#marian nation assemble…!!!!!!!!!!!

[ausetkmt]

Black women have made important contributions to the United States throughout its history. However, they are not always recognized for their efforts, with some remaining anonymous and others becoming famous for their achievements. In the face of gender and racial bias, Black women have broken barriers, challenged the status quo, and fought for equal rights for all. The accomplishments of Black female historical figures in politics, science, the arts, and more continue to impact society.

Marian Anderson (Feb. 27, 1897–April 8, 1993)

Underwood Archives / Getty Images

Contralto Marian Anderson is considered one of the most important singers of the 20th century. Known for her impressive three-octave vocal range, she performed widely in the U.S. and Europe, beginning in the 1920s. She was invited to perform at the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1936, the first African American so honored. Three years later, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing at a Washington, D.C. gathering, the Roosevelts invited her to perform on the steps of the Lincon Memorial.

Anderson continued to sing professionally until the 1960s when she became involved in politics and civil rights issues. Among her many honors, Anderson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

Mary McLeod Bethune (July 10, 1875–May 18, 1955)

PhotoQuest / Getty Images

Mary McLeod Bethune was an African American educator and civil rights leader best known for her work co-founding the Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. Born into a sharecropping family in South Carolina, the young Bethune had a zest for learning from her earliest days. After stints teaching in Georgia, she and her husband moved to Florida and eventually settled in Jacksonville. There, she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in 1904 to provide education for Black girls. It merged with the Cookman Institute for Men in 1923, and Bethune served as president for the next two decades.

A passionate philanthropist, Bethune also led civil rights organizations and advised Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt on African American issues. In addition, President Harry Truman invited her to attend the founding convention of the United Nations; she was the only African American delegate to attend.

Shirley Chisholm (Nov. 30, 1924–Jan. 1, 2005)

Don Hogan Charles / Getty Images

Shirley Chisholm is best known for her 1972 bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination; she was the first Black woman to make this attempt in a major political party. However, she had been active in state and national politics for more than a decade and had represented parts of Brooklyn in the New York State Assembly from 1965 to 1968. She became the first Black woman to serve in Congress in 1968. During her tenure, she co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus. Chisholm left Washington in 1983 and devoted the rest of her life to civil rights and women's issues.

Althea Gibson (Aug. 25, 1927–Sept. 28, 2003)

Reg Speller / Getty Images

Althea Gibson started playing tennis as a child in New York City, winning her first tennis tournament at age 15. She dominated the American Tennis Association circuit, reserved for Black players, for more than a decade. In 1950, Gibson broke the tennis color barrier at Forest Hills Country Club (site of the U.S. Open); the following year, she became the first African American to play at Wimbledon in Great Britain. Gibson continued to excel at the sport, winning both amateur and professional titles through the early 1960s.

Dorothy Height (March 24, 1912–April 20, 2010)

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Dorothy Height has been described as the godmother of the women's movement because of her work for gender equality. For four decades, she led the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW )and was a leading figure in the 1963 March on Washington. Height began her career as an educator in New York City, where her work caught the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt. Beginning in 1957, she led the NCNW and also advised the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.

Rosa Parks (Feb. 4, 1913–Oct. 24, 2005)

Underwood Archives / Getty Images

Rosa Parks became active in the Alabama civil rights movement after marrying activist Raymond Parks in 1932. She joined the Montgomery, Alabama, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1943 and was involved in much of the planning that went into the famous bus boycott that began the following decade. Parks is best known for her December 1, 1955, arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat to a White rider. That incident sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott, which eventually desegregated that city's public transit. Parks and her family moved to Detroit in 1957, and she remained active in civil rights until her death.

Augusta Savage (Feb. 29, 1892–March 26, 1962)

Archive Photos / Sherman Oaks Antique Mall / Getty Images

Augusta Savage displayed an artistic aptitude from her youngest days. Encouraged to develop her talent, she enrolled in New York City's Cooper Union to study art. She earned her first commission, a sculpture of civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois, from the New York library system in 1921, and several other commissions followed. Despite meager resources, she continued working through the Great Depression, making sculptures of several notable Black people, including Frederick Douglass and W. C. Handy. Her best-known work, "The Harp," was featured at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, but it was destroyed after the fair ended.

Harriet Tubman (1822–March 20, 1913)

Library of Congress

Enslaved from birth in Maryland, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom in 1849. The year after she arrived in Philadelphia, Tubman returned to Maryland to free her family members. Over the next 12 years, she returned nearly 20 times, helping more than 300 enslaved Black people escape bondage by ushering them along the Underground Railroad. The "railroad" was the nickname for a secret route that enslaved Black people used to flee the South for anti-slavery states in the North and to Canada. During the Civil War, Tubman worked as a nurse, a scout, and a spy for Union forces. After the war, she worked to establish schools for formerly enslaved people in South Carolina. In her later years, Tubman also became involved in women's rights causes.

Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753–Dec. 5, 1784)

Culture Club/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Born in Africa, Phillis Wheatley came to the U.S. at age 8, when she was captured and sold into enslavement. John Wheatley, the Boston man who enslaved her, was impressed by Phillis' intellect and interest in learning, and he and his wife taught her to read and write. The Wheatleys allowed Phillis time to pursue her studies, which led her to develop an interest in poetry writing. A poem she published in 1767 earned her much acclaim. Six years later, her first volume of poems was published in London, and she became known in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The Revolutionary War disrupted Wheatley's writing, however, and she was not widely published after it ended.

Charlotte Ray (Jan. 13, 1850–Jan. 4, 1911)

Charlotte Ray has the distinction of being the first African American woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia. Her father, active in New York City's Black community, made sure his young daughter was well educated; she received her law degree from Howard University in 1872 and was admitted to the Washington, D.C., bar shortly afterward. Both her race and gender proved to be obstacles in her professional career, and she eventually became a teacher in New York City instead. 

#10 of the Most Important Black Women in U.S. History #Black Women #Black Women Matter #Black Lives Matter #us history

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.7

49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting. 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England. 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia. 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day. 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal. 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens. 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon. 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago. 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film. 1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS". 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail. 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen. 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote. 1927 – The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London. 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London. 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast. 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement. 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road: The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road. 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO. 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM. 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral. 1972 – Iberia Flight 602 crashes near Ibiza Airport, killing all 104 people on board. 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers. 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation. 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union. 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d'état, which ends in his arrest. 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as president. 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica. 1994 – A British Aerospace Jetstream 41 operating as United Express Flight 6291 crashes in Gahanna, Ohio, killing five of the eight people on board. 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins. 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board. 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others. 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana'a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured. 2020 – The 6.4Mw  2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.

#Events

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Friday 29 November 1839

8 ½

12 ¾

fine morning F66 ½° on my bedroom table at 9 40/.. and breakfast till 11 5/.. having when about 2/3 over had Mrs. Howard above ½ hour – had sent for the church subscription book – Mr. Bligh (honourable Protheroe M.P. and Mr. Lester each gave 25/.) – I put down the date and ‘Mrs. Lister and Miss Walker 100.00’, Mrs. Howard saying it was very handsome as I put into her hand the hundred rouble note – then finished breakfast in 6 or 8 minutes till 11 5/.. had asked her to get to know if there was any likelihood of war between Russia and ourselves – mentioned the awkwardness in the east, and that this question might lead to some misunderstanding – and to be detained here or anywhere in Russian would be terrible we could not leave our affairs so unsettled etc. etc. – out at 11 ¾ to the boulevard and walked (4 turns) till 12 50/.. – home direct – dressed – counting over money etc. till now 2 ½ - just before going out had Letter dated 7th instant from Marian (Northcave) very well – had received my address here a fortnight before .:. supposed I wished her to write but otherwise had nothing interesting to tell – was returned home from Hull ten days before where she had spent a few days (does not say with whom) – when she wrote had her ‘friend Miss Hutchinson’ with her – during the summer ‘spent a little time at Harrogate along with Mr. and Mrs. Winpenny – and three weeks at Scarbro’ where Mrs. Kenny joined me – I fancy myself in even better health than when you saw me’ – no home news, ‘but no doubt you see the papers’ ! the Hull and Selby railroad it is hoped will be finished next summer – She supposes the country is all very quiet – she hears nothing of chartists – ‘the harvest has proved better than was expected, tho’ a protracted and tedious one’..........’there is a great deal of soft and sprouted corn in the country’ – had just written so far when countess Panin called at 2 40/.. and staid till 3 40/.. count P- having come for her and sat with us about ¼ hour or more – very kind and civil – talked over the prices of white satin for dresses for the ball for A- and myself but countess P- thought of there being a ball on Monday next – I said I thought the 6th of December was the day – knew nothing of a ball on Monday – yes! the couronnement said countess P- was really on the 10th but that being Sunday the ball was on the day following – at last, however, she seemed to think perhaps there would be no ball before the 6th December – there would be a great dinner (gentlemen only) at the Governor generals’ on Monday but perhaps no ball afterwards – somehow all this puzzles me – have just sent off Leopold (now at 4 ½) to the assembly room to inquire about the balls, whether there really will be one on Monday or not – I praised the elderly beauty and the house of the old countess all right  asked what we were to do about leaving cards or what    yes perhaps by and by

perhaps.................. as if she might invite us again or not   as if she was quite the great personage   somehow there is a something I do not quite understand perhaps they are unwilling to consider us among themselves as noblesse and I should be impatient of anything under........... there is a something mentioned to Mrs. Howard this morning my wish to know if war was likely – mentioned it also to count P- he does not fear – thinks it too much against the interests of the 2 nations – but at any rate, we should be permitted to s’en aller – now at 4 ¾ after musing ¼ hour went to dress – am I beginning to feel not quite at ease  to fancy people do not call etc. etc. quite comme il faut? Society here depends much upon cards for amusement? we paid only 4 points for the rubber on Wednesday – it is generally ten that are paid – the 10 counts as an honour here and 3 honours = 2 four = 4 and 5= 5 on the score – the score was chalked on the green cloth with a piece of crayon or chalk arranged exprès as if for drawing – at Russian grammar – dressed – dinner over at 7 – stood talking 20 minutes – off to the princess Orousoffs’ at 7 ½ - called and sat 5 minutes – with Miss Delamine   1st time  - then upstairs chez la princess O- in princess R-‘s room – father and mother there – very glad to see us – tea – I spoke of England as le paradis des femmes – i.e. the laws more favourable to women in England than elsewhere – Miss Delamine told the story of Lady Flora Hastings as taken from the French Journal des Débats – I explained a little – then animated conversation between Miss D- and the old prince brought on by my observing on Don Carlos being now prisoner in France – my own opinion of course mere matter of opinion that the right of Don C- was the more legitimate – the succession not rightfully altered? mentioned having been in Spain in 1830 and last year – came away at 10 – not saying when we should go again but merely answering that we should go le plus tot [tôt] possible – home at 10 ¼ at which hour R +2° outside = F34°+ - Damp soft disagreeable day but fair – damp and rather small rainy tonight

[andromeda-sapphire]

Uranus in Taurus: 2018 - 2025

(EDIT: This is an article I wrote for my old blog back in 2018.)

