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UFO researcher Wilbur Allen talks to us about an experience he had with an alien encounter when he was five years old. This encounter has led Wilbur to a lifetime of research into the presence of alien craft that he records in a fixed region of space over his home nightly. He explains to us his process for recording the data, the equipment he is using and what he is consistently finding. He has had encounters in many places and tells us about some of his experiences and who the aliens are and what they look like. Wilbur talks to us about what he found about how alien races are using naturally occurring aspects of the earth to travel in and out of our space. Wilbur also tells us about an alien object that has been implanted into his hand and how it has affected him physically.
Solomon tells Wilbur why he has been chosen to work with a particular alien race and who they are. Solomon tells Wilbur why the multidimensional portals are over his home and why. Solomon passes on a message of gratitude to Wilbur from the beings that are working with him. Solomon enlightens Wilbur on some of the data he has been collecting that he was unsure as to why he was experiencing this phenomenon in the way it was happening. Solomon enlightens us about the larger idea of our existence and our relationships with what we call alien beings.
Are you gluten-free or dairy free? If so, you might not have to be! Our guest Dr. John Douillard, a former NBA nutrition expert and creator of LifeSpa.com, addresses the underlying cause of the gluten-free epidemic. In his newest book 'Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back Into Your Diet' he exposes the myths behind gluten intolerance and reveals the real culprit could be our digestive systems! He reveals the faulty science and commercial propaganda that have turned millions of people against some of the most valuable foods in human history. Learn how to feel better and strengthen your digestion so you’ll be able to enjoy these forbidden foods again!
Tuesday Nights LIVE 7 PM (PT)
Sunday morning re-broadcast 8 AM (Pt)
In view of now having the opportunity to use alternative facts, we have selected “So to Speak” as our featured phrase of the week.
As many of us can see, our society is in quite a pickle, so to speak. Some would say this is the most dangerous time in human history, one that requires us to think more deeply and comprehensively about the human condition while we discover and cultivate appropriate responses and actions we can take to handle it… so to speak.
In an effort to help galvanize our energy and focus our attention, in this morning's conversation Rochelle and I will explore the interface between the inner life and the outer circumstances to see how these two dimensions of being can come together in ways that we are empowered to deal with the extreme challenges we face in effective ways… so to speak.
So please join us at 8 AM this morning for a probing conversation that will include humor, music, insights and surprises.
Until we talk in a few hours, we are
Errol and Rochelle…...... so to speak.
From the Center of the Earth! Divine Revelations!
Where have Sri & Kira been and what are they ready to share? For over 14 years Sri & Kira have always said “yes” to spirit and have been on another “guided exploration” from the Cosmic Blue Essene!
Why were they asked to take this journey and what does it have to do with our world experience…right now?
Tune in and discover the answers…even Sri & Kira are not aware of what is going to be revealed. AWESOME!
A live show from a “remote location”! Call in with your questions and soul reading requests.
Commanding the Light!
March has come forward and the vast resources of energy are here…yet what do you do with that and how can you move through the myriad of ways it is expressing?
You are commanding the light whether you know it or not and it is VALUABLE to CONSCIOUSLY command the light and co-create your best life…right now.
Sri & Kira will discuss this powerful subject and offer clear and concise ways that you can step into your divine co-creative power to command the light…heal your life…heal our world! A BIG SHOW!
Call in with your questions and feedback, and together let’s make a difference!
Note! This show is so important/powerful that Sri & Kira are inviting this to be played again on March 12. Be sure to join us LIVE on March 19 as Sri & Kira will be on a journey during the March 12 period and have been guided to share more about this journey on the March 19 show! Make a note and tune in!
Author and Grief and Loss Expert
Carole Brody Fleet is the multi-award winning author of the #1 ranked new release, “When Bad Things Happen to Good Women…” (Viva Editions, September, 2015). She is also the author of “Happily EVEN After... "(Viva Editions); winner of the prestigious Books for a Better Life Award, one of the top national awards in publishing; as well as the critically praised, national bestseller, "Widows Wear Stilettos..." (New Horizon Press). Carole is additionally the author and executive producer of the best selling spoken-word CD, entitled, "Widows Wear Stilettos: What Now?".
Widely recognized as a leader in the areas of grief and loss recovery, Carole is a popular contributor to The Huffington Post and ThirdAge.com. You may have seen Carole on such shows as "Good Morning America", "The CBS Evening News" and on many other television programs throughout the country. Carole regularly appears as a media contributor and expert on numerous radio programs nationally and internationally and has been featured in publications such as USA Today, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Parade Magazine, Women's World Magazine, Forbes Magazine, More Magazine, Shape Magazine, Psychology Today Magazine and hundreds of other newspapers, magazines and websites both nationally and internationally.
Spiritual and Intuitive Healer, Medium, Channeler and Shamana.
She's been a lifelong Intuitive Healer, Spiritual Medium, Channeler, Wisdom Keeper and Shamana who decided to make the Dominican Republic, a place to retreat for healing after being led there intuitively almost 11 years ago.
Due to her vast body of experience for over 30+ years and the development of her many gifts, she wears many hats. From Medical Intuitive Creative Healer, Medium, Channeler, Shaman, Wisdom Keeper, to physical and Spiritual Guide.
She sees herself as an expression of the I AM PRESENCE and a citizen of the Universe. She has has shifted from some of the most difficult ailments (deemed incurable by the medical system) that weakened her vital life force to becoming a vibrant and living Being, connected to TRUE SELF, the NEW WAY*.
SAGE GUIA is committed to sharing authenticity so that anyone choosing to participate in their life can come to TRUE SELF through the process of Intuition, which she considers to be the first language of the Universe.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYRKwWNatfFhE1YrJhEM0xQ
FB: https://www.facebook.com/sageguiaforum/
Io Uyzuy Master, Sound & Energy Healer, Spirit Channel, Psychic, Speaker
Alan attended Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was the President of his student council, a National Merit Scholar, the ‘Boy of the Year’ for Palm Beach County (1978), graduated 7th in a class of 406, sang with Dimension 20, Florida’s #1 high school performing chorus, and won county and statewide awards for speaking and acting.
Alan received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting & Directing from the FSU School of Theater in Tallahassee in 1981, performed in the ’80 & ’81 summer stock seasons on Jekyll Island, GA, and was in the 1982 apprentice class at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida.
Alan lived in New York City from 1983 to 2007, where he:
* worked in film, TV & stage
* was a stripper, go-go dancer & promoter in the night club scene
* owned FootFriends.com, a company that hosted parties for thousands of men into men’s feet, from London to New York to LA, and produced men’s foot fetish films.
* launched GrandSpace, a warehouse community of artists & healers in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, that housed hundreds of people and served thousands in NYC from 2002 to 2008.
Alan’s mind/body/spiritual training include:
* Alan & his partner were diagnosed with AIDS in ’85. Alan’s partner died in ’86 and Alan experienced a miracle healing, then participated with the big Tuesday night Healing Circle in New York, that grew out of Louise Hay workshops and drew hundreds of people every week from the late ’80s to the early ’90’s. Here Alan learned many healing practices and received his first Reiki certification.
* Alan learned harmonic toning in the New York Healing Circle, and then brought it to the people of New York by generating hundreds of ‘Moments of Sound’ with all different kinds of communities, most notably in the 1994 Gay Pride March & Civil Rights March on the United Nations (5000 participants), the 1997 Gay Pride March (15,000 participants) and the 1st anniversary memorial gathering at the site of the World Trade Center, on 9.11.02 (3000 participants).
