shoebat--2020-11-23--So Much For “The Wall”- Border Crossings Explode, Higher Last Month Than ALL Monthly Crossings Under

So Much For “The Wall”- Border Crossings Explode, Higher Last Month Than ALL Monthly Crossings Under Obama

Shoebat.com has been explicitly clear that the US-Mexican border is used by both political parties without regard to the humanity of either those who want to immigrate to the US from Central America or those who live in the US states on the border .
Both view all as political pawns and treat them as such , because ultimately border policies are used to provide economic support from slave-wage labor to support American imperial ambitions by domestic policy as well as to create excuses to concentrate more power into the Executive Branch of government .
That said , back in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s “ Build The Wall ” slogan because they believed , for good or for bad , that Trump was going to do something based on his rhetoric to fix the border issue .
It does not really matter what , but that he would do something , in theory , to cause a fundamental change to the situation on the border .
But then what happened- and likely a reason that directly contributed to Trump ’ s likely loss this past election cycle -was that he did nothing .
Not only did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignored all promises , blaming them on “ the Democrats ” and avoiding the issue as much as possible .
Trump lied .
That hurts for some people to hear , but he looked people in the face , said “ trust me with this sensitive issue ” , and then lied about it .
There is no other way to describe it .
In fact , the lie was so big that not only have border crossings increased , but according to The Washington Post by way of MSN News , border @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been since 2005- higher than ANY TIME under Obama .
U.S. authorities made more than 69,000 arrests and detentions last month along the border with Mexico , a 21 percent increase from September and the highest total for any October since 2005 , according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures released Thursday .
The increase was partly fueled by a soaring number of repeat arrests along the border resulting from the Trump administration ’ s practice of quickly “ expelling ” people to Mexico after they enter the country illegally .
CBP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health measure to prevent the additional transmission of the coronavirus inside the United States , but many of those sent back across the border are trying to enter again and again , without risk of detention and criminal prosecution .
The most recent figures indicate that at least one-third of those taken into custody each month are repeat offenders .
Mark Morgan , the acting commissioner of CBP , once more used his monthly enforcement briefing to depict border crossers as selfish and unconcerned for the welfare of U.S. agents and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ telling us their wants and needs are more important than our lives , ” Morgan told reporters .
“ Their economic conditions more important than the lives of American citizens.
” ( source ) That last line would be hilarious in the ironic sense if its perversity was not so terrible .
It is true that many people come to the US for money and do so by illegally crossing the border- and that is what the US wants because illegal labor often commands low to below-market-wage pay , which is what enables @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nice food they have .
Want to pay $ 15 for a carton of strawberries instead of $ 3 or $ 4 ?
You can probably thank a “ Pablo ” or “ Enrique ” here who crossed illegally , since not only was their crossing encouraged , but the tiny wage by American standards they receive lets you reap the benefits , while at the same time they , working twelve-hour-days , is able to send what is a little money for Americans back to his homeland in Central America that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let ’ s him send his children to better schools , his wife to buy better food , and his family be able to sleep at night without wondering where their next meal will come from .
But that is not all .
Shoebat.com has discussed many times the horrendous drug cartel violence in these nations , not to mention the human sacrifice , cannibalism , and organ harvesting they do on poor and innocent people .
Ask yourself , do you worry about being kidnapped or one of your family members being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Well , there are a lot of these people who worry about that .
Likewise , if you had the same worries , but you knew that you could walk about the distance from New York city to Denver , Colorado or less and NEVER see these people again and have a chance at a brand new life in a safe place , would you take it ?
That is the question these people have been faced with , and they chose to make the journey .
I am not saying that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there should be “ no borders ” , but as before noted , that there needs to be a serious clarification of border policies , the migration process , and the refugee process for the mercy and justice of both migrant and citizen .
Chaos may be a tool of political manipulation , but it long-term benefits no one and causes more problems , as well as shows a callous disregard for human life and the good of all .
Unfortunately , even with Biden in office , I do not see this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it to change , because talk is cheap but actions that count , and if Biden will sponsor laws such as the notorious 1994 Crime Bill that was the cause of so many people being imprisoned for small matters and the explosion of the private prison sector which some refer to as the “ prison-industrial complex ” , one should not believe that he would care about the good will of people who can not contribute to his campaign or personal bank account save to use them as disposable political pawns .
Unfortunately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see this trend , and instead focus on the same rhetoric as before , further continuing the divide between left and right and potentially , given trends in the Hispanic bloc that suggest a shift toward the political right long term , creating a division between “ American Hispanics ” supporting anti-immigration policies against “ migrant ” Hispanics trying to escape from the same problems that their fellow former countrymen and their descendants escaped from not more than a half-century ago and split on party lines .
As far as Trump , this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and what he thinks , and his opinions are about as real as his hair color .
Donate now to help support the work of this site .
When you donate , you are not donating to just any commentary group , but one that is endlessly observing the news , reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality .
In shoebat.com , we are working every day , tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future .
CLICK HERE TO @ @ @ @ @ @

Shoebat.com has been explicitly clear that the US-Mexican border is used by both political parties without regard to the humanity of either those who want to immigrate to the US from Central America or those who live in the US states on the border. Both view all as political pawns and treat them as such, because ultimately border policies are used to provide economic support from slave-wage labor to support American imperial ambitions by domestic policy as well as to create excuses to concentrate more power into the Executive Branch of government.
That said, back in 2016, many people supported Trump’s “Build The Wall” slogan because they believed, for good or for bad, that Trump was going to do something based on his rhetoric to fix the border issue. It does not really matter what, but that he would do something, in theory, to cause a fundamental change to the situation on the border.
But then what happened- and likely a reason that directly contributed to Trump’s likely loss this past election cycle -was that he did nothing. Not only did he do nothing, but he actively ignored all promises, blaming them on “the Democrats” and avoiding the issue as much as possible.
Trump lied. That hurts for some people to hear, but he looked people in the face, said “trust me with this sensitive issue”, and then lied about it. There is no other way to describe it.
In fact, the lie was so big that not only have border crossings increased, but according to The Washington Post by way of MSN News, border crossings are at the highest they have been since 2005- higher than ANY TIME under Obama.
U.S. authorities made more than 69,000 arrests and detentions last month along the border with Mexico, a 21 percent increase from September and the highest total for any October since 2005, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures released Thursday. The increase was partly fueled by a soaring number of repeat arrests along the border resulting from the Trump administration’s practice of quickly “expelling” people to Mexico after they enter the country illegally. CBP officials insist the expulsions are a crucial public health measure to prevent the additional transmission of the coronavirus inside the United States, but many of those sent back across the border are trying to enter again and again, without risk of detention and criminal prosecution. The most recent figures indicate that at least one-third of those taken into custody each month are repeat offenders. Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of CBP, once more used his monthly enforcement briefing to depict border crossers as selfish and unconcerned for the welfare of U.S. agents and the American public. “They’re telling us their wants and needs are more important than our lives,” Morgan told reporters. “Their economic conditions more important than the lives of American citizens.” (source)
That last line would be hilarious in the ironic sense if its perversity was not so terrible.
It is true that many people come to the US for money and do so by illegally crossing the border- and that is what the US wants because illegal labor often commands low to below-market-wage pay, which is what enables Americans “legally” to buy the nice food they have. Want to pay $15 for a carton of strawberries instead of $3 or $4? You can probably thank a “Pablo” or “Enrique” here who crossed illegally, since not only was their crossing encouraged, but the tiny wage by American standards they receive lets you reap the benefits, while at the same time they, working twelve-hour-days, is able to send what is a little money for Americans back to his homeland in Central America that is a lot of money for him and let’s him send his children to better schools, his wife to buy better food, and his family be able to sleep at night without wondering where their next meal will come from.
But that is not all. Shoebat.com has discussed many times the horrendous drug cartel violence in these nations, not to mention the human sacrifice, cannibalism, and organ harvesting they do on poor and innocent people. Ask yourself, do you worry about being kidnapped or one of your family members being kidnapped and dissected alive by a gang? Well, there are a lot of these people who worry about that. Likewise, if you had the same worries, but you knew that you could walk about the distance from New York city to Denver, Colorado or less and NEVER see these people again and have a chance at a brand new life in a safe place, would you take it? That is the question these people have been faced with, and they chose to make the journey.
I am not saying that laws must be disregarded, or that there should be “no borders”, but as before noted, that there needs to be a serious clarification of border policies, the migration process, and the refugee process for the mercy and justice of both migrant and citizen. Chaos may be a tool of political manipulation, but it long-term benefits no one and causes more problems, as well as shows a callous disregard for human life and the good of all. Unfortunately, even with Biden in office, I do not see this trend changing, nor did I expect it to change, because talk is cheap but actions that count, and if Biden will sponsor laws such as the notorious 1994 Crime Bill that was the cause of so many people being imprisoned for small matters and the explosion of the private prison sector which some refer to as the “prison-industrial complex”, one should not believe that he would care about the good will of people who cannot contribute to his campaign or personal bank account save to use them as disposable political pawns.
