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2024·06·22 Joe Biden Didn’t Win Daily Thread

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

January 6 Tapes?

Paging Speaker Johnson…this is your conscience calling you out on broken promises.

For all your high talk about your Christian moral background…you’re looking less and less like you have any kind of moral background.

If You are a Patriot and Don’t Loathe RINOs…

Let’s talk about RINOs, and why they are the lowest form of life in politics.

Many patriots have been involved with politics, often at the grassroots, for decades. We’ve fought, and fought, and fought and won the occasional illusory small victory.

Yet we can’t seem to win the war, even when we have BIG electoral wins.

I am reminded of something. The original Star Trek had an episode titled Day of the Dove. It was one of the better episodes from the third season, but any fan of the original series will tell you that’s a very low bar. Still, it seems to get some respect; at a time when there were about 700 episodes of Star Trek in its various incarnations out there, it was voted 99th best out of the top 100.

In sum, the plot is that an alien entity has arranged for 39 Enterprise crew, and 39 Klingons, to fight each other endlessly with swords and other muscle-powered weapons. The entity lives off of hostile emotions, you see and it wants a captive food source. (The other 400 or so Enterprise crew are trapped below decks and unable to help.) Each side has its emotions played and amplified by the alien entity; one Enterprise junior officer has false memories implanted of a brother who was killed by Klingons. The brother didn’t even exist.

Even people killed in a sword fight miraculously heal so they can go do it again.

The second best line of the episode is when Kang, the Klingon captain, notes that though they have won quite a number of small victories including capturing Engineering, can’t seem to actually finally defeat the Enterprise crew. He growls, “What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?*”

Indeed. He may have been the bad guy, but his situation should sound familiar.

We are a majority in this country. We have a powerful political party in our corner. There is endless wrangling.

And yet,

What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?

In our case, that power is the RINOs in our midst. They specialize in caving when on the verge of victory. Think of Obamacare’s repeal failing…by one Republican vote. Think of the way we can never seem to get spending under control (and now our entire tax revenue goes to pay interest on the debt; anything the government actually does now is with borrowed money).

We have a party…that refuses to do what we want it to do, and that refusal is institutionalized. If you’ve been involved with GOP politics, but haven’t seen this, it’s because you refuse to see it. Or because you are part of the problem yourself. (If so, kindly gargle some red fuming nitric acid to clear the taste of shit out of your mouth, and let those not part of the problem alone so they can read this.)

We fight to elect people, who then take a dive when in office. But it’s not just the politicians in office, it’s the people behind the scenes, the leaders of the national, state and county branches of the party. Their job is to ensure that real patriots never get onto the general election ballot. They’re allowed a few failures…who can then become token conservatives who will somehow never manage to win (Jordan), or can be compromised outright (Lauren Boebert?).

That way it doesn’t actually matter who has a congressional majority. I remember my excitement when the GOP took the Senate in 1980. But all that did was empower a bunch of “moderate” puddles of dog vomit like…well for whatever reason forty years later the most memorable name is Pete Domenici. And a couple of dozen other “moderates” who simply had no interest in doing what grassroots people in their party–those same grassroots people who had worked so hard to elect them–wanted them to do.

Oh, they’ll put up a semblance of a fight…but never win. And they love it when we fight the Dems instead of fighting them. Just like that alien entity, whose motto surely was “Let’s you and him fight. It’ll be delicious!”

If you think about it, your entire political involvement has come to nothing because of these walking malignant tumors.

That should make you good and mad.

The twenty five who blocked Jordan, and the hundred people who took that opportunity to stab Jordan in the back in the secret ballot should make you good and mad.

I’ll close this with another example of RINO backstabbing, an infuriating one close to home.

In my county, the GOP chair is not a RINO. She got elected when the grassroots had had enough of the RINOs. Unfortunately the state organization is full of RINOs, and the ousted county RINOs have been trying to form a new “Republican Party” and get the state GOP to recognize them as the affiliate. I’m honestly amazed it hasn’t happened yet.

In other words those shitstains won’t just leave when they get booted out; they’ll try to destroy what they left behind. It’s an indication that they know we know how important that behind-the-scenes party power is.

So they must be destroyed. That’s the only way they’ll ever stop.

We cannot win until the leeches “on our side” get destroyed.

What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?*

We know it. What is going to be done about it?

*NOTE: The original line was actually “What power is it that supports our battle yet starves our victory.” I had mis-remembered it as feeds. When I checked it, it sure enough was “supports” and that’s what I originally quoted. On further reflection, though, I realized my memory was actually an improvement over the reality, because feeds is a perfect contrast with starves. I changed it partway through the day this originally posted, but now (since this is a re-run) it gets rendered this way from the start.

If one must do things wrong, one should do them wrong…right.

RINOs an Endangered Species?
If Only!

According to Wikipoo, et. al., the Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a critically endangered species. Apparently two females live on a wildlife preserve in Sudan, and no males are known to be alive. So basically, this species is dead as soon as the females die of old age. Presently they are watched over by armed guards 24/7.

Biologists have been trying to cross them with the other subspecies, Southern White Rhinoceroses (Rhinoceri?) without success; and some genetic analyses suggest that perhaps they aren’t two subspecies at all, but two distinct species, which would make the whole project a lot more difficult.

I should hope if the American RINO (Parasitus rectum pseudoconservativum) is ever this endangered, there will be heroic efforts not to save the species, but rather to push the remainder off a cliff. Onto punji sticks. With feces smeared on them. Failing that a good bath in red fuming nitric acid will do.

But I’m not done ranting about RINOs.

The RINOs (if they are capable of any introspection whatsoever) probably wonder why they constantly have to deal with “populist” eruptions like the Trump-led MAGA movement. That would be because the so-called populists stand for absolutely nothing except for going along to get along. That allows the Left to drive the culture and politics.

Given the results of our most recent elections, the Left will now push harder, and the RINOs will now turn even squishier than they were before.

I well remember 1989-1990 in my state when the RINO establishment started preaching the message that a conservative simply couldn’t win in Colorado. Never mind the fact that Reagan had won the state TWICE (in 1984 bringing in a veto-proof state house and senate with him) and GHWB had won after (falsely!) assuring everyone that a vote for him was a vote for Reagan’s third term.

This is how the RINOs function. They push, push, push the line that only a “moderate” can get elected. Stomp them when they pull that shit. Tell everyone in ear shot that that’s exactly what the Left wants you to think, and oh-by-the-way-Mister-RINO if you’re in this party selling the same message as the Left…well, whythefuckexactly are you in this party, you lying piece of rancid weasel shit?

Justice

It says “Justice” on the picture.

And I’m sure someone will post the standard joke about what the fish thinks about the situation.

But what is it?

Here’s a take, from a different context: It’s about how you do justice, not the justice that must be done to our massively corrupt government and media. You must properly identify the nature of a person, before you can do him justice.

Ayn Rand, On Justice (speaking through her character John Galt, in Atlas Shrugged):

Justice is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the character of men as you cannot fake the character of nature, that you must judge all men as conscientiously as you judge inanimate objects, with the same respect for truth, with the same incorruptible vision, by as pure and as rational a process of identification—that every man must be judged for what he is and treated accordingly, that just as you do not pay a higher price for a rusty chunk of scrap than for a piece of shining metal, so you do not value a rotter above a hero—that your moral appraisal is the coin paying men for their virtues or vices, and this payment demands of you as scrupulous an honor as you bring to financial transactions—that to withhold your contempt from men’s vices is an act of moral counterfeiting, and to withhold your admiration from their virtues is an act of moral embezzlement—that to place any other concern higher than justice is to devaluate your moral currency and defraud the good in favor of the evil, since only the good can lose by a default of justice and only the evil can profit—and that the bottom of the pit at the end of that road, the act of moral bankruptcy, is to punish men for their virtues and reward them for their vices, that that is the collapse to full depravity, the Black Mass of the worship of death, the dedication of your consciousness to the destruction of existence.

Ayn Rand identified seven virtues, chief among them rationality. The other six, including justice, she considered subsidiary because they are essentially different aspects and applications of rationality.

—Ayn Rand Lexicon (aynrandlexicon.com)

Justice Must Be Done.

Trump, it is supposed, had some documents.

Biden and company stole the country.

I’m sure enough of this that I put my money where my mouth is.

The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system. (This doesn’t necessarily include deposing Joe and Hoe and putting Trump where he belongs, but it would certainly be a lot easier to fix our broken electoral system with the right people in charge.)

Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2024 or 2026 is pointless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud in the system is not part of the plan, you have no plan.

This will necessarily be piecemeal, state by state, which is why I am encouraged by those states working to change their laws to alleviate the fraud both via computer and via bogus voters. If enough states do that we might end up with a working majority in Congress and that would be something Trump never really had.

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.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot Prices

Last week:

Gold $2,333.80
Silver $29.63
Platinum $968.00
Palladium $918.00
Rhodium $5,150.00

This week, at Friday close:

Gold $2,321.00
Silver $29.55
Platinum $1,001.00
Palladium $972.00
Rhodium $5,300.00

Things were nicely up on Thursday…but lost everything again on Friday. Except for platinum and palladium, which went up. Palladium went up more and is closing the gap with platinum (remember it was above platinum–way above at times–for most of recent times).

The SteveInCO Federal Reserve Note Suckage Index stands at 112.288+. (The Dollar Suckage index is the ratio between the price of gold today, versus the value of the dollar defined as dollars per ounce when we had the gold standard. (I use that clumsy phrasing because the dollar was defined as a certain amount of gold, such that an ounce of gold was $20.67. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.)

2024·06·15 Joe Biden Didn’t Win Daily Thread

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

January 6 Tapes?

