Category: General

Lefty’s View of WWII, by Wild Bill

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.

https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/messages/6790/93948.html?1226175627

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:

http://207.74.70.101:8080/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-6631/1996-11-07%20Thu%20Building%20Familes.pdf

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
  • Thurman T., Grandma’s brother, WWII, machinist, Manhattan Project
  • 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.

Women And Womanhood Are Under Attack. Where Are The Feminists?

Cover image reference.

It started with this Gospel passage proclaimed on the morning of June 27, the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time:

MARK 5:21-43

21And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. 22Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Ja’irus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23and besought him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.” 29And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, `Who touched me?'” 32And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. 39And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Tal’itha cu’mi”; which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

In some Lectionaries, the bolded passage is optional to read, and just the account of Jarius’s daughter is the point of the day. One Mass I cantored that weekend, indeed the presider chose not to read that segment. Essentially, the woman with the issue of blood, a character in the Gospels who appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, which is unique in and of itself, her story was considered to be so important that she could essentially be canceled on a given week.

(Another priest I heard talk that weekend did read the passage, but was dismissive of the incident in the midst of a father’s pain in potentially losing a child. Seriously, a twelve year period is no joke. The anemia alone is debilitating.)

In both cases, the presiders – light in the loafers, if you will, although celibate, I am quite sure – mentioned that Bishop so and so – a name famous in Catholic circles, and also quite light in the loafers – said that such and such should be mentioned in the homily, and what it all meant. No mention of the woman, though.

Blah, blah, blah.

Now, this is not to dismiss Jarius and his daughter by any means, but the two stories being one in essence have the same resonance: faith, pure faith, that Jesus could work a miracle for them.

And the story of the woman who suffered at the hands of the system was either ignored or dismissed in favor of the man’s story where the crisis was not chronic, but immediate.

There was another incident that escapes my head, and then there was this:

https://youtu.be/Iz-ELg_RrFw

There are simply no words as to how insulting this is to women. Real women, especially those who would have loved to have been mothers, but it didn’t happen for whatever reason, not to mention mothers who lactated for years. Dude, you just don’t have the equipment. It ain’t happening.

And then some genius decided to make a pregnant man emoji.

Guys, that’s called a beer belly. Trust me. They run in part of my gene pool and are a precursor to diabetes among other ailments.

https://twitter.com/youngbiafra/status/1416062358951190532

Yes, it is. And where are the feminists?

There’s a few constitutional amendments these women need to read. Black women have been able to vote for over a hundred years.

And in all of this, where are the feminists? Where are the self described defenders of women’s rights?

Oh, that’s right. They are hell bent on women killing their children if their conception isn’t prevented in the first place.

What is really sick about this is in looking back at the women’s rights movements, women today have no idea how good they’ve got it, and the right to vote is the least of the issues. The suffrage/suffragette push started, actually, as an outgrowth of something far larger.

In England, and her sphere of off-shoots (that includes the U.S.), after the Cromwell years, women had no rights, and in a way that was the message of Jane Austen’s body of work: to demonstrate how unfair the social standards and rules of heredity were, and how women were just treated as chattel. In Sense and Sensibility, the Dashwood women were thrown out of their home and forced to live by the charity of a relative. In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennett sisters were all tarnished by one sister running off with a man who seduced her at the age of fifteen. In Emma, her friend Harriet is the by-blow of God only knows who, and cannot aspire to a marriage of the caliber that Emma can. Life was not fair for women even among landed gentry, and their only hope to escape eventual poverty was marriage, and then the husband held all the cards, including her money – her dowry – which was a complete departure from the original purpose of a woman’s fortune which was supposed to be a safety net for her and any children she had. (See Mary Kate’s fortune in The Quiet Man for reference. In the west, a dowry was a pagan custom that survived in Christianity, so it couldn’t have been all bad.)

In researching the suffrage/suffragette movements, it seems it started in England with fathers wanting to be sure that their daughters’ money was not controlled completely by their husbands. (This is a BIG point made in the Romance sub-genre of Regency. Marriage settlements are always about how much a father provides to his daughter’s new husband.)

Yes, it was all about the money, and in the United States, it was somewhat about women being able to sign contracts, and having bank accounts without a husband. Widows were grandfathered in to an extent, but women owning property was not the norm. No, that was a man’s world. Women were to be the helpmates.

Forget the sexual aspect of it all and the voting rights. Women had nothing unless they were married or widowed.

That’s how it started.

And, according to the notoriously not quite reliable Wiki, this happened in England.