Unfortunately, it is likely few that will see this trend, and instead focus on the same rhetoric as before, further continuing the divide between left and right and potentially, given trends in the Hispanic bloc that suggest a shift toward the political right long term, creating a division between “American Hispanics” supporting anti-immigration policies against “migrant” Hispanics trying to escape from the same problems that their fellow former countrymen and their descendants escaped from not more than a half-century ago and split on party lines.
As far as Trump, this current statics show who he really is and what he thinks, and his opinions are about as real as his hair color.
print


shoebat--2020-11-23--Shoebat.com Warning Comes True, NY Times Admits That AI-Generated Faces Are A Game Changer

Back in late 2017 and early 2018 , I sounded an alarm loud and clear here on Shoebat.com about a very disturbing trend I saw taking place online that I feared would become a major trend that could have horrible effects .
This trend was that of “ face swapping ” using artificial intelligence tools in videos .
What you could do is to take a person ’ s face in a video and “ swap ” it with another so that the person in the video is no longer what actually is there , but is the person you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first reported this trend , I said that it began showing up in adult content on message boards , and that while of poor quality and obviously fake when one looks at it , I said that the fact it was so popular and so many people were doing this was a bad sign because it really is not about adult content , but rather the ability to manufacture fake evidence and present it as real , either to imprison the innocent or exonerate the guilty .
It is so serious that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so far one of the most secure forms of evidence used for decades- that of the video tape -to prosecute crimes , and thus has the potential to open the way to abuse and the formation of a police state that Hitler , Lenin , Mao , and Stalin could only dream about .
Unfortunately , my predictions have come true , as one can witness the progression of grainy AI technology to that being almost indistinguishable from reality , and sometimes not able to be distinguished .
This is so serious that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporting on this and how computers are being used to created people who do not exist .
The creation of these types of fake images only became possible in recent years thanks to a new type of artificial intelligence called a generative adversarial network .
In essence , you feed a computer program a bunch of photos of real people .
It studies them and tries to come up with its own photos of people , while another part of the system tries to detect which of those photos are fake .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indistinguishable from the real thing .
The portraits in this story were created by The Times using GAN software that was made publicly available by the computer graphics company Nvidia .
Given the pace of improvement , it ’ s easy to imagine a not-so-distant future in which we are confronted with not just single portraits of fake people but whole collections of them — at a party with fake friends , hanging out with their fake dogs , holding their fake babies .
It will become increasingly difficult to tell who is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a computer ’ s imagination .
“ When the tech first appeared in 2014 , it was bad — it looked like the Sims , ” said Camille François , a disinformation researcher whose job is to analyze manipulation of social networks .
“ It ’ s a reminder of how quickly the technology can evolve .
Detection will only get harder over time.
” Advances in facial fakery have been made possible in part because technology has become so much better at identifying key facial features .
You can use your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tell your photo software to sort through your thousands of pictures and show you only those of your child .
Facial recognition programs are used by law enforcement to identify and arrest criminal suspects ( and also by some activists to reveal the identities of police officers who cover their name tags in an attempt to remain anonymous ) .
A company called Clearview AI scraped the web of billions of public photos — casually shared online by everyday users — to create an app capable of recognizing a stranger from just one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ability to organize and process the world in a way that wasn ’ t possible before .
( source ) To see how serious this is , just go to the website This Person Does Not Exist .
When you go there , you will see a photo of a person , and you get a new one each time you reload the screen .
These people do not exist .
They are made by AI programs .
This image above in the article was generated by that website- this woman does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and look at them , and consider the potential for this .
The trend here is so dangerous that one can not even trust reality any more because the technology is so advanced it can deceive even the most careful of onlookers .
This is a look into the future in many trends , for as our abilities to use our physical senses are taken away , the only thing that will be left is principle , and strict adherence to them , to serve as a guide from distinguishing truth from error @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but also in issue of public discourse , since it will be difficult to tell who is speaking about any particular topic and what the intentions are .
Donate now to help support the work of this site .
When you donate , you are not donating to just any commentary group , but one that is endlessly observing the news , reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality .
In shoebat.com , we are working every day , tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW OUR NEW SHOEBAT FACEBOOK PAGE

Back in late 2017 and early 2018, I sounded an alarm loud and clear here on Shoebat.com about a very disturbing trend I saw taking place online that I feared would become a major trend that could have horrible effects. This trend was that of “face swapping” using artificial intelligence tools in videos. What you could do is to take a person’s face in a video and “swap” it with another so that the person in the video is no longer what actually is there, but is the person you put in its place.
When I first reported this trend, I said that it began showing up in adult content on message boards, and that while of poor quality and obviously fake when one looks at it, I said that the fact it was so popular and so many people were doing this was a bad sign because it really is not about adult content, but rather the ability to manufacture fake evidence and present it as real, either to imprison the innocent or exonerate the guilty. It is so serious that it can destroy the reliability of what is so far one of the most secure forms of evidence used for decades- that of the video tape -to prosecute crimes, and thus has the potential to open the way to abuse and the formation of a police state that Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and Stalin could only dream about.
Unfortunately, my predictions have come true, as one can witness the progression of grainy AI technology to that being almost indistinguishable from reality, and sometimes not able to be distinguished. This is so serious that even the New York Times now is reporting on this and how computers are being used to created people who do not exist.
The creation of these types of fake images only became possible in recent years thanks to a new type of artificial intelligence called a generative adversarial network. In essence, you feed a computer program a bunch of photos of real people. It studies them and tries to come up with its own photos of people, while another part of the system tries to detect which of those photos are fake. The back-and-forth makes the end product ever more indistinguishable from the real thing. The portraits in this story were created by The Times using GAN software that was made publicly available by the computer graphics company Nvidia. Given the pace of improvement, it’s easy to imagine a not-so-distant future in which we are confronted with not just single portraits of fake people but whole collections of them — at a party with fake friends, hanging out with their fake dogs, holding their fake babies. It will become increasingly difficult to tell who is real online and who is a figment of a computer’s imagination. “When the tech first appeared in 2014, it was bad — it looked like the Sims,” said Camille François, a disinformation researcher whose job is to analyze manipulation of social networks. “It’s a reminder of how quickly the technology can evolve. Detection will only get harder over time.” Advances in facial fakery have been made possible in part because technology has become so much better at identifying key facial features. You can use your face to unlock your smartphone, or tell your photo software to sort through your thousands of pictures and show you only those of your child. Facial recognition programs are used by law enforcement to identify and arrest criminal suspects (and also by some activists to reveal the identities of police officers who cover their name tags in an attempt to remain anonymous). A company called Clearview AI scraped the web of billions of public photos — casually shared online by everyday users — to create an app capable of recognizing a stranger from just one photo. The technology promises superpowers: the ability to organize and process the world in a way that wasn’t possible before. (source)
To see how serious this is, just go to the website This Person Does Not Exist. When you go there, you will see a photo of a person, and you get a new one each time you reload the screen.
These people do not exist. They are made by AI programs. This image above in the article was generated by that website- this woman does not exist.
Go to the site and look at them, and consider the potential for this. The trend here is so dangerous that one cannot even trust reality any more because the technology is so advanced it can deceive even the most careful of onlookers.
This is a look into the future in many trends, for as our abilities to use our physical senses are taken away, the only thing that will be left is principle, and strict adherence to them, to serve as a guide from distinguishing truth from error, not just in moral issues, but also in issue of public discourse, since it will be difficult to tell who is speaking about any particular topic and what the intentions are.
print


shoebat--2020-11-23--Referendum Passes To Consider Formally Separating Oregon Counties, Rejoining Them With Idaho

Separatism and regionalism are frequently connected to trends in nationalism .
This can be clearly witnessed in Europe with the Catalonian separatism in Spain , Walonian separatism in Belgium , Transnistrian separatism in Moldova and Ukraine , the separatism of the numerous republics in the Caucasus mountain region ( Abkhazia , Adygea , Chechnya , Dagestan , Ingushetia , Kabardino-Balkaria , Kalmykia , Karachay-Cherkessia , North Ossetia , South Ossetia ) , or in other nationalistic movements that are less openly subversive but have a potential to develop in such a direction .
This is not just a “ foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there have been long separatist trends in the southeastern US ( that culminated in the Civil War and still persist today ) .
However , the area that is of most interest for separatism in an American context is the Pacific Northwestern states of Oregon and Washington , for the extreme polarization between the political right and the political left in that area combined with the general secularism it is known for , it attracts ( either by natural causes or direct influence from the government for purposes of strategy of tension type @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that can erupt into conflict .
