Scott Wolter: Graham Hancock's "Magicians of the Gods" Are "Ancestors of the Venus Families"

8/11/2016

Let’s start today with a fascinating new discovery in Greece, where the old myth of human sacrifice to Zeus on Mt. Lykaion seems to have been confirmed by the first-ever discovery of human remains in an ancient altar dating back to the end of the Mycenaean period. According to Apollodorus (Library 3.8.1) and Hesiod, the mountain’s namesake King Lycaon tricked Zeus into eating human flesh and was turned into a wolf. Pausanias (8.38.7) records that on an altar on the mountain secret sacrifices occurred, hoary with age, and that Lycaon became a wolf because he had sacrificed a child on the mountain’s altar (8.2.3). Now for the first time there is some archaeological evidence, if it is confirmed that the adolescent male found on the mountain had been sacrificed, that these stories describe memories of Mycenaean religious rituals.

On another topic, yesterday I discovered that the origin point for stories of Knights Templar in the Americas seems to be a French article from 1902 that is based, ultimately, on wordplay and a lie. The wordplay involves identifying the Nahuatl name for temple attendants as the Templars, and the lie involves the original sin of assuming that the Mexicans were converted to Christianity by Irish monks in the early Middle Ages, paving the way for the Templars. I’m in the process of translating it, and so far, I’ve done about 60% of the article. I hope to have it translated by this weekend, minus the footnotes, which are the same length as the text and full of pedantic word games. It’s such a wacky and racist article that I am amazed anyone took it seriously. According to the author, Eugène Beauvois, the Templars, by dint of their “intellectual superiority” over Native Mexicans were able to force all of the peoples of Mexico to submit to them within a few years, despite being so few in number, and reigned as god-kings until the evil old Aztecs ended their 150-year reign.

Oddly enough, many people have taken this article seriously. It informed the Templar speculation of the former Vichy French Nazi collaborator Jacques de Mahieu, who in turn is cited by Scott F. Wolter on Templar activity in Latin America in his 2013 book Akhenaten to the Founding Fathers.

In a radio interview recorded about two weeks ago for the Euphomet online paranormal radio program, Wolter repeated his usual claims about the Kensington Rune Stone, vicious personal attacks, and his beliefs about God’s desire for “balance.” I only found out about this radio interview this week because, as I have mentioned before, Wolter and his company, Xplrr Media, lack a centralized clearinghouse for their activities, making them difficult to follow.

During the interview, Wolter also announced his belief that Graham Hancock is likely correct about a comet causing a widespread disruption of human civilization in the Ice Age. “I’ve never met Graham, but I really respect his work,” Wolter said. Wolter added that Hancock’s so-called “Magicians of the Gods” (whom Hancock views as the humans who inspired the Nephilim) are in fact “the ancestors of the Venus families,” who developed the “ideology” currently held by Freemasons approximately “10,000 years ago.”

Wolter’s ideas seem to reflect his acceptance of Masonic myths, particularly those that identify a secret stream of wisdom that the patriarch Enoch recorded on tablets, a story that is inseparable from Jewish legends of the antediluvian wisdom of the Watchers (the Sons of God), the fathers of the Nephilim. And thus the Nephilim subsume yet another fringe historian in their gigantic grasp.

“Academics can be absolutely maddening,” Wolter said in the interview. Around the 49:20 mark he refers to his recent withdrawal from Andy White’s class on “Forbidden Archaeology.” In so doing, Wolter said that White had “more going on behind the scenes,” and he refers, apparently to me, as “people I can’t be associated with, people with agendas, people who are not scientists.” He blamed these “people” (who, given the course’s speaker list, must mean me) for his decision to withdraw from the class.

30 Comments

Only Me

8/11/2016 11:06:04 am

Hypocrisy, thy name is Scott Wolter. Does he not have an agenda? Claiming any and all fringe ideas to support his Venus family-Templar-Holy Bloodline nonsense is evidence enough. As for "scientists", he has proven he has no understanding of science.

More smoke and mirrors.

That discovery in Greece is remarkable.

DaveR

8/11/2016 11:55:29 am

When did forensic geology become a science?

An Over-Educated Grunt

8/11/2016 12:18:19 pm

Mid-1950s when materials testing became standardized. It just doesn't apply here. A geologist is not necessarily competent on archaeological context.

