US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical “end times” to justify involvement in the Iran war to troops, according to complaints made to a watchdog group.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says it has received more than 200 complaints from service members across all branches of the armed forces, including the marines, air force and space force.
One complainant, identified as a noncommissioned officer (NCO) in a unit that could be deployed “at any moment to join” operations against Iran, told MRFF in a complaint viewed by the Guardian that their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ”.
“He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’”, the NCO added.
The NCO’s complaint was filed on behalf of 15 troops, including 11 Christians, one Muslim person and one Jewish person.
There is a vast set of concepts and practices that comprise Buddhism. Some are simple, some are complex. They are arranged in various configurations depending on particular sectarian systems.
None is simpler than the vision and direction of Bankei.
Bankei Yōtaku (1622–1693) was a Japanese Zen master. His central teaching was about the Unborn, the Buddha-nature we avoid and act against, but which we can simply realize and reclaim. He spoke to thousands, many of them lay people, who came from all over Japan to hear his plain-spoken and easily understood teachings. He wanted to leave no written record, but fortunately his talks were transcribed. Interest in his teachings declined over the centuries, as established schools of Buddhism considered him too eccentric, but he was rediscovered in the 20th century.
It is hard to offer a basic grounding in Buddhism to those who know little or nothing. It is equally hard to offer something “new” to those who know something about it and may be engaged in particular beliefs and practices.
The good news about Bankei is that whether you know nothing or a lot about Buddhism or Zen, his teachings are open, available and helpful to anybody. You might even say you are better off knowing little or nothing, because you have less to unlearn and less pride in knowledge to set aside.
Two collections of Bankei’s talks, which include excellent biographies of his extraordinary life, are available. Do give them a try.
This post was originally published on January 20, 2020. It now seems both prescient and quaint. Quaint in that back then there were “civilian and military leaders in the administration, when asked about it, either deny that Trump said it or say that we would of course follow the law.” It was a time when the first Trump administration was mostly filled with competent people of some integrity and a time when “law” was meaningful. A time we didn’t know we would be looking back at longingly. Quaint.
Ordering or carrying out the destruction of cultural sites in Iran or anywhere else as a part of hostilities is unequivocally illegal under American and international law, reprehensible and worthy of condemnation, and unworthy of civilized nations.
This didn’t stop Trump from threatening such destruction multiple times in the past few days. This has led top civilian and military leaders in the administration, when asked about it, either to deny that Trump said it or to say that we would of course follow the law, though they never explicitly say the words “no cultural sites.”
This has been labeled just some more transgressive and unconventional bluster from Trump, spouting things he doesn’t understand and doesn’t really mean.
There is something else going on.
We begin with Iran, home of one of the oldest and culturally richest civilizations. It has 24 of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, with more under consideration (see picture above).
Persia was a Zoroastrian empire before being conquered by the Caliphate in 651 CE, when it became an increasingly Islamic nation, now 99% Muslim. Note that at no time has it been a Christian nation, which makes all of its cultural progress and heritage theologically “suspect” or “evil” according to some people.
There is little in that previous paragraph that Trump knows or understands. What he does know is that a portion of his most loyal supporters respond enthusiastically to anything that threatens people and their culture who are not American, not white, and not Christian (for some of those supporters, but only some, Jews get a pass because they are part of the pathway to a Second Coming).
That is why Trump threatens Iran’s cultural sites. It is possible, given his belief that he is the Supreme and Irrefusable Leader, that he thinks the military would carry out such an order. They won’t. Mostly, though, carried out or not, he thinks it shows that he is on the side of those nationalist Christian supporters. He is.
“Although mechanical changes have been great since Biblical times…modern workers still have the basic job of providing for their families….organizing together has helped them achieve brotherhood and gain the fruits of their toil…it has helped build the communities and the nation in which they live, for 25 years…most religious denominations have recognized this and declared themselves in support of unionization and collective bargaining…there should be no gap between the working man and his church!”
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was one of the two umbrella organizations representing American unions. The other was the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which merged with the CIO, forming the AFL-CIO.
