Chicken Feathers

The ramifications from the events on January 6, 2021, and the links to other anti-government incidents continue. Earlier reviewed were the deaths tied to the attempted Capitol takeover (see here). Now a FBI case breaks open a can of worms in Maine, and perhaps throughout New England.

Arrest

The FBI says 37-year-old Kyle Fitzsimons of Lebanon was arrested February 4, 2021, for taking part in the Capitol riots.  Fitzsimons, 37, is the first Mainer to be prosecuted for his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection. He appeared in U.S. District Court of Maine for the first time Friday.

Photos released by the FBI show Fitzsimons at the riots. In some, he's covered in blood from his clashes with the police.

In their complaint, the FBI shows screenshots of Fitzsimons allegedly lowering his shoulder and charging at police officers, getting hit by their batons and swinging at officers.

Fitzsimons’s charged with four federal offenses, including assaulting a federal officer. Fitzsimons called the violence a "set up."
~ 18 U.S.C. 1752 (a)(4) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in Any Restricted Building or Grounds without Lawful Authority
~ 40 U.S.C. 5104 (e)(2)(F) – Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds
~ 18 U.S.C. 111 (a)(1) – Assault on a Federal Officer
~ 18 U.S.C. 231 (a)(3) – Certain Acts During a Civil Disorder

The FBI complaint also shows Fitzsimons dressed as a butcher, wearing a white coat with the name "Kyle" on it. (Fitzsimons is said in the document to have worked for the Hannaford Store in York. In a statement to WMTW, Hannaford says he did not work there but decline to offer any details of Fitzsimons having worked for the grocery store chain in the past.)

Fitzsimons Meaning

Fitzsimons (also spelled FitzSimons, Fitzsimmons or FitzSimmons) is a surname of Norman origin common in both Ireland and England. The name is a variant of "Sigmundsson," meaning son of Sigmund. The Gaelicization of this surname is Mac Shíomóin.

Sigmund, also spelled Siegmund, is a Germanic given name with roots in proto-Germanic *segaz and *mundō, giving a rough translation of "protection through victory."

Sigmund (also Siegmund), a hero in Norse mythology.
Siegmund, a focal character in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre.

Feathers

Also, Portland police confirm Fitzsimons is a person of interest in their investigation of a suspicious package left at the Portland Museum of Art.  The suspicious package was made up of feathers surrounding a box along with a spray painted message at the Portland Museum of Art at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2021.

The word "BALM" was spray painted on the sidewalk.

Fitzsimons told the Rochester Voice newspaper in a Jan. 11 article that he changed into a “costume” – his white butcher jacket – before he joined the throng at the Capitol that day, and he carried an unstrung bow as a sign of peace. Rochester is across the Maine-New Hampshire border from Lebanon.

The affidavit also describes him wearing what appeared to be a fur pelt around his neck, and Fitzsimons described himself as a trapper when he called in to the Lebanon Board of Selectman meeting Jan. 7 to describe his experience the previous day in Washington.

“Fitzsimons was identified early in our investigation as the person who placed the package at the PMA,” Portland police Lt. Robert Martin said Friday evening, February 5, 2021, in a text message. Martin said surveillance footage from the area and extensive work by detectives helped make the identification.

Feathers as Symbols

White Feathers As Symbols of Cowardice

During World War I, thousands of women across the British Empire gave men white feathers to shame them into enlisting in the military. By 1785 in England “show the white feather” was a folk saying for the behavior of a timid fighting cock. Fighting cocks was not then or subsequently a respectable activity. In 1902, British novelist A. E. W. Mason used the white feather as a central symbol of a British army officer’s cowardice in his adventure novel, The Four Feathers. A silent-film adaptation of that novel, Four Feathers, was produced in the U.S. in 1915. Mason’s novel thus symbolically elevated the white feather into a potent means for publicly shaming men into fighting in World War I. Source.

American's Stonehenge

Investigator Enki King has pointed to various strange crimes occurring around New England in recent years.

For example, in September-October 2019, vandalism was investigated at America's Stonehenge/Mystery Hill at North Salem, New Hampshire. The power tool infected carvings appeared to have the fingerprints of QAnon all over this. The suggestions go in a few different directions and point to a variety of conspiracy angles.

