lewrockwell--2020-08-25--China: Everything Proceeding According to Plan

Let ’ s start with the story of an incredibly disappearing summit .
Every August , the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) converges to the town of Beidaihe , a seaside resort some two hours away from Beijing , to discuss serious policies that then coalesce into key planning strategies to be approved at the CCP Central Committee plenary session in October .
The Beidaihe ritual was established by none other than Great Helmsman Mao , who loved the town where , not by accident , Emperor Qin , the unifier of China in the 3rd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 being , so far , a notorious Year of Living Dangerously , it ’ s no surprise that in the end Beidaihe was nowhere to be seen .
Yet Beidaihe ’ s invisibility does not mean it did not happen .
Everything Under the H ... French , Howard W. Best Price : $ 6.94 Buy New $ 19.94 Exhibit 1 was the fact that Premier Li Keqiang simply disappeared from public view for nearly two weeks – after President Xi chaired a crucial Politburo gathering in late July where what was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s whole development strategy for the next 15 years .
Li Keqiang resurfaced by chairing a special session of the all-powerful State Council , just as the CCP ’ s top ideologue , Wang Huning – who happens to be number 5 in the Politburo – showed up as the special guest at a meeting of the All China Youth Federation .
What ’ s even more intriguing is that side by side with Wang , one would find Ding Xuexiang , none other than President Xi ’ s chief of staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members .
In this “ now you see them , now you don ’ t ” variation , the fact that they all showed up in unison after an absence of nearly two weeks led sharp Chinese observers to conclude that Beidaihe in fact had taken place .
Even if no visible signs of political action by the seaside had been detected .
The semi-official spin is that no get-together happened at Beidaihe because of Covid-19 .
Yet it ’ s Exhibit 2 that may clinch the deal for good .
The by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaired by Xi in fact sealed the Central Committee plenary session in October .
Translation : the contours of the strategic road map ahead had already been approved by consensus .
There was no need to retreat to Beidaihe for further discussions .
The plot thickens when one takes into consideration a series of trial balloons that started to float a few days ago in select Chinese media .
Here are some of the key points .
Asia ’ s Reckoning ... McGregor , Richard Best Price : $ 4.05 Buy New $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ front , Beijing won ’ t shut down US businesses already operating in China .
But companies which want to enter the market in finance , information technology , healthcare and education services will not be approved .
2 .
Beijing won ’ t dump all its overwhelming mass of US Treasuries in one go , but – as it already happens – divestment will accelerate .
Last year , that amounted to $ 100 billion .
Up to the end of 2020 , that could reach $ 300 billion .
3 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ predictably , will be accelerated .
That will include configuring the final parameters for clearing US dollars through the CHIPS Chinese system – foreseeing the incandescent possibility Beijing might be cut off from SWIFT by the Trump administration or whoever will be in power at the White House after January 2021 .
4 .
On what is largely interpreted across China as the “ full spectrum war ” front , mostly Hybrid War , the PLA has been put into Stage 3 alert – and all leaves are canceled for the rest of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drive to increase all-round defense spending to 4 % of GDP and accelerate the development of nuclear weapons .
Details are bound to emerge during the Central Committee meeting in October .
5 .
The overall emphasis is on a very Chinese spirit of self-reliance , and building what can be defined as a national economic “ dual circulation ” system : the consolidation of the Eurasian integration project running in parallel to a global yuan settlement mechanism .
Inbuilt in this drive is what has been described as “ to firmly abandon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conduct war mobilization with our people .
We shall vigorously promote the war to resist US aggression ( … ) We will use a war mindset to steer the national economy ( … ) Prepare for the complete interruption of relations with the US.
” Belt and Road : A Chine ... Mau00e7u00e3es , Bruno Buy New $ 15.95 It ’ s unclear as it stands if these are only trial balloons disseminated across Chinese public opinion or decisions reached at the “ invisible ” Beidaihe .
So all eyes will be on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be packaged when the Central Committee presents its strategic planning in October .
Significantly , that will happen only a few weeks before the US election .
All of the above somewhat mirrors a recent debate in Amsterdam on what constitutes the Chinese “ threat ” to the West .
Here are the key points .
1 .
China constantly reinforces its hybrid economic model – which is an absolute rarity , globally : neither totally publicly owned nor a market economy .
2 .
The level of patriotism is staggering : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 1.4 billion people act as one .
3 .
National mechanisms have tremendous force : absolutely nothing blocks the full use of China ’ s financial , material and manpower resources once a policy is set .
4 .
China has set up the most comprehensive , back to back industrial system on the planet , without foreign interference if need be ( well , there ’ s always the matter of semiconductors to Huawei to be solved ) .
China plans not only in years , but in decades .
Five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans and as the meeting chaired by Xi showed , 15 year plans .
The Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ) is in fact a nearly 40-year plan , designed in 2013 to be completed in 2049 .
China and Russia : The ... Lukin , Alexander Best Price : $ 23.18 Buy New $ 18.00 And continuity is the name of the game – when one thinks that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence , first developed in 1949 and then expanded by Zhou Enlai at the Bandung conference in 1955 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s foreign policy guidelines .
The Qiao collective , an independent group that advances the role of qiao ( “ bridge ” ) by the strategically important huaqiao ( “ overseas Chinese ” ) is on point when they note that Beijing never proclaimed a Chinese model as a solution to global problems .
What they extol is Chinese solutions to specific Chinese conditions .
A forceful point is also made that historical materialism is incompatible with capitalist liberal democracy forcing austerity and regime change on national systems , shaping them towards preconceived @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the core of the CCP foreign policy : each nation must chart a course fit for its national conditions .
And that reveals the full contours of what can be reasonably described as a Centralized Meritocracy with Confucian , Socialist Characteristics : a different civilization paradigm that the “ indispensable nation ” still refuses to accept , and certainly won ’ t abolish by practicing Hybrid War .

Let’s start with the story of an incredibly disappearing summit.
Every August, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) converges to the town of Beidaihe, a seaside resort some two hours away from Beijing, to discuss serious policies that then coalesce into key planning strategies to be approved at the CCP Central Committee plenary session in October.
The Beidaihe ritual was established by none other than Great Helmsman Mao, who loved the town where, not by accident, Emperor Qin, the unifier of China in the 3rd century B.C., kept a palace.
2020 being, so far, a notorious Year of Living Dangerously, it’s no surprise that in the end Beidaihe was nowhere to be seen. Yet Beidaihe’s invisibility does not mean it did not happen.
Everything Under the H... French, Howard W. Best Price: $6.94 Buy New $19.94 (as of 05:00 UTC - Details) Exhibit 1 was the fact that Premier Li Keqiang simply disappeared from public view for nearly two weeks – after President Xi chaired a crucial Politburo gathering in late July where what was laid out was no less than China’s whole development strategy for the next 15 years.
Li Keqiang resurfaced by chairing a special session of the all-powerful State Council, just as the CCP’s top ideologue, Wang Huning – who happens to be number 5 in the Politburo – showed up as the special guest at a meeting of the All China Youth Federation.
What’s even more intriguing is that side by side with Wang, one would find Ding Xuexiang, none other than President Xi’s chief of staff, as well as three other Politburo members.
In this “now you see them, now you don’t” variation, the fact that they all showed up in unison after an absence of nearly two weeks led sharp Chinese observers to conclude that Beidaihe in fact had taken place. Even if no visible signs of political action by the seaside had been detected. The semi-official spin is that no get-together happened at Beidaihe because of Covid-19.
Yet it’s Exhibit 2 that may clinch the deal for good. The by now famous end of July Politburo meeting chaired by Xi in fact sealed the Central Committee plenary session in October. Translation: the contours of the strategic road map ahead had already been approved by consensus. There was no need to retreat to Beidaihe for further discussions.
Trial balloons or official policy?
The plot thickens when one takes into consideration a series of trial balloons that started to float a few days ago in select Chinese media. Here are some of the key points. Asia’s Reckoning... McGregor, Richard Best Price: $4.05 Buy New $25.94 (as of 04:23 UTC - Details)
1. On the trade war front, Beijing won’t shut down US businesses already operating in China. But companies which want to enter the market in finance, information technology, healthcare and education services will not be approved.
2. Beijing won’t dump all its overwhelming mass of US Treasuries in one go, but – as it already happens – divestment will accelerate. Last year, that amounted to $100 billion. Up to the end of 2020, that could reach $300 billion.
3. The internationalization of the yuan, also predictably, will be accelerated. That will include configuring the final parameters for clearing US dollars through the CHIPS Chinese system – foreseeing the incandescent possibility Beijing might be cut off from SWIFT by the Trump administration or whoever will be in power at the White House after January 2021.
4. On what is largely interpreted across China as the “full spectrum war” front, mostly Hybrid War, the PLA has been put into Stage 3 alert – and all leaves are canceled for the rest of 2020. There will be a concerted drive to increase all-round defense spending to 4% of GDP and accelerate the development of nuclear weapons. Details are bound to emerge during the Central Committee meeting in October.
5. The overall emphasis is on a very Chinese spirit of self-reliance, and building what can be defined as a national economic “dual circulation” system: the consolidation of the Eurasian integration project running in parallel to a global yuan settlement mechanism.
Inbuilt in this drive is what has been described as “to firmly abandon all illusions about the United States and conduct war mobilization with our people. We shall vigorously promote the war to resist US aggression (…) We will use a war mindset to steer the national economy (…) Prepare for the complete interruption of relations with the US.” Belt and Road: A Chine... Mau00e7u00e3es, Bruno Buy New $15.95 (as of 03:07 UTC - Details)
It’s unclear as it stands if these are only trial balloons disseminated across Chinese public opinion or decisions reached at the “invisible” Beidaihe. So all eyes will be on what kind of language this alarming configuration will be packaged when the Central Committee presents its strategic planning in October. Significantly, that will happen only a few weeks before the US election.
It’s all about continuity
All of the above somewhat mirrors a recent debate in Amsterdam on what constitutes the Chinese “threat” to the West. Here are the key points.
1. China constantly reinforces its hybrid economic model – which is an absolute rarity, globally: neither totally publicly owned nor a market economy.
2. The level of patriotism is staggering: once the Chinese face a foreign enemy, 1.4 billion people act as one.
3. National mechanisms have tremendous force: absolutely nothing blocks the full use of China’s financial, material and manpower resources once a policy is set.
4. China has set up the most comprehensive, back to back industrial system on the planet, without foreign interference if need be (well, there’s always the matter of semiconductors to Huawei to be solved).
China plans not only in years, but in decades. Five year plans are complemented by ten year plans and as the meeting chaired by Xi showed, 15 year plans. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in fact a nearly 40-year plan, designed in 2013 to be completed in 2049. China and Russia: The ... Lukin, Alexander Best Price: $23.18 Buy New $18.00 (as of 04:21 UTC - Details)
And continuity is the name of the game – when one thinks that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, first developed in 1949 and then expanded by Zhou Enlai at the Bandung conference in 1955 are set in stone as China’s foreign policy guidelines.
The Qiao collective, an independent group that advances the role of qiao (“bridge”) by the strategically important huaqiao (“overseas Chinese”) is on point when they note that Beijing never proclaimed a Chinese model as a solution to global problems. What they extol is Chinese solutions to specific Chinese conditions.
A forceful point is also made that historical materialism is incompatible with capitalist liberal democracy forcing austerity and regime change on national systems, shaping them towards preconceived models.
That always comes back to the core of the CCP foreign policy: each nation must chart a course fit for its national conditions.
And that reveals the full contours of what can be reasonably described as a Centralized Meritocracy with Confucian, Socialist Characteristics: a different civilization paradigm that the “indispensable nation” still refuses to accept, and certainly won’t abolish by practicing Hybrid War.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.


