Crimea College Shooting: 19 Dead

Obelisk of Glory on Mount Mithridat summit.

On October 17, 2018, a bomb attack and school shooting occurred in the dining room of Kerch Polytechnic College in Kerch, Crimea, occupied by Russia. The school is attended by students aged 15 to mid-20s. Nineteen people died and 53 were injured, 12 of them critically.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

An 18-year-old student ran through the technical college in Kerch firing at fellow pupils before killing himself, Russian investigators say.

The alleged perpetrator, named Vladislav Roslyakov, is reported to have run from room to room as he fired, starting in the canteen. He then shot himself dead, Russia's investigative committee said.

Officials said initial examinations suggested all the victims died of gunshot wounds, but some reports speak of shrapnel injuries.

Soon after reports of a blast, investigators released a statement saying an explosive device filled with "metal objects" had detonated in the dining area.

Several witnesses maintain they heard one or more explosions.

Investigators later said they found a second device among the personal possessions of the gunman and that it had been disarmed.

Photo caption: "Russia has said the attack was an act of 'mass murder.'"

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Columbine Cosplay?

Early reports said the attack was perpetrated by a fourth-year student of the college, who later killed himself on the second floor of the building. The reports were soon confirmed by the NAK, that stated that the student in question was 18-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov (Russian: Владислав Росляков). The NAK initially called it an act of terror, but later reclassified the crime as mass murder.
There are suggestions the fourth-year student had developed a hostile attitude to the college. Russia's RBC TV interviewed a friend who said Roslyakov "hated the technical school very much" and had vowed "revenge" on his teachers. Surveillance footage of the incident captured Roslyakov, carrying a shotgun and wearing black pants and a white tee-shirt. Source.

Mount Mithridat

Mount Mithridat is a large hill located in the center of Kerch, a city on the eastern Kerch Peninsula of Crimea, Ukraine. It is 300 ft in elevation.
From the top of Mount Mithridat a scenic view spreads across the Strait of Kerch and the city of Kerch. Sometimes it is possible to see the Caucasus shore.
Mount Mithridat was named after Mithridates VI of Pontus. He was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus, and a long-time antagonist of the Roman Republic via the Mithridatic Wars, until he was deceived by his son. After a long siege of Panticapaeum he tried to kill himself several times, until finally was killed by the leader of his own guardsmen.

The Great Mithridates Staircase leads to the top of Mount Mithridat, in a series of flights and balustraded terraces. It was built in 1833-40 by the Italian architect Alexander Digbi. In the present day, a road also goes to the top of the mountain.
In the 19th century a museum was erected on the top of the mountain in the form of a Greek temple, but it was destroyed during the Crimean War.
In 1944 a memorial obelisk was built at the summit to commemorate the soldiers that defended Kerch in World War II. Source.

The landmark mountain was one of the nominees for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

211: Darth Vadar & Syria

It was the "coincidence of the day," the spontaneous press conference on Air Force One, when President Donald Trump stuck his head in to talk to reporters about Syria, 4/6/2017.

Star Wars Rogue One was on, and Darth Vadar was on the screen. See the media and their "symbolism" thoughts concerning all the press photographs of Trump with Darth Vadar.

But commentators missed one bigger sync in the shoot. A time on the clock that also "feels" very symbolic: 2:11 = 2/11. It is almost as spooky as watching the Joe Alexander's doc on how often 9/11 shows up in the Back to the Future films.

The media and Twitter went wild with the visual juxtaposition.

2:11 ~ President Trump & Darth Vadar together.

"211" is police code for "robbery in progress."

Later, on April 6, 2017, Trump ordered at least 50 missiles be fired at a Syrian airbase. Russians were on the ground there.

The strike occurred local time April 7, 2017. That coincidentally happens to be the anniversary date in 1946 when Syria received its independence from France.

It also is the anniversary of the USA capturing Baghdad - April 7, 2003.

One hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, the USA entered World War One.

