Newsfakers of Olden Times

H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) was a newsfaker of the olden times. In his old age, his conscience must have bothered him, for he confessed all in his memoirs.

Last week’s newsfaker extravaganza of Hurricane Florence was nothing, compared with the Johnstown Flood of 1889 and the Coxey’s Army incident of 1894. The narratives surrounding those two “were extremely amusing and instructive” to then-juniors in the trade such as Mencken. Mencken admits suspicion that some of his colleagues who claimed to have covered those stories “were liars and no more…”

There is disagreement now about how many persons died due to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Such was also the case in Johnstown Flood reports where there was disagreement among the scribes “about the number of unfortunates washed into Heaven at Johnstown.”

In the Coxey’s Army reports, there were almost as many reporters on the story as there were members of Coxey’s Army itself, and the scribes never agreed on “the number of hoboes, runaway boys, three-card monte operators, absconding debtors and other such advanced thinkers who marched with Coxey.”

As a young cub in the newsfaker trade, Mencken tells us he was puzzled by discrepancies in the reports. It was only later that he learned “that neither journalism nor history is an exact science.”

But it was the Scopes Trial of 1925 which wins the prize for newsfaker extravaganza. Before journeying to Dayton, Tennessee for THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY (before the later O.J. Simpson Trial Of The Century), Mencken met with Edgar Lee Masters in New York City. There, the two conspired to have Mencken distribute fake handbills written by Masters once the former arrived in Dayton. The handbills read, in part, as follows:

COMING! COMING! To Dayton, Tennessee. During the Trial of the Infidel Scopes. ELMER CHUBB, L.L.D., D.D. Dr. Chubb will allow himself to be bitten by any poisonous snake, scorpion, gila monster, or other reptile… In demonstration of the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as found in the 16th Chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark…

In Dayton, Mencken caused the fake news handbills to be distributed, then gleefully waited for the local yokels to be fooled.

However Mencken was disappointed in his hopes. In that part of Tennessee at the time, snake handlers were a dime-a-dozen. No one showed up to attend the Reverend Chubb appearance.

Another time while covering the Scopes trial, Mencken belatedly admits responsibility for another bit of fake news. A local preacher kept trying to convert Mencken. Mencken was too polite to tell him to get lost. One day, Mencken and a friend were strolling through town and again the preacher came up to harangue Mencken. In desperation, Mencken lied to the preacher and said, “Can’t talk now, something big has come up.”

The preacher begged to be let in on the “news,” and Mencken, on the spot, invented a story about twenty Bolshevik assassins arriving by train from Cincinnati: they were coming to murder William Jennings Bryan, one of the prosecution team! Mencken told the preacher to tell no one about it, but he disregarded instructions and went to warn Bryan. From there, the “news” went out all over town. The police went on high alert. When the Cincinnati train arrived, only a lowly YMCA employee disembarked, not twenty Russian killers. Nonetheless, the YMCA man was promptly arrested.

So you can see by this how, even in olden times, the newsfakers were wreaking havoc wherever they went.

(Source: Heathen Days, by H.L. Mencken. From, The Days Trilogy: Expanded Edition. New York: Library Of America, 2014.)

 

Florence Fizzles

Hurricane Florence started out as a Category 4. By the time it reached North Carolina it had been downgraded to a Category 2, then a Category 1. It is now called Tropical Storm Florence. Florence has fizzled.

Throughout this past week, the Florence story received massive national “news” coverage, even though it was only a regional event. So naturally, all good “conspiracy theorists” ponder the anomaly of a regional event which fizzled but nonetheless received enormous national coverage.

My number 1 theory is P.R. (Public Relations) for newsfakers. Newsfakers are esteemed even less than congress critters these days, and that’s pretty low. How to boost public estimation of newsfakers? Answer: You put them right in the middle of Florence, heroically risking their lives just so you can receive the story. Many of the Florence “news” reports featured live ground-zero coverage, with a newsfaker wearing rain gear and being blown by fierce winds. And you thought they were gutless fakes! Well, think again, Mr. and Mrs. America.

Another theory, promoted by Rush Limbaugh and others, is the excessive Florence coverage has a “global warming” subtext. The “climate change” deniers, including especially President Trump, are partly responsible for hurricanes, is the hidden theme behind the overabundance of attention paid to a regional story.

Another of my theories for the Florence Fluenza this past week is an individualism versus collectivism subtext. “Evacuate!” cried the collectivist authorities. But some persons, individualists, ignored the collectivists and chose to shelter in place. To this, the collectivists responded, “Okay, but you are now no longer under the protection of the Almighty Collective.” In other words, the individualist shelter-in-place people were told, “If you call for help, we won’t be able to assist you.”

One last thing: What about the people who don’t have cars? How are they supposed to evacuate? Many live a hand-to-mouth existence and owning a car is beyond their means. They cannot afford to pack up a car, travel up into the mountains, and rent a motel room – especially since the avalanche of evacuees has decreased supply of motel rooms and jacked-up prices.

