Latin America With an early start to 2019-A dozen Latin American governments and Canada have delivered a blistering rebuke to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, questioning the legitimacy of his soon-to-begin second term and urging him to hand over power as the only path to restoring democracy in his crisis-wracked South American country. In Peru, a bloc of 14 western hemisphere countries known as the Lima Group all but agreed with that assessment. And all but one of its members said they won’t recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s new presidency. They instead called on Maduro not to take the oath of office next Thursday. The Lima Group members who signed the statement included major Latin American countries like Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, as well as Canada. Spite the fact that only 8% of the world population presides in Latin America and the Caribbean; Mexico's Citizens' Council for Public Security's annual ranking of the world's most violent cities; 50 cities on the list, 42 are in Latin America, including 17 in Brazil, 12 in Mexico, and five in Venezuela. Colombia had three, Honduras had two, and El Salvador, Guatemala, and Jamaica all had one. Just five decades ago, in 1970, Latin America was 92 per cent Catholic. Mexicans, Argentines and Brazilians, for example, were born into the Church and lived out their lives as Catholics, although most of them were not regular churchgoers. However, after a half-century of precipitous decline, Latin America, home to 39 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion faithful, will no longer be majority Catholic by 2030. A new survey by the respected Chilean polling firm Latino barómetro finds Latin America now to be only 59 per cent Catholic, down from 80 per cent in 1995 ![]() Brazil “Tropical Trump” Jair Bolsonaro, has won Brazil’s runoff election with a 55 per cent majority. He gained media headlines in September when he was stabbed, lost 40% of his blood, and after recovering went on to win the election. His win is a voter rejection of the leftist administrations that have governed Brazil for most of the last 15 years. Latin America's largest economy has been stuck in recession since 2014. The political establishment has been rocked by a high-level corruption scandal, and crime and murder rates have spiked. Jair Bolsonaro is now the President of a country of 200 million people the size of the USA with a $2.0 trillion dollar economy (8th largest economy in the world). But Bolsonaro’s meteoric rise to power is also explained thanks to the support of Brazilian Evangelicals, who make up, according to some surveys, 26 to 27% of Brazilians, a figure that has shot up in the past two decades. Brazil soon will no longer hold the position as the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world. For years the numbers of people who have declared themselves Roman Catholic are in grave decline, and the last survey by Datafolha Institute indicates a loss of about 9 million faithful since 2014 to 2017. Columbia Colombia thus becomes NATO’s first global partner in Latin America. Those in other regions include Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, New Zealand, Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea. But planning for Colombia’s association with NATO apparently preceded that for the seven other nations. As a global partner, Colombia isn’t bound by Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty of 1949 which declares that an attack on one member state is an attack on all of them, something applying to the 29 fully-fledged members.The job description of a global partner, according to the NATO website, is to “develop cooperation with NATO in areas of mutual interest, including emerging security challenges, and some [partners] contribute actively to NATO operations either militarily or in some other way.” Thus an “intimate bond between the country and the structure of NATO” involves “close collaboration in most military areas.”Colombia boasts two qualifications for associating with NATO. One, it’s a regional military power. Representative numbers tell that story: Colombia’s military force includes 550,550 troops (369,100 active duty), 273 helicopters, 1,345 armed fighting vehicles, and $8.976 billion in budgeted military spending for 2017. Only Brazil, at $25.75 billion, exceeds Colombia in this regard in Latin America. The Colombian government spends 13.1 percent of its total outlay on military spending, which accounts for 3.4 percent of Colombia’s GDP, the highest such rate in South America, says a source citing a percentage of 3.1. Columbia also gained a spot light as Venezuela Opposition leader Julio Borges said “There’s no democratic way out of this crisis,” said Julio Borges, an opposition politician now living in Colombia. “The army have a new enemy and it is Nicolás Maduro – they know he is taking the country down the worst path.” The secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, said that a "military intervention" to "overthrow" Nicolas Maduro's government cannot be ruled out. Almagro made the remark while visiting the Colombian city of Cucuta, a border city that has borne the brunt of the Venezuelan refugee crisis. "With regards to a military intervention aimed at overthrowing the regime of Nicolas Maduro, I think we should not exclude any option," the chief of the Washington-based OAS said, adding that Caracas was committing "crimes against humanity" on its people. The general focus on because Venezuela has been devastated by a deep economic crisis, which the US says has triggered the departure of 2.3 million people since 2014. According to Colombia's government, almost a million of those Venezuelans are currently living in the country. Cuba In August 2017, reports surfaced that American and Canadian diplomatic personnel in Cuba had suffered a variety of health problems, dating back to late 2016, and accusations were made that these were a result of an attack by someone using unspecified technology, possibly sonic in nature. The media has taken to calling these reported incidents "Havana Syndrome". In August 2017, reports began surfacing that American and Canadian diplomatic personnel in Cuba had experienced unusual, unexplained health problems dating back to late 2016. The number claiming symptoms was 26 as of June 2018. The health problems typically had a sudden onset: the victim would suddenly begin hearing strange grating noises that they perceived as coming from a specific direction. Some of them experienced it as a pressure or a vibration; or as a sensation comparable to driving a car with the window partly rolled down. The duration of these attacks ranged from 20 seconds to 30 minutes, and always happened while the diplomats were either at home or in hotel rooms. Mexico Mexico’s government has called on the military to fight the growing problem of gasoline theft at national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) by organized criminals, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Thursday. Gasoline theft is driven by Mexico’s drug cartels were moving into the gasoline industry — infiltrating the national oil company, selling stolen fuel on the black market and engaging in open war with the military. The scourge of “huachicoleo,” a colloquial term for fuel theft, caused a loss of approximately 60 billion pesos ($3.05 billion) for Pemex last year, López Obrador said at his morning press conference, a figure he said will likely be surpassed this year. “What’s been stolen this year could finance 40% of a refinery,” said López Obrador, whose government plans to build a refinery in Tabasco state at an estimated cost of $8 billion. “In other words, three years of