Americans have been lied to many, many times. The cost of those lives in blood, treasure, social, cultural, and spiritual upheaval is not easy to quantify. That said, a reasonable case can be made that hundreds of thousands of lives of American lives have been lost in the 20th and 21st centuries that may have been avoided if American political leaders had behaved differently with respect to corporate and financial interests. More on those concerns will follow this commentary from Pat Buchanan. Buchanan is a best-selling author, an insightful historian, a prior U.S. presidential speech writer and candidate. The following facts, analysis and commentary are courtesy of the WND NewsCenter and is used with permission.

DAY OF INFAMY 2001

20 years after 9/11 – are we better off?

Pat Buchanan: America’s adversaries seem stronger and more united

By Patrick J. Buchanan Published September 9, 2021 at 7:22pm

When the hijacked planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that first 9/11, the Taliban were in control of Afghanistan and providing sanctuary to al-Qaida.

Today, the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan and providing sanctuary to al-Qaida. What then did our longest war accomplish?

The Afghan army and government we stood up and sustained for decades has collapsed. The U.S. military has withdrawn. U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghans who fought alongside us have been left behind.

The triumphant Taliban of today are far stronger than were the Taliban of 2001 who fled at the approach of the Northern Alliance. Al-Qaida is now present in many more countries than it was when we first launched the Global War on Terror.

Nor is the America of 2021 the hubristic self-confident country of George W. Bush and the neocons who were going to convert the Middle East into something like our Middle West and advance from there “with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

Our country is a changed place from 2001. Gone are the unity, confidence and resolution. And how have all our interventions gone?

Call the roll.

Afghanistan is a lost cause, receding anew into the darkness.

There are reports the Chinese may be interested in establishing a residence at Bagram Air Force Base.

Saddam Hussein is long gone. But the Iraq we invaded to strip of weapons of mass destruction it did not have is now dominated by Iranian-backed Shiite militia. Only at the sufferance of the Baghdad regime are 2,500 “non-combat” U.S. troops permitted to hang on.

Syria, where we intervened to support anti-Assad rebels – and retain 900 U.S. troops – is a human rights hellhole.

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is victorious in his civil war thanks to Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah intervention on his behalf. The million Syrian refugees who fled west during that civil war have helped to turn Lebanon into a failed state.

In Libya, where Barack Obama’s air attacks helped bring down the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Russians, Turks and Egyptians battle for control. The Americans are nowhere to be found.

Despite our support for Saudi air strikes that turned Yemen into a second humanitarian disaster, Houthi rebels still control the north of the country and the capital, Sanaa.

Looking back at the half dozen Mideast wars in which we have engaged since that first 9/11, where are we better off now than we were then? Al-Qaida, ISIS, Boko Haram and their variants have established a presence in Arab, Asian and African countries far beyond Afghanistan.

Looking forward, where do we Americans go from here?

How do we sustain all the commitments that have bled and drained us for 20 years, when our adversaries and enemies appear to be growing stronger, while our own claim to being the world’s last superpower is increasingly subject to challenge?

Like Donald Trump before him, Joe Biden appears to be giving up on nation building, pulling our troops out of the Middle East, staying out of its future wars, and addressing the challenges of Russia and China.

But how long can we defend a Europe that refuses to defend itself from a Russia that is stronger and more assertive than it was two decades ago, when Vladimir Putin succeeded the feckless Boris Yeltsin.

In the Arctic, Baltic, Belarus, Ukraine and the Black Sea, Putin is more assertive and Russia less intimidated than it was in 2001.

Only one in three NATO countries meets the commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, as Europeans today identify immigration as the major threat to the continent.

Among the malingerers is the Germany of Angela Merkel, retiring chancellor who approved the Nord Stream II pipeline that will soon double Germany’s dependence on Russia for natural gas.

How long can the U.S. sustain its new policy of containment of Xi Jinping’s China? How long can we contain China’s expansion in the South and East China Sea at the expense of the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan?

In the year 2000, China’s economy was smaller than Italy’s. Today, it is a peer-competitor of the United States, with four times our population.

Beijing manufactures more than we do, has a growth rate that has exceeded ours for decades, and runs an annual trillion-dollar trade surplus with us in produced goods.

And the China of 2021 is more aggressive and confrontational than was the China of Y2K. How long can we keep 30,000 troops in South Korea and remain responsible for deterring Kim Jong Un’s North Korea from attacking the South?

