You Have a Right to Know – The X ((10) Factor

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Actually, You Can Fight City Hall—Even On Surveillance Issues

JULY 2, 2018

By Michael Maharrey

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “You can’t fight city hall!” Well, I did. And I won.

Last October, the city of Lexington, Kentucky, sued me in an attempt to keep its “mobile surveillance cameras” secret. Last week, in a major victory for government transparency, Fayette Circuit Judge John Reynolds issued an order granting my appeal for summary judgment. In simple terms, the judge rejected the city’s arguments for keeping its surveillance cameras secret and ordered the Lexington Police Department to release all relevant records.

An Initial Victory

My legal saga started last summer. After surveillance cameras appeared in a local skateboard park, I submitted an open records request to the LPD in an effort to determine what other surveillance programs it operates in Lexington. The police department admitted to using 29 mobile surveillance cameras “available for a variety of video surveillance operations.”

“Cameras are deployed as needed in support of active investigations in accordance with SOP BOI 93-46A, Criteria for Surveillance Conducted by Special Investigations Section,” they said.

While the police department acknowledged the existence of these cameras, it refused to provide any additional information other than redacted documents disclosing costs. The police claimed information about the types of cameras used and the policies surrounding their use were exempt under the state’s open records laws. The LPD cited a statute that exempts certain documents relating to homeland security, along with a second statute exempting certain “investigative reports.”

On appeal, the attorney general’s office rejected both exemptions claimed by the LPD and ordered the city to release the documents.

The City Retaliates—and Fails

On Oct. 2, 2017, a constable served me with a summons. The lawsuit was clearly intended to intimidate me into going away. The initial complaint even asked the judge to award the city court costs. Think about that for a moment. I simply asked for information relating to government activity. In response, the city sued me–a taxpayer–and demanded I foot the legal bill. So much for transparent government that serves “we the people.”

It was a shrewd strategy on the city’s part. City officials likely assumed I wouldn’t have the resources to pursue a court case, and I would just drop the matter. They were correct about the first assumption, but fortunately, the ACLU of Kentucky agreed to represent me in this case.

In court, the police basically argued that disclosing information about their cameras would render them ineffective and potentially jeopardize officer safety. It remains unclear how knowing what kind of “hidden” cameras the police own would make them ineffective. They also asserted that providing information about their surveillance activities would create an “undue burden.” In a nutshell, the city claimed that the investigation of crimes facilitated by the cameras constitutes “an important government interest” that warrants denial of the information.

While these may sound like compelling arguments on the surface, the city of Lexington failed to provide any basis for their assertions. On June 19, Judge Reynolds ruled that the city did not meet the standard of clear and convincing evidence required by the statute.

“In sum, this Court finds that the plaintiff, LFUCG, has failed to assert an applicable provision of the KRS or other binding precedent which would allow the denial of the information requested by Maharrey,” he wrote. “Therefore, LFUCG has failed to meet its burden of proof, and pursuant to ORA [Open Records Act] the requested information should be released for review by Maharrey.”

The city has 30 days to appeal or ask the circuit court for reconsideration. Otherwise, it must release the requested documents.

“We are the government”—or are we?

I’m not particularly comfortable casting myself as a little guy fighting the system. As the national communications director here at the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC), I had some firepower of my own and some resources at my disposal. Still, I could not have won this battle without the help of the ACLU of Kentucky and attorneys Clay Barkley and Heather Gatnarek. If I had been an average Lexingtonian, the city probably would have gotten its wish. I would have dropped the matter and gone away.

Make no mistake—this is a huge win for the people of Lexington. Those of us who live in this city have a right to know what our government does in our name. We have a right to weigh in and decide whether or not the benefit of surveillance technology outweighs the potential for abuse and violation of our basic privacy rights. We have a right to insist government agencies operate potentially invasive technology with oversight and transparency in a manner that respects our civil liberties.

Government secrecy steals power from the people. As the saying goes, sunlight is the best antiseptic. The city’s default position was to maintain secrecy, to keep the blinds closed, to slam the door in our face. Don’t let the fundamental nature of what happened to me escape you. When you boil it all down, the city sued me because I asked questions it didn’t want to answer. It kind of makes you wonder about the old adage, “We are the government,” doesn’t it?

Now, hopefully, we will get the kind of transparency we deserve. Whenever I talk about surveillance, people always ask me, ‘What do you have to hide?’ Well, I’ve been asking the city that question for nearly a year. I don’t think a little transparency and oversight is too much to ask for.

Building the Momentum of Accountability

I started a local group called We See You Watching Lexington to establish oversight and transparency of surveillance programs in this city. People shouldn’t have to get sued in order to find out what kind of surveillance programs the city operates. Furthermore, the city should not operate this kind of potentially invasive technology without firm policies in place directing how, when, and where it is used and establishing how information is stored and shared.

This is actually part of a broader movement of privacy localism that is taking on the surveillance state. The TAC has been involved in the Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS)initiative from the beginning and helped draft model legislation for a local surveillance ordinance that creates some level of transparency and oversight over local surveillance programs.

This is more than just a victory for me or even the people of Lexington. This is a win for all of us who care about liberty because it proves an important point. We can fight the government and win. Our efforts aren’t in vain. If I can do this, anybody can.

Here’s my challenge to you. Take what I’ve done and build on it. Get involved in your local community. Fight. If you don’t know how, we’ve got some resources to help. I put together a series of short podcasts called Activism 101. They offer simple step-by-step advice for starting activism in your own town. You can check out that series HERE.

Michael Maharrey is the national communications director at the Tenth Amendment Center. This article was sourced from FEE.org.

from:    https://www.activistpost.com/2018/07/actually-you-can-fight-city-hall-even-on-surveillance-issues.html

NOTE: In a nutshell, “The Tenth Amendment, or Amendment X of the United States Constitution is the section of the Bill of Rights that basically says that any power that is not given to the federal government is given to the people or the states.” (https://kids.laws.com/tenth-amendment)

The Birth of a Planet

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Scientists photograph the moment a new planet is born using the most powerful telescope ever built

  • The image was taken by the VLT, which is found in the Atacama desert, Chile
  • The black circle at the centre of the image is created by a filter
  • It allows astronomers to filter out the light from the star and see only the planet
  • Known as PDS70, the planet is several times heavier than Jupiter
  • It has a surface temperature of more than 1,000°C and is 370 light years away

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 07:43 EDT, 2 July 2018

Scientists have used the most powerful telescope ever built for peering into the depths of the universe to witness a planet being born for the first time.

The newborn world was snapped using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama desert and is thought to be 370 light years from Earth.

It was the telescope’s Sphere instrument, which allows experts to measure the brightness of the planet, that initially made the discovery.

Researchers were alerted to the birth of the new world by analysing different wavelengths of light to measures the properties of its atmosphere.

The discovery is a significant step forward in space exploration and provides new insight into how planets form.

This spectacular image from the Sphere instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the centre of the image

This spectacular image from the Sphere instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the centre of the image

The discovery was led by a team at the Max Plank Institute for Astronomy as part of the European Southern Observatory project.

Dubbed PDS 70b, the new planet is seen emerging from the shadow of its young star as the solar system forms.

Previous attempts to watch planet formation have been obscured by a cloud of dust from the new world.

However, this latest image from the VLT bypassed the dust by analysing the light around the newly-formed planet.

The dark region at the centre of the image produced is due to a filter which blocks the blinding light of the star and allows astronomers to detect the planet.

The planet itself is the bright orb of light to the right of the black disk.

The coronograph is a key part of the discovery, as without it, the sheer brightness of the light produced by its host star PDS 70 would overwhelm any light coming from the planet, making it indistinguishable.

WHAT IS THE VERY LARGE TELESCOPE?

The European Southern observatory (ESO) built the most powerful telescope ever made and called it the Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The telescope is widely regarded as one of the most advanced optical instruments ever made and consists of four Telescopes.

The main mirrors measures 8.2 metres (27 feet) in diameter and there are also four movable 1.8 metre (six feet) diameter auxiliary telescopes.

The large telescopes are called Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun.

The first of the Unit Telescopes, ‘Antu’, went into routine scientific operations on 1 April 1999.

The telescopes can work together to form a giant ‘interferometer’.

This interferometer allows images to be filtered for any unnecessary obscuring objects and, as a result, astronomers can see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes.

It has been involved in spotting the first image of an extrasolar planet, tracking individual stars moving around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way and observing the afterglow of the furthest known Gamma ray burst.

‘These discs around young stars are the birthplaces of planets, but so far only a handful of observations have detected hints of baby planets in them,’ explains Miriam Keppler, who lead the team behind the discovery of PDS 70’s still-forming planet.

‘The problem is that until now, most of these planet candidates could just have been features in the disc.’

It is believed that the planet is roughly 1.8 billion miles (three billion kilometres) from the central star, about the same as the distance between Uranus and the Sun.

For scale, that is almost as far as travelling around Earth’s equator almost 75,000 times.

Despite being this far from its star, the gas giant has a mass a few times heavier than Jupiter and its surface temperature exceeds 1,000°C (1832°F).

The newborn world was snapped using the ESO's Very Large Telescope (pictured) in Chile's Atacama desert and is thought to be 370 light years from Earth. It filtered out the signals of other celestial bodies to make the discovery possible

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The newborn world was snapped using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (pictured) in Chile’s Atacama desert and is thought to be 370 light years from Earth. It filtered out the signals of other celestial bodies to make the discovery possible

Sphere had to use specially designed observing strategies and data processing techniques to filter out the signal of the faint planetary companions around the bright young star to make this discovery possible.

Thomas Henning, director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and leader of the teams, summarises the scientific adventure: ‘After more than a decade of enormous efforts to build this high-tech machine, now Sphere enables us to reap the harvest with the discovery of baby planets!’

The Kepler telescope has been used to capture pictures of planets in their formative years, but not at this level of detail.

Dr Keppler says that the methods employed by the Kepler telescope, which is in orbit, are not perfect.

Kepler looks for drops in brightness as a planet passes in front of the star.

‘In this case we now have a direct image [of the planet] in its ‘birthplace’, which is the circumstellar disc,’ Dr Keppler told The Guardian.

‘This is especially important because people have been wondering [for a long time], how these planets actually form and how the dust and the material in this disc forms [into] a planet, and now we can directly observe this.’

The full findings will be published in two upcoming papers in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

for more, including video, go to:    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5909035/Scientists-capture-image-showing-moment-new-planet-born-time.html

No CO2, No Beer

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Beer Shortage Looms in Europe As CO2 Supply Dwindles

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer |
Beer Shortage Looms in Europe As CO2 Supply Dwindles

Beer drinkers in Europe could soon find that their favorite pub’s taps have run dry.

Credit: Shutterstock

Forget the conundrum of whether your glass is half-empty or half-full — pretty soon, plenty of beer glasses in the United Kingdom may not have anything in them at all.

Soda drinkers won’t have much to toast with, either. And it’s all due to a severe disruption in the European supply chain of industrial, food-grade carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas that lends the beverages their fizz, gas industry website Gasworld reported on June 19.

The CO2 shortage isn’t just affecting beverages — it’s also serving up a generous helping of trouble for meat production in Europe. Carbon dioxide is used in meat packaging to slow the growth of microbes and preserve the meat’s color and freshness, and in slaughterhouses, CO2 is used to stun animals prior to killing them, representatives of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) reported in a statement released June 21.

The trouble began with the recent closure of several industrial plants that provide liquid CO2 across northern Europe; they were shuttered “for various reasons, including maintenance and refurbishment,” affecting a number of businesses that produce or distribute food and beverages, Gavin Partington, director general at the British Soft Drinks Association, said in a statement on June 20.

BMPA officials reported on June 21 that the CO2 shortage would likely last “approximately four weeks.” In the days that followed, the flow of CO2 across northern Europe slowed to a trickle, with the U.K. the hardest hit by the CO2 scarcity. On June 26, a widely used British wholesale food and beverage company began rationing distribution of carbonated drinks, restricting businesses’ purchases to no more than 10 cases of beer and a maximum of five cases of cider or soda, CNBC reported.

Meanwhile, concerns were growing that meats, beer and carbonated beverages would disappear from British supermarket shelves “if a normal supply of CO2 is not restored as quickly as possible,” Ian Wright, a representative of the U.K.’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said in a statement released June 29.

A purified gas

CO2 that puts the fizz in your beer and soda is fundamentally the same as CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere, but it must be food-grade quality. In other words, to be used in food or drink, CO2 has to be purified according to local regulations and standards, and then shown to be free of contaminants, chemist and American Chemical Society member Richard Sachleben told Live Science.

This CO2 is typically produced as a byproduct of industrial or chemical manufacturing processes, such as those used in ammonia plants. It is dissolved in liquid in sealed containers under high-pressure conditions, Sachleben explained. Once the CO2 is sealed up, it has nowhere to go until the container is opened, which is why you see fizz rising in a bottle after you open the cap and release the pressure inside, enabling the CO2 to convert to gas and escape, he said.

“As long as you maintain the pressure, carbon dioxide will stay in the liquid — if you release the pressure, it’ll release into the atmosphere,” Sachleben said.

But in case you’re wondering if the U.K. and the rest of Europe could get some relief from the CO2 shortage by siphoning CO2 from the atmosphere — that wouldn’t be a practical solution, Sachleben told Live Science.

Even with rising levels of atmospheric CO2 due to climate change, CO2 in the air is still only about 400 parts per million, and is mixed with nitrogen, oxygen and other elements. It would therefore be quite a costly and time-consuming challenge to extract and refine purified CO2 from air — at least in the amounts that are typically collected from industrial processes, he said.

Original article on Live Science.

from:    https://www.livescience.com/62968-beer-shortage-co2-supply-dwindles.html

Dealing with Mars Retrograde

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How To Get The Most Out Of Mars Retrograde: June 26 – August 27

July 2, 2018

How-To-Get-The-Most-Out-Of-Mars-Retrograde-June-26-–-August-27.jpgThe astrological Mars often gets a bad rap. Mars is associated with war, hostility, anger, and rage; it fuels the primal “id” of need and desire – all things we consider “bad.” 

But Mars is also the factor that provides energy and motivation, fueling our desires so that we can accomplish our goals and dreams. We need Mars, and can’t live without it. But we need Mars to be healthy and clean of extraneous issues and ego needs.

That’s where the retrograde cycle of Mars comes in. Every two years or so Mars turns retrograde (meaning it appears to move backward from our perspective here on Earth).

Mars is an active planet and easily frustrated, so Mars is not very happy or comfortable during the retrograde periods which can make things more difficult for us individually since the force of Mars tends to be expressed more internally when Mars is retrograde. We are more likely to feel frustrated and angry if things don’t go our way, and less able to put our plans into motion.

Retrograde cycles are an important part of the unfolding story of our lives, and connecting ourselves with the rhythms of the planetary movements helps us to unlock the power of the planets to guide and help us shape our destiny.

There is a time for action when planets are direct, and a time for rest and reflection when planets turn retrograde, and this is especially true for Mars. During this period we may find it more difficult to initiate new action – there is a tendency to feel like we’re going one step forward and two steps back.

Retrograde periods of Mars can feel frustrating because our desires are often thwarted. If we listen to the planetary wisdom of the retrograde cycle and turn our attention within, we can utilize this time to re-assess and re-evaluate our desires, hopes, and wishes.

What’s known as the “shadow period” of a retrograde cycle begins when a planet slows down in anticipation of the retrograde turn. As it comes to a “station” (still point) its energies are most potent.

During this “shadow” period we are being prepared for the retrograde cycle. Our spiritual brakes are applied, usually without our conscious will, and the world begins to slow down around us. We may find ourselves becoming more frustrated, and that can lead to anger.

During this shadow and retrograde period, between June 26 and August 27, 2018, we can use the retrograde magic to pay attention. Where are we trying to make something happen but the doors keep closing around us? Where are we feeling weak and unable to assert ourselves? How is our body’s energy system coping with the retrograde?

