“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
The above image from an old medical-scientific journal is from PeopleImages, via Google Images.
This post is part of Health Friday, a series of offerings related to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. The discussion is not limited to what is presented today; it is an Open Thread. However, since this presentation is about a COVID-19 “vaccine”, the post is dedicated to the memory of Yours Truly’s cousin Bill, who died “suddenly and unexpectedly” in September 2023.
To begin, there are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, with a couple of extra items:
Free Speech is practiced here: “Use it or lose it.”
The following are alternate Q Tree sites for certain circumstances:
The U Tree is for “argue it out” interactions. There is a “Featured” article at this site for use as a “Rescue Thread.”
The “third site”, in case the above two are inaccessible.
Civil discussion is practiced here. The excellent and timely Rules of our late, good Wheatie prevail:
One: No food fights.
Two: No running with scissors.
Three: If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Please follow the added Guidelines from Wolf Moon. Please do not give the modern-day version of Cato the Elder the opportunity to show “enmity” to the board.
The extra items: What Yours Truly presents in this series, as in her other blog posts to this board, is not medical advice — the are opinions and hypotheses based on her over 4 1/2 years (and continuing) of reading about, researching out, and writing about “all things COVID”, Big Pharma, and other health topics. Readers are encouraged to consult a healthcare practitioner regarding health concerns or conditions.
The Health Friday post today concerns the impending Retraction of a peer-reviewed and published paper that details long-term COVID-19 “vaccine”-induced injuries in North India. The paper was submitted to Springer for review and publishing on 9 January 2024; it was accepted (it had passed the peer-review process); and it was published on 13 May 2024. Here is a free-access version (to read the entire paper on Springer, one has to either access through an institution, or to pay for a copy): www.qeios.com/read/JK7IBA/pdf, “Long-Term Safety Analysis of the BBV152 Coronavirus Vaccine in Adolescents and Adults: Findings from a 1-Year Prospective Study in North India”, Upinder Kaur, et al., 13 May 2024. The study was conducted at Banaras Hindu University in India. BBV152 is another name for the COVAXIN COVID-19 “vaccine”, developed by Bharat BIotech of India in cooperation with Indian Council on Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology. ICMR receives “royalty payments” for each dose of COVAXIN that is administered, as does Bharat Biotech (Sound familiar? — as in, the co-development, co-ownership of patents, and sharing of “royalty payments” between the NIAID and Moderna for the modRNA COVID-19, mRNA-1273?)
The Kaur, et al., paper referenced above was published by Springer on 13 May 2024. Almost immediately, the attacks began on the paper, the authors, and the publisher — with articles like this one: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/1-in-3-covaxin-recipients-hit-by-adverse-events-study/articleshow/110187284.cms, “1 in 3 Covaxin recipients hit by adverse events: Study”, 17 May 2024. On 18 May 2024, the ICMR demanded that Springer retract the paper (Yours Truly: nothing like causing panic in a government agency when the truth is published about a “vaccine” that the agency is pushing as “safe and effective,” especially when that agency is also getting “royalty payments” for the use of the “vaccine”, is there?). But, the attack on Springer and the authors didn’t end there. In July 2024, Bharat Biotech filed a lawsuit against Springer and the authors (some of the authors are students), demanding retraction of the paper and the payment of damages to Bharat Biotech of $600,000 US dollars (50 million Indian rupees.) In addition, the lawsuit accused the paper’s authors of defamation against the company, included with a demand for separate damages to be paid to the company for defamation. Despite sworn statements from the authors that no defamation was intended or written into the paper; and, despite the fact that Nitin Joshi, the editor of the Springer journal (Drug Safety) in which the study appeared, was one of the reviewers who approved the study for publishing, it was Joshi who notified the authors on 28 August 2024 that he was going to have the paper retracted. He confirmed this decision in an email to the authors on 17 September. However, as the defamation lawsuit is now in court, the study is still available on the internet.
What is BBV152/COVAXIN? It is an “inactivated whole virion vaccine” (whole virus vaccine) for “active immunization” against COVID-19. It is not an mRNA-based/modRNA-based COVID-19 “vaccine”, although it does use an “ancestral wave strain” of the original Wuhan Hu1 SARS-CoV-2 virus (in other words, a strain from the Wuhan Hu1 virus that occurred before the Beta, Delta, or Omicron strains.) The Package Insert for COVAXIN is here: www.bharatbiotech.com/images/covaxin/covaxin-pack-insert.pdf. Below is an image from the Package Insert:
Per Wikipedia, 363,774,435 persons in India had been “vaccinated” with at least one dose of COVAXIN as of 4 March 2023.
However, the COVAXIN Package Insertdoes not actually describe how the “vaccine” works (the “Mechanism of Action.”) Yours Truly found something along the lines of the necessary information here: www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/projects/covaxin-bbv152-for-the-treatment-of-covid-19/?cf-view&cf-closed, “COVAXIN (BBV152) for the Treatment of Covid-19, India”, 28 June 2022. Below is a screenshot from this article:
But, COVAXIN has been hailed by the Indian government about being “the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine in India” (www.bharatbiotech.com/covaxin.html.) Why is ViroVax involved? (More on this later in the post.) Back to the Package Insert for COVAXIN. Below is a screenshot of the ingredients used in this “vaccine”:
Looking further into the ingredients list, starting with the NIV-2020-770 strain of SARS-CoV-2: please refer to this paper: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7825810/, “Safety and immunogenicity of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, BBV152: a double-blind, randomised Phase 1 trial”, Krishna Mohan Vadrevu, et al., May 2021. It appears that NIV-2020-770 (the “inactivated whole virion”) is part of the Asp614Gly variant chain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Asp614Gly variant itself is apparently part of the “ancestral wave” of the original Wuhan Hu1 SARS-CoV-2 virus; and, it is “not as serious” as the Beta or the Delta waves of the virus. Please refer to this article: www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(22)00199-1.pdf, Vol.10, July 2022, a Comment “Decoding the next SARS-CoV-2 variant”, by Jeremy Nel and WD Francois Venter. Below is a screenshot of a portion from the Comment:
Thus, BBV152/COVAXIN cannot be considered to be one of the “most recent” types of COVID-19 “vaccines”, as it does not include any elements before the Beta, Delta, or Omicron variants.
The Aluminium Hydroxide Gel in the ingredients (it is an “excipient” [“adjuvant]”): this is also called “Algel-IMDG” and “Alhydroxiqium-II” — in other words, it is a hydrogel. It was invented by ViroVax LLC of Lawrence, Kansas, under the aegis of the EpscoR Idea Foundation (part of the National Science Foundation in the United States), and with funding by the NIAID. This is the ViroVax / United States government connection. Here is a screenshot from an article by the EpscoR Idea Foundation on this “success story” (www.epscorideafoundation.org/success-stories/kansas-adjuvant-developed-with-nih-funding-enhances-efficacy-of-indias-covid-19-vaccine):
Note that Alhydroxiqium-II targets the lymph nodes of the person who takes COVAXIN. So, while this excipient is not exactly a lipid nanoparticle (LNP), it, in Yours Truly’s opinion, basically functions like an LNP in targeting the lymph nodes for delivery of the “vaccine payload” of COVAXIN; and, by “stimulating” the “vaccinated” person’s natural immune system to go and “search” for invading pathogens. By the way, Aluminium Hydroxide Gel is not to be used in foods, drugs pesticides, or “biocidal” products — see the screenshot below, from the search on Fisher Scientific (ThermoFisher) about this chemical, Page 1:
HOWEVER, it appears that FisherScientific had a “change of heart” since December 2021 regarding the “Uses advised against” for Aluminium Hydroxide — below is their MSDS Safety Sheet as of February 2024, Page 1:
Here is another source for an MSDS Safety Sheet, this one specifically for Aluminium Hydroxide Gel:www.oxfordlabfinechem.com/msds/ALUMINIUMHYDROXIDEGEL.pdf. Please see section 3Hazards Identification; and section 11Toxicological Information Special Remarks on Other Toxic Effects on Humans. Below is part of the Special Remarks portion of section 11:
The TLR7/8 excipient (adjuvant) in COVAXIN: This one is used in immunotherapy, including in the treatment of HIV-1. Please see: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1033448, “Novel TLR7/8 agonists promote activation of HIV-1 latent reservoirs and human T and NK cells”, Yangyang Li, et al., 26 January 2023. This begs the question, Why is an HIV-1 immunotherapy treatment element being used in a COVID-19 “vaccine?” This also, in Yours Truly’s opinion, removes any consideration of COVAXIN to be labeled a “vaccine” — it is actually a gene therapy/immunotherapy injectable.
And, the 2-Phenoxyethanol excipient (adjuvant) in COVAXIN. Below is a screenshot portion of the Fisher Scientific (ThermoFisher) MSDS Safety Sheet for this chemical, Page 1:
The Kaur, et al., paper, goes into detail regarding the types of reported serious adverse events that affected the study subject pool who took COVAXIN. Three pages of the Supplementary Table 1. from the paper are below. Note that these are details from subjects one year after “vaccination” with COVAXIN. Note also that another paper from December 2020 (by different authors) shows that the S1 protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier.
If Yours Truly is reading about this situation correctly, it appears that one of the “problems” with the Kaur, et al., paper, is that the subject pool of COVAXIN-“vaccinated” persons in North India who reported serious adverse events following “vaccination” to the study authors was “small.” One has to ask: How many COVAXIN-“vaccine”-induced serious adverse events would need to be reported before they would be considered “relevant” by the Indian government and by Bharat BioTech? — say, a “minimum” of 3 million adverse events reports? Is it “within acceptable limits” that COVAXIN-“vaccinated” persons in North India suffer a stroke or a heart attack after “vaccination” with this product? Is this another situation of “the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks” of taking a COVID-19 “vaccine”, which is the “official” position of the CDC and the FDA in the United States?
Yours Truly has gone into detail regarding the situation with BBV152/COVAXIN for several reasons: First, to enumerate the multiple potentials for “vaccine”-induced serious adverse effects from this COVID-19 “vaccine” product; Second, to highlight the persecution of the authors of a paper who sought to study and write about these potentials; Third, to highlight the persecution of the journal that peer-reviewed, approved, and published the paper;Fourth, to bring to light the involvement of the United States government (via the NSF and the NIAID) in the funding and development of an ingredient (excipient/adjuvant) in this “vaccine” intended for use in a foreign country; and, Fifth, to again emphasize how important it is that consumers “do their own due diligence” regarding information on drugs and/or injectables that they put into their bodies.
Our criminal dynamic duo always have to mess with the kids.
Just a suggestion for most folks, use common sense. Never accept a statement of the scientific community and media as fact before vetting the statement and them. The criminal cabal has infected most everything institutionally provided in our country. They have proven that to all of us repeatedly over a very long time.
Accept that there is no significant climate change created by mankind. Every prediction of imminent disaster has proven to be false, yet, was used for somebody to gain power and make money for a period of time. The universe was created by our eternal Creator who is all knowing. To suggest He would not know what we humans, his created beings, would do when given dominion over the earth by Him is silly stupid. Genesis begins the story of His relationship with man and the expectations He had for all of it. He remains in total control of His creation. He alone will decide if, when and how it ends. He will also steer it the way He wants it all to go when it goes off course.
Gail has thoroughly addressed the scientific truth that our planet appears to have entered into a cooling period, which is in the midst of their shouts of global warming and climate change. Ironically, the actions of a number of world leaders reflects her version is correct in relation to cooling. For example, Putin grabbed Crimea for good reasons besides the fact it had originally been Russian territory populated with Russian speaking people who wanted to be in Russia. One reason he did so was that it permanently expanded Russia’s warm, deepwater Black Sea port access under their control. Second, he is taking down the Nazis in Ukraine and it helped that cause. Russians and Nazis are mortal enemies as most of us should know. Which is why our federal government continues to oppose Russia in an antagonizing way. Our government is infested with and continues to support Nazis worldwide.
One of the other primary reasons for conflict was due to gaining access to Ukraine’s energy reserves, much of which is located in former Russian territory populated by Russian speaking people who want to be in Russia. Another major reason is because Ukraine is the bread basket agricultural supplier of Europe and there needed to be stability instead of the west’s use of it as a weapon. All the NATO nations did with their saber rattling, breaking agreements with Russia, participation in money laundering and human trafficking, as well as funding bioweapons labs there is give Russia the valid reasons to take it. NATO’s continued full support of Nazis in this proxy war is revealing. In the end the pre-war predicable results means sufficient security, energy and food for Russia and its allies to endure a long term cooling period.