Where are the tapes? Anyone, Anyone? Bueller? Johnson??

Paging Speaker Johnson…this is your conscience calling you out on broken promises.

News Flash

Today, it is still the case that Joe Biden didn’t Win.

I realize that to some readers, this might be a shock; surely at some point things must change and Biden will have actually won.

But the past cannot actually be changed.

It will always and forever be the case that Joe Biden didn’t win.

And if you, Leftist Lurker, want to dismiss it as dead white cis-male logic…well, you can call it what you want, but then please just go fuck off. No one here buys that bullshit–logic is logic and facts are facts regardless of skin color–and if you gave it a moment’s rational thought, you wouldn’t either. Of course your worthless education never included being able to actually reason–or detect problems with false reasoning–so I don’t imagine you’ll actually wake up as opposed to being woke.

As Ayn Rand would sometimes point out: Yes, you are free to evade reality. What you cannot do is evade the consequences of evading reality. Or to put it concretely: You can ignore the Mack truck bearing down on you as you play in the middle of the street, you won’t be able to ignore the consequences of ignoring the Mack truck.

And Ayn Rand also pointed out that existence (i.e., the sum total of everything that exists) precedes consciousness–our consciousnesses are a part of existence, not outside of it–therefore reality cannot be a “social construct” as so many of you fucked-up-in-the-head people seem to think.

So much for Leftist douchebag lurkers. For the rest of you, the regular readers and those lurkers who understand such things: I continue to carry the banner once also carried by Wheatie. His Fraudulency didn’t win.

Let’s Go, Brandon!!

His Fraudulency

Joe Biteme, properly styled His Fraudulency, continues to infest the White House, we haven’t heard much from the person who should have been declared the victor, and hopium is still being dispensed even as our military appears to have joined the political establishment in knuckling under to the fraud.

One can hope that all is not as it seems.

I’d love to feast on that crow.

(I’d like to add, I find it entirely plausible, even likely, that His Fraudulency is also His Figureheadedness. (Apparently that wasn’t a word; it got a red underline. Well it is now.) Where I differ with the hopium addicts is on the subject of who is really in charge. It ain’t anyone we like.)

Justice Must Be Done.

The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.

Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.

Lawyer Appeasement Section

OK now for the fine print.

This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines,  here, with an addendum on 20191110.

We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.

And remember Wheatie’s Rules:

1. No food fights
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns.
5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded.
5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty.
6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy.
7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot Prices.

Kitco Ask. Last week:

Gold $2,293.90
Silver $29.23
Platinum $973.00
Palladium $936.00
Rhodium $5,325.00

This week, markets closed as of 3PM MT.

Gold $2,333.80
Silver $29.63
Platinum $968.00
Palladium $918.00
Rhodium $5,150.00

Gold rose, then dipped below $2300 on Thursday. It bounced back up on Friday, though, so it ended up nearly $40 for the week. Silver is also up 40…but this time it’s cents. Platinum and palladium are both down a bit, and rhodium took a relatively large hit.

Site Note

I typically schedule posts to drop at 1 minute after 10 PM Mountain Time. If it doesn’t show up at that time, it’s a WordPus post-kicker-outer issue, not a Steve issue.

Typically if I am still working on it at 10PM and it is delayed for that reason, I will say something in the body of the post. That’s unlikely to ever happen again, though, as I’m not doing the science series any more.

I say this because recently I’ve seen people chewing out one of the other authors for the posts not being out precisely at the dot of 10PM. It’s not necessarily that author’s fault. [EDIT: No, this is not a reference to the time DePat was on the phone with a friend who was dealing with a crisis. This was a couple of days later.]

More on Terrence Howard

(With some effort I resisted spelling that “Moron Terrence Howard.”)

Two more debunk videos. The first is Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist who has left academia because she’s unhappy with the way many of them are doing science. (Coming up with completely arbitrary hypotheses just to justify another expensive experiment to falsify them. No, she’s not a believer in the standard model being wrong or anything like that; she understands the standards of verification.)

The second is everyone’s favorite guy to bash, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Apparently Terrence Howard claimed that Tyson viciously attacked him years ago; here’s Tyson’s side of the story. He was at first happy to find a celebrity who was interested in science, but then found Howard’s treatise to be goobledegook. (He praised the sculptures that Howard has produced.) He was blunt, but not rude, and that bluntness is normal when scientists critique each others’ work. (If a statement is false, they will say so.) This is actually a good thing for it helps us arrive at truth. And scientists generally understand this; they’re perfectly capable of raking each other’s pet hypotheses over the coals and then going out to dinner afterwards.

Dear MAGA: 20240609 Open Topic

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.

Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here: 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

On this day and every day –

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.”

Goodness & Mercy Follow

Psalm 23 portrays the close relationship David enjoys with his God. It begins with the metaphor of a shepherd leading his lamb, highlighting the Lord’s personal care, guidance, and protection. In the closing verses, the imagery intensifies with even greater intimacy as David is welcomed into the Lord’s house as a permanent guest, continual resident, and friend: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:5–6, ESV).

David acknowledges that his standing with the Lord is not like a visitor who is entertained once and then must leave or as one who is invited to return only occasionally. No, David rejoices that he has been given a perpetual place setting at the Lord’s table.

Anointing a person’s head with oil was an ancient custom of courtesy, respect, and hospitality shown toward guests. In Psalm 23, David sees himself as an honored guest of the Lord, who invites him to dinner, favorably anoints him, and pours out such lavish abundance that David’s cup is filled to overflowing.

Goodness and mercy are depicted as attendants in the Lord’s household who accompany David for the rest of his life. The word for “goodness” in the original language means “that which is pleasing or valuable or useful.” The term for “mercy” is sometimes translated as “loyal love,” “steadfast love,” or “unfailing love.” The same word is used of God’s love as it relates to the faithfulness of His covenant. The verb translated as “follow” here means “to accompany, or to go with.” It should not be understood as “pursue or run after.”

When David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” he was giving human-like qualities to abstract blessings of the Lord. A paraphrase might be, “Because You, Lord, are good, pleasing, and valuable, and because You love me so faithfully, I am certain You will be with me all my life.”

David’s good and merciful Shepherd is the same God who passed in front of Moses: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6, ESV). He is the same God to whom Israel sang, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34). Even in the presence of his enemies, David was sure of God’s goodness and faithful love (Psalm 23:5).

As believers, we can trust that the Lord’s overflowing blessings will remain with us no matter what circumstances we face (Psalm 27:13; 31:19; 69:16). If we dwell in the house of the Lord continually, we are under His constant protection: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:4–5; see Psalm 52:8; 61:4; 63:2–4).

God is the perfect Shepherd and Host. As our Shepherd, the Lord provides personal care, guidance, companionship, protection, and security. And as our eternal Host, God welcomes us to feast at His rich table of abundant and overflowing blessings. We will abide in His house forever. His presence, protection, and unfailing love will surround us for all eternity. And we can say with David, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!”
https://www.gotquestions.org/surely-goodness-and-mercy.html

ANIMAL DEPOP & BIRD FLU: Mr GLOBAL’S ATTACK ON FOOD PART V

I am putting this article up as a place to archive comments on the bird flu and to give a bit of background history to explain how the government’s current response came about. It also serves as a warning about the laws and regs ALREADY IN PLACE. If you have animals or are unlucky enough to live in a quarantined area it could affect YOU.

IN THE NEWS:

NPR: A worrisome new bird flu is spreading in American birds and may be here to stay April 9, 2022

A newly arrived bird flu is sweeping through wild bird populations in the United States, and that may mean trouble for poultry farmers who have been doing their best to control this flu outbreak in their flocks.

Some 24 million poultry birds like chicken and turkeys have already been lost, either because they died from the virus or were killed to prevent its spread. But unlike a similar bird flu outbreak seven years ago, this one is unlikely to just burn itself out….

April 30, 2022  US egg factory roasts alive 5.3m chickens in avian flu cull – then fires almost every worker | Bird flu | The Guardian

April 18, 2024 Bird flu has spread to more farm animals. Here’s what to know about food safety | PBS NewsHour

Two people in U.S. have been infected with bird flu to date.

GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH?

The following section is from: PAVACA (with slight modification by me to imbed URLs)

 June 4, 2024 13:49

WOLF MOON AND ALL — IN ADDITION TO THE McCULLOUGH, et al. PREPRINT PAPER ABOUT THE USDA SOUTHEAST POULTRY RESEARCH LABORATORY AND H5N1:

Yours Truly will now rip the lid off the H5N1 Avian Flu research being done at the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia (part of Georgia Tech.) This research APPEARS TO BE GAIN-OF-FUNCTION. This research is being performed in USDA laboratories that ARE LESS THAN BSL-4 SAFETY LEVEL. Links and screenshots are below:

ONE: First, the McCullough, et al. paper:

3 June 2024 “Proximal Origin of Epidemic Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b and Spread by Migratory Waterfowl”

Peter A. McCullough, et al.

Yours Truly urges all interested persons to DOWNLOAD and SAVE this paper.

[ARCHIVED – GC.]

One suspects that it can be either “retracted” or “reissued with new conclusions” that reflect pressure on the paper’s publisher. Case in point here is the “retraction” of the McCullough, et al., paper published by Cureus in January of this year that was retracted less than a month later — this paper is about the data distortions and “clinical trials” errors regarding the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 “vaccine” BNT162b2 (which was given its initial EUA by the FDA in December 2020.)

TWO: This is the project information link regarding the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory experiments with H5N1 Avian Influenza virus:

“Research Project: Control Strategies to Prevent and Respond to Diseases Outbreaks Caused by Avian Influenza Viruses”

Below is a screenshot from the document.

