St. Michael, Dragons, Serpentine Wall and the FBI

"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven," (Rev. 12:7).

Two off-duty FBI employees were killed Thursday night, September 25, 2014, after their pleasure boat hit a barge on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Newport, Kentucky. Where the accident occurred is of some interest.

Action 19 News noted:

First responders located the boat in the river near the Serpentine Wall and found two men dead on board. Cincinnati Police says the pleasure boat collided with a commercial tow boat around 11 p.m.

The FBI - Cincinnati division - released a statement on September 26th:

It is with great sadness that we advise that two FBI employees were involved in a tragic accident late last night that claimed their lives. At this time, family members are still being notified.

They were identified as John Stack II, 29, and Bruce Eastlick, 28. (Condolences to their loved ones and relatives, as well as their FBI family.)

In the foreground, the Serpentine Wall is seen in front of the One Lytle Place residential tower along the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Source

The Serpentine Wall is a serpentine-shaped flood wall on the banks of the Ohio River. It was completed in 1976. The wall features steps descending to the river upon which visitors can sit and look across to Northern Kentucky. The riverfront wall is at Yeatman's Cove, between Sawyer Point park and the Public Landing. Sawyer Point is located at 720 E. Pete Rose Way (Riverfront) and is one of Cincinnati's "party" parks. A popular place to laze about is the Serpentine Wall steps that lead into the Ohio River.

Monday, September 29, 2014, is Michaelmas, feast day of the enemy of that serpent of old, a.k.a., the dragon.

Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon by Albrecht Dürer, woodcut, 1498.

As recounted by the Revelation of Saint John, at the end of the world, war will breakout between Heaven and Hell, between good and evil. As the commander of the Army of God, Archangel Michael leads the other angels in the fight against evil, represented in this picture by a seven-headed dragon.

Although he is always called "the Archangel," the Greek Fathers and many others place him over all the angels - as Prince of the Seraphim. St. Michael is the patron of grocers, mariners, paratroopers, police and sickness. Source.

 The specific medallion used by paratroopers for protection gained from St. Michael.

Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel (also the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a day in the Western Christian liturgical year that occurs on 29 September. Because it falls near the equinox, it is associated in the northern hemisphere with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. In medieval England, Michaelmas marked the ending and beginning of the husbandman's year, George C. Homans observes: "at that time harvest was over, and the bailiff or reeve of the manor would be making out the accounts for the year."
In Christianity, the Archangel Michael is the greatest of all the Archangels and is honored for defeating Lucifer in the war in heaven. He is one of the principal angelic warriors, seen as a protector against the dark of night, and the administrator of cosmic intelligence. Michaelmas has also delineated time and seasons for secular purposes as well, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland as one of the quarter days. Michaelmas was also one of the English, Welsh and Irish quarter days when accounts had to be settled. On manors, it was the day when a reeve was elected from the peasants.
In Anglican and Episcopal tradition, there are three or four archangels in its calendar for 29 September feast for St. Michael and All Angels: namely Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and often, Uriel. The Bible itself identifies only Michael as "the archangel" (Book of Jude, verse 9) and does not identify any other creatures as being archangels.
Michaelmas is still celebrated in the Waldorf schools, which celebrate it as the "festival of strong will" during the autumnal equinox. Rudolf Steiner considered it the second most important festival after Easter, Easter being about Christ ("He is laid in the grave and He has risen"). Michaelmas is about man once he finds Christ ("He is risen, therefore he can be laid in the grave"), meaning man finds the Christ (risen), therefore he will be safe in death (laid in the grave with confidence). Source.

The day the reeve is elected?

Reeves is among those special family titles that have been pinpointed as playing a magnetic role in the "name game." John Keel once told me that people named Reeve/Reeves have a lot of strange experiences. Many monster witnesses have been named Reeves. A glance at the indexes of Fortean Times will show a sprinkling of Reeves and Reeve, as witnesses and contributors. A man named Reeves was the primary witness in a now famous Brooksville, Florida UFO case. 

As Jerome Clark has written: "A man so obscure as to be barely known to most other residents of the rural area where he lived, John F. Reeves, 66, became the focus of international attention in 1965, when he reported an encounter with a UFO and its occupant." 

Contactees Bryant and Helen Reeve reached celebrity status in the 1950s after writing their book, Flying Saucer Pilgrimage. Much has been written of the tragic coincidences whirling around the lives of the actors (George Reeves and Christopher Reeve) who played the television and movie Superman (a fictional character who was an alien come to Earth to assist humans) and the "superman" (Keanu Reeves) in The Matrix. There is a reason it's called the Name Game. ~ Loren Coleman, 2002.

