to sever the head from the body

The twelve celestial signs.

Planck … had bought the (relative) autonomy and security of German physics at the cost of a servile, self-imposed Gleichschaltung – the alignment with Nazi doctrine that the party demanded in all aspects of German society.

The six-foot Governor did complain that the dummy was shorter than he was — presumably to make O'Rourke look more governorly by comparison.