Tag: quantum mechanics

Meet One of the Greatest Americans, the Frenchman Philippe Petit: A love letter to the Twin Towers

I was on a long oversea flight when I noticed the 2015 movie The Walk was one of the few listings that actually looked interesting to me.  I had avoided it in theaters because honestly, I get tired of all the sad stories about the Twin Towers destroyed in New York in 2001.  The topic started to feel like a perpetual funeral a long time ago—and I don’t like funerals.  I was a kid when Philippe Petit performed a high wire act by walking across the two skyline monstrosities breaking the law, yet winning the hearts of the world—so I vaguely remembered the incident.  Being stuck on a plane for 13 hours and having finished a book I was reading, I thought I’d give it a chance.  What I discovered on the Robert Zemeckis directed film was a love letter to what the World Trade Center towers represented before that terrible day on 9/11—and it gave me new respect for the anger that New Yorkers—like Donald Trump—still feel when talking about them.  Everyone promised not to forget when the towers were destroyed by radical Islamic terrorists on that fateful September day in 2001—but by the time The Walk had finished playing on the plane long over the Pacific Ocean coming down along the coast of Russia, I realized that Zemeckis had captured perfectly the critical issues on why legal immigration to the United States was part of the American experience and had properly identified without saying it why the terrorists had attacked those particular towers—because of what they represented to the rest of the world.  I found that The Walk was a movie that every American should see at least once because even thought Petit was a Frenchman, what he did and why he did it perfectly embodied why America is a special place and continues to be.  At the heart of the movie was a defined embodiment of the current political turbulence and a desire to recapture America’s spirit before 9/11 ever happened.  It was marvelous.

Philippe Petit (French pronunciation: ​[filip pəti]; born 13 August 1949) is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, on the morning of August 7, 1974.[1] For his unauthorized feat (which he referred to as “le coup”[2]) 1,350 feet (400 metres) above the ground, he rigged a 450-pound (200-kilogram) cable and used a custom-made 26-foot (8-meter) long, 55-pound (25-kilogram) balancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire. The next week, he celebrated his 25th birthday. All charges were dismissed in exchange for his doing a performance in Central Park for children.

Since then, Petit has lived in New York, where he has been artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, also a location of other aerial performances. He has done wire walking as part of official celebrations in New York, across the United States, and in France and other countries, as well as teaching workshops on the art. In 2008, Man on Wire, a documentary directed by James Marsh about Petit’s walk between the towers, won numerous awards. He was also the subject of a children’s book and an animated adaptation of it, released in 2005. The Walk, a movie based on Petit’s walk, was released in September 2015, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit and directed by Robert Zemeckis.

He also became adept at equestrianism, fencing, carpentry, rock-climbing, and bullfighting. Spurning circuses and their formulaic performances, he created his street persona on the sidewalks of Paris. In the early 1970s, he visited New York City, where he frequently juggled and worked on a slackline in Washington Square Park.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit

I can’t promise by the time that you’ve read this article dear reader that the below film, Man on Wire will still be playing on YouTube.  If it’s not, you should find it and watch it.  If it is still up below, then take a few hours and watch it now.  I had not seen the film prior to the Zemeckis movie but instantly sought it out wanting to confirm that what I had seen in The Walk was real—which it was.  It is an inspiring documentary that serves as a fine complement to the 2015 feature film.  As spectacular as that event was in 1974 walking across the massive precipice of the World Trade Center from such dizzying heights, it was quite a relief to discover that the story was true and the real passion of Philippe Petit was not overstated.  The actual guy is just as passionate and authentic as the 2015 movie on him.   Petit was a modern immigrant who came to America because of the opportunities it provided him, and he stayed and never left.  Even though what he did was in definite violation of the law, New York embraced him because unlike other places in the world, such efforts often go with a reward.  America has always been a place where the law takes a back seat to innovation.  Of course Philippe Petit was arrested for his antics and if he had not been successful, things could have been very bad for him and the World Trade Center building complex that had not yet been opened to the public.  But as it was, Petit’s actions were authentic—driven from a pure heart to live by the spontaneity of his troubadour tendencies and the American continent recognized that effort with foundations of belief rooted in common experience.  Most people in America yearn to live as Petit did—not everyone does—but the purpose of art is to evoke such emotions and in this case it properly put its finger on the root of American Exceptionalism.  Petit is such a fine, raw example of American Exceptionalism.  It’s not something people are born with.  It’s a philosophy that embraces those who have no place else to display their genius—and that is what makes America great.  It’s not a born trait, it’s something you take for yourself—and America along with its entire people—thus benefits.

Petit saw something that at the time could have only been created by American capitalism—the World Trade Center and he took on impossible odds to perform his task.  Part of the difficulty is what shaped the event as being so extraordinary.  If it had been easy it would not have been so amazing.  I can say that I understand Petit’s efforts.   I have experienced similar things—even down to the mysterious stranger who showed up on the roof at dawn and looked him wordlessly to acknowledge his existence then disappeared just as inexplicably.  Who was that guy?  Nobody knows but he never tipped off the law prior to Petit taking to his feat.  I have a saying that I often have told my children that the treasures of life are not found along paved roads lined with signs saying stay off the grass.  If you really want to find the treasures of life, sometimes you have to step off that paved road and look in the high grass and weeds.  Rules and regulations are designed to keep us all on the road so that things can be hidden from us—so another class of insurgent aristocrats can rule over mankind.   That is why in France, Petit wasn’t so celebrated, because they loved their rules and regulations.  They may push the limit in different social ways, but the intellectual ways that Americans do are unique to the continent of North America as established by the Revolution of 1776.  Breaking the law is sometimes a good thing in America—so long as you win.

That message is distinctly different everywhere else in the world.  Rules matter and the people who make the rules must be revered as gods on earth.  In America that notion is laughed at—and that is why Philippe Petit was so embraced by New York after his amazing feat.  He had given meaning to those two steel towers and enemies of America—both foreign and domestic wanted to put an end to that meaning.  So they attacked them for what they represented to all the Petits of the world who looked to America with hope.  The attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 2001 was not just a shot at American capitalism, but to those who looked at them in pictures and dreamed similar dreams of freedom, anarchy, and spontaneous authenticity.  It wasn’t the buildings themselves they wanted to destroy so much as it was the freedoms they represented.  If Petit had not launched them with bold insurrection to the rules of humanity—they wouldn’t have had the same meaning.  For them to take their place in history properly—Petit needed to have his walk across them.

I was deeply touched by The Walk.  It touched on something that I believe in with extraordinary passion.  I can relate to Philippe Petit and I have to thank Robert Zemeckis for telling such an amazingly simple story with all the complexity of its troubadour origins—which is actually what gave birth to America in the first place from the first daring Europeans who put a zest for life ahead of the orthodox against the church and state.  Even though many had forgotten consciously what the World Trade Center had come to mean to a new generation, because of The Walk, the spirit of that endeavor has been captured and had defined them properly—and it is that spirit the terrorists attacked.

Conspiracies abound as to who was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center.  Donald Trump as a New Yorker and a builder of large buildings obviously is still very angry about their downfall—likely for the reasons I just articulated—even though it’s hard to put a finger on it.  The world needs more Philippe Petits and when those towers went down it wasn’t just lives lost that made everyone so sad.  It was the good memories of what they meant to the New York skyline and how they were launched to the public in such a grandiose way.  All that was erased forever and what was left was not just ruins, but an intentional jab at all the potential Philippe Petits of the world contemplating the fulfillment of their dreams.  The message from those treacherous insurgents was—yield your individuality to the deities and laws of the world.  Do not follow your individual passions as Philippe Petit did.   The direction we moved to as a country after 9/11 did exactly what the terrorists wanted.  Try telling a TSA agent you intend to walk across some building in America.  They’d panic and put the entire airport on lockdown just for saying it.  We gave up our free loving troubadour spirit to embrace the safety that only rules can provide to evoke upon us to stay on the paved roads.  CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT THE TROUBADOURS.  That was the greatest crime of all.  For me the most beautiful scene in The Walk was when Petit was going through immigration with all his equipment and he honestly told the border agent what he planned to do.  It was so extraordinary that the man waved him through not with suspicion but almost with a dare to see if the kid would actually do it attitude.  That is America, and that is what we need to get back.

Maybe if Donald Trump is elected president he’ll nominate Philippe Petit as a VP—because he’s still alive.  I can’t think of anybody who is more American than that Frenchman.  That is a guy I understand!

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

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Strategies and Conservative History of Donald Trump: Statements on Apple ahead of gathering under the tent of the Republican nominee

The trick now for Donald Trump is obviously making it so that Marco Rubio’s supporters along with Ted Cruz can jump over to him without feeling they betrayed their candidate.  So a change in presentation is due, especially now that Jeb Bush has announced that he’s out of the presidential race. John Kasich has no chance, Ben Carson has no chance.  Only Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio—both freshman Tea Party senators who don’t have much of a track record are left to determine who will be the Republican nominee along with Donald Trump—who is also a Tea Party favorite.  Let’s see, I heard several establishment Republicans in Butler County Ohio say in early 2013 when they were trying to stuff out the various Tea Party groups—that it would all be over by 2014.  Well, that’s not what’s happening.

Because of the vicious warfare a lot of these Cruz and Rubio people will be reluctant to side with Trump—so it will be the New York billionaire’s task to pull over the supporters and finish off these two—which should be rather easy.   There are a lot of things to pick on that could sink their ships really fast if Trump wanted to do it.  Rubio is from communist Cuba.   Ted Cruz had a father who was a communist revolutionary—and he was not born in the USA.  Both have had trouble with their personal finances and listing their paperwork obligations to some degree.  They both speak well, but are obviously above their head in personal experience. They were good candidates when Bush and Kasich were the focus, but now, they are front-runners subject to exposure—and it will be tough for them—there is a lot of easy fodder for Trump to expose over the next few weeks.

For them however, Cruz and Rubio, they will try to paint Trump as not being conservative enough and that is something that will have to be overcome quickly.  Trump was already dealing with that in his South Carolina acceptance speech before the print was dry for the morning papers.  That assertion, which many friends that I have in the Liberty movement support, is laughable.  The definition being used about conservatism has been established in the Tea Party wake of conservatives mixed with libertarians—and it is that criteria that is judging Trump’s viability of conservative values.  It is a political definition largely formed by Glenn Beck’s portion of the conservative Tea Party audience and is not based on actual conservative value—and that is what Trump needs to attack now in order to overcome the younglings—Cruz and Rubio.

If I had to write Trump’s life arch to arrive at this moment it would probably go something like this, Trump was hungry to step out of his father’s shadow—he worked really hard and put his stamp in New York in a big way enjoying a lot of early success.  He was the Michael Jackson of real estate and he worked extremely hard to get there.  The 90s came, and the bottom fell out of many of his investments.  He was over extended and struggling to stay afloat.  His father who was someone Trump leaned on a lot suffered Alzheimer’s disease and finally died in 1999.  Also over this span, Trump went through two marriages, had to file bankruptcies on several of his properties to keep them from sinking everything he had worked for and he had to pound through a lot of public scrutiny—a lot of people who wanted to kick him on the way back down off his 80s successes.  As a developer in New York, where a lot of liberals control things, Trump had to donate money just to play the game.  There weren’t a lot of Republicans in the world he was living in—so he had to do what it took to help his businesses.  He survived the 90s with a lot of personal skill and triumph and faced the next century without his parents, and a company that needed him to bounce back and carry it on his shoulders toward new heights.  Most of the things Trump faced in the 90s would have forced lesser men to jump off a roof, but Trump just buckled down and solved everything with sheer tenacity and intelligence.  In the post parent years, Trump truly broke out to be his own man—and along the way he started the Apprentice on NBC with Mark Burnett and actually refined himself over the course of 14 seasons as he was a teacher to several young people on a very popular television show.  Along the way, he bounced around on political positions, largely because most of the people he was dealing with were liberals—but he never personally lost himself.  He never drank, did drugs or got himself into misdeeds with women even though he could have easily as a single person at the time.  He met his current wife in 2004 and she seemed to be just what he needed as a person.  Since she came along, his personal focus has been surgical and his businesses have grown enormously.  He could not be a liberal in any way because of the way he has raised his family.  His kids show his conservatism, his businesses could not have been raised to the level they are without him being conservative to his very core—because liberals cannot think right to become wealthy the old fashion way.  Trump has been vetted through the harshest fires and he has endured and actually excelled.  I can say that I know what kind of president he’ll be, and I don’t have to worry about him crowning himself king.  He’s far more complex than that—and more reliable.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio comparatively have done nothing in their lives.  They are professional politicians without much of a track record and a lot of youthful idealism.  They have not survived the fires of reality all so well—they are actually a bit like Trump was in the 80s.  They have yet to face any hard crashes in their lives—which they will—and you don’t want a person in the White House who might not handle things so well under enormous pressure.  Cruz has been a good debater and argued in front of the Supreme Court, but that’s a rather small thing compared to all the achievements of Trump.  And Rubio in his short career has even been caught on the Gang of 8 mishap with Chuck Schumer—which will be easy for Trump to expose in the coming weeks.  However Trump does get into trouble is with statements like what he made about Apple.

The answer to Apple is not to boycott them, or even to have the government force Apple to unlock the cell phone of the California ISIS terrorists.   Trump’s comment that the government “owns” the phones is incorrect.  Trump the CEO is used to operating as a top down manager which is actually needed right now in the White House because of all the dysfunction—but you have to understand that government is owned by the people.  I’m sure Trump understands that, and his intentions with Apple are good, but he’s wrong in assuming that government could solve the problem of encryption with judicial force.  It just feeds the anxiety that Glenn Beck and Ted Cruz are already feeding about Trump’s conservatism.  The government should not be in the business of telling companies what to do.  In the case of Apple, rather than sitting around like a bunch of sorry losers for two months complaining that they couldn’t break the encryption of the confiscated phone, they should have hired a 12-year-old kid to hack the thing.  If Apple can invent something, then someone else can reverse engineer it and in this day and age, there is a kid out there who can do it.  The FBI should have utilized them instead of looking to impose government rule over a private sector company. Out of all the good things that Trump has said and done on this run for president, the supporters of Cruz and Rubio will take pause with that kind of talk—so it’s best to avoid those types of impulsive statements.  The FBI should not be waiting for a court order to force Apple to cooperate, and nobody should boycott Apple with peer pressure to force their hand.  It is up to the FBI to use all their vast resources to break the code.  I do not believe them when they say they can’t get in.  What they want is an easy way to get at such information in the future.  They are looking to move the Overton Window for all future cases in favor of them—which is dangerous.

Even if Trump doesn’t win in Nevada he’s in good shape to win the nomination.  He’ll do well in Nevada—and he’ll get plenty of delegates.  Marco Rubio didn’t do well in New Hampshire or Iowa, so even if he surges, he’s still way behind in the delegate count and Cruz has consistently been in third place.  He has no support from his colleagues in the senate and that will hurt him at this phase.  He has peaked out.  He’s not going to win, so his supporters need to get their minds around it.  Trump at this point could come in second and third in several of the Super Tuesday races and he’d still be poised to win.  Personally, he would consider it a failure to lose anything—but in the game of numbers, they are all in his favor.  So it’s time to start thinking about the next step.  Trump is far more conservative than Cruz and Rubio—not by what he says—but by how he acts when the rubber hits the road.  And to me, that’s what matters most.  Cruz and Rubio have not been job creators. Trump has, and he has a lot more experience at the hard decisions it takes to actually do things in the real world.  There is a big difference between idealism and actuality.  Trump has had a long career of making success out of hard realities whereas everyone else has simply just talked about it.  Trump would be wise to stick to his experience and shift into that next gear that will make it easier for the Cruz and Rubio people to come into his tent.  They may do so reluctantly, but it’s time for them to start moving in that direction.

Now, one last thing about establishment politics, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that excited everyone but Trump supports right before the South Carolina vote was obviously a small sampling of known Cruz/Rubio supporters hoping to turn the tide of public opinion just ahead of the vote.  The Bush campaign floated it out, and all the major news organizations ran with it—even though it was the only one.  That is how deep the establishment is on the process and it should tell voters everything they need to know.  Yet Trump didn’t buckle at all.  He was calm and cool through the whole process.  On the night before the election he held three massive rallies which made news all over the state.  Trump simply out-worked everyone.  With Trump in the White House he will set a new bar as far as what’s expected out of a sitting president.  There is nobody running who works as hard at things as Trump.  And the establishment doesn’t know what to do with him.  They’ve thrown everything including the kitchen sink at him because there is one thing that Trump has that none of them do—including Rubio and Cruz—Trump loves hard work.  They run from it by default.  That is what’s wrong with Washington D.C.—to its core.  We need a president who will make “hard work” fashionable once again—and nobody can do that like Trump.  Calvin Coolidge was a very hard worker—but he couldn’t sell it.  Trump can outwork Coolidge—but he can also sell it—and that is exactly what America needs right now.  It doesn’t need a political definition of conservatism.  It needs a hard worker who can convince America to do the same.  And that is what Trump is after a long life of really hard knocks. He’s not going to lose this election at this point.  Because nobody is able to outwork him to the finish line—so if you are not yet a Trump supporter and you don’t want Hillary in the White House—it’s time to come to terms.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

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John Kasich’s One Fan: The typical voter of Ohio’s biggest RINO

Look how relieved John Kasich, governor of Ohio, golfer with president Obama, loser to the labor unions, and Obamacare supporter through Medicaid expansion was when his one fan wanted a hug in front of people.  

That is weak.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

Judge Craig Hedric and Larry Flint–One in the Same: The Champagne Club trying to bring evil to West Chester

 

Apparently Judge Craig Hedric from Butler County loves sexually charged environments intended to corrupt the morality of the human race through sheer decadence and meandering ambiguity.  While the Champagne Club from the god forsaken hell hole of Ft. Wayne, Indiana could have more appropriately located their swingers club in the diabolically ruined neighboring Fairfield area, they picked West Chester just across the border to take a swipe at the family wholesomeness that the people and management there have carefully nurtured for over three decades.  Sadly, Judge Hedric, who is nearly a neighbor of mine and is an avid sports fan decided that he wanted to allow a progressive intrusion into the neighboring southern township—perhaps for closer proximity.  You just never know about people these days, even judges from conservative areas.  West Chester trustees wisely tried to fight back the intrusion but the law was interpreted by Hedric in the following fashion as reported by Channel 9 News.

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Butler County Pleas Judge Craig Hedric ruled Tuesday that West Chester Township officials improperly rescinded a permit for a planned swinger’s club.

After a swell of community outrage surrounding the upcoming opening of the Champagne Club, West Chester Township trustees approved a moratorium on “sexual encounter establishments” in November.

The West Chester Board of Trustees considered and approved a moratorium on the licensing and permitting of “sexual encounter establishments” and similar uses in the Township, according to spokeswoman Barb Wilson.

The owners of the Champagne Club out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, wanted to open a second location in West Chester Township before 2016, but the moratorium barred them from obtaining a permit to do so.

