Let me qualify this post and question by saying this is something I have wanted to ask and write about for quite a while. I often ask this question to people I meet in general life discussion, and I am very interested to hear every response. Today is a great day to ask this…
Think back… So, you are living your life, doing what you and everyone familiar to you are doing in the ordinary and regular way of living your specific life.
Perhaps you paid some attention to the political comings and goings of things, perhaps not.
Perhaps like most comfortably invisible people you were just putting one foot in front of the other, and generally doing the day-to-day things that most would consider ordinary.
Then one day, for some unknown and likely not that consequential reason, something caught your attention. Something piqued your curiosity; perhaps you noticed something you wouldn’t ordinarily have noticed. Perhaps you heard something, or saw something, or were just in a situational space where something itched your brain as you looked at something, heard something or noticed something that just didn’t quite fit or sit right.
Perhaps that little something, or big something, caused you to look just a little bit closer at the story, event or moment with a little more curiosity than before. Perhaps you dug into that specific moment with a little more than a side-eye glance, and you noticed something. After looking at it a little closer, you realized that construct was not at all what it appeared to be on the surface.
From that moment forward, for the first time, you really started to question the ‘thing’ that was in front of you, and from that moment forward, you woke up to recognize that things around you, things you perhaps didn’t pay attention to before, were not what you thought they were. It was from this moment when you really started to pay attention and your political awakening began.
Question: When was that moment for you?
I am always amazed at the replies I get in real life to this question of when the individual awakening began.
For some it was at an early age, for others much later in life. For some it was recently, and for others it was a long time ago. However, for everyone there was that moment when it started, and it is completely unique to the individual.
So, on this day, Sunday February 19, 2023, a generally innocuous day in the grand scheme of things, I pose this question to everyone.
Yes, even all the CTH lurkers who read here and never join the conversation. The comment section is open for all replies with the general rules of on-line decorum still standing. Us old schoolers still use the early internet standards of on-line discussion, and CTH requests polite and civil conversation that enlightens, expands thinking and uplifts the audience.
I am genuinely curious and will be reading every reply because it’s really cool to see what that “moment” was for each person. I’m pretty sure the entire CTH community will also enjoy reading the unique replies to the question.
We all travel a different path. We all come from different, likely comfortably invisible, life experiences. And we all merge into this big melting pot of curious people who are looking deeply at the issues we face. Regardless of how each of us arrived here, the larger dynamic is that we likely share a common curiosity for the reality of our situation. It’s a safe bet to say that almost everyone reading this is in the top-tier of “high information” consumers.
My question is not what arrived you at The Conservative Treehouse, but rather what the moment was when you began looking around and realizing that things just didn’t seem to add up. That’s the origin of the journey. That’s the moment I am inquiring about.
Perhaps it’s a weird way of looking at CTH, but our fellowship is always what has been the most important aspect to this little corner of the internet. It’s not the content of the Treehouse, but the conversation on the porch that matters. You, the readers, friends, people who assemble here, are the important element. Not me and not the site admins.
That’s genuinely the way I have always looked at our fellowship, and that’s also the reason for every detail I put into keeping this little corner of the internet standing.
So, with that in mind, what was that moment in your life when you realized the social, political and/or media narrative, was not at all what it was presented to be?
Love to all,
~ Sundance
2008, the fake birth certificate.
Me too on that——-but the “war on the Tea party” was my “awaking!” I was a doner to a NC TEA-PARTY BRANCH———-In
Dec 2012 , I received a registered package from NC TAX COLLECTION AGENCY——-To inform me I was subject to
State Tax Penalty for under payment of state tax for 2010 ——–Just before Christmas—–and had till Jan 5th to
Pay or Contest ———–The “complaint from the State said that the IRS HAD INFORMED THEM THAT I WAS GUILTY!
I have been retired since 1997 ——moved to NC in 2004——-Living on my own IRA/SS—–and knew it was BS!
It was —–but the Hoops/stress,etc was a “bitch! IRS HAD scared “DONER LIST” From Tea party reps——and
wanted to send “their-message.” to all members!
There exists a mountain of irrefutable proof and evidence that Obamas’ birth certificate is a forgery, and that he was NOT born in our country! This material is court ready but, no court in our country has the courage and fortitude to adjudicate it! For shame!
late 90s, when the Republicans ran Dole for president…
Well, heck, it was his turn already!!!!
A lot earlier but circa 1989 in Long Island NY we had 2 children, one in kindergarten, the other younger, we lived in a 400sq ft apartment. We went to a parent teachers conference, the teachers were all wearing black arm bands. Our son’s kindergarten teacher as well, and all she and the others talked about was they didn’t have a contract, not a single thing about our son’s education. The kindergarten teacher made a lot more money than I, that’s fine but I realized then that the government has us over a barrel and doesn’t give a darn about the ‘services’ they deliver. We are just supposed to shut up and pay. In the scheme of things not a big deal but I realized then I was a sucker.
The government has a monopoly on so many things, they control us through these monopolies and tie us electronically to their money sucking machine so we are forced to fund them. Any entity with that much power and control inevitably becomes corrupt.
2008-2009: 401k wiped out after 25 years of investing – adding fuel to the realization with Obama. 8 years of hell that ended with Trump, but 2020 started again, but on steroids. Before 2008 I would get inklings through both Bushes and of course with Clinton. Watching people overlook his lack of fidelity to his wife (which I can almost see why) and voting him in twice.
I remember 9/2008. Our investments lost 40%.
post 9/11 …specifically when several whistleblowers came forward and shared facts that proved the USG had lied intentionally about weapons of mass destruction.
I had prior negative views about certain kinds of other provable fraudulent and contemptible actions of this US central government, but none that caused me to have a complete and total rejection of the entire institution.
9/11 broke the levy.
…all the accumulated crimes of the state breached the dam. A self created dam of my own, and presumably, a dam others in America also create. A dam of trust. A wall that insists that while there are some things that are bad, it’s not enough to withdraw consent.
9/11 did that for me. the levy broke…completely.
unlikely to ever be built again. there is no reason to make a dam anymore. Nothing has been fixed.
God Bless America
I saw the marionette strings Dec 2012. My recently purchased coyote gun became a weapon of war overnight all because elitist politicians wanted to use a tragedy to push an agenda.
My experience investigating voter and election fraud in Cuyahoga County Ohio in my early 20s, being threatened by a sitting judge, Republicans could have cared less, really opened my eyes to my dad being correct about a ton of things I thought he was wrong about.
Member of the Black Helicopter Club ever since, unless proven differently I think everything is an operation. I have never fit into a set group or an ideology. I got sucked into a leftist group as an early teen, those people were nuts. I think I am just a normal Gen X woman.
My moment of questioning occurred when, in the campaign for President in 2007, I found out that Obama’s’ middle name is Hussein. It hit me like a bolt of lightening! At that time in our country the animosity levels for anything Islamic was extremely high. In fact, the Bush Administration had recently tried and executed a man by the name of Saddam Hussein. How could we execute one Hussein and put another one in office? Why was the media working overtime to coverup his full name? My instincts and suspicions made me sit up and take notice. I began researching Obama ravenously and immediately began coming up with enigmas and contradictions about his life story. After the election I happened upon a little known lawsuit filed by a former Democrat DA of Pennsylvania by the name of Phillip Berg. In his lawsuit he detailed his accusations declaring Obama to be ineligible to be POTUS. His arguments sounded lucent and coherent. Subsequently, his lawsuit blossomed into the Birther Movement”eventually championed by Trump. I followed this movement assiduously. Obamas’ behavior, edicts and pronouncements vis-a-vis American arrogance, conceit and imperialism toward the world only encouraged my suspicions about this man. He did and still does reek of anti Americanism!
Since then, I’ve thoroughly researched Obamas’ life story; looked back sadly at the damage he wrought upon our country and how he and his minions continue to destroy our culture, our traditions, our principles, our standing in the world, our country and I seethe with anger! I remain convinced that he is NOT an American and that he was installed in the White House illegally to fulfill the agenda of the Deep State and the Globalists. I have spent countless, arduous hours reading, studying , analyzing and educating myself and friends to past, recent and current events, and remain convinced that our country’s’ salvation lies only in the complete and utter destruction of of the Deep State and the Globalists, and the reclamation of our country by the people.
Thank you CTH for the articles, the links, the education and insights. I’ve been a regular visitor for years and will continue to do so.
White guilt, psychologically implanted over decades, got him elected the first time. The inept Romney handed him another victory. Obama’s second term embolden him to continue his goal to destroy the Republic.
And Jim! Don’t forget the wholesale cheating in both elections. That helped him usurp the Office twice!
He is doing well in his third term.
really opened my eyes. Unfortunately, it went from bad to worse and the truth never came out, even now.
I started asking more questions after 9/11. I knew the official narrative was off and I did not like or trust GWB. After I watched the Loose Change documentary about 9/11 in 2005, I saw the whole world differently and never looked back. My eyes were wide open.
Had been a life long democrat until the first Clinton administration. I saw how corrupt they were. So, switched to the Republican as the lesser of two evils. But it wasn’t until sometime around 2015 when I found Conservative Treehouse that all the pieces of the puzzle that had been troubling me started to fit together. After reading the articles on Trayvon Martin and then the Republican primary candidates Big Club strategies, I was hooked on this site. Such clear and understandable articles that were both informative and entertaining. So for me, it truly was this site that enabled me to begin to see the whole picture. This is the first site I go to every day. A million thanks, Sundance!!
For me it was when I saw a 16 year kid have his life ruined because a douchebage decided to beat a drum in his face. I took the red pill big time and woke up. Now I wish I hadn’t because knowing the harsh reality has really only made my life miserable. I go into work pissed off and I go to sleep pissed off knowing just how powerless I am and how insanely corrupt the government is and is never ever held to account or punished.
