theduran--2020-03-13--Taiwanese Nationalists Seek Closer Relations with China

Submitted by InfoBrics , authored by Paul Antonopoulos , Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies… In the the Kuomingtang ( KMT ) , the Nationalist Party of Taiwan , election held on Saturday , Jiang Khai ( commonly known in the West as Johnny Chiang ) was selected as a new head of the political party .
According to Taiwanese media , Jiang Kai will change the KMT ’ s policy towards mainland China .
The press draws such conclusions based on the KMT ’ s new president ’ s statement about the 1992 consensus , also known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ somewhat outdated.
” In the presidential election held on January 11 , KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu , a former mayor of Kaohsiung City , lost to Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) , becoming Taiwan ’ s first female .
In addition , the DPP still occupies the majority of seats in the Legislature .
In the election for the new party chairman , Jiang Kai only had a single opponent – the former Taipei mayor , Zhu Lilun ( commonly known in the West as Eric Chu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 84,860 votes compared to 38,483 votes , however it is worth noting that only 35 % of voters bothered to vote .
Taiwanese authorities claim that such a low rate is due to the coronavirus epidemic .
In his speech after announcing the conclusion of voting , Jiang revealed that the KMT needs to make some changes to meet the spirit of the times , and he will make these changes within a year .
The KMT are no longer as conservative as they once used to be , and in this way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of the DPP ’ s voters who are generally younger and more progressive than the KMT .
For example , the KMT opposes same-sex marriage , but the law is still valid because the DPP legislature occupies the majority of seats .
And among young Taiwanese , not just in the LGBT community , the legalization of such relationships is considered the greatest achievement since democracy reached Taiwan .
An even more important contradiction between the two parties : the so-called 1992 consensus and the concept of “ one China ” ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not recognize this consensus and the KMT has supported relations with mainland China , something the DPP are extremely hostile to .
Clearly , the KMT now wants to move on to resolve internal issues , such as attracting new voters , and then resolve relations with Beijing .
That ’ s why the KMT must begin entertaining the idea of making some changes to the 1992 consensus .
How will the new KMT party chairman and changes in the party ’ s policy affect Beijing ?
The last election showed that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ context of social disturbances in Hong Kong , and now they are also using the Covid-19 epidemic for political purposes to prove the validity of not strengthening relations with Beijing .
The anti-Beijing DPP has prevented relations from becoming closer with Taipei , despite Taiwan ’ s economy suffering greatly just because its relationship with mainland China has cooled .
This economic factor was especially felt when Beijing stopped granting licenses to travel companies to go to Taiwan which saw the number of tourists decrease by nearly a third .
Agricultural imports into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years ago China purchased 20 % of agricultural products worth nearly $ 1 billion .
Taking into account the damage that coronavirus outbreaks has caused worldwide , economic development may become the most important task .
The KMT will then try to balance domestic political interests and not move too far away from mainland China .
This spells bad news for the U.S. as they have been the main backers of Taiwan since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 when the KMT were defeated by communist guerrillas and forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s modern history lays with the U.S.-backed authoritarian regime of General Chiang Kai-Shek , the leader of the KMT .
Chiang then imposed martial law and became dictator of Taiwan for the next 38 years , before a gradual democratization was achieved and presidential elections in 1996 .
The resentment of losing mainland China to the communists and the permanent deployment of tens of thousands of American soldiers has ensured that Taiwan , an island located just off the coast of China ’ s Fujian province , is a major U.S. pressure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Chiang and the KMT believing they are an exile government is long over , they still believe in One China , a stark difference to that of the DPP who want complete sovereignty and independence in their own right and reject One China .
With the KMT seeking closer relations with Beijing despite once being mortal enemies , their inevitable return to power in the future could mean that they will begin to deAmericanize Taiwan as they seek closer relations , particularly for stability and economic reasons , with China , recognizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world order .
A deAmericanized Taiwan effectively means that the U.S. will lose a major submissive partner that acted as a thorn to Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea , and it is unlikely that Washington will accept this reality so easily .
None-the-less , as the KMT changes its policies to attract the younger generation , it can see a real potential for One China to be achieved and the U.S. expelled from the island just as calls for the U.S. military to leave South Korea and Japan also intensify .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Paul Antonopoulos, Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies…
In the the Kuomingtang (KMT), the Nationalist Party of Taiwan, election held on Saturday, Jiang Khai (commonly known in the West as Johnny Chiang) was selected as a new head of the political party. According to Taiwanese media, Jiang Kai will change the KMT’s policy towards mainland China. The press draws such conclusions based on the KMT’s new president’s statement about the 1992 consensus, also known as the One China Consensus, as “somewhat outdated.” In the presidential election held on January 11, KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu, a former mayor of Kaohsiung City, lost to Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), becoming Taiwan’s first female. In addition, the DPP still occupies the majority of seats in the Legislature.
In the election for the new party chairman, Jiang Kai only had a single opponent – the former Taipei mayor, Zhu Lilun (commonly known in the West as Eric Chu). He overcame his opponent with 84,860 votes compared to 38,483 votes, however it is worth noting that only 35% of voters bothered to vote. Taiwanese authorities claim that such a low rate is due to the coronavirus epidemic. In his speech after announcing the conclusion of voting, Jiang revealed that the KMT needs to make some changes to meet the spirit of the times, and he will make these changes within a year. The KMT are no longer as conservative as they once used to be, and in this way, Jiang is hoping to attract a part of the DPP’s voters who are generally younger and more progressive than the KMT.
For example, the KMT opposes same-sex marriage, but the law is still valid because the DPP legislature occupies the majority of seats. And among young Taiwanese, not just in the LGBT community, the legalization of such relationships is considered the greatest achievement since democracy reached Taiwan. An even more important contradiction between the two parties: the so-called 1992 consensus and the concept of “one China” (united China). The DPP does not recognize this consensus and the KMT has supported relations with mainland China, something the DPP are extremely hostile to. Clearly, the KMT now wants to move on to resolve internal issues, such as attracting new voters, and then resolve relations with Beijing. That’s why the KMT must begin entertaining the idea of making some changes to the 1992 consensus.
How will the new KMT party chairman and changes in the party’s policy affect Beijing? The last election showed that the DPP won the populist wave in the context of social disturbances in Hong Kong, and now they are also using the Covid-19 epidemic for political purposes to prove the validity of not strengthening relations with Beijing. The anti-Beijing DPP has prevented relations from becoming closer with Taipei, despite Taiwan’s economy suffering greatly just because its relationship with mainland China has cooled. This economic factor was especially felt when Beijing stopped granting licenses to travel companies to go to Taiwan which saw the number of tourists decrease by nearly a third. Agricultural imports into mainland China have plummeted, even though two years ago China purchased 20% of agricultural products worth nearly $1 billion. Taking into account the damage that coronavirus outbreaks has caused worldwide, economic development may become the most important task. The KMT will then try to balance domestic political interests and not move too far away from mainland China.
This spells bad news for the U.S. as they have been the main backers of Taiwan since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 when the KMT were defeated by communist guerrillas and forced to leave the Chinese mainland. Taiwan’s modern history lays with the U.S.-backed authoritarian regime of General Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the KMT. Chiang then imposed martial law and became dictator of Taiwan for the next 38 years, before a gradual democratization was achieved and presidential elections in 1996. The resentment of losing mainland China to the communists and the permanent deployment of tens of thousands of American soldiers has ensured that Taiwan, an island located just off the coast of China’s Fujian province, is a major U.S. pressure point against Beijing.
Although the days of Chiang and the KMT believing they are an exile government is long over, they still believe in One China, a stark difference to that of the DPP who want complete sovereignty and independence in their own right and reject One China. With the KMT seeking closer relations with Beijing despite once being mortal enemies, their inevitable return to power in the future could mean that they will begin to deAmericanize Taiwan as they seek closer relations, particularly for stability and economic reasons, with China, recognizing that we now live in a multipolar world order.
A deAmericanized Taiwan effectively means that the U.S. will lose a major submissive partner that acted as a thorn to Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea, and it is unlikely that Washington will accept this reality so easily. None-the-less, as the KMT changes its policies to attract the younger generation, it can see a real potential for One China to be achieved and the U.S. expelled from the island just as calls for the U.S. military to leave South Korea and Japan also intensify.
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theduran--2020-03-14--Trump and Xi’s Defence of Classical Culture Takes Aim at Malthusian Agenda

In the post WWII years two cultural revolutions swept both Asian and western civilisations appearing on the surface to have distinct characteristics , yet each resulting in profound moral cultural decay .
In America and Europe , the rise of modernism in painting , music , philosophy and architecture were imposed upon academia and the arts which modern research has revealed to have been the work of the CIA and the Congress for Cultural Freedom .
This paradigm shift in the arts was funded by western intelligence agencies who justified their artistic patronage with the logic that “ if the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by iconoclasm and realism in the arts which put the state above all ideas of personal freedom , then the “ democratic aesthetics ” must take the polar opposite stance and promote only the unbounded freedom of individual expression devoid of any connection to the whole of society ” .