My posting at that time in 2019, overviews the connections being made, "October 27: Anti-Masonic, Anti-Semitic, and Anti-Pagan Terrorism."

Mid-2020, "Colorado, Aurora, Waffle House, and the Watts Name Game" reared its head. At the end of last year and the beginning of the present one, "Aurora" was back in the news.

What's next?

FBI Filing 

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs has created a web page where the public can track the charging and arrest of defendants in connection with the Capitol breach. The page includes defendants’ names, charges and case status. Please find that site here.

Uptown Mass Shooting

Solstice was at 4:43 PM (4 + 4 + 3 = 11) Central Time in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, June 20, 2020.

A mass shooting, among other shootings, occurred afterward.

One "237" Shooting

Minneapolis police reported they received 911 calls at 12:37 a.m. on June 21, 2020, reporting several people shot on the 2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South, just north of Lake Street. It’s the commercial center of the Uptown neighborhood, lined with bars, restaurants and retailers.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that individuals on foot started shooting in the mid-2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South and proceeded north. People scattered and suspects fled," police said in a news release issued shortly after 4 a.m.

Photographs posted to social media showed windows at the Landmark Uptown Theatre and another storefront shot out.

Screams were audible on a live video posted to Facebook that showed the aftermath at the scene. Small crowds of people gathered, with some crouched over victims lying on the pavement before police officers on bicycles showed up to attend to them.

There has been a rash of gun violence in Minneapolis in recent days. Police said at least seven other people were wounded by gunfire in the city in five incidents from Saturday afternoon, June 20, 2020, through early Sunday morning, June 21, 2020.

A man was killed in CHOP-Seattle, on Friday, June 19, 2020.

Three people were stabbed to death in a "terrorist incident" at a park in a town just outside London on Saturday, June 20, 2020, police said. Three others were left seriously injured in the attack.

The attack took place in Forbury Gardens, a public park in Reading, a large town around 40 miles west of London, at around 7 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), Thames Valley Police said in a statement shortly after the incident.

Enki King mentions to me that, "The park, which features a lion statue and a cross memorializing Henry I, had hosted a BLM protest earlier in the day."

History of Uptown

Uptown is a commercial district in southwestern Minneapolis, Minnesota, centered at the Uptown Theater (the former Lagoon) at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lagoon Avenue. It has traditionally spanned the corners of four neighborhoods, Lowry Hill East, ECCO, South Uptown and East Isles neighborhoods, within the Calhoun Isles community. Historically, the boundaries of Uptown are Bde Maka Ska to the west, Dupont Avenue to the east, 31st Street to the south, and 28th Street to the north.

Uptown has proven to be a popular destination for those seeking retail, nightlife, and cultural events, and the district was famously written about by recording artist Prince.

Uptown is a youthful fusion of global cuisine, local retail, and lively nightlife with nature rooted just beyond the bustling main intersection. Block by block you'll find multitudes of restaurants, bars and shop there.

As Minneapolis expanded south, housing construction boomed through the 1920s. A commercial district began forming just east of the Lakes Area. At the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lagoon Avenue, the Lagoon Theatre was built, a multi-function vaudeville theater. When the Lagoon burnt down in 1939, owners sought to rebuild and the business community took the opportunity to rebrand the area. Following the success of Chicago's Uptown District, the Minneapolis Tribune announced the new Uptown District of Minneapolis centered on the newly renamed Uptown Theatre.

Charlestown and Old Town

I detailed how "Charlestown" and "Charles Town" (= Charleston") are part of the history of June 17th. (See here.)

June 17, 1775.

Lafayette lays the cornerstone at the Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, Massachusetts.

June 17, 1825.

Crews in historic Old Town Alexandria quickly removed a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier named "Appomattox" on Tuesday morning, June 2, 2020. The memorial was erected in 1889 to honor Confederate soldiers from the Virginia city and stands with its arms crossed and back to the north. It is one of many controversial Confederate monuments nationwide that have faced repeated demands for removal. (Note the "Prince Street" sign.)