“Our clients, when they went in there, were very open — they said precisely what it was they were going to do,” said attorney Tim Burke, who represents the Champagne Club’s owners. “They were assured they were in compliance, then the trustees got public pressure from folks who didn’t like, who didn’t think this was a morally appropriate use.”

In response to Tuesday’s ruling, West Chester Township Administrator Judi Boyko issued a statement saying “In all things, West Chester endeavors to execute in good faith, in compliance with all laws and rules, and with the best interests of the community in mind.

“West Chester respects the judicial appeals process and today’s ruling by the judge will be taken into account moving forward. With regard to the specific details of this case, West Chester does not comment on litigation.”

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/butler-county/west-chester/west-chester-judge-permit-cant-be-revoked-for-swingers-club

West Chester might respect the judicial interpretation of the law, but I don’t.  The only way someone could possible side in favor of such a skanky low class-operation as the Champagne Club is if they sympathize with the swinging lifestyle.  I remember specifically how Larry Flint targeted Monroe with his Hustler of Hollywood store after he played out his years in jail after the fight with Cincinnati over his Hustler stores there.  You might remember the movie The People VS. Larry Flint, which showed the issue from the point of view of Flint and his diabolical desire to erode away morality under the flag of free speech.  Monroe tried to fight him, but they lost in a similar fashion being forced to host the embarrassment that has forever limited Monroe as a city.  Even though the little town along I-75 has tried to bring in classy establishments like the Cincinnati Premium Outlets, Richards Pizza, and the famous Touch Down Jesus statue, it is still an exit with a prison, a casino, and an adult sex shop—making it forever nothing but an overly glorified truck stop.

Newport on the Levy tried to revitalize the horrendous reputation of that city across the river from Cincinnati, but has fallen well short. There are still strip houses and illicit activity in Newport and that has permanently put on the handcuffs of profitable growth going into the future, because their reputation was and is so bad.  You can’t polish a piece of shit.  You can dress it up nice, and Newport on the Levy is very nice.  But outside of quarter-mile of that shopping destination, Newport is still little Vegas—as it was when the mob ruled it years ago.  It’s just a much more watered down version.

People don’t want sex in their backyards.  I’m sure there are plenty of West Chester couples who go to Cancun for scandalous vacations at the Temptations resort or to Vegas for three-way sex with some object of their desire.  Many people in West Chester and Liberty Township routinely go to New York where on Times Square women now walk around topless not caring if children see.  The internet is crawling with sex, so who is Craig Hedric to judge when the law presents an opening to favorable interpretation?  Well here’s the difference Hedric, the Champagne Club’s advocates are vile, evil, parasites seeking to lick the rot off the weaknesses of some of the best people of West Chester and they picked that location to stick it into the eye of all us wholesome moralists who seek refuge in one of the greatest places on the planet, the Miami Valley specifically of eastern Butler County.

I view swingers as sick people.  They typically are losers who get bored easily and put entirely too much emphasis on sex in their relationships.  It is low-level spiritual ambitions that I consider intellectually equitable to a baby in its first few months out of a mother’s womb.  Actually it’s worse.  A baby only wants what its biological impulses desire, to eat, to dispel of digestive activity, and to be cared for by someone who can move it around until it can do so on its own.   The sad thing with children occurs when their sex drive kicks in during adolescence and their brains no longer function toward intellectual growth, but toward sexual fulfillment—to satisfy the biological urge to procreate.  The smart thing to do in life is to never allow your mind to stop growing and to develop healthy attitudes about sex.  Have it, enjoy it, but don’t wrap your life around it. Not just marriage, but sex should be between a man and a woman end of story.  Anything else and you are spending too much time on sexual activity.  If sex occupies more than 1% of your total week, there is something wrong with you.  You can have sex with a spouse four or five times a week for an hour or so and be perfectly fine.  But if you are going to someplace like the Champagne Club for three or four hours on a Friday night, then spending an additional two or three hours with somebody else’s spouse, you are wasting too much time on sex and it is bringing imbalance to your life.  Sex then becomes an extremely disastrous enterprise at that point.

Who in their right mind would want something like that in one of the best places to live in North American—and West Chester is—along with Liberty Township—where Hedric lives.  Dayton is already a dump and there are several swinger clubs there.   They help keep that region an armpit of disgust.  Why would you want it in such a nice area?  The only answer that there is comes from the actions of the perpetrators.  They, like Larry Flint, want to spread their corruption to a new recruiting base to destroy and ruin many more people to fulfill their selfish and infantile needs for physical gratification through sexual action.  So to me Larry Flint and Judge Craig Hedric are one in the same.  Both used the law to destroy morality because they could–rather than functioning from the higher thoughts of philosophy rather than the primal desires of sex.  Swinger clubs have an impact on real estate values.  They have an impact on commerce.  And they have an impact on the sanctity of a region.   I often entertain people from out of the country and let me tell you this; it would be embarrassing to explain to them that there is a swinger club in West Chester.  When visiting their countries you never see it.  Sure it’s there—but it’s carefully hidden because it is shameful.  It’s shameful for a reason—because adults should be smarter than a bunch of hormonal teenagers who just want to stick their stuff into whatever presents itself.

Therefore, knowing all that, the owners of Champagne Club want only one thing by locating in West Chester and not some more appropriate armpit of a slum like Springdale, Evendale or Forest Park—they want to attack the integrity of West Chester morally, economically, and structurally in every phase.  And such an attack should be viewed as a serious imposition to the security of all our homes and chosen lifestyles.  It’s not a no harm, no foul environment, it’s a sexually scandalous place that only deviants would enjoy, the worst of our species, the pot heads, the sex addicts, and the terribly bad parents who are probably all school levy supporters as well.  And if the judge won’t protect our community from this insurgency of evil, then we need to explore other avenues—because apparently Judge Craig Hedric is up for something else besides the job he was sent to do as a Butler County Pleas Judge.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

Patti Alderson’s Butler County Zoo: Featuring RINOs who eat a lot of green

Southern Ohio, specifically Butler County isn’t known for its wildlife—but there are enough RINOs migrating around that it rivals only the Serengeti of Africa.  This is largely due to the State Central Committee seat that the socialite Patti Alderson holds which keeps those RINOs in seats they otherwise wouldn’t be able to hold.  Ann Becker is running against Patti Alderson to attempt to set things right in Butler County and if you listen to the broadcast Ann did with Brian Thomas on 55 KRC below, you will begin to understand how Patti has loaded Butler County full of so many RINOs and learn what you can do about it.  What’s even stranger, given the sometimes intense anger that the Liberty Movement is uttering these days toward the establishment commitment toward RINOs (Republican In Name Only—people like Don DIXON) is that Patti listed them on her promotional website as a badge of honor like her own zoo listing.  That’s how out of touch she is.  Now a few names on her list, also shown below, are decent people—like Margy and T.C. Rogers.  Roger Reynolds most of the time is like a tennis ball being knocked over a net from Liberty to establishment—so he’s sort of on the fence—but most of the rest are clearly RINOs.  Not that they are bad people, but they are definitely establishment anchors who lean far too left for the current Liberty tide that is emerging.  To prove it, just click on the hotlinks below, and you will see the evidence.  Here is the information that Patti listed on her website promoting her ability to maintain the status quo by continuing to feed the RINOs of Butler County.https://t.co/3jNX1vRG7N

https://www.iheart.com/widget/?showId=25690995&episodeId=27451056

Endorsed by the Butler County Republican Party | Endorsed by the State of Ohio Republican Party

“Patti Alderson represents us on the State Central Committee with honesty, integrity and an unfailing commitment to the principles conservatives hold dear. We need Patti Alderson as a voice for our region on the State Central Committee.  She has my unequivocal and enthusiastic support, and I urge all of my friends, neighbors and fellow citizens to join me in supporting her for another term.”
— Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

“Patti Alderson is a blessing to our Community. I do not know where Butler County would be without her commitment and leadership.”

— Margy Conditt, State Representative

“During her time on the State Central Committee, Patti Alderson worked with conservatives across Ohio to build a strong Republican Party.   Winning elections is the first step in the battle to preserve and protect our values – we need Patti Alderson to keep up the fight.”
— Tim Derickson, State Representative

“Patti Alderson was the definition of strong, conservative leadership before it was popular to be a conservative. As our State Central Committeewoman, Patti is Butler County’s greatest advocate. We can depend on her to listen to our needs and represent the desires of Butler County Republicans.”
— Cindy Carpenter, President Butler County Commissioner

intelligent persistence to bring the resources necessary to help solve the most pressing needs of our community.”
— TC Rogers, Vice President Butler County Commissioner

“Patti Alderson has served our local and state Republican Party with loyalty and conservative diligence for many years. Patti is the most qualified Republican for State Central Committeewoman, and I am confident she will continue to represent our Party very, very well.”
— Don Dixon, Member Butler County Commissioner

“There is no one more principled and knowledgeable to represent us at the State level than Patti Alderson. I endorse Patti and urge you to vote for Patricia (Patti) Alderson for State Central Committee on March 15!”

— Sheriff Richard K. Jones

“It is my honor and privilege to endorse Patti Alderson for Butler County’s State Central Committeewoman. Patti is one of the most upstanding, hard-working leaders I’ve ever known.  She is a tireless community volunteer, philanthropist, and a top-notch civic leader.  Patti is one of those rare individuals who never stops “giving back.”  I wholeheartedly ask for your support for Patti Alderson!”