At a political meeting in Manchester in 1905, Christabel Pankhurst and millworker, Annie Kenney, disrupted speeches by prominent Liberals Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey, asking where Churchill and Grey stood with regards to women’s political rights. At a time when political meetings were only attended by men and speakers were expected to be given the courtesy of expounding their views without interruption, the audience were outraged, and when the women unfurled a “Votes for Women” banner they were both arrested for a technical assault on a policeman. When Pankhurst and Kenney appeared in court they both refused to pay the fine imposed, preferring to go to prison in order to gain publicity for their cause.[25]

In July 1908 the WSPU hosted a large demonstration in Heaton Park, near Manchester with speakers on 13 separate platforms including Emmeline, Christabel and Adela Pankhurst. According to the Manchester Guardian:

Friends of the women suffrage movement are entitled to reckon the great demonstration at Heaton Park yesterday, arranged by the Women’s Social and Political Union, as somewhat of a triumph. With fine weather as an ally the women suffragists were able to bring together an immense body of people. These people were not all sympathisers with the object, and much service to the cause must have been rendered by merely collecting so many people and talking over the subject with them. The organisation, too, was creditable to the promoters…The police were few and inconspicuous. The speakers went by special [tram]car to the Bury Old Road entrance, and were escorted by a few police to several platforms. Here the escorts waited till the speaking was over, and then accompanied their respective charges back to the special car. There was little need, apparently, for the escort. Even the opponents of the suffrage claim who made themselves heard were perfectly friendly towards the speakers, and the only crowding about them as they left was that of curiosity on the part of those who wished to have a good look at the missioners in the cause.[26]

Stung by the stereotypical image of the strong minded woman in masculine clothes created by newspaper cartoonists, the suffragettes resolved to present a fashionable, feminine image when appearing in public. In 1908 the co-editor of the WSPU’s Votes for Women newspaper, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence,[27] designed the suffragettes’ colour scheme of purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope.[28] Fashionable London shops Selfridges and Liberty sold tricolour-striped ribbon for hats, rosettes, badges and belts, as well as coloured garments, underwear, handbags, shoes, slippers and toilet soap.[5] As membership of the WSPU grew it became fashionable for women to identify with the cause by wearing the colours, often discreetly in a small piece of jewellery or by carrying a heart-shaped vesta case[29][5] and in December 1908 the London jewellers, Mappin & Webb, issued a catalogue of suffragette jewellery in time for the Christmas season.[30] Sylvia Pankhurst said at the time: “Many suffragists spend more money on clothes than they can comfortably afford, rather than run the risk of being considered outré, and doing harm to the cause”.[5] In 1909 the WSPU presented specially commissioned pieces of jewellery to leading suffragettes, Emmeline Pankhurst and Louise Eates.[30]

The suffragettes also used other methods to publicise and raise money for the cause and from 1909, the “Pank-a-Squith” board game was sold by the WSPU. The name was derived from Pankhurst and the surname of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, who was largely hated by the movement. The board game was set out in a spiral, and players were required to lead their suffragette figure from their home to parliament, past the obstacles faced from Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and the Liberal government.[31] Also in 1909, suffragettes Daisy Solomon and Elspeth McClelland tried an innovative method of potentially obtaining a meeting with Asquith by sending themselves by Royal Mail courier post; however, Downing Street did not accept the parcel.[32]Emily Davison

1912 was a turning point for the suffragettes, as they turned to using more militant tactics and began a window-smashing campaign. Some members of the WSPU, including Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and her husband Frederick, disagreed with this strategy but Christabel Pankhurst ignored their objections. In response to this, the Government ordered the arrest of the WSPU leaders and, although Christabel Pankhurst escaped to France, the Pethick-Lawrences were arrested, tried and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment. On their release, the Pethick-Lawrences began to speak out publicly against the window-smashing campaign, arguing that it would lose support for the cause, and eventually they were expelled from the WSPU. Having lost control of Votes for Women the WSPU began to publish their own newspaper under the title The Suffragette.[33]

