Lew Rockwell Institute

Norway’s largest peace organization, the Norwegian Peace Council, has announced that it would forego its traditional torchlight procession for the Nobel Peace Prize winner this year after widespread dissatisfaction with the Nobel Committee’s selection of Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado as this year’s laureate.

Eline H. Lorentzen, Chairwoman of the Peace Council, explained that:

We have great respect for the Nobel Committee and the Peace Prize as an institution, but as an organization we must also be true to our own principles and the broad peace movement we represent. We look forward to celebrating the Peace Prize again in the coming years.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee shocked the global pro-peace community with its selection of Machado as this year’s Prize winner, as the Venezuelan has over decades openly appealed to the US, Israel, and other countries to use military force to overthrow the sitting Venezuelan president and install her into power.

Not only has Machado urged the overthrow of the sitting Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, who the US Central Intelligence Agency has been given the green light by President Trump to hunt down, but she also openly called for the overthrow of Maduro’s predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez.

While the solid majority worldwide across the political spectrum has reacted with horror at Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, “Peace Prize” winner Machado sent a letter to Israeli prime minister Netanyahu telling him that she “greatly appreciates his decisions and decisive actions in the war.”

In December, 2018, Machado sent a letter to Netanyahu requesting Israeli aid in overthrowing the Venezuelan government by force, an action that would undoubtedly result in many thousands of deaths and injuries.

The timing of the Nobel Committee selecting Machado, just as the United States is attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela and openly threatening to launch ground operations against Venezuela, has likewise raised more than a few eyebrows.

Ron Paul Institute chairman Ron Paul recently wrote:

Is the Nobel Peace Prize just another deep state, soft-power tool intended to boost the US global military empire? The timing of the award going to the relatively unknown Machado is suspicious. President Trump has parked an armada of warships off the Venezuelan coast as his aides openly talk about ‘decapitation’ strikes on the Venezuelan government. After the extrajudicial killing of some 20 civilians in his attacks on at least four boats off the Venezuelan coast, President Trump is openly bragging that no one dares launch a boat in the area.

As with its selection of US President Barack “drone strike” Obama and European “protester-savaging” Union as previous laureates, the Nobel Committee continues to embarrass itself and discredit the original intent of the Prize.

The Norwegian Peace Council deserves credit for sticking up for its principles in the face of powerful opposition. The Nobel Committee? Not so much.

This article was originally published on The Ron Paul Institute.

The post Norwegian Peace Council Rejects Peace Prize Winner appeared first on LewRockwell.

“I think the early campus riots, such as Columbia, were exhilarating, but perhaps because I agreed with the goals; but in general and increasingly, I find all the demonstrations, bombings, etc. pains in the ass or worse,” Murray Rothbard, who boasted three degrees from the institution, wrote Frank Meyer in 1969 shortly after the older man’s son had attended the institution as a graduate student.  

In an earlier era, Meyer the Communist wore an unkempt mop of hair and described himself as a nonmonogamist. He inhabited worlds that included homosexuals, recreational drug users, political radicals, and others who, decades later, provided a culture shock to 1960s America. Rothbard, on the other hand, came up through the staid world of the political Right. Although lifestyle libertarians flourished in these years, Rothbard remained married to the same woman for 41 years and dressed like a frumpled academic.

Nevertheless, their correspondence, discovered in a warehouse during research for The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer, shows fissures, along with points of agreement, regarding the 1960s counterculture.   

Rothbard, of course, through activism in the Peace and Freedom Party, the launch of Left and Right, articles in Ramparts, and much else, actively courted anti-war activists, black-power militants, and others regarded on the political Left for the libertarian movement. He wondered to Meyer why William F. Buckley Jr. singled him out for criticism while still opening the magazine’s pages to Garry Wills even as he became a critic of Richard Nixon, the war, and conservatism. Wills, a disciple of Meyer’s who had frequently spent weekends and occasionally even holidays at the Meyer home during the late 1950s and early 1960s, provoked criticism in National Review from his mentor.   

Rothbard wrote Meyer of changing minds in the changing times, “It is interesting that, while there are a whole host of kids who have defected from the ‘Right,’ the only three ‘adults’ I can think of are myself, Karl Hess, and Garry—that’s darn few, all things considered.” 

Rothbard opposed Vietnam. Meyer supported it. Both opposed the draft for the war. Rothbard noted that he generally approved of Meyer’s anti-drug outlook. But differences characterized each man’s reasoning and strategy.  

“I really don’t see what the whole business has to do with ‘Western civilization’ (a concept that tends to crop up in your writings like King Charles’ Head),” he told Meyer. “What we have here is an assault on rational consciousness itself, on reason and reality and the very root of the ego’s grasp on and control of reality and real events.” 

Shortly after Dragnet’s famous “Blue Boy” episode aired in early 1967, Meyer wrote about LSD in a manner that Joe Friday and Bill Gannon might endorse. “Turn on the attack on civilizational restraints, tune in on the animal and instinctual, and drop out of civilized society,” he translated the famous catchphrase of drug guru Timothy Leary. “It epitomizes the rejection of structure, differentiation, order.” 

Rothbard largely took the side of the squares, too. He marveled at why otherwise intelligent youngsters “induce in themselves the symptoms of schizophrenia and insanity.” But he placed blame on the Right and Western Civilization for laying the groundwork for the craze. 

“The LSD cult is a direct lineal descendant of the Gerald Heard-mescaline craze which, as you might remember[,] swept the Right-wing about a dozen years ago,” he contended. “The whole thing is permeated with cheap mysticism and God-is-Universal Love hooey which, unfortunately, is a legacy from ‘Western civilization.’” 

This last point represented a reaction to Meyer’s repeatedly linking alcohol to the West and psychedelics to the Orient. He believed that alcohol lubricated thought while marijuana and other drugs anesthetized it. 

Paul Gottfried recalled a “very animated” Meyer holding court at Mory’s during an anniversary celebration for Yale’s Party of the Right in early 1968 on the subject of the proliferation of drugs. Meyer, Gottfried recalled, “thought it would destroy the morals of our society.” A member of the Party of the Right, David Zincavage, noted that libertarians within the group had begun experimenting with marijuana and other drugs. They challenged Meyer. “He thought that alcohol was a Western Civilization tradition,” Zincavage remembered, “and that pot was Oriental and planted degeneracy.”

Like Meyer, Rothbard recognized the permeation of the drug culture in libertarian circles. He regarded this as a baleful influence. 

“My major interest in this whole thing is that this epidemic has been very strong among the growing number of libertarian kids, who have been in the forefront of the whole craze, and hence in the ‘tune in-turn on-drop out’ pattern of fundamental instability and copping-out of real struggles and purposeful striving,” he wrote Meyer.

Meyer’s life in Woodstock allowed him to witness a prolonged dress rehearsal for this drugged-out part of the decade. On the sparsely populated mountain, the man who purchased an adjacent property in 1969 fled there to escape the harassment of “druggies,” “dropouts,” and other characters of the time and place. “I wanted to set fire to these people,” Bob Dylan later wrote. On the drug question, two 1960s phenomena—neighbors Bob Dylan and Frank Meyer—sang from the same sheet of music. 

Rothbard longed for a solution more proactive than merely moving near the top of a mountain to escape such people. 

“The big problem is how to get these kids out of all this, and I don’t see how preaching at them is going to do any good,” he wrote Meyer. “Quite the contrary, since preaching is one of the things they are reacting against. Furthermore, since they see that their parents are pro-war, pro-militarism, and anti-sex, and they have become just the opposite, the tendency also is to rebel against their parents’ aesthetic crotchets (e.g. short hair v. long hair) and to become pro-drugs because their parents are hysterically opposed. I would like to see a viable strategy developed to get these kids out of this self-destroying miasma, but I don’t see that any of us has the formula yet.” 

The post New Rothbard Letters Show He Rejected Both Drug Abuse and the Drug War appeared first on LewRockwell.

Since 2024, I have been working diligently to present the extensive data that DMSO is a remarkable therapeutic that is uniquely suited to treat many highly challenging medical conditions due to its counteracting many root causes of disease (whereas, in contrast, vaccines cause a myriad of health issues by inducing those key drivers of illness). From this, I’ve compiled a series of articles synthesizing thousands of studies that have shown DMSO effectively treats:

• Strokes, paralysis, a wide range of neurological disorders (e.g., Down Syndrome and dementia), and many circulatory disorders (e.g., Raynaud’s, varicose veins, hemorrhoids), which I discussed here.
• A wide range of tissue injuries, such as sprains, concussions, burns, surgical incisions, and spinal cord injuries (discussed here).
• Chronic pain (e.g., from a bad disc, bursitis, arthritis, or complex regional pain syndrome), which I discussed here.
• A wide range of autoimmune, protein, and contractile disorders, such as scleroderma, amyloidosis, and interstitial cystitis (discussed here).
• A variety of head conditions, such as tinnitus, vision loss, dental problems, and sinusitis (discussed here).
• A wide range of internal organ diseases (discussed here).
• Many different respiratory disorders, including asthma and COPD (discussed here)
• Many different gastrointestinal disorders, such as bowel inflammation, cirrhosis, and pancreatitis (discussed here)
• A wide range of skin conditions, such as burns, varicose veins, acne, hair loss, ulcers, skin cancer, and many autoimmune dermatologic diseases (discussed here).
• Many challenging infectious conditions, including chronic bacterial infections, herpes, and shingles (discussed here).
• Many aspects of cancer (e.g., many of cancer’s debilitating symptoms, making cancer treatments more potent, greatly reducing the toxicity of conventional therapies, and turning cancer cells back into normal cells), which I discussed here.

Since the evidence in those articles (along with one on how DMSO can be synergistically combined with pharmaceuticals and another on how DMSO combines with natural therapies) made a compelling case for the use of DMSO, many readers opted to start using it. Many of them, in turn, had remarkable improvements which caused them to recommend DMSO to their peers, and because of all those successes, a widespread interest in DMSO has now emerged.

On one hand, this has been quite surprising to me as the information I publicized has been widely available for decades, but (possibly due to it being impossible to profit off DMSO because of how little it costs) most of the people exposed to this series were not even aware this therapy existed, let alone what DMSO could do. Conversely, the groundswell of interest is not surprising as it’s nearly identical to what happened when DMSO was first discovered in the 1960s and it rapidly became the most popular drug in America—particularly since relatively minimal progress has been made on most of the “incurable” conditions it cured back then.

User DMSO Reports

Because of DMSO’s high degree of efficacy, the moment I began the series, I started being flooded with testimonials from readers of the remarkable improvements DMSO had created for them. Before long, I realized I was in a similar situation to what I’d been in throughout COVID-19.

I have long believed one of the core strategies the ruling class always follows is to establish rigid hierarchical systems that have dominion over critical facets of society and then buy out the top of the pyramid, as that provides a relatively low-cost way to control the entire society. In the case of medicine, this has translated to having pharmaceutical compliant individuals (through industry funding and media complicity) be anointed as experts who reinforce the profitable orthodoxy alongside having medical journals only publish things which cater to the existing vested interests.

Because of this, things that are “controversial” (threatening vested interests) are rarely published in a “credible” medium, and as a result, anyone who tries to advocate for them is not listened to; instead, they are chastised for endorsing “unproven” and unscientific beliefs.

When the COVID vaccines hit the market, I had expected they would cause a significant number of chronic issues that would take years to be recognized—so I was quite shocked to be immediately flooded with reports across the country of severe reactions of all types from the vaccine. Because of this, I felt I needed to log them as I knew injuries like these would never get published in medical journals and I wanted to have some type of proof that vaccine injuries were real, so in the future I could present accurate information to skeptical parties. I hence spent an inordinate amount of time interviewing those involved and compiling all of them and after unexpectedly gaining a Substack audience, I published that log, and it went viral because my small sample accurately represented the pattern of vaccine injuries everyone was seeing around them and because more than a year into the COVID vaccine rollout, no one had done anything similar—despite the massive demand for this type of information.

