“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
This Stormwatch Monday 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/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Yes, it’s Monday…again.
But it’s okay! We’ll get through it.
Free Speech is practiced here at the Q Tree. But please keep it civil. We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.
Please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election:
For your listening enjoyment, I offer this from Fearless Motivation; a mix of two compositions, titled ‘Day Of Dominion’ and ‘Next Level’:
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
I will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wheatie’s Word of the Day:
Vagile
Vagile is an adjective which means…able or tending to move from place to place; vagrant; wandering.
Used in a sentence:
Liberals are vagile creatures which will leave a place once they have sullied it and rendered it unlivable.
This Sanctuary Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It is also a place to read, post and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure you’re addressing the issue only, and not trying to confront the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name calling, ridicule, insults, baiting and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
Let’s not give the Internet Censors a reason to shut down this intellectual haven that Wolf has created for us.
The Storm is upon us. Please remember to Pray for our President.
And,
On this day and every day –
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
My Ways are Higher . . .
Last week we took a look at what God meant when He said that His thoughts were higher than our thoughts. Well, it naturally follows that thoughts manifest themselves in action . . . what’s done as a result of those thoughts . . . God calls those actions His ways.
God works in ways that are often mysterious to us – His methods often leave people totally bewildered. Why would God tell Joshua and the children of Israel to march around the city of Jericho for a week (Joshua 6:1:4)? What good could possibly come from Paul and Silas being arrested and beaten without cause (Acts 16:22-24)? Why would God allow Joni Eareckson, a talented girl of seventeen, to break her neck in a diving accident and spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair? Why did God allow a fraudulent election to stand (so far) and permit legions of godless traitors to install themselves in positions of power?
God’s ways are far beyond what our limited human minds can understand. The Bible and the testimonies of Christians through the ages are full of stories of how God turned situation after situation, problem after problem, life after life, completely upside down – often in the most unexpected, astonishing, and puzzling ways.
So, what does God mean when He says, ‘my ways are higher than your ways’ in Isaiah 55:9?”
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. . . . As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9 says) God’s infinite thoughts are far greater than our limited ability to understand them. The psalmist exclaimed, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17). God’s thoughts and His ways don’t always make sense to us, but we can rest in the knowledge that He is always good, and, therefore, everything He does is always good (Psalm 13:6; 100:5).
We’re filled with questions for God: “Why?” “When?” “How?” We often wrestle with faith because of those questions. How can we fully trust a God we don’t understand? How can we have faith when God’s ways seem even cruel at times? When we try to understand God’s ways, we can become frustrated. His ways are higher than our ways, and His actions often don’t make sense to our earth-bound minds. We question God’s ways when young people die, when tragedies strike righteous people, when the wicked prosper (see Psalm 73). So we beat on heaven’s door with our demand for answers, and no answer comes but this one: “My ways are higher than your ways.”
Our key to finding peace with ways that we don’t understand is in Psalm 131: “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (verses 1–2). A child doesn’t understand everything his mother does. She may correct him, take him to the doctor for vaccinations, and tell him “no” when he wants something very much.
And this is how we must be with God. We must rest on Him in complete humility and trust in His superior wisdom and provision, even though His ways are beyond our understanding.
If we try to understand God’s ways from earth looking up, we won’t find many answers. Instead, God left us a clue in the word higher. His ways aren’t merely different from ours, they’re higher. Better. Superior. They exist on a grander scale. He parted the Red Sea because it fit His plan for Israel (Exodus 14:21; Psalm 66:6). He made the sun stand still so Joshua’s army could defeat their enemies (Joshua 10:12–13). He sent an angel to let Peter out of jail (Acts 12:6–10), but He allowed James to be executed (Acts 12:2). God has allowed some of His faithful servants to suffer terrible fates, even though He could’ve delivered them if He chose (Hebrews 11:32–40). When we try to make sense of these events with our limited minds, we won’t get anywhere. Instead, God invites us to come up higher and learn to see life from His perspective.
