Conspiracy Theories

 Conspiracy Theories

 Once repudiated “Conspiracy Theories” shown to be true

 Covid was caused by transfer from bats and/or pangolins

Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian misinformation

The Moon landing was staged

 So many such “conspiracy theories” are spawned by our dishonest politicians, media and big tech, and later shown to be true.

 The latest is a recent admission that Covid most likely leaked from the Wuhan lab in China that was experimenting with these viruses.  Since Covid killed nearly seven million people world-wide, and over one million Americans, where and how the pandemic originated is of some importance and should not be covered up and lied about. 

 But that’s what happened.  Lies and repeated lies that the pandemic originated in a wet market and was spread by bats and pangolins.  It is still being lied about by much of the left-wing, who have seized upon the word “weak” somewhere in the DOE study that concluded the lab origin of Covid.

 

Well, I’ve come up with a real wild conspiracy theory that I floated as satire a while back.  I repeat it here as an example of a real conspiracy theory.

 “If I were a communist planner deep in the bowels of the Beijing Politburo’s Dirty Tricks Division, what could I do to bring China economically, materially and militarily equal to, or ahead of the West?  Also, how could I ensure that modern China pays back the West for the humiliating defeats of the opium wars of the 19^th century, the colonization of parts of China by the West, and the addiction of many ancestors in China to opium?

 All under the cloak of absolute secrecy, what if we weaponized a killer virus, ruthlessly controlled it within China, and ensured its release to the outside world?  That would allow China to sprint ahead of most of the rest of the world, particularly using our “Belt and Road Initiative” to acquire infrastructure throughout the world.

 As a further effort, and remembering our addicted ancestors in the 19^th century, suppose we develop a killer drug and export it to the world?  Illegal drug users would take it and die.  We can even make it look like candy for the western kids.  In truth, Fentanyl is now one of the leading causes of deaths in the U.S.

 

Far fetched?  Maybe.  But anything is possible in this crazy world, particularly in secretive, Machiavellian, communist China, whose announced goal is to become the dominant power in this century.

 Is China furthering its goals while doing a little pay back for the 19^th century?”

 Now that is real conspiracy theory.  Let’s hope it never proves true.

 Ray Gruszecki

February 28, 2023

National Review

 

National Review

 This is why I read and support Bill Buckley’s “National Review”.  Not because it’s a right-wing rag.  Because it tells the truth while our mainstream media subscribes to whatever lies and distortions the democrats and the left are pushing.

 This is from Rich Lowry’s solicitation for subscription and financial support of “National Review”, but it highlights several examples where NR told the truth while much of the rest of the media lied.

  

“We live in an era of superstition and lies.

 You might think that at a time when scientific understanding is at its apex, when the level of education is higher than ever before, when technological tools allow for the rapid dissemination of information that we’d be in a golden age of knowledge.

 To the contrary, ideological malice and political cowardice have combined to make contemporary America a cauldron of poisonous and obvious falsehoods.

 We’ve somehow managed to forget what biological sex is, or we pretend to have forgotten.

 We have no idea what Roe v. Wade really was, or what the brute facts of abortion are.

 We make up fictions about guns, both the legal regime around them and the nature of widely available firearms.

 Some of this is conscious deception driven by activists and fanatics; some of it is what might be called “learned ignorance” by people who don’t dare buck a politically correct consensus; and, finally, some of it is old-fashioned ignorance on the part of people who believe what the so-called experts say, or what they read or hear in the legacy media.

 There is an antidote to all of this, of course (and you may be able to guess what I’m about to say), called NATIONAL REVIEW.

 When the great and the good maintained that anyone who thought Covid might have emanated from a Chinese lab was a conspiracy theorist and hater, Jim Geraghty blew through the guardrails and wrote compellingly about why the natural-origins theory didn’t add up. He beat the Energy Department to it.

 When the legacy media wanted to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story and (this still holds true) discount the evidence of Biden-family corruption, Andy McCarthy would have none of it and, as usual, knew the case chapter and verse.

 This was a follow-up to his exemplary work on the Russia hoax. The former New York Times journalist Jeff Gerth did a massive rundown of the media failures covering Russia-gate in Columbia Journalism Review a few weeks ago, and I mean no disrespect to Gerth when I say I’m hard-pressed to cite anything that I didn’t already know from reading Andy.

 I mentioned the trans-insanity, abortion, and guns above, and we’ve had you covered on all that as well.

 If you think this work is important, again, please consider ponying up a little bit to help keep it happening.

