“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 Rejoice & Praise God 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’s 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.
The statement “I am the door,” found in John 10:7, is the third of seven “I am” declarations of Jesus recorded only in John’s Gospel. These “I am” proclamations point to His unique, divine identity and purpose. In this “I am” statement, Jesus points out for us the exclusive nature of salvation by saying that He is “the door,” not “a door.” Furthermore, Jesus is not only our Shepherd who leads us into the “sheepfold,” but He is the only door by which we may enter and be saved (John 10:9). Jesus is the only means we have of receiving eternal life (John 3:16). There is no other way.
To get a clear picture of Jesus’ meaning in this statement, it’s helpful to understand a little of that ancient culture, especially of sheep and shepherding. Of all domesticated animals, sheep are the most helpless. Sheep will spend their entire day grazing, wandering from place to place, never looking up. As a result, they often become lost. But sheep have no “homing instinct” as other animals do. They are totally incapable of finding their way to their sheepfold even when it is in plain sight. By nature, sheep are followers. If the lead sheep steps off a cliff, the others will follow.
Additionally, sheep are easily injured and are utterly helpless against predators. If a wolf enters the pen, they won’t defend themselves. They won’t try to run away or spread out. Instead they huddle together and are easily slaughtered. If sheep fall into moving water, they will drown. However, sheep do fear moving water and will not drink from any stream or lake unless the water is perfectly still. This is why David in the 23rd Psalm tells us of the shepherd who “makes [us] to lie down in green pastures, he leads [us] beside the still waters . . . though [we] walk through the valley . . . [we] will fear no evil. For You [the Shepherd] are with [us].”
Sheep are totally dependent on the shepherd who tends them. Shepherds were the providers, guides, protectors and constant companions of sheep. So close was the bond between shepherd and sheep that to this day Middle Eastern shepherds can divide flocks that have mingled at a well or during the night simply by calling their sheep, who know and follow their shepherd’s voice. Shepherds were inseparable from their flocks. The shepherd would lead the sheep to safe places to graze and make them lie down for several hours in a shady place. Then, as night fell, the shepherd would lead the sheep to the protection of a sheepfold.
There were two kinds of sheepfolds or pens. One kind was a public sheepfold found in the cities and villages. It would be large enough to hold several flocks of sheep. This sheep pen would be in the care of a porter or doorkeeper, whose duty it was to guard the door to the sheep pen during the night and to admit the shepherds in the morning. The shepherds would call their sheep, each of which knew its own shepherd’s voice, and would lead them out to pasture.
The second kind of sheep pen was in the countryside, where the shepherds would keep their flocks in good weather. This type of sheep pen was nothing more than a rough circle of rocks piled into a wall with a small open space to enter. Through it the shepherd would drive the sheep at nightfall. Since there was no gate to close—just an opening—the shepherd would keep the sheep in and wild animals out by lying across the opening. He would sleep there, in this case literally becoming the door to the sheep.
In this context, Jesus is telling us that He is not only the shepherd of the sheep, but also the door of the sheep. In doing so, He is vividly contrasting Himself with that of the religious leaders of His time whom He describes as “thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). When Jesus says, “I am the door,” He is reiterating the fact that only through Him is salvation possible. This is far removed from the ecumenical teachings popular in today’s liberal religious circles. Jesus makes it clear that any religious leader who offers salvation other than the teachings of Christ is a “thief” and a “robber.”
One who believes the gospel (Hebrews 11:6) and repents of sin (Luke 13:3) is assured of being in “the fold” and of having entered by “the door.” As followers of Christ, Jesus is both our Shepherd and the Door to the sheepfold who provides for all our needs. Knowing that the world is full of predators whose sole intent is to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8), we are always under His protection. More importantly, we are fully confident that “when the Chief Shepherd appears, [we] will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:4).
[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He Humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Chinese Should Think Before Wiping Us Out As Sometimes They Need Us To Solve Their Problems For Them
Okay you knuckledragging ChiComs trying to take us down…here’s a history lesson for you.
For millennia, you had to suffer from this:
Yep. Steppe Nomads. They laid waste to your country, burned, raped and pillaged (but not in that order–they’re smarter than you are) for century after century.
You know who figured out how to take them on and win? The Russians.
Not you, the Russians. And it took them less than two centuries. And Oh By The Way they were among the most backward cultures in Europe at the time.
You couldn’t invent an alphabet, you couldn’t take care of barbarians on horseback, and you think you can take this board down?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! We’re laughing at you, you knuckledragging dehumanized communists…worshipers of a mass-murderer who killed sixty million people!
I mean, you still think Communism is a good idea even after having lived through it!
By my reckoning that makes you orders of magnitude more stupid than AOC, and that takes serious effort.
His Fraudulency
Joe Biteme, properly styled His Fraudulency, continues to infest the White House, and hopium is still being dispensed even as our military appears to have joined the political establishment in knuckling under to the fraud.
One can hope that all is not as it seems.
I’d love to feast on that crow.
“No Chemicals”
A detailed analysis of the contents of His Fraudulency’s skull was performed.
Absolutely no chemicals found!
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.
Small Government?
Many times conservatives (real and fake) speak of “small government” being the goal.
This sounds good, and mostly is good, but it misses the essential point. The important thing here isn’t the size, but rather the purpose, of government. We could have a cheap, small tyranny. After all our government spends most of its revenue on payments to individuals and foreign aid, neither of which is part of the tyrannical apparatus trying to keep us locked down and censored. What parts of the government would be necessary for a tyranny? It’d be a lot smaller than what we have now. We could shrink the government and nevertheless find it more tyrannical than it is today.
No, what we want is a limited government, limited not in size, but rather in scope. Limited, that is, in what it’s allowed to do. Under current circumstances, such a government would also be much smaller, but that’s a side effect. If we were in a World War II sort of war, an existential fight against nasty dictatorships on the brink of world conquest, that would be very expensive and would require a gargantuan government, but that would be what the government should be doing. That would be a large, but still limited government, since it’d be working to protect our rights.
World War II would have been the wrong time to squawk about “small government,” but it wasn’t (and never is) a bad time to demand limited government. Today would be a better time to ask for a small government–at least the job it should be doing is small today–but it misses the essential point; we want government to not do certain things. Many of those things we don’t want it doing are expensive but many of them are quite eminently doable by a smaller government than the one we have today. Small, but still exceeding proper limits.
So be careful what you ask for. You might get it and find you asked for the wrong thing.
Political Science In Summation
It’s really just a matter of people who can’t be happy unless they control others…versus those who want to be left alone. The oldest conflict within mankind. Government is necessary, but government attracts the assholes (a highly technical term for the control freaks).
A few Things We Cannot Blame on His Fraudulency
I am pretty sure Joe Biden had nothing whatsoever to do with the 30 Years War that ran from 1618-1648 and probably killed about a third of the people then living in what is now Germany.
Nor did he cause the collapse of either Roman empire (Western, 476 CE, Eastern 1453 CE). Nor the ignominious failure of most of the Crusades. Nor the collapse of Bronze Age civilization around 1200 BCE (including the collapse of the Minoans and the blowup of Santorini).
However, my utter lack of ability to imagine how he could possibly be responsible for these things is not a valid argument against them, so I await correction if appropriate.
James Webb Space Telescope Looks at Jupiter
Jupiter is, by far, the largest of the planets in the Solar System. An alien visitor, in fact, would be justified in stating that this system consists of one G2-class star, a gas giant planet with a big red spot on it, and assorted debris.
Except that any spacefaring alien would likely be very interested in planets like Home, and those would likely be small, rocky planets, so he’d take a closer look at that “debris.”
Jupiter probably prevented the formation of a planet in the asteroid belt, and has intercepted a lot of space junk that might otherwise have smacked into Earth. We know, in fact, that it collides with comets now and again…recall Shoemaker Levy 9 in 1994, which would have been a catastrophic series of hits on Earth. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker%E2%80%93Levy_9)
(Unfortunately, we didn’t see the actual impacts. They happened just barely on the far side of Jupiter. Though Hubble did catch one fireball poking up over the limb. And of course we could see the smoking holes bored through Jupiter’s atmosphere by the impact.
Fireball from one of the Shoemaker Levy impacts
Note that this image records red, blue, violet and ultraviolet.
And here is a Hubble ultraviolet picture of Jupiter with holes burned through the atmosphere by the pieces of Shoemaker Levy 9.
Well, with the possible exception of the red frequency above, JWST cannot see any of these frequencies. It can see infrared.
And it took some pictures of Jupiter the other day. No trace remains of the Shoemaker Levy impacts, of course, but you can be assured that if something like this happens again before JWST kicks the bucket due to running out of propellant, JWST will be on it like His Fraudulency on 10 year old girls. (Only in this case, the results will be useful.) We would love to see such a thing happen in infrared! A certain amount of time on JWST is reserved for unexpected events. We had only a few months’ warning on Shoemaker Levy 9. Rest assured if Betelgeuse (or any other star within 200,000 light years) goes supernova, same story.