China has taken licensed control of deepwater ports and continues to expand its hold over minerals worldwide. They are prepping their nation for a different world with a common defense pact in their back pockets with Russia, who supply much of their fuels. All of it helps ensure they survive a cooling period successfully.
Surely people can use their minds to see through all of this green new deal, Nazi WEF directed nonsense. All the evil doers desire is your money and power over you. It is a similar fear porn plan and method of operations that was used in the COVID scamdemic. Don’t fall for it.
As just one recent example, the “experts” predicted 20 named tropical storms in the Atlantic in 2024.
dailysceptic.org has more, but their site will not allow me to link. Their data reveals that sea temps are dropping significantly around the world.
Despite that, in the link below we see a claim of scientific experts about what happened 34 million years ago based on historical reports from scientists who were actually there, conducted research and recorded their findings that were safely stored in caves. It states…
OK, you caught me – no human being was there to know. They were too busy hunting wooly mammoths.The subject researchers and scientists used methods of reviewing the state of marine sedimentary samples that had pollen fossils in coal and concluded that 34 million years ago, give or take a few million, those were the conditions. They are certain all of the climate stuff happened quickly because, well, because of scientific assumptions. My take: that will be the explanation until their theories are later proven wrong or need substantial adjustment. At which time more requests for research funding will occur to prove this or that in response to the new understanding, observations or “facts” they then have. If one is paying attention, it is a pattern.
The following is the claim of more experts about the earth getting warmer because of greenhouse gases increasing while the upper atmosphere actually gets colder. The science they are selling is we have total control over our outcome. Just stop using fossil fuels and save the planet, well, at least warm the upper atmosphere. Trust them.
At least with that one there is only 3 million years involved. But the next one is a classic. Hold onto your hats, this one goes back 450 million years. They express sincere concerns about humanity’s survival because we are in a period that is a great deal colder than history indicates. They believe sudden increases in temperature a few degrees could kill off our ability to adapt. I kid you not. “It’s an indication of all the things we don’t know about how greenhouse climates work,” Wing said.
I wonder what idgits provided their research funding?
It is no wonder why environmental scientists and climatologists are baffled by the current dramatic cooling of the Atlantic. They are clueless about what is, but certain about what once was that they (or anybody else) never witnessed. Somehow I know they believe that greenhouse gases and global warming are involved in whatever they are selling at the time. Just an educated guess by a somewhat interested bystander.
Prepare for the opposite of global warming. The criminal globullist cabal and other world leaders are. They are keeping the general public deceived and ill prepared because depopulation is still their long term goal. Grasshopper or ant, you decide the best approach.
Back To FIRE!
This one is personal to a lot of us around this region. The Great Smoky Mountains Fire of 2016 (TGSMF) is etched in our memories here in east TN. It is also an excellent example of how American government frequently ignores the needs of its citizens until a disaster occurs. The clean up on Aisle 7 phase kicks in, a flurry of words and activities occur, and truth is scuttled for a narrative. It is up to the reader to decide if the following, which has been repeated for centuries worldwide, is intentional or not. I have my suspicions with a Trail of Tears (a nod to our local Cherokee nation) I will provide. The ensuing eight years since TGSMF reveal much.
Below is a link to a story published in the past year by a nearby resident who is the managing editor of an area newspaper. This story gives you a good summary from which to begin.
I will provide many links below that tell the overall story better than I can. When taken in total a picture emerges that reveals what appears to be great incompetency from those in authority at the National Park Service (NPS). It reveals stonewalling for years in the judiciary process post fire. It reveals a probable DEI type hire in a key senior NPS position before such things were called DEI. It reveals great suffering, loss of life, and loss of property. It also appears to reveal a political agenda and protection of the key leader operatives in authority on site during those days. Combine that with local and state politician collusion in keeping facts about the events hidden along with park officials being protected from inquiry and, well, we see a corrupt mess. Then the topping on cake is applied by all those with wealth who benefit in the aftermath.
The good counter side reveals many heroes and great acts of courage. It reveals local law enforcement and fire personnel doing their best to save people and property while alerting the NPS of fire calls. It reveals people at their best at helping one another. It reveals one of our own known to the world, Dolly, doing very special things to help in the recovery; not just paying lip service for publicity as many celebrities do. It reveals much needed early warning safety improvements and procedures being acted upon by local officials post-fire.
What is not revealed enough is even more telling – the complete truth.
Storylines Galore
The following is a link from the NPS that shows a few interactive photos comparing more recent times in areas within the Park itself to that of the aftermath of the fire. In general, the environmental recovery is going well.
However, what happened outside of the Park will not be forgotten by locals. Depending on vantage point, the flames (not just smoke) of the fire could be seen miles away. We live 27 miles away via driving, about half that as the crow flies. A local mountain blocked our direct view, but when we traveled past the mountain and closer to the event, we could easily see the fire in Gatlinburg and fringed areas of Pigeon Forge in the evenings. The smoke engulfed the entire county and migrated into surrounding counties. As reported, over 2400 buildings were destroyed and 14 people died with a couple hundred injured. Our county’s citizens were fortunate in that the area that the fire was most intense was rural and that tourism was not in a peak period.
Below are more links that describe it all with various accounts. The first link shows the locations of the clustered areas of structures that were affected, followed by a story on the victims, which is then followed by NPS summary release nearly a year later.
All of this leads to trying to understand the results of investigations into the events. This effort has been clouded by not having access to information as the authorities have been unwilling to release various aspects. The more accurate picture that has developed came from what the public has discovered on its own from observation, media investigative reports, videos, recorded conversations, local contacts and such. In an effort to move toward the full reality of what really happened, the following is the local Knoxville newspaper’s investigative look at it three years after the events. It did not gloss over some of the failures.
There is another investigative report seven plus years later that dug deeper, which is surprising since it came from typically fake news. The actual story is behind a paywall. However, Yahoo posted it on their site;
Deadly Comedy of Failures Or Intentional Features?
That is always the primary question to ask when it comes to large scale tragedies such as this. For example, did the East Palestine, OH train disaster occur due to mistakes and failures, or, was it a feature of something more sinister? We know how occult practices of the leftist criminals seem to come into play frequently. I have covered The Great Chicago Fire and pointed readers to more information relating to the Lahaina, Maui fire. California residents have endured widespread wildfires for decades. Going back in history, New York City had a Great Fire in 1778 during the British occupation. Another followed in 1835 that gutted Manhattan, which amazingly (sarc/) led to a reconstruction that resulted in NYC more than tripling its population over the next 25 years. Business and industry exploded with growth there in the lead up to the Civil War. Which is just another coincidence, I guess. It was not long after that war that the Great Chicago Fire happened and the blueprint from New York was implemented with similar results that primarily benefitted the globullist criminal cabal.
😉
Apparent failures and mistakes are often intentional features. The pattern reveals the truth. What may have been good as it existed, but less economically attractive than could be realized; can be revisited and changed if local resident obstructions to the planned “progress” are removed.
Several friends and acquaintances of ours were injured in TGSMF. We had met a couple of the people who died, including the elderly pastor who had married countless couples in the county for decades. A now retired high school football coach I knew who lived in the immediate area of the fire survived by rolling downhill on his property into a creek and submerging himself. His home was fire damaged. A historic Baptist Church within the Gatlinburg city limits was a total loss. It was finally rebuilt five years later. Two other churches were damaged. See links below,
Many rental cabins around town were destroyed or badly damaged along with a number of motels and hotels that were gutted. Dollywood had to close during a prime time of the holiday season. All sorts of lodging facilities, restaurants, Ski Mountain (snow) operations (Ober Gatlinburg), retail establishments, recreational businesses, the convention center, and so on had to close for a time; some to make repairs. A number of lodging facilities were gutted from the fires or burned to the ground. Even for those businesses that were physically unharmed, there were no tourists visiting to help keep the doors open. That meant employee layoffs and terminations, business closures, and strains on tax revenues to handle city/county services, etc.
The business losses extended into nearby Pigeon Forge as tourists understandably stopped coming until given the green light months later. More layoffs and hurting people were the results.
However, mountain folks are strong and tough. We came together. Some of the relief efforts that were spearheaded by Dolly, some local officials, the state and some feds helped in the short term recovery. Churches, schools and charities rallied people to the cause. People could at least survive until they figured out what was next. Contractors rushed to the area for jobs. Building supply houses were hard pressed to keep with the demand. Utilities company employees worked double shifts for a couple of months. Building inspection and permitting offices were inundated.
Many property owners just walked away. Some had no money to add to insurance settlements, which were paid first to mortgage holders. Many were not adequately insured to the rising level of construction costs. Some who were financially able did rebuild eventually as they found reputable contractors, which often took up to 7 years afterwards as we see from the church example above. For those unable or unwilling to wait, properties were sold by the owners at below market values prices or through foreclosures.
NPS Failures
It is here where you find the root cause of the tragedy. To have a once in a hundred years or more fire when the conditions are right is one thing. For NPS leaders, nationally and locally, to have authority to handle this and other wildfires along with notifications to the public properly, yet, not do so for any reason is unacceptable. Read the following links,
Inexcusable performance of the duties of a Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent.
Meanwhile, on the front lines of the fire was a NPS guy in authority, Greg Salansky, whose job it was to coordinate the efforts to control and eventually put out the fire. He didn’t. Apparently he sent the crew of assigned fire fighters home to rest that infamous night instead, believing the fire to be small and controllable despite weather warnings of high winds in the area well in advance.
What firefighting professional would ever do such a thing? The wind forecast for several days in advance of the event should have been enough to know that you needed more firefighters and resources on site. You would know that unless you have been ordered to do what you did.
The story below provides more detail including when the lawsuits first started. The following Facebook video gives visual and recorded emergency personnel conversations.
My first observation is that the lawsuits have merit in that there was clear negligence by the NPS and its leaders that could be proven with recordings and other solid evidence. I will leave it to legal experts and the courts to decide if they can hide behind shields from liability for federal agencies and employees. The attorneys for the plaintiffs represent many insurance companies, victims and families of victims. That they have not abandoned the expensive legal pursuit after these years is revealing.
My second observation is the NPS attempt to deflect the cause of the fire. Allegedly, two minors skipping out of school were the cause and were charged at first. Then six months later the charges were dropped with authorities stating they could not prove their involvement and admitting in legal documents that there were other fires in the general vicinity of its alleged staring point. That brings us to seven plus years later and there is still no definitive explanation given for the event.
My third observation is that local politicians and government officials ran interference to protect the NPS and its employees. It seems they were more interested in keeping things on the down low than providing transparency. They did step up in the aftermath with solid assistance for all who were affected. However, they were just not all that interested in clearing the air with truth about the event itself. This tells me there were benefits from their relationship with the NPS of which the general public is unaware.
My fourth observation follows.
The Two Scoundrels
Cash and Salansky are still employed by the NPS. They effed it all up or they did what they were ordered to do – you decide. That they remained employed by NPS is unconscionable. Fourteen people died and nearly 200 were injured along with close to a billion dollars in damages. Apparently, Salansky’s career continues on unabated to this point. See the linked evidence of his employment below.
Cash remained the GSMN Park Superintendent until this month when he left to take an executive role with the Yosemite Conservancy. Other than with the local political and media Establishment, he is not highly regarded as you can imagine. In the recent past he sponsored a move to charge parking fees in the GSMNP, which was approved by their cronies. In approving this the NPS reneged on a 90 year pledge made at dedication to never charge fees for people to visit the park. If you want to visit a picnic area, historic attraction, hike, etc. and you plan to park for more than 15 minutes in designated areas, you must pay a fee thanks to Cassius Cash and crew. He was quite proud of this accomplishment. The people’s national park now charges people to park in their own park, something that was never supposed to happen. It is generating $6-7 million annually that is supposed to be used only on projects in the park. I guess the scumbags in DC sent all the spare change they could have used for the entire NPS system to Ukraine. Priorities you know.
One thing is for certain, we will never see a true accounting of where the parking fees are going. My assumption is somebody is personally benefitting. Regardless, Mr. Cash has completed his role here, thankfully. This was just announced right before press time for this post.
Falling upward seems to be a thing with many government employees. Good luck with that, Yosemite. With PDT’s arrival on the scene again, maybe a quality appointment can be made for The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
If one stands back and looks objectively at the entire event, it becomes obvious that the NPS leadership blew it causing death and great destruction. Yet, they are still employed in the same agency and industry doing their thing.
That infamous day there were ideal weather conditions for a wildfire. A drought, high winds and lack of precipitation caused small fires to grow and eventually go out of control days later because there were insufficient fire fighting resources called in by the NPS. In fact, Salansky sent who he did have working home to rest. It had been known for several days in advance that high winds were predicted in that area. They knew conditions were ripe for disaster and did the exact opposite of what responsible leaders would do. The NPS failed. The federal government also failed to provide adequate resources to this National Park with over a half million acres under management.
It would have been far worse if substantial precipitation did not fall on the affected area every couple of days after the event. That is what put out the fire. The firefighters, most of them locals from volunteer fire departments in the area, handled the remaining smoldering hot spots.
So, once again, human error or intentional?
Conditions On The Ground Today
Why would local authorities defend the NPS and interfere in jounalist investigations when the tragedy affected friends and neighbors they served? The officials live here. It makes very little sense to help those who caused all of the death and destruction. That is unless one considers that they, their cronies and local governments might somehow benefit. It appears some may not care all that much about human life.
However their best efforts to block communications of facts did not stop the insurance companies from going after the NPS.
Which makes what happened next, well, interesting. What is that rising from the ashes of 2016 in the fire affected area? The following was a modest rental cabin resort in 2016. Not so much now.
The first phase of the below opened a year after the fire and there have been many attractions added to it since. Just curious, did land costs go up or down immediately after the fire? 😀
Plus numerous other new attractions were added that include mountain roller coasters, zip lines, restaurants, retail outlets, rental cabin resorts, along with other hotels, condos and lodges.
I guess all this extra business and rebuilding with new ownerships and investments was just really good luck for some folks. That so many people lost their homes, businesses and properties was just unfortunate, just like having to sell out at below market values. It all seems that way unless you consider that it generally takes several years to conceive, conceptually plan, and design a proposed resort of significance. Subject to financing and/or investment capital being available, a prospective site search would be conducted afterwards. Then, after an acceptable site is secured, project developers and ownership would seek to obtain government/utility approvals and coordinate with contractors before construction began. Finally add the construction period, advance marketing as well the hiring and training of staffing before operations can begin.
Those requirements and related timelines indicate that most of these major projects were conceived years in advance of TGSMF of 2016.
Which makes it all appear to be a solution (opportunities) in search of a problem (destruction/rebuilding). A phoenix in search of a disaster that created the very ashes to rise from. How convenient that the NPS authorities were so perfectly incompetent and may be proven to be protected from personal liability. How convenient there were two truant teenagers discovered in the park that day, whose names could not legally be revealed as they were minors, who could be accused of setting the fire. How convenient charges against them were dropped six months later without proof that they were the source of the fire since other fires were also burning in the vicinity. I wonder who set those other fires that were discussed in documents and recorded discussions? How did the NPS and legal authorities know there were other fires that day? Why were no other sources of those fires discussed or charged since there was a burning ban during the period?
The currently unanswered questions are virtually endless – again – eight years later. The way TGSMF of 2016 has been formally investigated by authorities and handled by the judiciary makes it appear to have been originated intentionally. If that is not true, why deflect and refuse full transparency? Could it be that many of those in authority know more than they desire to reveal?
I also wonder what a search of the subject area’s property records would reveal? Somebody with more time on their hands can take a run at that one. I have seen this movie once too often.
The beneficiaries of the tragedy are clear and they also include the local governmental authorities. New large scale business investment, so many more opportunities for themselves and their close associates to invest into surrounding properties and businesses in an area that was already “built out” for many years. An Increase of draws and attractions that bring in more tourists and their dollars along with greater tax revenues for the governments has been the end result that was created in its aftermath.
Again, it is pattern.
Conclusion
It is nearly eight years later and there is another small wildfire in dense mountainside underbrush in the Smokies on 58 acres that is slowly spreading. It has been a dry summer going into fall. The fire has been burning for about 4 weeks now and is not contained. This time the origin is known. It was started via a lightning strike during the last major rain event we have experienced in the area in the past month. The usual small number of NPS associated firefighters have been unsuccessfully working hard to contain. The NPS is conducting air drops of water with one lone helicopter over the past couple of weeks with minimal success as they worked to build more trails into the site.
They have been doing things with the same number of firefighters the same ways. The only condition that is different this time is the tree leaves have not yet started falling significantly because it has remained warm. This will be changing in a couple of weeks. Even with the fire being relatively small, starting with about 16 acres before growing to its current size, it has not prevented the acrid smoke from drifting throughout the area. It is making some people ill and and many people nervous. Yet, the NPS “reassures” the public daily they have things under control. This link is from a few weeks ago.
As mentioned it has slowly expanded to the current 58 acres. However, the NPS has called in the calvary. Undoubtedly they are feeling the “heat” from the public. Which is another thing that has changed. They killed the public’s trust in 2016. They know we know and are watching their every move. The Olympic Wildland Fire Module just arrived. See the link below.
Many of us wonder how much longer it will be until some more smaller fires in the area of the current one are started. We are in the dry season, very little rain is predicted. Leaves will be falling to fuel them. The Olympic Module is only anticipated to be there a week before being shipped out to another hot spot out west. The location of this fire area is shown in the GSMNP map below.
Over in the left hand side near the #1 is the area in discussion. TGSMF of 2016 started a good distance farther to the east toward Gatlinburg near to #4. What is it do we find near the current area but the recently expanded scenic Foothills Parkway, one of the most beautiful vistas in the eastern U. S. An area that would appear attractive to investment with the greatly increasing number of visitors enjoying the drive between Blount and Sevier County resorts and attractions.
Conspiracy theory? Perhaps. However, it seems the rapidly increasing abilities to make money and gain power at the expense of others are present once again.
The broader NPS entity still maintains very limited resources stationed in our area for fire fighting. Their primary assets stay deployed primarily in the western U. S. (their admission). I guess TGSMF of 2016 was not destructive enough to justify an increase in permanent resources or those accessed from the department nationally. Our elected scoundrels and DS can afford to hire 87,000 agents of oppression with the IRS, but not a tenth of that number to help our nation avoid massive destruction and loss of life from wildfires. They spend hundreds of billions to fight a proxy war in Ukraine in support of Nazis along with about as much for the cost of 20+ million illegal invaders coming across the border. But time after time they have proven they do not give a damn about the needs of We the People.
This country is in a mess because traitors, seditionists, incompetents and other sundry criminals have been in positions of authority and service for far too long. In my next part I will discuss where I believe it all leads from here.
May God protect and bring peace to America and its citizens..
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
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In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Spiritual Darkness
Spiritual darkness is the state of a person who is living apart from God. The Old Testament book of Isaiah, in prophesying of the Messiah, speaks of a deep spiritual darkness that enveloped the people: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). This passage reappears in the New Testament, in Matthew 4:16, to announce that those who have come to know the God of Israel through His Son Jesus Christ are the ones who have been delivered from spiritual darkness and now walk in the light of God’s life.
The apostle John taught that God is light: “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth” (1 John 1:5–6, NLT). And Jesus declared that He is the light of the world: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Thus, spiritual darkness means not having fellowship with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The darkness of separation from God is overcome through Christ: “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).
From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, humans have lived in a fallen world. All people are born in a fallen state of sin and separation from God. Until a person is reborn of God’s Spirit, he or she lives in spiritual darkness. Sin darkens our understanding and destroys our spiritual sight, cloaking us in deep darkness: “But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Proverbs 4:19). Moses compares this state of sin and disobedience to groping about like “a blind person in the dark” (Deuteronomy 28:29). One of Job’s friends speaks of those who are lost in spiritual darkness: “Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night” (Job 5:14).
Living in rebellion to God and His will is equivalent to living in spiritual darkness. When the Lord commissioned Paul, He said, “I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in Me” (Acts 26:17–18, NLT).
After salvation, believers become beacons of the spiritual light of Christ: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Those who are in Jesus Christ have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13, ESV). Those who reject Jesus Christ face eternal separation from God in “blackest darkness” (Jude 1:4–13).
In Judaism, a person’s inner character and moral quality are understood to be reflected through the eyes. In Matthew 6:22–23, Jesus compares the moral condition of an unregenerate soul to darkness: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Jesus’ listeners would have understood that a healthy eye is one that lets in light just as a healthy regenerated heart lets in spiritual light. But a sick or sinful eye (or heart) shuts out light, leaving the soul in spiritual darkness.
The apostle Paul describes those in a sinful state before knowing Christ as possessing a darkened, closed mind and a hardened heart: “Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him” (Ephesians 4:18, NLT).
Unbelievers live in spiritual darkness because Satan, the god of this world, has blinded their minds. They cannot see the glorious light of the gospel: “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NLT).
Spiritual darkness refers to all that is in opposition to the light of God’s love in Christ. The good news that Jesus brings to this world is that His light—His life-giving Spirit—floods light and life into the spiritual darkness of the sinner’s heart. The One who opened the eyes of the blind can also bring us out of spiritual darkness. No matter how deep the darkness, the light of God’s love and truth overcomes every sin that separates us from God. xhttps://www.gotquestions.org/spiritual-darkness.html
The above is a vintage image of Dr. Edward Jenner administering the first smallpox vaccination (inoculation) to James Phipps, 14 May 1796. Courtesy of www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/.
Today’s post, as it relates to the disaster of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 “vaccines”, is dedicated by Yours Truly in memory of her cousin Bill, who died “suddenly and unexpectedly” in September 2023. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented here: it is an Open Thread.
There are two separate, although connected (Big Pharma), parts to today’s offering. Each part is of itself an expose’. This post is a long one, but important. Please, take a cup of coffee or tea; or, if it’s an appropriate time of the day, perhaps a “wee dram” of something like chilled D.O.M. Benedictine with a twist of lemon peel, and settle in for reading.
Readers already know the caveats regarding civil discussion on this board; of the alternate sites in case the main board is not accessible (here and here); and, that what Yours Truly presents on Health Friday is not medical advice, but opinions and/or hypotheses from ongoing research on COVID-19, Big Pharma, and other health topics.
“Quick, down-and-dirty summary” of today’s post:
One: Pfizer-BioNTech has begun a new enterprise, PfrizerForAllTM, which apparently seeks to completely circumvent / marginalize, in-person consumer contact with pharmacies; to “funnel” in-person consumer contact with healthcare practitioners to “Pfizer-affiliated” professionals; and, to “redirect” the dissemination of information about the COVID-19 “vaccines” to that provided by Pfizer-BioNTech.
Two: That the FDA approval of the very dangerous and deadly Smallpox “vaccine”, ACAM2000, for use also as a “prevention” for Mpox, is the result of a complex mixture of Big Pharma influence + FDA review of the Biologics License Applicaion for this use of ACAM2000 that is, in Yours Truly’s opinion, “a foregone conclusion despite serious reservations”, to say the least + Gain-of-Function experiments on the Mpox virus. There is also a potential tie-in to “an expanded biodefense role.”
Yours Truly has tried to avoid making today’s post read like a scientific paper; however, there is a lot of information that is relevant to each Expose’. Note: Mpox is now the “official” name for monkeypox.
Expose’ One: It appears that Pfizer-BioNTech is creating new ways to increase the company’s consumer operations (and, therefore, potential profit lines.) Pfizer-BioNTech has just launched PfizerForAllTM — a direct sell-to-consumer business that will provide online access to healthcare providers (online [virtual], or affiliated healthcare providers encounters [for example, to get a COVID-19 “vaccination”]); plus, “delivered to your door” prescription drugs and “easier access” to other company products, such as their COVID-19 “test kits.”
In other words, in Yours Truly’s opinion, Pfizer-BioNTech, not happy with the company’s portfolio loss due to falling consumer acceptance of the modRNA COVID-19 “vaccines” offered, and due to the failure of the company’s clinical trial of its “combo” modRNA COVID-19 “vaccine” + influenza “vaccine”, a corporate decision was made to find a way to go straight to the consumer and make it “so easy” to get access to the “vaccines”, plus other Pfizer products. Translation: banish “vaccine” hesitancy / “vaccine” refusal, by doing what may be called “straight to the consumer medical psy-op.” Again, from the Latypova article:
The lawsuit that Pfizer-BioNTech settled in 2009 was over the use of the company’s drug, Bextra, in “off-label” situations. The scope of the settlement is described here: www.justice.gov/, “Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History”, 1 November 2023. A portion of the announcement is below:
This lawsuit was the starting point for FDA changes to its “regulations” regarding the use of prescription drugs in “off-label” situations. The latest FDA changes are summarized here: www.sidley.com/en/insights/newsupdates/2023/11/fda-s-latest-off-label-guidance, 1 November 2023. It appears, in a nutshell, that drug manufacturers can be held responsible (liable) for “off-label” use of their products, even if they already comply with the “new” FDA “regulations.” (Think of this in light of the use of, for example, Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine to prevent or to treat COVID-19 — these uses, arguably, are “off-label” for these drugs.)
By the way, PfizerForAllTM is working with UpScript Health and Alto Pharmacy regarding access to healthcare services and filling prescriptions. Guess what? UpScript Health lists Pfizer as a “partner” on the company’s “About” page of their website: www.upscripthealth.com/about/. And, there’s more — Alto Pharmacy, the online prescription drug company, has a couple of interesting members on their Board of Advisors: Alex Azar (HHS head under then-President Trump); and, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (he who helped to write the “ObamaCare” bill; he who advocated for people to take their own lives at age 75 “to make room for the younger generation”, and more): www.alto.com/our-company. Dr. Emanuel is also involved with the Center for American Progress (Soros-connected: www.americanprogress.org/c3-our-supporters/); The Aspen Institute; and, he is Co-Director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute (HTI) at the University of Pennsylvania. Below is the Mission statement of HTI (https://hti.upenn.edu/mission/):
Note 1: the “objective” to transform the behavior of physicians and other healthcare providers. (Italics, mine.) Note 2: the “imagifashion” hyperlink, apparently, after getting past the “fake Latin language” on the main page, takes one to a clothing/accessories company in California: https://nilah.la-studioweb.com/contact-us/. (??)
This statement really frosts Yours Truly. My late father was a Registered Pharmacist for 57 years, who: kept his pharmacy very clean and neat (one was part of the crew that swept the floors and cleaned the display shelves starting when she was 10 years old); made it a point to know about all of his patients and to TALK with with then they came to have prescriptions filled or refilled; worked out deals with his suppliers to get extra samples of OTC products to give to his patients who had lost their steel mill jobs when the mills left Pittsburgh in the late 1970s-early 1980s, and, who paid for their prescriptions with his own money at times, etc., — finds the language, “…brick-and-mortar terrible experience…” in the above statement not only to be personally insulting to the memory of her father: but, also, degrading to those “brick-and-mortar” pharmacists who do their job to keep their stores clean and organized.
Expose’ Two: This regards the FDA just “approving” the “expanded use” of the dangerousand deadly Smallpox “vaccine”, ACAM2000, for the “prevention” of Monkeypox (now called “Mpox.”) The FDA issued this “approval” on 29 August 2024. The trail on this begins here: https://mole.substack.com/p/acam2000-package-insert-warning-death, 14 September 2024.
To gain more understanding of Smallpox and inoculation / vaccination against Smallpox, please see: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/smallpox-and-story-vaccination. Both Smallpox (variola) and Mpox (mpox virus) are members of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Whereas, a disease condition that would equate to Smallpox goes at least as far back as to China around 3000BC, Mpox was first discovered in 1958 (all, per Wikipedia search.) Dr. Edward Jenner, an English physician, noticed that milkmaids were immune from Smallpox infection; he deduced that the Cowpox infections that they sustained had made them immune to the other type of infection. Dr. Jenner administered the first “inoculation” of Cowpox virus (to prevent Smallpox) to a child, James Phipps, on 14 May 1796. Another source of information is here: wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/infections-diseases/smallpox-and-other-orthopoxvirus-associated-infections. Further details are found here, in the article, Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination, January 2005. A screenshot of a portion of this article is below:
About ACAM2000: it is manufactured by Emergent BioSolutions, headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD. The FDA approved ACAM2000 for use for the prevention of Smallpox in August, 2007. It contains vaccinia, a live virus ingredient used in modern Smallpox vaccines. The vaccinia used in ACAM2000 is a replicating version. The vaccine is cultured in a mixture of African Green Monkey kidney cells (sound familiar? — as in, perhaps, SV40 African Green Monkey cancer promoter gene splice that was found in the Pfizer-BioNTech modRNA COVID-19 “vaccine” by Dr. Kevin McKernan?). ACAM2000 was originally only intended for use to prevent Smallpox — until its use was “suddenly expanded” on 29 August 2024 by the FDA to include prevention of Mpox (more on that later in the post.) Since then, articles such as this one have appeared (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-acam2000-mpox-vaccine-warning-death-unvaccinated/, 17 September 2024, by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.; and, social media has been posting items like this one: https://x.com/toastontheside/status/1835921932841062412. This tweet references the FDA-issued handout for patients and/or caregivers regarding ACAM2000. The FDA handout is found here: www.fda.gov/media/75800/download. FDA handout documents for patients and/or caregivers are likely to have, in Yours Truly’s opinion, “sanitized” information and “pablum-like” assurances regarding the “safety and efficacy” of the drug or injectable. The FDA handout for ACAM2000, however, is different: when one reads the handout, one gets a distinct impression that this “vaccine” is highly dangerous. Below is a screenshot portion of the FDA patient/caregiver handout for ACAM2000:
Note that there is NO MENTION of the other FDA-approved Mpox vaccine, JYNNEOS, which is arguably “safer” for the patient (see further down in the presentation regarding JYNNEOS.)
The Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers for ACAM2000 is here: www.fda.gov/media/75792/download. The document gives a much more comprehensive picture of the dangers of this “vaccine.” Yours Truly will highlight a few of the items in this document which show how dangerous and deadly this vaccine is, beginning with two images from page 1 of the Fact Sheet: the Black Box Warning; and, the Warnings and Precautions:
Remember, this dangerous and deadly “vaccine” is now approved for persons “at risk for Mpox”, in addition to persons at risk for Smallpox (this disease was eradicated in 1980.)
And, from Section 6 Adverse Reactions portion of the Fact Sheet for ACAM2000:
Continuing with Section 11 Description from the Fact Sheet for ACAM2000:
And, from Section 17 Patient Counseling Information of the Fact Sheet for ACAM2000, two portions:
Note several items from the above screenshots: One, that the “vaccine” must be given to the recipient via 15 separate jabs with a bifurcated needle; Two, there are MULTIPLE adverse reactions potential for persons taking this “vaccine”; Three, that persons who contract a Smallpox infection from a person “vaccinated” with ACAM2000 can die of the infection they contract; Four, that the ACAM2000-“vaccinated” person must stay away from pregnant women, household members, persons with eczema, etc., for a period of time after “vaccination”; among many other issues.
Yours Truly will again recall to the reader’s mind that ACAM2000 is now FDA-approved for PREVENTIVE USE among persons who are at risk for Mpox. From what Yours Truly has read about it, Mpox is, for all intents and purposes, likely to be a LESS-DANGEROUS form of Orthopoxvirus, compared to another form of the same Genus, variola (Smallpox virus.) [HOWEVER, see the presentation answering Question Two, further below in the post.] There is a vaccine that was previously FDA-APPROVED for the prevention of Mpox — JYNNEOS, manufactured by Bavarian-Nordic. This vaccine also uses the vaccinia virus as the foundation; but, JYNNEOS is cultured in a mixture of chicken embryo cells; and, although it also has live vaccinia, it is a NON-replicatingversion. JYNNEOS was also originally FDA-approved for the prevention of Smallpox. In Yours Truly’s opinion, even though JYNNEOS does indeed have potential for serious adverse reactions (for example, cardiac issues), this vaccine appears to be much less dangerous and deadly compared to ACAM2000. The FDA Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers for JYNNEOS is here:www.fda.gov/131078/download.
Two questions arise immediately: First, what is about ACAM2000 that makes it so dangerous?; and, Second, why did the FDA suddenly approve the use of ACAM2000 for the prevention of Mpox in August 2024?
As to the first question: ACAM2000 is the “descendant Smallpox vaccine” from the older Dryvax Smallpox vaccine, which was manufactured by Wyeth. ACAM2000 replaced Dryvax in August 2007, after FDA approval. The Package Insert (archived version) for Dryvax is here: https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/bt/smallpox/dryvax_label.htm. Below are two screenshots from the Package Insert for Dryvax:
Note that the inoculation process for Dryvax consisted of 2 or 3 punctures for the initial (primary) vaccination; and that 15 punctures were used for revaccination. However, ACAM2000 requires 15 punctures for the initial vaccination. Why 15 punctures for the initial vaccination? It would appear, in Yours Truly’s opinion, that requiring 15 punctures for the initial vaccination with ACAM2000 exposes the patient to more of the ingredients of the vaccine (think the Moderna COVID-19 modRNA “vaccines”all having more than 3 times the “mcg payload” of lab-enhanced SARS-CoV-2 spike protein PER INJECTION, as compared to the “mcg payload” of the Pfizer-BioNTech modRNA COVID-19 “vaccines.” [Which is NOT to say that the Pfizer-BioNTech modRNA “vaccines” are somehow “safer” than those of Moderna. THEY ARE NOT.])
Yours Truly turns to section 8.1 of the FDA Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers for ACAM2000 (link above.) This “vaccine” is particularly dangerous to pregnant women, to women who wish to become pregnant, and to a fetus carried by a pregnant woman (whether or not she is “vaccinated” with ACAM2000, since persons “vaccinated” with this product will “shed” ingredients [from the forming / formed pustule, or the scab from the pustule, etc.], onto other persons who come into contact with the “vaccinated” person.) Below is section 8.1:
It would also appear that there is inherent danger due to the fact that ACAM2000 uses a live, replicating vaccinia (another Orthopoxvirus that is “weaker” than variola [the Smallpox virus], and which is used to make modern-day Smallpox / Mpox vaccines), as compared to the live, NON-replicating vaccinia that is used the JYNNEOS Smallpox / Mpox vaccine. Once inoculated (vaccinated) with ACAM2000, the vaccinia produces a kind of “mini-infection” in the patient, affecting the area around the inoculation site, along with the lymph nodes in the same area. Vaccinia may also appear in the blood of the patient. There is also the issue of “self-inoculation” by the ACAM2000-“vaccinated” patient (from scratching or “picking at” the scab that forms after the “mini-infection” pustule forms on the skin, and also when this pustule begins to clear); and for other reasons — the FDA Fact Sheet section 17 Patient Counseling Information for ACAM2000 discusses this. In addition, there is the varying amount of vaccinia concentration that is produced in the patient after ACAM2000 inoculation; see below from section 11 Description of the FDA Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers:
In other words, there are many areas about the ingredients and mechanisms of ACAM2000 that raise the risk of complications, including death, for the patient who takes this “vaccine”, for pregnant women and their fetuses, for women who wish to become pregnant, for persons who are immunocompromised, and for persons who are NOT “vaccinated” with ACAM2000, during the multiple “danger zone” weeks after ACAM2000 inoculation.
Turning to the second question, concerning the FDA approval in August 2024 for ACAM2000 to be used as an Mpox “vaccine”: this situation is complex. It involves Big Pharma, the WHO, and, what to Yours Truly “smells like” Gain-of-Function research, among other items.
