research from the Committee for the Study of
HISTORY AND THE CURRENT CONTEXT
[HistoryAndCurrentContext.blogspot.com]* "Could the Nazi holocaust have happened without anyone knowing about it? The American holocaust has" (1998, by Richard Blum, members.aol.com/bblum6/American_holocaust.htm) [archive.is/kbGmC]
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* "Extent of University Work for C.I.A. Is Hard to Pin Down" (1977-10-09, nytimes.com/1977/10/09/archives/extent-of-university-work-for-cia-is-hard-to-pin-down-research.html) [archive.is/Ct7YW]
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* "Al Qaeda: The Data Base" (2005-11-20, globalresearch.ca/al-qaeda-the-database-2/24738) [archive.is/7A6Vv]
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* "Obama shaped CIA to boost his political agenda, hired leftist activists, former agent says; The politicization of the non-partisan agency first became an issue in the 1990s, the former official said" (2023-12-26, justthenews.com/government/security/obama-shaped-cia-boost-his-political-agenda-hired-leftist-activists-former) [archive.is/0kK94]
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* "Ukrainian trial demonstrates 2014 Maidan massacre was false flag; A massacre of protesters during the 2014 Maidan coup set the stage for the ouster of Ukraine’s elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. Now, an explosive trial in Kiev has produced evidence the killings were a false flag designed to trigger regime change" (2023-12-11, thegrayzone.com/2023/12/11/ukrainian-maidan-massacre-false-flag/) [archive.is/vd8ot]
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TSIOLKOVSKY AIRSHIP
Giant metal airship designed by an unknown German engineer, based on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's theories. This craft was to be 300 metres in height, 1 kilometre in length, and capable of carrying 200,000 passengers! The text ( in precis) states the metal envelope expands and contracts vertically, and the gas is heated by engine exhaust, enabling altitude to be changed without venting gas, & preventing icing which caused the Italia disaster. The ship is fire proof. 1,500 such airships would cope with 90% of the Soviet Union's entire railway system more economically.
Quick calculation- if we assume this airship has a similar lift efficiency to the Hindenburg, then it should be able to carry about 4500 passengers. The figure of 200,000 passengers must refer to the number of passengers it can carry in a season - assuming 1 trip per week for a year.
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1957 DOD pamphlet 213: A Pocket Guide to the Middle East
[https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Pocket_Guide_to_the_Middle_East.html?id=L4Tf32_gsqcC]
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* "Dan Rather on ‘Truth’: See It and Make Up Your Own Mind" (2015-12-21, variety.com/2015/film/news/dan-rather-truth-robert-redford-1201661570/) [archive.is/oeY23]
* "Truth or Consequences" (2012-05, texasmonthly.com/news-politics/truth-or-consequences/) [archive.is/d5XXV], synopsis: Eight years ago, Dan Rather broadcast an explosive report on the Air National Guard service of President George W. Bush. It was supposed to be the legendary newsman’s finest hour. Instead, it blew up in his face, tarnishing his career forever and casting a dark cloud of doubt and suspicion over his reporting—and that of every other journalist on the case. This month, as Rather returns with a new memoir, Joe Hagan finally gets to the bottom of the greatest untold story in modern Texas politics, with exclusive, never-before-seen details that shed fresh light on who was right, who was wrong, and what really happened.
- [begin excerpt]:
What followed was a painstaking investigation by the Boston Globe, unrivaled in its detail, which put the Bush campaign on the defensive and inspired other reporters to focus on Bush’s “lost year.”
After training at Moody Air Force Base, in Georgia—from which a military aircraft once ferried him to Washington for a date with Tricia Nixon—Bush was assigned in 1970 to flying duty as a pilot of the F-102 jet fighter at Ellington Air Force Base, in Houston. He had an apartment at the Chateau Dijon complex, an enclave of affluence where he played volleyball, barbecued, drank beer, and chased girls among the city’s oil-industry elite. He drove a Triumph sports car, his buzz cut and flight jacket obscuring his Andover-to-Yale background. An aide who worked with Bush in later years recalled his simply saying, “I was a badass back then.”
But after receiving relatively high marks as a pilot of the F-102, Bush suddenly stopped flying in the spring of 1972. Despite the declaration in his 1999 memoir, A Charge to Keep, that he flew jets for “several years” starting in 1970, his flying career actually ended two years later. That was the year he left Houston to work on the long-shot Senate bid of Winton “Red” Blount, a candidate from Alabama whose campaign manager, Jimmy Allison, was an old Bush family friend. Bush had committed to continuing his Guard service with a unit based in Montgomery, but nobody from that unit remembered seeing him, including the commander of the base. As the Globe story reported, Bush’s next documented duty in the National Guard was a year later, back in Houston. It seemed that not only had Bush avoided Vietnam by entering the Guard, but he may have simply disappeared for a spell, failing to fulfill his duty to fly planes for a full six years.
The Globe story whipped the national media into a frenzy. The gaps that it revealed in Bush’s record—and his campaign’s inconsistent and sometimes discredited explanations for those gaps—prompted persistent questions about whether he had gone AWOL or even deserted the military for a time. In particular, reporters zeroed in on a document showing that Bush had lost his flight status in August 1972 for failing to take a flight physical, a serious offense.
As it happened, another pilot listed on the same document also lost his right to fly for the same reason and at around the same time. That name was initially redacted on copies of Bush’s military record released by the Texas National Guard, even though a dozen other names on the document were not. When a clean copy turned up, the name that had been blacked out was revealed to be that of James R. Bath, a close pal of Bush’s who would later become a business adviser to the bin Laden family in Texas as well as Bush’s business partner in his failed oil venture, Arbusto Energy.
Bath declined to comment on his loss of flight status, but his military file shows that, like Bush, he didn’t fly again for the National Guard after 1972 and was discharged one year later. Many investigative reporters, fed stories by Texas Democrats, became convinced, even obsessively so, that some specific incident had occurred to precipitate this unusual coincidence. Soon every major media outlet in the country was circling around the gaps in Bush’s record.
The Bush team knew it had to respond to the stories. Campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett explained that the reason Bush stopped flying in 1972 was that he was in Alabama and his family doctor wasn’t available to give him a physical. When it was pointed out that only a military physician could perform a pilot’s flight physical, Bartlett’s story shifted. He said the Guard was phasing out the F-102 on which Bush had trained, and therefore Bush had opted out of flying altogether. Reporters countered that the plane continued to fly at Ellington Air Force Base until 1974. The Bush campaign tweaked the explanation yet again, saying that the Air National Guard in Alabama didn’t have the F-102, so he saw no reason to maintain his flight status during his transfer.
These shifting explanations only intensified the scrutiny and led to questions about what else could have caused Bush’s loss of flight status. One possible answer was offered much later, in 2004, by a woman named Janet Linke. After Bush left for Alabama, her husband, Jan Peter Linke, was transferred to Houston to replace him on the F-102, which apparently still needed pilots, despite the phaseout. While the Linkes were there, Bush’s former commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, allegedly told them that Bush had stopped flying because he became afraid to land the plane. “He was mucking up bad, Killian told us,” Janet said to a Florida newspaper. (Jan Peter died in a car accident in 1973.)
But by the time Linke went public with her allegation, the press had already abandoned the Bush National Guard story for the Dan Rather controversy. Also ignored was some possible corroborating evidence: an Associated Press investigation uncovered Bush’s original flight logs, which showed that after flying for hundreds of hours on the F-102, Bush suddenly began flying a two-seat T-33 training jet and spent more time in a flight simulator in the months preceding his departure for Alabama. The logs also showed instances of his having to make multiple passes at the landing strip.
The White House said that Bush was trying to rack up required flight hours in advance of his absence in Alabama. But the flight entries in question precede Bush’s application for a transfer to Alabama. [end excerpt]
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* " 'We Prepared to Use Them' in Vietnam: Untold Story of US' Toxic Romance With Depleted Uranium" (2023-12-20, sputnikglobe.com/20231220/we-prepared-to-use-them-in-vietnam-untold-story-of-us-toxic-romance-with-depleted-uranium-1114200068.html) [archive.is/uQrSq]
* "Ex-US Airman on Depleted Uranium: 'I Saw Disfigured Newborns & My Dad Dying From Cancer' " (2023-12-19, sputnikglobe.com/20231219/us-vet-on-depleted-uranium-i-saw-disfigured-newborns-and-my-dad-dying-from-cancer-1114153992.html) [archive.is/Og5vp]
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* "1K17 Compression – Russia’s Laser Tank" (2023-12-18, tankhistoria.com/experimental/1k17-compression/) [archive.is/V8gIR] [begin excerpt]:
This is easily the most sci-fi, Star Wars-looking tank we’ve ever covered, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it isn’t real. But it is real, and its name is the 1K17 Szhatie. Of course, it was produced by the Soviet Union.
This vehicle was the culmination of a strange avenue of research conducted by the Soviets in the 1970s and ’80s: laser tanks.
They are as crazy as you think, capable of delivering an electronic-frying punch from over 10 km away at the speed of light. These terrifying weapons were real, and were actually operational in the 1980s and 1990s. [end excerpt]
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* "1886: Meigs Elevated Railway. 227 feet of BS" (2020-12-10, stolenhistory.org/articles/1886-meigs-elevated-railway-227-feet-of-bs.275/) [archive.is/pRnO9]
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He was our friend.
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Wealthy businessman Bill confronts his junkie daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend and kills him in the ensuing argument. Panic-stricken, he wanders the streets and eventually stops at a bar, where he runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe, who hates hippies, Black people, and anyone who is "different", and would like to kill one himself. The two start talking, and Bill reveals his secret to Joe. Complications ensue.
Not exactly a masterpiece, and very dated, but in a way that's one of its strengths. The film really nailed the attitudes of a lot of people in the early 1970s. It looks pretty caricatured now, but Peter Boyle's performance was superb. I hope viewers nowadays notice a very young and attractive Susan Sarandon as the affluent executive's daughter.
Films like this play as a litmus test for the audience. Peter Boyle was naturally horrified that people would repeatedly see the film because they identified with the titular character instead of finding him revolting like the filmmakers intended.
Every right wing skinhead I ever met (it was the late 80s through 90s and I was into the punk scene) LOVED this movie. He was their Billy Jack. It was gross. This and Romper Stomper.
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* "In His Name All Oppression Shall Cease" (2013-12-23, experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2013/12/in-his-name-all-oppression-shall-cease.html) [archive.is/dX9ZP] [begin excerpt]:
Christmas carols--like O Holy Night and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear--as "resistance literature":
O Holy Night--Cantique de Noël in the original French--was composed in 1847 by Adolphe Adam. The text of the song came from a poem--Minuit, chrétiens--written by Placide Cappeau who had been asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem. Later, in 1855, Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight created a singing English edition based on Cappeau's French text.
As you sing O Holy Night you might notice the themes of emancipation from the third verse and chorus of the song:
"Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name."
"Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
When you look the original French poem the themes of emancipation are even stronger. A more literal rendering of the third verse and chorus:
The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave,
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
For all of us He is born, He suffers and dies."
"People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer!"
Those are some pretty powerful lyrics. More, these were political and prophetic lyrics.
Recall that the song and the French poem were written in 1847. The English version was written in 1855, six years before the American Civil War and eight years before the Emancipation Proclamation. O Holy Night, it turns out, was a song of political resistance and protest. Imagine Americans singing in the years leading up to the Civil War the lyrics "Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease."
* " 'O Holy Night”: are the lyrics biblical?" (2016-11-29, overviewbible.com/o-holy-night-lyrics/) [archive.is/NJnrL]
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Did We as Black people slide (retaliate/rebel avenge) harder for MLK, Then we did for Malcolm X?
That’s a good question but I heard that there was an internal war that followed
Herman Ferguson and James Small said dat a few cells did slide back. Bumpy Johnsons crew was finna wage war on NOI but his intelligence sources told him dat the feds was actually behind it so the ceasefired. Its still some beef from certain splits that happened in Philly, B more, Chi, Harlem passed down for generations that turned into gang wars we see happening now like dat U.S (Karenga) Vs BPP in LA.