In relative terms, America is not so dominant a power as it was 20 years ago, while her adversaries seem stronger and more united. Our most powerful rival, Xi Jinping’s China, seems belligerent and bellicose compared with the China we brought into the World Trade Organization.

Looking back, and looking ahead, the trend line is not good.”

##

 

“There are two ways to learn. For our own experiences and from those of others.” With regards to mistakes, “We can learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others.” – Tamas A.R. Kovach.

Every event – be it personal, corporate, social, national, spiritual, whatever – is piece of history. History can seem dull, but it can also be exciting to discover the obscured truths from the spin. History can therefore be tremendously educational, and thus valuable.

Those who don’t learn the lessons of the past are condemned to relieve them. That’s a fair application of the actual quote from historian and thinker, George Santayana, who in the Life of Reason (1905) said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Because much of what passes as ‘news’ and ‘history’ are when events are closely examined merely shadows of reality designed to manipulate the many to enrich and empower the few.

That statement is demonstrably true in U.S. history, but in the history of other nations too. History and the news are more like a hunt for the buried treasure of nuggets of truth that must first dust off “deception and misdirection” – a phrase deftly used by the Capital Research Center (CRC) to peel away examples of how reality is obscured by those who seek to dominate our nation through the seemingly innocent or even supposedly ‘noble’ use of nonprofits, foundations, and other institutions.

 

The answer to fake news is authentic news. The answer to fake history is authentic history.

 

 

Because this is an affordable manufactured housing focused site, it is good to remind readers that the recent comments from HUD PD&R report on the problems behind affordable housing linked here, remarkably confirmed much of the research linked below.

 

 

Against that backdrop of federal sources admitting the failure of decades of federal policies, the information that follows is instructive and potentially useful. ‘Knowledge is power,’ some say, but the more apt is the original ancient wisdom which is expressed like this: “scientia potentia est” meaning, Knowledge is potential power. It is only powerful when the knowledge is know, understood, and then its lessons are applied. Note that while the world “scientia” is part of the root for our word, science, it must not be thought that only the hard sciences are forms of knowledge.

Social, political, historic, philosophical, or theological ‘science’ or knowledge – when properly absorbed and applied – are useful in discerning what is true and reliable vs. what is faked, deceptive, misleading and which ensnares. Because as Jesus known as the Christ said, when: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:32.

If it is truth that sets people free, then it should be obvious that the opposite of truth is what enslaves or otherwise limits humanity.

 

The Rigged System, Fake News and Deceptive History

“News is only the first rough draft of history,” said Alan Barth, whom the left-of-center Wikipedia says worked for the (left-leaning) Washington Post. Right-leaning Forbes and Public Narrative credit “Philip L. Graham, former President and Publisher of the Washington Post said, “Journalism is the first rough draft of history.” Graham’s quip, which if that Wiki is correct, sure sounds like a take off on what Barth said. One of several problems in our troubled American Republic is that what passes as “news” is often little more than clever propaganda or articles written with some degree of perhaps well meaning, but nevertheless authentic ignorance. It is no shame to be ignorant, all of us, this writer included, are ignorant of several things. Not all news is fake news, but fake news is all too real.

Who says there is a problem with fake news? Ironically, it is often journalists.  Following the quotable quotes on journalism and news often being ‘fake’ and what can be done about that, MHProNews will look at why fake news and fake history have cost our nation untold hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded, and trillions of dollars in the this nation’s tragic Middle Eastern wars that President George W. Bush launched in the wake of 9.11.2001. Those Middle Eastern and central Asian (because that is where Afghanistan is, central Asia) wars were continued, and indeed expanded in some ways, during the presidential term of President Barack Obama with his Vice President Joseph “Joe” Biden.

 

 

It is entirely understandable that millions of blacks and minorities hail President Obama as the first black or minority president. That noted, there should be no mistake made about who President Obama worked for, it was often the same broad class of billionaires and corporate elites that President George W. Bush also routinely worked for during his time in office. That’s not to say that the two men were the same, they were not. But the news and history of the Bush presidency that started the War in Afghanistan and he War in Iraq are as manipulated as is the news during the Obama-Biden term of office, and this is demonstrably true.

