#Richard Pak

[ortodelmondo]

C'est un récit de l'explorateur Raymond Rallier du Baty écrit lors de son escale à Tristan Da Cunha en 1907 qui donne envie à Richard Pak de s'y rendre : «Tristan Da Cunha est une société comme en ont de tout temps rêvé les philosophes. Tous contribuent au bien commun. Il n'y a parmi eux ni haine, ni envie, ni malice.»

Richard Pak, Tristan da Cunha

[wailmutt]

overdue IZ art considering my brainrot kicked in during december when i actually watched it lmao

speedpaints in here if yall want it

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

[whatisonthemoon]

The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Korean Intelligence and Lobbying Scandal (1977)

This episode of “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” on PBS originally aired June 20, 1977

You can watch the full video here

ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening from Washington. Over the weekend we`ve had another burst of revelations and charges concerning the Korean intelligence and lobbying scandal. The New York Times reported that two years ago the United States bugged the Presidential mansion in South Korea, and produced specific reports on what the Times called "Korean bribery of American Congressmen." Former Texas Governor John Connally charged on NBC`s "Meet the Press" that the story could wind up as the biggest cover-up of this century. Official Washington, jittery after the Watergate experience, has watched the slow drip, drip of reported facts with mounting fascination. Every new element makes the web of Korean activity more tangled and harder to grasp. Jim? JIM LEHRER: This is a story with just about everything -- everything but an ending. Big names in government have been thrown around. There are tales of $100 bills stuffed in envelopes, lavish parties at exclusive Washington clubs, offers of gifts and trips and sex, secret agents lurking about and just about anything else you`d need to spice up a pulp thriller. But no only is the ending up in the air, the middle chapters aren`t complete. There are scads of investigations going on, but as of now most of the public information has come from those few who have chosen to talk or from various investigative journalism efforts. What we`re going to do tonight is simply put together the highlights of what is know at this point: the public record thus far, that will include some juicy tidbits of spice but also the more substantial question of what`s been happening to U.S. policy toward Korea in the process. MacNEIL: The roots of our Korean connection are buried in our military and economic entanglements with Korea. The bargaining counters have been troops and money. President Carter`s decision to with draw American ground troops from Korea signals the end of a military presence lasting since the Korean War. This presence began in earnest when the communist North Koreans invaded the South in 1950.The war ended in stalemate in 1953, after 54,000 Americans had died. The leading question for U.S. policy then became: how to prevent another conflict involving the major powers whose interests crossed at the thirty eighth parallel? The answer was regional stability and the containment of China. This meant the continuing presence of U.S. troops in South Korea, some 60,000 till 1970, then 42,000. It meant massive military and economic aid, officially more than $13 billion to this day. It also ultimately meant supporting whatever government happened to be in power in Seoul: at first, Syngman Rhee; then, after a coup in 1961, the increasingly despotic regime of Park Chung Hee. We wanted stability in Korea and Park was glad for U.S. assistance to buttress his power. That was the initial quid pro quo. But if Park needed U.S. troops and money to stay in power, we soon needed his help in Vietnam. South Korea sent 48,000 troops to Indochina in the late 1960`s. President Johnson and then-President Nixon paid nearly a billion dollars for them, and only told the Congress later. Special war-related contracts were also made available to Korean businessmen, hand picked by Park. When President Nixon recalled the Seventh Division from Korea in 1970, Park handed Uncle Sam another whopping bill, this time $1.5 billion in aid. Now a third bargaining counter appeared: rice. Washington began to ship huge amounts of rice to Korea under the Food for Peace program. Korea didn`t need that much rice; in fact, it ruined Korean rice production, as AID officials kept pointing out. But it kept the price of rice down in Korean cities where Park supporters resided. It enriched Park and his colleagues when they sold it for profit, and it kept American rice growers -- and their Congressmen -- happy. LEHRER: In Korea, President Park had other problems. There were student demonstrations, close and contested elections, and talk of U.S. troop withdrawals. So the new President set up the Korean Central Intelligence Agency -- the KCIA -- to combat this dissident trouble from within. It was modeled after the American CIA. but soon there were complaints from anti- Park Koreans about KCIA strong-arm tactics and out and-out brutality, among other things. But the organization grew -and flourished. A recent New York Times Magazine story estimated that it has more than 50,000 agents o various kinds on its payroll, both in Korea and abroad. And "abroad" has meant mostly the United States. Its job in Korea may have been to quiet the dissidents, but here the KCIA`s primary mission was to win friends and influence people, the more important the friends and the people the better. Dr. Jai Hyon Lee, Chief Cultural and Information Officer at the South Korean Embassy here from 1970 to `73, appeared on our program last November, and here`s what he had to say about it:

Dr. JAI HYON LEE: I was attending a series of staff meetings in the spring of 1973 at which the KCIA station chief, with the aid of his assistants, was telling us what sort of clandestine operations they were going to do. In other words, they were trying to orient us to their plans so that they could initiate us into that operation. And in those plans included were such as seduction and, if possible, payoff or buying off American leaders, including Congressmen and Senators. LEHRER: Press reports, particularly in the New York Times, say the American lobbying plan was hatched at a meeting in November O, at the presidential mansion in Seoul, known as the Blue House. It followed the Washington announcement that 20,000 of the 60,000 American troops in Korea then would be withdrawn. In addition to President Park and other high officials of the Seoul government, the Times and the Washington Post have reported that at least two other people were present: Tongsun Park and Pak Bo Hi. They are important to this total story, and we`ll be back to them. The Blue House plan included making campaign contributions and gifts to American public officials as well as offering them free trips to Korea and other places, honorary degrees from Korean universities and a lot of entertainment here in Washington. Dr. Lee summed up the purposes:

LEE: They wanted to influence the Congress and their legislative activities in favor of Park`s dictatorial policies -- that`s one thing they went after. But it was not only those KCIA agents stationed at the Embassy but there were other channels... LEHRER: Dr. Lee said the KCIA`s efforts here also included the suppression of criticism among Korean residents in the United States. In short, the KCIA operation here has been extensive. In addition to the work done out of the Embassy in Washington, there were also KCIA stations at Korean consulates in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and at the Korean Observer Mission at the United Nations. MacNEIL: The key operative -- perhaps the most important unofficial link -- between the Korean government and the United States was-Washington businessman Tongsun Park. This Park -- no relation to President Park - became famous in Washington society for his lavish parties for society figures, Congressmen, Senators and high government officials -- valuable contacts for an unregistered foreign lobbyist. Park was born in Korea, but came to school in Washington in the 1950`s. As a student at Georgetown University he met Chung II Kwon, Korea`s Ambassador to Washington, later Prime Minister. Chung introduced Tongsun Park to President Park and to Kim Hyung Wook, the director of the KCIA. On June 5 the New York Times quoted Kim as saying, "When I was director of the KCIA, he was my agent. I controlled Park at that time." Kim said that Park volunteered to persuade Congressional friends to vote for more military aid to South Korea. In return, according to the Times, Park was later named sole agent of American rice sales to Korea. After attending that Blue House meeting in 1970 Park began operating in Washington in a big way: offering campaign contributions to Congressmen, throwing large parties for such luminaries as Tip O`Neill when he was majority leader and John McFall when he was majority whip. Among the hundreds of guests were high level officials like Gerald Ford, Elliott Richardson, and former CIA director Richard Helms. In all Park spent between one-half and one million dollars a year, according to the Washington Post. Just where all that money came from is not certain. But when Park fled the United States last winter, he left behind a network of holdings that connected him to many influential people in Washington as well as made money for him: a mansion in an exclusive area of Washington; an apartment in the Watergate; this headquarters for his holding company, Pacific Development, Incorporated; a third home in Georgetown; stock in Pisces, a fashionable Georgetown discotheque; businesses such as the Sutter`s Tavern Corporation, which operates the Georgetown Club -- the site of many of his parties. And Park included his friends in the deals. A number of "silent" partners in Congress have come to light. In a November 1976 interview former Democratic Congressman Richard T. Hanna of California told the New York Times he earned between $60,000 and $70,000 in three years as Park`s silent partner. According to the Times Park told federal investigators that another partner, former Congressman Cornelius Gallagher, who spent more than a year in jail on tax evasion charges, also accepted money from him. The Times said that in 1975, after Gallagher had left Congress and prison, Park transferred $250,000 from a Bermuda account to him. But from the beginning, rice deals were Park`s forte, and may have been his chief source of money. According to the Washington Post he received eight million dollars over four years in the early 1970`s from just one U.S. rice exporter. Congressman John McFall, a Democrat who represents a rice-growing district in California, has told the Washington Post that he wrote at least four letters for Park and received some 9,000 in cash over a period of five years. In one letter written in February of 1973, McFall praised Tongsun Park to President Park Chung Hee. Two months later Park held a party to celebrate McFall`s selection as majority whip in the House. One of Park`s contributions to McFall was $4,000 in cash left at his office on October 18, 1974, while McFall was out campaigning. JOHN McFALL: That was a legal contribution from Tongsun Park, who in 1974 was not under any kind of suspicion. He was a well-known man here in town. I put that into a legal account. I spent it for legal office expenditures, and I have filed with the clerk a complete report of my office account from its beginning in 1972 and a report for this Congress which shows how I spent that money for newsletters and office equipment. That is a complete statement of what my relationship is with Tongsun Park, which is only those two legal contributions. I have known him only as a rice salesman over the years, and helped to sell California rice, with him as a broker for South Korea. MacNEIL: Until a new law came into effect on January 1, 1975, foreign contributions to Congressional campaigns were not illegal. Otto Passman, the powerful chairman of the House subcommittee that approved foreign aid appropriations, also wrote Park Chung Hee to praise the "phenomenal" work of Tongsun Park in arranging large American rice sales to South Korea. According to the Washington Post, the former Louisiana Democrat also noted that Korean purchases of rice, cotton and soybeans had "greatly helped" his district and state. Park also helped sell rice grown in the Louisiana district of former Congressman Edwin Edwards and offered a contribution to his gubernatorial campaign. Edwards, now Governor of Louisiana, claims he refused the contribution but admits that his wife, Elaine, did accept $10,000 in cash from Park. Gov. EDWIN EDWARDS, (D) Louisiana: My wife does many things that I don`t know about, and vice-versa. I`m sure every wife has secrets from her husband, some large, some small. This particular incident happened five years ago, seven months before I became Governor, two months before I won the first primary, at a time when I was not on the public payroll. Even my harshest critic has not suggested that there was any quid pro quo for the money or that I had done this, that or the other for Tongsun Park in return for the contribution. It was a private matter between him and Elaine. And unless and until someone is prepared to show a violation of the public trust or an improper action on behalf of Park in return for it, then I never did understand the great hue and cry about it. MacNEIL: In mid-October last year, Park quietly left the United States, leaving Justice Department lawyers with whom he had been cooperating wondering whether he would ever return. Park visited Seoul and Tokyo after his departure, according to the Washington Post, and is now believed to be living in London. LEHRER: Tongsun Park wasn`t the only Korean who threw big parties in Washington. Another was Suzi Park Thomson, a naturalized U.S. citizen who worked for four different Congressmen in the last ten years. Her last job was with Carl Albert, the recently retired Speaker of the House. She earned $14,000 a year as a clerk-typist, but somehow managed to throw numerous large and expensive parties to mix Congressmen and Koreans. The Justice Department is granting her immunity to talk, according to the New York Times. But there is more to this, of course, than parties. Back to Jai Hyon Lee, the former press secretary at the Korean Embassy in Washington. He told us of a scene one day in the Ambassador`s office: LEE: The Ambassador was at the desk and quite busy packing up something out of his attached case. As I approached he looked up and said, "Well, I`m busy. Why don`t you speak up for what you got on your mind? I have to leave soon." So I said, "I can`t discuss this matter within a matter of two or three minutes." By that time he was finishing up his packing of hundred dollar bills into a number of plain white envelopes, and I was kind of appalled to see so much cash. I saw a large amount of money, but never in cash. So I asked him what he was doing. He said, "Well, K need these things delivered." He was by then through with stuffing this money into envelopes, and he put some envelopes into his inside pockets and outside pockets; still there were about a good two dozen envelopes left in his briefcase. He closed the briefcase and he was standing up, so I asked him where he was going. And he said, "To the Capitol." LEHRER: That brings us to another important man who attended the Blue House meeting. His name is Colonel Pak Bo Hi, a former Korean intelligence officer and now known mainly as translator and aide to controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon. In 1964 Colonel Pak helped found an organization here called the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation. A former intelligence colleague, Kim Jong Pil, the founder of the Korean CIA, was named honorary chairman. Honorary presidents through the years have included people like former U.S. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Richard Nixon was on the board of directors at one time and so were Ed Sullivan and Perle Mesta. The Foundation appealed for money to finance Radio Free Asia, which unlike Radio Free Europe had no connection to the U.S. government, although some contributors may have thought it did. Another of its projects was the Children`s Relief Fund, set up to help feed hungry children. Last October the New York State Board of Social Welfare barred the Foundation from further fund raising in the state on the grounds that an investigation showed that only eight percent of its money actually went to children. There have been suggestions that-this and other funds collected by the Foundation were used in the Blue House lobby effort but there is no publicly disclosed evidence to back that up. Colonel Pak`s association with money did not end with the Foundation, however. He was also involved in the formation of the Diplomat National Bank in Washington. According to the New York Times, Colonel Pak personally assembled half of the bank`s initial two-`million-dollar capital with the express purpose of servicing the Asian-American community.

