#Christ Church (Manhattan)

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Mavis Thompson-Blaize (June 2, 1927 - August 31, 2020) who practiced medicine and provided community services for more than five decades, was born in Newark, New Jersey to parents who migrated from Jamaica. She enrolled in Hunter College and received a BA in Chemistry. She earned an MD from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Kings County Hospital and practiced privately in New York City until 1995.

She married James Blaize (1954). The couple had five children and seven grandchildren.

She developed one of the first Black church-based innovative programs in the nation to assist HIV patients. She understood that the disease was a particular threat to economically less fortunate Black and brown New Yorkers.

St. George’s Episcopal Church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn already had a foundation in HIV treatment that she continued to develop. She understood the stigma in the Black community that was attached to the disease in the 1980s and worked hard to change community attitudes toward the disease even as she provided critical care to her patients.

She worked with the Medical Division of the New York City Board of Education and a per diem physician. Inducted into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, she encouraged the sorority to support her anti-AIDS activities in Brooklyn. She worked with the Board of Directors of Episcopal Health Services, the Board of Directors of Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center, the President of the Black Caucus of Health Workers of the American Public Health Association, the National Medical Association, Manhattan Central Medical Society, and the Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society. She was a member of the Advisory Board of Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of New York, and a member of St. George’s Church. She served as a Lay Reader at the Bronx’s Christ Church.

She received awards from Bishop’s Cross from the Diocese of Long Island, Outstanding Lifetime Achievement, and Trailblazing Legacy Award from the Susan Smith McKinney Steward Medical Society in 2014. She was celebrated by the Mentoring in Medicine Family. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #deltasigmtheta

[acemapleeh]

Alfred Home Headcanons

We see Alfred with quite a few houses throughout the series so I think it’s fair to say the man gets around and lives all across the country. It was difficult pinning down just a few for this post and even more so for the photos to go alongside it.

I’m going to be narrowing things down to regions of the United States but I think this man has at least one home in every state. We’ll be here a lifetime if I had to describe his home in Ohio vs Indiana.

We’ll start with New England.

His oldest homes are located here, the most noteworthy is his white colonial home in Massachusetts just outside of Boston overlooking the bay. This is the one he was raised in for a large part of his youth under Arthur’s care and tutorage. Think of the house that we see in the episode of America’s Storage Room Cleaning with the wrap-around porch and expansive garden. It’s an honestly massive home for just one person to be living in. During the mid to late 1800′s when people like Lovino, Tolys, and Morgan came to work in the United States, this was the main residence that Alfred lived with them in. Finally felt a little less lonely.

I think Cape Cod or Georgian is the best fit for the style of house in this region, like, to be more specific.

Traditional accents rather than it being the main focus.

Similarly to Arthur's dust-covered archive of an estate, this is where Alfred stores a lot of his things from the days of old. Unlike his father, he doesn't put much out on display. A couple pieces of memorabilia here and there but for the most part, he's got it in a box shoved in a corner of a room he hasn't opened in half a century.

What once was Sir Lord Kirkland's bedroom when staying in the colonies, has the largest upstairs balcony that looks over the garden and on clear days, out to the harbor. A telescope perched on the railing always on the lookout for father's return home.

I think something of old he does have out on display is a massive quilt he has up and framed in the living room. It's something that took him ages to finish back in the 19th century and the fabric is far too fragile for him to use it practically anymore.

For New York, he lives in a high-rise apartment in Manhattan. Big, open floor plan, and lots of large windows, and it's perfect for entertaining guests. This is his most modern and luxurious residence. Beautiful view of the city and Central Park. Think of the apartment that we see in Hetalia of the Living Dead.

Back in the 20s he 100% had one of those big Gatsby mansions out in the Hamptons and threw parties all of the time but got rid of it all towards the latter half of the decade. Think of the ridiculousness of Mansion Party by Ninja Sex Party

The last one for this area will be the brick row house in West Philadelphia. This is likely his second oldest home and where he spent a lot of his time during the Revolution. This is where he feels like where he was really born as a nation so he has a lot of deep ties here.

I want to give him an attic bedroom with a desk by the window that can see the steeple of Christ Church near the Delaware River. The same desk he's written pamphlets for the Revolution, letters to his brother, and for even a time, a typewriter when he was feeling a resurgence of literature and poetry in the early 20th century is still there.

I don't which state exactly has that beautiful blue suburban with the big pool. Somewhere there's not a lot of snow year-round and gets those hot summers where all you want to do is submerge yourself in water. Somewhere in the South, I'm thinking either one of the Carolinas or Georgia.

He feels like the type of person to have ranches all across the central US. Most of the year he has other people working on them to take care of the animals.

The one he frequents the most is the working cattle ranch in Arizona.

Time capsule midcentury house out in the Midwest. I want to say somewhere in the Chicago area. I want to put it in Southern California where this style of house first started to get popular but going to give some love to other parts of the country.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, a sunk-in living room pit, short staircases connecting rooms throughout the house, partial brick walls, fireplaces centered in rooms, and several doors and windows to access the outdoor living space.

If you've been on my blog for a while then you might have noticed I love making Alfred a California Beach Boy. I can give him so many houses in just this state alone but I'll keep it short and sweet.

His bum-out beach cottage is located in Santa Monica and he's been located there since the 1890s. The house itself has been remodeled and updated several times over the past century. The materials he uses for the house as well as the layout stay fairly consistent, with lots of natural, light wood and open space to allow in lots of sunlight and central airflow. It's also a small space; you open that front door and right away you can already see the living room, kitchen, dining room, and out to the ocean out back. The entryway is the house.

It's almost purposely made so you can see the wear on the floors and furniture. If he drops a surfboard on the floor and there's some damage left behind, he'll leave it there. You can see the wood frames have been handmade and have some flaws and mistakes if you run a hand over them.

It's also very analog with most of the tech in the house dating to maybe the mid-90s at the latest: VHS and record player, rotary phone, etc. No AC either but he does have a great internet connection.

If I cannot fulfill my lifelong dream of having a colorfully painted Victorian house in San Francisco then Alfred can have one. I think he spent a lot of time in the 80s in the Bay Area and this old house was just a constant project of fixing up and refurbishing.

Okay, the last one I'll talk about for the time being will be his house up in Washington State.