In 1946 the CIO created a comic book leaflet, making the case that unionization was promoted by the Bible and by Christianity. The CIO explains:
“Since the beginning of religious history, the struggle for social justice has been the special concern of the prophets of God. To God’s militants, justice is no abstraction. It is measured by everyday conduct, by the relation between the rich and the poor, the employer and his employees, the state and its citizens.
“The early church began as a movement which sprang from the people. With few exceptions its members came from the ranks of the needy and oppressed. However, since before the days of Jesus of Nazareth, the church has periodically lapsed and forgotten its responsibility to bring glad tidings to the poor. These lapses have not been the monopoly of any faith. Catholic, Protestant and Jew alike are influenced by the world around them. The building of a grander church house has often seemed more important than whether the congregation had enough to eat. But those who place the needs of men and women above pomp and ceremony have then been stirred into renewed activity to bring God’s kingdom on earth.
“Today the age-old struggle continues. Perhaps it always will. Perhaps it is a part of the struggle between good and evil in the heart of every man. But we in the labor movement believe that all men must share in the good things of this life, and that God wills it so.
“Because of this conviction, we made this study which we present to you in pictures, because pictures are a familiar and popular way of spreading ideas. We hope that this presentation of the struggle for justice from Genesis to Revelations will be a source of greater inspiration to those who read it. It is our desire thus to stimulate a more vivid understanding of man’s duty toward his fellow man.”
The comic book leaflet can be found here. The pages are included below. Since it is not easy to read all of the text on those pages, excerpts of text are also included below.
Page 1
THE BIBLE AND THE WORKING MAN
“The truth about workers and their struggle to better their lives by group action is an old story…”
“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” — John 8:32
Page 2
“But are unions Christian?”
“Unions want justice and justice is Christian. Ask father when he comes!”
“Father, how nice you’re here! Tell us…does the Lord approve of unions?”
“Let’s see what the Good Book says!”
“God created the earth for men and then created man in his own image…so working together with men is working with God…”
“When Adam fell, God left man the dignity of labor…”
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread!” — Genesis 3:19
“After battle with the Amalekites…David ruled that those on the home front should share in the benefits of victory….”
“As his part is that goeth down to battle…so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff…they shall part alike.” — I Samuel 30:24
Page 3
“Job knew the Lord wants employers to be just, and to hear and bargain with their workers…”
“If I did despise the cause of my man servant or of my maid servant, when they contended with me, what then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?” — Job 31:13-14
“The Bible emphasizes many times over the value of working together and of community sharing…for none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.” — Romans 14:7
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“King Solomon said joining together is better than individualism…he spoke of the evil of hoarding and of the right of workers to enjoy what they produce…”
“It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor all the days of his life for it is his portion.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 5:9,12,13,15,18
“Jesus chose to be born into a carpenter’s family, learning the trade at his father’s bench. He supported the family by hard work…”
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” — Lord’s Prayer, Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew 6:10-11
Page 4
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” — St. Matthew 25:40
“The Apostles continued to preach that everyone should be concerned with the welfare of his fellow men. St. Paul carried Jesus’ message to all people…”
“Bear ye one another’s burdens…look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” — Galatians 6:2 / Philippians 2:4
“John and Peter refused to be intimidated as they organized the people to respect the Lord.” — Acts 4:1-21; 5:17-42
“Organize to help each other…the whole purpose of trade unions is contained in the teaching of Paul and these others!”
“Long ago the guilds did some of that…they provided for sickness, accident, theft and fire insurance…”
“Complete, free, man-to-man discussion across the collective-bargaining table between employers and workers’ representatives fulfills the Good Book’s ideals today.”
Page 5
“Of course Paul was right…and the guilds were O.K….but unions….does the Bible have strikes?”
“Yes, indeed!”
