DEAR MAGA: Open Thread 20250220 & Handling Gold


Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.


Header Image: 2024 Presidential Election Map by County

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1


We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.


Handling Gold.

Well, not really gold. But a process that is even more critical than handling precious metals, but let’s start there. The other day Steve was explaining how registered mail is handled and why precious metals dealers used registered mail due to the strict processes that are followed. The USPS handbook DM-901 covers all the details. It’s a nice document. Covers all the procedures, chain of custody, proper storage, how to document if seals are broken, etc. It’s almost like they are serious about handling registered mail.


What is more important than gold?

How about true and accurate elections that put into power those who legislate whether you get to keep your gold or not? Seems important.

Chain of Custody.

A key feature of the process of handling things of great value is called the Chain of Custody. Whether it is registered mail, election materials (ballots, equipment), or even evidence to be used in prosecuting a criminal case, unimpeachable Chain of Custody is essential.

The National Voting Rights Task Force says:

According to experts, the only way to know if an electronic vote total has been hacked is for voters to have separately recorded their intended selections on paper and for jurisdictions to then use the paper in a manual audit or recount, the results of which can be compared to the electronic total.

But even manual audits or recounts can be “hacked” if the selections on the paper have been marked by a machine, rather than the voter’s own hand.  And no matter how that paper is marked, manual audits and recounts can be gamed if the chain of custody between election night and the audit or recount has been compromised.

There are many resources for elections. One resource, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission is to help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process. Their guidance, “Best Practices: Chain of Custody,” gives recommendations to election officials. “The chain of custody of ballots, voting equipment, and associated data is essential to ensure the election system remains trustworthy. Documentation of the chain of custody also provides evidence that all voting procedures were followed. It is a best practice for chain of custody procedures to be clearly defined in advance of every election, well documented and followed consistently throughout the entire election lifecycle or process. The key to an effective chain of custody is to have a set of procedures which are followed in practice. The procedures should be in writing with all steps documented.”

It may be important to note that I have yet to find any federal laws with guidance on the specifics of election materials chain of custody. A search of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 for the term “custody” does not yield any results. An internet search of “election laws chain-of-custody” provides guidance from various organizations (a good example here) and some links to individual Secretary of State websites. If there are federal laws, they are not easily found. Time didn’t permit for me to survey each state for specific chain of custody laws related to elections. It appears that a good number of groups that have public-facing sites with material related to the need for and the development of good practices for managing chain-of-custody.

However, when you get into actual county-by-county execution of these procedures the failures are all to common and even shocking. When regular citizens, concerned about their own local county’s handling of election materials simply asked for a copy of the chain of custody procedures in use during a specific election, the response was far from uniform. As anyone in any type of mission-critical work effort would expect, there needs to a least be: (1) a dated, documented procedure that is signed off before it is to be followed for a specific election and (2) checklists with spaces for signing off for the handling of items requiring chain of custody.

Even when a county is required by their state government to provide these prior to an election, the local elections offices sometimes could not provide these procedures when asked. One particular county office provided a non dated, unsigned document and stated that they weren’t sure which election it was for. Either they didn’t know what they were doing, they didn’t have the right person fulfilling the request, or something else. It seems like this would be posted right on their county elections office website (along with all the other elections documents!). In a number of counties that I know of, the elections office claimed there were “no records responsive to the request.” In other words, they are saying that they didn’t have the state mandated chain of custody procedures. How did they get the election certified without it? How did their Secretary of State sign off on the election without it?

Asking for public records, usually referred to as a freedom of information act (FOIA) request can be done by anyone. More recently the number of people taking it upon themselves to get involved in “citizen oversight” has grown to the point that some public officials have started complaining that all these requests are a form of harassment. Really? Why not just publicly publish all of it?

In one state it seems that a number of counties have hired the same particular law firm as “County Counsel” to advise on the handling of election matters. Unfortunately that liberal law firm seems to have been assisting counties to stone-wall access to public records. And in some cases the guidance given to the county board of supervisors was in fact unlawful. I’m not giving examples to prove my point, I’m just offering information that might be helpful to know if someone reading here is considering looking into how their elections are being handled where they live and vote.

In 2016 Bev Harris explained at her site, BlackBoxVoting.org:

Elections chain of custody refers to physical and electronic evidence controls for:

– who can vote
– who did vote
– actual ballots as marked by each voter, and
– evidence transfer and storage

:

Legitimate elections require public “right to know” (freedom of information) to allow the public and the media to authenticate truth of results. Proper chain of custody safeguards are part of the larger concept of political legitimacy.

:

Incurable uncertainty

Handling election records and data must be scrupulously careful in order to demonstrate to the public that there has been no tampering or contamination.

In court cases, chain of custody violations can result in refusal to admit evidence or even throwing a case out. In elections, chain of custody violations can result in “incurable uncertainty” and court orders to redo elections.

Bev Harris discovered election theft in 2002, wrote a book on it (download it here), advocated for change, and now others have carried on her work. The problems are not new, and they have probably grown worse. But now is the time for us to make our own local governments-that oversee the execution of elections–take note that we are asking questions, seeing problems and expecting better oversight. And for those who have been running elections, just knowing that more people are looking into their work appears to have led to some unexpected early retirements. I can’t say that is an indication of guilt, but it does seem significant.

We can’t leave this to others. We can at least try and get informed on what has been found, what has been done, and what more needs to be done. What do you know about elections and chain of custody. Please post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

If not us, who? If not now, when?
There has never been a better time.


Twitterati.

General Mike Flynn (@GEnFlynn) has been talking about citizen oversight for as long as I’ve been paying attention.

Gail and PAVACA are going to love this one (link):


Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.


American Stories: When in the Course of human events – Part 7

Wait a minute. I just remembered that I told readers that Benjamin Rush was a hero for helping Federalist John Adams and Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson to reconcile. That must mean those two strong willed, highly intelligent American patriots had a falling out? I thought they were great friends? What gives?

Continental Congress

The two first met at the Continental Congress and began working together in the Committee of Five that wrote the Declaration of Independence. There was a strong mutual respect as each saw the strengths of the other. The tall, handsome, wordsmith Jefferson and the short, more portly, born leader, extroverted Adams hit it off. Per worldhistoryedu.com,

Adams admired Jefferson’s eloquence and writing skills, and Jefferson respected Adams’s fierce advocacy and leadership. Their collaboration during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 marked a high point in their relationship. Adams even suggested Jefferson for the task of writing the Declaration because of his “masterly pen.” This period of cooperation laid the foundation for their future interactions, though the seeds of their eventual rivalry were already present in their differing temperaments and political philosophies.

Per historyhit.com,

When Jefferson’s wife, Martha, died in 1782, Jefferson became a frequent guest at the home of John and Abigail Adams. Abigail said of Jefferson that he was “the only person with whom my companion could associate with perfect freedom and reserve”.

During the war both were sent as diplomats to Europe. For a time Adams worked with Benjamin Franklin in France, but they grew to despise each other. Franklin had decades of experience and a polished ease in social situations that fit in well in Europe while Adams was brash and direct. They separated and Adams was sent to Holland. Meanwhile, Jefferson served as Governor of VA and was nearly captured at his home in Monticello. Over time and as the war ended, Adams resumed the lead role in negotiating the Treaty of Paris.

The tensions between the two began well after the war was won and the Treaty of Paris signed. After signing Adams headed to London and Jefferson was dispatched to Paris to begin efforts to restore normalized relations for the new nation. From the time they had first met through their years in Europe, they exchanged many of the 380 letters accorded them in their lifetimes. It was what happened when they returned to America with the finalizing of the Constitution that caused the rift.

Both had very different views over the primary role of a federal government. As noted previously, Adams was a Federalist who strongly believed in a dominant centralized government and was very suspicious of the French Revolution. He was a student of classical world history and saw how great nations fell when they lost order and experienced chaos. He feared the people having too much freedom from democracy. He was also more oriented to populated urban areas.

On the other hand Jefferson was Anti-Federalist who believed in decentralization of government, who saw no reason to abandon relations with the French. He preferred an agrarian based nation and was all in on democracy for all. He believed in the basic goodness and wisdom of the common man from his experiences within the Enlightenment period. A link to an explanation of that is below.

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/enlightenment

As both Adams and Jefferson dug in deeper in their beliefs and actions, their letter writing to each other slowed dramatically. With the POTUS election of 1788 each battled for the role of VP under President George Washington. Adams was the victor. At that point the publicly drawn battle lines between the two became more pronounced. The respect and friendship they once shared soured.

Adams and Jefferson ran against each other for POTUS in 1796 after Washington’s retirement. Once again Adams was the narrow victor. However, the rules provided for Jefferson to be the VP.

Awkward! 😆

Undeterred with the loss, Jefferson and his Democratic Republican party supporters stayed on the offensive and used the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 by the Federalists as proof of how removed Adams and his party had become from the will of the people. SOUND FAMILIAR?

So what were the Acts all about that caused the ruckus?

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/alien-and-sedition-acts

At this point, please do not make the mistake of drawing a parallel of the Federalists kicking out the aliens as the same as what is happening today. The aliens of yesteryear were not here to overturn the government and were in fact here legally. They were invited here to become citizens in a young country bursting with opportunities that was expanding westward in need of workers and settlers. This is why the period of residency before becoming a citizen was only 5 years. The fearful reaction of the Federalists to this population growth in other regions of the country drove the passage of the Acts that increased the residency requirement to 14 years among other onerous, controlling provisions. They knew the newer citizens would not be interested in more control from a central government and would be attracted to the Democratic Republicans’ promise of liberty and a decentralized government. It was an attempt to keep the status quo and the Federalists in power. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Today’s Uniparty throws in millions of illegal ballots in key races and areas. It is a current version of the Federalist operatives who gamed the system to stay in power. Different method, same result. The parallel you can draw effectively is that the will of the people won out in 1800 just as it did on November 5, 2024. Thomas Jefferson won the POTUS role in 1800 and Adams was defeated. It was called The Revolution of 1800 as it was a dogfight between the two camps. Personal attacks and partisanship ruled the campaigns. It got ugly. At one point James Madison joined forces with Jefferson to promote states rights.

The election actually ended in a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. It was finally determined in the House of Representatives for Jefferson. The oppressive Acts subsequently expired or were repealed. With the loss Adams retreated from government and politics. He returned to his farm in Quincy, MA and largely withdrew from public life.

Jefferson went on to served two terms successfully. Both Adams and Jefferson had very little contact with each other and held resentments. In 1812, the friend of both, Declaration signer Benjamin Rush, took the big step to restore their relationship. He had been saddened by their lack of communications as well as the effects it had on the nation as a whole. After conversations with both over the years he took it upon himself to approach Adams about the prospects of reconciling with Jefferson. Adams agreed and sent a short cordial letter to Jefferson. That was all it took for the two to resume their friendship. Over the next 14 years they wrote each other often, discussing a wide variety of subjects that included politics, philosophy and personal matters.

Their words revealed a deep mutual respect and a shared sense of history and their involvement in it. They discussed their disagreements and were even humorous about their past behavior. They bridged their divide and reconciled as people. It was a very meaningful event for America that these two patriot giants could settle their differences and remain bonded in friendship and love of country. Again, it may have been the most important act Benjamin Rush took out of an incredible number of important acts he undertook in his storied life.

How appropriate that both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day; July 4 ,1826 – Independence Day. The last words of Adams were, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” He was mistaken: Jefferson had died five hours earlier at Monticello at the age of 83.

Shivers.

Let’s move on to more signers.

John Hart

I am going to go with 1713 as John Hart’s birth year primarily because it is the year Congress officially recognized, although other sources state 1711 and other years. In reality they do not know with certainty. What they do know is that his father was Captain Edward Hart and that John was born in Stonington, CT. His father was in the local militia that was active in the French and Indian War as well as being a farmer, public assessor and justice of the peace. The family relocated to New Jersey early in his life and he was baptized in a local meeting house that is now a Presbyterian Church, although it appears his family had some association with Baptists as John deeded some land to them to build a church on in 1747.

John married Deborah Scudder in 1741. They went on to have 13 children together. He held a county position beginning in 1750 and by 1761 was elected to the NJ Colonial Assembly where he served for ten years. His primary occupation was a farmer and earned the name “Honest John Hart” from within the state. As a patriot he was appointed the state’s Committee of Safety as well as the Committee of Correspondence. As the First Continental Congress was formed he was chosen as one of the representatives of the state. That led to him being one of the first sent to the Second and as a result an approver and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

As the war came to New Jersey, The British sought him out as a signer as well as Speaker of the Assembly in NJ. As this was happening his wife lay dying in their home. He refused to leave until she breathed her last, then departed for the nearby Sourland Mountains he had hunted for many years even though he was well into his sixties by that time. He remained for a year until the threat of the British had passed there before returning home and finding that they had severely damaged his property. In the summer of 1778 he offered his farm along with other local farm owners to become the staging and planning area for General Washington’s 12,000 man army. He and Washington dined together while camped there. However, before the year was out he experienced life threatening kidney stone attacks that left him in great pain until his death six months later in 1779.

Honest John Hart literally gave all of himself and his possessions for the cause of liberty without regard to its cost. He was a great America Patriot.

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Born St. Luke’s Parish, SC in 1746, Thomas Heyward. Jr., was from a wealthy plantation owning family that were known for growing tidal rice. His father was Col. Daniel Heyward. He was educated at home in classical studies and Latin, while later being trained in law locally and in England. While in England he observed that the Brits there viewed the colonists as their lessers, which angered him. He continued to travel Europe and saw that the lives of luxury around him stood in contrast to the simple lives of the farmers he liked at home. It made a distinct impression on him.

When he returned in 1772 he soon married Elizabeth Matthews, daughter of Col. John and Sarah Matthews. The couple had six children together although she passed away in childbirth in 1782. Only one survived to adulthood.

When the Stamp Act was passed Heyward was its most vocal critic. He began to rise in patriot circles, much to his loyalist father’s dismay. At one time the Heyward family were the largest slaveholders in America, so his beliefs about independence ran contrary to long held family interests. In 1775 he was elected to the General Assembly and subsequently to represent the state in the First Continental Congress. His father warned him of the consequences, but was unable to dissuade him. However, prior to his father’s death in 1777, the two reconciled.

He became a Declaration signer as well as later, a signer of the Articles of Confederation. In 1778 he returned home to take over operations of the family plantation after his father’s death the previous year. He assumed control of a small artillery militia and was wounded in battle, from which he recovered. He was subsequently captured in the Battle of Charleston and sent to St. Augustine with other officers. He was later sent to Philadelphia in a prisoner exchange near the end of the war and was nearly killed when he fell over board of the prison ship. After the exchange, it was not long until his wife died during childbirth. He had lost his wife, his plantation had been destroyed, his slaves ad other possessions taken away, and yet, he continued to serve as a judge and in the affairs of his state including the writing of the state Constitution until his retirement in 1798. His personal life recovered with his second marriage to Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Col. Thomas and Mary Elliot Savage of Charleston. They had three children together. Heyward passed away in 1809 having fulfilled his life’s mission of serving his country as a great American Patriot.

Lessons From The Life Of Thomas Heyward

Picture yourself as a young man born into southern plantation society and wealth, whose family is aligned with the Crown. Life has been plentiful. Your family is highly respected in the community and state. Slaves work the fields and serve throughout the mansion and grounds. You have been afforded an elite classical education at home that has led to an apprenticeship and training into the law. Your parents see your abilities and send you to England to complete your education and training in law. You spend the next five years traveling Europe and then realize as you set sail for home that you do not care for those people or the lives they represent.

