Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace
Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace
By Steve Holland and Angelo Amante
April 26, 20252:47 PM PDTUpdated 11 hours ago
Summary
Meeting was before the funeral of Pope Francis
Zelenskiy says discussion could prove historic
It was their first encounter since Oval Office shouting match
After meeting, Trump takes tough tone in post about Putin
Ceasefire talks in the Russian war in Ukraine at critical phase
VATICAN CITY, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesperson called it "very productive."
The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.
The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St. Peter's Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskiy's office, and images of the meeting released by Kyiv and Washington.
The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
After Pope Francis's funeral service, Trump boarded Air Force One and departed Rome. While in the air, he published a social media post in which he took a tough tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump posted on Truth Social. Twelve people were killed on Thursday when a missile fired by Russia hit a Kyiv apartment block.
"It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Trump wrote.
Following Trump's remarks, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said the Senate is poised to move forward on bipartisan legislation that would impose trade sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other products.
"The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honorable, just and enduring peace," Graham posted on X.
Trump's post was a departure from his usual rhetoric that has seen the toughest criticism directed at Zelenskiy, while he has spoken positively about Putin.
In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote: "Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about."
He said those topics included: "The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war."
Zelenskiy added: "It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!"
NO AIDES IN SIGHT
In one photograph released by Zelenskiy's office, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.
In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskiy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskiy's shoulder.
After Trump and Zelenskiy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter's Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.
"War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone," the cardinal said.
DIFFERENCES OVER TERRITORY
Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a ceasefire and peace deal. He had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree on a deal soon.
After a round of shuttle diplomacy this week, differences have emerged between the position of the Trump White House on peace talks and the stance of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.
Washington is proposing a legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, something that Kyiv and its allies in Europe say is a red line they will not cross.
There are also differences on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.
Trump and Zelenskiy have had a rocky personal relationship. At their Oval Office meeting, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of "gambling with World War Three."
Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the barbs have continued. Zelenskiy has said Trump was trapped in a "disinformation bubble" that favoured Moscow, while the U.S. leader accused Zelenskiy of foot-dragging on a peace deal and making "inflammatory" statements.
But the two men need each other. Trump requires Zelenskiy's buy-in to achieve his stated ambition of bringing a swift peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv needs Trump to pressure Moscow into diluting some of the more onerous conditions it has set for a truce.
At the Oval Office meeting in February, a reporter who was present from a conservative U.S. news network accused Zelenskiy of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit.
Zelenskiy, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, has eschewed suits in favour of military-style attire, saying it is his way of showing solidarity with his countrymen fighting to defend Ukraine.
In Rome on Saturday, Zelenskiy again decided against a suit, and instead wore a dark shirt, buttoned up to the neck with no tie, and wore a dark military-style jacket over the top of that.
Reporting by Steve Holland and Angelo Amante; Additional reporting by Christian Lowe and Andrii Pryimachenko in Kyiv and Alistair Smout in London; Writing by Christian Lowe and James Oliphant; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Rod Nickel
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-met-trump-rome-zelenskiys-office-says-2025-04-26/
The name of Ukraine is frequently interpreted as coming from the old Slavic term for 'borderland' as is the word krajina.[19] Another interpretation is that the name of Ukraine means "region" or "country".
In the English-speaking world during most of the 20th century, Ukraine (whether independent or not) was referred to as "the Ukraine".[20] This is because in Russian, the word ukraina means 'borderland'[21] so the definite article would be natural in the English language; this is similar to Nederlanden, which means 'low lands' and is rendered in English as "the Netherlands".[22] However, since Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, this usage has become politicised and is now rarer, and style guides advise against its use.[23][24] U.S. ambassador William Taylor said that using "the Ukraine" implies disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty.[25] The official Ukrainian position is that "the Ukraine" is both grammatically and politically incorrect.[26][27]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine
George was a monthly magazine centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael J. Berman with publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in New York City in September 1995. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual." It was published from 1995 to 2001.
Overview
For the debut issue, creative director Matt Berman (no relation to co-founder Michael Berman) conceived a cover which received a great deal of attention[citation needed] for its image of Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington photographed by Herb Ritts.
George departed from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience primarily comprised people in or around the political world. The general template for George was similar to magazines such as Rolling Stone, Esquire or Vanity Fair. The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.
Notable contributors
Paul Begala
Roger Black
George Clooney
Kellyanne Conway[1]
Ann Coulter
Al D'Amato
Lisa DePaulo
Al Franken
Stephen Glass
Rush Limbaugh
Norman Mailer
Chris Matthews
Steve Miller
Cathy Scott
W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Jackie Stallone
Naomi Wolf
Reception
External videos
video icon Washington Journal interview with George executive editor Elizabeth Mitchell, August 18, 1997, C-SPAN
video icon Washington Journal discussion of the George media issue with George editor Gary Ginsberg, Matt Drudge, and Hanna Rosin, April 25, 1998, C-SPAN
When it first appeared, George attracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy and George occasionally courted controversy to boost sales, one notable example being the 1997 issue wherein Kennedy in his editorial lambasted his cousins Michael Kennedy and Joe Kennedy II, whose marital scandals had recently made news, as "poster boys for bad behavior".[2]
Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.
Critics called George "the political magazine for people who don't understand politics," assailing it for "stripping any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics".[citation needed] In a feature in its final issue, Spy magazine asserted that the magazine's premise was flawed because, "Politics overlapped with Pop Culture in such a limited number of ways".[3] That fairly critical profile in Spy described George as "scrambling for celebrities 'with tits' as often as possible to put on the cover and then trying to figure out what that person had to do with politics".
Decline
After Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines purchased Kennedy's portion of the magazine from his estate and continued for over a year, with Frank Lalli as editor-in-chief.[4] With falling advertising sales,[4] the magazine ceased publication in 2001, two years after Kennedy's death.[5]
External videos
video icon Tenth anniversary discussion at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, C-SPAN
In 2005, Harvard Kennedy School held a panel discussion titled "Not Just Politics as Usual", which commemorated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's launch. The panel was moderated by Tom Brokaw and featured appearances by other journalists.[6]
Back-issue popularity
A February 1997 edition of George with the tagline "Survival Guide to the Future", wherein Kennedy interviews Bill Gates, has become well sought-after by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, with one copy online being listed at $3,499.99.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(magazine)
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].
It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge
Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas and from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He was known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes. In addition, due to both his Jesuit and Ignatian aesthetic, he was known for favoring simpler vestments void of ornamentation, including refusing the traditional papal mozzetta cape upon his election, choosing silver instead of gold for his piscatory ring, and keeping the same pectoral cross he had as cardinal.[2] Francis made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4]
Francis believed that the Catholic Church should demonstrate more inclusivity to LGBTQ people, and stated that although blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals in a same-sex relationship can be blessed as long as the blessing is not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis was a critic of trickle-down economics, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] He viewed the death penalty as inadmissible in all cases,[8] and committed the Catholic Church to its worldwide abolition.[9] In international diplomacy, Francis criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality,[10] helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with the People's Republic of China to define Communist Party influence in appointing Chinese bishops, and supported the cause of refugees. He encouraged peace between Israel and Palestinians, signed the Vatican's first treaty with the State of Palestine and condemned Israel's military operations in Gaza, calling for investigations of war crimes. He called protection of migrants a "duty of civilization" and criticized anti-immigration politics, including those of US president Donald Trump.[11] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the cultural genocide of Canadian Indigenous peoples in residential schools.[12] Francis convened the Synod on Synodality, which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][13][14]
Francis died at the age of 88 in the early morning of 21 April 2025, the day after Easter Sunday (known as Easter Monday). He died after suffering from a stroke, which led to coma and cardiac arrest. He had made his last public appearance the day before.[15][16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
In October 2024, it was revealed that Pope Francis would be the first sitting pope to publish a memoir, Hope, which is set to be published in January 2025.[17]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
Hopefully, the Jesuit Order, in control of the Archbishop with his Network of
Vatican Assassins, will be brought to justice for the cold-blooded murder of
President Kennedy and for continuing the Great Jesuit Cover-up of his death. This
includes the most recent murder of John F. Kennedy, Jr. along with his beautiful
wife, Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren. Justice will only be done when the
Jesuit presence has been purged from the Justice Department in control of the FBI
—Rome’s political Holy Office of the Inquisition within the American Empire.
And why was John F. Kennedy, Jr., along with his innocent passengers,
murdered? According to the late Tom Kuncl in the August 31, 1999 issue of the
National Examiner, JFK, Jr. (having promised in his George magazine (October,
1998, Volume 3, Issue 10, page 136) that if elected President he would abolish the
Federal Reserve System and warned that America’s most pressing foreign issue was
a “dangerous, nuclear armed Russia that is economically unstable”) had
“. . . recently launched an all-out investigation, to find his father’s real
killer . . .
[For John had said in his own words:]
‘I want to know who killed my father. I want there to be absolutely no
doubt.’ ” {59}
G. B. Nicolini, in his History of the Jesuits published in 1889, gives us further light,
declaring on page 269:
“We insist upon that point [that the Jesuits vindictively persecuted the
Roman Catholic Jansenists for exposing the Society in using Jacques
Clement to murder King Henry III of France] one of the most
prominent characteristics of Jesuitism, [is] never to forgive an injury,
and to persecute the remotest descendants for the offences they may
have received from their ancestors.” {60}
Therefore, the following chart contained in Vatican Assassins: “Wounded In
The House Of My Friends” is humbly given on behalf of the Kennedy and Bessette
families. They must know the same savage Jesuit power that killed President
Kennedy, mercilessly murdered their three darlings in the prime of their young lives.
The same has been done to Princess Diana; for the Jesuits would never
permit the Moslem offspring of her union with an Arab prince to be an heir to the
British throne. That throne may only be occupied by a monarch loyal to the Jesuits’
“infallible” Pope of Rome—a loyalty that has been unbroken from the wicked and
tyrannical King George III, whose Prime Minister was the Jesuit Lord Shelburne,
to the present Queen Elizabeth II. For uniting with Dodi Fayed, the “Moslem dog”
or “Moslem wog” as the English nobles would call him, Princess Diana was buried
Web Page 59
out of public view at Althrop Park in Northamptonshire, on a small island in the
middle of a pond, where only pet dogs had previously been buried!
As you examine the chart dear reader, picture in your mind’s eye the faces of
President Kennedy, Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Carolyn and Lauren
Bessette. Then may your heart be strengthened to do your duty in exposing the
criminal Papal Knights manning that great Sword of the Jesuit General—the
Vatican’s International Intelligence Community,
“. . . whose points are everywhere and whose hilt is in Rome.” {61}
Dear fellow soldier in the Lord Jesus Christ, having been born-again by the
will of God, remember the Words of God spoken by the Spirit of God through the
great Hebrew Kings of Israel, David and Solomon:
“The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?”
– Psalm 27:1
“The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
– Proverbs 28:1
“The fear of man bringeth a snare:
but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”
– Proverbs 29:25
Vatican Assassins:
“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”
Third Edition
by Eric Jon Phelps
https://ia802505.us.archive.org/28/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf
Otto von Habsburg[1][2] (German: Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius, Hungarian: Ferenc József Ottó Róbert Mária Antal Károly Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Lajos Gaetan Pius Ignác; 20 November 1912 – 4 July 2011)[3][4] was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in November 1918. In 1922, he became the pretender to the former thrones, head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece,[5] upon the death of his father. He resigned as Sovereign of the Golden Fleece in 2000 and as head of the Imperial House in 2007.
The eldest son of Charles I and IV, the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Otto was born as Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg, third in line to the thrones, as Archduke Otto of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia.[6][7] With his father's accession to the thrones in 1916, he was likely to become emperor and king. As his father never abdicated, Otto was considered by himself, his family and Austro-Hungarian legitimists to be the rightful emperor-king from his father's death in 1922.[8] Otto was active on the Austrian and European political stage from the 1930s, both by promoting the cause of Habsburg restoration and as an early proponent of European integration; he was a fierce opponent of Nazism, nationalism, and communism.[3][9] He has been described as one of the leaders of the Austrian Resistance.[10] After the 1938 Anschluss, he was sentenced to death by the Nazis and fled Europe to the United States.
Otto von Habsburg was Vice President (1957–1973) and President (1973–2004) of the International Paneuropean Union movement. From 1979 to 1999, he served as a Member of the European Parliament for Germany's Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). As a newly elected Member of the European Parliament in 1979, Otto took a strong interest in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, and had an empty chair set up in the European Parliament to symbolize their absence. Otto von Habsburg played a notable role in the revolutions of 1989 as a co-initiator of the Pan-European Picnic. Later, he was a strong supporter of the EU membership of Central and Eastern European countries.[11] A noted intellectual, he published several books on historical and political affairs. Otto has been described as one of the "architects of the European idea and of European integration" together with Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, and Alcide De Gasperi.[12]
Otto was exiled in 1919 and grew up mostly in Spain. His devout Catholic mother raised him according to the old curriculum of Austria-Hungary, preparing him to become a Catholic monarch. During his life in exile, he lived in Austria, Belgium, France, Madeira (Portugal), Spain, Switzerland, the United States, and from 1954 until his death, finally in Bavaria (Germany), in the residence Villa Austria. He had been stateless de jure and de facto, and possessed passports of the Order of Malta and Spain. His funeral took place at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on 16 July 2011; he was entombed in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna and his heart buried in Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Habsburg
Odo /ˈoʊdoʊ/, played by René Auberjonois, is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is a member of a shape-shifting species called Changelings and serves as the head of security for the space station Deep Space Nine on which the show is set. Intelligent, observant, and taciturn, Odo uses his unique abilities throughout the show to maintain security on the DS9 station and later aids the Bajoran people and the Federation throughout the Dominion War against his own people, the Founders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_(Star_Trek)
The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are the proposed Frankish family along with the Karlings which are 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
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Robertians" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
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
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
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
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
THE "ZIG-ZAG Man" of rolling papers fame is based on the story of a French North African soldier (Zouave) whose smoking pipe was shattered by a stray bullet during the battle of Sevastopol so he rolled his tobacco using a piece of paper torn from a musket cartridge.
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/9oojd9/til_zigzag_man_of_rolling_papers_fame_is_based_on/?rdt=47114
Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]
Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.
The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie
Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]
History and development
Floor and table designs
In the eighteenth century Masonic lodges met chiefly in private rooms above taverns, and the symbolic designs used in catechesis were chalked on the table or floor in the centre of the hired room, usually by the Tyler or the Worshipful Master.[2] Evidence suggests that a simple boundary was drawn (usually a square or rectangle, or sometimes a cross) within which various Masonic symbols were added, often of a geometric type (such as a circle or pentagram). In many lodges the boundary shape may have been drawn by the Tyler, with the Master adding the symbolic detail. Later various symbolic objects were incorporated, examples including a ladder, a beehive, and an hourglass, and sometimes drawings were interchangeable with physical objects.[3] At the end of the work a new member was often required to erase the drawing with a mop, as a practical demonstration of his obligation of secrecy.
Though the various Grand Lodges were then generally hostile to the creation of any physical representations of the ritual and symbols of the Craft, the time-consuming business of redrawing the symbols at every meeting was gradually replaced by keeping a removable "floor cloth" on which the various symbols were painted. Different portions might be exposed according to the work being executed.[4] By the second half of the eighteenth century the Masonic symbols were being painted on a variety of removable materials ranging from small marble slabs to canvas, to give a more decorative and elaborate symbolic display.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board
Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.
FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM
by MAX HEINDEL
https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf
George Shot (May 9, 1951) – Operation Greenhouse
Atomic Tests Channel
Apr 26, 2025
Purpose: Tested thermonuclear principles (radiation implosion and deuterium fusion) but was not a full hydrogen bomb.
Yield: 225 kilotons (much smaller than Ivy Mike).
Significance: Proved that a fission bomb could ignite fusion reactions, paving the way for Ivy Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lTZFr-HQdo
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0vSiYPCG6r7QN6gcaX3pSmMmXtRF4qFXC6FFoPWiqShWsqd6GQLbAsDM3Qmu9Rs3El
See ‘Friends’ stars promote Windows 95 in 1995
Aug. 25, 2015
Happy 20th anniversary, Windows 95! To mark the birthday of the operating system, watch then-“Friends” stars Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston get a lesson on Bill Gates’ own computer in a vintage promotional video.
https://www.today.com/video/see-friends-stars-promote-windows-95-in-1995-512593987841
Friends: of the Society are to be sought and cultivated [426, 823, 824] on behalf of them, whether living or dead, prayers are to be offered and other signs of gratitude are to be shown [638], 413; the extent to which communication with friends in the world is to be had [60, 246], 53, 111; the extent to which an examiner can examine candidates who are his friends [143]
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms
Windows on the World was destroyed when the North Tower collapsed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While the restaurant was hosting regular breakfast patrons and the Risk Waters Financial Technology Congress, Egyptian terrorist Mohamed Atta and four other Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower between floors 93 and 99 at 8:46 a.m.[19] Everyone present in the restaurant died that day, as all means of escape (including the stairwells and elevators leading down from the impact zones) were instantly severed by the impact. Victims trapped in Windows on the World either died from smoke inhalation from the ensuing fire, jumping or falling to their deaths from the restaurant, or being killed in the eventual collapse of the North Tower 102 minutes later at 10:28 A.M. At least five Windows occupants were witnessed jumping or falling to their deaths from the restaurant.[20]
There were 72 restaurant staff present in the restaurant, including assistant general manager Christine Olender, whose desperate calls to Port Authority police represented the restaurant's final communications.[21] Sixteen Incisive Media-Risk Waters Group employees, as well as 76 other guests/contractors, were also present.[22] Among those also present was the executive director of the Port Authority, Neil Levin, who was having breakfast. After about 9:40 a.m., no further distress calls from the restaurant were made. The last people to leave the restaurant before Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. were Michael Nestor, Liz Thompson, Geoffrey Wharton, and Richard Tierney, who all shared an elevator together. They departed at 8:44 a.m. and survived the attack.[23]
World Trade Center lessor, Larry Silverstein, was regularly holding breakfast meetings in Windows on the World with tenants as part of his recent acquisition of the Twin Towers from the Port Authority, and was scheduled to be in the restaurant on the morning of the attacks. However, his wife insisted that he had to go to a dermatologist's appointment that morning,[24] whereby he avoided death."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World
Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released on 16 March 1979, by A&M Records.[5] It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned three US Billboard hit singles: "The Logical Song" (No. 6), "Goodbye Stranger" (No. 15), and "Take the Long Way Home" (No. 10). In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.[6]
At the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1980, Breakfast in America won two awards for Best Album Package and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, as well as nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[7] It holds an Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certification of quadruple platinum and became Supertramp's biggest-selling album, with more than 4 million copies sold in the US and more than 3 million in France (the fourth ever best-selling album). It was No. 1 on Billboard Pop Albums Chart for six weeks, until 30 June 1979.[8] The album also hit No. 1 in Norway, Austria, West Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia and France.
Background
As with Even in the Quietest Moments..., Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson wrote most of their songs separately but conceived the theme for the album jointly. Their original concept was for an album of songs about the relationship and conflicting ideals between Davies and Hodgson themselves, to be titled Hello Stranger. Hodgson explained: "We realized that a few of the songs really lent themselves to two people talking to each other and at each other. I could be putting down his way of thinking and he could be challenging my way of seeing life [...] Our ways of life are so different, but I love him. That contrast is what makes the world go 'round and what makes Supertramp go 'round. His beliefs are a challenge to mine and my beliefs are a challenge to his."[9]
This idea was eventually scrapped in favour of an album of "fun" songs, and though Davies initially wanted to keep the title Hello Stranger, he was convinced by Hodgson to change it to Breakfast in America. Hodgson commented later: "We chose the title because it was a fun title. It suited the fun feeling of the album."[9] Due to the title and the explicit satirising of American culture in the cover and three of the songs ("Gone Hollywood", "Breakfast in America" and "Child of Vision"), many listeners interpreted the album as a whole as being a satire of the United States. Supertramp's members have all insisted that the repeated references to US culture are purely coincidental and that no such thematic satire was intended.[9] Hodgson has described the misconception as a parallel to how Crime of the Century (1974) is often misinterpreted as being a concept album.[9]
"Gone Hollywood" is the opening track of Breakfast in America. Written by Rick Davies, the song tells about a person who moves to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a movie star, but finds it far more difficult than he imagined. He struggles and becomes frustrated, until he ultimately gets his break and becomes "the talk of the Boulevard". The lyrics were originally more bleak, but under pressure from the other band members, Davies rewrote them to be more optimistic and commercially appealing.[10] Billboard writer David Farrell felt that, other than Davies' lead vocal, the song sounds like a Queen song.[11]
"Child of Vision" is the closing track. Much like "The Logical Song", it uses a Wurlitzer electric piano as the main instrument. After the lyrical part, the song goes into a long solo played on the grand piano alongside the original melody on the Wurlitzer. The track fades out with a short saxophone solo by John Helliwell. Roger Hodgson has said that the song was written to be an equivalent to "Gone Hollywood", looking at how Americans live, though he confessed that he had only a limited familiarity with US culture at the time of writing.[12] He also said there is a slight possibility that he subconsciously had Rick Davies in mind while writing the lyrics.[12]
Each song was credited to a single musician on the inner sleeve, but on the central vinyl label was printed "Words and Music by Roger Hodgson & Rick Davies", combining the two and confusing the issue of composition credit. Roger Hodgson's management has described "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Take the Long Way Home", "Lord Is It Mine" and "Child of Vision" as 'Roger's songs';[13] however, this apparently does not mean he necessarily wrote them by himself, for Hodgson has credited Davies with writing the vocal harmony on "The Logical Song".[10] Davies has referred to "The five songs that I did on Breakfast",[9] but has not specified which ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_in_America
Windows Vista is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006, and became generally available on January 30, 2007, on the Windows Marketplace, the first release of Windows to be made available through a digital distribution platform.[7] Vista succeeded Windows XP (2001); at the time, the five-year gap between the two was the longest time span between successive Windows releases.
Microsoft began developing Vista under the codename "Longhorn" in 2001, shortly before the release of XP. It was intended as a small upgrade to bridge the gap between XP and the next major Windows version, codenamed Blackcomb. As development progressed, it assimilated many of Blackcomb's features and was repositioned as a major Windows release. Vista introduced the updated graphical user interface and visual style Aero, Windows Search, redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems, and new multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker among other changes. Vista aimed to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Vista included version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs. It removed support for Itanium and devices without ACPI.
While its new features and security improvements garnered praise, Vista was the target of significant criticism, such as its high system requirements, more restrictive licensing terms, lack of compatibility, longer boot time, and excessive authorization prompts from User Account Control. It saw lower adoption and satisfaction rates than XP, and it is generally considered a market failure.[8][9] However, Vista usage did exceed Microsoft's pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users, with an estimated 330 million internet users in January 2009. On October 22, 2010, Microsoft ceased sales of retail copies of Windows Vista, and the original equipment manufacturer's sales for Windows Vista ceased the following year.[10]
Vista was succeeded by Windows 7 (2009), which retained and refined many of the features that Vista introduced. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Vista on April 10, 2012, and extended support on April 11, 2017.[11] In retrospect, Vista is often described as one of the worst versions of Windows,[12] but also an important one that laid the foundation for future releases.[13][14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista
The Marriott World Trade Center was a 22-story, 825-room hotel at 3 World Trade Center within the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It opened in April 1981 as the Vista International Hotel and was the first major hotel to open in Lower Manhattan south of Canal Street since 1836. It was also unofficially known as World Trade Center 3 (WTC 3 or 3 WTC), and the World Trade Center Hotel, officially the Vista Hotel, and the Marriott Hotel throughout its history.
The hotel was damaged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It was destroyed by structural damage caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center as a result of the September 11 attacks. The hotel was not replaced as part of the new World Trade Center complex, although its address was reused for a tower at 175 Greenwich Street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriott_World_Trade_Center
An anonymous Internet commentator reflects:A friend of mine got hold of the beta test CD of Win95, and set up a packet sniffer between his serial port and the modem. When you try out the free demo time on The Microsoft Network, it transmits your entire directory structure in background.This means that they have a list of every directory (and, potentially every file) on your machine. It would not be difficult to have something like a File Request from your system to theirs, without you knowing about it. This way they could get a hold of any juicy routines you've written yourself and claim them as their own if you don't have them copyrighted." Liability For Distributed Artificial Intelligences"
Berkeley Technology Law Journal (btlj.org)
https://www.btlj.org/data/articles2015/vol11/Searchable/11-1/03%20Karnow.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3N1_M0djLd_bQgTM_xQto8kfgVZRyQkphkkmMOmvXec71yVJuGf9UvVnU
The Vatican has founded the Pope John Paul II Center for Prayer and Study for Peace at 1711 Ocean Avenue, Springlake, New Jersey, in a mansion overlooking the ocean. The mansion was given to the New York Archdiocese by the estate of Elmer Bobst, who died in 1978. He was a multimillionaire and chairman of Warner Lambert Company. Richard Nixon was a frequent visitor. Directors of the Center were Kurt Waldheim, former Secretary General of the United Nations and ex-nazi war criminal; Cyrus Vance, former Secretary of State under Carter and member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission; Clare Booth Luce, a dame of the Knights of Malta; and J. Peter Grace of W.R. Grace Company, who is head of the Knights of Malta in the United States. The Center was set up by the Vatican as a part of the Pope's new peace plan, which will bring the world together (see my paper "The Secret Government"). The Center has two roles:
(1) Educate Catholics and their children to accept the New World Order.
(2) Provide residence for the world-peace-solution computer and an ongoing study for peaceful solutions to any future problems which may endanger world peace. The computer is hooked to the world capitals via satellite. All nations have agreed to relinquish sovereignty to the Pope and submit future problems to the computer for solution. Of course, this will not go into effect until the New World Order is publicly announced. I believe that the New World Order was born in secrecy on January 19,1989. Now you know.
Acquaint yourself anew with the teachings of Jesus. Compare his teachings with the tenets of the Illuminati and then compare it with the following. The Vatican has stated at various times that "the Pope is for total disarmament; the Pope is for elimination of the sovereignty of the nation states; the Pope is also stating that property rights are not to be considered true property rights. The Pope believes that only the Vatican knows what is right for man." In the early 1940s, 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 burned 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 November/78 to October/79 and March/80 to October/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. 1990 is the right time with the right leaders: ex-chief of the Soviet secret police Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-chief of the CIA George Bush, ex-Nazi cyanide gas salesman Pope John Paul II, all bound by an unholy alliance to ring in the New World Order."
Behold A Pale Horse
by William Cooper
hourofthetime .com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/William_Cooper-Behold_a_Pale_Horse1991A.pdf
The Mother of All Demos" is a name retroactively applied to a landmark computer demonstration, of developments by the Augmentation Research Center, given at the Association for Computing Machinery / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ACM/IEEE)—Computer Society's Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, by Douglas Engelbart, on December 9, 1968.[1]
The live demonstration featured the introduction of a complete computer hardware and software system called the oN-Line System or, more commonly, NLS. The 90-minute presentation demonstrated for the first time many of the fundamental elements of modern personal computing: windows, hypertext, graphics, efficient navigation and command input, video conferencing, the computer mouse, word processing, dynamic file linking, revision control, and a collaborative real-time editor. Engelbart's presentation was the first to publicly demonstrate all of these elements in a single system. The demonstration was highly influential and spawned similar projects at Xerox PARC in the early 1970s. The underlying concepts and technologies influenced both the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows graphical user interface operating systems in the 1980s and 1990s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos
20And Adam named his wife Eve,e because she would be the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:20
https://biblehub.com/bsb/genesis/3.htm
Demo
From Old Galician-Portuguese demõ (“demon; devil”), from Latin daemon (“demon”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “god, goddess, divine power”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈdɛ.mo̝/
Noun
demo m (plural demos)
1. devil; demon
Synonyms: diabo, diaño
2. (uncountable) the Devil
3. (figurative) an evil person
O demo ós seus quer. (proverb) ― Devil loves his own people.
4. (figurative) a playful kid
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demo
Lilith (/ˈlɪlɪθ/; Hebrew: לִילִית, romanized: Liliṯ), also spelt Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam[1] and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished"[2] from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam.[2]
She is thought to be mentioned in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Isaiah,[3] and in late antiquity in Mandaean and Jewish sources from 500 AD onward. Lilith appears in historiolas (incantations incorporating a short mythic story) in various concepts and localities[4] that give partial descriptions of her. She is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 100b, Niddah 24b, Shabbat 151b, Bava Batra 73a), in the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan as Adam's first wife, and in the Zohar § Leviticus 19a as "a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man".[5] Many rabbinic authorities, including Maimonides and Menachem Meiri, reject the existence of Lilith.[6]
The name Lilith stems from lilû, lilîtu, and (w)ardat lilî). The Akkadian word lilû is related to the Hebrew word lilit appearing in Isaiah 34:14, which is thought to be a night bird by some modern scholars such as Judit M. Blair.[7] In Mesopotamian religion, found in the cuneiform texts of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia, lilîtu is a spirit or demon.[1][8][9] Many have also connected her to the Mesopotamian demon Lamashtu, who shares similar traits and a similar position in mythology to Lilith.[10][11][12]
Lilith continues to serve as source material in today's popular culture, Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror.
History
In some Jewish folklore, such as the Alphabet of Sirach (c. 700–1000 AD), Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same clay as Adam.[a] The legend of Lilith developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism.[15] For example, in the 13th-century writings of Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she had coupled with the archangel Samael.[16]
Interpretations of Lilith found in later Jewish materials are plentiful, but little information has survived relating to the Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian views of this class of demons. Recent scholarship has disputed the relevance of two sources previously used to connect the Jewish lilith to an Akkadian lilītu – the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets[17] (see below for discussion of these two problematic sources).
In contrast, some scholars, such as Lowell K. Handy, hold the view that though Lilith derives from Mesopotamian demonology, evidence of the Hebrew Lilith being present in the sources frequently cited – the Sumerian Gilgamesh fragment and the Sumerian incantation from Arshlan-Tash being two – is scant, if present at all.[16]: 174 In the Sumerian King List, the name first occurs in a description of a king's lineage, and was identified by scholars as a class of demons.[18]
In Hebrew-language texts, the term lilith or lilit (translated as "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34.[19] The Isaiah 34:14 Lilith reference does not appear in most common Bible translations such as KJV and NIV. Commentators and interpreters often envision the figure of Lilith as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness.[20] Jewish incantation bowls and amulets from Mesopotamia from the first to the eighth centuries identify Lilith as a female demon and provide the first visual depictions of her.[20]
Etymology
In the Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, the terms lili and līlītu mean spirits. Some uses of līlītu are listed in the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD, 1956, L.190), in Wolfram von Soden's Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (AHw, p. 553), and Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RLA, p. 47).[21]
The Sumerian female demons lili have no etymological relation to Akkadian lilu, "evening".[22]
Archibald Sayce (1882)[23][page needed] considered that the Hebrew and the earlier Akkadian names are derived from Proto-Semitic. Charles Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia exist where Līlīt and Līlītu refers to disease-bearing wind spirits.[24][25]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
What is the lily of the valley (Song of Solomon 2:1)?
Answer
The Song of Solomon is an extended love poem. In Song of Solomon 2:1, the woman declares, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Then the man affirms in verse 2, “Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.” Then in verse 3 the woman responds, “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men.”
In the first verse, the woman says she is a rose of Sharon and a lily of the valleys. Many different plants have been called a rose of Sharon, and we do not know the specific species that is referred to here. There is also some question as to how the lily of the valley is to be identified. Suggestions include wild-growing anemone, hyacinth, tulip, iris, and gladiolus. In any case, the lily of the valley was a beautiful and fragrant plant. In the context of Song of Solomon, it may be that the woman is comparing herself to some common wildflowers that would not necessarily be considered valuable or beautiful when compared to cultivated flowers.
On the contrary, the man sees his beloved as a lily among thorns. Thorns are ugly, unattractive, and uninviting. But his beloved is a lily among the thorns—she stands out in his eyes, and her beauty outshines that of all other women. By the same token, the woman sees her bridegroom as an apple tree among the other trees in the forest—he is unique and valuable in her eyes.
The point seems to be that each lover finds the other superior to all the other options. The bride is a lily, as compared to thorns. The bridegroom is an apple tree, as compared to the other forest trees. There might be a lot of trees in the forest that are large and tall—like the mighty oak or the cedar of Lebanon. A rather small, scrubby apple tree would not seem to be very significant by comparison. However, when one considers the fruit that the apple tree gives, it is extraordinary. A person might chop down any number of trees for firewood, lumber, etc., but would most likely save an apple tree because of the fruit.
The point seems to be that comparing a beloved with others is all a matter of perspective. A lily of the valley compared to cultivated flowers might be rather insignificant, but compared to thorns that grow around it, it is beautiful. An apple tree is not the greatest tree in the forest, but when you consider the fruit that it gives, it is a wonderful tree.
This is the attitude that married people need to have when viewing each other. Each spouse needs to emphasize the positive strengths of the other. If one spouse looks around and starts to compare himself/herself against others who are better looking, more successful, richer, more powerful, more talented, more capable, etc., he or she may begin to feel inadequate or unworthy. It is the responsibility and privilege of the other spouse to point out the strengths and to demonstrate that “I only have eyes for you.” If the other spouse falls into the trap of negatively comparing his or her spouse with others, then things can go downhill quickly. Pornography and so much of what popular media defines as beautiful, sexy, or successful can be devastating to marriages because they set impossible, artificial standards that a spouse in real life can most likely never meet.
Every husband should see his wife as the lily of the valley and thank God for the beautiful and delightful blossom He has provided for him in the wilderness.
https://www.gotquestions.org/lily-of-the-valley.html
After his initiation, which is said to have been conducted personally by Pike, his attitude and activities suddenly changed. While he outwardly remained anti-clerical and anti-Vatican, he no longer advocated the violent overthrow of the Vatican by force. Pike did with Lemmi what Karl Rothschild had had to do little more than a decade earlier with other Satanists when they stirred up so much anti-Vatican hatred that the governments of France and Italy were on the verge of destroying it. Karl Rothschild, an initiate of the Full Secret, stepped in to act as “Peacemaker” between the Vatican and her enemies. History relates how his intervention ‘saved’ the Vatican and made Karl Rothschild the ‘friend’ and ‘trusted adviser’ of the Pope. He reorganized the affairs of the Treasury and State Departments. But history has proved that Karl Rothschild was no true friend of the Vatican. Two World Wars, instigated by his family of moneylenders, and their international affiliates who direct the W.R.M.., have seen Christians of all denominations divided into opposing camps, been made to fight and kill each other off by the tens of millions. This has been done to bring Pike’s plan for the final social cataclysm nearer to fruition. Communism grew stronger as Christianity was weakened, until today, as Pike’s plan required, Communism has darkened the entire earth. While it would be inaccurate to deny that there have been ‘bad’ Popes, as there have been ‘bad’ Kings, it is only proper to point out that the ‘bad’ Popes and Kings were no worse than some of the other leaders of Christianity, when they became presidents of republics. Luciferianism demands that ALL temporal and spiritual authority be destroyed because of their alleged badness. Because the struggle in which we are involved, is against the spiritual forces of darkness, it stands to reason that there must be good and bad people in all walks of life; in all levels of government and in all religions. It is typical of all who serve the Devil’s cause that they always use destructive criticism aimed at those in authority, to undermine the confidence and loyalty of the individual in the remaining governmental and religious institutions. This policy helps those who direct the W.R.M. to at first weaken, and then destroy ALL remaining governments and religions. Let us never forget that there is nothing wrong with Christianity. Many things done in the name of Christianity were done by men who, knowingly or unknowingly, furthered the secret plans of the Luciferian conspiracy. What we need to do is clean upon and strengthen Christianity as God would wish. The above remarks are published to explain how it is that Satanists have always attacked the Popes and the Vatican, and advocated their destruction, while the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed have, to-date, always stepped in and prevented their doing so. The intervention of those who control the Synagogue of Satan AT THE TOP was not out of love or respect for the Pope of the Vatican. They intervened because, being initiated into the FULL SECRET, they knew that when their conspiracy reaches its final stage; after all temporal powers have been reduced in strength until they no longer remain World Powers; when a tired and weary people have been reduced to such a physical and mental condition that they became convinced that ONLY a One World Government can put an end to revolutions and wars, and give them peace, they must use the clash between Communism and Christianity to destroy ALL remaining religious institutions also. Gen. Albert Pike revealed how this was to be done in the letter he wrote Mazzini August 15,1871. That part which deals with this particular phase of the conspiracy reads as follows, “We shall unleash the Nihilists and Atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations (people of different nationalities), the effects of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens obliged to defend themselves against the world minority or revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will be from that moment without compass (direction), anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the TRUE LIGHT, through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and Atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.” We ask the reader to study every word of this diabolically inspired document. According to Pike’s military blueprint, drawn up between 1859 and 1871, three global wars and three major revolutions were to place the High Priests of the Luciferian Creed in position to usurp world powers. Two World Wars have been fought according to schedule. The Russian and Chinese revolutions have achieved success. Communism has been built up in strength and Christendom weakened. World War Three is now in the making. If it is allowed to break out, all remaining nations will be further weakened, and Islam and political Zionism will be destroyed as world powers. The reader must not forget that the Arab world is made up of millions of people, many of whom are Christians; many are of the Jewish faith; many are Mohammedans, but all subscribe to belief in the same God Christians worship as the Creator of the Universe. The Koran of the Mohammedan faith is practically identical with the Bible, excepting only that the Mohammedan religion, while accepting Jesus Christ as the GREATEST of God’s prophets before Mohammed, does not permit its members to believe in the Divinity of Christ. The point we wish to make is this: Those who direct the Luciferian conspiracy AT THE TOP realize only too well that before they can provoke the final social cataclysm, they must first of all bring about the destruction of Islam as a world power, because if Islam were not destroyed, it would undoubtedly line up with Christianity in the event of an all out war with Communism. If that were allowed to happen, the balance of power would be held by Christianity, allied to Mohammedanism, and it would be very unlikely that both sides would conquer and exterminate each other. It is of the greatest of importance that these facts, which explain the political intrigue and chicanery now going on in the near, middle, and far East, be brought to the attention ofALL political and religious leaders so they may take action to prevent the last phases of the Luciferian conspiracy from being put into effect, and bring to fruition the prediction made in Chapter 20 of Revelations, i.e., that Satan shall be bound for a thousand years. The events of the past half century would indicate that we are rapidly approaching that period of the world’s history when, if it were not for the intervention of God, “No flesh would survive” (Matt. 24:22, Mark 13: 20). It is important that the general public know the diabolical fate being prepared for the whole of the human race. I cannot agree with some of the clergy of several denominations, with whom I have discussed this matter at considerable length, who say, “It is better that the public be left in ignorance of their pending fate. To tell them the truth will only alarm them and cause them to panic.” Even some Bishops, who are supposed to be the shepherds of their flocks, hold such views. This is beyond my comprehension. They are like physicians who advocate drugging a person they suppose to be dying at the first indication of pain. If the general public is told the whole TRUTH, knowledge of the TRUTH will certainly make the vast majority of people busy themselves about saving their immortal souls. Knowledge of the TRUTH regarding the diabolically inspired conspiracy will wake them up; it will put an end to lethargy and indifference. As Christ told us the TRUTH will set us free (spiritually) from the bonds with which we are being ever tighter bound, by the spiritual forces of darkness every day. What does it matter if Devil’s incarnate kill our bodies provided we prevent them deceiving us into losing our immortal souls? (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4). The TRUTH is that if World War Three is fought, the United States will be the only remaining world power after it is ended. Either ALL people will have to acknowledge that power, or they will clamour for, and demand a world government. And they will get it if the Luciferian conspiracy is allowed to be developed to its intended conclusion. Then, through the auspices of the United Nations, or some similar organization, a puppet King will be made World Sovereign, and he will secretly be under the influence and direction of the agentur of the Synagogue of Satan, who will have been appointed, not elected, to be his “Specialists,” “Experts,” and “Advisors.” The High Priests of the Luciferian Creed know they cannot usurp world power before the United States is ruined as the last remaining world power, so those who direct the W.R.M. ATTHE VERYTOP are arranging matters so the United States will, as Lenin stated, “Fall into our hands like an overripe fruit.” This is how events taking place today indicate the subjugation of the U.S.A. is planned. Pike’s plan requires that the final social cataclysm between the masses controlled by atheistic-communism and those who profess Christianity, be fought on a national as well as an international scale. That is the reason, and the only reason, that Communism is being tolerated, while being kept under restraint, in the remaining socalled Free Nations of the World. I have served in the higher levels of government, and in the naval forces, in positions that enabled me to realize that Communism in Canada and in the United States is tolerated, and is being controlled and contained, so its evil destructive force can be used on the national level, as well as the international level, when the final social cataclysm is provoked by those who direct the W RM. AT THE TOP I have tried to bring this great TRUTH to the attention of cabinet ministers since 1944, when I served on the staff of Naval Headquarters in Ottawa. The late Right Hon. Angus McDonald was then Naval Secretary. Admiral J.C. Jones was Chief-of-Naval Staff. I convinced both these chief executives regarding the TRUTH of what was going on BEHIND THE SCENES of government in Canada and the United States. I was ordered to submit these facts in the form of briefs, so they could be presented to the Canadian cabinet. I know these matters were presented to said cabinet, but Mackenzie King brushed them aside. Col. Ralston, Minister for the Army, and Major ‘Chubby’ Power, Minister for the Air Force, were so disgusted with Mackenzie King because of the manner in which he wielded autocratic power, that they both resigned from his government, even though it was war time. The Naval Minister told me personally, “Carr, the cabinet is full of the people you wish to expose. I intend to stick with the ship (Navy) until we win the war. Then I am going to resign from federal politics. What is going on is more than I can take ....” When I requested to be de-mobilized in Mayy, 1945 (after Germany collapsed), in order that I might start writing Pawns in the Game and Red Fog over America, Admiral Jones shook my hand as we said good-bye, and said, “I wish you luck with your new books. Publication of the TRUTH, as you have explained it to the Minister and myself, could do more to prevent World War Three than any defensive plan based on armaments.” Both of these men died suddenly shortly afterwards. In 1955 it required six times as many members of the RC.M.P and the F.B.I. to ‘contain’ Communism in Canada and the United States, as it did in 1945. In 1956 the Canadian Minister of Justice asked parliament to increase his budget by millions of dollars on the grounds that six RC.M.P officers were now required to keep check on Communists, where only one was required 10 years before. This was a superlative illustration of the double talk used by men who are involved in the W.R.M.. The Minister said: “To keep check on Communists.” What he should have said was: “To keep Communism in check until the time is ripe to use it.” I personally knew Inspector John Leopold who for many years headed the anti-subversive department of the RC.M.P We discussed these matters on many occasions. The RC.M.P and the F B.I. could arrest every Communist in Canada and the United States within twenty-four hours of the order being given by the heads of the respective departments of Justice, provided the Communists were not tipped off previously. It isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that John Leopold had one of his agents sleep with the Communist leaders every night. But the order to destroy the most destructive weapon the leaders of the Luciferian conspiracy possess, by legal means, was not given, and John Leopold retired from the RC.M.P a broken man, worn out bodily, mentally, and, I am sorry to say, spiritually, because of sheer frustration. The power of the United States can be destroyed only from within. The internal unrest now being fomented between citizens of different races, colors, and creeds is not so much the result of aggressive action taken by different groups as it is the result of rulings which have been passed by the Supreme Court. Their purpose was the creation of issues and troubles where previously no real issue or problem existed. I say with all gravity, fully realizing the seriousness of what I say, that if the day is allowed to come when those controlled by atheistic Communism are thrown at the throats of those who profess Christianity, on an international scale, over some real or cooked-up’ issue, then Communists in every one of the remaining socalled free nations will be released from the check-reins with which they are now being contained, and, as Pike boasted to Mazzini, the people will experience the worst social cataclysm the world has ever known. What I say is based on documentary evidence supported by historical facts, events which have taken place since the plans were laid. Everything Weishaupt planned between 1770 and 1776 to further the Luciferian conspiracy has developed EXACTLY as he intended. Everything Pike planned between 1859 and 1871 has occurred EXACTLY as he intended. We are now on the verge of World War Three, and about to enter the first stage of the conspiracy. But what is of even greater importance -the Holy Scriptures confirm what I say. All a person needs to do, to convince himself of this TRUTH, is to read Matt. 24:1-35 and Mark 13:1-30, and Luke 21: 25- 33. What abominations could the human mind conceive worse than those we know from experience happen when human beings fight civil wars? What could be worse than to use the atomic weapons and nerve gas? It seems that human beings are turned into devils incarnate when engaged in war, particularly civil war, because they practice every abomination upon each other that Dante in his Inferno describes as being practiced in Hell."
Satan Prince of This World
by William Guy Carr
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02LwRRiCgFLXLpc6km4W5CM5AFiNC6Ro4udqYqsEcyKM1kKoW6LTDr5HGYe28tNRzUl
8 Things You Need to Know about Surveillance
8 important truths about surveillance
ai-in-society
Author
Rachel Thomas
Published
August 7, 2019
Over 225 police departments have partnered with Amazon to have access to Amazon’s video footage obtained as part of the “smart” doorbell product Ring, and in many cases these partnerships are heavily subsidized with taxpayer money. Police departments are allowing Amazon to stream 911 call information directly in real-time, and Amazon requires police departments to read pre-approved scripts when talking about the program. If a homeowner doesn’t want to share data from their video camera doorbell with police, an officer for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said they can just go directly to Amazon to obtain it. This creation of an extensive surveillance network, the murky private-public partnership surrounding it, and a lack of any sort of regulations or oversight is frightening. And this is just one of many examples related to surveillance technology that have recently come to light.
I frequently talk with people who are not that concerned about surveillance, or who feel that the positives outweigh the risks. Here, I want to share some important truths about surveillance:
Surveillance can facilitate human rights abuses and even genocide
Data is often used for different purposes than why it was collected
Data often contains errors
Surveillance typically operates with no accountability
Surveillance changes our behavior
Surveillance disproportionately impacts the marginalized
Data privacy is a public good
We don’t have to accept invasive surveillance
While I was writing this post, a number of investigative articles came out with disturbing new developments related to surveillance. I decided that rather than attempt to include everything in one post (which would make it too long and too dense), I would go ahead and share the above facts about surveillance, as they are just a relevant as ever.
Surveillance can facilitate human rights abuses and even genocide
There is a long history of data about sensitive attributes being misused, including the use of the 1940 USA Census to intern Japanese Americans, a system of identity cards introduced by the Belgian colonial government that were later used during the 1994 Rwandan genocide (in which nearly a million people were murdered), and the role of IBM in helping Nazi Germany use punchcard computers to identify and track the mass killing of millions of Jewish people. More recently, the mass internment of over one million people who are part of an ethnic minority in Western China was facilitated through the use of a surveillance network of cameras, biometric data (including images of people’s faces, audio of their voices, and blood samples), and phone monitoring.
Adolf Hitler meeting with IBM CEO Tom Watson Sr. in 1937. Source: Computer History
Pictured above is Adolf Hitler (far left) meeting with IBM CEO Tom Watson Sr. (2nd from left), shortly before Hitler awarded Watson a special “Service to the Reich” medal in 1937 (for a timeline of the Holocaust, see here). Watson returned the medal in 1940, although IBM continued to do business with the Nazis. IBM technology helped the Nazis conduct detailed censuses in countries they occupied, to thoroughly identify anyone of Jewish descent. Nazi concentration camps used IBM’s punchcard machines to tabulate prisoners, recording whether they were Jewish, gay, or Gypsies, and whether they died of “natural causes,” execution, suicide, or via “special treatment” in gas chambers. It is not the case that IBM sold the machines and then was done with it. Rather, IBM and its subsidiaries provided regular training and maintenance on-site at the concentration camps: printing off cards, configuring machines, and repairing them as they broke frequently.
Data is often used for different purposes than why it was collected
In the above examples, the data collection began before genocide was committed. IBM began selling to Nazi Germany well before the Holocaust (although continued for far too long), including helping with Germany’s 1933 census conducted by Adolf Hitler, which was effective at identifying far more Jewish people than had previously been recognized in Germany.
It is important to recognize how data and images gathered through surveillance can be weaponized later. Columbia professor Tim Wu wrote that “One [hard truth] is that data and surveillance networks created for one purpose can and will be used for others. You must assume that any personal data that Facebook or Android keeps are data that governments around the world will try to get or that thieves will try to steal.”
Plenty of data collection is not involved with such extreme abuse as genocide; however, in a time of global resurgence of white supremacist, ethno-nationalist, and authoritarian movements, it would be deeply irresponsible to not consider how data & surveillance can and will be weaponized against already vulnerable groups.
Data often has errors (and no mechanism for correcting them)
A database of suspected gang members maintained by California law enforcement officials was found to be full of errors, including 42 babies who had been added to the database when they were less than 1 year old (28 of whom were marked as “admitting to being gang members”). Even worse, there was no process in place for correcting mistakes or removing people once they’ve been added.
An NPR reporter recounts his experience of trying to rent an apartment and discovering that TransUnion, one of the 3 major credit bureaus, incorrectly reported him as having two felony firearms convictions. TransUnion only removed the mistakes after a dozen phone calls and notification that the story would be reported on. This is not an unusual story: the FTC’s large-scale study of credit reports in 2012 found 26% of consumers had at least one mistake in their files and 5% had errors that could be devastating. An even more opaque, unregulated “4th bureau” exists: a collection of companies buying and selling personal information about people on the margins of the banking system (such as immigrants, students, and people with low incomes), with no standards on what types of data are included, no way to opt out, and no system for identifying or correcting mistakes.
Surveillance typically operates with no accountability
What makes the examples in the previous section disturbing is not just that errors occurred, but that there was no way to identify or correct them, and no accountability for those profiting off the error-laden data. Often, even the existence of the systems being used is not publicly known (much less details of how these systems work), unless discovered by journalists or revealed by whistleblowers. The Detroit Police Dept used facial recognition technology for nearly two years without public input and in violation of a requirement that a policy be approved by the city’s Board of Police Commissioners, until a study from Georgetown Law’s Center for Privacy & Technology drew attention to the issue. Palantir, the defense startup founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, ran a program with New Orleans Police Department for 6 years which city council members did not even know about, much less have any oversight.
After two studies found that Amazon’s facial recognition software produced inaccurate and racially biased results, Amazon countered that the researchers should have changed the default parameters. However, it turned out that Amazon was not instructing police departments that use its software to do this either. Surveillance programs are operating with few regulations, no oversight, no accountability around accuracy or mistakes, and in many cases, no public knowledge of what is going on.
Surveillance changes our behavior
Hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong are protesting an unpopular new bill which would allow extradition to China. Typically, Hong Kong locals use their rechargeable smart cards to ride the subway. However, during the protests, long lines of people waited to use cash to buy paper tickets (usually something that only tourists do) concerned that they would be tracked for having attended the protests. Would fewer people protest if this was not an option?
In the United States, in 2015 the Baltimore Police Department used facial recognition technology to surveil people protesting the death of Freddie Grey, a young Black man who was killed in police custody, and arrested protesters with outstanding warrants. Mass surveillance could have a chilling impact on our rights to move about freely, to express ourselves, and to protest. “We act differently when we know we are ‘on the record.’ Mass privacy is the freedom to act without being watched and thus in a sense, to be who we really are,” Columbia professor Tim Wu wrote in the New York Times.
Flyer from the company Geofeedia Source
Surveillance disproportionately impacts those who are already marginalized
Surveillance is applied unevenly, causing the greatest harm to people who are already marginalized, including immigrants, people of color, and people living in poverty. These groups are more heavily policed and surveilled. The Perpetual Line-Up from the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology studied the unregulated use of facial recognition by police, with half of all Americans appearing in law enforcement databases, and the risks of errors, racial bias, misuses, and threats to civil liberties. The researchers pointed out that African Americans are more likely to appear in these databases (many of which are drawn from mug shots) since they are disproportionately likely to be stopped, interrogated, or arrested. For another example, consider the contrast between how easily people over 65 can apply for Medicare benefits by filling out an online form, with the invasive personal questions asked of a low-income mother on Medicaid about her lovers, hygiene, parental shortcomings, and personal habits.
In an article titled Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor, Ciara Byrne wrote, “Current public benefits programs ask applicants extremely detailed and personal questions and sometimes mandate home visits, drug tests, fingerprinting, and collection of biometric information… Employers of low-income workers listen to phone calls, conduct drug tests, monitor closed-circuit television, and require psychometric tests as conditions of employment. Prisoners in some states have to consent to be voiceprinted in order to make phone calls.”
Data privacy is a public good, like air quality or safe drinking water
Data is more revealing in aggregate. It can be nearly impossible to know what your individual data could reveal when combined with the data of others or with data from other sources, or when machine learning inference is performed on it. For instance, as Zeynep Tufekci wrote in the New York Times, individual Strava users could not have predicted how in aggregate their data could be used to identify the locations of US military bases. “Data privacy is not like a consumer good, where you click ‘I accept’ and all is well. Data privacy is more like air quality or safe drinking water, a public good that cannot be effectively regulated by trusting in the wisdom of millions of individual choices. A more collective response is needed.”
Unfortunately, this also means that you can’t fully safeguard your privacy on your own. You may choose not to purchase Amazon’s ring doorbell, yet you can still show up in the video footage collected by others. You might strengthen your online privacy practices, yet conclusions will still be inferred about you based on the behavior of others. As Professor Tufekci wrote, we need a collective response.
We don’t have to accept invasive surveillance
Many people are uncomfortable with surveillance, but feel like they have no say in the matter. While the threats surveillance poses are large, it is not too late to act. We are seeing success: in response to community organizing and an audit, Los Angeles Police Department scrapped a controversial program to predict who is most likely to commit violent crimes. Citizens, researchers, and activists in Detroit have been effective at drawing attention to the Detroit Police Department’s unregulated use of facial recognition and a bill calling for a 5-year moratorium has been introduced to the state legislature. Local governments in San Francisco, Oakland, and Somerville have banned the use of facial recognition by police.
https://www.fast.ai/posts/2019-08-07-surveillance.html
Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves
Aug 5, 1974 - Dorne & Margolin Inc.
Apparatus for and method of sensing brain waves at a position remote from a subject whereby electromagnetic signals of different frequencies are simultaneously transmitted to the brain of the subject in which the signals interfere with one another to yield a waveform which is modulated by the subject's brain waves. The interference waveform which is representative of the brain wave activity is re-transmitted by the brain to a receiver where it is demodulated and amplified. The demodulated waveform is then displayed for visual viewing and routed to a computer for further processing and analysis. The demodulated waveform also can be used to produce a compensating signal which is transmitted back to the brain to effect a desired change in electrical activity therein."
https://patents.justia.com/patent/3951134
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
[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their 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
How can I know if I am hearing God, hearing Satan, or hearing my own thoughts?
Answer
Life is full of decisions that do not have absolute, specific-by-name, how-to directions in the Bible. How many hours a day should my kids spend on screens? Is it okay to play certain video games? Am I allowed to go on a date with a coworker ? Is it okay to miss work because I stayed up too late the night before? We all have notions about the truth, but how do we know for sure that these ideas are coming from God? Am I hearing God? Or am I only hearing myself? Worse yet, am I hearing the temptations of Satan disguised as the leading of the Holy Spirit? Sometimes distinguishing our own ideas from God’s leading is difficult. And what if our urges are actually coming from the enemy of our souls and not from God? How do we “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5) when we aren’t sure where the thoughts are coming from?
Most commonly, God communicates through the Bible, His inspired Word, preserved through the centuries for us today. It is through the Word that we are sanctified (John 17:17), and the Word is the light for our path (Psalm 119:105). God can also guide us through circumstances (2 Corinthians 2:12), the promptings of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), and godly mentors providing wise counsel (Proverbs 12:15). If God wants to speak to us, nothing can stop Him. Here are some ways to discern the source of our thoughts:
Pray
If we are confused about whether or not we are hearing God, it is good to pray for wisdom (James 1:5). (It’s good to pray for wisdom even when we don’t think we’re confused!) We should ask God to make His will known to us clearly. When we pray, we “must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). If we have no faith, we “should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:7).
Talk to God in prayer and earnestly wait for His answer. However, keep in mind that God doesn’t give us everything we desire, and sometimes His answer is, “No.” He knows what we need at any given time, and He will show us what is best. If God says, “No,” then we can thank Him for the clarity of His direction and move on from there.
Study the Word
The Bible is called “God’s Word” for a reason—it is the primary way God speaks to us. It is also the way we learn about God’s character and His dealings with people throughout history. All Scripture is “breathed out by God” and is the guide for a righteous life (2 Timothy 3:16–17). While we speak to God in prayer, He speaks to us through His Word. As we read, we must consider the words of the Bible to be the very words of God.
Any thought, desire, inclination, or urge we may have must be brought to the Word of God for comparison and approval. Let the Bible be the judge of every thought. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). No matter how urgent the urge, if it goes against what Scripture says, then it is not of God and must be rejected.
Follow the Holy Spirit’s Leading
The Holy Spirit is God—a divine Being with a mind, emotions, and will. He is always with us (Psalm 139:7–8). His purposes include interceding for us (Romans 8:26–27) and giving gifts to benefit the church (1 Corinthians 12:7–11).
The Holy Spirit wills to fill us (Ephesians 5:18) and produce in us His fruit (Galatians 5:22–25). No matter what decisions we’re making day to day, we can’t go wrong when we exhibit love, joy, peace, etc., to the glory of God. When we have a random thought pop into our heads, we must learn to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1). Will following this inclination lead to more Christlikeness? Will dwelling on this thought produce more of the fruit of the Spirit in me? The Holy Spirit will never lead us to gratify the sinful desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16); He will always lead us toward sanctification (1 Peter 1:2). Life on earth is a spiritual battle. The enemy is eager to supply diversions to distract us from God’s will (1 Peter 5:8). We must be vigilant to ensure that what we heed is more than a feeling but is truly from God Himself.