“The Egyptians held the Hebrews in cruel bondage…their cries reached God….” — Exodus 1:14; 3:7,9
“God asked Moses to organize the starved and overworked people against the Pharaoh…”
“I am the God of thy fathers…bring forth my people…out of Egypt….” — Exodus 3:10, 14-15
“When Moses presented God’s demands the Pharaoh ordered the workers to make bricks without straw…a real speed-up.” — Exodus 5:1-4
“By a series of plagues, God frightened the Pharaoh into negotiating…but he did not bargain in good faith…he’d start contract negotiations but drop them as soon as each plague ended…”
Page 6
“Finally God chose Moses to lead the greatest strike and walk-out in history, when 600,000 Israelites left Egypt, the land of bondage…for the promised land of freedom and hope….” — Exodus 14
“Many had tried to break the strike, and in the desert the faint-hearted turned against Moses…God’s truth upheld him.”
“Through the union I can help my brethren…and they can help me….why, that’s what God wants us to do….I’m joining tomorrow!” — Romans 8:31
Page 7
Although mechanical changes have been great since Biblical times…modern workers still have the basic job of providing for their families….organizing together has helped them achieve brotherhood and gain the fruits of their toil…it has helped build the communities and the nation in which they live, for 25 years…most religious denominations have recognized this and declared themselves in support of unionization and collective bargaining…there should be no gap between the working man and his church!
“Will each committee member now name part of the program we want?”
A job at a good annual wage for everyone!
Unemployment, old age and health insurance!
Generous treatment for veterans!
A public works program of schools and hospitals!
A high standard of living through full production!
No racial, religious discrimination!
Good housing for our whole population!
A democratic peaceful nation!
Equal pay for equal work!
Page 8
Since the beginning of religious history, the struggle for social justice has been the special concern of the prophets of God. To God’s militants, justice is no abstraction. It is measured by everyday conduct, by the relation between the rich and the poor, the employer and his employees, the state and its citizens.
The early church began as a movement which sprang from the people. With few exceptions its members came from the ranks of the needy and oppressed. However, since before the days of Jesus of Nazareth, the church has periodically lapsed and forgotten its responsibility to bring glad tidings to the poor. These lapses have not been the monopoly of any faith. Catholic, Protestant and Jew alike are influenced by the world around them. The building of a grander church house has often seemed more important than whether the congregation had enough to eat. But those who place the needs of men and women above pomp and ceremony have then been stirred into renewed activity to bring God’s kingdom on earth.
Today the age-old struggle continues. Perhaps it always will. Perhaps it is a part of the struggle between good and evil in the heart of every man. But we in the labor movement believe that all men must share in the good things of this life, and that God wills it so.
Because of this conviction, we made this study which we present to you in pictures, because pictures are a familiar and popular way of spreading ideas. We hope that this presentation of the struggle for justice from Genesis to Revelations will be a source of greater inspiration to those who read it. It is our desire thus to stimulate a more vivid understanding of man’s duty toward his fellow man.
“President Trump said on Tuesday that officials the United States had eyed as potential new leaders of Iran had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign, and said that the worst outcome would be that whoever takes over the country could be “as bad” as their predecessors.” New York Times, March 3, 2026
Institutions, traditions and movements have a tendency to work at making members and followers better models of the institutions, traditions and movements. For example, this 250th anniversary of America declaring independence, leadership is asking that we learn more about their version of what it means to be a real American, and act and think like a real American.
The rationale is that these institutions, traditions and movements have “the answer”, and by wholeheartedly joining in and acting and thinking like a real ________, you will help make a better world and life for yourself and for everyone.
It is easy for the institutions, traditions and movements to fall into that role, and for members and followers to fall into their role.
That is dangerous nonsense, though it may be hard to see that and hear that.
Our institutions, traditions and movements should not be there to make us better Americans, Christians, etc. They should be there to make us better people, who in turn recognize and work for better lives and a better world for all people. Once in the institution, tradition or movement, we can discern whether what it is doing and what we are doing in it is leading to such an ideal. If it doesn’t or if it is going in the wrong direction, we should evaluate ourselves and our membership and following.
“Look at that Iranian girl over there. Very hot. What do you think?”