— Nancy Nix, CPA, Butler County Treasurer

“Patti is a staunch Conservative dedicated to the values this County was founded upon and deserving of our vote.”
— Greg Wilkens, Butler County Engineer

“I endorse Patti Alderson whole heartedly for State Central Committee.  Patti is a person of strong character and moral judgment.  Please join me in supporting Patti Alderson on March 15.”
— Roger Reynolds, Butler County Auditor

“I give my strongest and most sincere support to Patti Alderson for another term as our State Central Committeewoman.  Patti is a strong conservative, a proven community leader, and a positive force who knows how to get things done. She listens with concern and leads by example. We need Patricia (Patti) Alderson on State Central Committee, as she is our BUTLER COUNTY GOP ENDORSED CANDIDATE.”
— Todd Hall, Butler County GOP Executive Chairman

http://www.aldersonforohio.com/patti.html

The Black Rhino of the Serengeti are herbivores who mostly eat greenery—brush, grass and other plant life.  The RINOs of Butler County eat lots of greens as well, but this often comes in the form of paper money.  All the RINOs listed on Patti’s endorsement page are zoo feed RINOs who come to her home and charity events to be fed and have largely been domesticated by her.  She controls them, she keeps them fat, dumb, and happy, and she maintains her grip on their existence with her seat on the State Central Committee.

The Black Rhinos of Serengeti are almost always on endangered lists because they have been overly hunted.  To this day, they are a protected species.  The RINOs of Butler County are also a protected species—they are protected by the State Central Committee but in reality they need to be hunted and thinned for the sake of Liberty.  Because, they are over grazing and stripping away all the wonderful resources our fine county provides with a bottomless pit of hunger that always needs to be fed. If Patti weren’t so rich with what they want to eat, they’d erode away with the desire to have full stomachs that could never be filled.  So while we want to preserve the Serengeti Rhinos we want to hunt the Butler County RINOs to near extinction for the good of all of us.

Patti lists them above the way an African hunter might mount the head of her trophies on a wall for the admiration of her peers.  As she poses next to each picture of all her trophies she looks like a Cabela’s ad for new hunting gear.  Except Patti doesn’t just mount those RINOs on her wall, she breeds them first and is heavily responsible for the over population of RINOs in Butler County that we currently have—the insidious money hungry establishment types who are stripping away everything our county offers in favor of their full bellies.

If you want to hunt them and thin out the herd of RINOs that are migrating all over Ohio, then vote for Ann Becker to return the county of Butler to its natural beauty by preventing the overgrazing of the RINOs that Patti Alderson feeds so passionately.  Put a stop to Patti Alderson’s zoo full of overgrazing RINOs—and vote to preserve Butler County.

You can early vote NOW!

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

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It’s RINO Hunting Season in Ohio: Vote out Patti Alderson and pick Ann Becker in her place on March 15th

If you ever wondered why nothing much changes in politics over the years it’s because the same type of people run State Central Committee.  The State Central Committee is the governing body of the Ohio Republican Party.  There are two representatives from each district embodying the 33 senate districts in Ohio who manage all the party affairs including day-to-day operations, fundraising, and deciding on which candidates to support and provide resources to.  They are the reason that certain people once elected are almost impossible to remove and are instrumental in maintaining a mundane status quo.  Currently in the Butler County region, which is one of the most conservative areas in America, Patti Alderson is the representative most responsible for preserving status quo politics—like supporting John Kasich—who might as well be a democrat, and John Boehner.  Patti has held the position since 2012 and has for years been a large political insider donating vast sums of money to political candidates.  Around Butler County, if someone wanted to run for a Republican office, they had to get to know ol’ Patti.

Patti and I don’t like each other.  It goes way back to the Lakota levy situation where I called her massive swarms of pro tax neurotic, guilt plagued area mothers latte sipping prostitutes.  Actually, it goes back further than that.  Her husband, who made all the money that Patti now enjoys as one of the wealthiest people in Southern Ohio was a supporter of mine in the No Lakota Levy effort to keep down the taxes in one of Ohio’s largest school districts in one of the most affluent areas.  Patti, being completely disconnected from the realities of how taxes might influence the bottom line of her husband’s business, was a massive tax and spend liberal type siding with the progressives advancing the incursions against property values.  To be honest I felt really sorry for her husband who I measured as a good man caught in a classic struggle with a wife who was out of touch with what her spouse did to make all the vast wealth she enjoyed.  He never complained to me about it, but I could tell from a distance what the situation was, and I felt sorry for him.  A powerful man like he was shouldn’t have to provide me with cloak and dagger financial support while publicly supporting a wife who was pretending to be a Republican while at the same time advancing all the traits of a ranting progressive.  It was clear to me even before Patti was elected to the State Central Committee that the kind of watered down politicians we were getting into elected office were because of people like Patti who were liberals in how they lived and only played the part of Republicans because regionally, it’s a conservative area and is required for anybody who wants to hold a prominent position socially. (COUGH, DON DIXEN.  CLICK TO REVIEW.)  

It came to a head between her and me when her tax increase supporters started taking personal shots because they were getting frustrated that they couldn’t win an election against my group, No Lakota Levy.  Several members who worked with me on that tax resistance group also worked with Patti at the Community Foundation, which is a charity group and she was using that to try to undermine my group internally.  So we proposed an offer to donate money to kids suffering from the political stalemate and pay for their high sports fees.  The Community Foundation at first was receptive, but then because the goal of Lakota schools in having the sports fees in the first place was an extortion tactic, Patti withdrew her support basically using me as her reasoning declaring that I was too controversial.  That forced me and my partners to create our own Foundation, which we did.  I put together a press release and we donated $10,000 to poor kids who couldn’t pay the sports fees at Lakota.  I gave the Enquirer an exclusive, did the usual WLW interviews and did press for Channel 5, 9 and 12.  Shortly after that Patti came after me directly joining with the Lakota school board to discredit me any way she could.  They went for my jugular.  If I had been a normal person, I might have been totally destroyed—and that’s the way Patti Alderson rolls, and how Republicans in Butler County have held on to their seats of power.  She’s not alone, but she’s a major player—because of the wealth her family enjoys now.  I said what I said about her supporters because it was obvious she was working with Lakota to use children to drive up tax increases and it personally made me sick—because she called herself a Republican.  Most of the men went along with the tax hungry wives because they wanted peace in their households so I needed to illustrate the situation the way I am uniquely positioned to do.  CLICK HERE TO REVIEW.

Well times change and now my friend Ann Becker and a partner of her acquaintance Walter Simms are running against Patti to unseat her. I know it’s hard for Ann because she and Patti were always pretty good friends but the big difference is that Ann cannot pretend to be a Republican—she just is to the core of her personality.   Being a Republican to Ann actually means something—it’s not a social-climbing device intended to get into the latest charity parties hosted by the Chamber.  To Ann, being a Republican is serious business and it has been her mission since I’ve known her to return our government mechanisms to a constitutional republic, not a society of bootlickers trying to appease people like Patti who want to be everything to everybody.  So guess who I’m supporting for State Central Committee?

Dear reader, if you want to make me happy—if you’d like to pay me back for all the years you’ve enjoyed reading these words and all the antics on radio broadcasts, and calling it like it is—then show up to vote to destroy Patti Alderson politically.  Can you do that little thing for me?  Vote for Ann and be sure to utterly destroy Patti Alderson.  Patti is not a Republican.  She was one of the first people we identified as a RINO way back leading up to 2012.  The more I learned about her the more obvious it was.  If she wasn’t she wouldn’t have worked so hard to personally destroy me just for standing in the way of higher taxes she desired.  What she did I will never forget or forgive and I’m absolutely sure I’m not the only one.  I don’t wish her and her husband harm physically, but Patti shouldn’t be involved in politics unless she wants to host a fund-raiser.  She should not have her hands on the daily operations of the Republican Party in any legislative fashion.  She is a Kasich supporter; it is because of people like her that we have Jeb Bush still thinking he should run for president.  She helped keep Boehner in power longer than he should have been and helped swipe away challengers to his seat with mechanisms of similar manipulative aggression as she showed to me—just for being in the way of what she wanted.

I know Ann inside and out—I know her very heart and I am certain that she can be trusted with such an important seat of power.  Honestly we need 66 Ann Becker types on the State Central Committee but I can handle two for now, Ann herself and her partner in this endeavor Walter Simms.  I met Walter’s wife just the other day and I could see on her face that Walter had her permission to be a real fighter for the sanctity of the Republican Party.  When I saw her face I actually thought of Patti’s husband and how he projected the opposite sentiment.  For his sake, I wish Patti hadn’t made the decision to become public property by running for office—because a lot of this is embarrassing for his family.  For his sake I wish they could just stay shadow donors—because then stories like this could just stay in the kitchens and living rooms of Butler County.  But she decided to be a public person, so that puts the issue out there for debate, and her character and motivations certainly deserve scrutiny, because she sells herself as one thing yet advances an entirely different philosophy.  Regarding the old friendship between Patti and Ann—I’m sure it hurts to consider but it’s good strategically to keep you enemies close so you might influence their behavior.  Fortunately for all of us, Ann was never seduced into the manipulative arms of the latté sippers which made up Patti’s core group of levy supporters and progressive social insurgents.

Another name who was on No Lakota Levy with me was Todd Hall, who now runs the Republican Party.  I liked Todd, but we haven’t spoken much since that time because when Patti put down the gauntlet on the men in the Republican Party at the time they had to pick sides.  His attitude toward me was like the kid who was playing with the neighborhood rebel and his parents were putting a stop to it.  I understood of course.  It takes courage to stay by the side of people who are going against the grain.  Unfortunately for the Republican Party, the same kind of thing happens every day, whether the target is David Kern of Liberty Township, or J.D. Winteregg who was challenging John Boehner’s seat a few years ago.  Or, Ann Becker herself being booted out of a John Kasich Rally for protesting Common Core.  Todd was just doing what his bosses told him too—even though he was supposed to be running the party.  The sad thing about that is Patti let that happen to her old friend in such an embarrassing way.  If that’s how she treats friends and in my case, neighbors who her husband supported—just think of how she’ll treat people she doesn’t care about.

Do the Republican Party a favor—boot her ass out on March 15th.  Early voting begins on February 17th.  I’ll likely be in line to cast my vote in favor of Ann first.  She’s a great person and someone who is tested under fire.  She is unflappable.  She cannot be corrupted.  She may be a bit too idealistic at times, but that only helps her in this kind of fight.  Patti is entrenched and it won’t be easy to get rid of her. So it will take everything you’ve got dear reader to dispose of her politically.  But this is your chance to do so.  Don’t blow it!  Vote for Ann Becker and Walter Simms for District 4 State Central Committee and take a very important step toward fixing the Republican Party for the next generation.  It’s RINO hunting season and Patti is the mama bear.  With her out of power, the cubs will be easy—metaphorically speaking of course.

To learn more about Ann Becker, CLICK HERE

To learn more about Walter Simms, CLICK HERE

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

A Review of the 8th District Congressional Representatives: Learning from Boehner before deciding who will hold his old seat next

Gosh, it’s been around 6 to 7 years of effort, but you can clearly see how the Tea Party has shaped local and national elections.   I remember how it was back then, and I can clearly see it now.  On the national stage Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul were all heavy Tea Party candidates and three of those four are current front runners as the primary season is starting.  Old traditional politicians like John Boehner under great pressure vacated his 8th District Congressional seat in Ohio—to a large extent because of the Tea Party, especially in his home town.  A silent insurrection has been taking place on the Republican Central Committee behind the scenes and the politics under the feet of Boehner changed into something unrecognizable to him and his donor base.  It was never anything against Boehner, but he made himself a public person, and that meant he had to make a choice.  The West Chester Tea Party expected him to be authentic, even if the Washington lobbyist culture was fine with people who were Republican in Name Only.  So John resigned and now in early 2016 there will be an election starting on March 15th to fill his seat.  And out of all the forums to flush out the new candidates, the West Chester Tea Party was at the heart of vetting those future politicians.  Not everyone running showed up, but the most relevant did and they can be seen in the following video.  It is interesting to watch how the political dialogue has changed over that relatively short period of time.  A lot of the things discussed in this video would have been avoided before 2010 by all politicians.  Things have certainly changed.

So who’s my pick after watching that video, well for me it’s quite clear—it’s Warren Davidson.  I would have liked to have had J.D. Winteregg and Jim Spurlino speak at the event, but they were no shows.  In the past I have supported J.D., but if you can’t make it to the West Chester Tea Party events in the south of the 8th District, then those candidates don’t really want to win.  You have to get those people on your side, or you won’t win the 8th District.  Just some friendly advice—guys.  Warren Davidson out of all the candidates on stage at Butler Tech was the clear front-runner.  There were things about some of the other candidates that I liked, but they weren’t the type of people who could hope to survive in the emerging Washington landscape.  I watched Warren even when he wasn’t speaking.  He didn’t make any disrespectful faces when the other candidates were talking—even when what was sometimes said came out bizarrely.  With Warren, it’s what he didn’t say that told me he was ready to stand up against the lobbyists of K-Street and represent the 8th District correctly.  I spoke to him after the debate and measured that he was the type of guy who would still be a good representative even after a few years in Washington.

I liked Terri King, but she came across to me as an amateur.  She dressed professionally, except for her shoes yet had a down-to-earth approach.  That might be fine for a public relations person working at the county fair, but representing the 8th District in a far away land wraith with evil takes a thick skin and a steady hand—and Terri didn’t show me that she could do anything but complain like a born again Christian at the treachery before her.  You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes.  With her, high heel shoes would have been better, or work boots if she wanted to come across as approachable.  But the slippers with the suit just didn’t work.  I liked what she said, but she projected to me that all she could do was complain.  When it came time for action, she reminded me of someone who would hesitate in a moment of indecision—for instance, it’s a late night vote before a government shutdown.  She has campaigned on the issue and knows she’s expected to stand by her platform.  But she’s in Washington making over six figures a year.  The media are camped outside her office door hounding her every time she heads to the elevator. And she doesn’t want to reveal that she’s ready to cave on the vote-because she likes the money that is showing up on her doorstep every day—for really the first time in her life.  The suit she wore shows me she knows how to impress at a first glance.  But the slippers said she wasn’t ready for a real fight.  I don’t care if she has issues with her feet, if she can’t wear proper shoes; she’s not ready for the hostile environment in Washington.  You have to be ready for war on every level, from the street fights to the most subtle psychological warfare and not betray the 8th District.  She’s not ready or able.  She might do better with some local seat in the safety net of Butler County, but in Washington, she’d be eaten alive the first week.

I met Kevin White before the West Chester event and thought he was a nice guy.  He was very polite and conscientious.  But he is entirely too systematic to be a congressman.  His military life has made him unable to think very nimbly.  He struck me as someone who would happily fall in line with House leadership and do as instructed—which might not always be bad depending on whom the leadership is at the time—but as an individual, he didn’t have the mind to represent the 8th District.  Through his handshake I could tell he was much better at taking orders than thinking on his own.  I’d hire him to be a pilot in less than a second—he comes across as very competent and procedural—but not someone who can smell a rat in a conversation with a lobbyist from a powerful pharmaceutical company.  To represent the 8th District of Ohio after the way that John Boehner caved to so much pressure embarrassing us thoroughly on a national stage, White is too much of that old type of politician, a guy trying to get elected because of his service in the military and little else—because of his willingness to “sacrifice for the “greater good.”  That is a bad recipe for a congressional representative because once a lobbyist can make a case for the greater good whether the topic is war or health care—people like White will lose.   I may support Donald Trump for president who sometimes says that things are for the “greater good,” because I expect congress to stand in the way if things get too rough to keep our constitutional republic in check.  We don’t need a bunch of softies in tomorrow’s congress.  We need tough people who are smarter than whoever is in the White House.

The questions presented by the Tea Party audience did a good job of shaking the candidates off their talking points and forcing them to think on their feet.  That style of debate likely kept some of the other candidates from participating.  The ones who did stumbled a lot—which wasn’t bad.  They may have felt they came across weak, but we had to see how they handled some curve balls.  Some of them didn’t come across strongly at all and they were clear amateurs not ready for such a high office.  I’m not going to embarrass them—they know who they are.  Even though I could say the same about Warren Davidson’s military record as I did about White—there was clearly another gear to Davidson.  He showed an ability to think quickly and improvise that was missing from the other candidates.  Honestly, that will be the most valuable trait for the next 8th District congressional representative.  Whoever it is will have to be able to walk literally into Hell and still maintain themselves as a frosty white honest conservative who can dish out the hits as well as take them without having ruffled feathers.  Davidson clearly showed that he had that ability.

Probably the most interesting candidate was James Condit Jr., who showed up late looking like he had just fallen out of a bus that he was sleeping in.  He positioned himself on the side of the stage sitting behind the curtain half the night.  I’m sure I had heard his name before, but my impression of him was that he was barely hanging on to reality.  However, he was very articulate and intelligent when he spoke.  He was the most at ease in front of a crowd and had great command of his tonal inflections.  He was either a very slick salesman, an Alex Jones loon, or a highly intelligent eccentric.  I can’t say that I disagreed with him even though he dropped some bombs during his speaking moments.  I’ve written about some of the things he brought up, as I sometimes agree with Alex Jones.  Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction and Condit was clearly functioning from that zone of thought.  But for the purpose of this article, it was clear to me that he wasn’t serious about representing the 8th District.  He’s only running for office to get some media coverage to play his part of Paul Revere announcing the conspiracies that are not only coming, but have already long been here.  Condit wants to be on stage, so he’s running for office to get a platform.  He’s not serious about the office—otherwise he would have been on time and would have presented himself differently.

I personally know J.D. and thought he should have come to this Tea Party event regardless of whatever was on his schedule.  It was important.  For what he went through to challenge John Boehner just a few years ago, I would have expected him to be there.  But he wasn’t, and Warren Davidson showed himself as a more than viable candidate.  As for Jim Spurlino—I like some of the things he has been saying, particularly in relation to Donald Trump, but he should have been there too—but wasn’t.  If he really wanted to shake off the controversy of the mystery envelope that showed up under his door—which I’ll cover in a later article, he should have showed up to defend himself.  To my mind, if he made mistakes that put him in a compromising position, he shouldn’t be running for congress.  If he can’t handle little temptations between marriages—he won’t stand a chance in Washington.  The girls like powerful men, compromises will be presented to him every day and you can tell in his campaign ads that his wife wants him to congressman too much.  This 8th District job isn’t for softies or guys who like tits and ass at gentlemen clubs.  I know lots of construction guys and I like working with them—and I understand the culture—they are the real men who build America.  There is a place in the world for New York New York in Franklin and burger places like Hooters.  Hard core helmet busting construction guys who work for people like Spurlino sometimes need that kind of environment.   It’s not good for family life at home, but it helps to bust knuckles over steel and concrete in the company of men.  I don’t do things like that, but I understand the personality type.  But in Washington, T&A comes with lobbyists hooks connected to them and if Spurlino made that mistake even once in his life, he’s disqualified in my mind—because K-Street is a thousand times worse.   A candidate in the 8th District has to be able to walk through the fires of Hell unscathed with their integrity intact every day, and looking into the eyes of all the people on stage that night, only Warren Davidson has that ability.