And one of the bank`s biggest depositors was Reverend Moon`s Unification Church. In addition, the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation moved its accounts to the new bank. There`s also a Tongsun Park connection in this one. The Times reported that the bank`s organizers kept Park off the board of the bank but that Park secretly went ahead and invested $200,000 in the project through business associates. The directors have since asked the Park people as well as Colonel Pak and the Unification Church group to sell their shares. While there has been the implication that the bank was used as a depository for some of the influence-peddling money, there have been no charges that the bank itself was involved in any wrongdoing. MacNEIL: How many officials and members of Congress this vast and intricate network was able to reach is as yet unclear. The Washington Post reported "at least twenty-two," the Washington Star sails many as twenty-five," and the New York Times reported the possible involvement of ninety members" of Congress. Representative John Brademas of Indiana, the present majority whip, said he received three campaign contributions from Park totaling $5,150, but turned down a free vacation. According to the Washington Post, Nancy Howe, former aide to Betty Ford, and her husband accepted two vacations. Jerome Waldie, former Democratic Congressman from California, accepted $2,000 for his gubernatorial race. Others under investigation, according to the Washington Post, for accepting contributions include Representatives Joseph Ad abbo, John Murphy and Lester Wolff, all New York Democrats; Republican Tennyson Guyer of, Ohio and Democrat Robert Leggett of California. A number of Congressmen also took trips to Korea. According to the New York Times, they included Republican Edward Derwinski of Illinois an Democrat Clement Zablocki of Wisconsin. Zablocki is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation. Others went to Korea with money provided by the Korean-U.S. Economic Council, a group closely associated with the Korean government. According to the Washington Post these included Republicans Willaim Ketchum of California, Robert Daniel, Jr. of Virginia, Marjorie Holt of Maryland, and Senator Jake Garn of Utah. Garn told the Post he took the trip because "I don`t believe in junkets at the taxpayers` expense." This same organization partly funded the trips of Republican Thad Cochran and Democrat David Bowen, both of Mississippi, and Democrat Dawson Mathis of Georgia, according to the Washington Post. When questioned, many said they felt no conflict. Some, given gets or contributions, felt it necessary to return them. According to the Washington Post, these people gave gifts back: Democrat Phil Burton of California sent back to the Korean Embassy a topaz pin that had been left at his office for his wife. Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska returned a campaign contribution of at least $2,500. Don Bonker, a Democrat from the State of Washington, was offered something different -- a beautiful woman. He said no. Democrats Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Helen Meyner of New Jersey both turned down free trips to South Korea. Republican Charles Wiggins of California was offered a contribution he declined. Rep. CHARLES WIGGINS`, (R) California: It was in 1974, and it was in the election season, and we had some small talk and simply exchanged pleasantries which included a question on his part as to how my campaign was going. And I told him that it appeared to be going fine. Then he said that he hoped that I was re-elected, and he said that." there are people in Korea that would be interested in helping your campaign." Well, he simply made that statement, and that triggered my response, which was simply that it`s illegal for foreign nationals to make contributions to American political races and of course ,I couldn`t accept any such help. MacNEIL: John Nidecker, a White House aide to President Nixon, was given $10,000 in cash as he left Korea after a visit in 1974. He returned the money and also later gifts of antiques worth another $10,000. A few months later a Korean national assemblyman left valuable gifts for twelve White House aides, including a pearl necklace for President Nixon`s secretary, Rosemary Woods. All those gifts were mailed back to Korea. Former House Speaker Carl Albert, in whole office Suzi Park Thomson worked, was showered with gifts of Korean art worth more than $5,000. Albert reported them to the government, and they now sit in the vaults of the General Services Administration. LEHRER: There is a final fundamental question: did the Blue House plan to influence the Congress in its Korean policy pay off? All that`s known at this point is the Congressional record on Korea -- every Congressional effort to call for a troop withdrawal has been defeated. In the most recent action last Thursday, the Senate declined to endorse President Carter`s decision to pull out the remaining 42,000 troops. The record is the same on military and economic aid.-- almost every effort to reduce it has been defeated. Another "known" in this equation is that Melvin Laird, then Secretary of Defense, warned the State Department as early as 1970 that the Koreans had set up a lobbying effort to undermine the withdrawal of American troops. But anything substantial one way or another on the question of linkage will have to await the outcome of one of at least fifteen investigations now under way. There is a special Korean Investigation Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee. The House Ethics Committee is probing the conduct of individual members of Congress. A Senate subcommittee has looked into connections between an oil company and Tongsun Park. And the Senate Intelligence Committee is now reviewing actions by the FBI, CIA, and Justice and State Departments. The Justice Department itself has been presenting evidence to a grand jury for over a year. Other agencies, which include the IRS, SEC, Federal Reserve Board, Department of Agriculture and the Army, are looking into questions germane to them -- the tax returns of possibly involved Congressmen, possible payoffs by defense contractors, the financing of the Diplomat Bank, illegal kickbacks on rice deals, rigging of bids on military contracts, and so on. Finally, last week, the Republican leadership, Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee and Representative John Rhodes of Arizona, suggested it was time for the appointment of a Watergate-style prosecutor. So far, President Carter says no. Jody Powell, the President`s spokesman, said that unlike Watergate, there was no reason to believe the Attorney General to be involved or in any way unable to carry out an appropriate investigation. Everywhere,. it seems, there are some reminders of Watergate. One of the most obvious areas of comparison is the possibility of an official cover- up. Donald Ranard, former head of the State Department`s Office of Korean Affairs, raised this question on this program last November. DONALD RANARD: It seems to me that we knew enough to have moved this administration towards an investigation far earlier than it began. We knew this beginning in 1970, we knew it in `71; in `72 I was talking to the Department of Justice; in `73 I was discussing the matter with the FBI and in `74 as well. But for reasons which I still have some difficulty grasping, it was an administrative decision, I believe, not to move ahead with it. LEHRER: Ranard claims to have received numerous rebuffs from Justice Department officials including John Mitchell, Richard Kleindeinst and Robert Mardian on grounds of "insufficient evidence" for prosecution. If the government did indeed move slowly as charged, why was there a reluctance to investigate aggressively? RANARD: Because of the money being passed -being passed, I think, on both sides of the aisle. I think the administration was probably in no position to open an investigation against the Korean CIA. MacNEIL: Whatever the reason for the delays, there is clearly no mood in Washington for any rush to judgment. And the very deliberate pace of all these investigations has fed the frequent charges of a cover-up. But at this moment only federal officials at the heart of the investigation could say whether this is going to blow up into a scandal of Watergate proportions or disappear in a puff of political smoke. Although there have been unconfirmed reports, it is not even known whether anyone -- Congressmen, U.S. officials, or Koreans -will be indicted...and if they are indicted, for what specific crimes. To know all that we`ll have to wait until more facts come out. Much may depend on the evidence of Kim Hyung Wook, the former KCIA boss who controlled Tongsun Park. Kim is now living here in exile. On Wednesday he testifies in public before a House subcommittee.

Related links

President Park Said to Direct Lobbying (1978)

Korean Bribe Figure Tied to Bank Inquiry (1977)

Former KCIA Head Says Park Tong Sun was Korean Agent (1977)

Kim Jong Pil offers support to the Unification Church members in San Francisco in 1962

George Bush, head of CIA, protected Moon

How Moonies cult helped Tae Kwon Do

Rev. Moon Aide Concedes KCIA Sent Him $3,000 (1978)

House Unit to Query Aides to U.S. in Korea (1977)

What the KCIA and the Moonies did to the Editor of the Korea Journal, Song Sun Keun

Rev. Moon Buys а College, Hires Spooks & Moonies (1992)

Neil Salonen - KCIA Agents Becoming UC Members is Not Aboveboard!