Joe Scales

8/11/2016 12:03:05 pm

Wolter couldn't help himself from falsifying numerical data for his KRS/Masonic numbers scheme:

http://scottwolteranswers.blogspot.com/

Now I do realize that Wolter's code work here is ridiculous on its face as pandering sophistry, but take a look at how he works his audience when coming across the coincidental occurrence of the numbers 8 and 22 in the York Rite Ritual, that he compares to the KRS number sequence:

"8 Arches and 22 Men…

The relevant part of the ritual relays the following story that led to the first two numbers that revealed the code. The three Grand Masters had been entrusted with the writings of Moses, holy vessels, and sacred treasures which included the Ark of Covenant. To protect these treasures from being forever lost or taken by enemies if the children of Israel ever deviated from the sacred laws, a Secret Vault was constructed that was divided into “arches or apartments.” The three Grand Masters constructed the Ninth Arch where the sacred objects were hidden and where secret rituals would take place. It was during the lecture after the theatrical performance of the degree when the character of Hiram Abiff said the following, “There were employed on the other eight arches, twenty-two men from Gebal, a city of Phoenicia…”[5]

My ears instantly perked up upon hearing the two familiar numbers, eight and twenty-two. These were the first two numbers carved on the Kensington Rune Stone inscription “8 Götalanders and 22 Norwegians…” I didn’t hear much of the rest of the lecture and after the degree was finished I asked my mentor and friend, Bro John Freeburg, if there was a ritual book that contained the text of the lecture. He said there was and handed me his personal copy. As I excitedly read the lecture more important numbers connected to the Kensington inscription became apparent, “…together with Ahishar and Adoniram, all of whom were well skilled in the arts and sciences generally, but particularly in sculpture.”[6]

It quickly occurred to me that Ahishar and Adoniram are two individuals. The next number to appear in the Kensington inscription after eight and twenty-two is the number two! “We had a camp by 2 shelters…” The ritual book lecture continues, “One of King Solomon’s particular friends, whose name was Zerubbabel, discovered that there was secret work going on…”[7] This was one more person added into the story and if you haven’t already guessed, the next number in the KRS inscription is one. “…by 2 shelters, one day’s journey from this stone.” So, here we have the first four numbers that appear in the Kensington inscription that also appear, in the same sequence as the arches (8) and individuals (22, 2, and 1) as they appear in the York Rite Select Master ritual, and there’s more. "

Now take a look at the actual relevant text from the York Rite Ritual (http://www.stichtingargus.nl/vrijmetselarij/r/iowasm_r.html):

"There were employed on the other eight Arches, twenty-two men from Gebal, a city of Phoenicia, together with Ahishar and Adoniram, all of whom were well skilled in the arts and sciences generally, but particularly in sculpture. Their hours of labor were from nine at night till twelve, the time when prying eyes are closed in sleep. During the erection of this Vault, a circumstance occurred which characterized this degree, and upon which the ceremony of initiation is founded."

Remember that Wolter told us in his paper that "So, here we have the first four numbers that appear in the Kensington inscription that also appear, in the same sequence as the arches (8) and individuals (22, 2, and 1) as they appear in the York Rite Select Master ritual, and there’s more. " But of course you'll see that in the actual text, Wolter leaves out the numbers 9 and 12 from the very sentence that follows his 8 and 22. He actually has the audacity to bring up the 9 and 12 portion later in the paper to fit them into his numerical line scheme as if they occurred elsewhere in the ritual:

"Nine plus Three Equals Twelve

There is a short paragraph in the ritual book that describes when the secret work was performed on the nine arches and the Secret Vault, “Their hours of labor were from nine at night until twelve, the time when all prying eyes are closed in sleep.”[8] The numbers are nine p.m. to midnight or 12 a.m. This means the laborers worked for a total of three hours. Suddenly we see the reason the ninth line of text had to be added to the face side of the inscription. When the three additional lines of text on the split side are added to the nine lines on the face side, we end up with a total number of 12 lines of carved text that coincide exactly with the times of labor, 9 (plus 3 hours) and 12. Is this still another coincidence?"

There you have it. Falsified data to m

Joe Scales link

8/11/2016 12:10:22 pm

That would be, there you have. Falsified data to make his points, pure and simple.