Yours Truly will begin with Emergent BioSolutions, the company that produces ACAM2000. Emergent BioSolutions, a “global enterprise” with headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD, was established in 1998. Its first project was to partner with the United States Defense Department to supply the Anthrax vaccine that was administered to members of the military (www.emergentbiosolutions.com/about-us/.) The current CEO of the company is Joseph C. Papa. Mr. Papa’s most-recent position was CEO of Bausch + Lomb, another large Big Pharma company. Mr. Papa, apparently, is a “mover and shaker” in the pharmaceutical industry. However, it is also apparent that Baush + Lomb was in financial trouble when he left it to become CEO of Emergent BioSolutions. In fact, Bausch + Lomb is “exploring” selling off some of its pharmaceutical assets, due to “significant debt load” (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bausch-lomb-explores-sale-amid-112230409.html.) Perhaps, the company’s Post-IPO debt funding was not enough: www.crunchbase.com/organization/bausch-lomb/company_financials; scroll down to “Investors.” Mr. Papa has Bachelor’s and Doctorate degrees in Pharmacy; his career includes working with many Big Pharma companies (Novartis, Cardinal Health, and Watson Pharmaceuticals, among others.) Please see his entry in Wikipedia; and, here: https://waterstreet.com/people/papa-joseph. Water Street (Water Street Healthcare Partners) is an investment company that has a portfolio worth approximately $6Billion spread across healthcare services companies, medical diagnostics companies, and pharmaceutical/life sciences companies (https://waterstreet.com/companies.)
Mr. Papa was hired on 21 February 2024 by Emergent BioSolutions to facilitate the financial turnaround of the company. Below is a screenshot of the company’s financials from September 2023 to September 2024, via Crunchbase. It appears that Mr. Papa, a “mover and shaker” in the Big Pharma world, is working hard:
Also, via Crunchbase, a snapshot of Emergent BioSolution’s funders:
It appears that now, Mpox is being “re-classified” as another, although serious, sexually-transmitted disease that can infect any sexually-active person; and, that Mpox has apparently “made the leap” from monkeys to other animals (rodents and even to domesticated dogs), and to between animals and humans. This leads to another aspect of the situation: Yours Truly’s suspicion that there have been / are ongoing, Gain-of-Function experiments on Mpox.
Here is the “fast and dirty” summary on Gain-of-Function experiments with Mpox:
One: Up until 22 August 2024, the FDA had only ONE approved “vaccine” for Mpox: JYNNEOS. However, on that same day, the FDA conducted a “review” of the BLA Application (Biologics License Application) for ACAM2000 to have approval as a “vaccine” for Mpox. This application was approved on 29 August 2024 (www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-roundup-august-30-2024.) Please see: www.fda.gov/media/181552/download for the BLA review. The FDA reviewers, apparently, had some “reservations” about ACAM2000 — see the screenshot below:
Despite the multiple reviewer comments regarding the BLA for ACAM2000, the FDA approved it anyway for Mpox “prevention.” In fact, look at THIS, from section 11.2 of the ACAM2000 BLA document, below:
Two, the Gain-of-Function issue regarding Mpox: First, the CDC connection:
The CDC has an updated report on the incidence of Clade II infections of Mpox, an outbreak that originated in Central Africa (more on Clade II of Mpox further down in today’s post): www.cdc.gov/, “Clade II Mpox Outbreak Originating in Central Africa”, 13 September 2024. Per this article, there are no Clade I Mpox infections in the United States at this time; however, there are 2466 reported cases of Clade II Mpox infections, with 7 deaths. There are also, per the CDC report, cases of Clade II of Mpox literally all over the world at this time.
Here is an example of Gain-of-Function experiments with the Clade II of Mpox. This paper is about a study conducted at Kansas State University in which pigs were exposed to the Clade II of Mpox to see if they would get sick, and then take various blood and biological samples and test them. Sure enough, the pigs contracted Mpox. Please see: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11168330/, “Experimental inoculation of pigs with monkeypox virus results in productive infection and transmission to sentinels”, Emily Mantlo, et al., 7 May 2024. “Sentinels” were the pigs who were not injected with the Clade II Mpox, but were put in the same cages as those pigs who were. The “sentinel” pigs also came down with Mpox (in other words, animal-to-animal transmission of the virus.) Below are the Ethics Statement and the Funding Statement for this study:
Note that the study was conducted in BSL-3 labs at KSU; that tissue-processing was performed at CDC BSL-2 facilities; and, that, apparently, college students were working in the BSL-3 labs in the study. This indicates that Gain-of-Function experiments with the Clade II of Mpox were being performed; that lower-level biosafety labs were used; and, that college students were involved (how much close supervision was provided by KSU?)
So, Gain-of-Function experiments are being performed using the Mpox virus; experiments funded by the NIH. A very dangerous, deadly Smallpox “vaccine”, ACAM2000, was suddenly FDA-approved for the “prevention” of Mpox. The “definition” of who is “at risk” for an Mpox infection has been “expanded” to include all persons who are sexually active. The Clade II of Mpox (the one that is the subject of the Gain-of-Function experiments) is now infecting people all over the planet, including in the United States. And more. Cui bono? How many of the general public will line up for an injection of ACAM2000 because the CDC / FDA / AMA / Establishment Medicine, will issue a warning due to “increasing numbers of infections being reported of Mpox?” How many healthcare professionals will be “mandated” into taking ACAM2000 “to protect themselves and the patients they care for?” (Again, JYNNEOS was already approved for Mpox “vaccination”, and it is ** potentially ** a “safer” alternative “vaccine.”) How many more Gain-of-Function experiments will be conducted, not in facilities like the Wuhan Institute of Virology or the Baric Lab at UNC Chapel Hill — but at places like the BSL-3 Ag Lab at Kansas State University (a facility where, arguably, one would expect research on, say, equine viruses, not Clade II Mpox experiments on pigs)? How much more Gain-of-Function experimentation will be hidden and/or “obscured” from public knowledge, let alone from Congress?
This contains the full text of Pakistani paper’s Sept 2001 “exclusive” interview with bin Laden.
In the Unmat interview, Osama bin Laden categorically denies his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden’s statements in this interview are markedly different from those made in the alleged Osama video tapes.
In this interview, Osama bin Laden allegedly exhibits an understanding of US foreign policy. He expresses his views regarding the loss of life on 9/11. He focuses on CIA support to the narcotics trade.
He also makes statements as to who, in his opinion, might be the likely perpetrator of the September 11 attacks.
This is an important text which has not been brought to the attention of Western public opinion…
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks the United States threatened to bomb his country if it did not cooperate with the American campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan… 🤔
REMEMBER the Taliban was BURNING the poppy fields. I do not think the CIA was happy about that.
THE DANCING ISRAELIS PICTURED BELOW
I had originally heard these ‘Dancing Middle Eastern Men’ were ARABS just as POTUS Trump had heard. This is the first I came across this information.
in 2019 the FBI at last acknowledged this event and declassified and released 144 pages documenting the agency’s investigation into a group of men who witnesses reported were filming and celebrating the destruction of the Twin Towers…
Attorney General John Ashcroft personally signed off on the detainees’ release. Upon entering the private sector as a lobbyist and consultant in 2005,👉the Israeli government became one of Ashcroft’s first clients…
This Article has screenshots of the actual documents.
On the day of the 9-11 attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked what the attacks would mean for US-Israeli relations. His quick reply was: “It’s very good……. Well, it’s not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel)”
According to ABCNEWS sources, Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days, the five Israelis were taken out of jail, put on a plane, and deported back home. While the former detainees refused to answer ABCNEWS’ questions about their detention and what they were doing on Sept. 11, several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home.
Said one of the men, 👉”Our purpose was to document the event.”
But how did they know there was going to BE an “event”?
…Three of the five “dancing Israelis” appeared on an Israeli television show to explain that 👉they were sent to document the event. Here is an excerpt of them:
According to a former high-ranking American intelligence official who spoke to the Jewish Daily Forward in 2002, the FBI concluded in its investigation that the five Israelis arrested “were conducting a Mossad surveillance mission and that their employer, Urban Moving Systems of Weehawken, NJ, served as a front.”👉At least two of the men arrested were determined to have direct links to the Mossad after their names appeared in a CIA-FBI database of foreign intelligence operatives.According to one of their lawyers, one of the men, Paul Kurzberg, had previously worked for the Mossad in another country prior to arriving in the United States. Another of those arrested, Oded Ellner, subsequently stated on Israeli TV that
👉the five Israelis had been in New York at the time “to document the event,” meaning the attack on the World Trade Center.
The FOIA release of the photos is notable because responses to prior FOIA requests to the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI, had previously claimed that all of the photos taken by the Israeli nationals had been destroyed in January 2014….
April 3, 2019 Move comes as Trump’s Homeland Security Department disbands an intelligence unit that tracks right-wing violence. 👈 [RIGHT WING? That was Janet Napolitano switching DHS targeting FROM Muslims TO American patriots like military vets and retired LEOs. – GC]
Two former homeland security secretaries will co-chair a task force convened by national Jewish organizations aimed at tracking anti-religious violence.
The task force, announced Tuesday, is a joint project of the Anti-Defamation League and Secure Community Network, a Jewish self-defense initiative.
Its co-chairs are Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary under President Barack Obama, and Michael Chertoff, who held the job under President George W. Bush, and who is Jewish….
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HISTORY OF ISRAEL — CONNECTING DOTS
In April 1834, the House of Representatives voted against rechartering the Second Bank of the United States thanks to the efforts of Andrew Jackson. 27 years later the American Civil War started and ran from April 12, 1861 to May 26, 1865. Remember the Tsar of Russia prevented France and Britain from reclaiming the USA as their colonies as a result of that war. LINK Britain and the City of London were NOT HAPPY.
Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth’s had a Canadian connection. It was not until the 1867 British North America Act established the Dominion of Canada as a self-governing entity within the British Empire that Canada began the journey towards autonomy. So for all intents and purposes the Brits were behind the assassination of Lincoln. Funny how I do not remember those important bits of information from history class.
The Tsar, Alexander II of Russiawas the 12th Emperor of Russia from 1844 to 1881. The US Civil war ended May 26, 1865 and less than a year later the first assassination was attempted in April 1866. This was followed by a second in 1867, two more in 1879 and another on the evening of 5 February 1880. Finally on 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1881 ‘they’ succeeded in killing him.
The European/Bank of London bankers saddled the USA with the Federal Reserve just 32 years after the assassination of TsarAlexander II. Five years later, on the night of July 16 -17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children – Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei were brutally murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries thus wiping out the Tsar’s entire family line.
…. Pogroms were violent riots directed against Jewish communities, often with the tacit or explicit approval of local authorities. The first extensive pogroms followed the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Three Jews were directly involved: Savelii Zlatopolskii, Grigorii Goldenberg and Aizik Aronchik.–GC
On the morning of March 13, 1881, Alexander II was travelling through the streets of Saint Petersburg in an open carriage, escorted by a small escort of soldiers and police. Several members of the People’s Will had positioned themselves along the route of the Tsar’s carriage and, as it approached, one of them threw a bomb at it. The bomb exploded inside the carriage, killing several members of the escort and injuring the Tsar. The bomber was captured almost immediately. When the Tsar was about to be taken to a safe place another attacker came close to him and threw a second bomb at his feet. Both the Emperor and the assassin were mortally injured.
The dying Emperor was carried by sleigh to his study in the Winter Palace and members of the Romanov family were summoned to say their last goodbye to him. At 3:30 that day, the Tsar passed away and his personal flag was lowered for the last time. The following month his son Alexander III ascended the Russian throne.
Aftermath
The assassination of Tsar Alexander II was a turning point in Russian and European history. It marked the beginning of a period of increased repression and censorship in Russia and served as a symbol of the growing tensions between traditional monarchies and the emerging socialist movement. [HMMMMmmmm 🤔]
I have already written about the Karl Marx, Rothschild Banker connections in my comments.
Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Aug. 25, 1897.
…The Rothschilds, who have made a fortune through banking since the 18th century, are a German-Jewish family whose members fled to European countries, some even receiving the title of nobility.
These Jewish nationalists (Zionists) gathered in Basel, Switzerland in 1897 and turned to England – the most powerful country at the time – for help establishing a homeland in Palestine.
The Ottoman government took certain measures against this movement, which threatened its territorial integrity. It feared that the law of 1869, which allowed foreigners to buy land in the Ottoman country, except for the Hijaz, on condition of reciprocity, would be abused….
In 1881, the Jews who faced the pogrom in Russia wanted to immigrate to Palestine en masse...
From 1882, the Rothschilds began to buy land in Palestine on behalf of others.The Rothschilds, who had international power as they lent money to all governments, wanted the refugee Russian Jews to be allowed to settle in these lands. The embassies intervened. The Ottoman government was confused as to what to do. The first Jewish colony was established in Jaffa that same year, despite not having been granted permission. By 1918, one-twentieth of Palestine’s fertile lands belonged to the Rothschilds….
Sure doesn’t sound like the Arabs hated the Jews back then does it? Also notice these were Russian Jews and likely were of Kazarian blood.
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THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
Gerry Docherty and Jim Macgregor who first met in a pub near Glasgow University, document WWI history. It is a site that looks worth exploring.
…A file in the U.S. State Department, ‘Bolshevism and Judaism’, dated November 13, 1918, asserted that there could be no doubt that the ‘Jewish Firm’ Kuhn, Loeb & Company and its partners ‘started and engineered’ the revolution in Russia. The report added that Max Warburg had also financed Trotsky, and that Olof Aschberg and Nya Banken were involved. [9] These were key players whose detailed involvement we have already covered in previous blogs. [10]
Jacob Schiff, who had been promoting anti-Czarist activities in Russia since the Russo-Japanese War more than a decade earlier, paid for a large proportion of the pro-Bolshevik propaganda and bribes for the workers and soldiers in the Petrograd garrison in the run up to both the February and October, 1917, revolutions. Professor Antony Sutton believed that it was a mistake to call the Bolshevik Revolution a Jewish plot because gentiles like J.P. Morgan and William Boyce Thompson were also involved, [11] but Thompson was a loyal Morgan man and J.P. Morgan and the entire Morgan Empire were very firmly connected to Rothschild influence. [12]….
Before 2 November 1917 no public position had been taken on the future of Palestine by any government. Thereafter there was a proposal from Lloyd George’s British government, approved by President Wilson in America, to support the establishment of a Jewish homeland under certain conditions. But the future of Palestine had been included in three radically different commitments secretly made by the British government to the French, the Arabs and the Jews. The French could be bought-off with Syria. The Arabs, well they were considered a lesser race by the Secret Elite and, it was presumed, could be led down a different path. The Jews, by that time described as Zionists, offered a very interesting opportunity. Key inner-circle members of the Secret Elite believed that the Empire’s strategic security would be greatly enhanced by a Jewish Palestine which owed its existence to Britain. These Zionists could be useful…
Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Paris was the first of the nineteenth-century Rothschilds to help Russian victims of the vile pogroms to emigrate to Palestine between 1881-2. Throughout the pre-war years, he acquired and supported several communities in Palestine. By 1903 nineteen out of twenty-eight Jewish settlements in Palestine were subsidised partly or wholly by him. It was claimed that Edmond’s commitment was not aimed at the creation of a Jewish state. [1] That is convenient, for once the First World War was underway, it was he who urged Weizmann to seize the opportunity to establish a Jewish Palestine. [2]
…evidence from which we have analysed the Balfour Declaration stands testament to a different truth. It was Walter Rothschild who allegedly drafted and redrafted letters to foreign secretary Balfour in 1917. [6] Be mindful that the Declaration passed through at least 5 drafts. At the very least, if say, Weizmann drafted these letters in Walter’s name, it had the Rothschild signature. Walter opposed the idea that power in Palestine might be shared between Britain and France and, Weizmann claimed, believed that Palestine must become a British Protectorate.…
👉How could any Power which claimed to have gone to war to protect the rights of small self-determining nations bring a non-existent ‘country’ to an international conference and claim it had greater rights to recognition than others?👈
The first step was the British government’s Declaration of intent to support the establishment of a ‘homeland’. An outburst of international and orchestrated approval certainly helped. But there had to be a more tangible basis; proof positive that there was a just cause.
This was the reason behind the Zionist Commission sent to the ‘Holy Land’ in 1918 👉to reassure the Arabs that no-one intended them harm.👈
It aimed to lend credibility to the Zionist claims; give Zionists some right to be heard when the world was redivided at the end of the war. And all of this timely enterprise was orchestrated through the Rothschild influence.
In addition, membership of the Secret Elite began to change in a subtle manner to which Carroll Quigley made no overt reference. Perhaps a better word might be partnership. As economic power increasingly flowed through the Morgan – Rothschild – Rockefeller – Kuhn Lowe axis in the United States, political alliances began to firm around key issues … like Palestine, but why did they go to such extraordinary lengths to realise a mythistory? The Brandeis – Weizmann connection was reflected in the Balfour-Lansing understandings. In other words, the Zionist aims metamorphosed into British and American foreign policy. The Anglo-American Establishment began to slowly readjust its position. In a sense, the drive for one world government moved towards a shared trans-Atlantic agenda that would become clearer in the coming decades...
So in the beginning of the establishment of Israel, the Arabs were made promises including “…no-one intended them harm…” Remember from the last article, “…The Britishclaimed that their sole interest in the affair was the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire andhad given their word that these Arab territories would be freed and allowed independence if they agreed to rebel..” And on May 14, 1948, Israel was officially declared an independent state.
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TANTURA MASSACRE:
This the history of an Arab fishing village after the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine.
“…Over the years, the release of classified documents has further confirmed Palestinian accounts of the countless massacres perpetrated by Zionist paramilitary groups and Israeli soldiers…”LINK
This is the tale of a CENSORED Israeli Grad student and a filmmaker.
Filmmaker Alon Schwarz challenges Israel’s narrative about the 1948 massacre of a Palestinian village
…A quarter of a century ago, an Israeli graduate student studying the impacts of the Nakba on several villages near Haifa found himself talking with Israeli veterans who openly detailed their role in a massacre….
Schwarz was initially working on a different documentary about human rights activists from Israeli NGOs opposing the occupation, when he met Katz, and decided to listen to the personal testimonies of murder and rampage conducted by Zionist militia members recorded on Katz’s tapes.
Among the interviews he would have heard is the testimony of an Alexandroni militiaman who took part in the Tantura raid: “Some of these young soldiers I remember – it’s not nice to say – they put [the Palestinian villagers] in a barrel and shot at the barrel, and I remember the blood in the barrel.”
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TO BE CONTINUED…
However I want to leave this topic with the following:
Documentary: “All Wars Are Bankers Wars” Explores a Common Central Banking Connection Behind America’s Wars
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
No Sin? . . . No Sin!!!
As we look around us these days, we’re surrounded and saturated by the evils of this world . . . and it appears to be spreading and getting worse. We’re hopeful that soon we’ll experience a pause in this evil progression with the election of PTrump, but it’s clear that we’re on an inevitable downhill slide to Tribulation. We haven’t seen anything yet. What’s coming will be a tsunami of evil and troubles such as we or the world has never seen.
I don’t want to be here when that happens. And, hopefully, I and we will not be here. We’ll be raised and changed so that sin and troubles will never, ever have even the most remote appearance in our lives. I don’t think we comprehend at all the great impact that it’ll have on us . . . but it will be glorious!!!
The Bible describes heaven or the eternal state in great detail in Revelation chapters 21–22. Nowhere in those chapters is the possibility of sin mentioned. In fact, we have the promise that, in the eternal state, we will never experience death, sorrow, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4)—the absence of those things is proof positive that sin is also absent, since those things are the product of sin (see Romans 6:23).
The sinful will not be in heaven but in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). Nothing impure will ever enter heaven (Revelation 21:27). Outside of heaven are those who sin (Revelation 22:15). An Old Testament prophecy also assures us that the Kingdom of God will exclude sinfulness:
A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. . . . But only the redeemed will walk there” (Isaiah 35:8–9).
It will not be possible for us to sin in heaven.
God wills our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3); that is, He wills to make us holy and free of sin. Our sanctification has three phases: the 1st phase saves us from the penalty of sin at the moment of faith in Christ; the 2nd saves us from the power of sin as we grow in Christ; and the 3rd saves us from the presence of sin as we enter the presence of Christ. “When Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). In other words, the process by which God sanctifies us involves justification, maturation, and glorification.
The glorification that God promises His children (Romans 8:30) includes sinlessness, because sinful beings cannot be glorious. Heaven, the place of God’s glory, is sinless. Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely”, and he links the glorious appearing of Christ to our personal glorification: “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). This glorified state will be our ultimate separation from sin, a total sanctification in every regard. It will not be possible for us to sin in heaven.
James 1:14 provides another assurance that we will not sin in heaven: “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” In this sinful world, we face temptation daily, and James identifies two forces that prompt us to sin: our own evil desire (our sin nature) and enticement (the devil’s schemes). Neither of those forces will be in heaven. Our sin nature will have been eradicated in our glorification, and the tempter will have been consigned to the lake of fire where he can do us no harm (Revelation 20:10).
The Bible’s teaching is that heaven or the eternal state is completely holy. There will be no possibility of sin, we will be clothed with righteousness (Revelation 19:8), and we will be eternally confirmed in our state of bliss. The work that God promised to complete in us will have been finished (Philippians 1:6). Our deliverance will be complete, as the elect are redeemed – body, soul, and mind – to the glory of the Lamb (Rev. 5:6–10). xhttps://www.gotquestions.org/heaven-sin.html
What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?
Speaker Johnson: A Reminder.
And MTG is there to help make it stick.
January 6 tapes. A good start…but then nothing.
Were you just hoping we’d be distracted by the first set and not notice?
Are you THAT kind of “Republican”?
Are you Kevin McCarthy lite?
What are you waiting for?
I have a personal interest in this issue.
And if you aren’t…what the hell is wrong with you?
Lawyer Appeasement Section
OK now for the fine print.
This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines, here, with an addendum on 20191110.
We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.
And remember Wheatie’s Rules:
1. No food fights 2. No running with scissors. 3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone. 4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns. 5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded. 5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty. 6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. 7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire. 8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
Lots going on…gold surged on Thursday, and I was expecting a beat-down on Friday. Instead, it rose almost 20 more dollars. The FRNSI went up quite a bit, nearly four points! Silver did even better on a percentage basis. Note that an ounce of gold is worth 83.724 ounces of silver…but last week it was worth 89.094 ounces. That means that, in comparison to gold, silver became more valuable.
*The SteveInCO Federal Reserve Note Suckage Index (FRNSI) is a measure of how much the dollar has inflated. It’s the ratio of the current price of gold, to the number of dollars an ounce of fine gold made up when the dollar was defined as 25.8 grains of 0.900 gold. That worked out to an ounce being $20.67+71/387 of a cent. (Note gold wasn’t worth this much back then, thus much gold was $20.67 71/387ths. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.) Once this ratio is computed, 1 is subtracted from it so that the number is zero when the dollar is at its proper value, indicating zero suckage.
Piling On
One claim that Flat Earthers (“flerfers”) make is that there aren’t any time lapse videos of the sun doing a full circle around the viewer in Antarctica; that there’s always some sort of eight our gap in the videos.
This is a LIE. Don’t fall for it. Here is FIVE SOLID DAYS worth of timelapse with no hiccups and no breaks, taken in early March just before south polar sunset.
By the way there’s an absolute plethora of videos about the Amundsen Scott station, tours of the main building, tours of the buried areas, tours of the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory (the largest science experiment by volume), and so on. And plenty of ways to get there as a tourist…provided you have $60K (or more). That’s roughly 24 ounces of gold right now.
Also we have a few cases of flerfers trying to run an experiment and finding they don’t get the results they expected…and not coming to the obvious conclusion.
There are three instances here: One where people stood on opposite sides of a body of water, put lights at 17 feet above water level, then tried to establish a line of site through temporary barriers with holes in them at 17 feet above water level. On a flat earth, there’s be no problem; on a curved earth, however. the barriers in the middle would cut the beam off. And that’s what happened; the light had to be raised a number of feet to be visible through the hole. Second, a gyroscope was seen to precess 15 degrees per hour…as it would if the earth were rotating over a period of 24 hours. On a flat, non-rotating Earth, it shouldn’t precess at all. Third, a striped flag was seen to disappear from the bottom to the top as it sailed off, again, as predicted by Globe Earth but not by Flat Earth.
This all forced the Flat Earth charlatans to do a lot of tap dancing, and one body language expert thinks at least one of the Big Flerfer “names” knows he’s a lying sack of shit. (Well, they didn’t say the “sack of shit” part.)
Mars
A while back I wrote something about why Mars sucks. Meaning, why it had such a thin atmosphere and virtually no surface water. This is interesting because by every indication (everything from visible stream beds on the surface, to minerals that only form in water, to sedimentary rocks which form in fairly stationary bodies of water like lakes and oceans), Mars used to have liquid running water on its surface, which in turn implies it once had a much thicker atmosphere. (There is still a fair amount of water on Mars, in the form of permafrost below the ground. This will be useful should we start human exploration.)
And it turns out that there are two key things going on here: one, Mars has weak surface gravity making it easier for the atmosphere (including water vapor) to escape and two, Mars has no magnetic field, allowing the solar wind to help that process by stripping away the atmosphere. Both in turn are consequences of the fact that it’s considerably smaller than Earth. (There’s no magnetic field because the interior of the planet has cooled off, because it is smaller than Earth, which hasn’t cooled off internally yet, and still has molten iron inside.)
This in turn has a bearing on the question of life. We’re mostly convinced nothing lives on Mars (though there’s a significant minority of scientists who make plausible arguments that there could be). But the tougher question is whether Mars ever had life, back when conditions were much better. That’s largely dependent on how long the conditions were good, how rapidly life actually develops…and whether it’s a rare event even given the right conditions. All of these are very much open questions at the moment; the frontiers of human knowledge.
Time to revisit Mars.
Orbit
First, where is it? Its orbit averages 1.52 AUs in radius…which is to say it’s 52 percent further away from the Sun than is Earth. But that is an average; it varies from 1.38 at one end of the elliptical orbit, to 1.67 AUs at the other. This is a large variance and Mars therefore has a much greater orbital eccentricity than most planets, at 0.0934. (0 is perfectly circular, 0.9 and above are very “cigar” shaped with the Sun close to one end of the cigar. No planet comes close to that though some comets do.) Since Earth is at 1 AU and orbits in 1 sidereal year, it completes one orbit in 1.88 (Earth) years or 686.90 Earth days.
As seen from Earth, Mars moves from west to east against the background stars, usually. It can appear to travel in the opposite direction at times, when we “lap” it in our orbit around the Sun. Here’s an animation from 2020, showing the actual relative positions of Mars and Earth, and an inset showing how Mars appears to move across our sky. (Note how, even though Mars’s orbit appears to be circular, it’s not centered on the Sun; that’s because in fact it is very slightly elliptical.)
If you watched that and paid attention to the trace of Mars across the sky as seen from Earth, you might wonder why it’s not just a straight line. That’s because the two planets don’t orbit in exactly the same plane. The Earth’s orbital plane is the zodiac line, Mars is at a slightly different tilt so even though it roughly follows the zodiac, it doesn’t stay precisely on it.
Surface Conditions
So Mars is significantly further away from the Sun and one would expect it to be colder…and it is, with an average surface temperature of -69C or -60C depending on how you take that average. (This is Antarctic winter type temperatures.) Yes, you will see that it sometimes gets up to +35C, but that’s rare; it’s just as liable to get down to -110C.
What else would you experience on the surface other than it being cucking fold there? Surface gravity is 0.3794 of Earth…almost exactly 3/8ths. (A 98 pound weakling is a 37 pound weakling there.) Air pressure depends on elevation, like it does here on Earth. Our scientists picked an arbitrary “sea level” that is about average for Mars (there is of course no sea), and at that level atmospheric pressure is 0.00628 our sea level pressure…not even one percent! We couldn’t live in that, even if it were pure oxygen, which it is not; it’s 96% CO2. There is a fraction of a percent oxygen but when you multiply that by how thin the air is, it might as well not be there. There is actually more argon than oxygen.
This is not to say there isn’t wind on Mars, and even dust storms, sometimes those storms can cover huge parts of the surface; at least one even covering the entire planet just as our first Mars orbiter arrived in 1971. These tend to happen when Mars is nearest to the Sun, and they help keep it warmer than it otherwise would be.
Another aspect of Martian weather is that the surface radiation is extreme, because there is nothing to block the solar wind and also nothing to block ultraviolet light. Solar flares and the like would cook you just as much as they would on the Moon.
Does Mars have seasons? Yes, cold, and colder. But seriously, yes. The axis is tipped a bit more than 25 degrees, and that causes seasons just as it does on Earth.
The Martian day is 24h 39m 36s long on average. That’s noontime to noontime; to avoid confusion with the Earth day, we call the Martian day a “sol.” Of course since it is orbiting the Sun just like we are, it has to rotate slightly more than one time on its axis to do this, it has to rotate another half degree or so to account for the Sun not being in the same direction against the stars as it was the day before. The true “God’s Eye View” rotation of Mars (i.e., relative to the stars) is 24h 37m 22.7s. Visitors to Mars would have an extra 39.6 minutes to kill every day. And this matters a great deal to some people even now, because Mars surface rovers only function in the daylight (because they run off solar panels, besides, it’s hard to see in the dark anyway). So the scientists and mission controllers here must follow the Martian day night cycle. Imagine a job where every day you have to wake up and go to bed 40 minutes later every day; you’d be out of sync with your family pretty quickly, and it would take about 36 days before things got back in sync.
Size
Mars has a radius of 3396 km, or about 53% of Earth’s. Which means a Mars globe and an Earth globe to scale should have the Earth globe looking about twice the width as the Mars globe.
Mars’s surface area is 144 million square kilometers, 28.4 percent of Earth’s. BUT…Earth is mostly covered by water, so Earth’s land area is 149 million square kilometers. Virtually the same. So there’s a lot of real estate there, however, as of now it’s about as valuable as that land just west of Miami or San Francisco.
Here is a map, with elevation coded by color.
Note the northern hemisphere would largely be ocean, if there were an ocean, with the south almost all highlands. But there is a big basin, the deepest/lowest spot on the planet, in the south at 60 degrees longitude–this is the Hellas basin, and likely an old impact basin. Another smaller basin is at about 320 west. But the true highlands area straddling the equator at 240 degrees is the “Tharsis bulge.” There are three white peaks in a line running southwest to northeast, then west of that, an isolated white peak. That peak is Olympus Mons, the largest volcano known to man. It’s so large you could be on its slope and have no idea you were on a volcano, just that the land has a gentle slope to it.
This thing is BIG. Here it is compared to France.
The other tourist attraction on Mars is Valles Marineris, a canyon 4000 km long, 200 km wide, and up to 7 km deep. It would stretch most of the way across the United States. It cuts through the left hand side of the red area on the map. There are other smaller canyons thought to have been cut by running water, but Valles Marineris is actually thought by some to be a rift zone from plate tectonics, one that failed as the mantle cooled too much for such things. (Photographed in infrared which apparently has better contrast.)
Moons
Mars has two moons, insignificant little things that weren’t discovered until August 12 and 18, 1877, by Asaph Hall. They are too small to have forced themselves into spherical shapes. The inner, larger moon is Phobos (named after the Greek deity of panic and fear) roughly 22 km across (it’s hard to average it when it’s basically shaped like a potato), with Deimos (named after the Greek deity of dread and terror) being 12 km across (same caveat).
The names make sense, because Mars was after all the god of war. (In Greek mythology this god was known as Ares, and a lot of scientific terms to do with Mars actually derive from this root, e.g., “areography” analogous to “geography”)
Phobos has an average orbital radius of 9,377 km, while Deimos has one of 23,460 km. Phobos orbits Mars in a mere 7.66 hours while Deimos orbits in 30.35 hours.
Note that Phobos orbits Mars faster than Mars rotates. These are both in the same direction (counterclockwise as seen from over Mars’s north pole), so Phobos’s actual west to east motion overwhelms its apparent daily east-to-west trip across the sky as Mars rotates. So, it actually rises in the west and sets in the east!
There is some thought that Phobos could be used as a transit point for people traveling to and from Mars; imagine how convenient it would be to set up a space station there. There’s plenty of room for such a thing there.
Exploration of Mars
Mars is undoubtedly the best explored planet other than, of course, Earth. The first successful flyby of another planet was by Mariner 4 in 1965. The first successful orbiter for another planet was Mariner 9 in 1971…at which time Mars was suffering a planet wide dust storm. Fortunately it cleared while the spacecraft was still alive, and we finally discovered the great volcanoes and Valles Marineris. (All prior flybys had just happened to fly by when the wrong side of Mars was presented.) The Soviets tried multiple times but had my luck, having few successes. They were the first to attempt a landing…and failed, repeatedly. They finally succeeded with a flyby about the same time we put Mariner 9 in orbit. (They had better luck with Venus, which is harder. Go figure.)
Finally in July and September 1976 the two Viking landers successfully touched down on Mars. Here is the first photograph taken from the surface of Mars. (With one caveat. The Russians successfully landed on Mars in 1971…but the spacecraft went belly up less than two minutes later, having transmitted part of a picture. I can only imagine the profanity they must have used.)
And a panorama, which I remember being printed on the front page of the newspaper (with messed-up colors that made the sky look blue):
One of their missions was to search for life–presumably microbial life–by running various tests on soil samples. Although most think the tests returned negative results on the whole, there was enough activity in some of the tests that some to this day hold out hope that there was, in fact, life there.
Since then, of course, we’ve had a plethora of orbiters and rovers, but as yet no sample-return mission. China has gotten into the act.
But where to from here? Elon Musk has famously pushed for actual permanent human habitation on Mars, with an aggressive timeline. The idea would be to send one of his Starships to Mars, after refueling in Earth orbit, then on Mars making fuel from the CO2 in the atmosphere and subsurface ice, which would be used to make methane and oxygen. Not the best fuel in the world, but far better than lugging it all the way from Earth (which would require MUCH bigger rockets to launch the mission in the first place). This is similar to the Mars Direct concept put forth in the 1990s by Robert Zubrin, which involves sending a return vehicle first, waiting for the next launch window and sending a habitat with crew and another return vehicle, then again every launch window. Habitats would accumulate on the surface, and fuel would be manufactured for both the return vehicles and for rovers. By spacing the habitats and return vehicles several hundred miles apart, a network of them is eventually set up, and they can even back up for each other in emergencies since they would be in rover range of each other. (And if a previously sent return vehicle fails, there’s one that came with the crew during this launch window.)
Mars is in some ways an ideal target. There are resources there that could be used by human visitors; carbon from the atmosphere, water from subsurface ice. We could breathe there, indefinitely, with help from machinery. We could likely grow food there too. Everything we can create there is less stuff we have to schlep there in the first place. In many ways, it’s a better bet than the Moon, even if it is scores of times further away.
There was an epic set of novels by Kim Stanley Robinson describing the future on Mars, with the first bases, terraforming, and settlement, they are “Red Mars,” “Green Mars” (as some plant life takes hold), and “Blue Mars” as Mars gets an ocean. In fact there’s even a Martian tricolor flag inspired by these classic books, with red, green and blue.
How feasible is that? Can Mars ever be that earthlike?
Maybe more than you might think! It turns out that a big magnet (I can’t seem to locate how powerful it would have to be, but it’s something we could put there) placed at the L1 point between Mars and the Sun might actually be enough so that Mars would find itself in the “tail” of the magnetic field, now protected from the solar wind.
The people putting forth this idea claim we might see significant thickening of the Martian atmosphere in years, not decades or centuries. The atmosphere would be mostly carbon dioxide…and that is a greenhouse gas. It might get warm enough even to melt the subsurface water, eventually.
We might not be able to breathe the air, but if the pressure is high enough, we can ditch “space suits” and just wear an oxygen mask over our faces, and maybe a parka if we need to keep warm.
I definitely see our future involving Mars in a big way…provided of course we have a future. I can’t imagine us ever making it if current trends continue…unless Musk is able to pull a rabbit out of his hat, quickly. Because 40 or maybe only 20 years from now we might not have a civilization capable of it any more.
I originally thought I would write about the voodoo religion and its practices in this post. Others commented both on the value of that, and of the dangers inherent. Upon reflection, what I will write is more of a treatise on how to research and satisfy the curiosity about this kind of thing, and the obstacles you will encounter.
I will also touch on parts of the practice of voodoo, but not delve too deeply. If, however, you don’t want to associate yourself or read any of it, I don’t blame you. There is a warning below for when I get into some detail.
One must be very careful when researching ANY of the occult religions in this day and time. Sadly, there has been such a fascination with them over the past couple of decades that good factual information can be hard to find. There is a lot of pure bullshit being passed off as real. As an example, I will cite the Druids.
We actually know very little about the Druids, except for the fact that they existed, and that they were scary. Druids kept no written records or history; most of what we know comes from Julius Caesar, who had his own reasons for branding the Druids the way he did.
