There is little doubt that the global economy is extremely volatile right now. The markets are doing a remarkable impression of a world class roller-coaster. If you’ve been working all your life and have a retirement plan that contains investments in the Stock Market, being on edge is quite understandable.
In the United States we’re crawling our way up out of a recession – no thanks to the Republicans – and things are quite fragile in our economy right now. Ask anyone old enough to understand the global economic crisis and invariably you will hear similar expressions of unease.
Be afraid… be very afraid!
It is this very unease that creates a market niche that companies dealing in “precious metals” are eager to fill. Have you been paying attention? It seems to me that ever since the big “Y2K” scare, when all our computers were going to crash and send us back into the stone age, we’ve had one threat after another. Without putting my tinfoil conspiracy theorist cap on, one could almost get the impression that someone(s) were orchestrating global events to keep everyone right on the verge of panic.
First Y2K, then the “911 Attacks,” then two wars, one totally unnecessary and against a nation that had nothing to do with the “911 Attacks.” This led to a highly strained U.S. Economy. Next the wealth of our nation was siphoned off into the European banking houses through the “Real Estate Débâcle.” One thing after the other. There is small wonder that right about now, for a segment of society, visions of a post apocalyptic future seem all too real.
We see this with the proliferation of survival shows such as, “Dual Survival,”“Les Stroud’s “Survivorman,”“Doomsday Preppers” and others. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in preparation and self-reliance. There is a fundamental flaw in the logic of people who sincerely believe that gold is going to be of any value in a world that has totally gone to Hell.
Thinking The Unthinkable
Nobody ever thinks about toilet paper. How much do you have stored up?
Let us go there for a moment. Let us embrace with open arms this fantasy scenario wherein we are all in survival mode, fighting to protect our loved ones, foraging and bartering for food and the needed essentials. Suppose I had a large supply of toilette paper. If you doubt it’s value, imagine going a few weeks without it. After you’re good and chafed, you’re going to want to buy some toilette paper.
Will you attempt to give me a gold coin for a roll or two? I’m probably going to ask, “what else you’ve got?” Why? Because gold isn’t of much value in the type of scenario you’re imagining. As of today, the price of 1 oz. of gold is roughly $1,606 US. However, if the world goes to hell, there won’t be any markets artificially inflating that price. I’m certainly not going to part with $1,000 worth of toilet paper for your one coin. Breaking off a piece of that coin would make it even less attractive as a bargaining chip. The simple truth is, a handful of .22 caliber bullets would have more intrinsic trading value than a handful of gold coins. You might even be able to negotiate a one bullet per roll price.
Gold Scams And The Precious Metals Market
The first thing you need to know is, the precious metals market is largely unregulated!Read that again. Convicted felons can and have opened precious metals brokering companies. There are no reporting requirements. No agency inspects the gold to make certain it is of the purity levels claimed. For all you know, you could well be purchasing a gold plated lead slug… and that’s if you actually opt to take possession of the gold you believe you’re purchasing.
Many companies try to push you into what they call a “secure storage contract.” This is supposedly a highly secure storage vault where they will store your gold for a nominal fee. The beauty of this is you never see your gold, you never take physical possession of your gold, all you get are quarterly statements – a piece of paper – claiming how much your gold is worth based on the current market price. What could possibly go wrong?
In point of fact there have been criminal enterprises wherein people have been duped into converting their entire retirement accounts into gold. The broker took the money, and neverpurchased any gold with the money. People were told their non-existent gold was secure in their vaults and began receiving quarterly statements on their non-existent gold. When that “rainy day” came, as it always does, those poor souls discovered their retirement savings were all gone and in many cases the broker had skipped out with their money. It was only then they learned that gold is not insured under the FDIC.
What about gold backed securities? You’re investing in the stock market and that is regulated so you should be safer right? Here’s the problem with this theory. You never buy high in hopes your stock will go higher. Gold – just like the salesman says – is at an all time high. Will it go higher? It might. However, it also might go lower. All investments carry risk. If you decide to cash in your investments, you’re going to be paid in good ol’ U.S. dollars. If the dollar crashes as the profits of doom are predicting, you’re still back to trying to get value for those dollars.
The simple facts are if the United States goes under, gold and dollars aren’t going to do you a lot of good. You’re back to the example I gave with regards to toilette paper. If a gold coin has no value to me, a paper dollar surely won’t.
Gold Scams – Ugly Truths About Gold Investing
Talk radio is rife with hucksters predicting the end of the world as we know it. “Buy gold” they say. Isn’t it ironic that almost every group prophesying the end of the world or the end of the United States, always seems to want your money to tell you all about the horrors to come. If the United States, or the world is coming to an end, what good is money?
You can hear expert after expert(?) pointing to the beginning of our demise as being the point where we got off the “gold standard.” I’m not advocating the Federal Reserve system by any means. However, we need to interject some reality and some facts. You simply cannot have a global economy based on the gold standard. Money is transferred all around the world in the blink of an electronic eye. This is necessary for our economy to compete.
Nations with whom we do not have an established rate of exchange, we are negotiating with – sometimes minute by minute – the exchange rates between their currencies and ours. You simply cannot ship gold around the world fast enough to keep up. It can’t be done. The global economy would grind to a halt. You might not like this, but this is the reality in which we live. Very few U.S. Citizens are in love with China, yet the isles at Walmart are full all day long with people buying cheap Chinese made goods.
When you go to the grocery store and purchase fresh fruit in December and January, corn on the cob, strawberries and broccoli, precious little of that was grown in greenhouses on U.S. soil. You are reaping the benefits of a global economy. That global economy requires the ability to transfer funds at electronic speeds. You simply cannot do this with gold.
Most of the people lamenting about the U.S. leaving the “gold standard,” simply do not understand economics. They’re no better than the hucksters trying to get you to invest in gold when it is at an all time high, and trying to get you to place your hopes in an unregulated market. We supposedly regulate our Stock Market and you see how it almost destroyed itself and the rest of the American economy. Imagine what could happen to you in an unregulated market.
After surviving eight disastrous years of the Bush – Cheney Regimeand the near apocalyptic consequences of that, the nation decided to do something different for a change. Instead of electing the next fool in line, we decided to actually put some thought into it. We went with a young African-American Senator. Some might say, he had “limited experience” but he was extremely gifted. He was highly educated. In touch with the youthful vitality of our nation. Full of infectious hope, he would bring new ideas to the table.
No matter how great he is, he still needs blockers.
The weed of racism has deep roots in our American garden and we had to work mightily to overcome the choke hold of it’s grip on our politics. We refused to take “no” for an answer and beat back the doubters with the mantra of “yes we can.” And we did it! Then we all took a rest from our labors. It was almost as though we had passed our star “Running Back” the ball and we headed to the bench to watch the game. Politics like football is a team sport. No matter how gifted one might be, they cannot defeat the opposing team all by themselves. Did everyone really believe that the Republican opposition was going to join us on the benches and sit back and watch President Obama run up the score? Based on our actions, or more correctly inactions, that seems to be exactly what we thought.
Obstruct
The very night of President Obama’s first inauguration, while we wept, danced and celebrated, Republicans were behind closed doors plotting our downfall and destruction. Their primary objective as expressed by Mitch McConnell, “was to make President Obama a one term President.” They purposefully decided not to govern and to obstruct any and everythingPresident Obama has attempted to do.
I’m beginning to suspect the real problem Republicans have is our President happens to be Black!
We have had a record number of filibusters since President Obama took office. They’re on track to shatter that record again this year. We’ve seen Republicans sponsor a bill, then when President Obama says “it’s a good idea” they’ve voted against and killed their own bill. Even bills that used to be proforma – no brainers – such as VAWA – The Violence Against Women Act – have met with stiff opposition. Whom in their right mind wouldn’t vote to pass the Violence Against Women Act? If you’re reading this, you’ve got a mother… guaranteed. That’s a bill you’d vote for if for no other reason than you’ve got a mother.
