Patrick's Notebook

by Ron Paul

The purpose of journalism is to uncover truth – especially uncomfortable truth – and to publish it for the benefit of society. In a free society, we must be informed of the criminal acts carried out by governments in the name of the people. Throughout history, journalists have uncovered the many ways governments lie, cheat, and steal – and the great lengths they will go to keep the people from finding out.

Great journalists like Seymour Hersh, who reported to us the tragedy of the Mai Lai Massacre and the horrors that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, are essential.

Ten years ago last week, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks organization published an exposé of US government wrongdoing on par with the above Hersh bombshell stories. Publication of the “Iraq War Diaries” showed us all the brutality of the US attack on Iraq. It told us the truth about the US invasion and occupation of that country. This was no war of defense against a nation threatening us with weapons of mass destruction. This was no liberation of the country. We were not “bringing democracy” to Iraq.

No, the release of nearly 400,000 classified US Army field reports showed us in dirty detail that the US attack was a war of aggression, based on lies, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and injured.

We learned that the US military classified anyone they killed in Iraq as “enemy combatants.” We learned that more than 700 Iraqi civilians were killed for “driving too close” to one of the hundreds of US military checkpoints – including pregnant mothers-to-be rushing to the hospital. » Read the rest of this entry «

by ZeroHedge.com

Scientists have now obtained evidence that one source described as virtual confirmation that COVID-19 antibodies are seasonal, meaning that those with particularly weak immune responses might be susceptible to reinfection, while most people infected with COVID-19 will see their antibody levels degrade over a period of 4-6 months.

Most MSM outlets framed it as a setback for the scientists behind the Great Barrington Declaration. One scientist said this finding could mean that vaccines create a more potent immune response to the virus than the natural response. At the very least, it’s a higher bar for vaccines, and could mean a more lucrative outcome if people need to be vaccinated at the start of every “COVID” season.

At the very least, Dr. Fauci has said the first vaccines should be ready for mass inoculation within six months.

The study, carried out by researchers at Imperial College of London, found that antibody prevalence fell by a quarter, from 6% of the population around the end of June to just 4.4% in September, down from levels seen earlier this year.

Immunity has been a hot topic ever since a Dutch woman became the first patient to pass away after being reinfected with the virus. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Michelle R. Smith and Michael Biesecker

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom.

The policies that discriminated against LGBTQ people and their children were in place for years at Trinity Schools Inc., both before Barrett joined the board in 2015 and during the time she served.

The three schools, in Indiana, Minnesota and Virginia, are affiliated with People of Praise, an insular community rooted in its own interpretation of the Bible, of which Barrett and her husband have been longtime members. At least three of the couple’s seven children have attended the Trinity School at Greenlawn, in South Bend, Indiana.

The AP spoke with more than two dozen people who attended or worked at Trinity Schools, or former members of People of Praise. They said the community’s teachings have been consistent for decades: Homosexuality is an abomination against God, sex should occur only within marriage and marriage should only be between a man and a woman. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Cynthia Chung

“Treason doth never prosper; what is the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

– Sir John Harrington

As Shakespeare would state in his play Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” like a fish that rots from head to tail, so do corrupt government systems rot from top to bottom.

This is a reference to the ruling system of Denmark and not just the foul murder that King Claudius has committed against his brother, Hamlet’s father. This is showcased in the play by reference to the economy of Denmark being in a state of shambles and that the Danish people are ready to revolt since they are on the verge of starving. King Claudius has only been king for a couple of months, and thus this state of affairs, though he inflames, did not originate with him.

Thus, during our time of great upheaval we should ask ourselves; what constitutes the persisting “ruling system,” of the United States, and where do the injustices in its state of affairs truly originate from?

The tragedy of Hamlet does not just lie in the action (or lack of action) of one man, but rather, it is contained in the choices and actions of all its main characters. Each character fails to see the longer term consequences of their own actions, which leads not only to their ruin but towards the ultimate collapse of Denmark. The characters are so caught up in their antagonism against one another that they fail to foresee that their very own destruction is intertwined with the other. » Read the rest of this entry «

By John W. Whitehead

“We’re run by the Pentagon, we’re run by Madison Avenue, we’re run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don’t revolt we’ll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche…. As long as we go out and buy stuff, we’re at their mercy… We all live in a little Village. Your Village may be different from other people’s Villages, but we are all prisoners.”— Patrick McGoohan

This is not an election.