In the process of doing that, I had also received a lot of reports of individuals who appeared to be being injured by COVID vaccine shedding—despite this being “impossible” based on the purported design of the vaccines. As the reports, like those for the COVID-19 vaccine injuries, were consistent in character (and like the vaccines many affected by shedding were understandably desperate for information on the topic) I decided to spend a year compiling thousands of those reports as I knew there would never be a journal willing to touch the subject. Following this, I then produced a synthesis of that data which showed there were clear repeating patterns to mRNA shedding and provided the critical mechanisms to explain this seemingly inexplicable phenomenon. That, in turn, was an inordinate amount of work to do, but succeeded and made many realize shedding is a real risk of the mRNA technology—something which will be critical for opposing future attempts to inject the population with experimental gene therapies.

In the case of DMSO, as I started receiving all of these reports (at a time when I had essentially finished the shedding project), I realized that I had access to a unique dataset that had not previously been available. More importantly, because there were so many different things that DMSO could treat, a dataset like this would likely be the only place much of that therapeutic data could ever be compiled (as no one would ever get around to conducting studies on many of those uses—particularly since the current academic publishing climate is much more hostile to publishing unorthodox research now than it was fifty years ago).

So, over the last 13 months, one of my primary projects has been to compile all the reports I’ve received (which I did in the comments here), and I presently have 4,721 comments—of which I think roughly 3,000 are unique stories of therapeutic benefit people have experienced. In turn, my plan is to eventually compile and synthesize all of that, but as doing that will take at least a month, I’ve held off until the end of the series (so I wouldn’t have to redo it with new data that was subsequently received).
Note: my general sense from all the testimonials I’ve received is that between 80-90% of users have a positive response to using DMSO (which is frankly extraordinary), with lower rates (50%) being seen for certain issues which are harder to correctly treat with DMSO, and give or take 0% success rates being seen for issues DMSO is not thought to treat (suggesting the sample I’m observing is representative of real life data).

Within those comments, while most of the reports I’ve received are consistent with what DMSO is recognized to do (e.g., rapidly eliminating debilitating pain that nothing else had worked on), some were quite extraordinary and not what I’d expected to come across.

Note: as fate had it, Murray lived about 3 hours away from Rebecca Cunningham, the Texas-based documentary film maker who cured her neighbor’s terminal COPD with nebulized DMSO, after which millions saw Dan’s COPD story.1,2 As DMSO changed her life, she is currently collecting other DMSO testimonials on her Rumble channel and kindly agreed to travel to Murray to film this. If you have a story to share and are ever passing through Wimberley or visiting the hill country in Texas, please reach out to her.

In compiling these reports, I was struck by how many were for the eyes, by how well DMSO worked across an extensive range of eye conditions, and by the fact that, in the majority of cases, it provided better results than could be expected from existing ophthalmology options.

Note: the only well-recognized ophthalmologic conditions I did not receive reports on were amblyopia, strabismus, diabetic retinopathy, keratitis, optic neuritis, retinal detachment, retinopathy of prematurity, chalazions, central retinal vein occlusion (although a reader’s branched retinal vein occlusion responded to DMSO), and eye cancers—many of which, as I will show in this article, existing data sources suggest do respond to DMSO.

Later, while translating the discoveries of the German community, I learned their data matched that of the readers here:

One of the first new adopters of DMSO (circa 2012), began successfully using highly diluted DMSO for eye treatments in his practice. This led to a network of practitioners using DMSO for eye health, accumulating substantial experience, and, in many cases, treating eye issues where the cause could not be determined.

In general, there are a surprising number of successful reports using DMSO eye drops for a wide variety of eye symptoms and diseases. So many, in fact, that I now consider the DMSO eye solution an exceptional “eye care.”

Many users (especially those with heavy screen time) apply DMSO preventively to maintain eye freshness, improve tear quality, and reduce night glare. Positive effects, including improved vision, better tear film, fresher eyes, and reduced night glare, are often reported after the first few applications, enhancing overall eye comfort and function—including in people whom ophthalmologists did not diagnose with any eye conditions.

The positive effects are often reported after the first few applications, but I consider [low dose eye drops] a longer-term option. Due to the excellent diagnostic results and the complete absence of adverse effects from low dose drops (including results from ophthalmologists for a wide range of eye disorders) I increasingly view DMSO eye drops as a preventative measure, eye care for those with (still) healthy eyes, since modern life, particularly excessive screen time, places significant demands on our eyes.

Note: the above was extracted from an AI-generated summary of hundreds of hours of non-English lectures, then further condensed by me and hence not a direct quote (but one that accurately represents the author’s statements).

While this might be difficult to believe, consider a parallel situation. Another umbrella remedy I have been deeply impressed by, ultraviolet blood irradiation (which has many similar therapeutic properties to DMSO), has a vast volume of literature demonstrating its clinical value—including for numerous immensely challenging to treat diseases. Yet, virtually none of the medical profession even knows this therapy exists.

For this reason, we are currently sorting through thousands of UVBI studies, including dozens of studies (many of which were conducted with hundreds of patients) which show UVBI treats a myriad of challenging ophthalmologic conditions such as:

blepharitis,1 keratitis,1 corneal inflammation,1 herpes zoster ophthalmicus,1 traumatic eye infection,1 uveitis,1,2,3,4,5 iridocyclitis,1,2 choroiditis,1 chorioretinopathy,1,2,3,4 choroidal and chorioretinal dystrophy,1,2 macular degeneration,1 retinitis pigmentosa,1,2 retinal contusion,1 retinal ischemia,1,2 retinal and fundus hemorrhages,1,2,3,4 retinal artery and vein occlusions,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 diabetic retinopathy,1 ischemic optic neuropathy,1,2,3,4,5 optic neuritis,1,2,3 optic nerve atrophy (traumatic or inflammatory),1,2,3 encephalopathic vision loss1

Note: in this article, each superscipt number links to either a reader’s story or an applicable study—like the many I listed above (which the ophthalmology profession does not realize exists).

As such, the purpose of this article will be to highlight exactly how DMSO is transforming ophthalmology, along with the supporting data.

Note: the best review paper on DMSO’s uses in ophthalmology (which is an excellent resource to provide to physicians who are skeptical of using DMSO for the eyes) can be read here.

Raed the Whole Article

The post DMSO Heals the Eyes and Transforms Ophthalmology appeared first on LewRockwell.

The ultimate expression of “everyone is twelve now” theory is in the mainstream worldview promoted by western pundits and politicians which holds that the world is full of evil villains doing evil things simply because they are evil, and that these Bad Guys are opposed by the virtuous Good Guys of the US-led world order.

You think Hamas killed Israelis because they’re a bunch of monsters who hate Jews? Of course you do, you’re twelve.

You think Trump is trying to get rid of Maduro because Maduro is an evil dictator who wants to poison Americans with fentanyl? Hell yeah homie, you’re twelve.

You think Putin invaded Ukraine because he hates freedom and democracy and wants to conquer the world? Bless your heart my twelve year-old buddy.

You think the US and Israel have been attacking and eliminating rivals in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Palestine in order to fight terrorism, stop tyranny, and protect the world from nuclear weapons? Yeah, that checks out, you’re twelve.

The mainstream western worldview is like a children’s cartoon, with the Bad Guys doing Bad Things simply because they are Bad, and the Good Guys striving heroically to stop them. It sounds like a shitty PG-13 summer blockbuster starring The Rock, but it’s the consensus worldview of serious professional pundits and analysts who share this perspective on mainstream platforms with serious expressions on their faces, and anyone who calls any part of it into question is dismissed as an extremist or a deranged crackpot.

Because everyone is twelve now.

❖

I said the above on Twitter and I got a reply from a guy saying “Western countries like Denmark, Holland and the UK, US and Israel too are objectively nicer and happier places than the third world ones you mentioned. You can see by walking around, looking at people and things. So we’re doing something right that they’re doing wrong.”

It always fascinates me when people think this is some kind of checkmate argument. Yes obviously it’s nicer to be in the countries doing the bombing, sanctioning, extracting and stealing than the countries being bombed, sanctioned, exploited and robbed. It’s nicer to be a mugger than the person being mugged, too. It’s always more pleasant to be the hammer than the nail.

It’s such a self-evidently stupid argument, but you see it all the time. Whenever I talk about the abusiveness of the western empire I always get empire simps in my replies all “hoho, but have you considered that it is nicer to live here than to live there?” Of course it is, dickflop. It’s always going to be easier being the abuser than the abused.

❖

❖

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reportedly advocated shooting children who get too close to the “Yellow Line” dividing Israel-controlled parts of Gaza from the parts under Hamas control. After a while you start understanding why so many people refer to the Israeli regime as “demonic” and “satanic” even if you’re not religious. At a certain point you just run out of strong enough adjectives.

It’s so weird how the western political/media class regards Ben-Gvir as a fringe kook whose comments should be ignored despite the fact that he (A) is Israel’s national security minister and (B) consistently ends up getting what he wants.

❖

Zohran Mamdani is outside my area of political interest and it’s none of my business who New Yorkers elect as their mayor, but the Islamophobic shrieking I’ve been seeing online in response to his campaign has been absolutely jaw-dropping. No one with mainstream political or media aspirations could ever get away with talking about the religion of a Jewish politician the way Zionists have been openly talking about Mamdani and his faith.

From what I can tell Mamdani is a just a regular guy and a fairly ordinary progressive Democrat with an extraordinarily high level of campaign talent, but these freaks are claiming he’s going to impose sharia law and start throwing gays off the Chrysler Building. It’s a degree of mass hysteria about Islam unlike anything I’ve seen since the immediate aftermath of 9/11, which any normal person will agree led to some extremely bad thinking and terrible decisions.

Some of it is arising from organic American racism and the knee-jerk rightist impulse to throw anyone to the left of Bill Clinton out of a flying helicopter, but a lot of it has nothing to do with Mamdani at all. As we’ve discussed previously, Zionists have been seizing on every opportunity to promote hatred of Muslims because it’s a lot easier than convincing people to like Israel.

To be clear, I am not speculating when I say this. Drop Site News published a report last month based on leaked documents which showed that the Israeli government had commissioned an American polling company to help it with the PR crisis caused by its genocidal atrocities, and the report found that the most effective strategy would be to foment fear of “Radical Islam” and “Jihadism”.

So this agenda is already in the waters of Zionist consciousness. The election of a Muslim to the most high-profile mayoral position in the United States provides Israel supporters with ample opportunity to stir up panic about Muslims in America on the assumption that Israel will benefit from such sentiments, since Israel is always killing Muslims. There is no argument to be made that Israel is a good nation that is inherently deserving of support, so they’re banking on circulating the belief that it’s good to drop bombs on Muslims instead.

Western politics is getting more and more diseased, and US politics is leading the way. It’s making people dumber, crazier, and more hateful, and is preventing them from seeing that the real minority that’s been causing everyone’s problems are the rich and powerful oligarchs and empire managers who rule the western power alliance. Keep ordinary members of the public hating each other and fighting each other, and they won’t start hating and fighting their actual oppressors.

_______________

The best way to make sure you see everything I write is to get on my free mailing list. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Click here for links for my social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

The post You Believe The Mainstream Narrative? appeared first on LewRockwell.

As wise beekeepers leave their bees enough honey to carry them through the winter, so too invading hordes learned long ago that obliterating productive tribes for their wealth is not a long-range solution.  Far better to reside among the conquered and make sure they keep the support uninterrupted.  And not just support, but glorification of the conquerers for providing protection from other invaders.  In a malevolent twist on this arrangement, modern “protection” comes in the form of assaults on other peoples, for which the state has bribed its own youth to carry out the attacks.

There is a great need for people to question the nature of the state.  If they do, they’ll find they don’t need the theft of taxation.  They don’t need a counterfeiting central bank.  They don’t need its false flags.  They don’t need its wars of aggression.  They don’t need its imposed bureaucracy of economic and social intervention.  The state’s non-necessity is an idea in full public view.

The catch is, people have to think about these things.  The state goes to great lengths to keep us distracted.

The Greeks and open inquiry

Once upon a time men questioned everything, mostly without fear of punishment.  The most famous exception was Socrates, who was charged with corrupting Athenian youth with atheism and forced to drink hemlock.   The death sentence was quite possibly the result of him lecturing the jury on its ignorance and incompetence, saying that “after 50 years of submitting the wisest people he could find to questioning, he still hadn’t found anyone with any wisdom at all.”  While likely true, his life wasn’t in the hands of truth-seekers.