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* "16th century rockets: manned, multistaged and nozzled?" (2020-12-08, stolenhistory.org/articles/16th-century-rockets-manned-multistaged-and-nozzled.214/) [archive.is/rabBm]
The first gunpowder-powered rockets evolved in medieval China under the Song dynasty by the 13th century. The Mongols adopted Chinese rocket technology and the invention spread via the Mongol invasions to the Middle East and to Europe in the mid-13th century.Internal-combustion rocket propulsion is mentioned in a reference to 1264, recording that the "ground-rat", a type of firework, had frightened the Empress-Mother Gongsheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong. Subsequently, rockets are included in the military treatise Huolongjing, also known as the Fire Drake Manual, written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text mentions the first known multistage rocket, thought to have been used by the Chinese navy.
Medieval and early modern rockets were used militarily as incendiary weapons in sieges. Between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-Rammah wrote The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices, which included 107 gunpowder recipes, 22 of them for rockets. In Europe, Konrad Kyeser described rockets in his military treatise Bellifortis around 1405.
The Congreve rocket was a British military weapon designed and developed by Sir William Congreve in 1804, based directly on Mysorean rockets. The first demonstration of his solid fuel rockets was in September 1805. The rockets were used effectively during the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, and the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826.
Congreve began in 1804 by buying the best rockets on the London market, but found that their greatest range was only 600 yards. He knew that Indian kings and emperors had equipped their armies with rockets which would travel much farther than this. After spending ‘several hundred pounds’ of his own money on experiments, he was able to make a rocket that would travel 1,500 yards. He now ‘applied to Lord Chatham (the responsible minister in charge of the Ordnance Department) for permission to have some large rockets made at Woolwich’. Permission was granted and ‘several six-pounder rockets’ made ‘on principles I had previously ascertained’ achieved a range of ‘full two thousand yards’. By the spring of 1806, he was producing 32-pounder rockets ranging 3,000 yards.
On September 13 and 14, 1814 a 25-hour barrage of Congreve rockets was fired from the British ship Erebus against Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The Erebus carried about 20 Congreve rocket batteries consisting of a box housing multiple metal firing tubes. Each of the rockets fired against Fort McHenry weighed about 30 pounds, and carried an incendiary charge. Although a number of American ships were destroyed by Congreve rockets during the War of 1812, just four deaths and minimal damage was reported at Fort McHenry during the siege.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the Defence of Fort M'Henry, a poem written on September 14, 1814, by the then 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. victory.
* "Year 1834 - Russian Submarine Rocket Launch" (2020-12-08, stolenhistory.org/articles/year-1834-russian-submarine-rocket-launch.215/) [archive.is/XqcZs]
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Merchants National Bank "Payable In GOLD Dollars" Bank Deposit Slip for "Pacific Mail Co. S.S."- New York- $195.85, 28Feb, 1874.
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VICTORIAN HALLUCINOGENIC CHRISTMAS CARDS.
Although little known today, a proto-LSD known as "sauce" had been devised during the reign of Queen Victoria of Britain, and its usage can be noted not only in the hallucinogenic descriptions found in works such as Alice in Wonderland and the multivolume Oz series, but also in humbler artistic offerings, such as the broad category of Christmas cards as shown here. Mind you, the Victorians didn't need a special hallucinogenic - they could buy opium and cannabis over the counter in chemist shops.
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* "At the Cold War’s height, this Russian admiral helped India create a fleet capable of countering the US and its allies; Every December 4, when India salutes its navy's role in the 1971 war with Pakistan, it also remembers USSR naval chief Sergey Gorshkov, who helped New Delhi gain access to Moscow's military hardware and platforms" (2023-12-04, rt.com/india/588483-indian-navy-ussr-gorshkov/) [archive.is/9vWnP]
* "The Great Indo-Soviet Naval Relationship Owes Its Beginning to One Russian Man; It is widely believed that Admiral Gorshkov, on his many visits to India, laid the foundation of warm relationships between Indian and Russian Naval officers which eventually blossomed into a long-standing defence relationship between the two states" (2021-12-07, thewire.in/security/admiral-sergey-gorshkov-the-man-who-built-the-great-indo-soviet-military-relationship) [archive.is/FiaYX]
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* "Cuba’s central province remembers Tribute Operation" (2023-12-07, plenglish.com/news/2023/12/07/cubas-central-province-remembers-tribute-operation/) [archive.is/9nl0L]
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* "Did German Tiger Tanks really need to start their engines every few hours? If so, why?" (2023-08-18, quora.com/Did-German-Tiger-Tanks-really-need-to-start-their-engines-every-few-hours-If-so-why/answer/Chris-Harz) [archive.is/cGGqM]:
This is one of those vital logistics things that designers usually don’t think of, thinking the batteries would be enough for normal use. However, the crews of Tigers and just about all other tanks would run heaters, radio sets, etc. for hours and exhaust the batteries. Radio sets then were far different to the solid state sets nowadays, and involved many tubes that needed to be warmed up and kept warm. German forces had been taught to stay in communication, so those radio sets got used a lot.
Starting up the engine then not only used a lot of gas, but also made noise, which might carry a long way, especially at night in snowy terrain. Designers started adding small engines, called Little Joes or Tiny Tims, to tanks to retrofit this problem.
They were also often scratchy and unclear. This could have fatal consequences. My dad did not ride around in a tank, but in a command vehicle (pictured) with several radio sets to keep in touch with both his trucks (pictured) and nearby units that might need gasoline or other supplies on an urgent basis. He told me of a time he was late in supplying one of Rommel’s units in the 7th Panzer division as it approached the Atlantic shore of France. Rommel chewed him out. When he got a radio message to report to a French town two days later, he wondered at it, since it was 20 km. in front of the lines. But he wasn’t about to get chewed out by Rommel again, so he told his trucks to charge forward.
As they drove down the road he thought, “Man, our guys are really getting sloppy. These French soldiers marching to the back are still carrying rifles.” He later figured out that the only thing that saved him was that his trucks were so covered with mud they had no visible markings, and none of his guys wore the distinctive German helmets. He arrived at the town to discover no other forces there. Over the radio he discovered the first message had been wrong—they had mispronounced and misspelled the name of the town, which was over 20 km. to the East. Thinking quickly, he asked who was in charge, and met up with a French colonel. He told him the rest of his forces were right behind, and used the phrase (ironically) “You know that for you and me the war is over.”
To avoid bloodshed, he asked to park his vehicles somewhere safe. There was a football field nearby, so he pulled up his trucks in a circle and got the Colonel to post a few men at the entrance to make sure there were no “misunderstandings.” Dad had the gift of gab, and spoke French like a native. He loved France, had many friends there, and decades later took me on a tour of wineries. He told me that when he got to Paris, as others were proudly marching around to celebrate the victory, he instead prayed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (pictured) for the many who had died (his handwriting reads “Here lies a soldier who died for his country.”)
Charging batteries with the engine is one of those things engineers often don’t think of while sitting behind desks instead of in the battlefield. Another one was track repair. My dad wondered why he had to supply so many tracks to Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division, to which he was attached as an officer in the Transportation Corps. Each tank had a few extra track segments. If one or two got damaged, the crew theoretically simply replaced them. In combat, however, when a track got hit or damaged, the driver would often jam the transmission into reverse and accelerate backwards to get to safety. This destroyed most of or even the entire track. Tracks on German WW2 tanks also got worn because they had no rubber, which was scarce.
So his trucks started carrying long sections of track, which had been unplanned, as well as extra tank batteries, wire and solder and flashlights (for nighttime repairs) and 88mm ammunition for the FLAK batteries that for Rommel were suddenly the only thing that could engage the thick-skinned British Matilda and other tanks.
There were of course no Tiger I tanks while he was in Rommel’s 7th, but later on he had the same challenges of rapidly changing conditions in the East. Because he was Transportation Command and not organic, he was attached to many units, from Leningrad all the way down to Stalingrad. Throughout, he and the Tiger commanders continued chattering on the radios, a lot, using up batteries. And from then on, he very carefully checked and re-checked over the radio the names of the towns he was supposed to drive to (!).
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* "Why Did So Many German Officers Flee to Argentina after WW2?" (2019-11-26, Knowledgia, via iv.ggtyler.dev/watch?v=eUGSEBx9CZc&listen=false) [archive.is/6V3hk]
- [comment]: My parents came from Guatemala and my grandfather was German, it took 20 years for my dad to tell me the truth about his dad’s service in the SS
- [comment]: There was already lot of Germans in Argentina from the results of the first world war who had blended in with locals and they owned all types of businesses and they helped and aided the second world war Germans. Peron had went to different schools and etc. in Germany, the German high command were his heroes.
- [comment]: I met a guy many years ago in Indonesia, he was from Uruguay, first name Manfred, blonde hair blue eyes. I found out later he was the nephew of Klaus Barbi “the butcher of Lyon”. Manfred’s father went to Uruguay from Germany at the end of WW2 and was a lecturer in a university there.
- [comment]: My grandfather was a reputed doctor and also a military officer in Paraguay and friends with then president Stroessner (German descendant). The president asked him to receive and work (signing recipes in some cases) with this German doctors that were living here, and also with a doctor who was living in Argentina and wanted to come to Paraguay regularly to do some business and work. This doctor coming from Argentina was as my grandfather called him, "José" Menguele, or as the allied called him "The angel of death". They worked together for some time in the 50's, "José" was selling some medical products. For his collaboration, José "awarded" my grandfather with a couple medals he had, one is an Iron Cross and the other is a medal given to the Spanish volunteers in Russia. I still have the latter, while the former, sadly was given by my grandfather to Stroessner as a birthday present. José later went to Brazil and never came back here.
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* "Thomas Jefferson Built This Country On Mastodons" (2015-07-02, atlasobscura.com/articles/thomas-jefferson-built-this-country-on-mastodons) [archive.is/ziTbp]
* "Thomas Jefferson's secret reason for sending Lewis and Clark West: to find mastodons" (2015-04-13, vox.com/2015/4/13/8384167/thomas-jefferson-mastodons) [archive.is/iWFQU] [begin excerpt]:
Stanley Hedeen tells the story of Jefferson's mastodon obsession in Big Bone Lick, a book about the wild early days of American paleontology. Jefferson was one of many founding fathers interested in all the bizarre fossils being discovered across North America (particularly the large supply found at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky). In 1780, for example, George Washington was intrigued by early mastodon remains found in Claverack, New York.
Patriotism was one of the big reasons the founding fathers cared so much about the fossils they were uncovering. Influential Europeans like Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon argued that species found in the New World were inferior to the ones found in Europe.
But there was also a simpler reason for the obsession. At the time, extinction wasn't an accepted idea. Many early Americans believed that the fossils they found belonged to animals that were still alive, roaming the American landscape somewhere. [...]
Though the official purpose was to find new opportunities for commerce, Jefferson also had Lewis and Clark collect samples of the bones they found and search for any mysterious new animals. And in 1807, after their main trip had concluded, he sent Clark on a special mission to Big Bone Lick in Kentucky to collect fossil specimens.
Clark sent more than 300 bones back to the White House in 1808, and Jefferson rearranged them in the storage area that would become the White House's East Room. He then catalogued and divided the specimens, sending some of them to museums and others off to France. This wasn't a purely whimsical exercise, either: the bones helped French scientists classify the American mastodon as a different species than the European mammoth.
Jefferson's interest in bones didn't only extend to finding the mastodon, however. He also believed he was the first to identify a new creature. He thought it was a giant, ferocious lion, but it was actually something even more unusual.
Jefferson thought he found a lion. It turned out to be a giant ground sloth.
Jefferson's proudest discovery was the Megalonyx jeffersonii, which continues to bear his name. In 1797, Jefferson obtained the bones after they were uncovered from a cave. After examining them, he named the creature "megalonyx," which is Greek for "great claw." He imagined a lion-like creature that matched American ambitions: fierce, gigantic, and untamable.