News and history are all too often sly forms of costly propaganda. The answer is not to ignore the news or to ignore often weaponized history. Rather it is to view the news and history with a discerning eye. Because Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. the often humorous but nevertheless clever liar Mark Twain was correct. Twain at various times lied and he knew that newspapers, which he had himself worked with, at times lied too.

Be it old news or current events, lies are costly and harmful. There are reasons why the saying “the first casualty of war is the truth” exists.  There are also reasons why one of God’s Ten Commandments is “You shall not bear false witness” or “Thou shall not bear false witness.” (Exodus 20:16). As the Missoulian aptly notes, “Thou shalt not bear false witness” means “Bearing false witness is telling a lie to harm someone.” Deception is routinely condemned by various world religions, including, but not limited to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

 

 

Wars are often massive transfers of wealth at the cost of blood, trauma, terror as well as treasure. Note the various references to “The first casualty when war comes is truth,” was said by Senator Hiram W. Johnson (R).

• “Note that per the U.K. Guardian: In 1918 US Senator Hiram Warren Johnson is purported to have said: The first casualty when war comes is truth. However, this was not recorded. In 1928 Arthur Ponsonby’s wrote: The ‘When war is declared, truth is the first casualty’. (Falsehood in Wartime) Samuel Johnson seems to have had the first word: ‘Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.’ (from The Idler, 1758)” – Peter Brooke, Mewmachar Scotland

“Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866 – August 6, 1945) was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he was Governor of California from 1911 to 1917, and a Senator from 1917 to 1945.” Wikipedia also notes that he was at one point a member of the Bull Moose Party and was a “Progressive Republican.” Britannica notes that the Bull Moose party was a breakoff of the Republican Party, which favored Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the so-called “trust buster” or anti-monopoly president. Roosevelt is one of the four presidents who is carved into the side of Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.

 

 

Johnson, per American Heritage, was “During the presidential election of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson, the new Progressive party’s candidates for President and Vice President…” So, in the backdrop of the Roosevelt anti-monopoly efforts was Hiram Johnson.

Some more from American Heritage on Johnson is useful.

• “Born in California in 1866, the son of an influential politician, Johnson broke with the conservatism of his father in the early years of the new century and joined the Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League in its assault upon the corrupt and self-serving hold which the Southern Pacific Railroad had upon state and local politics.
• Elected governor in 1910 and again in 1914, the independent and irascible Johnson led one of the most successful statewide reform movements in the nation. His administration introduced the initiative, referendum, and recall; it curbed the political and economic excesses of the Southern Pacific by sponsoring a regulatory commission with significant powers; it undertook important conservation measures and distributed free school textbooks; it established commissions to regulate corporate abuses, government expenditures, and the wages, hours, and working conditions of women and children; it greatly strengthened the civil service, gave pensions to the aged, reformed criminal court procedures, and extended reform into many other areas of the state’s social, political, and economic fabric.”
• “In 1916 Johnson was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican.” “Johnson voted for war reluctantly and watched with increasing disquiet the centralization of authority in Washington and the curtailment of civil liberties. Almost every act of the government caused him to look back nostalgically to a past from which America was departing too rapidly.”

 MHProNews isn’t going to weigh in on the nuances of Johnson’s ‘reluctance’ for war, and his opposition to both the League of Nations after World War I, and for creating the United Nations after World War II. But note that his concern about “centralization of authority in Washington” (D.C.). MHProNews has previously noted that the Democrat President Wilson was known as both a racist and as a man who stood accused of manipulating Americans into World War I. Johnson also opposed the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. Looking back, there are those who believe that the Treaty of Versailles laid the foundation for the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and ultimately to World War II.

 

Going back to the Spanish American War, and several of the wars in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, there are several reasons to think that maneuvers were made to get America into wars. Why? There are several possible reasons. But among them, because war creates more centralized power. War also creates opportunities for certain businesses that may not have existed before. War also creates debt, which tends to enrich the financial class.

Briefly, there are aspects of U.S. history and its wars that are sadly all too little known. A good look into the manipulations of the news media that led to 2^nd Gulf War, and the U.S. conflict in Iraq is found in the documentary dramatic movie, the Shadows of Liberty. It shows how news media was manipulated to get the country into the war that followed the attack on the Twin Towers. Shadows of Liberty also reveals how media is manipulated to limit, obscure, or keep bad about certain corporate powers out of the headlines and video reports. Nike is one of the companies spotlighted.

What some label conspiracy theories should in certain cases be thought of more like a minority report or an alternative view of a given event. Sometimes, not always, those minority or alternative views are more closely aligned with the truth and reality than the accepted ‘historic’ version of events.

 

A brief recitation of a few examples from the late 19th, 20th and 21st centuries will serve to illustrate some of the notions and lessons that should be discerned when it comes to American wars. The background will foster the lessons which will follow further below.

 

A review of several late 19th, 20th, and 21st century wars and conflicts that the U.S. was in include the following. But there are others too.

Spanish American War (per History Today), with the apparent typos in the original text:

• At 9.40pm on the night of 15 February 1898 the United States  battleship Maine, riding quietly at anchor in Havana harbour, was suddenly blown up, apparently by a mine, in an explosion which tore her bottom out and sank her, killing 260 officers and men on board. In the morning only twisted parts of the huge warship’s superstructure could be seen protruding above the water, while small boats moved about examining the damage. The Maine had been showing the [U.S.] flag in Cuba, where the Spanish regime was resisting an armed uprising by [Cuban] nationalist guerrillas.
• No one has ever established exactly what caused the explosion or who was responsible, but the consequence was the brief Spanish-American War of 1898. American sentiment was strongly behind Cuban independence and many Americans blamed the Spanish for the outrage. The yellow press, led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, proprietors of the New York Journal and the New York World, took every opportunity to inflame the situation with the exhortation to ‘Remember the Maine’, publicise the alleged cruelties of Spanish repression and encourage a belligerent hunger for action.”

 

World War I

The sinking of the ship Lusitania lead to the U.S. entry into World War I. Per History: “On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned luxury steamship Lusitania, killing. The disaster immediately strained relations between Germany and the neutral United States, fueled anti-German sentiment and set off a chain of events that eventually led to the United States entering  1,195 people including 128 Americans, according to the Library of Congress. World War I.”

Per the Guardian, “The secret report of the inquiry concluded that the Lusitania was not carrying any explosives or any “special ammunition“ but “The British public were not told at the time about the 5,000 cases of small arms cartridges that had been aboard but were deemed non-military.

As History says, “Days before Lusitania was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool in early May 1915, the Imperial German Embassy in Washington D.C. placed ads in American newspapers reminding Americans that Britain and Germany were at war. They warned potential travelers that “vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or of any of her allies are liable to destruction” and should be avoided.”

Rephrased, the Wilson Administration and the U.S. public were warned by Germany to stay out of the war. That German warning was deliberately ignored. Nevertheless, the outrage that followed the deaths of some 128 Americans – while understandable – was entirely arguably avoidable.

At a minimum, Wilson’s handling contributed to the events that lead the U.S. into a European War on a large scale. That changed the course of U.S. history. As to Wilson’s racist beliefs, per Vox “He called black people “an ignorant and inferior race,” and it gets worse.” Wilson was a Democrat.

Per Britannica, “Convinced that their country’s participation in World War I had been a grave mistake, Americans supported a series of neutrality laws enacted in the 1930s to prevent a repetition of the pre-1917 events that drew the United States into the fighting. Although he was well aware that the public wanted America to stay out of the war, Roosevelt was determined to do all he could to prevent a German victory. Relying on the public’s sympathy for Britain and France, he persuaded Congress to revise the 1935 Neutrality Act, which prohibited loans and arms sales to belligerent nations, in order to allow the two countries to purchase arms on a “cash and carry” basis—that is, on the condition that they pay immediately in cash and transport the arms themselves. He argued that the revision was the best way both to keep the United States out of the war and to guarantee a British-French victory.”

Note that following WWI, just as following the Afghanistan conflict, many Americans in hindsight saw the wars as “a grave mistake.”  That lesson needs to be applied before going into an avoidable conflict, not afterward.

 

World War II

Per Britannica:

• “After the fall of France in 1940, Roosevelt looked for other means to prevent Britain’s defeat. Raising the spectre of a German invasion of the Western Hemisphere, he convinced Congress to enact the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Although he justified the measure as necessary for national security, the revisionists contend that it was not purely defensive; in fact, they argue, it was a major step in preparing the United States to enter the war in Europe. About the same time, following negotiations with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Roosevelt agreed to transfer 50 World War I-era U.S. destroyers to Britain in exchange for 99-year leases on eight British naval and air bases in the Western Hemisphere. Again, Roosevelt characterized the agreement as a defensive measure, describing it as “the most important action in the reinforcement of our national defense…since the Louisiana Purchase” in 1803. For the revisionists, however, the deal decisively ended American neutrality and made U.S. involvement in the war inevitable. In this view they are in agreement with Churchill, who believed that the exchange set in motion a process that no one could stop. “Like the Mississippi,” Churchill said, “it just keeps rolling along.””