Remember, God wants to show us the right path to take. He’s not in the business of hiding His will from those who seek Him.
Here are some good questions to ask as we examine whether or not we are hearing God: Are the promptings confusing or vague? God is not the author of confusion; He is the bringer of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). Do the thoughts go against God’s Word? God will not contradict Himself. Will following these promptings lead to sin? Those who “keep in step with the Spirit” have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24–25).
In addition, it is good to seek counsel from a Christian friend, family member, or pastor (Proverbs 15:22). Our pastors are there to help shepherd us: “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account” (Hebrews 13:17).
God does not want us to fail. The more we listen to God, the better we will be at distinguishing His voice from the other noises in our heads. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gives His promise: “He goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). Others may speak, “but the sheep [do] not listen to them” (verse 8). The better we know our Shepherd, the less we have to worry about heeding the wrong voice.
https://www.gotquestions.org/hearing-God.html
Prince Of Darkness All Computer Warnings John Carpenter 1987
John Carpenter's 'Prince Of Darkness' 1987 is one of my favorite sci-fi horror films. One of the most effective parts of the story is when the computer translator expert conveys the ancient history of the mysterious green liquid filled vessel. Here are all the times the computer translation brings us closer to the final horror of the shocking film.
John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness, Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, 1987
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8GjSd-LTjL0
Jake Leslie Davis (born 27 October 1992),[1] known professionally as Topiary, is a British hacktivist. He has worked with Anonymous, LulzSec, and other similar groups.[2] He was an associate of the Internet group Anonymous,[3] which has publicly claimed various online attacks, including hacking HBGary,[4] Westboro Baptist Church, and Gawker.[5] They have also claimed responsibility for the defacing of government websites in countries such as Zimbabwe,[6] Syria,[7] Tunisia,[8] Ireland,[9] and Egypt.[10]
After serving his time and staying off the Internet for two years, Jake Davis is now a security researcher, disclosing bugs to corporations as a part of their bounty programs.
Anonymous
Davis was a member of hacker collective Anonymous,[3] where he was involved in the attack on HBGary in response to Aaron Barr, then CEO of the organization, claiming to have unmasked various members of Anonymous.[4] The stolen HBGary emails were published and the small team who had been responsible splintered from Anonymous calling itself LulzSec.
LulzSec
On 24 February 2011, Topiary gained attention after he appeared on The David Pakman Show. He informed the host that Anonymous had replaced a Westboro Baptist Church webpage with a message from Anonymous during an on-air confrontation with Shirley Phelps-Roper.[11] A recording of this event was placed on YouTube,[12] where it reached over one million views in five days.
Topiary was a member of LulzSec, and ran their Twitter account.[13][14] The Guardian made a claim in a report that Topiary's name was Daniel.[15]
On 14 July 2011, The Guardian published an exclusive interview with Topiary,[16] in which he spoke extensively about his motivations. Describing himself as "an internet denizen with a passion for change" he said he feared being tracked by the authorities: "I can only hope that they haven't pinned any of us, especially my friends from LulzSec." Later, a full transcript of the lengthy interview surfaced on the website of freelance Guardian journalist Ryan Gallagher.[17]
Arrest
An 18-year-old man suspected of being Topiary was arrested in the Shetland islands of Scotland on 27 July 2011.[18] On 31 July 2011, the man was charged with five offences including unauthorised computer access and conspiracy to carry out a distributed denial of service attack on the Serious Organised Crime Agency's website.[19] Scotland Yard later identified the man arrested as Jake Davis, a resident of the island of Yell.[20] He was charged with unauthorised access of a computer under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, encouraging or assisting criminal activity under the Serious Crime Act 2007, conspiracy to launch a denial-of-service attack against the Serious Organised Crime Unit contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977, and criminal conspiracy also under the Criminal Law Act 1977.[21]
Police confiscated a Dell laptop and a 100-gigabyte hard drive that had 16 different virtual machines. The hard drive also contained details relating to an attack on Sony and hundreds of thousands of email addresses and passwords.[22] A London court released Davis on bail under the conditions that he live under curfew with his mother and have no access to the Internet. His lawyer Gideon Cammerman stated that, while his client did help publicise LulzSec and Anonymous attacks, he lacked the technical skills to have been anything but a sympathiser.[22]
After his arrest, Anonymous launched a 'Free Topiary' campaign,[23] which included adding a "Free Topiary" banner to their Twitter avatars, similar to the Free Bradley banner.
Guilty plea
Davis pleaded guilty on 25 June 2012 to DDoS attacks on several websites, but pleaded not guilty to two counts of encouraging others to commit computer offenses and fraud. Davis was due to be tried along with Ryan Cleary (Ryan), Ryan Ackroyd (Kayla), Mustafa Al-Bassam (tflow), beginning 8 April 2013. The court was informed it would take 3,000 hours to view the material against Ackroyd alone. They were released on bail, except for Cleary.[24][25]
Davis was not tried for a number of other crimes perpetrated by LulzSec.
Court appearance
On 8 April 2013, Davis again appeared in court with fellow hackers, Ryan Ackroyd, Ryan Cleary and Mustafa Al-Bassam. All four pleaded guilty to computer crimes and were sentenced on 14 May 2013. Davis faced a maximum of 10 years in prison but got 24 months in a young offenders institute. He served 38 days because he had been electronically tagged for 21 months and this counted against his sentence.[26]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topiary_(hacktivist)
topiary(adj.)
1590s, in gardening "clipping or cutting into ornamental shapes" (in topiary work), from Latin topiarius "of or pertaining to ornamental gardening" (as a noun, "ornamental gardening, landscape gardening," also "an ornamental gardener"), from topia "ornamental gardening," from Greek topia, plural of topion, originally "a field," diminutive of topos "place" (see topos).
The noun in English is by 1906, "art of training and clipping trees in artificial shape, topiary work," from the adjective. Related: Topiarian.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/topiary
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks. It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. The Hanging Gardens' name is derived from the Greek word κρεμαστός (kremastós, lit. 'overhanging'), which has a broader meaning than the modern English word "hanging" and refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace.[1][2][3]
According to one legend, the Hanging Gardens were built alongside a grand palace known as The Marvel of Mankind, by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife, Queen Amytis, because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. This was attested to by the Babylonian priest Berossus, writing in about 290 BC, a description that was later quoted by Josephus. The construction of the Hanging Gardens has also been attributed to the legendary queen Semiramis[4] and they have been called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis as an alternative name.[5]
The Hanging Gardens are the only one of the Seven Wonders whose location has not been definitively established.[6] No extant Babylonian texts mention the gardens and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon.[7][8] Three theories have been suggested to account for this: first, that the gardens were purely mythical, and the descriptions found in ancient Greek and Roman writings (including those of Strabo, Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus) represented a romantic ideal of an eastern garden;[9] second, that they existed in Babylon but were destroyed sometime around the first century AD;[10][4] and third, that the legend refers to a well-documented garden that the Assyrian King Sennacherib (704–681 BC) built in his capital city of Nineveh on the River Tigris, near the modern city of Mosul.[11][1]
Descriptions in classical literature
There are five principal writers whose descriptions of Babylon exist in some form today. These writers concern themselves with the size of the Hanging Gardens, their overall design and means of irrigation, and why they were built.
Josephus (c. 37–100 AD) quotes a description of the gardens by Berossus, a Babylonian priest of Marduk,[6] whose writing c. 290 BC is the earliest known mention of the gardens.[5] Berossus described the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II and is the only source to credit that king with the construction of the Hanging Gardens.[12][13]
In this palace he erected very high walls, supported by stone pillars; and by planting what was called a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did to gratify his queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous situation.[14]
Hanging gardens of Semiramis, by H. Waldeck
Diodorus Siculus (active c. 60–30 BC) seems to have consulted the 4th century BC texts of both Cleitarchus (a historian of Alexander the Great) and Ctesias of Cnidus. Diodorus ascribes the construction to a "Syrian king". He states that the garden was in the shape of a square, with each side approximately four plethra long. The garden was tiered, with the uppermost gallery being 50 cubits high. The walls, 22 feet thick, were made of brick. The bases of the tiered sections were sufficiently deep to provide root growth for the largest trees, and the gardens were irrigated from the nearby Euphrates.[15]
Quintus Curtius Rufus (fl. 1st century AD) probably drew on the same sources as Diodorus.[16] He states that the gardens were located on top of a citadel, which was 20 stadia in circumference. He attributes the building of the gardens to a "Syrian king", again for the reason that his queen missed her homeland.
The account of Strabo (c. 64 BC – 21 AD) possibly based his description on the lost account of Onesicritus from the 4th century BC.[17] He states that the gardens were watered by means of an Archimedes' screw leading to the gardens from the Euphrates river.
The last of the classical sources thought to be independent of the others is A Handbook to the Seven Wonders of the World by the paradoxographer Philo of Byzantium, writing in the 4th to 5th century AD (not to be confused with the earlier engineer of the same name).[18] The method of raising water by screw matches that described by Strabo.[19] Philo praises the engineering and ingenuity of building vast areas of deep soil, which had a tremendous mass, so far above the natural grade of the surrounding land, as well as the irrigation techniques.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon
Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.
It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallotus_philippensis
Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.
Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.
In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]
Background
See also: 2024 United States elections
The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]
Electoral system
Main article: United States Electoral College
See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States
The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]
Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]
Eligibility
The United States Constitution limits occupancy of the presidency to individuals who are at least thirty-five, who have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years, and who are a natural-born citizen.[18] Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents current and former federal, state, and military officials from holding office—including the presidency—if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States;[19] in March 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that former president Donald Trump could seek office after challenges to his ballot eligibility were raised by several state attorneys general.[20] A convicted felon may serve as president.[21] Elon Musk, who emerged as a political influencer in the 2024 presidential election, is ineligible to serve as president as he was born in South Africa and is a naturalized citizen.[22]
Trump is ineligible to be elected to a third term, as the Twenty-Second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice.[23] Nonetheless, he has repeatedly suggested running for a third term, an idea supported by several of his allies, including Steve Bannon.[24] In January 2025, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles proposed a resolution to amend the Twenty-Second Amendment, allowing for presidents who have served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third term. The verbiage of the amendment would prevent living presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all currently ineligible under the 22nd Amendment, from running for a third term.[25] At CPAC 2025, conservative groups, such as the Third Term Project, supported the Ogles resolution and promoted the idea of Trump running for an as-yet unconstitutional third term.[26][27] In response, New York Democratic representative Dan Goldman planned to introduce a resolution affirming the Twenty-Second Amendment.[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election
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
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
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).
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm
The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي, romanized: ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) or the First Arab Spring (to distinguish from the Second Arab Spring) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation.[1][2] From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan. Minor protests took place in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.[3] A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām! (Arabic: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit. 'the people want to bring down the regime').[4]
The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations were met with violent responses from authorities,[5][6][7] pro-government militias, counterdemonstrators, and militaries. These attacks were answered with violence from protesters in some cases.[8][9][10] Multiple large-scale conflicts followed: the Syrian civil war;[11][12] the rise of ISIL,[13] insurgency in Iraq and the following civil war;[14] the Egyptian Crisis, election and removal from office of Mohamed Morsi, and subsequent unrest and insurgency;[15] the Libyan Crisis; and the Yemeni crisis and subsequent civil war.[16] Regimes that lacked major oil wealth and hereditary succession arrangements were more likely to undergo regime change.[17]
A power struggle continued after the immediate response to the Arab Spring. While leadership changed and regimes were held accountable, power vacuums opened across the Arab world. Ultimately, it resulted in a contentious battle between a consolidation of power by religious elites and the growing support for democracy in many Muslim-majority states.[18] The early hopes that these popular movements would end corruption, increase political participation, and bring about greater economic equity quickly collapsed in the wake of the counter-revolutionary moves by foreign state actors in Yemen,[19] the regional and international military interventions in Bahrain and Yemen, and the destructive civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census.[2] It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located 78 miles (126 km) southeast of Pittsburgh and 226 miles (364 km) west of Philadelphia.
Shanksville garnered global attention during the September 11 attacks when United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark, New Jersey, for San Francisco, crashed in adjacent Stonycreek Township after its passengers rebelled against the flight's al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers. It was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach the terrorists' intended target.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania
A shiv, also chiv, schiv, shivvie or shank,[1][2] is a handcrafted bladed weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with prison inmates.
Since weapons are prohibited in prisons, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in available cracks or crevices in the prison's construction, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the prisoners; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield. Routine body searches in prison make it difficult to conceal a shiv on one's person on a continuous basis. As well as the prison authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members of rival prison populations.
The word is recorded from the 1670s in the spelling chive as cant for knife, whose pronunciation is reflected in the spelling shiv recorded in underworld slang from 1915 and possibly used since the 1890s or earlier. The cant word probably came from the Romani word chiv for "blade" (compare Romani chivomengro "knifeman").[3][4] The derived verb shiv means "to stab someone", and a shivver is an archaic term for a criminal who attacks victims with a knife.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_(weapon)
There are multiple matches for Shiva, including a Hindu god and a Jewish mourning period.
Shiva (Hindu god)
Shiva is a major god in Hinduism, known as the god of destruction.
His name means "auspicious one".
He is also known as Mahadeva, which means "the great god".
Shiva is part of the Hindu trinity, the Trimurti, along with Brahma and Vishnu.
He is worshipped at many shrines in India and around the world.
Shiva is said to live in the Himalayas with his wife, Parvati.
Shiva (Jewish mourning period)
Shiva is a seven-day period of mourning that begins after the burial of a loved one.
The word "shiva" comes from the Hebrew word sheva, which means "seven".
During shiva, mourners traditionally stay home or at the home of the deceased.
They also wear torn clothing or a black ribbon pinned to their clothes.
Shiva is a time to remember, accept death, and return to life.
Generative AI is experimental.
Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
Eric Berger – Jan 3, 2025 9:28 AM | 1.1k
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/elon-musk-were-going-straight-to-mars-the-moon-is-a-distraction/
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars (Latin: Mārs, pronounced [maːrs])[4] is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome.[5] He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.[6]
Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares,[7] whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. The character and dignity of Mars differs in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in Greek literature.[8] Mars's altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary second king of Rome; in Republican times it was a focus of electoral activities. Augustus shifted the focus of Mars' cult to within the pomerium (Rome's ritual boundary), and built a temple to Mars Ultor as a key religious feature of his new forum.[9]
Unlike Ares, who was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, and was a father (pater) of the Roman people.[10] In Rome's mythic genealogy and founding, Mars fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia. His love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled two different traditions of Rome's founding; Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas, celebrated as the Trojan refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus laid out the city walls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology)
Spring 2030 in United States
Spring Starts: Wednesday, Mar 20 6:51 am PDT
https://www.calendardate.com/spring_2030.htm
Easter in 2030
Date: April 21, 2030
Day: Sunday
Historical Basis for Believing Jesus was Crucified in AD 30
by Avatar photoJim 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/
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
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.
Generative AI is experimental.
Luke 21:29-36
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.
30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near.
31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth.
36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/summer-bible-verses/
Cruel Summer
Kari Kimmel
Apr 23, 2019
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises
Cruel Summer · Kari Kimmel · Tony Swain · Siobhan Deirdre Fahey · Sarah Elizabeth Dallin · Steven Jolley · Keren Jane Woodward
Cobra Kai: Season 2 (Soundtrack from the Original Series)
℗ 2019 Sony Pictures Television Inc., under exclusive license to Madison Gate Records, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Released on: 2019-04-24
Auto-generated by YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XUPcRxqkHg
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind their flagship event, WrestleMania. It is also considered one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five". The event has been broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV) since the inaugural 1988 event and via livestreaming since the 2014 event.
The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 1992 event was the company's first major PPV to take place outside of North America with it being held at the original Wembley Stadium in London, England; it had a reported attendance of 80,355, which as of April 2023, WWE considers this to be their seventh largest live gate in history. From 2009 to 2014, SummerSlam was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and from 2015 to 2018, the event took place at the Barclays Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Beginning with the 2021 event, SummerSlam has been held in National Football League stadiums across the United States. From its inception up through that 2021 event, SummerSlam was held annually in August. The 2022 event marked the first and thus far only time that the event was not held in August, as it was instead held in July, with SummerSlam returning to August with the 2023 edition. The 2025 event will expand SummerSlam to two nights.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, that year's SummerSlam was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event produced from their bio-secure bubble, the WWE ThunderDome. After the promotion resumed live touring with fans in July 2021, that year's SummerSlam was promoted as the "biggest event of 2021" due to WrestleMania 37 having to be held at a reduced venue capacity. The 2021 SummerSlam in turn became the highest-grossing SummerSlam event of all time until that record was broken with the 2023 event, which also became the highest-grossing non-WrestleMania event for WWE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SummerSlam
Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
As May 18 dawned, Mount St. Helens's activity did not show any change from the pattern of the preceding month. The rates of bulge movement and sulfur dioxide emission, and ground temperature readings did not reveal any changes indicating a catastrophic eruption. USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston was on duty at an observation post around 6 mi (10 km) north of the volcano: as of 6:00 am, Johnston's measurements did not indicate any unusual activity.[9]
At 8:32 am, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake centered directly below the north slope triggered that part of the volcano to slide,[31] approximately 7–20 seconds after the shock,[9] followed a few seconds later by the main volcanic blast. The landslide, the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history, traveled at 110 to 155 mph (177 to 249 km/h) and moved across Spirit Lake's west arm. Part of it hit a 1,150 ft-high (350 m) ridge about 6 mi (10 km) north.[9] Some of the slide spilled over the ridge, but most of it moved 13 mi (21 km) down the North Fork Toutle River, filling its valley up to 600 feet (180 m) deep with avalanche debris.[31] An area of about 24 sq mi (62 km2) was covered, and the total volume of the deposit was about 0.7 cu mi (2.9 km3).[9]
Scientists were able to reconstruct the motion of the landslide from a series of rapid photographs by Gary Rosenquist, who was camping 11 mi (18 km) away from the blast 46°18′49″N 122°02′12″W.[9] Rosenquist, his party, and his photographs survived because the blast was deflected by local topography 1 mi (1.6 km) short of his location.[32]
Sound of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, as heard from 140 miles away
Duration: 44 seconds.0:44
Amateur recording of a series of booms produced by the eruption, as heard from the town of Newport, Oregon (audio filtered and amplified).
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Most of St. Helens's former north side became a rubble deposit 17 mi (27 km) long, averaging 150 ft (46 m) thick; the slide was thickest at 1 mi (1.6 km) below Spirit Lake and thinnest at its western margin.[9] The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave about 600 ft (180 m) high.[33] This, in turn, created a 295 ft (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of superheated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtaken the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[9]
Four decades after the eruption, floating log mats persist on Spirit Lake and nearby St. Helens Lake, changing position with the wind. The rest of the trees, especially those that were not completely detached from their roots, were turned upright by their own weight and became waterlogged, sinking into the muddy sediments at the bottom where they are in the process of becoming petrified in the anaerobic and mineral-rich waters. This provides insight into other sites with a similar fossil record.[34]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens
Updated May 18, 2023 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE) weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. Overview DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In Focus. HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e., temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering operations; military cmmunications; and positioning, navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting. In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability, technological feasibility, and utility of this application. In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and— assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11882
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02QQKPJ8GadPDUKRL2nJhrpyZxr1TvbtT9JFzyyoZdfYPiXRDPuq8AbM513HXEkfhwl
On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope forgave Ağca for the assassination attempt.[1] He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope's request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000. Ağca converted to Roman Catholicism in 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Pope_John_Paul_II
Published: 10 October 1996
Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research
Carl Levitin
Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "
The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".
The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.
During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".
Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .
A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .
Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."
https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0
Earthquake Promo [1991-01-26]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtKtRrOfEhk
'Never experienced such tremors before', people panic as quake jolts Delhi-NCR
The strong tremors spark panic as people rush outside their houses
article_Author
PTI
New Delhi, Updated At : 11:28 AM Feb 17, 2025 IST
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/delhi/never-experienced-such-tremors-before-people-panic-as-quake-jolts-delhi-ncr/
c) Finish with a profound act of reverence to God, as Ignatius did so many times
in this same place. Make an interior (and perhaps even exterior!) reverence.
Maybe you feel like praying an Our Father, meditating on each word, as Ignatius
taught us to do. Or pray a Hail Mary to the Virgin of Montserrat whom Ignatius
could glimpse through the bushes that covered the grotto. Or recite Psalm 42,
represented artistically in the mosaic on the floor of the Cave: “As a deer longs for
f
lowing streams.”– Or it might even be enough to read the Utopia of Ignatius of Loyola, the
Principle and Foundation [SpEx 23], found at the start of his Spiritual
Exercises. You might feel yourself far from what your lips are enunciating,
but enjoy this sense of “utopian freedom.”
IMMERSION IN THE MANRESA OF IGNATIUS
SIX CONTEMPLATIONS
Francesc Riera i Figueras
https://www.cristianismeijusticia.net/sites/default/files/pdf/gui9.pdf
Carlo Acutis (3 May 1991 – 12 October 2006) was a British-born Italian teenager known for his devotion to the Eucharist, which became a core theme of his life prior to his death from leukaemia at the age of 15 in 2006. In 2013, a cause for his canonization was opened. He was beatified by Pope Francis on 10 October 2020. After a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Acutis was confirmed in May 2024, Pope Francis granted approval in July 2024 to continue forward with canonization, which is scheduled for 27 April 2025.
Early life
Carlo Acutis was born in London, England, on 3 May 1991, to Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, members of wealthy Italian families.[4][5][6][7] His father's family worked in the Italian insurance industry and his mother's ran a publishing company.[8] Acutis's maternal great-grandmother was born in the United States and came from a family of landowners in New York.[9] His baptism took place on 18 May 1991 in the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea.[10] His paternal grandfather, Carlo, was his godfather; and his maternal grandmother, Luana, was his godmother.[11] Neither of his parents were religious.[12][4][13]
Acutis's parents worked in London and Germany before he was born, and moved to Milan shortly after, in September 1991.[4][13][14] They worked in family businesses and he was cared for by an Irish nanny.[8] Aside from a few visits to a daycare centre, most of Acutis's early care came from nannies.[15] During one daycare visit, he was bullied by other children. A Polish nanny, who thought he was too nice, tried to teach him to set boundaries so that other children would not take his toys. He replied: "Jesus would not be happy if I lost my temper."[14] In the summer, Acutis would stay with his mother's parents in Centola.[9] After spending the day at the beach, he would join a number of older women in the local parish church to pray the rosary.[16] His family also owned a boat at Santa Margherita Ligure, near the Basilica of St. Margaret of Antiochia.[17]
Acutis attended his first primary school in September 1997, the San Carlo Institute in Milan; but as the school was a distance from their home, three months later he transferred to the Marcelline Tommaseo Institute, run by the Sisters of St. Marcellina. [18] During his walks to school, he took particular interest in the foreign caretakers of the different homes along his route; learning their names and stopping to greet them personally each morning.[19] Upon completing middle school, Acutis went on to the Jesuit Instituto Leone XIII high school.[20] Although he was an average student, he liked to read and pursued other academic areas independently, including computer science and teaching himself the saxophone.[21] Acutis also had a tutor who helped him with his homework and followed him to church.[22] Acutis owned a PlayStation and enjoyed Halo, Mario, and Pokémon, although he limited himself to just one hour of gaming a week to avoid addiction.[23][24]
On 16 June 1998, when he was seven years old, Acutis received his First Communion at the convent of Sant'Ambrogio ad Nemus, Milan.[25] Acutis was also a frequent communicant and attended Eucharistic Adoration.[26] He was confirmed five years later on 24 May 2003 at Santa Maria Segreta Church.[27]
Family life
Acutis's mother Antonia grew up in a secular family.[28] She was confirmed while she was in college and was married in the church, but she did not attend Mass before Acutis was born.[29] She testified that her son's faith and his insistent questions brought her back to the faith.[28] The Acutis family employed a Brahmin immigrant from Mauritius, Rajesh Mohur, to work in their household. He and Acutis became friends.[30][31] In time, after speaking with Acutis about Christianity, Mohur asked to be baptized. A friend of Mohur's, Seeven Kistnen, also converted and was baptized after meeting with Acutis and hearing him speak about the faith.[32] Mohur's mother, visiting from Mauritius, attended Mass with Mohur and Acutis, who talked with her at length afterwards, and she too asked to be baptized.[33]
Religious education and devotion
When Acutis was three years old, his maternal grandfather, Antonio Salzano, died. Several days earlier, he was present when his grandfather received the Anointing of the Sick.[34] The grandfather was said to have appeared to him in a dream asking for prayer. Shortly after his death, Acutis put on his coat while his grandmother was minding him and asked to be taken to church. When she asked him why, he said he wanted to pray for his grandfather, whom he declared "had gone to see Jesus".[35] When Acutis displayed an interest in Catholic religious practice, his questions were answered by the family's Polish babysitter.[36][37]
When Acutis was 12 years old, he became a catechist in his parish, Santa Maria Segreta. At the time, the Italian catechetical structure typically relied on young team leaders in youth groups, as contrasted with adults, to deliver religious education to their peers.[38] Acutis's parish priest said of him that:
Carlo was a young man who was exceptionally transparent. He really wanted to progress in loving his parents, God, his classmates, and those who loved him less. He wanted to apply himself in his studies to educate himself in his catechism class as well as in school and computer science.[39]
Acutis showed an interest in the lives of saints, especially Francis of Assisi, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Dominic Savio, Tarcisius, Bernadette Soubirous,[12] and Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi.[40] He is said to have prayed to his guardian angel frequently and exhibited a special devotion to St. Michael the Archangel.[41]
In March 2025, The Economist published an article stating that Acutis' childhood best friend did not remember him as a "very pious boy", nor did he even know that Carlo was religious. His schoolmates testified that he was kind, but did not remember him to be publicly devout. These accounts were disputed by Carlo's mother, Antonia.[42]
Websites
People around him considered him a "computer geek" due to his passion for and skill with computers and the internet.[4][12] He was skilled in Java as well as C++[43] and often helped others with technical issues.[44] When he was 14, his parish priest asked him to create a webpage for his parish, Santa Maria Segreta in Milan.[43] After this, a priest at his high school asked him to create a website to promote volunteering. For this work, he won a national competition called Sarai volontario (Italian, "You will be a volunteer").[45]
Acutis created a website dedicated to cataloguing each reported Eucharistic miracle in the world and maintaining a list of the approved Marian apparitions of the Catholic Church.[46] Acutis launched the website in 2004[27] and worked on it for two and a half years, involving his entire family in the project. It was unveiled on 4 October 2006, the Feast of St. Francis, only days before his death.[47] Because he was hospitalized, Acutis was not able to attend the debut of his exhibition at Rome's Church of San Carlo Borromeo.[48] The exhibition was also presented at his high school, the Leo XIII Institute.[47]
Illness and death
On 1 October 2006, Acutis developed an inflammation of the throat. His parents took him to a doctor who diagnosed parotitis and dehydration, which a second doctor, a family friend, confirmed.[49] A few days later, Acutis's pain worsened and he had blood in his urine. By Sunday, 8 October, Acutis was too weak to get out of bed to go to Mass. Acutis was taken to a clinic that specialized in blood diseases and was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia.[50] He was given little chance of recovery. He was rushed to intensive care and put on a respirator. After a sleepless night, Acutis was transferred to San Gerardo Hospital north of Milan, one of only three hospitals in Italy equipped to treat his condition.[51]
The hospital staff called in their chaplain and he performed the anointing of the sick. When a nurse came in to care for Acutis, Acutis asked her not to wake his parents since they were already very tired and he did not want to worry them more.[52] Acutis offered his suffering both for Pope Benedict XVI and for the Catholic Church, saying:, "I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church."[53][50] The doctors treating his final illness had asked him if he was in great pain, to which he replied, "There are people who suffer much more than me".[4][52] His final words to his mother were:
Mom, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don't need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in the eternal life.[54]
Acutis fell into a coma and was taken to the intensive care unit where he underwent a blood-cleansing treatment. After a cerebral haemorrhage, he was pronounced brain-dead on 11 October, aged 15. Acutis died the next day, 12 October 2006, at 6:45 p.m.[55] His parents brought his body home, where people came for four days to pay their last respects. A crowd of strangers attended his funeral, including young people who had abandoned the Church and those who returned for a memorial Mass three months later.[56]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Acutis
About Microsoft’s Presence in China
Microsoft has had a presence in China for more than 20 years, entering the market in 1992. Our founder, Bill Gates, had the foresight to establish an office in Beijing, accurately predicting the country’s transition to the booming economy we see today.
Microsoft has expanded its business across the country under its strategy of long-term investment and development. Today, our most complete subsidiary and largest R&D center outside the United States is in China. Microsoft has been working closely with customers and industry partners to realize innovation and both localize and land Microsoft technologies and solutions in China. Microsoft boasts a robust partner ecosystem with 17,000 partners. For every RMB that Microsoft earns in China, Microsoft partners earn 16. In early 2015, Microsoft was awarded “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative of 2015 Companies in China ” by Fast Company magazine due to its local product strategy and commitments to helping Chinese partners, and was included as one of ” The Companies Remaking The Chinese Economy” along with Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and other companies.
Microsoft is committed to our Chinese customers and to enabling their success, supporting customers at the enterprise, city, provincial and national levels. Microsoft also attaches great importance to its social responsibilities and has been active in giving back to the local communities in which it operates. This includes supporting education and training initiatives, promoting innovation and local economic development and assisting in building a secure and open computing environment.
https://news.microsoft.com/about-microsofts-presence-in-china/
The Cox Report's 'Dirty Little Secret'
Arms Control Today
Jonathan D. Pollack
Back to Cox Report Main Page
To the uninitiated reader, the Cox Report presents an ominous picture of pervasive, sustained Chinese espionage and illicit technology acquisition breathtaking in its scope, scale and effectiveness. The document alleges extreme laxity in U.S. security procedures and a seriously flawed export control process, both of which were purportedly exploited by China's intelligence organizations and weapons manufacturers. In the committee's view, these actions were knowingly abetted by American scientists prepared to disclose U.S. nuclear weapons secrets and by American aerospace firms intent on securing commercial advantage with China, irrespective of the national security consequences.
Given the substantial excisions in the declassified version of the report, it is impossible to fully assess the potential consequences of China's acquisition of U.S. nuclear weapons design and technical information, however Beijing acquired such data. The report's judgments are sweeping and unequivocal, but the evidence supporting these claims seems far more limited and ambiguous, suggesting that the compromise of information may have been far less extensive than asserted by the report's authors.
But the study's shortcomings extend well beyond its inferences and assertions; they concern its basic premises and assumptions. Despite the document's prodigious bulk and detail, it is remarkably ahistorical. In particular, it is almost totally devoid of reference to the political, military, intelligence, and dual-use technology ties with China assiduously pursued at the highest levels of the U.S. government during the 1970s and 1980s.
Specific espionage claims must be investigated fully, and the acute lapses in security procedures at U.S. weapons laboratories undoubtedly require immediate attention. But instead of telling a larger story, the committee simply accumulates disparate information from an array of sources from which worst-case judgments were then drawn. As a consequence, media coverage focused almost exclusively (and uncritically) on the most sensational allegations, failing to ask how and why the United States and China were drawn into ever-closer dealings with one another.
Amid the report's dire claims and forecasts, a dirty little secret goes entirely unmentioned. From the very onset of the Sino-U.S. relationship in the early 1970s, successive Republican and Democratic administrations believed that the enhancement of Chinese power—as a counterbalance to Soviet power—was in the national security interest of the United States, and persistently sought to advance this goal in the ensuing two decades. This U.S. commitment was repeatedly imparted to senior Chinese officials in both word and deed. The United States was intent on strengthening relations in a host of highly sensitive areas and shaping China's expectations of the United States and its pursuit of U.S. high technology. The Chinese may well have exploited these opportunities by all available means, but they were walking through a door that the U.S. government had long since decided to open.
The U.S. negotiating record with China amply confirms this judgment. From the earliest years of Sino-American relations, senior U.S. officials (including then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger) provided Chinese interlocutors with highly sensitive U.S. intelligence data on Soviet military capabilities and deployments—without the Chinese having ever solicited this information. The Nixon administration sought to coordinate its diplomatic and security actions with China in Vietnam, in South Asia, and in relation to Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Under President Ford, the United States explicitly encouraged major European allies to relax their export policies toward China, including on weapons sales; the Chinese were regularly kept informed of these actions. U.S. policymakers also sought to find the means to permit sales of U.S. computers to China that it would not export to the Soviet Union.
Under the Carter administration, these ties broadened and deepened. The United States provided Chinese officials with regular intelligence briefings; both countries also undertook active intelligence collaboration (in part to monitor Soviet compliance with the SALT accords). Other programs heightened collaboration against Soviet actions in Afghanistan and Vietnamese actions in Cambodia. These activities accelerated further under the Reagan administration, including the provision (with Chinese assistance) of U.S. Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to mujaheddin insurgents resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
But the Reagan administration's decision to expedite technology transfer to China bears most directly on the report's findings. As the Chinese sought to develop a civilian industrial base where none or little had existed before, technology transfer from the United States was pivotal. Much of this effort involved technologies and know-how with inherent relevance to both civilian and military programs. It included provision of a massive array of technical and design data for assembly of McDonnell-Douglas aircraft in Shanghai, including an MD-82 coproduction agreement signed in 1985—the largest U.S.-Chinese industrial project of the past two decades.
The Cox Report documents Chinese violations of U.S. export control regulations in the purchase and disposition of advanced machine tools from McDonnell-Douglas. But the larger collaborative effort (designed to meet exacting Federal Aviation Administration certification standards for indigenous production of commercial aircraft in China) was comprehensive in its scope. By enhancing a wide array of technical skills and industrial-technology applications required in aircraft manufacture, the project facilitated the skill base of the Chinese aviation industry as a whole, including the military sector.
The report also fails to acknowledge that the Reagan administration initiated foreign military sales (FMS) programs to China, including sales to military end-users, provision of technical know-how to Chinese military research and development, and active collaboration between U.S. defense contractors and Chinese counterparts. By 1987, these programs comprised avionics packages for Chinese combat aircraft, sales of anti-submarine warfare torpedos and gas turbine engines for the Chinese navy (the latter still in use on Chinese destroyers), sales of artillery-locating radar and the upgrading of artillery production capabilities. Other transactions included sales of Blackhawk helicopters and an array of non-lethal military equipment.
Successive U.S. administrations were not oblivious to the multiple implications of U.S. technology transfer to China. The commercial links were undoubtedly important, but the security implications were also inescapable. A more militarily credible China would be better able to counter Soviet power, and it would require the Soviet Union to deploy additional military assets in Asia. It was also assumed that (in return for U.S. technological assistance) the Chinese would exercise political and military restraint in relation to Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
The United States therefore saw China as an asset rather than a threat to U.S. security interests. Senior Chinese leaders acknowledged Chinese industrial and military backwardness to U.S. officials and corporate representatives, and they also made clear the longer-term Chinese intention to emerge as an advanced industrial, technological, scientific and military power. The Chinese repeatedly urged the United States to further relax its export control policies, and likely assumed that the United States would quietly facilitate Chinese efforts to acquire an extensive array of dual-use technologies.
Additional developments throughout the latter half of the 1980s—including purchase of more advanced computers, acquisition of sophisticated machine tools, prospective sales of nuclear reactors, and an explosive growth in the training of Chinese scientists and students in the United States—attested to the consolidation of U.S.-China relations, with an ever-increasing focus on advancing China's technical and industrial capabilities, many with potential relevance to China's military modernization.
In addition, following the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Reagan administration approved launches of U.S. satellites from Chinese rockets. It was hardly a state secret that Chinese launch vehicles (the Long March 3-B and 2-E) were derived from the same family of missiles used to deliver Chinese nuclear weapons, and that the space launch program was overseen by Chinese military personnel. Underwriting the costs of Chinese launches (there have been approximately 30 launches involving U.S. aerospace companies since 1988) undoubtedly enhanced Chinese space capabilities.
In the aftermath of several egregious launch failures in 1995 and 1996, Hughes, Loral and other major aerospace companies reviewed Chinese assessments of these failures, though Chinese aerospace personnel bristled at the implied criticisms of their programs offered by foreign experts. Alleged violations of U.S. export control provisions and security procedures by several of these companies remain under investigation. But U.S. companies had an obvious incentive to encourage the Chinese to pinpoint and remedy design and manufacturing flaws in the launch vehicles, since further catastrophic failures would have jeopardized their collaborative programs. These reviews by U.S. engineers and technical personnel very likely reinforced modifications in launch vehicle designs that the Chinese themselves had begun to consider. So construed, the Chinese benefitted from U.S. technical expertise. But it defies comprehension that it was in anyone's interest to depend on unreliable launch vehicles.
However, the Tiananmen crisis of 1989 had shattered the working consensus between the executive branch and the Congress on closer U.S.-China relations. Equally significant, the collapse of the Soviet Union eroded the strategic assumptions underlying U.S.-Chinese defense collaboration. The Bush administration sought to retain some of these dealings, but changes in U.S. strategy were already underway, including a substantial augmentation of U.S. military sales to Taiwan as the Chinese increasingly pursued weapons purchases from Russia. The Clinton administration, with intermittent success and also some major setbacks, sought to restore a modicum of civility in Sino-U.S. military relations, but it was not prepared to revisit the post-Tiananmen sanctions precluding military sales to China. At the same time, the scope of U.S. defense links with Taiwan continued to grow during the 1990s.
Thus, the Cox Report appears when the strategic divergence between the United States and China has widened, and when the Chinese are increasingly assertive about longer-term modernization goals that are no longer animated by animosities with Moscow. Indeed, Russia and China share common cause in seeking to inhibit, or at least caution, the United States from the unilateral exercise of its military power. One does not need to subscribe to the more conspiratorial Chinese renderings of U.S. strategy to discern the essential Chinese logic: officials in Beijing see the United States as intent on impeding the growth of Chinese national power and the enhancement of its strategic position.
Given the deliberate pace of Chinese weapons development, it is far from certain that Beijing deems a major acceleration of its weapons programs as either feasible or warranted. Indeed, China's enhancement of its strategic weapons capabilities has remained measured and incremental. If the Cox Committee's claims of Chinese possession of a full array of U.S. nuclear weapons information are accurate, it makes little sense that Beijing would have failed to exploit this knowledge. But if the Chinese conclude that the United States views China in essentially malign terms, an enhanced Chinese national defense effort, quite possibly including accelerated modernization of Chinese strategic weapons capabilities, seems very likely.
But the much larger transformation underway in China concerns the country's mushrooming involvement in global commerce, not its military development. Even as many in the United States exhibit increased unease about the implications of the growth of Chinese military power, the scale and scope of U.S.-Chinese commercial and technological interactions has never been greater. Information and technology flows between the two countries have accelerated dramatically over the past decade; as a consequence, the provision of high-end U.S. technologies to China far exceeds the undertakings of the 1980s. Short of a draconian effort to restrict these transactions and to pursue far more binding multilateral export controls, the momentum of these developments will not be slowed significantly, let alone reversed. Moreover, any such effort would very likely prove self-defeating, both politically and commercially.
Indeed, less than three weeks after release of the report, the committee chairman, Representative Christopher Cox, endorsed a major relaxation of constraints on U.S. computer exports to China. By consenting to a fivefold increase in the allowable speed of computers to be licensed for export to China, he acceded to inescapable commercial and technological realities, even as the committee's report had spoken in worrisome tones about the diverse applications such higher-speed computers could permit.
Although the United States still endeavors to fence off (both literally and figuratively) those activities with immediate national security implications, it is increasingly difficult to square this circle. In the final analysis, the dire tone of the Cox Report says far more about the United States than it does about China. Resolving this fundamental ambivalence about the growth of Chinese power may not prove possible, but the effects of an ominously worded document could make the search for a tolerable center of gravity in the Sino-American relationship ever more difficult.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1999-04/cox-reports-dirty-little-secret
Microsoft closes Shanghai AI lab, marking pullback in China
April 1, 2025
Microsoft has closed its IoT & AI Insider Lab in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang hi-tech zone, marking a significant reduction in the company’s operations in China.
The lab, which focused on developing IoT and AI technologies, ceased operations earlier this year, according to local sources.
Opened in May 2019, the lab aimed to foster collaboration between Microsoft and Zhangjiang, a key innovation hub in Shanghai’s Pudong district.
Over its five years of operation, it supported 258 projects involving nearly 100 companies and trained close to 10,000 professionals, according to official data.
By June 2024, more than 50 enterprises supported by the lab had attracted over 9.4 billion yuan (around US$1.3 billion) in external investments.
However, the facility has remained closed since January or February of this year, with its logo removed and office equipment cleared out.
Microsoft has not commented on the closure. This development is part of the company’s broader pullback from the Chinese market amid rising geopolitical tensions.
Last year, Microsoft offered relocation options to hundreds of AI staff in China and conducted significant layoffs. Additionally, it closed all its brick-and-mortar stores on the mainland.
Despite its long presence in China, Microsoft’s revenue from the market accounts for only 1.5% of its global earnings, according to testimony from company president Brad Smith during a congressional hearing in 2024.
Following this closure, Microsoft continues to operate its IoT & AI Insider Labs in the United States, Germany, Uruguay, and Japan.
https://www.techinasia.com/news/microsoft-closes-shanghai-ai-lab-marking-pullback-china
Catholic Church in China: The Strange Case of Bishop Ji Weizhong
02/05/2025 He Yuyan
Once again, the CCP announced it had “elected” a bishop three months before the Pope appointed him. The Papal mandate was not mentioned in the consecration ceremony.
by He Yuyan
According to the Vatican-China deal of 2018, renewed for another four years in 2024, the CCP and the Holy See should agree on the appointment of new Catholic bishops, although details of the deals are secret.
In several cases, we see the following scheme at work, which is unlikely to correspond to the deal. First, the CCP “elects” a bishop and publicly announces the news. Second, for several months there is no reaction from the Holy See, which strongly suggests it had not previously been informed of the election. Third, after a hiatus of months the Pope “appoints” the bishop—whose election the CCP had already announced months earlier. Fourth, a consecration ceremony is held where the Papal mandate is not mentioned at all as if it were irrelevant, while a letter of approval is read by the “Bishops’ Conference” of the Patriotic Catholic Church, which is nor recognized as such by Rome.
The last such case concerns Bishop Ji Weizhong. The CCP informed that on July 19, 2024, Ji has been elected as bishop of the Diocese of Lüliang. Interestingly, at that date the Diocese of Lüliang did not exist. It was a desire of the CCP that such a diocese was created as part of the CCP’s plan to reduce the number of Catholic Chinese dioceses and adapt them to China’s administrative divisions. On July 19, 2024, for the Vatican Lüliang was still part of the Diocese of Fenyang. No bishop of Lüliang could be validly elected because there was no Diocese of Lüliang.
As in other previous cases, most notably the one involving the new bishop of Shanghai, some under-the-table negotiations should have followed and on January 20, 2025, the official Bulletin of the Holy See announced that “on October 28, 2024,” Pope Francis had suppressed the ancient Diocese of Fenyang, erected the new Diocese of Lüliang, and appointed Father Ji Weizhong as Bishop of Lüliang.
Another interesting question is why, if the Pope had taken the decisions of “ratifying” the CCP decisions on the dioceses and the bishop on October 28, 2024, the corresponding press release was issued only on January 20, 2025.
The answer is that it was urgent to “legitimize” the public consecration of Bishop Ji Weizhong, which happened precisely on January 20. As usual, at the consecration ceremony no Papal approval or mandate was mentioned, while a letter of the Chinese Bishops’ Conference was read, as if this non-Vatican-recognized body were the source of the bishop’s legitimacy rather than the Pope.
The Vatican-China deal of 2018 on the appointment of bishops continues to function in a rather curious way.
https://bitterwinter.org/catholic-church-in-china-the-strange-case-of-bishop-ji-weizhong/
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
The meaning "container made of tin," especially "can for preserving meats, fruits, etc." is by 1795; U.S. use tended to favor can (n.) for this. Tin-can is attested from 1770 as "can made of tin;" as naval slang for "destroyer," by 1937.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/tin
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/.../cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html
Tián (田), or T'ien in Wade-Giles is a Chinese surname.[1] An alternative transliteration of "田" from Cantonese is Tin, from Hokkien is Thinn. It appeared in the Hundred Family Surnames text from the early Song dynasty. It also means "field". In 2019 it was the 34th most common surname in mainland China.[2]
The same character is Jeon in Korean hanja.
Origins
perhaps from a fief called Tian (田), which in Old Chinese is pronounced similar to (陳) in Qi state. Assuming pronunciation of Tian in Old Chinese remains identical to today, the closest pronunciation of 陳 should be 'Tan', the Hokkien form. This surname was granted to Chen Wan (陳完), a prince in the State of Chen, who fled to Qi to escape persecution. The Qi clan also went on to rule Qi for many generations.[1]
possibly dates even further back to the post name of an official in charge of the management of farmlands who served the Shang dynasty
adopted in place of the Chinese surname Huang (黃) by the son of the official Huang Zicheng during the Ming dynasty, in order to avoid persecution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_(surname)
Tin Cup is a 1996 American romantic comedy and sports film co-written and directed by Ron Shelton,[3] and starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo with Cheech Marin and Don Johnson in major supporting roles.[2] The film received generally positive reviews from critics and performed moderately at the box office, grossing $75.8 million against its $45 million budget. Costner received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Cup
Race cup
a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Race+cup
Jimmy Carter in 1980: ‘Moon looks like a golf course’ compared to Mount St. Helens
Dec 29, 2024, 2:46 PM | Updated: 2:47 pm
BY FELIKS BANEL
Local historian
After Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared all of Washington a federal disaster area and then paid a visit to see the devastation for himself.
Carter, who served just one term in office, died after a long illness on Dec. 29, 2024. He was 100 years old.
While the 39th Commander-in-Chief first entered hospice in 2023, it seemed like a good reason to look back to when Carter visited Washington and Oregon a few days after the 1980 eruption and a great excuse to listen to vintage audio clips from the somewhat unusual presidential visit to the Pacific Northwest.
Air Force One landed at the Air National Guard Base at Portland International Airport on the evening of Wednesday, May 21, 1980. The entourage traveled by motorcade to a briefing at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, and then to the Marriott Hotel in Portland, Oregon, for the night.
The next morning, Carter, Washington Gov. Dixy Lee Ray, and other officials (and the news media) took off from the air base in a fleet of seven helicopters. For the next hour or so, they viewed mud and debris from the eruption clogging the Columbia River (near the mouth of the Cowlitz, which was also clogged) and blocking freight traffic in the busy corridor; flooding near Longview; homes in the Toutle Valley and other areas damaged by mudflows coming down the Toutle River; and the unimaginable devastation in the immediate vicinity of the volcano.
After the tour, the helicopters landed at Kelso Airport and then went by motorcade a few miles to Cascade Middle School in Longview (home since 1961, as everyone knows, to the mighty Cavaliers.)
School in the Longview/Kelso area had been canceled all week because of the eruption, but the gymnasium at Cascade had been converted into a Red Cross shelter for people who lost their homes or whose homes were now threatened. Carter met many of the 40 or so people staying at the shelter, listened to their stories, and offered words of support.
Longtime Sen. Warren Magnuson of Washington was also on the tour with Carter that day, and at one point, newspaper accounts say, he and Governor Ray tussled verbally over state versus federal funding required to aid in disaster recovery – Ray wanted federal dollars, Magnuson said the feds were broke.
This was 1980, after all, and the country was deep in an economic downturn, mired in the ongoing Iran hostage crisis, and on the brink of the United States’ boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow (in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan).
As it turned out, three of the highest-ranking elected officials who toured the volcano that day – Carter, Gov. Ray, and Sen. Magnuson – would lose their reelection bids later that year as the “Reagan landslide” radically changed Evergreen State politics (though Ray would lose earlier in the primary to Jim McDermott.)
But, those elections were still months away when, at the Kelso Airport, Carter made one of his most memorable comments about the devastation he’d witnessed from the helicopter.
“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before,” Carter told the gathered members of the media. “Somebody said it looked like a moonscape. The moon looks like a golf course compared to what’s out there.
“It is a horrible-looking sight.” Carter said.
More from Feliks Banel: How Seattle observed VE Day in 1945
Leaving Kelso, the entourage then headed back to Portland and the Marriott Hotel for a news conference. The president’s remarks made it very clear that what he had seen with his own eyes had made a deep impression.
“The absolute and total devastation of a region . . . encompasses about 150 (square) miles,” Carter said. “It’s the worst thing I have ever seen. It is literally indescribable, and it’s devastating.
“There is no way to prepare oneself for the sight that we beheld this morning,” the president continued. “I don’t know that … in recorded history in our nation, there has ever been a more formidable explosion.”
And even just four days after the deadly disaster which took the lives of 57 people, Carter was already looking ahead somewhat presciently, if sheepishly, to what would eventually become the reality of Mount St. Helens once the eruptive activity subsided.
“When safe places are fixed for tourists and others and scientists to come in and observe it,” the president said, “I would say there would be, if you’ll excuse the expression, a tourist attraction that would equal the Grand Canyon or something.”
“It’s an unbelievable sight,” he said.
Air Force One departed from Portland and headed back east. The jet touched down briefly in Spokane so the president could see the ash damage in Eastern Washington and meet with officials there before getting back on the plane and returning to Washington, D.C.
Editors’ note: This piece originally was published on May 18, 2023. It has been updated and republished since then.
Feliks Banel has served as KIRO Newsradio’s Resident Historian since 2015, and was originally hired by the radio station in 1991. Read more from Feliks here; subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here; and subscribe to Feliks’ Unsolved Histories podcast here. Feliks frequently posts about Northwest history on his Facebook page; follow him there for previews and updates. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks.
https://mynorthwest.com/history/president-carter-moon-golf-course-compared-mt-st-helens/3888183
Updated Nov. 22, 2023
Why Ivana Trump Was Buried at Bedminster Golf Course: 3 Theories
Portrait of Margaret Hartmann
By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012
Ivana Trump, former president Donald Trump’s first wife, died on July 14, 2022 at the age of 73, owing to injuries she suffered in an accidental fall on the “grand curving staircase” at her Upper East Side townhouse. Her funeral drew about 400 people and featured a gold-hued coffin, Secret Service agents, and loving remembrances from her three adult children as well as several friends. Then this icon of ’80s glamour and New York tabloid drama was laid to rest … at a New Jersey golf course?
Many found the decision to bury Ivana at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster puzzling. She is the first person to be buried at the former president’s New Jersey property, and the ground had to be consecrated so she could have a traditional Catholic burial.
A New York Post photographer scoped out the site shortly after Ivana was laid to rest and found that while her grave isn’t literally on the golf course, the whole vibe is surprisingly understated:
Photos taken by The Post Thursday show Trump’s grave alone against a bucolic scenery of trees and shrubbery. The grave looks upon a sprawling green space upon the country club’s vast estate.
The plot where Ivana was buried has a bouquet of more than two dozen white flowers and a plaque that reads in all capital letters Ivana Trump with the dates she was born and died.
The grave is in a place where golfers would not see it as they tee off for a round of golf. The small section of the club is below the backside of the first tee.
A little over a year later, the mystery persists. Photographs published by The Daily Mail on August 12, 2023 show that Ivana’s grave is marked with a small headstone, which “has become overgrown with grass and is barely visible.”
So what exactly is going on here? I have a few theories.
Theory 1: Trump really loves northern New Jersey.
If Trump National Golf Club Bedminster held a special place in Ivana’s heart, there’s no record of it. Donald bought the property in 2002, a full decade after their divorce was finalized. While Ivana maintained a friendship with her ex-husband through her final days, and her daughter, Ivanka, was married at the club, it does not appear that Ivana ever publicly praised the property.
There is, however, ample evidence that Donald Trump thinks Bedminster is a phenomenal place to be laid to rest. “Wouldn’t you want to be buried here?” he mused to The Wall Street Journal in 2015. The idea has been on his mind for at least 15 years. Back in 2007, Trump filed paperwork to build a windowless wedding chapel at Bedminster that would later be converted into a mausoleum for himself and his family.
Drawings filed with the Somerset County township called for what NJ.com described as a “19-foot-high, classical-style stone structure” with “four imposing obelisks surrounding its exterior and a small altar and six vaults inside. Locals balked at the proposal, which they deemed gaudy, and Trump withdrew the plan. Five years later, he came back with a new idea: Instead of a mausoleum, he would be buried at a large cemetery with more than 1,000 graves. “The idea, apparently, was that Trump’s golf-club members would buy the other plots, seizing the chance at eternal membership,” the Washington Post reported.
Facing continued opposition to his ghoulish ambitions, Trump revised his plans once again. In 2014, the Trump Organization filed paperwork to build two graveyards at Bedminster. One would have 284 lots for sale to the public, while the other would consist of just ten plots for Trump and his family near the first tee. The company’s filing with the state said Trump “specifically chose this property for his final resting place as it is his favorite property.”
In an October 2023 interview, Eric Trump revealed it was his father’s idea to have his mother laid to rest at the “family funeral plot.” “He was the one to say, you know, ‘I want her with us,’” Eric said. “It was pretty amazing again, you know, kind of a wife long removed — ex-wife long removed. He’s an incredible man. He’s got a heart of gold.”
Theory 2: Trump is running an elaborate tax scheme.
Some remain skeptical that Trump actually considers this the most fabulous piece of property he owns:
The Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 31. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/LIV via Getty Images
The average person might say Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s seaside Florida resort, is more spectacular, but they’re not looking at Bedminister through the eyes of a person with an alleged passion for tax avoidance. This tweet from Brooke Harrington, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth, sparked speculation that Bedminster’s real appeal as a graveyard lies in New Jersey tax law.
As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks.
So I checked the NJ tax code & folks...it's a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated. pic.twitter.com/VDZBlDyuhQ
— Brooke Harrington (@EBHarrington) July 31, 2022
Indeed, as Insider reported, there are some surprising perks to being the proprietor of a New Jersey graveyard:
Under New Jersey state tax code, any land that is dedicated to cemetery purposes is exempt from all taxes, rates, and assessments. Cemetery companies are also specifically exempt from paying any real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes on their lands, as well as business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.
And the Trump family has definitely been pursuing the tax advantages of cemetery ownership. A document published by ProPublica shows that the Trump Family Trust sought to designate a property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, about 20 miles from Bedminster, as a nonprofit cemetery company back in 2016.
But there is reason to question this too-Trumpy-to-be-true allegation. First, all this cemetery business is unnecessary because he has already found a way to drastically reduce his Bedminster tax burden. When the Post’s David Farenthold looked into Trump’s cemetery obsession in 2017, he concluded it wouldn’t be very profitable as a business venture or a tax-avoidance scheme:
… the savings would hardly be worth the trouble. That’s because Trump had already found a way to lower his taxes on that wooded, largely unused parcel. He had persuaded the township to declare it a farm, because some trees on the site are turned into mulch. Because of pro-farmer tax policies, Trump’s company pays just $16.31 per year in taxes on the parcel, which he bought for $461,000.
According to a 2019 HuffPost analysis, Trump slashed his Bedminster tax bill by about $88,000 a year by keeping eight goats and farming 113 acres of hay on the property.
Is is possible that the cemetery business is some kind of backup tax- avoidance scheme? I suppose, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense to this humble TurboTax user.
Theory 3: Trump is just keeping it weird.
“It’s always been my suspicion that there’s something we don’t know” about Trump’s cemetery plan, Bedminster land-use board member Nick Strakhov told Farenthold in 2017.
It does seem we’re missing a key piece of the boneyard puzzle. But there is one thing we know about Trump now that wasn’t quite as apparent back then: He is a super-weird guy. He has managed to be weird with various kinds of paper, toilet bowls, aircraft carriers, and “dangerous fruit,” to name just a few of his proclivities. The thought of our inevitable demise brings out strange feelings and behavior in most people. Some of the rich plan to freeze themselves or shoot their remains into space; is it any surprise that Trump has some grandiose idea about how he and his family should be laid to rest?
“It’s never something you like to think about, but it makes sense,” Trump told the New York Post during his first attempt to make Bedminster a cemetery in 2007. “This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.”
Trumpy commentary on the wealth of northern New Jersey aside, that sounds astonishingly well adjusted.
This piece was updated to include Eric Trump’s comments on his mother’s gravesite.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ivana-trump-buried-bedminster-3-theories.html
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. Then there were clinical trials. The plan anticipated that some of these vaccines would 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 (NIH), 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] 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
The Visions and Circles of Power
Transcript of audio tape from Betty J. Mills
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/bettymillsvisonsandcirclesofpowerjan1991.shtml
January 1991
The Visions and Circles of Power by Betty Mills (Jan. 1991)
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/hoax/circlesofpower.htm
This is a transcript of a tape made by Betty J. Mills in January, 1991. Also see the transcript of Betty’s tape, that illustrates the influence wielded by leaders of the Conservative - Christian/Conservative "New Right" which, Betty asserts, has held the door open for the liberal agenda. An Open Letter to Members of Eagle Forum and Serge Monast's transcript on Project BlueBeam
The Visions and Circles of Power
by Betty J. Mills
My name is Betty J. Mills . It is January 1991. The title of this tape is The Vision and Circles of Power. This tape is undoubtedly the most difficult tape I have ever made and some of you may say it is also the most unbelievable. First, let me say, as I have said in my tape and booklets, when I discuss the Catholic Church, the Vatican, the Pope and the all-Catholic SMOM (Sovereign Military Order of Malta). I am not condemning Catholics and their faith. The Catholics' faith is their business. I only enter when it is political and a threat to the freedom of my grandchildren and all other children - and also when it is a threat to the restoration of the sovereignty of the United States of America and its Constitutional Republic.
