A WEB OF COMMIES, STORIES, and LIES; PERCY SUTTON, HIS FAMILY, and even MARY JACOBY! PART TWO

A few days ago I posted an article that was really long! I was asked to break it up and repost in smaller chunks for easier reading. Thanks again to all who slogged through and read the whole thing the first time! I know it is a lot. There is nothing new added to Part Two. If you want the whole thing, here is the link to that:
https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/2591/
Here is the link to Part One:
https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/a-web-of-commies-and-lies-percy-sutton-his-family-and-even-mary-jacoby-part-one/
This is the next part of the tale. It is the story of the oldest son in the family, John, who was recruited by the Russians to live and work there in the 1930s.
John Wesley Sutton, b. Sept 1897, San Antonio, TX; d. 26 Oct 1978; attended Tuskegee Institute
The book George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol, by Linda O. McMurry, discusses Carver’s knowledge of Marxism, and of an invitation to study in Russia by Oliver Golden, and how John Sutton went instead:
“When Carver spoke of his knowledge of Marxism, he was probably referring to what he had learned from two close friends, John Sutton and Howard Kester. Sutton’s exposure to Marxism, in fact, has originally came through Carver. In late 1930 and early 1931 O. J. Golden corresponded with Carver about the desire of the Soviet Union for black agricultural specialists. Golden reported that the Soviets would pay passage and a minimum monthly salary of $150 to $200, as well as provide free medical care and a month’s vacation. He urged Carver to recommend men and to come with them for a tour of Russia, asserting, ‘You owe it to your race. Russia is the only county in the world today that gives eqill [sic] chances to black and white alike.’
In response to Golden’s request Carver hurried off a letter to John Sutton, one of his best and closest former students, asking if Sutton would be interested in such an offer. Carver also wrote Golden that he doubted he could find fifty specialists willing to go, but that he would do the best he could ‘in this important matter.’ Noting his poor health and advanced age, Carver stated, ‘I appreciate the invitation to study in Russia. I hope I can do it, but not until I get stronger.’
Although Carver never went to the Soviet Union, John Sutton accepted the offer and stayed in Russia until 1938, writing Carver glowing accounts of life and race relations under the Soviet regime. Even being forced to quit the Soviet Union in 1938, leaving his wife and child behind, did not completely disillusion Sutton with the Communist system. Since Carver was both uninterested and uneducated in politics, Sutton’s words probably carried more weight than they would have otherwise.”
https://books.google.com/books?id=hlMkIgwg9KEC&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq=George+Washington+Carver+Communist&source=bl&ots=RQgB8tRToW&sig=sQOliCtw7oadcWSCzEnMnYnLV5g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQh8X8wejfAhWHAnwKHV2UCikQ6AEwCnoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=George%20Washington%20Carver%20Communist&f=false
NOTE: The other men who were recruited from the U.S. to go to Russia were from Hampton Institute, Howard University, Wilberforce University, and of course, Tuskegee Institute, all historically black colleges.
John Sutton spent his time is Russia as an agricultural advisor. He worked on a formulation for a new type of rope made from rice fiber, and was apparently successful. He learned to both read and write in Russian. While there, he married Iylena Vasilievna. After his return from Russian John Sutton attempted to bring his son Juan to America in 1939, but was unable to do so. He lost touch with both wife and son altogether after that.
https://books.google.com/books?id=cwTA1p5wwJAC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=John+Sutton+Russia+wife&source=bl&ots=sldd_jddal&sig=ACfU3U2VHB-qJyGuJL7GTPHuA_wIXOCsXQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip1_zF_PffAhUiL30KHaK-DEAQ6AEwEHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=John%20Sutton%20Russia%20wife&f=false
It appears, however, that Juan Sutton may have eventually made it to the U.S. after all. A Juan Sutton appears as a pall bearer in the funeral program for Lillian Sutton Taylor in January 1998, and appears again as a nephew of Alexander Carver Sutton in his funeral program in March 2002.
On a VERY WEIRD note, searching the name Iylena Vasilievna online leads to actress HELEN MIRREN, whose real name is Iylena Vasilievna Mironov! She was born 26 July 1945 in Essex, London. Her father was Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, and his father was a diplomat, Piotr Vasilievich Mironoff. I don’t see a logical way for the Sutton family to be connected, but can’t rule it out. Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was in the Tsarist Army and fought in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. He later became a diplomat, and was negotiating an arms deal in Britain, when he and his family were stranded during the Russian Revolution. The former diplomat became a London cab driver to support his family.
In 1938, John Sutton received a Master of Science degree from Colombia University. References claim he had difficulty finding work and eventually ended up teaching science in New York. He married Bessie Brandon in 1946. I found the reference below, The Election Petition of the Communist Party and the List of Names of the people who signed the petition to form the party in Chicago, IL in 1940. A John Sutton and an O. Sutton are on the list. I have been unable to determine if these are the Suttons we are interested in, but it is suggestive.
https://books.google.com/books?id=q2JbAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=Cora+Sutton+Communist&source=bl&ots=RKE0OvgJTv&sig=ACfU3U29jxG-1YoRKBAijBpfezKiS1YBrg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH6eDI35DgAhViLH0KHUCvDFkQ6AEwDXoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sutton&f=false
Howard Kester was also investigated by Congress for his Communist connections in 1930. The link below is a book which shows he was investigated, Investigation of Communist Propaganda: Hearings Before a Special Committee to Investigate Communist Activities in the United States…, Part 5, Issues 1-3.
https://books.google.com/books?id=u9FFAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA81&lpg=RA2-PA81&dq=Howard+Kester+Communist&source=bl&ots=S3HqVZJDTD&sig=ACfU3U3VivG7PztWxcL0uGNgEK2BPcb9_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy-82Ju4fgAhWQEnwKHVFPDK0Q6AEwBnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Howard%20Kester%20Communist&f=false
Another article appeared in the Chicago Tribune 22 June 1990, regarding the “exodus” of black scientists, among them John Sutton, to Russia in the 1930s:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-06-22-9002200646-story.html
The Oliver Golden mentioned above attended Tuskegee Institute and was a student of George Washington Carver’s. He was a card-carrying Communist who had lived in Russia from 1924 to 1928, where he attended the Communist University for Oriental Workers in Moscow which recruited revolutionaries from Asia and Africa. He graduated and returned to the U.S. in 1928.
https://blackpast.org/gah/golden-oliver-1887-1940
https://www.theroot.com/black-in-the-ussr-3-generations-of-a-russian-family-1790862051
Now it gets really interesting! This article about Oliver Golden was authored by SUSAN JACOBY. As a young reporter, she lived in the USSR for two years.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/13/books/three-very-rare-generations.html
That name rang a bell. MARY JACOBY is the wife of Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS fame, and is also a journalist. Mary’s father’s name is Jon Jacoby. Jon Jacoby ties Mary Jacoby to the Clintons in Arkansas. Surely Susan and Mary couldn’t be related, could they? Well…here’s where it gets a bit convoluted, but…
Susan Jacoby had an uncle named Oswald Jacoby, her father Robert’s brother. Oswald was a famous bridge player. According to his Wiki page, Oswald was born in Brooklyn, New York, and lived in Dallas, TX. The family was Jewish. The 1940 census in Dallas, TX shows Oswald Jacoby married with two children, Oswald born abt. 1933, and John, born 1938. Public records at Familysearch.com show Jon E. M. Jacoby of Little Rock, Arkansas was born in March of 1938. (Note: never get too hung up on the spelling of names in censuses; they are notoriously inaccurate).
Is this definitive proof that Mary Jacoby is Susan Jacoby’s first cousin once removed? No, but then there’s THIS; an obituary in the Dallas Morning News for Mr. James Oswald Jacoby, found at familysearch.com. It lists his family members as Judith Ann Jacoby, wife, James Oswald Jacoby Jr., son, Jon E M Jacoby, brother. James Jacoby died 10 Feb 1991.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK7L-VX96
THIS is PROOF that these two women are cousins! Another Russia connection revealed.
John Sutton, as well as the rest of the family, are listed on findagrave.com, a website where gravesites can be found:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46162616/john-wesley-sutton
That’s it for Part Two. Next up, more siblings with Commie connections, and a pastor with a whopping FBI file!

Dear MAGA: 20190209 Open Topic

 
Welcome! The door is open, come on inside.
This Comfy Q Tree Saturday open thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.
You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Keep it civil. Rules much like the Old Treehouse, except of course, Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged.
Imagine that! You can talk about Q here…and you won’t get banned.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines that our host has asked us to observe, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this haven that Wolf has created for us.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:

I AM PRAYING FOR YOU.

Wheatie’s Rules:

  1. No food fights.
  2. No running with scissors.
  3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

……………………………..

Is this guy awesome or what?

Whitaker_iu
“I’m not a puppet, little Eric Swilwall.”

WhitakerHumor_iu
This man deserves a medal for keeping a straight face during those absurd loaded questions.

……………………………………..

Did you ever think you’d be cheering on the black helicopters?

Dy2pPpfUYAEsEmp

What a week!

………………………………………

 

A WEB OF COMMIES and LIES; PERCY SUTTON, HIS FAMILY, and even MARY JACOBY! PART ONE

I posted this in its entirety a couple of days ago. It was really long! Thanks to all of you who slogged through the whole thing the first time!
I was asked to break it up and re-post in parts, so that it would be easier to digest. That is why it is going up again. There is nothing new here, so if you’ve read it, skip it. Wolf had a couple of questions after reading it, and I found a couple more things which were interesting looking for answers. I will make another post at the end of this series to include those things.
So, this first part is the set-up. Why did I look for him and his family?
A while ago, Wolfmoon mentioned the name Percy Sutton in a response to my inquiry about what type of material he wanted for the site while he was away. Wolfmoon stated:
“I also have an interest in “red diaper theory”, so the genealogy of all “red diaper lineages” is of interest. I have some projects that are needed there. There is a guy who was significantly behind Obama named Percy Sutton, who claimed that half his siblings (large family) were Communists, with a capital C. I believe that this would be a fruitful entrant into many mysteries.”
I started this investigation with the main purpose of finding the Communist members of this family. However, in the course of it, I have found something else which interests me almost as much. This family has a history which appears in many instances to have been made up out of whole cloth. The more I found, the more I understood how people like this wouldn’t bat an eyelash over creating a completely false background for Barack Obama, and foisting it on the American people. From big lies to small, there are many instances. The Communists and connections to them are there, too.
I am accustomed to detailed research for people who might be looking for clues to more, so I have included links to where all this information was found. It is NOT necessary for you to click every link and read! But you can if you want. J
Percy Sutton famously claimed he helped Khalid Al-Mansour in getting Barack Obama into Harvard Law. I found this about Al-Mansour, who was born Don Warden:
“Al-Monsour has direct ties to the Saudi royal family. He is an adviser to Prince Alwaleed, an enormously wealthy man – at one time, and perhaps still, one of the 14 wealthiest men on the planet. Al-Mansour is the man who offered New York City $10 million to help rebuild downtown Manhattan, then criticized the U.S. saying we had contributed to the 9-11 attacks. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani refused to take his money.”
https://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2009/12/28/finally-an-obit-for-percy-sutton-that-mentions-the-obamamansour-connection/
Al-Mansour is a native of Texas, as is Percy Sutton and his entire family. Al-Mansour was born 29 Jan 1936, as Donald Warden, and attended Howard University, as did Carrie Sutton, Percy’s oldest sister, and his brother Samuel. The schools are important as you will see. I’m sure the Universities are where the Communists found fertile ground. Interesting note: Rev. Jeremiah Wright graduated from Howard U. as well, and may well have overlapped with Al-Mansour’s time there.
In the first reference I found to the “Six Communist Suttons,” Percy Sutton was named/associated with Emma Tenayuca, a renowned Communist, and others. I found the association here (names in bold reoccur in our story):
In 2007, Texas Communist Party USA member John Stanford was honored at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas. He stated:
“In October of last year there was a symposium held at the Tamiment Library of New York University on “James and Esther Jackson, the American Left and the Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement.” James Jackson was a big influence in my life. At the symposium Percy Sutton, former Manhattan borough president, spoke of his long association with and appreciation of the Jacksons. This began in San Antonio where Sutton grew up in a family of twelve, half of whom became Communists. The six Suttons; Emma Tenayuca and John Inman, both of whom were chairs of the Communist Party of Texas; Hattie Mae Inman, who raised a family and was an inspiration to others while bedridden with five types of cancer; Manuela Soliz Sager and her husband James Sager; Luisa Moreno, and many more — these are people to whom I’m indebted. I think this honor belongs to them also. And to my wife, Jo, whose support enabled me to be involved in struggles for peace and justice.”
According to Stanford, six of the twelve Sutton children became Communists. There are commonalities and connections in their lives which suggest this is true, and how they became Communists.
At the symposium “James and Esther Jackson, the American Left and the Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement” referenced above, the Communist Party of the United States was well represented. Sutton was a long-time associate of the people being honored, James and Esther Jackson.
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/james-and-esther-jackson-shapers-of-history/
One of the first things I noticed when I started researching is the secrecy around the family group. Information is there, but not-there in weird ways. For example, with almost every “famous” or well-known family I have researched, other people are out there searching for them, too. Many of those people have public family trees on Ancestry.com. Most of the trees where people from THIS family are included are marked Private, so they can’t be seen. Average family researchers usually just aren’t that careful. I finally found a couple of trees I could see, but the information was very generic.
Percy Sutton was born 24 Nov 1920. He was the son of Samuel J. Sutton, born Feb 1863 in Virginia, and Lillian Smith, b. Dec 1875, in Louisiana.  They married about 1897. Lillian was pretty much always pregnant. Her first child was born in September of 1897 and the last of fifteen was born 1919.
https://www.biography.com/news/web-dubois-vs-booker-t-washington
Samuel J. Sutton, Sr. was a Freemason. According to an article in the Richmond Planet newspaper in 1895, he was the Deputy Grand Master of the Masons, and the delegate from Texas to the Masonic Assembly in Chicago in 1893. I’m fairly certain Percy Sutton was a Mason. G. J. and Alexander records confirm were, but I suspect the other boys were Masons as well.
I found the following “correction” of Percy Sutton’s father’s past. It is representative of the misinformation about this family that has been perpetuated by the family itself:
“In a December 27, 2009 obituary of civil rights attorney Percy Sutton, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Sutton’s father, Samuel, was a former slave. A family spokeswoman, Terrie Williams, says that Sutton’s father lived in times of U.S. slavery but was not enslaved. In a videotaped oral history, Sutton said that his family had believed for years that his father had been born into slavery in Virginia, but found out later that his father was born free in Texas.”
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Talk:Percy_Sutton
I would really like to see what else Percy Sutton had to say in that oral history, but I can NOT find it online. I have to wonder if it has been scrubbed.
Census data clearly states that Samuel J. Sutton was born in Virginia, not Texas. Whether or not he was free at the time of his birth I have not been able to determine. The 1870 census of the state of Virginia only reveals one possible Samuel of the age to be the correct person. He and his brother David are living with their mother, Sarah Sutton, with no father in the home. I cannot say for certain that this is him, but in an interview with Lillian Sutton (Percy’s sister) that I will reference in greater detail in a bit, she lays out in great detail her father’s early history in Virginia. So much of the family story is contradictory, even spoken by its members, it is impossible to say what’s true and what’s fictional.
Another example of this comes from Percy Sutton’s obituary, within which it is claimed he was the first Eagle Scout in Texas. This is a verifiable lie. The first Eagle Scout in Texas was W. E. Merrem of Shiner, Texas. He became an Eagle Scout in 1913, seven years before Percy Sutton was even born. Perhaps they meant to say the first black Eagle Scout, but they didn’t. And I don’t think he was that either, although I have been unable to verify it. The early Scouting records for blacks are spotty, at best.
http://www.cb9m.org/pdf-archives/minutes/executive/jan-2010.pdf
From childhood, it appears the children in the Sutton family were exposed to Communism. W.E.B. Dubois was a frequent guest in the Sutton household in San Antonio. DuBois officially joined the Communist Party of America in 1961, when he was 93. But I’m sure his ideals were communist far longer than that. The oldest child, John, went to Russia and worked for years. Thurgood Marshall, whom some believe was a Communist, or at least a sympathizer, was also a frequent visitor.
All of the Sutton children attended college. For part of his education, Percy Sutton attended Tuskegee Institute. As a result of his connection to one of Tuskegee’s most famous professors, Percy’s brother John actually LIVED in Russia for two years (more on that in a bit). The siblings of Percy Sutton and their histories, as much as I can find, will be in the later posts. I do think I found the six most likely Communists.
That’s part one. I will post another section in a bit.

Your 5 Minutes Are Over, Nadler.

Your five minute are overDiscussion thread for the Whitaker hearing.
Hat tip to Volgarian, here is the C-SPAN LINK for the hearing: https://www.c-span.org/video/?457164-1/acting-attorney-general-whitaker-testifies-house-judiciary-committee
Chairman Jerry Nadler is the Head of Oversight for DOJ/FBI.
This will be the first of many hearings by the new Dem House and it looks like Jerry Nadler is trying to set the tone.
We understand many QTreepers will be following the testimony today, please feel free to make comments here.
Yes, we’re going to need BUCKETS of popcorn.

Dear MAGA: 20190208 Open Topic

This special AOC is the Pol Pot of Climate Socialist Failure Friday Open Thread is VERY OPEN.

You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Keep it civil. Rules much like the Old Treehouse, except of course Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged. A couple of other important things to consider. This here link….https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

….contains some general guidelines for things that are really, really not kosher to post here.

Also consider Wheatie’s Rules (as amended by SteveInCO):

  1. No food fights.
  2. No running with scissors.
  3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
  4. No shooting at the nuclear warheads.

Remember – this is a free speech zone. Barring the few minor things that can get this site closed down, you ain’t gonna get banned.

And once the Gab commenting layer is here – BOOM.

– – · –

The current plan for Dear MAGA threads is to switch to a format where people have ONE NIGHT A WEEK that they take care of the thread. For example, Wheatie will put up the SATURDAY thread on FRIDAY NIGHT.

  • Monday – Wolf
  • Tuesday – Wolf
  • Wednesday – Wolf
  • Thursday – Wolf
  • Friday – Wolf
  • Saturday – Wheatie
  • Sunday – ThinkThinkThink

If anybody else would be interested in being a Dear MAGA author one night a week, feel free to let me know.

Remember that our greatest gift to President Trump is PRAYER!

WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!

AND YES. Not only should we continue to pray for our President, who is of course a fellow believer, as well as for our nation, and for our world, but let me suggest praying that our resident non-believer, SteveInCO, finds his way back here soon! Surely I’m not the only person who misses him! 

Finally, let us pray YET AGAIN for an end to the slaughter of the unborn, particularly when they have almost made it safe and sound into this world, and are being cruelly cut down just before birth by those who profit on their deaths.

Let us further pray that INFANTICIDE never again appears on this planet as an acceptable practice!


On the subject of Steve’s choice to move on, I will simply say the following.

I respect his wishes. Having once been something of an atheist myself (albeit corrupted at an early age by a religious caregiver), I can appreciate his quandary. Moving among communities on the internet is a normal part of life, and we have to make choices about where we spend our time. I have left other communities for here, and I can envision having to leave here, too, although rather unlikely at the moment.

Steve is welcome to return here in the future, if he wishes, but no matter what, I will wish him well on his travels, and hope we meet again, if not here, then elsewhere on the internet.

The coin below is in his honor.

W

Freedom of Religion – Part of the FIRST Amendment

Fare Well

I broke the word “farewell” into its two pieces to express my wishes that you all fare well in the future.
But this is also a farewell in the more usual sense.
It is hard to write these words. I’ve struggled with this for days. It may be hard for you to read them; be assured it was very hard for me to write them and actually hit “Post.”
It has been reported by the other authors here that I was feeling “burned out” and they spoke the truth. That is what I told them back on the 30th when WolfMoon re-opened the daily thread schedule.
But as I thought about it more and more…I began to realize that under the immediate sense of feeling burned out is another problem. I’m feeling less and less like I belong here. There are a couple of reasons for this. I’ll explain them. But I’ll do so by a rather roundabout way.
Do all of you know who I am? No, I don’t mean my IRL name and address, but do you know who I am in the sense of WHAT I am?
And do you know WHAT you WANT me to be?
The two might not be compatible.

What I Am

For as long as I can remember, the universe has fascinated me; I absorbed books written for children on astronomy, then I moved on to stuff like chemistry and even things like how nuclear fission works.  Remember when Wolf wrote about the isotopes of uranium? I knew that stuff by sixth grade.  (NO, I didn’t (and still don’t) know enough to design reactors and bombs, and I still have no idea what the mathematics is like.) I also cheerfully admit I’d be lost in a chemistry laboratory.  But I do speak some of the language.
I was that super annoying kid that I imagine most of you hated in school, whose combined SAT scores were over 1500. In fact, based on that meme someone posted about PDJT’s SAT scores, and some sites I found that would translate my scores into IQ and percentile–I actually scored slightly higher than he did. I must be the world’s most egregious example of an underachiever, eh?
I got a formal education in electrical engineering and computer science, which means a lot of physics, a lot of math (calculus is just the beginning), a lot of Maxwell’s equations.  Then my masters in space operations where I learned astrodynamics.  Of course, I’ve used very little of it since then because I went into software.  And a lot of self-education on everything from particle physics to biology to geology to astronomy and chemistry–not enough to hold my own but enough to understand the broad sweep.  I know a little about a lot, and a lot about a little.
Most importantly, I’ve concentrated not on just what they say the world is like, but why they think it is the way it is.  Not just the conclusion, but a lot of the arguments used to support it.
Is this of value here?  Only sometimes.
I have a hard time holding back when someone, out of ignorance (which isn’t a character flaw if you’re willing to fix it) posts something flat-out wrong. I’ll try to explain why it’s wrong. As often as not my explanation is blown off and I get a hostile response. Sometimes the explanation isn’t understood, sometimes I suspect I’m contradicting someone’s religion but either way–it’s rarely appreciated.
So when I see comments to the effect people want me to do science posts, I have to ask: Are you sure about that? I’ve got some beauts lined up in my head.
And when I tell you I’m no longer in a mood to let ignorant comments slide sometimes…are you sure you want me back?
I’ve alluded to knowing how one knows something to be true.  I was thinking of specifics, but as a general question, it’s actually a branch of philosophy known as epistemology. And it’s implicit in the sciences, sometimes quite explicit; a large part of the gruntwork in science is determining the likely error in measurements and assigning a confidence to conclusions. There are also fairly simple rules for determining how many “significant figures” you’re entitled to cite.
Occam’s Razor is a (proposed) epistemological rule of thumb (and a fairly good one, as long as you’re dealing with inanimate things and not with people who could be trying to deceive you). But here are a couple of others, ones I think are pretty solid.
1. It’s important to correctly identify things; words mean things. Attacking this principle is an attack on rational thought itself, which is why the Left does it, and why we cannot afford to do it to ourselves.
2. Emotions are not tools of cognition. You can’t determine what is true from your emotions. That’s not to say emotions have no place at all; there’s no need to go Vulcan. But their role is in evaluating facts, not determining them.
So when I try to correct a mis-identification, and get the responses I got, and then the justifications I got…those responses tell me a lot about you. Some were purely emotional. I can understand (though not agree) with that. The worst, though–yes, the worst–were those from people who told me I was technically correct, but they planned to go ahead and misuse terminology anyway. Put bluntly–they’re declaring their intention to lie.
I really don’t want to be around that.
[Nebraska Filly, put your mind at ease–I’m not leaving because of anything you said.]
And here is another thing you may or may not be aware of about what I am.
It has been mentioned, from time to time, that I am an “unbeliever.” Another term for “unbeliever” is “atheist” which, going back to the Greek, is literally, “without a belief in god.” Any god.  Which means we are not Satanists, because we don’t believe in him either–contrary to the assertions of about a million fools I’ve encountered over the course of my life.
So I, as of right now, refuse to mince words any more. I’m an atheist. (And I’ll bet at least five of you just became glad I’m gone, simply because of That Word.) I give your beliefs as much credence as you give to–say–Hinduism. If you ask why, I would counter by asking why you give Hinduism no credence. Chances are good my reasons would be very similar. The difference between us actually is: Instead of rejecting all but one system of religious belief (loosely, belief in a supernatural power or powers), I reject them all.
This is a tough stance to take in today’s society. I could tell the three of you who are still reading this some stories, but I’ll hold back; this is already overlong. Suffice it to say, anyone in the United States who feels “persecuted” as a Christian has never been in the shoes of an atheist, and has never had to deal with the treatment an atheist gets at the hands of some Christians.
My blog is moribund. I’ve not written anything for it in years, but in between the science articles, are articles I wrote when I was still quite bitter about that treatment. My attitude now is that if you don’t start a fight, there won’t be a fight.
I’ve let pass a few gratuitous swipes at atheists on this site. Were I to remain, though, that would change–and I would likely again be jumped on by everyone.  But those swipes tell me that I–the actual me–am not considered fit to associate with, by some people here.
Even leaving that sort of bigotry aside, it remains true that there is a vast gulf between me and Christians. You don’t make sense to me, and I’m sure I don’t make sense to you either–I’m sure of this because I’ve seen more than a few rants about how clueless we are. But I can go through life without having to pay attention to that gulf most times, with the exception, of course, that I’d better stay silent.
I bring up the whole atheism issue because lately I have noticed a trend here–this site is resembling, more and more, a big revival meeting.
It is your privilege to do so as Wolf is not only allowing but encouraging it.
But it holds no value to me. I have to go through more and more of what is, to me, meaningless noise, but I am expected to “respect” it, even if only by remaining silent–while knowing that if I posted my opinion on such matters just once in the vast sea of overtly Christian postings, it would get little to no respect and certainly wouldn’t be greeted by silence.
As the great Q tree Revival atmosphere grows more pronounced, and there is little or no Q and a shrinking percentage of Trump here, I feel more and more out of place.

What You Want Me To Be

As near as I can tell, the only things you actually want from me are cheerleading and snark and the occasional interplay with Morose Marica.  But guess what, folks, it’s a package deal.  You get that, and I will feel free to call you on nonsense, scientific and otherwise…and you’ll dismiss my critique and get angry at me.  Rather than go through all that, I’ll just take the package deal off the table.

Closing

I wish you all the best.
But truly, I don’t belong here any more.
And I’m not sure I ever did.

Democrats In White Forget That Phyllis Schlafly Was Right

On Tuesday evening when the women of the Democrat Party appeared in the House of Representatives Chamber wearing white jackets as part of their ensembles, there was a piece of flair on just about every outfit that gave this writer pause. It was a button that simply read “ERA YES.”
This writer’s memory of the original ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment, that passed both sides of Congress with supermajorities, and fell three states short of ratification by its ten year deadline, was the failure of passage. (I was a kid.) The darn thing died in 1982 thanks to a campaign spearheaded by a woman hailed among conservatives by the name of Phyllis Schlafly.
Mrs. Schlafly passed away during the 2016 presidential campaign at the end of a fight with cancer which she had endured for quite some time. Headlines screamed that summer of her removing a daughter from the board of her Eagle Forum which spawned a lot of unfounded speculation. (The truth is the daughter, Mrs. Schlafly’s primary caregiver within the family, wanted her mother to rest in her final months, and Phyllis being Phyllis wouldn’t do it.*) At the time, this writer did some research on the fight against the ERA, and came to the conclusion that the women of the United States had Phyllis Schlafly to thank for saving them from themselves.
Mrs. Schlafly’s primary concern in opposing the ERA was not to stop women from being who and what they were meant to be, she did go back to school to get a law degree after all, but to protect the American family. At the beginning of her fight in the early 1970s, Mrs. Schlafly predicted that with the passage and ratification of the ERA, several social changes would occur that would be detrimental to the future of the nation.

Why “STOP ERA”? Phyllis Schlafly traveled across the U.S. throughout the 1970s calling for opposition to the ERA because it would lead to the following, most of which pro-ERA lawyers argued were not actually real threats from the ERA:

  • Homosexual marriages: traditional gender roles were, Schlafly argued, essential for preserving the family.
  • Women in combat: women, Schlafly argued, would weaken the military’s combat strength, and serving in the military would violate traditional gender norms.
  • Taxpayer-funded abortions: Schlafly, a … Catholic, ardently opposed abortion.
  • Unisex bathrooms: one of the best-known of the arguments Schlafly promoted, this was likely meant to create fear of losing a safe space. Schlafly argued that the ERA would also remove laws that depended on gender to define a sex crime, and that it would weaken laws about rape.
  • Elimination of Social Security benefits for widows: she believed women should not be in the paid workforce (though she herself was paid a salary) especially if they had young children, and so a Social Security benefit for women who had not earned their own benefits was essential to the mother’s ability to stay home.
  • Hurt families: She argued that the ERA would abolish a husband’s legal responsibility to support his wife and family, and making child support, that it would alter child support and alimony laws to make them gender neutral. In general, she argued that it would undermine the authority of men over women, which she saw as the proper power relationship for well-functioning families.

Many of these claims about what the ERA would do are disputed by legal scholars. On the other hand, some of these results evolved after the 1970s to become public policy, accepted by a majority of the electorate.
The Eagle Forum and so-called states’ rights groups warn that the ERA would transfer a great deal of power from state to federal governments.

Amazing isn’t it, that many of her predictions came true whether the ERA passed or not.
All these years later, Mrs. Schlafly’s ability to think logically down stream, as it were, and sound the alarm on so many issues that the people of the United States have been fighting in recent years did inspire Bloomberg, at least, to admit she was correct.
So if she was correct, and the ERA would have been a disaster for American women frankly by putting us on the same legal footing as men (can be drafted into the military, etc.), and it was defeated by the deadline imposed by Congress in 1982, why were the women in white pushing support for the long ago departed?
Basically, because they don’t believe it is dead.
In recent years, two states, Illinois and Nevada, ratified the amendment despite its cadaverous state. That means that only one more state would be needed for final ratification if Congress would only lift the time limit of ten years required for the ERA’s passage.

After its passage by joint resolution of Congress, the amendment had until 1982 to be ratified by the required 38 states. The deadline passed, but as [Alaska Sen. Lisa] Murkowski and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) wrote in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, a renewed effort to ratify the amendment at the state level began about two years ago, and was buoyed in part by #MeToo.
Nevada ratified the amendment in 2017, and Illinois did the same in 2018, meaning only one more state is needed to get to 38.
And, Murkowski and Cardin write, Congress could remove the deadline, allowing the amendment to become law if a 38th state joins in.
“Women should not be held back or provided less opportunity, respect or protections under the law because of their gender,” they write. “This is not a partisan issue but one of universal human rights. Gender equality should be an explicit, basic principle of our society.”

It looks like, now that Mrs. Schlafly and her ability to rally the troops and circle the wagons are gone, the women of the Democrat Party and the men who are too spineless to stand up to them are going to try to revive the corpse of the ERA regardless of the consequences.
The reality is that the Senate may well be the roadblock on this one as amending the original legislation would take a big vote, but rest assured, the other side of the aisle will keep pulling out all the failed ideas of the past as the generations go on and have no idea of why such measures were defeated and who is responsible for making such things come to pass.
* The six degrees of separation in Mrs. Schlafly’s hometown is really two, and this writer has information that was on the ground, but never reported about the family fight in question.

Best Ever Valentine's Day ~~ On a Shoestring Budget.

After the President’s SOTU, we’re all feeling the love. How about sharing the love for Valentine’s Day? The timing is perfect. We have one week to plan.
Remember when you were a kid and we all brought Valentines to other schoolmates? And some kids didn’t get as many as others? And when you HOPED you might get a special Valentine from a secret crush? Well, we’re all grown up, but this year, be generous with the Valentines. Think of the people who have been kind to you over the past year. An UNEXPECTED Valentine magnifies the impact. The payback comes as a surprise but it’s magnificent sight to behold.
Because we catered and did so many big parties, I had the same commercial accounts as florists. I really don’t like to pay retail prices and wholesale pricing means a bigger bang for the buck. I would often order the flowers for a wedding or party, and then hire a florist, off hours, for a set rate. It saved me and the bride, thousands of dollars. Win-win, right?
But I hair-brained idea for Valentine’s Day, which is easy for anyone to do. I had a reputation in town for being a little tough. Some MEN would send in a “sacrificial lamb” to deal with me, because they thought I was difficult or intractable. Scaredy cats! Nonetheless, I needed to soften my image a little. Valentine’s Day was an opportunity to make amends.
From a wholesale house, long stemmed red roses come in a bunch of 25 or 35 and they cost me about $25 for the bunch. I ordered two bunches of 35 each. One for me to give out and one for my husband to give out. I ordered 2 bunches of gypsophila, commonly known as baby’s breath. Now, I’m tall, so my arms are a little longer than most women, but the bunches of baby’s breath were so big, I couldn’t get my arms around them. Cost for a bunch of gypsophila was about $6.25/each. Then, I order 4-5 bunches of ‘leather-leaf fern’. Cost was about $1.50 each. These are the standard ingredients anyone would expect to see in a bud vase from a florist – but you don’t need the vases.
For about $70, I had supplies for 70 terrific Valentines, about $1.00 each. I ordered a bigger quantity from a wholesale house but the idea is easy to replicate with flowers from WalMart or any grocery store, which might cost you $2/each.
Roses come dry-packed, whether from a wholesale house or WalMart, and they need a little attention. Remove the outer petals, cut the stem at an angle, strip off the bottom leaves, and plunge into lukewarm water with an aspirin dissolved and a capful of bleach. Do this the night before and put the buckets of flowers in a cool place. Your roses will be in peak condition in the morning.
I wrapped each rose with a few sprigs of baby’s breath and leather-leaf, in a waxed tissue paper and tied with a big red bow, using inexpensive leftover red Christmas ribbon. If you don’t have waxed paper, dry the stem with a kitchen towel or wrap in Glad wrap. You really don’t need the expense of a water pic for each flower. Just make sure to put your tissue paper and bow in the center of the stem so you can plunge the bottom of the stems into a bucket of water while you deliver your Valentines.
Now, the fun begins, and I can’t begin to tell you how much fun you will have. By the time you are done, you will feel like Robin Hood, or Oprah, giving out cars….., all for about $1.00 a piece.
I had 35 for me and 35 for my husband. He delivered to women we knew and I delivered to men we knew. It will take you several hours to deliver.
He delivered Valentines to the tellers at the bank, the women in the office at the city, the lady who answers the phone at the police dept, the sec to our lawyer, the mom of the guys who own the lumber company, the ladies at the school office bldg, our son’s teachers, etc.
I had a blast delivering mine, because I got the old crusty guys, who NEVER expected to get a Valentine from any woman, let alone a rose with a bow.
My first choice was Leroy, the block-layer. He’s the biggest black man I’ve ever seen, and he blocks the sun when he enters a doorway. He wears a size 18 ring. Biggest hands – from picking up concrete blocks everyday. I love Leroy and he’s come to my defense more than once. I caught him on a jobsite, and in front of his men, asked him to be my Valentine, because our family loved him. I explained, “People don’t often take the time to say thank-you, enough. I pick you to be my Valentine because you’re a good man.” I fussed all over him and he deserved it. Stopped the whole crew. Leroy had tears in his eyes and picked me up to hug me.
My next choice was the CEO of the bank and a prominent lawyer in town, with whom I had crossed swords on more than one occasion. Never mind that he was in the church the day I was baptized as an infant, never mind he has 4 daughters as old as me……, he was squirrely and thought I was hitting on him. What a jerk. I hit him with my rose and made him feel about 2′ tall. I won.
My mailman, Mr. Charles-my favorite checker-guy at the grocery store, the guys at the lumber company, several of my police guys and fireman friends, Wayne – the old court clerk who adored my grandfather, men who were clients – strong masculine men who’ve never received a rose in their lives – blushed – and for the REST of the day, had to explain where the rose came from. PRICELESS!!!! They had to go and get a vase for my flower, and it became a big production in their offices. It made them feel handsome, appreciated, and walk a little taller. It was perfect.
I found the crew of bricklayer brothers and gave them all a Valentine. I found our roofer, and his father who was a roofer, and planted a big kiss on his cheek. I gave a rose to my excavator, the man who uses a grader like a surgeon uses a scalpel. He brought me vegetables for the next 10yrs. He adored me, because of that rose.
I found the mentally handicapped guy who swept the parking lot of a local fast food joint. Everyone in town knew him, and I gave him a rose. He handled it like it was breakable treasure. I don’t think he ever received a Valentine before…. from anyone.
I found our pediatrician, who was an Indian national, which necessitated an explanation of what a Valentine really is. That was a pretty interesting conversation. Our maintenance guy for the city school completely understood. I delivered to husbands of my girlfriends who worked in town, because they were all my “cousin” husbands. The Mayor put my rose in his teeth and danced. He felt special. And I located my minister, who was a good man, cause Valentine’s Day is about all kinds of love, right?
The best of all, though, was our HVAC subcontractor. We’ll call him “L” for this story. L was the kind of man you would want as your dad, grandfather or uncle. He was a multi-millionaire who wore the same three shirts. He was everything good about men, all rolled into one. He was crusty and hard on the outside, and such a good negotiator, he would have given President Trump a tough time. His favorite word was, “No!”, but inside, he was a teddy bear. I respected him and we understood each other. When we got married, I registered with a frilly local gift shop. His wife went in and dutifully bought me a crystal stem. I learned later on, “L” went back in, personally, to the prissy gift shop, and sent me 11 more. I loved him. He was the last one to whom I delivered a Valentine, and he saw me coming. He knew my car.
By the time I got to “L”, word was out in town as to what I was doing. He yelled at me across a field and said, “I was wondering if I was going to see you today…” I smiled all the way through my eyes but didn’t say anything as I walked a long way across a wet and muddy empty lot. “You know how much I love you ‘L'”, I said. “Awwwww,” and he threw his arms around me and hugged me like I was the daughter he never had. He whispered in my ear, “I love you, too”.
I went home that afternoon floating on air. Best Valentine’s Day ever. My husband’s experience was equally surprising. He found several women, friends to his mom, who lost their husbands….. and had not received a Valentine in years. He was kind of misty-eyed about it. Those damn onions…..
But something strange happened along the way….
For months, the effects of our Valentine’s Day reverberated. I never had to worry about a bankdraft charge. Our subcontractors showed up to work, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The school maintenance guy mowed half of my lawn and he even edged it! My minister’s sermon the next Sunday was about “All kinds of love”. I didn’t wait 10 minutes to see the pediatrician. Even the jerk of a lawyer was nice. After the Valentine, we “had an accord”. It was a psychological reciprocation overload, like a vaccination for the whole town.
If I had known all it took was a bunch of Valentines to make people happy, I would have done it long ago. Yet, we know it wasn’t the Valentines at all. The Valentines offered the opportunity, the excuse. It was a genuine thank-you, appreciation, friendship, expression of all kinds of love, and that we took the time to think about “you”, which made the difference.
No, we don’t tell our spouses or children we love them, enough. We don’t thank people, enough. We don’t appreciate good service or simple kindness, enough. We should. I can’t imagine what the impact would be….
Therefore, to everyone on this forum, thank YOU, and yes, I do love you all. You’ve made my life richer, and I learn something new, every single day. I do appreciate you all, and especially Wolfie, for allowing us to come together and revel in our successes and commiserate on bad days. Our camaraderie is real.
And please, this Valentine’s Day, think about my suggestion. Even better, come up with an idea of your own. Do something, anything, to make this Valentine’s Day memorable.
Hugs and Kisses, from our house to yours,
D++++