I just really love Contemporary houses and Alfred had one built for him when they first started gaining popularity in the Pacific Northwest in 1935. Large windows invite the beauty of the region into the house while complementing the natural landscape. The Pacific Northwest features steep, rugged terrain that encourages post and beam architecture.

Tucked away in cozy woods and nestled along a majestic river.

Decor often brings nature indoors using live-edge wooden furniture, stone and wooden accents, and other cozy touches.

I don't see Alfred as being a big log cabin person but incorporate the coziness of one into this house. Place that Twilight filter on and it's his most aesthetic getaway.

[raybizzle]

"The Green Pastures" (1936) is a fantasy film directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley and written by Connelly and Sheridan Gibney, who based the film on the novel "Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun" by Roark Bradford. Marc Connelly adapted the story into a Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play in 1930. The movie has an all-black cast film produced by Warner Brothers and stars Rex Ingram, Frank Wilson, Oscar Polk, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, and George Reed.

Unlike Race Films made by Oscar Micheaux and Ralph Cooper during this period, "The Green Pastures" was a major Hollywood production. The film received substantial advertising as the nation was already familiar with the play's success, so people were anticipating seeing the motion picture version. Rex Ingram was the lead in the film as the character "De Lawd."

The film features several up-and-coming actors, like Ingram, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Oscar Polk, and Edna Mae Harris. For many, this was their breakthrough film. For example, George Randol, who played the high priest in the movie, started a production company with Ralph Cooper, where they released the first film produced with an all-black capital called "Dark Manhattan" in 1937. The film also featured the Hall Johnson choir. Mr. Johnson was a black composer known for his arrangements of African-American spirituals. Throughout the 30s and 40s, many films featured the ensemble, including "Dimples" (1936) and the controversial movie "Song of the South" (1946).

"The Green Pastures" is a fantastic film with wonderful music and charming characters. However, there are, without a doubt, stereotypical portrayals of black people within the movie. As a result, some people may find the film challenging to watch if they need help seeing past the 1930s attitude. Nevertheless, the movie is a remarkable production, and Rex Ingram will be unforgettable after you watch his performance. It's a personal favorite and one that I watch every year. I highly recommend it for viewing.

Directors: Marc Connelly, William Keighley Writers: Roark Bradford, Marc Connelly, Sheridan Gibney

Starring Rex Ingram, Oscar Polk, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Frank H. Wilson, George Reed, Abraham Gleaves, Edna Mae Harris, James Fuller, George Randol, Hall Johnson Choir, Billy Cumby, Ivory Williams, Dudley Dickerson, Ida Forsyne, Myrtle Anderson, Charles Andrews, Ernest Whitman, Reginald Fenderson

Storyline A preacher in a small Black church in Louisiana tells his Sunday school class stories from the Bible as if the characters were part of a local fish fry. He starts with the creation of the world by God, known as "De Lawd" (Rex Ingram), and tells how God went on to create heaven, which is just like their farmland, and then created man and woman, followed by their fall and finally the coming of Jesus Christ.

Available on DVD and streaming services. https://www.amazon.com/Green-Pastures-Eddie.../dp/B00B6OECDK

[heretiics]

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒.

FULL NAME: Yeva Melikyan NAME MEANING: Yeva is the Armenian and Russian version of Eve meaning “life”, “living one”, “source of life” or “mother of life” (from Hebrew “haya/הָיָה” = to be/to exist or “kháy/חַי” = to live/alive) AGE: Forty SPECIES: Human GENDER: Cis woman (she/her) ORIENTATION: Aromantic, pansexual OCCUPATION: Medium, cult leader BIRTH DATE: 19 June 1983 BIRTHPLACE: Yerevan, Armenia HOMETOWN: Glendale, Los Angeles ETHNICITY: Armenian-American MARITAL STATUS: Single (divorced many times under different identities) RELIGION: Atheist EDUCATION LEVEL: High school PREVIOUS RESIDENCE: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York CURRENT LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: RAP SHEET: Fraud (under two exposed identities)

𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄.

FACECLAIM: Angela Sarafyan HAIR STYLE: Dark brown with subtle light golden-brown highlights. Long, reaching her elbows EYE COLOR: Green HEIGHT: 5' 8" / 173 cm BUILD: Willowy SCARS: Circular wounds/scars on her hands and feet corresponding to those of the crucified Jesus Christ. STYLE: Usually in white dresses and often barefooted SCENT: A warm, dark blanket of moss. Reminiscent of getting lost in a forest— tree sap, oakmoss, tree sap, cedar, fir, wild violets, benzoin, and lilac. VOICE: Has a low, velvety tone that is both soothing and alluring, with a subtle huskiness that adds depth and character to her speaking voice. USUAL EXPRESSION: As Yeva, her expression is often described as ethereal with a serene calmness. She has a gentle smile that hints at a peaceful and contented inner state. POSTURE: Upright and relaxed DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Her bright green eyes often unsettle people. There is a natural ease and fluidity to her, moving with an effortless grace.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇 & 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITION(S): Antisocial Personality Disorder specifically psychopathy (undiagnosed), Narcissistic Personality Disorder (undiagnosed) DRUG USE: Psilocybin (magic mushrooms), cannabis ALCOHOL USE: Rarely

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

TROPES: Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon / False Prophet / Phony Psychic / Fake Faith Healer / Scam Religion / Divinely Appearing Demons POSITIVE TRAITS: Resourceful, adaptable, assertive, dedicated NEGATIVE TRAITS: Beguiling, insatiable, callous, self-serving MORAL ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil ZODIAC SIGNS: Gemini sun, Scorpio moon, Libra rising THEME SONG: Money Power Glory by Lana Del Rey

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃.

She has many names, but the one she was born with is Arpina Serkis. Arpina’s parents migrated to the United States from Armenia and looked to start a new life in the city of angels. As a family of con artists, that is.

Ever since moving to LA, they have traveled from state to state whenever they’d get exposed. Her natural talent in acting proved to be handy, but she was also trained by her parents. Making ends meet outweighed their conscience. More than that though, Arpina loved being something other than herself. She started simply: conning romantic partners, business partners, and friends. She’d eventually end up helping her parents scam masses of people. One such documentary (code word for a con job) was a mega-church with her dad as the head pastor and Arpina pretending to be a nun. Subsequently, the family had to go on their separate ways, as sticking together would make them easily identifiable. The racket they orchestrated had been too large in scale for them to remain incognito.