It was actually a giant ground sloth that was about nine feet long, ate upright on its hind feet, and appeared in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It lived 150,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Though Jefferson wanted to use the Megalonyx to disprove extinction — he hoped Lewis and Clark would find the animal out West — it nonetheless became an important discovery. By 1799, Megalonyx had been identified as a ground sloth, and in 1822, it got the former president's name.
Around the same time, Jefferson's view of the world changed. By 1823, he wrote to John Adams that he believed extinction was a possibility, and that animals could become extinct if they were replaced by new forms. Even if he was wrong about extinction, Jefferson's discoveries retain their importance. That, in a way, might be the best birthday present Jefferson could hope for. [end excerpt]
- image caption: George Cuvier's 1806 drawing of the giant mastodon.
* "How Thomas Jefferson's Obsession With Mastodons Partly Fueled the Lewis and Clark Expedition" (2019-07-17, mentalfloss.com/article/573995/thomas-jefferson-mastodon-obsession-fueled-lewis-and-clark-expedition) [archive.is/TIMQr]
* "Jefferson's Old Bones; Did the so-called father of American vertebrate paleontology believe in fossils?" (2011-05, americanscientist.org/article/jeffersons-old-bones) [archive.is/U5WoA] [begin excerpt]:
In April 1836, the naturalist John Kirk Townsend wrote from Vancouver to the physician Samuel G. Morton in Philadelphia, to report that a group of Indians had told him of seeing
"a quadruped of a gigantic size which from the description appeared to resemble the supposed extinct Mastodon. They said it was about the height of one of their houses (not less than 30 feet), and that it was of a brownish or blackish color, & appeared almost destitute of hair.… This story was substantiated by the whole party, & some individually did not hesitate to strengthen their affirmations by the most solemn oaths."
Similar tales of strange monsters roaming the western lands of the continent had been common in the previous century. A nice example is given in the journal of James Kenny, a frontier trader who worked for the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, from 1761:
"the Rhinosses or Elephant Master, being a very large Creature of a Dark Colour having a long Strong horn growing upon his nose (wth which he kills Elephants) a Short tail like an Elk; two of sd horns he seen fixd over a Gate at St Augustine, & that its ye bnes of Some of these lies down in Buffelo lick by ye Ohio, wher ye Great teeth Comes from."
Thomas Jefferson avidly collected such accounts as they were important for his view of science. Jefferson did not believe in extinction. He was particularly fascinated by the American mastodon, the elephant relative that he referred to for many years as “the mammoth.” It was not until 1806 in Paris that the French naturalist Georges Cuvier formally separated “mastodonte” from mammoth and also concluded that there were two living species of elephant. But in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), Jefferson had already concluded that the cold-adapted “mammoths” were different from the living tropical African and Asian elephants. Over many years he amassed a large collection of “mammoth” remains, which he displayed in the entrance hall of Monticello, his great house in Virginia. [end excerpt]
* "Big Bone Lick, Kentucky" (retrieved 2023-12-07, monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/big-bone-lick-kentucky/) [archive.is/x35J2] [begin excerpt]:
During prehistoric times, the area of present-day Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, was frequented by large mammals that became trapped in the marshy waters. As early as the 1730s, curiosity-seekers had been exploring the area and marveling at the large fossils they found there, including those of the mastodon.
In 1797, after Thomas Jefferson became president of the American Philosophical Society, he and the other members of the "committee to collect information respecting the past and present state of this country" published a circular letter recommending specific topics of inquiry to Society members. First on the list was "to procure one or more entire skeletons of the Mammoth, so called, and of such other unknown animals as either have been, or hereafter may be discovered in America."
Jefferson also instructed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to search for mastodons on their expedition. In Cincinnati, on his way west to meet Clark, Meriwether Lewis met Dr. William Goforth to examine some mastodon bones Goforth had found at Big Bone Lick. He wrote Jefferson about that encounter in a letter dated October 3, 1803. The expedition never found a mastodon, living or dead.
In 1807, to complete the American Philosophical Society directive, Jefferson sent William Clark to Big Bone Lick to obtain fossilized mastodon bones. By September, Clark had hired ten men to assist in the endeavor and sent three boxes filled with fossils to the President's House. The boxes arrived in March 1808 and Casper Wistar joined Jefferson to catalog their contents. [end excerpt]
- "Upper Jawbone of Mastodon" (monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/upper-jawbone-mastodon/) [archive.is/rvoBw]
---
* "Vehicles in Transit in Tokyo" (1870, Utagawa Yoshitora; via artsandculture.google.com/asset/vehicles-in-transit-in-tokyo/RgFn1RWEmCcMSA) [archive.is/cUn6d]
* "Vehicles on the Streets of Tokyo" (1870, Utagawa Yoshitora; via metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55545) [archive.is/6TCad]
---
* "Who really invented the Taser technology, and when?" (2023-06-19, stolenhistory.org/articles/who-really-invented-the-taser-technology-and-when.655/) [archive.is/JR63w] [begin excerpt]:
Would you be surprised to learn that Taser technology first mentioned in 1960s, was already available to use as early as 1851? [...]
A US patent by Kunio Shimizu titled "Arrest device" filed in 1966 describes an electrical discharge gun with a projectile connected to a wire with a pair of electrode needles for skin attachment.
The patent does exist and was granted in 1970. It is described as “Electrical discharge weapons for stunning for remote electrical discharge by means of a wireless projectile.” [...]
The main part of the taser story starts in 1969, when Jack Cover, a NASA researcher, began developing the first Taser. Of course, in the 20th century, unlike in the 19th, it required some relevant education to develop things. And our Jack Cover was indeed pretty educated. He earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in nuclear physics at the University of Chicago.
In 1970, Jack Cover formed Taser Systems, Inc., named for a Tom Swift novel about the Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. This is probably where our connection to the 19th century could be found. [...]
Now, you can imagine my bewilderment when I stumbled into the following article dated with 1852. The article appeared in a book titled “Strange Stories of the Animal World.” While the book was published in 1866, the article itself was dated with 1852.
1866 Source (https://archive.is/o/JR63w/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Strange_Stories_of_the_Animal_World/R0YIAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA278&printsec=frontcover)
You can imagine how surprised I was, when I realized that what this 1852 article was talking about was a mid-19th century Taser technology. Whale’s muscles are being paralyzed by 8 short pulses per second, via electricity delivered by the means of an oversized dart attached to a metallic wire and connected to an electric device.
The only thing that did not make sense to me was a single harpoon used, for you need two penetrations to complete the circuit. So, I kept on searching.
My search produced the following article published in the 1853 annual of Scientific Discovery. The article did not provide any information on the second harpoon, but did elaborate on the one I’ve just read. Here is what it says.
1853 Source (https://archive.is/o/JR63w/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_of_Scientific_Discovery/MiUFAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA116&printsec=frontcover)
I’m not sure what kind of mathematics they used to obtain 950 strokes per minute out of 8 strokes per second. Yet, this article clearly indicates that the machine was operational as early as 1851, but the vital information on the second harpoon to complete the circuit is still absent. I kept on searching, and eventually I found what I was looking for.
The missing information was published in the 1849 issue of the Scientific American Magazine. The article is titled “A Galvanic or Electric Harpoon for Paralyzing Whales.”
1849 Source (https://archive.is/o/JR63w/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Scientific_American/EYU3AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22%22&pg=PA404&printsec=frontcover)
Two harpoons indicated by a letter “A”, were to be connected to a battery indicated by a letter “B” by chains, indicated by a letter “C”. Said chains may be bound in a cord, and said cords and harpoons, excepting the actual points of contact with the body, indicated by a letter “D”, were to be insulated in any nonconducting flexible substance. Both harpoons were to be launched simultaneously, to produce the desired effect.
Naturally, the invention dated with 1849 had the following:
1. Two darts with attached wires.
2. Wires were attached to a device to complete the circuit.
3. The device was delivering multiple short pulses of electricity.
4. The result produced a temporarily paralyzed fish or whale.
I do not see how it could be anything but the mid-19th century taser technology officially invented in the late 1960s. For killing a fish with electricity, one does not need two harpoons and short multiple pulses of electricity to produce the desired effect. What desired effect are they talking about? In my opinion this desired effect is the temporary neuromuscular incapacitation which can only be achieved via high voltage low amperage pulses, which in itself makes it a taser technology. If you have any other opinions, please share.
If what we have is indeed a technology we know today as a Taser, then what level of education and knowledge did they possess prior to the first half of the 19th century. Wanted to remind you that the gentlemen who developed the taser in 1960s-1970s had a nuclear physics PhD.
This here is the 1852 patent I located afterwards.
1852 Source (https://archive.is/o/JR63w/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Specifications_of_Patents_Relating_to_Dy/QiExAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover)
pg. 1 [archive.is/taPMI], pg. 2 [archive.is/iruBq]
Than again, do we really know who invented this thing? Here is a different guy mentioned as the inventor of this contraption. This synchronicity is somewhat suspicius. Were they reintroducing some older pre-existing tech?
Moritz von Jacobi
1853 Source (https://archive.is/o/JR63w/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_London_Journal_and_Weekly_Record_of/JRsl-YYKl2EC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22%22&pg=PA189&printsec=frontcover)
---
* "West End Girls" (pop song lyrics, 1984 version, by Pet Shop Boys; via mojim.com/usy100671x14x45.htm) [archive.is/r2SmJ] [begin excerpt]:
I've said it all before, I'll say it all again
We're all modern men
We've got no future, we've got no past
Here today, built to last
In every city, in every nation
From Lake Geneva to the Finland station
[...]
You've got a heart of glass or a heart of stone
Just you wait 'till I get you home
All your stopping, stalling and starning
Who do you think you are, Joe Stalin?
Sometimes you're better off dead
There's gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head
[end excerpt]
---
* "North Ingermanland" (2022-04-15, bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2022/04/north-ingermanland-buds-big-blue.html) [archive.is/Dpg6K]
Anarchist threads
===*===*===
Communist International History
"Most Russians regret USSR collapse, dream of its return, poll shows" (2016-04-19, rt.com) [archive.is/qQzl8]
Soldiers studying the first tractor, 1929 (photo by Arkady Shaikhet)
---
Allegorical Composition, by Alexey Stolbov, 1931
---
* " 'Holodomor': Fact or Fiction" (2020-09-22, discomfiting.medium.com/holodomor-fact-or-fiction-17324ffe1d46) [archive.is/bWIf3]
* " ‘The Holodomor’: How Ukraine distorted the history of a tragic Soviet famine to help build its modern national myth; Official Kiev has been talking about an alleged 'genocide of Ukrainians by Russia' for more than 30 years" (2023-12-11, rt.com/russia/588746-russophobic-myths-russia-ukraine/) [archive.is/tMFAX]
---
* (Table of Contents page, CALCUSEUM Vintage Electronic Calculators, calcuseum.com/LISTINGS/CALCUSEUM_Listing_R_AllItems.htm) [archive.is/XE5TQ]
RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): (_Company Info_) [https://web.archive.org/web/20231206191159/http://www.calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/380055/1.htm]
- (calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/302219%5C1.htm) [archive.is/Bg0zI]
Brand: RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): 8
Product: SUPERLECTRON 8
Label: RSO atest, br.I-1222
Product Number: 8
Year of introduction: ~1974
Classification: Pocket
- (calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/70287%5C1.htm) [archive.is/L0lK0]
Brand: RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): 86
Product: DESCOM 86
Product Number: 86
Year of introduction: ~1978
Classification: Pocket
- (calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/60605%5C1.htm) [archive.is/kfVRa]
Brand: RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): 86M
Product: DESCOM 86 M
Label: OOUR TV, DESCOM 86 M
Product Number: 86M
Year of introduction: ~1978
Classification: Pocket
- (calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/70285%5C1.htm) [archive.is/eJTJl]
Brand: RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): 86S
Product: DESCOM 86 S
Label: 86S
Year of introduction: ~1978
Classification: Pocket
- (calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/89761%5C1.htm) [archive.is/ThdmL]
Brand: RADIO INDUSTRY ZAGREB (RIZ): 89
Product: DESCOM 89
Label: 89
Year of introduction: ~1978
Classification: Pocket
---
"Flight to Mars" Soviet electronic game, 1980s.
