Retraction or Clarification - Paul Stramer regarding Stewart Rhodes.

To whom it may concern (anyone who has read this blog) about Stewart Rhodes.

On January 6th I published an article written by Anna Von Reitz where she accused Stewart of "being engaged in Controlled Opposition", and that Stewart "actually works for" a corporation implying the one masquerading as our federal government.

I have known Stewart for years, and actually met him at a Republican Convention in Helena when I was a State Committeeman for Lincoln County, and a bit before he started Oathkeepers if I recall correctly.

Anna's opinion at the time was NOT my opinion, and never has been. I do NOT believe Stewart has any motives that are not honorable. I have seen him take the heat that most patriots are taking from the left and a lot more heat, that most of us don't get.  I told Anna that on January 7th in the following words.

"I have known Stewart since way before he started Oathkeepers, and he is NOT WORKING FOR THE OTHER SIDE. He has gotten rid of his BAR card.

 He is right in  that he has NOT accused you of being on the side of the enemy, which is essentially what you did to him.

 We need to exercise way more patience than that, or how are we going to attract God's Grace to help us win this thing for America?

 I fear that now I will never be able to convince him to take another look.  So now what?

 God have Mercy.

 Paul"

At the top of this blog is a paragraph stating  "You will find some conflicting views from some of these authors. You will also find that all the authors are deeply concerned about the future of America. What they write is their own opinion, just as what I write is my own." 
I added that language partly because of this situation, looking to the future, and I also added the following:
 "Please keep the discussion about the issues, and keep it civil. The administrator reserves the right to remove unwarranted personal attacks. Use the golden rule; "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I meant what I said. So I am removing the offending lines from the article.

Another point I want to make is that Stewart has not said anything publicly about Anna Von Reitz, and I believe has some legitimate concerns about the security of his family because of her opinion of him in that article since it went far and wide. 
On January 8th Anna seemed to concede these points when she wrote to me "Anyway, the world moves on and I am willing to accept your judgment that he is a good and honest patriot......"

Stewart is right when he wrote to me today the following in part "Well, I have said nothing whatsoever about her publicly, so the lack of civility is all on her side, so far as public statements go."  He is right. He has NOT written anything for publication in reply, and I admire that greatly. To me it proves my point that he has a thick hide and knows how to take the heat for America. I was very happy to hear he has dumped his BAR card.

On January 8th, partly in response to this situation, but about the whole patriot movement in general, I published the following article.
http://www.paulstramer.net/2016/01/what-world-needs-now-is-peace-not-war.html

I stand by what I said in that article, and I will try to live up to my own advice by saying here and now that I wish I had taken issue with what Anna said about Stewart before sending it out.  We need to STOP the name calling and stick to the issues. Our enemies love it when we disagree.

I am now asking Anna to please print a retraction on the points above, and I am also asking her to refrain from personal attacks of other patriots, especially ones that have not criticized publicly what she writes, especially those who have never written anything about her publicly at all.
I highly value most all of her work, but this I can't agree with at all.

Stewart has asked for a public retraction, and this is my feeble attempt at doing that, and by the way is the only public retraction I have ever made.

I will attempt to spread this apology to the same degree that the article went out and more.

I have to say at this point that I am sick about this. None of us are perfect or get it right 100% of the time.

It is sometimes said in America that we have the "right to our opinion", but really we have the responsibility to see to it that our opinion is right. I am accepting that responsibility right now for publishing someone's opinion that I personally thought was wrong, thinking it's their opinion, not mine, and hope Stewart will realize my error in judgement and forgive me for it.

Nothing like this will happen again in published articles on this blog if I have any say in the matter, and I do.

Sincerely,
Paul Stramer