She continued on her own, adopting different identities as needed, still swindling out of pleasure and not for survival. The last place she expected to end up in is Babylon, Texas, but it is the furthest place from her last solo documentary, which involved a dangerous crime organization.

The first time she stepped into Babylon was around a decade ago. She hasn’t left since then, not with a lucrative business and a credulous crowd. She became Yeva Melikyan.

With the help of Jack Motel in exchange for a cut of her earnings, Yeva has set up shop in town as a medium, but it is a fraud. She doesn’t actually have psychic abilities. Most cannot see through her act, while some think that they can. Whispers among locals would call her a phony. While they are never certain, always speculating, they would tolerate it if it meant bringing foot traffic to their forsaken town.

Yeva also claims that a being from the heavens would speak to her, which is true in part. An entity does make itself known to her, but it is far from godly or heavenly. She only sees— or more like hears— it when she’s high on mushrooms or weed, so she chalks it up to a hallucination and doesn’t think it’s supernatural. Nevertheless, she used this as a way to build and co-lead* her own cult called the Mighty New Sky, which is a more profitable racket. It currently has a sizeable following from both locals & tourists alike, Yeva mainly targeting the hopeless and desperate. She lures them in with the sweet promise of Salvation, among other things. She would tell people that it is the son of God who speaks to her, and she also claims to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. 

Yeva thinks that the town is as much a fraud as her, but she will never voice these thoughts (you gotta believe what you sell, after all.) She doesn’t believe in anything supernatural or paranormal, despite substantially benefiting from it and being in close contact with one.

*The other co-leader of the cult is a wanted connection. If interested, feel free to message me!

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒.

cw: self harm

Her cult's place of worship is an abandoned church located at the outskirts of the town, near a residential area. It looks like this. Only those in the cult would be aware of its location. It is one of those "if you know, you know" places to those who have been in town long enough.

She is called the “Holy Mother” or high priestess by her cult.

Conning people doesn’t come without a cost though. Without anything to ground her, she would at times end up believing she is the person she’s portraying as. 

She’d follow the saying ‘fake it till you make it’ a little too faithfully. For her holy act to become more believable, she’d go as far as self-harm to fake her stigmata.

𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐒.

header quote

[offmetropolitan]

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 2024: THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

Christus und der reiche Jüngling (Christ and the Rich Young Man), Heinrich Hoffman 1889,  Riverside Church, Manhattan, New York, USA. Click here to read today’s Sunday Mass Readings”.  [Jesus said], “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”    Matthew 10:21. Click on words highlighted in red for further…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The COs [conscientious objectors] were galvanized by the actions of a few particularly militant absolutists whose unbending resistance lit up the small world of hardcore pacifists. It was Corbett Bishop who embodied the most extreme form of the radical pacifist’s rejection of state authority.

A southerner in his mid-thirties with some graduate school under his belt, Bishop had a bookstore in West New York, just across the Hudson from Manhattan, when the draft came. On the form for the CPS [Civilian Public Service] camps he gave his church as Disciples of Christ, but where it asked the name of the official head of the denomination, he put down “Jesus Christ,” and for headquarters listed “Heaven.” Bishop began the first of his many fasts three months after arriving at the Friends camp at Patapsco, Maryland, in March of 1942. A camp newspaper described him as a “tall, thin, bearded figure with strained features and penetrating eyes.” He called off the fast after forty-four days (having shed forty-four pounds) and, accompanied by his mother and sister, was taken to a Baltimore hospital to recuperate. Transferred to the camp at West Campton, New Hampshire, he rose during mealtimes to assail the CPS system as a form of slavery, haranguing his fellow inmates in a booming voice. “A man had better starve than compromise for bread,” he might say. Or he would quote the founder of the Christian ashram movement, E. Stanley Jones:

Let any one be saturated with the thought of the Sermon on the Mount and he will not only not try to argue a man into slavery, but he will not rest until every man is free, including himself.

Not everyone appreciated this, of course; some saw vanity and attention-seeking. Yet in his unmistakable seriousness Bishop seemed to embody an ideal that many of the others admired and aspired to.

He was only just beginning. Combining ego and righteousness, he proclaimed in a February 11, 1943, letter “To the Citizens of the World” the start of a fast in sympathy with a twenty-one-day hunger strike launched by Gandhi to free India from British rule. Bishop sent copies of his letter to world leaders including Gandhi himself, Britain’s King George VI, Hirohito, Stalin, Hitler, and others. Some of these missives were of course returned as “undeliverable.” Bishop, undeterred by this or anything else, doggedly continued fasting on and off on various grounds throughout his time in CPS and prison. The Friends soon gave up on him, telling the government he ought to be discharged, but Selective Service officials foolishly shifted him to the government-run camp at Mancos, Colorado, where at one point he apparently urged his fellow pacifists not to look outside lest the natural beauty raise their morale and in effect blind them to their predicament. He resumed his dinner harangues, at which, the camp newspaper reported, “a noisy minority invariably applauds him, and sometimes the whole dining room claps and cheers.” From Mancos he was shipped to Germfask, that final redoubt of troublemakers which was itself the most trouble of all. There, at the Alcatraz of CPS camps, he took to clanking about in a ball and chain as a symbol of his oppression.

Over time, perhaps as a result of his long stints without food, Bishop mellowed, appearing less and less the crank and more and more the prophet, if not the saint, for his resistance was no less steadfast. Accordingly, he excited tremendous support in the small but passionate world of nonviolent activists. “Bishop’s radical tactics electrified the pacifist community,” one historian writes, “and they organized numerous protests on his behalf.”

Using a furlough that he was entitled to, Bishop left Germfask and devoted himself to agitating against the system, not bothering to return. Arrested repeatedly, he ended up in various federal prisons, where “he began a policy of complete non-cooperation, insisting that if the state laid hands upon his body, it must take total responsibility for it.” Accordingly, he would not stand, dress, eat, or even rise from his cot to use the bathroom. FBI agents, during one legal proceeding, had to haul his limp body in and out of elevators and push him in a chair equipped with casters. When they struck something, he was thrown out and remained inert on the floor. In his various stints at large, he obeyed no parole conditions and openly advocated pacifism and resistance in meetings with religious gatherings. During his many fasts he was force-fed but continued to lose weight, becoming a bearded, wraith-like figure whose physical strength diminished without impairing his fortitude.