 IT APPEARS THAT GAIN-OF-FUNCTION EXPERIMENTS ARE BEING PERFORMED ON THE H5N1 AVIAN FLU VIRUS. SECTION 3.E. APPEARS TO HAVE THE GOAL OF “CREATING” BIO-ENGINEERED POULTRY. Please see Section 3.E. in the screenshot, above:

HREE: It appears that the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory IS NOT A BSL-4 LEVEL FACILITY. In addition, it appears to be a DANGEROUS PLACE TO WORK IN. In fact, IT APPEARS THAT THE LAB IS BEING REBUILT TO BSL-2 AND/OR BSL-3 SAFETY STANDARDS. 

Here is the link:

Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory – Phase II

OSHA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Between Occupational Safety and Health Administration Atlanta-East Area Office and Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute – Safety, Health, and Environmental Services Group and Mortenson Construction

Below is a screenshot from the OSHA partnership agreement for the rebuilding of the lab:

FOUR: H5N1 can affect the BRAIN, the LUNGS, and the HEART of infected mammals:

“Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Clade 2.3.4.4b Infections in Wild Terrestrial Mammals, United States, 2022”

Elizabeth J. Elsmo, et al.

published December 2023

Upon further reflection — Yours Truly will add that the H5N1 Avian Flu virus clade 2.3.4.4b is not only highly pathogenic, it is also highly infectious. IMO, any experimentation on this virus HAS to be performed in a BSL-4 level facility, AND under strict and continuous scrutiny by lab personnel.

….

Further Comment by PAVACA:

IMO, it appears that H5N1 has been lab-enhanced to make the virus more pathogenic and dangerous, not only to birds and to non-human mammals, but also to humans.
And that the experiments for this were conducted / are being conducted, in a USDA facility that has the BSL safety level of a glorified college-level science lab.

….

A correction by RedLegLeader68: Athens, GA is the home of UGA

HISTORY

I am going to start off with this 2012 comment of mine on WUWT since it is not something I addressed in my other ‘Attack on Food’ articles.

What is DEPOPULATION?

KILL FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER

THE WORLD WITNESSED IT WHEN IT HAPPENED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM’S FOOT AND MOUTH OUTBREAK. MILLIONS OF HEALTHY ANIMALS DESTROYED FOR A FEW HUNDRED THAT TESTED POSITIVE. A VACCINE EXISTS FOR THIS DISEASE…A DISEASE THAT RARELY CAUSES DEATH IN THE ANIMAL AND IT DOESN’T AFFECT HUMANS AT ALL. GENE POOLS WERE DESTROYED FOREVER, LIVES WERE SHATTERED AND SCORES COMMITTED SUICIDE, EVEN EQUIPMENT AND HAY/FEED WERE DESTROYED ALONG WITH FARM DOGS. FARMERS BEGGED THEIR GOVERNMENT TO VACCINATE INSTEAD OF WANTON DESTRUCTION, BUT WERE IGNORED. THIS IS WHAT WE IN AMERICA WILL FACE IF WE ALLOW THE NAIS TO BE IMPLEMENTED HERE. LEARN WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERMS “DEPOPULATE” AND “STAMP OUT”.

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-214

on page 31:

“Should USDA officially confirm the presence of a disease, such as Foot and Mouth Disease, the affected herd and all cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and susceptible wildlife—infected or not— within a minimum 10-kilometer zone around the infected farm would be killed.” >>>Note they also mention extending that range indefinitely. They affectionately call this process “Depopulation” which is ever so euphemistic. All of this is without a warrant and no appeal. So much for your Constitutional rights and presumption of innocence.

GO TO THE LINK BELOW AND READ THE MANUAL FOR YOURSELF! THE 48 HOUR TRACEBACK IS NOT SO THEY CAN VACCINATE, ETC., IT IS TO “DEPOPULATE/STAMP OUT” ALL “SUSCEPTIBLE” ANIMALS IN A GIVEN RADIUS. THOSE 48 HOURS ARE NOT JUST TO FIND YOUR ANIMALS…BUT TO KILL THEM!….

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2002)

Part 3: Decontamination procedures(Contd.)

Chapter 4

Battlefield strategy – disinfection procedures

Estimate the degree of contamination in the dwelling house and the adjacent area. Detail disposal and/or cleaning to be done in the house to remove all sources of contamination….

Detail structures and articles that cannot be effectively decontaminated, such as wooden buildings, floors and cattle yards, roof insulation, doors and linings…..

The aim of the clean-up process is to remove all manure, dirt, debris and contaminated articles that cannot be disinfected……

All old insulation materials, such as polystyrene, fibreglass and press boards, are removed for burial or burning unless they have sound impervious surfaces which can be effectively decontaminated.All unsound, rotten and underrun wooden fittings, flooring and other structures which cannot be effectively disinfected should be removed for burning or burial…

This means ALL homes not just farms are placed under quarantine in that 10K radius BTW.

It is obvious that traceability does nothing to prevent disease, it only allows blame to be placed after the fact followed by Depopulation. So why is the idea being promoted and where did it come from?

In the USA it came from a NGO.

“..early 2002, when the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) organized a national identification task force to provide leadership for the preparation of the initial report, the National Identification Work Plan….

The US Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) is needed to maintain the economic viability of American animal agriculture…

This is essential to preserve the domestic and 👉international marketability👈 of our nation’s animals and animal products.”

Dead link:

http://www.usaip.info. [Sec of Ag Schafer alleges the idea came in 2003, AFTER BSE was found which is total B.S.]

Chasing down that dead link was interesting.


United States Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) ( Archived Oct 2003)

Work Plan 09-2003

News Release 8-6-03

Work Plan 11-2002

…Building upon previously established and successful animal health and animal identification programs involving many animal industries, an industry-state-federal partnership, aided by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), was formed in 2002 to more uniformly coordinate a national animal identification plan. This resulting plan, requested by the UnitedStates Animal Health Association (USAHA)and facilitated by USDA’s Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service (APHIS), was formulated in 2003 for presentation at the October, 2003 annual meeting of the USAHA. More than 100 animal industry and state-federal government professionals representing more than 70 allied associations/organizations collectively assessed and suggested workable improvements to the plan to meet future U. S. animal identification needs….

Since WHEN does the USA NEED to ID animals? — After Quarantine is abolished of course!

National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA),


Welcome to NIAA!

Finally!  An organization that satisfies your needs, concerns and interests about the animal agriculture industry. Membership with the National Institute for Animal Agriculture offers just that,and so much more. NIAA’s purpose is quite simple — to provide a source for individuals, organizations, and the entire animal agriculture industry to obtain information, education and solutions for challenges facing animal agriculture….

NIAA is still alive and well and it is an NGO and was part of the Public-Private partnership driving Animal-ID

NIAA is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing programs to work towards providing solutions for disease, while promoting a safe and wholesome food supply and the best practices of environmental stewardship, animal health and well-being.

Successor to the Livestock Conservation Institute (LCI), NIAA began operations in👉January 2000 [So there is Sec of Ag Schafer LIE!]

By 2005 the site had change to:

NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM – NAIS

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has announced the framework for implementation of a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) designed to identify any agricultural premise exposed to a foreign animal disease so that it can be more quickly contained and eradicated.

The results of the years of joint work by the USAIP Development Team was provided to USDA, and was submitted as information for consideration as USDA develops and implements NAIS.  See link below for the official 

NAIS website for current updates. This site will remain for a period of time to provide background and historical information about the USAIP. 

Ann Veneman is a real winner BTW. She worked on Uruguay Round talks for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT.) This was the precursor to the World Trade Organization. She served as executive director of UNICEF, & was California’s secretary of food and agriculture.  She was also an attorney for law firm and lobby group Patton, Boggs & Blow. It  has “participated in the formation of every major multilateral trade agreement considered by Congress.” She was also a board member of a Monsanto subsidiary company.

Can you say GLOBALIST?

In 2008 the site had morphed into USDA – Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service

National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

Welcome to NAIS

To protect the health of U.S. livestock and poultry and the economic well-being of those industries, we must be able to quickly and effectively trace an animal disease to its source…

And in 2009 the domain was up for sale.

…..

The Agreement on Agriculture came into effect with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. Fifteen years later there is this is from the 2009 State of Texas TAHC Strategic Plan Report

…

new disease challenges are emerging. Some are domestic diseases that are increasing in significance.Others are foreign diseases that may be imported as result of the exponential increases in international importations of animals and animal products. Our industries and our economy are threatened by diseases and pests that heretofore we only read about in disease text books….. 

As I said, Animal ID becomes necessary ONLY when you are importing disease. The World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Ag DOES NOT ALLOW UNIVERSAL QUARANTINE! It is considered an unjustified ‘Trade Barrier’

The Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: Article 2.2 states:“Members shall ensure that any sanitary or phytosanitary meassure is applied ONLY TO THE EXTENT NECESSARY… is based on scientific principles and is not maintained without sufficient scientific evidence...” And Article 2.3 “..Sanitary or phytosanitary measures shall not be applied in a manner which constitute a disguised restriction on international trade”

In other words, quarantine can only be used AFTER you have found disease or an exporting country TELLS you they have a disease problem. International TRADE therefore trumps protection against disease.

In my last article about the attack on the US food supply: THE WAR ON MEAT: Mr GLOBAL’S ATTACK ON FOOD PART IV

I suggested the attack would be an outbreak of of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) similar to what happened in the UK.

SEE:  Not The Foot And Mouth Report: Everything Tony Blair didn’t want you to know

(I strongly suggest reading this report given what is happening in the USA now.)

