#final counselling August 25

[townpostin]

Teacher Recruitment Scam Targets Applicants in East Singhbhum

Fraudsters exploit desperate candidates with false promises; DSE issues warning East Singhbhum’s teacher appointment process has fallen prey to scammers, with middlemen exploiting hopeful applicants through deceptive promises. JAMSHEDPUR – The District Education Superintendent of East Singhbhum has warned applicants about fraudsters targeting the ongoing teacher recruitment process. The district…

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

I understand the story of marat and his assassination event

But who is lepeletier?

Because I saw a drawing for him by louis David and I learned about his death which happen to be the same as Marat so yeah .. I wanna know about him.

According to the biography Michel Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1760-1793 (1913), its subject of study was born on 29 May 1760, in his family home on rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine, a building which today is the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris. His family belonged to the distinguished part of the robe nobility. At the death of his father in 1769, Lepeletier was both Count of Saint-Fargeau, Marquis of Montjeu, Baron of Peneuze, Grand Bailiff of Gien as well as the owner of 400,000 livres de rente. For five years he worked as avocat du roi at Châtelet, before becoming councilor in Parliament in 1783, general counsel in 1784 and finally taking over the prestigious position of président à mortier at the Parlement of Paris from his father in 1785. On May 16 1789, Lepeletier was elected to represent the nobility at the Estates General. On June 25 the same year he was one of the 47 nobles to join the newly declared National Assembly, two days before the king called on the rest of the first two estates to do so as well. A month later, during the night of August 4 1789, he was in the forefront of those who proposed the suppression of feudalism, even if, for his part, this meant losing 80 000 livres de rente. Four days later he wrote a letter to the priest of Saint-Fargeau, renouncing his rights to both mills, furnaces, dovecote, exclusive hunting and fishing, insence and holy water, butchery and haulage (the last four things the Assembly hadn’t ruled on yet). When the Assembly on June 19 1790 abolished titles, orders, and other privileges of the hereditary nobility, Lepeletier made the motion that all citizens could only bear their real family name — ”The tree of aristocracy still has a branch that you forgot to cut..., I want to talk about these usurper names, this right that the nobles have arrogated to themselves exclusively to call themselves by the name of the place where they were lords. I propose that every individual must bear his last name and consequently I sign my motion: Michel Lepeletier” — and the same year he also, in the name of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, presented a report on the supression of the penal code and argued for the abolition of the death penalty. After the closing of the National Assembly in 1791, Lepeletier settled in Auxerre to take on the functions of president of the directory of Yonne, a position to which he had been nominated the previous year. He did however soon thereafter return to Paris, as he, following the overthrow of the monarchy, was one of few former nobles elected to the National Convention, where he was also one of even fewer former nobles to sit together with the Mountain. In December 1792 he started working on a public education plan. On January 17, Lepeletier voted for death in the ongoing trial of Louis XVI (saying only ”I vote for death” without giving any further motivation) Three days later, the former king was sentenced to said penalty. That night,  Lepeletier went over to Palais-Égalité (former Palais-Royal) where he dined everyday. The next day, his friend and fellow deputy Nicolas Maure could report the following to the Convention:

Citizens, it is with the deepest affection and resentment of my heart that I announce to you the assassination of a representative of the people, of my dear colleague and friend Lepelletier, deputy of Yonne; committed by an infamous royalist, yesterday, at five o'clock, at the restaurateur Fevrier, in the Jardin de l'Égalité. This good citizen was accustomed to dining there (and often, after our work, we enjoyed a gentle and friendly conversation there) by a very unfortunate fate, I did not find myself there; for perhaps I could have saved his life, or shared his fate. Barely had he started his dinner when six individuals, coming out of a neighboring room, presented themselves to him. One of them, said to be Pâris, a former bodyguard, said to the others: There's that rascal Lepeletier. He answered him, with his usual gentleness: I am Lepeletier, but I am not a rascal. Paris replied: Scoundrel, did you not vote for the death of the king? Lepelletier replied: That is true, because my confidence commanded me to do so.Instantly, the assassin pulled a saber, called a lighter, from under his coat and plunged it furiously into his left side, his lower abdomen; it created a wound four inches deep and four fingers wide. The assassin escaped with the help of his accomplices. Lepeletier still had the gentleness to forgive him, to pray that no further action would be taken; his strength allowed him to make his declaration to the public officer, and to sign it. He was placed in the hands of the surgeons who took him to his brother, at Place Vendôme. I went there immediately, led by my tender friendship, and my reverence for the virtues which he practiced without ostentation: I found him on his death bed, unconscious. When he showed me his wound, he uttered only these two words: I'm cold. He died this morning, at half past one, saying that he was happy to shed his blood for the homeland; that he hoped that the sacrifice of his life would consolidate Liberty; that he died satisfied with having fulfilled his oaths.

This was the first time a Convention deputy had gotten murdered, and it naturally caused strong reactions. Already the same session when Maure had announced Lepeletier’s death, the Convention ordered the following:

There are grounds for indictment against Pâris, former king's guard, accused of the assassination of the person of Michel Lepelletier, one of the representatives of the French people, committed yesterday.

[The Convention] instructs the Provisional Executive Council to prosecute and punish the culprit and his accomplices by the most prompt measures, and to without delay hand over to its committee of decrees the copies of the minutes from the justice of the peace and the other acts containing information relating to this attack.

The Decrees and Legislation Committees will present, in tomorrow's session, the drafting of the indictment.

An address will be written to the French people, which will be sent to the 84 departments and the armies, by extraordinary couriers, to inform them of the crime against the Nation which has just been committed against the person of Michel Lepelletier, of the measures that the National Convention has taken for the punishment for this attack, to invite the citizens to peace and tranquility, and the constituted authorities to the most exact surveillance.

The entire National Convention will attend the funeral of Michel Lepelletier, assassinated for having voted for the death of the tyrant.

The honors of the French Pantheon are awarded to Michel Lepelletier, and his body will be placed there.

The president is responsible for writing, on behalf of the National Convention, to the department of Yonne, and to the family of Lepelletier.

The next day, January 22, further instructions were given regarding Lepeletier’s funeral: 

On Thursday January 24, Year 2 of the Republic, at eight o'clock in the morning, will be celebrated, at the expense of the Nation, the funeral of Michel Lepeletier, deputy of the department of Yonne to the National Convention.

The National Convention will attend the funeral of Michel Lepeletier in its entirety. The executive council, the administrative and judicial bodies will attend it as well.

The executive council and the department of Paris will consult with the Committee of Public Instruction regarding the details of the funeral ceremony.

The last words spoken by Michel Lepeletier will be engraved on his tomb, they are as follows: “I am happy to shed my blood for the homeland; I hope that it will serve to consolidate Liberty and Equality; and to make their enemies recognized.”

In number 27 (January 27 1793) of Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel, the following long description was given over Lepeletier’s funeral, held three days earlier:

The funeral of Lepeletier Saint-Fargeau was celebrated on Thursday 24 with all the splendor that the severity of the weather and the season allowed, but with such a crowd that it could have been the most beautiful day of the year. At ten o'clock in the morning his deathbed was placed on the pedestal where the equestrian statue of Louis XVI previously stood, on Place Vendôme, today Place des Piques. One went up to the pedestal by two staircases, on the banisters of which were antique candelabras. The body was lying on the bed with the bloody sheets and the sword with which he had been struck. He was naked to the waist, and his large and deep wound could be seen exposed. These were the mournful and most endearing part of this great spectacle. All that was missing was the author of the crime, chained, and beginning his torture by witnessing the sight of the triumph of Saint-Fargeau. As soon as the National Convention and all the bodies that were to form courage were assembled in the square, mournful music was played. It was, like almost all those which has embellished our revolutionary festivals, the composition of citizen Gossec. The Convention was ranged around the pedestal. The citizen in charge of the ceremonies presented the President of the Convention with a wreath of oak and flowers; then the president, preceded by the ushers of the Convention and the national music, went around the monument, and went up to the pedestal to place the civic crown on Lepeletier's head: during this time, a federate gave a speech; the president dismounted, the procession set out in the following order: A detachment of cavalry preceded by trumpets with fourdincs. Sappers. Cannoneers without cannons. Detachment of veiled drummers. Declaration of the rights of man carried by citizens. Volunteers of the six legions, and 24 flags. Drum detachment. A banner on which was written the decree of the Convention which ordered the transport of Lepeletier's body to the Pantheon. Students of the homeland. Police commissioners. The conciliation office. Justices of the peace. Section presidents and commissioners. The commercial court. The provisional criminal court. The department’s fix courts. The electorate. The provisional criminal court. The department's criminal courts fix. The municipality of Paris. The districts of Saint-Denis and the village of L’Égalité. The Department. Drum detachment. The seal of the 84, worn by Federates. The provisional executive council. National Convention Guard Detachment. The court of cassation. Figure of Liberty carried by citizens. The bloody clothes worn at the end of a national pike, deputies marching in two columns. In the middle of the deputies was a banner where Lepeletier's last words were written: "I am happy to shed my blood for my homeland, I hope that it will serve to consolidate Liberty and Equality, and to make their enemies known.” 

The body carried by citizens, as it was exhibited on the Place des Piques. Around the body, gunners, sabers in hand, accompanied by an equal number of Veterans. Music from the National Guard, who performed funeral tunes during the march. Family of the dead. Group of mothers with children. Detachment of the Convention Guard. Veiled drums. Volunteers of the six legions and 24 flags. Veiled drums. Volunteers of the six legions and 24 flags. Veiled drums. Volunteers of the six legions and 24 flags. Veiled drums. Armed federations. Popular societies. Cavalry and trumpets with fourdines. On each side, citizens, armed with pikes, formed a barrier and supported the columns. These citizens held their pikes horizontally, at hip height, from hand to hand. The procession left in this order from the Place des Piques, and passed through the streets St-Honoré, du Roule, the Pont-Neuf, the streets Thionville (former Dauphine), Fossés Saint-Germain, Liberté (former Fossés M. le Prince), Place Saint-Michel and Rue d'Enfer, Saint-Thomas, Saint-Jacques and Place du Panthéon. It stopped front of the meeting room of the Friends of Liberty and Equality; opposite the Oratory, on the Pont-Neuf, opposite the Samaritaine; in front of the meeting room of the Friends of the Rights of Man; at the intersection of Rue de la Liberté; Place Saint-Michel and the Pantheon. Arriving at the Pantheon, the body was placed on the platform prepared for it. The National Convention lined up around it; the band, placed in the rostrum, performed a superb religious choir; Lepeletier's brother then gave a speech, in which he announced that his brother had left a work, almost completed, on national education, which will soon be made public; he ended with these words: I vote, like my brother, for the death of tyrants. The representatives of the people, brought closer to the body, promised each other union, and swore on the salvation of the homeland. A big chorus to Liberty ended the ceremony.

According to Michel Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1760-1793 (1913), civic festivals in honor of Lepeletier were celebrated in all sections of Paris, as well as the towns of Arras, Toulouse, Chaumont, Valenciennes, Dijon, Abbeville and Huningue. Lepeletier’s body did however only get to rest in the Panthéon for a little more than two years, as on February 15 1795, the Convention ordered it exhumed, at the same time as that of Marat. It was instead buried in the park surrounding Château de Ménilmontant, the properly of which the ancestor Lepeletier de Souzy had purchased in the 17th century and that still remained in the family.

One day after the funeral, January 25, Lepeletier’s only child, the ten and a half year old Susanne, who had already lost her mother ten years before the murder of her father, was brought before the Convention by her step-mother and two paternal uncles Amédée and Félix. It was Félix who had held a speech during the funeral and he would continue to work for his seven years older brother’s memory afterwards too, offering a bust of him to the Convention on February 21 1793, (on the proposal of David, it was placed next to the one of Brutus), reading his posthumous work on public education to the Jacobins on July 19 1793, and even writing a whole biography over his life in 1794 (Vie de Michel Lepeletier, représentant du peuple français, assassiné à Paris le 20 janvier 1793 : faite et présentée a la Société des Jacobins).

The president announces that the widow of Michel Lepelletier, his two brothers and his daughter, request to be admitted to the bar, to testify to the Convention their recognition of the honors that they have decreed in memory of their relative. It is decreed that they will be admitted immediately.

One of Michel Lepeletier’s brothers: Citizens, allow me to introduce my niece, the daughter of Michel Lepelletier; she comes to offer you and the French people her recognition of the eternity of glory to which you have dedicated her father... He takes the young citoyenne Lepelletier in his arms, and makes her look at the president of the Convention... My niece, this is now your father... Then, addressing the members of the Convention, and the citizens present at the session: People, here is your child... Lepelletier pronounces these last words in an altered voice: silence reigns throughout the room, with exception for a couple of sobs.

The President: Citizens, the martyr of Liberty has received the just tribute of tears owed to him by the National Convention, and the just honor that his cold skin has received invites us to imitate his example and to avenge his death. But the name of Lepelletier, immortal from now on, will be dear to the French Nation. The National Convention, which needs to be consoled, finds relief to its pain in expressing to his family the just regrets of its members and the recognition of the great Nation of which it is the organ. The Nation will undoubtedly ratify the adoption of Michel Lepelletier's daughter that is currently being carried out by the National Convention.

Barère: The emotion that the sight of Michel Lepeletier's only daughter has just communicated to your souls must not be infertile for the homeland. Susanne Lepelletier lost her father; she must find now find one in the French people. Its representatives must consecrate this moment of all-too-just felicity to a law that can bring happiness to several citizens and hope to several families. The errors of nature, the illusions of paternity, the stability of morals, have long demanded this beautiful institution of the Romans. What more touching time could present itself at the National Convention to pass into French legislation the principle of adoption, than that when the last crimes of expiring tyranny deprived the homeland of one of its ardent defenders and Susanne Lepelletier of a dear father! Let the National Convention therefore give today the first example of adoption by decreeing it for the only offspring of Lepelletier; let it instruct the Legislation Committee to immediately present the bill on this interesting subject. I ask that the homeland adopt through your organ Susanne Lepelletier, daughter of Michel Lepelletier, who died for his country; that it decrees that adoption will be part of French legislation, and instructs its Legislation Committee to immediately present the draft decree on adoption.

This proposal is unanimously approved.

Susanne being adopted by the state would however lead to a fierce debate when, in 1797, this ”daughter of the nation” wished to marry a foreigner. For this affair, see the article Adopted Daughter of the French People: Suzanne Lepeletier and Her Father, the National Assembly (1999)

Right after Barère’s intervention, David took to the rostrum:

David: Still filled with the pain that we felt, while attending the funeral procession with which we honored the inanimate remains of our colleagues, I ask that a marble monument be made, which transmits to posterity the figure of Lepelletier , as you clearly saw, when it was brought to the Pantheon. I ask that this work be put into competition.

Saint-André: I ask that this figure be placed on the pedestal which is in the middle of Place Vendôme... (A few murmurs arise)

Jullien: I ask that the Convention adopt in advance, in the name of the homeland, the children of the defenders of Liberty, who, for similar reasons, could be immolated in the vengeance of the royalists.

All these proposals are referred to the Legislation and Public Instruction Committees.

On Maure's proposal, the Assembly orders the printing of the speeches delivered yesterday at the Panthéon, by one of Michel Lepelletier's brothers, Barère and Vergniaux.

If it would appear David never got to make a marble monument of Lepeletier, on March 28 1793, he could nevertheless present the following painting of his to the Convention, which isn’t just a little similar to his La Mort de Marat.

(This image is an engraving of the actual painting, which has gone missing)

After Marat on July 13 1793 (the very same day the plan for public education Lepeletier had been working on was presented to the Convention by Robespierre) became the second assassinated Convention deputy, we find several engravings etc, depicting the two ”martyrs of liberty” side by side.

In the following months, even more people would be join the two, such as Joseph Chalier, a lyonnais politician executed on July 17 1793 and Joseph Bara, a fourteen year old republican drummer boy killed in the Vendée by the pro-Monarchist forces.

