lewrockwell--2020-07-17--The Strange Synchronicity of Seemingly Unrelated Enigmatic Events: April 1963, Seven Months Before J

The Strange Synchronicity of Seemingly Unrelated Enigmatic Events: April 1963, Seven Months Before JFK’s Assassination

THE ROMAN POET JUVENAL ASKED , “ QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES ?
” ( “ WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDS THEMSELVES ?
” ) During the month of April , 1963 , a number of strange events ( or metaphoric “ threads ” ) occurred that , when woven together , suggest that they had much in common , in the context of the evolving plot to murder President Kennedy and ensure that a major change in the direction of the United States would be effected : A military/intelligence take-over of the U.S. foreign policy was the immediate goal of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ état .
Domestic policy was the secondary , albeit inseparable , goal .
The following list includes some of the most notable events that took place over a two-week period of that month : A Secret Order : Invest ... Albarelli Jr. , H. P. Best Price : $ 8.90 Buy New $ 10.00 Someone – to this day it is not clear who – shot a bullet through the window of retired General Edwin Walker , a staunchly-conservative veteran of World War II and the Korean War .
Walker , despite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ successfully lead the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 , later became associated with segregationists and members of the right-wing organization the John Birch Society .
In 1961 he became the only Army general to resign after his controversial actions related to allegedly indoctrinating troops under his command in Germany with materials that claimed that communists were in control of much of the government and were behind the racial integration program .
The bullet hit the wooden window frame , which deflected it away from Walker .
Many researchers believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved in that shooting , given that at least one eyewitness stated that there were two men on the scene during the shooting , who escaped in separate cars immediately afterward ; Walker himself stated that , after going upstairs to get a pistol , he came back down the stairway and , through a front window : “ I saw a car at the bottom of the church alley just making a turn onto Turtle Creek .
The car was unidentifiable .
I could see the two back lights .
.
.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
.
[ it ] would have been about at the right time for anybody that was making a getaway.
” [ i ] Oswald did not have routine access to a car .
Many , if not most , researchers have not only discounted the notion that Oswald fired the shot at Walker but believe that it was part of the plan , intentionally designed to set him up as a patsy as a specific instance of his supposed capacity for violence .
Given General Walker ’ s reputation as an arch-enemy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pass civil rights reforms , it is possible that he volunteered his assistance in such a caper .
That Jack Ruby had casually “ fingered ” Oswald soon after the event conveniently helped the commission to make a case of violent behavior for a man not otherwise known for that .
A Terrible Mistake : Th ... Albarelli Jr. , H. P. Best Price : $ 11.42 Buy New $ 16.00 As noted below , at least before Marina Oswald told the Warren Commission that she believed that Lee was the shooter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threats of deportation — must be considered regarding everything she said ) , Walker suspected others of the act , specifically a neighbor of George De Mohrenschildt named Dr. William Wolf .
As noted below , Wolf would die nine days later in a fire in his apartment .
LBJ Reordered Security : From JFK to Himself White House aide Joseph W. Shimon worked in the highest security levels of the Kennedy administration as a liaison with the Justice Department , the CIA and the DC Metropolitan Police Department .
He had many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is where he started his law enforcement career decades earlier .
His college-age daughter , Toni , who usually lived on Long Island with her mother , spent the Easter weekend with her father , who lived across the Potomac River , in Arlington , Virginia .
According to researcher/author Peter Janney , on a walk that weekend , Shimon told her about something that had been bothering him : [ ii ] “ The vice president [ Lyndon Johnson ] has asked me to give him more security than the president , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ walking , Toni ’ s mood began to darken .
There was something ominous in her father ’ s voice , she remembered feeling .
“ What ’ s he afraid of , Dad ?
” she asked her father .
“ What do you think ?
” Her father responded , wanting to see if she understood and connected the dots .
There was an awkward silence .
She knew she was being tested .
Toni would remember that moment and the darkness that had come over her that day .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .
“ Does President Kennedy know about this ?
” Coup in Dallas : Who Ki ... Albarelli Jr. , H. P. Buy New $ 18.99 “ I haven ’ t mentioned it , ” she remembered her father telling her .
“ What do you think ?
” her father asked again .
“ Something ’ s going to happen and Johnson knows about it , ” Toni immediately responded .
That incident may have been first sign of a continuing pattern that lasted the next seven months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local , state and federal law enforcement officers , were removed in Dallas , unlike any other motorcade .
The last vestiges of President Kennedy ’ s protection stopped at the corner of Houston and Elm Streets as the limousine entered Dealey Plaza .
The fact that the only remaining motorcycle escorts – which were supposed to be flanking the rear quarter-panels of the limousine – had backed themselves completely away from the presidential limousine and began riding alongside the Secret Service car after the turn on Elm Street is proven by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the first time by Phillip Willis .
[ iii ] This point was of course ignored by the Warren Commission , along with numerous other such indications of their complicity in the cover-up of JFK ’ s assassination .
Another marker for the same point , according to fifty-nine ( 59 ) witnesses , was their certainty that the limousine slowed , and either nearly stopped , or came to a complete momentary stop , as the head shots were fired .
[ iv ] The fact that the brief stop was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that at a number of frames had been removed from it to achieve that result ; and that could only have been accomplished by both preplanning and post-manipulation of that film , suggesting that it was not a spontaneous after-thought that Mr. Zapruder was positioned there for that purpose .
Certain agents stated that the reason for reducing the number of motorcycle escorts in the motorcade , and cutting two agents who normally rode on the back bumper of the presidential limousine , was because President Kennedy wanted to get “ closer to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suddenly objected to the noise of too many motorcycles around him , despite the fact that nothing of the sort impeded the motorcades in San Antonio and Houston the day before the Dallas event .
Yet neither of those assertions had ever been expressed by JFK before , and many of Kennedy ’ s staff , including his primary advance man Jerry Bruno , had expressed concern about the level of hostility towards the President by right wing extremists in Dallas .
According to the long-time JFK assassination researcher Edgar Tatro , Jerry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overall security risks in the Dallas motorcade – as planned by John Connally at Johnson ’ s direction leading to Bruno ’ s utter frustration – he had effectively been forced to step aside , replaced by LBJ sycophant Bill Moyers who naturally approved everything that Bruno had objected to .
Tatro said : “ Bruno was enraged when he testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations ( HSCA ) ; he said ‘ Connally didn ’ t care about Kennedy , he was a son-of-a-bitch ’ .
” [ v ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testified that the decision was finally made when , “ I met with O ’ Donnell and Moyers who said that Connally was unbearable and on the verge of cancelling the trip .
They decided they had to let the Governor have his way.
” The conversation of Mr. Shimon with his daughter seven months before the Dallas trip , described by author Peter Janney , should put to rest any remaining doubt about the real source of the request for the reduced presidential protection that took place in the Dallas motorcade : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and only that one – was managed entirely by Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his sycophantic assistants , including Cliff Carter , Bill Moyers and US attorney ( later promoted to Federal Judge ) Barefoot Sanders , who resided in Dallas .
On behalf of Lyndon Johnson , his highest-level aide at that point , Walter Jenkins , wrote a letter to George DeMohrenschildt ( then acting as Lee Harvey Oswald ’ s “ best friend ” ) in response to his request to get an appointment with Johnson : There he met @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a meeting attended by C. Frank Stone III , head of the CIA ’ s European clandestine section , and M. Clemard Joseph Charles , the banker who de Mohrenschildt would become closely identified with in Haiti .
From New York he returned to Washington , where , in the process of setting up mineral concessions and arranging to acquire a sisal plantation in Haiti , de Mohrenschildt and Charles would meet , mysteriously , with Lyndon Johnson ’ s military advisor Howard Burris , to set up a meeting with Johnson himself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
[ vi ] Due to Johnson ’ s customary secrecy measures , it is not clear when and where that meeting was held or what was discussed , but that kind of secrecy suggests the subject was of a sinister nature .
Files on JFK : Intervie ... Best Price : $ 12.32 Buy New $ 21.64 According to Penn Jones , DeMohrenschildt “ may have been rushed away due to the strange death of his next door neighbor , Dr. William T. Wolf , who burned to death in his apartment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said he suspected Wolf in relation to the Walker shooting attempt.
” [ vii ] • Adele Edisen ’ s Strange Encounter — the Mysterious Jose Rivera – The Title of Chapter 3 of H. P. Albarelli Jr. ’ s book Secret Order : Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity in the JFK Assassination , recounts in lengthy detail bizarre encounters Ms. Edisen had with a very strange man named Dr. Jose A. Rivera .
By her account , on April 23rd in Washington DC , Rivera made numerous comments that strongly suggested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to assassinate President Kennedy .
These assertions , given that they had not previously met each other ( except briefly the previous week at a medical conference in Atlantic City ) , were brazenly candid and suggested that he had very recently been exposed to what were supposed to be top secret and highly classified planning documents or oral briefs .
One example of such a comment was , as they drove past the White House on April 23rd , “ I wonder what Jackie will do when her husband dies.
” After @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rivera said , “ Oh , oh , I meant the baby .
She might lose the baby.
” Even more bewilderingly , he asked her to call Lee Harvey Oswald at 899-4244 .
“ Write down this name : Lee Harvey Oswald .
Tell him to kill the chief.
” Rivera then said , “ No , no , don ’ t write that down .
You will remember it when you get to New Orleans .
We ’ re just playing a little joke on him.
” The following day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he warned her not to say anything about them to anyone , or she “ would be very , very sorry.
” [ viii ] • Lee Harvey Oswald suddenly left Dallas and traveled to New Orleans , where he would remain for five months before going to Mexico , then returning to Dallas .
Two weeks prior to this , General Edwin A. Walker had narrowly missed being shot , an act that the Warren Commission portrayed as being done by Lee Harvey Oswald , conveniently marking him as a very violent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Madeleine Brown — LBJ ’ s mistress and mother of his only son , whom he knew about but never acknowledged – claimed that she had been to Jack Ruby ’ s Carousel Club and heard Jack Ruby state that Oswald had been the man who shot at Walker .
She had also stated that it was well known around Dallas that Oswald and Ruby knew each other and was surprised to learn that “ officially they were not supposed to be connected.
” [ i ] • Jack Ruby began making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mafia contacts around the country , particularly Chicago .
• Vice President Lyndon Johnson went to Dallas to give a speech to two thousand civic and business leaders there at the Crystal ballroom in the Baker Hotel .
In that speech , according to Penn Jones Jr. , [ ii ] LBJ made this very strange statement : The President of the United States is like a pilot and the election is when the nation picks an airplane and pilot for the next four years .
Once you pick him , and you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weather , don ’ t go up and open the door and try to knock him in the head .
He ’ s the only pilot you have and if the plane goes down , you go with it .
At least wait until next November before you shoot him down .
• Johnson also leaked a story on that same date to the Dallas Times Herald which was printed the next day under a full banner headline on the front page : “ LBJ Sees Kennedy Dallas Visit—One-Day Texas Tour Eyed.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kennedy would then feel obligated to make the trip and not back out of it later .
The bizarre nature of Vice President Johnson ’ s actions – possibly related to his propensity of drinking too much Scotch whiskey – suggest that he , too , had recently been involved in a “ touchstone ” meeting back in Washington , or Langley , Virginia , before showing up in Dallas at that curious point in time .
But the context here is not merely his actions , it is the totality of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for as well , that belie a continuum of events playing out , all initiated well before April of 1963 .
These events were most likely merely the result of an interim check-point whereby all the participants were given a “ green light ” , as if to say “ everything on track for The Big Event , ” proceed according to plan .
[ iii ] See Phillip Willis photo taken moments before JFK was shot ( Richard Trask , Pictures of the Pain , p. 171 ) [ v ] Ed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Loose Ends , ” JFK Conference , Dallas , 2015 DVD ( 24:40 -24:57 ) ; See also HSCA Report , Vol .
XI , p. 518 .
Also see HSCA Report , Vol .
I , pp .
47-48 for Connally ’ s lies and backpedaling testimony .
[ viii ] See this Google Books link for further details on that chapter of Albarelli ’ s book .
Also see this page on the Spartacus Educational website .
The Best of Phillip F. Nelson