One consequence of this shift was that the Ancient Greco-Roman aesthetics that defined America ’ s architecture , painting , and general moral sensibilities was brutally amputated [ 1 ] .
While the backdrop to this reform took the shape of McCarthyism in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reform occurred in 1949 .
This cultural movement saw the total rejection of Confucianism as a “ relic of past elitism and corruption ” which had no place in the Maoist vision for a newly reconstructed China .
In recent years , powerful patriotic forces in both nations have realized that if either culture will find its moral compass and navigate successfully through the 21st century and beyond , it is of vital importance that the best of both ancient traditions be revived while the disorienting effects on the minds and morals caused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be reversed .
The Architectural Renaissance Movements of China and the USA Earlier this year , American President Donald Trump joined China ’ s President Xi Jinping in earning the ire of post-modernist intellectuals by introducing legislation to ban modernism from all new federal buildings and introduce the classical styles upon which the nation was founded .
In an executive order entitled “ Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again ” Trump introduced draft legislation in February 2020 to ensure that “ new federal building designs should inspire the public for their aesthetics and make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Classical and traditional architectural styles have proven their ability to inspire such respect for our system of government.
” The draft legislation proposes that all federal buildings should follow “ classical architectural style of Greek and Roman ” designs which “ shall be preferred to the default [ modernist ] style ” .
The legislation was the fruit of intensive organising by an artistic lobby group entitled the National Civil Art Society which was founded in 2002 and is dedicated to reversing the slide into arbitrariness and ugliness which became prevalent in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Cold War when modernism became the new standard of building design .
The National Civil Art Society ’ s manifesto reads as follows : “ Modernism has various strands , but most of them are united in rejecting traditional standards of beauty and harmony , and have little place for inherited knowledge .
For much of the 20th Century , and indeed continuing today , Modernism replaced the poetry of design with the spirit of mechanization–as embodied in the steel-and-glass box and Brutalist concrete .
As the seminal Modernist architect Le Corbusier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ machine for living.
” We disagree .
In recent years , Modernism has jumped from one fad to another—from blobitechture to Deconstructivism to parametricism to parasitic architecture , and so on .
Our most important buildings are often bizarre , hideous , and disorienting structures that have nothing do with their location or surroundings , and which show little respect for the public .
The National Civic Art Society endeavors to help architecture return to its pre-Modernist roots , particularly the forms , principles , and standards of the unparalleled classical tradition , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as regional styles ) and vernaculars that are derived from it.
” By introducing this executive order , President Trump has been labelled a “ fascist ” , “ authoritarian ” , “ Nazi ” and “ white supremacist ” .
Opponents of the classical revival all adhere to the belief that an absolute wall dividing the realms of morality from the arts is unassailable .
If this belief is taken for truth , then artistic freedom is certainly being destroyed by this legislation .
However , if this absolute wall does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ugliness from design is itself an incredibly important pre-condition for actual freedom ( more to be said on that below ) .
Ironically , a loud critic of Trump ’ s reform wrote a column in Forbes magazine stating that the government buildings are more honest because they are ugly since the nature of government is ugly and in good Pygmalion fashion , should remain that way forever .
The author showcases their cynical view stating “ most GSA buildings have , in their form , been openly testament to an increasingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparatus .
They should not represent anything else but the brutality of government institutions that are no longer simply concerned with collecting taxes , but also the details of our personal lives , by force.
” Earlier in 2014 , China ’ s President Xi Jinping first announced that the government would no longer permit the construction of modern art that disobeyed China ’ s classical styles .
At an October 2014 literary symposium in Beijing , Xi gave a lecture where he said that there would soon be “ no more weird @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of modernist designs over the past two decades ) .
The president went on to say that “ morally inspiring art ” should become the new standard and that “ fine art works should be like sunshine from the blue sky and the breeze in spring that will inspire minds , warm hearts , cultivate tastes and clean up undesirable work styles.
” By February 2016 , China ’ s state council passed a central government directive to allow for the construction of buildings that were “ suitable , economic , green and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buildings that were “ oversized , xenocentric and weird ” which reflect a “ lack of cultural confidence and some city officials ’ distorted attitudes about political achievements.
” These reforms in Chinese architecture have been driven by a deeper cultural fight to re-establish Confucianism as the moral foundation for China ’ s civilisation .
This new Confucian movement to reverse Mao ’ s banning of Confucius began in earnest with the 1978 Opening up of China but has taken on new life with Xi ’ s 2013 presidency .
Built in 2013 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complex in Confucius ’ hometown in Southwest China began providing free lectures , exhibitions , and training for bureaucrats and citizens .
The Academy ’ s party secretary Xu Qi stated “ since China ’ s reform and opening up 30 years ago our economy and society have developed very far , but spiritually and morally , over the years , due to various reasons there are still problems .
If Chinese people want to stand up in the world in addition to being developed economically and technologically , we also need to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to become truly civilised.
” The unifying principle of Confucius and Socrates Nearly contemporaries , both Confucius ( 551-479 BCE ) and Socrates ( 470-399 BCE ) arose at moments in history where their respective nations ’ were suffering corruption , decay and disunity .
Both China and Ancient Athens alike were suffering under the rise of sophists and had fallen into decadence and war .
Both men created schools of thought that sought the remedy for society ’ s ills in the search for natural law- harmonizing the internal creative reason of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The powerful philosophical traditions arising from both schools united aesthetic development of the arts with science ennobling the soul in such a way that our desires and duties would increasingly come into unity during the course of life .
This process was in turn reflected in the political improvement of society and underlies such paradoxical statements as found in the preamble of the US Constitution “ In order to form a more perfect union ” ( i.e : How could something be more perfect if perfect is a fixed state ? )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , had to abandon the “ law of the jungle ” system of “ might makes right ” in order to obey the higher law of “ right makes might ” as Socrates ’ exemplified in his Gorgias dialogue and chose to adhere to a standard of natural law .
This was a standard which Confucius called “ Tianxia ” or “ the Mandate of Heaven ” and which President Sun Yat-sen elaborated on profoundly in his famous book “ The Three Principles of the People ” in 1924 .
Neither great philosopher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during their lives , but both created powerful schools with disciples like Plato ( 428-348 BCE ) and Mencius ( 372-289 BCE ) who carried forth and advanced their mentors ’ concepts .
Even though each culture suffered ebbs of decline and war , the subtle yet powerful currents of each movement persevered giving birth to the greatest periods of renaissance that humanity had ever seen .
Whether we are looking at the Confucian renaissance of the Song Dynasty ( 960–1279 CE ) , or the Platonic revival under the 15th century European @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same : population growth ( in both quantity and quality ) , reforms that extended classical education to all classes , public works to improve the lives of the people and unifying trends in science and the arts which saw an explosion of new discoveries in medicine , astronomy , mathematics , physics , painting , music , engineering and architecture .
The idea that the King ’ s authority stemmed not from his blood or might , but from his moral duty to serve the people and act as the instrument of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eastern concept of Confucius ’ Mandate of Heaven and shaped the identities of such great western Platonic leaders as Charlemagne , King Henry VII and France ’ s great King Louis XI who outlined this view in his famous 1483 message to his son ( The Rosebush of War ) .
What is often underappreciated is that this renaissance movement was driven by an architectural project which some have called “ The Apollo Project of the 15th Century ” begun by Dante Alighieri in 1296 to create the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 140 years to build and miraculously continued steadily throughout the 14th century Dark Age which saw 1/3 of Europe ’ s population wiped out by plague and war .
It was finally completed in 1469 when a golden sphere co-designed by Leonardo Da Vinci was installed atop Filippo Brunelleschi ’ s dome ( which still holds the record today as the world ’ s largest masonry dome ) .
Both Dante , Brunelleschi and Da Vinci were all leading Platonists of their age , and the moralizing effect this project had on Italy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ renewed the faith in mankind ’ s creative reason as a species made in the image of God… an idea which had nearly died during the long period of the dark ages .
President Donald Trump was the first American president that this author is aware of , to celebrate Brunelleschi ’ s Dome in January 2020 when he stated : What is most notable is that he delivered this praise of the Dome in opposition to the cynical Malthusian argument that humanity could only overpopulate like a cancer at the expense of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Prince Charles , Greta Thunberg and Jane Goodall- all of whom presented their cynical man=virus thesis at the same Davos event ) .
Faced with the looming threat of a new dark age sparked by a new viral pandemic , financial collapse and general nuclear war , the fight across the USA and China to revive renaissance heritage traditions is needed more than ever .
The renewed appreciation for the inter-connectedness of art , science , morality and political freedom across the east and west is a breath of fresh air which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a new renaissance encapsulating for the first time in history , the best of every culture across the earth .
