These were basically the two rules the Roman Emperor Constantine gave to his subjects. In less vulgar terms.

#TodayILearned the US government once considered detonating a nuclear weapon on the moon, to beat the Soviets from doing it first. And Carl Sagan was involved. https://fountain.fm/episode/D4ulPQLcFUePV5VzQGxj The US #GovtIsTheProblem #TIL

> "Anarchists did not try to carry out genocide against the Armenians in Turkey; they did not deliberately starve millions of Ukrainians; they did not create a system of death camps to kill Jews, gypsies, and Slavs in Europe; they did not fire-bomb scores of large German and Japanese cities and drop nuclear bombs on two of them; they did not carry out a ‘Great Leap Forward’ that killed scores of millions of Chinese; they did not attempt to kill everybody with any appreciable education in Cambodia; they did not launch one aggressive war after another; they did not implement trade sanctions that killed perhaps 500,000 Iraqi children. > > "In debates between anarchists and statists, the burden of proof clearly should rest on those who place their trust in the state. Anarchy’s mayhem is wholly conjectural; the state’s mayhem is undeniably, factually horrendous. --Robert Higgs, attributed #anarchy

Those would be "other stuff" apps, right?

> "...in the ancient world free citizens didn’t usually pay taxes. Generally speaking, tribute was levied only on conquered populations. This was already true in ancient Mesopotamia, where the inhabitants of independent cities did not usually have to pay direct taxes at all. Similarly, as Moses Finley noted, “Classical Greeks looked upon direct taxes as tyrannical and avoided them whenever possible.” Athenian citizens did not pay direct taxes of any sort, though the city did sometimes distribute money to its citizens, a kind of reverse taxation—either directly, as with the proceeds of the Laurium silver mines, and indirectly, through generous fees for jury duty or attending the assembly. Subject cities, however, did have to pay tribute. Even within the Persian Empire, Persians did not have to pay tribute to the Great King, but the inhabitants of conquered provinces did. The same was true in Rome, where for a very long time Roman citizens not only paid no taxes but had a right to a share of the tribute levied on others, in the form of the dole—the “bread” part of the famous “bread and circuses.” --David Graeber, *Debt: The First 5000 Years* (2014), ch. 3 #TaxationIsRobbery #WeAreNotFree #bookstr

"Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves." (Romans 14:22)

A look at the dystopian nightmare coming our way, brought to you by A.I., digital cash, digital I.D., and technology... https://open.substack.com/pub/bantamjoe/p/life-in-2030-the-rise-of-the-permission

#TodayILearned West Germany paid billions of dollars in reparations to #Israel for the Holocaust. The two nations signed a historic pact called the [Reparations Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_Agreement_between_Israel_and_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany) (also known as the Luxembourg Agreement) on September 10, 1952. Under this treaty, West #Germany agreed to pay the state of Israel and Jewish organizations to help resettle Holocaust survivors and compensate for stolen property. [1, 2, 3, 4] The agreement was highly unusual because neither country existed during World War II. It marked a major step in West Germany's effort to rejoin the global community. [5, 6, 7, 8] ## 💰 What Was Paid West Germany paid a massive sum of money over a 12-year period, which entered into force in 1953: [1, 9, 10] * 3 billion Deutsche Marks ($7 billion today) was paid directly to the state of Israel. [9] * Goods, not cash, made up most of these payments. West Germany sent steel, ships, machinery, and trains. This helped build Israel's early economy and infrastructure. [9, 11, 12, 13, 14] * 450 million Deutsche Marks went to the [Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany](https://www.claimscon.org/about/history/). This group distributed the funds to help individual Jewish survivors living outside of Israel. [1, 9, 15] * Indemnification laws were also passed by West Germany to give monthly pensions directly to individual survivors for their trauma and loss of livelihood. [1, 9] ## ⚖️ The Controversy The deal was deeply controversial in both nations and sparked fierce public debates. [4, 16] * In Israel: Many citizens were furious about accepting what they called "blood money" from the "land of the murderers". Massive protests and violent riots broke out. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion argued that the young, financially broke nation desperately needed the funds to house half a million poor refugees. [9, 17, 18, 19] * In West Germany: Chancellor Konrad Adenauer faced pushback because the German public was not consulted. Many regular Germans felt they were the victims of the war and did not want to send money away. Adenauer pushed the deal forward to fix Germany's international image. [8, 11, 18, 20] * In East Germany: The communist government of East Germany completely refused to participate. They denied any responsibility for Nazi crimes and never paid reparations to Israel. [5, 21, 22] ## 🔄 Ongoing Payments The 1952 agreement was just the beginning. The German government continues to negotiate with the Claims Conference to this day. Over the decades, Germany has paid more than $90 billion in total to survivors worldwide, and billions are still paid out every year from the German federal budget. [3, 15, 23] [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_Agreement_between_Israel_and_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany) [2] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5pd4qy/were_financial_reparations_to_israel_for_the/) [3] [https://www.bbc.com](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22707483) [4] [https://www.sun-sentinel.com](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/events/#!/details/paying-for-the-holocaust-the-controversial-reparations-agreement-between-israel-and-west-germany-and-the-plot-to-kill-adenauer/9737091/2022-01-13T15) [5] [https://www.ebsco.com](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/diplomacy-and-international-relations/germany-agrees-pay-reparations-israel) [6] [https://academic.oup.com](https://academic.oup.com/book/26106/chapter/194116376) [7] [https://www.jpost.com](https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-734910) [8] [https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkdpStbJrHs&t=7) [9] [https://americangerman.institute](https://americangerman.institute/2019/11/the-september-1952-reparations-agreement-between-west-germany-and-israel-the-beginning-of-a-remarkable-friendship/) [10] [https://remember.org](https://remember.org/guide/facts-root-aft-lib-aft) [11] [https://jacobin.com](https://jacobin.com/2020/11/postwar-west-germany-support-israel-whitewashing) [12] [https://www.history.com](https://www.history.com/articles/poland-wwii-reparations-germany) [13] [https://www.nytimes.com](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/04/world/israel-s-ties-with-germany-elude-us-jews.html) [14] [https://www.thedial.world](https://www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-3/holocaust-reparations-wassenaar-agreement) [15] [https://www.claimscon.org](https://www.claimscon.org/about/history/) [16] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ub3ql2/what_level_of_support_did_west_german_citizens/) [17] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/1k64t91/our_honor_shall_not_be_sold_for_money_our_blood/) [18] [https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuCxdU3l-WY&t=67) [19] [https://www.independent.ie](https://www.independent.ie/world-news/germany-marks-70-years-of-compensating-holocaust-survivors/a/133468462.html) [20] [https://www.lockdownuniversity.org](https://www.lockdownuniversity.org/lectures/1177-abomination-of-abominations-the-germany-israel-reparations-controversy/transcript) [21] [https://www.israelhayom.com](https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/01/31/before-capitol-riot-there-was-the-1952-knesset-insurrection/) [22] [https://www.latimes.com](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-13-mn-1205-story.html) [23] [https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de](https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/laenderinformationen/israel-node/israel-228212) [Source: Google Gemini](https://share.google/aimode/7SCjRe2VbPuuHN2gq) #TIL

