Happy Easter
Easter echoes the older human festivities that celebrate the arrival of spring. The dark and cold days of winter are gone. The bright time of fertility has come.
Today's fertility symbols of Easter, the egg and the hare, relate to the old Germanic fertility goddess Eostre (Ostara).
The Christian resurrection of Jesus is probably a transformation of the story of Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess of love who stepped down into the underworld of death but was revived.
When the Christian belief spread from its eastern Mediterranean origin, the incorporation of old local gods and fables helped to convert the old multi-theistic societies to the new believe. The gods of the pre-Christian religions were not completely discarded, but their tales transformed to support the message the Christian preachers were spreading.
Faberge egg with spring flowers and music box - bigger - detail
A personal Easter ritual, inherited from my father, is to read out loud the Easter Walk from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's, Faust, Part I:
Look from this height whereon we find us
Back to the town we have left behind us,Where from the dark and narrow door
Forth a motley multitude pour.They sun themselves gladly and all are gay,
They celebrate Christ's resurrection to-day.For have not they themselves arisen?
From smoky huts and hovels and stables,
From labor's bonds and traffic's prison,
From the confinement of roofs and gables,
From many a cramping street and alley,
From churches full of the old world's night,
All have come out to the day's broad light.
...
How it hums o'er the fields and clangs from the steeple!
This is the real heaven of the people,
Both great and little are merry and gay,
I am a man, too, I can be, to-day.
Happy Easter!
Posted by b on April 21, 2019 at 12:14 UTC | Permalink
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely --having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
Posted by: librul | Apr 21 2019 12:36 utc | 2
Happy Easter to you b, and to all visitors here (who observe it)!
Posted by: ex-SA | Apr 21 2019 12:57 utc | 3
Or, you could watch the movie version of Ishtar.
Happy Easter to all!
Just remember when considering donkeytale:
Love the sinner, hate the sin
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 21 2019 13:02 utc | 4
donkeytale
There is no sin without the sinner. Forgiveness comes with rectitude.
Easter is about rebirth. Reflect on that.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 21 2019 13:45 utc | 6
Oy meant to be Oh. But I guess I just out myself as a zionist.....????
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 21 2019 13:47 utc | 8
donkey
The preachiness is because you're always trying to game us.
That's what you were doing @4.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 21 2019 14:36 utc | 9
thanks! happy easter to everyone....
john - nice track!!
Posted by: james | Apr 21 2019 15:15 utc | 11
https://www.presstv.com/ https://www.rt.com/
Sir Lanka's bloody day: known thus far..
Blasts target churches, hotels Ukrianian Choice vote for comedian or politicians.
at least 207 people killed 450 others wounded..
@ 3 churches and hotels
what's this all about?
Posted by: snake | Apr 21 2019 15:49 utc | 13
Happy Spring / Easter, b and barflies. Great sentiments, J-rabb.
Posted by: robjira | Apr 21 2019 16:04 utc | 14
Not quite Happy Easter here in Sri Lanka.
Unhappily we in this little Island get dragged into world politics.
One week early, but Christos Voschress ('ch' sounded guttarly) -- Christ is Risen!
Posted by: chet380 | Apr 21 2019 17:35 utc | 20
Yes Jack Rabboni, I will try my best....
[the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak...]
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 21 2019 17:43 utc | 21
The. Name "Easter" is derived from "Ishtar", the Babylonian goddess of fertility - hence the eggs and bunny rabbits. So all of you so called "Christians", enjoy your worship of Ishtar. If your congregation hasn't stopped this worship by elemenating the name and symbols of fertility, you might seriously consider it.
Posted by: Karl | Apr 21 2019 18:27 utc | 24
I dislike religion but bunnies are ok with me, so happy easter, folks.
Posted by: radiator | Apr 21 2019 18:39 utc | 25
"A River Of Blood": Pompeo Says "Several Americans" Killed In Sri Lanka Easter Bombing Massacre
New Study Finds Over 70,000 Killed In Yemen War
Posted by: AG17 | Apr 21 2019 18:54 utc | 26
On the date of the Winter Solstice the Sun is at the lowest point in the sky. It stays for three days and on the 25th it begins its climb in the sky to its highest point on the Summer Solstice in June. Easter is on or about the half-way point to the Summer Solstice AKA the the Spring Equinox.
Posted by: William H Warrick III MD | Apr 21 2019 19:09 utc | 27
Happy Easter all.
-----
Now if I can only work out how all those bunnies lay chocolate eggs...... It wasn't like that when I learnt about things at school.
Posted by: stonebird | Apr 21 2019 19:41 utc | 28
great quote by Goethe, one of my favorites
many thanks, Bernard and happy Easter to all - very much the season here in Mexico with many off to the beach this past week Semana Santa, and next, Semana Pasqua
Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 21 2019 20:01 utc | 29
Easter songs
https://sfpd.cultlib.ch/en/track.html?sfpdid=19-000856A
https://sfpd.cultlib.ch/en/track.html?sfpdid=19-000856B
Enjoy
Wishing everyone a Happy Easter from this corner of the Southern Hemisphere where we (in Sydney anyway) are enjoying a late blast of warm summer before autumn actually sets in.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 21 2019 21:05 utc | 31
Echoing jen @31
Autumn has arrived, down here in southern New Zealand, so all Northern Hemisphere seasonal traditions are a wee bit out of place for us. Hence, while I wish all of you in the North a happy Easter, we here are busy with harvest season, and readying for winter.
(sarcasm)
Perhaps we should implement hemispherically-tolerant, seasonally-diverse, and geographically-inclusive language, else someone somewhere's feelings may be hurt. Wouldn't that go well with postmodern political correctness?
(/sarcasm)
Cheers, all.
Posted by: Theophrastus | Apr 21 2019 22:41 utc | 32
For Easter Sunday, Strategic-Culture refers us to Dostoyevsky's The Possessed thanks to Martin Sieff's "The Beast Behind the Mask: The US Fanatical Passion to Destroy Venezuela". Two of his milder paragraphs help describe how the world views Outlaw US Empire actions and explain why most nations are "no longer with us":
"Yet so desperate are America’s neo-liberals, as well as neo-conservatives to topple democratically twice –elected President Maduro that they are pulling off their bright smiling wholesome masks that are the public face of globalization to reveal the snarling, cowardly, crazed little creeps behind them.
"We saw this phenomenon last week when Fareed Zakaria, the Golden Pin-Up Boy of global liberalism, used his two supposedly most influential platforms – his talk show on CNN and op-ed page access in The Washington Post to call for the immediate toppling of Maduro and then for a full superpower confrontation with Russia as well."