Perhaps Freemasons that are offended by Wolter's blatant academic fraud might wish to lodge a complaint against their brother prior to the presentation of this nonsense at the Colorado Masonic Symposium:

http://www.coloradomasonicsymposium.org/

They might also want to let the editor of the Rocky Mountain Mason (Ben Williams- ben@rockymountainmason.com) know of the fraud perpetrated upon his publication.

Clete

8/11/2016 12:08:10 pm

Can't fool me. Scott Wolter withdrew from the class because he couldn't find the room where the class was going to be held. It should have been easy, the room was marked with a hooked X.

Andy White

8/11/2016 01:03:19 pm

What is it with the conspiracies? Sheesh. I didn't realize I had to clear every guest participant on my syllabus with every other guest participant on my syllabus. Oh wait, it turns out I don't.

8/11/2016 01:13:46 pm

Oh, I'm sure the conspiracy extends to, and includes, those guests you were able to schedule in place of Wolter. Namely, Harold Edwards and Henrik Williams, who have been quite vocal in their criticisms of Wolter.

Rotty Scoberts

8/11/2016 04:08:45 pm

Wolter is just a cowardly manboy who can't abide critical examination, which demonstrates the fact that he knows his facade is easily seen through by the discerning and educated. Jason was just an excuse to run away.

Tom Rent

8/11/2016 03:19:43 pm

Speaking of "8 and 22" and the other KRS numbers, THE 1885 BEALE PAPERS share the same number sequences as the KRS proving they are connected and that the KRS is not from the 14th Century (ie: the forensic geology work was flawed). – The Beale Papers was a short pamphlet published in 1885 described a story of a man who was given instructions of what to do in case a prospector, Mr. Beale, did not return to Virginia from a mining trip out west. Mr. Beale had buried his gold, silver, and jewels cache in Virginia and the pamphlet included 3 coded pages, one each describing the specific contents of the cache, the location of the cache, and who the cache should be distributed to if he didn’t return.
To this day no one has been able to fully decipher the coded pages, yet some think they have figured it out and are even now out digging in the hills of Virginia expecting to find this cache.
Here’s what’s INTERESTING. Paul Stewart, whose research in 2012 discovered that the KRS was most certainly created by the Cryptic Rite Masons around 1880, compared the number sequences between the KRS and the Beale Papers … and guess what …. They match! Turns out the Cryptic Rite Masons created the Beale papers too, a good 13 years before the KRS was discovered!
Check it out:
Within the 12 lines of the KRS, there are 1:1 similarities with the Beale Papers.
KRS- “8 Geats and 22 Northmen on a voyage of discovery west of Vinland” (30 men)
BEALE- A company of 30 men formed to explore the plains west of St. Louis
KRS- “We had a wood camp with 2 shelters, a day’s travel north from this stone”
BEALE- A portion of the party camped in a small ravine to the north of Santa Fe
KRS- “We were also fishing one day"
BEALE- The Beale party went hunting one day
KRS- “After we came home, found 10 men red with blood and dead”
BEALE- “Ten years must elapse before you see this letter, you may well conclude by that time the worst has happened, and that none of us are to be numbered with the living”
KRS- “At the Sea, we have 10 men to look after our ship”
BEALE- “All but 10 (men) would return to remain with me to the end of the journey”
KRS- 14 days journey from this island
BEALE- Beale Party followed buffalo’s trail “for two weeks or more” from Santa Fe.
Coincidences??? ... no possible way. This discovery just adds more evidence that the KRS was not carved in 1362. This is just a snip-it of the connection between the KRS, Beale Papers, and the work of the late 1800s Masons.

Curious George

8/12/2016 10:08:01 am

How does this square with the observations that Joe Scales has made about the numbering sequence and what appears to be the falsification of data?

Titus pullo

8/11/2016 07:52:22 pm

Did the Knights Templar even have a fleet to shuttle men, material, and currency around the Mediterranean in the first place ofr did they hire merchant ships? Did their supposed fleet have trans Atlantic capabilities? Could hey have navigated the Atlantic? Everyone of these fringe folks thinks it's do easy to cross the Atlantic. Befriend clinker designs and later ones could a typical box construction ship handle the currents and wind? Most be a naval engineer who can chime in. I've seen drawings on Minoans ships and I strongly question their ability to sail across into the Dover strait and into hudsons bay to mine copper.it all seems like hogwash from ancient peoples to Templars taking a quick five day journey to america

Jason Colavito link

8/11/2016 08:04:48 pm

It is hogwash, and Beauvois, to his credit, unlike his successors, tried to get around it by suggesting that the Templars hired the Scandinavians to sail them to Nova Scotia (which he identified with Vinland), and they walked to Mexico.