lewrockwell--2020-08-25--The Sum of Cultural, Free Speech, Health, & Economic Damage Done by the Covid19 Caper

Is anyone still seriously trying to tell me that all this was done with the best intentions to save us from being wiped out by a virus that kills 0.0064 % of us ?
Band together Thinking People : this is nonsense , and we all know it .
I have owned one property or another in France for over thirty years .
No event has come close to the Coronavirus hype in its quite extraordinary ability to change Gallic culture .
There is an overwhelming sense of obedience being the only moral choice for a responsible citizen – the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is to ridicule every politician , evade as much tax as possible , and break every speed limit as a matter of course .
The Politics of Obedie ... de La Boetie , Etienne Best Price : $ 9.06 Buy New $ 8.00 One feels the change very keenly : the almost jingoistic tone of regulatory notices – ‘ unifié contre le virus ’ – the tut-tutting or stony silence if one says anything contrarian , and of course the fear in those eyes above the mask .
The habit of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gossip has disappeared .
Even when it ’ s possible to show people with one chart that immunity is growing and deaths are falling sharply , they shrug and say , “ I faut rester prudent ” – we must remain on our guard .
Three months ago , the obligatory wearing of masks in the street was being hotly debated in the media , and largely opposed in Opeds .
Today , large areas of Paris have adopted that ridiculous obligation without a murmur….despite the now massively quantified data proving that management @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the infected , and 85 % of the population has only the tiniest chance of dying from Covid19 .
De Gaulle said , after his long term in office , that France could not be governed in the accepted libertarian sense of the term .
In just four months , Emmanuel Macron has shown that the emerging French generations will applaud the idea of collaboration ’ s meaning being shifted from a potential insult into some kind of patriotic duty .
There is a life-lesson I have relearned over the last five years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ largely useless as comrades when malign forces have made them scared .
Brexit and Covid19 did that .
One has to seek out new colleagues capable , as Kipling put it , “ of keeping your head when others are losing theirs ” .
The ultimate loneliness of Gary Cooper in High Noon is being played out in millions of relationships in the 21st century West .
That alone results in disastrous cultural change .
It is hard to find a single EU State now – even a single Anglospheric State – that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down the middle on nationalism , blocism , globalism , race , culture , creed , independence….and now , even health is emerging as ( despite the surface robotic opinion-forming ) yet another canyon of divide .
At its core , the divide is about telling the truth come what may , restoring the balance of our natural instincts in the context of society , and opposing both the mendacious censorship and puerile propaganda of the State ’ s information apertures .
A staggering percentage of Western citizens still quietly believe that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ injustice can somehow be in the common good .
An almost equal percentage see opposition to issues like EU practices and Big Pharma ’ s malign influence on public health as evidence , variously , of igorance , stupidity , racism and the sort of mental derangement that leads “ the gullible ” to indulge in “ silly conspiracy theories ” .
The disbelief in censorship is , for me , the most incomprehensible given its blatant nature .
The above block chart illustrates the effect on my readership numbers over the last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it began just out of shot to the left ) that had been 8,000-9,000 has slumped to 3,000 .
That ’ s about the number of signed-up Slog followers I have .
Comment levels have stayed roughly the same , but my inbox remains full of complaints that Slog Tweets on Twitter are no longer appearing on their timelines .
This a topline analysis from somebody ‘ out there ’ of how my site ’ s settings have changed for the worse during the period in question : · Meta Tags need to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ · Errors in the coding part of your website The Slog ’ s tweets are now regularly blanked under the panel heading ‘ potential sensitive content ’ .
Diversity Delusion Mac Donald , Heather Best Price : $ 14.36 Buy New $ 12.04 The new site at covidisinfectant.com was up just 36 hours before the second page-build disappeared behind ‘ 403 Entry Forbidden ’ .
Again , there is obvious massive libertarian damage in such corporate social media censorship ; but what one detects now is the emergence yet again of cynical smuggies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , well – whaddya expect ?
” as if that somehow addressed the problem .
I strongly believe that cynicism is the new naivety .
Yesterday ’ s Slogpost showed how Big Pharma has compromised the ethics of public health ’ s infrastructure as well as the directions taken and conclusions reached by research bodies developing new drugs .
Not only have they infected the NHS , for example , they are also steadily destroying this institution by ( a ) making a fat profit at the expense of taxpayer budgets and ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Covid19 so obscenely out of proportion to the real nature of the threat , other vital duties the NHS has are being neglected…..with appalling consequences for British citizens .
I will furnish you with two ongoing examples .
My first witness has had enough exploitation from the British 21st century State as it is without being treated like dirt by the Health Service she has supported all her life .
For she was – along with 3.85 million other women – a victim of the SPA ‘ reform ’ whereby three UK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excuse of gender equality to delay State Pension commencement for 1950s born women .
Now she has some serious health issues .
In her own words : “ Polyp in the sigmoid area just before exit….removed for biopsy .
Another interesting 1.5cm polyp hidden by a piece of adhesion on the outside of the bowel….When they snipped the adhesion on the inside part of the bowel it revealed this polyp .
They went all the way round to the exit from the small intestine into the large one and snipped out numerous samples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ micro polyps ” .
All gone for analysis….The fiasco during the procedure was that I suddenly went hot and sweaty , then my blood pressure dropped to an alarming level of 51/25 and they had to resuscitate me .
They have no idea why that happened….I was then sent home .
Feeling very dizzy and unwell which I put down to the effects of Fentanyl .
“ I rang the surgery next morning .
Because of Covid19 , this was to be a telephone appointment .
An unintelligible man of Asian origin rang @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me to monitor the situation and if no better after the weekend , to ring again .
He did not have my notes , had not seen the electronic report from the hospital the day before and did not know my case .
“ What do I monitor it with then ?
” He was busy so if I needed help I should ring 111 .
White Guilt : How Black ... Steele , Shelby Best Price : $ 13.13 Buy New $ 10.08 “ Saturday and Sunday I deteriorated .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monitor and pulse reader .
My BP was all over the place .
I felt very sleepy , nauseous , dizzy when standing up and pains in my chest .
So I rang again on Monday 8am having spent much of the weekend in a befuddled daze .
By day three , I suspected this was not just the Fentanyl….a second locum doctor managed to ring me by 4.30pm .
Told him the story and how I was feeling .
Said I had been monitoring my BP and pulse and that my pulse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He told me I needed an ECG and to ring 999 .
“ I was put into a 4-Bay Ward on my own , and was told I had to wear a mask , even though I was on my own in bed , held down by multiple wires , sticky tabs and wires up to a machine which talked by Bluetooth to a control centre .
I coudn ’ t have a fan “ because of Covid ” .
After three days of torture in the heat , unable to wash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ damp clothes could spread Covid ” , I discovered that I had had a heart attack in Bristol , but they had sent me home .
I was now due a heart ultrasound , and more bloods were taken and I was to have a Heparin injection and a Cortisol stress test .
“ I couldn ’ t stand another night of this sweltering torture , so checked with the cardiologists that I could go home instead of waiting until morning with only a breakfast of porridge or white elastic bread and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ordered a taxi and slipped into the wet night , to go home , where I delighted in a warm bath and a cool bed .
They said I needed someone with me at all times because I live on my own – and in the next breath told me to self isolate for 7 days because I ’ ve been in two hospitals in one week .
“ Next day , back in hospital again , this time in the cardiology unit as this bigeminy or trigeminy heart rate caused me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Same paramedic who came on Monday night and same strange ECG readings .
I must be one of the few unlucky individuals to go in for a tube up my bum and come out with a heart attack and a dodgy ticker.
” As for the tube up her bum , my witness still has no results from the biopsy , and no idea what all the other symptoms mean .
What ’ s clear from this epic saga of cavalier observation without either diagnosis or prognosis , however , is that Covid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way of curing an older lady with several disturbing pathogens .
And that is a disgrace of unspeakable obscenity .
And so to my second witness .
This is a chap I ’ ve known for many years : stoical , upstanding , successful in his own field and now – like all of us – beginning to suffer from failing powers .
This is his personal testimony : “ I fell and broke my right hip in mid-June .
Since then I ’ ve spent a week in hospital , nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been home since July 9th .
“ My progress getting to walk normally again has been – to say the least – a bit of a struggle .
“ Last November I was operated on for liver cancer .Since that time I complained about a painful right hip which got worse and worse until that evening 15 June when I fell and it broke .
The surgeon saw me after the operation for a few minutes and said he thought the hip had failed due to bone cancer and that he was sending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dept .
That was 16th June .
“ I should mention that until I started phoning my surgery last week , I had heard absolutely nothing from anyone in the “ wonderful ” NHS….Zilch .
Surgery , hospital , specialists , none have spoken nor written .
Yesterday I phoned again , and was called back by yet another doctor ( sounds familiar ? )
.There seems to be no doubt that the initial liver cancer has spawned another ( or others ? )
and that radiology is the next thing .
How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a health service ( cowering behind Covid19 ) that many pretend is any good , will it be before I am seen again – goodness knows .
Didn ’ t See It Co ... Nieuwhof , Carey Best Price : $ 5.40 Buy New $ 8.30 “ Sleeping is restricted to one side away from the now replaced hip .
Moving around without some sort of support is not possible and I am not feeling any progress at all in that department ( hence my calls to doctors ) .
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our “ world class NHS ” and quite some pushing by this patient , I will be having complete body C T scan .
Very immobile .
Feel a wreck .
More news when I have any.
” Now this is a bloke who has lost mobility , been assured that his cancer had gone , complained about hip pain – and then pestered a ridiculous amount of time before being told he had cancer in his hip as well .
I have no news as yet ( four days later ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ too , clearly causing both chaos and potentially mortal delays .
Meanwhile , Governments around the world – including the UK – face a wave of lawsuits from foreign companies who complain that their profits have been hit by the pandemic .
Bless .
Do they include Sanofi , GSK , Astrazeneka and their fellow travellers , we ask ourselves ?
If rich globalist companies wish to sue nation States rendered both fiscally and morally bankrupt by the pernicious actions of pharmaceutical giants and their infinite hordes of medical whores , might I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be a good idea for those same nation States and hacked off globalists to join forces and sue the collective arses off Megadrug Combines ?
After all , why sue the pauperised Sovereigns* when the prosperous sociopaths are there for the taking of rich pickings ?
Don ’ t chase the ambulance to the publicly-funded hospice , guys – follow the sedan chairs to places like Imperial Private Healthcare .
Never heard of IPH ?
Let me enlighten you : Imperial Private Healthcare is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the UK .
You know….the one where Leftwinger Neil Ferguson works .
You really could not make this shit up .
*I use the term pauperised Sovereigns there without any sense of hyperbole .
Here ’ s an extract from a new Ambrose Evans-Pritchard piece – in my view , AEP is still the most erudite media fiscal economist in Europe : ‘ The accumulated loss in GDP has been 22 % from peak to trough for the UK ’ He ’ s right .
From April and June alone , UK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst three-month fall ever recorded according to the Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) , as almost every industry was crushed by the response to the pandemic .
There is no way a post-EU economy like ours could ever afford to chuck away a fifth of our net trading volume during what is ( if you strip out the bonkers QE element ) a global slump likely to exceed that of 1929 .
That ’ s simple maths of the kind I have been promoting since this farcical Contrick19 hoodwink got under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t convince you of a destructive , anti-social , illiberal and amoral global game in play , then I ’ m at a loss to know what will .
You have been warned .
This originally appeared on The Slog .

Inhuman, unnatural behaviour. Mob obedience. The destruction of Citizen Healthcare. Sovereign fiscal insolvency. Unparalleled job losses.
Is anyone still seriously trying to tell me that all this was done with the best intentions to save us from being wiped out by a virus that kills 0.0064% of us?
Band together Thinking People: this is nonsense, and we all know it.
I have owned one property or another in France for over thirty years. No event has come close to the Coronavirus hype in its quite extraordinary ability to change Gallic culture.
There is an overwhelming sense of obedience being the only moral choice for a responsible citizen – the diametric opposite of the normal French attitude, which is to ridicule every politician, evade as much tax as possible, and break every speed limit as a matter of course. The Politics of Obedie... de La Boetie, Etienne Best Price: $9.06 Buy New $8.00 (as of 02:20 UTC - Details)
One feels the change very keenly: the almost jingoistic tone of regulatory notices – ‘unifié contre le virus’ – the tut-tutting or stony silence if one says anything contrarian, and of course the fear in those eyes above the mask.
The habit of kissing on greeting and stopping for a gossip has disappeared. Even when it’s possible to show people with one chart that immunity is growing and deaths are falling sharply, they shrug and say, “I faut rester prudent” – we must remain on our guard.
Three months ago, the obligatory wearing of masks in the street was being hotly debated in the media, and largely opposed in Opeds. Today, large areas of Paris have adopted that ridiculous obligation without a murmur….despite the now massively quantified data proving that management drugs are highly effective at dealing with the infected, and 85% of the population has only the tiniest chance of dying from Covid19.
De Gaulle said, after his long term in office, that France could not be governed in the accepted libertarian sense of the term. In just four months, Emmanuel Macron has shown that the emerging French generations will applaud the idea of collaboration’s meaning being shifted from a potential insult into some kind of patriotic duty.
There is a life-lesson I have relearned over the last five years: that friends from normal cirumstances are largely useless as comrades when malign forces have made them scared. Brexit and Covid19 did that. One has to seek out new colleagues capable, as Kipling put it, “of keeping your head when others are losing theirs”. The ultimate loneliness of Gary Cooper in High Noon is being played out in millions of relationships in the 21st century West.
That alone results in disastrous cultural change. It is hard to find a single EU State now – even a single Anglospheric State – that isn’t socially and politically split down the middle on nationalism, blocism, globalism, race, culture, creed, independence….and now, even health is emerging as (despite the surface robotic opinion-forming) yet another canyon of divide.
At its core, the divide is about telling the truth come what may, restoring the balance of our natural instincts in the context of society, and opposing both the mendacious censorship and puerile propaganda of the State’s information apertures.
A staggering percentage of Western citizens still quietly believe that, as it were, keeping quiet about injustice can somehow be in the common good. An almost equal percentage see opposition to issues like EU practices and Big Pharma’s malign influence on public health as evidence, variously, of igorance, stupidity, racism and the sort of mental derangement that leads “the gullible” to indulge in “silly conspiracy theories”.
The disbelief in censorship is, for me, the most incomprehensible given its blatant nature.
The above block chart illustrates the effect on my readership numbers over the last three weeks. The daily average (it began just out of shot to the left) that had been 8,000-9,000 has slumped to 3,000. That’s about the number of signed-up Slog followers I have. Comment levels have stayed roughly the same, but my inbox remains full of complaints that Slog Tweets on Twitter are no longer appearing on their timelines.
This a topline analysis from somebody ‘out there’ of how my site’s settings have changed for the worse during the period in question:
· Pages indexed by Google are low
· W3C Markup validation Issues not fixed
· Meta Tags need to be Optimized properly according to targeted pages
· Errors in the coding part of your website
· Robots.Txt File not present
The Slog’s tweets are now regularly blanked under the panel heading ‘potential sensitive content’. Diversity Delusion Mac Donald, Heather Best Price: $14.36 Buy New $12.04 (as of 04:41 UTC - Details)
Referrals from Google have halved.
The new site at covidisinfectant.com was up just 36 hours before the second page-build disappeared behind ‘403 Entry Forbidden’.
Again, there is obvious massive libertarian damage in such corporate social media censorship; but what one detects now is the emergence yet again of cynical smuggies who smile and say, “Yeh, well – whaddya expect?” as if that somehow addressed the problem.
I strongly believe that cynicism is the new naivety.
Yesterday’s Slogpost showed how Big Pharma has compromised the ethics of public health’s infrastructure as well as the directions taken and conclusions reached by research bodies developing new drugs. Not only have they infected the NHS, for example, they are also steadily destroying this institution by (a) making a fat profit at the expense of taxpayer budgets and (b) evoking in it an obsession with Covid19 so obscenely out of proportion to the real nature of the threat, other vital duties the NHS has are being neglected…..with appalling consequences for British citizens.
I will furnish you with two ongoing examples.
My first witness has had enough exploitation from the British 21st century State as it is without being treated like dirt by the Health Service she has supported all her life. For she was – along with 3.85 million other women – a victim of the SPA ‘reform’ whereby three UK administrations in a row used the limp excuse of gender equality to delay State Pension commencement for 1950s born women.
Now she has some serious health issues. In her own words:
“Polyp in the sigmoid area just before exit….removed for biopsy.
Another interesting 1.5cm polyp hidden by a piece of adhesion on the outside of the bowel….When they snipped the adhesion on the inside part of the bowel it revealed this polyp. They went all the way round to the exit from the small intestine into the large one and snipped out numerous samples of bowel wall which looked like “micro polyps”. All gone for analysis….The fiasco during the procedure was that I suddenly went hot and sweaty, then my blood pressure dropped to an alarming level of 51/25 and they had to resuscitate me. They have no idea why that happened….I was then sent home. Feeling very dizzy and unwell which I put down to the effects of Fentanyl.
“I rang the surgery next morning. Because of Covid19, this was to be a telephone appointment. An unintelligible man of Asian origin rang at 5.30pm Friday evening completely disinterested and told me to monitor the situation and if no better after the weekend, to ring again. He did not have my notes, had not seen the electronic report from the hospital the day before and did not know my case. “What do I monitor it with then?” He was busy so if I needed help I should ring 111. White Guilt: How Black... Steele, Shelby Best Price: $13.13 Buy New $10.08 (as of 05:01 UTC - Details)
“Saturday and Sunday I deteriorated. As it happens I do have a BP monitor and pulse reader. My BP was all over the place. I felt very sleepy, nauseous, dizzy when standing up and pains in my chest. So I rang again on Monday 8am having spent much of the weekend in a befuddled daze. By day three, I suspected this was not just the Fentanyl….a second locum doctor managed to ring me by 4.30pm. Told him the story and how I was feeling. Said I had been monitoring my BP and pulse and that my pulse had not gone above 38 all day. He told me I needed an ECG and to ring 999.
“I was put into a 4-Bay Ward on my own, and was told I had to wear a mask, even though I was on my own in bed, held down by multiple wires, sticky tabs and wires up to a machine which talked by Bluetooth to a control centre. I coudn’t have a fan “because of Covid”. After three days of torture in the heat, unable to wash out my only pair of undies because “damp clothes could spread Covid”, I discovered that I had had a heart attack in Bristol, but they had sent me home. I was now due a heart ultrasound, and more bloods were taken and I was to have a Heparin injection and a Cortisol stress test.
“I couldn’t stand another night of this sweltering torture, so checked with the cardiologists that I could go home instead of waiting until morning with only a breakfast of porridge or white elastic bread and synthetic jam to look forward to. I ordered a taxi and slipped into the wet night, to go home, where I delighted in a warm bath and a cool bed. They said I needed someone with me at all times because I live on my own – and in the next breath told me to self isolate for 7 days because I’ve been in two hospitals in one week.
“Next day, back in hospital again, this time in the cardiology unit as this bigeminy or trigeminy heart rate caused me to collapse at home last night. Same paramedic who came on Monday night and same strange ECG readings. I must be one of the few unlucky individuals to go in for a tube up my bum and come out with a heart attack and a dodgy ticker.”
As for the tube up her bum, my witness still has no results from the biopsy, and no idea what all the other symptoms mean. What’s clear from this epic saga of cavalier observation without either diagnosis or prognosis, however, is that Covid target obsessions and regulations are massively in the way of curing an older lady with several disturbing pathogens. And that is a disgrace of unspeakable obscenity.
And so to my second witness. This is a chap I’ve known for many years: stoical, upstanding, successful in his own field and now – like all of us – beginning to suffer from failing powers. This is his personal testimony:
“I fell and broke my right hip in mid-June. Since then I’ve spent a week in hospital, nearly three in a care home and have been home since July 9th.
“My progress getting to walk normally again has been – to say the least – a bit of a struggle.
“Last November I was operated on for liver cancer .Since that time I complained about a painful right hip which got worse and worse until that evening 15 June when I fell and it broke. The surgeon saw me after the operation for a few minutes and said he thought the hip had failed due to bone cancer and that he was sending bits and his findings to the oncology dept. That was 16th June.
“I should mention that until I started phoning my surgery last week, I had heard absolutely nothing from anyone in the “wonderful” NHS….Zilch. Surgery, hospital, specialists, none have spoken nor written. Yesterday I phoned again, and was called back by yet another doctor (sounds familiar?).There seems to be no doubt that the initial liver cancer has spawned another (or others?) and that radiology is the next thing. How long it will be before the shambles of a health service (cowering behind Covid19) that many pretend is any good, will it be before I am seen again – goodness knows. Didn’t See It Co... Nieuwhof, Carey Best Price: $5.40 Buy New $8.30 (as of 05:14 UTC - Details)
“Sleeping is restricted to one side away from the now replaced hip. Moving around without some sort of support is not possible and I am not feeling any progress at all in that department (hence my calls to doctors).”
A week later, he adds:
“Tomorrow, after weeks of inactivity by our “world class NHS” and quite some pushing by this patient, I will be having complete body C T scan. Very immobile. Feel a wreck. More news when I have any.”
Now this is a bloke who has lost mobility, been assured that his cancer had gone, complained about hip pain – and then pestered a ridiculous amount of time before being told he had cancer in his hip as well. I have no news as yet (four days later). Covid19 is, in this case history too, clearly causing both chaos and potentially mortal delays.
Meanwhile, Governments around the world – including the UK – face a wave of lawsuits from foreign companies who complain that their profits have been hit by the pandemic.
Bless. Do they include Sanofi, GSK, Astrazeneka and their fellow travellers, we ask ourselves?
If rich globalist companies wish to sue nation States rendered both fiscally and morally bankrupt by the pernicious actions of pharmaceutical giants and their infinite hordes of medical whores, might I make a small suggestion? Would it not be a good idea for those same nation States and hacked off globalists to join forces and sue the collective arses off Megadrug Combines?
After all, why sue the pauperised Sovereigns* when the prosperous sociopaths are there for the taking of rich pickings? Don’t chase the ambulance to the publicly-funded hospice, guys – follow the sedan chairs to places like Imperial Private Healthcare.
Never heard of IPH? Let me enlighten you: Imperial Private Healthcare is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, one of the largest teaching hospital groups in the UK.
You know….the one where Leftwinger Neil Ferguson works.
You really could not make this shit up.
*I use the term pauperised Sovereigns there without any sense of hyperbole. Here’s an extract from a new Ambrose Evans-Pritchard piece – in my view, AEP is still the most erudite media fiscal economist in Europe:
‘The accumulated loss in GDP has been 22% from peak to trough for the UK’
He’s right. From April and June alone, UK GDP collapsed by 20.4% – the worst three-month fall ever recorded according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as almost every industry was crushed by the response to the pandemic.
There is no way a post-EU economy like ours could ever afford to chuck away a fifth of our net trading volume during what is (if you strip out the bonkers QE element) a global slump likely to exceed that of 1929.
That’s simple maths of the kind I have been promoting since this farcical Contrick19 hoodwink got under way.
If this post doesn’t convince you of a destructive, anti-social, illiberal and amoral global game in play, then I’m at a loss to know what will.
A massive banking, bourse, currency and corporatocracy reset is imminent.
You have been warned.
This originally appeared on The Slog.


lewrockwell--2020-08-25--What Jeb Should Have Said

What Jeb Should Have Said

Former Florida governor and failed Republican presidential candidate , Jeb Bush , was recently interviewed for Education Week by Frederick “ Rick ” Hess , a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute ( AEI ) .
Here is how Hess introduced Bush : Gov .
Jeb Bush has been a leader on efforts to improve schooling for more than two decades .
He has mentored a generation of governors , carried the banner for reforms including school choice and accountaility , and launched ExcelinEd , a hugely influential voice in the world of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office and in the many years since , Gov .
Bush has wrestled with the practical challenges of how elected leaders can help make schools work for kids .
I reached out to see how he is thinking about coronavirus and education .
I have read the interview so you don ’ t have to .
Education in a Free So ... Laurence M. Vance Buy New $ 5.87 I want to focus on the fourth question that Hess asked Bush and Bush ’ s response : Rick : As a former governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Department of Education should be doing right now ?
Bush : We are a bottom-up country , and that ’ s one of our greatest and most enduring strengths .
We ’ re 50 unique and individual states , growing and thriving in different ways .
The states are “ incubators of democracy , ” because that ’ s where great ideas are developed and tried—and where citizens have a strong voice in shaping their future .
To be candid , Washington ’ s role is to support innovation .
Let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what is best for their families .
Governors and state legislatures can , and often do , act quickly to solve problems .
I encourage them to jump in with bold ideas that can get their education systems moving forward , even better than before .
Wrong , Jeb , so wrong .
Washington ’ s role is not to support innovation .
Washington ’ s role is to do absolutely nothing .
No Pell Grants , no student loans , no school breakfast and lunch programs , no Head Start funding , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to colleges , no Higher Education Act , no Elementary and Secondary Education Act , no bilingual-education mandates , no math and science initiatives , no Title IX mandates , no school accreditation , no anti-discrimination policies , no standardized-testing requirements , no Common Core standards , no Race to the Top funds , no No No Child Left Behind Act , no desegregation orders , no special-education mandates , no oversight , no Department of Education , and not one dime of the taxpayers ’ money spent on education .
Every state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ operation of K-12 schools , colleges , and universities .
The federal government has been given no such authority by its Constitution .
If there are to be any public schools ; that is , government schools , they should be limited to state-government schools , fully supported and supervised by state governments .
Jeb Bush should have recommended my two new books on education .
Education in a Free Society is a collection of essays written over the past ten years for the Future of Freedom Foundation and LewRockwell.com .
Throughout these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to education that resonate : • The problem with public schools is that they are government schools .
• Education is a service just like car repair and hair styling .
• All schools should be privately operated and privately funded .
• It is the responsibility of parents to education their children .
• The Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to have anything to do with education or even mentions education .
• It is an illegitimate purpose of government to educate anyone or pay for anyone ’ s education .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats for the mess that is public education .
• No government at any level should have any control whatsoever over any school or the education of any child .
School Choice for Whom ?
is a collection of essays written over the past 15 years for the Future of Freedom Foundation and LewRockwell.com .
Throughout these essays , there are seven things relating to educational vouchers and school choice that resonate : • If it is not the business of government to fund public schools , then it is certainly not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
• Education is a service just like car repair or hair styling .
• Giving some Americans the choice of where to spend other American ’ s money to educate their children is wealth redistribution .
• He who pays the piper calls the tune .
• Vouchers are not an intermediate step toward a free market in education .
• Conservatives and libertarians who oppose government housing vouchers ( Section 8 ) and food vouchers ( food stamps ) are terribly inconsistent when they support government education vouchers .
• In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for “ school choice ” would be privately funded .
Republicans used to talk about abolishing the federal Department of Education .
Now they just want to reform it .
Jeb Bush is clueless .
The Best of Laurence M. Vance

Former Florida governor and failed Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, was recently interviewed for Education Week by Frederick “Rick” Hess, a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Here is how Hess introduced Bush:
Gov. Jeb Bush has been a leader on efforts to improve schooling for more than two decades. He has mentored a generation of governors, carried the banner for reforms including school choice and accountaility, and launched ExcelinEd, a hugely influential voice in the world of K-12 schooling. During his tenure in office and in the many years since, Gov. Bush has wrestled with the practical challenges of how elected leaders can help make schools work for kids. I reached out to see how he is thinking about coronavirus and education.
I have read the interview so you don’t have to. Education in a Free So... Laurence M. Vance Buy New $5.87 (as of 05:16 UTC - Details)
I want to focus on the fourth question that Hess asked Bush and Bush’s response:
Rick: As a former governor, what else do you think Washington and the Department of Education should be doing right now?
Bush: We are a bottom-up country, and that’s one of our greatest and most enduring strengths. We’re 50 unique and individual states, growing and thriving in different ways. The states are “incubators of democracy,” because that’s where great ideas are developed and tried—and where citizens have a strong voice in shaping their future.
To be candid, Washington’s role is to support innovation. Let the states and communities lead and determine what is best for their families. Governors and state legislatures can, and often do, act quickly to solve problems. I encourage them to jump in with bold ideas that can get their education systems moving forward, even better than before.
Wrong, Jeb, so wrong. Washington’s role is not to support innovation. Washington’s role is to do absolutely nothing. No Pell Grants, no student loans, no school breakfast and lunch programs, no Head Start funding, no educational vouchers, no research grants to colleges, no Higher Education Act, no Elementary and Secondary Education Act, no bilingual-education mandates, no math and science initiatives, no Title IX mandates, no school accreditation, no anti-discrimination policies, no standardized-testing requirements, no Common Core standards, no Race to the Top funds, no No No Child Left Behind Act, no desegregation orders, no special-education mandates, no oversight, no Department of Education, and not one dime of the taxpayers’ money spent on education.
Every state has provisions in its constitution for the operation of K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. The federal government has been given no such authority by its Constitution. If there are to be any public schools; that is, government schools, they should be limited to state-government schools, fully supported and supervised by state governments.
Jeb Bush should have recommended my two new books on education.
Education in a Free Society is a collection of essays written over the past ten years for the Future of Freedom Foundation and LewRockwell.com. Throughout these essays, there are ten things relating to education that resonate:
The problem with public schools is that they are government schools. Public education is socialistic. Charter schools are still public schools. Education is a service just like car repair and hair styling. All schools should be privately operated and privately funded. It is the responsibility of parents to education their children. The Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to have anything to do with education or even mentions education. It is an illegitimate purpose of government to educate anyone or pay for anyone’s education. Republicans are just as responsible as Democrats for the mess that is public education. No government at any level should have any control whatsoever over any school or the education of any child. School Choice for Whom? Laurence M. Vance Buy New $5.86 (as of 05:16 UTC - Details )
School Choice for Whom? is a collection of essays written over the past 15 years for the Future of Freedom Foundation and LewRockwell.com. Throughout these essays, there are seven things relating to educational vouchers and school choice that resonate:
If it is not the business of government to fund public schools, then it is certainly not the business of government to fund private schools. Education is a service just like car repair or hair styling. Giving some Americans the choice of where to spend other American’s money to educate their children is wealth redistribution. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Vouchers are not an intermediate step toward a free market in education. Conservatives and libertarians who oppose government housing vouchers (Section 8) and food vouchers (food stamps) are terribly inconsistent when they support government education vouchers. In a free society, all education vouchers for “school choice” would be privately funded.
Republicans used to talk about abolishing the federal Department of Education. Now they just want to reform it. Jeb Bush is clueless.
The Best of Laurence M. Vance


‘Vote Here’

Signs are emerging around the country directing people into churches and schools where they can cast votes for others who will represent them in the state apparatus .
Only a few people actually do this .
The State in its various forms ( local , state , and federal ) is our proclaimed government , and voting in the State ’ s elections is our way of controlling the machinery that rules us , as I understand it .
If this is true , then voters are responsible for a lot of mayhem — a LOT of mayhem .
Only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taxation , war , inflation , and economic crises .
.
.
and the crippling response to a virus .
Apple , Google , or Whole Foods can ’ t , though they are often eager to cooperate with state mandates so they can market their patriotism .
Just about every headline we read has the State driving the narrative .
Even if a voter didn ’ t vote for the current incumbents , the responsibility still falls on all voters for endorsing a system in which a small minority makes decisions affecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Politicians ’ decisions often exclude themselves , such as when the State decides to go to war but sends others to do the actual fighting . )
Do Not Consent : Think ... Smith , George Ford Buy New $ 7.99 Voters routinely condemn nonvoters for not participating in the State apparatus .
But why would a rational adult surrender his autonomy to anyone ?
Most of us were born with a brain .
It can do such things as choose among potential rulers or reject the whole idea .
Is life-living now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Is rejecting the State a form of social suicide ?
Given current trends , with a major war on the horizon , massive unemployment likely to get worse , business shutdowns , and unprecedented social restrictions , all of which have State roots , the answer is quite the opposite : The existence of the State is the poison that ’ s killing us .
Is there another form of government that doesn ’ t involve the State ?
The answer is profoundly yes , and we deal with it every day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not at State-designated intervals .
You likely know the answer but if you ’ d like to see my presentation , read the book or watch the free ten-minute movie .
The Best of George F. Smith

Signs are emerging around the country directing people into churches and schools where they can cast votes for others who will represent them in the state apparatus. Only a few people actually do this.
The State in its various forms (local, state, and federal) is our proclaimed government, and voting in the State’s elections is our way of controlling the machinery that rules us, as I understand it.
If this is true, then voters are responsible for a lot of mayhem — a LOT of mayhem. Only the State can inflict such catastrophes as taxation, war, inflation, and economic crises . . . and the crippling response to a virus. Apple, Google, or Whole Foods can’t, though they are often eager to cooperate with state mandates so they can market their patriotism. Just about every headline we read has the State driving the narrative. Even if a voter didn’t vote for the current incumbents, the responsibility still falls on all voters for endorsing a system in which a small minority makes decisions affecting the lives of everyone else. (Politicians’ decisions often exclude themselves, such as when the State decides to go to war but sends others to do the actual fighting.) Do Not Consent: Think ... Smith, George Ford Buy New $7.99 (as of 04:48 UTC - Details)
Voters routinely condemn nonvoters for not participating in the State apparatus. But why would a rational adult surrender his autonomy to anyone? Most of us were born with a brain. It can do such things as choose among potential rulers or reject the whole idea. Is life-living now the domain of experts other than oneself?
Is rejecting the State a form of social suicide? Given current trends, with a major war on the horizon, massive unemployment likely to get worse, business shutdowns, and unprecedented social restrictions, all of which have State roots, the answer is quite the opposite: The existence of the State is the poison that’s killing us.
Is there another form of government that doesn’t involve the State? The answer is profoundly yes, and we deal with it every day. “Voting” happens constantly, not at State-designated intervals. You likely know the answer but if you’d like to see my presentation, read the book or watch the free ten-minute movie.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The Best of George F. Smith


Catapulting Russian-Meddling Propaganda

The fresh orgy of anti-Russian invective in the lickspittle media ( LSM ) has the feel of fin de siècle .
The last four reality-impaired years do seem as though they add up to a century .
And no definitive fin is in sight , as long as most people don ’ t know what ’ s going on .
The LSM should be confronted : “ At long last have you left no sense of decency ?
” But who would hear the question — much less any answer ?
The corporate media have a lock on what Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Checking the truth , once routine in journalism , is a thing of the past .
Thus the reckless abandon with which The New York Times is leading the current full-court press to improve on what it regards as Special Counsel Robert Mueller ’ s weak-kneed effort to blame the Russians for giving us Donald Trump .
The press is on , and there are no referees to call the fouls .
The recent release of a 1,000-page , sans bombshells and already out-of-date report by the Senate Intelligence Committee has provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” as President George W. Bush once put it .
As the the Times ‘ s Mark Mazzetti put it in his article Wednesday : The Case for Trump Hanson , Victor Davis Best Price : $ 13.41 Buy New $ 12.19 Mazzetti is telling his readers , soto voce : regarding that interference four years ago , and the “ continued-unabated ” part , you just have to trust us and our intelligence community sources who would never lie to you .
And if , nevertheless , you persist in asking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Putin ’ s pocket .
Incidentally , Mueller ’ s report apparently was insufficient , only two years in the making , and just 448 pages .
The Senate committee ’ s magnum opus took three years , is almost 1,000 pages — and fortified .
So there .
Recall how disappointed the LSM and the rest of the Establishment were with Mueller ’ s anemic findings in spring 2019 .
His report claimed that the Russian government “ interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion ” via @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Internet Research Agency ( IRA ) and by “ hacking ” Democratic emails .
But the evidence behind those charges could not bear close scrutiny .
You would hardly know it from the LSM , but the accusation against the IRA was thrown out of court when the U.S. government admitted it could not prove that the IRA was working for the Russian government .
Mueller ’ s ipse dixit did not suffice , as we explained a year ago in “ Sic Transit Gloria Mueller.
” … is a good offense , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ release of its study — call it “ Mueller ( Enhanced ) ” — and the propaganda fanfare — come at a key point in the Russiagate/Spygate imbroglio .
It also came , curiously , as the Democratic Convention was beginning , as if the Republican-controlled Senate was sending Trump a message .
The Permanent Coup : Ho ... Smith , Lee Best Price : $ 19.95 Buy New $ 20.85 One chief worry , of course , derives from the uncertainty as to whether John Durham , the US Attorney investigating those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump-Russia investigation will let some heavy shoes drop before the election .
Barr has said he expects “ developments in Durham ’ s investigation hopefully before the end of the summer.
” FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith already has decided to plead guilty to the felony of falsifying evidence used to support a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to surveillance to spy on Trump associate Carter Page .
It is abundantly clear that Clinesmith was just a small cog in the deep-state machine in action against candidate and then President Trump .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ known .
The president has named names , and Barr has made no bones about his disdain for what he calls spying on the president .
The cognoscenti and the big fish themselves may be guessing that Trump/Barr/Durham will not throw out heavier lines for former FBI Director James Comey , his deputy Andrew McCabe , CIA Director John Brennan , and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper , for example .
But how can they be sure ?
What has become clear is that the certainty they all shared that Hillary Clinton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only to take serious liberties with the Constitution and the law , but also to do so without taking rudimentary steps to hide their tracks .
The incriminating evidence is there .
And as Trump becomes more and more vulnerable and defensive about his ineptness — particularly with regard to Covid-19 — he may summon the courage to order Barr and Durham to hook the big fish , not just minnows like Clinesmith .
The neuralgic reality is that no one knows at this point how far Trump will go .
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unsettling to all concerned is to say the obvious .
So , the stakes are high — for the Democrats , as well — and , not least , the LSM .
In these circumstances it would seem imperative not just to circle the wagons but to mount the best offense/defense possible , despite the fact that virtually all the ammunition ( as in the Senate report ) is familiar and stale ( “ enhanced ” or not ) .
Black eyes might well be in store for the very top former law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the LSM — and in the key pre-election period .
So , the calculation : launch “ Mueller Report ( Enhanced ) ” and catapult the truth now with propaganda , before it is too late .
Liberal Privilege : Joe ... Trump Jr , Donald Buy New $ 9.99 The “ hacking of the DNC ” charge suffered a fatal blow three months ago when it became known that Shawn Henry , president of the DNC-hired cyber-security firm CrowdStrike , admitted under oath that his firm had no evidence that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia or anyone else .
Henry gave his testimony on Dec. 5 , 2017 , but House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff was able to keep it hidden until May 7 , 2020 .
Here ’ s a brief taste of how Henry ’ s testimony went : Asked by Schiff for “ the date on which the Russians exfiltrated the data ” , Henry replied , “ We just don ’ t have the evidence that says it actually left.
” You did not know that ?
You may be forgiven — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diet is limited to the LSM and you believe The New York Times still publishes “ all the news that ’ s fit to print.
” I am taking bets on how much longer the NYT will be able to keep Henry ’ s testimony hidden ; Schiff ’ s record of 29 months will be hard to beat .
Putting Lipstick on the Pig of Russian ‘ Tampering ’ Worse still for the LSM and other Russiagate diehards , Mueller ’ s findings last year enabled Trump to shout “ No Collusion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at this point is that a key objective of the current catapulting of the truth is to apply lipstick to Mueller ’ s findings .
After all , he was supposed to find treacherous plotting between the Trump campaign and the Russians and failed miserably .
Most LSM-suffused Americans remain blissfully unaware of this , and the likes of Pulitzer Prize winner Mazzetti have been commissioned to keep it that way .
In Wednesday ’ s article , for example , Mazzetti puts it somewhat plaintively : Defender in Chief : Don ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ How could they !
Mazzetti is playing with words .
“ Collusion , ” however one defines it , is not a crime ; conspiracy is .
Mazzetti emphasizes that the Senate report “ showed extensive evidence of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and people tied to the Kremlin , ” and Sen. Mark Warner ( D-VA ) , the intelligence committee ’ s vice chairman , said the committee report details “ a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives that is a very real counterintelligence threat to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us much beyond the Mueller report and other things generally well known — even in the LSM .
Nor does the drivel about people like Paul Manafort “ sharing polling data with Russians ” who might be intelligence officers .
That data was “ mostly public ” the Times itself reported , and the paper had to correct a story that the data was intended for Russian oligarchs , when it was meant for Ukrainian oligarchs instead .
That Manafort was working to turn Ukraine towards the West and not Russia is rarely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data given the FISA court by an FBI lawyer to “ justify ” eavesdropping on Trump associate Carter Page show the Senate report to be not up to date and misguided in endorsing the FBI ’ s decision to investigate Page .
The committee may wish to revisit that endorsement — at least .
On the Steele Dossier , the committee also missed a ruling by a British judge against Christopher Steele , labeling his dossier an attempt to help Hillary Clinton get elected .
Consortium News explained back in October 2017 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign to push Russiagate .
Trump and the American ... Gingrich , Newt Best Price : $ 15.19 Buy New $ 18.52 Also missed by the intelligence committee was a document released by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that revealed that Steele ’ s “ Primary Subsource and his friends peddled warmed-over rumors and laughable gossip that Steele dressed up as formal intelligence memos.
” The Intelligence Committee report also repeats thoroughly debunked myths about WikiLeaks and , like Mueller , the committee made no effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smears .
Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi , who partnered with WikiLeaks in the publication of the Podesta emails , described the report ’ s treatment of WikiLeaks in this Twitter thread : Mazzetti did add some spice to the version of his article that dominated the two top right columns of Wednesday ’ s Times with the blaring headline : “ Senate Panel Ties Russian Officials to Trump ’ s Aides : G.O.P.-Led Committee Echoes Mueller ’ s Findings on Election Tampering.
” Those who make it to the end of Mazzetti ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ committee report “ did not establish ” that the Russian government obtained any compromising material on Mr. Trump or that they tried to use such materials [ that they didn ’ t have ] as leverage against him.
” However , Mazzetti adds , This is journalism ?
Airborne : How The Libe ... Margolis , Matt Best Price : $ 12.00 Buy New $ 15.99 The Times appends a note reminding us that Mazzetti was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And that ’ s not the half of it .
In September 2018 , Mazzetti and his NYT colleague Scott Shane wrote a 10,000-word feature , “ The Plot to Subvert an Election , ” trying to convince readers that the Russian Internet Research Agency ( IRA ) had successfully swayed U.S. opinion during the 2016 election with 80,000 Facebook posts that they said had reached 126 million Americans .
That turned out to be a grotesquely deceptive claim .
Mazzetti and Shane failed to mention the that those 80,000 IRA posts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meaning about half came after the election ) , had been engulfed in a vast ocean of more than 33 trillion Facebook posts in people ’ s news feeds – 413 million times more than the IRA posts .
Not to mention the lack of evidence that the IRA was the Russian government , as Mueller claimed .
“ It ’ s too much ; it ’ s just too much , too much ” , a sedated , semi-conscious Robert Parry kept telling me from his hospital bed in late January 2018 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Bob was founder of Consortium News .
It was already clear what Bob meant ; he had taken care to see to that .
On Dec. 31 , 2017 the reason for saying that came in what he titled “ An Apology & Explanation ” for “ spotty production in recent days.
” A stroke on Christmas Eve had left Bob with impaired vision , but he was able to summon enough strength to write an Apologia — his vision for honest journalism and his dismay at what had happened to his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 2018 .
The dichotomy was “ just too much ” .
Parry rued the role that journalism was playing in the “ unrelenting ugliness that has become Official Washington .
… Facts and logic no longer mattered .
It was a case of using whatever you had to diminish and destroy your opponent … this loss of objective standards reached deeply into the most prestigious halls of American media.
” Fallout : Nuclear Bribe ... Bruner , Seamus Buy New $ 25.20 What bothered Bob most was the needless , dishonest tweaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. media ’ s approach to Russia , ” he wrote , “ is now virtually 100 percent propaganda .
Does any sentient human being read The New York Times ’ or The Washington Post ’ s coverage of Russia and think that he or she is getting a neutral or unbiased treatment of the facts ?
… Western journalists now apparently see it as their patriotic duty to hide facts that otherwise would undermine the demonizing of Putin and Russia.
” Parry , who was no conservative , continued : Bob noted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evinced no evidence and even admitted that they weren ’ t asserting any of this as fact.
” It was just too much .
Bob posted his last substantive article on Dec. 13 , 2017 , the day after text exchanges between senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were made public .
( Typically , readers of The New York Times the following day would altogether the importance of the text-exchanges . )
Bob Parry rarely felt any need for a “ sanity check.
” Dec. 12 , 2017 was an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Strzok-Page texts ; we agreed they were explosive .
FBI Agent Peter Strzok was on Special Counsel Robert Mueller ’ s staff investigating alleged Russian interference , until Mueller removed him .
Strzok reportedly was a “ hand-picked ” FBI agent taking part in the Jan 2017 evidence-impoverished , rump , misnomered “ intelligence community ” assessment that blamed Russia for hacking and other election meddling .
And he had helped lead the investigation into Hillary Clinton ’ s misuse of her computer servers .
Page was Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 piece would be his fourth related article in less than two weeks ; it turned out to be his last substantive article .
All three of the earlier ones are worth a re-read as examples of fearless , unbiased , perceptive journalism .
Here .
Bob began his article on the Strzok-Page bombshell : Not a fragment of Bob ’ s or other Consortium News analysis made any impact on what Bob used to call the Establishment media .
As a matter of fact , eight months later during a talk in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Can You Handle the Truth ?
” , only three out of a very progressive audience of some 150 had ever heard of Strzok and Page .
And so it goes .
Power Grab : The Libera ... Chaffetz , Jason Best Price : $ 9.54 Buy New $ 18.06 Lest I am accused of being “ in Putin ’ s pocket , ” let me add the explanatory note that we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity included in our most explosive Memorandum for President Trump , on “ Russian hacking.
” Full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our intelligence profession has eroded in the public mind to the point that agenda-free analysis is deemed well nigh impossible .
Thus , we add this disclaimer , which applies to everything we in VIPS say and do : We have no political agenda ; our sole purpose is to spread truth around and , when necessary , hold to account our former intelligence colleagues .
We speak and write without fear or favor .
Consequently , any resemblance between what we say and what presidents , politicians and pundits say is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is necessary to include that reminder speaks volumes about these highly politicized times .
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News .

The fresh orgy of anti-Russian invective in the lickspittle media (LSM) has the feel of fin de siècle. The last four reality-impaired years do seem as though they add up to a century. And no definitive fin is in sight, as long as most people don’t know what’s going on.
The LSM should be confronted: “At long last have you left no sense of decency?” But who would hear the question — much less any answer? The corporate media have a lock on what Americans are permitted or not permitted to hear. Checking the truth, once routine in journalism, is a thing of the past.
Thus the reckless abandon with which The New York Times is leading the current full-court press to improve on what it regards as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s weak-kneed effort to blame the Russians for giving us Donald Trump. The press is on, and there are no referees to call the fouls.
The recent release of a 1,000-page, sans bombshells and already out-of-date report by the Senate Intelligence Committee has provided the occasion to “catapult the propaganda,” as President George W. Bush once put it.
As the the Times‘s Mark Mazzetti put it in his article Wednesday: The Case for Trump Hanson, Victor Davis Best Price: $13.41 Buy New $12.19 (as of 03:21 UTC - Details)
“Releasing the report less than 100 days before Election Day, Republican-majority senators hoped it would refocus attention on the interference by Russia and other hostile foreign powers in the American political process, which has continued unabated.”
Mazzetti is telling his readers, soto voce: regarding that interference four years ago, and the “continued-unabated” part, you just have to trust us and our intelligence community sources who would never lie to you. And if, nevertheless, you persist in asking for actual evidence, you are clearly in Putin’s pocket.
Incidentally, Mueller’s report apparently was insufficient, only two years in the making, and just 448 pages. The Senate committee’s magnum opus took three years, is almost 1,000 pages — and fortified. So there.
Iron Pills
Recall how disappointed the LSM and the rest of the Establishment were with Mueller’s anemic findings in spring 2019. His report claimed that the Russian government “interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” via a social media campaign run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and by “hacking” Democratic emails. But the evidence behind those charges could not bear close scrutiny.
You would hardly know it from the LSM, but the accusation against the IRA was thrown out of court when the U.S. government admitted it could not prove that the IRA was working for the Russian government. Mueller’s ipse dixit did not suffice, as we explained a year ago in “Sic Transit Gloria Mueller.”
The Best Defense …
… is a good offense, and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s release of its study — call it “Mueller (Enhanced)” — and the propaganda fanfare — come at a key point in the Russiagate/Spygate imbroglio. It also came, curiously, as the Democratic Convention was beginning, as if the Republican-controlled Senate was sending Trump a message. The Permanent Coup: Ho... Smith, Lee Best Price: $19.95 Buy New $20.85 (as of 03:52 UTC - Details)
One chief worry, of course, derives from the uncertainty as to whether John Durham, the US Attorney investigating those FBI and other officials who launched the Trump-Russia investigation will let some heavy shoes drop before the election. Barr has said he expects “developments in Durham’s investigation hopefully before the end of the summer.”
FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith already has decided to plead guilty to the felony of falsifying evidence used to support a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to surveillance to spy on Trump associate Carter Page. It is abundantly clear that Clinesmith was just a small cog in the deep-state machine in action against candidate and then President Trump. And those running the machine are well known. The president has named names, and Barr has made no bones about his disdain for what he calls spying on the president.
The cognoscenti and the big fish themselves may be guessing that Trump/Barr/Durham will not throw out heavier lines for former FBI Director James Comey, his deputy Andrew McCabe, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, for example. But how can they be sure? What has become clear is that the certainty they all shared that Hillary Clinton would be the next president prompted them not only to take serious liberties with the Constitution and the law, but also to do so without taking rudimentary steps to hide their tracks.
The incriminating evidence is there. And as Trump becomes more and more vulnerable and defensive about his ineptness — particularly with regard to Covid-19 — he may summon the courage to order Barr and Durham to hook the big fish, not just minnows like Clinesmith. The neuralgic reality is that no one knows at this point how far Trump will go. To say that this kind of uncertainty is unsettling to all concerned is to say the obvious.
So, the stakes are high — for the Democrats, as well — and, not least, the LSM. In these circumstances it would seem imperative not just to circle the wagons but to mount the best offense/defense possible, despite the fact that virtually all the ammunition (as in the Senate report) is familiar and stale (“enhanced” or not).
Black eyes might well be in store for the very top former law enforcement and intelligence officials, the Democrats, and the LSM — and in the key pre-election period. So, the calculation: launch “Mueller Report (Enhanced)” and catapult the truth now with propaganda, before it is too late. Liberal Privilege: Joe... Trump Jr, Donald Buy New $9.99 (as of 05:18 UTC - Details)
No Evidence of Hacking
The “hacking of the DNC” charge suffered a fatal blow three months ago when it became known that Shawn Henry, president of the DNC-hired cyber-security firm CrowdStrike, admitted under oath that his firm had no evidence that the DNC emails were hacked — by Russia or anyone else.
Henry gave his testimony on Dec. 5, 2017, but House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff was able to keep it hidden until May 7, 2020.
Here’s a brief taste of how Henry’s testimony went: Asked by Schiff for “the date on which the Russians exfiltrated the data”, Henry replied, “We just don’t have the evidence that says it actually left.”
You did not know that? You may be forgiven — up until now — if your information diet is limited to the LSM and you believe The New York Times still publishes “all the news that’s fit to print.” I am taking bets on how much longer the NYT will be able to keep Henry’s testimony hidden; Schiff’s record of 29 months will be hard to beat.
Putting Lipstick on the Pig of Russian ‘Tampering’
Worse still for the LSM and other Russiagate diehards, Mueller’s findings last year enabled Trump to shout “No Collusion” with Russia. What seems clear at this point is that a key objective of the current catapulting of the truth is to apply lipstick to Mueller’s findings.
After all, he was supposed to find treacherous plotting between the Trump campaign and the Russians and failed miserably. Most LSM-suffused Americans remain blissfully unaware of this, and the likes of Pulitzer Prize winner Mazzetti have been commissioned to keep it that way.
In Wednesday’s article, for example, Mazzetti puts it somewhat plaintively: Defender in Chief: Don... Yoo, John Buy New $25.99 (as of 04:22 UTC - Details)
“Like the special counsel … the Senate report did not conclude that the Trump campaign engaged in a coordinated conspiracy with the Russian government — a fact that the Republicans seized on to argue that there was ‘no collusion’.”
How could they!
Mazzetti is playing with words. “Collusion,” however one defines it, is not a crime; conspiracy is.
‘Breathtaking’ Contacts: Mueller (Enhanced)
Mazzetti emphasizes that the Senate report “showed extensive evidence of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and people tied to the Kremlin,” and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the intelligence committee’s vice chairman, said the committee report details “a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives that is a very real counterintelligence threat to our elections.”
None of that takes us much beyond the Mueller report and other things generally well known — even in the LSM. Nor does the drivel about people like Paul Manafort “sharing polling data with Russians” who might be intelligence officers. That data was “mostly public” the Times itself reported, and the paper had to correct a story that the data was intended for Russian oligarchs, when it was meant for Ukrainian oligarchs instead. That Manafort was working to turn Ukraine towards the West and not Russia is rarely mentioned.
Recent revelations regarding the false data given the FISA court by an FBI lawyer to “justify” eavesdropping on Trump associate Carter Page show the Senate report to be not up to date and misguided in endorsing the FBI’s decision to investigate Page. The committee may wish to revisit that endorsement — at least.
On the Steele Dossier, the committee also missed a ruling by a British judge against Christopher Steele, labeling his dossier an attempt to help Hillary Clinton get elected. Consortium News explained back in October 2017 that both CrowdStrike and Steele were paid for by the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign to push Russiagate. Trump and the American... Gingrich, Newt Best Price: $15.19 Buy New $18.52 (as of 04:42 UTC - Details)