THE ROMAN POET JUVENAL ASKED, “QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?” (“WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDS THEMSELVES?”)
During the month of April, 1963, a number of strange events (or metaphoric “threads”) occurred that, when woven together, suggest that they had much in common, in the context of the evolving plot to murder President Kennedy and ensure that a major change in the direction of the United States would be effected: A military/intelligence take-over of the U.S. foreign policy was the immediate goal of the forces behind the 1963 coup d’état. Domestic policy was the secondary, albeit inseparable, goal.
The following list includes some of the most notable events that took place over a two-week period of that month:
Wednesday, April 10TH:
A Secret Order: Invest... Albarelli Jr., H. P. Best Price: $8.90 Buy New $10.00 (as of 04:19 UTC - Details) Someone – to this day it is not clear who – shot a bullet through the window of retired General Edwin Walker, a staunchly-conservative veteran of World War II and the Korean War. Walker, despite having been appointed by President Eisenhower to successfully lead the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957, later became associated with segregationists and members of the right-wing organization the John Birch Society. In 1961 he became the only Army general to resign after his controversial actions related to allegedly indoctrinating troops under his command in Germany with materials that claimed that communists were in control of much of the government and were behind the racial integration program.
In 1961-62, Walker began making numerous public speeches and, with the backing of the oil billionaire and radio-host H. L. Hunt, he began a campaign to run for governor of Texas, but finished last in the Republican primary election to John Connally. On December 4, 1961, his photo appeared on the front cover of Newsweek magazine under the title, “Thunder on the Right.” It had become widely known in the area that Walker lived on Turtle Creek Drive near downtown Dallas.
The bullet hit the wooden window frame, which deflected it away from Walker. Many researchers believe that it is unlikely that Oswald was involved in that shooting, given that at least one eyewitness stated that there were two men on the scene during the shooting, who escaped in separate cars immediately afterward; Walker himself stated that, after going upstairs to get a pistol, he came back down the stairway and, through a front window: “I saw a car at the bottom of the church alley just making a turn onto Turtle Creek. The car was unidentifiable. I could see the two back lights . . . I could see it moving out . . . [it] would have been about at the right time for anybody that was making a getaway.”[i] Oswald did not have routine access to a car.
Many, if not most, researchers have not only discounted the notion that Oswald fired the shot at Walker but believe that it was part of the plan, intentionally designed to set him up as a patsy as a specific instance of his supposed capacity for violence. Given General Walker’s reputation as an arch-enemy of the Kennedys, especially their efforts to pass civil rights reforms, it is possible that he volunteered his assistance in such a caper. That Jack Ruby had casually “fingered” Oswald soon after the event conveniently helped the commission to make a case of violent behavior for a man not otherwise known for that. A Terrible Mistake: Th... Albarelli Jr., H. P. Best Price: $11.42 Buy New $16.00 (as of 12:30 UTC - Details)
As noted below, at least before Marina Oswald told the Warren Commission that she believed that Lee was the shooter (the pressure on her — including threats of deportation — must be considered regarding everything she said), Walker suspected others of the act, specifically a neighbor of George De Mohrenschildt named Dr. William Wolf. As noted below, Wolf would die nine days later in a fire in his apartment.
Easter Weekend, April 13-14:
LBJ Reordered Security: From JFK to Himself
White House aide Joseph W. Shimon worked in the highest security levels of the Kennedy administration as a liaison with the Justice Department, the CIA and the DC Metropolitan Police Department. He had many contacts at the MPD, as that is where he started his law enforcement career decades earlier.
His college-age daughter, Toni, who usually lived on Long Island with her mother, spent the Easter weekend with her father, who lived across the Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia. According to researcher/author Peter Janney, on a walk that weekend, Shimon told her about something that had been bothering him:[ii]
“The vice president [Lyndon Johnson] has asked me to give him more security than the president,” said Shimon. As they continued walking, Toni’s mood began to darken. There was something ominous in her father’s voice, she remembered feeling.
“What’s he afraid of, Dad?” she asked her father.
“What do you think?” Her father responded, wanting to see if she understood and connected the dots. There was an awkward silence. She knew she was being tested. Toni would remember that moment and the darkness that had come over her that day.
“Something’s coming down, Dad,” she said. “Does President Kennedy know about this?”
Coup in Dallas: Who Ki... Albarelli Jr., H. P. Buy New $18.99 (as of 04:19 UTC - Details) “I haven’t mentioned it,” she remembered her father telling her. “What do you think?” her father asked again.
“Something’s going to happen and Johnson knows about it,” Toni immediately responded.
That incident may have been first sign of a continuing pattern that lasted the next seven months. It was no coincidence that all local, state and federal law enforcement officers, were removed in Dallas, unlike any other motorcade. The last vestiges of President Kennedy’s protection stopped at the corner of Houston and Elm Streets as the limousine entered Dealey Plaza. The fact that the only remaining motorcycle escorts – which were supposed to be flanking the rear quarter-panels of the limousine – had backed themselves completely away from the presidential limousine and began riding alongside the Secret Service car after the turn on Elm Street is proven by a photograph taken moments before JFK was hit for the first time by Phillip Willis.[iii]
This point was of course ignored by the Warren Commission, along with numerous other such indications of their complicity in the cover-up of JFK’s assassination.
Another marker for the same point, according to fifty-nine (59) witnesses, was their certainty that the limousine slowed, and either nearly stopped, or came to a complete momentary stop, as the head shots were fired.[iv] The fact that the brief stop was not apparent in the Zapruder film indicates that at a number of frames had been removed from it to achieve that result; and that could only have been accomplished by both preplanning and post-manipulation of that film, suggesting that it was not a spontaneous after-thought that Mr. Zapruder was positioned there for that purpose.
Certain agents stated that the reason for reducing the number of motorcycle escorts in the motorcade, and cutting two agents who normally rode on the back bumper of the presidential limousine, was because President Kennedy wanted to get “closer to the people” and that he had suddenly objected to the noise of too many motorcycles around him, despite the fact that nothing of the sort impeded the motorcades in San Antonio and Houston the day before the Dallas event.
Yet neither of those assertions had ever been expressed by JFK before, and many of Kennedy’s staff, including his primary advance man Jerry Bruno, had expressed concern about the level of hostility towards the President by right wing extremists in Dallas. According to the long-time JFK assassination researcher Edgar Tatro, Jerry Bruno had become so upset about the overall security risks in the Dallas motorcade – as planned by John Connally at Johnson’s direction leading to Bruno’s utter frustration – he had effectively been forced to step aside, replaced by LBJ sycophant Bill Moyers who naturally approved everything that Bruno had objected to. Tatro said: “Bruno was enraged when he testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA); he said ‘Connally didn’t care about Kennedy, he was a son-of-a-bitch’.”[v] Indeed the HSCA Report indicated that Bruno testified that the decision was finally made when, “I met with O’Donnell and Moyers who said that Connally was unbearable and on the verge of cancelling the trip. They decided they had to let the Governor have his way.”