Lepeletier’s murderer, 27 year old Philippe Nicolas Marie de Pâris, a man who the minister of justice described as  "former king's guard, height five pieds, five pouces, barbe bleue, and black hair; swarthy complexion, fine teeth, dressed in a gray cloak, green lapels and a round hat” on January 21, went into hiding right after his deed. In spite of his description being published in the papers and a considerable sum of money being promised to whoever caught him, Pâris managed to flee Paris and settled for a country house of an acquaintance near Bourget. He there ran into a cousin of one of the owners. When Pâris asked for food and a bed, he was refused and instead disappeared into the night again. In the evening of January 28 he arrived in Forges-les-Eaux and stopped at an inn, where he came under suspicion once he started cutting his bread with a dagger after which he locked himself into his room. The following morning he woke up with a start as five municipal gendarmes came bursting into his room and told him to come with them. Pâris responded that he would, but in the next second he had picked up his hidden pistol, placed it into his mouth, and pulled the trigger. Searching the dead body, the gendarmes found Pâris’ baptism record (dated November 12 1765) and dismissal from the king's guard (dated June 1 1792), on the latter of which had been written the following:

My certificate of honor. Do not trouble anyone. No one was my accomplice in the fortunate death of the scoundrel de Saint-Fargeau. Had I not run into him, I would have carried out a more beautiful action: I would have purged France of the patricide, regicide and parricide d’Orléans. The French are cowards to whom I say: Peuple dont les forfaits jettent partout l'effroi,  Avec calme et plaisir j'abandonne la vie.  Ce n'est que par la mort qu'on peut fuir l'infamie Qu'imprime sur nos fronts le sang de notre roi. Signed by Paris the older, guard of the king, assassinated by the French.

Learning about what had happened, the Convention tasked Tallien and Legrand with going to Forges-les-Eaux and making sure the dead man really was Pânis. Having come to the conclusion that this was indeed the case, the deputies briefly discussed whether the body ought to be brought back to Paris, but it was decided it would be better if it was just buried "with ignominy.” It was therefore instead taken into the nearby forest in a wheelbarrow and thrown into a six feet deep hole.

Finally, here are some other revolutionaries simping for honoring Lepeletier’s memory just because I can:

…a tragic event took place the day before the execution [of the king]. Pelletier, one of the most patriotic deputies, and who had voted for death, was assassinated. A king's guard made a wound three fingers wide with a saber: he died this morning. You must judge the effect that such a crime has had on the friends of liberty. Pelletier had an income of six hundred thousand livres; he had been président à mortier in the Parliament of Paris; he was barely thirty years old; to many talents, he added the most estimable of virtues. He died happy, he took to his grave the idea, consoling for a patriot, that his death would serve the public good. Here then is one of these beings whom the infamous cabal who, in the Convention, wanted to save Louis and bring back slavery, designated to the departments as a Maratist, a factious, a disorganizer... But the reign of these political rascals is finished. You will see the measures that the Assembly took both to avenge the national majesty and to pay homage to a generous martyr of liberty. Philippe Lebas in a letter to his father, January 21 1793

Ah! if it is true that man does not die entirely and that the noblest part of himself survives beyond the grave and is still interested in the things of life, come then, dear and sacred shadow, sometimes to hover above the Senate of the nation that you adorned with your virtues; come and contemplate your work, come and see your united brothers contributing to the happiness of the homeland, to the happiness of humanity. Marat in number 105 (January 23 1793) of Journal de la République Française

O Lepeletier! Your death will serve the Republic: I envy your death. You ask for the honors of the Pantheon for him, but he has already collected the prize of martyrdom of Liberty. The way to honor his memory is to swear that we will not leave each other without having given a constitution to the Republic. Danton at the Convention, January 21 1793

O Le Peletier, you were worthy to die for your homeland under the blows of its assassins! Dear and sacred shadow, receive our wishes and our oaths! Generous citizen, incorruptible friend of the truth, we swear by your virtues, we swear by your fatal and glorious death to defend against you the holy cause of which you were the apostle; we swear eternal war against the crime of which you were the eternal enemy, against the tyranny and treason of which you were the victim. We envy your death and we will know how to imitate your life. They will remain forever engraved in our hearts, these last words where you showed us your entire soul; ”May my death,” you said, “be useful to the homeland, may it will serve to make known the true and false friends of liberty, and I die content.” Robespierre at the Jacobins, January 23

Wednesday 23 [sic] — We went to Madame Boyer’s to see the procession. I saw the poor Saint-Fargeau. We all burst into tears when the body passed by, we threw a wreath on it. After the ceremony, we returned to my house. Ricord and Forestier had arrived. I was unable to stop my tears for some time. F(réron), La P(oype), Po, R(obert) and others came to dinner. The dinner was quite fun and cheerful. Afterwards they went to the Jacobins, Maman and I stayed by the fire and, our imaginations struck by what we had seen, we talked about it for a while. She wanted to leave, I felt that I could not be alone and bear the horrible thoughts that were going to besiege me. I ran to D(anton’s). He was moved to see me still pale and defeated. We drank tea, I supped there. Lucile Desmoulins in her diary, January 24 1793

…Pelletier's funeral took place this Thursday as I informed you in my last letter (this letter has gone missing). The procession was immense; it seemed that the population of Paris had doubled, to honor the memory of this virtuous citizen. The mourning of the soul was painted on all the faces: it was especially noticed that the people were extremely affected, which proves that they keenly felt the price of the friend they had lost. Arriving at the Pantheon, Lepelletier's body was placed on the platform prepared for it; his brother delivered a speech which was applauded with tears; Barère succeeded him. Then the members of the Convention, crowding around the body of their colleague, promised union among themselves, and took an oath to save the country. God grant that we have not sworn in vain, that we finally know the full extent of our duties, and that we only occupy ourselves with fulfilling them! In yesterday's session, Pelletier's daughter, aged eight [sic], was presented to the National Convention, which immediately adopted her as a child of the homeland. Georges Couthon in a letter written January 26 1793

How could I be so base as to abandon myself to criminal connections, I who, in the world, have never had more than one close friend since the age of six? (he gestures towards David's painting). Here he is! Michel Lepeletier, oh you from whom I have never parted, you whose virtue was my model, you who like me was the target of parliamentary hatred, happy martyr! I envy your glory. I, like you, will rush for my country in the face of liberticidal daggers; but did I have to be assassinated by the dagger of a republican! Hérault de Sechelles at the Convention, December 29 1793

For a collection of Lepeletier’s works, see Oeuvres de Michel Lepeletier Saint-Fargeau, député aux assemblées constituante et conventionnelle, assassiné le 20 janvier 1793, par Paris, garde du roi (1826)

[kissgun]

River Valley High School Attack

(there are many other little details that are in this case, i am simplifying them so it would be more shorter and easier to read.)

On a faithful morning on July 19 2021, there would have been an attack that took away the life of a thirteen-year-old boy named Ethan Hun Zhe Kai, at River Valley High School from a strike by a combat fire fighting axe in one of the toilet bathrooms. This was an unexpected case that made the whole of Singapore stunned.

From just 5 days before the prior attack, the perpetrator who was sixteen at that time, took an axe and knife to school that was kept in his badminton racquet bag. He then hid the bag under a sink in the toilet bathrooms and plotted to do the attack on that day, but unsuccessfully followed his plan of the intended attack.

Only then on July 19 2021, the attack finally worked out. It occured between 11:16-11:44 a.m. at the fourth floor toilet in River Valley High School. A group of students noticed the sixteen-year-old right outside the toilet at 11:35 a.m. holding the combat fire fighting axe.

The attacker told the group to call the police, wanting the police to shoot him dead. Instead, the group of students turned back to their classroom to instate a lockdown drill. The attacker went to a classroom to make the same appeal, in which the other group also called for a lockdown Both groups alerted their teachers about the situation.

A teacher then confronted the attacker, requesting that the axe be placed on the floor. The attacker complied with the teacher and was brought to the meeting room. The thirteen-year-old victim was eventually found dead inside the toilet, having multiple slashed wounds possibly caused by the axe. The victim was then identified to be Ethan Hun Zhe Kai, who had no contact or connections with the perpetrator.

The attacker was arrested by the Singapore Police Force and the school was on lockdown until around 3.30 p.m. , the following day was a public holiday (Hari Raya Haji) and students had to return to school on July 21 2021.

Days after the attack, counseling was provided for almost 540 students and teachers.

According to the Singapore Police Force, the perpetrator had attempted suicide twice in 2019 and was treated for mental health issues, bought an axe online for the attack.

He purchased a tomahawk axe on March 6, a Cold Steel Trench Hawk on March 17 and a Morakniv knife in April. The perpetrator randomly targeted Hun after deciding to attack the first person to enter a toilet.

The perpetrator was charged with murder on July 20 was remanded for psychiatric evaluation at Changi Prison. As being a minor, he cannot receive the death penalty and instead would face life imprisonment if convicted. He was represented by criminal lawyer Peter Fernando, who was later replaced by Diana Ngiam and Sunil Sudheesan.

On August 10, his psychiatric evaluation period was extended, and he was allowed to contact his family. His case was adjourned to October 19, with no trial date set. By December 30 2022, he remained in remand and took his O-levels as a private candidate while in custody, with his case scheduled for a hearing on January 25 2023.

On February 24 2023, the murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder due to his clinical depression at the time of the incident. This charge carries a penalty of life imprisonment or up to twenty years in prison, along with the possibility of caning.

The attacker stood trial in the High Court and pleaded guilty to culpable homicide on December 1 2023. The prosecution seeked a sentence of 12-16 years while defense sought 5 years.

Ethan Hun’s parents, Hun Yew Kwong and Sng Hui Ching, asked to lift the gag order so their son could be remembered by name, and the defense did not object. The judge granted their request, and Hun’s parents expressed that they has forgiven their son’s killer.

On the same day, Justice Hoon Shaeu Peng sentenced the attacker to 16 years in prison. She remarked on the chilling premeditation involved in the crime and noted that it was unprecedented for such an act to occur in a school where students should feel safe. Justice Hoo emphasized that the perpetrator’s psychiatric issues should not excuse the violent act and deemed him ‘’highly culpable’’. The sentence was backdated to his arrest on July 19 2021.

On July 1 2024, the perpetrator , now 19 years old, filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal to reduce his 16-year prison sentence to a term of eight to ten years. Defense lawyer Sunil Sudheesan argued that his client’s mental health issues and other reducing factors justified a lighter sentence. However, the prosecution maintained that the 16-year sentence should stand, emphasizing that the offender bore significant responsibility for the crime. They argued that he had failed to seek treatment for his condition and had consumed violent content that worsened his liability to violence.

On 23 October 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, upholding the 16-year prison sentence.

Currently, the perpetrator is facing his sentence in Changi Prison.

May Ethan Hun Zhe Kai rest in peace.

[chaosandcrimson]

no way is that YOSHIKO 'YOSHI' NAKAHARA.. they're a 25-year-old HUMAN notoriously known for being PASSIVE & SEETHING but there are some people who have seen them being GENIAL & ACCEPTING. if you ask me, they remind me a lot of the whirr of a room full of computers, always being willing to lend a helping hand, and forcing yourself to sit silently in your rage, but that could just be because they're considered the GAMER CHICK around town. just keep an eye on them & see if their true colors shine through..

All that time you were throwing punches I was building something And I couldn't wait to show you it was real Screamed "Fuck you, Aimee" to the night sky as the blood was gushing But I can't forget the way you made me heal

OVERVIEW

Name: Yoshiko Kyoko Nakahara

Nickname(s): Yoshi

DOB: August 23, 2099

Age: 25

FC: Reina Hardesty

Height: 5'4"

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Pansexual

Occupation: Technician at Hole In The Firewall / Professional Gamer

Relationship Status: Single (Closed)

[+] genial, accommodating, accepting [–] passive, subdued, seething

BIOGRAPHY

tw: bullying

Yoshiko was the result of a drunken one-night stand her mother had when she was celebrating her 21st birthday in Las Vegas. At the time, she was dating someone back home, although they hadn't discussed exclusivity.

They became official shortly after the trip, and she decided not to tell him about what happened in Vegas. However, things became slightly complicated when she discovered that she was pregnant, and her boyfriend informed her that he definitely wasn't the father. He couldn't be. Because he was a synth.

She confessed to everything, thinking it was over and he that was going to break up with her. Instead, he proposed, saying that he didn't care if it wasn't his child biologically, because he would still raise them as if they were. The two were married in a small ceremony shortly before the birth of their daughter.

Yoshiko was named by her mother, but it was her dad who nicknamed her Yoshi, much to her mom's chagrin; although she later came around to the name. Both second generation Japanese immigrants, they had been raised with strong connections to their culture, which they passed on to Yoshi.

She didn't find out that her dad wasn't her dad biologically until she was ten years old and her parents decided to have more children. After asking repeatedly why her younger siblings had to be synths, they sat her down and explained the situation to her, which was... Confusing. And more than a little upsetting.

Even with their repeated assurances that it didn't matter, that she was still their daughter no matter what, it made her feel different from the rest of her family. Especially since she was the only one who wasn't fully Japanese.

It didn't help that things weren't great at school either. She had always been a people pleaser, but it slowly started wearing on her how often her friends would take advantage of her kindness, and the fact that she was so accommodating. As she entered into her teen years, she went from being a very friendly if somewhat shy girl to being extremely withdrawn and awkward.

As a result, she was relentlessly bullied and picked on by the very people who had previously claimed to be her friends. For years, the only place she felt safe was in the privacy of her room, being on her computer, gaming with her online friends.

Eventually, all of the anger that had been building up inside her couldn't be contained anymore, and she ended up lashing out violently against one of her bullies. Her parents had to be called, and she was grounded for a solid month, but at least nobody messed with her after that. They didn't talk to her at all.

Being left alone at school helped, but what really turned things around for Yoshi was that she was finally able to have a honest conversation with her parents about everything. They were very supportive, agreeing to attend family therapy with her, as well as paying for her to receive anger management counselling.

Her counsellor suggested that she channel her rage into something competitive like sports. Yoshi had terrible hand-eye coordination when it came to balls flying at her face, but she was very good at gaming; and with some encouragement, she joined the same esports team as one of her online friends, Katrina.

She had graduated from college when her parents decided to move to Japan with her younger siblings. Wanting to stay in the US, she relocated to Dallas-Fort Worth to be closer to her support system, moving in with Katrina.

She got a job as a technician at Hole in the Firewall where she met Karma Jones. Out of morbid curiosity, she eventually asked her hacker friend to look into her biological dad, knowing only his name and roughly how old he was. To her great surprise, it turned out that he was also in the DFW area.

She only approached him once, which turned out to be a monumental waste of time on her part, because he straight up didn't believe her. She has not talked to him since. She doesn't have the time, energy, or patience to spend on a man who accused her of lying to his face. Besides, she already has a dad. He might be on the other side of the world, but at the end of the day, he's still her dad.

[arionaleilani]

so the situation is this:

i haven’t posted anything under my writing tag since may. i have barely written anything in the first place since may. i got in a car accident in june (did not get hurt, but did total my car) and something seemed to snap? something about it just. it ended me mentally.

could also be the fact that summer is a very hectic time at work as well, seeing as i work in elementary aged childcare and during breaks from school we do 12 hour day camps every week day, meaning i go from doing split shift during the school year to working the oddest 8-9 hour shifts possible, which isn’t too bad when opening because you leave at 2:45 but then we also moved so i was leaving work at 2:45 and then doing moving shit until 9 pm and then waking up at 4 to be at work by 6:15.

but we moved! and the new house is lovely, and things should have felt calmer, but then i was switched to closing and something about working 10-6:30 while having to drive 30 minutes to get to/from work, meaning i have to leave at 9:30 and dont get back until 7… i can’t do shit with that shift. it’s the oddest placement and it’s exhausting and closing means a lot of cleaning so it’s exhausting on that level as well and

and i love my job, i do - the kids are wonderful and funny and i absolutely adore them, but my fuse is getting shorter and shorter and i feel like i’m at the end of my wick but the fire continues to burn.

but.

but next week is the last week of summer camp. august 25 is the last day. and then?

then we have a week of trainings at reasonable hours, of office time to prepare for the school year, and then it’s back to split shift, where i have about 5 hours in the middle of my day to go home and nap or write or clean or just EXIST.

i don’t know. i’m tired. i miss writing and have worked on stuff here and there but only just barely. but also, it’s the final stretch. my new psychologist is already helping as well, and soon i’ll be back on meds that will continue to help me while going through counseling that i’ve needed for a very long time.

is there a point to this post? not really, no.

but i’m alive. i’m here. i’m ready to get back to a place where i can work on my wip’s again.