This leads to getting sideways with your father as you have determined that liberty is the only path for the colonies. You go your own way, though fortunately reconciling with him before he passes. Over the ensuing years you give your all for the cause that includes your freedom as a prisoner of war and nearly your life on multiple occasions. You go from being shot to being imprisoned to nearly drowning from going overboard on the voyage that was to take you to freedom. Then you lose your wife in the childbirth of one of your six children, only one of whom survived. All of this only to return home after the war to find your family’s plantation in ruins and all of the slaves gone, most of whom having been sent to Jamaica.

Instead of throwing your hands up in surrender, you rebuild your life. You become a judge and continue to be active in state affairs. You marry again and have children. And the one constant through it all remains your commitment to the service of your country and your memories of having signed the greatest document in American history.

Thomas Heyward was a man of qualities and flaws like all of us. However, his life illustrates his commitment to our nation no matter the cost. It is a strong lesson for all who would be patriots.

Conclusion

I only have time for two signers this week. I have finally recovered from Flu A and much work remains on the project for the kids’ house. I will likely skip a week before restarting the series as I want the content to continue to reflect our nation’s return to its patriot roots with the Golden Age upon us.

I am in awe over what PDT, JD, Elon, cabinet members and supporters are delivering. It is literally a long held dream come true for this old head and heart. I wanted it so badly for the children and grandchildren, so they could carry the day and fight well into the future. Our America First MAGA leaders get it. They have the spirit and the will of our 1776 Sons of Liberty coursing through their veins. I am so proud to be an American again.

May God continue to bless our united efforts to restore and lift up the republic for His glory and the good of His people.

DEAR MAGA: Open Thread 20250213 & Remembering


Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.


Header Image: 2024 Presidential Election Map by County

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1


We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. God will guide us.

Prayers and thanks to God for our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.


Remembering.

With gratitude to our own kind Wolf for reminding us of DePat’s recommended prayers for times of spiritual warfare, let us consider praying this one today.


Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honored,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated,
Deliver me, O Jesus.


From the fear of being forgotten,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Author: Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta


Charity

Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth, bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

To have Charity is to love God above all things for Himself and be ready to renounce all created things rather than offend Him by serious sin. (Matt. 22:36-40)


Twitterati.

Our J6 P.O.W.s are always in our hearts with the fervent desire that all wrongs would be undone and each target and their families be made stronger and more whole than ever.

Trisha Hope has been providing important updates. And this story

She asks lot of good questions.


Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.


American Stories: When in the Course of human events – Part 6

Now would be an excellent time to pay honor to a great American who is probably enjoying the show in our nation from Heaven.

America is back! God bless America and all freedom loving people worldwide.

Time To Get Into The Weeds

This is an appropriate time to discuss Federalism versus Anti-Federalism. Since our leaders in the national experiment called the United States of America back in the day were playing hard, fast and for keeps; we should be made very aware of what was involved. If you have not spotted the truth of this issue still being in play today along with a nasty fight between the political forces aligned with PDT versus the Uniparty, then you need to take a dose of cold reality. The parallels are amazingly similar. Below is a primer to get you started.

https://thisvsthat.io/anti-federalists-vs-federalists

For more detailed information,

https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/4.5_Primary_Source__Who_were_the_Federalists_and_the_Anti-Federalists__.docx_.pdf

Now, extend what you learned or were reminded of and apply it to America today.

Do you consider the federal government your friend and partner, or, the potential usurper of God and/or Constitution granted rights as an American?

If you believe the former, you are probably a Federalist. If you believe the latter, you are probably an Anti-Federalist.

Do you believe the federal government should be involved in curing the perceived weaknesses of society and righting perceived wrongs of equal rights for all classes of citizens, or, do you believe that responsibility to redress should be left to local citizens and/or related state and local authorities?

The former is Federalist, the latter is Anti-Federalist.

If a power or authority has not been assigned by the Constitution to handle a subject or concern of importance to the nation, do you believe it is a federal or a state responsibility per the Constitution to address?

Yup, Federalist or Anti-Federalist.

We could continue the game, but you probably get the point. The founding fathers worked through the subjects between them and delivered our Constitution and Bill of Rights as the answer to the desires of both sides. Which is the exact same positions we still fight over today for many of the same reasons they did. Let’s review the officially long deceased Federalist Party and what it represented per an accurate Wiki description. Who does that party resemble today?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Party

Yup, it describes the current Democrats and Uniparty in general.

Now lets look at the Anti-Federalist movement as it never officially became a political party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Federalis

Backers of the Anti-Federalist movement formed a political party called the Democratic Republican Party with Thomas Jefferson as its leader. These Anti-Federalist influenced backers were for smaller central government, states rights, less regulation, lower taxes and the abolition of slavery. As the years passed the Federalist Party became the limited party of the elites in the New England and eventually died. With Andrew Jackson’s rise to power and the Presidency, the Democratic-Republican Party split with Jackson on the Democratic party side supporting individual and states rights rivaling a coalition formed primarily of remaining Republicans and Anti-Mason Party supporters into the Whig Party. It was led by Henry Clay supporting Federalism and greater power of Congress over the President.

The 1850’s brought the demise of the Whig Party with their support of slavery and elitism. That led to the rise of the Republican Party and eventually Abraham Lincoln and the anti-slavery forces. This Grand Old Party (GOP) as it became known, arose from the Union’s victory in the Civil War. The party typically dominated federal politics for several decades afterward. The Democratic Party became the broad based party of conservatives and agriculture rooted in the “solid south” as well as other scattered segments. As backers of states rights, they generally opposed the anti-slavery changes. They would occasionally win control of houses of Congress along the way.

Fast forward to today. My, oh, my how things change!

We are back to Federalists being Uni-party elitists with cobbled together minority segments in the Democrat Party and RINO’s versus the Anti-Federalists being the rapidly growing, populist America First MAGA segment of the GOP that is all about operating as a republic with states rights being important.

What has happened since our nation’s founding and today is a continuous morphing between these primarily Federalist versus Anti-Federalist viewpoints. America and its politics have never been one thing or the other throughout its history. Yet, the tension remains from the negotiations surrounding the interpretation of the Constitution and with the accommodation provided by the Bill of Rights.

As things stand today, did the Democrat and RINO Uniparty exceed their authority by claiming powers over subjects, issues and people that are not enumerated in the Constitution? Of course they did and still attempt to do. That is why EO’s and EA’s have been flying out of the Oval Office in droves under President Trump already. To increase their power and reach, central governments tend to naturally grow and extend their tentacles increasingly into the business of the people. That is not a question, it is a fact demonstrated over thousands of years in governments all around the globe.

Can a fully decentralized republic adequately defend itself against foreign and domestic forces and enemies without central governance and leadership? Probably not very well in America as the independent states may opt out of their responsibilities and enter into disputes with each other as well as the federal government. There would be no hammer to cover all aspects of government in place to force them back into compliance. Our strength as a nation against foreign powers is in unity, not division.

As a result the pendulum of change has swung both right and left since the Constitution’s ratification in 1788 and implementation in 1789. The excesses of the Uniparty activities in our times are obvious and the reason Donald Trump is POTUS. Very few are willing to admit it, but the Constitution still has problems that the Anti-Federalists foresaw. The compromise over the Bill of Rights did not go far enough. It addressed some of the major issues of the day that would probably survive as time passed. But as we have subsequently learned over time it left gaping holes of how to prevent and penalize federal government overreach when they venture into powers and authorities that are not enumerated. When transparency is the law, those in federal authority have rarely provided it without prodding, outright threats or legal actions. Attempts to permanently change the responses have been unsuccessful at times, just as Anti-Federalists predicted could happen.

The truth is the development and use of political parties has stymied our nation’s progress frequently. The tension of partisanship that is built into the system can help, but it also can hinder as we have seen repeatedly in our times. We will touch more on this and the life of James Monroe in particular down the road in this series.

The partisanship has led our nation into the long overdue corrective phase today that Anti-Federalists of old would celebrate. We populist, American First, MAGA, states rights, kill the Fed, modern day Anti-Federalists won the election despite the current day, Federalist, Uniparty cheating the elections as they have for at least a century. Too big to rig got it done, however, that should not have been required. As a law abiding nation our citizens could choose to be honorable and have integrity. Unfortunately, the past 235+ years years since Constitution implementation reveals the truth that honesty and honor are not always present or enough. One of the primary reasons for that is radical partisanship. Many throw up their middle finger on reasoning and consensus building, two ingredients that are required for effective leadership.

Which is why the theme of the POTUS Trump administration has been “common sense“.

Strengthening constitutional enforcement issues could be a meaningful answer as well as satisfying the obvious need for honest, accurate elections. When one side or the other goes rogue or overreach becomes the modus operandi while in control, they can choose to enforce or not enforce the provisions of the Constitution and related law with minimal blow back because of the mockery they have made of law enforcement activities and the judiciary. We have seen this blatantly demonstrated in the past three decades with the weaponization of the DOJ and Intelligence Community (IC). Political gain replaced bipartisan administration of the law in the highest offices of our land.

President Trump and America First supporters aim to change all of that. We are already seeing a great deal of Anti-Federalist approaches to powers not enumerated and a great deal of leverage applied. President Trump, cabinet, and all supporters are going back to the original intent of the Massachusetts Compromise we discussed in a previous part. That compromise led to that key state’s ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Some of the actions President Trump is intentionally taking will end up on the desks of the SCOTUS due to lawfare by the Uniparty if they are not codified through actions of Congress. We will have clarity on which to base future steps soon. As that happens it will be critical to gain even more patriot control over Congress in the future as the Uniparty will be fighting against us with all they have. There are more amendments to the Constitution that are necessary to assure our nation’s viability for centuries to come.

If history is our guide, political parties based on partisanship control will eventually die and morph into something else. That is exactly where the Democrat Party finds itself today. The GOP through POTUS Trump and supporters morphed from the party of big business to the party of the people over a couple of decades. What signaled that change was coming was when the Democrats lurched left. The Solid South left the party and have become GOP stalwarts.

Given a personal choice of one side or the other, I think readers know I am an Anti-Federalist in my core. Power and money corrupt and nowhere is that seen in a greater display than in our nation’s Capitol. I have personal experiences during my career on which to base my position. I also recognize that in regard to the powers that are enumerated to the federal government, we all must support without reservation as long as the activities are legally conducted. They are not mutually exclusive positions.

On we go to discuss more signers of the Declaration of Independence. We will look at a leader of both the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists as well as one who help reconcile both sides to make it all happen as it did.

George Read

Born in 1733 in North East, MD, George Read was born to John and Mary Howell Read. His father was an Englishman from a family of great wealth. He moved to the colonies and bought a large estate in Cecil County, MD. With six others he went on to found the City of Charleston on the Chesapeake Bay. While there he held numerous military offices.

Soon after his birth, George’s family moved to an estate in New Castle, DE. He went to school with American Patriot Thomas McKean at Rev. Francis Allison’s Academy in New London, PA at age 15. He then studied law in Philadelphia, passed the bar in 1753, and moved back to New Castle to establish his law practice. In 1763 he married the daughter of an Anglican Church rector, Gertrude Ross. They joined the Episcopal Church there. They had three sons; George Jr., William and John.

He was appointed as the Crown Attorney General of three counties in DE by the governor. He remained in that position until he joined the first Continental Congress in 1774. Read preferred that the colonists find common ground with the British and loyalists. When it became time to vote on the Declaration of Independence he voted against it. This caused Rep. Caesar Rodney from the state to ride all night to break the tie for DE to approve the Declaration. However, when it came time to sign it, George Read did so in support.

With the future of the United States on the line in the Revolutionary War. He returned to serve in DE, but soon learned of the capture of the Continental Congress President John McKinley. He was nearly captured himself in Philadelphia, but escaped and served as President of the Congress for six months. He recruited men for the military and helped in the defense of the colonists during the period wile serving in the Legislative Council after the end of his term. He then returned to his home and activities in the state legislature. He took one year away to recover his health.

He was called into service again by DE with the work towards the approval of the Constitution. He was a leader in the fight for a strong federal government, advocating at one point for the abolition of states altogether. None of his fellow representatives agreed with him, so he moved on to protecting the rights of small states versus their larger neighbors. Once those rights were assured he led the approval of the vote for the Constitution for which DE was the first to ratify. In leading these efforts Read became a major voice in the Federalist Party.

The DE General Assembly elected Read to be a U. S Senator in 1789. He served there until 1793. He strongly supported George Washington and believed in centralization, including the creation of a national bank. He left the Senate when appointed the Chief Justice of the DE Supreme Court and served there until his death from heart problems in 1798. His wife passed away five years later. His son George Read, Jr. became the first U. S. Attorney for DE. His grandson, Read III, became the second. He had two brothers serve as officers in the Continental Army and Navy respectively.

George Read was a highly influential American Patriot who gave his all and left a family legacy of doing likewise.

Richard Henry Lee

In addition to prominent Anti-Federalists John Hancock and Samuel Adams, there was Richard Henry Lee. Born in Westmoreland County, VA in 1732, Lee came from a long line of aristocratic military officers, diplomats and politicians in his family. His parents were Colonel Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee. Lee was sent to England to study and during the period both of his parents died in 1750. He continued in Europe until 1752 when he returned home to settle the estate of his parents with his siblings. In 1757 he was appointed justice of the peace and a year later elected into the House of Burgesses, serving until 1775. Also in 1757 he married his first wife, Anne Aylett, with whom he had six children with four surviving. After her death in 1768 he married Anne Gaskins Pinckard a year later. The couple had seven children together of whom five survived.

Lee was strongly in favor of independence and was a founder of the VA Committees of Correspondence. However, he was not in the tar and feathers promoters. He preferred boycotts and verbal persuasion in a gentlemanly manner. In 1766 he authored the Westmoreland Resolution that was against the enforcement of the British Stamp Act. Among those who signed it were several of George Washington’s family members. He was even more actively opposed to the Townshend Acts. He was selected by VA to attend the First Continental Congress. It was Lee who brought the motion for independence in the Second Continental Congress is 1776. The key part of his resolution read,

“Resolved: That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

He had returned to VA prior to the actual vote, but returned in time to sign the Declaration. Later in 1783 he was selected as the President of the Congress. He served for a year and was selected as U. S. Senator from 1789-1792.

Lee strongly supported states rights and a reduced presence of the federal government. He was very active in the Anti-Federalist movement and instrumental in the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. His proposal of the language of the 10th Amendment was adopted substantially as he presented it. With the compromise, he backed the ratification of the Constitution and had high regard for the performance of George Washington through the years. He soon grew to appreciate the Constitution as he saw how it actually performed. He passed away in 1794 at age 62 with his wife passing away two years later at age 48. He never fully recovered from an overturned carriage accident in 1791. Within the founding fathers as a group, he was considered as important as the bigger names of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin.

Richard Henry Lee was a great American Patriot.

Roger Sherman

One of the patriots who was critical to building consensus between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, large states and small states, providing a compromise that led to the House and Senate structures as well as other meaningful agreements was Roger Sherman. Born in Newton, MA in 1721, Sherman was the son of farmers. His parents, William and Mehetabel Sherman, moved when he was two years old to Stoughton. Sherman had little formal education outside of grammar school and his father’s library. He was also taught by his Harvard educated parish minister, Rev. Samuel Dunbar. His first job was as a shoemaker.