This is a con game, a scam, a grift, a hustle, a bunko, a swindle, a flimflam, a gaffle, and a bamboozle.

In this carefully choreographed scheme to strip the American citizenry of our power and our rights, “we the people” are nothing more than marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes, or gulls.

We are victims of the Deep State’s confidence game.

Every confidence game has six essential stages: 1) the foundation to lay the groundwork for the illusion; 2) the approach whereby the victim is contacted; 3) the build-up to make the victim feel like they’ve got a vested interest in the outcome; 4) the corroboration (aided by third-party conspirators) to legitimize that the scammers are, in fact, on the up-and-up; 5) the pay-off, in which the victim gets to experience some small early “wins”; and 6) the “hurrah”— a sudden manufactured crisis or change of events that creates a sense of urgency. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Bruce Wilds

Amazon is a monster that with the help of our government exploits America and continues to engulf and devour its competitors. Of Amazon, we should be afraid, very afraid! Amazon is a job-killing exploiter. The fact is that many of the options Bezos employs to expand Amazon are available to him only because of the many areas his various companies engage in, this is the crux of growing antitrust talk. Jeff Bezos did not purchase the Washington Post in 2013 because he expected newspapers to make a lucrative resurgence. He purchased the long-trusted U.S. newspaper for the power it would ensure him in Washington and because it could be wielded as a propaganda mouthpiece to extend his ability to both shape and control public opinion.

The ownership of the Post dovetails with Amazon’s role working with the CIA. The Washington Post is without a doubt the most pro-establishment among all large mainstream publications, not only do they defend the narratives of the Deep State but actively attacks anyone who challenges them. This includes both President Trump and Bernie Sanders, both are on the record for having criticized Amazon. This is also part of the reason the USPS continues to be allowed to grant Amazon special treatment by delivering its packages on Sunday and even on major holidays, the USPS has sold out the rest of American businesses for a few dollars in revenue. Ironically, the thing many people on both the far-right and far-left can agree upon is Amazon is not our friend.

The company has over the last year been forced to undertake a massive public relations campaign and increase its advertising to offset growing consumer anger. CEO Jeff Bezos is gifted with the ability to re-frame an issue and this can be seen in its effort to paint a positive image of Amazon as a good neighbor and job creator. Ripping apart this illusion is the sad truth that when Amazon creates a job one or more are lost in another part of the economy. As for being a “good neighbor,” an article recently appeared on Viable Opposition detailing how Amazon exploited and price gouged customers during the bulk of the lock-down. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Claudia Balducci

“I chair the council for King County, Washington — an area larger than 14 states — and we have been voting exclusively by mail since 2009 with virtually zero problems.”

In the upper left corner of the United States resides an inconvenient truth for President Donald Trump and his followers: A highly successful mail-in voting system.

Amid a pandemic that has made in-person interactions dangerous, Trump and his allies have attempted to sow fear and uncertainty around mail-in voting even as he attends in-person rallies and events that we now know may have exposed hundreds to COVID-19. But his dangerous tall tales of fraud and tossed ballots are readily dispelled against the backdrop of Washington state’s entirely by-mail voting system.

Voting by mail is the safest, most secure way to get this election done and to restore trust in a bedrock of our democracy.

I know this because I chair the council for King County, Washington, which has run vote-by-mail elections for over a decade. We are the largest jurisdiction in the United States to conduct all elections by mail. Our nonpartisan regional government represents 2.2 million people who live in Seattle, Bellevue and dozens of other cities and surrounding communities. And we have been voting exclusively by mail here since 2009, and statewide in Washington since 2011.

This means that our elections — for president, Congress, governor, county and city councils, school boards, special districts — are all conducted fully by mail. And I can tell you without any doubt whatsoever that Trump, and those repeating his propaganda, are wrong about voting by mail. » Read the rest of this entry «