[ 1 ] For an incredibly powerful exposition of this fight as it unfolded during the post-war years , see The CCF : Making the Postwar World Safe for Fascist Kulturkampf by Jeffrey Steinberg and Steven Meyer ( 2004 ) Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , a BRI Expert on Tactical talk , and has authored 3 volumes of ‘ Untold History of Canada ’ book series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rising Tide Foundation and can be reached at [ email protected ]

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
From Strategic Culture
In the post WWII years two cultural revolutions swept both Asian and western civilisations appearing on the surface to have distinct characteristics, yet each resulting in profound moral cultural decay.
In America and Europe, the rise of modernism in painting, music, philosophy and architecture were imposed upon academia and the arts which modern research has revealed to have been the work of the CIA and the Congress for Cultural Freedom. This paradigm shift in the arts was funded by western intelligence agencies who justified their artistic patronage with the logic that “if the new communist blocs were to be governed by iconoclasm and realism in the arts which put the state above all ideas of personal freedom, then the “democratic aesthetics” must take the polar opposite stance and promote only the unbounded freedom of individual expression devoid of any connection to the whole of society”. One consequence of this shift was that the Ancient Greco-Roman aesthetics that defined America’s architecture, painting, and general moral sensibilities was brutally amputated [1].
While the backdrop to this reform took the shape of McCarthyism in America, in China a parallel cultural reform occurred in 1949. This cultural movement saw the total rejection of Confucianism as a “relic of past elitism and corruption” which had no place in the Maoist vision for a newly reconstructed China.
In recent years, powerful patriotic forces in both nations have realized that if either culture will find its moral compass and navigate successfully through the 21st century and beyond, it is of vital importance that the best of both ancient traditions be revived while the disorienting effects on the minds and morals caused by the post-WWII amputation of those traditions be reversed.
The Architectural Renaissance Movements of China and the USA
Earlier this year, American President Donald Trump joined China’s President Xi Jinping in earning the ire of post-modernist intellectuals by introducing legislation to ban modernism from all new federal buildings and introduce the classical styles upon which the nation was founded.
In an executive order entitled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” Trump introduced draft legislation in February 2020 to ensure that “new federal building designs should inspire the public for their aesthetics and make Americans feel proud of our public buildings. Classical and traditional architectural styles have proven their ability to inspire such respect for our system of government.” The draft legislation proposes that all federal buildings should follow “classical architectural style of Greek and Roman” designs which “shall be preferred to the default [modernist] style”.
The legislation was the fruit of intensive organising by an artistic lobby group entitled the National Civil Art Society which was founded in 2002 and is dedicated to reversing the slide into arbitrariness and ugliness which became prevalent in the post WWII years and especially during the Cold War when modernism became the new standard of building design.
The National Civil Art Society’s manifesto reads as follows:
“Modernism has various strands, but most of them are united in rejecting traditional standards of beauty and harmony, and have little place for inherited knowledge. For much of the 20th Century, and indeed continuing today, Modernism replaced the poetry of design with the spirit of mechanization–as embodied in the steel-and-glass box and Brutalist concrete. As the seminal Modernist architect Le Corbusier said, “A house is a machine for living.” We disagree. In recent years, Modernism has jumped from one fad to another—from blobitechture to Deconstructivism to parametricism to parasitic architecture, and so on. Our most important buildings are often bizarre, hideous, and disorienting structures that have nothing do with their location or surroundings, and which show little respect for the public. The National Civic Art Society endeavors to help architecture return to its pre-Modernist roots, particularly the forms, principles, and standards of the unparalleled classical tradition, and the humanistic architectural idioms (such as regional styles) and vernaculars that are derived from it.”
By introducing this executive order, President Trump has been labelled a “fascist”, “authoritarian”, “Nazi” and “white supremacist”. Opponents of the classical revival all adhere to the belief that an absolute wall dividing the realms of morality from the arts is unassailable. If this belief is taken for truth, then artistic freedom is certainly being destroyed by this legislation. However, if this absolute wall does not in fact exist, then the banning of ugliness from design is itself an incredibly important pre-condition for actual freedom (more to be said on that below).
Ironically, a loud critic of Trump’s reform wrote a column in Forbes magazine stating that the government buildings are more honest because they are ugly since the nature of government is ugly and in good Pygmalion fashion, should remain that way forever. The author showcases their cynical view stating “most GSA buildings have, in their form, been openly testament to an increasingly secretive, self contained and all-seeing state apparatus. They should not represent anything else but the brutality of government institutions that are no longer simply concerned with collecting taxes, but also the details of our personal lives, by force.”
Following China’s Example
Earlier in 2014, China’s President Xi Jinping first announced that the government would no longer permit the construction of modern art that disobeyed China’s classical styles. At an October 2014 literary symposium in Beijing, Xi gave a lecture where he said that there would soon be “no more weird buildings” (referring to the spread of modernist designs over the past two decades). The president went on to say that “morally inspiring art” should become the new standard and that “fine art works should be like sunshine from the blue sky and the breeze in spring that will inspire minds, warm hearts, cultivate tastes and clean up undesirable work styles.”
By February 2016, China’s state council passed a central government directive to allow for the construction of buildings that were “suitable, economic, green and pleasing to the eye” while banning buildings that were “oversized, xenocentric and weird” which reflect a “lack of cultural confidence and some city officials’ distorted attitudes about political achievements.”
These reforms in Chinese architecture have been driven by a deeper cultural fight to re-establish Confucianism as the moral foundation for China’s civilisation. This new Confucian movement to reverse Mao’s banning of Confucius began in earnest with the 1978 Opening up of China but has taken on new life with Xi’s 2013 presidency. Built in 2013, the Confucius Academy– a 75 acre complex in Confucius’ hometown in Southwest China began providing free lectures, exhibitions, and training for bureaucrats and citizens.
The Academy’s party secretary Xu Qi stated “since China’s reform and opening up 30 years ago our economy and society have developed very far, but spiritually and morally, over the years, due to various reasons there are still problems. If Chinese people want to stand up in the world in addition to being developed economically and technologically, we also need to develop spiritually and morally. We need to become truly civilised.”
The unifying principle of Confucius and Socrates
Nearly contemporaries, both Confucius (551-479 BCE) and Socrates (470-399 BCE) arose at moments in history where their respective nations’ were suffering corruption, decay and disunity. Both China and Ancient Athens alike were suffering under the rise of sophists and had fallen into decadence and war. Both men created schools of thought that sought the remedy for society’s ills in the search for natural law- harmonizing the internal creative reason of mankind with the discoverable laws of creation.
The powerful philosophical traditions arising from both schools united aesthetic development of the arts with science ennobling the soul in such a way that our desires and duties would increasingly come into unity during the course of life. This process was in turn reflected in the political improvement of society and underlies such paradoxical statements as found in the preamble of the US Constitution “In order to form a more perfect union” (i.e: How could something be more perfect if perfect is a fixed state?)
Any government which was fit to survive, had to abandon the “law of the jungle” system of “might makes right” in order to obey the higher law of “right makes might” as Socrates’ exemplified in his Gorgias dialogue and chose to adhere to a standard of natural law. This was a standard which Confucius called “Tianxia” or “the Mandate of Heaven” and which President Sun Yat-sen elaborated on profoundly in his famous book “The Three Principles of the People” in 1924.
Neither great philosopher saw the success of their grand goals during their lives, but both created powerful schools with disciples like Plato (428-348 BCE) and Mencius (372-289 BCE) who carried forth and advanced their mentors’ concepts.
Even though each culture suffered ebbs of decline and war, the subtle yet powerful currents of each movement persevered giving birth to the greatest periods of renaissance that humanity had ever seen. Whether we are looking at the Confucian renaissance of the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), or the Platonic revival under the 15th century European Golden Age, the effect was the same: population growth (in both quantity and quality), reforms that extended classical education to all classes, public works to improve the lives of the people and unifying trends in science and the arts which saw an explosion of new discoveries in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics, painting, music, engineering and architecture.
The idea that the King’s authority stemmed not from his blood or might, but from his moral duty to serve the people and act as the instrument of God’s loving will paralleled the eastern concept of Confucius’ Mandate of Heaven and shaped the identities of such great western Platonic leaders as Charlemagne, King Henry VII and France’s great King Louis XI who outlined this view in his famous 1483 message to his son (The Rosebush of War ).
What is often underappreciated is that this renaissance movement was driven by an architectural project which some have called “The Apollo Project of the 15th Century” begun by Dante Alighieri in 1296 to create the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence. This project took over 140 years to build and miraculously continued steadily throughout the 14th century Dark Age which saw 1/3 of Europe’s population wiped out by plague and war. It was finally completed in 1469 when a golden sphere co-designed by Leonardo Da Vinci was installed atop Filippo Brunelleschi’s dome (which still holds the record today as the world’s largest masonry dome). Both Dante, Brunelleschi and Da Vinci were all leading Platonists of their age, and the moralizing effect this project had on Italy as a whole was electric as it renewed the faith in mankind’s creative reason as a species made in the image of God… an idea which had nearly died during the long period of the dark ages.
