Re - POTUS graduation speech
I watched and it sure looks like he’s having a great time.
He sure can work a crowd! He just seems filled with pride when he’s around the military.
45 is a GREAT MAN. In my opinion he is the greatest, most Noble President ever.
This is going to be a long one today, FReeQs, so let's get started. Dani continued her testimony again all day Wednesday - what a stalwart. I think she's pretty angry at Keith. She became quite emotional as she described the events leading up to her confinement. Diane Lipson, correspondent for the Frank Report gives us an excellent summary of yesterday afternoon. NXIVM forced her to write letters to Keith everyday for her 'ethical breach' of having affection for another man. Raniere lied to her parents and others that she had stolen money and was being punished for that. Eventually they confiscated all of her music, computer, and personal items. She had to have permission for everything she did, like eating or leaving the house. Her windows were covered with paper so she couldn't look out. At times she was forced to write down what she was doing every fifteen minutes. Keith made her keep sending naked pictures. Her parents aligned against her and with Keith. She couldn't get clean clothes for weeks at a time, had to report her weight daily to Keith or Lauren or Nancy. Ultimately, she was left in her room with only a foam pad on the floor to sleep on and paper and pens to write penitent letters to Raniere. And all this was the torture before her confinement!
Raniere judged that Dani needed to be punished more and confined her to her room, now stripped of anything but writing supplies and a foam matress. Covered windows and an adjoining bathroom became her prison for almost two years. The only person she was allowed to see was Lauren Salzman who was assigned to check on her every month, or sometimes once every three months. Dani's parents brought food to her door where they left it on the floor, knocked, and left. She never saw them or anyone else. She was in solitary confinement and the only activity was writing to Keith. Details of her heartbreaking testimony are here. Observers noted that as Dani got very emotional describing the tortures, others in the court room were openly crying or on the verge of sympathetic tears. Raniere stared intently at Dani. He was completely emotionless. One day, suicidal, Dani peeled back some paper from her window and saw a red bird and decided she wanted to live. That was the day she walked out of the house and over to a volleyball court where other cultists and Keith were playing. When Keith saw her, he ran and hid.
Finally! A court observer has provided us with some insights on what Raniere and others are doing in the courtroom while all this is going on. As for Raniere, he's worn cardigans and dress shirts every day so far, shows absolutely no emotion, and is constantly scribbling notes on yellow stickies and passing them to his lawyers. His lawyers don't seem impressed. Perhaps they just don't appreciate the 'wisdom' of the Vanguard?
Despite his lawyer attesting to "dozens" of abortions with many women, Raniere has one son. The mother is Kristen Keeffe, one of his early slaves who is believed to have provided the Feds with lots of information about the nefarious activities of NXIVM. Miss Keeffe was fortunate enough to recognize the direction Raniere was headed with NXIVM and high tailed it out of there as soon as her baby could travel. She went into hiding when she left. It is believed that Raniere and the Bronfman's spent around a million dollars trying to find her and perhaps they were even trying to kill her. When the baby was born, Keith and others lied and said it was a foundling. His followers were told he was celibate so he couldn't very well father a child. Boy and mother are now presumed safe. More details are here.
There's some mainstream coverage at long last. Sort of. Forbes actually ran this article about how Sara and Clare Bronfman hacked their father's computer and passed all the emails to Raniere. They forgot to mention that those emails included correspondence from Clinton and other Very Important People from the U.S. and around the world. Did Keith see something in those emails? Did something push him over the line to full-blown psychopath? Or was he already there?
I'll give a reluctant nod to CBS News for touching the third rail and publishing a story on the trial. Although they call Dani an "alleged victim" who suffered "alleged confinement". The confinement isn't "alleged" because Lauren Salzman already pled guilty to that. They do acknowledge that Raniere's behavior was "abusive and illegal". Can't figure out how that slipped past the editors. No mention of the voluminous ties to politicians and the wealthy.
I agree.