After his father died in 1743, he moved to New Milford, CT with his mother and siblings. He opened a cobbler store with a brother. He became the county’s surveyor two years later. This helped him save money to later purchase land and earn a good reputation among county residents. He married Elizabeth Hartwell in 1749. She passed away in 1760. He then married Rebecca Prescott in 1763. Between the two wives they had 15 children, 13 of whom lived to adulthood. He published a successful almanac for eleven years as well as studied law. He passed the bar exam in 1754. He became very involved in church and civic affairs, resulting in his election as town clerk of New Milford. He was also elected to the CT House of Representatives for several terms during the period. He was named a justice of the peace in 1762 and a judge in 1765. From that position he was named Justice of the CT Superior Court for the next 23 years. During this time he was also appointed Treasurer of Yale College and taught religious studies there for years.

He represented CT in both the first and second Continental Congress. He was one of the Committee of Five who drafted the Declaration of Independence. His involvement continued into the production of the Articles of Confederation and a member of the related Congress. As such he also became a signer on the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

Sherman attended the Constitution Convention with no preconceived positions. He actually preferred amending the Articles of Confederation as he saw the problem with it being primarily the lack of the ability to enforce its provisions. (SOUND FAMILIAR?) 😂

Sherman was the definition of a nationalist and viewed his state in isolationist ways. He saw it being essentially self sufficient and aligned with his religious (Puritan) views. Even then he foresaw the future end to slavery in America (SOUND FAMILIAR?) So, he worked to encourage compromises between the two sides even though he was personally anti-slavery. He was a very active participant in legislative and development sessions no matter the project or meeting. He was not an eloquent speaker as he was described as being very direct and terse in his many presentations. This led to him not being quoted as much as others as well as the fact he did not keep extensive journals of his activities.

He was also an opponent of “paper” money. He saw a national currency of same being a future problem to the individual states.

Roger Sherman was largely responsible for the current organization and voting functions of Congress. He forged a compromise, the Connecticut Compromise, through the Grand Committee he formed to deliver a compromise between the large and small states that would balance the interests of both more fairly. He went on to serve as a U. S. Representative and later, as a U. S Senator of his state until his passing from typhoid in 1793. The great American theologian Jonathon Edwards preached his funeral. His wife, Rebecca, passed away in 1813.

Roger Sherman was the only person in our history to sign all four major documents of the United States from our period of founding; the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U. S. Constitution. His more famous contemporaries Jefferson, Adams and Madison had deep admiration for the man and held all of his works in high regard.

Conclusion

A Federalist, an Anti-Federalist, and a Consensus Builder walk into a bar…

OK, start to a bad joke. However, this has been how America has evolved over many years by building consensus among dissimilar individuals who are linked by the common bonds formed from our great Declaration of Independence.

May God bless America.

DEAR MAGA: Open Thread 20250206 & the Scouring of the Shire


Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.


Header Image: 2024 Presidential Election Map by County

The Scouring of the Shire.

Reading and reflecting on Tolkien’s final chapter in The Lord of the Rings might help us place ourselves at this time. Fandom tells us: “Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin arrive in the Shire to find that things are not as they once were when they left. The Shire is now run by Sharkey based at Bag End, who with Lotho‘s help had taken over with his band of Ruffian Men. The four hobbits collect as many allies as they can and defeat his army of Ruffians at the Battle of Bywater. The Hobbits then confront “Sharkey” and the lowly Gríma Wormtongue at Bag End, who both meet their demise.”

So, while the noble hobbits had been off saving all of Middle Earth, the “commies” had set up shop in their homeland and caused great harm that will require bravery, wisdom, and a lot of work to undo. It appears that we are somewhere around the beginning of the Battle of Bywater now.

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1



We got our miracle.
America is back.
Now what?

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. God will guide us.

Thanks be to God for our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.


The Role of County Government in Elections.

Take a good look at that 2024 Election Map. See the outline of each county?


How Does This Work?

Let’s take a look at what the National Association of Counties (NACO) has to say

When trying to understand how to get traction locally in turning the tide for liberty, it seems to come down to the governance at the county level. And from what is being turned up with the groups I’m following, it looks a lot like there is state level and national level collusion to influence or control the governments of those 3,069 counties that are responsible for overseeing our elections. I’ll get into those details in another post.

Reading that overview from NACO, they start out by stating:

Elections in the United States are administered in a highly decentralized process through which each state shapes its own election laws

Well, mostly. The states shape their own election laws, but, as with anything else, federal laws also impose requirements on state and local governments. Maryland’s State Board of Elections gives a helpful overview of these major federal election laws here. The most recent election-related law passed by Congress is known as HAVA.

  • Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002
    This law was the U.S. Congress’ response to the 2000 Presidential election and the first time that the federal government authorized federal funds for election administration. It created the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and set minimum standards for voting systems. It also required each state to adopt uniform standards on what constitutes a vote, implement provisional voting, post certain information at polling places, maintain a statewide voter registration database, and required certain individuals to show identification before voting.

Sounds good right?

Except. There are county elections officials are not following the laws, and yet are still taking the federal money to buy their electronic voting machines. If they didn’t follow the federal laws, then taking that money anyway would be fraud, right?

Thankfully, there are Americans that have stood up and gotten to work discovering and working to address the failures of our elections officials across the nation. I’d like to highlight one citizen oversight group that has done much with an all-volunteer organization.

We want valid elections that are run in full compliance with the law.

I strongly encourage you to watch this short video of a presentation by Marley Hornik of United Sovereign Americans. She goes over the legal framework for election integrity, starting with the constitution and provides the statute citations that must be enforced if we are to have free and fair elections. She also covers what they found when they audited the voter rolls of just 20 states prior to the 2024 election. They found over 29 MILLION apparently ineligible voter registrations, 10 million votes cast by those ineligible voters, 2 million more votes cast than voters that voted, and an average 13% vote error rate. Every invalid registration is potentially a felony level violation. Their organization is litigating with states over their failure to clean up the rolls and unlawful certification of non-compliant elections. They have a good strategy for which states to sue in order to potentially cause a circuit split which could get this heard at the Supreme Court without having to sue all 50 states. Or better yet, maybe the Department of Justice will just do their job.

Presentation by Marley Hornik of United Sovereign Americans
On the Status of our Nation’s Elections (for video click here)

The United Sovereign Americans Action Plan includes (1) informing everyone of election validity law, (2) turning findings into evidence, and (3) forcing election officials to obey the law.

Unfortunately, election officials across America have displayed apathy, disdain, and disregard for the law, and the civil rights of the people they are hired to serve. This has resulted in the certification of elections that varied from the law. Some of these elections were grossly inaccurate. Whether it was incompetence or malfeasance, those who broke the law must be held accountable.

Thank God for their work. May many more Americans join them in their efforts.


Twitterati.

Follow Scott Pressler for inspirational feet-on-the-ground reports and calls to action. He is showing us how it’s done. Also, check out Scott Presler’s Early Vote Action twitter account.


Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.


American Stories: When in the Course of human events – Part 5

Saratoga. Everything hinged on Saratoga. From history.com we have the following:

British strategy in 1777 involved two main prongs of attack aimed at separating New England (where the rebellion enjoyed the most popular support) from the other colonies. To that end, General John Burgoyne’s army marched south from Canada toward a planned meeting with Howe’s forces on the Hudson River. Burgoyne’s men dealt a devastating loss to the Americans in July by retaking Fort Ticonderoga, while Howe decided to move his troops southward from New York to confront Washington’s army near the Chesapeake Bay. The British defeated the Americans at Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvannia on September 11 and entered Philadelphia on September 25. Washington rebounded to strike Germantown in early October before withdrawing to winter quarters near Valley Forge.

Howe’s move had left Burgoyne’s army exposed near Saratoga, New York, and the British suffered the consequences of this on September 19, when an American force under General Horatio Gates defeated them at Freeman’s Farm in the first Battle of Saratoga. After suffering another defeat on October 7 at Bemis Heights (the Second Battle of Saratoga), Burgoyne surrendered his remaining forces on October 17. The American victory at Saratoga would prove to be a turning point of the American Revolution, as it prompted France (which had been secretly aiding the rebels since 1776) to enter the war openly on the American side, though it would not formally declare war on Great Britain until June 1778. The American Revolution, which had begun as a civil conflict between Britain and its colonies, had become a world war.

At one time, France actually had a spine. The colonists rejected their oppressors and earned the assistance of the long time British enemies, France. What is not remembered often is that Spain entered the conflict as an ally of France. America owed Spain a debt of gratitude for what they did to assist. They provided critical supplies and funding. They were in their own conflict with the British and saw it as an opportunity to further weaken their enemy so that that could retake Menorca, which was successful a few years later.

Win-win-win for the colonies, France and Spain. An enemy of my enemy is my friend.

But let’s take a closer look at General Horatio Gates in the fall of 1777, the reported hero General who changed everything for the colonies. From mountvernon.com:

“When British troops under the command of Major General John Burgoyne invaded New York in 1777, Gates’ army defeated Burgoyne twice, on September 19, 1777 and October 7, 1777. Gates’ troops forced Burgoyne to surrender his 5,700 man army near Saratoga on October 17, 1777. This victory, a major turning point of the American Revolution, convinced France to form an alliance with the Americans against Great Britain in 1778.

Tensions between Gates and General George Washington grew immediately following Saratoga, after Gates informed Congress directly of his victory rather than informing his Commander-in-Chief. Washington was further angered that Gates did not promptly return troops sent to help Gates during the New York campaign. General Washington was also convinced that Gates played a role in the Conway Cabal in late 1777, which was a supposed plot to remove Washington from command and replace him with Gates. In November 1777, Gates became president of the Board of War and technically became Washington’s superior. Bickering continued between the two men as Gates drew up plans for an invasion of Canada without consulting Washington.

Wait… what? There was dissent in the highest ranks during the Revolutionary War? Somebody got the big head after battle victories? Somebody decided to posture for personal career gain like our political and military idgits do today? Tell me it isn’t so! What is this about a “Conway Cabal” being involved? Enjoy reading the backbiting of some of our founding fathers in the link below. Be sure and click on the second page prompt at the bottom left of the first page.

https://www.ushistory.org/march/other/cabal.htm

As if Benedict Arnold was not enough, Gen. Gates played politics and showed his pompous azz in the middle of our fight for independence. But in the ultimate “what goes around comes around” result, the following explains what happened next. Unfortunately it came with a heavy cost of lives for the colonists.

“In the spring of 1778, Gates returned to field command in the north, controlling troops in New York and Massachusetts. Gates took command of the Southern Army in South Carolina in July 1780 to meet the British army that had invaded that state earlier in the year. Abandoning the cautious strategy he employed against Burgoyne in 1777, Gates marched his army toward the British troops in Camden, South Carolina, despite the fact that his men were running low on supplies. This action led to the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, which was one of the largest American defeats of the war. As the American troops retreated, Gates left the battlefield and abandoned his army, riding nearly 200 miles in three days. Accused of cowardice, his reputation was ruined. Gates was removed from command in October 1780.

Congress briefly reinstated Gates into the army in the summer of 1782, but after uneventful service he left for the final time in 1783. In 1790 Gates sold his Virginia plantation, freed his slaves, and bought an estate in New York called “Rose Hill Farm.” He ended his career serving one term in the New York legislature from 1800-1801. Gates died on April 10, 1806.”

Proverbs 16:18 – Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. We have seen this scripture proven true countless times over the years. We should always heed these wise words.

Time for more signers. Let ‘s go with one of the players in the Conway Cabal debacle.

Benjamin Rush

The most celebrated physician in America post Revolutionary War was Benjamin Rush. He was born in Byberry, PA in 1745. He was born to merchant John Rush and Susana Hall, the middle of seven children. His father died when he was six and he was sent with a brother to live with an aunt and uncle two years later so they could receive an education. He studied under Dr. Samuel Finley at the West Nottingham Academy. Not long after that he graduated at age 14 with a BA degree from the College of New Jersey, which became Princeton later. For the next five years he apprenticed under Dr. John Redman in Philadelphia before accepting an opportunity to study at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland for three years, where he earned an M. D. degree. While there he became fluent in French, Italian and Spanish. He returned to America in 1769 and opened a medical practice while also teaching chemistry at the University of Philadelphia (UPenn – there it is again). Later in life he published the first American textbook on chemistry.

Rush joined the Sons of Liberty soon after his return from Scotland. He was so respected that Thomas Paine consulted him about content in his Common Sense book. He represented PA when he signed the Declaration. In a letter to John Adams he recalled the signing in a similar manner as fellow signer William Elery. Per Wiki, he wrote the following,

He described it as a scene of “pensive and awful silence”. Rush said the delegates were called up, one after another, and then filed forward somberly to subscribe to what each thought was their ensuing death warrant. He related that the “gloom of the morning” was briefly interrupted when the rotund Benjamin Harrison of Virginia said to a diminutive Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, at the signing table, “I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes and be with the Angels, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.” According to Rush, Harrison’s remark “procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the Solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.”

He served in the Continental Congress as well as in the war in the field with the Philadelphia militia. He laid the foundation for battlefield treatments of the Continental Army during this time. For a period he served as Surgeon General in the Continental Army’s Middle Department until the lack of medical supplies and underreporting of casualties by officials caused him to make the ill fated Conway related comments, after which Washington asked him to resign. He regretted what he said greatly. Per Wiki, in another letter to John Adams in 1812 he stated, “He [Washington] was the highly favored instrument whose patriotism and name contributed greatly to the establishment of the independence of the United States.” Rush also successfully pleaded with Washington’s biographers Justice Bushrod Washington and Chief Justice John Marshall to delete his association with those stinging words.

Benjamin Rush accomplished an incredible amount in his life in the post revolutionary period. Perhaps the greatest was facilitating the reconciliation of two of the great founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. He had lifelong friendships with both as well as other signers.

A biographical summary is linked below and you will probably be as amazed by his accomplishments as I was.

https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/benjamin-rush

On a personal level Benjamin Rush was a devoted Christian. He believed (as I do) that the United States of America was the work of God: “I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as perfectly satisfied that the Union of the United States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament”. In 1798, after the Constitution’s adoption, Rush declared: “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in Religion.” He had involvement in several denominations through the years and assisted Richard Allen in the formation of the AME Church at one point.

He had married Julia Stockton in 1776. The couple had thirteen children, nine survived past one year. One son, Richard, went on to become part of the administrations of the presidencies of James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincey Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Polk and Zachary Taylor. Benjamin Rush died of Typhus Fever in 1813 at age 68. Julia, 14 years his junior, lived until 1848. Both remained faithful to the Lord and their country throughout their lives.

Benjamin Rush was an incredible American Patriot who left a legacy that continues to this day.

Joseph Hewes

Born in 1730 in Princeton, NJ to Society of Friends (Quaker) parents. He also graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton). He left the area soon after and joined a family member’s mercantile business in Philadelphia. He attended Quaker meetings while there and apprenticed in the business. He learned of business opportunities in the port town of Edenton in North Carolina, so he moved and formed a company with Charles Blount there that succeeded for a time. However, the death of his fiancee soured him on life as well as the business, which was dissolved. He recovered and partnered with a local attorney, Robert Smith. His business ventures began to flourish. He owned many properties, warehouses and became involved with shipping at the port; owning multiple ships, sloops and brigs. He created a rope walk to be used between ships as well developing and selling rope and related products to the shipping industry.

Over the years he became a justice of the peace and later was elected into the NC Assembly. He remained active as a Quaker and at one point was believed to have joined the Anglican church. Many historians report he believed as a deist.

He became more and more involved in the independence movement. He joined the NC Committee of Correspondence and represented the state in the Continental Congress. He actively supported the Suffolk Reserves, which called for a termination of trade with Great Britain in 1774. He was sold out to the causes of the colonists and independence. Ultimately this led to his signing of the Declaration.