Also, when I discuss the world policy makers or President George Bush [Sr.] and his administration and the war in the Gulf, I am in no way in opposition to our service men and service women. I honor and respect them. However, I am not behind the policy of president George Bush and his administration. I am not behind their policy which is the policy of the World Policymakers, whose dream was - and is - the New World Order.... and the war in the Gulf is a vitally important part of this plan.
Here is a question as part of a scenario. What would you believe or think?... what would you say and what would you do if ?... tomorrow your children came into the house screaming, "Mommy! Daddy! Come look at the sky!" You run outside and looking up at the sky you see a VISION. THE VISION could be the Virgin Mary. It could be Christ. It could be both or it could be some other [religious figure]. At this time you also hear a voice telling you that you will be receiving a message and that you must carry out the instructions you are given. Then other members of the family come out of the house and they inform you that they have seen the same VISION on television. You listen to the radio and you hear the message about THE VISION and other instructions that you are to follow. You try to call relatives and friends but you find that the phone lines are busy. Perhaps a recording will be giving some information. You learn from television and radio that THE VISION is being seen all over the world and the messages are being heard in the language of their country or area
The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Capitalist West
Now... let us return to the present and reality. It will lead us to a book written by Malachi Martin considered by many as the voice for Pope John Paul II. As I discuss Malachi Martin's book, it will lead us back to THE VISION. From August the 2nd, 1990 until the present ... January 1991 - it is less than a six-month period of time, but it certainly is a most historical time. During this short period of time, president George Bush implemented a vital part of the U.S. State Department plan 7277.
This is one of the final steps leading into the New World Order. President George Bush accomplished this when he placed the U.S. military into an International Military Force under the United Nations. We have nearly one-half million service men and women over in the sand, and they are functioning under United Nations' resolutions. President George Bush then announced the NEW WORLD ORDER. Following this came a startling book by Malachi Martin entitled Keys of This Blood. The jacket of this book tells us what the book is about. It says it is the "struggle for world dominion between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West". I challenge that statement and will detail it later.
Simon & Schuster, the publishers of this book, call it "explosive" - and indeed it is. If the book had been written by just somebody, it would not have meant too much. However, the author of this book is Malachi Martin who is an eminent theologian and expert on the Catholic Church. He is a former Jesuit and a former professor at the Vatican Pontifical Biblical Institute. He served in Rome from 1958 to 1964.... and one thing to remember is that Malachi Martin made it very clear that Pope John Paul II has offered no objection to what he, Malachi Martin, has written. This fact certainly makes the book, Keys of This Blood "explosive" - as it was called by its publishers.
Following are my remarks and highlights of the book review of Simon & Schuster. If there is any doubt as to the New World Order meaning a One World Government, I would say that Malachi Martin's book and the book review verify the statement that the New World Order and a One World Government are one and the same. The book review states that before the end of the 1990's we will see the first One World Government that has ever existed in the society of nations. The Simon & Schuster book review shows that Malachi Martin's statements are startling and that he, Malachi Martin - for the first time - reveals the ongoing plans and policies of a reigning pope who is of course, at this time, Pope John Paul II. Malachi Martin exposes coveted Vatican intelligence data concerning the competition among these three major powers - as stated... the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Capitalist West and Pope John Paul II with his world-wide Roman Catholic church. It is with the intent to set up and maintain the New World Order which Pope John Paul II expects to be in place before the end of the 1990's
"...Pope John Paul II as the Servant of Heaven's Grand Design"
Malachi Martin says the battle between the pope, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West will be a "winner-take-all" battle. He says that it:
"will end in a global government being a New Economic and Political World Order that is so vast that it will have to be presided over by a super bureaucracy superior to all individual nations".
We must surely understand from those statements that this would mean the absolute end of any attempt of restoring the sovereignty of the United States of America and its Constitutional Republic with its freedom and independence - a freedom never before enjoyed by any country. Malachi Martin says that, outside of his rivals, few people see Pope John Paul II as he sees himself. He said that the Pope sees himself as a contender with the power and the determination to establish and maintain the New World Order. Malachi Martin says that Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West do not have what it takes to make them the winners. Malachi Martin says:
"the world at large must reckon with Pope John Paul II as the servant of Heaven's Grand Design."
I would say that sounds very "New Age". And... throughout the book Malachi Martin makes it a point to tell us that Pope John Paul II is a slave to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Also, after Pope John Paul II was shot he said he had a personal communication from heaven. After this communication from heaven, Pope John Paul II concluded that the Fatima message linked with his One World Government plans. I would agree with that statement. In fact, that is what I feared and wrote about five years ago. Malachi Martin says the other two contenders feel that their present moves are in the last stages on the road to a New World Order which is already in view. AND... he said that Pope John Paul II is waiting for an event that will separate human history and that the event is THE VISION. I believe he is absolutely correct in his thinking, although I do not believe that "the vision" comes from whence Malachi Martin says.
The Message of Fatima
At the time the people view THE VISION in the sky it is very possible that they will receive the third message of Fatima. For those of you who are not familiar with this third message of Fatima, I will give just a small sketch of the story. Space does not allow the telling of the story in detail. I would suggest that any who are not familiar with the story of Fatima... get the booklet and read the story. It should be available in most Catholic book stores.The third message of Fatima could well be one of the most important messages ever heard by the people on this earth because it can be used by the world policymakers to their advantage in implementing the New World Order. It was nearly five years ago that I became very concerned about the third message of Fatima being used by the world policy-makers. I wrote a bit on it. Yes... with the Pope being totally committed to the Virgin Mary (who is the lady of Fatima), with the Pope being the powerful religious partner of the world policy-makers and with the third message - being what the world policy-makers want it to be - the third message of Fatima could be absolutely overwhelming in their New World Order plan.
I labeled the Pope as a partner of the other two that Malachi Martin calls "adversaries" of the Pope. The Capitalist West, Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union and the Pope may be one another's adversaries at times. In a sense, while they may be adverse to one another at times, they are also at times one and the same. Now I will go back to the story of the Lady of Fatima. Fatima is a village in the center of the country of Portugal. It was near Fatima that three children saw "an angel" and later said they saw the blessed mother - the Virgin Mary. She gave them messages. Two of the messages were published. During this period of time when she was appearing before the children it was said that thousands of people viewed the sun zig-zagging in the sky. The one child, Lucia, grew to adulthood and became a nun. Lucia scribed a third message from the Virgin Mary which was eventually given to the Pope. It was to be revealed in 1960. It has not yet been revealed
When the Vision appears the Pope..."will control the Will and minds of men"
https://educate-yourself.org/cn/bettymillsvisonsandcirclesofpowerjan1991.shtml
Head:
1. See Illness, mental
2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"
page 463
The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
Revelation 13:18
New International Version
"18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666."
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A18&version=NIV
[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved." page 333
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
Jeremiah 17:9
1599 Geneva Bible
9 [a]The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it?
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Jeremiah 17:9 Because the wicked have ever some excuse to defend their doings, he showeth that their own lewd imaginations deceive them, and bring them to these inconveniences: but God will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts, 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 7:10; Jer. 11:20 and 20:12; Rev. 2:13.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2017%3A9&version=GNV
The union of minds and hearts: with respect to: performing the task of the head on behalf of the entire Society [666]; governing subjects well [667-69]; exempting Ours from obedience [663]; preparing for, summoning, and directing congregations [681, 682, 686, 689, 690, 691, 712, 716, 718, 755], 332. See also Formulas of congregations " page 512
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 17:9-13
1599 Geneva Bible
9 [a]Here is the mind that hath wisdom, The [b]seven heads [c]are seven mountains, whereon the woman sitteth: [d]they are also seven Kings.
10 [e]Five are fallen, [f]and one is, [g]and another is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 [h]And the beast that was, and is not, is even [i]the eighth, and is [j]one of the seven, and [k]all go into destruction.
12 [l]And the ten horns which thou sawest, are [m]ten kings, which yet have not received a kingdom, but shall receive power, as Kings [n]at one hour with the beast.
13 [o]These have one mind, and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Revelation 17:9 An exhortation preparing unto audience, by the same argument, with that of Christ: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Wherefore, for mine own part, I had rather read in this place, Let there be here a mind, etc. So the Angel passeth fully unto the second place of this description.
Revelation 17:9 Very children know what that seven hilled city is, which is so much spoken of, and whereof Virgil thus reporteth, And compasseth seven towers in one wall: that city it is, which when John wrote these things had rule over the kings of the earth: It was and is not, and yet it remaineth this day, but it is declining to destruction.
Revelation 17:9 This is the painting out of the beast by things present (as I said before) whereby S. John endeavored to describe the same, that he might both be known of the godly in that age, and be further observed and marked of posterity afterwards. This delineation hath one type, that is, his heads, but a double description or application of the type: one permanent from the nature of itself, the other changeable, by the working of men. The description permanent, is by the seven hills, in this verse, the other that fleeteth, is from the seven kings, verses 10, 11. And here it is worthy to be observed, that one type hath sometimes two or more applications, as seemeth good unto the holy Ghost to express either one thing by divers types, or divers things by one type. So I noted before, of the seven spirits, Rev. 1:4. Now this woman that sitteth upon seven hills, is the city of Rome, called in times past of the Greeks, … i. of seven tops or crests, and of Varro, septiceps, i. of her seven heads (as here) of seven heads, and of others, septicollis, i. standing upon seven hills.
Revelation 17:9 The beginning of these Kings or Emperors is almost the same with the beginning of the Church of Christ, which I showed before, Rev. 11:1. Namely from the year 35, after the passion of Christ, what time the Temple and Church of the Jews was overthrown. In which year it came to pass by the providence of God that that saying The beast was and is not, was fulfilled before that the destruction of the Jews immediately following came to pass. That was the year from the building of the city of Rome, 109, from which year S. John both numbered the Emperors which hitherto hath been, when he wrote these things, and foretelleth two others next to come: and that with this purpose, that when this particular prediction of foretelling of things to come, should take effect the truth of all other predictions in the Church might be the more confirmed. Which sign God of old mentioned this in the Law, Deut. 18, and Jeremiah confirmeth, Jer. 28:8.
Revelation 17:10 Whose names are these: the first, Servius Sulpicius Galba, who was the seventh Emperor of the people of Rome, the second Marcus Salvius Otho, the third Aulus Vitellius, the fourth, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the fifth, Titus Vespasianus his son of his own name.
Revelation 17:10 Flavius Domitian son of the first Vespasian. For in the latter end of his days S. John wrote these things, as witnesseth Irenaus, Lib. 5 adversus hareses.
Revelation 17:10 Nerua. The Empire being now translated from the family of Flavius. This man reigned only one year, four months, and nine days, as the history writers do tell.
Revelation 17:11 This is spoken by the figure synecdoche, as much to say as that head of the beast which was and is not, because it is cut off, and Nerua in so short time extinguished. How many heads there were, so many beasts there seemed to be in one. See the like speech in Rev. 13.3
Revelation 17:11 Nerua Traianus, who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth.
Revelation 17:11 Though in number and order of succession he be the eighth, yet he is reckoned together with one of these heads, because Nerua and he were one head. For this man obtained authority together with Nerua, and was Consul with him, when Nerua left his life.
Revelation 17:11 Namely, to molest with persecutions the Churches of Christ, as the histories do accord, and I have briefly noted, Rev. 2:10.
Revelation 17:12 The third place of this description as I said, verse 18, is a prophetical prediction of things to come which the beast should do, as in the words following S. John doth not obscurely signify, saying, which have not yet received the kingdom, etc. For there is an Antithesis or opposition between these kings, and those that went before. And first the persons are described, in this verse, then their deeds in the two verses following.
Revelation 17:12 That is, arising with their kingdoms out of the Roman beast: at such time as that political Empire began by the craft of the Popes greatly to fall.
Revelation 17:12 Namely, with the second beast whom we called before a false prophet, which beast, ascending out of the earth got unto himself all the authority and power of the first beast, and exerciseth the same before his face, as was said, Rev. 14:11, 12. For when the political Empire of the West began to bow downwards, there both arose those ten kings, and the second beast took the opportunity offered to usurp unto himself all the power of the former beast. These kings long ago, many have numbered and described to be ten and a great part of the events plainly testifieth the same in this our age.
Revelation 17:13 That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire with the beast, and depend upon his beck. Their story is divided into three parts, counsels, acts, and events. The counselors some of them consist in communicating of judgments and affections: and some in communicating of power, which they are said to have given unto this beast in this verse.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2017%3A9-13&version=GNV
Cardinal Peter Turkson: A contender to be the first black pope in modern times
Story by Sian Baldwin • 20h • 4 min read
The Vatican is in mourning following the death of Pope Francis.
Crowds of mourners have been gathering at St Peter’s Basilica, where his body has been on display since Wednesday morning.
The pope, who died on Easter Monday aged 88, will be buried on Saturday in a service attended by the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
While the funeral is first and foremost, attention will also begin to turn to choosing Pope Francis’ successor
Among the potential candidates is Cardinal Peter Turkson, who could be the first black pope in modern history.
Here’s what you need to know about him.
Who is Cardinal Peter Turkson?
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, 78, is Ghanaian. If chosen, he would become the first African pope in 1,500 years.
This is not his first time in contention for the top role. Appointed as the first Ghanaian cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II, he was considered a strong contender when Pope Francis was elected a decade later. Despite being the favourite at the time, Cardinal Turkson was narrowly overlooked. Now, his name is once again circulating as a potential successor.
However, Cardinal Turkson has previously expressed doubts about accepting the papacy. In 2013, he told the BBC: "I'm not sure whether anyone does aspire to become a pope."
In addition to his theological work, Cardinal Turkson is known for his musical talent as a guitarist and was once part of a funk band.
How did he become so heavily involved in the Catholic Church?
Cardinal Turkson was born into a large family of 10 children. He studied in New York and Ghana, which broadened his horizons.
After his ordination in 1975, he continued his theological studies at the esteemed Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he earned both a licentiate and a doctorate in scripture studies.
Fluent in German, French, Italian and English, Cardinal Turkson is renowned among his peers for his intellectual depth and global perspective. His linguistic abilities have allowed him to connect with diverse people, further solidifying his influence within the Catholic Church.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana. His exceptional leadership and theological insight led to his elevation to cardinal in 2003.
What posts has he held?
Several renowned roles have defined Cardinal Turkson’s influence within the Catholic Church. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI invited him to Rome to lead the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a position he maintained under Pope Francis. This appointment led to his prominent role advocating for social justice and global peace.
In 2016, he became the first prefect of the newly established Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. This combined multiple areas of the Church’s social doctrine, including human rights, peace and charity. His leadership in this role was vital in aligning the Church's activities with modern humanitarian needs.
In April 2022, Cardinal Turkson transitioned from his position at the Dicastery to become the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a noteworthy role he still holds today. Established in 1603, the academy is one of the world’s leading scientific institutions. It promotes the study and progress of the social sciences, such as economics, sociology, law, and political science. It is an important resource for the Church in shaping its social doctrine.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has a storied history, with past members including the famous Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was part of the academy’s early foundations. The role underscores Cardinal Turkson’s dedication to integrating scientific insight into the Church’s mission, blending faith with knowledge to address modern global challenges.
Why is he considered a favourite to be the next pope?
Cardinal Turkson is frequently named a top contender for the papacy due to his influential leadership and willingness to speak out for his beliefs. As a prominent figure within the Catholic Church, he is renowned for being unafraid to tackle difficult issues, making him a respected yet sometimes contentious figure.
Known for holding conservative views on many aspects of the Church, Cardinal Turkson has consistently upheld the traditional doctrines, particularly regarding the sanctity of life and family values. However, he has also displayed a progressive approach on issues affecting his African congregation, showing a willingness to confront the Church’s stance on certain matters, especially regarding human rights.
One of his most notable stances was his opposition to the criminalisation of homosexuality in African nations, including his home country of Ghana. In 2023, as Ghana’s Parliament discussed a bill imposing severe penalties on LGBTQ+ people, Cardinal Turkson publicly stated that “homosexuality should not be treated as an offence”. His comments reflected a broader advocacy for human dignity and freedom of sexuality, despite potential tensions with some more orthodox bishops.
His dedication to social justice is also evident in his ongoing support for issues such as the environment, poverty and the right to peace. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a peace envoy to South Sudan, underscoring his commitment to diplomacy and humanitarian concerns.
Cardinal Turkson has gained recognition within the Church as a “revered, moderate voice”, respected for his leadership and ability to balance faith with real-world issues. His reputation as someone who can bring both intellectual depth and compassion to the role of pope makes him a serious contender.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/cardinal-peter-turkson-a-contender-to-be-the-first-black-pope-in-modern-times/ar-AA1DsV6T?ocid=weather-verthp-feeds
Blacula is a 1972 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William Crain. It stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is turned into a vampire (and later locked in a coffin) by Count Dracula in the Count's castle in Transylvania in the year 1780 after Dracula refuses to help Mamuwalde suppress the slave trade.
Blacula was released to mixed reviews in the United States, but was one of the top-grossing films of the year. It was the first film to receive an award for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards. Blacula was followed by the sequel Scream Blacula Scream in 1973 and inspired a wave of blaxploitation-themed horror films.
Plot
In 1780, African prince Mamuwalde goes to Transylvania to seek the help of Count Dracula in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula refuses, however, and insults Mamuwalde by making a pass at his wife, Luva. After a scuffle with Dracula's minions, Mamuwalde is bitten by Dracula and transformed into a vampire. Dracula then curses him with the name "Blacula" and imprisons him in a sealed coffin in a crypt hidden beneath the castle while leaving Luva to die in the chamber (from either suffocation or starvation) with Blacula.
In 1972, two interior decorators, Bobby McCoy and Billy Schaffer, purchase the coffin and ship it to Los Angeles. Bobby and Billy open the coffin, only to become Blacula's first victims. At the funeral home where McCoy's body is laid, Blacula spies on mourning friends Tina Williams, her sister Michelle, and Michelle's boyfriend, Dr. Gordon Thomas, a pathologist for the Los Angeles Police Department. Blacula becomes infatuated with Tina, believing her to be the reincarnation of Luva due to her identically resembling the latter. Thomas notices oddities with McCoy's death that he later concludes to be consistent with vampire folklore. Blacula follows Tina after leaving the funeral home but unintentionally frightens her. Tina runs away from him, and Blacula loses her when he is hit by a cab. He then kills the cabbie, Juanita Jones, turning her into a vampire.
Thomas, Michelle, and Tina celebrate Michelle's birthday at a nightclub, and Blacula shows up to return Tina's purse, which she'd dropped the night before. Thomas answers a phone call from the funeral director, who informs him that McCoy's body has gone missing. Blacula asks Tina to see him again the following evening, but they are interrupted by Nancy, a photographer who takes a photograph of them together. Soon after, Blacula kills Nancy and destroys the photo she just developed, which shows Blacula conspicuously absent. The next evening, Blacula visits Tina at her apartment and shares how Dracula enslaved him and Luva and how he was cursed with vampirism. He and Tina then spend the night together.
Thomas, Lt. Jack Peters, and Michelle are meanwhile following the trail of murder victims, as Thomas begins to suspect a vampire of being the perpetrator. After Thomas and Michelle dig up Schaffer's coffin, the corpse rises as a vampire and attacks Thomas, who fends him off and drives a stake through his heart. Michelle now realizes the truth and that McCoy could still be out there. Telling Peters won't work, because they need to show him what's going on, and to do this, they'd need to thaw out the corpse of Juanita Jones. Thomas calls the morgue and instructs Sam, the attendant, to take Jones' body out of deep freeze and leave the room and lock the door. Sam rolls her body out, but neglects to lock the door due to a distracting phone call. Suddenly the door opens, and an undead Jones rises and immediately attacks and kills him. Moments later Thomas and Peters arrive at the morgue to find blood smeared on the corridor wall near the payphone where Sam answered the call, but no sign of Sam himself. They walk into the exam room by the freezer, where Peters sees a sheet-covered body lying on a gurney and pulls the sheet back to reveal Jones rising to attack him. Thomas keeps her at bay with a Christian cross long enough to open the window blinds and expose her to sunlight, destroying her.
That evening, Thomas, Michelle, and Tina are enjoying drinks at the club when Blacula arrives to pick Tina up. Thomas questions Blacula about vampires and makes it known that the police are planning a search for the vampire's coffin, provoking an uncomfortable Blacula and Tina to leave. Soon after, remembering that Nancy never gave Michelle her birthday photos, Thomas searches Nancy's house and finds a photo of Tina standing in front of an invisible Blacula. He correctly deduces that Blacula is the vampire they seek, and that Blacula and Tina are together. Thomas rushes to Tina's apartment, finding them embracing. Thomas and Blacula briefly struggle, but Blacula knocks Thomas unconscious and flees, killing a police officer in a nearby alley as he escapes. After McCoy is seen walking the streets of Los Angeles, Thomas, Peters, and several police officers track Blacula to his warehouse hideout. They locate a nest of several vampires there, including McCoy, and destroy them, but Blacula escapes.
Blacula hypnotizes Tina into going to his new hideout at a nearby underground chemical plant while Thomas and the police pursue him. Blacula dispatches several of the officers, but one of them accidentally shoots and mortally wounds Tina. To save her life, Blacula transforms her into a vampire. Blacula fights the police, one of whom locates the coffin and alerts Thomas and Peters. However, Peters kills a newly turned vampiric Tina with a stake, having believed Blacula would be in the coffin instead. Devastated and feeling he has no purpose to live after losing Luva again, Blacula commits suicide by climbing the stairs to the roof where the morning sun destroys him. Thomas and Peters witness Blacula's flesh melting away with maggots coming out of his face until only his skeleton remains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacula
AI Overview
Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. That's 200 sextillion stars, or 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Explanation
To estimate the number of stars in the universe, astronomers:
Measure the color and brightness of starlight from our galaxy, the Milky Way
Use that information to estimate how many stars are in the Milky Way
Multiply the number of stars in the Milky Way by the number of galaxies in the universe
However, this is only a rough estimate because not all galaxies are the same. For example, spiral galaxies can have over a trillion stars, while giant elliptical galaxies can have 100 trillion stars.
Other ways to put it
The number of stars in the universe is so large that it's hard to imagine. It's about 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans of Earth.
Missions to learn more
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is mapping about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission's data will help astronomers better understand the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
Generative AI is experimental.
In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction
2 Peter 3:10
1599 Geneva Bible
10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV
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
In a letter dated May 28, 1784 from Hanau, Prince Charles of Hesse wrote thus to
Willermoz, to whom he had just communicated the death of the famous Count of Saint-
Germain, unexpectedly in Feburary 28 th at his home in Gottorp:
“I asked him: Didyou know a certain Marshall of Bieberstain?
“Reply: Y es, verv well...
Where didyou see him?
“-At Varsovia.
Did he know something?
“-Relata refero... Doyou understand me, my child?
“— Yes, my dear Count, I see that that implies he had papers, and that this
instruction could be given by him to others?
" - Exactly that.
“ - The late Hund would not hâve wanted to lie to us, would he?
“ - No, he was a good man.
“I said to him out of the blue:
“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?
“ The response was prompt, without a moment’ s reflection:
"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.
“Here, of ail the proofs of our lineage, was the only gift 9 10 that I hâve ever had.
But it might not be as convincing to others ; I thought I would amuse you by
communicating this anecdote. ”
Bord, who gave us this letter drawn from the ancient archives in his book
“ Freemasomy in France ”, also gives us the name of the real founder of the “ Templar
Strict Observance” , without doubt around 1620, according to our personal investigations.
In fact, G. Montchal, Honorary Grand Prior of Switzerland, quotes five important
dates in his work “The Independent Grand Priory of Switzerland, Scottish Rectified Rite”,
also reproduced a more ancient text, drawn from the archives of the Priory, and published
for the fîrst time in 1909, but not for public circulation:
1644 In the entourage of James II, gentlemen affiliated with the Order of Scottish Masters
constituted the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew, which they linked to the
chivalric Order of that name.
1688 H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, founded the Scottish Rectified Rite,
Corning out of the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew.
1730 From this date, we find a Templar Chapter established at Unwurden (Haute-Lusace).
Some historians believe that it was there that the Strict Templar Observance was initiated.
1 741 In 1 741, in Hamburg, a Chapter of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew was founded in the
Lodge “Judica”. This is a significant fact, since this establishment thus revealed the
existence of a Templar System.
1749 An important date, which marked the official introduction of the Templar Rite, both by
H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, and by his friend, Barond von
Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.
9 Bonne - PV.
10 “ Mais elle ne saurait l’être pour d’autresV’ . I’m sure I’ve mistranslated this but I can’t think what else it
might mean.- Pv.
10
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
You will note that, geographically speaking, ail these towns are located in the
provinces where the Teutonic Order of olden times had previously flourished. Let us
continue to quote G. de Montchal:
1755 Convent of Dresden, known under the name o/Rectification of Dresden , from which was
created the Rectified Rite of that name, and through which the Templar System was
established in a Masonic Workshop which took the name of Grand Lodge.
1763 Convent of Altenberg, near Iena. There the régime was submitted to a drastic reform,
and ail the Alchemists, Kabbalists and other were chased out. Its administrative
organization, which was that of the old Order of the Temple, was knit even doser still. It
took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.
How, in a Order which had shown itself so terribly steeped in the aristocratie
morgue (in the words of European Masons), had occultists managed to gain admission?
Montchal tells us that at the Convent of Kohlo in 1742, a fïrst purging had already
occurred. That is a piece of history of secret societies and chivalric Orders which ....
It is very probably by and with the support of the Princes of the House of Hesse-
Cassel...
We know, in fact, from sure historié sources, that William IV of Hesse-Cassel,
called “The Wise ”, was an enlightened sovereign, remarkable for his broad and extended
knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.
Born on June 14, 1533, died August 25, 1592, he was the author of Astrological
Tables, and published the resuit of his observations in this area. He possessed an
astronomical observatory where he worked for rnany years with his friends, Christ
Rothmann, the wise Mathematician, and Just Borge, who was the best Physician-Optician
of the âge. He was also the friend and constant protector of Tycho de Brahé.
Now, from the appearance of the heraldry of the House of Hesse-Cassel, we can
note a curious fact. According to the genealogist La Chesnay des Bois, in his
“ Dictionary of Nobility ” (Ed. from 1776), quoting du Buisson, and according to J. B.
Rietstap in his book “General Heraldry”, both famous heraldists, the Princes of Hesse-
Cassel bore shields: “of silver with a red Lating cross with broad ends, with a second
crossbar in red 11 ...”
So the House of Hesse-Cassel bore as the distinctive family emblem the Latin
cross with a second red crossbar, which was the exclusive privilège of the high
dignitaries of the Order of the Temple, of the living Order...
For this red cross was its exclusive privilège, and none other among the knightly
Orders coming from the Crusades was given the right to work under the white mande!
11 “D ’ argent à la Croix pâtée et alésée de gueules, à la double traverse de gueules
il
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
This privilège was conceded to the Templars by Pope Eugenius III in 1 146, at the request
of St. Bernard. (Cf. Probst-Biraben, in "The Mystery of the Templars ”, p. 29). As for the
double cross, it was the mark of high dignitaries of the Temple, as John Charpentier tells
us in his work "The Order of the Templars ” (p. 41).
But this is not ail. We hâve mentioned Tycho de Brahé, and here is a still more
surprising fact!
Son of the Grand Bailiff of Scanie, belonging to the oldest Swedish nobility (still
Sweden, or rather already Swedish), Tycho de Brahé had a château constructed which
was devoted to his alchemical and astrological studies, with a splendid library and
observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.
Born in 1 546 in Scanie, Denmark (which State was still a province of Sweden), he
died in Prague in 1601. Note this place, for we will return to it as a meeting place for
Jewish Kabbalists, Alchemists and Rosicrucian Theurgists in the years which follow,
right up to the end of the 18 th Century.
Now, one beautiful day in 1590, which disembarked in Uranienborg? King James
VI of Scotland, (future King of England under the name of James l st ), who had just
legally reinstated the Order of Chardon of Saint Andrew of Scotland, which Order was a
perpétuation of the Templars, as we hâve seen. . . From Uranienborg, the King and Tycho
de Brahé went to Cassel, and stayed near to William IV, the Wise. In 1591, a year later,
James VI published a flrst treatise on pneumatology, in which he treated at length on the
diverse nature of Spirits, developing the théories of his predecessor in this domain,
Reginald Scott, but perhaps also those of his friends: William IV the Wsie and Tycho de
Brahé. This book was “ Daemonologia , hoc est adversus incantationem sive magiam
institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’
This same sovereign, with the flrst English Rosicrucians, constituted the “ Royal
Rose Croix ”, composed of thirty-two knights (in remembrance of the thirty-two Paths of
Wisdom of the Kabbalah), and who was certainly the point of departure for the Jacobite
Rose-Croix, which became the 18 th Degree of Scottish Masonry of the 19 th Century.
How can one not accept that it was the resurgence of a vast initiatory movement
which perpetuated the Temple, which in one program and towards a coinmon aim was
able to unité these two sovereigns which, being occultists, both at the head of a defunct
Order of the Temple, bearing arms of foreign monks, like those of the high dignitaries of
the Temple for William IV the Wise, and those who took as a collective Symbol of the
Rose-Croix of the 18 th Century, for James VI of Scotland: “silver, with a red St. Andrews
Cross, four red roses in the quarters . . .” ?
“D ’ argent , au sautoir de gueules, cantonné de quatre roses du même”.
13 Which equates, graphically, to a cross of Saint Andrew, with four roses spread across the four angles of
this cross. Valentin Andrea bore this sign on his ring; it figures on a drawing decorating the upper région
of his portrait reproduced in the work by Wittermans: “ History of the Rose-Croix ”, p. 31.
12
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
So, according to our own conclusions and to the light which preceded it, this is
the reason for the Alchemists, Kabbalists, Theurgists as well as commoners, entering an
Order as aristocratie as that of the Teutonic Knights or that of the Strict Templar
Observance from which it came.
We note that certain authors, notably Philléas Lebesgue, supported the theory that
Marshall von Ludendorff had been one of the last représentatives of an esoteric Teuronic
kernel, perpetuating certain théories from the Gibelins to exclusively pangennanist ends.
What the famous devise of the Austrian Emperors claimed to affinn with their
“A.E.I.O.U.”, when translated from Latin into English signified something like this:
“Austria is destined to dominate the world”. And it was Ludendorff who made Hitler!
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
https://archive.org/stream/AmblelainRTemplarsRoseCroix/Amblelain%20R%20Templars%20%26%20Rose%20Croix_djvu.txt
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
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."
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.
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
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
Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojty?a (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005), known as Blessed John Paul II since his beatification on May 1, 2011, reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of The Holy See from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at 84 years and 319 days of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted 26 years and 168 days; only Pope Pius IX (1846–1878) who served 31 years, has reigned longer. Pope John Paul II is the only Slavic or Polish pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. The eruption, which had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, was the most significant to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California.[2] It has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens
On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Pope_John_Paul_II
It's hard to see how the fishing industry will pick itself up again. Takeshi is moving away from the coast as is his neighbor and fellow fisherman. His wife has refused to return here since the tsunami hit. At the age of 77, he is unlikely to be able to start from scratch. But he picks up any remnants of his fishing gear he can find, just in case. What is left intact barely fills one small basket. His neighbor finds his clock. It has stopped at 3:22pm -- the exact moment his life changed and countless others ended." Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village by Paul Hancocks
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/japan.tsunami.village/index.html
Skull and Bones, The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut."
There is a secret that binds the two men who would be the next leader of the free world. President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry both spent a portion of their youth laying bare their sex lives in Gothic rituals presided over by a human skull and the skeletal remains of various other animal species in a windowless building known as the Tomb. They also formed an unusual attachment to the number 322, which holds a special resonance for the club's members." Skeletons in the closet
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/20/usa.internationaleducationnews
It is perhaps worth noting, in light of George W.'s controversial episode at Bob Jones University and the specter of anti-Catholicism, that at one point in the proceedings every initiate kisses the slippered toe of the "Pope." At last the initiate is formally dubbed a Knight of Eulogia. Amid more raucous ritual he is cast from the room into the waiting arms of the patriarchs."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/george-w-knight-of-eulogia/304686/
A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014 (3/22/2014), at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide
Published: 10 October 1996
Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research
Carl Levitin
Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "
The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".
The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.
During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".
Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .
A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .
Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."
https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0
Shale – Shake
We Are Shale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syNpwC9awOg&list=RDsyNpwC9awOg&start_radio=1
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02ednetNcApswbksgGEJdvVCwXKZwic16VD1GNtYwamTD3D46J6VFULpkb39afpSw8l
Funny is Funny
Malik Biggs ·
Admin
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Paul Pierce in NBA 2K1
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1097117401389513/posts/1311534039947847/
Ignatius of Loyola SJ (/ɪɡˈneɪʃəs/ ig-NAY-shəs; Basque: Ignazio Loiolakoa; Spanish: Ignacio de Loyola; Latin: Ignatius de Loyola; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; c. 23 October 1491[3] – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and became its first Superior General, in Paris in 1541.[4]
Ignatius envisioned the purpose of the Society of Jesus to be missionary work and teaching. In addition to the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty of other religious orders in the church, Loyola instituted a fourth vow for Jesuits of obedience to the Pope, to engage in projects ordained by the pontiff.[5] Jesuits were instrumental in leading the Counter-Reformation.[6]
As a former soldier, Ignatius paid particular attention to the spiritual formation of his recruits and recorded his method in the Spiritual Exercises (1548). In time, the method has become known as Ignatian spirituality. He was beatified in 1609 and was canonized as a saint on 12 March 1622. His feast day is celebrated on 31 July. He is the patron saint of the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as of the Society of Jesus. He was declared the patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola
The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (/bæsk, bɑːsk/),[4] also officially called Euskadi ([eus̺kadi]), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. It surrounds two enclaves called Treviño (Burgos) and Valle de Villaverde (Cantabria).
The Basque Country was granted the status of nationality, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The autonomous community is based on the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the development of the Basque people on Southern Basque Country. Parallelly, Navarre, which narrowly rejected a joint statute of autonomy in 1932,[5] was granted a separate chartered statute in 1982.
Currently there is no official capital in the autonomous community, but the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the province of Álava, is the de facto capital as the location of the Basque Parliament, the headquarters of the Basque Government, and the residence of the President of the Basque Autonomous Community (the Palace of Ajuria Enea). The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country has its headquarters in the city of Bilbao. Whilst Vitoria-Gasteiz is the largest municipality in area, with 277 km2 (107 sq mi), Bilbao is the largest in population, with 353,187 people, located in the province of Biscay within a conurbation of 875,552 people.
The term Basque Country may also refer to the larger cultural region (Basque: Euskal Herria), the home of the Basque people, which includes the autonomous community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately 9.4 inches (24 cm) in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter mounted 10 feet (3.048 m) high to a backboard at each end of the court), while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.
Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots – the layup, the jump shot, or a dunk; on defense, they may steal the ball from a dribbler, intercept passes, or block shots; either offense or defense may collect a rebound, that is, a missed shot that bounces from rim or backboard. It is a violation to lift or drag one's pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling.
The five players on each side fall into five playing positions. The tallest player is usually the center, the second-tallest and strongest is the power forward, a slightly shorter but more agile player is the small forward, and the shortest players or the best ball handlers are the shooting guard and the point guard, who implement the coach's game plan by managing the execution of offensive and defensive plays (player positioning). Informally, players may play three-on-three, two-on-two, and one-on-one.
Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.[1][2] The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most significant professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries, talent, and level of competition[3][4] (drawing most of its talent from U.S. college basketball). Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the EuroLeague and the Basketball Champions League Americas. The FIBA Basketball World Cup and Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament are the major international events of the sport and attract top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for national teams, like EuroBasket and FIBA AmeriCup.
The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and women's Olympic basketball tournament feature top national teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA (NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship is also popular), whereas the strongest European clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball
Fulcanelli’s main strategy, the key to unraveling the mystery, lies in an understanding of what he calls the “phonetic law” of the “spoken cabala,” or the “language of the birds.” This punning, multilingual wordplay can be used to reveal unusual and, according to Fulcanelli, meaningful associations between ideas. “What unsuspected marvels we should find, if we knew how to dissect words, to strip them of their bark and liberate the spirit, the divine light which is within,” Fulcanelli writes. He claims that in our day this is the natural language of the outsiders, the outlaws and heretics at the fringes of society. (See appendix A, “Fulcanelli on the Green Language,” for the complete text of this chapter.) 6 This spoken cabala was also the “green language” of the Freemasons (“All the Initiates expressed themselves in cant,” Fulcanelli reminds us) who built the art gothique of the cathedrals. “Gothic art is in fact the art got or art cot —χοτ—the art of light or of the spirit,” Fulcanelli informs us. Ultimately the “art got,” or the “art of light,” is derived from the language of the birds, which seems to be a sort of Ur-language taught by both Jesus and the ancients."
The Mysteries of the Great Cross
by Jay Weidner
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vrxcBcn4h7RRM2SA3X1SS1DsooSxfitI/view?usp=sharing
How to Speak Ignatian: Common words and phrases of the Society of Jesus
Adapted from “How to Speak Loyola,” a glossary developed by the Office of Mission &
Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.
Microsoft Word - How to Speak Ignatian.doc (jesuithighschool.org)
https://www.jesuithighschool.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_speak_ignatian_0.pdf
The Order of Assassins (Arabic: حَشّاشِین, romanized: Ḥaššāšīyīn; Persian: حشاشين, romanized: Ḥaššāšīn) were a Nizari Isma'ili order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded by Hasan al-Sabbah.
During that time, they lived in the mountains of Persia and the Levant, and held a strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East, posing a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority, and killing several Christian leaders. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds who were considered enemies of the Nizari Isma'ili state. The modern term assassination is believed to stem from the tactics used by the Assassins.[1]
Contemporaneous historians include ibn al-Qalanisi, Ali ibn al-Athir, and Ata-Malik Juvayni. The former two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by Isma'ilis themselves.[2][3]
Overview
The Assassins were founded by Hassan-i Sabbah. The state was formed in 1090 after the capture of Alamut Castle in the Alborz mountain range of Persia, which served as the Assassins' headquarters. The Alamut and Lambsar castles became the foundation of a network of Isma'ili fortresses throughout Persia and Syria that formed the backbone of Assassin power, and included Syrian strongholds at Masyaf, Abu Qubays, al-Qadmus and al-Kahf. The Western world was introduced to the Assassins by the works of Marco Polo[4] who understood the name as deriving from the word hashish.[5][6][7]
While Assassins typically refers to the entire group, only a group of disciples known as the fida'i actually engaged in conflict. The preferred method of killing was by dagger, nerve poison or arrows.[citation needed] The Assassins posed a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds – including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim and Christian leaders.[8]
Notable victims of the Assassins include Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs, (1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah (1121), Seljuk atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi (1126), Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, atabeg of Damascus (1132), and Abbasid caliphs al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid (1138). Saladin, a major foe of the Assassins, escaped assassination twice (1175–1176). The first Frank known to have been killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in 1152. The Assassins were acknowledged and feared by the Crusaders, losing the de facto King of Jerusalem, Conrad of Montferrat, to an Assassin's blade in 1192 and Lord Philip of Montfort of Tyre in 1270. The Ismaili Assassins were created to revive the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, which had been destroyed by the Sunni Seljuks. Their primary tactic was to kill the Sunni leaders in as public a place as possible - usually at Friday prayers.
Accounts of the Assassins were preserved within Western, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian sources where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. European orientalists in the 19th and 20th centuries also referred to the Isma'ili Assassins in their works, writing about them based on accounts in seminal works by medieval Arab and Persian authors, particularly ibn al-Qalanisi's Mudhayyal Ta'rikh Dimashq (Continuation of the Chronicle of Damascus), ibn al-Athir's al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (The Complete History), and Juvayni's Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror).
The Order would finally come to an end during the rule of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah when the Isma'ili State was eventually destroyed as Khurshah surrendered the castles after the Mongol invasion of Persia. Khurshah died in 1256 and, by 1275, the Mongols had destroyed and eliminated the order of Assassins.[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس, romanized: al-ʾAndalus)[a] was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim[1][2] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[3][4][5] as well as Septimania under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[1][2][6][7][8] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus
1236
June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]
July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]
Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.
May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236
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 Complementary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.
Rulers of Evil
by F. Tupper Saussy
https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1
The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.
of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."
EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS
AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA
By
JAVIER A. MONTOYA
http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf
Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."
https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha
Gautama
surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."
https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha
Unam Sanctam
One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority
Pope Boniface VIII - 1302
Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302
Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.
We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.
However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.
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
All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."
-page 137
Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World Domination
Codeword Barbelon book 2 by P.D. Stuart
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid035xnEp3Ly2wiUwdPzYuyuedPDSdcSEVe8gzHxCZfovqX8epcgRL4v7RbqwVsjavD3l
The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters.The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."
http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/
The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.
https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/
Horses: the extent to which they can be possessed in our houses [575, 576]; the extent to which they can be used on missions [574, 625]
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 Four Horsemen is an American professional wrestling stable that originally consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
The stable originated in Jim Crockett Promotions as part of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Flair and Arn Anderson were members of each incarnation of the group until Anderson's retirement after a neck injury. As of 2022, Arn Anderson has the ownership of the stable's trademark and other intellectual properties.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Horsemen_(professional_wrestling)
Who or what is Abaddon/Apollyon?
Answer
The name Abaddon or Apollyon appears in Revelation 9:11: “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.” In Hebrew, the name “Abaddon” means “place of destruction”; the Greek title “Apollyon” literally means “The Destroyer.”
In Revelation 8–9, John describes a period during the end times when angels sound seven trumpets. Each trumpet signals the coming of a new judgment on the people of earth. When the fifth angel blows his trumpet, the Abyss, a great smoking pit, will open, and a horde of demonic “locusts” will rise out of it (Revelation 9:1-3). These creatures will be given the power to torture any person who does not bear God’s seal (verse 4). The pain they inflict will be so intense that sufferers will wish to die (verse 6). Abaddon/Apollyon is the ruler of the Abyss and the king of these demonic locusts.
Abaddon/Apollyon is often used as another name for Satan. However, Scripture seems to distinguish the two. We find Satan later on in Revelation, when he is imprisoned for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3). He is then released to wreak havoc on the earth (verses 1-8) and ultimately receives his final, eternal punishment (verse 10). Abaddon/Apollyon is likely one of Satan’s underlings, a destroying demon and one of the “rulers,” “authorities,” and “powers” mentioned in Ephesians 6:12.
John Bunyan’s classic allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress includes a memorable scene in which Christian does battle with a demonic monster named Apollyon. True to its name, Apollyon nearly destroys Christian. The pilgrim in his armor withstands the attack and wields his sword to repel the fiend. Bunyan’s “Apollyon” is a symbolic representation of our spiritual enemy, but the inspiration for the character is literal. The Abaddon/Apollyon of Revelation is a real being who will one day inflict real pain on real people during God’s real judgment.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Abaddon-Apollyon.html
Windham Lawrence Rotunda (May 23, 1987 – August 24, 2023), better known by his ring name Bray Wyatt, was an American professional wrestler best known for his tenures in WWE from 2009 until his death in 2023.
Rotunda was a third-generation wrestler, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan, his father Mike Rotunda, and his uncles Barry and Kendall Windham. His younger brother Taylor is also a wrestler under the ring name Bo Dallas. Alongside his brother, he held the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice while in WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He wrestled under various ring names between 2008 and 2012 in FCW, and wrestled on WWE's main roster from 2010 to 2011 as a member of The Nexus under the ring name Husky Harris.
After returning to WWE's developmental territory, which had been rebranded as NXT, Rotunda was repackaged as Bray Wyatt. Portrayed as the villainous leader of a bayou-dwelling cult called The Wyatt Family, he returned to the main roster alongside Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in 2013. He subsequently became a one-time WWE Champion, two-time WWE Universal Champion, one-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion (alongside Harper and brief Wyatt Family member Randy Orton under the Freebird Rule), and one-time Raw Tag Team Champion (with Matt Hardy).
After a hiatus from August 2018 to April 2019, Wyatt returned with a new split personality gimmick, which saw him switch between the two characters of a Mr. Rogers-esque children's TV host named Bray Wyatt and a grotesque monster resembling an evil clown called The Fiend. He was released from WWE in July 2021, but returned in October 2022 with a new character that claimed to be his "real-life" self, though he gradually reincorporated his previous personalities in addition to new ones. In what would become his only televised match during this return, he defeated LA Knight in January 2023; he took a medical hiatus in February due to a COVID-19 infection that exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition, and died of a heart attack in August at the age of 36.
Death
Rotunda died in his sleep at his home in Clermont, Florida, on August 24, 2023 at the age of 36. The cause of death was a heart attack.[270][271] His death was announced by WWE's chief content officer Triple H, following a phone call he had received from Rotunda's father Mike Rotunda.[272] Rotunda had been dealing with an undisclosed illness since February, which was reportedly life-threatening. Just days before his death, reports were published stating that he was making progress in his recovery. Shortly after his death, it was revealed that the illness was due to an earlier COVID-19 infection, which had exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition.[270] He had been hospitalized for a heart issue one week before his death, and was advised to wear a specialized vest containing a self-activating defibrillator; at the time of his death, he was not wearing the vest, which police found in his car.[271][273]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bray_Wyatt
Almost two millennia later, even though Pier Luigi Nervi and Annibale Vitellozzi created a closed ROTUNDA with a LANTERN for their Palazzetto dello Sport (1956-1958) the dome rebuilds the sky here as well. The central circle represents the sun and grants a floating lightness to the lantern. The constructive engineering is elegantly transformed into a sophisticated shell of sun rays enclosing all spectators." A Brief History of Rome's Luminous Rotundas | ArchDaily
A Brief History of Rome's Luminous Rotundas | ArchDaily
https://www.archdaily.com/775844/a-brief-history-of-romes-luminous-rotundas
A rotunda (from Latin rotundus) is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (a famous example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). The Pantheon, Rome is the most famous and influential rotunda. A band rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome."
Rotunda (architecture) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotunda_(architecture)#:~:text=A%20rotunda%20(from%20Latin%20rotundus,Capitol%20in%20Washington%2C%20D.C.).
Rotunda died of a HEART attack on August 24, 2023, at the age of 36.[281] His death was announced by WWE chief content creator and former wrestler Triple H on X.[282]"
Bray Wyatt - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bray_Wyatt
On September 10, 2012 during Raw at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, not long after defeating Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a tag-team match with Randy Orton, Lawler legitimately collapsed at the announcers table while Kane and Daniel Bryan competed against Titus O'Neil and Darren Young.[52][53] Cole continued to call that match alone, as well as the next match, before WWE (through Cole) announced the medical situation with Lawler. The remaining matches on the show went ahead as scheduled but without commentary and updates on Lawler's condition were provided by Cole. At the end of the broadcast, it was announced that he had received CPR, but was breathing independently and reacting to stimulation. Doctors said that Lawler was clinically dead for almost 30 minutes.[54] It was later confirmed on WWE.com that Lawler had suffered a heart attack.[55] On September 11, 2012, he underwent an angioplasty to improve blood flow to his heart.[56] On September 12, 2012, Lawler was reported to be slowly being eased off sedation, his ventilator removed. He was able to blink, nod, and squeeze with his hands,[57] and that same day, the results of several CT scans showed no signs of brain damage.[58] By September 17, Lawler had returned to his home in Memphis."
Jerry "The King" Lawler - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lawler
On September 25, 2020, Paul was hospitalized after slurring his words while speaking during a livestream event. Paul later posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed to his Twitter page, along with the statement "I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern".[261]"
Ron Paul - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul
During the Cold War, science was the focus of intense super-power rivalry. Even areas like mind control were explored, amid fears of the other side getting an edge - and this included microwaves.
Prof Lin was shown the Soviet approach at a centre of scientific research in the town of Pushchino, near Moscow. "They had a very elaborate, very well-equipped laboratory," Prof Lin recalls. But their experiment was cruder than his. The subject would sit in a drum of salty seawater with their head sticking out. Then microwaves would be fired at their brain. The scientists thought the microwaves interacted with the nervous system and wanted to question Prof Lin on his alternative view.
Curiosity cut both ways, and US spies kept close track on Soviet research. A 1976 report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, unearthed by the BBC, says it could find no proof of Communist-bloc microwave weapons, but says it had learnt of experiments where microwaves were pulsed at the throat of frogs until their hearts stopped.
The report also reveals that the US was concerned Soviet microwaves could be used to impair brain function or induce sounds for psychological effect. "Their internal sound perception research has great potential for development into a system for disorienting or disrupting the behaviour patterns of military or diplomatic personnel."
‘Havana syndrome ’ and the mystery of the microwaves - BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58396698
Razor Ramon: Taking His Piece of America”
by Keith Elliot Greenberg - WWF Magazine [October 1992]
“The crowd on the Havana dock surged toward the rickety fishing boat. The vessel rocked back and forth perilously as people rushed onto the deck, clutching bundles of their belongings and squealing children. In the distance, a siren was heard. The army was coming to try to force the refugees to remain on Cuban shores, so it was imperative to leave immediately."
https://droptoehold-blog.tumblr.com/post/49522530268/razor-ramon-taking-his-piece-of-america-by
Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 – March 14, 2022)
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
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring name Razor Ramon.
Born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, Hall began his career in 1984. He rose to prominence after signing with the WWF in May 1992, assuming the name Razor Ramon. While within the company, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship four times. He departed the company in May 1996, and subsequently signed with rival promotion WCW, where he became a founding member of the New World Order (nWo) faction, along with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. In the company, he became a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Television Champion, and a seven-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. He left WCW in February 2000, returning to the WWF (later renamed WWE) for a brief stint in 2002.
He spent the rest of his career wrestling for various promotions, such as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he held the TNA World Tag Team Championship once, with Kevin Nash and Eric Young. He wrestled his final match in June 2016. Although he never won a world championship in a major promotion, Hall held the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship once for the Puerto Rico-based promotion World Wrestling Council. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a singles competitor in 2014, and as a member of the nWo in 2020. Hall struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse for much of his career and later life, and died in March 2022, at the age of 63.
Death
In March 2022, Hall was hospitalized after falling and breaking his hip.[166] He was immobile on the floor for days before being discovered during a wellness check by his friend Diamond Dallas Page, who took him to the hospital.[167] After Hall underwent hip replacement surgery, a blood clot was dislodged, and resulted in Hall having three heart attacks on March 12, 2022, after which he was put on life support at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia.[168] He was taken off life support on March 14, 2022, after his family had traveled to the hospital to see him and be with him at his bedside. He died about 4 or 6 hours later at the age of 63.[169][170][171] WWE announced his death later during that day's Raw episode with a tribute video.[172]
Four days after Hall's death, Sean Waltman revealed to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Hall had relapsed back into alcohol abuse when the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns rendered him unable to have social interactions, and at one point he had dropped weight down to 210 pounds (95 kg) from his usual 287 pounds (130 kg). Waltman also revealed that Hall was in particularly bad shape the night before the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and even passed out at a bar.[167] Waltman also stated Hall's condition worsened throughout the two years prior to his death and that he had offered to move in with Hall in February 2022 to help with his health issues.[167] Page also returned to help with Hall's alcoholism.[167]
Hall was buried on April 8, 2022, at Trinity Church Cemetery at St. Mary's, Maryland, his hometown, and the service was attended by fellow wrestlers Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Page.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Hall
Windham Lawrence Rotunda (May 23, 1987 – August 24, 2023), better known by his ring name Bray Wyatt, was an American professional wrestler best known for his tenures in WWE from 2009 until his death in 2023.
Rotunda was a third-generation wrestler, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan, his father Mike Rotunda, and his uncles Barry and Kendall Windham. His younger brother Taylor is also a wrestler under the ring name Bo Dallas. Alongside his brother, he held the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice while in WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He wrestled under various ring names between 2008 and 2012 in FCW, and wrestled on WWE's main roster from 2010 to 2011 as a member of The Nexus under the ring name Husky Harris.
After returning to WWE's developmental territory, which had been rebranded as NXT, Rotunda was repackaged as Bray Wyatt. Portrayed as the villainous leader of a bayou-dwelling cult called The Wyatt Family, he returned to the main roster alongside Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in 2013. He subsequently became a one-time WWE Champion, two-time WWE Universal Champion, one-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion (alongside Harper and brief Wyatt Family member Randy Orton under the Freebird Rule), and one-time Raw Tag Team Champion (with Matt Hardy).
After a hiatus from August 2018 to April 2019, Wyatt returned with a new split personality gimmick, which saw him switch between the two characters of a Mr. Rogers-esque children's TV host named Bray Wyatt and a grotesque monster resembling an evil clown called The Fiend. He was released from WWE in July 2021, but returned in October 2022 with a new character that claimed to be his "real-life" self, though he gradually reincorporated his previous personalities in addition to new ones. In what would become his only televised match during this return, he defeated LA Knight in January 2023; he took a medical hiatus in February due to a COVID-19 infection that exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition, and died of a heart attack in August at the age of 36.
Death
Rotunda died in his sleep at his home in Clermont, Florida, on August 24, 2023 at the age of 36. The cause of death was a heart attack.[270][271] His death was announced by WWE's chief content officer Triple H, following a phone call he had received from Rotunda's father Mike Rotunda.[272] Rotunda had been dealing with an undisclosed illness since February, which was reportedly life-threatening. Just days before his death, reports were published stating that he was making progress in his recovery. Shortly after his death, it was revealed that the illness was due to an earlier COVID-19 infection, which had exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition.[270] He had been hospitalized for a heart issue one week before his death, and was advised to wear a specialized vest containing a self-activating defibrillator; at the time of his death, he was not wearing the vest, which police found in his car.[271][273]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bray_Wyatt
Lyon County Sheriff's Office - Nevada
February 26, 2020 ·
Sixteen years ago today, the Serenko family lost a loved one and the Lyon County Sheriff's Office lost one of our brothers.
Deputy Mick Serenko was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey but lived most of his life in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The day after he graduated high school Mick joined the Navy and he always said it was the best move he ever made. The Navy gave him stability and focus in his life, it enabled him to see much of the world, and it helped him gain an education (majoring in Criminal Justice).
When Mick talked about retiring from the Navy it was always with the idea of becoming a law enforcement officer. He and his lovely wife, Sharon, checked out several areas around the country (including Texas and Washington State) but ultimately decided on Nevada as the place to plant their roots.
Mick went to work for the Lyon County Sheriff's Office and served there until the night he suffered a major heart attack on the job. He was hospitalized and passed away a couple days later on February 26, 2004.
Deputy Mick Serenko loved being a cop and he is sorely missed.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=1234461393427621&id=100064937010102
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
February 14, 2022 ·
DEATH OF ALAMEDA COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFF AUBREY PHILLIPS
For Immediate Release:
It is with tremendous sadness we report the sudden and unexpected death of Deputy Sheriff Aubrey Phillips.
On Saturday, February 12, 2022, Deputy Phillips was assigned as a patrol officer to the City of Dublin, California a contract police service of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. About 1:46 am, Deputy Phillips conducted a traffic enforcement stop in which she arrested the driver of the vehicle. During the process of that arrest, while seated in her patrol vehicle, Deputy Phillips suffered a severe and acute medical emergency. Another officer noticed Deputy Phillips in distress and immediately began life saving efforts and called for emergency medical services. Deputy Phillips was rushed to Stanford Valley Care Hospital in Pleasanton, California and was listed in critical condition. She was transported to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for life saving intervention. Tragically, medical professionals were unable to save her life and she passed away.
Deputy Phillips was a registered organ donor and she will donate her organs to others as a result of her death. Sheriff Gregory Ahern stated, “This tragic event has touched each member of this agency. Aubrey’s short life will live on even after her passing. Aubrey will continue to serve her community by giving the gift of life to others in need. She was truly a remarkable person and served this agency and Alameda County with dignity and honor.”
Deputy Phillips was 36 years old. She was a five year veteran of the Agency and assigned as a midnight shift patrol officer in the City of Dublin. Deputy Phillips is the daughter of an honorably retired Alameda County Deputy Sheriff and her husband is a current Deputy Sheriff for Alameda County. Deputy Phillips and her husband have three young children.
Our Agency is heartbroken over the sudden death of Deputy Phillips. We are providing counseling and peer support to our members impacted by her loss.
Further information regarding funeral services will be provided at a later date.
*Photographs of Aubrey Phillips are attached for media use.
Lt. Ray Kelly
Chief of Staff
Public Information officer
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
1401 Lakeside Dr. 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
https://www.facebook.com/ACSOSheriffs/posts/pfbid03FbGAv9eFcNaheypozH59kCLJkzHLwrL7qgUHbStiV9MtbcBU9pUt7KpTPk8Hbngl
Salvador Miranda (October 18, 1939 – June 1, 2024) was an American bibliographer, librarian and church historian.[1][2]
Biography
Miranda was born on October 18, 1939, in Havana, Cuba.[2] In 1958, he graduated from the Jesuit-run Colegio de Belén in Havana after which he attended the law school at the University of Havana.[2] After the Cuban Revolution in 1963, he moved to Puerto Rico to study humanities at the University of Puerto Rico.[2] As a young Cuban exile, he was a member of the Cuban-American expeditionary force in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.[1] He then returned to school graduating with a B.A. in History and Philosophy from Biscayne College; an M.A. in Modern European History in 1974 from Villanova University; and an M.S. in Library and Information Science in 1976 from Florida State University.[2] After graduating from Florida State, he accepted a position as the Latin American and Caribbean Bibliographer at the University of Florida Libraries in Gainesville.[2] In 1986, he served as assistant director for Collection Management at Florida International University Libraries in Miami.[2] On June 30, 2001, he retired.[2]
The title of his 319-page master's thesis in history was The Sacred College of Cardinals in the Twentieth Century (1903-1973): Developments, Documents and Biographies[2] which he expanded to include earlier cardinals and then digitized, making it available as an online resource.[1] In appreciation of his research, Bishop Cipriano Calderón Polo, the founding director of the Spanish edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano and the vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, whom he corresponded with for years over the history of the episcopacy, invited him to present at the first continental meeting of bishops from Latin America in 1999.[1][3]
His research and expertise has been used as a resource by various publications including The New York Times,[4] The Cleveland Plain Dealer,[5] Religion News Service,[6] La Stampa,[7] and The Wall Street Journal.[8]
On 28 June 2023, Miranda posted on The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church's main page that he had been hospitalized with cardiac issues.[9] He died on June 1, 2024, at the age of 84.[10][11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Miranda_(historian)
Jeremy Dane Laymon[2] (March 10, 1976 – December 25, 2024) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Jax Dane. He was known for his tenure with various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member promotions. He was a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, NWA National Heavyweight, NWA North American Heavyweight and NWA World Tag Team Champion. He was also known for his work for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor (ROH).
