North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemns warship accident as 'criminal'

By Jack Kim and Josh Smith

May 21, 2025 9:32 PM PDT Updated an hour ago

Summary

Destroyer one of the largest warships to be built by North Korea

Leader Kim criticises accident for tarnishing state dignity

Vessel likely side-launched, a method not tried for warships

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles, Seoul says

SEOUL, May 22 (Reuters) - A serious accident occurred on Wednesday during the launch of a new North Korean warship while Kim Jong Un was attending the event, with the isolated state's leader calling it a "criminal act" that could not be tolerated, state media KCNA reported.

Kim, who witnessed the failed launch of the 5,000-ton destroyer, excoriated the accident as caused by "carelessness" that tarnished the country's dignity, and ordered the ship to be restored before a key ruling party meeting in June, KCNA said on Thursday.

The report did not mention whether there were any casualties.

KCNA said the incident at the northeastern port of Chongjin was caused by a loss of balance while the vessel was being launched and it said sections of the bottom of the warship were crushed, but it did not give more details of damage sustained.

"Kim Jong Un made stern assessment saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated," KCNA reported.

Kim said the accident "brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse", adding an immediate restoration of the destroyer was "not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state."

South Korea's military said the stricken warship was lying sideways in the water after the failed launch.

The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States had been monitoring the activities in advance, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told a briefing.

Later on Thursday, South Korea's military said the North fired multiple cruise missiles around the time its state media reported the failure of the warship launch from an area south of the port. It did not provide further details on the missiles.

The rare public disclosure of an accident follows a report of the launch of another destroyer of a similar size in April, also attended by Kim, at the west coast shipyard of Nampho.

North Korea has previously experienced accidents such as space launch vehicle failures and civilian disasters that have subsequently been used to promote the role of the leadership and the ruling Workers' Party in correcting the problems.

The 5,000-ton destroyers launched by North Korea this year are the country's largest warships yet, part of leader Kim's push to upgrade its naval power by adding vessels capable of carrying and launching dozens of missiles to its fleet.

In a report last week on preparations for the latest launch, U.S.-based 38 North said it appeared the ship would be side-launched from the quay.

Such a method has not been previously observed in launching warships in North Korea, according to military analysts.

"The use of this launch method could be one of necessity, as the quay where the ship is being built does not have an incline" to move the vessel stern first into the water, the 38 North report said.

Commercial satellite imagery of the shipyard the day before the launch showed the destroyer positioned on the quay with support vessels by its side and its missile tube magazines exposed.

A North Korea expert based in Seoul said Pyongyang's disclosure was surprisingly swift.

"It shows again Kim Jong Un's ruling style of cutting off negative rumours from spreading and controlling officials more forcefully by being open about it rather than hiding it," said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.

Reporting by Joyce Lee, Jack Kim, Josh Smith, Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-condemns-warship-accident-kcna-says-2025-05-22/

The Mirror Match is a special match battle introduced in Mortal Kombat. The player has to face the character that they are playing as in kombat. The difference between each identical character is distinguished by the color of their clothes or of their skin.

Overview

In the original Mortal Kombat tournament, kombatants had to not only face their enemies in battle, but themselves. Facing a doppelganger, players had to defeat a warrior who shared their own strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, it is a duel where one must overcome themselves if they are to face the likes of Shang Tsung as they become truly aware of their own strengths as well as the weaknesses they can conquer.

In Mortal Kombat X, mirror matches are a topic of interest thanks to the unique interactions that each kombatant has before a fight. In one instance with Reptile, his double is Shang Tsung himself when Reptile assumed he was Chameleon. Other instances heavily imply the convergence of different timelines as Raiden must fight against an alternate version of himself who fights for Chaosrealm instead of Earthrealm while the Scorpion of the new timeline is faced against his original counterpart during his time as the Elder Gods' champion, with Lt. Sonya Blade meeting her future Gen. Sonya Blade self. Also, Shinnok faces his double who [he] "didn't kill at the pyramid".

This level of intrigue would later return to play a big role in the story of Mortal Kombat 11 where characters are be faced with past versions of themselves, particularly Liu Kang and Kung Lao confronting their future Revenant counterparts. In one Mirror Match, the Scorpion from Mortal Kombat X is seen acknowledging and defending Kuai Liang's sincerity in their newfound alliance while the opposing version believes Sub-Zero to be treacherous. Interactions between future and past selves also come with immense risks as damage inflicted on the past self will be reflected on the future self such as the younger Johnny Cage being shot in the face with the exact same scar being reflected on the older version as well as feeling their pain. In other cases, characters are faced with family members with identical visages such as Bi-Han in his human form, Sub-Zero's Grandfather, Liu Kang's ancestor Cheh Kang, or Shang Tsung's brother Shang Lao.

Mortal Kombat 1 would take the concept to its logical extreme in the latter half of the Story with the introduction of parallel timelines following the previous game's final battle for control of the Keep. This would introduce not only Titan versions of Liu Kang's old allies, but evil versions of them working for Titan Shang Tsung. This eventually culminates in another Armageddon-style battle between the Forces of Light and Darkness, Liu Kang assembling not only his own chosen warriors, but kombatants across parallel timelines, including heroic versions of his old enemies to match Shang Tsung's. Due to being able to choose the final warrior to accompany Liu Kang, they have the chance to fight characters from other endings of previous games and timelines such as Smoke facing off against his cyberized version from MK3 or Shao fighting a fleshbound version of the merger between him and Sub-Zero.

https://mortalkombat.fandom.com/wiki/Mirror_Match

Kim Kardashian testifies about being bound and held at gunpoint during Paris robbery

By THOMAS ADAMSON, JOHN LEICESTER and NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY

Updated 12:23 PM PDT, May 13, 2025

PARIS (AP) — Kim Kardashian said a silent prayer — for her sister, her best friend, her family — as a masked man pulled her toward him in a Paris hotel room during the 2016 jewelry heist that changed her life. She wore a bathrobe. Her hands were zip-tied. Her mouth was taped. She thought she wouldn’t survive.

“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” she told a Paris court Tuesday. “I absolutely did think I was going to die.”

She said she was getting ready for bed when she heard stomping on the stairs. At first, she thought it was her sister Kourtney and a friend returning drunk from a night out at Paris Fashion Week.

In this artist sketch, Kim Kardashian testifies regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentin Pasquier)

“Hello? Hello? Who is it?” she called out. Then masked men stormed the room.

She grabbed her phone but didn’t know the French emergency number. She tried to call her sister and bodyguard, but one man stopped her. The men threw her on the bed, zip-tied her hands and pressed a gun to her.

0:00 / 55

AP AUDIO: Kim Kardashian testifies about being bound and held at gunpoint during Paris robbery

AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports on emotional testimony from Kim Kardashian.

“I have babies,” Kardashian said, according to her testimony. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”

She was carried into the bathroom. One man taped her mouth. She was told she’d be OK if she stayed quiet.

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The Paris robbery of Kim Kardashian changed how celebrities think about exposure

Kardashian jewel heist case: Suspect plans to admit role at Paris trial

The last time Kardashian saw the men that police say robbed her, she was locked in the marble bathroom while masked assailants stole more than $6 million in jewelry. On Tuesday, nearly a decade later, she faced them again — this time, from the witness stand.

Her testimony marked the emotional climax of a trial that has gripped France and reignited debates about the cost of fame and what it means to live in public.

Kim Kardashian, center, arrives to testify regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Following digital breadcrumbs

At the time of the robbery, Kardashian was one of the most recognized women on the planet. A fashion icon. A reality star. A billionaire business mogul. She had mastered a new kind of celebrity — one broadcast in real time, post by post, to millions of followers.

But in the early hours of Oct. 3, 2016, that visibility became a weapon against her. The robbery marked a turning point for Kardashian, and for how the world understood vulnerability in the digital age.

Investigators believe the attackers followed Kardashian’s digital breadcrumbs — images, timestamps, geotags — and exploited them with old-school criminal methods.

Dressed in black with defiant sparkling diamonds, Kardashian on Tuesday stood across from her mother, Kris Jenner, in the heavily secured courtroom. Her voice trembled as she thanked French authorities for “allowing me to share my truth.”

She described how the attackers arrived at her hotel disguised as police officers, dragging the concierge upstairs in handcuffs. “I thought it was some sort of terrorist attack,” she said.

One attacker demanded she turn over her diamond ring valued at $4 million on the bedside table. “He said, ‘Ring! Ring!’ and he pointed to his hand,” she recalled.

French prosecutors say the assailants — most in their 60s and 70s — were part of a seasoned criminal ring. Two defendants have admitted being at the scene. One claims he didn’t know who she was.

Twelve suspects were originally charged. One has since died. Another was excused due to illness. The French press dubbed them les papys braqueurs — “the grandpa robbers” — but prosecutors insist they were no harmless retirees.

They face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and membership in a criminal gang, offenses that carry the potential for life imprisonment.

Kim Kardashian, center left, accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner, center right, leaves the justice palace after testifying, regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

‘Take everything. I need to live’

After the men fled, Kardashian rubbed the tape against the bathroom sink to free her hands. She hopped downstairs, still bound, to find her friend and stylist, Simone Harouche. Fearing the robbers might return, they went onto the balcony and hid in bushes. While lying there, Kardashian called her mother.

Earlier in the trial, Harouche recalled hearing Kardashian scream from upstairs: “‘I need to live.’ That is what she kept on saying, ‘Take everything. I need to live.’”

Harouche locked herself in a bathroom and texted Kardashian’s sister and bodyguard: “Something is very wrong.”

She described how her friend was “beside herself ... she just was screaming.”

Judge David de Pas asked whether Kardashian had made herself a target by posting images of herself with “jewels of great value.” Harouche rejected the premise. “Just because a woman wears jewelry, that doesn’t make her a target,” she said. “That’s like saying that because a woman wears a short skirt that she deserves to be raped.”

After the robbery, critics slammed Kardashian for flaunting her wealth, including designer Karl Lagerfeld who told the Associated Press she was “too public” with her jewelry. But as details of the heist emerged, public opinion grew sympathetic.

The heist triggered a cultural shift, prompting publicists and managers to urge clients to delay social media posts, remove location tags and think twice before flashing luxury online. Yet Kardashian’s own image, some say, continues to complicate that narrative. As she testified Tuesday about her trauma, journalists received a press release touting her Paris courthouse appearance: “Kim Kardashian stuns …wearing a show-stopping $1.5 million diamond necklace by Samer Halimeh New York, featuring 80 flawless diamonds.” Visibility, it seemed, remains currency.

She told the court her house in Los Angeles was robbed shortly afterward in what appeared to be a copycat attack. Without security guards, she said, “I can’t even sleep at night.” She now keeps between four and six guards at home.

“I started to get this phobia of going out,” Kardashian said. “This experience really changed everything for us.”

At the time of the 2016 robbery, she said, her bodyguard was staying in a separate hotel: “We assumed that if we were in a hotel it was safe, it was secure.”

She said Paris had once been a sanctuary, a place where she would walk at 3 or 4 a.m., window shopping, sometimes stopping for hot chocolate. It “always felt really safe,” she said. “It was always a magical place.”

Kardashian, who is studying to become a lawyer herself, said she was grateful for the opportunity “to tell my truth” in the packed Paris courtroom.

“This is my closure,” she said. “This is me putting this, hopefully, to rest.”

https://apnews.com/article/kim-kardashian-trial-paris-fashion-week-b06a96edfa5271de2d92870dcafe2796

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kim Jong Un[d] (born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984)[b] is a North Korean politician and dictator who has been the third supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012.[e] He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.

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

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

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

Early life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Switzerland - The Oligarchy Strongbox

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

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]

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

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

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

What We Know

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html

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

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

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

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

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

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

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

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

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

Mark 15:32

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

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

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

The Final Coup

Can anyone doubt that Freemasonry, specifically English Freemasonry, is behind the recent

break-up of the Soviet Union? From the moment Kerensky's democratic government was ousted

by the Bolsheviks, London backed the White Russian counterrevolution. When the atrocities of

the Red Terror were exposed, London was strengthened in her resolve to topple the Soviet

Union.

The seriousness of the situation in the Soviet Union was brought to light by Admiral "Blinker"

Hall, head of British naval intelligence. Hall informed his colleagues at the end of World War I

427

that the "most durable monster Western intelligence has ever faced had surfaced in Moscow....

Therefore, it was not only necessary to discover the other side's secrets but to protect our own

from disciples of communism, one of whom could well be the colleague beside you."135

In the early 1920s, the British Special Intelligence Service (SIS) made its first attempt to break

up the Soviet Union. They nearly succeeded. The plot called for an uprising of the bodyguards of

the communist leaders, who would seize Lenin and Trotsky. (The plot also included the

assassination of Lenin if the occasion arose, which it did, but failed.)

British agents would then establish a provisional anti-communist government. However, agents

loyal to the communists penetrated the operation, and the whole plot fell apart. Phillip Knightley,

author of The Master Spy (1989), said that the CHEKA, realizing a formidable foe in the SIS,

from that moment planned "the long-term.. .Soviet penetration of Western intelligence... "136

When Hitler rose to power, London made a second attempt to destroy the Soviet Union by

pushing Nazi Germany east to war with Russia (see chapter 22). Having failed to topple the

Soviet Union with Hitler, London continued her objective. "The Final Coup" was well thought

out and took 59 years to perfect.

The most brilliant intelligence operation to topple a nation involved English Freemasonry, the

KGB and a man named Kim Philby, one of England's senior intelligence officers in MI-6

(Mission Impossible, department 6). As a young man, Philby was groomed for the task by his

father, Freemason St.-John Philby. The senior Philby was the British intelligence specialist in the

Arabian peninsula for forty years following the Bolshevik Revolution. He assisted in setting up

Masonic Lodges throughout Arabic speaking nations.137 Although there is no record that young

Philby joined Freemasonry (and he stated he had not), his father taught him free-thinking.

Moreover, he was educated at Cam-bridge, a college rife with secret societies, including

Freemasonry. There he learned the politics of the intellectual Left and became a communist

during the Third International, but never joined the Party. When he graduated in June 1933, he

went to Vienna under orders from the French Communist Party, which was headquartered in the

Grand Orient at Paris.138

When Philby knew all there was to know about the enemy, he was hired by British intelligence

as a correspondent and in 1939 sent to Spain to observe the communist revolution in progress

there. No one knows for sure when, or if, he was "recruited" by the KGB, but he did give away

secrets. The secrets he gave to his controller, however, were miniscule compared to those he

never revealed, such as operation "Ultra" during World War II. (Ultra was the code name given

to information gathered through deciphering German signal traffic produced by the radio

enciphering machine known as "Enigma.")139

After the War, Philby was given permission by British intelligence to try the "full double." He

was so instructed: "If an opportunity arises to convince the Russian intelligence service that you

are willing to betray your own service and work for the other side, then you have permission to

428

seize it."140

In 1949 Philby was sent to Washington as Great Britain's SIS representative in the United States,

working in liaison with the CIA and the FBI. By the time he left Washington to return to

London, no other British intelligence officer was as well equipped to perform "The Final Coup"

on Soviet Russia.

When he returned to London, Philby began to develop his cover that would make the KGB

believe he was a Soviet double agent. In 1952 two British SIS agents, Donald Maclean and Guy

Burgess, defected to Russia. Philby was suspected of helping them. In 1955, 33rd degree

Freemason J. Edgar Hoover cleared Philby ofinvolvement.141 After this reprieve, Philby was sent

to the Middle East as a correspondent for the London Observer and The Economist. The real

reason for this transfer was to debrief his father. The senior Philby introduced his son to the

entire range of his Middle East contacts. Together, Philby and Philby traveled the Middle East

from 1955 until September 1960, when SL John Philby died.142 The time had come for Kim

Philby's defection.

