#affiliation: republic of heaven

[lovely-cherubs]

HxH OC #5: Annaliese Banasiewicz

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Art Creds: itumeta on Twitter

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Name: Annaliese Kazimiera Bronisława Banasiewicz (Japanese: アンナリーゼ・カジミエラ・ブロニスワワ・バナシェヴィチ)

Other Names: Anna, Annie, Ghost Girl, The Lantern Witch 

DOB: February 19th, 1986 (2/19/1986)

Age: 13 (Hunter Exam Arc & Heavens Arena arc), 14 (Greed Island Arc), 15 (Chimera Ant Arc)

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Reddish-Brown

Height: 5’3” (63 inches)

Weight: 132 lbs. (61.2 kg)

Blood Type: AB-

MBTI: INTJ

Personality: Stoic, Sensitive, Quite, Reserved, Affectionate, Rigid, Blunt, Intuitive, Impulsive, Skeptical, Logical, Empathetic

Sexual Orientation: Biromantic Demisexual (is romantically attracted to two or more genders, but will only feel sexual attraction when a deep bond is formed between her and her partner)

Occupation: Assassin (formerly), Unidentified Beast Hunter (current)

Affiliation: Banasiewicz Manor

Hobbies: Talking about her special interests (i.e animals and beasts, folklore, arts & crafts)

Relatives: Reyna Banasiewicz (mother), Antoni Banasiewicz (father), Nyssa Banasiewicz (eldest sister), Katarzyna Banasiewicz (second eldest sister), Dorothea Banasiewicz (youngest sister), Agnieszka Banasiewicz (second youngest sister)

Love Interest: Killua Zoldyck (nicknamed “KiloWatt” by her)

Nen Type: Transmutation

Disabilities/Disorder: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD (Inattentive Type)

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Some more facts about Annaliese:

Annaliese is Autistic and has ADHD as well (AuDHD). She was diagnosed with both when she was just 5 years old

She has a pet Nimite (the white creature in the pictures above) that she named "Phantom" due to the creature's nature of being there one minute and disappearing the next (like a Phantom)

Annaliese is not only immune to poisons and venoms, but her blood and bodily fluids are poisonous as well. This is because she was forced to go through mithridatism as a kid in order to become like "The Vishakanya"

Annaliese is exceptionally physically fit due to having practiced gymnastics and ballet growing up.

Annaliese is the third daughter of Reyna Banasiewicz and Antoni Banasiewicz.

She is the girlfriend of Killua and is currently engaged to him.

Annaliese grew up with her family in Mountain Tekktora located in the Republic of Padokea. It was there that she spent most of her life in semi isolation.

Annaliese is a victim of SA and rape. Since the incident, she harbors a deep hatred for rapists, (child) molesters, and anyone who tries to take advantage of others

Annaliese is also known as the mysterious killer "The Lantern Witch", because of her broom with a lantern attached to it. As the Lantern Witch, she kills rapists, groomers, and those who prey on young girls and women.

Annaliese is considered to be the most skilled and deadliest member of the Banasiewiczs out of all the family members

[canmom-art]

EVA specialist, Fifi Krolik

...cosmonaut and pride of the Lapine. she rides an experimental rocket to seek the other colonies established hundreds of years in the past by an almost forgotten generation ship...

elsewhere: [pixiv] [newgrounds] [twitter] [art fight] support:   [patreon] [ko-fi] [commission]

Transcript, and more story details below...

declassified statements

Age: 34 Pronoun: she/her Variant: Lapine, registered lineage 6.02 Height: 1.89m (head), 2.21m (ears) Nationality: Republic of Greater Silene Religious Affiliation: Lapine Judaism

Occupation: Cosmonaut (extra-vehicular activity specialist) Engineer Diplomatic Aide

Fifi Krolik is one of five young cosmonauts assigned to crew the interplanetary ship Temerity. Their mission: make contact with the Nine Lost Colonies, and search for any sign that the Grand Old Ship has survived.

Said Rabbi Brekkenion, religious advisor to the Lapine Nation Owsla:

This peaceful scientific mission is a great milestone for suprahumanity. With our world so ravaged by short-sighted war, it as a beacon reaffirming the bold cooperative spirit that brought us to this star. So yes, I am immensely proud of our Fifi!

Fifi’s role on the mission is to keep the first-of-its-kind experimental fusion rocket running in perfect order.

-{o}-

In a distant star system, a generation ship came and dispersed suprahumanity to ten colonies on the moons and planets. It is a world where the human body has transformed into a thousand novel forms, but such wonders are a distant memory.

On a certain planet, which for now we shall call Heymish, suprahumanity have survived the painful centuries since the dispersal, and at last they can say they have regained the technology of spaceflight. But much like their predecessors on Earth, the power to reach the heavens is a merely residue of far uglier terrestrial designs. The Republic of Greater Silene is one of two great federations of nations, squabbling for power in this new Cold War. (We'll learn about the other later!) Neither side dares risk open warfare, but millions of lives are still lost in proxy wars for the as yet unaligned nations. In this context, the Temerity is launched. It is, officially, a diplomatic mission speaking for all Heymish people; a mission of sisterhood in a state of the art spacecraft bringing together the expertise of both nations. In practice, it is seen as a partisan, nationalist project dominated by Silene interests. Even for many Silene, who have yet to enjoy the prosperity promised by the revolution, it is a white elephant. Very few people truly expect to find the other colonies inhabited, and many fear the Cold War will spread to space.

Yet all the same, there is a certain romantic ideal behind it... Some specific notes:

The Republic of Greater Silene has a system of internal nations, similar to that brief period in the early Soviet Union; the Lapine nation's local government is referred to as the Owsla, after Watership Down.

Rabbi Brekkenion means 'blackberry' in the Lapine language (see this website for the conlang fleshed out by a Watership Down fan). Yiddish has also survived and flourished, and evolved through exchange with Lapine and other languages.

Lapine Judaism is a branch of Judaism that has evolved with the Lapine people.

the Grand Old Ship is the generation ship that brought humanity to this world.

Fifi is still young, enthusiastic, and proud of her role on this mission. Like many Lapine, she has a relaxed attitude towards sexuality - but we'll get to that when we introduce the rest of the crew and their relationships!

her spacesuit has a 'manoeuvre shell' over the shoulders allowing for precise flight in zero gravity. This has three RCS (Reaction Control System) thruster clusters, two on the shoulders and one on the backpack, allowing six-DOF movement. these are angled diagonally outwards to allow thrust downwards.

[oakleystreet]

L Y R A     B E L A C Q U A

DÆMON: Pantalaimon, a pine marten.

BOND: Split.

HAIR: dirty blonde.

EYES: blue.

AGE: 6 months during LBS. 10-11 during NL. 12-13 during TSK and TAS. 15 in Lyra’s Oxford. 20 in TSC.

BIRTH: 1985. (between July, August and September, according to the Timeline).

NATIONALITY: Brytish. (English).

STATUS: Alive.

Lyra Belacqua was born to Marisa Coulter and Lord Asriel, a product of their affair.

After Marisa’s husband, Edward Coulter, tried to kill her and was killed by Lord Asriel, who then lost everything he had, Lyra was taken into government custody and then placed at the Priory of Godstow in Oxford by Lord Nugent, the head of Oakley Street.

There, Lyra was taken care by the nuns for a couple of weeks before the Great Flood happened. As she was being hunted by Gerard Bonneville, a physicist who wanted to get hold of her to likely trade her for scientific freedom to research Dust, Lyra was rescued by Malcolm Polstead and Alice Parslow, and they set out in Malcolm’s canoe, La Belle Sauvage, for London.

During their time in the flood, Lyra was taken by the Sisters of Holy Obedience, but was promptly rescued by Malcolm. Eventually, they reached a fairy island and met Diania, a fairy who tried to steal Lyra by feeding her fairy milk. Malcolm tricked Diania and recovered Lyra, and once again they were back in the Flood, on their way to Lord Asriel in London.

When they arrived in the city, the CCD forces that had been looking for them were caught in a conflict, as Lord Asriel and Oakley Street agents made their way to rescue Lyra and the children. Lord Asriel returned with them to Oxford in a gyropter, and left Lyra under the protection of Scholastic Sanctuary at Jordan College. There, Malcolm left with the Master of Jordan, the Alethiometer he took from Gerard Bonneville, which would pass into Lyra’s possession ten years later.

“Secundum legem de refugio scholasticorum, protectionem tegimentumque huius collegii pro filia mea Lyra nomine reposco.” Asriel said. “Look after her.” “Scholastic Sanctuary? For this child?” “For my daughter Lyra, as I said.” “She’s not a scholar!” “You’ll have to make her into one then, won’t you?”

—  Lord Asriel, chapter 25, La Belle Sauvage.

Lyra grew up in Jordan College, under the guardianship of Dr Carne, but personally being cared for by Alice Lonsdale. She had a rather carefree life, being an natural leader and befriending most children from the region, from gyptians to town kids to college children. At one point, Lyra was responsible for invading the Costa family’s boat with her little gang of children and she often played war games with these particular groups of children. At the College, her actions were observed by Bernie Johansen, the half-gyptian pastry cook, who reported back to the Costas, who then reported to John Faa, as a favour to Lord Asriel.

She grew up believing Asriel was her uncle, and he made brief, sporadic visits to see that she was well cared for. Lyra was informally educated by the scholars from Jordan, and she had very little interest in learning as well, and as a result her education was flawed, filled with gaps, and yet in certain areas unusually specific, as Jordan College was meant to be a higher education institution.

When Lyra was ten or eleven years old, she sneaked into the Retiring Room out of curiosity, but ended up seeing the Master of Jordan poison the decanter of Tokay meant for Lord Asriel. Upon Asriel’s arrival, Lyra revealed herself in order to save him from drinking the poisoned wine and Asriel employed her as a spy during his presentation to the scholars, hiding her in the cupboard. During this meeting, Lyra was introduced to the concept of Dust and she saw the City in the Sky in Lord Asriel’s photograms.

(to be continued)

Lyra, prior to her daemon settling, had the innate skill of reading the Alethiometer without needing to consult the books. This skill was likely attributed to her status as child of the prophecy and she lost it after her return from the Land of the Dead and Pantalaimon’s settling.

Lyra is considered very small for her age. She is also said to be strikingly beautiful, enough to draw the attention of passersby.

During their adventures, Pan and Lyra had to separate when she visited the world of the dead. By doing this, they acquired the skill of separating like the witches do.

Lyra still takes Alethiometer classes with Dame Hannah Relf. She also had a brief dalliance with Dick Orchard - the boy who could spit further than anyone else - who also happened to have been a childhood crush of hers.

Lyra uses the name Silvertongue among friends, although she is still legally and widely know as Lyra Belacqua.

Her Alethiometer was given to her by the Master of Jordan, after Malcolm gave it to him. It had belonged to Gerard Bonneville, who stole it from a monastery in Bohemia; the monks had also stolen the Alethiometer from a traveler who had taken shelter with them. The history of the instrument is tied to the fact it had been often stolen, Lyra being the first owner in a long time who had actually received it as a gift. (TSC, chapter 7)

Lyra can use the new method of reading, but it makes her feel sick and often refuses to use it. She is yet to understand the connection between the method and the daemon.

Lyra’s major is unclear, but she wrote an essay at one point about the Patterns of Trade in Arctic Region with particular reference to independent cargo balloon carriage (1950-1970) (click here to see the Extra letters from OUATIN). In that same letters she mentions “Econ Hist,” and how it must be that subject as there is no other way to examine her knowledge about the alethiometer. It can be assumed she was majoring in Economic History.

At one point, Lyra mentions the Count and Countess Belacqua, her alleged parents who died in aircraft accident. It is unclear whether they were real people or made up by Asriel to cover his own identity as Lyra’s father.

DÆMON RELATIONSHIP

Chaotic, friendly, constant banter, harmonious. Good communication and synchronized behaviour in feelings and actions. (HDM)

Chaotic, aggressive, constant disagreement and sheer unhappiness. Lack of synchronization in feelings and actions; lack of communication. (TSC).

FAMILIAL TIES

Lord Asriel: father.

Marisa Coulter: mother.

Marcel Delamare: uncle on her mother’s side.

Madame Delamare: grandmother on her mother’s side.

Dr Carne: legal guardian under scholastic sanctuary.

FRIENDS & ALLIES

Roger Parslow

Miriam Jacobs: colleague.

Hannah Relf: mentor.

Malcolm Polstead: former teacher, ally.

Alice Lonsdale: caregiver and friend.

Iorek Byrnison: friend.

Serafina Pekkala: friend.

ROMANTIC TIES

Will Parry: old flame.

Dick Orchard: old flame.

ENEMIES & RIVALS

Olivier Bonneville: rival.

Father MacPhail: enemy.

Father Gomez: enemy.

Pierre Binaud: enemy.

AFFILIATIONS

Jordan College: safe haven.

Oakley Street: allies.

Bud Schlesinger.

Anita Schlesinger.

The Eastern-Anglia Gyptians: allies.

Farder Coram.

Ma Costa.

John Faa.

St. Sophia’s College: alma mater, educational.

Magisterium: enemy (during HDM), antagonistic (during TSC)

Consistorial Court of Discipline: violent.

La Maison Juste: antagonistic.

The League of St. Alexander: suspicious.

The Daemonless People: friendly.

Princess Rosamond Cantacuzino: friendly.

Vaclav Kubiček: friendly.

Nur Huda el-Wahabi: acquaintanceship.

[the-unholy-sovereign]

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Czar I I Fuhrer. . . Sinister I (Lord) Tsar Andreas Nicholy I Zar Andrew M. Allen Drayton, The First.I Sultan Maharajah {[Caeser]} Luciferian II.Prince 'Czar' Shah.

The "Celestial Serpent" II.REINCARNATION: First.IPrince Dharma {[REBIRTH]} King Bal Ba'al. . .

An deity (Infant) born dead upon his first birth to be conceived from a barren surrogate mother and arranged wife. Promptly asserted, hereby an traditional ceremonial fire cremation to assure the advent burning of our newborn son. Thus an ceremonious 'non-sacrificial' ritual for resurrection of which was prompted by 'Witchcraft-Voodoo' due to succession of demonic rite that later named the child an infertility-god (I.God). Henceforth an mimic of mine image, unlike thy eyes, despite being his second infant-birth as sacramental basis for reincarnation. Hence being reborn unto Fertility (Deity) by customary ritualistic lineage proceedings to invoke the status of  hierarchy. Thereby an patriarchal acceptance 'ritual' of infertility, therefore not having to deny hereditary parental-blood as I have done to become the 'Demon-Shai' an infertility-deity (I.Serpent).

In forbearance innately inheriting "Ba'al" as a ancestral rite onto which I have gained the inherent privilege to partake in spiritual-possession of any mortal, living or dead. Undoubtedly obtaining demonic possession of ten deceased bodies, therefore provided they were married tribesmen. After a long awaited tribal battle to cease control in ordinance of an revoked coronation. Only I shall wear the face off their flesh, thereafter to be replaced with a gold burial mask. Thus in order to raise an non-sacrificial idol. Respectfully not before sacrificially ordained idols were removed, apparent to the deceased. However these former tribal cohorts of war fierce barren wives are subjugated to surrogacy for an adventitious death-birthed ritual. Hence to offer dead 'infant' heirs as cremated sacraments of a sacrificial burial-rite by fire; being ceremonially declared widows. Afterwards allowing those born for cremation without life pulsating in their limbs throughout these limp-infant bodies thereof admonish onto invoking a second birth to forebear as 'I.Serpent' of the heavens. Enviably for thyself to gain unholy spiritual-possession of the 'Sacrament/statue' I.Satan.

Henceforward subdued to engage in a non-bridal courtship of the first.I Queen Bal Ba'al 'Princess' Deity (Fertility). Adhering to the ascension of White-Nubian/Warlock in abidance to declare power from the  lack of an second death onto a infant son. Hence the uncertainty of decree by demonic-rite as pertaining to the royal birth of the mother that was omitted allowing for an new power to be named; 'Nubian-Destroyer'. Only on the behave of the male suitor as for which the female of royal lineage has chosen for herself to wed. Mainly because of an tribal abortion hindering the birth of an arranged coronation to unite tribal-royalty. Thusly; conclusion of the second non-marital  separation based on a baby born outside the traditional coronation ceremony. And marital status within tribe of thee initial suitor hereto substantiated an threshold for thyself to be renamed as hierarch onto a ritualistic 'ceremonial' battle, eventually to become 'The Unholy Sovereign'.

Furthermore asserting her royal claim to 'Dharma/Serpent' (Reincarnation I.Temple) in an renaming ceremony of the previous surrogate mother and arranged wife as 'Queen' Bal Ba'al (I.Dharma). Also; restating the balance of power and/or amendment between  affiliated tribal royalty. Which involves the inclusion of an neighbouring tribe that initiated the first ceremonial  coronation union by rendering it from being revoked, declared in ordinance onto the 'Shrine of Fertility'. Evidently in cohesion with 'Fertility.I' keeper unto all altar/shrines is apparently deemed to be the temple of shrines, although it is not foreseen as an temple. (Elders)

The 'FIRE-DANCE' Ritual

♾NUBIAN CREED: SATANIST: THE DARK GOD OF VOODOO. . . . {[ E t u m]} SATAN I.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Pence and Pompeo headlined a Moonie event on May 8 – Mother Jones

Screenshot/YouTube

And they won’t say if they were paid for their speeches.

by DAVID CORN,
 Washington, DC, Mother Jones Bureau Chief

On May 8, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headlined a virtual rally organized by an offshoot of the Unification Church, a controversial religious movement known for holding mass weddings of its adherents and that has been accused of being a cult. Though American conservatives have long made common cause with the Unification Church, the head of the outfit that pulled together this event declared not too long ago that the “Christian era has ended”—which means Pence and Pompeo, whose self-professed religious devotion is a prominent part of their respective political profiles, were (knowingly or not) collaborating with and bolstering a group that says it is supplanting the Christianity they embrace.

The event—called the “Rally of Hope”—was hosted by Hak Ja Han Moon, the head of the Unification Church (whose members consider her and her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the messiahs), and sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation, a group co-founded by the Moons in 2005 and affiliated with the Unification Church (which now refers to itself as the Unification movement). According to the UPF, the gathering, put on before a socially distanced audience and supposedly streamed to 1 million people in 194 nations, was held to launch a project called Think Tank 2022, which aims to reunify the Korean Peninsula.

The UPF says this new outfit is a “global multi-sector network of more than 2,000 experts” in business, academia, and other fields, though Think Tank 2022 does not yet have much (or any) online presence. Still, Hak Ja Han Moon was able to draw an impressive amount of star power for this kick-off, with the event featuring speeches from Pence, Pompeo, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, past UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, former Republic of Korea Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun, and Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi. Also among the speakers were Jonathan Falwell, a pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Virginia and a son of Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Moral Majority. Another featured participant was Hun Sen, the dictatorial, longtime leader of Cambodia, who has amassed a horrific human rights record.

The three-hour-long event was a celebration of both Moons, with Hak Ja Han Moon referred to as the “mother of Peace” and “Heavenly Parent.” During his videotaped speech, Pence claimed that Think Tank 2022 is “bringing the wisdom of leaders in government, business, religion, civil society” and that thanks to this new endeavor, “the dream of peaceful cooperation and unity will be closer to reality than ever before.” (Pence spoke at a previous and similar Rally of Hope in March.) Pompeo, who was introduced as a “devout Christian,” hailed former President Donald Trump’s assorted engagements with Kim Jong Un, the tyrannical and murderous leader of North Korea. “We tried something different,” Pompeo said. (Foreign policy specialists have tended to note Trump’s overly palsy overtures to Kim yielded no true progress.) Gingrich praised the Moons, the Universal Peace Federation, Think Tank 2022, and the Washington Times, the conservative paper Sun Myung Moon founded. Esper noted that Hak Ja Han Moon has been “working to help strengthen America’s role in the world.” He didn’t elaborate on what he meant by that.

The rally ended with a ceremony that was staged to look like an official act. A color guard brandishing the flags of nations from around the world marched about. Then Hak Ja Han Moon came out to “receive” the “historic resolution” establishing Think Tank 2022. She signed this document and then struck a gong to declare the project launched.

It’s unclear what Think Tank 2022 is actually doing. The group does not seem to have a website. A week after the rally, the project was not mentioned on the home page of the Universal Peace Federation. Mother Jones sent Larry Moffitt, a spokesperson for UPF, an email with a list of questions regarding Think Tank 2022—who are its 2,000 experts, who is running this operation, how much funding does it have? The email also asked if Pence, Pompeo, Esper, Gingrich, and the other speakers at the Rally for Hope were paid for their participation. Reached by phone, Moffitt said he would look at that email “and get back to you.” He did not. Pence, Pompeo, Gingrich, and Esper did not respond to questions about their appearances at the event.

The Unification movement has long sought to cultivate allies among Washington powerbrokers, particularly on the right. That was presumably one motivation for Sun Myung Moon in 1982 to establish the Washington Times, which has long been a mouthpiece for Republicans and conservatives. In 2004, he managed to hold a bizarre crowning ceremony for himself and his wife within a Senate office building, during which he declared in Korean that he was the Messiah. (Presidents and kings, he said, had “declared to all heaven and earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.”) Some members of Congress who attended the event—which was sponsored by the Washington Times Foundation—insisted they had been duped.

.

Read full story here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/pence-pompeo-headlined-event-mounted-by-unification-church/

____________________________________

Sun Myung Moon’s secret love child – Mother Jones

Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han bow to a pig’s head

[wombwindow]

Voting Faith

With the 2020 Election just a week away, I thought it would be helpful to discuss the importance of the faith vote and what it means to vote your faith. Voting is an important fundamental American right, experience, and duty. One I would encourage every citizen to exercise, especially in a republic democracy such as ours. In America the people have the privilege of shaping, empowering, and curbing their government through their collective voice and choices. A tremendous opportunity that can have profound and lasting consequences, but an opportunity many among us neglect and avoid. Why? Perhaps it’s because some people believe their voice doesn’t matter. Maybe they feel their beliefs are not represented. Or stronger still that the candidates presented are unacceptable. But how will a Christian’s lack of participation change these circumstances? If Christians want better candidates, greater representation, more focus on their values and beliefs, they must get involved in the political process. Very little, if anything, changes in a vacuum! Christians aren’t likely to influence or shape our nation through apathy and inaction. No, we must participate, we must lead, we must fight, and we must vote. But how should we vote? And why are Christians so divided in their votes?

Looking at research data about the 2016 election will confirm a general election turnout of around 60% of eligible voters (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/22/voter-turnout-2020-ranking-us-presidential-elections/6006793002/). As well as the reality that around 40% of Christians fail to vote. And that among Christian voters each major party secures at least 40% of the votes cast by Christians, creating a substantial divide between the way Christians see the candidates, parties, and issues surrounding the elections (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/). Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, vote more for the Republican Party than the Democratic Party, but not by an overwhelming majority when all subsets are examined. Looking at the numbers one realizes that if all professing Christians voted, and voted with greater harmony, the influence God’s people could exert in the representative leadership of our nation would be enormous. However, a divided church, largely negates its opinion and renders a much smaller influence in the governing affairs of the nation. So, why are Christians divided and how can they become more unified? By looking to Scripture and the ways of the Lord.

The Christian community must rally around the authority of Scripture and the baseline teachings of God. The Bible encourages participation within our world systems and speaks to the most important issues facing our nation. Jesus, in responding to taxes, said, “…Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s...” (Matt. 22:15-22). And Paul advised in the Book of Romans that, “Every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed…” (Romans 13:1-7). Christians, when given the opportunity to vote, need to vote. As God’s representatives on earth and His agents of light, we must vote.

As for the issues that are presented before the body of Christ in elections, Scripture also must be our guide. The issues of life and abortion have been before the American voter for nearly five decades. The Bible is emphatically clear on how we should side. Christians must side with life and against abortion, the intentional destruction of preborn human beings. Psalm 139 declares we are, “knit together in our mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13-16). And the Book of Acts reminds that, “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:22-26). The Scriptures declare marriage is between one man and one woman. Genesis proclaims, “A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). With the Book of Hebrews reminding Christians to, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Heb. 13:4). Regarding today’s gender question, Scripture is also not quiet. The Bible affirms that gender is a reality of creation and not a choice of the whim. Genesis states, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them” (Gen 5:1-2). And the Book of First Corinthians reminds: “In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God” (1 Cor. 11:11-12). Making clear there are only two genders, each with purpose and supporting roles. As to race, the Bible declares there is only one. Genesis One, the Bible’s chapter of beginnings, reveals that, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Gen 1:27-28). And again, in Acts, “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26). When Christians embrace that WE ARE ONE RACE and begin to treat all God’s children as brothers and sisters, we will see the beginning of the end of what we today call “racism”. As to poverty, healthcare, fair wages, education, judges, and a host of other issues, if we’ll turn to Scripture and prayer, we will discover God’s plans, inform our minds, and build common ground around God’s revealed truth. The Bible is not silent about today’s issues and questions, do we know it?

Finally, as to the candidates, those modern-day Caesar’s vying for power, Scripture asks us to pray for them and evaluate them in light of God’s ways. Prayer is vital to the life of our nation and all things. Christians are admonished to pray and pray routinely for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Paul urged in Timothy, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Christians should vote and they should pray—are we praying for this election and all those who serve our nation in government?  When it comes to candidates running for secular office, we need to evaluate their character and their policy positions and past actions. Paul, writing in Corinthians, understood that the world is different from the church when he communicated, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). And similarly, as Christians evaluate their choices for president or the congress, they will not often have the luxury of choosing from superb moral people. However, by examining a candidate’s personal character, their affiliations and positions, and their policies and actions, we can make determinations about which candidates align most closely with God’s teachings and principles. Holding the candidate up to Scripture’s declarations about good and poor leadership is a good place to start. Proverbs 29 tells us, “By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down” (4) And, “If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked” (12). And further still, “If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever” (14). Looking at these and other Scriptures, Christians can discern which candidates best represents the counsel of God.

I pray my fellow Christians will vote and pray during this election. May the Word and the Spirit guide us to the best representatives for our government. May we get involved in the political life of our nation at all levels and may we routinely pray for those in office. Let us serve God at all times, but especially as we exercise the privilege of voting for our representative government.

 God bless, Joel

Colorado voters, remember to vote “yes” on 115. The measure will ban late-term abortion! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mDaXCxxrbU

Please enjoy the following incites about faith voting from Barna:

https://www.barna.com/research/notional-christians-big-election-story-2016/

https://www.barna.com/research/religious-beliefs-have-greatest-influence-on-voting-decisions/

[ruminativerabbi]

Looking Back and Ahead

So the much-anticipated midterm election came and went, leaving all Americans, regardless of party affiliation or political orientation, finally united on at least one point: that the Congress, now a bicameral house formally divided against itself, will accomplish nothing at all for the foreseeable future...unless its members can find it in their hearts to compromise with their opponents and to craft legislation so little extreme and so overtly and appealingly reasonable that people on both sides of the aisle will fear angering their constituencies by not supporting it. How likely is that to happen? Not too!  Still, that thought—that in the absence of flexibility, tractability, and generosity on the part of all, nothing at all will be accomplished and no one will have a record (other than of obstructionism) to run on in future elections—has a sort of silver lining in the thought that whatever legislation is passed by the new Congress will have to be of the rational variety that Americans of all political and philosophical sorts can support. So there’s at least that!

As my readers all surely know by now, my training—my academic training, I mean, as opposed to my spiritual training in rabbinical school—is in ancient history and the history of ancient religion. And I’ve been reading just lately some interesting analyses of the mother of all democracies, the one set in place to govern the city-state of Athens, and the specific way our American democratic system does and doesn’t preserve its ancient features and norms. Obviously, a long road stretches out between them and us! Even so, however, there are at least some features of Athenian democracy that are definitely worth revisiting.

Some of the specifics will be unexpected to most. Ancient Athens was governed by a council of 500 called the boulé whose members were chosen—not by an informed electorate casting ballots for the candidate of their choice—but by lots so that fifty men chosen at random to represent each of the ten tribes of ancient Athenians were put in place and handed the reins of government. Each served for one year, but no one could serve more than once a decade nor could any citizen serve more than twice ever. The boulé had its own hierarchy, however: its in-house leadership—called the prytany—consisted of fifty men, also chosen by the casting of lots, who served for one single month and were then replaced.  The idea was simple—and not entirely unappealing: by choosing both the people’s leaders and those leaders’ leaders at random, it was certain that the power of governance would specifically not rest neither with power-hungry people eager to rule over or to dominate others nor with anyone motivated by the possibility of personal gain through service to the nation. The leaders of Athens were thus disinterested parties, people with no specific yearning to be in charge yet whom fate somehow arbitrarily put into positions of leadership nonetheless. Yes, it was surely true that the inevitable blockhead would occasionally end up chosen to serve, but such a person would be vastly outnumbered by more thoughtful, more reasonable individuals. (The boulé did have five hundred members, after all.) The system has an antique feel to it, the specific point of keeping power out of the hands of people who lust after it and firmly in the hands of people who would be happier doing something else entirely, not so much!

The situation that prevailed in ancient Athens appeals in other ways as well. The boulé, for example, lacked the power to make any final decisions on its own. To do that, all citizens were invited to participate in a forum called the ekklesia that met every ten days for the specific purpose of ratifying any of the boulé’s decisions before they became law. (This body met on the Acropolis as well, in an area called the Pnyx.) All citizens were automatically members of the ekklesia and were welcome to speak up and participate in pre-vote debate and discussion. So the power was thus fully vested in the people—the boulé could pass all the bills it wanted but none of them could become law until the people signed on.

Etymologically, the “demo” in “democracy,” from the Greek demos, references the full citizenry, the people of the nation who self-governed not by electing people to govern them, but by governing the governors and by requiring that the decisions of the boulé be ratified by the public. Is this sounding at all appealing to you? The more I think of it, the more remarkable it sounds to me…and, yes, in some ways intensely appealing. Would this work in a nation of 328 million citizens like our own? Not without some serious adjustment—but the notion that the very last people to whom power should ever be granted are those specific individuals who yearn the most intensely for it, that idea has some serious merit in my mind!

And then there was the concept of “ostracism,” which I think we should definitely consider bringing back. The English word means exclusion from a group, usually because of some perceived scurrilous misbehavior. But the word goes back to Athens, where it denoted something far more specific: the right of the citizenry, the demos, one single time in the course of a year to vote to expel from the city for a period of ten years anyone perceived as having become too powerful—and thus who merely by being present in the city weakened the democratic principle of power being vested fully in the hands of the people. It didn’t happen every year, but once the decision was taken—and if more than six thousand citizens voted to ostracize by writing the name of the individual they wished to see gone on a piece of broken pottery called an ostrakon—then the “ostracized” individual was forced to leave the city and not permitted to return for at least a decade. There was no possibility of appeal. Ostracized individuals were then given ten days to organize their affairs and then to leave and not to return for ten years. There was a certain risky arbitrariness to the whole process—there was no obligation for any citizen to state why he was voting to ostracize whomever it was he was voting to exile and there was no judge or jury—but also something exhilarating about a procedure designed to place the power in the hands of the people to exile anyone at all (including civic leaders, generals, the wealthy, and the city-state’s most influential citizens) for fear that that specific individual was exerting a malign influence on the right of the people to self-govern. And there was at least one profound safeguard against abuse in the fact that the ostracized individual had to be voted off the island by six thousand citizens. Even so, the procedure eventually died out. (The last known ostracism was towards the end of the fifth century BCE.) But it is also thrilling to imagine a democratic city-state in which anyone who yearns for power must temper such yearning with the knowledge that being perceived to be acting other than in the best interests of the people could conceivably lead to being sent away regardless of the immensity of one’s fortune or the breadth of one’s influence. 

There were darker sides to Athenian democracy as well. Citizenship was limited to males over the age of eighteen; women were completed excluded both from membership in the boulé and from participation in the ekklesia.  Nor did all citizens choose to participate fully in their fully participatory democracy. Indeed, most citizens failed to show up most of the time. To increase attendance, in fact, a decision was made around 400 BCE to pay citizens who showed up for their time, thus making it more reasonable for members of the working class to take the time off to attend. But the fact remains that, just as in our American republic, the power was in the hands of those who chose to exercise their civic right to participate and not in the hands of those who chose to express themselves merely by complaining about the status quo. Is that a flaw in the system? I suppose it would depend on whether you ask the voters or the complainers!