Enki King shared on June 16, 2020, why we might wish to look to "Old Town."

The new rally date of June 20 in Tulsa (original name Tallasi, meaning Old Town) is the summer solstice. On the previous summer solstice, Lil Nas X's first EP featuring "Old Town Road" dropped. This month, a Confederate statue was removed in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia; BLM protestor Oluwatoyin Salau was murdered in Tallahassee (also meaning Old Town); and a man was allegedly shot by a vigilante group member during an attempt by protestors to topple a statue in the Old Town section of Albuquerque. I recommend staying away from Tulsa, any other town or neighborhood called Old Town, and even statues on the 20th. (Per comment here.)

Meanwhile,

Johanna Lenski wondered on Facebook if another "active shooter situation" was due on June 20 or June 21, 2020.

One man was shot near the Albuquerque Museum as a protest over the “La Jornada” sculpture in front of the Albuquerque Museum erupted into violence Monday evening, June 15, 2020.

The City of Albuquerque has removed the statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate in Old Town on Tuesday morning, June 16, 2020. On Monday, June 15, a male was shot during a protest for the removal of a statue of Oñate that's located on Mountain and 19th Street. The sculpture sits outside the Albuquerque Museum.

Steven Ray Baca, 31, has been arrested in connection to a shooting of a protester near Old Town on Monday, June 15, 2020, according to Albuquerque Police. Baca has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and firearm enhancement. Baca ran for city council on a small government platform last year in District 2, where he lost to Councilor Ike Benton.

October 27: Anti-Masonic, Anti-Semitic, and Anti-Pagan Terrorism

This Sunday, October 27, 2019, marks anniversaries we should all be watching. Is there a group that is also watching, waiting, and ready to launch new violence against gatherings of people who have been targeted in the past? Will future objects of assaults be the symbols and souls of the individuals, instead of the people? Has there been a broadening of the approach? Will the attacks be against the buildings, which traditionally have been temples, halls, and architecture of the groups being struck?

Past 27ths

October 27, 1553, condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus was burned at the stake just outside Geneva. He was a polymath versed in many sciences: mathematics, astronomy and meteorology, geography, human anatomy, medicine and pharmacology, as well as jurisprudence, translation, poetry and the scholarly study of the Bible in its original languages.

Servetus' family used a nickname, "Revés," according to an old tradition in rural Spain of using alternate names for families across generations. It seems more than coincidental that the "Reeves Name Game" has become synonymous in modern times with a deeper meaning of power and significance within Twilight Language and Synchromysticism discussions.

On October 27, 1907, fifteen people are killed in the Černová massacre in Hungary, when Hungarian gendarmes opened fire on a Slovak crowd gathered at a Roman Catholic church consecration.

On October 27, 1999, gunmen with ties to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation opened fire in the Armenian Parliament, assassinating the Prime Minister, the Parliament Speaker, and six others members of Parliament. They used Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles.

Recent events have reflected old but traditional targets:

One Year Ago ~ October 27, 2018

A year ago, on October 27, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while Shabbat morning services were being held. Eleven people were killed and seven (including the suspect) were injured. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States. Robert Gregory Bowers (born September 4, 1972), a 46-year-old resident of Baldwin, Pennsylvania, with a neo-Nazi and white supremacists, was arrested as the suspected shooter. Bowers was fascinated by Pittsburgh radio host Jim Quinn who has written exclusively about "Who is QAnon?"

One Lunar Cycle Ago ~ 

It was an exact lunar month ago, as Enki King has pointed out to me, that a remarkable conjunction of violent incidents focussed on New Hampshire. 

September 28, 2019 ~ America's Stonehenge

As Enki wrote, it was on September 28, 2019 (a New Moon), 

....when news broke of vandalism at Salem, New Hampshire's America's Stonehenge, a site Lovecraft is rumored to have visited...A stone known as the Sacrificial Table was engraved by the vandal(s) with the messages, "AWG1WGA," an initialism of the QAnon slogan, "As we go one, we go all," and "I AM MARK." The latter message may be short for "I am Mark Sargent," a flat earther meme. It would seem the individual or individuals behind this reprehensible act are simultaneously anti-globalist and anti-globe. Interestingly, QAnons refer to their opponents as "clowns."

