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Kid Berwyn
Kid Berwyn's Journal
Kid Berwyn's Journal
November 24, 2022
Conservatives Worry and the Cover-up Begins
Late at night in the watering holes of American intelligence agents, the mention of Stanley K. Sheinbaum's name can still arouse a muttering of anger. Sheinbaum was the first person to go public with his experience of CIA activity in the United States--a story about the Agency's infiltration of a legitimate civilian institution. Sheinbaum so embarrassed senior officials of the CIA that they set in motion an elaborate internal operation intended to prevent anyone else from ever doing what he had done.
Sheinbaum's connection with the CIA began in the 1950s, a period when security officers at the rapidly expanding Agency were sometimes overworked. On occasion they neglected to ask someone to sign a secrecy contract, which was normally a prerequisite of employment. Once signed, it committed a CIA agent to complete secrecy, beginning with the first day on the job and continuing until death. But Sheinbaum's association with the CIA was indirect, through a university that turned out to be working under contract with the Agency. He was never a CIA employee and, as far as he can remember, was never asked to sign a secrecy agreement. During his days as a doctoral student at Stanford University and as a Fulbright fellow in Paris, Sheinbaum developed a strong interest in helping the economies of underdeveloped nations expand. When his Fulbright ran out in the summer of 1955, he landed a position at Michigan State University, working on a $25 million government project to advise South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem. By 1957, Sheinbaum was coordinator of the project.
His new responsibilities included inspecting work in Vietnam. Before he went on a trip there in 1957, university officials told him about the general CIA connection; once there, Vietnamese officials informed him that his project staff included CIA officers. The revelation bothered him. He thought it inappropriate that he and other legitimate academic advisers were being used as cover for U.S. government manipulation. Sheinbaum left Vietnam feeling that his work and his program had been compromised. Upon his return to the United States, he was further entangled when he was called upon to meet with four top South Vietnamese officials in San Francisco. "Within an hour of their arrival," Sheinbaum later recalled, "the youngest, a nephew of Ngo Dinh Diem, conspiratorially drew me aside and informed me that one of the others was going to kill the eldest of the group." While taking steps to thwart the plot, Sheinbaum realized that his original goal, the economic improvement of impoverished nations, was getting lost in his administrative work as coordinator. His growing dismay--at what he later called the "unhealthy" CIA component and "the general U.S. policy ... in Vietnam"--led him to resign from the project in 1959.
By this stage, however, Sheinbaum had information that was confidential. Following the buildup of U.S. troops in Vietnam and the assassination of Diem, Sheinbaum decided it was his patriotic duty to publicize information that he hoped might put the brakes on U.S. involvement. Writing about the connections between Michigan State University, the CIA, and the Saigon police (with the help of Robert Scheer, a young investigative reporter), the Sheinbaum story was to appear in the June 1966 issue of Ramparts magazine. The article disclosed that Michigan State University had been secretly used by the CIA to train Saigon police and to keep an inventory of ammunition for grenade launchers, Browning automatic rifles, and .50 caliber machine guns, as well as to write the South Vietnamese constitution. The problem, in Sheinbaum's view, was that such secret funding of academics to execute government programs undercut scholarly integrity. When scholars are forced into a conflict of interest, he wrote, "where is the source of serious intellectual criticism that would help us avoid future Vietnams?"
Word of Sheinbaum's forthcoming article caused consternation on the seventh floor of CIA headquarters. On April 18, 1966, Director of Central Intelligence William F. Raborn Jr. notified his director of security that he wanted a "run down" on Ramparts magazine on a "high priority basis." This strongly worded order would prove to be a turning point for the Agency. To "run down" a domestic news publication because it had exposed questionable practices of the CIA was clearly in violation of the 1947 National Security Act's prohibition on domestic operations and meant the CIA eventually would have to engage in a cover-up. The CIA director of security, Howard J. Osborn, was also told: "The Director [Reborn] is particularly interested in the authors of the article, namely, Stanley Sheinbaum and Robert Scheer. He is also interested in any other individuals who worked for the magazine."
Osborn's deputies had just two days to prepare a special briefing on Ramparts for the director. By searching existing CIA files they were able to assemble dossiers on approximately twenty-two of the fifty-five Ramparts writers and editors, which itself indicates the Agency's penchant for collecting information on American critics of government policies. Osborn was able to tell Raborn that Ramparts had grown from a Catholic lay journal into a publication with a staff of more than fifty people in New York, Paris, and Munich, including two active members of the U.S. Communist Party. The most outspoken of the CIA critics at the magazine was not a Communist but a former Green Beret veteran, Donald Duncan. Duncan had written, according to then CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms, "We will continue to be in danger as long as the CIA is deciding policy and manipulating nations." Of immediate concern to Raborn, however, was Osborn's finding that Sheinbaum was in the process of exposing more CIA domestic organizations. The investigation of Ramparts was to be intensified, Raborn told Osborn.
CONTINUES…
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/secrets-the-cias-war-at-home_angus-mackenzie/668061/#edition=2292399&idiq=634858
Capitalism’s Invisible Army wasn’t supposed to do any of that, yet Mr. Dulles found it A-OK. Today we live in the wealthiest times in human history. Per David Stockman, the time where 7/8 of all wealth ever. And yet there’s a catch. We are in Year 41 of Trickle Down Econ 666 where almost all the gold is in the pockets of the very few. And money still trumps peace or people or planet.
Angus Mackenzie wrote in "SECRETS: The CIA's War at Home"...
CHAPTER ONEConservatives Worry and the Cover-up Begins
Late at night in the watering holes of American intelligence agents, the mention of Stanley K. Sheinbaum's name can still arouse a muttering of anger. Sheinbaum was the first person to go public with his experience of CIA activity in the United States--a story about the Agency's infiltration of a legitimate civilian institution. Sheinbaum so embarrassed senior officials of the CIA that they set in motion an elaborate internal operation intended to prevent anyone else from ever doing what he had done.
Sheinbaum's connection with the CIA began in the 1950s, a period when security officers at the rapidly expanding Agency were sometimes overworked. On occasion they neglected to ask someone to sign a secrecy contract, which was normally a prerequisite of employment. Once signed, it committed a CIA agent to complete secrecy, beginning with the first day on the job and continuing until death. But Sheinbaum's association with the CIA was indirect, through a university that turned out to be working under contract with the Agency. He was never a CIA employee and, as far as he can remember, was never asked to sign a secrecy agreement. During his days as a doctoral student at Stanford University and as a Fulbright fellow in Paris, Sheinbaum developed a strong interest in helping the economies of underdeveloped nations expand. When his Fulbright ran out in the summer of 1955, he landed a position at Michigan State University, working on a $25 million government project to advise South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem. By 1957, Sheinbaum was coordinator of the project.
His new responsibilities included inspecting work in Vietnam. Before he went on a trip there in 1957, university officials told him about the general CIA connection; once there, Vietnamese officials informed him that his project staff included CIA officers. The revelation bothered him. He thought it inappropriate that he and other legitimate academic advisers were being used as cover for U.S. government manipulation. Sheinbaum left Vietnam feeling that his work and his program had been compromised. Upon his return to the United States, he was further entangled when he was called upon to meet with four top South Vietnamese officials in San Francisco. "Within an hour of their arrival," Sheinbaum later recalled, "the youngest, a nephew of Ngo Dinh Diem, conspiratorially drew me aside and informed me that one of the others was going to kill the eldest of the group." While taking steps to thwart the plot, Sheinbaum realized that his original goal, the economic improvement of impoverished nations, was getting lost in his administrative work as coordinator. His growing dismay--at what he later called the "unhealthy" CIA component and "the general U.S. policy ... in Vietnam"--led him to resign from the project in 1959.