fuel theft is equivalent to a new refinery.” At least nine states are now affected by gasoline shortages, a situation which President López Obrador says is the result of the government’s new strategy to combat petroleum theft. Shortages of varying severity have been reported in Michoacán, Querétaro, México state, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Puebla, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Hidalgo. While the president and officials initially said they were not ready to provide a number of homicides for December because a new mechanism to count the number was still being worked on, reporters were told there were more than 1,700 homicides in December. According to a November report by ADN Politico, citing official figures it attributed to the Interior Ministry, as of October there were 24,022 homicides in Mexico in the first 10 months of the year, 3,406 more than in the previous year. Over the course of this year 540 people have been killed in Cancun. This year the murder total for Cancun in 2018 has increased by 313 deaths compared to last year's toll of 227, earning it a reputation for violence rather than its non-stop party scene or stunning views. Ciudad Juárez registered 1,247 homicides in 2018 amid a raging cartel turf war, this is almost twice as many as 2017. In the nine months leading up to this weekend's presidential election, 132 politicians have been killed. That's according to Etellekt, a risk analysis and crisis management firm. The group's report, released Tuesday, found that 22 of Mexico's 31 states have seen a political assassination since campaigning began in September. in the southwestern state of Guerrero alone, nearly 200 people decided to give up their candidacies because of the violence. Others in Mexico have come to the same decision because of pressure from organised crime groups. The extent of the violence and intimidation is such that in some municipalities in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacan and Puebla – all states in the south of the country – have decided to dissuade their candidates from running. In addition to the killings, more than 400 other cases of aggression against politicians and political operatives have been reported this season, including assassination attempts, threats, intimidation and kidnappings, according to Etellekt Nicaragua The 2018 Nicaraguan protests began on 18 April 2018 when demonstrators in several cities of Nicaragua began protests against the social security reforms decreed by President Daniel Ortega that increased taxes and decreased benefits. After five days of unrest in which nearly thirty people were killed. It is estimated ongoing protests have led to the 500+ deaths, 2,800+ injuries , and 350+ arrests. Upwards of 60,000 citizens have fled the country. Some are relieved to have escaped persecution. Others wait and organize, looking for the opportunity to return home and continue their anti-government protests. Furthermore, Venezuela Venezuela's economy has collapsed. This is the result of years of socialism, incompetence, and corruption, among other things. An important element that mirrors the economy's collapse is Venezuela's currency, the bolivar. It is not trustworthy. Venezuela's exchange rate regime provides no discipline. It only produces instability, poverty, and the world’s highest inflation rate for 2018. Indeed, Venezuela’s annual inflation rate at the end of 2018 was 80,000%. It was reported in Buisness Insider, Venezuela inflation hit an annual rate of 830,000% this year to October, according to new data released this week to the country's parliament. Various reports suggest inflation rates from 80,000% to 1,000,000%. Venezuelans who have fled the country already surpass the 3 million mark, with over one million in Colombia. Colombian authorities have stated that they expect the amount of Venezuelans in the country to double over the next 12 months. Venezuela appears to be tragically stuck in a perverse modern-day “Malthusian trap”, where lack of access to food is an important determinant of the emigration rate. The current conditions are so bad that even if the government were to put all of its net income from oil—Venezuela’s main and almost only export, which is publicly owned—to feed the poorest of the poor, there would still be a substantial portion of the population whose basic caloric needs wouldn’t be covered.
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Europe
The list of EU member states withdrawing support for the United Nations global pact on migration is growing, with so far Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Italy and lastly Slovakia having announced they will not sign the pact. Europe Gears up for contentious EU parliamentary elections in 2019; coming in for a rough landing from a fairly unusual number of political shake ups in 2018. Currently, The centre-left parties of EU countries are on course to win less than 20 per cent of the vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections, a record low for the EU’s social democrats. EU parliament votes to punish Hungary, Called for Sanctions against Italy, and more… Belgium: Rather large Yellow Vest protest spread from France to Belgium. Though not reaching the size and tenacity of the French protest, several thousand people still took to the street. Demonstrations began as public backlash against the UN migration pact in central Brussels. The protests descended into scuffles, with police forced to use tear gas and water cannon to restore order. Protests resulted in Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel resignation. It comes less than two weeks after his main coalition partner quit in a row over migration, leaving him leading a minority government. The Belgian government had lost its majority in Parliament after its biggest coalition partner, the right-wing Flemish party, left in opposition to the planned signing this month of an international agreement on migration. France: Yellow Vest Protests continued for 7 weeks; resulting in 10 civilian death, 2841+ civilians injured, 1,000+ police officers injured, and 4,000+ arrests. At the peak of the protests 287,710 protesters were in the street and the protest enjoyed 72% approval from public. Protests began after government planned projected new fuel taxes. Macron approval rating dropped to records lows; close to 20%. Several notable cabinet ministers resigned; including Gerard Collomb, Nicolas Hulot, and Laura Flassel. As of November 4th 2018, France's far-Right National Rally is now more popular than Emmanuel Macron's governing party as the country becomes more anti-EU and opposed to immigration, according to a new Ifop poll examining voting intentions for upcoming European Parliament elections show the National Rally (NR) at 21 per cent, with Mr Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) at 19 per cent. Macron has set himself the challenge of reforming Islam. His initiative coincides with the run-up to campaigns for the European Parliament election, when the president faces his strongest challenge from conservative and hard-right groups urging stronger oversight of Muslim clerics, mosques and schools. A 617-page report delivered to Macron, "The Fabric of Islam," presents a comprehensive plan for reform of Islamic institutions in France following a call from Macron to bring them under the aegis of the state. During a July address to lawmakers at the Palace of Versailles, Macron committed to giving Islam "a framework and rules" by the fall. His goals: discouraging insular Muslim communities and combating extremist strands of the religion. Germany Merkel steps down from chairmanship of the CDU, and confirms she will not run for Chancellor in 2021. Afd , conservative anti-immigration party, gains close to 30% approval ratings; driven by the debate on unrestrained immigration and public backlash from the immigration influx of 2015. Afd won 10% of the seats in the State election of Landtag of Bavaria. This is the first time in history Afd won state seats in Landtag of Bavaria. A significant increase in the Green Party and Afd delivered noticeable drop in seats in Landtag of Bavaria for the CDU and SPD parties. Hans-Georg Maassen domestic intelligence chief was retired from all government offices after reiterating his denial of reports of anti-migrant "hunts" in the country. This happened after the Chemnitz Street protests; though marred in controversy, the protests resulted from uneasy public feelings about mass immigration. Italy Matteo Salvini, Eurosceptic, makes headlines throughout 2018; as Italy refused more immigrants, battled with the EU on budget demands. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took office in Italy in June 2018, to lead a populist government that is shaking up established politics in Europe. Sweden The, Nationalist anti-immigration, Sweden Democrats party won 17.5 Percent of the parliamentary elections. Though still a minority, the elected Sweden Democrats has caused a deadlock in forming a new government in Sweden and several attempts have failed. This has increased the probability of another election. Spain More than 50,000 immigrants crossed into Spain from Morocco in 2018. This influx is over twice as many as 2017. Though Europe saw an overall total reduction in migration of immigrants through Greece, Italy, and Spain. The migration has essentially shifted from Greece/Italy to Spain. Currently, Spain is one of the more friendly countries in Europe for immigration; though strain and tensions have developed. The starkest illustration of this came on 2 December, when Andalusia – the nation’s most populous region – elected to its parliament 12 candidates fielded by the anti-Muslim, anti-feminist party Vox. All told, Vox secured 400,000 votes – 10 per cent of the total cast in Andalusia. By way of comparison, it secured just 18,000 votes and no seats in an election held just four years before. Catalonia unrest continues via hunger protests by imprisoned leaders, and protests. Catalonia protests continue following their historical declaration of independence made in October 2017; signed by 72 of the 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia. Virtually rejected by Spain, the leaders of Catalonia are on trial, exiled, or pushed into obscurity. UK Brexit is still scheduled for March 29th 2019. It has been a contentious year for the UK parliament and EU parliament. As Theresa May hones on a Brexit deal, pundit critics are calling for a second referendum and EU fears a hard no-deal Brexit. The strains have been obvious on May as she faced a no confidence vote from the Tory party and she claims she will not lead the Conservatives into the next general election — scheduled to take place in 2022 — and there is chatter in Westminster that she could step down once Brexit divorce talks finish in March. As the Brexit continues to put heat on the UK political intuitions there have been numerous resignations such as; Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, Brexit Secretary David Davis, MP Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara, Junior Brexit Minister Suella Braverman, ransport minister Jo Johnson, acob Rees-Mogg, and Boris Johnson. Ukraine Ukraine made headlines November 25th after the Kerch Strait incident when the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait on their way to the port of Mariupol. In 2014, Russia had annexed the nearby Crimean Peninsula, which is dominantly internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory. It later constructed the Crimean Bridge across the strait. Under a 2003 treaty, the strait and the Azov Sea are intended to be the shared territorial waters of both countries, and freely accessible. Though the incident is shocking to many people; a low intensity warfare has been taken place along the border with the Donbass (supported by Russia) and Ukraine since 2014. This conflict has claimed more than 10,000 lives, and hostilities continue spit cease fire agreements. In 2018 it was reported that Ukraine lost at least 134 soldiers in the war-torn Donbas region, with the deadliest months being May (at least 17 casualties), August (18 reported casualties) and October (12 casualties), according to military and media reports. Furthermore, An Officer of the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Shtefan has disclosed the number of enemy losses in Donbas throughout the eight months of 2018. "January: 47 KIAs (killed in action), 74 WIAs (wounded in action); February: 66 KIAs, 71 WIAs; March: 42 KIAs, 79 WIAs; April: 117 KIAs, 190 WIAs; May: 110 KIAs, 149 WIAs; June: 86 KIAs, 47 WIAs; July: 31 KIAs, 68 WIAs; August: 68 KIAs, 116 WIAs. In total: 567 KIAs, 894 WIAs," Shtefan wrote on Facebook. It is believed that Russia has several thousand Advisors, Volunteers, and Mercenaries supporting the Donbass military. Satellite photos and claims by President Petro Poroshenko reveal Russia may have deployed "more than 80,000 troops, 1,400 artillery and multiple rocket launch systems, 900 tanks, 2,300 armored combat vehicles, 500 aircraft and 300 helicopters" along their common border. Outside support for belligerents in the conflict is not unique to this region. Ukraine is actively seeking membership of NATO, has joined joint military exercises with NATO advisers, and has received military aid; including Anti-Tank Missiles such as the Javelin. NATO Spite warnings from Russia, NATO continues to pursue strategic relations with Ukraine and Georgia which both seek to join NATO. Georgia actively contributes to NATO-led operations and cooperates with the Allies and other partner countries in many other areas. This year also coincided with one of the largest NATO exercises since the cold war. Trident Juncture 18, abbreviated TRJE18. This NATO-led military exercise was held in Norway in October and November 2018 with an Article 5 collective defense scenario. The exercise will be the largest of its kind in Norway since the 1980s. An estimated 50,000 participants from 31 nations took part, including 10,000 vehicles, 250 aircraft and 65 vessels. This exercise coincided with one of Russia‘s largest military exercises since 1981 during the Cold War. The week-long exercise, known as Vostok-2018 (East-2018) took place in far-eastern Russia, Taking part in the drills were around 300,000 Russian soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 80 ships and 1,000 aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as 3,500 Chinese troops. Calexit is often viewed as a progressive dissatisfaction of the election results of the 2016 Donald Trump’s victory from the Electoral College system. There is a common belief among their movement that Trump lost the popular election and the Electoral College does not represent the population and it has often been compared to the Brexit of America for progressives. Though historically speaking there is very little comparison between Brexit and California. California was once a territory of Spain before becoming a part of Mexico; after the Mexico independence in 1821. Though seeking independence is not a unique idea,