The last way station in his odyssey through the government’s network of pacifist holding areas was the federal prison in Milan, Michigan. When Bishop was paroled there, the warden, accompanied by a physician, drove him all the way to the CO-founded Macedonia Cooperative Community, in Clarkesville, Georgia, where he was to recuperate. “Is the body free now?” Bishop asked when they got there. Answered in the affirmative, he stripped off his government-issue clothes and stood naked until someone from the community covered him with a coat.

Even that didn’t end his story, for officially he had been paroled to Macedonia, but of course he acknowledged no such parole, just as he acknowledged no right of government to incarcerate him. On September 1, 1945, the day before Japan signed formal surrender documents, eight FBI agents found him in Berea, Ohio, at the home of Ashton Jones, whose antiwar automobile had so embarrassed Bernice Fisher. Back in prison in Milan, he resumed fasting and prison authorities resumed forced feeding until, in March of 1946, he was paroled without conditions and without ever having signed or agreed to anything. By the time of his release Bishop had persisted in 193 consecutive days of complete noncooperation and had fasted on and off for a total of 426 days."

- Daniel Akst, War By Other Means: How the Pacifists of World War 2 Changed America for Good. New York: Melville House, 2022. p. 226-228

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.24 (before 1940)

919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom. 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral. 1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII's reign. 1567 – Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murder five incarcerated Swedish nobles. 1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library. 1607 – Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, is founded. 1621 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved. 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan. 1667 – The French Royal Army crosses the border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting the War of Devolution opposing France to the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance. 1683 – The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum. 1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics. 1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally held on the preceding Sunday. 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins. 1813 – South American independence leader Sim��n Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator"). 1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito. 1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference. 1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. 1856 – John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas. 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia. 1873 – Patrick Francis Healy becomes the first black president of a predominantly white university in the United States. 1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction. 1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State. 1901–present 1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the conflict on the side of the Allies. 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight). 1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.

[ramrodd]

Navarro ordered to prison; Trump defames E. Jean Carroll AGAIN; Trump lo...C

COMMENTARY:

As an Army brat, I have been dealing with white supremacist assholes in the civilian community my whole life. It's what being woke and white is all about. There is a Pillar of Saalt righteousness white supremacist share that is a burden to the rest of society. This is the original sin of the Presbyterian Church of Woodrow Wilson and Norman Vincent Peale. As a process theology guru, I consider the US Army to have been a DEI organization from the moment Truman integrated the service. As a Wilson, my dad was 110% committed to that aspiration, The indictment and prosecution of Trump and those associated with his political strategy of treason is a Constitutional defense of the DEI all volunteer military, The people behind Trump want to dismantle DEI where ever it persists. That's what Nazification is all about: anti-DEI. The biggest problem the US Army has now are Pro-Life chaplains who are importing Christian Nationalism into an intentionally Deist culture with a Hegelian aspect. Pro-Life Calvinism is a theological cancer that infects the Body of Christ relentlessly, It is of The Satan. Due process will leave  Criminal Conservatism in the rear view mirror with the rest of the Boomer food fight with the reelection of Biden-Harris. and the launch of the final paradigm shift from the Manhattan Project of the Military Industrial Complex to the Aerospace-Entrepreneruial  Matrix of the Star Wars economics of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[denimbex1986]

'Faithful readers may recall my excited anticipation of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which was released to great acclaim last weekend. I made the cross-town pilgrimage to the church of IMAX on Monday and was left just a little disappointed.

“Oppenheimer” turns out to be two movies — one about the development of the bomb at Los Alamos and one about J. Robert Oppenheimer’s postwar political struggles — braided together from the tiniest little morsels of dialogue and imagery. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt if any character speaks 30 uninterrupted words anywhere in this movie.

I found myself uncomfortable, even struggling, with the exhausting pace at which Nolan proceeds through the landmarks of Oppenheimer’s life. The movie is visually and musically majestic but there is a box-ticking quality to it.

Both the bomb research at Los Alamos and Oppenheimer’s later ill-treatment by the deep state have been depicted on screen before. Nolan’s strategy, I think, was to turn Oppenheimer’s crisis into a metaphor for the logic of escalation: the great man ends up engaged unwillingly in a long-running political duel with Lewis Strauss, hawkish head of the postwar Atomic Energy Commission, that leads to their mutual destruction.

Nolan does give you enough detail of Oppenheimer’s selfish personal behaviour and prewar leftist connections to understand why he eventually lost the security credentials that would have allowed him to continue bleeding-edge nuclear research. (Poor devil; he had to struggle onward as mere director of the Institute for Advanced Study , surrounded by modernist paintings and servants, until 1966.)

But his Oppenheimer is still awfully Christ-like; the enigmas of his character are scrutinized but the basic picture is still that of the superman, the “American Prometheus,” who was essential to unlocking the atom. Whenever Matt Damon turns up as Gen. Leslie Groves, actual director of the Manhattan Project, you might find yourself wondering, “Where’s this guy’s movie?” (Whatever you’ve accomplished in the last five years of your life, it probably doesn’t add up to “Built the Pentagon and then the bomb.”)

The weapon design that Oppenheimer shepherded was a scientific miracle, and a unique moment of human drama that will be recycled in art for a thousand years, but … well, from the narrow Los Alamos point of view, the brainy weaponeer-physicists might as well have ordered their plutonium off of Amazon. “Here’s your six kilograms of a metal that basically does not exist in nature. You’re welcome.”

Perhaps mythologization is inevitable in this context; perhaps Oppenheimer really is the central figure in human history that the movie makes him out to be. But this leads to dismissive, hackneyed central-casting treatment of the other characters in the scientific drama of the time.

Edward Teller, a cultured and imaginative man who was at least Oppenheimer’s equal as a scientist, appears as a sweaty, oafish prima donna. Lewis Strauss, who put money into nuclear research when Oppenheimer was still preoccupied with astrophysics, is shown as a jumped-up interloper consumed with vendetta. And Einstein, of course, appears as the usual friendly, dotty mascot. At one point Oppenheimer interrupts a conversation between Einstein and the mathematician Kurt Goedel. For my money that’s another ��Where’s this guy’s movie?” moment times two.