JWST has already taken pictures of Jupiter. These were done at two wavelengths, as two separate images, so there’s no “false color” going on. Where the picture is white, infrared of that wavelength hit the sensor, if dark, then not. Pretty basic.
Europa is to the left..and it’s brighter than Jupiter at this wavelength; the sensor pixels “blew out” and this is denoted by black. Jupiter itself is quite recognizable; you can even see the Red Spot, but it turns out to be pretty bright at this wavelength (2,120 nanometers [billionths of a meter]…for reference we can see 400-700nm with 700 being the red end.)
This is a pretty detailed image…for having taken from over half a billion miles away!
Here’s this picture in raw unprocessed form…plus another one taken at 3,230 nm.
Well, well well, what do we have here…right under Thebe?
That’s Jupiter’s ring! Not nearly as famous as the rings around Saturn, they’re hard to see; we only discovered them during a flyby during the last century, backlit by the Sun.
That image, processed and enhanced a bit:
Jupiter is blindingly bright at this wavelength; in fact it even appears bulged at the poles. The ring is plainly visible, even a bit to the right of the big bright thing. It may not look particularly spectacular to you, but planetary scientists are learning a LOT from these pictures.
The verdict is in: JWST kicks ass.
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.
This week, 3PM Mountain Time, markets have closed for the weekend. [Note: If you are reading this…I had no chance between 3-10 PM Friday to put the prices in. My apologies for this, but it’s hectic here.]
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, 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 His Fraudulency 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 !!!
Death in the Afternoon is a cocktail made with absinthe and champagne invented by the writer, Ernest Hemingway. The name comes from his book, Death in the Afternoon, and was first published in a cocktail book in 1935.
The people who really run the United States of America have made it clear that they can’t, and won’t, if they can help it, allow Donald Trump to be president again. In fact, they made this clear in 2020, in a series of public statements. Simply for quoting their words in an essay for The American Mind, I was mercilessly mocked and attacked. But they were quite clear. Trump won’t be president at noon, Jan. 20, 2021, even if we have to use the military to drag him out of there.
“Anti-Trump hysteria is in the final analysis not about Trump.”
If the regime felt that strongly back then, imagine how they feel now. But you don’t have to imagine. They tell you every day. Liz Cheney, Trump’s personal Javert, has said that the 45th president is literally the greatest threat facing America today—greater than China, than our crashing economy, than our unraveling civil society.
When did it become okay for Americas to live like mere Europeans, to settle, to compromise, to not expect that tomorrow will be better than today? When our country started being run by the pack of establishment weasels that makes up our garbage ruling class. They stopped being loyal to us and started being loyal to a global ideology that demands a “Great Reset” which, when imposed, would leave us impoverished serfs instead of prosperous citizens. But we don’t have to take it, and we’re not going to.
Each of the eras Piereson describes was formed by the creation of a national consensus around a set of policies and cultural imperatives that informed the times, a consensus both major political parties generally wedded themselves to.
Piereson says, in fact, that it’s more accurate to say America has operated on the basis of a one-and-a-half-party system rather than a two-party system through most of its history, because the dominant party will set the agenda for a given era, and the opposition then has no choice but to adapt to the times and take on a “me, too” approach to its search for political power.
Super weird how the media isn’t trying to find out the identity of the “Nazis” that came and "demonstrated" on the sidewalk outside of our event. I want to know who these people are. Are they actually Nazis, or paid Democrat agitators?
The GOP is fielding more than a hundred Hispanics as candidates this year for the House of Representatives. The implications! pic.twitter.com/78GYw9jcbG
Britain just ordered the shut down of Tavistock, the country's only NHS clinic for transgender minors. No more puberty blockers. Kids who identify as trans will instead be referred to certified psychologists and given a proper diagnosis of all their mental health issues.
Britain has come to its senses. Future Americans will look back in horror and disbelief that we allowed a generation of children – disproportionately autistic – to be groomed and confused, pumped full of experimental drugs and surgically mutilated. pic.twitter.com/A2KGbyAlYS
In only 18 months – these dumbass losers in the Biden regime have gotten us into a recession, record high gas prices, and the worst inflation in 40 years.
Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens on how a MAGA-oriented GOP is coalescing to defeat the “tyranny of the Left”. @EricGreitenspic.twitter.com/rANSo6UxtR
Don’t forget being mocked & kicked from families and friend groups. Don’t forget watching your family & friends line up for this venom. Don’t forget watching the onset of symptoms not previously part of their health profile. And now, we pray. https://t.co/eTCwZVJGMt
— Monica Matthews On Air (@monicaonairtalk) July 28, 2022
Quercetin is found in onions, apples, honey, raspberries, red grapes, cherries, citrus fruits, and green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, and cabbage. Quercetin helps to neutralize viral proteins that are critical in the replication of C0V!D
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 28, 2022
Just remember that the media and Democrats believed everything Cassidy Hutchinson, a low level staffer whose every claim was easily debunked said, but believed nothing that Tony Bobulinski, the guy who actually showed receipts of his work with Joe and Hunter Biden said.
Tell that to my neighbors who are drying out their garages today, and suddenly we get spring like thunderstorms.
Anger rage and talent can get you ahead, but when done you are left empty. Anger, rage and no direction means you decide to tear down order so others will be empty. Only hope is gratitude for the chances you are given and the will to see where it can take you. Just a thought
— The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) July 28, 2022
There's not a single example in the world currently, or from past, where the Biden administration's economic, energy & immigration policies have resulted in prosperity. In fact history and current events are rife with examples of how these policies create civilizational collapse.
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. There is also a “rescue” thread there for members of the Tree to rendezvous if the main site goes kablooey. A third site has been added for site outages of longer duration.
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 the late 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:
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.
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”
How Two Fallen Theories of Medicine May Herald the Fate of Global Warming / Climate Change
Bad science does not stand forever, but it may stand long enough for people to make a lot of money on it. THAT will be the THEME of the three huge science scandals I’m going to discuss.
In case you’re short on time, the TLDR…..
TL;DR – Two fresh scandals showing how industry money and scientific misconduct kept bad theories “alive” for decades, may explain why the bad science behind politically useful climate alarmism persists.
I. Serotonin Uber Alles
The “serotonin scandal” is very diffuse, which is why it’s in many ways analogous to “climate change”. The bottom line is that what the pharmaceutical industry tells patients about antidepressants, and what scientists know about antidepressants, are not the same thing.
It’s best to start off with the following Tucker Carlson video.
An extremely important selling point of antidepressants, used by both doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, is the idea that people who are depressed, and therefore “need” to take them, actually have some kind of chemical imbalance in their brain that needs to be fixed. More often than any other chemical alleged to be “imbalanced” is serotonin – and hence the emergence of SSRIs, meaning serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors.
Carlson’s centerpiece is a recent metaanalysis of antidepressant research which showed there is little or no evidence for this “chemical imbalance” assertion.
Antidepressants may work in some people, and thank God they do, but IF they do, and WHEN they do, the simple “chemical imbalance theory” is probably not the reason why.
There is a very good explanation of the study HERE:
No evidence that depression is caused by low serotonin levels, finds comprehensive review
After decades of study, there remains no clear evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression, according to a major review of prior research led by UCL scientists.
The new umbrella review – an overview of existing meta-analyses and systematic reviews – published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggests that depression is not likely caused by a chemical imbalance,and calls into question what antidepressants do. Most antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which were originally said to work by correcting abnormally low serotonin levels. There is no other accepted pharmacological mechanism by which antidepressants affect the symptoms of depression.
Lead author Professor Joanna Moncrieff, a Professor of Psychiatry at UCL and a consultant psychiatrist at North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), said: “It is always difficult to prove a negative, but I think we can safely say that after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin.
“The popularity of the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression has coincided with a huge increase in the use of antidepressants. Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen dramatically since the 1990s, with one in six adults in England and 2% of teenagers now being prescribed an antidepressant in a given year.
“Many people take antidepressants because they have been led to believe their depression has a biochemical cause, but this new research suggests this belief is not grounded in evidence.”
Just for the record, I am personally NOT a fan of these sorts of “metaanalysis” papers. In my opinion they tend to be QUASI-OPINIONS with a veneer of science. However, in my own opinion, metaanalyses can be useful when highly conclusive or by reinterpreting data – but should be trusted even less than normal observational science.
Now – it is important to point out that this metaanalysis is not actually telling us anything NEW. Most scientists in the field ALREADY KNEW from all the various studies that were looked at by the metaanalysis, that the simple “chemical imbalance” idea was a load of crap. They’ve known this for YEARS.
REALLY? Yes. Really.
