Podcasts about Supreme Council

In this fascinating instalment of Craftcast, Shaun, James, and Stephen are joined by John Boyington, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for England and Wales. Together, they delve into the rich history and evolving landscape of the Rose Croix – one of Freemasonry's most distinctive Companion Orders. From profound ritual and inclusive reform, this episode offers insight into the Order's past, present, and future and discusses the intriguing 33rd Degree.Whether you're a curious Master Mason or simply curious about the fraternity, this is one you won't want to miss!

From the March/April 2025 edition of The Scottish Rite Journal.  Any accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition.Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel!  Freemasons, make sure you shout out your Lodge, Valley, Chapter or Shrine below!OES, Job's Daughter's, Rainbow, DeMolay?  Drop us a comment too!To learn how to find a lodge near you, visit www.beafreemason.comTo learn more about the Scottish Rite, visit www.scottishrite.orgVisit our YouTube Page: Youtube.com/ScottishRiteMasonsJoin our Lost Media Archive for only $1.99 a month!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv-F13FNBaW-buecl7p8cJg/joinVisit our new stores:Bookstore: https://www.srbookstore.myshopify.com/Merch Store: http://www.shopsrgifts.com/

The Working Tools Podcast https://youtu.be/AKxa3EmVS98Join the Working Tools Podcast Team; VWB Steven Chung, VWB David Colbeth, VWB Matthew Appel and Br Craig Graham as we talk about Scottish Rite Ill. Roger Nelson - Deputy of the Supreme Council Orient of WA Part 3 TWT S7 E10https://freemasonsfordummies.com/Please consider supporting the show with a small monthly donation:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theworkingtoolspodcast/supportFollow us on Facebook!http://Facebook.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comPodcast rebroadcasts:SPOTIFY: http://Spotify.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comiTunes: http://itunes.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comDISCLAIMER: Our opinions are our own, and do not reflect the opinions or stances of the various Grand Lodges or regular Lodges around the world.Freemasonry, Free masonry, Free mason, Mason, Masonic

The Working Tools Podcast https://youtu.be/FTTxrnMW7F4Join the Working Tools Podcast Team; VWB Steven Chung, VWB David Colbeth, VWB Matthew Appel and Br Craig Graham as we talk about Scottish Rite Ill. Roger Nelson - Deputy of the Supreme Council Orient of WA Part 2 TWT S7 E09https://freemasonsfordummies.com/Please consider supporting the show with a small monthly donation:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theworkingtoolspodcast/supportFollow us on Facebook!http://Facebook.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comPodcast rebroadcasts:SPOTIFY: http://Spotify.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comiTunes: http://itunes.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comDISCLAIMER: Our opinions are our own, and do not reflect the opinions or stances of the various Grand Lodges or regular Lodges around the world.Freemasonry, Free masonry, Free mason, Mason, Masonic

The Working Tools Podcast https://youtu.be/rb73_MyEn1AJoin the Working Tools Podcast Team; VWB Steven Chung, VWB David Colbeth, VWB Matthew Appel and Br Craig Graham as we talk about Scottish Rite Ill. Roger Nelson - Deputy of the Supreme Council Orient of WA Part 1 TWT S7 E08https://freemasonsfordummies.com/Please consider supporting the show with a small monthly donation:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theworkingtoolspodcast/supportFollow us on Facebook!http://Facebook.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comPodcast rebroadcasts:SPOTIFY: http://Spotify.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comiTunes: http://itunes.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.comDISCLAIMER: Our opinions are our own, and do not reflect the opinions or stances of the various Grand Lodges or regular Lodges around the world.Freemasonry, Free masonry, Free mason, Mason, Masonic