President Donald Trump was the first American president that this author is aware of, to celebrate Brunelleschi’s Dome in January 2020 when he stated:
“Centuries ago, at the time of the Renaissance, skilled craftsmen and laborers looked upwards and built the structures that still touch the human heart. To this day some of the greatest structures in the world have been built hundreds of years ago. In Italy the citizens once started construction on what would be a 140-year project, the Duomo of Florence, incredible place. While the technology did not yet exist to complete their design, city fathers forged ahead anyway, certain that they would figure it out someday. These citizens of Florence did not except limits to their high aspirations, and so the great dome was finally built….”
What is most notable is that he delivered this praise of the Dome in opposition to the cynical Malthusian argument that humanity could only overpopulate like a cancer at the expense of Mother Gaia (a doctrine promoted heavily by Prince Charles, Greta Thunberg and Jane Goodall- all of whom presented their cynical man=virus thesis at the same Davos event).
Faced with the looming threat of a new dark age sparked by a new viral pandemic, financial collapse and general nuclear war, the fight across the USA and China to revive renaissance heritage traditions is needed more than ever. The renewed appreciation for the inter-connectedness of art, science, morality and political freedom across the east and west is a breath of fresh air which one may only hope is a pre-cursor to a new renaissance encapsulating for the first time in history, the best of every culture across the earth.
Footnote
[1] For an incredibly powerful exposition of this fight as it unfolded during the post-war years, see The CCF: Making the Postwar World Safe for Fascist Kulturkampf by Jeffrey Steinberg and Steven Meyer (2004)
Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , a BRI Expert on Tactical talk, and has authored 3 volumes of ‘Untold History of Canada’ book series. In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation and can be reached at matt.ehret@tutamail.com
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theduran--2020-03-14--Bigotry as a Response to Bigotry Just Makes Things Worse

Daniel Lazare at Strategic Culture headlined on March 8th “ Israel Hits a Brick Wall ” and described the reasons behind the political deadlock in which that apartheid nation has long been frozen .
Frankly , I had had no idea of the reasons , and I won ’ t try to summarize here Lazare ’ s ( to me ) revelatory description of Israel ’ s impasse , because anyone who has any interest in understanding Israel should read that brief article for themselves .
But I ’ ll mention two things in it that stood out for me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ briefly discussing each passage : ( 1 ) “ For purposes of immigration , Israel uses the old Nazi definition of a Jew as anyone with one or more Jewish grandparents .
As strange as this may sound , Israel ’ s founders figured that anyone Jewish enough to suffer under Nazi oppression should be Jewish enough to find refuge in the Jewish state – and so the Nazi standard became law.
” Albert Einstein was one of a number of progressive Jews who back in 1948 publicly condemned the political movement that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israeli state and that was led by Yitzak Shamir and Menachem Begin and Einstein ’ s group called Begin in particular by name as being a “ fascist.
” The basis of these condemnations was the massive ethnic cleansing that Israel ’ s founders were engaging in so as to terrify enough of the then far-majority Arab population to flee so as to enable the then-small-minority Jews there to take their land at fire-sale ( or even no ) prices and so create facts-on-the-ground on the basis of which a case could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a biblically based argument for Jews to ‘ come home ’ to ‘ their land ’ could be accepted by millions of people who weren ’ t progressives such as Einstein and the other signers of that public letter were .
Whereas those seculars got their values of equal rights from secular sources , most people did not , but instead believed in the Bible ; and , so , this land-theft operation would be generally accepted though not accepted by people such as Einstein .
And that ’ s how Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over a land that for thousands of years had been almost exclusively Muslim .
( 2 ) “ But for purposes of family law and other domestic affairs , they adopted a different standard , that of the orthodox rabbinate , which holds that the only Jews who qualify are those born of a Jewish mother or who convert under orthodox supervision .
Some forty percent of Lieberman ’ s followers do not meet the rabbinic standard , which means that they are effectively reduced to second-class citizenship in terms of marriage , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues as well .
But [ what ] makes the issue especially explosive is the military draft .
… Soviet immigrants and their children must [ put ] their lives at risk to protect orthodox Israelis who don ’ t even regard them as Jewish .
Lieberman has made it clear that he will not enter any government that allows such exemptions to continue.
” Avigdor Lieberman is one of Israel ’ s leaders who hold the balance of power which will determine whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to continue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ex-Soviet Jews there , who tend to believe very differently than the Jewish fundamentalists or Orthodox Jews do .
These seculars can not tolerate the fundamentalists ’ imposition of a second-class citizenship upon themselves .
It ’ s for reasons like this that Netanyahu can not form a governing coalition .
He needs Lieberman but can not get him .
Netanyahu ’ s extreme corruption is politically acceptable , but his imposition of a second-class citizenship upon seculars is not .
Israel was founded by Jewish bigots against Muslims , and the ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bigotry from Christians and were therefore unwanted in and rejected by Christian-majority lands ; so , Christians were quite happy for them to flee to a Muslim land and maybe let them kill each other off there .
Bigotry as a response to bigotry didn ’ t solve anything but just perpetuated the problem and relocated it elsewhere .
An odd parallel exists regarding America ’ s Black population .
Bigotry as a response to bigotry isn ’ t working there any better than it does in Israel .
On March 7th I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Black Voters Racists ?
Yes , They Now Clearly Are.
” At least as perplexing as Netanyahu ’ s political predicament is the predicament of America ’ s Democratic Party in trying to select as its Presidential nominee a candidate who appeals to bigoted Blacks who cling to Joe Biden because he clings to the Black Barack Obama , versus , yet again , the Party ’ s seculars who insist upon equality of rights and obligations for all .
If that tension can not be successfully resolved ( and it probably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican Party will in the general election on November 3rd be going up against a deeply fractured Democratic Party which can not achieve agreement between equalitarians versus a certain type of ( specifically Black anti-White ) racism and privilege and supremacy .
Also like in the Israeli situation , the supremacism and bigotry are now being imposed by an oppressed minority group , who have fundamentally absorbed the bigoted values from their former majoritarian oppressors and are blinded to the reality that they have done so : that they have capitulated to what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oppressed by — which is some type of ethnicity — when they had instead been oppressed actually simply by bigoted individuals ( which could have been or be from any ethnicity ) .
There is no superior or inferior ethnicity .
No matter who believes that there is , the result of that belief can only be hell .
This is what Einstein believed , and he was correct .
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CHRIST ’ S VENTRILOQUISTS : The Event that Created Christianity .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
Daniel Lazare at Strategic Culture headlined on March 8th “Israel Hits a Brick Wall” and described the reasons behind the political deadlock in which that apartheid nation has long been frozen. Frankly, I had had no idea of the reasons, and I won’t try to summarize here Lazare’s (to me) revelatory description of Israel’s impasse, because anyone who has any interest in understanding Israel should read that brief article for themselves. But I’ll mention two things in it that stood out for me, by quoting from it, and briefly discussing each passage:
(1) “For purposes of immigration, Israel uses the old Nazi definition of a Jew as anyone with one or more Jewish grandparents. As strange as this may sound, Israel’s founders figured that anyone Jewish enough to suffer under Nazi oppression should be Jewish enough to find refuge in the Jewish state – and so the Nazi standard became law.”
Albert Einstein was one of a number of progressive Jews who back in 1948 publicly condemned the political movement that then dominated in the creation of the Israeli state and that was led by Yitzak Shamir and Menachem Begin and Einstein’s group called Begin in particular by name as being a “fascist.” The basis of these condemnations was the massive ethnic cleansing that Israel’s founders were engaging in so as to terrify enough of the then far-majority Arab population to flee so as to enable the then-small-minority Jews there to take their land at fire-sale (or even no) prices and so create facts-on-the-ground on the basis of which a case could be made for Jews to be controlling there and a biblically based argument for Jews to ‘come home’ to ‘their land’ could be accepted by millions of people who weren’t progressives such as Einstein and the other signers of that public letter were. Whereas those seculars got their values of equal rights from secular sources, most people did not, but instead believed in the Bible; and, so, this land-theft operation would be generally accepted though not accepted by people such as Einstein. And that’s how Israel was founded — theocratically and racially supremacist over a land that for thousands of years had been almost exclusively Muslim.
(2) “But for purposes of family law and other domestic affairs, they adopted a different standard, that of the orthodox rabbinate, which holds that the only Jews who qualify are those born of a Jewish mother or who convert under orthodox supervision. Some forty percent of Lieberman’s followers do not meet the rabbinic standard, which means that they are effectively reduced to second-class citizenship in terms of marriage, employment, and a host of other issues as well. But [what] makes the issue especially explosive is the military draft. … Soviet immigrants and their children must [put] their lives at risk to protect orthodox Israelis who don’t even regard them as Jewish. Lieberman has made it clear that he will not enter any government that allows such exemptions to continue.”
Avigdor Lieberman is one of Israel’s leaders who hold the balance of power which will determine whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to continue leading the country — Lieberman leads the ex-Soviet Jews there, who tend to believe very differently than the Jewish fundamentalists or Orthodox Jews do. These seculars cannot tolerate the fundamentalists’ imposition of a second-class citizenship upon themselves.