A good description of the state of things is here:
A Popular Theory About Depression Wasn’t “Debunked” by a New Review
The title is a bit deceptive – at least more so than the link which adds “it got debunked years ago”. Ah, the techniques of clickbait!
Anyway, the title could rightfully say:
A Still-Popular But Unproven Old Theory About Depression Wasn’t “Debunked” By A New Review – It Was Simply Confirmed To STILL Be Unsupported By The Data, Despite Being Pushed For Decades By Doctors And Big Pharma Who KNEW It Wasn’t True
Please click the link if you want all the details, but my proposed title says it all. People kept using the theory as a sales and prescription gimmick. Big Pharma “suggested” the theory to doctors, and doctors “suggested” the theory to patients, to get them to take a kind of drug that patients are sometimes very resistant to taking.
Remember – antidepressants do, in fact, work for many patients – particularly for very serious cases of depression. Many people who in the past had to be hospitalized, can now live happy, functional lives in society because of these drugs.
It’s understandable that doctors try to convince patients to take the drugs they think will work to treat their problems.
But should your kids be getting antidepressants because of “school trouble”?
A whole ‘nuther question.
Because THAT is the end result of the little white lie that “people can have an imbalance that needs these drugs.”
We NORMALIZED antidepressents by NORMALIZING an ABNORMALITY that didn’t even exist.
ANYWAY – if the very fact that a WRONG THEORY has been KNOWINGLY spoon-fed to you by “the experts” for DECADES, is not giving you ideas about “climate change” – particularly in the post-COVID world…..
BUT WAIT.
Not quite yet. We have ANOTHER scandal to look at, first.
II. It’s Bush’s Beta Amyloid’s Fault!
This scandal is at the opposite end of the spectrum, from the above one, in which an entire industry and all of medicine KNOWINGLY told a little white lie to the public.
In this case, ONE SCIENTIST tipped the scales inappropriately, sending the entire world, including the rest of science, on a wild goose chase.
The LIE was only caught after years, and almost accidentally.
This is a rather long and interesting story, and I’m not going to recount it all here. But I will give you links and extensive quotes. It’s FASCINATING.
One of the best quick summaries is in, of all places, The Daily Kos.
Last month, drug company Genentech reported on the first clinical trials of the drug crenezumab, a drug targeting amyloid proteins that form sticky plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The drug had been particularly effective in animal models, and the trial results were eagerly awaited as one of the most promising treatments in years. It did not work. “Crenezumab did not slow or prevent cognitive decline” in people with a predisposition toward Alzheimer’s.
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) narrowly approved the use of Aduhelm, a new drug from Biogen that the company has priced so highly that it’s expected to drive up the price of Medicare for everyone in America, even those who never need this drug. Aduhelm was the first drug to be approved that fights the accumulation of those “amyloid plaques” in the brain. What makes the approval of the $56,000-a-dose drug so controversial is that while it does decrease plaques, it doesn’t actually slow Alzheimer’s. In fact, clinical trials were suspended in 2019 after the treatment showed “no clinical benefits.” (Which did not keep Biogen from seeking the drug’s approval or pricing it astronomically.)
Over the last two decades, Alzheimer’s drugs have been notable mostly for having a 99% failure rate in human trials. It’s not unusual for drugs that are effective in vitro and in animal models to turn out to be less than successful when used in humans, but Alzheimer’s has a record that makes the batting average in other areas look like Hall of Fame material.
And now we have a good idea of why. Because it looks like the original paper that established the amyloid plaque model as the foundation of Alzheimer’s research over the last 16 years might not just be wrong, but a deliberate fraud.
This story is fantastic, and so I recommend starting with the above Daily Kos article.
Before going into more detail, let me begin to give you my perspective on Alzheimer’s drugs.
I’ve watched a lot of drug classes accumulate new and improved drugs over nearly half a century of interest in the topic, but the TWO categories that have stood out to ME as the WORST in terms of success have been antivirals and Alzheimer’s drugs.
Antivirals first.
As you have seen over the last two and a half years, antivirals are not impossible to find, and while they don’t work 100% of the time, they’re still sometimes VERY helpful.
What has been more shocking to me is that it’s clear that the pharmaceutical industry frequently and reliably OPPOSES successful antivirals, when they can’t make money off them. The industry wants NEW antivirals they can patent, and they are willing to DEFAME and DENY old antivirals, even SUPERIOR and SAFER antivirals, just to create a market for new ones.
New antivirals that may be CRAP, and dangerous as hell. And they will even LIE to the Commander In Chief about them.
But set the antivirals aside for now, knowing that the situation is corrupt.
Anti-Alzheimer’s drugs are even worse, because THEY JUST DON’T WORK. They’re notorious for not actually working. They’ve never worked. In desperation, the FDA occasionally approves these worthless drugs, if only for investigation, but they are “mercy punts”. The drugs get approved, as long as they don’t show too many side effects, because they are “better than nothing”. But that’s it.
The drugs out there for dementia, senility and Alzheimer’s are WORTHLESS.
A LOT of people thought this was suspicious. I was one of them. Every once in a while, when researchers would reveal just how BAD the next drug actually was – how terrible and limited the results were – I would “go back to my mental drawing board” and ask the question:
“Why don’t these drugs work? Maybe the theory behind them is wrong. What could the truth possibly be?”
HA! I had no idea! No clue!
NOBODY – and I mean nobody – suspected that it was because of FRAUD.
At least, not until recently.
So let’s move on to the fraud in more detail. SCIENCE MAGAZINE.
I am including a long segment which is just the beginning of the article. Please note an important point – the investigator was actually looking at a DIFFERENT fraud in the same field of Alzheimer’s research, when he found this one.
BLOTS ON A FIELD?
A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease
In August 2021, Matthew Schrag, a neuroscientist and physician at Vanderbilt University, got a call that would plunge him into a maelstrom of possible scientific misconduct. A colleague wanted to connect him with an attorney investigating an experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease called Simufilam. The drug’s developer, Cassava Sciences, claimed it improved cognition, partly by repairing a protein that can block sticky brain deposits of the protein amyloid beta (Aβ), a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The attorney’s clients—two prominent neuroscientists who are also short sellers who profit if the company’s stock falls—believed some research related to Simufilam may have been “fraudulent,” according to a petition later filed on their behalf with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Schrag, 37, a softspoken, nonchalantly rumpled junior professor, had already gained some notoriety by publicly criticizing the controversial FDA approval of the anti-Aβ drug Aduhelm. His own research also contradicted some of Cassava’s claims. He feared volunteers in ongoing Simufilam trials faced risks of side effects with no chance of benefit.
So he applied his technical and medical knowledge to interrogate published images about the drug and its underlying science—for which the attorney paid him $18,000. He identified apparently altered or duplicated images in dozens of journal articles. The attorney reported many of the discoveries in the FDA petition, and Schrag sent all of them to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which had invested tens of millions of dollars in the work. (Cassava denies any misconduct [see sidebar, below].)
But Schrag’s sleuthing drew him into a different episode of possible misconduct, leading to findings that threaten one of the most cited Alzheimer’s studies of this century and numerous related experiments.
The first author of that influential study, published in Nature in 2006, was an ascending neuroscientist: Sylvain Lesné of the University of Minnesota (UMN), Twin Cities. His work underpins a key element of the dominant yet controversial amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s, which holds that Aβ clumps, known as plaques, in brain tissue are a primary cause of the devastating illness, which afflicts tens of millions globally. In what looked like a smoking gun for the theory and a lead to possible therapies, Lesné and his colleagues discovered an Aβ subtype and seemed to prove it caused dementia in rats. If Schrag’s doubts are correct, Lesné’s findings were an elaborate mirage.
Schrag, who had not publicly revealed his role as a whistleblower until this article, avoids the word “fraud” in his critiques of Lesné’s work and the Cassava-related studies and does not claim to have proved misconduct. That would require access to original, complete, unpublished images and in some cases raw numerical data. “I focus on what we can see in the published images, and describe them as red flags, not final conclusions,” he says. “The data should speak for itself.”
A 6-month investigation by Science provided strong support for Schrag’s suspicions and raised questions about Lesné’s research. A leading independent image analyst and several top Alzheimer’s researchers—including George Perry of the University of Texas, San Antonio, and John Forsayeth of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)—reviewed most of Schrag’s findings at Science’s request. They concurred with his overall conclusions, which cast doubt on hundreds of images, including more than 70 in Lesné’s papers. Some look like “shockingly blatant” examples of image tampering, says Donna Wilcock, an Alzheimer’s expert at the University of Kentucky.
The authors “appeared to have composed figures by piecing together parts of photos from different experiments,” says Elisabeth Bik, a molecular biologist and well-known forensic image consultant. “The obtained experimental results might not have been the desired results, and that data might have been changed to … better fit a hypothesis.”