This year, starting mid-May, we got a taste of Uranus in Taurus and what kinds of things we can expect until the next sign change into Gemini in 2025. Currently, Uranus has retrograded back into Aries, giving us our last opportunity to stand out and make our own unique mark on the world with this pioneering Aries influence before the planet moves into Taurus again in early March 2019, where it will stay for the next 7-10 years. Aries is the first of the zodiac and is all about the importance of self, so it's no coincidence that this Uranus in Aries cycle birthed the beginning of selfie culture we know today, as well as many activist groups and rebellions.

Uranus is the planet of change and innovative ideas, and it doesn't match well with Taurus, a fixed sign, who hates change and clings to all they know. Taurean themes such as food, music, art, and finance may experience radical changes, likely involving technology as well, as Uranus rules technology and science. In the first few months of Uranus in Taurus this year, we have already seen some of these themes manifest, as I'll discuss throughout this article. First, for a little history lesson.

The last time Uranus was in Taurus was during the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. As we know, these events directly affected the world of finance, and the unemployment rate in some cities in the USA was higher than 80%. In June of 1935, F.D.R. took action to attempt to save the economy with the "New Deal" plan, which was a number of programs aimed to help achieve financial stability (which is a major Taurean theme) in America once again. These programs were assembled primarily by Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in the Presidential cabinet. Also in 1935, the Social Security Act (which Frances Perkins was also very involved in, and I'll talk more about why she is important later) became law, and the first social security payments were made the following year. In January 1938, the Dutch government began obligatory unemployment insurance as well. There is a pattern here, where the Taurean themes of finance and security were shaken by the unstable influence of Uranus. A game about fluctuating finances was even released during this previous Uranus in Taurus cycle - the ever-popular Monopoly board game! Interestingly enough, during the current Uranus in Taurus cycle, in 2018 Hasbro released a new and updated version of the Monopoly game for the millennial generation.

Beyond finance, Taurus also rules farming and food production, so there were many important events happening in this area too, during the last Uranus in Taurus transit. For example, many countries began rationing food supplies around the time World War II began, including bread, sugar and cheese. In July of 1937, SPAM lunchmeat was first introduced to market shelves, dominating the industry because of its availability, affordable cost, and enduring shelf life. This is an example of a Uranus in Taurus development involving food. Another wonderful example; in May of 1940, the first McDonald's opened in California, revolutionizing the world of food, speeding up the process under the influence of Uranus, and thus becoming what we know today as "fast food." The first food stamps were also issued in 1939, during the last transit of Uranus through Taurus.

In our current Uranus in Taurus transit, I've noticed that there has already been a series of archaeological discoveries (Uranus rules discovery) related to food. On July 17 of 2018, archaeologists in Jordan found the ancient remains of baked bread from 14,400 years ago. Then on August 18, archaeologists found the first ever cheese from Ancient Egypt. And finally, in September, archaeologists found the oldest known brewery and the remains of ancient beer in Israel. (While Neptune and Pisces rule alcohol, Taurus rules the grains that beer is made from!) Interesting that we seem to be looking backwards at food so far during this transit, when Uranus typically urges us to move forward. But there is still plenty of time, and I'm sure there will be some amazing inventions relating to the food industry over the next 7-10 years.

In the world of the arts, there were many major events during the last Uranus in Taurus transit, as Venus rules Taurus, which rules art and music. To begin, in 1936, Billboard magazine published its very first hit music chart, revolutionizing the music industry. Then in 1939, Billboard introduced the first country music chart, or "hillbilly" music chart. In 1940, they released their first singles records chart. Vocalists (Venus and Taurus rule the throat and voice) like Frank Sinatra and Marian Anderson began to emerge in music during this time as well, and dominated the industry.

In fashion, nylon was the latest fiber innovation, patented in 1937, then announced the following year. By October of 1939, nylon stockings were available in stores for the first time. Also in 1939, Glamour magazine began publishing issues. This is significant because Venus rules beauty, and as the ruler of Taurus, it is involved in this transit. Venus also rules perfume, and during the last Uranus in Taurus transit, Coco Chanel brought us the famous scent, Chanel no. 5 in May of 1941.

Towards the end of the last Uranus in Taurus transit, in 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington D.C., another expression of the Venusian influence of Taurus. I noticed also a surge in highly successful cartoons and animations during this Uranus in Taurus transit. Uranus rules animation, cartoons and technicolor television, and Taurus rules the arts and beauty. These themes came together to produce amazing works of film that we still treasure today. This stream of cartoons included three of the very first full-length Disney animated films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as Pinocchio and Dumbo. Interestingly enough, during the current Uranus in Taurus cycle in 2019, Disney will be releasing a new version of the animated movie, Dumbo, originally released in 1941. Also among these successful cartoons were characters like Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, and a handful of comic book heroes like Superman and Batman.

Though not a cartoon, I'd also like to mention the release of The Wizard of Oz in this category, relating to technicolor television. While technicolor had been around since 1917, when Uranus was in Aquarius (which makes sense, being a Uranian association), The Wizard of Oz brought more attention to technicolor films, highlighting their artistic beauty (there's the Taurean theme). That is what made the release of this movie a big deal.

In art-related discoveries (remember that Uranus rules discovery), the last Uranus in Taurus transit brought us the incredible discovery of the Lascaux Cave Paintings in France - also known as The Hall of The Bulls, because the paintings feature many ancient bulls running across the walls of the caves. As most of us know, Taurus is the sign represented by the bull, so I found this to be extremely fascinating. Also in the current 2018 Uranus in Taurus transit, the oldest known human drawing was discovered, and the first work of art produced by artificial intelligence sold for $432,500.

Scientific discoveries during the previous Uranus in Taurus transit interestingly include the development of antibiotics used to fight strep throat. Taurus is the ruler of the throat, specifically, so this discovery stood out to me. The same year, in 1936, the first radioactive substance (radium E) was produced synthetically. Uranus rules radioactivity, and Taurus manifests physical results. In regards to natural science, in 1936 we saw the formation of the National Wildlife Federation, as well as the extinction of two unique species in the next two years - the thylacine and the Balinese tiger. Uranus rules exotic animals, and being in Taurus, a sign of manifestation, Uranus can suddenly wipe entire species out, as well as potentially bring an unexpected revival. In 1938 in South Africa, we discovered the first modern coelacanth, an ancient fish long thought to be extinct.

Some of you might be excited to hear, in my honest opinion, (and I know this saying is kind of cheesy) the approaching future WILL be female. Uranus rules activism and feminism as well, and Taurus is ruled by Venus, whose planetary symbol is literally the symbol of feminism. If you're an astrological skeptic and need more than that, let me explain... In 1919, when women received the right to vote, Uranus was in Aquarius, the sign of activism where it feels most at home. This transit created several workers unions and women's political groups, however it also created the formation of the Nazi party in Germany and the Fascist party in Italy (Uranus and Aquarius also rule fanatics and extremists). Later, when Uranus transited into Taurus, we began to see physical manifestations of the radical ideas that were birthed during the transit of Uranus through Aquarius, because Taurus represents the physical world, and makes things into a tangible reality. One example of a manifesting idea being the physical Nazi takeover of Germany by Adolf Hitler. Another example, a physical manifestation in women's rights, in 1938, a federal judge lifted the ban on birth control in the US, making it legal to use and obtain contraceptives through medical instruction. During this current Uranus in Taurus transit, we may have to fight again for the right to birth control, as Planned Parenthood and abortion are under attack by the current administration. Also, in 1933, while Uranus transited through the end of Aries, we saw the first woman appointed to serve in the Presidential cabinet (Frances Perkins, mentioned in an above paragraph). This woman had a major influence over the US over the next decade, while Uranus was in Taurus, and fought for financial reform to help save the American economy. The recent midterm elections interestingly enough were held on November 6 this year, the same day Uranus moved back into Aries, the sign of firsts, from it's little preview of Taurus. Already in 2018 we've seen records being broken by women in politics, as well as a few firsts, and we can expect to see more of this as Uranus continues on its journey through this feminine sign. We can also expect to see more breakthroughs made by these new female leaders, like the "New Deal" by Frances Perkins in 1935.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, art and technology will likely blend in new ways during this upcoming transit, as Uranus rules technological advancement and Taurus rules artistic sensitivities. We will likely see artificial intelligence creating more art and music, maybe more commonly too. We could also see a rise in electronically made music in the music industry. As for fashion and other forms of art, we can expect these subjects to lean more towards the lavish side this next decade, Uranus being in the sign of fine perfumes and silks. Pastels and florals, ruled by Venus, have already reached the world of fashion, hitting the runways right as Uranus began it's recent transit into Taurus. Unique earrings and statement necklaces are also growing in popularity already, beginning with the Uranus in Taurus transit. Taurus rules the ears and throat as well as jewelry, while Uranus brings uniqueness to the table.

New technologies will have a big impact on the food industry somehow in these next 7-10 years as well. Technological advancements could be made to change the way we feed our massive population, perhaps giving us greener solutions to environmental issues regarding our wasteful food production. Financial institutions globally may collapse or prove unstable, and new financial reforms will likely be put into place to replace these failing establishments. Dictators may take over or be overthrown, rebellions and uprisings may start around the world, and unfortunately, we may lose a few beloved species on our endangered species list, namely the Sumatran rhino. I'm bringing these creatures specifically up because just a few days ago, an article was published announcing that one of the last remaining Sumatran rhinos was just captured from the wild in an attempt to save the species. A few other species to be watched this decade are the Sumatran elephant, multiple species of tigers, two kinds of gorillas, Sumatran orangutans, as well as a long list of others. There is a very real chance we will lose these creatures to history forever during this transit. The choices we are making as a collective society in the present and very near future will directly affect the environment around us, and Uranus in Taurus will make sure of it. The fight to save our planet will likely be center stage while revolutionary Uranus is in the green earth sign of Taurus, and with the neutral and uncertain nature of Uranus, we may see some surprising and unexpected ecological victories as well.

With so much change in the world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. Just keep in mind that the planets are always in motion, and therefore change is constant. Though we may see themes emerge and repeat themselves over time, the end-all law is that we are always evolving, and evolution is the key message of Uranus.

I hope you enjoyed this article!