The article is actually quite fitting for Easter--Global death of the fealty to the Outlaw US Empire while those nations seek resurrection and far better prospects with BRI/EAEU. National leaders unwilling to see the Devilish/Satanic nature of the Outlaw US Empire that's so evident for all to see must think hard on what they're partnering with. If they continue their partnership, then their citizenry will do the proper thing and exorcize such leaders from their body politic. Globally, there's only one entity that's similar in nature to the Outlaw US Empire--Zionistan--two equally, evilly possessed threats to humanity.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 21 2019 23:26 utc | 33
Happy renewal all. I've heard the only sin is knowledge not lived.
Posted by: ben | Apr 21 2019 23:39 utc | 34
Wa Po reporting no new sanctions waivers re: Iran. Reporter Josh Rogan said that Iran will have less money to spread terrorism. Happy Easter!
Posted by: Schmoe | Apr 21 2019 23:46 utc | 35
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/04/19/deep-state-vs-wikileaks.html
Above link says "Ambassador Craig Murray has stressed, over and over again (reference link in above article https://scotthorton.org/interviews/121316-craig-murray-dnc-podesta-emails-leaked-by-americans-not-hacked-by-russia/") how the DNC/Podesta files published by WikiLeaks came from two different US sources; one from within the DNC and the other from within US intel."
I don't understand did WikiLeaks publish both files
Truth surfaces; this should be on everyone's front page.. I propose a Null Hypothesis:
The two files from the different sources are not the same < to deny this statement as true, must prove it wrong
Posted by: snake | Apr 21 2019 23:55 utc | 36
@ Jackrabbit Number 9 Number 9 Number 9... Turn Me On, Dead Man, Turn Me On, Dead Man...
So what are you saying exactly? That Ishtar sucks? We shouldn't watch it? I haven't seen it myself. Anybody wanna fill me in?
Posted by: Just Me | Apr 22 2019 1:14 utc | 37
Sorry, Just Me again.
Jackrabbit, you are right. I just looked it up, and it looks like some kind of a stinker that Charlie Sheen should have starred in, not Hoffman and Beatty, not that I can say a hell of a lot for them either... maybe it was meant to be that way, and in 40 more years... no, never mind, it came from the 80s, it will always smell
Donkeytale is evil!
Posted by: Just Me | Apr 22 2019 1:27 utc | 38
Thank you as always b- and a happy Easter to you as well!
I am reflecting on the apparently global war on Catholics being waged with little to no media coverage. Notre Dame and today's attack in Sri Lanka being the exceptions probably only because of the target in one case and the number of casualties in the other.
The high number of attacks, the many countries effected, to me points to a grand plan; a Gladio 2.0 perhaps? What is the objective, to set Catholics/Christians against a perceived Muslim enemy? To what end is this moving?
I do have some hope in all this horror, the world is waking up.
Posted by: frances | Apr 22 2019 3:01 utc | 39
@ Karl #24
Easter has always been around in my life and I'd never given a single thought about how it evolved. There doesn't even seem to be any kind of agreement about your suggestion the name derives from an ancient fertility goddess. Except possibly that a Inanna/Ishtar connection isn't very probable.
ConclusionSt. Bede's explanation of the word "Easter" remains the most widely recounted version of the word's origin. He asserts that the English word for this Christian festival came from the name of a pagan goddess. Some researchers believe, however, that the word is more likely to have evolved from ancient root words meaning dawn, east, or springtime. Most of these themes also play a role in the Easter story as recounted in the Bible. These concepts also find expression in the customs of the early Christians.
What puzzles me even more is the inclusion of the Easter Bunny and Easter Egg hunts.
How did we come to associate an egg-laying rabbit with a religious holiday? The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is usually shown as a rabbit that brings Easter eggs in a basket to children.
I think I know a little something about modern Christmas - it's an invented Big Business affair. How sober religious people can include "egg-laying rabbits" in their festival remains a mystery to me.
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Apr 22 2019 3:15 utc | 40
frances @39.. very interesting deduction. can you list the other attacks.. by
date<>victim population<>attacker if known<>place of occurrence<>damage, kills, injured @target<>attacker(s) if known
Posted by: snake | Apr 22 2019 3:18 utc | 41
"The Christian resurrection of Jesus is probably a transformation of the story of Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess of love who stepped down into the underworld of death but was revived."
This is an internet Zeitgeist-type myth. The celebration of Eastern goes back to the Jewish Passover celebrations and have nothing to do with seasons. The fact that "Ishtar" and "Easter" sound similar doesn't proof anything, this is a fallacy. "Easter" refers to the direction of the sun rising and since Palestine lays in the direction of the sun rising, it was natural to refer to the resurrection event as the event in the "East". Many other European languages preserved the traditional Hebraism, namely Pascha (Pas-cha or Pas-kha) or similar variations. It derives from the Hebrew word "Pessach" or "Pessakh" and simply means to pass over, namely from Egypt to Palestine.
Sorry to say this, but if the other information on this blog is as poorly researched as this, then there is not much quality to be expected.
Posted by: Justi | Apr 22 2019 8:07 utc | 42
Jeez.. ;-)
Who told you poor kids that the hares - not rabbits - are actually laying the eggs? The story goes that they are painting them and then hide them from children for their entertainment. Why so serious? It's got nothing to do with religion.
Happy Easter everyone.
Posted by: Cemi | Apr 22 2019 10:07 utc | 43
Grumpy old people complain that "they removed Saturn from Saturnalia [to call it Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanuka] and Eostre/Ishtar from Easter". Luckily, those people rarely go on a rampage.
Cemi: hares and eggs both appear in Spring when new grass is available. Personally, I experience my neighbor, Mr. (Ms.?) Woodchuck, emerging from the underground and cleaning his/her hole, with a little mound of removed dirt next to the hole entry, while rabbits do not vanish for Winter.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 22 2019 10:17 utc | 44
Easter. The word evidently comes from Ostara, the Scandinavian goddess of spring. She was the symbol of the resurrection of all nature and was worshipped in early spring. It was a custom with the pagan Norsemen at that time to exchange coloured eggs called the eggs of Ostara. These have now become Easter‐Eggs. As expressed in Asgard and the Gods: “Christianity put another meaning on the old custom, by connecting it with the feast of the Resurrection of the Saviour, who, like the hidden life in the egg, slept in the grave for three days before he awakened to new life”. This was the more natural since Christ was identified with that same Spring Sun which awakens in all his glory, after the dreary and long death of winter.