There are those who point to declassified documents that some in the U.S. government knew of the Japanese naval movements and the chain  of events that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor where in part provoked by FDR. The U.S. under Roosevelt took steps to support the war efforts of England and Russia.

To bring the Buchanan view of America’s longest war in Afghanistan full circle, is this, also from Britannica.

• “Among the first historians to argue in favour of the back-door-to-war theory were Charles Beard, author of American Foreign Policy in the Making, 1932–1940 (1946) and President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War, 1941 (1948), and Charles C. Tansill, author of Back Door to War: The Roosevelt Foreign Policy, 1933–1941 (1952). Half a century later, journalist and presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan gave continuing life to the theory by insisting in his book A Republic, Not an Empire (1999) that, contrary to accepted opinion, the United States need not have fought in World War II. The country was forced into a conflict with the Axis powers only by Roosevelt’s determination to aid Britain and Russia against Hitler. Without American involvement in the fighting, Buchanan argued, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia would have destroyed each other, thereby sparing the world the post-1945 Cold War.”

Right or wrong, for those who say that it was a good thing that the U.S. entered World War II, because it stopped the evils of the Nazi regime, they often overlook the concerns involving the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles, along with several business and political policy “blunders” arguably contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler and fascists in Germany, Italy, and Spain.

As Zero Hedge recently, and aptly noted, “Benito Mussolini said himself that “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” In that definition, much of the world today could be seen as increasingly ‘fascist.’ Communist China is certainly a merger of state and corporate power. The U.S. is increasingly a merger of state and corporate power. So too are other nations.

To pick one more war that was arguably avoidable, let’s look at Vietnam.

 

Vietnam Conflict

Per History, “The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution effectively launched America’s full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War. … The resolution was prompted by two separate attacks on two U.S. Navy destroyers, U.S.S. Maddox and U.S.S. Turner Joy, which allegedly occurred on August 2 and August 4, 1964, respectively.” Notice, that it says the attacks “allegedly occurred.”

Per Britannica:

• “Gulf of Tonkin incident, complex naval event in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of Vietnam, that was presented to the U.S. Congress on August 5, 1964, as two unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to greatly escalate U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.
• The destroyers were sent to the area in 1964 in order to conduct reconnaissance and to intercept North Vietnamese communications in support of South Vietnamese war efforts. At the same time, the Vietnamese navy was undertaking a mission under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense to attack radar stations, bridges, and other such targets along North Vietnam’s coasts. On the night of July 30–31, 1964, South Vietnamese commandos attacked North Vietnamese radar and military installations on Hon Me and Hon Ngu islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox, on patrol in the area but probably unaware of the raids that had taken place, observed torpedo boats sent out in pursuit of the South Vietnamese vessels and thus withdrew, but it returned on August 1. The following day, the Maddox found that it was being approached by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The Maddox fired warning shots, but the torpedo boats continued and opened fire in return. The Maddox called in air support from a nearby carrier, the Ticonderoga. In the ensuing firefight, one of the torpedo boats was badly damaged, but the Maddox escaped harm.”

So, not unlike the incident that led to the Spanish American War, the U.S. Navy was sent into a conflict zone to monitor North Vietnam on behalf of the U.S. backed South Vietnamese government. The attack on the U.S. naval vessel itself is disputed. There are those who argue that among the reasons for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were war hawks in the U.S. government that were concerned that Kennedy would unwind the American involvement in Vietnam.

Just as the leaked Pentagon Papers revealed that there was a long-held view that the U.S. could not defeat the communist-led insurgency in South Vietnam, there was a similar leak of government classified papers that have been called the Afghanistan Papers. That too claimed that U.S. had low confidence that the government that was being propped up in Afghanistan by U.S. taxpayers would survive a U.S. pullout.