Scott Wolter has quoted local New Hampshire law enforcement as believing the vandalism was likely inspired by the plot of the recently published novel, Treasure Templari. The book is subtitled "Templars, Nazis and the Holy Grail" and by David S. Brody. Part of the scenario played out in the book takes place at North Salem, New Hampshire, at America's Stonehenge. It is not coincidental that the vandalism takes place here. The individual behind this act and the next one may be loosely part of the QAnon followers, according to Scott Wolter.

September 28, 2019 ~ Northwood Masonic Lodge

A four-alarm fire destroyed the historic Masonic Lodge in Northwood, New Hampshire, on Saturday night, September 28, 2019. Emergency personnel were called to 158 1st N.H. Turnpike in Northwood at 9:24 p.m. for a reported building fire. Upon arrival, the Masonic Lodge was found to be heavily involved in fire.

This Masonic lodge was famed as the location where Civil War veterans met and shared battle stories. It was destroyed in the fire. Preservationists expressed hope that the Northwood's Masonic Lodge artifacts can be saved from rubble.

Masons and Jews

Yom Kippur is held on the 10th day of Tishrei, ten days after the start of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year). All Jewish holidays begin at sundown on the date listed. In 2019, Yom Kippur began at sundown on October 8, and the day of the solemn Jewish holy day falls on October 9. Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement” in Hebrew. It is a day of fasting, prayer and repentance marking the end of the annual 10-day high holy days period beginning with Rosh Hashanah. Many Jews fast over the 24-hour period of Yom Kippur and then attend a celebratory feast.

Little known today, but early American Jewish members were welcome in Masonic Lodges.

While there had only been three degrees in Masonry, the Scottish Rite innovation initially introduced 25 degrees and would eventually have 33. This contrasted with the York Rite which retained the original three degrees, but had three distinct subsections that contained three or four additional degrees which could be obtained. While the York Rite would find great popularity in America, the Scottish Rite was very popular among Jews. These two groups were not exclusive to America, and were also seen in European Masonry but, for the purposes of the thesis, it is most important to understand the place of the Scottish Rite in America, since it was the type of Masonry with a distinct connection to American Jews. ~ Sara A. Zimmerman, "“Men of Honour and Honesty”: Connections Between Jews and Freemasons in Early America" March 19, 2014. University of Pennsylvania.

Freemasonry has been covert in its incorporation of several symbols of Judaism, including the Star of David/Seal of Solomon, King Solomon's Temple, and the appearance of Jewish Biblical figures as part of Masonic canon. 

One place that these Biblical figures commonly appear is in the names of various lodges. While there are certainly lodges names after Christian saints, particularly St. John, it is also common to see lodges named after King David and King Solomon. One example is King David's Lodge, originally in New York City and moved to Newport, Rhode Island....In addition to David and Solomon, another Old Testament figure that appears in Masonry is Noah. ~ Sara A. Zimmerman, op. cit.

In 1824, in celebration of America's 50th anniversary, President James Monroe and the U.S. Congress invited Revolutionary War hero, French Revolution hero, and important Mason the Marquis De La Fayette to visit and tour the United States. From August 15, 1824 through September 7, 1825, La Fayette visited many Freemason lodges and Jewish synagogues, laying cornerstones and consecrating the sites. The landscape of America is dotted with Lafayette-named locations as a direct result of the 1824-1825 tour. (See the "Fayette Factor.")

In other words, there is no great conspiracy to the reality behind the anti-Masonic and anti-Semitic attacks and fires that often seem totally unrelated. Their history overlaps, and those attacking, know this.

For 2019, we find...before Yom Kippur...

April 27, 2019 ~ Poway Synagogue

The Poway synagogue shooting occurred on April 27, 2019, when a gunman armed with an AR-15 style rifle fired shots inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, California, a city approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of San Diego. The attack took place on the last day of the Jewish Passover holiday, which fell on a Shabbat. One woman was killed and three other people were injured, including the synagogue's rabbi. After fleeing the scene, the alleged gunman phoned 9-1-1 and reported the shooting. He was apprehended in his car approximately two miles (3.2 km) from the synagogue by a San Diego police officer.