From earth looking up, we see only confusion. But from heaven looking down, we see a plan unfolding. In Isaiah 46:9–11, the Lord lays out His sovereign plan to use the Persian king Cyrus: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” We may not know why God needs a “bird from the east” or why He would want to use a man like Cyrus. The man “from a far-off land” may not himself understand why he is moving across the world. But those who trust the Lord can rest in the confidence that God is at work. The Bible gives little room for the idea of coincidence (Proverbs 16:33; Psalm 37:23). In God’s “higher ways,” everything happens for a reason and is part of God’s good plan for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
God’s ways are higher than our ways because His ways are always part of a bigger plan. We see only our small piece of the puzzle; God sees the finished work. When our desire is to live in step with His plan, we can have confidence that, even when bad things happen, God is still in control. He often takes what Satan meant for evil and turns it into good for the salvation of many (see Genesis 50:20). God’s priorities are the magnification of His glory and the expansion of His kingdom (Psalm 97:6; Luke 8:1). When God’s glory and God’s kingdom are our priorities, too, we learn to rejoice that His ways are higher than our ways (1 Corinthians 10:31).
March 4th, the old inauguration day before it moved to January 20th. For some reason I cannot understand, a lot of people were sure that meant something.
It didn’t.
The goal posts have moved again; all we find now that we’re here is yet another empty post hole.
Few…well honestly, most likely no one who is addicted to this crap will learn the obvious lesson, though.
How many times will it take before y’all wake up and realize you’re being had, over and over and over again?
Some Anti Trumper (by which I mean both “Never Trumper” and “Leftist Asswipe”) is probably laughing his ass off at you: Suckered again!
In fact, I think there’s a good chance someone over there is making this stuff up to get you to waste your energy on it.
Indictments after the 2018 election. The Huber Report. The Memo. Declass. Indictments after we’re done dealing with so-and-so’s funeral. Indictments after the election but before Trump Leaves Office, which of course he won’t REALLY do.
Please: Wake up and smell what you’ve been shoveling.
It has been wrong.
Every.
Single.
Time.
“Gee, Steve, if you don’t want to see it, then scroll on by.”
That’s beside the point. What are you doing to yourselves believing in bullshit?
After you get done being furious with me, please, please, ask yourself that. What can give you the confidence to continue breathlessly repeating this crap as if it’s God’s truth, when it has been wrong, every single time.
And if your answer in any way rests on hope being a virtue, I have to then wonder at the spectacle of someone who believes that even false hope is a virtue.
“How dare you tell me what to post?”
I haven’t told you what to post. I am begging you to think critically. and subject this stuff to a test. It’s been false every single time. Come to the logical conclusion. PLEASE. And no, you’re not critically thinking just because you disagree with the conventional wisdom about a few things.
It’s sad seeing such clearly intelligent people ensnare themselves in demonstrable falsehood again and again and again.
“Gee, Steve, you want us to quit fighting?”
No. NO!!I want you to start fighting. To the extent that you’re waiting on the next bullshit goalpost/deadline, you aren’t fighting, you’re waiting for someone to rescue you.
We’re not going to get rescued like that. We have to pull ourselves through this. Trump is continuing to fight; he’s not waiting for someone to miracle him back into the White House. And it should be pretty obvious by now he’s not providing the miracle himself. He has acknowledged that Biden is now the president, albeit not the rightful president.
It’s up to us, collectively and severally. Get off the hopium, sober up, accept that the current situation is exactly what it is, and figure out what to do about it. Because you aren’t going to do squat if you continue to delude yourself it will magically get fixed. If you think someone else is going to solve the problem, or that the problem is a bit of phony theater, you won’t, yourself, do anything to solve the problem.
And that is just what the Left wants you to do. And that’s why I am starting to suspect these wacky scenarios and deadlines are made up by the Left.
It’s a free Q tree. You can go on doing this. Really you can. But I really hope you’ll come to your senses someday.
That hope is my hopium, but I am realistic enough to realize how unlikely it is. Prove me wrong.
Justice Must Be Done.
The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.
Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)
Spot Prices.
All prices are Kitco Ask, 3PM MT Friday (at that time the markets close for the weekend).
I talked a bit about rhodium last week (by the way, even though it’s higher than last Friday, it did drop a bit Friday.). I’m going to talk, this week, about platinum.
Platinum appears in some ancient Egyptian relics, but there’s no sign that the Egyptians themselves realized it was something different. It also shows up in some pre-Columbian artifacts produced in South America. I don’t know what they thought of it, whether they considered it different from gold and silver.
It first began to come to the attention of Westerners in 1557, when Julius Scaliger (who invented the Julian date used by astronomers, which is very different from the so-called “Julian date” used by some businesses which is simply the number of days since the prior new year). He noted it as an impurity in gold “which no fire nor any Spanish artifice has yet been able to liquefy.”