St. Petersburg Metro Blasts

Two explosions have been reported April 3, 2017, on the underground metro system, on the blue line, in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

It occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin was in the city holding a meeting with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

The blast happened at 2.30 pm local time.

Three metro stations have now been closed, local media report.

Fourteen people were killed during two explosions on the line.

I had just been reading early, early this morning of how Mark Twain used "St. Petersburg" for "Hannibal, Missouri," in his Mysterious Stranger story regarding the Devil's name being "44." (4/4 = April 4.)

Then a correspondent emailed me, alerting me to these St. Petersburg blasts.

Update by Red Dirt Report:

One hundred years ago, on April 3, 1917, much was going on in Petrograd (aka "St. Petersburg - and later Leningrad) "Lenin returns to Russia with the assistance of the German government. On arrival he delivers a speech at Finland Station, which forms the basis of the April Theses."
And from today's New York Times, about Lenin's return and the April Theses: "He detailed this new approach in his 'April Theses,' but had to fight hard to persuade the Bolshevik party. Denounced by some for turning his back on accepted Marxist doctrine, Lenin would quote Mephistopheles from Goethe’s Faust: 'Theory, my friend, is gray, but green is the eternal tree of life.' An early supporter was the feminist Alexandra Kollontai. She, too, rejected compromise because, she believed, none was possible. Source.

(h/t to SL and RS for special info)

President Trump's 77 Minutes

"My administration is runnin' like a finely tuned machine." - Donald J. Trump

Skyfall: Red Army Choir Lost in Plane Crash

A Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members, crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria on Sunday, killing everyone on board, Russian authorities said. Speculation that it might be terrorist related is making the rounds.

Here they are performing Skyfall - Adele's song in the James Bond film of the same name:

The Russian Defence Ministry said one of its TU-154 Tupolev planes had disappeared from radar screens at 0525 MSK (9.25 p.m. ET), two minutes after taking off from Sochi in southern Russia, where it had stopped to refuel from Moscow, on its way to Syria.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a ministry spokesman, told reporters that nobody had survived.

"The area of the crash site has been established. No survivors have been spotted," he said. An unnamed ministry source told Russian news agencies no life rafts had been found, while another source told the Interfax agency that the plane had not sent an SOS signal.

In televised comments, President Vladimir Putin, speaking in St Petersburg, declared Dec. 26 a national day of mourning.

The jet, a Soviet-era Tupolev plane built in 1983, had been carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members.

It has been iconically pointed out that videos show them singing Sweet Home Alabama -- since almost the entire Lynyrd Skinyrd band also died in a plane accident.

The Red Army Choir has a famed and storied history.

See other Skyfall entries here, here, and here.

Skyfall Lyrics

This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again


For this is the end
I’ve drowned and dreamt this moment
So overdue I owe them
Swept away, I’m stolen


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At skyfall
At skyfall


Skyfall is where we start
A thousand miles and poles apart
Where worlds collide and days are dark
You may have my number, you can take my name
But you’ll never have my heart


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At skyfall


Where you go I go
What you see I see
I know I’d never be me
Without the security
Of your loving arms
Keeping me from harm
Put your hand in my hand
And we’ll stand


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together


Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At skyfall


Let the sky fall
We will stand tall
At skyfall

Written by Paul Epworth, Adele Adkins • Copyright © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Thanks to S. Lindsay for some content hints.

Nostradamus, Byzantium, Turkey & Trump

Five hundred, thirteen years ago, this week, Nostradamus was born.

Michel de Nostredame, depending on the source, was born on December 14 or 21, 1503 and died on July 2, 1566. His name is usually Latinized as Nostradamus. He was a French physician and reputed seer who published collections of twilight language-filled prophecies that have since become widely famous, or infamous.

On the 18th of July 2016, BuzzFeed published one of many articles on Donald Trump. This one was a little different than most. It was entitled, "Don't Freak Out, But People Are Saying Nostradamus Predicted Donald Trump." 

Did this seemingly semi-humorous and semi-serious BuzzFeed contribution foresee some bumps in the road for Trump - after he was elected? 

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow broke a Newsweek story by Kurt Eichenwald on the evening of December 12, 2016, that Donald Trump may have been placed in a compromising position by Turkey.

Here are a few visuals of that insightful story.

And even Boeing, Trump, and Turkey has been brought into the mix.

It is merely wild speculation that Donald Trump is the Anti-Christ, but it is part of the background noise that points to a link to the Nostradamus thread. Fake news, real news, post-truth news, crazy news. It appears reflective of this strange political year.

BuzzFeed, remember, back in July, made the link between Trump, Nostradamus, and Byzantium. With Byzantium and Turkey.

What of all this business about Russia and Trump? Nostradamus may have spoken to that too, not in terms of Trump being the "red" one but perhaps as "red Russia" dawning again?

Does Nostradamus see more? Or is all of this foolishness?

Stay tuned. We are not going anywhere, and we all will be watching.

What Will Happen On April 4th?

On April 4ths in the past, the following events, among many, have occurred:

1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration.

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, near present-day Lafayette, Indiana between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Due to this battle, Harrison, who got the name "Tippecanoe." Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (popularly known as "The Prophet") were leaders of a confederacy of Native Americans from various tribes that opposed US expansion into Native territory. As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about 1,000 men to disperse the confederacy's headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers. Due to the links to Lafayette, Indiana, William Henry Harrison's beginning of the “20 year presidential death curse,” and the involvement of Tecumseh/Tenskwatawa, this date and site have much to do with the “Fayette Factor.”

By the way, a "Tyler" is the individual who guards the entrance to a Freemasonry lodge.

1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, allegedly, by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1973 – The World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York is officially dedicated.

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1979 - Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is hanged - in spite of international calls for clemency.

1991 - Pennsylvania's moderate Republican Senator John Heinz (above) and six others were killed when a Sun Co. Aviation Department Bell 412 helicopter collided with Heinz's plane over a schoolyard in Merion, Pennsylvania. All aboard both aircraft, as well as two children playing at the school, were killed. Heinz's widow, Teresa Heinz, in 1995 married Heinz's U.S. Senate colleague and future Secretary of State John Kerry. John Heinz was a member of Yale's Skull and Bones, as is John Kerry.

Certainly cursed, culture-changing calamities have occurred on April 4ths. What will happen on April 4, 2016?

Posted 8:23 PM EDT, April 3, 2016.

Buk, Beech, LaFayette, and the Fayette Factor

"The Buk - which means beech tree in Russia - is a 1970s vintage, truck-mounted, radar-guided missile system, codenamed SA-11 Gadfly by Cold War NATO adversaries." ~ Reuters, 17 July 2014.

MH17 was shot down by a Buk, according to Ukrainian Interior Ministry official Anton Gerashchenko.

"The plane was struck by a Buk missile, and in Russian, Buk means beech = Lafayette, the little beech-tree." ~ Matthew Deagle, Twilight Language commentary.

Buk

In my essay, The Fayette Factor, I noted, of course, that "Lafayette" translates into "the little fairy" or "the little enchantment." This does track back to a "little beech-tree."

"La fayette" consists of the elements "fay" (fairy) and the diminuitive "-ette," translating literally as "little 'little people.'"
Others have said this, as well.

The name Lafayette is of French origin. It means either faith or comprehensive. Lafayette is actually an amalgamation of two words in French "La" and "Fayette". Though it is spelt in its combined form in the United States it is spelt in two parts in France. The word "La" is actually the article "the" in French and "Fayette" in the Old French means "little fairy". Source.

An alternative view of "Lafayette" notes it can be translated from the French as "the little enchantment," as well as "the little fairy." Joan of Arc at the age of 8 danced around a beech tree, a "fay tree," a "fairy tree," some recording that she saw fairies. Others tell that she heard voices, had visions, and was "enchanted."

The beech tree, literally, the "fairy tree," la fayette, are historically lexilinked to Joan de Arc.

Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in the Valley of the Meuse in the small farming village of Domremy, France. Later visitors have commented on the area, the beech tree, and more.

On a beautiful August afternoon while our Division was out at rest after going through the Marne campaign, I went in a Ford through the Joan of Arc country and visited her home, her church, and the beautiful Basilica built on the hill overlooking the charming Valley of the Meuse. The route out from Gondrecourt was charming. We went by splendid roads along the ridge of the valley for many miles. At length we came into the village of Domremy where in 1412 Joan of Arc was born in a humble home of humble parents, her father being a peasant farmer. Joan was brought up to sew and cook, tend sheep, attend mass and pray. She had little or no schooling. As a girl she was like other girls, light-hearted and merry. Around that old majestic beech tree which was known as the "fairy tree" by the village, she used to join other children in summer days in making wreaths of flowers and hanging it on the tree and then gleefully dancing around it. There is a story that when about twelve years of age she was playing with other children and then finished up with a race in which she ran so swiftly that her feet did not seem to touch the ground. It was that day she heard a voice that she thought was her brother's calling her. It was not her brother's but the "Voice" that was to be heard by her in later days so often and which was to make known to her, her duty as the Lord's chosen one. Source.

Joan of Arc and the beech tree are linked.

Fifteen centuries earlier, France had been the Celtic land of Gaul, its people the ancestors of medieval French peasants like Joan. Traces of the old Celtic religion survived into her time. Near Domrémy grew a beech tree which villagers called the "Ladies' Tree" or "Fairies' Tree." They gathered May-branches there. Young people danced and sang under its canopy. "My godmother," Joan said, "even told me that she had seen fairies there, but I do not know whether it was true or not."
Between the tree and the village was a spring believed to have healing properties. In Domrémy, the fourth Sunday in Lent was called "Fountains Sunday," when the villagers would eat a special meal of bread, wine and eggs under the Ladies' Tree, then stop to drink from the spring on their way home. On Ascension Day, the fortieth day after Easter, when the local priest blessed the fields, he made another stop to recite the gospel under the Ladies' Tree.
Ancient Celts believed gods and spirits dwelt in places like trees and springs. As proselytizing monks spread Christianity across Europe, they struggled to persuade people that the world around them was not sacred. In southern France, the second Council of Arles decreed in 452 that a bishop would be guilty of sacrilege if he allowed his people to "venerate trees, fountains, or stones." In 724 Saint Boniface cut down an oak sacred to the Germanic god Donar and built a church out of its wood.
Finally though, after centuries of failing to eliminate customs associated with sacred trees and wells, Christian authorities incorporated them into their world view. Even today, wells consecrated to Christian saints and Christianized Celtic deities are important features of the Celtic landscape.
It was in a green and leafy place that thirteen-year-old Joan first heard a mysterious voice. "I was terrified," she said. "The voice came to me about noon; it was summer, and I was in my father's garden. I had not fasted the day before. I heard the voice on my right hand, towards the church. There was a great light all about."
"Twice and thrice a week" she said, "the voice told me that I must depart and go into France." She came to believe the voices were those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. In the spring of 1428, without telling her parents, she persuaded a relative to take her to Robert de Baudricourt, the military commander in nearby Vaucouleurs. He laughed and sent her home. But she kept returning. Her persistence and confidence finally won him over. Source.

Gilbert du Motier—better known as the Marquis de Lafayette—had ancestors who served in the Crusades and alongside Joan of Arc. Marshal of France Gilbert de La Fayette III, an ancestor of Marquis De Lafayette, led the army of Joan of Arc, in Orléans.

Photo at top. From the Foret de la Montagne de Reims. "Inside the national park you can also find the very strange, weird, mysterious Faux de Verzy. It is a variety of beech and is also called 'tortuosa' because of the deformities of the trunk and branches. The story is that the trees grow very slowly but get very old....One is called le faux de la Demoiselle, in honor of Joan of Arc, said to have slept in the forest." Source.

Things do come full circle.