Disappointingly I am neither a member of the judiciary or a Freemason.
In a former life a questionnaire was circulated at work with the question Are You A Freemason Yes or No. I defaced mine as whether I am or not (and I never have been) it is no-one's business but my own. I wrote "I am not but I think I know someone who is".
A bit o/t but on the subject of Freemasonry I always enjoyed the film The Brotherhood of the Bell (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broth ... f_the_Bell) which is a very interesting film from the 60's, a thinly veiled parody of those "on the square". It is (IMHO) a great film as our hero, formerly a member of "The Bell" (not a secret society but a society with secrets) finds his life ruined at every turn by other members of the Bell who are all in well-placed roles in society which they have thoroughly infiltrated.
Upon enrolment in "The Bell" as a young man fresh out of college he is told that membership will open every door in society for him and that the only cost will be that, at some point in the future when he has risen in his chosen profession, the Bell will ask him to perform one, just one task in furtherance of the Brotherhood's aims. Needless to say the task set him many years later is too much for our hero and he refuses, inviting terrible retribution.
Back on topic, I have no expectations of this site other than entertainment, mutual respect and intelligent discourse on a range of subjects which interest me.
The cheerleaders for Tom were shouting about the fact that he still had his house, right up to the minute the bailiffs threw him out. They promptly changed tack and stated that the fact that they HAD thrown him out was proof positive that the system was corrupt yadda yadda.
This cycle is repeating itself with PoE right before our eyes. The first (fairly damning) civil judgement is in from a jurisprudence not dissimilar to that in the UK and others will follow. Civil processes generally move a little quicker than criminal. Once the hammer falls expect a response that TPTB only acted as PoE was on the cusp of
"exposing the truth" etc.
Unlike some more dispassionate observers, I do care about the gullible who fall for this crap and find their positions immeasurably worse as a consequence. It's not nannying to try and assist a fellow human being from disaster and if someone can be spared the grief and heartache caused by people who would and do use them to further their own selfish agendas then that's time well spent. It's not nannying to expose the cynical conmen, the brazen shaman and snake oil salesmen trading on the ignorant, the fearful and the desperate, all the while cynically enriching themselves at their victim's expense.
Apologists for the cults generated by Gurus spout that action against them will
'expose the system' 'collapse the house of cards' etc. when in fact this is errant nonsense. In reality the system is easily robust enough to cater for them.
Quatloos is a little haven away from the drivel so prevalent elsewhere on 'tinternet. It won't change the world and doesn't really seek to do so but it does allow others a resource, somewhere to pause for thought and think more critically on the dangers the internet exposes them to.