[nevver]

Heartbreak rides for free, Richard Pak (@richardpakfr)

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

What kind of members were Michael Warder and Gary Jarmin?

Another re-posting of Don Diligent’s research – this one from February 7, 2017 – “What kind of members were Michael Warder & Gary Jarmin?! How dangerous is the Council for National Policy?!”

Some editing and re-formatting not done by Don Diligent (Ed Coffman) on this page – bolding added for emphasis or to point out people of interest

▲ Mother Jones (link) - May 1981 - Page 14 - article that goes into Warder, Jarmin, and Moon’s organizing in D.C.

“Moonies in Reagandom” article in Mother Jones:

Two former top leaders of the Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church have landed big jobs in right-wing bases in Washington, D.C. Michael Young Warder…is now director of administration at the Heritage Foundation…meanwhile, Gary Jarmin…is now legislative director of the Christian Voice Lobby. Both men say they are no longer associated with Moon. Former Moonies have been eagerly awaiting the defection of someone on Warder’s level. But when telephoned by “Ex-Moon”, the national coalition of apostate Moonies, the former publisher wouldn’t talk. When “Mother Jones” called Warder to ask if he is a mole for Moon, he denied the charge. Stressing that he has made a clean break… But he declined to reveal any information on the operations of the Moon projects he led. Over at Christian Voice, Gary Jarmin insisted to us. “I’m no longer affiliated with the church; “I’m not a member of it and I don’t consult with their people…I think my actions speak louder than my words.” Some of Jarmin’s actions however, seem to speak out of both sides of his mouth. The February 20 edition of the Moonie student newspaper ran a lengthy interview with him, in which he hyped Christian Voice but did not mention his own history with Moon.

▲ 1800 Couple Blessing (February 8, 1975) list with Michael Warder and Cheryl Gilkerson (tparents.org) Michael Warder remains married to the wife he was “blessed” to in the Unification Church’s 1800 blessing. 

▲ A snippet from the Fraser report LINK Investigation of Korean-American Relations (Moonies, aka Unification Church) – Diplomat National Bank – Page 35:

The subcommittee’s interest in the Diplomat National Bank resulted from an allegation that persons associated with Sun Myung Moon and Tongsun Park tried to gain control of the bank…The Diplomat National Bank of Washington, D.C. opened on December 15, 1975…the chairman was Charles Kim. During the summer of 1975, when Charles Kim was soliciting stock subscriptions…Pak arranged a meeting at Moon’s residence in Tarrytown, N.Y., attended by Charles Kim, Jhoon Rhee, and Raymond Gilkerson, a businessman with banking experience whose son-in-law was prominent in the Moon Organization.

Power Elites: The Merger of Right and Left - Heritage Foundation - The Moon Connection (archive.org):

Edwin J. Feulner, Jr. was recruited in 1977 by Richard Scaife to become Heritage president…The 1975 Congressional investigation of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the U.S. noted a connection between Heritage and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon; ‘In 1975, Ed Feulner…was introduced to KCIA station chief Kim Yung Hwan by Neil Salonen and Dan Feffernan of the Freedom Leadership foundation.’ The Heritage offices in Washington, D.C. have housed and employed a number of Unification Church operatives: ‘Heritage’s Director of Administration in 1980 was Michael Warder, who was a key leader of Moon’s Unification network in the United States …

▲ Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr of the Council for National Policy (CNP) The Council For National Policy – Past/Present Officers & Prominent Member Profiles (archive.org):

▲ Michael Warder in more recent years Southern Poverty Law Center – The Council For National Policy: Behind the Curtain – May 17, 2016 (splcenter.org)

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is, in the words of The New York Times, “a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country,” an organization so tight-lipped that it tells its people not to admit membership or even name the group. It is important enough that last fall, according to an account in The National Review, Donald Trump and five other Republican presidential candidates each took 30 minutes to address the group; the conservative journal reported that Trump was by far the favorite candidate. The 2014 CNP directory is a remarkable roster of significant figures on the political and religious right…What follows is a list of leading officials of right-wing or conservative media organizations who are also members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) [ … ] the Washington Times - David Keene, Opinion Editor [ … ] The following list of 20 college and university officials at 16 schools who are also members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) gives a sense of how far the group has reached into conservative academia, particularly religious institutions. Two of those listed are also members of the CNP’s Board of Governors. [ … ] Pepperdine University - Vice Chancellor Michael Y. Warder

▲ Gary Jarmin The Council for National Policy - Selected Member Biographies (archive.org)

Gary Jarmin - CNP 1984-85, 1988, 1996, 1998…president, Jar-Mon Consultants, Inc;  Legislative Director, Christian Voice, a front for the Unification Church; Lobbyist and political consultant in Washington, D.C.; President of Jar-Mon Consultants, Inc., a firm specializing in political activism, election campaigns and foreign policy matters in East Asia; designed and directed registration drive in 1984 for American Coalition for Traditional Values; Chaired Christians for Reagan campaign in 1980 and 1984; Former leader of the Student Alliance for Education, former secretary general of Moon’s Freedom Leadership Foundation; 1975 worked for American Conservative Union, a senior group founded by Young Americans for Freedom, stayed as legislative director four years. Knew Moon since 1969.

Federal Election Commission (archive.org) - Page 19 and Page 156:

American Conservative Union……1976…Charles Black, David Keene, Donald Devine, and Phil Crane were both ACU directors and CFR regional coordinators [ … ] 1976 [ … ] Gary Louis Jarmin serves as legislative director of ACU and as director of ACU’s "bureaucratic watchdog project”, Public Monitor. He is responsible for ACU’s congressional lobbying efforts and for editing the Public Monitor Report. His supervisor is the ACU Executive Director. His subordinates are part-time student interns placed in his charge.

▲ Covert Action issue with an indepth article on Moonie politics that gives some history of the UC’s cooperation with both the Japanese and South Korean governments 

Covert Action Information Bulletin – Spring 1987 - Phasing out Democracy: Moon’s Law by Frederick Clarkson – Undercover Moonie - Gary Jarmin (Pages 44-45) (archive.org):

Christian Voice has come under fire recently for misrepresenting itself, and for its ties to the Moon organization…At the center of this controversy is lobbyist Gary Jarmin, a Moonie from 1967-1973(4?) who was active in Moon’s Freedom Leadership Foundation and who many suspect may be a Moon agent in the New Right. A May 1981 article in “Mother Jones” raised this question … [… ] by February 1983 Jarmin had helped organize the first CAUSA North America conference, held in Jamaica. Also in attendance were Christian Voice chairman Robert Grant and Advisory Board members W. Steuart McBirney and Ray Allen, and political strategist Colonel V. Doner. The relationships go even deeper. The three-member board of Christian Voice’s political action committee is chaired by Jarmin, and includes Rev. Don Sills of the Moon-funded Coalition for Religious Freedom. In August of 1985, Jarmin helped organize CRF’s God and Freedom Banquet held in celebration of Moon’s release from jail. He also led legislative workshops at secretive CAUSA indoctrination sessions for American state legislators during 1986. These events drew about 100 conservative legislators from both parties to all-expense-paid junkets, ostensibly to discuss the Constitution. A more elite version of these meetings is the CAUSA-sponsored American Leadership Conference, where Jarmin has spoken. Jarmin has been joined at other CAUSA events by Robert Grant, who addressed the 1985 CAUSA National Conference in San Francisco. Grant currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Religious Freedom.

