-war period. The new hospital opened for medical treatment in 1948.[3] Shima was quoted as saying, "My new hospital is dedicated to peace and caring for the underprivileged and poverty stricken."[3] The 1990s saw the hospital change into a clinic of surgery and decrease the number of beds.[4] The name was changed to "Shima Geka."

On August 1, 2009, the clinic's name was changed to "Shima Geka Naika". Shima's son Ichishu Shima retired and became the honorary director.[1] In 2017 the clinic was again renamed "Shima Naika Iin". The current director Shuyuki Shima, a grandson of Kaoru Shima, is the third generation of this family to work in the hospital. The specialities of the present Shima Naika Iin are surgery, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and endoscopic treatment of the stomach and intestines.[1] The director of today's hospital focuses on community care and thus maintains the ideals and spirit of his grandfather.[1] The present Shima Naika Iin performs smoking cessation treatment, preventive injection, general medical examinations, cancer screening, and stress consultations. Shima geka naika cooperates with the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic-bomb Survivors Hospital.

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

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

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

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

The Reichskonkordat ("Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich"[1]) is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified 10 September 1933 and it remains in force to this day. The treaty guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office, Article 16 states they are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German Reich established according to the constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. Nazi breaches of the agreement began after it had been signed and intensified afterwards. The Church protested, including in the 1937 Mit brennender Sorge encyclical of Pope Pius XI. The Nazis planned to eliminate the Church's influence by restricting its organizations to purely religious activities.[2]

The Reichskonkordat is the most controversial of several concordats that the Vatican negotiated during the pontificate of Pius XI. It is frequently discussed in works that deal with the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s and the Holocaust. The concordat has been described by some as giving moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime after Hitler had acquired quasi-dictatorial powers through the Enabling Act of 1933, an Act itself facilitated through the support of the Catholic Centre Party.

The treaty places constraints on the political activity of German clergy of the Catholic Church. With passage of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, for example, a policy of nonintervention was followed. The majority of the German church hierarchy regarded the treaty as a symbol of peace between church and state.[3] From a Catholic Church perspective, it has been argued that the Concordat prevented even greater evils being unleashed against the Church.[4] Though some German bishops were unenthusiastic, and the Allies at the end of World War II felt it inappropriate, Pope Pius XII successfully argued to keep the concordat in force. It is still in force.

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

March of Time -- outtakes -- Pope Pius XII blessing Allied troops

Film |  Digitized | Accession Number: 2004.723.1 | RG Number: RG-60.4082 | Film ID: 2732

Overview

Description

Pope Pius XII with an audience of American and British soldiers. The pope is carried in on a chair, preceded by Swiss guard members. He speaks to the troops in English from his chair at the front of the room (the sound is echoey and somewhat hard to hear). Shots of the soldiers listening attentively. Close views of the pope. He stands and bestows his blessings. Scenes of the pope surrounded by and chatting with soldiers. Good views of the Pope, smiling, chatting. 01:06:07 groups begins singing and he is carried out on his chair. Other cuts and camera angles. MOving shot very close through crowd of soldiers. Elevated shot of men.

Film Title

War Coverage -- Official Signal Corps No. 2

Duration

00:07:58

Date

Event:  1944 June

Production:  1944

Locale

Rome, Italy

Italy

Credit

Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration

Contributor

Producer: March of Time, Inc.

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003494

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party, including the SS or the SA.

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

Coat of Arms of Pope John XXIII

In the centre of the pavement is the coat of arms of Pope John XXIII (r. 1958-63), which records his opening of the second Vatican Council on October 11th 1962.

The pavement also sports the coats of arms of Pope Clement (r. 1700-21)and Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903).

walking Tours of Rome

Copyright © David Lown 2001-2025 All Rights Reserved.

https://www.walksinrome.com/portico-of-st-peters-basilica.html

World, the: 1. It is proper to our vocation: to go to diverse places and live in whatever part of the world and to be sent wherever the greater service of God and the help of souls can be hoped for [82, 92, 304, 308, 588, 603, 605, 626, 749]; to this purpose is directed the vow of special obedience to the supreme pontiff regarding missions, FI no. 3 [603, 605], 2 §1; consequently a complete availability, mobility, and universality are necessary, 110, 121 4°, 242 §3, 246 7°, 248, 259, 411; at the service of which is chastity, 144 §2; consequently our community is a community for dispersion, 255 §1, 312, 314 §2, 315, 317; thus also the need for communicating with different cultures of the world and for insertion into them, 99 §2, 106 §2, 110, 111, 246 2°; and for promoting that perfect and open cooperation among the members of the entire Society, of whatever province or region they may be, 396 §2. See also Cooperation, interprovincial and supraprovincial; Culture(s); Insertion 2. God is present in the world: exercising the ministry of healing and reconciliation, 246 4°; thus he is there to be sought and found, 223 §§3-4; the world, in great part afflicted with atheism and injustice and increasingly divided by diverse economic, social, and ethnic systems and by other sources of division and opposition, 59 §2, 223 §3, 246 4° 3. The world, as distinguished from religious life: is to be left behind, trampled underfoot, and renounced [30, 50, 53, 61, 66, 297]; it is to be despised because of the love for and imitation of Christ [101]; contempt for it assists in the union of minds and hearts [671]: customs which smack of the world are not to be introduced, 322.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Guadalupe Robledo (December 12, 1934 – November 6, 2018) was a Mexican professional wrestler, best known by the ring name of José Lothario.[1][3][4][5] He performed for such promotions as the NWA and the WWF.

Professional wrestling career

Lothario started his career in the early ’50s in Mexico where he was an accomplished boxer and wrestler. Having already earned success there as a luchador, Lothario was an established commodity when he moved to the US in 1957, working in the Carolinas under the name Joe Garcia. He later made his way into the Gulf Coast territory as “El Gran” Lothario, a nickname that stuck throughout his career. Playing off his strong background in boxing, Lothario would hold a number of brass knucks titles in various territories, with rugged taped fists bouts becoming one of his specialties. Dusty Rhodes, who began his career in Texas while Lothario was a headliner, called him the greatest Latin American wrestler and babyface in the world and one of his top five performers of all time.[6]

Lothario competed in the National Wrestling Alliance for most of his career.[1] He once had a winning streak of over 50 matches.[7] On Christmas Day 1970, Lothario teamed up with Danny Miller to defeat The Infernos and win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship. In storyline, the previous champions, Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdoch, had been stripped of the title.[8] Lothario's biggest feuds were with Gino Hernandez, whom he defeated in a hair match in November 1978, and El Gran Marcus. Teaming with the legendary Mil Mascaras, Lothario drew massive crowds in Houston and San Antonio against the heel duo of Black Gordman and Great Goliath. He was also a mainstay in Florida and Texas.

In Florida Lothario shared the Southern tag-team title with Don Curtis, Dory Funk Jr. and Joe Scarpa (aka Chief Jay Strongbow) on three occasions. He held the Florida tag-team belts with Argentina Apollo and Danny Miller. He held the Florida version of the NWA world tag-team title four times — twice with Wahoo McDaniel and once with Eddie Graham and Sam Steamboat. Lothario enjoyed greater success in Texas where he held several major tag titles. He shared the American tag-team belts on three occasions with El Halcon, and also had runs with Mil Mascaras, Tiger Conway Jr. and Ivan Putski. He held the Texas tag-team title six times, with Mil Mascaras, Rocky Johnson, Ivan Putski, Cien Caras and twice with Alberto Madril. Lothario also was a top singles performer in the Lone Star State, holding the Texas heavyweight crown on seven occasions, the Texas brass knucks crown five times, and the World Class Championship Wrestling TV title twice.

Lothario trained Shawn Michaels in the 1980s,[1] with Lothario later becoming Michaels' manager in the WWF in 1996, managing Michaels to winning his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XII. At the In Your House 10: Mind Games pay per view in September 1996, Lothario squashed Jim Cornette. He continued to manage Michaels until Royal Rumble in January 1997. He briefly returned to WWF in January 1999 as part of a storyline involving Michaels. Lothario's son Pete was also a professional wrestler in the Texas area. His wife, Jean Lothario, also wrestled with Joe Blanchard's Southwest Wrestling Alliance.They have a daughter, Gina.[citation needed]

Death

Lothario died on November 6, 2018, from natural causes at the age of 83.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Lothario

Lothair I (Dutch and Medieval Latin: Lotharius; German: Lothar; French: Lothaire; Italian: Lotario; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century Carolingian emperor (817–855, with his father until 840) and king of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (843–855).

Lothair I was the eldest son of the Carolingian emperor Louis I and his wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye,[1] daughter of Ingerman the duke of Hesbaye. On several occasions, Lothair led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains. Upon the father's death, Charles and Louis joined forces against Lothair in a three-year civil war (840–843). The struggles between the brothers led directly to the breakup of the Frankish Empire assembled by their grandfather Charlemagne, and laid the foundation for the development of modern France and Germany.[2]

Early life and reign

Kingdom of Bavaria

Lothair was born in 795, to Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye. His father was the son of the reigning Emperor, Charlemagne. Little is known of Lothair's early life, which was probably passed at the court of his grandfather Charlemagne. In 814, the elderly emperor died, and left his sole surviving legitimate son Louis the Pious as successor to his vast empire. The next year, Lothair would be sent to govern Bavaria for his father, the new emperor.[1] In 817, Louis the Pious[1] drew up his Ordinatio Imperii.[3] In this, Louis designated Lothair as his principal heir and ordered that Lothair would be the overlord of Louis' younger sons Pippin of Aquitaine (who was 20) and Louis the German (who was 13), as well as his nephew (Lothair's cousin) Bernard of Italy. Lothair would also inherit their lands if they were to die childless. Lothair, aged 22, was then crowned joint emperor by his father at Aachen.[1] At the same time, Aquitaine and Bavaria were granted to his brothers Pippin and Louis, respectively, as subsidiary kingdoms.[3] Following the death of Bernard, brought on by his plotting against and blinding by Louis the Pious, Lothair also received the Kingdom of Italy.[citation needed] In 821, Lothair married Ermengarde (d. 851), daughter of Hugh the Count of Tours.[1]

In 822, he assumed the government of Italy, and at Easter, 5 April 823, he was crowned emperor again by Pope Paschal I, this time at Rome. In November 824, Lothair promulgated a statute, the Constitutio Romana, concerning the relations of pope and emperor, which reserved the supreme power to the secular potentate, and he afterwards issued various ordinances for the good government of Italy.[1]

On Lothair's return to his father's court, his stepmother Judith won his consent to her plan for securing a kingdom for her son Charles, a scheme which was carried out in 829,[1] when the young prince was given Alemannia as king.[citation needed] Lothair, however, soon changed his attitude and spent the succeeding decade in constant strife over the division of the Empire with his father. He was alternately master of the Empire, and banished and confined to Italy, at one time taking up arms in alliance with his brothers and at another fighting against them, whilst the bounds of his appointed kingdom were in turn extended and reduced.[1][4]

Division of the kingdom

The first rebellion began in 830. All three brothers fought their father, whom they deposed. In 831, their father was reinstated and he deprived Lothair of his imperial title and gave Italy to Charles. The second rebellion was instigated by Angilbert II, Archbishop of Milan in 833, and again Louis was deposed in 834. Lothair, through the loyalty of the Lombards and later reconciliations, retained Italy and the imperial position through all remaining divisions of the Empire by his father.[4][5]

When Louis the Pious was dying in 840, he sent the imperial insignia to Lothair, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire. He was 45 years old when his father died. Negotiations with his brother Louis the German and his half-brother Charles, both of whom resisted this claim, were followed by an alliance of the younger brothers against Lothair.[2] A decisive battle was fought at Fontenay-en-Puisaye on 25 June 841, when, in spite of his[1] and his allied nephew Pepin II of Aquitaine's[citation needed] personal gallantry, Lothair was defeated and fled to Aachen. With fresh troops he began a war of plunder, but the forces of his brothers were too strong, and taking with him such treasure as he could collect, he abandoned his capital to them.[1][clarification needed] He met with the leaders of the Stellinga in Speyer and promised them his support in return for theirs, but Louis and then the native Saxon nobility put down the Stellinga in the next years.[citation needed]

Peace negotiations began, and in June 842 the brothers met on an island in the Saône. They agreed to an arrangement which developed, after much difficulty and delay, into the Treaty of Verdun, signed in August 843. By this, Lothair received the imperial title as well as northern Italy and a long stretch of territory from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, essentially along the valleys of the Rhine and the Rhône; this territory includes the regions Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, and Provence. He soon ceded Italy to his eldest son, Louis, and remained in his new kingdom, engaging in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the Northmen (as Vikings were known in Frankish writings) and the Saracens (as those loyal to the various Fatimids, Umayyads and Abbasides are known in Frankish writings).[1][5]

In 845 the count of Arles, Fulcrad, led a rebellion in Provence. The emperor put it down and the count joined him in an expedition against the Saracens in Italy in 846.

Death and aftermath

In 855 he became seriously ill, and despairing of recovery renounced the throne, divided his lands among his three sons, and on 23 September entered the monastery of Prüm, where he died six days later. He was buried at Prüm, where his remains were found in 1860.[1] It was at Prüm that Lothair was most commemorated.[6]

The same year, Lothair's kingdom was divided between his three sons[1] in a deal called the Treaty of Prüm: the eldest, Louis II, received Italy and the title of emperor; the second, Lothair II, received Lotharingia; the youngest, Charles, received Provence.[citation needed]

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

The name Lothair traces its origins to German - Old High German and is derived from two elements: loth, meaning famous, and hari, meaning army. Thus, Lothair directly translates to famous army. This name gained prevalence during the 9th and 10th centuries in the Frankish Empire, which encompassed vast territories of modern-day Germany, France, and Italy.

In history, the name Lothair is notably associated with several prominent figures. The most well-known bearer of this name is Lothair I, who was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor in the year 817. Lothair I was a key figure in the Carolingian dynasty and played a vital role in shaping the political landscape of medieval Europe. His reign marked significant accomplishments and challenges, ultimately cementing his position in history.

In modern-day usage, the name Lothair has become less common but still maintains some presence. It is occasionally bestowed upon children as a nod to their Germanic or medieval heritage, giving them a sense of historical and unique identity. Moreover, the name may occasionally appear in works of literature, films, or other forms of popular culture to evoke a sense of nobility or historicity. Overall, the name Lothair encapsulates the fascinating historical connections of the Frankish Empire and its influential figures.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/lothair

The name Luther traces its origins back to English, where it emerged from the word leod meaning people and here meaning army. This etymology gives rise to the meaning Army of the People, making Luther a name that embodies strength and collective action. Over time, Luther has appeared in various historical contexts, leaving its mark on different cultures and regions around the world.

In history, the name Luther gained prominence with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Martin Luther, an influential German theologian and composer, challenged the practices of the Catholic Church and sparked a movement that would reshape the religious and social landscape of Europe. Martin Luther's prolific writings and his translation of the Bible into German played a significant role in spreading Protestantism. His name became synonymous with the reformist movement, and Lutheranism was established as a distinct Christian denomination.

In modern-day usage, the name Luther continues to resonate with historical significance and strength. It is often chosen by parents who desire a name that exudes resilience, leadership, and a connection to the past. The name Luther can be found worldwide, and its usage extends beyond German-speaking countries. As a testament to its enduring appeal, Luther has also found its way into popular culture. Whether it be in literature, film, or music, the name Luther maintains its authoritative presence, leaving an indelible impression on those who hear or bear it.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/luther

The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.

The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in 1378 after Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's election. A group of French cardinals declared his election invalid and elected Clement VII as pope. After several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa (1409) declared that both rivals were illegitimate and elected a third purported pope. The schism was finally resolved when the Pisan claimant Antipope John XXIII called the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The Council arranged the renunciation of both Roman pope Gregory XII and Pisan antipope John XXIII. The Avignon antipope Benedict XIII was excommunicated, while Pope Martin V was elected and reigned from Rome.

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

The Diet of Worms of 1521 (German: Reichstag zu Worms [ˈʁaɪçstaːk tsuː ˈvɔʁms]) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas. Although the Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have begun in 1517, the edict signals the first overt schism.

The diet was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521 at the Bischofshof palace in Worms, with the Emperor presiding.[1] Other imperial diets took place at Worms in the years 829, 926, 1076, 1122, 1495, and 1545, but unless plainly qualified, the term "Diet of Worms" usually refers to the assembly of 1521.

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

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

AI Overview

Both Louis and Luther, while of similar German origin, have distinct meanings. Louis, primarily a French name, means "famous warrior". Luther, a German name, has a broader meaning, often interpreted as "army of the people" or "renowned warrior".

Elaboration:

Louis:

Derived from the German name Ludwig, Louis (the French form) means "famous warrior". It's a popular name in many cultures, including France, where it was borne by 14 kings.

Luther:

The German name Luther, also linked to the concept of "renowned warrior," can be translated as "army of the people.". It's particularly known for its association with Martin Luther, the key figure in the Protestant Reformation.

Luther (surname):

The surname Luther is also of German origin, but it can also be found in other cultures.

Generative AI is experimental.

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

After years of being a nun, von Bora became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, she contacted Luther and begged for his assistance.[13] On 4 April 1523, Holy Saturday, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a merchant and councillor of Torgau who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels, and fled to Wittenberg.[14]

Luther asked the family of the nuns to admit them into their houses, but they declined, possibly because this would have made them accomplices to a crime under canon law.[15]

Within two years, Luther was able to arrange marriages or find employment for all of the escaped nuns except von Bora. She was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the municipal clerk of Wittenberg, then with Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Von Bora had a number of suitors, including Hieronymus Baumgartner from Nuremberg, and a pastor, Kaspar Glatz from Orlamünde, but none of the proposals resulted in marriage. She told Luther's friend and fellow reformer, Nicolaus von Amsdorf, that she would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf.[16]

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

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

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

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Augustinians and Cistercians | Church and Society in the Medieval West

One newly founded order broke with the rule of Benedict, finding its inspiration in a letter of Augustine is that prescribed simply that monks share all their property, pray together at regular intervals, dress alike, and obey a superior. Some of the “Augustinians,” as they called themselves, interpreted these general rules severely, living in silence, performing manual labor, eating and drinking sparingly, and singing psalms; others ate meat, conversed among themselves, and did not insist on manual labor.

Often beginning as small informal foundations, the Augustinians attracted modest donations from relatively modest donors. Unlike Cluny, with its vast collections of buildings crowned by a great and splendid church, the Augustinian foundations were simple and humble. The Augustinians preached, baptized, heard confessions, and helped the poor unobtrusively. They multiplied rapidly, and in the thirteenth century there were thousands of Augustinian houses in England and on the Continent.

Founded only a little later, the Cistercians abandoned the world instead of living in it. Their original house, Citeaux (Cistercium) in Burgundy, lay in a dismal wasteland far from the distractions of the world. There they pioneered land reclamation and launched a period of agricultural expansion. By the twelfth century the Cistercians were looked to for their knowledge of how to make previously uncultivated lands, often swamps, productive. They considered themselves the only true Benedictines, vet the self-denial, poverty, and wholly spiritual life that the Cistercians adopted was often seen by their contemporaries as arrogant, worldly, and even greedy.

Perhaps the best-known Cistercian leader was Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1091-1153), who in 1115 led a band of Cistercians to a new and remote site from which he influenced worldly affairs to a remarkable degree, preaching for a Second Crusade and attacking the scholastic method of teaching. As he wrote, “There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity. There are others who desire to know in order that they themselves be known: that is vanity. Others seek knowledge in order to sell it: that is dishonorable. But there are also some who seek knowledge in order to edify others. That is love.” He launched significant reforms in teaching, the observance of church rules, and attitudes toward worship.

In the end, the Cistercians, too, changed. Display conquered austerity, and aristocratic traditions quenched humility. By the thirteenth century, great Cistercian monasteries were wealthy centers of production. The expensive arts of architecture and sculpture were lavished on their buildings. These Cistercian monasteries had become great corporations, thoroughly tied into the increasingly complex web of medieval economic life.

https://bigsiteofhistory.com/augustinians-and-cistercians-church-and-society-in-the-medieval-west

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the fall of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after the Third Crusade in 1192.

The original Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187 before being almost entirely overrun by the Ayyubid Sultanate under Saladin. Following the Third Crusade, it was re-established in Acre in 1192. The re-established state is commonly known as the "Second Kingdom of Jerusalem" or, alternatively, as the "Kingdom of Acre" after its new capital city. Acre remained the capital for the rest of its existence, even during the two decades that followed the Crusaders' establishment of partial control over Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade, through the diplomacy of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen face to face the Ayyubids.

The vast majority of the Crusaders who established and settled the Kingdom of Jerusalem were from the Kingdom of France, as were the knights and soldiers who made up the bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of its existence; its rulers and elite were therefore predominantly French.[4] French Crusaders also brought their language to the Levant, thus establishing Old French as the lingua franca of the Crusader states, in which Latin served as the official language. While the majority of the population in the countryside comprised Christians and Muslims from local Levantine ethnicities, many Europeans (primarily French and Italian) also arrived to settle in villages across the region.

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

British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a pseudo-historical[1][2] belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel.[3] With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin.[4] From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.

The central tenets of British Israelism have been refuted by archaeological,[5] ethnological,[6] genetic,[7]: 181  and linguistic research.[8][9]: 33–34

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

The Masonic King of England

Edward VIII was crowned both king and Grand Master of English Freemasonry on January20, 1936. Edward, however, married a divorced commoner from the United States and was forced to abdicate eleven months later on December 10th. His younger brother ascended the throne the next day and downgraded Edward's title to the Duke of Windsor. In July1940 the Duke assumed the governorship of the Bahamas.127 Edward VIII not only supported Hitler, he did so loudly. From the time of Hitler's rise to power, the Windsors were fascinated by the Fuehrer and his New Order in Europe. Speaking in Masonic 480 terms, the King expressed the views of the Brotherhood concerning Hitler: "What-ever happens, he said, "whatever the outcome, a New Order is going to come into the world.... It will be buttressed with police power.. ..When peace comes this time, there is going to be a New Order of Social Justice. It cannot be another Versailles." 128 During his short reign, King Edward VIII made every effort to promote Nazism. As a result some of the most prominent aristocrats in England joined the Nazi Party.129

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.[a]

Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. The Prince of Wales gained popularity due to his charm and charisma, and his fashion sense became a hallmark of the era. After the war, his conduct began to give cause for concern; he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin.

Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused consternation among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date.

After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France. After the fall of France, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children.

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

Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler

In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement—or a secret but formal treaty—in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party, including the SS or the SA.

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

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

https://www.etymonline.com/word/molly

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

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

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, BIRDS, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

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

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

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

Lunar Day

The duration of a single day on the Moon, from sunrise to sunrise, is approximately 29.5 Earth days. However, this is broken down into roughly 14.75 days of daylight followed by 14.75 days of nighttime, due to the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth.

When we refer to the "life of one lunar day" in the context of a moon mission, it usually pertains to the duration of sunlight (daytime) that the mission equipment can operate within. This is because most moon missions, including rovers and landers, rely on solar panels for power. During the lunar night, temperatures can drop drastically (to below minus 200 degrees Celsius), and without sunlight, there's no power generation from solar panels. This extreme cold can also be damaging to equipment.

So, when a mission states its operational life as "one lunar day," it typically means it is designed to function during the approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight on the Moon, after which it may go into a dormant state during the lunar night, or it might cease operations altogether due to the harsh conditions.

https://www.sriramsias.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/lunar-day/

Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. His son Horus successfully fought against Seth, avenging Osiris and becoming the new king of Egypt.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god

Genesis in the Land of the Pharaohs

Isis ("Aset" in the native language) had her start as a comparatively minor deity of Egypt. She was a protector of the throne of Egypt, perhaps in some ways the personification of Royal Power. But she had been subordinate in the official Egyptian pantheon to deities more intimately connected with the great king, like Ra and Horus.

AD

The collapse of the Old Kingdom brought about several sweeping changes in Egyptian religion. Eternal life, which had once been viewed as the sole province of the King, came to be seen as the reward for all those willing to submit to the proper cults.

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In this new paradigm, Isis took center stage and became the central goddess in the popular religion of the Egyptian people.

Myth tells how Osiris, the first god-king of Egypt, introduced laws and agriculture to humankind. He was then deceived and murdered by his scheming brother Seth, god of chaos. Seth hacked Osiris' body into pieces and scattered them across Egypt, intending to rule Egypt himself.

Isis collected the pieces and magically revived her brother-husband Osiris, who became King of the Underworld. She also magically conceived a son, Horus. Isis and her supporters warred against Seth for the throne of Egypt. A council of gods eventually decided that Horus, as son of Osiris, was the rightful ruler, and Seth was demoted to fighting nocturnal demons.

A new paradigm emerged in which Osiris ruled the underworld, Horus ruled Egypt (and the Pharaohs were considered the incarnation of Horus) and Ra the sun god ruled the heavens.

But Isis as mistress of magic resurrected Osiris, and thus was superior to him. She conceived her son Horus magically and was superior to him. With her magic, she even had power over Ra the sun god.

In short, she was the real power behind the universe, which lead her cult adherents to proclaim her as Mistress of Heaven. More importantly, she had the power over life and death and could resurrect her followers in the same manner that saved her husband from oblivion.

As the myth of Isis and Osiris grew, Isis began displacing other deities in the loyalties of the Egyptian population.

The Hellenes Conquer and are Conquered by Egypt

The conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great opened a new era for the cult. In trying to find a religious cult that would unite both Egyptian and Hellenic subjects, Ptolemy Soter crafted the Isis cult as it would be introduced into Greco-Roman society.

AD

Osiris was renamed Serapis and identified with a variety of Egyptian and Hellenic gods (Osiris, Apis, Dionysus, Hades). He became a god of healing and the underworld.

Isis was identified with Hellenic deities such as Demeter or Aphrodite.

Greek iconography was introduced to the cult which made it visually appealing to the Hellenes. In those days when the provincial city-states of the Hellenic world fell to Alexander's universal empire, the traditional gods of the city-state no longer sufficed. Gods like Isis and Serapis were not connected with any specific town and were truly universal in scope.

More importantly, the exotic Egyptian mysticism could offer the Greeks of the Hellenistic age something their own gods could not: a way to cheat fate and death.

Isis and Osiris were honored by the Greeks and by Egyptian emigrants as a kind of holy trinity, but always it was Isis who was the dominant member of the trio.

Isis became the protector of family (especially women), the protector of newborns, the goddess of fertility and good fortune, and the goddess whose magic could cheat fate and death.

She was also thought to be a protector of sailors, and sailors sailing from the great port of Alexandria took her cult all over the Mediterranean.

Backed by the Ptolemaic regime, the new cult spread throughout the Hellenistic Kingdoms.

The Nile Flows into the Tiber

The Roman Senate was not amused with Ptolemy's attempt to craft a universal religion.

When the cult of Isis swept into Rome via Hellenistic sailors and Egyptian emigrants, it became extremely popular with women and the lower classes, including slaves.

AD

Fearing a religious unification of the lower strata of Roman society, and fearing the loss of piety in the traditional Roman gods of the state, the Senate repeatedly placed restrictions on the new cult.

Private chapels dedicated to Isis were ordered destroyed. When a Roman Consul found that the demolition team assigned to him were all members or sympathizers of the cult and refused to destroy their chapel, he had to remove his toga of state and do the deed himself.

How Did Different Roman Emperors View the Cult of Isis?

Augustus found the cult "pornographic," though the cult was known to proscribe periods of sexual abstinence to its adherents.

The real reason for Augustus' wrath was that the cult was linked to Egypt and thus the power base of his rival, Mark Antony. Cleopatra had even gone so far to declare herself Isis reincarnated.

Nonetheless, Augustus' scorn did little to stem popular opinion. Officials and servants of the imperial household were members of the cult. It seems even his own infamous daughter was a member; whether her belief was genuine or merely another aspect of her defiance against her father cannot be determined.

https://www.unrv.com/culture/isis.php

The Islamic State (IS),[a][b] is a transnational Salafi jihadist group and unrecognized quasi-state. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and many countries around the world, including Muslim countries.[162]

IS gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants conquered large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of the ongoing civil war in Syria and the disintegrating local military forces of Iraq. By the end of 2015, its self-declared caliphate ruled an area with a population of about 12 million,[117][118][163] where they enforced their extremist interpretation of Islamic law, managed an annual budget exceeding US$1 billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters.[164] After a grinding conflict with American, Iraqi, and Kurdish forces, IS lost control of all its Middle Eastern territories by 2019, subsequently reverting to insurgency from remote hideouts while continuing its propaganda efforts. These efforts have garnered a significant following in northern and Sahelian Africa,[165][166] where IS still controls a significant territory.[167][168]

Originating in the Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004, the organisation (primarily under the Islamic State of Iraq name) affiliated itself with al-Qaeda in Iraq and fought alongside them during the 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency. The group later changed their name to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant for about a year,[169][170] before declaring itself to be a worldwide caliphate,[171][172] called simply the Islamic State (الدولة الإسلامية, ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyya).[173]

As a caliphate, IS demanded the religious, political, and military obedience of Muslims worldwide,[174] despite the rejection of its legitimacy by mainstream Muslims and its statehood by the United Nations and most governments.[175] During its rule in Syria and Iraq, the group "became notorious for its brutality".[173] Under its rule of these regions, IS launched genocides against Yazidis and Iraqi Turkmen; engaged in persecution of Christians, Shia Muslims, and Mandaeans; publicised videos of beheadings of soldiers, journalists, and aid workers; and destroyed several cultural sites. The group has perpetrated terrorist massacres in territories outside of its control, such as the November 2015 Paris attacks, the 2024 Kerman bombings in Iran, and the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack in Russia. Lone wolf attacks inspired by the group have also taken place.

After 2015, the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed back IS and degraded its financial and military infrastructure,[176] assisted by advisors, weapons, training, supplies, and airstrikes by the American-led coalition,[177] and later by Russian airstrikes, bombings, cruise missile attacks, and scorched-earth tactics across Syria, which focused mostly on razing Syrian opposition strongholds rather than IS bases.[178] By March 2019, IS lost the last of its territories in West Asia, although its affiliates maintained a significant territorial presence in Africa as of 2024.[167][168]

Name

Main article: Names of the Islamic State

See also: Name changes due to the Islamic State

The Islamic State, abbreviated IS,[179] is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL /ˈaɪsɪl/ EYE-sil), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS /ˈaɪsɪs/ EYE-siss),[180][181] and by its Arabic acronym Da'ish[182][183] or Daesh (داعش, Dāʿish, IPA: [ˈdaːʕɪʃ]),[184] and also as Dawlat al-Islām (دولة الإسلام).[185] In April 2013, having expanded into Syria, the group adopted the name ad-Dawla al-Islāmiyya fī l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām (الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام). As al-Shām is a region often compared with the Levant or the region of Syria, the group's name has been variously translated as "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham",[186] "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (both abbreviated as ISIS),[187] or "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (abbreviated as ISIL).[181] In 2014, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah dubbed ISIS as QSIS for "al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria", arguing that ISIL does not represent the vast majority of Muslims.[188]

While the use of either one or the other acronym has been the subject of debate,[181] the distinction between the two and its relevance has been considered less important.[181] Of greater relevance is the name Daesh, which is an acronym of ISIL's Arabic name ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya fī l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām, or Daesh. This name has been widely used by ISIL's Arabic-speaking detractors,[186][189] for example when referring to the group whilst speaking amongst themselves, although—and to a certain extent because⁠—it is considered derogatory, as it resembles the Arabic words Daes ("one who crushes, or tramples down, something underfoot") and Dāhis (loosely translated as "one who sows discord").[184][190] Within areas under its control, ISIL considers use of the name Daesh punishable by flogging.[191]

In late June 2014, the group renamed itself ad-Dawla al-Islāmiyya (lit. 'Islamic State' or IS), declaring itself a worldwide caliphate.[172] The name "Islamic State" and the group's claim to be a caliphate have been widely rejected, with the UN, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups refusing to use the new name.[192] The group's declaration of a new caliphate in June 2014 and its adoption of the name "Islamic State" have been criticised and ridiculed by Muslim scholars and rival Islamists both inside and outside the territory it controls.[193]

In a speech in September 2014, United States President Barack Obama said that ISIL was neither Islamic (on the basis that no religion condones the killing of innocents) nor a state (in that no government recognises the group as a state),[194] while many object to using the name Islamic State owing to the far-reaching religious and political claims to authority which that name implies. The United Nations Security Council,[195] the United States,[194] Canada,[196] Turkey,[197] Australia,[198] the United Kingdom,[199] and other countries generally call the group ISIL, while much of the Arab world uses the Arabic acronym Dāʻish or Daesh. France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: "This is a terrorist group and not a state. I do not recommend using the term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims, and Islamists. The Arabs call it 'Daesh' and I will be calling them the 'Daesh cutthroats'."[200] Retired general John Allen, the U.S. envoy appointed to co-ordinate the coalition; U.S. Army Lieutenant General James Terry, head of operations against the group; and Secretary of State John Kerry had all shifted towards use of the term Daesh by December 2014,[201] which nonetheless remained a pejorative in 2021.[202]

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

Ignatius of Loyola: Apostle to the Muslims

Posted on: 26th July 2016  |Author: Damian Howard SJ

Category: The Jesuits

Tags: Feast of St Ignatius, Ignatius, Islam, interreligious, Jesuit history

To educate the youth of Europe? To fight the spread of Protestantism? While many people would guess that one or both of these ambitions drove Ignatius of Loyola to found the Jesuits, he actually had something else in mind: a mission to the Muslim world. For the feast of St Ignatius, Damian Howard SJ considers how ‘Islam haunted Ignatius’s understanding of his calling’ and celebrates the fruitful work of the many Jesuits who have tried to realise Ignatius’s vision in their engagement with Muslims.

Ask the average Catholic why St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus and they will likely say one of two things. First, remembering the Jesuits as bastions of the Counter-Reformation they might assume that Ignatius, militant Catholic that he was, had set out with a dream of a new religious order capable of defeating Protestantism. But whilst it was the case that the Jesuits would be active in efforts to reform the Catholic Church from within and to take on the growing power of Protestant theology and culture as it spread across Europe, this was never Ignatius’s underlying vision. Second, they might suppose that Ignatius had planned from the start a vast network of new schools which would revolutionise education throughout the continent. It’s true that this is indeed what Jesuit schools ended up doing, earning the order’s members the epithet of the ‘schoolmasters of Europe’, but this huge and innovative project came about as the result of a proposal made to Ignatius after he had already become Superior General of the new order; it was never education per se that he saw as its prime mission.

So the following claim may be unexpected: Ignatius’s original apostolic orientation was actually defined in relation to the Muslim world.

This shouldn’t be entirely surprising given the state of Europe at that time in history. Ignatius was born in the Basque country in 1491. Just one year later, the Reconquista reached its conclusion with the Catholic Kings finally ousting the last Muslim rulers from their vestigial Andalusian states, giving Christian princes possession of the whole Iberian Peninsula. The year 1492 was also notable for another major geopolitical event involving Spain: the European discovery of the New World. It was all but impossible to avoid the thought that America was the reward for Spanish triumph against the Moors. Now, the energy which had propelled the Spanish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula would be released outwards; the colonial age of conquest and exploitation was dawning for a new Catholic Spain and it was to be a golden age for Spanish Catholicism. We may rightly harbour ambiguous feelings about this aggressively Christian state but this was a moment when Spanish Catholics must have felt like masters of the world.

But Spain was the exception in Europe. The rest of the continent cowered under the threat of imminent Muslim invasion, not from the South but from the Ottoman Turks in the East. The sixteenth century was to see the high-water mark of Ottoman interest in Central and Eastern Europe. Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan from 1520-1566, would personally lead the push all the way into Hungary as well as taking control of Mediterranean islands like Rhodes and swathes of North Africa. With Turkish armies besieging Vienna, no-one on the continental mainland could feel confident that Christianity would retain indefinitely its hegemonic grip. It’s worth remembering that part of the urgency of the Reformation itself lay in its apocalyptic fear of the Turkish menace. Luther thought that the Muslim invaders were to be God’s chastisement for a Europe mired in the ‘horrible abomination of the papal darkness and idolatry’.[i] He wanted his Protestant Christians to die martyrs of the true faith rather than fighting in some allegedly holy war blasphemously prosecuted in Christ’s name.

The Reformation can be better understood within the context of this much larger clash, dare I say, of civilisations. And Ignatius wanted to play his part in it. How can one be confident of such a claim? Because, right from the start, Ignatius’s stated apostolic impulse was towards the Muslim world.

You can see it most obviously in the account given in his Autobiography of the conversion experience he went through as he was convalescing in his ancestral home in Loyola. He had suffered a severe cannon wound in the leg during military action in Pamplona. His moment of conversion came about when he noticed the subtlest of differences between the after-effects of two daydreams:

When he thought of worldly things it gave him great pleasure, but afterward he found himself dry and sad. But when he thought of journeying to Jerusalem, and of living only on herbs, and practising austerities, he found pleasure not only while thinking of them, but also when he had ceased.

He took that difference between his affective responses to be indicative of the way God was leading him on his life journey. Judging that the enduring good feelings associated with the journey to Jerusalem showed it to be God’s will for him, he undertook to follow the second programme, going on pilgrimage and living the ascetical, penitential life of a mendicant. The journey to Jerusalem, then, was what he presented to the outside world as his earliest apostolic desire. Its association with his conversion experience also makes it, surely, something of a touchstone of his on-going spiritual discernment.[ii]

But what exactly did pilgrimage to Jerusalem signify? Pilgrimage to the Holy Land had been the most potent form of devotion available to medieval Christians and, for Ignatius, it is clear that proximity to the site of the incarnation was a central attraction; at one stage, he would go to extravagant lengths to work out the precise direction in which the Lord must have been looking at the moment of his Ascension. But at the time, the Holy City was also under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, the Crusades having failed to win back for Christian Europe the territory once held by the Roman Empire. To visit Jerusalem was, thus, to enter the House of Islam.

If we look at the Spiritual Exercises, especially the ‘Call of the Eternal King’ (93), we might surmise that the trip had a crusading flavour to it. But Ignatius wasn’t planning to travel as a soldier. Instead, in addition to visiting the holy places, he intended to stay in Jerusalem permanently, if the Lord was pleased to allow him, so as to preach Christian doctrine to the infidel (probably Jews as well as Muslims), this, even though European Christians had long found such missionary work to be not particularly fruitful.[iii] There is clearly a penitential streak to Ignatius’s intentions at this stage and so perhaps we should also allow for the possible presence of a darker scenario: a veiled desire here to win martyrdom. We are reminded of the martyrs of Córdoba, a group consisting principally of Franciscan friars who, in spite of St Francis’ directive to live as silent witness among the Muslims, had sought to goad their Muslim governors into executing them by making overtly blasphemous statements about Muhammad. It’s a repeated trope in the early Middle Ages and it is possible that Ignatius felt himself drawn to act after their example.

Whatever Ignatius was up to, this pilgrimage project came to encapsulate his self-understanding, certainly for the first few years after his conversion and, arguably, for the rest of his life; moreover, it gave him the epithet of ‘the Pilgrim’ which he uses in his Autobiography to designate himself in the third person. When he finally made it to the Holy Land in 1523, he desired to remain there but the Provincial of the Franciscans told him that others in the past who had had the same idea had either died or ended up in a Turkish prison. Ignatius was stubborn. The Franciscan, knowing trouble when he saw it, threatened him with excommunication and so the Basque Pilgrim finally relented. But the longing to return to and remain in Jerusalem was strong enough in Ignatius’s heart that it survived fifteen years of studies and apostolic activities; for when as late as 1538 he finally managed to assemble the group of Companions who would go on to form the core of the new Society of Jesus, he was still intent on their heading back to the Holy Land. It was only the impossibility of travelling that year, thanks to the activity of the Turks themselves, which led him finally to give up on Jerusalem and turn his sights to Rome.

It was a fateful shift. Gradually, the dream of Jerusalem would be side-lined and a new apostolic orientation would move centre stage. Italy, as Pope Paul III put it, would be Ignatius’s Jerusalem. And so it was that the young Jesuit order placed itself at the disposal of the universal Church directly under the Roman Pontiff where it would be best placed to meet the various needs that would present themselves. ‘The infidel’ still manages an appearance in the ‘Formula of the Institute’ which founds the Society of Jesus but it looks like an afterthought.  So much, you might think, for Ignatius’s apostolate to the Muslims…

There are good reasons, nevertheless, for believing that Islam continued to haunt Ignatius’s understanding of his calling. A curious incident early on in the pilgrimage narrative gives us a clue. It is an encounter between the Pilgrim and a Moor whom he meets as he makes his way through the Spanish countryside. Here is how he tells the story with hindsight in his Autobiography:

As he continued on his way a Moor riding on a mule caught up with him, and in their conversation they began to speak about our Lady. The Moor said that it certainly seemed to him that the Virgin had conceived without the aid of man, but he could not believe that in giving birth she remained a virgin. To substantiate his opinion, he offered the natural reasons that occurred to him. Though the pilgrim countered with many arguments he could not alter the Moor’s opinion. The Moor then went on ahead in great haste so that he lost sight of him; being left behind, he reflected on what took place between him and the Moor. Various emotions welled up in him and he became disturbed in soul, thinking that he had failed to do what he should have done. Filled with anger against the Moor and thinking that he had done wrong in allowing the Moor to utter such things about our Lady, he concluded that he was obliged to restore her honour. He now desired to search out the Moor and strike him with his dagger for all that he had said. This conflict in his desires remained with him for some time, but in the end he was still uncertain for he did not know what was required of him.

As well as giving a precious insight into Christian-Muslim relations in the early sixteenth century, this cameo tells us much about how Ignatius looked back in later life over the winding journey that had brought him to Rome. He wants his readers to be shocked by the spiritual ineptitude which characterised his early years. His confusion is resolved in rather a worrying manner: he leaves it to his mule to decide whether or not to take a human life. The sage beast, seemingly much more attuned to the promptings of the Spirit than the saint-to-be, rejects the path of violence and the rest, as they say, is history. What is significant for our purposes is that Ignatius’s story suggests an association in his mind between startling spiritual immaturity and a violent, confrontational approach to Muslims. He may not have drawn any solid conclusions about what a more mature response might look like but the doubt must have niggled.

Ignatius definitely did not give up on his ideas of a mission to Muslims, even if they take a back seat: during his tenure as General he set up a Casa dei catechumeni in Rome for Jews and Muslims wanting to convert to Christianity, an Arabic-speaking house in Messina, a college for the study of Arabic in Monreale and a study programme in Islamics in Malta. He had further plans for projects aimed at the mission to Muslims in Beirut, Cyprus and Djerba in modern Tunisia.

We also have two letters, written in August 1552 by his secretary, Juan de Polanco, to Jerónimo Nadal, in which Ignatius advocates the raising of a European fleet to fight off the Ottoman Turks. As Philip Endean points out, even if the older Ignatius had learned to be suspicious of his earlier, irascible impulses towards a Muslim, still, when it comes to thinking of the Turks, it is purely as an

enemy to be conquered, the enemy menacing Christendom. Any full statement of mission at the frontiers had to include them, but in immediate practice they were simply an unknown and destabilising threat, one perhaps that it was often impolite to name.[iv]

A Challenging Legacy

Ignatius’s Islamic itinerary leaves us with bewildering questions rather than a coherent vision and it may or may not be significant that all these grand endeavours vis-à-vis the Muslims either did not get off the ground in the first place or did not last. If there is, indeed, a palpable sense of unresolved business here, Islam had, nevertheless, lodged itself as a constituent part of the Jesuits’ DNA, as we can see with the benefit of hindsight. For Ignatius’s sons (along with members of other religious orders, not least the Franciscans, the Dominicans and the White Fathers) have demonstrated consistent and persistent interest in the Muslim world.

Jesuits were present in Istanbul by 1582 and by 1650 had set up a presence in Izmir, Aleppo, Damascus, Sidon and Lebanese Tripoli. Their most iconic engagement with the Muslim world was the series of missions sent to the court of the Mogul Emperor Akbar in late sixteenth century India. Fr Jerome Xavier (1549-1617), the great-nephew of St Francis Xavier, was to be the principal protagonist in a bold engagement with Persian-speaking Islam. His most significant literary work was an explanation of Christianity aimed at the Emperor and other Muslims, the so-called Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-Quds) (1602).

Actually meeting Muslims in their own countries may not instantly have changed the way Jesuits thought theologically about Islam but it did help them slowly to develop an accurate understanding of the religion rather than rely on the polemics and distortions which had been the medieval default position. And that did bear fruit quite quickly: back in the Jesuit colleges of Europe, lessons on Islam were an integral part of Antonio Possevino’s great Ratio Studiorum (1593), a standard text which deals with Islam at some length and in a surprisingly sympathetic manner.

For most of their history, Jesuits were not allowed to converse about matters religious with Muslims in Muslim-majority countries for fear that in doing so they might jeopardise their freedom to act in those territories. This did not prevent them from chatting to them on their holidays. Tirso González (1624-1705), a future Jesuit General himself, wrote his Manductio ad conversionem mahumetanorum out of his personal experience preaching to Muslims in the coastal towns of Spain during his vacation. A huge volume at nearly 900 pages, it shows a surprisingly accurate knowledge of Islam, of typical Muslim objections to Christianity, of tafsir (Qur’anic commentaries) and hadith. For a polemical text it is also disarmingly sympathetic to Islamic beliefs and practices.

A French Jesuit, Michel Nau (1633-1683) had travelled to the Holy Land and engaged in conversation with Muslims there. His Religio christiana contra Alcoranum per Alcoranum pacifiche defensa ac probate stands out from similar texts as a refreshing defence of respectful interreligious encounter. Written as a fictional dialogue, it assumes a startlingly modern mood of respect, humility and friendship. Perhaps such openness is down to the fact that he was operating outside Europe and knew he could not proselytise openly. More likely, it is part of that Jesuit tradition of generous engagement with the religious other that can be found in a number of early Jesuits, including Ignatius’s Letters, the ministry of St Pierre Favre to European Protestants, and the approach advocated at various times by Jerónimo Nadal and Diego Laínez. The denouement of Nau’s dialogue must have been shocking at a time when Christianity thought of itself as being in the ascendant: the Muslim protagonist agrees that Christianity is a legitimate expression of monotheism (no mean concession given traditional Muslim hostility to the doctrine of the Trinity) but he does not accept Christianity as the only way to salvation and refuses to convert.

A moment of great significance in the evolution of the Jesuit mission to Muslims occurs in 1937 when Fr General Ledochowski sends a letter to Jesuits around the globe appealing for a new generation of missionaries to be trained with the explicit task of converting the Muslim world. Ledochowski was a strong personality of markedly right wing views and his letter is far from betokening an enlightened vision; during his time as General, he seems to have been behind a move to bolster anti-Semitic sentiment in Rome. Behind his letter can be traced the influence of an energetic Frenchman, Christophe de Bonneville, regional superior in Egypt at a time when the domination of that great Muslim country by European powers seemed to open up new missionary possibilities. The idea of Jesuits explicitly setting out to convert Muslims in Muslim-majority lands represented a fundamental break with previous practice.