However it looks like I was wrong. It is Avian flu which has the ‘advantage’ of infecting not only birds but humans and now COWS and other mammals. FMD is a piker in comparison since it only infects pigs, cows, sheep, goats and deer and does not make them uneatable. Also Avian Flu can easily be carried on wing by migratory birds.

So what have we learned from the ‘Farm Wars’ waged against the WTO and Animal ID’?

Ever heard of the 2012 Homeland Security Exercise CRIMSON SKY? It is similar to Event 201 the pandemic tabletop exercise hosted by The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY.

So what about Crimson Sky?

Report compares costs of animal disease outbreak

….The administration is studying the safest place to move its research on such dangerous pathogens from Plum Island to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak. A final choice is expected by late fall. The foot-and-mouth virus does not infect humans but could devastate herds of cattle, swine, lambs and sheep.

The five locations the U.S. is considering are Athens, Ga.;Manhattan, Kan.; Butner, N.C.; San Antonio; and Flora, Miss. A sixth alternative would be construction of a new research lab on Plum Island. That option is considered less likely because the administration spent considerable time and money scouting new locations and because of financial concerns about operating from a location accessible only by ferry or helicopter.

Economic losses in an outbreak would exceed $3.3 billion if the new lab were built in Georgia, North Carolina or Mississippi, the report said.

….The new study expresses the government’s confidence it could avoid any outbreak. But it also cautioned that “should a large release occur there is considerable opportunity for the virus to cause infections and become established in the environment beyond the facility boundary.”

A simulated outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease – part of an earlier U.S. government exercise called “Crimson Sky” – ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation’s National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets. In the exercise, the government said it would have been forced to dig a ditch in Kansas 25 miles long to bury carcasses.

The new study said U.S. economic losses from an outbreak could ultimately be higher than the $5 billion suffered by Britain in 2001, when an epidemic forced the government to slaughter 6 million sheep, cows and pigs….

Interesting because we were TOLD the site for the new lab was in Manhattan, Kan. While they already had  the U.S. National and Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) Centers in Athens, GA.


History

The Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) was established in 1962… In 2015,

The Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory merged into SEPRLand is designated as a worksite of SEPRL. SEPRL is undergoing facility modernization with

replacement of all facilities between 2017 and 2024….

Also of interest:
The Truth About Plum Island – Part 1 rense.com

By Patricia Doyle, PhD

I have been investigating Plum Island since September 1999, after hearing reports of equine West Nile Virus (WNV) cases in Suffolk County, Long Island, and, later human cases in Queens, New York. At the same time, August 1999, a Boy Scout camp, also in Suffolk County, Long Island, was closed due to cases of Malaria. In June of 1999, there were reports of a tick borne encephalitis in New England, and a flu-like illness on Block Island….

Representative Rob Simmons of Connecticut was unable to get further details of security clearances, or, training of the replacement workers. After Rep. Simmons learned that the FBI was on Plum Island investigating the incident of drop in water pressure, he requested to visit the island to ascertain conditions. The USDA refused to give Rep. Simmons permission to visit the island.

It is now September 3, 2002, and we still have no information on the cause of drop of water pressure, and no solution of the strike.

I have been able to get some information on former Plum Island projects, one of which includes Tick Project 101. I have also verified that Plum Island, did, indeed work with birds. Birds were studied in regard to vectors of disease outbreaks. We saw that birds have been an efficient vector in the spread cycle of West Nile Virus….


So what other information is available about this government exercise?

…Crimson Sky is a scenario-planning exercise run by the U.S. government and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services [NCDA&CS], Emergency Programs Division.

The exercise was conducted in 2002, which data modeling showed, that a FMD exposure on five farms led to the virus spreading to 35 states in 10 days. 

“Crimson Sky” ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation’s National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets. In the exercise, the government said it would have been forced to dig a ditch in Kansas 25 miles long to bury carcasses. In the simulation, protests broke out in some cities amid food shortages.

Two other simulations also geared toward bio-terrorism risk assessment preformed by DHS and participating states are Crimson Winter and Crimson Guard. Limited information is available on these simulations.. Link

Unfortunately the link in the article now goes to this description at The Institute for Homeland Security

Crimson Sky

Crimson Sky was a one-day executive simulation that examined the threat of a major attack on the US with Foot and Mouth Disease. Participants included Senator Pat Roberts, the Governor of North Dakota, the Lt Governor of Nebraska, the Secretary of Agriculture and many senior members of the Interagency Deputies Committee including the Deputy FEMA Director and Deputy EPA Administrator. There were 75 participants and 50 observers. (September 2002)

and this:

Crimson Winter

Crimson Winter was a one-day executive simulation that examined the threat of a major attack on the US food supply. Participants included the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. There were 25 participants and 30 observers. (January 2003)

Interestingly there is now a 2021 Austrian paper: Foot-and-mouth disease: evaluation of control strategies against a potential outbreak
In looking for more recent documents I found these:

Avian Influenza Decontamination Procedures for the Cleaning and Disinfection of Farm Premises January 2005

By Dupont Animal Health Solutions.

Following the recent outbreaks of Avian Influenza across the globe, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued a number of biosecurity recommendations. This article overviews the procedures for using Virkon S, the most proven veterinary disinfectant in the world.

Manual on procedures for disease eradication by stamping out

fao.org © FAO 2001

Foreword

Stamping out is a recognized and proven strategy for rapid elimination of an introduced exotic disease or other emergency livestock disease. The crucial elements of stamping out are:

  • designation of infected zones;
  • intensive disease surveillance to identify infected premises and dangerous-contact premises or villages within these zones;
  • imposition of quarantine and livestock movement restrictions;
  • immediate slaughter of all susceptible animals either on the infected and dangerous-contact premises or in the whole infected area;
  • safe disposal of their carcasses and other potentially infected materials;
  • disinfection and cleaning of infected premises;
  • maintaining these premises depopulated of susceptible animals for a suitable period.

Stamping out is often the most cost-effective strategy. The disease eradication campaign is shorter and achieved for a lower overall cost and there is a shorter waiting period before the country can be recognized as free of the disease and resume export of livestock and animal products….

This Manual of procedures for disease eradication by stamping out is based on The destruction of animals, Disposal procedures and Decontamination operation procedures manuals of AUSVETPLAN (second edition, 1996). AUSVETPLAN is a series of technical response plans that describe the Australian approach to an exotic animal disease incursion. The procedures are adapted in this manual to apply to eradication of foci of serious infectious diseases of domestic livestock in any country where they may occur.

2009 FAO Preparing for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza [Revised]

4.2.2.1 Culling

The basis of HPAI eradication by stamping out is to:

• immediately impose a quarantine of the affected area (premises or village);

• slaughter all infected and potentially infected birds and dispose of the carcasses;

• decontaminate sheds and other poultry housing areas;

• carry out rapid surveillance of surrounding areas to determine the extent of possible spread;

• close and disinfect markets; and

• keep sick and dead birds out of the human food chain, and not sell them as feed for other animals (e.g. zoo animals).

Quarantine and movement controls

AI is readily transmitted via contaminated objects, so strict control of movement of anything that may have become contaminated with the virus and the immediate imposition of tightly controlled quarantine on all places suspected of being infected are essential to a successful eradication programme. Ideally, quarantine should be imposed on all farms and villages in which infection is either known or suspected, and it should be strictly policed to ensure that no one – including the residents, owners, staff and other visitors – leaves without changing his or her clothes and footwear. Strict on-farm biosecurity and hygiene are needed to control entry of the disease from outside sources (e.g. feed suppliers, equipment maintenance personnel, wild birds)….

The newest I could find is Published Online: 24 August 2013 in Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science

Decontamination of High-risk Animal and Zoonotic Pathogens

(Interesting that Johns Hopkins edu has a copy up as well as Pub Med, the NIH library…)

Abstract

Preparedness for the decontamination of affected environments, premises, facilities, and products is one prerequisite for an immediate response to an animal disease outbreak. Various information sources provide recommendations on how to proceed in an outbreak situation to eliminate biological contaminants and to stop the spread of the disease. In order to facilitate the identification of the right decontamination strategy, we present an overview of relevant references for a collection of pathogenic agents. The choice of pathogens is based on a survey of lists containing highly pathogenic agents and/or biological agents considered to be potential vehicles for deliberate contamination of food, feed, or farm animals. European legislation and guidelines from national and international institutions were screened to find decontamination protocols for each of the agents….

Dear MAGA: 20240602 Open Topic

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.

Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here: 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

On this day and every day –

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.”

My Cup Runneth Over

The phrase my cup runneth over is the King James Version’s wording of Psalm 23:5. Other versions say “my cup overflows.” A cup runs over when it cannot hold all that is being poured into it. The emphasis of Psalm 23 is the Good Shepherd’s loving care for His sheep (cf. John 10:11, 14). The Lord not only gives His people what they need (Psalm 23:1–2), but He supplies abundance in the midst of difficult times (verse 5). This abundance is not limited to material blessings under the Old Covenant, but it also includes the Holy Spirit’s future outpouring upon all who ask (Luke 11:13; Acts 2:1–4).

The Bible emphasizes the excessive love, blessing, and power that God desires to pour out on those who love Him (Malachi 3:10; Lamentations 3:22; Psalm 108:4). Jesus reflected God’s generosity when He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Paul continues that theme in Ephesians 3:20 and describes God as the One “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Romans 8:37 promises that we are “more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” The message echoed in each passage is that of God’s excessive grace and provision for every area of our lives. He is not stingy, nor are His blessings confined to temporal things. In Christ we can have overflowing joy, overflowing love, and overflowing peace. We can bear everlasting fruit for God’s kingdom, and we can overcome impossible challenges when the Holy Spirit fills our hearts until our “cup runneth over.”

