“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
It’s FAKE YOU Friday at Wolf’s Pub. So glad to be here with you all.
I’m in a mood. Ain’t ya sick of the FAKENESS?
We have a FAKE pResident. He’s a disgusting, embarrassing mess of a human. He’s a good example of the moral depravity of the Democrat Party, the RINOs, the Globalists, the Oligarchs.
Y’all can FAKE OFF. We’re sick of y’all.
SICK. OF. Y’ALL.
We hear nothing but FAKE NEWS: the Covid jabs are good, nothing to worry about. Uh huh. You can’t believe a thing the CDC, the FDA, the WHO, the FIB, etc., tell you. All the “experts” are FULL OF CRAP. Useless at best. Dangerous to our health and well being at worst.
But I don’t have to tell you. I read the brilliant comments from the Qtreepers all day. If America would tune out of Twitter and tune in here, they would be healthier and smarter in no time.
Our Qtreepers cull the best from the web and share here. It’s a banquet of intelligence and wit and plain commonsense! Just a couple of my favorites from yesterday:
Gotta laugh at that picture of Fake First Lady Jill Biden wearing black fishnet stockings on Easter Sunday. Goodness. What kind of orders is that wench under?
Now to our special. Vermouth. Yes. It’s a wonderful fortified wine (and we could all use a little fortifying) that is enjoyed straight, either neat but often with ice, and a twist of lemon or a slice of orange in Europe.
Here in America it is most often enjoyed in a Martini or a Manhattan, but on it’s own it is wonderful.
Here’s a video about how Vermouth is enjoyed as an aperitif, often around lunchtime. And here is a nice selection of Vermouths. I have to tell you, I’ve imbibed a cheap $5 bottle of Dry White Vermouth that I usually use for bone broth, and it is quite enjoyable on ice with a twist.
HOUSE RULES
We ride tandem here. Plenty of bickering but we do our best to keep the wheels on and moving forward.
Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness. The desire for those should keep us together, in spite our diverse traditions, our faith differences, our political nuances, etc.
Review the rules here. If you feel the need to vent, or as a gathering place if things go down, visit the Utree. When we get to the victory line, I hope and pray to be linked arm and arm with you all.
And we will cross the victory line. The babble of the elites is breaking down and the Matrix is breaking up. It is time.
This Sanctuary 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 is 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 you’re addressing the issue only, and not trying to confront 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.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” (Luke 24:5-7)
And with those words from the angel, the women at Jesus’ tomb found that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as He had foretold. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
And after about 40 days, Jesus returns to the Father where He now sits at His right hand.
That’s it? That’s the end of the story? Not hardly! This is but the the beginning.
Jesus continues to act in His very unique and singular position with respect to our salvation and justification with God, the Father.
Jesus is the he ONLY way to Heaven. John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus was the blood sacrifice that reconciled our sin and our sin nature with our Holy God.
Jesus is the ONLY Mediator between God and men. 1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and ONE Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)
Jesus is the ONLY name given for Salvation. Acts 4:12 – Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
Jesus is the ONLY advocate for us. 1 John 2:1 – My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus has already satisfied the demands of justice, so God accepts His Son’s advocacy on our behalf as part of their divine agreement, established before the world began.
Jesus is the ONLY Intercessor in heaven. Romans 8:34 – Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. The promise of Christ’s intercession belongs to all for whom He died. All those who have found forgiveness in Him have the assurance of His intercession.
Jesus intercedes for us in Heaven
Speaking of Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). This verse (and others like it) tells us that although Christ’s work to secure the salvation of the elect was completed on the cross, as evidenced by His cry “It is finished!” (John 19:30), His care for His redeemed children will never be finished.
Jesus did not go to heaven after His earthly ministry and “take a break” from His role as eternal Shepherd to His people. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10, emphasis added). If when humble, despised, dying, and dead, He had the power to accomplish so great a work as reconciling us to God, how much more may we expect that He will be able to keep us now that He is a living, exalted, and triumphant Redeemer, raised to life and interceding on our behalf before the throne (Romans 8:34). Clearly, Jesus is still very active on our behalf in heaven.
After Jesus ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9; Colossians 3:1), He returned to the glory He had before His incarnation (John 17:5) to carry on His role of King of kings and Lord of lords—His eternal role as the second Person of the triune God. While this old earth continues to be “won” for Christ, Jesus is the Advocate for Christians, meaning He is our great Defender. This is the intercessory role He currently fulfills for those who are His (1 John 2:1). Jesus is always pleading our case before the Father, like a defense lawyer on our behalf.
Jesus is interceding for us while Satan (whose name means “accuser”) is accusing us day and night, pointing out our sins and frailties before God, just as he did with Job (Job 1:6-12). But the accusations fall upon deaf ears in heaven, because Jesus’ work on the cross paid our sin debt in full; therefore, God always sees in His children the perfect righteousness of Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, His righteousness (perfect holiness) was imputed to us, while our sin was imputed to Him at His death. This is the great exchange Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:21. That took away forever our sinful state before God, so God can accept us as blameless before Him.
Finally, it is important to understand that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. No one else – no one – has the power to intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty. Christ alone is the God-man, and He mediates and intercedes between God and man. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Savior, Redeemer, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and finally, Righteous Judge – all this from the One Who loved us so much that He gave His life for our sins . . . to reconcile us with His and our Holy Father in Heaven.
Now, as God’s adopted sons and daughters in Christ, can we wholeheartedly . . .
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Hallelujah!
Maranatha!
Christ Arose
Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior, Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!
Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus, my Savior; Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus, my Lord!
Death cannot keep his Prey, Jesus, my Savior; He tore the bars away, Jesus, my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o’er His foes, He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever, with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Robert Lowry 1874
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.”
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.
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 2022 or 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.
What I am seeing here is precious metals trading within a pretty well defined range. Gold has dropped down into the 1680s twice but then immediately bounced up. Which implies (to some) that it might be prepping to go up again. Silver seems to be in the doldrums right now; I don’t know whether it’s going up or down (does anyone really ever know about these things?) and won’t even hazard a guess.
Note: Last week’s gold and platinum prices are almost identical to the prices from five weeks ago! Five weeks ago:
4.567 billion years ago, our solar system began to “condense” from the nebula. Clumps of dust particles began to come together, part of a poorly-understood process that eventually led to the planets. The nebula had a potpourri of “stuff” in it. Mostly elements up to iron, with a heavy leavening of ones after iron, created in supernovas or even neutron star collisions. (Most gold is believed to have come out of neutron star collisions…next time you admire that gold coin or your wedding band…think about where that stuff has been! Any of it not from a collision got blasted out of a supernova at 70,000,000 miles per hour.)
