“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
This man, making Christmas calls from the White House, believes the world is a sphere. And he has even flown around it! So has our beautiful FLOTUS, who happens to be his wife!
Truth and common sense must be valued by us, as individuals, in order to lastingly disempower the authoritarian fake news media. This includes the perniciously smarmy science media, which never answers for its errors and lies. I believe that the media has been responsible not only for leftist pathologies like scientism, medical fascism, and radical gender ideology, but also for reactionary movements like modern flat Earth, rejection of all medicine, and Biblical geological literalism.
Just as Wheatie’s Stormwatch Monday Open Thread was created as a place for people to openly express their thoughts and opinions, so, too, is this Thank God Thursday Open Thread, where honest but civil discussion of all topics is encouraged. This thread is also to be known as Theistic Evolution Thursdays, due to the author’s expected “pontification” about his scientific, religious, and political opinions. You are welcome to pontificate back! Free speech matters!
Please label all AI-generated content as being such, unless it is patently obvious (e.g., humorous AI images). It is important that we as individuals not begin to pretend that socially derived artificial intelligence is actually our own, as this form of stealthy social information averaging and feedback would be one more pretense and deception between people, in service of stupid Marxist socialism, and of those who wish to substitute their communally protected lies for actual truth.
The source of alleged truth matters, not for the truth itself, but for validation.
And yes, it’s THURSDAY…again.
And that’s it. We’re done stealing from Wheatie.
OK – maybe her rules need to be posted.
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Other rules may be derivable from these, and that conjecture is left for discussion.
If there is nothing beyond the “W” below, then this is a placeholder. For health reasons, I can’t always post a timely opinion before each Thursday, but I will try. Otherwise, you have this placeholder post, where YOU provide the content. Enjoy!
W
More Temu trinkets from video world. Skip over as many as you must!
(1) Explosives. Instantly reducing people to…… crumbs? Not vapor? Or is this “AND logic”?
(2) Have you ever wanted to go back to high school biology class? You won’t after this video! It’s CRINGE vs. CRINGE! Skip if you don’t want to enjoy the CRINGE!
(3) Try a different chess brain from my usual guy. This one does a deep dive into a SCANDAL of the chess world during this fascinating analysis of psychological war between top chess players.
The TL;DR – the world’s best player TOYS with the guy who made bogus accusations of computer-backed cheating at the top of chess world, by making a bunch of TROLL moves that a computer would NEVER recommend, and still beating him bloody!
(4) How about a TREEHOUSE DUDE who’s not Sundance? Check out “Mystery Treehouse” on the topic of the band Boston / the nerd Tom Scholz.
(5) Wanna talk back to those douchebags and cat-ladies who say that the Southwest UNITED STATES was stolen from MEH-HE-CO? Here you go – some fascinating history.
OK – that’s enough! Have a great weekend!
W
BUT WAIT – THERE’S MOAR!
I saw this at the last minute! Must report immediately! A damned AI country song hit NUMBER ONE!!!
[No – don’t skip over it – click the video and WAIT FOR IT!]
There are Important Notifications from our host, Wolf Moon; the Rules of our late, good Wheatie; and, certain caveatsfrom Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here. Note: Yours Truly has checked today’s post for any AI-generated content. To the best of her knowledge and belief, there is none. If readers wish to post any AI-generated content in the discussion thread for today’s post, they must cite their source. Thank you.
Do not forget to LABEL AI articles, video and such.
PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
I have been pointing out the importance of TRADE and trade routes to the Cabal. The importance goes back centuries. The mercantile system is based on trade with the colonies as a source of raw materials and the ‘mother country’ the source of finished goods.
Mercantilism was an economic practice from the 16th to 18th century, where nations sought to increase wealth through export surplus and controlled trade.
The system emphasized accumulating precious metals and often used military force to protect trade interests and enforce monopolistic practices.
Mercantilist policies favored colonies as sources of raw materials and as markets for exports, exemplified by the British Sugar and Navigation Acts.
Although considered outdated, elements of mercantilism persist today, with countries like China and Russia controlling trade and imposing tariffs….
Outdated??? Well that is certainly a lie.
If a country is ‘De-industrialized’ it is back to being a source of raw materials and a market for the Cabal’s Transnational Corporations. See The Network of Global Corporate Control
On March 20, 1969, Dr. Richard Day, the National Medical Director of the Rockefeller-sponsored “Planned Parenthood” told a meeting that American industry will be sabotaged and shown to be uncompetitive.
In view of the recent bankruptcy of General Motors, his remarks are especially pertinent.
“The stated plan was that different parts of the world would be assigned different roles of industry and commerce in a unified global system. The continued preeminence of the United States and the relative independence and self-sufficiency of the United States would have to be changed… in order to create a new structure, you first have to tear down the old, and American industry was one example of that.”
👉“Each part of the world will have a specialty and thus become inter-dependent, he said. The US will remain a center for agriculture, high tech, communications, and education but heavy industry would be “transported out.”
These remarks to the Pittsburgh Pediatric Society were reported by Dr. Lawrence Dunegan, a Pittsburgh pediatrician who died in Jan. 2004. 👉The speech described “A New World System” already in place which would permanently transform the world....
The rest of the warnings in that 2009 article sounds like our recent history.
👉“Each part of the world will have a specialty and thus become inter-dependent, he said.
Al Gore said the same thing to the Future Farmers of America. He told them to get out of farming. There were other plans for the USA and described how the world would be carved up into specialties. I can no longer find those statements but I did find this. (Think AI)
Does economic interdependence increase or decrease the probability of war among states?
With the Cold War over, this question is taking on importance as trade levels between established powers such as the United States and Russia and emerging powers such as Japan, China, and Western Europe grow to new heights. In this article, I provide a new dynamic theory to help overcome some of the theoretical and empirical problems with current liberal and realist views on the question.
The prolonged debate between realists and liberals on the causes of war has been largely a debate about the relative salience of different causal variables. Realists stress such factors as relative power, while liberals focus on the absence or presence of collective security regimes and the pervasiveness of democratic communities.(1)
Economic interdependence is the only factor that plays an important causal role in the thinking of both camps, and their perspectives are diametrically opposed…
This paper is well worth the read despite being 3 decades old.
In 1863, Czar Alexander II sent Russian battleships to NY and San Francisco as a message of solidarity with Lincoln and a threat to imperial forces of Europe.
“In the Autumn of 1862, the governments of France and Great Britain proposed to Russia, in a formal but not in an official way, the joint recognition by European powers of the independence of the Confederate States of America. My immediate answer was: `I will not cooperate in such action; and I will not acquiesce. On the contrary, I shall accept the recognition of the independence of the Confederate States by France and Great Britain as a casus belli
for Russia. And in order that the governments of France and Great Britain may understand that this is no idle threat; I will send a Pacific fleet to San Francisco and an Atlantic fleet to New York.
All this I did because of love for my own dear Russia… I acted thus because I understood that Russia would have a more serious task to perform if the American Republic, with advanced industrial development were broken up and Great Britain should be left in control of most branches of modern industrial development.”
This fact has been literally erased from American history books, but it is better understood in Russia, which has today a statue featuring the two martyred patriots and great emancipators, Czar Alexander II and Lincoln holding hands in Moscow….
In 1890, Lincoln’s friend and first governor of Colorado William Gilpin published his book ‘The Cosmopolitan Railway’ outlining his dream of a world of rail networks, industrial progress and cooperation.
And so the Cabal instigated the Assassination of both leaders. Having failed to destroy the United States, they over threw the Russian government instead and installed ‘Communism.’ After WWII they fomented a cold war against the ‘Communism’ they created and used the communist label as an excuse to overthrow governments that did not cooperate in the Cabal’s rape of their country’s raw materials.
