“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
I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone.
As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo.
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 yes, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it – even if only by workarounds!
We will start our mornings with Wheaties and Winnamins!
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
(Not true, but I thought this GIF was too cute to pass up!)
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.
MINOR CHANGE NUMBER 1
Never talk about committing violence in a reply to Wolf or in response to anything Wolf has said, or you may get put into moderation so that your comments can be screened. This is ONLY because DHS is now playing door-knock Gestapo with people who have spoken at school board meetings, made public comments, etc. DHS regime jackboots are knocking on doors of school board mama bears and stupidly insinuating potential violence from things people say or don’t say on social media. A guy in Ohio pointed his FINGER at the school board, and they went after him, armed with pictures of the pointing, and screen captures of online comments. Yeah.
SO – give the Nazis ZERO ammo. Keep any mention of violence, even joking, away from Wolf, so that he doesn’t have to “explain” humor to humorless jackboots who pretend not to know things.
As for discussion of “violent humor” among yourselves (e.g., “#TeamHeadsOnPikes”), just use whatever discretion you think is appropriate for yourselves. I will only put you in moderation if your comments create problems for ME or THIS SITE, but not if they only impact you.
YOU are responsible for your own comments, if they come knocking. YOUR choice. Just remember this…..
OTHER THAN THAT…….
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.”
Praying in the Spint.jpeg
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
On quick notice, some STEAMPUNK EPIC ORCHESTRAL music!
Let’s add some Christmas music (but yeah, a bit modern!)
And if that’s not enough, let’s try 11 and 1/2 hours of Christmas music in one video!
That should hold you over!
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
Dr. Fauci is a national hero who will be remembered for generations to come for his innate goodness & many contributions to public health
Despite your business success, you will be remembered most for fueling public hate & divisions.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Dr. Fauci killed countless Americans, destroyed countless businesses, destroyed the education and daily lives of countless children, and lied repeatedly to accomplish all of that. No wonder an America-hating communist piece of garbage like @JohnBrennan thinks he’s a hero. https://t.co/pqkf4yxUf1
— Nick Searcy, Actor/Director/Producer/Author (@yesnicksearcy) December 11, 2022
No, Fauci will be remembered for his demented obsession with Gain of Function research which drove him to evade Obama & Trump administration rules to commission the reckless experiments in Wuhan that are the most likely origin of the pandemic that killed millions of people. https://t.co/htS5JblHpG
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:
pulchritude
noun
Great physical beauty and appeal
Beauty; comeliness; handsomeness
That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness
Attractive moral excellence; moral beauty
Used in a sentence or two:
When I was a kid, and more specifically a pesky brat, who loved to gossip with my no-good buddies about which girls were rumored to STRIP for the boys, I thought pulchritude meant something more like voluptuousness, curvaceousness, or ample breasts, and that it was typically the quality of an adult woman with WGTT (see below) or an “hourglass figure”. Obviously, my exposure to borrowed, stolen, and otherwise laundered issues of Playboy magazine was not exactly teaching me proper word definitions, let alone pulchritude of character.
Used in a better sentence:
By the pulchritude of their souls make up what is wanting in the beauty of their bodies.
Thanks to Darren Beattie, Elon Musk, and Gail Combs, I have been struck by lightning, and can now see the origins of the highly successful “trust and safety” censorship paradigm.
I survey the catastrophe that “Trust & Safety” has been for not only Twitter and Apple, but all of Big Tech, America, and the world, and I cry out “Well played, CCP! Well played!”
And you, my fellow coders who watched it all turn to crap, know I’m right. We did not object to the early assaults on Free Speech, as CHINA slyly moved into our tech businesses, and now we have paid the price.
Or if we really want to be complete…..
The part about “can’t code” welcoming in the Trojan Horse is important. In my opinion and experience, it was the non-coding “verbal world” of bureaucratic policy which welcomed “trust and safety”, then forcing it on the more mathematical geek world which had once been a bastion of honesty, truth, and freedom.
Free speech mattered to old tech. Not so much to the people who took control of tech.
This is relevant, in that WOMEN tend to show up as the cops, police chiefs and ambassadors of “trust and safety”. It’s a very female and “beta male” thing, even at the high levels.
BEFORE ELON:
After Elon:
Yeah, those pictures are a bit of an unfair comparison, because they’re different company functions as well, but in other ways, that in itself is exactly the problem.
Coders versus the people who tell them what to do. Twitter was filled with chiefs and not enough Indians.
ALTHOUGH perhaps one too many……
NOW PROVEN: Vijaya Gadde had more interference in the US election than Russia ever did.
This corporate cultural insanity ("satire is dangerous") was a product of the cultural over-feminization of Twitter, steeped in woke, into which was seeded the "problem" of free speech and the "solution" of moderation. Then add authoritarian influence by Eric Holder and DOJ. https://t.co/iReTmDGI4qpic.twitter.com/SrlDJNvENV
Yoel Roth’s problems don’t end with his refusal to “manspread” like a man, but the problems surely start there. Any “man” who is threatened by the Babylon Bee needs help, not power.
Turns out that Eric Holder’s former chief of staff was the head of censorship at Apple for quite a while, including the 2020 election.
Here is the brief version of what happened. Please go to the original for the full story. I am only including a highly edited snippet of the middle of the story (and yet it’s VERY long).
FTA…..
The current head of Apple Trust and Safety is someone who is clearly aware of the value of having a low profile online. Look for details on Jessica Gimarc-Savini and you’ll find her sparse LinkedIn page, her (lesbian) wedding page, and not much else.
While we know little about Jessica Savini, we can learn much from a profile of her predecessor, former head of Trust and Safety at Apple Margaret Richardson.
Richardson served as Apple’s top trust and safety figure from August 2020 through May 2022.
As you read the following, keep in mind that Apple is the largest company in the world, with a market capitalization of $2.3 trillion dollars. Its annual revenues exceed the GDP of most U.S. states. It’s annual net profits are worth more than the GDP of Bulgaria. Apple might as well be a country unto itself, and a powerful one at that. Of all of the people they could have chosen to be the key decision maker for content moderation and safety — that is, censorship — you’d think they’d at least choose someone with the appearance of moderation and lack of political bias.
Think again.
While Richardson wisely avoided tweeting during her tenure at Apple, at her previous job, first as “director of global policy” and then “director of trust” as Airbnb, Richardson was entirely unrestrained. Her still-extant tweets from August 2020 and before give a stark demonstration of her thinking, a perpetually-spinning hamster wheel of stock left-wing political tropes. For starters, Richardson’s Twitter banner screams “Black Lives Matter”!
But that’s only scratching the surface.
Dig back through 5+ years of tweets and retweets, and you see a type that is disturbingly common: A person’s whose public life consists almost wholly of mindlessly affirming, then reaffirming, and then re-reaffirming, far-left and liberal partisan orthodoxies.
It’s not that any one tweet from Richardson is particularly bad. It’s that that’s all there is. She never strays into talking about her family or her favorite books or even, say, her favorite vacation spots (she was working at a lodging company, after all!). It’s just the current partisan lib obsession du jour, every time, with ruthless tedium.
Richardson isn’t just deeply ideological, pro-BLM, and so forth. She’s also narrowly and almost pettily partisan.
If this was your barista at Starbucks, or a Congressional staffer, or heck, an ordinary Apple engineer, this would be rather lame but unremarkable. But this is the person Apple chose to lead its Trust and Safety division, the person chosen to be head censor at the most powerful company in the world. This is the person who was empowered to make crucial, politically-loaded decisions during one of the most hotly-contested elections in American history.
Five months after Richardson started at Apple, the company made one of the most ideologically aggressive cancellations ever when it banned Parler from its app store. While Apple works hard to obscure its decision-making process, Richardson was without a doubt central to that decision, and with her involved, it wasn’t a surprising one. In April 2022, shortly before she left, the company also committed itself to a ridiculous internal “racial equity audit.”
So, where did this person come from? Well, just looking at her tweets, one notices that Richardson doesn’t just have a habit of boosting left-wing causes. She has a noticeable preference for boosting senior figures from the Obama Administration itself — Valerie Jarrett, Arne Duncan, John Kerry, and so forth. Richardson was particularly active when President Trump dismissed acting attorney general Sally Yates for insubordination after she refused to enforce his executive order implementing a travel ban on several nations linked to Islamic terrorism.
This isn’t random.
After earning dual degrees in law from UC-Berkeley and in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School, Richardson spent three years working at a free legal clinic in the Bay Area. From there, she went to the Obama campaign, and after his election she joined the Justice Department as a top adviser to Eric Holder, eventually ascending to become his chief of staff.
Wolf again….