In January 1963, Philby disappeared while on his way to a diplomatic party in Beirut. In April he

surfaced in Moscow. Shortly thereafter, Khrushchev fell from power. After 1963 the West heard

nothing of Philby, until 1979. That year Western intelligence discovered that Philby had just

been promoted to the rank of General of the KGB. Then in 1980, shocking news came from

London that Kim Philby had never had a KGB controller, that Sir Anthony Blunt had all along

been Philby's intelligence controller for Britain's Royal Court. Translated, this meant that Philby

was a triple-agent, a British intelligence operative disguised as a Soviet double-agent. 143

In the next few years Brezhnev died and each of the next two Soviet leaders, Yuri Andropov and

Konstantin Chernenko, died suddenly and under mysterious circumstances.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Kim Philby granted an unprecedented interview to

Phillip Knightley, author of The Master Spy. Knightley's conclusion was that "the British had let

him [Philby] go."144 In "The Final Coup," the last chapter of his book, Knightley records Philby's

statement: "In Gorbachev I have a leader who has justified my years of faith."145

What did Philby mean? The policies implemented by Gorbachev dismantled the Soviet Union.

Was Philby involved in this process? Was this his assignment? Did he have something to do with

bringing Gorbachev to power?

In 1984, one year before Gorbachev took office, he travelled to the two Masonic headquarters in

London and Paris, to make a "report." Subsequent events suggest that while on that trip he was

initiated into French Freemasonry. The next year, in 1985, Gorbachev was at the helm of the

Soviet Union. A major Paris daily newspaper, Le Figaro, reported on Gorbachev's intense

interest in Freemasonry. By 1989 reports were coming out of France that Gorbachev was

planning to reopen Masonic lodges inside the Soviet Union and its satellite states. According to

429

Floshpoint (September 1990), a monthly newsletter published by Texe Marrs exposing the most

current developments in the conspiracy, "Both of the top masonic [sic] organizations in France,

the Grand Orient.. .and the Grand Lodge.. .are now working on this high priority project."146

When Freemasonry is permitted to operate within a nation, there will be revolution. The peaceful

demise of the Soviet Union in December 1991 can only be attributed to the activity of these new

lodges established inside Russian borders since 1989. We may never know what intrigue took

place to topple communism, but on December 26, 1991, when Gorbachev voluntarily stepped

down from power, he said in true Masonic terminology, "I hereby discontinue my activities at

the post of president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We're now living in a New

World!" 147

In Conclusion

The Russian Revolution occurred in cooperation with English Masonic Socialists, funded by the

House of Rothschild, and in conflict with Grand Orient Communists, funded by the House of

Warburg. English Masonry wanted the Zionists out of Russia in order to establish a Jewish

homeland in Palestine, while French Grand Orient Masonry desired to keep the Zionists within

Russia. Russian Jews, although covertly manipulated by both Gentile Freemasonries, played a

significant role in the two Russian Revolutions of 1917. Even the wealthy Rothschilds and

Warburgs were pawns in the hands of the Priory of Sion and the Gentile Templars. Jews were

used, then abused as scapegoats. Freemasonry went unscathed.

Indeed, the Russian Revolution, the secret conflict it provoked between English and French

Freemasonry, and the financial competition it generated between the Rothschilds and the

Warburgs, was, and still is, only a manifestation of the thousand-year-old struggle between the

Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Robert George Kardashian (February 22, 1944 – September 30, 2003) was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.

Early life and education

Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 1944, one of three children born to Arthur Kardashian (1917–2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (1917–2008), both Armenian Americans.[1] He had a sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman, and a brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian.[2][3] The Kardashians were Armenian Spiritual Christians originally from Kars Oblast, and known by the surname Kardaschoff, a Russianized form of the Armenian surname Kardashian, as the area, though now part of modern-day Turkey, was then part of the Russian Empire.[4] Once in the United States, Arthur's father, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas, and began a career in garbage collection, founding his own business, and married Hamas Shakarian, also an immigrant of Armenian heritage.[5][6]

He grew up in the affluent View Park area of Los Angeles County, where the family lived at 4908 Valley Ridge Avenue.[7] Kardashian attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School and the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1966 with a B.S. degree in business administration.[8] He earned a J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and practiced for about a decade; after that, he went into business. In 1973, Kardashian was one of the co-founders of the trade publication Radio & Records, which he and his partners sold for a large profit in 1979.[8] Kardashian also pioneered the idea of playing music between movies in theaters. He subsequently parlayed the concept into a business, starting a company called Movie Tunes.[9][10][11][12] He served as president and CEO of the firm and later invested in Juice Inc., a frozen yogurt company, and in a music video business called Concert Cinema.[13][14]

O. J. Simpson case

Main article: O. J. Simpson murder case

Kardashian and Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends.[15] Simpson was the best man at Kardashian and Kris Houghton's wedding in 1978.

Following the June 12, 1994, murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house to avoid the media. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon.[16] When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note.[17]

Simpson was charged with the murders and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial. Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case but reactivated it to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team, alongside Simpson's main defense attorneys, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. As one of Simpson's lawyers and a member of the defense "Dream Team", Kardashian could not be compelled or subpoenaed to testify against Simpson in the case, which included Simpson's past history and behavior with his ex-wife Nicole, and as to the contents of Simpson's garment bag.[18] He sat by Simpson throughout the trial.[19]

The New York Times reported that Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters that he had begun to question Simpson's innocence: "I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence."[18] After Simpson's acquittal, Kardashian and Simpson ultimately stopped speaking to each other.

Illness and death

Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at his home in Encino, Los Angeles, at age 59,[20][21] and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.[22]

In popular culture

Kardashian was portrayed by David Schwimmer in the 2016 FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson.[23] Schwimmer was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance, but lost to Sterling K. Brown, who portrayed Christopher Darden in the same series.[24] In 2016, ESPN Films and their 30 for 30 series produced a five-part miniseries called O.J.: Made in America, produced by Ezra Edelman, in which Kardashian was featured heavily through archive footage.[25]

In 2017, Kardashian was the subject of the pilot episode of the TV comedy series Over My Dead Body on Amazon Prime.[26]

Personal life

Kardashian dated Priscilla Presley from 1975 to 1976.[27][28] The pair met through Kardashian's sister-in-law Joan, who had previously been married to Joe Esposito, road manager for Elvis.[29][30] On an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, his daughter Kim stated that the two were briefly engaged.

Kardashian's married former flight attendant Kris Kardashian (née Houghton, later Jenner) on July 8, 1978.[31][32] They had four children: daughters Kourtney (born 1979), Kim (born 1980), Khloé (born 1984), and son Rob (born 1987). They divorced in March 1991 but remained close friends until his death.[33][34]

Shortly after separating from his first wife in 1991, Kardashian became engaged to Denice Shakarian Halicki, his third cousin and the widow of movie producer H.B. Halicki.[35][36][37] The couple never married.

In 1998, Kardashian married Jan Ashley; however, the marriage ended in annulment in 1999.[38] Ashley later claimed frequent upset and turmoil related to Kardashian's ex-wife, Kris, and their children "were instrumental" in the demise of the relationship.[39][40][41]

After dating for three years and proposing in 2001, Kardashian married his third wife, Ellen Pierson (née Markowitz), six weeks prior to his death.[42][19]

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

Robert Francis Prevost named first American pope

by The National News Desk Thu, May 8th 2025 at 9:16 AM

Updated Thu, May 8th 2025 at 11:29 AM

Robert Francis Prevost has been named the new pontiff, becoming the first American to hold the position after a two-day conclave. He will go by the name Pope Leo XIV.

His first words greeting his new followers were "Peace be with you" in a speech that shifted from Italian to Spanish and centered on messages of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He will now take over a Catholic Church with some 1.4 billion followers around the world facing decisions on how to move the church forward and whether to continue the path of his predecessor.

“We must try together to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and dialogue,” Pope Leo told his new followers before leading the Hail Mary prayer.

Born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his life outside the United States. He spent two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and naturalized citizen before being brought to the Vatican by Pope Francis to oversee the office that chooses and manages bishops around the world. His prominence due to his position within the Vatican positioned him as a leading candidate heading into the conclave aside from his nationality.

White smoke rose from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel Thursday evening in Vatican City after just over 24 hours of voting, when Pope Leo XIV earned at least 89 votes from the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88.

A crowded St. Peter's Square cheered as a top cardinal said the words “Habemus Papam!” or “We have a pope!” from the loggia of the basilica. The new pope made his first public appearance and delivered a blessing. He is the 267th holder of the office in a line of pontiffs dating back to St. Peter. The last pope to take the name Leo was Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903.

He is expected to be a unifying figure for the Church after years of ideological divides between its progressive and conservative wings. Leo rarely took outspoken stances on some of the most controversial issues.

President Donald Trump congratulated Pope Leo XIV in a post on Truth Social.

"It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!" Trump wrote.

https://katu.com/news/nation-world/white-smoke-rises-above-sistine-chapel-to-signal-new-pope-has-been-chosen-vatican-conclave-cardinals

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

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

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

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

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

Origin

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

History

Robert the Strong

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

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

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

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

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

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

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

Name origins and usage

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Revelation 13:18

New International Version

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

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

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

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

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

The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

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 Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."

The Messianic Legacy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing

"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

Pope Francis Unveils Christmas Nativity With Baby Jesus Atop A Keffiyeh

The pontiff declared "Enough wars, enough violence!" while presenting a scene by two Palestinian artists near the Vatican on Saturday.

Kelby Vera

Dec 8, 2024, 07:29 PM EST

Pope Francis made a plea for peace while unveiling a nativity featuring baby Jesus nestled in a keffiyeh in Vatican City on Saturday.

The pontiff declared “Enough wars, enough violence!” while receiving a delegation of representatives from the Palestinian groups that organized the project by Bethlehem-based artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, Vatican News reported.

Part of a series of scenes from a collection titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,” the biblical tableau shows figures of the holy family carved from olive wood while baby Jesus lies atop a keffiyeh, a style of scarf worn across the Middle East which has become a symbol of Palestinians’ resistance to the ongoing occupation by Israel.

Above the family is a panel of glass inscribed with, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people” in Latin and Arabic.

At the event, the pope went on to tell his audience to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war,” according to the Times of Israel.

Following the nativity’s dedication, the New Arab reported that a mass for peace and a ceasefire in the region took place at the Angeli Chapel.

Pope Francis has previously called the public to support a ceasefire between Palestine and Israel as well as the safe release of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The head of the Holy See directly questioned Israel’s aggressive military response in interviews from a new book published last month, in which he calls for an investigation into whether Israel’s actions in Palestine “fits into the technical definition” of genocide.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-francis-baby-jesus-keffiyeh-nativity_n_67560b2fe4b06b50ac931068

Luke 13:31-33

1599 Geneva Bible

31 [a]The same day there came certain Pharisees, and said unto him, Depart, and go hence: for Herod will kill thee.

32 Then said he unto them, Go ye and tell that [b]fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and will heal still [c]today, and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be [d]perfected.

33 [e]Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Luke 13:31 We must go forward in the case of our calling, through the midst of terrors, whether they be true or fained.

Luke 13:32 That deceitful and treacherous man.

Luke 13:32 That is, a small time, and Theophylact saith, it is a proverb: or else, by Today, we may understand the time that now is, and by Tomorrow, the time to come, meaning thereby all the time of his ministry and office.

Luke 13:32 To wit, when the sacrifice for sin is ended.

Luke 13:33 There are nowhere more cruel enemies of the godly, than they which are within the Sanctuary and Church itself: but God seeth it, and will in his time have an account of it.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2013%3A31-33&version=GNV

On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife, aviatrix and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was murdered after being abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amwell, New Jersey, United States.[1] On May 12, the child's corpse was discovered by a truck driver by the side of a nearby road.[2][3]

In September 1934, a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the crime. After a trial that lasted from January 2 to February 13, 1935, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Despite his conviction, he continued to profess his innocence, but all appeals failed and he was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.[4] Hauptmann's guilt or lack thereof continues to be debated in the modern day. Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial "the biggest story since the Resurrection".[5][6] American media called it the "crime of the century"; legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the "trials of the century".[7] The crime spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act (commonly referred to as the "Little Lindbergh Law"), which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.[8]

Kidnapping

At approximately 9 p.m. on March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' nurse, Betty Gow, found that 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was not with his mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who had just come out of the bath. Gow then alerted Charles Lindbergh who immediately went to the child's room, where he found a ransom note, containing poor handwriting and grammar, in an envelope on the windowsill. Taking a gun, Lindbergh went around the house and grounds with the family butler, Olly Whateley;[9] they found impressions in the ground under the window of the baby's room, pieces of a wooden ladder, and a baby's blanket.[10] Whateley telephoned the Hopewell police department while Lindbergh contacted his attorney and friend, Henry Breckinridge, and the New Jersey state police.[10]

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

Rapture

rapture (n.)

c. 1600, "act of carrying off" as prey or plunder, from rapt + -ure, or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura "seizure, rape, kidnapping," from Latin raptus "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape" (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with women as objects and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v.), which word is a close relation to this one.

The sense of "spiritual ecstasy, state of mental transport or exaltation" is recorded by c. 1600 (raptures). The connecting notion is a sudden or violent taking and carrying away. The meaning "expression of exalted or passionate feeling" in words or music is from 1610s.

also from c. 1600

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

40 Christians Kidnapped from Church During Worship 5/09/2023

5/09/2023 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Gunmen kidnapped 40 Christians on Sunday, during church worship in northern Nigeria.

Reverend Joseph John Hayan, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna state, said the attack took place on Sunday when gunmen attacked worshippers during a service at Bege Baptist Church, in Madala village, in Chikun local government area, according to Reuters.

Hayan added that 15 people escaped the same night of their kidnapping.

“We have not heard any contact for ransom or anything from [the gunmen] concerning the remaining people, and we pray that the abductors would be merciful to release the remaining 25 back to their families,” Hayan said.

Nigeria has dealt with significant internal violence for years at the hands of several entities, including Boko Haram, radicalized Islamic Fulani herdsmen, and localized gang violence. Tens of thousands have been killed or abducted by these groups, and hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced. Christians in Nigeria are especially vulnerable to this violence, which is largely religiously motivated and have suffered greatly over the last few years as the level of jihadism has risen in Nigeria.

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org

https://www.persecution.org/2023/05/09/40-christians-kidnapped-during-worship/

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/

https://www.facebook.com/HisHolyChurchofAnonymous/posts/pfbid02GwNNQCsMhAmgdZcTYWSFPx2TYYgSJsJS8e4iMkv7XkTfgGRoVKthEfdzXtyNmgS7l

The Sacrifice Controversy

Why is it so important for a reestablished Israel to

build a Third Temple in Jerusalem? Do they desire to

fulfill some sense of national pride? Or reconnect to

long severed roots of ancient history?

These questions can only be answered by a few

zealous individuals on the ground. I would assert that

the primary source for this desire is the book of their

faith, The Torah, to the Christian, the Old Testament.