* Alan is usually 100% vegan and very, very green (he occasionally eats fish & eggs). He was a 100% raw vegan from 1999 to 2005, has ‘green juice fasted’ over 700 days since 1999, has fasted up to 33 days straight, and in 2007 juice fasted a total of 100 days. Alan has written articles for the Hippocrates Institute, produced and appeared at events with Dr. Gabriel Cousens & David Wolfe, and has been a speaker at the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona, AR & the New Life Expo in NYC.
* Alan has completed two 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreats and is a daily meditator.
* Alan has studied and practiced many styles of yoga, including a stint at Eddie Stern’s Ashtanga studio in SoHo/NYC, and now channels a synthesis of yoga styles that changes & evolves daily.
* Alan was active with Landmark Education from 1988 to 2002, as a participant, assistant and team leader. Alan was never on staff, but his outstanding speaking led several Forum & seminar leaders to invite Alan to go through the steps to become a Landmark Forum leader.
* Alan has participated in more than 50 ayahuasca ceremonies since 2003, and done two retreats in the Peruvian Amazon, with Don Diego at Sachavacay, and with the Shipibo Indians at the Temple of the Way of Light out of Iquitos.
* Alan received his Reiki Master certifications in January of 2009. In May of 2009, his hands began moving spontaneously at an ayahuasca ceremony in Miami, Florida. Since then, Alan has toured the U.S. and worked with nearly 13,000 people in sound healing ceremonies and individual healing sessions, and partnered with about 1000 healers and musicians, practicing countless modalities and paths. After a 5-year nomadic path of initiation, Alan is now based in Miami, Florida.
Journalist
BRAD HOFF is an independent journalist, teacher, and Marine veteran. He is the founder and managing editor of Levant Report and has written for Antiwar.com, Foreign Policy Journal, Assyrian International News Agency, Medium News & Politics, Strategic Culture Foundation, Commonweal Magazine, Third World Resurgence Magazine, and others. His work has been referenced in publications ranging from The Huffington Post to The Daily Beast to Headline and Global News (HNGN) to Middle East Eye, as well as by RT News, CounterPunch, WikiLeaks, The Daily Mail Online (UK), and many others.
A Marine in Syria by Brad Hoff
Silhouettes of Beauty and Coexistence before the Devastation
He who has not lived in the years before the revolution cannot know what the sweetness of living is.
— Talleyrand, via Bertolucci, from the 1964 film Prima della Rivoluzione
IRAQ, LIBYA, SYRIA… Countries ripped apart through sectarian and political violence in the aftermath of cataclysmic external interventions: American invasion and occupation in Iraq, NATO intervention in Libya, and international proxy war in Syria. Mere mention of these countries conjures images of sectarian driven atrocities and societal collapse into the abyss of a Hobbesian jungle. And now it is commonplace to just assume it’s always been so. Increasingly, one hears from all corners of public discourse the lazily constructed logic, “but they’ve always hated each other”… or “violence and conflict are endemic to the region.” But it was not always so — I found a place of beauty, peace, and coexistence in a Syria that is now almost never acknowledged, and which risks being forgotten about. But Syrians themselves will never forget.
I SERVED IN THE MARINE CORPS during the first years of the Iraq War and was a 9/11 first responder while stationed at Headquarters Battalion Quantico, 2000–2004. I thought I knew something about Iraq upon the start of our new “war on terror:” Arab culture, with its intrinsic primal religious passions and resulting sectarian divisions, must be brought to heel under Western values of pluralism, secularism, and equality if peace and stability are to ever have a chance. This was a guiding assumption among the many Marine officers, active and retired, that I conversed with during my years at Quantico. Iraqis and Middle Easterners were, for us, abstractions that fit neatly into categories learned about by viewing a C-SPAN lecture, or perhaps in a college class or two: there are Sunnis, Shia, some dissident sects, they all mistrust each other, and they all want theocratic states with their group in charge.
