By Richard Peterson
This September marks the third anniversary of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations launching its Plan of Action for the Safeguarding of Religious Sites. First, a brief introduction for those not yet familiar with the Alliance.
The UN Alliance of Civilizations is an initiative which was introduced in 2005 by Spain and Turkey. Its political origins date farther back. The Alliance’s declared purpose is to combat polarization and extremism worldwide in order to counter the “clash of civilizations” and negate it with a partnership among civilizations. The Alliance is said to be the “mother tongue” of the UN system. It is a primary component of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. The Security Council’s statement on the Partnership Among Civilizations reads “this partnership will represent a powerful response to those who feed on exclusion and arrogantly claim the sole ownership of truth.” (A/60/341–S/2005/567, September 2005)
Intercultural and interfaith
dialogue are the primary instruments the Alliance utilizes to advance its agenda.
The Plan of Action for the protection of religious sites emphasizes interfaith
dialogue as a means to combat terror. A significant aspect of the Plan of Action is the worldwide mappings of
religious sites and institutions. Last month, in collaboration with the UN
Satellite Center, the Alliance published the first fruits of this endeavor as it published an
interactive
map of religious sites throughout Sweden.
Should one accept at face value what is written within the Plan of Action it may sound reasonable. It is difficult to quarrel with a plan which proposes the safeguarding of religious adherents from terrorist attacks. The expressed values of human rights, democracy, peace, the rule of law are ones most would embrace. But what if the language is a veneer which conceals an entirely different political platform? I have written critical assessments of the Alliance of Civilizations since 2006 so I propose there exists an underlying agenda which looks entirely different.
The primary composition of the Alliance is the High Representative and the High Level Group of eminent religious scholars.
During the 2006 Alliance Doha Debates, High Level group members were asked to define extremism for the rest of the world. This definition becomes important as one assesses the Alliance since extremism – the root cause of terrorism – is the target. John Esposito defined extremism as one who believes his or her religious beliefs to be right and another’s to be wrong. That individual, he said, has adopted the “theology of hate.” The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu defined extremism as those who hold their [religious] views exclusive. The Alliance of Civilizations is especially hostile towards Christianity.
Now align the Alliance’s definition of extremist thought with the words of Jesus in John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
High Level Group member Karen Armstrong lectures that religion has been hijacked by religious extremists who are abusing religious texts. At the launch of her Charter for Compassion (an interlocking initiative with the Alliance), she proposed bringing together all faiths whereby guidelines would be written for how we are to interpret those abused scriptures. Exactly what constitutes abuse?
I once was forwarded an email from one of my New Zealand readers. The email was a response to concerns he expressed to his Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters regarding the Alliance of Civilizations. Mr. Peters assured this reader Christians had no cause for concern because the High Level Group had Christian representation, namely Karen Armstrong and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Karen Armstrong’s representation is less than stellar. In her book In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis, Armstrong expresses theological twists of the absurd. She portrays God the Creator as a perpetual liar, the evil one, while arguing that the serpent was so much more truthful. During an interview with Share International (a voice for the occult organization Lucis Trust), Armstrong argues that Christians have wrongfully attributed divinity to Jesus. Similarly, the late Desmond Tutu wrote in God Has a Dream, A Vision of Hope for Our Time that God gave the poor serpent a raw deal (finding himself at the end of the line there was no-one left to pass blame). The archbishop’s writing continued with the admonition that Jesus was never bodily resurrected.
As I first read of the mappings of religious sites, my first thoughts were that ultimately this will serve to subjugate religions. Preceding the 2005 Alliance of Civilizations launch, hearings were held to determine the shape of the initiative. (Note that Lucis Trust was a participant.) The outcome document envisions a future where religions be held accountable to an overarching authority: “religions and the institutions that represent them cannot be banned from the public sphere but must be brought in under the leadership of the international civil bodies when it comes to questions concerning mutual recognition, universal justice, and lasting peace.” Literature from other interlocking initiatives envision the same. One such initiative is the OSCE: the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe. The OSCE is an Alliance of Civilizations implementation partner. The United States is an OSCE signatory nation as well as an Alliance Partner.
While serving as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007, Miguel Angel Moratinos also chaired the OSCE. The OSCE’s Annual Report focused on counterterrorism by means of interreligious and intercultural dialogue. The report’s concluding remarks include:
“However, claims to exclusive truth and absoluteness threaten to damage or even wreck the dialogue of religions. Believers and religious leaders often fear a weakening of their own religious sensibilities if other faiths are accepted as potential pathways to “ultimate truths.” The insistence on the exclusivity of a single true way to salvation devalues other religious paths and makes dialogue considerably more difficult. Respect and tolerance with regard to other religions is, however, a fundamental prerequisite for interreligious dialogue and co-operation. And yet real respect begins when I can assert my own personal religious truths for myself while accepting another’s differing religious truth and conviction as authoritative and valid without restrictions for him.”
Miguel Angel Moratinos presently holds the position of High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.
In his book Signs of Christ, Lucis Trust initiate Harold Balyoz wrote of the coming new world religion:
“formerly one said: ‘And my spirit rejoiceth in God, my Savior.’ Now you will say: ‘And my spirit rejoiceth in God, thy Savior’. . . Solemnly do I say that therein is salvation. ‘Long live thy God!’ So you will say to everyone; and exchanging Gods, you will walk to the One…Thus, find the God of each one and exalt Him.”
Several years have passed since I
last wrote of the Alliance of Civilizations. The purpose of this piece is to remind
readers that while the initiative may have diluted its public profile, it has
not gone away. The Plan of Action illustrates it has strengthened.
1,593 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 1593 Newer› Newest»Rasmussen…how reliable.
Fraud occurs in every election here and there so asking such an open ended question is clearly disingenuous. Perhaps all the Dems think the republicans chested and the landslide should have been larger?
For example, I think the swing in GA to blue after being ordered to use auditable dominion voting systems with paper receipts versus ESS equipment used previously (and in so many red counties throughout the country) produced fraudulent results favoring republicans.
It’s also why, incredulously, Trump wanted people to vote in person as “they” controlled many, but not enough, of the voting equipment.
Finally, despite suspicions, Gore, Clinton conceded and obama assisted with the transition legitimizing the proper and peaceful transfer of power despite their suspicions.
X
To RayB @ 11:45 AM
Thank you for providing that perspective... and also for making me laugh at how liberals 'think' (liberal logic or lack thereof).
X:
I have lived on this earth for a LONG time... since Harry Truman was President.
In the history of the United States of America, there has NEVER been such an obviously and trasparently STOLEN election as the November, 2020 election... and by such an incredibly WIDE margin.
So, don't bother to post your BS about how both parties 'cheat' etc.
The truth is that Trump WON by a landslide, and it was deliberately STOLEN from him... and everyone KNOWS it (including Biden).
Dedicated to Eliza Fletcher of Memphis, TN (now dead) -
Blood-drinking Black Boys of the night,
Nocturnal Orcs hiding from cops' lights,
Screams blast from the jogger's sights,
Eagerly awaiting bites......
Phantom roaches from the Ghetto Hell,
Life of lust is in which they dwell,
Insane with hate, the thugs start to creep......
Addicted to your wives......at Dawn the Negro Sleeps...
Eliza's seen the darkest face of Hell,
Cruelty far beyond the White Man's shells;
Running through the depths of eternity,
'ole Joe applauds and laughs maniacally!
Q: Have you heard about McDonald’s new Obama Value Meal?
A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it.
I should have written, I agree with Rich that there is no such thing as a truly Christian and Biblical political theology. My understanding is that political theology is the belief that God's will can be obeyed by loyalty to one political party or political ideology or political movement.
J said:
"I refuse to put faith in alt-right media = to faith in the Bible."
J,
And who is it that does that?
Can you provide some specific examples?
How is it that you are able to judge what a person's "faith in the Bible" is?
Other than posting on this blog, how well do you know any of us? WOW!
Constance also makes some wild, unfounded leaps of judgments in here. I'm beginning to understand why you are such a huge fan of hers.
7:28 PM,
Why does it seem like an article of faith in here that the 2020 election was stolen?
Craig
"In quite a few of the articles I found making the Leonard Leo-Opus Dei connection, I note that many are penned by Betty Clermont. Yet I’ve yet to find any one of them with a smoking gun."
Mr. Leonard Leo currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Information Center established by Opus Dei. I would say that's a smoking gun.
__________________________
I'm just catching up on reading comments. I found an interesting article on Barre Seid
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/how-a-billionaires-attack-philanthropy-secretly-funded-climate-denialism-and-right-wing-causes
Linda
And J,
You'll notice I did not make this anything about your faith, but your political leaning in this instance.
Maybe you see me in a bad light. But that's yours to decide.
My convictions are to stand by those who believe our nation's freedoms based in decency and common good came from God, and want to uphold them as long as able, exactly what our government is against, has trashed, but blames us for.
Linda,
You wrote: Mr. Leonard Leo currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Information Center established by Opus Dei. I would say that's a smoking gun.
Re the bolded section: As verified by whom?
I’m going to try to catch up here. First, I meant to write this the other day.
In looking for a particular quote of Cumbey’s (unsuccessfully, thus far), I found something else germane to the ongoing conversations. In the Southwest Radio Church booklet “IS THE ANTICHRIST IN THE WORLD TODAY”, B-349 (©1982) are the following quotes (among other related ones):
The [New Age] movement not only meets every test of Bible prophecy, it meets every test of Nazism. Network is the magic word. It is a network of many, many organizations . . . Marilyn Ferguson called it an unstructured movement. There is nothing unstructured about this movement whatsoever. It is incredibly organized [p 4].
The difficulty is that [the movement] operates the same way as Nazism operated, with a system of Adepts and Masters and Initiates. Not everybody in this movement knows everything that is going on. Some people are in it because they are for peace . . . they are against hunger . . . they are interested in improving their bodies . . . they want peace of mind. It can be likened to a gigantic corporation where the head of the corporation and the department heads know exactly what’s going on. Then as you go lower in the organizational structure, the people know progressively less. They just do their job and don’t really know where they fit in the entire scheme [p 12].
---
Food for thought…
Anonymous
11:19 AM
Breaking into private offices, sitting down at the desks, taking selfies and walking away with laptops is criminal activity; and even more so when it's in the U.S. Capitol.
A mob building gallows and chanting "Hang Mike Pence" is not a peaceful protest. Some of Pence's staff were in fear for their lives. The ex president was totally fine with it and said "Mike deserves it."
January 6th was an insurrection against a peaceful transfer of presidential power. All involved deserve to be exposed and prosecuted.
Linda
My bold added to below (though each bullet point could be bolded); see original for multiple hyperlinks for more info.
The Agenda behind Climate Change Catastrophism
08/08/2022 * Michael Rectenwald
Democrats on Capitol Hill are pressuring the Biden administration to declare a climate emergency, voicing their doomsday predictions that without immediate action to curb and ultimately end our dependence on fossil fuels, “the planet” and, by implication, every living creature that inhabits it, will die. “If we don’t really begin to lower emissions, this planet has no chance,” said Representative Alan Lowenthal, a California Democrat. “We have a few years left and that’s it. The planet is dying.” This dire assessment and apocalyptic warning echoes Al Gore’s 2006 book and documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and his subsequent statements that climate inaction would cause the complete summertime meltdown of the North Pole ice by 2013.
Even though such ridiculous predictions as Gore’s have been put forth and have been proven false, it appears that, thanks to the rise of “stakeholder capitalism” and the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Index, climate change catastrophism’s heyday has finally arrived. It becomes necessary, therefore, to address it directly. This does not necessarily mean readjudicating the climate change science, since others have done well to subject the narrative to withering critique and debunking. Critics have raised the following issues with climate change catastrophism:
• the previously peddled “crises” of global cooling, acid rain, and ozone layer depletion, which proved to be unfounded;
• the complete dismissal of the benefits of fossil fuel use;
• the failure to acknowledge that fossil fuel–powered technologies significantly mitigate the effects of climate emergencies;
• the fact that deaths from extreme weather events have decreased during the so-called climate emergency;
• the fact that solar and wind energy technologies, after fifty-plus years of development, are far from capable of replacing fossil fuels;
• the disingenuous use of the coldest period in the Holocene as the starting point for measuring rising temperatures;
• the manipulation of surface temperature readings to counter satellite readings, which show no significant recent warming;
• the exaggerated synthesis of scientific studies by the [UN] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the further exaggeration in disseminating synthesized findings to the public by designated “experts” and the media;
• the [UN] IPCC’s hiding of its raw data and methodology, its blocking of outside investigations attempting to replicate its results, and its blocking of climate change–skeptical scientists from publishing their findings in peer-reviewed journals (“Climategate”);
• the alteration of IPCC reports—after scientists had written and approved the final texts—to remove skepticism regarding claims that human activities are having a major impact on climate and global warming;
• the fifteen-year period (1998–2013) of no significant warming, despite a 7 percent rise in atmospheric CO2 levels;
• the rate of global warming has decelerated since 1951, despite a 26 percent increase in CO2 levels;
• the fact that temperature reconstructions of the past show temperatures as high as recent temperatures in some regions (the Medieval Climate Anomaly);
• recent IPCC estimates of the transient climate response (TCR, or the climate estimate for the remainder of the twenty-first century) fall within the range of natural climate variation over the past six million years;
[cont]
[cont]
• research shows no increases in droughts or tropical cyclone activity over the past forty years;
• the Antarctic Sea ice extent increased between 1979 and 2012, contradicting global circulation models (GCMs);
• climate modeling has failed to accurately predict climate trends;
• the strong likelihood that warming is not necessarily negative at all but may, in fact, be positive;
• the well-known greening of the planet due to increased CO2 levels and the benefits derived thereof, including for agriculture and cooling;
• the fact that there is no known optimal or “natural” global temperature, even if global temperatures could be accurately measured, which is doubtful.
This is but the skeleton of a body of reasons for concluding that climate change catastrophism is overwrought and hyperbolic, if not based on outright fraud. As S. Fred Singer, David R. Legates, and Anthony R. Lupo have remarked:
“Contrary to some accounts of the history of the scientific debate, there was no gradually emerging ‘consensus’ on the human role in climate change. Rather, politics quickly overtook science as environmental advocates and other interest groups recognized the utility of the climate change issue in advancing their own agendas.”
Why, then, is the establishment so hell-bent on pushing climate catastrophism? And what are these agendas?
It’s clear that climate catastrophism is not primarily about the climate. If it were, as Rupert Darwall has noted in Green Tyranny then Germany, facing rising CO2 emissions since its implementation of Energiewende (energy transition), would not have hastened the closure of its nuclear power plants, the only reliable source of zero-emissions electricity other than hydroelectric plants, which environmentalists also abjure. The same goes for California and New York.
Philosophically, as Alex Epstein has made clear in Fossil Future, climate catastrophism is fueled by an “anti-impact framework,” which hamstrings humanity by attempting to eliminate the human impact on the environment altogether. It is antihuman at base. It places the well-being of “the environment” above human flourishing, while denying that human beings are part of the environment.
The necessary outcome of climate change catastrophism is curtailed economic growth. This is ironic because the global elites at the World Economic Forum (WEF) regularly suggest that one of their objectives is to achieve “fairness” for people in underdeveloped countries. To date, this “fairness” has involved wealth transfers from the developed to the developing world that amount to bribes for stemming further development.
Climate catastrophism boils down to renouncing and eliminating cheap and reliable energy and enriching climate alarmists like Al Gore—all in the interest of furthering a globalist political agenda. Most importantly, that is, climate change catastrophism has to do with the vaunted “solidarity,” “inclusivity,” and “international cooperation”—the means that the WEF, the United Nations, favored corporations, and their proxies in government deem necessary to mitigate the supposed crisis. These code words stand for a totalitarian regime under which a newly refurbished collectivism will abrogate individual rights and vastly curtail human freedom. As it turns out, the means for mitigating climate change are the ends sought by climate catastrophists.
8:33 PM,
I've just read the full transcript of Biden's speech.
I see he didn't just say "semi-fascists" but repeatedly spoke about "MAGA Republicans." He distinguished them from mainstream Republicans, but he left no room to see anything good about "MAGA Republicans," not ever at any time. I can see now that this allows him too much power to define what's good and what's bad.
I wish he had stuck to what is legal and what is illegal and what is democratic and what is anti-democratic. And he had avoided the word "extremists."
He should not have condemned "MAGA Republicans" but instead should have condemned only the far right fringe who are willing to engage in political violence and intimidation.
Some pictures show Biden backlit only by red light. Other pictures show both red and blue lighting. I'm guessing he was backlit by red, white and blue. But the pictures were zoomed in or cropped and only showed the red back lighting.
Political violence and intimidation are popping up all over the map, and being aimed at everybody from the FBI to school boards to Adam Kinzinger's wife.
And yes, also Supreme Court justices and pregnancy counseling centers and Catholic churches.
As I re-read the full transcript of Biden's speech I could see that he was leaving no room to find anything good that ever existed about the MAGA movement.
I do feel strongly about anti-bullying and pro-democracy. I don't think people who are hated by the far right fringe should have to live in fear of them or be silenced by them because of intimidation or stochastic terrorism.
I do think we need the rule of law, and nobody should be above the law, not even a former president.
I'm not at all ready to give up on democracy or the rule of law or voting.
But there was this line: "It gives hate no safe harbor." From this paragraph:
"Food for thought…"
9:14 PM
Indeed.
A whole lot of the grass roots have no real way to fully know how underhanded upper echelons of politics really is, that being particularly left and definitely found deep within the right, too.....well established for a long time.
“The idea that America guarantees that everyone be treated with dignity. It gives hate no safe harbor. It installs in everyone the belief that no matter where you start in life, there’s nothing you can’t achieve."
I agree with the paragraph if that one line is taken out, because "hate" is another one of those words that can be manipulated so much. It's not a traditionally American idea or democratic idea that you can't "hate"; more so that you can't act unlawfully on your hate.
Now that I have read the whole thing, I can't agree with it wholly.
It's just that it lifted my heart for semi-fascism to be condemned strongly. I don't want you to have to live in fear of the Biden administration, but I don't want to live in fear of cosplay vigilant online thought police who tell me online, "I've got your number." I don't want Constance to be stalked because of saying that she left the Trump cult. Should she have to live in fear of vigilante online cosplay thought police?
I hate that crap. It's the reason why I called out X for stalking RayB and the reason why I felt angry at RayB for trying to direct all the online hatred of X, Constance's way.
Do you know everybody who comments here? Do you know for a fact not one troll who comments here belongs truly in a far right cess pool?
Should I have to feel afraid of some random troll who wants me to think he has my number, just because I have unapproved thoughts and unapproved speech?
Do you know how angry it makes me feel when I get intimidated? People don't know me at all. I was a very, very stubborn little girl. If I'm bullied enough to go to my childhood place, it's a very stubborn place. Once my oldest brother tried to take my bicycle from me. I lay on the ground and wouldn't let go of it no matter how many times he hit and kicked me. Eventually he went away. I lay there trembling uncontrollably for several minutes and then got on my bike and rode it.
No, I don't want you to have to live in fear, or Constance, or RayB, or X or myself.
Isn't that how it's supposed to be in America?
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/09/04/semper-sigh-bidens-use-of-the-marines-violated-long-standing-federal-policies-and-regulations/c
You may find this interesting J....
It is this and more, but when strung together, so many other signals Biden is sending I find alarming, disconcerting...
J,
I want to respond to your 9:11 AM (a response to me), but I first wish to clarify something in what you wrote, specifically: You and I know that the Christians like the QAnon and NAR types are apostate.
To agree with you, I’ll need to scrutinize, rearrange and omit portions of the statement. First, I don’t care for the word apostate here. To me this word implies someone who has turned away from the faith, i.e., someone formerly in the faith. I have cause to think the leaders in the NAR were never in the faith to begin with. The followers may or may not have been.
The basic theology/Christology of the NAR is unchristian.
Also, I don’t have sufficient knowledge of QAnon. I do know some NAR types are Q enthusiasts. Beyond that, I don’t know much. Yet, I don’t think all NAR types are Q devotees, and I think there are Q devotees or sympathizers who are not NAR. Thus, for me to agree with you, I’d like to completely omit QAnon. Therefore, I’d restate this way:
[You and I know] NAR types are not really Christians, but pseudo-Christians or “Christians” instead.
And, yes I definitely agree that the secular world [mostly, if not solely] would NOT understand this distinction. Sadly. And some who might understand the distinction may be more than happy to conflate the two.
9:35 PM J
I have felt the same.
And why I have defended X against the "poet" and agreed with you that you were right to speak up when RayB was too harsh with Constance, other instances of things that cross a certain line of decorum and civility. And I admit I have spoken too soon, with too much opinionated tripe of my own, or spoke up when I should have let something lie. Where I can I do, but when I can't - Just disagree already! (is me) ;) .....
But FWIW, I still have to go back and back again, to say that so much of what is coming from media is to be taken with a grain of salt. Mostly left to me, but i certainly do not buy everything on the right, either. Nobody should threaten anybody.
So me? Words are one thing...what is done speaks louder. I feel Biden is threatening because his many actions (and many non-actions too) back up what I see.
And the handwriting is on the wall. This country is BROKEN. And Biden the puppet is getting that done.
Like you, because this life, this world, is fleeting....these chips are going to fall as they will...my real hope and real trust is in my Lord.
9:31 PM @ Craig.
Thanks for that great piece.
And coupled with the agenda that drives the Covid/Vaxx scenario, I see WEF having made great strides to get their form of "justice" climate and otherwise, very nearly in place to impose upon everyone. They've had a ton of help from our government undoing our fossil fuel resources to accommodate it to the detriment of our economy/productivity, and so many people frightened into dependency by the myriad health scares, real and imagined--worldwide in society's norms changed in a lasting and bad way.
https://twitchy.com/mike-313136/2022/09/07/glenn-greenwald-posts-epic-thread-about-how-the-authoritarian-left-is-squashing-dissent/
This link on the other page and what it relays about dissent is really eye opening.
He's a guy on the Left speaking about the Left. Wow.
J
7:58 PM
Your word "dialectic" is accurate. I was reflecting today on the fear mongering of both the left and the right in getting us to our current situation. I tend to look at things from a spiritual perspective rather than political. Spiritually, the fear mongering centers around the end times heresies of John Darby and Charles Scofield. During the Obama years, the "apostles and prophets" of the New Apostolic Reformation worked very hard at presenting Obama as The Antichrist. They did such a good job of it that I have friends who are waiting for Obama to receive and recover from a deadly head wound. (Yes, I'm serious.) From there, the next step was believing that Trump is the anointed one to save the world, with Biden as the evil puppet of Obama. There are a lot of other fears mixed in with that which I won't mention here. All dialectic and using churchianity to keep the focus away from a hidden agenda.
Linda
Craig
9:01 PM
The Catholic World Report 1-8-2019: "In Washington, D.C., Opus Dei operates the Catholic Information Center ... "
Linda
Linda,
Do you have a link?
Craig,
From FAQS at Catholic Information Center D.C.'s website:
https://cicdc.org/faqs/
General:
Q: What is the relationship between the CIC and the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.?
A: The Catholic Information Center is a corporation of the Archdiocese of Washington, subject to all the Archdiocesan policies for these corporations. As per an agreement between the Archdiocese and the Prelature of Opus Dei, the Director of the CIC is a priest of Opus Dei nominated by the Prelature and appointed by the Archdiocese of Washington.
Q: Who are our Board of Directors?
A: Mr. Thomas Yannucci, Chairman
Ms. Montse Alvarado
Mrs. Alexandra Clement
Mr. Chris Anzidei
Mr. Edward Grubb
Mr. Leonard Leo
Mr. Gerard Mitchell
Mr. Brian Svoboda
Fr. Charles Trullols (here's a youtube video of him talking about the 'innocent' way they 'help' politicians in DC - Scalia's son even makes an appearance in the video.
https://youtu.be/u5aWt-ZEuJM )
Separately there's this...
What is Opus Dei? A CNA Explainer
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/01/08/what-is-opus-dei-a-cna-explainer/
In 2016, there were more than 2,000 priest members of the prelature, and more than 90,000 lay people were connected to the organization by means of agreements. The prelature is operative in nearly 70 countries, and headquartered in Rome.
In the United States, Opus Dei supports Catholic schools, generally segregated by sex, in several cities. The organization offers formation through spiritual direction, retreats, “evenings of recollection,” at which priests offer spiritual guidance and confession, and through “circles,” small group meetings of spiritual formation. In Washington, D.C., Opus Dei operates the Catholic Information Center, a centrally-located bookstore offering weekday Mass and frequent evening programs.
Opus Dei has been criticized by some observers, who say the organization in inconsistent in its practices in different regions, promotes secrecy about its practices and governance, and focuses its recruiting on persons of wealth or influence.
Opus Dei’s spirituality is rooted in the writings and thought of Fr. Josemaria Escriva, who was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002. Escriva’s work focused on becoming holy in ordinary life, by means of a deep prayer life, offering to God sacrifices and challenges, and the cultivation of virtue.
x
This is an organization that regularly exploits and traffics young (minor) teenage girls.
Opus Dei In Argentina Responds To Accusations Of Exploiting Women
August 4, 2022
https://www.eurasiareview.com/04082022-opus-dei-in-argentina-responds-to-accusations-of-exploiting-women/
Excerpt: The BBC published an article Aug. 2 reporting that 43 women from Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia made a complaint against Opus Dei with the Vatican in September 2021.
According to the news article, what the women demand is “financial compensation and public acknowledgement by the Church.”
According to the BBC, these women came from “low-income families when they were between 12 and 16 years old and [Opus Dei] took them to Buenos Aires in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s with the promise of giving them an education.”
However, the BBC continued, “they received training in domestic tasks and made them work for free for high-ranking members and priests” of Opus Dei.
The women were auxiliary numeraries — that is, women responsible for domestic work in the centers and institutions of Opus Dei.
The training received by the auxiliary numeraries is part of the charism of Opus Dei, which emphasizes sanctification through daily work.
One of the complainants cited by the BBC is Alicia Torancio, who gave her testimony after having been in Opus Dei for 13 years and said, among other things, that the prelature “brainwashed her.”
“They tell you that you have a vocation to be a saint, that you can contribute to the world through your work and that you are going to help change the world. And I was very idealistic,” she said.
Here's a link to a more personal story about these women:
https://religionnews.com/2021/11/12/women-in-argentina-claim-labor-exploitation-by-opus-dei/
Giménez, now 56, joined the conservative Catholic group in her native Paraguay at the age of 14 with the promise she would get an education. But instead of math or history, she was trained in cooking, cleaning and other household chores to serve in Opus Dei residences and retirement homes.
For 18 years she washed clothes, scrubbed bathrooms and attended to the group’s needs for 12 hours a day, with breaks only for meals and praying. Despite her hard labor, she says: “I never saw money in my hands.”
I find complaints about Biden's singular slightly divisive political speech (I agree with J there could have been some better choices of words, perhaps) kind of humorous in that not once did y'all complain or even acknowledge the divisiveness of Maga Qanon under the most devisive president we've ever had since Lincoln (and not in a good way).
Trump disrespected mexicans, blacks, immigrants, foreignors, muslims, women, democrats, republicans, journalists, unions, working men and women. Maga crowds and parades took over street corners in towns across America with hostility and intimidating others, flashing white nationalist signs, shooting paint balls off the backs of pickup trucks and carrying confederate battle flags and automatic weapons. But NOW Biden rips on Maga republicans with a few choice words and y'all put on Tucker Carlson bow ties and dresses and cry like toddlers about "the President is supposed to unify the country".
Democrats are getting tougher standing up to the Maga attempts at tyranny and frankly, bullying of "others". Their message is matching the anger and frustration of their voters who are sick and tired of seeing the GOP (and MAGA GOP) destroy their institutions, jobs, towns and the middle class in favor of the elite.
I don't personally like it. But the immediate threat of the alt-right is nigh and the democrats appear ready to get tough on (political) crime versus the GOP strategy of just locking up brutish black men. It's time to drain the Maga swamp.
x
There were several times I recall indicating I was fine with people forgoing vaccination under certain conditions. Unfortunately, I don't recall many persons commenting here falling under that category of persons who, upon consulting with their personal doctor (not some internet grifting quack) chose not to get vaccinated and didn't spread misinformation about covid and covid vaccines online. I'm sure there are 100's of thousands of such people out there who didn't feel the need to lie and stayed at home, primarily, and out of an abundance of caution, wore their masks & social distanced (even when not required to by state law) and did everything they could not to contract and/or spread covid and kill their families, friends and neighbors.
*after Omicron...the virus is now, no thanks to the unvaccinated, endemic. So I'm not as bothered by those who choose to remain unvaccinated for Covid.
Here's a brief example of words I posted April 2021:
"7:07 pm -- I got the Pfizer vaccine - I liked it so much I did it twice last month.
My wife and I both had a mildly sore arm hours later that I could feel the next day and nothing more.
My dad remains in in-home hospice. I wasn't going to be the kid that brought covid into the home as my family and I help care for him. Covid is usually a lonely suffocating death, not the way we are sending out my 91-year-old father, prayerfully. My wife and I also had to travel to Florida to remove the contents of my parent's second home down there and in early April Florida remained a growing cess-pool of unmitigated Covid. You can do what you want, but vaccination at my age was the best choice for me. If it turns out to be part of a eugenics plan to cull the population, I'd probably prefer death over remaining here with new-age anti-vax conspiritualists anyway.
I'll likewise continue to pray for the "test group" and "control group" that Covid fades away like the Spanish Flu did 100 years ago and everyone lives out their days happy and healthy. Godspeed. x" (emphasis mine)
source: https://cumbey.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-very-dangerous-new-age-qanon-cult.html?commentPage=5
I accept your apologies.
x
X/Linda,
To be clear, by “smoking gun” I’m referring to something that shows Barrett, et al are Opus Dei. Only assertions without substance and circumstantial ‘evidence’ have been proffered, so far.
I’m not saying any or all of them are or aren’t. I’m saying there’s no smoking gun to prove it.
X & Linda share the same Opus Dei conspiracy theory? Interesting.
Lots of people take an interest in Opus Dei. It was demonized in the best selling (and blatantly Masonic) novel, The Da Vinci Code.
It has more influence in the historically Catholic nations of Europe. Not that I'm saying it lacks any influence in the U.S.
Link:
https://isgp-studies.com/opus-dei
X 12:53 AM,
I've come full circle. It made me wonder if God is trying to get my attention.
When I first started to get sucked into MAGA, I recall debating a black man in the comments section of a liberal site. He told me I "can't just do that," meaning put my child first, because of being opposed to forced vaccines, as the mother of a son who is on the autism spectrum.
At the time, I was opening my mind more to Donald Trump because of his working with RFK, Jr. on a vaccine safety commission. Nothing ended up happening, RFK, Jr. later said Trump went dark on him after appointing Big Pharma execs to cabinet positions. And on his way out the door, Trump even pardoned several Big Pharma white collar criminals.
But at the time, I remember that the black man was making a strong argument so that I had to admit that Republicans were trying to gerrymander in some districts to minimize the black vote just as much as they possibly could.
I recall feeling angry that he told me I, as a mother, "can't just do that" and put my son first.
Now I realize I should always have had more empathy. I started having pangs of conscience. One of the first times I recall it happening was when I read the story of a very gentle, musician, autistic black boy being shot dead by police for no reason. I realized I cared so much because he was autistic, too, and I should have always cared even if they were black but not autistic.
I know alt-right media like Breitbart will paint me as the kind who kneels to apologize for "white privilege" in response to being bullied on the sidewalk. (A true story highlighted in one of their articles.)
But these are the same people who were vicious in the comments section underneath an article about an elementary school autistic boy being dragged down the hallway to punish him for inappropriate behaviors.
I'm noticing increasing viciousness starting to rear its ugly head lumping in non-neurotypical people with those "others" who are to be hated because they are part of a vague PC force.
There's likely some Social Darwinism going on as well.
My husband could give somebody a little bit of Social Darwinism if they ever bullied our son. And he's not only a keyboard warrior.
Your comment a while back touched my conscience, too, when you said talked about some groups being protected by the law but not bound by it. While the "others" should be bound by the law but not protected by it.
P.S. There was one time, X, when I would have felt like slapping you if you'd been in the same room. It was while we were debating COVID vaccination of young kids and babies.
Craig
7:11 AM
Your post at 9:01 PM "You wrote: Mr. Leonard Leo currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Information Center established by Opus Dei. I would say that's a smoking gun.
Re the bolded section: As verified by whom?"
I had just taken the time to look up the Catholic Information Center since I hadn't heard of it before. It was very easy for me to verify. The website lists Leonard Leo on the Board of Directors. The Catholic World Report is published by Ignatius, a Catholic publisher.
I must have missed a few comments. I never noticed your reference to "Barrett et al." I was responding to the smoking gun comment regarding Leonard Leo. I really don't spend a lot of time wondering who does or does not belong to Opus Dei.
In regard to Barrett, she's a member of People of Praise ecumenical charismatic community. The majority of the members are Catholic. The religious teaching is based on Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. It's New Age and Jesuit mixed with Pentecostal charismatic beliefs in prophecy and other spiritual gifts.
Linda
Anonymous
7:57 PM
If Trump were a Christian, we'd all be seeing the fruits of repentance in his life. As he previously said, he's never done anything that he needs to be forgiven for. Apparently, in his mind, that didn't change after the election steal lie and the January 6th insurrection.
Linda
J
That was a borrowed accidental viral comment with some history.
I wish it was mine.
This is anecdotal. I’m not defending this individual woman or her inappropriate behavior just find the disparity interesting and empathize with her. It’s just one situation but there are way more of these stories about “others” than there should be.
https://buffalonews.com/news/national/pregnant-black-activist-serving-4-years-for-protest-comments/article_23a2efe3-da9c-54e6-8fc9-311709d51da2.amp.html
I was just reading threads from 2021 and saw you really on the anti vaccine band wagon and just a few weeks ago still seemed to be hoping Repubs took control of Congress so they could undertake a full covid investigation. Are you now backtracking from that too? I think one can be vaccine hesitant without being vaccine conspiracy. Being skeptical of fallible humans that work in nonhuman corporations that may do lots of intentional and unintentional things, perhaps, for profit is a far cry from thinking Pharma is a group of “theys” set out to kill you and others.
It’s been my contention that once u get off the Maga train many things become clearer. As a independent conservative I didn’t think I was special in being ahead of the curve just fortunate that I had the good fortune of never having got on the train in the first place. I’m not on the dem train either but their new anti bullying messaging seems to be striking a chord with a lot of Christians and they could certainly use Christian voices and lots of prayers too.
I think you’d get along swimmingly with my wife.
X
Linda @ 9:18 AM,
With respect, you selected only a portion of my 12:15 PM from the first 200 comments, which was responding to X's comments re Opus Dei's supposed connection to Barret et al, more specifically that Opus Dei is/was preselecting Supreme Court hopefuls as some sort of larger Opus Dei conspiracy. I assumed you had read the exchange.
X
1:48 PM
" I’ll go back and find where I stared several times I didn’t have an issue with people forgoing vaccination under certain conditions and where they weren’t running around lying about why they and others shouldn’t get vaccinated, shouldn’t wear masks and understating the dangers and effects of covid 19. That limited population doesn’t seem to exist here."
I'm a part of that limited population. I've had reactions to vaccines and certain prescription drugs in the past. Once experienced, it is not anything one would want to experience again. I'm not anti-vaccine or anti medical doctors and drugs. If that's the way one wants to go, that's fine with me. As for me, I made the decision over twenty years ago to take responsibility for my own health. I changed my lifestyle and eating habits, educated myself on herbs, vitamins, essential oils, and really delved into what the Bible says about the spiritual root of sickness. I prayed asking God to show me what is specifically right for me and my family. Honestly, I have not been sick since then. Before that, I got the flu every time it came around, sometimes a couple times a season.
I did not get vaccinated. I don't ever intend to. I worked from home, shopped online, had groceries and other necessities delivered. If I had to go out, I wore a mask when necessary and social distanced.
I am against a one-size fits all government mandate for any form of health care, including Covid-19 and abortion.
Linda
Linda 10:01 AM,
You and I are very similar in our approach toward health and medicine.
X 9:36 AM,
I don't know yet how to answer your questions.
If the COVID investigation were to be real and not just political theatre I'd welcome it.
Could it really happen? Fauci knows where the bodies are buried in the military medical industrial complex. I mean there must be some state secrets in there.
I should back up my claim. Briefly, the GAO released a report admitting that research was conducted on American civilians. Chemical, biological and nuclear. No time to look up details now. I'll return to it. It was years ago when the report was released.
J @ 9:11 AM,
Now I can put my thoughts to internet.
First, re this paragraph: My reading about what Rich posted was that protecting Christian religious sites from Islamic terrorism would be a good thing. But it would make some Christian-hostile people and agendas gain more credibility and power. With the right opportunity they could manifest in a less benign way. The protection and help could come at a cost. (Doesn't it often when it's governmental?)
If you take my earlier comment on the pre-history and add the following from Constance’s A Planned Deception, you might better see my full intent. Cumbey quotes Peter LeMesurier’s From the Armageddon Script (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982):
Their script is now written, subject only to last minute editing and stage-directions. The stage itself, albeit as yet in darkness, is almost ready. Down in the pit, the subterranean orchestra is already tuning up. The last-minute, walk-on parts are even now being filled. Most of the main actors, one suspects, have already taken up their roles. Soon it will be for them to come on stage, ready for the curtain to rise.
The time for action will have come [p 7].
The massed forces of the Old Age, however, will be unable to check their headlong onrush. In large measure they will go on to destroy each other in a massive, mutual venting of long pent-up aggression… [p 10].
Could it be that the Alliance of Civilizations is helping to facilitate this sort of thing under the guise of trying to keep peace?
---
As to the rest of your post, let me just state that Christian nationalism (theocratic notions) and Christian terrorism are oxymorons. We might call them “Christian” nationalism and “Christian” terrorism or pseudo-Christian nationalism and pseudo-Christian terrorism. Such notions are NOT Christian in any orthodox sense. But I agree there will be some in the secular world unwilling to make the proper distinctions. And it seems possible that some such secular persons may have been actors in J6, stoking the flames.
"Trump disrespected mexicans, blacks, immigrants, foreignors, muslims, women, democrats, republicans, journalists, unions, working men and women."
By giving them jobs and hopes to be part of a growing thriving American economy and prospects for their communities to be lifted from Democrat hell??????????
Surely you jest.
"But the immediate threat of the alt-right "
Pales in comparison to the Democrat Hell and it's socialist elitist globalist goals of enslavement for all those minorities and underprivileged, neglecteds you are so supposedly concerned about..
Fodder for the elites and you're down with it.
2:08 AM
Fine.
So why did you berate and smear people for their choice that right for them?
Not holding my breath waiting for your answer Mr "talks grace but can't or won't give it".
But then you can't give what you don't have now can ya?
Linda
9:31 AM
Trump is not the leader of the free world right now.
Hellion Biden is.
Where's his repentance? Where are his "good" beliefs demonstrated?
Biden actually claims he is one.
I still think covid vaccines should be available for children. If a kid lives in a household with grandparents and/or other at risk adults it's probably a wise thing to consider.
Adding it the schedule - I'm fine with waiting...for now, but we vaccinate for a lot of non-lethal viruses already so it's not something that is out of the question.
I'm not a vaccine expert. I pay taxes and pray our government hires professionals with vaccine specific educations and knowledge to make the best decisions they can, at any particular moment in time, with regards to public health and vaccinations. I also recognize the influence of money and politics in such decisions. The regular economic supply and demand models can be and are manipulated in healthcare and not to society's benefit. We'll spend our last dollar for our own health and the government can be coerced to spend all our future dollars on whatever the lobbyist buying the congressman want.
Taking the money out of healthcare (i.e. - single payor healthcare) might help in many ways but won't solve every issue. We spend too much of our GDP on healthcare especially considering the results we got during Covid (exposing a 50 year problem with the general health of our nation).
x
J,
No one here trolls you. Some are wise enough to expose you.
J said concerning Constance
"Should she have to live in fear of vigilante online cosplay thought police?"
That statement is so inflated, and nonsensical as to be laughable. Constance is a tough old woman, and is more than capable of speaking for herself. Constance has referred to conservative Christians here in vile, and most hateful terms! And, she fired the first salvo!
J also stated:
"Why does it seem like an article of faith in here that the 2020 election was stolen?"
X, must be proud of you for that gem!
11:24 AM,
Oh, I see. Constance says vile and hateful things, but f... your feelings if you didn't like Trump's mean tweets.
Got it.
You are so wise. So clearly.
P.S. Somebody anonymous here just yesterday addressed me as "X" and probably the same one addressed me as "Jill." And seemed to think I'm a teacher or a professor.
Is that supposed to be an example of exposing me?
Why am I so important as to be "exposed," anyway?
Whoever you are, you are hate blinded, and you have little or nothing to say as an argument but the "X fallacy."
Maybe you are one of those dark enlightenment types who doesn't believe anymore in a free marketplace of ideas?
Or maybe you just don't know how to construct an argument.
Not quite sure, but the joke is on you for being paranoid about me and wasting your time on me, for whatever reason. How many hours of your life have you wasted observing my comments and trying to figure out who I am?
Have you ever thought of just trying to have a conversation with me if you want to "have my number?"
Or are you even capable of engaging in rudimentary perspective taking and social-emotional cause and effect to have a conversation?
It's possible to emotionally grow. My son learned complex non-verbal two way communication by the time he was 22 months old, because of all the play therapy time I put in with him, and he is on the autism spectrum.
There is hope for you to learn, too.
"As to the rest of your post, let me just state that Christian nationalism (theocratic notions) and Christian terrorism are oxymorons. We might call them “Christian” nationalism and “Christian” terrorism or pseudo-Christian nationalism and pseudo-Christian terrorism. Such notions are NOT Christian in any orthodox sense. But I agree there will be some in the secular world unwilling to make the proper distinctions. And it seems possible that some such secular persons may have been actors in J6, stoking the flames.
10:58 AM"
Amen, Craig.
The Lord knows those that are His...but people, well, not so much....
And they are in the Lord's army on His mission. Not to save a nation, or save a culture, or save a global aim, which some "christians" are trying to do, on all sides of the aisle.
Best leave Him to do the sorting, He knows when, how, why, and who, in getting the "laundry" done---unlike mere rhetoric from people (some here too) that think they have that down.
12:04 PM,
I agree with both Craig and you.
And I agree with Craig that some don't care to learn about distinctions, particularly if they are angry at the public face of Christianity in the liberal media.
I've been told before, "That's for you guys to sort it all out." Other times people just roll their eyes and mutter.
Anonymous
11:12 AM
I was responding to a comment that we can't know for sure if Trump is Christian. I will add to my statement that Biden does not show the fruits of repentance either.
Trump claims to embrace positive christianity which has roots in Naziism. Biden claims to be a good catholic. Both of them are using religion to attract gullible christians. The actions of both men speak louder than their words.
Linda
IT WAS CHRIS WRAY! FBI Whistleblowers Reveal Director Wray Personally Removed Concerns Raised by Agents on Politicization of Agency from Final Report!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/chris-wray-fbi-whistleblowers-reveal-director-wray-personally-removed-concerns-raised-agents-politicization-agency-final-report/
Linda @ 12:34 PM
Re: "positive christianity which has roots in Naziism"
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Huh??? What are you talking about?
J, dear:
You might be too emotionally 'fragile' for this blog.
It's time to toughen up. No one here cares about 'feelings' (take it from me who has been posting on this blog for 15 years.)
As promised:
Human Experimentation
An Overview on Cold War Era Programs
http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat2/152601.pdf
This is some evidence to prove my claim that the government should not be given our complete faith when it comes to public health.
And to explain why I expressed skepticism that the Republicans would truly conduct a meaningful investigation of Fauci. (Because Fauci has been around since Reagan.)
Nobody ever meaningfully opposed Fauci except AIDS activists, but the effect was short lived and quickly reversed.
(First they came for...then they came for me.)
The Strange Case of Ghislaine Maxwell
From the article:
"... her case has set before us the question of whether we, as a people, are willingly turning a blind eye to our government’s complicity in protecting the anonymity of the powerful and elite among us whom our government knows to have participated in the sex trafficking of children. Or, will we take a stand and demand that our government reveal the identities of the criminal pedophiles that Epstein and Maxwell “serviced” for nearly 25 years and compel them to hold these criminals accountable for their crimes?"
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/the_strange_case_of_ghislaine_maxwell.html
NOTE: Aside from the civil suit involving Prince Andrew, WHY is it that NOT A SINGLE participant in these sex crimes has ever been named, or, CHARGED? The answer: most of these criminals hold (or held) high positions of power inside national governments, finance, media, etc.
1:38 PM ...
Fauci is a tool of Big Pharma ... but ... at least we have a warrior in Dear Leader to lead the righteous charge against these evil pushers of pill:
Huh? Biden Screams That He "Beat Pharma This Year"
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/huh-biden-screams-he-beat-pharma-year
Regarding my post @ 1:50 PM ...
The FBI conducted 'raids' on Epstein's properties, whereby, they removed 'boxes of tapes, photographs, etc.' that were alleged to have been made surreptitiously of powerful men having sex with underage girls.
What ever happened to that evidence?
Also, recall that EVERY SINGLE Attorney General in every state in the union stated that they were conducting investigations into sex abuse by the Catholic clergy in their individual states. Whatever happened to all of that??? That issue suddenly seems to have just vanished!
"Should I have to feel afraid of some random troll who wants me to think he has my number, just because I have unapproved thoughts and unapproved speech?"
I don't fear any blog troll. Their words are just words. I don't have to get balled up with that.
Our government though.....
..it has more than words to come against people that don't agree with them. That will be all they will need against us.
Biden has the power to separate and erase us, financially, from society, from even the living, perhaps. He's gearing up. The stage is being set. It will be, more than ever, of utmost importance that I know where my hope and peace come from--from the Lord.
