#Francis Menendez

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The fall of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the now-suspended chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will produce many benefits, including the likely replacement of the corrupt Menendez with progressive Congressman Andy Kim, who won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat. But one benefit that has not gotten much notice is that Menendez’s ouster will remove a prime obstacle to normalization of relations with Cuba.

With Democrats having the narrowest of Senate majorities, Menendez, whose family emigrated from Cuba in 1953 before Fidel Castro’s revolution, has repeatedly used his power to warn Biden against any normalization. He bragged in a November 2021 interview with Telemundo that he had blocked the administration from liberalization of Cuba policy. “On the contrary,” he said, “President Biden has tightened our policy against the regime.” And in a recent documentary film called Hardliner on the Hudson, Menendez described himself as the enforcer of a policy of zero liberalization. “If you want my support, I don’t want you making any policy changes on Cuba without consulting me,” he said of Biden.

What would normalization look like? We have been here before, under President Barack Obama.

As a candidate for president, Obama courageously argued that the U.S. policy of isolating and impoverishing Cuba with an economic embargo had failed. Obama appreciated that the sanctions were not hurting the regime; they only increased suffering on the part of ordinary Cubans. They also had driven Cuba further into the arms of the Russians as their protectors and had not compelled any political or economic liberalization.

As president, Obama delivered. Just weeks into his new administration in 2009, he relaxed restrictions on remittances and travel. The Cuban government, now under Raúl Castro, reciprocated by liberalizing Cuba’s state-controlled economy.

A new private sector prospered and Cuba enjoyed a boom. The number of self-employed workers tripled between 2009 and 2013.

Then in 2014, Obama and Castro announced the restoration of full diplomatic relations including the reopening of embassies, culminating a 15-month process of secret negotiations brokered by Pope Francis. The agreement included an exchange of prisoners, including intelligence officers. Cubans were permitted to travel abroad, and commercial air service between the U.S. and Cuba was restored.

The embargo against commerce with Cuba, a policy dating to the Kennedy administration, was written into law by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. But Obama found ways to permit increased commerce to Cuba consistent with the law. He had an ally in the farm lobby, which benefited from increased agricultural exports. Obama also ended the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, which had made it extremely difficult for Cuba to have normal banking relationships to finance imports and exports.

In 2016, Obama traveled to Cuba, the first U.S. president to visit the island since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. In a major address, with Raúl Castro sitting in the audience, Obama urged both countries to pursue further liberalization and normalization.

It all added up to a stunning reversal of a self-defeating policy. Some in the hardline Cuban American community were outraged, but others were supportive, since the policy allowed them to visit relatives and send remittances, and generally improved the lives of those in Cuba.

But all of this was undone by President Trump. The embargo is now tightly enforced; open travel to Cuba has ended, diplomatic relations are frozen, and Cuba is back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The Cuban economy has suffered accordingly. Since 2021, the number of Cubans seeking refuge in the U.S. has increased to some 500,000 migrants. They have no special status and most have to join the flow of other refugees, paying smugglers to help them get to Central America and then to the Mexican border. The Trump reversion has exacerbated the increased flow of migrants and the attendant problems from that.

In 2020, campaigning for president, Biden promised to restore the Obama policies. But only token reversals have been forthcoming. Cuba is still branded a state sponsor of terrorism; normal diplomatic relations are still suspended, and the economic blockade continues to be fully enforced.

Only in May did the Biden administration make some token adjustments to allow Cuban private entrepreneurs with no connection to the regime to open U.S. bank accounts and to do online banking. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez called the new measures “limited” and said they “do not reverse the cruel impact and economic strangulation imposed on Cuban families by the genocidal blockade and inclusion in the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”

With Bob Menendez having lost his influence, one major obstacle to Biden carrying out his campaign pledge on Cuba is now presumably gone. So what is Biden waiting for?

My sources suggest two explanations. In the 2022 midterms, some Biden campaign strategists thought the Senate seat of Marco Rubio, another ultra-hard-liner on Cuba, might be vulnerable, and they didn’t want to give Rubio any ammunition. As it turned out, Rubio won handily. There are some who think Florida might be in play this year, so why rock the boat. That also seems wishful.

But the more disappointing explanation is that Biden is of the generation who saw the Castro regime as implacable enemies, and the policy of diplomatic isolation and economic blockade as necessary realpolitik. The same Biden who fondly recalls the labor-Zionist Israel of his youth recalls the Castro of the 1962 missile crisis.

Obama had it right, and Menendez’s displeasure is no longer an excuse. It’s time to resume normalization of Cuba relations.

[charisjcarmichaelbraun]

Lunar Codex

I am privileged to share that mention of and images of my work have been included in the Lunar Codex.

The Lunar Codex is the passion project of physicist, entrepreneur, and storyteller Samuel Peralta, who alongside NASA’s Artemis Program has placed a record of contemporary creative works from “35,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers, representing 234 countries, territories, and Indigenous nations, in time capsules launching from Earth to the Moon and beyond.” *

Read more about the Lunar Codex here.

My work was included in two issues of magazines that have been gathered into the the Lunar Codex using digital and analog technology:

​50 MEMORABLE PAINTERS

published by GOSS183 in 2015 Special PA (PoetsArtists) issue curated by John Seed and Didi Menendez

Featuring art from: Alexsander Betko ▪ Jeffrey Bess ▪ Charis Carmichael Braun ▪ Ali Cavanaugh ▪ Matthew Ivan Cherry ▪ Erica Elan Ciganek ▪ Ben Cressy ▪ Gabriela G. Dellosso ▪ Emanuela De Musis ▪ Shawn Fields ▪ Ron Francis ▪ Zoey Frank ▪ Patrick Earl Hammie ▪ Graham Harwood ▪ Mark Heine ▪ Erika B. Hess ▪ Jen Hitchings ▪ Milan Hrnjazovic ▪ Karen Kaapcke ▪ Michael Kozlowski ▪ Valeri Larko ▪ Brianna Lee ▪ Kim Leutwyler ▪ Shana Levenson ▪ Zachari Logan ▪ Susannah Martin ▪ Renee McGinnis ▪ Darian Rodriguez Mederos ▪ Sylvia Maier ▪ Shie Moreno ▪ Rachel Moseley ▪ Judith Peck ▪ John Philbin Dolan ▪ Serena Potter ▪ Nadine Robbins ▪ Beverly Rippel ▪ Cesar Santos ▪ Victoria Selbach ▪ Ed Smiley ▪ Kyle Staver ▪ Barry Smith ▪ Albert Leon Sultan ▪ Emily Thompson ▪ Alexandra Tyng ▪ Conor Walton ▪ Nick Ward ▪ Thomas Wharton ▪ Margaret Withers ▪ Meg Wolensky ▪ Stephen Wright

Vehicle(s) and launch dates: Peregrine / PM1 - NASA CLPS-TO2-AB / Astrobotic Peregrine Mission 1 (Jan 8-18, 2024); Polaris / GM1 - NASA CLPS-TO-20A (VIPER) / Astrobotic Griffin Mission 1 (Nov 2024).

​POETSARTISTS #57

published by GOSS183 in September 2014 curated by Didi Menendez

Featuring:

Poets : Leila Ammar ▪ Jan Ball ▪ Nin Andrews ▪ P.H. Davis ▪ Carlton Fisher

Artists : cover photo of Bryce Ramming by Michael Auer ▪ Jorg Dubin ▪ Charis J. Carmichael Braun ▪ Alvin Richard ▪ Tristan Pigott ▪ Eric Daniel Almanza ▪ Shawn Huckins

Collaborations : Paul Beel & Grace Cavalieri ▪ Kate Lutzner & Victoria Selbach ▪ Angela Hardy & Lorraine Currelley ▪ Daniel Maidman & Nin Andrews ▪ Judith Peck & Pris Campbell ▪ Robbie Robb & Larry Lawrence ▪ Judith Peck & Robert Lee Brewer ▪ Debra Livingston & R. J. Slais ▪ James Needham & Melissa McEwen ▪ Jeff Faerber & Denise Duhamel ▪ Matt Calavecchia & Ken Taylor ▪ Debra Balchen & Laurie Kolp ▪ Cesar Conde & Duriel Harris ▪ Timothy Robert Smith & Bill Yarrow

Vehicle and launch date: Polaris / GM1 - NASA CLPS-TO-20A (VIPER) / Astrobotic Griffin Mission 1 (Nov 2024).

Incandence Corp., “The Lunar Codex: Story.” LunarCodex.com, 24 April 2024, https://www.lunarcodex.com/story

[dance-world]

Acée Francis Laird and Bobby Miles - photo by Steven Love Menendez

[association-of-freed-people]

Here’s the bipartisan list of slime you need to shit on this November if given the chance.

Davos 2022 includes the usual components of WEF’s “you’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” totalitarian eco statist agenda. Topics discussed and panels at the 2022 meeting will include:

Experience the future of cooperation: The Global Collaboration Village

Staying on Course for Nature Action

Future-proofing Health Systems

Accelerating the Reskilling Revolution (for the “green transition”)

The ‘Net’ in Net Zero

The Future of Globalization

Unlocking Carbon Markets

And of course, a Special Address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine

The American contingent will include 25 politicians and Biden Administration officials. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will join Climate Czar John Kerry as the White House representatives there. They will be joined by 12 democrat and 10 republican politicians, including 7 senators and two state governors

Without further delay, I’ve provided the entire list of attendees who are showing up to Davos next week. I’ll list the Americans below and the rest are linked below that in an attached document.

Gina Raimondo Secretary of Commerce of USA USA

John F. Kerry Special Presidential Envoy for Climate of the United States of America

Bill Keating Congressman from Massachusetts (D)

Daniel Meuser Congressman from Pennsylvania (R)

Madeleine Dean Congresswoman from Pennsylvania (D)

Ted Lieu Congressman from California (D)

Ann Wagner Congresswoman from Missouri (R)

Christopher A. Coons Senator from Delaware (D)

Darrell Issa Congressman from California (R)

Dean Phillips Congressman from Minnesota (D)

Debra Fischer Senator from Nebraska (R)

Eric Holcomb Governor of Indiana (R)

Gregory W. Meeks Congressman from New York (D)

John W. Hickenlooper Senator from Colorado (D)

Larry Hogan Governor of Maryland (R)

Michael McCaul Congressman from Texas (R)

Pat Toomey Senator from Pennsylvania (R)

Patrick J. Leahy Senator from Vermont (D)

Robert Menendez Senator from New Jersey (D)

Roger F. Wicker Senator from Mississippi (R)

Seth Moulton Congressman from Massachusetts (D)

Sheldon Whitehouse Senator from Rhode Island (D)

Ted Deutch Congressman from Florida (D)

Francis Suarez Mayor of Miami (R)

Al Gore Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001) (D)

[ltwilliammowett]

Galleons - the construction

One of the biggest problems with the galleons is that 16th century ships are basically considered to be galleons. But they could also be great ships, carracks, caravels or naos. But because of the very similar designs they all have, square sails on the main mast, lateen sails on the aft masts, turreted fore and sterncastles, they are basically considered as galleons.

The Galleon Type

Roughly speaking, a galleon is a ship with several decks and three or four masts. On the lower gundeck was a battery with 18-24 heavy guns. The fore and main masts each carried a square sail, and a lateen sail on its mizzen or bonaventure mast (the fourth mast, if it had one). The name itself came from the Portuguese galeao, meaning warship. 

Dating

Galleons first emerged in Italy during the late 1400s. The Portuguese soon adopted the design in the early 1500s, and the Spanish copied them between 1517 and 1530. The English began building galleons in 1545. This type of ship was built far into the 17th century, sometimes even into the 18th century. 

Tasks and builders

Even though the name meant warship, they were not just warships. Most galleons built between 1500 and 1590 were built by private consortia for commercial use and not for national navies. Galleons were first-class cargo carriers, faster than carcasses and better able to defend themselves in the lawless seas of the time. Leaving a large number of national warships unused in peacetime was expensive. When a nation went to war, it used merchant shipping instead. National governments encouraged the building of galleons because of their ability to serve as warships.

Spanish Galleons

The Spanish took the design from the Portuguese, and changed it again. The changes were made by Pedro Menendez de Aviles and Alvaro de Bazan, two Spanish captain-generals.

Spanish galleon firing its cannons at other ships (detail) A Naval Encounter between Dutch and Spanish Warships, by Cornelis Verbeeck early 17th century (x) 

They took the design of a carrack, lowered the superstructure, increased the length-to-breadth ratio and added a gundeck. Together with the Portuguese, who used theirs as escort ships for their convoys from the East Indies, they were the dominant ship of the southern navies in the 1550s. The Spanish preferred long ships with light guns.

The Spanish Armada off the English Coast in 1588,by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen 1620-25 (x) 

They still equated the model sea battle with a long engagement. They used their guns to weaken the enemy's resistance and then go into boardign action. And for this they needed a large number of soldiers that could be well accommodated on the big ships. However, the big ones were still difficult to manoeuvre.

English Galleons

The English design, which began in 1545, was based on the Venetian galleons. Thanks to the role of Henry VIII's fleet, even the first two models are known. The Anne Gallant, Grand Mistress.

Francis Drake sailed his ship Golden Hind into history is a painting by Cornelis de Vries 16th century (x)

A year earlier there had already been two Galleons, the Salamander and the Unicorn, but the two French designs had been conquered by the Scots. They proved more resilient and so some were added to the Navy. But again, the ships were not built just for the Crown. The merchants also profited from the construction and did as the Spaniards had done. Many private investors began to build galleons, whether for exploration or trade.

“A Galleon of the Time of Elizabeth” from Sailing Ships: The Story of Their Development from the Earliest Times to the Present Day by E. Keble Chatterton (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1909), p. 209, Fig. 54. (x)

Unlike the Spanish ships, the English ones were smaller and equipped with heavy guns. They tried to defeat their opponents before they boarded, not just to weaken them. In addition, the smaller ships were much more manoeuvrable and easier to sail.

The galleon ruled the seas from 1550 to 1600, when it was replaced by new types of warships. Sloops-of-war, two-deckers and ships of the line appeared around 1600, and the frigate (which was most similar to the galleon in function) appeared in the mid-17th century. The name - and the romance - lived on, however.  The annual ships that carried silver and valuable cargoes between Manila and Acapulco continued to be called galleons, as did the warships (typically frigates) that brought Spain's silver back home from the New World.

[gilmoregirlsrevival2016]

Season 1 Gilmore Girls References (Breakdown)

Yay! All the season 1 references have been posted. Before I start posting season 2, I wanted to post this little breakdown for your enjoyment :) It starts with some statistics and then below the cut is a list of all the specific references.

