[Federalist] Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress in June that he wanted to understand "white rage," why "thousands of people" tried "to assault this building and ... overturn the Constitution of the United States of America."
If Milley really wants to understand the "rage" of the American people he should start by asking why he and his fellow generals can’t win any wars. As a Marine Corps officer who served at the tail end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I saw firsthand the rapid ideological transformation pervading the military in the wake of these disasters in the Middle East.
Unable to win wars overseas, the military’s leaders went "woke." Currying ideological favor is easier than trying to end insurgencies. It is also necessary if military leaders want to keep the gravy train of taxpayer funding. Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy and his devastating critique of George Bush and Barack Obama in the run-up to the 2016 election put the military-industrial complex on high alert. Trump was pushing the American right-wing away from the expensive and unending foreign interventions the military-industrial complex needed in order to justify its existence.
For too long, America’s generals have relied on a "stab in the back" thesis to justify their failure on the battlefield. The narrative set in after Vietnam and has calcified today. Former national security adviser and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster tweeted on July 8 in regards to the sweeping march of the Taliban that the "US media is finally reporting on the transformation of Afghanistan after their disinterest and defeatism helped set conditions for capitulation and a humanitarian catastrophe."
McMaster’s attempt to deflect blame for military failure on an insufficiently obsequious media is unacceptable. He and his fellow generals knew full well that Afghanistan was unstable and that our strategy wasn’t working. Instead of speaking up, they lied to the public and then jumped into the private sector to reap the reward of misbegotten trust.
Milley and his fellow generals deserve, richly, to feel the full weight of the American people’s anger. For 20 years, these leaders lied consistently to the American people and their political masters about the wars in the Middle East. In December 2019, Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post published a devastating series of articles on America’s failure in Afghanistan. Using 600 "lessons learned" interviews with top military staff and diplomatic personnel collected by the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), Whitlock illustrated just how pervasive the gut rot in America’s military really was.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2021 07:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
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#1
You were never going to 'win' as long as the Taliban operated out of Pakistan. If you were not going to make Pakistan a parking lot there was no 'win'. Remember where OBL was found and killed. [which like when the 'Wall' came down was the proper signal to pull the hell out of the place]
#3
Jan 30, 2021 — SIGAR issued five financial-audit reports of U.S.-funded projects to rebuild. Afghanistan that identified $26,993,829 in questioned costs... A drop in the bucket.
#5
It's easy to lie to people if you keep them too busy with frivolous issues to imbibe the lessons of history and possess a fair knowledge of the world.
#6
#1 FTW. Also, trying to make 21st century democrats out of a 7th century civilization is a bridge too far.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2021 11:49 Comments ||
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#7
Trying to make 21st century democrats out of Democrats is light-years out of reach too.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2021 11:55 Comments ||
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#8
It's easy to lie to people when all you have time to pay attention to is your own individual career, rivals and maybe the occasional female biographer.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2021 12:01 Comments ||
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#10
To me the emblem of our later years in Afghanistan was COP Keating, which was the subject of the movie "The Outpost" and a couple of books ("Red Platoon", etc.) There was high ground and low ground. We built the outpost on the low ground so we could help the Afghan villagers (half of whom were Taliban and the other half grifters.) But giving up the high ground was militarily nuts, and the Taliban eventually used the high ground to launch an attack that came within a hair of wiping out the outpost, and failed only because of the extreme heroism of individual American soldiers and US airpower.
If we had to be in that part of Afghanistan for some reason I can't see, an alternative strategy would have been to occupy the high ground and build a pyramid of skulls on the low ground. The locals would have understood that.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/07/2021 12:16 Comments ||
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#11
And we never went north of the DMZ except with airstrikes
#12
Benito Mussolini said that when given a choice between competent and incompetent generals he always chose the incompetent one. he said the incompetent general would know he was incompetent and be dependent on Mussolini for support.
Bill Clinton was the first U.S. president who used that same strategy. He is reported as having said he chose Gen. Shalikashvili for chairman JCS precisely because he was incompetent and would be more pliable as a result.
Obama and Biden have done the same thing. There is an article about the number of generals and admirals force to resign by Obama (usually for sexual misconduct). The number of Admirals is truly astounding.
[Western Journal] Microsoft Corporation co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates says he was not looking for love in all the wrong places when he hung out with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Only money.
"It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there," Gates said during an interview with CNN on Wednesday, when the subject of their palling around was broached.
Gates told CNN host Anderson Cooper that connecting with Epstein, who was facing accusations of sex trafficking when he died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019, was a high-minded attempt to secure funding for his health care projects.
"I had several dinners with him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge," Gates said.
#3
So in the end it was ‘for the children’. Oh wait. That did not sound good.
The fact that even Bill’s wife bailed on him should be a big sign that Bill should just go off grid and out of sight; his money can keep him out of jail but not away from public scorn.
#4
Gates trying to clean up the image a bit? Anderson Cooper most likely says: "Might as well close the books on that issue; that's good enough for me."
What do some of the others say who were involved in this say?
[American Thinker] On July 29, District Court Judge Peter Cahill, the presiding judge in the trials of the four Minneapolis police officers indicted for the death of George Floyd, ordered the release of an exhibit memorandum that reveals a miscarriage of justice and criminal coercion of a witness.
Dr. Roger Mitchell, the former deputy mayor and medical examiner of the District of Columbia and now the Chief of Pathology at Howard University Medical School, a traditional Black medical school, boldly intimidated and coerced Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker into changing critical conclusory language in his autopsy report on the death of George Floyd.
The exhibit is a written summary of Mitchell’s commentary and some admissions of coercion that he volunteered to Minnesota Attorney General Office prosecutors in November 2020. Mitchell’s perfidious conduct is discussed in this excellent article by Jack Cashill.
Dr. Andrew Baker, an experienced and well-regarded Chief Medical Examiner for Hennepin County, conducted an autopsy on Mr. Floyd on May 26, 2020, the day after his death, and reported later that day, "The autopsy revealed no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation or that excessive force was used in the restraint performed by the officers led by Officer Chauvin.
Three days later, on Friday, May 29, prosecutors elaborated on the cause of death in posting their initial complaint against Derek Chauvin. According to the complaint, "The full report of the [medical examiner] is pending but the [medical examiner] has made the following preliminary findings. The autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation."
The autopsy did show, however, that Floyd had severe heart disease, coronary artery disease, and an enlarged heart from high blood pressure. These conditions put Mr. Floyd at risk for sudden death from cardiac arrhythmia -- an abnormal ineffective lethal heartbeat.
[STRATFOR] Editor's Note: This security-focused assessment is one of many such analyses found at Stratfor Threat Lens, a unique protective intelligence product designed with corporate security leaders in mind. Threat Lens enables industry professionals and organizations to anticipate, identify, measure and mitigate emerging threats to people, assets, and intellectual property the world over. Threat Lens is the only unified solution that analyzes and forecasts security risk from a holistic perspective, bringing all the most relevant global insights into a single, interactive threat dashboard.
Since 2006, Stratfor has produced a cartel report that examines the forces driving the complicated cartel landscape in Mexico. Beginning with the fragmentation of powerful, time-tested cartels, this task has become increasingly intricate as the number of violent groups in the country continues to rise. The list of all drug trafficking organizations in Mexico is long, so we will highlight the most important groups and evaluate the ways in which they will impact Mexico over the next 18 months in our 2021 annual cartel report, which will be broken up into two parts this year; Threat Lens clients will have access to part two.
LARGELY STATIC CARTEL DRIVERS, FROM 2020 TO 2021 AND BEYOND
Despite pandemic-related changes in the last 18 months — which include U.S. border closures, travel restrictions, lockdowns and curfews — the strategic forces behind cartel violence in Mexico have changed very little since 2020: larger groups continued to fuel local conflicts by controlling trafficking routes and territory through cooperation with local gangs, and in many cases using COVID-19 lockdowns to assert territorial control. Important drivers of violence and insecurity in Mexico in the next 18 months will be cartel revenue streams, political relationships, the U.S.-Mexico security relationship, cartel technological and military capabilities, and cartel rivalries. Criminal groups also will continue to experience fragmentation and infighting that leads to sporadic upticks in violence, such as the events in Reynosa on June 19, when civilians were killed as a result of Gulf Cartel infighting. Other notable cartel-driven risks for the coming 18 months include:
Volatility along the U.S.-Mexico border — vital turf for cartel activities including drug- and migrant-smuggling — which could lead to sporadic shutdowns and delays at ports of entry and border crossings.
An increased threat of indiscriminate violence in important areas where cartels are vying for control, such as the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Queretaro and Zacatecas.
Ongoing extortion and theft threat to businesses that focus on natural resource extraction — such as oil, mining and timber — given the lucrative nature of these businesses.
For all the pandemic-related restrictions on movement, cartel-related violence remained very high by historic measures, with the number of homicides declining only 0.4% from 2019's record high of 34,648 homicides. Despite significant investments in various security measures, since 2018 Mexico's homicides effectively plateaued at their highest level, further underscoring the cartels' sustained influence nationwide. The two largest cartels remain Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Confrontations between them — and between them and a variety of local militias, smaller cartels and Mexico's security forces — drive ongoing violence and broader insecurity. While the CJNG and Sinaloa attract the most attention, smaller groups play important roles in localized conflicts, such as how Sinaloa-aligned Carteles Unidos combats CJNG advances in the state of Michoacan. While smaller groups like Knights Templar, La Familia Michoacana, Los Viagras, Los Rojos and the Juarez Cartel do not have the kind of national presence of some of their rivals, they serve as important proxies for larger, national-level criminal organizations and perennial sources of local violence and insecurity in their areas of operation.
DEMAND FOR DRUGS AND CARTEL REVENUE STREAMS
As we have highlighted since the 2018 report, fentanyl continues to play a large role in drug trafficking, something evident in the 70% increase in border seizures of synthetic stimulants from October 2019 to September 2020. This is despite consumer lifestyle changes brought on by the pandemic that saw a slight turn away from stimulants, and toward drugs like marijuana and fentanyl due to nightlife closures. It is expected that as restrictions on bars and clubs are lifted and inoculation rates go up, so will demand for stimulants like cocaine and meth. In 2020, drug overdose deaths in the United States hit a record high, up 29% from the previous year. Of these overdose deaths, 60% were due to synthetic opioids, specifically fentanyl, suggesting that cartels are continuing to expand their synthetic opioid lab operations in Mexico. The rise in fentanyl's popularity can be attributed to its potency for consumers and profitability for cartels. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, meaning that the user's high is much more intense. We estimate that cartels made approximately $14 billion on fentanyl sales in 2019. Based on profitability alone, the move toward fentanyl makes sense. Cartels find the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, easier compared to much bulkier, lower value cannabis.
While drug trafficking continues to be the main source of revenue for — and conflict among — Mexican cartels, other revenue streams also offer lucrative profits and can often lead to violent disputes. As illegal migration increases from Mexico and Central America to the United States, human smuggling, which depending on the country of origin can cost anywhere from $1,300 to $10,000 per person, has become an increasingly important cartel activity. Cartels have exploited this practice to supplement revenue from drug trafficking and assert dominance along the U.S.-Mexico border. Other criminal economies frequently exploited by Mexico's cartels include illegal mining — which is estimated to consume 10% of the country's total mining activities — and oil theft, which is estimated to have hit a total of $3 billion in losses for Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned petroleum company. While drug trafficking remains important in rural areas, these particular criminal activities often increase violence, especially in smaller towns where the local economy is limited to natural resource extraction. The central Guanajuato town of Celaya had the highest per capita homicide rate in the country in 2020: 109 per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to a national rate of 13 per 100,000) due to fighting between the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and the CJNG over fuel theft and the control of the sale of methamphetamines.
POLITICS
Cartels have long exploited the Mexican political system to gain access to protection from elected officials, increase their staying power and derive a host of other benefits that come from political connections and leverage. The Sinaloa Cartel, in particular, has historically proved adept at maintaining strategic relationships with government officials, allowing the cartel's members to avoid clashes with security forces and generally forestall serious government scrutiny. Reflecting the importance cartels attach to political influence and driven by legislative elections in June for the lower house of the Mexican Congress, cartel violence against political candidates in 2021 increased to its second-highest point since the 2000 elections. Given the importance of establishing subnational control of a given state — such as Guerrero, where political violence has especially spiked — cartels are likely to target traditionally less politically prominent municipalities where they can operate more freely without a significant state security presence. Increased violence targeting politicians in order to install cartel-backed candidates will improve criminal groups' abilities to operate behind the scenes and manipulate political forces to sustain their criminal activity. Following the recent electoral success of cartel-backed candidates in states such as Guerrero, it is likely that increased violence in and around elections will be regularized moving forward, particularly if it is shown to bring tangible benefits.
While cartels benefit from political relationships, they still face routine pressure from Mexican security forces at all levels of government. In the past, this pressure has been bolstered by a strong working relationship between Mexican security forces and U.S. authorities sharing intelligence useful for targeting cartels. Following the U.S. arrest of two high-level Mexican officials in 2020 on allegations of assisting cartels, however, the relationship between Mexican security forces and U.S. counterparts has suffered. The decrease in bilateral engagement in the last year has created an intelligence gap within Mexico's security services that could usher in increased cartel activity throughout the country.
TECHNOLOGICAL AND MILITARY CAPABILITIES
While cartel technology has not changed significantly in the last 18 months, the increasingly militaristic capabilities of Mexico's cartels are of particular importance in analyzing and helping to explain growing violence. Los Zetas was the first criminal group in Mexico to have direct links to past U.S. military training, as members of the group were former members of Mexico's security apparatus. Since then, this trend has continued to spread throughout Mexico's cartels and has helped to catalyze the paramilitary nature of groups like the CJNG. Aside from providing obvious boosts to cartels' violent capabilities, such militarism can provide propaganda to intimidate rivals, security forces and local citizens. For instance, in a propaganda video released by CJNG in July 2020, group members dressed in tactical uniforms with flak jackets labeled "CJNG," holding automatic rifles and driving armored trucks with mounted weapons that have come to be known as "monsters."
As they have expanded their paramilitary capabilities, cartels have continued to make advances in their use of weaponized drones to target enemies, as seen in an April 2021 incident in the Michoacan town of El Aguaje, where CJNG targeted state police with drone-dropped bombs. While such weapons have not yet shown themselves to be especially lethal, they add yet another threat vector for already out-gunned law enforcement officers when responding to cartel-related activity. Even if not tactical game-changers, cartels' further use of drones could be psychologically effective and deter future law enforcement responses in ways that amplify cartels' sense of impunity. As perceptions that being armed like rogue militaries brings comparative benefits, it is likely that a growing array of violent groups beyond the largest cartels will begin to mimic such trends, which will increase the likelihood and lethality of violence amid a potential arms race among violent groups.
Boris Rozhin, a Russian military journalist catches CNN in a Big lie:
[ColonelCassad] Exposing a fake from CNN about a concentration camp for political prisoners in Belarus.
As it turned out, CNN identified a missile and artillery arsenal for the concentration camp.
On the other hand, if there were no "political prisoners" there, this does not mean that they were not there! All the prisoners had already been taken out into the forest in cars with the sign "Bread" in a day, they were shot and dug in there.
Until all archives are open, we are entitled to any assumptions!
But seriously, just think about who they think of those for whom such wonderful "investigations" are designed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In July and August 1904 in St. Petersburg, with tension and hope, they awaited news of the victories in Manchuria. They all didn’t. True, certain successes were achieved by the sailors. They managed to really influence the course of the war and delay the fall of Port Arthur for a while. The threat created by the raids of a group of Vladivostok cruisers was noticeable.
The Japanese command decided to start the practice of escorting army cargo from the metropolis to the continent. The Japanese failed to fully ensure the safety of maritime transport.
[News With Views] The primary method by which governments increase their control is by creating fear. —Charles Eisenstein, Author
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear. —Bertrand Russell
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. —H. L. Mencken
The people need wholesome fear. They want to fear something. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive. —Adolph Hitler, 1933
Sadly, after years upon years of conditioning, most people don’t use critical thinking (logic is not taught in government schools) and instead let others think for them. This became all too obvious with the propaganda of fear proliferated by worldwide establishment hierarchies.
In 2020, America became a country of sheep, donning the useless face diapers, even while alone in their vehicles or outside on warm sunny days. Fauci’s fear propaganda was successful. In 2021, Americans allowed themselves to become lab rats for an unlicensed and dangerous injection that is not a "vaccine," but an unapproved experimental toxic genetic agent containing squalene. Dr. Lee Merritt says this is the same ingredient in one of the "vaccines" given to Gulf War vets allegedly to prevent Anthrax poisoning, where there was no time for oversight or independent review, and instead caused Gulf War syndrome. In animal testing for the messenger RNA Covid injections, the ferrets, cats, and monkeys all died when a new virus was introduced.
#2
The Marxists knew what they were going to provoke and set the stage for the sheep to accept the coming suppression as an act justified by the insurrection that never was. A long history in Russia, China, Cuba and a host of 3rd world Shi*holes has taught them how to anticipate counter-revolutionary actions and how to suppress then early on. Absent an honest media and given a cowed public, they must be delirious with their success....just imagine the conversations over a nice joint at the Obama picnic this weekend.
#3
The Gateway Pundit is reporting the birthday bash is on again. "Let Them Eat Cake: Obama Lied – Massive Party Tents Set Up on Martha Vineyard Compound in Advance of Lavish B-Day Bash on Saturday."
[Trending Politics] According to a new report, Jill Biden’s office is not all that it seems. The First Lady spends a lot of time trying to convince the American people that she is an innocent and lovely lady however a new report says otherwise.
Advisor to Jill Biden, Anthony Bernal, is known as the most powerful person in Jill Biden’s office according to a recent Vogue puff piece and is also seen as a tyrant.
"[T]he way he has wielded that power has made Bernal one of the most polarizing people in the White House, according to interviews with more than two dozen White House staffers, former campaign aides, and people who worked with him during the Obama administration," Politico reported.
Bernal is in "pursuit of perfection" for Jill Biden which has led to abuse within the First Lady’s office which many compare to the movie "The Devil Wears Prada."
"Many described him as ’berating’ and ’toxic’ because of his unfiltered criticism of others and tendency to trash talk his colleagues behind their backs," the report alleged. "Some compare him to [Meryl Streep’s] character in ’Devil Wears Prada’ while another equated him to the ever-conspiring Littlefinger in ’Game of Thrones.’"
What type of First Lady would hire someone who is so abusive to their staff?
The bombshell report claimed that Bernal’s abuse have been "surreptitiously" recorded during meetings:
"...which, of course, should surprise absolutely NO ONE WHO WAS PAYING ATTENTION...."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/07/2021 6:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Many described him as ’berating’ and ’toxic’ because of his unfiltered criticism of others and tendency to trash talk his colleagues behind their backs,"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2021 9:54 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The reason masks 🎭 are "needed" @1600.
Consider this Beautification: A Legacy of Lady Bird Johnson
Posted by: Otto Splat9143 ||
08/07/2021 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Interesting (euphemistically speaking) how these types of stories involve nearly exclusively all Democrat women (Hillary!, Moochelle, Sen. Klobuchar, Kameltoe and now the esteemed 'Dr.' Biden, just off the top of my head).
[NYPost] President Joe Biden’s insistence on resuming Team Obama’s disastrous 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran has truly entered the world of the absurd: Even as Biden officials entertain talks with Tehran, they’ve also been coordinating with the United Kingdom, Romania and Israel to launch a retaliatory response following what is believed to be an Iranian-backed strike on a ship last week that left two dead.
Iran and its proxies have attacked ships and other targets for years, yet the hit on the Israel-managed petroleum tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman July 30 was the first recent maritime attack to entail fatalities, that of a Brit and a Romanian.
"Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments inside the region and beyond on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming."
And if you think Iran might suddenly become a reasonable, good-faith negotiating partner now that a new president took office Thursday, recall that its new leader, Ebrahim Raisi, is a hardline devotee to the Islamic Revolution — with oceans of blood on his hands.
Good luck trying to make a meaningful deal with a regime like this. Indeed, Iran has reportedly made a new demand: that the United States guarantee it’ll never walk away from the pact, as President Donald Trump wisely did with the last one.
"They once violated the nuclear deal at no cost by exiting it," warned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who actually holds all the power. "Now they explicitly say that they cannot give guarantees that it would not happen again."
Never mind that the old deal paved the way for Iran to get nukes in a matter of years. And did nothing about its terrorism or belligerence throughout the region. Never mind Iran’s breaches of the deal, such as stockpiling enriched uranium at its underground plant at Natanz.
Here’s a better idea than for Team Biden to continue to deal with terrorist thugs who can’t be trusted: Don’t negotiate at all, but simply dictate the terms for the removal of sanctions and leave it to Iran to comply.
If Iran can’t first prove that it will forswear nuclear weapons for good, it doesn’t deserve any of the benefits a Biden deal will bestow.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2021 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
As a wise and shriveled woman once said, "At this point, what does it matter?" The Israelis are eventually going to blow up the reactor and processing plants because they have their actual skins in the game, unlike Sleepy Joe and the EU.
Scenario:
The West makes deals, the Iranians continue to cheat.
Iran & proxies continue their mischief.
The IDF expresses their discontent in the strongest of terms.
The EU denounces warmongering Juices as the Persians sort through the rubble.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
#2
As with North Korea 'negotiations', there's a lot of money and power to be made continuing the dance as long as they can. What's a little innocent blood - small price to have someone else pay.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Western Journal] Microsoft Corporation co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates says he was not looking for love in all the wrong places when he hung out with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
[American Thinker] On July 29, District Court Judge Peter Cahill, the presiding judge in the trials of the four Minneapolis police officers indicted for the death of George Floyd, ordered the release of an exhibit memorandum that reveals a miscarriage of justice and criminal coercion of a witness.
[News With Views] The primary method by which governments increase their control is by creating fear. —Charles Eisenstein, Author