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#astrology #uranus #taurus #astrology readings #astrology blog #transits #astrology transits #uranus transits #witchblr #astro witch #cosmic witch #me #mine #blog #astrologer

[royalsimsinsider]

TSRi | Meet the Royals: Valencia

Get to know the Kingdom of Valencia (Willow Creek)

(borrowed from @genevrianroyals​)

Capital: Landom

National Language: Venglish

Demographics: 52% Valencian (native-born); 16% Freretian ; 14% Alexandrian; 10% Mali; 8% Santa Marian

Religion: Simestant Church

Religious Leader: Monarch of Valencia

Demonym: Valencian

Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Monarch: King Geoffrey Willow I

Prime Minister: The Honorable Lady Margaret Greencreekson

Legislature: The Assembly

Population: 20 million

GDP total: 16,000 billion

Driving side: right

Calling code: +12

Internet TLD: .vca

#ROYALSIMS #royal sims #SIMS MONARCHY #ROYALSIMSINSIDER #ROYALSIMFAMILIESOFUK #SIMSROYAL #SIMS ROYALTY #SIMS ROYAL FAMILY #SIMSROYALFAMILY #SIMSROYALTY #ROYALFAMILYOFALEXANDRIA #ROYALFAMILYOFVALENCIA #ROYALFAMILYOFFRERET #ROYALFAMILYOFSANTAMARIA

[pamphletstoinspire]

Gathering the New Israel: Readings for 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (OT)

In the Readings for this Sunday, Jesus continues his final journey, his fateful “death march” toward Jerusalem (Luke 9 – 19, the “Travel Narrative”) that began formally in Luke 9:51. The past several Sundays have foreshadowed Jesus’ coming suffering and death, but this Sunday we get a reprieve as themes of suffering recede into the background. We are temporarily caught up in the joy of Jesus' ministry, as he assembles around himself a congregation of disciples who constitute a spiritual “Jerusalem.” In the healing ministry of Jesus and his disciples, we see a fulfillment of certain prophecies of peace and restoration to the “holy city” of the LORD.

1. The First Reading is Is 66:10-14c:

Thus says the LORD: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her! Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts! For thus says the LORD: Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

When you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bodies flourish like the grass; the LORD’s power shall be known to his servants.

This text comes almost at the end of the Book of Isaiah, concluding a long section (Isa 56-66) that foresees the fate of Jerusalem and the people of God in the future, in days to come. Reading through these chapters, one finds again and again that there will be division of God’s people at some point in the future (from the perspective of the prophet, c. 700 BC) into two groups who experience very different fates. Stern judgment will fall on the unfaithful among God's people, whereas the faithful will experience great joy at the restoration their city and people. This faithful group is called “my servants” (65:9,13-14), the “remnant” (46:3), and they also receive a “new name”(62:2; 63:15). They are hated by their own brethren for the sake of the LORD's name (66:5), but God will vindicate them and judge their persecutors (66:6). Nonetheless, this division within the people of God, resulting in a righteous remnant and a rebellious, persecuting majority does not mean a narrowing of God's plan of salvation. Instead, there will be successive waves of mission to the nations (Gentiles) in which God's glory will be proclaimed and the nations gathered to Zion along with the remnant of the people of Israel (66:18-21).

This Sunday's Reading is situated in the midst of this larger framework. The faithful of God's people, those who “love Jerusalem” and all that Jerusalem stands for (the true worship of God) will see the restoration of the city. They will experience her as a tender mother who nourishes her children.

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus is assembling around himself a “new Jerusalem,” a new community of properly ordered worship. As he sends out the seventy-two on a mission to preach Good News and heal the sick, the people of Israel experience God's love as like that of a tender mother, and they themselves have the opportunity to join the “new Jerusalem” by accepting the preaching of the disciples.

The prophets frequently personify Jerusalem as a young princess from the House of David under the title “the daughter of Zion.” In this way we perceive lady Jerusalem as a type of our Blessed Mother, the most perfect embodiment of the Davidic royal daughter. Though the Marian dimension of the text is not developed in this Sunday's Readings, we may understand Isaiah's prophecy as also being fulfilled in the tender spiritual care Our Lady provides to those who love her Son. It pleases God to express the maternal aspects of his love for us through the intercessions of the Theotokos.

2. The Responsorial Psalm is Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20:

R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!” R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

“Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you, sing praise to your name!” Come and see the works of God, his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam. R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

He has changed the sea into dry land; through the river they passed on foot; therefore let us rejoice in him. He rules by his might forever. R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare what he has done for me. Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Psalm 66 falls in Book II of the Psalter (Pss 42–72), which is the most triumphant of the five books of the Psalter save the last (Book V). Unlike Book I (Pss 3–41), Book II is not dominated by psalms of individual lament, that is, complaint psalms reflecting the worshiper in distress. Instead, several psalms in Book II reflect the glory of Zion (=Jerusalem), the Temple-sanctuary, and the Davidic reign. Psalm 66 occurs in a subsection of Psalms (Pss 65–68) that reflect on God's great acts of salvation, and call on all the nations to praise God, especially at his sanctuary in Zion. This psalm provides us appropriate words of response after hearing of the salvation of Zion/Jerusalem prophesied by Isaiah in the First Reading.

3. The Second Reading is Gal 6:14-18:

Brothers and sisters:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation. Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule and to the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

This is the ending of St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, from which we have been reading selections over the past few weeks. The main point of this Epistle has been to emphasize that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ (that is, by entering into the New Covenant which he embodies), not by the observation of laws and ceremonies of the Old Covenant (that is, the covenant mediated by Moses and finalized in the Book of Deuteronomy). In this passage, Paul uses “circumcision” and “uncircumcision” as loaded terms. “Circumcision” refers to the entire lifestyle characterized by observation of the purity laws of the Old Testament. “Uncircumcision” refers to the lifestyle lived by pagan Gentiles before their conversion. Neither Old Testament religion nor paganism “mean anything” anymore--that is, neither is salvific. The only thing that is meaningful is “a new creation,” which is Paul's expression summing up the fullness of the New Covenant established by Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!” (2 Cor 5:17).

The immediately following phrase should be translated in this way: “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, that is, to the Israel of God.” St. Paul identifies the Church as the “Israel of God,” that is, as the spiritual Israel, for “he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God” (Rom 2:28-29). Paul interprets Israel in spiritual rather than ethnic terms. This interpretation is fundamental to Christian identity and faith, even if simultaneously the Church does not deny a continuing theological significance to the community of ethnic Jews. Paul explains the continued significance of ethnic Israel in Romans 9–11, and the Catechism explains further in §839–840. St. Paul's understanding of the Church as the “Israel of God” also provides the necessary hermeneutical principle for applying the First Reading to the Church. “Jerusalem” as the “mother city” (Gk metropolis) of the “Israel of God” now applies to the Church in her ministers and sacraments. The flow of the sacraments from the Church to her children, especially the Eucharist, is the “mother's milk” with which Jerusalem nourishes her young.

Jesus is a “Jew of Jews,” the embodiment of Israel, and the Church is his body. Therefore, the Church is the Israel of God. In a special way, St. Paul's physical body was conformed to the body of Christ. He says “I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.” This may refer to all the wounds and scars Paul bore due to his many tortures (2 Cor 11:22-29), badges of honor in his service to Christ. Or perhaps it indicates St. Paul was the first stigmatist in the history of the Church.

4. The Gospel is Lk 10:1-12, 17-20:

At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

The role of the seventy (or seventy-two) disciples, in addition to the Twelve Apostles, is frequently overlooked in our study of the New Testament, but it was important. Jesus was setting up the New Israel in his ministry, and in addition to the Twelve, who were simultaneously the New Patriarchs, the New Tribal Princes (see Num 7), and the New Officers of Israel (see 1 Kgs 4), Jesus also chose seventy others, who correspond to Moses' seventy elders over the tribes (Num 11:16-30). Just as Moses had twelve tribal princes and seventy elders (Numbers 7; 11:16-30), the New Moses has the Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples.

The mission of the seventy in Luke 10 is similar to, but clearly distinct from, the mission of the Twelve in Matt 10:5-15 and Luke 9:1-6. Although the passages are similar, they refer to two distinct events. The Twelve are explicitly sent only to Jewish territory (Matt 10:5) and for that reason are given no instruction about how to deal with Gentile or Samaritan food. The Seventy, however, are sent to Gentile and Samaritan territory, so Jesus has to instruct them explicitly on how to handle conscience issues regarding the observation of Kosher laws. Gentiles did not keep kosher, and Samaritans had different kosher regulations. Jesus tells them not to be concerned about this: “eat whatever they provide” (10:7) without asking questions of conscience.

The Seventy are part of the nucleus of the Church, the “Israel of God.” Better, as office holders and official representatives, they represent the New Jerusalem of the First Reading, that is, the ministering Church that cares for her members. Their role is analogous to that of the diaconate: they serve under and in support of Christ (the great episkopos) and the Apostles (the presbuteroi). They go before to prepare the way in towns which Jesus and the Twelve would later visit. So their ministry was preparatory, focused on preaching and attending to material needs (healings). Nonetheless, they also participate in the ministry of spiritual deliverance against the demonic.

Jesus gives the Seventy specific instructions based on the time and culture in which they ministered. These specifics may be impractical elsewhere: it would be difficult to evangelize Scandinavia barefoot, for example. Nonetheless, the general principle of apostolic zeal and trust in God for material provision should continue to characterize the Church's evangelistic mission. The Church still needs people who will go without the comforts of a bourgeois lifestyle (like having health insurance and a 401K) in order to evangelize in a direct and immediate way. The Catholic Church needs preachers, persons who will proclaim Jesus to people who haven't heard of him or have forgotten him, not just lapsed church-goers. The mission of the Seventy was accompanied by deeds of power. Perhaps one of the reasons deeds of power seem rare these days is the lack of bold action based on faith among those of us who call ourselves Catholic. Heaven and hell are still real. The Gospel of Jesus Christ still confronts every human being. Preaching and evangelistic mission are just as necessary now as they were two thousand years ago. This Sunday let's pray for revival of the Church's evangelistic zeal, beginning in our own parishes.

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

#14th sunday of ordinary time

[savedfromsalvation]

SO YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN?  WHAT FLAVOR?

AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF MODERN CHRISTIAN SECTS AND CULTS:

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Latin Church

Catholic Charismatic Renewal

Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima

Legion of Mary (active and auxiliary)

International Catholic Conference of Scouting

Cursillo

Worldwide Marriage Encounter

Marian Movement of Priests

Militia Immaculatae

International Alliance of Catholic Knights

Knights of Columbus

Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement

Nocturnal Adoration Societies

Neocatechumenal Way

Couples for Christ

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

Secular Franciscan Order

Young Christian Workers (JOC)

School of the Cross

Focolare Movement

Christian Life Community

Opus Dei

Pax Romana

Community of Sant'Egidio

Communion and Liberation

Salesian Cooperators Association

Christian Life Movement

Regnum Christi

Our Lady's Rosary Makers

Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans

Eastern Catholic Churches

Alexandrian Rite

Ethiopian Catholic Church

Coptic Catholic Church

Eritrean Catholic Church

Antiochene Rite

Maronite Catholic Church

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Syriac Catholic Church

Armenian Rite

Armenian Catholic Church

Byzantine Rite

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Romanian Greek Catholic Church

Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church

Hungarian Greek Catholic Church

Slovak Greek Catholic Church

Italo-Albanian Catholic Church

Belarusian Greek Catholic Church

Byzantine Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia

Georgian Byzantine Catholic Church

Albanian Greek Catholic Church

Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church

Greek Byzantine Catholic Church

Macedonian Greek Catholic Church

Russian Greek Catholic Church

Chaldean Rite

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

Chaldean Catholic Church

Canonically irregular groups

Society of Saint Pius X

 PROTESTANTISM

Baptist churches

Southern Baptist Convention

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc

Nigerian Baptist Convention

National Missionary Baptist Convention of America

National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.

