The John Oliver Jokers are a basketball team associated with John Oliver Secondary School in Vancouver. Known as “perpetual underdogs,” the team has developed a strong reputation for tenacity and a program-wide approach that emphasizes player empowerment and community involvement. Over the years, the Jokers have achieved milestones like reaching the B.C. Quad-A championships, showcasing their growth and perseverance despite challenges such as injuries and competitive matches
In addition to sportsmanship, the Jokers foster a culture of mentorship, with older players guiding younger ones, creating a unified team spirit across different grades. This inclusive and development-focused approach has positively impacted both their on-court performance and school-wide culture
ScoreStreamca/the-joy-of-john-olivers-basketball-jokers-after-27-years-perpetual-underdogs-have-their-day-punch-tickets-to-b-c-quad-a-championships/) and ScoreStream are good resources.
The bringing about of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 followed the same pattern. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) headed by Bernard Baruch was contemplating a plan of provocation, which was to lead to a Japanese attack on the United States. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Defense, Harry Stimson, wrote in his diary: “We stand before the difficult question of which acts of diplomacy would ensure Japan to take the blame and the first step.” On 25 July 1941, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States, decided on a trade embargo, refused Japan access to the Panama Canal and assisted China in its war against Japan. This was revealed by George Morgenstern in his book “Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War” (Costa Mesa, 1991). In July 1941, Roosevelt also blocked all oil deliveries to Japan. The American blockade was an outright declaration of war (Eric D. Butler, “The Red Pattern of World Conquest”, Melbourne, 1985, p. 52).
The US Secretary of State, the freemason Dean Acheson, was given the mission of inducing the so-called freeze of Japanese trade, which would inevitably have defeated the country. If Japan did not act, war would follow, the blame would be put on Japan and the result would be defeat and a second class status as well. Admiral Robert A. Theobold wrote in his book “The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor” (Devin-Adair, 1954) that one person alone was responsible for this disaster – the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a freemason of the 32 nd degree of the Scottish Rite. Roosevelt was initiated as a freemason on 11 October 1911 in the Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York (John Hamill, Robert Gilbert, “Freemasonry: A Celebration of the Craft”, London, 1998, p. 241). He had long been a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Holy Shrine Lodge as well as the Architect Lodge No. 519. He was further a grand master of the Grand Lodge Georgia in New York and in the lodge Tall Cedars of Lebanon of North America (Kurt Fervers, “Die Parolen der Hochgrade: Freimaurerpolitik um die beiden Weltkriege” / “The Passwords of the High Degrees”, Berlin, 1942, p. 143). He became an honorary member of the Stansburg Lodge No. 24 in Washington, D.C.
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Four days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had intercepted and deciphered Japanese messages about the decision to go to war against the United States and Great Britain. Information about Pearl Harbor reached Roosevelt as well, but he did not act. The retired Colonel John W. Carrothers stated in The San Francisco Chronicle on 11 December 1981 that the United States had an excellent spy network in Japan, consisting of Koreans who despised the Japanese. Complete information about the intended attack was available to Roosevelt 48 hours in advance. Even the Soviet government warned the United States against the planned attack by Japan. The US commander in Hawaii was not informed. Franklin D. Roosevelt was, among other lodges, a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Holy Shrine. 48