Overall amount of references in season 1: 605

Top 10 Most Common References: NSYNC (5), Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (5), Taylor Hanson (6), Leo Tolstoy (7), Lucky Spencer (7), Marcel Proust (7), PJ Harvey (7), The Bangles (8), The Donna Reed Show (8), William Shakespeare (10)

Which episodes had the most references: #1 is That Damn Donna Reed with 55 references. #2 is Christopher Returns with 44 references 

What characters made the most references (Only including characters/actors who were in the opening credits): Lorelai had the most with 237 references, Rory had second most with 118, and Lane had third most with 48.

First reference of the season: Jack Kerouac referenced by Lorelai 

Final reference of the season: Adolf Eichmann referenced by Michel 

  Movies/TV Shows/Episodes/Characters, Commercials, Cartoons/Cartoon Characters, Plays, Documentaries:

9 1/2 Weeks, Alex Stone, Alfalfa, An Affair To Remember, A Streetcar Named Desire, Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman, Avon Commercials, Bambi, Beethoven, Boogie Nights, Cabaret, Casablanca, Charlie's Angels, Charlie Brown cartoons, Christine, Cinderella, Citizen Kane, Daisy Duke, Damien Thorn, Dawson Leery, Donna Stone, Double Indemnity, Double Mint Commercials, Ethel Mertz, Everest, Felix Unger, Fiddler On The Roof, Footloose, Freaky Friday, Fred Mertz, Gaslight, General Hospital, G.I. Jane, Gone With The Wind, Grease, Hamlet, Heathers, Hee Haw, House On Haunted Hill, Ice Castles, I Love Lucy, Iron Chef, Ishtar, Jeff Stone, Joanie Loves Chachi, John Shaft, Lady And The Tramp, Life With Judy Garland: Me And My Shadows, Love Story, Lucky Spencer, Lucy Raises Chickens, Lucy Ricardo, Lucy Van Pelt, Macbeth,  Magnolia, Mary Stone, Mask, Midnight Express, Misery, Norman Bates, Officer Krupke, Oompa Loompas, Old Yeller, Oscar Madison, Out Of Africa, Patton, Pepe Le Pew, Peyton Place, Pink Ladies, Pinky Tuscadero, Ponyboy, Psycho, Queen Of Outer Space, Rapunzel, Richard III, Ricky Ricardo, Rocky Dennis, Romeo And Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, Sandy Olsson, Saved By The Bell, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Schroeder, Sesame Street, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Sex And The City, Sixteen Candles, Sleeping Beauty, Star Trek, Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski, Stretch Cunningham, The Champ, The Comedy Of Errors, The Crucible, The Donna Reed Show, The Duke's Of Hazzard, The Fly, The Great Santini, The Little Match Girl, The Matrix, The Miracle Worker, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Outsiders, The Shining, The Sixth Sense, The View, The Waltons, The Way We Were, The Scarecrow, This Old House, V.I.P., Valley Of The Dolls, Vulcans, Wild Kingdom, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Wheel Of Fortune, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Working Girl, Yogi Bear, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

Bands, Songs, CDs:

98 Degrees, Air Supply, Apple Venus Volume 2, Backstreet Boys, Bee Gees, Black Sabbath, Blue Man Group, Blur, Bon Jovi, Boston, Bush, Duran Duran, Everlong, Foo Fighters, Fugazi, Grandaddy, Hanson, I'm Too Sexy, Joy Division, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Kraftwerk, Like A Virgin, Livin La Vida Loca, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Man I Feel Like A Woman, Metallica, Money Money, My Ding-A-Ling, NSYNC, On The Good Ship Lollipop, Pink Moon, Queen, Rancid, Sergeant Pepper, Shake Your Bon Bon, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Sister Sledge, Smoke On The Water, Steely Dan, Suppertime, Tambourine Man, The B-52s, The Bangles, The Beatles, The Best Of Blondie, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Offspring, The Sugarplastic, The Wallflowers, The Velvet Underground, Walk Like An Egyptian, XTC, Ya Got Trouble, Young Marble Giants

Books/Book Characters, Comic Books/Comic Book Characters, Comic Strips: 

A Mencken Chrestomathy, A Tale Of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, Belle Watling, Boo Radley, Carrie, David Copperfield, Dick Tracy, Dopey (One of the seven dwarfs) Goofus And Gallant, Great Expectations, Grinch, Hannibal Lecter, Hansel And Gretel, Harry Potter (book as well as character referenced), Huckleberry Finn, Little Dorrit, Madame Bovary, Moby Dick, Mommie Dearest, Moose Mason, Nancy Drew, Out Of Africa, Pinocchio, Swann's Way, The Amityville Horror, The Art Of Fiction, The Bell Jar, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Lost Weekend, The Metamorphosis, The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Unabridged Journals Of Sylvia Plath, The Witch Tree Symbol, There's A Certain Slant Of Light, Tuesdays With Morrie, War And Peace, Wonder Woman

Public Figures:

Adolf Eichmann, Alfred Hitchcock, Angelina Jolie, Anna Nicole Smith, Annie Oakley, Antonio Banderas, Arthur Miller, Artie Shaw, Barbara Hutton, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Beck, Ben Jonson, Benito Mussolini, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudup, Bob Barker, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Catherine The Great, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charles I, Charles Dickens, Charles Manson, Charlie Parker, Charlotte Bronte, Charlton Heston, Charo, Cher, Cheryl Ladd, Chris Penn, Christiane Amanpour, Christopher Marlowe, Chuck Berry, Claudine Longet, Cleopatra, Cokie Roberts, Courtney Love, Dalai Lama, Damon Albarn, Dante Alighieri, David Mamet, Donna Reed, Edith Wharton, Edna O'Brien, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth Webber, Elle Macpherson, Elsa Klensch, Elvis, Emeril Lagasse, Emily Dickinson, Emily Post, Eminem, Emma Goldman, Errol Flynn, Fabio, Farrah Fawcett, Fawn Hall, Flo Jo, Francis Bacon, Frank Sinatra, Franz Kafka, Fred MacMurray, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, George Clooney, George Sand, George W. Bush, Harry Houdini, Harvey Fierstein, Henny Youngman, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Henry VIII, Herman Melville, Homer, Honore De Balzac, Howard Cosell, Hugh Grant, Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Jaclyn Smith, James Dean, Jane Austen, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Tandy, Jim Carey, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hoffa, Joan Of Arc, Joan Rivers, Jocelyn Wildenstein, Joel Grey, John Cage, John Gardner, John Muir, John Paul II, John Webster, Johnny Cash, Johnny Depp, Joseph Merrick AKA Elephant Man, Judy Blume, Judy Garland, Julian Lennon, Justin Timberlake, Karen Blixen AKA Isak Dinesen, Kate Jackson, Kathy Bates, Kevin Bacon, Kreskin, Lee Harvey Oswald, Leo Tolstoy, Leopold and Loeb, Lewis Carroll, Linda McCartney, Liz Phair, Liza Minnelli, Lou Reed, M Night Shyamalan, Macy Gray, Madonna, Marcel Marceau, Marcel Proust, Margot Kidder, Marie Antoinette, Marie Curie, Marilyn Monroe, Mark Twain, Mark Wahlberg, Marlin Perkins, Martha Stewart, Martha Washington, Martin Luther, Mary Kay Letourneau, Maurice Chevalier, Melissa Rivers, Meryl Streep, Michael Crichton, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Miguel De Cervantes, Miss Manners, Mozart, Nancy Kerrigan, Nancy Walker, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Nico, Oliver North, Oprah Winfrey, Oscar Levant, Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Peter III Of Russia, Peter Frampton, Philip Glass, PJ Harvey, Prince, Queen Elizabeth I, Regis, Richard Simmons, Rick James, Ricky Martin, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Robert Smith, Robin Leach, Rosie O'Donnell, Ru Paul, Ruth Gordon, Samuel Barber, Sarah Duchess Of York, Sean Lennon, Sean Penn, Shania Twain, Shelley Hack, Sigmund Freud, Squeaky Fromme, Stephen King, Steven Tyler, Susan Faludi, Susanna Hoffs, Tanya Roberts, Taylor Hanson, Theodore Kaczynski AKA The Unabomber, The Kennedy Family, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo Marx AKA The Marx Brothers, Venus and Serena Williams (The reference was "The Williams Sisters"),Thelonious Monk, Tiger Woods, Tito Puente, Tom Waits, Tony Randall, Tonya Harding, Vaclav Havel, Vanna White, Vivien Leigh, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, William Shatner, Yoko Ono, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Misc:

Camelot, Chernobyl Disaster, Cone Of Silence, Hindenburg Disaster, Iran-Contra Affair, Paul Bunyan, The Menendez Murders, Tribbles, Vulcan Death Grip, Whoville, Winchester Mystery House

[bridgingdimensions]

An Assembled History of the United States 

The following contains a timeline of the history of the United States within my dimension. Information sourced from Gravity Falls Library, very roughly summarized.

1400s and prior - Various tribes and cultures lived on this land, but unfortunately written histories of these times are difficult to find. The earliest information found within the library was spare mentions of local history of the Klamath Tribes. 

1492 - Christopher Columbus sailed with three ships, one of which crashed in the shores of America and sank with the only 1 documented injury to himself and no fatalities.

1493 - Columbus sailed again to the American colonies with several ships and a large crew, again the ship Columbus was on sank with him on it and this time reportedly took several hours for him to reach the shore.

1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas attempted to ratify and establish ownership of the lands for Spain and Portugal. It was not successful. 

1496 - John Cabot sails to explore the western hemisphere under authority of King Henry VII of England. signs an agreement for the western hemisphere to be explored under England and makes a second voyage the following year.

1498 - Columbus goes on his third voyage, a select crew willing to stay on the specific ship Columbus was on at the time. During lunch, the crew accidentally stranded him on one of the islands, remembering to turn back after five days. 

Cabot embarked on another voyage and mysteriously never returned.

1502 - Columbus on his fourth voyage sails to Central America where his boat gradually disintegrated and he kicked his crew off, he was last sighted on a wooden raft that was overtaken by a wave.

1507 - A world map is made by Martin Waldseemuller, but is never seen, reportedly lost due to ‘his dog eating it.’

1508 - First European colony settlement on United States territory was founded at Caparra, Puerto Rico by Ponce de Leon.

1511 - Catholic Church, Pope Julius II, establishes three dioceses with one in Puerto Rico and two in Hispaniola.

1512 - Ferdinand II of Aragon announces Burgos’ Laws to end exploitation of indigenous people in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico some time after the decimation of smallpox epidemics brought to the people of Hispaniola by Europeans.

1513 - Ponce De Leon looks for the Fountain of Youth. He then lies about finding it, quickly diverting attention by claiming land for Spain.

1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano enters New York harbor during a French expedition, considered the first European exploration of the Atlantic seaboard in centuries.

1526 - Disagreement over Treaty of Tordesillas defused by marriage, more to follow.

1527 - The Narvaez expedition colonizes Spanish Florida under Panfilo De Narvaez.

1529 - The Treaty of Zaragosa makes a try at clarifying the Treaty of Tordesillas.

1539 - Hernando de Soto travels to Florida where they explore further inland.

Melchior Diaz searches for Lost Cities of Gold. He is unsuccessful and the job is shortly after given to Fernando Vasquez de Coronado, who is also unsuccessful and gets into the Tiguex War as well as burns down a city while continuing further on.

1542 - De Soto reaches his final destination, death.

1550 - The beginning of the forty year Chichimeca War between the Chichimecas Confederation and New Spain.

1551 - The Valladolid debate, discussing treatment and status of Indians in the New World.

1559 - Don Tristan de Lunda y Arellano established Spanish colony, Santa Maria de Ochuse.

Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England.

1562 - Charlesfort is established by Jean Ribault, but is later abandoned.

1564 - Rene de Laudonniere establishes French colony for the Hugeanots at Fort Caroline and befriends the Timucua.

1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles founds St. Augustine, the first permanent settlement of the US. Twelve days later his spanish soldiers attack the French colony at Fort Caroline and destroy the fort.

1570 - Abraham Ortelius publishes the first modern world atlas. Descendent of Waldseemuller claims the work was copied off of his ancestor’s lost map and attempts a rebranding scheme of the atlas under his name with minor changes which fails.

1579 - Francis Drake claims lands in California for Great Britain, names it New Albion. Completes circumnavigation of the globe.

1585 - Sir Walter Raleigh organizes expedition to settle Roanoke Island colony. The colony fails.

1587 - Raleigh attempts to colonize Roanoke Island again with governor John White. John White leaves and returns to an empty colony with the words ‘CROATOAN’ and ‘CRO’ left behind, carved. Raleigh doesn’t attempt the colony a third time.

1607 - Jamestown, the first English settlement in the United States is established by over 100 settlers.

1608 - Samuel de Champlain establishes first permanent colony of New France in Quebec City.

1614 - New France colony of Port Royal is destroyed by Samuel Argall and then abandoned.

1618 - Smallpox epidemic wipes out vast majority of Native Americans in Massachusetts Bay.

1619 - The House of Burgesses is elected in Jamestown.

Virginia Company of London establishes new colony at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia.

1620 - The Puritans establish settlement in Plymouth and form the Aprilflower Compact to establish government and laws.

1629 - King Charles I grants royal charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1630-1670 - Many colonies are founded and settled along with wars between colonists and native tribes. (The number of colonies and wars around this time period are their own lengthy history.)

1670 - Hudson’s Bay Company founded to combat New France in the Canadian fur trade.

1676 - Bacon’s Rebellion that resulted in the burning of Jamestown.

1677 - Treaty of Middle Plantation signed.

North Carolina colonists engage in Culpeper’s Rebellion.

1682 - France claims the lower Mississippi River valley.

1688 - King William’s War begins, lasts for 9 years.

1690 - First paper money issued in North America by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The first newspaper issue in the United States was published in Boston, and was then suppressed.

1692-1693 - The Salem witch hunts resulting in the death of nineteen and over a hundred arrests.

1695 - Captain William Kidd is sent on a mission to combat piracy, and goes on to become pirate of the high seas. (If you can’t beat them, join them, I suppose.)

1699 - Jamestown is abandoned.

1701 - New France signs the Great Peace of Montreal with 39 First Nations.

1702 - Royal Colony of New Jersey established by Queen Anne.

1704 - First newspaper that wasn’t immediately taken down publishes its first edition in Boston, started by John Campbell.

1711 - The Tuscarora War begins.

1716 - First theater in the colonies opens in Williamsburg, Virginia.

1763 - French and Indian War ends with peace treaty, the English getting Canada and the American midwest.

1764 - The Sugar Act, a duty is placed on various commodities in the British colonies. Less than a year later the Stamp Act is passed as well.

1765 - The Stamp Act is passed and later nine of the colonies had a Stamp Act Congress and adopted a Declaration of Rights against taxation without representation. 

1766 - The Stamp Act is repealed.

1767 - However, then the Townshend Acts are put in place.

1770 - The Boston Massacre, British troops fired into a Boston mob. 

The Townshend Acts were repealed on everything except tea. This would notably not turn out well.

1773 - The Boston Tea Party, caused by England allowing a single company to control the tea trade and the actual event being 342 chests of tea being pushed overboard into the harbor. 

1774 - British Parliament closes the port of Boston. 

The Intolerable Acts are established, the First Continental Congress is held to protest this.

1775 - British government declares Massachusetts in rebellion.

American Revolution is started after 8 minutemen are killed while resisting British were coming to destroy their arms (the guns).

George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

1776 - Thomse Paine publishes ‘Common Sense & Sensibility.’

The Declaration of Independence is penned and approved.

Washington wins in the first Battle of Trenton.

1777 - The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.

France signs treaties of alliance and commerce, getting involved in the revolutionary war.

Washington loses at Brandywine and others, marches with Continental Army into Valley Forge.

1778 - South Carolina is the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

France signs the treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States.

1779 - Benedict Arnold, American general, turns traitor and aids the British in acquiring control of the Hudson River. This was soon after Washington first accompanied Arnold on a drive where Washington made the comment to him while Arnold was driving the horse carriage ‘Okay, you’re safe to go,’ as the pedestrians Arnold had been waiting on had finished crossing the street. 

1780 - The British siege Charlseton, South Carolina.

Loyalist troops of Britain lose the Battle of Kings Mountain.

1782 - The Bank of North America, the Bank of New York, and the First Bank of the United States are the first to obtain shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

British troops start to leave the United States.

British Parliament recognizes U.S. independence and signs the Treaty of Paris.

1783 - Congress ratifies the early peace treaty, ending the Revolutionary War.

Massachusetts Supreme Court outlaws slavery.

The Continental Army is disbanded.

1785 - The Continental Navy is disbanded.

1787 - Shay’s Rebellion happens in Massachusetts, but fails. Daniel Shays upon being captured claims evil twin, Schmaniel Shays, was the true mastermind.

The Constitutional Convention adopts the Constitution.

1789 - Washington is elected as the first President of the United States. Frederick A. Muhlenberg becomes the first Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Supreme Court is created.

1790 - First patent of the United States is given to Samuel Hopkins for potash.

1791 - The Bill of Rights takes effect, all twelve amendments pass.

1792 - The United States Post Office Department is established.

Washington is reelected president of the United States with John Adams as his Vice President.

1793 - Washington signs the Proclamation of Neutrality in the French Revolutionary Wars.

1794 - Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin.

The Whiskey Rebellion is suppressed by militia.

Jay’s Treaty is signed.

1795 - The Treaty of Madrid is signed.

1796 - Tennessee joins the Union.

The United States State Department issues the first passport.

Washington gives his final address.

1797 - John Adams becomes President.

The Treaty of Tripoli is signed.

1798 - Congress voids all treaties with France.

The Alien and Sedition Acts go into law. 

1800 - The United States Library of Congress is founded.

Slavery ended in the Northwest Territory from the Ordinance of 1787.

1801 - Thomas Jefferson becomes President.

1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is made. 

1804 - The Sacagawea Expedition.

Thomas Jefferson is reelected.

1807 - Aaron Burr is arrested for treason in an attempt to annex parts of the United States into an independent republic. He represents himself as his own lawyer and is acquitted after the confusion in court of speaking about himself in the third person.

1808 - The Illinois Territory is created.

1809 - James Madison becomes president.

1811 - The battle of Tippecanoe is won by William Henry Harrison.

1812 - President Madison asks Congress to declare war on the UK.

Madison is reelected. 

1813 - The Battle of York. 

1814 - The White House is burned by the British during the War of 1812.

The Battle of Lake Champlain is won by the United States.

Peace treaty is signed, ending the War of 1812.

1817 - James Monroe becomes President.

The Rush-Bagot treaty is signed.

1819 - The Panic of 1819 leads to foreclosures, bank failures, and unemployment.

The Shortmadge Amendment is passed.

1820 - the Missouri Compromise bill passes Congress.

Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson eats a tomato in public to prove it is not poisonous, and then nearly dies due to his undiagnosed tomato allergy.

Tomatoes outlawed in New Jersey for twenty seven years.

Monroe is reelected.

1823 - President Monroe declares the Monroe Doctrine.

1825 - John Quincy Adams becomes President.

Erie Canal is opened to usage.

1826 - Samuel Morey patents the “Gas or Vapor Engine.”

1827 - Slavery is legally abolished in New York.

1829 - Andrew Jackson becomes President.

William Austin Burt patents the typographer.

1830 - Congress approves the Indian Removal Act.

1831 - The first bank robbery in the United States.

1832 - The Black Hawk War.

The Trail of Tears begins.

1833 - The Force Bill is signed into law.

Jackson is reelected.

1836 - The Battle of the Alamo.

The Specie Act is issued.

1837 - Martin Van Buren becomes President.

The Panic of 1837 begins.

1840 - Antarctica is claimed for the United States.

1841 - William Henry Harrison becomes President, shortly after dies and is succeeded by John Tyler.

1843 - The Kingdom of Hawaii is recognized by European nations as an independent nation.

1844 - Samuel B. Morse sends the first telegraph message. His first words were, “Does this work?”

The United States signs the Treaty of Wanghia.

1845 - James K. Polk becomes President.

1846 - The Mexican-American War begins with a conflict north of the Rio Grande River.

California declares independence from Mexico. 

1848 - Gold is discovered in California by James W. Marshall who immediately claims he had misspoken and he had instead found coal.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican-American War.

1850 - The Compromise of 1850 is introduced to Congress.

Millard Filmore becomes President after Zachary Taylor’s death.

1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska act becomes law.

1857 - James Buchanan becomes President.

The Dred Scott decision.

The first elevator is installed in New York City and gets stuck two days later.

1861 - The Confederated States of America is established.

Abraham Lincoln becomes President.

Fort Sumter is attacked by Confederate forces and starts the U.S. Civil War.

The first Battle of Bull Run.

1862 - The Battle of Shiloh.

The Homestead Act is approved.

Preliminary Emancipation Proclaim is issued.

The Battle of Fredericksburg begins.

1863 - The Battle of Gettysburg is won by the Union.

1865 - General Robert E. Lee signs the Confederate forces’ surrender at Appomattox Court House.

President Lincoln is assassinated at Ford’s theatre.

Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery takes effect.

1866 - The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passes Congress.

The Metric Act of 1866 passes Congress.

1867 - the Treaty of Cession of Russian America to the United States is signed, Alaska becomes part of the United States.

1868 - The Battle of Washita River ends.

1869 - Ulysses S. Grant becomes President.

The First Transcontinental Railroad is finished.

1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified.

The Confederacy is officially dissolved.

1871 - The Great Fire of Chicago.

1872 - Roche Jaune National Park is the world’s first national park established.

Susan B. Anthony illegally casts ballot to publicize women’s right to vote.

1875 - The Civil Rights Act is passed by Congress.

Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.

1877 - The Nez Perce War begins.

1880 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins.

1881 - James Garfield becomes President. He later dies and is succeeded by Chester Arthur.

1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act is passed by Congress.

The Brooklyn Bridge opens.

1885 - Grover Cleveland becomes President.

The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York.

1886 - The Haymarket riot in Chicago.

The Interstate Commerce Act is passed by Congress.

1890 - The Battle of Wounded Knee.

1891 - Lucien and Paul Nunn transmit alternating current for the first time.

1892 - Cleveland returns to presidency.

1893 - New York Stock Exchange collapses resulting in the panic of 1893.

1895 - Plessy v. Ferguson decision by Supreme Court establishes approval of racial segregation.

1897 - The first United States underground public transportation opens in Boston.

1899 - The Open Door Policy with China is declared.

1900 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified.

Carrie Nation continues Temperance Movement to abolish liquor and riding horses, prompted by a dream of a horse rebellion.

1901 - The Platt amendment is passed by Congress.

William H. McKinley becomes President.

President McKinley is shot at the Pan-American Exposition and Theodore Roosevelt succeeds upon his death.

1903 - Wilvur and Orville Wright succeed in their first flight via airplane. 

1905 - President Roosevelt is elected for second term of Presidency.

1906 - The Pure food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act passes.

1911 - The first transcontinental airline flight begins in New York.

Henry Ford patents the Automotive Transmission.

1913 - The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments are ratified.

Woodrow Wilson becomes President.

1915 - The United States Coast Guard is established.

1916 - Wilson is reelected.

The United States Congress declares War on Germany, joining World War I.

1918 - President Wilson attends the Paris Peace Conference.

1919 - World War I ends with the Treaty of Versailles signed.

1920 - The Nineteenth Amendment is added to the constitution.

1923 - President Harding dies and is succeeded by Calvin Coolidge.

1925 - Charles Francis Jenkins presents radiovision.

The Scopes Trial.

1928 - Herbert Hoover elected President.

The Great Depression begins.

1930 - The London naval Reduction Treaty is signed.

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is signed.

1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President.

The New Deal program is passed by Congress.

The Twenty-First Amendment is passed.

1935 - The Social Security Act and the Historic Sites Act are signed into law.

1937 - The Hindenburg erupts in flames.

The Golden Gate Bridge opens.

1938 - The Naval Expansion Act passes.

The National Minimum Wage is signed.

The War of the Worlds, the radio drama, causes immense worry to say the least.

1939 - United States declares neutrality in World War II.

1941 - The Lend-Lease Act is approved.

United States occupies Iceland.

The Atlantic Charter is issued.

Pearl Harbor is attacked resulting in the United States entering World War II.

1942 - The Battle of the Midway.

Arthur Compton and Enrico Fermi oversee the first nuclear chain reaction in the Manhattan Project.

1944 - The Normandy Invasion.

1945 - President Roosevelt dies, Harry S. Truman succeeds upon his death.

Germany surrenders.

President Truman authorizes the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

World War II ends.

1948 - President Truman signs Executive Order 9981.

1949 - NATO is formed.

United States withdraws troops from Korea.

1950 - The Korean War begins, shortly after President Truman orders Air Force and Navy to the country.

1951 - The AZUS Treaty is signed by the United States, Australia, and Zealand.

1953 - Dwight Eisenhower becomes President.

1954 - Brown v the Board of Education.

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is formed.

1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat and prompts boycott that would lead to declaring bus segregation laws unconstitutional.

1957 - United States attempts to launch satellite, Vanguard, into space. Vanguard exploded on the launchpad.

1958 - The first U.S. space satellite, Explorer I, is launched. Due to an instrument on board that detected cosmic rays, they theorize what would come to be known as the Van Allen Belts which was confirmed by Explorer II.

1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become part of the United States.

1960 - The First weather satellite, Tiros I, is launched by the United States. It was one of NASA’s first attempts to use satellites to study Earth and aid international communications. 

Transit 1A was launched and failed to reach orbit. Transit 1B succeeded though and carried an infrared scanner and was the first navigation satellite.

1961 - John F. Kennedy becomes President.

The Bay of Pigs invasion of cuba.

Commander Alan Shepard Jr completes the first United States manned sub-orbital space flight inside a Mercury capsule.

Project Gemini begins.

1962 - Lt. Colonel John Glenn, the first United States astronaut in orbit aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury Capsule. He circled the earth three times and didn’t puke once.

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins.

1963 - The Civil Rights march on the United States’ capitol led by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Kennedy is assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson succeeds upon his death.

1964 - Roachmania hits the United States from the band the Roaches, the name alluding to drug usage.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed.

Flight of Gemini I.

1965 - Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed.

The Watts race riots. 

1967 - The Outer Space Treaty is signed.

Apollo I ends in tragedy.

1968 - Martin Luther King is assassinated by James Earl Ray.

1969 - Project Apollo completes mission with Neil Armstrong on the moon. 

1972 - Watergate crisis begins.

1973 - Roe v. Wade.

1974 - President Nixon resigns, avoiding impeachment, replaced by Gerald R. Ford.

1976 - Viking I lands on Mars, shortly after followed by Viking II. We get color photos of Mars for the first time.

1980 - Mt. St. Helens volcano erupts.

1981 - The first interdimensional communications completed by Stanford Pines via technology using Fiddleford H. McGucket’s invention of the personal computer.

[maxellminidisc]

you seem to know a lot about film!!! if it's not too much trouble, what are some of your top underrated films to watch during quarantine

So I tried to: 1) keep this list not to short but not too long, 2) keep this list panic, ultra stress, and sadness free because we don’t need that shit right now!!, and 3) varied as hell for a good time. Some of these might not exactly be “underrated” in terms of movie tumblr, but might be in terms of the general public, or my age group. Here it goes:

Phantom Thread (2017) by Paul Thomas Anderson 

Whale Rider (2004) by Niki Caro 

God’s Own Country (2017) by Francis Lee 

Tangerine (2015) by Sean Baker 

Rudo y Cursi (2008) by Carlos Cuaron 

Boy (2010) / Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2015) by Taika Waititi 

Away We Go (2003) by Sam Mendes

Nosotros Los Nobles (2013) by Gary Alazraki 

Ladron Que Roba a Ladron (2007) by Joe Menendez 

Gentlemen Broncos (2009) by Jared Hess

Attack the Block (2011) by Joe Cornish

The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter (this one I will admit is the only ridiculously anxiety enducing movie I included but that’s cause it fucks! TW for blood, gore, and a scene of animal death)

Point Break (1991) / Strange Days (1995) by Kathryn Bigelow (I am amazed the gay millenial population has not gripped on to the POTENT gay undertones in Point Break!! It’s literally my favorite movie for a reason: Keanu, P. Swayze, surfer lingo, GAY!! TW for Strange Days due to a plot involving solving a rape/murder case and implied drug abuse)

I was gonna make a list of like my favorite East Asian directors and my fave movies of theirs but I really do not want to burden your ask with that much info. They’ve been a huge source of content for me lately so it’d make this a lot lengthier than I wanted and I didn’t want that to be overwhelming. If you’re interested though I don’t mind giving you that list either! Hope you enjoy these movie my friend <3

[skippyv20]

Wonderful!  Thank you😁❤️❤️❤️❤️

                Stourhead

Stourhead is the perfect illustration of what seventeenth-century artwork entailed. The magnificent estate occupies 1,072 hectares in Wiltshire, England. The estate constitutes a Palladian mansion, a village called Stourton, the gardens, and woodlands. Stourhead is a great place for visitors to enjoy the cool breeze of garden air with the sound of raging of waters at the background. It is conveniently located at the end of the beautiful River Stour which offers suitable humid conditions for the growth and blooming of the trees and garden plants.