8/12/2016 06:38:30 pm

I'm not a naval engineer, but my family history involves both navy and merchant marines and as such I've had a fairly basic education about boats, and ultimately the answer is:

NO.

It's not even really about the construction of the ship itself. It's about the masts.

See, prior to the invention of the caravel, sails were fixed in place. They were either up, or they were furled, but other than that, you really couldn't adjust them. Now, if you can't actually adjust the angle of your sails, or half-furl them, you are going to have many, many, many more problems with altering your course, changing your speed, etc. etc. etc. A fixed-mast ship in the Atlantic is practically begging to 1. be capsized, or 2. be stranded until all the food and water run out and the crew dies. In both cases, making it all the way across the Atlantic is probably not going to happen before the negative result.

It's remotely possible--though we have zero evidence that it ever DID happen--that one ship or two might make the journey in one direction. The chances of it making the return trip are vanishingly slim. The chances of a regular shuttle run of that type of vessel is pretty much the closest thing you will find to "impossible" in all of history.

Gunn

8/11/2016 09:12:07 pm

But, of course the Vikings and Scotland have a storied history of their own, with fixed, intertwined connections, the same with all the other victimized countries in the region, which included France.

So, in medieval France, there were coexisting elements left over from the Viking Age--peoples with impressive seafaring knowledge, with elements of Knights Templar, a regional power at the time, likely also having extensive exploration knowledge.

To repeat, Included in this generalized stew of abstract secrecy about the then-current extent of exploration were the Scottish. So, it's not far-fetched at all to think of Scotland harboring post-Knights Templar, and then helping some on their way to the New World on the Atlantic coast: it is simply combing the two known proofs together: known medieval Norse exploration and known Scottish "Templarism."

In other words, it's easy to see how former Viking -era exploration knowledge may have been shared and used by both French and Scottish elements of post-Knights Templar. They had the way and means of visiting Vinland, and also the way and means of traveling far inland, too, had they wanted to.

Did they want to, is the question...as we ponder the multiple evidences suggesting more than a few previous Norse expeditions far into America's interior. Obviously, the KRS expedition, or a proposed post-Templar Scottish/Scandinavian treasure-depositing expedition, wouldn't be the first Norse-led journey into medieval America's hinterland....

John (the other one)

8/12/2016 12:18:30 am

Gunn,

Irrelevant to this post but contains an explanation for triangular stone holes:
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/what-were-the-viking-mooring-stones-really-used-for

Also describes them via 1st hand account as Unexploded blasting holes.

8/12/2016 12:18:45 am

8/12/2016 10:00:03 am

I have left room for the occasional valid un-blasted stonehole in this region. When you finally decide to study stoneholes in-depth instead of superficially, I hope you start by leaving room for the truly medieval stoneholes.

Both Tom Trow (MN academic) and Jason are incorrect about the many medieval Norse stoneholes up in this region. Please read this again: they are incorrect. The situation would be helped immensely if Jason would publicly correct his earlier view.

The problem with the false concept of all these dozens and dozens of stoneholes being leftovers from blasting attempts is that it underhandedly points a negative finger at Scandinavian pioneers as having poor memories, en mass. This is as bad as glorifying white people, right?

John (the other one), give peace a chance here...and also medieval Norse stoneholes, since you brought them up. I'm always happy to defend them as being the Real McCoy. The idea of hundreds of un-blasted stoneholes is not viable, especially when combined with the truth that many of these stoneholes originate in areas where blasting rock simply would not occur because of the locations, where plenty of other rock is at hand, without blasting. (Thanks for the opening.)

Gunn link

8/12/2016 10:44:13 am

John (the other one), as you may already know, all of your questions about my view of stoneholes have already been answered, at length, here:

http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-dojo

8/12/2016 02:17:41 pm

Why are the other people who wrote about this topic incorrect? Simply because they don't pre-suppose Scandinavian voyages into the interior of the Americas for which there is no evidence? Is it because they are academic?