My first visit to the region while desiring to study Arabic in 2004, just after completion of active duty service, and while still on the inactive reserve list, began a process of undoing every assumption I’d ever imbibed concerning Middle East culture, politics, and conflict. An initial visit to Syria from Lebanon was the start of something that my Marine buddies could hardly conceive of: Damascus became my second home through frequent travel and lengthy stays from 2004 to 2010, and was my place of true education on the real life and people of the region. While fellow service members were just across Syria’s border settling in to the impossible task of occupying a country they had no understanding of, I was able view a semblance of Iraq as it once was through the prism of highly stable Ba’athist Syria.
The other dominating interest that drew me to Syria was the country’s ancient churches and Christian communities. Discovery of the much neglected truth that the region has always been much more diverse than tends to be acknowledged did much to undo the false assumptions of my Texas Baptist childhood. I must admit that I grew up with the usual American stereotypes of the Middle East. To most Americans, the notion of Middle Eastern Christianity sounds like an oxymoron — or is at the very least highly suspect. Many Arab and Eastern Christians are asked, upon arriving in the U.S. for visit, work, or immigration, “when did you convert from Islam?” During the post 9/11 Bush years, when Syria as part of the “Axis of Evil” became a central formulation of U.S. foreign policy, such common cultural assumptions became even more deeply ingrained. How could one be a Christian and a citizen of a “rogue” Middle East state? And yet, Christians have called Syria their home for many hundreds of years prior to the foundation of the modern nation-state of Syria.
As I began to learn more about the multi-ethnic and religiously mixed kaleidoscope that is modern Syria, I marveled at how such a country could live in relative peace and stability in a region commonly perceived to be one of the most historically tumultuous and war racked on Earth, and I had to go and see for myself.
Damascus is a modern, bustling city. Manfred Schweda
DURING MY FIRST WEEKS in Damascus, I was pleasantly shocked. My preconceived notions were shattered: I expected to find a society full of veiled women, mosques on every street corner, religious police looking over shoulders, rabid anti-American sentiment preached to angry crowds, persecuted Christians and crumbling hidden churches, prudish separation of the sexes, and so on. I quickly realized during my first few days and nights in Damascus, that Syria was a far cry from my previous imaginings, which were probably more reflective of Saudi Arabian life and culture. What I actually encountered were mostly unveiled women wearing European fashions and sporting bright makeup — many of them wearing blue jeans and tight fitting clothes that would be commonplace in American shopping malls on a summer day. I saw groups of teenage boys and girls mingling in trendy cafes late into the night, displaying expensive cell phones. There were plenty of mosques, but almost every neighborhood had a large church or two with crosses figured prominently in the Damascus skyline. As I walked near the walled “old city” section, I was surprised to find entire streets lined with large stone and marble churches. At night, all of the crosses atop these churches were lit up — outlined with blue fluorescent lighting, visible for miles; and in some parts of the Damascus skyline these blue crosses even outnumbered the green-lit minarets of mosques.
Just as unexpected as the presence of prominent brightly lit churches, were the number of restaurant bars and alcohol kiosks clustered around the many city squares. One could get two varieties of Syrian-made beer, or a few international selections like Heineken or Amstel, with relative ease. The older central neighborhoods, as well as the more upscale modern suburbs had a common theme: endless numbers of restaurants filled with carefree Syrians, partying late into the night with poker cards, boisterous discussion, alcohol, hookah smoke, and elaborate oriental pastries and desserts. I got to know local Syrians while frequenting random restaurants during my first few weeks in Damascus. I came into contact with people representative of Syria’s ethnically and religiously diverse urban centers: Christians, Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Druze, Kurds, Armenians, Palestinians, and even a few self-declared Arab atheists. The characterization of Syrian city life that increasingly came to my mind during my first, and many subsequent visits and extended stays, was of Syria a consciously secular society when compared to other countries in the region.
Nights full of parties and dancing in Syrian homes. Author is behind the camera quickly overcoming his prior false orientalist stereotypes.