 Perhaps the worst example of contemporary misinformation is the 1619 Project, which constitutes a libel against our own history.

 A different take on our history is one thing; different schools of thought and new interpretations based on new evidence emerge all the time.

 It’s another thing entirely, though, to set out an ideological goal in advance, and then twist or manufacture the evidence to try to back it up without regard to logic or facts. That’s what the 1619 Project has done, and it hasn’t paid a price for it — rather, it has been celebrated in verse and song, and now has its own Hulu series.

 While, depressingly, the project’s lies about our history and country have been widely accepted in certain quarters of America, we’ve taken the approach that they can’t be allowed to stand.

 We’ve dismantled the Hulu series, which is crude and propagandistic even compared to the original set of essays in the New York Times.

 And we’ve attacked the premises of the project root and branch in pieces that Nikole Hannah-Jones has felt compelled to respond to (while never addressing the substantive points, of course).

 I’m biased, but as far as I’m concerned, Dan McLaughlin’s big, authoritative essay on the history of slavery is worth generous contributions on its own. I’m privileged to have some insight into our editorial process, and I assure you, that piece was not the work of a weekend or even a couple of weeks — rather, months of research, and thought, and care.

 You’re not going to find that at many other places.

 Now, it should be mentioned that at NR we are also willing to call out untruths emanating from our own side. Needless to say, this subjects us to abuse and derision, but we consider it our responsibility regardless.

 The folks who apparently believe it’s a high principle to follow the party line even if it’s outlandish and dumb should consider, if nothing else, the instrumental value of the truth. If Republicans had never gone down the rabbit hole of 2020 conspiracy theories, they’d probably have a comfortable majority in the House right now and a Senate majority — and Joe Biden would be running scared (or at least walking stiffly in the other direction).

 I believe the truth sets you free; even if it doesn’t, it can convince fence-sitting voters that it’s okay to vote for your candidates.

 If you think this independence of thought is refreshing and essential to creating a conservatism that can win, well, I’m going to make myself a bore — please, chip in if you can.

 As a serious magazine of opinion that does not let business considerations affect its editorial line or its commitment to the truth, NR has always depended on the generosity of its readers to keep it afloat — for more than 67 years now.

 I’m honored that you’ve read this missive this far, and can’t express my gratitude if you are able to give something and join the great chain of multigenerational effort that has kept NR battling for truth, justice, and the American way.

 Standing with you, 

Rich Lowry

Editor in Chief

NATIONAL REVIEW

 

Ray Gruszecki

February27, 2023

Our Dishonest News

 Our Dishonest News

 This news item about where old shoes end up really illustrates the lack of veracity in our modern world.  Can we believe anything that we read or watch or hear from Mainstream Media, Big Industry or Big Tech these days?

 Well, the answer is, not indiscriminately!  The source of what we are consuming as news needs to be vetted, and some of the vetting entities are also slanted and dishonest.

 Forgetting my own tendency to be a bit on the libertarian and conservative side of issues, I strive for honesty and accuracy, and have gone out of my way to find it.

 I have found “Media Bias Fact Check” to be an honest and unbiased checker of news sources.  “Factcheck.org” is also honest, but not quite as robust.  “Snopes” and “Politifact” lean as far left as many news sources that they purport to vet.

 One cannot enumerate all of the popular news sources.  That’s what “Media Bias Fact Check” is for.  

 Briefly, the Mainstream Media is left-wing, and pretty much parrots the views of the democrats.  Included in the Mainstream Media are ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPo, AP, Time Mag, Atlantic and many other well-worn news sources.

 Expressing a more conservative view are the Murdoch Group’s FOX, WSJ, and NY Post, and the National Review.  Breitbart, OAN and Newsmax are more conservative.  Reuters is a pretty much balanced news service.

 Having said all of that, one needs to distinguish between news and opinion.  We are not getting the news when watching Hannity on Fox or Maddow on MSNBC.  We are getting their strong opinions.

 The difference between the Mainstream and more conservative Media relates many times to what news is covered.  Examples are CNN and Fox coverage, (or lack thereof), of the Southern border crisis and of Hunter’s laptop.  The Mainstream Media obfuscates and distorts the news.  The more conservative media reports it honestly.  The conservative right may have opinions about the news, but they report it honestly and don’t try to hide it.

 https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-plastic-dow-shoes/

 Ray Gruszecki

February 25, 2023

Our Dangerous World – Thanks Biden

 

Our Dangerous World – Thanks Biden

 We seem to be on the cusp of an impending conflict with the People’s Republic of China.  They are expanding their military at an alarming rate, their “Belt and Road Initiative” is making huge economic gains in acquiring and dominating the infrastructure of weaker countries, and they make no pretense that their goal is to become the dominant power in the world.  They infringe on U.S. sovereignty by flying their spy balloons over our country, and feign indignation when we shoot one down after it traversed and spied on our nuclear and missile sites. The PRC rattle their sabers with impunity, and are on the verge of supplying material aid to Putin’s war effort in Ukraine.