SO – I hope that is crystal clear.
The Obama-Holder DOJ directly controlled Apple’s view of “acceptable content” during the engineered fall of the Trump administration (a.k.a. “The Coup”) as well as first two years of the Biden administration.
This is exactly why I absolutely cannot stand Apple News, for it’s horrible, judgmental, left-wing slant.
If you read the rest of the Revolver article, it is VERY clear that the “Trust and Safety” racket is largely an infiltration of Big Tech by an ideology centered on Eric Holder and the DOJ.
In my opinion, Trust & Safety in Big Tech was ultimately a downstream effect of the disastrous Obamacare website, which was used to “lure in” Big Tech for what became an infection operation.
People who had no idea how to deal with criminals and communists were sheep led to the slaughter.
SO – back to Twittergate.
I didn’t really make the connection of Twitter’s “Trust and Safety” machine to DOJ, until Elon Musk revealed The Twitter Files to the world, via left-trusted journalist Matt Taibbi, in a massive act of transparency.
Somewhere in the middle of Matt Taibbi’s tweet-thread, I realized that Apple and Twitter were undoubtedly similar stories – and that Eric Holder likely had an insider at Twitter.
17. On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop: https://t.co/q4zaMw6aVV
19. White House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account for tweeting about the story, prompting a furious letter from Trump campaign staffer Mike Hahn, who seethed: “At least pretend to care for the next 20 days.” pic.twitter.com/CcXTfsdzCT
23. The decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role.
https://t.co/j4EeXEAw6F can see the confusion in the following lengthy exchange, which ends up including Gadde and former Trust and safety chief Yoel Roth. Comms official Trenton Kennedy writes, “I'm struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe”: pic.twitter.com/w1wBMlG33U
But THIS is where the DOJ comes back into things. The next tweet (28) is like discovering Eric Holder working at Twitter.
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”: pic.twitter.com/tg4D0gLWI6
I had figured there was some Holder groupie analogous to Richardson at Apple, inside Twitter’s Trust & Safety apparatus. I had no idea that Holder’s henchman – THE Jim Baker, fired as part of Spygate – was there.
Let’s just look at that Jim Baker message more closely…..
This is an incredible stall tactic. Twitter can hold off the truth forever with this thinking.
Note how the “hacked materials” policy is already anti-journalism, but combine it with a DOJ Obama/Hillary toadie INSTALLED INSIDE TWITTER, and, it’s every bit like Apple. Complete DOJ commie control.
SO – it’s clear that “Trust and Safety” is a DOJ gig – right?
How could this possibly be worse?
The trick is understanding the “environmental push” for “Trust and Safety” over free speech, which overwhelmed both government and tech. It almost certainly had foreign help.
Gail Combs Exposes Trust-and-Safetygate
Today, Gail posted a series of deep dives into the subject of where much of the “trust and safety” censorship has appeared and festered in both government and Big Tech – spilling over into everything, including elections, journalism, STEM, and even White House policymaking.
The big picture blew me away, as I saw how successful this movement was, in transforming our own government and national security complex away from freedom and toward CCP-style totalitarianism, without even being fully understood by the victims.
Some of the CCP infiltration is obvious – some of it is not.
I present it to you now, largely unedited except by Gail herself, in preparing it for this post. I have also taken the liberty of embedding the videos by hand, rather than just leaving links. I have further included some comments that Gail left out, because I feel they are still important, even though she did not.
From BadKitty’s Thread — The KEY INFO showing GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP IMPACTING ELECTIONS!!!
They also submit reported tweets to CISA at DHS. Boom!
DHS puts on its CISA website for election misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation to be reported to Misinformation@Cisecurity. (NGO Katie Hobbs used for reporting.)
RUMOR CONTROL PAGE START-UP GUIDE Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) can present risks to the election infrastructure community, its owners and operators, and the public. MDM can spread quickly, causing rumors to undermine facts.
The risks of MDM range from undermining confidence in institutions to activating and inspiring dangerous behaviors and violence. This Rumor Control Page Start-Up Guide is for organizations seeking to dispel specific MDM narratives through transparent and authoritative information. Designed for use by state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government officials and private sector partners, this guide cites the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Rumor Control page as a model for debunking inaccurate narratives. The recommendations in this guide are not intended to be one-size-fits-all and should be adapted to the capabilities and resources available, as well as the MDM risks facing the community. Organizations should only set up a rumor control webpage related to issues for which they have access to information and expertise necessary to properly dispel MDM narratives and articulate facts. Each organization that plans to set up a rumor control page may want to consult with the appropriate organization legal counsel, if possible, prior to beginning operations. What is a rumor control page? A rumor control page is a web page that offers the public accurate and authoritative sources of information which will help address common MDM narratives. It is provided by a trusted voice to either preempt or respond to developing narratives. Credible messengers are most effective at disproving falsehoods. A rumor control page should not be considered the sole source of truth, rather it should drive people to seek more information about a complex subject by directing them to other trustworthy sources.
With a rumor control page, election officials and stakeholders can dispel rumors about the systems and assets they manage and have unique insight into. Some election offices may already have public information websites, which commonly include a “Frequently Asked Questions” page and/or press releases that seek to clarify information. In this sense, a rumor control page can be viewed as an extension of existing efforts….
It is important to note that a rumor control page is only one element of a successful MDM response strategy. Improving resilience of elections to MDM also requires reporting MDM narratives. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) was established to support the cybersecurity needs of the election subsector. The CIS can be leveraged to report real-time MDM via email at misinformation@cisecurity.org
Be sure to include links and screenshots as well as details on the misinformation and your jurisdiction.
Breaking thread! The CCP is heavily involved with the majority of orgs involved in disinformation work, social media, and targeting of conservatives as extremists thru the Carnegie Endowments. What’s worse is Bidens CIA director was president of Carnegie Endowments from 2015-2021 pic.twitter.com/GZgdfNBQcQ
Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden called on CIA Director William Burns to address his “strong ties” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while formerly heading an elite Washington, D.C., think tank, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
At least 20 undisclosed CCP members worked at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace during Burns’ presidency of the think tank, the DCNF recently reported.
“Evidence would suggest Director Burns lied under oath during his confirmation hearing,” Gooden told the DCNF, referring to Burns’ February 2021 CIA confirmation hearing.
Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden called on CIA Director William Burns to address his “strong ties” to the Chinese Communist Party while formerly heading an elite Washington, D.C., think tank, according to a letter shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday….
“The vast influence the CCP had at Carnegie during your tenure as president and the continued influence they have today — despite claims you made at your confirmation hearing that you had ended the CCP’s influence — presents a significant lapse in judgment and brings into question your ability to identify and mitigate national security risks,” Gooden’s letter said. (RELATED: Biden’s New Green Energy Adviser Has Ties To Chinese Communist Party Front Group)
There is a lot of information coming out and We want to capture it before it disappears.
First a Youtube from August 25, 2020 just before early voting started.
Are We Ready? Foreign Interference, Disinformation and the 2020 election Streamed live on Aug 25, 2020 Public and private sector leaders join the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council to discuss what steps they have taken to secure the information space around the 2020 presidential election. For further information, please visit: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event…
——————————————————————————————– Subscribe for more! https://www.youtube.com/user/Atlantic…
Driven by our mission of “shaping the global future together,” the Atlantic Council is a nonpartisan organization that galvanizes US leadership and engagement in the world, in partnership with allies and partners, to shape solutions to global challenges.
The Department of Homeland Security has hired the former chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, Matt Masterson, to help federal, state, and local authorities coordinate cybersecurity efforts ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, the department announced Monday. Masterson will serve as senior cybersecurity adviser within the National Protection and Programs Directorate’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. “There are few who have Matt’s experience working with all levels of government and the private sector to protect our nation’s election systems. His wealth of experience and depth of knowledge make him highly respected on both sides of the aisle,” Chris Krebs, NPPD senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary, said in a statement. Krebs added that Masterson’s previous work as chief information officer in the Ohio secretary of state’s office and at the EAC “significantly advanced” the country’s cybersecurity efforts.
Matthew Masterson, former chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, has been named senior adviser for the Department of Homeland Security‘s cybersecurity unit, Washington Examiner reported Monday.
DHS expects Masterson to continue working with federal, state and local officials to protect election systems against cyber threats.
He served as EAC commissioner for nearly four years, following his nomination by then President Barack Obama and subsequent confirmation by the Senate in late 2014.
Masterson previously held various positions within the Ohio secretary of state’s office, where he managed voting system certification procedures and led the development of online voter registry and ballot delivery platforms for military and overseas voters.
Christopher Cox Krebs (born 1977) is an American attorney who served as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security from November 2018 until November 17, 2020 when President Donald Trump fired Krebs for contradicting Trump’s claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.[1]
Clara Tsao is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. Clara is a national security and disinformation expert and technology entrepreneur currently serving as the co-founder and on the board of the Trust & Safety Professional Association and the Trust & Safety Foundation. Clara previously was the Senior Advisor for Emerging Technology at the Department of Homeland Security and the Chief Technology Officer of two U.S. Government task forces focused on countering foreign influence, election security, and homegrown extremism. Clara also serves as a nonresident expert at the German Marshall Fund, a senior advisor for the UN-backed initiative, Tech Against Terrorism, and the President/Chair of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Foundation. Clara has also held fellowships focused on national security and technology policy with the Mozilla Foundation and Google.
Clara Tsao is Cofounder of the Trust & Safety Professionals Association (“TSPA”), a new, nonprofit, member-based organization for trust & safety professionals that launched in June 2020. The TSPA will support the global community of professionals who develop and enforce principles & policies that define acceptable behavior online.
Clara was inspired to build an association for trust & safety professionals due to her background as a national security/disinformation expert and technology entrepreneur. She is President of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Foundation and a Senior Advisor at the UN-CTED-backed Tech Against Terrorism.
Clara has held various national security and tech policy roles for the U.S. Government, Google, and Mozilla.
most of the page is just icons with very few words. I wondered if she was a non-native English speaker while Hubby suggested it was a method to prevent word searches.
Her Awards/honors/networks section shows:
Fulbright Canada Clinton Global Initiative Hesslbein Global Academy Pembroke College Cambidge Univ California United Nations: Many Cultures One Humanity – Linked to spam Alliance of Civilizations – Linked to spam GES Malaysia 2013 – Linked to spam Global Startup Youth Malaysia – Linked to spam Yale School of Management [Emerging Leaders Seminar Entrepreneurship & Innovation] – Access denied TITLE – Global Network for Advanced Management
Clara Tsao is an entrepreneur and a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow. Prior to government, she led global strategic partnerships in education for Microsoft. In addition to corporate roles with Google, Apple, Sony, Playstation, HP, and AT&T, Clara is also the co-founder and former Executive Director of the Congressional App Challenge.
Clara Tsao – Guidance on building better digital services in government Through the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, Clara has worked across various national security roles in US Government, serving as a senior advisor and Chief Technology Officer focused on emerging technology policy, countering terrorist use of the internet, and foreign influence operations online. News and Events
About Clara Tsao Clara Tsao was a non-resident fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. She is an online disinformation expert and a civic tech entrepreneur, who recently co-founded the Trust & Safety Professional Association and the Trust & Safety Foundation to support the global community of professionals who develop and enforce principles and policies that define acceptable behavior and content online. Clara is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. Her previous roles include CTO at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Foreign Influence Task Force and the interagency U.S. Countering Violent Extremism Task Force and Senior Advisor for Emerging Technology at the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency. She has spent a decade working in the technology industry across global teams at Microsoft, Apple, Sony PlayStation, AT&T, and also as a Google and Mozilla Technology Policy Fellow. Clara is also the Board Chair and President of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Foundation and a Senior Advisor at Tech Against Terrorism.
MUST READ about her views on ‘Disinformation’ Interesting tidbit”…we need to encourage more technologists to lend their expertise to support better policy-making, through incubators like Aspen’s Tech Policy Hub….”
…..Much of your current work lies at the intersection of tech and policy, focusing on issues like disinformation and online safety. How did you first become interested in these issues?
JFK once said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” In a similar way to how JFK committed the nation to the ambitious goal of landing on the moon,I believe the field of “trust and safety” (including online safety / disinformation), is the most difficult challenge of this decade that technology companies, governments, civil society, and internet users must stand united behind.
This is a challenge we need to win. From live-streamed mass shootings, terrorist content, online sexual exploitation and conspiracy theories, to election interference, there are endless problems that require collaboration, starting with strengthened dialogue. I have always been fascinated with how people behave online, and I spend my free time evaluating how people behave on social media. I especially love testing and exploring new technology platforms to understand the new ways in which people interact and connect with one another.
However, I was first exposed to the offline consequences of fake news and misinformation while I was at Microsoft in early 2014. At Microsoft I was managing a partnership program focused on growing the capacity of libraries in Myanmar to serve as trustworthy information hubs. We piloted new platforms and approaches to tackle digital and information challenges in the lead-up to the country’s critical 2015 general elections, the first time the nation could participate in a democratic vote after nearly 50 years of military rule. Over the span of months,I saw firsthand the impact of rampant disinformation as Facebook unintentionally introduced the country to a new digital era that causing offline chaos, violence, and eventually, ethnic genocide.
Years later, I joined the US Government as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ where I served as the CTO of two teams within the Department of Homeland Security focused on online safety issues, ranging from terrorist use of the internet, to foreign influence operations and election security. Most recently, I worked with human rights defenders, civil society groups, and policy professionals at Mozilla, evaluating regulatory policies and tools around harmful content online. My Passion for problem solving in this space was cultivated by these experiences.
What particular questions/challenges have you been tackling recently, and why is now the right time to address these?
Over the last year, I have been building a new organization to support and advance the trust and safety profession through a shared community of practice. Today the biggest challenge in trust and safety is the lack of formalized training and support for the professionals that determine and enforce acceptable content policies and behavior online.Professionals working in trust and safety teams at technology companies are tasked with adjudicating what is acceptable behavior or content, while also protecting free speech, user safety, and society. Trust and safety teams are also asked to make difficult decisions to protect users, while also having limited support from product and engineering teams to carry out and enforce these policies at scale.
There has never been a better time to support trust and safety professionals and to do their best work. Due to recent media coverage of content moderation, there has been more awareness of the psychological and mental health risks associated with content review that impact employee wellness.
As fake news and misinformation has gone rampant in election processes, governments around the world have threatened regulation or fines for the inability of timely content review and removal. Some countries, like Germany, have introduced and are enforcing such regulations. Hate speech that stays online in Germany for more than 24 hours can accrue a fine of €50 million under Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz. Examples like these have led companies to invest more resources in their trust and safety operations and have more transparency in their decision-making practices.
Furthermore, technology companies are increasingly realizing the impact that toxic users and behavior have on “user churn” and bottom line.
“Advertisers like Unilever have threatened to take their marketing budgets elsewhere if platforms don’t mitigate the spread of toxic content or toxic users.”
Are certain types of misinformation more dangerous than others? What criteria should companies use to evaluate whether a piece of content should be removed from their platform as misinformation?
The perceived danger of misleading content is a key element that influences the way many companies prioritize and investigate removal. Misinformation can include false or misleading information, ranging from rumors, gossip, errors, propaganda. While misinformation can be harmless (i.e married celebrity having an affair), information can become dangerous when the content has offline or behavioral consequences for users and goes viral (i.e. drinking diluted bleach will prevent you from COVID-19 infections).
When evaluating misinformation, companies can evaluate the actor behind the campaign, the behavior of the post (is it a bot network?), and the context of the content to determine how to prioritize removal. Other times, misinformation is automatically detected by AI/machine learning or flagged manually by users reporting the post
One challenging part of misinformation is when content is further bolstered by recommendation engines and algorithms, originally designed to heighten user engagement but now leaving users in partisan and polarized filter bubbles.
When Someone searches for content reinforcing fake science such as the flat earth theory, they become stuck in a “rabbit hole”of other conspiracy theories unknowingly, of which many include content from the anti vaccine movement. To Counteract this, AI researchers like Guillaume Chaslot have advocated internet platforms to have increased algorithmic transparency.…
Alicia Wanless is the director of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Alicia researches how people shape — and are shaped — by a changing information space. With over a decade of experience in researching and analyzing the information environment, focusing on propaganda and information warfare, Wanless applies this learning to support government, military, and major tech companies to develop policies and integrate information activities into training programs that better reflect how the information environment is manipulated. Wanless is currently a PhD Researcher at King’s College London exploring alternative frameworks for understanding the information environment.
In 1836, King’s became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London…
Biography Alicia researches how we shape — and are shaped — by a changing information space. With more than a decade of experience in researching and analysing the information environment, focusing on propaganda and information warfare, Alicia conducts content and network analysis, and has developed original models for identifying and analysing digital propaganda campaigns. Alicia applies this learning to support government, military and major tech companies to develop policies and integrate information activities into training programs that better reflect how the information environment is manipulated. She has shared her work and insights with senior government, military, industry leaders and academic experts at Wilton Park, the Munich Security Conference, the Hedayah Centre, NATO’s ARRC and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Alicia’s work has been featured in the CBC, Forbes, and The Strategy Bridge
Alicia Wanless is the director of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Wanless is a PhD Researcher at King’s College London exploring how the information environment can be studied in similar ways to the physical environment.