[angwlita]

“ St. Paisios was born in Cappadocia on July 25, 1924. On August 7th, 1924, saint Paisios was baptized by Saint Arsenio the Cappadocian, who insisted to give him his own name. Five weeks after the baptism of young Arsenios, his family was forced to flee with the general exodus of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. He first visited Mt. Athos in 1949 AD after he completed his time in the army.”

He stayed there until 1958 and went to Panagia Stomiou Monastery; then went to Mt. Sinai in 1962 and finally returned again to Mt. Athos after 2 years; living in Stavronikita Monastery nd stayed 11 years (1968-1979). In 1979 he lived in a cave.

“He was known by his visitors for his gentle manner and acceptance of those who came to receive his advice, counsel, and blessing.  He used to sign his letters as “the great sinful monk Paisios” and did not hesitate to describe himself as a “squash” or a “tit” when people included him in the circle of saints, trying to prove to them that the life of a monk and of a good Christian is a constant struggle. “

St. Paisios suffered from many illness nd finally passed away on july 12, 1994.

૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა “As health comes from the bitter medicine, so too does the salvation of souls come from bitter experiences.”

૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა “What I see around me would drive me insane, if I did not know that no matter what happens, God will have the last word.” 

( x  x  x  x  x  x  x)

[rfhtimess]

MAT Student at Westminister College Lies to Obtain Stalking Injunction

Julie Ray Peacock, MAT Student @ Westminister College Lying to Obtain Stalking Injunction

Court findings of Julie Ray Peacock Lying to obtain a stalking injunction.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

MAT Student at Westminister College Lies to Obtain Stalking Injunction

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT

IN AND FOR SALT LAKE COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH

-------------------­

JULIE RAY PEACOCK,

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Petitioner,

CASE NO. 080907276

vs.

DATE: AUGUST 10, 2008

DAVID BRUCE BUTTARS,

Respondent.

-------------------­

The Court conducted evidentiary hearings on the Respondent's Motion to Dissolve Temporary Civil Stalking Injunction. These hearings were conducted on June 25, June 26, June 30, July 1; and July 8, 2008. (The Court's already full schedule necessitated conducting these hearings in a piecemeal fashion, a circumstance which the Court regrets. The parties were present and represented by counsel: Joanna Sagers represented the Petitioner; Kay Burningham represented the Respondent. Final arguments were thereafter submitted by counsel in writing, and the Petitioner filed a Request to Submit for Decision on July 22,2008. The Court having received evidence and considered the arguments of counsel now enters this Memorandum Decision.

The Request for Civil Stalking Injunction The Petitioner's May 1, 2008 Request for Civil Stalking Injunction ("Request") alleged two events of stalking: March 14,2008 at Estillo Salon and April 14, 2008 at Dr. William Burns's Dental Office.

The Request described what the Respondent allegedly did and why it caused her emotional distress or fear of physical harm. These allegations are summarized as follows. The parties dated and eventually became engaged, but the Petitioner broke the engagement yet "wished to remain friendly."

On September 10, 2006, the Respondent trespassed at her house and the police were called and a report made. Also in 2006, the Respondent detained the Petitioner in his house, refusing to let her leave. This was reported to the Summit County Sheriff. After these incidents, "the Petitioner cut off all contact with the Respondent." In December 2007, the Petitioner learned that the Respondent still regarded them as being in a dating relationship, but told him again that they were not. "From that point on, the Respondent continued to contact the Petitioner and send her gifts.

On March 13, 2008, the Respondent went to the Petitioner's hair salon and requested personal information about the Petitioner. That month, he repeatedly sentmher text messages stating things like, "God meant for us to be together, you will alwaysmbe mine, I will never let you go."

On March 28, 2008, the Petitioner again told the Respondent that she wanted him to stop contacting her. His reaction was to tell her that her life is his business, and "you will never belong to anyone else."

Over the next several weeks, the Respondent came to the Petitioner's place of business several times, and attempted to get information about the Petitioner from he co-workers. He also called them after hours. On April 19, when he appeared at her work, he was told to leave and not return, but became angry and was escorted out. "[D]uring this incident, the Respondent was carrying a concealed weapon." Despite receiving a cease and desist letter, the Petitioner sent a package to the Petitioner's place of business. The Petitioner reported these incidents to the police. The Petitioner supported her Request with police reports and a stalking incident log. The District Court issued a Temporary Civil Stalking Injunction ordering the Respondent to refrain from stalking the Petitioner, contacting her and Hal Peacock,

Goldie Peacock, Lois Peacock, Dr. William Burns, and Kathy Wolfe. The temporary injunction also ordered the Respondent to stay away from the Respondent's vehicle, job, school, and home, as well as her hair salon, and "Sugar Post Pottery." The Respondent's request to dissolve the injunction ensued and was filed in a timely fashion.

The Statute Civil stalking is proved by establishing the same elements as criminal stalking.

Utah Code §77-3a-1 01 (1). The applicable provision of the Code provides as follows:2

(1) As used in this section:

(a) "Course of conduct" means repeatedly maintaining a visual or

2The statute was amended effective May 5, 2008, Because the Petitioner's Request was submitted some days earlier, the prior version of the statute is applicable.

physical proximity to a person or repeatedly conveying verbal or written threats or threats implied by conduct or a combination thereof directed at or toward a person.

(b) "Immediate family" means a spouse, parent, child, sibling, or any other person who regularly resides in the household or who regularly resided in the household within the prior six months.

(c) "Repeatedly" means on two or more occasions.

(2) A person is guilty of stalking who:

(a) intentionally or knowingly engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that wo_ld cause a reasonable person:

(i) to fear bodily injury to himself. . . ; or

(ii) to suffer emotional distress to himself. . . ;

(b) has knowledge or should have knowledge that the specific person:

(i) will be placed in reasonable fear of bodily injury to himself . . . ; or

(ii) will suffer emotional distress. . . . ; and

( c) whose conduct:

(i) induces fear in the specific person of bodily injury tohimself. . . : or

(ii) causes emotional distress inJhe specific person. . . .

Utah Code § 76-5-106.5.

The Petitioner has the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the Respondent has stalked the Petitioner. Id. at § 77-3a-101(6)(a). At the hearing, the Court may modify, revoke, or continue the injunction. Id. at § 77-3a-7.

The Evidentiary Hearing The Court heard testimony from the Petitioner; the Petitioner's colleague Kathleen Wolfe; the Petitioner's employer Dr. William Burns; the Petitioner's colleague

Michelle Hawkins; the Petitioner's mother Lois Peacock; Division of Child and Family Services employee Leland Robinson; the Respondent's friend and business associate Douglas Osmond; the Respondent's son Danny Buttars; the Respondent's friend and business partner Vincent Romney; the Respondent, and the Respondent's friend and co-worker Steve Garretson.

The Petitioner and the Respondent have known each other for several years, during which time they have had an intermittent romantic relationship including an engagement to be married, punctuated by periods of friendship. Even during periods when they ostensibly were "just friends," they have been intensely involved in one another's lives. This has included the Petitioner redecorating the Respondent's house, providing extended periods of child care for his son, and spending the night at the Respondent's house on holiday visits. Their relationship, however it is characterized, has ended, and the Petitioner has accused the Respondent of stalking her. Although the Request specified but two instances of alleged stalking, the'

description refers to a number of instances which could be construed as a longstanding pattern. Further, considerable portions of the hearing were devoted to numerous instances which, in the Petitioner's view, cumulatively demonstrate stalking.

Accordingly, the following analysis looks at these alleged instances, and –repeatedly inquires: (1) Did the Respondent intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress? (2) Did the Respondent have, or should he have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress? and (3) Did the Petitioner actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct?

The September 2006 Incident in Summit County The Petitioner testified that on a visit to the Respondent's house in September 2006 she told him she was not in love with him, and that he became "outraged" and grabbed her wrists. He trapped her in his upstairs bedroom for "hours and hours."After she got away, she went down the stairs and he threw framed pictures at her and pulled curtain rods off the wall. She was hit by the picture frames. She testified that the incident scared her.

The Respondent also testified about the circumstances leading up to the Petitioner's departure that night. The Petitioner was planning to stay the night, and the two of them were in bed together but got "carried away" despite a mutual decision not to have sex. She was going to leave, but was crying and upset and he was concerned about her driving in that condition. He acknowledges standing in front of her "for about two seconds, and admits dropping her photo off the stairwell in a symbolic gesture. Further, he testified that this could have been interpreted as violent, but he does not believe she was afraid. He denies any intent to harm her.

The Petitioner left the Respondent's house in Summit County and headed hom to Salt Lake City. She testified that on her way down the canyon, she hit something in the road. Instead of calling 911 or for other emergency assistance, she called the Respondent. She testified that she "doesn't know" why she called the Respondent instead of 911. She testified that he did not answer the call. Thereafter, she testified that she drove herself to an emergency room, where she did not report that she had been hit by objects allegedly thrown by the Respondent.

The Respondent testified that he answered the Petitioner's call, she told him about the accident, said she was all right, and they agreed to speak in the morning. When he called her the next day, she told him that she had been to the emergency room. He contends that during that call, the Petitioner said it was all right for him to visit her, and that she would unlock the door. His visit to her house is the subject of the next section.

Danny Buttars, the Respondent's son, was in the house during the incident in which the Petitioner allegedly was held for hours against her will. His proffered testimony is to the effect that he believes he would have heard the incident if it had happened as the Petitioner alleges, but did not hear anything like that.

Approximately a week after this incident, the Petitioner reported it to the Summit County police, but did not mention that she was held for "hours and hours" or that she had been assaulted by the Respondent throwing objects at her. The report suggests, and the Petitioner's testimony confirmed, that what she told the police was that "he stepped in front of her so she could not get by." The Respondent raised his voice, then "grabbed her by the arm and pushed her into a dresser." There is no mention of an accident in the canyon or a trip to the emergency room.

The Court finds that (1) in this instance, the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress;

(2) the Respondent did not have, nor should he have had, knowledge tha

the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress and

(3) the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a

result of the Respondent's conduct. The Petitioner's testimony about this incident was not credible. Among other things, her long-after-the-fact report to the police is not consistent with her testimony in these proceedings that the Respondent detained her "for hours and hours," and the Court therefore finds that this incident did not transpire in the manner described by the Petitioner. Further, the Court finds that the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer significant emotional distress from their argument, inasmuch as she chose to telephone the Respondent immediately after she allegedly fled from having been detained for "hours and hours," and made no mention of objects striking her when she went to the emergency room.

The Respondent's Visit to the Petitioner's House The Petitioner lives with her mother, Lois Peacock, in a house in Salt Lake City. Ms. Peacock testified that on September 1O, 2006, she was in the kitchen with the Petitioner when the Respondent arrived, came into the house uninvited and without ringing the doorbell, and began "hollering" at the Petitioner. He was told to leave but refused, the police were called, and he left.

The Petitioner also testified that the Respondent was screaming and yelling when he came into the house, and that she and her mother were scared, prompting her to call the police. The Respondent left before the police arrived. The Respondent, as noted above, testified that he was invited to the house. The Salt Lake Police Department report of the incident states that the Petitioner told the police "of the abuse, that suspect David Buttars had done to her on Wednesday night in Park City." The Petitioner told the officers that the Respondent entered the house without permission, but left when she called police. After this incident, the Petitioner "decided to try again."

The Court finds that (1) in this instance, whether he was invited or not, the Respondent by coming into the house and yelling at the Petitioner, then failing to leave until the police had been summoned, intentionally or knowingly engaged in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress; and (2) the Respondent had, or should have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would suffer emotional distress.

Whether the emotional distress was significant is debatable, however. The Court does not find, however, that the Petitioner actually suffered significant emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct. Her decision to engage in continued relations with the Respondent is inconsistent with the level of emotional distress encompassed by the stalking statute. Whereas the Court is cognizant of the fact that "intervening conciliatory gestures will not preclude a court from finding a course of conduct, (Towner v. Ridgway, 182 P.3d 347 (Utah 2008)). Petitioner's distress over this instance was short-lived and not significant.

Christmas 2006

The Petitioner and her mother celebrated Christmas with the Respondent. Ms. Peacock testified that as dinner was being prepared, the Respondent's stove top broke and he became upset and "threw" it. The Respondent denies throwing any part of the stove.

The Petitioner and her mother both spent the night at the Respondent's house, with, the Petitioner sleeping with the Respondent in his bedroom. The Court finds that even assuming that the Respondent displayed an angry outburst concerning a malfunctioning stove, (1) the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; (2) the Respondent did not have, nor should he have had,knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; and

(3) the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct. Among other things, the Petitioner's overnight stay demonstrates that she was neither emotionally distressed nor afraid of the Respondent in the aftermath of the incident involving the stove top.

June 2007

At the Petitioner's suggestion, she and the Respondent took a trip together. The Petitioner testified she was not afraid of the Respondent then. The relationship cooled again after that.

Christmas 2007

The Petitioner and her mother spent Christmas 2007 with the Respondent and his son at the Respondent's house. This Petitioner spent the night with the Respondent in the Respondent's bedroom.

January 2008

The Petitioner testified that she broke off the relationship again in January 2008. She nevertheless stayed with Danny that month while the Respondent and Danny's mother were both out of town. Upon his return, she met the Respondent at the airport, and by the Respondent's account and that of Steven Gerritson and Douglas Osmond, gave him a "passionate kiss." The Respondent also testified that she said "I love you" when she met him at the airport.

Valentine's Day 2008

The Respondent came to the Petitioner's house on Valentine's Day at a time when he did not expect her to be there, but when the Petitioner's mother, Ms. Peacock, was present. The Respondent's visit was not expected, and he came in the back door, which was his customary access. Ms. Peacock testified that she was "scared."

The Respondent testified that he brought the Petitioner "friendship gifts"-a bear, and some chocolates. He believed she would not be there, and: planned to leave them with her mother. Ms. Peacock let him in. The Petitioner was horne, however, and by the Respondent's account, thanked and hugged him. He left, and although the Petitioner considered the gifts inappropriate in view of the lack of a romantic relationship between them, the Petitioner called him later and they talked for approximately one hour. She testified that she was not afraid of him during these encounters. Although the Petitioner called the Respondent several times on February 16 and they talked for more than three hours, they had little contact after that. He testified that he was tired of the intermittent nature of their relationship, and there was a corresponding decrease in the number and duration of their phone calls, a decrease corroborated by the telephone billing records.

March 2008

The Respondent mailed the Petitioner an Easter card, which caused her "concern." The pre-printed message states" There's no one quite like you, with your warm and gentle way, There are no words to tell you what your friendship means each day. .. You're always such a pleasure and a special joy to know, And Easter is the perfect time for me to tell you so. Happy Easter." A hand-written portion states, "Hey Julie, I do and always will love you. I treasure what we had, have & will have in the future. I'm only a quick call away. Have a happy and peaceful Easter. Love always DAVID." The Respondent denied underlining the phrase in the portion he hand-wrote; the Petitioner testified it was underlined when she received the card. The Respondent also testified that he intended the card as a card between friends.

The Petitioner called the Respondent on March 19, 2008 because she had "tife­ threatening surgery coming up." She testified that she felt comfortable calling him, and that they had an hour-long conversation about breast cancer. The Respondent confirmed that they had a long conversation about mortality that day, and the Petitioner told him she had additional biopsies and surgery scheduled April 1. Both parties testified that at this point, there was no romantic relationship between them.

The Court finds that (1) by sending the Petitioner an Easter card with this particular message, the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; (2) the Respondent d!d not have, nor should he have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; and (3) the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Easter card. The message of the card, even the hand-written portions, is benign and in keeping with the parties' long history of involvement with one another, and the Respondent had no reason to think that it would .rlot be happily received. Moreover, the fact that the Petitioner called the Respondent a few days later when she had just received an alarming medical diagnosis demonstrates that she perceived the card as it was intended: an invitation to call him if she needed or wanted him.

The Respondent's Visits to the Dental Office

The Petitioner has worked in the dental office of Dr. William D. Burns since May 2006. Her colleagues include Kathy Wolfe, who is the office manager. Ms. Wolfe testified that she knows the Respondent through the Petitioner and as a patient at Dr. Burns's office. Michelle Hawkins, another colleague, was also involved in some of the following interactions. The Respondent received dental services at Dr. Burns's office in January, February, and March 2007, making his appointments through the Petitioner. The Respondent's son Danny also received dental services at Dr. Burns's office in August 2007.