"The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both between regional areas, and also revolts against the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship from 1836 - 1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by American and Britishresidents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham affair. One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, soil and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route." His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh helped end the rule of the last Mexican governor of California, thereby paving the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States" Though part of Mexico, California had internal resistance to the Mexico and sought out independence and/ or Statehood of the US "In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterwards, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide, who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California, and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic was short lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48). When Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the United States forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California." The Rest is history, California because an official state of the USA in 1850. Though California changed territory ownership several times, they enjoyed sovereign statehood of their own only semi-autonomously. While Brexit represents a long history of independent seeking from Britain that goes back to Roman invasions, Vikings, Schism from Catholic Church with the Anglican Church, and etc. Even more, the UK still uses the pound; an independent currency that is not a current option for California. Though Calexit is considered very unpopular with most of the USA, it’s popularity peaked at close to 32% support following the 2016 election. For a state that has 40 million people, that means close 14 million people support it. Furthermore, it could be speculated that close to half of the supporters would be more inclined to vote Democrat. If 70% of the state voted democrat, perhaps close to 50% of the democratic voters favored or entertained the idea of Calexit. This does show a very deepening divide from the common views of California super-majority compared to the rest of the country; including comparing them to people sharing similar political party affiliations and domestic views. The story of Calexit has also been marred in international involvement from countries such as Russia, ""On December 18, 2016, Russia Today, a media outlet controlled by the Kremlin, reported that “a campaign calling for the independence of California from the United States has opened an ‘embassy’ in Moscow. The movement, Yes California, is hoping for a ‘Calexit’ break from the US. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Louis Marinelli, leader of the movement, said the embassy will not deal with diplomatic issues, but will act as more of a cultural center that will educate Russians about California's history, boost trade ties and promote tourism.”How does a fledgling secession movement with little grassroots support afford a Moscow “embassy”? Snopes says a group funded by the Kremlin is letting them use the space for free. Over the weekend, Marinelli gave a television interview to MSNBC host Alex Witt. “Do you think people might grow skeptical and concerned that this movement is just part of a bigger strategy by the Kremlin to destabilize the West?” she asked.“Sure, we believe that’s certainly a reasonable skepticism for people to have,” Marinelli said, “but the truth of the matter is that the American government has for a long time tried to rally the American public against Russia no matter what the issue is.”“On paper, the leader of the California secession movement lives in an apartment complex near San Diego’s Golden Hill neighborhood. But in reality, the Calexit campaign is being run by a 30-year-old who lives and works in a city on the edge of Siberia. Louis Marinelli heads the secessionist group Yes California. Following the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, the organization has gone from an unknown fringe group to one discussed seriously in mainstream media.What has not been discussed as prominently is Marinelli’s deep ties to Russia. A former right-wing activist from Buffalo, New York, Marinelli first moved to Russia almost a decade ago. He studied at St. Petersburg State University, the alma mater of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He returned to the United States to campaign against LGBTQ rights as part of the National Organization for Marriage. Marinelli then returned to Russia. He would marry a Russian citizen, and the couple moved to San Diego, where Marinelli launched a political career based on a platform of California secession.“I immigrated to California, and I consider myself to be a Californian,” Marinelli says from his apartment in Yekaterinburg, a city of about 1.4 million just east of the Ural Mountains and about 1,000 miles from Moscow.”" For the time being, it is not likely Calexit will ever make it to the ballot box and will never have the local support that State of Jefferson has. And will merely exist as only a cartoon comic for the near term future… What is the difference between Calexit and State of Jefferson? (Part I: State of Jefferson)1/1/2019 First of all, they are not the same. State of Jefferson 51st state movement does not seek to become a new country. The Calexit movement is a movement all to itself that would like to have California secede from the United States. The State of Jefferson movement trace’s it root back prior to World War II at its’s peak in 1941. Even though State of Jefferson pushes to be the 51st state, in 1941 they were pushing to be the 49th state. Alaska and Hawaii beat them to the 49th and 50th states in 1959. State of Jefferson is a conglomerate of counties in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Since 1941, it has partially lost its sway in Southern Oregon and is still an active movement in Northern California were it often still makes the ballot box and is even favored in some counties. All in all their message is usually very libertarian and geared towards decentralized government which causes it to loss sway with more progressive counties and urban areas. One of their core beliefs is to give federal land back to states, so the movement is similar to other western liberty movements. Realistically, if they became their own state they would be subject to federal over site that many other states have in the West, but they would be free to form their own local regulations and local/state tax codes without California. Within the State of Jefferson movement there is a local identity and feeling that is unique to the people that live there. There feeling carries over to the nostalgia that they already voted on it and it has been decided locally but they get over ruled by the super majority of California. This state concept is not to be confused with the New California concept that was overruled. New California is a conservative concept to divide California in two states that better represented by a liberal and conservative majority. It lacks the tradition and history of State of Jefferson.
For many years the United States has battled out and debated the role Christianity plays in the United States governance and education of the populous. The battle carries over to legal battles about evolution, abortion, Ten Commandments in court room, and whether Islam has an equal place in our history of the United States. It has been a battle with constant shifting lines and alliances. One particular legal battle that has a political paradox to it is the battle of the Christmas tree. What is interesting about the Christmas tree is that in some cases it is considered a religious symbol similar to a nativity scene, in other cases it is considered secular symbol and is deemed legal to display on public grounds. What is so interesting about the Christmas tree is that it’s origins are completely unchristian.