This isn’t ancient Greece. But what we can learn from considering the political heritage bequeathed to us by the Athenians is that democracy is not manna from heaven offered to some few worthy nations and not to others, but an ongoing political theory that needs constantly to be revised and reconsidered as it morphs forward through history. There is no end to the books I could recommend to readers interested in learning more, but I can suggest two titles that I myself have enjoyed and that would be very reasonable places to start reading: A.H.M. Jones’ book, Athenian Democracy, first published back in 1986 by Johns Hopkins University Press and read by myself years ago, and also a newer book, Democracy in Classical Athens by Christopher Carey, published in 2000 by Bristol Classical Press in the U.K.  

[heathyearnings101]

Blog About Travel

Blog About Travel

Blog About Travel as traveling is our way to seek beauty, understand culture and feast our soul on the richness of diverse landscapes. Each travel destination in the world is a journey through these enriching factors that gives true meaning to our wandering. Sometimes we can even monetize this travels. When it comes to the must-visit places in the world, there are a few places that are known as the best destinations in the world.

note this article may contain affiliate offers if you purchase any of the offers I may have a commission. *(affiliate link)*

Are you someone Blog About Travel and who wants to experience the best of culture, food and scenic beauty? Then there is a list of 50 must-visit places in the world you should add to your travel bucket list.

1. Rome, Italy

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Travelers from all around the world agree that there’s something dreamy and enigmatic about this city. Be it the art, the culture, or the ruins of The Forum and the Colosseum that evoke the power of the ancient Roman Empire. This city top the list, when we talk about the, must visit places in the world, for obvious reasons. Rome stands as a city with the perfect blend of modern with ancient. When you walk down its streets, you will find yourself swiftly time traveling. Blog About Travel the food culture of Rome has given Pasta and Gelato to the world so when you get tired of walking and traveling you can indulge your senses in some amazing culinary treats.

Type of vacation: Historic, Romantic, Luxury

2. Vatican City, Among must visit places in the world

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The centerpiece of Christianity is unlike what you imagine it to be. Vatican City’s environment is nothing that one can call religiously dull and gloomy. The vibrant atmosphere of the smallest country in the world is full of surprises for travelers. From beautiful museums to glorious churches, the Vatican is a paradise for the lovers of history and architecture. It is said that the Vatican Museums span over 9 miles of exotic art, sculptures and precious artifacts. Each and every building of the Vatican has beautiful ceilings that look like heaven. The cafes of the Vatican are popular for its delicious pizza, salads, and sandwiches.

Type of vacation: Historic, Cultural

3. Sydney, Australia

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The glorious Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are not the only charms of this Australian city. Blessed with a mild and warm climate, it is one of the must-visit places for travelers throughout the year. Blog About Travel about the magnificent beaches will ensure that your eyes never get bored. The art gallery of New South Wales and The Museum of Contemporary arts are two of the popular destinations for the art lovers while the music aficionados can spend time at Opera house or one of the free concerts. Doesn’t matter what part of the world you are from, and your interests are, Sydney will never disappoint you.

Type of vacation: Luxury

4. Singapore

Exploring the cleanest place in Asia is a grand experience that one should not miss visiting. This modern island has every comfort and luxury that a traveler would wish for. Singapore has an amazing skyline and you could best enjoy that from the Giant Ferris Wheel. The amazing view of the city makes it one of the must-visit places in the world. Singapore offers some wonderful tourist experiences like SuperTree Grove Light Show, Cloud Forest, Wander Light and Water Show, Singapore Botanical Gardens and much more to choose from.

Blog About Travel

5. London, England — One of the must visit places

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The city of London effortlessly mingles the antique and the contemporary, through a dizzying array of sights, smells, and sounds. This timeless city has something for everyone, from the Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. It captures the interests of the people who are fascinated by the grandiose of the royal family, to the West End Theatre District and the Portobello Road Market which attract the art and culture appreciators. Take a river cruise on the River Thames, enjoy the sights of the city from the top of the Eye of London or just hop around from a pub to another around Soho and London Bridge.

Type of Vacation: Luxury, Historical

6. Porto, Portugal

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The coastal city of Porto has all the ingredients that make up for a perfect travel destination, a remarkable shoreline, charismatic architecture, and the greatest delight — port wine. Also Known as the City of Bridges. Porto is home to numerous iron bridges, including one designed by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed the Eiffel Tower. Francescinha, a local Porto specialty, is a large sandwich with an ample amount of fillings of meat and vegetables is a must try. Exploring Porto is a treat for music lovers. One can enjoy live music at street corners and even attend a concert a Casa De Musica. Also, watching a football match in Portugal for a fan is like taking part in a religious activity.

Blog About Travel

7. New York City, United States of America — One of the must visit places

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Countless artists have tried to capture the spirit of New York City through music, paintings, and photographs, but to realize the true enormity of this concrete jungle, you have to visit it yourself. From looking at the Empire State Building, people-watching, to shopping in Fifth Avenue, this city offers you an exhilarating array of activities to take part in.

Type of Vacation: Luxury

8. Bagan, Myanmar

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Bagan is popular for its more than 2000 Buddhist temples. While most of them are under restoration by UNESCO, it should not stop you from exploring this culturally rich region of Asia. Buledi, Thebeik Hmauk, Oak-Kyaung-Gyi, Shwe-Leik-Too are few of the famous temples of Bagan. These ancient monuments are also popular for their spectacular views during the sunrise and sunset. Bagan is a paradise for the foodies who can try the most exotic dishes from the Burmese culinary culture. These popular delicacies range from Nepalese Thali, amazing curries, Fish with Green Chili Curry and Tibetan MoMo. Make sure you add this city to your list of must visit places in the world.

Type of Vacation: Cultural, History, Budget

9. Paris, France — Among the must-visit places

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Well, any list of must visit places in the world is incomplete with this place not being on the list. Paris is the city of love, of romance, of art. Almost everyone has Paris on their travel bucket list.

Even though the city is filled with historical sites. Places like Arc de Triomphe, Château de Versailles and, of course, the Eiffel Tower, and has a delightful cuisine, the best part about Paris is its magical and unforgettable atmosphere. Paris has something to offer to everyone. To a honeymoon lover, it offers romantic walks down the beautiful lanes of the city. For the art and history lovers, it offers a never-ending tour of the Louvre. Those who wish to relish the amazing French cuisine can simply spend their time at the classic cafes of the city.

Type of Vacation: Romantic, Luxury

10. New Zealand

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Fans of the epic, ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ will rejoice on their trip to New Zeeland as the movie was entirely in this country. New Zeeland boasts of a landscape unlike nowhere else. Open sightings of Whales, pristine waterfalls and lush green meadows are some of the wonders you’ll encounter during your trip in this country.

Type of Vacation: Adventure

11. Amsterdam, Holland — Among the must-visit places

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This Dutch party city is famous because of its amazing bars, museums and art galleries. The city is interconnected with hundreds of canals which popularly gives it the name of The Floating City. Amsterdam can be best explored on bikes, scooters, or by a canal cruise. For the art lovers, The Van Gogh Museum is an amazing way to take a peek into the life and times of this renowned artist, while the Anne Frank house will tell you about the horrors of The World Wars on Europe. An amazing which gives you freedom and one of the must-visit places in the world.

Type of Vacation: Cultural

12. Muscat, The Sultanate of Oman

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No other tourist destination rose to fame the way Oman did. This exotic paradise has a setting that seems to have come out from the stories of 1001 nights. With beautiful architecture, vintage markets, wildlife, Canyon, beaches, Muscat has everything that a tourist wants. The beaches of Oman are an important turtle nesting location and thus attract a lot of scientists and researchers. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is a breathtaking piece of Islamic architecture. You can also visit the Old Muscat and take a lesson or two about the history of Oman. This city is also a paradise for the food lovers who for sure will fall in love with the amazing culinary culture of Oman. One can try goat and lamb dishes like Shuwa and Makbous local desserts like Harees and Thareed. The cuisine of Oman is so amazing that you’ll keep asking for more.

Type of Vacation: Food, Culture

13. Lucerne, Switzerland

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It is a charming quaint town of Switzerland known for its colorful vistas and gondola rides on the snow filled mountains. The beautiful Lucerne Lake, Chapel Bridge, Old Medieval Town, The Fountain of Fritschi are some of the iconic places that one should simply not miss during their trip. Lucerne is the home of winter sports with gorgeous ski resorts hidden in the lap of the mountains. The ski resorts in the Canton of Lucerne go up to the height of 2350 m.

Type of Vacation: Romantic, Adventure

14. Prague, Czech Republic

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When you visit the city of Prague, you take a step back in time, in a good way. The city has an abundance of Gothic structures, stretching from the Old Town Square to the Prague Castle. You could walk across the Charles Bridge, rub one of the 30 saint statues for luck, and marvel at the power of time looking at the Prague Astronomical Clock.

Type of Vacation: Romantic

15. Kandy, Sri Lanka

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Kandy is probably the most scenic and atmospheric places in Sri Lanka. It is known as the cultural capital of Sri Lanka as this quaint town is the home to many festivals and religious processions. The Temple of a tooth in Kandy has one of the Buddha’s teeth that was brought here after his cremation.

Type of Vacation: History, Budget

16. Florence, Italy

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The ancient city of Florence has roots dating back to 59 BC. You will find yourself looking at buildings that have been standing since time immemorial. This historic city is deemed a world a heritage site by UNESCO. A trip to Florence is like taking a walk down the pages of a history book, enticing and marvelous.

This city is filled with romantic alleyways and picturesque corners just waiting to be discovered. You can also take day trips to local vineyards for wine tasting and to explore the Tuscan countryside.

Type of Vacation: Cultural

17. Goa, India

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Goa is an exotic beach destination that attracts travelers and backpackers from all around the world because of its tropical charm. Known for lovely beach shacks, scrumptious seafood, lush green backwaters and cheap booze, the vacationing experience in Goa is unlike any other destination. The adventure sports lovers can enjoy scuba diving, paragliding, parasailing, jet ski, trekking and hiking in different corners of this state. Goa holiday packages are a hit among locals and the foreign tourist, it’s one of the must-visit places in the world.

Type of Vacation: Leisure, Adventure

18. Xi’an, China

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When it comes to traveling in China, there is hardly any destination as exotic and rugged the way Xi’an is. The home to 11 dynasties who ruled China, the city of Xi’an survives as a destination that history enthusiasts find very intriguing. This city has still kept its ancient walls intact. A walk around these walls offers great views of the town and often presents a wonder like Guangren Temple right in front of you. The most amazing part of exploring Xi’an is the Terracotta Army. These warriors have stood guard at the location for more than 2000 years. Walking through the series of ever-vigilant guards is bound to send goosebumps inside you.

Type of Vacation: History

19. Istanbul, Turkey

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Istanbul takes you to the Ottoman Era with the many heritage buildings and palaces lying in every corner of the city. Walking about Topkapı or Dolmabahçe Palaces takes you through the time when Istanbul used to be a powerful country ruled by mighty emperors. The Sufi Culture thrived and flourished in Istanbul, even today you’ll see Sufi artists, philosophers, and musicians wandering around for inspiration. Who knows, a visit to this beautiful town may send the inspiration down your soul that you are looking for.

Type of Vacation: History, Cultural

20. Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Among must visit places before you die

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Dubai is one of the seven Emirates that make the United Arab Emirates. Known for its grandeur, exotic desert safaris, and elegant shopping malls, Dubai is one of the most hospitable and welcoming cities of the world. When in Dubai, you can go on a shopping spree, ride a bumpy 4×4 in the dunes, camp in the desert under the stars or take a view of the city while standing on the top of the Burj Khalifa.

There is so much to do that you’ll keep visiting again and again. Legoland Dubai is one of the finest entertainment parks in the world perfect for those who are traveling with kids. You see, Dubai is one stop destination for travelers of all ages and makes sure that everyone has a memorable time of their life during their visit.

Type of Vacation: Luxury

21. Copenhagen, Denmark

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Copenhagen is a quaint and charming destination known for its cobbled streets, colorful buildings and tiny glowing cafes. The tiny colorful town is known for its beautiful palaces and the activities associated with them. Go for a tower climb session at Christiansburg Palace, explore the knight’s hall at Rosenberg, and take a tour of the island where Frederiksborg Palace is situated. Copenhagen’s food culture also makes it one of the best in the world. The stalls of Torvehallerne Markets offer delicious local cuisines varying from seafood, gourmet chocolates, delicious pastries, cheese, meats, salads, coffee, and juices. Copenhagen is a paradise for the architecture lovers and those who love taking walks on the pretty cobbled streets.

Type of Vacation: History, Food

22. Kyoto, Japan — Among must visit places

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The cultural capital of Japan is known for its quaint surroundings, beautiful gardens and the slow pace at which life moves here. Kyoto’s free gardens are the most romantic spot in the town and become more scenic during the Cherry Blossom season. Unlike Tokyo, you won’t find any tall buildings in Kyoto, this is the town of everything artistic and beautiful. Surrounded by the mountains on three sides, Kyoto has some amazing hiking trails. Those who wish to give climbing a miss can instead explore the magical bamboo groves. Still wondering why it’s one of the must-visit places in the world? Buy Japan tour packages and experience it yourself.

Type of Vacation: Cultural, Romantic

23. Salzburg, Austria

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Mozart’s birthplace is the home to musical geniuses who come here to find inspiration. Located on the border of Austria and Germany, Salzburg is famous for its buildings from Medieval and Baroque eras. Due to the influence of music on this city, you would find many jazz and contemporary-music clubs. There are bars in every corner of the town that showcase new and upcoming talents. During Christmas, Salzburg comes to life with its lovely Christmas markets where they offer homemade chocolates and trinkets.

Type of Vacation: Cultural

24. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Among must visit places

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Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia is popular as an exotic shopping destination between many. Kuala Lumpur is one of the cities known for its multicultural lifestyle and you can find the influence of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Thai cultures in the lifestyle of its residents. When in KL, a visit to Petronas Towers is a recommended activity.

You can explore the food street of Jalan Alor, have some fun at Sunway Lagoon Adventure Park or indulge in some street shopping at Chinatown. Apart from local experiences, you can also visit the oldest mosque of Kuala Lumpur Masjid Jamek Mosque, and explore the historical Merdeka Square. Climbing the 272 steps of Batu Caves is not a bad idea either.

Type of Vacation: Luxury, Cultural

25. Ladakh, India

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Ladakh is the perfect vacation spot for those who have a strong affinity for gorgeous landscapes. As one of the few cold deserts in the world, Ladakh is known for its pristine views of The Himalayas. Ladakh offers excellent trekking points, hides some of the most glorious monasteries in the world and gives you a first-hand account of the Tibetan culture through the local festivals and food.

Credits : Mohit Vandra

[yesthatssadirichardslove]

From 'Sam-suck' to Apple rival: the Samsung transformation   SEOUL

Military-style management and an unquestioning reverence for the founding Lee family have fueled Samsung's transition from the world's most ridiculed phonemaker to its biggest, says the author of a new book.

Today Samsung -- by far South Korea's most powerful conglomerate with more than 50 affiliates from electronics and insurance to hotels and apartments -- is a larger smartphone manufacturer than Apple, and at the same time a key supplier to its great rival.

The group's overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of the GDP of the world's 12th-largest economy, where citizens sometimes refer to their country as the "Republic of Samsung".

It is a remarkable transformation from only a few years ago when Western consumers mocked it as "Sam-suck" for its unreliable products.

At first fascinated by the firm, author Geoffrey Cain said: "As I got deeper, I felt like I was going down the rabbit hole."

Its rise was tainted with corruption, he writes in "Samsung Rising", a rare English-language detailing of the highly secretive and opaque empire, published last week in the US.

Cain interviewed around 400 people, including current and former Samsung employees, executives and politicians, he said, but many refused to be named or go on the record.

Founder Lee Byung-chul started Samsung -- the name means "Three Stars" -- as a vegetable and dried fish shop in 1938 and after the Korean War expanded into sugar, finance, chemicals, electronics and more.

Lee saw Samsung as more than a business, identified with the war-ravaged nation itself, and it played a key part in South Korea's rise to become Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

He forged close relations with military dictator Park Chung-hee, and married off his sons to daughters of governors and ministers, sealing enduring connections with political power.

Cain zeroes in on the firm's long-running relationship with Apple, which began when a youthful Steve Jobs met Lee Byung-chul in 1983 as he sought parts to build a tablet computer -- 27 years before releasing the iPad.

A short-lived alliance was revived in 2005, when Samsung Electronics went to Jobs with its new NAND flash memory chips and became sole memory provider for the iPod.