Ms. Wolfe considered it "odd" that the Respondent sought treatment there in view of the "strained relationship" with the Petitioner after their broken engagement, which had occurred before the Petitioner began working for Dr. Burns. The Respondent testified, as did Dr. Burns, that there had been some discussion between them about the poor quality of work performed by the Respondent's usual dentist. Because of this, the Respondent sought treatment for himself and for Danny from Dr. Burns.

Dr. Burns testified that he rarely treats children, and that he doesn't consider the Respondent a "regular" patient whom he treated in a comprehensive way. With respect to Danny's treatment, Dr. Bums noted that his condition was an emergency, but not for the reasons the Respondent considered it an emergency. On April 3, 2008 the Respondent went to the office seeking treatment for his son

Danny. Ms. Wolfe testified he had no appointment; the Respondent testified that he did. The Petitioner was not present, and the Respondent knew she would not be present. The Respondent initiated a conversation with Ms. Wolfe that included expressions of concern about the Petitioner, and questions about her friend Michael.

The Respondent came back that afternoon, and the conversation "made her uncomfortable" and she felt concerned for her own safety. Michelle Hawkins was present during part of this conversation, and corroborated its content. A few days later, the Respondent telephoned Ms. Wolfe on a Sunday, ostensibly to inquire about Danny's post-operation swelling, but segueing il:1to unrelated topics which included questions about the Petitioner, and also the Petitioner's friend Michael.

On April 14, 2008, the Respondent demanded a refund and requested the return and deletion from Dr. Burns's computer of his own and Danny's dental records. Dr. Burns characterized his demands as a "rant" and "irrational," but also testified that the Respondent did not use foul language, and the Respondent left when he was asked to leave. Dr. Burns sent the Respondent a letter requesting that he stay away from the office and leave the staff alone. (The "package" the Respondent subsequently mailed that office was a formal written demand for his and his son's medical records. The Petitioner did not pursue this allegation as part of the alleged stalking incidents.)

Ms. Wolfe testified that she believes there were a couple of other phone calls from the Respondent. She acknowledges it was possible the Respondent regarded her as a friend, inasmuch as she had been entertained at his house., She testified that she never saw the Respondent with a gun at the dentist's office, and that she had never seen the Respondent threaten the Petitioner. Dr. Burns also testified that he never saw the Respondent with a gun, and although the Respondent was speaking loudly and saying things that "didn't make sense," there was nothing threatening about the incident. Moreover, he regards these proceedings as "a crock," and "much ado about nothing," over things that escalated out of proportion to the degree of the problem.

Ms. Hawkins never saw the Respondent with a gun. The Respondent testified that he took Danny to Dr. Burns's office because of his concern about the quality of dental care he had received from his Park City dentist. He deliberately requested appointments when he knew the Petitioner was absent from work so as to avoid causing a "ruckus" at the office. He was surprised by Dr. Burns's letter indicating .he was not welcome on the premises, among other things because Danny's treatment was not yet complete. He also testified that he did not bring a gun to Dr. Burns's office. As noted above, the Petitioner's Request alleged that in April 2008, the Respondent came to her place of employment several times, and attempted to get information about the Petitioner from her co-workers. He also called them after hours.

On April 19, he was told to leave and not return, but became angry and was escorted out. "[D]uring this incident, the Respondent was carrying a concealed weapon."

The "Stalking Incident Log" maintained by the Petitioner states that on the Respondent's Apri/14, 2008_visit with Danny to Dr. Burns's office for the purpose of having Danny's stitches removed, "David was wearing a gun." The Petitioner's allegations that the Respondent was carrying a gun when he went to Dr. Burns's office are incorrect, as is her statement that he had to be escorted out. Indeed, both statements appear to be outright fabrications.

The Court finds that (1) in connection with his visits to Dr. Burns's dental office, the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress. He had legitimate reasons to seek treatment there for Danny. To be sure, other options were available, such as finding a new dentist, but the mere fact that he brought his son to the office is not conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily, injury or suffer emotional distress. The fact that he engaged in conversation about the Petitioner, who was away from the office because she was in the midst of a medical crisis, with one of the Petitioner's friends and colleagues likewise would not cause fa reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress. Further, (2) the Respondent did not have, nor should he have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional. distress upon being informed that the Respondent and his son had been at the dentist's office; and (3) the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct.

The DCFS Investigation

The Petitioner testified that she reported the Respondent to the Division of Child and Family Services (HDCFS") after the incidents involving her work, and told them about the Respondent having guns and his threats to kill her family. DCFS employee Levan Robinson testified about a DCFS investigation in April 2008 into allegations that the "Respondent had made a threat with a firearm in the presence of a child. After interviewing Danny, his mother, and the Respondent, the matter was closed on May 6, 2008 with a finding that there was no merit to the complaint.

The Narrative Section of the DCFS report [Exhibit 6] summarizes allegations similar to those stated above concerning the Respondent's to Dr. Burns's office, including: “This man will bring his son with him, holding a gun, and making threats to kill - her family." Further, during an instance in which he prevented her from leaving his house for four hours, "[h]e threatened to kill her and had a gun." Finally, the allegation that "this man came into her work and threatened to kill her and has his gun out. Police were called. He has his son with him on this occasion as welL"

These allegations were found non-meritorious by DCFS, but the Court notes them because the Petitioner accused the Respondent of "holding a gun," and having a gun "out," but there is simply no evidence of this. The Court reiterates: no one at Dr. Burns's office saw a gun; Danny did not see a gun; the Petitioner herself did not see a gun for she was not there; and the Respondent denies having had a gun in the dentist's office. The Petitioner also accused the Respondent of "threatening to kill her" at her place of work, but no such threats were made, and police were not called. Again, these statements appear to be outright fabrications.

The Use of Guns and Violence

Ms. Peacock testified that when she first met the Respondent, he told her he carries a gun for protection. She has never seen him with a gun, and has never seen the Respondent physically threaten the Petitioner.

The Petitioner testified that the Respondent has never pointed a gun at her northreatened her with one, but "said disturbing things" such as indicating that having a gun would ensure that the Petitioner did not get far from him. Danny Butters's proffered testimony is that he has never seen the Respondent brandish a firearm in an inappropriate manner.

In the last few years, the Respondent has acquired several firearms and obtained a weapons permit in May 2007. He showed the Petitioner a gun he kept in his night stand when he was leaving town and the Petitioner was going to be staying- with Danny. He denies making a comment about using it to keep her in line. TheRespondent testified that the Petitioner also keeps a gun in her dresser at home; he has seen it, she knows how to use it, and she is not afraid of them. The Respondent denies taking a gun to the dentist's office. The Respondent testified that he has never hit the Petitioner, and has never intended to cause her fear for her safety.

The Court finds that with respect to showing the Petitioner the gun in his night stand when he was leaving her in charge of his household and his son, (1) the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; (2) the Respondent did not have, nor should he have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress; and (3) the Petitioner did not actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct.

The Rescission Letter

The Respondent is a owner of a company known as Ellipse Technology ("Ellipse"). The Petitioner and her mother have a subscription agreement for the purchase of stock in Ellipse.

The Respondent testified that during a March 27 phone call initiated by the Petitioner, she informed the Respondent that Ellipse is "a lousy company" and she wishes she had never invested in it. This prompted the Respondent to meet with Vince Romney, his business partner. They decided to offer the Petitioner and her mother an opportunity to rescind their investment. Mr. Romney prepared and sent the Petitioner and her mother a letter [Exhibit 13] concerning their investment in Ellipse containing what the Petitioner considers an"ultimatum" and a demand for a response. Mr. Romney testified that he prepared theletter because the Respondent had related to him the Petitioner's discontent with theinvestment, and they wanted to give her an opportunity to "get out."

The letter offered to rescind the offer and sale of the stock purchase. It states: "Should you decide to accept this offer of rescission, kindly sign and return this letter indicating your acceptance. . .. If you decide not to accept this rescission offer, kindly sign and return your copy of this letter indicating that you have declined this offer." The offer would remain open for thirty days, suggests they may wantto consult an attorney, and states, "If you fail to accept this offer in writing within thirty (30) days, any right to sue under the securities laws of the State of Utah will be extinguished."

With respect to the written offer to rescind the stock, the Court finds that (1) the Respondent did not intentionally or knowingly engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress. The letter was written and sent by someone- other than the Respondent, and merely offered to let the Petitioner and her mother out of their investment, which the Petitioner had come to regret. The language of the letter is not something a reasonable person would perceive as a threat. Consistent with this, (2) the Respondent did not have, nor should he have had, knowledge that the Petitioner would fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress. It was merely an offer, which could be accepted or refused. It is possible, but the Court is skeptical, that (3) the Petitioner did actually fear bodily injury or suffer emotional distress as a result of the Respondent's conduct.

The Telephone Calls

The Petitioner and the Respondent had regular telephone contact throughout their relationship. Of particular relevance is the frequency and duration of phone calls in early 2008. These calls were often initiated by the Petitioner, land undercut her testimony that the Respondent's attentions were unwanted. Estillo Salon The Petitioner alleged that in early March 2008, the Respbndent went to Estillo Salon, the Petitioner's hair salon, and requested personal information about the Petitioner. There was no admissible evidence concerning the Respondent's visits to the Estillo Salon.

Text Messages

The Petitioner testified that in March, the Petitioner repeatedly sent her text messages stating things like, "God meant for us to be together, you will always be mine, I will never let you go." These allegations are unsupported by a'1ything other than the Petitioner's testimony, and the Court does not find it credible.

Attorney's Fees

The statute provides that "After a hearing with notice to the affected party, the court may enter an order requiring any party to pay the costs of the action, including reasonable attorney's fees." Utah Code § 77-3a-102. Whether to award fees is a matter of discretion. See Ellison v. Starn, 136 P.3d 1242 (Ut. App. 2006). The Respondent has requested an award of fees and costs "in accordance with th evidence and law to be submitted hereafter." The Court reserves this issue for decision until an appropriate motion is filed and the matter is thoroughly briefed.

ORDER

In the overall context of the parties' longstanding relationship, the Court cannot find two or more instances of civil stalking, and because the Petitioner has not borne her burden by a preponderance of the evidence, the temporary stalking injunction is hereby REVOKED.

This Memorandum Decision shall stand as the order of the Court.

Bertha Johnson

[stonewallsposts]

August 2024 Reading 

L'inferno- Dante  (1321)  Continuing through the inferno, this month Cantos 23-32. 

Canto 23  Eighth circle- fifth ditch: Fraudulent/bribe takers  Virgil and Dante escape the demon bunch that was sent to accompany them, and do them harm...  The demons come after them, but the pair are able to escape the ditch and get safely enough to the next.  Eighth circle- sixth ditch: Fraudulent/hypocrites  In this section the condemned are swathed in immensely heavy golden robes, that are made of lead on the inside. They meet Catalano and Caiaphas.  

Canto 24  Eighth circle- seventh ditch: Fraudulent/thieves  This ditch has the condemned naked and running away from a huge number and variety of serpents. One condemned is caught, bitten, and burns to ashes, only to be put together again and start the process over. They meet one Vanni Fucci, who stole sacred objects from a church, and let the blame fall on others. At the end of the canto, he gives a negative prophecy over Dante just out of spite. 

Canto 25  Eighth circle- seventh ditch: Fraudulent/thieves, cont.  Fucci levels some rude gestures towards God and is immediately squelched by some snakes. Then a centaur comes after him to torture him some more. Then Dante gives an example of metamorphosis. A serpent launching itself onto a man, then they meld into each other. Then another serpent bites into the creature and they slowly transform, the serpent into a man, and the man into a serpent. So it seems the serpents in the ditch aren't demons... they are other condemned that inflict punishment, then are transformed into the ones to be inflicted, in a nasty circle. 

Canto 26  Eighth circle- eighth ditch: Fraudulent/evil counselors  Dante starts off lambasting Florence for being such a den of iniquity. From the ridge of the ditch, he sees what look like a bunch of fireflies. As he approaches, they are flames each containing the condemned. One is Ulysses, who Dante begs Virgil to converse with. Ulysses tells of how he convinced his band of men to sail past the Strait of Gibraltar in search of knowledge of human vice and wisdom. They sail south down the coast of Africa and eventually come to the mountain of Purgatory, which they aren't supposed to see, so God sends a whirlwind and sinks their ship, dragging them all down to hell. 

Canto 27  Eighth circle- eighth ditch: Fraudulent/evil counselors, cont.  After Ulysses finishes his speech, another flame comes up- Guido da Montefeltre. Dante gives him a rundown of the current political situation in Romagna, then asks Guido to tell his story, which he does. The TL;DR version is that Guido was a man of arms, who feeling repentant, became a Franciscan friar. But the Pope harangued him into giving him counsel about how to bring down a rival, which Guido did. Despite being promised that he would be absolved, a demon grabs him at death and says one can't claim repentance, and then willfully commit the sin anyway, that would be breaking the law of non-contradiction. So he was taken down to hell. 

Canto 28  Eighth circle- ninth ditch: Fraudulent/schismatics  Dante starts off with a disclaimer that human language can't really capture the carnage he sees in this canto. If one were to pile up all the bodies of the various amputated and wounded through the long history of wars in south Italy, it wouldn't measure up to what he saw in the ninth ditch.  The first he sees is Mohammed, who states that this place is for those who disseminated scandal and schism. The condemned here are ripped open, as they tore apart the societies in which they lived.   Pier da Medicina is here, Gaius Curio, who told Julius Caesar not to delay crossing the Rubicon, and ushered in the Roman civil war that led to the Empire, and Mosca dei Lamberti, who had sown division in Florence. Finally there is Bertram del Bornio, who had encourage king Henry II to rebel against his father. In the only mention of it in the Inferno, Bertram says his punishment is 'contrappasso', or just retribution, the concept that runs throughout the inferno in its portrayal of the various punishments. The punishments are meant to symbolically mirror the sin, so that the sinner has now become what he was in life, with the self-deception stripped away. 

Canto 29  Eighth circle- tenth ditch: falsifiers/counterfeits  Here the condemned are either unable to move, or can only move by dragging themselves along, while they suffer from inescapable itches. They scratch their scabbed bodies until they are bloody, but can find no relief. Dante strikes up a conversation with Griffolino, a well-known alchemist, who was burned at the stake. He had told a leader that he could make him fly, and the dummy paid to have him teach him. It of course didn’t work, and the man, bugged at the trick, had Griffolino condemned. But he tells Dante that he was sent down to this ditch for his counterfeiting. Dante rants against the stupidity of the Sienese, which another seconds, excepting for a few particular men he calls out. This turns out to be another counterfeiter- Capocchio.  

Canto 30  Eighth circle- tenth ditch: falsifiers/counterfeits; cont.  It turns out there are several variations of falsifiers and punishments. In the previous canto, were the alchemists who were covered with itching scabs. In this canto we have counterfeiters afflicted by dropsy; impersonators with hydrophobia, and perjurers with fever. 

Immediately though, Dante sees two frantic and rabid condemned souls: Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha, running around biting other condemned sinners (these are the hydrophobics). Schicchi impersonated a member of the Donati family to alter a will, and Myrrha impersonated another woman in order to have sexual intercourse with her father. 

Dante finds Master Adamo (dropsy), who counterfeited Florins and was burned at the stake.  Next to him are Potipher's wife, and Sinon (fever), who helped dupe the Trojans to take in the horse.  Adamo and Sinon get into an argument and trade insults, which engrosses Dante, until Virgil threatens to get into a fight with him if he doesn't knock it off. Dante repents, but Virgil lets him know that enjoying such nonsense is a base desire. 

Canto 31  Eighth Circle- edge of Ninth Circle  Dante and Virgil are on the edge of the cliff leading down to the ninth and lowest circle of hell, when Dante notices what look in the distance like towers, but are actually giants, imprisoned on the edge, but tall enough to be seen by the travelers. The ninth circle is for traitors. They first meet Nimrod, the biblical 'mighty hunter', who founded the country of Shinar, where the tower of Babel was constructed. Part of his punishment for this rebellion against God is that he can no longer communicate with anyone since he speaks a language that none can understand, nor can he understand anyone else. 