It’s for reasons like this that Netanyahu cannot form a governing coalition. He needs Lieberman but cannot get him. Netanyahu’s extreme corruption is politically acceptable, but his imposition of a second-class citizenship upon seculars is not.
Israel was founded by Jewish bigots against Muslims, and the ‘justification’ was that Jews had suffered bigotry from Christians and were therefore unwanted in and rejected by Christian-majority lands; so, Christians were quite happy for them to flee to a Muslim land and maybe let them kill each other off there.
Bigotry as a response to bigotry didn’t solve anything but just perpetuated the problem and relocated it elsewhere.
An odd parallel exists regarding America’s Black population. Bigotry as a response to bigotry isn’t working there any better than it does in Israel.
On March 7th I headlined “Are Most of America’s Black Voters Racists? Yes, They Now Clearly Are.” At least as perplexing as Netanyahu’s political predicament is the predicament of America’s Democratic Party in trying to select as its Presidential nominee a candidate who appeals to bigoted Blacks who cling to Joe Biden because he clings to the Black Barack Obama, versus, yet again, the Party’s seculars who insist upon equality of rights and obligations for all. If that tension cannot be successfully resolved (and it probably cannot), then a united Republican Party will in the general election on November 3rd be going up against a deeply fractured Democratic Party which cannot achieve agreement between equalitarians versus a certain type of (specifically Black anti-White) racism and privilege and supremacy.
Also like in the Israeli situation, the supremacism and bigotry are now being imposed by an oppressed minority group, who have fundamentally absorbed the bigoted values from their former majoritarian oppressors and are blinded to the reality that they have done so: that they have capitulated to what they falsely believe that they had been oppressed by — which is some type of ethnicity — when they had instead been oppressed actually simply by bigoted individuals (which could have been or be from any ethnicity).
There is no superior or inferior ethnicity. No matter who believes that there is, the result of that belief can only be hell. This is what Einstein believed, and he was correct.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-03-14--PROVEN: Biden Won the Democratic Nomination by Cheating.

It ’ s not just that he sold out to billionaires in order to be able to compete with Bernie Sanders who refused to do that and didn ’ t need to , but it ’ s the case also because Biden lied shamelessly in order to win overwhelmingly the black vote in South Carolina where most of the Democrats are Blacks — he had to misrepresent to black voters not only his policies but himself in order to achieve his first-ever ( and crushing ) win of a state primary in his long career of three campaigns for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s what he did , and he won his first-ever state primary outside of his own state of Delaware — he played South Carolina ’ s Blacks for suckers , and they swallowed his bait in one huge gulp , and the billionaires ( virtually all of them white ) then created for him the campaign that suddenly turned everything around in his favor — all of this being based upon lies .
Biden won the nomination by lying rampantly and by treating black voters as if their race is their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing more than their race .
For white voters , that ’ s called “ racism , ” and Biden treated black voters that way , as being racists themselves .
The ploy , contemptuous of Black voters , worked , and the extent to which it worked shocked political professionals of both Parties .
It destroyed the campaign of Bernie Sanders , who was arrested in Chicago during the early 1960s for his participation in an anti-segregation demonstration against the City ’ s government , and who has consistently advocated for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opened an article about the unprecedentedly sudden turn-around in the Democratic Party ’ s Presidential contest : “ Without the support of Blacks in the recent Democratic Party primaries , Joe Biden would still be the political failure in U.S. Presidential campaigning that he had always been.
” And I closed by comparing the honesty of Sanders ’ s pitch to Blacks versus the rabid dishonesty of Biden ’ s pitch to them .
But now I have found that Biden ’ s exploitation of Blacks for their votes was even worse than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ever knew .
I had said in that article on March 7th : The superiority of Sanders on specifically Black issues goes well beyond Sanders having always fought against banksters and Biden ’ s always having been one of banksters ’ key men in Congress , and it goes beyond Biden ’ s having written the crime-laws to target the most the crimes that were done the most by young black males and that filled our prisons with them — while leaving banksters out of prison and not even dispossessed of their illegally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was arrested by Chicago police officers for his participation in a demonstration against the City ’ s pro-segregation policies .
What was Joe Biden doing , of a political nature , during that same period ?
Nothing* , though he was then a college student , just as Sanders then was .
Whereas Sanders was risking his personal welfare in order to help to end segregation , Biden was “ graduating with a class rank of 506 out of 688 .
[ 25 ] His classmates were impressed by his cramming abilities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the Blue Hens freshman football team .
[ 20 ] In 1964 , while on spring break in the Bahamas , [ 26 ] he met and began dating Neilia Hunter , who was from an affluent background in Skaneateles , New York.
” Everything there reflects a social climber , which Biden has been throughout his adult life .
And he is profoundly corrupt .
Blacks overwhelmingly support a serial-lying anti-Black elitist white bigot , who knows how to charm them .
That asterisk ( * ) connected to this : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , “ During these years , he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in at a Wilmington theatre .
[ 21 ] ” but if one clicks onto the footnote there , no evidence comes up , and the reader becomes trapped in a circular dead end , which is what one might reasonably expect to happen if Biden ’ s team had inserted this otherwise-incongruous assertion in order to counter the clear and published proof that Sanders was an anti-segregation activist while he was at college .
The asserted ‘ source ’ for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ annual reference-series , Current Biography .
… Whatever is written there is basically an edited version of what the individual had written about himself in a questionnaire .
And Biden has been exposed as having perpetrated numerous lies about his past ; so , this would not be at all unlike him to do .
Other than that one incongruous assertion in the Wikipedia article , nothing indicates that , back in the 1960s , Biden was anything other than an ambitious slickster , even then when he was in college , motivated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone except his friends and mega-donors .
In fact , that same Wikipedia article also notes : “ Biden was one of the Senate ’ s leading opponents of desegregation busing .
In his Senate campaign , Biden expressed support for the 1971 Swann decision of the Supreme Court , which supported busing programs to integrate school districts to remedy de jure segregation , but opposed it to remedy de facto segregation , as in Delaware.
” Biden supported segregation , so long as it happened ‘ naturally ’ ( such as it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by an explicit law being passed .
This was the same viewpoint that the megabanks put forth to ‘ justify ’ red-lining : whatever is ‘ natural ’ is good .
Progressivism is not ‘ natural ’ .
Of course , the mega-banks loved him , and he loved them back .
Yet he calls himself “ progressive.
” Corrupt politicians think that the strong and the smart have a right to exploit the weak and the stupid , but the big problem is that whenever this happens , the public — including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than the exploiters , but less psychopathic — suffer ; not only the weak and stupid that they are currently exploiting do .
The new development is that , on March 13th , I was finally able to see and examine the reference which was cited in that footnote # 21 in the 26 September 2019 Wikipedia article on Joe Biden : I looked at the 1987 Current Biography Yearbook ( almost all copies of which are gone now , even from large libraries ) .
And I went to page 43 there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here is what I found , and it clearly proves that whomever inserted that statement in the Wikipedia article about Biden was lying : Neither this assertion , to the effect that Biden in college had participated in anti-segregation sit-ins , nor anything like it , was made in the 1987 Current Biography Yearbook .
Though page 43 was , indeed , one of that volume ’ s four pages which were devoted to Biden , the allegation is simply not there .
Furthermore , on 12 January 2008 , when Biden was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hillary Clinton , John Edwards , and Bill Richardson in the 2008 Presidential primaries , Wikipedia ’ s article on Biden included no such allegation , at all .
That article said “ On January 3 , 2008 during the Iowa caucuses , Biden announced that he would be dropping out of the presidential race when over half of the precincts were tallied in which he only carried 1 % of the vote behind Bill Richardson Governor of New Mexico.
” However , by the time of 6 November 2008 , just three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run , the allegation was there .
And it has been there ever since , though it is wholly false — it asserts a lie .
The 1987 Current Biography Yearbook says no such thing .
At some time between October 29th and November 6th of 2008 , it was inserted , and it has been there ever since .
Furthermore , far more evidence exists that this allegation was inserted by Biden or by his team — that the lie comes from Biden himself : On 14 February 2020 , Robert Mackey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of South Carolina Vote , Joe Biden Faces Questions Over Claims of Civil Rights Activism ” and he opened : As Joe Biden campaigns in South Carolina , ahead of a primary contest later this month he must win to revive his hopes of becoming the Democratic nominee for president , the former vice president is facing questions over claims that he took part in the civil rights movement as a student in the 1960s .
Shaun King , a prominent surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders ( and former Intercept columnist ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confusing and at times contradictory statements about what role he played as a young man in the struggle for racial equality in his home state of Delaware .
As King noted in his newsletter , during Biden ’ s first run for the presidency , in 1987 , the then-senator frequently described himself as a teenage civil rights activist , only to withdraw those claims later .
More than three decades later , having served under the first black president , Biden seems to have reversed himself again , and now describes himself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his youth .
The accompanying video there shows Biden at various stages in his career lying about this .