The irony is that Nolan’s film does make you both feel and understand the ugly nature of Oppenheimer’s postwar humiliation, once you learn to sort Nolan’s overlapping narrative threads on the fly. But there’s an inherent mismatch between the Los Alamos drama and the story of Oppenheimer’s martyrdom, which is surely of diminishing interest.

Maybe we need the odd reminder that the United States isn’t always very kind to its world-historical geniuses. But from the point of view of the next thousand years, are we sure that nuclear weapons will alter human politics and behaviour more than peaceful nuclear energy does?

If you’ve heard people talk of the political consequences of “energy too cheap to meter,” after all, you’ve heard a quotation from none other than that wicked, devious Lewis Strauss.'

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Mad About Moon

TIME, Monday, November 10, 1975

“I will conquer and subjugate the world,” says Sun Myung Moon. “I am your brain.” The latter statement is quite literally true for a growing coterie of young American converts, who regard the South Korean cult leader (TIME, Sept. 30, 1974) as the second Christ. Asking no questions, they obediently hawk candy and flowers, raising millions to spread the faith. They exist on a shoestring, while Moon, 55, lives in lordly fashion in a 25-room mansion in New York's Westchester County.

His Unification Church's national budget alone is $11 million, not counting the expenses of 120 local branches and affiliates. The cult grows steadily and currently claims 30,000 members, 7,000 of whom live in Moon communities. All believe that a “Lord of the Second Advent” (Moon, though this is not stated publicly) will redeem mankind physically by fathering a perfect family. A blend of Christian terminology, occultism and dualism is taught in Moon's scripture, The Divine Principle.

Flared Up. While Moon's converts are unquestioning, others are not. In recent months, many Moon disputes have flared up. The Unification Church is in court to regain a tax exemption for an estate in the town of Greenburgh, N.Y., where it has purchased $9 million worth of properties since 1972. In New York City the church, which regards itself as a Christian sect, is suing for the right to join the local council of churches after becoming the first applicant ever rejected by the council. With criticism of Moon growing, Buckminster Fuller, Norman Cousins and others have withdrawn as advisers for a meeting of eminent world scholars Nov. 27-30 in Manhattan, organized by a Moon front.

The growing opposition to the Moon cult focuses primarily on worries about what it is doing to the minds of its young converts. In Dutchess County, N.Y., District Attorney Albert Rosenblatt is investigating complaints from parents that their children have been “brainwashed” in high-pressure courses at the church's Barrytown training center. Rosenblatt also wonders why so many Moon cultists require emergency-room treatment at a local hospital. Around the country, hundreds of parents have been driven to near hysteria by changes in their convert children's behavior and by reports of brainwashing. They are filing suits and banding into anti-Moon groups. Some parents have even resorted to abduction. In many cases they use “Deprogrammer” Ted Patrick, who for a fee conducts counter brain washing of cultists.

One typical worried parent is New Jersey's state insurance commissioner James Sheeran, three of whose daughters—Vicki, 25, Jaime, 24, and Josette, 21—are Moon converts. He wants laws to protect people from “cruel and exotic entrapment of their minds, souls and bodies.” Late one night last August, Sheeran decided to act when Josette, normally compassionate, showed little interest upon learning that her grandmother was in the hospital. He, his wife and a son drove to Moon's school to seek Josette. Fifteen Moon men materialized, a scuffle ensued, and state police arrived amid mutual charges of assault.

Last week Sheeran and 500 other parents met at a Westchester County synagogue whose rabbi, Maurice Davis, heads a 500-family national anti-Moon organization called Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families. Some 20 young defectors from the Moon cult were present; several urged their elders to drive up to Barrytown and rescue their children. Distraught parents gave one another moral support.

Fervent Foes. The most fervent Moon foes are ex-devotees. Three of them have just started another group, International Foundation for Individual Freedom (I.F.I.F.), to attack Moonism and other cults such as the Children of God, Divine Light Mission and Hare Krishna. One of I.F.I.F.'s founders is Denise Peskin, 20, who spent 8 weeks in Moon training and was later “deprogrammed” by Patrick. Like many converts, she thought she was joining a secular social-reform movement. Only later, at Moon's “New Ideal City Ranch” north of San Francisco, did she encounter the religious cult aspects, which Moon groups sometimes conceal at first to avoid turning off prospective recruits. The program included weeks of nonstop indoctrination, yelling and punching by instructors and little sleep. One graduate of the farm calls its treatment “psychological abuse,” another “subliminal fascism.” To all, the frightening aspect was the psychological coercion they underwent when they tried to leave. Harvard Psychiatrist John Clark Jr. recently testified in District of Columbia Superior Court that the ex-Moonies he had examined seemed physically and emotionally exhausted; a few were psychotic.

Moon has left it to disciples to reply to the attacks. At Barrytown, where 176 devotees are currently enrolled in short-term courses and a new seminary, Director of Training Joe Tully is indignant. He told TIME's Eileen Shields that dropouts lack moral “will power” and feel they have to justify themselves. Tully agrees that converts undergo a dramatic transformation but denies that Moon people use any sinister methods.

The most intriguing unanswered question about Moonism is why young people from well-to-do families are attracted to it. Moon converts seem to have had little attachment to other religions and appear to be grasping for a sense of stability and morality. Says Defector Paula Mazur, a New York University senior: “They impress on you how to live a very idealistic life, how to really change the world. All the people I met were moralistic at a time when morals are going down the drain.” Whatever the morals of Moonism, Jack Kerry, the Moon watcher in the California attorney general's office, sees the movement as “extremely dangerous” and adds: “I think this whole situation is going to really explode.”

____________________________________

Security with guns at Barrytown

It’s official - UTS has been sold

[nyc-uws]

Women’s History: Augusta Stetson and the Church at 96th Street and Central Park West March 3, 2023 HISTORY

By Pam Tice

In this month of promoting women’s history, it’s a good time to remember an Upper West Side woman who entered the public sphere in New York City more than 100 years ago. Working for the Boston founder of Christian Science, Augusta Emma Simmons Stetson came to New York City and built the First Church of Christ, Scientist at Central Park West and 96th Street. Soon it will become the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, plans you can view here.