If I may suggest an alternative (noting: I also struggle with the same white hot anger):
focus it into a positive.
convert that rage so that it does not cause YOU to become LESS.
becoming MORE, is what the emotion ANGER was created and designed by God to PROVIDE..to you.
understand this.
without God, anger will always cause a human being to fail.
do NOT FAIL.
use that anger as it was designed to provide…to become active in finding a solution.
to some this just might be nothing more than investing in the kinds of things you can control and build up your family…investing in your community..helping others.
anger is the emotional awareness that you need to do MORE.
understand this.
EMPTY anger is a mind killer…it creates fear..it develops all the wrong kinds of traits and misconduct.
the proper reaction to ANGER is to:
these are in no priority or order.
when you take these steps…anger becomes a motivator…a positive emotion that is exactly how it was designed by GOD to help you locate your FAITH…and to put that into motion.
do that, and you will find peace. It will convert this anger, which I have long struggled with, into a positive.
I will be praying for you. I believe in the power of prayer because it has a profound effect in my own wellbeing, and every single person who has done the same has had the same results. That’s pretty amazing to realize.
Pray. then do. Don’t let anger get your DOWN. Use it to help you go UP.
God Bless America
I started really questioning things when Bill and Hillary took the White House in 1992. The 1990s in particular were hard for me personally. I had 2 small daughters and a husband with a drug problem. I had grown up in Arkansas with the Clintons in power. Drugs took over our rural communities and ruined many lives.
We had a horrific school school shooting in 1998 at my oldest daughter’s school. The shooters and victims were 6th graders. It was the scariest day of my life and it devastated my community. I sensed an incredible evil all around me and began to connect dots.
I felt that the Clintons ushered in a certain evil that I had never seen nor experienced before. Maybe this was an unfair association but I still remember the day I had to explain the meaning of “oral sex” to my daughter —after she overheard it on the news during the Lewinski nonsense. I was ashamed that our President was associated with her questions. Really ashamed.
It was when Vince Foster committed “suicide”.
After JFK assignation I started questioning things and my Dad, career Navy, said you have to trust the government or what do you have? So much happened throughout the next 2-4 decades that I didn’t like but never thought I could do anything about. But what really did it for me was when that Obutthead was running for POTUS. Here is a complete unknown and unqualified person that the media was saying he was a genius but not saying at what. People were going crazy to vote for him just because of his skin color. That’s when I knew everything was turkey crap. Even Charles Payne who I had thought was intelligent voted for him “for Rosa Parks” he said. Then came Glenn Beck…. And my eyes were opened to all the horror our government, our American government, was doing against her citizens. So I have to credit Glenn Beck with giving me my intense interest in what is going on. Sundance and CTH give me the place to find my daily information with help from treepers who throughout. Thank you all very much; your opinions and knowledge are so necessary to me and so many others.
“When did you start really paying attention?”
My nature has always been as a skeptic-a blessing as well as a curse sometimes.
I always doubted the stories in the nightly “news” with the likes of Walter Conkrite signing off with “And, that’s the way it is this _ day of 19_ _”. My response: That’s not the way it is, that’s the way you SAY it is.
I started “really paying attention” after October 1972. That’s when I survived a fatal car wreck. While I was in the hospital a Doctor shared the gospel with me and asked if I believed it.
I had always heard about Jesus. My grandfather was always quoting John 3:16. I had never taken the time to consider the claims that Jesus presented until realizing I could have awakened in hell instead of the hospital after that wreck.
It was then I realized God was dealing with me and I needed to get serious about Him and finding out about Him what He means for me. So, I decided right then I would make the commitment to believe Him.
It was then my understanding of what was happening in my world and the world as a whole started to make sense and I became able to start connecting the dots.
Prior to that, I had no interest in the Bible because I could never make sense of it or understand it. Now, it came alive to me and I truly believe it is the Truth and He, Jesus, is the Truth in human flesh. (John 1:1,14; John 5:39; John 14: 6)
God hates lies and liars. So do I.
Most of us here at CTH are truth-seekers. That’s why I am here and that’s why we have fellowship together here in the Truth.
I found CTH not long before Trump came down the escalator. I’m glad I found it. ‘Truth-Seekers are US’ are here to share how to MAGA.
My father didn’t talk much politics but when he did he got right to the point which is common for those who fought in the army on the ground. For example, at one point in the late 60’s he said that the hippies hearts are in the right places and they have some good ideas, but those ideas won’t work.
He grew up in Texas and not all that long after JFK’s assassination he told a friend or relative that LBJ had something to do with it. As a schoolboy raised on patriotism I was shocked that he was saying that about our then current president. I asked him about it later when we were alone and he said “You don’t get to the top without stepping on a lot of toes.”
Now that I’m old and wiser I know he was right about both of those. Don’t get me wrong, they both made sense then but they make a ton more sense now.