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 19th March 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: https://www.ajah.ae/https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-griffiths-63432763/Kelly's final episodeThe transformation of Painshill Park, with Paul Griffiths, Director of PainshillWhat it really takes to launch a podcast. With Kelly Molson and Paul GriffithsPaul Griffiths has worked in the Heritage, Museums and Tourism world now for nearly 30 years.After spending 16 years working in various role for English Heritage, in 2012 he moved to the Mary Rose Museum as Head of Operations to oversee the opening and operations of the multi award winning museum, welcoming over one million visitors before in 2018 taking on moving to the Painshill Park Trust in the role of Director of Painshill. Paul spent 6 years there before his move in December 2024 to Ras Al Khaimah one of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE. In this exciting brand new role Paul is Chief Executive Officer of the Al Hamra Heritage Village, part of the Al Qasimi Foundation. Transcriptions: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with Visitor Attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden.Longtime listeners will remember my guest today, Paul Griffiths, when he was CEO at Painshill Park, from when he was interviewed back in season one by Kelly. In today's episode, Paul comes back to talk about his new role as CEO of Al Jazeera Al Hamrah Heritage Village in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. Now, I'm always interested in the first 90 days of people's experience in a job, so we'll be talking more about that and his for the future. Paul Marden: Paul, welcome back to Skip the Queue. Paul Griffiths: Hello. Thanks for having me, Paul. Great to be here. Paul Marden:  Long time. Listeners will know that we always start with an icebreaker question and our guests don't get to know that one in advance. I think this one's a pretty kind one. I was pretty mean to Paul Sapwell from Hampshire Cultural Trust a couple of weeks ago because I asked him whether it was Pompey or Saints and for political reasons, he felt that he had to abstain from that.Paul Griffiths: Testing his interest. I'd have gone Pompey at the time because that's where we live. Well, did live. Paul Marden: Oh, there you go. There you go. So you've moved over from Portsmouth. You're now in the UAE. Tell listeners, what is that one? Home comfort that after three months away from Blighty, you're missing? Is it proper English marmalade? Paul Griffiths: Do you know what? I've been able to get hold of most things, but I've not been able to get. I know people who cook properly, so I should be able to do this myself, but I haven't. Cauliflower cheese, one thing I'm missing from home, that doesn't sell it anywhere in a sort of pre pack or frozen form. I can even get hold of Yorkshire puddings in Spinny's supermarket, but I can't get hold of cauliflower cheese. Paul Marden: Can you get cauliflowers? Paul Griffiths: Can get cauliflowers. I'm sure I can make cheese sauce if I knew what it was doing. But you normally. I'm so used to normally buying a pack of cheese, cauliflower cheese to have in my Sunday roast. Paul Marden: Okay. So if I ever get to come out, I need to bring out a plastic wrapped, properly sealed so that it doesn't leak on the plane. Cauliflower cheese? Paul Griffiths: Yes, please. Yeah, absolutely. Paul Marden: So your last episode was actually. Or your last full episode was back in season one, episode 22. So five years ago and the world has changed a lot in five years, but most recently it's changed a lot for you, hasn't it? So why don't you tell listeners a little bit about what's happened to you since you were with us in season one? Paul Griffiths: Wow. Yeah, well, season one seems an age away, doesn't it, now with all the wonderful guests youu've had since on Skip the Queue, it's been a different program completely. But, yeah, no, well, back then I was at Painshill, were coming out of a pandemic and I remember, you know, Kelly and I were chatting over all the different avenues that everyone had gone and what we've done at Painshill and that continued brilliantly. And however, my life has taken a change in. In sense of where I am, but I'm still doing the same sort of work, so. Which is, you know, when our industry, and it's such a fabulous industry, it's great to stay in it. Paul Griffiths: So I am now over in the United Army Emirates in the Emirate of Ras Alhaima, which is the third biggest of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, behind Abu Dhabi and, of course, Dubai. So I was approached, God, nearly always, this time last year, about a call over here. Yes. My recruitment company got in touch and went through, you know, had a good look at the job description and thought, well, actually, we'll throw my hat into the ring. And applied, went for a series of online interviews with the recruitment company, then an online interview with the people over here at various departments within the Al Kassimme Foundation and the Department of Museums and Antiquities. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, looking at this brand new job, which I'm now lucky enough to be in, I then was flown out in August for a round of interviews, met all the team. You know, one of those things that you later discover, the whole real four days was one big interview, although there was. There was a central one. But of course, everyone you were meeting along the way was being asked to feedback, And I love chatting to people and enjoying people's company. So actually went for dinners and lunches and all sorts, which was just a lovely four days and almost felt like a free hit in many ways, Paul. Well, this is going to be a brilliant experience. Paul Griffiths: If I don't get the job, I'm going to have a great four days in Rasta Taima, seeing it, meeting everyone, enjoying the time here. And, you know, the more time I spent here, the more time with the team, the more time, you know, going and visiting sites. I just became more and more that this would be an amazing job. Obviously gave my absolute everything, did loads of research, gave everything in the interview. The interview took a rather unusual turn. After the sort of hour and a half of questions and my questions, I was asked to leave the room for a short period. Not unusual in that sense because I was, you know, I wasn't just going to leave and go because obviously I was in their hands for four days. Paul Griffiths: But the doctor, Natasha Ridge, the executive director of the foundation, came out the interview and said, “Right, that's all gone really well. We're really pleased. We're now off to the palace for you to meet His Highness Sheikh Saud, who is the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and on the Supreme Council of the UAE.” So I was sort of, I went to one of the small meeting rooms you. Now I know that. Now I know where I was, where I went. But at that point I had no idea. One of the lovely. There's a very much a service thing here. Paul Griffiths: So, you know, we have in the Heritage Village as well later we have a wonderful member of our team, Geraldine, who does lots of cooking, prepares stuff and just had a wonderful fish taco lunch because we're four hours ahead of you, of course, here in Alaihi. So, yeah, so one of the guys came in with, gave me an English breakfast tea and sort of, you know, sat there reviewing what, thinking what on earth was I going to be asked by His Highness. And then was put into one of the drivers and we drove up through Rat Sahma City, through into the palace, up the long driveway and there I was sort of eventually, after about 20 minutes, presented with. Presented to Sheikh Sword who asked me, chatted, asked various questions. Paul Griffiths: I don't think there could be many interviews that you end up with His Highness in the second half of it. You know, it's sometimes a presentation. Yeah. So that was. I was there for about half an hour and that's your time over and off he goes. And off I went back to then go and have dinner with some of the team. So it was a very surreal afternoon. Paul Marden: Being interviewed by royalty. But when you're not expecting that as part of the interview process, that must be quite unnerving. Paul Griffiths: I had a heads up that at some point in my trip I might meet him, but there was no formal arrangements. I had me had to get in a diary. So it hadn't even crossed my mind that's what was about to happen. When I was asked to leave the meeting room, I just thought maybe they wanted to come back with more questions or, you know, say I hadn't gone well, whatever. But, yeah, no, that was the. I took that as a good sign. I thought, well, actually, if I'm being whisked up there, the interview must have gone relatively well because I'm sure they would present me to shake sword if it hadn't gone so well. Paul Marden: Yeah. You'd hope that he would be towards the end of the cycle of the interview round. Paul Griffiths: Yeah. Paul Marden: Not doing the early sifting of CVs. Paul Griffiths: No. He certainly had seen who I was because he asked me some questions about where I'd worked and. Okay, things like that. So he'd obviously seen a CV. He's a very. I mean, I've met him subsequently a few times. I've been fortunate to be a dinner hosted by him a couple of weeks ago. But he is a very, very intelligent man. Works really hard. I mean, work. He, you know, for him, he spends every minute working on the emirate. He ruled, he. He's the ruler. But he's almost a. It's a sort of combo, I guess he's all Prime Minister at the same time as being the ruler. So he is constantly working. You know, I'm really committed and I'm lucky in many ways that where I am working at the Heritage Village is his real. Paul Griffiths: One of his real pet projects that he's really driving forward. So, yes, we come with sort of royal. Royal approval, if you like. So. Yeah. Paul Marden: Excellent. So I. I've not been to the Emirates before, so for those of us that have not been, tell us a little bit about Ras Al Khaimah, of course. Paul Griffiths: Well, Ras Al Khaimah is one of the quieter Emirates mentioned. Sheikh Saud there, he's really driving a sort of, you know, a sort of agenda of bringing in more tourists. But he wants to use culture and territory as part of that. So, you know, it's a more relaxed, low level, if that makes sense. It's not Dubai, it's not full on, it's more relaxed Emirate. It's relaxed in cultural and many of the ways it's not, as you know, some of the other Emirates are, for example, completely dry. Ras Al Khaimah has given licenses to hotels and big restaurants in hotels for serving drinks. And there are a number of sellers where you can purchase for your consumption your own home, whereas Sharjah, you can't purchase any alcohol, for example, so it's a bit more chilled like that. It's a lovely place. Paul Griffiths: We're very fortunate to have the heavier mountains go through the far side of Ras Al Khaimah. So where I'm based is more on the seafront but then not, you know, I can see the mountains behind and there's a number of drives up into the mountains which are absolutely fabulous. Up to the Jebel Jais, which is the highest point in the UAE, we have the world's longest and fastest zip wire. I have not gone anywhere near that yet. Goes up to 100km an hour and is the longest over from the top of the mountain, whisking you off to the other side. I think it looks terrifying. But my. Paul Marden: I'm more interested in cables that take you to the top of the mountain. Maybe with some skis on my feet than I am attaching myself to a cable and going down the mountain. Doesn't sound like fun to me. Paul Griffiths: There's a toboggan ride as well up there as well.Paul Marden: Oh, I'd love that. Paul Griffiths: So that's the toboggan ride's on my to do list when the family get off, I'll save it for then and take my son Barney on that. But you know, there's all this sort of venture sports up on the top of the mountain and driving up there is remarkable. They put a proper road in. It's not the scary driving up the Alps, terrified what's going to come around the other corner. It's very like driving up a road, you know, normal sort of dual carriageway, two lanes each way and then right going through the mountains to the other side to one of the other Emirates for Jazeera , for example. So you're over on the Indian Ocean side Gulf Vermont. That road is just beautiful. There's no traffic on it, you know. Paul Griffiths: So Ras Al Khaimah is only about an hour and hour to an hour and a half from Dubai airport. And Dubai is a sort of people go to Dubai in the same way that we, you know, you'd go to London, I'd go to London when I was in Port Soviet, we would. It's now, you know, it's not considered a. There's always someone from work who's in Dubai every day almost for some reason. So nipping up to Dubai, I was like, I went to a dinner there last week and you know, it just seemed very normal that he jumped in a car and drove up to Dubai and came back that evening. Whereas. Seems remarkable actually to be doing that. But yeah, so because of where we are, Abu Dhabi is about two and a half hours away.Paul Griffiths: And we are the northern point of the Emirate, So we border on to Oman, split into a number of areas. Again, I didn't know any of this till I got here, but there's a part of Oman that's at the top of Ras Al Khaimah. And so, yeah, so it's a beautiful Emirate with nature, with mountain areas, which does get a bit chillier when you go up the mountains. I looked quite silly in my T shirt and shorts when I went up there on a Sunday afternoon. People were going past me like they were going skiing. You know, people wore coats and hats and looking at me as if I'm really daft. But I was still. It's interesting that because it's winter obviously everywhere here at the moment and at home, but it's. Paul Griffiths: People here are often telling me it's a cold day when I'm still standing. I still feel really quite warm. But yeah, finding that sort ofPaul Marden: Talking 30s at the moment for you, aren't we? Paul Griffiths: Yeah, it's a little bit. The last couple days have been down in the lower 20s, really comfortable. But when we last weekend, people were getting a bit nervous that summer had come very early because it was hitting the early 30s last week. So I don't know how for me, when we get to August, when it's in the mid, late 40s with real high humidity, I think I'm just going to go from aircon building to aircon building to aircon building.Paul Marden: I am such a Goldilocks when it comes to that sort of thing. Not too hot, not too cold, it needs to be just right. So I would definitely struggle in that kind of heat. Look, let's talk a little bit about where you are in the new job. So you've taken on the role of CEO of Al Jazeera Al Hamra Heritage Village. So tell me a little bit about the village. Why is this village so historic? Paul Griffiths: Well, it's a really interesting one, Paul, because it is very important, but it's not that old. And that's why what coming to me about making it more alive is something that's going to be crucial to us. So the village has been lived in for many years. It was a pearl farming village. So most of the people who worked here were doing pearl farming, which is pretty horrible job to do. You were, again, learning about this. You were jumping off boats, going to the ocean depths for up to three to four minutes. No protection really, apart from a very light shirt and some little bits on your fingers. But actually you're nothing on your eyes. Paul Griffiths: So you're having to look through the salt water, find the pearls come up and they were going up and down sometime 15, 16 times or more a day. And there's a fascinating exhibition in Dubai at the Al Shindagha Museum which really does focus on how this worked and how these guys were living. So, so it's a real. So that was the village. So the village had that, it obviously had then had fishing men, merchants making boats, merchants selling, trading wares. And Ras Al Khaimah has been quite a strategic part as all of the UAE really for the sort of trades coming from the Middle east and out into the Gulf. So the villages was being lived in up until the very early 70s. Paul Griffiths: Up in the 1970s the Al Za'abi tribe who were based here were offered I guess a new life is the only way to look at it in Abu Dhabi with new jobs, with land, with housing and it's just a better way like pearl farming was now being done so much cheaper and easier in the Orient in Japan mainly. So that was, that dropped away. There wasn't the other merchant trading going on. So actually the oil boom basically led the tribe to almost one up sticks and head to Abu Dhabi. And in many ways good story because we're still in touch with quite considerable amounts of the tribes people who were here. Lots of the elders have done wonderful oral histories, videos talking about their lives here. But this village survived as just fell into ruins, but actually wasn't developed. Paul Griffiths: And where it becomes important is this would have been what all of the Gulf would have looked like before the oil boom. The UAE wasn't a wealthy nation before then. You know, when I went up to Dubai and spent some time at the Etihad Museum, which is based around which Etihad Union is the not Around Man City Stadium should point out very much around about how the UAE had come together and how, you know, so it wasn't the wealthiest nation, but actually they discovered oil. They then brought seven Emirates together. It then has flourished in the ways that we now know what Dabi and ifwe looks like and even Ras Al Khaimah in some parts and really quite glamorous. But this village survived. Paul Griffiths: So although it fell into ruin, all the other fishing, farmhome fishing, pearl farming villages across the Gulf had become, just got destroyed, knocked down, you know, turned into hotels and high rises. And actually when you visit the other Emirates, lots of them are now recreating their historic areas or re purposing some of the historic buildings and they're doing it very well. In Dubai, Sharjah has actually completely rebuilt. It's what it calls the Harp Sharjah, which is. Which was its historic sort of areas, but. Paul Marden: Right. Paul Griffiths: But this survived. Many of the buildings had fallen into disrepair. And what we've been doing for the last few years, as the Al Qasimi Foundation and the Department of Antiquities and Museums is restoring a number of these buildings, we've then sort of gone into a sort of activation so you can walk around. So we've got, you know, carving now. Only a year ago it was mostly sand. We've now got a path going through it, so you can walk in. And the job that I've really been asked to do initially on arrival here is to really push that activation forward and really look at my sort of. What I've done in the past and what we've seen other places do and think about what can we do to bring this bit more to life? Paul Griffiths: Because it's the sort of storage village is around the 1970s. Well, it was abandoned in the 1970s. Well, you know, for us from the UK, from lots of other nationalities, actually, something in the 70s isn't very old. It's in our lifespan. You know, we are looking at this going well, actually. So when I was talking to a lot of. So RAK TDA's basically visit RAK tourism authority. So they are really supportive in wanting to push Al Jazeera Al Hamra Heritage Village, which will from now on abbreviate to AJAH to save me. Keep saying that. Long tanned. So they are really keen that we're doing more stuff. So why would a tourist want to come? What is there to see once you're here? Paul Griffiths: On top of some abandoned and now beautifully restored houses, mosques, you know, things that you would have expected in a village of, you know, a thousand or so population, 500 houses, you know, so more than a thousand people, really. So that's the sort of plan in that way. So in many ways I've got a sort of blank canvas to play with. But, you know, money's not unlimited, so it's about. So working closely with local communities, working with, you know, local traders, looking at what could we bring into the village on the back of the art fair. I know we'll talk about later, but it's, you know, this has been a. This is a real challenge for me to. How do I take this sort of place forwards.Paul Marden: In my mind's eye, we go to the Weald & Downland Living Museum so open air museum, lots of houses recreating life through the ages. Is that the sort of experience that I'm going to get if I come to the village of I'm going to see the properties and I'm going to see this previous way of life come to life in front of me?Paul Griffiths: Well at the moment you'll see you just see in the houses and the buildings but you're walking around looking at historic buildings but we have got a number of the houses we've put in. Each video is at the moment showing the audio visuals so you can walk around and listen to members of the tribes chatting about their youth and what's happening and you can see the buildings in real life. I guess what I'm looking for this is telling the story a little bit of the village which we don't initially do that well at the moment that's no criteria. Yes, this is what we need to do going forward. There's been several stages of activation When I came last August part not many the paths weren't all finished. We didn't have anywhere for visitor services to be at the front.Paul Griffiths: We only had a very small sort officey area which has now been built up to where I'm. Where I'm sat today. So I think what you're going to get is a multi as a blend of traders who will be in our suitcase. The Souk is fully restored sooke and shopping market area so that's my first point is to move some people in there. So I've already got a goldsmith and move to her studio in got some handicrafts we've got some textile people moving in the. Paul Griffiths: The main gallery of Nassau Heyman Design Gallery which is the one big gallery where artists can go is going to have a sort of satellite shop if you like not shop a satellite so there will be pieces of work there are in here with their little souvenir store which they sell because they get people a lot of what the design gallery does is making souvenirs of Ras Al Khaimah that are all handmade so quite special gifts. So what we're hoping is tying up with our local hoteliers who many of which have not been so it's bringing them in and they need something more to see to send their guests here. Paul Griffiths: So you know talking to some of them over lunch when I hosted some of them on Saturday it was a case of you know actually, can they send their clients and say, you can do all your holiday shopping because at the moment they're sending people to the shopping malls which are just, you know, nice, but actually merchandise them to go to a heritage village, get that experience of what the golf would have been like and bags of shopping at the same time. Paul Marden: So who doesn't love a. A museum gift shop at the end? So, you know. Paul Griffiths: Exactly. And we don't really have that here at the moment from an Al Jazeera perspective. So on my plan for this year is to put in. We've got an info booth, as it's called at the moment. It's not a world. It's not the best customer service friendly. It's like a caravan but with some windows. And yeah, it's probably a better. Now it's got air conditioning. Yes. But it doesn't work very well for customers. You're trying to talk through little windows because you can only have small windows to keep the air con working, not have too much open to. It's just passing out. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, so I'm looking at building this summer, hopefully. Fingers crossed, touch wood, a visitor welcome centre, which is something we're really pushing along with, which will be lovely because that will be that proper visitor welcome with a shop with an induction into an introduction. Sorry, into the Al Jazeera story. And then let people go. And then when they get to the far end, they'll be the souk full of. He says again, hopefully slowly filling them out, but full of traders and local craftspeople and people who are. Even if they're not originally local, they're based in rack, so they are considered local. The UAE is built up of a lot of expat population. When I say expats, I mean just English people from around the world. It's a really accepting, welcoming community. I've been really. Everyone says hello to you as you're walking into the supermarket shops. There's no. Whoever they are where you're from. Paul Griffiths: Everyone's talking to each other because the local population know they've had to bring people in because there's thousands more jobs than there are Emirati population in Ras Al Khaimah. So, you know, it's always been. And when you look at the foundation of the UAE, it was about, we will need to bring people in to bring this. To build this nation with us. So, you know, it's been always a sort of welcome and melting pot of different people. Paul Marden: Yeah, amazing. Look, you mentioned when we had our initial chat. You've been there now three months, you've been doing lots of visiting of other attractions. Because I think you said to me, which I thought was quite interesting, that you were. There's lots that you bring with you from the UK in your experience, but there's lots of best practice and good practice happening within the Emirates already. So you've been kind of going out and visiting a lot of cultural venues and attractions in the Emirates. Tell me a little bit about those. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, so it's been a minute of a manic last month in February, because we've had the art festival. I know we're going to keep hinting at it, we'll get to it at some point, but when I've had some time away, what's been fabulous, it's just sort of. And I think as well, because the family aren't here in my own at the moment, said, “All right, I've got some time off, let's go and explore.” Yeah. So I've sort of driven across to Fajera, spent time in Sharjah and took myself up for a weekend in Dubai, which was fantastic. Booked a very reasonably priced hotel and just spent a weekend flowering around everywhere and just really immersed in my. So and only scratch the surface. There's so much more to see. So, yeah, so I've been going and looking at. Paul Griffiths: Well, you know, I don't want to do something that's not. There'll be alien to, obviously, the culture here. And that's been really. What's been great fun in the last few months is it's not just going into a new job, you know, and learning that. It's actually been a terrifying, at some points, fabulous experience. I was learning new cultures, new working lives. You know, things are working. It's done very differently here. You know, there's a different hierarchical process we have in the UK and permissions are needed in different places. And that's not. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, it's just learning those different things. So I've been learning all these different cultures. You know, we're just coming into Ramadan, which I've had no real experience with before. And that is. That is a massive thing here. You know, it's the month. Paul Griffiths: Every billboard you go past is someone trying to sell something for Ramadan, whether it be a new chest of drawers, you know, your family needs this new dining table for Ramadan. It's a bit like, you know, you will see at Christmas at home, everyone catching on, you know, IKEA will be saying, new table and chairs for Christmas. You know, it's. It's not. It's a sort of different repeating itself. You know, those sort of signs you have around the supermarket. Christmas back home. They're all up now in supermarkets here for Ramadan. Paul Marden: Right. Paul Griffiths: Encouraging what people are going to buy for when they break the fast at sunset Iftar. So, you know, so it's all sort of promoting. You need this for. So it's a real. We're going to a massive thing. And that's been a real sort of learning, cultural thing for me, which has been great because actually I've always enjoyed, when I'm traveling, learning about other cultures, you know, it's always been for me, I always try and visit museums, galleries, learn about the place I'm at. And so actually living somewhere and learn about someone who's been. I think it's added to the fun of the experience. But back to your question. Paul Griffiths: Yes, I've been traveling wherever the possibility to start to look at other historic venues, looking at where they've, you know, restored historic markets and souk areas and what sort of things are going in there, what are people doing there. Up in Dubai, there is a place called Al Shindagar Museum, which is where they've. Some of the historic buildings that have been saved by the creek of Dubai have been turned into the most amazing series of museums, is the only way I can describe it, because each house is a different gallery or different theme. So you have the story of the creek being built up, the story of Dubai seafarers. There was a faith and. Faith and religion room, talking about Islam and different cultures, how that's worked around Dubai. Paul Griffiths: Dubai being built up as a city, lots about the rulers and families, but every house you went to is a different place. What was so impressive there from a visitor experience perspective was the training that Stafford had was sensational. You know, you go into someone, you think they're obviously being managed really well because obviously this is. You don't just train. So obviously someone oversees this really well. But clearly the training, everywhere you went, the customer service was exceptional. People coming out from behind counters, giving you introductions, making sure you had everything needed, you know, as you were leaving. Have you got any questions? All those things we try and all have tried to teach over the years, and in many ways we've all been different levels of success of that. Paul Griffiths: But what was amazing was they also got the security guards in on the act as well, because there's a real culture here that there's a separate, they're secure, they're very different. You know, there's, we've got them here, they're in very much brown security, clearly marked, you know, protecting places. But what they've done there is they had clearly trained those security guards as well, because every security guard you came across was getting in the act of chatting to visitors, even if their English wasn't brilliant, they were really keen to direct you to the next. Come this way. So the next place, oh, you finished that room, you must go upstairs. And you know, that sort of. Paul Griffiths: And whether they, you know, really just said, look, you can have a much more interesting day than just standing, staring at people walking around. You can actually chat to visitors from around the world and get talkative. And I just had the most amazing. I ended up in this museum for over five and a half hours or something silly like that. And I thought I was going to be there an hour because it was priced very reasonably. You know, when you judge a museum on, well, actually I paid this, I'm probably going to be here for that amount of time. And actually it was just, you know, I found myself stopping for a coffee, stopping for lunch. But I was so impressed by the way the staff interacted. Paul Griffiths: They also had a number of cultural local guides as well, who really were, you know, in the full sort of Emirati national dress, but wanted to press on. This is where. This is what I'm doing. So I've some, you know, I traveled across to Fujairah every week and was in a, an old, what was the ruler's summer house. And the guy, and the guy who ran it just took me on a tour. I didn't ask for a tour. He just said, would you. Well, he said, should I take you around? Yes, please. And we had this great hours experience as he was just chatting about all the rooms. And I think people here are very keen to share their culture and their heritage and very welcoming. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, so I've done quite a bit traveling around the other parts of the UAE. I can't go out of the UAE because I've only got a hire car at the moment, so I can't go out to Omar, that's on my list. You get yourself a car. I can travel north of the border into Oman and explore that. But for now, seven emirates to. So no shortage of places. And I've not been up to Abu Dhabi yet, so still with that on my list. So yeah, Paul Marden: Wowzers. Okay. So I guess, and this is completely, what would I feel like if I was in your position of going to this new country, immersing myself in this relatively new place that you're leading? How do I say this without flattering you? You were a well connected guy. If I went to events, everybody knew you. You had this wide network of people having worked in the UK in the attraction sector for a long time and you've now jumped over to the UAE. What's happened to the network? How does that feel? I mean it must feel slightly kind of worrying or nerve wracking. What have you done to build the network in this new place? Paul Griffiths: There's a number of points to that. Right, so let's answer in a few minutes. So the world's a smaller place so I'm still occasionally having teams call zoom calls with really close ex colleagues, friends, you know, I'm sure, I mean I always say I'm sure but everyone keeps saying, “Oh I'm really loving the journey so please keep posting. So I am going to keep posting and probably going to start to annoy people after a while”, but the feedback so far is everyone saying we're loving the journey and following you with it and feel like we're on the journey. So I will carry on. I'm sort of keeping writing stuff up and sharing it and also I don't know how long I'll be here for. You know, probation is massive over here. I have to keep my fingers crossed. Paul Griffiths: I pass probation which is a six month period because it's a real right the UAE all not just off and across the UAE. It's a real big, you know, much more than at home, much more structured. On day one was given a series and this isn't a bad thing at all, a series of probation tasks, you know, around reports that are around other historic parts because the job that I've come over will eventually evolve into a wider heritage role. But at the moment the real focus is on Al Jazeera Al Hamra, which is great. Get one site, get it going, then see where we go next. So I think I'm still connected to lots of people back home. I'm still looking, seeing everyone's posts and enjoy. Paul Griffiths: I mean my usual jealousy of not being part of the ALVA network anymore as they're all having that great time in Belfast in the last couple of days and seeing everyone's post, not just one or two, but everyone you know, Bernard down with you know everyone's post. I wish I was there with them.Paul Marden: The FOMO was real. So I had Andy Povey in the office with me yesterday and we're both saying the FOMO about that ALVAe vent was very real for both of us having. Paul Griffiths: Having spent. You know I was at the Mary Rose few years where we joined ALVA and go experiencing those council weeks and knowing just hey how much they are great for networking A. You get very spoiled because every host wants to really show off what they can do and I think the Titanic always do that because we go there before for a council meeting but it's. Yeah. So you still see this stuff. So it's still sit home and there's still people I can reach out to.Paul Marden: Of course.Paul Griffiths: If we need to and I'm still calling on people things, you know, different projects we're doing here. But then again it's about slowly building up that network here and I think there's a slightly. You know, there's a. Within Ras Al Khaimah I've started making connections with lots of other people in the Heritage world and. And outside that. So we're already, you know, connecting up with different people from different parts of Ras Al Khaimah, the work we're going to do moving forward and for me I think it's been just a. I'm sort of still pinching myself I'm here and that sort of. So many things keep happening and you know. The weather's been gorgeous because I've come out of a grim English weather to this quite nice winter here where it's mostly been late mid-20s. Paul Griffiths: You're in she and shorts when you're off duty. You know, there's other things. The thing that really surprised me is how smart actually the dress code is for business over here. Paul Marden: Okay. Paul Griffiths: So I had to sort of all the usual brands that from home Mount Marks is next everything here so you could order online and get it delivered quite quickly. So I had sort of came out of one wardrobe thinking I was going to be far more in polo shirt and linen trousers are sort of very sort of summer at Painshill look, you know outdoor. But actually yeah my colleagues are still. Because of the aircon atmosphere. Lots of colleagues particularly in the head office are in suits. A bit like where I would have been when back in my London days. When we're in the office you were in a shirt tie. So yes, I had to sort of buy A back home wardrobe almost once I got traveled out with very lightweight clothing. So yes, it's a bit different in that sense. Paul Marden:  Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about life as an expat. How have you found the transition? Paul Griffiths: Fine so far. I say there's lots of bits around work and practice and you know, no amount of inductions will be able to help you on some little faux pas you can make about not realising where you need approvals for staff. And obviously coming from the. For the last six years of being director of Painshill and only from feeding into a board of directors, board of trustees who we'd see quarterly and you know, I chat to the chairman every week. There was a lot of me sort of making those sort of decisions instantly was here, you know, particularly as were part of the foundation and we are representing Sheikh Saud as his name's in the title of the organization now, making sure we're going through those tick sheets. Paul Griffiths: You know, if I want to do anything that needs to spend more money, that's out budget, that is going to his Highness to be signed off. So any projects we're doing, we're needing to make cases to the highest man in the country to actually get those, you know, sign offs and things. And I'm not, that's not a bad thing. But you know, it's just that from an expat I guess it's getting used to. Everything's available here. Not the big supermarket up the road sells Waitrose and Marxist products and has a room at the back for non Muslims where you push the button, door opens, it's like a little bit of a naughty boys room. Paul Griffiths: You push back door open, slides you walk in and there's the pork heaven, you know, there's bacon, there's pork scratching, patays, you know, all because it's a real, you know, it's not just there's so many expats here, particularly from the Philippines and stuff who obviously pork is a big part of their diet. So yeah, that's available. I said earlier on there's cellars where you can pick up a great beer or a couple of glasses of bottle of wine or whatever you want. So actually it's not that I found myself flying into this really different world and I'm not really. Paul Marden:  It's a melting pot, isn't it? Paul Griffiths: Yeah. And I'm not someone who's ever been since very young, you know, going off to nightclubs or anything like that. But if you wanted that There is that. The hotels. So actually, if you're a younger person coming out and you wanted that nightlife, the hotels, particularly on Margin island and Minnal Arab, the tubing hotels have really nice restaurants, fully licensed clubs and stuff. But, you know, actually I found sort of the work is busy. Everyone's, you know, lots going on, actually, just going back to, you know, I was in a hotel for the first two months, which wasn't a dreadful thing because it was an apartment hotel. So, yeah, I had enough and now we've moved. I've moved into a villa ready for the family. Come out hopefully in about a month's time.Paul Marden:  Oh, that'd be exciting. Paul Griffiths: Yeah. So that's nice. So we've got the back onto the golf course. It's quite, you know, it's a nice place to be. It's going to be nice and, you know. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, so I've not struggled adapting because it's not. It's not that, you know, normally I've got a wonderful team here, Asia, you know, so with one Emirati and some Filipinos and other people from around the. From around the world. So that's been nice. And it's melting pot of learning their cultures as well as the local culture and. Yeah. And then they eat rice with everything. So it's. Yeah. Every lunchtime there's a bowl of rice, big bowl of salad in the main course and there's me pouring on the one on the salad, everyone else on the rice. But, yeah, it's been great, Paul. I mean, I can't. It's been one of those. Every moment you think this is just a great place to be. Paul Marden: Good. Let's go back to Al Jazeera and talk a little bit about some of the events that have been going on. So I know you're coming to the end of the Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival. Tell me a little bit about that and how well that's gone. Paul Griffiths: It's been brilliant. I know. I had no idea what to expect. First time for this. So this is the 13th International Art Fair. It started off back in the small museum back in the city of Central Town, moved to here, I think, five years ago is what I'm saying, and slowly grown every year since then. So this is the biggest one we've done, really. Lots of massive sponsors on board from across the Emirates, actually fully supported by His Highness, who's been here at least four times, if not five, since we've had the vessel. He was here at the opening ceremony for the big launch, you know it was, and it was like a proper opening ceremony. Paul Griffiths: Everyone sat round with a band and speakers and you know like not quite Olympics but you know it was a proper event. This is the opening of it and it felt like a big event. Yeah. All my female members of my team had, were given time off in the day to do hair and makeup. It was proper. Everyone looked, everyone looked the business, it was lovely. You know everyone was scrubbed up from the maintenance team to, you know, our executive director looking fabulous in a brand new dress. You know it was really was. No, I've had a new suit, I got a new suit for the occasion. Paul Griffiths: So yeah, it was a lovely evening and then it's rolled ever since and for me it's been wonderful because I've seen people in this village which has been quite quiet since I'd arrived and it's sort of been okay, how are we going to get this? But actually clearly putting something on has attracted a complete cross spectrum audience. So you know, we have people coming in, absolutely fascinating, obsessed with the art, beautiful and it's artists I should say from around the world. It's all exhibited outside or inside the little houses. So you know lots of the pieces have been blown up quite big and quite impressive. I mean do look at it on the website, you know people, you know if you go to ajah.ae you can then click on from there.Paul Marden: We'll put the links and everything in the show notes so people be able to find that. Paul Griffiths: It's been, but it's been, for me it's been fabulous because we've seen so many people in, you know I was, you know, we've had, we've got pop up restaurants so this won't mean anything to people back home but the restaurant called Puro P U R O has a restaurant at the top of the mountain at Jebel Jais. Really almost impossible to get booking, you know you have to book months advance for lunch or dinner. It's the place that everybody, both locals, internationals and tourists want to see and often frequented by his Highness. They've got a pop up restaurant here which just is fabulous. Paul Griffiths: They we've had a lovely couple, Kelly and Paolo in running a restaurant called Antica which is a sort of the chef's Italian Paolo but he's lived in Australia so it's a fusion of Australian middle Italy, sort of historic villagey type cuisine with an Emirates twist. But you're just served four or five courses without there's not a menu. It's not a restaurant as such, so it's sort of a sharing experience. But you know, the food is amazing. So I was fortunate to have dinner. Well, I've actually been fortunate enough to have dinner in Antica twice and lunch there as well. But one of the dinners I was then wandering around the village about 10 o'clock at night was full of people, you know, families just. Paul Griffiths: There is a different culture over here that people do more stuff in the evenings because of the temperature and a different way of life because the local people aren't obviously, for obvious reasons, down the pub on a Friday night, they're doing stuff with the family and you go past cafes and even outside of the village, you know, 9, 10 o'clock on a Friday night, they're full of people sitting very beautifully dressed in their finest, drinking coffee and eating desserts. That's a big thing. People seem to love coffee and desserts. Paul Marden: Okay. Paul Griffiths: But, but then of course it's because because of the heat most of the year we'll spend more time indoors resting in the day and then ready to go out at night and do some more stuff. So yeah, so we've had this sort of here in the evenings. It's really fun. What was interesting is our hours for the festival were meant to be midweek. So Monday we always close. Tuesday to Thursday we're meant to be open till 6 o'clock and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday open to 11:00. Often struggling to get people out then the first night. So the Tuesday night was the first night. Medusa goes at 6:00. 5:45, I had a queue of at least 40 people trying to get in. So we just had to make an on the hooves decision. Paul Griffiths: We're going to stay open later. And then we just opened till 8:00 in the midweek. We didn't want to push it too much because of obviously from the staff welfare perspective, an hour's work. But actually that first night were just. Myself and Sikrat, who's the director of the festival, Emirati. Wonderful. Emirati has been my cultural bodyguard in many ways because he's been the person, my go to person for what should I do here? What about this person? How should I do this? So Spencer Crouch just stood there. Look at this crowd. We both just said, “Well we can't turf them away. This would be daft.” So yeah, so we've had. And we've had about 40, 000 visitors will have come through the door by the end of the festival in 28 days. Paul Griffiths: The artworks then going to stay up in place for Ramadan. So we'll be working different hours again during Ramadan and this is the first time Al Jazeera will ever do. Has ever done anything special for. Because before now it's just been a come and visit, walk in, do what you like, leave now. We're trying to structure that visitor experience. So we're going to be for Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, because Thursday's the sort of Friday night in many ways. Because a lot of people have Fridays off here. Yes, because of the day of prayers and so a lot of people in Ras Al Hamah go to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for work. So Thursday nights they'll travel back. So actually we're going to be open till midnight on Thursday, Friday, Saturday for Ramadan. Paul Griffiths: So people will break the fast with the families and then they want to do the sort of head top of activity. They've now got food back in them and an energy source. And out they come. So again, first time we've done it, hopefully see numbers with the artwork will still be in place. We're then working on some different options around cuisine, food, coffee and hopefully get some musicians in as well, just to give a bit of an atmosphere. But it is a holy month, so it's not. It's not parties, but it's enjoying the family. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So what does the future look like for the Heritage Village and for tourism and attractions more generally in RAK? Paul Griffiths: I think for RAK itself, we're trying to bring more tourists in then trying to get the most hotels. Interestingly, as they had a lunch with five of our local big hotels at the weekend using. Using our Antico restaurant, this is excuse to have another lunch there and invite some people in and just take on their views, which is great. So just chatting and getting their thoughts on it. They were saying what. What happens in Iraq a lot at the moment is people are finding the hotels through travel agents, through, you know, searches. I know when were looking before I came out here, I know Ras Al Hamra came up on a Thomas Cumbin telescope. Yeah, similar. What am I thinking of? Probably Tui, I guess, or someone like, you know, someone like that. Paul Griffiths: I was doing a search for when went to Canary, but up came Ras Al Khaimah as a hotel and what they were saying. A lot of people will book that and have no idea really what Ras Al Khaimah is, other than it's part of the UAE. Some people think it's part of Dubai, you know, actually, because it's not, they don't realize it's seven emirates, etc. So a lot of people are booking their sort of tourists, their hotels. Our job is to try and then get them out and attract them to do other stuff. So there's lots of adventure tourism going on at the moment. We talked about the zip wire and lots of hiking, walking, camel rail, camel riding, you know, trips to the desert where you can zoom around in 4x Fours and go karts and stuff. Paul Griffiths: So from my perspective of the Heritage village is about bringing it more alive, bringing more people in, promoting it, more linking up with these sorts of hoteliers, concierges. And this is really early days for us because this has always been sort of slightly done but not really pushed yet. And sort of listening to what their advice is and seeing how we can act upon it, you know, and what sort of stuff we can take forward because, you know, there's a lot to be done. And there's lots of other heritage sites across rat about 90 on the list of actual heritage sites. And some of those are real ruins that you're never going to be able to do anything with. Paul Griffiths: Those sort of English Heritage free sites, you know, the ones you stumble across with a little brown sign and you pull up with a lay by, have a potter around and off you go without seeing anyone. There's a bit like that. But then there's a number of sites that will work well with some activation. You know, we've got Dyer Fort, which is on the World Heritage site tentative list and we're working on projects to slowly take that forward to World Heritage status. Touchwood because it's a really important for, you know, and it's perfect for visits. You climb up to the top, you get the most gorgeous views. You know, really is a gorgeous little site. So more interpretation, more things there is what's needed. But you know, again, this is all early days. Paul Griffiths: So it's all about sort of, you know, each day's excitement. What can we do, what can we push forward, who can we talk to? And what's been great is as the festival's gone on, more people have been coming and chatting to me. Mine have become more, well known. That sounds wrong, goes back to your sort of earlier question about, you know, people are sort of learning about, oh, this person's here now. Paul said, although people can call me sir or Mr. Paul, which is fine. I can deal with that. Keep saying now, people, I keep saying, please don't call me sir. You really don't need to. But it's so culturally great. But Mr. Everyone see everyone externally, she's called Mr. Paul, so I can put up with that. But I was there. Although when we host his. Paul Griffiths: His Highness hosted dinner that I was invited to, I then got even pushed up to His Excellency, which was a title. I want to go. Paul Marden: That's quite nice. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, I love that. Apparently. I always thought that someone else I knew was his title. His Excellency was part of the family, but actually it's. Once you get to a CEO director level in royal that circle, you immediately become His Excellency, so. Paul Marden: Well, there we go. I will correct myself in future communications. Paul Griffiths: Please do. Yeah, but I thought it was wonderful. That's why it's just been lovely, the funny comments coming from people back home saying, oh, well, I've amended my entry in my phone to now shake your he status. But yeah, so. But there's a sort of cultural things. It's just. Okay, right, lovely. That's fun. Paul Marden: It's been a whirlwind for you. It's been really interesting actually, talking about it and understanding more about. About what's happening there, about how exciting it is, this huge opportunity that you've got to make a something out of this beautiful historic village and then that, you know, the remit will grow from there. So I think. I think this has been lovely. We always wrap up our interviews with a book recommendation and you've had this privilege once before. So have you run out of recommendations or do you have something ready for me? Paul Griffiths: Well, I was going to recommend the Red island, an Emirati story, because it's based on Al Jazeera Al Hamra, but I thought that might be a little bit too niche. This guy. So, again, little things have come across. This guy's written a book, Adil, and he's going to be coming to Al Jazeera to do a book reading signing. These little opportunities. I have read the book, I promise. It was actually fascinating because it's all about local culture. It went off in a number of tangents, but actually from a point of view of how the Emirati local culture works and families, it was actually quite a really good induction. But now I've decided to go with a more book for management or book for running. And I don't think anyone's given this before, but if they have, I'm nervous. Paul Griffiths: But this book, Fish!, which is one of my favourite books. I've actually launched this as the Al Jazeera Book Club for the spring. So all the team have a copy. Book clubs are massive over here for work. Every department has one here in the foundation. So this book, Fish, is based around the Seattle fish market. My colleagues who've worked me in the past, both. I can hear them groaning now because they've forced everyone to read this, but it's basically around having fun when you're at work. And it talks about the story of the Seattle fish market, how they were just flogging fish, but actually one day decided, we need to liven this up. We need to want to be here. So introduced, sort of involving the crowd, fish flying through the air. Paul Griffiths: But It's a more of a story about a woman joins, it moves up in a company into a department that no one's been able to manage. She gets to the bottom of using the fish market. And it's just a really fun, easy reading book. And so I recommend it to. To listeners and viewers. Paul Marden: That's brilliant. So listeners, if you would like a copy of Fish,Paul Griffiths: It's quite a cheap book as well, Paul, so please, you have to give one away. So it's not too much money. It's just 9.99 in the non fiction section. So, yeah, cheaper. Paul Marden: Bargain. Bargain. That's the trouble with. So I've been doing a few live events where we have panels, four people with book records, recommendations. That's going to bankrupt me. No, not today. We got a bargain this time. So I like this. Yeah. If you'd like a copy of Fish, if you'd like a copy of Paul's book, head on over to Bluesky and when Wenalyn posts the show note, go over there and repost it and say, I want Paul's book. And the first person to do that will get a copy of the book. Paul, delightful as always. Three times on the podcast, at least. Paul Griffiths: I think this would be number. This would be number four because we had the original episode where Kelly grilled me about life at Painshill. Then we did the Turn the Tables episode when I grilled Kelly on setting up podcasts. And then we did. Then we did the Goodbye to Kelly, whatever it was. 100 episode. And then this. Yeah, four Skip the Queues. Which is always a pleasure and I'm so delighted as you're my favourite podcast, obviously.Paul Marden: It's, oh, you say the nicest things. That must be a record. I need to go back and check that I think four times on the podcast is pretty impressive. Paul Griffiths: I think I should get to add all mine up into one as a total so I can beat Dominic Jones, who's always had the biggest number, isn't he? Paul Marden: So, yeah, so he does and he still does. So, yeah, I think aggregating the number of listens for across all of your episodes, I think that might be within the walls. Let me see what I can do and I'll add everything up and we'll see if you can take Dom's crown. Paul Griffiths: Sorry, Dom. Paul Marden:  Because he's not competitive at all. Paul Griffiths: No, he's not, mate. He's a great guy, though. So, yeah, a friendly rival. Paul Marden: Exactly. Thank you very much, Paul. I would love to keep in touch. Paul Griffiths: Let's keep talking. Paul Marden: I want to hear what happens not just after the first 90 days, but I want to hear what happens in a year's time and two years time. So thank you so much for coming on and telling us about Ras Al-Khaimah and the Heritage Village. It's been lovely. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, thanks for having me. It's great. Been a real pleasure. Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others to find us. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm.    The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