The conversation of Mr. Shimon with his daughter seven months before the Dallas trip, described by author Peter Janney, should put to rest any remaining doubt about the real source of the request for the reduced presidential protection that took place in the Dallas motorcade: The planning for that particular motorcade – and only that one – was managed entirely by Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his sycophantic assistants, including Cliff Carter, Bill Moyers and US attorney (later promoted to Federal Judge) Barefoot Sanders, who resided in Dallas.
April 18:
On behalf of Lyndon Johnson, his highest-level aide at that point, Walter Jenkins, wrote a letter to George DeMohrenschildt (then acting as Lee Harvey Oswald’s “best friend”) in response to his request to get an appointment with Johnson:
April 19:
Mr. and Mrs George DeMohrenschildt left Dallas.
Having served his purpose as the enigmatic “handler” of Lee Harvey Oswald during the period of his stay in the Ft. Worth-Irving-Dallas area of Texas, it appears that CIA officials moved him into other positions, probably to exit him from the play then underway. George would visit Washington briefly before making an appearance at one of the most exclusive men’s clubs in New York City – the Knickerbocker Club.
There he met with a CIA operative code-named WUBRINY at a meeting attended by C. Frank Stone III, head of the CIA’s European clandestine section, and M. Clemard Joseph Charles, the banker who de Mohrenschildt would become closely identified with in Haiti. From New York he returned to Washington, where, in the process of setting up mineral concessions and arranging to acquire a sisal plantation in Haiti, de Mohrenschildt and Charles would meet, mysteriously, with Lyndon Johnson’s military advisor Howard Burris, to set up a meeting with Johnson himself by his highest-level assistant, Walter Jenkins.[vi] Due to Johnson’s customary secrecy measures, it is not clear when and where that meeting was held or what was discussed, but that kind of secrecy suggests the subject was of a sinister nature. Files on JFK: Intervie... Best Price: $12.32 Buy New $21.64 (as of 03:29 UTC - Details)
According to Penn Jones, DeMohrenschildt “may have been rushed away due to the strange death of his next door neighbor, Dr. William T. Wolf, who burned to death in his apartment on that day. General Edwin Walker said he suspected Wolf in relation to the Walker shooting attempt.”[vii]
April 23-24:
Adele Edisen’s Strange Encounter — the Mysterious Jose Rivera – The Title of Chapter 3 of H. P. Albarelli Jr.’s book Secret Order: Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity in the JFK Assassination, recounts in lengthy detail bizarre encounters Ms. Edisen had with a very strange man named Dr. Jose A. Rivera. By her account, on April 23rd in Washington DC, Rivera made numerous comments that strongly suggested he had been briefed extensively on plans to assassinate President Kennedy. These assertions, given that they had not previously met each other (except briefly the previous week at a medical conference in Atlantic City), were brazenly candid and suggested that he had very recently been exposed to what were supposed to be top secret and highly classified planning documents or oral briefs. One example of such a comment was, as they drove past the White House on April 23rd, “I wonder what Jackie will do when her husband dies.” After Adele replied “What!”, Rivera said, “Oh, oh, I meant the baby. She might lose the baby.” Even more bewilderingly, he asked her to call Lee Harvey Oswald at 899-4244. “Write down this name: Lee Harvey Oswald. Tell him to kill the chief.” Rivera then said, “No, no, don’t write that down. You will remember it when you get to New Orleans. We’re just playing a little joke on him.” The following day, she asked him about his comments and he warned her not to say anything about them to anyone, or she “would be very, very sorry.”[viii]
Lee Harvey Oswald suddenly left Dallas and traveled to New Orleans, where he would remain for five months before going to Mexico, then returning to Dallas. Two weeks prior to this, General Edwin A. Walker had narrowly missed being shot, an act that the Warren Commission portrayed as being done by Lee Harvey Oswald, conveniently marking him as a very violent malcontent.
Within that two-week period, Madeleine Brown — LBJ’s mistress and mother of his only son, whom he knew about but never acknowledged – claimed that she had been to Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club and heard Jack Ruby state that Oswald had been the man who shot at Walker. She had also stated that it was well known around Dallas that Oswald and Ruby knew each other and was surprised to learn that “officially they were not supposed to be connected.”[i]
Jack Ruby began making a series of telephone calls to his Mafia contacts around the country, particularly Chicago.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson went to Dallas to give a speech to two thousand civic and business leaders there at the Crystal ballroom in the Baker Hotel. In that speech, according to Penn Jones Jr.,[ii] LBJ made this very strange statement:
The President of the United States is like a pilot and the election is when the nation picks an airplane and pilot for the next four years. Once you pick him, and you’re flying across water in bad weather, don’t go up and open the door and try to knock him in the head. He’s the only pilot you have and if the plane goes down, you go with it. At least wait until next November before you shoot him down.
Johnson also leaked a story on that same date to the Dallas Times Herald which was printed the next day under a full banner headline on the front page: “LBJ Sees Kennedy Dallas Visit—One-Day Texas Tour Eyed.” He undoubtedly did this to ensure that Kennedy would then feel obligated to make the trip and not back out of it later.
The bizarre nature of Vice President Johnson’s actions – possibly related to his propensity of drinking too much Scotch whiskey – suggest that he, too, had recently been involved in a “touchstone” meeting back in Washington, or Langley, Virginia, before showing up in Dallas at that curious point in time. But the context here is not merely his actions, it is the totality of these numerous activities, probably many others unaccounted for as well, that belie a continuum of events playing out, all initiated well before April of 1963.
These events were most likely merely the result of an interim check-point whereby all the participants were given a “green light”, as if to say “everything on track for The Big Event,” proceed according to plan.
[i] WC Testimony, Vol XI, P. 405
[ii] Janney, Peter, Mary’s Mosaic, pp. 253-254
[iii] See Phillip Willis photo taken moments before JFK was shot (Richard Trask, Pictures of the Pain, p. 171)
[iv] See Palamara, Vince, 59 Witnesses: Delay on Elm Street: http://www.jfk-info.com/palam1.htm
[v] Ed Tatro, “LBJ’s Incriminating Loose Ends,” JFK Conference, Dallas, 2015 DVD (24:40 -24:57); See also HSCA Report, Vol. XI, p. 518. Also see HSCA Report, Vol. I, pp. 47-48 for Connally’s lies and backpedaling testimony.
[vi] Baker, Russ, Family of Secrets, pp. 105–107
[vii] Jones, Penn, Forgive My Grief, Vol. IV, p.1
[viii] See this Google Books link for further details on that chapter of Albarelli’s book. Also see this page on the Spartacus Educational website.
[ix] Marr, Jim, Crossfire, p. 404
[x] Jones, Penn, Jr., Forgive My Grief, Vol IV, p. 2
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The Best of Phillip F. Nelson