Now the Spaniards weren’t at all happy to find this stuff, at least not at first. Having a density actually a bit higher than gold, it would remain in the pan when panning for gold. It then had to be painstakingly separated from the gold, flake by flake. Because it was basically caca blanca.
In addition to being dense, more so than gold, platinum is even more resistant to acids. Which means that it will pass most of the easy tests for gold. You can scratch a gold-plated platinum item and give it the literal acid test, and it will pass. Fortunately, since it couldn’t be melted by any method known at the time, it was hard to make jewelry out of it to plate it, or, really, any solid mass.
Useless!!! They named it Pinto Silver (from the name of a river), and the later name “platina” is basically just a derivative of “plata”–silver.
But then it turned out that if you dumped platinum into molten gold, it would dissolve, just like salt dissolves in water. Once people realized this, mint workers had a new way to steal gold. By holding back some and swapping it with an equal weight of platinum, they could adulterate the coinage and pocket the gold. Meanwhile, no average person, prepared to test gold coinage to ensure it wasn’t gold plated lead, could detect it.
The Spanish government got wind of this. And they banned the possession of platinum. You had to sell it to the Spanish government, which would take it away and store it somewhere, to ensure it didn’t end up in their coins. (Later on, of course, they’d eventually decide to debase their own money with the platinum.)
In the mid 1700s chemists began to notice this stuff. The first chemist to look at it and decide it was a new element was Antonio de Ulloa, in the mid 1700s.
But a use for platinum did finally turn up, once someone figured out how to work it. By dissolving it in aqua regia (an acid that attacks gold as well as platinum), then precipitating it out of solution, one gets a powder; by compressing and heating it, you could, at least form it into shapes even though this was basically “sponge” platinum. People began to make crucibles out of it, it being handy for crucibles to withstand any amount of heat one could throw at it.
Another use was boilers for sulfuric acid. Take a flat sheet of platinum, bend it around into a cylinder. Solder the seam with gold (and begrudge every tiny bit of gold you have to use for the seam). Also weld on circular ends. You now have a pressure vessel, you can pour dilute sulfuric acid into it, boil off some of the water and concentrate it. Otherwise, you’d have to use a glass vat, and having a brittle glass vat explode with sulfuric acid inside…well, you don’t want to be around; if the glass doesn’t lacerate you, the acid will burn you. And if the glass does lacerate you, the acid will still burn you.
By the early 1800s platinum was, ounce for ounce, about six times as expensive as silver (and gold was about 15 times as expensive). And more deposits had been found in Russia.
Three things to say about the Russian platinum deposits. First, nuggets were found, and some of the locals would use them as birdshot!!! Imagine blowing platinum out of your shotgun!
Second, work was done on this platinum in England. A couple of chemists dissolved platinum with aqua regia, and there was some stuff in there that wouldn’t dissolve. Eventually Tennant and Wollaston concluded there were new metals there: rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium. Because these metals (and a fourth, ruthenium, discovered in 1844) are always found together in minerals, they became known as the “platinum group metals.”
Finally, someone in Russia came up with the bright idea of minting coins out of platinum, and this was done from 1828 to 1845. The coins were the same sizes as the quarter, half and ruble (silver coins), but weighed twice as much, so their face values were 12 times as much.
A three ruble platinum coin. A bit smaller than a quarter…and twice as heavy.
Almost exactly 1/3 or a troy ounce, but the platinum is not terribly pure
When I said a couple of weeks ago there was no such thing as junk platinum because there were no platinum coins (with one exception) ever made for circulation, these were indeed the coins I was thinking of, but the problem is these coins are very valuable, especially the 6 and 12 ruble pieces. They’re worth far more as coins than they are as metal, which means they’re not “junk” in the way that “junk silver” is. So you won’t be finding this for “dirt cheap” or “just above melt.”
These coins were also made out of sponge. Pure platinum is about 21.45 times as dense as water; these coins tend to be about 20.5 times as dense. About five percent of these things is air! They’re also not especially pure; some effort was made to remove impurities (such as other platinum group metals), but much remained, and there’s also some small amount of iron in them.