 The weakness of the West, particularly the U.S., has never been as evident as during this current weak, “woke”, “politically correct” Euro-American environment.  A weak and senile, U.S. president has exacerbated the situation, and has prompted Russia’s Putin to attack Ukraine starting the first European war since WW2.  This also prompted Xi Jinping to greedily eye Taiwan across the Straits, and prompted Kim Jung Un to shoot rockets over Japan.  Many feel that none of this would have happened if we had a strong, resolute leader in the White House.

 Moreover, Putin’s exit from the nuclear START treaty, and his continuing posturing and threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, have the weak-kneed Biden and his sophomoric minions vacillating on types and timing of military aid to Ukraine.  Apparently, Biden is continuing his 50-plus year record of virtually always taking and acting on the wrong side of an issue.

 And much of our younger society, steeped scholastically in socialist, and even Marxist ideology, seems blithely ignorant of our weak foreign posture, instead being concerned with “woke”, LGBTQ+, “trans”, “social justice” and “political correctness” issues, rather than the strength and condition of our country in the world.

 Seeing the weak and vacillating Biden and his sophomoric handlers, Putin took his shot and invaded Ukraine.  Rather than a rapid two-week victory and absorption of Ukraine as “Little Russia”, Putin faced a determined independent Ukraine, with roots stretching back to militant Mongols, Scythians and Cossacks, and led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a charismatic young leader.  The Ukrainians were independent, and did not consider themselves Russian in spite of their similar Cyrillic alphabet and confluence of some of their history and heritage.  Putin also faced determined substantial economic and military aid to Ukraine from Poland, the rest of the EU, and the U.S., although this latter was belated, with a lot of “dragging of feet”, for fear of the threat of the Russian nuclear bear.

 So, here we sit, in an increasingly unsafe world, primarily because the U.S. presidency was virtually handed to an incompetent, senile old hack, by a biased media/big tech cabal, who withheld and distorted news from the electorate just prior to the 2020 election.

 Oh, I hear the shouts of “conspiracy theories” from the dishonest left-wing.  And I hear the same about any efforts to expose the machinations of the Biden crime family, and the “Big Guy”, and how they made their corrupt millions.  Unfortunately, with hardly a republican majority in the house, and with a democrat majority in the senate, Joe the Big Guy, Jimmy the Chin, Hunter and the rest of the boys will most likely skate.

 Also, as an aside, whatever happened to John Durham’s vaunted Special Counsel investigation of Trump-Russia.  It seems to be foundering on its own procedural issues, and seems to be dying its own death, with very few brought to account.

 One cannot help thinking that if we had an honest system, and if the 2020 election was not stacked by a dishonest media and big tech in favor of the incompetent Biden, it would be a much safer world, even under the mercurial Donald Trump as U.S. president.

 Unfortunately, the recent dishonest actors will no doubt skate after some ineffective vocalizations in the house.  Future elections?  I have hope, but we seem to be on an unalterable path to becoming a banana republic.  We need good, honest, charismatic leaders, of which there seems to be a paucity,

 Ray Gruszecki

February 24, 2023

Hulu – “1619 Project”

 Hulu – “1619 Project”

 I just watched Hulu’s six-part presentation of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ controversial “1619 Project”.  I offer my critique.

 Like many others, I object to Ms. Jones’ foundational premise for her series, that American history actually began in 1619 when the first cargo of African slaves landed in Virginia.  This is science fiction and an alternate reality, not factual history, and belies the contributions of so many others to the long history of America.

 I further object to Ms. Jones’ continuing theme that primarily black African slaves contributed to the growth of America and its customs and history, to the exclusion of so many other immigrant groups and native Americans.

 The most egregious distortion of the “1619 Project” is the obvious Marxism-Leninism that permeates it.  Marx’s “class struggles” are replaced by race.  Much of the rest of the Marxist-Leninist-Trotskyite polemic remains the same.  It is obvious that Ms. Jones writes from the extreme left of the political spectrum.

 I do not criticize Ms. Jones for showing pride in the contributions of black Africans to American society.  We are all proud of our ethnicity and heritage, and can compose stories of how our ancestors contributed to the building of America.  But these are contributions to our American psyche, not efforts to hijack the American story by claiming hegemony for all of our progress, as Ms. Jones does in the “1619 Project”. 

 The unique thing about our black American brothers and sisters is that they were brutally enslaved at a time in history that such atrocities were permitted by history and society.  The descriptions in the “1619 Project” of how enslaved people were treated with animal husbandry like cattle is particularly poignant, as are the eugenics practiced.

 An eye opener for me was the revelation that after the importation of slaves into the U.S. was prohibited by law in 1808 when the slave population was about 1 million, it ballooned to 4 million by 1860 at the start of the Civil War.  Not only were slaves bred by their owners, blacks were defined as matrilineal, so mixed race offspring of white fathers and black mothers were automatically slaves.

 Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones is probably a better writer than a presenter.  Much of the Hulu “1619 Project” is anecdotal with few hard facts to back it up.  She draws on her own individual experiences often as illustrations as part of her story-telling

 Something that Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones seems to have forgotten in her narrative is that nearly 750,000 mostly Caucasian Americans lost their lives in the American Civil War to free the black African slaves.  It seems that she should have fit this important fact into her story of black America.

 The segment on the contribution of Africans to American music is pertinent, but again, omits mention of any other contributing segments of Americana.  Appalachia and American classical music come to mind.

 The call for trillions of dollars of reparations is loosely based on economic abuses of black people that mostly occurred over the last two hundred years.  Claims of continuing economic discrimination seem subjective in a society that is redressing many of these issues.

The insidious nature of the “1619 Project” is that it has become part and parcel of Critical Race Theory, and is being installed as valid course curricula in many of our schools.  Laws passed against these bigoted items?  Just change the names and keep teaching them.

 Ray Gruszecki

February 11, 2023

Slavery

 Slavery

 Human slavery has been in existence since our ancestors eschewed hunting/gathering for built-up groupings called cities.  Slaves originated from physical conquest on a mass scale, or from economic domination on a more personal level.  In any case, it resulted in one group of human beings owning another group of human beings as property.  Slavery is covered by Hammurabi of Babylon as early as 1800 BCE, and repeatedly in the bible.

 Slavery was never “nice” or pleasant for the slave because he or she was at the mercy of their owner or master, who was sometimes beneficent, and sometimes nasty and cruel.  Race was not a particular issue for slavery in ancient times.  Slaves were whoever were conquered or captured, or who owed money or goods. 

 Weaker societies or groups of people were obvious targets for stronger, more militaristic raiders.  One might speculate that indigenous North Americans might have formed the bulk of this hemisphere’s slaves if European diseases had not decimated them.

In the 15^th century, the Portuguese started “slaving” indigenous black Africans who were captured and sold to the Portuguese by other stronger black African war lords. Since this was lucrative business for all, it burgeoned, and other militaristic/mercantile traders, like Britain, Spain, Holland and others. got into the act. The American colonies, with their fields of cotton, were prime targets for this slave trade.

 Back then, it was “follow the money”.  American “liberty for all” was fine, as long as you were male and Caucasian and “freeborn”.  Slavery was well established, even in the Christian bible.  Some Northern colonist’s appeals for emancipation fell on deaf ears, even amongst northern textile mills.

 Americans fought a civil war in which some 750,000 predominantly white Americans died to free nearly 4 million black American slaves.  Another century of civil strife ensued before a modicum of true equality of the races was attained in the United States.  There still continues to be racial unrest, primarily fueled by activists such as Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and such inflammatory propaganda as “The 1619 Project” and “Critical Race Theory”, which the ultra-left “woke” movement is attempting to install in our schools.

 There is also a movement afoot to offer “reparations” to descendants of original African slaves, particularly in such left-leaning venues such as Gavin Newsome’s California.  Payments of nearly $250,000 are in the works by fiscally broke California to many of its black residents, most of whom are 4^th or 5^th generation descendants of original slaves.  IMHO, like much of current “woke” political correctness. this proposal is too stupid for meaningful comment. 

 Some References About Slavery

 

World slavery summary

https://totallyhistory.com/slavery/

 

Britannica review of historical slavery

https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology/Historical-survey

 

African/American slavery – NYT “Woke” version

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html

 

The 1619 Project and American Marxism

https://libertyscholar.org/the-1619-project/

 

The American Black’s View of American Slavery

https://www.theroot.com/slavery-by-the-numbers-1790874492

 

Ray Gruszecki

February 8, 2023