This interest led me to research things like nationalism, propaganda, and language engineering in my undergrad, and later in the 2010s, to start analyzing how influence operations were changing in a Digital Age. That research, which covered political campaigns and alternative media outlets, led me to work with militaries, major tech platforms, and civil society organizations—and ultimately to pursue a Ph.D. in War Studies at King’s College London….
The disinformation landscape surrounding the 2020 elections was so different than what we saw in 2016, with domestic, verified users supplanting bots and fake accounts, and new narratives focusing on both Covid and electoral fraud. The actors, behaviors, and content keep changing. How do you see the disinformation landscape evolving in the future? I’m not sure it’s the information environment changing quickly so much as our focus on what happens within it shifting. In researching the U.S. primary election in 2016, it was apparent that domestic actors were likely far more active and prevalent than any foreign actors, and this was later confirmed in Benkler, Faris, and Roberts’ Network Propaganda. The disclosure that Russian actors were actively running influence operations made for more shocking news, whereas disentangling the complex web of domestic actors can be difficult and highly politicized. The role of domestic actors engaging in influence operations has certainly come to the fore in the wake of the attack on Congress on 6 January. One major challenge in understanding the information environment is that research tends to focus on threat actors, tactics, and the content they produce, often in the form of case studies— interesting and informative, but fairly narrow in scope. Unless it is all brought together in bigger meta studies, it leaves us focused on the last bad thing that happened, which is not great for being strategic about addressing the problem. To that end, I think we need to move towards a more systemic understanding about disinformation and influence operations, looking at the wider information environment in which these things occur to find patterns that might offer a warning where the next problem is emerging. That would allow us to intervene sooner.
Breaking thread! I found the directions for submitting tweets to El-ISAC (CiSecurity) like Katie Hobbs did. They land at Stanford for determination
There is also a hidden Twitter Portal and a gov Twitter email address.😹
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FjLxKJWWIAAnyc0.jpg (see below)
The Stanford Partnership site that fact checks submitted tweets etc:
1. It’s home page changed dramatically in months. 2. They lied and said Trump supporters went to J6 Armed. 3. They work with the Zinc Network/Integrity Initiatives Graphika and DFRLAB.
I missed putting the biggest part in the top tweet because I was eating ham salad crackers. And ran outta edit time.
They also submit reported tweets to CISA at DHS. Boom! 💥
DHS puts on its CISA website for election misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation to be reported to Misinformation@Cisecurity. (NGO Katie Hobbs used for reporting.)
It is important to note that a rumor control page is only one element of a successful MDM response strategy. Improving resilience of elections to MDM also requires reporting MDM narratives. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) was established to support the cybersecurity needs of the election subsector. The CIS can be leveraged to report real-time MDM via email at misinformation@cisecurity.org Be sure to include links and screenshots as well as details on the misinformation and your jurisdiction.
RUMOR CONTROL PAGE START-UP GUIDE Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) can present risks to the election infrastructure community, its owners and operators, and the public. MDM can spread quickly, causing rumors to undermine facts. >> The risks of MDM range from undermining confidence in institutions to activating and inspiring dangerous behaviors and violence. This Rumor Control Page Start-Up Guide is for organizations seeking to dispel specific MDM narratives through transparent and authoritative information. Designed for use by state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government officials and private sector partners, this guide cites the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Rumor Control page as a model for debunking inaccurate narratives. The recommendations in this guide are not intended to be one-size-fits-all and should be adapted to the capabilities and resources available, as well as the MDM risks facing the community. Organizations should only set up a rumor control webpage related to issues for which they have access to information and expertise necessary to properly dispel MDM narratives and articulate facts. Each organization that plans to set up a rumor control page may want to consult with the appropriate organization legal counsel, if possible, prior to beginning operations. What is a rumor control page? A rumor control page is a web page that offers the public accurate and authoritative sources of information which will help address common MDM narratives. It is provided by a trusted voice to either preempt or respond to developing narratives. Credible messengers are most effective at disproving falsehoods. A rumor control page should not be considered the sole source of truth, rather it should drive people to seek more information about a complex subject by directing them to other trustworthy sources. >>With a rumor control page, election officials and stakeholders can dispel rumors about the systems and assets they manage and have unique insight into. Some election offices may already have public information websites, which commonly include a “Frequently Asked Questions” page and/or press releases that seek to clarify information. In this sense, a rumor control page can be viewed as an extension of existing efforts….
ADDED NOTE BY WOLF
This stuff is just off-the-charts suspicious to me.
The Big Picture – CCP Subversion and Influence
I’m going to let people draw their own conclusions here. I’m not going to do anything other that talk about my own experiences with Chinese spies and assets in tech. You do the math.
It is beyond any doubt that the CULTURE of “trust and safety” is off-the-charts CCP in tone. There is SMOKE everywhere. And where there is smoke, there is probably fire.
It is my suspicion that “trust and safety” is filled with CCP-bots of various kinds, both Chinese and non-Chinese. However, diagnosing a spy from a non-spy is difficult, and requires an enormous amount of personal knowledge. I may have suspicions, but they are little more than that. Some may think I have TOO MANY suspicions, and that is fine.
However, it is my opinion that anybody with a potential CCP spy or asset background (thus including non-Chinese Americans) who strongly advocates or (even more tellingly) creates outcomes for things which serve CCP’s interests, and which oppose freedom-loving Americans’ interests, needs to be treated as such, particularly in regards to sensitive information or access. Just my opinion.
CCP loves to use women spies, operatives, and agents of influence, just like CIA. CCP girl spies are not just out of the mainland – many come out of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, England, Canada, America, and Latin America. Having them come out of somewhere other than the mainland, gives them a lot of flexibility, by lowering people’s guard and defenses.
CCP girl spies are smart, and the ones in tech tend to be excellent at both the coding side AND the schmoozing, verbal, business and policy side. They will sometimes HIDE one side of their abilities, if that deception is useful. However, in many cases, they will leverage both sides openly.
ChiSpies are often (but not always) among the most relentless social climbers you will ever meet. It’s the job – get as high as they can, targeting higher and higher up the chain. The Russian spies Maria Butina and Anna Chapman were the same way. I saw this much more often with the women than the men. The men tended to be far less obvious in trying to make new connections, whereas the women were extremely socially focused.
Many CCP spies are what I call “two-steppers”, which involve two generations of family as a form of cover. The parents may appear in America as refugees or economic migrants, being apolitical or (less often) even anticommunist. They may come from a place or background which throws off suspicion. The child, however, ends up in a sensitive position, and engages in actions, both of which clearly serve CCP interests. Thus, “two steps” to achieve a solid and easily dismissed infiltration.
CCP spy girls will often change their stories quickly and believably when questioned. They are quite good at planting false or compromising background information in social networks, although men tend to be used when planting something directly to another man, as a technique of peer influence.
Washington is the perfect environment for CCP players, because the operatives don’t stick out. The culture is one of influence and networking, so it looks like everybody else. ChiSpies tend to stick out more in the hinterlands.
Non-Chinese who carry water for CCP can be of many different types. Many are CCP allies, such as old Russian communists, American leftists, American rightists with economic ties to China, or dupes who become personally or professionally involved with agents.
It is important to understand that CCP operatives can have dramatically negative effects on other nations without doing ANYTHING illegal. I saw this form of stealthy sabotage over and over in tech. Just by burying into a key position and turning into an unremovable goldbrick, a CCP operative can create negative effects that have an organization chasing its tail. With only a bit more effort, such as engineered incompetence, organizations can be made weak, unprofitable, and ripe for takeover.
I put the “Trust and Safety” movement in this category of organizational sabotage. I think this entire movement serves CCP goals, and not American interests.
Others may disagree. They may assert that China helped America, if anything, by supporting “trust and safety” in any ways that it did, such as by providing “moderation” services.
To those who might think so, I simply add one more “unit” to my previous assessment of “4”.
Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is
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 yes, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it – in CAT STYLE with our DOG FRIENDS!
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
MINOR CHANGE NUMBER 1
Never talk about committing violence in a reply to Wolf or in response to anything Wolf has said, or you may get put into moderation so that your comments can be screened. This is ONLY because DHS is now playing door-knock Gestapo with people who have spoken at school board meetings, made public comments, etc. DHS regime jackboots are knocking on doors of school board mama bears and stupidly insinuating potential violence from things people say or don’t say on social media. A guy in Ohio pointed his FINGER at the school board, and they went after him, armed with pictures of the pointing, and screen captures of online comments. Yeah.