October 7, 2019 ~ Eve of Yom Kippur 

According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents go up around the Jewish holidays. The ADL said in the last three years the rate of incidents have gone up 48 percent nationwide and 110 percent in the Midwest.

Three incidents of anti-Semitic assaults occurring on the eve of Yom Kippur were found in various locations: Chicago's Northwest Side, Illinois; Garden of Remembrance, White Plains, New York; and Megansett Yacht Club, Falmouth, Massachusetts.

October 7, 2019 ~ Lincoln Masonic Temple, Aurora, Illinois

On the eve of Yom Kippur, someone decided to burn down this Masonic Temple ~ which happens to be in the "Name Game" city of Aurora ("red dawn"; see more here) and the temple is named "Lincoln" (see here).

The Jerusalem Temple Lodge #90 Masonic body was formed in Aurora, Illinois in October 1850, only 13 years after the city was founded. The first Worshipful Master was Benjamin Franklin Hall, who later became the first mayor of Aurora in 1857. They first met in the Main Street Building until moving into a Masonic Hall on Fox Street in 1866. The order moved again in 1910 to Broadway Street.

Built in 1922, the Lincoln Masonic Temple was constructed when ten lodges decided to combine resources. 

Little is known about the architect, William Q. Bendus. The building was built in the Neo-classical style and may have been influenced by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The six-story Temple featured ionic columns. Masonic imagery adorned the tympanum. Two lodge rooms in the temple coud each seat over two hundred people.

The fire was reported by a bystander at 9:57 pm, Monday, October 7, 2019. The Temple received massive damage by the time the fire stopped on October 8, 2019. Investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire at the former masonic temple at 104 S. Lincoln Ave, a site located atop a hill in a neighborhood on the city's near east side, not far from downtown. It will remain unsolved, as the site was almost immediately demolished. It is worthy of noting that the Town of Aurora took over ownership of the Masonic Temple, and they torn it down. Nevertheless, the building's columns were saved.

The Aurora fire resulted in a few tweets saying it was being torn down before any evidence could be uncovered, and this satirical one was also posted:
"When your satanic ritual backfires." ~ Dr. Amandha Dawn Vollmer, October 20, 2019.

These events merged then with the action for...

October 8-9, 2019 ~ Yom Kippur 

October 8, 2019 ~ Prince Hall Masonic Temple, New York City

Police officers are still searching for a man who threw a Molotov cocktail at a historic Masonic Hall on Yom Kippur. The NYPD released video showing the moment the Molotov cocktail is thrown at the building October 8, 2019, about 11:45 p.m.. The man tossed the device on West 24th Street near Sixth Avenue that night, police said. Cops are still searching for an arsonist who sparked a fire at the historic Masonic Hall, according to the NYPD. ~ Source

October 8, 2019 ~ Park Slope Jewish Synagogue, Brooklyn, New York

Someone set fire to a backpack and left it on the steps of a Brooklyn Jewish center early Wednesday — on the Yom Kippur high holy day. Officers from the 78th Precinct responded and saw the backpack burning on the front steps on the 8th Avenue side of the Park Slope Jewish Center around 1 a.m. Sources 1, 2.

October 9, 2019 ~ Halle Cemetery Gate and Synagogue 

The Halle synagogue shooting was a far-right attack that occurred on October 9, 2019 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, continuing in nearby Landsberg. After unsuccessfully trying to enter the synagogue in Halle during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the attacker killed two people nearby and later injured two others.

The attack started around noon on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur at the synagogue in the Paulusviertel neighborhood of Halle. The suspect live-streamed himself trying, but failing, to enter the synagogue.

A 27-year-old German from Saxony-Anhalt, Stephan Balliet, is in custody charged with two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. (See more here.)

Federal investigators said that the suspect had "almost certainly a far-right motivation for the crime". Comparisons were drawn between the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shootings (15 March 2019, 51 killed), where the suspected shooter Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, livestreamed his attacks on Facebook for 17 minutes.