Return to NWA (2020–2024)
On the February 25, 2020, episode of NWA Powerrr, Dane appeared with Danny Deals to challenge Tim Storm.[citation needed]
Jax lost the NWA National Championship to Cyon at NWA 74 at The Chase Ballroom in St. Louis, MO on August 27, 2022.[citation needed]
He remained active in the NWA until his death. His final match, where he and Baron Von Storm defeated Jake Dumas and Zyon, took place at the NWA Samhain 2 taping and aired on December 17, 2024.[citation needed]
Death
Following complications from a heart attack suffered in November, Dane died on December 25, 2024 at the age of 48. The National Wrestling Alliance issued a statement on his death on their website.[31]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jax_Dane
REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS
"The brain is on the verge of becoming the next battlefield with weapons currently being designed to hack directly into your nervous system.
"Controlled Personnel Effects"
(see image, right) is one of the Air Force’s ambitious long-term challenges. It starts with better and more accurate bombs, but moves on to discuss devices that "make selected adversaries think or act according to our needs… By studying and modeling the human brain and nervous system, the ability to mentally influence or confuse personnel is also possible."
The first stage is technology to “remotely create physical sensations.”
They give the example of the Active Denial System "people zapper" which uses a high-frequency radiation similar to microwaves as a non-lethal means of crowd control.
Other weapons can affect the nervous system directly. The Pulsed Energy Projectile fires a short intense pulse of laser energy. This vaporizes the outer layer of the target, creating a rapidly-expanding expanding ball of plasma. At different power levels, those expanding plasmas could deliver a harmless warning, stun the target, or disable them – all with pinpoint laser precision from a mile away.
Early reports on the effects of PEPs mentioned temporary paralysis, then thought to be related to ultrasonic shockwaves. It later became apparent that the electromagnetic pulse caused by the expanding plasma was triggering nerve cells
Details of this emerged in a heavily-censored document released to Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project under the Freedom if Information Act. Called “Sensory consequence of electromagnetic pulsed emitted by laser induced plasmas,” it described research on activating the nerve cells responsible for sensing unpleasant stimuli: heat, damage, pressure, cold. By selectively stimulating a particular nociceptor, a finely tuned PEP might sensations of say, being burned, frozen or dipped in acid — all without doing the slightest actual harm.
The skin is the easiest target for such stimulation. But, in principle, any sensory nerves could be triggered. The Controlled Effects document suggests “it may be possible to create synthetic images…to confuse an individual’ s visual sense or, in a similar manner, confuse his senses of sound, taste, touch, or smell.”
In other words, it may be possible to use electromagnetic means to create overwhelming ‘sound’ or ‘light’, or indeed ‘intolerable smell’ which would exist only in the brain of the person perceiving them.
There is another side as well. The “sensory consequences” document also notes that the nervous system which controls muscles could be influenced to cause what they call “Taser-like motor effects.” The stun gun’s ability to shock the muscles into malfunction is relatively crude; we might now be looking at are much more targeted effects.
The American military may want to attack the nervous system, with pain rays and laser plasma pulses. But they’re not the only ones.
The Russians have long studied such systems, too — including one weapon that could, in theory, remotely trigger heart attacks.
In 2003, at the 2nd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Anatoly Korolev and his colleagues from Moscow State University presented a paper with the snappy title "Bioelectrodynamic Criterion of the NLW Effectiveness Estimation and the Interaction mechanisms of the multilayer Skin Tissues with electromagnetic Radiation." This is a study of how radio-frequency weapons — like the American Active Denial System — affect the skin. After wading through a mass of technical data showing how complex the interactions are we reach the punch line:
The sensations modality (pricking, touch, pressure, gooseflesh, touch, burning pain etc) depends on the field parameters and individual concrete human being factors. As a matter of fact, we can really choose the non-lethal bioeffect.
The effects include sensations similar to those discussed previously, and more besides. The paper discusses effects on cell membranes and affecting the body’s normal function, including "information transfer to the organs of control."
At the same conference, V Makukhin of the Trymas Engineering Center in Moscow described "Electronic equipment for complex influence on biological objects." And when he says "biological objects," he means you and me.
His laboratory apparatus uses a modulated beam of radio waves to produce what he terms "disorder of autonomic nervous system," put forward as a possible non-lethal weapon. Makhunin notes that there is no general agreement on how EM waves disrupt nerves – he mentions ion channels similar to those in the plasma paper – but he certainly seems to be seeing the same effects as American researchers.
But it need not be a non-lethal weapon. Makhunin also mentions the effects of "change of electrocardiogram" and what he calls "function break of heart muscle."
The vulnerability of the heart to electrical stimulation (including that produced by EM waves) is well documented.
A lethal device would interfere with the electrical potentials that keep the chambers of the heart synchronized, producing fibrillation and rapid death. A death ray doesn’t need to be a truck-sized laser that
reduces the target to smoking heap; a small device that stops the heart will do the job.
Little has been openly published in this area in the public domain, but this may be the tip of the iceberg. We are likely to be hearing more in future – especially if the Russians manage to find funding.
I don’t think we need tinfoil hats just yet. But a layer of conducting mesh built into body armor might save a lot of heartache in years to come."
REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS
https://www.impactlab.com/2006/02/15/remote-control-heart-attack-weapons/
The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo[1]). These tribes spoke the Celtiberian language and wrote it by adapting the Iberian alphabet, in the form of the Celtiberian script.[2] The numerous inscriptions that have been discovered, some of them extensive, have enabled scholars to classify the Celtiberian language as a Celtic language, one of the Hispano-Celtic (also known as Iberian Celtic) languages that were spoken in pre-Roman and early Roman Iberia. Archaeologically, many elements link Celtiberians with Celts in Central Europe, but also show large differences with both the Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture.
There is no complete agreement on the exact definition of Celtiberians among classical authors, nor modern scholars. The Ebro river clearly divides the Celtiberian areas from non-Indo-European speaking peoples.[3] In other directions, the demarcation is less clear. Most scholars include the Arevaci, Pellendones, Belli, Titti and Lusones as Celtiberian tribes, and occasionally the Berones, Vaccaei, Carpetani, Olcades or Lobetani.[4]
In 195 BC, part of Celtiberia was conquered by the Romans, and by 72 BC the entire region had become part of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior. The subjugated Celtiberians waged a protracted struggle against the Roman conquerors, staging uprisings in 195–193 BC, 181–179 BC, 153–151 BC, and 143–133 BC. In 105 BC, Celtiberian warriors drove the Germanic Cimbri from Spain in the Cimbrian War (113–101 BC) and also played an important role in the Sertorian War (80–72 BC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtiberians
Did you know Pope Francis once lived in Dublin?
In 1980, an Argentinian by the name of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who would one day become Pope Francis, came to Dublin.
Freya Drohan
@freyadro
Apr 22, 2025
Editor's Note: Pope Francis died on Monday, April 21, Vatican officials have confirmed. He was 88 years old. Here, we revisit Pope Francis' perhaps unexpected connection to Ireland.
In January 1980, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, arrived in Ireland to study at the Jesuit Centre in the Milltown Institute in Dublin 6.
His visit came a few months after Pope John Paul II became the first Pope to ever visit Ireland.
Then 43, the future Pope had just completed a seven-year stint as head of the Jesuit order in Argentina, during a military dictatorship.
He had landed on Irish shores to attend the Jesuit Centre in the Milltown Institute keen to immerse himself in an English language course with a local teacher.
He wasn’t alone - Jesuit students would flock from all over the world to attend the prestigious College of Philosophy.
Bergoglio mainly kept to himself during his three-month stay but certainly busied himself learning the English language while still making an impression on peers and colleagues.
In 2013, the Irish Independent reported that a 1980 edition of the Jesuit Bulletin, the Irish Province News, noted that among the "constant stream of visitors who found hospitality with us we may mention Fr Jorge Bergoglio, ex-Provincial of Argentina and Rector of our Theologate in Buenos Aires."
An old ledger also proves that he borrowed £14 from the bursar to buy tapes to aid his studies.
Read more
Pope Francis has died - Ireland's leaders pay tribute
Fr Conall O'Cuinn SJ, a former rector of the Milltown community of Jesuits in Ireland, was one of the first to discover the Pope had once stayed among them.
"When we found out he had stayed here with us, we were very excited," he told the Irish Independent in 2013.
"To learn we had the first Jesuit pope was a wonderful surprise for all of us, but to know that he ate in the same dining hall where we eat our meals and slept within these walls makes it all the more special."
Rev Fergus O'Donoghue SJ added: "What is likely is that his room would have had wonderful views over the city or the Dublin Mountains, which he might have found inspiring being a man who loves nature.
"He was on a sabbatical when he came to Ireland so it was an ideal place for him.
"He had left Argentina after a traumatic time and would have been recovering from that. There are long walks right through the grounds of Gonzaga College and Milltown Park which he would have enjoyed.
"Milltown was a community in transition at the time. It had been built as a house for young Jesuits to study in and there would have been a lot of lay students, men and women, coming and going, studying theology. He would have appreciated that the lifestyle was very simple."
Read more
Pope Francis' cause of death confirmed as his burial indications revealed
Later, in 2018 ahead of Pope Francis' visit to Ireland, Fr Michael O'Sullivan told BBC he recalled meeting Fr Bergoglio in Dublin.
"I noticed him sitting on his own at a table," Fr O'Sullivan said.
"We couldn't have a great conversation with his English and my Spanish at the time.
"If I had known he was going to become Pope, I would have made more of an effort!"
Pope Francis eventually returned to Ireland in August 2018 for an official papal visit, taking part in the World Meeting of Families in Dublin's Phoenix Park.
* Originally published in May 2018, updated in April 2025.
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/pope-francis-dublin
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02Z2znRe2RrbKUm4qiZL5f4RjDs4u8vS15T5169bHcurUY6BBsRcBWsA81FhPzBVWnl
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian Catholic prelate who has served as chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.[1] He was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017 and the inaugural prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.[2]
Turkson was previously Archbishop of Cape Coast from 1992 to 2009, and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003. He has been viewed as papabile, a candidate for election to the papacy, both during the 2013 papal conclave which elected Pope Francis, as well as during the events leading up to the upcoming 2025 papal conclave.
Early life and priesthood
Turkson is an ethnic Fante and was born in Wassa Nsuta in Western Ghana to a Methodist mother and a Catholic father.[3] He is the fourth child of ten children. His mother sold vegetables in the open market while his father worked as a carpenter. He had a paternal uncle who was a Muslim.[4] He studied at St. Teresa's Minor Seminary in Amisano and St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Pedu, Cape Coast, before attending St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, where he graduated with an M.A. in Theology and a Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Amissah on 20 July 1975. Additionally, he earned a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1980. He returned to St Teresa's for a year, 1980–81, and became vice-rector at St Peter's Seminary in 1981. He also did pastoral work in a parish annexed to the seminary. From 1987 to 1992, he pursued doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but his work on his thesis was interrupted by his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast.
Episcopal career
On 6 October 1992, Turkson was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 March 1993 from Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh, with Archbishops Peter Poreku Dery and Peter Kwasi Sarpong serving as co-consecrators. He served as President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference from 1997 to 2005, and as Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana beginning in 2003.[citation needed]
John Paul II created Turkson Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio in his final consistory of 21 October 2003. Turkson is the first Ghanaian cardinal and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the papal conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the papal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.[citation needed]
Roman Curia
On 24 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Turkson president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.[5] Turkson is also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and, since 4 March 2010, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.[6] On 12 June 2012, Turkson was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.[7]
On 16 October 2010, Pope Benedict named him to a five-year renewable term as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[8][9] Since 2009, Turkson had been president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election. Atrocities have been committed by both sides.[10]
In October 2011, Turkson called for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. His text was very specific, calling for taxation measures on financial transactions.[11] It said that "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence". The document condemned "the idolatry of the market" as well as "neo-liberal thinking" that looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. "In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale." It added that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among both rich and poor nations.[12][13]
On 13 October 2012, at a Vatican conference of bishops meant to address evangelizing lapsed Catholics, Turkson showed a YouTube video called "Muslim Demographics" that makes alarmist predictions about the growth of Islam in Europe, a video Reuters called "spurious".[14] Vatican Radio described it as a "fear-mongering presentation".[15] It resulted in "the most raucous back-and-forth most synod veterans have ever witnessed."[16] On 15 October, he apologized and said he had only hoped to focus discussion on more practical issues.[15]
Cardinal Turkson pictured in Helsinki, Finland, in 2016
In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace in South Sudan: to urge an end to violence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties. Turkson traveled to Juba to support the archbishop and to meet with the country's leaders. He also carried with him a letter from Francis for President Salva Kiir and one for Vice President Riek Machar who are historic enemies and represent different ethnic groups.[17]
On 31 August 2016, Pope Francis created the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, naming Turkson as its first prefect, effective 1 January 2017.[18]
Ahead of the World Meeting of Families 2018 in Dublin, Turkson was announced as homilist at the opening ceremony at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow.[19]
On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis ended Turkson's service as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the conclusion of his five-year term, appointing Cardinal Michael Czerny as his temporary replacement.[2]
On 4 April 2022, Pope Francis named him chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.[1]
Turkson speaks English, Fante, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew, in addition to understanding Latin and Greek.[20]
Papabile status
Following the announcement on 11 February 2013 of the planned resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Turkson was identified by the media as a possible candidate for the papacy.[20][21][22][23][24][25] Bookmakers Paddy Power and Ladbrokes made Turkson the favourite to be elected pope,[26] with Paddy Power giving 2/1 odds.[27] Odds variously of 4/1,[28] 11/4 against (by Paddy Power), and 5/4 against (by Ladbrokes) were given.[29] Parties unknown placed fake election posters in Rome with the caption "At the conclave, vote Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson!"[30]
After the death of Pope Francis and with the 2025 papal conclave due to begin in May 2025, Turkson was again seen as papabile, although as of 23 April 2025, Turkson's papabile status is mixed, with The Guardian and BBC News seeing him as the next pope,[31][32] though being omitted from CNN and CBS News' speculation stories.[33][34]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Turkson
Latium is a 1669 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Pope Clement X and a 1671 edition was published in Amsterdam by Johannes van Waesbergen.[1] The work was the first to discuss the topography, archeology and history of the Lazio region.[2] It was based partly on Kircher's extensive walks in the countryside around Rome, although it included sites that he had probably not visited in person.[3] The work included many illustrations of the contemporary countryside, as well as reconstructions of ancient buildings.[4]: 92 It also included an account of his discovery of the ruined sanctuary at Mentorella, which he had already recounted in his 1665 work Historia Eustachio Mariana.[4]: 94
Contents
Kircher’s stated purpose in Latium was to use the physical remains of ancient Latium as illustrations of human mutability and transience.[5] It was divided into five books. The first covered the origins and ancient history of the Latins. The second contained chapters describing (I) the region of Monte Cavo, Lake Albano and the ancient town of Alba Longa; (II) Tusculum; (III) the ancient Praeneste and the modern town of Palestrina, and (IV) the region of Labici and the ancient Hernici tribe. The third book examined the ancient history of Tivoli and the fourth, the countryside and ancient remains around it. The fifth book was devoted to the Pontine marshes.[1][6] The Pontine Marshes to the southeast of Rome had been discussed by Kircher in his 1658 work Scrutinium Physico-Medicum because they were a source of malaria that prevented the agricultural development of the neighbouring region and imposed a heavy burden of disease on its population. Kircher was probably one of the first people to recommend the taking of quinine in Rome to counter malaria. Pope Urban VIII had brought in the Dutch engineer De Wit to begin draining the marshes and in Latium Kircher noted these efforts approvingly, illustrating the devices used to pump out the water.[7]
Ancient history of Latium
In Book I, Kircher advanced the theory that Latium had been populated after the time of the Tower of Babel, or possibly before. Indeed he held that it had originally been settled by Noah, and that this was supported by local legends about Saturn and Janus, who he believed were in fact Noah himself.[5] Thus, he held, the mythological account of the castration of Saturn was a variant of the Biblical story of the discovery of Noah's nakedness by Ham. Such speculative theories were to be developed in his later works Turris Babel and Arca Noë.[8]: 44
During his countryside walks, Kircher was searching for evidence that would allow him to reconstruct the history of the region from its earliest times right up to the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII. Although the timeline he constructed was highly inaccurate, the evidence he gathered was the first attempt at a complete chronological reconstruction of the region’s history.[9]
The Nile mosaic
Around 1600 a Roman mosaic was discovered at the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. It is known to modern scholarship as "the Nile mosaic" because it is understood to represent the course of the River Nile from the mountains of Ethiopia through Sudan and Egypt to the sea. However in Book III of Latium Kircher offered a completely different interpretation of the piece, based on the idea that it depicted ceremonies in honour of the goddess of fortune. The upper part, he said, depicted wild animals, representing fortune's dangers. He noted that the people of ancient Praeneste were devotees of Hercules, who was famous for having destroyed monsters and overcome ill fortune. Beneath this, he said, was depicted the veneration of the goddess and consultation of her oracle. He correctly identified the temple of Serapis but this did not serve as a clue of the mosaic's real subject. At the bottom there are festivals and processions in honour of the goddess.[4]: 87–88
Illustrations
Latium was published in folio with 27 engraved plates. These included illustrations, maps, and plans, including 15 double-page foldouts.[10] The illustrations included views of the countryside, sculptures, mosaics, coins and mechanical devices such as watermills.[6]
The frontispiece was by Romeyn de Hooghe. It depicted a seated figure of the genius loci Latia. On one side of her stands a mountain on which Atlas hold up the world, and on the other figures a volcano. These emblems represent, perhaps, the temporal and spiritual power of Rome respectively. Above her hang both ancient and contemporary arms. Romulus and Remus and their she-wolf adopted mother play behind her back while a putto presents her with the papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. She is wearing regalia that show that her presence and her power are intimately connected with the Catholic Church.[3] Her crown identifies her as the protector of a city, and the star above it is the symbols of the Chigi family to which Pope Alexander VII belonged. She holds a long sceptre topped with the hand of justice and her eyes fall on a mitre, a cardinal's hat, and other Catholic religious objects. Her robe covers the imperial eagle and her foot rests on the orb of temporal power, indicating her primacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Beneath Latia is inscribed the Latin motto 'Latium cui par nihil est, nihil Secundu' ('Latium, to which none is equal, and second to none'). At the bottom of the illustration the male figures are the gods of the river Tiber and its Tivoli tributary the Aniene. The female figure with butterfly wings is the goddess of the Aniene, otherwise Ino, resting on symbols of her mythological shipwreck.[4]: 39
The imagery of the frontispiece was intended to emphasise the purpose of Kircher’s claim that his contemporary Rome was connected not just to the ancient city that preceded it, but to a both the ancient classical and biblical worlds. The figure of Latia was Etruscan, the sceptre she hold resembled the regalia of ancient Egypt, while Greece was represented by the winged figure of Ino.[9]
The illustration depicting the apotheosis of Homer was signed by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi. The aerial view of Palestrina and the plate of the Nile mosaic were signed by Agapito de Bernardini.[6]: 178 [4]: 51 The maps in the book were the work of Innocenzo Mattei.[11] The book also reused a number of earlier illustrations from previously published works, by Étienne Dupérac, Daniele Stoopendahl and Matteo Greuter. The image of the reconstruction of Hadrian’s villa was a replica of the illustration by Francesco Contini and the image of the temple of Fortune was a replica of a piece by Domenico Castelli.[6]: 182
Critical reception
The work was criticised by many scholars of Kircher’s time for its inaccuracies and speculations about ancient history. Raffaello Fabretti pointed out that Kircher’s text was full of mistakes,[5] his images of aqueducts were inaccurate and his map wrongly located the source of the Aqua Virgo near Colonna.[12] Kircher intended to write a similar work on Etruria, entitled Iter Etruscum, but this was never published, because the Jesuit censors would not approve it.[3][13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latium_(1669)
THE American Capitol abounds with clues of its Roman origins. “Freedom,” the Roman goddess whose statue crowns the dome, was created in Rome at the studio of American sculptor Thomas Crawford. We find a whole pantheon of Roman deities in the great fresco covering the dome’s interior rotunda: Persephone, Ceres, Freedom, Vulcan, Mercury, even a deified George Washington. These figures were the creation of Vatican artist Constantino Brumidi. The fact that the national Statehouse evolved as a “capitol” bespeaks Roman influence. No building can rightly be called a capitol unless it’s a temple of Jupiter, the great father-god of Rome who ruled heaven with his thunderbolts and nourished the earth with his fertilizing rains. If it was a capitolium, it belonged to Jupiter and his priests. Jupiter’s mascot was the eagle, which the founding fathers made their mascot as well. A Roman eagle tops the governing idol of the House of Representatives, a forty-six-inch sterling silverand- ebony wand called a “mace.” The mace is “the symbol of authority in the House.”4 W h e n the Sergeant-at-arms displays it before an unruly member of Congress, the mace restores order. Its position at the rostrum tells whether the House is in “committee” or in “session.” America’s national motto “Annuit Coeptis” came from a prayer to Jupiter. It appears in Book IX of Virgil’s epic propaganda, the Aeneid, a poem commissioned just before the birth of Christ by Caius Maecenas, the multi-billionaire power behind Augustus Caesar. The poem’s objective was to fashion Rome into an imperial monarchy for which its citizens would gladly sacrifice their lives. Fascism may be an ugly word to many, but its stately emblem is apparently offensive to no one. T h e emblem of fascism, a pair of them, commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. They’re called fasces, and I can think of no reason for them to be there other than to declare the fascistic nature of American republican democracy. 6 A fasces is a Roman device. Actually, it originated with the ancient Etruscans, from whom the earliest Romans derived their religious jurisprudence nearly three thousand years ago. It’s an axe-head whose handle is a bundle of rods tightly strapped together by a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of priestly functions into a single infallible sovereign, an autocrat who could require life and limb of his subjects. If the fasces is entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies Caesarean military power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign Pontifex Maximus, “Supreme Bridgebuilder.” No Roman was called Pontifex Maximus until the title was given to Julius Caesar in 48 BC. Today’s Pontifex Maximus is Pope John Paul II. As we shall discover in a forthcoming chapter, John Paul does not hold that title alone. He shares it with a mysterious partner, a military man, a man holding an office that has been known for more than four centuries as “Papa Nero,” the Black Pope. I shall present evidence that the House fasces represent the Black Pope, who indeed rules the world. Later, I will develop what is sure to become a controversial hypothesis: that the Black Pope rules by divine appointment, and for the ultimate good of mankind.
Rulers of Evil
by F. Tupper Saussy
https://archive.org/details/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy_202201/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy/
Pope Addresses Congress
Blesses crowd outside the Capitol
Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 24.
The Pope, who became the first pontiff to address Congress, thanked lawmakers for their warm welcome.
"I am most grateful for your invitation to address this joint session of Congress," he said.
"Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives."
Before the speech, House Speaker John Boehner met with Pope Francis in a room outside the House chamber, where the Pope complimented the Speaker's green tie, saying it was the "color of hope."
After his remarks, Pope Francis stopped in Statuary Hall, where he blessed a statue of Junipero Serra, an 18th century Spanish missionary, whom the Pope had canonized the previous evening. Serra is the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil and his statue is one of two California has in the Capitol collection.
Pope Francis, Speaker Boehner, Vice President Joe Biden, and other Congressional leaders then stepped out onto the Speaker's balcony, where the Pope blessed a crowd who cheered "papa, papa."
Speaking in Spanish, he greeted the crowd with "Buenos Dias."
"I am so grateful for your presence," he told the crowd via a translator.
http://www.speaker.gov/pope [ Link changed in new Congress, content kept for historical reasons. ] Speaker Boehner's behind-the-scenes photos and video on his website of the Pope's visit.
https://www.house.gov/feature-stories/2015-9-24-pope-addresses-congress
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.
In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]
Background
See also: 2024 United States elections
The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]
Electoral system
Main article: United States Electoral College
See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States
The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]
Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]
Eligibility
The United States Constitution limits occupancy of the presidency to individuals who are at least thirty-five, who have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years, and who are a natural-born citizen.[18] Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents current and former federal, state, and military officials from holding office—including the presidency—if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States;[19] in March 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that former president Donald Trump could seek office after challenges to his ballot eligibility were raised by several state attorneys general.[20] A convicted felon may serve as president.[21] Elon Musk, who emerged as a political influencer in the 2024 presidential election, is ineligible to serve as president as he was born in South Africa and is a naturalized citizen.[22]
Trump is ineligible to be elected to a third term, as the Twenty-Second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice.[23] Nonetheless, he has repeatedly suggested running for a third term, an idea supported by several of his allies, including Steve Bannon.[24] In January 2025, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles proposed a resolution to amend the Twenty-Second Amendment, allowing for presidents who have served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third term. The verbiage of the amendment would prevent living presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all currently ineligible under the 22nd Amendment, from running for a third term.[25] At CPAC 2025, conservative groups, such as the Third Term Project, supported the Ogles resolution and promoted the idea of Trump running for an as-yet unconstitutional third term.[26][27] In response, New York Democratic representative Dan Goldman planned to introduce a resolution affirming the Twenty-Second Amendment.[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election
Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.
Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris
Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era Goddess worship traditions in Ancient India.[1] Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition and is the supreme deity in the Kalikula worship tradition.[2]
The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya.[1] Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.[3][4][5]
Shakta and Tantric sects additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman.[5] She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation).[3] Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism.[1][6]
Etymology
The term Kali is derived from Kala, which is mentioned quite differently in Sanskrit.[7] The homonym kālá (time) is distinct from kāla (black), but these became associated through popular etymology.[8] Kali is then understood as "she who is the ruler of time", or "she who is black".[7] Kālī is the goddess of time or death and the consort of Shiva.[9] She is called Kali Mata ("the dark mother") and also kālī, which can be read here either as a proper name or as a description: "the dark (or black) one".[8]
Origins
Although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7).[10] Kali originated as a tantric and non-Vedic goddess. Her roots are most probably connected to the Pre-Aryan period.[11] According to Indologist Wendy Doniger, Kali's origins can be traced to the deities of the Pre-Vedic village, tribal, and mountain cultures of South Asia who were gradually appropriated and transformed by the Sanskritic traditions.[1]
Legends
Her most well-known appearance is on the battlefield in the sixth century text Devi Mahatmyam. The deity of the first chapter of Devi Mahatmyam is Mahakali, who appears from the body of sleeping Vishnu as goddess Yoga Nidra to wake him up in order to protect Brahma and the world from two asuras (demons), Madhu-Kaitabha. When Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two asuras. After a long battle with Vishnu, the two demons were undefeated and Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras. When Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them.[12]
In later chapters, the story of two asuras who were destroyed by Kali can be found. Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Kaushiki. Kaushiki responds with such anger that it causes her face to turn dark, resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali's appearance is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, wearing a tiger skin sari and a garland of human heads. She immediately defeats the two asuras. Later in the same battle, the asura Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali eventually defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, and eating the numerous clones. Kinsley writes that Kali represents "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury".[12]
Other origin stories involve Parvati and Shiva. Parvati is typically portrayed as a benign and friendly goddess. The Linga Purana describes Shiva asking Parvati to defeat the asura Daruka, who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat Daruka and his armies. Her bloodlust gets out of control, only calming when Shiva intervenes. The Vamana Purana has a different version of Kali's relationship with Parvati. When Shiva addresses Parvati as Kali, "the dark blue one", she is greatly offended. Parvati performs austerities to lose her dark complexion and becomes Gauri, the golden one. Her dark sheath becomes Kaushiki, who while enraged, creates Kali.[12]
In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kali turns black out of rage, while battling the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.[7]: 221
Slayer of Raktabīja
In Kāli's most famous legend, Durga and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabīja, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that drips from Raktabīja, he reproduces a duplicate of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates.[12] Durga summons Kāli to combat the demons. This episode is described in the Devi Mahatmyam, Kali is depicted as being fierce, clad in a tiger's skin and armed with a sword and noose. She has deep, red eyes with tongue lolling out as she catches drops of Raktabīja's blood before they fall to the ground and create duplicates.[13]
Kali consumes Raktabīja and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain.[12] In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda.[13]: 72 Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.[12]: 241 Footnotes
Iconography and forms
The goddess has two depictions: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali avatar. In both, she is described as being black in colour, though she is often seen as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. Her hair is disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. Sometimes she dons a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. Other times, she is seen wearing a tiger skin. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on the calm and prostrate Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular dakṣiṇācāra ("right-hand path"), as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive vamachara ("left-hand path").[14] These serpents and jackals are shown to drink Raktabīja's blood as it drips out of his head while the goddess carries the head in her hand, preventing it from falling on the ground.
In the ten-armed form of Mahakali, she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.[15]
The Kalika Purana describes Kali as "possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotus, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful".[16]
Popular form
Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:
Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a Khadga (crescent-shaped sword or a giant sickle), a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapāla) collecting the blood of the severed head.
Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The sword signifies divine knowledge and the human head signifies human ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[16]: 477
She wears a garland of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a japa mala or rosary for repetition of mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.[16]: 475
She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above Prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is Brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities—she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, and bad do not apply to her.[16]: 463–488
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Devī (/ˈdeɪvi/;[1] Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.
The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they did not play a vital role in that era.[2] Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.[2] The medieval era Puranas witness a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Further, Devi is viewed as central in the Hindu traditions of Shaktism and Shaivism.[2][3]
Etymology
Devi and deva are Sanskrit terms found in Vedic literature around the 3rd millennium BCE. Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi.[4] Monier-Williams translates it as 'heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones'.[5][6] Etymologically, a cognate of devi is Latin dea.[7] When capitalised, Devi maata refers to the mother goddess in Hinduism.[8] Deva is short for devatā and devi for devika.[5]
According to Douglas Harper, the etymological root dev- means "a shining one", from *div-, "to shine", it is an Indo-European cognate of the Greek dios, Gothic divine and Latin deus (Old Latin deivos); see also *Dyēus.[9]
A synonym for the word Devi in the Vedas is Bhagavati. Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is an Indian epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for goddesses in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, it is primarily used to address the goddesses Lakshmi and Durga. In Buddhism, it is used to refer to several Mahayana Buddhist female deities, like Cundā.[10]
History
The worship of Devi-like deities dates back to period of Indus Valley civilisation.[11][12]
The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess:[13][14]
I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.
— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8, Translated by June McDaniel[15][16]
The Vedas name numerous cosmic goddesses such as Devi (power), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night) and Aranyani (forest); bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati and Mahi are among others are mentioned in the Rigveda.[2]: 6–17, 55–64 However, the goddesses are not discussed as frequently as gods (devas).[2] Devi appears in late Vedic texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era.[2]: 18–19 All gods and goddesses are distinguished in Vedic times,[2]: 18 but in post-Vedic texts, particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as aspects or manifestations of one Devi, the Supreme Power.[17]
Devi is the supreme being in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism; in the Smarta tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of Brahman that is revered.[18][19] In other Hindu traditions, Devi embodies the active energy and power of Deva, and they always appear together complementing each other. Examples of this are Parvati with Shiva in Shaivism, Saraswati with Brahma in Brahmanism and Lakshmi with Vishnu, Sita with Rama and Radha with Krishna in Vaishnavism.[20][21][22]
Devi-inspired philosophy is propounded in many Hindu texts such as the Devi Upanishad, which teaches that Shakti is essentially Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality) and that from her arises prakṛti (matter) and purusha (consciousness) and that she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn and all of the universe. Shakti is Parvati, Shiva’s wife. [23] She is also mentioned as the creative power of Shiva in Tripura Upanishad, Bahvricha Upanishad and Guhyakali Upanishad.[13]
Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.[23] Devi asserts that she is the creator of earth and heaven and resides there.[13] Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as the mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'.[13] Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'. The tantric aspect in Devi Upanishad, says June McDaniel, is the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.[13]
Among the major world religions, the concept of Goddess in Hinduism as the divine feminine has had the strongest presence since ancient times.[24]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi
The name Monita has its roots in India and is derived from the Sanskrit word manita, which means 'honored' or 'respected.' This ancient name reflects the cultural traditions and values of Indian society, where respect and honor hold great significance. Monita has been prominent in Indian history since ancient times, often given to those who were esteemed for their noble character and high social standing. In historical texts and scriptures, the name Monita is often associated with individuals who were recognized for their wisdom, integrity, and leadership qualities.
In modern-day usage, the name Monita continues to evoke a sense of honor and respect. It is a popular name choice among families who value tradition and wish to bestow upon their child a name that reflects these virtues. Monita is often given to female children, symbolizing the strength and dignity they possess. In some cases, the name Monita is also used as a name, further emphasizing the family's heritage and the importance they place on respect and honor.
Overall, the name Monita has a rich history rooted in Indian culture and embodies the values of honor and respect. From ancient times to the present day, this name has stood as a testament to the qualities that society holds in high regard and continues to be cherished by families who wish to pass on these values to future generations.
https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/monita
Monita
A Latin word meaning "instructions":
Monita, work by Abbot Porcarius I of Lérins (c. 500)
Monita Secreta, an alleged code of instructions of the Jesuits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monita
Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.
It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallotus_philippensis
Revelation 22
1599 Geneva Bible
22 1 The river of water of life is showed, 2 and the tree of life: 6, 7 Then followeth the conclusion of this prophecy, 8 where John declareth, that the things herein contained are most true. 13 And now the third time repeateth these words, All things come from him, who is the beginning and the end.
1 And [a]he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree served to heal the nations with.
3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.
4 And they shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the Sun: for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for evermore.
6 [b]And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be fulfilled.
7 Behold, I come shortly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
8 And I am John, which saw and heard these things: and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which showed me these things.
9 But he said unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them which keep the words of this book: worship God.
10 [c]And he said unto me, [d]Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11 [e]He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 [f]And behold, I come shortly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they, that do his Commandments, [g]that their right may be in the tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.
15 For without shall be dogs and enchanters, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth or maketh lies.
16 [h]I Jesus have sent mine Angel, to testify unto you these things in the Churches: I am the root and the generation of David, and the bright morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst, come: and let whosoever will, take of the water of life freely.
18 [i]For I protest unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
19 And if any man shall diminish of the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy City, and from those things which are written in this book.
20 [j]He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
21 [k]The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, AMEN.
THE END
Footnotes
Revelation 22:1 Here is absolved and finished the description of the celestial Church (as I showed before, Rev. 21:12) by the effects in 5 verses, and then this book is concluded in the rest of the chapter. The effects proceeding from God, who dwelleth in the Church are these: the everlasting grace of God in this verse, the eternal living of the godly, as Rev. 2:7, the eternal fruits which the godly bring forth unto God, themselves and others, verse 2, freedom and immunity from all evil, God himself taking pleasure in his servants and they likewise in their God, verse 3. The beholding and sight of God, and sealing of the faithful from all eternity, verse 4, the light of God, and an everlasting kingdom and glory, verse 5.
Revelation 22:6 The whole book is concluded and made up by a confirmation, and a salutation. The confirmation hath three places: The words of the Angel unto verse 15, the words of Christ: verses 16, 17, and the obtestation made by S. John from divine authority, thence unto verse 20. By speech of the Angel this prophecy is confirmed unto verse 8 and then he speaketh of the use of this book in the verses following. The prophecy is first confirmed by the Angel from the nature thereof, that it is faithful and true. Secondly from the nature of the efficient cause, both principal which is God, and instrumental, which is the Angel in this verse. Thirdly from the promises of God concerning his coming to effect all these things, and concerning our salvation, verse 7. Fourthly, from the testification of S. John himself, verse 8. The rest of the speech of the angel tending to the same and S. John interrupted or brake off by his unadvised act of worshipping him, in the same verse which the Angel forbidding, teacheth him that adoration must be given not to him, but only to God, as for himself, that he is of such nature and office, as he may not be adored: which thing also was in like manner done, Rev. 16:10.
Revelation 22:10 The Angel returneth unto his former speech: in which he teacheth the use of this book, both towards ourselves, in this and the next verse and in respect of God for declaration of his truth, thence unto verse 15.
Revelation 22:10 That is, propound this prophecy openly unto all, and conceal no part of it. The contrary whereunto is commanded, Isa. 8:6 and Dan. 8:26.
Revelation 22:11 An objection prevented. But there will be some that will abuse this occasion unto evil, and will wrest this Scripture unto their own destruction, as Peter saith. What then saith the Angel, the mysteries of God must not therefore be concealed, which it hath pleased him to communicate unto us. Let them be hurtful unto others, let such be more and more vile in themselves, whom this Scripture doth not please: yet others shall be further conformed thereby unto righteousness and true holiness. The care and reformation of these may not be neglected, because of the voluntary and malicious offense of others.
Revelation 22:12 The second place belonging unto the use of this book, as I said, verse 10. Also (saith God by the Angel) though there should be no use of this book unto men: yet it shall be of this use unto me, that it is a witness of my truth unto my glory, who will come shortly to give and execute just judgment, in this verse: who have taught that all these things have their being in me, in verse 13, and have denounced blessedness unto my servants in the Church, verse 14, and reprobation unto the ungodly, verse 15.
Revelation 22:14 The blessedness of the godly set down by their title and interest thereunto: and their fruit in the same.
Revelation 22:16 The second place of confirmation, as I said, is the speech of Christ, ratifying the vocation of S. John, and the authority of his calling and testimony, both from the condition of his own person being God and man, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, 2 Cor. 1:20: and also from the testification of other persons, by the acclamation of the holy Ghost, who here is as it were an honorable assistant of the marriage of the Church as the spouse: and of every of the godly as members: and finally from the thing present, that of their own knowledge and accord they are called forth unto the participation of the good things of God, verse 17.
Revelation 22:18 The obtestation of Saint John (which is the third place of the confirmation, as was noted, verse 6) joined with a curse of execration, to preserve the truth of this book entire and uncorrupted, in two verses.
Revelation 22:20 A divine confirmation or sealing of the obtestation: first from Christ avouching the same, and denouncing his coming against all those that shall put their sacrilegious hands hereunto: then from Saint John himself, who by a most holy prayer calleth Christ to take vengeance of them.
Revelation 22:21 The salutation Apostolical, which is the other place of the conclusion, as I said, verse 6, and is the end of almost every Epistle: which we wish unto the Church, and to all the holy and elect members thereof in Christ Jesus our Lord, until his coming to judgment, Come Lord Jesus, and do it. Amen, again, Amen.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022&version=GNV
RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the fifteenth season, MTV. The show documents RuPaul in the search for "America's next drag superstar".[1] RuPaul plays the role of host, mentor, and head judge for this series, as contestants are given different challenges each week. Contestants are judged by a panel that includes RuPaul, Michelle Visage, one of four rotating judges (Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, Ts Madison, or Law Roach),[2][3] as well as one or more guest judges, who critique their progress throughout the competition. The title of the show is a play on drag queen and drag racing, and the title sequence and song "Drag Race" both have a drag-racing theme.
RuPaul's Drag Race has aired for seventeen seasons and inspired the spin-off shows RuPaul's Drag U, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race, and RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars; the companion series RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked; and numerous international franchises.
The show became the highest-rated television program on Logo TV,[4] and airs internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Israel. The show earned RuPaul eight consecutive Emmy Awards (2016 to 2023) for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program. The show has been awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program four consecutive times (2018 to 2021), and the Outstanding Reality Program Award at the GLAAD Media Awards. It has been nominated for five Critics' Choice Television Awards including Best Reality Series – Competition and Best Reality Show Host for RuPaul and numerous Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Format
Season 11 and All Stars 6 contestants Ra'Jah O'Hara (left) and Scarlet Envy (right) competing in a Lip Sync for Your Life
Prospective Drag Race contestants submit video auditions to the show's production company, World of Wonder.[5] RuPaul, the host and head judge, views each tape and selects the season's competitors.[6] The chosen contestants compete against each other in various challenges in filmed episodes. Each episode typically concludes with one contestant being eliminated from the competition, but there is occasionally a double elimination,[7][8] no elimination,[9] contestant disqualification,[8] contestant voluntarily quitting, or removal of a contestant on medical grounds.[8] Each episode features a so-called "maxi challenge" that tests competitors' skills in a variety of areas of drag performance. Some episodes also feature a "mini challenge", the prize of which is often an advantage or benefit in the upcoming maxi challenge. Contestants then present themed looks in a runway walk.[10][11] RuPaul and a panel of judges critique each contestant's performance, deliberate among themselves, and announce the week's winner and bottom two competitors. The bottom two queens compete in a "Lip Sync for Your Life";[12] the winner of the lip sync remains in the competition, and the loser is eliminated.[10][9] Generally, the contestant that the judges feel has displayed the most "charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent" (C.U.N.T.) is the one who advances.[9][13] The season's winner is crowned in a special finale episode with the final contestants remaining. In early seasons, the finale was pre-recorded in the studio with no audience. More recently, it has taken the form of a lip sync tournament before a live audience. The whole season is typically filmed in four weeks.[14] The season 12 finale was filmed remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]
RuPaul ends episodes by saying, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?" The phrase was inspired by RuPaul's mother.[16]
Mini and maxi challenges
Mini challenges are quick, small assignments that RuPaul announces at the beginning of an episode. One of the most popular mini challenges, which has appeared in every season since season 2, except for season 12, is the reading challenge. In it, contestants satirically criticize one another in a process called "reading", popularized by the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning.[17] Maxi challenges test a variety of skills. Some are group challenges that involve singing and acting, while others feature comedy, a talent of choice, dancing, or makeovers.[18] The winner receives a material or monetary prize.[19][20] Until midway through the fifth season, the winner sometimes also received immunity against elimination the following week.[21] Drag Race's most popular seasonal maxi challenge is Snatch Game, a spoof on Match Game wherein contestants impersonate celebrities or famous fictional personas.[22]
Recurring main challenges include "balls" (for which contestants must showcase multiple outfits, often including an original design made in the Werk Room),[23] girl groups,[24] makeovers,[25] roasts,[26][27] "Rusicals" (musical theatre),[28] and Snatch Game.[29] Over time, the ball challenge has replaced the "drag on a dime" challenge.[30] The girl group challenge has become a "classic" and a season highlight because "it tests the contestant's ability to write a verse, choreograph a dance routine, remember that choreography, and most crucially, work with others in a team".[31] Rusicals (portmanteau of "RuPaul" and "musical") began on the sixth season and have subsequently become "a highly anticipated staple" of the reality competition, allowing contestants to showcase their talents.[32] Usually occurring midway through each Drag Race season, Snatch Game is widely considered among the most important and memorable challenges of the show and, in RuPaul's words, separates "the basic bitches from the fierce-ass queens".[33] Contestants are also often tasked with demonstrating their acting and sewing skills on the show.[34]
In 2022, Screen Rant said, "In the first few seasons of Drag Race, given the show's low budget and poor camera quality, the runway, particularly in displaying makeup and fashion looks, were not quite as prominent as it has been in more recent seasons. Instead, mini challenges at the start of the episode took up much more time and effort."[35] Among recurring "mini-challenges", which can give contestants an advantage in the competition,[36] is the "reading" challenge which tasks contestants with playfully insulting each other. The contest comes from the documentary film Paris Is Burning (1990). Played on most seasons of Drag Race, RuPaul introduces the challenge by reminding contestants that "reading is fundamental".[16] Another recurring mini-challenge tasks contestants with using puppets.[36]
Judging
Judges RuPaul (top left), Michelle Visage (top right), Ross Mathews (middle left), Carson Kressley (middle right), Ts Madison (bottom left), and Law Roach (bottom right)
RuPaul has been the series' head judge since its premiere. For the first two seasons, Merle Ginsberg joined him on the panel; she was replaced in season 3 by Michelle Visage, a longtime friend of RuPaul and his co-host for The RuPaul Show.[37] Santino Rice served as a judge for seasons 1 through 6.[38] From season 7 onward, Ross Mathews and Carson Kressley replaced Rice, alternating in his former seat.[39] New York City makeup artist Billy Brasfield (commonly known as Billy B) held a regular judging spot in the third and fourth seasons when Rice was absent. Most weeks, one or two celebrity guest judges join the panel.[40] After appearing as a recurring guest judge in seasons 13 and 14, Ts Madison joined as an alternating judge from the fifteenth season.[2] Law Roach appeared as a guest judge on season 16 then joined the judges panel as an alternating judge from the seventeenth season.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuPaul%27s_Drag_Race
The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious until the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants, Charlemagne's death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Name
The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] Incidentally, the US states of North and South Carolina are also based on the name Charles, having been named after King Charles II of England. The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'FREEMAN'.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty
Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja[Note 3]; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian")[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.
Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]
Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI
Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Borgia
Borja (Borgia)
Spanish: habitational name from a place in Zaragoza province named from Arabic burj ‘tower’. See also Borgia .
https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=borja
One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and erroneously as the Freedom Tower,[note 1] is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. It is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east.
The construction of below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the final component of the skyscraper's spire was installed, making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet (541 m). Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building opened on November 3, 2014;[12] the One World Observatory opened on May 29, 2015.[13]
On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower".[15][16][17] The building has 94 stories, with the top floor numbered 104.
The new World Trade Center complex will eventually include five high-rise office buildings built along Greenwich Street, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located just south of One World Trade Center where the original Twin Towers stood, and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub to its east. The construction of the new building is part of an effort to memorialize and rebuild following the destruction of the original World Trade Center complex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center
Pope John XXIII's coat of arms.
Of gules, a silver sash, a silver tower mazonada and clarified with sable especially, accompanied chiefly by two fleurs-de-lis of the same, a silver chief with a winged leopard lion, holding a gospel with the front right leg open with the text "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS", all in gold and saber letters.
https://br.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restr:C_o_a_John_XXIII.svg
Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII [dʒoˈvanni ventitreˈɛːzimo]; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Italian: [ˈandʒelo dʒuˈzɛppe roŋˈkalli];[a] 25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963.
Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[8] He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.
John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike."[9][10] He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.
His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.[11]
He did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on June 3, 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014.[12][13] John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope" (Italian: il papa buono).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII
Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]
Trained in jurisprudence, Borghese was made Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII. He was elected as Pope in 1605, following the death of Pope Leo XI. Pope Paul V was known for being stern and unyielding, defending the privileges of the Church. He met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 and was involved in the controversy over heliocentrism. He canonized and beatified several individuals during his papacy and created 60 cardinals in ten consistories.
His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606. This disagreement was eventually mediated by France and Spain in 1607. Pope Paul V's diplomacy also strained relations with England, as his actions were perceived as undermining moderate Catholics in the country.
In Rome, he financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improved the Vatican Library, and restored the ancient Roman aqueduct Aqua Traiana. Pope Paul V established the Banco di Santo Spirito in 1605 and is also known for fostering the rise of the Borghese family through nepotism. He died on 28 January 1621, after suffering from a series of strokes and was succeeded by Pope Gregory XV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V
Facade of St. Peter's
On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.
The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".
From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.
https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm
With Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese, pope from 1605 to 1621) and his nephew Cardinal Scipione, this family of Siena became one of the most important in the history of Rome. The family survives to these days.
Their heraldic symbol is based on the dragon (like that of Pope Gregory XIII of the Boncompagni family) and on the eagle with the latter above the former.
https://romeartlover.tripod.com/Aed.html
Revelation 16:13-21
1599 Geneva Bible
13 And I saw [a]three unclean spirits [b]like frogs come out of the mouth of that [c]dragon, and out of the mouth of that [d]beast, and out of the mouth of that [e]false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, to go unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 [f](Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and men see his filthiness.)
16 [g]And they gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew, [h]Armageddon.
17 [i]And the seventh Angel poured out his vial into the [j]air: and there came a loud voice out of the Temple of heaven from [k]the throne, saying, [l]It is done.
18 [m]And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, even so mighty an earthquake.
19 [n]And the great city was divided into three parts: and the cities of the nations [o]fell: and that great [p]Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every isle fled away, and the mountains [q]were not [r]found.
21 [s]And there fell a great hail, like [t]talents out of heaven upon the men, and men blasphemed God, because of the plague of the hail: for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Revelation 16:13 That is, every of them bent their whole force, and conspired that by wonders, word and work, they might bring into the same destruction all Kings, Princes and Potentates of the world, cursedly bewitched of them by their spirits, and teachers of the vanity and impurity of the beast that committed fornication with the kings of the earth. And this is a right description of our times.
Revelation 16:13 Croaking with all importunity, and continually day and night provoking and calling forth to arms, as the trumpets, and furies of wars: as is declared in the next verse.
Revelation 16:13 That is, the devil, as Rev. 11:3
Revelation 16:13 Whereof Rev. 13:1.
Revelation 16:13 That is, of that other beast, of which Rev. 13:11, for so he is called also Rev. 19:20 and 20:10.
Revelation 16:15 A parenthesis for admonition in which God warneth his holy servants who rest in the expectation of Christ, always to address their minds unto his coming, and to look unto themselves, that they be not shamefully made naked and circumvented of these unclean spirits, and so they be miserable unprepared at the coming of their Lord.
Revelation 16:16 Namely the Angel, who holily according to the commandment of God was to do sacrifice: notwithstanding that those impure spirits do the same wickedly as servants not unto God, but unto that beast that hath seven heads.
Revelation 16:16 That is, (to say nothing of other expositions) the mountain itself, or mountain places of Megiddo. Now it is certain by the holy Scripture, that Megiddo is a city and territory in the tribe of Manasseh, bordering upon Issachar and Asher, and was made famous by that lamentable overthrow of king Josiah, whereof 2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chron. 37:22; Zech. 12:11. In this mountain country God saith by figure and type, that the kings of the peoples which serve the beast shall meet together: because the Gentiles did always cast that lamentable overthrow in the teeth of the Church of the Jews unto their great reproach: and therefore were persuaded that that place should be most fortunate unto them (as they speak) and unfortunate unto the godly: but God here pronounceth, that that reproach of the Church, and confidence of the ungodly shall by himself be taken away, in the selfsame places where the nations persuaded themselves, they should mightily exult and triumph against God and his Church.
Revelation 16:17 The story of the seventh Angel unto the end of the chapter, in which first is showed by figure and speech, the argument of this plague, in this verse: and then is declared the execution thereof in the verses following.
Revelation 16:17 From whence he might move the heaven above and the earth beneath.
Revelation 16:17 That is, from him that sitteth on the throne, by the figure called Metonymy.
Revelation 16:17 That is, Babylon is undone, as is showed verse 16 and in the Chapters following. For the first onset (as I might say) of this denunciation, is described in this Chapter: and the last containing a perfect victory is described in those that follow.
Revelation 16:18 Now is declared the execution (as is said in verse 27) and the things that shall last come to pass in heaven and in earth, before the overthrow of the beast of Babylon: both generally, verse 18, and particularly in the cursed city, and such as have any familiarity therewith, in the 3 last verses.
Revelation 16:19 That seat or standing place of Antichrist.
Revelation 16:19 Of all such as cleave unto Antichrist, and fight against Christ.
Revelation 16:19 That harlot, of whom in the Chapter next following. Now this phrase to come into remembrance is after the common use of the Hebrew speech, but borrowed from men, attributed unto God.
Revelation 16:20 That is, were seen no more, or were no more extant. A borrowed Hebraism.
Revelation 16:20 Appeared not, which the Hebrews utter after this sort, were not, Gen. 5:24.
Revelation 16:21 The manner of the particular execution, most evidently testifying the wrath of God by the original and greatness thereof: the event whereof is the same with that which is, Rev. 9:12, and that which hath been mentioned in this Chapter, from the execution of the fourth Angel hitherto, that is to say, an incorrigible pertinency of the world in their rebellion, and an heart that cannot repent, verses 9 and 11.
Revelation 16:21 As it were about the weight of a talent was threescore pound, that is, six hundred groats, whereby is signified a marvelous and strange kind of weight.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A13-21&version=GNV
Typhon [according to the Mystery Schools] is the embodiment of every perversity. He is the negative creation, the Ahriman of Zoroasterism. [And remember, we talked last Thursday about the movie 2001, and in the beginning of the movie, the musical score that you hear, the name of it is Also sprach Zarathustra, which is a tribute to Zoroaster, which is the androgynous god. The combination in one of the positive and negative; good, evil; male, female, etc., etc., etc. It is the concept 52 Performed in techno. 41 that Christ is also Lucifer, or that they are twins, and that's what they teach in the Mormon church.] Typhon [according to Mystery Schools] is black magic and sorcery— the Black Brotherhood [also known as the Jesuit Order]. Nephthys, his wife, is the institution through which it manifests. He is neither a single evil nor even a sequence of ills, but an infinite diversity of them, indescribably insidious, empowered to infect the fabric of church and state. [The enemy of the Mystery Schools are three: the church, the state and the mob, and, of course, the mob is us.] Typhon lured Osiris in to the ark of destruction at the time when the sun enters the house of the Scorpion, hence, we know him to be the eternal betrayer [or Judas], that ageless Judas, who undoes all good things and inevitably presages ruin. He is the power of the physical universe which is constantly seeking to destroy the spiritual values locked within its substances. [You will see that they have a talent for turning things around.] He strikes in the eighth month, and now it is supposed that a child delivered in the eighth month of the prenatal epoch cannot live because of the curse of Typhon. Osiris was born in the seventh month and therefore it may be said of him that he was delivered prior to the rule of Typhon. [And that's why our forefathers, all Freemasons, established this country by the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the month of July. And this will all become clearer to you as we go along.] Of all good things Typhon is the opposer [according to the Mystery Schools], occupying the position of the eternal negative. This evil monster made well be generalized under the appellation of the Adversary. In the initiation rites he also the tester or the tryer, “the lord who is against us.” [According to the Mystery Religion,] he is the personification of ambition, and ambition is the patron of ruin. It was ambition that set Typhon plotting for the throne of Egypt, designing how he should destroy the power of his brother. A learned Jesuit father sees in Typhon, Cain, and his brother Osiris, Abel. If such a parallel actually exists, then the Biblical allegory is susceptible of the same interpretation. [But, you see, they have twisted everything around.]
[Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Illuminati, was a Jesuit priest and a professor at Ingolstadt University, which is a Jesuit university. The Jesuit Order was founded by Ignatius Loyola. He was the head of the Alumbrados in Spain, which is the order of Illuminati long before Adam Weishaupt even came along. He was arrested by the Dominican Monks under the Inquisition and used his power of association, of those who had influence and power, to beg an audience with the pope. Now, nobody knows what occurred during this audience. But he emerged as the head of a new order called the Jesuits. Now, the Jesuits was just another name for the Alumbrado, for he took his organization that he already controlled and made it into the brotherhood of the Jesuits. The Jesuits went on to foment rebellion everywhere that they went and the pope gave them incredible power and made Ignatius Loyola immune to any prosecution from any source. And it was they who trained Adam Weishaupt, and it was Adam Weishaupt who formed the branch of what we all know as the Illumined Ones, known as the Illuminati in Bavaria. For he sent out agents to infiltrate the lodges of the secret societies throughout Europe.]
Osiris and Isis, Part II (aired February 18th, 1993)
https://viefag.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf
Peter Hans Kolvenbach (30 November 1928 – 26 November 2016) was a Dutch Jesuit priest and professor who was the 29th superior general of the Society of Jesus, the largest male Catholic religious order.
Early years
Kolvenbach was born and grew up in Druten, near Nijmegen in the Netherlands.[1] There he attended Canisius College for his secondary studies, where he concentrated on modern languages. He entered the novitiate at Mariendaal on 7 September 1948. After completing philosophy studies at Berchmans Institute in Nijmegen, he was assigned to Lebanon, where he completed his doctorate in Sacred Theology at Université de Saint-Joseph in Beirut. On 29 June 1961, he was ordained a priest in the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern-rite church in communion with Rome.[2]
The next years of his life were spent in academia, specifically in linguistics. From 1964 to 1976 he taught general and Oriental linguistics in The Hague, Paris, and then Beirut where he became Professor of General Linguistics and Armenian at Université Saint-Joseph. He served in that capacity until 1981, when he became rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.[2]
During his time on the faculty of Saint-Joseph, he also served as superior of the Jesuit Near-East Vice-Province.[3]
Father General
On 7 August 1981, Father General Pedro Arrupe suffered a severe stroke in the plane on his way back to Rome. Although he survived for another ten years, he wanted to step down as Superior General. Though Arrupe proposed Vincent O'Keefe of Fordham University as interim successor, Pope John Paul II intervened and named Paolo Dezza his delegate to lead the order for an interim period.[4] Two years later John Paul II allowed the Jesuits to proceed in selecting their new leader. Meeting in September 1983, the 33rd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus accepted the formal resignation of Father Arrupe and on the first ballot elected Father Kolvenbach to be 29th Superior General of the Jesuits.[5]
Kolvenbach took office at a time when the Jesuits' "strongly pro-social justice and church reform orientation was seen by critics as having made the Jesuits something akin to John Paul’s in-house opposition. ...Over time, Kolvenbach was credited with having managed to win back the trust of John Paul II and his Vatican team, without alienating the more liberal members of the order."[6][7]
He is credited with successfully defending Jesuit theologian Jacques Dupuis from charges made by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Fr. Thomas J. Reese, who was removed as editor of America magazine by the insistence of the Vatican, says that he “always felt that Kolvenbach did everything he could to defend me.” He manifested his personal interest in each Jesuit's work, with an interest in meeting each Jesuit individually.[3] He traveled extensively to visit Jesuits in 112 countries, and “his knowledge of them and their ministries is legendary.” He also emphasized the need to make laypersons feel their place of equal partnership in Jesuit ministries, recognizing with Vatican II that “holiness is one - that sanctity is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God'." He expressed his belief that “the church of the next millennium will be called the 'church of the laity' ...this development is a 'grace of our day and a hope for the future'."[8]
Resignation and retirement
On 2 February 2006, Kolvenbach informed the members of the Society of Jesus that he intended to step down in 2008, the year he would turn 80. As the Superior General is elected for life, Kolvenbach was only the second to resign the office.
