THE END OF THE WORLD

TRUMP WILL HAVE THE NUCLEAR CODES TODAY

By the time he is sworn in Friday, Donald Trump will have undergone a haunting rite of passage: the classified briefing given to every incoming president that explains how he can order a nuclear attack.  While neither U.S. nor Trump officials would confirm the exact time or location of Trump’s briefing, several past presidents have been briefed on the nuclear codes at the historic Blair House, on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, hours before their inauguration.  

 “It's a sobering moment. It defines the ultimate obligation that you might have,” said Andrew Card, who served as chief of staff to George W. Bush and was with Bush just before and after his first nuclear briefing in January 2001.  It is also likely sobering for millions of the Americans who heard a series of Trump rivals warn last year that the New York mogul must never gain access to America’s massive nuclear arsenal.  "How can you trust him with the nuclear codes?" 

President Barack Obama said at one October rally. "You can't do it."  But America will do it on Friday. From the moment Trump is inaugurated, he will be trailed everywhere he goes by a military aide carrying a 45-pound black satchel colloquially known as the nuclear “football.” Inside will be the codes, war plans and communication tools needed to start a nuclear war.  By then, national security officials will have instructed Trump on the chilling steps he would have to take to order a nuclear launch that could, in theory, kill hundreds of millions of people.  Little is known about the briefing itself, which an Obama White House spokesman declined to discuss. 
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer would say only that “every step needed to assure a peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next is taking place.”  But nuclear experts and former presidential aides offered some detail and historical context for what they call a harrowing glimpse at a nightmare scenario.  

 Confronting the reality of nuclear war has left past presidents deeply moved, even shaken. In his 1999 memoir, Bill Clinton’s former spokesman George Stephanopoulos described seeing Clinton emerge from his nuclear briefing, held at 7 a.m. on the day of his inauguration.  “The man who would soon command the most powerful military force in the world emerged … silent and more somber than I’d ever seen him,” Stephanopoulos wrote.  Clinton wasn’t the only one moved. Stephanopoulos recalled that George H.W. Bush’s outgoing national security adviser, retired Gen. Brent Scowcroft, “slipped out of Blair House and into the street with tears reddening the rims of his eyes.”  

Trump himself has spoken about the horror of nuclear weapons. “I’d be the last one to use the nuclear weapons, because that’s sort of like the end of the ballgame,” he said at a March 2016 MSNBC town hall.  But at the same event, Trump refused to rule out the use of nuclear arms, and cited the Islamic State as a possible target if “somebody hits us.” 
 Sources familiar with the shadowy world of the U.S. nuclear establishment said that Trump would customarily be briefed by the outgoing national security adviser, Susan Rice, along with the White House military aide responsible for the so-called nuclear football. Trump would likely be joined by his incoming national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.  

If the recent past is a guide, Trump’s briefing will occur Friday morning at Blair House, where Trump plans to spend Thursday night. Like Clinton, Obama in 2009 took his nuclear briefing on the morning of his inauguration, just before heading to an 8:30 a.m. church service.
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End of Days: Armageddon Art Exhibit
In honor of the approaching end, the Antebellum Gallery will be featuring the End of Days: Armageddon Art Exhibit. There a diverse group of artists have visually interpreted all the emotions and philosophical outlooks surrounding this controversial date. Ranging from historic to galactic to just outright weird, this exhibit is something you'll have to see to believe.
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TONIGHT~ DECEMBER 21ST~ 7PM!

END OF DAYS:ARMAGEDDON ART EXHIBITION

$5 COVER

RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

DECEMBER 21ST~ END OF THE WORD~ 7:26AM

APOCALYPSE~LIVE UPDATES~

7:50 GMT: The UN has denied claims that it is selling tickets to an ark to save people from the alleged impending apocalypse. The organization posted a message on its official account on the Chinese Twitter-style website Weibo, saying "The United Nations sincerely has not issued any boat tickets." Fake ‘United Nations 2012 China Tibetan Noah's Ark’ tickets are being auctioned off on Chinese websites, and are currently retailing for 10 Yuan ($1.60).

7:36 GMT: December 21 has begun in Mexico and Guatemala, the seat of the Mayan civilization whose ‘Long Count’ calendar triggered speculation over the apocalypse.

07:25 GMT: Hundreds of spiritualists are gathering in the city of Merida, Mexico – about an hour-and-a-half from the Mayan temple Chichen Itza – to celebrate the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar.