The Bible records many mighty things done when people were filled with (i.e., controlled by) the Holy Spirit (Exodus 31:2–3; Ezekiel 43:5; Luke 1:67; Acts 4:31). We are urged to be filled with the Spirit as well (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16, 25). However, as a glass cannot be filled with milk if it is already filled with mud, we cannot be filled with the Spirit when we are already filled with sin, pride, or self-will. Before we can be filled to overflowing, we must be willing to empty ourselves of everything that would hinder the Spirit’s working in our lives. It is only when our hearts are filled with God that we can accomplish all He desires to do in and through us. His grace knows no limits for those whose hearts are wholly His (2 Chronicles 16:9a). He desires to fill us with His Spirit until our cup runneth over.
https://www.gotquestions.org/my-cup-runneth-over.html

2024·06·01 Joe Biden Didn’t Win Daily Thread

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?

Booting a RINO

I’ve spent the last couple of years pounding home the message that RINO McDaniels was a symptom of a problem…a party shot through with RINO officials. In this instance it was the hundred or so members of the RNC who gleefully voted for her again, and again, and again.

Well I got to help take one of those hundred people down, as told here: https://www.theqtree.com/2024/04/07/i-aim-to-raise-a-ruckus/. What’s even better is that oxygen thief was apparently boiling mad at how poorly she did in the vote (according to a MAGA candidate for a county office I spoke to last Tuesday night (4/16)). Apparently she felt entitled to her office no matter what the rubes think…and that attitude turns people into RINOs.

Judging from the number of comments received few noticed or cared about the post, but nonetheless I noticed a pattern: Hardly anyone who regularly puts forth “devolution” or “this is all a movie” theories (or any other variant of the idea that Trump and/or his allies are really in charge) seemed to care about it. I described successful action against the enemy and they didn’t care.

I submit that that is the desired effect of such ideas as devolution…to get people on our side not to care, not to participate, not to fight, because they believe someone else will do it for them. “Nothing can stop what is coming?” Great! I don’t have to lift a finger, just be ready to microwave some popcorn!

If any of you really are thinking like this, you might as well be controlled opposition. You’re doing exactly what the other side wants you to do, sitting on your hands waiting for deliverance by deus ex machina.

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.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot (i.e., paper) Prices

Last week:

Gold $2,334.30
Silver $30.41
Platinum $1,035.00
Palladium $989.00
Rhodium $5,300.00

This week, 3PM Mountain Time, Kitco “ask” prices. Markets have closed for the weekend.

Gold $2,327.70
Silver $30.49
Platinum $1,046.00
Palladium $940.00
Rhodium $5,400.00

It looks like not much motion this week (with palladium the biggest mover and loser), but nothing could be further from the truth; things dropped a LOT on Friday, after climbing before that (and if memory serves) dropping before that,

American Stories – Enslavement And Liberty

“The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.” – James Madison

Now is the time to roll this out. PDT and supporters have been unfairly and unreasonably attacked for years and we have been at a loss at what to do about it outside of the violence the black hats want to incite so they can throw martial law at us. That is how the commie evil works. Do not fall for it.

This story series is a change of plan as I retire both BIMD and Civilized War. it is the writer’s prerogative. 😂 The Civilized War theme is being handled beautifully by our Gail, Joe Lange of Badlands and others as they deep dive on historical events that tie to current events that hopefully reveal to YOU, the readers, that the United States of America have not been UNITED since shortly after the Revolutionary War. In fact, we have been under siege by traitors and seditionists with foreign assistance the entire time. That’s over two CENTURIES for those keeping score at home.

So, we must be a very important target for Satan and his minions to take down. What should that tell us? Those are the type questions and observations we will discuss here as we progress.

My plan is to cherrypick interconnected topics in our American heritage and further expose them in stories. What you will clearly see with each is there is a scriptural reference or answer to lead us to a successful understanding and conclusion of how to address going forward. You will be able to arrive at it using research, comparisons, and logic along with critical thinking skills that the Creator of the universe gave you.

The words from posts of many readers of the QTree are what have inspired this series. I have followed the thoughts and expressions of many of you through the years. There are common themes I have observed from the comments and they reflect a yearning for freedom, truth, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You want to see the good guys and gals win with evil doers punished. You may or may not believe in the God the Father of Abram and Moses or in his son, Jesus Christ. However, all of you expect good things and fair treatment in life that have been defined as good and fair by the Word of God. You have a vested interest in seeing our nation follow and administer the legal documents that are in place. After all, they are our rules for living in this country.

So, let’s get started and allow your minds and imaginations to run free with what could and should be.

Back To The Ancients

A couple of the primary purposes of the BIMD series were to show how many of us are interconnected in some way as well as the parallels if we find the links. We tend to slide through life unaware of the links to people and events. However, the ancient Hebrew people were well aware of them. God told them it was important to remember and tell future generations. So they went on to record their genealogies, rules for living, events, emotions, songs, prayers and so on.

If it was important for the chosen of God, it must be equally important for all people. However, we need to trust God with our whole hearts and minds to fully understand why, and better yet, experience the benefits of doing so. As an example, there are excellent reasons I and II Chronicles exist in the Bible and they are not just for history lessons. For those who are not familiar, the link below gives an accurate summary of them. It is a five minute read, tops.

https://overviewbible.com/1-2-chronicles/

Now that we have a general idea, let us dig into a scripture passage that could and should apply today in America if we had Godly leaders and/or a similar singularly focused commitment by We the People.

II Chronicles 20:5-30 (NKJV)

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ 10 And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

13 Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”

22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

24 So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. 28 So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. 29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

What Was Once Can Be Again

Are we paying attention, America?

King Jehoshaphat addressed the Lord and to summarize his words said something like this in our language, “Lord, we left those enemy peoples alone per your commands when You brought us out of Egypt. You gave us this land forever because of your relationship with father Abraham. Now these enemies are threatening us and we do not know what to do. We are scared. Their forces are too large and we are out of ideas and options. So we are putting our fate into your hands while we seek your favor and protection. Our eyes are on you.”

Then a man from the priestly Levite line named Jehoshaphat (whose name meant “God sees”) who received God’s divine instructions tells the King and people to quit worrying and show up in the valley at the Wilderness of Tekoa where the enemy is preparing for war the next morning. In essence he tells them that God’s got this. The King and people humble themselves before the Lord, believe, and wait.

They then went out the next morning to face their enemies with complete trust in the outcome. When they arrived on the scene they found the Lord had already fought their battle. They see that it was a complete wipe out, nothing but dead bodies everywhere. Apparently their enemies had turned upon themselves to their own complete destruction. So with God’s blessing the people proceeded to take all the good stuff. They head home after a few days of collecting the spoils, singing praises to the Lord and rejoicing. For the rest of King Jehoshaphat’s reign there was peace. I guess so, nobody much would want to mess with a nation that had a God that would fight for them like that.

Faith, trust, obedience, deliverance, joy. That is victory.

Which leads to this observation. The decisions made and actions taken by the people discussed in those two books affected what has happened throughout history as well as what happens in the future on this planet and in Heaven. If you doubt it, look at Israel, Gaza and the Middle East today. We can be so very thankful for this recording of history.

Jesus And The Parables

Jesus continued this method of communication through stories that contained parables for good reasons. Parables are simply illustrations within a larger story that compare one thing to something else. He utilized old testament scripture, history, people, multiple meanings, parallels and interconnections that some listeners could relate to and grasp. They would contain hooks that would encourage the listeners to go deeper in their understanding. The listeners would know or need to know the context in which they were told.

This later point is one reason why so many struggle with understanding the Bible through the years. This same struggle happened to those who were present and listened to Jesus during that time as well as today as we read the the Word or hear it taught and preached. Even his closest disciples had difficulty understanding His words and applying. As a result many were more interested in the miracles He performed. In doing so they missed the most important lessons from the life giving Word as told through the Son of God in doing so. The miracles only happened because the Word of the Son of God was believed and trusted.

In effect, we all need a “rhema” moment as Paul describes. This is when what you hear or read leads you to see things in a new or different way. They become “Eureka!” moments when it all makes sense. The light bulb comes on. You then take it into your being, who you are, and act on it. Which leads to the next, the next, the next and so on. Along that journey you gain from the Lord’s wisdom and insight. His ways become your ways just as Jahaziel exhibited in the previous story. The Lord trusted Him to deliver the message of salvation from those who would destroy His people. The Lord wanted the people to know in advance what would happen to encourage their faith.

However, it all took the faith of the leader of the nation, King Jehoshaphat, to be willing to humble himself and acknowledge that as a people they could not make it on their own. Next, it took the people to realize they were in trouble and that they should go to the Lord and trust His response to their predicament. In that process we learn there was a man in their midst who had a strong relationship with Yahweh. He was trusted by Him to relay the message of future deliverance.

Throughout history many people have demonstrated they are unwilling to take the next step of faith and commit their heads and hearts to understanding God’s Word and its application. They seek reasons not to and instead, discount the value and avoid. They resist committing time, brain cells and their whole hearts to the endeavor. Yet, it is within this commitment decision that the answers they seek lie and rhema comes.

This inattention or rejection of what is important leads to personal enslavement. Do not miss that point. People have the God-given opportunity to participate with their Creator for eternity, yet, choose to yawn, ignore, blow off and move on to more worldly pursuits that interest them. That decision leads to slavery.

Again, Joshua 24:15; Choose this day whom you will serve. Even Dylan knows.