Everyone will experience this cycle differently depending upon the health of Mars in our own charts, but here are some strategies for everyone to get the most out of this retrograde period.

Most importantly, take care of your health and your physical energy. With any challenging Mars cycle, this means physical activity of some sort, and with as much vigor as intensity as you can muster. Physical activity is an excellent way to balance the energy of Mars.

The advice you may hear to avoid conflict during Mars retrograde periods is really not helpful. Conflict often cannot be avoided, and in my view, the best way to manage conflict is to express it early.

Mars retrograde periods can be excellent for resolving longstanding conflicts and for bringing up issues that need to be dealt with. In fact, the retrograde period will force the continued reflection of the conflict until it is resolved.

Reassess your greatest desires; write down the five most important priorities for you at this time in your life. This is not a time to begin implementing action to make those things happen, but instead to reflect on your current priorities and see if any of them need to be adjusted.

All retrograde periods are excellent for reviewing our internal landscape: our thoughts, feelings, emotions, desires.

Mars retrograde periods are excellent for repairing your home, but not for beginning a new addition or new home project.

Mars fuels passion, and when retrograde our passions may wane or fizzle out altogether. This is a normal part of the natural rhythm of the planets so don’t worry!

Conserve your energies and gather your strength so when the retrograde is over, and Mars has picked up energy again, you will have the force of Mars to assist you in taking action once again.

from:     https://gostica.com/astrology/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-mars-retrograde-june-26-august-27/

I Have A Date for You!

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Scientists Confirmed: This Is The World’s #1 Food For Hypertension, Heart Attack, Stroke and Cholesterol!

Dates are ones of the healthiest fruits you can consume, as they are rich in beneficial ingredients that treat various health issues, including hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, and high cholesterol.

They also accelerate the metabolism. Here are 8 of their health benefits:

Dates prevent diarrhea

Dates are high in potassium, which prevents diarrhea by the healthy bacteria and thus relieving the belly flora and the intestines.

Dates regulate cholesterol

Dates cleanse blood vessels and prevent the formation of blood clots, so they effectively regulate the unhealthy cholesterol or LDL.

Dates regulate blood pressure

Dates are high in potassium and contain no sodium, so they are perfect in the case of hypertension. Moreover, 5-6 dates contain 80 mg of magnesium, which boosts the blood flow and is spread through the blood vessels. To reduce blood pressure, you need about 370 mg of magnesium.

Dates for anemia

These fruits are a rich source of iron, so they are extremely useful in the case of anemia, pregnancy, and for children. 100 grams of dates daily will provide 0.9 mg of iron, which is about 11 % of the recommended daily intake of iron.

Iron has a beneficial effect on the red blood cells and hemoglobin and helps the oxygen flow through the blood.

Dates prevent strokes

The high potassium content in these fruits enhances the nervous system and prevents strokes. Hence, the daily intake of 400 mg of potassium successfully prevents strokes.

 Dates for heart health

Soak the dates in water during the night, and in the morning eat them or add them to your smoothie to support heart health.

Dates soothe constipation

Dates are extremely useful in the case of constipation. You should keep them in some water overnight, and then drink the water in the morning to help digestion, and use their mild laxative properties.

Dates help weight loss

The consumption of dates on an empty stomach will help you control your body weight, as they contain no cholesterol.

Source: besthealthpage.com, Via: healthyfoodhouse.com

from:    http://www.bbncommunity.com/scientists-confirmed-worlds-1-food-hypertension-heart-attack-stroke-cholesterol/

Considering the Flu Vaccine? Consider this.

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Even the bestselling flu vaccine is only the fifth most popular vaccine in the United States.

Prevnar, the vaccine used to prevent infection caused by pneumococcal bacteria; Gardasil, which supposedly prevents cervical cancer; PENTAct-HIB, given to tiny infants to stave off diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, and Haemophilus influenzae type b; and Infanrix/ Pediarix, a vaccine indicated for active immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, infection caused by all known subtypes of hepatitis B virus, and poliomyelitis; are all far more popular than the flu vaccine.

Nonetheless, a report released in 2013 by the Department of Justice, shows that more than half of all claims settled by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, also known as the Vaccine Court, were for injuries caused by the influenza vaccine.

As reported by Health Impact News, during the period covering 16 August to 15 November 2013, 139 claims were settled by the Vaccine Court, 70 of which received compensation.

Of these settled claims, 42 – or 60 percent – were for injuries caused by the flu vaccine. The remaining 40 percent were for injuries caused by 11 other vaccines.

The greatest number of injuries by far that were reported as a result of the flu vaccine were for Guillain-Barré Syndrome, or GBS, a condition which the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes as follows:

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The first symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs.

In many instances the symmetrical weakness and abnormal sensations spread to the arms and upper body. These symptoms can increase in intensity until certain muscles cannot be used at all and, when severe, the person is almost totally paralyzed.

In these cases the disorder is life threatening – potentially interfering with breathing and, at times, with blood pressure or heart rate – and is considered a medical emergency.

Such an individual is often put on a ventilator to assist with breathing and is watched closely for problems such as an abnormal heart beat, infections, blood clots, and high or low blood pressure.

Most individuals, however, have good recovery from even the most severe cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, although some continue to have a certain degree of weakness.

The flu vaccine: a toxic recipe for disaster

The injuries caused by the flu vaccine, as listed in the Department of Justice report, are not limited to Guillain-Barré Syndrome, however.

