#078: Destroy National Sovereignty

[More Open Conspiracy]

“But since there are armies prepared to act coercively in the world to-day, it is necessary that the Open Conspiracy should develop within itself the competence to resist military coercion and combat and destroy armies that stand in the way of its emergence. ...”

“The world commonweal will need its own scientific methods of protection so long as there are people running about the planet with flags and uniforms and weapons, offering violence to their fellow men and interfering with the free movements of commodities in the name of national sovereignty.”*
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*Wells, H. G.. The Open Conspiracy: What Are We to Do with Our Lives? (Kindle Locations 796-801).  Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Herbert George Wells ... (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.[3][4][a]
During his own lifetime, however, he was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web.[5] His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering. Brian Aldiss referred to Wells as the "Shakespeare of science fiction".[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

#077: Red Herrings

“The demagogue doesn’t mind temporary verbal attacks on himself— even slander can delight him— because these attacks keep him in the headlines and in the public eye and may help increase people’s fear of him. Better to be hated and feared than forgotten!”

“The demagogue grows fat on prolonged and confused discussion of his behaviour; it serves to paralyze the people’s minds and to obscure completely the real issues behind his red herrings. If this continues long enough, people become fed up, they give in, they want to sleep, they are willing to let the big “hero” take over. And the sequel can be totalitarianism. As a matter of fact, Nazism and Fascism both gambled on the fear of Communism as a means of seizing power for themselves.”*

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*Meerloo, Dr. Joost A. M.. The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing (Kindle Locations 2330-2335). Hauraki Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo (March 14, 1903 – November 17, 1976) was a Dutch/American Doctor of Medicine and psychoanalyst. He authored Rape of the Mind, an analysis of brainwashing techniques and thought control in totalitarian states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_Meerloo

#076: “Perilous Times”

1 THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ...
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, ...*

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*New Testament | 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 12-14 (Bold emphasis added.) Attributed to Paul the Apostle, but many scholars disagree as to the real author.

The New Testament[ ... (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and the son of God Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as sacred scripture by Christians.[1]
The New Testament is a collection of Christian texts originally written in the Koine Greek language, at different times by various authors. While the Old Testament canon varies somewhat between different Christian denominations, the 27-book canon of the New Testament has been almost universally recognized within Christianity since at least Late Antiquity. Thus, in almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books:
4 canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
The Acts of the Apostles
14 Pauline epistles
7 general epistles, and
The Book of Revelation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament

#075: Conspiracy Fact: Assassination of Caesar

Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March (15 March) of 44 BC during a meeting of the Senate at the Theatre of Pompey in Rome. The senators stabbed Caesar 23 times. The senators claimed to be acting over fears that Caesar's unprecedented concentration of power during his dictatorship was undermining the Roman Republic, and presented the deed as an act of tyrannicide. At least 60 senators were party to the conspiracy, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Decimus Junius Brutus. Despite the death of Caesar, the conspirators were unable to restore the institutions of the Republic. The ramifications of the assassination led to the Liberators' civil war and ultimately to the Principate period of the Roman Empire.*

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* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar (Bold emphasis added.)

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar by William Holmes Sullivan (1836-1908) - Public Domain, The assassination of Julius Caesar, painted by William Holmes Sullivan, c. 1888.

#074: False Flag - Mukden Incident

The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. ... On 18 September 1931, Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment ... detonated a small quantity of dynamite[4] close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang).[5] The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track, and a train passed over it minutes later. The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. The deception was exposed by the Lytton Report of 1932, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations.[6]*

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* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident

A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promoters in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.[1]
The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as a purely figurative expression to mean "a deliberate misrepresentation of someone's affiliation or motives".[2][unreliable source?] It was later used to describe a ruse in naval warfare whereby a vessel flew the flag of a neutral or enemy country in order to hide its true identity. The tactic was originally used by pirates and privateers to deceive other ships into allowing them to move closer before attacking them. It later was deemed an acceptable practice during naval warfare according to international maritime laws, provided the attacking vessel displayed its true flag once an attack had begun. ...
The term today extends to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression and foreign military aggression.[7]
Similarly deceptive activities carried out during peacetime by individuals or non governmental organizations can (by extension) also be called false flag operations, but the more common legal term is a "frameup", "stitch up", or "setup". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

#073: More Than All the Rest of the World?

“In questions of just and unjust, fair and foul, good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation, ought we to follow the opinion of the many and to fear them; or the opinion of the one man who has understanding? ought we not to fear and reverence him more than all the rest of the world: and if we desert him shall we not destroy and injure that principle in us which may be assumed to be improved by justice and deteriorated by injustice—there is such a principle?