Finally in the mid 1800s someone invented a furnace that could melt platinum, so we now had solid platinum to work with (and in fact, people make fakes of the Russian platinum coinage out of real platinum, but they never go through the trouble of making sponge out of the platinum. So the fakes tend to look better than the real ones, sponge platinum having a kind of ugly appearance to it.
Later on, platinum’s use as a catalyst gave it real value and most of those coins got scrapped and sold to Johnson Matthey, which is still today a major refiner of the platinum group metals.
Eventually platinum’s price exceeded that of gold, and then, people decided it would make good jewelry in its own right.
And so, when I was a kid, platinum was always more expensive than gold. It was in the 400s when gold was in the 300s, and when gold spiked to $850 an ounce one day late in the Carter administration, platinum was over a thousand bucks. I don’t recall when its price slid to below that of gold, but that situation has persisted for quite some time. It feels “wrong” to me.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
To conclude: My standard Public Service Announcement. We don’t want to forget this!!!
Remember Hong Kong!!!
If anyone ends up in the cell right next to him, tell him I said “hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust!’
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!”
Francis Scott Key
Welcome to Wolf’s Pub! It’s Freemen Friday and today we fight.
They aren’t going to win. They think Might makes Right.
“Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
Abraham Lincoln
The globalists and communists picked a fight with the Real America this time around. They have gone all in. It’s winner take all. But we are freemen and we hold the lantern of liberty aloft.
Remember us? We love our homes, we are loath to fight unless forced to it, we HATE having our blood and treasure spilled in foreign lands. We HATE cancel culture. We HATE that they seek to divide us, that they tax us without representing us. We just wanted to be left alone to pursue our lives, our liberty, and our happiness.
We know that they have sold out to China and other foreign nations for filthy lucre; that they do not honor their oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. They have installed a senile old pervert in the White House, which shows their contempt for this great nation and its people.
They are comfortable in their positions of power. They probably even feel justified in all they have done to destroy our great republic. Theirs is a “high and lonely destiny” to quote Uncle Andrew in The Magician’s Nephew, a book I highly recommend to any of them left with a modicum of conscience.
But I also know this: evil ideologies and those who carry them out always lose in the end. I don’t know what, when, where, or how, but I do know that evil has a limited lifespan and it will be defeated. It is inherently self-destructive.
Wild bergamot is the herb that is the featured image above. I was out in my garden yesterday and noticed that the bergamot was peeking through the dead growth from last year. The Dark Winter we went through did not kill it. It is coming back thicker than ever. And so will America.
And I further know that it will be God who defeats this evil that bedevils our nation. He will use Gideon’s three hundred, but it will be God to whom the glory belongs. Glory to God in the highest!
House Rules
Before we go further, visit here to review the Rules. No friendly fire. We’re gonna stick together like glue, even when we disagree. Disagreements allowed, just keep it civil and buy each other a drink. You can catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Brawling only allowed at the UTree.
Speaking of drinks, today’s special is Jack Daniels, that iconic American bourbon.
Here is a video featuring patriotic drinks made with Jack Daniels whiskey. Scrumptious!
If you peruse the Jack Daniels website you will see that its history involves slavery. But we don’t cancel our history, we learn from it.
https://youtu.be/yzF1_KxL0wo
Battle Plans
“Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.”
James Madison
I’ve noticed that alternative media is on the rise and beginning to come into its own. Important that we visit and support and SHARE WITH OTHERS. I’m compiling a list of these alternative sites and I’m going to share them with friends. So many of our fellow citizens continue to be stuck in the loop of the propaganda MSM.
Let us help free them with the help of a truly FREE PRESS.
I’m even thinking about printing up small cards with all these websites on them to pass out to people, to put on public bulletin boards and wherever they might do good. I guess I’m getting stuck on the “Kilroy was here” tactic. It was immensely successful.
Tools of the Trade for Patriots
Here’s some of my favorites. Please add your own in the comments, as I know I’ve missed a lot. The more we undercut the reach of the Fake News Media with true news and information, the faster we own them. And they will be ours. Oh yes, they will be ours.
Lin Wood, who has the Fight Back law website, is under attack (see here) for sharing a transcript of some pretty heavy stuff by a whistleblower. The communist/globalist cabal is going to try and commit lawfare on him. Let’s show them that we support and seek to protect our own. God keep you and bless you and make His face to shine upon you, Mr. Wood!
Monday was the anniversary of the great culture warrior Andrew Breitbart’s death. Twitter, in a fit of spite, took his account’s blue checkmark away the other day. He is still getting to them. Oh, it must give him a great sense of satisfaction to know that!
We have all seen this short video of Andrew. See that steel in his eyes? Yeah, that’s the Real America. That’s the America they will never defeat. We will never give in. We will never give up. We will win.
I’m trying to come up with a theme and there’s something in the air not happening tonight.
That being the case, this is a free for all.
And in that spirit, our dance club selection (don’t think, just move to the music):
_______________________________________________
Please review our HOST and site owner’s Guidelines for posting and discussion for this site. Wolf is kind enough to put up with *most* of us and our antics after thorough vetting. Violators of the baiting and deliberately attempting to divide the group rules WILL face consequences.
The discourse on this site is to be CIVIL – no name calling, baiting, or threatening others here is allowed. Company manners are appreciated. Those who are so inclined may visit Wolf’s other sanctuary, the U-Tree, to slog out discussions best saved for a wrestling mat. Say hi to anyone who is actually hanging out there for the rest of us.
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Be careful in expressing thoughts as we would all like to think well of the rest of the group, and ill-thought out comments have a way of wrecking that for everyone.
Fellow tree dweller Wheatie gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:
No food fights
No running with scissors
If you bring snacks, be sure they are made with bacon
Auntie DePat’s requests as we are all supposedly adults and not perpetual high school sophomores or the back row of the soprano section in any big chorus:
If you see something has not been posted, do us all a favor, and post it. Please, do not complain that it has not been done yet.
The scroll wheel on your mouse can be your friend. As mature adults, please use it here in the same manner you would in avoiding online porn.
Thank you so much for any and all attention to such details. It is GREATLY appreciated by more than one party here.
5Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? 10“I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
Prayers for the nation, the salvation of humanity, and all of us here – lurkers and members – as well as our families, are welcome.
Hopium is in the midst of being censored by YouTube, it seems. Videos from a number of channels where the epicenter of hopium is interviewed and featured have been taken offline. There are two specific people targeted: the epicenter of hopium and one Robert David Steele, specifically.
Why would hopium be censored by the other side if it didn’t pose a danger?
This is the point of today’s non-hopium message: perseverance.
In searching for more hopium to at least stay caught up on what is reported to be happening even if it might well be disinformation, this story of perseverance and triumph popped into a feed. Yes, it’s fifty minutes long, but it’s the story of one man not giving up, and now being on the front lines of this fight. (Hopefully, this one stays up. It’s also on BitChute, I understand.)
https://youtu.be/s0Aty4s26ls
What is most interesting about this man’s story, is put it with so many others, and the concept of “grass roots” really begins to show through. Yes, President Donald Trump is our movement’s ultimate leader, but he didn’t direct this man’s actions. Nor did he direct Robert David Steele’s or any of the other video channels and websites out on the internet holding the line.
Each of us has a story about perserverance, and what it took to overcome obstacles that seemed impossible as we were going though it. Some of our participants post about them at length, and no two are alike.
That’s what makes MAGA truly American.
The movement is diverse in nature from top to bottom, just as the nation itself is, and that is our strength. No two channels or forums or websites are alike. Each is inhabited by different sorts of people all with the same goal: take this nation back to its roots whether the deep state and the swamp likes it or not.
Different projects spearheaded by the people – not the government, and certainly not the ruling class – are in progress to further wake up those who are still stuck in the mainstream media echo chambers and have no idea they are being fed misinformation.
That the people invested in hopium are active and financing these efforts off the beaten path…that deserves some consideration for respect.
At least this writer thinks so.
Everyone here, though, will draw their own conclusions.
Now…here’s another great American movie theme about a situation (bounty hunters going after a mob accountant who skipped out on his bail bondsman) that can only happen here.
And now for the obligatory message from our sponsors:
Here at the Q tree we believe in the concept of CIVIL open free speech and the discussion that fleshes out ideas. When commenting and participating in the OPEN discussion on this thread all comments MUST NOT CONTAIN personal threats, baiting, name calling, or other anti-social words fomenting hate, violence or destruction. Our host Wolfm00n has strict rules about that.
Fellow tree dweller Wheatie gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone
Please, stock up on blanks for celebratory gunfire, be ready to swing from the chandeliers…and no messing with the nuclear weapons.
Please remember to remain locked and loaded and ready for trouble should the insurrectionists try to invade your space.