In 2016 with all that’s going on and will happen over the next four years, the representative of the 8th District in Ohio needs to be a tough guy who can shoulder temptation without yielding to it.  And he’ll need to have the same tenacity after four years in office.  Whoever it ends up being better be ready to wear the proper shoes, because the fight will not be easy—in fact, it will likely be the hardest thing they have ever done in their lives—and that includes life and death situations.  This is not a light election cycle. It may be the most important any of us will face for another century.  So you better make it count.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

Beyond the Shadows on the Cave Wall: The answer to everything–come with me

 

I have mixed feelings about Oliver Stone.  I don’t think he’s a typical Hollywood leftist.  I think he’s too obsessed with conspiracy theories—but he is a fantastic writer.  He wrote Conan the Barbarian and Scarface which were fabulous movies, so he’s obviously very intelligent.  His use of drugs bothers me a lot, but I actually thought his movie, The Doors, was highly insightful and very good.  I’m not a fan of Jim Morrison, but I understood him after that film which walks a fine line between madness and extreme sanity.  I thought Natural Born Killers was extremely good and I loved JFK.  I think Oliver Stone functions from an unusual place as an artist and I enjoy his work even if I disagree with him on some politics and social policies.  So that makes me very interested in his son Sean who seems like a remarkably intelligent young man who has been given the lofty assumption of knowing all the most powerful people in Hollywood and the media—through his dad—but hasn’t had to carve his way through life-like a normal kid.  He’s taken that elevated platform and went down the rabbit hole—and I can’t say I disagree with much of what he says below.  I don’t base the things I write here on people like Sean Stone.  I walk my own path and come to conclusions based on an existence remarkably free of social contamination—because my thinking is very introverted.  When Sean Stone who has taken his father’s fame and used that platform to uncover some things, and his conclusions are remarkably similar to my own viewpoints—arrived at independently, there is something important to consider.  So listen to these clips where Sean Stone is being interviewed by Alex Jones—and do so with an open mind.  I believe he is far more correct than not—and I am certainly not providing that endorsement loosely.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/sean-stone-doubles-down-on-conspiracy-theories-911-not-only-inside-job-london-subway-bombings-were-too/

I have said for a long time that science is being held back deliberately.  CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW.  Just a little investigation will prove that a powerful elite form of shadow government is operating through lobbyists in the United States to adhere our nation to some global scheme.  Is it as sinister as Sean Stone proposes—it’s hard to tell, because everything is so shrouded in secrecy, nobody answers questions directly and most of our politicians are puppets?  But innately we know something is wrong and our mythologies are constructed around our suspicions.  Unfortunately, those mythologies for our human minds become religions and we then limit our perspective to the confines of that branch of interpretation.  We stop asking questions because we fear the answer of stepping beyond the boundaries of our religious parameters.

I have talked extensively about Thorium power and other means of free and unlimited energy that does not involve “dirty energy.”  I am convinced that much of the global push for socialism is to prevent society from reaching these next levels of scientific thought.  We are being held back deliberately from emerging into a Type I civilization because of an old European desire to maintain control of the original ruling families and their bloodlines—which is a ridiculously immature concept at this stage of human development.  Cancer could be cured tomorrow and we could have had flying cars for about a decade now.  The science has always been there, but politics has prevented those natural gifts of thought to emerge properly—as socialism and religion have been used to keep a lid on their emergence.  I am 100% sure of it.  Take way the limits of religion and government philosophy using socialism as a means to control the masses, and the United States would lead the world into a Type I society.

The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization‘s level of technological advancement, based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to utilize directed towards communication.[1] The scale has three designated categories called Type I, II, and III. A Type I civilization is able to utilize and store energy available from its neighboring star which reaches their planet, Type II is able to harness the energy of the entire star (the most popular hypothetic concept being the Dyson sphere—a device which would encompass the entire star and transfer its energy to the planet), and Type III civilization are in control of energy on the scale of their entire host galaxy.[2] The scale is hypothetical, and regards energy consumption on a cosmic scale. It was first proposed in 1964 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev. Various extensions of the scale have been proposed since, from a wider range of power levels (types 0, IV and V) to the use of metrics other than pure power.

In 1964, Kardashev defined three levels of civilizations, based on the order of magnitude of power available to them:

Type I

“Technological level close to the level presently attained on earth, with energy consumption at ≈4×1019 erg/sec (4 × 1012 watts).”[1] Guillermo A. Lemarchand stated this as “A level near contemporary terrestrial civilization with an energy capability equivalent to the solar insolation on Earth, between 1016 and 1017 watts.”[3]

Type II

“A civilization capable of harnessing the energy radiated by its own star”–for example, the stage of successful construction of a Dyson sphere–“with energy consumption at ≈4×1033 erg/sec.”[1] Lemarchand stated this as “A civilization capable of utilizing and channeling the entire radiation output of its star. The energy utilization would then be comparable to the luminosity of our Sun, about 4×1033 erg/sec (4×1026 watts).”[3]

Type III

“A civilization in possession of energy on the scale of its own galaxy, with energy consumption at ≈4×1044 erg/sec.”[1] Lemarchand stated this as “A civilization with access to the power comparable to the luminosity of the entire Milky Way galaxy, about 4×1044 erg/sec (4×1037 watts).”[3]

Michio Kaku suggested that humans may attain Type I status in 100–200* years, Type II status in a few thousand years, and Type III status in 100,000 to a million years.[4]

Carl Sagan suggested defining intermediate values (not considered in Kardashev’s original scale) by interpolating and extrapolating the values given above for types I (1016 W), II (1026 W) and III (1036 W), which would produce the formulawhere value K is a civilization’s Kardashev rating and P is the power it uses, in watts. Using this extrapolation, a “Type 0” civilization, not defined by Kardashev, would control about 1 MW of power, and humanity’s civilization type as of 1973 was about 0.7 (apparently using 10 terawatt (TW) as the value for 1970s humanity).[5]

In 2012, total world energy consumption was 553 exajoules (7020553000000000000♠553×1018 J=153,611 TWh),[6] equivalent to an average power consumption of 17.54 TW (or 0.724 on Sagan’s Kardashev scale).

In 2015, a study of galactic mid-infrared emissions came to the conclusion that “Kardashev Type-III civilizations are either very rare or do not exist in the local Universe”.[7] On October 14, 2015, the realization of a strange pattern of light surrounding star KIC 8462852 has raised speculation that a Dyson Sphere (Type II civilization) may have been discovered.[8][9][10][11][12]

Type I civilization methods

  • Large-scale application of fusion power. According to mass-energy equivalence, Type I implies the conversion of about 2 kg of matter to energy per second. An equivalent energy release could theoretically be achieved by fusing approximately 280 kg of hydrogen into helium per second,[13] a rate roughly equivalent to 8.9×109 kg/year. A cubic km of water contains about 1011 kg of hydrogen, and the Earth’s oceans contain about 1.3×109 cubic km of water, meaning that humans on Earth could sustain this rate of consumption over geological time-scales, in terms of available hydrogen.
  • Antimatter in large quantities would have a mechanism to produce power on a scale several magnitudes above our current level of technology. In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to radiant energy. Their energy density (energy released per mass) is about four orders of magnitude greater than that from using nuclear fission, and about two orders of magnitude greater than the best possible yield from fusion.[14] The reaction of 1 kg of anti-matter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy.[15] Although antimatter is sometimes proposed as a source of energy, this does not appear feasible. Artificially producing antimatter – according to current understanding of the laws of physics – involves first converting energy into mass, so no net gain results. Artificially created antimatter is only usable as a medium of energy storage, not as an energy source, unless future technological developments (contrary to the conservation of the baryon number, such as a CP violation in favour of antimatter) allow the conversion of ordinary matter into anti-matter. Theoretically, humans may in the future have the capability to cultivate and harvest a number of naturally occurring sources of antimatter.[16][17][18]
  • Renewable energy through converting sunlight into electricity — either by using solar cells and concentrating solar power or indirectly through wind and hydroelectric power. There is no known way for human civilization to use the equivalent of the Earth’s total absorbed solar energy without completely coating the surface with human-made structures, which is not feasible with current technology. However, if a civilization constructed very large space-based solar power satellites, Type I power levels might become achievable–these could convert sunlight to microwave power and beam that to collectors on Earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

Now, a lot of people don’t think currently in the proper way to comprehend a Type I civilization.  They figure that they get 70 to 80 trips around the sun on planet earth, and then they die to reside in some heaven of their chosen religion.  But that is a choice relative only to the experience of life on earth and the mythologies of our evolution.  There is no rational reason as a human being to die or to be limited to the kinds of scientific limits we currently experience.  If the miracles of capitalism were to be unleashed with people like Donald Trump who would not allow special interests and old national desires for ancient bloodlines to guide their decision-making, which is what is happening right now, our global society could move toward a Type I civilization as opposed to following the Vico cycle back toward a collective swarm of nomads running from anarchy.

We are truly on a unique precipice in history.  A lot of what Sean Stone is talking about is potential that is available right now. The reason those things are not available to us are for the same reasons that established politicians are still reluctant to accept that Donald Trump or Ted Cruz are leading the Republican field for President of the United States—because the established order wants to keep things the way that they are now—which benefits them.  Most of them are like Plato’s cave, also shown above and told by Alex Jones—they believe in certain things, whether it’s their version of an afterlife, or that some superior species of aliens runs the universe and that they must surrender to their whims, or perhaps they believe that their bloodline is their version of eternity and that the way to stay in power is to preserve the organized world around the same power structures that existed when their grandparents were kings.  But in reality all those limits are stupid.  They are archaic.  I wrote about the Plato metaphor a long time before Alex Jones used that allegory described above—but that’s OK, people come to things in their own way.  Most of our society has been trained to look at the shadows on the wall.  They have no idea what’s really behind them, or even more so, what’s outside the cave.

I’ll tell you dear reader what’s outside the cave—I’ve been there for a long time.  It is obvious that there was advanced civilization trading around the world between 15,000 to 8,000 years ago.  There was a giant species of intelligent beings that had an entire kingdom in North America, and during this reign, Chinese and many others settled and mixed with them.  During their Vico cycle, they ended up with what we know as the “Native Americans” of today.  The climax of this culture was the Mesopotamian era—which shared an even older culmination with the Indus Valley.  Likely however is that every ten to twenty thousand years prior for as far back as perhaps the dinosaurs, humans drove forward and fell back following the Vico cycle rising and falling completely  as a society every 7000 years or so.  (CLICK HERE TO REVIEW THE VICO CYCLE.  It’s important.)  Societies as complex as the one we have today may have easily have come to the exact same spot we find ourselves at right now only to fall back into nomadic tribes of sacrificial idiots barely scraping together enough resources to build a fire.

Likely many hundreds of thousands of years before Mesopotamia there was advanced civilization on Mars and other planets.  Just recently it was discovered that there is another planet in our solar system that has such a large elliptical orbit that it rotates around the sun every 15,000 years. There is a lot that we are just discovering about our solar system that obviously ancient cultures knew already.  So the evidence is quite compelling and legitimate science has been wrestling with these issues for years.  Institutions hungry for government grant money reports only what they can to get that money, and the people who control that money are the same who control the politics, and the lobbyists, and the religions.   They control all these things to protect their own version of reality which suits their family lineage and their importance in the grand scheme of things because like all who have come before them, they are following the Vico cycle toward human destruction—yielding to anarchy before rising again as a theocracy—then an aristocracy, then a democracy—only to fall time and time again.  Plato knew it so many years ago, the wisdom was ancient in his day, mankind continues to look at the shadows on the cave wall—willingly, because thinking is too hard, and too scary.

Now here we are.  What Sean Stone is saying is actually quite true regarding the restricted science and the reasons for it.  Everywhere I look I see people ready to go back to what they know—back to the beginning of civilization because they don’t have the courage to step into a Type I.  They are like alcoholics who cannot stay off the bottle or fat people who know they have to lose weight but cannot stop eating comfort food whenever they are sad about something.  Mankind is addicted to the Vico cycle and that is exactly what socialists are advocating.  The good Illuminati that Stone was referring to was a point in the history of the world where thinkers like Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin questioned the reality of the day and tossed it out for the world to consider—which it has struggled with for a few hundred years.  Now there are a few people, like Sean Stone, myself, and a few others who have seen what’s outside the cave and are holding flashlights for those staring at the shadows to turn their heads and follow the light out of the cave—so they can finally see reality.  But that takes courage, and for most of them—that is too great of a task to master.  Will it be a Type I society, or will it be the Vico cycle.  Socialists have already picked anarchy and we all know what follows that.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

How Ted Cruz Screwed the Pooch: Going the way of Mike Huckabee

Prior to the Iowa caucuses I liked Ted Cruz; I thought he’d be a good running mate to Donald Trump.  But his strategy in winning there certainly raised my eyebrows.  When Donald Trump first started complaining about it, I thought he sounded like a sore loser—a second place runner-up.  But as more facts emerged regarding the Cruz campaign floating a CNN report about Ben Carson dropping out of the race after Iowa, and the look of the Cruz campaign literature, it was clear the supposedly honest Ted Cruz—the Christian conservative from Texas, was running a guerrilla warfare campaign designed to sway voters a few percentage points in his favor.  And it worked.  He needed to win Iowa and he managed to sway enough voters in his direction to pull it off.  But the way his campaign purposely misled voters in the final hours is something to take notice of.

In the end, it was his Mike Huckabee moment; Ted Cruz will be remembered for his win in Iowa then his sharp drop off in the subsequent primaries.  I can’t say I blame him for trying to win, but to even do so with a tinge toward deceit is not the way to do it.  He should have known better and his bad judgment makes me question him as a person.  I do not any longer see him as an honest option.  It has changed my opinion of him as a viable vice president.  The measure of a man—or a women—is how they behave under pressure.   Under pressure, Ted Cruz folded and compromised his ethics—clearly.  Would he have won without the little schemes—probably, but he should have trusted his ground game without the antics—his victory wouldn’t have been this tainted.

Should Trump have pointed all this out looking like a sore loser?  Actually, yes, he did have a point.  Republicans are too often way too conciliatory toward loss.  It is refreshing to see Trump get angry and to lash out at the proposed cheating.  Cruz either has scandalous characters running his campaign, or he personally knew what was happening. Either way, they are Cruz people and the boss is always responsible for the content of the people working for them—whether or not it’s fair.  Cruz because his people have shown a propensity to manipulate the facts, is guilty because of them.

There were several interesting issues that emerged after the Iowa caucus.  First was the overwhelming joy that the mainstream press and politicians had toward Donald Trump in “losing” in Iowa.  This was a pretty baffling sentiment to me; the presidential primaries are a lot like a NASCAR racing season.  You don’t always have to finish first; you just need to average consistently high marks to win the season with points.  Trump got a lot of delegates in Iowa, and he’ll get a lot more in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and Arkansas.  He doesn’t have to win every one of those states outright.  He just needs to finish in the top three, and he could still win the nomination.  You’d think before everyone from the Cruz camp ran their mouth, they would have considered those elements.

But they didn’t, Trump gave a gracious speech congratulating Ted and he moved on to New Hampshire pretty fast.  But the media and other politicians decided it was time to swipe at Trump and he got pissed off.  Look, I understand Trump.  The more he talks the more I think he’s a long-lost brother of mine.  After a few hours of prodding, he blew up and started lashing out, and I would have done the same.  Cruz won under questionable circumstances—by his own doing, and he deserved to have some bombs thrown in his direction.  On the delegate count, Cruz is not poised to do well in the next couple states, so the small lead he gained from Iowa will evaporate quickly so his arrogant speech and actions after the victory were misplaced.  He should have played it much smarter.

I have a general policy, when I have a great victory; I tend to play it like I’ve been there before—because I have.  To get all animated over wins is to show the world that you don’t feel such things very often.  I believe in the adage, act like you’ve been there before.  On occasions when things don’t come out the way you want them to; don’t cry about it like a baby.  Just move on.  If someone gloats in your face, knock them on their ass.  In my assessment, Trump was willing to be gracious.  He congratulated Ted and was moving on.  But Ted and his supporters gloated about their victory and it pissed off Trump.  So he knocked Ted on his ass, and Cruz deserves it.

Then of course came the revelations of impropriety the following day, and many who hoped that Trump had been humanized into compliance for the first time in his life were shattered to learn that he was fighting hard at what had occurred.  They called his behavior a Trumpetantrum.  Cruz went so far as to call Trump more immature than his young girls.  Actually, he used the words, “well-behaved.”  Well, we all know what that means to a politician.  Well behaved is an insult, it’s an assumption that people will do as they are told and act in accordance to the laws of orthodox.  I don’t want a well-behaved president in the White House.  I want an ass kicker and a rugged individualist.  I’m not looking for a king to tell me what to do; I’m looking for someone who is capable of thinking like me in the Oval Office.  Someone who won’t get pushed around and someone who is willing to call out misconduct.  I’m not looking for even temperament in a president.  Ted Cruz attempted to paint Trump as a reckless maniac who should not have his hands near a nuclear option—from what reference is the Texas senator representing?  What experience does he have under duress, to stand in front of the senate and read Doctor Seuss books?  Trump has actually built structures worth many hundreds of millions of dollars and he navigated a delicate minefield of politics to perform the task.   In several decades of being a top dog in the real estate world, Trump never “lost it” over anything.  Sure he has a temper, but he’s always in “control.”  What stress has Ted Cruz experienced that dictates that he has the temperament to handle a nuclear option?  Who between the two, Trump and Cruz has the best ability to out-wit a potential enemy country?  Trump is a LOT more qualified if we are comparing apples to apples.

The established order loves conquered people.   They like people who have faults and are aware of those follies.  They are failed people themselves and it hurts them to write about and consider a person who is not a guilt riddled idiot.  The world was praying for a beaten Trump, a person who had fallen on his sword and was willing to yield.  Well, he was gracious, but he’s not a beaten man.  And because of that, he has the authority to call out Cruz for misconduct—because he plays things straight and aggressive.  Cruz should have seen the terrain and stuck to it, but instead he got power-hungry and showed his cards too early.  Now he has ruined himself.  Yes, he got the win, but he lost the war.  He should have been loyal to a winner by acting like one himself, instead of a school kid who scored his first hockey goal.  In the process of his celebration he cheapened himself in ways that are irreparable.  Now he’s worthless to the freedom movement—and that is something I didn’t want to see.  Yet, for all the embarrassment that is coming his way, he should have known better.

Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.

A Feather from a Mountain Temple: Manifestations of thought and culture for future generations

Temple3

Sometimes the details are not important.  To ask why I was in Japan doing something extremely important for my part of it would be to miss the internal reason for traveling there.  The mind has a way to unleash whatever it is that you most desire and it will manufacture the circumstances of your contemplation—so it is always good to mind your thoughts—even in the middle of the night in a far away land.  The products of your thoughts will manifest into reality at some point in time.  If you are skilled enough to keep your thoughts very good then eventually your mind will produce into reality whatever becomes the sum of your contemplations.  So be careful what you think about.

Temple1I have talked about it before, but I’ve spent well over two decades now studying a pretty small book written by Miyamoto Musashi called The Book of Five Rings.  I can’t say that it’s my favorite book but I can say that I don’t think a single day has went by since I first read it that I don’t draw from it.  So as fate would have necessitated I was in Japan doing Musashi types of things on a big scale, but that was not the intention of the trip for me.  Temple2There were a cast of characters who had worked very hard together to bring me to a temple atop the mountain Shosha and specifically to the statues of the Shitennō protectors within the temple Maniden.  I was doing the kind of things that were the products of my mind that were very specific to all my lifelong efforts so I was living in the moment.  There was nothing for me to pray to standing atop that mountain temple isolated from the world that resided far below in Himeji City.  I was very impressed with the Maniden structure, it was massive.  I couldn’t help but think of the time when Musashi climbed a similar mountain to confront the Buddhists gods then came down spending the rest of his days as an undefeated samurai conqueror uniquely individually based.

The Maniden temple was dedicated to the national religion of Shinto Buddhism which was an inherited mythology from the long forgotten Indus Valley as far over to the east as India. Temple4The gods Shitennō are classic examples of Indus Valley mythology which I believe is a remnant of a long lost civilization predating all known history and religion. During his early travels I believe Jesus Christ ran into aspects of Buddhism and took it back to the shores of his birth with his own spin on Zoroastrianism.  That religion would of course be Christianity which would become one of the world’s largest religions. But, it is a watered down version of what came before and there is nothing to say that Buddhism was the first thought of rationality concerning religion.  It too just as Christianity experienced, is a hand-me-down religious philosophy.  But in Japan Shinto Buddhism works and they revere their ancient heroes like Miyamoto Musashi without apology.  After spending many years reading books about all these topics it was quite refreshing to see the spirit of Miyamoto Musashi in everyone I met in Japan—literally.  From the airline stewardesses to the cooks of Kobe Beef in some of the highest end Steak Houses in the world, it was Miyamoto Musashi who used a foundation of Shinto Buddhism to become one of the greatest swordsman who ever lived and a mythological rock that all of Japan had been able to cling to empowering them to take a tiny island and make it one of the world’s most dominate economies.

Temple5So there I was in a remote Shinto temple atop a high mountain just as Musashi had visited well before me, and I had to realize that my thoughts were on my next generation.  I was looking for something very unique to bring back to my grandchildren and within the temple as is rather common at such temples around the world, there were little souvenirs that were supposed to bring good luck to those fortunate enough to have them.  The story goes that with such items that the god who protected the Buddha years ago would also protect those who made offerings within the temple.  So in full ceremony and with the help of a professional guide who said a prayer to the Shitennō on my behalf through the smoke of incense, I brought off the mountain gifts for my grandchildren.  For my two grandsons, I brought blessed arrows that will ward off and conquer Jyaki demons—whom I call ultraterrestrials.  Different names, same embodiments of corrosive spirits.  However for my granddaughter who at this time is still an infant not yet crawling I brought a specific ornament that she can hang in her bedroom for all years to come.  The ritual is that you write a wish on the back of this ornament and present it to the Shitennō statues and they will carry out the request.  So I wrote my wish on the back and my guide prayed to the Shitennō for me and even carried my items down off the mountain since he insisted that the gods would recognize me as a lord for having a servent to conduct this business between gods facilitating harmony and the fulfillment of objectives.  So this is what I wrote.

To rule the earth with grace and persuasion making everything your feet touches an addition to your kingdom without bringing harm to a single person.  Make it so Shitennō and bring justice to the world.

Temple6The Shitennō are Buddhist protectors of the four directions. They ward off evil, guard the nation, and protect the world from malicious spirits, hence the Japanese term Gose Shitennō 護世四天王, literally “four world-protecting deva kings.” Each represents a direction, season, color, virtue, and element (see below chart). They originated in India as deva generals protecting Lord Indra, but were later adopted into the Buddhist pantheon in China and Japan. Each dwells in and protects one of the four continents surrounding Mt. Shumisen 須弥山 (Skt. = Mt. Sumeru), the mythical home of the Historical Buddha and other Buddhist deities. In China and Japan, they are venerated as temple guardians and protectors of the nation. In China, statues of the four are often placed near temple entrances, but in Japan, effigies of the four are more commonly placed around the central deity on the main altar (the main dais is befittingly called the Shumidan 須弥壇). The four are commanded by Taishakuten (Skt. Indra), Lord of the Center. They are nearly always dressed in armor (yoroi 鎧), looking ferocious (funnusō 忿怒相), and carrying weapons or objects (jimotsu 持物) said to eliminate evil influences and suppress the enemies of Buddhism. They are also typically shown standing atop evil spirits (known as Jaki in Japan), symbolizing their power to repel and defeat evil. Sometimes they are depicted with a fiery halo behind them. Their attributes, however, are not rigidly prescribed and thus differ among Buddhist nations. Shitennō iconography is related to the Four Celestial Emblems (dragon, red bird, tiger, turtle) of China, who also guard the four cardinal directions. In Japanese statuary, the Shitennō are almost always portrayed in animated warrior poses rather than static postures of ease or meditation. Among the four, Tamonten (aka Bishamonten) is considered the most powerful, and over time, supplanted the other three in importance. Indeed, Bishamonten is the only member of the four worshipped independently in Japan, both as protector of Buddhist faith and as one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods — one who brings wealth and prosperity. Bishamonten also supplanted Taishakuten (Lord of the Center) as an object of worship, but Taishakuten never enjoyed great status in Japan.Castle2

Guardians of the Four Directions, Protectors of Buddhist Law, Protectors of Human Kind, Protectors of the Bosatsu and Nyorai. Most often found standing at the corners of alters. Ferocious looking, sometimes with fiery halo behind them, often stepping on demons called Jyaki. They protect the Buddhist realm for Taishakuten (Skt. Indra), serving as his generals to guard the territories inhabited by humans. Originally from Hindu mythology, and later incorporated into Buddhism. In the Lotus Sutra, they vow to protect those who believe in the Dharma (Buddhist teachings). In Japanese artwork, especially in the mandala form, the four typically appear in a set order, starting with Jikokuten (East), followed by Zōchōten (South), Kōmokuten (West), and Tamonten (North). All four are described in Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese texts, but their attributes, colors, and names often vary.Castle5

Jaki is the name of the tiny creatures the four kings stand upon. Classified as members of the Yaksha in Japan; also referred to as the Amano Jyaku (Heaven Jyaku). In a tradition unique to Japan, the Jaki demons are sometimes represented by two creatures known as Tentōki (Tentoki) 天燈鬼 and Ryūtōki (Ryutoki) 龍燈鬼, which translate literally as Celestial-Lamp Demon and Dragon-Lamp Demon. Japanese legends say these two creatures were originally evil, but after getting trampled by the Shitennō, they repented, were saved, and now carry lanterns as offerings of light to the Buddha, or to light up the road in front of the Shaka Nyorai (Historical Buddha). The Jaki and Tentōki / Ryūtoki symbolize the power of the Shitennō to repel and defeat evil. Two wonderful sculptures of Tentōki and Ryutōki can be found at Kōfukuji Temple in Nara.

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shitenno.shtmlCastle3

We carried out the rest of the trip visiting also the nearby Himeji Castle and eating on the grounds of a former Samurai camp.  All this put my mind in the proper place to complete the objective of this particular visit.  So I have to thank all the many people who made it possible.  There were many kind people involved who took such an epic event and played a part in a stage play that had been written by my mind for many years manifesting now at a time in my life where intellect had become the author of reality.  It was for these reasons that I think anyone visiting Japan should embark—because within those two monuments is the heart of a culture and the reasons for its massive global success.  Unlike Miyamoto Musashi however, I differ in that I have a family that is getting larger by the moment, and I have expectations for them to do better than I have—and I have set the bar very high.  But it’s good to have goals so that the mind knows how to formulate reality around the desires that are most embraced in daily thinking.Castle4

I don’t believe that the Shitennō will do as the prayer to them instructed.  But what I do believe is that my granddaughter will read that wish for years to come and formulate her mind into a reality that will make it so. For that is the aspect of religion that never has quite found itself as a root of contemplation—too often the belief is that something has to give you something to make it happen.  That luck and empowerment come from somewhere else and is given based on sacrifice.  It’s not.  It comes from the strength of thought and the manifestation of those contemplations into reality by the nature of human endeavor.  As a very grown man who has read books about such things for years, I understand that the magic of the Shitennō doesn’t reside in heaven; it is within our own minds.  So if I could give my grandchildren a way to think largely early enough to still make a difference, then perhaps their lives will reach those lofty peeks with sheer ambition.  Sometimes a young, immature mind needs a feather as Dumbo did to convince him that he could fly. Humans need their religions and other emotional crutches to maneuver their thoughts to higher places.  But eventually you come to realize what Miyamoto Musashi obviously realized later in life—that we are the authors of our own fate. The story that evolves comes from what we allow ourselves to think and how that manifests into reality.  Given that knowledge, it is good to think big—as big as possible.  And it is my hope that in the future, my granddaughter will read that wish from the mountain of Shosha and use it as a feather to realize that she can really fly—as far and often as she wishes—for as long as she cares to over the millennia.

Castle1Rich “Cliffhanger” Hoffman

 CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sign up for Second Call Defense here:  http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707  Use my name to get added benefits.