It is , in an American context , the Czechia of the US , for if one looks at Europe , the same kinds of tensions historically exist in Czechia and so it is out of these Slavic lands made up of Bohemia and Moravia collectively in which so many revolutions have been fomented .
It is therefore with interest that one sees that according to OPB News , two Oregon counties are pushing for secession from Oregon in order that they may join with Idaho .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for the counties had a referendum to review the issue that passed on Election Day and now must be seriously taken up with the Oregon legislature .
On Election Day , voters in Jefferson and Union counties voted to push their lawmakers to consider taking their communities into Idaho .
The chances of that actually happening remain slim : It would require votes by both Oregon and Idaho legislatures and the U.S. Congress .
But that ’ s not necessarily the goal , at least not yet .
“ I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if you ’ re going to put into odds or bet on it , ” said Mike McCarter , a retired plant nursery worker and firearms instructor from La Pine who led the petition drive to get on the ballot with the group Move Oregon ’ s Border .
“ But if we don ’ t attempt to do something like that we continue to go down a road of frustration about the state Legislature not paying attention to rural Oregon.
” La Pine , Ore. , resident Mike McCarter on Feb. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the separatist group Move Oregon ’ s Border for a Greater Idaho , said rural counties are “ outraged by liberal policies from the Oregon Legislature that threaten their livelihoods , industries and values.
” McCarter and his supporters have been working behind the scenes for several years to build momentum for shifting Oregon ’ s border to put some of the state ’ s more rural , and politically conservative , counties to Idaho .
They say that , because state politics are dominated by more populous — and more politically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corridor , large swaths of the state are ignored .
“ Rural Oregon is really very similar to Idaho counties , ” McCarter said on a recent episode of “ Think Out Loud.
” “ Over the years , they ’ ve thought of them as their brother , ” he said .
“ There ’ s similar agriculture products , similar timber industries , similar conservative values .
Don ’ t create a new state , but adjust the border so Idaho is a little bigger and Oregon is a little smaller.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , it is likely that nothing is going to happen , and one should not expect any sort of secessionism to take place .
Neither do I believe this has to do with starting any sort of Civil War .
However , the fact that the move passed a referendum means that there is serious talk about something happening , and a lot of people are concerned about it means that it should not be ignored but looked at more closely .
The political left has held a tremendous amount of power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking over cities and then running whole states from those cities , often to the detriment of the country people .
This was one of the major complaints of Governor George Wallace of Alabama during the 1960s , for while many people criticize him and see him only through the lens of the Civil Rights movement , it is also true that one of Wallace ’ s main points- and a point that is rarely discussed -is that he stood for the rights of the common “ country folk ” and wanted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cities and the have his state subverted from within by sinister interests .
Perhaps the most prominent way he showed this was through the fact that he single-handedly built a comprehensive network of community colleges throughout Alabama , placing many in some of the most remote and underdeveloped areas for the purpose of ensuring that “ rural folk ” had the same opportunity for education as “ city folk ” , and it is why his name is frequently mentioned on campus buildings and streets .
This is similar to what is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state is actually on the political right , but the entire state is run from Portland , which is on the political left to the extreme .
This clash is a classic western right-left clash that is a hallmark of so much historical conflict , and given the trends to conflict that such cases tend to bring and the area in which this is taking place , it will be interesting to see what the results or effects of this referendum will be on other states , not so much as to start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perhaps to see how the balance of power shifts within states for the future , let alone what may come of the future of the political left .
Donate now to help support the work of this site .
When you donate , you are not donating to just any commentary group , but one that is endlessly observing the news , reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality .
In shoebat.com , we are working every day , tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW OUR NEW SHOEBAT FACEBOOK PAGE

Separatism and regionalism are frequently connected to trends in nationalism. This can be clearly witnessed in Europe with the Catalonian separatism in Spain, Walonian separatism in Belgium, Transnistrian separatism in Moldova and Ukraine, the separatism of the numerous republics in the Caucasus mountain region (Abkhazia, Adygea, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, South Ossetia), or in other nationalistic movements that are less openly subversive but have a potential to develop in such a direction. This is not just a “foreign” thing, for in the US there have been long separatist trends in the southeastern US (that culminated in the Civil War and still persist today).
However, the area that is of most interest for separatism in an American context is the Pacific Northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, for the extreme polarization between the political right and the political left in that area combined with the general secularism it is known for, it attracts (either by natural causes or direct influence from the government for purposes of strategy of tension type operations) extreme views on both ends that can erupt into conflict. It is, in an American context, the Czechia of the US, for if one looks at Europe, the same kinds of tensions historically exist in Czechia and so it is out of these Slavic lands made up of Bohemia and Moravia collectively in which so many revolutions have been fomented.
It is therefore with interest that one sees that according to OPB News, two Oregon counties are pushing for secession from Oregon in order that they may join with Idaho. But this is not just a theory, for the counties had a referendum to review the issue that passed on Election Day and now must be seriously taken up with the Oregon legislature.
On Election Day, voters in Jefferson and Union counties voted to push their lawmakers to consider taking their communities into Idaho. The chances of that actually happening remain slim: It would require votes by both Oregon and Idaho legislatures and the U.S. Congress. But that’s not necessarily the goal, at least not yet. “I’m not really sure what the chances are, if you’re going to put into odds or bet on it,” said Mike McCarter, a retired plant nursery worker and firearms instructor from La Pine who led the petition drive to get on the ballot with the group Move Oregon’s Border. “But if we don’t attempt to do something like that we continue to go down a road of frustration about the state Legislature not paying attention to rural Oregon.” La Pine, Ore., resident Mike McCarter on Feb. 19, 2020. McCarter, part of the separatist group Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho, said rural counties are “outraged by liberal policies from the Oregon Legislature that threaten their livelihoods, industries and values.” McCarter and his supporters have been working behind the scenes for several years to build momentum for shifting Oregon’s border to put some of the state’s more rural, and politically conservative, counties to Idaho. They say that, because state politics are dominated by more populous — and more politically progressive — communities along the Interstate 5 corridor, large swaths of the state are ignored. “Rural Oregon is really very similar to Idaho counties,” McCarter said on a recent episode of “Think Out Loud.” “Over the years, they’ve thought of them as their brother,” he said. “There’s similar agriculture products, similar timber industries, similar conservative values. Don’t create a new state, but adjust the border so Idaho is a little bigger and Oregon is a little smaller.” (source)
At the current time, it is likely that nothing is going to happen, and one should not expect any sort of secessionism to take place. Neither do I believe this has to do with starting any sort of Civil War. However, the fact that the move passed a referendum means that there is serious talk about something happening, and a lot of people are concerned about it means that it should not be ignored but looked at more closely.
The political left has held a tremendous amount of power for a long time, mostly by taking over cities and then running whole states from those cities, often to the detriment of the country people. This was one of the major complaints of Governor George Wallace of Alabama during the 1960s, for while many people criticize him and see him only through the lens of the Civil Rights movement, it is also true that one of Wallace’s main points- and a point that is rarely discussed -is that he stood for the rights of the common “country folk” and wanted to prevent the concentration of all power into the cities and the have his state subverted from within by sinister interests. Perhaps the most prominent way he showed this was through the fact that he single-handedly built a comprehensive network of community colleges throughout Alabama, placing many in some of the most remote and underdeveloped areas for the purpose of ensuring that “rural folk” had the same opportunity for education as “city folk”, and it is why his name is frequently mentioned on campus buildings and streets.
This is similar to what is happening in Oregon. Most of the state is actually on the political right, but the entire state is run from Portland, which is on the political left to the extreme. This clash is a classic western right-left clash that is a hallmark of so much historical conflict, and given the trends to conflict that such cases tend to bring and the area in which this is taking place, it will be interesting to see what the results or effects of this referendum will be on other states, not so much as to start a Civil War for secession, but perhaps to see how the balance of power shifts within states for the future, let alone what may come of the future of the political left.
print


shoebat--2020-11-23--Claim: Major COVID Crisis Incoming, Threatens To Overwhelm Hospitals

COVID has caused many problems around the world , and there is a hope that come 2021 , the pandemic will disappear and life can resume “ as normal.
” While there are many trends that point to fundamental changes- from everything in the economy itself to just life in general -that suggest things are not going to just “ go back to the same ” , it seems to be too early to assume that things will get better .
According to a report made by The Atlantic , the COVID pandemic is just preparing to enter it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to overwhelm hospitals , medical suppliers , and ultimately , cause potentially more deaths than from the first wave .
In the past two weeks , the hospital had to convert an entire building into a COVID-19 tower , from the top down .
It now has 10 COVID-19 units , each taking up an entire hospital floor .
Three of the units provide intensive care to the very sickest people , several of whom die every day .
One unit solely provides “ comfort care ” to COVID-19 patients who are certain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never had to do anything like this , ” Angela Hewlett , the infectious-disease specialist who directs the hospital ’ s COVID-19 team , told me .
“ We are on an absolutely catastrophic path.
” Cawcutt knows what ’ s coming .
Throughout the pandemic , hospitalizations have lagged behind cases by about 12 days .
Over the past 12 days , the total number of confirmed cases in Nebraska has risen from 82,400 to 109,280 .
That rise represents a wave of patients that will slam into already beleaguered hospitals between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t see how we avoid becoming overwhelmed , ” says Dan Johnson , a critical-care doctor .
People need to know that “ the assumption we will always have a hospital bed for them is a false one.
” What makes this “ nightmare ” worse , he adds , “ is that it was preventable.
” The coronavirus is not unstoppable , as some have suggested and as New Zealand , Iceland , Australia , and Hong Kong have resoundingly disproved—twice .
Instead , the Trump administration never mounted a serious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gross incompetence or deliberate strategy , the president and his advisers left the virus to run amok , allowed Americans to get sick , and punted the consequences to the health-care system .
And they did so repeatedly , even after the ordeal of the spring , after the playbook for controlling the virus became clear , and despite months of warnings about a fall surge .
Not even the best-prepared hospital can compensate for an unchecked pandemic .
UNMC ’ s preparations didn ’ t fail so much as the U.S. created @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possibly succeed .
“ We can prepare over and over for a wave of patients , ” says Cawcutt , “ but we can ’ t prepare for a tsunami.
” ( source ) Will this happen ?
Will there be a suitable ‘ vaccine ’ for this illness ?
That is to be determined in the future .
What it is safe to say , it seems , is that the trends from COVID that include but by all means are not limited to : -Supply line disruptions -Panic buying -Mask-wearing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighbor -The growing general distrust of people in public are all things that one should expect to grow for the near future .
Likewise , as we at Shoebat.com have continually mentioned , there are also the trends of economic destabilization that are leading to impoverishment , further debt accumulation , and eventually , political chaos that could translate into militarism .
There is no happy ending to his picture .
It all leads to something bad , for even if COVID does clear up , the problems exposed by the virus will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Adding more waves of COVID will only cause the current trends to accelerate .
Either way , since the general end trajectory is known , it makes it easier to see what the future holds , for while the specifics are not known , we can say that the US is entering a “ political ” and “ economic winter ” of sorts , and that those who can see this can take the proper steps to prepare for what is ahead .
Donate now to help support the work of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are not donating to just any commentary group , but one that is endlessly observing the news , reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality .
In shoebat.com , we are working every day , tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future .
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COVID has caused many problems around the world, and there is a hope that come 2021, the pandemic will disappear and life can resume “as normal.” While there are many trends that point to fundamental changes- from everything in the economy itself to just life in general -that suggest things are not going to just “go back to the same”, it seems to be too early to assume that things will get better. According to a report made by The Atlantic, the COVID pandemic is just preparing to enter it’s second wave, and it threatens to overwhelm hospitals, medical suppliers, and ultimately, cause potentially more deaths than from the first wave.
In the past two weeks, the hospital had to convert an entire building into a COVID-19 tower, from the top down. It now has 10 COVID-19 units, each taking up an entire hospital floor. Three of the units provide intensive care to the very sickest people, several of whom die every day. One unit solely provides “comfort care” to COVID-19 patients who are certain to die. “We’ve never had to do anything like this,” Angela Hewlett, the infectious-disease specialist who directs the hospital’s COVID-19 team, told me. “We are on an absolutely catastrophic path.” … Cawcutt knows what’s coming. Throughout the pandemic, hospitalizations have lagged behind cases by about 12 days. Over the past 12 days, the total number of confirmed cases in Nebraska has risen from 82,400 to 109,280. That rise represents a wave of patients that will slam into already beleaguered hospitals between now and Thanksgiving. “I don’t see how we avoid becoming overwhelmed,” says Dan Johnson, a critical-care doctor. People need to know that “the assumption we will always have a hospital bed for them is a false one.” What makes this “nightmare” worse, he adds, “is that it was preventable.” The coronavirus is not unstoppable, as some have suggested and as New Zealand, Iceland, Australia, and Hong Kong have resoundingly disproved—twice. Instead, the Trump administration never mounted a serious effort to stop it. Whether through gross incompetence or deliberate strategy, the president and his advisers left the virus to run amok, allowed Americans to get sick, and punted the consequences to the health-care system. And they did so repeatedly, even after the ordeal of the spring, after the playbook for controlling the virus became clear, and despite months of warnings about a fall surge. Not even the best-prepared hospital can compensate for an unchecked pandemic. UNMC’s preparations didn’t fail so much as the U.S. created a situation in which hospitals could not possibly succeed. “We can prepare over and over for a wave of patients,” says Cawcutt, “but we can’t prepare for a tsunami.” (source)
Will this happen? Will there be a suitable ‘vaccine’ for this illness? That is to be determined in the future. What it is safe to say, it seems, is that the trends from COVID that include but by all means are not limited to:
-Supply line disruptions
-Panic buying
-Mask-wearing in public
-Social ostracism from one’s neighbor
-The growing general distrust of people in public
are all things that one should expect to grow for the near future. Likewise, as we at Shoebat.com have continually mentioned, there are also the trends of economic destabilization that are leading to impoverishment, further debt accumulation, and eventually, political chaos that could translate into militarism.
There is no happy ending to his picture. It all leads to something bad, for even if COVID does clear up, the problems exposed by the virus will not go away, but just fester. Adding more waves of COVID will only cause the current trends to accelerate.
Either way, since the general end trajectory is known, it makes it easier to see what the future holds, for while the specifics are not known, we can say that the US is entering a “political” and “economic winter” of sorts, and that those who can see this can take the proper steps to prepare for what is ahead.
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shoebat--2020-11-26--The Armenian Genocide And The Russian Turkish War

With the Turkish scimitar hovering above Armenia , and the crescent of the red dragon lingering over Baku in Azerbaijan , and with Russian troops being deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh , we are going back to an era that we see as away and gone , dissipated in the forgotten past .
We may forsake the past , but surely the past always makes its way into the present , into our minds , into our souls .
Let us reminisce a little bit into the past , to see but a glimpse of the horrors of Ottoman reign , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Ottomans fought over Armenia where today the Turkish leviathan — whose tentacles expand across the Mediterranean sea , looking to engulf the waters and lands of its past hegemony — and the Russian bear — whose claws wish to grip the lands of its former empire — are setting their gazes .
For now , the Russians and Turks are being diplomatic , but how long can diplomacy last when both sides — trying to revive their old empires — have opposing goals ?
As long as they are pursuing empire , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clash ( especially given the fact that they have had so many wars against each other ) .
An Armenian analyst named Bogdan Atanesyan , just recently made this observation : We are seeing the rise of both Russia and Turkey , and they are rivaling over control of the South Caucasus .
Eventually , interests will conflict and the two sides will clash .
And who will suffer the most but the people in the middle of the disorder ?
When the Russians and Ottomans were enemies during the First World War @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the midst of this genocide the Russians fought against the Ottomans on the side of the Armenians .
Let us look briefly into this history as to get an idea of what the future holds .
At this time , in 1914 and 1915 , the Ottomans had been devastated by the British in Basra ( in southern Iraq ) and by the Russians in Sarikamis .
The empire was declining to its end , and the Young Turks prepared for total war with the British and the Russians .
When the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Sarikamis , the loss did not end with the shame of being crushed in the battlefield , but continued on as a horrendous plague that killed 150,000 Ottoman troops and civilians in north-eastern Turkey .
From contaminated food and water that they scavenged ( since their government gave them close to nothing for food ) , the soldiers got infected with typhoid and dysentery ; lice and fleas had invaded their bodies gave them typhus .
They brought the disease to the civilians in Turkey .
The pestilence spread and became an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of 1915 .
Instead of having to deal with just wounded soldiers , doctors and nurses and Erzurum were now being overwhelmed by an inundation of infected people .
The military hospital only had a capacity of nine hundred people and so now every school , every mosque and every government building in Erzurum had to be used as hospitals .
At the peak of the epidemic there were up to 15,000 patients in this area .
Food and medical supplies were swiftly used up and at times patients would go for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ According to the missionary doctor , Edward Case , who treated patients in this epidemic , between December and January as many as 60,000 people were wiped out by disease in Erzurum alone .
The horrors of the disease were described by Dr. Case : Going through such a horrid experience , people began to do what always happens in these types of plights : they pointed to a scapegoat .
In this case it was the Armenians .