Eggs (Easter). Eggs were symbolical from an early time. There was the “Mundane Egg”, in which Brahmâ gestated, with the Hindus the Hiranya‐Gharba, and the Mundane Egg of the Egyptians, which proceeds from the mouth of the “unmade and eternal deity”, Kneph, and which is the emblem of generative power. Then the Egg of Babylon, which hatched Ishtar, and was said to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates. Therefore coloured eggs were used yearly during spring in almost every country, and in Egypt were exchanged as sacred symbols in the spring‐time, which was, is, and ever will be, the emblem of birth or rebirth, cosmic and human, celestial and terrestrial. They were hung up in Egyptian temples and are so suspended to this day in Mahometan mosques.
From the Theosophical Glossary.
Posted by: Rancid | Apr 22 2019 10:54 utc | 45
Easter has different names and details of celebration in different countries. In a certain country in central Europe one essential element is to have food blessed by the priest. In remote past, a priest would visit a well-to-do household to bless the food on the table, and the poor would eat unblessed food as they always do. Later every family would put some items in a basket that a child (if any) would carry to the church and then a priest would efficiently bless the baskets. The basket should be smallish and look pretty. If you do not know what to put in it, you can check your local newspaper. Necessary items have some symbolism:
lamb -- victory of life over death (I guess you can use a confection, e.g. marzipan, I never seen actual lambs in baskets)
egg -- birth of new life (should be nicely painted)
bread -- body of Christ
sausage or other cured meat -- good income, health and fertility
water -- preparation for new life
salt -- purification
cake -- craft (ability) and perfection
horseradish -- physical strength
boxwood -- joy and hope
You can put other stuff too, but the newspaper warns about items to avoid:
vodka or other alcohol
chocolate hare or rabbit
cell phone, toys etc.
any embellishments except a ribbon, a fabric lining the basket, and boxwood twigs.
Sadly, many simple folks put in chocolate rabbits and what not (cell phones?), and it can pass as the priest blesses all the baskets in one shot.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 22 2019 10:58 utc | 46
Obama & Clinton lambasted for calling bombed Sri Lankans ‘Easter worshipers’.
Avoiding the term "Christians".
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 22 2019 12:03 utc | 47
Just Me @ 38
Donkeytale is evil!
LMAO! For it is written:
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Ishtar the movie debacle has as much to do with Easter as the myth of Ishtar, which is the subtle point flying over the heads of many until....Justi @ 42 explicitly debunked the premise and added the following zinger:
Sorry to say this, but if the other information on this blog is as poorly researched as this, then there is not much quality to be expected.
LMAO x 2!!
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 22 2019 12:25 utc | 48
Monday, enough Easter eggs, back to verk.
A descent list of some of Obama's role in the Russiagate scandal:
10 factors making Russia election interference the most enduring scandal of the Obama era
Posted by: librul | Apr 22 2019 12:53 utc | 49
DT @ 48 and Justi at 42--
Justi offers zero evidence for his strong assertion that he knows where the easter bunny thing started.
So his zinger ain't worth much IMO.
Posted by: arby | Apr 22 2019 12:58 utc | 50
arby you may be correct about the easter bunny thingie...I believe b nailed that with the Ostara myth. I was simpy responding in (hopefully) good humour to Just Me's own humourous comments.
Anyway, I hope you (and all readers) feel revitalised this morning and prepared for the coming of the Lord, however you define salvation.
I am trying.
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 22 2019 13:11 utc | 51
I seriously wonder if donkeytale, Just Me, and Justi are all the same guy.
Sock-puppetry is a violation of b's rules, donkey.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 22 2019 13:13 utc | 52
Jack Rabboni
LMAO x 3!!!
Ahh, the old "anyone who responds to stupid donkeytale has to be his sockpuppet for he is unworthy."
That meme is as old the internets itself dude.
I sense you are feeling especially butthurt yesterday and today when in fact you could be basking in the revitalisation of the season (and the religious symbolism too, if that's your bag).
b can probably tell for sure but I'm fairly certain those others are not me, except in the Walrusian sense
I am he as you are he and you are me and we are all together
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 22 2019 13:22 utc | 53
Although to be fair, I suspect I may know who "Just Me" from a prior blog life, although I admit the possibilities literally are endless...so it is not worth mentioning. Hint, hint.
The "Sockpuppet" ploy is nothing more than a weak attempt at discrediting a poster when all other attempts have failed.
You might also smile every once in a while JR. The only time you've expressed humour (by adding a smiley face) that I have seen was after you physically threatened me with a punch in the nose the other day in another thread.
Pretty sure threatening violence, even as a "joke " is still threatening violence, which is also against the rules (not to mention the Law)...and also rather Trumpian in its small-minded spirit...
But as since I'm feeling magnanimous this morning and I truly dig your schtick I will not press charges...have a nice day JR. Peace.
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 22 2019 13:36 utc | 54
"Just me" writes in the same breezy irreverent style that we've seen from donkeytale.
"Me" and "I' are self-references, however the "I" in "Justi" is lowercase (because using a capital letter would make the ME-I association too obvious?). What are the chances that someone randomly chose "Justi" as a moniker for this thread after "Just Me"?
Justi's writing is not 'breezy irreverent' because it serves a different purpose. The facts presented are meant to discredit b as a researcher and thus the blog itself.
donkeytale has previously expressed a low opinion of the blog and its readership (yet he has a keen interest in commenting here) and I've actually previously noted that disinfo that he has presented here implies that he thinks we're 'stoopid' (easily fooled). Such arrogance and contempt makes sock-puppetry possible.
That he denies it all and, moreover, tries to turn it all back on me is unsurprising.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 22 2019 14:10 utc | 55
If you have opened the link @23
you can answer the question: who is referred to as Satan?
"I was the CIA Director; we lied, we cheated we stole. We had entire training courses."
Posted by: librul | Apr 22 2019 14:22 utc | 56
Here it is finally getting warm, stilll snow on the Jura, I saw a rabbit in the park-reserve right by me, but I’m pretty sure he was an escaped or dumped pet. Someone will adopt him I am sure.
Happy Easter, or just free days w. family, to all, and thanks to b.
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 22 2019 14:48 utc | 57
Jack Rabboni, you are too funny. As I've stated many times I have a very high opinion of this blog and the commenters, including yourself at times. What cracks me up is you saying way back up at 9 that I'm playing "games" which of course is untrue and here you are playing the oldest game in the butthurt blogger's book, trying to rally "political" support to have me banned and/or shunned. LMAO.
The question is why are you so butthurt?
One of the rules here is don't attack the others, refute their arguments with yours. Here you are attacking in the most fact free fashion imaginable. Making stuff up as you go along. But I am highly infotained and I don't believe in banning anyway. I do believe if your arguments cannot persuade you should...improve your arguments.
You must think the commenters here are too "stoopid" to form their opinions of me and think for themselves. Many already shun me which is fine by me.
Remember this JR:
Thesis
Antithesis
Synthesis
Posted by: donkeytale | Apr 22 2019 15:11 utc | 58
According to Justi@42 we are all mis-informed except those who "see" that which "Justi" does.