The war on Iran, aside from questions about its international legality and its wisdom, is yet another distraction from Trump’s many devastating problems and disabilities. Most prominent among those disabilities is his long-term close engagement with a convicted pedophile, a history now being illegally covered-up. (Not to mention Trump’s own conviction for sexual abuse, though I guess I just did.)
To try to avoid the distraction from this significant matter concerning the character of our president, let us not call this the Iran War or the War on Iran. Let’s call it the Epstein War. And let’s hope Epstein’s BFF ends it soon.
Life is much too short and precious To spend fighting wars each day War can’t give life It can only take it away
War What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
War, I despise ‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives War means tears to thousands of mother’s eyes When their sons go off to fight And lose their lives
It ain’t nothing but a heart-breaker Friend only to the undertaker
Oh, war it’s an enemy to all mankind The thought of war blows my mind War has caused unrest Within the younger generation Induction then destruction Who wants to die?
Oh, war, has shattered many a young man’s dreams Made him disabled, bitter and mean Life is much too short and precious To spend fighting wars each day War can’t give life It can only take it away
Peace, love and understanding, tell me Is there no place for them today? They say we must fight to keep our freedom But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way
Alejandro Jodoworsky is publishing an elaborate two-volume treasury of his decades as an unequaled multifaced artist, Art Sin Fin.
Alejandro Jodorowsky Art Sin Fin Taschen
Discover a groundbreaking work of art by visionary Alejandro Jodorowsky. His films have inspired generations of artists across disciplines; his comics have changed the genre; his performances have defined entire aesthetics. His poetry perspires across media. From his performance work of the 1950s to the films in the 1970s such as El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to unrealized projects such as Dune, and up to his most recent work, this book, designed and edited in collaboration with M/M Paris and Donatien Grau, offers a unique insight into Jodorowsky’s artistic process – by the artist himself.
Two volumes in a in a custom-designed Plexiglas box that can be used as a book stand, 25 x 42 x 9 cm; volume 1: Softcover with fold-outs, 8.7 x 11.6 in, 1.096 pages, gilded edges on top and bottom, signing page at location selected by chance; volume 2: hardcover with black gilded edges, 8.7 x 3.34 in, 1.072 pages, total weight 30.86 lbs.
I am not capable of briefly summarizing Jodoworsky, so I am including below a recent interview from The Guardian.
My ineradicable exposure to his work was watching El Topo (1970). You will find many comments to describe the movie and its impact, including calling it an “acid Western”. It is so much more, just as any description of Jodoworsky and his lifetime of work is okay only as far as it goes, but not far at all. To sum up the effect of watching El Topo: This is a strange and wondrous world filled with strange and wondrous things and people and with strange and wondrous creators.
There is an apocryphal story of an ageing Orson Welles introducing himself to the guests at a half-empty town hall. “I am an actor, a writer, a producer and a director,” he said. “I am a magician and I appear on stage and on the radio. Why are there so many of me and so few of you?”
If a fantasy author were to dream up Welles’s psychedelic cousin, he’d likely have the air of Alejandro Jodorowsky: serene and white-bearded with a crocodile smile, presiding over a niche band of disciples. He has been – variously, often concurrently – a director, an actor, a poet, a puppeteer, a psychotherapist, a tarot-card reader, an author of fantasy books. At the age of 96, Jodorowsky estimates that he’s lived 100 different lives and embodied 100 different Jodorowskys. “Because we are different people all the time,” he says. “I died a lot of times but then I’m reborn. Look at me now and you see I’m alive. I am happy about this. It is fantastic to live.”
Jodorowsky recently finished work on a two-volume Taschen monograph, Art Sin Fin. That’s another rebirth, he says, although it also serves as an archive, a repository, a bulging bestiary of counter-cultural weirdness. Naturally, Art Sin Fin covers Jodorowsky’s brief 70s reign as the “king of the midnight movie”, the creator of the head-scrambling cult classics El Topo and The Holy Mountain, beloved by Dennis Hopper and John Lennon alike. But the retrospective roams much farther afield, leading us through riotous stage shows, outlandish comic-book panels and designs for grand productions (such as his long-cherished adaptation of Dune) that never saw the light of day.
People say that I’m the world’s last crazy artist. But I am not mad. I am only trying to save my soul
Jodorowsky chose the images and artwork alongside the book’s editor, Donatien Grau of the Musée du Louvre. But the accompanying prose is inimitably his own and mixes metaphors and similes with a devil-may-care panache. On one page his brain is “like a canary growling like a whale”. On another it has become “two bicycle wheels fighting like dogs”. Jodorowsky’s work can be provocative, outlandish and sometimes wilfully shocking, geared towards themes of sex and death. But it has always carried a top note of outright silliness, too.
In the beginning, before anything, there was Tocopilla, he says; a small port town on the rocky coast of northern Chile. That’s where he was raised, the square-peg son of a Ukrainian-Jewish shopkeeper, constantly dreaming of escaping to somewhere else. “Well,” he says, clarifying. “First I was one cell in the belly of my mother. Then I was working with my father from the age of seven, working behind the counter of this general store. I was the little young genius who was helping him every day. Now I am the little old genius who is talking to you.”
Tocopilla, it turned out, couldn’t contain him for long. He jumped first to Santiago and then on to Paris, where he studied mime with Marcel Marceau and directed Maurice Chevalier in music hall. His 1967 debut feature – the surrealistic Fando y Lis – sparked a riot when it premiered at the Acapulco film festival. “In Mexico they wanted to kill me,” he says. “A soldier marched in and put a gun to my chest.”
Jodorowsky shares a portion of Art Sin Fin with his second wife, Pascale Montandon. The couple like to paint together under a joint pseudonym, PascALEjandro, producing a series of jubilant watercolours that are one part Dalí to two parts Paula Rego. Montandon joins Jodorowsky on our Zoom call as well, gently chipping in to translate questions or correct her husband’s English.
“This is because I am a very old person,” he says. “Listen to this – I am nearly 100 years old. Soon I will die, that is the law of this planet. Maybe other planets as well. But my wife, she must not die. She is only 50 years old.”
“I’m 54,” Montandon says.
“She is 50,” he repeats. “That means she will live for another 50 years. And she will be here and think about me when I’m gone.”
“You’re not dead yet,” Montandon says. “And I might die before you. People don’t know anything.”
Jodorowsky insists he is an artist not a teacher, which means that there has never been any message or moral to his work. If his multi-hyphenate career is bound to anything, though, it is to the principles of a therapeutic practice that he calls “psychomagic”, which stirs Freud’s theory of the unconscious in with elements of shamanism and the tarot. For years Jodorowsky hosted regular free psychomagic sessions around Paris, where he lives, preaching the gospel and treating the afflicted. Nowadays he mostly counsels his patients via Zoom and sometimes wonders if he’ll have enough time to get through all his bookings. “Today,” he says. “Listen. There are 8 million people who are waiting for my help.”
“Eight million,” echoes Montandon. It is not quite a question.
“Yes,” he says firmly. “Eight million people, it’s true.”
Among the many black-and-white photographs in Jodorowsky’s collection, one shows a wide-eyed teenager with a white-painted face. He is leaning into the arms of a raven-haired woman. “My first pantomime in Chilean theatre,” reads the caption. “Aged 17, made up as an old man of 90, experiencing an orgasm in the arms of death.”
The artist squints at the photo. He is older today than the man he once played as a boy. “Another planet,” he says. “Another Jodorowsky. But maybe I am still the same person, deep inside. Maybe I only look different because I am in a different body.”
He frowns, shakes his head and puts the picture aside. “Soon I will be in the arms of death,” he says. “I am ready to die and I will go with happiness, with a great orgasm. But listen, I will tell you, I have always been this way. Life for me is an adventure. We live in an eternal present. Life is action, action, orgasm, and we experience it all the time.”
