By Anna Von Reitz
Once a gossip-fest gets going, it self-perpetuates. One misinformed member tells another, and then another. Pretty soon you have a whole lot of misinformed people mad as hell over lies they told themselves.
Before I waste any more time replying to this firestorm of fiction, let's make it perfectly clear that neither I nor the Federation have any interest in Assembly affairs. We have our own jobs to do and too much work as it is, so our interest in the Assemblies is limited to two things: (1) keeping them and their members safe; (2) making sure that they are getting the work done and learning the ropes they need to learn.
Here's an example of a woman named "Donna" who I don't even know, who has been filled up with a whole lot of disinformation that is completely wrong, spewing it back at me as if it was God's honest truth.
She declares among other things:
"We did nothing wrong to any of them (meaning the purported "other" Assembly) unless they were rude to us, so maybe deserved a time out or something, but that's about it. This has been a takeover right from the beginning and you're in on it and I don't get it."
FACT: The misrepresentation of one member of The North Carolina Assembly was so serious that the Coordinator had to make a public apology and set the record straight.
FACT: No "takeovers" are possible, because there is one (1) Assembly in each State and everyone eligible is part of it to the extent that they participate.
FACT: My role in the imaginary "takeover" was to make the Coordinator aware of the facts and the baseless gossip that was swirling around --- which prompted him to make the apology and explain what actually happened and how registration systems work.
At that point, The North Carolina Assembly could have just taken in the new information and benefited from it, and gone on.
"We're all good people," Donna writes. "You never want to talk to us. You just believe them, and as far as I am concerned, they are evil."
FACT: No, "we" aren't all good people or we wouldn't be having this discussion. If we were all good people, we wouldn't be making false accusations and acting upon them. If we were all good people, we'd be ashamed of knowingly or unknowingly promoting injustice. And we'd stop doing it. Right?
FACT: I don't have time for coffee breaks most days. So, no, I don't have a lot of time to go around and visit with Assemblies, particularly if I am not invited to do so. Some Assemblies invite me and one way or another, I always make time for them -- but we also often have to schedule and reschedule until we hit a time and date that works.
FACT: Donna has already made up her mind based on hearsay and suspicion that these other members of The North Carolina Assembly are "evil". She doesn't really know these people, nor does she know their side of the story. But they are evil. She's sure of that.
This is how gossip ruins relationships before they are even formed.
It is also how any chance of unity and progress in an Assembly is undermined by the evil of gossip.
Gossip, by the way, along with lying, is one of the sins that the Bible says God "hates". I guess I am in good company for hating it.
Donna says, "Let's be clear -- this situation, all of it -- is a direct result of your interference in the internal affairs of The North Carolina Assembly. You inserted yourself into our business, listened to one side, ignored verified facts from the other, and then weaponized your platform to publicly slander us. That's not leadership. That's complicity."
FACT: I was asked why, after a de facto corporation was dissolved and lawfully converted into a land jurisdiction corporation and recorded, the old registration remained. It turns out that certain parties in North Carolina assumed that such registrations magically disappear once they are papered over, and based on that assumption, they black-balled and slandered and accused one of their own members of being a "liar" and a de facto infiltrator, etc.
FACT: I didn't "insert myself" into "their" business. I answered a question and the answer embarrassed them. The Coordinator apologized to the injured party, and the Assembly had the chance to move on, but they couldn't admit their mistake. And they couldn't quit gossiping.
FACT: It becomes my business when any Assembly gets off-track and starts harming the people they are supposed to help.
FACT: I didn't have anything to do with the development of the controversy, wasn't aware of it until the question came up -- and as the answer was purely factual, nothing that I said or did could be construed as "taking sides". It certainly wasn't a "direct result of me "interfering" in the "internal affairs" of The North Carolina Assembly. It was a matter of me answering a question and them not liking the answer.
Then she says:
"Where was the due process for The North Carolina Assembly?"
FACT: Answering a factual question doesn't require any "due process". It is what it is.
""Why were the 18 investigations never shared or made transparent?"
FACT: Investigations by their nature are secret until they result in something actionable -- and nothing actionable turned up. The members making the complaints knew they made the complaints. So "transparency" isn't an issue in investigations. Honesty and taking responsibility for the truth of your accusation is the issue.
"Why were Assembly objections, verified documents, audio and meeting transcripts completely ignored/"
FACT: Unfortunately, none of this was ignored. Federation personnel had to sit in and sort through all this, because North Carolina was making such a fuss and was so convinced that the sky was falling. One member in particular was singled out for the attacks, and yes, she did make some mistakes -- but they were honest mistakes that the Coordinator and other leaders should have addressed with her and didn't. We were left with the question -- why didn't they give her instructions for the position they asked her to fill?
"Why did you choose to defend and protect (the woman being singled out) rather than tell her to take it back to her assembly?"
FACT: In our government, the rights and preservation of the individual are supreme. This isn't a democracy, though some people have to be reminded of that fact on a continual basis. We protected her and will continue to protect her, because she was clearly the target in a smear campaign and was set up to fail in a job she couldn't possibly do without help and direction. Taking it back to her assembly wasn't an option, because the Assembly itself was at fault.
"Why did you allow her to air dirty laundry, let alone tainted dirty laundry on a live podcast? Furthermore, why did you join her in doing the same?"
FACT: It wasn't my part to allow or disallow anything she might say. Freedom of speech is guaranteed, although we are responsible for what we say. I am unaware of what "dirty laundry" is being referenced, but the easy answer is simply this --- if you don't want dirty laundry to be aired, keep your sheets clean. If I agreed with her, then pay attention to why I agreed.
"Why have your articles, podcasts and public statements steadily shifted to accommodate her narrative while dismissing your own decades of teaching?'
FACT: I don't deal in "narratives". I deal in facts, independently verified. If I were weak-minded, inexperienced, or gullible, The North Carolina Assembly would not exist, so to suggest that I have been co-opted by a volunteer podcaster (?!?) is, frankly, bizarre. My opinion has been formed, as always, from independent investigation and evaluation.
"Why was The North Carolina Assembly vilified without you ever once accepting an open invitation to hear both sides?"
FACT: I never received any invitation to participate in such a special session, but believe me, I heard both sides --- over and over and over again. I and my staff were unhappily required to investigate allegations of "lying" and "infiltration" and "theft" and virtually every other wild-haired accusation that could be dredged up, and all to no effect. This is why we are having this conversation and this is why The North Carolina Assembly is on probation.
"Where and when did the People/people delegate any authority to the Federation to override votes, to dictate who does what and when, or to dissolve our Assembly? Who are you to make such threats?"
FACT: I am stuck being "Hall Monitor" as a result of the responsibilities imposed on the Summoning Authority. It is our job to make sure the State Assemblies are stood up and functioning as they should. If necessary, the Federation summoned the Assembly into being and can dissolve it, too. We can start over as many times as necessary to get a group of people together who understand our system of government, its structure, its values, and its practices -- and who are committed to it.
California and Texas have had to be restructured three times. So it isn't a question of our authority, it's a question of your sobriety. Public governments aren't run like private clubs, and so far, that's what we are seeing in North Carolina; personal prejudices and antipathies and jealousies and "issues" have been the order of the day for months, instead of any spirit of brotherhood and cooperative effort to run a competent State Government. That, too, is why North Carolina is on probation.
"The truth," according to Donna, "is: we wouldn't be here (on probation) if you had stayed in your lane, if you had chosen neutrality, if you had upheld your own words. This isn't just a betrayal of us -- it's a betrayal of your mission, your credibility, and everything the Assemblies were supposed to stand for."
FACT: The Federation isn't the Federal Government and we don't have a separate "lane". We are in your lane. We will always stand for the equal and fair treatment of all Americans regardless of age, color, sex, religion, or any other "difference" that might superficially divide us. No part of the American Government is run as a private club with "in people" and "out people". There is no negotiation on this point. You either grasp the public nature of the enterprise and the importance of respecting each other and pulling together, or you don't. So far, North Carolina has been rather weak on understanding this point and that's another reason the Assembly is on probation.
"Who gave you authority to install unelected Coordinators on our Assembly?"
FACT: No Coordinator has ever been elected by any Assembly. Coordinator is not an elected office. Coordinators are volunteers at the ASN level, who step forward, receive training, and go on to help their State of the Union get organized. Once the Assembly itself is functioning and firing on all four cylinders, the position of Coordinator sunsets and only the Sessions Committee and the elected officers remain.
And now that I have wasted over an hour replying to more "screed" from North Carolina, I have something to say.
1. The woman who became such a focus for abuse, created a podcast -- all on her own -- to open up a means for people to ask me questions directly. She financed and organized it and did it all in good faith.
2. Almost immediately, and without contributing anything, the leadership of The North Carolina Assembly moved in, and apparently because she was a member of the Assembly, presumed to have power over what she might discuss with me and other participants.
3. This basic misunderstanding about who "owned" the podcast and the presumed right of The North Carolina Assembly leadership to censor and direct the podcast morphed into a quiet turf war, and when the fact that the podcast had nothing to do with The North Carolina Assembly finally surfaced, it didn't look good for them.
4. Soon after this, the same woman was asked to chair the International Business Assembly for North Carolina, a position she was not prepared for and not given any support or instructions to perform. So she blundered along and did it wrong, just as anyone called to be a brain surgeon with no training might. In my opinion, she was set up to fail, in exactly the same way that the Old Guard in the corporate world undermine rising new talents that threaten their positions and make them look bad.
5. Immediately after she fell on her nose as IBA leader, the rampage of gossip geared up and soon reached a fever pitch, and despite all calls for sanity and good manners and logic, it continued as a gossip campaign month after month after month, all directed against this same woman and her family and anyone who might defend her.
6. Including me. I will defend her, because she has been given the Bum's Rush, and she's not a bum. She chose not to "return" to the Assembly and continue to be the brunt of constant suspicion and ridicule and started meeting with other people, kinder, more rational people, instead --- not as a second Assembly, because if you've been listening, there is only one Assembly no matter how many meetings there may be. She voted with her feet, but she didn't give up the dream. I applaud her for that. Most people faced with the unreasoning hatred and acrimony and "shaming" she has faced would have given up any association long ago.
7. Since then, she has organized a new database and recording system especially geared toward publishing land patents and continued her podcast --- which was never The North Carolina Assembly's podcast --- and covered a wide variety of topics helpful to farmers and organic gardeners and business owners who want to leave the de facto system behind.
8. It is my lifetime experience that those who want to control and manipulate are forever accusing everyone else of controlling and manipulating; gossip and innuendo and suspicion are just tools in their corporate kitbag. In this case and through multiple investigations it has become very apparent that this witch hunt is a witch hunt. You must discern for yourselves who or what benefits from this, because it isn't The North Carolina Assembly, and that is a self-evident fact.
So, it's up to you, North Carolina. Do you want to do what has to be done and self-discipline yourselves to tell the truth and be fair and be a respectable public government for your State of the Union, or not?
Granna
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