So many, So tied to their own certainty.
Stories. We are lovers of stories. We come into existence in a particular time and place and we seek out stories that support the world view we adopt for the time we are thus engaged.
Community celebrations - collective focus - which coincided with the time of year (cyclically repeated) and at some time attributed to the crucifiction and asserted reserection (Historical? Definiteley a tale promoted by some, but certainly not all.) existed and were participated in by those who honored and respected traditions which were told by those who came before them.
Time, for us, is a one way street. But the stuff of "now" is never a fixed quantity.
Spring is beautiful and holds sights and evidence of processes which can be seen as "signs", or not.
Enjoy the moment! It all passes so quickly!
Posted by: t | Apr 22 2019 16:18 utc | 59
Sorry, this poem should not have been translated. English destroys the beauty of the sentiment completly.
Vor dem Tor
Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche
Durch des Frühlings holden, belebenden Blick,
Im Tale grünet Hoffnungsglück;
Der alte Winter, in seiner Schwäche,
Zog sich in rauhe Berge zurück.
Von dort her sendet er, fliehend, nur
Ohnmächtige Schauer körnigen Eises
In Streifen über die grünende Flur.
Aber die Sonne duldet kein Weißes,
Überall regt sich Bildung und Streben,
Alles will sie mit Farben beleben;
Doch an Blumen fehlts im Revier,
Sie nimmt geputzte Menschen dafür.
Kehre dich um, von diesen Höhen
Nach der Stadt zurück zu sehen!
Aus dem hohlen finstern Tor
Dringt ein buntes Gewimmel hervor.
Jeder sonnt sich heute so gern.
Sie feiern die Auferstehung des Herrn,
Denn sie sind selber auferstanden:
Aus niedriger Häuser dumpfen Gemächern,
Aus Handwerks- und Gewerbesbanden,
Aus dem Druck von Giebeln und Dächern,
Aus der Straßen quetschender Enge,
Aus der Kirchen ehrwürdiger Nacht
Sind sie alle ans Licht gebracht.
Sieh nur, sieh! wie behend sich die Menge
Durch die Gärten und Felder zerschlägt,
Wie der Fluß in Breit und Länge
So manchen lustigen Nachen bewegt,
Und, bis zum Sinken überladen,
Entfernt sich dieser letzte Kahn.
Selbst von des Berges fernen Pfaden
Blinken uns farbige Kleider an.
Ich höre schon des Dorfs Getümmel,
Hier ist des Volkes wahrer Himmel,
Zufrieden jauchzet groß und klein:
Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ichs sein!
Posted by: Peter Moritz | Apr 22 2019 16:31 utc | 60
"Echoing jen @31
Autumn has arrived, down here in southern New Zealand, ..."
Begone! The belief in antipodes is heretical, stories of regions where religious traditions make scant sense are satanic whispers aimed to weaken our faith.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 22 2019 16:48 utc | 61
@ Piotr Berman #61
About 20 years ago I bought my first internet-capable computer, made my first payment to a dial-up company, and I was off to the races. It was a big learning experience, and one of the many things I ran into was a fruitcake offering $10,000 dollars to anyone who could prove to his satisfaction the world wasn't the center of the cosmos - an Earth which has everything else revolving around it. Seems that kind of genius has been around for quite a while. The link is to a 1920 magazine, and I used tinyurl to avoid the paragraph-length link at google books.
One of the nutters claimed to be Jewish, and the other Catholic. As we all know, anybody can say anything they want in a magazine ad or on an internet site. Heck, nobody even suspects that I'm really an eleven-year-old black girl living in Cuba.
:)
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Apr 22 2019 19:22 utc | 62
reply to snake 41
Sure, here are some links re attacks on Christians with a few numbers/locations/sects:
www.bpnews.net/52248/open-doors-christian-persecution-up-14-worldwide
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/world/asia/sri-lanka-religion-christians.html
www.worldwatchmonitor.org
The part that interests me the most is the MSM insistence that the majority are attacks from/by Muslims, actually they seem to be more broad based. And under the cui bono rule, I am not inclined to assume they are Muslim attacks even if the govt's involved say or infer they are. For example Notre Dame is a win/win for Macron, no one else IMO.
And the Siri Lanka attacks seem to have more false flag characteristics than the usual hate crime. For example:
1. What is the main hallmark of a false flag operation; NO ONE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY. Why kill all these people at nine different sites and not say why you're doing it? So far, no one has taken responsibility for the bombings.
2. Another hallmark of a false flag operation is the attack is blamed on a never before heard of group that suddenly comes out of the wood work. Yet as with all false flags govts "know" who did it right away, supposedly 10 days earlier in this case.
3. This attack does not make sense, false flags never really do. For example, the usual target of this supposed group historically are Buddhists.
4. There is always a huge Cui Bono. In this case what if you're trying to incite hatred towards a specific group? For example, someone trying to sabotage and restart a civil war after 10 years of peace. Sri Lanka a very vital component to China's Belt & Road as well as significant Chinese investment leaves it vulnerable to attack by parties whose interests differ.
IMO the Siri Lanka attacks have the usual suspects names all over it. A highly coordinated attack which IMO your average radical "Muslim" cell is not capable of carrying out such precise, well co-ordinated and simultaneous bombing of 9 sites.
It takes a nation state's resources, and intelligence services to do this. Only one or two nation state have mastered terrorism and false flag ops.
End of rant:)
Posted by: frances | Apr 22 2019 20:20 utc | 63
Happy Easter B and all, working towards a bit of joy in the world...
Posted by: fx | Apr 22 2019 20:55 utc | 64
Happy easter all
plant seeds of hope
harvest joy
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 22 2019 21:10 utc | 65
@ myles #64
good comments
check this out
from Tanstaafl's blog:
"A small signpost in the anti-White zeitgeist flew by less than a year ago. When the (((media))) screeched that Darren Beattie, a minor figure in the White House, was too white...
Beattie immediately lost his job. Now Beattie’s back, and there’s a telling twist in the story."
to read full article, go to:
age-of-treason dot com
The J** Card
22 April 2019
Posted by: Bjarte | Apr 22 2019 21:53 utc | 66
Frances @ 39, 63:
The same thought occurred to me too, that the attacks on Christian churches on Easter Sunday and on hotels in Colombo might be a warning to Sri Lanka not to have closer ties to China, and especially not to accept loans from the Chinese government or from Chinese-based banks. Especially as the attacks occur almost all at once and target specific places where most people know one another and can spot strangers almost straight away: these suggest considerable pre-planning, selection and research of the target sites.