As Matt said:
…Sadly, history unfolded in another direction from the beautiful vision laid out by Czar Alexander II, Abraham Lincoln and William Gilpin.
An age of bankers wars, anarchist assassinations, and economic turmoil disrupted this new age of progress and cooperation among civilizational states.
Matt then goes into The True Origins of Bolshevism
So that was an early vision of an alternate route from the East to the West that could bypass the Middle East route controlled by the British Empire. (Note that the Lincoln, Czar Alexander II statue in Moscow still exists.)
Almost no one covered what should have been last week’s most interesting and most discussed story… India Today covered the news that started the ball rolling, which ran under the headline, “Russia gives US super-secret JFK files with map that could shake up world.” Just wait. This is another world-shaker.
The hand-drawn map within the newly released files —never seen before— bears the provocative English legend, “Kennedy-Khruschev World Peace Bridge—could and should be built between Alaska and Russia. AT ONCE.”
Last week, photogenic Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fl.), member of the House Disclosure Committee, announced that —after asking them nicely— the Russians handed over a curated copy of their 400-page KGB dossier on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Translators are still working. But that map jumped right out and launched a week of wild speculation over what could be Trump’s most controversial and world-changing move yet.
🔥 One trending hypothesis is that, if the Russian dossier is accurate, at the time of his death, Kennedy—scared straight by the Cuba standoff— was engaged in personal back-channel talks with Soviet General Secretary Khrushchev to officially broker peace between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, including a joint trade development plan as shown on the dossier’s map.
Jeff Childersthen points to a Promethian Action video (11 minutes) via this tweet.
Others have wondered whether his top-secret peace efforts were the straw that spurred his assassination. For more speculation about the disclosure, see Promethian Action’s take (11:23).
🚨 BREAKING: Secret Soviet KGB files reveal JFK & Khrushchev planned a PEACE BRIDGE connecting US & Russia through the Bering Strait
Trump just tormented Zelensky with this SAME project yesterday
Is this why they killed Kennedy? The map that could flip the globalist chessboard pic.twitter.com/JWXragIUvo
BREAKING: Secret Soviet KGB files reveal JFK & Khrushchev planned a PEACE BRIDGE connecting US & Russia through the Bering Strait Trump just tormented Zelensky with this SAME project yesterday Is this why they killed Kennedy? The map that could flip the globalist chessboard.
Trump’s NEW Map Flips the Chessboard: Is it Why JFK Was Assassinated?
Russian KGB files reveal Kennedy-Khrushchev Peace Bridge project connecting US and Russia via Bering Strait. Trump and Putin now revive this vision that could flip the globalist chessboard…
Barbara Boyd reveals the revival of a secret project, the Kennedy-Khrushchev World Peace Bridge, aiming to connect the United States and Russia through the Bering Strait. Delivered to Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, these documents reignite debates about the Kennedy assassination and highlight a bold future vision that includes a tunnel project potentially involving Elon Musk’s Boring Company. The discussion extends to recent peace efforts by President Trump involving Ukraine, Russia, and Middle Eastern rebuilding. Discover why JFK’s assassination might be connected to his peace initiatives and infrastructure projects, and how Trump and Putin are challenging the globalist agenda for a transformative economic relationship.
Jeff also refers to this 2 min tweet from Rep Luna:
Before JFK was assassinated he was back channeling peace talks with the Soviet Union. Now, President Trump is finishing what JFK started, and negotiating peace with Russia. pic.twitter.com/CwNm0d20oK
Many years ago, Kent approached me on Tony Heller’s blog and sent me a draft copy of his book. This is an excerpt from that book. This passage is a glimpse into the CIA during Kennedy’s presidency. The CIA disdain for both Kennedy brothers drips from each word.
…KGB officers, working under a variety of covers, implanted this influence payload. In what must be considered a success of the highest possible level, a KGB colonel, military intelligence officer, operating under TASS cover, assessed and developed the callow Attorney General of the U.S., whose power far exceeded his job title. As the younger brother of the young President, Bobby Kennedy was one of the President’s closest advisors, 35 years old at the 1961 inauguration.
The military career of Bobby Kennedy, a dilettante who thrived under the patronage of his millionaire bootlegger father, may best illustrate the special dispensations he received, throughout his short life.
Bouncing between boarding schools during WW2, just before he turned 18, apparently to avoid the draft, Kennedy enlisted in the Navy. He was immediately accepted into the Navy’s special training program for college-aged officer candidates, sort of an early ROTC. He, of course, was accepted at Harvard’s version of the program. He did nearly two years in the program, bouncing from Harvard to Bates, and back to Harvard, until the Navy commissioned a ship named after young Bobby’s brother, the U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., surely on the command of Daddy Kennedy, the Democrat power broker.
In February, Kennedy used his father’s Progressive patronage power to obtain a discharge from the officer candidate program, to serve as an apprentice seaman on the USS Kennedy. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that the peripatetic Bobby Kennedy’s 119 day tour as a seaman on his daddy’s ship had nothing in common with a typical seaman’s sea duty. Arriving on February 1, he left the ship on May 30, and was discharged, honorably from the Navy.
Supported by the Kennedy family’s house newspaper in Boston, he flitted about the world, pretending to be a reporter for a few trips, until he finished law school.
He was immediately ensconced as a lawyer in the Department of Justice in Washington DC, for three months, before his daddy got him a job as a prosecutor in Brooklyn. He only lasted at that job for four months, resigning to “manage” his brother’s Senate campaign. After the successful campaign, daddy again pulled strings, and young Bobby landed a job with, ironically, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee on Investigations.
His tenure with McCarthy was more than seven months, a long time for this daddy’s boy on the move. He left the Senate job to work for, no surprise, daddy Kennedy, supposedly working on government reorganization.
It took his father seven months to get young Bobby his next gig, as chief counsel for the Democrat minority in the Senate. Eleven months later, bouncing Bobby became majority counsel, when the
Democrats won back the Senate from the Republicans. Bobby, not quite 30 years old, with no real world experience, settled into the warm comfort of the sinecure arranged by his daddy, in the shadow of his big brother, the anointed Democrat savior, and waited for the 1960 elections, which daddy Kennedy planned as a coming-out for his favorite surviving son.
Bobby again “managed” a John Kennedy campaign, this time a successful one for President, in 1960, and was rewarded by his daddy and big brother, with the plum appointment to be the Attorney General of the United States.
On his first day in the highest law enforcement office in the country, Bobby Kennedy was barely 35 years old. Outside his blatantly political job as a Democrat counsel in the Senate, he had held a handful of positions, usually for a few months at the most. It appears that virtually all of the “jobs” he held were arranged by his family political connections—119 days on the ship named for Daddy Kennedy’s favorite son, four months as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, seven months as a counsel in the Senate, seven months working for his daddy, until he joined his brother in the Senate, for nearly seven years.
From the point of view of a Russian case officer, working against this shallow, callow, punk daddy’s boy, elevated to a position of nearly absolute power in his brother’s administration, would be child’s play.
The KGB likely began probing multiple avenues of approach to the callow kiddie crowd in the White House, soon after their ascendance in January 1961. Maybe they already had established contacts with Bobby Kennedy, during his international travels, through Europe, the Middle East, India, Vietnam and Japan, as a student, pretending to be a journalist. Students on the make, traveling through these areas would have come to the attention of the KGB in each of the countries he visited. Especially a student who was the son of the corrupt Democrat ambassador to London. The KGB approach that clicked with the naïve Attorney General was the approach of a military intelligence colonel operating under cover as head of the Washington bureau of the TASS news agency. It may be useful to read ahead to the next chapter for the testimony of Ismael Ege, about the KBG’s use of TASS for operational cover.
…..In a classic piece of operational tradecraft, the KGB case officer, Georgi Bolshakov, represented himself to his target, Bobby Kennedy, as a “back-channel” conduit to the Kremlin. This is a common operational ruse, useful to convince otherwise wary targets that the information they share will go straight to the highest levels.
This ruse is also useful against targets in influential positions, for example a kid Attorney General, the most trusted advisor to his brother, the President of the U.S. Against these targets, the ruse is expanded to include a ruse within a ruse—that the target is also receiving confidential details in an “information exchange.” After accepting a “personal relationship” with the Bolshakov, Bobby Kennedy opened up to the espionage professional’s developmental operation. Kennedy invited the KGB officer to his home, and met with him dozens of times. For a developmental operation, this is a rather accelerated schedule. It seems that the KGB was ready to err on the side of aggression, due to the need to implant influence messages with the young administration. In stark contrast to the dilettante know-it-all Bobby Kennedy, Bolshakov was an expert at his profession. He had joined the Soviet intelligence system in 1943, served throughout WW2 and followed that with a three year graduate level training program in intelligence operations. He developed excellent English language skills prior to his posting to Washington.
The superbly successful development of the Attorney General by a man who was clearly Soviet intelligence would seem shocking by today’s counter-intelligence standards. At the time, evidently the Kennedys could do no wrong. Even today historians writing of this espionage operation give Bobby Kennedy an unwarranted benefit of the doubt.
Andrew, discussing Bobby Kennedy’s use as an influence agent, says that Bobby seemed to be, “forgetting that he was dealing with an experienced intelligence professional who had been instructed to cultivate him,” And that “the president’s brother became convinced that ‘an authentic friendship grew’ between him and [the KGB officer].”
There is absolutely no reason to give Kennedy the benefit of any doubt. He was simply an arrogant, ignorant, spoiled rich man’s son playing at international affairs. He was playing against talented, experienced, well-trained professionals. He was no match, and was out-witted, out-gunned, and out-maneuvered. The relationship seems to have terminated when the Russians manipulated the out-witted Kennedys during the Cuban missile crisis. The KGB case officer, after influencing the Kennedy administration’s view for several months, provided a disinformation payload to young Bobby, who swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.
In a conversation recorded in the Oval Office, between the President and his little brother, the two neophytes, playing at power politics seem to come to the realization that they’ve been played for fools.
Bobby tells his brother that he’d had lunch with his KGB handler that day.
President: “What did he say?”
Bobby: “He said this is, this is a defensive base for the Russians. It’s got nothing to do with the Cubans.”
President: “…They’re lying…This horror about embarrassing me in the election…. But they didn’t tell you there were missiles there.”
Bobby: “No. Remember, I told you that.”
A member of the President’s cabinet, later the same day joked about the potential consequences of a war that might ensue over the Soviet missiles in Cuba. Speaking to the Defense Secretary, Robert McNamara, an unidentified meeting attendee said, “Suppose we make Bobby mayor of Havana.” The KGB’s influence operations officers, in the field, were far superior to the Soviets’ decision makers, analysis, or ability to capitalize on the nearly unbelievable operations run by the field officers.
Recruiting, or at least co-opting, the Attorney General of the United States, by the KGB, is the operational equivalent of a grand slam home run, Triple Crown, Three-peat, MVP, World Cup, and a Super Bowl championship, all rolled into one.
The leadership of a banana republic, or an African former colony, where a young colonel as the President, after a coup, installs his even younger brother in his cabinet, might be seen as susceptible to a cabinet member being targeted and played by an ops officer. Such a country would be a ripe target for a case officer’s plucking. But to consider the leadership of a super-power to be susceptible to such a blatant influence operation is shocking and nearly incredible.
The fact is, though, that the Bobby Kennedy operation happened, and has been known for some time. Exact details remain sketchy due to most KGB documentation, as discussed earlier, being under the control of the KGB, while the Kennedy side of the story is controlled by the PC hagiographers who seem to believe that the Kennedys truly were the America’s Camelot. Exposure of truths that tarnish the haloes of the Kennedy brothers is not encouraged by the PC keepers of the legend.
The fact is, though, that the Bobby Kennedy operation happened, and has been known for some time. Exact details remain sketchy due to most KGB documentation, as discussed earlier, being under the control of the KGB, while the Kennedy side of the story is controlled by the PC hagiographers who seem to believe that the Kennedys truly were the America’s Camelot. Exposure of truths that tarnish the haloes of the Kennedy brothers is not encouraged by the PC keepers of the legend.
👉However, the relationship between Bobby and Bolshakov is known. Bolshakov’s true status is known. We know what KGB officers do. We know how they operate. We know their operational goals. We know what Bolshakov told Bobby. We know the story that Bobby believed—he had a “back channel” to the Kremlin to avoid diplomatic sclerosis. We know that Bobby eventually realized he’d been used. And we know that none of the American players ever admitted the whole truth.
Bobby told the Russian ambassador that if it became publicly known that he had accepted a deal with the Russians to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Russians removing their missiles from Cuba it “could cause irreparable harm to my political career in the future.”👈
HMMMMmmmm Is this the reason Bobby Kennedy was offed too?
Now add in the CIA trying to scuttle the current negotiations with Hamas. Only by using NON-STATE DEPARTMENT people was POTUS able to actually get close to peace in the Middle East.
Besides the CIA, who actually works for the British Empire/ Globalist Cartel, there is another thread tying these two events together.
“you have been able to keep in Hungary the only CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE in Europe”
PM Viktor Orban:
NOW – PM Viktor Orban: "you have been able… to keep Hungary, our country, as the only migrant-free country in Europe… you have been able to defy the entire snake nest in Brussels… you have been able to protect your families and drive the LGBTQ activists from your schools." pic.twitter.com/tP4srdV5Ac
I very much doubt Israel was established for religious reasons by the Satanists, royals & Rothschilds, MONEY aka trade was the real reason as I showed in my article.
1858 — The Suez Canal was an immensely profitable investment by the Rothschild family. The family basically owned the British banking system and had funded all the British war efforts throughout the 19th century. Because the Suez Canal was built with slave labor, the Brits did not want their name associated with the building of it. Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, (Jewish BTW) had N M Rothschild & Sons act for the British Government instead. Disraeli was a close personal friend of Lionel de Rothschild. LINK
(God may have other plans but I am not about to second guess him.)
For now the Cabal looks like they have given up on their new, bigger better canal, The Ben Gurion Canal, in the Middle East because they have bigger fish to fry — Keeping Russia and the USA from uniting and realizing their plans for a ‘BRIDGE’ from Alaska to Siberia thereby bypassing the Middle East all together.
Of course they are STILL trying to overthrow Trump and the USA, so the 5th Generation War is heating up.
What is the correct term to describe the conduct of the Democrat Party? https://t.co/3tI3ehgN6y
POTUS Trump is busy trying to cut-off another source of the CIA/ Cabal’s dark money – Drugs.
NOW – Trump says he will notify Congress of U.S. military strikes likely to occur against drug traffickers on foreign soil: "We have to do it to save lives." pic.twitter.com/ucUHb0V7jL
This one is interesting when you read between the lines.
Most countries in the Latin America use their militaries against the cartels not because they want to, but because they have to. Their police are severely outgunned.
Those who are crying about Trump blowing up narcoterrorists are either willfully ignorant about how bad things… https://t.co/ClZl5fWFfz
Most countries in the Latin America use their militaries against the cartels not because they want to, but because they have to. Their police are severely outgunned [AND co-opted by the CIA via the State Department’s Office of Public Safety. — GC] Those who are crying about Trump blowing up narcoterrorists are either willfully ignorant about how bad things are in Latin America or they really don’t care what happens to America — they oppose everything Trump does. [Of course they do because they are on the side of the Deep State that enslaves the Latinos and destroys US youth. Why else do you think the billionaires support this crap? — GC.]
No one is going to reveal the fight is between the US military and the rogue CIA. I nearly busted a gut laughing when I read Trump was sending the CIA in. I wonder WHICH CIA and WHY. Especially since he announced it.
EU vs Russia:
X 22 Report @ 38 to 42 minutes:
From X22 Report video above:
Visagrad 24 tweeted
British Royal Navy under NATO orders intercepted a Russian warship off UK shores in the North Sea. They intercepted and escorted ‘Vice-Admiral Kulalov’ away from UK. First time acted under NATO command.
Polymarket Intel tweets
Lithuania’s President Nauseda says Russian military jets briefly endered Lithuanian air space prompting a RAPID NATO fighter response.
Ukrainians in Poland surveilling military bases and saying they are Russian.
France indicted Assad over Chemical weapons (He is in Russia.)
X-22 notes the build up towards WWIII and the staging to BLAME Russia. (Their use of NATO means the USA gets dragged in.) So Trump uses useless tariffs to appease NATO.
X-22 then explains a bit about the Obama insurance scam and such.
….
From Scott:
Trump Goes West, Leaving the Modern British Empire to WRECK Itself
“In this episode, Barbara Boyd examines the recent series of attacks by the British Empire on President Trump and his policies.
Key topics include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the role of British and European leaders, Trump’s strategic economic alliances in Asia, and the purported financial destabilization plans involving frozen Russian assets.
Boyd also highlights the U.S. Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute those involved in the alleged coup against Trump. ”
So Trump is off to Asia to build the new system/BRIDGE.
Addendum from Scott.
Trump Ignores Canada’s Carney at ASEAN Summit, Major China Trade Deal Instead
“In this episode, we delve into Donald Trump’s trip to Asia, highlighting the substantial trade progress with China and contrasting with the suspended trade talks with Canada.
While headlines focus on China, Susan Kokinda reveals Prime Minister Mark Carney’s attempts to undermine Trump’s economic strategies, particularly at the ASEAN Summit.
The episode underscores the clash between Trump’s vision of sovereign nations cooperating and Carney’s globalist agenda. ”
Well, not really. I am no day trader or Wolf of Wall Street. I am too lazy to work that hard to make every last penny I could. However, I can share what has worked for me, which is a long term strategy that led to no debt and an early retirement.
As we head into this one, these are the ground rules for TB’s take on this and any other subject. I am not you and you are not me. As always take what I say and apply only after thoughtful consideration of whether it works for you and your situation. My purpose is only to inform for what has worked for me or that I otherwise have legitimately beneficial knowledge to share. If any of this can help you or loved ones in some way(s), my purpose has been fulfilled.
To get to the financial, which is not complex or ground breaking, you need to handle the prerequisites first. Skipping the part that stabilizes your life and gives it meaning circumvents the good that comes from wealth accumulation. If you skip it, you either lose the wealth you do accumulate at some point, or, it becomes your idol or god because you are not grounded in truth.
Intentions
Start with first things first. Live a life of fulfilled intentions. Not just in financial matters – in everything. FAFO’ing through life is not a good way to approach it. You know this.
Per definition, intention is an aim that guides your actions to achieve an objective. You aim yourself as a weapon is aimed at a target. Anything or anybody that gets in the way is a distraction. Sometimes the distraction is good, it can cause you to rethink things. Sometimes the distraction gets in the way of you hitting the target. You need to decide the best course of action with the distractions and react accordingly.
Stay focused on the objective. Once the target is lined up, do not flinch and over think. Pull the trigger to get it done.
Most importantly, to fulfill intentions requires that you have some. Intentions give purpose to life. Do not go through life aimlessly.
It does not matter how old you are or your personal situation to fulfill your intentions.
Understand that God created the way the world was created – and you are not Him. Don’t fall for there is no God, no creator, bullshiz regardless of whether you are religious or not. Accept somebody greater than you created all of this by intention and move on to understanding your role and purpose within your circumstances. That means you really should ask Him, but that is your choice. If your life seems aimless or unproductive, start there.
You live in a country that provides for fulfilled intentions. Be grateful everyday and realize you have been blessed to be in the place you are. You have been given personal liberty secured by the Constitution that was executed within the providence of God as it states. When oppressors come against you, stand firm within your rights as an American citizen and counter their aggressions. Our founders and many patriotic Americans have bled out and died to provide that right. You owe it to them to give it your all and even do likewise if called upon. Do not go down without a fight. Fight, fight, fight!
Financial Freedom Basics
Work until you can retire, if you want to retire. Preferably, make money doing something that you love if possible. Sometimes that is not possible. So, whatever you do, do as unto the Lord. That is scripturally supported. If you do those things you will live within your means.
Do not spend more than you make. Getting the big eye is for kids, do not act like a kid as an adult. It’s dumb.
Compounded interest and returns are your great friends. Seek them. Make sure it is more than inflation and your personal tax burden. The more you make above the inflation rate and tax burden the better. It is doubtful you will achieve that depositing all of your funds in a bank or credit union. That is like floating around in a pool, you will never really get anywhere. I will address this below. There are no sharks in a pool and that makes it more safe and relaxed. It also makes it less productive for your financial gain purposes.
Again, avoid spending more than you make or borrowing excessive sums that cannot be repaid easily. Be risk averse when it comes to borrowing money.
Combine all of that understanding by first building a rainy day fund that is sufficient to pull you out of a loss of job, major household or auto expense, a medical emergency, and so on. Go for a minimum of 6 months income invested into savings. Buck up and have some discipline. If your current income is stretched to the max and you cannot cut any more expenses, find a second job or other legal method to increase income. As an example I know medically disabled people who make nice second incomes from just dog or invalid sitting. Figure it out, it doesn’t have to be a forever thing.
Give to your house of worship and others in need. It is a tenet of the faith that is between you and Him. If you do not believe, giving to others in need brings fulfillment personally.
Financial Freedom Intermediate Steps
Now, it is time to go bigger picture. Gaining knowledge, wisdom and discernment while continuing the basics are the next steps. This will be current and practical.
What has PDT told you (as well as the entire world) and what are big money world leaders doing in response relating to the plans for our economy?
Bonus points for the correct answer.
The answer is investing in America. How many trillions of dollars have you seen committed and already being spent by business and governments around the world within our borders? That informs your big picture. So stop being scared of the big, bad Democrat coyotes howling through their media pups. World business and governmental leaders are investing massive, previously unheard of sums into our nation. They know more than any of us do. Trust your eyes and ears.
Into what industries are they investing the majority of the funds? That would be Artificial Intelligence (AI) and anything that supports it or can directly benefit from its implementation. That should inform your decisioning.
They do not care if you like it or support AI. It is going to be a thing whether you like it or not, whether you participate or not. To Christians, we are to be about life and living it in accordance with what Jesus told us up to His return per scripture. So you should continue to live life accordingly while being wise to not fall into any Satanic traps.
AI is a tool. Use it for your purposes while realizing it can be easily corrupted. That is where wisdom and discernment come in.
A major intention of AI is to build an accurate knowledge base for many applications. This is intended to remove the mistakes and lower productivity coming from humans. So AI is combined with many robotic applications in business, industry, medical fields, defense, education, etc. in addition to intellectual use. That is why some jobs handled by humans will cease in the future. However, how well it does at those things is dependent upon human input. Expect hiccups along the way. Lots of them.
Two Opposing Sides & Lots Of Traitors
Now you see another blatant means for the globalists with depop – to corrupt the intention and twist it to their advantage. So, the two sides are clearly represented. One side reduces world population and uses AI applications to replace human productivity where it can. Sort of like culling the herd to only who is necessary while making sure the remnant do as trained. That is where digital ID and social compliance scoring comes in. They have more for themselves with less inconvenient rebellion that way as they replace God and march on to transhumanism where they believe they will never die. You have heard and read this from numerous developers of it including world leaders. Believe their intention even if you know it is all bullshit.
The other side uses AI to increase productivity, but believes humans are necessary for the continuance of the world and further exploration of the universe. They see life as transitory until death and passing into paradise with a Creator, so they want to leave things better for those that follow along the way. Their use of AI gives benefits to all humanity including financial, medical, educational, occupational, etc. advantages. They believe in doing good and caring for their neighbor.
I think you already know which government, business, industry, political, etc. leaders support which camp. Do not be overly concerned about the details in each, just focus on the big picture. One believes in the scarcity of worldly assets and the other believes in the abundance of worldly assets. The culture that develops from that is death for the scarcity crowd and life for the abundance folks.
That informs your investment decisions. Who is winning and what do they support?
In America you will also know them by their political affiliation with infiltrators that attempt to push things off course. Your role today is to work against our common opponents and invest in America as PDT has arranged.
If you have chosen to follow the money (investment), you know America is going to widen its lead the world in business and industry. Our military will continue to provide the protection we and our allies need for the foreseeable future as they are retrained as war fighters instead of woke nation builders, perverts, and baby sitters. This makes them more cost efficient as well as lethal. That scares the bejeezus out of our enemies. It is unlikely there will be any frontal attacks. However, there will be infiltration attempts, sedition and treason. There will be the Chynas of the world that attempt to stir the pot. Don’t fall for the fear porn it gins up in the media.
Our return as a nation in the form of the secular and religious Great Awakening only provides more support for the Golden Age as we justifiably give all of the credit and glory to the Lord for his provision for us as American citizens, as well as all believers around the world.
As a result we go about our lives and business with intentions that fit our world and kingdom view that we intend to fulfill.
Investments
Few adult American citizens are competent individual investors in the stock and bond markets. So, it would be foolish to do that as an investor of your hard earned money without the knowledge necessary to do so successfully long term.
The good news is you do not have to do it yourself. You can invest through funds with managers that do have the experience and knowledge, that make a living at successfully doing it for large numbers of people and institutions. That simply means to invest into good mutual funds with solid investment companies long term.
Consider using the Morningstar website. They review the performances of mutual funds and provided useful information about each. Start there if you are going to invest larger sums. It started over 40 years ago and does deep research. if you are just starting out or doing it smaller, just look for Morningstar ratings and info associated with mutual funds in which you may be interested. It would be safer for you to look at well known large financial providers such as Schwab or Fidelity. The link below gives a sample of their recommended ten best from Forbes.
My first point is to not fall victim to conspiracy theories and purity motives. Sure, you may find the investment choices of some funds to be distasteful if you investigate them. Refrain from investing in them if you feel that way. Check each fund’s prospectus and choose funds that are more what you would approve; just realize you have no control and there are bound to be some slugs, thugs and duds mixed in with the good ones in most funds.
That leads to you choosing your financial weapon(s). Pray about it and think it through.
Knowing the huge amounts of capital being invested into America informs you on how you need to invest long term. The S&P 500 index is comprised of the largest, better performing companies in America. It represents 80% of all of the market capitalization of American public companies. These are the companies that can and are investing into big into AI, all things that support it, all things that benefit from it, and other planned American economic growth drivers relating to energy and power production, tech, automotive, defense, etc. As a result you know you probably need to invest into already successful mutual funds that are largely comprised of the companies in the S&P 500, or by the index itself.
This index has performed at an average of about 10% return since its inception in 1957. Think about all of the things that have hit America hard during that period, yet, the average return has still been a strong 10%. For example, in the past ten years there have been a couple of loss years and far more good return years that has led to an 11% overall return. So you do not freak out if the markets decline for a year or two. You sit tight and wait for the rebound.
Average inflation has been around 3.25% over a 100+ year period in this nation. The goal per the Fed and PDT is 2%, which it has been for several months and was (and less) throughout #45’s term. So deduct your inflation assumption from the 10%. Next up is federal and any state taxes that may be due. Only you know your current tax rate. We have no state income taxes in TN, so our effective Federal tax rate is all that applies. By any measure, you learn that a 10% average return of a mutual fund will accumulate a substantial amount of wealth over time. How much is dependent upon your commitment to making additional deposits to it and refraining from taking funds out of it, which allows your contriutions and returns compound.
That does not mean you ignore the NASDAQ, Russell, or any other index with mutual funds. The participants are different in each one. The listed companies are generally smaller in market capitalization, so they are more subject to overall economic conditions of the economy. In good times they may perform better than the S&P. In stagnant or bad times they may be more susceptible and perform worse. The mutual funds associated with them will also have track records for you to review. They will also benefit from the massive investment into America.
Once you start you should basically forget you have done so. Leave it alone unless there is an emergency. That’s it. If your choice of funds does not perform well against peer funds, you can always move it to a better one. You now know a relatively safe path to wealth accumulation. You just have to be willing to pursue it and fulfill the intention to take advantage of the opportunity.
For those who are still a bit queasy, the industry has an insurance fund that covers potential individual investor loss if a fund provider goes bankrupt. Its link is below.
OK, now that you have your rainy day fund, you are living within your means, you have a low debt load, you are contributing to any 401-k retirement plan you may have at work, and you are now investing for wealth in the stock and/or bond market through at least one good mutual fund; it is time to talk about the future and how it could all go in America for you as well as your children and grandchildren.
Below is a link that is a MUST WATCH (8:41 long) interview by Larry Kudlow with Vivek Ramaswamy. Both are PDT allies and very knowledgable about all of this. Vivek will be Ohio’s elected governor after their next election. Kudlow served in an economic advisor role in #45’s term. They are in the inner circle. They both know how government, politics, business, industry and foreign investment works. They are MAGA.
There is much to unpack there. I hope you picked up on it because those two know what is coming. Ambitious expectations. All within reach of those who prepare accordingly.
It has been my expectation that we will finally see an eventual successful push to have Social Security funds invested safely into the capital markets, which has been prohibited. Think about it, had a significant portion of Social Security funds been safely invested into just the S&P 500 index, a great deal more funds would have been made available and the SS fund would now be self sustaining after many years of 10% compounded returns. Instead, the talk every year is about its future solvency while they use these dedicated funds to make the budget deficit appear smaller than it actually has been. Who has used that fear porn talk to fuel voter turn out for their candidates through the decades? Who benefits the most by keeping it and Medicare in a flux at all times?
The American public has been scammed far more than they ever realized. Collectively we had the power to end it all along. We just needed to become a movement of like minded patriots who held the politicians to account while keeping elections clean. The politicians have known and participated in the scams for many years. They kept selling the public on the lack of safety in investing public funds in capital markets. The same markets that the entire country uses to fuel its capitalistic economy. Ironic, huh? It has been infuriating to those of us who have seen the deception and corruption in plain sight for decades.
If you ask yourself why the answer is obvious. If the public were made aware they would have become outraged when the politicians intentionally overspent the budget or caused bubbles in the stock market or debt markets (2008 mortgage collapse) that caused booms and busts. The politicians knew these activities caused losses in the investment returns of the stock market that would endanger Social Security’s viability. If we had found out about their scamming it would mean the uniparty’s forever wars and depopulation efforts would have to come to an end. Using their media lapdogs they knew they could always sell the less informed sheeple about a potential shortfall in the SS and medicare funds in the future while at the same time approving increases in withholding rate, moving back the age to full retirement, restricting the amounts people could earn before being taxed, etc. That put even more money at their disposal to steal and misappropriate.
I will not spend much time discussing the truth that Jeff Childers of C&C recently brought about PDT and Bessent revaluing America’s gold reserves to more current market values. That impact alone would send the markets into the stratosphere. For once it would be nice if marked to market for something meant that gold could go back to being the reserve that supported the dollar to help it work for the common man’s benefit. Imagine the benefits to the retirement plans of We the People.
The answer for national solvency that included well funded retirements for all Americans has been sitting there all along. There was no political will power or citizen understanding to accomplish it.
Now there is.
Take Control
Once you identify how you want to invest, know that there are literally hundreds of funds that have no loads. Spend some time looking at reviews, ratings of funds, investment emphasis, fund expenses, 10 year returns and so on. The safety is in the S&P with the historically largest upside for growth in the NASDAQ index. Less risk with S&P, more risk with NASDAQ. More stable, proven acceptable returns in the S&P. More upside for returns with the NASDAQ.
Study it, work on it, budget for it and just do it. As wealth accumulates you may choose to move funds into crypto, precious metals, real estate and so on to diversify and reduce risk if you desire. It is never too early or too late to take the plunge. Actually, it can be good fun. For example, giving to children under aged 18-25 (depends on state law) is made easy with the Uniform Gift to Minors Act account. You can remain custodian until they hit the age limit and if you have taught them how investment works through the years they may choose to keep it invested and become millionaires later in life from a relatively modest investment in their youth. Linked below is an IRS update on the effect of the tax law changes on minors.
It is time to invest in America. Why let this golden age go by with nothing to show for it? If you have hit your senior years like us, beyond the additional personal income it provides it gives you an investment outlet while you are alive that will survive and be of benefit to whoever or whatever you designate when you pass.
For us that represents a fulfilled intention.
Please remember Wolf’s rules for our community. In general that means to be respectful to each other and to pull no shenanigans that your mom might find offensive or otherwise cause jail time. That said, free speech is honored here.
This man, making Christmas calls from the White House, believes the world is a sphere. And he has even flown around it! So has our beautiful FLOTUS, who happens to be his wife!
Truth and common sense must be valued by us, as individuals, in order to lastingly disempower the authoritarian fake news media. This includes the perniciously smarmy science media, which never answers for its errors and lies. I believe that the media has been responsible not only for leftist pathologies like scientism, medical fascism, and radical gender ideology, but also for reactionary movements like modern flat Earth, rejection of all medicine, and Biblical geological literalism.
Just as Wheatie’s Stormwatch Monday Open Thread was created as a place for people to openly express their thoughts and opinions, so, too, is this Thank God Thursday Open Thread, where honest but civil discussion of all topics is encouraged. This thread is also to be known as Theistic Evolution Thursdays, due to the author’s expected “pontification” about his scientific, religious, and political opinions. You are welcome to pontificate back! Free speech matters!
Please label all AI-generated content as being such, unless it is patently obvious (e.g., humorous AI images). It is important that we as individuals not begin to pretend that socially derived artificial intelligence is actually our own, as this form of stealthy social information averaging and feedback would be one more pretense and deception between people, in service of stupid Marxist socialism, and of those who wish to substitute their communally protected lies for actual truth.
The source of alleged truth matters, not for the truth itself, but for validation.
And yes, it’s THURSDAY…again.
And that’s it. We’re done stealing from Wheatie.
OK – maybe her rules need to be posted.
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Other rules may be derivable from these, and that conjecture is left for discussion.
If there is nothing beyond the “W” below, then this is a placeholder. For health reasons, I can’t always post a timely opinion before each Thursday, but I will try. Otherwise, you have this placeholder post, where YOU provide the content. Enjoy!
W
So – what is happening on YouTube? Four samples!
(1) Check this out and let us know what you think. Yeah, it’s clickbait, with a clickbait thumbnail image.
SO – is this AI-generated anti-human propaganda – or nasty truth – or both? You can read the comments on the video, too.
(2) Chicks With Tats – How to Deal With Them
(3) Chick with XY blueprints and XX construction – in other words, transed by nature, so to speak.
I had heard of this genetic anomaly – rare but real.
The TRANS-pusher left uses the existence of such people to justify their ideology, but the clear truth is that leftists are using medical sympathy to normalize sterilization of kids, and the medicalization of human sexuality.
I also have a theory about why “they” are pushing TRANS in Utah – and why the CIA basically set up camp there. I believe that they are trying to push the “right side” of the Overton Window on TRANS. The left is already stretched so far, as to have reached a breaking point. They need CONSERVATIVE buy-in on their “progress” agenda. The Mormons are a captive institution now, and can be used like a giant Charlie Manson or Jim Jones cult to lead the way on the CONTROLLED RIGHT. Much CIA research on converting conservatives goes on in Utah, IMO.
If this is correct, there should be other examples of this strategy, to say nothing of the “fake conservatives” on CNN.
(4) Big asteroid flyby today – with room to spare – so no need to be worried. Still, I’m glad they’re keeping an eye out for these things!
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
I will hereafter refer to this as the “black box post” – because it basically describes the “core” of AI as a kind of “black box” that people don’t fully understand, but which I would describe as “emergent intelligence that seems like us, and therefore impresses us”. Childers does a great job in describing what we know and don’t know about it, in easy-to-understand language.
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
We now have a dedicated author for Tuesdays – TradeBait! (Or TradeBait2 as he is officially known to the software.) Please welcome him on April 1, 2025, when he begins!
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
This will be the last Tuesday placeholder – hopefully for a long, long time. Thank you all and God Bless!
W
Is the Rapture in the New Testament?
Aubergine
The more I research the Bible, the more convinced I become that there is some force, entity, or group, embedded even in Christianity itself, that doesn’t want the real truths of the Bible to ever be known.
It started when I found the mistranslation, found in almost every version of the Bible, of Jesus’s clear statements of “I am.” He used the name of God, given to Moses by the Man Himself, more than once; but in translation it has been watered down to “I am He,” or “it is I.”
Here that is in Matthew 14, when Jesus walks on water:
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, [c]“Be of good cheer! [d]It is I; do not be afraid.”
See that little letter ‘d’? If I click on that, it comes up with the reference “Lit. I am.”
LITERALLY I AM.
But translated as “It is I.” WHY? This appears in almost every Bible translation, with a couple of exceptions. Here is one outlier; the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition:
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
27 But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I Am! Stop being afraid!
It happens again in John 18 in the Garden of Gethsemane:
4 Then Jesus, knowing all that was about to happen to Him, went to them and asked, “Whom do you want?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said, “I am He.” And Judas, who was betraying Him, was also standing with them. 6 When Jesus said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again He asked them, “Whom do you want?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you want Me, let these men go on their way.”
All those italicized “He’s” are added. And if you think about it, it doesn’t make any sense with them anyway. They come looking for Jesus, He says “I am He” and they all fell down on the ground? Why? They were looking for the man. BUT, they were all Jews; they knew what “I AM” meant full well, so they fell to the ground before God in terror of what they were doing when Jesus said it.
Changing “I AM” to “I am He” sure waters down down the impact, doesn’t it?
And now I come to the Rapture.
I was challenged recently about the actuality of the Rapture, and whether it appears in the Bible. If you ask Google “is the Rapture in the New Testament,” here is the answer from AI:
The idea of the rapture is described in the New Testament, but the word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible.
This is essentially a lie, and I can prove it.
The concept of the rapture is introduced in the Bible in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and Matthew 24:40-42.
Thessalonians 4
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen [a]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who [b]sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are [c]asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15
51 Behold, I tell you a [a]mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Matthew 24
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what [a]hour your Lord is coming.