Then they meet the titan Ephialtes. Dante wants to meet Briareus, but Virgil says he is too far away and will not be useful anyway. They will meet Antaeus instead, who's arms are free, and can get them down to the lowest circle. Virgil convinces Antaeus to do this since Dante is still alive and will return to the earth, where he can write of Antaeus. So the pair are conveyed down to the bottom of the lowest circle, and there the canto ends. 

Canto 32  Ninth Circle- region of Caino. Traitors to family.  The unrepentent sinners here are locked in a thick clear ice up to where their heads start. Dante accidentally kicks one in the head before questioning another- Camiscione de' Pazzi. I won't waste time on the details here since none of these are people any of us in the modern era would recognize. 

Ninth Circle- region of Antenora. Traitors to country  As they travel inwards, Dante "accidentally" kicks another guy in the head, sparking a testy conversation. Dante asks his name, he tells Dante to bug off. Dante says he can spread word up top if he'll say who he is, the guy says that's the last thing he wants, bug off again. Dante threatens to start pulling hair out, to which the guy says do your worst, I'll never tell you anything. So Dante does, which makes the guy howl in pain. Then one of his 'neighbors', gives his name away- Bocca degli Abati.  Dante recognizes him and swears he will now write him down in all his disgrace. Bocca then gives away the names of the other guy who outed him, as well as some others too. 

The canto ends with Dante and Virgil coming across a guy eating another's brains out. We'll meet him in the next canto. 

Inferno- Sandow Birk  This isn't a translation; more of an update, a partial modernization. The writer changes the language into modern American slang, sets the story in LA, and adds a few modern names. When I heard about it I thought it might be interesting. It retains many of the original names, with most of the in-depth stories Dante included left intact. The modern names are simply appended to the list of evil-doers. He includes updated pictures, which is where we can see that it's set in LA, much more than in the text itself. The other modern updates would be in some of the similes, he changes them to be things we can relate to today. It was interesting, but not quite as good as I had hoped.  

The Annals of Imperial Rome- Tacitus  (116AD)  This portion of Tacitus' history covers 14 AD with the reign of Tiberius to 68 AD at the end of the reign of Nero. In between Tiberius were Caligula (37-41 AD) and Claudius (41-54 AD). 

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte   I read through the Marjolein Bastin hardcover edition, which contains supplementary materials and some nice illustrations. I won't rehash the story since this is the fourth time I've read it through. But it continues to be one of my favorite books for a variety of reasons, and I never cease to love it and learn from it. 

Il Conformista- Alberto Moravia (1951)  Marcello Clerici is a young boy who kills a bunch of lizards, and really liked it. But he is aware that this is not normal. He attempts to convince his friend Roberto to kill some too, which would help him feel that, if others like it too, he must not be abnormal. Robert however is horrified. Marcello then goes in search of convincing himself that he is 'normal'. At some point though, a bunch of classmates, since Marcello has some effeminate features, pin him down and put a skirt on him. He is rescued by a passing driver, who invites him back to his house. He tells Marcello that he has a revolver, which Marcello really wants. The man, Lino, promises him he will give him the revolver if Marcello comes to the house. While at the house, Lino tries to rape Marcello, who ends up shooting him. Convinced he has murdered the man, Marcello feels guilty, but also finds he isn't too terribly bothered by having killed him.  

We fast forward 17 years to 1937, where Marcello is now a state agent for fascist Italy. He is about to get married, and even though he doesn’t really love his fiance, but...it is the normal thing to do, and normalcy is what our boy is all about trying to find. In preparation for his wedding, he is supposed to attend confession. While there, he decides to confess his crime. The priest is horrified, but essentially gives him some things to do and he gets married. The fascist state decides that an old professor of Marcello's has been anti-fascist, so Marcello is sent, on his honeymoon, to Paris to set up the man's murder. While there he sort of falls for his old professor's current wife. He attempts to have a fling, but the wife is actually a lesbian, and doesn't want to have him... but his brand new bride. His bride however is uninterested. In the end, both the professor and his wife are killed by other agents of the state, only to find out that the entire mission had been called off after it was decided that the professor wasn't actually a threat, but the orders were sent too late.  

As an epilogue, we skip forward to 1943 when the fascist government has fallen, and there is a great fear in Marcello's wife's mind that they will be condemned as part of the fascist regime. While out in Rome one evening, Marcello meets Lino, the man who had tried to rape him as a boy, and whom he thought he had killed. Marcello argues that Lino had ruined his life, but Lino retorts that the loss of innocence was inevitable and is merely part of the human experience. 

The next day, as Marcello, his wife and his daughter are driving out to get away from Rome, the car is strafed by a warplane.. It doesn't say which side. Realizing his wife and child are dead, he awaits the return of the plane and that's where the book ends. Typical Italian novel: dark to the end. 

The novel is ultimately about 'normality'. Marcello attempts normality with conformity. 

I and Thou- Martin Buber  (1923)  Buber was a German Jewish Philosopher. Buber proposes that humans are defined by two word-pairs: I-it, and I-Thou. I-it is about the world of experience and sensation. I-Thou is the world of relationships. Long story short: Relationships are what define us. I'll leave it at that. 

Waiting for Godot- Samuel Beckett (1953)  A short, nonsensical play, purportedly about man's search for meaning... at least that's what the book cover says.  

Creatures That Once Were Men- Maxim Gorky  (1897)  "The feeling that one is unable to injure anyone is worse than the feeling that one is unable to do good, because to do harm is far easier and simpler." 

The quote above is from the story "Creatures that once were men". The book is some 5-6 short stories.  

Under the Volcano- Malcom Lowry  (1947)  The book chronicles one day- November 2 1938- the Day of the Dead, following the ex-British consul, Geoffrey Firmin. Firmin is an alcoholic and is wasted the entire book. He thinks in an incoherent stream-of-consciousness that is tough to read, and frankly, just depressing. He lives in the fictional town of Quauhnahuac, basically Cuernavaca, Mexico, under the shadow of the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, which are constantly referenced... hence the title: Under the Volcano. 

Firmin's ex-wife Yvonne shows up to try and rescue him from his drunkenness and rekindle their marriage. Complicating the matter is Firmin's younger brother Hugh, who apparently had an affair with Yvonne a while back. Firmin staggers from bar to bar, with Hugh and Yvonne trying to help, but at times leaving him to himself. It ends when Firmin gets into a fight with the local cops, is shot, and the shot spooks a horse, which runs off and tramples Yvonne to death. They won't be making this into a hallmark movie.    

[dailyaudiobible]

9/17/2023 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 25:1-28:13, Galatians 3:10-22, Psalm 61:1-8, Proverbs 23:17-18

Today is the 17th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we get to greet another one of our shiny, sparkly beginnings, a brand-new week out in front of us, that we get to walk into together and that we will make our mark on. We’ll tell the story of this week, it’ll be the…the story of our lives in this week all of our choices will add up to the week. Let's choose wisely and a wise decision for us each and every day is to come back together around the Global Campfire and take another step forward and allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives. So, let's do this, it's a brand-new week, we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible this week and we’re picking up our journey in the book of Isaiah, today chapter 25 verse 1 through 28 verse 13.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. Once again, we thank You for a brand-new week that we have stepped into and now that we are here and have stepped into it, we need You. Holy Spirit, come and lead us, lead our steps, illuminate our path before us as we navigate this week, lead us as the psalmist said to a rock that is high above us. You have been a refuge for us, a strong tower in the face of the enemy. We will dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge under the shelter of Your wings. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good morning, this is Helen in Durham, North Carolina. And, it’s been a while since I’ve called in. First, I just want to thank Brian, I just have been taught bits and pieces, just been wonderful, the learning from these podcasts, as well as, of course, being bathed in the Scripture. And I just also want to thank this community. I am always amazed at the depth of caring and love that I hear being poured out, as well as the great needs out there from everyone in the community. And, so I am finally voicing this request for prayer for my family. I am going to be visiting a grown son, father of our two grands, six hours a way in Pennsylvania. Along with the mother of these two and they are not yet married. And there’s a long history but I just want to ask because I feel the Lord has been keeping on, pushing me to at least be transparent. That my heart has continually been out to my son, his family, my other son as well, who are not walking with the Lord. And also, just knowing that God is the one who confronts and brings those to salvation. But, so my prayer of course, would be as I go that I will be a testimony of Jesus’s love to them and that one day I will see them responding to the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible, this is Sam from Spain, a missionary in Spain. And I would like to pray and rejoice with Chelsea for her beautiful son, Parker James. What a joy. A new life brings much happiness. And we have prayed for you before and now we rejoice with you and we pray that the Lord will give your son plenty of health and a heart to go after our very own Father. I also would like to pray for the man who’s going through a divorce and who’s court hearing on August 29th was a painful one for his wife. And I thank the Lord that he was guided to seek better counsel and to seek reconciliation. Please know that we’re praying for your marriage and your reconciliation and for your wife’s heart, as well as yours. And I would like to ask for prayers as I am in a position of leadership with ministry organization. And sometimes the weight of the responsibility and the care to carry out God’s principle in a leadership position, can be pretty difficult and conflicted. So, I ask for strength in the Lord for increased faith and for the Lord to open new roadways for the body of Christ. Thank you so much Daily Audio.

Liza, this is Linda from North Idaho. Today is September 13th and two days ago a multitude of people fasted and prayed for you. I know not everyone called in cause I almost didn’t either until I started hearing some of the calls of people saying that they had been fasting and praying for you and calling in and giving you their prayers. And we know our God is able, we know our God is willing, we know our God hates death and disease and brokenness. And we know that because he’s promised us eternity with wholeness and healing and no more tears and no more sorrow, no more suffering. In the meantime, we have earth, and we have life, and we have illness. But we have a community here, in the DAB community, to lift one another up. And what a joy it has been to listen to all my fellow DABers praying for you and fasting for you. And I thank the sister who called us to prayer to do that for you. And what’s most amazing thing is that even after that September 11th ended, I’ve still been thinking about you and praying when I put something in my mouth on the 12th. And today on the 13th and I trust that others are gonna be reminded also for the 14th and everyday thereafter to be lifting you in prayer before the throne. We thank You Jesus for what you are going to do with all of this. We trust you Lord. Help us to trust you even more. Amen.

Hi, this is Morgan from Texas. I’m calling on behalf for my mom. Yesterday, she had her mammogram, and the result was not good news. And so, this morning at 0900 she’ll have her biopsy to see what we need to do. The doctor says that there’s three that they discovered and so we’re praying that those three are false alarm or we’re praying for additional surgery at the moment. And so, be in prayers for my mom. I know she’s…she’s nervous, she’s scared and Lord, we just ask for peace, we ask for guidance with Your doctors and your nurses and then finally the surgery, if the surgery has come. Be in prayer for that. And also, be in prayer for my whole family, especially my youngest brother. He’s still young and so we’re praying for peace upon our family. Thank you so much, have a good day. Bye bye.

[artisticflutter]

AU August - Day Twenty-Five: Royalty

I’LL BE ON TODAY’S PROMPT SOON. I just got tired after work yesterday that I didn’t finish its prompt either.

Series: Final Fantasy IX Rating: PG Genre: Romance, Angst, Fluff Pairing(s): Zidagger (Zidane x Garnet) Summary: There are a few who oppose the two marrying, but they could go about it better and maybe not involve the kids. Warning: Considering the ending, I can say this is an AU still lol

Despite some objections, Queen Garnet Til Alexandros XVII married Zidane. Any grumbles and guffaws came from those that still held negative opinions of the man (he was a lowly actor, he was a thief, he’d kidnapped the current Queen! It was his fault the King of Treno was missing!), but the public was ecstatic. They loved and adored the young man who had apparently helped save the world even among other kingdoms his name was celebrated.

There was hope she would awaken from whatever ‘spell’ she’d fallen under shortly after the ceremony and do the proper thing: throw him in jail.

But five years…

And two young princesses were born…

Oh dear, it looked as though the Queen wouldn’t be disposing of the man as they hoped.

Begrudgingly, a few caved and began addressing him with the title blessed upon him by the union and Queen’s Counsel. And the moment they caved, they turned, and those brave enough to remain disgruntled by the Queen’s decision plotted, attempted, and failed to separate them. The ‘King’ had been fairly amused with their repeated tries and held the Queen back from punishing them. So, try and try again, but with their last plot, they thought there was a chance.

“... And so, you had our youngest child’s nursemaid attacked, replaced her with your servant, and attempted to terrorize her and make her think her father was a despicable monster?” Garnet reiterated as she sat on her throne, holding her hands over her once again growing stomach. If there was but one good thing about the ‘King’ to them, it was they were a fruitful couple. It would do good to give them an actual father, but the Queen was very cross.

“Your Majesty, we were only concerned. Her skills as Her Highness’s nursemaid were lacking…”

“Yes, and her recommendation was questionable.”

“So, now you question Lady Hildegarde?” Garnet inquired, her dark eyes turning colder. Looks were exchanged - they might not have known that detail. “Our nursemaid was recommended as she’s the eldest daughter of Lady Hildegarde’s own nursemaid from her childhood which I’m sure you all know.”

No one had words. A few even paled because they knew the woman in reference.

“We’re fortunate she was caught after this one attempt. Did any of you even consider our daughter’s health right now that the nursemaid was tending to at all hours?”

They… might have neglected to remember the youngest Princess was recovering from a bout with fever.

The Queen rose to her feet, thunderous fury rolling off her in waves despite her composure. “I’m done. I know you refuse to acknowledge whom I’ve decided to choose as my King, but now you put our child in danger. If she had an attack at any moment during this newest act against him, I would be considering a worse sentence!”

They cringed and ducked their heads further.

“It’s apparent you care not for the well-being of one let alone the well-being and health of this Kingdom or its neighbors. Therefore, all of your names and those of co-conspirators are ineligible to attempt courting any of our children in the future. To be so selfish, your actions have become inexcusable.”

“B-But Your Majesty, our children were born the same day! It would be auspicious to…!”

“It would have been, but no more. All of you are dismissed.”

Exchanging looks, they slowly departed; and as they did, they passed the King heading in, cradling the youngest Princess while his tail was coiled around the eldest following at his side.

“Dagger…” There was that commoner nickname she kept letting him use… “I managed to get her to take her medicine. She’ll be okay while we wait for Mary to return.”

“Thank goodness. I should have done it, but…”

“It’s okay. I needed time with her anyway, right?”

A lingering pair of eyes watched the royal couple step closer and pass the sleeping infant between hands. The Queen’s furious visage melted as she accepted her child and cradled her to her chest, kissing the little horn on her forehead. And once that was done, Zidane’s tail uncoiled and he picked up the four-year old Princess. “You did great looking out for your little sister. You’ll be the same when your new sibling’s born, right?”

A fierce bobbing head and bright smile from the little Princess was the last vision seen before the doors to the throne room closed.

[lawtwt]

do you think that lawtwt has roleplay accounts. no? well i do and its everyones problem now

alt text under the cut (theres a lot)

id: a series of fake twitter threads and tweets. they are as follows:

A fake tweet by Miles Edgeworth (verified) @milesedgeworth. It reads: "Please stop at-ing me on Twitter with the Skater Boy song. I don’t listen to pop music and am not interested. - M. E." It was made on August 5th, 2018, and has 73.5 thousand retweets, 31.1 thousand quote tweets and 325.4 thousand likes.

A thread of fake tweets made on October 13th, 2018. The first tweet (by @mattslawacc) reads "i can't believe this is a hot take but we shouldn't let minors to stand with the defense. what do you mean those 17 and 8 year olds r ur legal counsel like-" it has 23 replies, 43 retweets and 127 likes. The second tweet in the thread is by "maya fey's burger buddy  (@ramenborgerz)" it reads " i KNOWWW thats not a franziska stan talking  take a look in the mirror before u start coming for the feys, bestie" and has 102 replies, 23 retweets and 995 likes.

A fake tweet by nat   in my witness era @0bject1onable. It reads: "i did Not just see someone with "dl6 truthers dni" in their carrd talking about how weird it was that mvk retired so suddenly then died like 6 months later " It was made on october 14th, 2022, and has 32 retweets, 9 quote tweets and 348 likes.

A fake tweet by im the prosecutions witness (eric) @guitarssserenader. It reads: "yall klav antis just mad that ur blue suit husbando finally lost a fuckin case smh  hes not gonna fuck u" It was made on february 25, 2021, and has 69 retweets, 21 quote tweets and 420 likes.