IN THE MORE TRADITIONAL COUNTRYSIDE, life moved at a slower pace. From my experience in villages from the Hauran region in the South, to Homs countryside in central Syria, there arose a common theme: a duality of work (typically agriculture) and family oriented leisure — with the year regulated by a pattern of village celebrations for weddings, baptisms, graduations, birthdays, and religious festivals. Movement of time in the village seemed to bring with it a palpable “lightness of being” — especially in the more picturesque mountain villages in places like the Valley of the Christians (Wadi al-Nasara) near Homs. The typical Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays in most any Syrian village were spent with extended family and village friends gathered on a patio around a slow burning coal barbeque pit. This is not unlike an American style barbeque, but the Syrian version tended to last for eight or more hours, and was sometimes a village-wide affair that easily extended to an evening party with live music. Women socialized while making kibbe and tabbouleh by hand (an hours-long affair) — so that food preparation itself became a kind of natural social ritual. Men exchanged news and speculated about village rumors, fanned the slow burning coal and endlessly sipped tea, strong Arabic coffee, and smoked cigarettes or hookah pipe.
Though much is now said of Syria’s sectarian divisions, religiously mixed villages were everywhere, and operated not much differently from religiously or ethnically homogeneous villages. If there was a party on the occasion of a Muslim holiday, Christians and Alawites came out and joined in on the feasting and traditional dancing. During Christmas and Easter parties, or for the Feast of St. George, Muslims were heard giving a “Merry Christmas” and other greetings of respect to Christians, and joined in on the festivities. In the multiple mixed Druze and Christian villages of the ancient Hauran region, there were common-use village party grounds situated near the main entrances to villages, which were used to celebrate weddings and national holidays. If a wedding took place, it was expected that all families of the village would come out — whether the wedding was Muslim, Druze, or Christian. The village patriarchs, including the local Orthodox priest, the Catholic priest, and Druze cleric, would attend the joint celebration.
Qraya is an example of one such diverse village set amidst the black volcanic crusted plains of the Hauran region (from the Aramaic word which means “cave land”). A somewhat recently erected gray and white concrete mosque memorial commemorating the “Great Syrian Revolution” — the 1925–1927 revolt that solidified Syrian national feelings during the French Mandate period, towers over the sleepy village. In 2009 the Syrian government, in an official ceremony, interred the remains of celebrated Druze patriarch Sultan Hilal al-Atrash there. He led what was initially a mass Druze revolt against the French, which had been ruling Syria since the close of World War I. What began as a Druze revolt primarily focused in southern Syria’s Jabal al-Druze (literally “Druze Mountain”) was soon joined by Sunnis, Christians, and Alawites. This represented Syria’s first popular movement toward nationalism which reached “street level” across the different segments of French-ruled Syria. Reflecting the far reaching impact and diverse appeal of the anti-colonial revolt, al-Atrash famously said, “Religion is for God, the fatherland is for all.”
With similar sentiment, Syrians that reject the notion of the contemporary conflict as a mere sectarian driven crises are now often heard to reply with a simple “I am Syrian” when asked about their religious identity.
The cross and the crescent side by side in the historic walled “old city” of Damascus.
I CERTAINLY WITNESSED plenty of examples of Islamic conservatism in Syrian public life, but it was the secular and pluralistic (represented in the diverse population living side by side) aspect that always seemed to dominate, whether I was in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, or coastal areas like Tartus. Syria’s committed secular identify was confirmed to me more than ever when I first traveled the freeway that wraps around Mt. Qasyoon — the small mountain against which the Damascus urban center is nestled. My speeding taxi passed a couple of expansive foreign car dealerships, but most prominent were a seeming myriad number of windowless entertainment venues, structured like residential mansions, lining both sides of the road. My taxi driver laughed at my perplexed expression and informed me that this was “brothel row” (my translation) — a red light district of sorts. When I later got to know a group of Syrian Christian guys — enough to where I could ask potentially awkward or embarrassing questions — they confirmed, with some degree of shame, that all big cities in Syria have their seedy underbellies (“like your Nevada,” my friend Michel said). Places like brothels and “pick-up bars” were allowed to operate in public, but didn’t necessarily advertise what they were about. The Christians looked upon this “dark side” of Syrian society with no less moral revulsion than local conservative Muslims. Yet, it was explained to me that while the Syrian government was deeply authoritarian in some respects, it generally allowed (and enforced) openness in social and religious areas unparalleled anywhere in the Middle East. Most Americans would be very surprised to learn of such elements in Syrian society that are not much different from what one would find in Europe or the U.S.