This opportunistic ploy, which relied on raw European power, never took off in the way Ledochowski had intended, thwarted by the outbreak of war. By the time the dust had settled, the world had moved on. Newly independent Muslim-majority nations, having flung off the yoke of their former colonial masters, would make such blatant missionary work all but impossible; already in the offing was a freshly assertive Islam. As things turned out, the one practical outcome of the General’s letter was the establishment of a course in Islamics at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

But Ledochowski’s idea of training a generation of Jesuits as specialists in Islam lingered on, even if the style of their engagement would turn out not to be polemically confrontational but dialogical. A group of inspiring Catholics would now come to the fore whose example instilled into this new generation a genuine desire to study the Islamic tradition in depth: the Cistercian Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), the great French Islamicist, Louis Massignon (1883 – 1962) and the Spanish priest and expert in Islamic spirituality, Miguel Asín Palacios (1871-1944).

By the latter half of the twentieth century, the fruits of this new engagement were already palpable. Some Jesuits had studied Sufism. Paul Nwyia’s work on the mystic Ibn Abbād of Ronda stands out as a fine example, consummated in a remarkable book on Qur’anic exegesis and the language of mysticism, published in 1969. Still very much alive is an Australian Jesuit, Paul Jackson, who has spent the latter half of his life in India working on the letters of a Sufi saint, Sharfuddin Ahmed Yahya Maneri, whose splendid shrine can be seen in Biharsharif.

Others have explored the question of the reform of modern Islam. The German scholar, Christian Troll, was inspired by a plea from a Dutch Jesuit, J.J. Houben, calling for Islamic renewal and suggesting that Catholics were in a position to help. His experience of the Second Vatican Council’s inner tensions between conservatives and reformers led him to look at the inner dynamics at work in the Muslim world. Troll’s book on the Indian reformer, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, remains the standard text on his theology. Alongside him is an Egyptian Jesuit, Samir Khalil Samir, who has worked for decades on the patrimony of Eastern Christianity and so finds himself regularly writing about Islam with a particular concern for its engagement with modern values.

There are experts, too, in dialogue with Muslims. I think of Thomas Michel, an American Jesuit who worked for many years in Indonesia before being sent to work at the Curia of Pope St John Paul II, the Pontiff who did more than any other to build bonds of friendship between the Church and Muslims. Then there is Daniel Madigan, another Australian, whose interest in Islam started during his time in Pakistan. He pursued an interest in Qur’anic studies and taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome for some time, and now teaches at Georgetown University in the States. From there, he directs a uniquely fruitful dialogue: an annual series of encounters between Muslim and Christian scholars called ‘Building Bridges’. Felix Körner, a German Jesuit, took over Madigan’s work with Muslims at the Gregorian and has published books on Qur’anic exegesis and Christian approaches to Islam.

Finally, and with particular gratitude, I want to mention a remarkable Italian Jesuit, Paolo Dall’Oglio. Un unabashed admirer of Islam, he took the highly unusual step for a Jesuit of founding a monastery, Deir Mar Musa in Syria, as a place to live out a radical vision of hospitality at the service of Christian-Muslim encounter in the Middle East. Paolo was profoundly involved in the life of that latterly tormented country to the point that, during the outbreak of its civil war, he tried to negotiate with a then little-known group of Islamist extremists, ISIL. He was taken prisoner by them on 29 July 2013 and his fate is still unknown. Whether he is dead or alive, his story, I am convinced, is not yet over.

Today, there are some thirty or forty Jesuits around the world with advanced training of one sort or another in Islamics. Ignatius would surely be pleased, recognising that, after some 500 years, we are now rather better equipped than he was to accomplish a task that moved and inspired him. Where is the journey taking us? Who knows? We are no more able than Ignatius was in his day to escape the horizons of our time and to glimpse the possibilities that history will surely unfold. No matter; like him we try to discern the promptings of the Spirit day by day and follow them faithfully.

And the Spirit is key here at another level. Had he been around to celebrate his half millennium, I feel sure Ignatius would have sensed in Pope St John Paul II’s Redemptoris Missio (1990) a supremely Ignatian intuition but applied in a way Ignatius’s age would never have allowed:

The Spirit manifests himself in a special way in the Church and in her members. Nevertheless, his presence and activity are universal, limited neither by space nor time. […] The Spirit's presence and activity affect not only the individuals but also society and history, peoples, cultures and religions. Indeed, the Spirit is at the origin of the noble ideals and undertakings which benefit humanity on its journey through history.[v]

This is a profoundly healthy point of departure for the encounter with Islam he always sought but never achieved. Let’s hope that on this, his feast day, gratified to find his sons applying their hearts and minds to his great dream, he continues to support them with the prayers of a great and holy founder.

Damian Howard SJ is a lecturer at Heythrop College, University of London and a member of the editorial board of Thinking Faith.

Author’s note: I am grateful to Philip Endean SJ for advice and material for this article.

[i] See his “Admonition to prayer against the Turks” of October 1541. For more on Luther and Islam, see Mark U. Edwards, Luther’s Last Battles: politics and polemics 1531-46, Leiden: Brill, 1983, pp.97-114.

[ii] Another source suggests that the idea came to him later on in Barcelona. See Antonio Albuquerque, Diego Laínez S.J. Primer Biógrafo de San Ignacio, Bilbao: Mensajero/Sal Terrae, 2005, p.150.

[iii] This is not stated in the official Autobiography but in sketches made by Laínez and Polanco. See Albuquerque, pp.151-2.

[iv] “Ignatius and the Turks. Two Letters from 1552”, The Way, 211 (July 2006): 363-78. Available online at  http://www.theway.org.uk/Back/453Ignatius.pdf [consulted 2nd June 2016]

[v] Redemptoris Missio 28. Emphasis added.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/ignatius-loyola-apostle-muslims

Ignatius Loyola, a Catholic Priest, theologian and founder of the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church in the 16th Century, said, among his many inspiring sayings, “Go forth and set the world on fire."

Inferno (Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen".[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

Fire as the agent of Truth

Asha Vahishta is closely associated with fire. Fire is "grandly conceived as a force informing all the other Amesha Spentas, giving them warmth and the spark of life."[27] In Yasht 17.20, Angra Mainyu clamours that Zoroaster burns him with Asha Vahishta. In Vendidad 4.54-55, speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt."

This analogy of truth that burns and detecting truth through fire is already attested in the very earliest texts, that is, in the Gathas and in the Yasna Haptanghaiti. In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda dispenses justice through radiance of His fire and the strength of aṣ̌a. Fire "detects" sinners "by hand-grasping" (Yasna 34.4). An individual who has passed the fiery test (garmo-varah, ordeal by heat), has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (Yasna 30.7). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all."[28] According to the post-Sassanid Dadestan i denig (I.31.10), at the final judgement a river of molten metal will cover the earth. The righteous, as they wade through this river, will perceive the molten metal as a bath of warm milk. The wicked will be scorched. For details on aṣ̌a's role in personal and final judgement, see aṣ̌a in eschatology, below.

Fire is moreover the "auxiliary of the truth," "and not only, as in the ordeal, of justice and of truth at the same time."[11] In Yasna 31.19, "the man who thinks of aṣ̌a, [...] who uses his tongue in order to speak correctly, [does so] with the aid of brilliant fire". In Yasna 34-44 devotees "ardently desire [Mazda's] mighty fire, through aṣ̌a." In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda "shall come to [Zoroaster] through the splendour of [Mazda's] fire, possessing the strength of (through) aṣ̌a and good mind (=Vohu Manah)." That fire "possesses strength through aṣ̌a" is repeated again in Yasna 43.4. In Yasna 43.9, Zoroaster, wishing to serve fire, gives his attention to aṣ̌a. In Yasna 37.1, in a list of what are otherwise all physical creations, aṣ̌a takes the place of fire.

Asha Vahishta's association with atar is carried forward in the post-Gathic texts, and they are often mentioned together. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, each of the Amesha Spentas represents one aspect of creation and one of seven primordial elements that in Zoroastrian tradition are the basis of that creation. In this matrix, aṣ̌a/arta is the origin of fire, Avestan atar, which permeates through all Creation. The correspondence then is that aṣ̌a/arta "penetrates all ethical life, as fire penetrates all physical being."[12]

In the liturgy Asha Vahishta is frequently invoked together with fire. (Yasna l.4, 2.4, 3.6, 4.9, 6.3, 7.6, 17.3, 22.6, 59.3, 62.3 etc.). In one passage, fire is a protector of aṣ̌a: "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (Yasht 13.77)

In later Zoroastrian tradition, Asha Vahishta is still at times identified with the fire of the household hearth.

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

The Knight’s Templar was expelled from the Papacy in 1312 by Pope Clement V and Philip IV of France. The few Templars who escaped went to the powerful kingdom of Aragon and became known as the Order of the Calatrava, who would later align with the the Montessa. In 1534, a Spanish nobleman by the name of Ignatius Loyola would revive the Templars and call them the "Society of Jesus." Loyola was a Templar, and a member of a secret society called the "Alumbrados."  The third Superior General and co-founder of the order was Francis Borgia. The Borgia bloodline is part of the notorious "Black Nobility" which dates back to the ancient Ptolemaic period in history."

Exposing the Jesuits and the Papacy: The Jesuits are the revived Knights Templar (jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com)

http://jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-jesuits-are-revived-knights-templar.html

"The Order of Calatrava (Spanish: Orden de Calatrava, Portuguese: Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164. Most of the political and military power of the order had dissipated by the end of the 15th century, but the last dissolution of the order's property did not occur until 1838.'

"Modern TimesIn 1931, once again unilaterally, the Second Spanish Republic suppressed the Spanish Orders. To survive, they had to resort to the Ley de Asociaciones Civiles ("Law of Civil Associations"), leading a precarious existence until the Concordat of 1953 recognized the Priory. Afterward, by the papal bull Constat militarium, the Priory was reduced to a mere title of the Bishop of Ciudad Real.In 1980, upon request by his august father, who was appointed Dean President of the Council, King Juan Carlos I by royal initiative caused the rebirth of the Orders. Under the Apostolic Pastoral Tertio millennio adveniente, the Spanish Orders began their renewal in 1996.Today, the aim of the Spanish Orders is basically the same as they had when founded: the defense of the Catholic faith. The sword has been put aside, but their doctrine, example, self-sanctification, and divine worship remain active, aside from their cultural and social activities.Their two hundred and fifty members guard the spirit and life of the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa under their Grand Master, King Felipe VI, and the Real Consejo de las Órdenes (Royal Council of the Orders) presided over by his Royal Highness Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria.[4]The Swiss luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe took the cross of the order in 1887 and established it as its company logo as a tribute to the knights, which remains until today.[5][6]""

Order of Calatrava - Wikipedia

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

The Oculus was positioned as part of the World Trade Center masterplan by Daniel Libeskind and designed by SANTIAGO CALATRAVA. The structure’s white metal-clad steel ribs reach up and out in a monumental move symbolic of a hand releasing a dove.The structure's orientation serves as a lasting reminder of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It is in alignment with the sun’s solar angles on each September 11, from 8:46 am, when the first plane struck, until 10:28 am, when the second tower collapsed. Its central skylight fits this alignment and washes the Oculus floor with a beam of light."

World Trade Center Oculus

50 Church Street New York, NY 10007

Oculus Transportation Hub | World Trade Center (officialworldtradecenter.com)

https://www.officialworldtradecenter.com/en/local/learn-about-wtc/oculus-transportation-hub.html

Eataly NYC Downtown - Italian restaurant

101 Liberty St

New York, NY 10007

Bread-themed branch of the famed Italian market, offering counters, restaurants & cooking demos.

(212) 897-2895

Closed ⋅ Opens 7 AM Sat

Eataly: authentic Italian products, restaurants, cooking classes | Eataly https://www.eataly.com/us_en

Todd Morgan Beamer was an American passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers."

"Following this, the passengers and flight crew decided to act.[1] According to accounts of cell phone conversations, Beamer, along with Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick, formed a plan to take the plane back from the hijackers.[10] They were joined by other passengers, including Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Alan Beaven, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, Linda Gronlund, and William Cashman, along with flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles, in discussing their options and voting on a course of action, ultimately deciding to storm the cockpit and take over the plane.[1] Beamer told Jefferson that the group was planning to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through.[7][8] Beamer recited the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." After this, Jefferson heard muffled voices and Beamer clearly answering, "Are you ready? Okay. Let's ROLL." These were the last words spoken by Beamer heard by Lisa Jefferson.[1][8][9]"

Todd Beamer - Wikipedia

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

Jefferson Airplane - House at Pooneil Corners - Manhattan Rooftop Concert (1968) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuwMEiNg3B8

Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" is an assertion made by September 11th, 2001 attack conspiracy theorists that the burning fuel from crashed planes would not have been able to melt the supporting beams of the World Trade Center. The claim is widely mocked online for being based on flawed evidence."

Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams | Know Your Meme

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jet-fuel-cant-melt-steel-beams

Six months after the Twin Towers fell, they returned in the form of two blue beams of light illuminating the Manhattan skyline. Since then, they have lit the sky annually as a Sept. 11 commemoration known as Tribute in Light. The tradition will continue this year to remember the 14th anniversary of the attacks."

A Look at Tribute in Light | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org)

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/look-tribute-light

A Blue Mass is a Mass celebrated annually throughout the United States[1] in the Catholic Church for those employed in the "public safety field" (i.e. police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, 911 operators and EMS personnel).[2] The color blue relates to the blue-colored uniforms predominantly used by these services.[3] Similar to the Red Mass, the service honors those who have died in the line of duty and those currently serving as first responders.[4] The Mass is an opportunity for the community to show gratitude to first responders and their families.[5]"

Blue Mass - Wikipedia

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

The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie CORONA

By Lisa Fernandez and KTVU Published January 12, 2019 Updated December 28, 2020 California KTVU FOX 2

DAVIS, Calif. (KTVU) - In the image, she's wearing a royal BLUE gown, carrying a black-striped American flag with a thin blue line streaked across it.

Her heels are high. Her hair is done. Her smile is beaming. And she's standing in the middle of Leesville Grade Road next to a field in Williams, Colusa County, population 21,000, in California's Central Valley, where her father was a sheriff's deputy and now a county supervisor.

It's this compelling photograph of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona that circulated throughout the country on Friday, hours after the 22-year-old was shot to death by a suspect identified on Saturday as Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48. A note found on his bed inside his home, where he later killed himself, stated that he believed Davis police bombarded him with ultrasonic waves."

The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona (ktvu.com)

https://www.ktvu.com/news/the-story-behind-this-image-of-slain-davis-police-officer-natalie-corona

Serge Monast (1945 – 5 or 6 December 1996[1][2]) was a Canadian investigative journalist, poet, essayist and conspiracy theorist. He is known to English-speaking readers mainly for the originating the conspiracy theory Project BLUE BEAM, which concerns an alleged plot to facilitate a totalitarian world government by destroying traditional religions and replacing them with a new-age belief system using NASA technology.[3][unreliable source?]"

Serge Monast - Wikipedia

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

SEPTEMBER 11, 1990 | CLIP OF PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ON PERSIAN GULF

George H.W. Bush describes the New World Order in his address to the US Congress on the Crisis in the Persian Gulf.

User Clip: George Bush defines the New World Order | C-SPAN.org

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4528359/user-clip-george-bush-defines-world-order

ROLLback of governments hostile to the U.S. took place during World War II (against Fascist Italy in 1943, Nazi Germany in 1945, and Imperial Japan in 1945), Afghanistan (against the Taliban in 2001), and Iraq (against Saddam Hussein in 2003). When directed against an established government, rollback is sometimes called "regime change".[2]"

Rollback - Wikipedia

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

In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a BLUE Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.

"What has this got to do with Islam?

Note Bishop Sheen's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."

"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.

"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."

How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)

http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf

The Shining (1980) - Come Play With Us Scene (2/7) | Movieclips

Movieclips

The Shining movie clips: http://j.mp/1CPAvTw

BUY THE MOVIE: http://bit.ly/2cb9VRg

Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr

CLIP DESCRIPTION:

While exploring the hotel, Danny (Danny Lloyd) encounters the ghosts of the murdered Grady twins.

FILM DESCRIPTION:

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" -- or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. With wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in tow, frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the opulently ominous, mountain-locked Overlook Hotel so that he can write in peace. Before the Overlook is vacated for the Torrances, the manager (Barry Nelson) informs Jack that a previous caretaker went crazy and slaughtered his family; Jack thinks it's no problem, but Danny's "shining" hints otherwise. Settling into their routine, Danny cruises through the empty corridors on his Big Wheel and plays in the topiary maze with Wendy, while Jack sets up shop in a cavernous lounge with strict orders not to be disturbed. Danny's alter ego, "Tony," however, starts warning of "redrum" as Danny is plagued by more blood-soaked visions of the past, and a blocked Jack starts visiting the hotel bar for a few visions of his own. Frightened by her husband's behavior and Danny's visit to the forbidding Room 237, Wendy soon discovers what Jack has really been doing in his study all day, and what the hotel has done to Jack.

CREDITS:

TM & © Warner Bros. (1980)

Cast: Danny Lloyd, Lisa Burns, Louise Burns

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Producers: Robert Fryer, Jan Harlan, Mary Lea Johnson, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Richards

Screenwriters: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0or31TYjqAnA53SUMhvc8JNymVX3xCk2mwePpoSnBiE1igivVp1JbSq5UCxhKwdFSl

Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for the first-person shooter video game Half-Life (1998). It was developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra On-Line. Blue Shift was the second expansion for Half-Life, originally intended as part of a Dreamcast port of Half-Life. Although the Dreamcast port was cancelled, the Windows version was released as a standalone product on June 12, 2001. It was released on Steam on August 24, 2005.

As with Gearbox's previous expansion pack, Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift returns to the setting and events of Half-Life, but portrays the story through the eyes of another character. Players control security guard Barney Calhoun, employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility, who must fight his way to safety during an alien invasion. Blue Shift also includes a graphics pack that upgrades the Half-Life models and textures.

Blue Shift received mixed reviews. Many reviewers were critical of the short length and lack of new content, although the new graphics were praised.

Gameplay

As an expansion pack for Half-Life, Blue Shift is a first-person shooter. The overall gameplay of Blue Shift does not significantly differ from that of Half-Life: players are required to navigate through the game's levels, fight hostile non-player characters and solve a variety of puzzles to advance.[1] The game continues Half-Life's methods of an unbroken narrative. The player sees everything through the first-person perspective of the protagonist, and remains in control of the player character for almost all the game. Story events are conveyed through the use of scripted sequences rather than cut scenes. Progress through the game's world is continuous; although the game is divided up into chapters, the only significant pauses are when the game needs to load the next part of an environment.[1]

The player battles through the game alone, but is occasionally assisted by friendly non-player characters. Security guards and scientists will occasionally help the player in reaching new areas and convey relevant plot information. Blue Shift also includes a substantial section dedicated to keeping a major character in the story safe from enemy characters, and escorting him to a specific location.[2] A selection of enemies from Half-Life populate the game, including alien creatures such as headcrabs and Vortigaunts. The player also encounters human opponents in the form of a detachment of US Marines who have been sent to eliminate the alien threat and silence any witnesses.[3] Blue Shift does not elaborate on the storyline in Opposing Force, the preceding expansion pack, and no enemy characters or weapons introduced in it appear in the game. The player is instead given access to a limited selection of Half-Life's original weaponry.[2]

Synopsis

Setting

Blue Shift is set in the same location and time frame as that of Half-Life, taking place at a remote New Mexico laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility. In Half-Life, the player takes on the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist involved in an accident that opens an interdimensional portal to the borderworld of Xen, allowing the alien creatures of Xen to attack the facility. The player guides Freeman in an attempt to escape the facility and close the portal, ultimately traveling to Xen to do so.[4] As in Opposing Force, Blue Shift shows the events of Half-Life from the perspective of a different protagonist. The player assumes the role of Barney Calhoun, a security guard working near the labs where the accident takes place. Calhoun is responsible for the preservation of equipment and materials and the welfare of research personnel, and after the accident turns Black Mesa into a warzone, he must work with Dr. Rosenberg, a high-ranking scientist involved in the experiment, to evacuate the facility.[5]

Plot

Blue Shift begins similarly to Half-Life, as Barney Calhoun rides a train through the Black Mesa research facility to reach his place of work. After reporting for duty, Calhoun is instructed to assist in maintenance on a malfunctioning elevator.[6] As Calhoun finishes repairs, however, Freeman's experiment takes place and results in a "resonance cascade", causing massive damage to the facility and teleporting alien creatures into the base. The elevator is badly damaged and fails, sending Calhoun plummeting into the depths of Black Mesa.

Calhoun regains consciousness at the bottom of the shaft and begins to fight his way to the surface to escape. Emerging near Black Mesa's classification yards, Calhoun learns that Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues plan to escape the facility using teleportation technology.[7] After freeing Rosenberg from the captivity of the US Marines detachment sent to silence the facility, Calhoun escorts him to a decommissioned prototype teleportation laboratory, where several Black Mesa employees have already gathered. Rosenberg then teleports Calhoun to the Xen borderworld to calibrate research equipment needed to pinpoint a teleport destination outside of Black Mesa.[8] Upon his return, Rosenberg informs Calhoun that the teleporter's battery power has been exhausted, and contact has been lost with a team sent to acquire a new power cell.

Calhoun travels to the power generators on a lower level to find a fresh power cell while firefights rage between the Marines and the forces of Xen. After returning with a new power cell, Calhoun assists Rosenberg in evacuating the few surviving personnel through the teleporter. Calhoun is the last to enter the portal and as he does so, Marines breach the laboratory and fire on him, causing the teleporter to explode. As a result of the teleporter's destruction, Calhoun enters a "harmonic reflux", causing him to be rapidly teleported to a variety of locations in Xen and Black Mesa. At one location, he witnesses Freeman's capture by Marines midway through Half-Life, before eventually stabilizing at the intended teleport location with Rosenberg at the outskirts of Black Mesa, where they then escape the facility in a company SUV.[9]

Development

Blue Shift was announced in the second quarter of 2000 as part of an upcoming Dreamcast port of Half-Life.[10] While the port was developed by Captivation Digital Laboratories, Blue Shift was developed by Gearbox Software, who also developed the first Half-Life expansion, Opposing Force.[11] The game had the working title Half-Life: Guard Duty; publisher Sierra Entertainment announced the name Blue Shift on August 30, 2000. As with Opposing Force, the title has a double meaning, referring to both the blue shift light phenomenon and the name of Barney's shift.[12] The Dreamcast port would include higher detail models and textures[13] that were double the polygon count of Valve's original Half-Life models.[14]

At the European Computer Trade Show in September 2000, information about Blue Shift's story and development direction was revealed, along with a release date of November 1, 2000, for the Dreamcast version of Half-Life.[14] The port was delayed by Sierra to ensure the "high expectations of consumers" were met, anticipating release by the end of the year.[15]

On March 29, 2001, Sierra announced that Blue Shift would also be released for Windows[16] as a standalone game that would not require the original Half-Life to run.[17] The new models developed for the Dreamcast version would also be included in the PC version as the Half-Life High Definition pack, and could be applied to Half-Life and Opposing Force.[18] At the E3 2001, Gearbox announced that Blue Shift was complete[19] and exhibited a playable version.[20] It was released on June 12, 2001, in North America,[21][22] and on June 15 in Europe.[23][24] On June 16, 2001, Sierra canceled the Dreamcast port of Half-Life, citing "changing market conditions".[25] A late build of the Dreamcast version eventually leaked online, featuring complete versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift.[26]

Blue Shift and the High Definition pack were initially absent from the launch of Valve's content delivery system Steam in September 2003, despite the presence of both Half-Life and Opposing Force on the system.[27] The game was released on Steam on August 29, 2005, along with the High Definition Pack.[28] Blue Shift was also published as part of Sierra's Half-Life: Generation compilation in 2002,[29] and as part of Valve and Electronic Arts' Half Life 1: Anthology on September 26, 2005.[30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Blue_Shift

RFK Jr.’s HHS cuts include a slap in the face to 9/11 heroes

Recent dismissals leave in doubt the future of a program that administers health care support for those who developed 9/11-related medical issues.

'Bloodbath': Protesters meet Trump at every step as he butchers U.S. government agencies

05:52

April 8, 2025, 11:12 AM PDT

By Frank Figliuzzi, MSNBC Columnist

Given the sheer volume of indiscriminate firings and funding cuts under the Trump administration, it’s understandable that one such outrage would slip by us with little media attention. Yet, if the number of messages I’ve received from members of the first responder community are any indication, one particularly callous cut last week did not escape the attention of police officers, firefighters and federal agents who worked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack sites in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

The Trump administration recently fired the head of the World Trade Center Health Program, and dismissed two-thirds of the entire staff at the program’s parent agency, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The dismissals leave in doubt the future of the initiative that administers health care support for those who developed 9/11-related cancers, respiratory ailments and other medical issues.

First responders and investigators continue to die because of their exposure to the toxic air and materials of the 9/11 sites.

Under the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. John Howard, administrator of the WTC Health Program, was let go. So too were more than 800 doctors, epidemiologists and staffers throughout NIOSH whom the WTC team relies on to research, identify and address the myriad health issues related to the rescue, recovery and evidence collection efforts at the toxic 9/11 sites. When law enforcement and rescue workers develop cancers that may stem from those efforts, the WTC unit must first certify that the illness is 9/11-related before those patients can start to receive care under the program. While the 86 members of the WTC unit appear to remain employed, their essential support network at NIOSH is mostly gone, and officials and advocates assert these cuts will cripple the program.

John Feal, a 9/11 first responder who helped lobby for passage of the James Zadroga Act that created the WTC Health Program, blasted the gutting of the program. He told the New York Daily News the cuts were “the most reckless, careless, unconscionable, disgusting, and vile act against those in the 9/11 community that has been committed since Sept. 11, 2001.”

Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, who successfully fought for renewal of the act, was similarly scalding in his assessment. “These cuts to NIOSH will be devastating to the World Trade Center Health Program and must be stopped. The first step must be restoring Dr. Howard as NIOSH Director immediately,” Chevat said in a statement. He called the move “another example of chainsaw incompetence.”

Trump fired the man who likely saved his life: Former medical official

10:36

The potential loss or minimization of the WTC Health Program is no small thing. As I wrote in 2023, first responders and investigators continue to die because of their exposure to the toxic air and materials of the 9/11 sites. At least 10 times as many New York police officers (241) have died of 9/11-related illnesses than the number of officers (23) who were killed the day of the attack. Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro, whose union represents FDNY rank-and-file firefighters, said in 2022 that he expected the number of firefighters dying of illnesses related to 9/11 to soon surpass the 343 FDNY personnel killed that day.

A similar phenomenon holds true for those who were deployed to the other crash sites. A 2021 report from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund said “more people are now believed to have died of 9/11-related illnesses than were lost on September 11, 2001.”

The impact of the HHS cuts on the health of first responders is not limited to the WTC Health Program.

The impact of the HHS cuts on the health of first responders is not limited to the WTC Health Program. NIOSH also runs a larger Center for Firefighter Safety, Health, and Well-being, which examines issues such as cancers developed by firefighters and whether firefighters’ personal protective equipment adequately safeguards them. Beyond the first responder community, NIOSH’s mission is to help protect the safety of the working public, particularly those at greatest risk such as coal miners.

The potentially devastating hit to the WTC Health Program is particularly shocking, though, not just for its lack of compassion, but also because it will most impact a voting block believed to strongly support Trump. Police unions and organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police, publicly announced their backing for Trump in the last election. The international Association of Fire Fighters, for its part, declined to endorse a candidate after backing Joe Biden in 2020, and some individual local firefighter unions have supported Trump.

More from MSNBC Daily

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Lost Cause ideology factors into this North Carolina judge’s refusal to admit defeat

The Rev. Dr. William Barber

There's something missing from Trump's post-war manufacturing fantasy

Jessica Calarco

The president and his axe-wielding Cabinet members seem either blind to the impact of the WTC health program cuts on their own voters or they don’t care. Either way, it’s likely that many 9/11 heroes and their families will never forget that Trump abandoned them.

Frank Figliuzzi is an MSNBC columnist and Senior National Security and Intelligence Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He was the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, where he served 25 years as a special agent and directed all espionage investigations across the government. He is the author of "The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence."

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/rfk-jr-trump-hhs-cuts-9-11-wtc-trump-newsletter-rcna200067

A generation's lullaby: JROTC cadets reflect on 9/11

Published Sept. 11, 2014

By Staff Sgt. Jarad A. Denton

501st Combat Support Wing

RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom --  With his blue, button-down shirt, black slacks and matching carry-on satchel, Mohammed Atta looked like a stereotypical businessman trying to catch a commuter flight at Portland International Jetport, Maine. He, and his travelling companion, Abdulaziz al-Omari, passed through security and boarded a short flight to Boston's Logan Airport, Sept. 11, 2001.

There, they connected with American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles. It was a destination they had no intention of ever seeing.

"We have some planes," Atta said, during an accidental communication with air traffic control after he and al-Omari hijacked Flight 11. "Just stay quiet and you will be OK."

Twenty-two minutes later, at 8:46 a.m., Atta slammed the airplane into the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center - killing himself and hundreds of people instantly, while showering the streets below with a rain of steel and concrete.

Nearly 5,000 miles away, the pandemonium in New York was playing out live on television as 3-year-old Reigha Barone, and her mother, watched.

"I was sitting in my living room as my mom and I watched the TV," said Barone, now a U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet and senior at Alconbury High School, United Kingdom. "I remember seeing lots of smoke and these little flashes of orange and yellow light going off - I think they were explosions."

Barone said her mother, who was originally from New York, began panicking and calling friends and family to make sure they were safe. Now, 13 years later, Barone reflects on her memories of 9/11 during a remembrance ceremony at Alconbury Middle-High School.

"When I pair what I remember with what I know now, it's almost like filling in the puzzle pieces," Barone said. "I know now that all the smoke and flames was the Twin Towers, and that a terrorist group was responsible. I also know about the bravery of people who sacrificed their lives. It's really hard to think about how many people who died as a result of terrorism."

As part of a generation who primarily learned about 9/11 from school or family members, Barone and her classmates agreed that the courage of those at Ground Zero has not faded from memory.

"It's great how this whole country came together for one cause, and how we honor and respect what people did to help others that day," said James Wood, a senior and Air Force JROTC cadet at Alconbury High School. "I would like to think that if I had been at Ground Zero I would have helped where and how I could."

Wood stood in formation, along with his fellow JROTC cadets, as a student read the names of firefighters who fell that day, along with a single call to action: "remember." As a small child, Wood said his memory of that day is surprisingly vivid.

"That same day my dad was getting deployed," Wood said, speaking about his father, U.S. Navy Lt. Cdr. Jonathan Wood. "That's what I remember. We dropped him off at the harbor and my mom took me to preschool. Everybody was crying. I didn't know what had happened; I was too young to understand. But, I understand now."

As with many of his classmates, Wood said the bravery of members from the New York Police Department and Fire Department of New York is what helps sustain his memory. The students at Alconbury High School are part of a generation raised on the lullaby of heroism and gallantry that began mere seconds after Flight 11 struck the North Tower, with emergency responders rushing to the scene.

"It must have been incredibly scary," Wood said. "It was just a normal day for them until this happened. It's really incredible to look back and see that so many people came together to help one another."

Today, all that remains of the once magnificent twin towers is a memory of the heroic men and women who set aside fear and personal safety to rescue and protect others; a memory so great that it reaches higher than the monolith build overtop the ruins. Standing 1,776-feet tall, the One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. To the students at Alconbury, it and the events of that tragic day, serve as a constant reminder of the American spirit to overcome great tragedy and adversity.

"More than anything, I wish I could tell the people who sacrificed everything that day 'thank you,'" said Barone. "They saved lives that day and I have the utmost respect for each and every one of them."

Editor's Note: Excerpts from the 9/11 Memorial Timeline were used in this story. For more information, visit: http://timeline.national911memorial.org/

https://www.501csw.usafe.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/727341/a-generations-lullaby-jrotc-cadets-reflect-on-911/

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called Sofia or Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the BLUE fire of alchemy, the BLUE virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.1 The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness.2"

Rose Cross Over The Baltic

by Suzanne Ackerman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing

Around 1530, more than eighty years before the publication of the first manifesto, the association of cross and rose already existed in Portugal in the Convent of the Order of Christ, home of the Knights Templar, later renamed Order of Christ. Three bocetes were, and still are, on the abóboda (vault) of the initiation room. The rose can clearly be seen at the center of the cross.[34][35] At the same time, a minor writing by Paracelsus called Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi (1530), containing 32 prophecies with allegorical pictures surrounded by enigmatic texts, makes reference to an image of a double cross over an open rose; this is one of the examples used to prove the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" existed far earlier than 1614.[36]"

Rosicrucianism - Wikipedia

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

“Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to). This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

Rosa jesuitica, oder, Jesuitische Rottgesellen (1620) - Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view

Pope Francis at 9/11 memorial: ‘We can never forget them’

Catherine E. Shoichet

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

4 minute read

Updated 7:42 PM EDT, Fri September 25, 2015

New York

CNN

—

He calls his church a field hospital for the spiritually wounded. And on Friday, Pope Francis spoke to hundreds who are still trying to heal.

Praying with families of victims of the September 11 attacks at a ground zero memorial and speaking at an interfaith service, Francis offered a message of hope at a place of horror.

“The name of so many loved ones are written around the towers’ footprints. We can see them, we can touch them, and we can never forget them,” Francis said.

“Here, amid pain and grief, we also have a palpable sense of the heroic goodness which people are capable of. … Hands reached out, lives were given.

“This place of death became a place of life, too, a place of saved lives, a hymn to the triumph of life over the prophets of destruction and death, to goodness over evil, to reconciliation and unity over hatred and division,” Francis said.

On Friday, his first full day in New York and his fourth day in the United States, Francis spoke at the UN General Assembly, sang with children at a school in Harlem, rumbled through Central Park in his Popemobile and celebrated a Mass with thousands of Catholics at Madison Square Garden.

His visit to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was billed as a moment to pause and reflect in a day packed with large events in the public eye.

‘This really is the beginning’

At a place that’s often the site of somber memorials, the arrival of Pope Francis brought a chorus of cheers and chants.

Outside the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, about 1,000 family members of victims of the 2001 terror attack greeted the Pope.

Standing steps away from where their relatives perished, they lined up along guard railings to catch a glimpse of Francis.

Some got the chance to talk with him one-on-one. Others watched from behind barriers, trying to catch his attention.

A man shouted: “Francisco! Our whole family’s here! A blessing, please!”

It wasn’t long before the crowd joined him: “Our blessing, please! Francisco! Francisco! Francisco!”

Nixia Mena-Alexis held a bouquet of yellow roses in one hand and wore a photograph of her sister pinned to her shirt.

The flowers, she said, symbolize the Catholic Church – and hope. She said she hoped to give some to the Pope and place some beside her sister’s name – one of thousands surrounding the reflecting pools at the memorial.

Diarelia Mena worked in IT for Cantor Fitzgerald. She had just turned 30 and had a 2-year-old daughter when she was killed on September 11.

“She was full of life and her laughter was contagious,” her sister said as her eyes filled with tears.

The lifelong Catholic said coming here fills her with a mix of emotions. But Mena-Alexis knew she wanted to be here when the Pope came.

“To me, he symbolizes peace, and that’s part of what we’re striving for after what happened here,” she said. “This is sacred ground, so I wanted to be present when he came.”

Jean Colaio, 50, lost her two brothers on 9/11. Both worked at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Being in the Pope’s presence, she said, will help heal her family.

“We were here on that day and witnessed everything and evacuated. We had our horrible experience here,” Colaio said. “And this really is the beginning. We’ve been working on our healing. But I think this really has propelled it.

“I feel close and connected to my brothers because he’s here.”

Marjorie Kane, whose father was killed on 9/11, said she felt differently after seeing the Pope than she ever had at the site.

“It’s honestly the first time I can recall being on this ground and feeling this peace and calm,” she said. “I’m usually full of such sorrow and such sadness coming here.”

Papal power

It wasn’t just Catholics who said they were inspired by the Pope’s message.

Dr. Gunisha Kaur, who offered a Sikh prayer onstage at the ceremony, is pregnant and asked the Pope to bless her baby.

Onstage, before the crowd, he placed his hand on her belly.

“That is the power of this pope, that he means something to all religions,” her husband, Simran Jeet Singh, said after the service.

Kaur said she was moved by Francis – and all the faiths that were part of the program.

“During prayers that were in languages that I don’t know, I I found myself singing along,” she said. “It really felt like we were all there praying together.”

https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/us/pope-francis-united-nations-friday/index.html

Pope Francis, Koran Kisser?

Fr Dwight Longenecker - published on 06/09/14

By hosting Muslim prayers in the Vatican, the pope is bound to garner some disrespect.

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Some Catholics like to slam St. John Paul II for an incident in which he showed respect to the Islamic religion by kissing the Koran. By hosting Muslim prayers in the Vatican, is Pope Francis headed for the same fate?

Every pope will have his critics — and no doubt some Catholics will start branding Pope Francis as a Muslim loving, Koran kissing pontiff — but the prayers for peace with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres on Pentecost Sunday should not put him in that category.

A headline was screaming across the Internet about the meeting of the Pope with Abbas and Peres: “For the first time Muslim prayers are held in the Vatican!” The headline made the meeting for prayer sound like the Pope was about to embrace Islam, become an Imam, and turn St. Peter’s into a mosque.

Not quite. The Vatican authorities are careful to explain that being together for prayer is not the same thing as praying together. “Praying together” is something people of the same faith do. When we pray together we participate in the same liturgy, united in the same beliefs. The meeting for prayer between the Pope, Peres, and Abbas was very different. They were not praying together. They were together for services of prayer in their own traditions.

Abbas and Peres met Pope Francis at the Casa Santa Martha and then drove together to the Vatican Gardens where the service took place. Leaders of the three religions held prayers in chronological order: first a Jewish rabbi, then the Christians, then a Muslim imam led a service. After the prayers, reading and music the leaders planted an olive tree for peace, and met privately before departing.

For those who are nervous about “Muslim prayers in the Vatican” it should be pointed out that the prayer service is not taking place in a Catholic Church and it is a personal initiative of Pope Francis. This was not a large, public, global interfaith act of worship.

The meeting for prayer between Pope Francis, Mahmoud Abbas, and Shimon Peres is a good opportunity to be reminded of the relationship between Catholicism and other religions. The simple explanation is that Catholics recognize goodness, truth, and beauty wherever they exist. We therefore acknowledge all that is beautiful, good, and true in all world religions.

However we do make distinctions. Because we believe the Catholic faith is the fullest understanding of man’s relationship to God, we see the other religions in a hierarchical relationship to the Catholic faith. Closest to us are the Eastern Orthodox and then other Christians who are baptized and have faith in Christ. Religions that have branched out and away from Christianity to become sects or cults may still worship God and follow Jesus Christ albeit in a gravely defective way.

Among the non Christian religions we recognize Islam and Judaism as having a special place. Judaism because it is the foundation and root of the Christian faith and Islam because it is another faith in the tradition of father Abraham.

Catholics also recognize and affirm the goodness, truth, and beauty in other world religions, while also recognizing what we see as defects and partial understandings of the fullness of God’s revelation in Christ Jesus. We recognize in the followers of other religions sincere searching for God.

This is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church insists that while we recognize and affirm what is good in other religions we also remember the missionary mandate — that Catholics are to engage with believers in other religions in a positive way, but also with the intent of sharing the abundant life that Jesus Christ has to offer, leading eventually to their baptism and faith in Christ.

Pope Francis’s invitation to pray with Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres shows the openness that all Catholics should show to those of other religions. To affirm and accept others is not the same thing as condoning everything they do or validating everything they believe. Instead it shows the open attitude that Christ the Lord, remembering that he came not to condemn the world, but to seek and to save that which was lost.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker is the author of The Romance of Religion: Fighting for Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

https://aleteia.org/2014/06/09/pope-francis-koran-kisser

POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE WORK OF THE CIA

Document Type:

CREST

Collection:

General CIA Records

Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):

CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

Release Decision:

RIPPUB

Original Classification:

K

Document Page Count:

1

Document Creation Date:

December 22, 2016

Document Release Date:

September 2, 2010

Sequence Number:

4

Case Number:

Publication Date:

May 20, 1981

Content Type:

OPEN SOURCE

File:

Attachment Size

PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3.pdf 98.1 KB

Body:

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3 MINNESOTA DAILY 20 May 1981 Pope John Paufli. and the wore By Harold H. Dorland border. ` ... ..,._ The pope's next "crime" was his speaking out against the rising probability of nuclear war. Just recently he visited Hiroshima and Nagasa ki. Although he did not explicitly direct his con- cern to the U.S. government, he was, in effect, saying to us, "Do not start a nuclear war.. -While on the Asian trip, the pope also lectured Philippine President Marcos about his domestic- authoritarianism. Here is Marcos doing precise ly what the CIA wants done within the United' Statesand in every other "non-communist'-: nation in the world, and the pope lectures him,., ,against it. ii1'` *a: Finally, we oughtto weigh carefully the role of .4. 'the Catholic Church in stopping cold the recent` ,beginnings of a Vietnam-type venture in El Saf valor-one undertaken by the CIA. White most t of us assumed the moving force in reversing El Salvador was the U. S. Catholic Church under - .the very able leadership of Minnesota's own- `Archbishop Roach, the pope himself may have, played a private role, which I and others hadn't noticed, but which the CIA may have been cog- nizant of. Thirty-six years ago, the CIA took up the "anti- communist" campaign that Hitler "bungled" and that was relinquished by British intelli-:. genre. Here we are, hundreds of CIA political assassinations later, in the worst crisis America has been in. We simply have to stop CIA assas sinations and begin to solve our domestic and . . international political problems using the tools of democracy and maturity: negotiation, bar- - gaining, campaigning, debating policies, etc- Who.will stop CIA political assassinations?Ypu` and 1, and nobody else. The way to achieve this k..is to force. the realityof, assassinations out into- the open. If we citizens fail to do this, we'll run the risk of total nuclear war up to near certainty. . Meanwhile,.wwe'II continue suffering as our economy worsens and as the forces of covert authoritarianism tighten in America. Maybe-,-'_: Europe-will come to believe ikmust war against. America to put an end to the virulent fascism that migrated from Germany to the United -States in 1945. % One prediction I can safely make is thatweare going to see hundreds more CIA political assas-, sinations, domestic andforeign: TheCIAwill riot stop killing until Americans stop the CIA. - The attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul is - probably the work of the CIA and its rightist as- sociates. From what I can tell, the CIA has de- cided to go on a rampage of political assassinations here. in the United States and overseas. What-I want to do in this article is point out to readers what the possible political motives are The CIA is now in fhe control-of a group of ex- tremely paranoid right-wingers who believe that we must fight the Soviet Union in an all-out showdown-the sooner the better. Within the last seven days, we've witnessed Vice President - (Mr. CIA). Bush attack Cuba in some of the harshest language used by an American poli- tician since the Bay of Pigs. Meanwhile, Secre- tary of State Haig (long known as a "CIA general" when he was in the Pentagon and on Nixon's staff) is fanning the flames of hatred against the Soviet Union in speech after speech. Domestically, the economy is rushing toward complete collapse, and even while this is hap- - pening; Reagan et al: are pushing for extremely. large increases in military and CIAspending. Europe, meanwhile, is pushing far ahead of the United States. It is becoming unified, its wealth is growing, it is going socialist, and it is expand- ing its democratic base. , But why would the CIA try to assassinate the pope? A couple of years ago the CIA assassi nated Aldo Mora in Italy because he was "guilty" of reaching an agreement with the Ital- ian communists. The agreement was to bring them into the Italian government (for the first time). Very soon this issue of official communist participation in the executive offices of a NATO government will again arise in France, with the election of Socialist Mitterrand as president. In the eyes of the CIA, what political crimes is the pope guilty of? First of all, he played a very significant role in preventing a Soviet invasion -' of Poland. The CIA has long wanted the USSR to march in, perhaps to start an all-out war be- ?'tween the Soviets and the West. I suspect we'll soon begin to learn of numerous "dirty tricks" the CIA has been carrying out in Poland to suck the Soviets into precipitous action. And we may also find out that if it had not been for the pope, the Soviets would have moved across they Harold H. Dorland was a member of the..;' board of directors of the Washington.. based Committee to Investigate Assassi=- nations and was president of the Minna: sofa Action Council for Political "Assassination Disclosures.. .w:., Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00806r000100210004-3

THE SALESMAN AND A CHEMIST

WHO BECAME POPE

"Karol Wojtyla - Pope John Paul II

WHEN HE WAS A BOY

WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG MAN

WHEN HE WAS AN OLD MAN AND A POPE

Billions of people around the world are practically unaware that Karol Wojtyla who became Pope John Paul II representing the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world with headquarter at Vatican Roma was a Salesman of the I.G. Farben (German Chemical Company).

RECORD OF PAST EMPLOYMENT: John Paul II 1978-2005 "In the early 1940's, the I.G. Farben Chemical Company employed a Polish salesman who sold cyanide to the Nazis for use in Auschwitz. The same salesman also worked as a chemist in the manufacture of the poison gas. This same cyanide gas along with Zyklon B and Malathion was used to exterminate millions of Jews and other groups. Their bodies were then bumed to ashes in the ovens. After the war the salesman, fearing for his life, joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest in 1946. One of his closest friends was Dr. Wolf Szmuness, the mastermind behind the Nov./78 to Oct./79 and March/80 to Oct/81 experimental hepatitis B vaccine trials conducted by the Center for Disease Control in New York, San Francisco and four other American cities that loosed the plague of AIDS upon the American people. The salesman was ordained Poland's youngest bishop in 1958. After a 30-day reign his predecessor was assassinated and our ex-cyanide gas salesman assumed the papacy as POPE JOHN PAUL II." - William Cooper, BEHOLD A PALE HORSE, (Light Technology Publishing, 1991), pp. 89-90.

"In his book 'Behold a Pale Horse,' former US Naval Intelligence Officer William Cooper relates a story associated with the IG Farben Chemical Company. In the early 1940s, that company employed a Polish chemist and salesman who sold cyanide gas, Zyklon B and Malathion to the Nazis for extermination of groups of people in Auschwitz. After the war the salesman joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest.

In 1958 he became Poland's youngest bishop and after Pope John Paul I's mysterious death, the ex-cyanide gas salesman Karol Wojtyla was elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II in October 1978. In March 2000, he publicly apologized not for his war effort, but for the wickedness of the Christian religion. The plea for forgiveness also sought to pardon the use of 'violence in the service of truth' an often used fragile and troubling reference to the Inquisition.

https://www.herbogeminis.com/revista/IMG/pdf/the_salesman_and_a_chemist_who_became_pope.pdf

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The Kiss of Judas - Bible Odyssey

A "Judas kiss" refers to an act of betrayal disguised as friendship or affection. It originates from the biblical story of Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, who identified him to his captors with a kiss, leading to his arrest. The term now symbolizes any deceitful act that appears friendly but is, in reality, harmful.

