Patrick's Notebook

by Martin Sieff, Strategic Culture Foundation

Major patterns of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are now all too clear: But the patterns that have emerged are never discussed in the 24/7 American Mainstream Media (MSM) and its European liberal wannabe cheerleaders led by the always ineffable BBC in Britain.

The right-wing old Reagan imperialists and fundamentalists continue to endlessly proclaim that the crisis has mortally wounded China’s standing in the world; That is simply a lie.

The same voices continue to witlessly proclaim the superiority of American exceptionalism in the face of the mounting tsunami wave of evidence to the contrary. They will endlessly continue do so in the Kingdom of the Mad and the Asylums of the Delusional Insane.

The clear facts are these: First, China’s crackdown got its pandemic crisis under control – impressively fast.

The reaction to this great achievement, as that great Healer Doctor Sigmund Freud warned us – has been denial: For China;s centralized form of government “cannot” ever succeed according to both the conservative right and liberal fake left in the United States. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Mac Slavo, SHTFplan.com

Americans have suffered under the boot of tyranny long enough. Resistance to the house arrest orders and pushback against the bans from making a living are finally surfacing in large numbers. Have people finally realized they are not slaves to be controlled by a few power-hungry politicians?

Across the country, from political leaders to small business owners, to parents who just want to take their children to the park, resistance is growing to the authoritarians who have effectively suspended the Constitution and placed most of the country under house arrest.

Lawsuits are also challenging unlawful “stay at home” orders. What if all the hysteria-driven orders have actually made the virus outbreak even worse? More scientists are coming forward to argue for the “Sweden model” of moderation rather than lockdown.

In Dr. Ron Paul’s latest Liberty report, he says this frustration is positive.

As Americans begin to lose patience with their enslavement and the tyranny of almost every governor in this country, the government should see themselves as on borrowed time. “Fauci is losing credibility,” says Dr. paul. Give the people back their natural right to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and the ability to make a living. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Paul Craig Roberts
We are hearing from many that the world after Covid-19 will be different. The question is: Different in what way? Will it be better or worse?

Elites are working to make it better for them, and worse for the rest of us. About that the evidence is clear. The Big Boys are being bailed out and their debts covered. Everyone else, except those already marginalized and without a recent work record and fixed address, got a month’s rent and extended unemployment benefits.

Big Pharma sees massive profits in the virus, Government sees more power to control

But the disparity in economic benefits is only a part of it. Powerful vested interests, such as Bill Gates and Big Pharma, are determined to vaccinate us all, and to control our movements with an internal passport called “vaccinated, health cleared” or other words to that effect. New tracking procedures and technologies are to be put in operation reminiscent of the “mark of the beast” to police the access of varous categories of people to various areas and benefits.

Experts point out that just as we cannot be vaccinated against the common cold, except perhaps for the past year’s version we cannot be vaccinated against Covid-19 and other mutating viruses, but the experts are already being shouted down. No expert opinion is to be permitted to stand in the way of vaccination profits. » Read the rest of this entry «

By Susan E. Rice via The New York Times
He should start leading with the decency and resolve that we deserve. I’m not holding my breath.

Donald Trump declared himself a “wartime president” just three weeks ago. On Twitter, he proclaimed “WE WILL WIN THIS WAR.” At last, he seemed to grasp the gravity of the Covid-19 crisis facing the world. Bluster aside, Mr. Trump is correct: This is war, the most consequential since World War II, and he is in charge.

Unfortunately, few of his actions display the leadership we need from a wartime commander in chief who is confronting a viral version of World War III.

The United States military develops detailed war plans for combat scenarios and exercises regularly to prepare for contingencies. The Defense Department gathers intelligence, scans the globe for impending threats, pre-positions forces and equipment, stockpiles supplies and trains its forces. Maintaining readiness is the military’s most prized prerequisite for battlefield success.

In the case of coronavirus, the Trump administration shelved the war plan, or pandemic “playbook,” prepared by the Obama administration. It disbanded the National Security Council office established to provide early warning and ensure preparedness, and disregarded the intelligence community’s warnings that a global pandemic was likely.

Meanwhile, it repeatedly sought to cut funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and key parts of the Department of Health and Human Services, while letting the government’s stockpile of ventilators deteriorate. » Read the rest of this entry «

by ZeroHedge.com

All across the world, starting with China, the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed for the proliferation of the surveillance state.

More than 100 rights groups are warning that governments and corporations are partnering as a collaborative force to employ big data and increase widespread surveillance that threatens freedoms and privacy, reported Reuters.

At the moment, the surveillance tools are being used to mitigate the spread of the virus, tracing infections back to patient zero, monitoring social distancing, and enforcing lockdowns. However, the virus is likely a cover for pervasive snooping.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Privacy International said without appropriate safeguards, surveillance tools could remain in place even after the virus has been eradicated, which would erode people’s freedoms on a long enough timeline.

“An increase in state digital surveillance powers, such as obtaining access to mobile phone location data, threatens privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of association,” the groups said.

Edward Snowden, last week warned that the temporary mass surveillance, built to combat the virus, will not be so temporary, and the new measures are the new normal. He said the virus is the perfect cover to usher in the Orwellian mass surveillance state and will long outlast the virus.

Aaron Kesel of ActivistPost recently pointed out that the virus “is proving to be the Trojan horse that justifies increased digital surveillance via our smartphones.” » Read the rest of this entry «

by Caitlin Johnstone, Medium.com

The first draft of the civil rights-eroding USA PATRIOT Act was magically introduced one week after the 9/11 attacks. Legislators later admitted that they hadn’t even had time to read through the hundreds of pages of the history-shaping bill before passing it the next month, yet somehow its authors were able to gather all the necessary information and write the whole entire thing in a week.

This was because most of the work had already been done. CNET reported the following back in 2008:

“Months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, [then-Senator Joe] Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of ‘terrorism’ that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode ‘constitutional and statutory due process protections’ and would ‘authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.’”

Biden’s bill was never put to a vote, but after 9/11 then-Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly credited his bill with the foundations of the USA PATRIOT Act.

“Civil libertarians were opposed to it,” Biden said in 2002 of his bill. “Right after 1994, and you can ask the attorney general this, because I got a call when he introduced the Patriot Act. He said, ‘Joe, I’m introducing the act basically as you wrote it in 1994.’” » Read the rest of this entry «

by Julia Carrie Wong, TheGuardian.com
If we let Amazon’s strength dominate our entire economy, we may just find out how weak we are

It is calling up 100,000 troops, extending grants to small businesses, prioritizing essential goods, and cracking down on profiteers.

No, that’s not the United States federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic: it’s Amazon’s. The e-commerce behemoth is poised to become one of the major winners of the coronavirus crisis. As smaller businesses (even those that are not in any sense of the word small) falter and fail, Amazon is expanding its dominance over American commerce and society.

It’s less and less far-fetched to imagine “the everything store” becoming the only store. And with so much rancor and incompetence on display in Washington DC, Amazon’s efficiency and competence has become a source of comfort and security, at least for those of us who can afford a Prime membership.

Many of Amazon’s moves over the past few weeks have had the distinct flavor of government.

The hiring of 100,000 staff and a $2-an-hour pay raise is akin to a 21st-century Works Progress Administration (WPA), only private. Amazon’s hometown noblesse oblige – extending its beneficence to small businesses around its Seattle offices so that they might live to serve Amazonians another day – is akin to a government stimulus package. Amazon’s decision to stop accepting non-essential products from third-party sellers who use its warehouses is essentially Amazon regulating the marketplace. » Read the rest of this entry «