German companies are mulling several investments in Egypt, including:A EUR 1 billion direct reduced iron factory.A EUR 30 million flame-resistant material factory.A EUR 5 million first phase of a bicycle parts factory. Auto parts factory in Egypt.China Glass Holding subsidiary CNG Egypt New Energy Glass kicked off construction work on a USD300 million glass factory.The ro-ro shipping line connecting Damietta Port with Italy's Port kicked off operations on Thursday with its first shipment setting sail. Net foreign assets in the Egyptian banking system fell to USD9.2 billion by the end of October, down from USD10.31 billion in September.The Cabinet approved the creation of a desert land development chamber under the Federation of Egyptian Industries. MPs are set to discuss and vote on a draft cash-based subsidies bill today that aims to give cash-based subsidies to citizens under the poverty line without access to social insurance.The CBE sold EGP47.0 billion worth of the bills, surpassing its EGP35.0 billion target, at 30.86%, 0.27% higher than their last auction. Minister of Finance announced that Egypt is set to issue a sovereign sukuk denominated local currency. The issuance is scheduled for the first quarter of 2025.Prime Minister said that the government will not repeat previous mistaken policies of keeping the exchange rate static on the assumption that a fixed rate demonstrates stability. The Supreme Council for Investment is preparing to issue new decisions aimed at empowering the private sector in strategic projects that the government seeks to expand during the coming period. Egypt has reopened fish exports to the EU after a three-year freeze.We maintain our overweight recommendation of EKHO at a downgraded FV of USD1.19/share. Despite the outstanding risks represented in further currency depreciation and downward pressure on global prices or lag in local repricing, EKHO is exerting efforts to withstand such risks. EKHO is currently trading at a FY25f PE of 5.0x and EV/EBITDA of 3.7x.EFIC released 3Q24 consolidated financial results. Net income grew 569% YoY (+49% QoQ) to EGP535 million, bringing 9M24 net income to EGP1.3 billion (+157% YoY). EFIC is currently trading at a 2025f PE of 7.3x and EV/EBITDA of 4.7x.CANA has exited from investments in four entities worth EGP142 million.The total value of the bank's investment portfolio in September 2024 amounted to about EGP2.8 billion, compared to about EGP1.9 billion at the end of 2023.HRHO's commercial bank Bank NXT partnered with global payment solutions firm Mindgate Solutions to launch a new digital platform for corporate clients.CICH and Compass received FRA approval to launch the C3 Capital Fund targeting EGP3 billion. HRHO has finished its role in advising Maarif Education on its takeover of Ibn Khaldoun Education. MNOs are set to launch eSIM cards before the end of 2024. 

Exclusive interview with His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah. What is His Highness' message to crypto entrepreneurs? What type of leadership is needed in an era dominated by AI and disruption? What are the challenges of running a start-up nation and emirate? What is the digital assets vision for RAK?

Khawla Al Nuaimi from the Supreme Council for Family Affairs joins us on the show to discuss their participation at the book fair. Under the SCFA umbrella, the pavilion includes the Family Development Department and Branches, the Cultural Office, the Health Promotion Department and its societies, and the Child Safety Department (CSD). Together, the entities will host more than 50 awareness sessions covering multiple topics including the promotion of reading and knowledge among families, strengthening family ties, improving health, and protecting children's safety.

An epic historical novel set in Fatimid Cairo, Reem Bassiouney's The Halva-Maker trilogy won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and is forthcoming in English. The book explores the founding of Cairo, by a Shia dynasty and a set of generals and rulers who all hailed from elsewhere. We talked to Bassiouney about balancing research and imagination; shining a light on women in Egyptian medieval history; and the heritage (architectural and culinary) of the past. This episode of the BULAQ podcast is produced in collaboration with the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is one of the Arab world's most prestigious literary prizes, showcasing the stimulating and ambitious work of writers, translators, researchers, academics and publishers advancing Arab literature and culture around the globe. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant is open all year round, with funding available for fiction titles that have won or been shortlisted for the award. Publishers outside the Arab world are eligible to apply. Find out more on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award website at: zayedaward.aeBassiouney is a professor of socio-linguistics at the American University in Cairo. She has won the State Award for Excellence in Literature for her overall literary works, the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature from the Supreme Council for Culture for her Sons of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy (trans. Roger Allen), the Sawiris Cultural Award for her novel Professor Hanaa (trans. Laila Helmy), and a Best Translated Book Award for The Pistachio Seller (trans. Osman Nusairi). Dar Arab will publish Bassiouney's The Halva-Maker trilogy and her novel Mario and Abu l-Abbas. Both have been translated by Roger Allen.Bassiouney's Ibn Tulun Trilogy, also translated by Roger, was published by Georgetown University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was such a pleasure to talk to George finally! We should have met personally this year, but life had other plans … We had so much fun speaking with each other via screen! Yet we didn't only speak about easy topics … I absolutely loved diving deeply into protecting our light, psychic attacks, etc. and also into sexuality!Always be open to receive new perspectives for your own life ✨In this Episode we talk about:✨ Why George wrote his book „Protect your Light“✨ What it meant to finding out to be gay with 13 years ✨ What George tried to „become straight“✨ Why Social Media is a World on its own ✨ How George sees Psychic Attacks ✨ The 3 main types of Shields✨ How to alchemize the Elements ✨ Let‘s live with magic✨ Energetic Protection concerning Sex✨ Orgasmic Manifestation ✨ George‘s new book „Secrets of Greek Mysticism“✨ „Temple hopping“I think you can feel how much fun we had together! I felt totally uplifted after our conversation! And I hope you will too!Enjoy listening

In this episode of Finding Grace I'm joined by my fabulous friend George Lizos who is a spiritual teacher, psychic healer, Greek pagan priest, creator of Intuition Mastery School, as well as a #1 bestselling author (Be the Guru, Light workers Gotta Work, Protect Your Light) and the latest book " Secrets of Greek Mysticism" and host of “The Lit Up Light worker and “Can't Host” podcasts. He has been named one of the top fifty health and wellness influencers, and his work has been featured in Goop, PopSugar, and MindBodyGreen. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in metaphysical sciences, a MSc in Psychology, and is trained in various spiritual and healing modalities. George took part in the first official priesthood training in Hellenic Polytheism organised by the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE) in Athens, following the religion's legal recognition by the Greek government in 2017. Since then, he's been a practicing priest of the religion at the world's first modern temple of Zeus in Cyprus. George has taught about the Greek gods and spirituality in his books, workshops, and online courses, and his research on Aphrodite has been published by Soul & Spirit magazine and The Numinous. George and I have known each other a number of years and its great to share his latest work on here again. In this episode, you'll discover: George's perspective on what finding grace means to him and its relevance in his current life. His personal story and the journey that led him to his current work. An exploration of his new book and the inspiration behind it. The distinctions between Greek mythology, theology, and spirituality. Common misconceptions about Greek gods and goddesses. The connections between Greek deities and those of other religions. The differences between the Greek and Pagan wheels of the year. How manifestation, the wheel of the year, and Greek gods and goddesses relate to love, career, abundance, and purpose. The main characteristics of Greek gods and goddesses. Daily rituals and practices for working with Greek gods and goddesses. What brings him joy in his life right now. The sources of support he currently relies on. George shares all this and more in this fascinating episode, I felt like I learnt so much and I've loved reading the book. If you want to work with George, find out what he's up to, listen to his podcasts and read his books you can find him here: Instagram @georgelizos Podcasts here and here Website www.georgelizos.com Facebook group here Books here  You can find me at :  Instagram @thehannahwallace Twitter @hannahwallace_ Face book @thehannahwallace  Website www.hannah-wallace.com  Sign up to my Sub Stack for weekly wisdom Here Thank you so much for listening please share, subscribe and review it's greatly appreciated and I hope you find grace in your week ahead. 