The South Korean firm has since become a competitor to Apple as well as a supplier, even though its own executives once dismissed their own products, saying the iPhone and Galaxy S were as different as "heaven and earth".

The change was effected through military-style discipline and long, intense hours, Cain says.

"Untouchable 'generals' charged into each new project, and even when things looked iffy, the field troops were expected to praise them to the skies, convincing themselves of their company's and leaders' greatness," he writes.

Despite sometimes "bizarro" working practices -- lorryloads of fruit were delivered to a US office to remind staff of their mission "to take a bite out of Apple" -- most Samsung employees displayed unquestioning reverence for the founding family, Cain writes.

Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as chaebol that dominate business in the South, and has come to epitomise their power, influence, and murky political connections.

With senior executives Lee Kun-hee, the founder's son and successor, planned a smooth hereditary transfer to his own son Lee Jae-yong, using financial tools like convertible bonds, exploiting legal loopholes, and even cash gifts, with Cain saying: "People were lining up to go to jail for the chairman."

In the event it was Lee Jae-yong himself who ended up behind bars, found guilty of bribing former president Park Geun-hye as part of the sprawling corruption scandal that brought her down.

The vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics and the group's de facto leader since a 2014 heart attack left his father bedridden, he served a year in jail before most of his convictions were dismissed on appeal, but is now being re-tried.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment about the book to AFP, but its Korean publisher said the company had not sought to impede publication.

South Korea's chaebols have little in common with the more entrepreneurial and shareholder-driven firms in the US, writes Cain.

In the past, several conglomerate leaders have been criminally convicted but have all ultimately received presidential pardons -- including Lee Kun-hee, found guilty of bribing politicians and, separately, embezzlement and tax evasion.

"Could you imagine Steve Jobs getting pardoned by two different US presidents, and Americans calling their country the 'United States of Apple?'" Cain told AFP.

But Lee Jae-yong's prison absence did Samsung Electronics no financial damage -- it made record profits during the period, and its shareholders have no doubts.

At its annual meeting last week Kim Sang-woon, 68, told AFP that he was "honored" to own a small piece of the empire, adding: "I'm very satisfied and proud of everything."

[oakleystreet]

L O R D     A S R I E L

DÆMON: Stelmaria, a snow leopard.

BOND: Whole.

HAIR: Black

EYES: (...)

AGE: Undisclosed.

BIRTH: Undisclosed.

NATIONALITY: Brytish. (English)

STATUS: Alive during LBS, NL, TSK and TAS. Dead during LO, S, TSC.

Lord Asriel was a Brytish nobleman and a notable scholar and explorer. He had, a one point, been a member of Parliament and was involved in defeating the Watercourse Bill, which would have limited the gyptians’ right of free passage through Brytain. His friendship with the gyptians was well-known, and he saved two gyptian children, Ruud and Nellie Koopman, from drowning in a flood in 1953.

He made his fortune from exploring, especially the Arctic Region, and was considered richer than a king at one point in his life. Not much of his family is known.

At some point prior to 1985, Lord Asriel met and began an affair with Marisa Coulter, who was married to Edward Coulter at the time. From this relationship, Lyra was born sometime in 1985 and because she resembled Asriel, he took the baby to one of his estates in Oxfordshire and placed her in the care of Ma Costa. Coulter, found out, however, and made an attempt on their lives, which Asriel hindered by knocking the gun from Coulter’s hand, then using it to shoot him in the head.

Asriel was tried by the High Court, and although the law protected his right to defend his property and child, it also benefitted the late Edward Coulter for defending his wife’s honor. As a result of this, Lyra was taken into government custody and Asriel was forbidden from seeing her; on top of that, he had almost his entire fortune seized, leaving him nearly penniless.

He was close to Lord Nugent, who had been in charge of finding a safe place for Lyra to stay and when she was placed at the Priory of Godstow, Asriel visited her briefly, convincing Sister Fenella to allow him to say goodbye. He left Oxford on that night, after speaking to Malcolm and borrowing his canoe; Asriel then had the canoe sent to the best boat-builder in England and asked Coram van Texel to return it to Malcolm.

In the first days of the flood, Bud Schlesinger reported he had briefly met Asriel in Chelsea the night before of his meeting, and that he was preparing to depart for the North once more.

(to be continued)

Asriel’s age is never disclosed and the hints given are somewhat contradictory. Although he is consistently addressed as “Lord,” his noble title is unknown.

Lyra mentions the Count and Countess Belacqua, but it is never clear whether they existed or not. Nothing else is known about Asriel’s family.

He was a member of Jordan College, although the text suggests he spent little time there, instead focusing on his exploring.

His wine of preference was the Hungarian wine, Tokay.

Asriel is described as a tall man, with powerful shoulders, and a fierce dark face. “His movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal (...)” (NL, chapter 1). His voice was described as deep and harsh and he was a man with a dominating posture and attitude.

DÆMON RELATIONSHIP

Slightly in disagreement, mostly quiet companionship and Stelmaria seems to exert the role of reason in their pair while Asriel acts as the impulsive, passionate, emotional part.

FAMILIAL TIES

Lyra Belacqua: daughter.

FRIENDS & ALLIES

Dr. Carne: college relation. 

Thomas Nugent: ally.

John Faa: ally.

Xaphania: ally.

King Ogunwe: ally.

Lord Roke: ally.

John Parry: ally

Thorold: ally and manservant.

ROMANTIC TIES

Marisa Coulter: lover.

Ruta Skadi: lover.

ENEMIES & RIVALS

Metatron: enemy.

Authority: enemy.

Father MacPhail: enemy.

AFFILIATIONS

Republic of Heaven: safe haven.

Jordan College: alma mater, educational.

Oakley Street: uncommitted friendship.

Magisterium: enemy.

Consistorial Court of Discipline.

Society of the Work of the Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of Heaven: enemy, at open war.

[supertraveltochina-blog]

The Beijing Tour Particulars

A brief intro to Beijing tour attractions and considerations

Yes, the Beijing, China it is

When the world Beijing is under consideration, it surely calls a loud call to China. Yes, the devastated history of 3 Millenia scrawled with the historical and cultural assets, modern architectures and worth a people’s republic capital in China that has a lot to offer, to the visitors and a relished life experience to the natives a well. 

Beijing tours, one of the populous visitors boom around corners

China is a wide populous country with a population exceeding in 14 plus billions. The country has tourism as one of the significant and most prominent industries, the country owes a big share of its economy to. 

Among the broadly scoped area of the China bounds, the city of Beijing has its ultimate prominence and highlights its attractions to the visitors mainly due to: 

The city has 3000 years leaned back history in the ancient times of Queens and Kings. Even in the eleventh century the city was known as the “Jinn City”. It has cultural preserves and architectures that are a mark of history. Mesmerizing tourist across the globe. 

With population of above 22 million, this city is a large composite with specific arrangements for the tourists and people coming over to the city. There are world class luxuries of travelling, amenities owned residential areas, lifestyle enhancing activities and most of all a rich cultural aspect that is of great interest for the people. 

The Kinship and family bonds affiliations of the people urges them to visit and observe what their ancestors have gone through being in the Beijing city. 

Popular Attractions in Beijing Tours 

The city is rich in both cultural and modern aspect and has a lot to offer to the visitors. There are several attractions that even vary in class and activities involved that are ultimate zeal factors for the tourists. 

The prominent Beijing Tour attractions are: 

The Beijing Great Wall 

Great Wall, yes, it is the thing you have been listening too as prominent wonders in the world . The greatest miracle of civil engineering and a gigantic scale of construction that has its own wow’s and zeal of visitors urge people to visit this amazing place via a refreshing Beijing tour to Great Wall. 

Leaning over the mountain ranges, the beauty of Great wall surpasses the widely spanned area and symbolizes the glory of defense and patriotism the Chinese military forces owe back in decades. 

Snaking over the 3 provinces and several regions the Great Wall covers 6300 kilometers area that is truly a gigantic landmark and a defense wow the state still cherished and visitors enjoy being at. It surely a must not to visit while having a Beijing tour in China. 

The Forbidden City 

The magnificent and imperial palace in the Ming and Qing dynasties of China that is the most ancient and elegant preserve from the Chinese astronomers. Often abbreviated a Purple Forbidden city this place is a true visit out area in the region and is one of the prominent 720,000 square meters locality with a lot of cultural preserves, markets, the wooden rooms of ancient imperials and a lot more one can truly experience on stance. 

Tien anmen Square

This place is an area for the national celebrations and emperor related selections that is popular one among natives and is considered a gateway to Heaven in Chinese linguistics. 

A prominent aspect of Beijing tours of course. 

Ming Tomb 

The Ming king tomb is another popular attraction having sculpture of animals and heritage preserve of Ming that are of interest as well for the tourists on Beijing Tours. 

Old Beijing Hutongs 

Well this is a distinguished area in locality having small communities, alleys and regions with rectangular courtyards and stone allayed roof tops the area has its own distinguished prominence in the Beijing tour highlights. 

There are other featured places as well like the Historic palace and temples well known in the city and cultural markets that are of ultimate interest for the tourists. 

The Beijing Tour for any one in any age is surely a relishing one with a lot to offer and enhance the experience of people visiting it. 

[alexsmitposts]

Libya And The Scramble For Africa North Africa is in turmoil again and the cause of it can be found in the plots of the Europeans and Americans to break nations states into pieces in order to control the oil and gas producing areas of the region and in the plots of against each other. In Libya the CIA trained General Haftar has begun yet another offensive against the weak UN imposed government based in Tripoli, the Government of National Accord, whose forces are weak, which has little support among the people and which has not succeeded in restoring any of the public services, from electric power and water supply to transportation to medical, education, or other administrative systems that existed under the government of the Jamarahiya Republic destroyed by the NATO aggression of 2011. Haftar, who was sent in to Libya in 2011 from Langley, Virginia to join in the US aggression against his own country, is backed by Egypt which wants stability on its border with Libya as well as France, Saudi Arabia and Russia which see him, connected to the CIA as he is, to be the only man with the ability to unite the country under one government, for ill or for good. Hafttar’s offensive against Tripoli which seems to have bogged down or slowed down in the past few days, it is difficult to determine which, also worries the Americans, or so they claim. They express fears that it could lead to a wider conflict, another civil war in Libya. Laughably, the Americans, who destroyed the country, claim that only they can stop the violence and bring heaven to the hell they have created. The American intrigues are exposed by their official position opposing Haftar’s offensive while US forces, whose presence was not widely known, made very public announcements that they were withdrawing in face of Haftar’s attacks. This can only be understood as meaning they are getting out of his way so he can conduct his attack. Where they will withdraw to has not been revealed, nor the real reason for their presence in Libya in the first place. The American Africa Command stated, “Due to increased unrest in Libya, a contingent of U.S. forces supporting U.S. Africa Command temporarily relocated in response to security conditions on the ground,” The command did not elaborate on the size of the troop contingent or where they were moved to, “We will continue to monitor conditions on the ground and assess the feasibility for renewed U.S. military presence, as appropriate.” The American pretext for having occupation forces in Libya is claimed to be a campaign to dislodge Islamic State elements in the country and to “maintained a special operations mission inside Libya that assists the government in counterterrorism efforts’ which is the language they use to justify all their illegal occupations of foreign countries. Yet, as the US does nothing to oppose the offensive, it continues to state it supports the government Haftar is attacking in Tripoli and continues to claim that Haftar’s actions could strengthen Islamic State in Libya. Just how Islamic State got from Iraq and Syria to Libya is a question to be asked, as is their presence in Afghanistan. The answer is that it is composed of the remnants of the forces sent in to Libya by the US and its allies to attack Ghaddafi as well as locals recruited in Libya that the US sent into to Syria to attack the government there. Their defeat by the combined forces of the Syrian Army, Iran, and Russia, the defeat of the US war against Syria, forced them to return Libya, or be sent to Afghanistan to further destabilise the situation there. Now it is claimed by the US and its Libyan puppets that certain armed groups are ISIS affiliates, but whatever the reality, once again the claim gives the Americans another pretext to keep their bayonets at the throats of the Libyan people. Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and its production is important in keeping prices low especially when the US is trying to shut down shipments of Iranian and Venezuelan oil to world markets. Haftar was successful last year in securing control of oil facilities in the central and southern regions of the country and for increasing output there as well as securing port facilities on the Mediterranean so it can be shipped to world markets. Nevertheless, the UN, that is the Security Council of which the US is a member of course, has asked the US to put stronger pressure on Haftar to support the weak government in Tripoli, a strange game, which, of course the US has not done. Instead the US got Haftar to agree to the establishment of a CIA base in Benghazi, a city which Haftar controls. It is claimed that Libyans see Haftar as a needed strongman capable of bringing the order the Tripoli government so far has been unable to provide, but it is really the US and EU and Russia that see him as such each for their own reasons. So now, 8 years after NATO thugs labelled Ghaddafi a strongman and dictator and then murdered him, the sane actors are calling for their strongman to take power, to be their dictator, and as for the Libyan people and the people that want the Jamarihiya back, well, who cares about them. There are conflicting reports as to whether Haftar’s forces have captured Tripoli airport and the US seems to have doubts whether the man they flew in from Langley to help overthrow the Libyan Republic in 2011 can do the job. His army depends on support from local militias, which lack discipline and are notorious for war crimes and though Haftar claims to be against Islamists is supported by Salafist groups. On the other hand, like all the unsavoury characters working for the USA he is no democrat. He stated that Libya is not ready for democracy, echoing the US propaganda that Libya is a “failed state” instead of a NATO destroyed state, and, if the USA has its way Libya never will be a democracy, at least not the socialist democracy that was destroyed by NATO bombs and missiles. But to cover themselves, the New York Times, the mouthpiece of the US state, editorialised that sanctions should be placed on Haftar for “subverting a peaceful settlement of Libya’s problems and violating Security Council resolutions supporting the rump government he is attacking.” One has to wonder how loudly the writers laugh among themselves when they write this stuff since they were one of the big voices calling for the NATO attack on Libya and for Ghaddafi’s murder in 2011; for using war instead of peace. As for UN resolutions, since when has the United States adhered to them when it didn’t want to? They might as well call for sanctions on themselves. Meanwhile there is unrest in Algeria, unrest in Sudan and everywhere we see the dirty games of the French, British, Americans Italians, resurrecting the scramble for control of Africa’s resources that first took place in the 19th century. We have seen what their wars have brought to Africans from Rwanda to Congo, from Mozambique to Angola. There were the “colour” uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and now, in Algeria, there are protests against the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and claims of corruption and failure to deal with unemployment and rising prices. The protestors in Algeria are demanding that all the old heroes of the fight for liberation against the French in the 1950’s and 60’s be swept away. The army and political leaders have acceded to the demands. The president, Bouteflika, has stepped down, more opposition parties have formed and new elections scheduled for July. However the army chief of staff warned that foreign actors are behind the protests, meaning France and the USA, and that the problems of Algeria cannot be solved by violence and the destruction of the independence they fought for all those years ago. But with the forces of the US Africa Command and the French Foreign Legion positioned in a belt across the Sahel from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and with Chines forces entering Somali and Russian elements also becoming active and the British playing games in their former colonies, we can expect nothing but more turmoil and violence as these nations fight against the peoples of the Africa and fight among themselves for the spoils of war as the scramble for Africa is renewed.

[dancingqueendc]

This sums it up in our current history of the USA: in his own words(by Mitt Romney for Republicans against Trump): from Wikipedia: “On his Facebook page, he posted “Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism. Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.”[37][38][39] Nevertheless, Romney said early on he would “support the Republican nominee,” though he didn’t “think that’s going to be Donald Trump.” “

Most of the “Dump Trump” movement was lead by the Republicans them self, against the rules of archaic electoral college that requires American elected representatives to vote for party of Presidential candidate based on/of their respective states pre-determined party affiliation(red or blue, their declared party affiliation/platform when they were elected, despite personal choice/opinion or that of the people/population’s in that state) not who they want to vote into office. It’s sad that even though some of the supposed elected representatives do not sufficiently represent the American people, and then on top of that those whom we did not elect holding elected offices then are rigged to vote against the American people /our popular choice. It goes too deep against true freedom, choice and democratic self-governing society. (eg, if 45% of a group believes something but 55% of group believes something else, it is not equal or fair/just to force the other 45% almost half to only believe/follow beliefs and practices of the one half of group, against each individual person’s preference, ie little to none or only one choice in how they want to be/live their life, against who they are and what they personally believe that makes them happy/their personal truth/reality of who they are.)