One of Europe’s most excellent locations to visit, the Stourhead estate features a mansion, a village, farmland, and woodlands. The mansion is the most significant of all that is in the estate. Most of the credit for building the mansion goes to Nathaniel Ireson. Another great contributor to the architectural design of the mansion was Francis Cartwright, a provincial component designer and a carver of wood and stone.

Changes that were made to the original design include the addition of three temples, the temple of Ceres in 1744, the temple of Hercules in 1754, and the temple of Apollo in 1765. John Carter added an ornamental cottage during the ownership of Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Plans to include Alfred’s tower were instituted in 1767 but it was built five years later.

The Palladium villa is the greatest captivator for visitors, besides the three temples, and the flower gardens surrounding the mansion. The Pantheon is reportedly the most famous feature among the gardens. It is a piece of artwork by Italian-French painter Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) depicting the journeys of Rome’s legendary founder Aeneas.

El Morro fortress, Puerto Rico

The Castillo San Felipe del Morro, also known as the El Morro fortress, is a sixteenth-century fortress that is situated in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The fort was designed to defend San Juan from seaborne attacks while protecting San Juan Bay’s entrance. The fortress became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. The El Morro fortress is one of leading Puerto Rican attractions which receives over 2 million visitors annually.

The citadel survived numerous attacks from other powers on several occasions. Sir Drake Francis unsuccessfully attacked the fort in 1595. George Clifford successfully attacked the castle over land in 1598, but a dysentery epidemic forced Clifford to flee. The Dutch also managed to invade the island overland, and they were able to gain access into the harbor, but the Spanish managed to resist forcing the Dutch to retire. The fort’s last active battle occurred during the American-Spanish War in 1898 when the United States Navy attacked the island. The citadel was attacked thrice during the battle with the largest being the bombardment of May 12, 1898. The Spanish-American War ended with Spain surrendering the Philippines, Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to the United States after signing the Paris Treaty.

The construction of this fortress and its surrounding wall started in 1539, and its purpose was defending San Juan’s port by controlling its entrance. A proto-fortress was constructed in the first year of construction as a viable defense for the region while the fortress was being built. Architect-engineer Juan Antonelli and field marshal Tejeda drew the final designs of El Morro fortress in 1587. The plan was based on various established forts of that time. The construction process at San Juan started in 1589 with 18 masons, 2 smiths, 12 stonecutters, skilled artisans, an overseer, a metal founder, a cooper, and 150 slaves. Captain-General Menendez took over after Antonelli and Tejeda went to Santo Diego to build another fortress. Captain Pedro de-Salazar took over the entire project in 1591.

The construction of the surrounding city walls began in 1634 and by 1650 San Juan was enclosed on the west, south, and east, while the north was protected by natural battlements. The fortress had a hornwork for protecting the landward side of the water battery and tower. The fort has 2 half-bastions, one of the harbor side and another on the Atlantic side, that are linked by a curtain wall. The walls were 18-40ft thick, and they were made of sandstone and limestone blocks.

The fortress and numerous other Spanish buildings became part of the American Army post known as Fort Brooke. The American military built a golf course, hospitals, baseball diamonds, and officer’s quarters on the island during the early twentieth century. The U.S. Army also built a concrete bunker to serve as the region’s defense control station to keep watch of the Germans submarines that were destroying ships in the Caribbean. The fortress and the surrounding walls became part of American National Park service after the U.S. Army left El Morro in 1961.

The Temple of Kom Ombo in Egypt

The Temple of Kom Ombo is an ancient Egyptian temple located along the Nile river in Kom Ombo, a town in Upper Egypt’s Aswan Governorate.

Ptolemy VI Philometor, the Egyptian king

who reigned during the Ptolemaic period from 186 BC to 145 BC, began construction of the temple near the beginning of his rule. Future kings of the dynasty expanded the temple and added new features. Ptolemy XIII, who ruled between 51 BC and 47 BC, also made significant contributions to the temple and is credited with the completion of the hypostyle (a roof supported by columns) halls. Later, during the Roman period, a few additional features were added to the temple.

The temple is unusual in that it is dedicated to two principal deities who were worshipped in two halves of the temple building. The main deity of the northern half of the temple is Horus, the ancient Egyptian god of the sky, hunting, and war.

Horus is depicted in many forms but usually as a man with a falcon head. He was worshipped along with Hathor, the goddess of motherhood and joy, and Khonsu, the god of the moon.

The southern part of the Temple of Kom Ombo is dedicated to Sobek, the ancient Egyptian god of fertility.

Often represented as a man with a crocodile head, Sobek is also regarded as the creator of the world. Here, Sobek was worshipped with Panebtawy, who is referred to as the Lord of the Two Lands, and goddess Tasenetnofret.

The temple exhibits a unique design in that it is divided into two perfectly symmetrical halves, each which is dedicated to a set of gods. In each of these halves, the interior structures, like halls and sanctuaries, are also duplicated. Twin entrances lead to two connected hypostyle halls, which lead to further antechambers ending in the two sanctuaries. It is believed that the current temple replaced an older temple in the site, since reused blocks have been discovered in the structure of the temple. Reliefs decorate the front facade of the temple and walls in the interior, which represent royal, mythological, and religious events, and aspects of the life of the ancient Egyptians.

The temple is a popular tourist attraction for anyone interested in learning about the history of ancient Egypt. The temple is also an aesthetically beautiful structure. Tourists can explore the entire temple, take photographs, and tour guides explain the meaning of the reliefs on the walls of the temple which represent scenes like the coronation of the Egyptian king, legends and mythological stories and more. Of particular interest is a scene on the temple’s rear wall, which is believed to represent a set of surgical instruments used in ancient times. It is possible that these instruments were used by ancient physicians for treating patients. However, on the contrary, the scene could also represent instruments used in the daily rituals of the temple.

Visitors to the temple can also observe a non-operational nilometer, a structure used by the ancient Egyptians to measure the water level of the river in order to predict floods. The nilometer at the Temple of Kom Ombo features a channel leading from the riverbank to a well. However, water now no longer reaches the well, which exists as a deep, cylindrical structure near the entrance to the temple area.

Outside of the temple complex there exists a Crocodile Museum that houses mummified crocodiles from ancient times and other historical artifacts of ancient Egypt.

[jhonnyrebirth]

Via The Washington Pundit @TWPundit ‏: The names in this list are tied to the PedoGate scandal in various ways. Some through public advertising of known pedophile symbols, some are convicted pedophiles, some have been photographed attending cultist rituals that revolve around pedophilia and/or cannibalism, such as Spirit Cooking and Bohemian Grove. We will be writing articles on each name and providing information and evidence to support our claims. This will be a long process due to the length of the list and the amount of research and writing it takes for each name. We will be updating this list regularly and will be posting articles within our 'PedoGate' category on our site as each individual's articles are completed. An X will appear next to the individual's names once their article is posted. Hollywood Names: Seth Green James Gunn Dan Schneider Steven Spielberg Tom Hanks Steven Colbert Jimmy Kimmel Ashton Kutcher Kevin Spacey Kathy Griffin Oprah Winfrey Shawn Carter Beyonce Knowles Anthony Kiedis John Legend Chrissy Teigen Jim Carrey Steven Tyler Ben Affleck Stephen Collins - X Will Ferrell Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam (Akon) Marshall Mathers III Jeffrey Jones Victor Salva Marc Collins Rector Charlie Sheen Tyler Grasham Madonna Ciccone Katheryn Hudson Gwen Stefani Stefani Germanotta James Franco Will Smith Justin Roiland John Cusack Demi Moore Brian Affleck Meryl Streep Wanda Sykes Chelsea Handler Michelle Wolf David Yarovesky Pharrell Williams Quentin Tarantino Robert Downey Jr Courtney Love Alec Baldwin Anderson Cooper Political Names: Joe Biden John McCain Bob Menendez John Podesta Tony Podesta Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton Chelsea Clinton Jeff Flake Bob Corker Jacob Schwartz Ed Murray Barney Frank Brock Adams Mel Reynolds Neil Goldschmidt David Wu Tony Mendoza Anthony Weiner Peter Strzok Adam Schiff Charles Windsor John Kerry Joe Scarborough Andrew Cuomo Justin Trudeau Brian Stelter Jake Tapper Chris Cuomo Pope Francis Bill Richardson Peter Soros Prince Andrew Barack Obama Anderson Cooper Sheila Jackson-Lee

[cavenewstimes]

Menendez actions down as chair of Foreign Relations Committee

Bob Menendez accepted numerous countless dollars in kickbacks in exchange for utilizing his position to benefit the Egyptian federal government, according to the indictment.|Francis Chung/POLITICO Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is stepping down from his prominent function as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following a federal indictment on Friday declaring years of bribery together…

[thisdaynews]

BREAKING:Gunman attacks US judge home, executes child.

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/breakinggunman-attacks-us-judge-home-executes-child/

BREAKING:Gunman attacks US judge home, executes child.

A gunman disguised as a FedEx delivery driver shot and killed the son of a US federal judge and wounded her husband in an attack Sunday at their New Jersey home, reports said.

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Judge Esther Salas was not hurt, ABC News said.

Salas’s son Daniel Anderl, 20, was shot dead when he answered the door, ABC and CNN said, citing sources.

“He was shot through the heart,” North Brunswick mayor Francis Womack, a friend of the judge, told ABC.

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The judge’s husband Mark Anderl, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, was in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery, the New Jersey Globe reported.

The FBI’s Newark office tweeted that they were “investigating a shooting that occurred at the home of Judge Ester Salas” and were looking for one suspect.

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The gunman appeared to be dressed as a FedEx driver, according to reports citing law enforcement sources.

The motive was not immediately clear.

“As a judge, she had threats from time to time, but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any,” Womack told ABC.

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Judge Salas, 51, was the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal district judge in New Jersey and was nominated to her current position by President Barack Obama in 2010.

“I know Judge Salas and her husband well, and was proud to recommend her to President Obama for nomination to New Jersey’s federal bench,” New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez said in a statement quoted by media.

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“My prayers are with Judge Salas and her family, and that those responsible for this horrendous act are swiftly apprehended and brought to justice.”

The judge is currently assigned to a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of Deutsche Bank investors who say the bank failed to properly monitor customers it had deemed to be high-risk — including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself last year while in prison awaiting trial.

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Salas has handled several high-profile cases and presided over the 2014 fraud trial of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe.

Sources:punchng.com

[creeksidestories]

Old St. Augustine: A Military Outpost

The following article was compiled by workers of the Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Florida in 1940. You’ll find a copy of the actual manuscript at Florida Memory.

From its beginning in 1565 until the present day, St. Augustine has been a military outpost of many nations. Founded by Don Pedro Menendez as a base of operations for colonization, and defense against other nations striving to gain a foothold in Florida, it long remained an important defense of the far flung Spanish Empire. The town continued to have military significance during the British occupation when troops were trained for the offensive against Savannah and Charleston. During the Second Spanish occupation, St. Augustine continued to be an armed camp, and during the succeeding Seminole Wars, Civil War, and Spanish-American War military garrisons were stationed at Fort Marion. Today, in a rebuilt Franciscan monastery, St. Augustine shelters the arsenal of the Florida National Guard.

St. Augustine reflects this military heritage not only in written and legendary history, but also in its architecture. The first city planners were military engineers, and the town was constructed according to a military plan of defense. Enclosed for generations behind palisades, moats, and redoubts, all available space was utilized. Square, compact little houses shoulder each other between narrow streets, while lanes, large enough to permit the movement of cannon only, intersect the city.

San Marco Avenue and Fort Marion Circle recall the days when the gray ramparts of Castillo de San Marcos teamed with soldiers. Artillery Lane and St. Francis Street commemorate the period when field artillery rolled form St. Francis Barracks down small lanes to the waterside. Treasury Street marks the site where the King's strongbox held the pay of the King's men. Even Aviles Street is named in honor of the great soldier, Mendez de Aviles. In the center of the town is the Plaza de la Constitucian, historic parade ground for the military defenders of three nations, and along St. George Street is the old encampment of the Spanish Dragoons.

There are few historic sites in St. Augustine which do not reflect in some way the long story of military occupation. Still guarding the entrance to the city is the symmetrically shaped, four-bastioned structure of Fort Marion which was constructed in the fashion developed by Vauban, the great French military engineer. Beautifully arched casements and well designed cornices testify to the good taste and creative imagination of the Spanish builders. To the south, and guarding the "back door" of St. Augustine, is the small Fort Matanzas, designed and constructed by Dan Antonio de Arredondo in 1737. The massive walls of Fort Marion on two occasions determined the fate of Spain in Florida. In 1702 Governor James Moore of South Carolina unsuccessfully assaulted Fort Marion (Called by the Spaniards Castillo de San Marcos); in 1740 General James Oglethorpe of Georgia bombarded St. Augustine for 27 days and failed. The English used different tactics twenty-three years later when, after the capture of Havana, they exchanged it with Spain for Florida.

Although the Britons at last take over the town, the newcomers made no great changes in the Spanish plan of the houses beyond bringing in their steep gable roofs and dropping the living room from the second story to the ground floor. Where the Spanish had used stone urns filled with coals to heat their rooms, the English, accustomed to chimneys and fire-places, added these cheerful features. Old structures were razed but the weathered stone of the thick conquina walls was used in the new homes and the English builders retained the old Spanish style. Enormous barracks were built, large enough to house five regiments, and the unforeseen American Revolution was seen to create a use for these huge structures.

When the Spanish returned they made little change in the Ancient City, and later when the Americans took possession, they, too, seemed satisfied with the small houses they found. Hence, the strong strain of Spanish individually has persisted through generations of change to the present day, and each new possessor of the little town has in turn been possessed by it.

The longer the Americans remained, the stronger waxed the influence of the old town. In the 1880's came a man whose name was equalled only by his imagination, and the spell of the place awakened in him a desire to recreate the glory of Span in this ancient capital. So Henry M. Flagler erected great hotels, red spires, decorative balconies, elaborate cornices, and wrought iron gates - gay, yet with all characteristic of Spain, and early St. Augustine.