Waco. It was 30 years ago. Obviously I have a vendetta-keeping disorder. Perhaps it's time to quit beating everyone over the head with it.
— Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow) November 16, 2023
Then again, the feds put out a bunch of crap this year to launder their lies back into the mainstream's understanding of that atrocity.
So… pic.twitter.com/JVVb8YqTvy
This Is Not An Assault, David Hardy, 2001.
Waco: The Rules of Engagement, Dan Gifford, 1997.
It is a strange building, and, of course, the government insists that we call it a compound, that we pretend that there was a wall around it, even though there was no wall; that we pretend it was multiple buildings, even though there were no multiple buildings. It's actually not a compound but they demanded that we call their house a compound to militarize the situation from the very beginning. What it really was was sort of like a redneck Mansion, right, it was a giant plywood and sheetrock house where about 120 people lived, and it was sort of a commune and it was their Church and dormitory where they lived. The sect had been in Waco since the 1930s, and they had been at this property at Mount Carmel since the 1950s. So this group had long predated their leader David Koresh, and essentially it was a break off group from The Seventh-Day Adventists, and the Adventists are Protestant Christians who emphasized the Book of Revelations and the end times and the Seven Seals. Founded in the mid-19th century, by the time you get to the Branch Davidians, this is a break off group of a break off group, maybe add one more in there and this is something that's very common in American religious history, especially among lower social class Protestant sects that a lot of times they divide off into much smaller and smaller separate groups. To put all the cards on the table, an important part of the story, at least from the government's view, was that the leader of the Branch Davidian, Vernon Howell, a.k.a., David Koresh was not a very good guy. He clearly was exploiting his position to power over these people. He wasn't only their minister. He claimed to be foretold in the Bible as the final Lamb of God who will come and interpret the Seven Seals for the end of the world. Quite contrary to claims by the FBI and the television media especially, he never claimed to be Jesus. They were Christians that worshiped Jesus. He claimed to be this other figure prophesied in some of the Bible passages, who had this special talent to interpret the Seals. Then he used his followers' belief in that really to exploit them. He was taking advantage of very young kids, not prepubescent but right at the line, young girls even though it's legal in the state of Texas or at least it was then I'm not sure now, it was legal to marry 14-year-olds with parental consent in Texas at the time. He was clearly guilty of statutory rape, marrying "and having sex with girls as young as 12 and 13 years old." He's also taking the lives of of his followers in saying that, "Well, it says here in the Bible that these should live as celibates and the Lamb should be able to create this ruling Council of 24 children to take over the planet after Christ returns, and these are going to be my 24 children," and all this. By telling the people this and convincing them this, he was taking advantage of his followers wives and young girls. That much is true.
6:40. And he was guilty of statutory rape, and if he'd been convicted for it he probably would have gone to the penitentiary for it in the state of Texas. It's not a federal crime, and no part of David Koresh's sins against his own followers or he didn't sin against anyone else, but no part of what he did, I guess his own people that we would consider transgressions whether they thought so or not, none of that has anything to do with federal law whatsoever. Any mention of that frankly is a red herring by the war party.