Power Elites: The Merger of Right and Left – Heritage Foundation – The Moon Connection (archive.org):

Christian Voice is one Moon-connected group that has operated out of the Heritage building. A ‘former’ Moon operative, Gary Jarmin joined the Christian Voice (CV) staff. CV’s chair, Robert Grant, has been a leader of Moon’s Unification network front groups such as the American Freedom Coalition.

*ADDITIONAL NOTE - added since Ed Coffman’s death:

Ex-Moonie Profile: Michael Warder (WIOTM):

Michael Warder, 1968 graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Political Science, quickly became a top Moonie directly reporting to Moon, rubbing up against known KCIA/CIA operatives, including Tom Ward and Bo Hi Pak. Michael Warder was a Director of the Unification Church of America in 1977. He was listed as Director of Tong II in 1978, and was the largest American stockholder of Tong II Enterprises in the 1970’s. He was Secretary of the International Cultural Foundation. He had an editorial position in News World Communications which published the UC New York newspaper, ‘The News World’ – later called ‘The New York Tribune’. Cheryl Gilkerson, his wife, joined the church in Paris, where Tom Ward also joined the church as a student around the same time. Cheryl and Michael left the church in 1979 and remain married, and Michael continues to be a proponent of right-wing politics, employed for years by the Claremont Institute, a conservative think thank. Their son Michael Warder Jr. also went into political science,  and later law. He spent five years in the Marine Corps. He founded the “Russian Club” at school. Their daughter Amy Lynn went into law as well.

Related:

The Curious Case of Gary Jarmin

Gary Jarmin was recruited to the Unification Church as a teenager from a trouble teens camp

More on Gary Jarmin

From Korea with love (1974) – the article that changed Jarmin’s trajectory in the Unification Church

Michael Warder’s reasons for leaving. As a top UC leader in the US in the 1970s he reported directly to Moon.

Former Unification Church Official, Michael Warder, Analyzes Moon’s Organization

Michael Warder explains Moon’s News World media strategy

Moon wanted a “Vast conglomerate of mutually supporting businesses”

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak

Michael Warder: Another CIA Moonie Asset?

[brw]

Do you feel that Reed launching the Hulk into space was in-character? Just to be clear I haven't read the comic that this incident came from.

no, i don't think so, mainly because reed and bruce have always relatively been good friends and reed has gone out of his way to help bruce before, and bruce is very trusted by reed as evidenced as reed referring to bruce for gamma research when sue fell ill in ff #226. but like, ultimately planet hulk was an event and they needed characters like reed, t'challa, charles, black bolt to act out of character to do that event and i'm a big enough fan of what was spawned from that event (amadeus cho & pak's incredible hercules run) that i don't mind too much that it happened, i guess i just wish certain people who want to read the worst into reed richards as possible wouldn't emphasise it so much as if most characters aren't handled poorly in big events like that.

[myrammmortal]

Chapter 38, I think we're back to Paul's POV? But it can be Richard's if you want.

AN: wut doez every1 fink if I end da strory and den I add sum more 2 it after vocation? oh yah asnd prepz stup flaming if u dnot lik dat story den take muh quiz ok den u wil c if ur gofik or not!1111111

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX6666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Satan and I walked 2 his car. It wuz a blak car wif pentagrams all over it. On da license plate said 666 just lik Richard’s car. I went in it seduktivly. Stan started 2 drive it. We talked about Satanism (lolz he wuz named after Satan), kuttting, musik and being goffik.

“Oh my satan, Gerard is so fuking hot!11” Volxemort agreed as we smoked sum weed. (koz bi guyz r hot dey r so sensitive I luv dem lol goez fux a bi guy)

“Lol, I totally decided not 2 comit suicide when I herd Hilena.” I said in a flirty voice. “……….Hey Satan do u know da cure 4 when ppl r adikted 2 Volxemortseruem?”

“Well………………” he thought. “I fink u have 2 drink Vampire blod.”

Suddenly Volxemort parked da car behind a blak movie theater. Satan and I walked outside. We went in2 da movie tether were they were showing da Excercist. In it a boy and a gurl were doing it sudenly a cereal killer came lol. Satan and I laughed at da blood koz we’re sadists.

While Satan was watching da movie, I had an idea. I took Satan’s gothic blak Nightmare b4 Christmas cigar sexily from his poket and put sum Amnesia potion in it. I put it bak in his blak Emile the Strange bag. Satan turned arund and started 2 smoke it. Blak cloudz wif red pentagramz ind em started 2 fly around everywhere.

“OMG!111” Satan said jumping up. I gasped koz I wuz afraid hed notizd. “Paul Darkness Omnipotentia Crow Butt Troglodyte Landers gess what?”

I new that the amnesia had worked.

“Amnesia potion has not been invented yet so it will not work.” He said. “2 badd coz I wanted 2 use sum on u.”

“Kul. So how do you know about it then?” I raised my eye suggestingly. And den………. he tok of my cloves sexily and we started 2 make out. I tok of his shit. He had six-pak justr lik Gerard Way!11 We frenched.

“Xcuze me but u r going 2 have 2 leave!111” shooted da lady behind us she was a prep.

“Fuk u!11” I said. Suddenly…………………. I attaked her suking all her blood.

“Noooooo!11” she screamed. All the preps in da theater screamed but everyone else crapped koz Satan and I loked so cute 2gether. Satan and I started to walk outside. It was getting very smelly in there anyway so it was time to go (get it? because they crapped and I'm so goffik)

“Zomg how did u do that?” Voldremort asked in a turned-on voice.

“I’m a vampire.” I said as we went into the car.

“Siriusly?” he gasped.

“Yah siriusly.” I said drinking sum beer. Satan started 2 drive da car. I smelled happily. A side effect of so many people crapping together

“Itz too bad we didn’t get 2 c da rest of the movie, don’t u fink?”

“Yah.” I said as we kised passively. Satan parked in a blak driveway next 2 da place where Richard and I had watched GC for the frist time. We went inside where Marylin Mason wuz playing and started to mosh lol.

“Anti-ppl now uve gone 2 far Jeus Krist Superstar!1111” screamed Marlin on da stage. We did the devil fingers. I started 2 dance really close to Satan. He was so shmexay!1 He looked at me all emo with his gothic red eyes and he looked exactly like Milkey Way. I almost got an orgaism!1 Suddenly Marylin Mason stopped singing.

“I wood like to peasant……………..XBlakXTearX!11” he said. I ran onstage. Lucian, Samaro, Snap and Hades were there. They started 2 play their instilments. I got onstag.

“Wel if u wonted honesty datz all u had 2 say!1111” I sang. (I dnot own da lyerix 2 dat song) My voice sounded lik a pentagram betwen Amy Lee and a gurl version of Gerard Woy. Everyone clappd. Satan got an eructation. “I’M NUT OKAY!1” I sang finaly. Suddenly Lucian started playing da song wrong by mistak.

“OMFG!1” yielded James. “Wut the fuck?”

“Woops im sory!” said Lucian.

“You fuking ashhole!1” James shouted angrily.

“U guys are such prepz!11” Snap said. “Cum on it wuz a mistake!1”

“Yah itz not his fault!11” said Serious.

“No he ruined the fucking song!1” yelled Samaro.

“U guys stop!11” I shotoed angrily but it waz 2 late. They all began 2 fight. Sudenly Samaro took out hiz nife.

“OMFG no!11” shouted Lucan but it wuz 2 late James tried 2 shoot off his arm.

And den……………………………I jumped secxily in front of da bullet!11

“No!111” yielded everyone but it wuz 2 late suddenly everyfing went blak.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.3

Holidays

Althoea Asteroid Day

American Circus Day

American Creed Day

Armenian Appreciation Day

Beech Tree Day (French Republic)

Corrupt Society Day

Day of the Bride (Argentina)

Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day

A Drop of Water is a Grain of Gold [also 1st Sunday]

Fan Dance Day

Find A Rainbow Day

Ghost Machine Day

Good Deeds Day

Independent Artist Day

International Day Against Victim Blaming

Jane Goodall Day (Los Angeles)

Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus; Japan)

Love A Muslim Day (UK)

National Chalk Day

National Film Score Day

National Grey Day

National Inspiring Joy Day

National Pac-Man Day

National Shoot Your Shot Day

Overcome a Handicap Day

Peace Day (Angola)

Pony Express Day

Second Republic Day (Guinea)

TV Guide Day

Tweed Day

Weed Out Hate: Sow the Seeds of Greatness Day

World Aquatic Animal Day

World Cloud Security Day

World Party Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

Fish Fingers and Custard Day

National Chocolate Mousse Day

1st Wednesday in April

Donate Life Living Donor Day [1st Wednesday]

Global Day of the Engineer [1st Wednesday]

National Day of Hope [1st Wednesday]

National Walking Day [1st Wednesday]

Paraprofessional Appreciation Day [1st Wednesday]

Safe Place Selfie Day [1st Wednesday]

Whole Grain Sampling Day [1st Wednesday]

Independence & Related Days

Albay Province Day (Philippines)

Declaration of the Second Republic (Guinea)

Malinovia (Declared 2018) [unrecognized]

Festivals Beginning April 3, 2024

Arizona Bike Week (Scottsdale, Arizona) [thru 4.7]

Bacchanal Jamaica (Kingston, Jamaica) [thru 4.9]

Taste of Vail (Vail, Colorado) [thru 4.6]

Feast Days

Agape, Chionia, and Irene (Christian; Martyrs & Virgins)

Aristæus (Positivist; Saint)

Bud Fisher (Artology

Burgundofara (Christian; Saint & Virgin)

Captain Cabbage (Muppetism)

Create a Mandala Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Cutios (Time of the Winds; Celtic Book of Days)

Day of Sheela-Na-Gig (Pagan)

Doris Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Pak Tai (Macau) [3rd Day of 3rd Lunar Month]

Fred Kida (Artology)

Goof Friday (Church of the SubGenius)

Henry Dinnerstein (Artology)

Luigi Scrosoppi (Christian; Saint)

Nicetias (Christian; Saint)

Pancras of Taormina (Christian; Martyr)

Persephone’s Return from the Underworld (Ancient Rome)

Plato (Christian; Saint)

Proserpina’s Rise from the Underworld Day (Ancient Greece)

Richard of Chichester (Christian; Saint)

Sandra Boynton (Artooogy)

Seize a Sausage Day (Pastafarian)

The Shower Dance (Shamanism)

Ulpin of Tyre (Christian; Saint)

Washington Irving (Writerism)

Xystus (Christian; Martyr)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sizdar-Bedah (Unlucky to stay indoors; Iran)

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unlucky Monday (when God condemned the towns of Beram, Lipandas, Madama, Sodom and Gomorrah; Philippines) [1st Monday] (2 of 4)

Premieres

Adventureland (Film; 2009)

Are You Lonesome Tonight, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1960)

Beethoven (Film; 1992)

Bull-ero (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Clerow Wilson’s Great Escape (DePatie-Freleng Animated TV Special; 1974)

Dead Babies, by Martin Amis (Novel; 1975)

The Doddlebops (Children’s TV Series; 2004)

The Druid of Shannara, by Terry Brooks (Novel; 1991)

Fast & Furious (Film; 2009) [F&F #4]

Flip’s Lunch Room (MGM Cartoon; 1933)

Fuels Rush In or The Star-Spangled Boner (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 37; 1960)

Furious 7 (Film; 2015) [F&F #7]

I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1936)

It Happened at the World’s Fair (Film; 1963)

It’s Now or Never, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1960)

Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Manuel Puig (Novel; 1976)

The Long, Hot Summer (Film; 1958)

Louisiana Hayride (Radio Music Series; 1948)

Mercury Rising (Film; 1998)

My Hero Academia (Anime TV Series; 2016)

Oh, Gentle Spring (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Old Mother Hubbard (Ub Iwerks ComicColor Cartoon; 1935)

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregor (Novel; 2008)

Piano Concerto in A Minor, by Edvard Grieg (Concerto; 1869)

Planet of the Apes (Film; 1968)

Planning for Good Eating (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Porky’s Romance (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

The Pottsylvania Permanent or I’ve Grown Accustomed to the Place (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 38; 1960)

Rock-A-Doodle (Animated Film; 1992)

Rumple of the Bailey (UK TV Series; 1978)

The Sea-Wolf (Novel; 1904)

Son of Hashimoto (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1961)

The Swimming Hour, by Andrew Bird with Bowl of Fire (Album; 2001)

TV Guide (Weekly Magazine; 1953)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Film; 1968)

The Western Trail, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Yogi the Easter Bear (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1994)

Today’s Name Days

Richard, Sixtus (Austria)

Radojko, Ratko, Rikard, Siksto (Croatia)

Richard (Czech Republic)

Nicæas (Denmark)

Uko, Uku (Estonia)

Sampo, Veeti (Finland)

Richard (France)

Irene, Lisa, Richard (Germany)

Illyria’s (Greece)

Buda, Richárd (Hungary)

Riccardo, Sisto (Italy)

Daira, Dairis, Ferdinands (Latvia)

Kristijonas, Ričardas, Rimtautė, Vytenis (Lithuania)

Gunnvald, Gunvor (Norway)

Antoni, Cieszygor, Jakub, Pankracy, Ryszard (Poland)

Nichita (Romania)

Richard (Slovakia)

Ricardo (Spain)

Ferdinand, Nanna (Sweden)

Dick, Dickson, Dix, Dixie, Dixon, Doris, Ricarda, Ricardo, Rich, Richard, Richelle, Richman, Rick, Rickey, Ricky, Rosamond, Rosamund, Ryan (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 94 of 2024; 272 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 14 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Ding-Mao), Day 25 (Ding-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 24 Adair II 5784

Islamic: 24 Ramadan 1445

J Cal: 4 Cyan; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 21 March 2024

Moon: 34%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 10 Archimedes (4th Month) [Theodisius of Bithynia]

Runic Half Month: Ehwaz (Horse) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 16 of 92)

Week: 1st Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 14 of 31)

[omniversecomicsguide]

Took a little time off from posting over Christmas abs haven’t missed it at all! Plenty more to come from the Omniverse Comics Guide in 2024, so jump on our Discord to get more updates from us there:

Featured interior art:

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: FUTURES END #1 (2014)

Art: Cliff Richards & Hi-Fi

Script: Greg Pak

[ortodelmondo]

xtrait du journal de bord de Richard Pak : «Cave Point est l'autre partie de l'île, quoique beaucoup plus petite que celle où est implanté le village. Il y a quelques cabanons sommaires qui font office de maisons secondaires (voire tertiaires si on compte celles des potato patches), c'est un peu le "village vacances" des Tristanais.»