“But rather, has been adopted from the early pagan festival, Dies Natalis Solis Invictus, a/k/a Sol Invictus, which celebrated the victory of light over darkness and the lengthening of the sun’s rays at the winter solstice. The pagan festival of Saturnalia was also practiced on the Winter Solstice through December 25 and shared many of the same traditions of the Roman Solis Invictus and included tree worship of the evergreen, merrymaking and gift-giving-all pagan traditions grafted onto the celebration of Christ’s birth by the early church and carried forward through today.” and “The modern Christmas tree is frequently traced to the symbolism of trees in pre-Christian winter rites, wherein Viking and Saxon worshiped trees. The story of Saint Boniface cutting down Donar's Oak illustrates the pagan practices in 8th century among the Germans.” The extreme irony of the Christmas tree is that many people in the early church tried to ban Christmas and decorating of trees for holidays. “The second-century theologian Tertullian condemned those Christians who celebrated the winter festivals, or decorated their houses with laurel boughs in honor of the emperor:"Let them over whom the fires of hell are imminent, affix to their posts, laurels doomed presently to burn: to them the testimonies of darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the world, and a tree ever green. If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple."” When most people think of the church banning Christmas, they think of bickering Catholic Church officials in the Roman Empire deciding how to rule their people and establish domain. It is surprising to many people that Christmas was ban as late 1681 in Boston. "Shocking as it sounds, followers of Jesus Christ in both America and England helped pass laws making it illegal to observe Christmas, believing it was an insult to God to honor a day associated with ancient paganism," according to "Shocked by the Bible". Most Americans today are unaware that Christmas was banned in Boston from 1659 to 1681." Though the Christmas tree debate will continue to play a role in the greater debate in America’s future. There can be no other debate more contentious in the current political environment over the statement, “Under God” in the Pledge of alliance. For one, the Pledge of Alliance has a very unusual history. For starters, when was “Under God” added to the Pledge of Alliance? “In 1953, Louis Rabaut, a democrat from Michigan sponsored a resolution to add the words "under God" to the Pledge. It failed. But by then, the decision was up to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Recently baptized as a Presbyterian, he heard a sermon, arguing the words "under God" from Lincoln's speech set the United States apart from others as a nation. At the time, the Cold War was gaining steam, and Eisenhower was fighting communism across the globe.” Irony of the decision to add,”Under God” to the Pledge allegations is that it was added to confront the godless communism that was spreading around the world in 1953. What some people today take for granted is that religion is often the subject of mass repression and state control in a socialist state at that time in history. The “Under God” was sort of a way of saying that we will protect people’s right to practice their faith. Though offensive to some secular atheists, “under god” could mean something more all-inclusive for all people, which we will discuss below. It could represent a Jewish God, Christian God, Hindu God, Muslim God, or Native American God or even have more loose interpretations. Obviously, it can mean a Christian god, and for most people in the USA it probably means that. But it can also mean: “the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind, a person or thing of supreme value” In the west the debate of religion symbols or words in public offices and language is often reduced to a debate by a Christian Majority versus Secular Atheists. However, during the cold war Communism was trying to eliminate Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and indigenous religions. In many countries repression government over site led to millions of people forced into work camps for reeducation and often torture. Putting “Under God” in the Pledge of allegiance was probably more kin to the US government saying they protect the religious freedoms of their people. If we are going to split hairs; think about how wonderful Protestants and Catholics get along in the USA. Even though taken for granted in the USA, those religious splits often drew national boundaries in Europe through civil wars, repression, and massive wars throughout history too similar to the Islam; Sunni and Shia split. What is more paradoxical then adding the words, “Under God” to the Pledge Allegiance is the origin of the Pledge Allegiance itself; a topic too large for this editorial piece today. So what were the views of God in early United States history by the presidents of the United States? Most of the presidents were affiliated to one Christian Religion or another. Many of the common religions have been Baptist, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholic, and Episcopalian. Many people would argue about the authenticity and sincerity of the politician’s real beliefs or whether their affiliation with church was only a means to garnish support from the voting population. Even though the country was fundamentally a Christian State many of the presidents had a more diverse view of the divine. One of those presidents was Thomas Jefferson. President Thomas Jefferson was sometimes viewed as Unitarian, Epicurean and a Deist. His views on Jesus are seen as follows: "Most deists denied the Christian concepts of miracles and the Trinity. Though he had a lifelong esteem for Jesus' moral teachings, Jefferson did not believe in miracles, nor in the divinity of Jesus. In a letter to deRieux in 1788, he declined a request to act as a godfather, saying he had been unable to accept the doctrine of the Trinity "from a very early part of my life."[17][24] In an 1820 letter to his close friend William Short, Jefferson stated, "it is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance toward forgiveness of sin; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it."[25] In 1824, four years later, Jefferson had changed on his view of the "materialism" of Jesus, clarifying then that "... the founder of our religion, was unquestionably a materialist as to man." And "In summary, then, Jefferson was a deist because he believed in one God, in divine providence, in the divine moral law, and in rewards and punishments after death; but did not believe in supernatural revelation. He was a Christian deist because he saw Christianity as the highest expression of natural religion and Jesus as an incomparably great moral teacher. He was not an orthodox Christian because he rejected, among other things, the doctrines that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the incarnate Son of God. Jefferson's religion is fairly typical of the American form of deism in his day." And "He considered the teachings of Jesus as having "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man,"[5] yet he held that the pure teachings of Jesus appeared to have been appropriated by some of Jesus' early followers, resulting in a Bible that contained both "diamonds" of wisdom and the "dung" of ancient political agendas." And Jefferson used certain passages of the New Testament to compose The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (the "Jefferson Bible"), which excluded any miracles by Jesus and stressed his moral message. Though he often expressed his opposition to many practices of the clergy, and to many specific popular Christian doctrines of his day, Jefferson repeatedly expressed his admiration for Jesus as a moral teacher, and consistently referred to himself as a Christian (though following his own unique type of Christianity) throughout his life. Jefferson opposed Calvinism, Trinitarianism, and what he identified as Platonic elements in Christianity. In private letters Jefferson also described himself as subscribing to other certain philosophies, in addition to being a Christian. In these letters he described himself as also being an "Epicurean" (1819),[9] a "19th century materialist" (1820),[10] a "Unitarian by myself" (1825),[11] and "a sect by myself" (1819).[12] Upon the disestablishment of religion in Connecticut, he wrote to John Adams: "I join you, therefore, in sincere congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken up, and that a Protestant Popedom is no longer to disgrace the American history and character."