06:55 GMT: Argentinian police will close down Uritorco Mountain in the country’s north to prevent a ritual mass-suicide on the day of the ‘Mayan apocalypse.’  Authorities were alerted by a Facebook event calling on "believers and fighters of the Light" to gather on the mountain and abandon their “impure flesh,” transporting their spirit through an“inter-dimensional portal” opening on December 21.

05:55 GMT: Activists from the Internet Party of Ukraine organized a peculiar event ahead of the so-called Mayan apocalypse – they dressed up in costumes from the ‘Star Wars’ movie saga and took to the streets of Kiev to hand out ‘emergency rations.’  Darth Maul and Darth Vader were quite friendly as they posed for pictures and shook hands with children.

DECEMBER 21ST~ 2012~ 7PM~ ANTEBELLUM PRESENTS~ END OF DAYS:ARMAGEDDON ART EXHIBTION

$5 COVER

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ONLY ONE DAY TILL THE END OF THE WORLD~

21 December 2012 is here: 'Apocalypse' LIVE UPDATES

The much-anticipated date for the end of the world is finally coming, as predicted by the Mayans, and we’ve got the latest updates on how the globe is dealing with 'Armageddon.'

16:00 GMT: 'Armageddon' day begins in Hong Kong.

15:36 GMT: Argentina has closed Uritorfco Mountain over fears that Armageddon-watchers will commit mass suicide.

15:10 GMT: Moscow residents are shelling out $1000 for tickets to a ‘Doomsday Party’ in a Cold War-era bunker about 60 kilometers underground.

A Mayan dancer celebrating yesterday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, not in anticipation of the "End of the World," but rather, in accordance with the ancient Mayan calendar, the coming of the "Cosmic Dawn"...

14:51 GMT: Guatemala has welcomed ‘doomsday’ with a special ceremony.

14:43 GMT: In the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia’s Far East, ‘Apocalypse Day’ has begun.

14:32 GMT: There are now more journalists than residents in the southwestern French village of Bugarach, as mystic groups arrive amid rumors that the town will be the only place to escape the ‘Mayan Apocalypse.’

14:30 GMT: Thousands of mystics, New Age dreamers and devotees of pre-Hispanic cultures are coming to Mexico in the hopes of seeing something amazing when ‘the end of the world’ dawns on Friday.

14:07 GMT: December, 21 comes to Japan.

14:06 GMT: Russia's Emergency Ministry warns the residents of the Moscow region of abnormally cold temperatures on the 'Apocalypse' night. Thermometers are set to show -26 degrees Celsius overnight, and rescuers highly recommend not to use cars and not to go outside.

Vladstradamus: Putin knows when world will end, not afraid of apocalypse

As frenzied doomsayers around the world prepare for the apocalypse on December, 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin put his trust in science, saying at a yearly Q&A that the earth won’t end for another 4.5 billion years, when the sun goes out.

“It will all end in 4.5 billion years, the reaction will stop and the Sun will turn into a White Dwarf… I don’t believe the world will end this year,” President Putin said during the press conference.

14.05 GMT: A new trend has appeared in Russian Twitter: #TomorrowIsTheEndOfTheWorldAndIHaventYet, with the users coming up with their ideas of what they haven’t ever experienced, as the end of the world is nearing. Among the things that haven’t been done: a Justin Bieber concert, a trip to Hogwarts, a visit to a grandmother.

14.03 GMT: New Zealand and Australia were the first countries to welcome 'Armageddon Day.’ 

7PM~ DECEMEBER 21ST~ 2012~ HOLLYWOOD CA~ celebrate ~

 END OF DAYS:ARMAGEDDON ART EXHIBIT @ ANTEBELLUM

PRESS FOR ANTEBELLUM'S END OF DAYS EXHBIT

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The Best End-of-the-World Parties In L.A. on Friday

By Tanja M. Laden Tue., Dec. 18 2012 at 3:45 AM

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Categories: It's the End of the World As We Know It

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Antebellum Gallery

End of Days:Armageddon Art Exhibit

Antebellum Gallery, 1643 N. Las Palmas Ave., 7 p.m.; $5.

We all have fetishes, and in a way, Doomsday is one of them. America's premier fetish-themed art-house, Hollywood's Antebellum Gallery hosts a titillating and terrifying tribute to the "end of days" phenomenon. In celebration of the final hours of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, this art exhibit promises to make you both happy and horrified to be alive.
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