From Trading Billions in Fiat to Paid in Sats.
Bitcoin Mentor Podcast - Ep. 13 with Mike Leftakes (@Hodlologist) and host Jake Woodhouse (@jeswxyz).
https://t.co/o81VueDZBQ
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Civilizations fall, but what they build with beauty can keep speaking long after they are gone.
This temple has outlived nearly every empire that tried to define Sicily.
Nearly 2,500 years later, its Doric columns still stand with shocking force.
The Temple of Concordia in Agrigento was built in the 5th century BC, when Greek Sicily was one of the great cultural frontiers of the ancient world.
Part of its survival came from an unlikely turn, it was later converted into a Christian basilica, which helped protect it when many ancient temples were stripped for stone.
Most people think Europe’s beauty is found in its castles, cathedrals, and coastlines.
Not even close.
Its soul is in the town squares.
Here are 10 you should see before you die....🧵
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Go MAHA!
Fun fact of the day:
If you don't think inflation has been the biggest problem in the world over the last century, you have been miseducated by people who get paid by inflation.
The Odyssey is one of the greatest works of literature in history. As a lover of Western Civilization -- and as the proud son of a Greek immigrant -- I denounce Nolan's sacrilege in perverting this great epic with DEI & trans lunacy. Shame on him & shame on Hollywood.
They say that the words "gay" and "homosexuality" did not exist in ancient Greece because it was completely normal, just like pederasty. WRONG. I will easily humiliate everyone who tries to manipulate the Classics.
The words existed, and they clearly denoted something reprehensible. In this post, I will prove why everyone is lying.
First, let me clarify that I do not deny that homosexuality existed, that would be false. However, it is anti-scientific and insidious to deliberately try to turn the entire Greek history, mythology, and personalities into homosexuals without original primary sources to support it. This is done with malice and deceit.
I cite some words from ancient Greek that carried the etymology of "gay" with a very negative meaning:
1. κίναιδος (kinaidos) = κινεῖν τὴν αἰδῶ = the lewd man, the one who stirs pleasure, the fornicator. The "ai" is a diphthong. The one who stirs shame and disgrace for himself. It is derived from moving the shame (αἰδῶ), or from moving the genitals.
2. ἀνδροβάτης (androbates) = ἀνήρ + βαίνω = the active kinaidos (the active homosexual male).
3. ἀρρενοκοίτης (arrenokoites) = ἄρσην + κοι- (from κεῖμαι, to lie down) + -της = the man who lies with males, who has intercourse with men, homosexual ≈ synonyms: sodomite.
4. καταπύγων (katapygon) = κατα- + πυγ(ή) + -ων = lustful, vulgar, worthless, lewd, kinaidos.
These four words were insulting characterizations. In ancient Greek texts, they are used to mock the "gay" man of the time. This alone shows that it was not a normal institution or something natural, but something condemned.
The issue with the vases is also anti-scientific. Out of the half a million vases that exist, depictions of homosexuality appear in only 0.001% of them. Is this a serious argument or source to claim that homosexuality was an institution and the norm? Anyone who supports this is lying. Also the 95% of this 0.001% can't be proven that depict homosexuality, it's just a theory from some "academics".
Now let’s move on to some laws from our sources.
1. "I think I should also speak about eros (love) for boys, since this too has to do with education. Other Greeks, either the Boeotians who live together in close pairs of men and boys, or the Eleans who enjoy the bloom of youth, have different customs. Some completely forbid lovers from conversing with boys. Lycurgus, however, in contrast to all these, approved of the following: if a worthy man admired the soul and virtue of a boy and tried to make him a perfect friend and associate with him, he praised this relationship and considered it the best form of education. But if someone appeared to desire the boy’s body, he considered this shameful and legislated that lovers should abstain from their beloved boys in the same way parents abstain from sexual relations with their children or siblings with each other. I am not surprised that some do not believe this, because in many cities the laws do not oppose desires toward boys."
Source: Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, Chapter 2.
2. "The Spartan love had nothing shameful in it. If ever an adolescent dared to commit lewd acts with another, it was in no one’s interest for the two to disgrace Sparta; they were either exiled from their homeland or, even worse, lost their lives."
Source: Claudius Aelianus, Varia Historia, Book 3.
3. "You may take this matter seriously or as a joke, but you must always remember that when a man unites with a woman to produce a child, the pleasure they feel is entirely natural. Homosexual intercourse, however, is contrary to nature and is committed because men and women cannot restrain their desire for pleasure."
Source: Plato, Laws 636c.
4. "If someone appeared to desire the body of the boy, Lycurgus considered this very shameful and legislated that the lovers of the boys should abstain from sexual acts (Aphrodisia) as much as parents abstain from their children and brothers from brothers."
Source: Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 2.13.5–14.1.