lewrockwell--2020-07-17--Mr. Trump, Deliver a Knockout Blow to the Traitorous CDC

I promise you , Mr. President , if you send a hundred FBI agents into the CDC and remove millions of their files as evidence , you ’ ll discover this federal agency is entirely corrupt , and has been for decades .
While the Department of Justice prepares indictments , make a public declaration that your administration will ignore all their COVID case numbers and recommendations .
They ’ re criminal liars .
That ’ s their whole game .
Let me help you out with four examples .
Face it , you ’ re not good with details @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to summarize the following revelations for you .
Plague of Corruption : ... Mikovits , Judy Buy New $ 16.51 ONE : The Atlantic , May 21 , 2020 , has a story , headlined , “ How could the CDC make that mistake ?
” I ’ ll give you the key quotes , and then comment on the stark inference The Atlantic somehow failed to grasp .
“ We ’ ve learned that the CDC is making , at best , a debilitating mistake : combining test results that diagnose current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whether someone has ever had the virus…The agency confirmed to The Atlantic on Wednesday that it is mixing the results of viral [ PCR ] and antibody tests , even though the two tests reveal different information and are used for different reasons.
” “ Several states—including Pennsylvania , the site of one of the country ’ s largest outbreaks , as well as Texas , Georgia , and Vermont—are blending the data in the same way .
Virginia likewise mixed viral and antibody test results until last week , but it reversed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice after it was covered by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Atlantic .
Maine similarly separated its data on Wednesday ; Vermont authorities claimed they didn ’ t even know they were doing this.
” “ ’ You ’ ve got to be kidding me , ’ Ashish Jha , the K. T. Li Professor of Global Health at Harvard and the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute , told us when we described what the CDC was doing .
‘ How could the CDC make that mistake ?
This is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stopped publishing anything resembling a complete database of daily [ COVID ] test results on February 29 .
When it resumed publishing test data last week [ the middle of May ] … ” First of all , notice the CDC stopped reporting complete case numbers on a daily basis , for two and a half months .
Remember that .
I ’ ll cover a more egregious CDC stoppage in a minute .
Plague : One Scientist & ... Mikovits , Judy Best Price : $ 29.55 Buy New $ 17.99 But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Atlantic fails to mention the true outcome of this “ test-combining mistake ” at the CDC—which , in fact , is a purposeful maneuver .
Only the PCR should be used for case-counting ( according to the conventional experts ) .
You take those two types of tests , the antibody and the PCR…put them together , add up those results which suggest COVID in any relevant or irrelevant way , and voila , you have inflated case numbers .
Which is exactly what the CDC wants .
They ’ re in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemics .
That ’ s called a crime .
TWO : In August of 2014 , a long-time researcher at the CDC , William Thompson , publicly admitted that he and his co-authors intentionally lied in their study of the MMR vaccine .
They concluded the vaccine did not raise the risk of autism .
But they knew this was a fabrication .
Their data ( which they threw out in the trash ) pointed to an increased risk of autism in very young African American children .
Thompson refused to speak with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confession on his attorney Rick Morgan ’ s website .
Thompson said he would testify at a Congressional hearing .
Despite efforts , a hearing never materialized .
Thompson remained silent , and the CDC reassigned him to another unit .
No one at the CDC has been prosecuted for this crime .
THREE : In the fall of 2009 , during the so-called Swine Flu epidemic , CBS investigative reporter , Sharyl Attkisson , discovered the CDC had secretly stopped counting cases in the US .
Yet , the agency was claiming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemic disease .
She found out why the CDC had gone dark .
Here is an excerpt from an interview I did with Attkisson : Inoculated : How Scienc ... Kent Heckenlively Best Price : $ 15.59 Buy New $ 15.14 Rappoport : “ In 2009 , you spearheaded coverage of the so-called Swine Flu pandemic .
You discovered that , in the summer of 2009 , the Centers for Disease Control , ignoring their federal mandate , [ secretly ] stopped counting Swine Flu cases in America .
Yet they continued to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ’ without having any real measure of its impact .
Wasn ’ t that another investigation of yours that was shut down ?
Wasn ’ t there more to find out ?
” Attkisson : “ The implications of the story were even worse than that .
We discovered through our FOI efforts that before the CDC mysteriously stopped counting Swine Flu cases , they had learned that almost none of the cases they had counted as Swine Flu was , in fact , Swine Flu or any sort of flu at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from one [ CBS ] executive was very enthusiastic .
He said it was ‘ the most original story ’ he ’ d seen on the whole Swine Flu epidemic .
But others pushed to stop it [ after it was published on the CBS News website ] and , in the end , no [ CBS television news ] broadcast wanted to touch it .
We aired numerous stories pumping up the idea of an epidemic , but not the one that would shed original , new light on all the hype @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legally approved and a heck of a story .
With the CDC keeping the true Swine Flu stats secret , it meant that many in the public took and gave their children an experimental vaccine that may not have been necessary.
” Total CDC fakery .
Turning a Nothing into a “ pandemic ” and selling it .
Needless to say , that is a crime .
But it isn ’ t end of the story .
The CDC wanted to commit another crime .
About three weeks after Attkisson ’ s findings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the CDC , obviously in a panic , decided to double down .
If one lie is exposed , tell an even bigger one .
A much bigger one .
Here , from a November 12 , 2009 , WebMD article is the CDC ’ s response : “ Shockingly , 14 million to 34 million U.S. residents — the CDC ’ s best guess is 22 million — came down with H1N1 swine flu by Oct. 17 [ 2009 ] .
” ( “ 22 million cases of Swine Flu in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
Are your eyeballs popping , Mr. Trump ?
They should be .
The Invisible Enemy Garrett , Mr. Gregory L ... Buy New $ 26.94 What about the Swine Flu vaccine people took in 2009 , to prevent the non-existent disease ?
Robert Kennedy , Jr. has made some pointed remarks on the subject .
You remember Robert , don ’ t you , Mr. President ?
Early on in your term , you met with him and discussed the subject of dangerous vaccinations .
Notice , in this quote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tony Fauci : “ For example , [ Dr. Anthony ] Fauci once shilled for the fast-tracked H1N1 influenza ( ‘ swine flu ’ ) vaccine on YouTube , reassuring viewers in 2009 that serious adverse events were ‘ very , very , very rare.
’ Shortly thereafter , the vaccine went on to wreak havoc in multiple countries , increasing miscarriage risks in pregnant women in the U.S. , provoking a spike in adolescent narcolepsy in Scandinavia and causing febrile convulsions in one in every 110 vaccinated children in Australia—prompting the latter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under-fives.
” FOUR : In 2003 , there was a declared SARS global epidemic .
I mention it to give you a flavor of CDC reportage .
On a current CDC website page , we find this : “ Severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus , called SARS-associated coronavirus ( SARS-CoV ) .
SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003 .
Over the next few months , the illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America , South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained.
” From reading that paragraph , you would think this was quite a dangerous and serious event .
But scrolling down further on the very same CDC page , we come to this : “ According to the World Health Organization ( WHO ) , a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with SARS during the 2003 outbreak .
Of these , 774 died .
In the United States , only eight people had laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV infection.
” AIDS Inc. Rappoport , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New $ 18.89 I assure you , Mr. Trump , the four examples I ’ ve cited are only a particle of a sliver of a tip of the scandal .
The CDC has been operating as a criminal agency inside the United States for a very long time .
Sending in the FBI to seize records , indicting and prosecuting hundreds , at the very least , of their employees and top executives , and cutting the agency off from any input whatsoever concerning COVID , would mark a tremendous service to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American people is backed up and justified by massively fraudulent data and fake science .
A MAJOR source of that data-cascade emanates like putrid swamp water from the CDC .
Take them out , Mr. President .
The Best of Jon Rappoport