To fully receive what the Lord has for us, including the liberty we seek, we must commit to the pursuit. Slackers will not be rewarded. The Lord knows His children and who genuinely seeks His voice and counsel. He will not cast his pearls before swine as stated in Matthew 7:6. He will not allow the answers to be used against His purposes. As a result the wise follower approaches His throne humbly with a sincere spirit in seeking greater understanding and assistance.

Just as we saw King Jehoshaphat do.

The Ten Commandments and laws were principles for living that also had real life consequences if violated. There is little doubt what a command means; abide by each or expect repercussions. They were the hammer, no gray area left to discuss. They are also timeless and do not need a government of the world to administer or a sermon to understand their validity. In contrast the parables of Christ expanded the reach of God’s commands, laws and will into a guide for daily living and human relations, which He lived out in front of everybody. They were the real world application. They corrected many misconceptions and improper practices that had been developed by the Pharisees, Sadducees and others through the centuries. It is no wonder that Jesus was met with such hostility by the Establishment of His day. He disrupted their money tree and links to power over the people.

As it applies to our lives in America today, does living in accordance with God’s will negatively impact what the Establishment of today tries to accomplish? You bet it does. All we have to do is compare back to the ancients again to see confirmation that there is nothing new under the sun.

You may ask what was so troublesome with how the Hebrew leaders handled the 613 commandments found in scriptures in the Torah that were provided by God before Christ arrived on the scene? Hebrew leaders compiled and proceeded to expand the teachings of God’s commands with their interpretations and required applications, which later took the form of The Talmud (Jerusalem and Babylonian) and other related documents. This led to legalism and style over substance. Some were evil in intent. These teachings were administered and enforced by the religious authorities in their theocracy of religious government. They imposed their “yoke” on the people that led to burdens they could not endure over time. The apostate Hebrew leaders were responsible, just as apostate Christian and Jewish leaders are today, when they add to or take away from the God-given message and context of the Holy Word. The imposed burden becomes slavery to achieve the ends of the leaders, in direct conflict with God’s will for His people.

The commandments and laws of God were given to assist mankind and enable them to remain faithful to Him. Mankind did not exist to serve the commandments and laws.

America Today

Does any of that sound familiar, fellow American citizens?

We have a Declaration of Independence and Constitution based on Godly principles provided by believers in God who founded this country. All signers of the former were self proclaimed Christians at the time of signing. Half had divinity school training. There were 55 Protestants and one Catholic. Of this 56, 48 were born in the American colonies. It is believed by some sources that a few changed to unitarian or became deists at some points after the signing. However, for anybody to say this nation was not founded on Christian principles is absurd. Do not buy that load of garbage.

https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/did-you-know-that-half-the-declarations-signers-ha

The vast majority of the Constitution signers were also Christian along with a handful of deists and others who believed in the foundational moralities and truths of the Bible. There were 39 signers of the Declaration who also signed the Constitution. Despite attempts by the rewriters of history and the efforts of their fact checking scoundrel comrades; those facts are irrefutable. The recorded words and lives of the founders attested to the Christian understanding as do the documents themselves. They are two of the most noble, humanitarian governing documents ever produced in world history. The unique thing is that you do not have to be a Christian to receive the benefits of a Constitution that is designed for We the People to govern.

What has happened since the founding of the nation and the implementation of said Constitution? There has been an assault on original intent with the lawless seizing of authority and powers by people opposed to its content using operatives placed in positions of authority and influence. None of this is more glaring than with the unauthorized control over national affairs by our Establishment. These criminals are the current ruling class who have imposed their wills top down on We the People. What they do is a complete circumvention of the laws of our land.

The worldly bible of our nation, the Constitution, defines who has ultimate authority and it is We the People. The Constitution and government that administers it exist for the benefit of We the People. We the People do not exist or serve for the benefit of the Constitution and the government that administers it. The elected officials, their administrative support and agency operatives work for us. Do they act like they do?

As a legally formulated representative Republic, these elected officials who do their own wills and form alliances freely choose to act against the will of We the People, often times in a criminal manner. This is not what God’s will was for His people in ancient Israel or today in America, the land and people dedicated to God at its inception as a nation.

Watching the crimes of these usurpers being committed in full view of the world; the next step normally would be for We the People to identify the offenders who commit them, inform law enforcement entities, and hold the prosecution of same accountable. Knowing that process, the Establishment thoroughly corrupted not only the political parties and processes, but also the enforcement entities and the judiciary. What may be missed in that now obvious conclusion is that the process of corruption took more than a century to accomplish to the current level.

The Establishment simply became levers of control for a cabal of powerful, globalist criminals who desire to rule the world. They follow the will of Satan. All of what they do is opposed to God’s will for the people per his Holy Word. You know it by the fruit of their labors. Who benefits the most from their system?

So what does Satan do to people who cower and refuse to resist? They become enslaved to his will instead of being accountable to God’s. Which was a historical fate of the ancient Hebrews when they took their eyes off God. Conversely, what was the result when they cast their eyes on Him and fully trusted? It is the same for America.

Countering Satanic Oppression In America Today

II Chronicles 20: 12-13:

12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

13 Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

Deliverance from slavery and death means we, more specifically MAGA supporters, must humbly approach and keep our eyes on the Lord. Take the step in faith and believe, just like King Jehoshaphat and the ancient Israelites learned. The Lord will then reveal what it is we are to do, if anything. Accept that His will for our lives is best, whatever that may be.

In doing that, what should we avoid? Doing evil, sinning, not trusting Him, and not answering His call when He places something on our hearts. He will tell us when and what if He wants us to do something. All we do is simply live blameless in His sight and keep our eyes upon Him, trusting in His providence and grace, one step and one day at time.

Then humbly watch what He does to deliver us from evil. See the results from God addressing those who would do us harm as they destroy themselves, just like King Jehoshaphat and the ancient Israelites did.

Notice what did not happen in that Biblical story? The King and people were not given the privilege of watching the destruction of their enemies. They were only permitted to see the end result. Bear that in mind for future reference with our current civil war battle in America. I believe God did not want the people to be filled with pride, which would lead them to sin.

Conclusion

All of what has happened in the world since the times of the ancient Hebrews has been the same war raging for the souls of mankind. It is no wonder we are in the condition we are as a nation. We need to accept that this other worldly war will never end until Jesus returns as the Bible indicates. We know this to be applicable to us because this nation was dedicated to God and His principles at its founding.

We know from factual history and observations on the ground today that God will not reward our nation’s leaders for placing a burdensome yoke of enslavement on We the People. Our existence as a nation happened due to the burning desire to escape that same type burden. This desire is voiced throughout our founding documents. Which is why it all seems to be in chaos around us at times. Collectively we have been taking our eyes off God. Instead we have trusted the might of our military, our economy, politics, our ingenuity and so on to stay safe and live well; all of which has been crumbling around us. Now, we keep looking for a knight in shining armor to save the day. Meanwhile all of our existence and expectations can be gone in a blink of an eye as we are learning.

Despite that there is hope. It can all change today…

These stories that tell us of His truth are precious to the soul. They keep us grounded and hopeful for better days. The real history of America reveals we are a nation dedicated to God and His purposes. When we turn from that dedication, that mission of hope for all people; we and others dependent on us suffer the consequences.

We are the sons and daughters of liberty who trust God. We must respond as the faithful of the past did who had their eyes on God and yearned for freedom instead of slavery. If we do, great things will happen.

Dear MAGA 20240519 Open Topic

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.

Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here: 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

On this day and every day –

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.”

Christian Tradition

The word tradition can have two meanings, one secular and one religious. The secular understanding is that tradition is a long-established ritual, custom, or belief that is passed down from one generation to the next. For example, families have certain traditions in the way they celebrate holidays, birthdays, or vacations. Family traditions can be a healthy and positive way to maintain family cohesiveness.

Social traditions can help create a sense of belonging within a community. A school may have a tradition that each year the incoming freshmen are escorted to the first football game by the seniors. Following those traditions builds unity and helps maintain social norms.

In the religious arena, however, tradition can blur the line between God’s truth and man’s invention, thereby confusing many. Christians should view religious tradition with caution.

Religious tradition was in full force during Jesus’ earthly ministry. He often scolded the religious leaders, saying, “You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” (Mark 7:13). The scribes and the Pharisees had added so many of their own ideas to God’s Law that the common people were confused and felt helpless to obey it all. In Mark 7:6–8, Jesus quoted from Isaiah to reprimand the religious leaders, saying, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Notice that the “commandments of men” were being taught as if they were divinely inspired “doctrines.” And that was the problem.

One of the many traditions kept by the Pharisees of Jesus’ day involved a ritualistic hand-washing before meals. The observance of this tradition had nothing to do with cleanliness; the Pharisees’ concern was ceremonial purity. Once, when a Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him, Jesus bypassed the tradition: “His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom” (Luke 11:38, NLT). Jesus had broken no law—nothing in the Mosaic commandments required such hand-washing—but the Pharisee expected conformity to the custom nonetheless. Jesus’ outright disregard of that manmade tradition sets up a clear distinction between what is binding (God’s commands) and what is not binding (human tradition).

Religious traditions that supersede or displace God’s law have been around since the earliest days. They are still in full force within every religion as well as most Christian denominations. The liturgical branches of Christianity have the most obvious traditions, but more relaxed worship venues can have them as well. Most of us have our favorite style of music, method of preaching, organizational structure, and serving routines that we accept without question. When faced with change, we might even feel a sense of moral outrage, as though changing the service format or adding a bass guitar were a direct violation of God’s commands. What we’re really doing, perhaps without even realizing it, is guarding our own pet traditions, just as the Pharisees did. We can even become offended at Jesus, as the Pharisees did, when He disrupts our traditional view of what we think Christianity should look like (see John 9:16).