Baptist Union of Uganda

Baptist Community of Western Congo

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Baptist Convention of Tanzania

Brazilian Baptist Convention

Progressive National Baptist Convention

Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India

Baptist Bible Fellowship International

American Baptist Churches USA

Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention

Baptist Community of the Congo River

National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.

Myanmar Baptist Convention

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Baptist General Association of Virginia

Baptist Convention of Kenya

Nagaland Baptist Church Council

Korea Baptist Convention

Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches

Orissa Evangelical Baptist Crusade

National Baptist Convention (Brazil)

Church of Christ in Congo–Baptist Community of Congo

Baptist Convention of Malawi

Garo Baptist Convention

Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches

Ghana Baptist Convention – 0.3[21]

Union of Baptist Churches in Rwanda

Conservative Baptist Association of America

National Association of Free Will Baptists

Convention of Visayas and Mindanao of Southern Baptist Churches

Manipur Baptist Convention

Baptist Community in Central Africa

Lutheranism

Evangelical Church in Germany

United Protestants i.e. Lutheran & Reformed

Lutherans

Reformed

Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania

Church of Sweden

United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India

Batak Christian Protestant Church

Church of Denmark

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Church of Norway

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Malagasy Lutheran Church

The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea

Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa

The Protestant Christian Church

The Indonesian Christian Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Evangelical Free Church of America

Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia

Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia

Church of Iceland

Simalungun Protestant Christian Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil

Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia

Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church

Methodism

United Methodist Church

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Church of the Nazarene

Methodist Church Nigeria

The Salvation Army

Methodist Church of Southern Africa

Korean Methodist Church

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast

Free Methodist Church

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Methodist Church Ghana

Methodist Church in India

Methodist Church in Kenya

Wesleyan Church

Methodist Church of Great Britain

Methodist Church in Brazil

Calvinism

Reformed Presbyterian

Presbyterian Church of East Africa

Presbyterian Church of Nigeria

Presbyterian Church of Africa

Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong)

Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap)

National Presbyterian Church in Mexico

Church of Christ in Congo

Presbyterian Community of Congo

Presbyterian Church of Cameroon]

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Presbyterian Church of India

Church of Central Africa Presbyterian

Presbyterian Church of Brazil

Presbyterian Church in Sudan

Presbyterian Church in Cameroon

Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDongBoSu II.)

Presbyterian Church in Korea (BaekSeok)

Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa

United Church of Canada

Church of Scotland

Presbyterian Church in America

Presbyterian Church of Pakistan

Presbyterian Church in Korea (Koshin)

Korean Presbyterian Church

Presbyterian Church in Rwanda

Uniting Church in Australia

Presbyterian Church in Taiwan

Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Continental Reformed churches

Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar

Protestant Church in Indonesia

United Church in Zambia

Evangelical Church of Cameroon

Swiss Reformed Church

Protestant Church in the Netherlands

Christian Evangelical Church in Timor

Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK)

Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa

United Church in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands

Protestant Church in Western Indonesia

Evangelical Christian Church in Tanah Papua

Protestant Church of Maluku

Reformed Church in Hungary

Reformed Church in Romania

Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

Toraja Church

Reformed Church of France

Lesotho Evangelical Church

Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera

Christian Church of Sumba

Karo Batak Protestant Church

Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria

Reformed Church in Zambia

Evangelical Reformed Church in Angola

Reformed Church in America

Christian Reformed Church in North America

Kalimantan Evangelical Church

Javanese Christian Church

Indonesia Christian Church

Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv

Church of Lippe

Evangelical Church of Congo

Christian Evangelical Church of Sangihe Talaud

Central Sulawesi Christian Church

Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany

Congregationalism

United Church of Christ

Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola

United Congregational Church of Southern Africa

Anabaptism

Mennonites

Schwarzenau Brethren/German Baptists

Amish

Hutterites

Hussites

Moravians

Czechoslovak Hussite Church

Unity of the Brethren

Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)

Modern Protestantism

Pentecostalism

Assemblies of God

Apostolic Church

International Circle of Faith

Fangcheng Fellowship

China Gospel Fellowship

Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

Church of God in Christ

Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide

International Pentecostal Holiness Church

United Pentecostal Church International

The Pentecostal Mission

Christian Congregation of Brazil

True Jesus Church

The Church of Pentecost

Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa

Church of God of Prophecy

Association of Pentecostal Churches of Rwanda

God is Love Pentecostal Church

Nondenominational Evangelicalism

Calvary Chapel

Born Again Movement

Association of Vineyard Churches

Christian and Missionary Alliance

Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)

African Initiated Protestant Churches

Zion Christian Church

Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim

Kimbanguist Church

Redeemed Christian Church of God

Church of the Lord (Aladura)

Council of African Instituted Churches

Church of Christ Light of the Holy Spirit

African Church of the Holy Spirit

African Israel Church Nineveh

Seventh-day Adventist Church

New Apostolic Church

Lord's Recovery (Watchman Nee)

Lord's Recovery (Witness Lee

Local churches or Church Assembly Hall

Eastern Lightning

The Shouters

Restoration Movement

Churches of Christ

Christian churches and churches of Christ

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo

Plymouth Brethren

Anglicanism

Anglican Communion

Church of England

Church of Nigeria

Church of Uganda

Anglican Church of Kenya

Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan

Church of South India

Anglican Church of Australia

Anglican Church of Southern Africa

Anglican Church of Tanzania

Episcopal Church in the United States

Anglican Church of Canada

Church of North India

Anglican Church of Rwanda

Church of the Province of Central Africa

Anglican Church of Burundi

Church in the Province of the West Indies

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean

Church of Christ in Congo–Anglican Community of Congo

Church of Pakistan

Church of Ireland

Church of the Province of West Africa

Anglican Church of Melanesia

Episcopal Church in the Philippines

Continuing Anglican movement and independent churches

Traditional Anglican Communion

Anglican Church in North America

Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa

Eastern Orthodox Church ( Non-Chalcedonian)

Autocephalous Churches

Russian Orthodox Church

Romanian Orthodox Church

Church of Greece

Serbian Orthodox Church

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Georgian Orthodox Church

Greek Orthodox Church of Constantinople

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch

Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria

Orthodox Church in America

Polish Orthodox Church

Albanian Orthodox Church

Church of Cyprus

Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem

Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church

Autonomous churches

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

Moldovan Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia

Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

Estonian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

Finnish Orthodox Church

Chinese Orthodox Church

Japanese Orthodox Church

Latvian Orthodox Church

Non-universally recognized churches

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate)

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Macedonian Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance)

Old Calendarist Romanian Orthodox Church

Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church in Italy

Montenegrin Orthodox Church

Other separated Orthodox groups

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Old Believers

Greek Old Calendarists

True Orthodox Church

Evangelical Orthodox Church

Oriental Orthodoxy

Autocephalous Churches

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria

Armenian Apostolic Church

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

Holy See of Cilicia

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople

Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Syriac Orthodox Church

Jacobite Syrian Christian Church

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Autonomous Churches

French Coptic Orthodox Church

Churches not in communion

Mar Thoma Syrian Church

Malabar Independent Syrian Church

British Orthodox Church

Restorationism and Nontrinitarianism

Latter Day Saint movement (Mormonism)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]

Community of Christ

Jehovah's Witnesses

Oneness Pentecostalism

United Pentecostal Church International

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

Minor Denominations

Iglesia ni Cristo

La Luz del Mundo

Unitarian Universalism

Unitarian Universalist Association

(Unitarian Universalism developed out of Christian traditions but no longer identifies as a Christian denomination.)

Church of Christ, Scientist

Friends of Man

Christadelphians

Family International

Independent Catholicism

Philippine Independent Church

Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association

Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church

Traditionalist Mexican-American Catholic Church

Old Catholic Church

Polish National Catholic Church

Apostolic Catholic Church

Palmarian Catholic Church

Minor Branches

Church of the East (Nestorianism)

Assyrian Church of the East

Ancient Church of the East

Messianic Judaism

 And tell me again why yours is “THE ONE TRUE FAITH!”  Laz

[ayittey1]

The African Solution to Ethiopia’s Civil War

George BN Ayittey, PhD

More than 40 Civil Wars have raged in postcolonial Africa since independence in 1960. These wars have wreaked wanton destruction; reduced infrastructure to rubble, uprooted people sending refugees creaming in all directions. Several states have failed or collapsed as a result of war -- CAR, Congo DR, Liberia, Libya, Somalia, among others -- on the African continent

Some wars never end –in the Spanish Sahara, Casamanche in Southern Senegal and Somalia. Other wars descend into genocidal expeditions to settle ethnic scores. Still, others metastasize into sheer banditry. War and attendant insecurity provide rebels with the cover to fleece villagers and impose “security taxes.” In Somalia warlords extract “taxes on goods – even foreign aid shipments – passing through Mogadishu. Elsewhere, unpaid government soldiers disguised themselves as “rebels” at night and bedrob civilians. In Sierra Leone’s Civil War in 1996, government soldiers were indistinguishable from rebels at night. They would shed their uniforms, don rebel attire and commit atrocities including robberies.. So they were called “sobels” (the combination of soldiers and rebels) because both were predators.. In many countries – such as Ethiopia and Zaire -- unpaid government soldiers openly sold their weapons to rebels. And for their part, corrupt and incompetent governments often used the war as an excuse to shield budgetary expenditures from scrutiny and award lucrative contracts to cronies.” Either way, war created its own “profitable” logic,” making it more difficult to stop it. In short, there are no winners in Africa’s Civil Wars.

Some wars don’t even make sense – none whatsoever. Ethiopia’s harrowing Civil War is a case in point. It is the second most populous African nation with over 100 million people and at least 82 ethnic groups. The country was never colonized but has been ravaged by at the least three wars since 1972. The most grievous occurred in the 1980s. It wreaked so much havoc and destruction that it instigated the onset of a famine that claimed at least one million lives. And while the rest of the world was organizing rock concerts and songs (“We Are the World”) to save famine victims, then leader of the military junta, Comrade Mengistu Haile Marian – a Soviet-backed Marxist coconut-head – was spending $10 million on imported Scotch whiskey to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Soviet imperialism in Ethiopia! Over $423 billion was raised for famine victims but much of it was embezzled.

In 1989, a coalition of determined rebels decided to put their differences aside and made a renewed effort to topple Comrade Mengistu. They comprised the Tigrayan People Liberation Front (TPLF), Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF). After Mengistu was ousted in 1991 – he fled to Zimbabwe. The rebel groups, together with others formed the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Interestingly, all the groups were Marxist with a jaundiced view of “revolutionary democracy,” whatever that meant. And inexplicably adopted a colonialist stratagem that reeked of “divide and conquer.” It allowed for the practice of ethnic federalism and even permitted secession. Eritrea seized upon this opportunity and declared itself independent in 1993. But its leader, Isaias Afewerki, was no freedom fighter nor democrat. Always itching for war and constantly beating the war drums to keep an iron grip on his people and divert attention from economic problems and domestic malfeasance, he seized upon a dispute over a worthless piece of real estate at the border town of Badme to start a war with Ethiopia in 1998.