Greek philosophy seemingly knew no bounds.  Is it possible to step into the same river twice?  Heraclitus thought you couldn’t.  Is the river actually flowing?  Parmenides thought it was an illusion.  Is nature infinitely divisible?  Lucretius argued that it wasn’t, that tiny things called atoms were the basis of existence.

Their inquiries pushed into politics, as well.  Thrasymachus, featured in Plato’s Republic, argued that justice is nothing more than the expression of the stronger.  Zeno of Citium “envisioned a society without conventional institutions like temples, law courts, or gyms, arguing that wisdom and virtue alone should guide human conduct.”  There should be no family, no private property, no money.

When we examine the differences among Classical philosophers we find a steady truth, that the mysteries of the universe and everyday life were open to rational inquiry, even if today some of their ideas are wildly untenable.  Aristotle, the last of the great thinkers, left mankind a great gift that was lost to the West for centuries.

The partnership of church and state

Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Emperor Theodosius I in 380 CE (with the Edict of Thessalonica).  “It was the first secular law to explicitly define religious orthodoxy and authorized punitive measures against dissenters. . .  [The decree] commanded that all who followed this faith be called ‘Catholic Christians,’ a term that distinguished them from heretical groups.”  But something unknown to common folk slowly developed that became the intellectual groundwork of a better life for their descendants.

As Dr. Blake Hart writes,

As the twelfth century dawned, Europe stood on the cusp of an intellectual awakening so profound that its echoes would reverberate through the halls of history.  .  . . Natural philosophy was central to this transformative period, a field that emerged as the fulcrum around which all other disciplines began to pivot. . . . the natural world became not merely a creation to be marveled at in its divine artistry but also a puzzle to be solved through the keen application of observation and reason.

Prior to 1100, medieval scholars knew of Aristotle solely as a logician.  The rest of his corpus was known only in the Moslem world and Byzantine Empire. During the 12th century Christians, Muslims, and Jews, working together in Toledo, Spain and Palmero, Sicily translated his works into Latin.  Once these texts reached the University of Paris, the intellectual capital of Europe, they caused a major disturbance.

In Aristotle’s Children, author Richard E. Rubenstein tells us,

Because of the threat they posed to established modes of thought, Aristotle’s books of “natural philosophy” were originally considered too dangerous to be taught at European universities. Early in the thirteenth century they were banned, and some of their more wild-eyed proponents were burned as heretics. As late as 1277, the Church condemned a number of Aristotelian ideas being taught in the schools, including some propositions espoused by the century’s greatest genius, Thomas Aquinas. In the end, however, the leaders of the Church allowed Christian thinking to be transformed by the new worldview. [My emphasis]

Aristotle’s cosmology at first buttressed the existing social order as it advanced the idea of a hierarchal structure to the universe, with earth at its center.  This not only “reinforced the idea of human centrality in God’s plan,” it provided a rational structure to the existing divine-right state.

Aristotle’s manuscripts were treated like scripture in a sense, something to be read and absorbed but not criticized.  Later, to be accused of being an Aristotelian was to be accused of treating his ideas as dogma.  But crude as some of his pronouncements were, Aristotle himself based his claims on what he saw and deduced from the natural world.  His tools were reason and the senses.  Together they provided a tentative understanding of reality.  Aristotle was not Aristotelian.

This development of critical thinking skills was fundamental to freeing people from oppression.  The cultural movement known as Renaissance Humanism that spread across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, was started by literary elites who “sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity, and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions.”  Following this we saw the Reformation and centuries later, the Enlightenment, that provided the philosophical basis for man’s rights and the Declaration of Independence.

For a Medieval serf to openly question the legitimacy of his rulers was to risk losing his head and eternal damnation, though in practice heresy trials and punishments were aimed more at priests, scholars, or nobles who challenged Church doctrine than at illiterate peasants.  The combination of sacral kingship (divinity of the monarch) and ecclesiastical monopoly on learning kept dissent perilous.  Aristotle and other thinkers broke the chains of dogma gradually and made inquiry legitimate.

Conclusion

Thinkers who have advanced the conquest theory of the state include Oppenheimer (1908), who likened the state to beekeepers, Nock (1935), and Rothbard (1974).  All see the state as organized plunder, not a contract between rulers and ruled.  Morally, because of its coercive nature the state has no legitimacy, and practically, it is not only unnecessary but detrimental to human existence.

“Resolve to serve no more,” wrote a youthful Étienne de La Boétie around 1552.  He was calling on people to think about their political condition.  It’s up to us to follow his counsel.

The post Critical Thinking Is the Only Path to Freedom appeared first on LewRockwell.

Ever since people began coming to the realization that the U.S. national-security establishment, rather than a lone nut, orchestrated and carried out the assassination of President Kennedy, there have been those who have lamented that the conspirators were never brought to justice. Today, obviously, all of them are dead, and none of them was ever prosecuted for the assassination.

The reality, however, is that even if it had been discovered soon after the assassination that the Pentagon and the CIA had orchestrated and carried out the assassination, no military or CIA official would have ever been punished for what he had done.

The reason lies in the law of U.S. “national security,” as established by the U.S. Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary.

Here is how the case would have played out.

In November 1963, it was not a federal offense to assassinate a president of the United States.  Thus, the conspirators would have been indicted and prosecuted for murder by the Dallas District Attorney in state court in Dallas.

The defendants’ lawyers would have immediately removed the case to the U.S. District Court in Dallas by showing that the case involved the prosecution of federal officials for matters relating to the federal issue of “national security.”

Once the case was removed to federal court, the prosecution would have proceeded. The defendants, however, would have immediately filed a motion for dismissal of the charges, based on “national security.” Under the law of “national security,” as established by the U.S. Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary, the charges would have been dismissed.

The Supreme Court and other federal courts have made it abundantly clear that when it comes to matters relating to “national security,” the federal courts will not interfere with operations that are carried out by the U.S. national-security establishment. The judicial policy is to show complete deference to the omnipotent authority of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA when it comes to matters relating to “national security.”

Needless to say, this policy of judicial deference to authority extends to state-sponsored assassinations whose aim is to protect “national security.” The federal judiciary has long made it clear that will never interfere with such operations. The federal courts have even created a legal doctrine called the “political-question doctrine” that, they say, precludes them from second-guessing the national-security establishment when it comes to assassinations or other national-security-state operations.

When the heirs of Chilean Gen. Rene Schneider, for example, sued in federal district court for the wrongful death of their father as part of a U.S. national-security state regime-change operation in Chile, the federal judiciary held that the federal courts lacked the expertise and competence to second-guess the national-security establishment when it came to assassinations and other national-security operations.

When the father of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki filed suit in federal court seeking an injunction that would prohibit the national-security establishment from killing his son, the federal courts refused to interfere with the national-security establishment’s assassination plans. U.S. national-security officials then proceeded to kill al-Awlaki and then his son too, who was also an American citizen.

Today, President Trump and the U.S. national-security establishment are killing drug-war suspects in the Caribbean, notwithstanding the manifest illegality of such killings. It is a certainty that if anyone were to bring a lawsuit seeking to stop them from killing any more people, the federal courts would decline to act and would immediately dismiss the suit.

In the Kennedy prosecution, military and CIA officials on trial would have showed that it was necessary to assassinate Kennedy on grounds of “national security.” They would have shown that Kennedy’s policy of establishing friendly and peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union, Cuba and the rest of the world was hopelessly naive and was placing the United States in grave danger of being taken over by the Soviet Union, Red China, and the rest of the communist world. See FFF’s book JFK’s War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated by Douglas Horne, who served on the staff of the Assassination Records Review Board.

While there would undoubtedly have been some expert witnesses who would have been willing to testify that such a claim was fallacious, their testimony would have been deemed irrelevant. That’s because under the law of U.S. “national security,” the U.S. national-security establishment has the final word in determining what constitutes a threat to “national security.” The federal courts have made it clear that they will never interfere with that assessment, even if they or others disagree with its merits.

Thus, as I have long argued, there is but one solution to the Kennedy assassination and to all the other state-sponsored assassinations and dark-side operations carried out by the U.S. national-security establishment. That solution is very simple: Dismantle the U.S. national-security-state form of governmental structure that was bought into existence to wage the Cold War against the communists and restore America’s founding governmental system of a limited-government republic.

Reprinted with permission from The Future of Freedom Foundation.

The post JFK’s Assassins Would Never Have Been Convicted appeared first on LewRockwell.

Comments open on YouTube

The post Cheryl Hines: Stories From ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and Sticking by RFK on His Way to the White House appeared first on LewRockwell.

1. Central Banks and the BIS

At the top of the financial pyramid sits the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland , the “central bank of central banks.” It acts as a clearinghouse for financial operations between major nations and secretly controls monetary policy for over 60 central banks worldwide.
They operate with complete legal immunity from national governments and taxation.

Central banks themselves , like the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, and others , print fiat currency at will, control interest rates, and manipulate economic conditions to serve the interests of the elite, not the public.

2. The Old Banking Families

Names like:

• Rothschild
• Rockefeller
• Warburg
• Morgan
• Vanderbilt

These families accumulated obscene amounts of wealth through monopolies on banking, oil, railroads, and shipping during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries , and much of that wealth was quietly transitioned into trusts, holding companies, and offshore accounts.

Estimates of the Rothschild family’s total wealth range from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars, though it’s nearly impossible to trace because it’s hidden in foundations, trusts, and behind nominal ownership.

3. Tax Havens & Offshore Accounts

According to a study by the Tax Justice Network, the global elite hide $21 to $32 trillion in offshore accounts , in places like:

• Cayman Islands
• Luxembourg
• Switzerland
• Singapore
• Panama

This hoarded wealth escapes taxation, public scrutiny, and accountability.

4. Black Budget & Missing Trillions

The U.S. government alone has been caught “losing track” of trillions:

• In 2001, Donald Rumsfeld admitted the Pentagon couldn’t account for $2.3 trillion.
• Catherine Austin Fitts, former HUD Assistant Secretary, has documented the “missing money” schemes siphoning public funds into off-books projects , believed by many to fund secret space programs, underground bases, and elite escape plans.

5. Land, Media, and Pharma Ownership

A handful of investment firms, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, now collectively own controlling stakes in:

• Over 90% of U.S. media
• Most pharmaceutical companies
• Key military contractors
• Major agricultural companies (including those producing GMOs and pesticides)

They also control massive real estate portfolios , quietly buying up farmland, housing, and critical infrastructure worldwide.

6. The Vatican’s Hidden Fortune

The Vatican Bank holds untold billions in gold, real estate, and art. Documents have shown it profited from wars, colonial plundering, and financial schemes. Rumors persist about secret underground vaults loaded with treasures taken during centuries of conquest and conflict.

Why Is This Hoarded Wealth a Problem?

Because it’s not idle money — it’s used to:

• Control governments through campaign funding and lobbying.
• Manipulate markets via hedge funds and currency speculation.
• Fund social engineering through foundations (think Gates, Soros, and Rockefeller initiatives).
• Suppress new technology that could liberate humanity (free energy, advanced medicine, etc.).
• Drive wars and migration crises to destabilize nations and consolidate power.

And while the average person struggles with inflation, debt, and taxes , these entities hoard enough wealth to end global poverty dozens of times over.

The idea of a global elite controlling humanity through debt, manipulation, and hoarded wealth isn’t a theory. It’s a fact that history’s empires have always functioned this way. The names and technology have changed, but the strategy hasn’t.

And when the people finally see how it works, it falls apart. Every time.

This article was originally published on Preppgroup.

The post The Global Elite that Controlling Humanity Through Debt, Manipulation, and Hoarded Wealth appeared first on LewRockwell.

To weave a magnificent tapestry like the one James W. Douglass has created with Martyrs to the Unspeakable: The Assassinations of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK takes a steady hand, a hopeful heart, and a steadfast dedication to seeking truth and telling it through factually based and interwoven stories.

Because of its brilliant complexity and documented details, it is difficult to review, but I will say at the outset that it is a masterpiece, the culmination of Douglass’s life of writing about and fighting for peace and justice for our human family.

It is a book that could only be written by a man sustained by a spiritual faith that inspired his four subjects to face their own deaths without flinching, so that others might be saved. It is a testament to four leaders violently gunned down, written by a man whose faith in nonviolence is unshakeable.

Douglass grasps the prophet and artist’s secret that we all live by stories, and the martyred heroes’ tales he recounts in this book are sorely needed in this darkest of times when the death of our planet is at stake and the spiritual sustenance to prevent it is desperately needed.

The truths he recounts through these stories are sad and joyous, for they convey both the agony of terrible deaths but also the ecstasy of the hope that is resurrected through grasping the courage of four great men who defiantly dared to confront the unspeakable lies of their government and society. Four men who died trying to open others’ eyes to terrible truths hard to swallow.

The Tapestry

All tapestries take patience and a meditative eye to discern the deepest possible meanings that are woven into their intricate designs. I remember once standing for ten minutes in front of a series of very famous and confusing medieval tapestries at The Met Cloisters in NYC – The Hunt of the Unicorn – puzzling over their meaning. Ten minutes left me stumped.

The same is true of a review of this book, which can barely scratch the surface of its cumulative spiritual and political power and relevance; nor the thousands of threaded details that make it whole. But I will nevertheless scratch away to induce you to enter the ways of justice and compassion Douglass tells through the lives of these martyrs for truth. It takes time, but the spent time will tell you a story that is beyond time – it is eternal.

It is imperative, moreover, that one do something very unusual in these days of Internet skimming where manifold specious claims about who killed these four men, and why, are bandied about like Halloween candy for childish masked minds: One must slowly and carefully immerse oneself in the entire book with an open heart and mind and let the tales enter you.

It is commonly known that John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy were assassinated long ago; but it is the intricacies of their personal and political tales, how they dealt with betrayals, threats, and lies, and how their lives and missions intersected, where the meaning manifests itself. The facts are essential, but they are lumps of inert clay until the spirit moves them. These men, despite all their frailties, were moved by the spirit of compassion for others; they were men for others despite the risks to themselves. If this sounds too gushy to you, it could be because you are confusing them with most public figures whose primary concern is power, prestige, and self-survival at all costs.

Douglass’s genius is to cut to the heart of the matter – to find redemptive meaning in the great mishmash of facts and awaken this compassionate spirit in the reader, just as his subjects had to discover it in the circumstances into which life had tossed them. Just as we do.

Life is always what comes next.

One Story Out of Four

Douglass creates one story out of four – or more – and it is a story of hope despite the near despair the deaths of these men brought. As one who lived through them as a young man, I can attest to that despair, as I recall the time, place, even the weather and smaller details when first hearing the news, and how my heart sank into a dark pit. Deaths at mid-day, late afternoon, evening, and late at night, alarm bells to shatter the spirit. Angelus bells in reverse, or as Edgar Allen Poe puts it in “The Bells”:

Hear the loud alarum bells—
Brazen bells!
What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
…………………………………………………………….

Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells—
To the sobbing of the bells

Yet despite the tolling of the devil’s bells, Douglass tells a tale of hope rooted in the similarities between kindred souls who lived their lives so courageously in full awareness that they would probably be killed for trying to bring peace on earth and good will to people everywhere. It was courage rooted in a faith most real, seeding for us the challenge that love can conquer hate if, as Douglass puts it, we “discern a way to walk with our martyrs out of the darkness.” That is a very hard task, rooted in the heart but dependent on a commitment to political non-violent resistance.

Because he is a theologian as well as an historian, it is important that I point out that this work is not a hagiography or a mythic creation, for the stories, while extraordinary, are factual, not fictional, and Douglass supports all his textual claims with extensive footnotes that source and clarify. The reader, when wondering, need just look down the page for elucidation and sources. The fact that he and his editor at Orbis Books, Robert Ellsberg, have returned to this esteemed and crucial – but largely abandoned – publishing tradition of footnotes on nearly every page, not endnotes, is most commendable and an example of their transparency and dedication to the truth. So challenge this, if you dare, the notes say! We are not putting these at the end of the book where you will have to go back and forth, working to connect them to the text. Just look down, and follow the factual trail yourself.

No, this is not a hagiography; it is a book about human transformation, the ways these men changed over time. For example, Douglass makes it clear that in the early 1960s John and Robert Kennedy were supporters of counterinsurgency policies in Vietnam and around the world. But they grew to see that they were wrong. They grew to see their earlier inclinations were right and they had taken a wrong path. So they changed. By 1965, with his brother dead as a result of such changes, Robert Kennedy gave a speech to the International Police Academy (IPA) on the occasion of the graduation of 146 CIA (AID)-recruited police trainees in which he rejected the Johnson administration’s counterinsurgency strategy in Vietnam. He was subjected to harsh criticism for this and was soon called a traitor for his opposition to the escalation of the war. When he was assassinated in 1968, he was adamantly opposed to the war.

Douglass, beside being a fastidious researcher, is an astute psychologist. He knows that human change is hard, halting, and complex, but it happens.

Martyrs to the Unspeakable: The Assassinations of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK is a companion volume to Douglass’s bestselling JFK and the Unspeakable, a book (first published in 2008) that made it  very clear that JFK was assassinated by the CIA because he had turned redemptively toward peacemaking, not war. That book, so meticulously documented and told so compellingly, showed why his life and death matter today because a message was sent from the streets of Dallas to every president since. They have all bowed to the message’s threat: You must support the nuclear warfare state – or else.

Those who have read that groundbreaking volume have been waiting for a sequel for a long time. Martyrs to the Unspeakable is it.

The End Is Our Beginning

So let me begin at the end with Douglass’s Epilogue that is not an afterthought, where in a few pages he tells the story of Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swede, who during WW II had led a Swedish Red Cross expedition that freed thousands of Jews and other prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. In 1948 he was appointed the United Nations Mediator in Palestine. Because he was attempting to fairly resolve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, he was assassinated by the Zionist Stern Gang, also known as LEHI, at a roadblock in Jerusalem. The Stern Gang’s command included Yitzhak Shamir, a future prime minister of Israel. The assassin was Yehoshua Cohen, who would become the closest friend and security guard for the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.

Douglass clearly wants the reader to know that there are other great courageous souls whose names are barely known and have been erased from history, unlike JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK, whose stories he is resurrecting. These unknown martyrs to the unspeakable are a latent stream of hidden hope once one learns their stories.

Bernadotte’s companion in the car when he was assassinated was also killed. He was Colonel Andre Serot, a French observer for the U.N. team, who was in the car by chance since Ralph Bunche, Bernadotte’s close American assistant, had been delayed, and Bernadotte asked Serot, who was talking to him from the outside, to join him in the car. The assassins assumed Serot, who was dark complexioned, was Bunche, who was African-American and whom they had targeted with Bernadotte.

In a simple twist of fate that presaged today’s role-reversals with the genocide of Palestinians being carried out by Israel, Serot’s wife was one of the people Bernadotte had saved from a Nazi concentration camp.

“What we call the beginning is often the end /And to make an end is to make a beginning. /The end is where we start from,” wrote T. S. Eliot.

The Start

So let me now return to the ostensible beginning. The book, like Gaul, but unlike Caesar’s militaristic usage since it concerns the ways a modern empire murders its prophets of peace, is divided into three parts (est omnis divisa in partes tres): The Witness, The Way, and The Why, comprised of nine chapters, with the first and last containing important material about JFK, Israel, Russia, and nuclear weapons, much of which supplements what was provided in JFK and the Unspeakable. There is little new detail provided about the CIA’s assassination of John since that was covered extensively and proven definitively in the first book, but there is much about the CIA/FBI assassinations of Malcolm, Martin, and Bobby, thereby creating a trinity of shorter Unspeakables within this present longer volume. Douglass begins unequivocally:

[When a modern empire murders hope,] “it acts with the same resolve the Roman Empire did with roadside crucifixions to deter rebellion and thievery. Crucified with slaves and prophets who resisted the empire were common criminals. . . . In our day, the slaves and criminals are merged and said to have killed the prophets. We are given enslaved scapegoats with criminal backgrounds so we can feel like we have accused and punished someone for our government-led assassinations . . . . Lee Harvey Oswald . . . . ‘Black Muslims’ . . . . James Earl Ray . . . . Sirhan . . . . The scapegoats, set up by government agencies to take the onus off the empire, are an odd bunch. Yet, through compliant media, they are filtered into our consciousness as marginal culprits. A mighty movement for change has been derailed at crucial moments of our history, yet without credible motivations by the apparent perpetrators.”

JFK, RFK, and Israel

The stunning opening chapter recounts JFK’s fierce battle with David Ben-Gurion, Shimon Perez, and other Israelis to prevent Israel from developing nuclear weapons – nuclear disarmament being Kennedy’s obsession after the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 nearly led to full-scale nuclear annihilation –  and sets the stage for all that follows. Douglass documents the ways John and Bobby Kennedy, united in purpose, tried assiduously to derail Israel’s development of nuclear weapons at its Dimona nuclear reactor, but, in the end, were defeated by Israel’s lies, deceptions, and delaying tactics. And as Douglass points out, they were ably assisted by the CIA’s treacherous counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, who provided Israel with covert assistance in acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Kennedys were seeking a non-nuclear and neutralist Israel in opposition to Cold War Washington, as they pursued an Arab-Israeli peace within a larger U.S.-Soviet one. One aspect of this was their efforts to create a relationship with Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Israelis thwarted them in all their efforts. JFK knew the Israelis were lying to him – as he told the journalist Charles Bartlett – “The sons of-bitches lie to me constantly about their nuclear capability.”

Additionally, his Justice Department, led by RFK, was trying to enforce the Foreign Agency Registration Act against the American Zionist Council (AZC) whose influence in the U.S. was enormous (as the Israel Lobby is more so today). But that effort also failed, as the AZC fought the Justice Department until JFK had been assassinated and Lyndon Johnson had replaced him, when the AZC prevailed. We are living with the consequences.

The chapter follows the CIA’s Allen Dulles, James Jesus Angleton, and Richard Helm’s plot to kill JFK and cover it up, and after that to assassinate RFK. Elected a Senator from New York State in 1964, Senator Robert Kennedy gave a maiden speech in the U.S. Senate on June 23, 1965 that was a direct challenge to Israel’s secret nuclear program and caused great consternation in Israel. A year later, despite RFK’s efforts, Israel secretly attained nuclear capability on November 6, 1966. Dedicated to the same peaceful pursuits as his brother and to fully investigate his brother’s assassination if he could get elected president and have the power to do so, RFK was marked out for death. After MLK, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 and Bobby was running for the presidency, he responded to the Rev. Walter Fauntroy telling him that he’d be the nominee of the Democratic Party. “Kennedy said, ‘Yes, that’s possible.’ He paused, then added, ‘But there are guns between me and the White House.’ Fauntroy was shocked.” Two months later the guns did their job – Bobby lay dead.

Chapter One also includes extensive interviews with his alleged assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, the hypnotized real Manchurian Candidate (see Shane O’Sullivan’s brilliant documentary, The Real Manchurian Candidate), concluding by drawing the threads together to show how they picture a beautiful dream of peace deferred as it exploded in violent protest clashes in many U.S. cities in the summer of 1968.

And that, dear reader, is just Chapter 1, but it should give you a sense of how deep into the darkness Douglass goes, contrary to so many writers who go not too far in but just far enough to say they’ve been there and who never pin the tail on the donkey, or if they do, it’s the wrong donkey. They play the jackass’s game and take those who follow them on a trip to nowhere on one of the CIA’s false trails.

Douglass knows that in order to find truth and hope, one must penetrate all the way to hell if one is ever to reach heaven. He has nothing to do with those who claim we will never know the truth, that we must endlessly debate the minutiae, and that in any case it doesn’t matter anymore. To those, he says: Here it is, and it damn well does matter today, for the U.S. intelligence forces that assassinated JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and Bobby are still at it.

To those who claim it was not the CIA, but Israel who was the culprit, he reminds us of Angleton’s (who was the head of the CIA’s counterintelligence and held the Israel desk) revelation of the CIA’s method of creating diversionary false trails in many directions, “the intent [of which] is to draw us more deeply into the false layers of the official story, each sending us farther into the intelligence world’s wilderness of mirrors . . . . all have the trappings of a CIA scenario with implications of possible Israeli involvement and other trapdoors for investigators to fall through.”  He adds: “The CIA controls its assassination plots and cover-ups. The clues the Agency dispenses tempt us into a boundless wilderness of false trails.”

However, they all lead back, like the tentacles of an underwater monster, to the CIA with its military intelligence, and police allies. The monster is a military-industrial-intelligence system whose goal is to become total global control. The Kennedys, like Malcolm and Martin, are then murdered with systemic vengeance for their having presumably become Cold War traitors. In reality, they are martyrs committed to realizing the most unspeakable reality of all  – a global vision of justice, peace, and unity.

Since Douglass’s opposition to Israeli’s long-time genocide of the Palestinians is adamantine (as is mine), no one can accuse him of being Israel’s defender. Yet today, with so many writers and commentators having fallen through a trapdoor and claiming Israel killed the Kennedys, one can expect them to criticize this book on that score. It is best not to follow their lead. I would recommend that readers judge for themselves, for in this reviewer’s informed opinion, Douglass is clearly correct, and Martyrs to the Unspeakable, building upon JFK and the Unspeakable, makes an irrefutable case.

Since I am writing a book review, not a book about a book, I will simply touch on what I find most compelling in the rest of the book, whose heart I have yet to mention, although the book’s trinitarian construction suggests the heart must be connected to the head and soul.

Chapter Two, “Malcolm Dances with the Unspeakable,” by far the shortest in the book at thirty pages, introduces the reader to Malcolm X’s family background, his entry into the fray for racial justice, the CIA plot with the FBI and the New York Police Department to kill him, and his growing internationalism, including his friendship with Fidel Castro and other anti-colonial leaders.

Despite its brevity – intentional, I think, as Douglass shrewdly lures the reader deeper into his profound story – it is extremely important since many readers, especially Caucasians, probably know far less about Malcolm than they do about the other three, and what they do know is no doubt tinged with afterimages of Malcolm’s militancy, distorted by a media that lied about him because they feared him and were doing the government’s bidding, as usual, something I remember vividly from my youth in NYC. Because he was so eloquent, justifiably angry, sartorially natty, and gave off a whiff of danger (celebrated by the culture at the time in famous rebel “angry white boy” film images, e.g. Marlon Brando, James Dean, et al.), they distorted his battle against white racism and violence. That he was Muslim was the coup de grâce (as today), and so Malcolm was crucified in the press.

The remainder of Part One, “The Witness,” is devoted to the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover’s long harassment of MLK, Jr. and his family, the plot to kill him and assassinate his character, his support for and relationship with the Kennedy brothers, their growing involvement in the civil rights struggle, and Bobby Kennedy’s run for the presidency fueled by his trips through Latin America and Mississippi and his growing defense of the poor (“So a revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.”), and his assassination in Los Angeles. Of special note is the connection of the CIA and the Los Angeles Police Department in his murder and coverup, as well as the courageous testimony of the witness, Sandra Serrano. All these threads are woven together, ending with the Kennedys’ turn toward dialogue with Fidel Castro.

Into the Heart 

The middle section, “The Way,” about the ways Malcolm, Martin, and Bobby walked, despite knowing they would be killed, is, I would say, the heart of the book, its spiritual center. It is powerful and very moving. In the name of succinctness, let me quote a bit.

The Way of Malcolm

“J. Edgar Hoover’s solution to the problem [the international system of racial exploitation] – to pit the rising leaders of Black people against one another – was not new. They knew it as their master’s tactic. In the United States, it would mean selling guns to the ghetto, as brothers shot one another into emergency rooms and the grave, or ended up behind bars for the rest of their days.”

Returning from his transformative trip to Mecca, Malcolm wrote: “I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda. I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” (emphasis in the original)

Malcolm: “We need to expand the civil-rights struggle to a higher level – to the level of human rights.”

In his struggle for human rights, he was undermined by treacherous lies, personal betrayals, government infiltration, spying, and paid informers, that led to his assassination, which he knew was coming as he walked his way to martyrdom.

“Malcolm could confront the Unspeakable with courage because of his total faith in Allah.”

“Malcolm X, who spoke truth to power with his life, pushed the U.S. security state up against the wall with his human rights campaign to the United Nations. It struck back with vengeance. He accepted the consequences of his truth-telling with serenity, saying to a friend two days before he died, “It’s time for martyrs now. And if I’m to be one, it will be in the cause of brotherhood. That’s the only thing that can save this country.”

The Way of Martin

“Martin King became a hard enemy of Washington on April 4, 1967, when he said in “Beyond Vietnam,” his Riverside Church Address, ‘I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today—my own government.’”

“’Beyond Vietnam’ took the speaker beyond civil rights, beyond political calculation, and as a citizen of conscience, beyond protection from the violent system he lived in.”

In this section on MLK, Douglass makes it very clear that this speech and his poor people’s campaign to follow – his revolutionary turn toward linking civil rights to war and economic justice for all – sealed his death warrant, and that he knew it. It did not, however, deter him. He knew his way, and where the way was leading him, but his deep religious faith led him on.

Many know this, but few know what Douglass writes in this section where through his interview with Glenda Grabow, a key witness in King’s assassination, he makes significant connections between the government’s assassinations of King and John Kennedy through the shadowy figure of a man named Raul, who was connected to Jack Ruby. The links Douglass makes, based on facts not conjecture, will make the reader’s head spin.

MLK to Harry Belafonte: “I made my peace with death.”

Belafonte: “You made your peace with death?”

King: “Yeah. It no longer preoccupies me. It doesn’t threaten me.”

As with all wonderful tapestries, this one is so multifaceted and deep, that when you turn a page and read closely, you are constantly startled by what you see through the pictures Douglass draws with his words. One after another, the connections he makes take your breath away.

The Way of RFK

“While Martin Luther King, Jr. was turning toward a way of life crowned by his death, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was on his halting journey of truth into the horror of the Vietnam War, the threatened nuclear destruction of the world, and his own murder.”

“As we have seen, the CIA was in covert control of the RFK murder investigation from the very morning of RFK’s shooting, June 5, 1968. Senior Los Angeles FBI official Roger LaJeunesse and the FBI were immediately elbowed aside by LAPD Chief of Detectives Robert Houghton with the support of the federal government. Houghton installed instead at the head of Special Unit Senator (SUS) an elite unit of his own officers. It was commanded by covert CIA operatives. LaJeunesse knew the detailed CIA history of his friend, Lieutenant Manuel Pena, who had become the SUS officer-in-charge.”

Douglass provides detailed evidence of the CIA’s assassination of RFK and its coverup, the former, as with all these assassinations, requiring the latter.

He provides testimony of the coroner, Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi, that Bobby was shot from behind his right ear from a distance of “one to one and a half inches,” ruling out Sirhan, who was feet in front of him, as his killer.

Douglass jumps to RFK and JFK’s relationship with French President Charles De Gaulle, who luckily escaped the CIA’s coup and assassination attempts, and whose advice on Vietnam Bobby sought on January 31, 1967 when they met in France. As befits his method, he intersects this strand into the big picture, as Penelope in The Odyssey describes the great fabric she weaves around a violent interruption – “fine of thread and very wide”.

“The most obvious, least spoken truth about the killing of John and Robert Kennedy, comes from looking at their assassinations side by side. Not only can their assassinations be seen as serial murders, but they are also linked by necessity. Killing JFK meant killing RFK . . . or else. . . . Killing John Kennedy to keep the Cold War going meant killing Bobby Kennedy for the same reason.”

De Gaulle knew the CIA had killed JFK, and so did Bobby.

“By making the crucial decision to run for president in 1968, RFK chose a still deeper way. The depth of his compassion compelled him to seek the office through which he could help most . . . those most in need . . . while knowing the risk in taking such a step. By embarking on his last campaign for the sake of the living, but at the risk of his own death, Bobby Kennedy chose to live out a way of compassion and justice for all—by living and taking his chances.”

Part Three: The Why is devoted to the convergence of an analysis with the martyrdom of Malcolm and Martin. They came to see all the connections between the genocide on which the U.S. was founded, its history of slavery, its racism, the capitalistic economic system of injustice affecting all races – the issue of human rights – and colonialism.

“The assassinations of Malcolm and Martin have close parallels, because they can be traced to the same source: their government’s covert action protocol. Both men were set up.”

Both men were executed by the U.S. government.

Investigating the assassinations of Martin and Malcolm over the past six decades has been a pilgrimage in their lives of witnessing to the truth. From it, I have learned how naïve I was about systemic evil. While there is nothing new about prophets being murdered by the system, I was not aware how thoroughly our own system carries out such murders—and why. I believe the key to this untold history is the fact that our government was the first to develop and use nuclear weapons. . . . The rise of our national security state after World War II, as justified by the Cold War that our nuclear weapons created, was the effective end of democracy in this country. It was climaxed by the execution of President Kennedy, which foreshadowed the state killings of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., together with Robert Kennedy’s.

So it is fitting that Douglass’s final chapter – a tour de force – is “The Kennedys, the Russians, and the Bomb.” No one who lived through the near nuclear end of the world that occurred in the few weeks of mid-October 1962 – the Cuban Missile Crisis –  will forget it. Or should. As a young college freshman at the time, it is seared in my memory despite the beer, girls, and basketball that were my conscious pursuits. If today’s college students read just this chapter, they would immediately understand how tenuous a hold we all have on life because of nuclear weapons. And they would see how shallow and dangerous are the men who have assumed the presidency since then with their devotion to nuclear weapons.

Douglass opens Chapter Nine, as if it is the month for giving birth to all the gravid tales that led to it, with words that remind one of the poet T. S. Eliot’s question –  “. . . were we led all that way for Birth or Death?” – as follows:

The intertwined stories of John and Robert Kennedy take us into the depths of our human story.

The president, with the support of his attorney general brother on behalf of the American people, risked committing the darkest evil one can imagine, initiating a nuclear war. [during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis]

In an enlightened reversal, the Kennedy brothers then turned toward peace with their Russian and Cuban enemies, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, who emerged from the nuclear darkness with them.

As a result, JFK and RFK were assassinated as Cold War traitors by their own national security state, with RFK’s murder delayed until his last campaign turned him, at his California primary victory, June 4, 1968, toward the prospect of becoming president himself.

The moral consequences of our denial of the truth of their martyrdom for peace have included our country’s waging perpetual war around the world and the ever-more-likely extinction of our species. [my emphasis]

And between this beginning and his end, he gives a detailed history lesson – both wonderful and dreadful – of how the Kennedys, despite their advisers and maniacal generals such as Edward Lansdale, Curtis LeMay, and Lyman Lemnitzer, were able to make friends of their enemies and prevent nuclear war.

Douglass concludes as follows:

We can see the hope of life in our valley of death through the testimony of our prophets. Because they asked why, kept turning, and were willing to die, JFK, Malcom, Martin, and RFK all had to go. That is our story now. We are on the same bloody, glorious path of humanity they blazed for our long night’s journey into light.

May we learn on that way to bow to the light in every human personality on Earth until we see it in communion with the lives of all creatures.

Martyrs to the Unspeakable is a masterpiece, a tapestry of profound importance. It is a testament to the martyrs who died trying and to its author who has lived to tell their tales. It is a breathtaking and inspiring book.

Reprinted with the author’s permission.

The post Martyrs to the Unspeakable: A Luminous Tapestry of Truth appeared first on LewRockwell.

This article was originally published on The Corbett Report.

The post The Nobel War Prize Strikes Again appeared first on LewRockwell.

Further evidence that the people who run Germany have lost their minds came this Saturday when two cooling towers at the former Gundremmingen nuclear power plant were demolished, almost four years after the last reactor was shut down.

The stated (phony) rationale for shutting down Germany’s extremely efficient and clean nuclear energy sector was the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, when the reactor was struck by 2011 Tohoku tsunami that had wave heights of up to 14 meters or 50 feet. Never mind that Bavaria and the rest of Germany’s inland nuclear reactors are nowhere near a tsunami zone.

Like the “COVID-19 vaccine,” “Green Energy” is a remunerative religious artifact, created by ruthless industrial interests exploiting the psychic epidemic or “mind virus” of fear about so-called “climate change.”

Note that destroying the nuclear energy industry adds a new level of irrationality to this bizarre cult, because nuclear energy releases no so-called “greenhouse gasses” apart from a modest amount of steam from cooling towers.

Readers who are intrigued by the perfectly symmetrical collapse of WTC Building 7 will observe that the controlled demolition of the two cooling towers was not achieved was the same near perfect symmetry.