We know little to nothing about the actual rites, rituals and religious practices of the Druids, however there are groups today who claim to be practicing Druids, with all kinds of rituals and rites they have essentially made up. This has “poisoned the well” of knowledge, so to speak, when looking for good information, because you will find all this made up crap. And since WE know that many so-called “credible” sources have ulterior motivations, even the “scholarly” sources are suspect.
This fascination and reverence for tribal religions also spills over onto things like voodoo and Santeria, another animal-sacrifice religion. There appears to be a sort of “glossy magazine cover” version of these. So, when the researcher goes after real facts, they can be hard to uncover. I have personally seen this in people I know; they become enthralled with the New Orleans voodoo culture, for example, and the scarier parts of it fade to the background. They see the “lighter side,” and ignore the darkness.
I write this only as a warning to you all about digging into this subject. Because it is being “sugar-coated,” it can appear harmless, or at least not nearly as scary as it is.
STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ SOME SCARY PARTS.
For me, the most frightening aspect of voodoo isn’t the animal sacrifice. It is the vacating of the human body to allow for possession by a loa/lwa spirit. This is common in voodoo. They consider the person thus inhabited as the chwal (“horse”) of the loa spirit, that it is “riding.” This kind of thing happens all the time; special ritual or sacrifice is not necessary for the possession to occur.
The reason why I find this particularly disturbing is, what will happen in our liberal courts when someone claims to have been “possessed” by a loa during the commission of some crime or another? For example, one of the results of loa possession:
“Simpson has noted that in normal, everyday life, there is “considerable sexual modesty among the peasants.”37 The picture changes radically during possession experiences. Huxley writes of the “sexual megalomania” that characterizes many possessions.38 Possessed persons often have to be restrained from taking off their clothes to go naked. Courlander writes of the contempt for proprieties and of the lascivious and lurid behavior and speech of some loa.39 Behavior that would be quite unacceptable to the community and even to the possessed person himself is excused because the loa — not the person being possessed — is responsible for unacceptable behavior and speech.”
This is a religious avenue for irresponsibility for one’s actions. America was founded on freedom of religion, but I doubt if this is what the Founders had in mind.
SCARY PART OVER
If you choose to delve into research of any occult religion, be aware that many so-called “Neopagans” have co-opted and bastardized real practices into their own forms. Our society is currently very, very sick with what seems like “cult fever” to me. So many people have rejected Christianity for some flavor of tribal religion that they know very little about. They just make it up as they go along, and it all ends up posted somewhere on the internet.
I am going to sign off with this:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
The above image of vintage pharmacy bottles for medicinal cordials is courtesy of Wikipedia.
Today’s post is one of a series, Health Friday, related to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. However, the discussion in these posts is not limited to what is presented: it is an Open Thread.
To begin, there are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, with a couple of extra items:
Free speech is practiced here. “Use it or lose it.”
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The Rescue Thread at the U Tree: click on the “Featured” article.
The Third Site, in case the above two are not accessible.
Civil discussion is practiced here. The excellent and timely Rules of our late, good Wheatie prevail:
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Two: No running with scissors.
Three: If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
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The extra items:
What Yours Truly presents in this series, as in her previous blog posts for this board, is not medical advice — they are opinions and hypotheses based on her over 4 1/2 years (and continuing) of reading about, researching about, and writing about “all things COVID”, Big Pharma, and other health topics. Readers are encouraged to consult a healthcare practitioner regarding health concerns or conditions.
Today’s offering for Health Friday is one of a “slightly different path” — it regards Medicinal Cordials. It is a fascinating history that traces at least as far back to Italy during the 15th and 16th Centuries (the Renaissance period.) At that time, medicinal cordials were created and sold by apothecaries (what would now be called Pharmacists.) The craft spread quickly among western European countries (France, Spain, Germany, and England.) Medicinal cordials were originally used to “release” diseases from the body of the patient; to assist in the “renewal” of the diseased body, mind, and spirit; and, to “renew the natural heat” of the body. There were medicinal cordials that had flecks of gold. crushed pearls, or crushed coral added to them, as these items were thought to “assist” the mechanism of the drink. Medicinal cordials eventually “evolved” along two paths: One, into what became “patent medicines”; and, Two, into what are now called “digestifs” and non-medicinal cordials or liqueurs. A “separate” path of development produced a kind of “medicinal beer.” Some medicinal cordials had no alcoholic content at all; others had varying amounts of alcohol content. Some medicinal cordials were made from flowers and spices; others contained herbs and wood derivatives; still others were made of only from herbs and spices. They were (and, along with their modern-day versions of liqueurs, still are), distinct from “fortified wines”, such as Sherry or Vermouth; and, from certain other types of “alcohol + derived ingredient drinks”, such as Ouzo. There are “modern-day” types of “medicinal cordials” available: for example, https://texasmedicinals.com/, which produces and sells various cordials tinctures and elixirs made of flowers, herbs, and spices.
Certain orders of Roman Catholic monks were also involved in the making and providing of medicinal cordials. The famous cross between a medicinal cordial and a “digestif”, D.O.M. Benedictine, was first created by the Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Fecamp, France, in 1510. A French merchant, Alexandre Le Grand, found the original recipe in 1863 (it had been considered lost), and eventually recreated it as the drink sold today. Please see: https://wineanthology.com/1943-benedictine-dom-liqueur. The current product is no longer strictly a “medicinal cordial”, but is a liqueur. The exact ingredients are a secret, but the mixture is believed to contain hyssop, juniper, aloe, and cinnamon, among others. Please see: www.catalystplanet.com/travel-and-social-action-stories/2022/04/12/5-alcoholic-drinks-made-by-european-monks.
Then, there is Chartreuse, first created by the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery near Grenoble, France. A blend of distilled alcohol and 130 other ingredients (herbs and flowers among them), it is also no longer strictly a “medicinal cordial”, but a liqueur. (However, along with D.O.M. Benedictine, Chartreuse is still considered to have medicinal properties.) Chartreuse is available in “yellow” or “green” hues, which are different in their alcohol content. Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(liqueur). There is also a version available, Chartreuse Vegetal, that is 138-Proof (www.luekensliquors.com/), search “Chartreuse Vegetal.” There are some websites that claim to have the ingredients of the recipe for Chartreuse; other websites have instructions on how to create a kind of “clone” of the recipe.
The Christian Brothers (originally, the De La Salle Christian Brothers), another Roman Catholic religious order of monks, began to grow and produce wines in the Martinez area of California around 1880. They expanded to include vineyards and wineries in the Napa Valley. They now produce altar wines for use in the Mass, and certain types of Brandy. They do not produce medicinal cordials or liqueurs. Please see: www.montlasallealtarwines.com/forms/MLS_History.pdf.
Drambuie, a whisky-based liqueur made in Scotland, is thought to have been created by “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (Prince Charles Edward Stewart) in 1745. A blend of malt whisky, honey, herbs, and spices, it was used as a medicinal cordial. The modern-day product is a Scottish whisky-based liqueur. Please see: www.thespruceeats.com/drambuie-liqeueur-profile-and-cocktals-760270.
Among other types of liqueurs, there are ones made of mostly flower or flower-herb bases. Some of these were originally used as “medicinal cordials.” Modern-day examples are: Vespetro (Italy); Becherovka Original (Czech Republic); St.-Germain Elder Flower Liqueur (France); and, American Elderberry Cordial (Missouri; no alcohol.)
And, yes, there is a kind of “medicinal beer” — Trappist beer, made by Trappist (Cistercian) monks. There are only a handful of Trappist monasteries that brew authentic Trappist beer or ale; they are governed by the International Trappist Association (ITA.) The recipe, a secret known only to a few of the monks, is thought to include herbs and spices. There is a “light” and a “dark” version of Trappist beer or ale (https://beerconnoisseur.com/articles/almighty-trappist-ale.) It is thought that the brew contains certain spices, such as cinnamon and coriander, in the mixture. For persons interested in making a “home-brew Trappist-style version” of the product, please see: https://beersmith.com/blog/2010/09/01/trappist-dubbel-and-tripel-recipes/.
However, there was a “darker side” to medicinal cordials — those that were used to quiet restless or ill babies and children. These were actually “patent medicines”; two such products were “Godfrey’s Cordial” and “Dalby’s Carminative.” They were used in England and the United States during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. The main ingredient of each of these “cordials” was opium — “Godfrey’s Cordial” had one ounce of opium for each two ounces of the product; “Dalby’s Carminative” contained 1/4 ounce of opium for each two ounces of the product. The number of babies and children who died from taking these products is not known. In addition, there was the original recipe for “Creme de Noyaux”, from Yvelines, France. This “cordial”, made from apricot or peach kernels, or cherry pits, could accumulate trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide (a poison.) The longer this “cordial” was kept in storage, the greater the potential for the hydrogen cyanide to accumulate and collect at the top of the bottle — an unsuspecting imbiber could be badly poisoned upon taking a glass of it. The recipe was re-formulated a few years ago by the Tempus Fugit company to remove all traces of the poison. (This formulation would appear to be the “safest” for Creme de Noyaux.)
Interested persons should note that taking modern-day “versions” of medicinal cordials or liqueurs does not replace consulting a healthcare practitioner regarding health concerns; also, they should also investigate ingredients in home-made “medicinal cordials or liqueurs” to make sure none of them would interact with any prescription drugs, OTC drugs, and/or other herbals that the person is already taking. For example, the Gentian used in this home-made herbal “cordial” can interact with prescription drugs for high blood pressure, as Gentian is may lower blood pressure (www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-716/gentian, click on “Interactions.”)
Cordials glasses are usually small and hold no more than 2 to 4 ounces of the cordial. They are used to serve the drink at room temperature or chilled, and usually without other items mixed in. Some types of cordials glasses are also used to serve liqueurs. An example of vintage cranberry red cordials glasses is below, courtesy of https://rustedlove.com/:
Due to the varying alcohol content of cordials or liqueurs, and to their unique flavors, the modern-day versions of these products are often added to mixed drinks.
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The Rich Fool
The Parable of the Rich Fool can be found in Luke 12:13–21. The key to understanding this parable is in verse 15 (and later summarized in verse 21). Luke 12:15 says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Jesus says this to the man who asked Him to arbitrate between him and his brother. In ancient times, the firstborn was guaranteed a double portion of the family inheritance. More than likely, the brother who was addressing Jesus was not the firstborn and was asking for an equal share of the inheritance. Jesus refuses to arbitrate their dispute and gets to the heart of the matter: Covetousness! Jesus warns this person, and all within earshot, that our lives are not to be about gathering wealth. Life is so much more than the “abundance of possessions.”
Jesus proceeds to tell the man the Parable of the Rich Fool. This person was materially blessed by God; his land “produced plentifully” (verse 16). As God continued to bless the man, instead of using his increase to further the will of God, all he was interested in was managing his increase and accumulating his growing wealth. So the man builds larger barns in place of the existing ones and starts planning an early retirement. Unbeknownst to him, this was his last night on planet earth. Jesus then closes the story by saying, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
So the point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is twofold. First, we are not to devote our lives to the gathering and accumulation of wealth. There is an interesting point made in the parable. God says to the man in the story, “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” This echoes the thought expressed in Ecclesiastes 2:18 (“I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me”). You see it all the time in people who are singularly devoted to the accumulation of wealth. What happens to all that wealth when they die? It gets left behind to others who didn’t earn it and won’t appreciate it. Furthermore, if money is your master, that means God is not (Matthew 6:24).
The second point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is the fact that we are not blessed by God to hoard our wealth to ourselves. We are blessed to be a blessing in the lives of others, and we are blessed to build the kingdom of God. The Bible says if our riches increase, we are not to set our hearts upon them (Psalm 62:10). The Bible also says there is one who gives freely and grows all the richer (Proverbs 11:24). Finally, the Bible says we are to honor God with the first fruits of our increase (Proverbs 3:9–10). The point is clear; if we honor God with what He has given us, He will bless with more so that we can honor Him with more. There is a passage in 2 Corinthians that summarizes this aptly (2 Corinthians 9:6–15). In that passage Paul says, “And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” We are blessed by God, so we can in turn “abound in every good work” and be a blessing in the lives of others. So, if God has blessed you with material wealth “set not your heart on it” and “be rich toward God.” That’s the message of the Parable of the Rich Fool. https://www.gotquestions.org/parable-rich-fool.html