Those who have things to say that do not fit the generally accepted limits of “civil” discussion, Wolf has provided a venue known as the UTree. You’re welcome to visit over there and say hi to anyone hanging out over there.
Auntie DePat’s requests as we are all, ahem, adults, not uncivilized pygmies:
If you see something has not been posted, do us all a favor, and post it. Please, do not complain that it has not been done yet.
The scroll wheel on your mouse can be your friend. As mature adults, please use it here in the same manner you would in avoiding online porn.
Thank you so much for any and all attention to such details. It is GREATLY appreciated by more than one party here.
One other vital note:
Please, review these rules that our host Wolfm00n outlined toward the beginning of the growth of the tree itself. it won’t take long.
[2] In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice. [3] Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me. [4] For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name’s sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me. [5] Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.
[6] Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth. [7] Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord: [8] I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses. [9] And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place. [10] Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:
[11] For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed. [12] I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me. [13] I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed. [14] For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life. [15] But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.
[16] My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me. [17] Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy. [18] Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell. [19] Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse. [20] O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.
As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome.
Please include: President Donald Trump, the Q team, our soldiers in the field, special forces, tactical units, first responders and those working behind the scenes…and any and all people with family members in the hospital, COVID or not.
Confirmation bias, a phrase coined by English psychologist Peter Wason, is the tendency of people to favor information that confirms or strengthens their beliefs or values, and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.[2] Confirmation bias is an example of a cognitive bias.
Confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) has also been termed myside bias.[Note 1] “Congeniality bias” has also been used.[3]
Some psychologists restrict the term “confirmation bias” to selective collection of evidence that supports what one already believes while ignoring or rejecting evidence that supports a different conclusion. Others apply the term more broadly to the tendency to preserve one’s existing beliefs when searching for evidence, interpreting it, or recalling it from memory.[5][Note 2]
Confirmation bias is a result of automatic, unintentional strategies rather than deliberate deception.[6][7] Confirmation bias cannot be avoided or eliminated entirely, but only managed by improving education and critical thinking skills.
Confirmation bias is a broad construct that has a number of possible explanations, namely: hypothesis-testing by falsification, hypothesis testing by positive test strategy, and information processing explanations.
Essentially, when looking at the movement which swept so many of us up in the last three years, now that things are looking sour on the surface, confirmation bias, and judging without a full picture of information is threatening to divide the movement. In many ways, it already has.
I won’t elaborate on that point. But, I will say rather emphatically, that this movement, this Make America Great Again throwing off the chains that bind economic expansion, industrial might and the draining of the swamp is just part of the puzzle in the fight. There’s a lot more out there, particularly when it comes to the self-perpetuation of corruption in governments around the world. That has to be rooted out so that we don’t find ourselves in this position again. Just because we don’t see it happening, doesn’t mean it isn’t.
It is bigger than any one person, or one group of people, and is going to take the efforts of those who are selfless in the fight and who stick to their guns IN the fight rather than allowing the human condition to interfere.
We are all where God needs us in this effort, including those who do not believe. Their disbelief forces those of us who do to sharpen our apologetics and to learn more than was taught us.
It also forces many of us to diversify our information sources and to be always on the lookout for tidbits that help the puzzle come together.
That being said, the epicenter of hopium – a single, VERY connected individual who likes classic, fast sport cars, and has led a very interesting life – held a summit of sorts last weekend. He talks about it at length in an interview with yet another of the diverse hopium channels, and in the first ten minutes drops a bombshell about President Donald Trump that, if it’s true, lends another tidbit to the notion that REALPOTUS was spotted for the job decades ago, and was coached by a late former president as to how the Deep State and the swamp were going to try to take him down…DECADES ago. If it’s true, that little factoid is a stunner.
There are other podcasts that talk about insider intelligence of what happened in the last week. When the automated clearinghouse – the Federal Reserve’s ACH system – went down, there was a reason. It has not been announced to the general public, but one podcaster has a source that told him what happened, and it’s all good.
That podcaster, like the epicenter of hopium, is only as good as his sources. At this point, we have no idea what is being put out as purposeful disinformation to get the other side to react.
The thing is, there have to be a lot of sources to get a complete picture. Those guys know that and put it out for all to see, and you don’t ever know where that one piece of information that ties everything together is going to surface.