Is there evil that needs to be fought? By the FBI? By paratroopers? By Reeves? By St. Michael? These are strange times in which we live.

St. Michael and the Ukraine trident painted on a protester's helmet.

The disembodied heads of the Vaughan family crest, complete with serpent, are metaphoric of the Moore beheading at Vaughan Foods.

Read More

The Copycat Effect Is Real, Notes The FBI

"The copycat phenomenon is real," said Andre Simons of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in 2014. "As more and more notable and tragic events occur, we think we're seeing more compromised, marginalized individuals who are seeking inspiration from those past attacks." ~ "FBI report: Dramatic increase in U.S. mass shootings in recent years," Haaretz, 25 September 2014.

When I wrote, and then Faber and Faber published my book, Suicide Clusters, in the late 1980s, few acknowledged that "suicide clusters" even existed. I brought to bear historical evidence that they did occur. I pointed to pages of data, beginning with the fact that the first documented suicide cluster, a wave of self-hangings by young maidens, occurred during the fourth century B.C., in the ancient Greek city of Miletus. I took scientific papers detailing studies from the 1970s that showed the Werther Effect (a term coined by American sociologist Dave Phillips in 1974) resulted in future events. But few read my book. It was not time for those interested in doing something about these incidents to be heard.

Suicide Clusters. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987. (Psychotherapy and Social Science Book of the Month Club, Alternative Selection, August 1987.)

So, I tried again. On a sporting front, I gave a paper at a suicidology conference (22nd Annual Conference of the American Association of Suicidology, San Diego, California, April 14, 1989). I wrote to MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, warning of a coming series of baseball suicides. 

When it happened, I was not surprised. Sports reporters at newspapers (like Ira Berkow at the New York Times) called me after Donnie Moore's suicide. 

I was interviewed by producers of television documentaries about baseball player suicides, in terms of clustering and copycats.  ESPN SportsCenter (1989) and ESPN Classics (The Donnie Moore Story, 2001) had me discuss the Donnie Moore attempted murder-suicide, after I forecast the baseball player suicides, which did occur during the time period I predicted.

I summarized my research for a professor who asked me to include a discussion of the matter in his sociology of American baseball.

Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond. “Boys of Summer, Suicides of Winter: An Introduction to Baseball Suicides.” NY: Haworth Press, 2003. Edward J. Reilly, ed.

But little changed globally, in terms of copycat awareness or prevention. (I was glad to learn, nevertheless, that the MLB players' Baseball Assistance Team, actively instituted more suicide prevention counseling in 1989. Sometimes prevention victories are little ones.)

A pattern underlies many of the events we hear about in the news every day. ... The pattern is called the "copycat effect." It is also known as "imitation" or the "contagion effect." And what it deals with is the power of the mass communication and culture to create an epidemic of similar behaviors. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

In 1987, when Simon and Schuster published my Suicide Clusters, few considered that the clustering occurred. In 2004, I challenged myself and the media when The Copycat Effect was released. But only one newspaper in North America reviewed it. The Boston Globe ran a biting, skeptical critique. The media wanted my book to be ignored or even worse, just go away.

Dr. Steven Stack, a sociologist at the Center for Suicide Research, agreed in 2003, to write a cover blurb. He summarized what was happening, perfectly: "The media are still largely in a state of denial on how their coverage of death contributes to the violence and destructiveness in our society -- but Coleman's book should wake them up!"

Perhaps it did, a little, but the journey to the recognition of the reality of the "copycat effect" has been a long time coming. And more work needs to occur.

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headline. New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.

Still, I see inroads in the thinking beginning to change. The statement from the FBI's Andre Simons was encouraging to read. Yes, indeed, "The copycat phenomenon is real," Agent Simons. Past events are predictive of future acts of violence, in the current media climate.

The validity of the copycat effect is undeniable. ... The media’s graphic coverage of rampage shootings, celebrity suicides, bridge jumpers, school shootings, and the like is triggering vulnerable and angry people to take their own lives and that of others. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

Read More

New Boston Marathon Bombing-Linked Deaths

During a training mission in Virginia, two individuals involved in the Boston bombing manhunt were killed after falling from a helicopter into the water on Friday, May 17, 2013.

Christopher Lorek, 41, and Stephen Shaw, 40

Lorek and Shaw both belonged to an experienced hostage rescue team that was involved in the arrest of Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to official reports.