Richard Pak, Tristan da Cunha

[thevindicativevordan]

Year in Review: 2023

Happy 85th to the Champion of the Oppressed! Big year for him in every medium. Let's take stock as we bid farewell to 2023.

Comics

First off the biggest Superman comic event was the launch of the new Superman ongoing by Williamson and Campbell. Williamson surprised me by turning in what is easily his best work at DC here. Drawing on a wide range of Superman stories, but mainly inspired by the DCAU animated series, Williamson has turned in the successor series to the excellent Mark Millar Superman Adventures run. If like me you've craving some peak Livewire content, to see Jimmy Olsen hook up with Silver Banshee, or just what the hell it looks like when Clark and Lex try to work together, this run delivers that in spades. Campbell is a fantastic artist who is a key factor in the run's success, which is why it's a bummer that he still has yet to return to interiors. Perhaps next year. Praying Williamson manages to finally turn in a good event with House of Brainiac, because all the build up has gotten me excited in spite of Williamson's previous failures with Dark Crisis and Knight Terrors.

Across the street we had PKJ and Sandoval on Action Comics, which despite being billed as a team book, really is just a Superman book that had the Superfamily in it. Metallo finally got cracked for me as a character here, even though I was disappointed the true final boss of his arc turned out to be Hank Henshaw. Sadly this turned out to be PKJ's last year on the book, finishing his run in Dec and handing it off to a rotating team of "Superstars" next year. Consolation prize is that PKJ says he will be writing Superman in whatever else he has in development, and he's teased more is coming with the future House of El characters he created. Likely means he will be taking over JL, and if he makes that a stealth Superman book which follows up on Action plot threads the way Hickman Avengers ended up being a story about Reed Richards, I'm all aboard.

For the other Superfamily members we got more content that we've had in ages. Conner's mini was a fun DBZ inspired series about the Boy of Steel kicking ass in outer space and figuring out what he wants from life. Supergirl got a neat Special from Tamaki in the vein of King's Woman of Tomorrow, and an excellent team up issue with Martian Manhunter vs. Doomsday by Watters and Barrows. Power Girl had a series of great backups in Action by Leah Williams and Sauvage and then a much more mixed-ly received ongoing series. Despite being his freshman comics assignment, Dorn turned in a solid Steelworks mini that continued the Steel/Lana romance that Pak set up after Bendis seemed to backtrack from it. Yang even came back to write a backup for Kenan that made me want to see Yang take over Action from PKJ on a permanent basis. Jon continues to flounder under Taylor's pen, with the awful Adventures of Superman mini cementing that Jon as a character is basically unsalvageable.

Last for the mainline we have Waid and Mora still on World's Finest. Waid had the opposite trajectory as PKJ, staring the year weakly with a frankly boring Amazo arc. His second arc of the year turned out to be the weakest take on Superman and Batman's first meeting I've ever read, with Waid's Silver Age fanboyism and refusal to have the two be at odds resulting in tepid interactions against an underwhelming villain in Jax-Ur. Despite that, Waid managed to assuage fears he was washed with a return to Kingdom Come arc that follows up on what happened to Boy Thunder. World's Finest managed to end the year as one of the strongest books in DC's lineup. Mora of course managed to compensate for Waid's fall off in writing with peak art and action at all times.

Elseworlds wise we had the first issue of the fantastic Last Days of Lex Luthor by Waid and Hitch, Cantwell and Rodriguez writing a solid Superman three parter in The Brave & The Bold anthology, Russel managing to overcome my butthurt over Batman eating up far too many pages in Space Age, and Priest writing Superman undergoing a cosmic odyssey in Lost. Sadly Venditti's follow up mini to his sleeper hit in Superman '78 has thus far been underwhelming, so not everything has been a banger.

Obviously one of the biggest surprise announcements was the return of Joe Casey to DC, and the Superman corner specifically with a Zod book. Pitching it as his effort to make Zod into Superman's Dr. Doom, and intended as a direct violent opposite to his run making Superman a pacifist, this announcement has my attention and interest. Perhaps we may finally be on the verge of Zod getting his due in the comics. Tomasi meanwhile is doing a Sinister Sons mini that features Lor paired with the son of Sinestro, which might be connected to this is some way.

Media

The first Superman cartoon since the 90s in My Adventures With Superman turned out to be an utter delight. Strong performances from the main trio of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy make this show the best take on all three, and the rest of the Daily Planet crew have never been better than they have been here. Weak approaches to Superman's Rogues was balanced out by three all time takes on General Sam Lane, Mxy, and Parasite. Cannot wait for S2 and thus far the reception seems to have been positive (overreaction to Lois aside), offering the hope that more seasons may be ordered. The other animated Superman and Supergirl of the Tomorrowverse had a solid showing in the Legion of Superheroes movie, but Justice League Warworld turned out to be an overambitious mess. Next year we will be getting a CoIE trilogy that seems poised to kill off the nascent Tomorrowverse, which was met with shrugs of indifference.

S3 of Superman & Lois managed to be a step up from the previous season thanks to the excellent performance of the actor playing Bruno Mannheim, the villain of the season. Hoechlin, Tulloch, and Parks continued to shine, and the show managed to beat the odds and be renewed for one final season to wrap things up before Gunn debuts the next film Superman. New actor for Jon also managed to be quite good, and Jordan seems to have realized what a shit he was being. rooting for this show to land the plane because it was enjoyable despite it's many shortcomings.

On the film side we officially got a new Superman and Lois in David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan, with Nicholas Hoult playing Lex Luthor, for James Gunn's Superman: Legacy. Holding out hope for one other Superman Rogue to be added to this, either Lobo played by Momoa or Brainiac. All of the casting thus far has been on point and it's certainly paints a picture of either ambition or hubris on Gunn's part to cast so many heroes. Otherwise the script for the Supergirl movie has been written already, hinting that Supergirl might be next up after Superman for release. Sasha Calle will apparently not be reprising her role, no surprise considering The Flash turned out to be one of the biggest bombs ever despite blatant nostalgia bait with CGI ghosts of previous actors including Cage, Reeves, and Reeve.

On the video game side everything remains awful, but that's just the default for Superman alas.