SO – give the Nazis ZERO ammo. Keep any mention of violence, even joking, away from Wolf, so that he doesn’t have to “explain” humor to humorless jackboots who pretend not to know things.
As for discussion of “violent humor” among yourselves (e.g., “#TeamHeadsOnPikes”), just use whatever discretion you think is appropriate for yourselves. I will only put you in moderation if your comments create problems for ME or THIS SITE, but not if they only impact you.
YOU are responsible for your own comments, if they come knocking. YOUR choice. Just remember this…..
OTHER THAN THAT…….
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
Let’s start off with an entire concert by The Beths – recorded on an iPhone by an apparent expert in the art. It’s a bit rustic, but fun!
OK – maybe that’s not your thing. If not, try this!
An awesome version of Great Is Thy Faithfulness, which hymn I was reminded of, by Carl on Sunday.
Finally, check out this epic orchestral musical selection called Tree of Life.
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
“Tackling Creating the climate crisis with innovative understandably disastrous and phony green technologies”
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
New Study: "cardiac autopsy findings in five persons who have died unexpectedly within seven days following anti-SARS-CoV-2-vaccination… Our findings establish the histological phenotype of lethal vaccination-associated myocarditis." https://t.co/L4ciyWbgec
This is a German study from a reputable group. It's very hard to conduct this research in the U.S.
Germany also did the study showing that no healthy child 5-17 yrs of age died of Covid in that country. They also recommend against the Moderna vax in ppl <30. Not so with the CDC.
Dr Jha says its "crystal clear" that a healthy young male needs a bivalent (4th) Covid vax dose but..
he can't tell you how many *healthy* children have ever died of Covid &we have no biv trial data. How can he know the risk:benefit calc without the data? https://t.co/8dKZmMIlvS
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:
decimate
verb
To destroy or kill a large part of (a group of people or organisms).
To inflict great destruction or damage on: The storm decimated the region.
To reduce markedly in amount: a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund.
To select by lot and kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers).
Used in a sentence:
A required or mandated drug or vaccine, which decreases lifespan and fertility, but which cannot be questioned by science or the public, due to controlled media, can be effectively used to decimate a population with little or no risk of discovery.
Hidden by a “Look! Squirrel!” Racial Kabuki PR Move
Used in a Generalization of a Concept
What part of “never again” do people not get here?
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 yes, it’s Monday…again.
But we WILL get through it – over it – WHATEVER!
We will GO WHEATIE on vampires and demons!
Maybe work off some of that Thanksgiving dinner!
And experience once again what TRUMP GRAVITY feels like!
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
MINOR CHANGE NUMBER 1
Never talk about committing violence in a reply to Wolf or in response to anything Wolf has said, or you may get put into moderation so that your comments can be screened. This is ONLY because DHS is now playing door-knock Gestapo with people who have spoken at school board meetings, made public comments, etc. DHS regime jackboots are knocking on doors of school board mama bears and stupidly insinuating potential violence from things people say or don’t say on social media. A guy in Ohio pointed his FINGER at the school board, and they went after him, armed with pictures of the pointing, and screen captures of online comments. Yeah.
SO – give the Nazis ZERO ammo. Keep any mention of violence, even joking, away from Wolf, so that he doesn’t have to “explain” humor to humorless jackboots who pretend not to know things.
As for discussion of “violent humor” among yourselves (e.g., “#TeamHeadsOnPikes”), just use whatever discretion you think is appropriate for yourselves. I will only put you in moderation if your comments create problems for ME or THIS SITE, but not if they only impact you.
YOU are responsible for your own comments, if they come knocking. YOUR choice. Just remember this…..
OTHER THAN THAT…….
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
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).
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
Boilerplate, more or less, but worth reading again and again, if only for the minor changes, and to stay out of moderation.
MINOR CHANGE NUMBER 1
Never talk about committing violence in a reply to Wolf or in response to anything Wolf has said, or you may get put into moderation so that your comments can be screened. This is ONLY because DHS is now playing door-knock Gestapo with people who have spoken at school board meetings, made public comments, etc. DHS regime jackboots are knocking on doors of school board mama bears and stupidly insinuating potential violence from things people say or don’t say on social media. A guy in Ohio pointed his FINGER at the school board, and they went after him, armed with pictures of the pointing, and screen captures of online comments. Yeah.
SO – give the Nazis ZERO ammo. Keep any mention of violence, even joking, away from Wolf, so that he doesn’t have to “explain” humor to humorless jackboots who pretend not to know things.
As for discussion of “violent humor” among yourselves (e.g., “#TeamHeadsOnPikes”), just use whatever discretion you think is appropriate for yourselves. I will only put you in moderation if your comments create problems for ME or THIS SITE, but not if they only impact you.
YOU are responsible for your own comments, if they come knocking. YOUR choice. Just remember this…..
OTHER THAN THAT…….
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
OK – this is WHEATIE-APPROVED….
EPIC THANKSGIVING DANCE PARTY!
They get a bit worse from there – but here’s one more….
OK – no more “furries”. Let’s go back in time and get away!
That’s better!
But what is best in thanksgiving? Wolf! Answer!
2Jesus invited a little child to stand among them. 3“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Aw, heck – let’s have a twofer!
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
For @elonmusk to allow Donald Trump back on Twitter, ostensibly after a brief poll, shows he is not remotely serious about safeguarding the platform from hate, harassment and misinformation. https://t.co/Rf0NjAubpI
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:
defamation
noun
The act of defaming; calumny, slander, or libel.
The act of defaming; the wrong of injuring another’s reputation without good reason or justification; aspersion.
The act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation.
Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person’s reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. Defamation may be a criminal or civil charge.
[Formerly defamation was used more with reference to slander or spoken words. In modern use slander is spoken defamation and libel is published defamation. Both are subjects for civil action for damages. Libel alone is usually punishable criminally, the common test of criminality being that it tends to a breach of the peace.]
⚡️Newsflash⚡️: Preventing political candidates, who 74 million people voted for, from having a voice because you and people who agree with you don’t like them… is a threat to democracy. https://t.co/wrU7zRw1CA
REALLY? Should we take this criticism from an FBI agent?
Or is blaming Christians just more “Battered Christian Syndrome”?
More “blame the victim”?
Or are Christians SUPPOSED to actually risk some battering?
It’s certainly BRAVE to make this claim to fellow Christians.
And FBI?
Well…….
Complicated business.
I’ll be brief. This is a possibly tough or angering, but definitely necessary read, which argues very effectively that “pure politics” and “no politics” are not places where Christians should be. We must strive to CHANGE THE WORLD. It is our SLACK in doing so, which has led to the sorry state of the planet, with SATANISTS, SCOUNDRELS, and CRIMINALS in charge.
Yeah, that’s a tough message, after losing to CHEATING. But why are they cheating? BECAUSE THEY CAN and BECAUSE THEY WILL – and both of those are because we have not been culturally effective. This article actually “goes there in kindness” with the internal rightness and external wrongness of American Christianity’s “Church Lady” insularity, wrapped up in a slap of TURTLEHEAD McCONNELL.
So how can we integrate politics into Christian living without being corrupted by the mendacity and horror of current American politics?
Some of that may involve cementing and guarding the places where truth and justice are safe (the “Aubergine strategy” in real life, and the “Wolf strategy” in cyberspace), but some of it involves going out and winning the world for GOD, just like Paul did, armed with every weapon that CHRIST gave him.
Perhaps we have not been doing as much of the latter as we could.
And perhaps not “perhaps”.
I’m not saying I have the final answer, but I see that the region where the answer lies does NOT exclude POLITICAL SAVVY, SUBSERVIENT TO GOD.
We can whine about the lackluster results of the 2022 mid-term election cycle — there’s plenty of blame to share. Certainly top Republicans like Senator Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy bear direct responsibility.
Republicans seem poised to wrest power from the totalitarian Democrats in the House. This victory should not be discounted, despite the thinner than hoped for margin. …
…American Christians have desperately tried to believe that politics can be left to secularists who besmirch themselves with temporal concerns — as good fundamental, Bible-believing Christians, we’ll just lock ourselves in our prayer closets, cloister ourselves in our sanctified communities, and pull up the draw-bridge in front of our Christian schools.
At the risk of being branded a heretic, I must assert, good Christian, your prayers are not enough.
For far too long we’ve whistled past the graveyard, dithering about the inconsequential virtues like skirts versus pants, blind to the reality that we’ve succumbed to the same sinful myopathy that possessed medieval scholasticists, who quarreled uselessly about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.
All the while, the infernal forces of tyranny have marched forward, gobbling up the entire structure of American education, the arts, entertainment, and politics.
The Bible is replete with examples of men and women of what we would call political action. The Apostle Paul insinuated himself in the culture and, by extension, the politics of his time. …
…having arrived at Athens, Paul “disputed” with the Jews in their synagogues and “in the market daily with them that met with him.” (Acts 17:17) The Athens market would have been the equivalent of our public place of discourse.
That means, if Paul were still walking the face of the earth, you just might see his Twitter feed.
A suit and tie are ennobling things, but they are mere rags if they are a substitute for a monk’s habit. Far too many Christians mistake arrogance for piety and cowardice for meekness.
…..Christendom must rediscover the apostolic formula of prayer, piety, and action or watch liberty devolve into totalitarianism. Loosen your tie, hang up the frock, and become relevant again.
Christians have lost the culture, in part by lionizing “full-time Christian service.” Anywhere a Christian is called, is his or her place of “full-time Christian service.” There is no inherent virtue in teaching at a Christian school. Virtue lies in obeying the call of God, and what is sorely needed are men and women of faith in the “secular vocations,” impacting culture at its source. A wise man once said that for the Christian, “there is no difference between the sacred and the secular.”
It’s great knowing you’re on the winning side, but countless battles still rage wherein nations may rise or fall. Quit acting like you’ve won the war when the enemy still rages across the battlefield.
…..Christians possess the most powerful weapon in cultural warfare, The Word of God. But, if you’re not engaged in the culture or in politics, you’ve no standing to complain about lousy results or cultural rot.
[Final judgment STRAIGHT FROM THE WORDS OF CHRIST.]
This is where I am now seeing the need to BRING OUR COMMS INTO THE REAL WORLD.
That means networking – not only with the LIKE-MINDED, but with the WINNABLE – and trusting that GOD will finish the job, using CHRIST and the HOLY SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
The TRUTH we gain here must be SPREAD to the world, and the NEEDS of the world must be brought back here to share among ourselves, and with our readership.
We need to be a reactor of TRUTH that IRRADIATES and ILLUMINATES a cold and dark world.
It’s time to let that radiation and illumination SHINE.
You will see more specifics from me as we move forward.
Our purpose is unchanged, but we WILL be more effective.
LIGHT INTO DARKNESS.
W
NOTE: This piece was written BEFORE Trump announced his 2024 presidential candidacy, and apart from minor editing for style and notation of John Nantz’s background, it remains almost unchanged.
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.
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 Day Year:
placeholder
noun
something which holds the place of another, such as this default post which “holds the place” of what would be an interesting and varied weekly Monday post.
verb
to do something to Eric Holder, as in “Please placeholder under arrest.”
OK, straight up apologies, Dear Q-Treepers & Friends, for this likely stream of consciousness post very loosely inspired from our dear Daughn’s nostalgic posts. This is going to veer about in personal family history domains so is meant as a bit of a slice of Americana…
Detroit’s skyline as viewed from the Ambassador Bridge
Grandpa S. came to stay with us at some point for an extended stay while I still lived in my parents’ home. I think it was after my grandma had died but before I went away to college. Grandpa had been sick and so lived with us for a season as he regained his health & his strength. There were times he’d watch Price is Right with my brothers & I & encourage us to make guesses on the various games, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Grandpa was a bit of a gruff man having grown up in the Motor City & having a Northwoods lumberjack for a father. He was a self-made man of limited education, never having finished high school. An avid outdoorsman and good with his hands he knew how to work hard and he was respected and even loved by many people from practically all walks of life. He had deep practical wisdom & was even flexible in his lifestyle deciding to take up new hobbies as a widower, like candle AND candy making. He had a zest for life & perpetual twinkle in his eye!
Ty Cobb in 1913 in Detroit, the era when he let Grandpa & other kids into the ballpark by the back fence to watch the games for free!
Well one day while he was staying with us the phone rang unexpectedly. Being the oldest kid it fell to me to answer the call, as my parents weren’t home at the time. Some gravelly male voice on the other end of the phone was looking for a “Lefty” & I was concerned. The only “lefty” I could imagine would be some fictional gangster or ne’er-do-well. Anyway with tremulous voice I mentioned to Grandpa that someone was looking for “Lefty”. He snatched the phone from my hand & bellowed out in his own testosterone truncated tongue “Lefty here!” I was beyond flabbergasted, My Grandpa Was Lefty!!!
Obviously this was a pretty basic nickname for a man who was left-handed, especially growing up in an era when being left-handed was a “sinister” condition. Both he, my dad’s dad, AND my mom’s mom, were left-handed & suffered the indignities that went along with being different & the punishments typically meted out for errant usage of the “wrong” hand in those bygone days. Both of these grandparents had less than beautiful handwriting but were surely more ambidextrous than most. My youngest brother is also blessed with this left-handedness & it definitely contributed to some of his sporting successes, especially his ability to be a switch-hitter on his high-school baseball team! I think he was also more competent with both feet as a soccer player than were most teammates too.
Grandpa had been a pretty poor student during his formal education. In fact, after his death, when my parents were going through his things they discovered a lone report card saved from nearly 8 decades before. Apparently this “all S” card was the best he ever did. That was based on a grading system of U=Unsatisfactory, S=Satisfactory, & E=Excellent, I believe. Basically grandpa got the equivalent of an all-C, straight average report card & that was the treasure of the ages. How easily did the high marks of so many in our family line become blasé. We didn’t really understand what it was to suffer ridicule for poor marks, well most of us didn’t…
My dad is going over my post with me & said that on Grandpa’s report card there were 12 things to be graded on per marking. In the 1st card marking he got 4 S’s & the rest U’s. 2nd marking was 8 or 9 S’s the rest U’s. The final card marking he got all 12 S’s. My grandpa wrote on that report card “Best report card I ever had” & saved it all those years. Neither my dad nor his sister knew about that card before grandpa’s death.
Not Grandpa’s report card, but one from the era when he first attended school
Grandpa did throw things away, including stock certificates for companies that went belly up during the Depression, per my dad. He provided for his family during his lifetime & had less than $1,000 to his name when he died…& a new car that he called “my second to last car”. My brother got that late ’80’s Tempo after Grandpa’s passing.
Now according to my dad his dad had one of his grade school teachers as a regular customer at his gas station & garage in the heart of Detroit. Some three decades after she taught him she would berate him with “see I knew you’d never amount to anything” when she came to fill up or get some car service from him or his employees. Imagine being dogged like that as a self-made business man, yet Grandpa didn’t stint on the service in spite of the disrespect.
In fact dad is quite sure that Grandpa accepted Scrip during the war years, and my other grandpa, being a teacher, was paid in scrip too. It is quite likely that Grandpa S’s cruel elementary teacher paid in scrip AND much of that payment never was converted to Actual Money (I don’t know all the social reasons for that) so Grandpa took care of that teacher’s material needs even as she maligned his interpersonal & self-esteem ones. He truly was the bigger man.
Not my Grandpa’s gas station, but his brand in his era
When looking for possible images of Grandpa’s old Sunoco gas station at Junction & Toledo in Detroit I ran across this nostalgic discussion of old Detroit area gas stations.
During the Second World War, at some point rationing was on. This meant that even in the Motor City it was hard to get what one needed to maintain functional transportation for the masses. Dad said that Grandpa had an old vulcanizing machine, that could be used to patch tires, and that his dad practically single-handedly kept Detroit on wheels! If he could have brought that machine with him to Northern Michigan when he retired it should have ended up in a museum, how significant was it’s contribution to keeping Detroit moving!
1945 Ration Book from the region, this example from Illinois
Speaking of Northern Michigan let’s segue a bit. My Grandpa’s dad had grown into manhood in the Northern Michigan lumbering industry, though he himself was a mid-Michigan farm boy. He left home, possibly even before his teen years to work in lumbering. He drove the horse-drawn wagons, worked as a lumberjack, and later was some type of foreman.
The company he worked for was owned by a Mr. Lowrey and at one point Lowrey’s son made his way into the woods to get his lumbering chops with the working guys. Apparently the lumberjacks were a pretty rough group of customers & Great-Grandpa took the boss’s son under his wing, showed him the ropes, AND protected him from the brutish thugs. This was noticed by the boss so later on when operations were moved South into Detroit Great-Grandpa was invited to come along and manage the lumber yard. That’s what he did for the rest of his working life. AND that is how that side of my family came to Detroit, right about 1900!
Logging in Michigan, 1890’s, when my Great Grandpa was still working in the Northern Michigan woods
Apparently Great Grandpa S. was a pretty tough customer too. He was tall, over 6 feet, with a fairly slender build. Even so, he was incredibly strong. One time Grandpa, as a young man, or even teen, had occasion to do some work at his dad’s lumber yard. There were train cars to be loaded or unloaded of 50 pound bags of cement, I believe. Grandpa would carry a bag in each hand & fling them in a smooth motion up to stack even over his head. Dad said that his father had very strong hands & even used to play handball at the Y in Detroit. Anyway G observed GG breaking up a fight amongst some unrulies in the lumber yard. When they wouldn’t stop the fight Great Grandpa stepped in & with One Blow Each felled each man. My grandpa was in shock that his dad could or would do that, this was someone not to mess around with!
Ironically my dad & his friends also experienced Grandpa’s physical & character strength for themselves. There was a time in their teen years that dad & his buddies took out the family car joy riding, over 50 miles of driving without ever leaving the Detroit city limits. Apparently Dad didn’t think to put more gas in the car so the next day as Grandpa was headed into work at His gas station, he ran out of gas. Grandpa somehow got a hold of Dad’s buddy & lifted him one handed off the floor & stuck him to the wall. What happened to Dad during that timeframe has always been rather murkily glossed over. I know my dad inherited this skill set for I once witnessed him lift up one of my brother’s cocky little friends up off the floor & stick him to the wall, though he used 2 hands in this surprising intervention on the now more subdued teen!
So we’ve had Michigan’s North Woods in our blood for a number of generations. Now fortunately my Grandpa S. married my grandma, the daughter of a railroad engineer–both of her parents were children of immigrants from the British Isles. Grandma’s dad had a fairly cushy job that he’d worked into on the Michigan Central Railroad. One of the perks of working for the railroad was getting the family to ride the rails, for free, I believe. Grandma’s family used to regularly travel Up North and enjoy Summer vacations in Michigan’s beautiful North Country, far from their native Detroit.
Historic Arbutus Beach, on Otsego Lake, MI in the era when my grandma’s family vacationed there
Eventually Grandma’s parents settled on a small community in Gaylord and bought a Cottage, being the first such building in the newly platted resort community of Arbutus Beach, along the beautiful sandy shore of Otsego Lake. Nearly all of Grandma’s siblings and many cousins ultimately obtained cottages in that community. My grandparents married in the late 1920’s and somehow acquired one of the existing Cottages in Arbutus Beach, as its second owners. My dad & his sister, along with their mother, spent virtually Every Summer of their childhood in that Northern Michigan paradise. Surrounded by family & friends they’d leave Detroit the day after school let out & only head home the day before school started in the Fall. Grandpa would join them for both journeys, I think because there was only one car. Grandma & the kids either caught the train to/from town or perhaps bummed rides from relatives with transportation.
How my great grandparents moved their cottage to Arbutus Beach, details here: https://specialconnections.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/josiahs-story-about-the-4th-of-july/
Now that same Cottage ended up becoming my grandparents’ retirement home, somewhat unexpectedly. Up until the Race Riot era of the late ’60’s both sets of my grandparents expected to live in their Detroit homes for the remainder of their natural lives. However during that season of social upheaval block-busting real estate agents put the pressure on & ultimately both sets of grandparents winterized Summer cottages to become their then retirement homes.
The simpler times of my dad’s youth saw Otsego Lake rarely shackled, as it is now, by excessive docks or boats
The Gaylord Cottage would figure largely in my own life too. When my new husband & I decided to come to Michigan–we had met & married in Oklahoma, though I was a child of the Motor City–we ended up living temporarily in The Cottage that was now in my parents’ possession after Grandpa’s death about a half decade previously. Michael & I lived in The Cottage as newly weds AND as new parents. Our first child, Nathaniel was born while we lived in The Cottage (his height is marked on the 4 generation height-recording doorjambs between the dining & living rooms at just One Day Old!) & was gifted the nickname “The Jack-Pine Savage” because of this northern naissance. In fact I believe our son is the Only family member in 6 generations of our extended family associated with this Northern Michigan community who was born in Gaylord, though several have died there. Though our twins were born while we still lived in that community–we had bought our own house in town by that time–they were in fact born downstate because of the high-risk nature of that pregnancy & their anticipated medical needs…
If you’d like to see a Newspaper article from back when Michael & I and the Boys lived in Gaylord in the 1990’s check it out here, on pages 1, 4, & 5:
Anyway, at one point when Michael & I were moving into The Cottage we boxed up some things to make room for some of our belongings. One day we were going through some old kids books and discovered some doodlings & writings by my dad. Apparently Dad had fancied himself some type of cowboy AND given himself the moniker Wild Bill! I absolutely Loved It!!!
Whenever watching that perennial classic A Christmas Story, I can imagine my dad as a lad in the 1940’s into the ’50’s with his admiration for all things cowboy & his gun prowess. I’m pretty sure that he was Up North when practicing targeting some strategic mushrooms on top of a log. However, unlike Steve’s important Saturday reminders, he forgot to notice what was Behind his target. So successfully hitting mushrooms with his BB gun sometimes meant tagging one of his playmates inadvertently as the projectiles maintained their forward trajectory. Simpler times…
Boy with gun in the 1950’s, not my dad but similar to his era
It’s impossible to anticipate what type of gems one might unearth in an old family home! Years ago there was a major garage cleaning undertaken by 3 generations of the family. At one point an old scorched ironing board cover, complete with it’s “scorchless” packaging was unearthed. After much conversation it was returned to the archeological dig to be unearthed years, or perhaps generations from now, so the joy & consternation at our family ways can continue!
Saving that old ironing board cover reminded Dad about his mom’s dad, the railroad engineer. Apparently Great-Grandpa T. used to collect stamps. He would meticulously organize them into small piles and tie them together with small pieces of string & place them strategically in old cigar boxes. Well he kept some container labeled “String Too Short To Save” for this stamp-corralling work, apparently because that was about all such short lengths of string were good for! If you knew how much my packratedness AND that of some other family members has tormented those who are more comfortable with much less physical (& other) baggage, you would recognized that “String Too Short To Save” isn’t always a badge of honor here!
Several books had similar titles, so this metaphor goes well beyond just our family perspective & experience–yikes!
So back to Lefty AND World War II. Dad & his sister have some direct memories of the war years, though they were still Very Young when it ended. Apparently they kept a pail of pure sand in the attic in case the house were ever bombed or hit with incendiary devices. They employed blackout curtains. Grandpa was sometimes involved in some type of neighborhood patrol, well Dad says that actually the next-door neighbor Mr. Bush was the Warden, who’d knock on your door if any light showed through the blackout curtains. They sounded an air raid siren for a drill in getting into blackout conditions & the Warden would patrol the neighborhood looking for any errant lights during that drill. Ration Books were in play & plenty of food was hard to get. Street Signs were removed to prevent the enemy, should he land on our shores, from easily navigating these foreign roads. And of course rationing meant deprivations in many arenas.
One place of deprivation was in the use of gasoline. Even Grandpa, who owned his own gas station business, could not get extra gasoline. That meant that when hunting season rolled around he wouldn’t be able to head Up North to the Hunting Shack to do the traditional annual deer hunting pilgrimage, or wouldn’t he? Actually he had some cousins who were farmers and apparently the government wasn’t rationing their access to gas in Any Way. So some of these cousins arranged to leave cans of gas strategically along the side of the road, hidden in the ditch, so Grandpa could gas up sufficiently to make it to his war-time limited hunting camp!
teaser historic post card from Luzerne, MI our guys rarely see this many deer in the region nowadays
By the way, how The Shack came into the family is a bit of an interesting tale too. Grandpa, his cousin, uncle, & some friends used to hunt the state or federal lands adjacent to a farmer’s land Up North. They’d done this for some years in a remote area in Oscoda County near the Very Small Town of Luzerne. Many times these hunters had begged the farmer to sell them a small amount of land so they could put up more permanent hunting camps than their tent-based camps of yesteryear. One time they invited the farmer to join them for a meal in the large dining tent. Their camp stove gave off a spark that ignited that tent AND it completely burned before they could un-stake all the ropes & drop the canvas to the ground. The farmer decided it was no way to live so relented & sold them One Acre, which was subdivided into 2 plots & 2 hunting shacks were built there, both still standing.
The shack across the street used to have a custom-made wood burned sign (recently stolen) claiming “Piscopalian Valley”, which is what our original hunters used to call the area since the piss would go in the pail before the hunting shacks AND outhouses were put in. In fact Grandpa’s uncle Will was known as “the Mayor of Piscopalian Valley” since he would make the rounds of the many nearby hunting camps AND the “blue horse trail” camp (the blue horse trail marks an equestrian path that traverses the fingers of Michigan’s Mitten–no NOT that Mitt!–from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron and makes navigating “our” hunting zone much more interesting) & pick up all the news of the hunt & the community–what a rich history abounded there & many tales live on!
Blue Horse Trail near Luzerne passes through the family hunting grounds
Speaking of news AND WWII the way Lefty learned about the end of the war was pretty amazing. Now I don’t ever recall hearing my grandpa tell this story, but Wild Bill has good recall of it. Apparently as The War was waning Grandpa went on an extended hunting or fishing adventure in the wilds of Canada, dad said that it was a fishing trip. He was walking along a portage trail in the woods & came across a carving on a tree trunk declaring the date & time of the end of the war in Europe AND he ran across this within two hours of someone carving it, literally out in the middle of nowhere! What an amazing world!
If only that WWII was the war to end all wars & love reigned supreme
Boy were our forbears hearty & blessed people. We are blessed to carry their blood in our veins & some of their quirkiness in our behaviors & of course some of their personality & physical traits in our beings, as they continue to live on, in a manner of speaking, in & through us.
From C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia, as recounted here: https://silo.pub/pocket-companion-to-narnia-a-guide-to-the-magical-world-of-cs-lewis.html. HONOR — To seek honor in obedience and to behave honorably may be said to be one definition of a true Narnian. In PC [Prince Caspian]15, Caspian is ashamed that he comes of such a dishonorable (Telmarine) lineage. Aslan replies, “You come of the Lord Adam and Lady Eve. And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar and shame enough to bow the heads and shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”
Veteran’s Day Addendum
Honoring our warriors, especially on Veteran’s Day!
We all owe so much to the many who have made tremendous sacrifices to fight for & ensure ongoing degrees of freedom for their fellow man. The complexity of the tapestry of lives, lifestyles, & social & family dynamics can never fully be done justice. So many different ways our warriors & their families & friends have laid down their lives for the family of man. Thank you!
I come from a family without direct modern experience in military service & warfare. However I know of numerous serviceman in the extended family who answered the call. This listing is to honor their service & sacrifice & that of so many others who have stood in the gap on freedom’s and our nation’s behalf.
Orringh Stoddard, Captain Massachusetts Line, Revolutionary War
Husband Michael’s Hagerman ancestor, United Empire Loyalist
Friedrich Bluemle, Mom’s birth great grandfather, compulsory German military service before immigrating to America mid 1800’s
Michael’s relations, both sides service Civil War, fractured family & fractured nation
William E. Curren, US Army Signal Corp, late 1800’s
Clarence E. Curren, Virginia Ship Building Co., WWI Navy
Patrick L., Husband’s father’s uncle, WWII Nave Sea Bee, construction battalion
Verner R. Shoup, Hubby’s grandfather & son of CO governor Oliver H. Shoup, WWI Army
David O. M., Mom’s birth grandfather, WWI Army
Robert D. M., Mom’s birth father, WWII Marine, action in Tarawa & beyond
Avis B. B., Mom’s birth mother, WAC WWII, service in Alaska & beyond
Hugh T., Grandma’s brother-in-law, WWII Army medical doctor
Maynard K., Mom’s brother, Korea-era Naval service, injured medical discharge
Zachary S., my nephew, Marine in modern service
My ancestor Orringh Stoddard’s letter February 3, 1780 preserved in George Washington’s papers, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw4.064_0179_0180/
May the Lord continue to equip us all with the tools we need to keep fighting the good fight!
Vignette of my Uncle Hugh’s military service, from his obituary “Dr. Thompson was a US veteran, serving with the US Medical Corps for three and a half years. He was captain of the 32nd Field Hospital in Italy. After VE Day, he was sent to the Philippines and Japan.” He moved his wife & kids into their Northern Michigan cottage while he was overseas during WWII, being concerned for their safety had they remained in their Detroit home during his extended absence. Service & Sacrifice!
http://otsego.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=hugh%20thompson&i=f&d=01011903-12312013&m=between&ord=k1&fn=herald_times_usa_michigan_gaylord_19911024_english_23&df=1&dt=10&cid=2955 has further details on Dr. Hugh Thompson’s career & photos.
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!
In Wheatie style!
And maybe in Trump style, too!
Enjoy the ride!
Dedication
WHEATIE – OUR WARRIOR ANGEL
by Duchess01
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
Since I’m the only one who can currently embed YouTube videos, I owe Cthulhu at least one Pomplamoose video. Let’s get that out of the way!
Ah, what the heck. Let’s throw in a “bonus Beths”! If not for Cthulhu, then for me!!!
But now it’s time to get serious. We have to start talking about greatness again.
Let’s try one more.
NOW we’re ready.
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Sanctimonious? In a brilliant way that elevates both DeSantis and Trump – but that takes a bit of explanation (see below). My God, this popcorn is fantastic!
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:
sanctimonious
noun
behaving with sanctimony (excessive or hypocritical piousness)
characterized by sanctimony
affecting piety or making a display of holiness
showing or marked by false piety or righteousness; hypocritically virtuous
Used in a sentence or two:
The brilliantly sanctimonious (or maybe not) DeSantis video is truly a gift to both DeSantis and Trump, although that may be hard for some to see. The TRUTH of the message cannot be missed, and if anything, the message is understated, as all of us thank God for Ron DeSantis. Honestly, I get choked up watching that video. EVERY single time.
I’ll say it right here. Thank GOD for Ron DeSantis.
But is it too much? Well, the TRUTH of the message exceeds the message – so no real misstep there. When you “get chills” watching that video, it’s for a reason. And yet, the more you watch it, the more you realize that we should not be afraid to invoke the name of God. Not in truth. And every word of that video is true.
It’s BOLD is what it is.
When it’s not hypocritical – when it’s bold and true – then it cannot be sanctimonious.
AND YET…..
I’m sure the video does appear to be sanctimonious to some. It did to me, at first. I think that’s part of the genius of it. We are drawn into the truth of it.
Interestingly, I think the video also serves as a statement of principle to “The Club”.
“This is who I am. I’m a fighter. And THIS is what I fight for.”
LET THAT SINK IN, CLUB.
That sure looks like a very Trumpian wish-list to me. Indeed, I think that video is going to change some scheming Club minds in a way that is very positive for both DeSantis and Trump. Those who want to create division between the two are going to have a much harder time, because there sure doesn’t seem to be much space.
(Note sneaky use of positive Biblical imagery for Halloween!)
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!
We will (AND I REPEAT) let our light shine upon darkness!
We will put on our dancing shoes…..
And have time for some thrills!
Dedication
WHEATIE – OUR WARRIOR ANGEL
by Duchess01
Please forgive us, Wheatie, we did not know That you had left us with armor in tow We had no idea with what you dealt We did not know the pain you felt And now we can only imagine With you what really did happen Cause rarely did you complain And/or share your personal pain Of one thing we are most certain You are flying high behind the curtain Watching over us above the crowds Our Warrior Angel above the clouds Thank You, Wheatie, for caring for us While you were here among the fuss We miss you dear you have no idea Since time began in the pangaea With you there was no time In your wisdom you would chime To clarify and magnify The what where how and why We did not question when you left We were not slightly bereft But over time we wondered why You did not at least stop by Now we know where you have gone With the break of this new dawn We could be angry but are not Tho with an arrow we’ve been shot Rest peacefully Warrior Angel dear Send us a sign that you are near A butterfly a flower a kiss of rain From your love do not refrain God sends Angels to watch over us And now we have an Angel Plus A Warrior Angel of Magnificence From today and forward hence
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 honor of dear Wheatie, we now present some music to soothe, inspire, invigorate, or relax.
This is gonna be random – VERY random.
Here is what I’m listening to RIGHT NOW. I love this cover version even better than the original. Same with SEVERAL of these weird SuSE covers.
And now, also thanks to Cthulhu, I’ve got a bunch of PAMPERED MOOSE videos showing up in my YouTube!
Whoops! Not that one!
POMPLAMOOSE has largely replace THE BETHS, but not completely.
So is there a musical group called The Wheaties? Almost!
I have to ask – does YouTube put anything totally unpredictable into my feed? Well, there was this video, but even this was probably based on an earlier video of Stevie Nicks that I watched.
But let’s end with some EPIC HALLOWEEN MUSIC.
Kinda weird, but kinda enjoyable.
https://youtu.be/VZAvSgehLts
And if that’s wasn’t enough, here are three more hours!
https://youtu.be/w1juukbzfRU
Get your pumpkin spice camouflage on, as we do spiritual battle!
Call To Battle
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
It is important to note that a rumor control page is only one element of a successful MDM response strategy. Improving resilience of elections to MDM also requires reporting MDM narratives. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) was established to support the cybersecurity needs of the election subsector. The CIS can be leveraged to report real-time MDM via email at 