Shaw's and Lorek's deaths occurred before Ibragim Todashev was fatally shot on May 21, 2013, by a FBI agent in Orlando, Florida. Ibragim Todashev confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in the killings in Waltham, Massachusetts, and he also said that Tamalan Tsarnaev was involved in the deaths. The date of that triple murder: 9/11/2011. (His family claims he was innocent.)

Connecting the dots via online sleuthing continues. Source.

But horrible mistakes by some need to be acknowledged.

On April 22, 2012, the body of Sunil Tripathi - the missing Brown University student who was wrongly identified as a suspect in the Boston bombing - was recovered from the Providence river, which runs through the city of Providence, close to India Point Park. Tripathi, shown wearing a Che Guevara, was wrongly accused of being one of the Tsarnaev brothers on many websites. I'm proud to say, this blog did not engage in that round of blaming the wrong people and profiling. And I saw no need to publish that phase of the post-Boston Bombing manhunt, which went down the wrong paths.

We don't think, btw, this is the last we are going to hear of Boston Marathon Bombing-linked deaths. This seems a deep well, with more to be revealed, from Boston to Washington D.C. to Moscow to Grozny.

Read More

FBI Killing Of Tsarnaev Associate Will Fan Conspiracy Theories

UPDATE: Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 triple homicide outside Boston along with a Chechen killed Wednesday during a confrontation with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police in Orlando, Florida, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Ibragim Todashev not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in the killings in Waltham, Massachusetts, he also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths, the official says.

Breaking news regarding the death of Ibragim Todashev is disturbing.

I realize we live in conspiracy-driven times, but I would think if the FBI and other federal agencies wanted to avoid stimulating more spin, they would attempt to build in safeguards against things like this happening.

A man fatally shot last night, May 21, 2013, by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Orlando, Florida, was being interviewed for a possible connection to the Boston Marathon bombings, a U.S. law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case told CNN and other media outlets.

The FBI has confirmed that the man killed is Ibragim Todashev who lived at 6022 Peregrine Avenue.

The shooting happened overnight in the Windhover apartment complex off Peregrine Avenue near Kirkman and Vineland roads.

Ibragim Todashev knew both of the Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, the official said.

The FBI agent shot Todashev in self-defense in an incident at Todashev's house.

Agents were led to Todashev, who had once lived in Boston, "through investigative leads," the official said. Todashev was from the Chechnya region, as were the Tsarnaev brothers.

Friends of Ibragim Todashev, 26, (shown at top) who was shot and killed by an FBI agent in Orlando, say he is from Chechnya and knew Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. (Photo credit: Orange County Jail)

Khusen Taramov, a friend of Ibrahim Todashev's, says the day that federal agents identified the Tsarnaev brothers as the Boston bombing suspects, FBI agents came to their apartment complex and started questioning a few people of Chechnyan descent. Photo.

Ibragim Todashev was a fighter, as had been Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Here is a video of Todashev.

 

Read More

What Logos Are On Boston Marathon Suspects' Caps?

The FBI released images of the two primary suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings.

See also the FBI-released video. View on a mirror site (e.g. Globe and Mail), as FBI.gov is crashing. See here.

Do you recognize the logos on the front of the black cap, and the front of the backward turned white baseball-style cap?

Tim W's suggestion: black one, Bridgestone golf cap. Appears to be a hit.

A photograph taken by a Boston Marathon spectator shows the Suspect #1 as he walked past the Forum restaurant on Boylston Street (where the second explosion occurred). That image shows that the back of the man’s cap contained four white figures, likely "B330." The black Bridgestone cap does those numbers, a reference to the company’s B330 golf ball.

It is intriguing that Suspect #1 appears to have a cap on that contains two 3s and Suspect #2's hat has a 3 on it. (see down below).

 

Screen shot of the front of the reversed white cap on Suspect #2.

 The cap being worn by Suspect #2 may be a Ralph Lauren Polo baseball cap.

Why does Ralph Lauren put a #3 on their cap? "The embroidered number on Ralph Lauren Big Pony pieces traces its heritage to the traditional uniform of professional polo players. The players are assigned a position, which is designated by the numbers from one to four and displayed on team jerseys during a match. The player in position number three is usually the most experienced player on the team."

Newly discovered photo of Suspect #2 leaving the Boston Marathon area after a bomb goes off. He is in the red rectangle. With no backpack.

Some speculation was that the individual in the yellow rectangle was Suspect #1, but that appears to be incorrect.

Rounding the corner of Fairfield Street, off Boylston.

Read More

FRC Shooter Floyd Lee Corkins II?