The Turkish Medical Corporal , Ali Riza Eti , was posted in Erzurum and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ section .
The work was strenuous , and seeing so many ill and dying , the hatred that he already harbored only grew more violently against Armenians , accusing them of disloyalty ( there were Armenians who , understandably so , deserted their ranks to fight for the Russians ) and saw them as having responsibility for the loss at Sarikamis .
This hatred was already within Eti .
While he was serving in the front in Sarikamis , when a Turkish soldier would murder an Armenian , he would simply report it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A wounded man told Eti that he had been abandoned by an Armenian soldier and left to die .
After lying in the cold ground for two days , we was suffering from frostbite in both his hands and feet .
The medics tried to save him and amputated his limbs , but he died the next day .
Eti would write in his diary : In January of 1915 , Corporal Eti used his position to abuse Armenian workers .
“ I dispatched three Armenians , one from Van and one from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ i.e.
, by rural marauders , who usually killed their victims ] .
This is what you call Turkish revenge … And I assign the most dangerous tasks to Armenian orderlies ” wrote Eit with sadistic glee .
The cruel rage of Eti was a reflection of a ubiquitous and insatiable bloodlust that lingered in the Ottoman atmosphere .
It did not take long for the Young Turks to begin discussing the “ Armenian problem ” .
As Talat Pasha himself would admit in 1920 , the objective was “ eliminating [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is comprehensive and absolute.
” In February of 1915 , Dr. Bahaedin Sakir , the operational chief of the Teskilat-i Mahsusa ( Special Organization , the imperial government special forces ) and a member of the masonic Committee of Union and Progress Central Committee , returned to Istanbul from the Caucasus front to report to Talat Pasha and Mehmed Nazim that it was necessary to address “ the enemy within ” due to the “ oppositional stance that the Armenians had taken toward Turkey and the assistance that they were affording to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ true that there were many Armenian nationalists who vocally supported the Allies against the Ottomans , but Armenians can not be blamed for this .
One can not expect people to be loyal to a regime that hates them .
But nonetheless , these nationalists did not really help their people by providing justification for the hatred that the Ottoman government had for them .
It is why the Armenian priest , Fr .
Grigoris Balakian , refused to support the nationalists and their cause .
“ Caught up in their nationalist sentiment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were loath to miss this unique opportunity to redress the wrongs committed by the Turks against the Armenian people ” .
Armenian support for the Allies — for example , when the Armenians cheered in public when the British and French made their attack on the Dardanelles — was capitalized upon by the Ottomans who wanted to purge the Armenians from their empire .
One thing that occurred that would enable this ‘ solution ’ to the “ Armenian problem ” was the massive population exchange that took place after the Balkan Wars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Greeks from their empire and the Greeks would deport thousands of Muslims from their country .
The Muslims took refuge within the empire of the Ottoman , and the Greeks would return to their homeland .
The massive deportation of thousands of Greeks established a precedent for the removal of populations deemed undesirable .
With their beliefs in Darwinism , the Young Turks — who were actually agnostic — had no qualms over the idea of mass extermination of people who would hinder their goal of Ottoman homogeneity , and they would use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commit to their purge .
What began as a controlled exchange of border populations between enemies after a war ( the Ottoman Empire and Greece ) , and which was agreed upon by the belligerents , quickly shifted into a vicious policy of ethnic cleansing as hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks were violently deported before and after the First World War .
Entire villages were rounded up , and those who resisted were murdered .
But while there were deaths in the deportations , most of it took place without deaths since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Greeks could return to .
This could not be said for the Armenians , who at the time did not have their own homeland .
Rather the Armenians — being a minority in every province of the Ottoman Empire — had their highest concentrated populations in only three areas : Istanbul , Cilicia and the Caucasus ( where Armenia is ) .
In February of 1915 , the deportations began .
On the model of the Greek population exchanges , the Turks began to deport Armenians from Dortyol and Alexandretta to the Adana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Turkey .
They dropped them in Adana and gave them absolutely no provisions or assistance , forcing the Armenians to rely on local Christians for survival .
A haunting fear was felt amongst the Armenians , and they had a harrowing sense that death was coming .
Armenian nationalists sought to resist and spark an uprising with the hopes that it would get the Allies to intervene and support their cause .
In the middle of February a group of Armenian rebels travelled from Zeytun to Tbilisi to request arms from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they had a force of 15,000 men who were ready for combat against the Turkish enemy .
But the Russians were in no position to provide arms and support an Armenian revolution .
At the end of February , a number of Armenian leaders went to the Ottoman authorities and reported to them about an uprising that was being planned by Armenian rebels .
These leaders believed that by reporting this they could demonstrate that the Armenians were loyal to the Ottoman Empire and were thus not a threat .
But this did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exasperated the animosity against the Armenians .
Ottoman troops were deployed to Zeytun to do mass arrests .
But young men fled Zeytun to join rebel forces .
On March 9th , Armenian insurgents ambushed a group of Turkish officers near Zeytun , slaying some of the soldiers and stealing their money .
Now the Young Turks — and all of the Ottomans who hated the Armenians — had more propaganda to use as a pretext for genocide .
Every single Armenian in Zeytun was deported to Konya .
Muslims were then allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( this is actually what is occurring in Nagorno-Karabakh , with Armenians being driven out of their homes by the tens of thousands ) .
Over seven thousand of the Armenians deported to Konya were left homeless .
In Istanbul , the purge was commenced with the arrest of intellectuals , rebels and religious leaders .
All together , they arrested 240 notables and crammed them in “ blood-red ” buses as we are told by Fr .
Balakian , who was amongst those arrested .
In the stillness of the night , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moved from the Asian side to the European side of Istanbul .
“ The night smelled of death ; the sea was rough , and our hearts were full of terror , ” wrote Balakian .
More busses arrived crammed with people “ in a state of spiritual anguish , terrified of the unknown and longing for comfort ” .
This haunting feeling reverberated in the town of Van , where many Armenians lived which lied in eastern Anatolia on the coast of Lake Van .
It would be here where much of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In March of 1915 , Cevdet Pasha , the governor of Van who was fanatically loyal to the Young Turks , ordered officers to search Armenian villages for weapons and arrest anyone who was suspected of owning a weapon to use against the state .
Two Armenian rebel leaders were executed .
A reign of terror was unleashed on the town of Van .
Armenians were butchered like cattle .
On April 20th , Rafael de Nogales ( a Venezuelan volunteer who joined the Ottoman military for the thrill of battle ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Van filled with “ mutilated Armenian corpses ” .
In the village of Adilcevaz , which lies on the north shore of Lake Van , the Ottomans began butchering the Armenians .
De Nogales , who was suppose to be partaking in the slaughter ( being dressed in Ottoman uniform ) , was outraged by what he saw and demanded to an official that the bloodshed cease .
The official nonchalantly told him “ that he was doing nothing more than carrying out an unequivocal order emanating from the Governor General of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … to exterminate all Armenian males twelve years of age and over ” .
At Edremit , de Nogales gazed upon the flames whose smoke covered the sky , from the burning homes , from the churches that were set ablaze .
And from a distance he saw the Turks and Kurds fighting in gun battles with the Armenians , who were outnumbered .
Gun smoke clouded the air in the midst of a torrent of flame and smoke .
“ Burning villages that bathed the sky in scarlet ” wrote de Nogales @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heading back to Van , de Nogales witnessed the aftermath of slaughter ; the smell of rotting corpses , voracious vultures crowding the road to gnaw on putrefied flesh .
He would recount what he saw : “ To right and left of the road circled screaming flocks of black vultures , disputing with the dogs the putrefied Armenian corpses thrown about on every side ” .
By the time de Nogales returned to Van the town had been won by Armenian fighters .
The Ottomans now had to fight to take it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ruthless fray .
“ I have rarely seen such furious fighting as took place during the siege of Van .
… Nobody gave quarter nor asked it.
” Savagery was seen on both sides , and in the midst of the chaos , there came the Russians , to take the town from the Ottomans .
They saw the Armenians ’ fight against Ottoman rule as their opportunity to back the Armenians and to further assert their rule in the area .
The fear of the Russian army pierced the hearts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pasha ordered the evacuation of every Muslim in Van .
Ottoman troops withdrew from the town on May 17th , 1915 .
The Armenians , sensing victory , set fire to Muslim homes and Ottoman government buildings .
The Russians arrived in May of 1915 and appointed an Armenian nationalist , Aram Manukian , to be the governor of Van .
But the Ottomans returned and drove their Russian enemy , taking back Van .
The Armenians were told to abandon their homes on July 31st of 1915 , and around 100,000 Armenians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But Russian forces would hit back , and again the soldiers of the Czar and the troops of the crescent would fight over the town .
During the summer of 1915 , the town of Van would switch occupiers three times , until the Russians finally took and occupied the town in the fall .