A thread of fake tweets made on april 6, 2027. The first tweet (by STREAM PROSECUTOR @hot4justice) reads "why KLAPOLLO IS REAL: a thread (1/??)" it has 453 replies, 567 retweets and 4.1 thousand likes. The second tweet in the thread is by "truth || where my themis besties at xx @legallybitchin" it reads "did you motherfuckers learn NOTHING from wrightworth." and has 12 replies, 39 retweets and 400 likes.

A thread of fake tweets made on March 1st, 2026. The first tweet (by maya fey's burger buddy  @ramenborgerz) reads "Ok ik this is like. A serious topic. But imagine u get framed for murder and the prosecutor is edgeworth  I would simply walk myself into the jail cell at that point " it has 8 replies, 5 retweets and 114 likes. The second tweet in the thread is by "meena  stream KLAVIER @guitargavel" it reads "The exact opposite of this is committing 1st degree but it’s Phoenix v Payne lmao ??" and has 2 replies, 1 retweet and 6 likes.

A fake tweet by  ant (any prnouns!!!) @girlbossvonkarma. It reads: "rewatching is-7 and the sexual tension is palpable. what do you think manfred karma and greg edgeworth were doing for that whole year? exploring each others bodies???" It was made on november 12, 2025, and has 76 retweets, 14 quote tweets and 619 likes.

A thread of fake tweets made on October 27, 2018. The first tweet (by ψ  miles edgeworth (spelt with the greek alphabet)  ψ@karmaaic_prosecution) reads "he looks down at the chess board, considering, then eventually moves a bishop to take your rook. he looks up at you over his glasses through half lidded orbs and smirks. "your move" #openRP" it has 1 reply and 2 likes. The second tweet in the thread is by "steel samurai @neooldetokyorp" it reads "kicks open the door and stabs you with my massive katana" and has 1 retweet and 4 likes. (edited)

end id.

[your-disobedient-servant]

Voltaire’s Paméla Letters Translated: Intro and Letter #1

The letters that Voltaire rewrote in the vein of Richardson’s Paméla after his falling out with Frederick the Great have intrigued me ever since I first heard of them in November or December. Only discovered to have been a rewrite and not originals in the late 20th century, it’s hard to say how much of it is authentic and how much exaggerated or made up, but for me, the fact that they have been altered only adds to the fascination.

Six months into learning French, I’m still not sure I’m quite ready to use this as translation exercises, but I’m impatient, I found the book for very cheap, and besides, I feel that to translate Voltaire you must channel some of the hubris, so bring it on. Poetry (to my surprise, it turns out I actually enjoy translating poetry in some masochistic way) and all. In the end, I am proud of the result.

This is not a very juicy letter, but I’m sure one will come along soon enough. I’m not sure how many will I be able to complete because there’s about fifty of them altogether, but I hope I manage at least a few.

Big thanks to everyone who helped me out with the draft. The rest under the cut for brevity, English followed by original French.

FIRST LETTER

In Clèves, July 1750

It is to you, please, niece of mine, to you, woman of a wit superb, philosopher of the selfsame kind, to you who, like me, of Permesse, knows the many paths diverse; it is to you I now address this disarray of prose and verse, recount my long odyssey's story; recount unlike I back then did when, in my splendid age's glory, I still kept to Apollo's writ; when I dared, perhaps courting disaster, for counsel strike for Paris forth, notwithstanding our minds' worth, the god of Taste, my foremost master!

This journey is only too true, and puts too much distance between you and me. Do not imagine that I want to rival Chapelle, who has made, I do not know how, such a reputation for himself for having been from Paris to Monpellier and to papal land, and for having reported to a gourmand.

It was not, perhaps, difficult when one wished to mock monsieur d'Assoucy. We need another style, we need another pen, to portray this Plato, this Solon, this Achilles who writes his verses at Sans-Souci. I could tell you of that charming retreat, portray this hero philosopher and warrior, so terrible to Austria, so trivial for me; however, that could bore you.

Besides, I am not yet at his court and you should not anticipate anything: I want order even in my letters. Therefore know that I left Compiègne on July 25th, taking my road to Flanders, and as a good historiographer and a good citizen, I went to see the fields of Fontenoy, of Rocoux and of Lawfeld on my way. There was no trace of it left: all of it was covered with the finest wheat in the world. The Flemish men and women were dancing, as if nothing had happened.

Go on, innocent eyes of this bad-mannered populace; reign, lovely Ceres, where Bellona once flourished; countryside fertilised with blood of our warriors, I like better your harvests than all of the laurels: provided by chance and by vanity nourished Oh! that grand projects were prevented by doom! Oh! fruitless victories! Oh! the blood spilled in vain! French, English, German so tranquil today did we have to slit throats for friendship to bloom!

I went to Clèves hoping to find there the stage stations that all the bailiwicks provide, at the order of the king of Prussia, to those who to go to philosophise to Sans-Souci with the Solomon of the North and on whom the king bestows the favour of travelling at his expense: but the order of the king of Prussia had stayed in Wesel in the hands of a man who received it as the Spanish receive the papal bulls, with the deepest respect, and without putting them to any use. So I spent a few days in the castle of this princess that madame de La Fayette made so famous.

But this heroine and the duc of Nemours, we ignore in these places the gallant adventure; for  it is not here, I vow, the land of novels, nor the one of love.

It is a shame, for the country seems made for the princesses of Clèves: it is the most beautiful place of nature and art has further added to its position. It is a view superior to that of Meudon; it is a land covered in vegetation like the Champs-Élysées and the forests of Boulogne; it is a hill covered in gently sloping avenues of trees: a large pool collects  the waters of this hill; in the middle of the pool stands a statue of Minerva. The water of this first pool is received by a second, which returns it to the third; and at the foot of the hill ends in a waterfall pouring into a vast, semi-circular grotto. The waterfall lets the waters spill into a canal, which goes on to water a vast meadow and joins a branch of the Rhine. Mademoiselle de Scudéri and La Calprenède would have filled a volume of their novels with this description; but I, historiographer, I will only tell you that a certain prince Maurice de Nassau, the governor, during his lifetime, of this lovely solitude devised nearly all of these wonders there. He lies buried in the middle of the forest, in a great devil of an iron tomb, surrounded by all the ugliest bas-reliefs of the time of the Roman empire's decadence, and some gothic monuments that are worse still. But all of it would be something very respectable for those deep minds who fall into ecstasy at the sight of poorly cut stone, as long as it is two thousand years old.

Another ancient monument, the remains of a great stone road, built by the Romans, which led to Frankfurt, to Vienna, and to Constantinople. The Holy Empire devolved into Germany has fallen a little bit from its magnificence. One gets stuck in the mud in the summer nowadays, in the august Germania. Of all the modern nations, France and the little country of Belgium are the only ones who have roads worthy of Antiquity. We could above all boast of surpassing the ancient Romans in cabaret; and there are still certain points on which we equal them: but in the end, when it comes to durable, useful, magnificent monuments, which people can come close to them? which monarch does in his kingdom what a procosul did in Nîmes and in Arles?

Perfect in the trivial, in trifles sublime great inventors of nothing, envy we excite. Let our minds to the supreme heights strive of the children of Romulus so proud: they did a hundred times more for the vanquished crowd than we solely for ourselves contrive.

In the end, notwithstanding the beauty of the location of Clèves, notwithstanding the Roman road, in spite of a tower believed to have been built by Julius Caesar, or at least by Germanicus; in spite of the inscriptions of the twenty-sixth legion that quartered here for the winter; in spite of the lovely tree-lined roads planted by prince Maurice, and his grand iron tomb; in spite of, lastly, the mineral waters recently discovered here, there are hardly any crowds in Clèves. The waters there are, however, just as good as those of Spa or of Forges; and one cannot swallow the little atoms of iron in a more beautiful place. But it does not suffice, as you know, to have merits to be fashionable: usefulness and pleasantness are here; but this delicious retreat is frequented only by a few Dutchmen, who are attracted by the proximity and the low prices of living and houses there, and who come to admire and to drink.

I found there, to my great satisfaction, a well-known Dutch poet, who gave us the honour of elegantly, and even verse for verse, translating our tragedies, good or bad, to Dutch. Perhaps one day we will be reduced to translating the tragedies of Amsterdam: every nation gets their turn.

The Roman ladies, who leered at their lovers at the theatre of Pompeii, did not suspect that one day, in the middle of Gaul, in a little town called Lutèce, we would produce better plays than Rome.

The order of the king regarding the stage stations has finally reached me; so my delight at the princess of Clèves' place is over, and I am leaving for Berlin.

***

LETTRE PREMIÈRE

À Clèves, juillet 1750

C'est à vous, s'il vous plaît, ma nièce, vous, femme d'esprit sans travers, philosophe de mon espèce, vous qui, comme moi, du Permesse connaisez les sentiers divers ; c'est à vous qu'en courant j'adresse ce fatras de prose et de vers, ce récit de mon long voyage ; non tel que j'en fis autrefois quand, dans la fleur de mon bel âge, d'Apollon je suivais les lois ; quand j'osai, trop hardi peut-être, aller consulter à Paris, en dépit de nos beaux esprits, le dieu du Goût mon premier maître !

Ce voyage-ci n'est que trop vrai, et ne m'éloigne que trop du vous. N'allez pas vous imaginer que je veulle égaler Chapelle, qui s'est fait, je ne sais comment, tant de réputation, pour avoir été de Paris à Montpellier et en terre papale, et en avoir rendu compte à un gourmand.

Ce n'était pas peut-être un emploi difficile de railler monsieur d'Assoucy. Il faut une autre plume, il faut une autre style, pour peindre ce Platon, ce Solon, cet Achille qui fait des vers à Sans-Souci. Je pourrais vous parler de ce charmant asile, vous peindre ce héros philosophe et guerrier, si terrible à l'Autriche, et pour moi si facile ; mais je pourrais vous ennuyer.

D'ailleurs je ne suis pas encore à sa cour, et il ne faut rien anticiper : je veux de l'ordre jusque dans mes lettres. Sachez donc que je partis de Compiègne le 25 de juillet, prenant ma route par la Flandre, et qu'en bon historiographe et en bon citoyen, j'allai voir en passant les champs de Fontenoy, de Rocoux et de Lawfeld. Il n'y paraissait pas : tout cela était couvert des plus beaux blés du monde. Les Flamands et les Flamandes dansaient, comme si de rien n'eût été.

Durez, yeux innocents de ces peuples grossiers ; régnez, belle Cérès, où triompha Bellone ; campagnes qu'engraissa le sang de nos guerriers, j'aime mieux vos moissons que celles des lauriers : la vanité les cueille et le hasard les donne. Ô que de grands projets par le sort démentis ! Ô victoires sans fruits ! Ô meurtres inutiles ! Français, Anglais, Germains, aujourd'hui si tranquilles fallait-il s'égorger pour être bons amis !

J'ai été à Clèves comptant y trouver des relais que tous les bailliages fournissent, moyennant un ordre du roi de Prusse, à ceux qui vont philosopher à Sans-Souci auprès du Salomon du Nord et à qui le roi accorde la faveur de voyager à ses dépens : mais l'ordre du roi de Prusse était resté à Vesel entre les mains d'un homme qui l'a reçu comme les Espagnols reçoivent les bulles des papes, avec le plus profond respect, et sans en faire aucun usage. Je me suis donc quelques jours dans le château de cette princesse que madame de La Fayette a rendu si fameux.

Mais de cette heroïne, et du duc de Nemours, on ignore en ces lieux la galante aventure : ce n'est pas ici, je vous jure, le pays des romans, ni celui des amours.

C'est dommage, car le pays semble fait pour des princesses de Clèves : c'est le plus beau lieu de nature et l'art a encore ajouté à sa situation. C'est une vue supérieure à celle de Meudon ; c'est un terrain planté comme les Champs-Élysées et le bois de Boulogne ; c'est une colline couverte d'allées d'arbres en pente douce : un grand bassin reçoit les eaux de cette colline ; au milieu du bassin s'élève une statue de Minerve. L'eau de ce premier bassin est reçue dans un second, qui la renvoie à un troisième ; et le bas de la colline est terminé par une cascade ménagée dans une vaste grotte en demi-cercle. La cascade laisse tomber les eaux dans un canal qui va arroser une vaste prairie et se joindre à un bras du Rhin. Mademoiselle de Scudéri et La Calprenède auraient rempli de cette description un tome de leurs romans ; mais moi, historiographe, je vous dirai seulement qu'un certain prince Maurice de Nassau, gouverneur, de son vivant, de cette belle solitude, y fit presque toutes ces merveilles. Il s'est fait enterrer au milieu des bois, dans un grand diable de tombeau de fer, environné de tous les plus vilains bas-reliefs du temps de la décadence de l'empire romain, et de quelques monuments gothiques plus grossiers encore. Mais le tout serait quelque chose de fort respectable pour ces esprits profonds qui tombent en extase à la vue d'une pierre mal taillée, pour peu qu'elle ait deux mille ans d'antiquité.

Un autre monument antique, c'est le reste d'un grand chemin pavé, construit par les Romains, qui allait à Francfort, à Vienne et à Constantinople. Le Saint-Empire dévolu à l'Allemagne est un peu déchu de sa magnificence. On s'embourbe aujourd'hui en été, dans l'auguste Germanie. De toutes les nations modernes, la France et la petit pays des Belges sont les seules qui aient des chemins dignes de l'Antiquité. Nous pouvons surtout nous vanter de passer les anciens Romains en cabarets ; et il y a encore certains points sur lesquels nous les valons bien : mais enfin, pour les monuments durables, utiles, magnifiques, quel peuple approche d'eux ? quel monarque fait dans son royaume ce qu'un proconsul faisait dans Nîmes et dans Arles ?

Parfait dans le petit, sublimes en bijoux, grands inventeurs de riens, nous faisons des jaloux. Elevons nos esprits à la hauteur suprême des fiers enfants de Romulus : ils faisaient plus cent fois pour des peuples vaincus que nous ne faisons pour nous-mêmes.

Enfin, malgré la beauté de la situation de Clèves, malgré le chemin des Romains, en dépit d'une tour qu'on croit bâtie par Jules César, ou au moins par Germanicus ; en dépit des inscriptions d'une vingt-sixième légion qui était ici en quartier d'hiver ; en dépit des belles allées plantées par le prince Maurice, et de son grand tombeau de fer ; en dépit enfin des eaux minérales découvertes ici depuis peu, il n'y a guère d'affluence à Clèves. Les eaux y sont cependant aussi bonnes que celles de Spa et de Forges ; et on ne peut avaler de petits atomes de fer dans un plus beau lieu. Mais il ne suffit pas, comme vous savez, d'avoir du mérite pour avoir la vogue : l'utile et l'agréable sont ici ; mais ce séjour délicieux n'est fréquenté que par quelques Hollandais que le voisinage et le bas prix des vivres et de maisons y attirent, et qui viennent admirer et boire.

J'y ai retrouvé, avec une très grande satisfaction, un célèbre poète hollandais, qui nous a fait l'honneur de traduire élégamment en batave, et même vers pour vers, nos tragédies bonnes ou mauvaises. Peut-être un jour viendra que nous serons réduits à traduire les tragédies d'Amsterdam : chaque peuple a son tour.

Les dames romaines, qui allaient lorgner leurs amants au théâtre de Pompée, ne se doutaient pas qu'un jour au milieu des Gaules, dans un petit bourg nommé Lutèce, on ferait de meilleurs pièces de théâtre qu'à Rome.

L'ordre du roi pour les relais vient enfin de me parvenir ; voilà mon enchantement chez la princesse de Clèves fini, et je pars pour Berlin.

[troybeecham]

Today the Church remembers St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Monk.

Ora pro nobis.

St. Bernard de Clairvaux, (born 1090 AD, probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy [France]—died August 20, 1153 AD, Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized January 18, 1174; feast day August 20), was a Cistercian monk and mystic, the founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux, and one of the most influential churchmen of his time.

Born of Burgundian landowning aristocracy, Bernard grew up in a family of five brothers and one sister. The familial atmosphere engendered in him a deep respect for mercy, justice, and loyal affection for others. Faith and morals were taken seriously, but without priggishness. Both his parents were exceptional models of virtue. It is said that his mother, Aleth, exerted a virtuous influence upon Bernard only second to what Monica had done for Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century. Her death, in 1107, so affected Bernard that he claimed that this is when his “long path to complete conversion” began.