5. "It was permitted to fall in love with the noble soul of a boy, but to approach boys erotically was something shameful and disgraceful, because in that case they loved the body and not the soul. Whoever was convicted of approaching a boy in a shameful erotic way was punished with lifelong atimia (loss of civic rights)."
Source: Plutarch, Ancient Customs of the Spartans, Chapter 7.
6. Solon restricted many practices of society that created an atmosphere of “disorder” (lack of order and organization, but also meaning marital infidelity) and “akolasia” (lack of moral restraint and surrender to pleasures, especially sexual ones). The prohibition of excessive female laments and dirges at funerals of strangers aimed to limit excessive passion, which the ancients identified with the emotional female nature and considered dangerous to the male life that had to be based on reason, calculation, and composure. Plutarch specifically notes in the ancient text that it does not befit men to display excessive passion in mourning (but of course nowhere else either), because it was “unmanly” and “womanish” (something that did not fit the Greek ideal).
Source: Plutarch, Solon 21.4.
7. Socrates explains the myth of Ganymede and refers to Achilles and Patroclus:
"I wish finally, Callias, to prove to you also through mythology that not only humans but also gods and heroes prefer the friendship of the soul rather than the use of the body. Zeus, as is known, after having relations with mortal women he fell in love with for their physical beauty, left them mortal. But those he loved for the beauty of their soul, he made immortal. Among them are Heracles, the Dioscuri, and others. I also maintain that Ganymede was taken up to Olympus not for the beauty of his body, but for the beauty of his soul. The name itself confirms my opinion, because in a passage of Homer it says 'γάνυται δέ τ’ ἀκούων' which means 'he enjoys listening to him.' There is also another Homeric passage: 'πυκινὰ φρεσὶ μήδεα εἰδώς,' meaning 'he who had wise thoughts.' From these two things, therefore, Ganymede, having received his name not as pleasant-bodied but as pleasant-minded, has been honored among the gods. (i.e., not because of a beautiful body but because of wisdom. Zeus symbolized the Mind/Intellect and was the father of Athena, the goddess of Wisdom. Our mind begets wisdom.) But also Achilles, Niceratus, is portrayed by Homer as having most gloriously avenged the death of Patroclus not as his lover, but as his friend. And also Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithous, and many other of the best demigods are extolled not because they sleep together, but because each admired the other and together they performed the greatest and most glorious deeds."
Source: Xenophon, Symposium [8.28–31].
8. Proclus gives us the meaning of the terms "lover" (erastes) and "beloved" (eromenos), which had nothing to do with their modern meanings:
"After calling Parmenides and Zeno lover and beloved, or the one teacher (guide) and the other initiated disciple (perfected by the verb τελέω, meaning to initiate), [he makes] the lover and teacher cross such a great sea of words toward the beloved and the disciple initiated by him."
Source: Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides.
In classical antiquity, the lover and the beloved, in correspondence, are considered, at least for those who have studied Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus in depth, as teacher and student. In this work, Plato presents this relationship as an erotic one, meaning a relationship of attraction, between the one who seeks knowledge and the one who provides it. By the term “eros,” therefore, is meant the relationship based on feelings of deepest friendship and respect between two people. In the eyes of the adolescent or child, the teacher-lover was the embodiment of the ideal, the ideal person he aspired to imitate, to adopt the love of beauty, and to pursue moral virtues. After all, this was the meaning of Paideia (education) in antiquity.
When we talk about pederasty in antiquity, we should not equate it with modern homosexuality. Primarily because it was a pedagogical relationship. I emphasize: pederasty had nothing to do with romantic-sexual love as we say today, but with upbringing and education, in the spirit of that era. It was a relationship between an older man and a younger one, which ended when the youth reached adulthood. The continuation of the relationship was a social stigma. Of course, the relationship could sometimes take on a sexual character (in some cities, as Xenophon informs us, but not in Athens and Sparta), but rarely in the form of sodomy, and it was always condemned by society.
It is wrong to equate pederasty with homosexuality. Many Greek academics and foreign historians equate these two concepts. This happens because many newer historians, both foreign and Greek, who deal with ancient texts, do not know them from the originals.
Unfortunately, many younger historians do not know ancient Greek and read the ancient authors mainly through bad translations that are paraphrases.What I have to tell you is that pederasty does not mean the renunciation of the youth by his friend, i.e., of his masculine identity. It was not an act that operated against his manliness. In classical Athens, this institution was an element of the upbringing of young men of the upper social class. It certainly included the initiation of the youth by the mentor-elder into erotic life and what a young boy needs to know (today, doesn’t the mother do the same with her daughter or the father with his son?).It is characteristic that most depictions (on vases) include only touching and not sexual intercourse as we understand it. What is of great importance for the value of societies is that in Athens this institution appears either quite limited or is treated with mockery in the comedies of Aristophanes and in other poets, historians, and writers in general. If it were something established and natural, then why would Aristophanes emit such harsh mockery?