It was a war that defied logic. The world’s two poorest nations that relied on food aid were spending about $1 million a month to hammer each other, take a break to bury a innocent civilian casualties and then get back at it again pounding each other. Hostilities came to an end in 2000 but Pres. Afewerki kept stoking the fire to use as justification for state of emergency that conveniently served as a conscription tool. Young Eritreans, upon graduation from college, were required to sign up for an indefinite “National Service.” It has been the main reasons driving Eritrean youth to flee the country for Europe -- to avoid that National Service. Unfortunately, many do not make it and drown in the Mediterranean. As it turned out, Afewerki has been just like the rest of the African crocodile liberators, who betrayed their people. EPRDF did too; never brought democracy to Ethiopia in 1991.

In 2005, it held its first elections which were blatantly rigged. When people protested in the streets, security forces opened fire killing about 1500 people and also arrested at least 20,000 opposition supporters. The election in 2010 brought no respite. The EPRDF won 99.6% of the vote (546 of the 547 parliamentary seats). In the 2015 elections, the opposition did not win a single seat! Its rule was characterized by brutal repression.

Ethiopia’s economic fortunes remained bleak under the morose leadership of the EPRDF regime until it embarked on the construction of its $5 billion Renaissance Dam. In May 2018, a young man by the name of Abiy Ahmed emerged from the ruling elites and begun to reform the rotten system. He freed all political prisoners and invited exiled opposition leaders to return home. He opened up the economy placed several state-owned enterprises – such as the airline, banking, among others – on the auction block. He reached out to President Afewerki whom Ethiopia had been at war to cement a peace deal. For his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Ethiopians hailed him as the “Messiah.” Nursing mothers named the other babies after him. But this is precisely the problem with African reformers or Messiahs – such as Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana’s and Abdel al-Sisi of Egypt. They started out well but cult personality set in. With their heads in the clouds, they become unreachable. John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana or J.J. Rawlings became known as “Junior Jesus” and Abiy Ahmed as “Messiah.”

Under pressure to reform Ghana’s decrepit political system, Rawlings’ hand-picked Constitution assembly prepared a Constitution according to his dictates and set up his own party the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 1992. While the Constitution stipulated a two-term rule, Rawlings argued that all those years he served after he seized power in a 1981 coup (1981 to 1992), did not count toward the two-term rule because Ghana was not a democratic country and had no Constitution. Museveni pulled off a similar ploy in 2003. In 2018, PM Ahmed of Ethiopia established his own political party, the Prosperity Party. It is a monumental conflict of interest situation. Reformers do not reform the political system, set up their own party, run for the presidency and expect to lose. In fact, in Nigeria, Gen. Sani Abacha allowed only five political parties to be established in 1995. Immediately, the all chose him as their presidential candidate!

Military officers have left an opprobrious record of governance in postcolonial Africa. ALL collapsed dates were ruined by military coconuts. And iIn case after case where they managed a transition to democratic rule, the results were often disastrous. They either created their own parties (Gambia in 2003, Ghana in 1992, Egypt in 2014) or shoo in their favorite political parties (Nigeria in 2001). PM Ahmed is most likely to succumb to this proclivity – especially when the completion of the Renaissance Dam appears imminent. The formation of PM Ahmed’s own Prosperity Party is a serious violation of conflict of interest. His partiality toward his own ethnic group – Oromo – has caused alarm. Ethnic tension between Oromos and Amharas, Afar and Somali, as well as other ethnic groups could lead to the unraveling of Ethiopia. Elections were slated for August 22, 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic necessitated a postponement to 2021 to the displeasure of TPLF.

Tigrayans constitute only 6% of Ethiopia’s population but the TPLF so dominated the EPRDF it was indistinguishable from the apartheid system in South Africa. It even operated an ID card that documented the bearer's ethnicity (for the first time in Ethiopian history). Blatant favoritism was demonstrated in all sectors of society, including the economy, military, education, and even religious institutions. Resentment and impatience boiled over.

The TPLF re-drew boundaries of regional states in Ethiopia along ethnic lines. Seeing power slip out of its hands by the emergence of Abiy Ahmed, TPLF began a campaign to reclaim its old glory back by defying the central government. It held elections in Tigray region. But it was the massacre of central government troops on Nov 4 in Mai-Kadra that broke the camel’s back and started the war. PM Ahmed probably thought he could finish off the Tigrayan hotheads in a couple of weeks but this has dragged on for six months.

Naturally, appeals would be made to the international community but they are unlikely to elicit much response. The international community is thoroughly fed up with Africa’s incessant wars and appeals for aid. Even then, the international community does not understand Africa’s problems and unlikely to offer viable solutions. It often suggests a “government of national unity” (G(NU). But time and again GNU has failed spectacularly – in Angola (1993), in Zaire (1998); in Sierra Leone (1998) and, in Liberia (2003); and Ivory Coast (2005); in Zimbabwe (2009) and Kenya (2009). Africa’s experience shows that GNU is just a short hand device for joint plunder of the state. It requires distribution of government posts between government and rebel forces. Quite often nobody is satisfied with what they got and they return to the bush to fight it out.

The Village Meeting/National Conference

When a crisis erupts in an African village, the chief and the elders would summon a village meeting. There the issue is debated by the people until a consensus is reached. During the debate, the chief usually makes no effort to manipulate the outcome or sway public opinion. Nor are there bazooka-wielding rogues, intimidating or instructing people on what they should say. People express their ideas openly and freely without fear of arrest. Those who care participate in the decision-making process. No one is locked out. Once a decision has been reached by consensus, it is binding on all, including the chief.

In the early 1990s, this indigenous African tradition was revived by pro-democracy forces in the form of "Sovereign National Conferences" (SNCs) to chart a new political future in Benin, Cape Verde Islands, Congo, Malawi, Mali, South Africa, and Zambia. “Sovereign” because it wielded sovereign/ultimate power and its decisions could not be abrogated by anyone.

Benin's nine-day "national conference" began on Feb 19, 1990, with 488 delegates, representing various political, religious, trade union, and other groups encompassing the broad spectrum of Beninois society. The conference, whose chairman was Father Isidore de Souza, held "sovereign power" and its decisions were binding on all, including the government. It stripped President Matthieu Kerekou of power, scheduled multiparty elections that ended 17 years of autocratic Marxist rule.

Congo's national conference had more delegates (1,500) and lasted longer three months. But when it was over in June 1991, the 12-year old government of General Denis Sassou-Nguesso had been dismantled. The constitution was rewritten and the nation's first free elections were scheduled for June 1992. Before the conference, Congo was among Africa's most avowedly Marxist-Leninist states. A Western business executive said, "The remarkable thing is that the revolution occurred without a single shot being fired . . . (and) if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere" (The New York Times, 25 June 1991, A8). Unfortunately, General Sassou-Nguesso did not accept his defeat graciously and overthrew, with the help of France and Angola, the civilian government of Pascal Lissouba in October 1997.

A similar national conference in Niger in 1991 denounced the military dictatorship of Colonel Ali Seibou and stripped him of his power, leaving him with one main task: To organize the transition to civilian rule. “For the first time since the independence of the country in 1960, free and fair elections were held and in March 1993, Mahamane Ousmane became the newcomer in the political arena” (West Africa, Dec 6-12, 1999; p

In South Africa, the vehicle used to make that difficult but peaceful transition to a multiracial democratic society was the Convention for a Democratic South Africa . It began deliberations in July 1991, with 228 delegates drawn from about 25 political parties and various anti-apartheid groups. The de Klerk government made no effort to "control" the composition of CODESA. Political parties were not excluded; not even ultra right-wing political groups, although they chose to boycott its deliberations. CODESA strove to reach a "working consensus" on an interim constitution and set a date for the March 1994 elections. It established the composition of an interim or transitional government that would rule until the elections were held. More important, CODESA was in "sovereign." Its decisions were binding on the de Klerk government. De Klerk could not abrogate any decision made by CODESA -- just as the African chief could not disregard any decision arrived at the village meeting.

Clearly, the vehicle exists -- in Africa itself -- for peaceful transition to democratic rule or resolution of the war and political crisis in Ethiopia. Ethiopia from all walks of life – leaders of political parties, religious organizations, trade unions, student groups, ethnic groups, etc. should demand the convocation of SNC. Forget about the Africa Union. It is hopelessly useless; it can’t even define democracy.

If Ethiopia appeals international community for aid in resolving its Civil War and humanitarian crisis, it should be told that the solutions to its problems lie in Africa itself.

The wise learn from the mistakes of others while fools repeat them. Idiots, on the other hand, repeat their own stupid mistakes.

#Africa #civil war Ethiopia sovereign national conference

[thewahookid]

It's official. Mary was HERE!

On this continent and in this country - the United States of America.

She spoke in English. She visited one of our own - an American immigrant girl named Adele Brice in Champion Wisconsin, a small village just outside of Green Bay. There are many claims of Marian apparitions in the United States, but for now anyway, only one is approved and without dispute. It is "Our Lady of Good Help." Here is what we can learn from this. The Virgin Mary saw fit to visit the United States, and she did this in 1859, just one year after she appeared in France to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, in what has come to be known there as the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes. In fact, the similarities between this visitation, and that at Lourdes, are quite remarkable. Clearly this apparition was part of a cascade of apparitions in the middle 19th century, in which Our Lady was trying to communicate a particular message to us. At Lourdes she identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, while at Champion she identified herself as the "Queen of Heaven." As wonderful and exciting as this is, we would be remiss to venerate the apparition without taking into account the message of Our Lady to Adele Brice. It was simple really. There is no complexity to it, no apocalyptic visions of the future, just an instruction and a promise....

"As they approached the hallowed spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long, golden, wavy hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Such a heavenly light shone around her that Adele could hardly look back at her sweet face. Overcome by this heavenly light and the beauty of her amiable visitor, Adele fell on her knees. " 'In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?’ asked Adele, as she had been directed. “ ‘I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them’ “ 'Adele, who is it?'' said one of the women. 'O why can't we see her as you do?' said another weeping. “ ‘Kneel,’ said Adele, ‘the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.’ Our Blessed Lady turned, looked kindly at them, and said, ‘Blessed are they that believe without seeing. What are you doing here in idleness…while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’ “ ‘What more can I do, dear Lady?’ said Adele, weeping. “ ‘Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation’ “ ‘But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?’ replied Adele. “ ‘Teach them,’ replied her radiant visitor, ‘their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.’ " The manifestation of Our Lady then lifted her hands, as though beseeching a blessing for those at her feet, and slowly vanished, leaving Adele overwhelmed and prostrate on the ground.