Very large bodies, moon sized and larger certainly, would heat up as they formed, from the potential energy of infalling stuff, and also from the fact that this dust had a lot of radioactive stuff in it. Many isotopes with very short half lives, like aluminum 26, were common then; we have no trouble seeing their traces in meteorites today. But back then they were a source of intense heat. Even today, much of the heat of the earth’s interior comes from radioactive decay of uranium, thorium, and even potassium (which has one fairly uncommon radioactive isotope).
Those large bodies became molten, and the heavy stuff sank towards the center. Iron was quite common in the nebula, and iron is heavier than the sorts of things that became typical rocks, and so we today have planets with iron cores.
A lot of good stuff went down into the core with the iron, including gold, the platinum group metals, and silver. Some gold hung around with the lighter slag since gold likes quartz. That resulted in gold being relatively more common than the PGMs in the earth’s crust.
But a lot of things in the solar nebula got big, but not big enough to melt. They became asteroids, and they are relatively rich in PGMs as compared with the earth’s crust. (If we can ever start mining those suckers…PGM prices will go down, and gold will go down somewhat…remember it’s relatively common in the earth’s crust, but that means it won’t become as common, proportionately to where it is today, when we go after asteroids.)
So one sure-fire sign of a meteorite is extra PGMs.
There was once an asteroid the size of Mount Everest. It probably hung out in the asteroid belt for about 4.5 billion years; in fact, it hung out, wherever it hung out, for almost exactly 4.5 billion years.
Then something happened to alter its orbit. And then, sometime after that, perhaps within a million years, it chanced to encounter Earth.
It plunged through the atmosphere–which rapidly raised its surface temperature. Then it slammed into the ocean, at a point just off the coast of what we today know as the Mexican State of Yucatan. The rocks it hit were the worst possible thing it could find…sulfur-rich gypsum, calcium sulfate. The meteorite vaporized in an instant. And so did a lot of that gypsum.
The tsunami in the Gulf probably reached as far inland as Illinois.
The sky was filled with sulfur trioxide, which became sulfuric acid and rained out over the next few days. And the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth was cut, both by the sulfuric crud and just ordinary dust ejected into the stratosphere by the impact, putting another challenge on plant life. Which is at the root of the food chain. Fewer plants, fewer herbivores, fewer herbivores, fewer carnivores.
There’s good reason to believe life was already under stress from massive volcanic eruptions in what is now the Deccan traps, in India. This was just exactly what wasn’t needed for icing on the cake. (Alternatively, the Deccan eruptions may have been triggered by the impact. Yes, even though they were almost on the other side of the world!)
75 percent of species died out, including almost all of the dinosaurs. Some of the ones that had taken to the air and had feathers and warm blood survived the next five years of darkness. And of course many of those little mammals survived too.
Thus ended the Cretaceous Period and the Mesozoic Era (which included the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous).
The Cretaceous Period had lasted some 80 million years–note, longer than everything since. If you were to go back in time halfway to the beginning of the Cretaceous, you’d be in the Cretaceous.
65.6 million years later, give or take 300,000 years, a couple of geologists were investigating exposed rock near Raton, New Mexico (less than two hours away from me). They knew from fossil evidence that this little thin white stripe in the rock separated Cretaceous from Paleogene (which used to be called the “Tertiary”). Below the line, many kinds of dinosaurs were alive when the rock was deposited. Above it, only the birds.
I’m not 100% positive that this picture is from Raton, but it’s pretty much what it looks like there.
They analyzed the white stripe. It had 100 times as much iridium as the rock above and below it. Still not a lot (a hundred times almost, almost nothing is still almost nothing), but it was the smoke that showed the smoking gun was an asteroid.
An asteroid almost certainly killed the big “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs.
Many have read this story and come away thinking the asteroid was made out of iridium. No, no more than the gun found at the crime scene is made out of fingerprint oil. Iridium was along for the ride, but the sulfur the asteroid found at its destination probably did as much as anything to kill almost every large animal on earth.
So what is this “iridium” anyway? It’s element #77, with 77 protons in the nucleus, tucked in between osmium and platinum. It was discovered alongside osmium in 1803/4 by Smithson Tennant, a story I told last week. It’s almost as dense–the difference is so small you wouldn’t be able to perceive it. And it’s another one of those bothersome high-melting point elements…six hundred kelvins below osmium but still 2400K. But it does not form iridium tetroxide and kill people. In fact, it may be the most chemically inert metal known, the noblest metal. It is not attacked even by aqua regia, a mixture of acids that will make short work of gold.
What I didn’t mention last week was that iridium tended to be the major impurity in those Russian platinum coins. It could be detected while processing the platinum, because at one point during that processing, some of the aqueous solutions would be orange or even red if any iridium were present, rather than yellow. And indeed when analyzed today iridium and iron are the major impurities in those coins.
Today, iridium can be rendered a solid, with some work. This video is well worth watching! Osmium is rarely made into big solid objects. Iridium, on the other hand…
The professor mentioned the price of iridium. It’s now running six thousand dollars an ounce. Back in early December it was $1700, before that it was fairly stable, the ten year chart shows a few years of $1000/oz and even $600/oz iridium, before it blooped up to $1500 in 2018, slowly rose to $1700, and then went bananas. http://www.dailymetalprice.com/metalpricecharts.php?c=ir&u=oz&d=2400
And now for a link to the story of a man who had two kilograms of iridium powder, and decided to go get it melted. Some of you expressed interest in just how it works with these super-high-melting elements; there’s detail here for you.
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
For many people, perhaps most, Good Friday brings thoughts of Jesus’ physical suffering . . . being scourged to the point of where your internal organs may be visible through your flesh, having large spikes driven through your hands and feet, and then fighting in agony for every breath until death, while hanging from a cross.
The willingness to subject other humans to this method of execution must be the epitome of the evil cruelty inherent in mankind. For the Romans to carry out this crucifixion after finding no guilt in Jesus, even at the urging of a Jewish mob, speaks to that same cruelty.
I won’t view “The Passion of the Christ”, as I don’t want to experience the visual reality of that horror. I suspect many others feel the same way, too.