Early this year, Schrag raised his doubts with NIH and journals including Nature; two, including Nature last week, have published expressions of concern about papers by Lesné. Schrag’s work, done independently of Vanderbilt and its medical center, implies millions of federal dollars may have been misspent on the research—and much more on related efforts. Some Alzheimer’s experts now suspect Lesné’s studies have misdirected Alzheimer’s research for 16 years.
“The immediate, obvious damage is wasted NIH funding and wasted thinking in the field because people are using these results as a starting point for their own experiments,” says Stanford University neuroscientist Thomas Südhof, a Nobel laureate and expert on Alzheimer’s and related conditions.
Lesné did not respond to requests for comment. A UMN spokesperson says the university is reviewing complaints about his work.
To Schrag, the two disputed threads of Aβ research raise far-reaching questions about scientific integrity in the struggle to understand and cure Alzheimer’s. Some adherents of the amyloid hypothesis are too uncritical of work that seems to support it, he says. “Even if misconduct is rare, false ideas inserted into key nodes in our body of scientific knowledge can warp our understanding.”
This article goes deeply into the fraud. It’s a great detective story. It raises a whole bunch of tangential issues.
For starters, the fact that you are even hearing about this is because the investigator (Matthew Schrag) didn’t wait for NIH to do anything – particularly after it AWARDED MORE MONEY TO THE FRAUDSTER.
Yes – you got that right.
He [Lesné] became a leader of UMN’s neuroscience graduate program in 2020, and in May 2022, 4 months after Schrag delivered his concerns to NIH, Lesné received a coveted R01 grant from the agency, with up to 5 years of support. The NIH program officer for the grant, Austin Yang—a co-author on the 2006 Nature paper—declined to comment.
Notice how the “revolving door” nature of the science is on display. “Insiders” who are buddies with and coworkers of “outsiders”, give those outsiders the precious grants.
However, Schrag was not caught with his pants down by NIH “Comeyism” (failure to discipline friends). Schrag had also taken his evidence to Science magazine. SMART MOVE. But then, it appears that Schrag was raised by Mennonites, home-schooled, and in the military. Interesting.
More from the Science article:
IN HIS WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT to NIH about Lesné’s research, Schrag made its scope and stakes clear: “[This] dossier is a fraction of the anomalies easily visible on review of the publicly accessible data,” he wrote. The suspect work “not only represents a substantial investment in [NIH] research support, but has been cited … thousands of times and thus has the potential to mislead an entire field of research.”
The agency’s reply, which Schrag shared with Science, noted that complaints deemed credible will go to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for review. That agency could then instruct grantee universities to investigate prior to a final ORI review, a process that can take years and remains confidential absent an official misconduct finding. To Science, NIH said it takes research misconduct seriously, but otherwise declined to comment.
See how that works? Seriously – you CANNOT trust NIH, any more than you can trust Anthony Fauci.
NOW – things are starting to get interesting as all this news is hitting the mainstream media.
Gil00 brought me a link, in which the most famous coworker of the fraudster, Karen Ashe, finally responded to inquiries. Meanwhile, the fraudster has remained silent publicly. NOTE that in Schrag’s investigation (see below), Ashe was found innocent. ONLY in papers working with Lesné, were any of Ashe’s papers ever found to contain fraudulent images. Ditto for other authors. Lesné was the nexus of the fraud.
BUT the problem WAS spotted long ago, and yet this knowledge never bubbled up to a level of effectiveness in mainstream science. An early French coworker of Lesné found his images suspect, and refused to work with him after that.
From the Science article:
Questions about Lesné’s work are not new. Cell biologist Denis Vivien, a senior scientist at Caen, co-authored five Lesné papers flagged by Schrag or Bik. Vivien defends the validity of those articles, but says he had reason to be wary of Lesné.
Toward the end of Lesné’s time in France, Vivien says they worked together on a paper for Nature Neuroscience involving Aβ. During final revisions, he saw immunostaining images—in which antibodies detect proteins in tissue samples—that Lesné had provided. They looked dubious to Vivien, and he asked other students to replicate the findings. Their efforts failed. Vivien says he confronted Lesné, who denied wrongdoing. Although Vivien lacked “irrefutable proof” of misconduct, he withdrew the paper before publication “to preserve my scientific integrity,” and broke off all contact with Lesné, he says. “We are never safe from a student who would like to deceive us and we must remain vigilant.”
Schrag spot checked papers by Vivien or Ashe without Lesné. He found no anomalies—suggesting Vivien and Ashe were innocent of misconduct.
SO – what does Karen Ashe have to say?
University of Minnesota scientist responds to fraud allegations in Alzheimer’s research
While defending results, U researcher said it is “devastating” that a colleague might have doctored images.
A senior University of Minnesota scientist said it is “devastating” that a colleague might have doctored images to prop up research, but she defended the authenticity of her groundbreaking work on the origins of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Karen Ashe declined to comment about a U investigation into the veracity of studies led by Sylvain Lesné, a neuroscientist she hired and a rising star in the field of Alzheimer’s research. However, she criticized an article in Science magazine that raised concerns this week about Lesné, because she said it confused and exaggerated the effect the U’s work had on downstream drug development to treat Alzheimer’s-related dementia.
“Having worked for decades to understand the cause of Alzheimer disease, so that better treatments can be found for patients, it is devastating to discover that a co-worker may have misled me and the scientific community through the doctoring of images,” Ashe said in an e-mail Friday morning. “It is, however, additionally distressing to find that a major scientific journal has flagrantly misrepresented the implications of my work.”
I’m undecided about this lady. This is a bit of a tangent, but it may be significant.
I trust her to some extent, based on the fact that Schrag found Ashe’s work CLEAN when it was NOT associated with Lesné. In my opinion she’s innocent.
AND YET, Ashe’s background is PERFECT for a two-stepper ChiCom, potentially brought to America as the child of secret socialist sleepers. [NOTE: “Two-steppers” are basically bi-generational spy families, with extreme cover used on the parents to throw off suspicions on the second generation as plants.] Ashe’s background – similar to that of the notorious Vindman twins, is also almost identical to several classic Chinese two-steppers in American media and politics, including relentless Trump character assassin, Weijia Jiang.
Video: Disenguous, pathetic stuff from @CBSNews's @Weijia Jiang, questioning the President's testing motives as suppressing them so as to tamp down case numbers and death tolls and then suggest he's playing politics with reopening state economies while Democratic governors aren't pic.twitter.com/acjiINrXxX
Video: @CBSNews's @Weijia Jiang came back for round two, bashing Trump for talking about testing like it's a "global competition" when so many are dying. Trump replies that she should ask China that question. So the media want Trump to ramp up testing, then hit him when he does?! pic.twitter.com/YYF13b3JrS
And don’t think this is just aimed at Karen Ashe – that I’m just blaming the innocent victim, which she may very well be. Let’s look at Sylvain Lesné. Let’s do a deep dive on the possibility that he was intentionally sabotaging science for more than just personal advancement.
This is just a theory to add to the pile of theories. But it’s a very intriguing theory, with enormous consequences, like – oh, say – “climate change”.
French communists, both agrarian and urban, are THICK in Normandy – where Sylvain Lesné grew up and went to university. The urban centers of Caen, Le Havre, and Rouen are communist strongholds.
You can see that Caen leans even further to the left than “worker’s paradise” Le Havre, where bleak Stalinist architecture rules. The vote against Le Pen was strong in Le Havre, but even stronger in Caen.
There is a reason why communism is persistent in Normandy. Not only is there a regional historical tradition of Jacobin thought – there was aggressive spread of Soviet-style communism to the area by Stalin, both before World War II and afterwards, in the devastation of the Allied liberation.
This was a significant part of the motivation for the Marshall plan – to not let the war feed Stalin’s slow but relentless ambitions, already at work in post-war France.
We already know that French “above-ground” communist Agnès Buzyn, who is weirdly allied with “conservative” Emmanuel Macron, was indicted for a plethora of COVID-19 “mistakes”, in which she seemed to aggressively “do the wrong thing” as COVID-19 began spreading into France.
We here in America are more familiar with one of these aggressive scientific mistakes – the “hiding” of hydroxychloroquine from the public by changing it from OTC to prescription only. (Please note that this “error” was at the bottom of the list, and is not even mentioned around the time of the indictment, which focused more on Buzyn’s downplaying of COVID dangers.)
Now – it’s very instructive to see how the French media (particularly the left-media, but all of it, really) has aggressively covered up for Buzyn on this point, with “fact-checking” in the Snopes style, where there are both clickbait strawmen and evasion on technicalities.
While the FORMAL reclassification of the drug HCQ from OTC to prescription occurred in January of 2020, which would make it seem more vindictive against Didier Raoult, and reactive against the treatment of the disease, that was merely the date of the effective reclassification.
The connection to Didier Raoult is a bit of a red herring, provided largely by his fan base. That is a typical irony useful to disinformation.
It turns out that the reclassification action itself took place in November of 2019. This point is then alleged by the fact-checkers to prove Buzyn’s “innocence”. As we now know, the deepest players in the COVID scam KNOWINGLY took many actions in September, October, and November of 2019.
Thus, in my opinion, these “fact checks” attempting to exonerate Buzyn’s scientific misconduct are in fact even more indicting, and indicative of her premeditated criminality.
Thus, if an analogous theory is correct, that Sylvain Lesné was intending to prop up bad science for more than just his own advancement, then there must be some VALUE in doing so.
Gil00 provided a possible answer to this – in thinking that perhaps there was an immunological connection to the scandal. THAT jumped out at me like a red flag. An immunity connection in Alzheimer’s is not only a known competitor of the beta amyloid theory – it fits in with my recent belief that the entire depopulation plot is connected to and being implemented through a very intentional and surreptitious set of actions leading to a decrease of individual human immunity, to make us EACH more vulnerable.
Thus, Lesné’s actions, which sent the majority of Alzheimer’s research down a primrose path to nowhere, may have been a DIVERSION away from the immunological origins of Alzheimer’s disease.
You know – an origin such as VACCINES.
Yes. Timing is everything.
NOW – even if Ashe and Lesné are completely innocent (and that would include brainwashing by communists), I think this is an EXCELLENT time to look at Alzheimer’s AGAIN, as a potential product of things like viruses and vaccines, which we KNOW can have neurological effects.
Yes. Vaccines which “go wrong” can affect the BRAIN through autoimmune actions.
Just sayin’.
III. Could Global Warming Concern in the Face of an Imminent Mini-Ice Age and an Incipient Full Ice Age Actually be Some Kind of Really Bad Science?
It should now be totally apparent that BAD SCIENCE on a global scale is not just possible – it’s EASY. This is without even bringing in the COVID debacle.
PLANET VULCAN, ANYONE?
You’ve seen it here in part I. BILLIONS of dollars have kept LIES alive and well in pharmaceutical science.
If it pays everybody to tell people there is a chemical imbalance that means they need a drug, it will be done, to sell the drug, or to tell the patient that there is hope. The bad information will be forwarded to doctors, and then to patients, to make those patients feel OK taking the drug. Eventually, it just becomes part of Fake Normal.
Consider (part II) that even a single author on a single scientific paper, followed by a few more images from that author on maybe a few dozen more papers, carrying subtle but convincing false evidence, can send BILLIONS of dollars, maybe tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, down a blind alley.
Not only that – the system will try to keep that money flowing in the same way, even when it is KNOWN by government bureaucrats to be based on faulty data.
Is it impossible that this kind of ERROR could extend to TRILLIONS of dollars?
I mean, who would actually WANT trillions of dollars?
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) were joined by Democratic lawmakers from both the House and Senate on February 7, 2019, to introduce Green New Deal legislation.
There is NOTHING in “anthropogenic global warming” or “climate change”, explained by the current theories, that cannot be explained equally well by the idea that a carbon dioxide prediction boondoggle (remember COVID models?) has occurred, as the result of BAD SCIENCE.
Indeed, the multiple and long-running FAILURES of the climate field would seem to this “poor” scientist to be rather similar to the FAILURES in anti-Alzheimer’s drugs. This kind of failure SHOULD point to severe theoretical problems in any NORMAL science situation, once freed from TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS of bad economic bets by politicians and financiers.
I remember – PERSONALLY – when we scientists were told by the leadership of the American Chemical Society that “anthropogenic global warming” was “settled science”. I knew MANY scientists in all branches of science – who were all SCIENTIFICALLY AFFECTED by this idea – who were still very actively debating the topic – and who like me were not convinced of AGW being real, true, or important, even if it did exist. The entire enterprise seemed HASTY and WRONG.
It seemed TOP-DOWN. It seemed IMPOSED. It seemed to contradict everything we knew about how science was supposed to operate – with major ideas normally taking YEARS if not DECADES of FIGHTING INSIDE SCIENCE to become crystal clear.
And OH YES – we had TIME.
SO – after reading about these two incidents of WRONG science being perpetuated by industry or academia, both knowingly and unknowingly, I do NOT think that “climate change” should be granted a pass.
I think the whole question of climate needs to “go back to the people”. That includes both SCIENTISTS who tell us WHAT IS FOUND, and THE PEOPLE who tell us WHAT MATTERS, once we find the truth.
Everybody else – the money, the media, the “leaders”, the shills, and the malevolent liars – need to get out of the way.
In particular, the MEDIA that pushes scientists’ opinions around with their “fake normal” and “fake science news” needs to STFU.
Don’t “trust the science”.
LET SCIENCE DISTRUST ITSELF.
And maybe, in fact definitely, YOU THE PEOPLE can help US, THE SCIENTISTS to DISTRUST SCIENCE……
Now, it would appear everyone has forgotten, but claims of the FBI/DOJ being corrupt and/or working with the DNC/Deep State, used to be considered kooky Q stuff. Now it’s widely considered as a reality. Just a friendly reminder that this is a proof, not red lines and numerology.
What I find most curious, is the timing of all this; as one of the individuals responsible for falsely labeling the Biden laptop as “disinformation”, FBI supervisory intelligence agent Brian Auten, also happens to be one of the 30 subpoenas issued by the Durham Investigation via the Danchenko trials coming up for his involvement in the 2016 election interference.
Auten interviewed Igor Danchenko, who was the main source of the Steele dossier, used to illegally spy on and smear Trump leading up to and after 2016.
The months of silence from the special prosecutor do not signify a lack of activity as much as the ability to maintain secrecy, which the CIA is probably envious of.
Current Biden administration members are likely being put under the microscope by Durham’s team of investigators and attorneys.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, for instance, was thrown under by the bus by Clinton’s former campaign manager during Sussmann’s trial.
Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook, who managed Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid, said she signed off on peddling election disinformation. Mook testified she approved it despite campaign officials not being “totally confident” in the legitimacy of the data….
MSDNC just lamented that the Great Awakening is unstoppable and the ideas that Q supposedly brought to the table have become mainstream. They are upset that terms like groomer and deep state have become part of the mainstream lexicon and that we are winning the war of ideas.
We have become far more powerful during the precipice because everyday that goes by the truth is revealed more. They can’t stop it. Boom.
(He almost said normie but caught himself btw)
From that perspective, XVII was a massive success.
Epps disinformation curiously pops up and goes viral just days after a failed damage control attempt by the New York Times? Not to fear, the Associated Press is ready to pounce and expose the disinformers! To be fair, the AP didn’t do a bad job… and they were only a day slower than Revolver’s Darren Beattie.
My experience founding and growing Turning Point USA into the largest conservative campus organization in the country has given me a unique vantage point into this corrupt world and hardened my conviction that the root of the college tree is rotten to the core. I am very pro-education, but I am most definitely anti-college.
Allow me to submit the evidence.
First, colleges are running a federally sponsored scam, in the most literal sense of the word.
The college industry is heavily subsidized by the federal government, making it a scam not only perpetrated against students, but taxpayers as well.
The historic statue was replaced with a modern sculpture by Simone Leigh called “Sentinel.” The sculpture depicts a snake wrapped around the slender, spoon-like body of a female. The woman is a stylized depiction of the water deity Mami Wata, while the spoon is a symbol of status in Zulu culture.
In a statement, Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi, artistic directors of the 2021 New Orleans triennial, wrote: “Ultimately, Simone felt, and we agreed, that because the original placement of the Robert E. Lee atop the pedestal was one of power and domination—the statue loomed over the city, symbolizing the tyranny of white supremacy—that her work should be closer to the level of the individual.”
Mami Wata, also known as Mammy Water or La Sirene, is a water spirit venerated in Africa and the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male. Mami Wata is frequently depicted with a snake wrapped around her waist.
According to the pagan beliefs associated with the idol, she demands sexual fidelity from her followers while representing sexuality and promiscuity. Her followers claim that she wants her followers to be healthy and well off, while at the same time, they blame the spirit for misfortune such as treacherous ocean currents or illness. While believed to be infertile, barren mothers often call upon the spirit to cure their affliction.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 27, 2022
With the Deep State’s favorite photographer, Annie Leibovitz.
Uh-huh.
Vogue magazine should have interviewed these actual Ukrainian soldiers who were being sacrificed to Zelensky's vanity while he was posing for Vogue. https://t.co/r5sAkeucyj
wartime vogue photo shoots. very serious. let’s keep sending ukraine weekly billion dollar aid packages to protect “democracy.” don’t question it. pic.twitter.com/MXVaW16K0y
I recently wrote a column about why I believed Trump should not run in 2024. I was wrong. I allowed my distaste for Trump’s personality to override his virtues, which are considerable. Some people want Trump without his vices. I was among them — until yesterday, when I watched and listened to Tom Klingenstein’s speech titled “Trump’s virtues.” It was masterful and shamed me that I did not make the distinction between Trump’s character and his virtues, the former being deeply flawed, the latter being almost perfect.