Fast forward to when I became a father and ran a small business that required me to drive around town to clients/prospects. I was into music, sports talk and local conservative talk radio while I did that driving. Then one day that local talk station introduced this new guy – you know it was Rush. He was knowledgeable, fit my values, was funny and addictive. BTW, if being an entrepreneur doesn’t make you a conservative then…wow. Just wow.
So that’s my ~20 year moment.
Many events have continued to open my eyes more wide to events and realities that I wish I never saw or knew, but real is real and a red pill is a red pill.
It gets depressing at times but we’re here to fight the good fight and we must not ever give up. Not ever.
Small groups of like-minded and strong-minded people have done it over and over or we wouldn’t be here now. It’s our turn and at a minimum we must keep the fire burning for those who will follow us. From what I’m seeing on the ground that group who is following is growing.
I attribute my awakening to a Domino effect, which began in the 1990s when a friend steered me to Rush Limbaugh.
Rush pointed out news stories and behind the stories info that I did not know about.
Next after 2000 I added Glenn Beck’s radio show, then his TV show on Fox News. More stories with behind the stories info and a lot of factual history.
From these two men I learned about good books to read, plus Internet websites that posted factual news and intelligent analysis.
Now today my primary and trusted sources for news and analysis are The Conservative Treehouse and The Duran.
Thanks for asking, Sundance. I am glad and grateful for where I have been, and am.
Never heard of The Duran. Will check it.
The Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and the Anita Hill business. I was totally sickened by the way he was treated.
Been involved in politics since I was 10 years old. Anti-government, anti-big business in the 60’s. In the mid 80’s saw the direction the Democrat Party was going which was socialism, so I changed registration to unaffiliated which I remain until this day. Still pretty much voted Dem but big awakening with Obama. Saw the utter corruption of the Dem Party. With Trump, even more of an awakening, and with this site a deepening of this awakening.
1980 in high school. Everyone had to take P.O.D. (Problems Of Democracy) That’s when I first figured out it was “Class-ism” not so much free and your vote counts.
On Jan 12 2021, a person close to me came to me and stated jubilantly that Trump would never be sworn in as President 8 days later, because the Steele Dossier had just been made public, and if true that would lead to Trump being forced to abdicate/resign/withdraw from the presidency. Stunned by the statement and somewhat intrigued, I decided to read this Steele Dossier for myself. When I came to the part where Carter Page was offered by the Russians to get a 19% stake in one of Russia’s biggest Oil/Gas companies as a bribe for influencing Trump on certain foreign Policy decisions, my BS meter went on full alert. No one bribes anyone worth Billions of dollars, maybe $100,000 or a million, but a 19% stake in an Oil/Gas Billion $$$ conglomerate? Most of the other things at the time where impossible to corroborate, such as the Golden Shower, The Cohen meeting in Prague etc. But for me the Carter Page claim sank the credibility of the whole Steele Dossier, and I thought it was a cheap shot BS piece. We were not told for a long time that it was generated out of the Clinton Campaign This whole affair was an eye opener for me, as to how vicious the MSM really is, and how vicious some people really are.
I watched in amazement how the MSM promoted this Dossier for years to come, and even though over time it has been proven to be total BS, a lot of people still today cling to it, as if the essence must be true somehow, even if the facts are not.
The Steele Dossier must be the single most effective misinformation election campaign head-fake in modern history.
When Washington’s and Lincoln”s national celebrations discarded to honor Martin Luther King. When Christmas and Easter holidays discarded for winter and spring break. When I was overtly passed over for a job because I am heterosexual married with children of our own. When freedom of speech discarded and fear of speaking began. Mums the word.
When I saw Timothy Leary speak at college in 1985. His famous quote, “Think for yourself and question authority.” I took that to heart. Iran-Contra was the first political event that didn’t add up. After that, reading Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” allowed me to see that the networks and NYT were full of it. Nothing’s changed.
For me it was when Obama was elected the first time . His ties to racists like his close friend and mentor Rev. Wright was my eye opener. It was then that I saw the sheeps clothing come off the MSM. I knew then that our government and media were lying to the Sheeple. I started a blog called governmentmess and have since recently removed it out of fear of becoming like one of the J-6 political prisoners. As evil as I knew things were back then I would never have imagined how satanic our government and their lapdog media would become today. This is a diabolical evil like nothing we have seen before. The billionaire global, political and corporate elites are enemy #1!
Plus he said he didn’t know Rev. Wright was racist! They all lapped that up with a big blue pill.
When Trump was elected. Previously, I’d maybe had glimpses, but would slide into the easy mirage presented. But once Trump was elected, it was like the world turned crazy/mean/demented. Lies, so many lies…about what he said and did. His opposition was very nasty… especially the media and even regular neighbors turned rabid Trump haters. The masks were dropped and evil uniparty elites and multi-national corporations were exposing themselves everywhere. I had never liked Obama and was worried for our country…but I naively though we’d escaped the damage I was afraid he’d do when he was first elected. It was only after he left office, that I realized how much damage he’d actually done that we’d been unaware of. (The 4th branch, staying in DC to run a parallel gov’t,).
slide into the easy mirage presented
Nice turn of a phrase there.
Two words, a name, Monica Lewinsky
Right in the wake of 9/11 when they blamed Iraq instead of planefuls of Saudis. Awareness increased exponentially when Hank Paulson proposed his 3 or 4 line “legislation” in 2007 authorizing $750 billion no questions asked taxpayer payout to fill the black hole created by reckless Wall Street derivatives (unsecured credit swaps). It was not even close to what we’ve really spent.
It started when I was a high school junior, the year James Earl Carter got elected. Something just felt off…I think it was the way the press fawned all over him and his asinine family (Billy Beer, anyone?). It was when our HS math teacher, who served in the Navy with Jimmuh, referred to him as Capt Chicken Shit, the pejorative nickname given to him by his fellow officers and sailors, that I knew something strange was up.
Next, it was Reagan’s assassination attempt that raised my concerns even more.
The really transformative time for me was in 1990s when the movie JFK came out, followed by the scandalous Clinton years. The GOP had him nailed yet would not get the deal done to rid us of that buffoon from AR. Then I thought the GOP would turn things around with Bush 43, and nothing really changed. It was during this time that Rush really made me aware of the corruption and intentional ineptitude of our politicians and government.
My eyes became wide open with the Kenyan years. Thankfully I found CTH and PDJT in 2015.
Once you see the puppet strings in corporations, government, the press, entertainment, sports and academia you cannot unsee them.
I didn’t know it then but Reagan’s assassination attempt is so obviously 4th branch because Bush of CIA lineage was VP all ready to act concerned while being evil.
I detested the rebellious youth of the 60s. All complaint, no solutions. Hated that the minority kept the military from fighting to win because anti war sounded moral. Absolutely knew if it feels good, do it was a bad idea and if satan. Hates the compromise by Nixon. Greatly disappointed in the lack of manhood in Carter which was my first opportunity to vote. Still saddened that our country’s morals are so low that Clinton didn’t resign nor was removed. The disappointments have continued. But increasingly see that what the Bible says about being born in sin makes none of this a surprise. Looking at everything from God’s perspective has lightened my load tremendously. The combination of truth and faith on this website has been and is a blessing to me daily. Thanks
Honest question: Do you think God wants us to fight back?
Long time lurker, first time commenter.
Excellent question and worthy of discussion.
There is not a single event or moment when I came into my full understanding of the extent of amount of corruption and lies being generated by the U.S. Government and its allies in our legacy media. The assassination of JFK by our government, the Vietnam war and its profiteers in the military-industrial complex and the media takedown of Richard Nixon via Watergate – these three events combined to nudge me into a new state of understanding around 1976 (I was 17 years old). I finally comprehended what my father was telling me about the world and our country’s impact on it.
My father did not characterize the U.S. as a bad actor in the world, only that we were quickly eroding the goodwill we generated since the end of WWII by importing our exceptionalism into areas of the world that would never adopt our values. His take on the Vietnam war was the example at the time. So much profiteering, so little military progress and an enormous loss of human life…for what? War is a business and the U.S. has top market share.
Dad explained why JFK had to be taken out. Because war is a business, and JFK was hesitant to escalate the war effort (and probably intended to get us out altogether) a shyster like LBJ would keep the machine going. The Warren Commission report was the perfect cover-up; those that wanted to believe the single shooter theory had their reasons to do so.
Then Watergate, which was probably staged as a way to get Nixon to act on his worse instincts (which he did) and then get torpedoed in the media. Could the media actually take out a sitting president based on sketchy evidence of a cover up? Oh yes.
I guess my dad’s bigger lesson here was that ignorance is a choice. It’s not very hard to determine whether a person or an institution is working against your best interests, it’s just a matter of paying attention and listening to your gut. My dad was really good at that. He said that there is a significant part of the population that are not interested in the truth; it is too much for them to handle. So, they rely on lies that confirm their bias. He then laid the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam and Watergate alongside that logic and it made all the sense in the world. It works to this day.
Skepticism is a virtue, and one that will protect you from a lot of dangers and nonsense you get in life today. Skepticism is what keeps me in a conservative frame of mind, thanks to my dad’s lessons from long ago.
Welcome to the comments. Good opening salvo.
I heard Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men in my head while reading what your dad said about truth.
Very wise words.
It was the Iowa Caucus in 1988 in Sioux City. I was 27 years old and a prior Reagan voter. The guys running the caucus were in over their heads…they admitted they never had many people ever show up in prior years. Most of us knew what to do either – we had never caucused before. But the Pat Robertson folks sure knew what they were doing and in no time at all they had taken over our caucus, moving their agenda forward, while the rest of us didn’t have a clue what was happening. That’s when I realized caucusing was for the activists of the State – not the regular-Joe-voters. I moved out of Iowa a year later and never attended a caucus again. But I was forever cynical of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status. Earlier that same year, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I learned first hand all about the medical complex and never again trusted any MD, especially the specialists. WIthout going into detail, i learned that they were practicing cookie-cutter medicine that had little to do with the patient dying in front of them. So, 1988 was a profound year for politics and medicine. I was lucky to learn so early.
2000 — Howie Carr on WBZ Boston radio — hottest topic by callers demanding to talk about it, even bigger than Cardinal Law pedophile scandal, was illegal immigration. My eyes, ears, and mind started following all news associated with the invasion. My first letter to the White House was to G W Bush and his misguided border meeting with Vincente Fox and subsequent push for massive amnesties — defeated THREE times in 2006-2007, largely to efforts of Sen. Sessions and his chief strategist, Stephen Miller.
For instance, in December 2005, Sensenbrenner bill originally had provision to change penalty for first illegal entry from misdemeanor to felony. On second thought, he wanted to change it back to leave it as misdemeanor. His amendment to do so got 75% R voting to leave it at misdemeanor. D’s voted 191 to 8 to keep the change as FELONY.
https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll655.xml
May, 2007, D senatirs gathered on Capitol steps and told La Raza crowd that D’s “would not let R’s call immigrants criminals”. D’s campaigned against theor own amendment!!!
D’s are criminals. Never forget that.
Did the R’s voting to keep it misdemeanor state a public-facing reason to do so?
Corruption has always been with us, but never, never at the suffocating scale we are now in.
This was coming parallel with the rise of China, as Crony American-in-name-only Corporates were advertising “Free Trade”. And DC is so infested, politically and within Agencies, DOJ and the Courts that you would have to be a certified fool to believe there is any chance of American Justice.
When? A long, long time ago but it is now exponentially out of control.
November 22, 11963 followed by November 24, 1963.
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Albert Schweitzer, quoted by Judy Wood, B.S.,M.S., Ph.D in her book, Where Did the Towers Go? Evidence of Directed Free Energy Technology on 9/11.
My husband who was in construction and went to college in architecture purchased this book in 2013 or 2014. I read the first chapter and that was it.
This book has no politics in it and makes no attempt to answer the questions of who did 9/11 or why it was done. It is all hard science- physics presented in a readible way. Dr. Wood’s academic background is in Civil Engineering, Engineering Mechanics (Applied Physics), and Materials Engineering Science.
I read the first chapter and it changed my life. I tried to give the first chapter to liberal, democrat friends and they refused to read it, they refused to even look at it.
Before I read this book, I was a Bush/Cheney supporting Republican in favor of the Patriot Act, etc. I voted for John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2012. After I read it, my view of everything changed.
Dr. Wood says: ” If you listen to the evidence carefully enough, it will speak to you and tell you exactly what happened. If you don’t know what happened, keep listening until you do. The evidence always tells the truth. The key is not to allow yourself to be distracted away from seeing what the evidence is telling you.”
She begins the book with a quote from Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 the year he died, “I found out something I never knew: I found out that my world was not the real world.”
When Obama turned against Israel in his second term. And I had voted for him for his first term. From that point forward I said I was voting Republican. Then Trump came along and so much better.
We voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. I’m not sure I would he call our family “progressives” but we certainly leaned to the left. That all changed with Benghazi. As I started to dig into the story I began to realize that all I thought I knew and understood about politicians was false and erroneous. I simply could not conceive that our own government would leave its people to die and then simply lie about the whole story….and yet at the end of the day that is what happened.
The night before Benghazi I was putzing around on my computer. I got a message from somewhere, someone said ‘there are terrorists outside and I may not live thru the night.’ I decided later it was one of the men on the rooftop, think it was the one with his mother so involved. Long ago and I don’t remember.
I knew our govt. was corrupt for decades. I only started to discover how bad in 2009. In 2016, Trump ran for president. What he exposed panicked me. I have been terrified ever since, and more so with every day now.
I was born an “observer,” not a “joiner,” so was aware of inconsistencies at a very young age.
My mother took me to the local Methodist church. My friends ranged from Jewish to Catholic to the Moody Bible Institute. They all claimed to know Truth, but often behaved contrary to the doctrine they preached.
Progressing through school, I noted that my teachers in high school and college were considerably more liberal than my upbringing, and not particularly tolerant of opposing viewpoints. They weren’t aggressively intolerant, but more condescending. This was late ’60’s, early 70’s.
Life got in the way after that. Kids and work dominated, but I noted the increasing intolerance coming from the left.
My Dem ex husband, schools no longer allowing Christmas carols, conversations with coworkers becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
I realized watching the political climate become poisonous after PDJT won in 2016 that what I had viewed as unethical political election hijinks (common in Mayor Daley’s Chicago) goes much deeper and is destroying America.
The Uniparty and all the strings attached became very real for me, and I’ve accepted that our governing elite is perfectly willing to kill to protect themselves.
Sad awakening.
My awakening was when Bob Dole was selected to be the Republican nominee for the 1996 presidential election that I knew the fix was in. Bob Dole was a nice guy but was not really a viable candidate. He was chosen as the next in line to loose to get the Democrat in office. In this case Bill Clinton. I thought people would get tired of the corruption by Clintons second term, but nope. Slick Willie was elected again. I never voted for Bush senior and under his son my job was allowed to be sent to Red China. From then on it has been one imposter after another in office until Trump for a brief period. Now the left has full control of all the levers of power. My vote has been taken away and now that I am retired it is as though I am watching a movie. Sundance, you have confirmed what I have suspected all these years. The Republican party is just phony opposition in the Uniparty.
When Barack Hussein was elected, and the continual lying about the obvious truth began.
In my earlier post Inforgot to mention the role Andrew Breitbart played in my awakening
Jr. High School. 7th Grade, 1972.
That’s when Lurker360 came into being. Hiding in plain view, taking in every detail and nuance. Initially to survive, eventually to thrive.
To elaborate, that’s when I realized that nothing political or authoritative was as it was “officially” presented to be.
That there were reasons why the news often did not add up or make a damn bit of sense. To read between the lines rather than trust the narrative as presented. To question authority.
Am heartened that many are catching on thanks especially to Trump and other fellow travelers, such as Sundance.
Trump’s honesty and concern for the people was such a relief, but sadly, not a panacea. His strength an example to follow. Ever hopeful he gets his shot at finishing what he began. Am saddened that so many remain blind to what a gift Trump has been to us.
Unfortunately, we live in a world run by armies of Godless craven people with diseased minds and dark souls.
OTOH, we also have a loving God who will win in the end.
As Tom Petty duly noted: The waiting is the hardest part.
It was during the Nixon/Kennedy election, and I was 12 years old. In English class we were divided into debate teams by our teacher. I was placed on the Kennedy side. The research I did on Kennedy’s Congressional voting record clearly showed that it did not at all match with what Kennedy was saying in his campaign, especially on civil rights. Even though in class I debated for Kennedy, I personally believed that Nixon was the far better choice. My family was and is quite political, and strongly divided between Republican and Democrat, as were my parents. One set of my grandparents, and a number of great-aunts, temporarily disowned me at that time because in a family debate over the election I debated for Nixon, and pointed out Kennedy’s actual voting record as well as that of Democrats in general.
My parents and basically all of my teachers emphasized the importance of questioning what we read and hear. Sadly, few teachers and many voters I know do not seem to understand this basic principle of pedagogy or informed voting. I now live in an overwhelmingly Democrat state, and it is disheartening to hear and see the lack of information about actual voting records and basic knowledge about political parties that so many friends and voters have.
I’d like to mention two issues: Presidential and Federal politics, and the FBI
Politics
I more or less became a political junkie at that age of 19 in 1976, when Jimmy Carter came on the scene. He was so offensive to me as a president because he was so ineffective. He’s the one who got me interested in American politics because he sucked so bad. I imagine it would have happened anyway at some point, but he was the trigger. From that point on, I basically followed everything political.
FBI
The trigger here was the Oklahoma City bombing. I remember hearing the news of the tragic event while riding in a yellow taxi down the FDR drive in Manhattan. I was with my boss and the news came over the driver’s car radio. I don’t remember all of the details of the aftermath, but within a short time Timothy McVeigh was captured so the FBI was looking at right-wing militias (and ONLY right-wing militias). This didn’t ring true to me at all because I had already read about these militias and I found they were simply guys who didn’t like the Federal government overreach and they liked guns and the gun culture (my opinion: so what, I like guns, too). Taking the giant leap to massively destructive explosives seemed like BS to me (and Bill Clinton had already tried to paint the Right as dangerous extremists). Blaming this on militias seemed like scapegoating and I just couldn’t believe that there wasn’t an Islamic extremist element to the bombing; bombing was their long-established modus operandi. None of this sat right with me, but the story played out, Timothy McVeigh was executed, and life moved on.
Many years later I read the book by then-local-reporter Jayna Davis, “The Third Terrorist” (the publication date is July 27, 2008, but I misremember is as being earlier). Her account of the FBI behavior towards the high number of witnesses who had accounts of this third person (and accomplices) of Middle Eastern descent opened my eyes to FBI corruption. (Note: Yes, I had experienced real time as a little boy the Kennedy assassination and my mom explained to me how Lee Harvey Oswald couldn’t of pulled off all of those shots himself, and also the kill shot blew the backside of JFK’s scull out so the shot clearly came from the front; however, being so young I didn’t think about it too much). But, when I read Jayna Davis’ account of how the FBI twisted the incident into a story about right-wing militias, that’s the moment I realized the FBI was capable of corruption; I would never again think of the FBI as a force for good. Of course, since that time we’ve seen countless examples of deep-seeded corruption at the FBI; it’s a long list. Now, after Donald J. Trump’s presidency, I realize that virtually EVERYTHING that has to do with the Federal Government is 99% corrupt; deeply corrupt to the core.
I apologize if my account is too long and too personal.
I won’t disagree with the rest of it, but the skull observation regarding Kennedy is a red herring. Bullets do unexpected things and have inconsistent outcomes with head shots. Intracranial pressure can result in a rupture or fault at places other than somewhere directly in line with the initial entry point. I’ve seen it. Bullets bounce around, you’re putting a high speed projectile inside something really hard that’s concave and rounded.
does bullets doing unexpected things include causing 7 wounds on 2 people, including smashing through several inches of rib bone and wrist bone and embedding itself backwards into a thigh and emerging in a state of such perfection that a wound ballistics expert said that CE 399 had less damage than other bullets he had seen that had been shot through paper or leather?
It is always funny when someone agrees with Posner and ‘intercranial pressure.’ Thanks for the laugh.
Agree – and so does the world-renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht, the first civilian to be allowed to look at the autopsy report.
I turned 18 at the end of 1973. Graduated HS in 1974. Yeah, I was held back a year from starting kindergarten because my Bithday fell right on the dividing line … I was a boy (yeah, discriminated against even way back in 1960) … so they held me back. So … as a fresh young 20 yo in 1976 … voting for the first time in my life … I proudly voted for Jimmy Carter. Why? Because he ran BOLDLY as a Christian man who would have the moral compass to never do what Nixon had done. I was never really ever bothered by Watergate (thank you Lynyrd Skynyrd) … but I was a new Christian “Jesus Freak” … so it seemed the right thing to do. And I must say, what sealed it for me was Carter being interviewed by Playboy magazine and confessing that, even though he was a Christian man … he lusted after women other than that dried up old wife, Rosalyn. I had to admit that as a young Christian … I still absolutely loved and lusted after women … and would have acted on it much more if I had been even a little bit bolder and less “Christian”.
… but after the malaise, gasoline lines, gasoline rationing, wearing sweaters in our homes, and two rickety solar panels on the White House roof … I was DONE believing that Democrats could EVER run this country properly.. oh! And when my FIRST mortgage was a 12.5% VARIABLE rate mortgage … I was REALLY DONE … FOREVER … with Democrats. I realized that even wonderful Christian men can be HORRIBLE US Presidents.
I clearly remember the news showing two Arab men police sketches as suspects in the OK City bombings.. We were to be on the lookout for these two men. Then those sketches were disappeared, and Timothy McVeigh was the suspect.
Eric Snowden. Before that I pretty much viewed the military, Intel, and law enforcement communities as Boy Scouts – trustworthy, loyal, helpful, etc. The revelation of Eric Snowden and Wikileaks woke me up to the rotten underbelly of the US Government. The more I read and dug in, the more obvious corruption I saw. I retired five years ago from a thirty three year career in civil service.
Anyone reading this and having doubts about Snowden’s patriotism and intellect please watch this and btw Joe does very little talking here. It’s long so you may want to break it up a bit.
Bishop Collins in LA was murdered. This leaves me very concerned. I think there are layers to this. He was a peaceful advocate for immigrants, and accepted that the family unit has changed considerably, for example, homosexual parents raising children. He didn’t appear to be radical, but these issues are splitting churches across the country. So there are a lot of hot-button issues. This tragedy could spin out into something ugly.
It could have been the pro-aborts.
Many stages. Grew up as a born again Christian, well taught about the world system, it’s legal ruler who steals kills and destroys, and the Kingdom which has no part in it. Took a while to realize our US govt is very much in the former system.
Early 1990s as a youth pastor, went up against local school board (same groomers then). Wife ran for school board and NPR sought me out for an interview as a radical right wing Christian fundamentalist. Declined but eyes wide open. Voted for Buchanan in the NH primary as I saw Bush as a new world order guy. Learned about the establishment first hand over the next few years, learning fake terms such as “electable.”
Obama years – Tea Party woke me up even more. Found CTH here, was it 2012?? Major step there towards getting current truth. 2013 deleted Facebook account due to Pentagon experimentation. CTH has had the most influence in my news sourcing, as they at the time recommended several other sources (GatewayPundit for example).
I am a VERY private person and have never had a Facquebook account not an Instagram or TiKTok or any of the FAKE anti-human disembodied nonsense. I do post a lot on a couple of conservative blogs. But it is anonymous and reveals little of my true identity. But I have no delusions. I am certain that the government logs every keystroke and word I’ve ever typed. I am certain they have me logged and categorized at a “white rager” … “EXTREME right winger” … and “domestic terrorist”. There is no longer a 4th Amendment to the Constitution. Our Tech society has put the 4th Amendment to death. Nobody ever voted to repeal it … it just got destroyed by a massive storage facility in UTAH.
When I noticed what appeared to be a coordinated disinformation campaign against newly elected Donald Trump being run through NYT and WAPO as primary media conduits. That was the moment. Everything since has only served to increase my level of awareness and now everything has changed for me. Nothing is the same.
The 2020 SELECTION. Things will never be the same for me….
Agree, saw J6 set up coming a mile away. The selection was the last pillar in a coup against us the people.
Let me get this straight? So you’re … an “”election denier”.
you must also be an abortion denier
and a global warming denier
and a woke denier
and a reparations denier …