So, why am I bringing up this issue in this manner?
As insanity inducing as the horror of a scourging followed by a crucifixion is, I don’t believe they represent what gave Jesus His greatest agony at Golgotha.
At the crucifixion, the only record we have of Jesus exclaiming something in agony is when He cried out in a load voice “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” What would have caused this?
I believe that since Jesus’ purpose was to become the one-time sacrifice for our sin, this moment was when the sin of humanity, past, present and future, was laid on Jesus’ head. Since God can’t abide sin, He, the Father, took His presence away from His Son for the first time in eternity.
That’s what caused this agonized outburst, far greater suffering for Jesus than the physical pain involved.
My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, KJV). This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.
In what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God? It is certain that God approved His work. It is certain that Jesus was innocent. He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God. As God’s own Son—holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient—God still loved Him. In none of these senses could God have forsaken Him.
The prophet Isaiah says this about the Messiah: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5).
Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He was made a sin-offering, and He died in our place, on our account, that He might bring us near to God.
It was this, doubtless, that intensified His sufferings and part of why Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin, in some unexplained way, that Jesus experienced in that terrible hour. The suffering He endured was due to us, and it is that suffering by which we can be saved from eternal death.
In those awful moments, as evil men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to Jesus, our Lord expressed His feelings of abandonment. God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of being unconscious of His Father’s presence. It was at this time that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
It has been paid in full . . . It is finished.
Of the last words of Christ on the cross, none is more important or more poignant than, “It is finished.” Found only in the Gospel of John, the Greek word translated “it is finished” is tetelestai, an accounting term that means “paid in full.” When Jesus uttered those words, He was declaring the debt owed to His Father was wiped away completely and forever. Not that Jesus wiped away any debt that He owed to the Father; rather, Jesus eliminated the debt owed by mankind—the debt of sin.
Just prior to His arrest by the Romans, Jesus prayed, asking the Father to glorify Him, just as Jesus had glorified the Father on earth, having “finished the work you have given me to do” (John 17:4). The work Jesus was sent to do was to “seek and save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10), to provide atonement for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him (Romans 3:23-25), and to reconcile sinful men to a holy God. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). None other but God in the flesh could accomplish such a task.
Also completed was the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies, symbols, and foreshadowings of the coming Messiah. From Genesis to Malachi, there are over 300 specific prophecies detailing the coming of the Anointed One, all fulfilled by Jesus. From the “seed” who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, to the prediction of the “messenger” of the Lord (John the Baptist) who would “prepare the way” for the Messiah, all prophecies of Jesus’ life, ministry, and death were fulfilled and finished at the cross.
Although the redemption of mankind is the most important finished task, many other things were finished at the cross. The sufferings Jesus endured while on the earth, and especially in His last hours, were at last over. God’s will for Jesus was accomplished in His perfect obedience to the Father (John 5:30; 6:38). Most importantly, the power of sin and Satan was finished. No longer would mankind have to suffer the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). By raising the “shield of faith” in the One who completed the work of redemption and salvation, we can, by faith, live as new creations in Christ. Jesus’ finished work on the cross was the beginning of new life for all who were once “dead in trespasses and sins” but who are now made “alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1, 5).
Hanging on the cross, Jesus suffered bitter agony and darkness while covered in our guilt, sin, and shame. When the act of purchasing our redemption was complete, nothing more was needed. Everything Jesus had come to do on earth was now finished. The Scriptures were fulfilled. Christ’s work was done, the battle was over, the victory was won. All that God had purposed and all the prophets had foretold was complete, and Jesus surrendered Himself to death.
Through Christ’s substitutionary and sacrificial death on the cross, the Lamb of God paid our debt and took away our sin. Our ransom complete, Jesus, with a resounding voice, wanted all people to hear these words—words that still ring strong today:
It is finished!
Yes. It is finished. And as one who is more than a conqueror through Jesus, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
At the Cross
Alas! and did my Savior bleed And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For sinners such as I?
Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine— And bathed in its own blood— While the firm mark of wrath divine, His Soul in anguish stood.
Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! grace unknown! And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide And shut his glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker died, For man the creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face While His dear cross appears, Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, And melt my eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay The debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give my self away ’Tis all that I can do.
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away, It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day!
Wolf’s Pub is open on this best of Fridays. Today the pub is dry but let us gather together, share a morsel of bread, and speak of momentous events. “What is truth?” a man once asked Christ Jesus, just before he condemned him to death.
That is a question that has echoed down the ages, and today seems more important than ever. The election of Donald John Trump to the Presidency of the United States in 2016 set in motion a revealing of truth—that we are living in a contrived reality.
Every organized institution has failed us. Our governments routinely lie to us as they lead us on to ever more coercive state control. Our politicians are corrupt and compromised, loyal to the System and not their oaths.
The medical establishment has become so ideologically driven that Dr. Tony Fauci, director of NIAID, easily lies to the American public as he sells us out to the pharmaceutical companies and even more malign actors.
Academia is bloated and depraved. They poison the minds of our students beginning in Kindergarten all the way through university with fundamental lies about biological science, among many other things.
Our clergy is often driven by ties to government and NGOs, rather than the truths of revealed religion. Let me digress for a moment and share a story that is well known, but bears repeating:
“…I heard John MacArthur share one time about a church in England. And they had over the archway going into the church, ”We preach Christ crucified.” (1 Cor. 1:23) And that was the motto of their church, outside, they had ivy growing up the wall. And then, as the years went by and the ivy grew, and things changed in the church, the ivy covered up ”crucified.” And then it’s just ”We preach Christ.” And he quit preaching the crucifixion, and then they just started preaching the life and the example of Jesus. And as the years went by, and the church moved more and more to the left and more and more liberal, then the ivy grew up and it just said, ”We preach.” And it wasn’t about Jesus anymore. It was just about loving your neighbor and being a good person. And then, as the years went by, the ivy grew and it just became, ”We.” And they met, and it was just all about us. It’s all about we. It’s all about me. That can easily happen.”
End of digression
The revelation of all the lies has rocked the foundation of our society. Is anything we read or hear true? Just how bad are the lies? Can we trust anything or anyone at this point? Maybe we really are watching a film. Is our whole existence a controlled show?
It feels like we are standing on the edge of an abyss. Despair beckons.
“…the very media we have mentioned are so designed to make thinking seem unnecessary…The packaging of intellectual positions and views is one of the most active enterprises of some of the best minds of our day. The viewer of television, the listener to radio, the reader of magazines, is presented with a whole complex of elements–all the way from ingenious rhetoric to carefully selected data and statistics–to make it easy for him to ‘make up his own mind’ with the minimum of difficulty and effort. But the packaging is often done so effectively that the viewer, listener, or reader does not make up his own mind at all. Instead, he inserts a packaged opinion into his mind, somewhat like inserting a cassette into a cassette player. He then pushes a button and ‘plays back’ the opinion whenever it seems appropriate to do so. He has performed acceptably without having had to think.”
From the 1972 edition.From a book originally published in 1940.
Back to Good Friday
Before he died, Jesus spoke of His followers to the Father:
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” (John 17:14-19)
The evil one and his earthly minions will be overcome. Jesus told His followers, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
I am so grateful for Good Friday. We need Christ crucified.
House Rules
Sometimes, when Christendom celebrates the holiest of days on the liturgical calendar, things surface to be cleansed away. Let us pray that we spend this day in peace and civility with one another, as is the Rule here.
The Utree is provided by Wolf for more ordinary things, and also for a place to gather should this site ever become unavailable. Thank you, Wolf, for all you do.
War Room
Do take the time to listen to the War Room this week. Each episode includes more and more information about the lies we’ve been fed regarding the China Virus, now dubbed the Fauci Virus. LOL. Peter Navarro is openly suggesting collusion between Dr. Fauci and the Wuhan lab that includes accusations of a gain-of-function mechanism in the China virus.
This Sanctuary 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 is 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 you’re addressing the issue only, and not trying to confront 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.
When Jesus was about thirty years old, He started His three year ministry to the Jewish people. During His ministry He traveled extensively through what should be called Israel, and also into southern Lebanon and western Syria.
He performed many miracles: healing the deaf, blind and dumb, lepers, paralytics and the diseases of a very large number of people that the ensuing crowds brought to him. He ordered demons out of people and raised several others from the dead. He turned water into wine, calmed the storm, walked on water, fed thousands from a few loaves and fish, and caused large catches of fish. As per John, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
But Jesus did not come just to perform miracles.
Preaching the truth about the kingdom of God and how one may receive it by trusting only in Christ formed the bulk of His message, and this message of faith and repentance surpassed all of Jesus’ miracles in terms of importance. Note, however, that this message cannot be separated from His work of atonement. Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:1–10), and this salvation comes through the pouring out of His blood “for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26–29). In coming to preach the gospel of God, Jesus came to preach Himself. He came as both the messenger and the message—without the atonement, there is no good news to proclaim.
Jesus purpose in coming, then, was to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near, and so all should repent and believe the good news. What good news? The news that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever trusts in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And He came to be rejected and die as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sin, and then rise again on the third day to give us our hope for our eternal future. Or, again, as reported by John, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Palm Sunday is the day we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, one week before His resurrection (Matthew 21:1–11). As Jesus entered the holy city, He neared the culmination of a long journey toward Golgotha. He had come to save the lost (Luke 19:10), and now was the time—this was the place—to secure that salvation. Palm Sunday marked the start of what is often called “Passion Week,” the final seven days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Palm Sunday was the “beginning of the end” of Jesus’ work on earth.
Palm Sunday began with Jesus and His disciples traveling over the Mount of Olives. The Lord sent two disciples ahead into the village of Bethphage to find an animal to ride. They found the unbroken colt of a donkey, just as Jesus had said they would (Luke 19:29–30). When they untied the colt, the owners began to question them. The disciples responded with the answer Jesus had provided: “The Lord needs it” (Luke 19:31–34). Amazingly, the owners were satisfied with that answer and let the disciples go. “They brought [the donkey] to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it” (Luke 19:35).
As Jesus ascended toward Jerusalem, a large multitude gathered around Him. This crowd understood that Jesus was the Messiah; what they did not understand was that it wasn’t time to set up the kingdom yet—although Jesus had tried to tell them so (Luke 19:11–12). The crowd’s actions along the road give rise to the name “Palm Sunday”: “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road” (Matthew 21:8). In strewing their cloaks on the road, the people were giving Jesus the royal treatment—King Jehu was given similar honor at his coronation (2 Kings 9:13). John records the detail that the branches they cut were from palm trees (John 12:13).
On that first Palm Sunday, the people also honored Jesus verbally: “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ / ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ / ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” (Matthew 21:9). In their praise of Jesus, the Jewish crowds were quoting Psalm 118:25–26, an acknowledged prophecy of the Christ. The allusion to a Messianic psalm drew resentment from the religious leaders present: “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’” (Luke 19:39). However, Jesus saw no need to rebuke those who told the truth. He replied, “I tell you . . . if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).
Some 450 to 500 years prior to Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, the prophet Zechariah had prophesied the event we now call Palm Sunday: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! / Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! / See, your king comes to you, / righteous and victorious, / lowly and riding on a donkey, / on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). The prophecy was fulfilled in every particular, and it was indeed a time of rejoicing, as Jerusalem welcomed their King. Unfortunately, the celebration was not to last. The crowds looked for a Messiah who would rescue them politically and free them nationally, but Jesus had come to save them spiritually. First things first, and mankind’s primary need is spiritual, not political, cultural, or national salvation.
Even as the coatless multitudes waved the palm branches and shouted for joy, they missed the true reason for Jesus’ presence. They could neither see nor understand the cross. That’s why, “as [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies . . . will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:41–47). It is a tragic thing to see the Savior but not recognize Him for who He is. The crowds who were crying out “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday were crying out “Crucify Him!” later that week (Matthew 27:22–23).
There is coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11). The worship will be real then. Also, John records a scene in heaven that features the eternal celebration of the risen Lord: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9, emphasis added). These palm-bearing saints will shout, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (verse 10), and who can measure sum of their joy?
*https://www.gotquestions.org/Palm-Sunday.html
Something I’d like to emphasize here from the above: Jesus came to save man spiritually. Mankind’s primary need is spiritual, not political, cultural, or national salvation. Jesus did not come to restore the political power that the Romans had wrested from the rulers of Israel. He did not come to restore and ensure the cultural heritage of the Jewish people. He did not come to save Israel as a nation and restore her to a place of prominence among the nations. Jesus came to reconcile sinful man with a holy God and to give man hope for his eternal future.
And so it is today. Jesus’ purpose does not include the correction of a fraudulent election that has stolen the political power that was intended to be of the people, by the people and for the people. He did not come to ensure the continuation of freedom, justice and what we have come to call the American Way. He did not come to restore America’s position as a leader for what’s right and good among the world’s nations . . . a position that the traitors in charge are trying to subvert to globalism and leftist corruption. God may yet have America’s political, cultural, and national restoration in His plan, but Jesus came to reconcile sinful man with a holy God and to give man hope for his eternal future.
And, as given in Matthew 6:33, we are to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first, and what we need in life will be given to us as well. God must come first and God, at the last, wins!
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.”
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.
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 2022 or 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.
Gold and platinum are fairly stable, silver took a fairly big hit, Palladium took a healthy jump, and rhodium seems to have dropped 4000 bucks, however, it did so a couple of weeks before and bounced right back up again. I think rhodium has found a range, a wide one…for now.
Osmium. This One Can Kill You.
Someone last week made snarky comments about writing about precious metals, so I figured I’d respond the only way I could: by continuing to do so. In fact, I was thinking about combining osmium and iridium, and now I know I shouldn’t!
Osmium is one of the Platinum Group Metals. In fact, it’s the one directly “below” last week’s metal, ruthenium, in the periodic table.
It’s famous for one thing. It is the densest stable element, bar none. In other words, it’s the most efficient paperweight. It packs more weight into a smaller volume than anything else, bar none…well, at least until you start spooning up pieces of white dwarf or neutron stars. It comes in at 22.59 grams per cubic centimeter–just a shade more than iridium, which we’ll get to in due course.
It also tends to have a slight bluish cast, not unlike zinc (which is neither dense nor valuable). And it’s very hard (Mohs 7.0) and almost completely incompressible.
Provided, of course, that you can get it in bulk. It generally is marketed as a finely-divided powder, and even if you buy melted beads, the beads will often have voids on the inside, because of the same issues that arise when melting any of the refractory metals. That will make the beads lighter than one might expect.
The melting point is a whopping 3306 K, 5491 F, with rhenium and tungsten the only metals with higher melting points. That’s difficult to attain, even in a black car with black interior parked in Phoenix.
Osmium and iridium both were discovered in 1803 as part of the investigation of platinum by Wollaston and Tennant in England. Smithson Tennant gets the credit for osmium and iridium, while Wollaston gets the credit for rhodium and palladium. Tennant found osmium and irididum by studying the black residue left over after dissolving what they thought was pure platinum in aqua regia.
Aqua regia (royal water) is actually a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids; unlike other acids, gold will be attacked by aqua regia, and so will platinum. But even after dissolving the platinum, there was this black residue, which (after a lot of trial and error with various chemical reactions) proved to contain two new metals, osmium and iridium.
Osmium proved to have an oxide, OsO4,. And that’s where the “kill” comes from. Osmium tetroxide is a solid that readily sublimates, turning directly to vapor like dry ice, and it stinks. Hence the name osmium, from osme, “a smell.” Worse: osmium tetroxide is poisonous, and if it doesn’t kill you, it’s liable to damage your eyes.
And if you open a container of powdered osmium, it can catch fire spontaneously, reacting with the air to form osmium tetroxide. This makes it difficult to machine…imagine lathe turnings catching fire and killing or blinding the lathe operator.
Quoting from wikipedia regarding osmium tetroxide:
OsO4 is highly poisonous. In particular, inhalation at concentrations well below those at which a smell can be perceived can lead to pulmonary edema and subsequent death. Noticeable symptoms can take hours to appear after exposure.
OsO4 will irreversibly stain the human cornea, which can lead to blindness. The permissible exposure limit for osmium(VIII) oxide (8 hour time-weighted average) is 2 µg/m3.[7] Osmium(VIII) oxide can penetrate plastics and food packaging, and therefore must be stored in glass under refrigeration.[14]“
wikipedia
Based on this…you can die from it even if you can’t smell it.
When the Russians made that platinum coinage I talked about a few weeks ago, part of their purification process involved dealing with the osmium they were extracting from the raw platinum in a way that was safe; fairly sophisticated stuff for the early-mid 1800s.
There is good news: even though the powder can kill you, osmium is completely safe (and practically impervious to anything) in bulk form. (It might start to form osmium tetroxide if heated to 400 C.)
Depending on who you ask, osmium is the least common stable element in the earth’s crust…averaging fifty parts per trillion by mass (weight).
Osmium is found with platinum, but also turns up as a by product of copper and nickel mining. Perhaps that is why its price hasn’t gone bananas like some of the other PGMs, whose production depends on platinum mining.
It’s mainly used in alloys, to harden them (rather than as a catalyst). Osmiridium and iridosmine, for instance (you can guess what they are mixtures of). Osmium and its alloys were once used as fountain point pen tips, and still see use as instrument pivots,electrical contacts. Osmium was also used for phonograph needles. Ballpoint pen balls sometimes contain a tiny bit of osmium, too.
Total world production is very hard to nail down, but in 1971 the US produced about 60 Kg as byproduct of copper mining. We import about twice that much, on average, every year. 120 Kg, by the way, is very roughly a gallon and a half of this stuff. (And we are talking about over 250 grocery pounds here. heavy stuff!!) I found in one place a claim that only one or two metric tons is produced per year world wide. (That would be a slab a meter on a side and about four inches thick, tops.)
The “spot” price is hard to nail down on something so thinly traded, but it seems to be about $400 an ounce (and has sat there for years). On the other hand, I’ve also found a site that claims it’s 1200 euros per gram which would make it something like 36000 euros an ounce–probably about 40,000 dollars an ounce. (That flat out doesn’t seem right to me.) If you do find it close to the spot price, it will be in powder form, in a container you had better not break the seal on.
I can’t really recommend it as an investment, the market for it is so small.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
It’s We-Don’t-Suffer-Fools-Gladly Friday at Wolf’s Pub. Oh, I hope the Meme Magic is strong today and we can soundly and roundly mock the Swamp Things in D.C. They richly deserve it.
It’s just got to be said over and over and over again: Joe Biden Didn’t Win!
He’s a fraud
He’s a fake
He’s a phony fool
The Resident of the United States is such an embarrassment to the Cabal (whichever hydra head you want to refer to) that they are undoubtedly regretting him–especially if he’ll be running for reelection in 2024 (!!!) as he insisted yesterday. But, there’s an even deeper embarrassment—Heels Up Harris. This was the best they could do? The tools are nowhere near as useful as the weekly Tool Man (h/t to Valerie and her son).
Goodness, who are they gonna get for Harris’ fake role of VP if she does manage to blow her way through into His Fraudulency’s throne room?
We can only imagine.
It’s a grand show these vain, corrupt and very malicious people are putting on for us, eh?
INSANITY REIGNS WHILE LIFE GOES ON
Meanwhile, our daily lives gallop on. At least mine seems to gallop on. We don’t know the ending of the show, but it is probably wise to stay in top form in light of the uncommon times we are living in. Life in the time of Covid-2019, Covid-2020, and now Covid-2021 is getting a bit monotonous.
I BEG YOU to listen to (AND SHARE) Holocaust survivor Vera Sharav’s interview about how the medical establishment and the Corporate Elite in Nazi Germany (and internationally) joined with the Nazis to DO HARM and how our own government and medical establishment is doing this with Covid-19 now. She is warning us. It has come around again.
Note: Here is a link to an investigative piece Sharav mentions: Schwab Family Values. It shares a lot of what has been scrubbed from the net about Uncle Klaus and his background/family.
IN THE GARDEN
Excellent books for planning to thrive in hard times
One’s thinking can get a bit stunted at times. I tend to get obsessed with certain political issues and forget that “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings,” to quote Robert Louis Stevenson .
To that end, I’ve been forcing myself offline a bit more. I’m tending more to my mental and physical garden. Someone said here the other day that they had invested in a stationary bike and cut sugar out. That really got me thinking about my own extended response to the political crisis we are being forced to endure. One thing I love about the Qtree is the great deal of wisdom I find here.
I have learned more about so many things just by reading the comments. Lots of subject matter experts, lots of life experience. Very grateful.
ON TO THE HOUSE RULES
You know the drill. We’re all growing together in this garden plot, so we might as well get along. Some of us are veggies, some are fruits, some are nuts, some are mushrooms. I self-identify as a nut. Anyway, here’s the Rules that keep us growing together. The Utree is for off-color, off-site stuff, and a place of refuge in case something happens here.
A LIBERAL LIBATION OF LIQUEUR
Speaking of nuts, today’s special is amaretto, a liqueur that tastes of almonds, although it’s made with apricot kernel oil. Disaronno is a favorite and probably the most familiar amaretto in America. The lovely and liquid amaretto liqueur dates back to the Renaissance, and according to legend:
“As legend has it, amaretto was first created back in The Renaissance by a beautiful young innkeeper in Saronno, Italy. In 1525, the citizens of Saronno were completing the reconstruction of their city which was hit hard by war. Bernardino Luini (a member of the Leonardo da Vinci School of Art) was commissioned by the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Saronno to paint a fresco of the Adoration of the Magi, which included the Madonna.
Luini, passionate about his work and art, went on a lengthy search for the perfect model to represent his Madonna. He found that looking for someone who was patient, poised and beautiful was an arduous task until he first laid his artistic glance on the fair-haired innkeeper.
It was only a matter of time before the young innkeeper fell deeply and passionately in love with the artist. Her love was so deep that she created a special potion for her lover: amaretto. Unfortunately, the young innkeeper’s name has been lost, but her likeness and amaretto recipe lives on.”
Amaretto (“A little bitter” in Italian) has been used in Italian cuisine for centuries, such as the famous Italian cake “Tiramisu.” You can read more about it here. And above’s a recipe for a delicious Amaretto Sour. Don’t let the egg white deter you, these are really tasty cocktails.
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
My Chive Bed Has Come To Life
Back to tending our own gardens in this time of upheaval. Vox Day has published a short post (in full below) that says just that. I love it when I get these little confirmations. I started this article on Tuesday and Vox’s article shows up on Wednesday.
“Those who were previously just bystanders are beginning to find it invigorating:
I used to just listen to people talking about what’s happening, but once you said “conflict is in the air we breath,” as well as once I heard Owen talk about crushing, creating…I just started focusing on building a community vs fear-porn watching and being paralyzed by the temptations from Satan and the material world. Now I’ve got more friends than I have ever had before, who have homesteads, growing food, and truly care about the future of our community. Going from sterile sodomite land to where I’m at now… it’s awesome.
It’s the only way to make it to the next level. Start small, by leaving a review of a book on Amazon or buying an ebook from an author you haven’t read before. Later, perhaps you’ll start subscribing to UATV or starting a garden or getting on SG. Before long, you’ll be backing new projects, learning about the law, collecting leatherbound tomes for your future grandchildren, and making a material impact on the world around you.
One step. One breath. One dive into the waters of conflict. That’s all it takes to begin the transformation. That’s all it takes to belatedly discover that you weren’t created to be a penguin waddling about the sterile ice in squawking confusion, you were created to be a killer whale, roving the seas as part of a fearsome pack.”
I use old forms to make new raised beds. Then do it over and over. I have made eight new beds this spring.
On Thursday morning’s War Room, Steve Bannon and Sean Feucht (author and founder of Let Us Worship), spoke about the Great Awakening as a great shaking of the world, Episode #825, the last 30 minutes or so. No matter what I do, I can’t get it to embed. Haloooo, Wolf!
AND, here we have Milo Yiannopolous with his own Great Awakening. I remember being very grateful for Milo’s contribution to “Daddy” Trump getting elected. He’s a brilliant thinker, but I also saw he was headed for a bit of trouble. God, however, is turning it to good. In this interview he speaks of his own coming to terms with the sin of sodomy, and how he is taking his awakening one day at a time.
https://youtu.be/6BNZbEOwi7w
He also details how both the RINOs and the Left worked to destroy him, cancel him, ruin him financially. Please keep Milo in your prayers. His future plans include helping others to come out of the gay lifestyle. He is a potent enemy to the Left, and therefore under attack by both spiritual and material forces.
My own Great Awakening, besides the horrendous but needed understanding of our current political situation, has meant that I feel compelled to learn, appreciate, and pass on the truth, beauty, and goodness of our western civilization, which as we know, is in danger of being snuffed out.
Adler includes an appendix with a listing of what has been called the Great Books. There are 137 books on the list. Dare I dive in and begin this literary journey exploring Western Civilization’s canon?
I DARE.
If anyone else is interested, I am more than happy to start a little reading club (maybe a future Qtree forum would be a great place to have it). Here’s the list: Adler’s List of Great Books
Adler said:
“A good book does reward you for trying to read it. The best books reward you most of all. The reward, of course, is of two kinds. First, there is the improvement in your reading skill that occurs when you successfully tackle a good, difficult work. Second—and this in the long run is much more important—a good book can teach you about the world and about yourself. You learn more than how to read better; you also learn more about life. You become wiser, Not just more knowledgeable—books that provide nothing but information can produces that result. But wiser, in the sense that you are more deeply aware of the great and enduring truths of human life.”
I WILL NEVER SURRENDER.
For those who are inclined to a Black Pill, Gen. McInerney speaks. Scroll down, the first image isn’t the link:
I am getting old. I will go to sleep with my forefathers sooner rather than later. I will not BETRAY them by cowering before the tyrants. And I damned sure won’t BETRAY my grandchildren by bowing down before CCP/globalist puppets, those dirty POS. I spit on them.
Any American who colludes with the CCP is less than dirt. LESS. THAN. DIRT.
This Sanctuary 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 is 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 you’re addressing the issue only, and not trying to confront 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.
These days, a number of people are encouraged by communications from people they trust that appear to be supporting the concept that Biden is not really President and that President Trump and others are actively working behind the scenes to detect and develop evidence against a large number of people around the world who are involved with overthrowing the recent Presidential election (and other heinous activities).
A second group of people are convinced that the election is over and Biden is President and we, the voters, will have to become very active in determining which politicians really have America as first priority in their hearts and which are ready to cede American sovereignty to Globalists and Socialists for their own personal gain.
The second group generally thinks that the hope that stems from “encouraging signs” seen by the first group is unwarranted and irrational. The first group generally thinks that the second group does not value the “encouraging signs” seen by the first group and has an unwarranted pessimistic view of this situation. The “encouraging signs” not seen by the second group are valuable in supporting the hope for the present situation that is held by the first group.
In the current situation, the second group views the first group as being addicted to “Hopium”, an unwarranted and irrational hope for a means to a certain positive outcome. The first group views the second group as a bunch of “Debbie Downers” who can’t see the hopeful signs because of their pessimism.
The point of this discussion, so far, is to establish that within each group, encouragement of their point of view leads to hope on one hand, and a dedication to the hard work involved in ensuring a favorable result in the next election on the other hand. Encouragement is very important as a support for the hope that each group holds for a favorable outcome in the future.
Encouragement in our Christian lives is vastly more important as it leads to a bolstering of our faith to believe, think, speak and act in a manner that guards against failure in our Christian walk and moves it from immaturity toward maturity.
Vastly more important? In the worst case, those who have sampled the Christian life and then walked away from it are in danger of putting themselves in a position of being separated from God for eternity . . . a concept and a consequence of monumental importance. Encouragement or lack of encouragement can have a large impact on the possibility of this eternal outcome.
Marica March 15, 2021 at 8:21 pm
Why is encouragement in our Christian walk so important according to the Bible?”
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness,” Hebrews 3:13 tells us. First Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Throughout the Bible we see instructions to encourage one another and verses that are meant to encourage us. Why is encouragement emphasized in the Bible? Primarily because encouragement is necessary to our walk of faith.
Jesus told His followers, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). Jesus did not shy from telling His followers about the troubles they would face. In fact, He told them the world would hate them (John 15:18-21; see also Matthew 10:22-23 and 2 Corinthians 2:15-16). But Jesus’ grim forecast was tempered with cheer; He followed His prediction of trouble with a sparkling word of encouragement: He has overcome the world. Jesus is greater than any trouble we face.
Without encouragement, hardship becomes meaningless, and our will to go on wanes. The prophet Elijah struggled with discouragement (1 Kings 19:3-10), and so do we. It’s important to remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). This truth makes encouragement all the more important. It’s not just that we face the world’s displeasure; we are caught in the crosshairs of a spiritual battle. When we are encouraged in Christ, we have strength to put on our spiritual armor and remain steadfast (see Ephesians 6:10-18).
Even in places where Christians don’t experience overt persecution or hatred, we all know that life can be difficult. Discouragement isn’t an uncommon human experience. At times, recognizing that there’s meaning in the seemingly inconsequential things we do seems next to impossible. We may want to give up. Yet He who calls us is faithful, and He gives us the power to be faithful, too (1 Corinthians 1:9).
A man in the early church named Joseph was given the nickname “Barnabas,” which means “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). What a blessing Barnabas was to the believers of his day! Through the encouragement of Barnabas, the apostle Paul was first accepted by the church in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). Through the encouragement of Barnabas, Mark was given a second chance after an abject failure (Acts 13:13; 15:39).
Encouragement makes it easier to live in a fallen world in a holy way. Encouragement makes it easier to love as Jesus loved (see John 13:34-35). Encouragement gives hope (Romans 15:4). Encouragement helps us through times of discipline and testing (Hebrews 12:5). Encouragement nurtures patience and kindness (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Galatians 5:22-26). Encouragement makes it easier to sacrifice our own desires for the advancement of God’s kingdom. In short, encouragement makes it easier to live the Christian life.
Without encouragement, life would soon feel pointless and burdensome. Without encouragement, we can be overwhelmed by the very real pains of our lives. Without encouragement, we feel unloved. Without encouragement, we begin to think that God is a liar or is unconcerned with our welfare. So, the Bible tells us to encourage one another, to remind each other of the truth that God loves us, that God equips us, that we are treasured, that our struggles are worth it.
Encouragement from the Bible gives us the will to carry on. It is a glimpse of the bigger picture. It can prevent burn-out. It can save us from believing lies (“sin’s deceitfulness”). Encouragement helps us experience abundant life (see John 10:10).
Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” God’s Word is full of encouragement. Pleasant words, indeed.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” Hebrews 10:24-25.
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” Hebrews 3:13.
“Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up” Romans 15:2.
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” Ephesians 4:29.
“A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” Psalm 100:1-5.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” Philippians 4:8.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” Isaiah 43:2.
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,” Romans 15:5
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.”
Based on some of the reactions to my post of two weeks ago, it became apparent that some people misconstrue where I’m coming from.
When I condemn hopium, am I condemning any and all hope? NO. It’s true that hopium is hope, but not all hope is hopium. So when I condemn hopium, I am not condemning hope as such only false and unfounded hope.
In fact, I wasn’t even dumping on all hopium two weeks ago. I was talking specifically of the kind that implies that at some date in the near future, all will suddenly become well, and more specifically, the speculation that names a date. (This is, by the way, something that Q never did, and I am aware of that yet I got criticized on that point as if I were going after Q for naming dates.)
A perfect example, someone posted a thing from John Solomon claiming the long-awaited indictments would be coming out in 4-6 weeks. That means, before the end of April. I have a couple of questions in all earnest to anyone who pays any attention to John Solomon.
How many times has he promised the indictments would be coming in just a few weeks?
How many times has he been right?
Given the answers to 1 and 2, why in blazes is anyone still paying attention to this guy?
Or for that matter to ANY prognostication about a specific date?
I’m thinking we may finally have broken ourselves of that particular habit. Because I don’t see too much of it any more. Good.
And now to clear up a misunderstanding I did my fair share to contribute to.
I had heard others here refer to Marica’s as a place with a lot of hopium, and (my mistake!) I assumed that they meant it included this sort of date-specific stuff. Having misunderstood them, I took them at what I thought was their word. (And I probably shouldn’t have trusted them at all, much less expected them to mean the same thing by hopium as I do.)
So when I said later on that they really needed to get off the hopium, I meant the date specific stuff. And when I went over there later, and picked a random page off that day’s daily…I found no date specific stuff! So I was wrong about that, not that one would necessarily be able to tell, since *I* failed to define my terms. Regardless, it was factually wrong and I apologize.
Not that there isn’t hopium of other types, there, and here.
The emphasis over there is quite a bit different. They’re Deplorable over there, of course, but a lot of the content is about peoples’ personal lives, their other hobbies, their current difficulties, and so on. It may or may not be more your cup of tea than this place (which is 90% politics); if you think you need a change of pace, go have a look-see over there.
OK, one other thing to get out of the way. Someone (either there or here, I do not remember) seemed puzzled that I could say that I believe something is happening, when I clearly don’t believe the “movie set” and “Trump is really in charge” interpretations of today’s events. Am I contradicting myself or backing off from that?
No, because that word something could literally mean a trillion different things, and I don’t believe it means either of the two things I mention above. Trump is doing something, but I doubt it’s a countercoup; more likely he’s doing a bunch of stuff behind the scenes to discredit a lot of bad actors, and trying (quietly) to fix the fraud issues and trying to defeat the worse-than-useless dogpuke RINOs. A lot more mundane than what many are thinking, but it’s all important stuff that has to happen one way or another.
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 2022 or 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.
Just when I thought Rhodium might start returning to sane levels…it jumped right back up again. Iridium, too, is going bonkers, in the realm of $5000. It’s a congener of rhodium. (That’s a fancy word meaning “in the same classification group as.” In chemistry, specifically, it means it’s in the same column of the periodic table, which tends to govern chemical properties.)
What’s causing the PGMs other than platinum to go up while platinum is in the dumpster (relatively speaking)? (And the PGMs are: Platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium.)
According to one analysis I read, it’s platinum being in the dumpster that is causing all of these problems! (And I can’t verify this, but it makes sense.)
The other PGMs are not mined in their own right; they are quite rare and specifically going after them is uneconomical. Since they do appear with platinum, they are a byproduct of platinum mining. So production of them halts when platinum production halts, and resumes again once someone starts mining platinum.
And platinum was produced a lot back in 2008-2009, to the point where it became a glut on the market. And it is still a glut on the market. Then Covid came along and killed what little platinum production was still going on. The analysts expect this to continue to be a factor until 2024-25.
If they are correct, it’s still a good time to get into PGMs, however, I at least really can’t afford to do so. On the other hand if rhodium, for instance, were to hit $100,000 or more it might just force a restart of platinum mining!
Watch your tailpipes. Your catalytic converter has about $400 in rhodium in it (which as you might imagine, is not much). There is a rash of practitioners of socialist economics thieves sawing off tailpipes on certain model cars now.
Ruthenium
Ruthenium.
We have five precious metals to go, having done silver, rhodium, platinum, and rhenium already.
Rhenium is very difficult to find in bar form, and so is this week’s metal, ruthenium. (Even rhodium is showing iup in bar form at Kitco, PAMP is making bars now.) Ruthenium is one of the “platinum group metals,” that block of six metals tucked in under iron/cobalt/nickel. If you find a nugget of one of these metals, the others will be in that nugget as impurities.
(It’s important not to confuse the two names even though they’re very similar. Rhenium and ruthenium are different things, even if the only difference in spelling is the “ut.” It’s of the “ut”most importance not to let this confuse you.)
Ruthenium’s density is 12.45, which makes it a bit heavier than lead. But do not use it for bullets; the bad guys are barely worth the regular cost of ammo. And it would probably wreck your rifling, being a lot harder than lead (even jacketed lead). Besides, you’re going to have a very difficult time casting it! It melts at 4,233 F (2607K, 2334 C), which is pretty darned hot–about like the filament in an incandescent bulb (2400K), but other precious metals would shrug even that amount of heat off (e.g, rhenium, which melts at 5767F or 3459K). To give you another notion as to how hot this is, iron melts at 2800 F, 1811K.
Ruthenium was, in fact, the last of the PGMs to be discovered, in 1844, by Karl Ernst Klaus. Don’t let that name fool you. He had German/Baltic ancestry, but he was born in the Russian Empire (and indeed, many Russian scientists had very Germanic names, at the time). He named the element ruthenium, after Ruthenia, the Latin term for Russia.
It appears that Klaus discovered ruthenium while going through the residue left over when refining raw platinum for the Russian platinum ruble coinage that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. And indeed the timing is right, the series was produced between 1828-1845.
Ruthenium has some catalytic uses (like rhodium, platinum, palladium and iridium), but not to as great an extent, so its spot price seems to be roughly $385-400 depending on exactly where you look. It seems to be slowly climbing. But even so, it’s by far the cheapest of the PGMs…if you can find it in bar form. It usually trades as “sponge” which is to say loose powder.
Obligatory PSAs and Reminders
China is Lower than Whale Shit
Remember Hong Kong!!!
Whoever ends up in the cell next to his, tell him I said “Hi.”
中国是个混蛋 !!! Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!! China is asshoe !!!
China is in the White House
Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden is Asshoe
China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.
But of course the much more important thing to realize:
Joe Biden Didn’t Win
乔*拜登没赢 !!! Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!! Joe Biden didn’t win !!!
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