WACO

History 4 Minutes

The Waco Siege began in early 1993, when a government raid on a compound in Axtell, Texas, led to a 51-day standoff between federal agents and members of a millennial Christian sect called the Branch Davidians. The siege ended dramatically on April 19, 1993, when fires consumed the compound, leaving some 75 people dead, including 25 children.

David Koresh

On February 28, 1993, some 80 agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) raided a religious compound at Mount Carmel, near Waco, Texas, after receiving reports that the Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, were violating federal firearms regulations.

After four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed in the gun battle that followed, a cease-fire was arranged, and nearly 900 law enforcement officials eventually surrounded the compound, including hostage negotiators and rescue teams from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reporters soon arrived on the scene as well, and the 51-day siege that followed would play out on TV screens and in newspaper headlines around the world. Despite some early negotiating successes—the Davidians sent about 2 dozen children out in exchange for food and other supplies—numerous children remained among those inside, many of them Koresh’s children with various women.

Branch Davidians

In the 1930s, a disgruntled member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church named Victor Houteff had broken away and founded the Davidian movement. After Houteff’s death, Ben Roden led an offshoot of the movement known as the Branch Davidians, who took control of Houteff’s original settlement at Mount Carmel, near Waco, by 1962.

Believing the Bible is literally the word of God, the Branch Davidians looked to it for clues about the end of the world and Christ’s Second Coming, as told in the Book of Revelation.

Roden died in 1978, leaving his wife, Lois, as head prophetess of the sect. In 1981, a 22-year-old convert named Vernon Wayne Howell arrived at Mount Carmel; he became involved with Lois Roden, and after her death clashed with her son, George, over control.

In a gun battle in late 1987, George Roden was shot in the head and chest, and Howell and seven followers went on trial for attempted murder. The seven other men were acquitted, and Howell’s case ended in a mistrial.

By 1990, having asserted control over the Branch Davidians, Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh. (“Koresh” is the Hebrew translation of Cyrus, the ancient Persian king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Israel.)

Koresh and the FBI

In his negotiations with the FBI during the Waco siege, Koresh claimed he was a messianic figure prophesied in the Bible and that God had given him his surname. He threatened violence against those who would attack him and his family, but asserted that the Davidians weren’t planning a mass suicide.

To the Branch Davidians, Koresh was “the Lamb,” the only one (according to the Book of Revelation) worthy of unlocking the Seven Seals and revealing to the world the entirety of the Bible’s teachings. This identification allowed Koresh to justify some of his controversial (even within the sect) practices, including taking various “spiritual wives,” some reportedly as young as 11 years old.

As time wore on, the negotiators and the Hostage Rescue Team, which handled all the tactical maneuvers, disagreed on how to handle the siege. The latter team, frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations, employed aggressive tactics like playing ear-splitting music or crushing the Davidians’ cars—disrupting often-delicate negotiation efforts.

Fire Engulfs Waco Compound

In mid-April, after religious scholars reached out to Koresh through a radio discussion of the teachings of Revelation, Koresh sent a message through his lawyer announcing he had received word from God and was writing his message on the Seven Seals; he would come out with his followers when he was finished.

The FBI, unconvinced, decided to act to end the siege. Though initially reluctant, Attorney General Janet Reno ended up approving a plan to fire CS gas (a form of tear gas) into the Mount Carmel compound to try and force out the Davidians. Just after 6 a.m. on April 19, 1993, FBI agents used two specially equipped tanks to penetrate the compound and deposit some 400 containers of gas inside.

Soon after the attack ended, around 12 pm, several fires simultaneously broke out around the compound, and gunfire was heard inside. Safety concerns prevented firefighters from entering Mount Carmel immediately, and the flames spread quickly and engulfed the property.

Though nine Davidians were able to escape, investigators later found 76 bodies inside the compound, including 25 children. Some of them, including Koresh, had fatal gunshot wounds, suggesting suicide or murder-suicide.

Legacy of the Waco Siege 

From the beginning, the government’s handling of the Waco siege (which played out in the national and international media) was heavily criticized. Reno took responsibility for the botched raid, later admitting there was no evidence of ongoing child abuse within the compound (which had been one of the justifications for ordering the gas attack).

Though the government long maintained that its actions played no role in starting the fires at the Waco compound, in 1999 it was revealed that some of the gas the FBI used was flammable under certain conditions.

Reno subsequently appointed the lawyer and former senator John Danforth to lead an investigation into the siege’s end. In 2000, he concluded that government agents did not start the fires or shoot at the compound.

Despite this conclusion, resentment lingered about the government’s handling of the situation, which partially fueled the growth of homegrown militias in the United States. The Waco siege and the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho are often cited by government critics as examples of overreach and intrusion by federal officials.

In April 1995, on the second anniversary of the Waco siege’s end, a militant named Timothy McVeigh used a truck loaded with 4,800 pounds of fuel oil and aluminum nitrate to attack the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. With a total of 168 people killed and some 850 wounded, the Oklahoma City bombing was by far the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States to that date.

Source: History.com

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Published by pat frederick

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130 thoughts on “WACO”

  1. Morning All!
    chilly morning here…frost on the deck and railings.
    hubby says more cold weather today and then a warm up…
    hoping he’s right!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Morning! We finally did get some pretty good rain overnight. Temp is 56 this morning but we’ve got a few nights with temps in the 20’s coming up. No word at all from my GS…..

      Liked by 1 person

        1. My GS, you mean? Let’s see…..he was supposed to be here the night before last so he could replace my mirror before he went to work yesterday at 2 pm. I’ve heard nothing since the text telling me that.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. I’m going to assume so….he’s a big boy now and makes his own decisions. He just agreed to check in with me now and then with at least a phone call last week and now….well…..it is what it is. If I don’t hear from him by the end of the week, I will make arrangements to have someone here install my mirror.

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  14. my heart breaks for the little ones…these scum need to be found and dealt with!

    zephyrbreeze
    April 19, 2023 4:08 am

    An 8 year old girl found at the US border with 67 traces of different DNA inside her. I have no words. @realtinapeters @Clerk_Peters @realJeffZink pic.twitter.com/4ZvHmluGg0

    — CannCon *Thug Shaker Central Sgt at Arms* (@CannConActual) April 19, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “New York City to Track Personal Food Choices Using Credit Card Data — This is needed to fight climate change, NYC mayor says”
    IGOR CHUDOV
    APR 18, 2023
    EXCERPT: “Remember the crazy right-wing conspiracy theory alleging that our food purchases will be tracked to reduce our CO2 consumption? That one is turning out to be true!

    Yesterday, New York City announced its plan to track the “food choices” of New Yorkers using credit card data from individual store purchases. According to the mayor, tracking individual food choices is a step towards “reducing the CO2 output” of New Yorkers.

    The Adams administration has announced a plan to begin tracking the carbon footprint created by household food consumption as well as a new target for New York City agencies to reduce their food-based emissions by 33% by the year 2023. [Did they mean 2032 – I.C.?]

    New York City, in partnership with American Express, a credit card company, will track purchases to calculate New Yorkers’ carbon footprints: ‘The new plan puts the city on par with London and 13 other cities to incorporate food consumption into its greenhouse gas emission metrics. The effort to examine the environmental effects of eating foods like meat and dairy was first announced about a year ago as part of a collaboration among major cities across the globe.’

    https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/new-york-city-to-track-personal-food

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I’m reading a portion of a payment-required article by Seymour Hersh about Guantanamo and the prisoners still being held there. Here is the part he gets wrong: “…one year after President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney responded to 9/11 by attacking the regime of Saddam Hussein, a despotic leader who happened to harbor the same fear of radical Islamists as did those running the White House.”

    Here’s the thing: Bush and Cheney didn’t “fear” them – they were RUNNING them!!!! How on earth can Hersh miss that??!!??

    Liked by 2 people

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  23. “Fertility Crisis: Top OBGYN Slams Pfizers Deadly Plot Against Babies and Women (Exclusive Interview)”
    Miranda Sellick April 18, 2023

    EXCERPT: “Pfizer’s own data shows the largest, most deadly medical procedure in history, with over 100 deaths per week, says Dr. James Thorp.

    If declining rates of human fertility were a worry before the COVID-19 “pandemic” geared up to full throttle, they pale to insignificance in the face of the magnitude of side effects being experienced by women worldwide following the roll-out of the experimental mRNA vaccines.

    In an exclusive interview with RAIR Foundation USA, Dr. James Thorp, a physician MD board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as maternal-fetal medicine, who sees close to 8,000 patients annually and has 44 years of experience, says that the evidence of harms done, both in post-vaccine fatality and to fertility is undeniable. Pfizer knew this from the get-go. “This is Pfizer’s own data that they tried to hide from you because they knew it was a deadly drug. They tried to hide it from you for 75 years, and a federal judge made them open it up and give it to the public,” says Dr. Thorp, whose specialty is high-risk obstetrical patients.”

    https://rairfoundation.com/fertility-crisis-top-obgyn-slams-pfizers-deadly-plot-against-babies-and-women-exclusive-interview/

    Liked by 2 people


  25. EXCERPT: “Secret data, strangely given to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) by the Australian Government, confirms the first 38 weeks of the year 2021 saw a shocking 1,452% increase in excess deaths following the rollout of the Covid-19 injections compared to the same period in 2020.

    Sadly, as the months passed, the situation only worsened. By 2022, the nation was hit by a devastating blow following the repeat rollout of the Covid-19 injections, with a shocking 5,162% increase in excess deaths in the first 38 weeks of the year, compared to the first 38 weeks of 2020 which was the alleged height of the alleged Covid-19 pandemic.

    But instead of the people of Australia being in shock and disbelief at this devastating increase in excess deaths, they are carrying on with their lives, none the wiser as to what has happened. Why? Because their Government and the Mainstream Media have so far refused to reveal the devastating truth, and are instead publishing and broadcasting propaganda and lies on a daily basis.”

    https://expose-news.com/2023/04/18/covid-vaccine-causes-5162-percent-increase-deaths-australia/

    Liked by 1 person

  26. “We get the country we deserve: Stand up and be free. Stay quiet and you will be a slave. It’s your choice!” From France – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
    MERYL DOREY
    APR 19, 2023

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The following was shared with me today and it inspired me to share it with you too! Far too often, we are led to believe that we can’t change anything. The truth is – we are the ONLY ones who can improve our lot. Waiting for someone else to do it for us is futile. It’s all down to you and me, baby. Here is what I read – I hope you like it as much as I did!
    **********
    “I’ve been in France for three months now. Their approach to this is simply fantastic. I’d like to share a bit about it.

    A very well known supermarket here decided to go cashless. A group of 50 people got together and agreed that they would all do a big shop on the same day. Pilling their trolleys to the brim and each person getting to the checkout – the human check out, not the machines – and having everything scanned before bringing cash out.

    The staff were absolutely overrun. The management in a complete tizz, everyone repeatedly, calmly and in a very organised and polite fashion acting as if they knew nothing. No edges, no rudeness, no humiliation. The supermarket reinstated cash.

    Petrol stations : filling up with fuel then only having cash to pay.
    Restaurants : groups of friends going out for dinner and nobody taking phones or credit cards, only cash. They are doing it in every single area of France. Simply refusing to be part of it.

    France has been rioting for months! The mainstream media, when it covers this situation at all, says that it is only about a 2-year increase in the age of retirement. Pardon my French (definite pun intended) but that is absolute bullshit!

    The French value their Freedom and their heritage more than Macron and the rest of his WEF cronies imagine. They had a revolution before to overthrow a tyrannical regime and they are absolutely capable of doing the same thing again.

    Australians seem to be a different breed entirely. The attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ has led to a type of complacency which is endearing in good times but in times like these, is downright dangerous.

    I don’t want to be trying to explain to my children why I allowed their rights and freedoms to be ripped away and I don’t think you do either.

    I can see local groups organising to do exactly what is described above should shops decide they will no longer accept cash; or won’t let people in if they are not jabbed; or unless they QR Code or…any range of other iniquities we have been told to get accustomed to.

    When the time comes, will you stand up or will you cower? That is the most important question we all need to ask ourselves right now.”

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Just read SD’s article about Elon and his “performance” on Tucker and I agree with him 110% – Elon IS controlled opposition! As for this whole brouhaha over him not allowing Substack writers to link their articles on Twitter, that looks to me to be a purely smart business decision. Substack was fine when it was JUST a writers’ platform but they CHOSE to institute their “Note” program, which is very much like Twitter, thereby turning themselves into a competitor of Twitter. I don’t blame him in the least!

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/18/is-elon-musk-doing-damage-control-using-tucker-carlson-interview/

    Liked by 1 person





  31. “American combat engineers in Stratford-upon-Avon, England back in May of 1944 eat their dinner on top of stockpiled crates of ammunition shells. And you think your life is tough.”

    Liked by 1 person

  38. LOL

    sunrei
    sunrei
    April 19, 2023 11:01 am

    Looks liked DeSantis’ trip to DC to drum up endoresements was time well spent 🙂

    “After Meeting with Florida Governor DeSantis Yesterday, US Rep Lance Gooden from Texas Endorses President Trump for 2024”
    .
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/after-meeting-with-florida-governor-desantis-yesterday-us-rep-lance-gooden-from-texas-endorses-president-trump-for-2024/
    2
    Reply
    sunrei
    sunrei
    April 19, 2023 11:11 am
    Reply to sunrei

    “I met with Governor DeSantis, and while he has done commendable work in Florida, there is no doubt in my mind that President Trump is the only leader who can save America from the leftist onslaught we are currently facing,” Gooden said.

    Gooden portrayed the former president as a “tireless” and persistent fighter who supports American jobs and the economy, and stands up against illegal immigration. Gooden also highlighted Trump’s support for the military and veterans, as well as his opposition to the “dangerous socialist agenda” promoted by the radical left.

    .https://www.theepochtimes.com/13th-texas-republican-endorses-trump-for-president_5205002.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=gp

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Issue: April 19, 2023
    “Big Tech companies are scooping up former DOJ-employees as antitrust fight continues — Revolving door.”
    By Didi Rankovic
    Posted 12:53 pm
    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “The “revolving door” practice in the US – considered as shady at best by many critics – involves government officials and execs and employees from corporations, notably Big Tech, “switching” jobs by joining the other sector. They inevitably take a lot of knowledge about the one they left with them, and now an analysis by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is revealing the sheer scale of some of these “revolving door” instances.

    When it comes to the Department of Justice (DoJ) alone – and that’s the one that is spearheading legal initiatives around alleged Big Tech antitrust and other unlawful policies – at least 360 of its former employees have found (past and present) roles with Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and HP, and this has been documented to have been going on since 2000.

    The analysis, reported Washington Examiner, is based on information found on LinkedIn and public records. It, among other things, shows that only in the time since the Biden administration took over, Google hired 40 ex-DoJ employees, while during the same period, Amazon took in 61 and Microsoft 26 people formerly working for the department. On the other side of the “door” are at least 41 DoJ employees who used to have notable roles in Big Tech corporations.

    AFF President Tom Jones says that while people moving from government agencies to various industries can be completely innocuous and driven by purely professional reasons, the same doesn’t apply when ideology is involved. And according to Jones, who spoke for the Washington Examiner, Americans have cause to be concerned by this particular revolving door “because it is an ideological relationship where leftists move back and forth between industry and government to implement their liberal agenda.”