My chief point today appears in the verse from Thessalonians, and these words in bold:
7 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
Thessalonians was written in Greek. The Greek Text Analysis of “caught up” reveals ἁρπαγησόμεθα. Well, that’s Greek to me!
That Greek word is harpazo (ah, English letters), which means to snatch or take away. Elsewhere in the Bible the same word is used to describe how the Spirit caught up Philip near Gaza and brought him to Caesarea (Acts 8:39) and to describe Paul’s experience of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4). So it would seem that the word is being used to describe people being “moved” from the Earth to “the clouds.”
A Greek to Latin translator reveals that the Greek word ἁρπαγησόμεθα in Latin is rapimur. The word “rapimur” for “caught up” in Thessalonians first appears in the Latin Vulgate Bible, translated by Jerome in 382. He was commissioned by Pope Damasus to translate the Four Gospels into Latin from the best available Greek texts, and by the time Damasus died in 384, he was mostly finished. In a letter to Pope Damasus in 383, Jerome wrote:
“You urge me to revise the old Latin version, and, as it were, to sit in judgment on the copies of the Scriptures which are now scattered throughout the whole world; and, inasmuch as they differ from one another, you would have me decide which of them agree with the Greek original. The labour is one of love, but at the same time both perilous and presumptuous; for in judging others I must be content to be judged by all; and how can I dare to change the language of the world in its hoary old age, and carry it back to the early days of its infancy?”
In the English language, we derive many words from Latin roots. The Latin word “rapimur” is the root word of…you guessed it…
RAPTURE.
The Rapture as a concept would not really be pushed to the fore until John Nelson Darby analyzed Bible translations in the 1830s. But the word that is the root of the word “Rapture” appeared in 384 in Jerome’s translation. I don’t think the “Harpazo” would have quite the same ring to it!
So there you have it. The word “Rapture” IS in the New Testament.
I find this prevarication to be as sly as ole Bill Clinton’s “depends on what the meaning of “is” is!” And both of the above examples, found across Christian belief and thought, make me wonder WHY and WHO? Because this isn’t just pagans and non-Christian sources. This is almost everywhere, even in Christianity itself.
FUN FACT
When the Gutenberg Bible was printed in the 1450’s, it was an edition of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Bible. So the first books ever printed with moveable type contained the word we derive Rapture from.
*******IN FAIRNESS TO GROK AI*******
I thought to head over and ask Grok about the word rapture in the Bible. Lo and behold, it told the truth!
Does the word Rapture appear in the New Testament?
Yes, the word “Rapture” does appear in the New Testament, but not in the way you might think. The English word “Rapture” as commonly understood today—referring to the event where believers are caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the air—doesn’t appear explicitly in modern English translations of the Bible. However, the concept is derived from the Latin word raptura, meaning “a carrying off” or “seizure,” which comes from the verb rapere (“to snatch” or “to seize”). This Latin term was used in the Vulgate, a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible, to translate the Greek word harpazō (ἁρπάζω), which means “to snatch away” or “to catch up.”
The key passage associated with the Rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (New Testament), where Paul writes: “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” (ESV) In the Greek text, “caught up” is harpagēsometha (from harpazō), and in the Latin Vulgate, it’s rendered as rapiemur (from rapere). This is where the term “Rapture” originates.
So, while “Rapture” as an English word isn’t directly in the New Testament, the idea and the root word it’s based on (harpazō) are present, particularly in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The modern use of “Rapture” to describe this event became popularized in English-speaking Christian theology much later, especially through 19th- and 20th-century dispensationalist teachings.
Does that clarify things for you? Let me know if you’d like me to dig deeper!
WELL, HANG ON THERE ABOUT GROK!
So, down in the comments, I told a story about asking Grok about the Rapture. I decided to move it up here, as it adds more to the AI part of the story:
I was telling a friend about the progression I went through in writing today’s post, and during that conversation, she and I stumbled upon a disturbing possibility. It went like this:
After my friend stated she didn’t believe there would be a Rapture, I, who have never studied it in depth, went looking for info. I first asked Google if the Rapture appeared in the New Testament. The answer I got is in the post above.
I went about doing my research, using various online sources, and my Bible (hard copy).
I wrote a draft of the above post in WordPress. It was in drafts, not scheduled for publication yet.
During the AI discussion here on the Tree, para wrote about using AI for research, and mentioned Grok. I hadn’t asked Grok anything about the subject of the Rapture in the Bible, so out of curiosity, I went and asked. I got the answer I put at the end of the post.
Now here’s the possibility my friend and I considered; Grok’s answer to my query is very close to the research I had written into drafts before I asked the question, and is completely different from the answer I got from Google AI. Did Grok “read” my research, not yet “published,” before answering?
This possibility disturbed my friend greatly, and it sure made me wonder.
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
OK, this is interesting – a mixture of Jefferson Airplane, epic music, and Matrix visuals.
Which led me to another…..
Which led me back to the original. Which seems very strange now.
THE STUFF
Why is AI being used to create fake stories about Elon Musk?
I find this sort of fake story to be much more annoying that AI country music.
OK – let’s wash that away with some reality – the study of “perfect” numbers! (I may have played this topic before, but whatever – let’s play it again!)
Six is a pretty cool number – but 28? And 496? And (2^82,589,933 – 1)?
I never realized that Drexler’s concept of “radical abundance” might generalize to include country music – and yet here we are.
First of all, I’m not even sure that “AI” is where most of this stuff comes from – but I’m pretty sure it is. It may be that some of this highly anonymous music is coming from real, unknown country artists – but I kind of doubt it. And even then, how would I know?
Maybe I’d better start at the beginning.
As I was preparing “future posts created out of copied placeholders” in my usual way, I did a particularly lazy search for country music videos, in a way that tends to pull back compilations of current country hits, but also tends to get a few single songs that I’ve never heard before. This has been a great way for me to discover “new” country music – which may even be old music that I simply missed on the terrible, local, “hot country” stations.
Well, I got the following “compilation” video, and gave it a listen. It’s about an hour and 45 minutes of mixed country songs.
Best new country songs? Sounds awesome! Kinda weird that no artist names were being buzzed at me, but whatever!
I loved the first song (click video above, entitled “Still The One I Love“, which somewhat matches the AI gal singer / guitar player shown, but which is obviously coming from some artist with whom I was not familiar.
Just listen to it! In my opinion, it’s a great song. Yes, very formula, but filled with so many great country tropes and hooks, earnestly performed. I was, like “yeah, what a great start to this compilation!”
As more and more of the songs played, the AI video become more and more out of sync with the music, but the quality of the songs never went down. I found myself enjoying each and every song. That was a little bit strange, too.
That’s when I started clicking around in the video. I wanted to find something – anything – that was more than just “familiar-sounding”. I wanted something that actually WAS familiar – something from an identifiable artist. Even better, somebody I had heard of.
Nothing. No identified artists. No identified songs – other than their names.
I picked one that sounded like it should be identifiable – “Forever In The Rain“. It had a slightly older feel. It might have been a classic I’d never heard of. I tried to search on the lyrics – but found nothing. Thus, it didn’t seem like an actual old classic. However, I WAS able to find it as a single video – and hopefully that would lead to the artist.
Nope. No artist. But it did lead to a bunch of similar songs, much like that compilation video.
I was even able to track these songs over to Apple Music. And as one might suspect, there was no identified artist on any of them.
Here’s another one I investigated. And here is where I got some results, eventually.
This one clearly has an AI-generated “video” that goes with it.
The real question – was the music AI-generated, too? Well, two weeks after I first noticed this song, I also noticed that YouTube had now forced a DISCLAIMER onto the page.
Whispers in the Wind is a heartfelt country ballad that captures the enduring connection with a lost loved one. Set against the backdrop of serene countryside imagery, the song tells a story of love, memories, and hope that transcends time. With poetic lyrics and an emotive melody, it reflects on the subtle ways their presence is felt—in the rustling leaves, the golden hues of the meadow, and the guiding light of a star. It’s a song about finding comfort in cherished memories, carrying their wisdom forward, and feeling their love in the quiet moments of life. The soothing tones of acoustic guitar and gentle rhythms create a reflective and deeply moving listening experience. Whispers in the Wind is a reminder that even in absence, love remains forever true, carried in every breath and echoed in the wind.
How this content was made:
Altered or synthetic content Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated. Learn more
Transcript Follow along using the transcript.
So – yeah. AI-generated.
I don’t care. I like it.
AI is nothing but human intelligence, mixed, swirled, bottled and re-sold. AI songs are nothing but human music, mixed, swirled, bottled and re-sold.
It may be a brave new world, but it doesn’t have to be a bad new world.
I think this AI music is great. Even though it’s a kind of “novel average of human greatness”, it’s still great. And if making great music, in a kind of generic way, is now possible – well, so be it.
I am still going to love REAL HUMAN country music – and maybe even love it more, because of this. But I won’t deny liking the synthetic stuff, too. Machines just don’t scare me.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is still under Occupation by hostile forces, but we are evicting those forces!
Daily outrage and epic phuckery still abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win, long after we got His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:
damoiseau
noun
male form of damsel
a young man not yet dubbed a knight
a young gentleman who was not yet a knight but aspired to be one
a young nobleman accompanying his lord or lady to hunt, walk, travel, etc.
a young nobleman or squire
Used in a sentence
The word damoiseau appears to be related to the word mademoiselle.
Shown in a picture by Gab’s Watercolor AI
Video of a rum distillery named Damoiseau.
MUSIC!
What kind of music do you get back when you search on “damoiseau”? Well, somewhere down the page you get one of cthulhu’s favorite bands – “Pample Moose” or whatever. So let’s just go with it!
THE STUFF
In honor of my former colleague, who was SEMPER FIDELIS in all matters of Q, it is my plan to make sure that certain touches of what she regarded as important are not forgotten.
Trump world problems! Almost as bad as too much winning!
Susie Q is right. Something is going on here. And it’s good!
Remember Kary Mullis? Establishment popularization science remembers him, and while Veritasium keeps the expected diss of this gnarly dissident fairly gentle, their coverage fills in a lot of blanks, and is appreciated by this more lupine dissident. Don’t worry – you’ll still like Kary – maybe even a little more after watching this.
A toast to Kary! And today, we’ll skip the LSD, but maybe rum is appropriate.
OK – this will take a while to explain, but I’ll try to be brief.
I wanted to do a Hanukkah post – especially because Hanukkah 2024 has the unusual aspect of starting on Christmas (Western Christmas, that is) this year. Yes – Hanukkah runs from sundown on December 25, 2024 until sundown on January 2, 2025.
Now, you may have noticed that I spelled Hanukkah “wrong” in the title. Well, the holiday turns out to have 24 different “wrong” spellings! I simply picked the one that celebrated “X” the most!
Since the time for this debate is nearing: The right way to spell Hanukkah is to change the spelling of Channuka each time that you mention Xanukah. Khannike is a delightful holiday (get it?) when one eats fried foods and remembers miracles. Mark your calendar, Janice is coming!
I wanted to do two posts – an extra Xanukah post, and a post about the Grok AI now being free. And then I needed to do the Christmas post, but thankfully Aubergine did that, so I only had to do those two posts. And THEN I got the idea to combine them!
As to the point about the Grok AI, I was seeing ads on X for Grok now being free. Like this one.
A few days ago, I decided to try it. I clicked on the ad when I saw it, and it took me right to Grok. So I asked Grok a question.
What follows is the answer that was returned in under 15 seconds.
15 web pages
The image you’re referring to likely depicts a black hole, specifically showcasing the visual phenomenon known as the “photon ring.” Here’s an explanation of why this object appears differently from most ringed planets:
Shape and Appearance: Unlike planetary rings which are composed of particles orbiting a planet in a relatively flat plane, the shape in your image is due to the unique gravitational effects of a black hole.
Photon Ring: The bright ring you see is not a physical structure but an optical effect. It’s caused by photons (light particles) that orbit the black hole multiple times due to extreme gravitational lensing before escaping towards the observer. This results in a ring-like structure that appears around the black hole’s shadow. The light from the accretion disk or material around the black hole bends in the intense gravity, creating this luminous ring. The thickness and brightness of this ring can vary based on the black hole’s mass, spin, and the viewing angle.
Black Hole’s Shadow: Inside this photon ring is the black hole’s shadow, which is essentially the silhouette of the event horizon—the point beyond which no light or matter can escape. This shadow appears dark because any light or matter that crosses the event horizon cannot be seen from outside. The size of the shadow is roughly twice the size of the event horizon, making it larger than what you might expect just by looking at the black hole itself.
Difference from Planetary Rings: Planetary rings are made of ice, dust, and rock particles that orbit the planet due to its gravity but remain within a certain band due to stable orbits. A black hole’s photon ring, however, is an effect of spacetime curvature, where light paths are significantly altered around the black hole, creating an illusion of a ring. This is not due to physical material distribution but how light travels in the extreme gravity of a black hole.
Scientific Significance: The imaging and study of such phenomena help in understanding general relativity, black hole physics, and the behavior of matter and light in extreme gravitational fields. The first direct image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, was of M87’s black hole and showed this very ring, confirming theoretical predictions about how black holes should appear.
This visual representation is a testament to the bizarre effects predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, where gravity can bend light to such an extent that we observe phenomena like the photon ring.
photon ring theory
gravitational lensing
OK – that was cool. So I decided to ask it another question that’s relevant today, and would take me a while to search.
Grok – please explain why Hanukkah normally happens before Christmas (December 25), but it happening after Christmas this year.
25 web pages
10 posts
Hanukkah normally occurs before Christmas because it follows the Hebrew calendar, which is lunisolar. Here’s how it works:
Hebrew Calendar: Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. The Hebrew calendar is based on both lunar and solar cycles, with months starting with the new moon. Because lunar months are about 29.5 days long, there are roughly 12 lunar months in a solar year, but this cycle is shorter than the solar year, causing a drift. To realign the calendar with the solar year, an extra month (a second Adar) is added approximately every three years in a 19-year cycle. This adjustment ensures that holidays like Hanukkah maintain their seasonal timing.
Gregorian Calendar: In contrast, the Gregorian calendar, which is solar-based, has a fixed date for Christmas on December 25. Since the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars do not align perfectly, the date of Hanukkah on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year, typically falling between late November and late December.
This year, in 2024, Hanukkah starts at sundown on December 25 and continues until January 2, 2025, due to the specific alignment of the lunar and solar calendars. It’s a rare occurrence for Hanukkah to begin on or after Christmas Day:
Rare Coincidence: The last time Hanukkah started on Christmas Day was in 2005, and it won’t happen again until 2035. This is because the Hebrew calendar’s leap year system occasionally pushes Hanukkah later into December, sometimes even into January, but rarely this close to or after Christmas.
Leap Year Influence: The Jewish calendar’s leap year, where an extra month is inserted, can shift Hanukkah’s timing on the Gregorian calendar. In a year like 2024, the leap year effect has resulted in Hanukkah starting later than usual, thus coinciding with or following Christmas.
In summary, the variable nature of the Hebrew calendar’s lunisolar system causes Hanukkah’s date to shift relative to the fixed solar-based Gregorian calendar, leading to this rare occurrence where Hanukkah begins after Christmas.
Hebrew calendar leap years
Other lunisolar calendars
WELL – that was excellent. Grok really gives nice answers – and FAST.
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