Racism Exposes Stupidity
Here’s the thing everyone needs to remember. The Republicans control the House of Representatives. Thus there is no need for even one filibuster in the Senate over a bill!If you need to, read that again. Before a bill ever makes it to the President’s desk for his signature, it must first make it through not one, but both Houses of Congress. Thus merely for the sake of seeming reasonable, why wouldn’t you let it pass the Senate with no opposition and let the Republican controlled House of Representatives take the hit for blocking it? Senate Republicans could act responsibly and give the impression that they were reasonable and above the fray. However their innate racism causes them to do things that simply make no common sense and ultimately, are bad strategically. I fully expect Mitch McConnell to lose to Ashley Judd in his next election and it will be his own fault. For those who need a refresher course on how our legislative process works, I present a classic “School House Rock.”
Given that Republicans have all lined up to be fitted with their patriotic, red, white and blue straight jackets, you would think that the Democratic Progressives would be pressing their advantage and mopping the floor with a Republican party in full disarray… They are not!
Have Progressives Lost Their Damn Minds?
When your foe has shot himself in the foot, you don’t rush over and bandage his wounds, give him a shot of morphine and a crutch so he can continue the fight. You put him away… efficiently and with finality. This is not a sport. This is a fight for the future of our nation. If you have the strength of convictions in your political philosophy and ideologies, you have but one objective and that is to shape this nation in accordance with your principles. Make no mistake, the Republicans – if they were not busily engaged in cutting their own throats – would press their advantage without hesitation if the roles were reversed.
Senate Majority Leader – Harry Reid
With the initiation of this most recent Congressional session, the Senate – under the control of the Democrats and Harry Reid – had the opportunity to change the rules and hamstring the rampant abuse of the filibuster process. No need to totally get rid of it. Just return it to the way it used to be. If you want to filibuster a Bill, hold the floor until you either cannot hold it any longer or until you persuade your fellow legislators to come over to your side. The way it currently is, a Senator can filibuster a Bill and the public might not even know which Senator had done this… or why! Have Progressives lost their damn minds? This one is a no-brainer!
The Subtle Bigotry Of Back Seat Driving
Ed Schultz
Have you noticed that there are an awful lot of Progressives offering free advice to President Obama via their talk shows? I’ve been paying attention to politics ever since the first Presidential election I was old enough to participate in. To be sure, there have been Presidents I have thought were excellent and Presidents with whom I had strong disagreements with… of both political parties.
To be sure, the media coverage fell along the lines you might expect. Pundits took issue and disagreed with Presidential positions and other Pundits defended those positions. What I have not noticed, up until now, has been every Tom, Dick and Harry with access to a television camera, telling the President of the United States how he ought to do his job. This is a new phenomenon. Yes, we’ve taken issue with a lot of the policies of nearly each and every President there has been. However, there was always the ever present, silent acknowledgement that the President had access to information that common people simply do not have access to.
Chris – I voted for Bush – Matthews
The game has changed with our first Black President. Progressives have now developed a cottage industry built around telling our President what he ought and ought not do. It is one thing to take issue with his decisions, it is quite another thing to proffer step by step instructions. I even heard Chris – yeah, I voted for Bush – Matthews saying that the President ought to have the Republicans over to the White House more for dinners and get-togethers. Really? Evidently he hasn’t been paying attention to the numerous times the President has done that very thing only to be rebuffed and snubbed by the likes of Boehner and McConnell.
How quickly we forget, the night before President Obama announced to the World the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden, he was at the annual Press Club dinner, laughing and joking and being the butt of a joke about having forgotten all about Osama Bin Laden. While he laughed at the joke, he knew that an operation was under way to bring Osama to justice.
Moaning About Drones
Katt Williams – Perhaps not as crazy as we think?
This issue is simply stunning in it’s insipid stupidity! When Anwar al-Aulaqi met his richly deserved fate, the first thing by way of an epitaph that popped into my mind were the words of that great philosopher and fount of all things wise – Comedian Katt Williams – “you shouldn’t of been talking shit!” Yes, Anwar al-Aulaqi was born in these United States. At one time he was a United States citizen with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. For the sake of this discussion, let us presume that he had at no time renounced his citizenship and was a citizen in good standing.
Anwar al-Aulaqi gone to his own personal Jihad in the sky.
What seems to have gotten the Progressive panties in a knot is the fact that our government killed a United States citizen with “malice aforethought,” and without according to this citizen(?) the due process guaranteed under the United States Constitution. I hope you’ll find my summary of the issues satisfactory. Here’s the point. This happens every damn day in these United States, most often it happens to a Black or minority citizen. When a police officer – agent of the government – guns down an unarmed Black or minority person, that person is just as dead as Anwar al-Aulaqui! That person got just as much due process as Anwar al-Aulaqui. In almost every instance, there was far less justification for this murder at the hands of our Government than there was for the execution of Anwar al-Aulaqui.
I direct your attention to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Article 3 – The Judicial Branch
Section 3 – Treason
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
I personally saw video tapes of Anwar al-Aulaqi calling for the overthrow of the United States and attempting to foment violent uprisings. This is beyond dispute. Had Anwar al-Aulaqi been on United States soil or in a nation with whom we have extradition treaties, he would have been brought to justice in one of our courts of law. He was in Yemen. Our relationship with the government of Yemen is strained to put it mildly. We couldn’t really pick up the phone and have him delivered to us.
Could we have sent in Seal Team 6 to retrieve him? Perhaps. However, that would have been extremely costly and risked not only the lives of some of our nation’s finest, it would have put a lot of civilian lives in peril. Could we have sent in an attack helicopter to take him out? Of course! But what’s the difference? The fact of the matter is, Mr. Al-Aulaqi was brought to justice, efficiently and with the least amount of collateral damage possible. We did not put the lives of our military personnel at risk and we did it for a fraction of the cost of putting boots on the ground. So what’s your complaint? Have Progressives lost their damn minds?
My Rights Are Better Than Your Rights
Rachel Maddow
One of the most surrealistic examples of idiocy occurs five nights a week on MSNBC at 9 pm. eastern time. That is when “The Rachel Maddow” show airs. Ms. Maddow is unabashedly lesbian. She has a partner or wife or whatever they term their relationship to be, and has referenced this fact on her show… usually in passing. You can almost guarantee that a segment of her show each evening will be devoted to the struggle for “Gay Rights.” Usually it is either the first or second segment.
I get it! Rachel is a lesbian activist and the issues which impact her lifestyle are very important to her. She is a tireless campaigner for Gay equality. The right to marry, the right to adopt children, up until President Obama did away with DADT – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – the right to serve openly in the military. These were issues that we’d hear night after night after night. All of it was under the aegis of the recognition of Rights and equal protection under the law.
The problem becomes apparent when the subject of firearms comes up. Rachel is as virulently anti-gun as she is pro-Gay rights. Although she is a Rhodes Scholar and has attended Oxford University on a full scholarship and holds the equivalent of at least one doctorate degree, possibly more, Rachel seems oblivious to the fact that if gun Rights are open for review and removal, so are Gay Rights. Rachel, if you cannot respect and support my Rights, why should I support and respect your Rights? The Second Amendment is not in the Bill of Privileges. It is in the Bill of Rights. Have Progressives lost their damn minds?
When Faking Ignorance Becomes Stupidity.
Lawrence O’Donnell
Lawrence O’Donnell is another blight on the ass of common sense. Although Mr. O’Donnell frequently gives the impression of being a lawyer – he references writing legislation for the Senate Finance Committee – it turns out he never actually went to Law School. Perhaps that might explain some of the cockamamie nonsense he spews when it comes to gun Rights and other legal matters.
On this evening’s show he was bawling yet again about guns. He recounted the story of a woman going through a divorce who was threatened by her husband. In particular, the husband told her that the did not want her new boyfriend anywhere near his young son. She ignored his advice. He subsequently showed up with one of his firearms and threatened her life. The police were called. He was arrested.
I sat in stunned amazement while Lawrence carped about the Police not removing this man’s firearms while he was under the protective order filed by his soon to be ex-wife. You do not have to be a lawyer to know, this isn’t the movie “Minority Report” we’re living in. We do not punish people for what they might do. Anyone can get a protective order. Here in Indiana, a protective order is filed as a matter of course whenever a divorce is filed for. Whether it is needed or not. As a matter of fact, in the right court, I could get a protective order against Lawrence O’Donnell. Chances are, he wouldn’t have to be present and may never even know I’d filed for one.