    Jones, whose organization is conservative-leaning, called the whole scheme insidious and in need of stopping – since, “When the levers of government are not available, they use the levers of Big Tech to push a woke agenda.”

    The DoJ example is particularly interesting at this point, since early in the year the department revealed its lawsuit against Google whose goal is to make the behemoth spin off some of its advertising tentacles. The DoJ is also investigating Apple regarding software policies, while Facebook (Meta), Google, and TikTok are probed over their algorithms.”

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Issue: April 19, 2023
    “Texas State University is sued over speech restrictions–Publicly funded universities are bound by The First Amendment.”
    By Ben Squires
    Posted 10:36 am
    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “Free speech nonprofit Speech First has sued Texas State University over its “harassment” and computer policies, alleging they violate students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here. https://docs.reclaimthenet.org/speech-first-vs-mccall.pdf

    The university’s harassment policy bans “unwelcome verbal, written, graphic, or physical conduct” deemed “sufficiently severe or pervasive” targeted at people based on factors like sex, gender, and race. The lawsuit argues that the policy chills the speech of students by discouraging them from “expressing views that are outside the mainstream about the political and social issues of the day.” The computer policy bans students from using “informational resources” provided by the university to “affect the result of a local, state, or national election.”

    The lawsuit argues that the policy bans students from using university email accounts to send political emails, and describes it as a “vague, content-based, and overbroad restriction of protected speech.” The lawsuit claims that three students are suffering “concrete injuries” as a result of the harassment policy and they fear that the expression of their deeply held views is prohibited. The students also cannot send political emails for fear of punishment, the lawsuit alleges.”

    Liked by 1 person

  49. no, no, no…I don’t see how this is legal at all. if you have a higher credit score and put 15-20% down on a home your mortgage fees will be higher so you can subsidize someone with a bad credit score.
    entire article

    A new federal Biden rule will force homebuyers with good credit scores to pay higher mortgage rates and fees so they can subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who want to buy a home.
    It’s wealth redistribution and will be a disaster since risky homebuyers usually default. The feds will also temporarily ignore lenders’ debt-to-income ratio. It determines if homebuyers can afford to pay their mortgages each month.
    The fees are allegedly minimal for now, but you know how that goes.

    The fee changes will go into effect May 1 as part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s push for affordable housing for risky buyers.

    This will affect mortgages originating at private banks across the country. The federally backed home mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enact the loan-level price adjustments or LLPAs.

    Mortgage industry specialists say homebuyers with credit scores of 680 or higher will pay, for example, about $40 per month more on a home loan of $400,000. Homebuyers who make down payments of 15% to 20% will get socked with the largest fees, reports The Washington Times.
    If you worked hard to build up good credit, you will pay more so you. can pay for people who built up bad credit.

    “It’s going to be a challenge trying to explain to somebody that says, ‘I worked my whole life for high credit, and I’ve put a lot of money down, and you’re telling me that’s a negative now?’ That’s a hard conversation to have,” one worried Arizona-based mortgage loan originator told The Post.

    “It’s unprecedented,” added David Stevens, who served as Federal Housing Administration commissioner during the Obama administration. “My email is full from mortgage companies and CEOs [telling] me how unbelievably shocked they are by this move.”

    “This was a blatant and significant cut of fees for their highest-risk borrowers and a clear increase in much better credit quality buyers – which just clarified to the world that this move was a pretty significant cross-subsidy pricing change,” said Stevens, who is also the former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

    Stevens says they’re trying to narrow the gap for minority home buyers [through socialism], but when interest rates go back down, home prices will go up, there will be more homebuyers, and the gap will persist. This does not solve the problem.

    However, it certainly is unfair.

    https://www.independentsentinel.com/disaster-good-credit-rating-means-you-pay-for-risky-homebuyers/

    Like

      1. it’s the freebie college debt thing all over. you work hard, pay off your student debt, lead a reasonable life, but save $$ for a home and you get to subsidize the never paid off my loan, going on spring break every year, free for all types
        smh

        Liked by 1 person

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