He turned away from his literary education, begun at the school at Châtillon-sur-Seine, and from ecclesiastical advancement, toward a life of renunciation and solitude. Bernard sought the counsel of the abbot of Cîteaux, Stephen Harding, and decided to enter this struggling, small, new community that had been established by Robert of Molesmes in 1098 as an effort to restore Benedictinism to a more primitive and austere pattern of life. Bernard took his time in terminating his domestic affairs and in persuading his brothers and some 25 companions to join him. He entered the Cîteaux community in 1112, and from then until 1115 he cultivated his spiritual and theological studies.

Bernard’s struggles with the flesh during this period may account for his early and rather consistent penchant for physical austerities. He was plagued most of his life by impaired health, which took the form of anemia, migraine, gastritis, hypertension, and an atrophied sense of taste.

Founder And Abbot Of Clairvaux

In 1115 Stephen Harding appointed him to lead a small group of monks to establish a monastery at Clairvaux, on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne. Four brothers, an uncle, two cousins, an architect, and two seasoned monks under the leadership of Bernard endured extreme deprivations for well over a decade before Clairvaux was self-sufficient. Meanwhile, as Bernard’s health worsened, his spirituality deepened. Under pressure from his ecclesiastical superiors and his friends, notably the bishop and scholar William of Champeaux, he retired to a hut near the monastery and to the discipline of a quack physician. It was here that his first writings evolved. They are characterized by repetition of references to the Church Fathers and by the use of analogues, etymologies, alliterations, and biblical symbols, and they are imbued with resonance and poetic genius. It was here, also, that he produced a small but complete treatise on Mariology (study of doctrines and dogmas concerning the Virgin Mary), “Praises of the Virgin Mother.” Bernard was to become a major champion of a moderate cult of the Virgin, though he did not support the notion of Mary’s immaculate conception.

By 1119 the Cistercians had a charter approved by Pope Calixtus II for nine abbeys under the primacy of the abbot of Cîteaux. Bernard struggled and learned to live with the inevitable tension created by his desire to serve others in charity through obedience and his desire to cultivate his inner life by remaining in his monastic enclosure. His more than 300 letters and sermons manifest his quest to combine a mystical life of absorption in God with his friendship for those in misery and his concern for the faithful execution of responsibilities as a guardian of the life of the church.

It was a time when Bernard was experiencing what he apprehended as the divine in a mystical and intuitive manner. He could claim a form of higher knowledge that is the complement and fruition of faith and that reaches completion in prayer and contemplation. He could also commune with nature and say:

Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.

After writing a eulogy for the new military order of the Knights Templar he would write about the fundamentals of the Christian’s spiritual life, namely, the contemplation and imitation of Christ, which he expressed in his sermons “The Steps of Humility” and “The Love of God.”

Pillar Of The Church

The mature and most active phase of Bernard’s career occurred between 1130 and 1145. In these years both Clairvaux and Rome, the centre of gravity of medieval Christendom, focussed upon Bernard. Mediator and counsellor for several civil and ecclesiastical councils and for theological debates during seven years of papal disunity, he nevertheless found time to produce an extensive number of sermons on the Song of Solomon. As the confidant of five popes, he considered it his role to assist in healing the church of wounds inflicted by the antipopes (those elected pope contrary to prevailing clerical procedures), to oppose the rationalistic influence of the greatest and most popular dialectician of the age, Peter Abelard, and to cultivate the friendship of the greatest churchmen of the time. He could also rebuke a pope, as he did in his letter to Innocent II:

There is but one opinion among all the faithful shepherds among us, namely, that justice is vanishing in the Church, that the power of the keys is gone, that episcopal authority is altogether turning rotten while not a bishop is able to avenge the wrongs done to God, nor is allowed to punish any misdeeds whatever, not even in his own diocese (parochia). And the cause of this they put down to you and the Roman Court.

Bernard’s confrontations with Abelard ended in inevitable opposition because of their significant differences of temperament and attitudes. In contrast with the tradition of “silent opposition” by those of the school of monastic spirituality, Bernard vigorously denounced dialectical Scholasticism as degrading God’s mysteries, as one technique among others, though tending to exalt itself above the alleged limits of faith. One seeks God by learning to live in a school of charity and not through “scandalous curiosity,” he held. “We search in a worthier manner, we discover with greater facility through prayer than through disputation.” Possession of love is the first condition of the knowledge of God. However, Bernard finally claimed a victory over Abelard, not because of skill or cogency in argument but because of his homiletical denunciation and his favoured position with the bishops and the papacy.

Pope Eugenius III and King Louis VII of France induced Bernard to promote the cause of a Second Crusade (1147–49) to quell the prospect of a great Muslim surge engulfing both Latin and Greek Orthodox Christians. The Crusade ended in failure because of Bernard’s inability to account for the quarrelsome nature of politics, peoples, dynasties, and adventurers. He was an idealist with the ascetic ideals of Cîteaux grafted upon those of his father’s knightly tradition and his mother’s piety, who read into the hearts of the Crusaders—many of whom were bloodthirsty fanatics—his own integrity of motive.

In his remaining years he participated in the condemnation of Gilbert de La Porrée—a scholarly dialectician and bishop of Poitiers who held that Christ’s divine nature was only a human concept. He exhorted Pope Eugenius to stress his role as spiritual leader of the church over his role as leader of a great temporal power, and he was a major figure in church councils. His greatest literary endeavour, “Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles,” was written during this active time. It revealed his teaching, often described as “sweet as honey,” as in his later title doctor mellifluus. It was a love song supreme: “The Father is never fully known if He is not loved perfectly.” Add to this one of Bernard’s favourite prayers, “Whence arises the love of God? From God. And what is the measure of this love? To love without measure,” and one has a key to his doctrine.

St. Bernard was declared a doctor of the church in 1830 and was extolled in 1953 as doctor mellifluus in an encyclical of Pius XII.

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[grapevynerendezvous]

Jefferson Airplane -Surrealistic Pillow

The release of Surrealistic Pillow, Jefferson Airplane’s second album, coincided with so many new things going on in the world of music, and the world in general. It brought national attention to the psychedelic music scene flourishing in a drug-infused counterculture of Summer of Love San Francisco that had its’ roots in the ‘50s beat scene. The record came out two months before the release of the band’s first hit single, Somebody to Love (b/w She Has Funny Cars, and nearly two months before the next one, White Rabbit (b/w Plastic Fantastic Lover. The actual first single RCA chose to issue from the album was My Best Friend written by Skip Spence (b/w How Do You Feel). It failed to  break into the Billboard Hot 100, cresting at No.103. Both Spence and former lead female singer Signe Anderson had departed in 1966 and veteran drummer Spencer Dryden had come aboard along with Grace Slick, formerly of another San Francisco band The Great Society, several months later. Slick brought along the two songs that became huge hits for The Airplane. Somebody To Love, written by her brother-in-law at the time, Darby Slick, had been performed and recorded by The Great Society as Someone To Love. Slick was the composer of White Rabbit early on in the Great Society’s existence. In August 1966, a few months prior to Grace Slick joining Jefferson Airplane, the band fired manager Matthew Katz. A protracted precedent-setting artist-management legal battle ensued over the terms of their contracts, which lasted two decades. Marty Balin’s roommate and friend, Bill Thompson, was their road manager and filled in as band manager for awhile. As Surrealistic Pillow was about to be released, Jefferson Airplane became managed by Bill Graham which lead to their first time on the East Coast. Along with the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service they co-headlined the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967.

The recording of the album took place November 1966 at RCA studios in Los Angeles, not long after Grace had joined the band. The span of dates actually goes from Oct. 31 to Nov. 22, but the band spent less than two weeks in the studio total. There are various takes on how the process went with RCA staff producer Rick Jarrard, but suffice it to say that the band members were not overly happy working with him despite the results or perhaps, in their minds, because of the results. It is noted on the liner notes on the album that Jerry Garcia was the Musical and Spiritual Adviser. There is disparity as to what influence he may have had over the recording. Producer Rick Jarrard denied that Jerry had any presence on any of the tracks. This has been countered by band members, and Jerry himself said in a 1967 interview that he played guitar on three tracks, the high lead on Today, and also Comin’ Back to You and Plastic Fantastic Lover, plus he rearranged Somebody to Love. In his book, Been So Long: My Life and Music, Jorma Kaukonen wrote, "I used to think about him as co-producer, but now that I really know what a producer is, the producer of that record was Rick Jarrard. Jerry was a combination arranger, musician, and sage counsel.” Reportedly Garcia was also the inspiration of the album name with his comment, “as surrealistic as a pillow is soft”, according to two sources, Light into Ashes-Grateful Dead Guide: Jerry Garcia & Surrealistic Pillow, and JGMF-Jerry Garcia’s Middle Finger: Jerry on Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow.

Released February 1, 1967, the album went as high as No.3 on the Billboard Top 200 while being on the chart for over a year. It was awarded a Gold Record for over a million sold (eventually certified Platinum) and is ranked 146 on the Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Somebody to Love hit No..5 and White Rabbit No.8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs are in Rolling Stones list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Somebody to Love at 274 and White Rabbit at 478. The B-side of White Rabbit, Plastic Fantastic Lover, received extensive airplay in the San Francisco Bay Area and perhaps other markets as well. Jorma Kaukonen’s guitar instrumental, Embryonic Journey, also got some airplay in the Bay Area and was performed on at least one network television show. The Airplane also benefited from being on TV shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Jefferson Airplane became a national and international phenomenon, thanks in part to the influence of music critic Ralph J. Gleason, The Airplane was invited to play at the first major rock festival, Monterey Pop in June 1967, just prior to the White Rabbit release. Surrealistic Pillow was, as Allmusic reviewer Bruce Eder put it, “…a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia, and it hit like a shot heard round the world”. It was considered original for its; time, and the band’s fusion of folk rock and psychedelia lined up with pioneering musical directions of The Byrds, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, and The Mamas and the Papas.

The songwriting for the album was spread out amonst five of the band members, the result of which was, as Bruce Eder puts it, “resplendent in a happy balance of all of these creative elements”. She Has Funny Cars, written by Marty Balin and Jorma Kaukonen, starts with a rhythm and blues based Bo Diddley Beat, and goes on to highlight the new harmony magic of Marty and Grace Slick. The song expresses the materialism in American Society, but the title has been attributed to Spencer Dryden’s girlfriend’s “funny car(s)”. The next two songs on the album were written by other local musicians that the band had been associated with. Somebody To Love was written by Darby Slick, Grace’s brother-in-was at the time, and it was released as a single by their band The Great Society, under the name Someone To Love. With Grace’s decision to join Jefferson Airplane at Jack Casady’s suggestion, The Great Society band came to an end. While Grace’s presentation of Somebody (Someone) To Love with them was more subdued, in the  Jefferson Airplane version “she sounds far more accusatory and menacing”, per SongFacts. My Best Friend was a nod to the Airplane’s folk rock beginnings, and in some ways had the type of harmonies reminiscent of The Mamas and Papas, and before that, Peter, Paul and Mary. It was composed by former drummer Skip Spence, who had left to form Moby Grape. The two tracks that close out side one are ballads written by by Marty Balin with Jack Kantner co-writing the first one, Today. Balin said that he was inspired to write Today while being in a recording studio next to one where Tony Bennett was recording. He had thought to write the song for Tony in hopes that he might meet him and give it to him. This never happened and it ended up being one of the Airplane’s most beautiful songs. Another lovely song, Comin’ Back to Me, which features Grace Slick on recorder, was written by Balin in one sitting, afterwards going right to the studio to record it with any available musicians. It has been included on soundtracks of several American feature films. 3/5 of Mile in Ten Seconds is a psychedelic blues-rocker that sheds light on the vibrant, drug-drenched San Francisco scene of 1966 while “there is a sense of reflection in some of the lines”, per Matthew Greenwald’s Allmusic song review. D.C.B.A.-25. The title is pretty simple, the letters are for chords in the song, and -25 comes from LSD-25. Paul Kantner composed it. A true sign of the times. The next song is the only one on the album written by someone not connected to the band in some way. Tom Mastin is the composer of How Do You Feel, which is similar to My Best Friend in that it is a folk-rock number with shades of The Mamas and The Papas in the vocalization. Like Comin’ Back to You, it also features Grace Slick on recorder in addition to her vocal harmonies. Little is known about Tom Mastin. Grace Slick had merely said that he was a friend of the band according to Barbara Rowes' biography of Slick. There is some light shed on him in a biography on the Brewer and Shipley website. Michael Brewer met Tom Mastin in Kent, Ohio in 1964, playing in a local club together, and they decided to check the scene out in San Francisco. Perhaps this is when he met up with local musicians at a time when bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Great Society were forming. After a brief stay Mastin and Brewer headed for Los Angeles to meet up with some friends. They ended up recording a three-song demo produced by Barry Friedman (later known as Mohawk Frazier), and Columbia Records offered a contract for them to record as Mastin & Brewer. As they, and two other band members added to the group, were preparing to record, Mastin walked away from the band. He is said to have suffered severe bouts of depression and eventually committed suicide in the ‘90s. The single was actually completed when Brewer recruited his brother Keith to perform Mastin’s vocals and Columbia released the Brewer & Brewer record, which attracted little attention. As already noted, Grace Slick had already written White Rabbit, but the first studio recording of it occurred shortly after she joined Jefferson Airplane. The thinly disguised references to psychedelic drugs meant it was banned in some markets, but it still managed a high position on the charts. It was not included on the U.K. version of the album and the released single there only reached No.94 on the UK Singles Chart. Marty Balin wrote the final cut on the album, Plastic Fantastic Lover, after spending time in a Los Angeles hotel watching television. It is his somewhat sarcastic viewpoint about how much people watch the medium, all done in a blues-rock style with the influence of James Brown/funk.

This one finally hit close to home for me. It was my first San Francisco "sound", Summer of Love record. It is also one of my all-time favorite records, as I’m sure it is with many other folks. It wasn't too hard to be attracted to The Airplane's music, what with first one big hit, and then another, riding the airwaves. They weren't new songs to the SF music scene, but soon the whole world was paying attention. Somebody To Love and White Rabbit were and still are catchy tunes that spoke to a generation. New generations are still tuning in. A young singer songwriter I know, Lisa Azzolino, covers White Rabbit. It is undoubtedly the most remarkable version I've heard since Grace Slick held forth with it back in the day. I remember being struck by some of the song titles and the band’s appearance. It was pretty foreign to me and quite fascinating. The album itself was likely something I might have bought even if I hadn’t heard  Somebody To Love. I even went so far as to buy the 45rpm of White Rabbit and Plastic Fantastic Lover. I’m pretty sure I got it because it was played so early in the Bay Area and hadn’t risen to hit status as yet. As time went by, Bay Area Top 40 stations were playing not only the two huge hits, but Plastic Fantastic Lover (which was on the single), Today, and even Embryonic Journey as well. The one song on the album that didn’t do much for me was My Best Friend. Perhaps it was too “folksy” for me, or seemed a bit “country”, but as time went on it started sticking in my head more and more. I even realized that it would just pop into my personal play list and I would be singing it to myself, probably as much or more as Somebody To Love, or Today. I never heard the single version on the radio though.

As I was researching information for this the name Matthew Katz stood out to me immediately. I’ve been familiar with it for a long time. primarily because of his likewise unscrupulous management associations with Moby Grape and It’s A Beautiful Day. I have friends involved in both bands and have heard some horror stories directly from them which include, among other things, “legal” control of publishing, and even the names of the bands. He refused to let go of these things and took advantage of them as much as he could without ever considering renegotiation. The fact that his legal wranglings with Jefferson Airplane has had a major impact on how artist-management arrangements are being handled since those days is gratifying to say the least.