[13] Though if such a man, as Thomas Jefferson, used language such as “Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence, what did he mean: Phrases such as "Nature's God", which Jefferson used in the Declaration of Independence, are typical of Deism, although they were also used at the time by non-Deist thinkers, such as Francis Hutcheson. In addition, it was part of Roman thinking about natural law, and Jefferson was influenced by reading Cicero on this topic. Was Thomas Jefferson alone in his belief? Five of the US presidents were Unitarians including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Filmore, and Taft. Unitarians believe Jesus was a person that was inspired by god and not a deity. "Unitarianism (from Latin unitas "unity, oneness", from unus "one") is a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person, as opposed to the Trinity (tri- from Latin tres "three") which defines God as three persons in one being; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unitarian Christians, therefore, believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings, and he is a savior, but he was not a deity or God incarnate. Unitarianism does not constitute one single Christian denomination, but rather refers to a collection of both extant and extinct Christian groups, whether historically related to each other or not, which share a common theological concept of the oneness nature of God. and While the uncompromising theological monotheism at the heart of Christian Unitarianism distinguishes it from the major Christian denominations which subscribe to Trinitarian theology, Christian Unitarianism is analogous to the more austere monotheistic understandings of God in Judaism. and Unitarianism is also known for the rejection of several other Western Christian doctrines, including the doctrines of original sin, predestination, and the infallibility of the Bible. Unitarians in previous centuries accepted the doctrine of punishment in an eternal hell, but few do today." What were the crafters of the constitution view about religion in the US? The Constitution itself doesn't even mention god accept in the form of addressing it as a religion in the first amendment, "The first amendment to the US Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" This is how Thomas Jefferson might have viewed how the Constitution would play out in political world, Jefferson held that "acknowledging and adoring an overruling providence" (as in his First Inaugural Address[7]) was important and in his second inaugural address, expressed the need to gain "the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old."[8] Still, together with James Madison, Jefferson carried on a long and successful campaign against state financial support of churches in Virginia. Also, it is Jefferson who coined the phrase "wall of separation between church and state" in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptistsof Connecticut. During his 1800 campaign for the presidency, Jefferson even had to contend with critics who argued that he was unfit to hold office because of their discomfort with his "unorthodox" religious beliefs. Even then Jefferson was not without his critics, During the 1800 presidential campaign, the New England Palladium wrote, "Should the infidel Jefferson be elected to the Presidency, the seal of death is that moment set on our holy religion, our churches will be prostrated, and some infamous 'prostitute', under the title of goddess of reason, will preside in the sanctuaries now devoted to the worship of the most High."[37] Federalists attacked Jefferson as a "howling atheist" and infidel, claiming that his attraction to the religious and political extremism of the French Revolution disqualified him from public office.[38][39] At that time, calling a person an infidel could mean a number of things, including that they did not believe in God. It was an accusation commonly levelled at Deists, although they believe in a deity. It was also directed at those thought to be harming the Christian faith in which they were raised. Even though the Constitution has no mention of God; God is mentioned as a creator in the Declaration of independence, but is not wholly understood what it means:" "The genius of the Declaration is the inclusive way the divine is given expression. The appellations of God are generic. Adherents of traditional theistic sects can read the words “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” and “Supreme Judge,” and understand them to mean the god they worship. The claims made on numerous Christian websites attest to this. Yet opponents of dogma read those same words and see an embracive, non-sectarian concept of divinity. This is no small testimony to the wisdom and foresight of the Founding Fathers. All Americans could support the Revolution and independence. All can regard their rights as unalienable, their liberty as inviolable." On August 6, 1945 the first nuclear bomb was dropped on a city known as Hiroshima. Three days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Both bombs killed roughly 126,000-226,000 people and possibly more. These bombs changed the way superpowers confront each other and the nature of how wars are fought forever. But what if history took a different turn. What if Germany invaded Russia one month sooner. What if Hitler did not listen to Herman Goring, and Germany did not lose 250,000 troops at Stalingrad and possibly won the battle of Kursk. What if Germany did not wait until 1943 to go into Full War Production, and they had adequate supplies to defeat Russia from 1941-1942. Or possibly Italy successfully beat Britain in Egypt and conquered all of North Africa. It would have been a truly interesting turn of fate, Germany would now have unlimited amounts of oil to build their war machine and would no longer have any shortages of equipment, supplies, Oil, and technology to defeat Britain or at least consolidate their power in Europe. Many of these ideas are not far fetched either, several countries in 1941 were already moving toward full war production, and Germany waited until 1943. And Russia was hanging by a thread: "For example, the USSR was very dependent on rail transportation, but the war practically ended rail equipment production. Just 446 locomotives were produced during the war, with only 92 of those being built between 1942 and 1945. In total, 92.7% of the wartime production of railroad equipment by the USSR was supplied by Lend-Lease, including 1,911 locomotives and 11,225 railcars which augmented the existing prewar stocks of at least 20,000 locomotives and half a million railcars. Furthermore, much of the logistical assistance of the Soviet military was provided by hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made trucks. Indeed, by 1945, nearly a third of the truck strength of the Red Army was U.S.-built. Trucks such as the Dodge ¾ ton and Studebaker 2½ ton were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front. American shipments of telephone cable, aluminum, canned rations, and clothing were also critical. Lend-Lease also supplied significant amounts of weapons and ammunition. The Soviet air force received 18,200 aircraft, which amounted to about 13% of Soviet wartime aircraft production. And while most tank units were Soviet-built models, some 7,000 Lend-Lease tanks were deployed by the Red Army, or 8% of war-time production.According to the Russian historian Boris Vadimovich Sokolov, Lend-Lease had a crucial role in winning the war:On the whole the following conclusion can be drawn: that without these Western shipments under Lend-Lease the Soviet Union not only would not have been able to win the Great Patriotic War, it would not have been able even to oppose the German invaders, since it could not itself produce sufficient quantities of arms and military equipment or adequate supplies of fuel and ammunition. The Soviet authorities were well aware of this dependency on Lend-Lease. Thus, Stalin told Harry Hopkins [FDR's emissary to Moscow in July 1941] that the U.S.S.R. could not match Germany's might as an occupier of Europe and its resources." What if history took a totally different twist. Germany had adequate mobilized divisions along the western coast, making a invasion suicide. And tit for tat air campaigns by the Allies and Germany created a stale mate. With Germany establishing air supremacy over their own skies, reducing the destruction to their domestic industrial base. Germany starts to consolidate their power across Europe building their Third Reich. However, would the war be over? What if a nuclear bomb was dropped on Berlin in August 6, 1945 How would this changed the course of history? Your left with several questions. First, how would Germany respond to the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan? Would the first nuclear bomb dropped on Germany wipe out most of the Nazi leadership? Would US be willing to use a Nuclear bomb on Germany to save people in concentration camps? Would US even be willing to use a nuclear bomb if Germany was winning the war? If the Soviet Union did not exist because of a German victory, how would the world look today. Some critics say US did not have enough nuclear bombs or Germany would have developed it. Contrary to those ideas; US was preparing to drop 12 nuclear bombs on Japan. So, US would have had at least another ten to drop on Germany. And there were no signs that there was an imminent threat that Germany was going to build a bomb. It also begs deep lying questions for people fighting on all of the theaters of war. Because of the nuclear bomb, was US destined to win the war no matter the outcome?? And what would have filled the following 50 years instead of the Soviet Union vs NATO Cold War?