Also missed by the intelligence committee was a document released by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that revealed that Steele’s “Primary Subsource and his friends peddled warmed-over rumors and laughable gossip that Steele dressed up as formal intelligence memos.”
Smearing WikiLeaks
The Intelligence Committee report also repeats thoroughly debunked myths about WikiLeaks and, like Mueller, the committee made no effort to interview Julian Assange before launching its smears. Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi, who partnered with WikiLeaks in the publication of the Podesta emails, described the report’s treatment of WikiLeaks in this Twitter thread:
2. the description of #WikiLeaks ‘ publishing activities by this #SenateIntelligenceCommittee ‘s Report appears a true #EdgarHoover ‘s disinformation campaign to make a legitimate media org completely radioactive 3. Clearly, to describe #WikiLeaks and its publishing activities the #SenateIntelligenceCommittee’s Report completely rely on #US intelligence community+ #MikePompeo’s characterisation of #WikiLeaks. There is not even any pretense of an independent approach 4. there are also unsubstantiated claims like:
– “[WikiLeaks’] disclosures have jeopardized the safety of individual Americans and foreign allies” (p.200)
– “WikiLeaks has passed information to U.S. adversaries” (p.201)
5. it’s completely false that “#WikiLeaks does not seem to weigh whether its disclosures add any public interest value” (p.200) and any longtime media partner like me could provide you dozens of examples on how wrong this characterisation [is].
Titillating
Mazzetti did add some spice to the version of his article that dominated the two top right columns of Wednesday’s Times with the blaring headline: “Senate Panel Ties Russian Officials to Trump’s Aides: G.O.P.-Led Committee Echoes Mueller’s Findings on Election Tampering.”
Those who make it to the end of Mazzetti’s piece will learn that the Senate committee report “did not establish” that the Russian government obtained any compromising material on Mr. Trump or that they tried to use such materials [that they didn’t have] as leverage against him.” However, Mazzetti adds,
“According to the report, Mr. Trump met a former Miss Moscow at a party during one trip in 1996. After the party, a Trump associate told others he had seen Mr. Trump with the woman on multiple occasions and that they ‘might have had a brief romantic relationship.’ “The report also raised the possibility that, during that trip, Mr. Trump spent the night with two young women who joined him the next morning at a business meeting with the mayor of Moscow.”
This is journalism? Airborne: How The Libe... Margolis, Matt Best Price: $12.00 Buy New $15.99 (as of 04:20 UTC - Details)
Another Pulitzer in Store?
The Times appends a note reminding us that Mazzetti was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia.
And that’s not the half of it. In September 2018, Mazzetti and his NYT colleague Scott Shane wrote a 10,000-word feature, “The Plot to Subvert an Election,” trying to convince readers that the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) had successfully swayed U.S. opinion during the 2016 election with 80,000 Facebook posts that they said had reached 126 million Americans.
That turned out to be a grotesquely deceptive claim. Mazzetti and Shane failed to mention the fact that those 80,000 IRA posts (from early 2015 through 2017, meaning about half came after the election), had been engulfed in a vast ocean of more than 33 trillion Facebook posts in people’s news feeds – 413 million times more than the IRA posts. Not to mention the lack of evidence that the IRA was the Russian government, as Mueller claimed.
In exposing that chicanery, prize-winning investigative reporter Gareth Porter commented:
“The descent of The New York Times into this unprecedented level of propagandizing for the narrative of Russia’s threat to U.S. democracy is dramatic evidence of a broader problem of abuses by corporate media … Greater awareness of the dishonesty at the heart of the Times’ coverage of that issue is a key to leveraging media reform and political change.”
Nothingburgers With Russian Dressing: the Backstory
“It’s too much; it’s just too much, too much”, a sedated, semi-conscious Robert Parry kept telling me from his hospital bed in late January 2018 a couple of days before he died. Bob was founder of Consortium News.
It was already clear what Bob meant; he had taken care to see to that. On Dec. 31, 2017 the reason for saying that came in what he titled “An Apology & Explanation” for “spotty production in recent days.” A stroke on Christmas Eve had left Bob with impaired vision, but he was able to summon enough strength to write an Apologia — his vision for honest journalism and his dismay at what had happened to his profession before he died on Jan. 27, 2018. The dichotomy was “just too much”.
Parry rued the role that journalism was playing in the “unrelenting ugliness that has become Official Washington. … Facts and logic no longer mattered. It was a case of using whatever you had to diminish and destroy your opponent … this loss of objective standards reached deeply into the most prestigious halls of American media.” Fallout: Nuclear Bribe... Bruner, Seamus Buy New $25.20 (as of 04:53 UTC - Details)
What bothered Bob most was the needless, dishonest tweaking of the Russian bear. “The U.S. media’s approach to Russia,” he wrote, “is now virtually 100 percent propaganda. Does any sentient human being read The New York Times’ or The Washington Post’s coverage of Russia and think that he or she is getting a neutral or unbiased treatment of the facts? … Western journalists now apparently see it as their patriotic duty to hide facts that otherwise would undermine the demonizing of Putin and Russia.”
Parry, who was no conservative, continued:
“Liberals are embracing every negative claim about Russia just because elements of the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency produced a report last Jan. 6 that blamed Russia for ‘hacking’ Democratic emails and releasing them to WikiLeaks.”
Bob noted that the ‘hand-picked’ authors “evinced no evidence and even admitted that they weren’t asserting any of this as fact.”
It was just too much.
Robert Parry’s Last Article
Bob posted his last substantive article on Dec. 13, 2017, the day after text exchanges between senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were made public. (Typically, readers of The New York Times the following day would altogether miss the importance of the text-exchanges.)
Bob Parry rarely felt any need for a “sanity check.” Dec. 12, 2017 was an exception. He called me about the Strzok-Page texts; we agreed they were explosive. FBI Agent Peter Strzok was on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s staff investigating alleged Russian interference, until Mueller removed him.
Strzok reportedly was a “hand-picked” FBI agent taking part in the Jan 2017 evidence-impoverished, rump, misnomered “intelligence community” assessment that blamed Russia for hacking and other election meddling. And he had helped lead the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s misuse of her computer servers. Page was Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s right-hand lawyer.
His Dec. 13, 2017 piece would be his fourth related article in less than two weeks; it turned out to be his last substantive article. All three of the earlier ones are worth a re-read as examples of fearless, unbiased, perceptive journalism. Here are the links .
Bob began his article on the Strzok-Page bombshell:
“The disclosure of fiercely anti-Trump text messages between two romantically involved senior FBI officials who played key roles in the early Russia-gate inquiry has turned the supposed Russian-election-meddling “scandal” into its own scandal, by providing evidence that some government investigators saw it as their duty to block or destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.? “As much as the U.S. mainstream media has mocked the idea that an American ‘deep state’ exists and that it has maneuvered to remove Trump from office, the text messages between senior FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page reveal how two high-ranking members of the government’s intelligence/legal bureaucracy saw their role as protecting the United States from an election that might elevate to the presidency someone as unfit as Trump.”
Not a fragment of Bob’s or other Consortium News analysis made any impact on what Bob used to call the Establishment media. As a matter of fact, eight months later during a talk in Seattle that I titled “Russia-gate: Can You Handle the Truth?”, only three out of a very progressive audience of some 150 had ever heard of Strzok and Page.
And so it goes.
Power Grab: The Libera... Chaffetz, Jason Best Price: $9.54 Buy New $18.06 (as of 04:27 UTC - Details) Lest I am accused of being “in Putin’s pocket,” let me add the explanatory note that we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity included in our most explosive Memorandum for President Trump, on “Russian hacking.”
Full Disclosure: Over recent decades the ethos of our intelligence profession has eroded in the public mind to the point that agenda-free analysis is deemed well nigh impossible. Thus, we add this disclaimer, which applies to everything we in VIPS say and do: We have no political agenda; our sole purpose is to spread truth around and, when necessary, hold to account our former intelligence colleagues.
We speak and write without fear or favor. Consequently, any resemblance between what we say and what presidents, politicians and pundits say is purely coincidental. The fact we find it is necessary to include that reminder speaks volumes about these highly politicized times.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.