The U.S. Government's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran is the reason we are paying higher gas prices. It costs Iran an estimated $6 billion; how much has it cost you? The US #GovtIsTheProblem

Those of us who partake... 😉

This is a famous trial I would have liked to have witnessed. Perhaps there are still radio recordings available and I know there is the movie "Inherit the Wind", which I have yet to see. Apparently the trial was a national spectacle. Vendors outside the courtroom were selling hamburgers rebranded as "Monkey Meat"😄 William Jennings Bryan led the prosecution and offered a $100 reward (in 1925 dollars) to anyone in the audience who would stand up and admit to being descended from an ape! 😂 Derek "Doc" Carter, a blind mountain man who resided in the Blue Ridge Mountains, came to the trial and, despite his disability, challenged anyone who dared to best him in biblical knowledge. 🤣 Clarence Darrow called Bryan to the witness stand and rigorously examined him with questions designed to make Bible believers look foolish. When Bryan planned to do the same the next day to Darrow, to press Darrow as hard as possible on the flaws of his secular worldview, Darrow and his client and conceded guilt and asked the court to end the trial to save time. Evolution and secularism were spared any similar scrutiny. Bryan's fundamentalist viewpoint was the only one that had to defend itself on the stand before the world. https://fountain.fm/episode/AHpoSvDVbEFB2tYf07TV

Today's episode might interest some of our #Orthodox brethren as it concerns the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." I don't know though, icons, a material thing, seem to be given a little too much importance... https://fountain.fm/episode/UM8vOBgFHRs8DwnNdfUu

I've heard that myself. I've read that Muhammad was influenced by a lot of heretical Christians that had fled into Arabia, and that's who he learned his New Testament from.

I saw one of these flags atop a church sign, and I thought to myself that is Satan, claiming his territory. There was a message stating something like "No matter where life's journey has taken you, you are welcome here." And I thought, the only reason Satan would feel it's ok to send people to a church and not feel threatened by that is because they don't preach the Gospel.

What Huckabee is calling "Judaism" is actually biblical faith, which could even be called Yahwism. Judaism as practiced by Jews today is not the same as the biblical faith, and indeed can't be since there is no Temple or sacrifices or Aaronic priesthood anymore. Judaism today, which could also be called Talmudism, arose after Christianity in the wake of the destruction of the Temple of Yahweh in 70 A.D. as Jews now had to figure out how to practice their faith without a temple and sacrifices and priests. Additionally, Judaism is actually anti-Christian since it rejects Jesus as Messiah.

The "Iranian terror regime" 😂 You can say the same thing about Israel

This makes it plausible: