lewrockwell--2020-11-05--The World Now Sees That There’s No Exceptionalism or Grandeur in American Democracy But Only Chaos &

The World Now Sees That There’s No Exceptionalism or Grandeur in American Democracy But Only Chaos & a Sense of Injustice

Even if Trump loses , the truth is that to many Americans Trumpism isn ’ t a pathology but a new normal which is a product of a massive social divide caused by dissatisfaction with the political system and life in general .
The world watches with bated breath as the US Presidential election sits at a dead heat .
It ’ s going down to the wire and nobody knows who is going to emerge victor yet .
Despite polls having shown a comfortable Joe Biden victory , Donald Trump has again come out far stronger than expected and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every vote in crucial swing states to surpass the electoral college tally of 270 .
The President however , has already declared victory for himself , and has threatened court action should things go against him with longstanding objections to mail-in absentee ballots .
His defiance means that should he technically lose , a contested result is inevitable .
Audiences around the world are either way aghast .
What they see does not fill them with confidence .
In other western countries , the thought of enduring four more years of Trump or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s still performing far better than expected despite everything , makes little sense .
The Red Thread : A Sear ... West , Diana Buy New $ 9.47 Even if Biden wins , such a tight and deadlocked outcome ultimately makes him unconvincing , revealing a sharply divided country which at large can not find faith in an alternative to a Trumpism , which beyond its borders is widely derided as woeful .
The resilience of Trump ’ s platform either way is endemic of an American system that is simply not delivering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perceived as a “ bad mistake ” which will “ go away ” but a deeper and more pervasive identity conflict which will persist .
Public opinion in the United States and among its allies in Europe could not be further apart .
When polled on their preferences for this election , the outcome was a no brainer for EU citizens who favoured Biden by margins as high as 80 % .
In their minds , Trump was so awful and so damaging to America ’ s standing in the world that for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be contemplated .
They have a lot of reasons to cite , too many to list in this article .
Many in the world were not quite prepared for the fact that Trump ’ s support would in fact hold up , and like in 2016 confound opinion pollsters .
How could such a “ safe hands alternative ” as Biden have to fight a walking disaster to the knife edge ?
Above the Law : The Ins ... Whitaker , Matthew Buy New $ 26.09 Either way it goes , the affair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A loose cannon like Trump not only remains competitive , but it also shows there are underlying problems in American society which are yet to be addressed .
Even if he marginally loses , there is a hard hitting truth that for all of its seemingly awful tendencies , to many average Americans Trumpism isn ’ t a pathology , it isn ’ t a mistake and it isn ’ t a bad smell that can be simply vanquished , it ’ s a new normal and a product of massive social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ widespread dissatisfaction with the political system and prospects for life in general .
Trump ’ s pleas to bring back jobs to America , to restore national glory and emphasize identity have widespread appeal even if we can point out their damaging consequences .
These factors have allowed Trump not to sink as liberal critics envisioned and were again complacent about , but to float .
Sagas such as the Black Lives Matter protests which played out over the summer were hugely controversial , and irrespective of how you judge the situation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polarization of rival camps and entrench identities .
The enormous acceleration in turnout illustrates that to many the stakes of this election were huge .
In essence , it is a clash between two very different and antagonistic visions of America .
Those who hate Trump may have turned out , but as have those who see the President as defending a way of life which they feel is slipping away .
Biden of course may still win , yet can we say he would come out smelling of roses ?
And for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , these very divides as set out and the closeness of the result guarantee imminent controversy and anger , either way .
Such polarization means “ the other half ” is likely to express dismay and in the case of Trump losing , he ’ s going to incite chaos in contesting the result and will ultimately exacerbate the very identity conflict which has made him so influential to begin with .
The Stakes : The 2020 E ... Anton , Michael Buy New $ 28.99 Again to the wider world , this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credibility and political system , it does not radiate exceptionalism or grandeur in its democracy as many politicians like to claim , but chaos , uncertainty and a prevailing sense of injustice .
If anything , even madness .
As we eagerly await the outcome , those who assumed Trump was doomed to certain failure were wrong , yet again .
He could yet go down , but not without a wholly damaging fight with massive implications for the legitimacy of his successor , and vice versa .
If anything , this has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and society continue to abound in ways outside observers just don ’ t understand and have produced a bitterly divided country whereby multiple visions of its identity are competing , and neither is prepared to give up the fight so easily .
Let ’ s see what happens .
The statements , views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT .

Even if Trump loses, the truth is that to many Americans Trumpism isn’t a pathology but a new normal which is a product of a massive social divide caused by dissatisfaction with the political system and life in general.
The world watches with bated breath as the US Presidential election sits at a dead heat. It’s going down to the wire and nobody knows who is going to emerge victor yet. Despite polls having shown a comfortable Joe Biden victory, Donald Trump has again come out far stronger than expected and thus both parties are now chasing down every vote in crucial swing states to surpass the electoral college tally of 270.
The President however, has already declared victory for himself, and has threatened court action should things go against him with longstanding objections to mail-in absentee ballots. His defiance means that should he technically lose, a contested result is inevitable.
Audiences around the world are either way aghast. What they see does not fill them with confidence. In other western countries, the thought of enduring four more years of Trump or for that matter, that he’s still performing far better than expected despite everything, makes little sense. The Red Thread: A Sear... West, Diana Buy New $9.47 (as of 04:36 UTC - Details)
Even if Biden wins, such a tight and deadlocked outcome ultimately makes him unconvincing, revealing a sharply divided country which at large cannot find faith in an alternative to a Trumpism, which beyond its borders is widely derided as woeful.
The resilience of Trump’s platform either way is endemic of an American system that is simply not delivering. The last four years are not perceived as a “bad mistake” which will “go away” but a deeper and more pervasive identity conflict which will persist.
Public opinion in the United States and among its allies in Europe could not be further apart. When polled on their preferences for this election, the outcome was a no brainer for EU citizens who favoured Biden by margins as high as 80%. In their minds, Trump was so awful and so damaging to America’s standing in the world that for him to go forward again could not be contemplated. They have a lot of reasons to cite, too many to list in this article.
Many in the world were not quite prepared for the fact that Trump’s support would in fact hold up, and like in 2016 confound opinion pollsters. How could such a “safe hands alternative” as Biden have to fight a walking disaster to the knife edge?
Above the Law: The Ins... Whitaker, Matthew Buy New $26.09 (as of 05:57 UTC - Details) Either way it goes, the affair paints a grim picture for American democracy. A loose cannon like Trump not only remains competitive, but it also shows there are underlying problems in American society which are yet to be addressed. Even if he marginally loses, there is a hard hitting truth that for all of its seemingly awful tendencies, to many average Americans Trumpism isn’t a pathology, it isn’t a mistake and it isn’t a bad smell that can be simply vanquished, it’s a new normal and a product of massive social divides in the United States which spells widespread dissatisfaction with the political system and prospects for life in general. Trump’s pleas to bring back jobs to America, to restore national glory and emphasize identity have widespread appeal even if we can point out their damaging consequences.
These factors have allowed Trump not to sink as liberal critics envisioned and were again complacent about, but to float. Sagas such as the Black Lives Matter protests which played out over the summer were hugely controversial, and irrespective of how you judge the situation, served in fact to further consolidate the polarization of rival camps and entrench identities.
The enormous acceleration in turnout illustrates that to many the stakes of this election were huge. In essence, it is a clash between two very different and antagonistic visions of America. Those who hate Trump may have turned out, but as have those who see the President as defending a way of life which they feel is slipping away.
Biden of course may still win, yet can we say he would come out smelling of roses? And for that matter would Trump? Absolutely not, these very divides as set out and the closeness of the result guarantee imminent controversy and anger, either way.
Such polarization means “the other half” is likely to express dismay and in the case of Trump losing, he’s going to incite chaos in contesting the result and will ultimately exacerbate the very identity conflict which has made him so influential to begin with. The Stakes: The 2020 E... Anton, Michael Buy New $28.99 (as of 03:16 UTC - Details)
Again to the wider world, this holds negative connotations for America’s credibility and political system, it does not radiate exceptionalism or grandeur in its democracy as many politicians like to claim, but chaos, uncertainty and a prevailing sense of injustice. If anything, even madness.
As we eagerly await the outcome, those who assumed Trump was doomed to certain failure were wrong, yet again. He could yet go down, but not without a wholly damaging fight with massive implications for the legitimacy of his successor, and vice versa. If anything, this has shown us that problems in American politics and society continue to abound in ways outside observers just don’t understand and have produced a bitterly divided country whereby multiple visions of its identity are competing, and neither is prepared to give up the fight so easily. Let’s see what happens.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-11-05--The Truth Behind the Biggest Threat to the ‘War on Terror’ Narrative

“ If you must break the law , do it to seize power : in all other cases observe it.
” The illegal invasion of Libya , in which Britain was complicit and a British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee ’ s report confirmed as an illegal act sanctioned by the UK government , over which Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister ( weeks before the release of the UK parliament report ) , occurred from March – Oct , 2011 .
On Sept 11-12th , 2012 , U.S .
Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens , U.S. Foreign Service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CIA contractors Tyron Woods and Glen Doherty were killed at two U.S. government facilities in Benghazi .
Under Fire : The Untold ... Katz , Samuel M. Best Price : $ 1.26 Buy New $ 4.99 It is officially denied to this date that al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization participated in the Benghazi attack .
It is also officially denied that the attack was pre-meditated .
On the 6th year anniversary of the Benghazi attack , Barack Obama stated at a partisan speech on Sept 10th , 2018 , delivered at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outrage over the details concerning the Benghazi attack were the result of “ wild conspiracy theory ” perpetrated by conservatives and Republican members of Congress .
However , according to an August 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency report ( only released to the public in May 2015 ) , this is anything but the case .
The report was critical of the policies of then President Obama as a direct igniter for the rise of ISIS and the creation of a “ caliphate ” by Syria-based radical Islamists and al-Qaeda .
The report also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gone to radical Islamist “ allies ” of the United States and NATO in the overthrowing of Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi .
These arms shipments were sent to Syria and became the arsenal that allowed ISIS and other radical rebels to grow .
“ AQI [ al-qaeda –iraq ] SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING , BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA… WESTERN COUNTRIES , THE GULF STATES AND TURKEY ARE SUPPORTING THESE EFFORTS… THE WEST , GULF COUNTRIES , AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE [ SYRIAN ] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IN EASTERN SYRIA ( HASAKA AND DER ZOR ) , AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT , IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME… ” [ emphasis added ] Another DIA document from Oct 2012 ( also released in May 2015 ) , reported that Gaddafi ’ s vast arsenal was being shipped from Benghazi to two Syrian ports under the control of the Syrian rebel groups .
Essentially , the DIA documents were reporting that the .
When the watchdog group Judicial Watch received the series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act lawsuits ( FOIA ) in May 2015 , the State Department , the Administration and various media outlets trashed the reports as insignificant and unreliable .
There was just one problem ; Lt. Gen. Flynn was backing up the reliability of the released DIA reports .
Lt. Gen. Flynn as Director of the DIA from July 2012 – Aug. 2014 , was responsible for acquiring accurate intelligence on ISIS ’ s and other extremist operations within the Middle East , but did not have any authority in shaping U.S. military policy in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acquiring .
In a July 2015 interview with Al-Jazeera , Flynn went so far as to state that the rise of ISIS was the result of a “ willful decision , ” not an intelligence failure , by the Obama Administration .
In the Al-Jazeera interview Flynn was asked : Q : You are basically saying that even in government at the time you knew these groups were around , you saw this analysis , and you were arguing against it , but who wasn ’ t listening ?
Q : So the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ analysis ?
FLYNN : I don ’ t know that they turned a blind eye , I think it was a decision .
I think it was a willful decision .
Q : A willful decision to support an insurgency that had Salafists , al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood ?
FLYNN : It was a willful decision to do what they ’ re doing .
Flynn was essentially stating ( in the 47 minute interview ) that the United States was fully aware that weapons trafficking from Benghazi to the Syrian rebels was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flow of arms from Libya to the Syrian opposition , via Turkey was CIA sponsored and had been underway shortly after Gaddafi ’ s death in Oct 2011 .
The operation was largely run out of a covert CIA annex in Benghazi , with State Department acquiescence .
This information was especially troubling in light of the fact that the Obama Administration ’ s policy , from mid-2011 on , was to overthrow the Assad government .
The question of “ who will replace Assad ?
” was never fully answered .
Perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FOIA-released DIA documents was a report from Sept. 16 , 2012 , which provided a detail account of the pre-meditated nature of the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi , reporting that the attack had been planned ten days prior , detailing the groups involved .
The report revealed that it was in fact an al-Qaeda linked terrorist group that was responsible for the Benghazi attack .
That despite this intelligence , the Obama Administration continued to permit arms-trafficking to the al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels even after the 9/11/12 attacks .
In August 2015 , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack Syrian government forces if they interfered with the American “ vetted , trained and armed ” forces .
This U.S. approved Division 30 Syrian rebel group “ defected ” almost immediately , with U.S. weapons in hand , to align with the Nusra Front , the formal al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria .
Obama ’ s Semantics War : Any Friend of Yours is a Friend of Mine “ Flynn incurred the wrath of the [ Obama ] White House by insisting on telling the truth about Syria… He thought truth was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” – Patrick Lang ( retired army colonel , served for nearly a decade as the chief Middle East civilian intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency ) Before being named Director of the DIA , Flynn served as Director of Intelligence for the Joint Staff , as Director of Intelligence for the U.S. Central Command , and as Director of Intelligence for the Joint Special Operations Command .
Flynn ’ s criticisms and opposition to the Obama Administration ’ s policies in his interview with Al-Jazeera in 2015 was nothing new .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the DIA supported Gen. Dempsey ’ s intervention , as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , in forcing then President Obama to cancel orders to launch a massive bombing campaign against the Syrian government and armed forces .
Flynn and Dempsey both argued that the overthrow of the Assad government would lead to a radical Islamist stronghold in Syria , much like what was then happening in Libya .
This account was also supported in Seymour Hersh ’ s paper “ Military to Military ” published in Jan 2016 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Michael Flynn , director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014 , confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad .
The jihadists , he said , were in control of the opposition .
Turkey wasn ’ t doing enough to stop the smuggling of foreign fighters and weapons across the border .
‘ If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily , at the most sensitive level , they would go ballistic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understood Isis ’ s long-term strategy and its campaign plans , and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.
’ The DIA ’ s reporting , he [ Flynn ] said , ‘ got enormous pushback ’ from the Obama administration .
‘ I felt that they did not want to hear the truth.
’ [ According to a former JCS adviser ] ’ …To say Assad ’ s got to go is fine , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone is better .
It ’ s the “ anybody else is better ” issue that the JCS had with Obama ’ s policy.
’ The Joint Chiefs felt that a direct challenge to Obama ’ s policy would have ‘ had a zero chance of success ’ .
So in the autumn of 2013 they decided to take steps against the extremists without going through political channels , by providing U.S. intelligence to the militaries of other nations , on the understanding that it would be passed on to the Syrian army @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State [ ISIS ] .
” [ emphasis added ] According to Hersh ’ s sources , it was through the militaries of Germany , Israel and Russia , who were in contact with the Syrian army , that the U.S. intelligence on where the terrorist cells were located was shared , hence the “ military to military ” .
There was no direct contact between the U.S. and the Syrian military .
“ The two countries [ U.S. & Syria ] collaborated against al-Qaida , their common enemy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Special Operations Command said that , after 9/11 , ‘ Bashar was , for years , extremely helpful to us while , in my view , we were churlish in return , and clumsy in our use of the gold he gave us .
That quiet co-operation continued among some elements , even after the [ Bush administration ’ s ] decision to vilify him.
’ In 2002 Assad authorised Syrian intelligence to turn over hundreds of internal files on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and Germany .
Later that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by al-Qaida on the headquarters of the U.S. Navy ’ s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain , and Assad agreed to provide the CIA with the name of a vital al-Qaida informant .
In violation of this agreement , the CIA contacted the informant directly ; he rejected the approach , and broke off relations with his Syrian handlers .
…It was this history of co-operation that made it seem possible in 2013 that Damascus would agree to the new indirect intelligence-sharing arrangement with the U.S. ” However , as the Syrian army gained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Saudi Arabia , Qatar and Turkey escalated their financing and arming of al-Nusra and ISIS .
In fact , it was “ later ” discovered that the Erdogan government had been supporting al-Nusra and ISIS for years .
In addition , after the June 30th , 2013 revolution in Egypt , Turkey became a regional hub for the Muslim Brotherhood ’ s International Organization .
In Sept. 2015 , Russia came in and directly intervened militarily , upon invitation by the Syrian government , and effectively destroyed ISIS strongholds within Syrian territory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 on Nov 24th , 2015 for allegedly entering Turkish airspace for 17 seconds .
Days after the Russian fighter jet was shot down , Obama expressed support for Erdogan and stated at a Dec. 1st , 2015 press conference that his administration would remain “ very much committed to Turkey ’ s security and its sovereignty ” .
Obama also said that as long as Russia remained allied with Assad , “ a lot of Russian resources are still going to be targeted at opposition groups … that we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think we should be under any illusions that somehow Russia starts hitting only Isil targets .
That ’ s not happening now .
It was never happening .
It ’ s not going to be happening in the next several weeks.
” Today , not one of those “ opposition groups ” has shown itself to have remained , or possibly ever been , anti-extremist .
And neither the Joint Chiefs nor the DIA believed that there was ever such a thing as “ moderate rebels.
” Rather , as remarked by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the problem.
” Imad Moustapha , was the Syrian Ambassador to the United States from 2004 to Dec. 2011 , and has been the Syrian Ambassador to China for the past eight years .
In an interview with Seymour Hersh , Moustapha stated : “ ‘ China regards the Syrian crisis from three perspectives , ’ he said : international law and legitimacy ; global strategic positioning ; and the activities of jihadist Uighurs , from Xinjiang province in China ’ s far west .
Xinjiang borders eight nations – Mongolia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Afghanistan , Pakistan and India – and , in China ’ s view , serves as a funnel for terrorism around the world and within China .
Many Uighur fighters now in Syria are known to be members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement – an often violent separatist organisation that seeks to establish an Islamist Uighur state in Xinjiang .
‘ The fact that they have been aided by Turkish intelligence to move from China into Syria through Turkey has caused a tremendous amount of tension between the Chinese and Turkish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China is concerned that the Turkish role of supporting the Uighur fighters in Syria may be extended in the future to support Turkey ’ s agenda in Xinjiang .
We are already providing the Chinese intelligence service with information regarding these terrorists and the routes they crossed from on travelling into Syria.
’ ” [ emphasis added ] This view was echoed by a Washington foreign affairs analyst whose views are routinely sought by senior government officials , informing Hersh that : “ Erdoğan has been bringing Uighurs into Syria by special transport @ @ @ @ @ @ @ favour of their struggle in China .
Uighur and Burmese Muslim terrorists who escape into Thailand somehow get Turkish passports and are then flown to Turkey for transit into Syria.
” China understands that the best way to combat the terrorist recruiting that is going on in these regions is to offer aid towards reconstruction and economic development projects .
By 2016 , China had allegedly committed more than $ 30 billion to postwar reconstruction in Syria .
The Field of Fight : Ho ... Ledeen , Michael Best Price : $ 8.10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Joint Special Operations Command could not hide his contempt , according to Hersh , when he was asked for his view of the U.S. policy on Syria .
“ ‘ The solution in Syria is right before our nose , ’ he said .
‘ Our primary threat is Isis and all of us – the United States , Russia and China – need to work together.
’ “ The military ’ s indirect pathway to Assad disappeared with Dempsey ’ s retirement in September 25th , 2015 .
His replacement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Joseph Dunford , testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in July 2015 , two months before assuming office , “ If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States , I ’ d have to point to Russia.
” Flynn ’ s Call for Development in the Middle East to Counter Terrorism Not only was Flynn critical of the Obama Administration ’ s approach to countering terrorism in the Middle East , his proposed solution was to actually , and rather focus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most effective and stable impediment to the growth of extremists .
Flynn stated in the July 2015 interview with Al-Jazeera : “ Frankly , an entire new economy is what this region needs .
They need to take this 15-year old , to 25 to 30-year olds in Saudi Arabia , the largest segment of their population ; in Egypt , the largest segment of their population , 15 to roughly 30 years old , mostly young men .
You ’ ve got to give them something else to do .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to turn on their own governments , and we can solve that problem .
So that is the conversation that we have to have with them , and we have to help them do that .
And in the meantime , what we have is this continued investment in conflict .
The more weapons we give , the more bombs we drop , that just fuels the conflict .
Some of that has to be done , but I ’ m looking for other solutions .
I ’ m looking for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and we ’ re not having it ; we ’ re not having it as the United States.
” [ emphasis added ] Flynn also stated in the interview that the U.S. can not , and should not , deter the development of nuclear energy in the Middle East : “ It now equals nuclear development of some type in the Middle East , and now what we want… what I hope for is that we have nuclear [ energy ] development , because it also helps for projects like desalinization , getting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it actually is so cost effective , much more cost effective for producing water from desalinization.
” Flynn was calling for a new strategic vision for the Middle East , and making it clear that “ conflict only ” policies were only going to add fuel to the fire , that cooperative economic policies are the true solution to attaining peace in the Middle East .
Pivotal to this is the expansion of nuclear energy , while assuring non-proliferation of nuclear weapons , which Flynn states “ has to be done in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Doubt , Blame the Russians How did the Obama Administration respond to Flynn ’ s views ?
He was fired ( forced resignation ) from his post as Director of the DIA on April 30th , 2014 .
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel , who was briefed by Flynn on the intelligence reports and was also critical of the U.S. Administration ’ s strategy in the Middle East was also forced to resign in Feb. 2015 .
With the election of Trump as President on Nov. 8 2016 , Lt. Gen. Flynn was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for National Security Adviser on Nov. 18th , 2016 .
Just weeks later , Flynn was targeted by the FBI and there was a media sensation over Flynn being a suspected “ Russian agent ” .
Flynn was taken out before he had a chance to even step into his office , prevented from doing any sort of overhaul with the intelligence bureaus and Joint Chiefs of Staff , which was most certainly going to happen .
Instead Flynn was forced to resign on Feb. 13th , 2017 after incessant media attacks undermining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of working for the Russians against the welfare of the American people .
Despite an ongoing investigation on the allegations against Flynn , there has been no evidence to this date that has justified any charge .
In fact , volumes of exculpatory evidence have been presented to exonerate Flynn from any wrongdoing including perjury .
At this point , the investigation of Flynn has been put into question as consciously disingenuous and as being stalled by the federal judge since May 2020 , refusing to release Flynn it seems while a Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question thus stands ; in whose best interest is it that no peace be permitted to occur in the Middle East and that U.S.-Russian relations remain verboten ?
And is such an interest a friend or foe to the American people ?
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation .

“If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.”
– Julius Caesar
The illegal invasion of Libya, in which Britain was complicit and a British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s report confirmed as an illegal act sanctioned by the UK government, over which Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister (weeks before the release of the UK parliament report), occurred from March – Oct, 2011.
Muammar al-Gaddafi was assassinated on Oct. 20th, 2011.
On Sept 11-12th, 2012, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service information management officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyron Woods and Glen Doherty were killed at two U.S. government facilities in Benghazi. Under Fire: The Untold... Katz, Samuel M. Best Price: $1.26 Buy New $4.99 (as of 06:51 UTC - Details)
It is officially denied to this date that al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization participated in the Benghazi attack. It is also officially denied that the attack was pre-meditated.
On the 6th year anniversary of the Benghazi attack, Barack Obama stated at a partisan speech on Sept 10th, 2018, delivered at the University of Illinois, that the outrage over the details concerning the Benghazi attack were the result of “wild conspiracy theory” perpetrated by conservatives and Republican members of Congress.
However, according to an August 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency report (only released to the public in May 2015), this is anything but the case. The report was critical of the policies of then President Obama as a direct igniter for the rise of ISIS and the creation of a “caliphate” by Syria-based radical Islamists and al-Qaeda. The report also identified that arms shipments in Libya had gone to radical Islamist “allies” of the United States and NATO in the overthrowing of Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi. These arms shipments were sent to Syria and became the arsenal that allowed ISIS and other radical rebels to grow.
The declassified DIA report states:
“AQI [al-qaeda –iraq] SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA… WESTERN COUNTRIES, THE GULF STATES AND TURKEY ARE SUPPORTING THESE EFFORTS… THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…” [emphasis added]
Another DIA document from Oct 2012 (also released in May 2015), reported that Gaddafi’s vast arsenal was being shipped from Benghazi to two Syrian ports under the control of the Syrian rebel groups.
Essentially, the DIA documents were reporting that the Obama Administration was supporting Islamist extremism, including the Muslim Brotherhood .
When the watchdog group Judicial Watch received the series of DIA reports through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits (FOIA) in May 2015, the State Department, the Administration and various media outlets trashed the reports as insignificant and unreliable.
There was just one problem; Lt. Gen. Flynn was backing up the reliability of the released DIA reports.
Lt. Gen. Flynn as Director of the DIA from July 2012 – Aug. 2014, was responsible for acquiring accurate intelligence on ISIS’s and other extremist operations within the Middle East, but did not have any authority in shaping U.S. military policy in response to the Intel the DIA was acquiring.
In a July 2015 interview with Al-Jazeera, Flynn went so far as to state that the rise of ISIS was the result of a “willful decision,” not an intelligence failure, by the Obama Administration.
In the Al-Jazeera interview Flynn was asked:
Q: You are basically saying that even in government at the time you knew these groups were around, you saw this analysis, and you were arguing against it, but who wasn’t listening?
FLYNN: I think the Administration.
Q: So the Administration turned a blind eye to your analysis?
FLYNN: I don’t know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision.
Q: A willful decision to support an insurgency that had Salafists, al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood?
FLYNN: It was a willful decision to do what they’re doing.
Flynn was essentially stating (in the 47 minute interview) that the United States was fully aware that weapons trafficking from Benghazi to the Syrian rebels was occurring. In fact, the secret flow of arms from Libya to the Syrian opposition, via Turkey was CIA sponsored and had been underway shortly after Gaddafi’s death in Oct 2011. The operation was largely run out of a covert CIA annex in Benghazi, with State Department acquiescence.
This information was especially troubling in light of the fact that the Obama Administration’s policy, from mid-2011 on, was to overthrow the Assad government. The question of “who will replace Assad?” was never fully answered.
Perhaps the most troubling to Americans among the FOIA-released DIA documents was a report from Sept. 16, 2012, which provided a detail account of the pre-meditated nature of the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi, reporting that the attack had been planned ten days prior, detailing the groups involved.
The report revealed that it was in fact an al-Qaeda linked terrorist group that was responsible for the Benghazi attack. That despite this intelligence, the Obama Administration continued to permit arms-trafficking to the al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels even after the 9/11/12 attacks.
In August 2015, then President Obama ordered for U.S. forces to attack Syrian government forces if they interfered with the American “vetted, trained and armed” forces. This U.S. approved Division 30 Syrian rebel group “defected” almost immediately, with U.S. weapons in hand, to align with the Nusra Front, the formal al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
Obama’s Semantics War: Any Friend of Yours is a Friend of Mine
“Flynn incurred the wrath of the [Obama] White House by insisting on telling the truth about Syria… He thought truth was the best thing and they shoved him out.”
– Patrick Lang (retired army colonel, served for nearly a decade as the chief Middle East civilian intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency)
Before being named Director of the DIA, Flynn served as Director of Intelligence for the Joint Staff, as Director of Intelligence for the U.S. Central Command, and as Director of Intelligence for the Joint Special Operations Command.
Flynn’s criticisms and opposition to the Obama Administration’s policies in his interview with Al-Jazeera in 2015 was nothing new. In August 2013, Flynn as Director of the DIA supported Gen. Dempsey’s intervention, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in forcing then President Obama to cancel orders to launch a massive bombing campaign against the Syrian government and armed forces. Flynn and Dempsey both argued that the overthrow of the Assad government would lead to a radical Islamist stronghold in Syria, much like what was then happening in Libya.
This account was also supported in Seymour Hersh’s paper “Military to Military” published in Jan 2016, to which he states:
“Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling of foreign fighters and weapons across the border. ‘If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me. ‘We understood Isis’s long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA’s reporting, he [Flynn] said, ‘got enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration. ‘I felt that they did not want to hear the truth.’
[According to a former JCS adviser]’…To say Assad’s got to go is fine, but if you follow that through – therefore anyone is better. It’s the “anybody else is better” issue that the JCS had with Obama’s policy.’ The Joint Chiefs felt that a direct challenge to Obama’s policy would have ‘had a zero chance of success’. So in the autumn of 2013 they decided to take steps against the extremists without going through political channels, by providing U.S. intelligence to the militaries of other nations, on the understanding that it would be passed on to the Syrian army and used against the common enemy, Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State [ISIS].” [emphasis added]
According to Hersh’s sources, it was through the militaries of Germany, Israel and Russia, who were in contact with the Syrian army, that the U.S. intelligence on where the terrorist cells were located was shared, hence the “military to military”. There was no direct contact between the U.S. and the Syrian military.
Hersh states in his paper:
“The two countries [U.S. & Syria] collaborated against al-Qaida, their common enemy. A longtime consultant to the Joint Special Operations Command said that, after 9/11, ‘Bashar was, for years, extremely helpful to us while, in my view, we were churlish in return, and clumsy in our use of the gold he gave us. That quiet co-operation continued among some elements, even after the [Bush administration’s] decision to vilify him.’ In 2002 Assad authorised Syrian intelligence to turn over hundreds of internal files on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and Germany. Later that year, Syrian intelligence foiled an attack by al-Qaida on the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and Assad agreed to provide the CIA with the name of a vital al-Qaida informant. In violation of this agreement, the CIA contacted the informant directly; he rejected the approach, and broke off relations with his Syrian handlers.
…It was this history of co-operation that made it seem possible in 2013 that Damascus would agree to the new indirect intelligence-sharing arrangement with the U.S.”
However, as the Syrian army gained strength with the Dempsey-led-Joint Chiefs’ support, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey escalated their financing and arming of al-Nusra and ISIS. In fact, it was “later” discovered that the Erdogan government had been supporting al-Nusra and ISIS for years. In addition, after the June 30th, 2013 revolution in Egypt, Turkey became a regional hub for the Muslim Brotherhood’s International Organization.
In Sept. 2015, Russia came in and directly intervened militarily, upon invitation by the Syrian government, and effectively destroyed ISIS strongholds within Syrian territory. In response, Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 on Nov 24th, 2015 for allegedly entering Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. Days after the Russian fighter jet was shot down, Obama expressed support for Erdogan and stated at a Dec. 1st, 2015 press conference that his administration would remain “very much committed to Turkey’s security and its sovereignty”. Obama also said that as long as Russia remained allied with Assad, “a lot of Russian resources are still going to be targeted at opposition groups … that we support … So I don’t think we should be under any illusions that somehow Russia starts hitting only Isil targets. That’s not happening now. It was never happening. It’s not going to be happening in the next several weeks.”
Today, not one of those “opposition groups” has shown itself to have remained, or possibly ever been, anti-extremist. And neither the Joint Chiefs nor the DIA believed that there was ever such a thing as “moderate rebels.”
Rather, as remarked by a JCS adviser to Hersh, “Turkey is the problem.”
China’s “Uyghur Problem”
Imad Moustapha, was the Syrian Ambassador to the United States from 2004 to Dec. 2011, and has been the Syrian Ambassador to China for the past eight years.
In an interview with Seymour Hersh, Moustapha stated:
“‘China regards the Syrian crisis from three perspectives,’ he said: international law and legitimacy; global strategic positioning; and the activities of jihadist Uighurs, from Xinjiang province in China’s far west. Xinjiang borders eight nations – Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – and, in China’s view, serves as a funnel for terrorism around the world and within China. Many Uighur fighters now in Syria are known to be members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement – an often violent separatist organisation that seeks to establish an Islamist Uighur state in Xinjiang. ‘The fact that they have been aided by Turkish intelligence to move from China into Syria through Turkey has caused a tremendous amount of tension between the Chinese and Turkish intelligence,’ Moustapha said. ‘China is concerned that the Turkish role of supporting the Uighur fighters in Syria may be extended in the future to support Turkey’s agenda in Xinjiang. We are already providing the Chinese intelligence service with information regarding these terrorists and the routes they crossed from on travelling into Syria.’ ” [emphasis added]
This view was echoed by a Washington foreign affairs analyst whose views are routinely sought by senior government officials, informing Hersh that:
“Erdoğan has been bringing Uighurs into Syria by special transport while his government has been agitating in favour of their struggle in China. Uighur and Burmese Muslim terrorists who escape into Thailand somehow get Turkish passports and are then flown to Turkey for transit into Syria.”
China understands that the best way to combat the terrorist recruiting that is going on in these regions is to offer aid towards reconstruction and economic development projects. By 2016, China had allegedly committed more than $30 billion to postwar reconstruction in Syria. The Field of Fight: Ho... Ledeen, Michael Best Price: $8.10 Buy New $8.10 (as of 06:51 UTC - Details)
The long-time consultant to the Joint Special Operations Command could not hide his contempt, according to Hersh, when he was asked for his view of the U.S. policy on Syria. “‘The solution in Syria is right before our nose,’ he said. ‘Our primary threat is Isis and all of us – the United States, Russia and China – need to work together.’“
The military’s indirect pathway to Assad disappeared with Dempsey’s retirement in September 25th, 2015. His replacement as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Joseph Dunford, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in July 2015, two months before assuming office, “If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I’d have to point to Russia.”
Flynn’s Call for Development in the Middle East to Counter Terrorism
Not only was Flynn critical of the Obama Administration’s approach to countering terrorism in the Middle East, his proposed solution was to actually downgrade the emphasis on military counter-operations , and rather focus on economic development within these regions as the most effective and stable impediment to the growth of extremists.
Flynn stated in the July 2015 interview with Al-Jazeera:
“Frankly, an entire new economy is what this region needs. They need to take this 15-year old, to 25 to 30-year olds in Saudi Arabia, the largest segment of their population; in Egypt, the largest segment of their population, 15 to roughly 30 years old, mostly young men. You’ve got to give them something else to do. If you don’t, they’re going to turn on their own governments, and we can solve that problem.
So that is the conversation that we have to have with them, and we have to help them do that. And in the meantime, what we have is this continued investment in conflict. The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just fuels the conflict. Some of that has to be done, but I’m looking for other solutions. I’m looking for the other side of this argument, and we’re not having it; we’re not having it as the United States.” [emphasis added]
Flynn also stated in the interview that the U.S. cannot, and should not, deter the development of nuclear energy in the Middle East:
“It now equals nuclear development of some type in the Middle East, and now what we want… what I hope for is that we have nuclear [energy] development, because it also helps for projects like desalinization, getting water…nuclear energy is very clean, and it actually is so cost effective, much more cost effective for producing water from desalinization.”
Flynn was calling for a new strategic vision for the Middle East, and making it clear that “conflict only” policies were only going to add fuel to the fire, that cooperative economic policies are the true solution to attaining peace in the Middle East. Pivotal to this is the expansion of nuclear energy, while assuring non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, which Flynn states “has to be done in a very international, inspectable way.”
When In Doubt, Blame the Russians
How did the Obama Administration respond to Flynn’s views?
He was fired (forced resignation) from his post as Director of the DIA on April 30th, 2014. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was briefed by Flynn on the intelligence reports and was also critical of the U.S. Administration’s strategy in the Middle East was also forced to resign in Feb. 2015.
With the election of Trump as President on Nov. 8 2016, Lt. Gen. Flynn was swiftly announced as Trump’s choice for National Security Adviser on Nov. 18th, 2016.
Just weeks later, Flynn was targeted by the FBI and there was a media sensation over Flynn being a suspected “Russian agent”. Flynn was taken out before he had a chance to even step into his office, prevented from doing any sort of overhaul with the intelligence bureaus and Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was most certainly going to happen. Instead Flynn was forced to resign on Feb. 13th, 2017 after incessant media attacks undermining the entire Trump Administration, accusing them of working for the Russians against the welfare of the American people.
Despite an ongoing investigation on the allegations against Flynn, there has been no evidence to this date that has justified any charge. In fact, volumes of exculpatory evidence have been presented to exonerate Flynn from any wrongdoing including perjury. At this point, the investigation of Flynn has been put into question as consciously disingenuous and as being stalled by the federal judge since May 2020, refusing to release Flynn it seems while a Trump Administration is still in effect.
The question thus stands; in whose best interest is it that no peace be permitted to occur in the Middle East and that U.S.-Russian relations remain verboten? And is such an interest a friend or foe to the American people?
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.


The Trump Review

Being a Wednesday-morning columnist is a good gig , except the day after Election Day when nobody will be interested in whatever statistics I ’ d researched on Monday .
So , having no clue how the voting turned out yesterday , let me try to be at least vaguely relevant by finally getting around to telling you My Opinion of Trump .
It occurs to me that I ’ ve probably written less about Donald Trump ’ s personality over the past four years than just about any pundit in America .
One reason is because everybody else writes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is analyzing topics that few dare mention , such as how urban murders were up 53 % over 2019 during the June–August George Floyd mourning process .
( How ’ s that media-declared Racial Reckoning working out for big-city property values anyway ? )
Steinbrenner : The Last ... Madden , Bill Best Price : $ 1.21 Buy New $ 17.04 Another reason is that my main interest is in pattern recognition : I ’ m basically a baseball-stats-type guy who instead analyzes social data .
He is who he is and nobody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is perhaps the most “ To thine own self be true ” personality I ’ ve ever seen .
He has been authentically Trump-like throughout the decades .
Joe Biden , in contrast , although resembling Trump in his egomania and lack of a filter , tries to keep you from noticing as he chases trends , such as announcing in Kenosha that Thomas Edison didn ’ t invent the light bulb , it was some black dude whose name Joe doesn ’ t recall at the moment .
George : The Poor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : $ 1.89 Buy New $ 11.77 Moreover , Biden is not all that unusual a personality ; in fact , other than being skinny , he ’ s a cliché cocky jock : the car dealer ’ s son who played split end in small college football and took a few knocks on the head , a Gerald Ford with fragile self-esteem issues .
It ’ s not a coincidence that in Biden ’ s three tries for the White House , he has been most successful now that his personality is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his basement .
Blair Nathan writes : Biden is the perfect candidate for the Coalition of the Fringes because he ’ s been running as a generic Democrat , a compromise candidate none of the factions are excited about but all believe they can influence to some degree .
So the ambiguity and lack of content of “ Bidenism ” are well suited to the ungainly coalition that makes up the modern Dems .
The one Trump forerunner I can recall is bombastic George Steinbrenner , who bought the New York Yankees baseball @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and New York City were down and out .
Like Trump a few years later , Steinbrenner bet big on New York City and won .

Being a Wednesday-morning columnist is a good gig, except the day after Election Day when nobody will be interested in whatever statistics I’d researched on Monday.
So, having no clue how the voting turned out yesterday, let me try to be at least vaguely relevant by finally getting around to telling you My Opinion of Trump.
It occurs to me that I’ve probably written less about Donald Trump’s personality over the past four years than just about any pundit in America.
One reason is because everybody else writes incessantly about Trump, while my niche is analyzing topics that few dare mention, such as how urban murders were up 53% over 2019 during the June–August George Floyd mourning process. (How’s that media-declared Racial Reckoning working out for big-city property values anyway?) Steinbrenner: The Last... Madden, Bill Best Price: $1.21 Buy New $17.04 (as of 06:52 UTC - Details)
Another reason is that my main interest is in pattern recognition: I’m basically a baseball-stats-type guy who instead analyzes social data.
Trump, on the other hand, is sui generis. Over the 35 years since he first surfaced in the national media, Trump has been such a unique personality that I haven’t been that interested in him because he doesn’t seem terribly exemplary of any patterns or trends.
He is who he is and nobody else is quite like him. Trump is perhaps the most “To thine own self be true” personality I’ve ever seen. He has been authentically Trump-like throughout the decades.
Joe Biden, in contrast, although resembling Trump in his egomania and lack of a filter, tries to keep you from noticing as he chases trends, such as announcing in Kenosha that Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb, it was some black dude whose name Joe doesn’t recall at the moment. George: The Poor Littl... Golenbock, Peter Best Price: $1.89 Buy New $11.77 (as of 06:52 UTC - Details)
Moreover, Biden is not all that unusual a personality; in fact, other than being skinny, he’s a cliché cocky jock: the car dealer’s son who played split end in small college football and took a few knocks on the head, a Gerald Ford with fragile self-esteem issues. It’s not a coincidence that in Biden’s three tries for the White House, he has been most successful now that his personality is muted by age, masks, and his basement. Blair Nathan writes:
Biden is the perfect candidate for the Coalition of the Fringes because he’s been running as a generic Democrat, a compromise candidate none of the factions are excited about but all believe they can influence to some degree. So the ambiguity and lack of content of “Bidenism” are well suited to the ungainly coalition that makes up the modern Dems.
The one Trump forerunner I can recall is bombastic George Steinbrenner, who bought the New York Yankees baseball team in 1973 when both the Yankees and New York City were down and out. Like Trump a few years later, Steinbrenner bet big on New York City and won.
Trump has boasted that Steinbrenner was his mentor and best friend
Read the Whole Article


A Pleasant Conversation

I recently watched a video conversation between Ira Katz and Mary Kochan .
Those of you who read LRC might be familiar with Ira – and I have also mentioned him several times at this blog .
I came to learn of Mary through the Paul VanderKlay community .
Her videos are deserving of a wider audience .
I offer my comments below – comments I also posted at Mary ’ s site .
Sorry , I didn ’ t time stamp any of this ; however , if you find the topics mentioned below of interest then you will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I enjoyed this conversation .
Thanks to both of you , and thank you , Ira , for the mention .
As you know , I learn much when reading your work as well .
Please forgive the length of the comment , but the two of you offered too much fruit in one short hour .
Written on the Heart : ... Budziszewski , J .
Best Price : $ 2.54 Buy New $ 14.27 On a natural law view of liberty : we have liberty only if we are fee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our purpose , our telos .
If it is good enough for a lion , a tree or a rock , it is good enough for humans .
On the technocrats ( or whatever label you choose ) having no more need for the rest of us : they will hand out some version of a basic income guarantee , to avoid revolution .
Having removed everything that gives meaning to life for us ( the little people ) , like travel , family gatherings , church , concerts , sports , social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a stranger smile , they will have to do nothing but watch us slowly wither away – as they wish .
Remove all meaning from the life of a lion , the same thing follows – he will wither away .
The realignment we are seeing is based on natural law – whether the participants ( Weinsteins , VanderKlay , Peterson , etc . )
realize it or not .
It would be good if they could be brought to see this .
In addition to the necessity of cultural and traditional aspects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ natural law and libertarian theory can be found in a proper understanding of natural rights .
Natural law describes for me my proper ethical behavior – regarding myself , my family , and others .
Violations of natural law need not be violations of human law .
Natural rights , however , describe what I might demand from others – this is limited to a demand that others respect my life and my property .
Violations of my life and property are subject to human law .
And this , then , offers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a guideline for legal action , not a guideline for life .
The Best of Bionic Mosquito

I recently watched a video conversation between Ira Katz and Mary Kochan. Those of you who read LRC might be familiar with Ira – and I have also mentioned him several times at this blog. I came to learn of Mary through the Paul VanderKlay community. Her videos are deserving of a wider audience.
I offer my comments below – comments I also posted at Mary’s site. Sorry, I didn’t time stamp any of this; however, if you find the topics mentioned below of interest then you will find the entire video interesting and worthwhile.
———————————————-
I enjoyed this conversation. Thanks to both of you, and thank you, Ira, for the mention. As you know, I learn much when reading your work as well. Please forgive the length of the comment, but the two of you offered too much fruit in one short hour. Written on the Heart: ... Budziszewski, J. Best Price: $2.54 Buy New $14.27 (as of 11:10 UTC - Details)
On a natural law view of liberty: we have liberty only if we are fee to live according to our nature, our purpose, our telos. If it is good enough for a lion, a tree or a rock, it is good enough for humans.
On the technocrats (or whatever label you choose) having no more need for the rest of us: they will hand out some version of a basic income guarantee, to avoid revolution. Having removed everything that gives meaning to life for us (the little people), like travel, family gatherings, church, concerts, sports, social events of all kinds, even seeing a stranger smile, they will have to do nothing but watch us slowly wither away – as they wish. Remove all meaning from the life of a lion, the same thing follows – he will wither away.
The realignment we are seeing is based on natural law – whether the participants (Weinsteins, VanderKlay, Peterson, etc.) realize it or not. It would be good if they could be brought to see this.
In addition to the necessity of cultural and traditional aspects required for liberty, the intersection of natural law and libertarian theory can be found in a proper understanding of natural rights. Natural law describes for me my proper ethical behavior – regarding myself, my family, and others. Violations of natural law need not be violations of human law.
Natural rights, however, describe what I might demand from others – this is limited to a demand that others respect my life and my property. Violations of my life and property are subject to human law. And this, then, offers the proper understanding of libertarian theory – as a guideline for legal action, not a guideline for life.
Reprinted with permission from Bionic Mosquito.
The Best of Bionic Mosquito


lewrockwell--2020-11-05--Nearly Six Weeks’ Worth of Leaked Text Messages Show Kenosha District Attorney Getting Chummy with B

Nearly Six Weeks’ Worth of Leaked Text Messages Show Kenosha District Attorney Getting Chummy with BLM Activist

Kenosha County Eye has reported that Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley and Black Lives Matter activist Whitney Cabal exchanged numerous text messages over approximately six weeks from mid-August to late September .
Kenosha was the Wisconsin city where violent , destructive rioting occurred and where Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two rioters in apparent self-defense back in late August .
Thirty-seven pages of text messages between Graveley and Cabal were leaked to Kenosha County Eye back in mid-October .
Many of them appear to show District Attorney Graveley keeping Cabal in the loop on the Wisconsin DOJ ’ s investigation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is trying to implicate Rittenhouse in first-degree homicide .
Legendary Whitetails M ... Buy New $ 29.99 In one message , Cabal warns Graveley that “ KPD is gon na burn out.
” In another message , the two seem to make breakfast plans .
It should be noted that Graveley is married .
This exchange is a very bizarre one , especially for Kenosha County ’ s top prosecutor .
Here is the screenshot of Graveley and Cabal making breakfast plans : CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE 37-PAGE THREAD OF TEXT @

Kenosha County Eye has reported that Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley and Black Lives Matter activist Whitney Cabal exchanged numerous text messages over approximately six weeks from mid-August to late September.
Kenosha was the Wisconsin city where violent, destructive rioting occurred and where Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two rioters in apparent self-defense back in late August.
Thirty-seven pages of text messages between Graveley and Cabal were leaked to Kenosha County Eye back in mid-October. Many of them appear to show District Attorney Graveley keeping Cabal in the loop on the Wisconsin DOJ’s investigation into the Jacob Blake shooting, which is trying to implicate Rittenhouse in first-degree homicide. Legendary Whitetails M... Buy New $29.99 (as of 06:53 UTC - Details)
Via Kenosha County Eye:
In one message, Cabal warns Graveley that “KPD is gonna burn out.” In another message, the two seem to make breakfast plans. It should be noted that Graveley is married. This exchange is a very bizarre one, especially for Kenosha County’s top prosecutor.
Here is the screenshot of Graveley and Cabal making breakfast plans:
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE 37-PAGE THREAD OF TEXT MESSAGES
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-11-05--Covid: a Curfew for What?

Covid: a Curfew for What?

The French were stunned to learn that their government considers a public order measure , a curfew , to be effective in preventing an epidemic .
Everyone , having understood that no virus breaks according to schedules set by decree , and given the many previous mistakes , asks the question : who is angry about a curfew for what ?
Several Western countries think they are facing a new wave of Covid-19 epidemic .
Populations that have already suffered a lot , not from the disease , but from the measures taken to protect them from it , find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measures on health grounds .
This is an opportunity for us to analyze behaviors .
Governments know that they will have to account for what they have done and what they have not done .
In the face of the disease and even more so in the face of this pressure , they have had to act .
How did they think about their strategy ?
Unreported Truths abou ... Berenson , Alex Buy New $ 5.71 In developing it , they relied on the advice of specialists ( doctors , biologists and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in each discipline and opposed each other so that the government could only continue with some of them .
But on what criteria did they choose them ?
While public opinion is persuaded : that the virus is transmitted through respiratory droplets ; that contaminations can be contained by wearing surgical masks and maintaining a distance of at least one meter with one ’ s interlocutors ; that it is possible to distinguish healthy people from sick people by the use of PCR tests ; Specialists are much less assertive .
On the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus is mainly transmitted not through respiratory droplets , but through the air we breathe ; that , therefore , surgical masks and social distances are useless ; that the PCR tests that are performed do not measure the same thing in different laboratories and that , therefore , the cumulative statistics are like adding apples and pears together .
Thus , despite the reassuring messages from the authorities , there is still a great deal of confusion about the characteristics of this epidemic .
What can be done about it ?
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No professional training had prepared them to face it .
So they turned to specialists .
While the former gave them clear advice , everything became complicated when others came to contradict them .
They were overwhelmed .
If the rulers were politicians , they could only react according to their political experience .
As they grew older , they learned to propose even better , not 0.5 percent increase in the base salary like their competitors , but 0.6 percent , even if it meant finding an excuse not to have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they went into a bidding war with their neighbors , making more drastic decisions one after the other to show that they were superior to them .
Above all , they masked their incompetence by resorting to authoritarian measures .
COVID-19 : Lockdowns on ... Betrus , Michael Buy New $ 16.99 If they were technocrats , they could only react according to the experience of their bureaucratic body when faced with large-scale disasters .
But it is difficult to adapt to a health crisis the experience gained from fighting floods or earthquakes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turned to pre-existing public health administrations .
However , the political leaders had already invented new structures that duplicated the previous ones , without specifying the distribution of competences .
Instead of joining forces , each of them was trying to preserve its own square .
If the rulers had been chosen on the basis of their authority , i.e.
, both their firmness and their attention to others , they would have approached the problem according to their general culture .
In such a case , they knew that viruses need the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deadly as Covid-19 was in the first weeks of its outbreak , it did not seek to kill humanity , but would adapt to humans .
From then on , its lethality would drop rapidly and there would never be another epidemic peak .
The idea of a “ second wave ” seemed highly unlikely to them .
Never since viruses have been distinguished from bacteria has a viral disease been observed in several waves .
The rebounds we are seeing today , in the USA for example , are not small additional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus in new populations to which it has not yet adapted .
The national accumulation of the number of sick people masks a geographical and social distribution .
Moreover , unaware of how the virus is transmitted , governments would have assumed that it is transmitted like all other respiratory viral diseases : not through respiratory droplets , but through the air we breathe .
Similarly , they would have known that in all viral epidemics , the majority of deaths are not due to the virus itself , but to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As a result , they would have decided to recommend that everyone should air their living spaces thoroughly and would have made it mandatory in all jurisdictions .
In addition , they would have recommended that everyone should not disinfect their hands , but wash them as often as possible .
They would have ensured that points were installed for this purpose as widely as possible .
In fact , these were the two main measures that WHO had advised at the beginning of the epidemic , before hysteria replaced reflection .
No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , no quarantine , and even less containment of healthy people .
Science does not provide a definitive answer , it just pushes away questions The way in which the scientists were staged illustrates a clear misunderstanding of what science is .
Science is not an accumulation of knowledge , but a process of knowledge .
We have just verified the virtual incompatibility between the scientific spirit and current practice .
I Do Not Consent : My F ... Gold MD , JD , Simone Buy New $ 12.99 It is absurd to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beginning the study of a virus , its propagation and the damage it causes , a remedy for what they do not yet know .
It is pretentious for scientists to answer such questions .
Some of the measures taken when this virus erupted can be explained by misjudgements .
For example , President Macron initiated the practice of generalized containment when he was intoxicated by the catastrophic statistics of Neil Ferguson ( Imperial College London ) [ 1 ] He announced at least 500,000 deaths .
There were 14 times fewer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be overestimated .
In retrospect , it appears that this serious attack on liberties was not justified .
However , the choice of the curfew , a few months later , when there was a slight rebound in deaths , is incomprehensible in democratic states : everyone could observe that this disease was much less lethal than feared and that its most dangerous period was over .
There is no current data to justify such an attack on freedoms .
President Macron himself has justified it by referring to a second wave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was able to take it on such an unconvincing argument , when will he be able to lift it ?
It must be noted that this time it can not be an assessment error , but rather an authoritarian policy under the guise of a health crisis [ 2 ] .
[ 2 ] “ Covid-19 and The Red Dawn Emails ” , by Thierry Meyssan , Translation Roger Lagassé , Voltaire Network , 28 April 2020 .
The Best of Thierry Meyssan

The French were stunned to learn that their government considers a public order measure, a curfew, to be effective in preventing an epidemic. Everyone, having understood that no virus breaks according to schedules set by decree, and given the many previous mistakes, asks the question: who is angry about a curfew for what?
Several Western countries think they are facing a new wave of Covid-19 epidemic. Populations that have already suffered a lot, not from the disease, but from the measures taken to protect them from it, find it difficult to accept new public order measures on health grounds. This is an opportunity for us to analyze behaviors.
Governments know that they will have to account for what they have done and what they have not done. In the face of the disease and even more so in the face of this pressure, they have had to act. How did they think about their strategy? Unreported Truths abou... Berenson, Alex Buy New $5.71 (as of 07:13 UTC - Details)
In developing it, they relied on the advice of specialists (doctors, biologists and statisticians). Immediately these were divided in each discipline and opposed each other so that the government could only continue with some of them. But on what criteria did they choose them?
Many uncertainties
While public opinion is persuaded :
that the virus is transmitted through respiratory droplets;
that contaminations can be contained by wearing surgical masks and maintaining a distance of at least one meter with one’s interlocutors;
that it is possible to distinguish healthy people from sick people by the use of PCR tests;
Specialists are much less assertive. On the contrary, some say :
that the virus is mainly transmitted not through respiratory droplets, but through the air we breathe;
that, therefore, surgical masks and social distances are useless;
that the PCR tests that are performed do not measure the same thing in different laboratories and that, therefore, the cumulative statistics are like adding apples and pears together.
Thus, despite the reassuring messages from the authorities, there is still a great deal of confusion about the characteristics of this epidemic.
What can be done about it?
The problem facing the authorities was new. No professional training had prepared them to face it. So they turned to specialists. While the former gave them clear advice, everything became complicated when others came to contradict them. They were overwhelmed.
If the rulers were politicians, they could only react according to their political experience. As they grew older, they learned to propose even better, not 0.5 percent increase in the base salary like their competitors, but 0.6 percent, even if it meant finding an excuse not to have to keep their promises. Caught unawares, they went into a bidding war with their neighbors, making more drastic decisions one after the other to show that they were superior to them. Above all, they masked their incompetence by resorting to authoritarian measures. COVID-19: Lockdowns on... Betrus, Michael Buy New $16.99 (as of 03:38 UTC - Details)
If they were technocrats, they could only react according to the experience of their bureaucratic body when faced with large-scale disasters. But it is difficult to adapt to a health crisis the experience gained from fighting floods or earthquakes. As a reflex, they therefore turned to pre-existing public health administrations. However, the political leaders had already invented new structures that duplicated the previous ones, without specifying the distribution of competences. Instead of joining forces, each of them was trying to preserve its own square.
If the rulers had been chosen on the basis of their authority, i.e., both their firmness and their attention to others, they would have approached the problem according to their general culture.
In such a case, they knew that viruses need the people they infect to live. As deadly as Covid-19 was in the first weeks of its outbreak, it did not seek to kill humanity, but would adapt to humans. From then on, its lethality would drop rapidly and there would never be another epidemic peak. The idea of a “second wave” seemed highly unlikely to them. Never since viruses have been distinguished from bacteria has a viral disease been observed in several waves.
The rebounds we are seeing today, in the USA for example, are not small additional waves, but mark the arrival of the virus in new populations to which it has not yet adapted. The national accumulation of the number of sick people masks a geographical and social distribution.
Moreover, unaware of how the virus is transmitted, governments would have assumed that it is transmitted like all other respiratory viral diseases: not through respiratory droplets, but through the air we breathe. Similarly, they would have known that in all viral epidemics, the majority of deaths are not due to the virus itself, but to the opportunistic diseases that occur during them. As a result, they would have decided to recommend that everyone should air their living spaces thoroughly and would have made it mandatory in all jurisdictions. In addition, they would have recommended that everyone should not disinfect their hands, but wash them as often as possible. They would have ensured that points were installed for this purpose as widely as possible.
In fact, these were the two main measures that WHO had advised at the beginning of the epidemic, before hysteria replaced reflection. No wearing of surgical masks, no disinfection, no quarantine, and even less containment of healthy people.
Science does not provide a definitive answer,
it just pushes away questions
The way in which the scientists were staged illustrates a clear misunderstanding of what science is. Science is not an accumulation of knowledge, but a process of knowledge. We have just verified the virtual incompatibility between the scientific spirit and current practice. I Do Not Consent: My F... Gold MD, JD, Simone Buy New $12.99 (as of 05:07 UTC - Details)
It is absurd to demand from scientists, who are just beginning the study of a virus, its propagation and the damage it causes, a remedy for what they do not yet know. It is pretentious for scientists to answer such questions.
A change in society
Some of the measures taken when this virus erupted can be explained by misjudgements. For example, President Macron initiated the practice of generalized containment when he was intoxicated by the catastrophic statistics of Neil Ferguson (Imperial College London) [1] He announced at least 500,000 deaths. There were 14 times fewer, according to official figures that are known to be overestimated. In retrospect, it appears that this serious attack on liberties was not justified.
However, the choice of the curfew, a few months later, when there was a slight rebound in deaths, is incomprehensible in democratic states: everyone could observe that this disease was much less lethal than feared and that its most dangerous period was over. There is no current data to justify such an attack on freedoms.
President Macron himself has justified it by referring to a second wave that does not exist. If he was able to take it on such an unconvincing argument, when will he be able to lift it?
It must be noted that this time it cannot be an assessment error, but rather an authoritarian policy under the guise of a health crisis [2].
—
[1] “Covid-19: Neil Ferguson, the Liberal Lyssenko”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Roger Lagassé, Voltaire Network, 20 April 2020.
[2] “Covid-19 and The Red Dawn Emails”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Roger Lagassé, Voltaire Network, 28 April 2020.
The Best of Thierry Meyssan


lewrockwell--2020-11-05--The Purpose of the Orchestrated Covid “Pandemic” Is To Create a Dystopia in which there Is No Human

The Purpose of the Orchestrated Covid “Pandemic” Is To Create a Dystopia in which there Is No Human Independence

The Digital Revolution is being used to destroy us .
The Nazism of Bill Gates is so Extreme as to make Hitler look like Jesus .
Covid-19 : The Greatest ... Coleman , Dr Vernon Buy New $ 14.71 Christians will notice that our situation is Biblical .
Plagues are being unleashed .
Every form of sexual perversion has been legitimized except pedophilia , and as pedophilia is believed to be a widespread practice among the degenerate elites , its eventual acceptance is assured .
It is heterosexual sex that is being delegitimized as “ toxic masculinity ” and “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be injected with microchips and turned into robots dependent on centrally controlled digital currency .
( In the URL below Microsoft ’ s International Patent for a “ cryptocurrency system using body activity data ” is described . )
White people are not the enemies of black people , nor are blacks the enemies of whites .
Gentiles are not the enemies of Jews .
Russia , China , and Japan are not the enemies of Americans and Europeans .
We all have the same enemy–the Global Elite .
The divisions in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elite .
It is them or us .
At the moment the Global Elite hold the cards and the power .
The Best of Paul Craig Roberts

The Digital Revolution is being used to destroy us.
The Nazism of Bill Gates is so Extreme as to make Hitler look like Jesus.
Our Intended Future or a Conspiracy Theory?
Covid-19: The Greatest... Coleman, Dr Vernon Buy New $14.71 (as of 04:43 UTC - Details) Christians will notice that our situation is Biblical. Plagues are being unleashed. Every form of sexual perversion has been legitimized except pedophilia, and as pedophilia is believed to be a widespread practice among the degenerate elites, its eventual acceptance is assured. It is heterosexual sex that is being delegitimized as “toxic masculinity” and “oppression of women.” We are to be injected with microchips and turned into robots dependent on centrally controlled digital currency. (In the URL below Microsoft’s International Patent for a “cryptocurrency system using body activity data” is described.)
White people are not the enemies of black people, nor are blacks the enemies of whites. Gentiles are not the enemies of Jews. Russia, China, and Japan are not the enemies of Americans and Europeans. We all have the same enemy–the Global Elite. The divisions in the world serve the agenda of the Global Elite. It is them or us. At the moment the Global Elite hold the cards and the power.
The Global Takeover Is Underway
The Best of Paul Craig Roberts