 

Hurricane Idlib

The Russians are saying the “White Helmets” are making films of a “chemical attack” in Syria’s Idlib province. These theatrical videos will serve as “proof” in accusations that the Syrian government conducted a chemical weapon attack. “A number of Middle Eastern TV channels and a regional affiliate of a US broadcaster ‘have shot nine videos, in Jisr al-Shughur city in Idlib province, of a staged chemical attack’ that will be blamed on the Syrian government, the Russian Reconciliation Center In Syria said in a statement on Wednesday.” [1]

Except maybe this is a Russian propaganda plot, to first make the “fake video” claims, then support an actual chemical weapons attack, and then cover it up by saying, “See. We told you. This is just Western propaganda.”

Then again, it makes no sense for Syria/Russia to launch a chemical attack because they don’t need to do it and it only invites the West to come in and start bombing.

But what about the hypersonic weapons? French author Thierry Meyssan had reported last month that “Russian Chief of Staff General Valeri Guerassimov telephoned his US counterpart, General Joseph Dunford, and told him that in the case of US military intervention, Russian forces would target the 53 US ships in the Mediterranean and the Gulf, including their nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Above all, he requested that President Trump be made aware of his country’s new military capacities.” [2]

The United States is powerless against Russia’s hypersonic weapons. So if propaganda video of a new chemical attack in Syria is followed by much self-righteous chest thumping and a Western missile strike on Syria, will this be followed by a devastating hypersonic weapons attack against 53 U.S. ships?

Lulling us to sleep before all this unfolds are constant, repetitive, ultimately boring reports about Hurricane Florence.

——- Sources ——-
[1] “White Helmets making films of ‘chemical attacks’ with orphans in Idlib – Russian military”, Russia Today, September 12, 2018. https://on.rt.com/9e6i
[2] “Secrets of the Helsinki Summit”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, August 9, 2018. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/secrets-of-the-helsinki-summit/

 

9/11 Plus 17 Years

Robert Mueller became the FBI director on September 4, 2001, just one week before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. [1]

After the surreal events of September 11, 2001 (nicknamed “9/11”), Robert Mueller revealed the names of the 19 presumed hijackers. But, writes French author Thierry Meyssan, Mueller was lying because “we already had in front of us the lists disclosed by the airline companies of all of the passengers embarked – lists on which none of the suspects were mentioned.” [2]

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Meyssan wrote a book: 9/11: The Big Lie. That book took awhile before it was translated into English and available in the United States. Myself and others at the time couldn’t wait to get our hands on the book, amidst all the hyper-emotionalism here in the USA. Contrary to what one person says in the short video hopefully viewable at the top of today’s blog entry, Meyssan’s book is NOT some X-Files story; it is well-reasoned and presents a convincing argument that the official version of September 11, 2001 is “The Big Lie.”

Now, seventeen years after the surreal events of 9/11, Meyssan has written an Open letter to President Trump concerning the consequences of 11 September 2001. Meyssan notices what have been the fruits of the tragic event: War in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, the creation of the Office of Homeland Security and the vote for a voluminous anti-terrorist Code which had been drawn up long beforehand, creation of the Office of Force Transformation from which the destruction of State and social structures in the half of the world not yet globalised has proceeded, launching by CIA of the Worldwide Attack Matrix, and US armed forces placed in the service of transnational financial interests. [2]

By their fruits shall you know them.

We didn’t get the truth from our government after 9/11, but hey, at least 17 years later we have been given a new monument: A 93-foot tall ‘Tower of Voices’ memorial has opened at the Flight 93 crash site ahead of the 9/11 anniversary, reports Associated Press. [3]

There is an old story, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Everyone was afraid to say what was obvious, that the emperor’s new clothes did not exist and he was naked. They were afraid to say what they knew because if they did they would be thought a fool… or now, a “conspiracy theorist.”

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Robert Mueller”, Wikipedia. Accessed September 11, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller
[2] “Open letter to President Trump concerning the consequences of 11 September 2001”, by Thierry Meyssan. Voltaire Network, August 30, 2018. http://www.voltairenet.org/article202645.html
[3] “93-foot tall ‘Tower of Voices’ memorial opens at the Flight 93 crash site ahead of the 9/11 anniversary”, Associated Press, September 9, 2018.

 

Foundations Questioned

Norman Dodd was an investigator for the Reese Commission – a congressional investigation into the tax-free foundations of the nation – which operated between 1952 and 1954. His duties involved talking to the heads of the tax-free foundations in the United States. [1]

Dodd was caught totally off-guard when he went to talk to Mr. Rowan Gaither, who was the president of the Ford Foundation, one morning. He sat down with Mr. Gaither, and he said, “Mr. Gaither, I’m going to ask you the same question I’ve asked all the other heads of the tax-free foundations. And that is, What is your purpose? And how are you using your tax-free foundation funds?” [1]

And he looked at Mr. Dodd, and he said, “Mr. Dodd, we operate here out of directives that emanate from the White House. And the subject of those directives are, we are to use our grant-making powers to alter life in the United States so that we can be merged with the Soviet Union.” [1]

Given that the Soviet Union has collapsed, today Mr. Gaither might have said, “Our goal is to alter life in the United States so we can be merged into a global government.”

In light of the above, an article from The New Yorker magazine (August 27, 2018) is of note. In “Shaking the Foundations,” Elizabeth Kolbert reports that for every foundation which existed in 1930 there are now 500 of these tax-exempt foundations. They get the tax exemption because they are “philanthropic,” yet “philanthropy” has a nebulous meaning. It is defined broadly, Kolbert reports. [2]

“In the past fifteen years, some thirty thousand private foundations have been created…” They are tax-exempt, so that leaves a shortfall in U.S. tax revenue. And that tax shortfall is made up by YOU, who have not yet glommed onto the philanthropic foundation method of tax avoidance. [2]

A further problem explained in Kolbert’s article is that the “winners” in wealth distribution are an aristocracy amongst themselves and they decide what is and what is not philanthropic. [2] After the surprising 2016 election, the Ford Foundation announced that it was overseeing the funneling of $100 million over six years to several organizations that play leading roles in the Black Lives Matter movement. [3]

——- Sources ——-
[1] “U.S. Preparations For Martial Law”, transcript of a talk given by officer Jack McLamb (retired) of the Phoenix Police Department.
[2] “Shaking the Foundations,” by Elizabeth Kolbert. The New Yorker magazine, August 27, 2018.
[3] “Luxury Villas of the Fake Left”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, November 18, 2016. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/luxury-villas-of-the-fake-left/

 

Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

Events of the past few days can be summarized as sound and fury, signifying nothing.

That is from the so-called Shakespeare (really Francis Bacon and a team of good pens) play, Macbeth:

… Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Macbeth, Act V, Scene V)

There has been sound and fury at the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, but few watched except “news” professionals who breathlessly reported on it. Rumored is that noisy activists were paid professionals. If true, we are at the Roman stage, when Publius Sulpicius Rufus, Tribune of the plebs in 88 B.C., “advanced” Roman politics by his invention of the professional street gang. (Background: In New Rome, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, August 24, 2018.)

Sound and fury has surrounded release of a new book by Bob Woodward. “It’s true!” cries Actor 1. “It’s lies!” cries Actor 2. Involved are the secret sources, utilized by Woodward also circa 1974. Back then, FBI was in the shadows in the person of “Deep Throat,” Woodward’s “secret source” at the time. In 2005, Deep Throat was revealed as Mark Felt, an associate director at FBI. But then L. Patrick Gray, former acting FBI director, said Mark Felt was only one of a number of secret sources. Woodward had a secret signal for Deep Throat: a flower pot containing a red flag on the balcony of his apartment. But Woodward’s balcony overlooked an interior courtyard, not the street! [1]

A New Moon arrives Sunday, September 9th. This indicates we may be getting real developments around then. The previous New Moon of August 11th is paired by me with publication and widespread readership of Gregg Jarrett’s book, The Russia Hoax, which demolishes the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation.

Locally, there is sound and fury here in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois due to the arrival of Barack Obama to give a speech today. We have not had so much excitement since our football team beat Ohio State several years ago. But how really meaningful was that football game? And how really meaningful will be Obama’s speech?

——- Sources ——-
[1] “Watergate: Will the Real Deep Throat Please Stand Up?”. From, Secret History, by Nick Redfern. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2015.

 

The Flying Saucer Plot

The flying saucer scare of the 1950s was being used for psyops, asserted Kenneth Goff in his 1959 publication, “Red Shadows”. The plan was to frighten people into believing only a global, one-world government could hope to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders.

The idea to use the UFO mystery for psychological purposes may have been born from the notorious Orson Welles radio broadcast, “War of the Worlds.” Goff claimed the Welles “invasion from Mars” drama was used by International Communism as a test to see how people would react to instructions given out over the radio. Later, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover feared the 1952 UFO flap over Washington, DC could be used by foreign enemies for psyops. To thwart this, the CIA tried to enlist Walt Disney as part of a mass “education” effort about the saucers. (Background: Walt Disney and the UFOs, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, September 3, 2018.)

Kenneth Goff’s awakening about the UFO/New World Order plot came in 1951: in the middle of the night, a stranger entered Goff’s Wisconsin home and injected Goff with mind-altering drugs. Then, an “alien” appeared unto Goff and informed him that the Space Brothers hated the Communists.

Also in 1951, the apartment of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, was entered in the wee hours. According to declassified FBI files, the intruder thrust a needle into Hubbard’s heart resulting in a coronary thrombosis. Hubbard, in a statement to the FBI, said he was then given an electric shock. Who had done this? Was it Communists? Space aliens? Notice the similarity between what happened to Goff and what happened to Hubbard.

Goff came to believe he had been targeted by the American Deep State as part of a secret program involving fabricated UFO events, drug experiments, and a psyops plan to manipulate and control Americans via hoaxed UFO events.

(Source: “Faking Aliens: Scientology, Saucers, and Syringes”. From, Secret History, by Nick Redfern. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2015.)