We currently are not free beings! We truly have little to no choices, and are essentially slaves of this rigged system against us, for which we did not agree to or vote for: even sadder is the apathy of the American people shown in low turnout numbers: our vote doesn’t really count so less than 30% of our own representatives turn out to vote for the Presidential election. That’s another flaw in the system that They who control the government prey on: they know they control the masses and created the apathy of the American people and its so-called “elected” representatives, most of whom are pawns and moles they place in office to do their bidding….

In closing, most Republican party members themself state that this person is incompetent, inadequate to hold office and doesn’t have the demeanor / temperament to be commander in chief of this country and nation we call America, ie The people’s United States for America.

The entire system is rigged against definition of America: Americans ideas, ideals, people and our dreams: freedom of choices / liberty, a free market / laissez-faire market economy -financial system, people’s self-governing body / democratic or a Republic nation - none of which truly exists here and now since 1800s and earlier. We are still just slaves in the matrix, that’s sucking our soul-energy, making us zombies or drones of their system.

When will you wake up from our nightmare, living hell on Earth? Correct question is: How will we awaken and become aware? of our imprisonment, bondage to Their sin(s) against humanity: The Lie, original sin, to enslave all of humanity in their schemes, clever trickery:

We did not have true freedom of choices since They lied and only gave us One choice: Them or their puppets, which is equally worse: lose-lose situation for us. They tricked humanity and we must be vigilant to keep meditating(praying), aka using our Mind-Heart-Spirit energy/power to Think-Love-Be against their self-destructive ways, and also to educate (by deed, what’s done or left undone) others to raise our energy frequencies and rise above their lowliness negative-energy and don’t give-in to their ways of self-destruction attitudes, thoughts and behaviors. Stay pure in Love in Heart-Mind-Spirit: Be kind, loving, compassionate, forgiving toward each other/one another/our self, support each other in healing through peace loving-kindness, and in equality/equal-justice in peace/nonviolence, diplomacy, compassion/tolerance and acceptance of who we are nonjudgmental/unconditional love is to rehabilitate self and others through peaceful loving means and ways, in thought, word and deed.

We were never “born” into sin. We were not created by “sin”/The Lie: all exists in Love by Positive Power of Love and Being. Nothing else matters: all else that is not of Love/from Love is The Sin/The Lie through which The first Lie did enslave us in bondage to the Sin/Lie against who/what we truly are: pure infinite unlimited-free-energy-beings immortal and eternal, parts of the Whole of Existence: we never “die”, cease to exist, we change energy-states of Being, return to our Source/Creator-Creation itself/Ourself, the entirety of Existence. We are being lied to and imprisoned in false reality(ies) religions, réincarnations, heaven/hell duality, “death”, when what really Exists is just us, our self, our very Being = Existence, being infinite and unlimited individual beings of the Complete being of Existence/Creator-Creation/Singularity.

They’ve been lying to you/us all about who/what we are, they are, and being existence itself. The Truth is Love peacelovejoy-being. Everything else is self destruction, enemies of (human/living/life/being) happiness is all those other ideas that are not peacelovejoy/truth/equality/equal-justice/freedom and which all comes from the original first “sin”/The Lie itself, that jealousy, anger, hate, pain, greed, insecurity, boredom, et al, etc. All that is not life/being/living/creating-loving/peaceful/free all that is not Free/freedom/truth is a lie that bounds each individual to the sin/itself/the Lie and the sin(s)[Without]/sons[with]/suns[stars/matter] of the Lie of who/what we are, kept from us against our very being/being free: our freedom to know and choose life/love/peace/joy/truth. That Lie is imprisoning us, enslaving us in bondage to the Sin/Lie itself and all enemies=pain (duality/opposite) of happiness/peacelovejoy/truth/equality/justice/freedom.

We have no other enemy than the Lie/sin itself: duality The Lie is the cause of all our pain, suffering, misery, “death”(s) in false “reality”(ies), all negative ideas/thoughts/feelings, duality itself is the Lie that keeps us from Truth of Singularity of Love/life/infinite-infinity/eternal-eternity/Being/Existence/living. There may be parallel, altetnate, multi-dimensions, realms, universes in multiverses in our Ultimate Omniverse, yet they are all part of the Lie destroyer of Truth/Freedom/peacelovejoy/Being, only ONE TRUE WORLD/EXISTENCE, all others are just part of the Lie, duality and dichotomous thinking that destroyer of Existence/Freedom/Truth/peacelovejoy and all its positive living/being /existence(ing) attributes.

Therefore we must love each other=self=ALL One Being Complete Collective Consciousness / Our Self / Eternal and infinite unlimited-free-energy-beings that we are, equally, justly, with loving kindness, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness / forgiving unconditional without judgment/prejudice/negative-energy(emotions/ideas) and treat each other with same peaceful loving joyful kindness,compassion tolerance,forgiving and healing self/each other/one another/All equally.

When we are off-balance, in thought/emotion/behavior, we disrupt our own harmony within us and everything outside our individuality/self (each other) rippling through Existence/everything/everyone(every moment) and back to our self, causing harm/inflicting pain on our self when we hurt others; and it has already been “proven” by “science”/currently-accepted-“known”-“reality” in quantum physics, electromagnetic energy that we are/have/emit as Mind-Heart-Spirit Beings. “Science”-religion/belief has already proven the “soul”-spirit exists and has mass/emits energy-freqency-waves as do Thoughts/Mind&“physical”-brain/body(3D-hologram-illusion) and Emotions(Heart/Love)/pain-etc. via electromagnetic energy(Spirit)- which is what we truly are! Consciousness/Mind/Thought is connected to Heart/Emotion/Being and our “consciousness”/awareness of our Being/Existence(Spirit/“soul”) is our unlimited infinite power/electromagnetic-energy that we are/use to “manifest”/create-creation/self/world we are/in.

“As above, so below”: as everything exists in sub-“atomic”-level/microcosm infinitely then so does the “macro”-cosm/3D-hologram we are/create/live-in in our own “consciousness”/existence/our-Self; we are infinite individuals in infinite possibilities/“universes”/realms we choose freely to be/exist/create-creation/“world"s - we are infinite “micro”-frequencywaves/particles of electromagnetic-energy and there are infinite “possibilities” of choices/existence/world/universes we can choose/states-of-being/be in/live/instances/moments to exist: for each/every moment each/every-one of us/individual-beings of Existence, we have infinite choices/possibilities to be/exist/create/live in, so for every infinite “sub”-particle/wave instance there are always at least 2or more up to infinite choices/paths/possibilities we can be/exist/ and also to “not-exist” in, i.e. option/choice to not-be according to “quantum physics/dynamics/mechanics” any subparticle/waves(wave-particles)that we are/ “composed”/“made” of can be in path A, B, A&B simultaneously and/or nowhere/nonexistent at all, in each infinite instance/moment of existence, so we can choose to be in possible state A as a particle or as a wave, for example, in our electromagnetic-energy-frequency states, or in state B infinitely other states, or in state “A” and infinitely other states “B” simultaneously everywhere all-at-once (omnipresent), and/or nowhere/no “states” of being anywhere at all(state of “nonexistence”), Omnipotent/all-knowing all-powerful/Omnipresent and simultaneously “non”being-state. Well, the first original “sin”/Lie is we can’t not-exist, like the electron-energy “states” where the potential&kinetic electromagnetic-energy can be “measured”/possibly be anywhere in existence or in “atom”(tiny universe) at any moment/instance, infinite possibility that it’s anywhere within infinite universe/existence at any infinite moment, and the duality of being in state A&B and nonexistent simultaneously also in any infinite possible moment/possibility.

So which is the Lie/original “sin”? Do we Exist or do we (also) not exist, and can we Exist in nonexistence? How is that possible? Can we both (aka duality) exist and not-exist simultaneously? Which is the Truth and Which is the Lie? Can you tell? If you exist then do you also “not-exist”, and if you are an instance in infinity of existence and exist infinitely and affect everything in Existence with each instance/moment of your existence/thought/emotion/energy -each of the infinite energy-particlewaves(waveparticles) affecting the other infinite partilceswaves&wavesparticles all around it/instance/moment-of-Being/Existence, Then how can you or any of us “not-exist”/be-“no-where”-all-at-once/simultaneously (duality)? In Singularity everything exists everywhere “all-at-once”/omnipresent(our “Omnipotent-Omnipresence - Omnipresent-Omnipotence”), in Truth where we have choice/freedom to choose which instance/moment we want to be in/at/of/as, and when we are Conscious/Aware of self/Self/SELF then we can be free/choose to “collapse” our electromagnetic-energy waves/particles anywhere we choose/want to be.

So what happens when we are unaware of our own Consciousness/existence, told/believe the Lie?: we are not free or able to choose to be/exist wherever however whatever whenever we want; so do we cease to “exist” or are we just prisoners/slaves of the Lie/“sin” barely exist as “nobodies” in the false-reality-3Dhologram-illusion as just a “number”….???? Nope, We each as individual collective of instances of Existence do exist and are living/alive “being"s in Existence, equally and no more or less than the next instance/moment in/of Existence aka each other….so now can you tell the difference between which is the Truth and which is the Lie, singularity of existence or duality of nonexistence/self-destruction(destructiveness)?

Now that you/we/me/I are all armed with Truth knowledge Being Omnipotent-Omnipresence/Omnipresent-Omnipotence that we truly are, we can defeat the Lie/its liars/“sin”(s)/bondage to slavery/imprisonment in the Lie and eliminate self-destructiveness/self-destruction and duality of “nonexistent"ce and Save Our SELF/each other/one another/ALL-One with/in Truth/Freedom/PeaceLoveJoy = loving-kindness, Compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, healing in our equal-justice of peacelovejoy(non-violence) aka diplomacy toward self/each-other.

There are no enemies among us/our-self and our only enemy is the Lie itself that enslaves us in bondage to imprisonment of the Lie & its corporate subsidiaries which are all parts of the Lie, duality itself.

We all want to be, and be free, free of all pain/suffering/illness/imbalance/disharmony in our electromagnetic-energy-being/existence and to be happy infinite-bliss in peacelovejoy. No one wants to live Lie in nonexistence/duality/nothingness=“die”/non-exist, when we can all be happy/free in peacelovejoy Truth.

Let’s eliminate The Lie/duality that imprisons and enslaves us in it, killing our very being of peacelovejoy/Truth/Freedom/Existence in its Lie&corporate-subsidiaries, all enemy of happiness/freedom/truth/peacelovejoy/equality/equal-justice/Singularity/Existence-itself/OurSelf.

Share the Love Our Self/Be/Exist without bias/judgment/prejudice/discrimination aka negative-thought-energy-entity=nonexistence/self-destruction.

We can’t not-exist, because we are, so let’s not self-destruct and live/love/be in peacelovejoy freedomtruthequality harmony of Our Self eternal unlimited infinite-free-energy (states of electromagnetic-energy)-beings that we truly are.

Everything solved. If you can think, you are. If you can imagine, you can create. If you are then you can be, anything anywhere any way and any how any time you want. In Singularity, there’s no problem! Stop the Lie=“death”/nonexistence and Live/Be/Love forever infinitely in eternity/Truth/Freedom/peace/equality/justice/health/wellness/balance/harmony = music=life=“god”=love=existence=Being Nothing(else)matters/nonexistence=doesn’t exist

Pun intended (nothing=matter ie 3D-hologram-illusion/Lie, mithra = matter = mother/father/parent “adam”/atom (YHVY = ye+(h)eve = male/phallus+female/uterus =hermaphrodite, eve= electron (-)negative-duality opposite-part of in atom(Adam)/matter), only “visible”/by an “observer”/eye/“i” and electromagnetic-energy-states only “collapse” into “matter”/“visible” when it is “observed”/“sea“n by “i"s/eyes/ayes (as opposed to” nays”/duality/“judgment”/prejudice/labeling/confined/imprisoned/bound(by “sin”/Lie/liars)/enslaved to nonexistence/duality/Lie).

[allaboutparanormal]

Codex Gigas

Codex Gigas

Codex Gigas, known as ‘the Devil’s Bible,’ is the largest and most probably the strangest medieval manuscripts in the world.   

There is a portrait drawing of devilin full page, fuels the rumors of it's being the Devil's Bible  It is one of the best preserved manuscripts in the world. It's made with more than 160 animal skins. (whether 160 differnt animals or made with the skin of the same animal that's I am not sure about )

Some sources say he used 160 donkey skin 

 It needs two people to lift it, it's dimensions are 91cm height 50.5 cm wide 22.86 m thick and it's 74.8 kgs  

Well rumours and legend say that is made out of pact with Devil!!!!  The legend also says the book was written in 24 hours.    

This thirteenth-century-old manuscript was written by a Benedictine monk in monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia today's Czech Republic.. 

If you want to visit and see the book yourself it's now in National Library of Sweden in Stockholm. 

According to the legend it was written by a monk who breached his monastic code & sentected to be walled up with no chance of escpae. 

So the monk had promised to create beautful facinating book that'll glorify the monastry forever. 

His task was to create his book in 24 hours and if he did he'd be set free.  He began writting with coloured ink on animal skins and artwork, well by midnight he was sure that he wouldn't be able to complete it and according to legend he sold his soul to the devil. 

The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude  

Codex Gigas The Devil

Because of this little illustation the manuscript is called Devil's Bible.

Codex Gigas What Heaven Might look like

    There's 5 pages long of confession of sins appearing in the Codex Gigas  

There is 12 month calendar as well. 

  There were pages that are missing from the bible.

The image of devil is on pg 577

If you want to have a look at it You can browser it here

Devil's Bible

Image sources :

Codex Gigas

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[lodelss]

Leah Sottile | Longreads | July 2019 | 45 minutes (9,790 words)

Part 5 of 5 of Bundyville: The Remnant, season two of Bundyville, a series and podcast from Longreads and OPB. Catch up on season one of Bundyville here.

I.

Stella Anne Bulla was born in November 1949 in Asheboro, North Carolina to Dorothy Ann Lemon and Brinford Bulla, a man who served in the Navy and worked for the federal government as a postal employee most of his life. Stella — who, at some point, preferred to be called by her middle name, Anne — was one of five children: brothers, Artis, John and Brad, and a sister, Cara. The children were raised devout Southern Baptists, attending church meetings once during the week, and twice on weekends. Anne wanted to grow up one day and live in a place where she could ride horses. 

By high school, Anne adhered to the “higher the hair, the closer to God” school of thought: Where other girls of Grimsley High School smiled with youthful innocence from photos, Anne grinned knowingly, hair teased high and wide into a flipped bouffant. 

Later, Anne met a man named Barry Byrd, and the two married, had a daughter, and moved to Stevens County, Washington in 1973, after Barry got out of the Air Force. He took a job in a Colville body shop — finally starting his own in the tiny town of Northport. The Byrds started a band called Legacy. Anne’s brother, Brad Bulla, joined them, playing mandolin, lead guitar, and banjo along with the Byrds’ vocals. The group released two records: Sons of the Republic and, in 1984, Judah’s Advance — which were sold via mail order by Christian Identity groups as far away as Australia. “Legacy is unique in that their music is designed with the Israel Identity image, and is an excellent way to introduce the subject to thousands of people,” the Australian group wrote in a newsletter. 

  Keep the characters of Bundyville: The Remnant straight with this character list.

The Judah’s Advance cover features a drawing of a ship bearing down on a rocky coastline, where a stone tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments sat amongst a pile of rocks that had fallen from the sky. In the center, an American flag — bearing just 13 stars and the number 76 — whips in the wind.

On Judah’s Advance, Dan Henry, the pastor at The Ark — the Christian Identity church where Byrds worshipped, but that has also helped produce violent acolytes — read a line of scripture, and the band thanked him in the credits. The producer for the album, they said, was YAHWEH. 

The back of the album is even more Christian Identity than the front. Alongside a photograph of the grinning musicians, the band lays out its beliefs: “Our forefathers understood that the establishment of this country was the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the re-gathering of the nation of Israel,” it explains. The savior, the band writes, was a descendant of the “Judahites”, while “the true children of Israel,” after being freed from captivity, migrated westward, settling in “Scotland, Ireland, Britain and every other Christian, Anglo-Saxon nation in the world today.”