===*===*===
Snippets of Jewish History
===*===*===
Overviews of World History before the Modern Age
No, it's not Manhattan. This is an imagination of what Bologna looked like when it's number of medieval towers peaked in the 13th century, with estimates of the number of towers ranging from 80-180. Two were demolished in the 20th Century. Today there are fewer than 20. Their primary purpose was defense and status, with the tallest 200 feet high, or in today's understanding 14 storeys- true skyscrapers ! The leaning Garisenda tower has featured in recent news as being in danger of collapse.
Edit; Picture of model of Medieval Bologna on show in the town added to show this isn't out of scale or exaggerated.
---
* "Tabula Magellanica, qua Tierrae del fuego, cum celeberrimis fretis a F. Magellano et I. Le Maire detectis novissima et accuratissima description exhibetur" (1635, updated 1642-43, by Willem Blaeu AKA Guiljemus), full-size image (1838×1420) (https://philaprintshop.com/cdn/shop/products/ScreenShot2021-05-04at3.04.55AM_1838x.png?v=1620119182) [archive.is/Zol5r], product information (philaprintshop.com/products/blaeu-willem-guiljemus-tabula-magellanica-qua-tierrae-del-fuego-cum-celeberrimis-fretis-a-f-magellano-et-i-le-maire-detectis-novissima-et-accuratissima-description-exhibetur) [archive.is/xFHEH] [begin excerpt]:
This map marks a major improvement in the cartographic depiction of South America. In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan discovered the straits between the continent and Tierra del Fuego, but he did not realize that the land to the south was an island. Therefore many sixteenth century maps showed a huge continent south of the straits. Jacques Le Maire (d. 1616), sailed with Jan Cornelis Schouten in 1615-1616 to the south Atlantic on a voyage that discovered the Juan Fernandex Islands. Le Maire’s work on the voyage enabled him to record and name the LeMaire Strait between “Magellanica” and “Staten Landt” after his father. Thereafter Tierra del Fuego would be depicted as an island. [end excerpt]
* "La Terre Magellanique avec son Détroit et la Terre de Feu, avec ses petites Iles, Bayes et Rivieres" (1713, by Pieter van der Aa), full-size image (2226×1866) (https://sanderusmaps.com/assets/RESIZEDNEW/large_m26153.jpg) [archive.is/YEp86], product info (sanderusmaps.com/our-catalogue/antique-maps/america/south-america/old-antique-map-of-magellan-straits-tierra-del-fuego-by-pieter-van-der-aa-26153) [archive.is/GMG9G]
* Tierra del Fuego (1690 Spanish map insert), full resolution (1763×1315) [archive.is/FNy5b]
---
* "19th Century Paving Tiles in Russia" (2021-02-03, stolenhistory.org/articles/19th-century-paving-tiles-in-russia.510/) [archive.is/iCvvl]:
Had these two images saved on my computer for a while. What do you think about the paved surface? Is it indicative of the pre-1850's?
1820s Moscow: Red Square
1845 Saint Petersburg: St. Isaac's Cathedral
We also have the below image (agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/red-square-moscow-russia-engraving-by-lemaitre-cadolle-and-traversier-from-russie-by-jean-marie-chopin-1796-1870-la-fin-de-la-russie-d-europe/DAE-BA063782) [archive.is/ofmUZ]. It has an interesting description:
The End of European Russia, Crimea and the Russian Provinces in Asia, Circassia and Georgia.
1838
Around 1860-70. The remains of the geometric pavement are still visible.
Here are a few additional depictions where these tiles appear to be present.
This one is kind of weird... resembles the cracks in the dirt. / from (https://www.quora.com/The-dirt-in-my-backyard-keeps-cracking-what-can-do-to-fix-it-I-water-it-regularly) Soil cracking has more to do with soil composition than water content. Finer particles will form a crust that cracks when it dries. This generally means you have a soil that's high in clay and low in organic matter (the organic matter binds clay particles and creates larger, more stable particles that don't crust).
Tiles on the last two images look different. These are more like the ones on the below painting.
Not sure these fit the time frame. These tiles had to be made of some concrete-like stuff. As far as I understand, the image below pertains to pre-1830.
Wondering why they either added, or took away characters.
And I'm wondering what we have going on here. That looks way too heavy for those guys.
These are photos from my old album of Moscow. In this photo, there is no trace of the old coating. It's not even a paving stone. It feels like broken stone has been thrown under my feet.
And in the second photo, you can see the tram rails. Very interesting. after all, the first tram will go only in 1899.
Speaking of the possibly interlocking paving tiles. There gotta be a place where at least some remnants of those still exist. I doubt those were only installed on the Red Square and next to Saint Isaac’s Cathedral. There had to be other places too.
---
* "Saint Petersburg Kazan Cathedral was not built when they say it was..." (2020-12-07, stolenhistory.org/articles/saint-petersburg-kazan-cathedral-was-not-built-when-they-say-it-was.191/) [archive.is/MTdHZ]:
I believe this is one of those cases where the global censorship and historical assignment committee failed to do its job properly. They still did an awesome job, but with the amounts they had to deal with, they were prone to have certain objects slip through the cracks.
It appears that a certain Russian historical marvel located in Saint Petersburg, and called the Kazan Cathedral is one of those missed buildings. And we have a certain Swedish artist to thank for this. His name was Benjamin Paterssen.
Kazan Cathedral
Saint Petersburg, Russia
constructed 1801-1811
Kazan Cathedral or Kazanskiy Kafedralniy Sobor, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, is a cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church on the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, probably the most venerated icon in Russia.
Construction of the cathedral started in 1801 and continued for ten years under the supervision of Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov. Upon its completion in 1811, the new temple replaced the Church of Nativity of the Theotokos, which was disassembled when the Kazan Cathedral was consecrated.
The information we need is this:
Kazan Cathedral was officially built between 1801 and 1811
Andrey Voronikhin was the architect
Benjamin Paterssen
mystery-Man.jpg
1748 - 1815
Fortunately for us, there was this Swedish-born Russian painter and engraver; known primarily for his cityscapes. Unfortunately, the history did not preserve his own image, but it did save quite a few paintings of his.
Around 1800, on a commission by Tsar Paul I, he created a series of works depicting the banks of the Neva, which earned him an appointment as court painter. Most of his works are currently held by the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum.
- Benjamin Paterssen (mutualart.com/Artist/Benjamin-Paterssen/4B1CE4936CF97A4F) [archive.is/HWSfM]
- Benjamin Patersen - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Patersen) [archive.is/agYPe]
- Benjamin Patersen - Wikimedia (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Benjamin_Patersen) [archive.is/NLDrX]
What's interesting, out of the above English language sources only one contains the painting we need. But there are quite a few I was able to locate via Google Image search:
- Engravings and paintings of 18th century St. Petersburg Benjamin Paterssen (http://infodays.ru/gravyury-i-kartiny-sankt-peterburga-xviii-veka-benjamin-paterssen/)
- Paintings of 18th century St. Petersburg Benjamin Paterssen (http://www.neizvestniy-geniy.ru/news/5420.html)
View of Kazansky Cathedral as Seen from Nevsky Prospect
1800
Basically, what we have is the Kazan Cathedral fully built, with no signs of recent construction allegedly painted by Benjamin Paterssen in 1800. Meanwhile, the official version states that the Cathedral construction started in 1801, and was not finished prior to 1811.
Remarkable, but for whatever reason the above painting had to be redone. It is titled "View of Kazansky Cathedral in 1821" (ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казанский_собор_(Санкт-Петербург)#/media/File:Казанский_собор,_1821.jpg) [archive.is/fgvFM]. I was not able to figure out who did the 1821 painting, so if you figure it out, please let us know.
1800 vs. 1821
Do you see anything different in the above images. I only see one major difference not related to a few missing people and an extra dog. Those are two different types of crosses on the obelisk.
The Crosses
1800 Cross
1821 Cross
I do not know how significant the cross difference is, but here are some different types of crosses out there.
The Kazan Cathedral Floors
I am not going to elaborate much on the 3D original marble floors, and solar symbols inside the Christian Cathedral. I doubt every single marble floor professional of today would be able to make a floor like this. Here are some pictures of the floor.
Good old Freemasons?
Obelisk vs. Fountain
For whatever reason the original Obelisk had to be replaced with a water fountain. I do not know why it had to be done, but it appears there was a reason for everything.
I think we have this "leftover" building, which came with the city later named Saint Petersburg (stolenhistory.org/articles/who-really-built-russian-saint-petersburg-did-they-dig-it-out.119/) [archive.is/t8nST].
Whatever the original purpose of this building was I do not know, but it sure was not a Christian Cathedral. Of course, this is only my opinion. Yup, I do not think it was built by the officially reported individuals. Tartarians?
Loosely based on this video: "Lies of Historians. Mysteries of St. Petersburg. 1 part" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqE3Rh4Ycl4):
Who really built St. Petersburg with its ancient temples and castles? Let's look at this city from a slightly different angle and immediately all the lies of historians who come up with fantastic tales for you and me will be exposed.
Who really built St. Petersburg with its ancient temples and castles? Let's look at this city from a slightly different angle and immediately all the lies of historians who come up with fantastic tales for you and me will be exposed.
- [comments]:
And in a city that was possibly dug out, on the left, by the guardhouse, we have a gentleman apparently descending some steps to access the door to the building that is... below street level.
Yup, descending he is.
The gold colored Freemason symbol above the main entrance behind the obelisk is not there in the older painting.
And if it is there, it sure is invisible. I wish we had a better quality image.
Found this interesting piece published in 1809 (https://books.google.com/books?id=fwA0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA291#v=onepage&q&f=false). I keep on thinking that there is more to this column than we are allowed to know. Wondering if it had anything to do with the Alexander Column.
---
* "The equestrian statue of Peter I, with the surrounding [...]" (1799, Benjamin Patersen):
Description
Saint Petersburg (Russia), Senate Square. In the center, the Monument to Peter the Great, The Bronze Horseman, (1768—78, designed by E.-M. Falconet and М. Collot, who executed Peter the Great's head). The pedestal of an enormous granite boulder and the grille around the monument (the latter existed until 1903) were made in accordance with Y. Velten's design. The inauguration of the monument was on August 7, 1782. To the left, the building of the Senate. To the right, over the Neva, the Academy of Arts (by A. Kokorinov and J.-B. Vallin de la Mothe) and the buildings of the Vasilyevsky Island. In the foreground, to the right, a portion of the Hauptwache's (Guardhouse) portico close to the Admiralty.
A barge hauler pulls a barge along the Fontanka. Detail from a 1798 painting by Benjamin Paterson
---
* "Thomas Jefferson to Anthony Finley, 7 April 1813" (founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0053) [archive.is/UPTvu] [begin excerpt]:
Anthony Finley opened a bookshop and publishing house in Philadelphia by 1809. A sales catalog he issued in 1811 concentrated on medical, botanical, and other scientific works. By 1824 Finley was producing maps and by 1832 he specialized in cartography. Finley was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Philadelphia Common Council in 1818. A founding officer of the Philadelphia Apprentices’ Library, he was also a life member of both the American Sunday-School Union and the Franklin Institute. In 1826 he sat on the board of trustees of a proposed new college in Philadelphia. Finley was in business until at least 1836 [end excerpt]
* "Maps by Anthony Finley 1824-1827" [https://web.archive.org/web/20210619003554/http://www.philaprintshop.com/finley.html] [archive.is/vWu2t]
* " 'A Map of South America: According to the Latest and Best Authorities' By Anthony Finley, An American Cartographer" (sites.fhi.duke.edu/defininglines/india/finleys-map-of-south-america/) [archive.is/zOp0T]:
Little is known about Anthony Finley’s life; however, it is clear that he worked in the same Philadelphia publishing circles as Henry S. Tanner, an important cartographer from the early nineteenth century. Documentation from the David Rumsey collection directly states that many of Finley’s maps and atlases were produced in competition with Tanner’s. Both cartographers lived in a developing United States that had focused its sights on expansion to the west and, less directly, to the south. Tanner is known specifically for contributing to the image that shaped American knowledge of northwest North America while this territory remained a contested space, passing from Great Britain, to Spain, to Russia. He also made American atlases and state-by-state flat maps. Finley followed suit in an effort to keep up with market demand.
