Ides of March at 666 Fifth?

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS, March 1, 2018, Virtual –  There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition exists.  But the people at Gallup, who polled the 45^th president’s 38% approval rating, found that 37% of Americans surveyed believed in it.

Precognition is an alleged psychic ability to see events in the future.  A 2013 study discovered a greater belief in precognition among those who feel low in control.  The belief can act as a psychological coping mechanism which explains an unprecedented outcome of the 2016 presidential elections.

If you happen to be one of 200 million Citigroup customers or one of 219,000 remaining employees, you may need a coping mechanism by the middle of the month.  Bank on history, prophesy or precognition, but beware of The Ides of March, and keep watch for the three 6’s in your diminished investment portfolio.  Sell! Get Out!  Get to your knees and pray!

For many of today’s 2.1 billion Christians worldwide, there’s a thin line between precognition, and prophesy.  It’s a line that starts with and builds on evidence.  One established “tick-tock” starts on Ash Wednesday and leads to Easter.  The timeline is known as Lent season.  Lenten comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring."  According to seasonal scholars, Lent represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. 

Ash Wednesday is like that last wake-up call from the night before.  “Fat Tuesday” translates from the French word, Mardi Gras, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Some folks call it “Shrove Tuesday,” and make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with."

At Youth Achievers USA Institute, a 501c3 public charity, spiritual growth is valued as ROI, a return on investment in one’s spiritual development.  Each year, economic beneficiaries are challenged to examine their “Money-n-the-Bank” goals, and make the necessary adjustments toward abundant living.

Money-n-the-Bank is that seven-part vision of each beneficiary’s future.  Abundant life is the added value to a winner’s vision of the future.  Last year, the community convened a Virtual Business Roundtable series to identify economic challenges and solutions for winners.

Conversations on Economic Security offer insight to community members on threats along with tools and techniques to counter threats.

Citigroup is just one of the major corporations discussed in plain language as a “too big to fail” threat.  While many low-income American families struggled to recover from a national mortgage crisis, Citigroup and like companies extended loans with increased interest rates on mortgages that were never meant to be paid off.   As a result, more Americans own mortgages than homes.

“Economic Security is national security,” according to the President of the United States.  Citigroup suffered huge losses during the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and was rescued in November 2008 in a massive stimulus package by the U.S. government. Too many bad habits and uninformed decisions produced a sub-prime mortgage threat on households with the greatest need.

The Citigroup system is not unlike the Jewish financial system based on a ten percent return on an unprecedented blessing.   In Genesis, the Biblical beginning, Melchizedek, king of Salem and “priest of God Most High” met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him. Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. Tithing a tenth along with simple debt forgiveness bridges the divide between haves and have nots.

The value in this model was in the blessing, and the tenth or tithe was never intended to be a revenue stream for “One Nation Under God.”   Knowing this, where then does economic reconciliation and spiritual revelation intersect?

Citigroup, and its role in the financing of 666 Fifth Avenue is perhaps an ideal starting point for a point on history’s timeline referred to as The Ides of March. According to reports, Citigroup is perceived to be one of the Big Four banks in the United States, alongside J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. In 2016, Citigroup ranked 29th in size on the Fortune 500 list. 

Last year, Citigroup loaned Kushner Companies $325 million toward financing a group of office buildings.  But the saga of 666 Fifth Ave. stretches back to Kushner’s purchase of the tower in 2007.  The building has faced financial problems for much of the last decade because of the 2008 economic downturn, rising vacancy and its $1.2 billion debt.

One might begin with the man in the mirror and “the sign of the beast” on his forehead.  Every student of financial literacy should know that the number 666 is the number of a man that calls for wisdom.  

Man's system on earth is made up of three parts, each represented by a six. Six represents, by itself, incompleteness or imperfection, as it is one less than seven- the number of completeness. The first six of 666 represents the false perfected religion of man under Satan's lead. The second six is for the deceived false governments of this world, and the third six symbolizes man's self-centered economic system.

Few Sunday School teachers and even fewer economists will go into it, because it’s just too hard.  “Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man,” is a familiar value from the book of Revelation.  One might follow-up on current events with a little history and some serious Bible Study. 

Six hundred sixty-six (666) represents the world and all that it does to appease and gratify human nature. Three verses said to be written by the Apostle John contains a set of three verses which uses a subtle form of 6. This hidden form of six, found in the total number of times the word 'WORLD' is used, warns believers to separate themselves from man's system which is soon to DIE.