The campaign was then escalated, with the suffragettes chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to post box contents, smashing windows and eventually detonating bombs, as part of a wider bombing campaign.[34] Some radical techniques used by the suffragettes were learned from Russian exiles from tsarism who had escaped to England.[35] In 1914, at least seven churches were bombed or set on fire across the United Kingdom, including Westminster Abbey, where an explosion aimed at destroying the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, only caused minor damage.[36] Places that wealthy people, typically men, frequented were also burnt and destroyed whilst left unattended so that there was little risk to life, including cricket pavilions, horse-racing pavilions, churches, castles and the second homes of the wealthy. They also burnt the slogan “Votes for Women” into the grass of golf couses.[37] Pinfold Manor in Surrey, which was being built for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, was targeted with two bombs on 19 February 1913, only one of which exploded, causing significant damage; in her memoirs, Sylvia Pankhurst said that Emily Davison had carried out the attack.[37] There were 250 arson or destruction attacks in a six-month period in 1913 [37] and in April the newspapers reported “What might have been the most serious outrage yet perpetrated by the Suffragettes”:

Policemen discovered inside the railings of the Bank of England a bomb timed to explode at midnight. It contained 3oz of powerful explosive, some metal, and a number of hairpins – the last named constituent, no doubt to make known the source of the intended sensation. The bomb was similar to that used in the attempt to blow up Oxted Railway Station. It contained a watch with attachment for explosion, but was clumsily fitted. If it had exploded when the streets were crowded a number of people would probably have been injured.[38]

There are reports in the Parliamentary Papers which include lists of the ‘incendiary devices’, explosions, artwork destruction (including an axe attack upon a painting of The Duke of Wellington in the National Gallery), arson attacks, window-breaking, postbox burning and telegraph cable cutting, that took place during the most militant years, from 1910 to 1914.[39] Both suffragettes and police spoke of a “Reign of Terror”; newspaper headlines referred to “Suffragette Terrorism”.[40]

One suffragette, Emily Davison, died under the King‘s horse, Anmer, at The Derby on 4 June 1913. It is debated whether she was trying to pull down the horse, attach a suffragette scarf or banner to it, or commit suicide to become a martyr to the cause. However, recent analysis of the film of the event suggests that she was merely trying to attach a scarf to the horse, and the suicide theory seems unlikely as she was carrying a return train ticket from Epsom and had holiday plans with her sister in the near future.[41]

Sound familiar?

Things were never that violent in the United States, but still, eventually, the woman’s rights and suffrage movements were co-opted for something far more insidious: the breakdown of the family and traditional marriage forged through Christianity.

Sound familiar? (See planks of the Communist Manifesto. Number 3 and to an extent number 10)

Now, men with psychiatric issues are trying to tell us biological women that, really, we’re all born eunuchs, and, well, we can pick and choose what we want to be later in life despite what set of chromosomes we are born with, and, oh, isn’t it wonderful that we guys are so in touch with our inner females that we are going to do your most important job on this planet for you? Guess what ladies! We’re going to birth and raise the next generation without ovaries and with borrowed eggs and wombs!

Sure.

Where are the feminists?

Where are the self described defenders of women?

Where are the loud mouthed squeaky wheels when we REALLY need them?

‘Cause this men pretending to be women is about the most egregious attack on women in the most natural sense since before even Jane Austen. It’s not rights which are under attack, but the entire idea of a unique sex.

And don’t you guys forget it.

Women and womanhood are under attack.

Where are our self-styled defenders?

‘Cause, you know, we girls raised to be ladies, mothers and the like are being pushed aside by the men who aren’t really sure that they are men and the ones who don’t quite appreciate the whole different sex thing.

(Sorry. Had to get that off my, uh, chest.)

DEAR KAG: 2021-03-12

It’s Fight Like a Flynn Friday at Wolf’s Pub. Welcome back! I think you would agree there is freedom, and then there is FREEEEDOMMM!

What does it mean to be truly free? Can the body be imprisoned but the mind free? How does one free the mind? Are there things worse than death? Is freedom worth dying for? How do we learn freedom?

I believe the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights attempted (and mainly succeeded) in enumerating how a self-governed nation would operate. Maximum freedom of religion, speech, self-defense, assembly, and then freedom FROM unlawful search and seizure and so on.

General Flynn had a compelling op-ed in the Western Journal a couple days ago that is worth taking the time to read and ponder. This stood out to me:

“Though the battle for the soul of America is fierce before us, we cannot afford to look away in hopes of finding retreat. There will be none.”

Speaking of the soul…for your listening pleasure, here is Loreena McKinnett singing “The Dark Night of the Soul”, a poem by St. John of the Cross, a 16th century Spanish mystic. It speaks to the time preceding the union of the soul with God, when the darkness within drives the soul to leave earthly things and seek God. I would say union with God is true freedom.

Lyrics:

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
And by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Chorus:
Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart
That fire t’was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come

(Chorus)

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave
From o’er the fortress walls
the wind would brush his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

(Chorus)

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lover’s breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the morning’s mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair

In honor of the Spanish mystic, our special tonight is the Spanish Tempranillo wine, a bold tasting and vibrant grape that may have been brought to Spanish shores by the Phoenicians thousands of years ago.

You can learn more here with the added bonus list of 40 of the top-rated Tempranillo wines from Spain. Unfortunately, a good Tempranillo can be hard to find. The ones in the local grocery store are usually the lower end of quality, with bitingly sharp tannins and sometimes murky overtones.

That said, if you can find a good Spanish Tempranillo wine, it will often be a reserva (aka more expensive). We happen to have all 40 of the top-rated wines on hand tonight (wink, wink), so feel free to browse through the list and order a bottle for your table.

HOUSE RULES

Before we get back to Fight like a Flynn Friday, let’s review the rules. Make nice. Easier said than done in these trying times but give it your best shot. In case you feel like getting ugly, there’s the Utree. The Utree has more than one purpose, too. It is also a rendezvous place in case something happens to this site. Thanks Coothie, for reminding us that we have another place to gather in the event we can’t gather here.

Now, back to Gen. Flynn’s op-ed in the Western Journal. He describes how our nation was founded on faith in God as the bedrock of our freedoms.

“Faith and freedom can never be separated

from one another.”

General Michael Flynn

And then he begins to urge us to take in hand and read again our founding documents and the writings of the Founding Fathers.

“Anyone can learn more about our nation’s founding. Start simple. When was the last time you read the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence?

We tend to forget just how easy it is to read the Constitution from cover to cover. President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was more than 314,000 words long, but the document that frames our entire system of government is only 4,500 words in length. The average American can read it in half an hour.

Of course, if we really want to get into the mindset of our Founding Fathers, we must dig deeper. “The Federalist Papers,” de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” Paine’s “Common Sense” and the writings of John Locke are all well worth the read.”

He goes on:

“There is a reason why the forces of darkness are trying so hard to eradicate the family as we know it. They see how powerful the bond of family can be, so they want to redefine it, water it down and replace it with a dependency on the state. We cannot allow them to destroy the family. As long as marriages and families are strong, freedom will always have a fighting chance. Never concede to those who say they know how to raise your children better than you do. God entrusted the care of children to parents, not to governments.”

General Flynn mentions the importance of friendship and the will to fight against the forces arrayed against America. He asks us:

“Will you join the fight?

For the sake of our children and grandchildren, I pray you will.”

Tragically, most of our children have not learned what it means to be free and the cost of it, and the history of it. They’ve been fed a load of crap in our schools for several generations now. Let’s face it, we have been allowing the enemies of freedom to indoctrinate our children for decades.

I found this video of five libertarians (as near as I can tell) enjoying a wide-ranging discussion about educational alternatives. It’s an hour and a half, but it discusses so many issues, mentions so many good resources, and addresses so many of the facets of educating one’s own children and grandchildren, that I urge you to give it a listen.

https://lbry.tv/@UnlooseGoose:9/episode-6-educational-alternatives:b

In a 2017 article at the Federalist, Mike Sabo wrote:

“But if recent findings are any indication, Americans’ acquaintance with the founders’ principles and practices seems to be at a nadir. According to a report of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a majority of college graduates can’t recall “the substance of the First Amendment, or the origin of the separation of powers.” Perhaps most alarmingly, “nearly 10% say that Judith Sheindlin—‘Judge Judy’—is on the Supreme Court.” A big part of the problem seems to stem from the fact that of the 1,100 “liberal arts colleges and universities” surveyed, just “18%” require students to take a course on American history or government before graduation.”

WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF EXCUSES

The folks in the video above talk about a plethora of educational options for getting your kids out of the government schools. We talk freedom, but the government schools (yours included) have been teaching servitude, and our children have been learning to LOVE IT.

At the end of the book by Viktor E. Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Sigmund Freud is quoted. Freud basically believed that the primal urge of hunger would bring uniformity to a diverse group of people. Frankl writes:

“Sigmund Freud once asserted, ‘Let one attempt to expose a number of the most diverse people uniformly to hunger. With the increase of the imperative urge of hunger all individual differences will blur, and in their stead will appear the uniform expression of the one unstilled urge.’ Thank heaven, Sigmund Freud was spared knowing the concentration camps from the inside. His subjects lay on a couch designed in the plush style of Victorian culture, not in the filth of Auschwitz. There, the “individual differences” did not blur but, on the contrary, people became more different; people unmasked themselves, both the swine and the saints. And today you need no longer hesitate to use the word “saints”: think of Father Maximillian Kolbe who was starved and finally murdered by an injection of carbolic acid at Auschwitz and who in 1983 was canonized.

You may be prone to blame me for invoking examples that are the exceptions to the rule. ‘Sed omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt’ (but everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find) reads the last sentence of the Ethics of Spinoza. You may of course ask whether we really need to refer to ‘saints.’ Wouldn’t it suffice just to refer to decent people? It is true that they form a minority. More than that, they will always remain a minority. And yet I see therein the very challenge to join the minority. For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

So, let us be alert—alert in a two-fold sense:

Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of.

And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.” (My bolding above)

As we now face a global enemy that seeks to deprive us of every one of our God-given freedoms, of even mental autonomy through the great evil of transhumanism; that seeks to control our movements, our medical decisions, our financial and political decisions, we have no choice but to join the fight with Gen. Flynn.

The Cult of Globalism believes

REASON IS TREASON

Let us fight for our freedom and for our children’s freedom by freeing their minds of the poison of globalism, socialism, progressive theories, and communism. The ruling elites are eaten up with a soul sickness that will not hesitate to reach beyond the depths of the Holocaust.

WE KNOW WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF. We have seen them kill off thousands of vulnerable seniors and others through the CCP virus. We know of the trafficking of children and women, of the vaccine injuries inflicted thoughtlessly on African children by psychopaths like Bill Gates. THEY WON’T STOP. The only way to stop them is for the United States of America to remain FREE. The battle must be engaged. Search your soul and find where God will take you in this battle. And then get to it. Politics, education, religion, agriculture, business—whatever your bailiwick—turn it to the battle for freedom.

And fight like a Flynn.

Links and resources:

US Constitution: Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, & Amendments

The Federalist Papers

The Essential Thomas Paine Collection

Democracy in America

Previous posts about teaching/learning Civics:

Make Civics Great Again

Take Back Our History

Needed: An Army of Mr. Smiths

Grandparents of the World Unite!

Let Freedom Ring!

DEAR KAG: 20210205: Sun Tzu—Attack by Stratagem

“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.”

(Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter Three, Attack By Stratagem)


Welcome back to Wolf’s Pub! It’s Fight Back Better Friday, and bouncing off Deplorable Patriot’s Sun Tzu mention, it’s time to go all in.

The Reds in our government, whether it’s Red Raggedy or Red Chinese tools like Joe Biden (who didn’t win) or the globalist tools like Queenie Liz Cheney, are going to be defeated. We the People are invincible.


One with God is a majority. And we have 85 million “ones” with God. The communists and the globalists are fighting against that which they cannot overcome.


Right makes Might. You can bank on it.

She ain’t no queen…


We are going to take back that which is ours by right. They will topple and fall. That Liz Cheney had to retain her position by a secret vote speaks volumes. They had to vote IN SECRET. They are afraid of us. And they should be. UNITED, we cannot be defeated.

We will take back our political parties, entire. We follow our President Trump. He is confident we can conquer the Republican Party and take it back from the UniParty.
We the People can do this.
The states are awakening. North Dakota and Florida and Texas and others are not going to put up with unconstitutional pronouncements from the fakers in D.C. Those people in the Pretender administration are so desperately unserious and unqualified that it is embarrassing.

“Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men.”

The Art of War, Chapter 13, The Use of Spies Sun Tzu


I say this holding my nose, but one way to serve our cause is to get involved in the local Republican organization in your community, if only for reconnaissance. Getting involved gets you information that you can’t get if you are on the outside of the SYSTEM. And the local and state organizations are the SYSTEM up close and personal.

Who wants a cocktail before we go further? Honest to God, thinking about attending local political party meetings makes me thirsty as hell. Today’s special is the SINGAPORE SLING. A lovely and potent concoction of gin, cherry brandy, Cointreau, Benedictine, grenadine, pineapple juice and lime juice.
According to legend, the Singapore Sling was invented at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1915 by the bartender. It was supposed to be a drink that ladies could sip at the hotel and not bring scandal upon themselves. Uh, I bet a lot of scandal was happening. Just saying. A little history here and a video here:


RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

The bartenders are dressed as Japanese ninjas today, so watch out. The Japanese word ninja means to persevere, conceal, move stealthily.
Let us be civil with one another. If you need to do some Kung fu fighting, head over to the Utree, which our fearless Wolf has provided for those who like the martial arts. Otherwise, here’s the Rules to review and keep in mind as the day moves on to whatever God has in store for us.


“Having local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district.”

The Art of War, Chapter 13, The Use of Spies Sun Tzu


I don’t know about you, but my nature is not one of deception. But I can and do attend local meetings. I know the local officials. I know who you have to apply to if you want to run for office. I know who has a line to the state capitol. I know who works and who pretends to work. I know who puts on a good show, and who is really committed to serving our community.

Unfortunately, my community is not well served. It’s a CLUB. It’s the SYSTEM. They talk a good game, but they are as committed to keeping their power as Mitch McConnell or Liz Cheney. And they are also China tools without even knowing it. They haven’t a clue.


“…What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.”

The Art of War, Chapter 13, The Use of Spies Sun Tzu


If we don’t know the enemy, if we aren’t knowledgeable of the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of their plans and actions, then we cannot overcome them. How well do you know the SYSTEM? We see it from the outside, but knowing its guts is vital.


“Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.”

The Art of War, Chapter 11, The Nine Situations Sun Tzu


You might be surprised to know, but the SYSTEM is really good at training up CLUB members. The local and state organizations have many resources to show you how to get along in the SYSTEM. And especially in smaller locales, they are eager to have new people come in and relieve them of some of the burden of attending training sessions, cocktail parties, conventions, conferences, and so on.

It’s true.

Let them show you how to defeat them.


“Spies are a most important element in warfare, because on them depends an army’s ability to move.”

The Art of War, Chapter 13, The Use of Spies Sun Tzu


How is the MAGA Army to move if we don’t have MAGA people in every locale learning the ropes, soaking up information, methods, and contacts? I know there are MAGA people in my locale. They stay quiet, though. They are the ones who are volunteering right now, not the ones in office. It is important to know who is MAGA and who isn’t.


“We cannot enter into an alliance with neighboring princes until we are acquainted with their designs.”

The Art of War, Chapter 11, The Nine Situations Sun Tzu


Right now, MAGA is small in numbers in the SYSTEM. That’s why it is up to us in our own communities to step up. The least you can do is spy. All that takes is sitting through the meetings, chatting up people, learning who is allied with whom, who is weak and who is strong, who will help and who will hinder the MAGA Movement.

I had occasion to listen to an elected county official the other evening. After a number of jokes (used to disarm an unusually large group) he spoke on every subject except the one he was supposed to speak about, and which everyone had come out to hear him speak.

When reminded about it by an audience member he spouted off for a moment and then was conveniently cut off by the facilitator who apologized for cutting the talk short, but it was late and all, doncha know. This is how the SYSTEM works. The CLUB protects their own. They have each other’s backs even if they hate each other.


IT IS TIME


“Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.”

Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter Three, Attack By Stratagem


We know the effects of the UniParty. We’ve been dealing with their treachery for a long while now. It is time to know them INSIDE and OUT. We have the numbers, we have the momentum. They are SMALL IN NUMBER, though they currently hold the power.


MAGA, IT IS TIME TO MOVE

“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”

Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter Four, Tactical Dispositions


The UniParty is revealed. They can no longer hide. The SYSTEM is betraying itself. In their efforts to retain power, the UniParty is showing us their weaknesses.

THEY ARE NOT TOO BIG TO FAIL.
THEY ARE TOO BIG TO SUCCEED.

Peruse history to see what happens when an empire, a power of any type, grows too large. They cannot hold the center. This is the way of things. The Great Resetters and their Chinese attack dogs have bit off more than they can chew.


I hope they choke on it.

I PRAY they choke on it.

They WILL CHOKE ON IT.

We win.

Forever and ever, Amen.

Despair and Disillusionment

sun behind tower

This very special DESPAIR & DISILLUSIONMENT thread
commemorates the greatest psy-op ever
attempted against Heaven’s beloved, mankind.

holy-saturday-grief

Here we are again

Imagine being Peter, seeing the miracles, the honor given to his teacher, the wild popularity with the people, and then, Jesus explains all of this is going to change.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Mark 8:31-33

Peter feels he must help his teacher out. Jesus must be tired and have made a mistake. It’s hard to imagine the intensity of the sting of that rebuke from Jesus. Peter, soon to be the rock of the church, had been the mouthpiece of satan? Ouch.

But Jesus then pivots and turns this into a teaching moment Peter would never forget.

The Way of the Cross

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:34-38

And then the ministry starts to get really busy. I wonder if Peter forgot those words in the whirlwind of activity, or did he in quiet moments would revisit that stinging encounter and try to make sense of it all?

Later on, Jesus would tell the parable of the tenants.

“A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

Mark 12:1b-8

Would that story haunt Peter’s dreams?

Then, in Bethany, a woman pours a very expensive perfume on Jesus’ head, scandalizing all present, excepting Jesus. Again Jesus patiently explains what is coming.

6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Mark 14:6-9

This is when Judas snapped. He’d been following a madman. How could the Son of God be talking of defeat and death this way?

But Jesus did indeed suffer humiliation, torture, and death. Afterwards his closest disciples are ashamed at their lack of courage and in deep grief. His betrayer, Judas, hangs himself in despair.

The disciples of Jesus have taken a gut punch. The women following Jesus have proven to have much more courage than the men. What embarrassment! The only leadership shown was by Joseph of Arimathea, not in the inner circle at all,  who boldly goes to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus and gave some dignity to him in his death.

The disillusionment stung. The grief nearly unbearable. Such a dark fog of evil swirling around them, that they can’t even remember the promise he gave to rise on the third day.

While Christ is plundering hell, his disciples grieve.

christ-holy-saturday-jail-break

God Bless Us, Every One

This is my test post to see if I can still access authorship on Wolf’s new site.

May God be blessing us individually & corporately as we continue to fight the good fight on behalf of Truth, Justice, & the American Way. Especially as we support our beloved President Trump who has been such a strong & sacrificial leader for our beleaguered land.

Here’s a clever reminder to pray for our land daily…

Dear Lord please guide & direct these new Q Tree adventures!!!

That video above was from 1986, a banner year in my family. My brothers & I each graduated that year: one w/ an MA; one w/ a BA; & one w/ a high school diploma. How things have changed…

Even marred by masks & social distancing that last song still makes me want to stand up & cheer. Our land is worth fighting for to preserve Freedom for ourselves & our posterity. Dear Lord, grant us complete victory over the enemies of our land & our souls, in Jesus’ Name!

Flep's Twitter Travels, #2

Thank you Q-Tree family for warmly receiving yesterday’s post sharing some of Flep’s recent twitter activity. Here’s an another attempt to capture at least some of the essence of what our insightful news warrior is doing in the Twitterverse. Hope this collection of Flep’s twitter activity can be an encouragement to us all & a reminder to keep Flep, & all MAGA warriors, in prayer as they engage wily opponents on the current cultural battlefields online & in the real world.

For those of us on Twitter you can find Flep here:

https://twitter.com/Baba9773

Here is a tweet that Flep pinned to his profile in the last hour:

https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318424391810768896

Today we’ll start at Flep’s twitter media tab to see some of what he’s been sharing. As a reminder, Twitter has been heavily censoring conservatives, Christians, Patriots, Republicans, & the Q-niverse. This means that we might not even be seeing some of Flep’s finest work for likely the most effective tweets are the ones being most heavily suppressed, hidden, & even deleted…

Here is a thread on the Pennsylvania ruling. I’ll post each tweet so there may be some overlap.

https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373588559331329
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373592661430272
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373594360127488
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373596339802112
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373598881632257
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373600848740352
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373602589315074
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373604153765888
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373606297161728
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373608603996160
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373610516525057
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318373618133381122

This next thread deals with Arizona, at least at the outset then ranges more widely:

https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359810539245569
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359825085046787
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359829036081152
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359832819343362
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359837231775744
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359841128304643
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359845339267072
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359849265209344
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359853308563456
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359857364373504
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359861697064963
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359865417474048
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359876192686080
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359881313865728
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359897285791744
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359902436417536
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359907570229251
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359912045596673
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359916743110656
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359921482780673

I think Flep accidentally misnumbered some tweets near the end of this thread. #18 immediately above should be #20 etc…

https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318359925723103233
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318360884532682765

Here is the first tweet in the thread Flep mentions above plus a couple w/ graphics:

https://twitter.com/smithgerry13/status/1318367883181740032

Here are things on Flep’s current Twitter Timeline (possibly visible by scrolling above too):

https://twitter.com/realannapaulina/status/1318224106307919875

I can see why Flep would be drawn to this next one analyzing the election differently, or hopefully correctly!

https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318419268158062592
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318376592331202566
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318339740761030658
https://twitter.com/Baba9773/status/1318339744154243073
https://twitter.com/realannapaulina/status/1318179846741250048

Being a special needs parent I find the Trump family sensitivity to the disabled very moving!

This is a Massive Ka-BQQM & indictment of those who pledged to serve & protect!

https://twitter.com/Surabees/status/1318184351545364481

So it looks like I have gotten back to Flep’s tweets that were included in yesterday’s Flep’s twitter roundup post.

Here are a few other Q-Treepers on Twitter to check out!

Sadly Twit World is messing with Wolfie’s page & restricting access–outrageous!

Daughn is spreading her net further afield than at the Q-Tree presently

& you can find me on Twitter too, fighting the good fight!

2 Weeks to Go until we re-elect President Trump in a massive landslide, God Willing!!!

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DeliriousClassicEsok-small.gif
https://media.giphy.com/media/xT8qBt2943MLRO8zuM/giphy.gif
https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/25/91/1642736459-Proverbs29v2.jpg

Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammunition!

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f6/2d/89/f62d897571a85e3bbc811c555085b671.jpg

Dear KAG!: 20200402 Open Thread

 This Night before Daughn Thursday 20200402 Open Thread is 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 (KMAG being a bit of both MAGA and KAG! You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on.

Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it.

However, we have a new policy. Starting 20191110. Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. We have a new board – actually a new SITE – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation. NOT HERE. This board will remain a REFUGE for those who need civility, either some or all of the time.

They tried to FORCE fake Orwellian civility on us. In response, we CHOOSE true civility to defend our precious FREEDOM from THEM. Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.

Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven.

SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT! “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“

OUR PRESIDENT AND OUR REPUBLIC REALLY NEEDS PRAYER!

And if you can find it in your heart a prayer for all the QTREEPERS

Stay Strong everybody and try to find a little happiness as we weather another Storm!

Quarantine has turned us all into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told ‘no’ if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides.😁

Dear KAG!: 20200326 Open Thread

 This Night before Daughn Thursday 20200326 Open Thread is 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 (KMAG being a bit of both MAGA and KAG! You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on.

Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it.

However, we have a new policy. Starting 20191110. Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. We have a new board – actually a new SITE – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation. NOT HERE. This board will remain a REFUGE for those who need civility, either some or all of the time.

They tried to FORCE fake Orwellian civility on us. In response, we CHOOSE true civility to defend our precious FREEDOM from THEM. Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.

Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven.

SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT! “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“

I ventured out Wednesday morning to the grocery store after being hunkered down for the last 2 weeks. Seniors only from 7:00 am to 8:00 am. Dear wife made the last sojourn looking for a few things we needed without much success about a week and a half ago. She’s not much of a early riser and I am so, I got there at 6:55 and a bunch of old guys and gals were forming by the doors waiting for them to open. Got in and no antiseptic wipes to wipe down the cart but I figured as much and had a plastic baggie with Clorox wipes in my pocket so after wiping the thing down I hurried in there.

What I thought would be a slow moving crowd was SO wrong (for the most part) as the old codgers were hurrying about trying to get the same things I was after. Bread,fruit,produce and meat, especially chicken. I was making good time and the shelves were not too bad but, no toilet paper, hand wipes or antiseptic wipes of any kind. Expected.

Got out of there at 7:55 without incident. Unloaded it all and jumped in the shower, scrubbed down and put on clean duds.

Ah, provisioned for a couple weeks now and we’re hunkering back down with all we need!

Well maybe this picture isn’t Accurate!.

Today it is supposed to be sunny and near 70 degrees and it’s time to cut the grass!

it’s Spring and obviously life will go on so remember….

Dear KAG!: 20200319 Open Thread

 This Night before Daughn Thursday 20200319 Open Thread is 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 (KMAG being a bit of both MAGA and KAG! You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on.

Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it.

However, we have a new policy. Starting 20191110. Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. We have a new board – actually a new SITE – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation. NOT HERE. This board will remain a REFUGE for those who need civility, either some or all of the time.

They tried to FORCE fake Orwellian civility on us. In response, we CHOOSE true civility to defend our precious FREEDOM from THEM. Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.

Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven.

SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT! “I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“

Tough week so far for all of us and a good time to reflect how good life is in the USA. Look at the challenges we’ve faced and overcame them. Now we have a new battle to be won and it’s easy to see this is going to be tough, so we must stick together and fight the good fight.

July 4th 2019 President Trump told our nation.

“What a great country!” declared the president. “For Americans nothing is impossible. Ours is the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.”

American exceptionalism? More like American Spirit!

Be Strong and stay Safe. Your family and friends need you❤