They also include: neurological injury, peripheral neuropathy, painful myalgias, psychological sequella, opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome, cerebellar ataxia, corneal transplant failure, transverse myelitis, encephalitis, shoulder injury, bilateral optic neuritis resulting in permanent legal blindness, leukoencephalopathy, chemically-induced multiple sclerosis, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, fibromyalgia, and death, among others.

To the uninformed it might seem shocking that a medical procedure considered safe by the mainstream medical community could cause such serious health problems. When one considers the flu vaccine’s ingredients and adjuvants, however, it becomes totally understandable.

For one thing, the flu vaccine contains 25,000 times more mercury than is legally allowed in water.

For another, statistics confirm that vaccinated people are actually more susceptible to the flu and often get more ill than those who focus on building up their own body’s immune system.

Reports like these raise many issues.

For example, considering the severity of the reactions and conditions linked to the flu vaccine in just a three-month period, and remembering that very few adverse vaccine reactions are ever reported, why is the mainstream media not shouting this information from the rooftops?

Why is there virtually total media silence when it comes to the dangers of vaccines in general? Why are we not given this information when we choose to vaccinate ourselves and our children with these potentially deadly vaccines?

Source: Naturalnews.com / References: HealthImpactNews.com; NINDS.NIH.gov

from:    http://humansarefree.com/2018/06/us-government-statistics-flu-shot-is.html

 

Rome vs. Persia – Perhaps Even Now

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The Longest Conflict in World History may be the Root of War Today

The number one enemy of the US/NATO side of world power is Iran. Libya was first, now they want Syria, but the real target has always been Iran: why?

The answer to this question may be in part found in ancient history. Ever heard the expression “all roads lead to Rome?”

That means that the Western power cliques find root in Ancient Rome, whether it’s simple reverence for their ways, like the way the White House was situated on “Capitol Hill,” named after the Roman Capitoline Hill, or if the root is more literal.

England was once territory of the Romans, as was most of Western Europe. The Roman Empire once extended all the way to Syria, and that region of the world has always been the battleground between different Persian and Roman Empires.

Persia is Iran, and the on and off but quite consistent conflict between the Persian Empires and Roman Empires constitutes the longest war in the history of humanity.

The European royal families are father to son, direct descendants of the rulers of Europe hundreds of years ago today: it’s safe to say that kind of power tends to persist and be passed down through the generations.

Understanding that power is passed down, and it’s the historical norm for rivalries to last centuries, why wouldn’t it make sense to think that the modern day US/NATO conflict with Iran could find root in the conflict between Rome and Persia?

There may be reasons that the NATO side wants to control Iran so badly, that we don’t understand, that have roots in antiquity. Could there be ancient reasons why they want Syria, Iran, and modern day Persia?

Perhaps a bit of the historical details will trigger some imaginative theories.

The Roman-Persian wars lasted for 694 years, between the years of 66 BC and 628 AD. This is the longest conflict in human history. The conflict had been over for about 1,200 years prior to the modern day conflict between the West and Iran, but geographically, this region has been a crossroads forever.

Afghanistan, and Persia by extension, has historically been referred to as the “place empires go to die,” or the “graveyard of empires.” Nobody could colonize or conquer Persia during the reign of colonialism, when India, Australia, and other territories were ruthlessly conquered by the British, and the Americas were conquered by the Spanish.

It is the land where empires go to die because the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan and Pakistan shielded the Iranian, Persian homeland from attack.

Syria however, and the surrounding area, unfortunately does not have as great a defense against attack: and that brings us to where we are today. The Syrian conflict is no “civil” war.

States from the Greco-Roman world continuously engaged in conflict with two successive Iranian or Persian empires, the Parthian and the Sasanian empires.

It was the closest thing to constant world war that the world had really seen until the 20thCentury. Several vassal kingdoms provided the role of buffer states, and several nomadic nations that were allied played roles.

The beginning of Islam, with the Prophet Muhammad rising up out of the Arabian Peninsula to begin the Arab Muslim Conquests, was the fall of the Sasanian Empire and thus the near 700 war.

Then, the Muslims held down the territory of Persia against any intruder for the entire duration of the Colonialism Era.

The war began in Southern Armenia in 69 BC, when the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla decided to invade the territory of Tigranes in Southern Armenia, despite the wishes for an alliance between the Roman and Parthian kingdoms, on behalf of Persia.

Iran wanted peace in the very beginning ironically, but under Lucius, the Romans attacked the Persians over 2,000 years ago.

To read more about this, click this link for a starting point. The details get a little dry, but if you like to read about this type of thing, it could be very entertaining and informative.

So again: is the modern day rivalry between the NATO side and Iran based on something more than we know?

Royal families carry secrets, as do the fraternal orders and secret societies they participate in. I’m sure it’s the same way on the Iranian side of things, but perhaps not the same morally.

(Image credit: commons.wikimedia, slideshare, sott, pixdaus, quora, dreamallowed.wordpress, colorado.edu)

From:    https://themindunleashed.com/2018/06/the-longest-conflict-in-world-history-may-be-the-root-of-war-today.html

Following Your Dream

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“I Will Teach You” by Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim

Photograph by Republic of Korea

Photograph by Republic of Korea

Only a miracle would free her to live her own life

As the following passage opens, the young Tae Yun Kim, a South Korean girl who has been separated from her relatives by the horrors of the Korean war, has returned to her family.
–The Editors

Eventually, I was reunited with my family, and when the war was over I went to live with my grandparents. One blue-gray morning in Kimcheon, South Korea, I was awakened by a shout. Although the war had ended, sudden sounds still had an unsettling effect on me. Cautiously I slid open the rice paper window in the room. My uneasiness disappeared as I saw something that instantly captivated me.There, in the early morning fog, my uncles were practicing an ancient martial art. I was mesmerized. The mists swirled with their fluid kicks. Their bodies glistened in the first light of dawn as they moved with amazing power and grace. What I saw awakened a deep feeling inside me. Their movements seemed mystical and yet so natural. To my seven-year-old mind, this was beautiful and exciting. It was important. Nothing had ever seemed so perfect. I had to learn how to do that myself. Little did I know how profoundly that moment would affect my life—and how much opposition I would face to fulfilling my desire.

As soon as I could, I asked my uncles to teach me how to do what they were doing, but they met my desire with laughter. “What?” they laughed. “You’re supposed to learn how to cook and sew. And if you’re lucky, someone will find you a husband.” You see, being seven years old was not the obstacle. The obstacle was that I was a girl.

Teaching martial arts to little boys was not unusual. In fact, it was a common practice. Girls, however, were forbidden to learn martial arts. Why? Simply because it had been that way for centuries. Everyone told me it was silly for me to even imagine that my uncles or anybody else would teach me martial arts. I should look forward to growing up, getting married, and having twelve sons, they kept saying. But I didn’t want to follow the path everyone expected of me. The women in my village were always working, working, working with their backs hunched over. That didn’t seem like any fun to me. I didn’t want to become like my mother. I didn’t want to become like my grandmother. I didn’t want to produce a lot of sons. I didn’t want any of that. I knew in my heart that I was supposed to dedicate myself to learning martial arts.

No matter how often my uncles told me that it would be impossible for me to learn martial arts, I would not listen. I insisted that they teach me anyway. Finally one of my uncles came up with a strategy that he thought would work. “Well,” he said, “if we go ahead and give her lessons, she will probably give up.” They were sure that I would stop being so persistent when I saw how difficult it was and started getting bruises from working out.

So every morning, I practiced. Yes, the work was hard and the bruises were many. I had to wear pants to hide the bruises so the other children wouldn’t laugh at me. But to my uncles’ surprise, I did not give up. To their further bewilderment, I progressed. I faced enormous difficulties—not in the art itself but in the continued resistance I met from those who believed that a woman couldn’t and shouldn’t be able to do that. I was, after all, breaking a five-thousand-year-old culture and tradition.

My family, my neighbors, and everyone I met applied enormous psychological and emotional pressure to try and stop me. My family even applied physical pressure, beating me and locking me in my room to keep me from practicing. My mother constantly nagged me and complained, “Why are you such a terrible daughter?” My father would come home drunk every night and beat my mother and me, demanding that I start acting like a marriageable young lady so he could have some peace in life.

My mother was once so desperate to keep me from practicing that she took a pair of scissors and cut off my hair, leaving me with a short, funny-looking hairstyle. She wanted to make me feel so embarrassed that I would not want to leave the house to go practice. I cried, crawled into the corner, and touched my hair in disbelief. Then I thought to myself, “Okay, hair grows back. My hair will grow back. I will have to endure looking like this for a little while, but I am not going to let you stop me from doing what I love. You are not going to cut away my dreams. I will not give that power to you.” In reality, the actions of my mother and family only made me more motivated and committed. The more I heard, “No, no, no,” the more I said to myself, “Yes, yes, yes. I can do it. I will do it.”

When I tell this story, people always ask me whether I was upset with my family for trying to hold me down. Of course I shed a lot of tears and would become frustrated and angry. At some point, though, I realized that my mother was simply doing what she thought was right. She had been taught, as had her mother before her, that the best way to raise a little girl was to teach her to fulfill the role expected of her as a good wife and mother, not to encourage her to dream big. The people who raise us usually do what they think is best for us. If you can understand why they are acting the way they are, you can have greater compassion for them. That doesn’t mean you have to accept their opinions or act like a victim. When you really want something that you believe in passionately, you can’t let anyone rob you of your dreams.

Take a moment now and think about yourself. Have you ever had to stand up for yourself in the face of pressure from those who wanted to force you to live in a certain way? What sort of challenges are you facing now? What dreams are you fighting for?

Photograph by the Republic of Korea

Photograph by the Republic of Korea

At this point in my life, I had an even worse reputation if that was possible. I was considered bad luck because I was born on the lunar new year as a girl instead of a boy, and now I was doing something that only boys and men were supposed to do. Everyone in my family was convinced that there was surely something wrong with me. While they would have been proud of my accomplishments had I been a boy, they regarded this as one more way that I was bringing shame upon them. In addition, my family was understandably worried that if I kept behaving in such odd ways, nobody would want to marry me and I would grow up to be a lonely, isolated, outcast old woman.Still, my mind was set. I was determined to break out of the box everyone was trying to keep me trapped in. I knew I had to be true to the burning desire deep within. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, that persistence is what would keep my dream alive through what was coming next.

One day I saw my grandfather talking to a strange woman in broad daylight, something that you would never normally see in our strict culture. All at once I realized what was happening—the woman was a matchmaker and my grandfather was bribing her to find me a husband. That’s not going to happen, I told myself. I knew that I needed to find a way to make sure the matchmaker didn’t like me, because if she did, I was going to be in big trouble.

When my grandfather asked me to serve tea to the two of them so the matchmaker could get a closer look at me, I knew this was my chance to thwart his plan. As I walked toward them holding the hot tea, I suddenly knocked the cup filled with steaming liquid onto the matchmaker’s lap, making it look like an accident.

She was furious. “I don’t care how much  money you give me,” she shouted. “She’s bad luck and I’m never going to find her a husband. She is clumsy, she is no good, she is like a boy!” Other girls would have been dismayed that such an important person as a matchmaker didn’t like them, but I was ecstatic.

As you can imagine, after I had spilled tea on this woman, no other matchmaker would come anywhere near me. My family was at their wit’s end. In their minds, they had done everything in their power to knock some sense into me. Now, they thought, if no one would marry me, they had only one choice left—to turn me over to the Buddhist monks and ask them to accept me as one of them.

Photograph by Jason Briscoe

Photograph by Jason Briscoe

That’s how the only person who would come to believe in me entered my life. Following the painful episode with the matchmaker, my grandfather invited a monk to come to our house to talk over this plan with him. As they were talking, the monk kept glancing over at me. I had no idea why he was there, but I knew they must be talking about me. Then the monk motioned for me to come over to him. You may not realize how extremely unusual that was. In my culture at the time, girls were not allowed to even make eye contact with their elders. They always had to look down, and if they ever dared laugh or smile in the presence of a grown-up, they were supposed to cover their mouths. Girls were never allowed to speak directly to their grandfathers or even eat in the same room with them, nevertheless talk to a man who was a monk. That was like having a king ask me to talk with him.

I walked over to the monk, looking down at the ground. In a very gentle, amazingly kind voice, he asked, “So, little girl, don’t you want to get married?”

“No, sir,” I answered.

“But it’s a woman’s place to get married and to be happy having sons and taking care of her family,” he said.

“No, sir,” I repeated. “That’s not what I want.”

“So what do you want to do when you grow up?”

“I want to become a teacher and help people.”

What a bold statement that was. In the 1950s in Korea, it was unheard of for girls to have such dreams. I might as well have been saying, “I’m going to the moon.”

“A teacher?” the monk asked. “What can you possibly teach?”

“I want to teach martial arts.”

“Martial arts?”

“Yes, sir. I’m going to be the first woman teaching martial arts.”

Unlike every other person in my life, he did not scoff at me or dismiss my audacious claim. Instead, in the same gentle tone he said, “Look at me.”

Since girls were not allowed to look a monk in the eye, I thought he must be crazy. But he took his hand, put it under my chin, and lifted my head up. “Um hum,” he said, as he studied my face for what seemed like an eternity. I had no idea what he was thinking. Then he looked directly into my eyes and said the words I had been waiting so long to hear: “Yes, you will become a great teacher.”

I could not believe my ears. Someone was finally acknowledging me and my desires. Then he said something even more amazing: “I will teach you.”

At first I didn’t believe him. But when he again said, “I will teach you,” I knew he was serious. For me, having someone of his stature say he was going to teach me martial arts was like winning a billion dollars in the lottery! It was the first time in my life that anyone had looked at me not as a lowly girl who was always disappointing everyone but as a human being who had value. In that split second, my life changed. ♦

Excerpted with permission from Seven Steps to Inner Power: How to Break Through to Awesome by Tae Yun Kim (Mountain Tiger Press, 2018). MountainTigerPress.com

From Parabola Volume 43, No. 2, “The Miraculous,” Summer 2018. This issue is available to purchase here. If you have enjoyed this piece, consider subscribing. 

from:    https://parabola.org/2018/04/29/i-will-teach-you-by-great-grandmaster-tae-yun-kim/

Know Your Rights!

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BE ADVISED:  There is some language in here that certain people may find offensive.

How One Woman Stood Up to Border Patrol When They Boarded Her Greyhound Bus

She was loud and made sure everyone knew that what was happening was illegal.
greyhound-bus-border-patrol.jpg
Yvette Montoya

We hear the word “ally” thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean to be an ally in a time when people are actually turning in their neighbors, delivery people, and parents dropping their kids off at school? When Tiana Smalls boarded a Greyhound bus in Bakersfield, California, headed to Las Vegas, she found herself in a situation that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany. She recounts her experience in a Facebook post that has now gone viral.

Ok. Storytime: this is kinda long but PLEASE READ. It’s about my experience last night with these fucking border patrol agents.

Last night, I rode the greyhound bus from Bakersfield to Las Vegas to visit family.
When we got to the California/Nevada state line, as always, there’s a checkpoint.
(This checkpoint USED to be one where they made sure you weren’t carrying fruits into California, bc of an invasive fruit fly species).

Anyway…

The bus driver makes an announcement: “We are being boarded by Border Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request”.

WAIT. WHAT THE FUCK?

This is when Tiana decided to act when she could have just minded her business and continued her trip. But, no, what happened next is so bold and brave:

So you know I’m ready to act an ASS.

I stand up and say LOUDLY: THIS IS A VIOLATION OF YOUR 4TH AMENDMENT* RIGHTS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOW THEM *SHIT*!!! This is illegal. We are not within 100 miles of an international border so that have NO authority to ask you for ANYTHING. TELL THEM TO FUCK OFF!

Realizing that the people most likely to be targeted by Border Patrol officers are Latinos, Smalls got on Google Translate so she could read her message in Spanish to make sure everyone knew what their rights were. She even went as far as reassuring the terrified woman next to her knew she wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

And, Since my Spanish sucks, I Google translated how to say that in Spanish and repeated myself:
Esto es una violación de los derechos de su cuarta enmienda. ¡No tienes que mostrarles nada! Esto es ilegal No cumples, y no tengas miedo. Están equivocados, y no dejaremos pasar esto.

The lady next to me did not speak English. She looked terrified. I reassured her that I had her back.

When Border Patrol boarded the bus, Smalls was loud, stood her ground, and made sure the agents, the driver, and everyone on the bus knew that what they were doing was illegal.

The agents get on. Proceed to announce that they are about to start asking for “documentation” from people.

I Stand up and yell “I’m not showing you shit! I’m not driving this bus, so you have NO RIGHT to ask me for anything! And the rest of you guys don’t have to show them anything, either! This is harassment and racial profiling! Don’t show them a gotdamn thing! We are not within 100 miles of a border so they have NO LEGAL RIGHT or jurisdiction here! GOOGLE IT!”

The agents start to look exasperated, because they can see I’m willing to act a WHOLE DONKEY. One of them said “Fine. We can see that you’re a citizen because of your filthy mouth.” And then they just said “go ahead” to the bus driver and got off.

Small’s “filthy mouth” saved numerous lives. She stuck up for what was right and for those who were most vulnerable. And she reminds everyone that injustice exists because of fear and silence and that using your voice to defend those in danger is the only way to combat the racism and blatant xenophobia sweeping the United States.

Point is: These border patrol officers act like they do because they EXPECT people to be afraid of them and just comply. The lady next to me spoke NO ENGLISH, but she was a very kind woman. She looked TERRIFIED when they boarded. I felt it was my duty to defend her. We DO NOT LIVE in Nazi Germany. No one should be asked to present “papers” for interstate travel. I defended her, and I defended myself. We DO NOT HAVE to just take this shit LYING down. What those officers did is WRONG and completely illegal. All it took was ONE LOUD ass Black woman to let them know WE ARE NOT WITH THE SHITS. FUCK Y’ALL. And they backed off.

Use your voice. Take a risk. Act an ASS. Because if you let them intimidate the poor Spanish[-]speaking woman next to you, who do you think they’re coming for next?

#ftpd #greyhound #useyourvoice

But what I really want to know is why Greyhound is allowing paying customers to be arrested simply for existing?

This article was originally published by Hip Latina. It has been edited for YES! Magazine.

from:   http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/how-one-woman-stood-up-to-border-patrol-when-they-boarded-her-greyhound-20180628

  • Amendment IV

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

A Little Buddhist Humor

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13 Buddhist Jokes That Will Enlighten Your Day

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Buddhists are one of the least understood religions out there, not because of a disinterest in understanding it, but because of so much disinformation. Buddhist jokes actually help us understand Buddhism the way it should be.

These are a few of my favorites.

1. Says the Master to his pupil: “Do you understand that you don’t really exist?”
Upon which the pupil replies: “To whom are you telling that?”

2. A zen student asked his master: “Is it okay to use email?” “Yes”, replied the master, “but with no attachments.”

3. Someone sent the Buddha a gift box tied with a ribbon. Buddha opened it to find it empty. “Aha!”, he said, “Just what I wanted. Nothing!”

4. What does a Buddhist comedian say when the audience stops laughing?
“I know you’re out there. I can concentrate on your breathing.”

5. A Western Buddhist woman was in India, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw, when they were attacked by a man on the street. In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher. She asked him what she should have done: “what would have been the appropriate, Buddhist response?” The teacher said very simply, “You should have very mindfully and with great compassion whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella.”

6. What did one Zen practitioner give to another for their birthday?
Nothing

7. What did the Buddhist say to the pizza chef?
Make me one with everything. The pizza chef prepares it and gives it to the monk. The monk pays him and asks for the change. The pizza vendor says: “Change comes from within.”

8. How many Zen Buddhists does it take to screw in a light bulb? There is no light bulb.

9. Q: What happens when a Buddhist becomes totally absorbed with the computer he is working with?
A: He enters Nerdvana.

10. Why did the Buddhist coroner get fired?
He kept marking the cause of death as “birth.”

11. A Buddhist phones the monastery and asks the monk, “Can you come to do a blessing for my new house?”
The monk replies “Sorry, I’m busy.”
“What are you doing? Can I help?”
“I’m doing nothing.” replied the monk. “Doing nothing is a monk’s core business and you can’t help me with that.”
So the next day the Buddhist phones again, “Can you please come to my house for a blessing?”
“Sorry,” said the monk, “I’m busy.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m doing nothing,” replied the monk.
“But that was what you were doing yesterday!” said the Buddhist.
“Correct”, replied the monk, “I’m not finished yet!”
~ Ajahn Brahm

12. Prince Gautama, who had become Buddha, saw one of his followers meditating under a tree at the edge of the Ganges River. Upon inquiring why he was meditating, his follower stated he was attempting to become so enlightened he could cross the river unaided. Buddha gave him a few pennies and said: “Why don’t you seek passage with that boatman. It is much easier.”

13. A Zen master told me, “Do the opposite of what I tell you.” So I didn’t.

This post was republished from e-buddhism.com. You can find the original post here.

from:    http://www.bbncommunity.com/13-buddhist-jokes-will-enlighten-day-2/