I found another creepy (VERIFIED) Podesta email while searching for the word, "SMUGGLING." The email contains information on U.S.-Cuba relations and it mentions an upcoming meeting in which "Senior military officials from 16 Caribbean countries, the U.S., UK and others will participate in the three-day conference, which will focus on cooperation to combat the drug trade, human trafficking, and weapons smuggling."
The email's link is here - https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/12267
From - Sarah (Stephens?) of Democracy in the Americas - http://democracyinamericas.org/?page_id=47
To - John Podesta
Date - 2016-01 - 15 20:45
Subject: Stop and Smell (the Cuban) Coffee (or what would Goethe say?)
This is a lengthy email from Sarah (Stephens) of the "charity" called Democracy in the Americas. Stephen's bio is here: http://democracyinamericas.org/?page_id=47.
It seems like a very creepy email because in it, Sarah Stephens seems to be salivating over the prospects of Obama lifting the decades-old U.S. - Cuba embargo, and she not only quotes Goethe, but mentions him in the Subject Line of this verified email. That's significant because of who Goethe was and what he practiced (described below).
Who is Goethe? The only "Goethe" whom I could find online who is frequently quoted is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a "widely quoted" German Poet, novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, diplomat, and civil servant who lived from 1749 until 1832 (according to the Wikipedia entry on him, seen here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe)).
MOST NOTABLE in that Wikipedia entry is the section on Goethe's "EROTICISM," which I think is so significant (in the context of this email) that I am quoting the whole section here:
EROTICISM:
Many of Goethe's works, especially Faust, the Roman Elegies, and the Venetian Epigrams, depict erotic passions and acts. For instance, in Faust, the first use of Faust's power after literally signing a contract with the devil is to fall in love with and impregnate a teenage girl. Some of the Venetian Epigrams were held back from publication due to their sexual content. Goethe clearly saw human sexuality as a topic worthy of poetic and artistic depiction, an idea that was uncommon in a time when the private nature of sexuality was rigorously normative.[48]
Goethe wrote of both boys and girls: “I like boys a lot, but the girls are even nicer. If I tire of her as a girl, she’ll play the boy for me as well” (Goethe, 1884).[49]
Goethe also defended pederasty: "Pederasty is as old as humanity itself, and one can therefore say that it is natural, that it resides in nature, even if it proceeds against nature. What culture has won from nature will not be surrendered or given up at any price."[50]
What is "pederasty," you ask? I didn't know, either. I had to look it up. According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pederasty))
"Pederasty or paederasty (US /ˈpɛdəræsti/ or UK /ˈpiːdəræsti/) is a (usually erotic) homosexual relationship between an adult male and a pubescent or adolescent male."
So now the email seems even creepier, in light of Sarah Stephens's apparent gushing over the prospects of a lifted embargo, her encouragment to "smell the Cuban coffee," and her pondering of "What would Goethe say?"
WTF? IF ANY VOATERS HAVE TIME TO ARCHIVE AND DIG, PLEASE DO. I'm quoting a portion of the email and pasting
Sarah Stephens's Bio below.
PARTIAL EXCERPTS OF EMAIL BELOW:
From - Sarah (Stephens?) of Democracy in the Americas - http://democracyinamericas.org/?page_id=47
Date - 2016-01-15 20:45
Subject - Stop and Smell (the Cuban) Coffee (or what would Goethe say?)
Defining the challenges of his final year in office, President Obama used his last State of the Union address to make his most forceful appeal (link to speech) to Congress to "lift the embargo" on Cuba since he announced the new U.S. policy toward Cuba in December 2014. . . .
Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo. Tuesday night he hit it harder - making it two years in a row that he urged Congress to take down what presidents dating back to Eisenhower had built up. Everything is happening so fast. Our compassion, concerns, and anxieties are pulled in a dozen different directions. But, isn't this a time when we could stop and admire the beauty of this historical moment? Two years in a row a U.S. president actually said the state of the union would be stronger by ending the embargo against Cuba.
"The mere knowledge that such a work could be created makes me twice the person I was," Goethe said.
Tuesday night we felt that way, too; even more, after dozens of Members of Congress heard what the president said and rose from their seats to applaud.
Stop for a minute and smell that coffee!
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lawfag123 ago
I'm not sure. Seems like people quote Goethe all the time. Would the email be spooky without the Goethe reference?
AreWeSure ago
It's possible to be knowledgeable about Goethe without knowing at all about his sexuality. He considered one of the greatest writers Germany ever produced. I read some selections of Faust in a literature class in College and knew of his artistic reputation, but I never before today would have associated him with pedophilia.
Also today Pederasty is almost exclusively to mean Adult Male with a boy, that was not always the case. Historically it has also been used as a synonym for male homesexuality. It both quotes from wikipedia, where he uses boy/girls and pederasty, he could be talking about adult love. Goethe had relations with women including a long relation with an older woman, but at least one recent biography have claimed that despite these he was homosexual citing his letters to an adult male philospher.
Googling Goethe and pedophile doesn't come up with very much at all about his personal life.
popezandy ago
You wouldn't defend regular adult love, nobody is fighting to see it extinguished... Also, if you don't have sound reasoning as to what reason Goethe is relevant in this context, then you have to accept it's unusual. Unless this girl just has an obsession with Goethe, a theory which holds a little less water at the moment...
veritas_vincit ago
The 21st century is not the only period in history. Homosexuality has not always been socially acceptable. In fact, we are the exception and not the rule. If Goethe had been homosexual (though this is quite dubious to be perfectly honest), he could not have been so publicly.
AreWeSure ago
I think adult love between two men would need defending. I don't know if you include that in "regular adult love."
I have no idea why she quotes Goethe. I do know he's known for being Germany's national poet, not as some pedophile signalling.
popezandy ago
I don't think Goethe would defend homosexuality in those terms. I don't know what Germany's national poet means in terms of Cuban sanctions, but I'm sure there's only one answer to that question.