So to the fast forward so to speak, let's see what we will be talking about in the next 1-2 years in this country (if we have any shred of free speech left) between the haves and have-nots, between those with power and those with none. I don't think people realize the strength of the grip of the heavy hand of TPTB. The frog at a rolling boil. Biden major turned up the heat in his wide swath of inflamed words, with the government's power to back them up.
I think it ain't gonna be pretty and the little man will pay dearly, stripped...of everything (and ya know....be happy little boys and girls (and sorry I have no pronouns for any else) about it like Santy Klaus said).
What?
Biden White House: You Must Agree With The Majority, Otherwise You Are An Extremist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dButKWnTmG8&t=17s
Must read article! How Democrat policies and actions on crime actually promote its spread.
Dems: A Killer on Every Block and Two Rapists in Every Backyard by Ann Coulter
https://www.takimag.com/article/dems-a-killer-on-every-block-and-two-rapists-in-every-backyard/
Excerpts from the article:
The country is experiencing an historic surge in violent crime, and the link between Democratic policies and the crime wave is more firmly established than the law of gravity.
This week, the Democrats and their auxiliary staff in the media gave less attention to the grisly kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher than they did to two black girls allegedly snubbed by a performer in a Muppet costume a couple of months ago.
“Democrats — and only Democrats — supported “Defund the Police!” and actually did manage to defund the police in cities around the country.”
Fletcher, a 34-year-old hardware heiress, kindergarten teacher and married mother of two, was out for an early morning run near the University of Memphis campus on Friday when a 38-year-old career criminal, Cleotha Abston, leapt out of his SUV and dragged her, kicking and screaming, into the passenger side of his vehicle.
RayB 4:44 PM,
Fletcher was an heiress and was killed for no apparent motive but was not kidnapped for ransom. Could it be possible that her murderer was a hired thug? I could see a motive from another heir. It's hard to see why her murderer would have a motive to murder her.
Ann Coulter would make a very poor police detective.
Rayb either lies or has been grossly misinformed. For such a learned man, I'd guess he knows it's a lie.
Rayb says: "The country is experiencing an historic surge in violent crime, and the link between Democratic policies and the crime wave is more firmly established than the law of gravity."
Truth: Crime and murders spiked in 2020; but, have returned to somewhat low numbers in 2021-2022. Crime is still way down from the 1990's and even the 2000's despite reforms.
Truth: The 2020 crime spikes are not directly related to "democratic policies" anymore than "conservative policies". Some very historically conservative areas also so huge, even larger spikes in violent crime rates than urban centers. Black men are still the biggest VICTIMS of violence and crime and most of the excess crime happened where crime has historically taken place so it wasn't some new spread of random crime threatening soccer moms in affluent areas (i.e. - white people as Ray wants to imply but, yet, surely innocently deny trying to use fear to motivate his tribe to hate).
Violent Crime Soared During the Pandemic. But Does the Political Debate Reflect the Data?
https://www.kqed.org/news/11906253/violent-crime-soared-during-the-pandemic-but-does-the-political-debate-reflect-the-data
Excerpt: .While this is often framed as a red-versus-blue debate, the data shows much broader trends — like the increase in murders — playing out across the nation, regardless of the political makeup or the individual policies of a particular city, county or state. Nationally, there was an unprecedented spike in murders in 2020 — up nearly 30% over 2019, marking the largest single-year increase ever recorded in the U.S.
But despite that troubling surge, the national murder rate appeared to begin receding in 2021. Meanwhile violent crime overall — and homicides in particular — remains at or near record lows throughout the U.S. The same is true in California
“I think 2020 was an outlier. California was not an outlier,” said Steven Raphael, an economist at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. “There doesn't appear to be much that's happening here that didn't happen in the rest of the country as well."...
But Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said there’s no connection between spikes in murders and the political ideology of an individual prosecutor. And there’s also no proof, he said, that states that have embraced reforms like shorter prison sentences are seeing more violence than other states.
He noted the uniform uptick in murders across states in 2020.
“When you see nearly every city go up like we did in 2020, it's really difficult under those conditions to attribute the increase to any particular policy in any particular city,” he said. “Everybody was going up." ...
x
J,
I don't know about 'motive,' etc. Interesting though that you were able to somehow allege that it might have been a hired hit by an heir. Any idea as to what you base that on, because I haven't seen anyone else imagine that one.
By the way, the accused has a long history of violent crime, including rape and kidnapping. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Your hired hit by that heir makes much more sense. LOL
Attention X ...
I wasn't the one that made the statement: "The country is experiencing an historic surge in violent crime, and the link between Democratic policies and the crime wave is more firmly established than the law of gravity."
It was Ann Coulter. I guess that means you lied?
https://kanekoa.substack.com/p/fbi-conceals-chinese-infiltration
Are we shocked?
So you are ok…you just share obvious lies.
My bad.
X claims:
"Truth: Crime and murders spiked in 2020; but, have returned to somewhat low numbers in 2021-2022. Crime is still way down from the 1990's and even the 2000's despite reforms."
Uh, no. You're wrong (lying) again.
Violent crimes on the rise in 2022, following previous unprecedented spike in murders
Fox News examined crime data from Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C (ALL Democratic controlled cities)
Violent crimes are on the rise in major cities across the country this year following 2020's already skyrocketing national murder spike that bled into the following year.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/major-cities-violent-crimes-data-murders-shootings
AND ... CBS reports (2/14/'22 report):
Violent crime on the rise across the U.S.
"Violent crime is on the rise in the U.S. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, homicides have risen 44% since 2019. Other violent crimes like aggravated assault, and gun assaults have also risen."
https://news.yahoo.com/violent-crime-rise-across-u-004436910.html
J claimed that;
"Fletcher was an heiress and was killed for no apparent motive but was not kidnapped for ransom."
Uh, J, the poor woman was stalked and violently attacked by this career, violent criminal thug. She was beaten on the sidewalk and then forced against her will into the SUV, where she was sexually assaulted (according to the Police) and then brutally murdered. There really are evil people in the world J.
You also claimed that "Ann Coulter would make a very poor police detective."
At least Ann Coulter researched the facts of this case before writing her article.
10:16 PM ...
Read the post @ 10:19 PM.
No lies at all. Crime stats don't lie.
Yes, you are bad.
Aren't wacko Leftist Communists the kind of people you'd just love to spend time with?
‘May Her Pain Be Excruciating:’ Carnegie Mellon Prof Uju Anya Wishes Death on ‘Wretched Woman’ Queen Elizabeth II
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/09/08/may-her-pain-be-excruciating-carnegie-mellon-prof-uju-anya-wishes-death-on-wretched-woman-queen-elizabeth-ii/
Excepts from the article:
Carnegie Mellon University professor Uju Anya reacted to the news of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II suffering from poor health shortly before her death on Thursday by calling her a “wretched woman” and a “genocidal colonizer” who is “the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire,” adding, “May her pain be excruciating.”
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating,” professor Anya tweeted on Thursday. She later deleted the tweet after backlash.
Here’s a more accurate and recent/current picture of crime rising and falling with the pandemic across the country (not just a few larger cities). It’s interesting to see how far the red south leads the country in murders. 2021 still saw some rise in certain crimes as the pandemic continued (in those select cities where data was somewhat available for 2021) but the rate of growth was much smaller and overall crime numbers aren’t near that of the 1990’s and 2000’s (I.e. - crime is still low compared to years ago -the us is much safer than when we were kids despite the headlines)
This article further confirms the crime rate fluctuations have nothing to do with political ideologies and policies.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-understanding-recent-trends-violent-crime
X
And you laughed at us 'right wing extremists' when we said Bill Gates is all about depopulating the earth!
Bill Gates’ Factory Breeding 30 Million Mosquitos Infected With ‘Infertility Bacteria’ PER WEEK
Bill Gates is now breeding 30 million mosquitos per week in a factory in Colombia and he is threatening to “scale and deliver” the mosquitos, which are infected with an infertility bacteria, to “communities around the world.”
https://newspunch.com/bill-gates-factory-breeding-30-million-mosquitos-infected-with-infertility-bacteria-per-week/
PS: Make sure you watch the video.
Is it trendy now to have empathy for criminals and disdain or neglect for victims??
Nice attempt at deflection X ... but the statistical facts prove that crime is on the rise all over the USA.
In spite of the facts, YOU made the bogus (lie) claim that crime was going down! It's the exact opposite.
Ex-FBI agent says Eliza Fletcher suspect’s previous victim worked at same law firm as her UNCLE
https://newscinema.in/ex-fbi-agent-says-eliza-fletcher-suspects-previous-victim-worked-at-same-law-firm-as-her-uncle
RayB,
That professor sounds a lot like a Maga Republican discussing Fauci, bill gates and/or george Soros.
Or y’all celebrating when a vaccinated person caught covid or died of covid after a breakthrough infection.
I don’t hate the queen (don’t love her either- not my queen) but I can understand someone from a previously colonized nation not being fond of her and/or England.
I was actually kind of expecting a bunch of Maga NAR conspiracy talk about the monarchy tonight.
X
10:48 RayB
What statistics? A study of 27 US cities is not representative of the entire country nor indicative of crime still rising in 2022 as you portend crime is through the roof.
2021 was still a pandemic year… Biden has taken over and Jobs have come back under his leadership surpassing pre-pandemic levels now in 2022. 2021 may end up slightly higher than 2020 but the rate of growth is much lower than 2020 and it’s still low on the scale of crime over the last 20-30 years. There’s nothing indicating 2022 is worse.
You are overstating crime reports for political purposes when politics has nothing to do with this fluctuating (increasing the. decreasing) crime rates.
X
Must see TV
Steve Bannon in handcuffs.
https://youtu.be/NvLOcd-lmfU
Lock him/them up.
America’s infrastructure is falling apart, as evidenced by water supply and power grid failures
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-09-08-america-infrastructure-collapse-water-power-grid-failure.html#
Here is just a small sampling of known facts, part of the public record, about some of the key players in the political violence of January 6th. Ask yourself if any secret, embedded FBI agents were really needed. Whether they were there or not.
* The Oath Keepers can be seen in multiple videos in military style "stack formation" entering the Capital building on Jan. 6th.
* Three of the Oath Keepers were personal body guards of Roger Stone.
* On January 5th, Roger Stone told Donald Trump's supporters he would stand shoulder to shoulder with them
* On January 6th, Roger Stone packed his bags and left Washington, D.C.
* Footage of Roger Stone packing his bags and leaving was recorded by a Danish film crew who filmed Roger Stone for two years
* In the documentary film, Roger Stone says, "I'm not sure what they thought they were going to achieve. I think it's really bad for the movement."
* Roger Stone refused to testify to the January 6th committee when he appeared before them. He pled the fifth.
* A video of Roger Stone reciting the Proud Boys' fraternity creed was obtained by the Jan. 6th Committee
* Video footage exists depicting the Proud Boys fomenting anger among the protesters who attended the January 6th protest at the Capitol
Remember when the FBI raided Roger Stone's home and arrested him in 2019?
Roger Stone was strongly suspected of being the conduit between Julian Assange and the Trump campaign.
It would make a lot of sense if Roger Stone flipped after that raid and his arrest.
It's pretty amazing that most of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers trusted Roger Stone and didn't question why he was relaxed and free even though he had such a short time ago been raided and arrested by the FBI.
J @ 10:03 AM ...
I can't imagine why, but somehow you left out Ray Epps.
Who Is Ray Epps? by Mark Levine (video evidence of Epps repeatedly inciting insurrection)
https://rumble.com/vofett-who-is-ray-epps.html
J states:
"Roger Stone was strongly suspected of being the conduit between Julian Assange and the Trump campaign."
Precisely, what exactly is the crime that Julian Assange committed, other than to post whistleblower information that the mainstream media ignored on his website?
By the way, regarding Ray Epps, Youtube has either removed the numerous videos of Ray Epps inciting the 'insurrection,' or, requires you to 'sign in' in order to view the Epps videos.
Why do you think that is?
If you want to see video evidence that exposes Ray Epps as an agent provocateur, committing FEDERAL CRIMES, you'll need to go to Rumble to see these incriminating videos.
Tucker Carlson Exposes the Media's Continued Ray Epps Coverup
https://rumble.com/v1cdx5n-tucker-carlson-exposes-the-medias-ray-epps-coverup.html
RayB,
So it's either-or Roger Stone or Ray Epps? Why is that?
Regardless of your opinion about what Roger Stone did with Julian Assange, or whether Julian Assange committed a crime, for some reason the FBI raided Roger Stone's home in 2019 and arrested him. Then he was a free man on January 20. Many Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were arrested. Roger Stone is still a free man.
Are you just reflexively opposing me, or are you trying to deflect from what I said? Can you not reason about it? Do you not care what the truth is? Or is it just the fact that I'm the one who said it, so you have to argue with me? Did you really not notice that I said something strongly counter to the mainstream narrative? Or does it just not matter because it has to fit the talking points?
I'm truly scratching my head right now.
Oh well, take it or leave it. If Tucker Carlson didn't say it, how could it be true, right?
I don’t believe Epps was FBI but it wouldn’t surprise me that elements of Trump’s FBI and supporters of Trump therein (Maga crazies were still everywhere back then) might participate in the planned and Trump team coordinated insurrection on his behalf.
Roger Stone too.
Every coup needs some higher ups ready to fill important political and military control points in order to successfully pull off and maintain control during and immediately after a coup operation. Remember, Trump is/was a political novice with very little historical knowledge. He team of wing bats convinced him he/they could pull this off. It’s amazing how close they actually got to succeeding. We’re he not so dumb and narcisstic it might have worked.
X
X 10:54,
If you're right, then if top Oath Keepers flip on Roger Stone, Roger Stone could flip on Trump.
It looks to me like, if Roger Stone didn't already flip before January 6th, he sure had a strong belief in his ability to be immune from the law. I can't think why other than two reasons:
1) Complete faith in Donald Trump always winning no matter what, or
2) Blackmail material
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_7pxJOIFhk
BOOM!
10:43 AM ...
It's not an issue of either Roger Stone or Ray Epps. The issue is why are Ray Epps's provocative activities on that fateful day being ignored?
Ray Epps broke FEDERAL LAW on that day, yet he has never been arrested. WHY is that?
And yet, hundreds of American citizens, many of which their only 'crime' was 'being there,' languish away in despotic conditions awaiting their Constitutional day in court that never comes.
Any problem with that J?
I bet Julian Assange knows what became of Seth Rich.
Just wondering out loud..
Has all the media and White House PR redirect about Russian Disinformation really about leading people off the trail of Chinese interference in our elections?
They have too much interest and influence in everything else. Our debt, economy, Taiwan, buying land up in the USA, our oil and natural gas resources shipped to them when we need it here, the list goes on and on....
Biden and good son Hunter sure have a ton of Chinese connections. Emails, documents, timestamped photos, White House meetings logged in Biden VP years, the tip of the iceberg.
Are we soon going to need a crash course in how to speak Chinese?
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/dni-john-ratcliffe-bombshell-report-china-interfered-2020-federal-elections
J said to RayB @ 10:43 AM:
"Are you just reflexively opposing me, or are you trying to deflect from what I said? Can you not reason about it? Do you not care what the truth is? Or is it just the fact that I'm the one who said it, so you have to argue with me? Did you really not notice that I said something strongly counter to the mainstream narrative? Or does it just not matter because it has to fit the talking points?
I'm truly scratching my head right now."
Scratch your head no further J. You stated: "Here is just a small sampling of known facts, part of the public record, about some of the key players in the political violence of January 6th."
One of the KEY insurrectionists is Ray Epps, who actually broke FEDERAL LAW on that day, is somehow conveniently missing from your list of 'small sampling of known facts.' Was there a reason as to why you are ignoring Ray Epps? Is there a reason as to why you are ignoring the fact that HUNDREDS of American citizens, that did FAR LESS than Ray Epps, continue to rot away under deplorable conditions ... without TRIAL?
I DO care what the truth is J. I don't really care if you believe that or not, because God knows. I've had a passion for truth ever since, by God's grace, He gave me a new heart through the new birth. ALL true Christians LOVE the truth. Do you know why? Jesus Christ IS the truth, that's why. And Satan, who is diametrically opposed to the truth in ALL of its forms, is the author of all lies.
Rayb,
Because prosecutions have focused on insurrectionists that actually went into the capitol building.
By your standard...are you upset Trump hasn't been arrested too?
Ray Epps was originally wanted for his statements and activities outside; but, upon futher examination when it was discovered upon interviews and video tape that he never went in and never actually raised a hand in violence against Capitol police..the prosecutor's focused on the thousands of much more substantial cases.
There are perhaps 1000's of cases yet to be made.
Why would Trump's FBI put a supposed FBI agent on the wanted list in the first place? It's not like insiders and informants are a new thing. If he was working for them and with them his name never would have surfaced to begin with.
Finally...can you provide a link to the charging orders and/or sworn statement of facts to any "american citizen" who was arrested and convicted for "just being there". Nearly every case involved a plea deal where, in return for shocking leniency, the criminal defendant had to swear to what they'd done. Show me a plea deal where any of the unpatriotic anti-american criminals on Jan 6th just copped to "being there".
There may actually be a few but most I've read involved several statements of fact far beyond just simple trespass or illegal parading (even if that is what they were eventually plead down to).
Oh..and those "despotic conditions" - welcome to JAIL in the United States. I know you hate seeing and hearting about white people subjected to such difficult conditions but where is/was your concern about such conditions in jails across the country prior to your violent deadly treasonous insurrectionist buddies being held there?
x
Rayb said: "I DO care what the truth is J. I don't really care if you believe that or not, because God knows. I've had a passion for truth ever since, by God's grace, He gave me a new heart through the new birth. ALL true Christians LOVE the truth. Do you know why? Jesus Christ IS the truth, that's why. And Satan, who is diametrically opposed to the truth in ALL of its forms, is the author of all lies."
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
such a funny way of pursuing truth by persistently lying and sharing the lies of others and never once apologizing or acknowledging you were wrong or correcting a mistake. Truth is not your intention here.
x
Enough Already: Release the J6 Political Prisoners
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/enough_already_release_the_j6_political_prisoners.html
(Who cares about the Bill of Rights? Does Constance, Linda, J, X, etc.?)
Excerpts from the article:
"... the plight of J6 political prisoner Jonathan Mellis, who has already spent nineteen months in the American Gulag for the "crime" of protesting against his government."
"Mellis is one of hundreds who have endured the wrath of a wayward Washington politburo that has thrown Americans' Bill of Rights and founding principles right out the window. *Dennis Prager actually managed to secure a fifteen-minute interview with the incarcerated Mellis on December 22, 2021, and has replayed the disturbing audio for his listeners several times. I encourage anyone who has not already come across it to find a few minutes to concentrate on their conversation. The thirty-five-year-old Mellis, whom Prager identifies as a native Tennessean, although he was arrested in Virginia, sounds remarkably calm and composed, considering that he had already endured nearly a full year in jail (with no end yet in sight) and was obviously communicating with Prager from behind enemy lines."
*Dennis Prager interviews Jonathan Mellis J6 Political Prisoner
https://tv.gab.com/channel/lazefair/view/dennis-prager-interviews-jonathan-mellis-j6-61eb5f8de523fab9bd3a6b51
X,
I've challenged you a number of times on this and you haven't been able to copy and paste a single lie I have ever told on this blog.
Again, copy and paste a specific, provable lie that I have posted. YOUR opinionated disagreement with what I post does not prove a lie.
Go ahead, knock yourself out. Copy & paste my 'lies.' ROFL
Rayb Lies (reposted from earlier this year)
One: Rayb said (with regards to convicted Jan 6th insurrectionist, Pam Hemphill): "That means she walked around peacefully, without authorization. That’s it."
In Pam Hemphill's plea deal, she stipulated to the following "statement of offenses" which go far beyond Rayb's fabricated claim that Pam merely "walked around peacfully" https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/case-multi-defendant/file/1469486/download
Two: RayB said (with regard to Monkeypox)..."Be prepared for another round of masks and EXPERIMENTAL 'vaccine' mandates ...
The monkeypox vaccine is not "experimental"...it's my understanding it's a traditional vaccine that has been FDA approved since 2019.
FDA approves first live, non-replicating vaccine to prevent smallpox and monkeypox
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-live-non-replicating-vaccine-prevent-smallpox-and-monkeypox
Exerpt: For Immediate Release: September 24, 2019:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today the approval of Jynneos Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine, Live, Non-Replicating, for the prevention of smallpox and monkeypox disease in adults 18 years of age and older determined to be at high risk for smallpox or monkeypox infection. This is the only currently FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of monkeypox disease....
x
Another Rayb lie...
Rayb said: "I've challenged you a number of times on this and you haven't been able to copy and paste a single lie I have ever told on this blog."
I've done it now so many times I'm storing them in my notes to repost when Rayb restates this lie above acting like I haven't met his challenge before.
I did it with his old qanon posts too.
Plus -- sharing the known obvious lies of others is lying.
x
Huge defeat for the radical, highly woke, loony left. After failed appeals, the Ohio Supreme Court decides not to hear the case:
Oberlin finally paying the $36.59 million it owes to Gibson’s Bakery
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/09/oberlin_finally_paying_the_3659_million_it_owes_to_gibsons_bakery.html
NOTE: If you don't know about this case, look it up. It's a fascinating, and, classical case of reverse discrimination, orchestrated by the college itself, which attempted destroy a multi-generational family business by falsely labeling the business as 'racist.'
Congratulations to Gibsons Bakery. If I'm ever in that area (I was once a long time ago), I'll be sure to visit and make a big purchase.
Great comeback RayB at 12:10 PM
It is not one bit cut and dried about what was going on on Pelosi, etc. end during the protest/riot (that killed unarmed Ashli Babbet by government hands) because there are beaucoup questions more than answers here. Buckets full. And government officers/capitol police look implicated in a whole lot of video footage and internal emails of governing officials at the time, that the US public is not allowed to see, not even Republican counterparts. So Ray Epps is not the only ball dropped by any means.
The knee jerk responses of media bullies for the Democrat Oval Office and J6 totally partisan committee are meant to deflect away from the truth. So many are taking one side of this hook, line, and sinker and I find that appalling. Proves it is a rush to judgment in my book.
I want the truth, too. Not because I need to see much come of it in the here and now since the I think the heavy bias and injustice in all that will carry on...and remain untried for their crimes>>>>>>>until God weighs in. And He will. The devil's heyday is really just getting started with where this is taking this nation now. A cooked goose served up for Daddy Schwab by Thanksgiving 2023 maybe?
YOU ARE LYING X (what else is new?)
After numerous challenges, YOU HAVE NEVER Copy & Pasted A SINGLE LIE THAT I HAVE EVER POSTED ON THIS BLOG. NEVER.
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." - Proverbs 8:13
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-716545
Say what?
J,
You haven't answered my questions:
What about Ray Epps? Why hasn't he been arrested J?
What about the political prisoners that are being denied their Constitutional rights?
YOU accused me of "not caring about the truth" ... which is a lie.
On a previous rant, you also accused me, out of absolutely nowhere, of "not caring about Ukrainians being killed," which is another lie based upon your imagination.
But that's ok J. You're entitled to your opinions, even though they have no basis in fact.
12:42 PM
I think you are reading way too much into that, J.
This is too personal for you? Why?
He used your words to show that your thinking on that matter has had the right aim at the truth, not because of a certain direction but because leading to asking the right questions.
I don't think that is changed for you in the searching, I still think you are after the truth, but (may I say it?) a personal skew looks like it's appearing in your posts that wasn't there before.
I say that as a friend.
And you did right by addressing RayB about his responses to Constance.
But that is between him and her now.
You're better off to drop that, having done your part, and get back to uncovering answers
(if indeed we will really get to know them in a timely fashion for now) the many more, and fair, in context, questions that need to be asked in these topics.
Again, as a friend, I say that.
J said: "Do you want to be held to your own standard? It's an impossible standard - and you know it. It's cheap and lame and insincere. It's a poor substitute for an intellectually honest discussion."
Exactly. Not a person seeking truth at all.
Also when I mock his intellectually dishonest insincere style...he has no trouble recognizing it then (so it's not like he's actually stupid -- he KNOWS what he is doing).
It's why I ask him to prove the remaining Maga republicans aren't our country's most pressing violent threat as Biden so accurately stated the other day.
I actually (re) quoted 2 of his posted lies above and he just acts like it didn't happen.
x
12:40 PM
Rich already told you how wrong you are about posting like this, X.
People disagreeing = lying is your own faulty premise, the set up to accuse people with no facts and why your credibility belongs in the dumpster. Those two things do not equate at all times, but you equate the two regardless. Judging by your own standard then, it's you who is lying all the damn time.
Your judge, jury, executioner, style of posting puts you in the very position to lie because you can't possibly know everything to be 100% accurate, therefore you would be guilty of what you accuse him, but you boldly go where truly stupid people go when all they have is accusation and no actual refutation, just opinion, yet state it as fact.
According to you, you are supposed to be educated.
Act like it then. Rude opinionated bloviations get nowhere near the truth.
Rayb lie: "What about the political prisoners that are being denied their Constitutional rights?"
"political prisoners"...plural??
Can you provide a list of names of all the "political prisoners" and what specific Constitutional rights all of them were denied?
This blanket claim sounds awfully universal. Perhaps you misunderstand federal criminal law and procedure (as do I) but you are the one making this evidently false claim. Can you justify it or is it just hyperbolic, not factual?
x
"Perhaps you misunderstand federal criminal law and procedure (as do I)"
See? You don't know yourself. That does not prove there is anything wrong with his question.
Maybe you should explore that in the interest of truth instead of the guerilla warfare tactics to shoot from the weeds approach because it appears you only try to leave confusion in your wake. Are you confused, or just wanting to purposely use confusion?
I think your left brain needs to have a chat with your right brain.
Take some time....
And attempt to understand who is manipulating you, and why you allow it.
From: https://constitutionus.com/constitution/rights/the-right-to-a-speedy-trial-under-the-sixth-amendment/
Your Right to a Speedy Trial (does this apply to the Jan. 6th. prisoners Constance?)
The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments of the United States Constitution all deal with the rights of people accused or convicted of crimes. These amendments give people the right to a fair trial, forbid cruel and unusual punishment, and require a trial to happen quickly.
What exactly does it mean that everyone has a constitutional right to a speedy trial in the United States? How do judges determine whether or not a prosecution happened quickly enough? People often win or lose cases based on the argument that they were not given a speedy trial.
The reason for the delay matters as much as the length of the delay. If the trial was delayed on unreasonable grounds, the case may be thrown out.
Where in the Constitution is the Right to a Quick Trial Stipulated?
The sixth amendment explicitly states that a trial has to happen quickly. It says that “the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury.” As a trial cannot be unreasonably delayed, charges may have to be dropped if a suspect argues that their sixth amendment rights were violated.
QUESTION: How does this pertain to the U S Government keeping HUNDREDS of American Citizens in jail, WITHOUT BOND, for well over 18 months ... without being brought to a "speedy trial?"
Bible to "X"
King Solomon has something to tell you:
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Ecc 5:2
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Prv 10:19
You do read the Bible, right?
Do you pray for wisdom, rightly dividing it and allow for it's application to your own self or do you rush off to back to back make judgment calls you are not prepared to make?
Didn't you say you are ahead of the curve?
I was literally putting together my independent thoughts this morning after reflecting on things I've read from a variety of sources for several years. I did not read those thoughts from a mainstream media pundit or get them from a YouTube video.
Something was tickling me in the back of my mind, some cognitive dissonance. Something didn't seem quite right with this picture.
I looked at the facts that have to do with Roger Stone, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. The logical inferences from those facts are rather limited.
The response was that I'm still not objective, still skewed, because - what about Ray Epps? I don't think I've ever argued against those Ray Epps claims. I've seen them come up repeatedly. I didn't say anything that would argue against anything to do with Ray Epps.
I'm sorry, but in all honesty, some replies, even though clearly well intentioned, were just nonsensical to me.
I'm not offended, and I never expected to be treated as an expert, which I'm clearly not. I just didn't expect the types of responses I got, and I honestly don't know how to think or feel about them when they don't make sense to me.
OK, J ...
But WHY are you not questioning as to why Ray Epps has not been arrested, being that there is a pile of video evidence that shows him instigating (against Federal Law) the 'insurrection?'
Some will argue, well, Epps didn't go inside the Capitol himself. However, neither did Jonathan Mellis (see my 12:38 PM post), and yet, he has been languishing away in jail for over 18 months, and has yet to face a "jury of his peers."
Seriously, are you alright with that?
Just before I had those morning thoughts and wrote them out, I was reflecting on something Craig had written, when he responded to the back and forth discussion about the possible dialectic. I was considering anew the possibility of somebody having tried on purpose to make conservative Christians tainted by the spectacle of political violence and domestic terrorism.
I am just going to hold off before I comment further, and wait and see if there will be any more responses.
RayB 2:26 PM,
I've never said anything to argue against your claims about Ray Epps.
I saw the Ray Epps stuff being pushed repeatedly and I didn't think the whole truth with a capital T was really being told by the talking points. But what do I know. Not everything. Never said I did.
2:07 pm Rayb,
That is pure speculation. Under the US constitution and the rule of law...it is my understanding that courts and judges make findings of fact regarding the constitution not alt-right information silos.
Have all or any of these "political prisoners" made and/or won their claims of denial of their constitutional rights to a speedy trial?
Webster's defines "speedy trial" as: a trial conducted according to prevailing rules and procedures that takes place without unreasonable or undue delay or within a statutory period
NOTE: The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed to criminal defendants by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The purposes of the right as explained by the U.S. Supreme Court are to keep a person who has not yet been convicted from serving lengthy jail time, to lessen the time that the accused must endure the anxiety and publicity of the impending trial, and to minimize the damage that delay might cause to the person's ability to present a defense. Although the Constitution does not set out any specific time within which a trial must commence in order to be deemed speedy, some states have enacted laws establishing a limit whose expiration results in a dismissal of the charges.
In other words, the Constitution does not set out any specific time and they were/are federal cases so what some states do is irrelevant. These people had attorney's (appointed or otherwise) who also probably delayed their cases, to some extent, in order to assess what leniency deals were being made to other insurrectionists in other jurisdictions.
Jail might have been really uncomfortable, especially for white nationalists in urban areas such as DC where a new federal prison has been contemplated (and I think blocked by the GOP) for years. For their own safety, they had to be segregated from the general population in many cases.
Hope your interest and empathy for prison conditions continues; but, unless you can substantiate your claim that "political prisoners" were treated more harshly than deserved (i.e. in an unconstitutional manner) it remains, I believe, factually unfounded.
x
Anon @ 12:42 PM ...
Thanks and I agree with your comments relating to J6.
You bring up a very important point; why is it that the government is withholding the video tapes of that day? I have personally viewed a number of videos that showed the Capitol police literally holding the doors to the Capitol OPEN for the so called 'insurrectionists.' I happened to be watching live coverage that day, and saw PEACEFUL people streaming in and out of the main doors that lead into the Rotunda ... with the Police standing right there.
In short, the government is only releasing the videos that comport with their pre-determined narrative.
Also, thanks for bringing up Ashli Babbitt, the only murder victim that day, shot and killed needlessly by a Capitol 'police' officer that was never charged for his crime!
J,
Take this one to the bank; the media will NEVER portray true conservative, Bible believing Christians in a positive light. What the media CLAIMS to be 'conservative' Christians are the wacko, violent crazies out there that are often racist to the core. Those are the favorites of the media, along with those radical Leftist professing 'Christians' that are basically Liberation Theologists (communists), but hide as wolves in sheeps clothing under the Christian banner.
226 pm @ Rayb: You can't compare the actions of Jonathan Mellis to Ray Epps. Not that this justifies NOT charging Ray Epps (I'm not defending the Maga republican) but the videos of Ray Epps don't show him involved in actual violence. There are thousands of persons that were there that day that shared sentiments with the insurrectionists that walked away when things got ugly and havent been charged.
On January 6, police body cameras captured Mellis, a 34-year-old man, using sticks and other items to assault officers protecting the Capitol from the rioting mob, according to a criminal complaint.
Police body-cam video allegedly showed Mellis "repeatedly striking and making stabbing movements towards the officers with the weapon in his hand." Mellis attempted "to strike the officers' necks between their helmets and body-armor where they are not protected," the complaint continued.
Such attacks can cause serious injury or death, the complaint said.
Legal authorities handed Mellis 10 charges, including five charges of violence with a deadly weapon, according to the Department of Justice. He pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges.
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/girlfriend-capitol-rioter-accused-hitting-cops-stick-speaks-justice-j6-1630520
Here's images of Mellis on Jan 6th on youtube:
https://youtu.be/bP8-jeazWMY
Only not objective in response to RayB is what I am wondering about, J.
You seemed to find fault with him instead of just looking candidly at his question. And it is a good one. One you wondered about yourself.
Because I still believe you are aiming at objectivity, agreeing or not, but in that case may not be as objective as you want to be because something is clouding that is what I question. I think it's got some of that tone to it and I am your friend. But don't feel alone in that, we can all go there. At times I know I have.
That is what I am speaking to.
You would point out the same to me, shoe on the other foot, am I right?
And certainly, it's up to you if you think you are objective or not. My opinion is only that, opinion, and isn't anything to bank on. It's only a blog.
You, RayB, and Craig, paul (on that rare occasion) and only a hand full of others are why I even read the comment section of this blog. In spite of X and poet and a couple of others with an agenda.
2:27 PM At J
My thoughts too...
RayB,
You wrote:
J,
You haven't answered my questions:
What about Ray Epps? Why hasn't he been arrested J?
What about the political prisoners that are being denied their Constitutional rights?
YOU accused me of "not caring about the truth" ... which is a lie.
On a previous rant, you also accused me, out of absolutely nowhere, of "not caring about Ukrainians being killed," which is another lie based upon your imagination.
But that's ok J. You're entitled to your opinions, even though they have no basis in fact.
12:53 PM
__________________________________________________________________________________
I don't know why Ray Epps has not been arrested. Do you think he should have been arrested? If so, why?
I don't know whether to jump to the conclusion that there are "political prisoners" being held for committing no violent crimes on January 6th. Could you please define what you mean by political prisoners and provide examples of them?
Could you explain why I need to construct a defense on the opposite side of those two questions you posed about the above two subjects? What do those two questions have to do with the facts I listed out about Roger Stone, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers?
I did not accuse you of not caring about the truth. I asked, do you not care about the truth? You answered that you do care about the truth. I did not say, "No you don't! I know you don't!" Now did I? "I know you are a liar!" No, I didn't say that, did I? I let it go.
On a previous comment, I stated that you did not seem to me to show empathy for the Ukrainians who were being killed. If you provide an example of you expressing any empathy for concern for them, I will immediately apologize to you. I recalled you saying Putin was fighting the NWO. It seemed to me that you were implying, "So what if any innocent Ukrainians are dying? Don't be a sucker and care about them. The NWO wants you to care about them! Be on Putin's side, because he is fighting the NWO." If that is an unfair characterization, please inform me, and I will be happy to immediately stand corrected on that score.
You must not be too angry at me. You only repeated "J" once. Sometimes you have repeated "Craig" over and over again when you were angry at him. And sometimes you've done the same with repeating "Constance" over and over.
Why is it, RayB, that you demand others answer all your questions, but you never answered my questions about your smear/insinuation/false accusation of Constance really being X or really being just like X? Why is that, RayB? Why, RayB? RayB, why?
Did you ever think Constance was really X, RayB? Or were you just trying to say you really think Constance thinks just like X does, RayB?
Have you never read the many blog posts where Constance has said things X would disagree with, RayB? Have you never read that Constance disagreed with X in the comments section about Amy Coney Barrett, RayB? Have you never read the blog post in which Constance support Kavanaugh, RayB? Have you never noticed when Craig pointed out that X disagrees with Constance about the Great Reset and climate change, RayB? Why haven't you ever noticed, RayB? Why won't you answer all of my questions immediately every time I pose them, RayB?
Another Rayb lie:
Jonathan Mellis and all the other J6 defendants aren't "Political" prisoner. Mellis is a dangerous criminal that attacked Capitol Police officers and his actions were caught on camera. State judges may be lenient but I don't think federal judges are as prone to releasing persons caught that assault police officers. He and most/all others have been charged with actual crimes that have nothing to do with his/their political thoughts or ideologies.
In other words, the defendants were charged with crimes not because of their political views, but because they allegedly committed violent acts or other crimes during the insurrectionist riot.
Most were not held in custody while awaiting trial, but some were and a very few remain in jail having had their motions for release denied by judges far more familiar with the details and risks/threats of each defendant than me.
x
4:18 PM - I know, right?
I recall Rayb pretending to have secret info and instead of just emailing Rich he had to announce he was emailing Rich.
It seemed to be about me.
I don't personally find dox'ing immoral or unethical. I'm not embarrassed about my views and fight to expose heresy here.
When you speak the truth to people that don't "love the truth," you're always going to be an object of their hate and scorn. What's really interesting is that truth is hated most by what I refer to as "religionists" (non-churched non-bible reading "chrsitians"). Often, when you speak the truth to the non-religion people of the world, it isn't met with anywhere near the level of hatred and scorn.
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. John 15: 18-21
x
In Feb 2022 regarding Putin Rayb posted an article by his favorite historian, Patrick Buchanon saying, in part:
... Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again...
On a side note and despite Rayb's carrying water for Putin as a some sort of Hanoi Hannah....
The Ukranian counter-offensive way up the country threatening to cut-through and cut-off supply lines and isolate the southern Russian forces is quite an interesting development the last few days.
x
X 4:33 PM,
Most of the time when I've read about doxxing in the media, it's been a story about people being threatened by mobs or a story about people being fired from jobs. It seems intended to intimidate and silence those who say things online that anger other groups.
I don't think it's warranted unless somebody is truly very evil and dangerous, like a pedophile or a terrorist. If that's the case, then the responsible thing is actually not to dox such a person. It's to report them to the FBI.
That helluva mess Ukraine is not something you can really speak to X.
Admit you don't know about this subject either.
You just sound like off on corrupt government talking points---come on man!
Biden! Ukraine! All in the same sentence! Think!
J,
I think you might enjoy this video re: Baptist leadership's reactions to Christian Nationalism
Sep 9, 2022: The United States is seeing the rise of Christian nationalism and how it's deeply impacting today's political climate, especially with the far-right. Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, has studied the roots of Christian nationalism. Tyler joins Reality Check's John Avlon to discuss how Christian nationalism is used as a political ideology to merge one's faith with partisan politics
Baptist leader speaks out: 'Christian nationalism is not Christianity'
https://youtu.be/vZukWuT9lcA
I noticed a comment cementing how far back this problem actually goes.... Way back in the 1950's apparently Barry Goldwater said: “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”
x
2:50 PM,
I've had a tone with RayB, that's true.
I will make this last time, the last time.
I'm going to let it go.
I listen to you because I know your heart is in the right place, and you have a heart for God.
5:32 pm
I didn't even mention Biden...let alone conflate Biden and Ukraine in the same sentence (not that there is a problem with that had I done so).
And...even Fox News has reported on the Ukrainian counter-offensive...
https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukrainian-soldiers-advance-30-miles-3-days-kharkiv-major-counter-offensive
x
X 5:37 PM,
Interesting links about Christian Nationalism.
Of course, it needs to be appropriately defined, so it doesn't become another weaponized term.
I'm interested in it mostly for the sake of trying to get my own head straight and my own heart right. I'm continuing to study it intermittently. I want to identify its influence on me and compare it to the Bible.
J, 5:38 PM & 5:56 PM
This is why I appreciate your posts.
Indeed, there has been more than enough weaponizing.
Words need to edify and I'm working on that too. I pray for His help to keep the Spirit of Christ in my thoughts and in my words.
I believe you mean what you said about being steered by the Lord's Word, where our help comes from, enabled by the Holy Spirit. James 1:5 is a promise. It's the best, and the only way forward. Everything else is going to standstill, or backwards.
You may, or may not, agree but I think we are headed straight for very dark times--in the world at large, so I am thankful for friends wherever they may be found.
I think your attitude is part of the solution, not part of the problem.
God bless you.
5:42 PM
It means you need to connect the dots.
Down the long and winding road leading to totalitarianism ...
BOMBSHELL: “Jack-Booted Gestapo Has to Show Up at Their Door!” — Steve Bannon Tells Charlie Kirk 35 Trump Allies Had Homes Raided by FBI on Thursday (VIDEO)
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/bombshell-steve-bannon-tells-charlie-kirk-35-trump-allies-homes-raided-fbi-thursday/
J @ 5:56
She/they do so on their website "Christians against Christian Nationalism" that seems to somewhat parrot that quote I shared months ago ... "'Conservatism' consists of the lone proposition that there must be in-groups the law protects but does not bind and out-groups the law binds but does not protect.'
Here's the Christians against Christian Nationalism take (getting more at who we should aim to be versus chasing a specific defintion of "them"):
As Christians, our faith teaches us everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. As Americans, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our constitutional democracy. Today, we are concerned about a persistent threat to both our religious communities and our democracy — Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.
As Christians, we are bound to Christ, not by citizenship, but by faith. We believe that:
* People of all faiths and none have the right and responsibility to engage constructively in the public square.
* Patriotism does not require us to minimize our religious convictions.
* One’s religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should be irrelevant to one’s standing in the civic community.
* Government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion.
* Religious instruction is best left to our houses of worship, other religious institutions and families.
* America’s historic commitment to religious pluralism enables faith communities to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing our theological convictions.
* Conflating religious authority with political authority is idolatrous and often leads to oppression of minority and other marginalized groups as well as the spiritual impoverishment of religion.
* We must stand up to and speak out against Christian nationalism, especially when it inspires acts of violence and intimidation—including vandalism, bomb threats, arson, hate crimes, and attacks on houses of worship—against religious communities at home and abroad.
Whether we worship at a church, mosque, synagogue, or temple, America has no second-class faiths. All are equal under the U.S. Constitution. As Christians, we must speak in one voice condemning Christian nationalism as a distortion of the gospel of Jesus and a threat to American democracy.
source:
https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/statement
6:30 pm
Arresting and executing search warrants on fascist criminals who engaged in criminal activities is NOT a march toward totalitarianism but a stand against totalitarianism.
These people are not above and beyond the rule of law and Steve Bannon asking for the support of the very people he is accused of defrauding is just completely ridiculous.
Rayb ...why do you embrace and support thieving criminals?
x
Death Cult Democrats spread their lawlessness ...
"End Of Days" Near As Illinois Set To Eliminate Cash Bail For Violent Offenders
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/end-days-near-illinois-set-eliminate-cash-bail-violent-offenders
Excerpted from the article:
The Counter Signal reported SAFE-T Act ends cash bail and includes 12 non-detainable offenses, second-degree murder, aggravated battery, and arson without bail, as well as drug-induced homicide, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, intimidation, aggravated DUI, aggravated fleeing and eluding, drug offenses and threatening a public official.
After Jan. 1, individuals charged with the above crimes will be free to roam the streets without bail.
NOTE: Without having to post cash bail, the criminal has ZERO incentive to show up for his/her court date. Everywhere that this insane policy has been implemented, crime has skyrocketed.
In Noah's day, "the earth was filled with violence." We are going to see violence on a scale that is beyond the imagination.
Rayb...
Do you have Stockholm syndrome?
Steve Bannon stole MAGA money. He robbed you and your MAGA friends out of money donated to the fake Build A Wall campaign.
Trump's done the same thing. He knows he lost the election but plays this part to defraud the MAGA faithful of funds using the big lie as a desperate fundraising campaign slogan.
Sucker: https://youtu.be/BJ0vPIo9eyY
Transcript:
Dear MAGA, we have some bad news.
No, not that he lost.
Not that your little coup attempt failed,
and its planners and the attackers are going to jail.
No, the really bad news is why Trump told you he lost,
why he set it up way before the 2020 election.
It wasn't voter fraud, but it was fraud.
Trump told you the election was stolen
to rip you off, to sucker you,
to take your hard-earned money
and shovel it into his pockets.
He spent it on himself, not to take back the White House.
It was the biggest scam in political history.
Every dollar you sent him
paid to keep his shaky business empire
and lavish lifestyle going.
It was a sucker's game all along.
And you know who the sucker is?
It's you.
FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas to many people on Wednesday. One was Stephen Miller. They were served documents that say they must appear in court. The documents gave a wide range of reasons for their required court appearance. More information will no doubt leak out and be reported over the coming days and weeks.
I'm not seeing any cooroboration of the 35 Maga Co-Conspirators having their homes/businesses or whatever raided by the FBI.
It may have happened but believing a guy just arrested for stealing $15 Millions dollars of Maga funds on Thursday this week doesn't seem like the most reliable person to garner such information.
On the other hand, 35 maga co-conspirators would be a good start as the figurative noose tightens on our former mafioso crime syndicate President.
x
I remember when Steve Bannon was out of the good graces of Trump world. Trump gave him the nickname of "Sloppy Steve." Trump tweeted in Jan. 2018 that Bannon told lies to Michael Wolff, who wrote an unflattering "tell-all" book, Fire and Fury, about the early days of the Trump administration.
8:52 PM
So Prez Biden and Hunter deserve a pass in your estimation huh?
I do not think it even possible for you to be a bigger phony than you are at present.
Bias does not allow the truth to come forward, it is about lies and coverups, the truth suppressed in unrighteousness as Romans Chapter 1 states it. It is ungodly and your bias is extreme. You reek.
God will hold you accountable.
11:41 pm
Don't know where you got that idea from and how Biden and Hunter relate to Steve Bannon's actual criminal behavior but I'll bite a bit....
Hunter Biden doesn't get a pass in my book. He's an adulterer and drug addict who, it looks like to me, sold others on the idea they may get influence with Joe Biden.
Joe Biden loves his imperfect son and Joe has probably bailed the kid out a time or two but I highly doubt he's done any real business with him since he became Vice President under Obama. Hunter doesn't have a lot of skills or smarts it seems so what else do you expect of a drug addict.
There is absolutely nothing to the Biden Ukraine story that wasn't Biden undertaking and administering US policy on behalf and at the direction of Obama's state department. Hunter is a full grown man who exploits his father's name and prestige, not unlike many children of Presidents have before him, including the Trump children (who also appeared to have an issue with cocaine now and then).
Some people struggle living up to their famous and powerful fathers. Don, Jr. broke down in tears the other day talking about getting some credit from his dad who, in his words, treats him harsher/worse than he treated Hillary Clinton at the debates. It was kind of a sad personal moment he shared.
x
Bunk. The Biden crime family is getting a pass and you are okay with it. There is so much that is known but will not be pursued because he is a Democrat. You won't delve there, won't even scratch that surface will ya? Phony as a $6 bill. So much for being a guy who wants the truth to come forward. You still reek.
Also you said: "Bias does not allow the truth to come forward, it is about lies and coverups, the truth suppressed in unrighteousness as Romans Chapter 1 states it. It is ungodly and your bias is extreme. You reek. God will hold you accountable."
1. We're all biased to some extent or another and depending on the issue
2. Truth can be discussed and discerned between biased individuals...especially since we are all biased.
3. Much of the extreme bias you see from me is mocking the ridiculous extreme bias of the Maga qanon crowd herein as a allegoric lesson so it is really yourself you are lecturing.
x
12:09 am --
Wonderful example of empty claims devoid of evidence. Wonderful to see you come around on politicians being subject to the rule of law.
Biden has been in public service as a US Senator, Vice President and now, a President since 1970. He has no criminal record and hasn't been personally sued over 4,000 times as Trump has. Biden has disclosed his tax returns back to 2016 ( https://joebiden.com/financial-disclosure/# ) and he probably did that years prior to that too. Where's the money?
"Crime family" is just ridiculous rhetoric. He may be a bit of an exaggerating doofus but the leader of a crime family is just not the case.
x
They Don't Care About You at All!!! Jordan Peterson
youtube.com/watch?v=1tgES-mt3Wc
X @ 4:54 PM,
You quoted Patrick Buchanan, as first quoted here by RayB:
... Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again...
You used this as a preface to accuse RayB of …carrying water for Putin as a some sort of Hanoi Hannah...
This is not at all how I read RayB’s quote of Buchanan. I understood Buchanan to say—and RayB to agree with him—that the USSR (Russia) was once a “great and respected power” in a matter-of-fact, objective way, and NOT as supporting Russia, let alone Russia’s war on Ukraine. I understood RayB using the quote to provide perspective on just why Putin started the war—not that he necessarily agreed with such reasoning.
It’s not right (or Christian) to impute ill motives on someone’s contribution here a priori. In the above case, why not just ask RayB what he meant, if you weren’t exactly sure (because you are not omniscient)? Why not give the benefit of the doubt?
This exemplifies my earlier charge against you re your ‘extreme bias’ against him. From my perspective here it borders on, if not reaches, hatred in an ad hominem kind of way.
----
X @ 12:13 AM,
You said: Much of the extreme bias you see from me is mocking the ridiculous extreme bias of the Maga qanon crowd herein as a allegoric lesson so it is really yourself you are lecturing.
This stated ‘mocking’ as “allegoric lesson” is obviously falling short. The message you claim to be conveying is failing to reach its purported audience. Why not try changing your tactics to a more direct approach? Your current approach only serves to inflame. It’s not helpful, and it’s not Christian.
And, rather than deflect by whataboutisms—as I suspect you’ll try—I suggest you engage in Christian self-reflection instead.
---
X @ 4:33 PM,
You wrote: I don't personally find dox'ing immoral or unethical. I'm not embarrassed about my views and fight to expose heresy here.
Well then why not just post your full name here? You don’t because you wish to retain anonymity—like everyone else here. And I have no problem with that, which is exactly why I am strongly opposed to doxing. When I’ve seen this done it was in attempts to ‘cancel’ the person. And many times this is over an interpretation (opinion) about the person (or false identification), and many of these times it’s an exaggeration (straw man).
Prepare for Starvation: Jordan Peterson
youtube.com/watch?v=94Sd-bRhCNo
A report from the radical middle - What If Trump's Conspiracy Was Way Bigger Than We Know.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-if-trumps-conspiracy-was-way?fbclid=IwAR2ygU66XI4-HHBuj2R628eZ1wk9ngfGuZWow9tu98M9nk1bR1ZMzPGBPXA
Linda
Biden says nearly 14% of his 1,500 agency appointees identify as LGBTQ
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-nearly-14-his-1500-agency-appointees-identify-lgbtq-2021-06-01/
WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - Nearly 14% of U.S. President Joe Biden’s 1,500 federal agency appointees identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, he said on Tuesday in a proclamation marking the start of Pride Month celebrating the LGBTQ community.
Biden’s Monkeypox Response Coordinator Digs Bondage Outfits & Satanism
(Somehow, the mainstream media has missed this)
https://headlinehealth.com/bidens-monkeypox-response-coordinator-digs-bondage-outfits-satanism/
What In The World Is Wrong With This Country? By Michael Snyder
(Interesting article from a conservative Christian viewpoint)
http://endoftheamericandream.com/what-in-the-world-is-wrong-with-this-country/
Craig,
The Pat Buchanan quote was one example of several Hanoi Hannah posts made by RayB. There’s no good search engine here for me to timely find the others where he was basically suggesting Ukraine brought this on themselves, Putin is justified, should have known they had no autonomy and are unnecessarily the cause of all these deaths (and they’re gonna lose and need to give up now).
I think that quote was in February 2022 before the invasion and before his nazi denying silos really kicked into Putin propagandizing gear.
My use of allegory has many times worked perfectly here. In fact, you are lecturing me for things others do persistently and exposing your own extreme bias in the process. I pray you see that and self-reflect. You surely must see that RayB is not a Christian here and giving him the benefit of the doubt again and again only lends support to his manipulations and outright blasphemy. Doxxing him wherever he resides in the Buffalo -Cleveland corridor would be exposing evil, not bullying. That’s biblical. Exposing myself would be subjecting myself to evil bullying. RayB is already evil, he doesn’t care about being bullied as he is a bully. He be reaping what he sowed. Maybe someday you’ll lecture him to stop.
I give you, Craig, the benefit of the doubt.
I love you Continuationist Craig (lol) but pleasing you isn’t my goal here. Just truth & defending the Gospel.
X
X,
You wrote: My use of allegory has many times worked perfectly here.
Some have picked up on your over-the-top hyperbole, but I don’t see how this ‘worked perfectly’ as you intended and now claim. That is, no one thought that you were doing it as allegorically ‘mocking’ another commentator in an attempt at showing said commentator the ‘error of their ways’. That message isn’t received until the point at which you explain that this is what you were doing. And, frankly, it then comes across as ‘naaa-na-naaa-na poo-poo’.
But more important, it comes across as gaslighting, as I’d mentioned above. It’s not a good way to get your point across, and to effectively communicate.
Unfortunately, you resort to whataboutisms, as I suspected you would:
In fact, you are lecturing me for things others do persistently and exposing your own extreme bias in the process. I pray you see that and self-reflect.
Try either (a) ignoring them or (b) forthrightly and directly ‘rebuking’ them, as opposed to this indirect and ineffective way. You are sometimes direct, and I have no problem with that.
You wrote: You surely must see that RayB is not a Christian here and giving him the benefit of the doubt again and again only lends support to his manipulations and outright blasphemy.
I don’t make any statements definitively claiming someone is or isn’t a Christian. As I read Scripture Jesus is the Judge. And I missed RayB’s purported ‘blasphemy’.
I’ve called out RayB numerous times. J observed some of his tactics—which I’d called him out on when he did it to me—above (@ 4:18 PM): You must not be too angry at me. You only repeated "J" once. Sometimes you have repeated "Craig" over and over again when you were angry at him. In my case, instead of turning it around on him by repeated his name ad nauseum, I merely replied that I’d noticed he resorts to using my name over and over in his repeated comments when I don’t accede to his demands.
You wrote: RayB . . . doesn’t care about being bullied as he is a bully . . . Maybe someday you’ll lecture him to stop.
Now THAT I don’t disagree with—at least sometimes. If you have a different OPINION on a particular matter, he sometimes resorts to bullying and badgering, and repeating his demanding questions ad nauseum (see directly above). After a while, it’s best to just to ignore him when he does this. As Linda did recently when RayB tried to bait her into a response re supporting D instead of R.
But, X, my comment was directed at you.
Be the better person.
I'll try... it's hard rebuking certain unGodly persons, mockingly and allegorically, with nice words. You kind of have to match their tone to make the counter point and expose the hypocrisy. They'll never get it otherwise. But I'll try, again.
This may be a regional thing and I'm not knocking you as I misspell and make errors all the time (i.e. - complementarianism) but isn't it... ‘naaa-na-naaa-na boo-boo’ not 'poo-poo'?
I may not let you forget this one, Pooh.
x
X,
Thanks for saying you'll try. I (and I feel sure others) appreciate that.
I could say that I meant 'poo-poo' in this case--as a sort of spoof on your 'mocking allegorical' approach, but that would be dishonest of me. I don't see 'poo-poo' anywhere with respect to this idiom. So, I guess that leaves me with egg on my face. Or poo.
Well, poo...
12:13 AM
Bias when acknowledged means you can say it is your speculation, mere opinion.
You, though, you demand we all must take what you post as absolute fact.
Arrogant of you to present your posts this way and then denigrate people when they disagree with you.
This is why you reek.
Too proud to give space for possibility of your own errors, big or small, or possibilities of errors of others, whether big or small.
"Much of the extreme bias you see from me is mocking"
Sure...that makes people want to take you seriously.
It still reeks.
That's just dumb, ineffective, rude, and makes you look like a jerk with zip for credibility.
And you are that to the "9"'s. You're the only one favorably impressed with your "teaching" style.
Grow up.
https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/medical-crisis-declaration
Doctors declaring Medical Emergency in 34 countries
Never Questioning is the Road to Happiness ...
61,000 Millennials Aged 25 to 44 Died in 2021 After COVID Vaccine Mandates – 84% Increase in Mortality Rate
https://healthimpactnews.com/2022/61000-millennials-aged-25-to-44-died-in-2021-after-covid-vaccine-mandates-84-increase-in-mortality-rate/
Excerpts from the article:
Edward Dowd, a former portfolio manager for BlackRock and the author of the upcoming book “‘Cause Unknown’: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022,” has been analyzing data related to all-cause mortality since March 2021.
Dowd is familiar with predicting trends and observing patterns, and became interested in studying CDC data after he heard many anecdotal accounts of vaccine injury. He found a monumental spike in sudden deaths occurring in the fall of 2021 to early 2022 in the working age cohort, which corresponded to the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates for federal and corporate employees.
“The age cohort from 25 to 44, which we call the millennials, experienced an 84 percent rise of excess mortality into the fall of 2021—August, September, October—and the rate of change was just dramatic,” Dowd told EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders program during an interview that premiered Sept. 6. That “represented about 61,000 Americans who perished from March 2021 to February 2022.”
From the Corbett Report ...
Excellent documentary that may cause you to *question what you know about the Middle East
Link to part 1:
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1744-false-flags-watch-along-part-1/
Link to part 2:
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1745-false-flags-watch-along-part-2/
*If you want to be happy, you might not want to watch this, as it contains some very disturbing truths.
PS: Do I believe and agree with everything that is contained in these videos? NO. But it contains significant amounts of information that needs to be at least considered.
Embalmers are now speaking out on this...
Embalmers Have Been Finding Numerous Long, Fibrous Clots Lacking Post-Mortem Characteristics
The clots are lacking key elements present in healthy human blood, such as iron, potassium, and magnesium, suggesting that they are formed from something other than blood.
https://virutron.com/embalmers-have-been-finding-numerous-long-fibrous-clots-lacking-post-mortem-characteristics/
Just a thumbnail sketch of what this debacle really did
From the article.....
"I submit to you that the COVID policies—shutdowns and lockdowns; “stay home, stay safe;” mandatory masking, social distancing, testing, and vaccines; and so on—perpetuated by the American left and those like-minded were the greatest demonstration of fascism the United States has ever known. In the nearly 250-year history of the U.S., never before has the American government exercised such power over its citizenry as it did in the name of “slowing the spread,” “following the science,” and the like. And never before in the history of the U.S. has the exercise of government power been so misinformed and misguided, with such disastrous results."
....
"The cost of the American left’s COVID fascism was not only measured in trillions of dollars lost, but countless sickness and death as well. Never forget the COVID fascists who for far too long plagued America. Most certainly remember them when it comes time to vote. If we don’t hold them accountable—and most importantly, remove them from power—I can almost guarantee you that they will do this again when the next “crisis” arrives."
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/09/never_forget_the_covid_fascists.html
Regarding the American Thinker article of Anon 5:48 PM, I wish to remind everyone of my ‘food for thought’ comment (@ 9:12 PM), in which I quoted (1982) Cumbey as claiming the New Age Movement meets every test of Nazism.
Craig,
Yes, and someone should point out that the current Democrat Party meets every test of the New Age Movement.
And embalmers are likely finding graphene strands.
Judge orders Fauci and his co-conspirators to release records showing plandemic collusion between government and Big Tech
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-09-09-judge-orders-fauci-release-records-plandemic-collusion.html#
There’s hundreds of thousands of Americans laying in caskets under ground, especially in red states and red counties where the rules were relaxed far too early that would certainly disagree with the American thinker’s assessment. Had covid mutated into worse and worse variants we’d certainly be criticizing the government for not doing enough. Our fractured leadership system actually revealed a weakness in decentralized reactions to pandemics as red governors were able to kill citizens and spread disease to other states without cost or culpability. Desantis and Abbott should be in jail…not celebrated but then dead people don’t really vote, do they?
I haven’t dived into Edward Dowd’s grifting book but it’s very obvious he’s trying to paint the uptick in delta mortality (he even states specifically looking at august, sept and October 2021 when Florida & Texas Governors were killing the most citizens with delta) across the board, which is also when many more younger (and largely unvaccinated) persons were dying in fall 2021 than in 2020… with the increase in vaccinations in early 2021. Birdseye view this book is already an exercise in disinformation and statistical lies and I’ve just read one quote.
Not to mention, Former black rock employee interviewed by cult tv (epoch times) -sounds so trustworthy, doesn’t it?
X
Btw, respectively… shutting down and taking precautions in order to save lives out of caution not knowing exactly how deadly a novel virus might be isn’t as “new age” as pretending it will magically disappear or simple medicines can somehow magically protect and/or cure you if you get infected. It isn’t as new age as criticizing actions OUR government (both Repubs and democrats) in hindsight as if they should have done everything perfect if only they’d listened to the prophetic words of false teachers like Greg Locke.
The “new age” isn’t a democrat thing. It IS a Maga thing. Sure there are some hippies on the far left too but all those men and women Mrs Cumbey battled in the 1980 & 1990’s are all on the ecumenical Maga alt right now looking to assume command of the GOP, then US and then the world.
You’re being duped.
Just my opinion.
X
X,
Where does the World Economic Forum's The Great Reset and the Alliance of Civilizations fit in with your schema?
X,
Had we protected the vulnerable (aged) and let those less likely to have bad outcomes mingle as each felt comfortable, it may have quickly reached the point at which it would be much less transmissible, and thus become endemic much sooner. Moreover, such a practice could very well have alleviated variants.
And it is quite possible that vaccinating during a pandemic is just the sort of thing to breed variants.
9:12 PM @ Craig
SPOT. ON.
WATCH: Democrat Tulsi Gabbard says Biden administration is 'weaponizing' federal agencies against political opponents
https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-tulsi-gabbard-says-biden-admin-is-weaponizing-federal-agencies-against-political-opponents
Excerpted from the article:
Gabbard acknowledged that the problem has grown gradually over a number of years, from Obama all the way through to the current administration.
Gabbard questioned "why in the world" the IRS needs "$80 billion and 87,000 new hires," and highlighted the fact that the super-rich only make up about 1-2 percent of taxpayers. "THEIR MATH ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT ADD UP," she continued, "which should be frightening and concerning because this means ... THEY'RE COMING AFTER US; they're coming after entrepreneurs, they're coming after small business owners, they're coming after our middle class, hard-working Americans."
"Everything from the IRS, to Department of Homeland Security, their counter-terrorism division, the FBI, the Department of Justice, we are seeing how they are more blatantly in broad daylight being weaponized to target political opponents of those in power and anyone who dares to dissent or question or challenge their actions and policies."
912 Craig,
1. Hindsight is 20/20. The old SARS flu had 9.6% morality rate. ( https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-do-sars-and-mers-compare-with-covid-19#SARS ). So if covid-19 had resulted in anything like that u are suggesting being ok with risking up to perhaps 35,000,000 US deaths.
2. Protecting the elderly and most at risk was something learned during the first few months of Covid 19. By the end of 2020 many things were opening back up as we came to understand the risks.
3. As we learned the mortality rate, absent vaccines and prior to delta, was between 1 and 2% that’s still 3.5 million American deaths if you just let it spread to everyone.
4. What evidence is there that vaccines breed variants at all
5. The delta variant was much more transmissible and deadly, were it not for vaccinesesths protecting large swaths of the community, especially in urban centers, the mortality rate would have been tremendous. It’s also naive to look back and say if everyone caught alpha, and we accepted x amount of deaths, delta wouldn’t have been so deadly. If you recall in the summer of 2021 Desantis speculated that all the deaths Florida was experiencing was just part of a natural infection wave that others would experience their wave that fall and winter but Omicron came and other states didn’t get those waves of death again. Had Desantis taken precautions that summer many Floridians (and the persons in other states who caught it and spread it after visiting Florida) might be alive today. You can’t time and guess the virility and mortality rate of variants.
6. New Zealand and Australia have just a little excess death now as omicron covid went endemic through their populations and some excess death from other delayed medical preventative care but their outcomes have been significantly better than ours. Just ask a dead American like my cousin who would now tell me he wishes he was locked down more and vaccinated.
7. Your underlying premise that seems to me to suggest the vaccines were harmful and didn’t save up to 20 million lives is not evidenced…yet.
X.
X,
Your underlying premise is that the vaccinations were 'safe and effective'. I'm not so sure that's the case. We have NO data on long-term effects, if any.
New Zealand and Australia also paid a very heavy economic price compared to the US as a whole. It's a trade-off. I like The Great Barrington Declaration:
...As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold...
---
You have your opinion on this matter; I have mine.
"https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/medical-crisis-declaration
Doctors declaring Medical Emergency in 34 countries
3:18 PM"
An important read.
The Great Barrington Declaration was and is the science.
And that approach could not be easily politicized.
Some are starting to catch on about who politicized Covid...and why..
X has declared that red states governers are responsible for so many more covid deaths.
This is based on X's opinion. It is not based on any facts at all. Quite the contraray. In fact it is just the opposite of the truth.
8:05 am
Not my opinion. It’s evidenced in the data.
Deaths by partisanship:
https://dangoodspeed.com/covid/total-deaths-since-july
Deaths over time by vaccination rates in states
https://dangoodspeed.com/covid/total-deaths-since-june-2021
A good summary:
“An ABC News analysis of federal data found that on average, the death rates in states that voted for Trump were more than 38% higher than in states that voted for Biden, post widespread vaccine availability.
In addition, in the 10 states with the lowest percentage of full vaccinations, death rates were almost twice as high as that of states with the highest vaccination rates, the analysis found.
Over the span of the last 10 months, in the 10 states with the lowest vaccination rates, where between 50 and 54.5% of the total population had been fully vaccinated, there was an average of 153 COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 residents.
In contrast, during the same time period, the 10 states and jurisdictions with the highest vaccination rates, which all voted for Biden, there was an average of about 82.2 related deaths per 100,000 residents. In all 10 states, about 75% of residents had been fully vaccinated.”
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/red-blue-america-glaring-divide-covid-19-death/story?id=83649085
X
Well I stand corrected.
Between Dan Goodspeed and ABC News, there is no way that any of their data could possibly be fake and phoney.
No way. In fact ABC News has never; not ever once, stretched the truth in any way. They and NBC,and CBS, and CNN, and PBS, and CNBC are ALWAYS in complete lockstep with each other because they always stick to the very factual narrative.
And furthermore, SCIENCE has confirmed that the mainstream media has NEVER ONCE lied, or even made a single mistake in it's daily news NARRATIVE reporting.
The Russia Collusion hoax was true!
The Ukraine Quid Pro Quo hoax was actually true!
The Jussie Smollett hoax was actually a true story!!!
Hillbilly's smashed smartphones were demolished with hammers by mistake! She actually had NOTHING TO HIDE!!!
The Mar A Lago raid was absolutely necessary because Trump actually was holding Top Secret material that could potentially ruin America!!!
And Elizabeth Warren is a full blooded Cherokee Indian!!!
And the Obama administration was completely without any scandals or even mistakes!!! Giving the Iranians a billion dollars in U.S.cash was a prudent and wise decision!
The experimental mRNA jab does in fact stop the virus in it's tracks and completely prevents its further spread, and NO ONE has ever had a deadly reaction to the experimental jab!!!
_And there are dozens of other major news stories in the past ten years, that people think were baldface lies by the mainstrem media, but which were in fact true stories!!!
11:26 AM
Please stop torturing X by 'confusing' him. LOL
The fact mainstream media has gotten some stories wrong and/or has been shown to report with bias and stretch truths under some circumstances is not evidence the numbers Dan good shared and abc news analyzed are/were in any way false or deceptive.
Do you have evidence they are lying in this particular instance?
Do you have analysis or even reasonable speculation of any specific ways they manipulated data to show red states failing versus blue states and/or unvaccinated states failing versus vaccinated states.
Dan Goods website analyzed these numbers in real time as the numbers came in. It wasn’t retrospective twisting of data. He set up the parameters and it could have revealed unvaccinated states and red states outperforming blue states and vaccinated states had that been what occurred.
X
Ps -I’m busy right now and may come back to Craig’s other question and dispute also his notions of the barrington declaration being sound science then or now, in hindsight.
Also contains factual information regarding the 'first" Pearl Harbor which led to America's entry into WW II
9/11 Conspiracy Worth Spending a Few Hours Watching: “The New Pearl Harbor”
https://thelibertydaily.com/9-11-conspiracy-worth-spending-a-few-hours-watching-the-new-pearl-harbor/
PS: Warning: this was not produced by ABC News, so its accuracy of course must be in doubt. LOL
1. The Russia Collusion hoax was true! It wasn’t a hoax. Many convictions and the whole mueller thing was the deception
2. The Ukraine Quid Pro Quo hoax was actually true! It was.
3. The Jussie Smollett hoax was actually a true story!!! Smollet lied, the media just reported the lie then reported the lie.
4. Hillbilly's smashed smartphones were demolished with hammers by mistake! She actually had NOTHING TO HIDE!!! What does that have to do with the media? They reported such, no? Lots of people destroy their technology even after deleting it and clearing it. I destroyed my children’s phones insuring nothing they ever did or photographed as minors accidentally continued to exist in any manner just sitting around in some drawer in my house.
5. The Mar A Lago raid was absolutely necessary because Trump actually was holding Top Secret material that could potentially ruin America!!! Hyberole aside, he’s the one that signed into law just how illegal such behavior is and was given every opportunity to turn them over. The info he supposedly had is pretty shocking. I think the media has been reserved because they are numb from all the illegal crap this guy has done.
6. And Elizabeth Warren is a full blooded Cherokee Indian!!! The media never made this claim, Warren did to some extent and then used a dna test in an attempt to show she did have some ancestral American Indian bloodlines which further offended people (that’s apparently not how you do it but I’ve been saying I’m of x, y, & z descent for years without having to get permission from such countries as proof). I find it much more problematic that Trump pretended to be a Christian than Warren growing up thinking she was more American Indian than she really is/was.
7. And the Obama administration was completely without any scandals or even mistakes!!! Giving the Iranians a billion dollars in U.S.cash was a prudent and wise decision! That’s political opinion which was reflected, with bias, across many media platforms. All administration involve controversy & scandals but None compare to the real, self-inflicted and constant transgressions and scandals of the Trump years.
8. The experimental mRNA jab does in fact stop the virus in it's tracks and completely prevents its further spread, and NO ONE has ever had a deadly reaction to the experimental jab!!! Said no one ever. No vaccines actually do that and no media reported that.
9. And there are dozens of other major news stories in the past ten years, that people think were baldface lies by the mainstrem media, but which were in fact true stories!!! I 200% agree. You’ve been lied to and rarely check that the media largely got things right.
X
10:01 AM
Keep telling it like it is.
RayB,
The liberty daily, really?
Comparing the accuracy of Maga qanon Southern California hippie Roman Catholic grifter jd Rucker with the somewhat, at most, biased professional Journalism of abc news is just ridiculous.
X
I think he’s Roman Catholic. He might be Opus Dei too.
Is this the same JD Rucker?
https://youtu.be/TUtdivOr6uY
X
Craig,
Where does the World Economic Forum's The Great Reset and the Alliance of Civilizations fit in with your schema?
Interesting to read and speculate about here but as organizations made up of various and changing rich people it’s, iMO, less evil than say the heritage foundation, the Maga & the GOP, the federalist society, the Family, and certainly the Roman Catholic Church and her various evil prelates. They certainly have less power and influence over my life than the organizations above set on dismantling Protestant America.
They are glorified progressive think tanks.
At least they aren’t pretending to be Christian.
I’ll keep reading about them but newt and Mitch and trump did more to destroy America than Klaus has even thought about. One reason I would watch them is to see how their progressive new age beliefs fold into pseudo-conservative new age beliefs. One world religion will require the allegiance of both sides.
X
X,
Have you read either/both of Cumbey's books? Have you really studied UN Agenda 2020 and 2030?
Craig,
In response to the not so "great barrington report" here's the immediate response of a few real medical experts. These responses are all dated Oct 6, 2020. When you look back at the effects of Alpha Variant which surged immediately thereafter as well as the Delta Variant in 2021 taking all those lives unnecessarily and that really ran wild through primarily red states & red counties throughout the US and many other places in the world that took a more laizze-faire barrington approach to covid 19 rendered the great barrinton report completely irresponsible rubbish. Ultimately, the Barrington Declaration was based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health.
Here's some Oct, 2020 quotes:
Dr Julian Tang, Honorary Associate Professor in Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, said:
“Having watched their video and read their Declaration, I can understand their concerns and their aims, but they are not very clear about how they will carry out their proposed ‘Focused Protection’.
“The interviewer gave a very simple example of a grandparent looking after a school-age child, highlighting one household member (the child) who would not be expected to suffer from COVID-19 much, who would attend a large gathering with other young people on a daily basis, but where the other household member (the grandparent) should be ‘protected’.
“But the reply from Dr. Jay Bhattacharya in the video was not really understandable and had no practical details of how this would be done.
“In fact, this ‘Focused Protection’ approach is used each year during our annual influenza season, where we vaccinate the vulnerable – elderly and those with comorbidities – including pregnancy: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/; and even primary school children who have contact with such vulnerable groups in an effort to further protect the vulnerable: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/child-flu-vaccine/
“And if this fails to prevent influenza infection of the vulnerable groups, we have antivirals like oseltamivir and zanamivir that we can give to anyone who has influenza or in whom we even just suspect influenza (as empirical therapy during the influenza season) to reduce the severity of their illness.
“But we don’t yet have these additional ‘tools’ (the vaccine and antivirals) for COVID-19, to assist with this ‘Focused Protection’ approach.
“A similar approach may also work for COVID-19 one day – indeed a similar vaccination strategy for COVID-19 to that of influenza (targeting the most vulnerable) has already been discussed in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-25-september-2020/jcvi-updated-interim-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination; but we don’t have a COVID-19 vaccine yet, nor a more general use antiviral treatment.
“So I appreciate and understand the concerns and the sentiment behind this declaration, and of course other diseases are important and need attention, but without these anti-COVID-19 ‘tools’, I cannot see how they will achieve this ‘Focused Protection’ for these vulnerable groups in any practical, reliable or safe way.”
Dr Rupert Beale, Group Leader, Cell Biology of Infection Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, said:
“An effective response to the Covid pandemic requires multiple targeted interventions to reduce transmission, to develop better treatments and to protect vulnerable people. This declaration prioritises just one aspect of a sensible strategy – protecting the vulnerable – and suggests we can safely build up ‘herd immunity’ in the rest of the population. This is wishful thinking. It is not possible to fully identify vulnerable individuals, and it is not possible to fully isolate them. Furthermore, we know that immunity to coronaviruses wanes over time, and re-infection is possible – so lasting protection of vulnerable individuals by establishing ‘herd immunity’ is very unlikely to be achieved in the absence of a vaccine. Individual scientists may reasonably disagree about the relative merits of various interventions, but they must be honest about the feasibility of what they propose. This declaration is therefore not a helpful contribution to the debate.”
AND then...
Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor of Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, said:
“There is no current evidence about COVID-19 to suggest that a long-term passive approach has any merit. Despite the huge advances in our understand of the coronavirus and resulting infection, we don’t know that herd immunity is even possible. Natural, lasting, protective immunity to the disease would be needed and we don’t know how effective or long-lasting people’s post-infection immunity will be. Just to find out whether this is possible, would be to consign a great many more thousands of people to their deaths, and many more would be left suffering from the effects of long covid, which even less is well understood.
“There is also the fact that we haven’t properly got to grips with how to shield vulnerable populations adequately and neither do we have the capacity in the UK to test for asymptomatic infections. Furthermore, we’re also still only scratching the surface of how the virus is transmitted.”
Dr Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton, said:
“The Barrington Declaration is based upon a false premise – that governments and the scientific community wish for extensive lockdowns to continue until a vaccine is available. Lockdowns are only ever used when the transmission is high, and now that we have some knowledge about how best to handle new outbreaks, most national and subnational interventions are much ‘lighter’ than the full suppressions we have seen for example in the UK across the spring of 2020.
“Those behind the Barrington Declaration are advocates of herd immunity within a population. They state that “Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal”, with the idea being that somehow the vulnerable of society will be protected from ensuing transmission of a dangerous virus. It is a very bad idea. We saw that even with intensive lockdowns in place, there was a huge excess death toll, with the elderly bearing the brunt of that, and 20-30% of the UK population would be classed as vulnerable to a severe COVID-19 infection. Around 8% of the UK population has some level of immunity to this novel coronavirus, and that immunity will likely wane over time and be insufficient to prevent a second infection. A strategy for herd immunity would also promote further inequalities across society, for example across Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. The declaration also ignores the emerging burdens of ‘long COVID’. We know that many people, even younger populations who suffered from an initially mild illness, are suffering from longer-term consequences of a COVID-19 infection.
Source: https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-barrington-declaration-an-open-letter-arguing-against-lockdown-policies-and-for-focused-protection/
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