And here is the transcript of it ( so that you can absorb it faster — and also I add here some links to document some of his misrepresentations in what he said there ) : When I marched in the civil rights movement , I did not march with a 12-point program ; I marched with tens of thousands of others to change attitudes , and we changed attitudes .
[ In 1987 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the civil rights movement . ]
When I was 17 years old , like many of you , I participated in sit-ins to desegregate the restaurants and movie houses of Wilmington , Delaware .
… I came out of the civil rights movement .
I was one of the guys that sat in and marched and all that stuff .
[ A few months later , Biden disavowed the claim , right before dropping out of the presidential race . ]
… During the ’ 60s , I was in fact very concerned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was not an activist .
I worked at an all-black swimming pool , in the east side of Wilmington Delaware .
I was involved .
I was involved in what they were thinking , what they were feeling .
I was involved , but I was not out marching .
I was not down in Selma .
I was not anywhere else .
I was a suburbanite kid who got a dose of exposure to what was happening to black Americans in my own city .
[ Decades later , during the Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign trail , he started making the same claims again . ]
You know , when I was a teenager in Delaware , for real , I got involved in the civil rights movement .
We have the eighth-largest black population in America .
[ That ’ s misleading .
Though among all 50 states plus the District of Columbia , Delaware has the 8th-largest percentage of its total population being Blacks — 21.56 % ( and all of the top 7 except DC were in the Southern Confederacy ) — its 949,495 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are in all of the 50 states and DC — and Biden didn ’ t say “ percentage , ” but “ eighth-largest population , ” which is a number , not a percentage . ]
… I got my education , Reverend Doc , in the black church — not a joke .
Because when we used to get organized on Sundays [ Biden ’ s high school alma mater , and where his children also graduated , Archmere Academy , is a virtually all-White Catholic prep school , and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indication that he was ever a member of any ‘ black church ’ .
He and his children , though living in a high-percentage Black state , didn ’ t mix with many if any Blacks . ]
, to go out and desegregate movie theaters and things like that , we ’ d do it through the black church .
… I was no big shakes , Reverend , in the civil rights movement .
I was just a kid , but I got involved in desegregating movie theaters and helping , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Delaware [ deceased in 2012 and thus not around to disconfirm Biden ’ s lie ] and Herman Holloway [ deceased in 1994 ] organize voter registration drives , coming out of black churches on Sunday , figuring out how we were going to move .
… In October , I was invited to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis to receive the Freedom Award [ in 2018 , as part of his incipient latest Presidential campaign ] , a thing , when I sat in black churches , in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and by the way , next to two Jewish rabbis — getting ready to go out and desegregate movie theaters in Delaware , I never ever thought in my life I would be worthy of , and I ’ m still not sure I ’ m worthy of it .
He knows he ’ s not “ worthy of it , ” but he obviously doesn ’ t care ; he cares only about winning , no matter how much he needs to play for suckers the people who vote for him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is clear .
That ’ s the mark of a psychopath , in politics or any other field .
He was quoting dead civil-rights activists as having worked alongside him — dead ones so as to protect himself from being immediately recognized as having lied in these statements about his ‘ civil rights friends ’ .
His whole life he has succeeded on , basically , charm alone .
That , too , is typical of psychopaths , and especially of upper-class ones , such as he and his probably all-White private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party ’ s Presidential nomination because he refused to pander to suckers .
His only concern was to appeal to the voters ’ better parts , without lying about himself or his policies or the dire condition of the country , which is an increasingly dire condition that is actually a two-party failure , not merely a Republican one .
It ’ s in this condition because of people like Biden and Trump and Obama and Bush .
Here are typical viewer-comments following that video at youtube : “ Embarrassing .
This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal people drop out and preserve what little integrity they may have left .
But Joe has zero.
” Biden ’ s career is loaded with instances of his cheating his way through to get what he wants , and of his lying and contradicting himself right and left in order to semi-deny what he had been forced by circumstances to acknowledge , so as to retain the following of his supporters — his dupes — and then to go on to his next scam .
This is the standard pattern for psychopaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing it than Trump does .
As I had headlined on January 26th , “ Joe Biden Is as Corrupt as They Come ” , but he is even worse than that : He is willing to steal the Presidency this way — by competing down in Trump ’ s gutter and playing race-obsessed Blacks the way Trump plays race-obsessed Whites .
I predict that Biden will win , because coronavirus comes on Trump ’ s watch , and thus the Democratic Party ’ s billionaires will win-out over the Republican Party ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billionaires will suffer , and America will continue to rot , and poor Blacks will be left without things like better and far less costly health care , and Biden even wants to reduce Social Security , just as Trump does ; so , that too will get cut while the military state ( beloved by the billionaires in both Parties and central to Biden ’ s financial backing ) will grow even beyond what it now is ( around half of the entire world ’ s military expenditures ) .
There was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He ’ d have been a stronger candidate against the corrupt Trump , but the Democratic Party ’ s billionaires were unanimously against him .
And now he is gone .
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records , 1910-2010 , and of CHRIST ’ S VENTRILOQUISTS : The Event that Created Christianity .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
It’s not just that he sold out to billionaires in order to be able to compete with Bernie Sanders who refused to do that and didn’t need to, but it’s the case also because Biden lied shamelessly in order to win overwhelmingly the black vote in South Carolina where most of the Democrats are Blacks — he had to misrepresent to black voters not only his policies but himself in order to achieve his first-ever (and crushing) win of a state primary in his long career of three campaigns for the U.S. Presidency. And, so, that’s what he did, and he won his first-ever state primary outside of his own state of Delaware — he played South Carolina’s Blacks for suckers, and they swallowed his bait in one huge gulp, and the billionaires (virtually all of them white) then created for him the campaign that suddenly turned everything around in his favor — all of this being based upon lies.
Biden won the nomination by lying rampantly and by treating black voters as if their race is their entire identity — as if they are nothing more than their race. For white voters, that’s called “racism,” and Biden treated black voters that way, as being racists themselves. The ploy, contemptuous of Black voters, worked, and the extent to which it worked shocked political professionals of both Parties. It destroyed the campaign of Bernie Sanders, who was arrested in Chicago during the early 1960s for his participation in an anti-segregation demonstration against the City’s government, and who has consistently advocated for the poor.
On March 7th, I opened an article about the unprecedentedly sudden turn-around in the Democratic Party’s Presidential contest: “Without the support of Blacks in the recent Democratic Party primaries, Joe Biden would still be the political failure in U.S. Presidential campaigning that he had always been.” And I closed by comparing the honesty of Sanders’s pitch to Blacks versus the rabid dishonesty of Biden’s pitch to them.
But now I have found that Biden’s exploitation of Blacks for their votes was even worse than I (or perhaps, anyone) ever knew.
I had said in that article on March 7th:
The superiority of Sanders on specifically Black issues goes well beyond Sanders having always fought against banksters and Biden’s always having been one of banksters’ key men in Congress, and it goes beyond Biden’s having written the crime-laws to target the most the crimes that were done the most by young black males and that filled our prisons with them — while leaving banksters out of prison and not even dispossessed of their illegally won wealth. In 1963, Sanders was arrested by Chicago police officers for his participation in a demonstration against the City’s pro-segregation policies. What was Joe Biden doing, of a political nature, during that same period? Nothing*, though he was then a college student, just as Sanders then was. Whereas Sanders was risking his personal welfare in order to help to end segregation, Biden was “graduating with a class rank of 506 out of 688.[25] His classmates were impressed by his cramming abilities,[21] and he played halfback with the Blue Hens freshman football team.[20] In 1964, while on spring break in the Bahamas,[26] he met and began dating Neilia Hunter, who was from an affluent background in Skaneateles, New York.” Everything there reflects a social climber, which Biden has been throughout his adult life. And he is profoundly corrupt. Blacks overwhelmingly support a serial-lying anti-Black elitist white bigot, who knows how to charm them.
That asterisk (*) connected to this:
* The Wikipedia article on Biden asserts that, “During these years, he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in at a Wilmington theatre.[21]” but if one clicks onto the footnote there, no evidence comes up, and the reader becomes trapped in a circular dead end, which is what one might reasonably expect to happen if Biden’s team had inserted this otherwise-incongruous assertion in order to counter the clear and published proof that Sanders was an anti-segregation activist while he was at college. The asserted ‘source’ for that ‘anti-segregation sit-in’ is the annual reference-series, Current Biography. … Whatever is written there is basically an edited version of what the individual had written about himself in a questionnaire. And Biden has been exposed as having perpetrated numerous lies about his past; so, this would not be at all unlike him to do. Other than that one incongruous assertion in the Wikipedia article, nothing indicates that, back in the 1960s, Biden was anything other than an ambitious slickster, even then when he was in college, motivated solely by status-seeking, not by serving anyone except his friends and mega-donors. In fact, that same Wikipedia article also notes: “Biden was one of the Senate’s leading opponents of desegregation busing. In his Senate campaign, Biden expressed support for the 1971 Swann decision of the Supreme Court, which supported busing programs to integrate school districts to remedy de jure segregation, but opposed it to remedy de facto segregation, as in Delaware.” Biden supported segregation, so long as it happened ‘naturally’ (such as it did in Delaware), instead of by an explicit law being passed. This was the same viewpoint that the megabanks put forth to ‘justify’ red-lining: whatever is ‘natural’ is good. Progressivism is not ‘natural’. Of course, the mega-banks loved him, and he loved them back. Yet he calls himself “progressive.” Corrupt politicians think that the strong and the smart have a right to exploit the weak and the stupid, but the big problem is that whenever this happens, the public — including many who are even stronger and brighter than the exploiters, but less psychopathic — suffer; not only the weak and stupid that they are currently exploiting do.
