Terrorism – Page 4 – The Burning Platform

Inside the CIA’s Use of Terror During the Vietnam War

The CIA’s Phoenix program changed how America fights its wars and how the public views this new type of political and psychological warfare, in which civilian casualties are an explicit objective.

The CIA created Phoenix in Saigon in 1967 to identify the civilian leaders and supporters of the National Liberation Front; and to detain, torture, and kill them using every means possible, from B-52 raids and “Cordon and Search” operations, to computerized blacklists, secret torture centers, and death squads.

Originally called ICEX-SIDE (Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation – Screening, Interrogation and Detention of the Enemy), the program was renamed Phoenix for symbolic purposes. In time, the mere mention of Phoenix, the omnipotent bird of prey with a blacklist in one claw and a snake in the other, was enough to terrorize people into submission.

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Practically speaking, Phoenix is a highly bureaucratized system for dispensing with people who cannot be ideologically assimilated. Implemented over the objections of South Vietnamese officials, the CIA found a legal basis for the Phoenix program in “emergency decrees” and “administrative detention” laws that enabled American “advisors” to detain, torture, and kill South Vietnamese “national security offenders” without due process.

Within this extra-judicial legal system, with its Stalinist tribunals, a “national security offender” was construed as anyone who didn’t support the government. To be neutral or advocate for peace was viewed as supporting terrorism. Proof wasn’t required, just the word of an anonymous informer.

Legendary CIA officer Lucien Conein described Phoenix as a very good blackmail scheme for the central government: “If you don’t do what I want, you’re VC.”

Continue reading “Inside the CIA’s Use of Terror During the Vietnam War”

BREAKING BAD (DEBT) – EPISODE THREE

In Part One of this three part article I laid out the groundwork of how the Federal Reserve is responsible for the excessive level of debt in our society and how it has warped the thinking of the American people, while creating a tremendous level of mal-investment. In Part Two I focused on the Federal Reserve/Federal Government scheme to artificially boost the economy through the issuance of subprime debt to create a false auto boom. In this final episode, I’ll address the disastrous student loan debacle and the dreadful global implications of $200 trillion of debt destroying the lives of citizens around the world.

Getting a PhD in Subprime Debt

“When easy money stopped, buyers couldn’t sell. They couldn’t refinance. First sales slowed, then prices started falling and then the housing bubble burst. Housing prices crashed. We know the rest of the story. We are still mired in the consequences. Can someone please explain to me how what is happening in higher education is any different?This bubble is going to burst.” – Mark Cuban

Now we get to the subprimiest of subprime debt – student loans. Student loans are not officially classified as subprime debt, but let’s compare borrowers. A subprime borrower has a FICO score of 660 or below, has defaulted on previous obligations, and has limited ability to meet monthly living expenses. A student loan borrower doesn’t have a credit score because they have no credit, have no job with which to pay back the loan, and have no ability other than the loan proceeds to meet their monthly living expenses. And in today’s job environment, they are more likely to land a waiter job at TGI Fridays than a job in their major. These loans are nothing more than deep subprime loans made to young people who have little chance of every paying them off, with hundreds of billions in losses being borne by the ever shrinking number of working taxpaying Americans.

Student loan debt stood at $660 billion when Obama was sworn into office in 2009. The official reported default rate was 7.9%. Obama and his administration took complete control of the student loan market shortly after his inauguration. They have since handed out a staggering $500 billion of new loans (a 76% increase), and the official reported default rate has soared by 43% to 11.3%. Of course, the true default rate is much higher. The level of mal-investment and utter stupidity is astounding, even for the Federal government. Just some basic unequivocal facts can prove my case.

There were 1.67 million Class of 2014 students who took the SAT. Only 42.6% of those students met the minimum threshold of predicted success in college (a B minus average). That amounts to 711,000 high school seniors intellectually capable of succeeding in college. This level has been consistent for years. So over the last five years only 3.5 million high school seniors should have entered college based on their intellectual ability to succeed. Instead, undergraduate college enrollment stands at 19.5 million. Colleges in the U.S. are admitting approximately 4.5 million more students per year than are capable of earning a degree. This waste of time and money can be laid at the feet of the Federal government. Obama and his minions believe everyone deserves a college degree, even if they aren’t intellectually capable of earning it, because it’s only fair. No teenager left behind, without un-payable debt.

Continue reading “BREAKING BAD (DEBT) – EPISODE THREE”

IDIOCY OF AMERICAN PUBLIC ON DISPLAY

Are you fucking kidding me? 84% of the ignorant masses actually believe 20,000 ragheaded camel jockeys in the Middle East who like to make gory Youtube videos and were funded and armed by the good old USA government are a CRITICAL threat to our country. That is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever read. Bernays was an absolute genius and his disciples have perfected the art of propaganda.

The US public education system has succeeded in dumbing down Americans to such an extent, they will believe anything they are told by the government and their MSM propaganda mouthpieces. I’m disgusted to be living amongst so many idiots and non-critical thinking believers. I sure hope it doesn’t take a majority to prevail, because we’re doomed if that is the case.

The Islamic State is seen as the gravest threat to the United States, according to a new poll from Gallup. The group released its latest horror video at the weekend, showing the mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya. The gruesome images have suggested that Isis is expanding its reach into North Africa, far from its current battlegrounds and havens in Iraq and Syria. Egypt carried out airstrikes in response to the beheadings.

84 percent of people in the US consider the Islamic State and international terrorism in general the most critical threats to American security. Iran’s nuclear ambitions and North Korea’s military strength follow with 77 and 64 percent respectively. The conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels has strained relations between Washington and Moscow in recent months, but nevertheless, tensions with Russia are lower on Americans’ list of potential threats.

You will find more statistics at Statista

FOURTH TURNING – THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS NOT PASSED – PART TWO

In Part One of this article I laid the groundwork of the Fourth Turning generational theory. I refuted President Obama’s claim that the shadow of crisis has passed. The shadow grows ever larger and will engulf the world in darkness in the coming years. The Crisis will be fueled by the worsening debt, civic decay and global disorder. I will address these issues in this article.

Debt, Civic Decay & Global Disorder

The core elements propelling this Crisis – debt, civic decay, and global disorder – were obvious over a decade before the financial meltdown catalyst sparked this ongoing two decade long Crisis. With the following issues unresolved, the shadow of this crisis has only grown larger and more ominous:

Debt

The national debt has risen by $7 trillion (64%) to $18.1 trillion since 2009 and continues to accelerate by $2.3 billion per day, on track to surpass $20 trillion before Obama leaves office and $25 trillion by 2019.

The national debt as a percentage of GDP is currently 103% (it would be 106% if the BEA hadn’t decided to positively “adjust” GDP up by $500 billion last year). It is on course to reach 120% by 2019. Rogoff and Reinhart have documented the fact countries that surpass 90% experience economic turmoil, decline, and ultimately currency collapse and debt default.
Despite the housing collapse and hundreds of billions in mortgage, credit card, auto, and corporate debt being written off, dumped on the backs of taxpayers and hidden on the Federal Reserve balance sheet, total credit market debt has reached a new high of $58 trillion.

Harvard professor Laurence Kotlikoff has been a lone voice telling the truth about the true level of unfunded promises hidden in the CBO numbers. The unfunded social welfare liabilities in excess of $200 trillion for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are nothing but a massive future tax increase on younger and unborn generations. Kotlikoff explains what would be required to pay these obligations:

“To honor these obligations we could (a) raise all federal taxes, immediately and permanently, by 57%, (b) cut all federal spending, apart from interest on the debt, by 37%, immediately and permanently, or (c) do some combination of (a) and (b).”

The level of taxation and/or Federal Reserve created inflation necessary to honor these politician promises is too large to be considered feasible. Therefore, these promises, made to get corrupt political hacks elected to public office, will be defaulted upon.

Continue reading “FOURTH TURNING – THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS NOT PASSED – PART TWO”

Truth? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Truth

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

In the previous posting, The Grand Manipulation, I again wrote about the false reality that government manipulation of information and control over explanations creates for Americans and others who have subordinated themselves to Washington.

Consider the “war on terror.” According to a Nobel economist and a Harvard University budget expert, Washington’s 14 years of war on terror has cost Americans a minimum of $6 trillion. That’s 6,000 billion dollars. This sum, together with the current PayRoll tax revenues is enough to keep Social Security and Medicare in the black for years to come. Without the vast sum wasted on the war on terror, Republicans would not have an excuse to be trying to cut Social Security and Medicare for budget reasons and to privatize the old age pensions and health care of people, thus turning Medicare and Social Security pensions into fee income for Wall Street.

Combating terrorism is the excuse for squandering a minimum of $6,000 billion dollars.
What were the terrorist events that serve as a basis for this expenditure?

There are five: 9/11, the London transport system bombings, the Spanish train bombing, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the French Charlie Hebdo rifle attack.

In other words, 5 events in 14 years.

The loss of life in all these events combined is minuscule compared to the loss of life in the war on terror. Even the deaths of our own soldiers is greater. Washington’s wars against terror have caused more deaths of Americans than the alleged terrorist events themselves.

But were they terrorist events?

There are many reasons to suspect these “terrorist attacks.” Governments have always resorted to false flag events in order to serve secret agendas. The Czar’s secret police set off bombs in order to create grounds for arresting labor agitators. We know from Operation Gladio that Western intelligence services did the same thing in order to blame European communist parties and block their electoral gains. Washington lived in fear that a communist party would gain executive power in some European country.

Continue reading “Truth? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Truth”

PROPAGANDA & FEAR MONGERING WORKS

When I see the results of polls like the one below, I realize there is no chance the majority will do anything to reverse the course of our nation in terminal decline. It will take a complete collapse and bloody reset before we have a chance at putting this country back on a sustainable rational course.

How the fuck can Americans actually think terrorism should be Obama and Congress’ top priority? Are Americans really that stupid? WTF do they want Obama and Congress to do? Double the DHS budget? Increase electronic surveillance on our communications? Give local police more military hardware? Ban guns? Repeal the 4th Amendment?

Do the ignorant masses know their actual chances of being killed by a terrorist? To say the chances are astronomically miniscule is an understatement. See for yourself:

You are 35,079 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack
You are 33,842 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack
You are 23,528 times more likely to die from obesity than from a terrorist attack
You are 5,882 times more likely to die from medical error than terrorism.
You are 4,706 times more likely to drink yourself to death than die from terrorism.
You are 1,904 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack.
You are 2,059 times more likely to kill yourself than die at the hand of a terrorist.
You are 452 times more likely to die from risky sexual behavior than terrorism.
You are 353 times more likely to fall to your death doing something idiotic than die in a terrorist attack.
You are 271 times more likely to die from a workplace accident than terrorism.
You are more than 9 times more likely to be killed by a law enforcement officer than by a terrorist.
You are 110 times more likely to die from contaminated food than terrorism.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-terrorism-statistics-every-american-needs-to-hear/5382818

The fact Americans think terrorism is our top priority proves that Edward Bernays was an evil genius. The combination of mass media and propaganda can convince the willfully ignorant and dumbed down populace of anything. Facts are unnecessary when fear and feelings are far more powerful. We are truly doomed.

Continue reading “PROPAGANDA & FEAR MONGERING WORKS”

Manufactured Terrorism – U.S. Officials Claim Credit for Stopping Another Terror Attack Created by the FBI

Guest Post by Michael Krieger

Nearly every major post-9/11 terrorism-related prosecution has involved a sting operation, at the center of which is a government informant. In these cases, the informants — who work for money or are seeking leniency on criminal charges of their own — have crossed the line from merely observing potential criminal behavior to encouraging and assisting people to participate in plots that are largely scripted by the FBI itself. Under the FBI’s guiding hand, the informants provide the weapons, suggest the targets and even initiate the inflammatory political rhetoric that later elevates the charges to the level of terrorism.

– From Glenn Greenwald’s latest piece: Latest FBI Claim of Disrupted Terror Plot Deserves Much Scrutiny and Skepticism

The “war on terror” is the best thing to happen to power hungry politicians since a fire of questionable origin destroyed the Reichstag building in Berlin on February 27, 1933. Not only does the “war on terror” represent big business for shady crony capitalists, it gives politicians, i.e., professional authoritarians, an excuse to destroy civil liberties and implement a total surveillance system to ensure the plebs don’t get out of line. This is not just an unfortunate trend that has developed organically due to a dangerous world, these are the goals of the oligarch class and they will do whatever it takes to achieve them.

This is where the “war on terror” and constant fear-mongering comes into play. There’s only one small problem. In the absence of real terror attacks in the U.S., it’s difficult to keep the stupid serfs shivering in a corner in the fetal position. Enter fake terrorist attacks; funded, created and planned by the FBI.

If you were getting your news from the mainstream media yesterday, you were no doubt barraged by headlines about a dangerous plot to bomb the U.S. Capitol building. Headlines such as this one from MSNBC: US terror plot foiled by FBI arrest of Ohio man.

Or what about this one from the Wall Street Journal: Ohio Man Charged With Plotting ISIS-Inspired Attack on U.S. Capitol.

Sounds really scary, right? Makes you relieved that the U.S. government in on the case! There’s only one slight problem. How can you foil a plot that was planned by the FBI itself?

For example NBC News reports that:

An Ohio man who allegedly wanted to set up an ISIS cell in the U.S. was arrested Wednesday and accused of planning to attack the U.S. Capitol. But U.S. officials told NBC News the man was dealing with a government informer working undercover the entire time and was never in a position to carry out his plan.

Again, how can you foil an attack that never could have occurred in the first place?

Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, near Cincinnati, was arrested after he bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition as the undercover operative watched, according to an FBI affidavit.

Cornell’s father, John Cornell, said the family was blindsided by the arrest.

“He never showed any signs of violence or anything,” John Cornell said of his son.

Yeah, until the FBI showed up. Turns out the FBI is better at radicalizing Muslims to violence than any genuine terror network on planet earth.

Continue reading “Manufactured Terrorism – U.S. Officials Claim Credit for Stopping Another Terror Attack Created by the FBI”

SOUND & FURY SIGNIFYING NOTHING

The politicians fear for their power, status, control, and wealth. Rallies, marches, fiery speeches, platitudes, and propaganda are nothing but sound and fury, signifying nothing. The murders of 17 people in France will be used by politicians and government control freaks to further reduce our freedoms and liberties. The fact that 21 people are shot on average every three days in Chicago doesn’t enter the picture. Our controllers seek more control over our lives. Maybe more gun controls will fix the problem. Didn’t the terrorists know that automatic weapons are illegal in France?

This Fourth Turning is rapidly intensifying. The right wing party in France will now gain more supporters. Germany and Sweden are powder kegs. The next leg down in this global debt crisis will ignite the most violent portion of this Fourth Turning. Then the sound, fury, blood, and death will signify something. The sweeping away of the existing social order.

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. 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 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

In a bold show of unity in the face of global terrorism, millions are rallying across France. World leaders converged on Paris to join the participants. Hundreds of thousands are also marching in a number of French cities on Sunday.

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The Sunday rally, dubbed a “cry for freedom”, will commemorate the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and comes after three days of standoffs and hostage situations, with one terror suspect still on the run. Latest reports, however, indicate the suspected woman might have been in Syria at the time of the attacks, which took 17 lives, journalists and policemen among them.

A man holds a cardboard reading “Hommage to the Victims-Heros” as people gather on the Place de la Republique (Republic Square) in Paris before the start of a Unity rally “Marche Republicaine” on January 11, 2015 (AFP Photo / Bertrand Guay)

“It will be an unprecedented manifestation that will be written in the history books,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. “It must show the power and dignity of the French people, who will cry out their love of liberty and tolerance.”

People gather on the Place de la Republique (Republic Square) in Paris before the start of a Unity rally “Marche Republicaine” on January 11, 2015 in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists. (AFP Photo / Bertrand Guay)

Continue reading “SOUND & FURY SIGNIFYING NOTHING”

PETER KING – DOUCHE NOZZLE

This douche nozzle is running for President in 2016. He is one of the dumbest motherfuckers on the face of this green earth. Plus he is a lying asshole who thinks the NSA hasn’t gone far enough. He would execute Edward Snowden and thinks Rand Paul isn’t fit to serve in Congress. America probably deserves a president this fucking stupid. At least Bush would seem intelligent in comparison.

The Biggest Terrorism Scaremongers Are THEMSELVES the Ones Promoting Terrorism

Submitted by George Washington on 01/06/2014 11:46 -05000

In response to the revelation that the NSA spies on Congress, Congressman Peter King says that the NSA should spy on Congress, to make sure congress members don’t call Al Qaeda.

King is a fine one to talk … he supported the Irish Republican Army for decades, even though the IRA was designated as a terrorist group.

The heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees – Diane Feinstein and Mike Rogers – are always yelling ooga booga … saying that the terrorists will get us if we don’t let the NSA spy on all Americans.

Feinstein and Rogers both support Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria. Rogers supports torture, which has been recognized for thousands of years as a form of terrorism (torture also creates new terrorists.) And Rogers supports the widespread drone war, even though indiscriminate drone strikes are war crimes – more here and here – oh, and they create more terrorists.

Another leading scaremonger is former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden, who has compared privacy advocates with terrorists. Hayden was one of the main supporters of the torture program, and of the “signature strike” drone assassination program, where strikes are launched purely on the behavior of ground vehicles, with no further evidence of connection to terrorism. Hayden also supported the MEK terrorist group (more on MEK below).

This type of hypocrisy has been going on for some time. We noted in 2011:

The biggest scaremongers regarding the threat from terrorism are themselves promoting terrorism.

Don’t believe me?

Well, Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh says that the Bush administration (and especially Dick Cheney) helped to fund groups which the U.S. claims are terrorists (see confirming articles here and here).

And as the New York Times, Washington Post and others are reporting, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former national security adviser Fran Townsend and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey – who all said that the terrorists were going to get us if we didn’t jettison the liberties granted under the Bill of Rights – are now supporting terrorists in Iran.

If you’ve forgotten how shrill these folks were, here’s some background on Giulani (and see this), Ridge, Townsend and Mukasey (and see this and this).

As Raw Story reports today:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former national security adviser Fran Townsend and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey all attended a forum organized by supporters of Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK).

The MEK is a communist group that helped Saddam Hussein carry out attacks against Iraq’s Shiite population in the 1990s. The group attacked Americans in Iran in the 1980s and helped with the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran.

The US designated the MEK a foreign terrorist organization in January 2009.

Sadly, the U.S. has actually become the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism … but the hypocritical fearmonger blowhards who promote such terror only call it terrorism when the other guy does it.

MALALA TELLS OBAMA TO STOP MURDERING INNOCENT PEOPLE WITH HIS DRONES

Not a peep about this in the liberal MSM. They wouldn’t dare question the murderous policies of dear leader. Malala is a brave girl and tells the thug how terrorism works. American terrorism begets terrorism against America.

Bravo Malala!

Sunday October 13, 2013

It was supposed to be an approval ratings-boosting photo-op with the youngest ever nominee for a Nobel Peace Prize, but as any parent knows kids can be hard to control. They have a tendency to blurt out inconvenient truths at the most inconvenient of moments.

So it was when 16 year old Malala Yousafzai, who had been shot by extremists in Pakistan over her vocal support for girls’ education, was at the White House on Friday to meet the president and first lady along with their daughter of similar age.

The young Peace Prize nominee (who ultimately lost out to the UN-affiliated Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), took the opportunity, while the world’s attention was upon her for her brave and fearless efforts, to tell the US president directly that his foreign policy was harming both her home country, Pakistan, and harming US security as well.

Said young Malala in a statement after the meeting:

“I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.”

She could have played it safe and simply smiled for the camera. Instead she took another huge personal risk for peace. She told the president of the US that he was wrong to make war on her country. Bravo!

Considering past Nobel Peace Prize winners, it is probably better that she did not win. The prize is tarnished.

V FOR VENDETTA – 2011(Oldie but Not Goodie)

It has been almost two years since I whipped this article out in a one day sleepless frenzy. I was then reminded of it by the BART incident, the London riots and the indictment of the Tea Party as terrorists by the liberal MSM and Democratic politicians in the summer of 2011, so I posted it again . There were calls for civility that week. I knew it wouldn’t happen. Now the horrific mass murder in Connecticut brought it back to my mind again. This Fourth Turning gets worse by the day.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

After the horrific mass murder in Tucson yesterday I had trouble sleeping last night. When my mind gets overloaded, I can’t sleep. I came downstairs at 3:30 am and for some reason decided now was the time to watch the movie V For Vendetta. Many people had recommended this movie over the years, but I had never gotten around to it. Well, on the day after the attempted assassination of a Congresswoman and murder of six others, including a Federal Judge, this movie provided a vision into what could happen next in this country.

The 2006 movie centers around a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask who refers to himself as V. He is a bold, charismatic freedom fighter driven to exact revenge on those who disfigured him. The film is an allegory of oppression and coercion by government. It is a declaration against government intervention into the lives of the citizens. He blows up the Old Bailey on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day. He promises to blow up Parliament one year later on the 5th of November. His speech at the beginning of the movie, broadcast to all of England, explains what happened in a fictional England and what is happening here:

“Good evening, London.

Allow me first to apologize, for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of everyday routine, the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition… I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful, bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is certainly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I think that even now orders are been shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because when the truncheon maybe used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who would listen, the enunciation of the truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?

Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression, and where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission? How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again, truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid! Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease… There were a myriad problems that conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic, you turned to the now High Chancellor, Adam Suttler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient, consent.

Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than 400 years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the 5th of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then, I would suggest you allow the 5th of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a 5th of November that shall never, ever, be forgot.”

The movie’s central theme revolves around the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament. The plot was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5, 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James’s nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state.

Guy Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience fighting in the Spanish Netherlands in suppression of the Dutch Revolt, was given charge of the explosives. The plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle. During a search of the House of Lords at about midnight on November 4, 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder – enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble – and arrested. He was hanged shortly thereafter. November the 5th has been celebrated ever since this event with celebrations and fireworks.

Anarchy Has Arrived

There’s no certainty – only opportunity. V – V For Vendetta

As I watched hour after hour of coverage about the ambush and assassination attempt on a Congresswoman from Arizona, I couldn’t help but think this could be the spark for something bigger. There were almost immediate reactions from the MSM that this murder was instigated by the Tea Party. The liberal ideologue Paul Krugman blamed the Republican Party for the murders. Apoplectic left wing faux journalist Keith Olbermann described conservative commentators as those “who have so irresponsibly brought us to this time of domestic terrorism”. The local sheriff, an Arizona State Senator and the Congresswoman’s father all blamed the Tea Party, either directly or indirectly. Based on my reading of the murderer’s writings and youtubes, he appears to be a mentally deranged psycho. Somehow, every liberal MSM “journalist” has concluded that this was due to the contentious political atmosphere in the country. This is code for “we need less dissent”. Stop disagreeing with the Obama agenda. If you disagree, you are dangerous.

The scene in the movie that made me think of yesterday’s events was toward the end of the movie when Inspector Finch, who is trying to capture V, has a feeling about what is going to happen:

Finch: I had to see it. There wasn’t much left. But when I was there it was strange. I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. It’s like I could see the whole thing, one long chain of events that stretched all the way back before Larkhill. I felt like I could see everything that happened, and everything that is going to happen. It was like a perfect pattern, laid out in front of me. And I realized we’re all part of it, and all trapped by it.
Dominic: So do you know what’s gonna happen?

Finch: No, it was a feeling. But I can guess. With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty. And then Sutler will be forced to do the only thing he knows how to do. At which point, all V needs to do is keep his word. And then…
[Dominoes collapse with TV footages showing conflicts between rioting citizens and the anti-riot police]

The line that hit me like a ton of bricks was, “With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid.” As Inspector Finch was speaking these words a scene of a policeman shooting a 10 year old girl with a Guy Fawkes Mask on is shown and then an angry mob surrounds and kill the policeman.

Yesterday, someone did something stupid. The question is what happens next.

Already, a fringe religious fanatic pastor and his followers, who have previously picketed the military funerals of Americans killed in Iraq, issued this press release:

“Thank God for the shooter – 6 dead! WBC will picket their funerals!” It continues on to condemn what it condemns as violence unleashed on WBC by a “hateful nation…hoping to silence our kind warning to obey God and flee the wrath to come.”

There is one thing I’m sure about. This will not result in more civil discourse. Opposing ideologies will become further entrenched in their positions. Those who attempt to be peacemakers will be shouted down. Passions will rise as they did in the 1850s when another member of Congress was badly injured as national passions flamed over slavery. On May 19, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a prominent voice in the anti-slavery movement, delivered an impassioned speech denouncing the compromises that helped perpetuate slavery and led to confrontations in Kansas. Sumner singled out Senator Andrew Pickens Butler of South Carolina. Butler, who had recently been incapacitated by a stroke and was recuperating in South Carolina, was held to particular ridicule by Sumner. Sumner said that Butler had taken as his mistress “the harlot, slavery.” Sumner also referred to the South as an immoral place for allowing slavery, and he mocked South Carolina.

Preston Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, was particularly incensed. Not only had the fiery Sumner ridiculed his home state, but Brooks was the nephew of Andrew Butler, one of Sumner’s targets. Brooks walked to Sumner’s desk in the Senate chamber, and reportedly said: “You have libeled my state and slandered my relation, who is aged and absent. And I feel it to be my duty to punish you.” With that, Brooks struck the seated Sumner across the head with his heavy cane. Brooks continued raining blows with the cane upon Sumner, who tried to fend them off with his arms. As might be expected, northern newspapers responded to the violent attack on the Senate floor with horror. Southern newspapers published editorials lauding Brooks, claiming that the attack was a justified defense of the south and slavery. Supporters sent Brooks new canes, and Brooks claimed that people wanted pieces of the cane he used to beat Sumner as “holy relics.”

This attack was a foreshadowing of what was to come – the deaths of 600,000 Americans in the space of four years – over 4% of the male population. Yesterday’s tragedy is another step deeper into this Fourth Turning. Every Fourth Turning has proven to be a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one.

Words Matter, Ideas Can Change the World

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. V – V For Vendetta

The prior Fourth Turnings in U.S. history (American Revolution, Civil War, Great Depression/World War II) all proved to be secular upheavals of immense proportions, tore apart the existing civil order, but had numerous moments of danger and uncertainty about the future turn of events. We are six years into a twenty year Crisis saeculum. Every Crisis intensifies as time progresses to an ultimate crescendo. The initial financial crisis built to a dramatic peak in September 2008 as the government and Federal Reserve have taken extraordinary and immoral actions to protect Wall Street banks. Since September 11, 2001, the government has used fear as its primary means of controlling the American population. Fear of terrorists, fear of flying, fear of WMD, fear of mushroom clouds, fear of the axis of evil, fear of economic collapse, fear of a Great Depression, and now fear of the Tea Party movement. This attack by a crazy man will lead to further losses of liberties and freedoms. That is a certainty.

Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security. V’s speech to the people of England invokes Ben Franklin:

“I know why you did it. I know you were afraid! Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease… There were a myriad problems that conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic, you turned to the now High Chancellor, Adam Suttler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient, consent.” – V – V For Vendetta

Those who would give up Essential Liberty
to purchase a little Temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

– Ben Franklin

This country has not reached the level of control and fear seen in Orwell’s 1984 and V For Vendetta, yet. We are moving relentlessly in that direction. Surveillance, monitoring, spying, censorship, secret prisons, predator drones, and conforming to state rules and regulations put citizens further under the thumb of an all powerful state. The freedom to dissent, the freedom to be left alone, the freedom to speak out against injustice, the freedom to disagree with your government, and the freedom to present your ideas without fear of retribution or penalty are essential in a democratic society. The next phase of this Fourth Turning will surely include another downward spiral in financial markets as un-payable debts accumulate to a tipping point level. When ATM machines stop spitting out twenties, food shelves are bare and gas stations are shuttered, social chaos will ensue. The government will react with further command and control measures. In V For Vendetta, the government creates a terrorist incident in order to gain unquestioned control over the population. Americans will need to be more vigilant than they have been over the last ten years in keeping an eye on their government.

In the movie, Parliament is the symbol of government power. The thought of destroying this symbol provided the people with a renewed sense of purpose and power. By V’s destruction of the building, the people regained their hope for the future. The symbol of America is the Statue of Liberty. The pedestal at the base of the statue states:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The idea of America is still alive. Whether it is kept alive is up to us. Words matter. Ideas can change the world.

“I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot… But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I’ve witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I’ve seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them… but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it… ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love… And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man… A man that made me remember the Fifth of November. A man that I will never forget.” – Evey Hammond – V For Vendetta