I wrote a few blogs about the 15th century Iberian Peninsula back in 2017, such as:
https://borderslynn.com/2017/06/13/forceful-woman
And, in reading the piece below, I have learned those extremist Catholic beliefs have never been extinguished. The Opus Dei cult has evolved out of that Spanish history.
It is not one supported or practiced by most Rank and File Catholics. It is a kind of Catholicism which has done irreparable harm. It is a kind of Catholicism unfit for existence in the modern world.
https://churchandstate.org.uk/2015/02/the-catholic-right-an-introduction-to-the-role-of-opus-dei/
Inquisitor Bernard Gui said, the layman must not argue with the unbeliever, but “thrust his sword into the man’s belly as far as it will go.” In a time of burgeoning ideas about spirituality, the Church insisted that it was the only avenue through which one was permitted to learn of God. Pope Innocent III declared “that anyone who attempted to construe a personal view of God which conflicted with Church dogma must be burned without pity.”
https://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/04/the-dark-side-of-christian-history-the-inquisition-and-slavery
The map of the expansion of the Opus Dei cult:
Then I open Craig Unger’s 2017 book where he surprised me with this:
In effect, as attorney general, Barr, a leading figure in the newly emergent Catholic right—with its ties to Opus Dei, a mysterious fringe sect with roots in fascist Spain—was bringing in a new strain of religious authoritarianism and theocratic nationalism to join forces with Trumpism on their way to collision after collision with the US Constitution. All this in a world of decadence and depravity tied to figures like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, whose pedophile operation trafficked in underage girls as young as eleven, and also had links to Russian intelligence. This was a war for the soul of America. And at the heart of it all were seemingly simple questions that had never been answered. Indeed, almost absent from the presidential campaign was any discussion of what put Trump in the White House in the first place: Russia.
My mind is being exposed to an intriguing avenue of thought which seems to have historical facts behind it. I must find out more.
I am trying to understand how daily news now reveals the US and Russian foreign policies are aligning.
The US vote against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia for starting the war against Ukraine placed it in previously unthinkable company – on the side of Russia, Belarus and North Korea. Even China abstained from the vote
I have a range of relevant books I am reading just now which are opening my mind to historical events which have led us to this tumultuous point in time.
None of us can afford to remain bystanders. Educating ourselves is more important than ever, but retaining an open mind is important.
So the latest guru to influence the techies is Curtis Yarvin:
Curtis Yarvin’s Ideas Were Fringe. Now They’re Coursing Through Trump’s Washington.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/30/curtis-yarvins-ideas-00201552
For over a decade, Yarvin, an ex-computer programmer-turned-blogger, has argued that American democracy is irrevocably broken and ought to be replaced with a monarchy styled after a Silicon Valley tech start-up. According to Yarvin, the time has come to jettison existing democratic institutions and concentrate political power in a single “chief executive” or “dictator.” These ideas — which Yarvin calls “neo-reaction” or “the Dark Enlightenment” — were once confined to the fringes of the internet, but now, with Trump’s reelection, they are finding a newly powerful audience in Washington.
Craziness is as craziness does. It is hard to believe that these cults are breaking American ambitions to be the shining house on the hill.
borderslynn 
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