His guest attempted to allude to this fact, to wit: you cannot punish someone for something they haven’t done, but Lawrence soldiered on by pointing out that people have their passports taken even though they have not been convicted of a crime. Evidently Lawrence equates a criminal indictment with a request for an order of protection. It just occurred to me, perhaps Lawrence isn’t faking? Have Progressives lost their damn minds?
Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory
The Republican party is in disarray. They have no real leader. The crazy wing has taken over the Republican party. Now is not the time to join them. Now is the time to press our advantage. The NRA is not the problem. Most people who have owned firearms for any length of time consider the NRA to be a toothless lion. We own firearms for various reasons. The protection of ourselves and our families being primary.
The dirty little secret is, citizens of these United States really take the whole “land of the free, home of the brave” thing seriously. It is not a Republican thing nor a Democrat thing, it’s an American thing. As Democrats we realize that Government does and should play a vital role in advancing the quality of life. However, when Government begins to flex it’s muscle and tell us what we can eat and drink – Michael Bloomberg – we begin to find this as repugnant as Republicans wanting to insert government into a woman’s womb. There is not a lot of difference.
Each piece you run on gun violence doesn’t say we need to be disarmed. If anything it proves how dangerous society has become and why weneed to be armed!After eight years of the “Bungling Brothers Circus” there is a lot that needs fixing. We have a competent and capable President in the White House that needs our support on the things that matter. This faux issue ginned up by the Progressives – not the Republicans – over Drones, is a waste of time, a distraction and only serves to weaken our position. Instead of attempting to tell our President how to do his job, how about we get behind him and help him? Or have Progressives really lost their damn minds?
In an information vacuum, the injection of any piece of data or information is seized on and subsequently becomes the basis or foundation upon which all subsequent data is judged. Those raised in Christian homes are introduced to the Bible and it’s concepts at an early age. At a time when one is not only too young to ask questions, but doesn’t even know which questions to ask, these concepts are imposed on the blank slate of a defenseless mind.
It is often easier for a parent to apply God as a cause than actually give a comprehensive explanation to the questions of a child. For example, I have a grandson whom when he was very young wanted to know the secrets of the universe. He wanted to know the answer to everything and he would ask me questions incessantly. In an effort to gain some peace and quiet I would often have to impose a moratorium on his questions. Usually 10 minutes or so. He would watch the clock until the moment his 10 minutes were up and begin again.
I don’t know if I did myself any good because he probably used his time to think of even more questions to ask. When dealing with children I always try to be mindful that my interaction with them will be a part of the foundation they use to build on for the rest of their lives. Thus, I do not talk down to them. I do not lie to them. If they ask me a question, I will give them the most accurate and comprehensive answer I am capable of. I tend to treat them as though they are miniature adults.
Why is the sky blue Papa?
On one fine day, my grandson was in rare form and I was on auto-pilot answering his questions while I cleaned the kitchen. My oldest son was sitting at the table working on some college level homework and evidently was monitoring our exchange. My grandson asked, “Papa, why is the sky blue?” Without giving it a second thought, I launched into an explanation covering the chemical composition of our atmosphere and how certain gases absorbed various frequencies of light. This of course necessitated an explanation of the electromagnetic spectrum. I finished, drawing everything together by saying that the red frequencies of light were absorbed by the various gases, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and the blue frequencies were allowed through thus giving us the impression that the sky is blue.
I continued cleaning the kitchen until I noticed the deafening silence. I turned to look at my grandson – he was about 6 at the time – he was staring at me with his mouth open and a totally confused look on his face. My oldest son was doubled over with his shoulders shaking trying valiantly to conceal the fact that the was cracking up with laughter. It was then I realized my mistake. At which point I told my grandson, “the sky is blue because that’s the way God made it.”
A smile of understanding broke across his face and all was good. It was a simple answer that he could understand and it satisfied him on that question. This happens all the time. God is used at the ultimate explanation for everything and in particular anything we do not understand. In an information vacuum, the first piece of information we are given becomes the basis or foundation for which all other data is judged.
Racism In The Media
When it comes to our society, segregation of the races has been practiced from the beginning and although there are cracks beginning to appear in the bulwarks, we still tend to enclave based on our ethnicity. Thus, white people don’t know a lot about black people, don’t know a lot about Hispanic or Asian people.
Racist indoctrination through the use of sterotypes
The media through movies, radio and television programming floods this information vacuum with often stereotypical portrayals of the various races. Some of these stereotypes are delivered in cartoons when children are extremely impressionable. Consider the Character of “Charlie” in the old “Mr. Magoo” cartoons. You have a totally stereotypical depiction of a Chinese man.
Antonio Fargas as Huggy Bear
Sitcoms are another source of stereotyping. When you have no reality to base things on, what you see depicted on television becomes your reality. While you’re laughing at Jimmy Walker’s portrayal of “J.J.” what are you being taught about Black people and the Black lifestyle? Remember the old Starsky and Hutch serial dramas from the 70’s and 80’s? What was the only Black character with a recurring role? He was a pimp. Now if you went to school with Black people, worked around Black people or even attended Church with Black people, you would have had some actual experiences to balance these depictions. However, in our society, this is often not the case.
All Black people cannot dance. I’m one! All Black people are not good at playing basketball. I’m going to have to admit to being in this group as well. I competed in Track and Field and was a member of the Chess Club in school. Although I cannot dance, I’m a fairly accomplished Jazz musician; Saxophone. The point is, there is as much variation between individuals in the Black race as there are in any other race. Images and depictions do matter.
Christianity And Modern Black Enslavement
Even in Church, the white man is watching your every move.
When we apply this imagery and iconography to the religion of Christianity, the effects can be profoundly detrimental. No matter how we couch the theology, the subliminal subtext remains that:
The white man is your God.
You are hopelessly lost without the white man.
You must look to the white man for your salvation.
Until the iconography is corrected and the imagery restored to what it was in the beginning, so long as Black people continue to embrace Christianity, it will be difficult if not impossible for them to achieve self-determination. Yes, there may be a Black preacher in the pulpit, but there’s a larger than life white Jesus looking over his shoulder.
There are questions the news media never asked regarding the Christopher Dorner Case. This is troubling because we live under a Democratically elected, Constitutional Republic. Many people are convinced that while our form of government may not be the best there is, it is far and away better than any of the other ones out there.
In order for our system of Democracy to function, we require a fully informed voting public. Thus, our News Media – “The Fourth Estate” – is crucial to the functioning of our free society. We depend on our News organizations to ask the questions that we, the public cannot. We also depend on them to get answers to those questions. Sadly, to date, there are questions the news media never asked regarding the Christopher Dorner case. I intend to ask a few.
Questions The News Media Never Asked
Why were there no surveillance videos of Christopher Dorner related to his commission of a crime?
The Camera Never Blinks
The reality is, we live in a surveillance society. You cannot go to the corner store or the shopping mall without being recorded by several surveillance cameras. You certainly cannot enter a parking garage without appearing on their “security cameras.” Could someone who had cased the garage avoid the cameras? Possibly. However, his victims would not have been avoiding those cameras. Chances are, the car in which Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence were murdered in, was in clear view of a camera. Thus the question is why no video of the crime?
The same question applies to the “ambush” in which two officers were shot, one being killed. There are a limited number of routes to exit the area in which this ambush occurred. You’ve got a clearly defined window of time. You’ve got a clearly defined location. With all the different surveillance cameras – many controlled by the State of California – where are the video clips showing the suspected vehicle leaving the area?
We’ve seen surveillance video of Christopher Dorner purchasing SCUBA gear. We’ve seen a clip from a surveillance camera of him entering a motel or some other establishment. Thus, we know that LAPD did collect surveillance videos in their investigation. However, where are these crucial video clips that would prove Christopher Dorner was at least in the area?
Cellphone tracking data, where is it?
Of course some of you might suggest that surely Christopher Dorner dispensed with his cellphone during his crime spree and his subsequent run from Law Enforcement. Living in our modern world, we all leave electronic “bread crumbs” wherever we go. Our cellphones are communicating with cell towers. The GPS in our cars and in our phones are pinpointing our exact locations. As an LAPD officer, Christopher Dorner would have known this.