Update: The alleged shooter is arrested. He is identified as Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28.

See the end of this posting for more.

There has been a shooting of a guard at a conservative think tank in the District of Columbia, on Wednesday, April 15, 2012. Shades of the Holocaust Museum shooting of a guard on June 10, 2009?

The Washington Post is initially reporting, in part:

A security guard at the Family Research Council [FRC] was shot and wounded Wednesday morning after a scuffle in the lobby of the group’s headquarters in downtown Washington, authorities said. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the shooter walked into the lobby of the building at about 10:45 and was confronted by the security guard as if the guard were asking him where he was going. The man then took out a gun and opened fire on the guard, Lanier said. The guard and others wrestled the man to the ground, disarmed him and waited for police, she said. The guard was then taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, the chief said. FBI officials said the guard was shot in the arm. The shooter is in FBI custody and has not yet been charged, authorities said. 

“The security guard here is a hero, as far as I’m concerned,” Lanier said. ”He did his job. The person never made it past the front.”

Authorities did not identify the shooter or the security guard. They also would not say what kind of gun the shooter used or whether the security guard was armed.

The Family Research Council is a conservative organization that deals in issues of faith, family and freedom, according to its Web site. The site says the organization is against abortion and euthanasia and considers homosexuality to be a sin.

The Wall Street Journal reported, in part, on the reaction of the FRC leadership:

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said, "Our first concern is with our colleague who was shot today. Our concern is for him and his family." 

The council was recently in the news when Mr. Perkins defended the chief executive of restaurant chain Chick-Fil-A, who made comments critical of gay marriage. "All Chick-Fil-A did was refuse to be bullied by the politically correct crowd," Mr. Perkins said in a radio commentary.

Gary Bauer, a former president of the Family Research Council and former Republican presidential candidate, said: "The values of the Family Research Council—pro-life and pro-family—are shared by millions of Americans of many backgrounds, and should not make anyone a target of violence."

The shooter apparently pulled a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun from a backpack. Authorities found two loaded magazines with 15 rounds each in the suspect's backpack, as well as Chik-Fil-A promotional materials, NBC4's Jackie Bensen reported.

+++

The shooter has been identified as Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28.

Legal Insurrection has this info:

It has just been confirmed that Family Research Council shooting suspect Floyd Corkins II had been volunteering at the DC Center for the LGBT Community for the past six months. 

From the AP:

David Mariner is executive director of The DC Center for the LGBT Community. He says Corkins had been volunteering at the center for about the past 6 months. Mariner describes Corkins as “kind, gentle and unassuming.”

Corkins, in his late 20s, is the suspect in the shooting that occurred in the lobby of the Family Research Council headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning. According to law enforcement officials, Corkins made negative comments about the FRC prior to shooting security guard Leo Johnson in the arm. Corkins also reportedly had a Chick-fil-A bag with him at the time.

Riehl World View points to the Facebook page for a Floyd Corkins II, who claims to have studied at George Mason. On it, he lists only two friends, one being a David Mariner.

Andrew Griffin of Red Dirt Report emails me that Floyd Corkins II has "had some esoteric interests (Bobby Beausoleil, La Jette, etc.) and was at Andrews AFB."

Griffin also thinks that Corkins' interests definitely focus on "Soleil" if "his Amazon 'wish list' is any indication. You have La Jette and Sans Soleil - French New Wave films about the nature of memory and recall (La Jette inspired Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys) - and Bobby Beausoleil's Lucifer Rising soundtrack album."

It is almost as if "Soleil" is a "trigger" word, as seen via his electronic footprints, and may have kicked in via external timing events recently. First, there is the death of Chris Marker (the Sans Soleil filmmaker) on July 29, 2012 - Corkins' favorite. Then Cirque de Soleil is to open Totem in DC on August 16th!!

+++

This shooting has become extremely politicized.

The site Queerty notes that...

...a number of LGBT organizations—including GLAAD, GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Transgender Equality—released a joint statement regarding the shooting:

We were saddened to hear news of the shooting this morning at the offices of the Family Research Council. Our hearts go out to the shooting victim, his family, and his co-workers.
The motivation and circumstances behind today’s tragedy are still unknown, but regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence. We wish for a swift and complete recovery for the victim of this terrible incident.

Federal authorities are treating the incident as a case of domestic terrorism. This is the fourth shooting in as many weeks that’s captured the nation’s attention, following the Dark Knight shootings in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20; a mass shooting at Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, on August 5; and 30-minute gunfight at Texas A&M University on Monday.

Read More