Not a bad year honestly. Wish we got news a Superman video game was in dev or got a renewal announcement for MAWS, but otherwise I'm optimistic about the state of Superman outside of comics for the first time in ages. Inside comics I continue to mostly enjoy the Superman books, excited to find out if PKJ is getting JL, but am concerned this Superstars initiative for Action is going to be dismissed as filler.

We've got Aaron/Timms, Williamson/Sandoval, Waid/Henry, and one last mystery team next year, and I want to throw Tom King's hat into the ring as the guy to take over Action. He wants to write a Superman ongoing, he's pals with Gunn, he's ignited excitement and interest in WW again amongst the general audience for the first time since Rucka, and he'd be a good balance to Williamson in terms of tone and content. If not him then Ram V (who recently expressed interest in doing Superman with Doc Shaner), or Gene Yang would also be excellent choices.

[colombinna]

I hope ANAD Amadeus gives off more neurodivergent energy, as much as I love him in the Pak Hulk comics and some of the Hercules comics he's still mostly missing the ND energy we find in Reed Richards and Doom and Lunella, you know, the other genius characters.

[goalhofer]

2024 in memoriam (part 31)

John Amos, 84

Nick Mileti, 93

Ken Miller, 82

Fr. Gerald O'Collins, 93

Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, 96

Pete Daley, 94

Mark Gwyn, 61

Mike Stensrud, 68

Karel Heřmánek, 76

Eric Moten, 56

Bobby Rascoe, 84

Alex Xydias, 102

Joe D'Alessandris, 70

Don Wert, 86

Bishop Dominique Bulamatari, 69

Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, 57

Richard Macphail, 73

Charlotte Kretschmann, 114

Leonard Riggio, 83

Herman Wade, 89

Thomas Geve, 94

Bishop Michael Pak Jeong-Il, 97

Tom Donchez, 72

K.C. Fox, 70

Dr. Karl N. Snow; Jr., 94

Johnny Gaudreau, 31

Matthew Gaudreau, 29

Darrel J. McLeod, 67

Bishop Janusz Marian Danecki, 72

Dr. Gyorgy Berci, 103

[stampzt]

EN IMAGES - Les îles du désir (1/4) : Tristan Da Cunha par le photographe Richard Pak – Libération

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

The Moonie Washington P.R. Center, Richard Nixon and Capitol Hill

▲ Richard Nixon with Sun Myung Moon

From April of 1973 until October of 1975 I was a member of the Unification Church, an organization established by Sun Myung Moon of Korea in 1954. For over two years I helped in fund-raising, recruiting, and teaching activities for this organization, as well as in public relations projects setting up large, expensive banquets honoring Moon and gaining support for him from prominent citizens throughout the United States.

In August of 1975 I was sent to Washington, D.C., at Moon’s personal request to do public relations work on Capitol Hill for him and for South Korea. The Washington P.R. Center has approximately 20-25 young men and women working full-time in this capacity. I, like all the others, was assigned a list of Senators and Congressmen which were to be my own contacts exclusively (a copy of this list is in the possession of Daphne Greene). P.R. members were to make gradual acquaintances and friendships with staff members and aides and eventually the Congressmen and Senators themselves, inviting them to a suite in the Washington Hilton rented at $54/day (although the normal rate should have been around $120/day), where dinner and films or short lectures on Moon’s ideas and “accomplishments” would be presented. All this effort is sort of an on-going program by Moon to get political support for himself and the Park Chung Hee dictatorship in South Korea. Moon uses the guise of “Christian anti-communism”, but his tactics are not at all ethical and his teachings are merely Marxist-Maoist platitudes veiled in different terminology.

Moon is using 1st Amendment protection for freedom of religion to cover his political activities. We (the P.R. members) were told to be “somewhat” vague when dealing with Capitol Hill contacts in order to protect our presence there, but we were to try to influence our contacts to support Moon and South Korea. Since I have been out of the Unification Church, I have read a State Department communique about the U.S.’s need to continue protection for South Korea and thereby for Japan – in nearly the same exact wording we were told to use to influence our contacts on this issue.

The July 1974 Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis was engineered solely for political publicity for Moon. Members’ contacts with Senators and Congressmen at that time were carefully recorded and followed up by the P.R. team.

This is only one example of Moon’s ploys to gain political advantage in this country.

I do hereby attest that the foregoing is my own statement and opinion.

signed: Ann Gordon

from the Bay Area of California, March 9, 1976

__________________________________

Addendum

P. R. Members now working in Washington, D.C.

Mitziko Matsuda ) Yoshiko               ) Japanese women-leaders of the P.R. Center

Nina Zedehov Bergman – married Dr. William Bergman 2/1975 Susan Bergman – sister of Dr. Wm. Bergman Pam Lee Bernice Rechlis Cowan – married James Cowan 2/1975 Lorna Skaaren Olga Silva Betsy O’Brien (her sister is Mary O’Brien Cordill – married to Perry Cordill 2/1975; he is in the US, Mary is in Ghana) Tolise Mize Lori Anteloch Chio (Japanese girl) Christina Ziegler Marilyn Cohen (her husband, Barry Cohen, is in Africa somewhere) Jim Gavin Bob Sullivan Rosemary Deddens (married Steve Deddens 2/1975)

Susan Bergman is assigned to Carl Albert. When he toured Europe in summer 1975, she sent postcards ahead to each hotel on his itinerary, which she had gotten from his secretary. When Albert returned, he called her long distance to Barrytown, New York, to ask “Where is my friend, Susan?”

Bob Sullivan is assigned to Hubert Humphrey, I believe.

__________________________________

In December of 1973, during a national Unification Church conference in Chicago, Col. Pak (Moon’s interpreter) received a call from Pres. Nixon’s secretary at the White House. The gist of the conversation was that if “Rev.” Moon’s people would appear en masse at the White House the night of the Christmas tree lighting, the (former) Pres. Nixon would appear himself at the public ceremony, despite low public opinion of him at that time. So the national Unification Church leaders were instructed to return to their states, pack up their members, and all go to Washington within three-four days’ time, which they did. In all, about 1500 members were present at the ceremony to cheer the beleaguered President.

The following month “Rev.” Moon was invited to the annual Prayer Breakfast with other religious leaders like Billy Graham, and to a 30-minute private session with Nixon himself. Both invitations were engineered in the main by Dr. Joseph Kennedy, a psychologist from North Carolina who met and became involved with Moon’s group at Moon’s Atlanta Day of Hope program in November 1973.

This is my sworn statement.

Ann Gordon,   March 11, 1976

_________________________________________

Marriage under Mao Zedong and marriage under Sun Myung Moon

“Moon Sun-myung saw how Marxism gave his friends a utopian goal, a purpose, a historical role to play…”

“The organization of the Unification Church is so systematic that one thinks of communists.” – Professor Choi

Dear Leader's Paper Moon – Sun Myung Moon and North Korea

Unification Church Fund North Korean Missile Development for 450 billion yen

_________________________________________

“So Master knows about Communists very well. And even under Japanese days, in Japan together with the Communists he fought against the Japanese government.” Sun Myung Moon
 History Of The Unification Church, part 2
 Master Speaks
 December 28, 1971, Washington, D.C.


_________________________________________

Disciplining the Mind – North Korean style