Competing Atlases
Finley’s 1826 A New American Atlas Designed Principally to Illustrate the Geography of the United States of America is a near replica in content to Tanner’s A New American Atlas Containing Maps of the Several States of the North American Union. The Rumsey collection notes that the atlases are grouped in extremely similar patterns and that the quality of cartography and engraving are equal. The significant difference between the two is that Finley’s atlas is on a smaller scale than Tanner’s. To borrow an expression from contemporary language, one could say that Finley’s atlas was a “knock-off” of Tanner’s; however, this does not devalue the historical importance of Finley’s atlas, which, like Tanner’s, contributed to American understanding of politically important regions. A testament to its popularity lies in the fact that Finley printed at least two editions of his atlas.
The Monroe Doctrine and Growth of Interest in Latin America
The inclusion of the Map of South America to the Latest and Best Authorities in Finley’s atlas is evidence of the growing the interest of American ventures in Latin America. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine, a policy establishing American protectionism over the western hemisphere including Latin America, put a halt on all future attempts by European powers to colonize the territory in North or South America. A majority of former Latin American colonies had recently gained independence through the Spanish American wars. While the Monroe Doctrine was an attempt to keep the Old World separate from the New in order to protect the fledgling independent nations, its undertones were, nonetheless, imperialistic. Finley’s map, like others in the American market, provided images of the territory that would now be increasingly subject to direct US political and involvement and economic colonization.
* "Media in category 'Maps by Anthony Finley' " (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps_by_Anthony_Finley) [archive.is/mPPlw]
- "Map of Asia and Australia" (1827, published in "Geographicus") (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps_by_Anthony_Finley#/media/File:1827_Finley_Map_of_Asia_and_Australia_-_Geographicus_-_Asia-finley-1827.jpg) [archive.is/oU9mU], full-size image [archive.is/t8sqn],
extract showing Siberia, as defined geo-politically by the Russian Empire, viz China, without a "Tartary"...
extract showing Tartary, and Chinese Tartary...
* "A New General Atlas Comprising a Complete Set of Maps, representing the Grand Divisions Of The Globe, Together with the several Empires, Kingdoms, and States in the World; Compiled from the Best Authorities, and corrected by the Most Recent Discoveries. Philadelphia: Published by Anthony Finley. 1831. (title page only) Written And Engraved By Jos. Perkins. (with) Atlas Classica; Or Select Maps Of Ancient Geography, Both Sacred and Profane ... Philadelphia: Published by Anthony Finley, At The North-East Corner Of Chestnut And Fourth Streets. Clark & Raser, Printers. 1831 [cartographic material]" (catalog page, searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10450102) [archive.is/QNJgl]
* Antique hand colored map, from Anthony Finley's "A New General Atlas, Comprising a Complete Set of Maps, representing Grand Divisions of the Globe, Together with the Several Empires, Kingdoms, and States in the World; Compiled from the Best Authorities, and corrected by the Most Recent Discoveries", 1827. From the section : "Atlas Classica; or Select Maps of Ancient Geography, both Sacred and Profane" 1827.
* "State of Nations at the Christian aera From Pinkerton on the Goths. Engraved for Mayo's Ancient Geography & History. (to accompany) An Atlas Of Ten Select Maps Of Ancient Geography Both Sacred And Profane; With A Chronological Table Of Universal History & Biography"
(1815, by John Mellish, in Philadelphia; via davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~250610~5517139:State-of-Nations-at-the-Christian-a) [archive.is/el3sl]
An Atlas Of Ten Select Maps Of Ancient Geography Both Sacred And Profane; With A Chronological Table Of Universal History & Biography. Being Intended As An Accompaniment To Mayo's Ancient Geography And History. Calculated For The Use Of Seminaries, &c. Philadelphia: Published By John Mellish (sic), No. 49 South Third Street, And Sold By The Principal Booksellers In The United States. 1815.
Pub Note: Maps copied from Wilkinson's Atlas Classica. This becomes the Finley Ancient Atlas. Lucas also used many of these maps in his General Atlas of 1823. Covers are half leather, marbled paper covered boards.
- Where's the Roman Empire?
- Indo Scythe refers to those whose skin is fair, alongside fair features of red hair, and colored eyes. Indi appears to be a geographic feature wherein resides the commonly featured people, within whom is a Scythe colony, joined on the other geographic side by a China within Indi, an early feature of IndoChina as shown in further cartographic works, a combination of racialist and geographic positions of cartography.
- The races thus delineated, their geographic position thus placed... Americani, Samoide, Tungusii, Tartari, Mongli, Seres, Finni, Sarmatae
Author's note: Ocean According to Ancient Opinion. On the north of this line, the Ancients placed the Scythic Ocean: on the East, the Eoan
- Major Scythae presence alongside a Scythia, like Huns being Magyar, the synonymous names may indicate racial charcteristics.
* Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book%3D4:chapter%3D26) [archive.is/wVC6Y] [begin excerpt]: For the Gerrus separates the Basilidæ from the Nomades, the Hypacaris flows through the Nomades and the Hylæi, by an artificial channel into Lake Buges, and by its natural one into the Gulf of Coretus: this region bears the name of Scythia Sindice.
At the river Carcinites, Scythia Taurica30 begins, which was once covered by the sea, where we now see level plains extended on every side: beyond this the land rises into mountains of great elevation. The peoples here are thirty in number, of which twenty-three dwell in the interior, six of the cities being inhabited by the Orgocyni, the Chara- ceni31, the Lagyrani, the Tractari, the Arsilachitæ, and the Caliordi. The Scythotauri possess the range of mountains: on the west they are bounded by the Chersonesus, and on the east by the Scythian Satarchæ32.
30 Now the Crimea.
31 It does not appear that the site of any of these cities has been identified. Charax was a general name for a fortified town.
32 Mentioned again by Pliny in B. vi. c. 7. Solinus says that in order to repel avarice, the Satarchæ prohibited the use of gold and silver.
[end excerpt]
* "Appendix. Pliny's Description of the Northern parts of Europe; with a translation, and remarks. Hist. Nat. lib. IV. c. 13.", from "An enquiry into the history of Scotland: preceding the reign of Malcom III. or the year 1056. Including the authentic history of that period. In two volumes" (by John Pinkerton) (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=ecco;c=ecco;idno=004890131.0001.002;node=004890131.0001.002:26;rgn=div1;view=text) [archive.is/AUgpV] [begin excerpt]: In describing Asia, after Cappadocia, Armenia, Albania, Iberia, and iles in Pontus, he proceeds to the Nations on the Scythic Ocean. He then describes the Caspian, Media, Hyrcania, and nations on Eoan Ocean, Seres, &c. [end excerpt]
Note, Eoan is translated as Eastern, in the following text extract...
* "Pliny, Natural History - Book 6 , sections 1-70" (Translated by H.Rackham, 1952; attalus.org/translate/pliny_hn6a.html) [archive.is/aqhJH] [begin excerpt]:
{14.} L [33] Having now completed our description of the interior of Asia let us in imagination cross the Ripaean Mountains and proceed to the right along the shores of the Ocean. This washes the coast of Asia towards three points of the compass, under the name of Scythian Ocean on the north, Eastern Ocean on the east and Indian Ocean on the south; and it is subdivided into a variety of designations according to the bays that it forms and the people dwelling on its coasts. A great portion of Asia however also, adjoining the north, owing to the severity of its frosty climate contains vast deserts. [34] From the extreme north-north-east to the northernmost point at which the sun rises in summer there are the Scythians, and outside of them and beyond the point where north-north-east begins some have placed the Hyperboreans, who are said by a majority of authorities to be in Europe. After that point the first place known is Lytharmis, a promontory of Celtica, and the river Carambucis, where the range of the Ripaean Mountains terminates and with it the rigour of the climate relaxes; here we have reports of a people called the Arimphaei, a race not unlike the Hyperboreans. [35] They dwell in forests and live on berries; long hair is deemed to be disgraceful in the case of women and men alike; and their manners are mild. Consequently they are reported to be deemed a sacred race and to be left unmolested even by the savage tribes among their neighbours, this immunity not being confined to themselves but extended also to people who have fled to them for refuge. Beyond them we come directly to the Scythians, Cimmerians, Cissi, Anthi, Georgi, and a race of Amazons, the last reaching to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea.
{15.} L [36] For the sea actually forces a passage from the Scythian Ocean to the back of Asia, where the inhabitants call it by a variety of names, but it is best known by two of them, as the Caspian Sea and the Hyrcanian. Clitarchus is of opinion that the Caspian is as large as the Black Sea; Eratosthenes also gives its dimensions on the south-east side along the coast of Cadusia and Albania as 725 miles, from there through the territories of the Anariaci, Amardi and Hyrcani to the mouth of the river Zonus 600 miles, and from there to the mouth of the Jaxartes 300 miles, making a total of 1575 miles. Artemidorus subtracts 25 miles from this total. [37] Agrippa states that the Caspian Sea and the races surrounding it, including Armenia, bounded on the east by the Seric Ocean, on the west by the ranges of the Caucasus, on the south by those of the Taurus and on the north by the Scythian Ocean, so far as is known extend 480 miles in length and 290 miles in breadth. But there are some authors who give the entire circuit of the sea in question from the straits as 2500 miles.
[38] Its waters make their way into this sea by a narrow mouth of considerable length; and where it begins to widen out it curves obliquely with crescent-shaped horns, as though descending from the mouth to Lake Maeotis, in the likeness of a sickle, as Marcus Varro states. The first part of it is called the Scythian Gulf, because the inhabitants on both sides are Scythians, who hold communication across the narrows, on one side being the Nomads and the Sauromatae, who have a variety of names, and on the other the Abzoae, with just as many. Starting at the entrance, on the right-hand side the actual point of the mouth is occupied by the Scythian tribe of the Udini; then along the coast are the Albani, said to be descended from Jason, after whom the sea at that point is called the Alban Sea. [39] This race overflows the Caucasus Mountains and, as previously stated, comes down as far as the river Cyrus, which forms the boundary between Armenia and Hiberia. Above the coastward parts of Albania and the Udini tribe stretch the Sarmatae, Utidorsi and Aroteres, in the rear of whom we have already indicated the Amazons and Sauromatides. The rivers running down to the sea through Albania are the Casus and the Albanus, then the Cambyses, which rises in the Caucasus Mountains, and then the Cyrus, rising in the Coraxaci, as we have said. The whole of the coast from the Casus is stated by Agrippa to be formed of very lofty cliffs which prohibit landing for 425 miles. The sea begins to have the name of Caspian from the mouth of the Cyrus, the coast being inhabited by the Caspii.
[40] In this place we must correct a mistake made by many people, even those who recently served with Corbulo in the war in Armenia. These have given the name of Caspian Gates to the pass in Hiberia, which, as we have stated, is called the Caucasian Gates, and maps of the region sent home from the front have this name written on them. Also the expedition threatened by the Emperor Nero was spoken of as intended to penetrate to the Caspian Gates, whereas it was really aimed at the pass that gives a road through Hiberia to Sarmatia, the mountain barrier affording scarcely any access to the Caspian Sea. There are however other Caspian Gates s adjoining the Caspian tribes; the distinction between the two passes can only be established by means of the report of those who accompanied the expedition of Alexander the Great.
{16.} L [41] The kingdom of the Persians, which we now know as Parthia, lies between the two seas, the Persian and the Caspian, on the heights of the Caucasus range. Greater Armenia, which occupies the front of the mountain sloping towards Commagene, is adjoined, as we have said, by Cephenia, which lies on the descent on both sides of it, and this by Adiabene, where the land of the Assyrians begins; the part of Adiabene nearest to Syria is Arbilitis, where Alexander conquered Darius. [42] The Macedonians have given to the whole of Adiabene the name of Mygdonia, from its likeness to Mygdonia in Macedon. Its towns are Alexandria and Antiochia, the native name for which is Nesebis; it is 750 miles from Artaxata. There was also once the town of Nineveh, which was on the Tigris facing west, and was formerly very famous. Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which stretches to the Caspian Sea, is Atrapatene, separated from the district of Otene in Armenia by the Araxes; its chief town is Gazae, 450 miles from Artaxata and the same distance from Ecbatana, the city of the Medes, to which race the Atrapateni belong.
{17.} L [43] Ecbatana, the capital of Media, which was founded by King Seleucus, is 750 miles from Great Seleucia and 20 miles from the Caspian Gates. The other towns of Media are Phazaca, Aganzaga and Apamea, called Rhei. The reason for the name 'Gates' is the same as that stated above: the range is here pierced by a narrow pass 8 miles long, scarcely broad enough for a single line of waggon traffic, the whole of it a work of engineering. It is overhung on either side by crags that look as if they had been exposed to the action of fire, the country over a range of 28 miles being entirely waterless; the narrow passage is impeded by a stream of salt water that collects from the rocks and finds an exit by the same way. Moreover the number of snakes renders the route impracticable except in winter.
[44] Joining on to the Adiabeni are the people formerly called the Carduchi and now the Cordueni, past whom flows the river Tigris, and adjoining these are the 'Roadside' Pratitae, as they are called, who hold the Caspian Gates. Running up to these on the other side are the Parthian deserts and the Citheni range; and then comes the very agreeable locality, also belonging to Parthia, called Choara. Here are the two Parthian towns formerly serving for protection against the Medes, Calliope and, on another rock, Issatis; but the actual capital of Parthia, Hecatompylos, is 133 miles from the Gates - so effectively is the Parthian kingdom also shut off by passes. [45] Going out of the Caspian Gates one comes at once to the Caspian nation, which extends down to the coast: it is from this people that the pass and the sea obtain their name. On the left there is a mountainous district. Turning back from this people to the river Cyrus the distance is said to be 225 miles, and going up from the river Cyrus to the Caspian Gates 700 miles; for in the Itineraries of Alexander the Great this pass is made the turning-point of his expeditions, the distance from these Gates to the frontier of India being given as 1961 miles, from the frontier to the town of Bactra, which is the name given to Zariasta, 462 miles, and from Bactra to the river Jaxartes 620 miles.
{18.} L [46] Lying to the east of the Caspians is the region called Apavortene, in which is Dareium, a place noted for its fertility. Then there are the tribes of the Tapyri, Anariaci, Staures and Hyrcani, from whose shores the Caspian beyond the river Sideris begins to be called the Hyrcanian Sea; while on this side of the Sideris are the rivers Maziris and Strator, all three streams rise in the Caucasus. Next comes the Margiane country, famous for its sunny climate - it is the only district in that region where the vine is grown; it is shut in all round by a beautiful ring of mountains, 187 miles in circuit, and is difficult of access on account of sandy deserts stretching for a distance of 120 miles; and it is itself situated opposite to the region of Parthia. [47] In Margiane Alexander had founded a city called Alexandria, which was destroyed by the barbarians, but Antiochus son of Seleucus re-established a city on the same site, intersected by the river Margus, which is canalized into Lake Zotha; he had preferred that the city should be named Antiochia. Its circuit measures 8 miles. This is the place to which the Roman prisoners taken in the disaster of Crassus were brought by Orodes. From the heights of Antiochia across the ridges of the Caucasus right on to the Bactrians extend the fierce tribe of the Mardi, an independent state. Below this region are the tribes of the Orciani, Commori, Berdnigae, Harmatotropi, Citomarae, Comani, Murrasiarae and Mandruani; [48] the rivers Mandrum and Chindrum, and beyond them the Chorasmi, Gandari, Paricani, Zarangae, Arasmi, Marotiani, Arsi, Gaeli (called by the Greeks the Cadusii), and Matiani; the town of Heraclea, founded by Alexander and subsequently overthrown, but restored by Antiochus, who gave it the name of Achais; the Dribyces, whose territory is intersected by the river Oxus rising in Lake Oaxus; the Syrmatae, Oxyttagae, Moci, Bateni, Saraparae; and the Bactri, whose town was called Zariasta from the river, but its name was afterwards changed to Bactra. This race occupies the opposite side of the Paropanisus over against the sources of the Indus, and is enclosed by the river Ochus. [49] Beyond are the Sogdiani and the town of Panda, and on the farthest confines of their territory Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great. At this place there are altars set up by Hercules and Father Liber, and also by Cyrus and Semiramis and by Alexander, all of whom found their limit in this region of the world, where they were shut in by the river Jaxartes, which the Scythians call the Silis and which Alexander and his soldiers supposed to be the Tanais. But this river was crossed by Demodamas, the general of King Seleucus and King Antiochus, whom we are chiefly following in this part of our narrative; and he set up altars to Apollo Didymaeus.
{19.} L [50] Beyond are some tribes of Scythians. To these the Persians have given the general name of Sacae, from the tribe nearest to Persia, but old writers call them the Aramii, and the Scythians themselves give the name of Chorsari to the Persians and call Mount Caucasus Croucasis, which means 'white with snow.' There is an uncountable number of tribes, numerous enough to live on equal terms with the Parthians; most notable among them are the Sacae, Massagetae, Daliae, Essedones, Astacae, Rumnici, Pestici, Homodoti, Histi, Edones, Camae, Camacae, Euchatae, Cotieri, Authusiani, Psacae, Arimaspi, Antacati, Chroasai and Oetaei; among them the Napaei are said to have been destroyed by the Palaei. [51] Notable rivers in their country are the Mandragaeus and the Caspasus. And in regard to no other region is there more discrepancy among authorities, this being due, I believe to the countless numbers and the nomadic habits of the tribes. The water of the Caspian Sea itself was said by Alexander the Great to be sweet to drink, and also Marcus Varro states that good drinking water was conveyed from it for Pompey when he was operating in the neighbourhood of the river during the Mithridatic War; doubtless the size of the rivers flowing into it overcomes the salt. [52] Varro further adds that exploration under the leadership of Pompey ascertained that a seven days' journey from India into the Bactrian country reaches the river Bactrus, a tributary of the Oxus, and that Indian merchandize can be conveyed from the Bactrus across the Caspian to the Cyrus and thence with not more than five days' portage by land can reach Phasis in Pontus.
There are many islands in all parts of the Caspian Sea, but only one of them, Zazata, is particularly notable.
{20.} L [53] After leaving the Caspian Sea and the Scythian Ocean our course takes a bend towards the Eastern Sea as the coast turns to face eastward. The first part of the coast after the Scythian promontory is uninhabitable on account of snow, and the neighbouring region is uncultivated because of the savagery of the tribes that inhabit it. This is the country of the Cannibal Scythians who eat human bodies; consequently the adjacent districts are waste deserts thronging with wild beasts lying in wait for human beings as savage as themselves. Then we come to more Scythians and to more deserts inhabited by wild beasts, until we reach a mountain range called Tabis which forms a cliff over the sea; and not until we have covered nearly half of the length of the coast that faces north-east is that region inhabited. [54] The first human occupants are the people called the Seres, who are famous for the woollen substance obtained from their forests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves, and so supply our women with the double task of unravelling the threads and weaving them together again; so manifold is the labour employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman matron to flaunt transparent raiment in public. The Seres, though mild in character, yet resemble wild animals, in that they also shun the company of the remainder of mankind, and wait for trade to come to them. [55] The first river found in their territory is the Psitharas, next the Cambari, and third the Lanos, after which come the Chryse Promontory, the Bay of Cirnaba, the river Atianos and the tribe of the Attacori on the bay of the same name, sheltered by sunbathed hills from every harmful blast, with the same temperate climate as that in which dwell the Hyperborei. The Attacori are the subject of a monograph by Amometus, while the Hyperborei have been dealt with in a volume by Hecataeus. After the Attacori there are the Phuni and Thocari tribes, and (coming now to natives of India) the Casiri, situated in the interior in the direction of the Scythians - the Casiri are cannibals; also the Nomad tribes of India reach this point in their wanderings. Some writers state that these tribes are actually in contact with the Cicones and also the Brisari on the north.
{21.} L [56] We now come to a point after which there is complete agreement as to the races - the Hemodi Mountains. Here begins the Indian race, bordering not only on the Eastern Sea but on the southern also, which we have designated the Indian Ocean. The part facing east stretches in a straight line until it comes to a bend, and at the point where the Indian Ocean begins its total length is 1875 miles; while from that point onward the southerly bend of the coast according to Eratosthenes covers 2475 miles, finally reaching the river Indus, which is the western boundary of India. [57] A great many authors however give the entire length of the coast as being forty days' and nights' sail and the measurement of the country from north to south as 2850 miles. Agrippa says that it is 3300 miles long and 2300 miles broad. Posidonius gives its measurement from north-east to south-east, making the whole of it face the west side of Gaul, of which he gives the measurement from north-west to south-west; and accordingly he shows by an unquestionable line of argument that India has the advantage of being exposed to the current of the west wind, which makes it healthy. [58] In that country the aspect of the heavens and the rising of the stars are different, and there are two summers and two harvests yearly, separated by a winter accompanied by etesian winds, while at our midwinter it enjoys soft breezes and the sea is navigable. Its races and cities are beyond counting, if one wished to enumerate all of them. For it has been brought to knowledge not only by the armed forces of Alexander the Great and the kings who succeeded him, Seleucus and Antiochus, and their admiral of the fleet Patrocles having sailed round even into the Hyrcanian and Caspian Sea, but also by other Greek authors who have stayed as guests with the Indian kings, for instance Megasthenes, and Dionysius sent by Philadelphus for that purpose, and have also reported as to the strength of these nations. [59] Nevertheless there is no possibility of being exact as to this matter, so discrepant and so difficult to believe are the accounts given. Those who accompanied Alexander the Great have written that the region of India subdued by him contained 5000 towns, none less than two miles in circuit, and nine nations, and that India forms a third of the entire surface of the earth, and that its populations are innumerable - which is certainly a very probable theory, inasmuch as the Indians are almost the only race that has never migrated from its own territory. From the time of Father Liber to Alexander the Great 153 kings of India are counted in a period of 6451 years and three months. [60] The rivers are of enormous size: it is stated that Alexander sailing on the Indus did never less than 75 miles a day and yet could not reach the mouth of the river in less time than five months and a few days over, and nevertheless it is certain that the Indus is smaller than the Ganges. Seneca also, who among our own writers essayed an account of India, gives its rivers as 60 in number and its races as 118. It would be an equally laborious task to enumerate its mountains; there is a continuous chain formed by Imavus, Hemodus, Paropanisus and Caucasus, from which the whole country slopes down into an immense plain resembling that of Egypt.
[end excerpt]
* "Scythian Ocean" (citation page, jatland.com/home/Scythian_Ocean) [archive.is/uo6dB] [begin excerpt]:
Variants -
[...]
