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DrV's avatar

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well. I'm grateful for your writing and sharing of your historical knowledge.

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Kim Hayes's avatar

Nice article. I strive to practice GRATITUDE daily. When my head hits the pillow, I make sure I have 3-5 things that happened that day to be grateful for that occurred.

Sometimes HEALING is reinterpreting what you believe happened to you!

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Debra Chilcott's avatar

Spot on, Kim!!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and to John for his poetic prose and insight and Dr. M for being one of the few good doctors out there who wouldn't be beholden to ideology in his practice.

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David Pfaff's avatar

Happy Thanksgiving back at you my good man John Leake!!

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John Leake's avatar

Thank you!

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Jennifer Jones's avatar

Happy Thanksgiving, John Leake and Dr. Peter McCullough. We are all thankful to hear often from both of you!

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nancy barker's avatar

And Nic Hulscher too!

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Jennifer Jones's avatar

Oh, YES! NIC has been a Godsend to John and Dr. McCullough. His research and analyses are amazing and relevant.

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Science is Political 2.0's avatar

Thank you.. :) HAVE BLESSED THANKSGIVING.. Wow.. LINCOLN LOOKS LIKE HE WAS RODE HARD... look the difference those phonographs. That is a good way of putting humble penitence.. a lot better than airing of the grievances. When I was a child.. I used to go to Sterling Optical w/ my mom and sister in Washington DC.. this an amazing true story.. somewhere I have photo of me in front of the Sterling Optical. We all wore very THICK Coke bottle glasses.. (my mom, sister and me) back when it was much safer place. ACROSS THE STREET from the Sterling Optical was the OLD FORD THEATER.. not yet restored. It was right on the street.. and it had a little marker in it.. to my dim memory of that The Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot was not yet.. renovated... back then.. in the mid 1960s.. and we all were amazed.. and walked up to the building.. it was a dilapidated backk then. I wish I had a taken a photo of it. But thanks to the Virginia public school system which USED TO BE AMAZING.. especially U.S and Virginia History.. starting through 4th grade through 12th grade I knew exactly what it was.. I was awe that it sat there .. not renovated.. around 1966. I had studied about the Lincoln Assassination for years in grade school so I was fascinated. MUCH LATER IN LIFE.. I took my sons (now grown men) in the late 80 to that very Theater in DC.. it was renovated and our family saw Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" there.. front row seats. .. I have never written about that before.. but I thought today I would write about that. Truly growing up in the DC (DMV) area I have seen a HUGE SWATH OF LIVING HISTORY. Now I live less than three miles from George Washington's estate.. off the Parkway.. I never planned it.. just happened. Went to TC Williams High School during the REMEMBER THE TITANS.. movie period and I went to the wedding of Coach Yost's daughter.. yea (she died) because I was friend of her husband. So as much I complain about living here.. and I do want to leave.. watching some of history unfold before my very eyes has been cool.

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Hannah's avatar

Thank you for sharing that. Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house often called the Peterson House where he remained unconscious until the morning after. Wonder if that is still there.

On Thanksgiving, we can remember that Lincoln wanted to heal divisions and asked people to listen to the “better angels of their nature”.

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Ranch's avatar

I'm slightly younger than you but I grew up in the same area. Both my uncles graduated from TC so it's actually possible you bumped into each other at some point. I finally got the heck out of that swamp in 1999 but it sure was a wonderful place growing up. So much culture, history, entertainment no matter which direction you went. Anyway... thanks for the memory bubbles and happy thanksgiving.

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Roisin Dubh's avatar

Have a lovely day! I appreciate the very interesting articles you produce, even though on occasion I totally disagree with your viewpoint. But debate is such a fun and edifying experience I wouldn't have it any other way. I wish contrary opinions didn't cause a sub population of commentators to respond with insults. They would be wise to avoid pub culture in the Isles; they wouldn't last kissing time in terms of social embrace. I think in life though there has to be a place for legitimate anger, as when one is deeply betrayed. Stewing isn't productive though. I agree, ultimately, letting go of resentment is the winning tack.

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Patricia Lockwood's avatar

Thank you for the work you and Dr McCullough do. It’s a beautiful work toward restoration with insight and encouragement for those you may never know. I appreciate it. I don’t think you often get the thanks and appreciation that is deserved. But that’s why it’s so beautiful. A light in the darkness.

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DaughteroftheKing's avatar

Patricia Lockwood - AGREED!