It reads like the liner notes to a Christian Identity concept album, and it made Legacy a popular feature on the Christian Identity and white supremacist conference touring circuit. In 1986, the band played the Northwest Freedom Rally in Richland, Washington alongside a bill of racist speakers. And from 1987 to 1989, the group reportedly traveled yearly to Colorado to play Pete Peters’ Rocky Mountain Bible Camps. Peters had been a guest at The Ark and the Aryan Nations, lecturing on the end of the world, and his hatred for Jews and homosexuals.

But Legacy was more than a band providing musical accompaniment to racists: In 1988, Barry Byrd and his brother-in-law and Legacy bandmate, Brad, were two of just 15 men who deliberated for about a week about their beliefs, and authored a document entitled “Remnant Resolves.” 

The document elaborates that the men felt a “spiritual burden”: “This burden was the need and desire to see Biblical principles of government once again established in our nation,” it reads. The men agreed that if they could not come to a consensus on solving that burden, they would not proceed with writing the document.

What comes next are resolutions to fix society for “the remnant” — the way for the chosen people to live in the fullest realization of liberty. Biblical principles should be put into practice at every level of government. The band maintained that in the home, women should be submissive to their husbands. Locally, the civil government should punish evil and protect the good. And at the federal level, taxes need to stop, since you can’t tax what God created. 

“It is blasphemous to regard antichrists as ‘God’s chosen people’ and to allow them to rule over or hold public office in a Christian Nation,” it reads. “Aborticide is murder. Sodomy is a sin against God and Nature. Inter-racial marriage pollutes the integrity of the family. Pornography destroys the purity of the mind of the individual and defiles the conscience of the Nation.” 

At the end, when it was all down on paper, there they are smiling wide for a picture — as if someone had said “say cheese” when they took it — and all fifteen men signed their names. 

A year after the Remnant Resolves, Legacy (now named Watchman) was back on tour, scheduled to play a Santa Rosa, California church affiliated with Dennis Peacocke, a self-described political activist turned leader in the “shepherding movement” — a religious movement in the 1970s and ’80s that involved congregants turning over all personal decisions to a spiritual leader, and has been criticized as cult-like. 

The Byrds made more than one trip to Peacocke’s church for Fellowship of Christian Leaders (FCL) conferences. During one visit, they stayed with a church host family: the Johnsons. Rick Johnson would eventually move his family north to Marble in the mid-1990s, and still lives there today.

At the time, Johnson’s son Jesse was just a kid, but he still recalls meeting the Byrds. Something about Anne immediately stuck out to him. “She has these piercing blue eyes,” he recalls. “I remember kind of being off put by that and … just by her presence. Because she didn’t smile very much. She was really intense and when she talked to you it was about what you’re doing to have a better relationship with the Lord. And I was, like, 8.”

Within a week of living at Marble, Jesse Johnson says he and one of his brothers “made a pact that we were leaving as soon as we were old enough.” 

But back in 1992, when the Byrds were still working on bringing their vision of a “Christian covenant community” to life, people in Stevens County were nervous, citing concern over the couple’s connection with Pete Peters. People called the group cultish; the Byrds made a brochure that said they weren’t “the least bit cultish or isolationist.” In that same brochure, the couple predicted “cataclysmic events.” At a city council meeting, they claimed to their neighbors that they weren’t racist, and didn’t “condone hatred”— in fact, Barry told the Spokesman-Review that they wanted to create a ministry and a working ranch to “take youngsters” of all races in. The couple claimed they’d severed ties with Peters and that their attendance at the Rocky Mountain Bible Camp was only to play music. They didn’t mention the “Remnant Resolves.” Debate about the Byrds and Peters raged for months in the pages of the Colville Statesman-Examiner. 

In May, a Colville man expressed concern in the paper: “We would love to have our fears allayed,” he wrote of the Byrds. “But the trail back to Pete Peters appears to be pretty warm.” 

The Byrds attempted to shoot down a list of rumors they were asked to address by Northport’s mayor at a May 1992 city council meeting. They said they had no relationship with Peters, never held white supremacist beliefs, and concluded that people with concerns should come to Marble. Barry Byrd “advised that reading newspapers was not a worthwhile way of attaining accurate information,” according to a report on the meeting. 

Meanwhile, in nearby North Idaho, Bo Gritz — a former Green Beret who once ran for President, and who famously served as a liaison between federal agents and Randy Weaver at the end of the Ruby Ridge standoff — attempted to create his own Christian covenant community, called “Almost Heaven.” Some said he modeled it after what the Byrds created at Marble.

Paul Glanville, a doctor, liked the idea, too, when he heard it. He brought his family north to Marble in 1992, several years after meeting the Byrds. He was delivering a presentation on low-cost or free medical care at a Christian seminar when he encountered the couple, who were  giving a talk on establishing covenant communities. “They are very charismatic,” Glanville recalls. “I really was interested in this idea of a Christian community where I could practice medicine in what I considered a very Biblical way.”

Once at Marble, he says he enjoyed the close community, the focus on church and family. It felt like his family had moved to the promised land. People would get to church early, chattering with the company of the other people who lived there, hurrying downstairs to stake a claim for the casserole dishes they’d bring each Sunday for a potluck, before rushing up again for church. 

But over time, cracks emerged in the smooth veneer of the Marble promise. Nothing drastic, just small fissures that, over time, built up. In the spring of 1997 Glanville noticed a strangely competitive drive behind — of all things — Marble’s softball teams. He says he felt there was a need to win, to conquer all of the other church teams from the area, as if to prove Marble’s superiority. Glanville sometimes skipped the adult games to watch his kids play softball. Soon after, the leaders called an emergency meeting to chastise anyone who skipped the adult games. Glanville found the suggestion that he watch the Byrds’ team over his own child’s bizarre. 

After a few years, Glanville started to feel that he hadn’t made a covenant with God so much as with the Byrds. “What they mean by ‘covenant’ is total, absolute obedience to the leadership without questioning, and that the leadership eventually has your permission to question you and scrutinize your life in the most invasive ways that you can possibly imagine,” he says. “They might not start that out from the beginning like that, but they will end up that way.”  

From the pulpit, the couple preached about “slander,” about never questioning their leadership, and turning in anyone who did. The Byrds gave sermons about submission, obedience. The word “individual” was sinful — individuality being a sin of pride. 

The church leaders would encourage the families there to turn against their own blood — parents reporting on children, children reporting parents, neighbors against neighbors — if that meant preserving perfection at Marble. 

Glanville says his own children went to Marble’s leadership and told them that he was skeptical of their intentions and teachings. By the summer of 1994, he says, “My kids and wife had been totally brainwashed.” He continues, “They were turning me in to Marble for negative talk.”

But even he didn’t understand how quickly he’d lost them: When he finally decided to leave, Glanville was shocked that his wife and family refused to come with him. “My wife filed for divorce when I left. And my kids basically all signed the divorce papers,” he says. 

“I could do a lot of things in this church,” Barry Byrd said in one 1994 sermon. “I have the authority. I could misuse it. I could manipulate you and intimidate you, which you know, I’m sure we’ve done some of that. Not meaning to, but that’s just part of the deal.”

The pulpit too, was Barry Byrd’s megaphone for talk of a country ruled by Biblical law, of the sins of the government, about the entire reason Marble was here at all.

“We’re fighting for something that much blood has been shed for, beginning [with] the blood of Jesus,” he said. “If the spirit of the Lord does not reign supreme and this book is not the law that governs all of life and living, then there is no peace and there is no liberty!” He spoke of righteous anger and “holy hatred” for those getting in the way of “the government of God.”

Byrd even glorified martyrdom as a way to achieve the church’s goals: “So you see, I don’t have any problem being martyred if I know it’s what God’s called me to. If I know that my blood is going to water the tree of Liberty and build for future generations, I would gladly give my life today.”

Two decades since he left Marble broken-hearted, alone, Glanville still sometimes hears the Byrds’ words in his head, nagging at him, pulling him back to that time, making him question how he could have fallen under the place’s sway. 

His mind goes back to the moments he still blamed himself for not being perfect. Times when Marble convinced him he was the problem, meetings when Barry Byrd stood over him shaking a fist, making him believe he was lucky they were being so patient with him.

“And you could say ‘well why did you put up with that?’” he tells me this spring. “A lot of people who are trying to leave a cult have magical thinking. That if they just could say the right thing, or do the right thing, the leaders will suddenly see the truth and repent and everything will be alright.”

***

Back in 1988, when the Byrds’ band was on tour, Anne Byrd’s own brothers, too, were positioning themselves as chosen ones. 

The Bullas were a family of prophets. It was as if they believed their ears were calibrated to pick up the unique pitch of the Lord’s voice.

Anne’s eldest brother, Art Bulla, at the time, was living in Utah and had converted away from the family’s Southern Baptist roots to his own racist interpretation of Mormonism. He found himself maligned from the mainstream LDS church in the early 1980s when he called himself “the one mighty and strong,” claiming he was receiving revelations. He also expressed his belief in polygamy, but admitted he’d had trouble recruiting women to marry him. He split from the church when it started ordaining blacks. 

Art Bulla, who I reached by phone at his Baja, Mexico home, says he visited his siblings Anne and Brad Bulla, and his brother-in-law Barry, in the early days of their Marble community. And though he says his sister and Barry were still practicing racist Christian Identity beliefs — which he points out he actually agrees with — he thought the couple seemed to be controlling the people who would form Marble. 

“Barry had a very strong personality, and Anne did too, and so they were able to hornswoggle if you will, the gullible,” he says. “I had suspected that Anne had gone too far with the controlling thing.” 

Art Bulla tells me he’s the only prophet in the family — not Anne and not their brother I found who pastes notes that say “God’s only priest” to cutouts of naked women and posts the pictures to Twitter. Art says he is the chosen one. 

“[Anne] always felt that she had to be in competition with me. And since I’m receiving revelations, then she’s got to receive revelations, too,” he says, “You see what I’m saying?” 

***

By the late 1990s, Paul Glanville, the doctor who had come to Marble hoping to bring God into his medical practice, was hardly the only person questioning Marble’s leadership, and the Byrds’ true intentions for the community. According to letters written during this time, between 1997 and 1998 Anne Byrd excommunicated her brother and Legacy bandmate, Brad, and his family. (Requests for comment by Brad Bulla were not returned.) 

The excommunication drew the attention of Jay Grimstead, an evangelical scholar who had briefly lived in the Marble community and become known for pushing dominionism. Grimstead wrote several letters to the Byrds detailing his concern for what he saw as the community’s increasingly authoritarian structure. 

In one letter to Barry and Peacocke, from September 1997, Grimstead wrote that Marble “is a clear, ‘top down’ monarchy that is governed primarily by a queen, ‘Queen Anne,’” he wrote. “The people at Marble live in great fear of displeasing the Byrds, particularly Anne.” 

Grimstead also excoriated Barry for not publicly condemning Christian Identity, which he referred to as “weird, unbiblical stuff.” He was even being told by Marble members that the ideology was still being discussed in 1997. 

In January of the next year, he wrote to Anne and Barry: “Please respond in some way to the letter of grave concern wherein I told you I was receiving an increasing amount of evidence that Marble, under your leadership, was fast becoming an authoritarian cult,” he wrote. 

Grimstead, with each letter, begged for answers, and grew more suspicious. “I am having more and more concern about the mental health (sanity, ability to process reality, etc) of both Anne and Barry, but Anne in particular,” he wrote in a letter to Peacocke. 

That same year, letters came to Grimstead, too — not from the Byrds, but from families who’d left Marble. They wrote of financial manipulation, of tithes that went to the Byrds (one person told me their partner tithed tens of thousands of dollars without their knowledge, and racked up a credit card bill of $55,000), of public confessions of sins that would later be weaponized against members. “No one was ‘forced’ to do it. Yet we all did,” one person wrote of these public confessions, where even children would allegedly confess dark thoughts. “What else could any of us done? Barry and Anne knew best. We trusted them. They were hearing from God, they told us.”

People who’d gotten away still feared Christian Identity was the agenda driving the church, despite what the Byrds had said about leaving the ideas of Peters and the Ark behind. One man, who had adopted non-white children, wrote to Grimstead, recounting a meeting with the Byrds. “Barry stated he did not believe in interracial marriage and that our non-white children would not be allowed to marry any of the sons and daughters at Marble, and that we would have to have faith that God would provide them with mates of their own race,” he wrote. 

But by the fall of 1998, 15 men signed a letter on FCL letterhead saying that Grimstead’s questioning of Marble’s intentions forced the organization to “mark him.” They called him a “factious and dangerous man” and sided with Marble. Among those signatures were Peacocke’s and — in the same loopy letters that marked the Remnant Resolves — Barry Byrd’s.

I wrote Grimstead this past spring, to see if he’d talk about that time, about those letters, that mark placed on him by his good friends. Grimstead’s response was curt: “If you have any of my letters from those years … my opinion of the Marble Fellowship under the Byrds has not changed,” he wrote in an email. “What I said in those letters is still true and provable as far as I know and I was never proven wrong in what I said.”

He declined to comment further. He is “too busy with positive work for the Kingdom.”

***

Jesse Johnson is 33 years old now, and for years he lived in Los Angeles, where he attended art school and came out as gay. He lived at Marble until he was 17, when he was excommunicated, and left to live with his maternal grandmother. For years prior, Johnson says his grandmother begged his mother to leave, believing Marble was a cult. She didn’t listen.

I meet Johnson in the spring of 2019, at a small house in Northport, Washington. A dog gnaws at a bone under the table. We’d been talking on the phone for months about his time at Marble. He tells me about a childhood dictated by fear of the Byrds, and an exclusion of the outside world. “The world is evil and the government is evil, and their whole thing is wanting to get back to Puritan America,” he says. “They would talk about that all the time: the founding fathers and how this isn’t what they wanted.” Johnson says leaders continually reminded the congregation of what happened to the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas — how something like that could play out at Marble, too. He recalls being told the community was on a federal watchlist. “I’m pretty sure that was all made up,” Johnson says, “but they were telling us that, so it was almost like stirring up the fear … are we next? Maybe we should prepare. That was definitely talked about from the pulpit, like, what we would do when — it wasn’t if — it was when the world collapses.”

Church was a harrowing experience: In one instance, Johnson says he was locked in a basement with all of the other children, who were told only to emerge only when they were speaking in tongues. “One of my friend’s dads whispered in my ear ‘just make something up,’” he remembers when he was one of the last in the room. 

Illustration by Zoë van Dijk

Teenagers were expected to follow stringent courtship rituals, which condemned even the smallest displays of affection, like hand holding, and punished offenders by garnishing their wages or with physical labor making repairs or cleaning leaders’ homes. Every year, a “purity ball” celebrating chastity was held for teenagers, and formal etiquette lessons were given. Homosexuality was not tolerated in the community — Johnson tells me stories of boys who were sent to conversion therapy. I hear stories of suicide. 

Punishment for children was constant and rules were always changing. Johnson says one day, he suddenly found out the Byrds had been made his godparents. “When I found that out it was kind of off-putting because if anything ever happened to my parents, the hope was that we wouldn’t have to be at Marble anymore.”

When families left or were forced out, “they were basically dead to God, dead to the community,” Johnson says. “To have contact with them would be hurting Marble.” Some people wanted to leave, but couldn’t sell their homes. Marble had the first right of refusal.

Several women who were raised there spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, expressing fear for the safety of family members still involved in the community. From all of them, I got the sense that to be a female at Marble is a particularly cruel experience: a life of shaming, abuse, and fear. They weren’t allowed to show skin — even swimsuits were deemed inappropriate. “We couldn’t show our arms. It was our job to protect the men from having bad thoughts, so we had to cover ourselves,” one woman said. I heard stories of physical and sexual abuse. Another shared a journal entry with me. “It was called Marble, and like the stone, it was beautiful and soft to touch and wrapped you up in its pure form,” she wrote, “But held the capacity to crush you under its cold weight, so that even if you escaped, the scars would never heal properly.” 

One woman claimed that when she was 4, she was molested by an older boy in the community, but her parents were told not to go to the police, that Marble would handle the problem on their own. Confused about why she felt the community didn’t take action, she swallowed a bottle of pills one day when she was 12 in a suicide attempt — but survived. “I didn’t tell my parents until a year or two later,” she told me. “I definitely did not want to continue living like that.” Today, she says she can’t even walk into a church without feeling overwhelming, paralyzing fear.

“I’ve gone back [to Marble] once or twice,” she said. The people “literally look like zombies walking around. They look like… just zombies. They don’t have a soul. They don’t have any control of their lives. They’re just being little robots for Barry and Anne.”