To appreciate the importance of restoring the Temple

Sacrifice System for Judaism it may be necessary to

understand the history and significance of the Sacrifice

from its beginning. Therefore the Genesis Chapter Three

sacrifice, being the very first recorded sacrifice in the

Bible itself is where we must begin.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God

make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen 3:21)

Adam and Eve stood before their High Priest having

just received their death sentence, thou shalt surely

die,62 accompanied with the several curses that would be

upon them and their offspring after being forced from

the Garden of Eden. But this High Priest did not leave

them without hope, their redemption and that available

to all mankind would come through the Seed of the

Woman.63 Though not explicitly stated, but rather

62 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for

in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:17)

63 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed

and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15)

94 APPENDIX

demonstrated by the animal skins that were given to

them, in place of the inadequate covering of fig leaves

which they had covered themselves with, a sacrifice was

necessary to provide those animal skins. Without the

shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.64 The

blood of the animals was only a type, a temporary

covering, looking forward to the seed of the woman who

would Himself allow His own blood to be shed,

acceptable to God and a permanent sacrifice, once for

all by their Redeemer and the Messiah of Israel.

It is further demonstrated by the story of Cain and

Abel that the sacrifice was not only done for Adam and

Eve at the first event but that it was taught to them by

their High Priest and subsequently passed down to their

children. Abel was a keeper of sheep65 for the purpose

of the commanded sacrifice, because the sacrifice was

not only a departure, but also an exception to the

vegetarian diet prescribed for mankind on the sixth day

of the creation account.66 If indeed the sacrifice was not

instructed, how could it be that Cain was disobedient by

offering vegetables instead? Fig leaves or animal skins,

like vegetable or animal, the parallel is evident. The

inference is again clear, without the shedding of blood

there is no remission of sin.

Also not explicitly stated in the Genesis record but

clearly inferred by Eve’s proclamation at the birth of

Seth (which name means substitute), For God, said she,

64 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without

shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb 9:22)

65 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but

Cain was a tiller of the ground. (Gen 4:2)

66 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is

upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree

yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Gen 1:29)

hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom

Cain slew:67 They were looking forward to the promised

redemption which they believed was or would come

through Abel, but now hoped to come by Seth. These

discerning parents absolutely knew that the promised

seed would not be of Cain. The scripture also confirms

of the linage of Seth, then began men to call upon the

name of the LORD.68 So the righteous seed line of Seth

continued to the Messiah.

The next allusion to the sacrifice is the differentiation

between clean and unclean of the animals when Noah

was commanded to load the Ark.69 Then Noah shortly

after the flood built an alter and there offered a sacrifice

of only the animals that were declared clean, and yes the

sacrifice was eaten. Thereafter, God speaking to Noah,

authorized the eating of that same clean meat as a

regular part of their diet “even as the green herb,” so no

longer exclusively for the sacrifice.70 But a warning

followed against the wanton shedding of the blood of

animals which God himself said he would personally

hold to account, but the death statute for the wanton

shedding of the blood of man (murder) God would

require at the hand of his fellow man.

Further demonstrated by the sacrifice or burnt

offerings made by several of the patriarchs on the

67 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name

Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom

Cain slew. (Gen 4:25)

68 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos:

then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. (Gen 4:26)

69 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every

thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into

the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. (Gen 7:8-9)

70 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb

have I given you all things. (Gen 9:3)

96 APPENDIX

scriptural record, we understand that some form of the

sacrificial system was part of an oral tradition before it

was codified in the Exodus by Moses. In the Exodus

God gave Moses instructions for a portable tabernacle

for the priest tabernacle sacrifice system that served

National Israel until Solomon built the temple

envisioned by his father David about 830 BCE, to which

the sacrificial services were transferred. The first

Temple stood until about 586 BCE when it was

destroyed by the Babylonians.

Israel went seventy years in exile without a temple to

pay a Sabbath debt to their God. The Second Temple

was built as prophesied and stood for about 500 years,

beyond the seventy weeks determined for the people and

the holy city.71 Yes, the temple stood until forty years

after Jesus was crucified, and the desolation determined

was poured out upon the desolate.72

The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy

the city and the sanctuary:73

With this prophecy being fulfilled to the letter about

70 CE, the Jewish people lost their Temple again, and

the words of Jesus remain true until this very day:

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall

be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem

shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of

71Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to

finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation

for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision

and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Dan 9:24)

72And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst

of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the

overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the con

summation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.(Dan 9:27)

73(Dan 9:26)

the Gentiles be fulfilled.74

Now it’s the Roman Year 2017, and there are Jews

back in the land of Israel, but we will not here retell the

events which brought this about. We also know that

Israel won back the territory which encompassed

Jerusalem during the aggressive act of several

surrounding nations during the six day war in 1967.

However Israel did not act to immediately seize the

Temple Mount nor destroy the several Islamic edifices

extant, so that the prophetic words of Jesus still stand

true. The Gentiles (other nations) continue to trod down

Jerusalem and specifically the Temple Mount creating

the most difficult roadblock to building a Third Temple.

I believe this times of the Gentiles will only be fulfilled

with the destruction of the Mystery Babylon Image of

Daniel chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 18.

The Abraham Accord

Harbinger of

the Temple Mount Play

about to Begin

Nicklas Arthur

https://www.nicklasarthur.info/The-Abraham-Accord-Rapture.pdf

Kimberly Ann Hart is a fictional character in the Power Rangers universe. Played by American actress Amy Jo Johnson during the first three seasons of the show, plus on the two feature films of the franchise, Kimberly has the longest tenure of any female ranger in the series' history, and fourth overall. She is best remembered as the first Pink Ranger (pterodactyl) and first Pink Ninja Ranger from the first entry of the franchise Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.[1] Kimberly was the Pink Ranger for nearly three years before she was written off the show as having given up her powers for good to Zordon's new pink ranger Katherine Hillard, to participate at the Pan Global Games in Florida.[2] However, she would briefly return as the Pink Ranger on three occasions. She first returned during the Legendary Battle of Power Rangers Super Megaforce alongside former teammates Zack Taylor, Billy Cranston, Trini Kwan, and Jason Lee Scott. The five of them later fought alongside the Dino Thunder Rangers, Dino Charge Rangers, and the Grid Battleforce Rangers against Goldar Maximus in Power Rangers Beast Morphers. She also returned to fight a robotic version of Rita Repulsa with the other four original rangers and Tommy Oliver in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always. Johnson did not reprise her role for any of these appearances. A reimagined version of Kimberly would appear in the 2017 reboot film, played by British actress Naomi Scott.

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

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was wearing a pink Chanel suit when her husband, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.[1][2] She insisted on wearing the suit, stained with his blood, during the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson that afternoon and for the flight back to Washington, D.C. Jacqueline Kennedy was a fashion icon, and the suit is the most referenced and revisited among her clothing items.[3][4]

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

Pink Floyd

The new group rebranded as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965.[24][25][26][27] Barrett purportedly created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs.[28] The name Pink Floyd is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.[29] By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of rhythm and blues songs, and they had begun to receive paid bookings, including a performance at the Marquee Club in December 1966, where Peter Jenner, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, noticed them. Jenner was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created and, with his business partner and friend Andrew King, became their manager.[30] The pair had little experience in the music industry and used King's inheritance to set up Blackhill Enterprises, purchasing about £1,000 (equivalent to £23,500 in 2023[31]) worth of new instruments and equipment for the band.[nb 7] Around this time, Jenner suggested the band drop the "Sound" from their name.[33]

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

Queen Of The Underdogs: 5 Reasons Pink Is an Underappreciated Gay Icon

The androgynous star has been a longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights.

By Patrick Crowley

10/23/2017

https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/pink-gay-icon-5-reasons-8007038/

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]

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

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

Pinkerton is a private security guard and detective agency established around 1850 in the United States by Scottish-born American cooper Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency, which later became Pinkerton & Co. and finally the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. At the height of its power from the 1870s to the 1890s, it was the largest private law enforcement organization in the world.[1] It is currently a subsidiary of Swedish-based Securitas AB.[2]

Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled the Baltimore Plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Lincoln later hired Pinkerton agents to conduct espionage against the Confederacy and act as his personal security during the American Civil War.[3][4]

Following the Civil War, the Pinkertons began conducting operations against organized labor.[5] During the labor strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, businesses hired the Pinkerton Agency to infiltrate unions, supply guards, keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories, and recruit goon squads to intimidate workers.[6] During the Homestead Strike of 1892, Pinkerton agents were called in to reinforce the strikebreaking measures of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, who was acting on behalf of Andrew Carnegie, the head of Carnegie Steel.[7] Tensions between the workers and strikebreakers erupted into violence, which led to the deaths of three Pinkerton agents and nine steelworkers. [8][9] During the late nineteenth century, the Pinkertons were also hired as guards in coal, iron, and lumber disputes in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and were involved in other strikes such as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.[10]

During the 20th century, Pinkerton rebranded itself as a personal security and risk management firm. The company has continued to exist in various forms to the present day and is now a division of the Swedish security company Securitas AB, operating as Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc., doing business as Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management. [11] The former Pinkerton Government Services division, PGS, now operates as Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services, Inc..[12]

Origins

In the 1850s, Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish immigrant, met Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in a local Masonic Hall. The two men formed the North-Western Police Agency, later known as the Pinkerton Agency.[13][14][15] Pinkerton used his skills in espionage to attract clients and begin growing the agency. Historian Frank Morn writes: "By the mid-1850s, a few businessmen saw the need for greater control over their employees; their solution was to sponsor a private detective system. In February 1855, Allan Pinkerton, after consulting with six midwestern railroads, created such an agency in Chicago."[16] The Pinkerton Agency began to hire women and minorities shortly after its founding because they were useful as spies, a practice uncommon at the time.[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_(detective_agency)

Don't forget, folks, Monday, March 15th, 8pm, LaFayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. I'll be there, I'll be giving a three-hour presentation, entitled The Sacrificed King: On the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. In it, I will directly connect to the occult worship of Mystery Babylon, the secret societies, and specifically to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which really is just the outward form of the old Knights Templar. And I also believe, have reason to believe, that the sovereign and military order of the Knights of Malta was involved, which is just another branch of the old Templar order. So make sure that you're there. Forty dollars is the admission fee unless you're a CAJI member, then the admission fee if thirty dollars. I managed to negotiate a 25% discount with the people who are putting this on and who have invited me to speak. If you're not a CAJI member, you can purchase advance tickets at the Controversial Bookstore in San Diego. If you are a CAJI member, you must buy your tickets at the event. That's the only way, uh, that we can get you the discount. If you would like information on this whole conference that lasts the whole weekend, there's a whole lot of Looney Tunes stuff going on there. There are some good speakers. Uh, my workshop is, uh, Monday night, the last one of the whole conference, and it's not a workshop ticket, so it's a separate event altogether. But you can call and find out about the whole thing in case you want to spend the whole weekend. Call (619)492-8588, that's (619)492-8588, and we still donations to pay for this airtime, folks. C'mon, get out your checkbooks and money orders and help us out here. Send your donation to Stan and make your checks and money orders to WWCR, not to me, I don't want your money. It goes to pay for airtime, that's it, period. Send them to Stan, P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. That's Stan, P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. Tell him Bill sent you (laughs), and while you're at it, and even if you don't send a donation, write to Stan or call him and tell him you'd like to receive a packet of information. He'd be glad to send it to you. If you'd like to call him, his number is (602)567-6109. That's (602)567-6109. Please call him during normal waking hours. Stan's getting up there and he likes his sleep, and I don't blame him, so please don't call him, uh, late in the evening or late at night. Let him have some, some of his own time. Call him during the day, during waking hours or early evening, please. Thank you very much for those of you who are doing that. Those of you who are not, please start. Well, let's continue where we left off and, uh, this is about the society in the Middle East known as the Assassins, and we've covered quite a bit of their history already:

[Reading from A History of Secret Societies]:

But this secret society, [the] most successful of secret societies showed that its strength ultimately depended upon a powerful leader. [Well,] Kia Mohammed was no such [leader]. [And] little by little it became obvious that his son, Hasan the Hated, was the stronger personality. [Now remember, Kia Mohammed was the Old Man of the Mountain, and the mountain lair was called: The Eagle's Nest.] Now Hasan, through some magnetic power, was able to capture the imagination of the Assassins, soon having it believed that he himself was none other than the Power of All Powers, the Hidden Imam, who had been mentioned by the first Grand Master; an incarnation of all greatness. So important was [Hasan] that he was the fountain of power, and others only held a [very small] measure of authority because he allowed them to have it [and for no other reason].

This final absurdity was lapped up by members who had been conditioned to believe in things which were not, shall we say, exactly self-evident to the ordinary man. The doctrine of the all-powerful Invisible Imam was a part of Ismailism; and Hasan was ready even during his early manhood to assume the role. But, since his father was able to assert himself by having some two hundred and fifty of Hasan' followers murdered, he thought it wiser to hold his hand. In 1163 his chance came. Mohammed died, and Hasan II issued an order to all Ismailis to collect below the castle of Alamut.

Never before had such an assembly of killers, fanatics and dedicated perverters of the truth been seen. Hasan, probably in a state of megalomania, assured them that he had received a message from the Almighty that as from now, all the bond of religion were loosed: everyone might do as he liked. [Later, in the modern age, we would hear that again as: “The whole of the Law shall be: do as thou wilt.”] It was not necessary [he said] to keep up pretences. And, furthermore, he, Hasan, was none other than the Hidden Imam. His word was law; and he was a form of the divinity, not merely relaying instructions from above [but the divinity].

Hour 12: The Templars and the Assassins (aired March 2nd, 1993)

https://viefag.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf

The Misfits is a 1961 American contemporary Western film directed by John Huston and written by Arthur Miller, who adapted his own 1957 short story. It stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift, alongside Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach. The plot centers on a newly divorced woman (Monroe), and her relationships with a friendly landlady (Ritter), an old-school cowboy (Gable), his tow-truck driving and plane-flying best friend (Wallach), and their rodeo-riding, bronc-busting friend (Clift). The Misfits was the last completed film for both Gable (who died three months before the premiere) and Monroe (who died a year after its release).

The Misfits was released by United Artists on February 1, 1961. It was a commercial failure, but received critical acclaim for its script and performances. Its reputation has enhanced over the years, and many critics now consider it to be a masterpiece and one of the best films of the 1960s. The film also gave name to the punk band Misfits formed in 1977.

Plot

In Reno, Nevada, 30-year-old Roslyn Tabor files for a quickie six-week residency divorce from her inattentive husband, Raymond. Afterward, Roslyn's landlady Isabelle takes her to a cocktail lounge at Harrah's for drinks. They meet an aging cowboy named Gaylord Langland, and his tow truck driver best friend, Guido. The friendly Guido tells Roslyn and Isabelle about his unfinished house in the country. Later that day, the group goes to the unfinished house Guido has built for his late wife. After drinking and dancing, Roslyn has had too much to drink, so Gaylord drives her home to Reno.

Eventually, Roslyn and Gaylord move into Guido's half-finished house and work on it. One day, Gaylord tells Roslyn how he wishes he were more of a father to his children, whom he has not seen for years. Later, he discovers rabbits have been eating the lettuce in the garden they have planted. Gay wants to kill the rabbits with his shotgun, an idea that Roslyn opposes.

When Guido and Isabelle show up, Guido suggests that they round up wild mustangs to sell. They go to a local rodeo in Dayton to hire a third man. They run into Perce Howland, a cowboy friend of Gaylord's, who wants to compete in the rodeo. Gaylord offers to pay the broke Perce's $10 entry fee if he will help round up mustangs the next day. Guido, Perce, Roslyn and Gaylord go to a bar and nearly get into a fistfight when a drunk spanks Roslyn's bottom.

At the rodeo, Roslyn becomes somewhat upset when Guido tells her how the horses are made to buck with an irritating flank strap. Perce is thrown by a bucking horse, and Roslyn begs him to go to a hospital, but he insists on riding a bull he had already signed up and paid to ride. He gets thrown again, sustaining a head injury.

Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Rex Bell, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift

Later, he passes out in a Dayton back alley. When he regains consciousness, he sees Roslyn crying over him. He says that he never had anyone cry for him before and that he wished he had a friend to talk to. He tells her how his mother changed after his father died, giving his stepfather the ranch Perce's father wanted to leave to Perce. A drunken Gaylord then fetches Roslyn, telling her that he wants her to meet his kids, claiming he unexpectedly ran into them. When Gaylord discovers his children have already left Dayton, he causes a public scene.

Later on, during the drive home, a drunken Guido asks if Roslyn has left Gaylord and offers to take his place. Back at Guido's house, Guido attempts to finish the patio he started. Later, Gaylord asks Roslyn if a woman like her would ever want to have a child with him. She avoids the issue.

The next day, Gaylord, Guido and Perce go after the mustangs, with Roslyn reluctantly tagging along. Roslyn becomes upset when she learns that they will be slaughtered for dog food. Gaylord tells Roslyn that he did things for her that he never did for any other woman, such as making the house a home and planting the garden. After they catch a stallion and four mares, Roslyn begs Gaylord to release the horses. He considers it, but when she offers to pay him $200, it angers him. Guido tells Roslyn that he would release them if she would leave Gaylord for him. She rebuffs him. Perce asks her if she wants him to set the horses free, but she declines because she thinks it would only start a fight. Perce frees the stallion anyway. After Gaylord chases down and subdues it by himself, he lets it go and says he just did not want anybody making up his mind for him. As they are driving away in Gaylord's truck, Roslyn tells Gaylord that she will leave the next day. He stops the truck to pick up his dog and watches her joyfully untethering him. They realize that they still love each other and drive off into the night.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Misfits_(1961_film)

During the War of the Rough Wooing, the invading English armies of the Earl of Hertford inflicted structural damage on Holyrood Abbey in 1544 and 1547. Lead was stripped from the roof, the bells were removed, and the contents of the abbey were plundered. In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, the abbey suffered further damage when a mob destroyed the altars and looted the rest of the church.[12] With the reformation and the end of monastic services, the east end of the abbey church became redundant. In 1569, Adam Bothwell, the commendator of Holyrood, informed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that the east end was in such a state of disrepair that the choir and transept should be demolished. This was done the following year, retaining only the nave, which by then was serving as the parish church of the burgh of Canongate. Between 1570 and 1573 an east GABLE was erected, closing the east end of the former nave, all but two of the windows in the nave were blocked up, the royal tombs were removed to a new royal burial vault in the south aisle and the old east end was demolished.[12]

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

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor. Often referred to as the "King of Hollywood",[2] he had roles in more than 60 films in a variety of genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. He was named the seventh greatest male movie star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute.[3]

Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the romantic comedy, It Happened One Night (1934). He was further Oscar-nominated for his roles as Fletcher Christian in the drama Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Rhett Butler in the historical romance drama Gone with the Wind (1939). He received Golden Globe Award nominations for his comedic roles in Teacher's Pet (1958), and But Not for Me (1959). He also starred in Call of the Wild (1935), Key to the City (1950), and Mogambo (1953). His final on-screen role was as an aging cowboy in The Misfits (1961).

Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in the history of Hollywood, appearing on Quigley Publishing's annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll sixteen times. He appeared opposite many of the most popular actresses of their time. He frequently acted alongside Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner. Gable died of a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 59.

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

Clark

also Clarke, surname, from common Middle English alternative spelling of clerk (n.). In many early cases it is used of men who had taken minor orders.

Entries linking to Clark

clerk (n.)

c. 1200, "man ordained in the ministry, a priest, an ecclesiastic," from Old English cleric and Old French clerc "clergyman, priest; scholar, student," both from Church Latin clericus "a priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus" (see cleric).

Modern bureaucratic usage is a reminder of the time when clergy alone could read and write and were employed as scribes and account-keepers by secular authorities. In late Old English the word also can mean "king's scribe; keeper of accounts." And by c. 1200 clerk took on a secondary sense in Middle English (as the cognate word did in Old French) of "man of letters, anyone who can read or write."

This led to the senses "assistant in a public or private business" (c. 1500), originally a keeper of accounts, also "officer of a court, municipality, etc. whose duty it is to keep its records and perform its routine business" (1520s), and later, especially in American English, "a retail salesman" (1790). Meaning "an employee who registers guests in a hotel" is by 1879.

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

The Ric Flair Woo - What is the origin of this signature catchphrase?

Danny Wolstanholme

Modified Jul 07, 2021 08:39 GMT

No matter what arena or stadium you step into to watch a WWE show, you're going to hear many fans doing the Ric Flair Woo at the top of their lungs. You will notice many other fans join in, and the 'WOOOOO's' start to circulate around the venue to a full orchestra of 'WOOOOO's'.

For anyone attending their first WWE event, especially in today's modern era, you're probably a little confused as to what this all means. Many wrestlers past and present have their own catchphrases, or items that make them stand out amongst the rest.

For example, you have Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson with his signature catchphrase 'If you smell.. what The Rock Is Cookin'!' or you have Jake 'The Snake' Roberts carrying a snake in the ring.

Now, not to be confused with Zack Ryder's 'Woo Woo Woo' catchphrase, the origins of the Ric Flair Woo go back all the way to the 70's. Yes, it has been around 50 years since Ric Flair Woo started!

How and when did the Ric Flair Woo originate?

According to Ric Flair's memoir 'To Be The Man' released in 2015, the Ric Flair Woo originated in the 1970's thanks to the Jerry Lee Lewis classic 'Great Balls of Fire'.

Part of the song ended with 'Woo' and Ric Flair decided to use it day-to-day, and even on-screen cutting promos. Flair also later confirmed on his The Ric Flair Show that he put a much greater emphasis on his 'Woo' than on the hit song.

The famous Nature Boy catchphrase also extended into popular culture, and has been used by many celebrities in honor of the sixteen-time World Champion.

Ric Flair and Jay Lethal had a Woo-off in IMPACT Wrestling

Back during the TNA heydays, during the Hogan-Bischoff-Carter era, there was a particular segment that amused many fans around the world.

Jay Lethal was performing his Black Machismo character, which was a take on 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, who he made impressions of.

So when Lethal crossed paths with 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair in the then-named TNA, a huge impromptu Ric Flair woo-off ensued. All credit to Jay Lethal, who delivered the PERFECT impression of Ric Flair, rattled the Limosine rider and Jet flyer, and they continued to exchange words.

The segment became one of TNA's funniest and most memorable moments in the history of the company, and is talked about to this very day.

It is safe to say that Ric Flair Woo will live on forever.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/the-ric-flair-woo-what-origin-signature-catchphrase

Mr. Wu is a supporting character in HBO's Deadwood as well as in Deadwood: The Movie.

He is the leader of Deadwood's substantial but mostly unseen Chinese ("Celestials") population, the Asian counterpart to Al Swearengen. He routinely interacts with Swearengen and other Caucasians over a few matters of business, such as the opium trade, and the seemingly daily efficient disposal of numerous human remains, through the route of his pigs. He knows almost no English beyond the words "San Francisco" and "cocksucker". He, however, communicates effectively with Swearengen (to whom he refers as "Swedgin!") with the aid of charcoal drawings and hand signals.

He is portrayed by Keone Young.

https://deadwood.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Wu

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

Mount Hollywood Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ congregation in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Mount Hollywood was founded in 1905.[1] John Raitt was once a soloist in the choir, Judge Lance Ito was enrolled in its Sunday School, and Los Angeles County Supervisor John Anson Ford was a member.[1]

Membership had been as high as 600 in the 1920s, when it built its sanctuary, but is around 50 today.[1] In 2012 the church sold its sanctuary, citing high maintenance costs, and moved into a converted storage shed behind Hollywood Lutheran Church.[1]

The congregation has long been an advocate for social justice. In 1941 it came to the aid of Hollywood Independent Church, a Japanese-American congregation, by safeguarding the church's property and homes of its members after they were sent to internment camps.[1] All of the ministers in Mount Hollywood's history have been pacifists.[1]

The church's altar has a wooden cross made from camphor wood off of a tree in the yard of a church that had been bombed in Hiroshima. The cross is inscribed with "He is our peace."[1]

The Rev. Anne Cohen was installed as the church's pastor on Nov. 3, 2013.[1]

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

Arthur's Seat (Scottish Gaelic: Suidhe Artair, pronounced [ˈs̪ɯi.əˈaɾt̪ʰəɾʲ]) is an ancient extinct volcano that is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".[1] It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. At a spur of the hill, Salisbury Crags has historically been a rock climbing venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty. Rock climbing was restricted to the South Quarry, but access was banned altogether in 2019 by Historic Environment Scotland.[2]

Name

It is sometimes said that its name is derived from legends pertaining to King Arthur, such as the reference in Y Gododdin. Some support for this may be provided by several other hilltop and mountaintop features in Britain which bear the same or similar names, such as the peak of Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) in the western highlands, sometimes known as Arthur's Seat,[3] and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called Stone Arthur in the English Lake District.

Geology

Arthur's Seat is the largest of the three parts of the Arthur's Seat Volcano site of special scientific interest (the other parts being Calton Hill and the Castle Rock) which is designated to protect its important geology (see below), grassland habitats and uncommon plant and animal species.

Like the rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, it was formed by a volcanic system of early Carboniferous age (lava samples have been dated at 341 to 335 million years old),[4] which was eroded by a glacier moving from west to east during the Quaternary (approximately the last two million years), exposing rocky crags to the west and leaving a tail of material swept to the east.[5] This is how the Salisbury Crags formed and became basalt cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the city centre. From some angles, Arthur's Seat resembles a lion couchant.[6][7] Two of the several extinct vents make up the 'Lion's Head' and the 'Lion's Haunch'.

Duration: 2 minutes and 19 seconds.2:19

Aerial footage of Arthur's Seat and the George Square area of Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags adjoining it helped form the ideas of modern geology as it is currently understood. It was in these areas that James Hutton observed that the deposition of the sedimentary and formation of the igneous rocks must have occurred at different ages and in different ways than the thinking of that time said they did. It is possible to see a particular area known as Hutton's Section in the Salisbury Crags where the magma forced its way through the sedimentary rocks above it to form the dolerite sills that can be seen in the Section.

The hill bears a strong resemblance to the Cavehill in Belfast in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,800[1] five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. The stars, the first of which were permanently installed in 1960, are monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, producers, directors, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters, and others.

The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who hold a trademark right to the combined star & movie camera symbol only, and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. The Hollywood Chamber collects fees from celebrities (or their sponsors) that wish to have a star (currently $75K)[2] which pays for the creation and installation of the star, as well as maintenance of the Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce does not own trademark rights to the star with other symbols (i.e. television, microphone, record disc), so those symbols are free to use for commercial purposes.[3] It is a popular tourist attraction, receiving an estimated 10 million annual visitors in 2010.[4][5]

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

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

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

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

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

Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025

In 2025, US aerospace forces can own the weather by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map. A high risk, high reward endeavor, weather modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom While some segments of society will always be reluctant to examine controversial issues such as weather modification, the tremendous military capabilities that could result from this field are ignored at our own peril. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather modification offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. Some of the potential capabilities a weather modification system could provide to a war fighting commander in chief CINC are listed in table 1. Technology advancements in five major areas are necessary for an integrated weather modification capability 1 advanced nonlinear modeling techniques, 2 computational capability, 3 information gathering and transmission, 4 a global sensor array, and 5 weather intervention techniques. Some intervention tools exist today and others may be developed and refined in the future."

Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025 (dtic.mil)

As early as 1990, weather force specialists at the U.S. Air Force Academy were hard at work studying how to chemically mix and lay “aerial obscuration” they called “chemtrails.” Project Cloverleaf began quietly enough (as all classified projects do) with the 1994 Hughes Aircraft patent for Welsbach Seeding For Reduction of Global Warming. Welsbach seeding called for spreading highly reflective materials in the atmosphere to reflect back into space 1–2 percent of incoming sunlight and thus slow down “global warming.” However, it was also about beginning to create a more conductive atmosphere in preparation for Bernard Eastlund’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) already under construction in Alaska. The reflective material (~10 microns) to be added to jet auxiliary fuel tanks was the highly conductive compound aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The jet’s main tanks would be reserved for takeoff and landing, and the auxiliary loaded with Al2O3 for cruising altitude. Lawrence Livermore National Labs priced the program at US$1 billion per annum (in 1994 dollars). By the late 1990s, aerial grids were being laid over chosen regions and cities of the U.S. and other NATO nations. In 1996, the military went public with two documents that obliquely referenced what Cloverleaf was up to: the Pentagon paper “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” in Air Force 2025,1 which called the chemical whitening effect “cirrus shielding”; and U.S. Space Command’s Vision for 2020 calling for full spectrum dominance of space, land, sea, and air.2 Air traffic controllers (ATC) at major airports were coached to re-route commercial air traffic around military craft engaged in “classified aerial operations” at 37,000–40,000 feet. ATC radar revealed a haze of aluminum and barium—Al2O3 for solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering, barium stearate Ba(C18H35O2)2 for lubrication, radar imaging, and highpowered RF-microwave beam weapons.

A wide range of particles could be released into the stratosphere to achieve the SRM objective of scattering sunlight back to space. Sulfates and nanoparticles currently favored for SRM include sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, black carbon, and specially engineered discs composed of metallic aluminum, aluminum oxide and barium titanate. In particular, engineered nanoparticles are considered very promising. The particles would utilize photophoretic and electromagnetic forces to self-levitate above the stratosphere. These nanoparticles would remain suspended longer than sulfate particles, would not interfere with stratospheric chemistry, and would not produce acid rain. However, while promising, the self-levitating nanodisc has not been tested to verify efficacy, may increase ocean acidification due to atmospheric CO2 entrapment, has uncharacterized human health and environmental impacts, and may be prohibitively expensive.3

The truth is that the 10 billion SRM discs 10 micrometers across and 50 nanometers thick are engineered with a core of aluminum, a top layer of aluminum oxide, and a bottom layer of barium titanate—aluminum to reflect heat up, heavier barium purportedly to push the discs up (photophoresis). Introduce a magnetic component, then spray, and the nanoparticles will follow the Earth’s magnetic field into the upper atmosphere. By 1998, the Ontario Ministry of Environment (Canada) found 7X the safe limit for aluminum in rainwater samples. More and more citizens complained of sudden headaches, joint pains, dizziness, fatigue, acute asthma, gastrointestinal pain, coughs, and feverless flu symptoms. In 2000, Cloverleaf went public in an offhand way with a comment from an anonymous airline executive to independent scientist Clifford Carnicom, then the most visible scientist collecting data on the aerosol fallout over northern New Mexico. According to this “Deep Throat,” the purpose of Cloverleaf was “to allow commercial airlines to assist in releasing these chemicals into the atmosphere.”4 Military jets simply could not keep up with the “global dimming” now called solar radiation management (SRM), so the entire airline industry was being drafted in the name of national security."

Under An Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails To Space Fence Lockdown

by Elana Freeland

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oneu_kEMMH5AeAffiWOR_7NJ0HptHJrC/view?usp=sharing

"As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the Emerald Tablet, a short Hermetic text which first appeared in an Arabic source from the late eighth or early ninth century.[1] The paraphrase is based on one of several existing Latin translations of the Emerald Tablet, in which the second verse appears as follows:[2]

Quod est superius est sicut quod inferius, et quod inferius est sicut quod est superius.

That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above.

The paraphrase is peculiar to this Latin version, and differs from the original Arabic, which reads "from" rather than "like to".

Following its use by prominent modern occultists such as Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891, co-founder of the Theosophical Society) and the anonymous author of the Kybalion (often taken to be William W. Atkinson, 1862–1932, a pioneer of the New Thought movement), the paraphrase started to take on a life of its own, becoming an often cited motto in New Age circles.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_above,_so_below

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.

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

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

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

Early usage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0ir9DFnsD28mPEF1TcwSJjSsTp5Q1rcnWu1jqwBJhDm3QbziTD3jMLyZJ46mTkCXl

Rishi Sunak calls for political courage amid rising global authoritarianism

At Seoul forum, former UK leader urges youth to stay focused, warns of threats from China, Russia, and social media

By Kim Min-seo,

Park Su-hyeon

Published 2025.05.22. 08:55

Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned on May 21 that democratic systems once taken for granted are under pressure globally, citing rising public openness to authoritarianism and a growing crisis of trust in governments.

“The most difficult challenge we face is a crisis of trust in government,” Sunak said during a keynote discussion at the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul, hosted by the Chosun Ilbo. “There are increasing numbers of people around the world who are more open to autocratic and authoritarian regimes.”

Sunak attributed the trend to both domestic and global factors. “In the UK, many young people feel they are unlikely to achieve better living standards than their parents or grandparents,” he said. “Externally, authoritarian states such as China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are expanding their influence.”

He accused those countries of forming strategic and economic alliances that “suppress and threaten democracy,” and said China was “engaging in unusual behavior not typical of a nation-state.” He also warned that social media platforms such as TikTok could be misused in ways that threaten national security and democratic institutions.

Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a conversation with Lee Jung-hoon, dean of Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies, at the 2025 Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul on May 21, 2025./Chang Lian-cherng

On leadership, Sunak emphasized the importance of political conviction, courage, and resilience. “A political leader must be willing to say things people may not want to hear if it serves the national interest,” he said, urging aspiring leaders to seek respect rather than popularity or fear.

He acknowledged the difficulty of leading in an era of diminished trust in authority, but said resilience was essential. Reflecting on his own path, he said his parents—a doctor and a pharmacist—had hoped he would pursue medicine. “My mother cried a lot when I chose to study politics instead,” he said.

Delivering medicine by bicycle in his youth, Sunak said, gave him an appreciation of his parents’ role in the community and helped shape his decision to enter politics.

The event drew hundreds of young Koreans. Addressing them, Sunak said he once asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett to write down their secret to success. “Both wrote the same word: Focus,” he said. “Korea already leads in IT, nuclear energy and education. If you apply your brilliance with focus, you can transform society and the country.”

He added that the current generation lives in a time of rapid technological change. “In the era of AI, what used to take 100 years may now take just 10,” he said. “You have the privilege of living through extraordinary transformation. Stay optimistic and focus on your goals—opportunities will follow.”

The visit was Sunak’s first to South Korea. He said his teenage daughters were particularly excited, asking him to visit beauty chain Olive Young and giving him a shopping list. “Korea is a global soft power leader—in K-pop, K-food, and K-beauty,” he said.

Sunak, who is of Indian descent, became Britain’s first non-white and first Hindu prime minister in 2022 at age 42, the youngest since Robert Jenkinson in 1812. As finance minister from 2020 to 2022, he introduced a landmark furlough scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic that helped prevent mass layoffs. He currently serves as a member of Parliament representing Richmond and Northallerton in northeast England.

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/05/22/SKQEEOLUGVD4PANZ5O32H6FKXA/

The Battle of Carchemish was a battle fought around 605 BCE between the armies of Egypt, allied with the remnants of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the armies of Babylonia.[1][2][3][4] The forces would clash at Carchemish, an important military crossing and trade city on the banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Syria.[5] Nebuchadnezzar II was given command of this Babylonian force while Nabopolassar, his father and the king of Babylonia, was still in Babylon.[6] Necho II, the king of Egypt, led the Egyptian and Assyrian forces in the battle. The battle would end in a major defeat for the Egyptian and Assyrian forces. The defeat ended Egyptian influence in the Levant and led to Babylon expanding its domain to the borders of Egypt.

Background

Egypt under the 26th dynasty had begun to reestablish their influence in the Levant with multiple vassal states, extending their Influence into the region.[7] The Egyptian sphere of influence would come to dominate much of the Levant which the Neo-Assyrian Empire had once controlled, eventually making the declining Assyrian remnants an ally dependent on Egyptian support.[8] Babylon and their allies, the Medes, fought against the Neo-Assyrian Empire to gain control over Syria, bringing them into conflict with Egypt as well.[9]

When the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was lost at the Battle of Ninevah to Babylon and the Medes in 612 BCE, the Assyrians moved their capital to Harran.[10] Harran was captured in 609 BCE, forcing the Assyrians to flee to Carchemish where Ashur-Uballit II sought Necho II's aid in the war against Babylon.[11][12] Necho II had become the king of Egypt around 610/609 BCE after the death of his father, Psamtik I.[13] Necho II would honor this call and marched with an army to aid the Assyrians in a siege to retake Haran.[14]

While marching north, Necho II would face a hostile force at the site of Megiddo lead by Josiah, the king of Judah, who was allied to the Babylonians.[15] Josiah and the Judeans aimed to delay the Egyptians enough to ensure the defeat of the Assyrians whom they were vassal to for centuries earlier.[16] The Judean army was defeated at the Battle of Megiddo and Josiah would be killed in 609 BCE.[17][18] Necho II used the death of Josiah to install a new king to the Judean throne, Jehoiakim, who would serve as an Egyptian ally and vassal.[19]

After fighting the Judeans, Necho II resumed his march north to aid the Assyrians in retaking their lost capital of Harran. The Siege of Harran ended in failure as an attack on the Babylonian and Median forces led to the defeat of the Assyrians and the Egyptian force.[20][21][22] Ashur-Uballit II's fate is unknown as he is never mentioned again in any surviving source. Necho II survived the failed siege and returned with his army to Egypt.

Battle

Map of the Syrian region, Carchemish is labeled as Karkemis.

Around 605 BCE, Carchemish, the capital for the remnants of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, came under threat by the Babylonian and Medians. Aside from being the Assyrian capital, Carchemish was also an important location as it was a major trading city and crossing point for the Euphrates River.[23] Nebuchadnezzar II was made commander of the allied Babylonian and Median force.[24][25] Necho II would bring an army north to defend the city and their allies against further Babylonian expansion. The armies of Necho II and Nebuchadnezzar II met at or near Carchemish in 605 BCE. The battle ended in the defeat of the Egyptian and Assyrian forces to Babylon and its allies.[26] There is no specific or exact number known for the forces each side commanded, nor how the battle progressed. Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Carchemish and expanded Babylon through the defeated remnants of the Assyrian state. The defeat would end all Egyptian influence in the Levant.[27]

Historical Records

There are no surviving Egyptian records of the battle, either in text or artworks. All historical records of the conflict come from Babylonian and Jewish sources.

The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, one of the surviving Babylonian sources, claims that Nebuchadnezzar II, "crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Karchemiš. They fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat, decisively. As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so quickly that no weapon had reached them, in the district of Hamath, the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them so that not a single man escaped to his own country. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar conquered the whole area of Hamath."[28] This source paints the battle as exceedingly decisive without any Egyptians surviving the conflict, however the validity of this claim is questionable. It is not likely that the entire Egyptian army under Necho II was defeated in its entirety at the battle of Carchemish.[29]

The battle is also mentioned and described in the Bible, in the Book of Jeremiah.[30] It records that Necho II was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II at Charchemish on the banks of the Euphrates River. This source however has some inconsistencies, such as labeling Nebuchadnezzar II as the king of Babylon despite his father, Nabopolassar still being king. Other sections of the bible, such as the Books of Kings, almost make mention of the aftermath of Carchemish and the conquest of Jerusalem to Babylonian forces.[31] There are also discrepancies with the dates across these sections such as with the Book of Jeremiah not counting the accession year while the Books of Kings does, this causes the conquest of Jerusalem in these to either fall in Nebuchadnezzar II's seventh of eighth year as king.[32]

Historians agree Necho II fought in support of the remaining Assyrian forces.[33] The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, wrote that Necho II entered the battle to take advantage of the power vacuum created by the Assyrian forces' defeat rather than assist them.[34] Josephus was writing in the first century CE, about 700 years after the Battle of Carchemish, the validity of his claims about it is debatable.

The absence of any Egyptian record of the battle may come from Necho II's son, Psamtik II, who may have removed his father's name from historical records or monuments. However, there is reason to doubt if Psamtik II actually did so, some scholars, such as Roberto Gozzoli, express doubt that this actually happened, arguing that the evidence for this is fragmentary and rather contradictory.[35] While his son may not have defaced Necho II's name, a later successor or later dynasty may have done so for an unknown reason. Another reason for the battle's absence could be the major defeat reflecting poorly on Necho II and wishing to not commemorate the loss of Egyptian influence in the Levant.

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

Spies foiled assassination plots during historic Iraq visit, Pope Francis says

In an excerpt from his forthcoming autobiography, Francis said two suicide bombers had been planning to attack one of his events in Mosul.

Pope Francis Makes Historic Visit To Iraq

Pope Francis waves to a crowd of supporters in Erbil, Iraq, in 2021.Chris McGrath / Getty Images file

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Dec. 18, 2024, 5:06 AM PST

By David Hodari and Matteo Moschella

Two attempts to assassinate Pope Francis when he made a historic visit to northern Iraq were foiled by British spies and police inside the country, Francis has revealed in his new autobiography.

Francis said that after he touched down in the country's capital, Baghdad, in March 2021, police told him two known suicide bombers were planning to target one of his events in the devastated city of Mosul.

“I was warned as soon as we landed,” he wrote in “Spera” — meaning “Hope” — extracts of which are being published in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“The police had alerted the Vatican Gendarmerie to a report that had come from British intelligence: a woman stuffed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was on her way to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. And a van had also left at full speed with the same intent,” he said in the book, which he co-wrote with Italian author Carlo Musso.

After having been told about the plots, he asked security staff members for an update on the would-be assassins. “The commander replied laconically, ‘They are no longer there,’” Francis wrote. “The Iraqi police had intercepted them, and detonated them.”

“That, too, was very striking to me. This, too, was the poisoned fruit of war,” he added.

A spokesperson for the British government told NBC News it would not comment on intelligence matters, and the Iraqi police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

by Taboola

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Image: Pope Francis visits Iraq

Pope Francis delivers a sermon in the ruins of Mosul's old city during his visit.Abdullah Rashid / Reuters file

The visit, the first such trip to Iraq by a sitting pope, was at the time considered to be dangerous, with Iraq long riven by sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Religious minorities such as Christians had also endured persecution from the Islamic State, or ISIS, which had been driven out a few years earlier.

The timing of the trip, during the coronavirus pandemic, added to the logistical complexities, with Iraqi authorities deploying thousands of extra police to protect the pope.

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“The Covid-19 had not yet fully loosened its grip, even the nuncio to that country, Monsignor Mitja Leskovar, had just tested positive for the virus, and, above all, every source pointed to very high security risk profiles,” Francis wrote.

Despite the risk, “I felt the need to visit our grandfather Abraham, the common ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims,” he added.

With the former ISIS having lost most of its territory in Syria and northern Iraq by the end of 2019, the pope visited in the wake of the so-called caliphate’s violence in the region — particularly in Mosul, which had been a stronghold for the militant group.

Surrounded by the gray, hollowed-out shells of four churches, a jubilant crowd greeted the pope in the city, which witnessed the worst of the terrorist group’s rule, including beheadings and mass killings.

Iraq’s Christian minority, one of the oldest in the world, faced persecution under the rule of ISIS, with many members of the community forced to leave behind homes and churches the extremists had destroyed or commandeered.

The country’s Christian population fell to fewer than 250,000 from an estimated 1.4 million before the U.S. invasion of 2003, according to a 2019 report by the State Department.

The pope’s trip to Mosul went off without a hitch. When he passed over the devastated city in a helicopter, he wrote in “Hope,” it “presented itself to my eyes as an expanse of rubble” and “appeared to me from above as an X-ray of hatred.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-assassination-plots-foiled-historic-iraq-visit-rcna184642

AI Overview

While no current Pope is directly from Iraq, Pope Francis made a historic visit to the country in 2021, becoming the first pontiff to do so. His visit was significant, particularly for Iraq's Christian minority, who had been affected by years of conflict. The trip was also a gesture of interfaith dialogue, as Pope Francis met with religious leaders from other faiths, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Elaboration:

Pope Francis's Visit:

Pope Francis's visit to Iraq in 2021 was a landmark event, marking the first time a Pope had ever visited the country.

Historical Significance:

The visit held deep meaning for Iraq's Christian communities, who had experienced hardship and displacement due to the conflict with ISIS.

Interfaith Dialogue:

Pope Francis's trip was also a significant step towards fostering interfaith dialogue and understanding, particularly between Christians and Muslims.

Pilgrim of Peace:

The visit was described as a "pilgrim of peace," highlighting the Pope's commitment to promoting peace and unity in a region marked by conflict.

Impact and Legacy:

Pope Francis's visit was a significant event that resonated with the Iraqi people and had a positive impact on the country's Christian community.

AI responses may include mistakes.

Revelation 18:2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [a]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 18:2 The prediction or foretelling of her ruin, containing both the fall of Babylon, in this verse, and the cause thereof uttered by way of allegory concerning her spiritual and carnal wickedness, that is, her most great impiety and injustice, in the next verse: her fall is first simply declared of the Angel: and then the greatness thereof is showed here by the events, when he saith it shall be the seat and habitation of devils, of wild beasts and of cursed souls, as of old, Isa. 13:21, and often elsewhere.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+18%3A2&version=GNV

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Lunar Day

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

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

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

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

The Bible and Numerology (limited use)

When we read the Bible, we encounter both words and numbers. It is easy and natural to focus on the meaning of words, but numbers (as in this genealogical record) can appear unimportant to us. Many people do not realize that in ancient Hebrew numbers are represented by the alphabet letters and they spell things! Imagine that A = 1 and B = 2 and C = 3 and so on, but only in Hebrew.

Matthew (Matt. 1:17) highlights three spans of 14 (fourteen) generations between Abraham and David, then the same between David and Babylon, and then Babylon and Messiah (Matt.1:17). The triple repetition is the author’s clue to the symbolism of the number! The value of David’s name in Hebrew (דוד; David) is 14. Dalet (ד) is 4 + Vav (ו) is 6 + Dalet (ד) is 4 = 14. The gospel summarizes history in three sets of 14 (fourteen) generations all leading up to Messiah, saying “David, David, David”.

Although Gematria, as it is now used in some Jewish circles, was certainly not implemented at the time of gospel composition, we have clear evidence that some of its principles were already in use. Matthew’s theological point that he wants his readers to see in the Gematria he uses is that Yeshua (Jesus) is the “son of David” (בן דוד) the long-awaited King of Israel. He says this plainly in Matthew 1:1 and then demonstrates it through the Gematria of the genealogy that follows. When numbers are letters they begin to speak quite literally!

https://www.amazon.com/Days-Hebrew-Devotions-Eli-Lizorkin-Eyzenberg-ebook/dp/B089P2G8F6

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

13+14= 27

2+7=9

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

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

"The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eyewitness Account of Hiroshima

By Father John A. Siemes, professor of modern philosophy at Tokyo's Catholic University

Hiroshima- August 6th, 1945

Up to August 6th, occasional bombs, which did no great damage, had fallen on Hiroshima. Many cities roundabout, one after the other, were destroyed, but Hiroshima itself remained protected. There were almost daily observation planes over the city but none of them dropped a bomb. The citizens wondered why they alone had remained undisturbed for so long a time. There were fantastic rumors that the enemy had something special in mind for this city, but no one dreamed that the end would come in such a fashion as on the morning of August 6th.