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the WORLD or anything in the WORLD. If anyone loves the WORLD, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the WORLD —the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the WORLD. 17 The WORLD and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

A Shakespearean Revelation points to a credible cause for caution: 

BREAKING NEWS: March 15, 44 BC is recorded as “the Ides of March.”   

 

On this day, a government leader, whose exploits included, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” was attacked by a group of senators, including his friend and protégé.   Julius Caesar was attacked by a group of senators, including Brutus, who was Caesar's friend and protégé.

The Ides of March was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

U.S. Secret Service Report on School Shootings

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS, February 22, 2018, Virtual – The United States Secret Service, an agency whose duties include protecting the President of the United States, might have shared with their protectee yesterday a few lessons learned about school shootings. 

In June 1999, following the attack at Columbine High School, the agency collaborated with the U.S. Department of Education on an effort to answer questions about school safety. The result was an extensive examination of 37 incidents of targeted school shootings that generated The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative.

A United States Secret Service study concluded that schools were placing false hope in physical security, when they should be paying more attention to the pre-attack behaviors of students. Zero-tolerance policies and metal detectors "are unlikely to be helpful," the Secret Service researchers found.

The researchers focused on questions concerning the reliance on SWAT teams when most attacks are over before police arrive, profiling of students who show warning signs in the absence of a definitive profile, expulsion of students for minor infractions when expulsion is the spark that push some to return to school with a gun, buying software not based on school shooting studies to evaluate threats although killers rarely make direct threats, and reliance on metal detectors and police officers in schools when shooters often make no effort to conceal their weapons.

Program officers from YouthUSA, engaged in listening sessions hosted by then U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige.   In May 2002, government published findings centered around the “playas” while ignoring “the game.” 

School safety for protectees in #OneNationUnderGod” requires common vision calling for shared values among #WeThePeople.   Closer examination of the Columbine incident reveals evidence that at least one of the attackers questioned victims about their belief in God.  Examination into more recent attacks in Connecticut and Florida apparently drive home some realities about mental health, gun control and education reform.   

#WeThePeople are missing something, and what we are missing is costing lives.

"The challenges we face today, especially those that face our children, require something of all of us -- parents, religious and community groups, business, labor organizations, schools, teachers, our great national civic and service organizations, every citizen, stated The President of the United States.  Together with other living presidents, President Clinton, on January 24, 1997, set a goal to mobilize America's citizen power in a united effort to solve our common problems, especially those that threaten our young people."

In context, it’s taken two decades and yet another 17 lost lives to measurably engage #WeThePeople in life-saving citizen service.  Comments and activism by survivors of the attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida reflect inherited values from the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient for whom the school is named.  The difference in these survivors is a lineage of evidence-based activism that’s not likely to diminish after #GraduationDay.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas (April 7, 1890 – May 14, 1998) was an American journalist, author, women's suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to #DrainTheSwamp and reclaim land for development.

Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, she exercised a right to #FreeSpeech as a freelance writer, producing over a hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. Its impact has been compared to that of Rachel Carson's influential book Silent Spring (1962). Her books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, enabling her to advance her causes.

As a young woman Douglas was outspoken and politically conscious of the women's suffrage and civil rights movements. She was called upon to take a central role in the protection of the Everglades when she was 79 years old. For the remaining 29 years of her life she was "a relentless reporter and fearless crusader" for the natural preservation and restoration of South Florida.  Her tireless efforts earned her several variations of the nickname "Grande Dame of the Everglades" as well as the hostility of agricultural and business interests looking to benefit from land development in Florida. She received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was inducted into several halls of fame.

Douglas lived to 108, working until nearly the end of her life for Everglades restoration. Upon her death, an obituary in The Independent in London stated, "In the history of the American environmental movement, there have been few more remarkable figures than Marjory Stoneman Douglas."

Perpetuating the spirit of their community elders is both a right and responsibility of students in Florida and across the country, challenging the status quo about where they live and learn.  Back in the 20^th Century industrial age, student achievement was, at times, measured by butts in the seats when attendance was taken.  In the 21^st Century, “school” is less the noun (place) and more a verb (process) through which habits for life-long learning are 2-B shaped. 

School can become that safe place envisioned by conveners of the first and last Presidents’ Summit For America’s Future.  It will require a change in individual and collective actions and attitudes.   It is a goal, well within the reach of #OneNationUnderGod.