What should impress us is the legal protection of young people from the possibility of their prostitution. A foreign historian writes that adolescence was not an easy matter for attractive young Athenians. They had to avoid the stigma of those who submitted to unnatural contact.
Homosexuality for emotionally immature youths was like walking a tightrope, as social disapproval and comments would not be long in coming. Thus we understand that what is disapproved of is not an institution.
And it cannot be an institution, because there is also a multitude of words that exist to condemn these unnatural pleasures (ἀνδροβάτης, ἀρρενοκοίτης, καταπύγων, γυναικάνηρ, γυναικείας, γυναικίζω, etc.).
Homer Pavlos
The Akathist Hymn, was chanted for the first time in 626 AD, exactly 1400 years ago, when Constantinople, during the reign of Heraclius, was attacked by the Persians and Avars but saved through the intervention of the Most Holy Theotokos and the city remained safe from the attacks (siege of Constantinople 626). The people and clergy gathered in the church and sang praises to the Theotokos all night during the siege, standing without sitting, beseeching for protection. “Akathist” in Greek language means “not seated”.
In 626 AD, Emperor Heraclius was far away in Persia, fighting to recover the Precious Cross, which the Persians had seized from Jerusalem.
The City, stripped of its army, except for a small garrison under the command of the Prefect Bonus, was left defenseless. Women, children, the elderly, and the sick had no protection as the City was besieged by a treacherous enemy: the Avars.
Their ruler, the Khagan, had made a secret pact with the Persians and chose the exact moment when the City was stripped of its fighting men to attack, thus breaking the treaty he had signed with Heraclius.
That was not enough. He also turned his contempt not only against the people but against the God of the Christians. When the Christians sent a delegation to negotiate, the barbarians replied with mockery:
“Do not be deceived by the God in whom you trust! Tomorrow, without fail, I shall be the master of your city. The only way you will escape then is if you become birds and fly away, or fish and swim!”
Patriarch Sergius called upon the entire Christian population to mobilize, crying out to them:
“It is a shame to despair! You are thinking like people who do not believe in the true God. When the Emperor left, he entrusted the City and its people to the loving hands of the Most Holy Theotokos. Come then! Let us all enlist with the Virgin as our General, and let us unite in battle, the battle of prayer!”
Tears flowed from the eyes of the Shepherd as he, together with Metropolitans, priests, deacons, and little children, processed with the holy icon of the Virgin of the Blachernae, encouraging the few soldiers who were fighting on the walls.
A silent cry rose from every breast, directed toward the heart of the Mother, the Champion General. A cry watered by the rivers of tears flowing from the eyes of the Christians, who had no other hope than Her who had brought Salvation into the world.
The Avars began to set up ladders and climb the walls.
They started entering the City.
Their ships waited menacingly at sea for the signal to land. By now everyone was silent; they could hear only the beating of their own hearts and saw the hands of the Patriarch raised in supplication.
And then the miracle came. It came and saved the City that was in mortal danger. A cosmic upheaval. A terrible whirlwind destroyed the fleet of the besiegers.
Many saw a female figure walking along the walls, encouraging the Christians and terrifying the unbelievers. No one doubted that it was the Champion General, the Mother of the Christians, the grace of the Virgin Mary.
Soon afterward, everyone gathered at the Church of the Virgin of the Blachernae. There, with tears of joy, the people offered victorious hymns and songs of thanksgiving to the Champion General.
It was then that they sang for the first time the Hymn:
“To the Champion Leader, the victorious hymns”
In token of gratitude, they all remained standing and sang to our Virgin without sitting down.
For this reason, from that time onward, the Hymn has been called the Akathist Hymn.
I’ve noticed a very interesting pattern. While reading about historical battles, I see many similarities between the Greco-Persian Wars, the later Byzantine battles against various invaders, and the battles of the Greek Revolution of 1821.
Primary sources frequently describe instances of divine intervention that remain unexplained.
The common denominator in all these cases is always the Greeks.
What if this land and its people are truly divinely protected?
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NEW PANEL - "FROM AMERICAN HASHRATE TO WALL STREET: HOW BITCOIN BENEFITS THE U.S." 🇺🇸
🔸Eric Trump, @ABTC
🔸John Koudounis, @Calamos
🔸Eric Balchunas, @Bloomberg
APRIL 29 | NAKAMOTO STAGE
The opponents of this war are rooting *for* Americans. The war's fanatical Zionist perpetrators are destroying America: severely degrading our weapons stockpiles, expending money we don't have, wrecking our alliances, killing increasing numbers of our soldiers, raising prices, killing jobs.
This war is damaging our country, both abroad and here at home, because the Zionist fanatics who started this war and are continuing this war love Israel and hate their fellow Americas. They care less about the damage they are doing to the U.S. as long as they can protect the only country they are loyal to, Israel. Zionists are at every level of their treacherous souls rooting against America and are indeed succeeding in damaging America for the sake of the foreign country they love.