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DaughteroftheKing's avatar

Dear Mr. Leake, Dr. McCullough and Mr. Hulscher,

Your COURAGE, WISDOM, SACRIFICES and SELFLESSNESS for the good of humanity are BLESSINGS for which my husband and I PRAISE and THANK ALMIGHTY GOD frequently!

May ALMIGHTY GOD continue to rain His RICHEST BLESSINGS upon each of you!

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Eric Larsen's avatar

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends from Alberta! A Substack like none other with all the unique medical and cultural/historical insights...worlds I wouldn't otherwise be in touch with - thank you!

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DaughteroftheKing's avatar

Eric Larsen - HAPPY THANKSGIVING from the state of Oklahoma!

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Eric Larsen's avatar

Thank you DaughteroftheKing! Sending you and your family many blessings on this day and in the year ahead!!

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DaughteroftheKing's avatar

THANK YOU and same to you and your family!

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JMacEye's avatar

Lincoln should have let the Confederacy go, there being no real freedom without the freedom to leave. He preserved the Union, but destroyed its moral foundation and put us inescapably on the course to our present situation.

Worth noting that there are those who can act and chose not to, and those who really have no capacity to act but make a lot of noise. Thank God for the former, because with out them the division and passion of which John writes would not tolerate the latter. Ironically the most divisive are those who benefit most from tolerance they don't recognize.

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CB's avatar

Thanks JMacEye and DRK. John Leake is a good man, but Lincoln was not. In his Thanksgiving proclamation Lincoln writes of "the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged." But of course, it wasn't unavoidable, and Lincoln completely misconstrued the nation's history to justify his war, claiming the national government authored the states rather than the reverse. For the truth hidden by the establishment myth, see The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, by Thomas J. Dilorenzo.

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DRK's avatar

Thank you, JMacEye, for having the courage to hold and share an unpopular opinion about Lincoln and the re-Confederacy.

For those who were robbed of the good basic education which We the actual People paid for, under threat of force, the 1st constitution of the United States of America was the Articles of Confederation - an agreement of co-operation between the "Free and Independent" States declared as such, "in the Name, and by the Authority of the (former) Colonies". - Declaration of Independence

Slavery is unacceptable Both in the chattel form, and when corporations and/or government assumes ownership control over the lives of people.

I have yet to see any explanation of the difference between the 13 colonies declaring their independence - and the States that left.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

The Confederate States did not try to overthrow the Union, nor invade it.

Under the Constitution for the U.S. of A., the State legislature must approve a U. S. federal facility within the States territory. Regarding the Fort Sumter incident, considered the start of the War of Northern Aggression (it was not actually a civil war), that approval had been withdrawn.

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srichard111's avatar

JMacEye Right On! Both sides of my family line were confederate. My mom, she's 91, shares how vicious the Union were on her small town. She knows this from stories shared. I have no shame of my ancestors, the men fought to save their land. They owned no slaves! I'm proud of them all!

I'm far from a runner from trouble. I assume they all instilled that in me. Well said!

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Eliz F's avatar

Thanks for this! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

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Cathleen Manny's avatar

Yes, we should always strive to put ourselves in the shoes of the other person. Just as we would hope they’d try to do for us. The key to this is communicating IN PERSON. Not ‘over the internet’. Look at how folks treat each other online…most of which they would never do in person.

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David Kukkee's avatar

Happy Thanksgiving to you and the team and your respective families, John Leake. We are thankful for all of your efforts made on behalf of us, America, and the world. History will show... (at least in my daily critique of your endeavors), that you did right, decided wisely, and held the line. We are grateful.

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Kathleen Nathan's avatar

You have given us a truly STAND OUT example to emulate...in your reservations about the "covid fiasco" and its permutations. The public was gaslit, locked down, POISONED and robbed. We lost a lot. Mainly what was lost was "TRUST"....our various watch dog agencies failed us and many among us were conned into believing in a faked up "pandemic" that would be mitigated by an even more faked up "vaccine"...

It was treason and it was diabolical. I think Gd that experts and critics-- like those at FOCAL POINTS... exist. Bless you and much gratitude for all your work and sacrifice. I pray to God you continue to be protected in your vital work and that others see the importance of what you have done and continue to do. THANK YOU!!!!

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James Bryson's avatar

We the People have much to be thankful for, and the unique gifts that you both, Dr. M and yourself, bring to Courageous Discourse, is prominent on the list.

Always thankful for CD.

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Carolyn's avatar

Thank you John. Happy Thanksgiving Blessings to you and Dr. McCoullough

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