Scripture has layers of meaning. The more we delve into God’s Word, the more we learn about God, and it often upsets our own ideas. Just when we think we have things figured out and we are certain that we are theologically, morally, and socially right about it all, we uncover another layer that shatters those confidences. When we cling to tradition—whether denominational, theological, or structural—as if it were God’s Word, we keep the door closed on God’s revelation of truth to us. He wants to keep maturing us with the knowlege of Who He is as we continue to pursue Him. But religious tradition is often in the way. “That’s been our tradition for hundreds of years” is the battle cry of the traditionalists. Breaking tradition can be uncomfortable for many, just as it was for the Pharisees (Matthew 5:33–34; Luke 6:26–27). But when we can clearly see the dividing line between our own traditions and God’s truth, we stay humble and pliable as God continues to transform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). 
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-tradition.html

Whenever Jesus publicly healed someone on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused Him of breaking the Sabbath law (Matthew 12:10; Mark 3:2, John 5:14; 9:14–16).

God instituted the Sabbath for the Israelites when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8–11). On the seventh day of the week, the Israelites were to rest, remembering that God created the universe in six days and then “rested” on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1–3). The Sabbath was given for the benefit of the people (Mark 2:27) and as a sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13).

By Jesus’ time, the religious leaders had added burdensome rules that became traditions for keeping the Sabbath and had elevated their own traditions to the level of God’s instructions. It was so bad that, when Jesus’ disciples picked and ate some heads of grain as they walked through a field, the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath because they were supposedly “harvesting” and “threshing” (Luke 6:1–2).

The Pharisees had so conflated their own standard of holiness with God’s that they accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath law. Jesus acted against the Pharisaical interpretation of the law and their traditions,

Just as the Sabbath was originally instituted to give people rest from their work and to turn people to God, so Jesus came to provide us rest from attempting to achieve salvation by our own labors. His sacrifice on the cross made a way for the law to be fulfilled and for righteousness and rest to come to all who trust in His finished work.

The church that I grew up in was a very conservative Baptist church (but didn’t feel rule-bound or oppressive). After I left for college, they actually split over the tradition of the senior deacons having their choice of when to serve or whether the junior deacons would serve with them in a rotation. Many in the congregation held to tradition so closely that they were willing to split the congregation over the continuance of that tradition.

What the opposing groups and the deacons themselves missed is covered in Philippians 2:3-8:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

I would suspect that Christians in organizational authority across the entire Christian spectrum, as well as us, would benefit by a thorough understanding and application of those principles.

The issue concerning any church and its practices should be “Is this biblical?” God is more interested in whether a church is doing His will and obeying His Word than whether it can trace its traditions back through history. Jesus was very concerned about abandoning the Word of God to follow the traditions of men (Mark 7:7). Traditions are not inherently invalid…there are some good and valuable traditions. Again, the issue must be whether a doctrine, practice, or tradition is Biblical. How then do the doctrines, practices, or traditions of any church compare with the teachings of the Word of God?

If a teaching is Biblical (taken in context), it should be embraced. If it is not, if it supercedes or displaces, or adds to or diminishes God’s Word, it should be rejected. Scripture must be the only standard of Christian faith and practice. The Word of God is always true and reliable. The same can never be said of church tradition.

Our guideline is to be: “What does Scripture say?” (Romans 4:3; Galatians 4:30; Acts 17:11). 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2024·05·18 Joe Biden Didn’t Win Daily Thread

What is it that feeds our battle, yet starves our victory?

January 6 Tapes?

Paging Speaker Johnson…this is your conscience calling you out on broken promises.

For all your high talk about your Christian moral background…you’re looking less and less like you have any kind of moral background.

If You are a Patriot and Don’t Loathe RINOs…

Let’s talk about RINOs, and why they are the lowest form of life in politics.

Many patriots have been involved with politics, often at the grassroots, for decades. We’ve fought, and fought, and fought and won the occasional illusory small victory.

Yet we can’t seem to win the war, even when we have BIG electoral wins.

I am reminded of something. The original Star Trek had an episode titled Day of the Dove. It was one of the better episodes from the third season, but any fan of the original series will tell you that’s a very low bar. Still, it seems to get some respect; at a time when there were about 700 episodes of Star Trek in its various incarnations out there, it was voted 99th best out of the top 100.

In sum, the plot is that an alien entity has arranged for 39 Enterprise crew, and 39 Klingons, to fight each other endlessly with swords and other muscle-powered weapons. The entity lives off of hostile emotions, you see and it wants a captive food source. (The other 400 or so Enterprise crew are trapped below decks and unable to help.) Each side has its emotions played and amplified by the alien entity; one Enterprise junior officer has false memories implanted of a brother who was killed by Klingons. The brother didn’t even exist.

Even people killed in a sword fight miraculously heal so they can go do it again.

The second best line of the episode is when Kang, the Klingon captain, notes that though they have won quite a number of small victories including capturing Engineering, can’t seem to actually finally defeat the Enterprise crew. He growls, “What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?*”

Indeed. He may have been the bad guy, but his situation should sound familiar.

We are a majority in this country. We have a powerful political party in our corner. There is endless wrangling.

And yet,

What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?

In our case, that power is the RINOs in our midst. They specialize in caving when on the verge of victory. Think of Obamacare’s repeal failing…by one Republican vote. Think of the way we can never seem to get spending under control (and now our entire tax revenue goes to pay interest on the debt; anything the government actually does now is with borrowed money).

We have a party…that refuses to do what we want it to do, and that refusal is institutionalized. If you’ve been involved with GOP politics, but haven’t seen this, it’s because you refuse to see it. Or because you are part of the problem yourself. (If so, kindly gargle some red fuming nitric acid to clear the taste of shit out of your mouth, and let those not part of the problem alone so they can read this.)

We fight to elect people, who then take a dive when in office. But it’s not just the politicians in office, it’s the people behind the scenes, the leaders of the national, state and county branches of the party. Their job is to ensure that real patriots never get onto the general election ballot. They’re allowed a few failures…who can then become token conservatives who will somehow never manage to win (Jordan), or can be compromised outright (Lauren Boebert?).

That way it doesn’t actually matter who has a congressional majority. I remember my excitement when the GOP took the Senate in 1980. But all that did was empower a bunch of “moderate” puddles of dog vomit like…well for whatever reason forty years later the most memorable name is Pete Domenici. And a couple of dozen other “moderates” who simply had no interest in doing what grassroots people in their party–those same grassroots people who had worked so hard to elect them–wanted them to do.

Oh, they’ll put up a semblance of a fight…but never win. And they love it when we fight the Dems instead of fighting them. Just like that alien entity, whose motto surely was “Let’s you and him fight. It’ll be delicious!”

If you think about it, your entire political involvement has come to nothing because of these walking malignant tumors.

That should make you good and mad.

The twenty five who blocked Jordan, and the hundred people who took that opportunity to stab Jordan in the back in the secret ballot should make you good and mad.

I’ll close this with another example of RINO backstabbing, an infuriating one close to home.

In my county, the GOP chair is not a RINO. She got elected when the grassroots had had enough of the RINOs. Unfortunately the state organization is full of RINOs, and the ousted county RINOs have been trying to form a new “Republican Party” and get the state GOP to recognize them as the affiliate. I’m honestly amazed it hasn’t happened yet.

In other words those shitstains won’t just leave when they get booted out; they’ll try to destroy what they left behind. It’s an indication that they know we know how important that behind-the-scenes party power is.

So they must be destroyed. That’s the only way they’ll ever stop.

We cannot win until the leeches “on our side” get destroyed.

What power is it that feeds our battle yet starves our victory?*

We know it. What is going to be done about it?

*NOTE: The original line was actually “What power is it that supports our battle yet starves our victory.” I had mis-remembered it as feeds. When I checked it, it sure enough was “supports” and that’s what I originally quoted. On further reflection, though, I realized my memory was actually an improvement over the reality, because feeds is a perfect contrast with starves. I changed it partway through the day this originally posted, but now (since this is a re-run) it gets rendered this way from the start.

If one must do things wrong, one should do them wrong…right.

RINOs an Endangered Species?
If Only!

According to Wikipoo, et. al., the Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a critically endangered species. Apparently two females live on a wildlife preserve in Sudan, and no males are known to be alive. So basically, this species is dead as soon as the females die of old age. Presently they are watched over by armed guards 24/7.

Biologists have been trying to cross them with the other subspecies, Southern White Rhinoceroses (Rhinoceri?) without success; and some genetic analyses suggest that perhaps they aren’t two subspecies at all, but two distinct species, which would make the whole project a lot more difficult.

I should hope if the American RINO (Parasitus rectum pseudoconservativum) is ever this endangered, there will be heroic efforts not to save the species, but rather to push the remainder off a cliff. Onto punji sticks. With feces smeared on them. Failing that a good bath in red fuming nitric acid will do.

But I’m not done ranting about RINOs.

The RINOs (if they are capable of any introspection whatsoever) probably wonder why they constantly have to deal with “populist” eruptions like the Trump-led MAGA movement. That would be because the so-called populists stand for absolutely nothing except for going along to get along. That allows the Left to drive the culture and politics.

Given the results of our most recent elections, the Left will now push harder, and the RINOs will now turn even squishier than they were before.

I well remember 1989-1990 in my state when the RINO establishment started preaching the message that a conservative simply couldn’t win in Colorado. Never mind the fact that Reagan had won the state TWICE (in 1984 bringing in a veto-proof state house and senate with him) and GHWB had won after (falsely!) assuring everyone that a vote for him was a vote for Reagan’s third term.

This is how the RINOs function. They push, push, push the line that only a “moderate” can get elected. Stomp them when they pull that shit. Tell everyone in ear shot that that’s exactly what the Left wants you to think, and oh-by-the-way-Mister-RINO if you’re in this party selling the same message as the Left…well, whythefuckexactly are you in this party, you lying piece of rancid weasel shit?

Justice

It says “Justice” on the picture.

And I’m sure someone will post the standard joke about what the fish thinks about the situation.

But what is it?

Here’s a take, from a different context: It’s about how you do justice, not the justice that must be done to our massively corrupt government and media. You must properly identify the nature of a person, before you can do him justice.

Ayn Rand, On Justice (speaking through her character John Galt, in Atlas Shrugged):

Justice is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the character of men as you cannot fake the character of nature, that you must judge all men as conscientiously as you judge inanimate objects, with the same respect for truth, with the same incorruptible vision, by as pure and as rational a process of identification—that every man must be judged for what he is and treated accordingly, that just as you do not pay a higher price for a rusty chunk of scrap than for a piece of shining metal, so you do not value a rotter above a hero—that your moral appraisal is the coin paying men for their virtues or vices, and this payment demands of you as scrupulous an honor as you bring to financial transactions—that to withhold your contempt from men’s vices is an act of moral counterfeiting, and to withhold your admiration from their virtues is an act of moral embezzlement—that to place any other concern higher than justice is to devaluate your moral currency and defraud the good in favor of the evil, since only the good can lose by a default of justice and only the evil can profit—and that the bottom of the pit at the end of that road, the act of moral bankruptcy, is to punish men for their virtues and reward them for their vices, that that is the collapse to full depravity, the Black Mass of the worship of death, the dedication of your consciousness to the destruction of existence.

Ayn Rand identified seven virtues, chief among them rationality. The other six, including justice, she considered subsidiary because they are essentially different aspects and applications of rationality.

—Ayn Rand Lexicon (aynrandlexicon.com)

Justice Must Be Done.

Trump, it is supposed, had some documents.

Biden and company stole the country.

I’m sure enough of this that I put my money where my mouth is.

The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system. (This doesn’t necessarily include deposing Joe and Hoe and putting Trump where he belongs, but it would certainly be a lot easier to fix our broken electoral system with the right people in charge.)

Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2024 or 2026 is pointless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud in the system is not part of the plan, you have no plan.

This will necessarily be piecemeal, state by state, which is why I am encouraged by those states working to change their laws to alleviate the fraud both via computer and via bogus voters. If enough states do that we might end up with a working majority in Congress and that would be something Trump never really had.

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.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot Prices

Last week:

Gold $2,360.70
Silver $28.23
Platinum $1,003.00
Palladium $1,005.00
Rhodium $5,400.00

This week, at Friday close:

Gold $2,415.40
Silver $31.58
Platinum $1,093.00
Palladium $1,038.00
Rhodium $5,400.00

Silver went up 2.01 today alone, and is up over ten pecent in the last week. I don’t believe it has been over $30 since the 2011 spike.

Gold has busted through $2400 to reach $2415. And remember it was never over $2000 until November last year.

That brings my Dollar Suckage Index to 116.855+. (The Dollar Suckage index is the ratio between the price of gold today, versus the value of the dollar defined as dollars per ounce when we had the gold standard. (I use that clumsy phrasing because the dollar was defined as a certain amount of gold, such that an ounce of gold was $20.67. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.)

Palladium spent the last week slipping further and further behind platinum. I remember a long time ago gold was $300 and palladium was $80 or so. We are at least getting close to that ratio once again. But at that same time platinum was $400 and so my gut continues to tell me it’s WAY undervalued right now. And that opinion is probably worth less than what you paid for it.

Is it Real . . . or Memorex?

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257600/vatican-to-publish-new-document-on-marian-apparitions-next-week

“The Vatican’s doctrine office will publish a new document next week on discerning Marian apparitions and other supernatural events.

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), will unveil new norms for discernment regarding “apparitions and other supernatural phenomena” on Friday, May 17.”

In thinking about apparitions, their reality, their source and their message, we should definitely not pass them off as trivial . . . as though we’re talking about some old lady from Oshkosh who is promoting a piece of toast with a likeness if Christ on it as the most important Christian icon of the 21st century.

The issue is real . . . and important. False prophets and false Messiahs will definitely appear in the future and will perform great signs and miracles to deceive mankind.

How can we discern counterfeit miracles?
In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warns, “For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.” Similarly, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.”

When God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He performed miraculous signs through Moses to prove that Moses was indeed His messenger. However, Exodus 7:22 states, “But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he wouldn’t listen to Moses…” (see also Exodus 7:11 and 8:7). God later demonstrated His superiority by performing miracles the magicians, or more accurately, the demons who were empowering the magicians, weren’t able to replicate (Exodus 8:18; 9:11). But the fact remains that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to perform miracles. So, if miracles can be from either God or the demonic world, how are we to discern the difference?

The Bible doesn’t give specific instructions on how to recognize counterfeit miracles. The Bible does, however, give specific instructions on how to recognize counterfeit messengers. “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 20). First John 4:2-6 elaborates, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus isn’t from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist … They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever isn’t from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

These two passages present two methods for recognizing a false teacher. First, examine his/her fruit. Does he/she display the Christlikeness that is a qualification for a messenger from God (1 Timothy 3:1-13)? Second, examine his/her teaching. Is what he/she teaches in agreement with God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; 4:2; Hebrews 4:12)? If the teacher fails either of these tests, he/she isn’t from God. It doesn’t matter how many miracles are present. If a person doesn’t walk the truth or teach the truth, we can discount any miracles he/she performs. Miracles performed by a false teacher aren’t from God.

In the New Testament, miracles were performed almost exclusively by the apostles and their close associates. The miracles served to validate the gospel message and the ministry of the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4). While we should never doubt God’s ability to perform miracles, the biblical purpose of miracles should give us a degree of skepticism concerning reports of modern-day miracles. While it isn’t biblical to say that God never performs miracles, the Bible is clear that we are to seek after truth, not miracles (Matthew 12:39).

It is an interesting conundrum that miracles in the Bible validated the messenger, and yet today, miracles aren’t necessarily an indicator for a true messenger of God. The difference is God’s Word. Today we have the complete canon of Scripture, and it is an infallible guide. We have a more sure Word (2 Peter 1:19) we can use to discern whether a messenger and a message is from God. Miracles can be counterfeited. That is why God points us to His Word. Signs and wonders can lead us astray. God’s Word will always light the true path (Psalm 119:105).
https://www.gotquestions.org/counterfeit-miracles.html

Apparitions are certainly attention-getting, but what’s more important is the message the apparition brings and the effect that message may have on mankind.

Can the elect be deceived (Matthew 24:24)?
In what is often referred to as His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Jesus speaks about events that will take place before His second coming. One of the warnings Christ gives is this: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (verse 24).

The Greek word translated “elect” is eklektós, which means “chosen ones.” It’s a term used a number of times in the New Testament to refer to true believers in Jesus (e.g., Luke 18:7; Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12). Will the false miracles performed by the false messiahs and prophets in the end times be so convincing that even born-again believers will be led astray?

There are two reasons why the answer to this question is “no.” First, nearly all Bible commentators agree that the grammatical construction of the verse and its parenthetical statement “if possible” strongly point to such a thing being out of the question. The deception will be strong, the miracles will seem real, and the intent will be to mislead everyone, including the elect. But God’s grace will prevail. His chosen ones won’t be drawn away into deception.

Second, the Bible firmly speaks to the fact that the elect are protected by God from deceptions that would result in eternal separation from Christ. Paul tells us that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:4); Peter says that the chosen “are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5); and Jude says that the chosen are “beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1). The elect will persevere in God’s strength.

With respect to following false Christs, Jesus says, “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply won’t follow, but will flee from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers” (John 10:2–5). The sheep know their Shepherd.

Being deceived is a mark of the unregenerate: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures” (Titus 3:3). After salvation, we may stray from the truth at times, but the Bible makes it clear that the elect of God can’t be deceived to the extent of being finally lost. If God’s chosen ones could be deceived in such a way, God’s choice of them would be defeated, and that isn’t possible. All who are in Christ have been predestined, called, justified, and will eventually be glorified (Romans 8:30). They have been given to Christ; and of all those who have been given to Him, He will lose none (John 10:28).
https://www.gotquestions.org/elect-deceived.html

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you aren’t alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. (Matthew 24:4-11)

For then shall be great tribulation, such as wasn’t since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:21-27)

The Beast from the Earth
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as wouldn’t worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:11-15)

The Man of Lawlesness
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day won’t come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

From https://trinfinity8.com/strange-holograms-in-the-sky/ –
“In late 1991, the JFK Center and School for Special Warfare appears to have looked into a psy-ops holographic system able to project persuasive messages and three-dimensional images of clouds, smoke, rain, buildings, and even religious figures and images to use as persuasive messages for worldwide applications. Many of the futuristic vehicles of terrestrial origin carry advanced directed energy weapon technologies using broad-band holographic technology to easily ‘cloak’ or conceal and/or present false targets.”
“The lesson here is not to be fooled by holographic images in the sky as signs from God—especially wearing the face of Jesus, Allah, or even alien invaders. They are nothing more than tools for manipulation of the masses. Governments are capable of deceit as we all well know. John Lear, a retired airline captain, former Lockheed L-1011 Captain and CIA pilot, as well as the son of the famous inventor of the Lear Jet, believes this technology might also have been used in the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11.”

[Imagine what the powers that be have up their sleeves with Project Blue Beam 33 years after 1991.]

“Beware of false flag events from those in authority that tell you what is best for you. Stay conscious, cautious, and be aware. These are challenging times as we all search for answers and Truth.”