By this time , the town had been utterly devastated and there was not much left of Van .
Also in this time in eastern Anatolia there were very few Armenians left alive .
When the Russians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government passed the “ Deportation Law ” , approving the wholesale deportation of all Armenians .
This was made known to the public .
What was said in private , however , was a secret order for the mass extermination of all the deported Armenians .
The order was never written on paper ( for the Young Turks did not want to be held responsible for war crimes ) , but it was made orally to provincial governors by Central Committee officials such as Bahaeddin Sakir and others .
Any provincial governors who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or who disapproved of mass murder were faced with either being removed from their position or even assassinated .
When a district governor in Diyarbakir Province demanded a document of the order , he was removed from office , commanded to arrive at Diyarbakir and was then murdered as he was making his way there .
Provincial governors who were abiding by the murderous law began hiring armed gangs — thirsty for blood — and released criminals who , being so long in prison , had a ravenous desire for death that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Kurdish thugs were also allowed to hunt down Armenians like animals .
Fr .
Grigoris Balakian , who was now amongst his suffering flock , spoke with a Turkish captain who told him that “ government officials ” had sent officers “ to all the surrounding Turkish villages and in the name of holy jihad invited the Muslim population to participate in this sacred religious obligation ” of exterminating the Armenians .
This unwritten order was attested by a member of the Ottoman Council of Ministers who testified in 1918 : Soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cold minds who think themselves objective and pious .
Males aged 12 and older were separated from the women and slaughtered .
In smaller villages , the men were murdered right in the sight of horrified women.The Armenians were forced to walk a death march towards and through the Deir al-Zur ( the Syrian Desert ) , without food nor water .
The sick , the weak , the elderly , were callously forced to walk and no sympathy was given when they were close to death or when they died .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you , then it was the armed marauders who lurked about the people who were forced to tread the wilderness like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse .
American Consul Leslie Davis , who witnessed the Armenian Genocide , described the systematic methods of mass murder as “ the most thoroughly organized and effective massacre this country has ever seen.
” The bloodshed was so harrowing and chilling , that Fr .
Balakian would later recount : When Talat Pasha ordered for the general deportation of Armenians on June 21st , 1915 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1500 pieces of gold which gave him and the small group of Armenians in Cankiri their freedom which only lasted seven months .
After this , Balakian found himself in the Der al-Zur where he was confronted with the most egregious minds , saw the horrors for himself , and met with those who attested to the human slaughterhouse that the desert became .
He met with one Captain Shukri and asked him : “ Bey , where have all these human bones along this road come from ?
” To this Shukri @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Armenians who were killed in August and September .
The order had come from Constantinople .
Even though the minister of the interior [ i.e.
, Talat ] had huge ditches dug for the corpses , the winter floods washed the dirt away , and now the bones are everywhere , as you see ” .
“ Upon whose orders were the massacres of Armenians committed ?
” asked Balakian .
“ The orders came from the Ittihad [ i.e.
, Unionists ] Central Committee and the Interior Ministry in Constantinople ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ottoman newspaper , Ikdam , wrote in November of 1918 — when the Young Turks had fled in fear of being prosecuted for war crimes : “ Their response to eliminate the Armenian problem was to attempt the elimination of the Armenians themselves.
” In the ruthless Syrian desert , the people walked and walked , followed by the barrels of rifles , by the edges of blades , by insatiable cruelty and unquenchable lust for slaughter .
Death followed them , and so unbearable was that walk through the wilderness , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , convinced that they could only escape this nightmare they were in by relinquishing themselves fully to the darkness .
“ Lead me to the river ’ s edge ” said one woman to her nine year old son .
Her feet had become swollen from the miles of walking through the rugged desert , and she knew that if she were to succumb to her frailty that she would be pounced upon by a pack of marauders .
“ I am going to throw myself into the water .
If I stay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ torture.
” Her husband would have none of this and refused to comply with her demands .
But her neighbor carried her on his back and took her to the banks of the Euphrates .
She threw herself into the river ’ s current , her son standing right behind her , watching his mother go down to her death .
Her husband would fall asleep some days later , and never woke up .
The boy , Manuel Kerkyasharian , was now an orphan , left to witness before him women and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were left behind — slaughtered by soldiers .
Manuel was eventually rescued by four Kurdish women who found him wandering on the open road .
He spent the remaining years of the war going from one Kurdish village to another , surviving on compassion , and fleeing the sadism of the followers of the crescent .
One evening , under the curtain of the night sky , he saw a village engulfed in flames .
A Kurd noticed he was watching this and cruelly cried out : “ Hey , child of disbelievers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Armenians of Turkey and all of the disbelievers of Turkey have been liquidated .
The burning village is an infidel village and they are all being burned alive.
” The village is filled with Assyrian Christians .
In the Anatolian town of Palu , Ottoman officers forced the women and children into a church and closed them in .
They then heard horrific screams from outside .
One girl climbed up to a window and peered outside .
She described what she saw : “ They ’ re cutting the men ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the river.
” The women and children were forced into the death march .
One young girl , Heranus Gadarian , who was inside that church , recalled how when her pregnant aunt became ill the officers immediately bayoneted her to death .
She would later write : “ The elderly , the infirm , the ones who couldn ’ t walk — throughout the march they ’ d kill them with their bayonets and leave them lying there , just where they fell.
” People today love to talk about how the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this history , its as if the Apocalypse has shown its face in these prolonged moments of horror .
Reading of these harrowing stories , one is reminded of the voice of the wicked in the Wisdom of Solomon : “ It is impossible for human language to describe what those who went to Der Zor experienced ” , said an Armenian coachman ( who was serving in the Ottoman transport corps ) to Fr .
Balakian .
He went on to say : Reading the horrors of history , we should not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but understand that as long as humanity continues to be drunk off the grandiose ideal of power , there will be blood .
* *The information on the Armenian Genocide are mainly from Eugene Rogan ’ s The Fall of the Ottomans , ch .
7 .

By Theodore Shoebat and Walid Shoebat
With the Turkish scimitar hovering above Armenia, and the crescent of the red dragon lingering over Baku in Azerbaijan, and with Russian troops being deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh, we are going back to an era that we see as away and gone, dissipated in the forgotten past. We may forsake the past, but surely the past always makes its way into the present, into our minds, into our souls. Let us reminisce a little bit into the past, to see but a glimpse of the horrors of Ottoman reign, and a brief history of how the Russians and Ottomans fought over Armenia where today the Turkish leviathan — whose tentacles expand across the Mediterranean sea, looking to engulf the waters and lands of its past hegemony — and the Russian bear — whose claws wish to grip the lands of its former empire — are setting their gazes.
For now, the Russians and Turks are being diplomatic, but how long can diplomacy last when both sides — trying to revive their old empires — have opposing goals? As long as they are pursuing empire, it is inevitable that they will eventually clash (especially given the fact that they have had so many wars against each other). An Armenian analyst named Bogdan Atanesyan, just recently made this observation:
“Will Russians be able to get used to the Turks in Azerbaijan and, as they say, live peacefully? Hardly, considering that, firstly, they have a diametrically opposite vision of the way of the region, and, secondly, because the arena of their rivalry, which gradually turns into outright hostility, is geographically heterogeneous and widely scattered (Syria, Libya, the Caucasus and, finally, potentially – Ukraine and Crimea). Their clash in Azerbaijan may not necessarily take place on the basis of the Karabakh agenda, which means that the likelihood of confrontation here multiplies. It also means that even if the Russians and the Turks are able to work out a fragile balance with a great mutual desire, it will be quite easy for some third interested force to create an explosive situation through provocation.”
We are seeing the rise of both Russia and Turkey, and they are rivaling over control of the South Caucasus. Eventually, interests will conflict and the two sides will clash. And who will suffer the most but the people in the middle of the disorder? When the Russians and Ottomans were enemies during the First World War, the Armenian Genocide occurred, and in the midst of this genocide the Russians fought against the Ottomans on the side of the Armenians. Let us look briefly into this history as to get an idea of what the future holds.
At this time, in 1914 and 1915, the Ottomans had been devastated by the British in Basra (in southern Iraq) and by the Russians in Sarikamis. The empire was declining to its end, and the Young Turks prepared for total war with the British and the Russians. When the Turks were utterly defeated by the Russians in Sarikamis, the loss did not end with the shame of being crushed in the battlefield, but continued on as a horrendous plague that killed 150,000 Ottoman troops and civilians in north-eastern Turkey. From contaminated food and water that they scavenged (since their government gave them close to nothing for food), the soldiers got infected with typhoid and dysentery; lice and fleas had invaded their bodies gave them typhus. They brought the disease to the civilians in Turkey.