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Plato. Crito (Kindle Locations 128-131). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Socrates ... Ancient Greek: ... c. 470 – 399 BC[3][4]) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher[5][6] of the Western ethical tradition of thought.[7][8][9] An enigmatic figure, he authored no texts, and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers composing after his lifetime, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates

#072: Praying for Sinners

A Story by Rumi: “The preacher responded to their complaint [about his continual prayers only for sinners] quite simply: “Throughout my life, I've been the inadvertent recipient of many blessings because of the crimes committed by these unruly men. By the sheer evil of their actions, they've shown me right from wrong. Every single time I've turned my attention to worldly affairs, I've been witness to their immense cruelty; thus, I sought refuge in our Creator. Consequently, their evil actions have guided me to the greater good. It is imperative for me to pray for their salvation!””*

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* Rumi. The Book of Rumi (pp. 159-160). Hampton Roads Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī (Persian: ... also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Balkhī... and more popularly simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian ... poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran.[12][13] Rumi's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries.[14] His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet"[15] and the "best selling poet in the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi

#071: New Levels of Evil

“For Arendt, the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin were quite different to the tyrannies and dictatorships of the past, which merely sought to control populations. The most striking aspect of totalitarianism is that “it is let loose when all organized opposition has died down and the totalitarian ruler knows that he no longer need be afraid.” Stalin began his great purges, for instance, only in 1934 when all potential opposition had been executed or sent to the Gulag. The totalitarian leader is not content simply to control the population; he seeks to control hearts and minds, so that the leader, the state, and the people are as one. This not only requires great organization on a mass scale, but brings with it new levels of evil, since the individual means nothing and every kind of state crime can be justified.”*

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Hannah Arendt as quoted / summarized in Tom Butler-Bowdon's 50 Politics Classics (50 Classics) (Kindle Locations 981-987). Quercus. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Hannah Arendt ... German: ... 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born American political theorist. Her many books and articles have had a lasting influence on political theory and philosophy. Arendt is widely considered one of the most important political thinkers of the 20th century. / Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

 

#070: “What We Call Degeneracy”

“What we call degeneracy is often but the unveiling of what was there all the time; and the evil we could become, we are.”*

“The co-existence of good and evil in the same person is perhaps the most puzzling of all facts.”**

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*George, MacDonald. 365 Meditations from George MacDonald's Fiction (p. 61). David Scott Wilson-Okamura. Kindle Edition.
**Ibid., (p. 317).

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, David Lindsay,[1] J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Elizabeth Yates, Oswald Chambers, Mark Twain, Hope Mirrlees, Robert E. Howard, L. Frank Baum, T.H. White, Richard Adams, Lloyd Alexander, Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien,[2] Walter de la Mare,[3] E. Nesbit, Peter S. Beagle, Neil Gaiman and Madeleine L'Engle.[2]
C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later", said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

#069: “In the Hearts of Conspiring Men”

“Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—”*

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*Doctrine and Covenants | Section 89:4 [Ohio, 1833 AD) (Bold emphasis added.)

The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [RLDS Church]). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants

#068: Conspiracy Fact ~ Cleopatra

“Now Cleopatra had put to death all her kindred, till no one near her in blood remained alive, and after that she fell a slaying those no way related to her. So she calumniated the principal men among the Syrians to Antony, and persuaded him to have them slain, that so she might easily gain to be mistress of what they had; nay, she extended her avaricious humor to the Jews and Arabians, taken with him.”

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Josephus, Flavius. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Kindle Locations 25838-25850). www.DelmarvaPublications.com. Kindle Edition.

Titus Flavius Josephus (... 37 – c. 100), ... born Yosef ben Matityahu ... was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry. ... Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War (66–70 CE),[8] including the siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus

#067: False Flag ~ Gleiwitz Incident

“The Gleiwitz incident in 1939 involved Reinhard Heydrich fabricating evidence of a Polish attack against Germany to mobilize German public opinion for war, to establish casus belli, and to justify the war with Poland. Alfred Naujocks was a key organiser of the operation under orders from Heydrich. It led to the deaths of innocent Nazi concentration camp victims who were dressed as German soldiers and then shot by the Gestapo to make it seem that they had been shot by Polish soldiers.”*

“The Gleiwitz incident ... was a false flag attack on the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz, staged by Nazi Germany on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a casus belli to justify the invasion of Poland, which began the next morning.[1] The attackers posed as Polish nationals.

