From Scottish History: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/ScottishThistle.htm
There are several different legends that tell how the thistle became Scotland's symbol, but most date from the reign of Alexander III and in particular the events surrounding the Battle of Largs in 1263.
It is often forgotten, that for hundreds of years much of Scotland was part of the Kingdom of Norway. By 1263 however, Norway seems to have had little interest in their former territory, that was until King Alexander III proposed to buy back the Western Isles and Kintyre from the Norse King Haakon IV. The thought of relieving King Alexander of some of his riches and territories appears to have re-kindled Norse interest in Scotland.
Late in the summer of 1263 King Haakon of Norway, now intent on conquering the Scots, set off with a sizeable fleet of longships for the Scottish coast. Gales and fierce storms forced some of the ships onto the beach at Largs in Ayrshire, and a Norwegian force was landed.
Legend has it that at some point during the invasion the Norsemen tried to surprise the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to move more stealthily under the cover of darkness the Norsemen removed their footwear. But as they crept barefoot they came across an area of ground covered in thistles and one of Haakon's men stood on one and shrieked out in pain, thus alerting the Clansmen to the advancing Norsemen.
His shout warned the Scots who defeated the Norsemen at the Battle of Largs, thus saving Scotland from invasion. The important role that the thistle had played was recognised and so was chosen as Scotland's national emblem.
Now I don't know if any of the people affiliated with The Kaiser Papers have close ties to Scotland or not. We all are American's and that means we probably are made up of many different bits and pieces from throughout this world.The story above is what is the most important thing on this particular web page. In short - Some tough guys wanted to steal what belonged to others. They snuck around and in doing so exposed themselves. The little thistle brought them all down.
Kaiser Permanente has been doing the same type of thing for decades now; Sneaking around and taking what is not rightfully theirs, including lives.
Why they are being exposed now is because they became so blatant, so insulting, so arrogant in their behavior and so open with their thievery and fraud that they have shown the world what they are really all about. The little thistle is once again alerting the sleeping population of the advancing danger.