The pestilence spread and became an epidemic in the country in the early part of 1915. Instead of having to deal with just wounded soldiers, doctors and nurses and Erzurum were now being overwhelmed by an inundation of infected people. The military hospital only had a capacity of nine hundred people and so now every school, every mosque and every government building in Erzurum had to be used as hospitals. At the peak of the epidemic there were up to 15,000 patients in this area. Food and medical supplies were swiftly used up and at times patients would go for two or three days without food. According to the missionary doctor, Edward Case, who treated patients in this epidemic, between December and January as many as 60,000 people were wiped out by disease in Erzurum alone. The horrors of the disease were described by Dr. Case:
“The dead were so numerous they forbade their burial by day, and at night they were carried naked by wagon-load to the trenches, their clothing having been taken from their backs. I saw a trench or rather a large hole half-filled with dead bodies in every position, just as they had been thrown in like rubbish, and half-uncovered, their heads, arms, legs and even parts of their body showing. Others were later thrown in on top of them, and all covered up. It was a terrible site to see.”
Going through such a horrid experience, people began to do what always happens in these types of plights: they pointed to a scapegoat. In this case it was the Armenians. The Turkish Medical Corporal, Ali Riza Eti, was posted in Erzurum and was made chief orderly in the quarantine section. The work was strenuous, and seeing so many ill and dying, the hatred that he already harbored only grew more violently against Armenians, accusing them of disloyalty (there were Armenians who, understandably so, deserted their ranks to fight for the Russians) and saw them as having responsibility for the loss at Sarikamis. This hatred was already within Eti. While he was serving in the front in Sarikamis, when a Turkish soldier would murder an Armenian, he would simply report it as an “accidental” death. A wounded man told Eti that he had been abandoned by an Armenian soldier and left to die. After lying in the cold ground for two days, we was suffering from frostbite in both his hands and feet. The medics tried to save him and amputated his limbs, but he died the next day. Eti would write in his diary:
“Imagine how contemptible the Armenian soldier was … Could we be brothers and fellow citizens after this war? For my part, no! It is easy for me take my revenge. I will just make three or four of the Armenians in the hospital drink poison.”
In January of 1915, Corporal Eti used his position to abuse Armenian workers. “I dispatched three Armenians, one from Van and one from Diyarbakir, to be stripped and robbed [i.e., by rural marauders, who usually killed their victims]. This is what you call Turkish revenge … And I assign the most dangerous tasks to Armenian orderlies” wrote Eit with sadistic glee. The cruel rage of Eti was a reflection of a ubiquitous and insatiable bloodlust that lingered in the Ottoman atmosphere. It did not take long for the Young Turks to begin discussing the “Armenian problem”.
As Talat Pasha himself would admit in 1920, the objective was “eliminating [the Armenian problem] in a manner that is comprehensive and absolute.” In February of 1915, Dr. Bahaedin Sakir, the operational chief of the Teskilat-i Mahsusa (Special Organization, the imperial government special forces) and a member of the masonic Committee of Union and Progress Central Committee, returned to Istanbul from the Caucasus front to report to Talat Pasha and Mehmed Nazim that it was necessary to address “the enemy within” due to the “oppositional stance that the Armenians had taken toward Turkey and the assistance that they were affording to the Russian army”.
It was true that there were many Armenian nationalists who vocally supported the Allies against the Ottomans, but Armenians cannot be blamed for this. One cannot expect people to be loyal to a regime that hates them. But nonetheless, these nationalists did not really help their people by providing justification for the hatred that the Ottoman government had for them. It is why the Armenian priest, Fr. Grigoris Balakian, refused to support the nationalists and their cause. “Caught up in their nationalist sentiment,” wrote Balakian, “they were loath to miss this unique opportunity to redress the wrongs committed by the Turks against the Armenian people”. Armenian support for the Allies — for example, when the Armenians cheered in public when the British and French made their attack on the Dardanelles — was capitalized upon by the Ottomans who wanted to purge the Armenians from their empire.
One thing that occurred that would enable this ‘solution’ to the “Armenian problem” was the massive population exchange that took place after the Balkan Wars. The Ottomans would deport thousands of Greeks from their empire and the Greeks would deport thousands of Muslims from their country. The Muslims took refuge within the empire of the Ottoman, and the Greeks would return to their homeland. The massive deportation of thousands of Greeks established a precedent for the removal of populations deemed undesirable.
With their beliefs in Darwinism, the Young Turks — who were actually agnostic — had no qualms over the idea of mass extermination of people who would hinder their goal of Ottoman homogeneity, and they would use the violent hand of the jihadist to commit to their purge. What began as a controlled exchange of border populations between enemies after a war (the Ottoman Empire and Greece), and which was agreed upon by the belligerents, quickly shifted into a vicious policy of ethnic cleansing as hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks were violently deported before and after the First World War. Entire villages were rounded up, and those who resisted were murdered. But while there were deaths in the deportations, most of it took place without deaths since there was a home country that the Greeks could return to. This could not be said for the Armenians, who at the time did not have their own homeland. Rather the Armenians — being a minority in every province of the Ottoman Empire — had their highest concentrated populations in only three areas: Istanbul, Cilicia and the Caucasus (where Armenia is).
In February of 1915, the deportations began. On the model of the Greek population exchanges, the Turks began to deport Armenians from Dortyol and Alexandretta to the Adana region which lies in the southern part of Turkey. They dropped them in Adana and gave them absolutely no provisions or assistance, forcing the Armenians to rely on local Christians for survival. A haunting fear was felt amongst the Armenians, and they had a harrowing sense that death was coming.
Armenian nationalists sought to resist and spark an uprising with the hopes that it would get the Allies to intervene and support their cause. In the middle of February a group of Armenian rebels travelled from Zeytun to Tbilisi to request arms from the Russians. They told the Russians that they had a force of 15,000 men who were ready for combat against the Turkish enemy. But the Russians were in no position to provide arms and support an Armenian revolution. At the end of February, a number of Armenian leaders went to the Ottoman authorities and reported to them about an uprising that was being planned by Armenian rebels.
These leaders believed that by reporting this they could demonstrate that the Armenians were loyal to the Ottoman Empire and were thus not a threat. But this did not help, and in fact only exasperated the animosity against the Armenians. Ottoman troops were deployed to Zeytun to do mass arrests. But young men fled Zeytun to join rebel forces. On March 9th, Armenian insurgents ambushed a group of Turkish officers near Zeytun, slaying some of the soldiers and stealing their money. Now the Young Turks — and all of the Ottomans who hated the Armenians — had more propaganda to use as a pretext for genocide. Every single Armenian in Zeytun was deported to Konya. Muslims were then allowed to take over their now vacant homes (this is actually what is occurring in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Armenians being driven out of their homes by the tens of thousands). Over seven thousand of the Armenians deported to Konya were left homeless.
In Istanbul, the purge was commenced with the arrest of intellectuals, rebels and religious leaders. All together, they arrested 240 notables and crammed them in “blood-red” buses as we are told by Fr. Balakian, who was amongst those arrested. In the stillness of the night, they were put on a ferry and moved from the Asian side to the European side of Istanbul. “The night smelled of death; the sea was rough, and our hearts were full of terror,” wrote Balakian. More busses arrived crammed with people “in a state of spiritual anguish, terrified of the unknown and longing for comfort”.
This haunting feeling reverberated in the town of Van, where many Armenians lived which lied in eastern Anatolia on the coast of Lake Van. It would be here where much of the extermination of the Armenians would occur. In March of 1915, Cevdet Pasha, the governor of Van who was fanatically loyal to the Young Turks, ordered officers to search Armenian villages for weapons and arrest anyone who was suspected of owning a weapon to use against the state. Two Armenian rebel leaders were executed. A reign of terror was unleashed on the town of Van.
Armenians were butchered like cattle. On April 20th, Rafael de Nogales (a Venezuelan volunteer who joined the Ottoman military for the thrill of battle), wrote of how he saw Lake Van filled with “mutilated Armenian corpses”. In the village of Adilcevaz, which lies on the north shore of Lake Van, the Ottomans began butchering the Armenians. De Nogales, who was suppose to be partaking in the slaughter (being dressed in Ottoman uniform), was outraged by what he saw and demanded to an official that the bloodshed cease. The official nonchalantly told him “that he was doing nothing more than carrying out an unequivocal order emanating from the Governor General of the province [i.e., Cevdet Pasha] … to exterminate all Armenian males twelve years of age and over”.
At Edremit, de Nogales gazed upon the flames whose smoke covered the sky, from the burning homes, from the churches that were set ablaze. And from a distance he saw the Turks and Kurds fighting in gun battles with the Armenians, who were outnumbered. Gun smoke clouded the air in the midst of a torrent of flame and smoke. “Burning villages that bathed the sky in scarlet” wrote de Nogales. When he left Edremit and began heading back to Van, de Nogales witnessed the aftermath of slaughter; the smell of rotting corpses, voracious vultures crowding the road to gnaw on putrefied flesh. He would recount what he saw: “To right and left of the road circled screaming flocks of black vultures, disputing with the dogs the putrefied Armenian corpses thrown about on every side”.
By the time de Nogales returned to Van the town had been won by Armenian fighters. The Ottomans now had to fight to take it back, and de Nogales partook in the ruthless fray. “I have rarely seen such furious fighting as took place during the siege of Van. … Nobody gave quarter nor asked it.” Savagery was seen on both sides, and in the midst of the chaos, there came the Russians, to take the town from the Ottomans. They saw the Armenians’ fight against Ottoman rule as their opportunity to back the Armenians and to further assert their rule in the area. The fear of the Russian army pierced the hearts of the Turks to the point that Cevdat Pasha ordered the evacuation of every Muslim in Van. Ottoman troops withdrew from the town on May 17th, 1915. The Armenians, sensing victory, set fire to Muslim homes and Ottoman government buildings. The Russians arrived in May of 1915 and appointed an Armenian nationalist, Aram Manukian, to be the governor of Van.
But the Ottomans returned and drove their Russian enemy, taking back Van. The Armenians were told to abandon their homes on July 31st of 1915, and around 100,000 Armenians left Van alongside the retreating Russian soldiers. But Russian forces would hit back, and again the soldiers of the Czar and the troops of the crescent would fight over the town. During the summer of 1915, the town of Van would switch occupiers three times, until the Russians finally took and occupied the town in the fall. By this time, the town had been utterly devastated and there was not much left of Van. Also in this time in eastern Anatolia there were very few Armenians left alive.
When the Russians entered Van in May, the Ottoman government passed the “Deportation Law”, approving the wholesale deportation of all Armenians. This was made known to the public. What was said in private, however, was a secret order for the mass extermination of all the deported Armenians. The order was never written on paper (for the Young Turks did not want to be held responsible for war crimes), but it was made orally to provincial governors by Central Committee officials such as Bahaeddin Sakir and others.
Any provincial governors who requested for the order in writing, or who disapproved of mass murder were faced with either being removed from their position or even assassinated. When a district governor in Diyarbakir Province demanded a document of the order, he was removed from office, commanded to arrive at Diyarbakir and was then murdered as he was making his way there. Provincial governors who were abiding by the murderous law began hiring armed gangs — thirsty for blood — and released criminals who, being so long in prison, had a ravenous desire for death that they were now given open reign to quench. Kurdish thugs were also allowed to hunt down Armenians like animals. Fr. Grigoris Balakian, who was now amongst his suffering flock, spoke with a Turkish captain who told him that “government officials” had sent officers “to all the surrounding Turkish villages and in the name of holy jihad invited the Muslim population to participate in this sacred religious obligation” of exterminating the Armenians. This unwritten order was attested by a member of the Ottoman Council of Ministers who testified in 1918:
“I’ve learned of a few secrets and have come across something interesting. The deportation order was issued through official channel by the minister of the interior [i.e., Talat Pasha] and sent to the provinces. Following this order the [CUP] Central Committee circulated its own ominous order to all parties to allow the gangs to carry out their wretched task. Thus the gangs were in the field, ready for their atrocious slaughter.”
Soon followed the massacres of cruel hands; of cold minds who think themselves objective and pious. Males aged 12 and older were separated from the women and slaughtered. In smaller villages, the men were murdered right in the sight of horrified women.The Armenians were forced to walk a death march towards and through the Deir al-Zur (the Syrian Desert), without food nor water. The sick, the weak, the elderly, were callously forced to walk and no sympathy was given when they were close to death or when they died. If starvation or thirst did not kill you, then it was the armed marauders who lurked about the people who were forced to tread the wilderness like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse. American Consul Leslie Davis, who witnessed the Armenian Genocide, described the systematic methods of mass murder as “the most thoroughly organized and effective massacre this country has ever seen.” The bloodshed was so harrowing and chilling, that Fr. Balakian would later recount:
“We were living through days of such unheard-of horror, it was impossible for the mind to fully comprehend … Those of us still alive envied those who had already paid their inevitable dues of bloody torture and death. And so we survivors became living martyrs, every day dying a few deaths and returning to life again.”
When Talat Pasha ordered for the general deportation of Armenians on June 21st, 1915, Fr. Balakian bribed local officials with 1500 pieces of gold which gave him and the small group of Armenians in Cankiri their freedom which only lasted seven months. After this, Balakian found himself in the Der al-Zur where he was confronted with the most egregious minds, saw the horrors for himself, and met with those who attested to the human slaughterhouse that the desert became. He met with one Captain Shukri and asked him: “Bey, where have all these human bones along this road come from?” To this Shukri responded: “These are the bones of Armenians who were killed in August and September. The order had come from Constantinople. Even though the minister of the interior [i.e., Talat] had huge ditches dug for the corpses, the winter floods washed the dirt away, and now the bones are everywhere, as you see”. “Upon whose orders were the massacres of Armenians committed?” asked Balakian. “The orders came from the Ittihad [i.e., Unionists] Central Committee and the Interior Ministry in Constantinople”.
As the front page of an Ottoman newspaper, Ikdam, wrote in November of 1918 — when the Young Turks had fled in fear of being prosecuted for war crimes: “Their response to eliminate the Armenian problem was to attempt the elimination of the Armenians themselves.”
In the ruthless Syrian desert, the people walked and walked, followed by the barrels of rifles, by the edges of blades, by insatiable cruelty and unquenchable lust for slaughter. Death followed them, and so unbearable was that walk through the wilderness, that some looked at death and embraced him, convinced that they could only escape this nightmare they were in by relinquishing themselves fully to the darkness.
“Lead me to the river’s edge” said one woman to her nine year old son. Her feet had become swollen from the miles of walking through the rugged desert, and she knew that if she were to succumb to her frailty that she would be pounced upon by a pack of marauders . “I am going to throw myself into the water. If I stay, the Arabs will kill me with torture.” Her husband would have none of this and refused to comply with her demands. But her neighbor carried her on his back and took her to the banks of the Euphrates. She threw herself into the river’s current, her son standing right behind her, watching his mother go down to her death. Her husband would fall asleep some days later, and never woke up. The boy, Manuel Kerkyasharian, was now an orphan, left to witness before him women and children — who, like him, were left behind — slaughtered by soldiers.
Manuel was eventually rescued by four Kurdish women who found him wandering on the open road. He spent the remaining years of the war going from one Kurdish village to another, surviving on compassion, and fleeing the sadism of the followers of the crescent. One evening, under the curtain of the night sky, he saw a village engulfed in flames. A Kurd noticed he was watching this and cruelly cried out: “Hey, child of disbelievers. Did you see? All of the Armenians of Turkey and all of the disbelievers of Turkey have been liquidated. The burning village is an infidel village and they are all being burned alive.” The village is filled with Assyrian Christians.
In the Anatolian town of Palu, Ottoman officers forced the women and children into a church and closed them in. They then heard horrific screams from outside. One girl climbed up to a window and peered outside. She described what she saw: “They’re cutting the men’s throats, and throwing them into the river.” The women and children were forced into the death march. One young girl, Heranus Gadarian, who was inside that church, recalled how when her pregnant aunt became ill the officers immediately bayoneted her to death. She would later write: “The elderly, the infirm, the ones who couldn’t walk — throughout the march they’d kill them with their bayonets and leave them lying there, just where they fell.” People today love to talk about how the End Times are coming, but reading this history, its as if the Apocalypse has shown its face in these prolonged moments of horror. Reading of these harrowing stories, one is reminded of the voice of the wicked in the Wisdom of Solomon:
“let us not spare the widow or regard the gray hairs of the aged. But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless.” (Wisdom 2:10-11)
“It is impossible for human language to describe what those who went to Der Zor experienced”, said an Armenian coachman (who was serving in the Ottoman transport corps) to Fr. Balakian. He went on to say:
“Thousands of families put on the road from Aleppo, to be sent to Der Zor; of these, not even five percent reached Der Zor alive. Because bandits in the desert … in groups on horseback and armed with spears, attacked these defenseless people; they killed, they abducted, they raped, they plundered, they selected those appealing to them and carried them off, subjecting those who resisted to horrific tortures, before picking up and leaving. Because it was forbidden and impossible to turn back, those who survived had no choice but to go forward and were subjected to new attacks and plundering. Not even five percent reached Der Zor.” *
Reading the horrors of history, we should not simply confine them to the past, but understand that as long as humanity continues to be drunk off the grandiose ideal of power, there will be blood. *
*The information on the Armenian Genocide are mainly from Eugene Rogan’s The Fall of the Ottomans, ch. 7.
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