“…against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”
Let’s get domestic.
I promise you, Mr. President, if you send a hundred FBI agents into the CDC and remove millions of their files as evidence, you’ll discover this federal agency is entirely corrupt, and has been for decades.
While the Department of Justice prepares indictments, make a public declaration that your administration will ignore all their COVID case numbers and recommendations. They’re criminal liars. That’s their whole game.
Let me help you out with four examples. Face it, you’re not good with details, so you may want a team to summarize the following revelations for you. Plague of Corruption: ... Mikovits, Judy Buy New $16.51 (as of 02:59 UTC - Details)
ONE: The Atlantic, May 21, 2020, has a story, headlined, “How could the CDC make that mistake?”
I’ll give you the key quotes, and then comment on the stark inference The Atlantic somehow failed to grasp.
“We’ve learned that the CDC is making, at best, a debilitating mistake: combining test results that diagnose current coronavirus infections with test results that measure whether someone has ever had the virus…The agency confirmed to The Atlantic on Wednesday that it is mixing the results of viral [PCR] and antibody tests, even though the two tests reveal different information and are used for different reasons.”
“Several states—including Pennsylvania, the site of one of the country’s largest outbreaks, as well as Texas, Georgia, and Vermont—are blending the data in the same way. Virginia likewise mixed viral and antibody test results until last week, but it reversed course and the governor apologized for the practice after it was covered by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Atlantic. Maine similarly separated its data on Wednesday; Vermont authorities claimed they didn’t even know they were doing this.”
“’You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Ashish Jha, the K. T. Li Professor of Global Health at Harvard and the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told us when we described what the CDC was doing. ‘How could the CDC make that mistake? This is a mess’.”
“The CDC stopped publishing anything resembling a complete database of daily [COVID] test results on February 29. When it resumed publishing test data last week [the middle of May]…”
First of all, notice the CDC stopped reporting complete case numbers on a daily basis, for two and a half months. Remember that. I’ll cover a more egregious CDC stoppage in a minute. Plague: One Scientist&... Mikovits, Judy Best Price: $29.55 Buy New $17.99 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
But here is the main event: The Atlantic fails to mention the true outcome of this “test-combining mistake” at the CDC—which, in fact, is a purposeful maneuver.
Only the PCR should be used for case-counting (according to the conventional experts).
You take those two types of tests, the antibody and the PCR…put them together, add up those results which suggest COVID in any relevant or irrelevant way, and voila, you have inflated case numbers. Which is exactly what the CDC wants. They’re in the business of raising false alarms and promoting epidemics. That’s called a crime.
TWO: In August of 2014, a long-time researcher at the CDC, William Thompson, publicly admitted that he and his co-authors intentionally lied in their study of the MMR vaccine.
They concluded the vaccine did not raise the risk of autism. But they knew this was a fabrication. Their data (which they threw out in the trash) pointed to an increased risk of autism in very young African American children.
Thompson refused to speak with the press, after he published his confession on his attorney Rick Morgan’s website. Thompson said he would testify at a Congressional hearing. Despite efforts, a hearing never materialized. Thompson remained silent, and the CDC reassigned him to another unit.
No one at the CDC has been prosecuted for this crime.
THREE: In the fall of 2009, during the so-called Swine Flu epidemic, CBS investigative reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, discovered the CDC had secretly stopped counting cases in the US.
Yet, the agency was claiming tens of thousands of Americans had the epidemic disease.
She found out why the CDC had gone dark. Here is an excerpt from an interview I did with Attkisson: Inoculated: How Scienc... Kent Heckenlively Best Price: $15.59 Buy New $15.14 (as of 01:58 UTC - Details)
Rappoport: “In 2009, you spearheaded coverage of the so-called Swine Flu pandemic. You discovered that, in the summer of 2009, the Centers for Disease Control, ignoring their federal mandate, [secretly] stopped counting Swine Flu cases in America. Yet they continued to stir up fear about the ‘pandemic,’ without having any real measure of its impact. Wasn’t that another investigation of yours that was shut down? Wasn’t there more to find out?”
Attkisson: “The implications of the story were even worse than that. We discovered through our FOI efforts that before the CDC mysteriously stopped counting Swine Flu cases, they had learned that almost none of the cases they had counted as Swine Flu was, in fact, Swine Flu or any sort of flu at all! The interest in the story from one [CBS] executive was very enthusiastic. He said it was ‘the most original story’ he’d seen on the whole Swine Flu epidemic. But others pushed to stop it [after it was published on the CBS News website] and, in the end, no [CBS television news] broadcast wanted to touch it. We aired numerous stories pumping up the idea of an epidemic, but not the one that would shed original, new light on all the hype. It was fair, accurate, legally approved and a heck of a story. With the CDC keeping the true Swine Flu stats secret, it meant that many in the public took and gave their children an experimental vaccine that may not have been necessary.”
Total CDC fakery. Turning a Nothing into a “pandemic” and selling it. Needless to say, that is a crime.
But it isn’t end of the story.
The CDC wanted to commit another crime. About three weeks after Attkisson’s findings were published on the CBS News website, the CDC, obviously in a panic, decided to double down. If one lie is exposed, tell an even bigger one. A much bigger one.
Here, from a November 12, 2009, WebMD article is the CDC’s response: “Shockingly, 14 million to 34 million U.S. residents — the CDC’s best guess is 22 million — came down with H1N1 swine flu by Oct. 17 [2009].” (“22 million cases of Swine Flu in US,” by Daniel J. DeNoon).
Are your eyeballs popping, Mr. Trump? They should be. The Invisible Enemy Garrett, Mr. Gregory L... Buy New $26.94 (as of 05:21 UTC - Details)
What about the Swine Flu vaccine people took in 2009, to prevent the non-existent disease? Robert Kennedy, Jr. has made some pointed remarks on the subject. You remember Robert, don’t you, Mr. President? Early on in your term, you met with him and discussed the subject of dangerous vaccinations. Notice, in this quote, Kennedy mentions your chief COVID liar, Tony Fauci:
“For example, [Dr. Anthony] Fauci once shilled for the fast-tracked H1N1 influenza (‘swine flu’) vaccine on YouTube, reassuring viewers in 2009 that serious adverse events were ‘very, very, very rare.’ Shortly thereafter, the vaccine went on to wreak havoc in multiple countries, increasing miscarriage risks in pregnant women in the U.S., provoking a spike in adolescent narcolepsy in Scandinavia and causing febrile convulsions in one in every 110 vaccinated children in Australia—prompting the latter to suspend its influenza vaccination program in under-fives.”
FOUR: In 2003, there was a declared SARS global epidemic. I mention it to give you a flavor of CDC reportage.
On a current CDC website page, we find this: “Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003. Over the next few months, the illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained.”
From reading that paragraph, you would think this was quite a dangerous and serious event. But scrolling down further on the very same CDC page, we come to this: “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with SARS during the 2003 outbreak. Of these, 774 died. In the United States, only eight people had laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV infection.”
Clever devils, these CDC people, aren’t they?
AIDS Inc. Rappoport, Jon Best Price: $33.29 Buy New $18.89 (as of 03:34 UTC - Details) I assure you, Mr. Trump, the four examples I’ve cited are only a particle of a sliver of a tip of the scandal. The CDC has been operating as a criminal agency inside the United States for a very long time.
Sending in the FBI to seize records, indicting and prosecuting hundreds, at the very least, of their employees and top executives, and cutting the agency off from any input whatsoever concerning COVID, would mark a tremendous service to the nation.
The economic war against the American people is backed up and justified by massively fraudulent data and fake science. A MAJOR source of that data-cascade emanates like putrid swamp water from the CDC.
Take them out, Mr. President.
Reprinted with permission from Jon Rappoport’s blog.
The Best of Jon Rappoport


Position Statement

Nothing moves and nothing wants to move , or even think about moving , under the punishing heat-dome .
For the moment , the sore beset nation stews in a dreadful stillness .
The mysterious consensus of the BLM mob has hit the “ pause ” button on street tantrums , though plenty of damage has been done to businesses , personal lives , undefended monuments , and the public interest .
Each day is another frightful step in the creep toward mass default as rents , mortgages , car loans , insurance premiums , electric bills , business debts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s like one of those eerie interludes on a battlefield when forces stop to gather their wounded and reassess their positions .
Perhaps you , like me , are skeptical of the news reports about the surge in Covid-19 cases — or , more to the point , what it actually means .
Cases may be surging , but deaths are way down .
Media megaphones such as CNN and The New York Times eagerly retail maximum hysteria to provoke renewed business lock-downs , ensuring further destruction to the old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to disparage Mr. Trump .
I wonder if the virus is , in fact , close to burning itself out and the surge in cases signifies that it will soon run out of new victims .
How many asymptomatic carriers are out there ?
We just don ’ t know , but by August we ’ ll have an idea .
NDLBS Donald Trump Hat ... Buy New $ 14.99 It ’ s certainly in the interest of the Woke Resistance and its inquisitors in the Woke media to keep the volume up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crucial to their strategy of forcing a vote-by-mail system that would easily invite voter fraud .
It also provides a cover for keeping their mummified lead candidate , Joe Biden , moldering silently in his basement like the ghost of Hubert Humphrey , as well as an excuse to avoid a real convention in Milwaukee , which would force Mr. Biden to step up and speak before a huge , live audience .
Imagine the mortification .
Just as I ’ m unconvinced about the meaning of the Covid-19 surge , I don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr. Biden ten points up on Mr. Trump .
I suspect many actual voters were not pleased by the June reign of terror unleashed by Democratic mayors and governors , and did not fail to notice exactly how all that went down .
And it is well-known now , four years after the last election and its janky polling , that many voters won ’ t reveal their true intentions to pollsters — fearing the vilification they ’ d invite .
Donald Trump 2020 Coll ... Buy New $ 37.94 I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lately condemning my failure to go all-out against Mr. Trump .
So , I ’ ll state my current position plainly : I didn ’ t vote for him last time , but I would vote for him this time to keep the Democratic Party out of power .
There ’ s a lot to not love about Mr. Trump in his persona and manner .
There ’ s a great deal more to fear about the prospect of Democratic Party control of government .
Their enmity to free speech can not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ culture .
Their appetite for coercion is at odds with the Bill of Rights .
Their bad faith and dishonesty have been on display through all the concocted melodramas of RussiaGate and its offshoots .
Their economic program is a mashup of all the failed central planning regimes from the bygone 20th century and is wholly inconsistent with the new imperatives to downscale and re-localize the real productive activities of daily life in this country .
Keep America Great Wom ... Buy New $ 15.95 Beyond Mr. Trump ’ s deformities of personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the blunt outlines of his policies .
I ’ m for strict control of the nations borders and frankly for reduced immigration .
Globalism is clearly winding down and Mr. Trump ’ s drive to produce more of what we need here in America is in step with that reality .
Mr. Trump has been careful to avoid new foreign misadventures — though the military establishment and their pals in the war industries have obstructed the president ’ s will to quit the old adventures still being prosecuted in places across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspect Mr. Trump might have accomplished more in the nation ’ s interest if he hadn ’ t been hounded , harried , and sabotaged by the ceaseless bad faith hostilities of his opponents since Nov 3 , 2016 .
I ’ m not confident about Mr. Trump ’ s management of the nation ’ s financial quandaries , and especially the racking-up of epic new debt , but there ’ s plenty of evidence that the Democratic Party would do a lot worse in terms of spending money that doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the country ’ s productive capacity , along with what remains of the middle class .
I believe anybody who has managed to stay sane through the travails of the past four years can not fail to see that the clinically incompetent Joe Biden is an obvious stalking horse for something more sinister .
I think we will learn what that is before much longer .
The Best of James Howard Kunstler