The average 12-year-old student at a yeshiva has more wisdom than almost any student at Harvard or most other universities. (A yeshiva is an Orthodox Jewish school with an emphasis on religious studies. About half the school day is devoted to religious studies—taught from the original Hebrew sources.)
This is probably true for many 12-year-olds in traditional Christian schools as well.
College students do have more knowledge than almost any 12-year-old in religious school. But they have much less wisdom.
What is worrisome today is that the Obama-Biden left now seems to be deliberately adopting narcissistic rage as a weapon of war. This can’t be pure chance, because the Democrats have a small army of high-paid consultants who write and massage their public messages. When Liz Warren does her Vladimir Lenin imitation, we can see the professional polish of her act. Those high-paid media spinners of the left will undoubtedly raise their rhetorical heat higher and higher toward the midterms. That will not be an accident. Some of the woke left may be genuinely mad, but there is method in their madness. Their aim is to make all of us a little more mad.
Most Americans don’t like psychiatric jargon, but we don’t need jargon to feel Hitler’s narcissistic rage in those old speeches, even if we don’t understand the words. Screaming hatred is a danger signal in everyday life, and it tells us to get away from the screamer as fast as possible. Hitler’s radio rages were both deliberate and spontaneous: he went on the air to throw spectacular s— fits, and then he improved his act by getting ever more diabolical.
Stated simply, population densification will fundamentally undermine Americans’ ability to preserve their freedom and independence. You don’t have to reference Agenda 2030—about which it is now almost impossible to find any negative commentary online—to understand how easily a population can be controlled when it is relocated and concentrated into a handful of megacities.
Sure, I could have started this by pointing out, as many other observers have, that warmists ex-president Barack Obama and billionaire Bill Gates have recently bought low-lying beach properties. That certainly seems in conflict with what they claim to believe about global warming and rising sea levels. But Obama and Gates are human beings. We human being are often inconsistent. We sometimes support USC football and UCLA basketball. Some of us root for both the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. We sometime drink more than we know is good for us.
Just was passed this really hard game of connect the dots. Wonder what it will turn out to be? Long flight so I will get started it. pic.twitter.com/k0dkiVMtgj
— Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH® (@P_McCulloughMD) July 27, 2022
We don't need to change the definition of a recession.
WARZONE: The Dutch Uprising has reached another flashpoint, seeing the country wake up to fires and blockades in response to the Starvation Policy instituted by the Rutte Regime. READ: https://t.co/363xQ40wURpic.twitter.com/rwlKVwDLZp
Why would you give a guy that failed so badly another 5 months to fix something instead of firing him immediately?….oh wait it's a government position…. nevermind. https://t.co/0DhYmvrp9f
If you haven’t listened to JT Wilde’s Patriot Games yet, here it is:
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47“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 51“Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” 53And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
For those who do not know, we here in the Lion of the Valley, aka the STL region, got slammed with record rainfall in the wee hours of Tuesday. As in the Emergency Broadcast Service alarm and flash flood warning was issued at three o’clock in the morning when it was dark outside, and pouring and blared on every phone in the house.
A historic morning in the St. Louis area. Our hearts are with all of those affected from this catastrophic flooding. Here are some facts that put this rainfall into historical perspective. #mowx#stlwxpic.twitter.com/jUtOGl8ioq
Seriously…we went from one rainy day in six weeks to this:
That is the MetroLink station at Forest Park/DeBaliviere where the two mass transit rail lines come together. I’ve spent a lot of time on that platform over the years. In its existence, yeah, there’s been some minor flooding, but the platform has never been totally covered. To put it mildly, we’ve got a mess here. My part of STL County, at the low parts, got hit REALLY hard. Chain link fences along the open storm drains are down everywhere. Thankfully, building in the flood plains was kept to a minimum.
And I’m a little punchy, so here it goes:
America First Policy Institute…we love him more than the think tank.
About Senator Grassley’s strongly worded letter to the FBI and DOJ….
Unfortunately, what this amounts to, is Senator Grassley is telling Chris Wray and Merrick Garland, the leaders of the institutionally corrupt activity, that they are systemically corrupt. Which is akin to telling a criminal that he is engaged in unlawful conduct.
If these allegations are true, it’s a damning depiction of FBI leadership and it proves their efforts to influence the 2020 election. This is the second (if not third) straight election the FBI has meddled in, given the influence the Trump/Russia investigation – and its unlawful origins with the FBI – had over the 2018 midterms.
What good will this do? Maybe some waking up of still snoozing normies, but not much else.
Essentially, they analyzed the elemental composition of the post-vaccine clots from deceased samples and compared those to naturally-occurring blood clots in untampered (non-injected) human blood. He says he has found several things that are “shocking.”
#1) The post-vaccine clots are not made of blood
The science sorts here will parse this further, I trust.
The professionally republican party members, led by Ronna McDaniel Inc, are not happy with the grassroots MAGA voters who are not filling their party campaign coffers at the anticipated rate.
If the donors of the grassroot MAGA base continue to withhold financial contributions, mostly due to a lack of club alignment with the priorities of the voting base and the right wing of the DC UniParty refusing to act for our interests, the professional republican club business may suffer. The tenured board members of the club are not happy. Not happy at all.
This is Texas now: While the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of Republican politics, new laws and policies have taken Texas further to the right in recent years than it has been in decades.
Elected officials and political observers in the state say a major factor in the transformation can be traced back to West Texas. Two billionaire oil and fracking magnates from the region, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, have quietly bankrolled some of Texas’ most far-right political candidates — helping reshape the state’s Republican Party in their worldview.
Essentially Liawatha is big mad because Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is raising interest rates into a contracting economy.
The duplicitous senator accurately notes what the fed chairman is doing is only going to deepen the recession and hurt main street worse.
American workers are going to suffer, and the middle-class is going to bear the majority of the pain inflicted by the Biden administration policy.
All of that is true, but Fauxcahontus is not stupid. Instead, she attempts to distance herself with forked tongue while knowing the monetary policy is specifically designed to support the energy policy she demands.
WATCH: Tucker Carlson says "It turns out the entire premise behind the most commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs appears to be completely wrong."https://t.co/lAvB4GV9z4
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 26, 2022
Much of blue-pilled people's mental bandwidth is engaged with coming up with filtering mechanisms designed to keep the given individual from having to engage in any sort of rational thinking.
The more intellectually effete and dumb a person is, more likely their desire to control other people. Which is why the government is filled to the brim with incompetent nincompoops while some of the smartest people prefer obscurity and non-interference.
I'm not a "climate change denier." I don't deny that the climate changes. All climates do. Climates are changing always and forever, sometimes for the better and sometimes the worse. What I deny are the apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists, which have always been wrong.
(I don’t remember who brought this to a daily in the comments, but thanks.)
And, of course, the obligatory George Carlin:
Per the Boss:
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, the late 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. The “Rescue Thread” is also over there. In the event a rendezvous of the tree is needed, please check it out, as well as the newest rescue venue.
Auntie DePat’s requests:
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.
10Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. 16Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by thy name, O LORD, God of hosts. 17I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because thy hand was upon me, for thou hadst filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt thou be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? 19Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. 20And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the LORD. 21I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
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.
And…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another, as well as Gil, RDS, Bakocarl, Nora, Cthulhu (who is getting prayers whether it’s life threatening or not) and any others facing serious health issues right now..
We are getting ready to experience a level of evil that will be hard to comprehend. Stay strong. Be prepared.
It is quite clear, as per Wolf’s message from July, that we are under spiritual attack. Building up a robust arsenal of prayer and discipline is a must in fighting the enemy and his minions.
In that spirit, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel from Tuesday’s threads, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not to mention the Litany of Humility are favorites recommended by exorcists in spiritual warfare.
Yes, I did know about the Mexican Revolution of 1917. I read Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory when I was a senior in high school. Thank you Sister S.
Those western climate and energy policies create downstream consequences. The decision to chase a new global energy policy under the name “Build Back Better,” in combination with short-sighted EU sanctions against Russia, and you get food shortages. And boy howdy are they trying to avoid taking responsibility for it.
It was not Vladimir Putin who told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz their proactive recommendation to switch from crop-based biofuels to human food would be blocked. That G7 decision was made by Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden. {link} Even more significantly, it was not Russia who threatened the multinational energy companies about investing in Africa for expanded natural gas supplies for their fertilizer needs. That threat came from the same western government alliance, per their instructions from the World Economic Forum group {link}.
It was predictable {JUNE 21st} {June 30th} and {July 6th} that western government leaders would seek to avoid responsibility for the food crisis they created, and now we see more western media trying, desperately, to frame the Putin is to blame for global food shortages in order to protect them.
"I would far rather go to war over the monarch butterfly than deciphering what guy in a tracksuit gets to run Crimea oceans away" — Gaetz pic.twitter.com/NCYGMHJs3c
For the unvaccinated…first moment of real hope. This is amazing. And for those who are vaccinated and who never joined in the mob or even discussed their status, who stood with courage and didn’t let those who turned us into subhuman creatures…there is real hope here. pic.twitter.com/RBwNmGTtq1
— Ooana Trien ~ Eric Arthur Blaire’s Mistress (@ooana) July 23, 2022
Schiff stripped away the pretense of subpoenaing Ginni Thomas about her messages to the White House. This is about her husband, not her support for the election challenges or what occurred on January 6th… https://t.co/PThRcMunPD
When the Democrats have Jonathan Turley defending Clarence Thomas, we are definitely in interesting times.
Wow the phony January 6th hearings are really hurting President Trump he only got 79% of the straw polling at Turning Point USA 🤣🤣#Trump2024ToSaveAmerica
I’d throw in a few Rockefellers and Rothschilds also.
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.
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.”
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. There is also a “rescue” thread there for members of the Tree to rendezvous if the main site goes kablooey. A third site has been added for site outages of longer duration.
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, the late 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:
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.
By now, I have learned to keep my reactions pretty close to my chest. There is such a thing as reacting too soon before more information is released, and it’s easy to make assumptions if you don’t see the whole picture. There’s power in observation.
20Then the mother of the sons of Zeb’edee came up to him, with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; 28even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the power of God, cast down to Hell Satan and all his evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
>>148156518 Amen brother. Q
As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome. Via con Dios.
US President Donald J Trump (L) and First Lady Melania Trump (R) await the arrival of Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and his wife, Jenny Morrison, to the South Lawn of the White House for a state arrival ceremony in Washington, DC, USA, 20 September 2019. The occasion marks the second state visit of Donald Trump’s presidency.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – 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).
And indeed, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it!
…and we will have fun doing it, too!
The Rules
TL;DR –
Wheatie’s Rules:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
The bottom line is Free Speech. Theories and ideas you don’t agree with must be WELCOME here, and you must be part of that welcoming. But you do NOT need to be part of any agreement.
Bottom line – respect other people’s FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.
Our only additional requirement is that you do so NICELY. Or at least try to make some effort in that direction.
SO….. [ENGAGE BOILERPLATE…..]
We must endeavor to persevere to love our frenemies – even here.
Those who cannot deal with this easy requirement will be forced to jump the hoops of moderation, so that specific comments impugning other posters and violating the minimal rules can be sorted out and tossed in the trash.
In Wheatie’s words, “We’re on the same side here so let’s not engage in friendly fire.”
That includes the life skill of just ignoring certain other posters.
We do have a site – The U Tree – where civility is not a requirement. Interestingly, people don’t really go there much. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in an “argument” that can’t really stay civil, please feel free to “take it to the U Tree”. The U Tree is also a good place to report any technical difficulties, if you’re unable to report them here. Please post your comment there on one of Wolf’s posts, or in reply to one of Wolf’s comments, to make sure he sees it (though it may take a few hours).
We also have a backup site, called The Q Tree as well, which is really The Q Tree 579486807. You might call it “Second Tree”. The URL for that site is https://theqtree579486807.wordpress.com/. If this site (theqtree.com) ever goes down, please reassemble at the Second Tree.
If the Second Tree goes down, please go to The U Tree, or to our Gab Group, which is located at https://gab.com/groups/4178.
We also have some “old rules” and important guidelines, outlined here, in a very early post, on our first New Year’s Day, in 2019. The main point is not to make violent threats against people, which then have to be taken seriously by law enforcement, and which can be used as a PRETEXT by enemies of this site.
In the words of Wheatie, “Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven that Wolf has created for us.”
A Moment of Prayer
Our policy on extreme religious freedom on this site is discussed HERE. Please feel free to pray and praise God anytime and anywhere.
Thus, please pray for our real President, the one who actually won the election.
You may also pray for our nation, our world, and even our enemies.
Musical Interlude
In the style of our beloved Wheatie, we include some music for your enjoyment.
This week, some LATER (90’s) but absolutely quintessential MEAT LOAF.
I remember when this guy’s improbable music burst on the scene. It was catchy – I grew rather fond of it. A gal I knew LOVED his first album (which at that time was an LP vinyl record). She was a really good person – a model scientist, in the rear-view mirror of life. I have no idea what happened to her, but…..
In her honor, Meat Loaf!
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
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.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the DayYear Week:
gynocracy
noun
government by women; gynarchy
Used in a (rather long) paragraph:
Sadly, when the old-boy system of Shallow State was overthrown, it was ultimately replaced by a politically obsessive and scientifically incompetent globalist gynocracy, which marginalized many of the most scientifically and technically competent women, simply to defend and preserve the new progressive political order. Token men interspersed the chain of command, relied upon for their technical competence, but valued above all for their loyalty to the new order. Religious global warming, ‘settled science’, political correctness, and the rise of corrupt Chinese communist science ethics were the result. Many old white women were replaced by young Indian men with more flexible and unquestioning ethics, but little domain knowledge. As a final bit of gender irony, the entire spread of the hen-house was better referred to as ‘Obamatization’, than named after our new lady commissar, since the rise of Obama was clearly a higher focal point of the entire plot. Still, there was a shining moment, somewhere between the men in black and the Marxists in pantsuits, when we sailed happily past a state of freedom, equality, truth, and scientific integrity, and thus I can tell you, without a doubt, that such a world exists, even if not in the here and now.
This Rejoice & Praise God 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’s 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.
“I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12) is the second of seven “I AM” declarations of Jesus, recorded only in John’s gospel, that point to His unique divine identity and purpose. In declaring Himself to be the Light of the world, Jesus was claiming that He is the exclusive source of spiritual light. No other source of spiritual truth is available to mankind.
There are two types of light in the world. We can perceive one, or both, or neither! When we are born into this world, we perceive physical light, and by it we learn of our Creator’s handiwork in the things we see. However, although that light is good, there is another Light, a Light so important that the Son of God had to come in order to both declare and impart it to men. John 8:12 records, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.’” The allegory used by the Lord in this verse speaks of the light of His Truth, the light of His Word, the light of eternal Life. Those who perceive the true Light will never walk in spiritual darkness.
We take a candle into a room to dispel the darkness. Likewise, the Light of Jesus Christ has to be taken into the darkness of sin that engulfs the hearts and lives of those who are not following Him. That’s the condition behind having this Light—that we follow Him. If we do not follow Him, we will not have this light, this truth, this eternal life.
Physical light is necessary for physical life. The earth would certainly change very rapidly if there were no longer any sunlight. A forest full of trees with very thick canopies of foliage high above has very little plant life on the ground except for moss or lichen, which needs little sunlight. Plants will never move away from the light—they are said to be positively phototropic, drawn to the light. In the same way, spiritual light is necessary for spiritual life, and this can be a good test of our standing in Christ. The believer will always tend toward spiritual things; he will always tend toward fellowship, prayer, the Word of God, and so on. The unbeliever always does the opposite (John 1:5; 3:19–20) because light exposes his evil, and he hates the light. Indeed, no man can come into the true spiritual light of Jesus Christ, unless he is enabled (John 6:37).
Following Jesus is the condition of two promises in John 8:12. First, His followers will never walk in darkness, which is a reference to the assurance of salvation we enjoy. As true followers of the Light, we will never follow the ways of sin, never live in a state of continually sinning (1 John 1:5–7). Rather, we repent of our sin in order to stay close to the Light of the world. The second promise is that we will reflect the Light of Life. Just as He came as the Light of the world, He commands us to be “lights,” too. In Matthew 5:14–16 we see believers depicted as the light of the world. Just as the moon has no light of its own, reflecting the light of the sun, so are believers to reflect the Light of Christ so that all can see it in us. The Light is evident to others by the good deeds we do in faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The emphasis here is maintaining a credible and obvious witness in the world, a witness that shows us to be faithful, God-honoring, trustworthy, sincere, earnest, and honest in all that we do. Also, we should always be ready to give an account of the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15), for the gospel Light we have is not to be covered, but made obvious for all to see and benefit from, that they, too, may leave the darkness and come into the Light.
For some “Light” thought . . .
Jesus at His Birth
Shortly after His birth, Jesus’ parents took Him to the temple, presented Him to the Lord, and offered the required sacrifice.
Simeon, moved by the Holy Spirit, went to the temple, took Jesus in His arms, and said, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Lk. 2:32).
Simeon speaks of Jesus as the salvation and light God promised (Isaiah 9:2; 42:6; 49:6,9; 51:4; 60:1-3).
Jesus, at His birth, fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah. He is the light of revelation God sent into the world.
Jesus at the Beginning of His Ministry
When Jesus began His ministry in Capernaum, Matthew tells us this was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy.