The 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convened on 5 January 2008 in Rome. On 14 January it accepted Kolvenbach's resignation and elected Adolfo Nicolás as his successor.[9]
Kolvenbach died in Beirut on 26 November 2016 and is buried outside Beirut on the grounds of Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour.[10] He left just before his death a personal letter to a young medicine doctor, Anthony Kallas-Chemaly, who worked with him on the history of the Jesuits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hans_Kolvenbach
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.[3]
Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".[4] He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".[5]
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".[6]
The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens
A Black Fast, also known as a strict fast, is a form of early Christian fasting.[1] Those undertaking a Black Fast consume no food or water during the day and then break the fast after sunset with prayer, as well as water and a vegetarian meal devoid of meat, eggs, dairy products (lacticinia), and alcohol.[2][3][4][5] Christians normatively fasted in this way during Lent prior to the 6th century.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Fast
CIA Whistleblower Exposes Black Ops Targeting School Kids’ Milk!
Newsbud
Jul 8, 2018
In this edition of Probable Cause, Sibel Edmond’s guest is Verne Lyon. A former CIA operative involved in Operation Chaos, in addition to covert operations in Cuba. Lyon is the co-author of the brand new book Eyes on Havana - Memoir of an American Spy Betrayed by the CIA. Edmonds and Lyon discuss Lyon’s new book and the ongoing illegal covert operations conducted by the CIA domestically and abroad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n-abawjaWA
AI Overview
Learn more
While there was speculation and some evidence pointing to possible black mold contamination in Brittany Murphy's home, the official cause of her and her husband Simon Monjack's deaths was pneumonia with contributing factors. The Los Angeles County coroner's office initially investigated and dismissed the claim that mold was a contributing factor. Later, when the house was put on the market, appraisers discovered substantial water leaks and significant mold.
Here's a more detailed look:
Initial Speculation:
Following the deaths of Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack, both from pneumonia, there was speculation that mold in their Hollywood Hills home might have been a contributing factor.
Coroner's Findings:
The Los Angeles County coroner's office investigated the possibility of mold, but ruled it out as a significant cause of death.
Later Findings:
When the house was put on the market, appraisers discovered substantial water leaks and significant mold, supporting concerns about the house's condition.
Family Concerns:
Sharon Murphy, Brittany's mother, initially denied the mold theory but later grew concerned. Linda Monjack, Simon's mother, also expressed concerns about mold in the home.
Legal Action:
Simon Monjack had filed a lawsuit against the builders and subcontractors due to the inferior products used in building that may have caused the leak.
Documentary:
An HBO Max documentary, "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?", delves into the circumstances surrounding their deaths and addresses the mold speculation.
Generative AI is experimental.
Spaniard becomes Jesuits' new "black pope"
By Reuters
January 19, 20085:07 AM PSTUpdated 17 years ago
By Stephen Brown
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas was elected the Jesuits' "black pope", as the head of the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic order is known, in a secret conclave on Saturday.
Nicolas, 71, has run Jesuit operations in east Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967.
The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.
Jesuit superior generals are known as "black popes" because, like the pontiff, they wield worldwide influence and usually keep their position for life -- and because their simple cassock is black, in contrast to the pope who dresses in white.
The 468-year history of the Jesuit order has often included stormy relations with the Vatican. Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, believed the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America.
Soft-spoken, white-haired Dutchman Kolvenbach won widespread praise for mending relations with the Vatican during his years in the post, after conflicts between his charismatic Basque predecessor and Pope John Paul.
Kolvenbach also had to deal with declining vocations and the future of the order founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540.
In the 1960s, the all-male order peaked with some 36,000 members worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education, refugee help and other social services.
The general congregation that elected Nicolas gathered 217 electors from all over the world at Jesuit headquarters, a block from the Vatican.
They spent four days in prayer and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, about who should be elected. It is strictly forbidden to lobby for the post and anyone actively seeking the job must be 'turned in' by the other delegates.
The election is by secret ballot and delegates are not allowed to leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed who has won, in keeping with a tradition that the "white pope" is first to know who is the new "black pope".
But unlike a conclave to elect the pontiff, a Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after the election to discuss future challenges and priorities.
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/spaniard-becomes-jesuits-new-black-pope-idUSL19414053/
Today in History: October 1, Las Vegas music festival shooting
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published 9:00 PM PST, September 30, 2024
Today in history:
On Oct. 1, 2017, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a gunman opened fire from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans at a concert below, causing 60 deaths and more than 850 injuries.
https://apnews.com/today-in-history/october-1
Mount St. Helens Erupts After 18 Years
By Tomas Alex Tizon
Oct. 1, 2004 1:36 PM PT
Times Staff Writer
SEATTLE — A giant plume of steam shot up into the sky above Mt. St. Helens this afternoon in what has been the most dramatic sign yet of the recent increase in volcanic activity on the mountain.
Scientists said the column of steam and some ash rose about 15,000 feet high and was drifting southwest in the direction of Vancouver, Wash. and Portland. However, the steam cloud posed little threat to residents and was expected to result at most in a light dusting of ash, officials said.
Television cameras captured images of the white and gray plume that erupted about noon and rose into clear blue skies. Most of the cloud had dissipated within an hour.
Earlier in the day, scientists said that they were examining images of cracks on the glacier inside the volcano crater to determine if it was connected to existing activity.
Officials on Thursday said there was a 70% chance that Mt. St. Helens, which erupted in a huge and deadly explosion 24 years ago, could experience a small to moderate eruption.
https://www.latimes.com/la-100104volcano_lat-story.html
October 1, 2004 Explosion at Mount St. Helens
USGS
May 6, 2013
http://gallery.usgs.gov/videos/682
[no spoken words]
On October 1, 2004, an explosion in the crater of Mount St. Helens sent ash and water vapor several thousand feet into the air. It was the dramatic beginning of an eruption that continued for the next 3+ years. The explosion fractured Crater Glacier and hurled rocks for at least one-half mile across the western half of the glacier and the 1980-1986 lava dome. USGS scientists on a helicopter flight captured the explosion on video. The view from the air is to the west.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1NDvy-PrzA
Luxor Las Vegas
The hotel includes 4,407 rooms.[49] It originally opened with 2,526 rooms, all of them located in the pyramid.[50] The rooms line the pyramid's interior walls, and walkways outside the rooms overlook the atrium.[51] The interior of the pyramid uses inclined elevators, traveling at a 39-degree angle, to bring guests to their rooms.[11][7] The structure features eight elevators, with two at each corner of the pyramid.[6] The two additional hotel towers added in 1996 are located just north of the pyramid.[21][23] The ziggurat-shaped towers,[23] designed by Klai Juba Architects,[52] are 22 stories and added nearly 2,000 additional rooms.[21][23] The exterior of the hotel structures, including the pyramid, is made up of black glass panels.[48]
The Luxor includes a 65,214 sq ft (6,058.6 m2) casino.[53] Upon opening, it featured 2,500 slot machines, many of them Egyptian-themed. The casino also included 82 table games, a poker room, and race and sports books.[11] A high-end gaming pit was added in the 1996–97 renovation.[21] Giza Galleria, a small retail mall with 18 tenants, was also opened.[23][54][26] In addition, the Mandalay Place mall is located on a skybridge that connects Mandalay Bay with the Luxor.[55]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_Las_Vegas
Obsidian (/əbˈsɪdi.ən, ɒb-/ əb-SID-ee-ən ob-)[5] is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock.[6]
Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminum, sodium, and potassium. It is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows. These flows have a high content of silica, giving them a high viscosity. The high viscosity inhibits diffusion of atoms through the lava, which inhibits the first step (nucleation) in the formation of mineral crystals. Together with rapid cooling, this results in a natural glass forming from the lava.[7]
Obsidian is hard, brittle, and amorphous; it therefore fractures with sharp edges. In the past, it was used to manufacture cutting and piercing tools, and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.[8]
Origin and properties
The Natural History by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder includes a few sentences about a volcanic glass called obsidian (lapis obsidianus), discovered in Ethiopia by Obsidius, a Roman explorer.[9][10][11][12]
Obsidian is formed from quickly cooled lava, which is the parent material.[13][14][15] Extrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools rapidly at the edges of a felsic lava flow or volcanic dome, or when lava cools during sudden contact with water or air. Intrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools along the edges of a dike.[16][17]
Tektites were once thought by many to be obsidian produced by lunar volcanic eruptions,[18] though few scientists now adhere to this hypothesis.[19]
Obsidian is mineral-like, but not a true mineral because, as a glass, it is not crystalline; in addition, its composition is too variable to be classified as a mineral. It is sometimes classified as a mineraloid.[20] Though obsidian is usually dark in color, similar to mafic rocks such as basalt, the composition of obsidian is extremely felsic. Obsidian consists mainly of SiO2 (silicon dioxide), usually 70% by weight or more; the remainder consists of variable amounts of other oxides, mostly oxides of aluminum, iron, potassium, sodium and calcium.[21][22] Crystalline rocks with a similar composition include granite and rhyolite. Because obsidian is metastable at the Earth's surface (over time the glass devitrifies, becoming fine-grained mineral crystals), obsidian older than Miocene in age is rare. Exceptionally old obsidians include a Cretaceous welded tuff and a partially devitrified Ordovician perlite.[23] This transformation of obsidian is accelerated by the presence of water. Although newly formed obsidian has a low water content, typically less than 1% water by weight,[24] it becomes progressively hydrated when exposed to groundwater, forming perlite.
Pure obsidian is usually dark in appearance, though the color varies depending on the impurities present. Iron and other transition elements may give the obsidian a dark brown to black color. Most black obsidians contain nanoinclusions of magnetite, an iron oxide.[25] Very few samples of obsidian are nearly colorless. In some stones, the inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals (spherulites) of the mineral cristobalite in the black glass produce a blotchy or snowflake pattern (snowflake obsidian). Obsidian may contain patterns of gas bubbles remaining from the lava flow, aligned along layers created as the molten rock was flowing before being cooled. These bubbles can produce interesting effects such as a golden sheen (sheen obsidian). An iridescent, rainbow-like sheen (fire obsidian) is caused by inclusions of magnetite nanoparticles creating thin-film interference.[26] Colorful, striped obsidian (rainbow obsidian) from Mexico contains oriented nanorods of hedenbergite, which cause the rainbow striping effects by thin-film interference.[25]
Occurrence
Obsidian is found near volcanoes in locations which have undergone rhyolitic eruptions. It can be found in Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Australia,[27] Canada, Chile, Georgia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Scotland, the Canary Islands, Turkey and the United States. Obsidian flows which are so large that they can be hiked on are found within the calderas of Newberry Volcano (Big Obsidian Flow,[28] 700 acres) and Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascade Range of western North America, and at Inyo Craters east of the Sierra Nevada in California. Yellowstone National Park has a mountainside containing obsidian located between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Norris Geyser Basin, and deposits can be found in many other western U.S. states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Washington,[29] Oregon[30] and Idaho.
There are only four major deposit areas in the central Mediterranean: Lipari, Pantelleria, Palmarola and Monte Arci (Sardinia).[31]
Ancient sources in the Aegean were Milos and Gyali.[32]
Acıgöl town and the Göllü Dağ volcano were the most important sources in central Anatolia, one of the more important source areas in the prehistoric Near East.[33][34][35]
Prehistoric and historical use
The first known archaeological evidence of usage was in Kariandusi (Kenya) and other sites of the Acheulian age (beginning 1.5 million years BP) dated 700,000 BC, although only very few objects have been found at these sites relative to the Neolithic.[36][37][38][39][40] Manufacture of obsidian bladelets at Lipari had reached a high level of sophistication by the late Neolithic, and was traded as far as Sicily, the southern Po river valley, and Croatia.[41] Obsidian bladelets were used in ritual circumcisions and cutting of umbilical cords of newborns.[42] Anatolian sources of obsidian are known to have been the material used in the Levant and modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan from a time beginning sometime about 12,500 BC.[43] Obsidian artifacts are common at Tell Brak, one of the earliest Mesopotamian urban centers, dating to the late fifth millennium BC.[44] Obsidian was valued in Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it could be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrowheads in a process called knapping. Like all glass and some other naturally occurring rocks, obsidian breaks with a characteristic conchoidal fracture. It was also polished to create early mirrors. Modern archaeologists have developed a relative dating system, obsidian hydration dating, to calculate the age of obsidian artifacts.
Europe
Obsidian artifacts first appeared in the European continent in Central Europe in the Middle Paleolithic and had become common by the Upper Paleolithic, although there are exceptions to this. Obsidian played an important role in the transmission of Neolithic knowledge and experiences. The material was mainly used for production of chipped tools which were very sharp due to its nature. Artifacts made of obsidian can be found in many Neolithic cultures across Europe. The source of obsidian for cultures inhabiting the territory of and around Greece was the island of Milos; the Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture obtained obsidian from sources in Hungary and Slovakia, while the Cardium-Impresso cultural complex acquired obsidian from the island outcrops of the central Mediterranean. Through trade, these artifacts ended up in lands thousands of kilometers away from the original source; this indicates that they were a highly valued commodity.[45] John Dee had a mirror, made of obsidian, which was brought from Mexico to Europe between 1527 and 1530 after Hernando Cortés's conquest of the region.[46]
Middle East and Asia
In the Ubaid in the 5th millennium BC, blades were manufactured from obsidian extracted from outcrops located in modern-day Turkey.[47] Ancient Egyptians used obsidian imported from the eastern Mediterranean and southern Red Sea regions. Obsidian scalpels older than 2100 BC have been found in a Bronze Age settlement in Turkey.[48] In the eastern Mediterranean area the material was used to make tools, mirrors and decorative objects.[49]
The use of obsidian tools was present in Japan near areas of volcanic activity.[50][51] Obsidian was mined during the Jōmon period.
Obsidian has also been found in Gilat, a site in the western Negev in Israel. Eight obsidian artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic Age found at this site were traced to obsidian sources in Anatolia. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) on the obsidian found at this site helped to reveal trade routes and exchange networks previously unknown.[52]
Americas
Lithic analysis helps to understand pre-Hispanic groups in Mesoamerica. A careful analysis of obsidian in a culture or place can be of considerable use to reconstruct commerce, production, and distribution, and thereby understand economic, social and political aspects of a civilization. This is the case in Yaxchilán, a Maya city where even warfare implications have been studied linked with obsidian use and its debris.[53] Another example is the archeological recovery at coastal Chumash sites in California, indicating considerable trade with the distant site of Casa Diablo Hot Springs in the Sierra Nevada.[54]
Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans' use of obsidian was extensive and sophisticated; including carved and worked obsidian for tools and decorative objects. Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body. Called a macuahuitl, the weapon could inflict terrible injuries, combining the sharp cutting edge of an obsidian blade with the ragged cut of a serrated weapon. The polearm version of this weapon was called tepoztopilli.
Obsidian mirrors were used by some Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophecies. They were connected with Tezcatlipoca, god of obsidian and sorcery, whose name can be translated from the Nahuatl language as 'Smoking Mirror'.[46]
Indigenous people traded obsidian throughout the Americas. Each volcano and in some cases each volcanic eruption produces a distinguishable type of obsidian allowing archaeologists to use methods such as non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence to select minor element compositions from both the artifact and geological sample to trace the origins of a particular artifact.[55] Similar tracing techniques have also allowed obsidian in Greece to be identified as coming from Milos, Nisyros or Gyali, islands in the Aegean Sea. Obsidian cores and blades were traded great distances inland from the coast.[56]
In Chile obsidian tools from Chaitén Volcano have been found as far away as in Chan-Chan 400 km (250 mi) north of the volcano, and also in sites 400 km south of it.[57][58]
Oceania
The Lapita culture, active across a large area of the Pacific Ocean around 1000 BC, made widespread use of obsidian tools and engaged in long distance obsidian trading. The complexity of the production technique for these tools, and the care taken in their storage, may indicate that beyond their practical use they were associated with prestige or high status.[59]
Obsidian was also used on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) for edged tools such as Mataia and the pupils of the eyes of their Moai (statues), which were encircled by rings of bird bone.[60] Obsidian was used to inscribe the Rongorongo glyphs.
Current use
Obsidian can be used to make extremely sharp knives, and obsidian blades are a type of glass knife made using naturally occurring obsidian instead of manufactured glass. Obsidian is used by some surgeons for scalpel blades, although this is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on humans.[61] Well-crafted obsidian blades, like any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels: the cutting edge of the blade is only about three nanometers thick.[62] All metal knives have a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; however, obsidian blades are still smooth, even when examined under an electron microscope.[63] One study found that obsidian incisions produced fewer inflammatory cells and less granulation tissue in a group of rats after seven days but the differences disappeared after twenty-one days.[64] Don Crabtree has produced surgical obsidian blades and written articles on the subject.[62] Obsidian scalpels may be purchased for surgical use on research animals.[65]
The major disadvantage of obsidian blades is their brittleness compared to those made of metal,[66] thus limiting the surgical applications for obsidian blades to a variety of specialized uses where this is not a concern.[62]
Obsidian is also used for ornamental purposes and as a gemstone.[67] It presents a different appearance depending on how it is cut: in one direction it is jet black, while in another it is glistening gray. "Apache tears" are small rounded obsidian nuggets often embedded within a grayish-white perlite matrix.
Plinths for audio turntables have been made of obsidian since the 1970s, such as the grayish-black SH-10B3 plinth by Technics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian
The Black Stone (Arabic: ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, romanized: al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.
The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. According to Islamic tradition, it was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 605 CE, five years before his first revelation. Since then, it has been broken into fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of pilgrims. It has often been described as a meteorite.[1]
Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as a part of the tawaf ritual during the hajj and many try to stop to kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad.[2][3] While the Black Stone is revered, Islamic theologians emphasize that it has no divine significance and that its importance is historical in nature.[4]
Physical description
The Black Stone was originally a single piece of rock but today consists of several pieces that have been cemented together. They are surrounded by a silver frame which is fastened by silver nails to the Kaaba's outer wall.[5] The fragments are themselves made up of smaller pieces which have been combined to form the seven or eight fragments visible today. The Stone's exposed face measures about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) by 16 centimetres (6.3 in). Its original size is unclear and the recorded dimensions have changed considerably over time, as the pieces have been rearranged in their cement matrix on several occasions.[1] In the 10th century, an observer described the Black Stone as being one cubit (46 cm or 18 in) long. By the early 17th century, it was recorded as measuring 140 by 122 cm (4 ft 7 in by 4 ft 0 in). According to Ali Bey in the 18th century, it was described as 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) high, and Muhammad Ali Pasha reported it as being 76 cm (2 ft 6 in) long by 46 cm (1 ft 6 in) wide.[1]
The Black Stone is attached to the east corner of the Kaaba, known as al-Rukn al-Aswad (the 'Corner of the Black Stone').[6] Another stone, known as the Hajar as-Sa’adah ('Stone of Felicity') is set into the Kaaba's opposite corner, al-Rukn al-Yamani (the 'Yemeni Corner'), at a somewhat lower height than the Black Stone.[7] The choice of the east corner may have had ritual significance; it faces the rain-bringing east wind (al-qabul) and the direction from which Canopus rises.[8]
The silver frame around the Black Stone and the black kiswah or cloth enveloping the Kaaba were for centuries maintained by the Ottoman Sultans in their role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The frames wore out over time due to the constant handling by pilgrims and were periodically replaced. Worn-out frames were brought back to Istanbul, where they are still kept as part of the sacred relics in the Topkapı Palace.[9]
Appearance of the Black Stone
The Black Stone was described by European travellers to Arabia in the 19th- and early-20th centuries, who visited the Kaaba disguised as pilgrims. Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Mecca in 1814, and provided a detailed description in his 1829 book Travels in Arabia:
It is an irregular oval, about seven inches [18 cm] in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly well smoothed; it looks as if the whole had been broken into as many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellow substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.[10]
Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Richard Francis Burton noted that:
The colour appeared to me black and metallic, and the centre of the stone was sunk about two inches below the metallic circle. Round the sides was a reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to the middle of the stone. The band is now a massive arch of gold or silver gilt. I found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers broad.[11]
Ritter von Laurin, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt, was able to inspect a fragment of the Stone removed by Muhammad Ali in 1817 and reported that it had a pitch-black exterior and a silver-grey, fine-grained interior in which tiny cubes of a bottle-green material were embedded. There are reportedly a few white or yellow spots on the face of the Stone, and it is officially described as being white with the exception of the face.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with US$11.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023.[1] Headquartered in New York City, BlackRock has 70 offices in 30 countries, and clients in 100 countries.
BlackRock is the manager of the iShares group of exchange-traded funds, and along with The Vanguard Group and State Street, it is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers.[3][4] Its Aladdin software keeps track of investment portfolios for many major financial institutions and its BlackRock Solutions division provides financial risk management services. As of 2023, BlackRock was ranked 229th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[5]
BlackRock has sought to position itself as an industry leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in investments.[6] The U.S. states of West Virginia,[7] Florida,[8] and Louisiana[9] have divested money away from or refuse to do business with the firm because of its ESG policies. BlackRock has been criticized for investing in companies that are involved in fossil fuels, the arms industry, the People's Liberation Army and human rights violations in China. The company has also faced criticism for its close ties with the Federal Reserve during the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackRock
Academi, formerly known as Blackwater and Blackwater Worldwide, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1997,[2] by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince.[3][4] It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.[6][7][8]
Constellis and its predecessors provide contract security services[9] to the United States federal government. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 2007, Blackwater received widespread notoriety for the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, when a group of its employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20. Four employees were convicted in the United States and later pardoned on December 22, 2020, by President Donald Trump.[10][11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(company)
Black project is an informal term used to describe a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors.
United States and black projects
In the United States, the formal term for a black project is an unacknowledged special access program (SAP). Black projects receive their funding from the black budget.
The US depends on private defense contractors to develop and build military equipment. The two most notable examples are Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The R&D department of Lockheed Martin is commonly referred to as Skunk Works; it is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified R&D programs, and exotic aircraft platforms.
Two well known sites for testing of black projects are the Nevada Test site and Area 51.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_project
Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat.
As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a threat to do something that would cause a person to suffer embarrassment or financial loss.[1] By contrast, in the Commonwealth its definition is wider: for example the laws of England and Wales and Northern Ireland state that:
A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces...[2][3]
In popular culture, 'blackmail' involves a threat to reveal or publicize either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to family members or associates rather than to the general public.
Acts of blackmail can also involve using threats of physical, mental or emotional harm, or of criminal prosecution, against the victim or someone close to the victim.[4][5] It is normally carried out for personal gain, most commonly of position, money, or property.[4][6][7][8]
Blackmail may also be considered a form of extortion[4] and may be covered in the same statutory provision as extortion.[9] Although the two are generally synonymous, extortion is the taking of personal property by threat of future harm.[10] Blackmail is the use of threat to prevent another from engaging in a lawful occupation and writing libelous letters or letters that provoke a breach of the peace, as well as use of intimidation for purposes of collecting an unpaid debt.[11]
In many jurisdictions, blackmail is a statutory offense, often criminal, carrying punitive sanctions for convicted perpetrators. Blackmail is the name of a statutory offense in the United States, England and Wales, and Australia,[12] and has been used as a convenient way of referring to certain other offenses, but was not a term used in English law until 1968.[13]
Blackmail was originally a term from the Scottish Borders meaning payments rendered in exchange for protection from thieves and marauders.[6][11][14] The "mail" part of blackmail derives from Middle English male meaning "rent or tribute".[15] This tribute (male or reditus) was paid in goods or labour ("nigri"); hence reditus nigri, or "blackmail".
Etymology
Objections to criminalization
Some scholars have argued that blackmail should not be a crime.[17][18][19][20] Objections to the criminalization of blackmail often rest on what legal scholars call "the paradox of blackmail": it takes two separate actions that, in many cases, people are legally and morally entitled to do, and criminalizes them if done together. One American legal scholar uses the example of a person who threatens to expose a criminal act unless he is paid money. The person has committed the crime of blackmail, even though he separately has the legal right both to threaten to expose a crime and to request money from a person.[21]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail
Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarch's or state's authority—over the Church is comparable to that of the Pope.
History
The term descends from the Middle Ages, when a non-Italian pope was said to be papa ultramontano – a pope from beyond the mountains (the Alps).[1] Foreign students at medieval Italian universities also were referred to as ultramontani.
After the Protestant Reformation in France, the concept was revived but with its directionality reversed to indicate the man "beyond the mountains" in Italy: the Pope. The term ultramontain was used to refer to Catholics who supported papal authority in French affairs – as opposed to the Gallican and Jansenist factions, who did not – and was intended as an insult implying lack of patriotism.[1] From the 17th century, ultramontanism became closely associated with the Jesuits.[2]
In the 18th century the term came to refer to supporters of the Church in any conflict between church and state. In Austria ultramontanists were opposed to Josephinism, and in Germany to Febronianism. In Great Britain and Ireland ultramontanists resisted Cisalpinism, which favored concessions to the Protestant state in order to achieve Catholic emancipation.
In eighteenth-century Spain, the Bourbon monarchs began implementing policies of regalism, which expanded the power of the monarchy and sought to bring the Catholic Church under its jurisdiction in all matters except the spiritual sphere. Charles III of Spain's ministers, Count of Floridablanca and the Count of Campomanes rejected the arguments of the ultramontanists that the Church had inalienable rights in the secular sphere.[3] The regalist reforms that the Spanish crown sought to implement were not completely successful, and the resistance to them were attributed to support for the Society of Jesus, which had been expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1767, but prior to that were educators.[4]
In Canada, the majority of Catholic clergy despised the French Revolution and its anti-clerical bias and looked to Rome for both spiritual and political guidance. There were many laymen and laywomen who supported these ideals as key to preserving Canadian institutions and values. For this reason they were called ultramontanists. The ultramontanes distrusted both the Protestant anglophone and francophone politicians, but the Church found it easier to deal with British governors, who appreciated the role of the Church in containing dissent, than with the francophone liberal professionals who were secularists.[5]
First Vatican Council
Main article: First Vatican Council
According to Catholic academic Jeffrey P. von Arx,
The threat to the Catholic Church and the papacy through the 19th century was real, and the church’s reaction to that threat was understandable. Indeed, the church remained threatened on all sides. On the left, secular liberals sought to reduce or eliminate the role of the church in public life and civil society (by suppressing church schools, for example, and expelling religious congregations). The more radical heirs of the revolution and the socialists and communists into whom they evolved remained committed to the church’s utter destruction. But the threat was also from the nationalist right. Otto von Bismarck’s Kulturkampf was aimed directly at the Catholic Church, imposing state supervision of Catholic schools and seminaries and government appointment of bishops with no reference to Rome.[6]
The response was a condemnation of Gallicanism as heretical:
[W]e condemn and reject the opinions of those who hold that this communication of the supreme head with pastors and flocks may be lawfully obstructed; or that it should be dependent on the civil power, which leads them to maintain that what is determined by the apostolic see or by its authority concerning the government of the church, has no force or effect unless it is confirmed by the agreement of the civil authority.[7]
The council also asserted papal primacy. In July 1870, it issued the Dogmatic constitution Pastor aeternus, defining four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the perpetuity of this primacy in the Roman pontiffs, the meaning and power of the papal primacy, and Papal infallibility.
[W]e teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world.[8]
Von Arx compares this to "the great empires and national states of the 19th century, which used new means of communication and transportation to consolidate power, enforce unity and build bureaucracies".[6] "Cardinal Henry Edward Manning in Great Britain thought unity and discipline within the church were of the utmost importance in protecting the church and advancing its interests in a liberal, democratic state, and so he was one of the strongest advocates of the ultramontane position."[6] The English bishops at the council were characterized by their ultramontanism and described as "being more Catholic than the Pope himself".[9]
Reaction
Other Christian groups outside the Catholic Church declared this as the triumph of what they termed "the heresy of ultramontanism". It was specifically decried in the "Declaration of the Catholic Congress at Munich", in the Theses of Bonn, and in the Declaration of Utrecht, which became the foundational documents of Old Catholics (Altkatholische) who split with Rome over the declaration on infallibility and supremacy, joining the Old Episcopal Order Catholic See of Utrecht, which had been independent from Rome since 1723.[7]
As with previous pronouncements by the pope, liberals across Europe were outraged by the doctrine of infallibility and many countries reacted with laws to counter the influence of the church. The term "ultramontanism" was revived during the French Third Republic (1870–1940) as a pejorative way to describe policies that went against laïcité, a concept rooted in the French Revolution. The French philosopher Jacques Maritain noted the distinction between the models found in France and the separation of church and state in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. He considered the US model of that time to be more amicable because it had both "sharp distinction and actual cooperation" between church and state, what he called "an historical treasure" and admonished the United States, "Please to God that you keep it carefully, and do not let your concept of separation veer round to the European one."[10]
After Italian Unification and the abrupt (and unofficial) end of the First Vatican Council in 1870 because of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the ultramontanist movement and the opposing conciliarism became obsolete to a large extent. However, some very extreme tendencies of a minority of adherents to ultramontanism – especially those attributing to the Roman pontiff, even in his private opinions, absolute infallibility even in matters beyond faith and morals, and impeccability – survived and were eagerly used by opponents of the Catholic Church and papacy before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) for use in their propaganda. These extreme tendencies, however, were never supported by the First Vatican Council's dogma of 1870 of papal infallibility and primacy, but were rather inspired by erroneous private opinions of some Catholic laymen who tend to identify themselves completely with the Holy See.
At the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, the Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated. The post-conciliar position of the Apostolic See did not deny any of the previous doctrines of papal infallibility or papal primacy; rather, it shifted emphasis from structural and organizational authority to doctrinal teaching authority (also known as the magisterium). Papal magisterium, i.e. papal teaching authority, was defined in Lumen gentium No. 25 and later codified in the 1983 revision of Canon Law.
Controversy
Some, such as the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, have claimed the Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity can overrun ultramontanism and has the potential to decentralize the Catholic Church,[11] whereas others defend it as merely a bureaucratic adjustment to give more pastoral responsibility to local bishops and priests of local parishes.[12]
Challenges to ultramontanism have remained strong within and outside Roman jurisdiction.[13] Ultramontanism has particularly overshadowed ecumenical work between the Catholic Church and both Lutherans and Anglicans.[14] The joint Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation published The Gift of Authority in 1999, highlights agreements and differences on these issues.[15]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramontanism
XXVII
ABOVE ALL GODS AND "SHEWING... THAT HE IS GOD"!
Sedet super universum ("He sits above the universe").
ND LEST SOME SCRUPLE SHOULD OCCUR TO my reader, that the aforementioned delineations could apply to some other power besides the Catholic Church, then read how God in his wisdom, to further identify ANTI-CHRIST, with pin-point accuracy, tells us through St. Paul.
We are told that the "mystery" woman seated on the beast (or power) nth seven heads (or forms of governments) would have at her helm a man." This man St. Paul calls "the son of perdition" who "opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." Paul ays that "he as God sits would sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (II Thess. 2:1).
The temple of God here referred to, where the representative of Anti-Christ was to have his seat and from where he would reign, could not have been the Jewish Temple which had already been destroyed. The Christian Church only could form a theater for such a display," writes Thomas Watson.
Here, II Thess. 2:4, the Apostle Paul is understood to have been speaking prophetically about a male figurehead behind this power the woman with the golden cup), for he speaks of the man "Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God" "shewing himself that he is God." (to quote the King James).
Said Grattan Guinness, "The distinctive names given by Paul to the great head of the apostasy are expressive of his character. They are the "man of sin," the "son of perdition," and "that wicked" (or the lawless one). Paul's "Man of sin," was to be a Roman, because the imperial government seated at Rome needed to be removed in order to make way for its rise and dominion. It was to be the successor of the Caesars at Rome. They have the same geographical seat...." Grattan continues a few lines later: "In the Douay (Catholic Bible, with notes, issued under Romish authority, and bearing the signatures of Cardinals Wiseman and
H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation, op. cit. p. 98,
177
CODEWORD BARBELÓN Bk 2
Manning, the "man of sin" is interpreted as follows: "He sitteth in the temple of God,' etc. By all these words is described to us the grea antichrist.... according to the unquestionable authority and consent of the ancient Fathers." The Catholic Church thus accepts our interpretation of the "man of sin" which Paul foresaw, "and admits th power to be the antichrist," concludes Guinness. These personages representing Anti-Christ were to be as Judas, because Paul states, "Forl know this, that alter my departing shall grievous wolves cuter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your ownselves shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" Wet
20:30).
What power or personages have ever been bold enough to advance so audacious a claim-even to the extent of "shewing thimselves to be a God"? This surely can only apply to the popes (the succession of themt "He exaltheth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped." Not only have the popes lifted themselves above earthly magistrates, bishops and primates, kings and emperor, nay, not only above kings and emperors, but also above Jesus Christ, and God himself! Roman Catholic cannon law of 1918 confirms this fact precisely: "The Roman pontiff [the popel is... not a... man, but very God." Here is an exa fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the Anti-Christ system of the popes. Reader, we have found the genuine article! To quote one author, the clear light of this prophecy flashes full on the face of the Papacy!
How is it that the pope goes about "showing himself that he is God? By "affecting divine titles, and asserting that his decrees are of the same or greater authority than the word of God," says Bagster and Clarke. To confirm the assertion, the Apostle Paul also tells us in his Epistle to the Thessalonians that this "man of sin" who is allied to Ant-Chr (the corrupt woman) would sit as a leader of a religious system, "sing in the temple of God [viz., he presides in a church]" (II Thess. 2:0).
The pope alone can be that "man" referred to in II Thess. 21, for who else could it be? "There is NO ONE LIKE HIM, who exalth himself above every god; no one like him, who sitteth as God in the temple of God; there is no one like him who shows himself that he God, and even above God"! Reader, what an excellent antidote to the poison of popery are these illustrious proofs of Divine revelation! In Bible prophecy a "woman" is almost always used as a symbol of a
2 Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformationop, op. cit., p. 98.
178
Above All Gods And "Shewing... That He Is God"!
church, and here the Apostle Paul say that this "man of sin," the visible figurehead of Anti-Christ would "sit in the temple of God" and claim to be God, usurping God's rightful place! Strong's Concordance (NT#500 & NT#473) defines 'antichrist' as "a usurper."
"SITTING IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, SHEWING THAT HE IS GOD."
Now, perchance the reader is not convinced by the above, here is the mystery solved! Mark these words "he as God sitteth in the temple of God." that is to say "presides in the temple of the Lord." I quote Grattan Guinness, who in turn quotes Picart:
I took them from Picart's description of the Roman ceremonial, a Roman Catholic authority. It is the Romanists themselves who use this significant phrase of the Papal pontifl: he "PRESIDES IN THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD."
There reader! The exact words used by the Apostle Paul are adopted by the Church of Rome. Do you still require more proof?
St. John also describes Anti-Christ as the avouos-viz., a power that exalts itself above all gods (Rev. 13:4-6). One can read volumes of Catholic writings that refer to the pope as God, even referring to him as, "The Lord God the Pope."
Does that leave you numb? From another source we read: "The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, Himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." Reader, that would be a most stupendous metamorphosis indeed!
But the pope's sycophants deny that the above statement was made by Pope Pius X, instead they aver that it was "from an English Protestant publication (of Oct. 3, 1895), not a Catholic one."
But what say they to this statement from Pope Leo III, who, on June 20, said this of himself and the entire machinery of the papacy: "We
3
4
See, Jer. 3:8; Matt. 9:14-15; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7-8. Pope John XXII (Cum. Inter, title 14, chap. 4, Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium, Column 140, Paris, 1685); in the 1612 Paris Edition of Extravagantes. In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words occur in column 153. See also, Z. T. Sweeney, New Testament Christianity, Vol. III. (1930), p. 529
5
Catholic National, July of 1895.
179
CODEWORD BARBELÓN BK 2
hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty"? Agam, the amphibologious Catholic priests tell us this quote is "cherry-picking a quote out of context." Cherry-picking or not, this last statement of Pope Leo XIII is interesting for another reason-it is a virtual copy of a
statement made by that other proud imposter, Satan."
But, as I said, the papists deny the above quotes as meaning that the pope claims to be God on earth. Very well. Let it be so. For he is But what do they say to this statement by the Jesuits, in answer to the question, "What is the Pope?" The Jesuit Catechism replies." He the Vicar of Christ, King of Kings, and Lords of Lord, and there is l ONE JUDGMENT-SEAT BELONGING TO GOD AND THE POPE" Reader, a truly whimsical assertion, if ever there was one!
As we read before, in one of their books they go even further: "Al the names which in Scripture are applied to Christ by virtue of which a is established that He is over the Church, all the same names are applied to the Pope." Or what about this one: "The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.""
The following is another fact of significance which shows the point we have been making. "Bianchi Gioviui, editor of the journal l'ition." had been "condemned by the tribunals of Turin to a month's
6
Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae ("The Reunion of Christendom"), Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894; The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII (1878-1903) (New York: Benziger Bros. 1903/ Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2009), p. 304; Double Cross (Chick Publications), p. 27. See the Pope's 1894 letter here:
www.space.net.au/-nethow/Sede/encyclicals/Leo13/L13PRAEC.HTM 7 A figure of speech where ambiguous meaning is deliberately created through grammar, often including mispunctuation.
8 Lucifer: "I will be like the most High." see Isaiah 14:14. See also Iss 42:8, "I am the Lord: that is my name... my glory I give no to another." 9 See, Roy Livesey, Understanding the New Age: World Government a World Religion (Chichester, England: NewWine Press, 1998), p. 104. 10 Robert Bellarmine (Jesuit Cardinal-archbishop of Capual. Othe Authority of the Church Councils, Vol. 2 (1619 edn.). p. 266, chap. 17 Bellarmine was an authority on ecclesiology and was canonized, 1930 See, too, De Cone. Auct., L. 2, c. 17, p. 266, II., T. I.; John Harvey Theat Johann Augustus Bolles, and G. H. Housee, The Catholic faith of Doctrines of the Church of Rome; and also, Disputationes de Controversiis, Tom. 2; Controversiarum de Conciliis, Liber Secundis 11 Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, chapter XXVII, p. 218, Cities Petrus Bertanous; A Journal of Church and State, vol. 3 (Baylor University. J.M.
Dawson Studies in Church and State, 1961), p. 176.
180
Above All Gods And "Shewing... That He Is God"!
imprisonment, and Jal 600 francs fine for having said that the Pope was neither God nor the Vicar of God. While he was in prison he complained of his sentence in his journal, and for this he was condemned again to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 But, if all the above facts are not proof enough for you, franes." consider this Popish averment:
The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, he is Jesus Christ Himself, under the veil of the flesh.... Does the Pope speak? It is Jesus Christ who is speaking. Does he teach? It is Jesus Christ who teaches. Does he confer grace or pronounce an anathema? It is Jesus Christ Himself who is pronouncing the anathema and conferring the grace. Hence... when one speaks of the Pope, it is not necessary to examine, but to obey..... there must be no cavilling at the declared will of the Pope.... no preconceived opinions must be brought to bear upon it: no rights must be set up against the rights of the Holy Father to teach and command; HIS DECISIONS ARE NOT TO BE CRITICIZED, or his ordinances disputed.... no matter how august the person may be- whether he wear a crown or be invested with the purple, or be clothed in the sacred vestments: all must be subject to Him WHO HAS HAD ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIM."
Read next the words of Jesuit Cardinal Dr. Robert Bellarmine in Latin, which is translated below on the right:
12
Nam fides Catholica docet, omnem virtutem ease bonam, omne vitium esse malum: si autem l'apa erret praecipiendo vitia, vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona, et virtu- les malas, nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare. Tenetur enim in rebus dubiis Ecclesia acquiescere judicio summi l'onti- sicis, et facere quod ille praecipit, non facere quod ille prohibet ac ne forte contra conscientiam agat, tenetur credere bonum
e quod ille praecipit; malum quod ille prohibet.-De kom. Pont., 14, c. 5, col. 974. C. Disput., T. 1, el. 1601.
For the Catholic faith teaches that every virtue is good, every evil is bad: but if the l'ope should err by enjoining vices, or forbidding virtues, the Church would be bound to believe vices to be good and virtues evil, unless it would sin against conscience. For in things doubt- ful the Church is bound to acquiesce in the judgment of the Supreme Pontiff, and to do that which he enjoins, and not to do that which he forbids; and lest she should act contrary to conscience, she is bound to believe that to be good which he enjoins, and that to be evil which he forbids
Evangelical Christendom, Vols. 11-12 (Evangelical Alliance, July 1.
1867, p. 275.
13 Evangelical Christendom (London: J. S. Phillips, January 1, 1895), p.
15. http://biblelight.net/Sources/Evangelical-Christendom-pg-15.gif
181
CODEWORD BARBELON BK 2
Ferraris Ecclesiastical (Catholic) Dictionary offers this justification and explanation of Bellarmine's doctrine that the pope can declar
EVIL TO BE GOOD AND VICES TO BE VIRTUES:
The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that HE IS NOT A MAN, but as it were, God, and the Vicar of God.... The POPE ALONE is deservedly called by the name "Most Holy He likewise the divine Monarch and supreme Emperor, THE KING OF KINGS. Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions.... the superiority, and the power of the Roman Pontiff... by no means pertain only as heavenly things, to earthly things, and to things under the earth, b are even over angels, of whom he is greater...."
We could quote many more such statements ad nauseam. Reader never was the dignity of the Almighty so degraded by such low similitudes as the above! The pope as God, judging angels, and declaring evil to be good and vices to be virtues? No wonder Paul calls him, that "wicked one."
I say, as did, Martin Luther: "Oh, Christ, my Lord... bring upon us thy day of judgment, and destroy the brood [litter] of Satan in Rome where)... sits the man of sin." Yes, that "brood of Satan" in Rome-the pope, cardinals, bishops, curates, vicars, sacristans, canons, deacous sub-deacons, and choristers; besides shavelings of all kinds, seminants friars, lay-brothers, novices, clc., etc., who may be compared to the ammunition men and powdermonkies."" No, delicate reader, I do not believe these to be odious comparisons.
Reader, the pope is that "man of sin," for he substitutes other mediators for Christ; he encourages the invocation of the dead in the name of saints; he insists on the worshipping of images, the adoration of the wafer host, the selling of pardons and indulgences; and he pervers the worship of God into grossest superstition and idolatry." No, I do not exaggerate at all. Are you not also disgusted with the absurd pretens
from the pontifical chair? Will Catholics now demand of the Pope that
he publicly renounce these usurped and fictitious claims? Will yo
protest both against him and his doctrines? Will you rid yourselves of
14 P.F.L. Ferraris, Ecclesiastical Dictionary, article 'On the Pope."
15 Luther's Works, vol. 2. p. 281.
16 Evangelical Alliance, May 1, 1857, the Editor.
17 To quote Samuel Bagster (1843).
182
Above All Gods And "Shewing... That He Is God"! this tyrant in the Church, "SITTING IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, SHEWING HIMSELF THAT HE IS GOD"?
God says, "I am the LORD... the Holy One of Israel... before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.... I AM GOD" (Isa. 43:3, 7, 10) and "... beside me there is no God" (Isa. 44:6-8). But the Catholic Church says, Nol: "The Roman pontiff (the pope) Is... not a... man, but very God." What profanity; what proud impicty: what an insufferable arrogation, nay what wicked, nefarious and bold- face audacity! What pretentious indignity! that a sinful man would lower and dehase the majesty of his Creator by claiming to be "very God"!
God responds, "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus.... Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I AM A GOD, I sit in the seat of God.... YET THOU ART A MAN, AND NOT GOD, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God... Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords... and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and THOU SHALT DIE the deaths of them that are slain "(Ezek. 28:2-8)!
18
do the high altar of a P
Roman Catholic cannon law of 1904 and 1918: sec, Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99: (Paris, 1612), vol. 2.
183
CODEWORD BARBELON BK 2
In the foregoing illustration we see the pope in the Dark Ages, sitting in the Temple of God as though he were God; "upon a throne, hid
and lifted up" (Isaiah 6:1).
Today, nothing has changed.
Centuries later, and the Pope still sits "in the temple of God." high and ed
"shewing himself as if he were God."
Yes, even in this day of great enlightenment and democracy, the present Pope still claims worship, as did his fellows. Guinness gives the following commentary and rebuke:
Exalted to this position, he is incensed, and the cardinals, one at time, in solemn, deliberate state and idolatrous submission, is le land, his foot, and even his stomach. He is surrounded by candi archbishops, bishops, abbots, priests, and princes. Enormous fas peacock's feathers are carried on either side of his chan, as used to be done to the pagam monarchs of olden times, He directs the affairs of the greatest empire upon earth, governing by an almost infini
184
Above All Gods And "Shewing... That He Is God"!
number of men, whom he keeps constantly in subjection to himself, and from whom he demands frequent periodical account. He distributes spiritual gifts, and exalts to the highest preferments, not only on earth, but also in heaven: for is it not his to make bishops and archbishops, to canonize whom he will, and to decree their perpetual memorial and worship in the world? All power is delivered unto hum He forgives sins, he bestows grace; he cancels punishments, even in purgatory; he restores the lapsed; he excommunicates the rebellious he can make that which is unlawful, lawful; he cannot err, lis sentences are final, his utterances infallible, his decrees irreformable. O DREAD DOMINION! O DIZZY HEIGHTY O BLASPHEMOUS ASSUMPTION! O SUBLIME, SATANIC TYRANNY! WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE, THOU RESUSCITATED CAESAR, THOU FALSE CHRIST? Lord of the conscience, thou sittest there as a very deity. QUASI DEUS ("as God"). Thou sittest supreme, as thine own words are witness, "in the temple of the Lord"!"
Codeword Barbelon book Two
by P.D. Stuart
Charles Wright (born May 16, 1961), better known under his ring name The Godfather, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, and underwent several gimmick changes; the most notable were Papa Shango, Kama, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather and The Goodfather.
Among other accolades, Wright is a two-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, and a one-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Bull Buchanan). He headlined Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. Wright was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2, 2016, under the Godfather gimmick.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1989–1991)
Wright first entered professional wrestling after being noticed tending to a bar by wrestlers during the filming of the movie Over the Top. The wrestlers involved gave him the advice that, with his large body type and unique (tattooed) look, he should try seeking out Larry Sharpe and his Monster Factory to get into the business.[10] Eventually Wright parlayed his training into a job with Jerry Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) with the gimmick the wrestlers from the bar had given him and took the name "The Soultaker", taken from one of the tattoos on his arm. Even with his admitted limited skill set, he was given the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship on October 23, 1989, and held it for about two weeks.[11]
In February and March 1990, Wright wrestled for the South Carolina-based promotion South Atlantic Pro Wrestling as "Baron Samedi".
Throughout 1990, Wright made appearances in Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as "The Soultaker". During his appearances with NJPW, he often teamed with Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow. His opponents during his time in NJPW included Masahiro Chono, Masa Saito, and Riki Choshu.
In November 1990, Wright wrestled for the Catch Wrestling Association in Germany as "Rocky Las Vegas". In August 1991, he appeared with the Dallas, Texas-based Global Wrestling Federation as "The Soultaker".
World Wrestling Federation (1991–1993)
Sir Charles (1991)
In 1991, Wright was brought in to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) at the suggestion of his friend The Undertaker. He made his first appearance on May 28, 1991, at a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping in Tucson, Arizona.[12] Wright competed there and briefly at house shows as "Sir Charles", a play on both his real name and the nickname of National Basketball Association player Charles Barkley. The character was hardly used and never developed, and even when talking about it later Wright only remembers wearing robes he purchased from another wrestler to the ring.[10] He made a dark match appearance for the pay-per-view This Tuesday in Texas defeating Dale Wolfe.[13]
Papa Shango (1992–1993)
In January 1992, he was repackaged as a heel by the name of "Papa Shango", a horror-themed voodoo practitioner with an appearance reminiscent of the loa, Baron Samedi, as depicted in the 1973 film Live and Let Die.[14] Full of cryptic rituals and an occult, culturally exotic presence, the supernatural character carried a skull to the ring billowing smoke and could control arena lights (supernatural arena lighting control heavily associated with The Undertaker gimmick, according to Wright had its origins with the Papa Shango gimmick), allowing for strange goings-on in the ring, and later could "cast spells" to cause opponents pain and to make them vomit from afar.[15]
The Shango character debuted on the February 8, 1992, edition of Superstars, defeating enhancement talent Dale Wolfe.[16] Shango was then thrust into the spotlight almost immediately, running in on the Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice main event at WrestleMania VIII.[17] Shango actually missed his cue to run in, hitting the ring late. The finish was supposed to be Sid getting disqualified because of Shango breaking up the pinfall attempt by Hogan after he hit the big leg drop. Because Shango was late, Sid kicked out of the legdrop to save the angle. Sid's manager, Harvey Wippleman then jumped on the apron, and the referee signaled for the disqualification at that point as Shango was just getting to the ring. The Ultimate Warrior then returned to the WWF by running to the ring and helping Hogan against Sid and Shango.
After WrestleMania, Sid and the Warrior were scheduled to begin a feud. Sid had previously failed a drug test and was let go by the WWF. The feud was then re-written with Shango instead of Sid, where he would cast voodoo spells on his opponent. The angle went nowhere, as Warrior challenged Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, with the rivalry never culminating. Meanwhile, Shango defeated Tito Santana in a dark match at the event. When Shango was finally set to have a match with Warrior in November 1992, Warrior was released from WWF. Shango received a WWF World Heavyweight Championship shot against Bret Hart on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI, but was unsuccessful.[18] Wright's final PPV appearance as the Papa Shango character was at the 1993 Royal Rumble (where he was eliminated in under 30 seconds). He would appear in another pay-per-view dark match against Tito Santana at WrestleMania IX, with Santana getting the victory.[19] Shango was seen infrequently on WWF television afterwards, and following a loss to Jim Duggan in a 1993 King of the Ring qualifying match, he made two final televised appearances against enhancement talent in June and July 1993.
Wright's Papa Shango character was pilloried by fans, being voted the Worst Gimmick and the Most Embarrassing Wrestler in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards for 1992. Fin Martin of professional wrestling magazine Power Slam, in a 2013 article, wrote: "Shango and his curses were a total embarrassment. Fans exhaled loudly each time he appeared on screen. Shango bombed, and deservedly so."[20] Bret Hart liked the character and Wright's in-ring work, but found Shango's storyline with the Ultimate Warrior – in which a voodoo curse was placed on the latter – to be perhaps the second-worst creative concept in WWF history (after the introduction of The Gobbledy Gooker). Hart reported that WWF executive Pat Patterson did not like the gimmick and was responsible for its termination.[21]
At the same time as he was wrestling as Papa Shango in the WWF, the WWF had a working agreement with USWA. As part of the agreement, Papa Shango was sent to wrestle in USWA, where he won the Unified World Heavyweight Championship for a second time.[11] Winning the title actually upset him, as he felt it was only done to sell to the predominantly black crowd, and after complaining to management he dropped the belt to Owen Hart. He left the company soon after and returned to bartending.[10]
During the autumn of 1994, there were rumors that the Papa Shango character would be brought back to participate in a storyline involving Bob Backlund, wherein Shango's voodoo spells would explain the traditionally good-natured Backlund's erratic and villainous behavior. This didn't come to fruition.
Catch Wrestling Association (1993-1994, 1995)
Wright as Shango defeated Ulf Herman for Otto Wanz' Catch Wrestling Association in Germany in December 1993. As Papa Shango, he wrestled a summer tour in 1994. In July, he had a shot at the CWA World Heavyweight Championship against Rambo, but lost.
A year later on December 16, 1995, he returned as Kama and defeated Viktor Kruuger.
Return to World Wrestling Federation (1995–1996)
Million Dollar Corporation (1995–1996)
Main article: Million Dollar Corporation
In 1995, Wright returned to the WWF under the new character of "Kama".
Wright returned to the WWF in January 1995 under the antagonistic heel gimmick of Kama (nicknamed "The Supreme Fighting Machine"), a scrappy and competitive shoot wrestler inspired by Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Kimo Leopoldo. Shortly after his debut, he joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation stable.[22] He became an immediate part of the stable's feud with The Undertaker, stealing the Undertaker's signature urn at April's WrestleMania XI then having it melted down and formed into bling,[23] but remained in possession of the bling urn remnants until November 1995 when King Mabel seized it amid a feud with The Undertaker. He was taken off of television in the fall of 1995, and after an appearance in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, Wright left the company again.
National Wrestling Conference (1996)
Kama made a few appearances for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he feuded with Sabu.
Proposed WCW Run (1996)
Shortly after his departure, Wright had verbally agreed to join World Championship Wrestling to serve as the enforcer for the New World Order (nWo), but chose not to go to WCW after speaking to Ron Simmons. Wright then learned that WCW signed Virgil to be the nWo's enforcer by watching WCW Monday Nitro at home with his wife, and that they had signed him for less than what they offered Wright.[24]
Second Return to World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1997–2002)
Nation of Domination (1997–1998)
Main article: Nation of Domination
Wright was asked to return in 1997, with the original plans being for him to revive the Papa Shango character.[25] Instead he returned as Kama, now billed under his full name, "Kama Mustafa", joining Faarooq's faction the Nation of Domination. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Mustafa and Faarooq defeated Ahmed Johnson and The Undertaker.[26] Mustafa became increasingly known as "The Godfather" of the Nation, a moniker which was the brainchild of Wright's wife[27] and would become his official ring name in mid-1998. He stood with the Nation when Rocky Maivia became the leader shortly after Wrestlemania XIV, standing with Maivia, Mark Henry, D'Lo Brown, and later Owen Hart after he joined the stable in early May 1998.
In 1998, The Godfather (known to wrestlers as a genuine tough guy) competed in the WWF Brawl for All; which was a strictly voluntary boxing / shoot fighting competition, eventually won by Bart Gunn. On a July 27 episode of Raw is War, Wright debuted his "Hos", during a tag-match, with Nation member Mark Henry against the Legion of Doom. The Nation lasted until around September 1998 and officially disbanded in October 1998 when Henry attacked the Nation's leader The Rock.
The Godfather (1998–2000)
The Godfather alongside his "hoes" at a SmackDown! live show in 1999
After The Nation split up, Wright had his most successful run with the company under the hugely popular persona of "The Godfather". The Godfather character would be constantly surrounded by "hos" – in reality girls from local strip clubs, actresses,[28] or up-and-coming female wrestlers (Victoria[29] and Lita[30] were the best-known wrestlers to play the role, while Ivory was offered the role but was discouraged from accepting by Luna Vachon[31]). He would offer his opponents the right to use these girls for "any purpose" if they would forfeit the match to him. The gimmick was highly popular with audiences, and he defeated Goldust for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on the April 12, 1999, episode of Raw Is War.[32] He was Owen Hart's scheduled opponent for the title at Over the Edge; Hart was fatally injured during a live stunt prior to the match's time. The Godfather was scheduled to lose the title to Hart's character, "The Blue Blazer," that night. The Godfather would instead lose the title to Hart's tag team partner Jeff Jarrett a week later. On the March 16, 2000, episode of SmackDown!, he picked up the biggest win of his career, when he defeated the WWF Champion Triple H, due to interference from Shane McMahon and Big Show.[33]
Right to Censor (2000–2001)
Main article: Right to Censor
On the July 24 episode of Raw is War, The Godfather faced Bull Buchanan, member of Steven Richards' ultra-conservative stable Right To Censor, in which he agreed to give up pimping if he lost. Buchanan defeated The Godfather, who promptly joined the stable and renounced his former ways.[34] He began to dress in a formal white shirt and tie, and became known as "The Goodfather".[35] At SummerSlam on August 27, Right to Censor defeated Too Cool in a six-man tag team match.[36] On the September 11 episode of Raw is War, The Goodfather and Buchanan defeated the Acolytes. After the match, Val Venis attacked the Acolytes, joining the group in the process.[37] At Unforgiven on September 24, Right to Censor defeated the Acolytes and the Dudley Boyz.[38] At No Mercy on October 22, The Goodfather and Buchanan entered into an elimination tag team tables match, which was won by the Dudley Boyz.[39] The next night on Raw is War, Ivory was announced as the newest member of the group.[40] The Goodfather and Buchanan won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Hardy Boyz on the November 6 episode of Raw is War.[41] At Survivor Series on November 19, The Goodfather and Buchanan teamed up with Edge and Christian, to face the Hardys and the Dudleys in a losing effort.[42] At Rebellion on December 2, the duo retained the titles against the Hardys.[43] They lost the titles to Edge and Christian at Armageddon on December 10 in a fatal-four-way tag team match also involving K-Kwik and Road Dogg and the Dudley Boyz.[44]
The Goodfather entered the 2001 Royal Rumble match on January 21, 2001, at entry number 14, but was swiftly eliminated by The Rock.[45] At WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, The Goodfather, Buchanan and Venis were defeated by the APA (formerly the Acolytes) and Tazz. Also at WrestleMania, Ivory lost the WWF Women's Championship to Chyna.[38] On the April 26 episode of SmackDown!, Right to Censor lost to the Brothers of Destruction on a 4-on-2 handicap match, after all other members walked out on Richards mid-match.[46] The Goodfather would continue to team with Buchanan, until the June 17 episode of Sunday Night Heat, where they lost to the Dudley Boyz.[47] The last time Wright would be seen on television was where he along with Buchanan and several WWF superstars attacked invading WCW wrestlers Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire on an episode of SmackDown! For the remainder of the year, The Goodfather was completely absent from WWF programming.
Return of The Godfather; departure (2002)
The Godfather, under his old gimmick and with his hos, returned at the 2002 Royal Rumble competing in the Rumble match. He was eliminated by Chuck and Christian.[48] During the next six months, Wright competed in several television matches, usually on Raw, Heat and SmackDown!'s sister show Velocity.[49][50] The Godfather wrestled his final match on the June 8 episode of Velocity, defeating Hugh Morrus.[51] On the October 7, 2002, episode of Raw he made an appearance in a match between Jerry Lawler and his former Right To Censor teammate, Steven Richards in which the winner would get a night with the Godfather's hos.[52] This would be his final appearance on WWE programming for the next three years as Wright was released from the WWE in December 2002.
Sporadic appearances (2005–present)
On July 13, 2007, Wright returned to the ring for the first time in five years after his retirement, where he reunited with D'Lo Brown to defeat Jeremy and Bubba Blanchard in McMinnville, Oregon.[53]
In 2007, Wright appeared for WWE at the Theodore Long and Kristal Marshall wedding ceremony on the edition of September 21, 2007, of SmackDown!, where he tried to convince Long and Ron Simmons to go back to the old partying days they had. After they refused, Godfather left the ceremony with his Ho Train, and was accompanied by every male wrestler in attendance and commentator John Bradshaw Layfield, leaving only Mr. McMahon, Jonathan Coachman, Hornswoggle, Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, Michael Cole and several Divas behind.[54] Wright reappeared on WWE television during the McMahon family portrait during Raw's 15th Anniversary on December 10, 2007, where he let Hornswoggle join his Ho Train.[55]
In January 2013, Wright made a short appearance with WWE as The Godfather at the 2013 Royal Rumble as entrant #17. He was eliminated immediately by Dolph Ziggler.
On the January 6, 2014 "Old School" edition of Raw, Wright made an appearance alongside numerous other legends and Hall of Famers.[56]
On February 22, 2016, it was announced that Wright would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2016, under his Godfather persona.[57]
In June 2016, Wright appeared (as Papa Shango) on a season two episode of WWE Swerved on the WWE Network along with The Boogeyman, pranking people inside a shopping mall.
He appeared on January 22, 2018, at Raw's 25th anniversary show, in a backstage segment with his former teammate Mark Henry, and his real-life wife. Later that year, Wright reprised both his Godfather and Papa Shango personas on the House Hardy Halloween special airing on the WWE Network on October 28, 2018. Wright appeared at the WWE Raw Reunion show on July 22, 2019.[58]
On November 22, 2020, he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony.[59]
On February 1, 2025, he was shown at ringside amongst other legends during the Royal Rumble.[60]
Late career (2002–2020, 2024)
The Godfather at the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour in November 2009.
In late 2009, Wright returned to wrestling to take part in Hulk Hogan's "Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin" tour of Australia. On November 21, Wright, using the new ring name "The Pimp Fatha", teamed with Nick Dinsmore to defeat Rock of Love (Billy Blade and Kadin Anthony) in a tag team match.[61] On November 24, Big Daddy Row Row defeated Pimp Fatha and Sean Morley in a three-way match.[61] Two days later, Pimp Fatha defeated Heidenreich.[61] After the match, he hosted a bikini contest which was won by Lacey von Erich. Two days later, Pimp Fatha wrestled his last match on the tour and was defeated by Sean Morley.[61]
In January 2012, Wright won a battle royal at Pro Wrestling Superstars in Los Angeles.
Wright made a rare in-ring segment along with his longtime friend Val Venis and Dexter Verity in Future Stars of Wrestling, where he promised to bring his hoes if Venis and Verity would have succeeded defending their tag team titles.[citation needed] In September 2013, Wright resumed wrestling on the independent circuit.[62]
In spring of 2014 Wright made two appearances for Preston City Wrestling in England, as Papa Shango working against local star Bubblegum on both nights. In October 2014 at Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) Halloween Hell, Wright teamed with his old partner, Val Venis to face the team of then-ECCW Tag Team Champions Jordie Taylor and Daniel Adonis and the team of Ladies Choice and Eric Locker in a three-way elimination tag team match, but unsuccessful. Wright would step down from wrestling in March 2020 when COVID-19 hit.
On April 26, 2024, Wright returned as Papa Shango when he defeated This Guy in Burwood East, New South Wales, Australia for Battle Championship Wrestling.
Professional wrestling style and persona
According to Wright, the Papa Shango character uses paint because Vince McMahon said his face did not match his body.[63] During his last WWE appearances as The Godfather, where he would usually be accompanied by a group of girls referred to as the "Ho Train", Wright appeared sans girls. According to him, it was done because times had changed and the character was phased out.[63]
Personal life
Wright attended the University of Nevada, Reno where he was an offensive tackle on the football team.[64][65] After leaving professional wrestling, Wright moved to Las Vegas where he managed the Cheetah's strip club.[1][62][66] He married his girlfriend Denise in September 2000,[67] they have four children together. His marriage to Denise is his third marriage after two previous marriages.[68]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather_(wrestler)
Karl is a Germanic masculine name meaning "free man". The name originates in Old Norse. It is a variant of the English Charles, and the Latin Carolus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_(given_name)
The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious until the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants, Charlemagne's death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Name
The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] Incidentally, the US states of North and South Carolina are also based on the name Charles, having been named after King Charles II of England. The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty
Pope John XXIII's coat of arms.
Of gules, a silver sash, a silver tower mazonada and clarified with sable especially, accompanied chiefly by two fleurs-de-lis of the same, a silver chief with a winged leopard lion, holding a gospel with the front right leg open with the text "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS", all in gold and saber letters.
https://br.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restr:C_o_a_John_XXIII.svg
Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII [dʒoˈvanni ventitreˈɛːzimo]; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Italian: [ˈandʒelo dʒuˈzɛppe roŋˈkalli];[a] 25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963.
Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[8] He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.
John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike."[9][10] He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.
His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.[11]
He did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on June 3, 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014.[12][13] John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope" (Italian: il papa buono).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII
Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja[Note 3]; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian")[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.
Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]
Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI
Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Borgia
Facade of St. Peter's
On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.
The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".
From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.
https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm
AFA-27 [recorded 03/15/87] | The CIA, the Military & Drugs Part IV
Developing a line of inquiry presented in the preceding broadcast, this program focuses on narco-terrorism in Latin America. Particular emphasis is on intelligence-related elements that figured in the Iran-Contra scandal, anti-Castro Cubans in particular. Much of the discussion centers on activities that took place when George Bush was in charge of the CIA.
After reviewing the Latin American narcotics network of Corsican gangster and Third Reich collaborator Auguste Ricord, the broadcast focuses on the role of Ricord associate Klaus Barbie in the 1980 “Cocaine Coup” in Bolivia. The Gestapo chief of Lyons (France) during the war, Barbie found post-war employment with American intelligence, first with the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, and later with the CIA.
With the aid of elements of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, Barbie and a group of fascist terrorists associated with the narcotics trade overthrew the Bolivian government and established a dictatorship under General Garcia-Meza. Under this regime, the business of cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez thrived, aided by Barbie and his “bridegrooms of death.” Doubling as para-fascist terrorists and enforcers for the government, Barbie and his cutthroats aided the bloody suppression of trade unions and the political left in the coup’s aftermath.
Barbie’s cocaine mercenaries included some interesting individuals. German-born Joachim Fiebelkorn (a neo-Nazi and informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency) was joined with Italian fascists, such as Pierluigi Pagliai (a member of the infamous P‑2 lodge discussed in AFAs 18,19) and the notorious fascist Stefano Delle Chiaie, a principal architect of the “strategy of tension.”
The strategy of tension (a major focal point of AFA-19) was an out-cropping of what Danish journalist Henrik Kruger termed “the International Fascista.” (Kruger is the author of The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence and International Fascism, published in softcover by the South End Press of Boston, copyright 1980. Mr. Emory views the work as the best individual volume ever written on the subject of the intelligence community and the narcotics trade.) A consortium of fascists in Europe and Latin America, International Fascista included numerous Latin death squad elements, elements of U.S. intelligence and the Paladin mercenary group (funded by Libyan dictator Khadafy, as well as the weapons empire of SS officer and sometime CIA operative Otto Skorzeny.) A principal figure in the postwar ODESSA organization, Skorzeny is discussed at considerable length in AFA-22.
One of the major cogs of the International Fascista was CORU, arguably the most militant and deadly of the anti-Castro Cuban organizations. CORU was involved in a string of bombings, assassinations and terrorist attacks in the mid 1970’s, including the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. CORU’s reign of terror took place when George Bush was director of the CIA, and an element of the agency appears to have been involved with it.
Program Highlights Include: “Operation Condor” (an international assassination consortium of Latin American dictatorships); a number of assassinations and attempted assassinations conducted under “Condor;” Argentine fascist and P‑2 lodge member Jose Lopez Rega; Italian fascist and Skorzeny associate Prince Justo Valerio Borghese; former Goebbels Propaganda Ministry official Gerhard Hartmut Von Schubert (the operating manager of the Paladin group); Paladin’s overlap with Spanish intelligence and the CIA; Operation Condor’s attempts at disguising its acts as left-wing terror; the position of the World Anti-Communist League in the milieu set forth in this broadcast
For more related content, please visit:
http://ourhiddenhistory.org/
https://archive.org/details/@altviewstv-fanclub
https://rumble.com/v4e2vto-dave-emory-anti-fascist-archives-27-the-cia-the-military-and-drugs-part-4-o.html
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid08ENHZ4V7xa22BXENN13fVMAent9mFDGJpNi4cDFpvaPZM2UxeNTpEM5HWE6WdAr2l
Afghanistan has long had a history of opium poppy cultivation and harvest. As of 2021, Afghanistan's harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply.[1][2] More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. The country has been the world's leading illicit drug producer since 2001.[3] In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.[4] By 2019 Afghanistan still produced about 84% of the world market.[5] This amounts to an export value of about US$4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers.[6] In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers' share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.[7]
The Taliban have taken mixed stances on opium over the years. Poorly enforced restrictions in the 1990s were a prelude to a full and very effective ban on religious grounds in 2000. The Afghan war in 2001 meant that the ban was only briefly effective.[8] The opium trade spiked in 2006 after the Taliban lost control of local warlords. Despite having previously banned opium, the Taliban used opium money to fuel their two-decade campaign to retake Afghanistan,[8] with Taliban allegedly earning up to 60% of their annual revenue from the trade.[9] The then Afghan government also outlawed production, but despite help from coalition military forces to tamp down on drug trafficking, the ban did little to stop production. After the Fall of Kabul in 2021, the opium trade boomed, and most farmers planted at least some opium for harvest in spring 2022. The Taliban outlawed production again in April 2022, during the poppy harvest.[8] In November 2023, a U.N report showed that in the entirety of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation dropped by over 95%, removing it from its place as being the world's largest opium producer. In 2023, U.N declared that the Chin State and Sagaing Region of Myanmar produce harvested poppy surpassing Afghanistan. The rise of poppy cultivation has extended up to Manipur, an Indian state. There are reports that financing Kuki-Chin militants comes from poppy export.[10][11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan
The Progenitor Virus (始祖ウィルス shiso wirusu?) is an RNA-based virus discovered by Oswell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and James Marcus. Its primary host was a rare species of flower that grew among the ruins of an ancient garden in West Africa.[1][2][3][4][5] Progenitor is ancient and is suspected of being hundreds of millions, if not billions of years old. It is considered to have both aided and hindered the evolution of Earth's ecology through the extremities of its resulting mutations.[6]
While otherwise behaving as a typical Group VI virus in the Baltimore classification, Progenitor is distinct from all other viruses by being able to reverse lysis in cells and revive organisms that have been dead for considerable lengths of time. Whereas other retroviruses, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus, target specific cells of a particular animal physiology, Progenitor is capable of infecting the cells of any organism, whether animal, fungal, plant, or bacterial.
Considerable research on Progenitor has been undertaken since its discovery in the late 1960s, and a number of engineered strains have since come into existence, primarily used in bio-weapons research.
History
Discovery
Snapshot20090312174517
Sonnentreppe, a flower known to express the virus in certain environmental conditions.
Progenitor has been linked to human history since the Neolithic period when the Progenitor viral disease infected the West African Ndipaya tribe. Although Progenitor existed in the genome of many organisms, it was mostly inactive junk DNA. Certain environmental conditions triggered viral expression within Sonnentreppe daisies growing in a series of caverns on the coastline.[7] As the ancient world and the Ndipaya did not yet understand microbiology and virology, these flowers were perceived as divine or magical in origin yet revered in awe and fear due to their observed effects when ingested. In rare instances, some men within the tribe survived the extreme effects of the disease and gained superhuman abilities, ranging from enhanced strength to genius intellect and unnaturally long life. As a result of this viral disease, the Ndipaya flourished as a complex civilization within the caverns, long before the Pyramids, effectively millennia ahead of their time in terms of construction practices.
Over time, the Ndipaya unknowingly encountered early instances of Bio Organic Weaponry, where animals with the virus through flower consumption, accidental contact, or through other means resulted in their mutation into what early mankind could consider monsters and demons. In order to placate them, they would perform sacrificial rituals by tossing people into a pit to be consumed and contain them.[8] However, these mutant animals eventually escaped their pit and devastated the city, killing their king.[8] Without any guidance and unable to find anyone else among their tribe capable of surviving the infection, the Ndipaya migrated out to the marshlands, though they kept soldiers in the ruins to ward off any intruders who may consume the flowers.[7]
Ndipaya wall art found in the ruins depicts Progenitor-infected animals slaughtering the people.
Outside of the Ndipaya tribe, knowledge of the Progenitor viral disease was recorded in passing by 19th-century British explorer Henry Travis, who learned about Ndipaya religion and folklore regarding magical flowers.[9] In the 1960s, Travis's work caught the attention of a European eugenics circle consisting of acclaimed academics, including Dr. James Marcus, a paleovirologist teaching at a Swiss university.[10] He put forward the hypothesis of a retrovirus being responsible for the flower's properties.[11] In 1966, a three-month expedition consisting of Marcus, Oswell E. Spencer, Earl Spencer, and Dr. Brandon Bailey discovered the Garden of the Sun and the Sonnentreppe flowers, and their hypothesis was confirmed with the isolation of such a virus on 4 December.[11][12]
Early research
Soon after their return to Europe, Marcus's research on Progenitor uncovered its ability to repair dead cells. An Escherichia coli cell underwent lysis after exposure to 0.1 ppm of chlorine. After its death was confirmed, the virus was introduced to the petri dish, and it was seen to repair the cell's membrane, successfully mutate the nuclear genome, and cause it to undergo cell division. Although this should have been the most significant discovery in paleobiology since the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment findings, Swiss research into the virus was quickly concluded in early 1967 owing to allegations of results tampering. With the government unwilling to fund the project, Marcus left for the Spencer Estate, where research continued privately with funding from the Spencer Foundation.[10]
Though Spencer's eugenics circle agreed on using Progenitor to create a new race of superhuman beings, concerns over the projected mortality rate led to the establishment of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals in March 1967, allowing private enterprise to expand Progenitor research so that a genetically modified strain could eventually be created.[11][12] To accumulate further money as well as data, it was decided that the circle members establish their laboratories around the globe and work for the time being on Progenitor strains that could be sold as bioweapons to the US military. As CEO, Spencer tasked his own research to an employee running the Arklay Laboratory. Marcus would soon be pressured into running a private university nearby and using its laboratory. Edward Ashford, 5th Earl Ashford, and his son, Alexander, began work at their British estate before setting up a lab in the Antarctic. Lord Beardsley and Lord Henry, two members of the circle who did not initially take part in Umbrella's founding, also took part in their laboratories in Gadiwell and Loire, respectively.[13][14] While the level of research performed in the 1960s by the other circle members is unknown, Spencer is known to have immediately gone on to human testing with his "Type-A" and "Type-B" prototype strains, having abducted Jessica and Lisa Trevor in October 1967 for this purpose. Although Jessica was soon after murdered when results proved uninteresting, Lisa was seen to develop superhuman abilities and was kept for further study.[15][16]
During the early years of the company, their research on Progenitor was hindered by the limitations of the Sonnentreppe itself. As the production of the virus was triggered by the extremely precise environmental conditions of the Garden of the Sun, cultivation of recovered seeds proved to be a dead-end.[11] In 1968, a laboratory was established in the Garden of the Sun itself, and within a year, samples of the virus were being collected and transported to other labs. Marcus remained in the United States to take charge of the completed university while Bailey took over the African lab.[12][17]
https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor_Virus
How Scientists Predicted Corona’s Appearance During Aug. 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse
The headshot image of Miles Hatfield
Miles Hatfield
Aug 27, 2018
Article
It was Aug. 14, 2017, just one week before the Moon would cross paths with the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow across the United States. The entire country buzzed with anticipation for the fleeting chance to see the corona, the Sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere.
But the wait was uniquely nerve-wracking for a group of scientists at Predictive Science Inc., a private research company in San Diego: They had just published a prediction of what the corona would look like on Aug. 21, the day of the total solar eclipse. How would their prediction — the result of a complex numerical model and tens of hours of computing — compare to the real thing?
“Waiting for totality, you know exactly what you’ve predicted and what you’re expecting,” Predictive Science researcher Zoran Mikić said. “Because you work with the model so much and see the prediction so many times, it’s burned into your brain. There’s a lot of anxiety because if you’re totally wrong, it’s a bit embarrassing.”
The Predictive Science researchers used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, to develop a model that simulates the corona. Their model uses measurements of magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface to predict how the magnetic field shapes the corona. Their work was supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Mikić is the lead author of a paper summarizing their work and published in Nature Astronomy on Aug. 27, 2018.
Coronal science is deeply rooted in the history of total eclipses; even with state-of-the-art technology, it’s only during a total eclipse that scientists can resolve the lowest region of the corona, just above the Sun’s surface. This dynamic part of the solar atmosphere is threaded with complex magnetic fields that supply the energy for tremendous eruptions like flares and coronal mass ejections.
As particles and radiation from solar explosions travel out from the Sun, they can manifest as disturbances in near-Earth space, known as space weather. Just as variable as the weather we experience on Earth, space weather can disrupt communications signals, astronauts and satellites in orbit, or even power grids.
The ability to forecast and predict space weather — much like we do terrestrial weather — is critical to mitigating these impacts, and models such as Predictive Science’s are key tools in the effort.
Eclipses offer a unique opportunity for researchers to test their models. By comparing the model’s corona prediction to observations during the eclipse itself, they could assess and improve the performance of their models.
The model the Predictive Science team used for the August 2017 eclipse was their most complex yet in two decades of eclipse-predicting.
Greater complexity demands more computing hours, and each simulation required thousands of processers and took about two days of real time to complete. The research group ran their model on several supercomputers including facilities at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computer Center; the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego; and the Pleiades supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.
In addition to SDO’s maps of the Sun’s magnetic field, the model used SDO observations of prominences — snakelike structures made of cool, dense solar material that protrude from the Sun’s surface. Prominences form in stressed parts of the magnetic field, where it’s twisted into a rope and capable of erupting if overwound.
The researchers also included new calculations for coronal heating. We don’t yet understand how the corona blazes upwards of 2 million degrees Fahrenheit, while just 1,000 miles below, the underlying surface simmers at a balmy 10,000 F. One theory proposes electromagnetic waves — called Alfvén waves — launched from the Sun’s churning surface rush out into the corona, heating particles as they propagate outwards, a bit like how ocean waves push and accelerate surfers toward the shore.
By accounting for prominences and these tiny — but numerous — waves, the scientists hoped to paint an increasingly detailed portrait of the corona’s complex behavior.
After the eclipse, the group found their prediction bore a striking resemblance to the Aug. 21, 2017, corona, although the model lacks many finer structures. Both the prediction and photos from the ground taken on the day of the eclipse show three helmet streamers — immense, petal-shaped structures that form over a network of magnetic loops. The strength of the comparison supports advances in the new model.
Scientists have always known the twisted magnetic fields underlying prominences are an important part of the Sun, but the team’s earlier models weren’t sophisticated enough to reflect it. The same is true for the waves heating the corona. “In some sense, the model’s performance tells us the new heating model is headed in the right direction,” Mikić said. “It’s certainly showing improved results. We should pursue and refine it further.”
In the business of eclipse predictions, it helps when the Sun is quiet, or less active. In August 2017, the Sun was in one such quiet phase, moving steadily toward a period of low solar activity in its approximately 11-year cycle.
The scientists fed their model with magnetic field data collected from the Sun’s Earth-facing side over the preceding 27 days — the time it takes the Sun to complete one full rotation — since they currently don’t have a way to observe the entire spherical solar surface all at once. With that approach, measurements taken at the beginning of the 27-day period — from parts of the Sun’s surface that have subsequently rotated toward the back where they can no longer be seen — are more likely to grow outdated than those taken at the end. But in times of diminished solar activity, the magnetic field isn’t quick to change, so even 27-day-old data is useful.
One discrepancy between the prediction and the observations is a skinnier feature, called a pseudostreamer, that jets out from the Sun’s upper-right. The researchers determined their model missed the pseudostreamer because the magnetic field changed in that specific region during the data collection. A different model’s prediction successfully captured this pseudostreamer, Mikić said, because it appears to have estimated the magnetic field more accurately there.
“The biggest thing I take away from this is they’ve got a sophisticated model that looks good, but they’re limited by their observations,” said Alex Young, a solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who wasn’t involved with the study. “What the model misses is a matter of the Sun changing, and that’s something they can’t handle without enough observations from the right places.”
Testing a model like this so thoroughly supports the idea that, with more data and diverse vantage points, scientists can better calculate the Sun’s finer dynamics — and ultimately improve their ability to forecast space weather events that can interfere with technology and astronauts in space.
Just under a year after millions glimpsed the corona themselves during the total eclipse, on Aug. 12, 2018, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe on its way to actually fly through the corona, going closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before.
Parker Solar Probe will send back to Earth observations from inside the corona itself, which researchers can add to their models, filling crucial knowledge gaps in the corona’s complicated physics.
Mikić said models like theirs can complement the mission by contextualizing the spacecraft’s journey through the corona. Scientists have never worked with data collected so close to the Sun. By modeling the entire corona — the bigger picture — researchers will provide crucial perspective on Parker’s surroundings as it ventures into entirely unexplored territory.
“This is amazing science for Parker Solar Probe and from the eclipse, that shares one key purpose,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Beyond the science, this is about really advancing our understanding of and ability to predict space weather, a major impact we can have at NASA.”
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/ames/how-scientists-predicted-coronas-appearance-during-aug-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse/
La tiara papal fue una triple corona usada por los papas, líderes de la Iglesia católica, desde el siglo VIII hasta el XX. Fue utilizada por última vez por el papa Pablo VI.
El término tiara se refiere a la totalidad de la pieza, sin importar cuántas coronas o diademas la hubieran adornado a través de los siglos,[1][2] mientras que su forma de tres niveles, que fue ideada en el siglo XIV, es también llamada triregnum[3][4] ‘triple tiara’[5][6][7] o ‘triple corona’.[8]
De 1143 a 1963, la tiara papal se colocó solemnemente en la cabeza del papa durante su ceremonia de coronación. Las tiaras papales supervivientes poseen todas el triregnum, siendo la más antigua la de 1572, y el resto no anteriores al año 1800.
Una representación del triregnum, combinada con las dos llaves cruzadas de San Pedro, continúa siendo utilizada como un símbolo del papado y aparece en sus documentos, edificios e insignias.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiara_papal
Pope Francis urges people to get vaccinated against Covid-19
Pope Francis launches a powerful appeal for people to get vaccinated with approved Covid-19 vaccines, calling it “an act of love.”
By Devin Watkins
August 18 2021
The Pope has joined his voice to those of Bishops across North and South America to urge people to get jabbed against Covid-19.
In a video message produced in conjunction with the Ad Council, Pope Francis praised the work of researchers and scientists in producing safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines.
“Thanks to God’s grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from Covid-19,” he said in the video released on Wednesday.
He added that vaccines “bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.”
Vaccination is an act of love
Pope Francis went on to say that getting a Covid jab that is “authorized by the respective authorities” is an “act of love.”
Helping other do the same, he said, is also an act of love. “Love for oneself, love for our families and friends, and love for all peoples. Love is also social and political.”
The Pope noted that social and political love is built up through “small, individual gestures capable of transforming and improving societies.”
“Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable,” he said.
Pope Francis then prayed to God that “each one of us can make his or her own small gesture of love.”
“No matter how small, love is always grand,” he said. “Small gestures for a better future.”
Listen to our report
‘Strength of faith’
The Pope was joined in the video by several Cardinals and Archbishops from across the Americas.
Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archbishop of Los Angeles, lamented the suffering and death the pandemic has wrought across the globe.
He prayed that God might “grant us the grace to face it with the strength of faith, ensuring that vaccines are available for all, so that we can all get immunized.”
Mexican Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes linked Covid-19 jabs to a better future for all.
“From North to South America, we support vaccinations for all,” said the Cardinal.
Safe, effective vaccines
Honduran Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga said the world has much to learn from the coronavirus.
“But one thing is certain: the authorized vaccines are effective, and are here to save lives,” he said. “They are the key to a path of personal and universal healing.”
Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes praised the “heroic efforts” of health professionals in developing “safe and effective” jabs.
He also repeated the Pope’s affirmation that “getting vaccinated is an act of love”.
Salvadorian Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez said vaccination helps protect the most vulnerable.
“Our choice to get vaccinated affects others,” he said, adding that it is a moral responsibility.
Unity across the Americas
Peruvian Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos rounded out the testimonies contained in the video with an appeal to unity.
“We are united—North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean—to promote and support vaccination for all,” he said, encouraging everyone to “act responsibly, as members of the great human family, seeking and protecting our integral health and universal vaccination.”
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-appeal-covid-19-vaccines-act-of-love.html
A TRULY MYSTIC SEAL
THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS MYSTIC SIGNIFICANCE
Most Americans have a dim idea that the Great Seal of their country shows an eagle, a constellation of stars, an olive branch signifying peace, and a set of thirteen arrows which probably means war in case of necessity, but few have ever seen the reverse side of the seal or even suspected its existence. Nor has the reverse side ever been cut, a strangely restraining hand having seemingly been laid upon every attempt to bring it before the public. When the large painting of the reverse side which was ordered made together with the familiar obverse, for the government display at the Chicago World's Fair, was to be hung, those in charge exclaimed: "What a peculiar design: Why were we given this inartistic symbol?" and once more the white stone was rejected, the painting was turned face to the wall and only the obverse side displayed. But the time has now come when the full knowledge of her seal shall be made known to her people, for America must henceforth stand before the world as its teacher, leader and the promulgator of a new and perfect system of ethics, religious leadership, a citizenship that is efficient and free, a just industrial democracy, and a justice and generosity to other nations that shall emphasize the brotherhood of man and the Fatherland of God. Late in the afternoon of July 4th, 1776, the new Continental Congress "Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for the Seal of the United States of America." That committee was identical save for the omission of Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman with that which had drawn up the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been signed about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and Congress desired to at once complete the evidences of the independence of the United States by formally adopting an official sign of sovereignty and a national coat of arms.
The arms of England, the mother country, expressed the union of Judah's lion, with the unicorn of "Lost Israel" in accordance with the Science of Heraldry, but the young republic had finished with thrones and crowns and must blaze a new path through the forest of liberty, which should express her descent from all christian nations and hold open a door for all other races which should seek help and shelter upon her shores. A knowledge of heraldy was considered a part of an education in the early colonial days, and it was through William Barton son of the rector of St. James Episcopal church of Philadelphia, learned in heraldry, and through Baron Prestwich, of England, that the designs expressive of American destiny were given and drawn. Yet other dabblers in heraldry failed utterly to understand the mystic meaning of the seals. Professor Charles Elliott Norton, of Harvard, regretted its lack of art, and complained it could never be other than a dull masonic emblem, while a Mr. Wilson, considered a great historical scholar, declared the reverse side "in very bad taste, unintelligent and commonplace, and if it can be laid away and kept in the dark why not keep it so!" Even the constellation of thirteen stars came in for criticism, as "very bad heraldically." Again and again the pyramid with the white cope stone and the glory, were rejected, until in 1916 members of the Rose Cross Order, Illuminati, and others of the six pointed star of the seal, hung it officially in their class rooms and declared it as expressive of their philosophy-religion; the Bible wisdom of the common people rather than of the collegian. In the two sides of our seal are expressed in heraldry countless ages of the evolution of man, from the time of his socalled fall, through his progress in Egypt (eagleland), where for a time a wondrous race incarnated to build astounding monuments, receding, but returning again as the Hebraic Confederation to receive the knowledge of ancient Atlantis in the shade of its ancient altar, the Great Pyramid, uniting in a blaze of glory in the building of Solomon's Temple, parting, the northern tribes to leaven, though lost to history, all Europe, Judah and part of Benjamen and Levi, returning to hold Jerusalem until the Master Jesus should be born, journey down into 'Egypt to the ancient altar and receive light yet left in that land of darkness. "In that day shalt there be an altar to the Lord a pillar in the midst of Egypt, upon the borders thereof, and it shall be for a sign and a witness unto the Lord," said Isaiah. It is needless for learned historians to tell us, who hold the records, that the Great Pyramid is but six thousand years old, for we know it to have been built when the morning stars sang together and the "Sons of God" shouted for joy, in that far Edenic period, when Atlantis the mighty stood in her purity, where in part America now stands. Built at the center of the earth, as a temple of the highest initiation, symbolic of a perfect man, foursquare in body, mind, soul and spirit, with its white copestone, symbol of complete immortality, it represents the measure of the earth, as well as that of the universe, and the evolution of man through those countless ages of reincarnation now drawing to a close. Thither the Atlantians went for instruction in its galleries and rooms at the hands of mighty priests of the Priests of Melchisidek'''' and Osirian Brotherhoods, and throughout the succeeding ages those who would attain self mastery have turned their footsteps toward the ancient centers. "The last Cumaen Song now comes," wrote Virgil, who prophesied that a race should arise which would be offspring of all races and bring to an end the ages of iron (war) and usher in the Golden Age. Hence it was fitting that the mottos upon the reverse side of our seal above and below the pyramid should be taken from Virgil, "Annuit Coeptis," "Prosper us in our daring," and "Novus ordo seclorum," "a new and select order," which many of us have now the honor to have entered, and whose door we hold open to all who will accomplish the spiritual work necessary. "The day of freedom dawned upon the earth."
FUNDAMENTAL LAWS
A Report of the 68th Convocation of the Rosa Cross Order
https://ia601309.us.archive.org/15/items/fundamentallawsr00rose/fundamentallawsr00rose.pdf
George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as The Rumble in the Jungle, was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium (now Stade Tata Raphaël) in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), between undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The event had an attendance of 60,000 people and was one of the most watched televised events at the time. Ali won by knockout in the eighth round. The bout was scheduled for fifteen rounds.
It has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century"[2] and was a major upset,[3] with Ali coming in as a 4–1 underdog against the unbeaten, heavy-hitting Foreman.[4] The fight is famous for Ali's introduction of the rope-a-dope tactic.[5]
Some sources estimate that the fight was watched by as many as one billion television viewers around the world,[6][7] becoming the world's most-watched live television broadcast at the time.[8] This included a record estimated 50 million viewers watching the fight on pay-per-view or closed-circuit theatre TV.[3] The fight grossed an estimated $100 million (inflation-adjusted $600 million) in worldwide revenue.[9][10] Decades later, the bout would be the subject of the Academy Award winning documentary film When We Were Kings.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].
It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge
George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. He is the namesake of the George Foreman Grill.
After a troubled childhood, Foreman took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the world heavyweight title with a stunning second-round knockout of the then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. He defended the belt twice before suffering his first professional loss to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974.[2] Unable to secure another title opportunity, Foreman retired after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977.
Following what he referred to as a born again experience, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister.[3][4] Ten years later he announced a comeback, and in 1994 at age 45 won the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer. He dropped the WBA belt rather than face his mandatory title defense soon after, and following a single successful title defense against Axel Schulz, Foreman relinquished his IBF title as well on June 28, 1995. At 46 years and 169 days old, he was the oldest world heavyweight champion in history.[5] Foreman was the oldest to ever win the world heavyweight boxing championship of major honors and the second-oldest in any weight class after Bernard Hopkins (at light heavyweight). He retired in 1997 at the age of 48, with a final record of 76 wins (68 knockouts) and 5 losses, one of the famous losses coming at the hands of Muhammad Ali who hit him with a lightning fast 1–2 combination which was "the fastest punch" Foreman had ever seen.
Foreman was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and International Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Foreman as the eighth-greatest heavyweight of all time.[6] In 2002, he was named one of the 25 greatest fighters of the past 80 years by The Ring.[7] The Ring ranked him as the ninth-greatest puncher of all time.[8] He was a ringside analyst for HBO's boxing coverage for 12 years until 2004.[9] Outside boxing, Foreman was a successful entrepreneur and known for his promotion of the George Foreman Grill, which has sold more than 100 million units worldwide by 2011.[10] In 1999, he sold the commercial rights to the grill for $138 million.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foreman
Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas and from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He was known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes. In addition, due to both his Jesuit and Ignatian aesthetic, he was known for favoring simpler vestments void of ornamentation, including refusing the traditional papal mozzetta cape upon his election, choosing silver instead of gold for his piscatory ring, and keeping the same pectoral cross he had as cardinal.[2] Francis made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4]
Francis believed that the Catholic Church should demonstrate more inclusivity to LGBTQ people, and stated that although blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals in a same-sex relationship can be blessed as long as the blessing is not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis was a critic of trickle-down economics, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] He viewed the death penalty as inadmissible in all cases,[8] and committed the Catholic Church to its worldwide abolition.[9] In international diplomacy, Francis criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality,[10] helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with the People's Republic of China to define Communist Party influence in appointing Chinese bishops, and supported the cause of refugees. He encouraged peace between Israel and Palestinians, signed the Vatican's first treaty with the State of Palestine and condemned Israel's military operations in Gaza, calling for investigations of war crimes. He called protection of migrants a "duty of civilization" and criticized anti-immigration politics, including those of US president Donald Trump.[11] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the cultural genocide of Canadian Indigenous peoples in residential schools.[12] Francis convened the Synod on Synodality, which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][13][14]
Francis died at the age of 88 in the early morning of 21 April 2025, the day after Easter Sunday (known as Easter Monday). He died after suffering from a stroke, which led to coma and cardiac arrest. He had made his last public appearance the day before.[15][16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS
"The brain is on the verge of becoming the next battlefield with weapons currently being designed to hack directly into your nervous system.
"Controlled Personnel Effects"
(see image, right) is one of the Air Force’s ambitious long-term challenges. It starts with better and more accurate bombs, but moves on to discuss devices that "make selected adversaries think or act according to our needs… By studying and modeling the human brain and nervous system, the ability to mentally influence or confuse personnel is also possible."
The first stage is technology to “remotely create physical sensations.”
They give the example of the Active Denial System "people zapper" which uses a high-frequency radiation similar to microwaves as a non-lethal means of crowd control.
Other weapons can affect the nervous system directly. The Pulsed Energy Projectile fires a short intense pulse of laser energy. This vaporizes the outer layer of the target, creating a rapidly-expanding expanding ball of plasma. At different power levels, those expanding plasmas could deliver a harmless warning, stun the target, or disable them – all with pinpoint laser precision from a mile away.
Early reports on the effects of PEPs mentioned temporary paralysis, then thought to be related to ultrasonic shockwaves. It later became apparent that the electromagnetic pulse caused by the expanding plasma was triggering nerve cells
Details of this emerged in a heavily-censored document released to Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project under the Freedom if Information Act. Called “Sensory consequence of electromagnetic pulsed emitted by laser induced plasmas,” it described research on activating the nerve cells responsible for sensing unpleasant stimuli: heat, damage, pressure, cold. By selectively stimulating a particular nociceptor, a finely tuned PEP might sensations of say, being burned, frozen or dipped in acid — all without doing the slightest actual harm.
The skin is the easiest target for such stimulation. But, in principle, any sensory nerves could be triggered. The Controlled Effects document suggests “it may be possible to create synthetic images…to confuse an individual’ s visual sense or, in a similar manner, confuse his senses of sound, taste, touch, or smell.”
In other words, it may be possible to use electromagnetic means to create overwhelming ‘sound’ or ‘light’, or indeed ‘intolerable smell’ which would exist only in the brain of the person perceiving them.
There is another side as well. The “sensory consequences” document also notes that the nervous system which controls muscles could be influenced to cause what they call “Taser-like motor effects.” The stun gun’s ability to shock the muscles into malfunction is relatively crude; we might now be looking at are much more targeted effects.
The American military may want to attack the nervous system, with pain rays and laser plasma pulses. But they’re not the only ones.
The Russians have long studied such systems, too — including one weapon that could, in theory, remotely trigger heart attacks.
In 2003, at the 2nd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Anatoly Korolev and his colleagues from Moscow State University presented a paper with the snappy title "Bioelectrodynamic Criterion of the NLW Effectiveness Estimation and the Interaction mechanisms of the multilayer Skin Tissues with electromagnetic Radiation." This is a study of how radio-frequency weapons — like the American Active Denial System — affect the skin. After wading through a mass of technical data showing how complex the interactions are we reach the punch line:
The sensations modality (pricking, touch, pressure, gooseflesh, touch, burning pain etc) depends on the field parameters and individual concrete human being factors. As a matter of fact, we can really choose the non-lethal bioeffect.
The effects include sensations similar to those discussed previously, and more besides. The paper discusses effects on cell membranes and affecting the body’s normal function, including "information transfer to the organs of control."
At the same conference, V Makukhin of the Trymas Engineering Center in Moscow described "Electronic equipment for complex influence on biological objects." And when he says "biological objects," he means you and me.
His laboratory apparatus uses a modulated beam of radio waves to produce what he terms "disorder of autonomic nervous system," put forward as a possible non-lethal weapon. Makhunin notes that there is no general agreement on how EM waves disrupt nerves – he mentions ion channels similar to those in the plasma paper – but he certainly seems to be seeing the same effects as American researchers.
But it need not be a non-lethal weapon. Makhunin also mentions the effects of "change of electrocardiogram" and what he calls "function break of heart muscle."
The vulnerability of the heart to electrical stimulation (including that produced by EM waves) is well documented.
A lethal device would interfere with the electrical potentials that keep the chambers of the heart synchronized, producing fibrillation and rapid death. A death ray doesn’t need to be a truck-sized laser that
reduces the target to smoking heap; a small device that stops the heart will do the job.
Little has been openly published in this area in the public domain, but this may be the tip of the iceberg. We are likely to be hearing more in future – especially if the Russians manage to find funding.
I don’t think we need tinfoil hats just yet. But a layer of conducting mesh built into body armor might save a lot of heartache in years to come."
REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS
https://www.impactlab.com/2006/02/15/remote-control-heart-attack-weapons/
Cardinal Peter Turkson: A contender to be the first black pope in modern times
Story by Sian Baldwin • 20h • 4 min read
The Vatican is in mourning following the death of Pope Francis.
Crowds of mourners have been gathering at St Peter’s Basilica, where his body has been on display since Wednesday morning.
The pope, who died on Easter Monday aged 88, will be buried on Saturday in a service attended by the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
While the funeral is first and foremost, attention will also begin to turn to choosing Pope Francis’ successor
Among the potential candidates is Cardinal Peter Turkson, who could be the first black pope in modern history.
Here’s what you need to know about him.
Who is Cardinal Peter Turkson?
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, 78, is Ghanaian. If chosen, he would become the first African pope in 1,500 years.
This is not his first time in contention for the top role. Appointed as the first Ghanaian cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II, he was considered a strong contender when Pope Francis was elected a decade later. Despite being the favourite at the time, Cardinal Turkson was narrowly overlooked. Now, his name is once again circulating as a potential successor.
However, Cardinal Turkson has previously expressed doubts about accepting the papacy. In 2013, he told the BBC: "I'm not sure whether anyone does aspire to become a pope."
In addition to his theological work, Cardinal Turkson is known for his musical talent as a guitarist and was once part of a funk band.
How did he become so heavily involved in the Catholic Church?
Cardinal Turkson was born into a large family of 10 children. He studied in New York and Ghana, which broadened his horizons.
After his ordination in 1975, he continued his theological studies at the esteemed Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he earned both a licentiate and a doctorate in scripture studies.
Fluent in German, French, Italian and English, Cardinal Turkson is renowned among his peers for his intellectual depth and global perspective. His linguistic abilities have allowed him to connect with diverse people, further solidifying his influence within the Catholic Church.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana. His exceptional leadership and theological insight led to his elevation to cardinal in 2003.
What posts has he held?
Several renowned roles have defined Cardinal Turkson’s influence within the Catholic Church. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI invited him to Rome to lead the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a position he maintained under Pope Francis. This appointment led to his prominent role advocating for social justice and global peace.
In 2016, he became the first prefect of the newly established Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. This combined multiple areas of the Church’s social doctrine, including human rights, peace and charity. His leadership in this role was vital in aligning the Church's activities with modern humanitarian needs.
In April 2022, Cardinal Turkson transitioned from his position at the Dicastery to become the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a noteworthy role he still holds today. Established in 1603, the academy is one of the world’s leading scientific institutions. It promotes the study and progress of the social sciences, such as economics, sociology, law, and political science. It is an important resource for the Church in shaping its social doctrine.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has a storied history, with past members including the famous Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was part of the academy’s early foundations. The role underscores Cardinal Turkson’s dedication to integrating scientific insight into the Church’s mission, blending faith with knowledge to address modern global challenges.
Why is he considered a favourite to be the next pope?
Cardinal Turkson is frequently named a top contender for the papacy due to his influential leadership and willingness to speak out for his beliefs. As a prominent figure within the Catholic Church, he is renowned for being unafraid to tackle difficult issues, making him a respected yet sometimes contentious figure.
Known for holding conservative views on many aspects of the Church, Cardinal Turkson has consistently upheld the traditional doctrines, particularly regarding the sanctity of life and family values. However, he has also displayed a progressive approach on issues affecting his African congregation, showing a willingness to confront the Church’s stance on certain matters, especially regarding human rights.
One of his most notable stances was his opposition to the criminalisation of homosexuality in African nations, including his home country of Ghana. In 2023, as Ghana’s Parliament discussed a bill imposing severe penalties on LGBTQ+ people, Cardinal Turkson publicly stated that “homosexuality should not be treated as an offence”. His comments reflected a broader advocacy for human dignity and freedom of sexuality, despite potential tensions with some more orthodox bishops.
His dedication to social justice is also evident in his ongoing support for issues such as the environment, poverty and the right to peace. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a peace envoy to South Sudan, underscoring his commitment to diplomacy and humanitarian concerns.
Cardinal Turkson has gained recognition within the Church as a “revered, moderate voice”, respected for his leadership and ability to balance faith with real-world issues. His reputation as someone who can bring both intellectual depth and compassion to the role of pope makes him a serious contender.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/cardinal-peter-turkson-a-contender-to-be-the-first-black-pope-in-modern-times/ar-AA1DsV6T?ocid=weather-verthp-feeds
Blacula is a 1972 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William Crain. It stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is turned into a vampire (and later locked in a coffin) by Count Dracula in the Count's castle in Transylvania in the year 1780 after Dracula refuses to help Mamuwalde suppress the slave trade.
Blacula was released to mixed reviews in the United States, but was one of the top-grossing films of the year. It was the first film to receive an award for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards. Blacula was followed by the sequel Scream Blacula Scream in 1973 and inspired a wave of blaxploitation-themed horror films.
Plot
In 1780, African prince Mamuwalde goes to Transylvania to seek the help of Count Dracula in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula refuses, however, and insults Mamuwalde by making a pass at his wife, Luva. After a scuffle with Dracula's minions, Mamuwalde is bitten by Dracula and transformed into a vampire. Dracula then curses him with the name "Blacula" and imprisons him in a sealed coffin in a crypt hidden beneath the castle while leaving Luva to die in the chamber (from either suffocation or starvation) with Blacula.
In 1972, two interior decorators, Bobby McCoy and Billy Schaffer, purchase the coffin and ship it to Los Angeles. Bobby and Billy open the coffin, only to become Blacula's first victims. At the funeral home where McCoy's body is laid, Blacula spies on mourning friends Tina Williams, her sister Michelle, and Michelle's boyfriend, Dr. Gordon Thomas, a pathologist for the Los Angeles Police Department. Blacula becomes infatuated with Tina, believing her to be the reincarnation of Luva due to her identically resembling the latter. Thomas notices oddities with McCoy's death that he later concludes to be consistent with vampire folklore. Blacula follows Tina after leaving the funeral home but unintentionally frightens her. Tina runs away from him, and Blacula loses her when he is hit by a cab. He then kills the cabbie, Juanita Jones, turning her into a vampire.
Thomas, Michelle, and Tina celebrate Michelle's birthday at a nightclub, and Blacula shows up to return Tina's purse, which she'd dropped the night before. Thomas answers a phone call from the funeral director, who informs him that McCoy's body has gone missing. Blacula asks Tina to see him again the following evening, but they are interrupted by Nancy, a photographer who takes a photograph of them together. Soon after, Blacula kills Nancy and destroys the photo she just developed, which shows Blacula conspicuously absent. The next evening, Blacula visits Tina at her apartment and shares how Dracula enslaved him and Luva and how he was cursed with vampirism. He and Tina then spend the night together.
Thomas, Lt. Jack Peters, and Michelle are meanwhile following the trail of murder victims, as Thomas begins to suspect a vampire of being the perpetrator. After Thomas and Michelle dig up Schaffer's coffin, the corpse rises as a vampire and attacks Thomas, who fends him off and drives a stake through his heart. Michelle now realizes the truth and that McCoy could still be out there. Telling Peters won't work, because they need to show him what's going on, and to do this, they'd need to thaw out the corpse of Juanita Jones. Thomas calls the morgue and instructs Sam, the attendant, to take Jones' body out of deep freeze and leave the room and lock the door. Sam rolls her body out, but neglects to lock the door due to a distracting phone call. Suddenly the door opens, and an undead Jones rises and immediately attacks and kills him. Moments later Thomas and Peters arrive at the morgue to find blood smeared on the corridor wall near the payphone where Sam answered the call, but no sign of Sam himself. They walk into the exam room by the freezer, where Peters sees a sheet-covered body lying on a gurney and pulls the sheet back to reveal Jones rising to attack him. Thomas keeps her at bay with a Christian cross long enough to open the window blinds and expose her to sunlight, destroying her.
That evening, Thomas, Michelle, and Tina are enjoying drinks at the club when Blacula arrives to pick Tina up. Thomas questions Blacula about vampires and makes it known that the police are planning a search for the vampire's coffin, provoking an uncomfortable Blacula and Tina to leave. Soon after, remembering that Nancy never gave Michelle her birthday photos, Thomas searches Nancy's house and finds a photo of Tina standing in front of an invisible Blacula. He correctly deduces that Blacula is the vampire they seek, and that Blacula and Tina are together. Thomas rushes to Tina's apartment, finding them embracing. Thomas and Blacula briefly struggle, but Blacula knocks Thomas unconscious and flees, killing a police officer in a nearby alley as he escapes. After McCoy is seen walking the streets of Los Angeles, Thomas, Peters, and several police officers track Blacula to his warehouse hideout. They locate a nest of several vampires there, including McCoy, and destroy them, but Blacula escapes.
Blacula hypnotizes Tina into going to his new hideout at a nearby underground chemical plant while Thomas and the police pursue him. Blacula dispatches several of the officers, but one of them accidentally shoots and mortally wounds Tina. To save her life, Blacula transforms her into a vampire. Blacula fights the police, one of whom locates the coffin and alerts Thomas and Peters. However, Peters kills a newly turned vampiric Tina with a stake, having believed Blacula would be in the coffin instead. Devastated and feeling he has no purpose to live after losing Luva again, Blacula commits suicide by climbing the stairs to the roof where the morning sun destroys him. Thomas and Peters witness Blacula's flesh melting away with maggots coming out of his face until only his skeleton remains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacula
AI Overview
Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. That's 200 sextillion stars, or 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Explanation
To estimate the number of stars in the universe, astronomers:
Measure the color and brightness of starlight from our galaxy, the Milky Way
Use that information to estimate how many stars are in the Milky Way
Multiply the number of stars in the Milky Way by the number of galaxies in the universe
However, this is only a rough estimate because not all galaxies are the same. For example, spiral galaxies can have over a trillion stars, while giant elliptical galaxies can have 100 trillion stars.
Other ways to put it
The number of stars in the universe is so large that it's hard to imagine. It's about 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans of Earth.
Missions to learn more
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is mapping about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission's data will help astronomers better understand the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
Generative AI is experimental.
In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction
2 Peter 3:10
1599 Geneva Bible
10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV
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
In a letter dated May 28, 1784 from Hanau, Prince Charles of Hesse wrote thus to
Willermoz, to whom he had just communicated the death of the famous Count of Saint-
Germain, unexpectedly in Feburary 28 th at his home in Gottorp:
“I asked him: Didyou know a certain Marshall of Bieberstain?
“Reply: Y es, verv well...
Where didyou see him?
“-At Varsovia.
Did he know something?
“-Relata refero... Doyou understand me, my child?
“— Yes, my dear Count, I see that that implies he had papers, and that this
instruction could be given by him to others?
" - Exactly that.
“ - The late Hund would not hâve wanted to lie to us, would he?
“ - No, he was a good man.
“I said to him out of the blue:
“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?
“ The response was prompt, without a moment’ s reflection:
"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.
“Here, of ail the proofs of our lineage, was the only gift 9 10 that I hâve ever had.
But it might not be as convincing to others ; I thought I would amuse you by
communicating this anecdote. ”
Bord, who gave us this letter drawn from the ancient archives in his book
“ Freemasomy in France ”, also gives us the name of the real founder of the “ Templar
Strict Observance” , without doubt around 1620, according to our personal investigations.
In fact, G. Montchal, Honorary Grand Prior of Switzerland, quotes five important
dates in his work “The Independent Grand Priory of Switzerland, Scottish Rectified Rite”,
also reproduced a more ancient text, drawn from the archives of the Priory, and published
for the fîrst time in 1909, but not for public circulation:
1644 In the entourage of James II, gentlemen affiliated with the Order of Scottish Masters
constituted the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew, which they linked to the
chivalric Order of that name.
1688 H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, founded the Scottish Rectified Rite,
Corning out of the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew.
1730 From this date, we find a Templar Chapter established at Unwurden (Haute-Lusace).
Some historians believe that it was there that the Strict Templar Observance was initiated.
1 741 In 1 741, in Hamburg, a Chapter of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew was founded in the
Lodge “Judica”. This is a significant fact, since this establishment thus revealed the
existence of a Templar System.
1749 An important date, which marked the official introduction of the Templar Rite, both by
H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, and by his friend, Barond von
Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.
9 Bonne - PV.
10 “ Mais elle ne saurait l’être pour d’autresV’ . I’m sure I’ve mistranslated this but I can’t think what else it
might mean.- Pv.
10
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
You will note that, geographically speaking, ail these towns are located in the
provinces where the Teutonic Order of olden times had previously flourished. Let us
continue to quote G. de Montchal:
1755 Convent of Dresden, known under the name o/Rectification of Dresden , from which was
created the Rectified Rite of that name, and through which the Templar System was
established in a Masonic Workshop which took the name of Grand Lodge.
1763 Convent of Altenberg, near Iena. There the régime was submitted to a drastic reform,
and ail the Alchemists, Kabbalists and other were chased out. Its administrative
organization, which was that of the old Order of the Temple, was knit even doser still. It
took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.
How, in a Order which had shown itself so terribly steeped in the aristocratie
morgue (in the words of European Masons), had occultists managed to gain admission?
Montchal tells us that at the Convent of Kohlo in 1742, a fïrst purging had already
occurred. That is a piece of history of secret societies and chivalric Orders which ....
It is very probably by and with the support of the Princes of the House of Hesse-
Cassel...
We know, in fact, from sure historié sources, that William IV of Hesse-Cassel,
called “The Wise ”, was an enlightened sovereign, remarkable for his broad and extended
knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.
Born on June 14, 1533, died August 25, 1592, he was the author of Astrological
Tables, and published the resuit of his observations in this area. He possessed an
astronomical observatory where he worked for rnany years with his friends, Christ
Rothmann, the wise Mathematician, and Just Borge, who was the best Physician-Optician
of the âge. He was also the friend and constant protector of Tycho de Brahé.
Now, from the appearance of the heraldry of the House of Hesse-Cassel, we can
note a curious fact. According to the genealogist La Chesnay des Bois, in his
“ Dictionary of Nobility ” (Ed. from 1776), quoting du Buisson, and according to J. B.
Rietstap in his book “General Heraldry”, both famous heraldists, the Princes of Hesse-
Cassel bore shields: “of silver with a red Lating cross with broad ends, with a second
crossbar in red 11 ...”
So the House of Hesse-Cassel bore as the distinctive family emblem the Latin
cross with a second red crossbar, which was the exclusive privilège of the high
dignitaries of the Order of the Temple, of the living Order...
For this red cross was its exclusive privilège, and none other among the knightly
Orders coming from the Crusades was given the right to work under the white mande!
11 “D ’ argent à la Croix pâtée et alésée de gueules, à la double traverse de gueules
il
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
This privilège was conceded to the Templars by Pope Eugenius III in 1 146, at the request
of St. Bernard. (Cf. Probst-Biraben, in "The Mystery of the Templars ”, p. 29). As for the
double cross, it was the mark of high dignitaries of the Temple, as John Charpentier tells
us in his work "The Order of the Templars ” (p. 41).
But this is not ail. We hâve mentioned Tycho de Brahé, and here is a still more
surprising fact!
Son of the Grand Bailiff of Scanie, belonging to the oldest Swedish nobility (still
Sweden, or rather already Swedish), Tycho de Brahé had a château constructed which
was devoted to his alchemical and astrological studies, with a splendid library and
observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.
Born in 1 546 in Scanie, Denmark (which State was still a province of Sweden), he
died in Prague in 1601. Note this place, for we will return to it as a meeting place for
Jewish Kabbalists, Alchemists and Rosicrucian Theurgists in the years which follow,
right up to the end of the 18 th Century.
Now, one beautiful day in 1590, which disembarked in Uranienborg? King James
VI of Scotland, (future King of England under the name of James l st ), who had just
legally reinstated the Order of Chardon of Saint Andrew of Scotland, which Order was a
perpétuation of the Templars, as we hâve seen. . . From Uranienborg, the King and Tycho
de Brahé went to Cassel, and stayed near to William IV, the Wise. In 1591, a year later,
James VI published a flrst treatise on pneumatology, in which he treated at length on the
diverse nature of Spirits, developing the théories of his predecessor in this domain,
Reginald Scott, but perhaps also those of his friends: William IV the Wsie and Tycho de
Brahé. This book was “ Daemonologia , hoc est adversus incantationem sive magiam
institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’
This same sovereign, with the flrst English Rosicrucians, constituted the “ Royal
Rose Croix ”, composed of thirty-two knights (in remembrance of the thirty-two Paths of
Wisdom of the Kabbalah), and who was certainly the point of departure for the Jacobite
Rose-Croix, which became the 18 th Degree of Scottish Masonry of the 19 th Century.
How can one not accept that it was the resurgence of a vast initiatory movement
which perpetuated the Temple, which in one program and towards a coinmon aim was
able to unité these two sovereigns which, being occultists, both at the head of a defunct
Order of the Temple, bearing arms of foreign monks, like those of the high dignitaries of
the Temple for William IV the Wise, and those who took as a collective Symbol of the
Rose-Croix of the 18 th Century, for James VI of Scotland: “silver, with a red St. Andrews
Cross, four red roses in the quarters . . .” ?
“D ’ argent , au sautoir de gueules, cantonné de quatre roses du même”.
13 Which equates, graphically, to a cross of Saint Andrew, with four roses spread across the four angles of
this cross. Valentin Andrea bore this sign on his ring; it figures on a drawing decorating the upper région
of his portrait reproduced in the work by Wittermans: “ History of the Rose-Croix ”, p. 31.
12
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
So, according to our own conclusions and to the light which preceded it, this is
the reason for the Alchemists, Kabbalists, Theurgists as well as commoners, entering an
Order as aristocratie as that of the Teutonic Knights or that of the Strict Templar
Observance from which it came.
We note that certain authors, notably Philléas Lebesgue, supported the theory that
Marshall von Ludendorff had been one of the last représentatives of an esoteric Teuronic
kernel, perpetuating certain théories from the Gibelins to exclusively pangennanist ends.
What the famous devise of the Austrian Emperors claimed to affinn with their
“A.E.I.O.U.”, when translated from Latin into English signified something like this:
“Austria is destined to dominate the world”. And it was Ludendorff who made Hitler!
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
https://archive.org/stream/AmblelainRTemplarsRoseCroix/Amblelain%20R%20Templars%20%26%20Rose%20Croix_djvu.txt
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
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."
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.
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
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
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid08aFRt1AQqUCnTST2Uwbj5uuj2qc34Vn5vcEpzvMmdDWHkVvNE62EszUXMtBRehTEl
Antique Silver Talisman Jewish Judaica Kaballa pendant Amulet 🧿 Zohar Cherubs - image 1 of 26
Antique jewish kabbalistic silver amulet. The Hebrew inscription on the rare Jewish silver amulet reads: “בן פורת יוסף בן פורת עלי עין בנות צעדה עלי שור לקי.” In the center, it bears the names “שמריאל חסדיאל גבריאל לקי.” The amulet likely serves as a protective charm, invoking the names for divine protection and blessings.
The words refer to biblical figures and angelic names associated with protection and positive energies. “בן פורת יוסף” relates to Joseph’s fruitful nature, while “עלי עין” may allude to Ali, a revered figure in Islam. The central names, “שמריאל חסידיאל גבריאל,” are likely angelic entities believed to guard and guide.
Jewish amulets, or “kameas,” often serve protective or spiritual purposes, believed to shield against harm and bring blessings. They are rooted in Kabbalistic traditions and can include various combinations of words, symbols, and names.
The amulet’s dimensions are 6cm wide by 7.5cm high (approximately 2.36 inches by 2.95 inches). #kabbalist #kabbalist #kabballah #jewishamulet #jewish #judaica #amulet #talisman #silveramilet #engravedamulet #antiqueamulet #Amulet #JewishArt #ProtectiveCharm #Kabbalah #HebrewInscription #SpiritualProtection #DivineBlessings #AngelicNames #ReligiousArtifact #BiblicalSymbols #MysticalJudaism #Ali #Joseph #BiblicalAmulet #AncientTraditions #HolyArtifact #MysticalSymbols #SpiritualHeritage #ReligiousObject #DivineGuidance
https://www.rubylane.com/item/2140627-337/Antique-Silver-Talisman-Jewish-Judaica-Kaballa
Peter was called Simon when he was born and he was a fisherman. He met Jesus near the Sea of Galilee. He decided to give up everything so that he could follow Jesus and listen to him talk about God. Simon became one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Jesus changed his name to Peter which means “rock”.
https://www.mtcarmelcoorparoo.qld.edu.au/resource-centre/student-links/Documents/Saints%20Research.pdf
As far as Simon Magus goes, even those now considered to be early supporters of the Roman Catholic Church condemned him. Yet, those who claim Christ really should look into whether or not they have adopted the non-biblical heresies that Simon Magus and his later followers adopted. Those wanting to learn more should also consider studying the articles at the The History of Early Christianity page.
We do not know how or when Simon Magus died (there are various legends). Some early reports indicate he was buried in Samaria or in Rome. Some suspect that burial was in Vatican hill.
Notice the following:
Elevating his personal teachings above the Bible, and preaching a "no-works" doctrine of salvation, Simon Magus soon had a universal, popular following. Deified by the Romans, he was buried on Vatican Hill. ...
The records regarding Simon's death vary widely. Many of the stories try to incorporate some fiction from the Greek and Egyptian myths to enhance the reader's interest in this fascinating character. But the earliest records say that he was buried in Rome after a long period of great honour and deification.
It is not clearly known where Simon Magus alias Simon Pater or Simon Jupiter was buried. But this much is known. The place of burial for ALL prophets and holy men of the Romans was in the sacred cemetery on Vatican Hill. This much is certain.
Notice what Werner Keller in his The Bible as History says about the so-called burial of the Catholics' Peter. (Before reading Keller's statement, let us remember that he is a thorough-going Catholic and firmly, himself, believed that the Apostle Peter was buried in Rome.
However, the Bible shows nothing of the kind. Now, let's read Keller's comment — the official comment of the Roman Catholic Church):
"On the night of his death on the cross Peter's followers BURIED his body. As in the case of Jesus on the hill of Calvary it was wrapped in linen and secretly taken to a PAGAN BURIAL GROUND on the Via Cornelia, behind the stone structure of the arena. This PAGAN CEMETERY lay on a knoll called VATICANUS: the Latin word 'vatis' means a 'prophet' or 'SOOTHSAYER'. In days gone by there had been an Etruscan oracle on this spot" (p. 368).
What an admission!
Keller ought to have better sense to know that this Peter buried in this cemetery, of all places, could NOT be the Apostle Peter. In the first place, Peter was a Jew, and they had to be buried in their own cemeteries. And even if by a happen-chance a Jew could be buried in a Roman cemetery, it is most unlikely that a Jew — especially one who attacked the Roman religion as the Apostle Peter did — would ever have been allowed into the most holy of pagan cemeteries! This cemetery was reserved for prophets, soothsayers and the great ones of pagan Rome. (Martin E. SIMON MAGUS SERIES - Simonites Establish UNIVERSAL Church. Good News, August 1964)
When Vatican hill has been excavated, they have found pagan graves and one or more in costly apparel. Perhaps, one in costly apparel was Simon Magus."
https://www.cogwriter.com/simonmagus.htm
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initially planned in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V and then Pope Julius II to replace the ageing Old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the fourth century by Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.[2]
Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno, with piazza and fittings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is one of the most renowned works of Italian Renaissance architecture[3] and is the largest church in the world by interior measure.[note 1] While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome (these equivalent titles being held by the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome), St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world",[4] and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom."[3][5]
Catholic tradition holds that the basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus's apostles and also the first Bishop of Rome (Pope). Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the high altar of the basilica, also known as the Altar of the Confession.[6] For this reason, many popes, cardinals and bishops have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period.
St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year both within the basilica or the adjoining St. Peter's Square; these liturgies draw audiences numbering from 15,000 to over 80,000 people.[7] St. Peter's has many historical associations, with the early Christian Church, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation and numerous artists, especially Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.[8] St. Peter's is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major papal basilica, all four of which are in Rome, and is also one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the pope as bishop of Rome is at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica
Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a Roman work of the entire Society, 304 §2
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
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
John Hyrcanus (/hərˈkeɪnəs/; יוחנן הרקנוס Yōḥānān Hurqanōs; Ancient Greek: Ἰωάννης Ὑρκανός, romanized: Iōánnēs Hurkanós) was a Hasmonean (Maccabean) leader and Jewish high priest of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in 104 BCE). In rabbinic literature he is often referred to as Yoḥanan Cohen Gadol (יוחנן כהן גדול), "John the High Priest".[1]
Name
Josephus explains in The Jewish War that John was also known as "Hyrcanus", but does not explain the reason behind this name. The only other primary sources — the Books of the Maccabees — never used this name with respect to John. The single occurrence of the name Hyrcanus in 2 Maccabees 3:11 refers to a man to whom some of the money in the Temple belonged during the c. 178 BCE visit of Heliodorus.[2]
The reason for the name is disputed amongst biblical scholars, with a variety of reasons proposed:
Familial origin in the region of Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea[3]
A Greek regnal name, which would have represented closer ties with the Hellenistic culture against which the Maccabees had revolted under Seleucid rule. However, the region of Hyrcania had been conquered by Mithridates I of Parthia in 141–139 BCE
Given the name by the Seleucids after he fought in the region alongside Antiochus VII Sidetes against Phraates II of Parthia in 130–129 BCE, a campaign which resulted in the release of Antiochus' brother Demetrius II Nicator from captivity in Hyrcania
Life and work
He was the son of Simon Thassi and hence the nephew of Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan Apphus and their siblings, whose story is told in the deuterocanonical books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, in the Talmud, and in Josephus. John was not present at a banquet at which his father and his two brothers were murdered, by John's brother-in-law, Ptolemy, son of Abubus. He attained to his father's former offices, that of high priest and ethnarch (national leader)—but not king.[4] Josephus said that John Hyrcanus had five sons but named only four in his histories: Judah Aristobulus I, Antigonus I, Alexander Jannai, and Absalom. It is this fifth brother who is said to have unsuccessfully sought the throne at the death of Aristobulus I.[5]
Siege of Jerusalem
During the first year of John Hyrcanus's reign, he faced a serious challenge to independent Judean rule from the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus VII Sidetes marched into Judea, pillaged the countryside and laid a year-long siege on Jerusalem. The prolonged siege caused Hyrcanus to remove any Judean from the city who could not assist with the defence effort (Antiquities 13.240). These refugees were not allowed to pass through Antiochus’ lines, becoming trapped in the middle of a chaotic siege. With a humanitarian crisis on his hands, Hyrcanus re-admitted his estranged Jerusalemites when the festival of Sukkot arrived. Afterwards, due to food shortages in Jerusalem, Hyrcanus negotiated a truce with Antiochus.[6]
The terms of the truce consisted of three thousand talents of silver as payment for Antiochus, breaking down the walls of Jerusalem, Judean participation in the Seleucid war against the Parthians, and once again Judean recognition of Seleucid control (Antiquities 13.245). These terms were a harsh blow to Hyrcanus, who had to loot the tomb of David to pay the 3,000 talents (The Wars of the Jews I 2:5).
Under Seleucid control (133–128 BCE)
Following the Seleucid siege, Judea faced tough economic times which were magnified by taxes to the Seleucids enforced by Antiochus. Furthermore, Hyrcanus was forced to accompany Antiochus on his eastern campaign in 130 BCE. Hyrcanus probably functioned as the military commander of a Jewish company in the campaign.[7] It is reported that Antiochus, out of consideration for the religion of his Jewish allies, at one point ordered a two days' halt of the entire army to allow them to avoid breaking the Sabbath and Festival of Weeks.[8]
This enforced absence probably caused a loss of support for the inexperienced Hyrcanus among the Judean population.[9] Judeans in the countryside were especially disillusioned with Hyrcanus after Antiochus’ army plundered their land. Furthermore, John Hyrcanus's driving out the non-military population of Jerusalem during the siege also probably caused resentment against him. The action of looting the Tomb of David violated his obligations as High Priest, which would have offended the religious leadership.[10]
Therefore, at a very early point in his thirty-one year reign of Judea, Hyrcanus had lost the support of Judeans in various cultural sectors. The Jerusalemites, the countryside Judeans and the religious leadership probably doubted the future of Judea under Hyrcanus. However, in 128 BCE Antiochus VII was killed in battle against Parthia. What followed was an era of conquest led by Hyrcanus that marked the high point of Judea as the most significant power in the Levant.[11]
Conquests
John Hyrcanus was able to take advantage of unrest in the Seleucid Empire to assert Judean independence and conquer new territories. In 130 BCE Demetrius II, the former Seleucid king, returned from exile in Hyrcania to take back control of his empire. However, transition of power made it difficult for Demetrius to assert control over Judea.[12] Furthermore, the Seleucid Empire itself fell apart into smaller principalities. The Ituraeans of Lebanon, the Ammonites of the Transjordan, and the Arabian Nabateans represented independent principalities that broke away from Seleucid control.[13] Hyrcanus was determined to take advantage of the dissipating Seleucid Empire to increase the Judean State.
Hyrcanus also raised a new mercenary army that strongly contrasted with the Judean forces that were defeated by Antiochus VII (Ant.13.249). The Judean population was probably still recovering from the attack of Antiochus, and therefore could not provide enough able men for a Hyrcanus-led army.[12] John Hyrcanus's army was supported by the Judean State once again by funds that Hyrcanus removed from the Tomb of David.[14]
Beginning in 113 BCE, Hyrcanus began an extensive military campaign against Samaria. Hyrcanus placed his sons Antigonus and Aristobulus in charge of the siege of Samaria. The Samaritans called for help and eventually received 6,000 troops from Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. Although the siege lasted for a long, difficult year, Hyrcanus was unwilling to give up. Ultimately, Samaria was overrun and totally destroyed. Cyzicenus' mercenary army was defeated and the city of Scythopolis seems to have been occupied by Hyrcanus as well.[15] The inhabitants of Samaria were then put into slavery. Upon conquering the former Seleucid regions Hyrcanus embarked on a policy of forcing the non-Jewish populations to adopt Jewish customs.[16][17]
John Hyrcanus's first conquest was an invasion of the Transjordan in 110 BCE.[18] John Hyrcanus's mercenary army laid siege to the city of Medeba and took it after a six-month siege. After these victories, Hyrcanus went north towards Shechem and Mount Gerizim. The city of Shechem was reduced to a village and the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed.[16] This military action against Shechem has been dated archaeologically around 111–110 BCE.[19] Destroying the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim helped ameliorate John Hyrcanus's status among religious elite and common Jews who detested any temple to Yahweh outside of Jerusalem.
Hyrcanus also initiated a military campaign against the Idumeans (Edomites). During this campaign Hyrcanus conquered Adora, Maresha and other Idumean towns (Ant.13.257). Hyrcanus then instituted forced conversions on the Idumeans to Judaism.[20] This was an unprecedented move for a Judean ruler; it was the first instance of forced conversion perpetrated by Jews in recorded history.[21] However, some scholars dispute the narrative of forced conversion and believe that the Edomites peacefully assimilated in Judean society.[22]
Economy, foreign relations, and religion
After the siege of Jerusalem, Hyrcanus faced a serious economic crisis in Judea, although the economic difficulties probably subsided after the death of Antiochus VII, since Hyrcanus no longer had to pay taxes or tributes to a weaker Seleucid Empire.[23] The economic situation eventually improved enough for Hyrcanus to issue his own coinage (see below). On top of that, Hyrcanus initiated vital building projects in Judea. Hyrcanus re-built the walls destroyed by Antiochus. He also built a fortress north of the Temple called the Baris and possibly also the fortress Hyrcania.[24]
Moreover, out of desperation, Hyrcanus sought for good relations with the surrounding Gentile powers, especially the growing Roman Republic. Two decrees were passed in the Roman Senate that established a treaty of friendship with Judea.[25] Although it is difficult to specifically date these resolutions, they represent efforts made between Hyrcanus and Rome to maintain stable relations. Also, an embassy sent by Hyrcanus received Roman confirmation of Hasmonean independence.[26] Hyrcanus was an excellent case of a ruler backed by Roman support.
In addition to Rome, Hyrcanus was able to maintain steady relations with Ptolemaic Egypt. This was probably made possible due to various Jews living in Egypt who had connections with the Ptolemaic Court (Ant. 13.284–287). Finally, the cities of Athens and Pergamon even showed honor to Hyrcanus in an effort to appease Rome.[27]
Furthermore, the minting of coins by Hyrcanus demonstrates John Hyrcanus's willingness to delegate power. Sixty-three coins found near Bethlehem bear the inscription, "Yohanan the High Priest." The reserve side of the coins contains the phrase, "The Assembly of the Jews." This seems to suggest that during his reign, Hyrcanus was not an absolute ruler. Instead, Hyrcanus had to submit at times to an assembly of Jews that had a certain amount of minority power.[28] The coins lack any depictions of animals or humans. This suggests that Hyrcanus strictly followed the Jewish prohibition against graven images. The coins also seem to suggest that Hyrcanus considered himself to be primarily the High Priest of Judea, and his rule of Judea was shared with the Assembly.[29]
In Judea, religious issues were a core aspect of domestic policy. Josephus only reports one specific conflict between Hyrcanus and the Pharisees, who asked him to relinquish the position of High Priest (Ant. 13.288–296).[30] After this falling-out, Hyrcanus sided with the rivals of the Pharisees, the Sadducees. However, elsewhere Josephus reports that the Pharisees did not grow to power until the reign of Queen Salome Alexandra (JW.1.110) The coins minted under Hyrcanus suggest that Hyrcanus did not have complete secular authority. Furthermore, this account may represent a piece of Pharisaic apologetics due to Josephus's Pharisaic background.[31] Regardless, there were probably tensions because of the religious and secular leadership roles held by Hyrcanus.
Ultimately, one of the final acts of John Hyrcanus's life was an act that solved any kind of dispute over his role as High Priest and ethnarch. In the will of Hyrcanus, he provisioned for the division of the high priesthood from secular authority. John Hyrcanus's widow was given control of civil authority after his death, and his son Judas Aristobulus was given the role of High Priest. This action represented John Hyrcanus's willingness to compromise over the issue of secular and religious authority.[32] (However, Aristobulus was not satisfied with this arrangement, so he cast his mother into prison and let her starve.)
Legacy
John Hyrcanus the High Priest is remembered in rabbinic literature as having made several outstanding enactments and deeds worthy of memorial, one of which being that he cancelled the requirement of saying the avowal mentioned in Deuteronomy 26:12–15 once in every three years, since he saw that in Israel they had ceased to separate the First Tithe in its proper manner and which, by making the avowal, and saying "I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me," he makes himself dishonest before his Maker and liable to God's wrath.[33] In his days, the First Tithe, which was meant to be given unto the Levites, was given instead to the priests of Aaron's lineage, after Ezra had fined the Levites for not returning in full force to the Land of Israel. By not being able to give the First Tithe unto the Levites, as originally commanded by God, this made the avowal null and void.[34] In addition, John Hyrcanus is remembered for having cancelled the reading of Psalm 44:23, formerly chanted daily by the Levites in the Temple precincts, and which words, "Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?, etc.", seemed inappropriate, as if they were imposing their own will over God's, or that God was actually sleeping.[35] In similar fashion, the High Priest cancelled an ill-practice had by the people to cause bleeding near the eyes of sacrificial calves by beating their heads so as to stun them, prior to their being bound and slaughtered, since by beating the animal in such a way they ran the risk of causing a blemish in the animal's membrane lining its brain.[36] To prevent this from happening, the High Priest made rings in the ground of the Temple court for helping to secure the animals before slaughter.
Before John Hyrcanus officiated as Israel's High Priest, the people had it as a practice to do manual work on the intermediate days of the Jewish holidays, and one could hear in Jerusalem the hammer pounding against the anvil. The High Priest passed an edict restricting such labours on those days, thinking it inappropriate to do servile work on the Hol ha-Moed, until after the Feast (Yom Tov). It had also been a custom in Israel, since the days that the Hasmoneans defeated the Grecians who prevented them from mentioning the name of God in heaven, to inscribe the name of God in their ordinary contracts, bills of sale and promissory notes. They would write, for example, "In the year such and such of Yohanan, the High Priest of the Most High God." But when the Sages of Israel became sensible of the fact that such ordinary contracts were often discarded in the rubbish after reimbursement, it was deemed improper to show disrespect to God's name by doing so. Therefore, on the 3rd day of the lunar month Tishri, the practice of writing God's name in ordinary contracts was cancelled altogether, while the date of such cancellation was declared a day of rejoicing, and inscribed in the Scroll of Fasting.[37]
The Mishnah (Parah 3:4[5]) also relates that during the tenure of John Hyrcanus as High Priesthood, he had prepared the ashes of two Red heifers used in purifying those who had contracted corpse uncleanness.[38]
In what is seen as yet another one of John Hyrcanus's accomplishments, during his days any commoner or rustic could be trusted in what concerns Demai-produce (that is, if a doubt arose over whether or not such produce bought from him had been correctly divested of its tithes), since even the common folk in Israel were careful to separate the Terumah-offering given to the priests. Still, such produce required its buyer to separate the First and Second Tithes.[39] Some view this as also being a discredit unto the High Priest, seeing that the commoners refused to separate these latter tithes because of being intimidated by bullies, who took these tithes from the public treasuries by force, while John Hyrcanus refused to censure such bad conduct.[40]
In the later years of his life, John Hyrcanus abandoned the sect of the Pharisees and joined the Sadducees. This prompted the famous rabbinic dictum: "Do not believe in yourself until your dying day."[41] At his death, a monument (Hebrew: נפשיה דיוחנן כהן גדול) was built in his honour and where his bones were interred. The monument was located in what was outside the walls of the city at that time, but by Josephus' time was between the second[a] and third[b] walls of Jerusalem, and where the Romans had built a bank of earthworks to break into the newer third wall encompassing the upper city, directly opposite John's monument.[42]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hyrcanus
The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (formally named the "Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World", and commonly known as the Lateran Basilica or Saint John Lateran)[c] is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome, and serves as the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope. The archbasilica lies outside of Vatican City proper, which is located approximately four kilometres (2+1⁄2 miles) northwest. Nevertheless, as properties of the Holy See, the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices enjoy an extraterritorial status from Italy, pursuant to the terms of the Lateran Treaty of 1929.[a] Dedicated to the Christ, in honor of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, the place name, Laterano (Lateran) comes from an ancient Roman family (gens), whose palace (domus) grounds occupied the site; the adjacent Lateran Palace was the primary residence of the pope until the Middle Ages.
The church is the oldest and highest ranking of the four major papal basilicas as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, holding the unique title of "archbasilica". Founded in 324, it is the oldest public church in the city of Rome, and the oldest basilica of the Western world.[1] It houses the cathedra of the Roman bishop,[2][3] and has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Catholic faithful. The building deteriorated during the Middle Ages and was badly damaged by two fires in the 14th century. It was rebuilt in the late 16th century during the reign of Pope Sixtus V. The new structure's interior was renovated in the late 17th century, and its façade was completed in 1735 under Pope Clement XII.
The current rector is Cardinal Archpriest Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.[4] The president of the French Republic, currently Emmanuel Macron, is ex officio the "First and Only Honorary Canon" of the archbasilica, a title that the heads of state of France have possessed since King Henry IV.
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]
History
Lateran Palace
Main article: Lateran Palace
The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum singularium, the "New Fort of the Roman imperial cavalry bodyguards". The fort was established by Septimius Severus in AD 193. Following the victory of Emperor Constantine the Great over Maxentius (for whom the Equites singulares augusti, the emperor's mounted bodyguards had fought) at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the guard was abolished and the fort demolished. Substantial remains of the fort lie directly beneath the nave.
The remainder of the site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace of the gens Laterani. Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and the Laterani served as administrators for several emperors. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the Emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties.
The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the Emperor when Constantine the Great married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that time as the Domus Faustae or "House of Fausta", the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine the Great during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades,[7] in time to host a synod of bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatist schism, declaring Donatism to be heresy. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope Sylvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome, the seat of the Popes as the Bishops of Rome.[8]
Early Church
Pope Sylvester I presided over the official dedication of the archbasilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, changing the name from Domus Fausta to Domus Dei ("House of God"), with a dedication to Christ the Savior (Christo Salvatori). When a cathedra became a symbol of episcopal authority, the papal cathedra was placed in its interior, rendering it the cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome. When Gregory the Great sent the Gregorian mission to England under Augustine of Canterbury, some original churches in Canterbury took the Roman plan as a model, dedicating a church both to Christ as well as one to Saint Paul, outside the walls of the city. The church name "Christ Church", so common for churches around the world today in Anglophone Anglican contexts, originally came from this Roman church, central to pre-medieval Christian identity.[citation needed]
The anniversary of the dedication of the church has been observed as a feast since the 12th century. In the General Roman Calendar of the Catholic Church, 9 November is the feast of the Dedication of the (Arch)Basilica of the Lateran (Dedicatio Basilicae Lateranensis), referred to in older texts as the "Dedication of the Basilica of the Most Holy Savior".[citation needed]
The Middle Ages
On the archbasilica's front wall between the main portals is a plaque inscribed with the words SACROS LATERAN ECCLES OMNIUM VRBIS ET ORBIS ECCLESIARVM MATER ET CAPUT ("Most Holy Lateran Church, mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world"); a visible indication of the declaration that the basilica is the "mother church" of all the world. In the twelfth century the canons of the Lateran claimed that the high altar housed the Ark of the Covenant and several holy objects from Jerusalem. The basilica was thus presented as the Temple of the New Covenant.[1] Archived 24 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
The archbasilica and Lateran Palace were re-dedicated twice. Pope Sergius III dedicated them in honor of Saint John the Baptist in the 10th century, occasioned by the newly consecrated baptistry of the archbasilica. Pope Lucius II dedicated them in honor of John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Thus, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist became co-patrons of the archbasilica, while the primary Titular is still Christ the Savior, as the inscription in the entrance indicates and as is traditional for patriarchal cathedrals. Consequently, the archbasilica remains dedicated to the Savior, and its titular feast is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ on 6 August. The archbasilica became the most important shrine of the two Saint Johns, albeit infrequently jointly venerated. In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established in the Lateran Palace, and was devoted to serving the archbasilica and the two saints.[citation needed]
Every pope, beginning with Pope Miltiades, occupied the Lateran Palace until the reign of the French Pope Clement V, who in 1309 transferred the seat of the papacy to Avignon, a papal fiefdom that was an enclave in France. The Lateran Palace has also been the site of five ecumenical councils (see Lateran councils).[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace
1 John 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 1 He declareth that Christ is our mediator and advocate, 3 and showeth that the knowledge of God consisteth in holiness of life, 12 which appertaineth to all sorts, 14 that depend on Christ alone: 15 Then having exhorteth them to contemn the world, 18 he giveth warning that Antichrists be avoided, 24 and that the known truth be stood unto.
1 My [a]little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not: and if any man sin, we have an [b]Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just.
2 And he is the [c]reconciliation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the [d]whole world.
3 [e]And hereby we are sure that we [f]know him, [g]if we keep his commandments.
4 [h]He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 [i]But he that keepeth his word, in him is the [j]love of God perfect indeed: hereby we know that we are in [k]him.
6 [l]He that saith he remaineth in him, ought even so to walk as he hath walked.
7 [m]Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye have had from the beginning: this old commandment is that word, which ye have heard from the beginning.
8 [n]Again, a new commandment I write unto you, that [o]which is true in him: and also in you: for the darkness is past, and that true light now shineth.
9 [p]He that saith that he is in that light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness, until this time.
10 He that loveth his brother, abideth in that light, and there is no occasion of evil in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
12 [q]Little children, [r]I write unto you, because your sins are forgiven you for his [s]Name’s sake.
13 [t]I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. [u]I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome that wicked one. [v]I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
14 [w]I have written unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome that wicked one.
15 [x]Love not this [y]world, neither the things that are in this world. If any man love this world, the [z]love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in this world, (as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) is not of the Father, but is of this world.
17 [aa]And this world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that fulfilleth the will of God, abideth ever.
18 [ab][ac]Little children, [ad]it is the last time, [ae]and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 [af]They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, [ag]they should have continued with us. [ah]But this cometh to pass, that it might appear, that they are not all of us.
20 [ai]But ye have an [aj]ointment from that [ak]Holy one, and know all things.
21 [al]I have not written unto you, because ye know not the truth: but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 [am]Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is [an]that Christ? the same is that Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 [ao]Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.
24 [ap]Let therefore abide in you that same which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning, shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even that eternal life.
26 [aq]These things have I written unto you, concerning them that deceive you.
27 But that [ar]anointing which ye received of him, dwelleth in you: and ye [as]need not that any man teach you: but as the same [at]anointing teacheth you of all things, and it is true and is not lying, and as it taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 [au]And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may be bold, and not be ashamed before him, at his coming.
29 [av]If ye know that he is righteous, know ye that he which doeth righteously, is born of him.
Footnotes
1 John 2:1 It followeth not hereof that we must give our wicked nature the bridle, or sin so much the more freely, because our sins are cleansed away by the blood of Christ but we must rather so much more diligently resist sin. And yet we must not despair because of our weakness, for we have an Advocate and a purger, Christ Jesus the just, and therefore acceptable unto his father.
1 John 2:1 In that he nameth Christ he shutteth forth all other.
1 John 2:2 Reconciliation and intercession go together, to give us to understand that he is both advocate and high Priest.
1 John 2:2 For men of all sorts, of all ages and all places, so that this benefit belongeth not to the Jews only, of whom he speaketh, as appeareth 1 John 2:7, but also to other nations.
1 John 2:3 He returneth to the testimony of our conjunction with God, to wit, to sanctification, declaring what it is to walk in the light, to wit, to keep God’s commandments whereby it followeth that holiness doth not consist in those things which men have devised, neither in a vain profession of the Gospel.
1 John 2:3 This must be understood of such a knowledge, as hath faith with it, and not of a common knowledge.
1 John 2:3 For the tree is known by the fruit.
1 John 2:4 Holiness, that is, a life ordered according to the prescript of God’s commandments how weak soever they be, is of necessity joined with faith, that is, with the true knowledge of the Father in the Son.
1 John 2:5 He that keepeth God’s commandments loveth God indeed. He that loveth God, is in God, or is joined together with God. Therefore he that keepeth his commandments, is in him.
1 John 2:5 Wherewith we love God.
1 John 2:5 He meaneth our conjunction with Christ.
1 John 2:6 He that is one with Christ must needs live his life, that is, must walk in his steps.
1 John 2:7 The Apostle going about to expound the commandment of charity one toward another, telleth first, that when he urgeth holiness bringeth no new trade of life (as they use to do which devise traditions, one after another) but putteth them in mind of the same Law which God gave in the beginning, to wit, by Moses, at that time that God began to give Laws to his people.
1 John 2:8 He addeth that the doctrine indeed is old, but it is now after a sort new both in respect of Christ, and also of us: in whom he through the Gospel, engraveth his Law effectually, not in tables of stone, but in our minds.
1 John 2:8 Which thing (to wit, that the doctrine is new of which I write unto you) is true in him and in you.
1 John 2:9 Now he cometh to the second Table, that is, to charity one towards another, and denieth that that man hath true light in him, or is indeed regenerate and the son of God, which hateth his brother: and such an one wandereth miserably in darkness, brag he of never so great knowledge of God, for that wittingly and willingly he casteth himself headlong into hell.
1 John 2:12 He returneth again from sanctification to remission of sins, because that free reconciliation in Christ is the ground of our salvation, whereupon afterwards sanctification must be built as upon a foundation.
1 John 2:12 Therefore I write unto you, because you are of their number whom God hath reconciled to himself.
1 John 2:12 For his own sake: And in that he nameth Christ, he shutteth out all others, whether they be in heaven or earth.
1 John 2:13 He showeth that this doctrine agreeth to all ages, and first of all speaking to old men, he showeth that Christ and his doctrine are passing ancient, and therefore they be delighted with old things, nothing ought to be more acceptable unto them.
1 John 2:13 He advertiseth young men, if they be desirous to show their strength that they have a most glorious combat set here before them, to wit, Satan the worst enemies, who must be overcome: willing them to be as sure of the victory as if they had already gotten it.
1 John 2:13 Finally, he showeth to children, that true Father, from whom they have to look for all good things, is set forth unto them in the Gospel.
1 John 2:14 He addeth afterward in like order, as many exhortations, as if he should say, Remember your fathers: as I wrote even now, that the everlasting Son of God is revealed to us. Remember ye young men, that that strength whereby I said that you put Satan to flight, is given you by the word of God, which dwelleth in you.
1 John 2:15 The world which is full of wicked desires, lusts or pleasures, and pride, is utterly hated of our heavenly Father. Therefore the Father and the world cannot be loved together: and this admonition is very necessary for green and flourishing youth.
1 John 2:15 He speaketh of the world, as it agreeth not with the will of God, for otherwise God is said to love the world with an infinite love, John 3:16, that is to say, those whom he chose out of the world.
1 John 2:15 Wherewith the Father is loved.
1 John 2:17 He showeth how much better it is to obey the Father’s will, than the lusts of the world, by both their natures and unlike event.
1 John 2:18 Now he turneth himself to little children, which notwithstanding are well instructed in the sum of religion, and willeth them by divers reasons to shake off slothfulness, which is too too familiar with that age.
1 John 2:18 He useth this word (little) not because he speaketh to children, but to allure them the more by using such sweet words.
1 John 2:18 First, because the last time is at hand, so that the matter suffereth no delay.
1 John 2:18 Secondly because Antichrists, that is, such as fall from God, are already come, even as they heard that they should come. And it was very requisite to warn that unheedy and wariless age of that danger.
1 John 2:19 A digression against certain offenses and stumbling blocks, whereat that rude age especially might stumble and be shaken. Therefore that they should not be terrified with the soul falling back of certain, first he maketh plain unto them, that although such as fall from God and his religion, had place in the Church, yet they were never of the Church, because the Church is the company of the elect which cannot perish, and therefore cannot fall from Christ.
1 John 2:19 So then the elect can never fall from grace.
1 John 2:19 Secondly, he showeth that these things fall out to the profit of the Church, that hypocrites may be plainly known.
1 John 2:20 Thirdly, he comforteth them to make them stand fast, insomuch as they are anointed by the holy Ghost with the true knowledge of salvation.
1 John 2:20 The grace of the holy Ghost, and this is a borrowed kind of speech taken from the anointings used in the Law.
1 John 2:20 From Christ who is peculiarly called holy.
1 John 2:21 The taking away of an objection. He wrote not these things as to men which are ignorant of religion, but rather as to them which do well know the truth, yet so far forth that they are able to discern truth from falsehood.
1 John 2:22 He showeth now plainly the false doctrine of the Antichrists, to wit, that either they fight against the person of Christ, or his office or both together, and at once. And they that do so do in vain boast and brag of God, for that in denying the Son the Father also is denied.
1 John 2:22 Is the true Messiah.
1 John 2:23 They then are deceived themselves, and also do deceive others, which say that the Turks and other infidels worship the same God that we do.
1 John 2:24 The whole preaching of the Prophets and Apostles is contrary to that doctrine: Therefore it is utterly to be cast away and this wholly to be holden and kept, which leadeth us to seek eternal life in the free promise, that is to say, in Christ alone, who is given to us of the Father.
1 John 2:26 The same Spirit which endueth the elect with the knowledge of the truth, and sanctifieth them, giveth them therewithal the gift of perseverance, to continue to the end.
1 John 2:27 The Spirit which you have received of Christ, and which hath led you into all truth.
1 John 2:27 You are not ignorant of these things, and therefore I teach them not as things that were never heard of, but call them to your remembrance as things which you do know.
1 John 2:27 He commendeth both the doctrine which they had embraced, and also highly praiseth their faith and the diligence of such as taught them, yet so, that he taketh nothing from the honor due to the holy Ghost.
1 John 2:28 The conclusion both of the whole exhortation, and also of the former treatise.
1 John 2:29 A passing over to the treatise following, which tendeth to the same purpose, but yet is more ample, and handleth the same matter after another order: for before he taught us to go up from the effects to the cause, and in this that followeth, he goeth down from the causes to the effects. And this is the sum of the argument: God is the fountain of all righteousness: and therefore they that give themselves to righteousness, are known to be born of him, because they resemble God the Father.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+2&version=GNV
On the Jews and Their Lies (German: Von den Jüden und iren Lügen; in modern spelling Von den Juden und ihren Lügen) is a 65,000-word antisemitic treatise written in 1543 by the German Reformation leader Martin Luther (1483–1546).[1]
Luther's attitude toward Jews took different forms during his lifetime. In his earlier period, until about 1537, he wanted to convert Jews to Lutheranism (Protestant Christianity). In his later period when he wrote On the Jews and Their Lies, he denounced them and urged their persecution.[2]
In this treatise, he argues that Jewish synagogues and schools be set on fire, prayer books be destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, Jewish homes burned, and property and money confiscated. Luther demanded that no mercy or kindness be given to Jews,[3] that they be afforded no legal protection,[4] and "these poisonous envenomed worms" should be drafted into forced labor or expelled forever.[5] He also seems to advocate murder of Jews, writing "[W]e are at fault in not slaying them".[6]
The book may have had an impact on creating later antisemitic German thought.[7] With the rise of the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany, the book became widely popular among Nazi supporters. During World War II, copies of the book were commonly seen at Nazi rallies, and the prevailing scholarly consensus is that it may have had a significant impact on justifying the Holocaust.[8] Since then, the book has been denounced by many Lutheran churches.[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies
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
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."
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.
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
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 Christuskirche is a Lutheran Evangelical church in Rome. It was built between 1910 and 1922 under direction of architect Franz Heinrich Schwechten, who also responsible for the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin.
On 11 December 1983, Pope John Paul II visited the church and participated in an ecumenical service,[1] the first papal visit ever to a Lutheran church. The visit took place 500 years after the birth of the German Martin Luther, the former Augustinian friar and Protestant Reformer.
On January 14, 2015, Swedish actress Anita Ekberg's funeral Mass was held at Christuskirche.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christuskirche,_Rome
666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus
THE
WESTMINSTER
LARGER
CATECHISM
https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf
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."
Revelation 13:18
Scientology Recruits for the O.T.O.
In 1967, the O.T.O. in England founded the Process Church of the Final Judgement soon after the rise of The Beatles rock group. In the late sixties and early seventies, the Process set up cells in a number of U.S. cities. Maury Terry says that the Process Church took over the O.T.O. in the United States. The Church of Scientology reverted to the position of Blavatsky's Theosophical Society a century earlier - that of a recruiting agency for the O.T.O. Terry said of Michael Carr, who, before his violent death was one of the leaders in the Process Church and a ranking Scientologist: If he's counselling lost souls for Scientology, allegedly helping them discover themselves, he could certainly be working both sides of the street and plucking a few out for recruitment in the Satan stuff. That Scientology movement is fertile ground for latching onto confused people. He'd have his pick of candidates.41
The O.T.O. and Psychological Warfare
The counterculture, which today has permeated our whole society, provided and still provides recruits to the Church of Scientology which spots and selects the confused and drug addicted candidates for the homicidal O.T.O.-Process Church. One such candidate was found in Charlie Manson, who was first recruited by Scientology before he joined the Process Church. At that time the Process Church in America was led by Robert Moore (alias Robert DeGrimston), who, like Manson, was first a Scientologist. Process members worship both Satan and Christ, as did the Priory of Sion and the Templars in medieval days.42 361 Charlie Manson taught his "family" that he was Jesus Christ returned to bring judgement on America through a race war. "Helter Skelter" was his plan. He believed his instructions were concealed in the lyrics of songs sung by The Beatles.43 What Manson taught his "family" about hidden messages in rock music may well be true. Aleister Crowley himself taught such a technique to his initiates - that of writing messages backwards as a means of secret communication. William Sutton, in The New Age Movement and The Illuminati 666. states that Manson was also a Freemason. In support of this he writes that "[d]uring the Tate-LaBianca trials - with Susan Atkins testifying to how good it felt when the knife went into Sharon Tate – Manson was flashing Masonic hand signals to the Judge."44 Sutton not only links Manson to Freemasonry, but to Scientology, the Process Church, the O.T.O. and the New Age Movement.45 Likewise, Maury Terry documents that the Charlie Manson murders in California and the David Berkowitz - Son of Sam - murders in New York, were both ordered by the same organization, the O.T.O.- Process Church.46 One of Terry's first clues of this connection was the use of common terms by Berkowitz's "Sam" cult and the O.TO.-Process Church. For example, the term "German shepherds" was used by both as an allusion to their Nazi heritage. Both killers wore the same Nazi symbols - HT and HH for Hitler, the German SS lighting bolts for Satan and 666 for the mark of the beast. Both were white Aryan, anti. Christian, anti-black, and anti-Semitic.47 Berkowitz, whose murders followed some six years after Manson's, often mentioned Manson in his notes. Berkowitz himself admitted to joining the Process Church in New York in 1975, just six years after Manson's arrest. Process members openly mingling with existing O.T.O. factions were seen in New York City as late as 1973. People such as Berkowitz, Man son and members of the Process Church, and its cells around the United States, make up the current O.T.O. network. All are sub-Masonic and linked as part of an underground web of murder. The "Sam" cult, according to Terry, is headquartered near Los Angeles and has branches in Bismarck, Minot, Houston and New York. These branches shuttle killers and "contracts" back and forth.48 From evidence presented by both Terry and Sutton, there is sufficient documentation to convince the reader that the Ordo Templi Orientis was carried to the United States by English Freemason Aleister Crowley for the express purpose of preparing Christian America for destruction through mass and serial murder, drugs, licentious living, witchcraft, and the psychological terror and social chaos caused by the same. The O.T.O. continues its assault on our society to this day. The O.T.O. is English Freemasonry's psychological warfare unit targeted against Christian America.
O.T.O., Mother of the New Age
The O.T.O. membership was so vast that the Order boasted having knowledge of all the secrets of occultism on both sides of the English Channel. Miller reports that after Karl Kellner founded the O.T.O., the organization produced a manifesto called Manifesto of the 0.7:0. Under the heading "Liber III" is proof that all Masonic and non-Masonic occult orders were under its direct 362 control: Karl Keliner revived the exoteric49 organization of the O.T.O. and initiated the plan now happily complete of bringing all occult bodies again under one governance.... The order is international, and has existing branches in every civilized country of the world. In its bosom repose the Great Mysteries; its brain has resolved all the problems of philosophy and life. Moreover, it possesses a Secret capable of realizing the world-old dream of the Brotherhood of Man.50 The "Secret" it possessed, and is now manifesting, is the program followed by the New Age Movement. From this point we are able to trace the present New Age Movement to Freemasonry.
Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel
https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf
Kevin Matthew Fertig (born January 17, 1977) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for working with WWE under the ring names Mordecai and Kevin Thorn.
Fertig made his professional wrestling debut in 2000, and quickly began working for the Memphis Championship Wrestling promotion in his hometown, under the ring name Seven. There he won the Hardcore, Southern Tag Team and Southern Heavyweight Championships. He signed a contract with WWE in April 2002, and was assigned to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He competed in OVW for two years, winning the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship with Travis Bane, before being called up to the SmackDown brand as Mordecai, a religious zealot. The character only lasted a few months, and he returned to OVW before being released in mid-2005.
He competed on the independent circuit for the next year, before returning to WWE to wrestle on its ECW brand as Kevin Thorn, a vampire character. He gained Ariel as a valet, and later joined the New Breed faction in early 2007. After Ariel was released in mid-2007, Thorn continued to wrestle on ECW, but was sent to OVW in late 2007, after undergoing an image change. He wrestled in both OVW and WWE's other developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, until January 2009, when he was released from his contract. He then returned to the independent circuit, and also wrestled in Europe as Seven Thorn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Thorn
St. Andrew's Church of Scotland - Presbyterian church
Via Venti Settembre, 7
00184 Roma RM
Italy
+39 06 482 7627
Closed ⋅ Opens 11 AM Sun
로마장로교회 - Presbyterian church
Italy
Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Roma
Via Urbana
+39 339 778 1647
Closed ⋅ Opens 1 PM Sun
m.cafe.daum.net
Revelation 17:5 Deceiving with the title of religion, and public inscription of mystery: which the beast in times past did not bear.
Revelation 17:5 An exposition: in which S. John declareth what manner of woman this is.
Revelation 17:6 In manner of deeds: She is red with blood, and sheddeth it most licentiously, and therefore is colored with the blood of the Saints, as on the contrary part. Christ is set forth imbrued with the blood of his enemies; Isa. 3:1.
Revelation 17:6 A passage unto the second part of this chapter, by occasion given of S. John, as the words of the Angel do show, in the next verse.
Revelation 17:7 The second part or place, as I said, verse 1. The narration of the vision, promised in this verse, and delivered in the verse following. Now there is delivered first a narration of the beast and his story, unto verse 14. After, of the harlot, unto the end of the chap.
Revelation 17:8 The story of the beast hath a triple description of him. The first is a distinction of this beast from all that ever hath been at any time: which distinction is contained in this verse: The second is a delineation or painting out of the beast by things present, by which he might even at that time be known of the godly, and this delineation is according to his heads, verses 2, 10, 11. The third is an historical foretelling of things to come, and to be done by him: and these are ascribed unto his horns, verses 12, 13, 14. This beast is that Empire of Rome, of which I spake, chap. 13:11, according to the mutations and changes whereof which then had already happened, the holy Ghost hath distinguished and set out the same. The Apostle distinguisheth this beast from all others in these words. The beast which thou sawest, was and is not. For so I expound the words of the Apostle for evidence’s sake as I will further declare in the notes following.
Revelation 17:8 The meaning is, that beast which thou sawest before (Rev. 13:1) and which yet thou hast now seen, was, (I say was) even from Julius Caesar in respect of beginning, rising up, station, glory, dominion, manner and stock, from the house of Julius: and yet is not now the same, if thou look unto the house and stock for the dominion of this family was translated unto another, after the death of Nero from the other unto a third, from a third unto a fourth, and so forth was varied and altered by innumerable changes. Finally, the Empire is one, as it were one beast: but exceedingly varied by kindreds, families, and persons. It was therefore (saith S. John) in the kindred or house of Julius: and now it is not in that kindred, but translated unto another.
Revelation 17:8 As if he should say, Also the same that is, shall shortly not be: but shall ascend out of the depth, or out of the sea (as was said, Rev. 13:1) that is, shall be a new stock from amongst the nations without difference, and shall in the same state go unto destruction or ruin, and perish: and so shall successively new Princes or Emperors come and go, arise and fall, the body of the beast remaining still, but tossed with so many and often alterations, as no man can but marvel that this beast was able to stand and hold out, in so many mutations. Verily no Empire that ever was tossed with so many changes, and as it were with so many tempests of the sea, ever continued so long.
Revelation 17:8 That is as many as have not learned the providence of God, according to the faith of the Saints, shall marvel at these grievous and often changes when they shall consider, the selfsame beast, which is the Roman Empire, to have been, not to be, and to be and still molested with perpetual mutation, and yet in the same to stand and continue. This in mine opinion is the most simple exposition of this place, and confirmed by the event of the things themselves. Although by the last change also, by which the Empire, that before was civil became Ecclesiastical, is not obscurely signified by these words: of which two, the first exercised cruelty upon the bodies of the saints: the other also upon their souls: the first by human order and policy, the other under the color of the law of God, and of Religion, raged and imbrued itself with the blood of the godly.
Revelation 17:9 An exhortation preparing unto audience, by the same argument, with that of Christ: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Wherefore, for mine own part, I had rather read in this place, Let there be here a mind, etc. So the Angel passeth fully unto the second place of this description.
Revelation 17:9 Very children know what that seven hilled city is, which is so much spoken of, and whereof Virgil thus reporteth, And compasseth seven towers in one wall: that city it is, which when John wrote these things had rule over the kings of the earth: It was and is not, and yet it remaineth this day, but it is declining to destruction.
Revelation 17:9 This is the painting out of the beast by things present (as I said before) whereby S. John endeavored to describe the same, that he might both be known of the godly in that age, and be further observed and marked of posterity afterwards. This delineation hath one type, that is, his heads, but a double description or application of the type: one permanent from the nature of itself, the other changeable, by the working of men. The description permanent, is by the seven hills, in this verse, the other that fleeteth, is from the seven kings, verses 10, 11. And here it is worthy to be observed, that one type hath sometimes two or more applications, as seemeth good unto the holy Ghost to express either one thing by divers types, or divers things by one type. So I noted before, of the seven spirits, Rev. 1:4. Now this woman that sitteth upon seven hills, is the city of Rome, called in times past of the Greeks, … i. of seven tops or crests, and of Varro, septiceps, i. of her seven heads (as here) of seven heads, and of others, septicollis, i. standing upon seven hills.
Revelation 17:9 The beginning of these Kings or Emperors is almost the same with the beginning of the Church of Christ, which I showed before, Rev. 11:1. Namely from the year 35, after the passion of Christ, what time the Temple and Church of the Jews was overthrown. In which year it came to pass by the providence of God that that saying The beast was and is not, was fulfilled before that the destruction of the Jews immediately following came to pass. That was the year from the building of the city of Rome, 109, from which year S. John both numbered the Emperors which hitherto hath been, when he wrote these things, and foretelleth two others next to come: and that with this purpose, that when this particular prediction of foretelling of things to come, should take effect the truth of all other predictions in the Church might be the more confirmed. Which sign God of old mentioned this in the Law, Deut. 18, and Jeremiah confirmeth, Jer. 28:8.
Revelation 17:10 Whose names are these: the first, Servius Sulpicius Galba, who was the seventh Emperor of the people of Rome, the second Marcus Salvius Otho, the third Aulus Vitellius, the fourth, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the fifth, Titus Vespasianus his son of his own name.
Revelation 17:10 Flavius Domitian son of the first Vespasian. For in the latter end of his days S. John wrote these things, as witnesseth Irenaus, Lib. 5 adversus hareses.
Revelation 17:10 Nerua. The Empire being now translated from the family of Flavius. This man reigned only one year, four months, and nine days, as the history writers do tell.
Revelation 17:11 This is spoken by the figure synecdoche, as much to say as that head of the beast which was and is not, because it is cut off, and Nerua in so short time extinguished. How many heads there were, so many beasts there seemed to be in one. See the like speech in Rev. 13.3
Revelation 17:11 Nerua Traianus, who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth.
Revelation 17:11 Though in number and order of succession he be the eighth, yet he is reckoned together with one of these heads, because Nerua and he were one head. For this man obtained authority together with Nerua, and was Consul with him, when Nerua left his life.
Revelation 17:11 Namely, to molest with persecutions the Churches of Christ, as the histories do accord, and I have briefly noted, Rev. 2:10.
Revelation 17:12 The third place of this description as I said, verse 18, is a prophetical prediction of things to come which the beast should do, as in the words following S. John doth not obscurely signify, saying, which have not yet received the kingdom, etc. For there is an Antithesis or opposition between these kings, and those that went before. And first the persons are described, in this verse, then their deeds in the two verses following.
Revelation 17:12 That is, arising with their kingdoms out of the Roman beast: at such time as that political Empire began by the craft of the Popes greatly to fall.
Revelation 17:12 Namely, with the second beast whom we called before a false prophet, which beast, ascending out of the earth got unto himself all the authority and power of the first beast, and exerciseth the same before his face, as was said, Rev. 14:11, 12. For when the political Empire of the West began to bow downwards, there both arose those ten kings, and the second beast took the opportunity offered to usurp unto himself all the power of the former beast. These kings long ago, many have numbered and described to be ten and a great part of the events plainly testifieth the same in this our age.
Revelation 17:13 That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire with the beast, and depend upon his beck. Their story is divided into three parts, counsels, acts, and events. The counselors some of them consist in communicating of judgments and affections: and some in communicating of power, which they are said to have given unto this beast in this verse.
Revelation 17:14 With Christ and his Church, as the reason following doth declare, and here are mentioned the facts and the events which followed for Christ’s sake, and for the grace of God the Father towards those that are called, elected, and are his faithful ones in Christ.
Revelation 17:15 This is the other member of the narration as I said verse 7, belonging unto the harlot, showed in the vision, verse 3. In this history of the harlot, these 3 things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen unto her, in the two verses following: and lastly, who that harlot is, in the last verse. This place which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next Chap.
Revelation 17:15 That is, as unconstant and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sitteth this harlot as Queen, a vain person upon that which is vain.
Revelation 17:16 The ten Kings as verse 12. The accomplishment of this fact and event, is daily increased in this our age by the singular providence and most mighty government of God. Wherefore the facts are propounded in this verse, and the cause of them in the verses following.
Revelation 17:17 A reason rendered from the chief efficient cause, which is the providence of God, by which alone S. John by inversion of order affirmeth to have come to pass, both that the Kings should execute upon the harlot, that which pleased God, and which he declared in the verse next beforegoing: and also that by one consent and counsel, they should give their kingdom unto the beast, etc., verses 13, 14. For as these being blinded have before depended upon the beck of the beast that lifteth up the harlot, so it is said that afterward it shall come to pass, that they shall turn back, and shall fall away from her when their hearts shall be turned into better state by the grace and mercy of God.
Revelation 17:18 That is, Rome that great City, or only City (as Justinian calleth it) the King and head whereof was then the Emperor, but now the Pope, since that the condition of the beast was changed.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2017&version=GNV
Ātman (/ˈɑːtmən/; Sanskrit: आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word for the true or eternal Self or the self-existent essence or an impersonal (it) witness-consciousness within each individual. Atman is conceptually different from Jīvātman, which persists across multiple bodies and lifetimes. Some schools of Indian philosophy regard the Ātman as distinct from the material or mortal ego (Ahankara), the emotional aspect of the mind (Citta), and existence in an embodied form (Prakṛti).[note 1] The term is often translated as soul,[note 2] but is better translated as "Self",[1] as it solely refers to pure consciousness or witness-consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena. In order to attain moksha (liberation), a human being must acquire self-knowledge (Atma Gyaan or Brahmajnana).
Ātman is a central concept in the various schools of Indian philosophy, which have different views on the relation between Atman, individual Self (Jīvātman), supreme Self (Paramātmā) and, the Ultimate Reality (Brahman), stating that they are: completely identical (Advaita, Non-Dualist),[2][3] completely different (Dvaita, Dualist), or simultaneously non-different and different (Bhedabheda, Non-Dualist + Dualist).[4]
The six orthodox schools of Hinduism believe that there is Ātman in every living being (jiva), which is distinct from the body-mind complex. This is a major point of difference with the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta, which holds that in essence there is no unchanging essence or Self to be found in the empirical constituents of a living being,[note 3] staying silent on what it is that is liberated.[5][6][7][8]
Etymology and meaning
Etymology
Ātman (Atma, आत्मा, आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that refers to "essence, breath."[web 1][web 2][9] It is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *h₁eh₁tmṓ (a root meaning "breath" similar to Ancient Greek ἀτμός along with Germanic cognates: Dutch adem, Afrikaans asem, Old High German atum "breath," Modern German atmen "to breathe" and Atem "respiration, breath", Modern English ethem, and Old English ǽþm and eþian).[web 2]
Ātman, sometimes spelled without a diacritic as atman in scholarly literature,[10] means "real Self" of the individual,[note 1] "innermost essence."[11] While often translated as "soul", it is better translated as "self."[1][note 2]
Meaning
In Hinduism, Atman refers to the self-existent essence of human beings, the observing pure consciousness or witness-consciousness as exemplified by the Purusha of Samkhya. It is distinct from the ever-evolving embodied individual being (jivanatman) embedded in material reality, exemplified by the prakriti of Samkhya, and characterized by Ahamkara (ego, non-spiritual psychological I-ness Me-ness), mind (citta, manas), and all the defiling kleshas (habits, prejudices, desires, impulses, delusions, fads, behaviors, pleasures, sufferings and fears). Embodied personality and Ahamkara shift, evolve or change with time, while Atman doesn't.[12] It is "pure, undifferentiated, self-shining consciousness."[13]
As such, it is different from non-Hindu notions of soul, which includes consciousness but also the mental abilities of a living being, such as reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception and thinking. In Hinduism, these are all included in embodied reality, the counterpart of Atman.
Atman, in Hinduism, is considered as eternal, imperishable, beyond time, "not the same as body or mind or consciousness, but... something beyond which permeates all these".[14][15][16] Atman is the unchanging, eternal, innermost radiant Self that is unaffected by personality, unaffected by ego; Atman is that which is ever-free, never-bound, the realized purpose, meaning, liberation in life.[17][18] As Puchalski states, "the ultimate goal of Hindu religious life is to transcend individuality, to realize one's own true nature", the inner essence of oneself, which is divine and pure.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)
Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.
Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris
Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era Goddess worship traditions in Ancient India.[1] Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition and is the supreme deity in the Kalikula worship tradition.[2]
The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya.[1] Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.[3][4][5]
Shakta and Tantric sects additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman.[5] She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation).[3] Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism.[1][6]
Etymology
The term Kali is derived from Kala, which is mentioned quite differently in Sanskrit.[7] The homonym kālá (time) is distinct from kāla (black), but these became associated through popular etymology.[8] Kali is then understood as "she who is the ruler of time", or "she who is black".[7] Kālī is the goddess of time or death and the consort of Shiva.[9] She is called Kali Mata ("the dark mother") and also kālī, which can be read here either as a proper name or as a description: "the dark (or black) one".[8]
Origins
Although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7).[10] Kali originated as a tantric and non-Vedic goddess. Her roots are most probably connected to the Pre-Aryan period.[11] According to Indologist Wendy Doniger, Kali's origins can be traced to the deities of the Pre-Vedic village, tribal, and mountain cultures of South Asia who were gradually appropriated and transformed by the Sanskritic traditions.[1]
Legends
Her most well-known appearance is on the battlefield in the sixth century text Devi Mahatmyam. The deity of the first chapter of Devi Mahatmyam is Mahakali, who appears from the body of sleeping Vishnu as goddess Yoga Nidra to wake him up in order to protect Brahma and the world from two asuras (demons), Madhu-Kaitabha. When Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two asuras. After a long battle with Vishnu, the two demons were undefeated and Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras. When Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them.[12]
In later chapters, the story of two asuras who were destroyed by Kali can be found. Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Kaushiki. Kaushiki responds with such anger that it causes her face to turn dark, resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali's appearance is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, wearing a tiger skin sari and a garland of human heads. She immediately defeats the two asuras. Later in the same battle, the asura Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali eventually defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, and eating the numerous clones. Kinsley writes that Kali represents "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury".[12]
Other origin stories involve Parvati and Shiva. Parvati is typically portrayed as a benign and friendly goddess. The Linga Purana describes Shiva asking Parvati to defeat the asura Daruka, who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat Daruka and his armies. Her bloodlust gets out of control, only calming when Shiva intervenes. The Vamana Purana has a different version of Kali's relationship with Parvati. When Shiva addresses Parvati as Kali, "the dark blue one", she is greatly offended. Parvati performs austerities to lose her dark complexion and becomes Gauri, the golden one. Her dark sheath becomes Kaushiki, who while enraged, creates Kali.[12]
In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kali turns black out of rage, while battling the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.[7]: 221
Slayer of Raktabīja
In Kāli's most famous legend, Durga and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabīja, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that drips from Raktabīja, he reproduces a duplicate of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates.[12] Durga summons Kāli to combat the demons. This episode is described in the Devi Mahatmyam, Kali is depicted as being fierce, clad in a tiger's skin and armed with a sword and noose. She has deep, red eyes with tongue lolling out as she catches drops of Raktabīja's blood before they fall to the ground and create duplicates.[13]
Kali consumes Raktabīja and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain.[12] In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda.[13]: 72 Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.[12]: 241 Footnotes
Iconography and forms
The goddess has two depictions: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali avatar. In both, she is described as being black in colour, though she is often seen as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. Her hair is disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. Sometimes she dons a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. Other times, she is seen wearing a tiger skin. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on the calm and prostrate Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular dakṣiṇācāra ("right-hand path"), as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive vamachara ("left-hand path").[14] These serpents and jackals are shown to drink Raktabīja's blood as it drips out of his head while the goddess carries the head in her hand, preventing it from falling on the ground.
In the ten-armed form of Mahakali, she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.[15]
The Kalika Purana describes Kali as "possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotus, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful".[16]
Popular form
Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:
Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a Khadga (crescent-shaped sword or a giant sickle), a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapāla) collecting the blood of the severed head.
Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The sword signifies divine knowledge and the human head signifies human ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[16]: 477
She wears a garland of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a japa mala or rosary for repetition of mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.[16]: 475
She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above Prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is Brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities—she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, and bad do not apply to her.[16]: 463–488
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Devī (/ˈdeɪvi/;[1] Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.
The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they did not play a vital role in that era.[2] Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.[2] The medieval era Puranas witness a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Further, Devi is viewed as central in the Hindu traditions of Shaktism and Shaivism.[2][3]
Etymology
Devi and deva are Sanskrit terms found in Vedic literature around the 3rd millennium BCE. Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi.[4] Monier-Williams translates it as 'heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones'.[5][6] Etymologically, a cognate of devi is Latin dea.[7] When capitalised, Devi maata refers to the mother goddess in Hinduism.[8] Deva is short for devatā and devi for devika.[5]
According to Douglas Harper, the etymological root dev- means "a shining one", from *div-, "to shine", it is an Indo-European cognate of the Greek dios, Gothic divine and Latin deus (Old Latin deivos); see also *Dyēus.[9]
A synonym for the word Devi in the Vedas is Bhagavati. Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is an Indian epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for goddesses in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, it is primarily used to address the goddesses Lakshmi and Durga. In Buddhism, it is used to refer to several Mahayana Buddhist female deities, like Cundā.[10]
History
The worship of Devi-like deities dates back to period of Indus Valley civilisation.[11][12]
The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess:[13][14]
I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.
— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8, Translated by June McDaniel[15][16]
The Vedas name numerous cosmic goddesses such as Devi (power), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night) and Aranyani (forest); bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati and Mahi are among others are mentioned in the Rigveda.[2]: 6–17, 55–64 However, the goddesses are not discussed as frequently as gods (devas).[2] Devi appears in late Vedic texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era.[2]: 18–19 All gods and goddesses are distinguished in Vedic times,[2]: 18 but in post-Vedic texts, particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as aspects or manifestations of one Devi, the Supreme Power.[17]
Devi is the supreme being in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism; in the Smarta tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of Brahman that is revered.[18][19] In other Hindu traditions, Devi embodies the active energy and power of Deva, and they always appear together complementing each other. Examples of this are Parvati with Shiva in Shaivism, Saraswati with Brahma in Brahmanism and Lakshmi with Vishnu, Sita with Rama and Radha with Krishna in Vaishnavism.[20][21][22]
Devi-inspired philosophy is propounded in many Hindu texts such as the Devi Upanishad, which teaches that Shakti is essentially Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality) and that from her arises prakṛti (matter) and purusha (consciousness) and that she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn and all of the universe. Shakti is Parvati, Shiva’s wife. [23] She is also mentioned as the creative power of Shiva in Tripura Upanishad, Bahvricha Upanishad and Guhyakali Upanishad.[13]
Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.[23] Devi asserts that she is the creator of earth and heaven and resides there.[13] Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as the mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'.[13] Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'. The tantric aspect in Devi Upanishad, says June McDaniel, is the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.[13]
Among the major world religions, the concept of Goddess in Hinduism as the divine feminine has had the strongest presence since ancient times.[24]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi
The name Monita has its roots in India and is derived from the Sanskrit word manita, which means 'honored' or 'respected.' This ancient name reflects the cultural traditions and values of Indian society, where respect and honor hold great significance. Monita has been prominent in Indian history since ancient times, often given to those who were esteemed for their noble character and high social standing. In historical texts and scriptures, the name Monita is often associated with individuals who were recognized for their wisdom, integrity, and leadership qualities.
In modern-day usage, the name Monita continues to evoke a sense of honor and respect. It is a popular name choice among families who value tradition and wish to bestow upon their child a name that reflects these virtues. Monita is often given to female children, symbolizing the strength and dignity they possess. In some cases, the name Monita is also used as a name, further emphasizing the family's heritage and the importance they place on respect and honor.
Overall, the name Monita has a rich history rooted in Indian culture and embodies the values of honor and respect. From ancient times to the present day, this name has stood as a testament to the qualities that society holds in high regard and continues to be cherished by families who wish to pass on these values to future generations.
https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/monita
Monita
A Latin word meaning "instructions":
Monita, work by Abbot Porcarius I of Lérins (c. 500)
Monita Secreta, an alleged code of instructions of the Jesuits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monita
Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.
It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallotus_philippensis
Revelation 22
1599 Geneva Bible
22 1 The river of water of life is showed, 2 and the tree of life: 6, 7 Then followeth the conclusion of this prophecy, 8 where John declareth, that the things herein contained are most true. 13 And now the third time repeateth these words, All things come from him, who is the beginning and the end.
1 And [a]he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree served to heal the nations with.
3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.
4 And they shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the Sun: for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for evermore.
6 [b]And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be fulfilled.
7 Behold, I come shortly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
8 And I am John, which saw and heard these things: and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which showed me these things.
9 But he said unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them which keep the words of this book: worship God.
10 [c]And he said unto me, [d]Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11 [e]He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 [f]And behold, I come shortly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they, that do his Commandments, [g]that their right may be in the tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.
15 For without shall be dogs and enchanters, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth or maketh lies.
16 [h]I Jesus have sent mine Angel, to testify unto you these things in the Churches: I am the root and the generation of David, and the bright morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst, come: and let whosoever will, take of the water of life freely.
18 [i]For I protest unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
19 And if any man shall diminish of the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy City, and from those things which are written in this book.
20 [j]He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
21 [k]The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, AMEN.
THE END
Footnotes
Revelation 22:1 Here is absolved and finished the description of the celestial Church (as I showed before, Rev. 21:12) by the effects in 5 verses, and then this book is concluded in the rest of the chapter. The effects proceeding from God, who dwelleth in the Church are these: the everlasting grace of God in this verse, the eternal living of the godly, as Rev. 2:7, the eternal fruits which the godly bring forth unto God, themselves and others, verse 2, freedom and immunity from all evil, God himself taking pleasure in his servants and they likewise in their God, verse 3. The beholding and sight of God, and sealing of the faithful from all eternity, verse 4, the light of God, and an everlasting kingdom and glory, verse 5.
Revelation 22:6 The whole book is concluded and made up by a confirmation, and a salutation. The confirmation hath three places: The words of the Angel unto verse 15, the words of Christ: verses 16, 17, and the obtestation made by S. John from divine authority, thence unto verse 20. By speech of the Angel this prophecy is confirmed unto verse 8 and then he speaketh of the use of this book in the verses following. The prophecy is first confirmed by the Angel from the nature thereof, that it is faithful and true. Secondly from the nature of the efficient cause, both principal which is God, and instrumental, which is the Angel in this verse. Thirdly from the promises of God concerning his coming to effect all these things, and concerning our salvation, verse 7. Fourthly, from the testification of S. John himself, verse 8. The rest of the speech of the angel tending to the same and S. John interrupted or brake off by his unadvised act of worshipping him, in the same verse which the Angel forbidding, teacheth him that adoration must be given not to him, but only to God, as for himself, that he is of such nature and office, as he may not be adored: which thing also was in like manner done, Rev. 16:10.
Revelation 22:10 The Angel returneth unto his former speech: in which he teacheth the use of this book, both towards ourselves, in this and the next verse and in respect of God for declaration of his truth, thence unto verse 15.
Revelation 22:10 That is, propound this prophecy openly unto all, and conceal no part of it. The contrary whereunto is commanded, Isa. 8:6 and Dan. 8:26.
Revelation 22:11 An objection prevented. But there will be some that will abuse this occasion unto evil, and will wrest this Scripture unto their own destruction, as Peter saith. What then saith the Angel, the mysteries of God must not therefore be concealed, which it hath pleased him to communicate unto us. Let them be hurtful unto others, let such be more and more vile in themselves, whom this Scripture doth not please: yet others shall be further conformed thereby unto righteousness and true holiness. The care and reformation of these may not be neglected, because of the voluntary and malicious offense of others.
Revelation 22:12 The second place belonging unto the use of this book, as I said, verse 10. Also (saith God by the Angel) though there should be no use of this book unto men: yet it shall be of this use unto me, that it is a witness of my truth unto my glory, who will come shortly to give and execute just judgment, in this verse: who have taught that all these things have their being in me, in verse 13, and have denounced blessedness unto my servants in the Church, verse 14, and reprobation unto the ungodly, verse 15.
Revelation 22:14 The blessedness of the godly set down by their title and interest thereunto: and their fruit in the same.
Revelation 22:16 The second place of confirmation, as I said, is the speech of Christ, ratifying the vocation of S. John, and the authority of his calling and testimony, both from the condition of his own person being God and man, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, 2 Cor. 1:20: and also from the testification of other persons, by the acclamation of the holy Ghost, who here is as it were an honorable assistant of the marriage of the Church as the spouse: and of every of the godly as members: and finally from the thing present, that of their own knowledge and accord they are called forth unto the participation of the good things of God, verse 17.
Revelation 22:18 The obtestation of Saint John (which is the third place of the confirmation, as was noted, verse 6) joined with a curse of execration, to preserve the truth of this book entire and uncorrupted, in two verses.
Revelation 22:20 A divine confirmation or sealing of the obtestation: first from Christ avouching the same, and denouncing his coming against all those that shall put their sacrilegious hands hereunto: then from Saint John himself, who by a most holy prayer calleth Christ to take vengeance of them.
Revelation 22:21 The salutation Apostolical, which is the other place of the conclusion, as I said, verse 6, and is the end of almost every Epistle: which we wish unto the Church, and to all the holy and elect members thereof in Christ Jesus our Lord, until his coming to judgment, Come Lord Jesus, and do it. Amen, again, Amen.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022&version=GNV
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02cCgtJXVMNeu3fNAhDBCD84U6gSQxkKbWnv7fpf6BqdQwhPQq1J7aQznzYiu9aVu3l
Fernando Álvarez de Miranda y Torres (Santander, 14 de enero de 1924-Madrid, 7 de mayo de 2016)5 fue un político, abogado y profesor universitario español, primer presidente del Congreso de los Diputados de la democracia (1977-1979) y defensor del Pueblo (1994-1999).
Biografía
Formación
Estudió Derecho en las Universidades de Madrid y Zaragoza, y Derecho Comunitario en la Universidad de Luxemburgo y posteriormente fue profesor de Derecho procesal en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. De ideología democristiana y monárquica, fue deportado a Fuerteventura por el régimen franquista tras asistir al Congreso del Movimiento Europeo en Múnich (el denominado despectivamente por la dictadura Contubernio de Múnich) en 1962. Miembro del Consejo Personal de Juan de Borbón (1964) y militante de Izquierda Democrática.6
Política
Durante la Transición española fue miembro destacado del Grupo Tácito y fundó Izquierda Demócrata Cristiana, como escisión de Izquierda Democrática y se integró en el Partido Popular Demócrata Cristiano que como Partido Demócrata Cristiano se unió, por su parte, a la UCD, con la que fue presidente del Congreso de los Diputados (1977-1979). Fue también embajador en El Salvador (1986-1989) y Defensor del Pueblo (1994-1999).
Fernando Álvarez de Miranda fue sobrino del diputado conservador Ricardo Cortes Villasana, tío del también político y diplomático, José María Martín Álvarez de Miranda (PP) y primo de Javier Cortes Álvarez de Miranda, arqueólogo y filántropo santanderino descubridor de la Villa Romana de La Olmeda en Pedrosa de la Vega.[cita requerida] Siendo también descendiente del linaje Leonés (Tusinos).
Su hijo, Ramón María Álvarez de Miranda García, es también político y economista. En 1979, con 24 años, se convirtió en el diputado más joven del Congreso salido de las elecciones generales de ese año. Ingresó como funcionario del Tribunal de Cuentas en 1984. Ha sido consejero del Tribunal desde 1991 hasta 2021, y presidente del mismo desde julio de 2012 hasta julio de 2018.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_%C3%81lvarez_de_Miranda
The Miranda-class had entered Starfleet service by the 2260s, which included the launch of the USS Reliant in 2264. (TOS: "Court Martial"; PIC: "The Star Gazer" dedication placard)
Several Miranda-class starships were in service during the mid-2280s. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Construction of the Miranda-class continued well into the 24th century. One starship, the USS Brattain, was constructed by the Yoyodyne Division and launched on stardate 22519.5 at the 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards. (TNG: "Night Terrors" dedication plaque)
The Miranda-class was present in several major Federation engagements against the Borg, including the Battle of Wolf 359 and the Battle of Sector 001. (DS9: "Emissary"; Star Trek: First Contact)
Starships of the Miranda-class were also present in numerous Dominion War battles, where they often served as escorts. Many ships of the class saw action during Operation Return, the First and Second Battles of Chin'toka, and the Battle of Cardassia. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels", "Tears of the Prophets", "The Changing Face of Evil", "What You Leave Behind")
The Miranda-class was still in Starfleet service by 2378. (VOY: "Endgame")
In 2381, a Miranda-class ship, the USS MacDuff, featured in a holodeck program used by Ensign Beckett Mariner. (LD: "Strange Energies")
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miranda_class?file=USS_Reliant%2C_aft_quarter.jpg
Joseph Michael Arpaio[3] (/ɑːrˈpaɪoʊ/; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He was the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone in 2016.
Starting in 2005, Arpaio took an outspoken stance against illegal immigration, styling himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff".[4][5] In 2010, he became a flashpoint for opposition to Arizona's SB1070 anti-illegal immigrant law, which was largely struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States.[6][7] Arpaio is also known for investigating former U.S. President Barack Obama's birth certificate, and, as of 2018, he continued to claim without evidence that it was forged.[8][9]
Arpaio has been accused of numerous types of police misconduct, including abuse of power, misuse of funds, failure to investigate sex crimes, criminal negligence, abuse of suspects in custody, improper clearance of cases, unlawful enforcement of immigration laws, and election law violations. A Federal court monitor was appointed to oversee his office's operations because of complaints of racial profiling. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling in U.S. history, and subsequently filed suit against him for unlawful discriminatory police conduct.[10] Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) were named as defendants in dozens of civil lawsuits brought by citizens arrested by Arpaio and his deputies alleging wrongful arrest, wrongful death, entrapment and other claims, costing taxpayers in Maricopa County over $140 million in litigation against Arpaio during his tenure as sheriff.[11][12]
Over the course of his career, Arpaio was the subject of several federal civil rights lawsuits. In one case, he was a defendant in a decade-long suit in which a federal court issued an injunction barring him from conducting further "immigration round-ups".[13] A federal court subsequently found that after the order was issued, Arpaio's office continued to detain "persons for further investigation without reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is being committed."[13] In July 2017, he was convicted of criminal contempt of court, a crime for which he was pardoned by President Donald Trump on August 25, 2017.[14] In a separate racial-profiling case which concluded in 2013, Arpaio and his subordinates were found to have unfairly targeted Hispanics in conducting traffic stops.[15]
Although Arpaio sought another term as Maricopa County Sheriff in 2016, the contempt of court conviction eroded much of his remaining political support, and he was defeated in the election by Paul Penzone, a Democrat who reversed many of Arpaio's policies after taking office. Arpaio was an unsuccessful candidate in Arizona's Republican primary election for U.S. Senate in 2018. In 2020, Arpaio failed in his attempt to become the Maricopa County Sheriff again.[16][17] In 2022, he narrowly lost in his attempt to unseat the incumbent mayor of Fountain Hills, Arizona, garnering 49% of the vote.[18]
Early life
Arpaio was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on June 14, 1932,[19] to Italian parents, both from Lacedonia, Italy.[20] Arpaio's mother died while giving birth to him, and he was raised by his father,[21] who ran an Italian grocery store.[22][23] Arpaio completed high school and worked in his father's business until age 18 when he enlisted in the United States Army.[19][24] He served in the Army from 1950 to 1954 in the Medical Department and was stationed in France for part of the time as a military policeman.[24]
Following his army discharge in 1954, Arpaio moved to Washington, D.C., and became a police officer, moving in 1957 to Las Vegas, Nevada. He served as a police officer in Las Vegas for six months before being appointed as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which later became part of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).[25] During his 25-year tenure with the DEA, he was stationed in Argentina, Turkey, and Mexico, and advanced through the ranks to the position of head of the DEA's Arizona branch.[26]
After leaving the DEA, Arpaio became involved in a travel venture through his wife's travel agency Starworld Travel Agency, based in Scottsdale. While there, he sold passage on the Phoenix E space rocket, which was hoped to take off from either Edwards Air Force Base or Vandenberg Air Force Base on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' voyage to the new world. Although he claimed in 1988 that the first 19 flights of the Phoenix E had been booked, no flights were ever made.[27][28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump received a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, and his father named him president of his real estate business in 1971. Trump renamed it the Trump Organization and reoriented the company toward building and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. After a series of business failures in the late twentieth century, he successfully launched side ventures that required little capital, mostly by licensing the Trump name. From 2004 to 2015, he co-produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice. He and his businesses have been plaintiff or defendant in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six business bankruptcies.
Trump won the 2016 presidential election as the Republican Party nominee against Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote.[a] During the campaign, his political positions were described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. His election and policies sparked numerous protests. He was the first U.S. president with no prior military or government experience. A special counsel investigation established that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to favor Trump's campaign. Trump promoted conspiracy theories and made many false and misleading statements during his campaigns and presidency, to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist and many as misogynistic.
As president, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, diverted military funding toward building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, and implemented a policy of family separations for migrants detained at the U.S. border. He weakened environmental protections, rolling back more than 100 environmental policies and regulations. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes for individuals and businesses and set the financial penalty to nil for the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act. He appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. He reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, used political pressure to interfere with testing efforts, and spread misinformation about unproven treatments. Trump initiated a trade war with China and withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times but made no progress on denuclearization.
Trump refused to concede after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, falsely claiming widespread electoral fraud, and attempted to overturn the results by pressuring government officials, mounting scores of unsuccessful legal challenges, and obstructing the presidential transition. On January 6, 2021, he urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol, which many of them then attacked, resulting in multiple deaths and interrupting the electoral vote count.
After Trump tried to pressure Ukraine in 2019 to investigate Biden, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached him for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; the U.S. Senate acquitted him in February 2020. The House impeached him again in January 2021 for incitement of insurrection, making Trump the only American president to have been impeached twice; the Senate acquitted him in February. Scholars and historians rank Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history.
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to dominate the Republican Party and is the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election. In 2023, a civil trial jury found that Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll, and in 2024, a New York state court found Trump liable for financial fraud; Trump is appealing both judgments. He is on trial in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and was indicted in three other jurisdictions: in Florida on 40 felony counts related to his mishandling of classified documents; in Washington, D.C., on four felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election; and in Georgia on ten charges of racketeering and other felonies committed in an effort to overturn the state's 2020 election results. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
"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
The Phoenix warp ship was the first man-made, manned spacecraft to achieve light speed using warp drive that was constructed during the mid-21st century. The Phoenix was remembered as the ship that instigated Earth's First Contact with Vulcans.
History
Dr. Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of warp drive, built this warp ship inside a missile complex in Bozeman, Montana. The ship was initially a United States Air Force nuclear missile with a titanium casing. It took six months for Lily Sloane to scrounge enough titanium to build the four-meter cockpit of the Phoenix. Dr. Cochrane was the pilot, and Lily Sloane was initially intended to be one of the co-pilots. However, William Riker and Geordi La Forge (both time travellers of the USS Enterprise-E from 2373) served as the crew.
On April 4th 2063, less than forty-eight hours away from launch, a group of time-travelling Borg from the 24th century attempted to destroy the Phoenix. They managed to cause significant damage to various sections of the fuselage and the primary intercooler system. The throttle assembly was damaged, leaking dangerous levels of theta radiation. There were temperature variations in the fuel manifold, the intermix chamber needed to be reconstructed, and there was a damaged warp plasma conduit that needed to be replaced. All damage was repaired in time for the launch, with the help of the crew of the Enterprise, which had pursued the Borg from the future.
On April 5th, around 11 am, the Phoenix was launched. The first stage of the craft used traditional chemical engines. First-stage shutdown and separation was performed in orbit. The nacelles were extended, the warp core and plasma injectors were brought online, and the nacelles were charged. It took several seconds to accelerate to critical velocity. Light speed was then achieved by the craft. It is unclear whether there was ever an original timeline where the Phoenix launched without interference from the Borg or the Enterprise crew, or whether these events were always meant to happen. (Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "Year of Hell")
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix
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
General Congregation 36
General Congregation 36 was called in 2016 after Adolfo Nicolás had announced his resignation, and it elected Arturo Sosa as Superior General to replace him. Taking its cue from Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si', it emphasized that poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation.[14] In the second of its two decrees it called for greater commitment to discernment, collaboration, and networking, for a broader process for evaluating the Society's current apostolic preferences which included lay colleagues in the discernment.[15]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Congregation
La tiara papal es una corona que usan los papas de la Iglesia católica desde el siglo VIII hasta mediados del siglo XX. Fue utilizado por última vez por el Papa Pablo VI en 1963, y sólo al comienzo de su reinado.
El nombre tiara se refiere a todo el tocado, incluidas las diversas coronas, aros y diademas que lo han adornado a través de los tiempos,[1][2] mientras que la forma de tres niveles que adoptó en el siglo XIV también se llama triregno. [3][4] o la triple corona,[5] y en ocasiones como la triple tiara.[6][7][8]
De 1143 a 1963, la tiara papal se coloca solemnemente sobre la cabeza del Papa durante la coronación papal. Las tiaras papales supervivientes son todas de forma triple, la más antigua data de 1572. Una representación del triregno combinada con dos llaves cruzadas de San Pedro se utiliza como símbolo del papado y aparece en documentos, edificios e insignias papales, y en el Bandera de la Ciudad del Vaticano.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_tiara
§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.
Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.
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
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
Marquette University is a Catholic institution operated by the Jesuit order. The law school's mission includes a commitment to the Jesuit idea of cura personalis ("care of the entire person"), a duty to promote diversity, and a goal of encouraging its "students to become agents for positive change in society."[5]
As of the 2016-17 academic year, the school has 575 enrolled students and 98 faculty members and administrators, including 30 full-time faculty members, 10 "deans, librarians, and others who teach," and 58 part-time faculty members.[1] For the fall 2016 entering J.D. class, there were 190 enrolled students (182 full-time and 8 part-time).[1]
Wisconsin, unique among American states, allows graduates of accredited law schools within the state to be admitted to the Wisconsin state bar without taking the state's bar examination if they complete certain requirements in their law school courses and achieve a certain level of performance in those courses, a practice known as the "diploma privilege."[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_University_Law_School
The meaning of Marquette is : Land Owner, A French habitational name
https://mylofamily.com/parenting/babynames/meaning-of-marquette-53145
In the United States, the Miranda warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right to silence and, in effect, protection from self-incrimination; that is, their right to refuse to answer questions or provide information to law enforcement or other officials. Named for the U.S. Supreme Court's 1966 decision Miranda v. Arizona, these rights are often referred to as Miranda rights. The purpose of such notification is to preserve the admissibility of their statements made during custodial interrogation in later criminal proceedings. The idea came from law professor Yale Kamisar, who subsequently was dubbed "the father of Miranda."
The language used in Miranda warnings derives from the Supreme Court's opinion in its Miranda decision.[1] But the specific language used in the warnings varies between jurisdictions,[2] and the warning is deemed adequate as long as the defendant's rights are properly disclosed such that any waiver of those rights by the defendant is knowing, voluntary, and intelligent.[3] For example, the warning may be phrased as follows:[4]
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time.
The Miranda warning is part of a preventive criminal procedure rule that law enforcement are required to administer to protect an individual who is in custody and subject to direct questioning or its functional equivalent from a violation of their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination. In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court held that the admission of an elicited incriminating statement by a suspect not informed of these rights violates the Fifth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, through the incorporation of these rights into state law.[Note 1] Thus, if law enforcement officials decline to offer a Miranda warning to an individual in their custody, they may interrogate that person and act upon the knowledge gained, but may not ordinarily use that person's statements as evidence against them in a criminal trial.
Origin and development of Miranda rights
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agent reading the Miranda rights to a suspect
The concept of "Miranda rights" was enshrined in U.S. law following the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona Supreme Court decision, which found that the Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights of Ernesto Arturo Miranda had been violated during his arrest and trial for armed robbery, kidnapping, and rape of a young woman.
Miranda was subsequently retried and convicted, based primarily on his estranged ex-partner, who had been tracked down by the original arresting officer via Miranda's own parents, suddenly claiming that Miranda had confessed to her when she had visited him in jail. Miranda's lawyer later confessed that he 'goofed' the case by focusing too much on the constitutional issues (and losing sight of the jury and guilt or innocence).[5]
The circumstances triggering the Miranda safeguards, i.e. Miranda rights, are "custody" and "interrogation". Custody means formal arrest or the deprivation of freedom to an extent associated with formal arrest. Interrogation means explicit questioning or actions that are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response. The Supreme Court did not specify the exact wording to use when informing a suspect of their rights. However, the Court did create a set of guidelines that must be followed. The ruling states:
To summarize, we hold that, when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities in any significant way and is subjected to questioning, the privilege against self-incrimination is jeopardized. Procedural safeguards must be employed to protect the privilege, and unless other fully effective means are adopted to notify the person of his right of silence and to assure that the exercise of the right will be scrupulously honored, the following measures are required. He must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that, if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires. Opportunity to exercise these rights must be afforded to him throughout the interrogation. After such warnings have been given, and such opportunity afforded him, the individual may knowingly and intelligently waive these rights and agree to answer questions or make a statement. But unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him.
From Miranda rights, American English developed the verb Mirandize, meaning "read the Miranda rights to".[6]
In Berkemer v. McCarty (1984),[7] the Supreme Court decided that a person subjected to custodial interrogation is entitled to the benefit of the procedural safeguards enunciated in Miranda, regardless of the nature or severity of the offense of which they are suspected or for which they were arrested.[8]
Notably, the Miranda rights need not be read in any particular order, and they need not precisely match the language of the Miranda case as long as they are adequately and fully conveyed (California v. Prysock, 453 U.S. 355 (1981)[9]).
In Berghuis v. Thompkins (2010),[10] the Supreme Court held that unless a suspect expressly states that they are invoking this right, subsequent voluntary statements made to an officer can be used against them in court, and police can continue to interact with (or question) the alleged criminal.
In Vega v. Tekoh (2022), the Supreme Court held that police may not be sued for failing to administer Miranda warnings, and that the remedy for such a failure is the exclusion of the acquired statements at trial.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_warning
AI Overview
The Four Worlds - Welcome to the International Kabbalah Society
Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, developed in the 12th and 13th centuries in southern France and Spain. It emerged from earlier Jewish mystical traditions and found a more defined form in these regions. The Zohar, a foundational text, was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de León. Later, Isaac Luria in the 16th century, is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah.
Here's a more detailed look at its formation:
Emergence from Existing Mysticism:
Kabbalah built upon earlier Jewish mystical practices, like Merkava mysticism, which focused on ecstatic experiences and contemplation of the divine throne.
Early Centers of Development:
The 12th and 13th centuries saw the formation of Kabbalah in southern France and Spain, particularly in regions like Hakhmei Provence and al-Andalus.
The Zohar's Influence:
The Zohar, a collection of mystical interpretations of the Torah, became a cornerstone of Kabbalah and was attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, though it's now believed to be by Moses de León.
Lurianic Kabbalah:
Isaac Luria, a 16th-century Kabbalist, developed a new system, Lurianic Kabbalah, which emphasized the concept of Tikkun (repair) and the potential for humanity to participate in restoring the broken world.
Spread and Popularization:
Lurianic Kabbalah gained popularity through Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century, further disseminating its teachings.
Generative AI is experimental.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1
The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.
of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."
EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS
AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA
By
JAVIER A. MONTOYA
http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf
The Order of Assassins (Arabic: حَشّاشِین, romanized: Ḥaššāšīyīn; Persian: حشاشين, romanized: Ḥaššāšīn) were a Nizari Isma'ili order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded by Hasan al-Sabbah.
During that time, they lived in the mountains of Persia and the Levant, and held a strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East, posing a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority, and killing several Christian leaders. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds who were considered enemies of the Nizari Isma'ili state. The modern term assassination is believed to stem from the tactics used by the Assassins.[1]
Contemporaneous historians include ibn al-Qalanisi, Ali ibn al-Athir, and Ata-Malik Juvayni. The former two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by Isma'ilis themselves.[2][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس, romanized: al-ʾAndalus)[a] was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim[1][2] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[3][4][5] as well as Septimania under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[1][2][6][7][8] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus
1236
June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]
July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]
Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.
May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236
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 Complementary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.
Rulers of Evil
by F. Tupper Saussy
https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf
As far as Simon Magus goes, even those now considered to be early supporters of the Roman Catholic Church condemned him. Yet, those who claim Christ really should look into whether or not they have adopted the non-biblical heresies that Simon Magus and his later followers adopted. Those wanting to learn more should also consider studying the articles at the The History of Early Christianity page.
We do not know how or when Simon Magus died (there are various legends). Some early reports indicate he was buried in Samaria or in Rome. Some suspect that burial was in Vatican hill.
Notice the following:
Elevating his personal teachings above the Bible, and preaching a "no-works" doctrine of salvation, Simon Magus soon had a universal, popular following. Deified by the Romans, he was buried on Vatican Hill. ...
The records regarding Simon's death vary widely. Many of the stories try to incorporate some fiction from the Greek and Egyptian myths to enhance the reader's interest in this fascinating character. But the earliest records say that he was buried in Rome after a long period of great honour and deification.
It is not clearly known where Simon Magus alias Simon Pater or Simon Jupiter was buried. But this much is known. The place of burial for ALL prophets and holy men of the Romans was in the sacred cemetery on Vatican Hill. This much is certain.
Notice what Werner Keller in his The Bible as History says about the so-called burial of the Catholics' Peter. (Before reading Keller's statement, let us remember that he is a thorough-going Catholic and firmly, himself, believed that the Apostle Peter was buried in Rome.
However, the Bible shows nothing of the kind. Now, let's read Keller's comment — the official comment of the Roman Catholic Church):
"On the night of his death on the cross Peter's followers BURIED his body. As in the case of Jesus on the hill of Calvary it was wrapped in linen and secretly taken to a PAGAN BURIAL GROUND on the Via Cornelia, behind the stone structure of the arena. This PAGAN CEMETERY lay on a knoll called VATICANUS: the Latin word 'vatis' means a 'prophet' or 'SOOTHSAYER'. In days gone by there had been an Etruscan oracle on this spot" (p. 368).
What an admission!
Keller ought to have better sense to know that this Peter buried in this cemetery, of all places, could NOT be the Apostle Peter. In the first place, Peter was a Jew, and they had to be buried in their own cemeteries. And even if by a happen-chance a Jew could be buried in a Roman cemetery, it is most unlikely that a Jew — especially one who attacked the Roman religion as the Apostle Peter did — would ever have been allowed into the most holy of pagan cemeteries! This cemetery was reserved for prophets, soothsayers and the great ones of pagan Rome. (Martin E. SIMON MAGUS SERIES - Simonites Establish UNIVERSAL Church. Good News, August 1964)
When Vatican hill has been excavated, they have found pagan graves and one or more in costly apparel. Perhaps, one in costly apparel was Simon Magus."
Simon Magus, What Did He Teach? (cogwriter.com)
https://www.cogwriter.com/simonmagus.htm
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
In a letter dated May 28, 1784 from Hanau, Prince Charles of Hesse wrote thus to
Willermoz, to whom he had just communicated the death of the famous Count of Saint-
Germain, unexpectedly in Feburary 28 th at his home in Gottorp:
“I asked him: Didyou know a certain Marshall of Bieberstain?
“Reply: Y es, verv well...
Where didyou see him?
“-At Varsovia.
Did he know something?
“-Relata refero... Doyou understand me, my child?
“— Yes, my dear Count, I see that that implies he had papers, and that this
instruction could be given by him to others?
" - Exactly that.
“ - The late Hund would not hâve wanted to lie to us, would he?
“ - No, he was a good man.
“I said to him out of the blue:
“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?
“ The response was prompt, without a moment’ s reflection:
"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.
“Here, of ail the proofs of our lineage, was the only gift 9 10 that I hâve ever had.
But it might not be as convincing to others ; I thought I would amuse you by
communicating this anecdote. ”
Bord, who gave us this letter drawn from the ancient archives in his book
“ Freemasomy in France ”, also gives us the name of the real founder of the “ Templar
Strict Observance” , without doubt around 1620, according to our personal investigations.
In fact, G. Montchal, Honorary Grand Prior of Switzerland, quotes five important
dates in his work “The Independent Grand Priory of Switzerland, Scottish Rectified Rite”,
also reproduced a more ancient text, drawn from the archives of the Priory, and published
for the fîrst time in 1909, but not for public circulation:
1644 In the entourage of James II, gentlemen affiliated with the Order of Scottish Masters
constituted the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew, which they linked to the
chivalric Order of that name.
1688 H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, founded the Scottish Rectified Rite,
Corning out of the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew.
1730 From this date, we find a Templar Chapter established at Unwurden (Haute-Lusace).
Some historians believe that it was there that the Strict Templar Observance was initiated.
1 741 In 1 741, in Hamburg, a Chapter of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew was founded in the
Lodge “Judica”. This is a significant fact, since this establishment thus revealed the
existence of a Templar System.
1749 An important date, which marked the official introduction of the Templar Rite, both by
H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, and by his friend, Barond von
Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.
9 Bonne - PV.
10 “ Mais elle ne saurait l’être pour d’autresV’ . I’m sure I’ve mistranslated this but I can’t think what else it
might mean.- Pv.
10
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
You will note that, geographically speaking, ail these towns are located in the
provinces where the Teutonic Order of olden times had previously flourished. Let us
continue to quote G. de Montchal:
1755 Convent of Dresden, known under the name o/Rectification of Dresden , from which was
created the Rectified Rite of that name, and through which the Templar System was
established in a Masonic Workshop which took the name of Grand Lodge.
1763 Convent of Altenberg, near Iena. There the régime was submitted to a drastic reform,
and ail the Alchemists, Kabbalists and other were chased out. Its administrative
organization, which was that of the old Order of the Temple, was knit even doser still. It
took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.
How, in a Order which had shown itself so terribly steeped in the aristocratie
morgue (in the words of European Masons), had occultists managed to gain admission?
Montchal tells us that at the Convent of Kohlo in 1742, a fïrst purging had already
occurred. That is a piece of history of secret societies and chivalric Orders which ....
It is very probably by and with the support of the Princes of the House of Hesse-
Cassel...
We know, in fact, from sure historié sources, that William IV of Hesse-Cassel,
called “The Wise ”, was an enlightened sovereign, remarkable for his broad and extended
knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.
Born on June 14, 1533, died August 25, 1592, he was the author of Astrological
Tables, and published the resuit of his observations in this area. He possessed an
astronomical observatory where he worked for rnany years with his friends, Christ
Rothmann, the wise Mathematician, and Just Borge, who was the best Physician-Optician
of the âge. He was also the friend and constant protector of Tycho de Brahé.
Now, from the appearance of the heraldry of the House of Hesse-Cassel, we can
note a curious fact. According to the genealogist La Chesnay des Bois, in his
“ Dictionary of Nobility ” (Ed. from 1776), quoting du Buisson, and according to J. B.
Rietstap in his book “General Heraldry”, both famous heraldists, the Princes of Hesse-
Cassel bore shields: “of silver with a red Lating cross with broad ends, with a second
crossbar in red 11 ...”
So the House of Hesse-Cassel bore as the distinctive family emblem the Latin
cross with a second red crossbar, which was the exclusive privilège of the high
dignitaries of the Order of the Temple, of the living Order...
For this red cross was its exclusive privilège, and none other among the knightly
Orders coming from the Crusades was given the right to work under the white mande!
11 “D ’ argent à la Croix pâtée et alésée de gueules, à la double traverse de gueules
il
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
This privilège was conceded to the Templars by Pope Eugenius III in 1 146, at the request
of St. Bernard. (Cf. Probst-Biraben, in "The Mystery of the Templars ”, p. 29). As for the
double cross, it was the mark of high dignitaries of the Temple, as John Charpentier tells
us in his work "The Order of the Templars ” (p. 41).
But this is not ail. We hâve mentioned Tycho de Brahé, and here is a still more
surprising fact!
Son of the Grand Bailiff of Scanie, belonging to the oldest Swedish nobility (still
Sweden, or rather already Swedish), Tycho de Brahé had a château constructed which
was devoted to his alchemical and astrological studies, with a splendid library and
observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.
Born in 1 546 in Scanie, Denmark (which State was still a province of Sweden), he
died in Prague in 1601. Note this place, for we will return to it as a meeting place for
Jewish Kabbalists, Alchemists and Rosicrucian Theurgists in the years which follow,
right up to the end of the 18 th Century.
Now, one beautiful day in 1590, which disembarked in Uranienborg? King James
VI of Scotland, (future King of England under the name of James l st ), who had just
legally reinstated the Order of Chardon of Saint Andrew of Scotland, which Order was a
perpétuation of the Templars, as we hâve seen. . . From Uranienborg, the King and Tycho
de Brahé went to Cassel, and stayed near to William IV, the Wise. In 1591, a year later,
James VI published a flrst treatise on pneumatology, in which he treated at length on the
diverse nature of Spirits, developing the théories of his predecessor in this domain,
Reginald Scott, but perhaps also those of his friends: William IV the Wsie and Tycho de
Brahé. This book was “ Daemonologia , hoc est adversus incantationem sive magiam
institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’
This same sovereign, with the flrst English Rosicrucians, constituted the “ Royal
Rose Croix ”, composed of thirty-two knights (in remembrance of the thirty-two Paths of
Wisdom of the Kabbalah), and who was certainly the point of departure for the Jacobite
Rose-Croix, which became the 18 th Degree of Scottish Masonry of the 19 th Century.
How can one not accept that it was the resurgence of a vast initiatory movement
which perpetuated the Temple, which in one program and towards a coinmon aim was
able to unité these two sovereigns which, being occultists, both at the head of a defunct
Order of the Temple, bearing arms of foreign monks, like those of the high dignitaries of
the Temple for William IV the Wise, and those who took as a collective Symbol of the
Rose-Croix of the 18 th Century, for James VI of Scotland: “silver, with a red St. Andrews
Cross, four red roses in the quarters . . .” ?
“D ’ argent , au sautoir de gueules, cantonné de quatre roses du même”.
13 Which equates, graphically, to a cross of Saint Andrew, with four roses spread across the four angles of
this cross. Valentin Andrea bore this sign on his ring; it figures on a drawing decorating the upper région
of his portrait reproduced in the work by Wittermans: “ History of the Rose-Croix ”, p. 31.
12
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
So, according to our own conclusions and to the light which preceded it, this is
the reason for the Alchemists, Kabbalists, Theurgists as well as commoners, entering an
Order as aristocratie as that of the Teutonic Knights or that of the Strict Templar
Observance from which it came.
We note that certain authors, notably Philléas Lebesgue, supported the theory that
Marshall von Ludendorff had been one of the last représentatives of an esoteric Teuronic
kernel, perpetuating certain théories from the Gibelins to exclusively pangennanist ends.
What the famous devise of the Austrian Emperors claimed to affinn with their
“A.E.I.O.U.”, when translated from Latin into English signified something like this:
“Austria is destined to dominate the world”. And it was Ludendorff who made Hitler!
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
https://archive.org/stream/AmblelainRTemplarsRoseCroix/Amblelain%20R%20Templars%20%26%20Rose%20Croix_djvu.txt
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
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."
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.
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
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 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
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
SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.
https://theskylive.com/roadster-info
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
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses (M☉)) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around 5,000 K [K] (4,700 °C; 8,500 °F) or lower. The appearance of the red giant is from yellow-white to reddish-orange, including the spectral types K and M, sometimes G, but also class S stars and most carbon stars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant
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
Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."
https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha
Gautama
surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."
https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha
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
AI Overview
Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. That's 200 sextillion stars, or 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Explanation
To estimate the number of stars in the universe, astronomers:
Measure the color and brightness of starlight from our galaxy, the Milky Way
Use that information to estimate how many stars are in the Milky Way
Multiply the number of stars in the Milky Way by the number of galaxies in the universe
However, this is only a rough estimate because not all galaxies are the same. For example, spiral galaxies can have over a trillion stars, while giant elliptical galaxies can have 100 trillion stars.
Other ways to put it
The number of stars in the universe is so large that it's hard to imagine. It's about 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans of Earth.
Missions to learn more
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is mapping about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission's data will help astronomers better understand the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
Generative AI is experimental.
In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction
2 Peter 3:10
1599 Geneva Bible
10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02pZjzLsA4PRW9ph5GMWFVhCWisN73Av74Qon3r7z6mYUAjeYq1Vr4ks74eHJvraxMl
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
The Red Jews (German: Rote Juden), a legendary Jewish nation, appear in vernacular sources in Germany during the medieval era, from the 13th to the 15th centuries. These texts portray the Red Jews as an epochal threat to Christendom, one which would invade Europe during the tribulations leading to the end of the world.
A variant counter-story became an element of Yiddish folklore in the 15th century at the latest. Here the red Jews, the royte yidn, were lost tribes and poised to protect the Yiddish Jews from Christian violence. The earliest known references to the counter-story are in German-language reminiscences of Jewish life by converts to Christianity beginning in 1508. The Red Jews are a popular theme in later Yiddish literature, undergoing various mutations—including ultimately e.g. late 19th century and 20th century Zionist versions as a heroic warrior diaspora.
Andrew Gow studied the original German language texts and concluded that the legend of the Red Jews conflated three separate traditions: the biblical prophetic references to Gog and Magog, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and an episode from the Alexander Romance (3rd century AD), in which Alexander the Great encloses a race of heathens behind a great wall in the Caucasus. These traditions had some overlap already; Gog and Magog are among the nations trapped behind the wall in the Alexander Romance, and the only ones named in the version of the story appearing in Quran Sura al-Kahf (The Cave) 18:89, while the 14th-century work The Travels of Sir John Mandeville explicitly associates the confined nations with the Ten Lost Tribes.
Many pamphlets circulated interpreting such events as the rise of Turkish power in the context of the legendary Red Jews. Both Martin Bucer and Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560), for example, claimed that Muslims were the Red Jews.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Jews
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0kJcwyq1jacMRDYkXDUuuj41iWQNwAvYDqQs7VcgZge2hfCz66ye6BTWw8bTMoRk7l
What is the significance of a red heifer in the Bible?
Answer
It seems that every few years, a red heifer (red cow) is born in Israel, and it results in some people thinking that the return of Jesus is near. Why is this? What does a red heifer have to do with the end times? Before we explore that question directly, it is important to understand the significance of a red heifer in the Bible.
To meet the requirements of the Old Testament law, a red heifer was needed to help accomplish the purification of the Israelites from uncleanness—specifically, the ashes of a red heifer were needed (see Numbers 19). Because red heifer ashes were necessary for the purification rites held at the temple, many have regarded the appearance of a red heifer today as heralding the construction of the third temple and the return of Christ.
According to rabbinical tradition, there have been nine red heifers sacrificed since Moses’ time. Since the destruction of the second temple, no red heifers have been slaughtered. The rabbi Maimonides (1135—1204) taught that the tenth red heifer would be sacrificed by the Messiah Himself (Parah Adumah, ch. 3, § 4). The Temple Institute, a group advocating the construction of a third temple, reports that five flawless red heifers from Texas arrived in Israel on September 15, 2022 (https://templeinstitute.org, accessed 9/22/22). Many people view this event as a fulfilment of prophecy, since the acquisition of a red heifer is a major step forward in plans for a new temple.
The Mosaic Law specified that the red heifer was to be “without defect or blemish” and to have never borne a yoke (Numbers 19:2). The sacrifice of the red heifer was unique in the law in that it used a female animal, it was sacrificed away from the entrance to the tabernacle, and it was the only sacrifice in which the color of the animal was specified.
The slaughtering of a red heifer is described in Numbers 19:1–10. Eleazar the priest was to oversee the ritual outside the camp of the Israelites. After the animal was killed, Eleazar was to sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tabernacle seven times (verse 4). Then he left camp again and oversaw the burning of the carcass of the red heifer (verse 5). As the red heifer burned, the priest was to add “some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool” to the fire (verse 6).
The ashes of the red heifer were then collected and stored “in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp.” The ashes were used “in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin” (Numbers 19:9). The law goes on to detail when and how the ashes of the red heifer were used in purifying those who came in contact with a dead body: “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean” (verses 11–12). The purification process involved the ashes of the red heifer in this way: “Put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle . . . anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death” (verses 17–18).
The commands concerning the red heifer were yet another foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ for believers’ sin. The Lord Jesus was “without blemish,” just as the red heifer was to be. As the heifer was sacrificed “outside the camp” (Numbers 19:3), Jesus was crucified outside of Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:11–12). And, just as the ashes of the red heifer cleansed people from the contamination of death, so the sacrifice of Christ saves us from the penalty and corruption of death.
The red heifer ritual as established in the Mosaic Law was fairly simple; in the interval since that time, Judaism has added many standards and extra criteria. Talmudic tradition speaks of the type of rope the red heifer was to be bound with, the direction it was to face when being slaughtered, the words spoken by the priest, the wearing of sandals during the ritual, etc. The rabbinical rules listed many things that would disqualify a red heifer from being sacrificed: if she had been ridden or leaned on, if she had a garment placed over her, if a bird had rested on her, and if she had two black or white hairs, among many other conditions not found in the biblical text.
According to the futurist timeline of eschatology, there will indeed be a third temple of God in Jerusalem. Jesus prophesied a desecration of the temple to occur during the tribulation (Matthew 24:15; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4); for that to happen, there obviously will need to be a temple. Assuming those who dedicate the end-times temple follow Jewish law, they will need the ashes of a red heifer, mixed with water, for the ceremonial cleansing. If a blemish-free red heifer has truly been found and is in Israel, that could be one more piece falling into place for the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
Must a red heifer be found before the rapture occurs? No, Jesus could return to receive His own at any moment. The rapture is not contingent on the presence of any particular cow. Must a red heifer be found before the temple is rebuilt? Not necessarily, although temple advocates certainly want one for ceremonial purposes. Are animal sacrifices of any type required today? No, Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law, and His sacrifice provides true forgiveness and life eternal.
Scripture explicitly contrasts the red heifer ceremony with the greater sacrifice of Christ: “The ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:13–14).
https://www.gotquestions.org/red-heifer.html
The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Doctrine
June 11, 2022
By Mark Williams.
How did the pretribulation doctrine come about? A brief rundown would go something like this:
In 1591 a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera wrote a 500-page commentary on the grand points of Babylon and the antichrist, the object being to set aside the Protestant teaching that the Papacy is the antichrist. In his commentary, he assigned the first chapters of Revelation to the first century. The rest he restricted to a literal three and a half years at the end of time, BEFORE the resurrection. He taught that the Jewish temple would be rebuilt by a single individual antichrist that would abolish the Christian religion, deny Christ, pretend to be God, and conquer the world. Thus was laid the foundation for Dispensationalism.
In 1812 another Jesuit priest, named Emmanuel Lacunza, started teaching that there would be a 45-day tribulation period, AFTER Christ’s coming.
In 1826 Edward Irving translated Lacunza’s book and published it in 1827. Sometime after that, Irving started to teach a three-and-a-half-year tribulation after Christ’s coming.
In 1830, a man named John Darby of the Plymouth Brethren started teaching a seven-year tribulation period. He came to America seven times to promote his teaching. When George Muller of Bristol came up against the Dispensationalist doctrines of the Brethren movement, he severed all connection with it. “The time came,” he said, “when I had to either part from my Bible or part from John Darby. I chose to keep my precious Bible.”
So in 1812, we see the teaching of a 45-day tribulation after the rapture.
Around 1827 Edward Irving taught a three and a-half-year tribulation after the rapture. Then in 1830, the final turn to a seven-year tribulation after the rapture. Others picked up on this new doctrine and added to it.
In 1909, C. I. Scofield published the Scofield Reference Bible. His dispensational notes were mixed in with the verses of the Bible so well that if you didn’t know better, you would think they were part of the Holy Scriptures. Over two million copies of his Bible were sold with this new dispensational teaching. Scofield, although not a Plymouth Brethren, was a devoted disciple of John Darby.
After that, W. E. Blackstone wrote a book titled Jesus Is Coming Again. A millionaire financed sending several hundred thousand copies of this book to missionaries throughout the world.
After Israel became a nation in 1948, prophecy teachers sprung up like wildfire, teaching that the Second Coming would happen approximately forty years after Israel became a nation. They got this belief from misinterpreting the word “generation” in Matthew 24. Hundreds of books were written on this subject. People learned about this new doctrine, not from the Bible, but from these so-called prophecy books.
Today Dispensationalism has become the generally accepted belief of the Fundamentalist wing of popular Protestantism.
In his tract, “Who is the Antichrist?” a former Catholic priest, Joseph Zacchello, says: “The Jesuits were the first ones to introduce a new theory in order to divert men’s minds from perceiving the fulfillment of the prophecies of the antichrist in the papal church. The Jesuit Ribera brought out the futuristic system, which asserts that the antichrist is yet to appear.” And to this statement, he adds: “Protestants who advocate the futuristic system are pleasing the pope and are playing into the hands of Rome.”
The teaching that the Church is to be raptured to heaven just prior to a time called the great tribulation was not known prior to the 1800s. It’s amazing with all the writings left to us from early Christians on the rapture, all agreed that if there is going to be a tribulation at the end of time, the Church would go through it. Since no voice spoke out in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture, the only conclusion possible is that the Church did not teach this in the beginning and that it should not be teaching it now.
Conclusion
This material was condensed down from hundreds of pages of notes just to give you a quick insight into the problem we are facing today. If we continue to curl up into a ball and keep our mouths shut because somebody might get their feelings hurt, the original truth that was taught by Jesus and his apostles, will one day vanish.
I’m not saying that we should go out and create war with those who disagree, but we should, in a loving manner, spread the whole truth of the Gospel. And if it were only on the last days, it would be easier for me to keep my mouth shut. But Satan has caused Christians to pervert his truth in dozens of chapters throughout the Bible.
It’s sad to think that a large part of God’s Church teaches that the Abrahamic covenant is yet to be fulfilled and yet the Bible teaches it has been fulfilled to the very letter. It’s sad to see Christians teaching that Jesus Christ isn’t reigning now when a simple study of the Bible shows he is and that Jesus is reigning from David’s throne now just as the Scriptures foretold. It’s sad to see Christians misleading the world into believing that after Christ comes back, there will still be a chance for salvation, and again, the Bible says no such thing. Friends, the Bible warns against believing in false doctrine, and yet to many, it’s not a problem. I believe that Christians can come together with a more unified understanding of the Scriptures, but only if we take the time to study amongst ourselves and not be afraid to ask questions or get our feelings hurt. Our goal should be stamping out false doctrine and becoming unified in Christ Jesus. Remember, we are commanded to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Now if you still disagree with my notes, I would love to hear what you have to say and I promise to keep an open and honest heart. I for one do not want to stand face to face with Jesus only to find out that I’ve been deceived my whole life and neither should you.
Download a PDF file of this article.
https://www.jamesjpn.net/basic-bible/the-origin-of-the-pre-tribulation-rapture-doctrine/?print=pdf
https://www.jamesjpn.net/basic-bible/the-origin-of-the-pre-tribulation-rapture-doctrine/
Matthew 24
1599 Geneva Bible
24 2 The destruction of the Temple. 4 The signs of Christ’s coming. 12 Iniquity. 23 False Christs. 29 The signs of the end of the world. 31 The Angels. 32 The fig tree. 37 The days of Noah. 42 We must watch. 45 The servant.
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple, and his disciples came to him, to show him the building of the Temple.
2 [a]And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be here left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be cast down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him apart, saying, Tell us when these things shall be, and what sign shall be of thy coming, and of the end of the world.
4 [b]And Jesus answered, and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my Name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the [c]end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and realm against realm, and there shall be famine, and pestilence, and earthquakes in [d]divers places.
8 All these are but the beginning of [e]sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my Name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall be increased, the love of many shall be cold.
13 [f]But he that endureth to the end, he shall be saved.
14 And this [g]Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached through the whole [h]world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
15 ¶ [i]When ye therefore shall see the [j]abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, set in the holy place (let him that readeth consider it.)
16 Then let them which be in Judea, flee into the mountains.
17 Let him which is on the housetop, not come down to fetch anything out of his house.
18 And he that is in the field, let not him return back to fetch his [k]clothes.
19 And woe shall be to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
20 But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the [l]Sabbath day.
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be.
22 And except [m]those days should be shortened, there should no [n]flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and [o]shall show great signs and wonders, so that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret places, believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the East, and is seen into the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 [p]For wheresoever a dead [q]carcass is, thither will the Eagles be gathered together.
29 [r]And immediately after the tribulations of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
30 And then shall appear the [s]sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the [t]kindreds of the earth [u]mourn, and they shall see the Son of man [v]come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the [w]four winds, and from the one end of the heavens unto the other.
32 [x]Now learn the parable of the fig tree: when her bough is yet [y]tender, and it putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.
33 So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that the kingdom of God is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, this [z]generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
35 [aa]Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
36 [ab]But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels of heaven, but my father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so likewise shall the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they did [ac]eat and drink, marry, and give in marriage, unto the day that Noah entered into the Ark,
39 And knew nothing, till the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 [ad]Then two shall be in the fields, the one shall be received, and the other shall be refused.
41 [ae]Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be received, and the other shall be refused.
42 [af]Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your master will come.
43 Of this be sure, that if the good man of the house knew at what watch the thief would come, he would surely watch, and not suffer his house to be dug through.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in the hour that ye think not, will the Son of man come.
45 Who then is a faithful servant and wise, whom his master hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his master when he cometh, shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My master doth defer his coming,
49 And begin to smite his fellows, and to eat, and to drink with the drunken,
50 That servant’s master will come in a day, when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And will [ag]cut him off, and give him his portion with hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes
Matthew 24:2 The destruction of the city, and especially of the Temple is foretold.
Matthew 24:4 The Church shall have a continual conflict with infinite miseries and offences, and that more is, with false prophets, until the day of victory and triumph cometh.
Matthew 24:6 That is, when those things are fulfilled, yet the end shall not come.
Matthew 24:7 Everywhere.
Matthew 24:8 Word for word, of great torments, like unto women in travail.
Matthew 24:13 The Gospel shall be spread abroad, rage the devil never so much: and they which do constantly believe, shall be saved.
Matthew 24:14 Joyful tidings of the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 24:14 Through all that part that is dwelt in.
Matthew 24:15 The Kingdom of Christ shall not be abolished when the city of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but shall be stretched out even to the end of the world.
Matthew 24:15 The abomination of desolation, that is to say, which all men detest and cannot abide, by reason of the foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaketh of the idols that were set up in the Temple, or as others think, he meant the morning of the doctrine in the Church.
Matthew 24:18 This betokeneth the great fear that shall be.
Matthew 24:20 It was not lawful to take a journey on the Sabbath day; Josephus, book 13.
Matthew 24:22 Those things which befell the people of the Jews, in the 34 years, when as the whole land was wasted, and at length the city of Jerusalem taken, and both it and their Temple destroyed, are mixed with those which shall come to pass before the last coming of our Lord.
Matthew 24:22 The whole nation should utterly be destroyed: and this word Flesh is by a figure taken for man, as the Hebrews used to speak.
Matthew 24:24 Shall openly lay forth great signs for men to behold.
Matthew 24:28 The only remedy against the furious rage of the world, is to be gathered and joined to Christ.
Matthew 24:28 Christ, who will come with speed and his presence will be with a majesty to whom all shall flock even as Eagles.
Matthew 24:29 Everlasting damnation shall be the end of the security of the wicked, and everlasting bliss, of the miseries of the godly.
Matthew 24:30 The exceeding glory and majesty, which shall bear witness, that Christ the Lord of heaven and earth draweth near to judge the world.
Matthew 24:30 All nations: and he alludeth to the dispersion which we read of, Gen. 10 and 11, or to the dividing of the people of Israel.
Matthew 24:30 They shall be in such sorrow, that they shall strike themselves: and it is transferred to the mourning.
Matthew 24:30 Sitting upon the clouds, as he was taken up into heaven.
Matthew 24:31 From the four quarters of the world.
Matthew 24:32 If God hath prescribed a certain order to nature, much more hath he done so to his eternal judgments, but the wicked understand it not, or rather make a mock at it: but the godly do mark it, and wait for it.
Matthew 24:32 When his tenderness showeth that the sap which is the life of the tree, is come from the root into the bark.
Matthew 24:34 This age: this word generation or Age, being used for the men of this age.
Matthew 24:35 The Lord doth now begin the judgment, which he will make an end of in the latter day.
Matthew 24:36 It is sufficient for us to know that God hath appointed a latter day for the restoring of all things, but when it shall be, it is hidden from us all, for our profit, that we may be so much the more watchful, that we be not taken as they were in old time in the flood.
Matthew 24:38 The word which the Evangelist useth, expresseth the matter more fully than ours doth: for it is a word which is proper to brute beasts: and his meaning is, that in those days men shall be given to their bellies like unto brute beasts: for otherwise it is no fault to eat and drink.
Matthew 24:40 Against them that persuade themselves that God will be merciful to all men, and do by that means give over themselves to sin, that they may in the meanwhile live in pleasure void of all care.
Matthew 24:41 The Greek women and the Barbarians did grind and bake. (Plutarch, book Problem)
Matthew 24:42 An example of the horrible carelessness of men in those things whereof they ought to be most careful.
Matthew 24:51 To wit, from the rest, or will cut him into two parts, which was a most cruel kind of punishment, wherewith as Justin Martyr witnesseth, Isaiah the Prophet was executed by the Jews: the like kind of punishment we read of, 1 Sam. 15:33 and Dan. 3:29.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024&version=GNV
Comments
Post a Comment