The Cult of “Climate Change” is one of the mind viruses that I examine in my forthcoming (Feb. 10, 2026) of this title, now available for pre-order on Amazon.

A terrifying feature of this madness is the suicidal, anti-human, fanatical religious energy that it expresses. Yet another mind virus is the Russian Derangement Syndrome that has also seized the minds of the people who run Germany. Rather than recognizing that Russia has legitimate security concerns that it has been expressing since the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit—concerns that then Chancellor Angela Merkel expressly recognized—German leaders are apparently now determined to stage a final Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) conflict with Russia—an event in Norse mythology that bears an eery similarity to John’s Revelation of the end of the world, which Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, seems to welcome.

Germany’s seeking of this conflict with Russia is especially astonishing, given that Germany invaded Russia in 1941 and killed millions of Russians before being beat back to Berlin four years later. The Wehrmacht used Ukraine as its launchpad into Russia proper. The apocalyptic trauma suffered by the Russian people in the wake of Operation Barbarossa is precisely why the Russians have been so wary about the West establishing a large military presence in Ukraine. It wasn’t so long ago that every schoolboy in Western Europe understood this. I am unable to explain the pandemic of extreme and dangerous ignorance that has swept the West in recent years.

Reasonable German and American citizens need to reckon with the possibility that the world is currently being governed by homicidal maniacs in the grip of millenarian fantasies.

The Baby-Boomer generation that has been running the world for several years seems content to leave the younger generations saddled with tens of trillions of debt and a world at war. It wouldn’t surprise me if they are equally untroubled by the prospect of the world simply ending along with the end of their lives.

The French King Louis XV purportedly once said, “Après moi, le déluge,” or “Après nous, le déluge,” the latter variation referring to himself and his favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour. It appears that our current leaders feel the same way.

This article was originally published on Courageous Discourse.

The post Germans Sacrifice Nuclear Power to Their ‘Green Energy’ God appeared first on LewRockwell.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has said that “no one possesses the whole truth” and “no one is excluded” from the Church in his most recent Sunday sermon.

In his homily delivered at the Jubilee Mass of the Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies on October 26, Leo made remarks that could be interpreted as relativistic regarding the Catholic Church’s proclamation of the one true faith.

“The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve,” the Roman Pontiff said. “No one should impose his or her own ideas; we must all listen to one another. No one is excluded; we are all called to participate.”

“No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together,” he stated.

He later reiterated this point, saying, “Being a synodal Church means recognizing that truth is not possessed, but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love.”

Leo stressed the importance of the Church being “synodal,” a vague term often used by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

“The synodal teams and participatory bodies are an image of this Church that lives in communion,” he noted.

He said, “[W]e must dream of and build a more humble Church; a Church that does not stand upright like the Pharisee, triumphant and inflated with pride, but bends down to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge as the Pharisee does the tax collector, but becomes a welcoming place for all; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains attentive to God so that it can similarly listen to everyone.”

“Let us commit ourselves to building a Church that is entirely synodal, ministerial and attracted to Christ and therefore committed to serving the world,” he concluded.

While it is true that no created man possesses the fullness of truth, the Catholic Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ guided by the Holy Spirit, has always maintained that it is the guardian of the deposit of faith, which is the truth revealed by God.

Pope Leo’s comments are ambiguous and may be interpreted as relativistic, since he failed to make the distinction between individual members of the Church being fallible in their understanding of truth and the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, guarding and proclaiming the one true faith.

Sacred Scripture states that “the Church of the living God” is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Regarding the Church’s authority to proclaim the truth, the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The Church’s Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.” (CCC 88)

Regarding the Pope’s comment that “no one is excluded” from the Church, Catholic author and commentator Erick Ybarra responded on X:

“Are Jesus and the Apostles welcome? Do their commands have any value? In particular, about not even eating with Christians who live in outward contradiction to the commands of Christ and/or those who obstinately contradict the dogmas of Tradition? (1 Cor 5:1-13; 2 John 1:10) and treating the impenitent ‘faithful’ as heathen and tax collectors? (Mathew 18)” [sic]

“I think Catholic liberals would vomit at the teaching of Jesus and the Church of the Apostles,” Ybarra continued. “They can barely take a Christianity with any testosterone to begin with. They are more interested in the Church that appeals to the pleasure and honor of man than God.”

This article was originally published on Lifesite News.

The post Pope Leo Says ‘No One Possesses the Whole Truth’ in Sunday Sermon appeared first on LewRockwell.

The post Trump Administration Planning Panama-Style Attack On Venezuela? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Mike Benz’s use of “the blob” specifically targets the U.S. foreign policy establishment, while “the deep state” is a broader, more conspiratorial term used by some to describe a hidden government structure manipulating policy across many domains.

The Blob (Mike Benz’s usage)

As framed by Benz, the term “the blob” refers to the network of foreign policy elites in Washington, D.C., that is committed to an interventionist, internationalist agenda.

Focus: Narrowly focused on the U.S. foreign policy and national security establishment. The term was popularized by former Obama aide Ben Rhodes, who used it to criticize the bipartisan consensus for interventionism that he felt was resistant to change.

Composition: Composed of diplomats, government officials, military leaders, think tank analysts, and journalists who share a similar worldview. These individuals often rotate between government and private sector jobs, creating a self-perpetuating network.

Motivation: Driven by a set of shared beliefs, including a commitment to American global leadership and the use of military force to manage world affairs. Critics of the blob argue this mindset persists regardless of political affiliation.

The Deep State

“The deep state” is a more expansive and often conspiratorial term that suggests a hidden or unaccountable government exists, which manipulates the public and obstructs the policies of elected officials.

Focus: Broad in scope, encompassing various government agencies, intelligence services, and career civil servants. Those who use the term often claim this network operates outside of democratic oversight.

Composition: Implies a clandestine network of actors manipulating power for their own purposes, often portrayed as being hostile to populist or anti-establishment figures.

Motivation: Said to be motivated by self-preservation, a specific political ideology, or a desire for power. Unlike the blob’s focus on foreign policy, deep state allegations can apply to domestic issues as well, including technology and censorship.

Key differences summarized

Feature: The Blob (Mike Benz) The Deep State

Scope: U.S. foreign policy and national security establishment. Broader, encompassing various parts of the government bureaucracy.

Origin of Term: Popularized by Ben Rhodes in 2016 to criticize the bipartisan foreign policy consensus. Has historical roots but gained significant traction in contemporary U.S. politics.

Nature: A shared mindset or worldview among a specific professional class. Often framed as a secret, malicious, or conspiratorial network.

Primary Arena: International relations and military intervention. Can include both foreign policy and domestic affairs, such as censorship and intelligence.

Learn about the origins and operations of the National Security State (the deep state) established in 1947 during the Truman regime.

The deep state is beyond the Constitution. It is separate from the American government which we all learned about in school, composed of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The deep state has no restrictions on its extra-constitutional actions, no separation of powers, no checks and balances, no transparency or open accounting for its egregious and invasive behavior.

The deep state is made up of the military-industrial complex comprised of pentagon profiteers, the intelligence community and corporate surveillance contractors of the imperial National Security State it sustains, with seemingly endless no win wars which have murdered millions of hapless victims across the planet, generating terrorism as blowback from its decades of unconstitutional covert actions and preemptive wars of aggression.

The American Deep State
Along with the multinational petroleum and weapons/intelligence industries of the military-industrial complex, the global narcotics trade is one the biggest businesses in the world. It is fueled and enabled by the intersection of drug money, intelligence and money laundering on a vast scale by banks and financial institutions. Researchers have connected the dots linking the underworld of organized crime (narcotics) to the upperworld of the Establishment (Wall Street banks and CFR-connected corporations/foundations/media). Interwoven within the nexus are the covert intelligence agencies.

For well over one hundred years U. S. government authorities have imported draconian police state techniques and technology developed overseas back to the American homeland, whether involving torture, surveillance, and suspension of human rights and liberties, using the overseas country as a laboratory for counterinsurgency and rearming local security forces for repression.

I witnessed Professor Alfred W. McCoy deliver these same illuminating remarks below at the University of Tulsa and afterwards had an opportunity to briefly discuss aspects of his internationally recognized research on CIA covert operations, the global narcotics trade, and the origins of the National Security State with him.

From suppressing the Filipino Insurrection following the Spanish-American War to the destructive counterinsurgency campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, these martial exercises in unlawful, extra-constitutional behavior have continued unabated. And like the prodigal son of New Testament scriptures, they have come home.

The post The Leaked Playbook for Silencing America | Mike Benz Impact Theory w/ Tom Bilyeu appeared first on LewRockwell.

Writes Bill Madden :

Please read: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/10/andrew-wallace/president-trump-you-have-a-very-limited-time-to-put-down-insurrections-with-deadly-force-before-it-is-a-civil-war/ for a discussion of what needs to be done in order to keep our country safe from both internal and external threats.  This article and others available at: www.lewrockwell.com should be required reading for those interested in what is going on in the world and the best advice to keep our country safe.  Andrew also writes for: www.newswithviews.com.

I just read an article about the Trump/Massie feud at: www.thenewamerican.com.  It seems as though President Trump wants Congressman Massie removed from office for following the Constitution.  This is the problem with electing someone like Trump to lead any group.  His ego won’t permit him to lose at anything.  Rules are for everyone else and he’s fluent in speech without thought.  He’s not a great negotiator.  He’s almost always negotiated from a position of strength his whole life and, if he can’t get what he wants, he’ll sabotage an optimum deal with destruction of the entire negotiating process.

The only thing good that I can say about our current political leadership is that Joe and Kamala would have been worse.  We can only hope that someone reads Andrew’s great article and conveys its major points to the president before the USA sinks even lower.

The post Andrew’s Latest appeared first on LewRockwell.

In this explosive episode of America’s Untold Stories, Mark Groubert and Eric Hunley are joined by attorneys Andrew Iler and Mark Adamczyk—co-authors of “The JFK Assassination Chokeholds”—to uncover how legal manipulation and government obstruction have buried the truth behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Discover the shocking breakdown of the JFK Records Act, the misuse of power by congressional task forces, and why over 30,000 assassination records remain unreleased.

With newly uncovered documents and firsthand legal insights, this interview sheds light on the deep bureaucratic failure behind the JFK file cover-up.

️‍️ Learn how the National Archives (NARA) failed to follow its legal mandate

Find out what Trump’s executive order actually did

Hear why Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna is under fire

Why JFK researchers believe this is the final chokehold

Don’t miss this one.

Get the book “The JFK Assassination Chokeholds: That Prove There Was a Conspiracy” (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/4ob5MOc

*****************************************

Join us November 21st–23rd, 2025 in Dallas at JFK Lancer Conference (or Virtually) Tickets now available at https://assassinationconference.com/

Virtual tickets start at $75.99 In-person tickets start at $149.99 Discount Code: Use UNTOLD10 at checkout for 10% off *****************************************

The post America’s Untold Stories: JFK Files: Why They’re STILL Hiding the Truth ? appeared first on LewRockwell.

NATO is at war with itself and against peace in Europe. The long and dirty history of Operation Gladio and NATO terrorism in Europe is at hand once again.

The U.S.-led proxy war against Russia is expanding to the territories of European Union and NATO member states. Remarkably, it appears that the NATO military bloc is at war with itself.

Hungary is condemning Poland for “war psychosis” and supporting state terrorism.

This week, two major oil refinery installations in Hungary and Romania were hit by powerful explosions on the same day, Monday. The first occurred at the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery north of the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Hours later, Hungary’s premier refinery at Százhalombatta, south of the capital, Budapest, was blown up. It has not yet been determined what caused the blasts. But the near-simultaneous timing would make technical accidents extremely unlikely. In other words, the incidents were terrorist sabotage.

The context is highly indicative, too. On the same day, a Rosneft oil refinery in Russia’s Volga Oblast at Novokuibyshevsk was shut down, reportedly after a drone attack.

Thus, the attacks have to be seen as part of the NATO-directed campaign to cripple Russia’s oil industry.

Also, this week, the Trump administration unveiled provocative sanctions against Russian oil and gas companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. The Kiev regime and its European NATO allies have been calling for Trump to slap more sanctions on Russia. Trump has framed the escalatory economic measures as a way to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine. However, the reality is that economic warfare is just another weapon to bring about the strategic defeat of Russia under the cynical guise of “peacemaking”.

The European Commission this week tightened its plans to terminate all Russian oil and gas imports into the EU, reversing decades of productive energy trade.

Hungary and Slovakia, and to a lesser extent Romania, have remained at odds with the NATO and EU policy of proxy war against Russia. These countries have come under intense pressure to cut off their imports of Russian oil.

Over recent months, the NATO-directed Kiev regime has stepped up long-range air strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. The Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline was hit during August, which temporarily cut off supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.

The Hungarian and Slovakian governments have openly defied the pressure campaign, insisting that their countries will not stop importing Russian oil, which, they say, is a vital national interest for their economies and societies. The landlocked countries would find it difficult and costly to replace Russian supplies.

What is remarkable about this week’s explosions is that the sabotage campaign is now targeting the territories of European states, not just the Russian infrastructure supplying these states.

What is even more shocking is that the NATO-aligned European powers are backing the attacks on Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski this week told Hungary that he hoped that the Druzhba pipeline would be taken out entirely “to stop Putin’s war machine.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán denounced Poland for its “war psychosis”. At a peace rally in Budapest this week, Orban declared: “Hungary says NO to war! We will not die for Ukraine. We will not send our children to the slaughterhouse at Brussels’ command.”

The blowing up of civilian energy infrastructure in Europe is not unprecedented. What is happening in Hungary and Romania is a repeat of the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022, which the U.S. and other NATO agents carried out to cut off Germany from Russian fuel.

This week, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk celebrated the Nord Stream terrorism as a legitimate strike against Russia “for invading Ukraine.”

To which Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded by slamming it as “scandalous”. He added, “According to Poland, if you don’t like an infrastructure in Europe, you can blow it up. With this, they gave advance permission for terrorist attacks in Europe… this is what European rule of law has come to.”

After the August attacks on the Druzhba pipeline, Hungary’s foreign minister accused the European leadership in Brussels of giving the Kiev regime a green light to conduct terror attacks. The absence of condemnation from Brussels of Kiev was extraordinary.

Now the war psychosis has culminated in terror attacks on the actual territory of European states.

There can be no doubt who the culprits are behind the terror campaign. The drones may take off from Ukrainian territory, but the logistics, planning, and targeting require NATO involvement at the highest level, just as the Nord Stream attacks did, and the ongoing deep strikes into Russian territory. The betting odds implicate the CIA, MI6, and their Polish and Baltic surrogates.

Another factor is the offer by Hungary to host a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the proxy war. The summit was called off this week, on Wednesday, apparently by Trump, just as he was announcing tough new sanctions on Russia’s oil industry. But last week, when the meeting was proposed, the NATO powers were miffed at the diplomatic initiative.

Hungary’s Szijjarto wrote: “From the moment the Peace Summit in Budapest was announced, it was obvious that many would do everything possible to stop it from happening. The pro-war political elite and their media always behave this way before events that could prove decisive between war and peace… It will be no different this time. Until the Summit actually takes place, expect a wave of leaks, fake news, and statements claiming that it won’t happen.”

The foreign minister could add to the wave of opposition tactics – “terror attacks” on Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and anywhere else where people call for peace and an end to war psychosis.

The proxy war that the U.S.-led NATO bloc instigated against Russia, which Trump also pushed during his first term, was always about trying to strategically defeat Russia, including using a military proxy in Ukraine and economic warfare. The logic of this criminal strategy includes blowing up and sacrificing so-called allies, if needs be. German and European economies are in ruins to satisfy the U.S.-led axis and its geopolitical objectives, which European elites are minions of. Nord Stream is taken out, and now oil refineries in Hungary and Romania. What next?

In another sinister development this week, a man was jailed for trying to assassinate Slovakia’s Robert Fico last year. His attacker was pro-Ukraine and targeted Fico for being “pro-Russian.”

The nefarious logic of the U.S. war machine known as NATO, absurdly the self-declared “defender” of the transatlantic Western alliance, is to eat its own when strategic priorities require.

NATO is at war with itself and against peace in Europe. The long and dirty history of Operation Gladio and NATO terrorism in Europe is at hand once again.

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

The post NATO Eats Its Own… Terrorist Attacks Against Hungary and Romania for Importing Russian Oil? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Since starting the Forgotten Side of Medicine, I’ve received quite a few correspondences from readers asking me to write about constipation. This I believe, is reflective of how widespread but rarely discussed constipation is, especially as one becomes older (where it often becomes a primary concern of everyday life). Likewise, the primary diagnosis for constipation is “chronic idiopathic constipation” (CIC). Idiopathic, for reference, means “no one knows why” which is remarkable given that existing studies find between 9-20% of adults (averaging at 14%) have CIC. This figure in turn, varies greatly by country:

In tandem, there is no clear consensus on how to treat CIC (e.g., if you review the treatment guidelines, you will see they vary greatly depending on which country they were made in).

Likewise, the majority of patients do not even discuss their condition with their doctors:

Overall, 4,702 participants had experienced constipation (24.0% met the Rome IV CIC criteria). Among all respondents with previous constipation, 37.6% discussed their symptoms with a clinician (primary care provider 87.6%, gastroenterologist 26.0%, and urgent care/emergency room physician 7.7%).

We found that the locus of control—the extent to which individuals believe they can control events that affect them—is associated with healthcare seeking for constipation. Namely, those with a lower locus of control (i.e., who believe symptoms are driven by others, chance, or fate) are more likely to consult with providers regarding their symptoms. However, individuals experiencing this maladaptive cognition may be resistant to both undergoing indicated diagnostic testing and accepting and adhering to treatments, thereby undercutting treatment success and reducing patient satisfaction.

Additionally, many who seek out medical help end up getting colonoscopy, a procedure which carries real risks and has no benefit here:

Among those who sought care, 54% reported previous diagnostic testing. Colonoscopy was the most commonly performed test; 46% of health seekers specifically underwent the procedure to evaluate their constipation. Although we did not ask the respondents about alarm features or have access to their medical records to confirm the “true” indication for the procedure, this suggests potential overuse of endoscopy in the evaluation of constipation. This is an issue because the diagnostic yield of colonoscopy for constipation is limited.

Pepin and Ladabaum noted that in 234 individuals undergoing lower endoscopy solely for constipation, no cancers were found, and only 3% had advanced lesions. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy states that colonoscopy should not be performed in the initial evaluation of constipated patients without alarm features or suspicion of organic disease. The high usage of endoscopy and other tests seen in our study, in combination with the high prevalence of constipation, further reinforces the significant impact of constipation on population health and healthcare costs and emphasizes that efforts to reduce unnecessary testing are needed.

In short, there is a surprising gap of knowledge in this area, which I believe is best demonstrated by how many times I’ve been asked to admit a patient to a hospital who was essentially just severely constipated.

For additional context: the current research shows constipation hospitalizes 92,000 Americans each year and results in 1.3 million visits to American emergency rooms, which again illustrates our society’s lack of knowledge in this area, especially as the rate of this is increasing (e.g., from 2006 to 2011, there was a 42 percent rise in ER visits for constipation).

Note: as I showed here, many gastrointestinal conditions (including inflammatory bowel conditions that cause chronic diarrhea) respond to DMSO and I have received numerous remarkable testimonials about this from readers. I am currently finishing up a Saturday article about how DMSO heals the eyes and restores vision (which incorporates hundreds of reports I have received from readers). If any of you have DMSO eye stories (you have not already shared in comments here), please send them my way (e.g., as a comment or reply to this article) so they can be incorporated into it.

The Effects of Constipation

While it is relatively unlikely one will be hospitalized for constipation, the condition nonetheless has a significant effect on quality of life, as it is stressful to be unable to defecate when you attempt to and often quite uncomfortable once too much has built up inside you. Conversely, after a large bowel movement (especially if they’ve been constipated), individuals often feel much better and clear-headed.

Constipation frequently results in significant issues. Most commonly, we recognize its connection to the fact that the pressure created by strained bowel movements can lead to hemorrhoids, rectal prolapse, and anal fissures.

However, it can also lead to less appreciated issues including:

• Dysbiosis within the gut microbiome. In many cases, the gut dysbiosis that leads to constipation results from foods not being fully digested. One of the most interesting things I learned is that SIBO often results from slowed bowel transit time, and practitioners who are most successful in treating SIBO focus on increasing peristalsis to facilitate the body eliminating the problematic bacteria.

• Fatigue, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.

• Chronic constipation is linked to progressively more severe illnesses, including diverticulitis, kidney disease, gastric and colorectal cancer, ischemic colitis, and Parkinson’s disease.

The Dangers of Laxatives

Since most constipation is labeled as “idiopathic” treatments are typically symptom based. Unfortunately, while laxatives are relatively benign if used occasionally, over time, they can impair the normal function of the GI tract and create a situation where one requires chronic laxative use.

Note: clinicians have also reported instances where laxatives destroyed the normal functioning of the colon which then required part of the colon to be surgically removed.

One of the most commonly used laxatives (MiraLAX) can create issues because a surprising number of people have sensitivities or allergies to polyethylene glycol. When individuals have delayed bowel transit time (anyone who is constipated), they are more likely to systemically absorb MiraLAX and experience toxicity from it.

As such, it is critical to identify the actual cause of constipation rather than just trying to perpetually treat the symptoms.

Conventional Causes of Constipation

When evaluating the root cause of constipation, it is critical never to forget that constipation can also be a symptom of a more serious illness.

For example, when a tumor grows in the colon, it progressively blocks transit through the colon, which in turn leads to the feces becoming narrower and narrower (along with abnormal weight loss, anemia, and rectal bleeding). Because of this, if you notice that it is gradually happening, it is worth getting a preliminary test to see if you may have cancer (there are simple and complex ways to test the stools for colon cancer).

Note: red meat (especially for those who do not eat it frequently) and beet juice can also make the stools turn red.

Other diseases that can frequently cause constipation include:

• Hypothyroidism—One of the common symptoms of hypothyroidism (beyond hair loss, coldness, fatigue, and weight gain) is delayed bowel transit time. As such, if you are constipated, you need to consider if you are hypothyroid.

• Hyperparathyroidism—This is a surprisingly common but unrecognized condition which can make individuals feel quite ill (e.g., it can cause pain throughout the body, cognitive issues, arrhythmias, kidney stones, unexpected fractures and gastrointestinal issues).

• Anxiety or Depression—Many report stress and anxiety causes constipation, and extensive data supports this. For example, a large study found anxiety was significantly more common in constipated patients, another found 65% of constipated patients had psychiatric conditions—most frequently anxiety or depression.

Proposed mechanisms include brain-gut axis dysfunction, increased pelvic floor muscle tension due to anxiety, altered gut microbiota in anxiety, and hormonal pathways affected by stress—and my leading hypothesis—sympathetic activation directly reducing bowel transit. Because of this, mind-body practices that relax the body can sometimes be quite helpful, as is psychological support.

Note: the natural treatments for anxiety are discussed here and those for depression here.

Additionally, many medications, particularly opioids, can cause constipation, with potential offenders also including antacids, anticholinergics, antidepressants, antihistamines, antipsychotics, calcium channel blockers, certain blood pressure medications, and NSAIDs. Because of this, if you develop constipation after starting a new prescription, it is always important to see if that drug is linked to impaired bowel movements.

Note: iron and calcium supplements can sometimes cause constipation (e.g., iron supplements cause constipation for approximately 10% of users).

Other Causes of Constipation

Unfortunately, in most cases, the cause of constipation remains unknown, and typically the advice given is to “eat more fiber,” which while sometimes helpful often is not. Additionally, in some cases, the benefits of fiber are not due to their stool bulking activity but rather that they directly stimulate peristalsis.

Presently, I believe there are a few major contributors to the epidemic of constipation we face that are largely overlooked.

Dietary Causes

• Dairy consumption (particularly in children)—which has been shown in many studies (e.g., a randomized trial found that 71.4% of children with chronic constipation not responding to laxatives significantly improved within 4 weeks of stopping dairy, whereas only 11.4% of the control group, with similar results seen in this blinded crossover trial).