Scythian Gulf (Pliny.vi.15)
Scythian Ocean (Pliny.vi.15)
Mention by Pliny -
The Scythian Ocean communicates on the northern shores of Asia with the Caspian Sea. Hardouin remarks, that Patrocles, the commander of the Macedonian fleet, was the first to promulgate this notion, he having taken the mouth of the river Volga for a narrow passage, by means of which the Scythian or Northern Ocean made its way into the Caspian Sea.[3]
Pliny[4] mentions ' Nations in the vicinity of the Scythian Ocean.'....Having now stated all that bears reference to the interior of Asia, let us cross in imagination the Riphæan1 Mountains, and traverse the shores of the ocean to the right. On three sides does this ocean wash the coasts of Asia, as the Scythian Ocean on the north, the Eastern Ocean on the east, and the Indian Ocean on the south; and it is again divided into various names, derived from the numerous gulfs which it forms, and the nations which dwell upon its shores.
A great part of Asia, however, which lies exposed to the north, through the noxious effects of those freezing climates, consists of nothing but vast deserts. From the extreme north northeast to the point2 where the sun rises in the summer, it is the country of the Scythians.
3 Now the Syr-Daria or Yellow River, and watering the barren steppes of the Kirghiz-Cossacks. It really discharges itself into the Sea of Aral, and not the Caspian.
4 The supposed Eastern Ocean of the ancients. [end excerpt]
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, MD, FRS ...
Perseus Digital Library
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu › hopper › text
At the river Carcinites, Scythia Taurica begins, which was once covered by the sea, where we now see level plains extended on every side: beyond this the land
* "Noah's Flood and Russian Pineapple Trees" (2021-01-14, stolenhistory.org/articles/noahs-flood-and-russian-pineapple-trees.489/) [archive.is/RLmQ5]
Once Upon a Time in Russia...
While looking for something totally unrelated, I ran into this sentence below (books.google.com/books?id=HRZZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223) [archive.is/QkRcz]. Considering the geographical area this sentence pertains to, the account is bizarre.
"On both sides of the mouth of the River Pinego is high Land, great Rocks of Alabaster, great Woods, and Pineapple trees lying along within the ground, which by report have laid there since Noah's flood."
This here is the title page info from the linked 1625 publication: Purchas His Pilgrimes: In Five Bookes, Volume 3 (books.google.com/books?id=HRZZAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover) [archive.is/XkLc4].
Published in 1625 by Samuel Purchas (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Purchas) [archive.is/APpPN].
The book published in 1625 tells us about the travels of Anthony Jenkinson. Among other places, he visited Russia some time after 05/12/1557.
Anthony Jenkinson -
Anthony Jenkinson (1529 – 1610/1611) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Jenkinson) was born at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was one of the first Englishmen to explore Muscovy and present-day Russia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy). Jenkinson was a traveler and explorer on behalf of the Muscovy Company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_Company) and the English crown. He also met Ivan the Terrible several times during his trips to Moscow and Russia. He detailed the accounts of his travel through several written works over his life.
Pineapple Trees -
As far as I know, pineapples do not grow on trees. Even though pineapples are considered a fruit, pineapples actually grow on a plant close to the ground (https://www.treehugger.com/do-pineapples-grow-on-trees-4864128). Each pineapple plant bears exactly one pineapple.
Then, of course, we have our pineapple palm tree aka Canary Island Date Palm aka Phoenix Canariensis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_canariensis). It is my understanding that this palm tree was named a "pineapple palm tree" due to its appearance after pruning and trimming.
When pruned, the bottom of the crown, also called the nut, appears to have a pineapple shape.
And then again, according to the botanical definition (https://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article89895162.html), palms are not trees but large, woody herbs.
But this scientific definition could probably be compromised on, for palm trees look more like trees, than like grass.
Additionally, growing pineapple plants on the European side would completely contradict the known narrative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#History):
The pineapple fascinated Europeans as a fruit of colonialism but it could not be successfully cultivated in Europe for several centuries until Pieter de la Court developed a greenhouse horticulture near Leyden from about 1658.
Pineapple plants were distributed from the Netherlands to English gardeners in 1719 and French ones in 1730.
Though we do suspect, that the PTB narrative (about pineapples too) is not exactly trustworthy: "79 A.D. no more: Pompeii got buried in 1631" (https://www.stolenhistory.org/articles/79-a-d-no-more-pompeii-got-buried-in-1631.95/).
The Climate
Could pineapples or palm trees grow in Russia north of 63° N parallel? And if they could, what would that mean as far as former climate conditions go?
Below is the general area where the pineapple trees were found "lying along within the ground" on both sides of the river Pinego (https://www.google.com/maps/@64.7235571,40.2757301,8.25z).
Wondering what they call this river Pinego these days.
Here is one of the older maps showing the same area: 1562 Link (https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/36638/russia-sweden-finland-estonia-latvia-and-lithuania-gastaldi).
To be honest, I am not sure whether Arkhangelsk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkhangelsk) used to be called Corelia? Corelia could be submerged somewhere in the Dvinskiy Zaliv (https://www.google.com/maps/@64.5897308,40.2187363,9.62z), and the above Colmogoro became Arkhangelsk. More map research would be required to form an opinion on that.
One way or the other, this is the general area of the pineapple trees pertaining travels. Map source (https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/65792/livoniae-provinciae-ac-eivs-with-moscoviae-maximi-amplis-de-jode).
Noah's Flood -
Methinks, the reference to the Noah's flood should not be overlooked. Was Anthony Jenkinson (in 1557 AD, or ~5317 AM) not aware that Noah's flood was being placed at approximately 1656 AM? Sure he could not be stupid enough to think that fallen pineapple trees, or palm trees wouldn’t make it through the eternity of approximately 3600+ years.
What if in 1557 AD, Anthony Jenkinson thought that Noah's flood was a recent event?
Anthony Jenkinson's flood reference comes across as if today we said something similar to "...it was there since World War II"
An idea of pineapple plants or palm trees naturally growing in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, sounds ridiculously crazy.
But... what if it is not as preposterous as it sounds? After all, Greenland was ice free just a few hundred years ago (https://www.stolenhistory.org/articles/iced-over-canals-in-greenland.131/).
And of course... how long ago was the Deluge?
- [readers comment]: I got a photo report from the Pinezhsky nature reserve (Arkhangelsk region). He has nothing to do with this topic, but I'll just give you a quote.
"On the road, laid through a frozen swamp, we pass geomorphologists from Moscow State University. Scientists take soil samples that are available only in winter, study the ancient climate of the Arkhangelsk lands, they say that palm trees once grew here ..."
Did these palms grow a few million years ago (according to the official version) or a few hundred years ago? Here's the question ...
- [author's reply]: Those 16th century people knew about pineapple trees without conducting any soil analysis, which suggests that they had a chance to observe whatever was left of the trees. There had to be enough left to identify the remains for what they were.
In the text, we have a specific reference to the Noah’s flood. That’s what they thought some ~475 years ago. For me, it means that back then they had a specific opinion on certain things and events.
We are so used to millions of years being used left and right, we tend to ignore that durations like that are based on nothing but speculations and bad science. Noone knows what type of atmospheric conditions were present 700 - 1,000 years ago. The speed of carbon decay depends on the mentioned conditions. Things start to come out, but our historical reality is not gonna get changed by the PTB.
Today, the amount of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into Earth’s atmosphere is threatening to skew the accuracy of this technique for future archaeologists looking at our own time. That’s because fossil fuels can shift the radiocarbon age of new organic materials today, making them hard to distinguish from ancient ones.
Thanks to Fossil Fuels, Carbon Dating Is in Jeopardy (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/carbon-dating-crucial-scientific-technique-jeopardy-thanks-our-pollution-heres-easy-way-fix-it-180961345/).
We are hopelessly lost trying to figure out the 19th century. That’s where we are, imho.
Maps indicate some drastic changes this terrarum went through 500-700 years ago, depending on what part of the world we talk about.
I wish those pineapple trees were at least as old as the traditionally dated Noah’s flood. Unfortunately, there are reasons to pay close attention to the events that took place just prior to the beginning of the age of discovery.
Who knows where Northern Tartary was?
* "Samuel Purchas" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Purchas) [archive.is/APpPN] [begin excerpt]:
Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, son of an English yeoman. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1600. In 1604 James I presented him to the vicarage of St. Laurence and All Saints, in Eastwood, Essex.
Eastwood is two miles from Leigh-on-Sea, which was then a prosperous shipping centre and a congregational place of seafaring men. Purchas himself never travelled "200 miles from Thaxted in Essex where I was borne." Instead, he recorded personal narratives shared with him by sailors who returned to England from their voyages. He added these accounts to a vast compilation of unsorted manuscripts, which were left to him by Richard Hakluyt and were later published as Purchas's third – and final – book.
In 1614, Purchas became chaplain to Archbishop George Abbot and rector of St Martin, Ludgate, London. He held a Bachelor of Divinity degree, and with this degree was admitted at Oxford University in 1615.
In 1614 he published Purchas His Pilgrimage: or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places discovered, from the Creation unto this Present. In this work, intended as an overview of the diversity of God's creation from an Anglican world-view, he presented several abbreviated travel stories he would later publish in full. The book achieved immediate popularity and went through four editions between 1613 and 1626, the year of Purchas's death.
His second book, Purchas his Pilgrim or Microcosmus, or the Historie of Man. Relating the Wonders of his Generation, Vanities in his Degeneration, Necessities of his Regenerations, was published in 1619.
In 1625 Purchas published Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, a massive four-volume collection of travel stories that can be seen as a continuation of Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations and was partly based on manuscripts left by Hakluyt, who had died in 1616. Although the work is not methodically organized, it may be thematically divided into four volumes:
- Volume I explores ancient kings, beginning with Solomon, and records stories of circumnavigation around the African coast to the East Indies, China, and Japan.
- Volume II is dedicated to Africa, Palestine, Persia, and Arabia.
- Volume III provides history of the North-East and North-West passages and summaries of travels to Tartary, Russia, and China.
- Volume IV deals with America and the West Indies.
The fourth edition of the Pilgrimage (published in 1626) is usually catalogued as the fifth volume of the Pilgrimes, but the two works are essentially distinct. Purchas himself said of the two volumes:
These brethren, holding much resemblance in name, nature and feature, yet differ in both the object and the subject. This [i.e. the Pilgrimage] being mine own in matter, though borrowed, and in form of words and method; whereas my Pilgrimes are the authors themselves. acting their own parts in their own words, only furnished by me with such necessities as that stage further required, and ordered according to my rules.
Purchas died in September or October 1626, according to some[which?] in a debtors' prison, nearly ruined by the expenses of his encyclopedic labor. Others[who?] believe the patronage of Dr. King, Bishop of London, which provided him with the Rectory of St Martin, Ludgate, and made him Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, relieved him from his financial troubles. In addition, his move to London allowed Purchas to expand his research. None of his works was reprinted till the Glasgow reissue of the Pilgrimes in 1905–1907. [...]
Writings -
- Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages Discouered, from the Creation unto This Present (1st edition, 1613; 2nd edition, 1614).
- Purchas, his Pilgrim. Microcosmus, or the historie of Man. Relating the wonders of his Generation, vanities in his Degeneration, Necessity of his Regeneration (1619).
- Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes, contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and others (4 volumes, 1625). Reprinted in 1905–1907 in 20 volumes. [end excerpt]
- Title page of Samuel Purchas's magnum opus: Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, London, 1625 (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Purchas_his_Pilgrimes_-_engraved_title_page_dated_1624.png) [archive.is/xWCVS]
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Dutch city of Batavia, at the site of what is now Jakarta
1513 Four Portuguese ships from Malacca, arrived in 1513 while looking for a route for spices.
1522 The Kingdom of Sunda made a treaty of alliance with the Portuguese allowing them to build a port in 1522 to defend themselves from the growing power of the Demak Sultanate from central Java.
1527, Fatahillah, a Javanese general from Demak attacked and conquered Sunda Kelapa, expelling the Portuguese. Sunda Kelapa was renamed Jayakarta and became a fiefdom of the Banten Sultanate
1596 Through the relationship with Prince Jayawikarta of the Banten Sultanate, the Dutch ships arrived in 1596.
1605 the Dutch had seized the first of the Portuguese forts there in 1605.
1610 Prince Jayawikarta gave Dutch merchants permission to build a lumberyard and houses on the east bank of the Ciliwung River opposite Jayakarta, and the outpost was established the following year. As Dutch power increased, Jayawikarta allowed the English to build houses on the western bank of the Ciliwung and a fort near its customs office to maintain a balance of power. The Dutch garrison commander Pieter van den Broecke and five other men were arrested during the negotiations, as Jayawikarta believed that he had been misled by the Dutch. Jayawikarta and the English then forged an alliance.
1619 The Dutch army was about to surrender to the English when, in 1619, the Sultanate of Banten sent a group of soldiers to summon Jayawikarta. Jayawikarta's agreement with the English had not been approved by the Bantean authorities. The conflict between Banten and Jayawikarta and the strained relationship between Banten and the English provided a new opportunity for the Dutch. Coen returned from the Moluccas with reinforcements on May 28, 1619, devastating Jayakarta two days later and expelling its population.
1619 The region that became Batavia came under Dutch control in 1619, initially as an expansion of the original Dutch fort and a new building on the ruins of ancient Jayakarta. Coen decided to expand the original fort into a larger fortress on July 2, 1619, and sent plans for Batavia Castle to the Netherlands on October 7 of that year. The castle was larger than the previous one, with two northern bastions that protected it from a maritime attack. The warehouses of Nassau and Mauritius were expanded with the construction of an extension of the eastern fort, overseen by Major Van Raay, on March 12, 1619.
1621 Batavia was chosen as the new name for the fort and settlement, and a naming ceremony was held on January 18, 1621. It is named after the Germanic Batavi tribe, which inhabited the Batavia region during the Roman Empire; At the time, the tribe was believed to be the ancestors of the Dutch people. Jayakarta was called Batavia for more than 300 years.
1627
1740
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tableau_de_la_Partie_de_Batavia,_ou_s'est_fait_proprement_le_terrible_Massacre_des_Chinois,_le_9_Octob._1740.jpg) [archive.is/FpW6C]
1714 Willdey, George
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The network of castles and roads in regions of Levant and Iran controlled by the Nizarī Ismailī State or better known as Order of the Assassins (1090-1273)
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* "Sacred Tree or Paradise Tree? The Christmas Tree and Nature" (2023-12-22, globalresearch.ca/sacred-tree-paradise-tree-christmas-tree-nature/5844009) [archive.is/JNubz]
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Shifting place names in Africa. By Redditor PisseGuri82.
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Libya:
In classical Greek, Libya referred to the lands between the Nile and the Atlantic Ocean, and also more broadly the entire continent. The name, possibly derived from the ancient Libu tribe, was reintroduced in 1934 as a name for the Italian colony previously known as Tripolitania.
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Aethiopia:
Aethiopia was a classical Greek term for the upper Nile region, as well as sub-Saharan Africa in its entirety. Originally meaning ‘burnt-face’, the Kingdom of Axum appropriated the name in the 4th century BC. Modern-day Ethiopia was also known as Abyssinia.
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Africa:
A Latin name for the Roman province in modern-day Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. The origin of the name is uncertain, meanings like ‘dusty’ and ‘sunny’ have been proposed. Medieval European mapmakers used this name for the entire continent.
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Sudan:
Originating from the Arab term Bilaad as-Sudaan, “land of the Black people”, the term currently refers to the savannah belt south of the Sahel and the Sahara. The modern country was named for this region when it became a British colony in the 1890s. From the 1880s to 1960, Mali was called ‘French Soudan’.
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Guinea:
The Bay of Guinea was first named by Portuguese explorers after Guine, their name for Black Africans. The word was possibly borrowed from Berber languages. Today, three countries take their name from the region.
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Mauretania:
The Romans referred to the lands of the Mori, or Moors, as Mauretania. Today’s republic of Mauritania was established as a French colony in 1903 and has little to do with the original Moors.
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Ghana:
The Ghana empire existed from the 8th to the 13th centuries. In 1957, the name was chosen for the newly independent republic, previously known as the British Gold Coast.
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Benin:
The Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria, dated from the 11th century and was annexed by the British in 1897. In 1975, the name was chosen for the previously French colony of Dahomey .
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Fort Bourtange, the netherlands
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* "Freedonia" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedonia) [archive.is/Ye3Q0] [begin excerpt]:
As a name for the United States -
Samuel Mitchill suggested that 'Fredonian' be used by citizens of the United States ("Fredon") after the American Revolution in place of the demonym "American", which was then being used as a pejorative term by the metropolitan English to refer to "their inferior and far-removed colonists". In Vol. VI, Part IV, of the Medical Repository, 1803, pp. 449–50, Mitchill, wrote the following under the heading of "Medical and Philosophical News":
Proposal to the American literati, and to all the citizens of the United States, to employ the following names and epithets for the country and nation to which they belong; which, at the distance of 27 years from the declaration and of 20 years from the acknowledgment of their independence, are to this day destitute of proper geographical and political denominations, whereby they may be aptly distinguished from the other regions and peoples of the earth:
Fredon, the aggregate noun for the whole territory of the United States.
Fredonia, a noun of same import, for rhetorical and poetical use.
Fredonian, a sonorous name for 'a citizen of the United States'.
Frede, a short and colloquial name for 'a citizen of the United States'.
Fredish, an adjective to denote the relations and concerns of the United States
Example. Fredon is probably better supplied with the materials of her own history than Britain, France, or any country in the world, and the reason is obvious, for the attention of the Fredonians was much sooner directed, after their settlement, to the collection and preservations of their facts and records than that of the Dutch and Irish. Hence it will happen that the events of Fredish history will be more minutely known and better understood than those of Russian, Turkish, or Arabic. And thereby the time will be noted carefully when a native of this land, on being asked who he is and whence he came, began to answer in one word that he is a Frede, instead of using the tedious circumlocution that he was "a citizen of the United States of America." And in the like manner notice will be taken of the association of Fredonia and Macedonia and Caledonia as a word equally potent and melodious in sound.
Republic of Fredonia -
In December 1826, a group of Anglo-American settlers and filibusters led by Empresario Haden Edwards in what is now Texas, declared the "Republic of Fredonia" centered in the town of Nacogdoches. This was the first attempt by Anglo settlers in Texas to secede from Mexico and form an independent state. The republic was short-lived however, lasting only from December 21, 1826 – January 23, 1827, when Mexican soldiers and Anglo militia men from Stephen F. Austin's colony put the rebellion down.
Masonic Lodge -
From about 1810 to 1834, a Lodge of Freemasons under the jurisdiction of The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts was in existence in the town of Northborough, Massachusetts. It was named Fredonia Lodge.
Taboo & Errony
* "John Bachmann’s New York" (visualizingnyc.org/essays/john-bachmanns-new-york/) [archive.is/5uN6g]
- [comment]: He would even joke in some of his works, painting an imaginary hot air balloon or even a weird airship in the sky. Bachmann, who has spent his whole life drawing bird's-eye views, must have often imagined that one day he could actually fly into the sky, as shown in "New York" (lithograph, 1854, by John Bachmann)
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* (2023-12-06, gab.com/TuckerCarlsonTweets/posts/111536043589670187) [archive.is/ELJRj], video (https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/154/207/868/playable/3eb66a42233a4436.mp4):
Alex Jones predicted 9-11, in detail and on camera, months before it happened. How did he do that? And why did the government decide to destroy him after he did? The full interview Thursday.
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* "The Roman Conquest of Britain in 43 A.D. is the Papist/London Conquest of 1257/8" (2023-12-01, stolenhistory.net/threads/the-roman-conquest-of-britain-in-43-a-d-is-the-papist-london-conquest-of-1257-8.6694/) [archive.is/L9tJ0]
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The photo shows an artifact that looks like a giant frying pan found on August 31, 2021 by accident during road construction in Bantul, Indonesia. The lower photo shows a bas-relief from the walls of the Karma-Vibhanga in the Borobudur Temple, Central Java. Full panel consists of 3 fields. The middle panel shows people preparing in large flaming cauldron, and their captors standing beside them. The distance between the location of the artifact and the temple with bas-reliefs is about 50 km.
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The "Dark Enlightenment" and neo-Reactionary Studies [archive.vn/pHQWf]
With a focus on European supremacist ideology, including Antisemitic modalities, and "Racial Science".
* "Eleanor Roosevelt, communist pig. (They would stop at nothing to go to war with Germany)" (2023-12-11, @SeanRoland48, gab.com/SeanRoland48/posts/111564188401204726) [archive.is/i4AXO]
The "Dark Enlightenment" and neo-Reactionary Studies [archive.vn/pHQWf]
With a focus on European supremacist ideology, including Antisemitic modalities, and "Racial Science".
* "Spain; History Repeating Itself - A Warning for Europe" (conjuringthepast.com), page 1 (stolenhistory.net/threads/spain-history-repeating-itself-a-warning-for-europe-part-one.6687/) [archive.is/PQXgW], page 2 (stolenhistory.net/threads/spain-history-repeating-itself-a-warning-for-europe-part-two.6688/) [archive.is/SYWi1] [begin excerpt]:
Captain Ramsay goes on to say that the International Brigade was already placed in Spain by October 1936 coinciding with the beginning of Russian military aid to the Republican anti-fascists. The British public were kept in total ignorance regarding what was really occurring in Spain, as were the public of all other nations I would imagine.
“Germany and Italy had each in their turn experienced the throes of communist revolution, and emerged victorious over this foulest of earthly plagues. They knew who had financed and organised the International Brigades; and with what fell purpose Barcelona had been declared in October 1936 the Capital of the Soviet States of Western Europe.”
So, there we have corroboration of John McGovern’s account whereby he witnessed two International Brigades – one comprised of Communists and the other of well-intentioned socialists. We also have confirmation of the multi-racial “diversity” of the Communist International Brigade from his encounter with a Russian and also exiled German and Italian communists in the secret Cheka prison. What’s more significant is that McGovern, along with the rest of the world, was obviously unaware that Barcelona had been declared the Capital of the Soviet States of Western Europe, although by the end of his visit he saw it with his own eyes. This highlights the intention by the Soviet Union to establish a western base of operations in Cataluña. They obviously considered it a highly strategic position. [end excerpt]
In 1939 a Communist youth group calling itself the “American Youth Congress” was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee, headed by Congressman Martin Dies. A group of Communists from the “Congress,” including their leader Joseph P. Lash, Joe Cadden, and Abbot Simon, staged a series of protests against the investigation, at one point marching into the Committee room and attempting to disrupt the proceedings. They jumped over tables, shouted at the Congressmen, tossed Communist pamphlets about, and at one point Joseph Lash even began singing a foul and insulting song directed at Dies. Present at the time, and leading the assembled Communists in their protests, was none other than the wife of the President of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not only that, but the Communists had been chauffeured to their demonstration in official White House cars, and one of them, Lash, was living full-time at the White House, while Cadden and Simon were often boarders there.
A member of Congress, who had been an ardent Roosevelt supporter, visited the White House one morning. While there, he was amazed to see Abbot Simon, a board member of a well-known Communist front organization, emerge from one of the bedrooms. He asked the White House usher if he had really seen what he thought he had seen. The usher assured him that he had indeed, and that Simon had been occupying the bedroom for two weeks, sleeping each night in a bed formerly used by Abraham Lincoln.
In such an atmosphere it is not surprising that the Roosevelt government was anxious to enter the war on the side of the Soviets. Nor is it surprising that Jewish interests, which also figured large in the Roosevelt regime (and in all administrations since), were also zealous in their efforts to involve the United States in the war against Germany, which by that time had removed organized Jewish interests from their former positions of power in that country. Also, it should be noted that in the 1930s and 1940s, the Jewish and Communist power structures were largely congruent, there being large numbers of individuals belonging to both groups simultaneously. Two overlapping interest groups, both very influential in the White House, were pushing for war.
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