“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned” (Matt. 4:16).
Besides fulfilling Isaiah’s prophesies at His birth, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesies when He began preaching the gospel.
Jesus is the Light of the World
Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn. 1:4-9; 8:12). This figure of speech is applicable to Him because:
In Him we have life, and the life is the Light of man (Jn. 1:4; 8:12).
We believe through Him (Jn. 1:7).
Jesus enlightens every man (Jn. 1:9).
By believing in Jesus, we become sons of Light (Jn. 12:36).
By believing in Jesus, we escape from darkness (Jn. 12:46).
Jesus’ blood cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7).
Christians Love The Light
Every person loves either darkness or the Light. People who love darkness hate the Light. And people who love the Light hate darkness.
“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (Jn. 3:20-21).
Christians Walk in the Light
We walk in the Light because God is Light.
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light . . . ” (1 Jn. 1:5-7).
Because we walk in the Light, “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:5-7).
Christians are Children of Light
Walking in the Light, we are children of Light (Eph. 5:8).
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” (Eph. 5:8).
As a result, we expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness (Eph. 5:11-13).
Christians Are the Light of the World
As children of Light, exposing darkness, we are the light of the world.
“You are the light of the world . . .” (Matt. 5:14).
Therefore we shine our light by essence of who we are.
“. . . A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house” (Matt. 5:14-15).
And men glorify God, as a result of seeing our good works.
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
Result: Eternal Life
As children of the Light, we “share in the inheritance of the saints in Light” (Col. 1:12).
Therefore we will spend eternity in heaven, where there is eternal light (Rev. 21:24; 22:5).
Wow, I don’t even need to muck with this first part. Guess who’s in the news again, even if only slightly.
Message for Bill Barr
You’re dirt.
Your job was to pursue justice impartially. Instead, you decided it was worth being partial just to get rid of the Orange Man with the Mean Tweets.
I imagine you sleep easy at night, though, because in your alleged mind, you saved America. The America you saved was the America that’s ruled by an elite and has to tolerate a dumptruck load of “deplorables”–you know the sort of people who just want to be left alone and not be forced to participate in some grand plan.
That just proves you’re a bloated bag of rancid, maggot-infested lard.
Since that has been true for quite some time, a large percentage of you must be maggot turds.
Your day will come, Traitor.
And For Pat Benatar
Unfortunately I get exposed to the Yellow Stream Media in small doses nearly daily, so I ran across a story about how Pat Benatar will no longer be performing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” on account of guns bad or something like that.
I was aware she’s no friend of the Right. Not just figuring “probably not because she’s entertainment industry” but I knew; she released some song bemoaning Trump back in 2017.
Well, Pat, your many, many thousands of fans are surely disappointed, I’m sure. Hit Me With Your Best Shot is one of your most famous works, it’s even, dare I say it, iconic. [Note: you do have more fans than I do, even 40 years after your halcyon days, so that puts you ahead of Brian Stelter, who apparently has fewer.]
Fortunately, I am here to fill the gap, so your fans won’t pine away.
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.
Mixed week, with silver down and everything else up. I recall hearing that gold had actually dipped below $1,700 at least once this week.
Bitcoin, meanwhile…aw, who gives a fetid pile of dingos’ kidneys?
If the stories about new reserve currencies are true, expect a lot of dollars that have been sitting overseas, not chasing goods in the marketplace, to come home. At which point we’ll see more dollars chasing (if we’re lucky) the same amount of, or (if we’re less lucky) fewer, goods. Which is exactly what sends prices through the roof.
Meanwhile now might be a buying opportunity. Or it could be that I am a practitioner of craniorectalinsertiononomics (an accurate name for most fashionable schools of economics) and I’m totally wrong.
Oligula’s Biggest Blunder
With JWST starting its science mission, I have to find something else to talk about now.
Well, a quick one.
I wrote this last week: So I don’t expect to see news reports about what “JWST has found” for at least a little while.
It aged poorly.
Apparently JWST has already spotted a galaxy older (and hence far more redshifted) than anything previously seen. The article I read talked about how it had formed within a couple of hundred million years of the Big Bang, and compared that to “when light began” a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Which is wrong on two counts. The event they’re referring to is when the universe cooled below plasma temperatures, and hence became transparent. Light existed before then but couldn’t get anywhere without being reabsorbed by electrons flying around in that plasma. Once that stopped, the light could travel freely: outer space became transparent. That initial glow is still seen today as the Cosmic Microwave Background (explained, possibly more coherently, here: https://www.theqtree.com/2021/11/27/2021%c2%b711%c2%b727-joe-biden-didnt-win-daily-thread/). So that’s one of two problems, and it’s conceivable one could claim I’m drawing a meaningless distinction here. But the bigger problem is, this happened 380 thousand years after the Big Bang. Not million.
But JWST finding such a thing is exactly what we were hoping for.
And, I’ll note that this week marked the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
OK, now on to Oligula, whom I usually refer to as Obola, and his biggest blunder ever.
That would, of course be failing to either replace or extend the Space Transportation System, which is the name that only NASA uses for that which everyone else calls the Space Shuttle.
The Space Shuttle was intended to make travel to orbit cheaper. The price to put a kilogram in orbit had plummeted to $10,000 during the 60s (but note, that’s still a lot of money, especially in 1970 dollars), and had remained there since.
It takes a lot of fuel to get to orbit, and that ain’t cheap, but the bigger issue is we were throwing 90 percent or more of the spacecraft away, every time. Imagine what air fare would be if they had to scrap the airliner as soon as the passengers deplaned. The Shuttle was an attempt to come up with a reusable system, and it was indeed partially reusable. The orbiter could be reused, but only after weeks of refurbishing. The big hydrogen tank (which was white for the first few missions, then they decided to save the weight of the white paint, so it was tan-orange from that point forward) was thrown away, the solid rocket boosters were salvaged and reused as much as possible (but that involved rebuilding them).
So the price to orbit for a kilogram remained at $10,000, though to be fair that’s still a decrease because of inflation. But it almost seemed like it was a physical constant, $10,000/kg.
Oligula left US manned spaceflight for dead by doing nothing as the Shuttle was retired. We now had to hitch a ride with the Russians just to go to the International Space Station, even though ISS had largely been built by us.
But that is not the blunder I am thinking about. The blunder I am thinking about is that Obola allowed private companies to step in.
Space X, for instance, has begun providing rides to orbit, and since they aren’t smothered in government bureaucracy, they’re able to incrementally improve their boosters and orbiters in less than a decade. They’ve gotten better and better at recovering their boosters by landing them on ships at sea. Very little if anything is thrown away now. The things are almost totally reusable, with less refurbishing than the Shuttle ever dreamed of.
The price to get a kilogram to orbit has dropped to $2,000 now.
And it may get as low as $400 with their planned Starship system. (I am not accounting for possible future hyperinflation as the petrodollars come home to roost; see above.)
This is very important. After all, when the Left gets done dorking up the Earth, we need somewhere else to go. Yes, the Left will mess that up too, but that won’t be until the Deplorables who pioneer it have gotten it to the point where puffy toilet seats are available. Meanwhile we’ll have breathing space.
Being able to get to space cheaply is very important in the long term. No, it won’t help us drain the swamp, but a couple of hundred years from now they’ll look back and not care about what Bloated Pusbag Barr did to President Trump, but they will care about the founding of space industry and colonies.
OK, but this is good, right? So why did I call this Oligula’s Biggest Blunder?
Because intent matters. Obola rarely made a mistake. He caused a lot of damage, but that was his intent, so the damage he caused was not by mistake.
So the one thing he did that was good (even if it is taking a while to become evident), actually was a mistake on his part. He didn’t mean to do that good deed; he was trying to shove yet another rusty steel twelve gauge bore brush up America’s ass, then chock it in a power drill for added effect.
But he got this one wrong.
So, Oligula, I take my hat off to you, and say “Fuck you very much.”
Fuck Joe B*d*n
Due to complaints about foul language, I’ve censored the most objectionable word in the title of this section.
B*d*n, you don’t even get ONE scoop of ice cream today.
(Please post this somewhere permanent, as it will continue to be true; the SOB will never deserve a scoop.)
…And the Cancer He Rode In On
Does the Meat Puppet have cancer?
I don’t think we can say, based on his slip the other day. After all “cancer” and “Covid” both start with a “C” and he may have just said “cancer” when he meant “Covid.” Even someone who is not compost-mentis (Latin for “peat head”) could make that mistake; but it’s more likely to happen when the brain turns to sludge.
(All kidding about no chemicals in FJB’s skull aside, clearly something is in there, because he continues to breathe and poop out both ends, figuratively in one case, literally in the other. The brain does manage that stuff, though our consciousness doesn’t notice it doing so.)
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, 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 His Fraudulency 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 !!!
