RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19153/elizabeth-holmes-sentence

It was a strange mixed verdict because those she was acquitted of defrauding needed more protection from the law than those she was convicted of defrauding.

This is not to deny that even these financial gamblers are entitled to legal protection against fraud, despite the well-known caution of caveat emptor. It is to question the proportionality of a double-digit sentence in the face of the acquittal on the far more serious charge.

A wealthy investor who loses a million dollars, representing one percent of his net worth, has lost less than a middle-class investor who loses $100,000, representing half of his assets. Yet the sentencing guidelines undervalue these realities. The irony is that Holmes might well have gotten a shorter sentence if she had been convicted only of the more serious crimes….

The guidelines give far too much weight to the quantity of financial losses, and too little to the qualitative realities of the risky investment world.

Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley wonderkid who founded and ran Theranos, the blood testing company, was sentenced last week to 11 years in prison. A jury acquitted her of the most serious charges related to defrauding government and military officials regarding the use of the Theranos device by soldiers. But it convicted her of defrauding highly sophisticated, experienced and mega-wealthy investors.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/23/thanksgiving-proclamation-1789/

New York, 3 October 1789

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

https://www.wsj.com/articles/and-the-fair-land-thanksgiving-11669155343?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Any one whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.

This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.

And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.

So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-desolate-wilderness-thanksgiving-plymouth-pilgrims-nathaniel-morton-william-bradford-11669155132?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:

So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.

When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.

The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other’s heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.

https://amac.us/pelosis-legacy-of-failure-and-political-malfeasance/

Late last week, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi formally announced that she would officially step down from leadership, marking an end to a two-decade reign as the top House Democrat. While elected Democrats and the mainstream media have unsurprisingly heaped praise on the 82-year-old Californian, gushing about the “historic” nature of her speakership, the harsh reality is that Pelosi’s tenure was marked by some of the most disastrous decisions in U.S. history, the radicalization of the Democratic Party, and the degradation of American political culture more broadly.

Pelosi has often said that her entire approach to governance can be summarized by a vital lesson her father taught her in her formative years: “No one is going to give you power. You have to seize it.” From the time she first rose to prominence as the House Minority Leader in 2003, Pelosi has taken that refrain to heart, constantly clawing for as much power as possible. While in the minority, Pelosi had a limited ability to stop Republican legislation. But where she could cause the GOP headaches, she did, including on popular border security and Social Security reform measures.

Democrats finally won back the House majority in 2006, handing Pelosi the Speaker’s gavel for the first time, and she was reelected in 2008. The defining moment of her first tenure as Speaker would come in 2010 with the passage of Obamacare. With large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress, a Democrat in the White House, and a liberal Supreme Court, Pelosi mortgaged the political future of dozens of House Democrats to ram through a gargantuan and deeply unpopular bill that upended the American healthcare system.

In defending the legislation, Pelosi inadvertently let slip one of her most infamous quotes: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” When Americans did find out, they were none too happy, and Democrats lost 63 House seats later that year.