Elaboration:

The story of Judas' kiss is recounted in the New Testament. Judas, after agreeing to betray Jesus for money, arranged with the authorities to identify Jesus with a kiss. When Judas approached Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he greeted him with a kiss, a gesture that signaled to the authorities that Jesus was the man to be arrested. This act, performed by someone who had been close to Jesus, highlighted the hypocrisy of the betrayal and its devastating consequences.

The phrase "Judas kiss" has become a common idiom to describe a situation where someone pretends to be friendly or supportive while secretly undermining or betraying another person. It can be applied to a variety of contexts, from personal relationships to political situations, where someone appears to be an ally but is actually working against the other's interests.

Generative AI is experimental.

Is Mark Zuckerberg going to poison Priscilla Chan to the death with a toxic Judas kiss and lie about the murder to his lawyer Kim Kardashian to infuriate China?

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is an organization established and owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with an investment of 99 percent of the couple's wealth from their Facebook shares over their lifetime.[1][2][3] The CZI is legally set up as a limited liability company (LLC) that can be seen as a for-profit charity and is an example of philanthrocapitalism. CZI has been deemed likely to be "one of the most well-funded philanthropies in human history".[4] Chan and Zuckerberg announced its creation on 1 December 2015, to coincide with the birth of their first child.[1] Chan has said that her background as a child of immigrant refugees and experience as a teacher and pediatrician for vulnerable children influences how she approaches the philanthropy's work in science, education, immigration reform, housing, criminal justice, and other local issues.[4]

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's main areas of work include science, education, and justice and opportunity, which focuses on promoting housing affordability, criminal justice reform, and immigration reform. The mission of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is to "build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone"[5] and to "advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy".[1]

In 2017, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pre-leased a 102,079 square foot portion of the new Broadway Station development in downtown Redwood City, California, where it is headquartered.[6]

After the election of Donald Trump as US president and the discontinuation of government and Meta Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, CZI announced on 10 January 2025 that it would continue its diversity programs. On 19 February 2025 CZI COO Marc Malandro, sent an email to all employees saying "Given the shifting regulatory and legal landscape, we will no longer have a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility team at CZI."[7]

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

§2. We must cooperate with the media, so that the Church s true FACE can appear and the Gospel can be inculturated in this new mass culture as well. Though we remain always loyal to the truth, our Ignatian sense of sentire cum ecclesia will lead us to present what is praiseworthy in the Church.[140]

§3. In no way detracting from the general formation to be given to all, according to no. 96, §2, in order that we may more efficaciously use the socialcommunications media in a way that is adapted to the needs and opportunities of our apostolate in fulfilling our mission, major superiors should in good time choose and assign some men endowed with a religious spirit and other gifts, so that after they have become expert at various levels of specialization and have acquired academic degrees, they may become competent in practicing these skills and in directing others.[141]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

Mark Zuckerberg says he’s no longer an atheist, believes ‘religion is very important’

December 30, 2016

By Julie Zauzmer

The founder of Facebook has found religion, it seems, according to a cheery holiday message he posted on the social network he created.

On Christmas Day, Zuckerberg indicated in a Facebook status that he was “celebrating Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Priscilla, Max, Beast and me,” he wrote, naming his wife, daughter and dog. Then a commenter asked him: Aren’t you an atheist?

Zuckerberg identified himself as an atheist for years, but on Facebook on Christmas he wrote back: “No. I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important.”

He didn’t answer further questions about what he does believe in. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have publicly discussed their moral values frequently — including in a lengthy letter when their daughter was born a year ago, in which they pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock, which at about $45 billion at the time was one of the largest philanthropic commitments ever. And they’ve already met one of the world’s most important religious figures: Pope Francis, with whom they discussed bringing communication technology to the world’s poor.

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The man billed as the first atheist bound for Congress isn’t actually an atheist at all

Study: Religion contributes more to the U.S. economy than Facebook, Google and Apple combined

How a Facebook comment turned into a nightmare for the ‘evangelical Harvard’

washingtonpost.com © 1996-2025 The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/30/mark-zuckerberg-says-hes-no-longer-an-atheist-believes-religion-is-very-important/

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

We Fucking Love Atheism | For Atheists, By Atheists

We Fucking Love Atheism

https://wflatheism.com

We Fucking Love Atheism For Atheists, By Atheists

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]"

page 221

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

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

Priscilla Chan (born February 24, 1985)[2] is an American pediatrician and philanthropist.[3] She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015 with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

Early life and education

Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts,[4] and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. Her parents were Chinese refugees who fled Vietnam in boats.[5][6] Chan grew up speaking Cantonese and interpreted for her grandparents who raised her and her two younger sisters, Michelle and Elaine, while her parents worked.[7][8] Chan's father owned a restaurant in Massachusetts, which he later sold to run a wholesale fish company in 2006. Chan graduated valedictorian of her class from Quincy High School,[7] where she was involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition team #69 HYPER[9][10] and where she was the captain of the tennis team.[10] Her classmates voted her "Class Genius."[8]

Although her parents were supportive of college education, they were unfamiliar with the process, including the SAT exam.[8] Chan is the first college graduate in her family and has said that "education is an incredibly personal issue" for her, noting that "[i]f you're the first generation to go to college...sometimes you don't realize your potential until others point it out."[7][11] She credits her public school teachers with recognizing hers and for "getting me excited about learning."[11] Chan received a full scholarship to attend Harvard University.[12] Feeling out of place at the school, Chan planned to transfer to another institution; however, her involvement with the Franklin Afterschool Enrichment program, specifically an encounter with a young girl who had broken teeth, inspired Chan to stay and to become a pediatrician.[13][12] Chan once reflected: “I was devastated. I thought, ‘What happened? What did I do wrong? I thought at the time, ‘I am not enough yet. … I need more skills. I need more power to be able to solve this.’ And so, when you’re 20 years old and a type-A Harvard student, the answer is medical school.”[12]

After graduating in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in biology, she taught 4th and 5th grade science at the private Harker School in San Jose, California, for a year before entering medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2008,[14][15] where she graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2012 and then completed residency training in pediatrics in 2015.[16][7] Chan was a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital.[7]

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

Mark Zuckerberg

August 29, 2016  ·

Priscilla and I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. We told him how much we admire his message of mercy and tenderness, and how he's found new ways to communicate with people of every faith around the world.

We also discussed the importance of connecting people, especially in parts of the world without internet access. We gave him a model of Aquila, our solar-powered aircraft that will beam internet connectivity to places that don't have it. And we shared … See more

— with Priscilla Chan in Vatican City, Italy.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10103066185217041&id=4&set=a.612287952871

Priscilla, also known as Prisca, is a prominent figure in the New Testament, recognized for her significant role in the early Christian church. She is often mentioned alongside her husband, Aquila, and is noted for her dedication to the ministry and her partnership with the Apostle Paul.

https://biblehub.com/topical/p/prisca_or_priscilla.htm

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Classical Latin: [tarˈkʷɪniʊs ˈpriːskʊs]), or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome and first of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned for thirty-eight years.[1] Tarquinius expanded Roman power through military conquest and grand architectural constructions. His wife was the prophetess Tanaquil.[2]

Not much is known about the early life of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. According to Livy, Tarquin came from Etruria. Livy claims that his original Etruscan name was Lucumo, but since lucumo is the latinized form of the Etruscan word lauchume "king", there is reason to believe that his name and title have been confused in the official tradition. After inheriting his father's entire fortune, Lucius attempted to gain a political office. However, he was prohibited from obtaining political office in Tarquinii because of the ethnicity of his father, Demaratus, who came from the Greek city of Corinth. As a result, his wife Tanaquil advised him to relocate to Rome. Legend has it that on his arrival in Rome in a chariot, an eagle took his cap, flew away and then returned it back upon his head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in prophecy, interpreted this as an omen of his future greatness. In Rome, he attained respect through his courtesy. King Ancus Marcius noticed Tarquinius and, by his will, appointed Tarquinius guardian of his own sons.[3]

King of Rome

Rise to power

Although Ancus Marcius was the grandson of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, the principle of hereditary monarchy was not yet established at Rome; none of the first three kings had been succeeded by their sons, and each subsequent king had been acclaimed by the people. Upon the death of Marcius, Tarquin addressed the Comitia Curiata and convinced them that he should be elected king over his predecessor's natural sons, who were still only youths,[4] making him the first Roman king to ever actively succeed at lobbying for the throne.[5] In one tradition, the sons were away on a hunting expedition at the time of their father's death, and were thus unable to affect the assembly's choice.[6]

Political reform

According to Livy, Tarquin increased the number of the Senate to 300 by adding one hundred men from the leading minor families.[6] Among these was the family of the Octavii, from whom the first emperor, Augustus, was descended.[7] He did so with the hope that those added to the Senate would be grateful for their position and thus loyal to him, strengthening his rule as king.[8]

Tarquin and the Eagle

Military conquest

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus is accredited with expanding Rome's borders. He did so through conquest of the surrounding tribes. Those tribes were the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans.

War with the Latins

Tarquin's first war was waged against the Latins. Tarquinius took the Latin town of Apiolae by storm and took great booty from there back to Rome.[6] According to the Fasti Triumphales, this war must have occurred prior to 588 BC. The Latins claimed that peace treaties developed by Romulus and the other Roman kings no longer applied and as such, launched the first set of attacks. Seeing the opportunity to incorporate the Latins into Rome's ranks, Tarquin quickly responded by conquering multiple Latin cities. As a result, the Latins requested help from the Sabines and Etruscans. Choosing not to split up his military power, Tarquin chose to keep the attack on the Latins, leading to a Roman victory.[9]

War with the Sabines

After conquering the Latins Tarquin began his assault on the Sabines. Having their basecamp at the corner of two rivers, the Sabines were able to move their troops quickly and efficiently. Using his military cunning Tarquin chose to launch a surprise attack on the base at night. He did this by setting a fleet of small boats aflame and then sending them down the river to set the Sabine camp on fire. While the Sabines were focused on dousing the flames, Tarquin and his troops moved in to dismantle the camp.[10]

Later, his military ability was then tested by an attack from the Sabines. Tarquin doubled the numbers of equites to help the war effort.[3] The Sabines were defeated after difficult street fighting in the city of Rome.[11] In the peace negotiations that followed, Tarquin received the town of Collatia, and appointed his nephew, Arruns Tarquinius, better known as Egerius, as commander of the garrison there. Tarquin returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph on September 13, 585 BC.[12]

Subsequently, the Latin cities of Corniculum, old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, and Nomentum were subdued and became Roman.[13]

War with the Etruscans

Tarquin also wished to seek peace with the Etruscans, but they refused. Since Tarquin had kept the captured Etruscan auxiliaries prisoners for meddling in the war with the Sabines, the five Etruscan cities who had taken part declared war on Rome.[9] Seven other Etruscan cities joined forces with them. The Etruscans soon captured the Roman colony at Fidenae, which thereupon became the focal point of the war. After several bloody battles, Tarquin was once again victorious, and he subjugated the Etruscan cities who had taken part in the war. At the successful conclusion of each of his wars, Rome was enriched by Tarquin's plunder.[14]

Construction

Tarquin the Elder consulting Attus Nevius the Augur

Tarquin is said to have built the Circus Maximus, the first and largest stadium at Rome, for chariot racing.[15] The Circus Maximus started out as an underwhelming piece of land, but was built into a grand and beautiful stadium. Raised seating was erected privately by the senators and equites, and other areas were marked out for private citizens. There the king established a series of annual games; according to Livy, the first horses and boxers to participate were brought from Etruria.[6] It received the name Circus Maximus as a way to set it apart from the other stadiums built at this time in a similar fashion.[16]

After a great flood, Tarquin drained the damp lowlands of Rome by constructing the Cloaca Maxima, Rome's great sewer.[15] The arch was constructed in 578 BC and took inspiration from Etruscan structures of the earlier period.[17] He also constructed a stone wall around the city, and began the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. The latter is said to have been funded in part by the plunder seized from the Sabines.[13]

Shows of triumph

Tarquinius was the first Roman ruler to ever celebrate a Roman triumph. According to Florus, Tarquin celebrated his triumphs in the Etruscan fashion, riding a golden chariot drawn by four horses,[15] while wearing a gold-embroidered toga and the tunica palmata, a tunic upon which palm-leaves were embroidered. He also introduced other Etruscan insignia of civilian authority and military distinction: the sceptre of the king; the trabea, a purple garment that varied in form, but was perhaps most often used as a mantle; the fasces carried by the lictors; the curule chair; the toga praetexta, later worn by various magistrates and officials; the rings worn by senators; the paludamentum, a cloak associated with military command; and the phalera, a disc of metal worn on a soldier's breastplate during parades, or displayed on the standards of various military units.[18] Strabo reports that Tarquin introduced Etruscan sacrificial and divinatory rites, as well as the tuba, a straight horn used chiefly for military purposes.[19] As a result, most classical Roman symbols for war harken back to his time as king.

Death and succession

Tarquin is said to have reigned for thirty-eight years. According to legend, the sons of his predecessor, Ancus Marcius, believed that the throne should have been theirs. They arranged the king's assassination, disguised as a riot, during which Tarquin received a fatal blow to the head by an ax. However, the queen, Tanaquil, gave out that the king was merely wounded, and took advantage of the confusion to establish Servius Tullius as regent; when the death of Tarquin was confirmed, Tullius became king, in place of Tarquin's sons, or those of Ancus Marcius.

Tullius, said to have been the son of Servius Tullius, a prince of Corniculum who had fallen in battle against Tarquin, was brought to the palace as a child with his mother, Ocreisia. According to legend, Tanaquil discovered his potential for greatness by means of various omens, and therefore preferred him to her own sons.[20] Tullius married Tarquinia, one of the daughters of Priscus, thus providing a vital link between the families. His own daughters were subsequently married to Tarquin's sons (or, in some traditions, grandsons), Lucius and Arruns.[21]

Most ancient writers regarded Tarquin as the father of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, but some stated that the younger Tarquin was his grandson. As the younger Tarquin died about 496 BC, more than eighty years after Tarquinius Priscus, the chronology seems to support the latter tradition. An Etruscan legend related by the emperor Claudius equates Servius Tullius with Macstarna (apparently the Etruscan equivalent of the Latin magister), a companion of the Etruscan heroes Aulus and Caelius Vibenna, who helped free the brothers from captivity, slaying their captors, including a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius. This episode is depicted in a fresco at the tomb of the Etruscan Saties family at Vulci, now known as the François Tomb. This tradition suggests that perhaps the sons of the elder Tarquin attempted to seize power, but were defeated by the regent, Servius Tullius, and his companions; Tullius would then have attempted to end the dynastic struggle by marrying his daughters to the grandsons of Tarquinius Priscus. However, this plan ultimately failed, as Tullius was himself assassinated at the instigation of his son-in-law, who succeeded him.

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

Marcus Junius Brutus (/ˈbruːtəs/; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs juːniʊs ˈbruːtʊs]; c. 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator,[2] and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was retained as his legal name. He is often referred to simply as Brutus.[3]

Early in his political career, Brutus opposed Pompey,[4] who was responsible for Brutus' father's death.[5] He also was close to Caesar. However, Caesar's attempts to evade accountability in the law courts put him at greater odds with his opponents in the Roman elite and the senate.[6] Brutus eventually came to oppose Caesar and sided with Pompey against Caesar's forces during the ensuing civil war (49–45 BC). Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48, after which Brutus surrendered to Caesar, who granted him amnesty.[7]

With Caesar's increasingly monarchical and autocratic behaviour after the civil war, several senators who later called themselves liberatores (liberators) plotted to assassinate him. Brutus took a leading role in the assassination, which was carried out successfully on the Ides of March (15 March) of 44 BC.[8][9] In a settlement between the liberatores and the Caesarians, an amnesty was granted to the assassins while Caesar's acts were upheld for two years.[10]

Popular unrest forced Brutus and his brother-in-law, fellow assassin Gaius Cassius Longinus, to leave Rome in April 44.[11] After a complex political realignment, Octavian – Caesar's adopted son – made himself consul and, with his colleague, passed a law retroactively making Brutus and the other conspirators murderers.[12] This led to a second civil war, in which Mark Antony and Octavian fought the liberatores led by Brutus and Cassius. The Caesarians decisively defeated the outnumbered armies of Brutus and Cassius at the two battles at Philippi in October 42.[13] After the defeat Brutus took his own life.[14]

His name has become a synonym and byword for "betrayal" or "traitor" in most languages of Europe. His condemnation for betrayal of Caesar, his friend and benefactor, is perhaps rivalled only by the name of Judas Iscariot, with whom he is portrayed in Dante Alighieri's Inferno.[15] He also has been praised in various narratives, both ancient and modern, as a virtuous and committed republican who fought – however futilely – for freedom and against tyranny.[16]

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

macron(n.)

"short horizontal line placed over a vowel to indicate length," 1827, from Latinized form of Greek makron, neuter of makros "long" (from PIE root *mak- "long, thin").

also from 1827

Entries linking to macron

*mak-

*māk-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "long, thin." It might form all or part of: emaciate; macro; macro-; macrobiotic; macron; meager; paramecium. It might also be the source of: Greek makros "long, large," mēkos "length;" Latin macer "lean, thin;" Old Norse magr, Old English mæger "lean, thin

https://www.etymonline.com/word/macron

Long[1] is the pinyin romanization of a few Chinese surnames. It includes 龍 / 龙, which means "dragon" in Chinese, ranking number 80 on the list of common Chinese surnames in 2006, up from 108 in 1990. Another name transcribed as Long is 隆, which is very rare in contemporary China. In Hong Kong, these names are romanized as Lung. In Wade-Giles it is also romanized as Lung.

Notable people

Long Ju (simplified Chinese: 龙且; traditional Chinese: 龍且), military general who served Xiang Yu during the Chu–Han Contention (died 203 BC)

Long Qingquan (龙清泉; 龍清泉), Chinese weightlifter

Long Yan, (龙艳; 龍艷; born 1973) Chinese former synchronized swimmer who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics

Long Yun (龙云; 龍雲; 1884–1962), governor and warlord of the Chinese province of Yunnan

James Lung Wai-man (龍緯汶), chairman of the Southern Democratic Alliance in Hong Kong

Lung Ying-tai (龍應台; born 1952), Taiwanese essayist and cultural critic

Long Lehao (龙乐豪; born 1938), Chinese aerospace engineer and scientist; fellow of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Manyuan Long (龙漫远; 龍漫遠; Lóng Mànyuǎn), Chinese American biologist

Ming Long, Australian businesswoman, former chair of Diversity Council Australia

Long Yiming (龙以明; born 1948), Chinese mathematician, professor at Nankai University, fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Anders Ljungstedt (龙思泰; 龍思泰; Lóng Sītài; 1759–1835) Swedish merchant and historian

Long Daoyi (龙道一; born 2003), Chinese diver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_(Chinese_surname)

Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron Jointly Meet the Press

Updated: May 07, 2024 17:49

On the afternoon of May 6, 2024 local time, President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron jointly met the press after their talks at the Elysée Palace in Paris.

Xi Jinping pointed out that it gives him great pleasure to pay another state visit to France at the invitation of President Macron as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic relations. He had a productive meeting with President Macron. They agreed that the China-France relationship has a precious history, unique values and an important mission. The two sides should carry forward the baton of history, champion the spirit that guided the establishment of diplomatic relations and enrich it with the features of the new era, and embark on a new journey for the next 60 years of China-France relations.

They have agreed on the following.

First, consolidating the strategic stability of bilateral relations. Xi Jinping welcomes President Macron for another visit to China. The two sides have reiterated that they will respect each other's core interests, and will conduct policy communication and coordination in a timely manner through multi-level, multi-dimensional channels.

Second, exploring the great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation. The two sides will strive for upward balance in bilateral trade. They will expand cooperation in agri-food, finance and other sectors, and advance joint R&D and innovation in areas including aviation, aerospace and civil nuclear energy. They will connect their development strategies more closely, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as green energy, smart manufacturing, bio-medicine, artificial intelligence and third-party markets. China has fully opened up its manufacturing sector, and will move faster to expand market access in the service sector such as telecommunication and medical services. The two sides encourage more two-way investment, and are committed to providing a sound business environment for companies from the other side. During this visit, the two sides signed 18 cooperation agreements between government agencies, covering such areas as aviation, agriculture, people-to-people exchange, green development and SME cooperation.

Third, accelerating people-to-people exchanges. The two sides will take the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism as an opportunity to promote educational, sports, film and TV, youth, and subnational cooperation. China supports France in hosting a great Paris 2024 Olympic Games. China welcomes more visitors from France and has decided to extend the short-stay visa-exemption policy for citizens of 12 countries including France to the end of 2025. China supports opening direct flights between Shanghai and Marseilles. China and France enjoy historical links in education. One hundred and fifty years ago, China opened its Fujian Naval Academy with the help of personages from France. Early last century, France hosted many young Chinese during the work-study movement. China welcomes the participation of France as the country of honor in this year's China Annual Conference and Expo for International Education. In the next three years, the Chinese side wants to bring the total number of French students in China to more than 10,000, and double the number of young Europeans on exchange programs to China.

Fourth, building greater consensus on global cooperation. The two sides will deepen cooperation on climate change, biodiversity and other issues, and enhance dialogue in the global governance of AI, reform of the international financial system and other fields. China supports France in hosting the 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference, and welcomes partnerships between the two countries' national parks and nature reserves.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the world is far from being tranquil. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a responsible major country, China is ready to work with France to advocate, on the occasion of the Paris Olympic Games, a cessation of hostilities around the world during the Games.

On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Xi Jinping noted that this prolonged tragedy is a test of human conscience. The international community must act. China calls on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. China supports Palestine's full membership in the U.N., and supports restoring to Palestine its legitimate national rights and restarting the two-State solution, so as to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

On the Ukraine crisis, China has stated its position on many occasions. China did not start the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to or a participant in it. Instead of being an onlooker, China has been playing an important role for peace. The special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs is on his third round of shuttle diplomacy. At the same time, China opposes attempts to use the Ukraine crisis to scapegoat or smear a third country or to stoke a new old war. History has proven time and again that at the end of the day, conflicts can only be resolved through negotiation. China calls on all parties to resume engagement and dialogue to build mutual trust. China supports holding at a proper time an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine and ensures the equal participation of all parties and fair discussions on all peace plans. China supports a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe.

Xi Jinping pointed out that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Thanks to 75 years of extraordinary efforts, transformative changes have taken place in China and in the lives of the Chinese people. But one thing remains unchanged -- their peace-loving and kind nature, their open-mindedness and inclusiveness, and their pursuit of fairness and justice. This is deeply rooted in the 5,000-year Chinese culture and in the soul of the Chinese people. China stands ready to develop friendly relations and cooperation with France and all other countries on the basis of mutual respect, move forward together in face of common challenges, and build together a better future.

Cai Qi and Wang Yi, among others, were present at the event.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zy/jj/xjpdfsxjxgsfw/202405/t20240507_11300643.html

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP),[3] officially the Communist Party of China (CPC),[4] is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang and proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong in October 1949. Since then, the CCP has governed China and has had sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). As of 2024, the CCP has more than 99 million members, making it the second largest political party by membership in the world.

In 1921, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao led the founding of the CCP with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International. Although the CCP aligned with the Kuomintang (KMT) during its initial years, the rise of the right-wing in the KMT under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek and massacre of tens of thousands of CCP members, resulted in the split and a prolonged civil war between the two. During the next ten years of guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong rose to become the most influential figure in the CCP, and the party established a strong base among the rural peasantry with its land reform policies. Support for the CCP continued to grow throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War, and after the Japanese surrender in 1945, the CCP emerged triumphant in the communist revolution against the Nationalist government. After the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, the CCP established the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

Mao Zedong continued to be the most influential member of the CCP until his death in 1976. Under Mao, the party completed its land reform program, launched a series of five-year plans, and eventually split with the Soviet Union. Although Mao attempted to purge the party of capitalist and reactionary elements during the Cultural Revolution, after his death, these policies were only briefly continued by the Gang of Four before a less radical faction seized control. During the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping directed the CCP away from Maoist orthodoxy and towards a policy of economic liberalization. Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CCP has focused on maintaining its relations with the ruling parties of the remaining socialist states. The CCP has also established relations with several non-communist parties, including dominant nationalist parties of many developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as social democratic parties in Europe.

As a Marxist–Leninist party, the Chinese Communist Party is organized based on democratic centralism, a principle that entails open policy discussion on the condition of unity among party members in upholding the agreed-upon decision. The highest body of the CCP is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. When the National Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body, but since that body usually only meets once a year, most duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Members of the latter are seen as the top leadership of the party and the state.[5] Today the party's leader holds the offices of general secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) (responsible for military affairs), and State President (a largely ceremonial position). Because of these posts, the party leader is seen as the country's paramount leader. The current leader is Xi Jinping, who was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee held on 15 November 2012 and has been reelected twice, on 25 October 2017 by the 19th Central Committee and on 10 October 2022 by the 20th Central Committee.

History

Main article: History of the Chinese Communist Party

Founding and early history

The October Revolution and Marxist theory inspired the founding of the CCP.[6]: 114 Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were among the first to publicly support Leninism and world revolution. Both regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere.[7]

Some historical analysis views the May Fourth Movement as the beginning of the revolutionary struggle that led to the founding of the People's Republic of China.[8]: 22 Following the movement, trends towards social transformation increased.[9]: 14 Writing in 1939, Mao Zedong stated that the Movement had shown that the bourgeois revolution against imperialism and China had developed to a new stage, but that the proletariat would lead the revolution's completion.[9]: 20 The May Fourth Movement led to the establishment of radical intellectuals who went on to mobilize peasants and workers into the CCP and gain the organizational strength that would solidify the success of the Chinese Communist Revolution.[10] Chen and Li were among the most influential promoters of Marxism in China during the May Fourth period.[9]: 7 The CCP itself embraces the May Fourth Movement and views itself as part of the movement's legacy.[11]: 24 

Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, "the rudiments [of our party]".[12] Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, but by 1920 many grew sceptical about their ability to bring about reforms.[13] China's intellectual movements were fragmented in the early 1920s.[14]: 17 The May Fourth Movement and the New Culture Movement had identified issues of broad concern to Chinese progressives, including anti-imperialism, support for nationalism, support for democracy, promotion of feminism, and rejection of traditional values.[14]: 17 Proposed solutions among Chinese progressives differed significantly, however.[14]: 17 

Site of the first CCP Congress, in the former Shanghai French Concession

The CCP was founded on 1 July 1921 with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and Far Eastern Secretariat of the Communist International, according to the party's official account of its history.[15][16] However, party documents suggest that the party's actual founding date was 23 July 1921, the first day of the 1st National Congress of the CCP.[17] The founding National Congress of the CCP was held 23–31 July 1921.[18][better source needed] With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, among them Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong,[19] the CCP organization and authorities grew tremendously.[6]: 115 While it was originally held in a house in the Shanghai French Concession, French police interrupted the meeting on 30 July[20] and the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province.[20] A dozen delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend,[20] the latter sending a personal representative in his stead.[20] The resolutions of the congress called for the establishment of a communist party as a branch of the Communist International (Comintern) and elected Chen as its leader. Chen then served as the first general secretary of the CCP[20] and was referred to as "China's Lenin".[citation needed]

The Soviets hoped to foster pro-Soviet forces in East Asia to fight against anti-communist countries, particularly Japan. They attempted to contact the warlord Wu Peifu but failed.[21][22] The Soviets then contacted the Kuomintang (KMT), which was leading the Guangzhou government parallel to the Beiyang government. On 6 October 1923, the Comintern sent Mikhail Borodin to Guangzhou, and the Soviets established friendly relations with the KMT. The Central Committee of the CCP,[23] Soviet leader Joseph Stalin,[24] and the Comintern[25] all hoped that the CCP would eventually control the KMT and called their opponents "rightists".[26][note 3] KMT leader Sun Yat-sen eased the conflict between the communists and their opponents. CCP membership grew tremendously after the 4th congress in 1925, from 900 to 2,428.[28] The CCP still treats Sun Yat-sen as one of the founders of their movement and claim descent from him[29] as he is viewed as a proto-communist[30] and the economic element of Sun's ideology was socialism.[31] Sun stated, "Our Principle of Livelihood is a form of communism".[32]

The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT and struggled for power with the party's right-wing factions.[26] When Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists.[26] Chiang, Sun's former assistant, was not actively anti-communist at that time,[33] even though he hated the theory of class struggle and the CCP's seizure of power.[27] The communists proposed removing Chiang's power.[34] When Chiang gradually gained the support of Western countries, the conflict between him and the communists became more and more intense. Chiang asked the Kuomintang to join the Comintern to rule out the secret expansion of communists within the KMT, while Chen Duxiu hoped that the communists would completely withdraw from the KMT.[35]

In April 1927, both Chiang and the CCP were preparing for conflict.[36] Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China.[37] Ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiang's arrival, he turned on them, massacring 5,000[note 4] with the aid of the Green Gang.[37][40][41] Chiang's army then marched on Wuhan but was prevented from taking the city by CCP General Ye Ting and his troops.[42] Chiang's allies also attacked communists; for example, in Beijing, Li Dazhao and 19 other leading communists were executed by Zhang Zuolin.[43][38] Angered by these events, the peasant movement supported by the CCP became more violent. Ye Dehui, a famous scholar, was killed by communists in Changsha, and in revenge, KMT general He Jian and his troops gunned down hundreds of peasant militiamen.[44] That May, tens of thousands of communists and their sympathizers were killed by KMT troops, with the CCP losing approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members.[38]

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

Know your enemy

Thomas Budiman

2 min read

·

Jul 11, 2022

Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher, once said “Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.”

To win an argument is not only about finding strength and coherence in your opinions.

How can you effectively argue for your side if you don’t understand the arguments of the other? — Ben Casnocha

Try to understand the opposite’s perspectives. Develop a curiosity about why others think in a very different world. Ask what the thought process behind your opposition is. Ask even more. Ask the correlation between A and B that your opposition said. Seek for evidence they hold.

However, always remember that you are not with an intention of crushing down your partner — finding their weaknesses and becoming the sole winner.

Yes, they are enemies, enemies of your ideas. But this doesn’t mean a war that sacrifices your relationship.

Instead, have a motivation of building alignment — finding common grounds. When you understand their different perspectives, maybe there’s something you have to adapt or something you need to give up.

Turn your enemy into a dance partner.

Adam Grant says in his book, Think Again.

“A good debate is not a war. It’s not even a tug-of-war, where you can drag your opponent to your side if you pull hard enough on the rope. It’s more like a dance that hasn’t been choreographed, negotiated with a partner who has a different set of steps in mind. If you try too hard to lead, your partner will resist. If you can adapt your moves to hers, and get her to do the same, you’re more likely to end up in rhythm.”

https://medium.com/@thomasbudiman/know-your-enemy-ad5c84c8045b

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare[1] and has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking.

The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world.

The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910.[2] Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, and Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp are cited along with American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book.[3]

History

Text and commentaries

The Art of War is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as Sun Tzu (pinyin: Sūnzǐ), meaning 'Master Sun'. Sun Tzu is said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but the earliest parts of The Art of War probably date to at least 100 years later.[4]

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one "Sun Wu" (孫武) from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helü of Wu (r. 514–495 BC).[5] This text was traditionally identified with the received Master Sun's Art of War. The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern Kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train even court women in military discipline and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu. This view is still widely held in China.[6]

The strategist, poet, and warlord Cao Cao in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the Art of War.[5] Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically.[5] The Art of War appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely.[5]

Authorship

Beginning around the 12th century, Sun Tzu's historical existence began to be questioned by Chinese scholars, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic Zuo Zhuan, which mentions most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period.[5] The name "Sun Wu" (孫武) does not appear in any text prior to the Records of the Grand Historian,[7] and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" (xùn 遜), while "Wu" (wǔ 武) is (1) the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" and (2) a Jianghuai dialectal synonym of 士; shì "knight",[8][9] which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu.[10] In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer Liang Qichao theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant Sun Bin, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote.[5] Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of euhemerism.[10]

In 1972, the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in two Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of Linyi in Shandong.[11] Among the many bamboo slip writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC, were two separate texts: one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier The Art of War by Sunzi.[12] The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name".[13] This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one.[12] The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern The Art of War, and their text matches very closely.[11] It is now generally accepted that the earlier The Art of War was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC.[12]

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

CHAPTER SEVEN – SHABTAI, SHIMON AND SHARON – DESTROYING THE JEWS

ALM 1 - THE DEUTSCH DEVILS

Rabbi Marvin Antelman was right all along. Way back in 1974, he identified the source of all the evil against Jews and humanity but his message and style were too unaccessible to get through to anyone but the most advanced students of antisemitism. What he lacked most was simplicity, a common enough failure of thinkers decades in advance of their contemporaries. What he needed was someone to put out a Cliff's Notes simplified explanation of his thesis...and someone, without intention, just did. The name of the book is, 50 Jewish Messiahs by Jerry Rabow (Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem). It is an informative but shallow overview of just what the title says, but in its shallowness lies vital depth. We begin with Chapter 17, about the "most damaging messiah to the Jewish people," Shabbatai Zvi. First we'll read Rabow and then add commentary opening Rabbi Antelman's work to the wide world. Recall that there are various accepted English spellings for Shabtai Tzvi, and the Sabbataians. The spelling presented depends on the writer:

pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day.

pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times.

pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: **

pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. **

pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption.

Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust

by Barry Chamish

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrV2Y3QWxPbkpKYWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-5ak831cRNQohyyjZYfFKvw

Nova music festival massacre

On 7 October 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist organization Hamas, initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re'im. Hamas also took 40 people hostage, and men and women were reportedly subject to sexual and gender-based violence.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

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

A nova (pl. novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white dwarfs in close binary systems, but causes of the dramatic appearance of a nova vary, depending on the circumstances of the two progenitor stars. The main sub-classes of novae are classical novae, recurrent novae (RNe), and dwarf novae. They are all considered to be cataclysmic variable stars.

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

Revelation 16:8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 [a]And the fourth Angel poured out his vial on the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat of fire,

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A8-10&version=GNV

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709)

CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

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

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number

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

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

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

Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show Star Trek and the 1987 sequel series The Next Generation, including William Shatner and Patrick Stewart. In the film, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D joins forces with Captain James T. Kirk to stop the villain Tolian Soran from destroying a planetary system in his attempt to return to an extra-dimensional realm known as the Nexus.

Generations was conceived as a transition from the original cast of the Star Trek films to the cast of The Next Generation. After developing several film ideas concurrently, the producers chose a script written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Production began while the final season of the television series was being made. The director was David Carson, who previously directed episodes of the television series; photography was by franchise newcomer John A. Alonzo. Filming took place on the Paramount Studios lots, and on location in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, and Lone Pine, California. The film's climax was revised and reshot following poor reception from test audiences. The film uses a mix of traditional optical effects alongside computer-generated imagery and was scored by regular Star Trek composer Dennis McCarthy.

Star Trek Generations was released in the United States on November 18, 1994. Paramount promoted the film with merchandising tie-ins, including toys, books, games, and a website—a first for a major motion picture. The film opened at the top of the United States box office its first week of release and grossed a total of $118 million worldwide. Critical reception was mixed, with critics divided on the film's characters and comprehensibility to a casual viewer. It was followed by Star Trek: First Contact in 1996.

Plot

In 2293, retired Starfleet officers James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov attend the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise-B. During the shakedown cruise, the starship is pressed into a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian refugee ships that have been snared by a massive energy ribbon. Enterprise is able to save some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed, but becomes trapped by the ribbon, and Kirk goes to a control room to help the ship escape. While Enterprise is freed, Kirk is presumed lost in space and dead after the trailing end of the ribbon tears open the ship's hull.

In 2371, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D is in a holodeck computer simulation, celebrating the promotion of shipmate Worf to lieutenant commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard learns his brother and nephew have been killed in a fire and is distraught that the Picard family line will end with him. Enterprise receives a distress call from a stellar observatory, where an El-Aurian, Dr. Tolian Soran, launches a probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the star to implode, creating a shockwave that destroys its planetary system. Soran kidnaps Enterprise engineer Geordi La Forge and is transported off the station by a Klingon Bird of Prey belonging to the Duras sisters.

Enterprise crewmember Guinan tells Picard that she and Soran were among the El-Aurians rescued in 2293. Soran—who lost his family when their homeworld was destroyed—is obsessed with returning to the energy ribbon to reach the "Nexus", an extra-dimensional realm of wish fulfillment that exists outside of normal space-time. Picard and Data determine that Soran, unable to safely fly a ship directly into the ribbon, is altering its path by removing the gravitational effects of nearby stars. Soran plans to destroy another star to bring the ribbon to the planet Veridian III, consequently killing millions on a nearby inhabited planet.

Upon entering the Veridian system, Picard offers himself to the Duras sisters in exchange for La Forge but insists on being transported to Soran directly. La Forge is returned to Enterprise, but unwittingly exposes the ship's defense details through the transmitter installed in his VISOR device. The Duras sisters attack, and Enterprise sustains critical damage before destroying the Bird of Prey by triggering its cloaking device, and firing photon torpedoes when its shields drop. When La Forge reports that the starship is about to suffer a warp-core breach as a result of the attack, Commander William Riker evacuates everyone to the forward saucer-section of the starship, which separates from the engineering section just before the breach occurs. The resulting shockwave sends the saucer-section crashing onto the surface of Veridian III.

Picard fails to stop Soran from launching another probe. The resulting destruction of the Veridian star alters the course of the ribbon and Picard and Soran enter the Nexus before the shockwave destroys Veridian III. Picard finds himself surrounded by an idealized family, but realizes it is an illusion. He is confronted by an "echo" of Guinan left behind in the Nexus. Guinan sends him to meet James T. Kirk, safe in the Nexus. Though Kirk is initially entranced by the opportunity the Nexus offers to atone for past regrets, he realizes it lacks danger and excitement. Having learned that they can travel whenever and wherever desired through the Nexus, Picard convinces Kirk to return with him to Veridian III, shortly before Soran launches the probe.

Working together, Kirk and Picard distract Soran long enough for Picard to lock the probe in place; it explodes on the launchpad and kills Soran. Kirk is fatally injured in the effort and Picard buries him at the site. Three Federation starships arrive to retrieve the Enterprise survivors from Veridian III. Picard muses that given the ship's legacy, the Enterprise-D will not be the last vessel to carry the name.

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

On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump officially announced the public-private partnership.[4][1] The purpose of Operation Warp Speed was to coordinate Health and Human Services-wide efforts, including the NIH ACTIV[9] partnership for vaccine and therapeutic development, the NIH RADx[10] initiative for diagnostic development, and work by BARDA.[1]

Operation Warp Speed was formed to encourage private and public partnerships to enable faster approval and production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The name was inspired by terminology for faster-than-light travel used in the Star Trek fictional universe, evoking a sense of rapid progress.[11][12]

The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30, 2020, that a vaccine would need to be at least 50% effective for diminishing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms to obtain regulatory and marketing approval.[13]

In January 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the program was expected to undergo a restructure and renaming under the Biden administration.[14][15] Also in January 2021, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, former Operation Warp Speed lead, was told not to use the name Operation Warp Speed anymore.[16] At the end of February 2021, responsibilities of Operation Warp Speed were transferred into the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7][17]

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

Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam (NOI) until 1964 after which he left the movement, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the African American community. A controversial figure accused of preaching violence, Malcolm X is also a widely celebrated figure within African American and Muslim communities for his pursuit of racial justice.

Malcolm spent his adolescence living in a series of foster homes or with relatives after his father's death and his mother's hospitalization. He committed various crimes, being sentenced to eight to ten years in prison in 1946 for larceny and burglary. In prison, he joined the Nation of Islam, adopting the name Malcolm X to symbolize his unknown African ancestral surname while discarding "the white slavemaster name of 'Little'", and after his parole in 1952, he quickly became one of the organization's most influential leaders. He was the public face of the organization for 12 years, advocating Black empowerment and separation of Black and White Americans, and criticizing Martin Luther King Jr. and the mainstream civil rights movement for its emphasis on non-violence and racial integration. Malcolm X also expressed pride in some of the Nation's social welfare achievements, such as its free drug rehabilitation program. From the 1950s onward, Malcolm X was subjected to surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In the 1960s, Malcolm X began to grow disillusioned with the Nation of Islam, as well as with its leader, Elijah Muhammad. He subsequently embraced Sunni Islam and the civil rights movement after completing the Hajj to Mecca and became known as "el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz", which roughly translates to "The Pilgrim Malcolm the Patriarch". After a brief period of travel across Africa, he publicly renounced the Nation of Islam and founded the Islamic Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI) and the Pan-African Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Throughout 1964, his conflict with the Nation of Islam intensified, and he was repeatedly sent death threats. On February 21, 1965, he was assassinated in New York City. Three Nation members were charged with the murder and given indeterminate life sentences. In 2021, two of the convictions were vacated. Speculation about the assassination and whether it was conceived or aided by leading or additional members of the Nation, or with law enforcement agencies, has persisted for decades.

He was posthumously honored with Malcolm X Day, on which he is commemorated in various cities across the United States. Hundreds of streets and schools in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, while the Audubon Ballroom, the site of his assassination, was partly redeveloped in 2005 to accommodate the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. A posthumous autobiography, on which he collaborated with Alex Haley, was published in 1965.

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

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls. [11]

L. D. S. "

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Nation of Islam convention to include talk of UFOs

Originally published February 25, 2011 at 11:11 am Updated February 25, 2011 at 5:01 pm

The Nation of Islam, long known for its promotion of black nationalism and self-reliance, now is calling attention to another core belief that perhaps isn't so well-known: the existence of UFOs.

By SOPHIA TAREEN

Associated Press

The Nation of Islam, long known for its promotion of black nationalism and self-reliance, now is calling attention to another core belief that perhaps isn’t so well-known: the existence of UFOs.

When thousands of followers gather in suburban Chicago this weekend for the group’s annual Saviours’ Day convention, one of the main events will include a panel of scientists discussing worldwide UFO sightings, which they claim are on the rise.

The idea of seeking the divine in the skies is deeply rooted in the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, whose late leader Elijah Muhammad detailed in speeches and writings a massive hovering object loaded with weapons he called “The Mother Plane” – although religion experts, Nation of Islam leaders and believers offer very different interpretations of what exactly happens aboard the plane, its role or how it fits into religious teachings.

It’s one of the group’s more misunderstood – and ridiculed – beliefs, something organizers took into account when planning the convention, which starts Friday and ends Sunday with Minister Louis Farrakhan’s keynote address.

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“There’s enough evidence that has been put before the world and public,” Ishmael Muhammad, the religion’s national assistant minister, told The Associated Press. “There have been enough accounts and sightings and enough movies (documentaries) made, I don’t think you would find too many people that would call it crazy.”

During last year’s Saviours’ Day speech, Farrakhan for the first time in years discussed in detail a vision he had in Mexico in 1985 involving an object he calls “the wheel.” Using charts, photos and drawings, he spent almost four hours describing how he was invited aboard and heard Elijah Muhammad speak to him. Farrakhan says that experience led him to inklings about future events.

Farrakhan, 77, has said the wheel, with its great capacity for destruction, contains the “wisdom to purify the planet,” but has harmed no one so far. He also claimed there have been governmental attempts to cover-up proof of the wheel, which he says many call UFOs.

Nation of Islam leaders often quote Biblical references to the prophet Ezekiel – along with Elijah Muhammad’s teachings – when it comes to the wheel. In his book of articles on the subject, Muhammad described a planet-sized manmade vessel that orbits earth and is purported to be loaded with 1,500 planes or wheels, words that have since been used interchangeably. Their purpose is unclear.

Some experts have made comparisons to the Biblical concept of Rapture, which teaches believers will be taken up to heaven, while everyone else will remain on earth for a period of torment, concluding with the end of time.

Why the Nation is turning more attention to the wheel now isn’t certain. One explanation could be an attempt to keep longtime Nation of Islam followers happy after recent years during which Farrakhan has haltingly tried to move the group toward more mainstream Islam and pushed for the inclusion of other groups like Latinos and immigrants, said Jimmy Jones, a religion professor at Manhattanville College in New York.

The history of the highly-secretive group – which doesn’t release membership or the number of mosques – has been marked by splinter groups and fracture.

“This is a way that the Nation of Islam defines itself,” said Jones about the wheel’s significance.

But Ishmael Muhammad, who is widely considered a potential successor to Farrakhan, said reasons for the recent interest is simply that it’s a core belief.

He said the theme of the convention, which commemorates the birth of the religion’s founder and is expected to draw more than 10,000 people this weekend, is about scientific analysis. Another session is about natural disasters and what those events mean religiously.

“It is written, that these things would happen,” he said about Scripture. “We should prepare for such calamities.”

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-of-islam-convention-to-include-talk-of-ufos/

King Charles III's coronation to feature shards of "True Cross" gifted by Pope Francis

By Haley Ott

April 21, 2023 / 4:24 AM EDT / CBS News

Pope Francis has given King Charles III two shards of wood that the Vatican says are from the "True Cross" on which Jesus Christ was crucified, to be included in the British monarch's upcoming coronation ceremony. The shards will be incorporated into a new cross that will lead the coronation procession on May 6.

The new cross, which was a gift from then-Prince Charles to the Church in Wales, a branch of the Anglican Church, to mark its centenary in 2020, has been made from reclaimed wood, recycled silver and Welsh slate, the Reuters news agency reported. The two small shards donated by Pope Francis have been shaped into a cross and incorporated behind a gemstone.

King Charles III's coronation: What to know for the centuries-old ceremony

"I can confirm that the fragments of the relic of the True Cross were donated by the Holy See in early April, through the Apostolic Nunciature, to His Majesty King Charles III, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, as an ecumenical gesture on the occasion of the centenary of the Anglican Church in Wales," the Holy See press office said Thursday.

After the coronation, the cross will return to Wales, where it will be shared between the Anglican and Catholic churches there, Reuters reported.

"Its design speaks to our Christian faith, our heritage, our resources and our commitment to sustainability," Andrew John, the Anglican Archbishop of Wales, said, according to Reuters. "We are delighted too that its first use will be to guide their majesties into Westminster Abbey at the Coronation Service."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/king-charles-coronation-pope-francis-true-cross/

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et CAPUT,” meaning, “The mother and HEAD of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

https://www.simplycatholic.com/st-john-lateran-basilica/

In the second prelude, for Chief- Gene ral read highest Leader, and for captain read leader. For the first Leader the Spanish Autograph has Captain General, and for the second (leader), caudillo ; the former title expressing, as Father Rothaan remarks, a Commander-in-Chief of lawful warfare, the latter designating rather the leader of a faction, and being often used in a bad sense, as of a captain of robbers or malefactors. In order to express in some measure this distinction, he has made use of the terms Dux Generalis (LeaderGeneral) and CAPUT (HEAD) in his literal Version. The Common Version makes no distinction ; and hence, in order to render this Version with strict faithfulness, must read, both here and in the next two paragraphs, leader instead of captain, although (as the reader will already have perceived) this latter is the term which erceived) this latter is the term which corresponds the more nearly with the Spanish original. In all three places Father Rothaan has caput : in the third prelude he has again Dux instead of Imperator : see above. In the first point, in order to be strictly with the Common Version, readier?/ and smoky chair in stead of chair offire and smoke ; although this latter is what the Autograph has, a certain great chair of fire and smoke, " in which", observes Father Rothaan, there is no solidity, no true glory, but mere agitation and perpetual disturbance joined with thick darkness"; And this image", he adds, " exhibits the evil spirit such as he is, but not such as he offers himself to men's minds."

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.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://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/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  

It is hypothesized that the name comes either from Latin caput, meaning "head", and means "chief" or "head of state".

https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-did-hugh-capet-get-his-name.html

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the Karlings.

The direct line of the House of Capet came to an end in 1328, when the three sons of Philip IV (reigned 1285–1314) all failed to produce surviving male heirs to the French throne. With the death of Charles IV (reigned 1322–1328), the throne passed to the House of Valois, descended from a younger brother of Philip IV.

Royal power would pass on, in 1589, to another Capetian branch, the House of Bourbon, descended from the youngest son of Louis IX (reigned 1226–1270). From 1830 on it would go to a Bourbon cadet branch, the House of Orléans, always remaining in the hands of agnatic descendants of Hugh Capet himself a descendant of Charlemagne, except for the 10-year reign of Emperor Napoleon.

Names

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) were also called the Direct Capetians (Capétiens directs), the House of France (la maison de France), or simply the Capets. Historians in the 19th century came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet (c. 939 – 996). Contemporaries did not use the name "Capetian" (see House of France). The Capets were sometimes called "the Third Race of Kings" (following the Merovingians and the Carolingians). The name "Capet" derives from the nickname (of uncertain meaning) given to Hugh, the first Capetian king.[1]

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

Alan fitz Flaad (c. 1060 – after 1120) was a Breton knight, probably recruited as a mercenary by Henry I of England in his conflicts with his brothers.[1] After Henry became King of England, Alan became an assiduous courtier and obtained large estates in Norfolk, Sussex, Shropshire, and elsewhere in the Midlands, including the feudal barony and castle of Oswestry in Shropshire.[2][3][4] His duties included supervision of the Welsh border.[5] He is now noted as the progenitor of the FitzAlan family, the Earls of Arundel (1267–1580), and the House of Stuart,[6] although his family connections were long a matter of conjecture and controversy.

Career

Arrival in England

Flaad and his son Alan had come to the favourable notice of King Henry I of England who, soon after his accession, brought Flaad and Alan to England. Eyton, consistently following the theory of the Scottish origins of the Stewarts, thought this was because he was part of the entourage of the Queen, Matilda of Scotland,[7] Round pointed out that Henry had been besieged in Mont-Saint-Michel during his struggle with his brothers,[1] an event which probably occurred in 1091. He is known to have recruited Breton troops at that time and, after his surrender, left the scene via the adjoining regions of Brittany, where Dol is situated. This is a likely explanation for the Bretons in the military retinue he brought to England after the death of William Rufus.

Alan's career in England can be traced largely through his presence as a witness to charters granted by the king during his travels in the first decade or more of his reign. Some of his activities were traced by Eyton, and his researches overlap with William Farrer's calendar of Henry I travel. All of the business in which he took part was ecclesiastical, involving grants, sometimes disputed, to churches and monasteries.

Appearances at court

Alan appeared in Henry I's company at least as early as September 1101, probably at a court held in Windsor Castle,[8] when he witnessed important grants to Norwich Cathedral, confirming its foundation and various endowments.[9][10] Next, he appeared with the king at Canterbury in 1103,[11] where he witnessed the grant of a market to the nuns of Malling Abbey and land acquisitions by Rochester Cathedral, then in the process of rebuilding.[12]

Later that year,[13] or early in the next,[14] Alan was with the king in the New Forest, where the business concerned Andover Priory, a daughter house of the great Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur.[15] He was probably selected deliberately for this meeting because of his family's close connections with Saumur Abbey: one of his uncles was a monk there.[16] William Rufus had decreed that all chapels in the parish of Andover church should be handed over to the monks or destroyed.[17] One problem at issue revolved around the Foxcote chapel, which was evidently being defended from destruction or annexation by Edward de Foscote, a local landowner. Another seems to have been the administration of justice in the monastic estates.[18] Wihenoc, a monk of St Florent, had initiated an action against the reeve of Andover to have these issues clarified and resolved. Alan Fitz Flaad was called upon to witness a compromise, although Foxcote was among the properties confirmed to the priory by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.[19]

In the autumn of 1105, Alan was called to York to witness confirmation of Ralph Paynel's transfer of his refounded Holy Trinity Priory in York to Marmoutier Abbey, Tours[20][21] and his many endowments of the priory itself.[22][23] At some point, he also witnessed the Roger de Nonant's gift of the church at Totnes and various tithes to the Abbey of Ss Sergius and Bacchus at Angers, a gift earmarked as being for the souls of the royal family.[24]

In May 1110, Alan was at court at Windsor again to witness the king's settlement of a property dispute between Hervey le Breton, Bishop of Ely, and Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, resolved in favour of the former.[25]

Probably only later did he appear as a witness to a royal command issued to Richard de Belmeis I, the Bishop of London and the king's viceroy in Shropshire, to see that justice was done in the case of a disputed prebend at Morville.[26][27] The collegiate church there had been dissolved and replaced with a priory attached to Shrewsbury Abbey[28] and it seems that the son of one of the prebendaries was resisting the loss of what he regarded as his patrimony. Alan is listed among a group of Shropshire magnates, including Corbets and a Peverel, meeting perhaps during Henry I's 1114 military expedition into Wales. Johnson and Cronne tentatively place the meeting at Holdgate Castle in Shropshire. Eyton dates the event earlier, around the time of a royal expedition to Shropshire in 1109.[29] Whatever the date, it shows Alan as an important member of the Shropshire landowning class.

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

Pink Floyd - Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (Part I, II, III) (Official Audio)

'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast Part I, II, III taken from Pink Floyd's fifth studio album, Atom Heart Mother, released on October 2nd 1970.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSR3DIRce1A

The Monument to the Royal Stuarts is a memorial in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City State. It commemorates the last three members of the Royal House of Stuart: James Francis Edward Stuart ("the Old Pretender", d. 1766), his elder son Charles Edward Stuart ("the Young Pretender" or "Bonnie Prince Charlie", d. 1788), and his younger son, Henry Benedict Stuart ("the Cardinal Duke of York", d. 1807). The Jacobites recognised these three as kings of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The marble monument is by Antonio Canova (1757–1822), the most celebrated Italian sculptor of his day. It was erected in 1819.

Description

The monument takes the form of a truncated obelisk. It carries bas relief profile portraits of the three exiled princes, and the following inscription:

IACOBO·III

IACOBI·II·MAGNAE·BRIT·REGIS·FILIO

KAROLO·EDVARDO

ET·HENRICO·DECANO·PATRVM·CARDINALIVM

IACOBI·III·FILIIS

REGIAE·STIRPIS·STVARDIAE·POSTREMIS

ANNO·M·DCCC·XIX

("To James III, son of King James II of Great Britain, to Charles Edward and to Henry, Dean of the Cardinal Fathers, sons of James III, the last of the Royal House of Stuart. 1819")

Below the inscription are two weeping angels, symbolising the lost hopes of the exiled Stuarts.

The monument to the Royal Stuarts was originally commissioned by Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, executor of the estate of Henry Benedict Stuart. Among the subscribers, curiously, was King George IV, who (once the Jacobite threat to his throne had ended with the death of Cardinal Stuart in 1807) was an admirer of the Stuart legend.[1]

The monument stands towards the back of the basilica in the left aisle opposite the door from which people coming down the spiral staircase from the dome and roof exit. It is frequently adorned with flowers by Jacobite romantics.

Burials

The monument is, strictly speaking, a cenotaph, not a tomb. The three Stuarts are buried in the crypt below the basilica. James Francis Edward Stuart was buried here at his death in 1766. When Charles Edward Stuart died in 1788, he was buried in the Basilica of St Peter Apostle in Frascati. When his brother Henry Benedict Stuart died in 1807, both brothers were laid to rest next to their father in the crypt of St. Peter's. Three separate tombstones were erected on the site.

Until 1938 the bodies of the three Stuarts were buried where the tomb of Pius XI now stands. In that year the bodies were moved slightly further east on the left side of the crypt, to make room for Pius's tomb. In 1939 a single sarcophagus was erected over the three graves. On top of the sarcophagus is a bronze pillow on which is placed a bronze crown. On the front of the sarcophagus is the same inscription quoted above.

Other monuments

Opposite the monument to the Royal Stuarts in St. Peter's Basilica is a monument to Maria Clementina Sobieska, wife of James Francis Edward Stuart and mother of Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart. Its inscription reads:

MARIA CLEMENTINA M. BRITANN.

FRANC. ET HIBERN. REGINA

("Maria Clementina, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland"[a])

Queen Christina of Sweden, the only other monarch with a memorial in the church, also lies entombed in the crypt below the basilica, with the Royal Stuarts. She abdicated her throne in 1654 to convert to Catholicism.

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

The Crowns of America

So often one hears politicians quoting the British Constitution as if it actually exists by way of adocumentary privilege — but it does not. It is simply an accumulation of old customs and precedents concerning parliamentary sanctions, together with a number of specific laws defining certain aspects. Since Scotland's 1320 Declaration of Arbroath was nullified by England's Treaty of Union in 1707, the oldest Written Constitution now in force is that of the United States of America. It was adopted in 1787, ratified in 1788, and effected in 1789. In that same year began the French Revolution, which abolished feudalism and ‘absolute’ monarchy in France, thereby influencing politics in much of Europe. In close to 200 years since the Revolution, France and other European States (with Britain as a noticeable exception) have adopted Written Constitutions to protect the rights and liberties of individuals — but who champions these Constitutions on behalf of the people? A popular alternative to absolute monarchy or dictatorship has been found in Republicanism. The Republic of the United States was created primarily to free the emergent nation from the despotism of Britain’s House of Hanover. Yet its citizens tend still to be fascinated by the concept of monarchy. No matter how Republican the spirit, the need for a central symbol remains. Neither a flag nor a president can fulfil this unifying role, for by virtue of the ‘party system’ presidents are always politically motivated. Republicanism was devised on the principle of fraternal status, yet an ideally classless society can never exist in an environment that promotes displays of eminence and superiority by degrees of wealth and possession. For the most part, those responsible for the United States’ morally inspired Constitution were Rosicrucians and Freemasons, notable characters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Charles Thompson. The last, who designed the Great Seal of the United States of America, was a member of Franklin’s American Philosophical Society — a counterpart of Britain’s Invisible College. The imagery of the Seal is directly related to alchemical tradition, inherited from the allegory of the ancient Egyptian Therapeutate. The eagle, the olive branch, the arrows, and the pentagrams are all occult symbols of opposites: good and evil, male and female, war and peace, darkness and light. On the reverse (as repeated on the dollar bill) is the truncated pyramid, indicating the loss of the Old Wisdom, severed and forced underground by the Church establishment. But above this are the rays of ever-hopeful light, incorporating the ‘all-seeing eye’, used as a symbol during the French Revolution.

In establishing their Republic, the Americans could still not escape the ideal of a parallel monarchy — a central focus of non-political, patriotic attachment. George Washington was actually offered kingship, but declined because he had no immediately qualifying heritage. Instead he turned to the Royal House of Stuart. In November 1782 four Americans arrived at the San Clemente Palazzo in Florence, the residence of Charles III Stuart in exile. They were Mr Galloway of Maryland, two brothers named Sylvester from Pennsylvania, and Mr Fish, a lawyer from New York. They were taken to Charles Edward by his secretary, John Stewart. Also present was the Hon Charles Hervey-Townshend (later Britain’s ambassador to The Hague) and the Prince's future wife, Marguerite, Comtesse de Massillan. The interview — which revolved around the contemporary transatlantic dilemma — is doctimented in the US Senate archives and in the Manorwater Papers. Writers such as Sir Compton Mackenzie and Sir Charles Petrie have also described the occasion when Charles Edward Stuart was invited to become ‘King of the Americans’. Some years earlier, Charles had been similarly approached by the men of Boston, but once the War of Independence was over George Washington sent his own envoys. It would have been a great irony for the House of Hanover to lose the North American colonies to the Stuarts. But Charles declined the offer for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his lack of a legitimate male heir at the time. He knew that without a due successor the United States could easily fall to Hanover again at his death, thereby defeating the whole Independence effort. Since those days, many other radical events have taken place: the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, two major World Wars, and a host of changes as countries have swapped one style of government for another. Meanwhile, civil and international disputes continue just as they did in the Middle Ages. They are motivated by trade, politics, religion, and whatever other banners are flown to justify the constant struggle for territorial and economic control. The Holy Roman Empire has disappeared, the German Reichs have failed, and the British Empire has collapsed. The Russian Empire fell to Communism, which has itself been disgraced and crumbled to ruin, while Capitalism teeters on the very brink of acceptability. With the Cold War now ended, America faces a new threat to her superpower status from the Pacific countries. In the meantime, the nations of Europe band together in what was once a seemingly well conceived economic community, but which is already suffering from the same pressures of individual custom and national sovereignty that beset the Holy Roman Empire. Whether nations are governed by military-style regimes or elected parliaments, by autocrats or democrats, and whether formally described as monarchist, socialist or republican, the net product is always the same: the few control the fate of the many. In situations of dictatorship this is a natural experience — but it should not be the case in a democratic institution based on the principle of majority vote. True democracy is government by the people for the people, in either direct or representative form, ignoring class distinctions and tolerating minority views. The American Constitution sets out an ideal for this form of democracy ... but, in line with other nations, there is always a large sector of the community that is not represented by the party in power. Because presidents and prime ministers are politically tied, and because political parties take their respective turns at individual helms, the inevitable result is a lack of continuity for the nations concerned. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is no reliable ongoing institution to champion the civil rights and liberties of people in such conditions of ever-changing leadership. Britain does, at least, retain a monarchy, but it is a politically constrained monarchy, and as such is ineffectual in performing its role as guardian of the nation. The United States, unlike Britain, has a Written Constitution — but has no one with the power to uphold its principles against successive governments who determinedly pursue their own politically vested interests. Is there an answer to the anomaly — an answer that could bring not just a ray of hope but a shining light for the future? There certainly is, but its energy relies on those in governmental service appreciating their roles as ‘representatives’ of society rather than presuming to stand at the head of society. Alongside the political administration, an appointed Constitutional champion would be empowered to keep check on any potential disparities and infringements of the Constitution that might occur. This can be achieved in the manner first envisaged by George Washington and the American Fathers. Their original plan was for a democratic Parliament combined with a working Constitutional Monarchy bound not to Parliament or the Church but to the people and their Written Constitution. In such an environment, sovereignty would ultimately rest with the people, while the monarch (as an operative Guardian of the Realm) would pledge an ‘Oath of Fealty to the Nation’ — not the reverse, as in Britain’s case, whereby the nation pays homage to the sovereignty of Parliament and the monarchy. The unfulfilled ambition of the American Fathers was that government ministers should be elected by the majority vote of the people, but that their actions be directed within the boundaries of the Constitution. Because that Constitution belongs to the people, its champion — as George Washington perceived — should be a monarch whose obligation is not to politics or religion but to the sovereign nation. Through the natural system of heredity (being born and bred to the task), such a Constitutional guardian would provide an ‘ongoing continuity’ of public representation through successive governments. In this regard both monarchs and ministers would be servants of the Constitution on behalf of the Community of the Realm. Such a concept of moral government lies at the very heart of the Grail Code, and it remains within the bounds of possibility for every civilized Nation State. A leading British politician recently claimed that it was not his job to be popular! Not so—a popular minister is a trusted minister, and holding a deserved electoral trust facilitates the democratic process. No minister can honestly expound an ideal of equality in society when that minister is deemed to possess some form of prior lordship over society. Class structure is always decided from above, never from below. It is therefore for those on self-made pedestals to be seen to kick them aside in the interests of harmony and unity. Jesus was not in the least humbled when he washed his Apostles’ feet; he was raised to the realm of a true Grail King — the realm of equality and princely service. This is the eternal ‘Precept of the Sangréal’, and it is expressed in Grail lore with the utmost clarity: only by asking ‘Whom does the Grail serve?’ will the wound of the Fisher King be healed, and the Wasteland returned to fertility.

pages 438-443

"The Sangreal Today"

Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsH4O_ls0IgWEYXLXWCo7I3IUi32FJhq/view?usp=sharing

Some Cult Members Had Been Castrated -- Brother Of Actress On `Star Trek' Was Among 39 Suicides

Mar 29, 1997

Scott Lindlaw

AP

SAN DIEGO - The Heaven's Gate suicide cult not only shunned sex, but some males in the group, including the aging leader, had been castrated in apparent pursuit of their ideal of androgynous immortality, the medical examiner revealed yesterday.

Dr. Brian Blackbourne said the castrations were done long before the 39 men and women methodically killed themselves in the belief that they would take a spaceship ride in a UFO trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

Also, he said, toxicology results showed at least two of the victims of the mass suicide discovered Wednesday took a less than lethal concoction of barbiturates and booze. Blackbourne has said that plastic bags found in the trash might have been used to suffocate them.

No official causes of death have been determined, but Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Lipscomb said there was no suspicion of anything but suicide.

"Overdose and suffocation, self-inflicted," he said. "Nothing in this investigation that would suggest anything but."

Relatives of 30 of the dead had been notified by yesterday with the help of more than 1,000 calls to a toll-free police line.

Among the relatives was actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" and has been promoting a line of telephone psychics. She was shocked and under sedation at the news that her brother, Thomas Nichols, was among the dead, said her manager, Jim Meecham.

Nichols said on "Larry King Live" yesterday that her brother had been talking about the comet that would come some day as early as 1994.

"He made his choices, and we respect those choices," she told King, adding that she felt it ironic that they chose Hale-Bopp, "this wonderful celestial event," as the trigger for the decision to die.

The bodies - 21 women and 18 men - were laid out in ritual fashion, arms at their sides, face and chest draped in diamond-shaped purple shrouds.

Cult members had told acquaintances that leader Marshall Applewhite, 66, preached strongly against the pleasures of the flesh. Renting a $1.3 million Rancho Santa Fe mansion, his followers prepared for their ascension by avoiding cigarettes, booze and sex.

Even strong emotions were avoided as "too human." Bodies were merely "vehicles," and sex was called "vehicular gratification."

In his writings, Applewhite preached that when they left their "containers" and entered heaven aboard a UFO, his followers would not need mouths to eat or noses to smell and would look like gray-skinned "space aliens."

In the house, investigators discovered pictures of a dome-headed alien they apparently thought they would encounter by killing themselves and joining a UFO they believed is traveling behind the comet Hale-Bopp.

"It's the head of an alien, like you see in `The X-Files,' " the medical examiner said.

Both male and female members affected a unisex look: buzz-cut hair and shapeless black shirts with mandarin collars. People who had contact with the members said they referred to themselves as monks.

Blackbourne refined earlier descriptions of the meticulously planned suicide. Reading from what he described as a "little blue binder" found at the scene, he described how the cult members apparently killed themselves in stages over two or more days.

"Fifteen classmates, eight assistants, then 15 more and eight assistants, then help each other," he read.

Blackbourne acknowledged that some relatives were upset that officials released a two-minute videotape shot inside the mansion that showed investigators walking through the death scene, pointing to the bodies.

Information from the New York Daily News is included in this report.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970329/2531246/some-cult-members-had-been-castrated----brother-of-actress-on-star-trek-was-among-39-suicides

The Masada mystery

Have archaeologists proven the ancient tale of mass suicide in the Judaean desert or twisted science for political end?

Aerial view of Masada showing the Roman ramp. Photo by HG/Magnum

Eric H Clineis professor of classics and anthropology and director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University. He has more than 30 seasons of excavation experience. His forthcoming book is called Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology (2017). 

Edited by Pam  Weintraub

4,100 words

Published in association with Princeton University Press, an Aeon Strategic Partner

REPUBLISHING NOT PERMITTED

In 73 or 74 CE, 960 Jewish zealots – men, women and children – committed suicide on top of the mountain of Masada by the Dead Sea in Israel rather than be captured by the Romans. The story, told by the Roman historian Josephus, is one of the most famous from antiquity. But did it actually happen? Yigael Yadin, the late Israeli archaeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who excavated the site in the mid-1960s, said that it did. Moreover, he also said that the objects found during his dig proved it. His subsequently published book, Masada: Herod’s Fortress and the Zealots’ Last Stand (1966), was a bestseller.

It was no secret that Yadin’s excavations at sites in Israel, such as at Hazor in the 1950s and at Masada in the 1960s, were in part under­taken in the hope of reinforcing Jewish claims to the land by linking them to biblical stories and other famous events. Some have long charged Yadin with a political agenda detached from the truth – and cast a shadow over his interpretations of the finds at Masada and elsewhere in the Levant. In 1995 and 2002, Nachman Ben-Yehuda, a sociologist also at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published his own interpretation of the finds from Masada in two separate books – The Masada Myth and Sacrificing Truth. He con­cluded that Yadin had been incorrect in many of his interpretations, perhaps deliberately so, in the interest of creating a nationalist narrative to help the young state of Israel forge an identity for itself.

Subsequently, Amnon Ben-Tor, who is now the Yigael Yadin Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and who had excavated with Yadin at Masada, published a spirited defence of Yadin and his findings, titled Back to Masada (2009). In this book, Ben-Tor went through the archaeology again, dismissing each of Ben-Yehuda’s points and basically confirming Yadin’s point of view.

Yet the dispute goes on. The story of Masada is more than just a story of the archae­ological excavations. It is an example of how archaeologists use histori­cal information to supplement what they find during their excavations and to flesh out the bare details provided by the archaeological discov­eries. Yadin made particular use of the writings of Flavius Josephus – the Jewish general turned Roman historian who wrote two books about the Jews in the first century CE and who is the primary source for what might have taken place on top of Masada nearly 2,000 years ago. And Masada shows how the relationship between archaeology and the historical record cuts both ways; since we cannot be certain that Josephus’s discussions are 100 per cent accurate, we can use archaeology to corroborate – or to challenge – the ancient text.

Masada also serves as a cautionary tale about using (or misusing) archaeological evi­dence to support a nationalistic agenda, as some scholars have suggested Yadin did. The debate over Masada involves the trustworthiness of Josephus’s account; the credibility of Yadin, perhaps the most famous of all Israeli archaeolo­gists; and the influence of nationalism on the interpretation of archaeo­logical discoveries. Whom do we believe? How should we view this seemingly tragic, heart-wrenching ancient site and event? And can we ever tap evidence from thousands of years in the past to establish the origins, legal claims and birthright of peoples today?

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Masada is a tall mountain with a flat plateau on top, longer than it is wide, rising high above the surrounding dry and arid desert. It has been a tourist attraction ever since Yadin’s excavations in the mid-1960s. Hun­dreds of tourists per day now roam around the ruins on top of the mountain – half a million visit every year. It is the second most popular tourist site in Israel, after Jerusalem, and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.

It lies at the southern end of the Dead Sea, far to the south of Qum­ran and most of the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The top is accessible on foot only via a narrow winding track known as the Snake Path, which leads 400 metres (1,300 feet) up the front face of the massif and the Roman siege ramp still in place on the western side. It gets so hot here that rules have been put in place instructing tourists that they may begin the climb only if it is before 9:30 in the morning. After that, there’s too much chance of getting dehy­drated during the ascent. Those who begin climbing before dawn are rewarded by one of the most spectacular sunrises they will ever see, but most tourists opt to ride up in the cable cars that have been installed, gliding above the Snake Path and waving to those below.

The work that Yadin conducted at Masada over two excavation sea­sons – from October 1963 to May 1964, and again from November 1964 to April 1965 – was a milestone for archaeology in several ways. For example, Yadin was the first to use international volunteers to help dig the site. He recruited participants by placing ads in newspapers, both in Israel and in England, and wound up with volunteers from 28 countries.

The sheer numbers that took part is also amazing – Yadin claimed to have had no fewer than 300 volunteers digging at Masada at any given moment during his excavations. Those included volunteers from the Israel Defense Forces, high-school students and kibbutz members, in addition to the international participants.

The logistics of running the dig were staggering. Archaeologists active today, who were graduate students at the time, talk about helicopters flying tools and equipment up to the top of the mound, though the more usual route was to carry everything up the western side of the mound via the Roman siege ramp. Expedition members lived in tents pitched at the foot of this same Roman ramp.

The excavation itself has become the stuff of legend. Yadin said that when they first began planning the excavation, they couldn’t see any structures with a recognisable plan on top of Masada. The entire area, he said, seemed to be covered with ‘mounds of stone and rubble’. In actuality, many of the buildings could be seen quite plainly, once the team took aerial photographs so that they knew where to dig.

By the time they finished the excavations, they had discovered that Masada was an elaborate palatial settlement, originally built by King Herod after his successful journey to Rome in 40 BCE, in case he ever had to flee Jerusalem and seek refuge elsewhere. It was later taken over and occupied by the Sicarii, or Dagger Men, rebels fighting Rome in the aftermath of the First Jewish Revolt more than seven decades later.

they found numerous small items: hundreds of coins, pieces of pottery with inscriptions on them, and small pieces of jewellery

Masada actually boasted two palaces. One was at the northern end of the rock plateau. It had three levels embedded in the side of the cliff and was placed to grab summer breezes in the intense heat of the Judaean desert. The other palace was on Masada’s western side. In addition to the two palaces, Yadin’s team found rooms and buildings that served as tanneries, workshops and even a synagogue. They also found numer­ous storage areas to hold food and other provisions, some of which had jars that still contained charred grain and cisterns for holding rainwater, for there was no fresh water to be had in the arid desert region that surrounded Masada.

Some of the walls were covered in plaster painted with images in deep blues, brilliant reds, yellow and black, of which only fragments now remain. A few of the floors were inlaid with mosaics featuring elaborate designs like those found more commonly in Greece or Rome. Presumably artisans hired by Herod the Great created these, perhaps to emulate what he had seen in Rome.

Yadin reconstructed some of the original buildings from fallen stones. The best example of this at Masada was the large complex of storerooms that were in the northeastern part of the site. Here, just the lower portions of the walls were left, but the stones from higher up in the walls were all lying right where they had fallen. Yadin and his team used every available stone to rebuild the walls, which turned out to be 11 feet high. In order to show what they had done, they painted a black line to separate the lower part that they had exca­vated from the upper part that they had reconstructed.

Yadin said they put ‘every grain of earth … through a special sieve’. Nearly 50,000 cubic yards of dirt was sifted – the first time that every single bucket of dirt had been sifted at an excavation in Israel. As a result, they found numerous small items that would probably have been missed oth­erwise, including hundreds of coins, pieces of pottery with inscriptions on them, and small pieces of jewellery such as rings and beads. The coins allowed Yadin to date very precisely the remains that they were uncovering – particularly the coins that had been made just a few years earlier, during the First Jewish Revolt.

The first Jewish rebellion began in 66 CE, when the Jews in what is now Israel rose up against the Romans who were occupying their land. The revolt lasted until 70 CE, at which point the Romans captured Jerusalem and burnt most of it to the ground, including the Temple that had been built there by Herod the Great to replace the original one constructed by King Solomon, which had been destroyed by the Neo-Babylonians centuries earlier. It is said that both the First and Second Temples – that is, those built by Solomon and Herod, respec­tively – were destroyed on the same day of the year, which is today a Jewish day of mourning known as Tisha B’Av.

When the rebellion ended, a group of rebels managed to escape the destruction of Jerusalem and settled at Masada. Led by a man named Eleazar ben Ya’ir, these were the Sicarii. They took over the fortified buildings and palaces that Herod had originally built on top of Masada as a place of last refuge.

In his account of what happened, though, Josephus got some of the details wrong, and so we suspect that perhaps he wasn’t ever there him­self, but was using someone else’s notes. For instance, he says that Herod ‘built a palace … at the western ascent … but inclined to its north side.’ In actuality, as noted, the archaeologists found two palaces, not one – at the west and at the north – on top of Masada.

Some of the other details that Josephus gives, though, are quite correct – for instance, he describes the baths that were built there, the fact that the floors in some of the buildings ‘were paved with stones of several colours’, and that many pits were cut into the living rock to serve as cisterns. Josephus must be referring to the sort of mosaics that Yadin found still partially intact on some of the floors. As to the cisterns that he mentions, some of them dug into the rock on top of Masada were simply enormous. Yadin estimated that they each had a capacity of up to 140,000 cubic feet of water; added together, they could hold almost 1.4 million cubic feet or more than 10 million gallons of water.

The Romans sur­rounded Masada with a wall that went the entire way around the moun­tain on the desert floor, so that no one could escape

In the end, the rebel group held out for three years, raiding the sur­rounding countryside for food, until the Romans decided to put an end to them and the final remnants of the rebellion.

Josephus wrote that the Romans, led by General Flavius Silva, sur­rounded Masada with a wall that went the entire way around the moun­tain on the desert floor, with separate garrisons or fortresses built at spaced intervals along the wall, so that no one could escape. Today, eight of Flavius’s fortresses can still be seen from the top of Masada when looking down at the surrounding countryside.

Next, the Romans began constructing a long ramp built of earth and stones, making use of a natural ridge that reached from the desert floor to within ‘300 cubits’ of the top of Masada. Once the ramp was constructed, siege engines, like a battering ram and catapults that flung large stones and ballistae that shot huge arrows, could be wheeled upon its length and used against the walls of Masada. Josephus noted:

There was … a tower made of the height of 60 cubits, and all over plated with iron, out of which the Romans threw darts and stones from the engines, and soon made those that fought from the walls of the place to retire, and would not let them lift up their heads above the works.

Today, full-size replicas of some of these siege engines can be seen at the site, left there after ABC filmed a miniseries about Masada that aired in 1981. Yadin and the other archaeologists uncovered other objects during their excavations in the 1960s that can also still be seen at the site, including what look like catapult balls that were flung up by the Romans, and possibly slingstones that were thrown back down by the Jewish defenders.

After the Roman siege engines were set up, the real siege began. Jose­phus wrote that General Silva ordered the battering ram to be dragged up the ramp and set against the wall. Several men grabbed the rope that was tied to the great piece of pointed wood that formed the battering ram and pulled it back, back, back. When they let go, the ram smashed against the fortification wall with a huge crash. It wasn’t going to be long before they had breached the wall.

The Jewish defenders, however, had created their own wall just inside, which was made of wood and earth, so that it would be soft and yielding, as Josephus wrote. He said that they laid down great beams of wood lengthwise right next to the inside of the wall, then did the same about 10 feet or so away, so that they had two large stacks of wooden beams. In between the two stacks, they poured earth, so that in the end, they had an extremely thick wall with wood on both sides and an earthen core. This second wall, set up against the stone fortification wall, helped to absorb the blows of the battering ram, spreading the impact. Thus, it took the Romans far longer than they expected to knock a hole in the wall. And even when they did punch a hole in the outer wall, they were still faced with this thick wood-and-earth wall.

‘It is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which has not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly’

In the end, they simply set fire to it, Josephus wrote, and then made preparations to enter the city. By the time the flames had died down, night had fallen, and Josephus said that the Romans returned to their camps for the night and prepared to overrun the defenders the next morning.

This brief respite from the Roman attack provided the Jewish defenders the time and opportunity to decide to kill themselves rather than be killed or taken prisoner and enslaved by the Romans. Josephus wrote that Eleazar asked each family man to kill his own wife and children, declaring: ‘[I]t is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which has not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly.’

The men then drew lots, choosing 10 of their number to kill all the others. The 10 then drew lots and selected one to kill the other nine. He then killed himself, thereby becoming the only person to commit suicide, technically speaking, which is against Jewish law. In effect, though, it was a mass suicide and when the Romans entered the next morning, they were greeted by a vast silence. Only when two women and five children emerged from their hiding place in a cistern did the Romans learn the truth of what had happened, for the women told them of Eleazar’s speech, repeating it word for word. According to Jose­phus, 960 people died that night.

The dramatic story has reverberated through the ages until the present day. In fact, after Yadin’s excavations at the site, the Israeli army used to hold its induction ceremonies for new recruits up on top of Masada, making them swear at a dramatic nighttime ritual in front of a blazing bonfire that ‘never again; never again’ would they allow such a thing to happen.

Problems with Josephus’s story remain, not least of which is the fact that, if the two women and five children really had been hiding in the cistern, there is no way that they would have been able to hear Eleazar’s speech, and hear it so clearly that they were able to repeat it and Josephus could quote it word for word.

The Romans poured in and massacred the Jewish defenders. It was not a mass suicide, but a mass slaughter

A larger problem is the fact that, if the Romans had punched a hole in the wall even as night was falling, they would never have returned to their camps for the evening. Roman military tactics at the time called for them to press the advantage whenever and wherever they had it, regardless of the time of day or night. Thus, they would have gone straight through the breached and burning wall, leaving no time for a discussion of the plan and a vote on it, for Eleazar to make his speech, for successive lots to be drawn, no time for the husbands to kill their wives and families, no time for the 10 men to kill the others, and no time for the last man to kill the other nine. In short, it couldn’t have happened as Josephus has described it.

More likely what happened was exactly what we might have expected. When the Romans breached the wall, they poured in and massacred the Jewish defenders. It was not a mass suicide, but a mass slaughter. Josephus, writing later back in Rome and using notes and daybooks from the commanding officers who were present, was probably asked to whitewash the whole thing. In fact, Josephus took the story that he tells about the men killing their families, 10 men killing the others, and then one man killing the rest, from his own experience.

Several years earlier, in 67 CE, during the initial rebellion against Rome, Josephus had been a Jewish general fighting the Romans at a site called Jotapata. They managed to hold off the Romans for 47 days, but then he and 40 others took refuge in a cave, where they decided to commit suicide, with each man killing another, rather than surrender. In the end, only Josephus was left alive with one other man, whom he persuaded to surrender with him. The story Josephus told of what happened at Masada seems to be the story of what hap­pened to him at Jotapata.

It was with some of these Josephus-related problems in mind, including the story of the women and children hiding in the cistern while the rest of the people committed suicide, that Yadin decided to go to Masada. His excavation was solid, but his interpretation remains a matter of great debate. For instance, among the objects that Yadin found were belt buckles, door keys, arrowheads, spoons, rings and other items made of iron, in addi­tion to much pottery and numerous coins. He interpreted these as belonging to the Jewish defenders of Masada, as indeed they might have, but some could have belonged to the Roman besiegers or even to later inhabitants or squatters at the site.

He also found fragments of scrolls, including scraps from the Book of Psalms, one containing portions of Psalms 81 to 85 and another from the last chapter in the book, Psalm 150, which reads ‘Praise ye the Lord … Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet.’ Other very import­ant but fragmentary nonbiblical texts were also in place, including a fragment from a scroll whose lines of text are identical to one found in the Dead Sea caves at Qumran, which led Yadin, and many other schol­ars since then, to wonder whether there was any connection between the defenders of Masada and the inhabitants of Qumran.

‘Even the veterans and the more cynical among us stood frozen, gazing in awe at what had been uncovered’

Perhaps most important, Yadin also found bodies at the site, though fewer than 30 in all (and certainly not anywhere near the 960 that Josephus reported), some with hair still intact and leather sandals nearby. It is these that have generated the most debate in recent years. Twenty-five of them were in a cave near the top of the southern cliff face; they were given a state funeral in 1969, though over Yadin’s objec­tions, since he said they couldn’t be sure whether they were the Jewish defenders of Masada, the Roman attackers or some other group of peo­ple, perhaps from a different period altogether.

Three other bodies were found near a small bathhouse on the lower terrace of the northern palace. Professor Ben-Tor, the current director of the excavations at Hazor, says that he was the one who excavated these three skeletons and that it was the most thrilling day in his professional life. In his book, Yadin made the most of these three bodies, stating that when they first came across the remains: ‘Even the veterans and the more cynical among us stood frozen, gazing in awe at what had been uncovered.’

One of the bodies, Yadin said, was ‘that of a man of about 20 – perhaps one of the commanders of Masada’. Next to him were armour scales, dozens of arrows, an inscribed potsherd, and fragments of a prayer shawl. Nearby, on a plaster floor stained with what looked like blood, was the skeleton of a young woman. Her hair was still preserved, ‘beautifully plaited … as if it had been just been freshly coiffured’. Her sandals also were preserved, next to her body. The third body, Yadin said, ‘was that of a child’.

Yadin believed that they formed a family group who died in close proximity to each other. This has been the focus of much debate over the years, as have the pottery sherds with names written on them in ink that he found, including one that says ‘ben Ya’ir’. To Yadin, these bod­ies and the sherds confirmed Josephus’s story and the existence of Elea­zar ben Ya’ir.

Unfortunately for Yadin, more recent forensic analysis indicates that the members of the so-called family group were only a few years apart in age and couldn’t possibly have been a ‘family’. The man was more likely about 22 years old, the woman was 18, and the child was a boy about 11 years old.

There are other problems as well, including the fact that there were 11 inscribed sherds found instead of 10; pig bones, indicating that non-Jews resided there, were mixed in with some of the burials; and so on. These were duly listed in the books written by Ben-Yehuda and then dismissed in turn by Ben-Tor.

Regardless of whether one follows Ben-Yehuda or Ben-Tor in reviling or revering Yadin, Ben-Tor’s concluding remarks in his book in defence of Yadin still ring true. As he said: ‘Placing Masada on the scientific agenda … on the one hand, and in the public consciousness as a tourist site on the other, are both the proper expression and a true monument to the two aspects of Yadin’s personality: the scholar and the public figure.’

Overall, Yadin’s excavations at Masada served as a milestone for archaeology in Israel, especially for use of multinational volunteers and numerous other aspects of the logistics of the operation. They remain significant today for tourism, of course, but also because they are at the heart of recent discussions on the nature of interpretations made by archaeologists, especially those who might or might not have a national­ist agenda beyond a simple reading of the data that they have uncovered.

The link between archaeology and nationalism is not unique to Yadin or Israel; a recent edited book on nationalism and archaeology in Europe points out that it was actually the appearance of nationalism in Germany, Italy, Denmark, and elsewhere that created and institutionalised archaeology as a science, complete with museums in which to store the retrieved artefacts, academic societies for the professionals, journals in which to publish the results of excavations, and university professorships to help teach students about their own recovered history. While there is a concerted effort among archaeologists today to avoid being unduly influenced by nationalism or other similar sentiments, that may not always be possible.

Excerpted from ‘Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology’ by Eric H Cline. © 2017 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission.

https://aeon.co/essays/decoding-the-ancient-tale-of-mass-suicide-in-the-judaean-desert

What is Masada? What is the history of Masada?

TL;DR:

Masada is not mentioned in the Bible but was a place where the Jewish Zealots hid when the Romans attacked. Masada calls us to trust in God and to stand for what is true.

what does the bible say?

Masada is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. The events surrounding Masada occurred during the time period between the Old and New Testaments, so it's not directly referenced in biblical texts. However, Masada is a historically significant site, particularly known for the events that took place there during the Jewish-Roman War in the 1st century AD.

Herod the Great built the mountain fortress of Masada in 31 BC above the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. He feared revolt and wanted a place to make a stand that was difficult to attack and easy to defend. The fortress, with large places to store food, vast cisterns to store water, and defensive structures, was accessed only by a narrow path up the 1,300-foot mountain.

King Herod, an Edomite appointed by Roman rulers to oversee Judea, built the fortress and made it nearly impregnable, but it was the Jewish Zealots who hid there one hundred years later who made Masada famous.

In AD 70, the Romans attacked Judea and overran Jerusalem. Masada was the last holdout and center of resistance. General Flavius Silva couldn't directly attack the fortress, so in AD 72 he put thousands of slaves to work building a siege ramp. It took months to complete and when the troops broke into the fortress in AD 73, they found 953 people dead of a ceremonial mass suicide. Two women and five children hid in a cistern and survived to tell the story. They quoted Eleazar, their leader, saying, "Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, not to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice."

from the old testament

Masada is not mentioned in the Old Testament.

from the new testament

Masada is not mentioned in the New Testament.

While Masada itself isn't mentioned in the Bible, some of the events related to the Jewish-Roman War are indirectly referenced in the New Testament, particularly in Jesus' prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Matthew 24:1–2; Mark 13:1–2; Luke 21:20–24). However, Masada is not specifically mentioned in those passages.

implications for today

The story of Masada teaches us the enduring lesson of perseverance and courage in the face of adversity. Despite being outnumbered and facing overwhelming odds, the Jewish Zealots at Masada chose to stand firm in their beliefs and resist Roman rule. While the way we hold onto what is true may vary depending on situation, God calls us to hold onto Him and to build our lives on the Rock on whom we can stand. God is our refuge and strength; in Him we find the courage we need to stand for what is right.

https://www.compellingtruth.org/history-of-Masada.html

Who were the Zealots in the Bible?

Answer

In the New Testament, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ was named Simon the Zealot (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). What was a Zealot?

The Zealots were members of a first-century political movement among Judean Jews who sought to overthrow the occupying Roman government. The word zealot derives from the Greek zelotes, meaning “emulator or (zealous) follower.”

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, three main Jewish groups existed at the time of Christ—the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He also mentions a fourth group called the Zealots who were founded by Judas of Galilee and Zadok the Pharisee. Josephus notes that the Zealots “agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord" (Antiquities 18.1.6).

Of importance in New Testament history, the Zealots led a rebellion when Rome introduced imperial cult worship. The Great Jewish Revolt began in A.D. 66. The Zealots successfully overtook Jerusalem, but their revolt was ultimately unsuccessful. In A.D. 70, the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple. A remnant of the Zealots then took refuge in Masada.

Because of their often-violent tactics, the Zealots have been called some of the world’s first terrorists. Though the label is only partially true (not all Zealots were violent), the reputation of Zealots as forceful, aggressive agitators carries a significant lesson for us. Jesus chose Simon the Zealot, a man who likely desired to forcibly remove the Roman government, and He also chose Matthew, a tax collector working for the Roman government. Both Simon and Matthew, though natural enemies, were part of the Twelve. What a beautiful illustration of the peace Jesus brings! Today, God still brings healing and changes lives. Those with a violent past or extremist tendencies can be transformed as God uses them to spread the good news of Christ’s love for all people.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Zealots-Bible.html

Mark 3

1599 Geneva Bible

3 1 The withered hand is healed. 6 The Pharisees consult with the Herodians. 10 Many are healed by touching Christ. 11 At his sight the devils fall down before him. 14 The twelve Apostles. 24 The kingdom divided against itself. 29 Blasphemy against the holy Ghost. 33 Christ’s parents.

1 And [a]he entered again into the Synagogue, and there was a man which had a [b]withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.

3 Then he said unto the man which had the withered hand, Arise: stand forth in the midst.

4 And he said to them, Is it lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath day, or to do evil? to save the [c]life, or to kill? but they held their peace.

5 Then he looked round about on them [d]angrily, mourning also for the [e]hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored, as whole as the other.

6 ¶ [f]And the Pharisees departed, and straightway gathered a council with the [g]Herodians against him, that they might destroy him.

7 But Jesus avoided with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, and from Judea,

8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and [h]beyond Jordan: and they that dwelled about Tyre and Sidon, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him in great number.

9 And he commanded his disciples, that a little ship should [i]wait for him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

10 For he had healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him to touch him, as many as had [j]plagues.

11 And when the [k]unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

12 And he sharply rebuked them, to the end they should not utter him.

13 ¶ Then he went up into a mountain, and called unto him whom he would, and they came unto him.

14 [l]And he [m]appointed twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them to preach.

15 And that they might have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

16 And the first was Simon, and he named Simon, Peter,

17 Then James the son of Zebedee, and John James’ brother (and surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder.)

18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and [n]Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

19 And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him, and they came [o]home.

20 And the multitude assembled again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

21 [p]And when his [q]kinsfolks heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said that he was beside himself.

22 ¶ And the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub, and through the prince of the devils he casteth out devils.

23 But he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan drive out Satan?

24 For if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 Or if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot continue.

26 So if [r]Satan make insurrection against himself, and be divided, he cannot endure, but is at an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and take away his goods, except he first bind that strong man, and then spoil his house.

28 ¶ [s]Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the children of men, and blasphemies, wherewith they blaspheme:

29 But he that blasphemeth against the holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but is culpable of eternal damnation.

30 [t]Because they said, He had an unclean spirit.

31 ¶ Then came his [u]brethren and mother and stood without, and sent unto him, and called him.

32 And the people sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother, and thy brethren seek for thee without.

33 But he answered them, saying, Who is my mother and my brethren?

34 [v]And he looked round about on them, which sat in compass about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.

35 For whosoever doeth the will of God, he is my brother, my sister, and my mother.

Footnotes

Mark 3:1 Thirdly, for that they preferred the ceremonial Law (which was but an appendant to the moral Law) before the moral Law: whereas contrariwise, they should have learned out of this, the true use of the ceremonial Law.

Mark 3:1 That is, unprofitable and dead.

Mark 3:4 A figurative speech, by the figure Synecdoche. For this kind of saying, To save the life, is as much, as to save the man.

Mark 3:5 Men, when they have wrong done unto them, are angry, but not without vice, but Christ is angry without vice, neither is he sorry so much for the injury that is done to his own person, as for their wickedness: and therefore he had pity upon them, and for that cause is he said to have mourned.

Mark 3:5 As though their heart had been so closed up, and grown together, that wholesome doctrine could prevail no more with them.

Mark 3:6 The more the truth is kept under, the more it cometh out.

Mark 3:6 See also Matt. 22:16.

Mark 3:8 Which Josephus calleth stony or rocky.

Mark 3:9 Should always be ready for him.

Mark 3:10 Diseases wherewith God scourgeth men as it were with whips.

Mark 3:11 In them whom they had entered into: or by the figure called Metonymy, for them which were vexed with unclean spirits.

Mark 3:14 The twelve Apostles are set apart to be trained up to the office of the Apostleship.

Mark 3:14 Chose and appointed out twelve to be familiar and conversant with him.

Mark 3:18 Whom Luke also calleth Judas: and for difference’s sake, the other Judas is called Iscariot.

Mark 3:19 The disciples whom Christ had taken to be of his train and to live with him, come home to his house, to be with him always after.

Mark 3:21 None are worse enemies of the Gospel, than they that least ought.

Mark 3:21 Word for word, they that were of him, that is, his kinfolks: for they that were mad, were brought to their kinsmen.

Mark 3:26 Satan’s imps or . . . .

Mark 3:28 They only are without hope of salvation, which do maliciously oppugn Christ, whom they know.

Mark 3:30 These are the words of the Evangelist.

Mark 3:31 Under this name Brother, the Hebrews understand all that are of the same stock and kindred.

Mark 3:34 The spiritual kindred is far otherwise to be accounted of, than the carnal or fleshly.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%203&version=GNV