Searching out sources to reinforce what we already think about the whole situation is not going to get to the whole truth. None of it is going down then way any of us thought it would. We simply don’t know the breadth and depth of what is being fought.
And we’re not going to, either, until it’s all over.
That’s my buck-fifty on the confirmation bias that’s tearing much of the movement apart.
Just a reminder:
Of course, this does not mean committing felonies, but standing up to the forces that want to tear this nation – and humanity apart. The very people XVII told us will be destroyed by the time this movie comes to an end are currently roaming the halls of power…supposedly. It’s a sickening sight.
And now for something completely different.
Your weekly reminder to take the pledge:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
And now for the nitty gritty of the Q Tree 5 minute, stand up, Tuesday morning meeting version of the Daily Thread.
The discourse on this site is to be CIVIL – no name calling, baiting, or threatening others here is allowed. Those who are so inclined may visit Wolf’s other sanctuary, the U-Tree, to slog it out with anyone who happens to still be hanging out there.
This site is a celebration of the natural rights endowed to humans by our Creator as well as those enshrined in the Bill of Rights adopted in the founding documents of the United States of America. Within the limits of law, how we exercise these rights is part of the freedom of our discussion.
Fellow tree dweller Wheatie gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
And Auntie DePat’s requests as we are all, ahem, adults…supposedly:
If you see something has not been posted, do us all a favor, and post it. Please, do not complain that it has not been done yet.
The scroll wheel on your mouse can be your friend. As mature adults, please use it here in the same manner you would in avoiding online porn.
Thank you so much for any and all attention to such details. It is GREATLY appreciated by more than one party here.
The readings and reflection below are not from today, Tuesday, March 2, but from yesterday. In contemplating the words written above, these selections are more meaningful.
DANIEL 9:4-10
4I prayed to the LORD, my God, and confessed, “Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! 5We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. 6We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. 7Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you. 8O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you. 9But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you 10and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.
LUKE 6:36-38
36Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Listen with an Open Heart
Our family had dinner together every night when I was growing up. I remember my father listening to everything about our days with interest – and always with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. We freely shared everything because there was never and judgement or criticism frim my father.
Now, I look back on this memory with different eyes; he was a human resources manager. I can only imagine every thing that happened to him during the workday! But I also remember that he never really mentioned himself; the focus was on interacting with us.
In today’s Gospel. Jesus tells his disciples: stop judging and you will not be judged. The only way to stop judging is to truly listen to others, to really hear them, without imposing our own thoughts or perspectives. To “stop judging” is the very foundation of empathy, and my father exemplified this at work and at home.
Like my father, when we listen we open our hearts to those around us. And as we prepare ourselves to let go of our own point of view, we are better able to hear what God is really saying to us in our lives.
Reflection based on Luke 6: 36-38 by Regina Lawlor Andrews, the Magnificat Lenten Companion, 2021
As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome. Via con Dios.
Now – I’m a bit of a bush-league authority on communism in Latin America – at least compared to most “Norte-Americanos”. The most exemplary executions by Che were of MEN, and I’m not even sure if I have ever seen a picture of one. There are many detailed and authoritative accounts of him PERSONALLY executing peasants. NUMBERS is not a problem. ACTION PICTURES is.
This just didn’t sniff right. Che murdering unarmed women? A PICTURE? I’m from Missouri on this.
SHOW ME.
I decided that I wanted to get the ORIGINAL image and validate it at the same time.
I did a search on the wonderful TinEye and found that the MEME had appeared in multiple places, but the ORIGINAL IMAGE had appeared as a reply on Twitter.
Note that these tweets were 4 years after the article.
I decided to look for this image elsewhere – not through TinEye, but rather by searching on relevant term in images. I turned off any filtering (b/c violence) and used the terms “Che Guevara executing women” in a DuckDuckGo image search.
This is actually a good, DEEP, well-researched debunking.
It turns out that it was from a university socialist political “guerrilla theater” production at Emory College, likely in support of Soviet actions in Central America.
Thus, we are left with the ironic probability that this image was originally socialist propaganda, meant as an indictment of Salvadoran military or paramilitary forces, responsible for numerous atrocities against civilians, such as the notorious murders of Marxist “liberation theology” nuns. Such incidents were a powerful propaganda weapon for the atheist Soviets, quite ironically, used as a “contradiction” against American narratives in defense of the Salvadoran regime.