However, the San Bernardino Sheriff felt it necessary to request that the media covering the final stand off, stop tweeting for “officer safety.” This indicates that they believed that Christopher Dorner had a “smart phone” with which he could monitor the “Twitter-verse” for tactical updates. Was this merely a precaution? Or did they have reason to suspect he had a cellphone with Internet access? If he did have a cellphone, there should be tracking data that would place Chris Dorner in the areas where his alleged crimes were committed. Although they claimed that the trail had gone cold, they continued to search in the “Big Bear” area and never left. Could it be, they had cellphone tracking data putting him in that area?
Where is Christopher Dorner’s computer?
We are told that he wrote an 11,000 word manifesto and posted it to his Facebook account. Surely he had a computer. What all might be on his hard drive? Who was he communicating with? What else had he written? Notes? Plans? Perhaps personal rants against the LAPD? Following the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, we saw pictures of the destroyed and battered hard drive from Adam Lanza’s computer. Where’s Christopher Dorner’s computer?
Where are the pictures of Christopher Dorner’s stash of weapons?
Richard Jewell
Law Enforcement never misses an opportunity to put on public display the weapons they recover from a dangerous suspect. Remember Richard Jewell? He actually saved lives when the Olympics were in Atlanta. He called in a suspicious backpack in a park and got people away from it. It was in fact a bomb and blew up. The federal government suspected his involvement and made a great show of executing a search warrant on his apartment and displaying paramilitary books he owned.
FBI at the apartment of James Holmes, the Aurora shooter.
Richard Jewell was eventually exonerated, but not before his name was drug through the mud. He eventually was given a medal and praised for having saved numerous lives. Following the mass shooting in Aurora Colorado, the news media covered the execution of a search warrant on the home of James Holmes. We saw FBI evidence technicians taking truck loads of evidence out of his home.
Branch Davidian Church complex burned to the ground by the Government.
Even following the Branch Davidian Massacre in Waco, TX, although the church commune was burned to the ground, the ATF managed to bring pristine, never even touched by smoke, assault rifles out, laying them on a table for the news media to photograph. Where are Christopher Dorner’s weapons? If his driver’s license could survive the fire, surely some of his weapons did.
Based on his “manifesto” you would expect to see quite a few. As yet, I haven’t seen such a display. I know they searched a storage facility he supposedly owned, they searched his mother and sister’s homes. If they’d found anything that would paint him in a negative light, I’m sure we would have been treated to a press conference. Perhaps I just missed it. Did you see it?
Resurrecting The Fourth Estate
When there are questions the news media seems to be avoiding, it becomes incumbent upon us to ask them. We need to ask them over and over and over again until we receive satisfactory answers. If you agree, please contact the major news outlets and ask them why they haven’t asked these questions.
What the government, be it State, Local or Federal gets away with once, it will do it over and over and over again. As I’ve said in my previous articles on the subject of Christopher Dorner, he may well have done everything they’ve accused him of and more. However, what if he was not guilty of the crimes he was publicly accused of?
We certainly saw no signs of either extensive planning or an exceptional use of weapons and tactics. Based on the LAPD shooting up vehicles without checking to make certain the occupants were Christopher Dorner and certainly no efforts made to effectuate an arrest or allow surrender, what we had was a government sponsored “Hit” with multiple assassins. This is what a “shoot on sight” order amounts to. Also curious was the eagerness of common patrol officers to engage what the media told us was a highly trained, extremely dangerous felon. One would think that prior to engaging such a suspect, they would wait for backup. Particularly if you had reason to suspect he had fully automatic assault weapons and possibly a .50 caliber rifle. Those things will punch holes through Armored Personnel Carriers. There are a lot of questions the news media never asked. We certainly should be asking them.
There are a number of things I find profoundly disturbing regarding the Christopher Dorner case. They simply do not add up. On the one hand, in the lead up to Chris Dorner’s death by a self-inflicted gunshot and subsequent cremation, which strangely enough, seems to follow a pattern repeated time and again, two mutually exclusive pictures of Christopher Dorner have emerged.
A Tale Of Two Dorners
Ex-LAPD Chief William J. Bratton
On the one hand, we have a man whom passed the psych evaluations of both the United States Military and the LAPD. According to William J. Bratton, previous chief of the LAPD, the LAPD psych evaluation is one of the most stringent in the nation. Thus, to characterize Christopher Dorner as psychologically impaired seems a bit suspicious.
If he “snapped,” when did he snap? What was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” so to speak? Since we never got to actually hear from Christopher Dorner – his supposed “manifesto” notwithstanding – we have been forced to rely upon the characterizations by the LAPD, their spokespeople and the “talking head” shills, touting their credentials as having been FBI profilers. The stories they’ve told describe a large, dangerous, motivated man, who had been trained by the US military in survival, marksmanship, demolitions and a host of other rather nasty anti-social skills. On top of this training, he also received the best training the LAPD had to offer as well. This supposedly gave him knowledge above and beyond any ordinary fugitive. He knew LAPD tactics and procedures.
Talking Head Shill, Clint Van Zandt
To make things worse, to believe these media accounts, Chris Dorner had been planning this since 2008. Take a man with these skills, resources, the time to plan and prepare, you have an extremely dangerous foe indeed. This wasn’t a wasp stinging a buffalo, this was a Ninja striking from the shadows at night causing all of us to remember why we fear the dark. LAPD with the help of the United States military had created a “Frankenstein Monster” who was now stalking them. One might imagine that every Law Enforcement Officer in the area, was hearing the theme music from “Jaws” every time they stepped out of their door. The shark was out there. They were like swimmers praying they would make it back to the boat with all their limbs intact.
If one was attempting to orchestrate the media coverage to strike fear into the hearts of anyone in the area wearing a Law Enforcement uniform, they couldn’t have done it any better. However, the reality of the events as they unfolded, not only did not fit the trailer for the movie, they didn’t even follow the script.
The Manifesto
First of all, anyone trained in tactics and certainly anyone who knows the methods of the LAPD, would know better than to post on Facebook, a “be advised, I’m coming to kill you” heads up, complete with a list of targets. The first problem is, once people start dying it identifies you as the number 1 suspect. The 2nd problem is, all your targets become harder to hit. They go into lock down. They get a security detail, much like exactly what happened.
If 3 or 4 officers get shot, for no apparent reason, the panic you would cause would be multiplied because they would have no context to place the murders in, no suspect and no apparent motive for the crimes. If you’re going to wait from 2008 until now – 5 years – you’re not impulsive. You’re not even likely to be considered a suspect. LAPD would have been like a dog chasing it’s tail.
This brings us to the next problem. Christopher Dorner was accused of going to war with LAPD. Wars require planning, logistics, staging areas, tactics and strategy. Christopher Dorner would have learned this and practiced this during his time in the military. Yet, we saw no evidence of any of this as events unfolded. Give me 5 years to plan a campaign, and I’m going to have several “safe houses,” some hideouts, various caches of arms, ammunition and supplies, several vehicles, and an escape route all planned out. I am not going to be running, gunning and shooting it out with Law Enforcement. No high speed chases. No having to car jack civilians, no breaking into homes. I would be staying in one of my safe houses watching the news reports. Yet we are asked to believe that Christopher Dorner, with all his LAPD and military training, posted a manifesto with a list of targets, went on a shooting rampage, began with the lowest hanging fruit, the daughter of the attorney that defended him and then went on the run with no apparent backup plan? Does any of this seem suspicious to you?
Curiouser and Curiouser
One of the oft repeated explanations by Law Enforcement to explain the extreme difference in response when one of their own is shot as opposed to an ordinary citizen is, a person who will shoot a Cop poses and extreme threat to society. When a police officer is shot, they will throw every resource at their disposal into catching – and usually killing – the person accused of having done the shooting. When an ordinary citizen is the victim of a violent crime, their response is much more pedestrian.
The truck was shot up AFTER it had passed. Clearly not a threat.
The LAPD and its media shills, spared no expense in painting Christopher Dorner as a crazed madman. They told us ahead of time that he probably would not surrender and that he would probably go out in a “BLAZE of glory.” Their reasons for these predictions became clear early on if you were paying attention. They shot up two civilian vehicles shooting two women delivering papers and the truck of another man who happened to be White. Witnesses say that at no time did the Police give the people in these vehicles the opportunity to surrender. No attempt was made to arrest the occupants of these suspected vehicles. Let alone any efforts to determine whether or not Christopher Dorner was actually in the vehicles.