An example of an interstadial similar to current climate events is an inter-glacial event that happend roughly 130,000 to 115kya years ago known as the Eemian. During the Eemian the global temperature were several degrees Celsius higher than it is today and the oceans were 20-30 feet deeper. This of course is not even considered an anomaly, it is estimated that all the inter-glacial periods might have had similar climate conditions as the Eemian during the Pleistocene. In attempts to understand the current interglacial period, known as the Holocene, scientists have observed that the Eemian period is not quite like the Holocene because it had a sharper temperature increase with no Younger Dryas effect, higher temperatures, and a temperature peak lasting less then 10,000 years. Some of the reasons for this are explained by eccentricity, “The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptic orbit, 1 is a parabolic escape orbit, and greater than 1 is a hyperbola.” “Eccentricity is important because it regulates the strength of polar maximum summer insolation caused by precession of the equinoxes every 21,000 years. Precession determines the distance from the sun during a Polar summer. If summer coincides with the earth’s perihelion then summer insolation can be up to 20% higher than average. However if the earth’s orbit is nearly circular, as it is today, then precession has little effect at all. That is why we have about 12000 years left before cooling begins.” October 4, 2016 by Clive Best, When is the next ice age due? In order to compare current climate changes to the past we need to look at an interglacial period with a similar eccentricity. Two observations from these charts come to play. The first is the current interglacial period, Holocene, is only half over. And if the Holocene is anything like the Anglian interglacial period temperatures are set to continue to rise if they correlate with EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) temperatures reported for the Anglian interglacial period.
"We can argue about how warm the peak temperature will get and CMIP5 models vary about this roughly between 2 and 5 degrees. However this manmade climate disturbance should last for not much more than 3000 years so long as our emissions are reduced before 2100. The real question is what level we should then try to keep CO2 to avoid another devastating glaciation in 13,000 years time? If we want to survive long term then probably we should never let CO2 fall below 300ppm ever again!"October 4, 2016 by Clive Best, When is the next ice age due? Paleohydrological Events From the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene 30KYA to 1500AD Since 1880 the ocean began to rise briskly, climbing a total of 210 mm (8.3 in) through 2009- about 7 inches a century. However, if you put that in a historical perspective; 19,000 to 6,000 years ago the sea level raise rate was roughly 529% to 2814% higher then today. Oceans during this time raised close to 120 metres (4,724 inches), this would be 56,915% percent larger then the 8.3 inch sea level raise since 1880. This all happened from 18,000 to 4,000 years before the birth of Jesus. National Oceanography Centre "Global sea level rose by a total of more than 120 metres as the vast ice sheets of the last Ice Age melted back. This melt-back lasted from about 19,000 to about 6,000 years ago, meaning that the average rate of sea-level rise was roughly 1 metre (37 inches) per century. Previous studies of sea-level change at individual locations have suggested that the gradual rise may have been marked by abrupt ‘jumps’ of sea-level rise at rates that approached 5 (197 inches) metres per century. Their analyses indicate that the gradual rise at an average rate of 1 metre per century was interrupted by two periods with rates of rise up to 2.5 metres (98 inches) per century, between 15 and 13 thousand years ago, and between 11 and 9 thousand years ago." However, this is not the whole story. Recent data pulled from the NASA website suggests that the sea level fluctuated very little since September 16, 2015. In other words, no observable data in the last 2 years can show a discernible sea level rise at all. ![]() Nor is the current shrinking of Greenland's Glaciers Unique. D Dahl-Jensen 2013 showed that Greenland's glaciers 122,000 years ago, during the Eemian, reached surface elevations 130 ± 300 metres lower than today. Is the Arctic Ocean's shrinking summer ice concentrations unique? One of the arguments that exists why the Eemian is not a good analogy for what is happening right now is that the Arctic sea still had summer ice coverage as compared to current conditions. The argument also suggests that the current conditions are unique because the Arctic ocean was cooling during the late Eemian. Recent observations by Stein en al 2017 show that there is discrepancies in these widely held opinions. Their data showed that the Arctic Ocean may have been close to ice free from 116,000 to 120,000 years ago. "There, planktic δ18O records from cores MD95-2010 and MD99-2304 (for core locations see Fig. 7e) document a climatic optimum in the early-middle part of the LIG between about 126 and 116 ka, related to a strong poleward extension of warm Atlantic Water. These conditions are quite similar to those also described for the Early Holocene at cores MSM5/5-712-2 and NP05-11-70GC (Fig; see Fig. 7e for core locations), i.e., very low PIP25 values of 0.2 and less, interpreted as almost ice-free conditions triggered by increased Atlantic Water inflow." Also, during the Eemian, "the mean air temperatures in Northeast Siberia that were about 9 °C higher than today air temperatures above the Greenland NEEM ice core site of about 8 ± 4 °C above the mean of the past millennium North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures of about 2 °C higher than the modern (PI) temperatures and a global sea level 5–9 m above the present sea level (Stein en al 2017)". Further more an addition paper from Stein el al 2017 shows that there was a significant increase in ice in the Chukchi Sea and the East Siberian Sea the last 4,500 years as compared to the early Holocene. These new findings are excellent science work and engaging to the reader. The reader will be left with many mysteries and the papers themselves only open doors to more questions and provide a direction for research to head in. We would also like to state we are not suggesting that Carbon Dioxide levels are not rising or ocean and surface temperatures have trended up lately. It is widely held in the science community that Carbon Dioxide levels are rising and there has been observable temperature increases globally on the surface and in the ocean. We are only suggesting that Climate Sensitivity be dialed down and let these people continue to do their research on the Eemian, Penultimate, and other earlier interglacial undisturbed by global warming hysteria... Everybody is talking about the oceans rising and the ending of the world. But what would happen if the glaciers blanketed Canada and Eurasia. In a world looking for more certainty this recent research only leads to more questions. Please also see our article; Glaciers or Rising Oceans; Damned if you do, damned if don’t, And maybe both Recently the news has been lit up by news of NSA whistle blowers and debates about privacy and anonymity often relating to Snowden, julian assange, or Anonymous. Sometimes meaningful debates are spun out of