Nothing moves and nothing wants to move, or even think about moving, under the punishing heat-dome. For the moment, the sore beset nation stews in a dreadful stillness. The mysterious consensus of the BLM mob has hit the “pause” button on street tantrums, though plenty of damage has been done to businesses, personal lives, undefended monuments, and the public interest. Each day is another frightful step in the creep toward mass default as rents, mortgages, car loans, insurance premiums, electric bills, business debts, and other common obligations go unpaid. It’s like one of those eerie interludes on a battlefield when forces stop to gather their wounded and reassess their positions.
Perhaps you, like me, are skeptical of the news reports about the surge in Covid-19 cases — or, more to the point, what it actually means. Cases may be surging, but deaths are way down. Media megaphones such as CNN and The New York Times eagerly retail maximum hysteria to provoke renewed business lock-downs, ensuring further destruction to the old service economy and, more importantly, to disparage Mr. Trump. I wonder if the virus is, in fact, close to burning itself out and the surge in cases signifies that it will soon run out of new victims. How many asymptomatic carriers are out there? We just don’t know, but by August we’ll have an idea. NDLBS Donald Trump Hat... Buy New $14.99 (as of 04:22 UTC - Details)
It’s certainly in the interest of the Woke Resistance and its inquisitors in the Woke media to keep the volume up on Covid-19 hysteria. It’s crucial to their strategy of forcing a vote-by-mail system that would easily invite voter fraud. It also provides a cover for keeping their mummified lead candidate, Joe Biden, moldering silently in his basement like the ghost of Hubert Humphrey, as well as an excuse to avoid a real convention in Milwaukee, which would force Mr. Biden to step up and speak before a huge, live audience. Imagine the mortification.
Just as I’m unconvinced about the meaning of the Covid-19 surge, I don’t buy the polls that show Mr. Biden ten points up on Mr. Trump. I suspect many actual voters were not pleased by the June reign of terror unleashed by Democratic mayors and governors, and did not fail to notice exactly how all that went down. And it is well-known now, four years after the last election and its janky polling, that many voters won’t reveal their true intentions to pollsters — fearing the vilification they’d invite. Donald Trump 2020 Coll... Buy New $37.94 (as of 05:17 UTC - Details)
I’ve gotten a lot of letters and comments lately condemning my failure to go all-out against Mr. Trump. So, I’ll state my current position plainly: I didn’t vote for him last time, but I would vote for him this time to keep the Democratic Party out of power. There’s a lot to not love about Mr. Trump in his persona and manner. There’s a great deal more to fear about the prospect of Democratic Party control of government. Their enmity to free speech cannot be doubted after a decade of promoting cancel culture. Their appetite for coercion is at odds with the Bill of Rights. Their bad faith and dishonesty have been on display through all the concocted melodramas of RussiaGate and its offshoots. Their economic program is a mashup of all the failed central planning regimes from the bygone 20th century and is wholly inconsistent with the new imperatives to downscale and re-localize the real productive activities of daily life in this country.
Keep America Great Wom... Buy New $15.95 (as of 04:22 UTC - Details) Beyond Mr. Trump’s deformities of personal presentation, I am more in favor with the blunt outlines of his policies. I’m for strict control of the nations borders and frankly for reduced immigration. Globalism is clearly winding down and Mr. Trump’s drive to produce more of what we need here in America is in step with that reality. Mr. Trump has been careful to avoid new foreign misadventures — though the military establishment and their pals in the war industries have obstructed the president’s will to quit the old adventures still being prosecuted in places across the Middle East and West Asia. I suspect Mr. Trump might have accomplished more in the nation’s interest if he hadn’t been hounded, harried, and sabotaged by the ceaseless bad faith hostilities of his opponents since Nov 3, 2016.
I’m not confident about Mr. Trump’s management of the nation’s financial quandaries, and especially the racking-up of epic new debt, but there’s plenty of evidence that the Democratic Party would do a lot worse in terms of spending money that doesn’t exist and destroying what’s left of the country’s productive capacity, along with what remains of the middle class. I believe anybody who has managed to stay sane through the travails of the past four years cannot fail to see that the clinically incompetent Joe Biden is an obvious stalking horse for something more sinister. I think we will learn what that is before much longer.
Reprinted with permission from Kunstler.com.
The Best of James Howard Kunstler


lewrockwell--2020-07-17--The False-Positive Panic Over COVID-19

The False-Positive Panic Over COVID-19

Imagine an articulate chief lemming bragging that not only had his followers jumped off a cliff , but that they had done so in far greater numbers than any other slice of the rodents .
This is the position occupied by the US regarding testing for COVID-19.We ’ ve done more testing than any other country and bragged a lot about doing so ; but no one seems to have survived to give a proper interpretation of the results .
To begin with , the tests currently in use do not test for the entire virus , rather they just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Many of the results are thus false , sometimes false positives and sometimes false negatives .
This means one has to interpret their results with caution .
Our medical authorities , to say nothing of our political ones , don ’ t seem to be able to do this .
All medical students are taught the basics of screening in their introductory statistics course .
The problem is that most of them either didn ’ t go or slept through the course .
The rest immediately forgot what they had learned .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs to know the positive predicative value ( PPV ) of the test as well as the negative predictive value .
I ’ ll focus on the former .
MW Polar Peppered Smok ... Buy New $ 41.00 ( $ 0.48 / Ounce ) In order to know the PPV—i.e.
, the percent likelihood that a positive test is a true positive—the sensitivity of the test must be known as well as prevalence of the disease , at least to an approximate degree .
According to a recent article in the New England @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tests for COVID-19 is about 70 percent .
The prevalence in any of the tested populations is not yet known , so we can not calculate the PPV , although we can calculate what it would be at any prevalence level we want to assume .
I ’ ll get back to this below .
A test for COVID-19 that is 70 percent sensitive will only catch 70 percent of the tested subjects with the disease .
Therefore , 30 percent will falsely test negative .
Additionally , Bayes ’ s theorem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the numeracy of all but the most resolute of physicians , says that a 70 percent sensitive test will be positive in 30 percent of the tested population that doesn ’ t have the disease .
( I am assuming a specificity that is also 70 percent .
The specificity of the various tests used has not been given . )
Consider testing for COVID-19 in 1 million subjects , none of whom harbors the virus .
Three hundred thousand will test positive .
This is the reason I doubt this report from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the region has gone fourteen days without recording a single new case of COVID-19 .
Either they have stopped testing—you can ’ t get zero positive tests on a sizable population with a 70 percent sensitive test—or they are not telling the truth .
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker that is widely used and quoted considers a confirmed test to be equal to a positive test .
This is an error of epic dimensions for the reasons just stated .
MW polar Herring Fille ... Buy New $ 24.96 ( $ 0.30 / @ @ @ @ @ @ @ departments are making the same error .
They are testing their athletes daily or every other day using a test that is no better than 70 percent sensitive .
Eventually all the players will test positive .
They will be isolated for fourteen days , after which they may again test positive , ad infinitum .
How does one estimate the PPV of a COVID-19 test ?
At 70 percent sensitive there ’ s no need to .
Such a test is so contaminated with both false positives and negatives that its use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had a test that was 95 percent sensitive and specific .
The PPV is the number of true positives divided by the sum of true and false positives .
To make this calculation we must assume a prevalence of the virus in the sampled group .
Let ’ s start with a prevalence of 1 percent .
If we test 10,000 subjects , 100 will carry the virus .
Of these , 95 will test positive .
Bayes ’ s theorem says 495 ( 5 percent of the 9,900 patients ) without the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That ’ s 495 false positive tests .
The PPV in this hypothetical sample is 95/95+495 , or about 16 percent .
Now assume our population ( again 10,000 subjects ) has 50 percent true positives .
Here our PPV is 95 percent ( 4700/ 4700+250 ) .
The relationship of PPV to prevalence is given in the figure below .
Note that even with a 95 percent sensitive test we ’ ll be overwhelmed with false positive results if our tested population has a low prevalence for the virus .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positives we ’ re likely to get if our testing is not focused .
It should be obvious from the data above that all the testing we have done and continue to do has likely confused more than enlightened .
The virus is real and in the wild .
How should we effectively deal with it ?
The best indicator of our status is how many people are in the hospital because of a clinical diagnosis of viral pneumonia .
More specifically , how many are in the ICU .
Note that testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today is that any case of viral pneumonia is caused by the coronavirus .
MW Polar Herring , Kipp ... Buy New $ 24.84 ( $ 0.39 / Ounce ) If our situation regarding the epidemic improves , widespread testing will have played no role in this improvement .
Why any improvement ?
We recognized who the at-risk population was and they took shelter and continue to do so .
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventon ( CDC ) estimates that mortality from COVID-19 in patients younger than 50 is 0.05 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ younger patients comes from those with comorbidity .
We also have gotten better at treating patients with severe pneumonia caused by the coronavirus .
The virus is likely to be with us for some time .
Epidemics end either when those most susceptible to the pathogen have been exposed to it or when an effective and safe vaccine is available .
We don ’ t have such a vaccine .
It ’ s hard to know when or if one will be available .
And the logistics of manufacturing and administering billions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we have to coexist with it while not destroying society , socially and economically , in the process .
We will also have to admit that our current testing regime has alarmed the planet without contributing a health benefit .
Note : The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute .

Imagine an articulate chief lemming bragging that not only had his followers jumped off a cliff, but that they had done so in far greater numbers than any other slice of the rodents. This is the position occupied by the US regarding testing for COVID-19.We’ve done more testing than any other country and bragged a lot about doing so; but no one seems to have survived to give a proper interpretation of the results.
To begin with, the tests currently in use do not test for the entire virus, rather they just test for various fragments of it. Many of the results are thus false, sometimes false positives and sometimes false negatives. This means one has to interpret their results with caution. Our medical authorities, to say nothing of our political ones, don’t seem to be able to do this.
All medical students are taught the basics of screening in their introductory statistics course. The problem is that most of them either didn’t go or slept through the course. The rest immediately forgot what they had learned.
When testing for anything, a medical professional needs to know the positive predicative value (PPV) of the test as well as the negative predictive value. I’ll focus on the former. MW Polar Peppered Smok... Buy New $41.00 ($0.48 / Ounce) (as of 04:07 UTC - Details)
In order to know the PPV—i.e., the percent likelihood that a positive test is a true positive—the sensitivity of the test must be known as well as prevalence of the disease, at least to an approximate degree. According to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, the sensitivity of the tests for COVID-19 is about 70 percent. The prevalence in any of the tested populations is not yet known, so we cannot calculate the PPV, although we can calculate what it would be at any prevalence level we want to assume. I’ll get back to this below.
A test for COVID-19 that is 70 percent sensitive will only catch 70 percent of the tested subjects with the disease. Therefore, 30 percent will falsely test negative. Additionally, Bayes’s theorem, the mere mention of which defeats the numeracy of all but the most resolute of physicians, says that a 70 percent sensitive test will be positive in 30 percent of the tested population that doesn’t have the disease. (I am assuming a specificity that is also 70 percent. The specificity of the various tests used has not been given.) Consider testing for COVID-19 in 1 million subjects, none of whom harbors the virus. Three hundred thousand will test positive.
This is the reason I doubt this report from Asturias, Spain, which tells us the region has gone fourteen days without recording a single new case of COVID-19. Either they have stopped testing—you can’t get zero positive tests on a sizable population with a 70 percent sensitive test—or they are not telling the truth.
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker that is widely used and quoted considers a confirmed test to be equal to a positive test. This is an error of epic dimensions for the reasons just stated.
MW polar Herring Fille... Buy New $24.96 ($0.30 / Ounce) (as of 04:08 UTC - Details) The professional and college athletics departments are making the same error. They are testing their athletes daily or every other day using a test that is no better than 70 percent sensitive. Eventually all the players will test positive. They will be isolated for fourteen days, after which they may again test positive, ad infinitum.
How does one estimate the PPV of a COVID-19 test? At 70 percent sensitive there’s no need to. Such a test is so contaminated with both false positives and negatives that its use is virtually without utility. Suppose we had a test that was 95 percent sensitive and specific. The PPV is the number of true positives divided by the sum of true and false positives. To make this calculation we must assume a prevalence of the virus in the sampled group. Let’s start with a prevalence of 1 percent. If we test 10,000 subjects, 100 will carry the virus. Of these, 95 will test positive. Bayes’s theorem says 495 (5 percent of the 9,900 patients) without the virus will also have a positive result. That’s 495 false positive tests. The PPV in this hypothetical sample is 95/95+495, or about 16 percent.
Now assume our population (again 10,000 subjects) has 50 percent true positives. Here our PPV is 95 percent (4700/ 4700+250). The relationship of PPV to prevalence is given in the figure below. Note that even with a 95 percent sensitive test we’ll be overwhelmed with false positive results if our tested population has a low prevalence for the virus. The more we test, the more false positives we’re likely to get if our testing is not focused.
It should be obvious from the data above that all the testing we have done and continue to do has likely confused more than enlightened. The virus is real and in the wild. How should we effectively deal with it? The best indicator of our status is how many people are in the hospital because of a clinical diagnosis of viral pneumonia. More specifically, how many are in the ICU. Note that testing here is unnecessary, as the assumption today is that any case of viral pneumonia is caused by the coronavirus. MW Polar Herring, Kipp... Buy New $24.84 ($0.39 / Ounce) (as of 04:23 UTC - Details)
If our situation regarding the epidemic improves, widespread testing will have played no role in this improvement. Why any improvement? We recognized who the at-risk population was and they took shelter and continue to do so. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventon (CDC) estimates that mortality from COVID-19 in patients younger than 50 is 0.05 percent. Virtually all of this mortality in younger patients comes from those with comorbidity. We also have gotten better at treating patients with severe pneumonia caused by the coronavirus.
The virus is likely to be with us for some time. Epidemics end either when those most susceptible to the pathogen have been exposed to it or when an effective and safe vaccine is available. We don’t have such a vaccine. It’s hard to know when or if one will be available. And the logistics of manufacturing and administering billions of doses are formidable. In the meanwhile, we have to coexist with it while not destroying society, socially and economically, in the process. We will also have to admit that our current testing regime has alarmed the planet without contributing a health benefit.
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.


lewrockwell--2020-07-17--No Change on the Way to No Cash

No Change on the Way to No Cash

When people are terrified , it is hard for them to think – which probably explains why they seem unable to now .
Can it possibly be a coincidence that as the number of “ cases ” endlessly reported is increasing , the amount of change available at stores is all of a sudden decreasing ?
Could the two be .
.
.
connected somehow ?
Is it credible that – all of a sudden and right now – there ’ s no change in the till , just by chance ?
When such shortages have never happened before ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ purported “ shortage ” of coins is contrived – to push people toward not using cash ?
2020 American Silver E ...
Check Amazon for Pricing .
It ’ s a thought you ’ d think more people would have .
One that might raise some questions in their minds .
But then , they don ’ t seem to think very much about the “ cases , ” either .
Instead , they are scared – terrified .
And – not surprisingly – passive .
Terror , psychologists will tell you , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparatus .
There is a reason why rabbits freeze when confronted with a predator .
Americans , lots of them , have become lagomorphic .
They freeze – paralyzed by the fear instilled by the predator .
They are shocked into submission ( the Soviets styled their front-line troops shock troops for a reason ; it is not a coincidence that the applicators of state terrorism under the Great Decider also used the term , shock and awe – as a paralytic agent ) .
They could , of course act .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible .
But the “ peaceful protestors ” are not lagomorphic – perhaps the last Americans to not have descended to rabbithood .
Their motives – and morals – are not the point here .
The point is they didn ’ t freeze .
1 oz .
Silver Bullet - ... Buy New $ 30.00 If America is to be saved , it will take Americans – with good motives and morals – unfreezing .
Which if they did so would avoid an actual fight and the possibility of general destruction and mindless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a previous example of what happens when people freeze when confronted by predators .
It only took a handful of Lenin ’ s Bolshevik thugs to gain control of St. Petersburg in Russia – because most of the city ’ s residents froze in terror .
They let the thugs take over .
They served as the silent ballast of the Communist Revolution – and many didn ’ t live to regret it .
Today ’ s Bolshevists are also a handful .
The media , as it is styled , is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large corporations and these corporations are controlled by at most a few dozen people , who want you to hear about the cases but never the 99-plus percent recovery from them or the 80-plus percent no symptoms from them .
Every day , as many times per day as possible .
To lagomorphize you into statuary .
So as to acclimate you to a cashless society in which you will no longer have the capability to protest – peacefully or otherwise .
How will you eat when they can take away your work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by making it impossible for you to pay except using their digital payment system , contingent on your being a very good little lagomorph ?
It ought to get people to think .
Why is the media – the word implies a great panoply of news outlets and thousands of reporters and commentators – uniform in its reporting and commentary ?
The Best of Eric Peters

When people are terrified, it is hard for them to think – which probably explains why they seem unable to now. Can it possibly be a coincidence that as the number of “cases” endlessly reported is increasing, the amount of change available at stores is all of a sudden decreasing?
Could the two be . . . connected somehow?
Is it credible that – all of a sudden and right now – there’s no change in the till, just by chance? When such shortages have never happened before?
Do you suppose it is possible this purported “shortage” of coins is contrived – to push people toward not using cash?
2020 American Silver E... Check Amazon for Pricing. It’s a thought you’d think more people would have. One that might raise some questions in their minds.
But then, they don’t seem to think very much about the “cases,” either.
Instead, they are scared – terrified. And – not surprisingly – passive. Terror, psychologists will tell you, induces torpor. It frazzles the cognitive apparatus. There is a reason why rabbits freeze when confronted with a predator.
Americans, lots of them, have become lagomorphic. They freeze – paralyzed by the fear instilled by the predator. They are shocked into submission (the Soviets styled their front-line troops shock troops for a reason; it is not a coincidence that the applicators of state terrorism under the Great Decider also used the term, shock and awe – as a paralytic agent).
They could, of course act.
The “peaceful protestors” showed it is possible. But the “peaceful protestors” are not lagomorphic – perhaps the last Americans to not have descended to rabbithood. Their motives – and morals – are not the point here.
The point is they didn’t freeze. 1 oz. Silver Bullet - ... Buy New $30.00 (as of 04:39 UTC - Details)
If America is to be saved, it will take Americans – with good motives and morals – unfreezing. Which if they did so would avoid an actual fight and the possibility of general destruction and mindless mayhem that could easily exceed that of a previous example of what happens when people freeze when confronted by predators.
It only took a handful of Lenin’s Bolshevik thugs to gain control of St. Petersburg in Russia – because most of the city’s residents froze in terror. They let the thugs take over. They served as the silent ballast of the Communist Revolution – and many didn’t live to regret it.
Today’s Bolshevists are also a handful. The media, as it is styled, is in fact the property of a few very large corporations and these corporations are controlled by at most a few dozen people, who want you to hear about the cases but never the 99-plus percent recovery from them or the 80-plus percent no symptoms from them. Every day, as many times per day as possible.
To lagomorphize you into statuary. So as to acclimate you to a cashless society in which you will no longer have the capability to protest – peacefully or otherwise. How will you eat when they can take away your work and your food and everything else – by making it impossible for you to pay except using their digital payment system, contingent on your being a very good little lagomorph?
It ought to get people to think. Why is the media – the word implies a great panoply of news outlets and thousands of reporters and commentators – uniform in its reporting and commentary?
Read the Whole Article
The Best of Eric Peters


lewrockwell--2020-07-17--Is America Up for a Naval War With China?