Antisemitism and the Destruction of the Jews:  The Evil Supreme Council of RulersThe Supreme Commander, Lord Lucifer, called the meeting to order.“Prince of Persia, give me your report now.”“My Lord, Persia has been very obedient.  Its human leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei hears my commands clearly and he obeys.  Under the direction of my subordinate, the Marquess of Tehran, he has funded and empowered humans to develop Hamas and Hezbollah.  Both are wreaking havoc with the Chosen Nation and the Chosen People, especially Hamas.  The Earl of Gaza and the demons in Rafah are hard at work.  Of course you know, my lord, what Hamas did on October 7.”“Of course, I know Prince.  But I think we'd better review my ultimate purposes, my goals.  I'd better quote from the Word of God again.  I hate the Word of God, but you and I know that it is eternal and, so far, we've not be able to thwart it.  My plan is for that to change but for now we can't ignore it.  So here is the bedrock verse that must guide me:“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."” (Genesis 3:15, NKJV)“Now, you and I both know that where the Word says “the Seed shall bruise your head” that means that on His return the Messiah is going to crush my head.  That would be the end of me and that would mean the end of all of you.  We can't have that!  The Seed will only return when the Jewish people cry out for Him and say this:“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.” (Psalms 118:26, NKJV)“Yeshua told them that He won't return until they say that, all of them.  Damn Him!”“If I can destroy the Jewish people in Israel through Persia, Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and other middle eastern countries, and then everywhere else in the world through my other principalities and powers, then there won't be a single Jew left to say this and the Seed won't return to crush my head.  And then my ultimate purpose can be fulfilled:“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'” (Isaiah 14:14, NKJV)“But, back to preventing the return of the Messiah and the crushing of my head.  I'll never be like the Most High if my head is crushed!  Now, you all know that I nearly succeeded in eradicating European Jewry through Hitler and the Holocaust.  And that was to be just the beginning.  But I failed and the Prince of Europe did not come through for me.  Damn him for failing!”“I'm sorry, Lord Lucifer.  I'll do better next time.  You know that even now, with the help of a great many demons I'm reactivating Jew hatred in the European countries.  And the Prince of America is working with me.  And so are the other princes.  And you know what that will lead to, my lord.  I just need a little more time.”“Time is what we don't have, Europe!  And you, Persia.  What in hell, may we never end up there, were you doing when you failed to stop Gabriel and Michael from bringing understanding from God to Daniel about what will happen to the Jews in the latter days?  Remember what Gabriel said centuries ago:“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come."” (Daniel 10:13-14, NKJV)“But the Jews were given understanding through Daniel.  They can even know now, through Daniel's book, about the coming of the antichrist, whom I will direct to annihilate the whole Jewish race.  Don't you realize that some Jews today have gained understanding from Daniel 9:24-27 and have come to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah and have received eternal life?  Do you have any idea how badly my ultimate plans will be derailed if that knowledge, that understanding, spreads?“And don't you dare forget that we must continually kill Gentile Christians too so that the full number of the Gentiles will never come in and so the blindness of the Jews will continue to prevent them from recognizing their Messiah:“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” (Romans 11:25, NKJV)“Now, it is true that Isis and Al Qaeda killed many Christians.  But more killing must be done!  Have you forgotten that when the blindness is lifted the whole Nation of the Jews will believe and the Messiah will then return?!?  And we are then all done for!  My head will be crushed and so will yours!  We must all work harder!  Much harder!  Kill more Jews, you demons!  Kill them all!!  Now!!  And continue to deceive Jews and Christians so that they will keep failing to understand the root cause of antisemitism.  They think their Messiah is the cause of it.  They don't realize that I am the cause of it and that when their Messiah returns, I'm doomed, and antisemitism comes to an end.  So, kill them all!”“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)My dear Jewish brothers and sisters.  Please understand that I've written this for your benefit.  It's a true picture.  I've written this because I love you and because someone must tell you the truth.  Your Messiah is Jesus, Yeshua, and He already came once.  Many individual Jewish people accepted Him but most of our Jewish leaders rejected Him and so our Nation rejected Him.  Please, accept Him today.  You will then have a personal relationship with your God and your place in the World to Come will be assured.  You will be blessed beyond measure!Art Wolinsky This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awolinsky.substack.com

George Lizos discusses his book Secrets of Greek Mysticism. George Lizos is a spiritual teacher, psychic healer, Greek pagan priest, creator of Intuition Mastery School, as well as a #1 bestselling author (Be the Guru, Lightworkers Gotta Work, Protect Your Light) and host of The Lit Up Lightworker and Can't Host podcasts. He has been named one of the top fifty health and wellness influencers, and his work has been featured in Goop, PopSugar, and MindBodyGreen. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in metaphysical sciences, and psychology, and is trained in various spiritual and healing modalities.George took part in the first official priesthood training in Hellenic Polytheism organized by the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE) in Athens, following the religion's legal recognition by the Greek government in 2017. Since then, he's been a practicing priest of the religion at the world's first modern temple of Zeus in Cyprus. George has taught about the Greek gods and spirituality in his books, workshops, and online courses, and his research on Aphrodite has been published by Soul & Spirit Magazine and The Numinoushttps://georgelizos.comHost Bonnie Burkert melds the worlds of media and higher consciousness, sharing tools for transformation to find our highest truth and live our brightest life. https://www.instagram.com/yogi_bon/

The Working Tools Podcast https://youtu.be/eYZ2JCBBBBY Join the Working Tools Podcast Team; WB Steven Chung, VWB David Colbeth and VWB Matthew Appel as we interview attendees at the Conference of Grand Masters of North America (COGMNA) http://www.cogmna.info/ Ill. James D. Cole, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander & SGIG at Large https://scottishrite.org/ James D. Cole, 33°, was installed as the nineteenth Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction, USA on August 19, 2019. A Mason since 1983, he served as Worshipful Master of Craighill Lodge No. 160, Elliston, Virginia, in 1987 and as Virginia's Grand Master in 2001. Coroneted a 330 Inspector General Honorary on October 3, 2001, on January 1, 2003, he was appointed Deputy of the Supreme Council in Virginia; on October 7, 2003, he was crowned as an Active Member, later serving as Grand Treasurer General and Lieutenant Grand Commander. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, a National Sojourner, a Shriner, a member of the York Rite College, a life member of the Royal Order of Scotland, a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, a life member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, a Past Puissant Sovereign of the Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, a Past Sovereign Master of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He holds 9th Grade membership in the Masonic Societas Rosicruciana and remains active in the Grand Lodge of Virginia, serving as Grand Representative to the Grand Lodge of England and as a member of the Code Commission. His honors include: honorary membership in eleven lodges; the Legion of Honor from DeMolay International and honorary membership on the International Supreme Council; the Grand Cross of Color from the Rainbow for Girls; the Pierpont Edwards Medal from the Grand Lodge of Connecticut for outstanding Masonic Service; the Grand Lodge of Virginia's highest award, the George Washington Distinguished Service Medal; commission as an honorary Kentucky Colonel; the Odie R. Howell Leadership Award from the Virginia DeMolay Foundation; the Albert Mackey Medal from the Grand Lodge of South Carolina; and Honorary membership in the Conference of Grand Secretaries of North America. Born in Asheville North Carolina in 1958, he moved to Virginia in 1969, where he and his wife Mary Ann reside; they have two children and five grandchildren. Formerly employed as CEO of the Masonic Home of Virginia, Brother Cole is a CPA whose previous professional experience includes practice with an international accounting firm and almost twenty years in a variety of positions at Virginia Tech, a large public university. He holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from Virginia Tech. Both an author and consultant, he has served numerous companies, universities, and non-profit organizations, including Masonic groups, throughout the country and has been a frequent speaker at business conferences. Brother Cole has been active in community and church service, including more than twenty-five years teaching an Adult Bible Class and serving as an active lay speaker since age fifteen. He has been a high school basketball referee, a baseball umpire, a youth basketball and baseball coach, and a high school football announcer. In his spare time, he enjoys playing with his grandchildren, reading, and golf. Courtesy, Scottish Rite Journal * November/December 2019 Please consider supporting the show with a small monthly donation: https://anchor.fm/theworkingtoolspodcast/support Follow us on Facebook! http://Facebook.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.com Podcast rebroadcasts: SPOTIFY: http://Spotify.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.com ANCHOR.fm: http://Anchor.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.com iTunes: http://itunes.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.com STITCHER: http://Stitcher.TheWorkingToolsPodcast.com DISCLAIMER: Our opinions are our own, and do not reflect the opinions or stances of the various Grand Lodges or regular Lodges around the world. Freemasonry, Free masonry, Free mason, Mason, Masonic --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theworkingtoolspodcast/support

Welcome to The New Age Masonic Podcast, part of The Tyler's Place Podcast, and dedicated to The New Age Magazine, later to be known as The Scottish Rite Journal. Brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. On this podcast, we take a deep dive into the articles of the history, people, and lessons of Freemasonry as published in The New Age, hosted by brothers Maynard Edwards, 33rd degree, Matt Bowers, 32nd degree and Chris Ruli, 32nd Degree, KCCH. Articles from The New Age Magazine read by Matt Bowers.This article was taken from the December 1905 issue of The New Age Magazine, predecessor to The Scottish Rite Journal.

Today, we have a set Jewish calendar that has been in use for the past 1700 years. However, for the first 1600 years or so of Judaism, we used a variable calendar that was updated monthly based on sightings of the new moon and calculations made by the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Council of Judaism.  A fascinating class about Kiddush Hachodesh, the system used for the ancient Jewish calendar.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

A presidential decree establishing the Supreme Council of Taxes was issued, Minister of Finance announced, to empower the private sector, stimulate investment, and encourage investors to expand their productive and export activities. The government agreed with manufacturers and merchants to start reducing commodity prices by about 15% and 20%, bringing the reduction to 30% after Eid al-Fitr. Some USD 2.8 bn worth of goods have been cleared from the country's ports thanks to the recent spate of foreign currency injections, Prime Minister said. Net FDI inflows declined marginally to record USD2.1 billion in 4Q 2023, compared to USD2.2 billion 3Q 2023.The head of the GAFI revealed that the authority is currently studying 4 applications filed to obtain the golden license for companies operating in various sectors, including a logistics company.Remittances inflows are reportedly still far from reaching their peak, as Egyptian expats increasingly return to using official channels to transfer money back to Egypt following the float of the pound, deputy CEO of the UAE's largest FX bureau and remittances company Mohammad Bitar said.The New and Renewable Energy Authority discussed allocating EGP3.7 billion to establish renewable energy projects in the new fiscal year 2024/2025, within the Authority's draft budget of EGP7.78 billion.Egypt aims to increase the quantities of natural gas imported from Israel by about 26% to reach 1.450 billion cubic feet per day during 1H 2025, up from about 1.15 billion cubic feet per day now.The Prime Minister directed companies and traders to reduce steel prices after the full release of goods and raw materials in ports.Cement producers started to re-price their products after the recent surge in mazut price by EGP1,500/ton to reach EGP7,000/ton. It is worth highlighting that around 30% of cement factories depend on mazut as a cheap source of energy. The head of the Cement Division of the Building Materials Chamber estimates the increase in production cost of cement not to exceed EGP100/ton post the mazut price increase.CIEB's board approved a proposal to pay out a dividend of EGP1.1456 per share instead of EGP2.47. The decision is yet to receive the go-ahead from the general assembly.NBE intends to exit 12 companies with expected proceeds of EGP4 billion. The bank will invest up to EGP5 billion during 2024 in new projects and expands some currently existing projects.The United Bank has arranged about USD100 million for importers since the CBE directed banks at the beginning of this month to secure foreign currency to import 17 goods, if they are present in Egyptian ports.CCAP's transportation subsidiary targets injecting USD200 million to establish, manage and operate two stations in Alexandria and Ain Sokhna. RMDA's BoD approved to increase its paid in capital by EGP1.12 million, bringing it to EGP387.23 million, to finance the second tranche of its ESOP program. 

12 March 2024: Julie Mallon, founder of Nurture 2 Sleep, shares valuable tips for adults seeking better sleep quality. Claudine Gillard, the visionary behind Sweet Dreams Sleep Consultants, delves into the world of children's sleep patterns. Next, John Bell, Principal at Bloom World Academy, unveils The Nexus Centre for Post-16 Studies, revolutionizing pre-university education. Majd Fayyad, DSM Strategy & Policy Lead at the Supreme Council of Energy, enlightens us on effective ways to reduce energy bills. Lastly, Sarah Cann, Podiatrist at Genesis Dubai, walks us through foot health and answers your burning questions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The New Age Masonic Podcast, part of The Tyler's Place Podcast, and dedicated to The New Age Magazine, later to be known as The Scottish Rite Journal. Brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. On this podcast, we take a deep dive into the articles of the history, people, and lessons of Freemasonry as published in The New Age, hosted by brothers Maynard Edwards, 33rd degree, Matt Bowers, 32nd degree and Chris Ruli, 32nd Degree, KCCH. Articles from The New Age Magazine read by Matt Bowers.This article was taken from the October 1904 issue of The New Age Magazine, predecessor to The Scottish Rite Journal.

Prime Minister held a meeting to look at offers submitted for Wataneya state-owned fuel retailer. Taqa Arabia is the only firm to have publicly declared interest, and Shell has reportedly also made a bid.The IMF has resolved key issues with Egypt in a review of its previous USD3 bn loan program from the Fund, setting the stage for an augmented financing package “within weeks”.Egypt's 5-year CDS rates sharply declined recording 6.76% on Monday, down from 9.85% on Friday, apparently responding to Ras Al Hekma deal news. Yield on Egypt's Eurobonds also declined, with yield maturing in June 2025 dropped to about 8% compared with more than 13% two weeks before.The Official Gazette published a presidential decree to allocate a plot of state-owned land with an area of 170.8 million square meters in the Matrouh Governorate, to establish the new city of Ras El-Hikma, transferring it from lands owned by the armed forces.The Economic Authority for the Golden Triangle, is studying offering the industrial zones in the area to an industrial developer, to be divided and developed according to a detailed plan into different production units.Qatar Islamic Bank and Kuwait Finance House have completed their due diligence for United Bank in December. The transaction could reportedly reel in the USD equivalent of EGP22 bn, which is currently worth USD712 mn at official exchange rates.The FRA has approved BINV's MTO to acquire up to 90% of OFH via a share swap (1 BINV share: 56.76 OFH shares). The timeline of the MTO is to be made public before the end of this week.Egypt's financial inclusion rate, the percentage of citizens above the age of 16 who hold bank accounts, mobile wallets, or prepaid cards, jumped to 71% by the end of 2023 from 65% at the end of 2022.  Financial inclusion grew 174% between 2016 and 2023.ESRS (FV: EGP97.02, OW) reduced its local rebar price by EGP7k/ton to EGP46.6k/ton, inclusive of 14% VAT, as of today down from EGP53.5k/ton a week ago. SUGR (FV: EGP98.0, OW) reported 4Q23 results showing: •             4Q23 net profit came in at EGP187 million (+62% YoY, -41% QoQ), backed by reversed provisions for the quarter with the amount of EGP100 million and other income of EGP279 million, helping to reverse the losses recorded on the gross profitability and EBITDA levels. FY23 net profit recorded EGP1,592 million (+87% YoY), slightly below our expectations of EGP1,708 million.•             SUGR is currently trading at a FY24 P/E of 5.3x."Beyti" for food industries is looking to increase its exports by 57% this year to reach USD55 mn.EAST is looking to expand its exports destinations to Saudi Arabia, Emirates, and other African countries, as well as increasing their production capacity 20% in 2025.Samih Sawiris invested USD100.0 million in ORHD's (FV: EGP20.38, OW) El Gouna for the establishment of a new hotel and expansion of existing hotels.AMER reported FY23 net profit of EGP45.9 million, compared to FY22 net loss of EGP101.9 million.CCAP the owner of 64.28% (directly and indirectly) of National Development and Trade, NDT, (Qalaa's subsidiary operating in the Cement and related activities fields) announced that NDT has signed settlement agreements with three of its banks in full settlement of debts and agreed with a fourth bank to settle its debt over two years, which will have a positive impact on the company's financial statements.The Supreme Council of Energy has approved the national strategy for green hydrogen. It aims to transform Egypt into a regional hub for green hydrogen production by 2026 and a global hub by 2030.Car manufacturers have been contacted by the local banks to reopen LCs for their manufacturing inputs, for the first time since last June

From the January/February 2024 edition of The Scottish Rite Journal. Any accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition.Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel! Freemasons, make sure you shout out your Lodge, Valley, Chapter or Shrine below!OES, Job's Daughter's, Rainbow, DeMolay? Drop us a comment too!To learn how to find a lodge near you, visit www.beafreemason.comTo learn more about the Scottish Rite, visit www.scottishrite.orgVisit our YouTube Page: Youtube.com/ScottishRiteMasonsVisit our new stores:Bookstore: https://www.srbookstore.myshopify.com/Merch Store: http://www.shopsrgifts.com/

This is the highest individual honor that The Supreme Council bestows. It is voted very rarely to Thirty-third Degree Masons only for the most exceptional and extraordinary services. The Grand Cross cap is white with a blue band.Presidents, supreme court, greatest minds , congress all posses the secret knowledge and here is the answer with the 4 main lores to create these estoric laws into reality.

Welcome to The New Age Masonic Podcast, part of The Tyler's Place Podcast, and dedicated to The New Age Magazine, later to be known as The Scottish Rite Journal. Brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. On this podcast, we take a deep dive into the articles of the history, people, and lessons of Freemasonry as published in The New Age, hosted by brothers Maynard Edwards, 33rd degree, Matt Bowers, 32nd degree and Chris Ruli, 32nd Degree, KCCH. Articles from The New Age Magazine read by Matt Bowers.This article was taken from the May 1906 issue of The New Age Magazine, predecessor to The Scottish Rite Journal.

The Scottish Rite Journal Podcast, is the audio companion of publication with the same name from the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction for the United States of America. Bro. Matt Bowers, 32° is the host of the Scottish Rite Journal Podcast and is here to give us a behind the scenes look of his program and virutal walk about in House of the Temple in Washington, DC.Show Notes:Follow the Scottish Rite Journal Podcast and Tyler's Place Podcast on SpotifyFollow the Craftsmen Online Podcast on SpotifySubscribe to the Craftsmen Online Podcast on Apple PodcastsEmail the host, WB Michael Arce! Yes, we will read your email and may even reach out to be a guest on a future episode.Support the Craftsmen Online Podcast. Whether it's a one time donation or you become a Patreon Subscriber, we appreciate your support!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.

Welcome to The New Age Masonic Podcast, part of The Tyler's Place Podcast, and dedicated to The New Age Magazine, later to be known as The Scottish Rite Journal. Brought to you by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. On this podcast, we take a deep dive into the articles of the history, people, and lessons of Freemasonry as published in The New Age, hosted by brothers Maynard Edwards, 33rd degree, Matt Bowers, 32nd degree and Chris Ruli, 32nd Degree, KCCH. Articles from The New Age Magazine read by Matt Bowers.This article was taken from the September 1904 issue of The New Age Magazine, predecessor to The Scottish Rite Journal.

A new edition of the Monday Roundtable with Pegah and Raha joining Jian in the Roqe Studio to weigh in on: (1) a new outrageous edict by Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution to rename celebratory Persian days such as Yalda and Chaharshanbe Suri; (2) the latest way the IR has found to impose gender segregation in schools; (3) a look at how Iranians are caught in the crossfire of global protests these days; and (4) explanations for Manoto TV's new memo about the possibility of closing down. Plus, Jian provides more details on the great “ghormeh sabzi disaster” of last week.

From the November/December 2023 edition of The Scottish Rite Journal. Any accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition.Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel! Freemasons, make sure you shout out your Lodge, Valley, Chapter or Shrine below!OES, Job's Daughter's, Rainbow, DeMolay? Drop us a comment too!To learn how to find a lodge near you, visit www.beafreemason.comTo learn more about the Scottish Rite, visit www.scottishrite.orgVisit our YouTube Page: Youtube.com/ScottishRiteMasonsVisit our new stores:Bookstore: https://www.srbookstore.myshopify.com/Merch Store: http://www.shopsrgifts.com/

Brethren, this Short Talk Bulletin Podcast episode was written by MW Bro Bro Conrad Hahn, PES – MSANA, and is brought to us by MW Bro Russ Charvonia, PGM – CA. These are remarks that Bro Hahn made at the Supreme Council 33rd AASR NMJ annual session in Detroit, MI in 1973, and really require […]

In this episode, host Matt Bowers, 32°, discusses with Br. Bill Turner, 33°, Grand Tiler of The Supreme Council, all things of the military service appendant body of Freemasonry, The National Sojourners. We learn how Americanism and patriotism are front and center to the Sojourners mission statement, their work with youth organizations, programs open to the public, history and much more.You can learn more about the National Sojourners and how to join HERE.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, May 18th, 2023. PUB MEMBERSHIP PLUG: We have ourselves an exciting summer coming up here at CrossPolitic, and we want you to join us on this ride… First, we’re no longer calling it the Fight Laugh Feast club… it’s now called the Pub! Second, we are launching a new line of content, focused on family entertainment. Some of this content includes a new TV Show called This America, a cooking show, a hunting show, live streaming of our conferences, and our past conference talks, all bundled within our new polished Fight Laugh Feast App, dropping on June 1st. Head on over to fightlaughfeast.com, and join the Pub today… that’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-chairman-demands-irs-chief-answer-for-alleged-hunter-biden-probe-shakeup House Chairman Demands IRS Chief Answer For Alleged Hunter Biden Probe Shakeup A top House Republican wants the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to clarify what is happening with the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden after lawyers for a whistleblower within the agency claimed his team got removed from the case. Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) is requesting an “urgent briefing” from IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel’s office to address concerns about possible retaliation. “These allegations are extremely serious. Such retaliation not only discourages whistleblowers from coming forward to Congress but can also constitute an illegal violation of statutory protections for whistleblowers,” Smith wrote in a letter to Werfel on Tuesday. The letter was published by Just the News. Lawyers for an IRS criminal supervisory special agent wrote to Congress on Monday to say their client had just been told that “he and his entire investigative team are being removed” from the Hunter Biden probe and was “informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.” The “move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry,” lawyers Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote. The IRS agent, who has not been publicly identified, has sought to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress while raising concerns about lies and politics corrupting the criminal inquiry into Hunter Biden. After Biden’s lawyers met with Department of Justice officials late last month, sources told The Washington Post that potential charges for tax- and gun-related crimes may soon follow from Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Hunter Biden has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing, and his father, President Joe Biden, told MSNBC this month that his son has “done nothing wrong.” The IRS and Justice Department have so far refused to respond directly to the claim that the IRS supervisor and his entire team had been pulled from the case. The Justice Department has deferred to Weiss, whose office is so far not speaking out on the matter. Smith requested a briefing from Werfel’s office by 5 p.m. on Thursday. “Failure to provide forthcoming and transparent information regarding the actions taken against this employee by your agency will necessitate additional Committee action,” he warned. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-allows-illinois-assault-weapons-ban-take-effect Supreme Court allows Illinois 'assault weapons' ban to take effect The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Illinois' ban on "assault weapons" to take effect temporarily on Wednesday. The ruling allows the Illinois law to remain in effect while lower courts deliberate on its constitutional status. Wednesday's ruling comes after a gun shop owner in Illinois requested an injunction against the ban. The Illinois law bans the sale and new possession of semi-automatic "assault weapons." Those who already legally own such weapons would not have to turn them in. The law also bans the sale of large capacity magazines. The court did not offer an explanation for its Wednesday decision, and there were no noted dissents. The National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) a legal group associated with the gun store that requested an injunction, expressed disappointment with Wednesday's ruling. The group remains committed to fighting Illinois' ban, however. "Any action the Supreme Court would have taken at this point would only have been temporary and not on the merits of the case itself. Clearly, the Supreme Court is watching the issue closely and we look forward to appealing very soon on the merits if the 7th Circuit rules against us – as the signs currently point to," said Hannah Hill, Executive Director of the NFGR. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit is currently considering the case. The request for an injunction went to Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Illinois passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act on Jan. 10, banning the sale, purchase, manufacture, delivery and importation of "assault weapons" and large capacity magazines, with exceptions for law enforcement, military members and certain other professionals with firearm training. The legislation specifically names the AR-15 and AK-47 rifles and requires lawful owners of semi-automatic rifles to register their ownership with state police. The 7th Circuit has yet to issue a final ruling on the Illinois law, but its decision is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Judge Stephen Patrick McGlynn, a Trump appointee in Illinois' Southern District, had initially granted the injunction earlier in May. Appellate Judge Frank Easterbrook then reversed McGlynn's ruling, a decision that has now been supported by both the 7th Circuit and the Supreme Court. McGlynn's ruling had argued that Illinois' law infringed on the right to self-defense and, in some cases, "completely obliterated that right by criminalizing the purchase and the sale of more than 190 'arms.'" https://mynorthwest.com/3889164/rantz-pedophile-ish-adult-woman-identifies-15-year-old-boy-per-police-report/ ‘Pedophile-ish’ adult woman identifies as 15-year-old boy, per police report Police arrested a 35-year-old woman, who identifies as a 15-year-old boy, for harboring a teen runaway. Shouldn’t Washington Progressives defend this woman for being mis-aged? The police allege Amanda Dorrough was involved in a host of inappropriate behavior with juveniles, including getting naked in front of them, inappropriately touching one, and providing marijuana. One of her alleged victims characterized her as “pedophile-ish,” according to a police incident report, which doesn’t list the individual ages of the alleged victims. This incident highlights the dangers of identifying as something you’re not. But it also shows the left-wing hypocrisy on issues of identity. The vice principal at Port Angeles High School reported to police that two students reported that eight of their classmates were planning to run away to Seattle with Amanda Dorrough, according to the police report. It said there had been “several recent reports of Amanda Dorrough having runaway youth in her apartment.” An officer located several teen minors at the gully behind Dorrough’s apartment complex on May 4, 2023. Several of them were identified by the school as planning to run away, and Dorrough was allegedly aware that one was listed as a runaway, giving the officer probable cause to arrest her for Unlawful Harboring of a Minor. In addition to the minors, police found two empty condom packets and a bra at the gully. “While at the Clallam County Jail, Amanda told the staff that she identifies as a teenage boy,” the incident report states. “The previous week, she told [an officer] that she identifies as a teenage boy. The previous week she told [the officer] that she feels like teenagers ‘understand’ her better and that she ‘identifies’ better with teenage kids. Amanda is a 35-year-old woman.” An alleged juvenile victim, identified only as T.A., told authorities that he found Dorrough to be “pedophile-ish,” according to the incident report. It says T.A. reports that Amanda told him that she liked him and when he didn’t reciprocate the feeling, she got upset and “almost killed herself.” He alleged she touched him inappropriately and has been completely nude in front of him. T.A. also alleged that Dorrough provided him and other juveniles with marijuana. The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged her with one count of distributing a controlled substance (marijuana/cannabis) to a minor. She posted bail on May 14. This is not the first contact police have had with an adult pretending to be a minor. Since April 11, 2023, the police said they received 11 calls concerning Dorrough’s alleged conduct. Now it’s time for my new segment, the rundown… https://www.theblaze.com/news/church-that-runs-nashville-christian-school-where-mass-killing-occurred-moves-to-block-public-release-of-trans-shooters-manifesto Over the weekend, the Covenant Presbyterian Church and associated Covenant School filed a motion to block the public release of the manifesto of the transgender shooter who attacked the school, court documents revealed. Monday court filings revealed that the Covenant Church requested that the court prevent the documents from being released to the public, citing privacy concerns. The motion, filed against the Tennessee Firearms Association, and another filed against the Nashville Police Association stated that the manifesto "may include and/or relate to information owned by Covenant Church," such as "schematics of church facilities and confidential information" regarding employees. The church claimed the manifesto's release could "impair or impede its ability to protect its interests and the privacy of its employees." https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/24-republican-governors-commit-help-texas-defend-its-border Twenty-four Republican governors have responded to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for help to secure its border with Mexico. This is after at least more than 7 million people have been apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement since President Joe Biden’s been in office. Within the past few days, groups of tens of thousands of foreign nationals arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and in other areas of Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol agents, officials said. Abbott has already sent more than 10,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border as border communities continue to declare emergencies. The governors pledging support in addition to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is deploying troops and resources in the next 24 hours, include those of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. They pledged their support within hours of Abbott’s request for help Tuesday afternoon. https://www.dailyfetched.com/netflix-series-which-incorrectly-featured-cleopatra-as-black-woman-gets-worst-audience-score-in-tv-history/ Netflix Series Which Incorrectly Featured Cleopatra as Black Woman Gets Worst Audience Score in TV History As The Daily Fetched reported last month, the government of Egypt has slammed Netflix for the portrayal, accusing them of falsely rating history for politics. The secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said the Netflix show wrongly Featuring Cleopatra was a black woman represents a “falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy.” the show has done something I didn’t think was even possible. It has not just the lowest audience score in Netflix history; it has essentially the lowest audience score possible on Rotten Tomatoes, a 1%. Not a 10%, a 1%. (Update: It just ticked up to 2%. Still an unprecedented low) https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/05/west-virginia-coach-bob-huggins-hit-with-massive-fine-suspension-for-anti-gay-slur/ West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins Hit With Massive Fine, Suspension For Anti-Gay Slur While appearing on the May 8, 2023, episode of The Bill Cunningham Show, he used a homophobic slur and expressed anti-Catholic sentiments on more than one occasion. Following the interview’s airing, Bob Huggins subsequently issued an apology for what he had said, calling it “completely insensitive and abhorrent” and promised to accept any consequences. Amidst calls for Bob Huggins to be fired, the administration in Morgantown was faced with a tough decision. The comments were easily a terminable offense, but the school chose to blow the whistle on their head coach in a different manner. And while Huggy Bear will return to the bench next year, he’ll have a lot lighter wallet to sit on when he does. Huggins has agreed to a million-dollar salary reduction, a three-game suspension, and sensitivity training. Huggins’ suspension will take place during his team’s first three regular-season games. https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/05/former-raiders-wide-receiver-henry-ruggs-pleads-guilty-to-driving-drunk-156-mph-in-fatal-crash/ Former Raiders Wide Receiver Henry Ruggs Pleads Guilty To Driving Drunk 156 MPH In Fatal Crash Tina Tintor, 23, and her pet dog were killed in the crash. Following the accident, Ruggs registered a blood alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit. On May 10, the Raiders’ 2020 first-round NFL draft pick will avoid trial and is expected to be sentenced Aug. 9 to three to 10 years in state prison under terms of his plea deal with prosecutors. The minimum three-year sentence cannot be reduced by converting the year-and-a-half that he has already spent on house arrest applied as time already served. That means the once-promising wide receiver will go to prison and won’t be able to appeal his conviction or sentence. It’s a strict punishment, designed to hit first-time offenders harder than most traffic felonies. However, due to the events leading up to the incident, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson pushed for the maximum repercussions. https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/05/16/arnold-schwarzenegger-says-hes-done-with-terminator-admits-genisys-and-dark-fate-were-just-not-well-written/ In entertainment news… Terminator actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bluntly stated he’s done with the Terminator franchise moving forward while also admitting that both Genisys and Dark Fate “were just not well written.” Schwarzenegger conducted a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter discussing everything from the media slaughtering Last Action Hero due to his politics, his own personal growth and belief in God, his divorce, and his upcoming Netflix series FUBAR. https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/16/sports-illustrated-transgender-male-swimsuit-edition-magazine-cover/ Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition has put biological male Kim Petras in a two-piece swimsuit on its Swimsuit Edition magazine cover that was released Monday. Petras is a singer and songwriter who identifies as transgender. The grammy award winner was among the “28 incredible women” which Sports Illustrated celebrated in its recent Swimsuit Edition of the magazine.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, May 18th, 2023. PUB MEMBERSHIP PLUG: We have ourselves an exciting summer coming up here at CrossPolitic, and we want you to join us on this ride… First, we’re no longer calling it the Fight Laugh Feast club… it’s now called the Pub! Second, we are launching a new line of content, focused on family entertainment. Some of this content includes a new TV Show called This America, a cooking show, a hunting show, live streaming of our conferences, and our past conference talks, all bundled within our new polished Fight Laugh Feast App, dropping on June 1st. Head on over to fightlaughfeast.com, and join the Pub today… that’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-chairman-demands-irs-chief-answer-for-alleged-hunter-biden-probe-shakeup House Chairman Demands IRS Chief Answer For Alleged Hunter Biden Probe Shakeup A top House Republican wants the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to clarify what is happening with the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden after lawyers for a whistleblower within the agency claimed his team got removed from the case. Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) is requesting an “urgent briefing” from IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel’s office to address concerns about possible retaliation. “These allegations are extremely serious. Such retaliation not only discourages whistleblowers from coming forward to Congress but can also constitute an illegal violation of statutory protections for whistleblowers,” Smith wrote in a letter to Werfel on Tuesday. The letter was published by Just the News. Lawyers for an IRS criminal supervisory special agent wrote to Congress on Monday to say their client had just been told that “he and his entire investigative team are being removed” from the Hunter Biden probe and was “informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.” The “move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry,” lawyers Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote. The IRS agent, who has not been publicly identified, has sought to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress while raising concerns about lies and politics corrupting the criminal inquiry into Hunter Biden. After Biden’s lawyers met with Department of Justice officials late last month, sources told The Washington Post that potential charges for tax- and gun-related crimes may soon follow from Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Hunter Biden has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing, and his father, President Joe Biden, told MSNBC this month that his son has “done nothing wrong.” The IRS and Justice Department have so far refused to respond directly to the claim that the IRS supervisor and his entire team had been pulled from the case. The Justice Department has deferred to Weiss, whose office is so far not speaking out on the matter. Smith requested a briefing from Werfel’s office by 5 p.m. on Thursday. “Failure to provide forthcoming and transparent information regarding the actions taken against this employee by your agency will necessitate additional Committee action,” he warned. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-allows-illinois-assault-weapons-ban-take-effect Supreme Court allows Illinois 'assault weapons' ban to take effect The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Illinois' ban on "assault weapons" to take effect temporarily on Wednesday. The ruling allows the Illinois law to remain in effect while lower courts deliberate on its constitutional status. Wednesday's ruling comes after a gun shop owner in Illinois requested an injunction against the ban. The Illinois law bans the sale and new possession of semi-automatic "assault weapons." Those who already legally own such weapons would not have to turn them in. The law also bans the sale of large capacity magazines. The court did not offer an explanation for its Wednesday decision, and there were no noted dissents. The National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) a legal group associated with the gun store that requested an injunction, expressed disappointment with Wednesday's ruling. The group remains committed to fighting Illinois' ban, however. "Any action the Supreme Court would have taken at this point would only have been temporary and not on the merits of the case itself. Clearly, the Supreme Court is watching the issue closely and we look forward to appealing very soon on the merits if the 7th Circuit rules against us – as the signs currently point to," said Hannah Hill, Executive Director of the NFGR. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit is currently considering the case. The request for an injunction went to Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Illinois passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act on Jan. 10, banning the sale, purchase, manufacture, delivery and importation of "assault weapons" and large capacity magazines, with exceptions for law enforcement, military members and certain other professionals with firearm training. The legislation specifically names the AR-15 and AK-47 rifles and requires lawful owners of semi-automatic rifles to register their ownership with state police. The 7th Circuit has yet to issue a final ruling on the Illinois law, but its decision is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Judge Stephen Patrick McGlynn, a Trump appointee in Illinois' Southern District, had initially granted the injunction earlier in May. Appellate Judge Frank Easterbrook then reversed McGlynn's ruling, a decision that has now been supported by both the 7th Circuit and the Supreme Court. McGlynn's ruling had argued that Illinois' law infringed on the right to self-defense and, in some cases, "completely obliterated that right by criminalizing the purchase and the sale of more than 190 'arms.'" https://mynorthwest.com/3889164/rantz-pedophile-ish-adult-woman-identifies-15-year-old-boy-per-police-report/ ‘Pedophile-ish’ adult woman identifies as 15-year-old boy, per police report Police arrested a 35-year-old woman, who identifies as a 15-year-old boy, for harboring a teen runaway. Shouldn’t Washington Progressives defend this woman for being mis-aged? The police allege Amanda Dorrough was involved in a host of inappropriate behavior with juveniles, including getting naked in front of them, inappropriately touching one, and providing marijuana. One of her alleged victims characterized her as “pedophile-ish,” according to a police incident report, which doesn’t list the individual ages of the alleged victims. This incident highlights the dangers of identifying as something you’re not. But it also shows the left-wing hypocrisy on issues of identity. The vice principal at Port Angeles High School reported to police that two students reported that eight of their classmates were planning to run away to Seattle with Amanda Dorrough, according to the police report. It said there had been “several recent reports of Amanda Dorrough having runaway youth in her apartment.” An officer located several teen minors at the gully behind Dorrough’s apartment complex on May 4, 2023. Several of them were identified by the school as planning to run away, and Dorrough was allegedly aware that one was listed as a runaway, giving the officer probable cause to arrest her for Unlawful Harboring of a Minor. In addition to the minors, police found two empty condom packets and a bra at the gully. “While at the Clallam County Jail, Amanda told the staff that she identifies as a teenage boy,” the incident report states. “The previous week, she told [an officer] that she identifies as a teenage boy. The previous week she told [the officer] that she feels like teenagers ‘understand’ her better and that she ‘identifies’ better with teenage kids. Amanda is a 35-year-old woman.” An alleged juvenile victim, identified only as T.A., told authorities that he found Dorrough to be “pedophile-ish,” according to the incident report. It says T.A. reports that Amanda told him that she liked him and when he didn’t reciprocate the feeling, she got upset and “almost killed herself.” He alleged she touched him inappropriately and has been completely nude in front of him. T.A. also alleged that Dorrough provided him and other juveniles with marijuana. The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged her with one count of distributing a controlled substance (marijuana/cannabis) to a minor. She posted bail on May 14. This is not the first contact police have had with an adult pretending to be a minor. Since April 11, 2023, the police said they received 11 calls concerning Dorrough’s alleged conduct. Now it’s time for my new segment, the rundown… https://www.theblaze.com/news/church-that-runs-nashville-christian-school-where-mass-killing-occurred-moves-to-block-public-release-of-trans-shooters-manifesto Over the weekend, the Covenant Presbyterian Church and associated Covenant School filed a motion to block the public release of the manifesto of the transgender shooter who attacked the school, court documents revealed. Monday court filings revealed that the Covenant Church requested that the court prevent the documents from being released to the public, citing privacy concerns. The motion, filed against the Tennessee Firearms Association, and another filed against the Nashville Police Association stated that the manifesto "may include and/or relate to information owned by Covenant Church," such as "schematics of church facilities and confidential information" regarding employees. The church claimed the manifesto's release could "impair or impede its ability to protect its interests and the privacy of its employees." https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/24-republican-governors-commit-help-texas-defend-its-border Twenty-four Republican governors have responded to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for help to secure its border with Mexico. This is after at least more than 7 million people have been apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement since President Joe Biden’s been in office. Within the past few days, groups of tens of thousands of foreign nationals arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and in other areas of Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol agents, officials said. Abbott has already sent more than 10,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border as border communities continue to declare emergencies. The governors pledging support in addition to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is deploying troops and resources in the next 24 hours, include those of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. They pledged their support within hours of Abbott’s request for help Tuesday afternoon. https://www.dailyfetched.com/netflix-series-which-incorrectly-featured-cleopatra-as-black-woman-gets-worst-audience-score-in-tv-history/ Netflix Series Which Incorrectly Featured Cleopatra as Black Woman Gets Worst Audience Score in TV History As The Daily Fetched reported last month, the government of Egypt has slammed Netflix for the portrayal, accusing them of falsely rating history for politics. The secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said the Netflix show wrongly Featuring Cleopatra was a black woman represents a “falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy.” the show has done something I didn’t think was even possible. It has not just the lowest audience score in Netflix history; it has essentially the lowest audience score possible on Rotten Tomatoes, a 1%. Not a 10%, a 1%. (Update: It just ticked up to 2%. Still an unprecedented low) https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/05/west-virginia-coach-bob-huggins-hit-with-massive-fine-suspension-for-anti-gay-slur/ West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins Hit With Massive Fine, Suspension For Anti-Gay Slur While appearing on the May 8, 2023, episode of The Bill Cunningham Show, he used a homophobic slur and expressed anti-Catholic sentiments on more than one occasion. Following the interview’s airing, Bob Huggins subsequently issued an apology for what he had said, calling it “completely insensitive and abhorrent” and promised to accept any consequences. Amidst calls for Bob Huggins to be fired, the administration in Morgantown was faced with a tough decision. The comments were easily a terminable offense, but the school chose to blow the whistle on their head coach in a different manner. And while Huggy Bear will return to the bench next year, he’ll have a lot lighter wallet to sit on when he does. Huggins has agreed to a million-dollar salary reduction, a three-game suspension, and sensitivity training. Huggins’ suspension will take place during his team’s first three regular-season games. https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/05/former-raiders-wide-receiver-henry-ruggs-pleads-guilty-to-driving-drunk-156-mph-in-fatal-crash/ Former Raiders Wide Receiver Henry Ruggs Pleads Guilty To Driving Drunk 156 MPH In Fatal Crash Tina Tintor, 23, and her pet dog were killed in the crash. Following the accident, Ruggs registered a blood alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit. On May 10, the Raiders’ 2020 first-round NFL draft pick will avoid trial and is expected to be sentenced Aug. 9 to three to 10 years in state prison under terms of his plea deal with prosecutors. The minimum three-year sentence cannot be reduced by converting the year-and-a-half that he has already spent on house arrest applied as time already served. That means the once-promising wide receiver will go to prison and won’t be able to appeal his conviction or sentence. It’s a strict punishment, designed to hit first-time offenders harder than most traffic felonies. However, due to the events leading up to the incident, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson pushed for the maximum repercussions. https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/05/16/arnold-schwarzenegger-says-hes-done-with-terminator-admits-genisys-and-dark-fate-were-just-not-well-written/ In entertainment news… Terminator actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bluntly stated he’s done with the Terminator franchise moving forward while also admitting that both Genisys and Dark Fate “were just not well written.” Schwarzenegger conducted a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter discussing everything from the media slaughtering Last Action Hero due to his politics, his own personal growth and belief in God, his divorce, and his upcoming Netflix series FUBAR. https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/16/sports-illustrated-transgender-male-swimsuit-edition-magazine-cover/ Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition has put biological male Kim Petras in a two-piece swimsuit on its Swimsuit Edition magazine cover that was released Monday. Petras is a singer and songwriter who identifies as transgender. The grammy award winner was among the “28 incredible women” which Sports Illustrated celebrated in its recent Swimsuit Edition of the magazine.

Last updated : 2023.05.10 The latest news from home and abroad, with a close eye on Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula in particular

From the September/October 2021 edition of The Scottish Rite Journal. Any accompanying photographs or citations for this article can be found in the corresponding print edition.

Susan Hayward, associate director of the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative at Harvard Divinity School, leads the conversation on religious literacy in international affairs.   FASKIANOS: Welcome to the final session of the Fall 2022 CFR Academic Webinar Series. I'm Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach here at CFR. Today's discussion is on the record, and the video and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/Academic if you would like to share it with your classmates or colleagues. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. We're delighted to have Susan Hayward with us to discuss religious literacy in international affairs. Reverend Hayward is the associate director for the Religious Literacy and Professions Initiative at Harvard Divinity School. From 2007 to 2021, she worked for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), with focus on Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Columbia, and Iraq. And most recently serving as senior advisor for Religion and Inclusive Societies, and as a fellow in Religion and Public Life. During her tenure at USIP, Reverend Hayward also coordinated an initiative exploring the intersection of women, religion, conflict, and peacebuilding, partnership with the Berkley Center at Georgetown University and the World Faith Development Dialogue. And she coedited a book on the topic entitled Women, Religion and Peacebuilding: Illuminating the Unseen. Reverend Hayward has also taught at Georgetown and George Washington Universities and serves as a regular guest lecturer and trainer at the Foreign Service Institute. And she's also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. So, Susan, thank you very much for being with us today. Can you begin by explaining why religious literacy is so important for understanding international affairs? HAYWARD: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Irina. And thanks to the Council on Foreign Relations for inviting me to be a part of this webinar. And I really appreciate you and the invitation, and I appreciate all of you who have joined us today, taking time out of what I know is a busy time of year, as we hurdle towards final exams and cramming everything into these last weeks of the semester. So it's great to be with all of you. I am going to be—in answering that broad question that Irina offered, I'm going to be drawing on my work. As Irina said, I worked at the—I work now at Harvard Divinity School's Religion and Public Life Program. And what we seek to do here is to do here is to advance the public understanding of religion in service of a just world at peace. And we do that, in part, by working with professionals in governments and foreign policy, and in the humanitarian sector, as well as working with our students who are seeking to go into vocations in those professional spheres. And then my fourteen years with the Religion and Inclusive Societies Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. So I'll say a little bit more about both of those as we go along, and those experiences, but I'm also happy to answer any questions about either of those programs when we turn to the Q&A. And I should say that I'm going to be focusing as well—given that a lot of you all who are joining us today are educators yourselves or are students—I'm going to be focusing in particular on how we teach religious literacy within international affairs. So I wanted to begin with the definition of religious literacy, because this is a term that is increasingly employed as part of a rallying cry that's based on a particular diagnosis. And the diagnosis is that there has been insufficient deep consideration of the multiple and complex dimensions of religion and culture that impact international affairs at all levels across the world. And that the result of that lack of a complex understanding of religion in this arena has been the—the hamstringing of the ability of the international system to operate in ways that are effective in bringing justice, peace, democracy, human rights, and development. So I'm going to circle back to that diagnosis in a bit. But first I want to jump to the prescription that's offered, which is to enhance religious literacy using various resources, trainings, courses, and ways that are relevant for foreign policymakers and those working across the international system, as well as those students who are in the schools of international affairs, or other schools and planning to go into this space, into this profession. So the definition that we use here at Harvard Divinity School—and this is one that has been adopted by the American Academy of Religion, which is the scholarly guild for religious studies—defines it in this way: Religious literacy is the—entails the ability to discern and analyze the fundamental intersections of religion and social, political, and cultural life through multiple lenses. So specifically, one who is religious literate will possess a basic understanding of different religious traditions, including sort of fundamental beliefs and practices and contemporary manifestation of different religious traditions, as well as how they arose out of and continue to be shaped by particular social, historical, and cultural contexts. And the ability to discern and explore the religious dimensions of political, social, and cultural expressions across time and space. So this gets broken down in two different ways—three, according to me. But that definition focuses on two in particular. One is often referred to as the confessional approach or the substantive approach. So that's looking at understanding different religious traditions and their manifestations in different places. That's understanding something fundamental about the difference between Theravada Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism, for example. Or how Islam is practiced, and dominantly practiced in Nigeria, versus in North America, for example. The second approach is the religious studies approach. Which is sometimes also called the functional approach. So that's the ability to be able to analyze the ways in which religions in complex ways are really intersecting with social, and political, and economic life, even if not explicitly so. But in implicit, embedded ways shaping different kinds of economic systems, social systems, and political systems, and being able to analyze and see that, and so ask particular questions and consider different kinds of policy solutions—diagnoses and solutions that can take that into account. And then finally, I add the religious engagement approach. That particularly comes out of my work when I was at USIP and working with foreign policymakers in the State Department and elsewhere. To some extent, overseas as well, those in the diplomatic sector. Which I understand is determining whether, when, and how to engage with specifically defined religious institutions, actors, and interests, including on issues related, for example, with religious freedom, in ways that are inclusive, just, strategic, and, importantly for the U.S. context, legal. So abiding by the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Now, all three types of religious literacy defined here depend on three principles or ideas. So the first is that they understand religions as lived, as constituted by humans who are constantly interpreting and reinterpreting their religious traditions. This means that as a result they are internally diverse, sometimes very internally contradictory. They'll have different religious interpretations with respect to particular human rights issues, particular social issues, issues related to gender, and so on and so forth. That they change over time. That that sort of complex interpretive process that is going on within religious traditions also leads to kind of larger normative changes within religious traditions over history in different temporal contexts. And that they're culturally embedded. So as the question I was asking earlier, how is Islam, as it's understood and practiced in Nigeria, different from how it's understood and practiced in North America, for example. There are ways in which the particular religious interpretations and practices of a tradition are always going to be entangled with specific cultural contexts in ways that are near impossible to disentangle at times. And that means that they just manifest differently in different places. And this—these ideas of religion as lived pushes against an understanding of religions as being static or being monolithic. So that then leads us to ensure that there's never—that it's always going to be a problem to make sweeping claims about entire religious traditions because you'll always find somebody or some community within those religious traditions that don't believe or practice according to the claim that you just made about it. And that applies to situations of violent conflict and with respect to human rights, on global issues like climate and migration. This idea, the internal diversity in particular, is what is at play when you hear the phrase “Ambivalence of the Sacred” that was coined by Scott Appleby in his—in this very influential book by the same name. I'll throw in here a quote from Scott Appleby from that book, this idea that religions are always going to show up in ambivalent or contradictory ways across different places, but also sometimes in the very same contexts. So I think we can see that, for example, in the U.S. right now, and that there's no one, let's say, religious position with respect to reproductive rights, for example. There's a great deal of internal plurality and ambivalence that exists across religious traditions and interpretations within the Christian tradition and beyond about that specific issue. Moreover then, what religion is, what is considered religious, what is recognized as religious and what isn't, and how it manifests in different contexts depends on just a complex array of intersecting factors. I'm going to come back to—that's kind of meaty phrase just to throw out there, so I'm going to come back to that in a minute. So the second principle or idea of religious literacy that I want to highlight here is the idea of right-sizing religion. This is a phrase that Peter Mandaville used quite a bit when he was in the State Department's Religion and Global Affairs Office under the Obama administration and has written about. So I'll turn you to that article of his to understand more about it. But the central idea is that we don't want to over nor underemphasize religion's role in any given context. So just by way of a quick example, in looking at the Rohingya crisis or the ethnic cleansing of Rakhine State in Myanmar, one could not say it was all about religion, that it was about Buddhist nationalists who are anti-Muslim wanting to destroy a particular religious community. Nor could you say it had nothing to do with religion, because there were these religious dimensions that were at play in driving the violence towards the Rohingya and the larger communities' acceptance of that violence against the Rohingya community. But if you were to overemphasize the religious roles, the religious dimensions of that crisis, then your policy solutions—you might look at religious freedom tools and resources to be able to address the situation. And that would address the situation in part, but obviously there were other economic and political factors that were at play in leading to the Rohingya crisis. And including certain economic interests with oil pipelines that were being constructed across lands that the Rohingya were living on in Rakhine state, or the political conflict that was taking place between the military and the National League of Democracy, and so on. So addressing the crisis holistically and sustainably requires that we right-size the role that religion is playing in that particular crisis. And that goes across the board, in looking at conflicts and looking at the role of religion in climate, and addressing climate collapse, and so on and so forth. We need to always neither under nor overestimate the role that religion is playing in driving some of these issues and as a solution in addressing some of these issues. OK. So with that definition and principles of religious literacy in mind, I want to go back to the diagnosis that I gave at the—that I mentioned at the top, for which religious literacy is offered as a solution. The diagnosis, if you remember, was that there's been insufficient consideration given to the multiple and complex dimensions of religion and culture that impact international affairs. So I'm going to demonstrate what it means to apply the religious studies approach to religious literacy, or the functional approach to religious literacy, to help us understand why that might be. And remember, the religious studies approach is seeking to discern and explore the religious dimensions of political, social, and cultural expressions and understandings across time and place. So this approach, in trying to answer that question and consider that diagnosis, it would invite us to look historically at the development of the modern international legal and political systems in a particular time and place in Western Europe, during the European Enlightenment. As many of you may well know, this came about in the aftermath of the so-called confessional or religious wars. Those were largely understood to have pitted Protestants against Catholics, though it's more complicated in reality. But broadly, that's the story. And the modern state, on which the international system was built, sought to create a separation between religious and state authority. For the first time in European history, this separation between religious and state authority that became more rigid and enforced over time, in the belief that this was necessary in order to ensure peace and prosperity moving forward, to bring an end to these wars, and to ensure that the state would be better able to deal with the reality of increasing religious pluralism within Europe. So this was essentially the idea of secular political structures that was born in that time and place. And these secular political structures were considered to be areligious or neutral towards religion over time, again. In the process of legitimating this sort of revolutionary new model of the secular modern state, and in the process of creating this demarcated distinction that had not previously existed—at least, not a neat distinction of the secular or the political authority and the religious—the religious authority—there was an assertion as part of that ideologically legitimate and support that. There was an assertion of the secular as rational, ordered, and associated with all of the good stuff of modernity. Meanwhile, the religious was defined in counter-distinction as a threat to the secular. It was irrational, backwards, a threat to the emerging order. A not-subtle presumption in all of this is that the new modern state and the international system would serve as a bulwark against archaic, dangerous, religious, and other traditionally cultural, in particular, worldviews and practices in—it would be a bulwark against that, and a support for this neutral and considered universal international law and system—secular system. Now, I realize I'm making some, like, huge, broad historical sweeps here, given the short amount of time I have. But within that story I just told, there is a lot more complexity that one can dig into. But part of what I seek to do in offering religious literacy in international relations theory and practice to students, and to practitioners in this realm, is to help those operating in the system think through how that historically and contextually derived conception of religion and the co-constitutive conception of secularism continues to operate within and shape how we interpret and respond to global events within the system. And this occurs—I see this happening in two dominant ways. One is, first, in thinking about religion as a distinct sphere of life that can be disentangled entirely from the political, when in reality religion is deeply entangled with the political, and vice versa. And scholars like Talal Asad and Elizabeth Shakman Hurd have done really great work to show how even our understanding of the secular and secular norms and so on is shaped by Protestant Christian commitments and understandings. And saying within that, our understanding of what religion is—like, a focus on belief, for example, which has been codified in a lot of religious freedom law, as part of the international system—again, tends to emphasize Protestant Christian understandings of what religion is and how it functions. So that's the first reason for doing that. And then second, in understanding religion to be a threat to modernity, and sometimes seeing and responding to it as such rather than taking into account its complexity, its ambivalence, the ways in which it has been a powerful force for good, and bad, and everything in between, and in ways that sometimes let the secular off the hook for ways that it has driven forms of violence, colonialism, gender injustice, global inequalities, the climate crisis, and so on. So those are the consequences of when we don't have that religious literacy, of those potential pitfalls. And, on that second point, of the ways in which religion continues to be defined in ways that can overemphasize its negative aspect at time within the international system, I commend the work of William Cavanaugh in particular and his book, The Myth of Religious Violence to dig into that a little bit more. So what we're seeking to do, in bringing that kind of religious literacy to even thinking about the international system and its norms and how it operates, is to raise the consciousness of what Donna Haraway calls the situatedness of the international system, the embedded agendas and assumptions that inevitably operate within it. And it invites students to be skeptical of any claims to the systems neutrality about religion, how it's defined, and how it's responded to. So I recognize that that approach is very deconstructionist work. It's informed by, post-colonial critical theory, which reflects where religious studies has been for the last couple decades. But importantly, it doesn't, nor shouldn't ideally, lead students to what is sometimes referred to as analysis paralysis, when there's sort of groundedness within hypercritical approaches, only looking at the complexity to a degree that it's hard to understand how to move forward then to respond constructively to these concerns. Rather, the purpose is to ensure that they're more conscious of these underlying embedded norms or assumptions so that they can better operate within the system in just ways, not reproducing forms of Eurocentrism, Christo-centrism, or forms of cultural harm. So the hope is that it helps students to be able to better critique the ways in in which religion and secularism is being—are being discussed, analyzed, or engaged within international affairs, and then be able to enter into those kinds of analysis, policymaking, program development, and so on, in ways that can help disrupt problematic assumptions and ensure that the work of religious literacy or religious engagement is just. So I'm just going to offer one example of how this kind of critical thinking and critical—the way of thinking complexly about religion in this space can be fruitful. And it speaks back to one of the things Irina noted about my biography, the work I had done looking at women and religion and peacebuilding. So while I was at USIP, in that program, we spent several years looking specifically and critically at forms of theory and practice, and this subfield that had emerged of religious peacebuilding. And we were looking at it through the lens of gender justice, asking how religion was being defined in the theory or engaged in the peacebuilding practice and policy in ways that unintentionally reinforced gender injustice. And what we found is that there were assumptions operating about certain authorities—often those at the top of institutions, which tended to be older, well-educated men—representing entire traditions. Assumptions made about their social and political power as well. When in reality, we knew that those of different genders, and ages, and socioeconomic locations were doing their own work of peacebuilding within these religious landscapes, and had different experiences of violence, and so different prescriptions for how to build peace. So we began to ask questions, like whose peace is being built in this field of religious peacebuilding that was emerging? And the work that USIP had been doing in this space of religious peacebuilding? Whose stories were being left out in the dominant analyses or narratives in the media about religious dimensions of certain conflicts, and what are the consequences of that? So these kinds of questions are grounded in the recognition of, again, the internal diversity, the change over time of religious traditions. And they help ensure that analysis and policy actions aren't unintentionally reproducing forms of harm or structural violence. I'm almost done. So please do bring your questions so that we can engage in a discussion with each other. But I wanted to end by offering a couple examples of resources that I think might be helpful to both enhancing your own religious literacy but also as potential pedagogical tools in this work. So first is Religious Peacebuilding Action Guides that were produced by the U.S. Institute of Peace, in partnership with Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. There's four guides. They're all available for free online. Once I close down my PowerPoint, I'm going to throw the links for all of these things I'm mentioning into the chat box so you can all see it. But one of the things—I'm just going to dive in a little bit to the analysis guide, because one of the things that I think is useful in helping, again, to help us think a little bit more complexly about religion, is that it takes you through this process of thinking about the different dimensions of religion as defined here—ideas, community, institutions, symbols and practices, and spirituality. So it's already moving beyond just an idea of religious institutions, for example. And it takes you through doing a conflict assessment, and asking the questions related to religion with respect to the drivers of the conflict and the geographic location and peacebuilding initiatives, to help you craft a peacebuilding—a religious peacebuilding initiative. I have used this framework as a means to help students think through the ambivalence of religion as it manifests in different places. So I have an example there of a question that I have sometimes used that has been fruitful in thinking about how these five different dimensions of religion have manifested in American history in ways that either have advanced forms of racialized violence and injustice or that have served as drivers of peace and justice. And there's lots of examples across all of those dimensions of the ways in which religion has shown up in ambivalent ways in that respect. There's also—USIP's team has produced a lot of amazing things. So I'll put some links to some of their other resources in there too, which includes they're doing religious landscape mappings of conflict-affected states. They have an online course on religious engagement in peacebuilding that's free to take. Another resource is from here, at Harvard Divinity School in the Religion in Public Life Program. And we provide a series of case studies that is for educators. It's primarily created educators in secondary schools and in community colleges, but I think could easily be adapted and used in other kinds of four-year universities or other kinds of professional settings, where you're doing trainings or workshops, or even just holding discussions on religious literacy. So there's a series of kind of short, concise, but dense, case studies that are looking at different religions as they intersect with a host of issues, including peace, climate, human rights, gender issues. And it says something about that case study here—the example that I have here is the conflict in Myanmar, pre-coup, the conflicts that were occurring between religious communities, and particularly between Buddhist communities and Muslim communities. And then there's a set of discussion questions there that really help to unearth some of those lessons about internal diversity and about the ways in which religious intersects with state policies and other kinds of power interests and agendas—political power interests and agendas. And then also, at our program, Religion and Public Life, we have a number of courses that are available online, one that's more on the substantive religious literacy side, looking at different religious traditions through their scriptures. Another course, it's on religion, conflict and peace, all of which are free and I'm going to throw them into the chat box in a moment. And we also have ongoing workshops for educators on religious literacy, a whole network with that. So you're welcome to join that network if you'd like. And then finally, we have a one-year master's of religion and public life program for people in professions—quote/unquote, “secular” professions—who want to come and think about—they're encountering religion in various ways in their work in public health, or in their work in journalism. And so they want to come here for a year and to think deeply about that, and bring something back into their profession. And then the final thing, and then I'm going to be done, and this one is short, is the Transatlantic Policy for Religion and Diplomacy, which brings together point people from—who work on religion across different foreign ministries in North America and Europe. And their website, religionanddiplomacy.org, has a lot of really great resources that—reports on various thematic issues, but also looking at religion in situ in a number of different geographic locations. They have these strategic notes, that's what I have the image of here, that talk about, at a particular time, what are some of the big stories related to religion and international affairs overseas. And they list a number of other religious literacy resources on their website as well. So I commend all of that to. And with that, let me stop share, throw some links into the chat box, and hear responses and questions from folks. FASKIANOS: Wonderful. Thank you for that. That was terrific. And we are going to send out—as a follow-up, we'll send out a link to this webinar, maybe a link to your presentation, as well as the resources that you drop into the chat. So if you don't get it here, you will have another bite at the apple, so to speak. (Gives queuing instructions.) So I'm going to go first to the written question from Meredith Coon, who's an undergraduate student at Lewis University: What would be a solution for India to have many different religions live in peace with each other, especially since most religions share a lot of the same core values of how people should live? And how can society prevent the weaponization of religion, while still allowing broad religious freedom? HAYWARD: All right. Thank you for the question, Meredith. And one thing just to note, by way of housekeeping, I'm not sure I can actually share the links with all of the participants. So we'll make sure that you get all of those links in that follow-up note, as Irina said. So, Meredith, I think a couple things. One, I just want to note that one of the assumptions within your question itself is that folks of different religious persuasions are constantly at conflict with one another. And of course, there is a reality of there is increasing religious tensions around the world, communal tensions of many different sorts, ethnic, and religious, and racial, and so on, across the world. And the threat to democracy and increasing authoritarianism has sometimes exacerbated those kinds of tensions. But there's also a lot of examples presently and historically of religiously incredibly diverse communities living in ways that are harmonious, that are just, and so on. So I think it is important—there's a lot of work that supports forms of interfaith dialogue and intra-faith dialogue. And I think that that work is—will always be important, to be able to recognize shared values and shared commitments, and in order to acknowledge and develop respect and appreciation for differences as well on different topics—again, both within religious traditions and across them. But I think that dialogue alone, frankly, is not enough. Because so often these tensions and these conflicts are rooted in structural violence and discrimination and concerns, economic issues, and political issues, and so on. And so I think part of that work, it's not just about building relationships kind of on a horizontal level, but also about ensuring that state policies and practice, economic policies and practices, and so on, are not operating in ways that disadvantage some groups over others, on a religious side, on a gender side, on a racial side, and so on. So it's about ensuring as well inclusive societies and a sense as well of inclusive political systems and inclusive economic systems. And doing that work in kind of integrated ways is going to be critical for ensuring that we're able to address some of these rising forms of violations of religious freedom. Thanks again for the question. FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question from Clemente Abrokwaa. Clemente, do you want to ask your question? Associate teaching professor of African studies at Pennsylvania State University? I'm going to give you a moment, so we can hear some voices. Q: OK. Thank you very much. Yeah, my question is I'm wondering how peacebuilding, in terms of religious literacy, how would you look at—or, how does it look at those that are termed fundamentalists? How their actions and beliefs, especially their beliefs, those of us—there are those outside who perceive them as being destructive. So then to that person, is their beliefs are good. So they fight for, just like anyone will fight for, what, a freedom fighter or something, or a religious fighter in this case. So I'm just wondering how does religious literacy perceive that in terms of peacebuilding? HAYWARD: Right. Thank you for the question, Professor Abrokwaa. I really appreciate it. So a couple things. One, first of all, with respect to—just going back, again, to the ambivalence of the sacred—recognizing that that exists. That there are particular religious ideas, commitments, groups, practices that are used in order to fuel and legitimate forms of violence. And I use violence in a capacious understanding of it, that includes both direct forms of violence but also structural and cultural forms of violence, to use the framework of Johan Galtung. And so that needs to be addressed as part of the work to build peace, is recognizing religious and nonreligious practices and ideas that are driving those forms of violence. But when it comes to religious literacy to understand that, a couple ways in which the principles apply. One is, first, not assuming that their—that that is the only or exclusive religious interpretation. And I think sometimes well-meaning folks end up reifying this idea that that is the exclusive religious interpretation or understanding when they're—when they're offering sometimes purely nonreligious responses to it. And what I mean by this, for example, let's look at Iran right now. I read some analyses where it's saying that, the Iranian authorities and the Ayatollahs who comprise the Supreme Council and so on, that they—that they define what Islamic law is. And there's not a qualification of that. And in the meantime, the protesters are sort of defined as, like, secular, or they're not—the idea that they could be driven by certain—their own Islamic interpretations that are just as authoritative to them, and motivating them, and shaping them is critical. So being able to recognize the internal plurality and not unintentionally reify that particular interpretation of a religious tradition as exclusive or authoritative. Rather, it's one interpretation of a religious tradition with particular consequences that are harmful for peace. And there are multiple other interpretations of that religious tradition that are operating within that context. And then a second way that the religious literacy would apply would also look at the ways in which sometimes the diagnoses of extremist groups that are operating within a religious frame doesn't right-size the role of religion in that. It sometimes overemphasizes the religious commitments, and drives, and so on. And so, again, we need to right-size. There are religious motivations. And we need to take those seriously. And we need to develop solutions for addressing that. And there are economic interests. And there are political interests. So there's a whole host of factors that are motivating and inspiring and legitimating those groups. And being able to take into account that more holistic picture and ensure that your responses to it are going to be holistic. And then one final thing I want to say that's not with respect to religious literacy as much—or, maybe it is—but it's more just about my experience of work at USIP, is that—and it kind of goes back to the question that Meredith asked before you about religious harmony between multireligious relations and harmony, is that I sometimes finds that engaging with groups that are defining themselves and motivating themselves with a primary grounding in religion, that they're not going to participate generally in interfaith initiatives, and so on, right? And so that's where some of that intra-faith work can be particularly important. I saw this, for example, in Myanmar, when their—when previously the movement that was known as Ma Ba Tha, which was defined by some as a Buddhist nationalist anti-Muslim kind of Buddhist supremacist group. The folks who were most successful in being able to engage in a values-grounded conversation with members of the organization were other Buddhist monks, who were able to speak within the language of meaning and to draw attention to, like, different understandings of religious teachings or religious principles with respect to responding to minority groups, and so on. So I think that's in particular, with addressing those groups, that's where that intra-religious work or intra-communal work can be really critical, in addition to some of that cross-communal work. FASKIANOS: Thank you. So we've seen, obviously, the war in Ukraine and how Christian Orthodoxy is being—or, Greek Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and the division. Can you talk a little bit about that and how it's playing out with Russian identity? HAYWARD: Yeah, absolutely. There's been some really good analysis and work out there of the religious dimensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. So again, the sort of dominant story that you see, which reflects a reality, is that there are ways in which political and religious actors and interests are aligning on the Russian side in order to advance particular narratives and that legitimate the invasion of Ukraine that—that are about sort of fighting back against an understanding of the West as being counter to traditional and religious values. Those are some of the religious understandings. And then that concern gets linked then to the establishment of an independent or autocephalous Orthodox Church within the Ukraine context. And you see—in particular, what's pointed to often is the relationship between Patriarch Kirill in the Russian Orthodox Church, and Putin, and the ways in which they've sort of reinforced each other's narrative and offered support to it. And there's really great analysis out there and stories that have been done about that. And that needs to be taken into account in responding to the situation and, I would say, that some of the religious literacy principles would then ask us to think about other ways in which religion is showing up within that, that go beyond the institution too. So a lot of the news stories that I've seen, for example, have focused exclusively on—sometimes—exclusively on the clerics within the Orthodox Church and their positions, either in support of or in opposition to the war. But in reality, on the ground there's a lot more complexity that's taken place, and a lot more of the ways in which different individuals and communities on both the Russia and the Ukraine side are responding to the violence, to the displacements, and so on. It paints a more complex and, I think, fascinating story, frankly. And sort of illuminates ways forward in support of peacebuilding. For example, there's ways in which different kinds of ritual practices within Orthodoxy have served as a source of support and constancy to folks who are living in this situation of insecurity and displacement, in ways that have been helpful. There are, of course, other religious traditions that exist within both Ukraine and Russia that are operating and responding in different ways. Like, the Jewish community in Ukraine and the Catholic—the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine. So looking at those complexities both within Orthodoxy, but there's many different ways that Orthodox Christians are responding in both countries. There's not one story of Orthodox Christianity and the invasion of Ukraine. But also looking at some of the religious diversity within it. And that helps to ensure, like I said, one, that we're developing solutions that are also recognizing the ways in which religion at a very ground level is serving as a source of support, humanitarian relief, social, psychological support to people on the ground, as well as the ways in which it's sort of manifesting ambivalently and complexly in ways that are driving some of the violence as well. And it also helps to push back against any sort of a narrative that this is about a Russian religion—on the Russian side—this is about a religious war against a secular, non-religious West or Ukraine, right? That that goes back to what I was talking about with the historical sort of contingencies that are baked into this system a little bit. And in defining it in that way, Russia's religious and its motivations are religious, Ukraine's not religious, that's both not true—(laughs)—because there's many religious folks within the Ukraine and within the West generally, but also feeds—it feeds the very narrative that Putin and Kirill are giving of a secular West that is anti-religion, that is in opposition to Russian traditional values. FASKIANOS: It seems like there needs to be some training of journalists too to have religious literacy, in the same way that we're talking about media literacy. HAYWARD: Yeah. FASKIANOS: Probably should be introduced as well. (Laughs.) HAYWARD: Yeah, Irina, it's funny, we did—one of my students actually did a kind of mapping and analysis of stories about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the religious dimensions of it. And she noted that there was—for example, it was—almost always it was male clerics who were being quoted. So there was very little that was coming from other gendered perspectives and experiences on the ground, lay folks and so on. And again, for that—for that very reason it's sort of—because we know so many policymakers and international analysis are depending on these kinds of media stories, I worry that it creates a blinder to potential opportunities for different kinds of ways of addressing needs and partners for addressing needs on the ground. FASKIANOS: Great. Thank you. I'm going to go next to Liam Wall, an undergraduate student at Loyola Marymount University: With so much diversity within religions itself, how can we avoid the analysis paralysis you mentioned and take in as many unique perspectives as possible, without letting that stand in the way of progress? How does one know that they have enough religious literacy and can now become an effective practitioner? HAYWARD: Well, OK, the bad news is that you will never have enough religious literacy. (Laughs.) This is a process, not an end. There are scholars here at Harvard who have been studying one particular sect of a particular religious tradition for their entire adult lives, and they would still say that they are students of those traditions, because they're so complex. Because so many of these traditions are composed of a billion people or just—just 500 million people. But that means that there's going to be an incredible diversity to explore. And so that's the bad news. But the good news is, one, like, first take the burden off of your shoulders of having to be an expert on any one particular religious tradition, in order to be able to help to develop and enhance your own religious literacy, and those of others, and to operate in ways that reflect the principles of religious literacy, is the good news. As well as there are many different kinds of resources that you can turn to in order to understand, for example if you're going to be working in a particular geographic location, scholarship, people you can speak to in order to begin to understand at least some of the specific manifestations and practices, and some of the disputes and diversity that exists within that particular country or geographic location across religious traditions. But, secondly, I would say, it's almost more important than—like, the substance is important. But what's just as important, if not more important, is understanding what kinds of questions to be asking, and to be curious about these religious questions and their intersection with the political and social. So we sometimes say that religious literacy is about developing habits of mind in how we think about these religious questions, and what kinds of questions we ask about religion. So it's about developing that kind of a reflex to be able to kind of see what's underneath some of the analysis that you're seeing that might be relevant to religion or that might be advancing particularly problematic understandings of religion, or reinforcing binaries like the secular and the religious and so on. And that's just as—just as important. So the extent to which you're continuing to, like, hone those—that way of thinking, and those habits of mind, that will set you up well for then going into this space and being able to ask those particular questions with respect to whatever issues you're focusing on, or whatever geographic location you're looking at. FASKIANOS: Great. I'm going to go next to Mohamed Bilal, a postgraduate student at the Postgraduate Institute of Management in Sri Lanka. HAYWARD: Yay! FASKIANOS: Yes. How does sectarianism influence our literacy? In turn, if we are influenced by sectarianism, then would we be illiterate of the religion but literate of the sect? Thus, wouldn't such a religious literacy perpetuate sectarianism? HAYWARD: Thank you for the question, Mohamed. It's—I miss Sri Lanka. I have not been there in too long, and I look forward to going back at some point. So I would say sectarianism, in the sense of—so, there's both religious sects, right? There's the existence of different kinds of religious traditions, interpretive bodies, jurisprudential bodies in the case of Islam. And then broader, different schools or denominations. The term that's used depends on the different religious tradition. And that reflects internal diversity. Sectarianism, with the -ism on the end of it, gets back to the same kinds of questions that I think Professor Clemente was asking with respect to fundamentalism. That's about being sort of entrenched in an idea that your particular religious understanding and practice is the normative, authentic, and pure practice, and that all others are false in some ways. That is a devotional claim or—what I mean by a devotional claim, is that is a knowledge claim that is rooted within a particular religious commitment and understanding. And so religious literacy in this case would—again, it's the principles of internal diversity, recognizing that different sects and different bodies of thought and practice are going to exist within religious traditions, but then also ensuring that any claim to be normative or to be orthodox by any of these different interpretive bodies is always a claim that is rooted within that religious tradition that we sometimes say is authentic. It's authentic to those communities and what they believe. But it's not exclusive. It's not the only claim that exists within that religious tradition more broadly. And the concern is about—sects are fine. Different denominations, different interpretative bodies are fine and a good and sort of natural thing, given the breadth and the depth of these religious traditions. The problem is that -ism part of it, when it becomes a source of competition or even potentially violence between groups. And so that's what needs to be interrogated and understood. FASKIANOS: So another question from John Francis, who's the senior associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of Utah: If you were training new diplomats in other countries to be stationed in the United States, where a wide range of religious traditions thrive, how would you prepare them for dealing with such religious variation? HAYWARD: The same way I would—and thank you, again, for the question. The same way that I would with any other diplomats going to any other—the same way I do with foreign service officers at the Foreign Service Institute, who are going to work overseas. I would—I would invite them to think about their own assumptions and their own worldviews and their own understandings of what religion is, based on their own contexts that they grew up in. So how that shapes how they understand what religion is, in the ways I was speaking to before. So for example, in Protestant Christianity, we tend to emphasize belief as the sort of core principle of religious traditions. But other religious traditions might emphasize different forms of practice or community as sort of the central or principal factor. So recognizing your own situatedness and the ways in which you understand and respond to different religious traditions. I would invite those who are coming to work here to read up on the historical developments and reality of different religious communities and nonreligious communities in the U.S. and encourage them to look not just at some of the—what we call the world religions, or the major religions, but also at indigenous traditions and different practices within different immigrant communities. And I would have them look at the historical relationship between the state and different religious communities as well, including the Mormon tradition there in Utah, and how the experience of, for example, the Mormon community has shaped its own relationship with the state, with other religious communities on a whole host of issues as well. And then I would encourage—just as I was saying earlier—no diplomat going to the U.S. is going to become an expert on the religious context in the U.S., because it's incredibly complex, just like anywhere else in the world. But to be able to have sort of a basic understanding to be able to then continue to ask the kinds of questions that are going to help to understand how any political action is taken or response to any policy issues kind of inevitably bumps up against particular religious or cultural commitments and values. FASKIANOS: Great. I'm going to take the next question from Will Carpenter, director of private equity principal investments at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and also taking a course at the Harvard Extension School. HAYWARD: Hey! FASKIANOS: I'm going to ask the second part of Will's question. How will the current polarized domestic debate regarding U.S. history, which is often colored by the extremes—as a force for good only versus tainted by a foundation of injustice—impact America's capacity to lead internationally? HAYWARD: Hmm, a lot. (Laughter.) Thank you for the question. I mean, I think the fact of polarization in the U.S. and the increasing difficulty that we're facing in being able to have really deep conversations and frank conversations about historical experiences and perceptions of different communities, not just religiously, not just racially even, but across different—urban-rural, across socioeconomic divides, across educational divides and, of course, across political divides, and so on. I think that—I think that absolutely hampers our ability to engage within the global stage effectively. One, just because of the image that it gives to the rest of the world. So how can we—how can we have an authentic moral voice when we ourselves are having such a hard time engaging with one other in ways that reflect those values and that are grounded within those values? But also because I think get concern—with respect to religion questions in particular—I get concern about the increasing polarization and partisanization of religion in foreign policy and issues of religious freedom, and so on. Which means that we're going to constantly have this sort of swinging back and forth then between Republican and Democratic administrations on how we understand and engage issues related to religion and foreign policy, different religious communities in particular, like Muslim communities worldwide, or on issues of religious freedom. So I think it's incredibly critical—always has been, but is particularly right now at this historical moment—for us to be in the U.S. doing this hard work of having these conversations, and hearing, and listening to one another, and centering and being open about our values and having these conversations on that level of values. To be able to politically here in the U.S., much less overseas, to be able to work in ways that are effective. Irina, you're muted. FASKIANOS: Thank you. (Laughs.) With that, we are at the end of our time. Thank you so much for this. This has been a really important hour of discussion. Again, we will send out the link to the webinar, as well as all the resources that you mentioned, Susan. Sorry we didn't have the chat open so that we could focus on what you were saying and all the questions and comments that came forward. So we appreciate it. And thank you so much, again, for your time, Susan Hayward. And I just want to remind everybody that this is the last webinar of the semester, but we will be announcing the Winter/Spring Academic Webinar lineup in our Academic bulletin. And if you're not already subscribed to that, you can email us at cfracademic@cfr.org. Just as a reminder, you can learn about CFR paid internships for students and fellowships for professors at CFR.org/careers. Follow @CFR_Academic on Twitter and visit CFR.org, ForeignAffairs.com, and ThinkGlobalHealth.org for research and analysis on global issues. Good luck with your exams. (Laughs.) Grading, taking them, et cetera. Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving. And we look forward to seeing you again next semester. So, again, thank you to Susan Hayward. HAYWARD: Thank you, everybody. Take care.

The President of the Supreme Council, Małgorzata Kwiatkowska, represented the Australia - Polish community at the Economic Forum in Karpacz and the Congress of the World Polonia in Vilnius. - Prezes Rady Naczelnej Małgorzata Kwiatkowska reprezentowała australijską Polonię na Forum Ekonomicznym w Karpaczu i Zjeździe Rady Polonii Świata w Wilnie.

Armenian News Network/Groong - August 23, 2022On August 23, 1990 the Supreme Council of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic proclaimed Armenia as independent. True, Armenia officially celebrates independence day on September 21, due to the referendum which was held on Sep 21 1991, the following year. But for me, the date of August 23 - the date of the proclamation of the declaration of independence - is no less special. For it is this document comprised of 12 articles that form the basis for all laws in Armenia and for the constitution itself. From the need to establish historic justice, especially referencing the Armenian Genocide, the reunification of Armenia and Artsakh, the recognition of the rights of citizenship for Diasporans, to me these principles encapsulate perfectly the aspirations of the Armenian people at that time and even more so today.After a millennium without a state (with the exception of the three years of the first republic between 1918 and 1921) the foundation for a new state was established.This document and the principles enshrined in it are to be cherished and protected! And regardless of their individual flaws or your political judgement, the men and women of the Supreme Council are true statesmen and the founding parents of Armenia.Just think about it! Out of a global family of 1000s of nations and tribes, only a few were lucky enough or had the right circumstances in order to establish their own state and become a political nation. And Armenians were one of them.Links to the text of the declaration:    - Armenian: https://www.gov.am/am/independence/    - Russian: https://www.gov.am/ru/independence/    - English: http://www.armenica.org/armenia/doi.html

Egypt displayed a trove of ancient artifacts dating back 2,500 years that the country's antiquities authorities said were recently unearthed at the famed necropolis of Saqqarah near Cairo on Monday, May 30. The artifacts were showcased at a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqarah, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of the Egyptian capital. According to Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the find includes 250 painted sarcophagi with well-preserved mummies inside, as well as 150 bronze statues of ancient deities and bronze vessels used in rituals of Isis, the goddess of fertility in ancient Egyptian mythology, all from the Late Period, about 500 B.C. A headless bronze statue of Imhotep, the chief architect of Pharaoh Djoser who ruled ancient Egypt between 2630 B.C. and 2611 B.C was also displayed. The artifacts will be transferred for a permanent exhibit at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega project still under construction near the famed Giza Pyramids, just outside Cairo. The Saqqarah site is part of a sprawling necropolis at Egypt's ancient capital of Memphis that includes the Giza Pyramids and the smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s. Egypt has been heavily promoting recent archaeological finds, hoping to attract more tourists to the country. Its tourist sector, a major source of foreign currency, suffered from years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The sector has recently started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, only to be hit again by the effects of Russia's war on Ukraine. Along with Russia, Ukraine is a major source of tourists visiting Egypt. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Who is the Anti-Christ? What will He do? Revelation: The Last Hour #5 Ordor ab Chao (Order Out of Chaos) This term is used more often than we think, and we hear it more than we realize. This phrase in its English translation means literally what it says; to being order out of the chaos of something. But when we look at its origins it gets interesting. This statement comes from Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry which was written in 1873. This is not A Encyclopedia for Masons, it is THE Encyclopedia for Masons. This is what is says about Ordor ab Chao: “A Latin expression, meaning Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lug e tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attributed to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite" Chaos is defined as disorder and confusion and is derived from the Greek word khaos, meaning chasm or void. Creating order is a form of power. It helps you achieve more by creating certainty, clarity, and freedom in your life. Certainty — helps you feel more confident, in control, calm, and stable. Clarity — saves you time by helping you see things clearly and to know what to do. Freedom — enables you to focus your attention on what matters and build a life of your choosing. Chaos is inherently uncertain, messy, and disorderly. We like to create order because we crave certainty, clarity, and freedom. Napoleon Bonaparte once said ““The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemy's.” This is what the anti-christ will do. But, who is the anti-christ? what will he do? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jarrodknepp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jarrodknepp/support

In this King-Size episode, we dive into Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics King-Size Annual #1! (December 1979) This one-shot story is double the size of a regular issue, and is split into two parts: "The Long Hunt" and "A Dual of Eagles". We will be talking about both with our special guest, Chris Alexander (Star Wars Origami author). Richard, Sarah and Chris discuss this comic and find FTOOM! Fast Facts (classic comic people or places that appear now in Star Wars books, comics and films). Plus, what is up with our heroes mingling with the likes of fantasy characters - are those werewolves?? We all remark on the artwork - it is SO MUCH better than previous issues. Hmmm, could that be due to new artists? We think so. Do you remember this comic as a kid, like Richard and Chris? Or are you new to these stories - like Sarah? Either way, we have a fun podcast episode for you. Watch the Unedited Episode and See the Comic Book Pages in this Video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXmzR9Tyd6s   Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics King-Size Annual #1 Description:   Title: "THE LONG HUNT" and "A DUAL OF EAGLES" Release Date: December 4, 1979 Writer: Chris Claremont Artwork: Mike Vosburg, Steve Leialoha and Bob Sharen Cover Art: Walter Simonson   Synopsis:   While Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are on the planet Tirahnn they are attacked by a group of Catuman warriors under the orders of Kharys, the Majestrix of the planet Skye. Han Solo recognizes the description of Kharys from his old smuggling days and decides to confront her, but the Millennium Falcon is shot down over Skye by Imperials. Han Solo jettisons Luke and Leia to safety however they are captured and brought to trial before the Supreme Council of the Highland Clans, and there Leia is recognized as an enemy of the Empire but Luke is recognized as the son of their wingless brother who helped them a while back and so the council decides to help the two Rebels.   Meanwhile Han and Chewbacca have been captured by Kharys and questioned about what they know about Luke Skywalker. Luke and Leia along with their S'kytri allies attack the Majestrix's fortress and rescue Solo and Chewbacca. Now, a great battle begins with the prize being freedom of the S'kytri people.   As usual, we take our Facebook Group Comments on the cover into account as we analyze this issue. Become a part of our Facebook Group to contribute!     How To Listen on the Go:   Apple Podcasts Amazon Music Google Play Music YouTube Subscribe via RSS iHeartRadio TuneIn   Support The Show   Skywalking Through Neverland T-Shirts at TeePublic! Check them out HERE.   Contact Us   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod   Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkywalkingPod   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland   Join us every week on YouTube for a behind-the-scenes look at our show. We also bring you to Disneyland, Red Carpet Events and Theme Park Openings.   Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.   If you dug this episode, click over to iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube and leave us a review!

Morals & Dogma Part 5a -28° – Knight Of The Sun Or Prince Adept - 4 - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_Dogma_of_the_Ancient_and_Accepted_Scottish_Rite_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-5:2

Morals & Dogma Part 5b -29° – Scottish Knight Of St. Andrew - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_Dogma_of_the_Ancient_and_Accepted_Scottish_Rite_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-5:2

Morals & Dogma Part 5c -30° – Knight Kadosh - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_Dogma_of_the_Ancient_and_Accepted_Scottish_Rite_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-5:2

Morals & Dogma Part 5d -31° – Inspector Inquisitor - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_Dogma_of_the_Ancient_and_Accepted_Scottish_Rite_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-5:2

Morals & Dogma Part 5e -32° – Master Of The Royal Secret - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_Dogma_of_the_Ancient_and_Accepted_Scottish_Rite_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-5:2

Morals & Dogma Part 4c -27° – Knight Commander Of The Temple - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_…e_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Do…ok-by-Albert-Pike-4:7

Morals & Dogma Part 4d -28° – Knight Of The Sun Or Prince Adept - Part 1-3 - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_…e_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Do…ok-by-Albert-Pike-4:7

Morals & Dogma Part 3g -25° – Knight Of The Brazen Serpent - 1 - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_…e_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Do…ok-by-Albert-Pike-3:1

Morals & Dogma Part 4a -25° – Knight Of The Brazen Serpent - 2 - Albert Pike - Audioboy [Audio missing from "Sun's youth and creative vigor at the Vernal Equinox." on page 347 all the way to page 376 where the next chapter starts.] Text found here: http://pictoumasons.org/library/Pike%2C%20Albert%20~%20Morals%20and%20Dogma%20%5Bpdf%5D.pdf audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_…e_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-4:7

Morals & Dogma Part 4b -26° –Prince Of Mercy - Albert Pike - Audioboy audioboy279.com/ The Audioboy project. An anti-authoritarian community based initiative focused on creating a library of audiobooks for truth seekers and free speech advocates. All content on this channel is free to download, share, or repost. Your support is much appreciated. Truth, audiobooks, for the people. --- Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1871 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian. Pike plagiarized or quoted without attribution content for the book from French occultist Éliphas Lévi's 1854-1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morals_and_…e_of_Freemasonry Audio taken from: https://lbry.tv/@audioboy:7/Morals-Dogma-Audiobook-by-Albert-Pike-4:7