their actions, other times these whistle blowers just stirred up a nest of bees, sometimes their information was flawed without any basis, and other times they had no effect. But, no doubt you have had a conversation with your neighbor at one point or another about privacy as a right in the USA. You or your audience probably finished the conversation by saying, "I am not worried I do not have anything to hide." But is that in kin to if somebody says your freedom of speech will be taken away and somebody says ,"I am not worried because I have nothing to say." Let's celebrate the fourth of July by taking a look at the fourth amendment and take a pleasant stroll into the past and look at Benjamin Franklin's Silence Dogood Letters- Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. SILENCE DOOGOOD ![]() ""HE “Couranteers” or “Hell-Fire Club,” as the contributors to James Franklin’s The New-England Courant came to be known, started something new in America--a lively journal without ties to the Massachusetts colonial government that published attacks on Boston’s political and religious establishment. In this heady atmosphere, sixteen-year-old Ben Franklin was inspired to make his own first efforts as a journalist. As he recollected in his Autobiography: He (Franklin’s brother, James) had some ingenious Men among his Friends who amuse’d themselves by writing little Pieces for this Paper, which gain’d it Credit, and made it more in Demand; and these Gentlemen often visited us. Hearing their Conversations, and their Accounts of the Approbation their Papers were receiv’d with, I was excited to try my Hand among them. But being still a Boy, and suspect that my Brother would object to printing any Thing of mine in his Paper, if he knew it to be mine, I contriv’d to disguise my Hand, and writing an anonymous Paper I put it in the Night under the Door of the Printing House.The submission Benjamin Franklin wrote and slipped under the door to the newspaper was a letter supposedly written by a minister's widow named Silence Dogood. The favorable reception of the first letter prompted Franklin to write a second. In all, fourteen essays by Silence Dogood appeared in the Courant. James Franklin and his friends knew that "Silence Dogood" was a pen name and not a "real" woman. They concluded that the writer using the pseudonym was a clever and well-read man of town; they had no idea that the real author was James's younger brother. Eventually Benjamin admitted that he was the author of the Silence Dogood essays and got some favorable attention from the "Couranteers" but perhaps alienated his older brother, James. Benjamin Franklin, in his Autobiography, recalled that James cautioned against being too vain because of the reception the Dogood essays received. This vanity (real or perceived) might have contributed to the rift that was developing between the younger brother/apprentice and the older brother/master printer."" First Essay, "This is the first appearance of Benjamin Franklin in print, writing under the pseudonym of Silence Dogood, the outspoken widow of a minister. In this essay published in the 26 March-2 April 1722 issue of The New-England Courant, the reader learns about Silence Dogood's birth on board a ship sailing to Boston and the dramatic death of her father (swept overboard as he was standing on deck celebrating his newborn daughter), the necessity of her apprenticeship to a minister (because of the impoverished situation her mother found herself in), and her education and exposure to books during her work for the minister. At the end of the letter Dogood promises to write to the paper again:" "'Sir, It may not be improper in the first place to inform your Readers, that I intend once a Fortnight to present them, by the Help of this Paper, with a short Epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their Entertainment. And since it is observed, that the Generality of People, now a days, are unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read, until they are in some measure informed who or what the Author of it is, whether he be poor or rich, old or young, a Schollar or a Leather Apron Man, &c. and give their Opinion of the Performance, according to the Knowledge which they have of the Author’s Circumstances, it may not be amiss to begin with a short Account of my past Life and present Condition, that the Reader may not be at a Loss to judge whether or no my Lucubrations are worth his reading. At the time of my Birth, my Parents were on Ship-board in their Way from London to N. England. My Entrance into this troublesome World was attended with the Death of my Father, a Misfortune, which tho’ I was not then capable of knowing, I shall never be able to forget; for as he, poor Man, stood upon the Deck rejoycing at my Birth, a merciless Wave entred the Ship, and in one Moment carry’d him beyond Reprieve. Thus, was the first Day which I saw, the last that was seen by my Father; and thus was my disconsolate Mother at once made both a Parent and a Widow. When we arrived at Boston (which was not long after) I was put to Nurse in a Country Place, at a small Distance from the Town, where I went to School, and past my Infancy and Childhood in Vanity and Idleness, until I was bound out Apprentice, that I might no longer be a Charge to my Indigent Mother, who was put to hard Shifts for a Living. My Master was a Country Minister, a pious good-natur’d young Man, and a Batchelor: He labour’d with all his Might to instil vertuous and godly Principles into my tender Soul, well knowing that it was the most suitable Time to make deep and lasting Impressions on the Mind, while it was yet untainted with Vice, free and unbiass’d. He endeavour’d that I might be instructed in all that Knowledge and Learning which is necessary for our Sex, and deny’d me no Accomplishment that could possibly be attained in a Country Place; such as all Sorts of Needle-Work, Writing, Arithmetick, &c. and observing that I took a more than ordinary Delight in reading ingenious Books, he gave me the free Use of his Library, which tho’ it was but small, yet it was well chose, to inform the Understanding rightly, and enable the Mind to frame great and noble Ideas. Before I had liv’d quite two Years with this Reverend Gentleman, my indulgent Mother departed this Life, leaving me as it were by my self, having no Relation on Earth within my Knowledge. I will not abuse your Patience with a tedious Recital of all the frivolous Accidents of my Life, that happened from this Time until I arrived to Years of Discretion, only inform you that I liv’d a chearful Country Life, spending my leisure Time either in some innocent Diversion with the neighbouring Females, or in some shady Retirement, with the best of Company, Books. Thus I past away the Time with a Mixture of Profit and Pleasure, having no affliction but what was imaginary, and created in my own Fancy; as nothing is more common with us Women, than to be grieving for nothing, when we have nothing else to grieve for. As I would not engross too much of your Paper at once, I will defer the Remainder of my Story until my next Letter; in the mean time desiring your Readers to exercise their Patience, and bear with my Humours now and then, because I shall trouble them but seldom. I am not insensible of the Impossibility of pleasing all, but I would not willingly displease any; and for those who will take Offence where none is intended, they are beneath the Notice of Your Humble Servant,"" |