Is the U.S. , preoccupied with a pandemic and a depression that medical crisis created , prepared for a collision with China over Beijing ’ s claims to the rocks , reefs and resources of the South China Sea ?
For that is what Mike Pompeo appeared to threaten this week .
“ The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire , ” thundered the secretary of state .
“ America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources … and ( we ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes right ’ in the South China Sea.
” Stealth War : How China ... Spalding , Robert Best Price : $ 17.42 Buy New $ 14.99 Thus did Pompeo put Beijing on notice that the U.S. does not recognize its claim to 90 % of the South China Sea or to any exclusive Chinese right to its fishing grounds or oil and gas resources .
Rather , in a policy shift , the U.S. now recognizes the rival claims of Vietnam , Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and the Philippines .
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stand , the U.S. sent the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz carrier battle groups through the South China Sea .
And , this week , the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson sailed close by the Spratly Islands .
But what do Mike Pompeo ’ s tough words truly mean ?
Suicide of a Superpowe ... Buchanan , Patrick J .
Best Price : $ 2.00 Buy New $ 10.78 While we have recognized the claims of the other littoral states of the South China Sea , does Pompeo mean America will use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should China use force against the vessels of those five nations ?
Does it mean that if Manila , our lone treaty ally in these disputes , uses force to reclaim what we see as its lawful rights in the South China Sea , the U.S. Navy will fight the Chinese navy to validate Manila ’ s claims ?
Has Pompeo drawn a red line , which Beijing has been told not to cross at risk of war with the United States ?
If so , does anyone in Washington think the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the entire South China Sea or retreat from reasserting those claims because the U.S. now rejects them ?
Consider what happened to the people of Hong Kong when they thought they had the world ’ s democracies at their back .
For a year , they marched and protested for greater political freedom with some believing they might win independence .
State of Emergency Patrick Buchanan Best Price : $ 1.99 Buy New $ 9.99 But when Beijing had had enough , it trashed the Basic Law under which Hong Kong had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a crackdown .
The democracies protested and imposed economic sanctions .
But the bottom line is that Hong Kong ’ s people not only failed to enlarge the sphere of freedom they had , but also they are losing much of what they had .
The Americans , seeing Hong Kong being absorbed into China , are now canceling the special economic privileges we had accorded the city , as the British offer millions of visas to Hong Kong ’ s dissidents who fear what Beijing has in store for them .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human rights atrocities in Xinjiang : “ The world received disturbing reports today that the Chinese Communist Party is using forced sterilization , forced abortion , and coercive family planning against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang , as part of a continuing campaign of repression.
” These reports , said Pompeo , “ are sadly consistent with decades of CCP practices that demonstrate an utter disregard for the sanctity of human life and basic human dignity.
” We Have Been Harmonize ... Strittmatter , Kai Buy New $ 30.99 China has rejected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Kazakhs and of its handling of Hong Kong as interference in its internal affairs and none of America ’ s business .
As for the South China Sea , China dismissively replied , the U.S. seems to be “ throwing its weight around in every sea of the world.
” These American warnings , and Beijing ’ s response , call to mind the darker days of the Cold War .
So , again , the question : Is America prepared for a naval clash in the South China Sea if Beijing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reefs she claims as her own ?
Are we prepared for a Cold War II — with China ?
While China lacks the strategic arsenal the USSR had in the latter years of the Cold War , economically , technologically and industrially , China is a far greater power than Soviet Russia ever was .
And China ’ s population is four times as large .
Can we , should we , begin to assemble a system of alliances similar to what we had during the Cold War — with NATO in Europe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ South Korea , the Philippines , Taiwan , Australia and New Zealand ?
Should we adopt a policy of containment of Communist China , which , says Pompeo , is an expansionist and “ imperialist ” power ?
Should we start issuing war guarantees to China ’ s neighbors ?
Should we start putting down red lines China will not be allowed to cross ?
Before we plunged into our half dozen Middle East wars , we didn ’ t think through where those would end .
Have we considered where all our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and how this all ends ?
The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan

Shop all books by Pat Buchanan
Is the U.S., preoccupied with a pandemic and a depression that medical crisis created, prepared for a collision with China over Beijing’s claims to the rocks, reefs and resources of the South China Sea?
For that is what Mike Pompeo appeared to threaten this week.
“The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire,” thundered the secretary of state.
“America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources … and (we) reject any push to impose ‘might makes right’ in the South China Sea.” Stealth War: How China... Spalding, Robert Best Price: $17.42 Buy New $14.99 (as of 04:26 UTC - Details)
Thus did Pompeo put Beijing on notice that the U.S. does not recognize its claim to 90% of the South China Sea or to any exclusive Chinese right to its fishing grounds or oil and gas resources.
Rather, in a policy shift, the U.S. now recognizes the rival claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines.
To signal the seriousness of Pompeo’s stand, the U.S. sent the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz carrier battle groups through the South China Sea. And, this week, the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson sailed close by the Spratly Islands.
But what do Mike Pompeo’s tough words truly mean?
Suicide of a Superpowe... Buchanan, Patrick J. Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $10.78 (as of 01:50 UTC - Details) While we have recognized the claims of the other littoral states of the South China Sea, does Pompeo mean America will use its naval power to defend their claims should China use force against the vessels of those five nations?
Does it mean that if Manila, our lone treaty ally in these disputes, uses force to reclaim what we see as its lawful rights in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy will fight the Chinese navy to validate Manila’s claims?
Has Pompeo drawn a red line, which Beijing has been told not to cross at risk of war with the United States?
If so, does anyone in Washington think the Chinese are going to give up their claims to the entire South China Sea or retreat from reasserting those claims because the U.S. now rejects them?
Consider what happened to the people of Hong Kong when they thought they had the world’s democracies at their back.
For a year, they marched and protested for greater political freedom with some believing they might win independence. State of Emergency Patrick Buchanan Best Price: $1.99 Buy New $9.99 (as of 06:50 UTC - Details)
But when Beijing had had enough, it trashed the Basic Law under which Hong Kong had been ceded back to China and began a crackdown.
The democracies protested and imposed economic sanctions. But the bottom line is that Hong Kong’s people not only failed to enlarge the sphere of freedom they had, but also they are losing much of what they had.
The Americans, seeing Hong Kong being absorbed into China, are now canceling the special economic privileges we had accorded the city, as the British offer millions of visas to Hong Kong’s dissidents who fear what Beijing has in store for them.
In June, Pompeo also charged Beijing with human rights atrocities in Xinjiang: “The world received disturbing reports today that the Chinese Communist Party is using forced sterilization, forced abortion, and coercive family planning against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, as part of a continuing campaign of repression.”
These reports, said Pompeo, “are sadly consistent with decades of CCP practices that demonstrate an utter disregard for the sanctity of human life and basic human dignity.” We Have Been Harmonize... Strittmatter, Kai Buy New $30.99 (as of 05:21 UTC - Details)
China has rejected U.S. protests of its treatment of Uighurs and Kazakhs and of its handling of Hong Kong as interference in its internal affairs and none of America’s business.
As for the South China Sea, China dismissively replied, the U.S. seems to be “throwing its weight around in every sea of the world.”
These American warnings, and Beijing’s response, call to mind the darker days of the Cold War.
So, again, the question: Is America prepared for a naval clash in the South China Sea if Beijing continues to occupy and fortify islets and reefs she claims as her own? Are we prepared for a Cold War II — with China?
While China lacks the strategic arsenal the USSR had in the latter years of the Cold War, economically, technologically and industrially, China is a far greater power than Soviet Russia ever was. And China’s population is four times as large.
Can we, should we, begin to assemble a system of alliances similar to what we had during the Cold War — with NATO in Europe and Asian security pacts with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand? Should we adopt a policy of containment of Communist China, which, says Pompeo, is an expansionist and “imperialist” power?
Should we start issuing war guarantees to China’s neighbors? Should we start putting down red lines China will not be allowed to cross?
Before we plunged into our half dozen Middle East wars, we didn’t think through where those would end. Have we considered where all our belated bellicosity toward Beijing must invariably lead, and how this all ends?
The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan