“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
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
Our various sister sites, listed in the Blogroll in the sidebar
Our beloved country is under Occupation by hostile forces.
Daily outrage and epic phuckery abound.
We can give in to despair…or we can be defiant and fight back in any way that we can.
Joe Biden didn’t win.
And we will keep saying Joe Biden didn’t win until we get His Fraudulency out of our White House.
Wolfie’s Wheatie’s Word of the Week:
voile
noun
a soft, fine, sheer fabric
a light, plain-weave, sheer fabric of cotton, rayon, silk, or wool used especially for making dresses and curtains
a light, translucent cotton fabric used for making curtains and dresses
a light, semitransparent fabric
Used in a sentence
Like many lightweight fabrics, voile cloth is ideal for spring and summer outfits.
More about voile
The term comes from the French word meaning ‘veil’. When made of 100% cotton or cotton and linen blended together, it allows the air to pass through, providing comfort even on the most scorching day. Due to its fine texture, voile fabric can also be used to line garments.
What are the key features of high quality voile?
Plain, tight weave
Silky soft finish
Light drape
No stretch
Slightly transparent (lining is optional)
Crisp and sometimes wiry
Stiff but flexible
Voile fabric is versatile, which means it is great both for apparel and home décor. You’ll often find voile in craft projects such as pillowcases, cushions, doilies, doll’s dresses and more. This gauzy material is also one of the favourites when it comes to creating lightweight curtains. It filters the sunlight and floods any room with natural light.
Shown in a picture
Discussed in a video
MUSIC!
A search on “voile” brought back “Voilà” – so enjoy this song, even though you likely have seen this performance before.
THE STUFF
Dating methods.
The basics. Including limitations.
No, we’re not talking about Brylcream and hot cars – chocolates and roses – BMOC / “wingman” – websites, matchmakers, singles groups – or any of the other methods of “dating success”! Although YES, those do work!
Wait a minute. I just remembered that I told readers that Benjamin Rush was a hero for helping Federalist John Adams and Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson to reconcile. That must mean those two strong willed, highly intelligent American patriots had a falling out? I thought they were great friends? What gives?
Continental Congress
The two first met at the Continental Congress and began working together in the Committee of Five that wrote the Declaration of Independence. There was a strong mutual respect as each saw the strengths of the other. The tall, handsome, wordsmith Jefferson and the short, more portly, born leader, extroverted Adams hit it off. Per worldhistoryedu.com,
Adams admired Jefferson’s eloquence and writing skills, and Jefferson respected Adams’s fierce advocacy and leadership. Their collaboration during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 marked a high point in their relationship. Adams even suggested Jefferson for the task of writing the Declaration because of his “masterly pen.” This period of cooperation laid the foundation for their future interactions, though the seeds of their eventual rivalry were already present in their differing temperaments and political philosophies.
Per historyhit.com,
When Jefferson’s wife, Martha, died in 1782, Jefferson became a frequent guest at the home of John and Abigail Adams. Abigail said of Jefferson that he was “the only person with whom my companion could associate with perfect freedom and reserve”.
During the war both were sent as diplomats to Europe. For a time Adams worked with Benjamin Franklin in France, but they grew to despise each other. Franklin had decades of experience and a polished ease in social situations that fit in well in Europe while Adams was brash and direct. They separated and Adams was sent to Holland. Meanwhile, Jefferson served as Governor of VA and was nearly captured at his home in Monticello. Over time and as the war ended, Adams resumed the lead role in negotiating the Treaty of Paris.
The tensions between the two began well after the war was won and the Treaty of Paris signed. After signing Adams headed to London and Jefferson was dispatched to Paris to begin efforts to restore normalized relations for the new nation. From the time they had first met through their years in Europe, they exchanged many of the 380 letters accorded them in their lifetimes. It was what happened when they returned to America with the finalizing of the Constitution that caused the rift.
Both had very different views over the primary role of a federal government. As noted previously, Adams was a Federalist who strongly believed in a dominant centralized government and was very suspicious of the French Revolution. He was a student of classical world history and saw how great nations fell when they lost order and experienced chaos. He feared the people having too much freedom from democracy. He was also more oriented to populated urban areas.
On the other hand Jefferson was Anti-Federalist who believed in decentralization of government, who saw no reason to abandon relations with the French. He preferred an agrarian based nation and was all in on democracy for all. He believed in the basic goodness and wisdom of the common man from his experiences within the Enlightenment period. A link to an explanation of that is below.
As both Adams and Jefferson dug in deeper in their beliefs and actions, their letter writing to each other slowed dramatically. With the POTUS election of 1788 each battled for the role of VP under President George Washington. Adams was the victor. At that point the publicly drawn battle lines between the two became more pronounced. The respect and friendship they once shared soured.
Adams and Jefferson ran against each other for POTUS in 1796 after Washington’s retirement. Once again Adams was the narrow victor. However, the rules provided for Jefferson to be the VP.
Awkward! 😆
Undeterred with the loss, Jefferson and his Democratic Republican party supporters stayed on the offensive and used the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 by the Federalists as proof of how removed Adams and his party had become from the will of the people. SOUND FAMILIAR?
So what were the Acts all about that caused the ruckus?
At this point, please do not make the mistake of drawing a parallel of the Federalists kicking out the aliens as the same as what is happening today. The aliens of yesteryear were not here to overturn the government and were in fact here legally. They were invited here to become citizens in a young country bursting with opportunities that was expanding westward in need of workers and settlers. This is why the period of residency before becoming a citizen was only 5 years. The fearful reaction of the Federalists to this population growth in other regions of the country drove the passage of the Acts that increased the residency requirement to 14 years among other onerous, controlling provisions. They knew the newer citizens would not be interested in more control from a central government and would be attracted to the Democratic Republicans’ promise of liberty and a decentralized government. It was an attempt to keep the status quo and the Federalists in power. SOUND FAMILIAR?
Today’s Uniparty throws in millions of illegal ballots in key races and areas. It is a current version of the Federalist operatives who gamed the system to stay in power. Different method, same result. The parallel you can draw effectively is that the will of the people won out in 1800 just as it did on November 5, 2024. Thomas Jefferson won the POTUS role in 1800 and Adams was defeated. It was called The Revolution of 1800 as it was a dogfight between the two camps. Personal attacks and partisanship ruled the campaigns. It got ugly. At one point James Madison joined forces with Jefferson to promote states rights.
The election actually ended in a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. It was finally determined in the House of Representatives for Jefferson. The oppressive Acts subsequently expired or were repealed. With the loss Adams retreated from government and politics. He returned to his farm in Quincy, MA and largely withdrew from public life.
Jefferson went on to served two terms successfully. Both Adams and Jefferson had very little contact with each other and held resentments. In 1812, the friend of both, Declaration signer Benjamin Rush, took the big step to restore their relationship. He had been saddened by their lack of communications as well as the effects it had on the nation as a whole. After conversations with both over the years he took it upon himself to approach Adams about the prospects of reconciling with Jefferson. Adams agreed and sent a short cordial letter to Jefferson. That was all it took for the two to resume their friendship. Over the next 14 years they wrote each other often, discussing a wide variety of subjects that included politics, philosophy and personal matters.
Their words revealed a deep mutual respect and a shared sense of history and their involvement in it. They discussed their disagreements and were even humorous about their past behavior. They bridged their divide and reconciled as people. It was a very meaningful event for America that these two patriot giants could settle their differences and remain bonded in friendship and love of country. Again, it may have been the most important act Benjamin Rush took out of an incredible number of important acts he undertook in his storied life.
How appropriate that both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day; July 4 ,1826 – Independence Day. The last words of Adams were, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” He was mistaken: Jefferson had died five hours earlier at Monticello at the age of 83.
Shivers.
Let’s move on to more signers.
John Hart
I am going to go with 1713 as John Hart’s birth year primarily because it is the year Congress officially recognized, although other sources state 1711 and other years. In reality they do not know with certainty. What they do know is that his father was Captain Edward Hart and that John was born in Stonington, CT. His father was in the local militia that was active in the French and Indian War as well as being a farmer, public assessor and justice of the peace. The family relocated to New Jersey early in his life and he was baptized in a local meeting house that is now a Presbyterian Church, although it appears his family had some association with Baptists as John deeded some land to them to build a church on in 1747.
John married Deborah Scudder in 1741. They went on to have 13 children together. He held a county position beginning in 1750 and by 1761 was elected to the NJ Colonial Assembly where he served for ten years. His primary occupation was a farmer and earned the name “Honest John Hart” from within the state. As a patriot he was appointed the state’s Committee of Safety as well as the Committee of Correspondence. As the First Continental Congress was formed he was chosen as one of the representatives of the state. That led to him being one of the first sent to the Second and as a result an approver and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
As the war came to New Jersey, The British sought him out as a signer as well as Speaker of the Assembly in NJ. As this was happening his wife lay dying in their home. He refused to leave until she breathed her last, then departed for the nearby Sourland Mountains he had hunted for many years even though he was well into his sixties by that time. He remained for a year until the threat of the British had passed there before returning home and finding that they had severely damaged his property. In the summer of 1778 he offered his farm along with other local farm owners to become the staging and planning area for General Washington’s 12,000 man army. He and Washington dined together while camped there. However, before the year was out he experienced life threatening kidney stone attacks that left him in great pain until his death six months later in 1779.
Honest John Hart literally gave all of himself and his possessions for the cause of liberty without regard to its cost. He was a great America Patriot.
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Born St. Luke’s Parish, SC in 1746, Thomas Heyward. Jr., was from a wealthy plantation owning family that were known for growing tidal rice. His father was Col. Daniel Heyward. He was educated at home in classical studies and Latin, while later being trained in law locally and in England. While in England he observed that the Brits there viewed the colonists as their lessers, which angered him. He continued to travel Europe and saw that the lives of luxury around him stood in contrast to the simple lives of the farmers he liked at home. It made a distinct impression on him.
When he returned in 1772 he soon married Elizabeth Matthews, daughter of Col. John and Sarah Matthews. The couple had six children together although she passed away in childbirth in 1782. Only one survived to adulthood.
When the Stamp Act was passed Heyward was its most vocal critic. He began to rise in patriot circles, much to his loyalist father’s dismay. At one time the Heyward family were the largest slaveholders in America, so his beliefs about independence ran contrary to long held family interests. In 1775 he was elected to the General Assembly and subsequently to represent the state in the First Continental Congress. His father warned him of the consequences, but was unable to dissuade him. However, prior to his father’s death in 1777, the two reconciled.
He became a Declaration signer as well as later, a signer of the Articles of Confederation. In 1778 he returned home to take over operations of the family plantation after his father’s death the previous year. He assumed control of a small artillery militia and was wounded in battle, from which he recovered. He was subsequently captured in the Battle of Charleston and sent to St. Augustine with other officers. He was later sent to Philadelphia in a prisoner exchange near the end of the war and was nearly killed when he fell over board of the prison ship. After the exchange, it was not long until his wife died during childbirth. He had lost his wife, his plantation had been destroyed, his slaves ad other possessions taken away, and yet, he continued to serve as a judge and in the affairs of his state including the writing of the state Constitution until his retirement in 1798. His personal life recovered with his second marriage to Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Col. Thomas and Mary Elliot Savage of Charleston. They had three children together. Heyward passed away in 1809 having fulfilled his life’s mission of serving his country as a great American Patriot.
Lessons From The Life Of Thomas Heyward
Picture yourself as a young man born into southern plantation society and wealth, whose family is aligned with the Crown. Life has been plentiful. Your family is highly respected in the community and state. Slaves work the fields and serve throughout the mansion and grounds. You have been afforded an elite classical education at home that has led to an apprenticeship and training into the law. Your parents see your abilities and send you to England to complete your education and training in law. You spend the next five years traveling Europe and then realize as you set sail for home that you do not care for those people or the lives they represent.
This leads to getting sideways with your father as you have determined that liberty is the only path for the colonies. You go your own way, though fortunately reconciling with him before he passes. Over the ensuing years you give your all for the cause that includes your freedom as a prisoner of war and nearly your life on multiple occasions. You go from being shot to being imprisoned to nearly drowning from going overboard on the voyage that was to take you to freedom. Then you lose your wife in the childbirth of one of your six children, only one of whom survived. All of this only to return home after the war to find your family’s plantation in ruins and all of the slaves gone, most of whom having been sent to Jamaica.
Instead of throwing your hands up in surrender, you rebuild your life. You become a judge and continue to be active in state affairs. You marry again and have children. And the one constant through it all remains your commitment to the service of your country and your memories of having signed the greatest document in American history.
Thomas Heyward was a man of qualities and flaws like all of us. However, his life illustrates his commitment to our nation no matter the cost. It is a strong lesson for all who would be patriots.
Conclusion
I only have time for two signers this week. I have finally recovered from Flu A and much work remains on the project for the kids’ house. I will likely skip a week before restarting the series as I want the content to continue to reflect our nation’s return to its patriot roots with the Golden Age upon us.
I am in awe over what PDT, JD, Elon, cabinet members and supporters are delivering. It is literally a long held dream come true for this old head and heart. I wanted it so badly for the children and grandchildren, so they could carry the day and fight well into the future. Our America First MAGA leaders get it. They have the spirit and the will of our 1776 Sons of Liberty coursing through their veins. I am so proud to be an American again.
May God continue to bless our united efforts to restore and lift up the republic for His glory and the good of His people.
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Be Kind
In this day of entitlement, self-promotion, and impersonal, virtual relationships, many people have forgotten what it means to be kind to one another. To Christians, who are called to become like Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31–32, ESV).
The apostle Paul told the Ephesians to put away six sinful attitudes and behaviors: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. Bitterness is an inward frame of mind that refuses to forgive. Wrath and anger are combined here to refer to violent outbreaks of uncontrolled human rage. Clamor speaks of shouting and loud quarreling. Slander means evil speaking, and the Greek word translated “malice” implies wickedness, which is at the root of all the other sins listed here. All these practices to be rejected center on our relationships with others.
In place of these things, believers are to put on kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. These three virtues also deal with interpersonal relationships. In the original Greek, the phrase rendered “be kind to one another” literally means “keep on becoming kind toward one another.” The graciousness of God, which is also found in Jesus Christ, shows us what it means to be kind to one another. Because God acts kindly toward us, we are to behave the same way toward others. Because Christ offered grace as the basis for our forgiveness, so too should we.
Being kind to one another is not optional for the people of God (Micah 6:8; Zechariah 7:9; 1 Peter 3:8). In the very next verses, Paul instructed the Ephesians to “imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God” (Ephesians 5:1–2, NLT). Walking in love means following the example of Jesus Christ.
Paul reiterated the teaching on kindness to the Colossians: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12–14). Paul mentioned several virtues that believers were to clothe themselves with or “put on”: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. Again, these all have to do with personal relationships.
Compassion and kindness are closely linked. Compassion can be defined as “heartfelt sympathy or empathy toward those who are suffering or in need.” Kindness is the helpful spirit that sees someone else in need and is motivated to respond through good deeds. Kindness is the tangible action that results from compassion. Kindness goes beyond mere words; it translates into helping and serving one another (Acts 28:2).
Kindness is one of the attributes of God (Titus 3:4), one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and one of the proofs of a faithful minister of the gospel (2 Corinthians 6:6). Being kind to one another is how we show love: “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4).
Being kind to one another involves caring for others, bearing their burdens, and valuing them above ourselves (Romans 12:10; Galatians 6:2; Philippians 2:3). Kindness motivates us to speak life and encouragement to others instead of death and discouragement (Proverbs 16:24; Ephesians 4:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:11). Expressing support and affirmation instead of condemnation is characteristic of kindness (Proverbs 15:4).
Being kind to one another means finding a way to forgive rather than blame (Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:36; 10:37; James 2:13). Perhaps the most stunning example of this is found in God’s supreme act of kindness that provided for our forgiveness and salvation when He sent His Son to die for us on a cross: “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” (Romans 2:4, NLT; see also Romans 11:22; Titus 3:4–7).
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.
Evading Reality
Many things the Left believes are simply not true. Right now the focus is on the size and scope of our government, and the many many billions of dollars the government has been spending on no-one-knew-what. None of that money is going to a key role of government. Which, after all, has the sole purpose of protecting rights.
And if you, Leftist Lurker, want to dismiss this 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, well here we go for another week of WINNING against the Deep State.
I confess that the novelty has not worn off.
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.
Yes, we won this time around. Not only did we win, we got to KEEP that win instead of having it stolen from us.
But no one should imagine that that’s the end of electoral fraud. Much work needs to be done to ensure it doesn’t just happen again next time around. And incidentally to rescue those states currently in the grips of self-perpetuating fraud, where the people who stole the last election, make sure it’s easier to steal the next one.
This issue, though it’s not front-and-center right now, is not going away, and if we ignore it, we’ll pay the price. See the article above about the consequences of evading reality.
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 went up nicely this week and closed in the 2920s Thursday. And then it got beaten with the ugly stick on Friday, dropping 45.60. Although silver took a hit on Friday, also, it wasn’t as bad so this week we see the gold:silver ratio dropping just a bit. Still it’s nowhere near the 83-ish range it was in not so long ago.
*The SteveInCO Federal Reserve Note Suckage Index (FRNSI) is a measure of how much the dollar has inflated. It’s the ratio of the current price of gold, to the number of dollars an ounce of fine gold made up when the dollar was defined as 25.8 grains of 0.900 gold. That worked out to an ounce being $20.67+71/387 of a cent. (Note gold wasn’t worth this much back then, thus much gold was $20.67 71/387ths. It’s a subtle distinction. One ounce of gold wasn’t worth $20.67 back then, it was $20.67.) Once this ratio is computed, 1 is subtracted from it so that the number is zero when the dollar is at its proper value, indicating zero suckage.
The Final Experiment Fallout
The fallout continues.
Jeran is now a glober. To those who have been following this for years (and no, I am not one of them), it’s simply stunning; they could never have imagined it. Austin Witsit has been trying to figure out how he got “fooled” which means he is looking for excuses to remain a flat Earther. It’s an interesting study in psychology. They both saw the same things. One had an epiphany, the other is burrowing deeper into the bullshit that the sights ought to have blasted away.
But of late something else has caught my attention. A South African who goes by the name “Flatzoid” is running hard to be the most obliviously stupid person on the face of the Earth. And yes he has quite a bit of competition from a lot of people on the Left, but from what I see he is up to the challenge.
[Take for instance the fact that he is South African, yet hasn’t noticed that the sun doesn’t rise and set where it should (i.e., to the northeast and northwest) if flat Earth were correct. He once even attempted to measure its sunrise position, and did so on video so people could see he was using a method guaranteed to introduce error. Sure enough he got an answer a few degrees off, loudly trumpeted that the globe earth couldn’t make the prediction…and ignored the fact it was many times further off any conceivable flat earth prediction. Not that they actually make predictions that aren’t just copying off of Globe Earth’s paper during the test.]
It’s referred to as the “upper left” award by the globe defenders; this is an allusion to the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is commonly depicted on a graph like this:
The “upper left” is the peak of stupid but confident, or even arrogant. In this case Flatzoid has accused people far more knowledgeable than he is of being incompetent, and has said so to them in online meetings and debates.
In the case I’m thinking of his target is an Aussie engineer (with almost the same education background that I have), who goes online by “Critical Think” (which makes it very hard to find his channel).
This video is a reaction by an engineer, to the debate between Fkatzoid and Critical Think.
(Warning: You are about to see the worst case of Dunning-Kruger ever. Fkatzoid has no comprehension of the experiment, no actual conception of what it means to control variables, no conception of measurement error, and is so smugly confident he knows more than Critical Think that it can be infuriating at times.)
Flatzoid was on the list to be invited to The Final Experiment, but complained (as his excuse not to go) that he never received an invite. Will Duffy told him (in a livestream) that that was because his email did not appear on his youtube channel page. Flatzoid hastily went to add it so he could claim it had been there all along, but fatfingered his name and it showed as fkatzoid@<whatever the provider was>, so now he’s often called fkatzoid by Globe defenders.
Critical Think was not only invited, but actually did go on the Final Experiment. And he did something very interesting. He brought a very accurate electronic scale with him, along with its test weights. He has been taking those things to various places (like Malaysia), himself lives in (IIRC) Brisbane Australia, and had it with him in Chile–Santiago and Puntas Arenas. And of course Union Glacier camp in Antarctica.
What was he hoping to prove? He was hoping to validate the WGS-84 model of the Earth’s shape. Earth is a very slightly oblate spheroid (not enough so to look “squashed” in pictures–in fact proportionately speaking it easily meets the specs for cue balls) on account of its rotation. This has two effects on the gravity: 1. At the poles you are closer to the center of the Earth than you are at the equator, so you should feel very slightly stronger gravity. 2. The centrifugal effect of the rotating earth should reduce the net gravity on the equator, because the centrifugal effect partly counteracts the pull of the Earth’s mass. #2 is by far the larger of these two effects.
How does one check this? By measuring the force of gravity in different places using the same masses.
You can do this with a scale…but it has to be the right kind of scale. And you have to know how to use it.
And in order for this to make sense, you must understand the distinction between weight and mass. Which Flatzoid clearly does not.
Mass is the amount of “stuff” in an object, and it manifests as a resistance to forces applied to it. You can feel this by trying to push on objects. (Don’t try to lift them for this part.) To wipe out the effect of friction, pick the object up, hold it in your hand, then move your hand toward or away from you. If the object is massive enough you’ll definitely feel it “resisting” the force you’re applying.
This resistance is the same everywhere. Here on Earth. Anywhere on earth. In outer space. You’d feel it even in orbit on the ISS. The Moon. Mars. Jupiter (if there were a surface to stand on). And so on. The same.
Weight on the other hand is the force exerted on the object. The weight of something is actually the force with which it is being pulled, by the Earth.
This is why you can weigh differently on (say) the Earth and the Moon, even without a trip to the bathroom on the way from one to the other, in other words, even though your mass stays the same. The force exerted by gravity is different, and weight is the force.
The distinction usually doesn’t matter for us “groundhogs” here on Earth. Hence there’s a tendency even for STEM people working their STEM jobs to conflate the two. Pounds are actually a unit of force, but it’s not hard to find references to something called “pounds mass” in, say, rocketry, where a lot of the industry stuck with the US Customary System until fairly recently–it’s the mass that on the surface of the earth weighs one pound. (Oh and by the way our customary system is not the “imperial” system as I’ve heard many people call it lately: if you don’t believe that note the difference in volume measurements. A US gallon is smaller than an Imperial one.) So it’s quite correct to say that 100 lb (when she is on Earth) woman weighs 16.5 lbs on the Moon.
The kilogram, the SI unit, is actually a unit of mass. But people are happy to talk about things weighing a kilogram, really meaning (whether they realize it or not): weighing as much as a kilogram does on Earth. (The SI unit of force is the Newton, and to be truly correct, a kilogram of mass weighs 9.8 Newtons. But absolutely no one makes a scale reading in Newtons, though pressure measurements (“pounds per square inch” to us) and torque do reference Newtons.)
Let’s not forget we’re eventually getting back to Fkatzoid vs. Critical Think.
There are two ways to measure “weight” (one of them actually measures mass). 1) A balance beam scale. This is the conceptually simplest variant:
This works by comparing the force exerted by gravity on whatever it is you want to weigh, against the force exerted on known weights. If the two pans are in balance (as indicated by the long vertical bar pointing up from the pivot point), the two forces are equal, and therefore the two weights are equal. For this kind of scale, though, there’s a bonus: You also know the two masses are equal. It can actually be used to measure mass. It would work if you took it to the Moon; the mass of your object would be the same as the mass of the known weights in the other pan, and you will get the same reading.
There are more complex versions of this, including ones with sliding weights where the known weight is moved closer or farther, to balance things like having people of two different weights on a seesaw. The lighter one has to move further out.
If you remember those scales at your doctor’s office with the sliding weights, that’s this kind of scale; it’s set up so that you “hang” from a place very close to the pivot, while the sliding weights are further away; they therefore exert more leverage and a balance can be struck without actually putting something as heavy as you are on the balance beam.
The second kind of scale essentially measures the compression or stretching of a spring (or some other device sensitive to force) caused by gravity pulling on whatever it is you’re weighing.
Springs (et. all.) do their thing in response to a force, so these scales measure force. Take a 1 kilogram mass and a scale like this (that reads off in kg though it should technically read off in Newtons) to the moon and it will read 165.4 grams, not 1000 grams. That’s because it’s really measuring a force then, under the assumption it’s being used in Earth’s gravity, converting to read in kilograms. (If you are ever in such a situation, don’t be fooled into thinking the mass has changed.)
Your bathroom scale, the scale you use to measure ingredients in the kitchen, the scale at the deli and the scale at the post office are all this type (unless you’re like me and bought a used medical scale). If you reload you may have a balance beam scale of some type for the powder.
OK, so now to Critical Think’s experiment. He has a scale…of the second type, and it came with a kilogram mass.
Normally, you’d set up the scale, turn it on, make sure it zeros…and then you calibrate it. How? you put the kilogram mass on it, and push a button, which tells it that the force it is detecting right now is from local gravity acting on a one kilogram mass. It’s then smart enough to know what to do if it feels twice that force: it will tell you that what you’ve put on the scale has a mass of two kilograms. Likewise for any other mass: read out in proportion to that force which it has been taught means there’s a mass of one kilogram.
Why the need to calibrate the scale? Because if you don’t, it will be thrown off by the slight differences in the Earth’s gravitational field. Mountaintops, latitude, depressions like Death Valley or the Dead Sea, etc. will all change the force ever so slightly, and by calibrating the scale, you get it to correct for that.
What if you move the scale to another location, and don’t calibrate it? Your mass readings will be off by a bit, because the force you measure isn’t the same. It’s a small amount, a few hundredths of a gram per kilogram, but nonetheless measurable by Critical Think’s scale.
So this is what he did: He calibrated the scale at home. So in his house, the weights read 1000 g. He then takes the scale and weights somewhere else, and repeats the measurement without calibrating the scale. So the 1 kilogram mass now weighs a bit more or a bit less, and the difference is actually due to the difference in gravity.
On returning home, you weight your kilogram mass again to make sure the scale actually did hold its initial calibration. If the scale doesn’t read 1000 g again, something actually fell out of adjustment in the scale.
Critical Think’s data (multiple weighings of the known mass at each site), by the time you do the stats work that every scientist must do with their data, confirms the WGS-84 ellipsoid combined with the rotation of the Earth.
But it’s key: for this to work, you must not calibrate the scale at the other locations. Otherwise all you’ve done is show that the scale will report 1000g every time you calibrate it.
This is totally, completely beyond Fkatzoid’s comprehension. He insists that because Critical Think did not calibrate the scale at each location, the entire experiment is worthless–oblivious to the fact that the point of the experiment was to use the same calibration in different areas.
Furthermore Fkatzoid has no conception of measurement error. Critical Think took multiple readings at each location, and averaged them. This is standard operating procedure when taking data, because of measurement error. However, when this came out in the conversation, that the multiple readings had all been slightly different from each other, Fkatzoid triumphantly declared all of the data worthless, because it wasn’t “repeatable.”
And finally, Fkatzoid insists that temperature and humidity are factors that must be taken into account. Why? Because. Because what? Because. It turns out that Critical Think actually checked these beforehand, by varying the temperature and humidity at home and seeing what effect they had on the scale (by again, calibrating once then measuring under different temperatures and pressures–and noting that they had no significant effect, so he could from that point forward ignore them so long as he stayed within the operating temperature range of the scale. This point, too, is completely lost on Fkatzoid.
He’s trying to argue about basic science with an experienced engineer. Not that experienced engineers are automatically right by any means, nor are they necessarily geniuses. But engineering is where the scientific rubber meets the road in a way that’s visible to everyone. All branches of engineering must study and understand physics at a bare minimum (many branches have to go into other disciplines like chemistry as well), and they must apply it to solve real-world problems.
If the physics they understand doesn’t have a close relationship to reality, their solutions can’t work. And sometimes they “don’t work” badly enough to kill people. The Romans knew this. Their engineers would have to stand under the arches they designed, as the blocking for construction was removed. If the engineer had messed up…he died. Better him than someone who had trusted him.
There are certainly plenty of examples of engineering failures in history. (Engineers get to learn about them!) But even those who fail when pushing the envelope understand the basics.
Fkatzoid never had to learn any science past the third grade level (complete with all of the oversimplifications made to get the basic concept across) and it shows here. I don’t think I’ve every seen someone more obliviously but arrogantly ignorant than Fkatzoid.
And in the wake of the Final Experiment, he’s one of the leaders of the Flat Earth movement.
No Geology This Time
I will try to write something up this weekend, for next weekend.
The above image is courtesy of See’s Chocolates and Google Images.
Health Friday is a series devoted to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. Today’s offering is a Special Edition in honor of Valentine’s Day. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented here: It is an Open Thread.
There are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, the Rules of our late, good Wheatie, and certain caveats from Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here.
Yours Truly begins the exploration of the delicious, highly-desired, and — surprise! — nutritious, beneficial food known as Dark Chocolate, here: https://nutritionsource.hsph/harvard.edu/food-features/dark-chocolate/. Yes, dark chocolate has a long and “rich” (no pun intended) history. The ancient Mayans discovered chocolate (what we would call “dark chocolate”) and drank it as a bitter concoction that was sometimes mixed with herbs. From the Harvard article:
The Mayan culture actually used chocolate for currency and for trade. Only members of the royal family and of the nobility were permitted to drink or otherwise consume chocolate. Please see: https://www.newsweek.com/ancient-maya-used-chocolate-money-1001513, “Ancient Mayans Used Chocolate for Money”, 29 June 2018.
When the Spanish Conquistadors discovered what is now Mexico, they began to send chocolate back to Europe. At first, again, it was used there among royal and noble classes as a beverage or as a food item that was chewed. In fact, King Louis XIV of France would send for shipments of chocolate from Mexico for his Spanish-born Queen, Marie Therese, which were packed in roses and herbs to “keep them fresh.” Over time, the availability and consumption of dark chocolate began to increase among all levels of society.
Dark chocolate has several important health benefits. One example of an article that describes these benefits is here: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate, “7 Proven Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate — Healthline.”, 13 July 2022. The seven benefits:
Dark chocolate is packed with nutrition: A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70% – 85% cocoa has, among other things, 11 grams of fiber and 66% of the daily recommended amount of iron.
Dark chocolate is a strong source of antioxidants, as it contains polyphenols (compounds found in plant foods) and flavanols (a subgroup of flavinoids.)
Dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and help blood flow in the body.
Dark chocolate raises the HDL (“good” cholesterol) level in the body, while also lowering the damage that some forms of LDL (“bad” cholesterol) can do to the body.
Dark chocolate may reduce the risk of heart disease, due to the lowering of the LDL damage as described above.
The flavanols in dark chocolate can help protect the skin from sun damage.
Dark chocolate may help to improve brain function in older persons, while at the same time, assisting in blood flow to the brain in younger persons.
However, there are a couple of negative aspects about dark chocolate of which consumers should be aware. The first is that Lead and/or Cadmium (heavy metals) can be added into the manufacturing process. Please see here: https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/good-food/dark-chocolate-health-benefits-the-good-and-the-bad-to-this-sweet-treat/2023/02, 14 February 2023. There is an embedded link in this article to a Consumer Reports piece regarding high Lead and/or Cadmium levels that were found in certain brands of dark chocolate. The second drawback is that the same 100-gram bar of Dark Chocolate described above also contains about 43 grams of fat. Please see here: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/dark-chocolate, “What are the benefits of dark chocolate?”, by Jamie Eske, 25 October 2023.
There are scientific papers published on Dark Chocolate. Here is an example: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9589144/, ‘Dark Chocolate: An overview of its biological activity, processing, and fortification approaches”, Sharmistha Samanta, et al., 15 October 2022. Below is the Abstract of the paper:
And, from the same paper, Figure 2, on the health benefits of Dark Chocolate:
Finally, a recipe, courtesy of Lorraine Elliott, for Dark Chocolate Energy Bars:
Yours Truly is not advocating that people consume Dark Chocolate as their principal source of antioxidants, fiber, and so on. On the other hand, the above facts may come in handy to rebut allegations along the lines of, “Well, Dark Chocolate is just fattening and can hurt your arteries” from persons who do not know the information in today’s offering. “Moderation is the key.”
Happy Valentine’s Day to all! Peace, Good Energy, Respect: PAVACA
Welcome. Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road, which are few but important.
Header Image: 2024 Presidential Election Map by County
Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1
We got our miracle. America is back.
Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.
Remembering.
With gratitude to our own kind Wolf for reminding us of DePat’s recommended prayers for times of spiritual warfare, let us consider praying this one today.
Litany of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
Author: Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta
Charity
Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth, bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7).
To have Charity is to love God above all things for Himself and be ready to renounce all created things rather than offend Him by serious sin. (Matt. 22:36-40)
Twitterati.
Our J6 P.O.W.s are always in our hearts with the fervent desire that all wrongs would be undone and each target and their families be made stronger and more whole than ever.
God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America, My home sweet home.
I have noticed what I think is a thread throughout history. In my article, on Operation Gladio, I mentioned Mercantilism. Investopedia defines Mercantilism thus:
Mercantilism is an economic policy designed to increase a nation’s wealth through exports, which thrived in Great Britain between the 16th and 18th centuries. The country enjoyed the greatest benefits of mercantilism between 1640 and 1660 when the prevailing economic wisdom suggested that the empire’s colonies could supply raw materials and resources to the mother country and subsequently be used as export markets for the finished products.
The resulting favorable balance of trade was thought to increase national wealth and Great Britain was not alone in this line of thinking. The French, Spanish, and Portuguese competed with the British for colonies under the belief that no great nation could exist and be self-sufficient without colonial resources. Because of this heavy reliance on its colonies, Great Britain imposed restrictions on how its colonies could spend their money or distribute assets…
Key Takeaways
Mercantilism exists to increase a country’s wealth through its exports.
British economic growth was propelled by raw materials supplied by its colonies so the nation could export finished products.
Mercantilism brought about many acts against humanity, including slavery and an imbalanced system of trade.
During Great Britain’s mercantilist period, colonies faced periods of inflation and excessive taxation, which caused great distress.
Angry and frustrated American colonists revolted against the British, which led to the American Revolution and the end of mercantilism.
Although current understanding holds that Mercantilism, as an economic philosophy, is long obsolete, it was never really abandoned by the Cabal. Instead, it was just hidden.
The second useful concept is Monopsony. It is what we now see in the USA today, especially in the food industry.
A monopsony is a market condition in which there is only one buyer, the monopsonist. Like a monopoly, a monopsony also has imperfect market conditions. The difference between a monopoly and a monopsony lies in the difference between the controlling entities. An individual seller controls a monopolized market while a single buyer dominates a monopsony. Monopsonists are common in areas where they supply most or all of the region’s jobs.
Key Takeaways
A monopsony refers to a market dominated by a single buyer who has a controlling advantage that drives its consumption price levels down.
A monopsony can arise due to geographical constraints, government regulation, or unique consumer demands.
Monopsonies commonly experience low prices from wholesalers and an advantage in paid wages.
Unlike a monopoly where one seller creates upward pricing pressure, a monopsony is a market condition with only one buyer who may cause downward pricing pressure.
Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods or services between different economic actors. Since the parties are under no obligation to trade, a transaction will only occur if both parties consider it beneficial to their interests….
Trade seems to be as old as civilization itself—ancient civilizations traded with each other for goods they could not produce for themselves due to climate, natural resources, or other inhibiting factors…
Trade and bartering seems to be a uniquely human trait and it is seen through out history. It is a reason for empire building. Empires like the Roman empire or the Aztec empire were based on trade.
The Aztec economy was based on three things: agricultural goods, tribute, and trade. Aztec trade was crucially important to the empire; there could be no empire without it as many goods used by the Aztecs were not produced locally. Prized white cotton could not grow at the altitude of the Valley of Mexico and had to be imported from conquered semi-tropical regions further south, as were cacao beans, from which chocolate is made…. Pochteca were professional merchants, traveling long distances to obtain the luxury goods desired by the nobility: feathers from tropical birds, rare gems or jewelry and pottery created by other Mesoamerican cultures. The pochteca obtained anything rare and special, as well as the white cotton and cacao beans, earning them a special place in the Aztec society. They had their own capulli, laws and section of the city, even their own god, who watched over traders.
I am using the Aztecs to make the point that the critical factor in looking at the bits and pieces that I am assembling is THE MERCHANT PRINCES and not religion! As I said in last week’s article, today religion is used as a diversion to keep people from looking further. Scream Islamophobia or antisemitism and you have successfully shut down the conversation. I am also making the point that the merchant princes/bankers have a tremendous amount of power over the government.
…..
Last week I took another look at the Khazars and I want to make this additional comment about their history written by Arthur Koestler. Koestler would have access to the memories of his parents and grandparents, neighbors and even further back. From WIKI:
Koestler was born in Budapest [Very near Poland -GC] to Jewish parents Henrik and Adele Koestler (née Jeiteles). Henrik’s father, Lipót Koestler, was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army.[7] In 1861, Lipót married Karolina Schon,👉the daughter of a prosperous timber merchant, and their son Henrik was born on 18 August 1869 in the town of Miskolc in northeastern Hungary….
I think from his mom and grandparents he would have first hand tales to substantiate what he wrote, in addition to the information he gained in his visits to Russia.
…Some particular trades became virtually a Jewish monopoly in Poland. One was dealing in timber— which reminds one that timber was the chief building material and an important export in Khazaria;another was transport. “The dense net of shtetls,” writes Poliak, “made it possible to distribute manufactured goods over the whole country by means of the superbly built Jewish type of horse cart.
[Has a lot about the history of Jews, Italians and Banking.]
…The word mammon can denote wealth or profit in the original Syriac dialect but also is the name of a Syrian deity who was the god of riches. The Mishnaic Hebrew word mamôn means money, wealth, possessions, and “that in which one trusts.”
Eventually, due to the Christian injunction against charging interest for money that is loaned to another person (usury), the entire idea of money (mammon) became a pejorative, a term that was used to describe pride, greed, gluttony, excessive materialism, and unjust worldly gain. The “worship” of money was seen as a sin, and the work of the demon of greed, Mammon. Later, money becomes synonymous with hellish intent and bondage to the physical world which leads humans into the dark realms; therefore, Christians were warned to stay away from practices of usury and the glorification of Mammon. It was a common belief that usury is the work of the devil and certainly not fit for a Christian. A Christian should be faithful with “another” and help them out of love, not for the purposes of money mongering for personal gain. The Christian is careful not to be contaminated by the “unrighteousness” of wealth and money and the lure of Mammon.
…The first “modern” bank was established in Venice with a guarantee from the State in 1157 AD and operated until 1797 acting in the interest of the Crusaders of Pope Urban the Second. This activity developed into the Bank of Venice, with an initial capital of 5,000,000 ducats. This bank was the first national bank to have been established within the boundaries of Europe.
In the middle of the 13th Century, when certain rich Italian families saw the profits that the Venetian banking families were making, groups of Italian Christians, particularly the Cahorsins and Lombards, invented “legal fictions” to get around the ban on Christian usury. One method of Christians effecting a loan with interest without calling it usury was to offer money without interest, but also require that the loan is insured against possible loss or injury, and/or delays in repayment. The Christians effecting these legal fictions became known as the Pope’s Usurers and reduced the importance of the Venetian and Italian Jews to European monarchs….
Italian and Jewish bankers… An interesting side note to keep in the back of your mind:
Did you know there were primarily two distinct mafia/mobster networks operating in the United States in the early 1900’s.
One consisted of Italian mafia families that had emigrated to America. They settled primarily in New York and Chicago and focused on trafficking liquor during prohibition, gambling, and prostitution.
The second were Jewish mobsters like Louis “Pretty” Amberg, Moses Annenberg (newspaper/media for Hearst Corp), Abe Bernstein (Purple Gang), Mickey Cohen (Los Angeles), Meyer Lansky (formed the National Crime Syndicate focusing on Cuba and Las Vegas), and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (New York and Las Vegas). While they were into all the same crime syndicates as the Italian mobsters, they also were used by large business enterprises that needed assistance in making things happen—for example, dock workers, newspapers, bankers, etc….
The mafia and mobsters didn’t disappear after World War II; much of their activities were folded into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The prohibition era liquor networks gave way to drugs like heroin and cocaine, with the profits being used to fund covert functions of Operation Gladio, with prostitution transformed into human trafficking networks, the funds being used for covert operations as well. Lastly, in order to keep this operation protected and to provide weapons to the stay-behind-units, a weapons trafficking network was incorporated into the CIA….
And now we come to career choices. Would you rather sit at home and LEND money, money that is insured and brings interest? Or would you rather be the merchant that treks all over the world?
October 26, 2011 Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, Stefano Battiston
Abstract
The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability… We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic “super-entity” that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers.
In contrast, we find that only 737 top holders accumulate 80% of the control over the value of all TNCs [transnational corporations ]… This means that network control is much more unequally distributed than wealth. In particular, the top ranked actors hold a control ten times bigger than what could be expected based on their wealth. (Think MUTUAL FUNDS & PENSIONS! -GC]
To hear more about how the study was conducted there was a Ted Talk. Interestingly this ted talk has also been removed but the transcript is still available HERE:
Click Show Transcript and then English. Scroll down in the window below the dead video to read.
Now, you’ve probably all heard of similar criticism coming from people who are skeptical of capitalism. But this is different. This is coming from the heart of finance. The first quote is from Jean-Claude Trichet when he was governor of the European Central Bank. The second quote is from the head of the U.K. Financial Services Authority. Are these people implying that we don’t understand the economic systems that drive our modern societies? It gets worse. “We spend billions of dollars trying to understand the origins of the universe while we still don’t understand the conditions for a stable society, a functioning economy, or peace.” [LIE MUCH? -GC]
Next time the Fake News mentions the stock market remember this.
A pair of physicists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich did a physics-based analysis of the world economy as it looked in early 2007. Stefano Battiston and James Glattfelder extracted the information from the tangled yarn that links 24,877 stocks and 106,141 shareholding entities in 48 countries, revealing what they called the “backbone” of each country’s financial market. These backbones represented the owners of 80 percent of a country’s market capital, yet consisted of remarkably few shareholders.
“You start off with these huge national networks that are really big, quite dense,” Glattfelder said. “From that you’re able to … unveil the important structure in this original big network. You then realize most of the network isn’t at all important.”
The most pared-down backbones exist in Anglo-Saxon countries,.. these same countries are considered by economists to have the most widely-held stocks in the world… But while each American company may link to many owners, Glattfelder and Battiston’s analysis found that the owners varied little from stock to stock…
(The author should not have used the word Capitalist since it is NOT capitalism.)
…..
It would seem the Cabal decided banking was the better career choice. However they obviously have a vested interest in seeing that the ‘Merchant Princes’ aka Transnational Corporations make as much money as possible since they owned them. Hence they would want as much power over governments as possible.
Originally corporations were granted charters by Royalty. As an example the East India Company was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600 The charter allowed it to have exclusive trading rights with the East Indies.
For an amusing retelling of the history of the British East India Company see:
“Those few who can understand the system (check book, money and credit) will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on it favors, that there will be little opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear it burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.” – — ROTHSCHILDS BROS. OF LONDON
“Banking was conceived in iniquity, and was born in sin. The Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen, they will create enough deposits, to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits.” — SIR JOSIAH STAMP, (President of the Bank of England in the 1920’s, the second richest man in Britain)
Can’t get more blunt than that!
Now that we have introduced two major methods for making money, trade & lending let’s re-introduce the CIA and the NAZIs…. AND FASCISM.
The “Third Way” is the ‘Capitalism’ that those on the left complain about. It is a nasty mix of Corporate/government governance like we see now in the USA but it is NOT capitalism, it is a form of ‘socialism’.
E. M. Smith, who is an economist by training, explained it in 2011 in
“What a corporation wants is a monopoly where they can achieve the profit maximizing price point. Not competition. No “market” with many sellers…
EPA is used to forbid all sorts of things that can be done easily and cheaply, and where the alternative is very expensive (and available from very few, or one, supplier). So, want to make your own “trash to fuel FT machine”? Well, better check out all the “regulations” on fuel refining and production … if you don’t have a few full time lawyers to fill out the paperwork and a few more to defend against the EPA suing you, it’s a no-go. And who DOES have those lawyers? AND the already established refineries? Oh yeah…
Once corporations figure out that it is cheaper and easier to get the competition banned and them mandated, than to create new products; and that they can make lots of money as the sole provider of a crappy product but not that much making good products in a competitive market; well, lets just say that the campaign contributions flow…
That would be bad enough, but the greedy bastards want it ALL. They want complete control of the entire world and everyone in it.
The current S&P 500 Index has the most top-heavy weighting the US has ever known. In 2025, the top 5 companies in America account for 33% of the S&P 500 Index weighting. For reference, in 2010, the top 5 companies accounted for 11%. In 15 years, the top 5 companies tripled in their weighting. One-third of the current weighting is in 1% of the S&P 500 companies. This means the S&P 500 doesn’t appropriately represent the US stock market. In fact, only 1% of American businesses are even publicly traded companies and a part of the stock market. The stock market doesn’t represent the economy, and the S&P 500 doesn’t properly represent the stock market.
Now that that is established, what do the five biggest companies in America all have in common, besides being megalithic in size? I believe they all have the same master, the CIA. They are all used to influence Americans and the world. They are all critical in propagandizing and controlling the world….
So lets stop here and look at the pieces of information we have.
* Trade is the life blood of empires.
* Lending money facilitates trade AND is easier and less risky especially if you are a national bank using fractional reserve banking practices.
* If you can create money out of thin air you can BUY all the corporations you want.
So, HOW do you MAXIMIZE profits and control?
Enter the World Bank, IMF and their Economic Hitmen. They are the first step. If you remember the “Confessions Of An EconomicHitman“ This is the first arrow in the quiver of our Hidden Rulers.
John Perkins: This is how Economic Hitmen (EHMs) destroy countries
…That is what we Economic Hitmen do best: we build a global empire.
We are an elite group of men and women who utilize international financial organizations to foment conditions that make other nations sub-servient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our government, and our banks. Like our counterparts in the Mafia, EHMs provide favors. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure — electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks . A condition of such loans is that engineering and construction companies from our own country must build all these projects.
In essence, most of the money never leaves the United States; it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in New York, Houston, or San Francisco.
Despite the fact that the money is returned almost immediately to corporations that are members of the corporatocracy (the creditor), the recipient country is required to pay it all back, principal plus interest. If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound of flesh.
This often includes one or more of the following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes us the money—and another country is added to our global empire….
[The article has an one hour video interview of Perkins.]
JOHN PERKINS: We economic hit men, during the last 30 or 40 years, have really created the world’s first truly global empire, and we’ve done this primarily through economics, and 👉the military only coming in as a last resort. Therefore, it’s been done pretty much secretly. Most of the people in the United States have no idea that we’ve created this empire and, in fact, throughout the world it’s been done very quietly, unlike old empires, where the army marched in; it was obvious. So I think the significance of the things you discussed, the fact that over 80% of the population of South America recently voted in an anti-U.S. president and what’s going on at the World Trade Organization, and also, in fact, with the transit strike here in New York, is that people are beginning to understand that the middle class and the lower classes around the world are being terribly, terribly exploited by what I call the corporatocracy, which really runs this empire…. what we’ve done — we use many techniques, but probably the most common is that we’ll go to a country that has resources that our corporations covet, like oil, and we’ll arrange a huge loan to that country from an organization like the World Bank or one of its sisters, but almost all of the money goes to the U.S. corporations, not to the country itself, corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton, General Motors, General Electric, these types of organizations, and they build huge infrastructure projects in that country: power plants, highways, ports, industrial parks, things that serve the very rich and seldom even reach the poor. In fact, the poor suffer, because the loans have to be repaid, and they’re huge loans, and the repayment of them means that the poor won’t get education, health, and other social services, and the country is left holding a huge debt, by intention. We go back, we economic hit men, to this country and say, “Look, you owe us a lot of money. You can’t repay your debts, so give us a pound of flesh. Sell our oil companies your oil real cheap or vote with us at the next U.N. vote or send troops in support of ours to some place in the world such as Iraq.” And in that way, we’ve managed to build a world empire with very few people actually knowing that we’ve done this.…
And after the World Bank is finished the IMF steps in.
“Today I resigned from the staff of the International Monetary Fund after over 12 years, and after 1000 days of official fund work in the field, hawking your medicine and your bag of tricks to governments and to peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. To me, resignation is a priceless liberation, for with it I have taken the first big step to that place where I may hope to wash my hands of what in my mind’s eye is the blood of millions of poor and starving peoples. Mr. Camdessus, the blood is so much, you know, it runs in rivers. It dries up too; it cakes all over me; sometimes I feel that there is not enough soap in the whole world to cleanse me from the things that I did do in your name and in the name of your predecessors, and under your official seal. “
With those words, Davison Budhoo, a senior economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for more than 12 years, publicly resigned in May, 1988.
The article continues.
The IMF and World Bank are separate institutions with distinct roles. While the bank makes loans for development projects, the IMF lends to governments to ease deficits and make their economies appear stable to the international market. The World Bank was created in April 1944 as a lending institution composed of member governments to help rebuild post-war economies. The IMF was created to restructure and organize the market systems of member nations by promoting international economic cooperation and trade, and by encouraging stable currencies.
The bank introduced Structural Adjustment Programs in 1980 to increase export production in debtor nations to provide cash for debt-service payment. Under “structural adjustment,” developing countries typically are required to devalue their currency; dramatically cut spending on social services, medical care and education; eliminate barriers to foreign multinationals and trade; privatize national assets; deregulate business; decrease wages; restrict credit and raise interest rates.
Due to the radical reorganization of national economies, people in “SAPed” countries often pay for their governments’ loans with extreme poverty, hunger and disease. Using figures provided by UNICEF and UNDP, the editors of the IMF-World Bank Watchdog estimated that more than six million children under the age of five have died each year since 1982 in Africa, Asia and Latin America as a result of IMF / World Bank policies.
SAPs often carry heavy ecological costs as well. The forced privatization of nationalized industries and public or communal lands often opens Third World countries to opportunistic multinational corporations resulting in degraded (or destroyed) and polluted environments. Placing the emphasis on exports rather than local needs in a time of falling world commodity prices results in exploitation and depletion of oil, minerals, forests and other natural resources….
If the leaders of a country do not cooperate with the World Bank and IMF, the CIA and its Gladio Units step in and foment unrest and if needed assassination. So while the CIA is part of the mechanism, the ENFORCERS if you will, it is not running the show as Eric Carlson thinks.
As Colonel Towner pointed out, the funding of the CIA is ‘Off Books’ Some is from the USAID, but the CIA also makes a lot of its money pushing drugs and child sex trafficking. Just in case you were wondering, in 1914, Just after the Federal Reserve Act was passed, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed. It regulated and taxed the production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products.
Congress passed the Food and Drug Act in 1906, which required the labeling of all ingredients in these patent medicines and cure-alls.
1914 Harrison Tax Act
By 1914, various groups wanted to ban various drugs. Congress and most Americans at the time thought that a ban of any drug was unconstitutional as our constitutional guarantee of liberty gave us the right to consume any product we wished (which is why the prohibition against alcohol required a constitutional amendment rather than merely a law). The plan was to ban drugs by making them nearly impossible to obtain. The law required that you must pay a tax on drugs. To ensure that the tax was collected, you had to get the drugs from a doctor via prescription (all prescriptions were therefore registered with the tax office which enabled the government to track which doctors were prescribing which drugs)
….
If we go back and look at the East India Company, it had its own army.
The East India Company (EIC) was first England‘s and then Britain‘s tool of colonial expansion in India and beyond. Revenue from trade and land taxes from territories it controlled allowed the EIC to build up its own private armies, collectively the largest armed force in South and South East Asia.
The EIC mixed British and Indian soldiers (sepoys), hired regular regiments of the British Army, and funded its own navy, the Bombay Marine. The vast resources of the company allowed it to eventually employ over 250,000 well-trained and well-equipped fighting men. This force expanded the EIC’s domains, seeing off competition from Indian princely states, pirates, and other European trade companies.
This time around they have naive Americans funding their army via taxes (USAID) drug, child and weapons trafficking. It is nothing new, only the faces have changed.
Opium for medicinal purposes was first manufactured in China toward the end of the 15th century. It was used to treat dysentery, cholera and other diseases. Not until the 18th century were there any accounts of opium smoking in China.
In 1729, the Chinese imperial government, alarmed at its debilitating effect, prohibited the sale of opium mixed with tobacco and banned opium-smoking houses. Selling opium for smoking “was classed with robbery and instigation to murder, and punished with banishment or death,” wrote Joshua Rowntree in “The Imperial Drug Trade,” published in London in 1905…
Britain’s East India Company would wage three wars on the people of China in order to secure the right to sell opium there….
They were the world’s first drug wars. Their sole purpose was to secure the importation of an addictive substance that provided a bountiful flow of profits.
Opium sales had risen gradually from 2,330 chests in 1788 to 4,968 chests in 1810. But once the British got a monopoly, they forced it up to 17,257 chests in 1835, worth millions of British pounds.
Britain’s governor-general of India wrote in 1830, “We are taking measures for extending the cultivation of the poppy, with a view to a large increase in the supply of opium.”….
The Chinese are now returning the favor by pushing fentanyl into the USA. At least according to the CIA controlled Mockingbird Media.🤔
Finally these are other articles I have written that describe some of the threads I am trying to pull together to determine who actually rules the world.
We continue to mourn the untimely passing of our beloved compatriot DePat, known in real life as Susie Sampson, and also as author Patricia Holden.
Until we have a dedicated author for the Tuesday daily open thread, I will be posting “placeholders” like this one, which may or may not be spiced up with additional content.
Gudthots will take DePat’s old Thursday daily open thread.
Please notify me in advance if you would like to post anything in lieu of the Tuesday placeholder. We welcome all content – the topic doesn’t matter.
Concerning Forgiveness
Just a quick note regarding a sentiment that DePat mentioned in her open threads from time to time.
Let me cite the relevant portion of DePat’s Wednesday 3/27/2024 post for concreteness. I have made the MOST relevant portion…..
really big and really bold.
DePat…..
As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome.
Please include: President Donald Trump, the Q team, our soldiers in the field, special forces, tactical units, first responders and those working behind the scenes…and any and all people with family members in the hospital, COVID or not.
And…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.
It is quite clear, as per Wolf’s message from July, that we are under spiritual attack. Building up a robust arsenal of prayer and discipline is a must in fighting the enemy and his minions.
In that spirit, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel from Tuesday’s threads, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not to mention the Litany of Humility are favorites recommended by exorcists in spiritual warfare.
Wolf again…..
Thus, I wish to address not only “…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.” but in fact all people who might read these words or hear them, including those who ARE here now, but even those who are NOT here now, but who might be talked to by people who ARE here and who DO read these words.
In other words, all of y’all, including “former” members.
Posting, commenting and reading here is not a “binary” thing. Yes, some of us are here every day, but others come and go, and that is OK.
In fact, if you find yourself in some kind of situation where you feel you are in conflict or a state of anger with somebody else, or with the site in general, then I encourage you to TAKE A WALK AND CHILL OUT, rather than swearing some angry oath to never show up here again.
DePat was always adamant that PRIDE is the greatest sin, and I think she was totally right about that. PRIDE will sneak up on you when you are JUSTIFIED and whisper appeals to truth and righteousness, which may have some real and momentary merit, but PRIDE will take you too far, and leave you standing over nothing but thin air – alone and trapped by your own error.
If you feel that you have to walk away from this site to regain control of your emotions, then I absolutely encourage you to do so, but never let that decision become its own justification – that you have to demonstrate the virtue of that decision by walking away from the “jury of your peers” forever.
PRIDE is not a virtue. FORGIVENESS is a command. LOVE is, too. And TIME makes this all possible.
Just think about it.
DePat never forgot the fundamentals, and I’m here to make sure she keeps bugging you about them!
Joe Biden never won. This is our Real President – 45, 46, 47.
AND our beautiful REALFLOTUS.
This Stormwatch Monday Open Thread remains open – VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA/KAG/KMAG world (with KMAG being a bit of both).
These gals still rock! More HEART – from less than a year ago.
THE STUFF
Many may find the following discussion of thyroid treatment boring, but endocrine pharmacology is still a bit of a mystery to science. I found this “laid-back” conversation between two health hippie MAHA types to be really enjoyable, as they go down many rabbit holes.
This lady is a pharmacist who worked as a case consultant figuring out why people were having medical conflicts and side-effects. Her insights into polypharmacy (people taking too many drugs) are quite interesting.
The guy is a veteran of every medical fad on earth – so what he has distilled his health approach down to is also fascinating. Enjoy!
So if you sat through all of that, and still have confidence in alternative medicine, then you are SOLID as an explorer of difficult terrain, and my hat is off to you!
This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.
It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.
In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.
We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.
Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.
In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.
God is in Control . . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . . Keep Looking Up
Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” . . . “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
God’s Grace is Sufficient
Grace is “undeserved favor.” The grace of God is His granting of good things to those who only deserve punishment. The word sufficient means “adequate” or “enough.” Grace being sufficient speaks of the grace of God that grants salvation, preservation, and everything else that the believer needs in this life and in the life to come.
Sufficient grace is a description of the grace of God as revealed in Scripture. The only time the two words are used together in Scripture is in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Paul had some form of physical affliction that caused him real difficulty. No doubt he thought he would be able to serve the Lord more effectively if he did not have this physical ailment to slow him down. He says he asked the Lord repeatedly to take it away from him, but the Lord’s answer was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In other words, in this case, God showed grace to Paul not by removing the ailment but by giving him the ability to endure it. In response Paul says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
The concept of sufficient grace is that God’s grace is adequate (sufficient) for anything we need. First, we need salvation and forgiveness of sin. God’s grace provides that for all who will accept it. Then, the believer needs grace to live the Christian life. God’s grace is sufficient here whether the believer experiences poverty or plenty, pain or pleasure. Often, Christians wonder how they could possibly survive persecution and hardship they have read about in other times or hear about in other places. A Christian might wonder, “If I had a gun to my head, would I deny Christ?” If all that was at work was human determination, it might be a toss-up at best. But the Christian can rely on the fact that God’s grace will be sufficient for the hardship when it arrives, even if it may not be in evidence before.
No Christian is inherently sufficient. Every Christian, left to his own devices, would fail miserably. “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). When the time comes, God’s grace will be sufficient to carry the believer through whatever he or she may encounter. By focusing on the sufficient grace of God rather than human frailties, Christians can face the future with confidence. With Paul, Christians can enthusiastically embrace their own insufficiencies, knowing that these insufficiencies will push them toward the all-sufficient grace of God. xhttps://www.gotquestions.org/sufficient-grace.html
We suffer down here for our few years With pain, sorrow, anguish and tears. But for all of these painful ways, Peace and Joy flood eternity’s days.
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