Children allegedly grew up handling firearms — something that is not unique or strange about living in a place as rural as Marble. But “most people around here with guns aren’t talking about the end of the world or having to protect themselves from the government,” Johnson tells me. “I don’t think tomorrow they’re all gonna take up arms… my concern is there are certain people that are impressionable, especially some of the younger people, and they do have access to quite a lot of guns.” 

But not everyone sees harm in the way things are run at Marble. Zion Mertens moved there when he was 6 years old, leaving briefly. He moved back as an adult with his own children, but doesn’t attend the church. He says today about half the community is like him. I ask him if Marble is a cult, and he says no but then offers this: “I prefer to avoid groupthink,” he says about the church. “I try to avoid it. So it’s not really so much that I disagree with them, it’s that I don’t really like sacrificing my own identity to the identity of a larger group.”

Mertens says he’s never caught a whiff of Christian Identity there, despite volunteering that the Byrds used to attend the Ark. “That place is, without a doubt, a white supremacist group,” he says. But things like homosexuality definitely are condemned. He doesn’t disagree completely with the Byrds on that, and he says it’s grounded in the leaders’ hope to make society “better.” 

I ask about how the outside world is supposed to reconcile his feeling that Marble isn’t racist with the guest appearance of a neo-Confederate racist preacher, John Weaver, in 2015. He says that surprised him, too. “I actually really don’t have an answer on that one,” he says. “I had never encountered anything like that there, so when I ended up finding out that was his background, for me it was kind of like a little bit of a shock.” 

But it’s clear it didn’t bother people in the community enough for them to speak up. I get the sense that maybe it’s just easier to turn a blind eye. Pretend it’s not there — to only see the place for the Christian, patriotic flowers pushing through the surface, not the roots of where they come from.

Jesse Johnson was excommunicated for not attending “prep school,” what Johnson describes as a religious pre-college program held at Marble to prepare young people to rebuild society after an “inevitable global and national conflict.” Later, when he came out as gay, he received a barrage of scornful emails from the Byrds and people still living at Marble. He changed his email address, but his family continued to shun him.

“I was informed by my family that I wasn’t allowed contact with any of my siblings,” he says. “One day I called just like crying and begging if I could just talk to one of my brothers and sisters. And [my mom was] like ‘yeah, change your lifestyle and come back to God and we can talk about it. But I’ve got to go to church,’ and then she just hung up.”

Life on the outside was not easy for Johnson. He says he was homeless for a while. “They say ‘you’re going to leave and everything’s gonna go wrong for you and everything is gonna be horrible until you come back,’” he says. 

“Were they right?” I ask. 

“No, not at all,” he says. “I don’t think anyone who’s left has had an easy time. And I think the majority of people I’ve talked to they say they felt like we were part of a psychological experiment… we were the guinea pigs.”

Paul Glanville, the doctor, agrees. Today, he’s reconciled with most of his children, but his ex-wife and one of his sons still live near Marble. He says he believes Marble is a cult that took away his family.

Johnson, too, has gone to great lengths to open communication with his parents again. A few years ago, Johnson moved back to the rural area after spending 14 years away. By then, his siblings had left Marble. His family was talking to him again. But his parents remained in the Marble community. “My mom and I had to come to an agreement that she wouldn’t talk about my sexuality and I wouldn’t critique her religion,” he says. “I wouldn’t say it’s worked well but it’s definitely allowed us to have more of a relationship.”

I wanted to understand how Johnson perceived Marble’s growing association with the Patriot Movement, with politicians like Shea. Johnson told me he suspected the Biblical Basis for War was from a Marble sermon. And he says the group is now filled with vehement Trump supporters — which flew in the face of everything he’d told me about how the Byrds felt about the federal government. 

“There’s an underlier of something that’s a little more sinister,” he says. It isn’t about loving the government, suddenly, but loving what might come next. “I think it’s more of the fact that [Trump] is destroying everything so quickly. Like maybe this will progress to their revolution that they’re waiting for.”

Trump is, potentially, “bringing the apocalypse,” he says. “They definitely have thought the world was ending a few times and were super excited about it.” 

This reminded me of something Glanville had told me, about how people at Marble were always talking about what to do when the end times came. And it sharpens something Matt Shea — their friend and acolyte, who sees the end times as an “opportunity” — has brought up in the Biblical Basis for War and the state of Liberty. They’re the blueprints for a rebooted nation. 

***

I ask Johnson about what Tanner Rowe and Jay Pounder — the guys who made the Biblical Basis for War public — advised me: I’d need to be armed and in body armor to go to Marble. He was excommunicated, but he still offers to take producer Ryan Haas and me there that afternoon. He said that since his parents still live there, it’s not strange for him to be on the property.

When we pull under the gates of Marble, there’s not a person to be seen. Up ahead there’s a street sign: “Liberty Way,” it reads. There are signs for a bunkhouse, a hitching post.

Admittedly, I’m nervous, afraid to have my notepad out, and Haas tucks the microphone away as Johnson’s car crawls up a rocky road, up a hill where he says you can see the whole community. At the top, a group of people are out for a stroll. They stop and stare at the car. For a second, it feels like maybe we’ve been caught. 

But Johnson throws the car into park and pops out. He knows everyone here. “Hey, Barney!” he yells and struts toward them with a big smile across his face. They talk for a minute or two, and Johnson comes back. Everything’s just fine. “Have a good one guys!” he calls to them.

We keep driving up the hill and stop at the place a big white cross has been mounted, overlooking the community. Johnson says groups pilgrimage up the hill from Marble, down below, every Easter Sunday. 

For a few minutes, we stand there overlooking a patchwork of green fields, under a sky that feels bluer and wider than anywhere I’ve ever been. The sound of chickens clucking carries its way up the hill. It’s the opposite of the Branch Davidian compound or the remote cabin at Ruby Ridge. It’s a sparse community of houses. Some are big, beautiful homes — the type that rich people might call “the cabin.” Others are rickety shacks melting back into the earth. The Byrds don’t live on the Marble property, but instead, in the nicest house of them all up one of those side roads Rowe told us to stay away from. Johnson doesn’t disagree with that advice. 

“It’s beautiful,” Johnson says, standing there, looking out over it. And it’s striking to me that someone could look out over a place that caused them so much pain, and still see a kernel of good in it. By the end of the day, we’ll have driven all around the property for two hours, and Johnson keeps hopping out of the car to say hello to someone, to tell them he’ll stop by soon, to ask how they are. 

He says he figures if he’s nicer than anyone here, no one can hate him anymore — no matter what the Byrds say. 

  II.

Just before I moved to Spokane, Washington as a college freshman, at age 18, in 1999, a girl at my high school jibed that the place was filled with Nazis — living, breathing white supremacists. I ignored her, figuring that, like myself, she didn’t know what she was talking about.

In fact, both being Oregon-bred white teenagers, we’d both been living around white supremacists our entire lives. The state of Oregon was a haven for Confederate ideas even after the Civil War, a place that, from its very start, was built for whites and whites alone — a part of the state’s history that was omitted from our education. We didn’t learn that the KKK once had a strong presence among Oregon’s state officials. We didn’t know neighborhoods where our friends lived — only decades before — had exclusion laws discriminating against who could own property there. 

In January 2011, I thought of that conversation with that girl again. 

It was a cold winter morning in Spokane: the day of the Martin Luther King Jr. Unity March, a parade that went right down Main Avenue through the center of the city, and was always filled with kids and people with their arms linked. Sometime that morning, a Stevens County white supremacist named Kevin Harpham planted a backpack bomb on the parade route near a metal bench and a brick wall, a block away from my apartment.

Before the parade could begin, as marchers gathered, milling in the streets, filling the city with energy, Harpham — armed with a remote detonator — strolled amongst the crowd taking photos of himself. But before it detonated, several city workers saw that black backpack, thought it seemed out of place, and they called it in. 

Inside the backpack was a six-inch long pipe bomb welded to a steel plate. The bomb was packed with more than a 100 lead fishing weights coated in rat poison and human feces. The backpack also contained two T-shirts commemorating events that took place in small towns in nearby Stevens County.

If those city workers had continued on, ignored the backpack, and that bomb would have gone off, it would have immediately twisted that metal bench into daggers of shrapnel. Those shards and the fishing weights would have rocketed at that brick wall, ricocheting off and firing into the marchers’ bodies. The rat poison — which contained an anticoagulant — would have made sure the people hit wouldn’t have stopped bleeding easily; the feces was likely there to cause an infection in every wound.

At the time, most of my day-to-day life happened in the two city blocks surrounding the bomb site. Police tape closed off the entrance to my apartment building. Traffic was re-routed. When it happened, I remember looking at all the guys in hazmat suits, the bomb robot, the closed streets, and figuring it was a big fuss over nothing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Violence like what was narrowly missed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day has plagued this part of the Northwest for decades. But that history was something I’d had the privilege to navigate around as a white person living in a majority white city in the whitest part of the country. When I was a kid I had an excuse: No one told me. But as an adult, I’d come to believe that good always had, and always would, prevail. 

But white racism in the American West was not a rumor or a chapter of history that had been solved and tied up with a bow. Racists weren’t burning crosses over there, in some other place, wearing KKK hoods, and performing Nazi salutes, wearing swastikas so they could be easily spotted. It seems like such a cartoon image of a racist now, when I think about it. What willful ignorance to think the enemy is always one you’ll recognize, that they’ll always look and act the same.

Those history books I read as a kid never talked about weapons made of rat poison, fishing weights, and human shit. But when Kevin Harpham chose my neighborhood to try to commit mass murder, he didn’t bring a burning cross or a Nazi flag. His hatred had him making that bomb for who knows how long. Investigators later found he bought those weights in batches. Piece by piece. That attempted bombing was my introduction to this entire subject.

I started devouring books and documentaries on the history of North Idaho and the Aryan Nations compound that had, for years, sat within an hour of my home. I read about the militias that had long thrived here in the Northwest, and the conspiracies that inspired them to action. I learned about Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Montana Freemen. 

I needed to understand how hate had stayed so alive in America, what the fuel was that kept it burning — not just in the hills of some faraway place, but right here. Hate happened here. Hate happened in the morning. It happened on a Monday.

Five years later, on another cold January morning, another explosive event occurred in my backyard. By then I was in Oregon, back in my hometown. 

A group of armed men took over a wildlife refuge in the far southeastern corner of the state. Among them were militias and white racists who had really radical ideas about the federal government, race and religion.

My editor at the Washington Post asked if I could help with coverage. My life hasn’t been the same since.

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  III.

In late 2016, I started asking people about the bombing in Panaca — a thing I’d read about, but never heard much about what happened. Finally, in May of 2019, I got some answers.

I’d asked the Kingman Police Department, in Arizona, for documents about the raid on Glenn Jones’ trailer — that’s the guy who blew himself up and the Cluff’s house in Panaca, Nevada. Kingman was Jones’ last address before the bombing. Police reports had talked about his journal, about some writing about LaVoy Finicum — so I asked if I could see it. 

They sent over photos of a spiral bound notepad of graph paper with a bright red cover. Inside, Jones had carefully written a note in black marker: “This is for the murder of LaVoy Finicum and all the other Americans who have died for freedom.” 

He had flipped the page, and written it again: “This is for the murder of LaVoy Finicum and all the other Americans who have died for freedom.” 

He’d done it a third time, and had written the same words. 

I needed more pages. I asked Kingman police for more photos, more pictures of his trailer. I wanted everything I could get so I could try to answer this one question I’d had rolling around in my mind: Was Glenn Jones a suicide bomber for the Patriot Movement?

I asked for web searches on his laptop, GPS waypoints on his Garmin. I wanted photos of journals, photos of the trailer, photos of the storage unit. I couldn’t stop thinking about how no one really knew Jones. How people in Panaca just called him “the person” or “the suspect” because, even though he lived in the tiny town for years, no one seemed to really know him. 

They said he was quiet, shy, forgettable. They were the same words people used when TV reporters descended on Stevens County, Washington to describe Kevin Harpham — the Spokane MLK Day parade bomber, who was eventually sentenced to 32 years in prison. They’re the same words people used to describe Stephen Paddock, the man who killed 58 people in a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. Or Dylann Roof, when he murdered black parishioners in a church in South Carolina. They’re the same words used to describe people who’ve spilled blood in the name of an ideology from Virginia to Colorado. 

Kingman officials told me I’d have to get all that from the FBI. They’d handed most of their files over. For months, I sent requests for comment. Calls went nowhere; I couldn’t tell if my emails were reaching anyone. Finally, I got a response. The FBI said, “It is the policy of the FBI not to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.”

Illustration by Zoë van Dijk

But two departments had told me the FBI had taken everything over. I knew it was an investigation — wasn’t it? Still, no comment.

I couldn’t believe the story of what really happened there was solely one being kept by Josh Cluff — who had also declined to talk to me. So, in a journalistic hail mary, I told Kingman officials that, well, since the FBI says maybe no investigation even exists, I guess you can send me that evidence now. 

On a rainy Saturday, two weeks later, a CD filled with photos arrived in my mailbox.

There was no manifesto, no clear explanation of why Glenn Jones did what he did. They didn’t even send most of the things I’d asked for. But the photos did make the story clearer: Jones was not just a nice guy who blew up a house one time, but a guy who was so invisible to the rest of the world, no one had any idea who he really was. He had navigated nearly six decades on the planet like a specter who’d been walking in the shadows his whole life. No one noticed the guy living in the RV with very little else besides bombs.

At the end, he lived inside the type of camper a family of four might take on a tour of national parks. It was a tight, cramped space — not a place someone appeared to be living, but a space used as a workshop to build explosives. 

Every window was covered, and every surface was covered with wires and gun powder, fuses and power tools. If he was truly living there, it was like he was existing inside a junk drawer.  The only food in his cupboards were cans of soup, some chips, and some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The silverware drawer had no forks or spoons or knives, but pliers, scissors, and wire cutters. The fridge and microwave were spotless. The shower floor was crusted with black gun powder; there was no showerhead. 

Investigators hauled bucket after bucket of supplies outside. They stacked huge antique bomb shells on a picnic table, and several metal ammunition boxes that were filled to the brim with gunpowder, fuses snaking out of holes drilled in the sides. There were guns — some modern, some antique. White briefs and socks were folded neatly in one cabinet. A pair of puffy white sneakers sat next to the bed. 

Next to denture cleaner and cigarette butts, they found some of his journals: They contained shopping lists, to-do lists, notes about cars for sale, phone numbers for realtors. There were also drawings of bombs, complete with careful measurements of gunpowder, what charges were needed.

I kept flipping through the photos again and again, trying to absorb what story they told about Jones. I did it again: dirty trailer, no food, handwritten notes, stacks of materials.

I was idly staring at a photo of an open notepad, a note telling some unnamed person they’d better watch their back, when I realized the dark handwriting on a previous page was showing through to the other side — a page the police department hadn’t sent me. I zoomed in, flipped the image so I could read it. 

It was a letter — a letter written to Josh Cluff, dated July 3, 2016. 

Hay Stoupid [sic] — 

Remember the $8,000-$10,000 I needed? 

I could have leveled out the whole BLM Building — But, NO, you had to get greedy and not pay back any of the $60,000 you borrowed. 

Plus, you bet the “farm” you went “All In,” You almost had this Bomb delivered to your houses. Never bet your family on a desperate idiot. Don’t ever assume somebody won’t shoot you + wife + kids over money. 

Fuck You, Josh. 

Glenn

I wish I had 2 Bombs. You would [illegible]

 But the thing was, ten days later, he had two bombs. He delivered them to Cluff’s house, and told his wife and children to leave before they went off. 

I started flipping all of the pages, looking for more shadows left by an invisible man. “We are different than Iran and Syria,” he wrote in one note, “… Another generation doesn’t need to see [illegible] of Waco and Ruby Ridge.” He wrote the word “ranchers” at the bottom of the page, but I couldn’t read the rest. On yet another page, he wrote the name of the man who baptized LaVoy Finicum in the 1960s. It’s Josh’s grandfather. 

The letter Jones never sent to Cluff made it clear that he was planning to commit an act of terrorism that would destroy a Bureau of Land Management building. And then, the day before the bombing was supposed to happen, the plan fell apart. Something — or someone — got in the way of that plan. He turned the bomb on Cluff.

 But the journal showed Jones was thinking like so many other people I’d interviewed over the years across the West, from a Nevada rancher to a Utah militiaman, to an Arizona widow, to people in Washington who grew up being told the government was out to get them. Jones was writing about revenge and martyrdom and all the things the Patriot movement thrives on. 