August 6th began in a bright, clear, summer morning. About seven o'clock, there was an air raid alarm which we had heard almost every day and a few planes appeared over the city. No one paid any attention and at about eight o'clock, the all-clear was sounded. I am sitting in my room at the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Nagatsuke; during the past half year, the philosophical and theological section of our Mission had been evacuated to this place from Tokyo. The Novitiate is situated approximately two kilometers from Hiroshima, half-way up the sides of a broad valley which stretches from the town at sea level into this mountainous hinterland, and through which courses a river. From my window, I have a wonderful view down the valley to the edge of the city.

Suddenly--the time is approximately 8:14--the whole valley is filled by a garish light which resembles the magnesium light used in photography, and I am conscious of a wave of heat. I jump to the window to find out the cause of this remarkable phenomenon, but I see nothing more than that brilliant yellow light. As I make for the door, it doesn't occur to me that the light might have something to do with enemy planes. On the way from the window, I hear a moderately loud explosion which seems to come from a distance and, at the same time, the windows are broken in with a loud crash. There has been an interval of perhaps ten seconds since the flash of light. I am sprayed by fragments of glass. The entire window frame has been forced into the room. I realize now that a bomb has burst and I am under the impression that it exploded directly over our house or in the immediate vicinity.

I am bleeding from cuts about the hands and head. I attempt to get out of the door. It has been forced outwards by the air pressure and has become jammed. I force an opening in the door by means of repeated blows with my hands and feet and come to a broad hallway from which open the various rooms. Everything is in a state of confusion. All windows are broken and all the doors are forced inwards. The bookshelves in the hallway have tumbled down. I do not note a second explosion and the fliers seem to have gone on. Most of my colleagues have been injured by fragments of glass. A few are bleeding but none has been seriously injured. All of us have been fortunate since it is now apparent that the wall of my room opposite the window has been lacerated by long fragments of glass.

We proceed to the front of the house to see where the bomb has landed. There is no evidence, however, of a bomb crater; but the southeast section of the house is very severely damaged. Not a door nor a window remains. The blast of air had penetrated the entire house from the southeast, but the house still stands. It is constructed in a Japanese style with a wooden framework, but has been greatly strengthened by the labor of our Brother Gropper as is frequently done in Japanese homes. Only along the front of the chapel which adjoins the house, three supports have given way (it has been made in the manner of Japanese temple, entirely out of wood.)

Down in the valley, perhaps one kilometer toward the city from us, several peasant homes are on fire and the woods on the opposite side of the valley are aflame. A few of us go over to help control the flames. While we are attempting to put things in order, a storm comes up and it begins to rain. Over the city, clouds of smoke are rising and I hear a few slight explosions. I come to the conclusion that an incendiary bomb with an especially strong explosive action has gone off down in the valley. A few of us saw three planes at great altitude over the city at the time of the explosion. I, myself, saw no aircraft whatsoever.

Perhaps a half-hour after the explosion, a procession of people begins to stream up the valley from the city. The crowd thickens continuously. A few come up the road to our house. We give them first aid and bring them into the chapel, which we have in the meantime cleaned and cleared of wreckage, and put them to rest on the straw mats which constitute the floor of Japanese houses. A few display horrible wounds of the extremities and back. The small quantity of fat which we possessed during this time of war was soon used up in the care of the burns. Father Rektor who, before taking holy orders, had studied medicine, ministers to the injured, but our bandages and drugs are soon gone. We must be content with cleansing the wounds.

More and more of the injured come to us. The least injured drag the more seriously wounded. There are wounded soldiers, and mothers carrying burned children in their arms. From the houses of the farmers in the valley comes word: "Our houses are full of wounded and dying. Can you help, at least by taking the worst cases?" The wounded come from the sections at the edge of the city. They saw the bright light, their houses collapsed and buried the inmates in their rooms. Those that were in the open suffered instantaneous burns, particularly on the lightly clothed or unclothed parts of the body. Numerous fires sprang up which soon consumed the entire district. We now conclude that the epicenter of the explosion was at the edge of the city near the Jokogawa Station, three kilometers away from us. We are concerned about Father Kopp who that same morning, went to hold Mass at the Sisters of the Poor, who have a home for children at the edge of the city. He had not returned as yet.

Toward noon, our large chapel and library are filled with the seriously injured. The procession of refugees from the city continues. Finally, about one o'clock, Father Kopp returns, together with the Sisters. Their house and the entire district where they live has burned to the ground. Father Kopp is bleeding about the head and neck, and he has a large burn on the right palm. He was standing in front of the nunnery ready to go home. All of a sudden, he became aware of the light, felt the wave of heat and a large blister formed on his hand. The windows were torn out by the blast. He thought that the bomb had fallen in his immediate vicinity. The nunnery, also a wooden structure made by our Brother Gropper, still remained but soon it is noted that the house is as good as lost because the fire, which had begun at many points in the neighborhood, sweeps closer and closer, and water is not available. There is still time to rescue certain things from the house and to bury them in an open spot. Then the house is swept by flame, and they fight their way back to us along the shore of the river and through the burning streets.

Soon comes news that the entire city has been destroyed by the explosion and that it is on fire. What became of Father Superior and the three other Fathers who were at the center of the city at the Central Mission and Parish House? We had up to this time not given them a thought because we did not believe that the effects of the bomb encompassed the entire city. Also, we did not want to go into town except under pressure of dire necessity, because we thought that the population was greatly perturbed and that it might take revenge on any foreigners which they might consider spiteful onlookers of their misfortune, or even spies.

Father Stolte and Father Erlinghagen go down to the road which is still full of refugees and bring in the seriously injured who have sunken by the wayside, to the temporary aid station at the village school. There iodine is applied to the wounds but they are left uncleansed. Neither ointments nor other therapeutic agents are available. Those that have been brought in are laid on the floor and no one can give them any further care. What could one do when all means are lacking? Under those circumstances, it is almost useless to bring them in. Among the passersby, there are many who are uninjured. In a purposeless, insensate manner, distraught by the magnitude of the disaster most of them rush by and none conceives the thought of organizing help on his own initiative. They are concerned only with the welfare of their own families. It became clear to us during these days that the Japanese displayed little initiative, preparedness, and organizational skill in preparation for catastrophes. They failed to carry out any rescue work when something could have been saved by a cooperative effort, and fatalistically let the catastrophe take its course. When we urged them to take part in the rescue work, they did everything willingly, but on their own initiative they did very little.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, a theology student and two kindergarten children, who lived at the Parish House and adjoining buildings which had burned down, came in and said that Father Superior LaSalle and Father Schiffer had been seriously injured and that they had taken refuge in Asano Park on the river bank. It is obvious that we must bring them in since they are too weak to come here on foot.

Hurriedly, we get together two stretchers and seven of us rush toward the city. Father Rektor comes along with food and medicine. The closer we get to the city, the greater is the evidence of destruction and the more difficult it is to make our way. The houses at the edge of the city are all severely damaged. Many have collapsed or burned down. Further in, almost all of the dwellings have been damaged by fire. Where the city stood, there is a gigantic burned-out scar. We make our way along the street on the river bank among the burning and smoking ruins. Twice we are forced into the river itself by the heat and smoke at the level of the street.

Frightfully burned people beckon to us. Along the way, there are many dead and dying. On the Misasi Bridge, which leads into the inner city we are met by a long procession of soldiers who have suffered burns. They drag themselves along with the help of staves or are carried by their less severely injured comrades...an endless procession of the unfortunate.

Abandoned on the bridge, there stand with sunken heads a number of horses with large burns on their flanks. On the far side, the cement structure of the local hospital is the only building that remains standing. Its interior, however, has been burned out. It acts as a landmark to guide us on our way.

Finally we reach the entrance of the park. A large proportion of the populace has taken refuge there, but even the trees of the park are on fire in several places. Paths and bridges are blocked by the trunks of fallen trees and are almost impassable. We are told that a high wind, which may well have resulted from the heat of the burning city, has uprooted the large trees. It is now quite dark. Only the fires, which are still raging in some places at a distance, give out a little light.

At the far corner of the park, on the river bank itself, we at last come upon our colleagues. Father Schiffer is on the ground pale as a ghost. He has a deep incised wound behind the ear and has lost so much blood that we are concerned about his chances for survival. The Father Superior has suffered a deep wound of the lower leg. Father Cieslik and Father Kleinsorge have minor injuries but are completely exhausted.

While they are eating the food that we have brought along, they tell us of their experiences. They were in their rooms at the Parish House--it was a quarter after eight, exactly the time when we had heard the explosion in Nagatsuke--when came the intense light and immediately thereafter the sound of breaking windows, walls and furniture. They were showered with glass splinters and fragments of wreckage. Father Schiffer was buried beneath a portion of a wall and suffered a severe head injury. The Father Superior received most of the splinters in his back and lower extremity from which he bled copiously. Everything was thrown about in the rooms themselves, but the wooden framework of the house remained intact. The solidity of the structure which was the work of Brother Gropper again shone forth.

They had the same impression that we had in Nagatsuke: that the bomb had burst in their immediate vicinity. The Church, school, and all buildings in the immediate vicinity collapsed at once. Beneath the ruins of the school, the children cried for help. They were freed with great effort. Several others were also rescued from the ruins of nearby dwellings. Even the Father Superior and Father Schiffer despite their wounds, rendered aid to others and lost a great deal of blood in the process.

In the meantime, fires which had begun some distance away are raging even closer, so that it becomes obvious that everything would soon burn down. Several objects are rescued from the Parish House and were buried in a clearing in front of the Church, but certain valuables and necessities which had been kept ready in case of fire could not be found on account of the confusion which had been wrought. It is high time to flee, since the oncoming flames leave almost no way open. Fukai, the secretary of the Mission, is completely out of his mind. He does not want to leave the house and explains that he does not want to survive the destruction of his fatherland. He is completely uninjured. Father Kleinsorge drags him out of the house on his back and he is forcefully carried away.

Beneath the wreckage of the houses along the way, many have been trapped and they scream to be rescued from the oncoming flames. They must be left to their fate. The way to the place in the city to which one desires to flee is no longer open and one must make for Asano Park. Fukai does not want to go further and remains behind. He has not been heard from since. In the park, we take refuge on the bank of the river. A very violent whirlwind now begins to uproot large trees, and lifts them high into the air. As it reaches the water, a waterspout forms which is approximately 100 meters high. The violence of the storm luckily passes us by. Some distance away, however, where numerous refugees have taken shelter, many are blown into the river. Almost all who are in the vicinity have been injured and have lost relatives who have been pinned under the wreckage or who have been lost sight of during the flight. There is no help for the wounded and some die. No one pays any attention to a dead man lying nearby.

The transportation of our own wounded is difficult. It is not possible to dress their wounds properly in the darkness, and they bleed again upon slight motion. As we carry them on the shaky litters in the dark over fallen trees of the park, they suffer unbearable pain as the result of the movement, and lose dangerously large quantities of blood. Our rescuing angel in this difficult situation is a Japanese Protestant pastor. He has brought up a boat and offers to take our wounded up stream to a place where progress is easier. First, we lower the litter containing Father Schiffer into the boat and two of us accompany him. We plan to bring the boat back for the Father Superior. The boat returns about one-half hour later and the pastor requests that several of us help in the rescue of two children whom he had seen in the river. We rescue them. They have severe burns. Soon they suffer chills and die in the park.

The Father Superior is conveyed in the boat in the same manner as Father Schiffer. The theology student and myself accompany him. Father Cieslik considers himself strong enough to make his way on foot to Nagatsuke with the rest of us, but Father Kleinsorge cannot walk so far and we leave him behind and promise to come for him and the housekeeper tomorrow. From the other side of the stream comes the whinny of horses who are threatened by the fire. We land on a sand spit which juts out from the shore. It is full of wounded who have taken refuge there. They scream for aid for they are afraid of drowning as the river may rise with the sea, and cover the sand spit. They themselves are too weak to move. However, we must press on and finally we reach the spot where the group containing Father Schiffer is waiting.

Here a rescue party had brought a large case of fresh rice cakes but there is no one to distribute them to the numerous wounded that lie all about. We distribute them to those that are nearby and also help ourselves. The wounded call for water and we come to the aid of a few. Cries for help are heard from a distance, but we cannot approach the ruins from which they come. A group of soldiers comes along the road and their officer notices that we speak a strange language. He at once draws his sword, screamingly demands who we are and threatens to cut us down. Father Laures, Jr., seizes his arm and explains that we are German. We finally quiet him down. He thought that we might well be Americans who had parachuted down. Rumors of parachutists were being bandied about the city. The Father Superior who was clothed only in a shirt and trousers, complains of feeling freezing cold, despite the warm summer night and the heat of the burning city. The one man among us who possesses a coat gives it to him and, in addition, I give him my own shirt. To me, it seems more comfortable to be without a shirt in the heat.

In the meantime, it has become midnight. Since there are not enough of us to man both litters with four strong bearers, we determine to remove Father Schiffer first to the outskirts of the city. From there, another group of bearers is to take over to Nagatsuke; the others are to turn back in order to rescue the Father Superior. I am one of the bearers. The theology student goes in front to warn us of the numerous wires, beams and fragments of ruins which block the way and which are impossible to see in the dark. Despite all precautions, our progress is stumbling and our feet get tangled in the wire. Father Kruer falls and carries the litter with him. Father Schiffer becomes half unconscious from the fall and vomits. We pass an injured man who sits all alone among the hot ruins and whom I had seen previously on the way down.

On the Misasa Bridge, we meet Father Tappe and Father Luhmer, who have come to meet us from Nagatsuke. They had dug a family out of the ruins of their collapsed house some fifty meters off the road. The father of the family was already dead. They had dragged out two girls and placed them by the side of the road. Their mother was still trapped under some beams. They had planned to complete the rescue and then to press on to meet us. At the outskirts of the city, we put down the litter and leave two men to wait until those who are to come from Nagatsuke appear. The rest of us turn back to fetch the Father Superior.

Most of the ruins have now burned down. The darkness kindly hides the many forms that lie on the ground. Only occasionally in our quick progress do we hear calls for help. One of us remarks that the remarkable burned smell reminds him of incinerated corpses. The upright, squatting form which we had passed by previously is still there.

Transportation on the litter, which has been constructed out of boards, must be very painful to the Father Superior, whose entire back is full of fragments of glass. In a narrow passage at the edge of town, a car forces us to the edge of the road. The litter bearers on the left side fall into a two meter deep ditch which they could not see in the darkness. Father Superior hides his pain with a dry joke, but the litter which is now no longer in one piece cannot be carried further. We decide to wait until Kinjo can bring a hand cart from Nagatsuke. He soon comes back with one that he has requisitioned from a collapsed house. We place Father Superior on the cart and wheel him the rest of the way, avoiding as much as possible the deeper pits in the road.

About half past four in the morning, we finally arrive at the Novitiate. Our rescue expedition had taken almost twelve hours. Normally, one could go back and forth to the city in two hours. Our two wounded were now, for the first time, properly dressed. I get two hours sleep on the floor; some one else has taken my own bed. Then I read a Mass in gratiarum actionem, it is the 7th of August, the anniversary of the foundation of our society. Then we bestir ourselves to bring Father Kleinsorge and other acquaintances out of the city.

We take off again with the hand cart. The bright day now reveals the frightful picture which last night's darkness had partly concealed. Where the city stood everything, as far as the eye could reach, is a waste of ashes and ruin. Only several skeletons of buildings completely burned out in the interior remain. The banks of the river are covered with dead and wounded, and the rising waters have here and there covered some of the corpses. On the broad street in the Hakushima district, naked burned cadavers are particularly numerous. Among them are the wounded who are still alive. A few have crawled under the burnt-out autos and trams. Frightfully injured forms beckon to us and then collapse. An old woman and a girl whom she is pulling along with her fall down at our feet. We place them on our cart and wheel them to the hospital at whose entrance a dressing station has been set up. Here the wounded lie on the hard floor, row on row. Only the largest wounds are dressed. We convey another soldier and an old woman to the place but we cannot move everybody who lies exposed in the sun. It would be endless and it is questionable whether those whom we can drag to the dressing station can come out alive, because even here nothing really effective can be done. Later, we ascertain that the wounded lay for days in the burnt-out hallways of the hospital and there they died.

We must proceed to our goal in the park and are forced to leave the wounded to their fate. We make our way to the place where our church stood to dig up those few belongings that we had buried yesterday. We find them intact. Everything else has been completely burned. In the ruins, we find a few molten remnants of holy vessels. At the park, we load the housekeeper and a mother with her two children on the cart. Father Kleinsorge feels strong enough, with the aid of Brother Nobuhara, to make his way home on foot. The way back takes us once again past the dead and wounded in Hakushima. Again no rescue parties are in evidence. At the Misasa Bridge, there still lies the family which the Fathers Tappe and Luhmer had yesterday rescued from the ruins. A piece of tin had been placed over them to shield them from the sun. We cannot take them along for our cart is full. We give them and those nearby water to drink and decide to rescue them later. At three o'clock in the afternoon, we are back in Nagatsuka.

After we have had a few swallows and a little food, Fathers Stolte, Luhmer, Erlinghagen and myself, take off once again to bring in the family. Father Kleinsorge requests that we also rescue two children who had lost their mother and who had lain near him in the park. On the way, we were greeted by strangers who had noted that we were on a mission of mercy and who praised our efforts. We now met groups of individuals who were carrying the wounded about on litters. As we arrived at the Misasa Bridge, the family that had been there was gone. They might well have been borne away in the meantime. There was a group of soldiers at work taking away those that had been sacrificed yesterday.

More than thirty hours had gone by until the first official rescue party had appeared on the scene. We find both children and take them out of the park: a six-year old boy who was uninjured, and a twelve-year old girl who had been burned about the head, hands and legs, and who had lain for thirty hours without care in the park. The left side of her face and the left eye were completely covered with blood and pus, so that we thought that she had lost the eye. When the wound was later washed, we noted that the eye was intact and that the lids had just become stuck together. On the way home, we took another group of three refugees with us. They first wanted to know, however, of what nationality we were. They, too, feared that we might be Americans who had parachuted in. When we arrived in Nagatsuka, it had just become dark.

We took under our care fifty refugees who had lost everything. The majority of them were wounded and not a few had dangerous burns. Father Rektor treated the wounds as well as he could with the few medicaments that we could, with effort, gather up. He had to confine himself in general to cleansing the wounds of purulent material. Even those with the smaller burns are very weak and all suffered from diarrhea. In the farm houses in the vicinity, almost everywhere, there are also wounded. Father Rektor made daily rounds and acted in the capacity of a painstaking physician and was a great Samaritan. Our work was, in the eyes of the people, a greater boost for Christianity than all our work during the preceding long years.

Three of the severely burned in our house died within the next few days. Suddenly the pulse and respirations ceased. It is certainly a sign of our good care that so few died. In the official aid stations and hospitals, a good third or half of those that had been brought in died. They lay about there almost without care, and a very high percentage succumbed. Everything was lacking: doctors, assistants, dressings, drugs, etc. In an aid station at a school at a nearby village, a group of soldiers for several days did nothing except to bring in and cremate the dead behind the school.

During the next few days, funeral processions passed our house from morning to night, bringing the deceased to a small valley nearby. There, in six places, the dead were burned. People brought their own wood and themselves did the cremation. Father Luhmer and Father Laures found a dead man in a nearby house who had already become bloated and who emitted a frightful odor. They brought him to this valley and incinerated him themselves. Even late at night, the little valley was lit up by the funeral pyres.

We made systematic efforts to trace our acquaintances and the families of the refugees whom we had sheltered. Frequently, after the passage of several weeks, some one was found in a distant village or hospital but of many there was no news, and these were apparently dead. We were lucky to discover the mother of the two children whom we had found in the park and who had been given up for dead. After three weeks, she saw her children once again. In the great joy of the reunion were mingled the tears for those whom we shall not see again.

The magnitude of the disaster that befell Hiroshima on August 6th was only slowly pieced together in my mind. I lived through the catastrophe and saw it only in flashes, which only gradually were merged to give me a total picture. What actually happened simultaneously in the city as a whole is as follows: As a result of the explosion of the bomb at 8:15, almost the entire city was destroyed at a single blow. Only small outlying districts in the southern and eastern parts of the town escaped complete destruction. The bomb exploded over the center of the city. As a result of the blast, the small Japanese houses in a diameter of five kilometers, which compressed 99% of the city, collapsed or were blown up. Those who were in the houses were buried in the ruins. Those who were in the open sustained burns resulting from contact with the substance or rays emitted by the bomb. Where the substance struck in quantity, fires sprang up. These spread rapidly.

The heat which rose from the center created a whirlwind which was effective in spreading fire throughout the whole city. Those who had been caught beneath the ruins and who could not be freed rapidly, and those who had been caught by the flames, became casualties. As much as six kilometers from the center of the explosion, all houses were damaged and many collapsed and caught fire. Even fifteen kilometers away, windows were broken. It was rumored that the enemy fliers had spread an explosive and incendiary material over the city and then had created the explosion and ignition. A few maintained that they saw the planes drop a parachute which had carried something that exploded at a height of 1,000 meters. The newspapers called the bomb an "atomic bomb" and noted that the force of the blast had resulted from the explosion of uranium atoms, and that gamma rays had been sent out as a result of this, but no one knew anything for certain concerning the nature of the bomb.

How many people were a sacrifice to this bomb? Those who had lived through the catastrophe placed the number of dead at at least 100,000. Hiroshima had a population of 400,000. Official statistics place the number who had died at 70,000 up to September 1st, not counting the missing ... and 130,000 wounded, among them 43,500 severely wounded. Estimates made by ourselves on the basis of groups known to us show that the number of 100,000 dead is not too high. Near us there are two barracks, in each of which forty Korean workers lived. On the day of the explosion, they were laboring on the streets of Hiroshima. Four returned alive to one barracks and sixteen to the other. 600 students of the Protestant girls' school worked in a factory, from which only thirty to forty returned. Most of the peasant families in the neighborhood lost one or more of their members who had worked at factories in the city. Our next door neighbor, Tamura, lost two children and himself suffered a large wound since, as it happened, he had been in the city on that day. The family of our reader suffered two dead, father and son; thus a family of five members suffered at least two losses, counting only the dead and severely wounded. There died the Mayor, the President of the central Japan district, the Commander of the city, a Korean prince who had been stationed in Hiroshima in the capacity of an officer, and many other high ranking officers. Of the professors of the University, thirty-two were killed or severely injured. Especially hard hit were the soldiers. The Pioneer Regiment was almost entirely wiped out. The barracks were near the center of the explosion.

Thousands of wounded who died later could doubtless have been rescued had they received proper treatment and care, but rescue work in a catastrophe of this magnitude had not been envisioned; since the whole city had been knocked out at a blow, everything which had been prepared for emergency work was lost, and no preparation had been made for rescue work in the outlying districts. Many of the wounded also died because they had been weakened by under-nourishment and consequently lacked in strength to recover. Those who had their normal strength and who received good care slowly healed the burns which had been occasioned by the bomb. There were also cases, however, whose prognosis seemed good who died suddenly. There were also some who had only small external wounds who died within a week or later, after an inflammation of the pharynx and oral cavity had taken place. We thought at first that this was the result of inhalation of the substance of the bomb. Later, a commission established the thesis that gamma rays had been given out at the time of the explosion, following which the internal organs had been injured in a manner resembling that consequent upon Roentgen irradiation. This produces a diminution in the numbers of the white corpuscles.

Only several cases are known to me personally where individuals who did not have external burns later died. Father Kleinsorge and Father Cieslik, who were near the center of the explosion, but who did not suffer burns became quite weak some fourteen days after the explosion. Up to this time small incised wounds had healed normally, but thereafter the wounds which were still unhealed became worse and are to date (in September) still incompletely healed. The attending physician diagnosed it as leucopania. There thus seems to be some truth in the statement that the radiation had some effect on the blood. I am of the opinion, however, that their generally undernourished and weakened condition was partly responsible for these findings. It was noised about that the ruins of the city emitted deadly rays and that workers who went there to aid in the clearing died, and that the central district would be uninhabitable for some time to come. I have my doubts as to whether such talk is true and myself and others who worked in the ruined area for some hours shortly after the explosion suffered no such ill effects.

None of us in those days heard a single outburst against the Americans on the part of the Japanese, nor was there any evidence of a vengeful spirit. The Japanese suffered this terrible blow as part of the fortunes of war ... something to be borne without complaint. During this, war, I have noted relatively little hatred toward the allies on the part of the people themselves, although the press has taken occasion to stir up such feelings. After the victories at the beginning of the war, the enemy was rather looked down upon, but when allied offensive gathered momentum and especially after the advent of the majestic B-29's, the technical skill of America became an object of wonder and admiration.

The following anecdote indicates the spirit of the Japanese: A few days after the atomic bombing, the secretary of the University came to us asserting that the Japanese were ready to destroy San Francisco by means of an equally effective bomb. It is dubious that he himself believed what he told us. He merely wanted to impress upon us foreigners that the Japanese were capable of similar discoveries. In his nationalistic pride, he talked himself into believing this. The Japanese also intimated that the principle of the new bomb was a Japanese discovery. It was only lack of raw materials, they said, which prevented its construction. In the meantime, the Germans were said to have carried the discovery to a further stage and were about to initiate such bombing. The Americans were reputed to have learned the secret from the Germans, and they had then brought the bomb to a stage of industrial completion.

We have discussed among ourselves the ethics of the use of the bomb. Some consider it in the same category as poison gas and were against its use on a civil population. Others were of the view that in total war, as carried on in Japan, there was no difference between civilians and soldiers, and that the bomb itself was an effective force tending to end the bloodshed, warning Japan to surrender and thus to avoid total destruction. It seems logical to me that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of war against civilians. The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good that might result? When will our moralists give us a clear answer to this question?

https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/hiroshima-nagasaki/hiroshima-siemes.html

PREFACE of Very Reverend Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, Superior General of the Society of Jesus xi 1. General Congregation 33 (D. 6, 11, 2) mandated that when our own law was being brought into conformity with the requirements of the new universal law of the Church regarding religious institutes (namely, the 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church and the 1993 Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches) we should see to it that the preparations for the complete revision of our own law, to be put into final form by the next general congregation, should be made with appropriate studious effort. For the Society had for some time regarded such a revision of our law as desirable; and studies for getting it ready had already been undertaken some years prior to this at the urging and under the leadership of Reverend Father Pedro Arrupe, although he himself was not able to see these brought to a conclusion. 2. Such a true and substantial renovation of its own law, required by the decree Perfectae Caritatis of Vatican Council II, and regulated by the moto proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae of Paul VI, the Society, for its part, had actually completed by means of General Congregations 31 (1965-66) and 32 (1974-75), which thoroughly adapted the Society s life and apostolate to the new needs of the times, while at the same time retaining a genuine fidelity to its proper character and original mission. None the less, the Society had not yet been able to give a formal, normative structure to the many decrees embodying this renovation and accommodation. And thus the pressing need to undertake such a task without delay. 3. After lengthy deliberation on the part of the Superior General with his consultors about the way for the Society to accomplish this revision most effectively, the following conclusions emerged: a. First of all, it seemed good to make every effort to see that the Constitutions of St. Ignatius, an explication of the Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus as approved by the supreme pontiffs Paul III (1540) and Julius III (1550) and a privileged expression of the foundational spiritual and apostolic experience of the first companions, should occupy a central and real place in our law and, through that law, should serve to insp ire and govern ou r entire p resent -d ay lives. Thu s they had to be purged of elements that were obsolete or had been formally abrogated; and it had to be determined which points in them had in the course of time been modified or authentically interpreted. This was to be done, however, with the help of notes that a general congregation authoritatively appended to the original Ignatian text, without making any changes in the latter. Thus it was hoped that the Constitutions could recover their basic and fundamental inspirational and normative force for the life of the Society, without turning out to be a document that was purely spiritual and doctrinal, tied to ages past, and consequently out of tune with the times. b. Those things that in the course of time had been decreed by subsequent general congregations and that seemed appropriate to retain in a modern renewal of our life and apostolate as a genuine and real expression of the spirit contained in the Constitutions should, once all unnecessary or obsolete elements had been removed, be reformulated and arranged according to the order of the Constitutions themselves, and should bear a permanent relationship to those Constitutions, as their Complementary Norms, approved by a general congregation and alterable only by such a congregation. c. Finally, so that the living internal unity that exists between these two parts of our law might shine forth more clearly and their ongoing spiritual identity might be more obvious, the two were, in future, to be published in one and the same volume. The hope, surely, was that the Society could have available an instrument that would be at once legal and spiritual in character, authentically Ignatian, one that could help the Society to proceed ever better in the path of the divine service, according to the nature of our Institute. 4. This manner of proceeding all the provincials discussed at their congregation held in September 1990 at Loyola and approved by general consent, since experts had already prepared a sort of first draft of the project. 5. Consultation was then undertaken with experts from the worldwide Society, nominated by the provincials, in regard to this first draft of the schema. Their discussions generated very many suggestions, which were made available to (and, indeed, provided considerable help to) those who were preparing the new draft. This latter, completed at the beginning of 1993, was sent to the provinces, so that their province congregations could examine it and could send to the general congregation postulata, as well as all manner of related suggestions about the project. 6. Nearly all the provinces scrutinized the schema in one way or other and made known their thinking about it in a very positive fashion. They called for the completion of a revision along the lines of the proposed schema (albeit appropriately revised), so that the general congregation could approve it. Many provinces, however, at the same time, sent along postulata and comments of great import and of great usefulness, which contributed to the fact that a Final Proposal, written by a special commission and incorporating clear improvements, could be offered for the consideration of the general congregation. 7. The task of revising our own law deeply occupied General Congregation 34. For, on the one hand, it reserved certain points of the Final Proposal for its own discussion and decision, those that seemed of greater moment. On the other hand, each commission took on the part of the Final Proposal that it was to consider, along with the material related to it. Finally, a special commission was set up and made aware of all the suggestions that had occurred to everyone (commissions and individuals alike); it prepared the text to be voted upon, and over the space of an entire month proposed it to the congregation for a final vote piece by piece. On March 18 the congregation took a final comprehensive vote, with the greatest consensus and the greatest joy in the Spirit. It thus brought to a happy conclusion work stretching out over several years, in which, in diverse fashion, virtually the entire Society had taken part. 8. Most gladly, then, my dearest brothers, do I now present to you our renewed Constitutions and their Complementary Norms, to be considered in your personal and communal prayer and to be observed in the spirit in which they have been written. Thus, with the help of God, may these, as Master Ignatius proposed, be a certain path to him in our enthusiastic following out of our mission in the Church, as servants of the mission of Christ under the leadership of the Roman Pontiff, for the greater praise and glory of Christ and for the good, the salvation, and the consolation of our fellow men and women, to whom we are sent in any region of the world whatsoever.

Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. Superior General of the Society of Jesus Rome, September 27, 1995

On the 455th anniversary of the papal approval of the Society of Jesus

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

JD Vance Returns to the Vatican, a Potential Reset for the American Right

The cardinals’ selection of Pope Leo tests the strained relationship between the bishop of Rome and conservative Catholics.

Elizabeth Dias

By Elizabeth Dias

Reporting from Vatican City

May 18, 2025

Updated 3:42 a.m. ET

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, attended a Good Friday service at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican last month. Credit...Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The announcement that Vice President JD Vance would attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass included a simple line.

“Pope Leo XIV is the first American Pope. Vice President Vance is the first Catholic convert to serve as Vice President,” the White House notice said.

It was neutral, yet telling. The first American pope holds the seat of St. Peter at a time when conservative Catholicism has political strength in the United States, embodied in the man first in line to the presidency. The relationship between the two will be one of the most-watched developments of Pope Leo’s papacy.

The cardinals’ selection of Pope Leo tests the strained relationship between the bishop of Rome and the American right wing. Just four Sundays ago, Mr. Vance shook hands with a pope who had publicly chastised his theology and position on immigration, and who faced longstanding frustration from traditionalist Catholics. This Sunday he arrives to greet a leader who appears to share many of his predecessor’s views, including direct criticism of Mr. Vance in a now-deleted social media account associated with his name.

Leading conservative American Catholics often say they do not know Pope Leo personally. Yet while some had different first choices for the papacy, Pope Leo has begun by positioning himself as a conciliatory, moderate force. Some conservatives are finding points of commonality in his theology and administrative pragmatism, and even cautious anticipation that their relationship with Rome may reset.

“He seems to be a man of deep prayer and reflection who believes in service to others and fidelity to the Church’s doctrine and constant teaching,” said Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association. “I am optimistic that he can bring unity to the church through clear and compassionate leadership of the faithful.”

Some activists note that they love the symbolism of Pope Leo’s coat of arms, with its message of unity and communion in the church. He also invited the leader of Opus Dei, a Catholic group with strong conservative support, for a brief meeting, “in which the Pope expressed his closeness and affection,” the group said in a statement.

Pope Leo’s focus on the dignity of the worker in the modern world, and indications that he will focus on labor and society, may be points of particular connection.

Pope Leo and Mr. Vance share a hero in St. Augustine, if they at times may interpret him in diverging ways. The day Mr. Vance converted to Catholicism through study with Dominican friars, he chose Augustine as his patron, having found inspiration in his fifth-century treatise, “City of God,” that challenged Rome’s ruling class. “Our society is more than the sum of its economic statistics,” Mr. Vance later said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is joining Mr. Vance at the Vatican, has previously pointed to Pope Leo XIII’s landmark 19th-century treatise Rerum Novarum, which addressed the needs and dignity of workers, as a basis for his own views about economic reform.

When Pope Leo met with ambassadors on Friday, he called on governments to “build harmonious and peaceful civil societies,” and then cited a line from that 19th-century text that sounds similar to some of the economic populism of the Catholic right.

“This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, ‘a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society,’” he said. But he immediately followed it with the reminder to respect the dignity of the unemployed, “citizens and immigrants alike.”

His attention to the dignity of the worker appeals across political divides.

“The fact that he is focused on tech and A.I., issues of the day, says a lot,” said John Cannon, the founder of SENT, a network for Catholic business leaders, who was in Rome for America Week events before the conclave.

For some traditionalists, Pope Leo is unique because he is a strong administrator and a missionary. “The fact that you have both in one person is very rare,” Mr. Cannon said.

Representative Riley Moore, Republican of West Virginia, introduced a resolution in Congress to honor Pope Leo, saying he exemplified “humility and courage.” (Before Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost became pope, his social media account shared criticisms of the Trump administration’s positions on immigration. Last month, Rep. Moore posted on social media a photo of himself with two thumbs up while standing in front of a crowded cell of inmates in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, where the Trump administration had sent deportees.)

A bipartisan group asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to invite Pope Leo to address Congress. “An address by his Holiness would serve as a powerful reminder of our shared commitments to peace, service to others, and moral leadership,” it wrote.

Some conservatives who were openly opposed to Pope Leo’s election have softened their approach. Days before the white smoke, Catholic Vote’s media arm suggested that liberal and conservative news media had coordinated a campaign to push for Cardinal Prevost.

“I’m certainly not a fan of this guy,” Josh Mercer, who founded Catholic Vote with Brian Burch, President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the Holy See, said in a podcast. “Obviously, the reason why he is being pushed is because he seems to be a little bit more of a palatable liberal that could carry on what Francis is doing.”

But several days after the election, Mr. Mercer noted in an opinion essay with Steve Cortes, a former Trump adviser, that it seemed that Pope Leo subscribed to “tenets of the economic agenda of patriotic populism.”

Elizabeth Dias is The Times’s national religion correspondent, covering faith, politics and values.

A version of this article appears in print on May 18, 2025, Section A, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: Vance Returns to Vatican, Possible Reset for U.S. Right. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/pope-leo-conservatives.html

Kash Patel Has a Long History of MAGA Money Grabs and Cringe Memes

Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI is a devout loyalist who shares a brazen pitchman approach to politics

By Miles Klee

December 2, 2024

Kash Patel, who served briefly as chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense at the end Donald Trump‘s first presidential term and is now Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has made no secret of his unwavering support for the MAGA movement. As leader of the powerful law enforcement agency, the die-hard loyalist would be poised to make good on his repeated threats to go after Trump’s enemies in the media and the so-called “deep state,” while some elected Republicans hope he will dismantle the FBI as we know it.

But Patel doesn’t just share Trump’s ideological bent and appetite for authoritarian power. He is also, like the once and future president, an inveterate salesman, always hawking products meant to line his pockets while advancing his political agenda.

Over the past two years, for example, Patel has published a trilogy of children’s books under the title The Plot Against the King. The first installment is a fairytale rendition of Patel’s conspiracist claims that Hillary Clinton (here depicted as “Hillary Queenton”) and her minions orchestrated the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s victory in that race. Patel casts himself as “Kash, the Distinguished Discoverer,” a wizard-like character who sniffs out the scheme. The second book makes reference to 2,000 Mules, a discredited documentary by MAGA filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza which made false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. (D’Souza was forced to admit on Sunday that the film was based on “inaccurate” information.) The final chapter is about “King Donald” defeating figures meant to represent President Biden and Vice President Harris. These are in addition to his 2023 book for right-wing adults, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.

Other merch Kash has peddled since Trump left office in 2021 runs the gamut from your basic apparel (“Fight With K$H” shirts, hoodies and socks) to flags, thermoses, and $250 steel wall art of an orange Punisher skull with Trump-style hair. Patel wore one item from his store, the Fight With Kash Punisher Intarsia Reversible Scarf, when speaking at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference. According to his website, “net profits” from the online shop go toward the Kash Foundation, which purports to assist whistleblowers with legal defense funds and defend First Amendment rights. The organization, which became a tax-exempt nonprofit in 2022 and reported revenue of $1.29 million for 2023, made payments to FBI whistleblowers who testified before a House Judiciary committee last year as part of Rep. Jim Jordan‘s failed bid to uncover a “deep state” conspiracy against Trump within the federal bureaucracy.

Contrary to the suggestion of an edited image that made the rounds on Truth Social in 2022, Patel has never partnered with the footwear company Lucchese to sell boots with the tagline “Shoving boots up the Deep States’ [sic] ass since 1883.” Patel’s face was apparently superimposed onto that of a model wearing leather boots. Yet Patel did lend his name to a winemaker that sells through the small batch alcohol distributor Great American Craft Spirits: A six-pack of the K$H Cabernet Sauvignon costs $243.99, with some portion of that price allegedly going toward an unnamed charity.

Patel has also partnered with and endorsed alternative economy businesses serving a “patriot” customer base, including the financial services company Revere Payments, Coign (billed as “a credit card for conservatives”), and the cell phone carrier Patriot Mobile. His promotional efforts have even extended to music; he was among the producers of “Justice for All,” a single that featured Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with a choir of unidentified Jan. 6 defendants singing the national anthem in jail. Trump played the track at his first 2024 presidential rally. A video for the single has since vanished from YouTube, though it’s unclear if it was the platform or the user who removed the song.

Most alarmingly, Patel has used his Truth Social account to tout the efficacy of “vaccine reversal” treatments sold by a company whose co-founders previously ran a multi-level marketing business, Xcellent Choice, which was flagged by the watchdog Truth in Advertising. Warrior Essentials, the company behind the trademarked vaccine “detox” pills, claims that one of its products eliminates the spike protein from a Covid-19 vaccine, as well as “zombie cells” and “misfolded DNA.” The actual ingredients — which include zinc, vitamin D, and pineapple and soy extracts — are common to many supplements and have not been shown to have the effects advertised by Warrior Essentials.

Throughout his relentless profiteering off Trump, Patel has tended to valorize himself as the incoming president and many of his extremely online allies do: with low-quality memes. Patel himself shared the altered photo in which he was supposedly modeling Lucchese boots, and once, in another Truth Social post, shared a poorly cropped image of himself as Star-Lord from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but with the title “Meme-Lord.” The caption on the picture, which features the seal of the U.S. Space Force, reads: “Lets goooooo #TruthSocial – #FWK making some noise – wizards n warlocks style.”

Whether this prolonged period of hucksterism, stymied attempts to uproot a deep state conspiracy, and militant bluster has prepared Kash to serve effectively as an FBI director is, of course, an open question. To that end, his confirmation by a likely skeptical Senate is not guaranteed. But it’s clear, anyway, what makes him qualified for the job in Trump’s eyes: He backs the president-elect every step of the way, and, just like Trump, sees nothing wrong with using political influence to make an easy buck.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kash-patel-maga-merch-memes-history-1235189442/

The Punisher (re-titled Frank Castle: The Punisher after issue #66; sometimes referred to as The Punisher MAX) was a comic book ongoing series published under the MAX imprint of Marvel Comics, featuring vigilante and antihero the Punisher.

Publication history

Garth Ennis, also writer of the 2000 and 2001 Punisher series, wrote issues #1–60 of the series. Also like the earlier series, Tim Bradstreet provided the covers for those issues. Continuing his run on the character, Ennis used the freedom of the MAX imprint to write more graphic and hard-edged stories than had previously been seen.[1][2] Ennis also wrote two miniseries accompanying the main series, The Punisher Presents: Barracuda and Born, and several one-shots.

With issue #61, Gregg Hurwitz replaced Ennis as writer, joining artist Laurence Campbell to do a five-issue story arc.[3] With issue #66 released on January 21, 2009, the series was re-titled Frank Castle: The Punisher, with writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Michel Lacombe coming to the series.[4][5] Victor Gischler came on board for the storyline "Welcome to the Bayou" in issues #71–74[6][7] before the title finished with issue #75, a double-length issue with stories by Thomas Piccirilli, Gregg Hurwitz, Duane Swierczynski, Peter Milligan, and Charlie Huston.[8]

The title was relaunched as Punisher MAX in late 2009, with writer Jason Aaron and artist Steve Dillon.

Plot

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Differences from the mainstream Marvel Universe Punisher

The series explicitly does not use a floating timeline like the mainstream Marvel Universe, instead presenting a Punisher who ages in real time. Gravestones and other references indicate that his family was killed in 1976. The Punisher has been active for almost 30 years at the time presented in most stories, with issue #19 specifying that he has killed approximately 2,000 people. Born also establishes that the Punisher's service in the Vietnam War is still in MAX continuity.

Promotional art for the cover of Punisher #44 (March 2007), gives Frank's born as Queens, New York, 1947 but that was removed for the published issues. The story "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" corroborates this date, referring to Castle as "a twenty-one year old Captain" in April 1971.

Another major difference is the complete lack of superheroes and supervillains in the series, although non-superpowered characters from the Punisher's past, most notably Microchip, do make appearances. Nick Fury also makes several notable appearances, with his characterization echoing Ennis' MAX-imprint Fury stories. However, the character Jen Cooke, a social worker, appeared in the Marvel Knights storyline "Hidden". She then appeared in the MAX storyline "Slavers". The character Yorkie Mitchell made appearances in both the Marvel Knights and the MAX Punisher comics.

In the Civil War Files comic, just before the "Civil War" storyline was published, Iron Man talked about events in the Punisher's past from the Marvel Knights and MAX comics, which indicated that it did happen in the mainstream Marvel Universe at some point:

"Captain Frank Castle, sole survivor of the Firebase Valley Forge massacre".

"Although recently Castle has escalated his war on crime even further, with record-breaking body counts, he is paradoxically now rarely encountered in the field by any super hero save Daredevil".

"It's almost like he inhabits two worlds, one where heroes can capture him and one where they can't, and he can slip from one to the other with ease".[9]

Many characters are past or current intelligence and military operatives from governmental agencies like the American CIA, the Soviet KGB and the British SIS and SAS and militaries and militias from the Balkans, the Middle East and the IRA, all with agendas rooted in past conflicts like the Cold War or the Yugoslav Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Punisher_(2004_series)

With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

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

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

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 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

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]

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

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.

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.

AI Overview

Shiva Shakti | Jai Maa Vaishno Devi

In Hinduism, Devi (the Mother Goddess) is the Shakti (energy) and creative power of Shiva, and her various forms, including Parvati, Sati, and Durga, are often depicted as his consort and the embodiment of the divine feminine.

Here's a more detailed look at the relationship between Devi and Shiva:

Devi as Shiva's Shakti:

In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord, while Devi is regarded as his energy and creative power, the Shakti, and an equal complementary partner.

Parvati as a Form of Devi:

Parvati is a well-known form of Devi and is considered Shiva's eternal wife.

Sati and her Significance:

Sati was the first wife of Shiva, and her story, including her self-immolation, is significant in shaping the traditions of Shaivism and Shaktism.

Durga as a Fierce Aspect of Devi:

Durga is a prominent female deity in Hindu mythology, often depicted as a warrior goddess, and is considered an avatar of Devi.

The Cosmic Union:

The union of Shiva and Devi, or Shiva and his various forms of Devi, represents the intertwining of feminine and masculine energies, the dance of creation and destruction.

Symbolism:

Parvati and Shiva are often symbolized by a yoni and a linga, respectively, representing origin, source, and regenerative power.

Devi's Many Roles:

Devi is portrayed as the ideal wife, mother, and householder, and her statues and iconography grace ancient and medieval era Hindu temples.

Ardhanarishvara:

In Indian art, the vision of the ideal couple is derived from Shiva and Parvati as being half of the other, represented as Ardhanarishvara.

Generative AI is experimental.

Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ KAH-mə-lə DAY-vee,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served from 2021 to 2025 as the 49th vice president of the United States. She was the first female, first African American, and first Asian American U.S. vice president, and the highest-ranking female and Asian American official in U.S. history. She represented California in the U.S. senate from 2017 to 2021 and was attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

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. Harris 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.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021 after winning the 2016 Senate election. She was 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 while asking pointed questions of officials in the first administration of Republican president Donald Trump during Senate hearings, including Trump's second U.S. 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; their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 presidential election. When her vice presidency began, Harris presided over an evenly split U.S. Senate. She cast 33 tie-breaking votes, more than any other vice president, including votes to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act.

In July 2024, after Biden withdrew his candidacy from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her own presidential campaign with his endorsement. She later became the nominee and selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. She ultimately lost the election to the Republican nominees, former president Trump and Ohio senator JD Vance.

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

Devil: the enemy of perfection, particularly of poverty [553]; his or her illusions must be guarded against [260]; against his or her attacks those who are dying must be defended [595]

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

William Cooper | Kennedy: The Sacrificed King

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