The Apocalypse is now!

While there may be some who read this who welcome the results of the BREXIT vote in the tenuously "United" Kingdom and/or support the erratic Presidential campaign of Donald Trump, the concurrence of BREXIT vote and Trump campaign is continuing evidence of the apocalyptic nature of our times where climate change threatens the extinction of humanity. Although he eschews the word "Apocalypse" Pope Francis has recognized the selfish instincts which threaten the survival of our posterity. The drought and fires in the western US and the epic floods in West Virginia are just two examples of what awaits humanities future.

The BREXIT vote in particular has drawn me this Sunday to one poem that has affected me deeply and guided my thoughts for decades: William Butler Yeats The Second Coming"  published in 1919.

"Things fall part" Yeats wrote. "the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world . . . The blood-dimmed tide is loosed … The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

In my book The Coming of the Quantum Christ I wrote of an Apocalypse of Selfishness. Trump is the embodiment of selfishness. When a horrible massacre occurred in Orlando, Florida, Trump's first message did not reflect sympathy and concern for the victims and their families but how everybody was congratulating him for being right about the threat of Islam. He was actually in Scotland the day after the BREXIT vote "trumpeting" the beautiful amenities of his two Scottish golf courses until he was directed to the BREXIT, the results which has embraced. Indeed, Trump remarked that because BREXIT is devaluing the British Pound Sterling, his resorts will do well, The devaluation of the pound makes US dollars more valuable and will attract  more US visitors to Scotland.  He expressed no sympathy for British pensioners whose pensions will be devalued along with the pound.

Is it any wonder that I earlier asked tongue not entirely in cheek whether he was the Anti-Christ? Pope Francis has made it abundantly clear that in his view that selfishness is the driving force of climate change. On May 21, 2014, he lamented “If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us.”

Only by united, unselfish actions can we ameliorate the extreme result of climate change: the extinction of humanity. Trump and the BREXIT vote are material manifestations of selfishness in action. I read the last stanza of Yeats poem to be not an inquiry about Christ but the Anti-Christ:

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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This is not a promo for my book "Quantum Christ" but if you are interested:

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

Orlando and the Masque of the Orange Death

It turns out there was another attack on the LBGT community thwarted yesterday in Santa Monica, CA. "20-year-old Wesley Howell reportedly traveled from Indiana to attack the Southern California LGTB event" There is a disturbing resonance with the Orlando attack. In his car were three AR-15 assault rifles with high capacity magazines. Yesterday on my Facebook page, I noted that there seemed to be an emerging pattern in the "lone nut" attacks that indicated inspiration from an ISIS standard operating procedure (SOP) is confirmed by different common threads and in this case far more important and deadly: the AR-15s and the high capacity magazines.

One doesn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to at least suspect that the fact that Howell was carrying three AR-15s may indicate a thwarted meeting with co-conspirators.

My main point is that we are going to hear a lot about what we can do to thwart the ISIS self-motivated terrorists. Frankly we had done something in the wake of the attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan the Brady Bill. A key feature of the bill was struck by the Supreme Court. Because of the perceived power of the National Rifle Association no progress has been made in protecting the American public from gun violence. Congress even defeated an Obama proposal that gun sales to individuals on the terrorist watch list be banned.

In some states, like New York the sale of high capacity magazines has been banned. But New York is helpless to the importation of AR15s and high capacity  magazines from sister states.

The Orlando massacre will become an issue in the Presidential campaign. Donald Trump has already congratulated himself for his foresight in demanding an end to ANY Muslim entering the United States although the Orlando assassin was a native born American citizen. The problem with ISIS inspired lone wolf attacks is that the supply of disaffected individuals seeking a place in the sun who are native born US citizens while not unlimited is undoubtedly quite large.

It's time to ban high capacity magazines nation wide and adopt reasonable restrictions of assault rifles. Sales to individuals on the terrorist watch list must also be banned although any individual who feels unjustifiable denied a gun ought to have a right to appeal. One candidate for President (and I expect one sitting President) will raise that issue. Another candidate for President having pledged his fealty to the NRA will oppose any remedial gun control legislation. His claim will be that his Mexican wall and barring any Muslim immigration is the answer.

Except that's irrelevant to what happened in Orlando and might have happened in Santa Monica. For a relevant essay on the topic see Edgar Alan Poe and The Masque of the Red Death. Or maybe this time the mask is orange.

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This is not a promo for my book "Quantum Christ" but if you are interested:

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

A Remembrance on the Invasion of Normandy

Today is the 72nd anniversary of the Normandy invasion. My cousin Billy Hundshamer didn't go ashore with the first wave but was killed a few weeks later in the hedge row fighting on the Cherbourg peninsula. Given the madness of the current Presidential campaign (or at least one major party candidate), you might you might be interested in a remembrance of mine posted decades ago about Billy and my family.

http://johnklotz.com/billy.htm

One error, my Aunt Pauline did not perform for Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House but at Hyde Park. God bless the United States of America

Is Donald Trump the Anti-Christ?

In Chapter 16 of my book "the Coming of the Quantum Christ: The Shroud of Turin and the Apocalypse of Selfishness (Quantum Christ) I wrote:

Among the hymns sung Christmas is the French hymn Canitque Noel (O Holy Night). It captures the mystery of the night and its enduring message of Jesus birth in these words:

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘til he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

Chapter 15 identified the soul with the reflective consciousness described by Teilhard de Chardin. It also identifies “original sin” as selfishness, one of the driving forces of evolution. Before humanity evolved with a reflective consciousness, there was no sin. Metaphorically, the first sin was Cain’s murder of Abel, an angry selfish response to God bestowing favor on his younger brother, an honor that Cain thought should have been his.

The “sin and error” that the caused the world to pine were the bitter fruits of selfishness which, like the paths of glory, lead but to the grave. In Chapter 16, "The Triumph of Love," I opined that Christ was crucified because he preached unselfish love that the devotees of selfishness could not tolerate. In Chapter 17, I wrote that humanity faced possible extinction through an Apocalypse of Selfishness.
If the Apocalypse is upon us, and Christ is coming again, where you might ask is the Anti-Christ? Have we not heard his voice although some of you of conservative bent may object loudly. All I ask is that you choose your words carefully. There is so much at stake.

In Chapter 17, I specifically identified two Apostles of Selfishness. One was Friedrich Nietzsche, the other was Ayn Rand. One of the individuals who worshiped Ayn Rand was Alan Greenspan whose catering to the interest of Wall Street as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board was among the causes of the collapse of the economy circa 2007- 2008. Still, Greenspan is unrepentant about his opposition to regulation of the financial derivatives markets.

In his campaign for President, Donald Trump has exhibited narcissism that borders on the psychotic. He knows more about ISIS than the Generals. He believes he can deal on equal footing with the most despicable tyrants of our CURRENT time in North Korea and Russia. He would abrogate the agreement which is denying nuclear weapons to Iran. He would tear-up the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and would encourage Japan to arm itself with nuclear weapons. His tax plan if you read the fine print would in fact reduce taxes on the top 1% while gutting programs to aid the poor. Can anyone who finds God, in Christ, Moses or Bhudda actually applaud the already executed reductions of food stamps?

Trump is like the Pharisee who stood at the alter thanking God he was not like a tax collector who was in the back of the synagogue begging forgiveness because he was a sinner.
In my recent research I have dealt with the levels of existence. No matter how many ways you slice it, either way it begins and ends with what the scientists call a singularity which is a mathematical equation of infinite value. The easiest way to realize such an equation is one I learned in my high school Algebra class: divide one by zero. You can try it on your computer. Window has calculator that can handle it as much as it can be handled.

Some scientists limn a future Utopia where artificial intelligence surpasses human capacity. Perhaps that is ultimate selfishness. For I foresee that future not as utopian by dystopian. To understand what that means I reference two movies: Blade Runner and The Matrix.

Whatever your religious preference, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheistic humanist, the way to Utopia is not selfishness but unselfishness. When you listen to Trump, you will not hear the voice of Isaiah which defines the Utopian vision for all humanity upon the Second Coming:
And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not liftup sword against nation, And never again will they study  war.

Pope Francis has called upon the world to shed its selfish exploitation of the poor and the environment. He is a Pope of All Humanity; Trump's campaign is grounded in selfishness and will lead only to the grave.

Sometime years ago, while riding the subway from Riverdale to Manhattan, I can across an article in the N.Y. Times speculating on gravity and other scientific problems. It appeared that contrary to the standard model, light could vary in speed.

I composed a little couplet, one line too long for a haiku:
Space being curved,
Time varying in speed,
Whom do we heed?
Him.

 As for me: "I ain't gonna study war no more."
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RESOURCES:
I believe but I am not be totally sure that NY Times piece that "inspired" my couplet is this one: "New Directions in Physics: Back in Time," NY Times, August 21, 1990.

I was a consultant on a new video by David Rolfe, producer of the 1978 BAFTA award winning movie about the Shroud of Turin, Silent Witness. The new video is: A Grave Injustice: An investigation into The First Selfie. http://www.shroudenigma.com/ " It's free.

If you are interested in  Quantum Christ, you can read reviews and order a copy (Either E-Book, Kindle or four color hard copy at http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

The most extensive Internet resource which is https://www.shroud.com/
Its editor Barrie Schwortz was documenting photographer of the 1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project. If you have interest in the Shroud of Turin, it's the best place to start.