Augusta Simmons was born into a modest family in Maine in 1842. She married Captain Frederick J. Stetson, a shipbuilder associated with a company in London. For a number of years, the couple lived overseas in London, Bombay and Burma. Captain Frederick’s ill health brought them back to Boston where Mrs. Stetson enrolled in a school of oratory, hoping to become an elocutionist at a time when the public lecture circuit was popular. She is described in many biographies as tall, elegant in appearance, with a charismatic personality and a resonant voice. At a time when women were not afforded an opportunity to be in the public sector, she appeared to be breaking barriers.

In 1884, she met and was then recruited by Mary Baker Eddy to be trained at the three-week Massachusetts Metaphysical College, founded by Mrs. Eddy to teach the metaphysical healing she called Christian Science. At a time when the medical profession did not have a solution to many health problems, this method of healing appealed to many people who were suffering.

In 1886, Mrs. Stetson was dispatched to New York City to establish the new religion here. Others were organizing here too, especially Laura Lathrop who became Stetson’s rival. But Augusta Stetson (named “Fighting Gus” by some) was successful, developing a devoted following, and organized the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1887. Lathrop would organize the Second Church, building her church further south on Central Park West at 68th Street.

Stetson became controversial as her power grew, challenging Mrs. Eddy’s leadership, and declaring her church to be the only one in New York City. She developed a domineering attitude and called people names who disagreed with her. Her personality and many of her actions make it hard to celebrate her, but we do recognize her accomplishment of building one of our finest landmarked churches.

Scholars label Mrs. Eddy an ambivalent feminist, founding a radical church but placing its management in the hands of an all-male Board. As more complaints about a despotic Mrs. Stetson grew, Mrs. Eddy used her Board to try to deal with her — changing the rules to control her, eventually publicly reprimanding her, and finally excommunicating her.

Augusta Stetson began to raise money for her church building, laying its cornerstone in 1899. Initially, the church was to cost $500,000, but soon grew to over a million dollars, as expensive design choices were made, including the use of  Concord granite and the installation of two elevators. In 1903, when the church was dedicated, Stetson flaunted her accomplishment of raising such a hefty sum, unlike her rival Lothrop who had a mortgage on her church.

The First Church’s wealthy congregation sought a building that would signify respectability, choosing the prestigious architects Carrere & Hastings, and using the finest materials throughout the internal structure. Famed artist John LaFarge made the stained-glass window over the main entrance. The Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group has uploaded a copy of a real estate brochure with photographs of the Beaux Arts interior of this beautiful building before it was gutted.

The year after the Church was dedicated, Stetson’s devoted congregation built her a mansion just behind the church on West 96th Street. Designed by Hunt & Hunt, the architectural firm of Richard Morris Hunt’s sons, the mansion had a one-story portico with marble columns at its side entrance.

In 1909, with the First Church welcoming overflowing crowds, Mrs. Stetson began making plans to develop a second church building at Riverside Drive at 86th Street. However, this violated guidelines set by the Board of the Church in Boston, and the plan was dropped. An investigation of Mrs. Stetson also began that year, looking at her unorthodox views of Church teachings, her practices, and the fact that she gave false testimony in a court case. The Boston Board revoked her license as a Christian Science teacher and practitioner, excommunicating her from the Church. When Mrs. Eddy died in 1910, many expected Stetson to return to head the church, but she did not. She kept her mansion, and kept her title as principal of the New York City Christian Science Institute.

Stetson continued to publish pamphlets on her views of Christian Science, often attacking the “Mother Church” as “exhibiting spiritual decline.” Many New Yorkers continued to follow her, with as many as 800 attending her lectures. In 1918, she formed a Choral Society as part of the Institute, and took on a cause: changing the third stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner because it was too militaristic.

In 1921, Mrs. Stetson was in the news again regarding a suit against the First Church to stop them from erecting a brick wall at the rear of the church that would cut off her light and air.

Stetson purchased a radio station in 1925, broadcasting five times a week. She promoted ugly propaganda that was anti-Catholic and antisemitic, advocating white supremacy and traditional American virtues.

Although she had once claimed immortality, Augusta Stetson died in 1928. Her residence was demolished soon after, and an apartment building replaced it in 1930.

As for the First Church, its congregation shrank over time, not unlike many other neighborhood churches. The building was declared a New York City landmark in 1974. In 2005, the First and Second Churches finally combined. The Crenshaw Center East, a nondenominational church from Los Angeles, purchased the First Church building in 2004 and held services there for a decade. In 2014, a developer purchased it with the intention of converting it into condominiums, but the project failed to get approval. Now the Children’s Museum of Manhattan will convert it and join the neighborhood’s other important institutions.

The mansion behind the church

[pipelinelaserraygun]

The MORE of an impact you have in bringing others to accepting ✝️🛐 Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah, that's when you'll begin to notice an ⏰ uptick in antagonism, oppression, and censorships your way, delivered by 👺 demonic operatives.

When you're NOT making a difference in this world, to Evangelize, there's NO need to expend resources: 👿 satan THEN doesn't place 🎯 a bullseye on your Forehead. WHY bother?

MUST 👁️���️ SEE‼️

Holy 🇺🇸 REVIVAL 🧹 swept across America, through a FLAWED servant.

Lonnie Frisbee was *relatable to a target demographic that relic ⛪ churches could NOT penetrate.

John Ruttkay was there. He was a roommate, and Friend.

Lonnie had 🧳🛄 BAGGAGE. UNIQUE was Lonnie, as well. Impossible to duplicate.

Church personnel became resentful of how the Lord seemed to INCREASE the efforts of a 💔 broken vessel, over Ministry work of others.

Takeaway: Evangelism ISN'T "One Size Fits All".

Is it WORSE to have dared reach for the Heavens, or NEVER to have dared at all?

Referenced up 🔝: The 👅🎨 Renaissance of "glossolalia".

🆓 BOOK 📚 PREVIEWS❣️ Referenced up 🔝: Which NEXT-gen Charismatics will take the baton relay?

Referenced up 🔝: Harald 🗝️ was handpicked for a KEY assignment, like Lonnie was.

[jdgo51]

Not Just Survival! Revival!