I never got to see Jefferson Airplane in person, but I have seen Starship and a later version of Jefferson Starship. I saw the latter at Marin County Center one night. I recall that Paul Kantner was there on rhythm guitar, and Marty Balin sang a handful of his great songs, including some Jefferson Airplane favorites. It was special that Signe Anderson came out and sang a few songs which included her joining with Marty on Its No Secret. I had an opportunity to go to Monterey Pop because I had just spent a week in Pacific Grove that year and a friend who lived there invited me down for this festival that was happening a week or two after I was there. The problem was I didn’t have a way down and I didn’t really know how to approach such a thing with my parents. Ah well, nothing too much happened there, right?  And the Bay Area connection was special in more ways than one. Grace Slick nee Wing attended my alma mater Palo Alto High School, but switched to the private all-girls Castilleja High School, also in Palo Alto. I estimate she started Paly 14 or 15 years before I did, which meant I hadn’t arrived in town yet. Paul Kantner, born in San Francisco, was sent to a catholic military boarding school by his father after his mother died when he was eight years old. He graduated from St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley in 1959, also before I moved to California, but ten years before I graduated from Paly High. To think, a religious military school. Paul puts it best in regard to his experience of being forced to be at St. Joseph’s Military Academy in Belmont CA: “I was an abandoned little child. The school was out of necessity, (his 61-year old salesman father couldn’t raise him on his own)  but still rather drastic. Nuns and guns. As a result, I now fear nothing.”

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jefferson-airplane-mn0000840102/biography

https://www.allmusic.com/album/surrealistic-pillow-mw0000591676

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/surrealistic-pillow-251704/

https://books.google.com/books?id=TKyYNB0pGIoC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=paul+kantner+saint+mary%27s+college+high+school+graduate&source=bl&ots=qa5ymlMsuE&sig=ACfU3U2fe1iOMB1NLVQgq0h-HTapXX4Ukw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizipu0yqrpAhUHKKwKHZPdAYwQ6AEwAnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=paul%20kantner%20saint%20mary's%20college%20high%20school%20graduate&f=false

Somebody to Love http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1251

https://www.amazon.com/best-friend-how-feel-single/dp/B007A6SAGI

https://www.allmusic.com/song/3-5-of-a-mile-in-10-seconds-mt0056876477

How Do You Feel composer https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-mastin-mn0001774142 http://www.brewerandshipley.com/Bios&Liners/Mastin&Brewer.htm

Surrealistic Pillow https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzEG2f9QAl8OaEk6_Mz2gG3DXBImWofzm

LP18

[preetichauhancontentwritert]

THE METHOD OF NEET PG COUNSELING CHANGED BY THE SUPREME COURT

NEET PG counselling may change in 2021. (NBE) will have to change the counselling method ordered by the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court's work on NEET PG counselling 2021:- Entrance Test (NEET) has been made mandatory in 2021, for admission in the post-graduation of medical. National Eligibility has not been made important as much as the entrance. Supreme Court will now bring a lot of changes in 2021. Supreme Court's for National Examination Board (NBE) ordered for NEET PG counselling 2021 exam.

Announcement by Supreme Court to start from 19 August

It will run from August 19 to August 25 at 10:30 pm by the Supreme Court. The student has to give information about his concept. Window platform for submission of list will be open till August 20, August 21. Estimates for the exam seat will be held from August 24 to August 25. The decision of final NEET PG counselling 2021 will be informed by the Supreme Court on 28. At present, different - different courses are told in post graduate colleges, for admission through NEET PG counselling 2021. Due to many counselling methods and courses, the student has problems, for this the students prefer to go to the Supreme Court. LALIT and Dinesh MAHESHWARI took the decision after listening to the students among themselves. LALIT and Dinesh MAHESHWARI decided that now counselling is over, nothing can happen in this year. It was decided that NEET will change NEET PG counselling 2021, and conduct online exams.

ONLINE EXAM AND COUNSELING IN 2021

Online NEET PG counselling 2021 has become very easy. Now students are taking advantage of online counselling. Students who want to take advantage of counselling can visit some website:-

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Psychological Terrorism by The Unification Church at Cheongpyeong

Dae Mo Nim (Hyo-nam Kim) pours guilt on the Japanese

Hyo-nam Kim uses the story of the Korean comfort women to manipulate the Japanese members.

Fear, guilt and shame used to trap the Japanese members.

However, the facts about the comfort women need to be explored. They are not as Hyo-nam Kim would like the members to think. There were few Japanese soldiers in Korea. They were busy fighting elsewhere.

The Japanese military set up a vast comfort station network. In the 1930s most of the women were Japanese, then they began using other nationalities. There was huge suffering and many women died. Not all those that did survive could face going back to their home countries.

However, there are other important facts. In Korea there were newspaper adverts for comfort women (the pay was exceptional), and women signed up. Most of the comfort women brokers in Korea were Korean men AND women. Many of the comfort stations which had Korean comfort women were run by Korean men and women. The early books written about the comfort women have been discredited. The often quoted figure of 200,000 Korean comfort women has been discredited. The comfort women issue has been used for political purposes, especially by the North Koreans.

Dae Mo Nim: August 17, 2013, Cheongpyeong “Japan’s responsibility” “There are many of our members in the world. Why has Japan been instructed to focus on the providential mission? If you go anywhere in the world, there is no place where there are no Japanese members. Japanese missionaries have become the center of the providence. True parents came out of the Korean people. If you look at the preparation process, Korean culture was created to welcome the Parents of Heaven and Earth and mankind who is the true Messiah. God (Heavenly Parents) raised the Korean people as pious men and women. God’s (Heavenly Parents’) providence was to bless the pious men and women and raise them up as preparation for the Messiah. However, Satan and evil knew it [the providential plan]. From the chosen nation of the Korean people, men took women into forced labor to be comfort women. As a result of doing this, the providence of restoration has been much extended. God blessed and raised the Korean people to be pious. He prepared them for the providence and brought the messiah to bless this nation and all the nations [of the world]. However, the history of restoration was delayed. A social epidemic of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and sexual problems has spread. Before you can be blessed by God (Heavenly Parents), and go to the Blessing, you must make conditions to restore every mistake of your ancestors.” from Mr. Yokoi (Japanese lecturer). Translated from the Japanese. [Comfort Women – taken as prostitutes for the use of the Japanese military from the late 1930s to 1945. Most of them were Korean women. The Japanese liked the racial similarity. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women] The Cheongpyeong Providence and the Way of Blessed Family Published by Cheongpyeong          December 25, 1999 
Editorial Committee on Dae Mo Nim’s Words,
 Cheongpyeong Spiritual Training Center You will be shocked if you can see spirits kick and scream. Really unimaginable things take place. Some evil spirits were recklessly fumbling with the embryo in some member’s womb. Some spirits were holding tight a leg of an unborn child, and this would have permanently disabled his leg after birth. If spirits fumble with an unborn child’s brain, he will have cerebral palsy, autism, or other symptoms after birth. These phenomena, arising from the failure to separate the spirits, are ineffably miserable. Hence, we should help the people all over the world, not to mention all our members, to understand the Cheongpyeong providence as soon as possible. Another important reason why the separation of spirits is necessary is based on the fact that the problem does not just concern our lives on earth. Living in sickness and agony on earth is a secondary problem. Without expelling the spirits from our bodies, we will be unable to enter the spiritual world properly after death. Also, when someone dies, the spirits that used to inhabit his body move over to the body of the dead person’s descendants and continue their malicious undertaking, and this is the source of hereditary diseases. Hence, separating the spirits is the foremost task to be taken up on earth. We should realize that failure to separate the spirits not only suppresses the growth of our own spirits but also leaves our offspring exposed to the plight of life. … As we can see, it is not easy to remove the pathogenic and fatal spirits that are parasitic on our bodies. Their plea and scream are so vehemently full of grudges and vengeance that they will not be quieted unless the most extreme efforts are exerted. Dae Mo Nim explained that these were spirits of wrath who died as comfort girls [comfort women] or in forced army service [as prostitutes] in the Japanese colonial period or spirits who died unfairly as a surrogate mother in traditional Korea who had said when alive, “I will surely revenge myself even after death. I will never forgive.” These spirits cling to the members so strongly that they cannot be detached even by hard endeavor of special angels unless the people concerned repent and make pious spiritual efforts. 1) The Necessity of Separating Spirits In removing the inhabiting spirits, absolutely good spirits and angels in Cheongpyeong work together. But angels do not remove them unconditionally; angels can operate only when our members shed tears of contrition for the vices of their own and their ancestors. The role of the angels in Cheongpyeong is to separate these resentful spirits from our bodies and lead them to salvation, a work of resurrection of life. One of the reasons why we should dislodge the spirits from inside our bodies is that they subject us to illness and death. Even an innocent member of the Second Generation may be led away by strong spirits unawares into endangering his own life. If blessed families can see such heinous scenes, they will make all sorts of efforts to shed these spirits. To take an example from the Japanese colonial period, Korean women taken to the Japanese army as comfort girls sometimes ran away when such a life became unbearable to them. Because they were weak women, however, they became recaptured right away and brought back, whereupon Japanese soldiers put them through all kinds of abuses. In front of many other comfort girls, they dragged the escapees by cars by pulling them on the neck as a warning that all future escapees would meet the same fate. They drove fast with the victims, and they died, with their bodies covered with blood and bones smashed. How vehement the vengeance must be, of the spirits of the women who died this way? Imagining the scene of that time will make anyone shudder and help understand these spirits easily. Through Dae Mo Nim’s words, we have been able to understand the passion of the comfort girls’ spirits to satisfy their vengeance. 2. Invasion of the Spirit of a Comfort Girl The spirits of those who were dragged away from Korea, were forced to serve as comfort girls under the Japanese colonial army, and died are spread all over Japan. These resentful spirits cause troubles among Korean-Japanese Couples such as infertility, breast cancer, and uterus cancer. I counseled one Korean-Japanese couple. This couple could not bear a child even though they waited for a long time and came to me to receive special prayer. I found something incredible while was counseling them. When I saw spiritually the Japanese wife, she had an even more serious problem than having no children. Her uterus was in the process of rotting from its outer wall. If this process continued, her life would be threatened by uterus cancer, not to mention her being unable to bear a child. So, I quickly began to pray for her and laid my hands on her uterus area. And I asked the spirit who was causing this infection of the uterus why. That spirit confessed that she was a comfort girl who could not bear such a life and tried to escape but was caught by the Japanese soldiers. She became a resentful spirit because she was killed by cutting off her uterus from her body. She explained that she wanted to kill this Japanese member by rotting away her uterus in order to revenge herself. The wife of that Korean-Japanese couple was a descendent of that Japanese soldier who had killed her. The condition of the uterus of Japanese wife was in shambles. I thought that sexual relationship would be impossible with this problem and asked her if she was having relationships with her husband. However, her answer was unexpected: she had thought that sexual relationship was supposed to be that painful. I felt such a pity for her after hearing this. I prayed and placed my hands on her for a long time and finally I was able to separate that spirit from her. She was grateful that pain stopped and she felt fresh. Actually, she had had tremendous pain but could not tell that to her husband. She visited many hospitals. She even confessed that she had visited famous spiritualists and even shaman. She had lived with this illness alone, hiding it from her husband. Had she visited Cheongpyeong a little late, she could have met with a serious tragedy. 7. Evil Spirits Attack an Unborn Child Those who are pregnant feel the joy of bearing a child but at the same time are concerned whether or not their baby will be born normal without any defects. They worry if their baby will be all right. Not only blessed couples but all pregnant mothers and fathers have this kind of worry. There are many causes for birth defects. When I see pregnant women spiritually, to my surprise I find quite a few cases of abnormal fetus. The evil spirits in the body are holding the neck of the fetus. I saw some unborn children suffering greatly in the hands of the spirits of comfort girls. Even though I can see the womb very clearly as if on a TV screen, I have a difficulty of not being able to tell the members about it. There is a tendency in our members to listen to their doctors very well, but not the advice from the spiritual diagnosis. I always pay special attention to pregnant women who visit Cheongpyeong. One day, seeing an unborn child in a dire situation, I prayed earnestly and pleaded with God, saying, “God, should your child be born in such a terrible form? If you can help, please help.” On the next day, I heard that the pregnant sister felt acute pain and had a miscarriage. When I visited the hospital and saw the miscarried fetus, it was severely deformed. There are many cases among the Japanese sisters where atopy disease gets inside their womb. If there are evil spirits attacking an unborn child, there is a high probability of that child having atopy, autism, or deformity. This is caused by a deep bodily penetration of the spirits of surrogate mothers in the time of the victim’s ancestors, of comfort girls in the Japanese army, or of fornicators. I have seen that when members came to Cheongpyeong and diligently separated the evil spirits, these problem gradually disappeared. 

 Dae Mo Nim January 13, 2013 Unofficial notes by David Carlson Now, many pregnant sisters are here also. I can see that the baby in the womb has no ear, or one leg is shorter than the other, because Satan has grabbed that body part. But through chanyang, we can take out such an evil spirit and the baby can be born healthy. Through the Messiah, True Parents, Dae Mo Nim could separate the evil spirit and could make Absolute Good Spirits. Other spiritual groups cannot do this. Only True Parents can do this! Other spiritual groups cannot do this. They may take out an evil spirit temporarily, but the evil spirit always comes back. But True Parents can make these evil spirit become Absolute Good Spirits. Because Dae Mo Nim can go into the body of the person, and take that spirit out, and there is also ancestor liberation, when Dae Mo Nim can go into the spirit world and educate them.

See:

The Comfort Women controversy Contents of the webpage: 1. Meet Miki Dezaki, Director of the film, Shusenjo: The Main Battleground Of The Comfort Women Issue. 2. Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’. Statistical Yearbook of the Governor-General of Korea, from 1931-1943. 3. U.S. military documents featuring Korean POW testimony discovered at U.S. National Archives 4. Korean testimony documents highlight ethnic and gender discrimination under Japanese colonial rule 5. “The Comfort Women” (2008) book by Professor C. Sarah Soh (352pp) 6. “Comfort Women of the Empire” the battle over colonial rule and memory (2014) 帝国の慰安婦 植民地支配と記憶の闘い  by Professor Park Yu-ha, 박유하, 朴裕河 (336pp) 7. Mun Ok-chu’s memoir 8. Chart of Comfort Station managers, revealing they were Korean 9. The Korean “Comfort Station Manager’s Diary” 10. Comfort Women Urgently Wanted – Ads in Korean newspapers 11. Comfort Women rescued by Japanese military police 12. Kim Tŏk-chin was recruited by Koreans at 17 to be a ‘comfort woman’ Various historical documents and oral histories 13. In 1965 Japan gave $800 million as reparations for Korean occupation 14. Military commentator Ji Man-won raised “fake comfort women” question

Footnotes 1. Interview with Professor C. Sarah Soh 2. Extract from a presentation by Professor Soh 3. Behind the Comfort Women Controversy: How Lies Became Truth by Professor Nishioka Tsutomu 4. No Organized or Forced Recruitment: Misconceptions About Comfort Women and the Japanese Military by Hata Ikuhiko Professor Emeritus, Nihon University 5. GSOMIA lives, but what’s next for Japan and South Korea ties?

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Kim Tŏk-chin was recruited by Koreans at 17

2 minute video: Jan Ruff O'Herne talks about her experience as a ‘comfort woman’. The Netherlands-born Australian was captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942 and spent three and a half years in prisoner of war camps. She wrote a book entitled ‘50 Years of Silence: The Extraordinary Memoir of a War Rape Survivor’ (ISBN: 978-1741667462).

Korean fathers and brothers who sold their daughters and sisters, Korean prostitution brokers who took women away on false pretenses at times and Korean town chiefs who encouraged those acts – they all should be held accountable someday.

Comfort Women info on Wikipedia

Sun Myung Moon: “Women have twice the sin”

S Korean forces killed more than Japanese killed in 36 years During about 36 months in 1948-1951 South Korean forces killed more South Koreans than the Japanese killed in the 36 years of their occupation of the country. There were some 1,222 probable incidents of mass execution without trial by the South Koreans.

Japan gave $800 million in 1965 as reparations for Korean occupation

In Korean: Korean blog with Comfort Women newspaper articles

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Understanding Sun Myung Moon’s attitude to sex by taking a look at Korean history

Koreans who experienced the Japanese annexation of Korea explain some facts

Excerpts from Korean comfort woman Mun Ok-chu’s memoir

Almost all these Comfort Station managers / owners were Korean

Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’.

“About 100 Korean women were abducted by Korean prostitution brokers but were rescued by Japanese military police.”

Japanese woman recruited by the Unification Church and sold to an older Korean farmer

6,500 Japanese women missing from Sun Myung Moon mass weddings