Dear MAGA: 20190207 Open Topic

This special Thocialism Thucks Thursday Open Thread is VERY OPEN.

You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Keep it civil. Rules much like the Old Treehouse, except of course Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged. A couple of other important things to consider. This here link….

https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

….contains some general guidelines for things that are really, really not kosher to post here.

Also consider Wheatie’s Rules (as amended by SteveInCO):

  1. No food fights.
  2. No running with scissors.
  3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
  4. No shooting at the nuclear warheads.

Remember – this is a free speech zone. Barring the few minor things that can get this site closed down, you ain’t gonna get banned.

And once the Gab commenting layer is here – BOOM.

– – · –

The current plan for Dear MAGA threads is to switch to a format where people have ONE NIGHT A WEEK that they take care of the thread. For example, Wheatie will put up the SATURDAY thread on FRIDAY NIGHT.

  • Monday – Wolf
  • Tuesday – Wolf
  • Wednesday – Wolf
  • Thursday – Wolf
  • Friday – Wolf
  • Saturday – Wheatie
  • Sunday – ThinkThinkThink

If anybody else would be interested in being a Dear MAGA author one night a week, feel free to let me know.

Remember that our greatest gift to President Trump is PRAYER!

WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!

AND YES. Not only should we continue to pray for our President, who is of course a fellow believer, as well as for our nation, and for our world, but let me suggest praying that our resident non-believer, SteveInCO, finds his way back here soon! Surely I’m not the only person who misses him! 

Finally, let us pray YET AGAIN for an end to the slaughter of the unborn, particularly when they have almost made it safe and sound into this world, and are being cruelly cut down just before birth by those who profit on their deaths.

Let us further pray that INFANTICIDE never again appears on this planet as an acceptable practice!

W

Vuvuzela Occasional Cortex

67th National Prayer Breakfast!

7 February 2019 @ 8:00
National Prayer Breakfast


The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., usually on the first Thursday in February. The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide.[1] The event—which is actually a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners—has taken place since 1953 and has been held at least since the 1980s at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue NW.
The National Prayer Breakfast, held in the Hilton’s International Ballroom, is typically attended by some 3,500 guests, including international invitees from over 100 countries. It is hosted by members of the United States Congress and is organized on their behalf by The Fellowship Foundation, a Christian organization. Initially called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, the name was changed in 1970 to the National Prayer Breakfast.
It is designed to be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and build relationships. Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Prayer_Breakfast


Our Lion will be attending.
This is a post for discussion, posting of video links and more…
Think*3