For a month afterwards he visited his mother back in Princeton, NJ. The gravity of the situation had begun to weigh on him. Per Wiki, “Hewes wrote “I had the weight of North Carolina on my shoulders within a day or two of three months. The service was too severe. I have sat some days from Six in the morning till five, and sometimes Six in the afternoon without eating or drinking. My health is bad, such close attention made it worse. …Duty, inclination and self preservation call on me now to make a little excursion in the County to see my mother. This is a duty which I have not allowed myself to perform during almost nine months that I have been here.” Towards the end of September Hewes returned to Edenton for rest and recuperation.

Hewes fully realized what was to come from the Declaration. He assisted in training the NC militia and began preparing ships for Naval use. In truth, some of this work had been done well before the signing of the Declaration as he saw the course the colonists were on would lead to war. He was appointed to a marine committee that began outfitting of privately owned ships with guns. He even leased one of his brigs to the marine committee in the Continental Congress with the committee providing him insurance for potential loss.

In the late 1770’s his health began to suffer as he dealt with continuous head aches. He served in the Continental Congress until mid 1779 despite a group of fellow marine committee members objecting to the money he made while providing marine services to the country. He returned to office with the NC Assembly and continued to represent the state in the Continental Congress. He returned home from the Congress in October 1779 due to his health. He passed away a month later at 49 years of age.

Joseph Hewes never married. The earlier loss of his future wife was too much for him to overcome. As a result he had no children. Her loss had led him to throw all of his efforts into his business ventures and service to our country in the Revolutionary War period. He was a self made man of great wealth who remained committed to the cause of independence unto his death. In his honor and in a demonstration of respect, members of Congress wore crape on their left arms for one month after his death.

Joseph Hewes was a true, devoted American Patriot.

William Williams

Born in Lebanon, CT in 1731, William Williams was one of ten children of Congregationalist Church minister, Solomon Williams and wife, Mary Porter Williams. He studied both law and theology at Harvard and graduated in 1751 as well as studying the ministry with his father. Four years later he served in a local militia in the French and Indian War. He returned and opened a store in Lebanon. He never owned slaves as he felt it was morally wrong.

At nearly 40 years old he married Mary Trumbull who was about 15 years younger. She was the daughter of CT Royal Governor Jonathon Trumbull. Trumbull went on to serve as the second Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives. William and Mary went on have three children together. He took the job of town clerk, a position he held for 44 years.

Williams spent over two decades as a representative in the CT House of Representatives. He was elected Speaker in four of those years. He was strongly for independence as he was a member of the Sons of Liberty, on the Committee for Correspondence as well as the Council for Safety. At one time he anonymously had a satirical letter published in the local newspaper that confronted the King and his actions. He became an even more fierce opponent to the Crown after the Coercive Acts of 1774. He was elected to replace Oliver Wolcott as a representative from CT in the Continental Congress one week after the Declaration was formally announced, so he did not get to vote. However, he arrived in time to be a signer. Following this act he resigned his militia commission as a Colonel to serve in the Congress. He also served as a county judge for 28 years beginning in 1776.

Williams refused to sign the Constitution. He was opposed because Article VI banned religious tests for government officials. As a devout Christian and Congregationalist Deacon he felt it was a necessary requirement. He lived a life of dignity with a humble attitude and consistency that he felt was necessary for government officials. He lived his entire life as an example for Christ and for America. During the war, he closed his business, gave generously of his time and contributed much of his wealth for the cause. He regularly opened his home for military members to stay and rest.

In his latter days Williams read, meditated and prayed. He passed away at age 80. The day of his death, August 2, was exactly 35 years to the day from the date he signed the Declaration. His wife, Mary, passed away 20 years later.

William Williams was the epitome of a Christian servant leader and American Patriot.

Conclusion

As we wind our way through the Declaration signers, we come across stories such as these with Gates, Conway, Washington and Rush that remind us that nothing in life happens in a linear progression of goodness. Sometimes it all comes across as a soap opera. Yet, somehow the hand of God always has appeared at the right time to steer us in a direction that restores our destiny. Indeed, we are going through such a resurgence of the American spirit today.

It is interesting to me that an active faith in God, in a higher power, always seems to be the catalyst that drives the renewal.

In this story we have two devout Christians and a probable deist from different states who were working on the same team as patriots and signers of the Declaration of Independence. They gave their all for America, just as American First MAGA is doing today.

May God continue to bless America.

DEAR MAGA: Open Thread Thursday 20250130


Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.


Header Image: 2024 Presidential Election Map by County

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

These are the kind of powerful words that motivated America’s founding fathers to create the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

It is going to require a decision on our part to “stand firm” and “not submit again” before we are going to begin to take this seriously. But we have the help of God and the intensely determined support of our President, his team, and untold numbers of our fellow citizens.



We got our miracle.
America is back.
Now what?

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. Are we to pray? Of course. Are we to vote? Absolutely.

But we know there is much to do and not all is certain. We might find ourselves asking, “What am I to do in these amazing days of transformation?” God will guide us.


Priorities.

The Trump-Vance Administration Priorities page @ WhiteHouse.gov provides us with the eagle’s eye view of where we are going. Notice the order of these priorities. Safety of the people first! May the Lord grant us wisdom, strength, and good success.

MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN

  • President Trump will take bold action to secure our border and protect American communities.
  • This includes ending Biden’s catch-and-release policies, reinstating Remain in Mexico, building the wall, ending asylum for illegal border crossers, cracking down on criminal sanctuaries, and enhancing vetting and screening of aliens.
  • President Trump’s deportation operation will address the record border crossings of criminal aliens under the prior administration.
  • The President is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources.
  • The Armed Forces, including the National Guard, will engage in border security, which is national security, and will be deployed to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel.
  • President Trump will begin the process of designating cartels, including the dangerous Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations and use the Alien Enemies Act to remove them.
  • The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for heinous crimes against humanity, including those who kill law enforcement officers and illegal migrants who maim and murder Americans.

MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AND ENERGY DOMINANT AGAIN

  • The President will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.
  • President Trump’s energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers.
  • President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.
  • President Trump’s energy policies will end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers.
  • President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.
  • All agencies will take emergency measures to reduce the cost of living.
  • President Trump will announce the America First Trade Policy.
  • America will no longer be beholden to foreign organizations for our national tax policy, which punishes American businesses.

DRAIN THE SWAMP

  • The President will usher a Golden Age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people. He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce. He will pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced.
  • President Trump is announcing an unprecedented slate of executive orders for rescission.
  • President Trump is planning for improved accountability of government bureaucrats. The American people deserve the highest-quality service from people who love our country. The President will also return federal workers to work, as only 6% of employees currently work in person.
  • President Trump is taking swift action to end the weaponization of government against political rivals and ordering all document retention as required by law. President Trump is also ending the unconstitutional censorship by the federal government. No longer will government employees pick and require the erasure of entirely true speech.
  • On the President’s direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy.

BRING BACK AMERICAN VALUES

  • The President will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology.
  • American landmarks will be named to appropriately honor our Nation’s history.

Trying to Keep Up.

This page @ WhiteHouse.gov/news is a great place to follow along as everything begins to unfold. Every executive order shows up instantly and they just keep coming.

So much there: Articles. Briefings & Statements. Fact Sheets. Presidential Actions. Remarks.

A big Thank You to all the team serving in this administration!
And an even bigger Thank You to our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.


Twitterati.

Very recently I finally began to read in the X.com space. The platform is suspicious of me and therefore I do not have an account. Probably due to the basic efforts I’ve made to retain some level of privacy. Oh well.

The kind people here have shown me the way to view people’s feeds by using the Nitter.Poast.org site. It’s opened up a whole new world of information. Very helpful.

I have a new favorite follow. And I recommend her to you. Nicole Shanahan. She was RFK Jr’s running mate. She’s as informed, active and feisty as they come. Nicole Shanahan‘s feed is following the Senate confirmations and a LOT more.

For fresh news on our J6 people and a lot more, Julie Kelly might be the place to visit.


Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.


American Stores: When in the Course of human events – Part 4

This series is now dedicated to DeplorablePatriot, Susie Sampson. RIP and enjoy the company of Heaven, friend. We will carry on here and try to do you proud.

The post below probably reflects the more crude sentiments of most of the 77+ million voters for President Trump, which was probably over 90 million if all of his votes were actually counted.

Pardon me as I leave my Christian virtue outside the door. It will return after my next statements.

Our righteous anger has consequences. That summarizes how my current day fellow Sons and Daughters of Liberty feel. That unity and mercy shiz at the enemy’s request and terms ends now. There must be full compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Independence and provisions in the Constitution or GTFO to every person within our borders from this point on.

The scoundrels said and did what they said and did. Even with that President Trump is reaching across the aisle to encourage working together, just on our terms and not theirs. It will not work and he can say he tried. They will only do so reluctantly and will return to their evil ways at the first opportunity. l much prefer we move on to the obvious conclusion. They have no remorse for what they have done to him or us. They will continue to obstruct, lie and deceive. Yet, it will not stop what is coming.

Judgment Day.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled, but applicable, programming. Well, maybe after one more discussion. As you will probably figure out, I have clearly gone off the rails with this posted story. 😂

Coincidently

Was Inauguration Day great or what?! That day is one for the ages, it will likely never be topped. Celebration with each statement he made and EO he signed. Inspiring speeches. meaningful prayers and fun music abounded. The wonderful happy faces of people celebrating filled me with joy. Patriotism and expressions of faith are returning in full force. The majority of Americans have hungered for this day and were sick of the dangerous, corrupted, woke nanny state we had become. For psychological effects, nothing tops J6 for rebellion against Americans by the feds and their minions. Yet, we patriots know that all of the power plays by the leftists and cabal have been illegal and treasonous in nature. When many of the cops and judges break bad, it is a painfully hard thing to return the law and order of the American Way. That begins in earnest now.

EO after EO. Confirmation after confirmation of meaningful actions to come. Reconciliation bill(s) on tap per Speaker Johnson that will codify Execrative Orders and Actions into law with a united GOP paving the way for a change is what will benefit We the People the most. Thank you POTUS! 🇺🇸

Now, let’s get the election system in order so that cheating ends forever.

Treaties, Pacts And Deceptions

The following is one man’s observations and opinions in just one major aspect of our rights as citizens. The reader is free to agree or disagree, it is the American Way and your right to do so thanks to the founding fathers and now, President Trump. I encourage it. Regardless of your position, the subject is one of major focus by POTUS and his cabinet. Treaties and trade pacts will be up for constant withdrawal, negotiation, execution and discussion. America is going to be aggressive economically as well as geographically. With multi polarity the topic of international discussions, expect the first step to be toward a lockdown control of North America with inroads of increased relations in Central and South America. The Abraham Accords will also return to the stage soon.

As a result it seems appropriate to begin this part on Declaration signers with a summary discussion of treaties and pacts. Many folks ignore or forget that treaties and bi/multi lateral pacts are legal and binding between peoples and nations only as long as they are honored by all parties. They die in value the very second a party(ies) violates regardless of legal language in the treaty or pact that provides remedies. The reason is the violators nearly always know they are violating. The violated can never fully trust the violators again. There are no independent, neutral arbiters of violated treaties and pacts that have the ability and authority to enforce. For the most part there are no real “mistakes” or “errors of omission or commission”. The documents are negotiated and reviewed in great detail before execution. The parties know what they are doing.

Violations of treaties and pacts lead to all types of conflicts and wars on the battlefields, economically, with terrorism, with criminal activities and so on. Honoring a legal agreement that has been violated by a party to it is foolishness. The violator has openly provided a sign of a lack of respect and honorable intent. For an example, who first violated provisions of the NATO/Russia Founding Act of 1997 when each party stated they did not consider the other adversaries? Who violated the Minsk Accords in 2014 with a color revolution? Now look where things are today in the subject nation of Ukraine. Why bother signing agreements when neither party can trust the other to hold up their end of the deal? It is lipstick on the pig and We the People need to wise up to not fall for political maneuvering and theater.

Next, drill down to the individual rights of all people in the above referenced comments. You have now entered into the “natural rights” of all people individually to which our American founding fathers speak in the Declaration. In fact, it is the basis for everything that comes thereafter in our nation’s history. Those same rights were granted at the dawn of creation by the Creator. OUR collective American nation is governed by that principle and law per the Declaration and Constitution that followed. It was the understanding of our founding fathers and all American patriots. It has been in our governing documents since execution.

As a result, anything or anybody operating outside of those documents; any laws or regulations that violate that understanding; any foreign interests that impose their wills against it; even Satan himself doing his thing: None have any authority to act opposed to those governed by the founding document and resulting Constitution. We have the natural rights to toss any conflicting statute, law, rule, regulation, etc. out and overthrow anybody that attempts to enforce them. In fact, our founding documents indicate it is our responsibility to do so.

To illustrate the point of the intertwining of our nation’s formation and Christianity, what is the first sentence in the 1783 Treaty of Paris that officially brought an end to Revolutionary War hostilities and freed the states from British oppression?

In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity.

The Treaty was willingly executed by both nations to end the conflict. They each acknowledged the above reference quote. They agreed the document was being executed in good faith in the presence of the most high, holy God in the form of the Trinity. Anytime a person or entity tells you that America was not founded on Christianity or is not a Christian nation, tell them to go pound sand and to read the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Paris. You have seen the references to the Creator and His providence in the Declaration and its affirmation in the Constitution. Now you see it and a direct reference to the Trinity in the Treaty that granted America its full independence. So enough with the lies and propaganda. Full stop. The Holy Word of God is the final authority on all matters.

Further…

“His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States; that he treats with them as such, and for himself his Heirs & Successors, relinquishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and Territorial Rights of the same and every Part thereof.”

Freedom.

We see that the Constitution that was subsequently executed a few years later is valid in that Americans had treaty granted rights to do as they pleased in terms of government and national formation. Great Britain was out. At least until they tried to force their way in again in 1812, which led to the Treaty of Ghent two years later.

Which is a major point. Treaties are good until they aren’t. But know this, no amount of deception such as was performed in 1913 is legal per the founding documents. They are direct violations of established principles in the Declaration and law in the Constitution. For example, there is no legitimate national indebtedness to the City of London as some supposed, just like there is no legitimate national indebtedness to the Federal Reserve. Americans are about to get educated if I read the tea leaves right. President Trump and fellow patriots are going to rip down the veil and tear it to shreds.

To summarize, our elected leaders and their appointees have no authority to enter into any treaty or pact that does not have America First. America was not first with the Paris Agreement on climate, the funding of WHO through the UN and many others in recent memory. We should sign nothing that does not have America and its citizens first. If our government does not do that they are operating in opposition to the law from the founding documents that rule our nation. If there is a need of We the People that is pressing, the governing officials have no legal right to give the funding to any foreign nation or interests before us. Every Congress critter and POTUS who has done that is corrupted and violated their oaths of office.

The Declaration of Independence is the vision and authority for the American experience, the American Way. It also provided a citation of violations of the King and Great Britain against the colonies. Do the listed violations sound familiar? Many are similar to what we have experienced currently from our own government that has pushed down heavily on We the People. Many of our leaders and citizens are still connected to the Crown and other blood suckers just as they were in the Revolutionary War period.

The Constitution is the modus operandi for how we live and operate as a nation. The statutes, laws, rules and regulations that flow from it must be in accordance and also be in sync with the Declaration. Even SCOTUS rulings that violate the goals, intentions and mission of those documents are null and void. Any legal precedents they establish that violate natural laws are invalid. We only have to look to the recent COVID related mandates to understand how and why. For example, Roe v. Wade was finally seen by the SCOTUS to be an unconstitutional violation that a previous SCOTUS made and others upheld through the decades that followed. The more current court chose to honor the founding documents that established a republic in opposition to the new age Federalists that pushed for central governance and control. This recent decision led to the people in each state being able to legally determine to honor or not honor the natural rights of the conceived, but not yet born; which is how this republic is supposed to work.