How do you take into account unblasted stone holes? You have left room what does that mean?

Why is your code stone not just a series of test drills?

You have also provided no data to relate new world and old world stone holes. How are they "Norse"?

You have said that everything you have on the subject is pretty much posted on these message boards and the "paper" links you have posted online. So I have read all the information you have provided. What do you mean by superficially? I think the issue is that you have some weird personal stake in Norse medieval American travel. I don't care one bit, I find early travel and the early population of the Americas extremely interesting and that's why I'm here. There are very few sites show to have Norse activity in North America and it only makes sense they would be near the ocean in the NE.

So why, oh why, do you think the Norse would have gone to MN or SD? And come up with something more interesting then a land claim or buried treasure. I'm not sure people are actually aware of how rare those things are.

8/12/2016 08:16:16 pm

John (too), you seem almost as fixated on the subject as I am. I'd like to help you overcome your skepticism by ignoring stoneholes for the moment and instead concentrating on something even more baffling to you...and that is how these medieval Norsemen came to be in the aforementioned region near the borders of SD/Mn in the first place. Questioning me about this baseline of what brought Norsemen here is certainly okay.

You must first know what history offers us in the way of medieval Norse adventurism into Russia. Now, if you could apply just a smidgen of this waterway prowess to the Scandinavians visiting far inland America, you might get a glimpse of Norsemen in the fog coming down from Hudson Bay and west from Vinland (Great Lakes route), nearly bumping into one another!

Let's ask Black Elk what he thinks....

Life is a circle, anyway, why not important waterways too?

The Norse, through normal adventurism, found out that two waterways originating from ocean sources came together near the SD/MN borders. John, does not this become a good enough reason to leave ample evidences of obscure exploration and attempted land up-taking, in this very area? So, you see with wide-open eyes now that there is, indeed, a very good reason for marking up this region...probably well before the time of the KRS.

If you want to include the Mississippi River, three different ocean beginning sources end up at this spot, not just two. John, this is the mysterious reason for the Norse concentrating their attention on this specific area. You can, of course, choose to believe this or not.

This, leads us back to the authentic medieval Norse stoneholes, and the Norse Code-stone I found, which is showing in miniature the same arrangement of stonehole rocks on the ridgeline. And, again, my ferrous-only metal detector agrees with the Norse code-maker who visited and buried something here several hundred years ago. My earnest grandson thinks it may be a shield....

Carl Morrey

8/12/2016 06:49:50 am

Hi Gunn
You discuss Scotland harbouring post Knights Templar yet no contemporary scoure shows this, the two Knights Templar in Scotland one, Walter de Clifton was English born, and both ended up serving penance in English dioceses. The trails that took place for the supposed heresy of the order was unbelieved across most of Europe. Even the English King Edward II who was commanded by the pope to arrest those in the order disbelieved the charges, and held the order in esteem so why no English involvement in harbouring Templars?, those Templars who were classed as fugitives in Britain numbered 5 Knights with no lands or retinues not exactly a massive force of Templars. Also during this time Scotland and England were engaged in a bitter war, the Scottish needed papal support for independence from England and harbouring Templars would have been detrimental to the Scottish cause.
To build and finance ships was a massive cost so ships were owned by the church or the crown to lessen the burden of any losses on individuals, nearly all the Templar lands in the British Isles ended up in knight hospitallers hands, so where could the Templars get monies to build ships and then crew them etc for a trans Atlantic voyage particularly if the Scottish and English navies were engaged in protecting their coastal towns and cities, and both needed money to fund their armies to fight on land,and that Templars were fighting across several fronts in the east and in Europe building castles and trying to finance another crusade in the east all which costs "the sinews of war is an infinite supply of money" .If the Templars used the Orkney islands as a start off point they were part of the kingdom of Norway and they themselves were engaged in conflicts against the Danes and the Swedes.
Yes ships could have been available if the political and financial landscape of the time weren't so volatile, Scotland harbouring Templars starts to become less of a possibility

8/12/2016 10:18:04 am

Carl, here's the possible pathway, in simplified terms: Scandinavia, Vikings, Scotland, France; Templar and post-Templars to America...always a possibility, as another viewpoint.