This social openness was most clearly to the advantage of Christians and other religious minorities living in a country numerically dominated by the about 70% Sunni Muslim majority. The secular face of the government and civic life allowed Christians to worship freely, and to even display their Christianity very publicly. My first experience of this came one particular winter evening in the Qassa neighborhood near Bab Touma — the expansive and most well-known among the Christian neighborhoods of Damascus. A special dignitary, the Orthodox Archbishop of Finland, was visiting a local church. He was greeted with a parade that took over an entire city street. He processed down the street and into the church with a uniformed marching band leading the way, made up of a local Christian scouting organization.
I witnessed similar displays especially at Christmas and Easter in all different parts of Syria: public processions, church bells ringing loudly, Christmas trees and lights, images of Jesus displayed prominently, church music blaring over loud speakers, and exuberant wedding parties. One small city, Maaloula — an hour northwest of Damascus, even had its annual local public holiday in celebration of the cross which Syrian news depicted as attracting tens of thousands of people.
Beauty amidst encroaching war: the sleepy village of Saidnaya sits at the edge of the now conflict-ridden Qalaman mountains
PRIOR TO VISITING SYRIA, I would have never conceived of the possibility of state TV in a Middle Eastern country actually airing coverage of a Christian festival. My Syrian friend, upon seeing my incredulous gaze as churches were being shown on the main government channel, shrugged and told me, “but this is Syria.” To him, Syria was stood alone in the region as an example of Christians and Muslims living together in peace and as equals. A Syrian could look for confirmation of this to his western border, where Lebanon was still attempting to come to grips with its two decades long sectarian civil war; or he could look immediately east, where Iraq’s ethnic and religious divisions were blowing up under U.S. and Coalition occupation; or north to Turkey, where it was illegal to discuss the Greek and Armenian genocide in public; as well as to the Arabian peninsula — where a culture of Sharia courts and religious police made church only a thing for Western expat workers living their lives within walled ARAMCO communities. But the cross and the crescent appeared side by side in every major Syrian city. Such public pluralism, where Christianity received constant public acknowledgement side by side with Islam, was the greatest surprise upon my initial visit to Syria.
All in all, what I unexpectedly observed in Syria was a high degree of personal freedom not found in other countries of the Middle East. This personal freedom was exercised in all areas of life except for politics — a strange paradox. The government seemed to leave people alone in areas of religion, social behavior, family life, and work pursuits; but political dissent was not tolerated, and Syrians seemed to accept this as a difficult fact of life. The average working class Syrian was resigned to accept the government promise of security and stability in exchange for limitations upon personal political freedoms. With multiple religions and ethnic groups living side by side in a volatile region full of historic and hidden animosities, as well as ceaseless external geopolitical pressures, it seemed a sensibly practical, even if unjust, solution. There was a palpable feeling of an “enforced secularism” binding Syrian society together.
The kind of religious and cultural pluralism represented in the liberal democracies of the West was present in Syria, ironically, through a government mandated “go along, get along” type policy backed by an authoritarian police state. One can even find Syrian Jews living in the historic Jewish quarter of Damascus’ walled old city to this day. I was told, upon visiting their synagogue, that most had gone to Brooklyn, though there were perhaps a dozen families left.