Endless art: the ages of Jodorowsky
El Topo “It’s not a western, it’s an eastern,” Jodorowsky said of his 1970 breakthrough, a phantasmagoric Mexican odyssey that deliberately loses itself in the desert. The director plays the violent gunslinger in search of enlightenment while dragging his infant son, Brontis, along for the ride. El Topo’s US distribution was bankrolled by the former Beatles manager Allen Klein, who, urged on by John Lennon, would later agree to finance Jodorowsky’s 1973 epic, The Holy Mountain.
Endless Poetry “My father was a monster and my mother was, too,” says Jodorowsky, who fled Chile for Paris and never saw his parents again. In his 80s he belatedly returned to shoot a pair of acclaimed magic-realist memoirs, The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016), in which he played the guardian angel of his younger self and arranged for his dad to be captured and tortured by Nazis. “People say that I’m the world’s last crazy artist,” he says. “But I am not mad. I am only trying to save my soul.”
Marseille Tarot Research Jodorowsky was first turned on to the Tarot de Marseille by the French surrealist André Breton. He went on to produce his own interpretation of the original tarot family alongside designer Philippe Camoin. His 78-card deck is an “alphabet of the soul”, he says, with its major arcana (the Fool, the Juggler, the Devil et al) corresponding to individual human qualities. It is instead “a system for self-discovery and psychological healing”, he says. Teo Jodorowsky, died of an overdose at 24 years old, 2021. Teo Jodorowsky, died of an overdose at 24 years old, 2021. Photograph: pascALEjandro
Teo Jodorowsky Jodorowsky’s son Teo – who played a dancing bandit in 1989’s Santa Sangre – died of an overdose at the age of 24. This family tragedy led to his father’s experiments with tarot-based psychotherapy and was later reframed in PascALEjandro’s jubilant image of an acrobatic Teo sitting astride the Grim Reaper’s shoulders. “Happy, my son goes down to his grave. I weep,” reads Jodorowsky’s accompanying caption. John Difool & the plant queen from Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius’s The Incal, 1980-88. John Difool & The Plant Queen from Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius’s The Incal, 1980-88. Photograph: Humanoids.
The Incal The Incal – the centrepiece of Jodorowsky’s fabulous comic-book sideline – is a sprawling 1980s space opera, cooked up in collaboration with the artist Moebius and charting the adventures of John Difool (‘the Fool”), a feet-of-clay private eye. Its elaborate cyberpunk style influenced The Matrix and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. An official big-screen adaptation, to be directed by Taika Waititi, is in development.
Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix
Above is a famous painting in art history and the most iconic and revered image in France.
Eugène Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People (La Liberté guidant le peuple) in 1830. It was inspired by the July Revolution of 1830, a three-day uprising that overthrew the repressive King Charles X. In 1839 it was deemed “too revolutionary” and removed from public view. It was acquired by the Louvre in 1874, where it is proudly and prominently displayed.
Here is another painting from roughly the same era, celebrating liberty, in a different nation thousands of miles from France. This is The Declaration of Independence (1817) by John Trumbull. The painting hangs in the U.S. Capitol.
The Declaration of Independence (1817) by John Trumbull
The two are different in many ways.
Delacroix saw Liberty leading as an earthy woman. She is surrounded by fighters of all ages and classes. She is also surrounded by the carnage that the fight for liberty over repression can tragically engender. The style reflects the Romanticism that Delacroix helped introduce into art: passion in the service of history and truth.
Trumbull may have created the tableau (these signers were never all together), but he did not have to make up the character of the signers. Dozens of men, all well dressed, many of them prosperous, a number of them slave owners. The style is traditional, showing so little passion that these might as well be statues, not people. In fact, some of those signers were revolutionaries, promoters of liberty for (almost) all people, very passionate—much of the spirit, philosophy and passion learned from the French.
We are at the start of seeing the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution distorted and used to remake American history and culture into something it was not and is not. It is up to everyone to learn and educate others that the vision of America in Trumbull’s painting was and is not all that liberty is about.
We should not and will not turn to the brutality of the French fight. But we must maintain the spirit of liberty that compels us to act, whether it is King Charles X, King George III, or whatever king we encounter.
Bob Schwartz 