If you were Christopher Dorner and you were aware of these incidents, what would your response be upon being approached by Cops? The message was clear. Arrest, surrender is not an option! Under these circumstances, what would you do?
Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence
Yes, Christopher Dorner was depicted as a crazed madman, but was he? Remember, there were no witnesses and no physical evidence of Christopher Dorner having shot anyone. All we have is the alleged “manifesto” he is supposed to have posted. If we are to believe that he murdered the daughter of the attorney who defended him, as well as her fiancé who was unrelated and not involved, then why did he not murder the two women he held hostage? Tying someone up is much more problematic than simply shooting them. In point of fact, they managed to release themselves and call the police.
Same question with the fellow he “car jacked.” Leaving witnesses behind who could reveal your demeanour, details of any conversations, what equipment you had with you and of course, describe the vehicle you took, would not be a sound strategy. Wouldn’t a “crazed madman,” a person on a rampage simply shoot these people?
They’re awfully close to that cabin aren’t they?
Then of course there is the conclusion. Christopher Dorner holed up in a mountain cabin. Helicopters circling. A gun battle raging ending up with the cabin being destroyed by fire. The official police version was that Christopher Dorner took his own life in the end and they stress that they did not intentionally set the fire. Unfortunately, there is a YouTube video where you can hear the police plainly state, “get the gas and burn it down.”
Why burn it down? Fire does an exceptional job of destroying evidence. If he had any documents on him, if he had a USB thumb drive with evidence, fire would have destroyed them. Of course, saying that he committed suicide also absolves the police in the minds of the public for his murder. Isn’t it funny that all these types of cases seem to end with the person saving the police the trouble of shooting them?
But the driver’s license survived… Yeah right!
Then there’s the curious nature of the fire. We watched that fire burn that cabin all the way to the ground. The fire burned so hot the police couldn’t go in and search the rubble until the next day after the fire department hosed it down. The body was so charred that it could not be positively identified… however, they did find his wallet with his driver’s license which miracle of miracles did not burn up in the fire. Does this seem suspicious to you?
When you add it all up, according to the police accounts, Christopher Dorner could not steal a boat even though he was in the Navy. He drops his LAPD badge on the dock and next turns up almost 200 miles away. His truck breaks an axle and he sets it on fire which is guaranteed to draw attention to it. Takes two women hostage and holds up for a few days before one of them escapes and calls the police. He then steals their vehicle, dumps that and car jacks another vehicle, gets into a gun fight with a couple of fish and game officers and then flees into the woods and holds up in a vacant cabin where he ends it all in flames. It is possible all these things happened just as reported. The problem is, none of this fits the original description of the highly competent trained killer depicted by the media.
How About An Alternative Possibility?
Man Hunt Map
Everything hinges on this “manifesto” supposedly published by Christopher Dorner. But what if he had nothing to do with it? I’m sure the first question that may occur to you, if you’ve taken the time to read it might be, how could he not have published it since it contains so much personal information? Information about his childhood. School experiences. Time in the military etc? Where would anyone get that information? Simple. Remember his psychological evaluation performed by the LAPD? The personal information contained within the “manifesto” could well have been covered, disclosed and in his files.
Suppose tomorrow you went to log into your Facebook page and discovered something on your wall, presumably from you, that you had not posted. Suppose it contained threats and a “hit list?” What would you do? We know that Christopher Dorner was a “whistle-blower.” He had broken the “Code of Silence” and been fired for doing so. Would he have sat quietly for 5 years? Or perhaps he would have continued to collect information. What if he had come across some extremely damaging information on some people in power in the LAPD hierarchy?
What would someone in power do? They would have to discredit him and silence him. Notice that the only person remotely attached to his hit list that was murdered, was the daughter of an attorney who made a career of defending Cops against the LAPD. Not a high ranking LAPD officer. The other Cops that were “ambushed” were low ranking patrol officers. Again, not high value targets on his “hit list.” It seems peculiar to me that one would put a paramilitary organization – that’s what the LAPD is – on notice and then for your opening bid, not go for a high value target, but pick off some relative peons on the force and the daughter of an attorney whom the LAPD probably doesn’t care for to begin with.
This is a tale of two Dorners that simply doesn’t fit. When things do not fit, we should pay attention and bring to bear the most critical examination possible. We owe it to ourselves to not only ask hard questions but demand the answers to those questions. If Christopher Dorner was the threat he was built up to be, why then did the officers who encountered him open fire immediately rather than call for backup? It’s a job not an adventure. The objective is to go home to your family at the end of your shift. The only thing you would have to do is maintain visual contact at a safe distance until reinforcements arrived. Initiating a gun battle was unnecessary and cost one officer his life. I am convinced there is much more to this story than we have as yet been told.
If he is crazy, clearly psych screenings are a waste of time…
Last night President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union Address. The reality is this has become mostly theater however, there was some substance in his address. If we were to be technical, once he said, “the state of our Union is strong,” he could have ended his speech, dropped the mic and walked off the stage. Of course, that’s not how we roll. So, allow me to hit some of the highlights.
The Way Forward – SOTU 2013
SOTU – 2013
President Obama did a masterful job of laying out where we’d been and how far we’ve come. Yes, we’ve got a long way to go. However, we can see daylight in the distance. After a decade of war, we will be leaving Afghanistan within the next year. We’ve created 6 million jobs, we’re using less foreign oil than at any other time in the past 20 years, Corporate profits are at an all time high, we’ve cut our deficit by 2.5 trillion dollars, we’re producing more domestic oil than we have in the past 15 years and nearly half of all new energy production has come from wind power.
The future has the potential to be bright indeed. Tempering this outlook for peace, love and happiness, was acknowledgement of an extremely truculent Republican Party who to date has shown little inclination to do anything other than obstruct the President’s agenda while shooting themselves in the foot… repeatedly!
The Way Forward
How can any sane person oppose the VAWA?
President Obama laid out a host of programs that the Republicans have opposed. Many of them are what could be considered, “no brainers!” VAWA – The Violence Against Women Act – there shouldn’t even be a discussion on passing this. Politically, women are over half of the electorate. They’ve voted for and passed it in the past, why not now? The “Fix It First” program, we can see our infrastructure crumbling all around us. Whom in their right mind wouldn’t want our bridges and roads repaired? How many bridge collapses do we have to have before the Republicans come to their senses?
If we don’t fix our infrastructure, we will become a 3rd world nation.
If you were sitting in your home with a leaking roof, and it was pouring down rain, you wouldn’t sit there for long trying to catch the water in buckets. You’d take the next opportunity – go into debt if you had to – to secure and fix your house. The United States is where we live. It is our home and we need to fix it.
Immigration Reform
Take America Back??? From whom?
Immigration reform. Again another no brainer. The fact is, we’re down to almost zero illegal immigration across our southern border. The problem is, we’ve got people who were brought here as children through no fault of their own. They don’t have any ties or connections with Mexico to speak of. Some don’t even speak Spanish. All they’ve known is the United States and some did not even know they were here illegally until they went to apply for a job after college. What do we do about them? We’ve educated them. They’ve been paying taxes and working along side us to build a better country. Send them home? This is the only home they’ve ever known. Some have even served and some have died in our military. Fixing immigration is long overdue.
Again, do the Republicans think they can survive alienating the growing Hispanic population? Their anti-immigration posture is lunacy writ large. Mitch McConnell said, “President Obama is out to destroy the Republican Party.” If that were his intent, he’d have to do nothing but simply get out of their way. They’re doing a fine job of destroying themselves.
Minimum Wage
Raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour? Again another no brainer! If you think tax cuts will stimulate this economy, raising the minimum wage will do it better and quicker. Here’s a dirty little secret. When you give rich people money, they save it. When you give poor people money, they spend it. Who do they spend it with? They spend it at all the businesses ironically owned by rich people. It is just common sense that anyone who works a full 40 hour week, shouldn’t be living below the poverty level. If you cannot make enough to live by working, what exactly is the point of having a job? Think of the crime, raising the minimum wage would cut down on. People will do whatever it takes to live… up to and including robbing you.
Gun Violence
Paul Revere’s Ride
This has been both the foil and the bane of the Democratic Party. My personal opinion is that they should treat it like the 3rd rail and leave it alone. Here’s why, our culture is based on gun ownership. Going all the way back to the Revolutionary War, Paul Revere wasn’t riding through towns to alert the military. He was calling up the militia. Who were the militia? The militia was defined as all males between the ages of 16 and 45. These were common ordinary citizens who came with their own personal firearms, ammunition and supplies. In the army, your weapons and equipment is supplied. You’re given a uniform. Think about that word “uniform.” Uniform means that everyone, everything is the same. Everyone is issued similar weapons, similar ammunition, given similar training and is dressed similarly.
In the Militia, you come as you are and you bring what you’ve got. Had it not been for individual gun ownership, we would still be a colony of Great Britain and our national anthem would be “God Save the Queen.” So ingrained was this lesson in our early history, the importance of personal firearms ownership was codified into our Constitution. This is what the 2nd Amendment was about.
Understanding The 2nd Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Let’s take the first clause. This seems to cause people some problems. In order to regulate the Militia, the Militia must first exist. You cannot regulate what does not exist. When the armed citizenry come together as a group, they form the Militia. Then they can be regulated. They can be organized into groups. Given assignments, taught tactics what have you.
Why would you do this? You would do this because they are necessary to the security of a free State. Now remember whom the Militia is. All males between the ages of 16 and 45. They have to have their own firearms because the State or the Federal Government isn’t burdened with having to issue these citizens arms or supplies. This brings us to the latter clause. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Our Gun Culture
Clint Eastwood – The Man With No Name Trilogy
Guns in the hands of our citizens have been critical to not only our survival as a nation, but to our expansion into the west to fulfil our “Manifest Destiny.” Firearms were used to feed us and protect us on the frontier. The heroes in the old “Dime Store Novels” were the likes of Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hitchcock, Wyatt Earp and “Doc” Halliday.
When the motion picture industry came into being, the quick gun shootin, rooty toot tootin, Cowboy became and American icon. Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and a host of others became our heroes. They all solved their problems with fast and accurate shooting. We played with cap guns in plastic holsters.
As we matured, guns and their use matured with us. The wise cracking, fast shooting Cop shows of the 80’s like “Miami Vice” introduced us to shoulder holsters and ankle holsters. Do I need to mention James Bond with is Walther PPK?
The Duke
Thanks to movie ratings, we never saw the reality of the aftermath of a shooting. No pools of blood. No gray matter and brain tissue splattering the walls and the floors. No mothers falling out and weeping. It was all neat clean and tidy. Only lately have they begun to show limited realism in the CSI type shows.
Is it any wonder that our relationship with firearms seems so excessive to other cultures? You simply cannot undo over 200 years of our culture by passing a few laws. If you could wave a magic wand and remove all 300 million firearms from these United States, all you would succeed in doing is creating the worlds largest “Black Market” for guns. We can’t even keep drugs out of the country. Guns? I don’t think you can train “gun sniffing dogs.”
With these facts in mind, pursuing the tools of gun violence – the gun – will only serve to alienate – remember our culture – those who might otherwise stand with you on all the other issues. I fully understand the raw emotion of the issue when it comes to parents and family members who have lost a child to gun violence. I understand because my oldest son was murdered by a thug with a gun. So, I’ve been there. This isn’t theory for me, I’ve lived it. The gun didn’t murder my son. The piece of excrement who pulled the trigger did.
The Republican Response
The official Republican response to the State of the Union was delivered by Marco Rubio, the junior Senator from Florida. It was a colossal train wreck! First of all, his response was clearly written before he had the opportunity to hear the President’s address. You could determine this because he was rebutting statements and points that the President never made.
Marco Rubio’s Water Bottle Moment
He basically rehashed – in some cases nearly word for word – old speeches by Mitt Romney. Then there was the water bottle fiasco. Evidently towards the end of his speech, his mouth got dry. I suppose nerves will do that to you. He leans way off camera to grab a water bottle and it was so inartfully done, the effect was hilarious! I don’t know why they bother. At some point they came to the conclusion that in order to deliver a proper rebuttal, staging was everything. Thus, they’ve tried everything to give their responses more gravitas by attempting to make the staging look as officious as possible.
We’ve had them deliver their response in a State House stacked with phony audience members clapping on cue. We’ve had the disastrous marionette like walk out of Bobby Jindal and now Marco Rubio stands in front of a set designed to appear as though he’s standing in the “Oval Office” with a window behind him. Far be it from me to give them advice when they’re doing so well, but perhaps a bit less attention to form and a little more attention to substance would do them well.
Justifying Murder – LAPD And The Christopher Dorner Case
At the time I’m writing this, ex-LAPD officer Christopher Jordan Dorner is still at large. Officer Dorner is the primary suspect in several murders. At least one of them being a fellow LAPD officer.
If he has done as accused, there is no excuse for his behavior. His actions are reprehensible and would meet almost anyone’s definition of a serious mental pathology. It is not the purpose of this piece to either defend or justify his actions.
What concerns me is the reactions and the actions of the LAPD which presumably is not claiming “diminished capacity” as an explanation or justification for their behavior. If anything, their reaction is going a long way to prove the allegations levelled against the LAPD in Officer Dorner’s so called “manifesto.” The main accusations Officer Dorner levelled were those of racism and police brutality.
A little while later, another vehicle was shot up. Fortunately the man inside was not hit. No commands were given. No opportunity to surrender. No attempts to effectuate an arrest. I was under the impression that the job of Law Enforcement Officers was not to act as judge, jury and executioner, but if possible deliver a suspect to a court of law. What we’re dealing with here is “street justice.”
Warrant-less Searches???
What is the difference between the actions of LAPD and your common street gang? They have been ordering citizens out of their vehicles, searching their homes at gun point without obtaining search warrants as demanded by due process. Does the law not apply to the police? Are they above the law?
I have personally tended to scoff at the likes of Alex Jones when they beat the drums of societal collapse and martial law. However, they suddenly don’t seem so crazy. We are either a nation of laws or we are not! If the LAPD can throw “due process” and the United States Constitution out the window, then anybody can. All they need do is claim to be concerned for their own safety.
A Campaign Of Demonization
The Black Rambo?
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed that the Public Relations department of the LAPD has shifted their tactics. The shift has been subtle, but evident nonetheless. At the beginning the focus of the LAPD was to paint Officer Dorner as mentally unstable, irrational, possibly suffering from PTSD, perhaps because of his service to this country in the Navy. In short, “Crazy Black Man” on the loose! Be afraid, be very afraid! Now, they’re portraying him as some sort of “Black Rambo.”
In an unprecedented move, the LAPD has released video tapes of Officer Dorner going through the common training course allLAPD Officers go through. They showed him on the shooting range – alongside other Officer candidates – remarking on how well he controlled the recoil of the pistol he was shooting. Evidently, according to the anonymous Public Relations representative, being able to control the relatively light recoil of a pistol, makes one an extremely deadly and accurate pistol shot. In point of fact, controlling recoil is not necessarily indicative of accuracy.
Practising disarming techniques with his fellow LAPD officers
They released a clip of him practicing disarming techniques with fellow Officers. Evidently you’re supposed to either forget or ignore the fact that the training he was receiving was the exact same training that allLAPD Officers receive. Thus, how does this make Officer Dorner any more or less dangerous than your average LAPD Officer? It does not.
Clearly what LAPD is doing is laying the ground work to justify murdering Christopher Dorner rather than bring him to justice. The question I have is why? This is a question that you and everyone else ought to be asking as loudly and as often as possible. What does he know? What might he say in open court that the LAPD would prefer him never to reveal in open Court? Are they justifying murder ahead of time? It seems to me that they are.
When we speak of Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement, we’re not so much talking about the enslavement of the body so much as the mind. If nothing else, Black people are people of faith! In some very real ways, this has worked to their detriment. When you look at the actuarial tables, you will notice that Black people here in the United States, have a lifespan significantly shorter than that of White people on average. Why? Ironically, the age at which one receives Social Security seems to be linked to the average lifespan of the Black male. As the lifespan of the Black male has increased, so too has the age at which one can begin receiving Social Security. Of course – tongue firmly pressed in cheek – that is merely a coincidence.
Notice that based on statistics, a Black Male living an average lifespan will only get a couple of years of his Social Security.
When we finally do go to the doctor, our condition is much worse than if we’d gone when we first developed symptoms.
One of the things that must be considered is the teachings within the Black Church that encouraged Black people to trust Jesus and to pray for their health and healing. Going to a doctor was almost seen as a lack of faith. Of course if you don’t have medical insurance because you cannot afford it, trusting Jesus becomes your only viable alternative. When Black people do go to the doctor, often the problem has become so advanced that the treatment options are limited and extremely expensive. Thus our mortality rate. I have several relatives who were born at home with the aid of a midwife. Not because there were no hospitals readily available, but because that was our culture at that time.
You can have a perfectly healthy home delivery. However, what happens if there are complications? What if the child has some sort of issue? I have a son who would not be alive today had it not been for the attention and skill of the hospital and the attending physician.
It is easy to slip through the cracks.
The effects of Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement are also manifested in the Black culture’s approach to education and employment. Faith and belief supersede preparation and performance. If you’re not getting your lesson in school, pray and ask God for help. I have no problem with prayer, but the reality is, a tutor or an after school session with your instructor will probably do you more good.
Christian Iconography And The Work Place
If the earliest depictions of Jesus and the Apostles showed African looking people, why was it necessary to change them?
The earliest depictions of Jesus and the Apostles all showed extremely dark men. Many wore “Afros.” So how did we arrive at this blond haired, blue eyed, white skinned Jesus? According to the stories, this was by design. None other than Michael Angelo was commissioned to paint the image of Jesus that is still widely used today. You say but it doesn’t matter what color Jesus is? Oh, but it obviously did matter. If it didn’t, Michael Angelo would not have been paid to do it.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
Let’s examine the ethnicity of Jesus and the real Hebrews/Jews. First of all, the only Europeans in the area at that time were the Greeks and the Romans. Jesus was neither Greek nor Roman so he clearly wasn’t what anyone could mistake for white. In the Gospel account of Herod seeking to kill him, Joseph takes Jesus and his family and flees into Egypt. The Egyptians were predominately African except for those who had mixed with the Greeks. If I were trying to hide from an assassin, the RNC Convention wouldn’t really be my first choice. I would be pretty easy to spot. You would want to blend into a crowd that looked a lot like you.
If Jesus were walking down the street at night wearing a hoodie…
The facts are that if Jesus were walking down the street today, dressed as we are, he would find it extremely difficult to hail a cab. He probably would have cause to be concerned when passing a policeman. Wearing a “hoodie?” Definitely out of the question! So why do we have this white skinned, blond haired, blue eyed Jesus today? Because It is much easier to worship a God who looks like you look. If God is white and you’re white, you’re much more related to God than someone who is not white.
If when you close your eyes and picture Jesus, the image you’re seeing looks like your boss… or a co-worker, you’re at a disadvantage.
Now think about this from the Black perspective. If you have been programmed in your mind to believe that Jesus looks like a white man, how then can you deal from a position of equality with your boss, the police or your school teacher? They look like your God. Close your eyes and picture Jesus. What do you see? Whom does your “Lord and Saviour” look like? Lord and Saviour or Lord and Slaver?
One thing that must be asked, had the original iconography not been supplanted with the Europeanized versions, how would that have affected the way Europeans interacted with and treated Africans? Would the African Slave Trade ever occurred? Prior to every atrocity the victims of that atrocity are first dehumanized, then demonized.
Before Auschwitz, Dachau, Chelmno, Jasenovac, the Jewish people first had to be demonized.
We saw this in graphic form during WWII. Government propaganda departments produced posters, cartoons and movies designed to dehumanize and demonize the “enemy” to gin up public support for their war efforts. Jews in Germany were depicted as money grubbing, bestial, rats and described as being parasites, feeding on German society. We know how that turned out.
Over here, the Japanese were done the same way. They were depicted as slant eyed, slope forehead, fang toothed, nearly simian beasts. They were depicted as creatures of nightmares. The added problem here in the United States was, we had naturalized and American born, Japanese citizens who had been living here for years. The racial hatred engendered didn’t just apply to the Japanese soldiers we were fighting. It crossed over to the Japanese Americans living and working right alongside us.
Like Germany did to the Jews, we also demonized the Japanese.
The results? Many Japanese citizens were rounded up and placed in concentration camps just like the German Jews in Nazi Germany were. The difference? We called ours, “Internment Camps.” It might well have gone the same way for the Japanese here as it did for the Jews in Germany. Let us not kid ourselves into believing that human nature is somehow improved based on geographical location.
The only thing that prevented a Japanese Holocaust right here in the United States was, our form of government – thankfully – spreads power between 3 branches. In Germany, Hitler’s word was law. Even so, we dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan – which were unnecessary – wiping out soft civilian targets. This met the definition of a war crime. Perhaps this has something to do with why we never signed on to the Geneva Convention?
Iconography And The Enslavement Of Black People
The depiction of Black people historically and currently has been used to foster and maintain a policy of degradation and oppression. The 1915 film “The Birth Of A Nation” by D.W. Griffith is an excellent example of this. The film is based loosely on “The Clansman” which was a propaganda piece for the Ku Klux Klan. It is a silent film which shows two families, one from the North and the other from the South, going through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Eating chicken and trimming their toe nails in the Statehouse… Really???
In this film Black people – usually played by white people in “black face” – are shown taking advantage of white women. They’re is a scene showing newly elected Black congressmen, eating chicken and trimming their toe nails in the House Chambers, with their feet up on the desks. They’re showed preventing white people from voting. Ironically, they’re shown treating white people in the same ways white people treated Black Slaves. I don’t need to tell you that this film scared white people to death. It probably did more to set the tone for Black and White relations from it’s release until today than anything else. Iconography and depictions do matter. They shape not only the perceptions of the public, but the victims as well.
If you’ve ever attended a “Black Church,” you know that in almost every service they set aside a portion for what is called “testimony service.” For those of you that don’t know, this is a specially set aside portion of the service where members in the congregation, rise to their feet and wait to be recognized by whomever is leading the service. When recognized they relate something they believe God has done for them over the past week, or at least, since the last time they had the opportunity to “testify.”
There are some who have developed what may only be described as a “Testimony Template.” It goes something like this:
“First giving praise and honor to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is the head of my life…” What follows next is their “testimony.” It might be how they were sick, prayed and got better, or how they didn’t have the money to pay a bill that was due and almost miraculously they acquired the money. It could be about some problem they were having on their job, you name it. I’ve even heard of broken washing machines that miraculously began to work again. The testimony ends with some version of the following: “I ask the Saints to pray my strength in the Lord, I started with Jesus and I am determined to go through!”
Personally I always wondered, with all the starving children in the world, and with Jesus being recorded as expressing a great deal of concern for little children, why Jesus would be fixing washing machines and paying bills while children were starving and dying from disease and malnutrition? But that’s just me.
If we were to break down the formula for the “Testimony Template,” you have the supplication, you could call it the flattery part. This is where in almost medieval terms, the “Patents of Nobility” are recited for Jesus. “Lord and Saviour,” “head of my life” are terms that exalt Jesus while abasing the person giving the testimony. You will also hear these in prayers often given by preachers in what I call “The Grand Eloquent Introduction.” There is almost a competitive spirit as each one tries to out do the other in the art of flattering God. Here’s an example of how one such prayer might begin:
Yet another “Grand Eloquent Introduction.”
“Oh most gracious and heavenly Father, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Thou who spoke creation into existence, thou who stands outside of time yet reached into time to make manifest thy majesty. Oh God, heavenly father, master of the infinities, thou who stretched forth thy hand and caused life to spring forth…”
This can go on for as long as the preacher can keep the polysyllabic superlatives flowing. You will notice that much use is made of the “King James English.” I suppose God appreciates that archaic lilt when being addressed. Of course I would be extremely surprised and more than a little disappointed to think that God could be moved by human flattery.
Regardless of the context, a whip in Jesus hand is powerful iconography.
Indeed what we have is the anthropomorphising of God. We assume that God will be moved by the flattering compliments that work on our fellow human beings. Hidden deep in this process is the implicit separation between Man and God. God is placed a top a rocket of archaic prose and flung high into the outermost reaches of deep Space, while Man is diminished to the lowest most abject recesses of the Earth. The Gulf is truly staggering. God is the Master and Man will forever be the Slave, to be used and disposed of as God sees fit.
The irony for those who subscribe to the Christian faith is, this is exactly the opposite of the message of Jesus. When you distil the message of Jesus and his stated mission down to it’s bare essence. Jesus came to bring “atonement” – At-One-Ment – between God and mankind. Yet, in almost any Christian church around the world, you will hear time and again how wretched and worthless human beings are and how majestic God is. Within the Black Church over and over again, you will hear Black people referring to Jesus as their “Master.”
If we want to put this phenomenon in the best light possible, we could chalk it up to cultural ignorance. Indeed, in the Gospels Jesus is frequently referred to as “Master.” However, in the context of that culture and time period, “Master” meant “Teacher.” It did not infer the relative relationship between a slave and a slave owner. Given the history of the African Slave Trade in the Americas, while many Black Christians may know this intellectually, viscerally there is over 430 years of psychological “baggage” that makes it difficult to separate the term’s connotative meaning from it’s denotative meaning.
The Devil attends Church quite regularly.
Thus, when they accept Christ as their “Lord and Master” they are psychologically embracing a slave mentality that makes them ripe for exploitation. How so? I can truthfully say during my 30 year church period, not once did Jesus ever show up physically or manifest in the flesh… met the Devil quite a few times, but Jesus? No. Jesus was always there invisibly and by proxy. The proxy for Jesus is the Pastor who claims to be delivering “the Word of God” or in essence, speaking for Jesus. By extension the Pastor then becomes the “Master.”
Televangelist Paula White’s Rolls Royce in front of her Italian home
This earthly, human master doesn’t want them to pick cotton or plant fields, but he/she does want money. Lots of money! “Blessed Assurance” has become Blessed Insurance and the premiums on that policy are high! Tithes – 10% of your gross, some churches require a copy of your W-2 – offerings, “give as unto the Lord.” “Give until it hurts.” “Building fund” contributions. I know of some churches who collected building fund donations and never built anything for over 20 years.
Pastor Creflo Dollar’s Private Jet
Let us not forget, “Pastor’s appreciation” contributions. Most Black churches once a year hold a week long fund raiser to commemorate their Pastor coming to their church and there is always an extremely large cash gift for their pastor. This is on top of his weekly salary and whatever other costs the church covers. Often this includes his house or a portion of his mortgage payment, his car and whatever else he negotiated when he took the job. As I heard one Pastor say, “I’m in God’s business and God’s business is booming!” For him, I’m sure it is.
Is Christianity Good For Black People?
Pope Nicholas V
Given that the African Slave Trade was initiated and blessed by the Catholic Church, the easy answer would have to be a resounding NO!In 1452 Pope Nicholas V issued his “Papal Bull” known as “The Dum Diversas.” This document gave permission to the kings of Spain and Portugal to go into Africa, seize the land, the possessions of and the people themselves and reduce them to perpetual slavery. For the first time in human history, chattel slavery was being practiced. It was being practiced against Africans and in the Americas.
Definitely Not Good For Black People
Let me expand on chattel slavery. Prior to Pope Nicholas’ Papal Bull, slavery had been practiced at various times by various peoples throughout history. However, Slaves had rights and slavery wasn’t permanent. You could not be born a slave. Under Chattel slavery, the Slave was no different than livestock. Slavery was permanent and if you had children – intentionally or otherwise – your children would be born slaves. Think about that for a moment. There is a direct parallel with the Christian doctrine of being born into sin and being literally born into slavery. Getting African Slaves to make this connection required no psychological conditioning. They were living it.
Underwater Sculpture honoring Slaves who were thrown overboard.
During the 430 plus years the African Slave Trade was active in the Americas, by conservative estimates we lost over 100 million Africans during the “Middle Passages” alone. The “Middle Passage” was the period from point of capture to the auction block. This doesn’t include the multiplied 100’s of millions of African Slaves who actually made it to the auction block to live out the remainder of their lives in degradation and misery.
Those more astute are probably saying, “but we never had that many African Slaves in these United States!” You’re right! The United States or what became the United States, only received about 4% of the African Slaves. The rest went to the Caribbean Islands, Brazil and other places in South America. The numbers of Africans removed from Africa is simply staggering. We look at Africa today and marvel at how primitive and under developed certain sections are. Think about what the world’s population was back in 1452. If you had taken a similar number of people out of Europe, what might Europe look like today?
If the ancestor of the person who invented the telephone, radio, automobile, computer, rocket engines had died, would those things have been invented? The world would be a much different place than it is today. What might Africans have invented had they been left alone? They built the Pyramids, something we cannot duplicate today even with our modern technology. What knowledge was lost?
Christianity and Modern Black Enslavement Continues in Part II
In Part IV I addressed various “false flag” operations conducted by or allowed to happen by our Government to achieve a political end. Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin to name but two. With regard to the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton Connecticut I pointed out several disturbing inconsistencies in the official story as it evolved over the course of several days.
At the time I was writing Part IV I had no idea that this additional information was out there or that it would come to light so soon on the heels of my finishing the series. Indeed it was almost as though what I was writing was leading up to this new piece of information. First let me say that I am not, nor can I vouch for the absolute veracity of this information. I am still researching it. Thus far, it is holding up. That does not mean it is completely factual. I present it here for your review with the caveat that you should look at it skeptically. Never swallow anything you cannot chew. However, when one sets upon the search for truth, one must be prepared to look everywhere, examine everything and be open to all possibilities. Without further ado:
I am sure you probably found this shocking. Why would anyone do something like this? Whomever posted this must be a terrible person. Yet, if there is even a shred of truth in this, whomever is behind the deception must also be a terrible person.
My investigation has verified the web sites referenced and the pictures posted. They are out there on the Internet and you can find them if you search for them. I have not yet been able to verify the creation dates of the several web sites. They have not appeared in the various web archiving services as of yet. This is one of the reasons why this is still in my “gray box.”
What about computer errors in dating? Possible but unlikely. Google’s servers would not simply give an erroneous creation date for just one site. If Google’s clocks were off, they’d be off for every site they crawl. It would have been thoroughly discussed across the Internet and fixed immediately.
As a father who has lost a child to murder, I can tell you from personal experience, when it happened, my wife and I were in a deep, dark, pit, surrounded by thick, inky black fog. All we had to cling to was each other. Neither of us were in any position or condition to speak to the press or create a memorial web site. Our son was in his 20’s. I can only imagine the loss of a much younger child would have been exponentially worse.
When you add up the anomalies:
Day One – Two handguns, a Sig and a Glock being used.
Day One – Bushmaster AR-15 found in back of car.
Day One – Principal and Psychologist shot execution style.
Day Three – Bushmaster AR-15 used, not the handguns.
Day Three – Principal heroically tried to disarm the gunman.
Computer hard drive removed and destroyed.
It becomes readily apparent that there is more, much more going on than what we’ve been told. Had the Bushmaster AR-15 been used, they would have said so. It is what it is. Why wouldn’t they say so. It is impossible to mistake a rifle for two handguns. Had the AR-15 been used, it would have fit precisely the scenario certain factions wish to portray. If gun control is your agenda, the AR-15 certainly is the bogeyman you’d want to point to. The fact it took them 3 days tells me that the story on Day One was the correct account.
Is the video you just viewed factual? I do not know. However, it is worthy of consideration and should be used as another data point in your quest for the truth.
by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.
We see this with the proliferation of survival shows such as, “Dual Survival,” “Les Stroud’s “Survivorman,” “Doomsday Preppers” and others. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in preparation and self-reliance. There is a fundamental flaw in the logic of people who sincerely believe that gold is going to be of any value in a world that has totally gone to Hell.
Many companies try to push you into what they call a “secure storage contract.” This is supposedly a highly secure storage vault where they will store your gold for a nominal fee. The beauty of this is you never see your gold, you never take physical possession of your gold, all you get are quarterly statements – a piece of paper – claiming how much your gold is worth based on the current market price. What could possibly go wrong?
Nations with whom we do not have an established rate of exchange, we are negotiating with – sometimes minute by minute – the exchange rates between their currencies and ours. You simply cannot ship gold around the world fast enough to keep up. It can’t be done. The global economy would grind to a halt. You might not like this, but this is the reality in which we live. Very few U.S. Citizens are in love with China, yet the isles at Walmart are full all day long with people buying cheap Chinese made goods.