Just prior to early 2011, as the “Arab Spring” movement which had enveloped Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, seemed to be potentially losing steam, I was deeply skeptical that a mass uprising would gain traction in Syria. Syria had plenty of deep seated problems as a nation run by an old school Arab socialist ruling clique; but too much of the population, especially in the major cities, seemed heavily invested in the status quo ensured by a stable regime, however less than ideal the status quo might have been.
When Assad unexpectedly came to power in 2000 after the deaths of his father and brother, he promised to take Syria into a new, modern age of reform. These were the days of “early Assad,” when many in Washington declared “Assad is a reformer” (Hilary Clinton was declaring this even as late as early 2011). But the Syrian government has always been much more than a dictator, or even a ruling family. Even should President Assad desire reform, the old elites which form the outer circles of Ba’ath influence provide a strong “check” on what even he might hope to enact. The economic fortunes of these institutional elites were dependent on the Assad status quo, and this made the type of drastic change that leaders in Western capitals suddenly demanded practically impossible. In addition, the middle class families of the most populace cities, especially Damascus and Aleppo, were not discontent enough to go to the streets. This, not too much unlike middle-class Americans who merely shrugged when mass government abuses like domestic spying and pervasive government breaking of Constitutional rights were definitively revealed in 2013.
Most Syrians I knew were deeply fearful of a sudden cataclysm that might send Syria the way of sectarian Iraq, especially a program that took decision making away from actual Syrians. News savvy Syrians even had Western sponsored “democracy experiments” more recent in time than Iraq to consider: Post Gaddafi Libya began to unravel from the moment of its “liberation” by NATO. As international press generally fell silent on new Libya’s slow descent into chaos at the hands of accountable-to-no-one armed militias, it focused its eye on unreformed Syria. A few attempts at Facebook sponsored “days of rage” protests failed to gain any traction inside Syria, to the great disappointment of self anointed “democracy promoters” in the West. I was personally relieved during this brief period of Arab Spring “inactivity” — the examples of Egypt and Libya (and to some extent Tunisia) were making it abundantly clear that the main beneficiaries of this “springtime” were political Islamists from the the Muslim Brotherhood, to Ennahda Party (the Salafist Tunisian party), to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (an Al-Qaeda linked terror organization). The losers were increasingly the Arab Left, the secularists, and the religious and ethnic minorities.
A destroyed icon from the village of Maaloula, after it was taken over by Western and Gulf backed rebel forces in 2013. Source: Antiochpatriarchate.org
It is simply a self evident premise that the so-called “Arab Spring” has resulted not in greater democracy and individual liberties across the Middle East, but in the political and military ascendancy of radical Islamist groups from North Africa to the Levant. It would shock most Americans to know that Washington has aided, and is currently aiding, radical Islamic groups that are indistinguishable from Al-Qaeda throughout the course of these revolutions. This occurred openly and most directly in Libya through American-led NATO bombing (after which the first flag to fly over the main Benghazi courthouse was that of Al-Qaeda), and has now long been occurring clandestinely in Syria, though certainly an open and increasingly acknowledged secret. The most radical insurgent groups the world has ever seen are now popping up all over Syria. It should come as no surprise that Syria’s vulnerable religious minority communities have been the first to feel the wrath of these groups.
Disturbingly, Syria is now being slowly liquidated of its Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities (or really anyone desiring a pluralistic and relatively secular nationalistic public order) — a reality that was set in motion near the very beginning of armed uprising in Syria. America, NATO, and Arab Gulf countries continue to give political and material support to a Syrian rebel movement that is bent on exterminating Christians, Alawites, Shiites, Druze, and Muslims that don’t share the same radical ideology. One popular chant routinely echoed in rebel dominated areas of Syria is “Christians to Lebanon and Alawites to the sea… .” Sadly, the seemingly endless number of takfiri insurgent groups unleashed on Syria are making good on that promise.
Pre-war Syria was certainly not ideal; but the fruit of revolution — a country thrown into a state of utter chaos and destruction, cyclic violence, and economic ruin for at least years to come — has revealed itself to be, for most common sense people, the greatest of all possible evils.
