30 Years After Waco
Thirty years after the Waco siege represented a new era of our time. I was in elementary school (when I was in the fourth grade) when the situation happened in early 1993. I remember that time fully when I was a child. The reality was that it came after the Cold War ended. The government saw new changes from the growth of new cults from the Branch Davidians to Heaven's Gate. These cults were based on total fear of the federal government or espousing extremist views. There should be a government that have boundaries in how they conduct themselves, but the federal government shouldn't be eliminated altogether from society. The federal government shouldn't act corrupt, but the federal government has a role to provide for the general welfare of the people. The standoff lasted from February 28 to April 19, 1993. It ended with many people being killed by flames. The ATF attempted to serve a search and arrest warrant for illegal weapons. The fire killed 86 total people. The cult leader David Koresh was no hero. He was a false prophet, a blasphemer (in claiming that he was Jesus Christ), and an abuser (he abused kids and women with his deceptions). So, David Koresh cowardly caused his own death and the deaths of other people. There is no doubt that the government made mistakes in the siege, even the mainstream media admitted to this. Yet, David Koresh was on a suicide mission by being involved in starting the fire murdering innocent people. This tragedy has helped grown the militia movement. Tim McVeigh used this tragedy as his sick motive to enact the OKC Bombing in April of 1995 (when I was in the 6th grade of middle school). Therefore, we have to show the truth about these melancholy circumstances.
There are many situations that developed with the Waco tragedy. By the 1990's, there was an increase of many separatist cults and organizations that felt that they only way of survival was having enclaves unto themselves. Many of them embraced a pessimist interpretation of how reality is. By February 28, 1993, about 100 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raid the compound near Waco, Texas. Four agents and an unknown number of cult members are killed in a gun battle. Cult leader David Koresh is among those wounded. Four children are released. The federal agents wanted to execute arrest and search warrants against David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound. On that day, the FBI becomes the head agency involved in resolving the standoff.
By March 1, 1993, 10 children are released, and Koresh spoke on radio. By March 2, two women and six children were released. Koresh promised to surrender if a lengthy taped statement was broadcast. His "sermon" is broadcast on radio and TV, but Koresh didn't give up. On March 3, federal agents said that Koresh will surrender when he received "further instruction from God." Two more children left the compound on March 4th and 5th, 1993. By March 12, two adults left the compound. The FBI started to use loudspeakers to blare tapes of negotiations to the cultists on March 18. Two cultists leave the compound on March 19, 1993. Seven cultists leave on March 21, and authorities blast the compound with chants of Tibetan monks on March 22. One cult member left the compound on March 23. March 24, 1993, was the turning point. On that date, David Koresh broke off negotiations with authorities. By April 14, 1993, David Koresh sent out word that he will surrender after writing a manuscript which he reveals the contents of the Seven Seals, referred to in the Book of Revelations (found in the New Testament of the Bible). On April 16, the FBI agent said that the agency has its own time schedule and won't wait forever for Koresh to give up. April 19, 1993, was when the Davidian compound burned to the ground after FBI agents in an armored vehicle smash the buildings and pump in tear gas. By April 23, 1993, President William Jefferson Clinton defended the government handling of the Branch Davidian case but promised a full investigation. The first body in the rubble identified was Koresh's brother-in-law, David Michael Jones. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that the hunt for bodies had ended with 72 human beings being recovered.
By May 2, the Justice of the Peace David Pareya announced that dental records and X-rays confirm that Koresh's body was found, with a gunshot wound to the forehead (which could be a sign of suicide). To this very day, the federal government said that they did nothing wrong. On July 21, 2000, after a 10-month investigation, Danforth issued a preliminary report said that the federal agents didn't start the fire, direct gunfire at the complex, or improperly employ U.S. armed forces. He or Danforth blamed the tragedy on the Branch Davidians and David Koresh. There is no question that David Koresh was a false Messiah and was an evil male whose actions have no justification. David Koresh was no hero as he was a pedophile and sexual abuser too. Ultimately, Koresh is responsible for his death and the deaths of innocent civilians in the Waco compound. Yet, to assume that the federal government did everything right with no alternatives in my opinion is fantasy. Even Danforth conceded that an FBI agent fired three pyrotechnic tea gas rounds at a concrete pit 75 feet from the living quarters of the compound. Danforth said that the rounds didn't start the fire, but it was negligence.
Conclusion (Summer 2023)
There is the tentative deal between President Joe Biden and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The deal was voted in the House by Wednesday. Then, it was voted by the Senate, both chambers of Congress vote on it again, and the President signed the bill into law. The bill would increase the debt limit until 2025, there are caps on non-defense spending, it will protect veterans' medical care, and it will expand work requirements. The text of the bill has been released to the public. We have already work requirements now for SNAP. The deal will expand exemptions for veterans, people who are homeless, and others in the SNAP program. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The deal will rescind unobligated funds from the COVID-19 package. The deal will cut IRS fund by $80 billion. The deal will require borrowers to pay back their student loans again. The deal will not make any changes to the Inflation Reduction Act's climate and clean energy provisions. The truth is that the deal is a mixture of good and bad parts in it. It was a compromise. Therefore, the GOP members scared Americans in believing in laissez faire capitalism so much that some still want extremism to be the order of the day. Some GOP extremists want to negotiate food for suffering people in order to promote an archaic political economic philosophy. President Biden wanted the deal to be sent up to Congress for a vote.
The Senate passed the debt limit deal to avert default. The deal was a compromise. There are good and bad parts of the legislation. This bill being a law is not about crushing political extremists (on the left) as Joe Scarborough says (who forgets was the progressive activists, not moderates, who gave America civil rights legislation, the Clean Air Act, Medicaid, Medicare, and other benefits helping millions of Americans for decades). Malcolm X, Dr. King, Ella Baker, and John Brown were never moderates, so moderates are never the superior ideological persons. The reality is that there was very little options among the choices that we were faced in dealing with the debt limit crisis. This crisis was a manufactured crisis created by far right MAGA extremists who hate the federal social safety net and have a market fundamentalism that desires no regulation of the economy at any circumstance. President Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy worked together to compromise measure. Dissent with some parts of the bill is not about insulting Biden. It's about telling the truth about the bill. The bill suspends the debt limit through 2025. It expands work requirements for some food stamp recipients, and cuts form of COVID-19 relief funds (it will retain $5 billion in funding to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments). The Senate voted 63 to 36 to pass the bill. The House passed the bill 314 to 117. Now, the bill being law has long lasting impacts on our society, especially in dealing with the day to day functions of the world economy too.
Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive against Russia on June 8, 2023. This comes after the dam busted open in Ukraine caused a humanitarian disaster in Southern Ukraine. The President of Ukraine visited the disaster area. Right now, the war is in a crossroads period of time. The battle can go either way, but Ukraine has made miraculous victories. I personally don't agree with Ukrainian strikes in Russia as this war is about Ukrainian survival. We know that Putin has arrested Russian dissidents and Russian media who overtly opposes his imperialism. We are convinced that Ukraine can be victorious in their fight for their own self-determination during the future. When the war occurred, many people were afraid that Russia would win may battles. Now, Ukraine has come back to gain territories, maintained its capital, and inspire democratic movements the world over. Some shocking good news is that the Supreme Court recently strike down the Alabama voting maps that discriminated against black voters. This maintained the Voting Rights Act in that situation. It was a 5-4 decision. John Roberts made the majority opinion statement of the court. Kavanaugh is so extreme that he desiring to abolish Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Clarence Thomas disagrees with the decision because of the obvious reasons.
By Timothy
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