By this stage, however, Sheinbaum had information that was confidential. Following the buildup of U.S. troops in Vietnam and the assassination of Diem, Sheinbaum decided it was his patriotic duty to publicize information that he hoped might put the brakes on U.S. involvement. Writing about the connections between Michigan State University, the CIA, and the Saigon police (with the help of Robert Scheer, a young investigative reporter), the Sheinbaum story was to appear in the June 1966 issue of Ramparts magazine. The article disclosed that Michigan State University had been secretly used by the CIA to train Saigon police and to keep an inventory of ammunition for grenade launchers, Browning automatic rifles, and .50 caliber machine guns, as well as to write the South Vietnamese constitution. The problem, in Sheinbaum's view, was that such secret funding of academics to execute government programs undercut scholarly integrity. When scholars are forced into a conflict of interest, he wrote, "where is the source of serious intellectual criticism that would help us avoid future Vietnams?"
Word of Sheinbaum's forthcoming article caused consternation on the seventh floor of CIA headquarters. On April 18, 1966, Director of Central Intelligence William F. Raborn Jr. notified his director of security that he wanted a "run down" on Ramparts magazine on a "high priority basis." This strongly worded order would prove to be a turning point for the Agency. To "run down" a domestic news publication because it had exposed questionable practices of the CIA was clearly in violation of the 1947 National Security Act's prohibition on domestic operations and meant the CIA eventually would have to engage in a cover-up. The CIA director of security, Howard J. Osborn, was also told: "The Director [Reborn] is particularly interested in the authors of the article, namely, Stanley Sheinbaum and Robert Scheer. He is also interested in any other individuals who worked for the magazine."
Osborn's deputies had just two days to prepare a special briefing on Ramparts for the director. By searching existing CIA files they were able to assemble dossiers on approximately twenty-two of the fifty-five Ramparts writers and editors, which itself indicates the Agency's penchant for collecting information on American critics of government policies. Osborn was able to tell Raborn that Ramparts had grown from a Catholic lay journal into a publication with a staff of more than fifty people in New York, Paris, and Munich, including two active members of the U.S. Communist Party. The most outspoken of the CIA critics at the magazine was not a Communist but a former Green Beret veteran, Donald Duncan. Duncan had written, according to then CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms, "We will continue to be in danger as long as the CIA is deciding policy and manipulating nations." Of immediate concern to Raborn, however, was Osborn's finding that Sheinbaum was in the process of exposing more CIA domestic organizations. The investigation of Ramparts was to be intensified, Raborn told Osborn.
CONTINUES…
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/secrets-the-cias-war-at-home_angus-mackenzie/668061/#edition=2292399&idiq=634858
Capitalism’s Invisible Army wasn’t supposed to do any of that, yet Mr. Dulles found it A-OK. Today we live in the wealthiest times in human history. Per David Stockman, the time where 7/8 of all wealth ever. And yet there’s a catch. We are in Year 41 of Trickle Down Econ 666 where almost all the gold is in the pockets of the very few. And money still trumps peace or people or planet.
November 22, 2022
Around that time, CIA Director Allen Dulles evidently offered the French US nuclear weapons.
When he was President, JFK did all he could to preserve the peace. While he sent “volunteer advisors” to Indochina, he kept regular US armed forces (draftees) out of Vietnam.
JFK Had Ordered Full Withdrawal from Vietnam: Solid Evidence
JAMES K. GALBRAITH
WhoWhatWhy.org, 09/26/17
EXCERPT…
Evidence of JFK’s Decision to Withdraw from Vietnam
The evidence is massive and categorical. It includes:
* Robert McNamara’s instructions to the May 1963 SecDef Conference in Honolulu to develop the withdrawal plan.
* A detailed account of the McNamara-Taylor mission to Vietnam that returned with the withdrawal plan, drafted in their absence in the Pentagon by a team under Kennedy’s direct control.
* An audiotape of the discussion at the White House that led to the approval of NSAM 263 (National Security Action Memorandum), which implemented the plan; this audio was released by the Assassination Records Review Board at my request.
* The precise instructions for withdrawal delivered by Maxwell Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to his fellow Chiefs on October 4, 1963, in a memorandum that remained classified until 1997.
Taylor wrote:
False Narratives
Why do so few Americans know that President Kennedy, a few weeks before his assassination, had decided to get the US military out, and avert what would later become the “quagmire” of a full-scale American war in Vietnam?
Because for three decades following these events, many historians adopted a false narrative which assumed an absolute continuity in policy between Kennedy and Johnson. By no coincidence, this was the line of the government at the time.
But a small minority of historians — beginning with Peter Dale Scott in 1972, followed by John Newman in his 1992 book JFK and Vietnam — were able to tease out the truth from the record. Their work was supported by a key witness, Robert McNamara, in his 1995 memoir In Retrospect.
The historian Fredrik Logevall has provided a chapter to the companion volume for The Vietnam War. [The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward, Burn’s collaborator.] Logevall does not acknowledge the withdrawal plan, although he gives the following personal view:
This is an improvement over the long-standing official story, but still misleading. Logevall states that “withdrawal theorists” have made their judgments “hastily,” with “evident reluctance,” based on “scant hints” in the documentary record.
In fact the record is rich and decisive. The issue has been debated many times. I would refer readers seeking a full account to the second edition of Newman’s JFK and Vietnam, which appeared in 2017 after a hiatus of 25 years following suppression by the publisher of the original book.
CONTINUES…
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/jfk-ordered-full-withdrawal-vietnam-solid-evidence/
Galbraith’s father was the great economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who also served as Ambassador to India.
Papers reveal JFK efforts on Vietnam
John F. Kennedy, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Jawaharlal Nehru
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | June 6, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Newly uncovered documents from both American and Polish archives show that President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Union secretly sought ways to find a diplomatic settlement to the war in Vietnam, starting three years before the United States sent combat troops.
Kennedy, relying on his ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, planned to reach out to the North Vietnamese in April 1962 through a senior Indian diplomat, according to a secret State Department cable that was never dispatched.
Back-channel discussions also were attempted in January 1963, this time through the Polish government, which relayed the overture to Soviet leaders. New Polish records indicate Moscow was much more open than previously thought to using its influence with North Vietnam to cool a Cold War flash point.
The attempts to use India and Poland as go-betweens ultimately fizzled, partly because of North Vietnamese resistance and partly because Kennedy faced pressure from advisers to expand American military involvement, according to the documents and interviews with scholars. Both India and Poland were members of the International Control Commission that monitored the 1954 agreement that divided North and South Vietnam.
The documents are seen by former Kennedy aides as new evidence of his true intentions in Vietnam. The question of whether Kennedy would have escalated the war or sought some diplomatic exit has been heatedly debated by historians and officials who served under both Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson.
CONTINUES…
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/06/papers_reveal_jfk_efforts_on_vietnam/?page=1
Ours would be a very different world today had President Kennedy completed his term in office. That thought was anathema to those who gain power and make money off war.
In 1963, JFK ordered a complete withdrawal from Vietnam.
President Kennedy visited Vietnam as a US Representative in 1951.
Later, as a US Senator, Kennedy publicly opposed the Eisenhower Administration’s continuing efforts to support the French in an unwinnable colonial war of liberation.
Hear JFK express his position on Vietnam in 1954:
Around that time, CIA Director Allen Dulles evidently offered the French US nuclear weapons.
When he was President, JFK did all he could to preserve the peace. While he sent “volunteer advisors” to Indochina, he kept regular US armed forces (draftees) out of Vietnam.
JFK Had Ordered Full Withdrawal from Vietnam: Solid Evidence
JAMES K. GALBRAITH
WhoWhatWhy.org, 09/26/17
EXCERPT…
Evidence of JFK’s Decision to Withdraw from Vietnam
The evidence is massive and categorical. It includes:
* Robert McNamara’s instructions to the May 1963 SecDef Conference in Honolulu to develop the withdrawal plan.
* A detailed account of the McNamara-Taylor mission to Vietnam that returned with the withdrawal plan, drafted in their absence in the Pentagon by a team under Kennedy’s direct control.
* An audiotape of the discussion at the White House that led to the approval of NSAM 263 (National Security Action Memorandum), which implemented the plan; this audio was released by the Assassination Records Review Board at my request.
* The precise instructions for withdrawal delivered by Maxwell Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to his fellow Chiefs on October 4, 1963, in a memorandum that remained classified until 1997.
Taylor wrote:
“On 2 October the President approved recommendations on military matters contained in the report of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The following actions derived from these recommendations are directed: … all planning will be directed toward preparing RVN forces for the withdrawal of all US special assistance units and personnel by the end of calendar year 1965. The US Comprehensive Plan, Vietnam, will be revised to bring it into consonance with these objectives, and to reduce planned residual (post-1965) MAAG strengths to approximately pre-insurgency levels… Execute the plan to withdraw 1,000 US military personnel by the end of 1963…”
False Narratives
Why do so few Americans know that President Kennedy, a few weeks before his assassination, had decided to get the US military out, and avert what would later become the “quagmire” of a full-scale American war in Vietnam?
Because for three decades following these events, many historians adopted a false narrative which assumed an absolute continuity in policy between Kennedy and Johnson. By no coincidence, this was the line of the government at the time.
But a small minority of historians — beginning with Peter Dale Scott in 1972, followed by John Newman in his 1992 book JFK and Vietnam — were able to tease out the truth from the record. Their work was supported by a key witness, Robert McNamara, in his 1995 memoir In Retrospect.
The historian Fredrik Logevall has provided a chapter to the companion volume for The Vietnam War. [The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward, Burn’s collaborator.] Logevall does not acknowledge the withdrawal plan, although he gives the following personal view:
“…the better argument is that JFK most likely would not have Americanized the war, but instead would have opted for some form of disengagement, presumably by way of a face-saving negotiated settlement.”
This is an improvement over the long-standing official story, but still misleading. Logevall states that “withdrawal theorists” have made their judgments “hastily,” with “evident reluctance,” based on “scant hints” in the documentary record.
In fact the record is rich and decisive. The issue has been debated many times. I would refer readers seeking a full account to the second edition of Newman’s JFK and Vietnam, which appeared in 2017 after a hiatus of 25 years following suppression by the publisher of the original book.
CONTINUES…
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/jfk-ordered-full-withdrawal-vietnam-solid-evidence/
Galbraith’s father was the great economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who also served as Ambassador to India.
Papers reveal JFK efforts on Vietnam
John F. Kennedy, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Jawaharlal Nehru
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | June 6, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Newly uncovered documents from both American and Polish archives show that President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Union secretly sought ways to find a diplomatic settlement to the war in Vietnam, starting three years before the United States sent combat troops.
Kennedy, relying on his ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, planned to reach out to the North Vietnamese in April 1962 through a senior Indian diplomat, according to a secret State Department cable that was never dispatched.
Back-channel discussions also were attempted in January 1963, this time through the Polish government, which relayed the overture to Soviet leaders. New Polish records indicate Moscow was much more open than previously thought to using its influence with North Vietnam to cool a Cold War flash point.
The attempts to use India and Poland as go-betweens ultimately fizzled, partly because of North Vietnamese resistance and partly because Kennedy faced pressure from advisers to expand American military involvement, according to the documents and interviews with scholars. Both India and Poland were members of the International Control Commission that monitored the 1954 agreement that divided North and South Vietnam.
The documents are seen by former Kennedy aides as new evidence of his true intentions in Vietnam. The question of whether Kennedy would have escalated the war or sought some diplomatic exit has been heatedly debated by historians and officials who served under both Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson.
CONTINUES…
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/06/papers_reveal_jfk_efforts_on_vietnam/?page=1
Ours would be a very different world today had President Kennedy completed his term in office. That thought was anathema to those who gain power and make money off war.
November 19, 2022
Wearing mask or hood, they are cowards.
This slug started the obviously incel org:
More pics of some seriously tiny pricks:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11440073/Neo-Nazis-pound-windows-lunge-passerby-performing-salute-outside-Harvard-book-fair.html
November 19, 2022
Here’s what political reporters care about, and it’s not you
By Dan Froomkin
Press watchers.org - November 17, 2022
It’s a mystery to a lot of folks how political reporters who seem so smart and accomplished consistently get the big things wrong.
The reason is that political reporters are human beings. Human beings respond to incentives. And in the case of the elite Washington press corps, those incentives are skewed.
These reporters respond to four core constituencies: Their editors, their sources, their peers, and right-wing trolls.
SNIP…
Your Editors
You will never get scolded by your editors for talking trash about Democrats. That proves your independence. By contrast, if you express an even slightly negative common-sense view about the Republican Party, that is liberal editorializing that sets off alarms throughout the newsroom’s glass offices. You get rewarded for scoops – incremental tidbits of no lasting significance – not edification. Your safest place is always in the middle, pointing fingers at both sides. You are rewarded for unflappability, and looking like you care too much about something is the quickest way to lose your job.
Your Sources
If your sources don’t return your calls, your editors will find someone else to do your job. Democrats will never cut you off, no matter what you write. Democratic operatives will even admire how you play the game. Republicans will cut you off if they conclude you’re biased against them. As long as you don’t stray from the conventional wisdom, you’ll be OK.
CONTINUES…
https://presswatchers.org/2022/11/heres-what-political-reporters-care-about-and-its-not-you/
Here's what political reporters care about, and it's not you
Here’s what political reporters care about, and it’s not you
By Dan Froomkin
Press watchers.org - November 17, 2022
It’s a mystery to a lot of folks how political reporters who seem so smart and accomplished consistently get the big things wrong.
The reason is that political reporters are human beings. Human beings respond to incentives. And in the case of the elite Washington press corps, those incentives are skewed.
These reporters respond to four core constituencies: Their editors, their sources, their peers, and right-wing trolls.
SNIP…
Your Editors
You will never get scolded by your editors for talking trash about Democrats. That proves your independence. By contrast, if you express an even slightly negative common-sense view about the Republican Party, that is liberal editorializing that sets off alarms throughout the newsroom’s glass offices. You get rewarded for scoops – incremental tidbits of no lasting significance – not edification. Your safest place is always in the middle, pointing fingers at both sides. You are rewarded for unflappability, and looking like you care too much about something is the quickest way to lose your job.
Your Sources
If your sources don’t return your calls, your editors will find someone else to do your job. Democrats will never cut you off, no matter what you write. Democratic operatives will even admire how you play the game. Republicans will cut you off if they conclude you’re biased against them. As long as you don’t stray from the conventional wisdom, you’ll be OK.
CONTINUES…
https://presswatchers.org/2022/11/heres-what-political-reporters-care-about-and-its-not-you/
November 18, 2022
Were it up to me...
…Justice would be administered Red Army fast like a deserter from the front lines at Stalingrad.
Unfortunately, Trump’s criminality is so vast and varied it impacts President Biden and what he is working to do in terms of uniting the country.
Special Counsel led by a master blaster might be able to deliver the knockout blow needed to rid the body politick of the Putin’s favorite lunatic.
November 18, 2022
Trump's Toast
The guy quit his job prosecuting war criminals at The Hague to look into Traitor Dip.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137736663/special-counsel-trump-justice-department-jan-6-mar-a-lago
November 17, 2022
"But Yossarian still didn't understand either how Milo could buy eggs in Malta for seven cents apiece and sell them at a profit in Pianosa for five cents."
... later ...
"Milo chortled proudly. "I don't buy eggs from Malta," he confessed... "I buy them in Sicily at one cent apiece and transfer them to Malta secretly at four and a half cents apiece in order to get the price of eggs up to seven cents when people come to Malta looking for them."
"Then you do make a profit for yourself," Yossarian declared.
"Of course I do. But it all goes to the syndicate. And everybody has a share. Don't you understand? It's exactly what happens with those plum tomatoes I sell to Colonel Cathcart."
"Buy," Yossarian corrected him. "You don't sell plum tomatoes to Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn. You buy plum tomatoes from them."
"No, sell," Milo corrected Yossarian. "I distribute my plum tomatoes in markets all over Pianosa under an assumed name so that Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn can buy them up from me under their assumed names at four cents apiece and sell them back to me the next day at five cents apiece. They make a profit of one cent apiece, I make a profit of three and a half cents apiece, and everybody comes out ahead."
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9314005
Like ENRON level complexity.
Reminded me of M&M Enterprises in Catch-22:
"But Yossarian still didn't understand either how Milo could buy eggs in Malta for seven cents apiece and sell them at a profit in Pianosa for five cents."
... later ...
"Milo chortled proudly. "I don't buy eggs from Malta," he confessed... "I buy them in Sicily at one cent apiece and transfer them to Malta secretly at four and a half cents apiece in order to get the price of eggs up to seven cents when people come to Malta looking for them."
"Then you do make a profit for yourself," Yossarian declared.
"Of course I do. But it all goes to the syndicate. And everybody has a share. Don't you understand? It's exactly what happens with those plum tomatoes I sell to Colonel Cathcart."
"Buy," Yossarian corrected him. "You don't sell plum tomatoes to Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn. You buy plum tomatoes from them."
"No, sell," Milo corrected Yossarian. "I distribute my plum tomatoes in markets all over Pianosa under an assumed name so that Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn can buy them up from me under their assumed names at four cents apiece and sell them back to me the next day at five cents apiece. They make a profit of one cent apiece, I make a profit of three and a half cents apiece, and everybody comes out ahead."
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9314005
November 12, 2022
By Sasi Priyadharshini
Business is my business, Quora
Milo Minderbinder, being the business savvy guy he is, uses the word syndicate to mask his capitalism. The entire business under the name of ‘M&M enterprises’ or the syndicate is solely run by one person- Milo Minderbinder. Yet he says that everyone has a share. This is because he wants to trick his consumers into believing that it is not him who benefits from the syndicate but the consumers themselves who receive the benefits. And he succeeds in his little trick. How?
Milo Minderbinder is a mere mess officer in the U.S. Air Force rooted in Pianosa, a small island in Italy, far away from the rest of the world. He flies to many different countries claiming that he's buying things for the mess hall (which is apparently a part of his syndicate). So naturally, all his travel expenses are the responsibility of the government. He establishes his business in every other place he has travelled to and everyone prefers to have deals with him. In no time, he becomes an international businessman. How?
This is where his cunning little tactics come into play. For instance, he buys eggs from Malta for 7 cents per egg and sells them to the mess hall for 5 cents per egg. Outwardly, this seems stupid. His business is at loss. But no, he earns a significant amount of profit. How?
Here is the answer. This egg business actually involves three places- Sicily, Malta and the mess hall in Pianosa. Sicily is a place where there are plenty of poultry farms and eggs are quite cheap. Milo buys eggs from Sicily at 1 cent apiece. Now Malta is a place where there are no poultry farms and there is quite a demand for eggs. Milo sells the eggs to the local traders in Malta for 4 and a half cents apiece. Then again, he offers to buy them back from the traders at 7 cents apiece, which they readily accept. The people in the mess hall know that he buys eggs from Malta at 7 cents apiece but they are unaware of his prior transactions. They are more than happy to buy the eggs at 5 cents apiece. In the end, Milo spends 1 cent in Sicily and 7 cents in Malta, totalling 8 cents. And he earns 4 and a half cents in Malta and 5 cents in the mess hall, totalling 9 and a half cents. The net profit he gets is one and a half cents for every egg he sells.
He uses similar tactics for his other businesses. And that's how his syndicate works.
Source: https://www.quora.com/How-does-Milo-Minderbinders-syndicate-work-in-Catch-22
Who do you think he was selling to?
How does Milo Minderbinder's syndicate work in Catch 22?By Sasi Priyadharshini
Business is my business, Quora
Milo Minderbinder, being the business savvy guy he is, uses the word syndicate to mask his capitalism. The entire business under the name of ‘M&M enterprises’ or the syndicate is solely run by one person- Milo Minderbinder. Yet he says that everyone has a share. This is because he wants to trick his consumers into believing that it is not him who benefits from the syndicate but the consumers themselves who receive the benefits. And he succeeds in his little trick. How?
Milo Minderbinder is a mere mess officer in the U.S. Air Force rooted in Pianosa, a small island in Italy, far away from the rest of the world. He flies to many different countries claiming that he's buying things for the mess hall (which is apparently a part of his syndicate). So naturally, all his travel expenses are the responsibility of the government. He establishes his business in every other place he has travelled to and everyone prefers to have deals with him. In no time, he becomes an international businessman. How?
This is where his cunning little tactics come into play. For instance, he buys eggs from Malta for 7 cents per egg and sells them to the mess hall for 5 cents per egg. Outwardly, this seems stupid. His business is at loss. But no, he earns a significant amount of profit. How?
Here is the answer. This egg business actually involves three places- Sicily, Malta and the mess hall in Pianosa. Sicily is a place where there are plenty of poultry farms and eggs are quite cheap. Milo buys eggs from Sicily at 1 cent apiece. Now Malta is a place where there are no poultry farms and there is quite a demand for eggs. Milo sells the eggs to the local traders in Malta for 4 and a half cents apiece. Then again, he offers to buy them back from the traders at 7 cents apiece, which they readily accept. The people in the mess hall know that he buys eggs from Malta at 7 cents apiece but they are unaware of his prior transactions. They are more than happy to buy the eggs at 5 cents apiece. In the end, Milo spends 1 cent in Sicily and 7 cents in Malta, totalling 8 cents. And he earns 4 and a half cents in Malta and 5 cents in the mess hall, totalling 9 and a half cents. The net profit he gets is one and a half cents for every egg he sells.
He uses similar tactics for his other businesses. And that's how his syndicate works.
Source: https://www.quora.com/How-does-Milo-Minderbinders-syndicate-work-in-Catch-22
November 7, 2022
Stolen Valor
Remember all the pukes who claimed to their constituents they were responsible for infrastructure etc they actually voted against?
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/12122-0
November 6, 2022
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/11/russia-revives-its-botnet-to-hit-swing-state-democrats/
Russia Revives Its Botnet to Hit Swing-State Democrats
The smile Trump made upon seeing the loan shark who holds his marker (November 11, 2018).
Russia Revives Its Botnet to Hit Swing-State Democrats
Old networks are lighting back up with MAGA propaganda in key races, say security pros.
by Madison Pauly
Mother Jones, Nov. 6, 2022
Russian trolls and bots are coming back online ahead of the midterms—this time, amplifying right-wing vitriol on Gab, Parler, Gettr, and other minor social media platforms serving far-right audiences. Cybersecurity researchers have identified the reactivation of inflammatory accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, a propaganda group associated with the Kremlin that has interfered in US elections since at least 2016, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
Some of the Russia-linked accounts are attempting to undermine Democrats in close races, posting a series of racist cartoons about Sen. Raphael Warnock, according to social network analysis company Graphika. Others are boosting Republicans in tight races, such as Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Tellingly, they’re posting a lot about the Russian war in Ukraine—arguing that President Joe Biden is wasting money on military aid to Ukraine to the detriment of “working class Americans.” And, as always, they lavish praise on former President Donald Trump.
Gab and other nontraditional platforms are much smaller than Facebook, where the 2016 Russian influence campaign reached millions of voters. But users of the far-right platforms are seen as more susceptible to incendiary political commentary. “You can engage the audiences in much more targeted influence ops because those who are on these platforms are generally U.S. conservatives who are maybe more accepting of conspiratorial claims,” said Brian Liston, a senior intelligence analyst with cybersecurity research firm Recorded Future.
It’s difficult to measure the impact these accounts will have on the election, the Times warns—just as it’s still unclear how much Russian influence truly swayed the outcome in 2016. But perhaps Russia has concluded it doesn’t need to work so hard to promote its interests among the US electorate, since Fox News host Tucker Carlson is already doing so for free. Earlier this year, David Corn reported on a leaked memo from a Kremlin agency to Russian media outlets:
“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.”
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/11/russia-revives-its-botnet-to-hit-swing-state-democrats/
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