The attacks also come during election period in India, where attacks on Christian communities (and murders of Christian missionaries) and on Muslim communities by individuals or groups of Hindutva ideological persuasion have become more common over the past several years.
Another possibility is the rise of Buddhist extremism in Sri Lanka targeting both Muslim and Christian communities. This extremism apparently is being fed by Buddhist extremism in Myanmar which scapegoats Rohingya Muslims in the main.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 22 2019 22:20 utc | 67
Anyone happen to catch this telling interview on Syria over at Salon.com?
My trips last year took place in May and June, in the weeks before the battle for the south of Syria began. I visited Daraa, Suweida and Quneitra, the three southern governorates most critical to the upcoming battle. It was fascinating. It dispelled a number of myths about the conflict for me. One of these was the discovery that al–Qaida was smack in the middle of the fight in Daraa, indistinguishable from Western-supported militant groups in all the main theaters. Another shocker was when I interviewed former al–Nusra and FSA [Free Syrian Army] fighters near the Lebanese border: They told me their salaries had been paid by the Israelis for the entire year before they surrendered, around $200,000 per month from Israel to militants in the town of Beit Jinn alone.
Posted by: KC | Apr 22 2019 23:20 utc | 68
reply to Jen 63
Thank you, your post added to my knowledge of the event.
Another factor to consider is some of the people killed may have been targeted for their role with the govt, with China, with India. These were well planned attacks, they may have had multiple objectives.
I will be looking through the bios of these killed there over the coming days.
Thank you again!
Posted by: frances | Apr 22 2019 23:22 utc | 69
No apologies if this link has already been posted:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51470.htm
It ought to have been. It is Part One of Patrick Lawrence's interview with Sharmine Narwami who has been covering the war in Syria since it began.
Here's an excerpt:
".. I first investigated the Syrian death toll 10 months into the conflict. In that month, January 2012, the U.N.’s figure for casualties in Syria was around 5,000 dead. The U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria issued its first report two months later, in March, stating that 2,569 Syrian security forces had been killed in the first year. Right there we know that half of the dead were neither civilians nor with the opposition. Half of the Syrian dead were security forces, which also informed us that the opposition was, in fact, armed, organized, and very, very lethal.
"How about the other half of the death toll — the remaining 2,431 casualties? I found that they were a mixture of pro-government civilians, pro-opposition civilians, and opposition gunmen in civilian clothing. The “rebels” were not wearing military gear, so they were indistinguishable from civilians. Mainstream media just didn’t want to know this obvious stuff. They asked no questions, they investigated nothing.
"A year later, one of the main opposition casualty counters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which the Western media quote all the time, told me it was hard to differentiate rebels from civilians because “everybody hides it.” By then, in year two, the Syrian death toll had increased tenfold and the U.N. released a casualty analysis that included the information that 92.5 percent of the dead were male. That is not a death toll representative of a “civilian population.”
.....
"I also know the opposition was armed from the start [March 2011] because of my own investigation and discovery that 88 Syrian soldiers were ambushed and killed across Syria in the first month of the conflict…. I have their names, ages, ranks, birthplaces — everything. Then in June 2011, over 100 Syrian soldiers were murdered in Jisr Shughour, in Idlib Province, many with their heads cut off, and nobody could dispute this anymore. Yet we continued to hear “the opposition is unarmed and peaceful” in the media for a good long while.
"But you asked about proportionality, and to that I would simply ask: What if there were armed men in Washington who killed a few cops in the last week of December? In January, these unknown shooters began a campaign of ambushing American servicemen coming and going from their bases in Fairfax, Newport News, Arlington, killing 88 in total. Then, in March, over 100 U.S. soldiers are killed in a single day, half with their heads cut off. What is a “proportionate” response for you…? That answer about proportionality will be different for different people, I can assure you..."
Posted by: bevin | Apr 22 2019 23:28 utc | 70
bevin
Did you mean to post that in the Week in Review / Open Thread to counter donkeytales assertion that Assad killed 100,000 children?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 22 2019 23:44 utc | 71
What a tragedy in Sri Lanka!!
Saudi wahabbism needs to confronted.
Posted by: ab initio | Apr 23 2019 3:45 utc | 72
Sri Lanka intelligence passed on information but security services did not act.
Posted by: ab initio | Apr 23 2019 4:08 utc | 73
An unhappy Easter for Sri Lankan Christians. Was it not nasty of those Muslims to cause mayhem during the INDIAN General Elections in which the Hindu fascists need help from any and every quarter?
Posted by: Ruki | Apr 23 2019 5:14 utc | 74
About a US statement:
I noticed a US statement during the past 24 hours on Sri Lanka where they (pretty sure it was the State Department) claimed to know who did it and that more was coming...
I guess they can't perceive that such a statement is easily interpreted as either:
1. They're claiming ownership of the fight against terrorism in Sri Lanka by talking out of their ass (as usual). The US is known to be crap when it comes to "human intelligence" which is precisely what would be required to know what they claim to and in addition the US has little or no influence in Sri Lanka.
2. They're signalling ownership of the attack because if they're behind it they would know. It's easy to believe the US wants to force itself into Sri Lanka.
I don't mean to present this as a false choice but if neither of those are correct it makes little sense for the US to do anything but offer commiserations and then shut up. Not that the US is famous for ever making any sense.
About Sri Lankan Moors:
Globally Islamic terrorism does exist and can be worryingly common (often masked as "normal crime") but the attack in Sri Lanka seems quite a bit off considering it's the nationalist and socialist Tamil Tigers who were against Islam and they (the Tigers) were defeated by the Sri Lankan government in the civil war in 2009.
Here's Wikipedia's stuff about Sri Lankan Moors.
Comparisons to Rohingya don't make sense to me but I view the "crisis" in Burma as an old and slow Bangladeshi border transgression that finally went too far and which was then aggravated and hyped by the usual suspects in "the west" and with a very clear aim at using it for "local consumption" in their own countries. My sympathies are almost entirely with the Burmese (and seeing the usual propaganda from the usual sources like the BBC being employed against them doesn't change that).
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Apr 23 2019 5:18 utc | 75
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/04/22/594103/Libya-GNA-France-Khalifa-Haftar
link says France and Saudi Arabia behind Haftar LNA in Libya.. suggest to me some private
entity (corporation or wealthy persons) have hired the intelligence services to do some work in Sri Lanka.. .
39, 40, 49, 63, 67, 70 seem to agree a lot of the same something is behind the Sria Lanka terror, while Jen 68, ab initio 73 argue in coordinated union a opposite suggestion. Discovering the private persons and their corporate interests behind the well coordinated assassination of targeted individuals using shock and awe church and hotel explosions as their cover, in Sri Lanka, will reveal a lot.. Hope the Bar Flies will reveal the names of these private persons or corporations as they discover them The populations are being divided into two sides, each side molded to hate the other?