The message was simple enough, and it is an instruction that carries through with relevance to this day, now more than ever. That wasn't the end of it though. There is more. Our Lady demonstrated her presence with a miracle exactly twelve years after the initial apparition. By this time Adele had become a religious sister. In 1871 a raging wildfire swept through Wisconsin destroying many of the settlements in the area. It was one of the worst in U.S. history. Rather than flee for their lives, Sister Adele and the faithful rushed to the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. The fire completely surrounded the shrine, but rather than panic in fear they turned toward Our Lady and prayed. The fire engulfed everything in all directions, singeing the fence around the shrine on all sides, but the shrine, and the small plot of land it stood on were left untouched. There is a message in this for all of us. If we will simply turn to the Lord, and follow the instruction of His mother at Champion Wisconsin, we (the American people) can escape the spiritual. economic and social firestorm that will soon engulf our nation.

It all starts with the family. Parents, teach your children the Gospel and the Catechism. Parishes, do the same, at all costs, educate the children in the faith. It is our lack of sound traditionally orthodox education that has brought our national church, and this nation, to the brink of disaster.

The Catholic Church in the United States names Mary as our nation's patroness - The Immaculate Conception. The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is in Washington DC. In doing this the United States bishops have claimed this nation for Mary. Mary was claimed as the Patroness of America as far back as 1792 by Bishop John Carroll. Then in 1846, the Catholic Bishops of the United States assembled to officially proclaim "Mary Immaculate" as our nation's patroness...

"We take this occasion, brethren, to communicate to you the determination, unanimously adopted by us, to place ourselves and all entrusted to our charge throughout the United States, under the special patronage of the holy Mother of God, whose Immaculate Conception is venerated by the piety of the faithful throughout the Catholic Church. By the aid of her prayers, we entertain the confident hope that we will be strengthened to perform the arduous duties of our ministry, and that you will be enabled to practice the sublime virtues, of which her life presents the most perfect example."

This was a full eight years before the dogmatic proclamation from Rome declaring Mary the Immaculate Conception. Yes, the United States not only has a strong Catholic history, but also a strong Marian history. Our Lady of Good Help is a message to us about help - God's help. The people of this nation are precious to God. He loves us, and he wants to heal our land. Turn back to our Lord and our Lady! Raise your children in the faith - strongly. This is our way out. This is our nation's only help. The fire is coming. What will you do?

[cj7925-blog]

Mi Familia

They always observe silence in all things that they do.They will just open their mouths if there are group activities, recitation and when you ask them a question. My best friend, my motivator and my adviser, Baccay, Kaycel and the one who never talk unless you start a conversation with her,Catulin, Erica Amor. The class “ SILENCERS". Opposite to them are the free spirited mouths who can talk all day with different people and topics. Along with their big mouths is a display of jokes and humorous thoughts that can make the whole class laugh out loud.Here are some of the passers: Parallag, Cirilo Cabalza, Adrian Joshua the “SILENCE BREAKERS”. We are now moving to the next corner of the room. “Builders of countless achievers”. The sons and daughters of Cagayan National High School who reaped awards and have been active in participating certain competition which made the song of CNHS well-defined. Let’s give them around of applause the “JOURNALISTS”. Datul, Frances Marcel; a young woman who loves English more than math. Mateo, Daniella Marie; my best friend, who was once hurt by the man that she used to love and I’m happy being with her. Espita, Allan Paul; the competitive and a good looking guy. The chillver viners, who were featured in Filipino vine for imitating a scene in the korean drama Goblin. They are the people who makes me laugh through social media and eventually made me proud (because they are my classmates). Their skills in creating such vines can lead them to their success. Shout out to.. Rivera, Al Policar the editor and director. The actors: Gaddao, Cristian Rey Binayug, Jaber Paul Apostol, Mark John Lester Gacias, Christian Cabalza, Adrian Adrian Joshua Cusipag, James Van who used to play the role as the “backgroud” in this vine. They are the “ CHILLVER VINERS”. Well, they judge. The board of judgers with a MIX ( don’t get offended). These people are good at observing regarding how you talk, act, look and laugh. They judge you in a way that will make you laugh also. Often times they will hurt you happily. Please welcome: Llanto, Janina Dane.They used to call her “boss” and shes good in dancing. Serquiña,Abiegail aka SERKILAY the broadcaster. I consider her as a friend and shes a really beautiful lady. They are blessed with skills in putting into art a piece of their imagination.They can visualize things that only their bare hands can finish. Who are they?They are the creators of good posters, winning piece of slogans, realistic sketches and well drawn designs. Introducing Mr. Late of the year Cumagun, Jansen Bryan and the man I never saw wearing a bag pack Suyu, John Christpher. They slay in different angles, in every post and in every shots. I really admire them because I actually don’t know how how to project in the camera and post like them. I’m sure that you will never regret if you click the wow or heart button in every pictures that they are posting whether in their facebook or instagram accounts. Let’s give a � and ❤ reaction to Bumanglag, Zach Cedrick and Odessa, Micah Argon the class “ CAMERA FRIENDLY”. The people who go with the flow. Marching along with the silence breakers funny jokes,laughing with “ havey banats” and give justice to the “hugot lines”. They have witness all the efforts of my classmates in telling a joke, winning a contest, judging people in a funny way…… The viewers. The AUDIENCE, starting from: Abines, Krisha Lyn who reminds me of DONNA what to do, DONNA what to say (charoott) and she’s good in math. Sitting next to her is Apostol, Maria Angeline. She is a responsible student and sometimes I am irritated to her voice ( I don’t know why). Bucayu, Gelli Mae is good in playing a guitar and sometimes its hard for me to talk with her because she is moody ( I can’t discern whether she’s in a good mood or in a bad mood). Biccan, Angelika who looks like Kristel Fulgar and she’s a kpop lover. Baggay, Ma. Ysabelle; she used to be the top 1 in our class. She’s a clever and beautiful young lady. Ysa thanks for all the answers este laughters that we’ve shared together.Cafugauan, Chastine; the fast responder. What I like about her is that she always reply you whenever you chat her. She’s good in math.Carlos, Nicole; the Nora Aunor in our class because of the mole in her face and she’s one of my friends. Cambri, Mark Daniel; he always dance and I know that you can be a successful lawyer someday.Even though she’s one of the boys, she has a girly side too. She’s good in singing and playing a guitar . She is Castillo, Marian Nicole. Datul, Aira Bianca the poetic and the emotional lady I ever met (charrr). Maramag, Raquel Anne the living barbie (charoot). She has a beautiful face and a tall height just like me. I hope that I will soon see you wearing a crown. Tannagan, Clare; a young woman who has a black skin (black is beautiful), chubby chicks and she always wear a smile. Guiquing, Angelica Mae; she’s brainy, friendly and a joker. She hates my long hair. Ange thanks for everything. Garma, Edriana Marie; she’s lovely , gorgeous and sophisticated. Mara, Danica Shane; she works independently. Manuel, Alexis Joe;he imitates the way I laugh (annoying right?). He is good in assembling electronic devices. Bunagan, Jerameel Blanch; the tallest guy in our room. He treats other people with repect. Calanoga, Aivan; he is not a camera friendly. Math is just a basic subject for him. Every group activities they are the one who always presents. Maybe because they can explain things well. Paris, Queenalyn; the “malia”.Perez, Ma Angelica; the “kathniel fan” and Enaman, Joriza. The class “ REPORTERS NOTEBOOK”. Moving to the center, with a ready table and well designed chair. She’s one of the students, going easy with her students, laughing with the jokes and considering age level conversation. She’s the reason why I most appreciated my Junior High School life . As she walk in the aisles, I saw her name, sparkling. Patino, Rosario the classroom English teacher considered as our mother. With all smile, a short hair with a bangs and in a cute height will I ever forget you? Definitely NO! We are all in this together, CHILLVER FAMILY!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.7

49 BC –The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting. 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England. 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia. 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day. 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal. 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens. 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon. 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago. 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film. 1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS". 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail. 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen. 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote. 1927 – The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London. 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London. 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast. 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement. 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road: The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road. 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO. 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM. 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral. 1972 – Iberia Flight 602 crashes near Ibiza Airport, killing all 104 people on board. 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers. 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation. 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union. 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d'état, which ends in his arrest. 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President. 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica. 1994 – A British Aerospace Jetstream 41 operating as United Express Flight 6291 crashes in Gahanna, Ohio, killing five of the eight people on board. 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins. 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board. 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others. 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana'a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured. 2020 – The 6.4Mw  2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.

#Events

[theonion]

Theoretical Scientists Gather For 35th Annual Symposium To Try To Determine How Gas Nozzle Knows When Tank Is Full

PASADENA, CA—In hopes of better understanding a phenomenon that has vexed researchers for decades, hundreds of theoretical scientists have assembled at the California Institute of Technology for the 35th annual symposium on how gas nozzles know when a car’s tank is full, sources said Thursday.

The weeklong academic conference, which draws top experts in quantum physics, pure mathematics, systems theory, and numerous other scientific fields, will feature a variety of interdisciplinary panel discussions and collaborative workshop sessions, as well as dozens of presentations from theorists sharing their ideas about what kind of mechanism could possibly enable a gasoline pump to turn itself off at just the right moment and avoid spilling fuel all over the place.

“We’re particularly excited this year, because a team of computational chemists from Poland may have finally cracked the so-called Half-Full Paradox, which has long stumped scientists who have sought to understand how the pump knows when to stop fueling regardless of whether your tank is empty or still has some gas left in it,” said symposium chair professor Marian Reardon, explaining that early scientists who tackled this problem once believed nozzles operated on a timer, but later realized this theory failed to account for tanks that remained partially filled. “We’ll also discuss the pump’s apparent ability to tell whether you’re driving a compact car or a large truck and adjust the volume it dispenses to match the tank size, a complex and puzzling question that no one has yet been able to put forth a convincing theory to explain.”

“All we know for certain is that you leave the nozzle in there for a while, it makes this little popping sound, and then your tank is full,” Reardon continued. “Maybe this is the year we finally figure out why.”

According to symposium organizers, the week will feature a half-day seminar on whether a small camera inside the car’s tank allows gas station attendants to see when it’s time to shut off the pump; a presentation titled “Smart Pumps: Could Computer Chips In Gas Nozzles Recognize The Make And Model Of Every Car?”; and an eagerly anticipated keynote speech from professor Sunita Chowdry, a theoretical physicist who has spent the past two years in residence at a Pump ’N’ Munch filling station in eastern Minnesota.

The conference is also scheduled to include several breakout sessions that will explore how microscopic sensors might be embedded within the nozzle and whether a gas tank’s location on either the driver’s side or passenger’s side provides crucial information to the pump about how much fuel to transfer.

Although many in attendance expressed excitement about a new National Science Foundation program aimed at identifying promising researchers and providing them with tens of millions of dollars in gas money grants to conduct on-site fieldwork—a potentially game-changing source of funding—skeptical sources said they remained wary that any groundbreaking advancements would be made in the near term after having been so frequently disappointed in the past.

“I was here in ’92 when [Oxford mathematician Emil] Bantikov presented his equation that purported to explain why you can still get a few more squeezes of gas into the tank even after the nozzle shuts off,” said professor David Werner, co-chair of the quantum mechanics program at Carnegie Mellon. “For years, he had locked himself away in his lab working on his ‘Extra Splash Theorem,’ until late one night he emerged, overjoyed, with what he thought was a revolutionary discovery. But his formula was quickly disproven, he was shunned from the nozzle community, and his reputation never recovered.”

“So let’s just say I’m not holding my breath for any new breakthroughs,” Werner added.

Still, attendees said the mood at the conference remained generally upbeat, with participants praising a main-stage presentation that examined whether gas stations keep their seemingly unlimited gasoline supply in the awning above the pumps, in the room at the back of the building marked “employees only,” or someplace else entirely. They also reportedly engaged in lively debate during a roundtable discussion about how the little screen on the pump is able to count the gallons of fuel it is dispensing so rapidly and precisely, often to the third decimal place.

Despite this enthusiasm, few of those present appeared to harbor any illusions that the nozzle-shutoff problem would be fully understood for decades or even centuries to come.

“Think about what an incredible and astonishing phenomenon this is: Even if you try to trick the pump after it has finished by removing and then reinserting the nozzle into your gas tank, it will still click itself off when you start pumping again,” said professor Jonathan Lam, a pioneering researcher in the field who is widely admired for a seminal 1993 paper positing that the area beside each fuel pump contains an in-ground scale that weighs every automobile and thereby detects how much gas is required to refill the tank. “No matter what you do, the pump simply won’t let you overfill your tank. Maybe it uses artificial intelligence, maybe satellites, maybe lasers, maybe something we haven’t yet conceived of. But getting back into the car, turning it on, and seeing that needle go right back up to ‘F’—it always reminds me how miraculous it is that the pump dispenses the exact right amount of gas every time.”

“It’s unlikely we’ll have an explanation in my lifetime,” Lam added. “But I feel honored to know I’ve played some small part in laying the groundwork for the generation that one day will find the answer.”

#The Onion

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News Rallies against stay-at-home orders grow as Trump sides with protesters - The Washington Post

News

“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” Trump tweeted. “LIBERATE MINNESOTA,” he persisted. “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and build your extensive 2nd Amendment. It is beneath siege!”

Trump’s tweets reach because the honest-waft media has amplified the protests and conservative groups comprise fashioned plans to collectively press for a reopening of the economy. The groups encompass so a lot of veterans of the tea find together generation, activism that modified into once powered by a network of honest-waft and corporate financiers drawn to reducing taxes and rules on replace.

Protesters railed in opposition to policies that choice for nonessential companies and colleges to be closed, restaurants little to carryout provider and folks to construct largely of their properties apart from for emergencies. They argue that the nation has sacrificed the economy, with unemployment at file levels, and folks comprise upended their lives for something many form no longer interrogate as an existential probability to society.

“I reflect there’s a boiling level that has been reached and exceeded,” talked about Stephen Moore, a conservative economist. Moore is a member of both the White Condo council to reopen the nation and a coalition of conservative leaders and activists in quest of to push govt officers to relax build-at-dwelling orders.

“I name these folks the common-day Rosa Parks — they are protesting in opposition to injustice and an absence of liberties,” Moore talked about of the protesters.

Moore talked about the protests comprise been spontaneous and arranged at the local degree, but he talked about his neighborhood has been offering them advice and apt toughen might well comprise to easy protesters be arrested and prosecuted.

The protests reach as governors in Texas, Minnesota and Vermont on Friday launched dates to ease lunge restrictions.

In Michigan, a total bunch of folks clogged online page traffic in vehicles or marched in the snow to affirm in opposition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who glorious week added additional restrictions to the pronounce’s build-at-dwelling record. Protesters waved American flags, Trump flags and an occasional Confederate flag. Many screamed “Lock her up!” and “We isn't any longer going to comply!”

Bellow leaders talked about the demonstrations developed organically real into a collective demand rolling lend a hand emergency measures that they reflect infringe on private freedoms and additional decimate the economy.

“I the truth is feel shocking regarding the lives lost, but at some level we now comprise got to reveal ‘Mission executed’ and reach up with the following allotment of this that doesn’t comprise us continuously locked inner our properties,” talked about Matthew Seely of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, which organized the protests.

Michigan has been one in all the states hit hardest by the virus, with bigger than 30,000 confirmed cases and over 2,200 deaths.

Sigh incorporation records cloak the nonprofit coalition additionally goes by one more name: Michigan Trump Republicans. The neighborhood’s president, Rosanne Ponkowski, identified herself as a homemaker glorious 365 days in federal campaign finance records. But the neighborhood’s varied administrators are longtime GOP insiders, basically based on pronounce records. They encompass Marian Sheridan, the pronounce Republican Event’s vice chair of “grass roots” efforts.

Sheridan has “labored in Michigan grass roots for the glorious 10 years” and started her political profession as a tea find together leader and organizer, basically based on the pronounce GOP’s web feature.

Sheridan, Ponkowski and the Michigan Republican Event did now not acknowledge to messages.

Social media accounts cloak that allotment of the neighborhood’s arrangement modified into once to hurt Whitmer. A day after the affirm, the Michigan Trump Republicans posted a conservative realizing creator’s column on its Facebook online page. The column, which looked in The Washington Put up, asserted that the affirm had all but killed Whitmer’s chances to be vice president.

“Mission executed?” the neighborhood wrote above the hyperlink to the column.

Nicole Hemmer, a student at Columbia University and creator of “Messengers of the Fair,” regarding the honest-waft media, talked about the anti-govt signage and argument that build-at-dwelling orders infringe on private liberty hark lend a hand to a prior conservative circulation.

“In my thoughts it looks so a lot just like the tea find together,” she talked about. “It practically sounds like an excuse for getting out and rallying in opposition to politicians they oppose.”

Some politicians reflect Trump’s egging on of the protesters is terrible.

“The president is fomenting home insurrection and spreading lies even whereas his personal administration says the virus is exact and is lethal and that we now comprise got a long formulation to pass before restrictions will most likely be lifted,” talked about Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D). A affirm in opposition to his build-at-dwelling record, which lifts May perhaps presumably additionally 5, is scheduled in Olympia this weekend.

Tyler Miller, who organized the Washington pronounce affirm, talked about he's urging attendees to construct on private defending instruments, teach physical distancing and no longer help in the occasion that they are in a high-probability class or feeling ill.

Despite the increasing replacement of protests, polling presentations the spacious majority of Individuals toughen build-at-dwelling orders. Eighty-one p.c of respondents in an April 8 Quinnipiac University polltalked about they would toughen a national build-at-dwelling record. Sixty-eight p.c of Republicans queried talked about they would toughen a nationwide record to construct of their properties, alongside with 95 p.c of Democrats and 80 p.c of Independents. In a Pew Research Heart see, 66 p.c of respondents talked about they are more concerned that restrictions would be lifted too rapid, rather than no longer rapid ample. Republicans in the see had been the truth is wreck up on the demand.

Public neatly being experts comprise talked about any untimely easing of build-at-dwelling orders might also lead to a 2nd wave of pandemic, erasing the social distancing growth, returning the inhabitants to quarantine, deepening the industrial turmoil and main to more lives lost.

Some talked about they are protesting totally on yarn of the extreme economic impact attributable to the virus. Bigger than 22 million folks comprise filed for unemployment since Trump declared a national emergency glorious month.

In Ohio, the assign 100 protesters did now not teach social distancing as they pushed up in opposition to the glass doorways of the statehouse this week, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) launched he modified into once assembling plans to safely reopen the economy before the expiration of his build-at-dwelling record May perhaps presumably additionally 1. DeWine and Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, comprise talked about reopening will reach in phases.

Sigh Sen. Andrew Brenner (R) talked about DeWine modified into once honest to shut colleges and companies early, choices that Brenner talked about are bringing the pronounce nearer to reopening.

Brenner’s district shut to Columbus is one in all the quickest-increasing areas of the pronounce. He talked about the pandemic has wiped out its economic beneficial properties.

“Of us are calling me crying because they've lost their jobs, and the govtstimulus tests are no longer going to withhold folks going long,” Brenner talked about, adding more folks will need govt help. “The following component that’s going to happen is that earnings wished to withhold very valuable services, equivalent to education and Medicaid, will plummet.”

Enterprise owners in Oklahoma and Ohio comprise filed lawsuits, bemoaning the industrial charges of sheltering in design. In Michigan, Michael Lackomar known as a attorney after a scramble-in with pronounce troopers.

Lackomar talked about he and his companion comprise left their dwelling in the Detroit suburbs for his or her solitary 2nd dwelling on the shores of Lake Huron. But when Lackomar visited this week, two pronounce troopers pounded on the door.

“You know you’re no longer supposed to be here,” Lackomar recalled the trooper announcing as he defined Whitmer’s original record, which bans folks from traveling between a valuable design and a walk dwelling. The troopers instructed the couple to construct build or probability a $1,000 gentle or misdemeanor value.

The interaction led Lackomar to rant on Facebook and then contact a attorney.

“Generally it's doubtless you'll perhaps presumably even be feeling equivalent to you have not got any direct in opposition to the mountainous monolithic govt,” talked about Lackomar, who's one in all so a lot of Michigan residents suing Whitmer. “They are trying to possess the an infection, but there is a line. I’m sorry, my rights as a person don’t the least bit times steal a lend a hand seat to somebody else’s fears.”

Lackomar’s attorney, David Helm, is arguing in federal court docket that the govtowes his purchasers compensation because rules comprise rendered their properties and companies ineffective. The statewide restrictions, he talked about, violate property and due job rights because most of Michigan’s coronavirus cases are little to 2 tough-hit counties in metro Detroit.

“Your total pronounce of Michigan is on house arrest. That’s a deliver,” talked about Helm, who has heard from varied firms taking into consideration class-action suits in Tennessee and Oregon. “We know there is an outbreak and govt action needs to steal design, but it's doubtless you'll perhaps well comprise to tailor those actions to sever lend a hand constitutional infringements. If left unchecked, it might per chance perhaps well comprise to lead to more dramatic rules down the avenue. We don’t desire the governor to come up with the selection to comprise precedent here. We desire the court docket to design precedent.”

Whitmer’s design of enterprise did now not return a requirement for touch upon the lawsuits.

In a news conference this week, Whitmer talked about she understands why folks are upset regarding the build-at-dwelling record.

“It’s OK to be annoyed. It’s OK to be angry,” Whitmer talked about, adding it would be gentle if folks directed their emotions at her. “I’ve got thick skin and I’m the least bit times going to shield your honest to free speech.”

In states including North Carolina, activists are organizing thru closed Facebook groups that comprise grown rapid.

Ashley Smith, the founder of ReOpenNC, believes build-at-dwelling orders are no longer the honest formulation to fight the virus.

“We’ve dropped an atomic bomb on a knife fight,” she talked about. “Yes, there are risks, however the Structure does no longer bid us a probability-free existence.”

Michael Morgan of Westfield, N.C., who has been combating cancer for 3 years, sent the neighborhood a non-public message to are trying and heed its level of gape. He talked about he modified into once blocked and started his personal neighborhood: Dwell House N.C. It now additionally has thousands of participants. He does no longer reflect economic considerations might well comprise to easy dictate when build-at-dwelling orders are lifted.

“This has change into a war between money and existence. And folks the truth is value their money,” Morgan talked about. “I fully heed no longer having the flexibility to pay your bills and the pain of shedding a replace, but wouldn’t you somewhat be alive? Judge me, we are able to work thru this.”

David Weigel and Robert Costa in Washington and Gregory Scruggs in Seattle contributed to this file.

[lara-noeyes]

Lara Marie Comidoy Lamata's Biography

Lara Marie Comidoy Lamata, born on 3:15 pm, December 7, 1999, Wednesday, Davao City. She was the eldest child of Leon Miguel Lamata, which was then changed to Leomi Lamata, and Naomi Guererro Comidoy. After two years, she had a sister named Lois Mariane Lamata. Lara had a good relationship with her parents and especially to her only sister. She grew up in a religious family as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She had her steady relationship with God, thanks to her parents, especially to her nanay. When she grew older, because of their aunties and uncles, Lara may have everything she wanted, but she learned not to ask but to wait until it is given.

In her early childhood, she went to school at Davao City Special School or also known as SPED Bangkal. Because of her environment, she was able to understand more about the people that surround her, especially to those in need. She learned a little bit of sign language through her aunt, who was a teacher. Lara did well in school and finished her elementary without any achievements. Still, it was nothing for her. But when she became an adolescent, she became competitive after ranking 3rd in their class at Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School. She studied at Davao Doctors College taking the strand Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) because she wants to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. She had fun during her high school days and experienced all the joy and dramas, including heartbreaks, even bullied because of that. Yet, she finished high school and continued her journey. And along that journey, she was able to make improvements spiritually and got baptized to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Before taking up college, she had doubts. She wanted to fulfill her dreams and make her family proud, yet, the promise, her dedication-disowning yourself and do what makes Jehovah happy, that she made before she got baptized made her guilty. But she never let it bothered her and continued her school anyways and took Nursing even if her first choice was Psychology in Davao Doctors College. Despite the pressure of school and family, she was able to get good grades and also got to the dean's list. But she felt empty. She always had the guilt in her heart for thinking what's right for her family and to herself. She was never pleased. Until one summer changed everything, she went out to join the Toril Sign Language Group for their "deaf search." Because of that experience, she suddenly realized how important the ministry work is, especially in the sign language community, and that made her feel close to God more. Her dream form becoming a doctor quickly changed into becoming a pioneer. She then decided to quit school, but her family, especially her aunts and uncles, got disappointed of her decision. But because of her "utang na loob," and the worry of them from being hypertensive made her took back everything she said and changed her course to Psychology, with a heavy heart. Her time being a Psychology student widen her mind about her thoughts and was able to love the course more. Still, the disappointed feeling never left.

Along with her heartfelt and tearful prayers, she was able to gain the courage she needed to stand for what she believed in. She finally decided to quit school and do the most important thing of all, "Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you." (1 Timothy 4:16) Years later, she was able to become a regular pioneer while supporting the sign language community. She also became a volunteer in constructing Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls. She was able to join the School for Kingdom Evangelizers at the age of 25. Then was sent to support as a "need-greater" in remote places around her country, Philippines, even abroad. Over the years, she can say that she was delighted. Lara may not finish the higher education she already has but she was blessed enough to experience the best education from Jehovah and peacefully rested at the age of 80.

[anastpaul]

Saint of the Day – 26 September – Blessed Pope Paul VI Bishop of Rome, Marian devotee, Pro Life Advocate, Evangelist, Reformer, Canon Lawyer, Promoter of Workers’ rights (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) Patronages – Archdiocese of Milan, Paul VI Pontifical Institute, Second Vatican Council, Diocese of Brescia, Concesio, Magenta, Paderno Dugnano.

Born near Brescia in northern Italy, Giovanni Battista Montini was the second of three sons.   His father, Giorgio, was a lawyer, editor and eventually a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.   His mother, Giuditta, was very involved in Catholic Action.

After ordination in 1920, Giovanni did graduate studies in literature, philosophy, and canon law in Rome before he joined the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1924, where he worked for 30 years.   He was also chaplain to the Federation of Italian Catholic University Students, where he met and became a very good friend of Aldo Moro, who eventually became prime minister.   Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigade in March 1978 and murdered two months later.   A devastated Pope Paul VI presided at his funeral.

In 1954, Fr Montini was named archbishop of Milan, where he sought to win disaffected workers back to the Catholic Church.   He called himself the “archbishop of the workers” and visited factories regularly while overseeing the rebuilding of a local Church tremendously disrupted by World War II.

In 1958, Montini was the first of 23 cardinals named by Pope John XXIII, two months after the latter’s election as pope.   Cardinal Montini helped in preparing Vatican II and participated enthusiastically in its first sessions.   When he was elected pope in June 1963, he immediately decided to continue that Council, which had another three sessions before its conclusion on December 8, 1965.   The day before Vatican II concluded, Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras revoked the excommunications that their predecessors had made in 1054.   The pope worked very hard to ensure that bishops would approve the Council’s 16 documents by overwhelming majorities.

Paul VI had stunned the world by visiting the Holy Land in January 1964 and meeting Athenagoras, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in person.   The pope made eight more international trips, including one in 1965, to visit New York City and speak on behalf of peace before the United Nations General Assembly.   He also visited India, Columbia, Uganda and seven Asian countries during a 10-day tour in 1970.

Also in 1965, he instituted the World Synod of Bishops and the next year decreed that bishops must offer their resignations on reaching age 75.   In 1970, he decided that cardinals over 80 would no longer vote in papal conclaves or head the Holy See’s major offices.   He had increased the number of cardinals significantly, giving many countries their first cardinal.   Eventually establishing diplomatic relations between the Holy See and 40 countries, he also instituted a permanent observer mission at the United Nations in 1964.   Paul VI wrote seven encyclicals; his last one in 1968 on human life–Humanae Vitae–prohibited artificial birth control.

Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo on August 6, 1978, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was beatified on October 19, 2014.

Pope Francis and Blessed Pope Paul VI – (The Image below is Pope Francis wearing his favourite stole.   It is actually the stole that Blessed Pope Paul VI wore.) 

During his recent visit to Bozzolo, Italy, Pope Francis declared his desire to be able to canonise Paul VI.

According to a report today in the blog Il Sismographo, a miracle is being studied by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, which if recognised, will pave the way for Blessed Pope Paul VI’s canonisation.

The miracle is related to the healing of a child on December 25, 2014, after a complicated pregnancy and a premature birth.   The mother went to the Sanctuary of Graces in Brescia and prayed for Blessed Paul VI’s intercession for her tiny daughter’s survival.

“During his recent visit to Bozzolo, Pope Francis repeated his desire to canonise Paul VI,” noted Don Adriano Bianchi, director of the news service of Paul VI’s home diocese, Brescia, in a report on the subject in the journal Brescia oggi, on July 18.

The miracle approved for the beatification of Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) was also related to a difficult pregnancy.   A woman was encouraged to abort her child because the baby was disabled.   She refused the abortion and entrusted the baby to Paul VI’s intercession, because of his encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968).   The infant survived, without any health concerns whatsoever.   Paul VI was beatified on October 19, 2014, at the conclusion of the first Synod on the Family.

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)

#blessedpopepaulVI #september26blessedpopepaulVI #catholic #catholicism #popefrancisandpopepaulVI

[sirobvious]

1: How were medieval armies assembled in a unit-by-unit sense? Rome, for example, had its infantry in formations of 120 (2x60 sort of) in the maniples, or 80 men after the Marian reforms. While, AFAIK, armies wouldn't be as well organized until the Early Modern period, was there an equivalent unit size used for medieval infantry/cavalry?

I’m having great difficulty finding specific information about this sort of thing, but I’m going to try my best to say what I do know without making too many claims that I can’t back up. I don’t want to spread false information.

First of all, people in the Medieval period weren’t stupid, but since there had recently been something akin to an apocalypse, they were a hell of a lot less organized than their super-efficient Roman predecessors. They still fought in formation, but their recruitment methods were less refined. Soldiers varied widely in skill and equipment 

It was every man for himself after Rome dissolved, and when the dust settled, the new ruler was whoever had the strongest gang; no elections. Commoners pledged their allegiance to powerful warlords in exchange for protection from criminals and other warlords, and then those powerful warlords pledged their allegiance to even more powerful warlords for protection, and then those even more powerful warlords pledged their allegiance to even more powerful warlords for protection, until the feudal hierarchy was established. 

The “government” then consisted of many uneasy friendships between warlords who could largely do whatever they wanted to their direct underlings and weren’t directly controlled by their superiors.

“Nations”(which weren’t really a thing at the time) didn’t have armies, individual lords did, and even then most of their armies were actually patchwork amalgamations of the armies of all the lords beneath them, whose armies were patchwork amalgamations of all the lords beneath them. 

Individual lords could not always afford large standing armies, but they could afford to train and outfit small groups of soldiers really, really well. These would be the serjeants-at-arms and men-at-arms/knights in order of importance from least to greatest. 

During actual wartime, however, peasants would be drafted(or “levied”) to serve as barely-trained, barely armed troops. What percentage of Medieval armies consisted of professional troops and what percentage consisted of levies would vary immensely from army to army.

Disclaimer: The following information will consist of more educated guesses than solid facts. If somebody more knowledgeable on this particular aspect of the Middle Ages could help me out, that would be greatly appreciated.

I know for a fact that they did fight in formations, and I imagine these formations to be squares and rectangles with the occasional wedge mixed in there, but I couldn’t say exactly how many deep or how many wide--or even if there was any real standard at all for how deep or wide a formation should be. There probably wasn’t.

There also probably wasn’t any standard for how big a formation should be. 60 men? 100 men? 150 men? This probably varied situationally and among soldier type, with heavy cavalry formations being on the relatively small end. 

Something else I read about frequently in research on specific historical battles is that large armies were often split up into a handful of “battles” that acted independently under the rule of a higher ranking noble lord. These usually consisted of a thousand or a couple thousand soldiers depending on the size of the armies*, however I think we can logically assume that these “battles” were also split into groups of about a hundred because I can’t imagine a group of one thousand people moving and striking as one in battle. 

I’m also pretty sure that the idea of soldiers being grouped by weapon type, as well as entire formations going into battle with swords, maces, and small axes drawn instead of at least the front few ranks all having some kind of polearm is not historical and instead an invention of the Total War video game series. 

*Medieval armies were small compared to Classical armies because of the massive decentralization of the feudal system. This was especially true of the Late Middle Ages because the Great Famine, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years War all happened back-to-back and killed basically everybody in Europe. Rome fielded legions of 100,000; while the English army that ravaged France in the later parts of the Hundred Years War was like 8,000.