The new development is that, on March 13th, I was finally able to see and examine the reference which was cited in that footnote #21 in the 26 September 2019 Wikipedia article on Joe Biden: I looked at the 1987 Current Biography Yearbook (almost all copies of which are gone now, even from large libraries). And I went to page 43 there, which is the footnote-referred-to page. Here is what I found, and it clearly proves that whomever inserted that statement in the Wikipedia article about Biden was lying:
Neither this assertion, to the effect that Biden in college had participated in anti-segregation sit-ins, nor anything like it, was made in the 1987 Current Biography Yearbook. Though page 43 was, indeed, one of that volume’s four pages which were devoted to Biden, the allegation is simply not there. Furthermore, on 12 January 2008, when Biden was starting a run against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson in the 2008 Presidential primaries, Wikipedia’s article on Biden included no such allegation, at all. That article said “On January 3, 2008 during the Iowa caucuses, Biden announced that he would be dropping out of the presidential race when over half of the precincts were tallied in which he only carried 1% of the vote behind Bill Richardson Governor of New Mexico.” However, by the time of 6 November 2008, just three days after his failure in that Presidential run, the allegation was there. And it has been there ever since, though it is wholly false — it asserts a lie. The 1987 Current Biography Yearbook says no such thing. At some time between October 29th and November 6th of 2008, it was inserted, and it has been there ever since.
Furthermore, far more evidence exists that this allegation was inserted by Biden or by his team — that the lie comes from Biden himself:
On 14 February 2020, Robert Mackey headlined at The Intercept, “Ahead of South Carolina Vote, Joe Biden Faces Questions Over Claims of Civil Rights Activism” and he opened:
As Joe Biden campaigns in South Carolina, ahead of a primary contest later this month he must win to revive his hopes of becoming the Democratic nominee for president, the former vice president is facing questions over claims that he took part in the civil rights movement as a student in the 1960s.
Shaun King, a prominent surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (and former Intercept columnist), drew attention to Biden’s often confusing and at times contradictory statements about what role he played as a young man in the struggle for racial equality in his home state of Delaware.
As King noted in his newsletter, during Biden’s first run for the presidency, in 1987, the then-senator frequently described himself as a teenage civil rights activist, only to withdraw those claims later. More than three decades later, having served under the first black president, Biden seems to have reversed himself again, and now describes himself as a participant in desegregation protests in his youth.
The accompanying video there shows Biden at various stages in his career lying about this. And here is the transcript of it (so that you can absorb it faster — and also I add here some links to document some of his misrepresentations in what he said there):
When I marched in the civil rights movement, I did not march with a 12-point program; I marched with tens of thousands of others to change attitudes, and we changed attitudes. [In 1987, Joe Biden claimed he marched in the civil rights movement.] When I was 17 years old, like many of you, I participated in sit-ins to desegregate the restaurants and movie houses of Wilmington, Delaware. … I came out of the civil rights movement. I was one of the guys that sat in and marched and all that stuff. [A few months later, Biden disavowed the claim, right before dropping out of the presidential race.] … During the ’60s, I was in fact very concerned about the civil rights movement. I was not an activist. I worked at an all-black swimming pool, in the east side of Wilmington Delaware. I was involved. I was involved in what they were thinking, what they were feeling. I was involved, but I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma. I was not anywhere else. I was a suburbanite kid who got a dose of exposure to what was happening to black Americans in my own city. [Decades later, during the Obama era, and more recently on the campaign trail, he started making the same claims again.] You know, when I was a teenager in Delaware, for real, I got involved in the civil rights movement. We have the eighth-largest black population in America. [That’s misleading. Though among all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Delaware has the 8th-largest percentage of its total population being Blacks — 21.56% (and all of the top 7 except DC were in the Southern Confederacy) — its 949,495 Blacks are the 7th-lowest number of Blacks that are in all of the 50 states and DC — and Biden didn’t say “percentage,” but “eighth-largest population,” which is a number, not a percentage.] … I got my education, Reverend Doc, in the black church — not a joke. Because when we used to get organized on Sundays [Biden’s high school alma mater, and where his children also graduated, Archmere Academy, is a virtually all-White Catholic prep school, and I have not been able to find any indication that he was ever a member of any ‘black church’. He and his children, though living in a high-percentage Black state, didn’t mix with many if any Blacks.], to go out and desegregate movie theaters and things like that, we’d do it through the black church. … I was no big shakes, Reverend, in the civil rights movement. I was just a kid, but I got involved in desegregating movie theaters and helping, you may remember, Rev. Moyer in Delaware [deceased in 2012 and thus not around to disconfirm Biden’s lie] and Herman Holloway [deceased in 1994] organize voter registration drives, coming out of black churches on Sunday, figuring out how we were going to move. … In October, I was invited to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis to receive the Freedom Award [in 2018, as part of his incipient latest Presidential campaign], a thing, when I sat in black churches, in the east side of Wilmington getting ready to — and by the way, next to two Jewish rabbis — getting ready to go out and desegregate movie theaters in Delaware, I never ever thought in my life I would be worthy of, and I’m still not sure I’m worthy of it.
He knows he’s not “worthy of it,” but he obviously doesn’t care; he cares only about winning, no matter how much he needs to play for suckers the people who vote for him, in order to do so. This is clear. That’s the mark of a psychopath, in politics or any other field. He was quoting dead civil-rights activists as having worked alongside him — dead ones so as to protect himself from being immediately recognized as having lied in these statements about his ‘civil rights friends’. His whole life he has succeeded on, basically, charm alone. That, too, is typical of psychopaths, and especially of upper-class ones, such as he and his probably all-White private prep-school buddies.
Sanders lost the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination because he refused to pander to suckers. His only concern was to appeal to the voters’ better parts, without lying about himself or his policies or the dire condition of the country, which is an increasingly dire condition that is actually a two-party failure, not merely a Republican one. It’s in this condition because of people like Biden and Trump and Obama and Bush.
Here are typical viewer-comments following that video at youtube:
“He’s a ‘lying dog-faced pony soldier.’”
“‘Vote for someone else’ — Joe Biden.”
“Embarrassing. This is the kind of humiliation that would make normal people drop out and preserve what little integrity they may have left. But Joe has zero.”
Biden’s career is loaded with instances of his cheating his way through to get what he wants, and of his lying and contradicting himself right and left in order to semi-deny what he had been forced by circumstances to acknowledge, so as to retain the following of his supporters — his dupes — and then to go on to his next scam. This is the standard pattern for psychopaths. He just uses different techniques of doing it than Trump does.
As I had headlined on January 26th, “Joe Biden Is as Corrupt as They Come”, but he is even worse than that: He is willing to steal the Presidency this way — by competing down in Trump’s gutter and playing race-obsessed Blacks the way Trump plays race-obsessed Whites. I predict that Biden will win, because coronavirus comes on Trump’s watch, and thus the Democratic Party’s billionaires will win-out over the Republican Party’s billionaires, and everybody but the billionaires will suffer, and America will continue to rot, and poor Blacks will be left without things like better and far less costly health care, and Biden even wants to reduce Social Security, just as Trump does; so, that too will get cut while the military state (beloved by the billionaires in both Parties and central to Biden’s financial backing) will grow even beyond what it now is (around half of the entire world’s military expenditures). There was an alternative. It was Sanders. He’d have been a stronger candidate against the corrupt Trump, but the Democratic Party’s billionaires were unanimously against him. And now he is gone.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-03-14--Trump delivers big White House speech as markets bounce back & oil prices rise (Video)

The Duran ’ s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Trump ’ s White House Press Conference where the US President delivered a necessary , confidant speech as the world tries to manage the spread of the coronavirus .
Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak , and outlined a mass testing plan and economic strategy going forward .
Trump ’ s speech delivered a market rebound and an oil prices rise .
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute .
The Duran Audio Podcast : Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , it has been a rough week for oil .
Just days after Saudi Arabia and Russia launched a full-blown oil war , forcing prices to drop by 25 % in a single day , the U.S. President declared a travel ban for all flights to Europe .
And now , the President has declared a National Emergency .
But there was also some bullish news for oil markets in Trump ’ s speech , sending oil prices upward .
Trump ’ s statement came as a number of public and private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sporting leagues , conferences and public events have already been canceled , and schools across the nation had already been shut down in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus .
Trump said , “ To unleash the full power of the federal government , I am officially declaring a national emergency .
Referring to that as “ two very big words , ” adding that it would allow him to unlock up to $ 50 billion in funds “ in our shared fight against this disease.
” “ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stafford Act , ” Trump said .
“ I have it memorized , practically , as to the powers in that act .
And if we need to do something , I ’ ll do it.
” President Trump also announced that the U.S. government will buy ” large quantities of crude ” for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve mentioning that this would save the taxpayer billions of dollars , while helping out the oil industry , and working towards the goal of energy independence .
Wall Street rallied on Friday ’ s opening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points following the markets ’ worst day since Black Monday accident in 1987 .
The emergency announcement arrives in the wake of Trump ’ s many efforts to lessen the public ’ s fear of Covid-19 ’ s .
Recently , the President has argued that the seasonal flu causes more deaths than the virus , and claimed Democrats ’ criticisms of his administration ’ s response were overblown .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Trump’s White House Press Conference where the US President delivered a necessary, confidant speech as the world tries to manage the spread of the coronavirus.
Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, and outlined a mass testing plan and economic strategy going forward. Trump’s speech delivered a market rebound and an oil prices rise.
Support Free Speech:
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute.
The Duran Audio Podcast:
Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes.
Via Oilprice.com…
There’s no doubt about it, it has been a rough week for oil. Just days after Saudi Arabia and Russia launched a full-blown oil war, forcing prices to drop by 25% in a single day, the U.S. President declared a travel ban for all flights to Europe. And now, the President has declared a National Emergency. But there was also some bullish news for oil markets in Trump’s speech, sending oil prices upward.
Trump’s statement came as a number of public and private businesses have already taken action. Major sporting leagues, conferences and public events have already been canceled, and schools across the nation had already been shut down in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus.
Trump said, “To unleash the full power of the federal government, I am officially declaring a national emergency. Referring to that as “two very big words,” adding that it would allow him to unlock up to $50 billion in funds “in our shared fight against this disease.”
“We have very strong emergency powers under the Stafford Act,” Trump said. “I have it memorized, practically, as to the powers in that act. And if we need to do something, I’ll do it.”
President Trump also announced that the U.S. government will buy ”large quantities of crude” for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve mentioning that this would save the taxpayer billions of dollars, while helping out the oil industry, and working towards the goal of energy independence.
Wall Street rallied on Friday’s opening bell, at first skyrocketing around 1,200 points following the markets’ worst day since Black Monday accident in 1987.
The emergency announcement arrives in the wake of Trump’s many efforts to lessen the public’s fear of Covid-19’s. Recently, the President has argued that the seasonal flu causes more deaths than the virus, and claimed Democrats’ criticisms of his administration’s response were overblown.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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theduran--2020-03-14--World leaders try to calm fears as financial collapse sets in (Video)

The Duran ’ s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss a the global financial collapse and widespread panic from the coronavirus spread through Europe , the UK , the United States and Canada .
Did western leaders calm fears , or is COVID-19 the straw that will break the global system ’ s back ?
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute .
The Duran Audio Podcast : Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes .
US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic , unlocking additional powers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved in the efforts to curb the disease .
“ To unleash the full power of the federal government , ” Trump said in an address from the White House Rose Garden on Friday , “ I am officially declaring a national emergency.
” Trump said that the declaration will free up $ 50 billion in funding to tackle the spread of the illness .
Trump added that he is “ asking every hospital in the country ” to activate their emergency preparation plans , and ordering every state to set up emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been criticized in recent days for failing to roll out Covid-19 tests quickly enough .
Though Trump stressed that mass testing is likely unnecessary , he said on Friday that “ we want to make sure that those who need a test can get a test very safely , quickly , and conveniently.
” To that end , Trump announced that the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) has approved a new test for the virus , within hours of receiving application from the company responsible , Roche Diagnostics .
Testing will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cooperation with Google , which has put more than a thousand engineers to work on a testing website .
Once up and running , the website will direct suspected cases to drive-through testing locations , and then on to further care if necessary .
Trump then announced that he has waived interest on all student loans held by federal government agencies , and ordered the purchase of “ large quantities ” of crude oil .
The price of oil has been driven down around the world in recent days , both due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saudi Arabia and Russia opting not to cut production .
Despite his all hands on deck announcement , Trump has been remarkably laissez-faire with limiting his own exposure to the virus .
After meeting with an aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last Saturday , who later tested positive for the illness , Trump told reporters on Friday that as he has “ no symptoms whatsoever , ” he will not be self-isolating or getting tested himself .
The national emergency announcement comes after 20 US states declared emergencies or disasters due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being the most recent .
These declarations do not represent some kind of martial law , but mainly unlock additional funding and mandate specific responses from government agencies .
Earlier on Friday , the White House announced a series of measures intended to speed up the roll-out of COVID-19 tests , which have been held back by lack of test kits , regulations and procedures .
A federal coordinator has been appointed to oversee testing , and a hotline has been established for labs to get help in obtaining supplies .
Furthermore , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has allocated $ 1.3 million to two companies – one in California , the other in Maryland – to develop rapid diagnostic tests .
By invoking the Stafford Act powers , Trump has triggered financial and physical disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) , the same body that came under fire for its less than stellar handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Maria in 2017 .
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , as of Friday morning there were 1,215 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US , of which 36 have been fatal – though news media have since reported a death toll of 41 .
As the virus took hold in the US in recent weeks , Trump was fiercely criticized for his assurances that the situation was “ very much under control , ” seeing his statements as an effort to prop up the stock market .
However , Trump ’ s emergency declaration seems to have done more to boost the market than any tweet or statement thus far .
The Dow Jones closed up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address , reversing much of the losses of the previous week .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss a the global financial collapse and widespread panic from the coronavirus spread through Europe, the UK, the United States and Canada.
Did western leaders calm fears, or is COVID-19 the straw that will break the global system’s back?
Support Free Speech:
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute.
The Duran Audio Podcast:
Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes.
Via RT…
US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, unlocking additional powers and funding for disaster response and getting FEMA involved in the efforts to curb the disease.
“To unleash the full power of the federal government,” Trump said in an address from the White House Rose Garden on Friday, “I am officially declaring a national emergency.” Trump said that the declaration will free up $50 billion in funding to tackle the spread of the illness.
Trump added that he is “asking every hospital in the country” to activate their emergency preparation plans, and ordering every state to set up emergency operations centers.
The Trump administration has been criticized in recent days for failing to roll out Covid-19 tests quickly enough.
Though Trump stressed that mass testing is likely unnecessary, he said on Friday that “we want to make sure that those who need a test can get a test very safely, quickly, and conveniently.” To that end, Trump announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new test for the virus, within hours of receiving application from the company responsible, Roche Diagnostics.
Testing will be organized by the government, in cooperation with Google, which has put more than a thousand engineers to work on a testing website. Once up and running, the website will direct suspected cases to drive-through testing locations, and then on to further care if necessary.
Here is what the new process looks like for coronavirus testing. Government leaders say this is what they want to work to following. #COVID19 #CoronavirusPandemic pic.twitter.com/4tdN3dOhdF — Tiffany Alaniz (@TiffanyAlaniz) March 13, 2020
Trump then announced that he has waived interest on all student loans held by federal government agencies, and ordered the purchase of “large quantities” of crude oil. The price of oil has been driven down around the world in recent days, both due to the coronavirus pandemic, and due to Saudi Arabia and Russia opting not to cut production.
Despite his all hands on deck announcement, Trump has been remarkably laissez-faire with limiting his own exposure to the virus. After meeting with an aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last Saturday, who later tested positive for the illness, Trump told reporters on Friday that as he has “no symptoms whatsoever,” he will not be self-isolating or getting tested himself.
The national emergency announcement comes after 20 US states declared emergencies or disasters due to the spread of COVID-19, with Texas being the most recent. These declarations do not represent some kind of martial law, but mainly unlock additional funding and mandate specific responses from government agencies.
Earlier on Friday, the White House announced a series of measures intended to speed up the roll-out of COVID-19 tests, which have been held back by lack of test kits, regulations and procedures. A federal coordinator has been appointed to oversee testing, and a hotline has been established for labs to get help in obtaining supplies. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services has allocated $1.3 million to two companies – one in California, the other in Maryland – to develop rapid diagnostic tests.
By invoking the Stafford Act powers, Trump has triggered financial and physical disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the same body that came under fire for its less than stellar handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Maria in 2017.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of Friday morning there were 1,215 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US, of which 36 have been fatal – though news media have since reported a death toll of 41.
As the virus took hold in the US in recent weeks, Trump was fiercely criticized for his assurances that the situation was “very much under control,” seeing his statements as an effort to prop up the stock market. However, Trump’s emergency declaration seems to have done more to boost the market than any tweet or statement thus far. The Dow Jones closed up 9.36 percent after the president’s address, reversing much of the losses of the previous week.
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