In the evening, Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer said it was "at least" an antisemitic attack.


October 15, 2019 ~ The Minister's Treehouse, Crossville, Tennessee

The Minister's Treehouse — reportedly the largest treehouse in the world — burned to the ground after a raging fire, begun at 10:30 PM, on October 15, 2019. The Minister's Treehouse was an iconic landmark in Crossville, Tennessee. It was built by Horace Burgess, an architect-turned-pastor who said he was inspired by a vision from God. It stood nearly 100 feet tall and had 10 stories that spread across seven trees, complete with balconies and staircases. Sources 1, 2.

Enki King notes: "The treehouse was located in Crossville on Templar-resonating Beehive Lane, and was about seven miles, as the crow flies, from Stonehenge Golf Club."

+++

Will Sunday October 27th, the New Moon of the 28th, and Samhain on the 31st bring forth acts of arsons, assaults, and assassinations? Will law enforcement units be deployed to protect temples, halls, and worshippers? Be aware and careful.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

~ George Santayana, philosopher.

h/t to many contributing friends, especially Enki King

Jokers Wilding

Today, October 13, 2019, this reflective essay by Enki King is published, sharing his latest insights in the wake of the release of the new Joker film:

Jokers Wilding

In my October 1 Twilight Language essay "Klown-Kurrent/33," I recounted a number of mostly disturbing clown-related events that occurred in the weeks following Joker’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2019. I also predicted October 3, the day of Joker’s wide release, would, like the day of its festival premiere, be another day of violence. Additionally, I mentioned regions near the 33rd parallel should be watched for Red Dawn events*.

A Joker-related incident did occur on October 3 at approximately 33.7 degrees north latitude, but fortunately, in this case, bloodshed was avoided. In Huntington Beach, California, Cinemark’s Century Huntington Beach and XD movie theater closed down after receiving what was described as a “credible threat” related to their booking Joker.

Not so lucky were three residents of Smith Tower Apartments** in Vancouver, Washington. On October 3, a tenant named Robert Breck, 80, opened fire, resulting in the death of one fellow tenant and the wounding of two others. Like Arthur Fleck in Joker, Breck was a victim of harassment according to reports.

October 3, the final day of my 33-day countdown, ended as it began — with a deadly knife attack in France. Mickaël Harpon, an IT worker employed by the Paris police who had been hearing voices, fatally stabbed four coworkers and injured another. The incident was reportedly the worst loss of French police lives in a single day since World War II.

Harpon is French for harpoon, a synchromystic resonator here, as one of Joker’s bizarre weapons is his “BANG!” flag gun which, with the second pull of the trigger, fires a deadly harpoon. Also, of note is the location of Harpon’s attack. The police station is on Île de la Cité, an island in the river Seine. Twilight language’s name game is at play here: The Joker, and possibly Harpon, are insane, while the site of the attack is in Seine.

In 2013, another individual heard a voice in his head and launched a stabbing attack. In this case, the voice was that of the Joker, and the name of the knifeman was Dale Pipe. "Pipe" is synchromystically significant. In writer/magickian Alan Moore's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, an unnamed engineer, while engaged in criminal activity at a chemical plant, is surprised by Batman, jumps into a chemical waste basin, and is swept away in a pipe. This pipe can be seen as a symbolic birth canal for the Joker. He emerges with chemically-altered white skin, bright red lips, and green hair — i.e., he is reborn as a clown. His discovery of his disfigurement contributes to his becoming completely insane. "Pipe" has continued to appear in disturbing news events. A pipe bomb was mailed to Robert De Niro on the first day of filming Joker. Pipe bombs were in the news again recently when on October 4, a Florida woman, reportedly "consumed with the Columbine and Oklahoma killings," was arrested after her parents notified authorities after discovering 24 of the devices in her bedroom. On October 5, four homeless men were beaten to death and another was critically injured in New York's Chinatown by an attacker wielding a metal pipe.

As Loren has noted, Chinatown was used as one of Joker's filming locations. Urban Dictionary cements the Joker/pipe connection by providing this definition for Joker: "A slang used while smoking marijuana. To joker, means to hit the pipe, bong, joint, anything that is being passed around, TWICE in your one turn…" (Note that "hit the pipe twice" reflects back to the Joker's "born again" experience by twilight language logic.)

Tequila, a main ingredient in The Joker's Tea, wormed its way into my awareness while I was digging for syncs. On October 4, a man who had been observed pouring a bottle of tequila into his slushie was ejected from a screening of Joker after terrifying audience members by clapping every time Joker murdered someone, and by spitting on patrons. Two days later, two shooters entered Tequila KC Bar in Kansas City and killed four and wounded five. The same day, Ginger Baker, drummer for the band Cream, passed away. Cream's song "White Room" is included in Joker's soundtrack. Loren alerted me to existence of a tequila cocktail called the Ginger Baker.

I reminded him that Tila Tequila famously got poop thrown at her while performing at an Insane Clown Posse show. Some sync holes seem bottomless…

Pondering Joker and insanity had me thinking about Arkham Asylum, a facility for the criminally insane that has housed the Joker in the comics, and which was inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts. So, when news broke of vandalism at Salem, New Hampshire's America's Stonehenge, a site Lovecraft is rumored to have visited, my attention was captured. (This visit is believed by many, though not all Lovecraft scholars, to have inspired the tale The Dunwich Horror.) A stone known as the Sacrificial Table was engraved by the vandal(s) with the messages, "AWG1WGA," an initialism of the QAnon slogan, "As we go one, we go all," and "I AM MARK." The latter message may be short for "I am Mark Sargent," a flat earther meme. It would seem the individual or individuals behind this reprehensible act are simultaneously anti-globalist and anti-globe. Interestingly, QAnons refer to their opponents as "clowns."

It appears this incident is not isolated. QAnon-related graffiti, along with a broken stained-glass window, was left on July 8 at a Catholic church in East Boston. A QAnon follower vandalized a Catholic church on September 25 in Sedona, Arizona.

A suspicious fire at a Mason lodge*** in Northwood, New Hampshire, about an hour's drive from America's Stonehenge, occurred on the same night as the vandalism to the Sacrificial Table. No QAnon calling cards were reportedly left, but given the timing and proximity to the Salem, New Hampshire site, it seems a distinct possibility the same criminal(s) were responsible.

Arthur Fleck's line, "Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?" comes to mind while pondering all of this. Perhaps, when Joker eventually leaves theaters, things will quiet down. And maybe then, if I'm lucky, the song lyrics****, "Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right…" will finally stop looping in my head. ~ Enki King

Postscript:

I wonder if The Wizard of Oz syncs are going to join clown syncs this season.

I was viewing the neighborhood where the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel collapsed on Google Maps, and I noticed the site shares a block with Rainbow Shops and The Ruby Slipper Cafe. Hopefully this doesn't signal an incoming clownado! ~ Enki King

Updates:

Right around the corner from Canal and Rampart, where the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel collapsed, killing two, perhaps three, construction workers, is the Saenger Theater. Playing there is the adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, "Wicked."

This headline appeared after the collapse: "Some 'Wicked' Performances at Saenger in New Orleans Cancelled Because of Hard Rock Hotel Collapse."

Also, as was revealed immediately before and after the release of Joker, Joaquin Phoenix was inspired by Ray Bolger, who was originally to play the Tin Man, but was the Scarecrow in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Phoenix said he was not copying the previous Joker characters.

_______

Notes:

*"'Red dawn event' is a milestone manifestation of unfathomable future dimensions." (July 24, 2012).

**This shooting occurred on the 13th floor of the 15-story Smith Tower, a high rise senior apartment complex. The building looks rather similar to the Capitol Records Tower, which is only 13 floors tall.

The two women who were shot were a 77-year-old resident of the Tower, and a 44-year-old caregiver who worked there. The numbers 77 and 44 are both multiples of 11.

***One of the oldest Masonic Lodges in the country in Northwood, New Hampshire, was engulfed in flames and burned to the ground on September 29, 2019. 

**** "Stuck In The Middle With You"

Well I don't know why I came here tonight,I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you...

~ Stealers Wheel, 1972

Footnotes by Loren Coleman