“During his declaration of war, Hitler did not mention the Gleiwitz incident but grouped all provocations staged by the SS as an alleged "Polish assault" on Germany. The Gleiwitz incident is the best-known action of Operation Himmler, a series of special operations undertaken by the Schutzstaffel (SS) to serve German propaganda at the outbreak of war. The operation was intended to create the appearance of a Polish aggression against Germany in order to justify the invasion of Poland. Manufactured evidence for the Gleiwitz attack by the SS was provided by the German SS officer, Alfred Naujocks in 1945.”**

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*https://military.wikia.org/wiki/False_flag
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident

#066: Becoming the Enemy

“"By intensity of hatred," wrote George William Russell, "nations create in themselves the characteristics they imagine in their enemies. Hence it is that all passionate conflicts result in the interchange of characteristics." The very act of entering into conflict with an antagonist establishes relations where none may have existed before. William Irwin Thompson comments on this "interchange of characteristics" following World War II: "Japan is now Los Angeles and Detroit, and Big Sur, California, is a Zen Mountain Center. Germany is now a consumer society, and we are the largest militarist state in the history of the world. We have become our enemy."" Conquerors have all through history been conquered by those they conquer. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, proved either a shrewd student of history or a prophet when he reputedly said, "Even if we lose, we shall win, for our ideals."”

[Question: Have we become like Germany, China, and Russia rolled into one??]

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from Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 2842-2847). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)

Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wink

#065: Cult of Passivity

[And what is lockdown if not enforced passivity?]

“The cult of passivity and so-called relaxation is one of the most dangerous developments of our times. Essentially, it too may represent a camouflage pattern, the double wish not to see the dangers and challenges of life and not to be seen. ... Silent, lonely relaxation with alcohol, sweets, the television screen, or a murder mystery may soothe the mind into a passivity that may gradually make it vulnerable to the seductive ideology of some feared enemy. Denying the danger of totalitarianism through passivity, may gradually surrender to its blandishments those who were initially afraid of it.”*

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Meerloo, Dr. Joost A. M.. The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing (Kindle Locations 2783-2789). Hauraki Publishing. Kindle Edition.

*Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo (March 14, 1903 – November 17, 1976) was a Dutch/American Doctor of Medicine and psychoanalyst. He authored Rape of the Mind, an analysis of brainwashing techniques and thought control in totalitarian states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_Meerloo

#064: Open Conspiracy: Directed Breeding

[WO Ideology]

“Intelligent control of population is a possibility which puts man outside competitive processes that have hitherto ruled the modification of species, and he can be released from these processes in no other way.”

“There is a clear hope that, later, directed breeding will come within his scope, but that goes beyond his present range of practical achievement, and we need not discuss it further here. Suffice it for us here that the world community of our desires, the organized world community conducting and ensuring its own progress, requires a deliberate collective control of population as a primary condition.”

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Wells, H. G.. The Open Conspiracy: What Are We to Do with Our Lives? (Kindle Locations 580-584). . Kindle Edition.

Herbert George Wells ... (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.[3][4][a]
During his own lifetime, however, he was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web.[5] His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering. Brian Aldiss referred to Wells as the "Shakespeare of science fiction".[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

#063: “More Dangerous Than Standing Armies”

I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.*

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* Letter to John Taylor (28 May 1816) ME 15:23 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743[a] – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

#062: Will We Hear or Forbear?

(Scripture Sunday)

NOTE: the children of Israel comprise 12 Tribes, only one of which is Judah (ancestor of the Jews). In reality, this lament convicts all mankind. Let us read it as both a personal (and national) indictment and a command to “fear not the briers, thorns, and scorpions.”)

Ezekiel (circa 626 BC)
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6 ¶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
9 ¶ And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.*

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*Old Testament | Ezekiel 2:3-10

Ezekiel ... is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. / In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet. In Judaism and Christianity, he is also viewed as the 6th-century BCE author of the Book of Ezekiel, which reveals prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, and the restoration to the land of Israel.
The author of the Book of Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzzi, born into a priestly (kohen) lineage.[1] Apart from identifying himself, the author gives a date for the first divine encounter which he presents: "in the thirtieth year".[2] If this is a reference to Ezekiel's age at the time, he was born around 622 BCE, about the time of Josiah's reforms,[3] and shortly after the call of Jeremiah to a prophetic ministry around 626 BCE.[4] Ezekiel's "thirtieth year" is given as five years after the exile of Judah's king Jehoiachin by the Babylonians. The Aramaic Targum on Ezekiel 1:1, however, as well as the 2nd-century rabbinic work Seder Olam Rabba (chapter 26), take a different approach, where they both say that Ezekiel's vision came "in the thirtieth year after Josiah was presented with a Book of the Law discovered in the Temple". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel

#061: The Open Conspiracy

[WO Ideology: Tyranny under cover of peace and social justice]

“It is impossible for any clear-headed person to suppose that the ever more destructive stupidities of war can be eliminated from human affairs until some common political control dominates the earth, and unless certain pressures due to the growth of population, due to the enlarging scope of economic operations or due to conflicting standards and traditions of life, are disposed of.
“To avoid the positive evils of war and to attain the new levels of prosperity and power that now come into view, an effective world control, not merely of armed force, but of the production and main movements of staple commodities and the drift and expansion of population is required. It is absurd to dream of peace and world-wide progress without that much control.”¹

“This candid attempt to take possession of the whole world, this Open Conspiracy of ours, must be made in the name of and for the sake of science and creative activity.”²

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(Bold emphasis added.)