8/12/2016 06:48:59 pm

Gunn, it's only "easy to see how former Viking-era exploration knowledge may have been shared" if you COMPLETELY IGNORE the 100-or-so year gap between the end of the Viking era and the foundation of the Knights Templar AND the the fact that Christianity did so much to destroy "pagan" knowledge, including in Scandinavian countries AND a devastating volcanic eruption in Iceland. And of course, the fact that not so much as a single button or weapon or other piece of trash has ever been found anywhere along your supposed "inland route." They were not exactly known for "pack it in , pack it out," you know.

Oh, why am I bothering to point this stuff out to you? You won't listen, anyway. You're just another fanatic, determined to take your holy crusade as far as you possibly can, and damn anything that might get in your way, especially things as flimsy as mere FACTS.

8/12/2016 08:30:06 pm

V...no need to get so personal, especially so quickly.

Actually, according to recent findings, the Viking age dwindled down a bit later than first thought... just about the same time the Knights Templar began their rise in power. So, sharing of mapping knowledge was inevitable, I'd say, since some Scandinavians became Templars. I don't mind discussing facts with you, to help you in your understanding.

Cort

8/12/2016 07:40:24 am

I also just published a book about the Beale Treasure and how it is related to the mystery in Minnesota. This came via a decipherment of the Beale Treasure location that included several place names associated with the Great Northern Railroad. This matched evidence I had already gathered that elements of the Hudson's Bay Company had left the KRS. This was done in association with Sir Hugh Allan who was not only related to Edgar Allan Poe but his stepfather whom I also found Poe's father blood related to. Both of these men were a direct relation of Colonel John Allan of Halifax Nova Scotia. All three were associated with the Society of the Cincinnati along with the Longfellow family of Grand Pri Nova Scotia. Poe's mother is an Arnold directly related to the builders of the Newport Tower who in turn are direct relations to the Lord Selkirk (Douglas) founder of the Red River Colony and controlling owner of the Hudson's Bay Company. Sir Hugh Allan along with James Hill (descendant of G. Washington) owned the Great Northern and Canadian Pacific Railroads. One more time. The KRS and TWO other missing stone legends are situated exactly on the borders of Rupert's Land of the Hudson's Bay Company. All of this is thoroughly documented in my last two books.

Now with regard to the "Templars" influencing Native Americans. First of all the Spaniards were Order of Santiago, Calatrava (likely namesake of California), Alcantara, and a few others. Not the Knights Templar. If you read the works of Von Humboldt on the Aztec Sunstone you will be enlightened to how much the Aztec Calendar freaked out the Europeans. They saw Native people's possessing what was to them inside and secret information regarding the temporal fabric (As close as this story gets to "Templars." The entire Fulcanelli thing is there to tip you off to this. Jeez.

GUESS WHAT, FOLKS

8/12/2016 08:01:33 am

MAGICIANS OF THE GODS DANK LIKE A TON OF BRICKS

WHY HAVEN;T YOU FUCKING NOTICED ???

YOU'RE KEEPING THAT PILE OF SHIT ALIVE ON THIS BLOG BY DISCUSSING IT

Uncle Ron

8/12/2016 11:39:41 am

IT ONLY DANK IN THE WORLD OF MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING.

AMONG FRINGE-HISTORY THEORISTS (WITH WHOM THIS

BLOG IS CONCERNED) IT IS STILL A VIABLE REFERENCE.

Tom

8/12/2016 01:06:44 pm

Perhaps Mr Hancok and Mr Wolter shoul apply a little logic, any descendants from his mythical catastrophe after 10,000 years would number in the hundreds of millions and certainly not be a small tribe of Nephilim or a Venus "family"
Also the real histories of the Knight Templars paint a picture of a greedy bunch of bloodsuckers, subbing their religious duties to often half educated locums, becoming the worst of absentee landlords, hgabitual oath breakers and famous for the vast quantities of alcohol they consumed.
Most of Europe was glad to be rid of them and if any had really scuttled off to the new world, one hopes that any cannibals living on the Caribbean islands were there to welcome them to lunch.
How anybody could think that this bunch of charlatans had any virtue
is a little beyond me.

harry robinson link

11/28/2020 10:04:28 am

While reading the attached sermon titled The Martyred President given in 1865, the Venetian Conspiracy was noted. Someone explained that Venice during the Roman Empire was much like DC is the Swamp of the American Empire. I'm sure the gatekeepers will push back on this analogy but they obviously knew about it back then.

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