Note: while this is often attributed to food allergies, it may also be due to the opioid-like substances in dairy (e.g., beta-casomorphin), as individuals often improve on milk lacking these substances, and severe constipation has been found to be reversed by naloxone (an opioid blocker). Likewise, gluten contains opioid like peptides (gluten exorphins) which have been shown to slow bowel transit time and cause constipation. Lastly, the variable sensitivity to these compounds (and being predisposed to constipation) may be a result of genetic susceptibility (e.g., OPRM1 A118G polymorphisms have been repeatedly shown to influence sensitivity to opioids).

• Poor diet and food triggers of constipation. Beyond dairy, we find the constipation causing agents often vary person to person, with the most commonly reported (ordered by frequency) being cow dairy, gluten, goat’s milk, beef (red meat), legumes, eggs, fried foods, rice (white), bananas (unripe), chocolate, caffeine (excess), alcohol (excess), tea (excess). Additionally, refined grains frequently lack the fiber needed to facilitate healthy bowel movements, and many readers have found using freshly milled whole grain flour (e.g., wheat, within 24 hours of milling) cured their constipation.

Note: within Chinese medicine, there is an entire diagnostic model based on looking at the characteristics of one’s stools. I have often found it to be extremely useful, and I often monitor my own stools to assess how my body is handling my current diet.

Nutrition and Hydration

In addition to certain foods causing constipation, a lack of critical substances can as well.

For example, chronic dehydration is widely recognized to be a cause of constipation (due to it drying out the stools and making them harder to push through). Additionally, I strongly suspect dehydration causes peristalsis (bowel motion) to shut down, as I’ve seen numerous cases where “frozen bowels” rapidly softened and resumed their normal function once the individuals received either a saline infusion or a zeta potential restoring treatment. Likewise, ultraviolet blood irradiation has been repeatedly observed to rapidly restore bowel function.

Likewise, mineral deficiencies (primarily magnesium) and in some cases potassium can sometimes cause constipation.

Read the Whole Article

The post Why You’re Constipated—and How To Fix It Naturally appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thomas Paine began his classic revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense with “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Imagine what old Tom would think of these times. Our souls are literally on trial; the satanic forces that thoroughly run this world vying against a faith in all that’s good and right, which some of us cling to fiercely.

The Charlie Kirk assassination, or whatever it was, is not going quietly into Dylan Thomas’s good night. Candace Owens alone is seeing to that. Candace has released what certainly look to be authentic texts from Charlie Kirk, written on September 8, two days before he was shot. In one, Charlie declares, “Jewish donors play into all the stereotypes. I cannot and will not be bullied like this. Leaving me no choice but to leave the pro Israel cause.” Now that kind of sentiment simply won’t do. Not in a land like ours, completely subservient to Zionism. So they simply rewrote the history. They do this all the time. Even someone from Turning Point USA, who had been in the private chat and personally saw the damning texts, said publicly that Charlie had “stood with Israel to his last breath.” Then Charlie’s unredacted seven page letter to Netanyahu was released. In it, he expresses the kind of adoration that today’s Right invariably feels for the “chosen.” Except that it was written on May 2.

The trumpeting of Charlie’s predictable genuflecting to Netanyahu was rendered irrelevant by the release of those final texts. This reminded me of how a desperate state controlled media produced a supposed deathbed audio confession from Jack Ruby, in which he swore that he had acted alone. The better evidence, which was captured on clear video, revealed Ruby confessing that “The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I’m in will never let the true facts come aboveboard to the world.” When a reporter then asked him, “Are these people in very high positions Jack?” Ruby replied, “Yes.” Ruby’s brother Earl was on hand to verify that the mob connected nightclub owner had acted alone. Oswald’s brother Robert toed the official line, too. They can’t find a disloyal brother in this case, because Charlie Kirk was an only child. Maybe an ambitious cousin?

Now they have found video of Charlie’s Chief of Staff pretty much scurrying away from the area as soon as the shot was fired. Seems like strange behavior to me, but then again I am an incorrigible Thought Criminal. It’s important to look at Charlie Kirk himself. As I’ve said before, it’s pretty hard for an eighteen year old to convince billionaires to back his pet project. Most of us don’t know a single billionaire. How did young Charlie draw the attention of more than one? Then there are the usual contradictory bits of information found via internet searches. For instance, it is claimed that there aren’t clear results for a Charles or Charlie James Kirk, aged 31, born in either Illinois or Arizona. Then there was the book on the Kirk assassination, which was posted with a publication date of September 9, one day before the shooting. Amazon blamed it on “technical issues.” We have seen these same kinds of “technical issues” in the Sandy Hook case, Boston Bombing, and other widely reported events.

Our intrepid FBI director, Kash Patel, lashed out at those who are questioning the ridiculous official narrative of Charlie Kirk’s shooting. Naturally, he dismissed them as “conspiracy theorists,” as those running our intelligence agencies have done since that infamous April 1, 1967 CIA memo on “Countering Criticism of the Warren Report.” But then he called them “anarchists.” That’s an interesting adjective to use. Sure, maybe some who see through the absurd official explanation are anarchists, but I think many more aren’t. It’s no wonder that Kash always has that terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look. He’s being asked to defend lots of indefensible things. To declare, with a straight face, that there was no Epstein List. And now, to go even further and claim that actually Epstein didn’t traffic any females, underage or otherwise. But on X, he does a good job of bragging about alleged arrests being made. Alleged criminals being brought to justice. Just none of the Deep State villains we know and love.

Virginia Giuffre’s book has finally been released. In it, she describes being violently raped by a head of state, but doesn’t name him. This is decidedly odd, as in previous testimony she identified the rapist as former Israeli leader Ehud Barak. You know, the guy who spent the night at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion almost as many times as Epstein spent the night at the Clinton White House. Too bad the guy who signed Epstein in on all those occasions, Mark Middleton, can’t be questioned about this, since he was found hanged with a shotgun blast to the chest. Naturally, the authorities concluded his death was a suicide. What else could they conclude? If Gary Webb can shoot himself twice in the head, Mark Middleton can hang himself and shoot himself at the same time. It’s a Total Corruption thing, you wouldn’t understand. But the message was clear; yes, we are completely in charge. Nothing to see here. Any questions?

Those Epstein victims have kind of disappeared again, after their outside press conference on Capitol Hill in early September. They didn’t really name any names either. But they vowed to provide their own “list.” At some point. Not yet. Maybe in 2028. This is what happens all the time now in America 2.0; a Big Story, which has a very brief shelf life. Nothing ever comes of the disclosures, or the obvious criminal behavior on the part of powerful persons. The stories come fast and furious. Strange rabbis are tunneling up under synagogues. A frightening Antisemitism Awareness Act is passed by Congress but somehow isn’t law yet. Barack Obama is about to be indicted for treason. Donald Trump wants to annex Greenland. And/or Canada. And take back the Panama Canal. Well, let’s just settle for indiscriminately bombing Venezuelan boats. We must stop “narco-terrorism,” after all. It’s almost as dangerous as “islamo- fascism” or “domestic terrorists.” And it’s all part of Making America Great Again.

I’m confused by this whole Venezuela thing. I know we hated the terrible, dreadful Hugo Chavez, although the people in his country seemed to like him. But he’s long and conveniently gone. And what does Venezuela have to do with Israel’s security, anyhow? Since the 1980s, when the neocon movement was born, our foreign policy has revolved exclusively around the interests of Israel. Maybe there is a dangerous sleeper cell of Holocaust Deniers in Venezuela. I remember when that super prison in El Salvador was all the rage south of the border. Who can forget the lovely Kristi Noem teasing the hardened criminals there, in her enticing outfit? Maybe Kristi will be sent on a mission to tease some unsuspecting “narco-terrorists” now. True, all they’ve caught so far is a Trinidadian fisherman or two. But Trinidadian fishermen can lead to Venezuelan “narco-terrorists.” Or so I’ve heard. All I know is that it must be part of our beloved Trumpenstein’s America First policies.

We are in the midst of yet another government shutdown. This happens all the time now. Both awful, carbon copy political parties argue over the Continuing Resolution to continue funding our unproductive but very, very expensive federal government. Socialism Without Services costs a lot. Will EBT benefits be cut off? Will USAID be able to waste our money as lavishly as usual? Will purple haired gender fluid teachers make new TikTok videos about it? I don’t make predictions, but they always get things settled at the last minute. As dramatically as possible, like those regular 2 and 1/2 counts in pro wrestling. Keep the Sheeple on the edge of their seats. I wouldn’t worry about it. Well, not any more than you should worry about having evil eugenicists control your lives. And that doesn’t appear to bother too many people. Just forget about it, and look forward to the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. Anyone named Bad Bunny is bound to put on a memorable, wholesome show.

Raed the Whole Article

The post Charlie Kirk, Epstein, and the Zionist Cabal appeared first on LewRockwell.

Since the first of September, the U.S. Navy has been blowing up small vessels off the coast of Venezuela. The current count is nine boats and approximately 37 dead. The U.S. government declares that these boats are an imminent threat to our country because they are operated by narco-terrorists. It appears no evidence was necessary.

The Trump administration has completely eschewed the legal requirements for due process or normal interdiction procedures. Sadly, due to the Global War on Terror, we Americans have tragically grown accustomed to our government assassinating people because they are merely suspected terrorists. Leaving aside moral issues, it is worth recalling that these actions are illegal under both domestic and international law.

First and foremost, these actions are in contradiction to the United States Constitution. Article I, section 8 clearly states that Congress shall have the power to “declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” Article II, section 2 states: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” The president does command the forces, but only Congress can declare war—and Congress has not declared war against alleged “drug boats” in Latin America. These small boats 1,300 miles from the Florida Keys pose no emergency threat, and blowing them up is clearly an act of war.

Our cowardly Congress has appropriated many trillions of dollars for a plethora of wars since World War II. However, since 1942, they haven’t had the courage to take responsibility and actually declare war as the Constitution requires. Over the years, they usually haven’t even had the fortitude to refuse to finance wars with which they disagree. As a result of congressional unwillingness to exercise their mandated duties, the forever and failed wars have continued unabated. Congress does not want to be caught voting for wars which the public doesn’t want. Especially if the war becomes a failure, as is normally the case, they enjoy being free to say whatever the public wants to hear without the record of a pesky vote to contradict their dishonest rhetoric. To aid this ruse, the leadership tends to wrap the military budgets into big continuing resolutions or omnibus bills so there is no vote showing undeniable support for particular wars. The result: a win-win for duplicitous politicians and the military industry, but a big lose-lose for the American people and the poor American and foreign souls murdered and maimed.

The latest attacks and killings are also forbidden by article 2, section 4 of the UN Charter: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

Article 51 allows unilateral use of force only in self-defense against an “armed attack.” America is not threatened by small outboard motor boats more than 1,000 miles from our shores, and their mere existence in international waters, even if they are carrying drugs, certainly doesn’t constitute an “armed attack.” Off the coast of Venezuela there is a significant U.S. flotilla, which is fully capable of intercepting these small boats without having to obliterate them.

International Maritime Law (UNCLOS) article 88 states, “The high seas shall be reserved for peaceful purposes.” While drug interdiction may be permitted, the standard procedure is visit, search, and seize, not summary destruction.

Or consider the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in 1998 and signed by the U.S. in 2000. This statute sets out the court’s jurisdiction over war crimes among other issues. In May 2002 Undersecretary of State John Bolton formally notified the UN secretary general that the United States “does not intend to become a party to the treaty.” (Anyone surprised it was John Bolton who made this submission?) The George W. Bush administration was prepping for the invasion of Iraq—and the other countries on the neocon hit list—so were looking to limit the liability for those illegal wars. Remember, Iran is the last on the list that hasn’t been wrecked to date.

In 1950 the United States voted to approve the United Nations Nuremberg Principles, several of which are relevant to the Trump administration’s military campaign in Latin America:

Principle III: “The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.”

Principle IV: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

Principle VI: “The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law: Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances; (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i). (b) War crimes: Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited to, murder…” “…or devastation not justified by military necessity. (c) Crimes against humanity: Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population…”

Back to domestic law: The 1981 Executive Order 12333 section 2.11 signed by President Ronald Reagan states, “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.” This order has never been revoked.

When you consider the above, it is no surprise the admiral in charge of SOUTHCOM—the regional command responsible for Central and South America, their territorial waters, and the Caribbean—recently opted for early retirement.

Read the Whole Article

The post The Small Boat Attacks Are Illegal appeared first on LewRockwell.