All people are acknowledged as being created equally by the Bible as well as in the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution is written to reflect that understanding. Again…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Knowing that even some of the same patriots who brought us that language permitted slavery of “equal” men and women with certain “unalienable Rights” to exist in the new nation. If the quoted language is to be believed, which it should be, the view of many of We the People that slaves were property was obviously dead wrong. It is no wonder that as soon as America officially existed, it had internal strife that culminated in a horrific, bloody war less than a century later that had slavery as well as other major issues attached such as banking wars, industrialist control issues, treatment of native American Indians, misuse of central government over states’ rights, buying religious endorsements from the pulpits, corrupting higher education, and so on.

All of the deception can throw individuals and nations off track. The saboteurs and evil doers know that and use it to gain an upper hand. Because America is dedicated to God clearly in the Declaration and affirmed in the Constitution as well as the Treaty of Paris, eventually slavery would cease to exist. It was inevitable. But flawed leaders and parts of society resisted as people are want to do just as they do today. In the early days of our nation the existence of slavery in the United States led to their using it as an excuse for starting another war to reclaim their still perceived possession of the colonies in violation of the Treaty of Paris that they previously signed “In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity.

And the circle goes round and round and…

It is my personal belief that the Declaration is one of the greatest documents ever produced in human existence and that it was guided by the hand of God. Many of the expressions contained within reflect related messages of the Bible.

With this understanding and in contrast, what would you do if opposed to our founding documents? If war did not work; infiltrate and circumvent, of course.

That has been what has happened to America since it won the Revolutionary War. Do you want to know the primary reasons why Sons of Liberty wild men John Hancock, Samuel Adams and others had voiced concerns and reservations about approving the Constitution after winning the war? After much consternation and debate, consider that that those two finally agreed to go along and vote to approve it. Their influence swung the state’s vote to approval in Boston, the Cradle of Liberty. The short Wiki link below is accurate and briefly explains this compromise. You can find numerous historical accounts if you want to dig deeper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Compromise

The actual vote was 187 – 168 in favor. If only 10 people had voted differently things would have been messier. Hancock and Adams were deeply concerned that the young nation would descend into chaos and ruin without its ratification even though they believed parts of it were flawed. So they forced a compromise with the central government supporters, the Federalists, that formed our Bill of Rights and many of the legal principles and related provisions that provide individual freedoms associated with natural rights.

Failure to approve would have been worrisome since they had just led a bloody, destructive revolution that was based on and assured those rights for the colonists. Logically, all should have been unanimously voting in support of the natural rights of the people in a republican form of government. I guess liberty and freedom is never fully understood and accepted even by all who benefit.

Basically we have been at some form of war since the revolution. The battlefronts and war types have changed, but the worldly and fallen angel heavenly forces allied against us are still the same. If we had no value, were of no consequence to the world or Heaven, I dare say we would not be at war continuously. Apparently, we are very valuable to both camps.

So as Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 and I have repeated often in my stories, “But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (NASB)

Sounds like a Godly version of what Samuel Adams might say.

Now on to two more of our Declaration signers.

William Elery

Born in Newport, RI in 1727, William Elery was the second son of a merchant father of the same name along with his wife, Elizabeth. His father educated him until he entered Harvard at age 16, graduating four years later while excelling in Greek and Latin. For many years afterwards he tried to find a career that suited him. At first he was a merchant, then collector of Custom taxes, and eventually the recording clerk of the General Assembly. Finally at age 43, after his parents were deceased and he had received a large estate, he found his calling and became an attorney and judge. He joined the Sons of Liberty in Rhode Island and became a representative at the Continental Congress when the previous representative, Samuel Ward died. When it came time to sign the Declaration he boldly approached. “I watched everyone sign, as I was determined to see how they looked as they gave their names to what might be their death warrant.” He had been moved by their “undaunted resolution” while doing so.

Just like many of the patriot founding fathers and signers of the Declaration, he found his home had been ransacked and burned during the Revolutionary War.

In 1785 he became a strong, vocal advocate for the abolition of slavery. He was appointed Commissioner of The Continental Loan Office a year later. He served there until appointed by POTUS Washington to be Customs Collector in Newport in 1791. He passed away in 1820 at the age of 92.

Though lower in profile than many of the other founding fathers, Ellery made other inspiring, resolute, patriotic statements that have been quoted by historians. In addition to the previous quote, the following was written in a letter to his brother, Benjamin.

“We have lived to see a Period which a few years ago no human forecast could have imagined – to see these Colonies shake off and declare themselves independent of a State which they once gloried to call Parent …”

Later, Ellery wrote to Reverend Ezra Stiles and said, “We have been driven into a Declaration of Independency & must forget our former love of our British brethren. The Sword must determine our quarrel.”

These quotes are strong reminders to us today. Never accept less than America First and forge forward regardless of the opposition. Be bold and be strong for liberty and freedom for all.

Ellery was married to Ann Remington until her death in 1764. He later married Abigal Cary who bore them seven children that survived to adulthood. One of his children became a noted Universalist theologian and another, Henry Dana, became a noted poet and essayist. William Ellery was a devoted American Patriot.

Lyman Hall

Lyman Hall was born in Wallingford, CT in 1724. He was the son of a local minister, John Hall and mother, Mary Hall, who was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Street. He was educated by his uncle, Samuel Hall. He went on to graduate from Yale. He attempted to become a minister, which was met with trouble within the congregation. He began studying medicine and two years later became a physician. He married Abigali Burr of CT, but she died a year later. Five years later he married Mary Osborne. They had two sons together, one of whom died as at age 11.

The couple moved to Charleston, SC and Lyman opened a medical office. In 1760 he purchased land in Georgia and started a plantation operation there. He joined the radical patriots in the Sunbury, GA area, which is now a ghost town. He prevailed in being elected to the Continental Congress despite a predominance of Georgians who were loyalists at the time. He became active in the Revolutionary Armies provisioning medical supplies and food. He remained in the Congress for five years until 1780, however, he returned to GA for a period in 1777 to attend to plantation operations and to help with the personal and legal situation of his friend and fellow Declaration signer, Button Gwinnett. Gwinnett later died in a dual with his rival and fellow patriot, Lachlan McIntosh. Hall was devastated by the loss of his friend and attempted without success to have McIntosh arrested.

A short time after his return he learned the British had taken Savannah and had burned down his home and property. They charged him with treason. He and his family fled to Charleston and realized the British had control. They continued on to Connecticut and possibly later, Virginia. Finally, in 1782 they were able to return to the Savannah, Georgia area to reclaim their property and resume their lives.

A year later he was elected Governor of GA. He never left his religious roots and began efforts to charter a college level school that provided a good education, especially in religious education that would help deliver a more virtuous society with less vice. The University of Georgia was chartered in 1785 as a result. After serving one year as Governor he returned to his medical practice. Through the years he experienced financial challenges and hardships that originated from the war. In 1790 he sold his plantation and moved to a different one in Burke County, GA to retire. He passed away that same year at age 66. His wife passed away three years later. Hall County, GA bears his name.

Lyman Hall was a dignified, affable, intelligent, considerate American Patriot who took up the challenges of gaining freedom and liberty from the oppressors no matter the personal cost.

Conclusion

The better we understand our history the more we realize this great nation has been established through the blood, sweat and tears of patriots over many years. I still hear Elery’s words in my head and heart relating to the signers standing on principles and purpose unto the point of their willingness to die for the good of fellow Americans. Most could have chosen to continue in their high social standing and not risk it all. Yet, they exhibited the spirit that John F. Kennedy conveyed with his famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

The founding patriots did it to establish a free republic for We the People.

We do it to preserve and strengthen the greatest nation on earth.

God bless America.

KMAG 20250122 Open Thread & Operation Gladio


SYNOPSIS:

In this article I explain WHY we need to continue to remain alert. Yeah, it is actually much worse than we thought. I know this is long, but if you read none of the other articles I have written please read this one. For me, everything suddenly fell in place. This is why Hegseth, a major in the reserves and NOT a general or admiral was selected as Sec of Defense by POTUS Trump. Why the cartels were named terrorist organizations.

At the end of WWII the Nazis realized they were not going to win a CONVENTIONAL kinetic war so they switched tactics. Stay behind units, groups of 15 to 20 civilians, were originally created in Germany by Nazis. They were called Werewolf Units and placed in all the AXIS countries. At the Nuremberg trials, Skorzeny, who worked for never-indicted Galland, got off lightly. He features prominently in training and in execution of operations including the murder of JFK. And yes they are here and active in the USA. Some of their training is done at Fort Bragg. (SURPRISE!) Galland, who was Hitler’s Chief of intel, met with Dulles at the end of WWII and got off scot free. As a result of that meeting, stay behind units were seeded in other countries AND it is all run out of NATO. This is why Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2. Also there is a secret agreement. If you become a NATO member you must have stay behind units. It is the reason Charles de Gaulle kicked NATO headquarters out of France. They kept trying to assassinate him. Werewolf Units have about 15 playbooks including Paragliders. Music festivals and other venues with a lot of women and children are considered ‘HIGH VALUE TARGETS’ because they have a maximum terror component that can then be used to control a population. (9/11 & the Patriot Act anyone?)

Just a taste from Colonel Towner at the end of Operation Gladio – Colonel Towner PART 1 The full transcript is at the bottom of the article. Please read it. It will blow your mind!

I’ll cover this real quick. We [The Werewolf Units] had to have training right? Even though Skorzeny had trained the units in the axis countries you had the allied operators that needed Gladio training. So off the coast of Portugal [are islands] like the Azores, Canary Islands, the Sardinia Islands, they all end up with Gladio training sites…. Just do a search on Sardinia and kidnapping. There are inordinate amount of kidnappings because what these people do is they practice on real people. OK? If you do the Canary Islands? That is where the sniper and snorkeling – sneaking up on boats — [training happens.] Do you know who was assassinated off the coast of the Canary Islands? Robert Maxwell. When he came up missing his boat was docked at the Canary Islands. I want to give at least the enlisted a pass. A lot of the Gladio training was done at Fort Bragg [NC] and Fort Benning. [Columbus, Georgia, Alabama border area] And there was an explosive school just north of the Rio Grande above Brownsville TX. 👉The assassination [training] was done at Fort Bragg.👈

(time 1:20:30)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I was watching an excellent episode of Breaking History and realized, we here at the Qtree had never identified the driving philosophy of the Cabal. I am not talking Marxism or Malthusianism (De-population) I am talking about the actual philosophy that drives the Cabal and has for centuries.

I do not have the actual name for it, Mercantilism is as close as I can come.

The feudal economic system was replaced by mercantilism in Western Europe and it became the dominant theory between 1500 and 1800. While England was at the epicentre of the British Empire, they unfortunately had limited natural resources and were eager to increase their wealth. During this period, there was [more] frequent military conflict and tension than before. Every government’s main objective was to back their military base to prevent attacks from other nations whilst also expanding their territory and the only way to do so was to earn sufficient money.

Mercantilists [AND BANKERS] took up this opportunity to persuade their governments to enact policies that would protect their own businesses against foreign [AND DOMESTIC] ones. In exchange, they would pay taxes to back the military. This resulted in the introduction of fiscal policies that were against the colonists which banned them from buying foreign items. All nations wanted to export more than they imported and receive bullion in return as they strongly believed that a nation’s economic health could be weighed by comparing how much they owned in precious metals. Shipping was also considered imperative during the mercantile period as they were used for merchant or military purposes and whoever controlled the oceans was deemed the strongest.

Colonial Manufacturing Restrictions – (dead link)

Colonial manufacturing restrictions refer to the laws and regulations imposed by colonial powers, particularly Britain,👉to control and limit the manufacturing capabilities of their colonies.👈

Dead link is: https://fiveable.me/key-terms/american-business-history/colonial-manufacturing-restrictions


Mercantilism and the Colonies of Great Britain

…mercantilism became the key economic model of the time. It encouraged the colonists to purchase goods from England rather than rival nations. 👉 The colonies sent raw materials to England where they were manufactured into finished products and sold to the colonists.👈 This allowed Britain to monopolize the slave trade, transporting slaves from English ports to America. High inflation and heavy taxation on the colonies caused a rift between the colonists and the British...

Essentially what you have is merchants, manufacturers and bankers working together to MAXIMIZE PROFIT. (World Economic Forum anyone?) Once you no longer have overt colonies, the best way to do that is to use wars, coups & the IMF to keep the 3rd world enslaved as raw material providers. Then you can use CHEAP labor in China & India to do the manufacturing in Cabal owned factories so the manufactured products can be sold, at a steep mark-up of course, to the first world middle class, slowly bankrupting them.

Heck the IMF even documents this wealth transfer!

The September 2012 IMF Report, World Economy: Convergence, Interdependence, and Divergence Finance & Development shows how far along the Cabal’s plan has gotten.

New convergence and strengthened interdependence coincide with a third trend, relating to income distribution. In many countries the distribution of income has become more unequal, and the top earners’ share of income in particular has risen dramatically. 👉In the United States the share of the top 1 percent has close to tripled over the past three decades, now accounting for about 20 percent of total U.S. income👈 (Alvaredo and others, 2012). At the same time, while the new convergence mentioned above has reduced the distance between advanced and developing economies when they are taken as two aggregates, there are still millions of people in some of the poorest countries whose incomes have remained almost stagnant for more than a century (see “More or Less,” F&D, September 2011). 👉These two facts have resulted in increased divergence between the richest people in the world and the very poorest, despite the broad convergence of average incomes.👈

The actual mechanism is the World Bank lends a country money. When the country defaults on the loan then the IMF steps in with their Structural Adjustment Programs. This link shows how the IMF implements their wealth transfer: IMF Structural Adjustment Programs

If a country does not ‘cooperate’ then the Cabal stages a coup.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

One of the key weapons the Cabal has used during the past century is Operation Gladio.

I want to stop at this point and point to this video that shows WHY Israel has been used to keep the Middle East in turmoil for nearly a century. War is a heck of a good way to prevent a country from developing a manufacturing base and having a chance of becoming a first world economy! Gore Bull Schiff Warming is the excuse fed to anyone on the Left who might notice this deliberate suppression of third world countries. It is also the excuse fed to the public for destroying first world countries.

Breaking history: Ep. 79: Breaking Free of Scarcity with NAWAPA and New Discoveries. The whole episode is good but you can start @ 40 minutes for the progress report.


Starting at 40 minutes, they go thru the massive water projects planned for the USA — passed into law in 1954 but side lined after JFKs death. — In China – dams are being built as we speak – and in Saudi Arabia — they are also being built. Water is a key necessity for not only Ag, but for industry. In the USA dams are targeted for destruction not creation. They also talk about Saudi Arabia’s breakthrough in producing lithium and other minerals from the waste water from oil fracking. The new technology is viable and being shared with Brazil.

If there is war, none of this could be done. ENTER OPERATION GLADIO

BACKGROUND

If you read the Prussiagate series and my Spies, Spooks, Snakes and The Sea Eye Aye it becomes clear the Nazis, NATO and the CIA are tied at the hip.

If you are at least aware of Mike Benz work on Cyberwarfare….

Tucker Carlson interview of Mike Benz: The Deep State’s Step-by-Step Plan to End Free Speech (2 hours)

Transcript of Tucker Carlson interview with Mike Benz with notes and emphases by Dr. Robert Malone on the transcript.

There is also an AI generated Transcript available below the video.

….

And aware of 5th generation warfare…

General Mike Flynn explains 5th generation warfare (Epoch Times 5 minute clip)

General Michael Flynn and Boon Cutler on 5th Generation Warfare (30 minutes)

….

And are aware of The Network of Global Corporate Control

 …we find that only 737 top holders accumulate 80% of the control over the value of all TNCs [Trans National Corporations] …This means that network control is much more unequally distributed than wealth. In particular, the top ranked actors hold a control ten times bigger than what could be expected based on their wealth…

…In detail, nearly 4/10 of the control over the economic value of TNCs in the world is held, via a complicated web of ownership relations, by a group of 147 TNCs in the core, which has almost full control over itself. The top holders within the core can thus be thought of as an economic “super-entity” in the global network of corporations. A relevant additional fact at this point is that 3/4 of the core are financial intermediaries….

….

Then Operation Gladio slides into place very nicely as the explanation. I am going to jump ahead to the first part of the 2nd in the series, to show how Operation Gladio fits into what we are seeing today.


OPERATION GLADIO – PART 2 “RELEVANCE” 


Rough Transcript from 6:30 to 12 minutes.

The 2020 election was a cyber coup. Mike Benz spent 5-6 yrs investigating it and talks about the cyber end of it NAMING the culprits: NATO, EU, UK, CIA, the Defense Department, the State Department. Colonel Towner says those are who she is going to talk about. The exact same people Mike says are involved in the Cyber War. Operation Gladio has been taken Kinetic. [Think Purple Revolution -GC] Mike is looking at the CYBER component of Operation Gladio within the USA. [General Mike Flynn calls it 5th Generation Warfare. -GC]

The Colonel says if you Read Gen Flynn’s book on 5th Generation Warfare, lay that side by side with the Tucker interview with Mike Benz AND you have the background on Operation Gladio, It is CLEAR EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING!

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There are several other Operation Gladio videos. The Operation Gladio rumble play list: https://rumble.com/playlists/PRTFAVgNAp0

The latest one, not yet listed, is a DOOZY!


OPERATION GLADIO – “BATTELLE AND THE CIA” – EP.376 — Jan 15,2025 2 hr

At 30 minutes the Colonel says BATTELLE, a nonprofit, was the overarching entity in charge of the DOE.

Battelle …was responsible for the ENTIRE CHAIN, from Ft Detrick, they are there. They are everywhere. 100 of millions of $$ of contracts with Ft Detrick. They have the custodial responsibility for the lab in Ukraine, the level 4 lab where all that schiff happened. And guess where else they are at. THE GEORGIA [The country of] LABS! BOTH known for releases of contagious diseases….

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Now to THE TRANSCRIPT. (It is long but worth reading or watching)

Operation Gladio & Colonel Towner PART 1 –February 13, 2023


Rough Transcript of this 1 hr, 45 minute video. I included rough time stamps too.

6:30

Synopsis of her bio:

Colonel Towner enlisted in the Air Force in 1979 right out of high school. She is mechanically inclined so work on airplanes. She was in for 8 yrs as an enlisted grunt, after 6 yrs she got a military scholarship and went to Indiana Univ. During that time she had a job with Evergreen airlines who had a contract with UPS. She was the only female mechanic but the guys found out a small female fits in spaces they do not.

When she finished her degree, the Air Force made her a personnel officer. (She was hoping for maintenance officer.) She was assigned to LA air force base in late 80s, during Star Wars. Nastar now GPS had just been declassified for civilian use. Put up a bunch of satellites. Re-asigned to Italy, Andrews AFB where Air Force 1 is. Whenever the pentagon went down to CENTCOM, US central Command, they used Andrews AFB. She was there over 9-11.

She got her masters at Air War college…. She was in for 30 yrs then retired. The she started watching Glen Beck and “realized everything I thought was true, was not true.”

Colonel Towner: “I am a big reader. I already had 2-300 books… Because my entire reason for enlisting was to get a college degree, at the end I had 6 degrees because I just like learning and they were free thanks to the tax payer. My idea was to give that information back… And to use my experience and education to help others understand what is going on in the world. You find out we have been lied to about everything. I now have about 800 books in my library….

You can see God’s hand in everything that I do because I will go from one book [she does videos of her book reviews] and in talking about that book, someone will say something that triggers something else and I will get another book and another book and another book. And they all seem to cohesively — and the weird thing is they are ALWAYS PERFECTLY TIMED WITH WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD.

What you just heard in the Tucker Carlson – Putin interview? Putin was telling you about Operation Gladio without using the name.

Both the 2004 ‘Revolution’ in Ukraine was Operation Gladio and the 2014 coup in Ukraine while people do not use that term. We will go thru some terms so you have them in the back of your mind. Because once you learn the language of what’s going on, you can’t NOT SEE IT. (12:00)

After the spaces [on X], Jack Posobic talks of Operation Gladio for the very first time. I do not think that is coincidental. And the next day, he goes on Bannon’s War Room and mentions it again. But he mentions it in a limited hangout way, because not only does he mispronounce it, which is a dead giveaway, but he infers that it is a Gladio 2.0 [Jack was not tossed off Twitter or Youtube, which is another tell. –GC]

There is only one Gladio and one organization that runs it world wide….

Epstein

“I read 2 books by  Whitney Webb, One Nation Under Blackmail vol 1 & 2 before I found out about Operation Gladio. When I read my 10th book about Operation Gladio, I was in a podcast and one of the girls who helps me do research put in the Chat, “We should do Whitney Webb’s book” Light bulb goes on and I say, Oh my gosh, that whole book is Gladio! I do book reviews on each book I read on Gladio, multi-chapter, We talk about each chapter…. We went back to do One Nation Under Blackmail, and when doing the 1st couple of chapters. She goes back to WWII and the OSS days when Gladio was created. AND IT’S ALL THE SAME PLAYERS every single step of the way.

Epstein & Wexner… I will just say this because it will be the tie in. When you realize the air operations, you and I were talking about. That contracted air that was set up in Columbus Ohio? It was done by the remnants of the Flying Tigers of the OSS out of Vietnam. It was also done in conjunction with Clinton and China selling small arms inside the USA. As soon as Congress forbid that, the air hub at Columbus Ohio exploded. There were flights coming from Hong Kong AND Clinton gave them their OWN two custom terminals. So every aspect of Operation Gladio, was fulfilled.

The Problem is until you know what the skeleton of Operation Gladio looks like. And you build the skeleton of Gladio, [for example] Whitney Webb does not know what Operation Gladio is. It is not mentioned in her book. She has no idea she is sitting on a powder keg. That is what you will find going forward. Once you have the framework you will see it everywhere. Because it is LITERALLY EVERYWHERE.

[Alpha talks of his Veterans show SitRep]

….The Vatican Church figures heavily in Gladio. They were a money laundering outfit for Gladio. Two of my best researchers I lost, they were both Catholic. They did not want to hear it. [Unfortunately this is a major problem. Having the veil ripped down so the filth and corruption shows is just too much for some people. — GC]

There is no one whose rice bowl got peed in more than Veterans. Because when you realize, every single mission you have been on more than likely in support of what I refer to as the International Syndicate, than it ever was for the USA that we, you & I, swore an oath to. [I call it the Cabal. -GC]

For People who were on the battle field and actually killed people, dropped bombs? To understand that you could have done that for an entity that has nothing to do with the safety and security of your country is devastating. BUT at the same time what you cannot do, is you cannot allow it to continue. So the only way we can fight is with truth. [THIS BTW is why Janet Napolitano & DHS labeled Veterans as potential Domestic Terrorists. They are a danger to the Cabal. — GC]

We have to know what the truth is, and once we understand what the truth is we can make sure it does not perpetuate itself. That’s why I am here. [AMEN! and that is why I do these articles – GC]

Every single thing I talk about has already been proven. It is not a theory. It is not a Conspiracy.

I am very picky about the authors I use. I want to see the State Dept. cables, I want to see the financial transactions. The ones I base my book reviews on have all that documentation. That is important because everything I say from here is highly controversial but it is all factual unfortunately.

I am going to start with terminology. The first thing you have to remember, because you are going to see these terms often in the future. So when you see them in the future your brain should immediately go OPERATION GLADIO.

Operation Gladio is an umbrella term. There are sub-elements of it. One of which is Operation Condor. Operation Condor was the Gladio effort dedicated strictly to South America.

Compass Rose was the initial effort of Operation Gladio that was launched inside of Europe.They were also referred to as stay behind units.

A Stay behind unit was a group of 15 to 20 civilians. As originally created in Germany by Nazis. They were called Werewolf Units. They carried that term from 1942 to the end of the war. They were civilians by day and killers by night. You are going to hear Werewolf a whole lot more in the future including Neo-Nazis in the USA.

The training squad in Ukraine from the US Air Force, right now training pilots, is called Grey Wolves, which is the operator Gladio from Turkey. The Neo-nazis in the USA today call themselves Werewolves because they are configured just like stay behind units.

In addition to having the personnel, and they were all trained, there are some designated training sites. You [Alpha] as a marine may recognize some of the sites because our special operations trained a lot of these people unbeknownst to them as they were ‘joint training’ in Europe. [Not suprising given Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2 — GC]

They had stashes of weaponry to include; small arms, explosives, money and com equipment. They would bury them in chests. They would bury them in national parks systems that could be secured. Often times off limits to the normal foot traffic. That is true in the USA too BTW.

I watched a 2 hr documentary of an investigate journalist who went thru Holland trying to find these stay behind unit stashes. He spent 4 years looking. They found tons of them. I even asked the guy who brought it to my attention if he could translate so I could put subtitles on it. I posted it on my Twitter Acct…. In Italy alone there were over 600 of these stashes. Over 600 stay behind units with 15 to 20 people in each one. That is how massive it is.

It is also referred to as ‘Strategy of Tension’ It is important to understand this concept. The world we live in today operates on a strategy of tension. Most people do not know enough history to realize that if you look at a world map of 1910 and you look at a world map of 1950 there are a lot of ‘made-up countries’ that did not exist in 1910.

Well Putin just told you. Ukraine was made up out of whole cloth. There was no Ukraine. There was Poland and there was Russia. Look at the 1910 map of the Middle East. There was a country that no longer exists called Kurdistan. Well what happen to Kurdistan? Well the geniuses at the end of WWII decided that we are needed to break up Kurdistan and put the pieces in Turkey, Syria, Northern Iraq and Northern Iran. So where is all the conflict? Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Why is that? Because of the strategy of tension.

Pakistan did not exist in 1910. Where do we have a lot of Schiff going on? Afghanistan and India! Why? Because of Pakistan.

The International Syndicate [Cabal] decided to make up countries out of whole cloth. Taking what they KNEW to be fault lines, so they could create a perpetual War Machine to terrorize people, generate refugees – Called Human Trafficking – and forever establish the Military Industrial Complex that would be used to manipulate the world from the end of WWII until today. [I would say it was set up in 1913 if not well before. -GC]

We have never NOT KNOWN WAR. All of this has to do with this same concept. It is all done on purpose.

The Kurdish people over time had congregated into a geographic location because they were ostracized. They were not Muslim as we know Muslim. I was in Iraq for 6 months and talked to a lot of the Kurdish leaders because I was the exec officer for a 2 star Army general that ran Taskforce Bravo that was all of Northern Iraq during the 1991 conflict. So I spent a lot of time with these guys. It is almost a mix between Christianity & Islam. So they are not liked by anybody. So they kinda congregated in a location and then after WWII they sliced it all up and Well it would be like pouring acid on your body. So they created a scab, and the UK and USA pick that scab whenever they want to.

And they did this all over the world. So it is important they you understand ‘Strategy of Tension.’

In Italy it is know as the years of lead because of the lead bullets. When ever they activate these terror units, you get a lot of dead bodies. Journalists who write about it die, Judges that adjudicate it die, prosecutors that prosecute it die and obviously the victims of the explosions, the train stations, the banks… ALL over Italy lots of dead bodies.

And my last term… All of this system was set up under “ANTI-COMMUNISM”

As Putin pointed out and Tucker afterwards, the Soviet Union and now when it is Russia, they have never been an aggression focused nation. But the instigators set up the Soviet Union and then Russia as a bogyman, to terrorize their own population via the stay behind Gladios Units. They sold this concept, a little bit in the public but primarily to the under levels of the government. The senior levels knew what they were going to use it for. That it was going to be used for domestic use. But for the rest of the people, it was sold under the guise that it was Anti-Communist.

So just in case those Soviet people come over the gap and invade Europe, we have all these stay behind units that will pop-up and kill them all.

But if you start looking into the Anti-communist league, and anti-communist anything. They had anti-communist non-profits. Every single one of them is saturated with CIA agents, MI6 agents and MOSSAD agents. They are front companies, non-profits having to do with orchestrating Domestic Violence and ZERO to do with anti-communist. So when ever you hear anti-communist the hair on the back of your neck should stand up. You need to look at the board of directors, everything about them because it will be sketchy as hell.

The International Syndicate

When I first started doing this, if I said something about the Vatican or the Catholic Bank, I would get inundated with these bots – OH it is the Jesuits.

If I say anything about MOSSAD – Oh it’s the fake Jews or the Khazarian Mafia.

I do not know if any of that is true and it means ZERO to me. It is a limited hangout. You have already reached the conclusion without doing the investigation.

I call the industrialists, the bankers, the politicians, the elites and the religious organizations The International Syndicate. I have not gotten into who they are. I will get into a little bit of the theory that drives the entire thing because that is important to understand. Naming names at this point is not important and it bogs you down from understanding the apparatus.

ALPHA: If you know their names, they are not it.

The Colonel: Everything you see is a cloaking device for the people you don’t see.

The life cycle ( Business model)

600+ stashes plus the 15 – 20 people per stash, ready at a moments notice , that costs money. This is a big budget item. Well there is no money on the appropriations side so this is all black [off the books] funded.

[HMMMmmm Is this where some of the ‘LOST’ Pentagon billions went? -GC]

So how are you going to make the money. Initially the choice was selling drugs. Where are you going to get the drugs? Poppy fields. Just follow our wars. Every place we have had a war is a source of poppy fields.

…During veterans day, don’t the banks HAND OUT RED POPPIES?

ALPHA: I never thought about that! [Q said watch for the symbols – GC]

The military is there to guard the poppy fields. Most countries do not want the stuff in their country so you have to have wars. With wars you have mil equip ==> war zone & then drugs come back on the empty planes. [Or as Dr MacDonald found, in the dead bodies. GC] This is all documented BTW

Guns, fighter jets, helicopters, they don’t make it to where they are supposed to go . And then the items show up on black market. (37 min)

War makes a lot of ‘refuges’ so they can sell people too. They sell, drugs, weapons, human trafficking, this is what pays for Operation Gladio. People with a conscious get blackmailed (more money) Think Epstein. They are ALL tied to this business model. (39 min)

Stay behind units were first used in Boer wars in S. Africa in late 1800s. Boers were Dutch (and native) farmers. Then the Brits came down a bit further south. They started mining found diamonds & gold in Rhodesia. Think Cecil Rhodes & Milner Round Table. They wanted the gold found in S. Africa so they sent in the British military.

At the time Winston Churchill was a reporter with the Brit Army. They got their butts kicked by stay behind units. The Boers set up buried arms dumps. So during the second Boer war the Brits set up concentration camps to put women and children in and then they killed EVERYONE! The Brits were the first to use concentration camps. (41 min)

Rio Tinto (British) is a massive worldwide mining outfit. It uses slave labor. (41:45) They are a massive conglomerate that ruins everything they touch.

….

Rio Tinto (corporation) – Wikipedia

Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world’s second largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain.…


How Rio Tinto Uses Technology For Ethical Mining – Nanalyze 2019/03 [lie much?]

The latest mining technology from Rio Tinto brings robotics, big data, and other automation capabilities to an industry better known for the black lung.

….

The best example I have run across is in Brazil. The CIA under Operation Condor staged a coup in Brazil. Prior to the coup, there were 50-60 businesses, all owned by wealthy Brazilians. It was the ‘Democracy’ they [the Cabal -GC] all say they want. BUT they were not under the thumb of the UK or the USA… They did not have control of their industries. So they staged a coup. After the coup the big conglomerates [network of transnational corporations GC] came in. Then there were only seven Brazilian owned companies. [After Reagan’s leveraged buyouts and the ratification of the WTO the USA saw something similar. -GC]

That is the reason they are doing what they are doing and they do not care how many people they kill in the process. PEOPLE ARE EXPENDABLE AS LONG AS THEY GET CONTROL.

Where they are going with this, and what Winston Churchill was feeding is this Fabian Society, one world government, London School of Economics, Balfour Agreement, all of those people got together and they decided we are going to have one government in the world and we will control it at the Round Table. You are going to have a Pan America, you are going to have a Pan Europe, you are going to have a Pan Asia, you are going to have a British Empire. Eventually the pan Arabic leg of it was added.. But there is no pan Africa because all those people in the syndicate think that Black people are inferior and will always be slaves. That is why when they started selling drugs in the USA every shipment was focused on inner city blacks…. They started off in Harlem, moved to LA, moved to San Francisco, to Baltimore, to St Louis, every inner city black was to be hooked on drugs and they were going to use them to imprison them. This is the mentality of the people were are dealing with. They are the scum of the earth.

This why you have to understand why they do what they do, where their focus is, and how they do it. Because in the future, … When I saw that Oct 7th Hamas attack? That was a Gladio operation.. We will talk about it later but, Hamas was created and funded by the US CIA and Israel’s Mossad.

ALPHA: When I was a young detective and first started learning about Gangs, esp out here in CA you hear about the Bloods and the Crips. But talk about gov’t officials being the ones to start this,…

Colonel Towner: Oh I can even tell you the names!, I have articles pinned. We can get into the details probably in the second show. I can give you the names of the CIA agents that were focusing on this and the DEA agent ?Anglinger? Or what ever. The first guy who was in charge of the precursor of the DEA, he is on record saying, that every major drug bust that they did, they were never able to get the top echelon because they were ALL CIA AGENTS! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. The ones who get arrested and held accountable are the low level guys. Wait til I get to the ‘War on Drugs’ (47 Min)

The second stage of all of this for me was figuring out — Well I have got who is doing it, this British Fabian round Table Crowd. So how did Communism and Fascism enter into the picture? You have to go back and read Antony C. Sutton’s books “Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution” and “Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler” and “Wall Street and FDR: The True Story of How Franklin D. Roosevelt Colluded with Corporate America” I highly recommend reading his trilogy, they are not that thick.

There is an address in NYC called 120 Broadway. It is where the Fed was, it was where FDRs first office was, the Boys Club, the Dinner Club, the Rockefellers’ office is, the Rothschilds, the banks, JP Morgan, They are ALL in this building. They orchestrate EVERYTHING out of this building. They do not have to go out side. They funded the Bolsheviks.

Trotsky lived in NYC for several years waiting for the war to end so he could plant the Bolshevik flag.… The Russian civil war in the early 1900s was actually instigated. The were generals that wanted a national referendum, a democracy. Well that was not going to be allowed. Those generals were murdered by people who came from the USA or Britain. The money for the Bolsheviks came from 120 Broadway and London UK. London housed Lenin, NYC, housed Trotsky. Trotsky went from USA to Canada to Russia on a State Department Visa. [When Canada tried to stop him, the USA intervened -GC] Lenin left London went thru Germany, thru Finland into Russia. London & US facilitated the creation of Bolshevik “Communism.” (50 min)

They did the same thing with Nazism. When Hitler is in prison, Do you know who ‘paid’ to help him write Mein Kempf? We did! We took money from 120 Broadway. Anthony Sutton has the actual transactions because they were carried in diplomatic pouches thru the State Department to transfer the money to pay for his ‘Aide’ to write that doctrine. The Reichstadt fire was a false flag…. It was all set up to create Marshall law and usher in Hitler….

I say that because it is important to understand under the Strategy of Tension, if you don’t have chaos and control, then you cannot manipulate people…. So if I can make you really scared of Nazism…

Why do they call that Far-Right? Fascism is not on the right.

If I draw a line. At the start is anarchy with no government, then comes a republic with a very small amount of government. Then you have democracy and then fascism, communism and totalitarianism. There is NOTHING far right about fascism. So Why do they call it that? That is psychological operations. (52 min)

👉 Because what you have over here in anarchy and a republic is NATIONALISM. And it is not coincidental that they call them [the NAZIs] nationalists, in order for you to associate you standing up for your country, and Putin being a nationalist for Russia and Trump being a nationalist for the USA as Nationalism as in FASCISM. (53 min)

They want you, in your brain, to correlate nationalism with fascism because NATIONALISM is the death spiral, stab in the heart, to Global World Order.👈

Because there is nothing about fascism that is on the right side of anything. And it is not coincidental that when you label Left and Right in the USA that the Republicans became the Fascist ‘Right’ and the Democrats became the Communist Left. That is ALL Psychological Operations to mess with your head. Because we know, as quasi libertarian small government conservative, WE ARE NOT NAZIs! We love our country. But it is important that they label you that [NAZIs] So just keep that in mind.

That is the kind of stuff you discover when you read these books. It is all a mind game for them… It is to isolate you and to attack you.

Colonel Towner: My husband pointed out that the TV program ‘Get Smart’ [Created by Mel Brooks & Buck Henry -GC] had the two organizations called KAOS and CONTROL and was telling you to ‘Get Smart’ Strategy of Tension? MIND BLOWING! That is what they are actually doing. They create chaos (the bad guy) to get control supposedly the good guy. They are creating chaos to get control of you and they are using the Strategy of Tension to do it.

We know, thru operation Paperclip, that the CIA has programming discretion thru out Hollywood. It will really blow your mind if we get to Laurel Canyon and the whole 1960s movie industry THAT DID NOT EXIST. The movie industry was in New York. They [CIA] went to southern California and created the movie industry lock, stock and barrel.

ALPHA: WHAAAAaaat!

Colonel Towner: In Laurel Canyon. That was an entire CIA operation AND I CAN PROVE IT!

I will send you a link that you can share with your viewers. There is a guy who wrote a series of articles on this that is the best work I have ever seen. He wrote a book that you can read online.

[In the 1960s] Every single musician, go back and look at them, their Dad was either in the CIA or the military. How did they get out of the draft? OH, because they were already employed.

This journey has been SO MIND BLOWING TO ME. Every day, I have a couple of researchers helping me on stuff. We are working on domestic Gladio Units right now. Hands down it will blow your mind.

ALPHA: This makes me re-evaluate everyone who got out of the Draft good or bad.

Colonel Towner: When we get to WWII and they are setting-up these gladio units, there was a General Wolfe who worked for General Galland who was Hitler’s Chief of intel. [Although there is nothing said about that on the internet -GC]

The reason I say we did not win WWII, was because of a decision made around 1942.

…..

Colonel Towner makes it clear that this is her theory, based on what she has read:

If you under stand Operational War Plans, you have a strategic level, an operational level and a tactical level. The strategy is ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. That is the goal. They wanted Germany to be in charge of the New World Order at that time. The Operational Level was how to go about doing that. And the Tactical Level is the kinetic level. They realized the Kinetic level was not going to be a winnable solution.

So if I change my operational focus to infiltrating the world; with all my Nazi scientists, all my Nazi operators like Skorzeny and thru Gladio; if I can get the apparatus built at the Operational level, then I can effect a one world government at the tactical level with my Gladio units. I can coup any government in the world. I can bring in my international syndicate [aka transnational corporations] to take over all of their resources. I can get as rich as I want. I can control the entire world without firing another shot in a conventional war.

In my mind, this is what I have been building towards the more I learn, because you see a drastic change in the war in 1942. With these stay behind units and the filtering out of them after the war is ‘officially’ over. The distribution of the Nazis, and not all of them are scientists. There is just so much to that.

When the change of focus occurs in Germany in 1942, they create the very first Werewolf Units and put them in all of the Axis territories. Now we get to the end of the war. Galland arranges a meeting with Allen Dulles. Allen Dulles is the OSS commander for the European theater under Wild Bill Donovan. Dulles meets with Galland and they come to an agreement. Galland gets to stay free. They are going to bring Galland in a 4 star uniform with fake documents to the USA. They will de-brief him. They will scout out all the stay behind units and networks in the Axis territories and they are going to take them over. They create the ‘mirror’ in alley countries AND it will all be run out of NATO.

There are two organizations in NATO that are the planning and funding coordinators for Operation Gladio. One of which is called the ACC. It is a highly classified organization. Most people assigned to NATO do not know it exists. It is documented in Paul William’s book Operation Gladio. And also mentioned in Daniele Ganser’s book NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe

…In 1990, when Gladio got exposed in Italy, Italy is the only country that did an exhaustive investigation and exposed it. One of the things that came out on the magic date of Aug 2nd when it all got revealed, is there was a meeting in NATO of Gladio participants in Oct of 1990. They had the meeting despite the blow-up in Italy, probably to mitigate or cover-up. In Nov, reports paint Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti as the king pin in Italy. Well he is not going down alone. As soon as fingers were pointed at Andreotti, reporters start asking their politicians, what do you know about Gladio. Andreotti calls a press conference and on national TV in Italy, he says OH, pol XXX doesn’t know anything about Gladio? He was at the meeting last month. He named names and by doing so verified that NATO was the coordinator of ALL of it and they were the ones who hosted the planning meetings.

WHY was that hidden from the USA who was the primary funder of NATO?

[Alpha mentions the soldier who would not wear the UN uniform. — GC]

Colonel Towner says you will find enlisted special forces US military personnel, posing as mercenaries and fighting along side the CIA. The CIA posing as soldiers…. She then said the Covid Clot Shot was another litmus test. It was about getting rid of Patriotic Soldiers. It was a cleansing of the US military. In anticipation of what I do not know….. (1:09:00)

Skorzeny worked for Galland, 3 or 4 levels down. He features prominently in training and in execution of operations including the murder of JFK. He trained stay behind units. Hitler called him to rescue Mussolini. [Skorzeny rescued Mussolini ] Well they have about 15 playbooks. The one Skorzeny pulled of the shelf that day was PARAGLIDERS… think Hamas on October 7th. This has been used more than once in Gladio Operations around the world. They are trained to do this in isolated areas. Also they love attacking music venues because, from a psychological operation perspective, killing women and children are your high value target. This is because you get the emotional terror associated with it. If you want emotional trauma in your strategy of tension, you go for women and children every time… (1:11:11)

[….Discussion of soft targets like fairs & festivals where guns are forbidden…. -GC]

👉Skorzeny at Nuremberg? A guy from the UK testifies on his behalf and gets him off. A guy from Dallas Texas prepared his defense AND the same guy played a roll in the JFK assassination. (1:16:10)

In Paul William’s book, they established that in order for a NATO country to become a part of NATO, there is actually a separate secret agreement. You HAVE TO agree to create stay behind units. 👉I want everyone to understand, if you are in NATO you HAVE stay behind units and there are no exceptions. (1:17:00)

Also…. NATO did not start in Belgium. NATO was set up in Paris. Why don’t we know this? Well the first thing you would ask is why did they move? You want to know why they moved? Because they were kicked out. Because of stay behind units. They were kicked out of [France] because the OAS that eventually gets Kennedy, tried to kill Charles de Gaulle, who was the president, over 20 times. They set up over 20 assassination attempts IN FRANCE OF THE SITTING PRESIDENT! And finally deGaulle calls the NATO commander and says you’ve got 6 months dude, your OUT and I want YOU gone tomorrow. I want EVERYTHING GONE IN SIX MONTHS, and you are gone tomorrow. DeGaulle kicked the 4 star general out. And that 4 star general? He was the author of Operation Northwoods [Cuba] So he ran the ops to get DeGaulle and ALSO ran the ops to get JFK!…. (1:19:00)

So that sets the stage for the new operations, because most of it now is going to be ran by Skorzeny out of Spain…

I’ll cover this real quick. We [The Werewolf Units] had to have training right? Even though Skorzeny had trained the units in the axis countries you had the allied operators that needed Gladio training. So off the coast of Portugal [are islands] like the Azores, Canary Islands, the Sardinia Islands, they all end up with Gladio training sites…. Just do a search on Sardinia and kidnapping. There are inordinate amount of kidnappings because what these people do is they practice on real people. OK? If you do the Canary Islands? That is where the sniper and snorkling – sneaking up on boats [training happens] Do you know who was assassinated off the coast of the Canary Islands? Robert Maxwell. When he came up missing his boat was docked at the Canary Islands.

I want to give at least the enlisted a pass. A lot of the Gladio training was done at Fort Bragg [NC] and Fort Benning. [Columbus, Georgia, Alabama border area] And there was an explosive school just north of the Rio Grande above Brownsville TX. A lot of the Gladio trainees got ‘Specialized Training’ — on ‘Wetworks’ Primarily the assassination [training] was done at Fort Bragg. (1:20:30 – 1:21:30)

So it is not uncommon to have foreigners in classes. We teach foreigners all the time. You would not know they are Gladio operators. They can show up in uniforms even if they are civilians. Governments dress them up in uniforms to camouflage the fact they are civilians and send them to our schools for training. [My Ex, attending Officer training at Fort Sill, just after ‘Nam said they had Israelis and Arabs in his OTC classes. — GC]

Also favorite training sites were done under World Wildlife Fund [WWF.] The World Bank would lend money to African countries [they knew they could not pay back.] Get them on the hook and tell them, we will forgive that loan for ‘preservations’. [Property the WWF turned into ‘Wildlife Preserves’] Thus they would get large swaths of wooded land and set up Gladio Training camps. So every time you see WWF know it is a front organization for GLADIO. They did this a lot with non-profits, that is just the biggest one…

Again, they coerced a lot of African countries to give up a lot of their land, but again they think of them as slaves and that they do not matter.

….

Discussion of it happening here in the USA follows. For example Alpha mentions a major bicycling event near a national park where a lot of people go missing. The colonel said to google Missing and National Park. There are like 1,200 people who have just disappeared. (1:23:00)

At 1:28:24 chat comment – HelpMeRhonda

At least 1,180 people were reported missing from US national parks between 2018 and 1st 2 months of 2023, according to records obtained by The Post via a Freedom of Information Act request – Jun 14, 2023

…..

Alpha then talks about GANGS. He mentions a gang conference he went to as a LEO and also about MS 13.

ALPHA: Go and research how MS 13 started. And it is OUR DELTA FORCE! It is a Delta force operator that trained that gang to be what it is. But the scary part is, in this conference, IT IS SATANIC and WITCHCRAFT and RITUALS that come along with it. And the CRIMES! If you think the cartels are scary? These, these people, the crimes they have been a part of? It will keep you up at night. And then we hear all of a sudden, they have become the hitmen of all the different cartels. All the different gangs. And we hear their coming across our southern border… It is a concern for me….

COLONEL TOWNER: Everything you said is SO CRITICAL! Many if not all of the CARTELS ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE CIA. IT IS THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST TODAY. The same thing with the point you made with the Delta Force guy and the creation of gangs.

My worry is not the obvious which is what you talked about, with the people coming across the border. I think that is what they want us to focus on. MY WORRY IS WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN HERE AND IS TRAINED. They will use these people [illegals] as they did with the 9-11 hijackers. They wanted us to believe it was radical Islamists because they became the new boogeyman after the communists fell. So what ever they want you to believe? It is not that.

They are importing people to disguise the ones who are already here. If an event happens, they will try to frame a new person, but it will not be a new person. It will be units who are already here, trained to do what they are going to do. It will not be random. (1:26:00 – 1:30:00)

Summation of OPERATION IN A NUTSHELL: Since 1948, Everything they tell THE PEOPLE, without exception, IS A LIE!

I sure hope Q is on our side and that POTUS Trump is ‘well insulated’ and ‘Has it ALL!’

American Stories: When in the Course of human events – Part 3

Before we begin this inspiring part of our signers of the Declaration of Independence series, I have one more note for the readers on the research involved in this series. Many of the historical accounts disagree with each other on specifics. For example some may have a person leaving a town for another in one year and others in a different year. Some may include career details in one place or another doing one one thing or another that are different than other accounts. Some of our subject signers left journals, letters and other accounts for posterity; while others left nothing, just the accounts of supporters and detractors. I have one account of a person dying in one year, but attending a gala later that same year. Details matter, however, in doing these summarized accounts of American Patriot lives going back over three centuries, I reserve the right to miss the mark in the minor details as I am working from other people’s sources and works. I consider numerous accounts before I write. I attempt to ferret through the details and determine what I believe best summarizes the truth and message learned from their lives. I also want to represent them as real people like all of us, not some gods whose actions or words cannot be questioned. After all, there is only the one I AM that holds that title.

It is now time for us to review the role of an important group of patriot trouble makers toward the British Crown. Their role is unquestioned in moving the needle toward independence for the colonists.

The Sons of Liberty

We started this series with John Hancock, a card carrying member of the Sons of Liberty if there ever was one. We can easily see how he would be associated with this loosely organized group of patriots who were antagonists to the Brits. He was proud of his role in the early days of the independence movement. To learn more about this group please read the link below.

https://www.history.com/news/sons-of-liberty-members-causes

Not much else needs said about them. You did not want to cross them, they would make your life miserable if you were an American loyalist Tory or sympathizer. They were some of the most important founding fathers of our nation. One Son of Liberty may have been the most important in the movement and I have briefly discussed him previously.

Samuel Adams

From the link above…

“The Sons’ most prominent leader was Samuel Adams, the son of a wealthy brewer who was more interested in radical rabble-rousing than commerce. Adams wrote his masters thesis at Harvard on the lawfulness of resisting British rule. While George Washington eventually led the war effort against the British, “the truth is that there might not have been a fight to begin with had it not been for the work of Sam Adams,” writes historian Les Standiford.”

Both Adams and Hancock were hated and feared by the Brits as will be discussed later in this story. Samuel Adams was so outspoken about independence that he put the world on notice while a student at Harvard, a college that was filled with loyalist students sent there by their aristocratic, Tory parents. It is no wonder that fellow average colonists who desired independence joined in with the Sons of Liberty’s exploits to push the Brits beyond their limits.

Samuel Adams was born in 1722 in Boston. He was the son of Samuel and Mary Adams, Sr. He was one of twelve children, however, only three survived past the age of three. His father was a wealthy merchant and deacon in the Puritan Church. His father became active in Boston politics and eventually rose to elected office in the MA House of Representatives. Integrity was instilled in the couple that passed to their son. Adams, Sr. was active in the town meetings and sided with the popular party, which was the precursor to the Whigs, or, Patriot party.

His parents hoped young Samuel would gravitate more toward ministry in the church, but as time passed Samuel became more involved in politics. After Harvard, Samuel became a partner in his father’s malthouse business. He was not a good businessman at all and it eventually was closed. During the period the local economy began experiencing a cash shortage. His father became involved with other business leaders in creating a local land bank that included the creation of paper currency in 1739 by using borrower mortgages as security. Most of the area citizens fully supported it, which concerned the loyalists. The aristocratic, Court Party held control over governance and used the Brits to dissolve the bank through an act of Parliament. Directors of the bank who included young Samuel’s father were held personally liable for all of the currency outstanding, which had to be repaid in gold and silver. Lawsuits continued over the years even after his father’s death. As Samuel dealt with them it remained a constant reminder to him of the untrustworthy Brits and loyalists, the Tories. It became fuel for his patriot fire.

Meanwhile Samuel’s interest and influence in politics and independence continued to grow. He was elected to a clerk position of the Boston market in 1747. To understand more about the market, Faneuil Hall, its origin and place in the American revolution, please read the link below.

https://citydays.com/places/faneuil-hall-market

At that point Samuel also assumed control over his family’s affairs when his father passed away a year later. A year after that he married Elizabeth Checkley, his pastor’s daughter. She bore them six children over the next seven years, but only two survived to adulthood. Elizabeth passed away with the stillbirth of their last child. Some years later he married Elizabeth Wells and they had no children.

As his prominence and popularity grew, in 1756 he was elected into the position of tax collector. The problem was he could not always force himself to collect taxes from some of the people. However, that did make him even more popular with the people. By 1765 the deficit in collections had risen significantly and become a governmental problem. His political opponents used it against him and by 1768 he was forced to pay a large judgment. Friends helped raise funds and a portion was written off. Yet, it did nothing to reduce his popularity with the people and the “popular party” of patriots.

The Brits had incurred huge debts in the winning of the French and Indian War. They looked to the colonies as a source of taxation to repay much of it, rationalizing their victory helped the colonies. Through the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence, Adams contested every move and interpretation taken by the Brits and loyalists. He led boycotts to counter. This led to confrontations over the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshends Act, and more. Many times his arguments and boycotts were successful. However, it did not stop the Brits from overreach. Finally, with the British occupation of Boston by four regiments of troops in 1768, Adams gave up any hope of reconciliation.

Adams continued to try to get the Brits to remove their regiments without full success. This culminated in the Boston Massacre of 1770 when five colonists were killed. Through his efforts this led to the remaining regiments being withdrawn from Boston even if the Brits resisted allowing trials of their murdering soldiers. In a compromise he arranged for his cousin, John Adams, to defend the accused to present a more balanced view of the hearings to both colonists and Brits. Six of the eight soldiers involved were acquitted of charges. The other two received reduced sentences for manslaughter with a simple branding on a hand.

Please note that despite many other depictions and representations, Samuel and John Adams were cousins, not brothers. They also became political opponents later in life.

The resolution of the Boston Massacre led to a “quiet” period of a couple of years. After losing an election for Register of Deeds, Samuel won another term to the MA House of Representatives. When the Brits took over the colonists’ role of paying the Governor, Lt. Governor and Superior Court Justices; Adams and supporters felt the Brits had overstepped their legal authority once again. Adams and associates devised a system of Committees of Correspondence to circulate information throughout the colony about the British activities. Loyalist Governor Hutchinson became concerned and entered into this discourse, which gave Adams an opening to make his points for the colonists and in support of independence. In mid 1773 Adams and associates seized the opportunity and published the widely circulated Boston Pamphlet that addressed colonist rights along with the past written statements from letters of the loyalist Governor to Adams. This effectively ended Hutchinson’s political career.

When Parliament passed the Tea Tax later in 1773 the colonies went into a rage due to the effect it would have on the economy of the colonies. This soon led to the often referenced Boston Tea Party and the Brits’ responses through the Coercive Acts. As they say, the rest is history; all of which Adams was in the middle of as a charismatic, rebel leader of the colonists along with John Hancock.

The events leading to the Revolutionary War began to happen at an increasing pace. After attending the First Continental Congress, Hancock and Adams decided to stay at Hancock’s Lexington home when they were informed by fellow patriots that British General Gage had been dispatched from Boston with troops for their capture. They escaped, but this move by Gage incited the American militia in Lexington and Concord to battle them in the start of the Revolutionary War.

As the Second Continental Congress met and the Declaration of Independence was introduced and signed by Adams and the others, he began a crusade against American loyalists. In a 1776 speech in Philadelphia, he went after all who sided with the Crown. “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom—go from us in peace,” Adams said. “We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.” A few years later he pushed for exiling all loyalists as well as the payment of reparations through confiscating their properties. He considered them traitors to the America he loved.

He helped draft the Articles of Confederation and in 1781 returned to Boston where he entered state politics. He was elected to the MA Senate, Lt. Governor and later Governor for three, one year terms after Hancock passed away. He remained a man of the people and supported free education for all including women, which was considered highly controversial. He tried to return to national politics as he had concerns about the soon to be enacted Constitution, but was not successful. In the end he signed along with Hancock to ratify the Constitution, which was approved by a narrow majority in MA. His influence began to wane and he lost a vote in 1796 for a potential VP position to his cousin, John Adams, on the Thomas Jefferson ticket. He was pleased when his cousin lost a run for POTUS four years later.

At that point he retired. He and his wife had no financial issues as he had received income from his surgeon son who had served in the Revolutionary War when he passed away at age 37. The couple had always lived modestly, so they had enough. He passed away in 1803 at the age of 81 from Essential Tremors that had plagued him the last decade of his life.

Samuel Adams was a political firebrand with Puritan ethics and integrity that influenced legions of moderate colonists to embrace independence. He had been deeply influenced in his younger years during his education and from literature that held the view and belief that all people are born with specific rights and that governments exist by consent of the people. It fit his worldview as a Puritan and patriot. This was imprinted even more deeply into his being when he observed what the Brits and American Tories did to the land bank. The resulting legal hardships it caused his father and later, himself, as he handled the family affairs after his father died were never forgotten. He wanted all Americans who sought independence to be free of the oppressors.

There may never have been a Revolutionary War and our independence without patriots such as Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty.

Charles Carroll

Seemingly entering the scene of patriots as a dignified wealthy aristocrat, Charles Carroll proved to have a steely resolve that was no less strong than that of John Hancock or Samuel Adams. Given his family’s background and circumstances one would think he would have sided with the Tories or otherwise taken a life of neutral, non-commitment to patriot causes. Perhaps his learned appreciation for all things French through the years influenced his future thoughts about British rule.

Charles “Charley” Carroll was born in Annapolis, MD in 1737 into a mega wealthy plantation family. At the time of the Revolution he was likely the wealthiest of all American colonists as he inherited a fortune of land and assets that was the equivalent of $375 million even then, the equivalent of multi billions today. His father’s side descended from Irish rulers and his mother’s side was English. Since they were Catholics, he attended Jesuit prep school until age 11 when he was sent to France where he was educated by Jesuits at St. Omer, France; at seminary in Rheims; as a graduate at the College of Louis the Grande in Bourges; as well as other studies in Paris and finally, an apprenticeship in law in London. He returned to Maryland in 1765 in the middle of the rancor of the Stamp Act that he adamantly opposed. He became involved immediately as his dignified manner and intelligence helped bring order to the response. He enthusiastically joined a group of patriots and fully supported independence even if it meant armed conflict. He made himself quite clear with the quote, “Neither my millions nor my writing will settle this just cause, but the bayonet will.”

Carroll was elected to represent Maryland on the 4th of July and was too late to vote for the Declaration, however he arrived in time to sign it. Since Carroll was a common surname, he signed it Charles Carroll of Carrollton. At which time he told Hancock, “Let there be no doubt there is only one Carrollton.” Throughout the period leading up to the signing Carroll had been a tireless promoter of independence and debated frequently with great eloquence and skill from his religious and law background. He represented Maryland within the Samuel Adams promoted Committees of Correspondence. Due to his fluency in the language he was chosen along with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and his cousin John Carroll to visit with French Canadian Catholics to seek assistance for the colonies. The effort was unsuccessful. This lack of success only strengthened his patriotic resolve.

He served on the Board of War during some of the darkest years for the colonies. He remained a staunch defender of George Washington as well as a close friend. Both were like-minded conservatives by nature from planters backgrounds and opposed the confiscation of Tory land that Samuel Adams and others proposed. They both fought against the enlistment of slaves into the army without there being adequate compensation to slave owners.

He served two years in the Continental Congress before returning to his native Maryland to assist in state government, where he was elected into the Maryland Senate and for a brief period as a U. S. Senator. He resigned the latter when he was prohibited by law from serving both roles as he much preferred serving his state. He did so in the MD Senate for nearly 25 years until retirement.

He was somewhat ambivalent about the issue of slavery. The Carroll family owned the most slaves of anybody at the start of the Revolution. He personally owned 400 – 500 at one point. Yet, he stated frequently his desire for slavery to end and even introduced a bill to gradually do so, which failed. Even with his beliefs on the issue he still did not release his own. In the later years of his life he supported and led the movement to return slaves to a free status in the nation of Liberia and other African nations.

He retired from public life and politics in 1801. He would occasionally be seen in ceremonial roles through the years. Much of his time was spent operating his many businesses. He lived the longest of all Declaration signers and passed away at age 95 in 1832.

His story could have stopped there. Most historical accounts of him do.

However, at this point in my research I noticed little had been stated about Carroll’s personal and family life in historical accounts other than his early years and his wife’s name, who passed away sometime around the end of the Revolutionary War. I searched deeper and found two sites dedicated to telling more of his personal story. The one quoted and linked below probably reveals why many historians did not go “there”…

His family had become a wreck during his continued absences. His wife was addicted to opium before her death and his son, Charles Carroll of Homewood, soon became a miserable alcoholic. Carroll tried to intervene to save his family, but more often than not, his efforts were futile.

His record as a slave owner and early abolitionist is a testament to his faith. He sold slaves, but avoided breaking up families, and he offered weekly religious instruction. He once presented a bill in the Maryland Senate for the gradual abolition of slavery which required all slave girls to be educated and then freed at twenty-eight so they could in turn educate their husbands and children. When several proposals for abolition failed, he joined the American Colonization Society and in 1830 was elected president of that organization. Three older slaves kneeled at his bedside the night of his death, practicing the Catholic faith his religious instruction provided them.

This was found on the other site:

On his return to Maryland in 1765, Charles Carroll was given a 10,000-acre land tract called Carrollton, located in Frederick County.  Although he would never live there, Carroll added the word “Carrollton” to his signature to distinguish himself from other Charles Carrolls. In 1768, he married his cousin, Mary “Molly” Darnall, and began major improvements to his family’s urban home and gardens in Annapolis. They had seven children, only three of whom lived to adulthood. Charles, their only son, would later live at Homewood, now located on the Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins University.

The Carrolls were busy and gracious hosts to such dignitaries and governmental leaders as George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. The house and grounds were the scenes for many social events, “humble feasts” and after-the-races dinners. Politics kept the family busy through the Revolutionary War and in 1783, the Annapolis house and grounds were the sites of the Official State Celebration for Peace and Independence:

“Elegant and plentiful dinner provided for the celebration of Peace on Carroll’s Green; … sheep, calves, and whole ox were roasted, liquor in proportion … A convenient, extensive building was erected sufficient for the accommodations of many hundreds. Patriotic toasts were drunk, each attended with thirteen cannon.  After dinner at night, the Statehouse, a superb building, was beautifully and magnificently illuminated and an elegant entertainment given to the ladies at the ball-room …” April 24, 1783, Maryland Gazette

Conclusion

No person, even the mega wealthy, is exempt from toil, trouble, and personal issues in the struggle of living well. Charles Carroll was another legendary patriot who overcame many challenges and America was the better for it. Despite being raised in wealth, Samuel Adams battled through numerous hardships that would have destroyed lesser men and lived in very modest conditions in retirement with serious physical limitations and far less popularity.

These men, their families, and supporters serve as reminders that freedom is not free for us. Do you count yourself as a modern day Son or Daughter of Liberty? We the People need you.

God bless America.