Brad Hoff served as a Marine from 2000–2004 at Headquarters Battalion, Quantico. After military service he lived, studied, and traveled throughout Syria off and on from 2004–2010. His website is LevantReport.com and he currently teaches in Texas.
speaker, teacher, author
Zen Cryar-DeBrücke is an internationally renowned inspirational teacher, speaker, author and coach. Her passion is teaching people to tap into their innate inner guidance to generate consistent, successful results in life. The result is replacing exhaustion, anxiety, fear and dread with ease, joy, flow and fulfillment.
Zen's programs have helped thousands of people all over the world transform their lives for the better, with sustained positive changes in their business and personal lives. Her compassion radiates through her work, and her style is down to earth, practical, humorous and wise.
She was a founder and CEO of one of the first Internet design companies in the world. The company, in a four-year period, quickly grew from $250,000 to $4,000,000. She is known for creating innovative online strategies that are simple and work for fortune 500 companies, including Applied Materials, IBM, Electronic Arts, BP and VISA.
Johnny Alpha comes from a background in the 50's in the navy, along with his mother and aunt who were both in the navy. From a very young age he was a subject of the MK Ultra project, but his memories have now come back to him fully. He was one of the first men to arrive on Mars on a test expedition, before the time of the super soldier program. Now he is coming forth to share his experiences and information.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgdcW7t8LKyFkdisSIIdOQg/feed
Harlem Globetrotter
At the first ever Globetrotters player draft, Ant didn't even have time to finish his soda before he was handed a red-white-and-blue jersey. He was the first pick, and it's easy to see why. In the 2007 NCAA Division II championship, Ant pulled off one of the most awesome comebacks in basketball history. With 45 seconds left and his Barton College team down 74-67, Ant turned the game around. He scored 10 points and sank a lay-up at the buzzer to win 77-75.
He also is in the Globetrotter record books with the greatest individual scoring game in team history. On March 29, 2013, at Motorpoint Arena Cardiff in Cardiff, Wales, Ant set Globetrotter records with an unbelievable 22 made 4-pointers - the Globetrotter innovation that is 35 feet away from the basket – 12 made 4-pointers in one quarter and 93 points in the game.
But all that is nothing. When the Globetrotters were on "The Celebrity Apprentice," Ant stared down Donald Trump's hair and lived to tell about it.
Award winning, internationally acknowledged, recording artist, writer and speaker
HEATHER POWERS “GRATEFUL GIRL”
Heather is an award winning, internationally acknowledged, recording artist, writer and speaker. She has recorded two albums and is currently working on a third release set to come out in the Summer of 2015, as well as writing songs for licensing for feature films, TV and web corporate advertising campaigns. Heather’s music has been featured on national television and in motion pictures for Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures. She was a breakout voiceover talent in the movie version of the Broadway smash hit, “Rent”.
Her music has also garnered widespread radio play on stations around the world. Heather has recorded, toured and performed with many Hall of Fame and Grammy Award winning artists such as Huey Lewis and the News, Broadway Musical Director Tim Weil, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Bryan Duncan, John Schlitt (Petra/ 40 East), Bob Carlisle (Butterfly Kisses), Kurt Carr, Martha Munizzi, Rachael Lampa, Kevin Max (Lead singer of DC TALK/ Virgin Records) Wynonna Judd, and many others.
As both an artist and speaker, Heather has traveled the world entertaining and encouraging audiences through her music and her dramatic life story of young adult trauma, chronic illness, eating disorder, drugs and eventually finding complete life transition and learning to live day to day on a new path. Heather has represented various humanitarian organizations including World Vision, Convoy of Hope (Heather Powers “Undone Disaster Relief “Tour Support), Food For The Hungry, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, EmancipateME (Human Trafficking), Compassion International and the Global Federation of Eating Disorders.
