~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What this means is that the earth has prominences similar to those that we can see on the sun. And this reminds me, once again, of Joseph Smith's curious assertion that, "Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's worth noting that the gods to the ancients were the planets, and the planets were studied by those whom scripture refers to as wizards, sorcerers, 'wise men', magicians, or 'magi' for short. And, while some of these were charlatans, others were clearly legitimate. When no one else knew the when or where of the Messiah's birth, the wise men did. And there was a name for this priesthood of astronomers: Chaldeans. And the Chaldeans lived among themselves in what we would today call suburbs, like the industrial zone, except that theirs was the academic/theological zone. This is what is meant by the name, Ur of the Chaldees. There was another Ur. Today, there is even debate as to which one was the home of Abraham: Ur Kasdim or Urfa, Turkey. This tradition of setting the scientific/astronomical/priestly class apart in their own towns/suburbs was continued upon the arrival of the Israelites in their promised land when the Levites, rather than receiving a portion of the land in the manner that the other tribes did (ignoring for now that Dan was essentially given free rein to explore and/or claim the whole world), Levi was to have specific towns spread among all the other tribes in order to bless each of them equally, and not to deny any of them of education and intelligence. By the way, Urfa, Turkey recently gained support for its claim as Abraham's birthplace by the discovery of Göbekli Tepe. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I probably don't need to explain what I like about this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aaaannd where would we be without our daily global warming news? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We keep hearing news about vaccines either not working, or actually killing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And maybe this is why: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Connect the dots. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are under attack. A terror-plot? By Antifa?! Say it aint' so, Joe! Aaand yet another terror plot: Even ... what am I saying, even ... Especially in (still Nazi) Germany where a 'family-oriented' magazine decries us dangerous people. And the body count grows. But the good guys are fighting back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I find that Polly does pretty good work. Did you know that there was more than just the one bomb in Sri Lanka? And on more than just Easter Sunday. And isn't it curious which of the players was present for big events? You can add Samantha Power to our watch-list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I spent a few years in or near Texas, specifically Sugarland (a suburb of Houston), San Antonio, and up in the 'ArkLaTex' area. I could see then that the deeply Republican reputation of Texas was only skin deep, and changing fast. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the problems people have with learning English is that its vocabulary is so large, and growing. Case in point: Backchannel. When I was young, we might have called this kind of communication secret, under the table, a side-line or side-channel. Now it's backchannel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yeah, it's not looking good. The list of awkward questions is compounding, like, if they even suspected a foreign power was attempting to infiltrate Trump's campaign, then why didn't they warn him the same way they warned Dianne Feinstein that her 'chauffer' of twenty years was a Chinese spy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You'll see this again in my next chapter on human trafficking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An important villain whose impact we're going to have to track more carefully. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another villain to add to our 'most wanted' list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A villain worth knowing about. Some in the Q entourage insist that Mueller is, or has become a good guy. I'm skeptical. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This should be all you need to predict how well India's plans to challenge China will go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What did he do? Oh, right, help HRC get away with ... well ... a laundry-list of crimes: Selling uranium to Russia, criminally avoiding FOIA scrutiny with her e-mail servers (yes, plural!) (What?! You didn't know that?), obstruction, destroying evidence, witness tampering, ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Uuseful numbers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An interesting idea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fake news is nothing new. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm always interested in other perspectives. I'll let you know if I find anything here worthwhile. Or maybe you'll beat me to it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |