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FULVIA, HERODIAS AND KAMALA HARRISI have recounted the following comparison between John and Baptist and Marcus Tullius Cicero before, and this time I will give the story of the real power behind Mark Anthony and King Herod, showing that we have our own Fulvia, our own Herodias as Vice President. History may not always repeat itself, but it certainly echoes. Yesterday’s Gospel reading was about the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist in in Matthew 14:1-12. Parallel passages are given Mark 6:14-29 and Luke 9:7-9. I am sure we all recall the story. Herod had John imprisoned because John had said it was not lawful for him to marry his brother Phillip’s wife, Herodias. John spoke truth to power and tyranny. Now interestingly, Herod did not have John killed immediately, for he liked to listen to him speak. Some commentators think Herod had imprisoned John as a sort of protective custody. But then Herod made a rash vow after his wife’s daughter had pleasingly danced for him and his guest at his birthday party, “Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it to thee, unto the half of my kingdom.” Salome went to her mother who advised her to ask for John’s head. And that she did, adding her own flourish, “On a silver platter,” to signify what the dessert dish for the birthday party would be. Herod was sorrowful but like Pontius Pilate later, he was only merciful when it was convenient to him to be merciful. Thus. John was beheaded and his disciples came and took his body to be buried.Some 70 years or so prior to this another man spoke truth to power and tyranny: Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was one of the most famous Roman statemen in the very later Republic before its demise into Empire. His crime was writing the Philippics, a series of essays against the dictatorship of the Second Triumvirate composed of Octavian (alter to become the Augustus Caesar who ruled when Christ was born), Mark Anthony and Mark Lepidus. As Cicero was trying to escape to safety in his litter, men sent by Mark Anthony stopped him from escaping. “As reported by Seneca the Elder, according to the historian Aufidius Bassus, Cicero's last words are said to have been ‘There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly.’ He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of the litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he would not resist. According to Plutarch, Herennius (a centurion) first slew him, then cut off his head. On Antony's instructions his hands, which had penned the ever so offensive Philippics against Antony, were cut off as well; these were nailed along with his head on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum according to the tradition of Marius and Sulla, both of whom had displayed the heads of their enemies in the Forum. Cicero was the only victim of the proscriptions who was displayed in that manner. According to Cassius Dio (in a story often mistakenly attributed to Plutarch), Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.”Notice that in both stories – John the Baptist and Marcus Tullius Cicero – it was a woman’s spiteful anger which culminated in murder. Yet both men fearlessly spoke truth to power, and history records that both men were acclaimed by the people. Cicero had unparalleled popularity in Rome just before Mark Anthony sent his men to kill him. And the people of Judea some 70 years later held John the Baptist to be a prophet of renown. Yet Mark Anthony’s wife Fulvia was to Cicero what Herodias was to John the Baptist. Octavian, Anthony’s co-leader with Mark Lepidus in the Triumvirate, argued against Cicero being proscribed. Likewise, Herod enjoyed hearing John the Baptist speak and thus kept him safe in prison. But neither Fulvia nor Herodias could abide anything less than death for their antagonists. So, the men who faced these women down had to die.Now consider these accounts well as geriatric imbecile Joe Biden is President, but the real power behind the throne – Kamala Harris – rules. Wonder not why every good thing which Donald Trump has done is overturned. Just as Fulvia and Herodias hated truth and righteousness, so does Kamala. And any man who speaks the truth to power and tyranny had better be prepared for the consequences. Such evil, vile, and reprehensible women will stop at nothing, including murder. We know that from the Garden of Eden when Eve gazed up the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: it was pleasing to the eye (the lust of the eyes), it was good to eat (the lust of the flesh) and it would make one wise in determining good from evil (the pride of life).One last thing: all three of those women (Fulvia, Herodias, and Kamala) have had multiple affairs, multiple husbands. Eve started feminism with her disobedience. Those women continued it. Think on that.