Today's inspiration comes from:

100 Bible Verses That Made America

by Robert J. Morgan

How To Experience Perpetual, Personal Revival

"'On a recent visit to New York City, I paused at the 9/11 Memorial, which is at the end of Fulton Street. Then I began walking down Fulton Street itself, which runs crosswise across lower Manhattan. I was looking for a monument, memorial, or historical plaque to indicate how that street changed American history long before the events of September 11, 2001. I didn’t find a monument there, and the thousands of people going back and forth on the sidewalks don’t have a clue. But I do know the story.

In the middle of the 1800s, a tailor named Jeremiah Lanphier moved to Manhattan and established a clothing business. He was a Christian and a sidewalk evangelist in the Wall Street district. On Wednesday, September 23, 1857, he invited people to drop by for prayer at a room on Fulton Street during their lunch hour. Six people showed up. The next week, twenty came. The next week, forty.

Soon churches all across New York overflowed with daily prayer meetings. Fire departments and police stations opened their facilities for prayer, and local businesses set aside rooms for employees to pray. The movement swept over the eastern seaboard and pushed westward into the nation. Citywide awakenings struck Cincinnati, Louisville, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and innumerable smaller cities and towns.

From the United States, the revival spread to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. For two years, approximately 50,000 people a week came to Christ. Within a year of the start of the Fulton Street Prayer Meetings, over a million converts joined America’s churches, and thousands of existing church members were born again or revived in their faith.

The world needs another such awakening, and I pray every day for revival to sweep our country. Our problems are not primarily political, but spiritual; and the answers we need are not primarily political. We need another national and global revival.

Whether God unleashes a great geographical revival or not, I’m convinced you and I can enjoy perpetual, personal revival. Psalm 23:3 says,

He refreshes my soul.

Jesus said,

Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from with them. — John 7:38

When we experience personal, perpetual revival, our faith is revived, our love is stronger, our faces are more joyful, our enthusiasm is more contagious, and our individual ministries are empowered.

He refreshes my soul. - Psalm 23:3

When we experience personal, perpetual revival, our faith is revived, our love is stronger, our faces are more joyful, our enthusiasm is more contagious, and our individual ministries are empowered.

How, then, can we experience revival when everyone else is simply struggling for survival?

Pull all the ingredients of your life into the circle of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This takes a determined decision, which is renewable daily. You can do this instantly, or you may want a bit of time to ponder its implications. God isn’t likely to bless what isn’t yielded to Him. Every morning I pray something like this, “Lord, I want You to be in control of every aspect of my life. My time. My habits. My money. My relationships. May they be under Your authority today.” Christians used to call this “full surrender.” The word “surrender” isn’t currently in vogue, but the spiritual concept has never been more needed. If some area of your life has slipped out of the circle of Christ’s Lordship, confess it as sin and, with His help, rein it back in.

Never miss a day without a personal closed-door appointment with God, allowing Him to speak to you through His Word and responding to Him in prayer. In a marriage, it’s hard to keep the romance alive if a couple never communicates. In our relationship with God, it’s hard to keep the revival burning if there’s no regular communication. I’m not sure why Christians have so much trouble maintaining their habits of personal devotional time, but Jesus told us to go into a private room, close the door, and meet with the Father (Matthew 6:6). Though everyone’s schedule is different, for the last 48 years I’ve been doing this every morning after breakfast. I open my Bible to where I left off the day before, underline and mark verses that speak to me, and talk to the Lord as if He were actually in the room — which He is!

Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, for Ephesians 5:18-19 be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As you leave the secret room and go into your day, consciously remember the reality of God’s presence. He goes with you. A great missionary of yesteryear, George Brown of India, was known for his constant awareness of God’s nearness. When a friend asked him about it, he said, “Yes, God is nearer to me, consciously, than anyone in this room.” Train yourself to remember God is with you, near you, around you, within you—and that you have constant access to Him through Jesus Christ.

Let this show up on your face. Ecclesiastes 8:1 says, A person’s wisdom brightens their faces and changes its hard appearance.

I realize we can’t always smile. Troubles and grief intrude, and we face moments requiring serious thought. But biblical joy isn’t an undependable electric circuit in a developing nation. The Bible says,

'Rejoice in the Lord always.' — Philippians 4:4

Even when we can’t control our emotions, we can chose our attitudes, trust God with our burdens, turn problems into prayers, and, as Charles Wesley said, “laugh at life’s impossibilities.”

None of this is easy, perfect, or quick for most of us. It’s a series of life patterns. But how vital for times like these! If our world is ever going to experience a series of global revivals, it’s got to begin in you and me.

We’ve got to find our way to Fulton Street."'

Written for Devotionals Daily by Robert J. Morgan, author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America.

[blackmagicspecialist786-blog]

Jennifer Shah, ‘Real Housewives’ Star, Sentenced in Fraud Scheme

Jennifer Shah, who gained fame as a character on the reality TV reality show "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," was sentenced to six and five years in prison for her role in a telemarketing scheme which made thousands of victims ill the prosecution said. The actress. Shah used the scheme to fund her lavish lifestyle that included the rental of a 9,420-square-foot mansion located within Park City, Utah, which she called"the "Shah ski chalet," an apartment that she rented situated in Midtown Manhattan and a leased Porsche Panamera, prosecutors said. Criminal charges against Mrs. Shah had been heavily reported on by the Bravo reality show and turned the allegations against her into a compelling plot aspect. When she announced their catchy tagline to the second season of the series she stated, "The only thing I'm guilty of is being Shah-mazing." In court documents the prosecution cited this phrase to prove the case that Mrs. Shah had mocked the accusations against her. Mrs. Shah's lawyers stated in court documents in court papers that their show was "semi-scripted, heavily edited facsimile of 'reality' intentionally manipulated to maximize ratings" and that the show did not accurately reflect her views on the matter. The show was blamed by her lawyers to make it appear like, as her sentence date approached, that she was a criminal. Shah was "intransigent, defiant, and often even unrepentant, about her actions here." "Nothing could be further from the truth," Ms. Shah's lawyers have written. "Just as Jen Shah has never been a 'housewife,' little else is real about her persona and caricature as portrayed by the editors" of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City." A spokesperson for NBCUniversal Bravo, Bravo's parent company has declined to comment. This show debuted at the end of 2020 is supposed to show women living in a glamorous way and negotiating issues related to sexuality and religion in the city where the headquarter of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When she was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday She. Shah said she was sorry for her part in the scheme, which the prosecution claimed was a scam that defrauded victims by offering fake "business services" that promised that they would help them earn money online. Her court ordered her to repay $6.6 mill in reparations, and the right to take back $6.5 million along with 30 high-end objects, including designer bags and jewelry, prosecutors stated. Alongside the sentence of 78 months prison In addition to the sentence of 78 months in prison, the defendant, Ms. Shah, 49, from Salt Lake City, was sentenced to five years controlled release. "I want to apologize to all the victims and families and I take full responsibility for the harm I caused and will pay full restitution to all of the victims," Ms. Shah said, according to NBC News. She continued, "I recognize that some of you lost hundreds, and others lost thousands, and I promise to repay." Prosecutors stated that, from 2012 through March 2021 when she was detained in March 2021, she. Shah had been a key figure in the vast scheme, and she had assisted in the selling of leads or contact details for possible victims. Victims were told in "coaching" sessions that the sessions could help them make money from online companies the prosecutors have written in court papers. Instead, the session was designed for the victims that in order to help their online businesses successful they'd need to purchase additional items and servicesthat are of no or little significance, the prosecutors said. The majority of victims were older than 55, and some claimed to have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, which deprived them of the majority of their savings over their lives the prosecutors claimed. The accused, Ms. Shah was not deterred by Federal Trade Commission investigations and enforcement actions, or the arrest of scores of other people involved with the scam, as prosecutors claimed. In the end, they claimed, she attempted to conceal her crime by telling people to lie and erase texts, and registering banks and businesses under the names of others and attempting to relocate certain of her business operations to Kosovo. Before she was sentenced to a charge of wire fraud in the month of July for wire fraud to one of the counts she was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Shah sold "Justice for Jen Shah" T-shirts which included "NOT GUILTY" on the front and "#justiceforjenshah" on the back the prosecutors claimed. "With today's sentence, Jennifer Shah finally faces the consequences of the many years she spent targeting vulnerable, elderly victims," Damian Williams who is his position as the U.S. prosecutor of the Southern District of New York spoke in an interview. "These individuals were lured in by false promises of financial security, but in reality, Shah and her co-conspirators defrauded them out of their savings and left them with nothing to show for it," Mr. Williams said. Prosecutors asked that the court to sentence Mrs. Shah to 10 years in prison. Ms. Shah's lawyers had requested for an indefinite sentence of three years. They wrote in the court documents the fact that they were "an exceptional mother and a good woman who has already been punished extensively as a result of the sins of her past." "Though Ms. Shah admittedly played an important role in the particular fraud in which she was involved, she was only one of many people involved, was not involved in all facets of the conspiracy, never communicated with any of the victims, and she clearly did not invent this particular fraud," the lawyers of her client have written. "Nor was she a mastermind." Claire Fahy contributed reporting. Read the full article

[keywestlou]

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CONFLICT AS IS REST OF THE WORLD

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CONFLICT AS IS REST OF THE WORLD - https://keywestlou.com/catholic-church-in-conflict-as-is-rest-of-the-world/The Catholic Church is suffering internally as is the rest of the world. Its hierarchy divided. Similar to the U.S. Congress. Right and left at each other's throats. Especially the extreme right. The Roman Curia is composed of those Cardinals who run the Vatican. As with our Congress, split badly philosophically. Many anti Pope Francis. Makes running the Church an unusually difficult task. Outside influences involved. Several times I have written concerning Newt Gingrich and Steve Bannon. Both support Francis' overthrow. Gingrich's wife Callista was Trump's appointee as Ambassador to the Vatican. Provided Newt with open access to Vatican movers. Bannon's basic motivation in life is the overthrow of existing governments. He continues to seek Francis' overthrow. He and Gingrich worked hand in hand during Callista's ambassadorship. Both walk hand in hand with those bishops who oppose Francis within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Roman Curia comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. They are supposedly the group of various bureaus of the Holy See that assist the Pope in the day to day exercise of his primatial jurisdiction over the Roman Catholic Church. The Curia is traditionally associated with members of the Sacred College of Cardinals, acting either as a body or individually as administrators of the various bureaus. Francis has difficulty with many of them. They are opposed to "his ways" and want him deposed. Many openly buck him. Thursday, Francis addressed the Curia. He admonished them in terms of right and wrong, good and evil. Some of his words: "Be vigilant, evil comes back under new guises.....Before, evil appeared rough and violent, now it shows up as elegant and refined.....These elegant demons demons enter smoothly, without our even being conscious of them." Francis encouraged those present to always put Christ at the center, warning against the temptation of putting "too much of ourselves, our strategies, and our programs" instead. "Some of our failings, also as a Church, are a forceful summons to put Christ back at the center, for as Jesus says, 'Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.'" There is a message here. The saying.....God is in His Heaven, all is right with the world" is not correct. God is in His Heaven, but all is not right with the world! Today a special one. The birth of Christ. To all, a Merry Christmas! Best celebrated with family and friends. Not all so fortunate. Those alone will best enjoy the holiday by recollecting better times when it was spent with family and friends. A treacherous once in a generation winter storm is pummeling central and eastern U.S. It is called a "snowpocalypse." Key West is experiencing a very cold Christmas Day. I began writing this blog at 6 am. Just stepped out on the front porch to "feel" how cold. Cold!!! Fifty three degrees. High today projected at 59 degrees. Buffalo an example of how badly an area can be hit. Buffalo always has bad winters. They know how to handle the storms and are ready for them. This one unfortunately is over the top. Too much. Buffalo is being ravaged. Hundreds stranded in vehicles in frigid cold and drifting snow. No way for rescue workers to reach them. The entire of Erie County is without emergency service. No way for first responders to do what they normally would. A doctor was coaching a woman over the phone how to deliver her sister's baby. The storm has been labeled Buffalo's worst ever. It is reported the storm has passed. Buffalo is in the process of getting out and performing as it could not the past 24 hours. An interesting note in today's KeysNews. Makes reference to Christmas Day 1933 in Key West. The Manhattan Café was offering a dinner of turkey and dressing with all the trimmings for 65 cents. Those were the days! Enjoy your day.....best you can!