But he wasn’t always like this. When investigators called his ex-wife, Kathi Renaud, and told her that he died in such a violent way, she was shocked. They hadn’t spoken in years, but it didn’t sound like the guy she’d been married to. She had a hard time even believing it was true — her daughter demanded proof, she tells me, “whatever to make sure that’s really him. You know? Because this is not his demeanor.”

But it really was her ex-husband. And I asked her why she thought Jones changed.

“I think somebody, in my own opinion, I think had to put that into his mind to make him think that, cuz like you know. No, he never talked bad about the government or anything. Nothing bad. At all.” I asked her for names of more of Jones’ family, friends. She gave the name of one guy — who never got back to me — but no one else. No one really knew him.

But someone, she says, along the way must have gotten to him. Put an idea into his head.

***

The Jones bombing showed me that extremist violence, in some ways, is changing. I talked to one extremism expert after another, asking if they’d ever heard about a Patriot suicide bomber. All of them said no. Some people had committed suicide by cop, trying to go out in a blaze of glory. A guy even once crashed a plane into a building that housed IRS offices on purpose. But a suicide bomber? That would be new. 

Adam Sommerstein, who used to be an analyst with the FBI, told me, “that is a particular phenomena I have never seen in either the Patriot movement or the overall right-wing terror movement.”

A suicide bombing is saying something different than an attack. It’s a sign of devotion to an idea. And it says that this idea is important — more important than my life. And by blowing myself up, I believe this idea will reach more people.

But domestic terrorism still seems to be a thing lots of Americans aren’t even aware exists. And now here — with Jones — it was changing, evolving, maybe becoming even more extreme. And yet his bombing barely made the news outside Nevada.

After so-many high profile shootings, the violence at Charlottesville and other ideologically motivated killings in recent years, lawmakers in Washington are pushing for change. They’ve held hearings on white supremacy — even introduced legislation to create a better response to domestic terrorism. They say the government needs more power to stop extremists in this country. 

“But that’s absurd,” Mike German, from the Brennan Center for Justice, told me. He’s the one who infiltrated and helped take down white supremacist and militia groups as an undercover FBI agent in the ’90s. He says this discussion about passing new terrorism laws as a way to stop extremist violence is a huge red herring. 

“There are 57 federal crimes of terrorism. That’s what they’re called in the United States Code. Of those 57 federal laws of terrorism, 51 of them apply to domestic terrorism as well as international terrorism,” he says. “And if there is a group of intergalactical terrorists, it will apply to them too. It just applies to terrorism. But the fact that it doesn’t say in the law — domestic terrorism — the Justice Department is using that as an excuse to argue for new powers.”

In German’s view, the more of a power grab law enforcement can pull off, the more the government can become like the thought police. And that’s not just anecdotal: He says the government has been doing it against Muslims regularly since 9/11. Someone gets a label and their rights are gone. Historically, those people are brown or black, not white.

German says it’s a flawed thought pattern to want to snatch away the civil liberties of someone who holds racist or radical anti-government views, and thinking that couldn’t also be done to you with the next shift of the political winds. People can hold despicable views — politicizing what thoughts are OK normalizes the continual pushing of the envelope that’s been common since the Twin Towers attack. It’s “the opportunity to target people who you don’t like,” he says. 

And I can’t help but think that making the issue of radical violence something that the government needs to fix as a new way for people to make it someone else’s problem. If that law doesn’t pass, things just stay the same. We say, ‘god, why don’t lawmakers do their job?’

But, see, I think that’s a misdirection — putting the onus on powerful people, who benefit from power structures that have just one definition of terrorist. It ignores that radical violence is the end result of the extreme ideas that have crept into our daily lives. 

Where, once, conspiracies were stories someone had to seek out, or that came to a person on a flyer at a militia meeting or a gun show, they’re now commonplace in everyone’s home. They come through Facebook feeds, Twitter posts and YouTube videos. And maybe you don’t click on them. You already know they’re crazy. But maybe one of them you do, and so do 1000 other people. A video on guns leads you to a fake news story about firearms regulations, which leads you to Agenda 21, or theories about the New World Order. And maybe something there speaks to a certain pain that feels familiar. You agree just enough — so you post it to Facebook. Your friends like it, and that feels good — so you keep posting things just like it. 

And then conspiracy theories aren’t fringe anymore. Online, they become prevailing arguments — things worth entertaining, at the least. They’re noise — noise we’ve all gotten used to drowning out. They’re posts your uncle or your neighbor or brother-in-law is sharing, that your family is liking and re-sharing. And none of those people consider themselves members of the Patriot Movement. They’d never take over a wildlife refuge. They wouldn’t drive away from cops if they got pulled over. But, in daily life, they’re indulging the ideas that have led to instances of violence. 

Sometimes those ideas get in the wrong person’s head, and turn violent. And unless it’s directed at you, it feels like someone else’s problem to fix. 

It seems like the real battle here is over the narrative. The prize is to get your version of things on top — at the top of politics, at the top of search results — no matter how based in falsehoods and hatred it is. 

***

After I found everything in Glenn Jones journal, I called Sheriff Lee, back in Panaca. When we’d sat down in person over the winter, he really couldn’t tell me much about the motives behind the bombing. But as I reported, people kept asking me ‘hey, if you find something out, will you let me know?’ I got the sense they felt a little forgotten — like the biggest thing that had ever happened in their town was the smallest concern to the rest of the world.

Sheriff Lee hadn’t heard of any of the evidence I uncovered — so I read him the entries from Jones’ notebook over the phone. 

“My first words are: Wow,” he said, a solemness to his voice I hadn’t heard in any previous  interviews I’d had with him. “My second words are: It sure would have been nice to have that shared with another law enforcement entity whose conducting an investigation on this.” 

He’s shocked that the target really was supposed to be a BLM office. “And it looks like he had more of an intention than just putting bombs, talking about shooting people,” he says. “This could have been a hell of a lot worse than it was.”

For such a nice guy, Lee sounds pissed — I get the sense he’s not a guy to throw the word “hell” around willy-nilly, too. But I get it: A bomb went off in his tiny town, a place that was always supposed to be this perfect haven of purity in a wild state. And even he can’t give people answers about what happened. The feds never told him. 

“Who radicalized him?” he asks. 

Glenn Jones said he could have “leveled out” a government building because he believed so much in the story of LaVoy the martyr. He was willing to die for it.

Ultimately he didn’t bomb the BLM. I don’t know why he didn’t carry out his original plan. I don’t know what the FBI knew about him. I do know, though, that during that very same summer, the feds “wanted to push [Keebler] outside his comfort zone to take his temperature” on a bombing… when right here, just a few hours away, Glenn Jones was sitting in an RV making a bomb so large it would shower a town in a mile’s worth of shrapnel. 

Lee thinks somebody knew — Panaca’s too damn small for people not to — he thinks they just didn’t say anything, says people might consider it not their business, or figure “nah — not my problem,” he says. 

I think until Kevin Harpham’s bomb arrived just down the street from me in Spokane, maybe I was like that, too. Nah, not my problem. Figured domestic terrorists were over there, white supremacists over there. 

But now I know, I just wasn’t letting myself see what had always been around me. Until that happened, I think I was trying to protect myself from the from the messy business of dealing with hate, unwilling to acknowledge that white supremacist structures support white people who are willing to be violent in the name of ideology and how those people are rarely called terrorists.  

Americans think terrorists are these fictional people streaming over the borders, when in reality, most terrorists are already here — they are white, they are Christian, they were born in America. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2018 was one of the deadliest years for domestic extremist violence since the Civil Rights era — and almost every attack had some link to a type of right-wing extremism, especially white supremacy. A government assessment of mass attacks in public spaces from that same year also showed that about a third of those attackers believed in a violent ideology — from white supremacy to conspiracy theories, to sovereign citizenry. 

But transparency could change how Americans see terrorism. So when instances of violence happen, the government could tell people what homegrown terrorism really looks like. Because every time the feds cover something up, or use questionable tactics, or don’t say anything at all, it hands the Patriot Movement a new victory. It helps them tell their story. The narrative is in their hands. One more thing they could point to and say ‘look, the government always lies to you.’

I think that’s one step in fixing all this, in creating new Patriots — just not the kind in the Patriot Movement. 

Maybe real Patriots are the ones who can look at themselves, their own communities, and have some uncomfortable conversations about who they really are. Maybe they’re people who can say something is out of place in their own community.

Like the city workers in Spokane who saw that backpack and trusted their guts to say something, likely saving hundreds of lives.

Or Tanner Rowe and Jay Pounder, who leaked the Biblical Basis for War: two conservative guys who used to work for Matt Shea but weren’t so hypnotized by a belief system that they couldn’t recognize when it was turning into something dangerous. 

Or Jesse Johnson, who didn’t turn anyone in, but instead simply turns a cheek again, and again, and again to the people at Marble. Extending a hand out to the people who hurt him, killing them with kindness. Or trying to. They can believe what they want, but he doesn’t have to hate them back.

Because Johnson knows that hate takes work. He was raised in a place where anger and violence were preached as virtues, but grew up to be a man who knows those weren’t the words of God. They were words of people trying to play God.

So each of them took a risk. They all stood up. They all exposed a problem. They stopped living in fear.  

They know that in the light, there can be no shadows.

***

Listen to the audio version of this series.

  Leah Sottile is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Playboy, California Sunday Magazine, Outside, The Atlantic and Vice.

Editors: Mike Dang and Kelly Stout Illustrator: Zoë van Dijk Fact checker: Matt Giles Copy editor: Jacob Gross

Special thanks to everyone at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

[whimsiesofanerdgirl]

August 2019 | New YA Book Releases

AUGUST YA BOOK RELEASES 2019

***Please note I am an affiliate for all the following Amazon and Books-A-Million links found below. If you click the corresponding links and choose to purchase a product I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you decide to buy anything from my referral links I thank you for supporting me and my website Whimsies of a Nerd Girl! If you want to learn more please visit my Disclosure Policy page which can be found by clicking here. Also note that I have added some other books of different age groups, but you will find that the majority are YA (Young Adult) books and due to the nature of the publishing industry some releases may have been moved to earlier or later months.***

Title: 100 Days of Sunlight, Author: Abbie Emmons, Publisher: Self Published, Publish Date: August 7, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, YA Contemporary Romance

Title: Beasts of the Frozen Sun (Frozen Sun Saga #1), Author: Jill Criswell, Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, Publish Date: August 6, 2019, Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, YA Fantasy

Title: Breath of Flowers, Volume 1, Author: Caly, Publisher: Tokyopop, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT, Graphic Novel, Manga, YA Contemporary Romance LGBT

Title: The Bridge Kingdom #1, Author: Danielle L. Jensen, Publisher: Context Literary Agency LLC, Publish Date: August 13,2019; Genre(s) + Tags: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Adult Fantasy Romance

Title: Bright Star, Author: Erin Swan, Publisher: Tor Teen, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Fantasy, Romance, YA Fantasy Romance, Dragons

Title: Bursts of Fire (Addicted to Heaven #1), Author: Susan Forest, Publisher: Laksa Media Groups Inc., Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, YA Epic Fantasy, Assassin, Magic, Rebellion

Title: Crown of Coral and Pearl #1, Author: Mara Rutherford, Publisher: Inkyard Press, Publish Date: August 27, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, YA Fantasy Romance, Royalty, Political Intrigue, Cover Art Love

Title: Crown of Sunlight (The Corvinus Chronicles #1), Author: Payton Taylor, Publisher: Self Published, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, YA Fantasy Romance

Title: The Demon World (The Smoke Thieves #2), Author: Sally Green, Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, YA Fantasy Romance, Royalty, Demons

Title: The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2), Author: R.F. Kuang, Publisher: Harper Voyager, Publish Date: August 8, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Fantasy, Adult Fantasy, Dragons, China, 20th Century, Gods, Monsters, The Poppy War sequel

Title: A Dress for the Wicked, Author: Autumn Krause, Publisher: HarperTeen, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, YA Historical Fantasy, Fashion

Title: Ever Alice, Author: H.J. Ramsay, Publisher: Red Rogue Press, Publish Date: August 1, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Retellings, YA Fairy Tale Retelling, Alice in Wonderland

Title: Harry Potter: A Journey Through Care of Magical Creatures, Author: J.K. Rowling, Publisher: Pottermore Publishing, Publish Date: August 22, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, YA Fantasy, Harry Potter, Magic, Harry Potter Textbook, eBook, Harry Potter “Non-Fiction”

Title: The Heart of the Circle, Author: Keren Landsman, Publisher: Angry Robot, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, Cultural Diversity, Israel

Title: The Heartwood Crown (The Sunlit Lands #2), Author: Matt Mikalatos, Publisher: Wander, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Epic, YA Epic Fantasy, Cover Art Love

Title: Here There Are Monsters, Author: Amelinda Bérubé, Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Horror, YA Horror, Fall Reads, Autumn Reads, Sister Reads, Siblings

Title: House of Salt and Sorrows, Author: Erin A. Craig, Publisher: Delacorte, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Retellings, YA Fantasy Romance Retelling, Twelve Dancing Princesses

Title: The Ice Crown (The Elements of Kamdaria #1), Author: Kay L. Moody, Publisher: Marten Press, Publish Date: August 12, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy

Title: The Lady in the Coppergate Tower (Steampunk Proper Romance #3), Author: Nancy Campbell Allen, Publisher: Shadow Mountain, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Steampunk

Title: The Last Hope (The Raging Ones #2), Author: Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie, Publisher: Wednesday Books, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, NA, Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy Romance LGBT, MM Romance

Title: Lycan’s Blood Queen (Randolph Duology #1), Author: Catherine Edward, Publisher: GenZ Publishing, Publish Date: August 22, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Adult Paranormal Romance, Vampires, Lycans, Shifters, Shapeshifters

Title: Making A Play (The Field Party #5), Author: Abbi Glines, Publisher: Simon Pulse, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, YA Contemporary Romance

Title: Midnight Beauties, Author: Megan Shepherd, Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Folklore, Urban Fantasy, YA Fantasy Folklore

Title: Nottingham, Author: Nathan Makaryk, Publisher: Forge Books, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Retellings, Adult Historical Fantasy Retelling, Robin Hood Retelling

Title: Of Ice and Shadows (Of Fire and Stars #2), Author: Audrey Coulthurst, Publisher: Balzer + Bray, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, Queer, FF Romance, YA Fantasy Romance LGBT

Title: Rage (Stormheart #2), Author: Cora Carmack, Publisher: Tor Teen, Publish Date: August 27, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, YA Fantasy Romance

Title: A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Author: Kelley Armstrong, Publisher: Puffin Canada, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: MG, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Adventure, Middle Grade Fantasy Adventure

Title: Sea Witch Rising (Sea Witch #2), Author: Sarah Henning, Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Retellings, YA Fantasy Fairy Tale Retelling, The Little Mermaid, Sisters, Villain Origin Story

Title: The Stolen Kingdom: An Aladdin Retelling (The Stolen Kingdom #1), Author: Bethany Atazadeh, Publisher: Grace House Press, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Retellings, YA Fairy Tale Retelling, Aladdin Retelling

Title: Stravaganza Volume 1, Author: Akihito Tomi, Publisher: Udon Entertainment, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, YA Fantasy Adventure, Manga

Title: The Swallows, Author: Lisa Lutz, Publisher: Ballantine Books, Publish Date: August 13, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Women’s Literature, Feminism

Title: T-Minus, Author: Shannon Greenland, Publisher: Entangled Teen, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, YA Thriller, YA Mystery, YA Suspense

Title: These Divided Shores (Stream Raiders #2), Author: Sara Raasch, Publisher: Balzer + Bray, Publish Date: August 27, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Pirates, YA Historical Fantasy Adventure

Title: Turning Darkness Into Light, Author: Marie Brennan, Publisher: Tor Books, Publish Date: August 20, 2019; Genres + Tags: Adult, Fantasy, Dragons, Memoirs of Lady Trent Companion Novel

Title: Vow of Thieves (Dance of Thieves #2), Author: Mary E. Pearson, Publisher: Henry Holt, Publish Date: August 6, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, YA Fantasy, The Remnant Chronicles Universe

Title: Wild Savage Stars (Sweet Black Waves #2), Author: Kristina Pérez, Publisher: Imprint, Publish Date: August 27, 2019; Genres + Tags: YA, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Retelling, Tristan and Iseult, YA Fantasy Romance Retelling, Sweet Black Waves Sequel