NOW – this would just end here – a weirdly karmic debunking of socialist propaganda used against socialists, had I not noticed ANOTHER Snopes featured article.
OK – this has to be a hilarious load of crap – I mean…..
YEAH, RIGHT. What – that weird pair of “half-Y” goalposts?
HUH?
So at that point, I read the article.
My advice?
DON’T LOOK AWAY.
Now I urge you to click the link and read the Snopes article, but if you don’t want to do that, just peruse these convincing images:
Now – remember what I said…..
DON’T LOOK AWAY.
I’m going to add a new rule, which turns out to be like one of Alinsky’s, but this one serves TRUTH and not LIES…..
PUSH THROUGH TO FIND THE TRUTH.
Now, one of my BEST TRICKS in finding truth is that people will publicly state helpful but seemingly conflicting TRUTHS. Try to save all the truths by “deconflicting” them.
CPAC’s stage sure looks like a symbol adopted by the Nazis
The idea that this is accidental doesn’t seem particularly plausible
A bunch of lefty Jews are acting AS ONE WOULD EXPECT to Nazi symbols
Matt Schlapp calls the accusations outrageous and slanderous [YES to the latter]
The only thing needed to SOLVE this is to simply add some more TRUTH to the mix. Observe…..
The LEFT understands SYMBOLS much better than the right (see some guy named “Q”)
The RIGHT misses symbols all the time, and the Establishment right is even WORSE
The LEFT loves to set people up as CHUMPS, and will brazen out the denials
Nobody wants to admit that they got snookered on something this stupid, but YEAH
The entire history of Trump in office has been one frame job after another
The media WILL NOT dig into a frame job against the RIGHT – they will play along
People in the design world lean INCREDIBLY strongly to the LEFT
People in the design world, by and large, DESPISE President Trump
People in the design world have extremely high opinions of their own intelligence
The left is getting more and more desperate and brazen in their frame jobs against Trump
Jews are very predictable in their suspicion and outrage, and are easily played
GOPe are very predictable in their lack of suspicion and forgiveness, and are easily played the other way
GOPe signed off on this stuff the whole way, you just know it, and are the perfect MARKS
If CPAC had accepted a stage design shaped like a dreidel, they would have been accused of pandering, and they’re dopey enough to fall for that one, too
NOW – here is the deal.
Nobody wants to confront this stuff, but it’s TIME. It’s time to go after the leftists who pull this crap, and make them PAY as the SCUM they are.
Here’s why it works.
Oh, the MEDIA will deny it up and down. They will mock. They will “refute”. They will HELP THE PERPS. They will “PROVE” that it wasn’t intentional BY THE LEFTISTS in the mix.
Just look at the Snopes article. Snopes will NEVER dig deep on this one, and if others do, they will question it. They will NOT dig deep and hard like they did on the Che Guevara piece. NOPE.
But THAT is not what punishes the perps. That is not what gives us JUSTICE.
The perpetrators’ fellow leftists will know the truth. THE PERPS CAN’T BE TRUSTED. They snaked Trump. They could snake their fellow leftists just as easily.
THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO WALK THE STREETS. Why? Because THEY GOT CAUGHT. Getting CAUGHT is a SIN for the left. It’s not a SIN if you don’t get caught, but it IS if you do get caught.
Too bad.
So, if I was Matt Schlapp, I would drag the stage design people all over hell. Refuse to pay. Take ’em to court. Make ’em testify. Find their social media posts where they BRAGGED about setting up CPAC.
I am CONFIDENT that somebody set CPAC up. FIND IT and PROVE IT.
And enjoy the show, when they CAN’T WALK THE STREETS.
This Stormwatch Monday 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/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Yes, it’s Monday…again.
But it’s okay! We’ll get through it.
There are no Sharknadoes in today’s forecast.
Free Speech is practiced here at the Q Tree. But please keep it civil. We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.
Please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election:
For your listening enjoyment, I offer the mellifluous tones of Avi Kaplan, in these songs titled ‘I’ll Get By’ and ‘The Summit’:
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
I will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wheatie’s Word of the Day:
Mammothrept
Mammothrept is a noun which means…a weak spoiled child; a mollycoddled young person. It can also be used as an adjective. In ancient latin, mammothreptus meant ‘kept at the breast too long’.
Used in a sentence:
The Left has found a use for their mammothrept offspring; they send them out in the streets to act out on other people’s property, where they can riot and burn things.