1. Wells, H. G.. The Open Conspiracy: What Are We to Do with Our Lives? (Kindle Locations 450-455). Kindle Edition.
2. Ibid., (Kindle Locations 567-568).

Herbert George Wells ... (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback. ...
During his own lifetime, however, he was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web.[5] His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering. Brian Aldiss referred to Wells as the "Shakespeare of science fiction".[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

#060: False Flag: Franco-Prussian War Incitement

“Otto von Bismarck waved a "red flag" in front of the "gallic bull" by re-editing a telegram from the Prussian King so that it appeared as though the King had insulted a French ambassador during a time of extremely tense French-German international relations. The telegram is known as the Ems Dispatch. It helped encourage the states to go to war.”¹

“The Ems Dispatch ..., sometimes called the Ems Telegram,  was published on 13 July 1870 and incited the Second French Empire to start the Franco-Prussian War and to declare war on the Kingdom of Prussia on 19 July 1870. The actual dispatch was an internal message from Prussian King Wilhelm I's vacationing site to Otto von Bismarck in Berlin, reporting demands made by the French ambassador. Bismarck, the chancellor (head of government) of the North German Confederation, released a statement to the press that stirred up emotions in France and Germany.” ²

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1. https://military.wikia.org/wiki/False_flag
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispatch

*A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on a second party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promoters [analysts] in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.[1] ... The term today extends to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and make the attacks appear to be by enemy nations or terrorists, thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext for domestic repression and foreign military aggression.[7] ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

“The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War,[a] often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire (and later, the Third French Republic) and the German states of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to restore its dominant position in continental Europe, which it had lost following Prussia's crushing victory over Austria in 1866.[10] According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to draw four independent southern German states—Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt—into an alliance with the North German Confederation dominated by Prussia. Some historians contend that Bismarck exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. None, however, dispute the fact that Bismarck must have recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War

#059: Prostitution of The Press

“No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”¹

“To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, "by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only." Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. . . . I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false.”²

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All sources found at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson (Bold emphasis added.)

1. Letter to Judge John Tyler (June 28, 1804); in: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition (ME) (Lipscomb and Bergh, editors), 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04, Volume 11, page 33
2. Letter to John Norvell (11 June 1807). Original and transcript.

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743[a] – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

#058: “Free Argument and Debate”

“[T]ruth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate ; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.”¹

“Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known & seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper & sufficient antagonist to error.” ²

“We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”³

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All sources found at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson (Bold emphasis added.)
1. A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, Chapter 82 (1779). Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 1, pp. 438–441. Comparison of Jefferson's proposed draft and the bill enacted.
2. Notes on Religion (October 1776), published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson : 1816–1826 (1899) edited by Paul Leicester Ford, v. 2, p. 102
3. Letter to William Roscoe (27 December 1820)

#057: Greed is Dysfunctional

“We need to recognize that greed is dysfunctional economically. Adam Smith condemned making profit the bottom line for a business. The bottom line, he said, is to serve the public welfare. Profit is the reward a company gets for serving the public welfare. Billie Alban shared this: a Japanese auto executive recognized the precise moment that his company would surpass General Motors. It was when the head of GM said, 'We are not in the business of making cars. We're in the business of making money.'”*

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* Walter Wink. When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations (Kindle Locations 878-881). Kindle Edition.

Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wink

#056: Encompassed by Flatterers

“The most grievous danger of any Pope [or power figure] lies in the fact that encompassed as he is by flatterers, he never hears the truth about his own person and ends by not wishing to hear it.”* (Pope Alexander VI, 1492-1503 to a consistory of cardinals during a brief period of remorse in a reign of depravity.)

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* AD:1400s—Pope Alexander VI: Quoted by B.W. Tuchman, The March of Folly, p. 85)

Pope Alexander VI (born Rodrigo de Borja; Valencian: Roderic Llançol i de Borja ... 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503), was pope from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. ... Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI. ... Alexander is considered one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

#055: Warning to Rich Men

(Scripture Sunday)

1 GO to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.*
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* New Testament | James 5:1-9

James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee or as Saint James the Greater (... died AD 44), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament.  ... James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him.[Matt. 4:21–22][Mk. 1:19–20] James was one of only three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear witness to his Transfiguration.[2]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_the_Great