Hypothesis I. Yet to be identified Private special Interests are planning, funding and coordinating terror and terror attacks with the objective to generate hate, and to separate the interest of the persons of two sides: Catholic/Christian/Sunni Muslim vs Ottoman\Shia Muslim
This hypothesis arises because there is relatively no media coverage and the media is 92% owned by just 6 entities..
and because false flag operations can be used as propaganda to inflame the hate and to differentiate the persons in each
side against the persons of the other side. It works just like a football game.. many in the crowd so enthusiastically
support one team, that they hate the fans and players of the team.
Premise I. The highly coordinated, well planned attack in Sri Lanka is (an expression of hypothesis I)
Premise II. Notre Dame is an expression of Hypothesis one.
Hypothesis II. the private party or special interest in hypothesis I is based in economics
re the comments in 67,
Hypothesis III .. the coordinated series of attacks against churches and hotels in Sri Lanka were shock and awe cover for
assassination of individuals for their role with the governments of China and India
Hypothesis IV the coordinated series of attacks against churches and hotels in Sri Lanka were shock and awe threatts
not to build private business or public infrastructure with money obtained from Chinese or Indian banks.
I think it would be useful for everyone to help to write and rewrite conspiracy theories into hypothesis and beg everyone to shoot down prove wrong by facts, the hypothesis. In other words, evidence contrary to the hypothesis nulls the hypothesis, but only evidence can null a hypothesis, so opinion, belief, wish cannot be used to null a hypothesis. Just because there are no facts to support a hypothesis, does not null a hypothesis. it might move the hypothesis to be so unlikely no one cares to expend the effort to prove it wrong. but unless nulled by evidence the hypothesis stands.
Proving wrong a hypothesis may mean rewriting it. so that rewritten, the evidence does not null the hypothesis. To get it right, it might take many rewrites. Each rewrite hopefully gets closer and closer to a statement that available evidence cannot null. The goal is to find a statement that fits the facts of the situation that cannot be proven to be wrong.
Posted by: snake | Apr 23 2019 5:46 utc | 76
The history of Rohingya Muslims goes back at least to the British colonial period when Myanmar (the old Burma) was governed as part of British India.
But even if most of the Rohingya Muslims turn out to be descended from Bengali Muslim migrants settled in Rakhine state by the British, that is no reason for the current Myanmar government to scapegoat them. Most countries in Asia and other parts of the world that are former British colonies have had to accommodate the descendants of immigrant indentured labour (slave labour by another name) brought by the British to work in commercial plantations. Myanmar needs to learn to do the same. (Though I suppose the fact that the government in Myanmar is headed by State Counsellor / de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose base is extremist nationalist Buddhist monks led by the fanatic Ashin Wirathu, does not help.)
Posted by: Jen | Apr 23 2019 6:25 utc | 77
Happy Easter b and to all Alabamians :) (New expression) Please stay safe and sound
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 23 2019 8:30 utc | 79
Jen @ 77 - there has been a population movement from Bangladesh (Moslem) down through the Arakan for centuries, regularly resented (and resisted) by the Buddhists.
B - many thanks for reminding us of those wonderful lines of Goethe's.
Posted by: Montreal | Apr 23 2019 8:42 utc | 80
Jen @77
Aung San Suu Kyi is a peace prize laureate - along with mass-murderer Obama - which tells you all you need to know about who is pulling the strings. As she is 'power sharing' she can't do much, certainly not change the constitution, well not without military help, due to the military members of the legislature. She is a terrible leader in a terrible situation: a lifeless puppet expressing the energy of the puppeteer. It will take at least another generation, if not two, before the damage done by Britain starts to be fixed.
But Britain has a penchant for fucking over poor places, just take a look at Palestine, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc, so it is quite nice seeing them suffer from the necrotizing fasciitis of being European, which may or may not be cured by Brexit. At least the UK has something to now be famous for, other than slavery and museaums full of plunder: Brexit.
Posted by: aspnaz | Apr 23 2019 8:49 utc | 81
bevin and KC, yes. Definetly the read of day.
On aspect surprised me. Sharmine rightly mentions and stresses the ‘reforms’ Assad introduced (or was to) in 2011, 2012 or even before. She makes it sound like these were very consequent, very all round. That holds perhaps for Gvmt. (plurality, limited term, new constit. etc. - and I am not implying that Assad was insincere) but leaves out two very important aspects that imho contributed hugely to the whole mess.
Climate change, in this case drought (drove impoverished farmers to suburbia, note the UN refused help to Syria on this score), and finance. Finance, as in a) Gvmt. subsidies for gas and other (see Yellow Vests for ex..) which were reduced or cut - ‘modernity’ - ‘market costs’ etc. - and the opening up (e.g.) of the country to Big Foreign Banks, which Assad’s Fin. Min (whose name I forget) strongly opposed.
(sidebar: Asma was featured in Vogue as Rose of the Desert and some sort of rapine could begin - but, it did not work out...)
This paper takes up some of these points. (It is a review of the economy from very standard lib. perspectives.) It also mentions, naturally, Syria’s peak oil moment.
excerpt
The government's plans to reform the public sector include converting state-owned enterprises into corporate-like companies with independent budgets, something that could potentially relieve public coffers from having to support inefficient public enterprises. By the summer of 2010, fewer than 10 percent of the 260 public enterprises were profitable. The reform (…. ) is not appealing to foreign-state donors or to the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Most IFIs would like to see the public sector, particularly its inefficient enterprises, shrink further.
https://www.mepc.org/political-economy-syria-realities-and-challenges
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 23 2019 14:33 utc | 82
Don't forget that Orthodox Easter is not until this Sunday...
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 23 2019 16:07 utc | 83
Jen your opinion is very reasonable and I think you're right although I still disagree because I think there's more. My bias is to believe the Buddhists about how they view the situation and what caused it during these last years. Maybe the reaction was too harsh although I'm not sure it was; there was already suffering and could perhaps easily have been as much or more if they didn't fight back. I am aware I could be wrong but I'm not sure it matters or should matter if I am.
One thing I'm aware of is that it is not a morality play where we all get to feel good about picking the right choices but instead it is life competing for resources. I would like to think we as humans could do better than that but no one did and no one had any solution along such lines or at least none that they offered in public, instead all that came from the outside was either "morality by dictate" (which I'm sick of) or silence. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this and it's not like I had or have any instant or simple solutions either. I wish I did.
All that said I can't judge it but I can try to understand it. The motivation of all sides to protect themselves against real or perceived attack is a universal one for all life and right or wrong seldom if ever enters the picture if the conviction is high enough, such things are commonly added on later to justify oneself (correctly or incorrectly).
Humans being human it would be strange if there was no manipulation at all but the displacement (and in this specific case of Burmese with Rohingya) is still the basic fact which to me seems undeniable both there and elsewhere. Maybe it was a modern day equivalent of Afghanistan which was once Buddhist. For whatever reason in practice the Rohingya did not seem to accept being part of Burma or being under Burmese authority.
Bangladesh on its side understandably didn't want to accept or be overly helpful of any return of Rohingya because they already have too many people. There are also border issues between the two nations if I've understood it correctly. The whole situation could be seen as a simple case of "population pressure" where more populous countries, regions, and ethnicities encroach on less populous ones and one way or another that always invites conflict.
Then "the west" or the "international community" (who?) steps in and makes it into something strange where they essentially sanctify the Rohingya as doing nothing wrong and vilify the Buddhists. I don't think they do it to whitewash history but at the same time I don't know why there is this strange "double of extremes" where Muslims simultaneously are portrayed by the same people (media and politicians) as incapable of being wrong or bad as well as well as being an ultimate evil in terrorism and barbarity yet anyone talking about or resenting day to day issues caused by migration or cultural differences is also branded and scapegoated into oblivion (much more so than any terrorist). It's weird. While both extremes about Muslims can be true it leaves out the large part of the scale between those two extremes where I would like to place most Muslims (even though this could be wrong) and where they are (like everyone) perfectly capable of being part of both problems and solutions despite not doing much except for living their lives as they're accustomed to.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Apr 23 2019 16:48 utc | 84
"Cassandra Fairbanks
Verified account @CassandraRules
19h19 hours ago
I have now confirmed that Julian Assange has still not been allowed any visitors — INCLUDING HIS LAWYERS.
He was arrested 11 days ago! #FreeAssange
217 replies 1,768 retweets 3,378 likes"
Posted by: arby | Apr 23 2019 18:05 utc | 85
i always thought easter was just a co-opted pagan fertility festival, don’t really need to bring ishtar in to it
Posted by: Terry | Apr 23 2019 20:45 utc | 86
donkeytale @54:
The only time you've expressed humour (by adding a smiley face) that I have seen was after you physically threatened me with a punch in the nose the other day in another thread.Pretty sure threatening violence, even as a "joke " is still threatening violence, which is also against the rules (not to mention the Law)...and also rather Trumpian in its small-minded spirit...
[emphasis is mine]
I initially thought this bogus charge to be unworthy of response, but I've had second thoughts as some readers may not have seen the comment that donkeytale is referring to and might be inclined to think that MAYBE there is some substance to his complaints.
Here's the comment that donkeytale refers to:
donkeytale to oglallo:Please waste your time debunking my bullshit.
If you're foolish enough to take the bait, maybe I'll use you as a punching bag instead of JR, 'cause JR punches back.
:)
In this comment, I was clearly pretending to speak as donkeytale (as sarcastic commentary). As I was not speaking as me and "punches back" clearly indicates defensive action, there was no threat of physical violence whatsoever.
donkeytale's claim is completely bogus and that's probably why he didn't link to the comment - because readers would've be able to determine that it was bogus as soon as they saw it.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <>
Sorry to bother everyone with this crap. I just felt clarification was needed.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 23 2019 21:09 utc | 87
Sunny Runny Burger @ 84:
I brought up the issue of possible Buddhist extremism in Sri Lanka (and its possible link to Buddhist extremism in Myanmar, as the two countries are not far from each other and both follow the Theravada tradition) as one possible explanation for the targeting of Christian churches and hotels catering to mostly Western tourists in Colombo at the same time.
These attacks on Christians and a Western institution are unusual in Sri Lanka, where the major religious division and conflict have been between Sinhalese-speaking Buddhists and Tamil-speaking Hindus. Christians and Muslims are small minorities in Sri Lanka (7.4% and 9.7% respectively). I harbour the notion that a third party is deliberately trying to stoke tension between the two communities, or between Muslims and Buddhists.
But now that ISIS has declared responsibility for the bombings, other possibilities are that the local branch of jihadists in Sri Lanka must be receiving money, advice and fighters (not all of them returning Sri Lankan fighters from overseas); and foreign ISIS fighters are passing through Sri Lanka. The ISIS declaration could be part of a plan to stir up tension and animosity towards the Muslim community from other groups, especially the majority Buddhist population, and this could encourage more interaction between Buddhist extremists in both Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
BTW, Thailand has had terrorist bombings over the past several years and these have been linked to Uyghur terrorists passing through the country. Last year, Malaysia detained 11 Uyghur people who had fled to the country after breaking out of detention in southern Thailand. China requested these people be sent back. Malaysia released them instead and they flew to Turkey. Allah only knows where these individuals are now. There are said to be 10,000 - 20,000 Uyghur jihadists and their families in Idlib province in Syria; where will they all go once the SAA starts its offensive to drive them all out?
Posted by: Jen | Apr 24 2019 0:27 utc | 88
".. now that ISIS has declared responsibility for the bombings.."
Jen, I honestly do not believe that IS was involved. And, if by any chance I am wrong, and it was responsible, then it has to be recognised that nobody knows who finances IS. If it isn't the CIA, or MI6, it has to be Mossad.
Which would mean that these bombings were carried about by the imperialists. Which is what one would expect.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 24 2019 1:48 utc | 89
Bevin @ 89:
I don't believe ISIS did it either. Doing the deed and claiming responsibility are two separate things.
Mind you, ISIS or their "Amaq News Agency" needed two days to come up with the claim so either their puppeteers were still working on the narrative or the plan didn't quite go as it was supposed to. Maybe there is a bit of a communication misunderstanding between the puppeteers and their puppets. Who both of these parties are, your guess is as good as mine and we could both be right as well as wrong - but I am inclined to think we both are more right than wrong.
Lo and behold, look at what the cat has just dragged into the house!
"How Israel helped Sri Lanka prepare for mega-attacks"
Strange that this exercise took place just a few months before the actual emergency.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 24 2019 2:27 utc | 90
bevin @89 many comments on other websites suggest Saudi financing.. involved ?
On the matter of the Sudan declaration of independence (link below)...it fails to
1) acknowledge all earthy authority to be fully subordinate to inalienable and basic human rights.
2) conform its purpose and require all authority derived from the declaration to adhere to the basic human rights.
3) recite that governments are armed-rule-making-bureaucracies ARMBs, instituted by man, legitimate, if and only if, such ARMBs secure, protect and defend the basic and inalienable rights of each human, in equal manner and in equal measure, in deference to civil authority and competitive pressures.
4) limit the legitimate boundaries of any political structure, associated function or activity that originates or evolves from the declaration to objects and purposes that do not infringe basic or inalienable human rights
5) absolve all human authority not fully subordinated to basic and inalienable human rights.
6) abolish, extinguish, and quash (aEq) the legitimacy of all human authority ( structural, functional or relational) and any right to associated to it, if ever the authority, by declaration, by rule, by action or by an action of a associate acting under a claim thereof that infringes or denies human rights to any one-human.
7) recite that life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and equal-measure gate-free access to the very best quality of material life our evolving global society can make possible are inalienable and basic human rights.
https://www.sudaneseprofessionals.org/en/declaration-of-freedom-and-change/
easy to see, that poorly or loosely written declarations often lead to strange results..
The theory here is that only the governed, meaning all of them, have the right authorize a government. and no group of humans are ever going to authorize a government that defeat, abridge or ignore their human rights.
Posted by: snake | Apr 24 2019 4:54 utc | 91
After perusing various internet sites trying to get a handle on who is responsible for the Sri Lankan bombings, my money is on Mossad. On the surface the whole exercise seems aimless. Similarly the NZ Christchurch Mosque attack came out of the blue, supposedly " a White Supremacist attacking Muslims destroying "White Society" " Really? NZ society is generally a reasonably good example of an inclusive multi-ethnic society. Sri Lanka has a history of conflict with the Tamil tigers but that seems to have been largely resolved. Why would someone target Christians?
Also in the news is the Notre Dame Fire along with many attempted arson's on French churches. Attacks on churches in the USA also. Another fire occurred at the El Aqusa mosque in Jeruselam on the same day as the Notre Dame fire.
So we have multiple attacks on Christian and Muslim religious sites.
Qui Bono.
Posted by: Ike | Apr 24 2019 6:06 utc | 92
Easter come and gone and Chelsea Manning is still being held at the Alexandria Detention Center where Trump should be instead.
Posted by: Circe | Apr 24 2019 7:57 utc | 93
One possible reason for the small delay between the attacks and the claims could be that ISIS doesn't hold ground anymore and it might be trickier for them to cover their tracks and make online declarations without being uncovered. Just a guess of course, but I would suppose AMAQ goons are just as much in hiding as the average ISIS jihadi.
There are historical links between Sri Lanka and Myanmar - Sri Lankan monks brought buddhism there more than 1.000 years ago. This won't make things easier for the Rohingiya - heck, this will probably make them even worse.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 24 2019 9:33 utc | 94
As this is the thread concerning itself with events of Easter (and all posts seem linked, some sadly so) I would like to 'resurrect' an earlier comment by Justi, and maybe help him have a better opinion of this site.
*****
"The Christian resurrection of Jesus is probably a transformation of the story of Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess of love who stepped down into the underworld of death but was revived."
This is an internet Zeitgeist-type myth. The celebration of Eastern goes back to the Jewish Passover celebrations and have nothing to do with seasons. The fact that "Ishtar" and "Easter" sound similar doesn't proof anything, this is a fallacy. "Easter" refers to the direction of the sun rising and since Palestine lays in the direction of the sun rising, it was natural to refer to the resurrection event as the event in the "East". Many other European languages preserved the traditional Hebraism, namely Pascha (Pas-cha or Pas-kha) or similar variations. It derives from the Hebrew word "Pessach" or "Pessakh" and simply means to pass over, namely from Egypt to Palestine.
*****
I have a slightly different point of view from either of these historical references, and I'll start from b's. My take on that first quote was - from an historical aspect, yes, b is correct. The Christian rite which is Easter follows on from pagan practises, historically speaking. And, then, also, the Christian rite which is Pascha follows on from Passover, historically speaking.
But in the understanding of my Orthodox faith, we are not dealing here with history. We are, in that faith, dealing with eternity - now and ever and unto ages of ages is outside of history. It doesn't follow one thing after another in a timewise fashion. It touches time, assuredly, but it comes from outside of time.
So, it can equally be said (outside of time) that the pagan practices, the muslim practices, even Christian practices - don't follow on in a chronological ordering of normal lifetimes but are each an explanation of eternal events impacting the finite world. And thus they are measured against one another not as 'earlier' and 'later' progressions but as expressions of the same truths which are eternal. And one can say, looking from one to another, which is the fuller expression of those truths? It doesn't matter timewise; it matters in terms of fullest expression of eternal truths.
Does that help, Justi? For, there is yet to come, after this Holy Week concludes, an earlier Christian expression of these truths, in Orthodox Easter next Sunday. It doesn't really matter which phase of the moon has decided folk to place it there, but it's another chance to participate in the eternal/timely occasion we call Easter. And, too, in this expression of it, Easter will last for fifty days, right up to and including the feast of Pentecost.
Happy approach to Easter everyone! Listen to some Holy Week music from the Russian Orthodox Church, Vespers and Liturgy by Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninov, Chesnokov and other great Russian composers, and sing it too if you can! The most beautiful music of the church year is reserved for Holy Week and Easter. Try finding "The Noble Joseph" online - I hope you do, or Holy Week Canons:
By the surging of the sea,
Thou hast buried long ago
the vengeful tyrant;
While now the children of
those saved then by thee
Have buried thee beneath
the ground...
I'm no singer, but I sing these hymns, and time disappears.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 24 2019 16:46 utc | 96
Why wish a happy Easter, applying only to Christians to take a massive dump on Christ? Why bother with an Easter message when the only take away was that it completely stripped Christianity out of it entirely....unless a (((certain group))) are hinting who is running this blog.
Posted by: Self-Hating Irish | Apr 24 2019 18:35 utc | 97
@juliana
Thank you sister, you wrote exactly my thoughts.
Rejoice, Christ is risen.
Posted by: P | Apr 25 2019 12:54 utc | 98
P, thank you. I heard of a monk who would say "Christ is Risen!" every day of the year, and even to the animals - and indeed it is true whenever the Liturgy is performed, which in monasteries is often daily. I am only waiting till Sunday because it is such a special, momentous occasion.
Tonight there will be the reading of the twelve selected Gospel accounts leading up to Good Friday, and after each reading the bell is rung, one time for the first, two for the second, and so on. Coming out of the church after all of that, invariably the sky is so peaceful and if one is fortunate, studded with stars!
Irish, do not be self-hating, because all are welcome to the feast. And do not suppose anyone has been dumping on Christ. Some simply do not know him. Even we do not, if we take any umbrage, because he himself did not. Remember that when Peter cut off the ear of the soldier arresting Christ, he restored it. The significance of his suffering is that it was voluntary. And the outcome, as P says, is a good one.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 25 2019 19:20 utc | 99
The comments to this entry are closed.
Happy Easter !
(stay safe)
Posted by: librul | Apr 21 2019 12:27 utc | 1