HBCUs Can #TakeAKnee For Puerto Rico

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS September 28, 2017, Virtual -- After taking a knee in prayer, one historically disadvantaged American got up with a revelation. Puerto Rico needs an angel!  Or, at the very least, some enterprising neighbors thinking like angels.

Television reporters use satellite phones for emergency communication, connecting citizens on the mainland with survivors in Puerto Rico.  If anything is to be learned from this year’s unprecedented disasters, it’s a lesson in healing, feeding, housing, learning, earning, living and giving.  “Carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society” means equipping boots-on-the-ground forces with methods and means to do whatever God needs you to do—individually and collectively.

A few years back, YouthUSA's program team investigated diverse methods for deploying wireless telecommunication.  We already knew about technologies for military use—some classified.   We reached out to presidents and or institutional advancement departments in 106 Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a vision of America’s future from an historically disadvantaged perspective. 

In 2002, we explored methods and means for engaging HBCU students in Small Business Technology Transfer Research through a newly established federal agency called Department of Homeland Security.

One of the technologies we had hoped to explore offered an alternative to land-based WiFi towers, which we now know might be blown down if the wind is strong enough.

Rapid deployment of HALO might have addressed an immediate communications void even for a remote Caribbean island.  Broadband wireless millimeter wavelength services provided from a High Altitude Long Operation (HALO™) Aircraft are now feasible. HALO emphasized the conceptual design of a "bandwidth-on-demand" wireless network whose data rates to and from the subscriber will measure in the multi-megabit per second range. A variety of metropolitan area spectrum bands offer the needed bandwidth. An attractive choice was the LMDS band near 28 GHz.

Can it work?  Well, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE when you believe “I can achieve whatever I believe I can achieve.

Standing For Those Who Serve

Eric Stradford, United States Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS, September 27, 2017, America -- Up to now, I’ve held my thoughts on a national conversation about honor and discipline. That was before reading a post by a military family member seeking to reconcile reality between civilian and military duty.  Mine was a pre-stated position that YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH.

Throughout history, Americans have exercised their right to free speech, often ill-informed as to how their actions might impact the life and liberty of their fellow citizens in service.

You might recall the movie, A Few Good Men.  Two U.S. Marines were on trial for the murder of Willie Santiago, and a “lesser charge” of conduct unbecoming a United States Marine.  The defendants were found guilty of Article 134, a "catch-all" for many offenses that are not covered by other specific articles of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

According to sources, these other offenses, including their elements and punishments, are spelled out in Part IV, Punitive Articles (Paragraphs 60-113) of the Manual for Courts-Martial. They vary from kidnapping (para. 92) to disloyal statements (para. 72).  As a consequence, the defendants were dishonorably discharged.

From the perspective of those who hold honor on behalf of others who die defending your rights, let’s have a real conversation about the true cost of citizenship.  Military folks do not have the luxury of debating your right to disrespect those empowered to lead.  By our own actions or inaction, #WeThePeople subject our military to stand in the midst of conflict and crisis. We share a responsibility to educate America’sFuture about the importance of history, honor and national standards. 

A professional athlete and any citizen may take a knee without consequence to themselves.  But your military family member, who swears to uphold your right to free speech, cannot legally partake in civil action that conflicts with a leader's perception of good order and discipline.  The conversation is not about a flag, but a chain of command.  It’s about the Americans, ordered to stand, salute, and if necessary, sacrifice life and or limbs defending the rights embodied by a symbol.

If you can wrap your head around the Star Spangled Banner, a.k.a. The National Anthem, a song about a flag, the only words that really matter is that rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the darkest moments that "the flag was still there."  

One Supreme Court opinion recognized limitations to the First Amendment’s broad reach that affect the legitimacy of the military’s requirement to display respect to the national colors.   When discussing the role and function of symbols of the state, the Court opined that some gestures of respect were “appropriate,” specifically citing the salute as an example.

Further, in concluding that no circumstances were present justifying an exception to the protections of the First Amendment in Barnette , the Court recognized that such an exception may exist in the military context.  As the Court noted, “The Nation may raise armies and compel citizens to give military service . . . . [I]t follows, of course, that those subject to military discipline are under many duties and may not claim many freedoms that we hold inviolable as to those in civilian life.”

The conversation is perplexing for those sworn to defend you, and your constitutional rights.  On their behalf, we only ask that you consider our contractual commitment to honorable service.