 

 

Summing Up These U.S. Wars

So, why enter all of these wars? In part, because it makes what President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) called the military industrial complex. That military industrial complex should be understood to include the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other aspects of U.S. spy services. Massive amounts of money flow to corporations as a result of war. What came to be known as the Cold War also cost trillions of dollars in military spending. While “Ike” and President John F. “Jack” Kennedy both utilized the CIA in several settings, each had misgivings about it. Kennedy, following the frustrations of the botched “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Communist Fidel Castro-led Cuba, told some that he was considering the breakup of the CIA.

 

 

At a minimum, these alternative views of ‘mainstream’ history must be considered. The prevailing view effectively covers up, right or wrong, the fact that certain parties benefited from wars, while millions of others were harmed. Meanwhile, the costs of war are paid by taxpayers. Who benefits? The moneyed class, among others, that is lending the money at interest to pay for wars. But so too are the corporations that provide products and services to the military and spy agencies.

 

 

There is an evidence-based case to be made that the rise of Hitler, the overthrow of the Tsars in what became Soviet Russia, and the rise of the financial and military power of Communist China all included elements of Western, and specifically some U.S. backed interests.

Particularly with Communist China, the initiatives of President Richard M. Nixon (R) have demonstrably failed at their stated goal. Decades later, under Democratic and Republican terms of office, the Chinese Communist regime grew stronger with trade that was allowed by federal policy to occur. But that trade meant, among other things, a loss of U.S. jobs. Furthermore, that trade not only cost U.S. jobs, but then U.S. taxpayers had to pay for an ever increased military and intelligence budget. The system isn’t just a little rigged, it is massively rigged. Frankly, it won’t be easy to unrig the system, because governments like China have become powerful at great cost to Americans, who now have to pay for a military to defend the U.S. against a nation that American corporations helped fund and create.

 

 

 

U.S. policy toward Communist China is just one more example of what seems like madness.  But here is a common thread. Politicians and corporate leaders can foster a crisis by making deliberate ‘mistakes.’ Later, the seeds of a crisis that were deliberately sown then have to be addressed. Meanwhile throughout that devious and diabolically deceptive and at times deadly process, certain forces are earning profits.

If the Biden White House is to be believed, and there is no reason to do so based on events of the summer of 2021, U.S. intelligence missed that Afghanistan would fall so quickly? As MHProNews previously reported, a copy of a transcript between Biden and Afghanistan’s now deposed leader makes clear that Biden wanted the Afghan leader to spin reality.

 

 

All of this treachery causes ripples of harm in our nation. But meanwhile, corporations and the billionaire class are laughing all the way to the bank.

 

 

But a simple key to unlock what is often occurring is to carefully check the facts, history, and then follow the money trail.  There are thoughtful voices on the left-center-right that often point to a similar set of facts. Those facts, once understood, often trace back to obscured or even blatant benefits for the few at great cost to the many.

 

 

Additional Information, More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary

Before, during, and after the 2016 and 2020 election cycles the phrase “The System is Rigged” was expressed by politicians that included leading Democrats such as Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D), Senator Bernie Sanders, self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist (VT-DS, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020), and Republican Donald J. Trump.

 

Often times, politicians from the left, center, and right cite similar figures and examples. But the solutions that they offer, those are what tend to be different. Because “paltering,” the mix of truth and deception is a common occurrence with politicians and corporate figures, what is often useful to discern the truth is to consider their evidence, without necessarily believing their proposed solutions.

Decades of failed D.C. policies keep getting renamed and continued.  Why was Donald Trump so hated by members of both major parties? Because he dared to question the core of the system which has ties to the moneyed powers.

 

 

Stop and think. On and after September 11, 2001, the nation was rallied to go to war in the Middle East. Iraq and Afghanistan both saw American boots-on-the-ground.  Depending on the source, perhaps some $2 trillion dollars were spent on Afghanistan alone. In the various Middle Eastern wars, the total financial cost, per Brown University’s Costs of War project, is a staggering $8 trillion dollars.

The smear and an array of tactics are often used to try to silence opposition to something that the powers that be in town, city, county, state, or nationally desire. The system is rigged. As Senator Marcia Blackburn recently said, boots win wars, but suits loose wars. In Vietnam, the U.S. military won every major engagement. But the war was still lost? How is that possible? In Afghanistan, something similar could be said.

U.S. “boots” win when they are allowed to win. But for many in ‘suits,’ it can be profitable to wage war for years, and then lose that war. That’s treasonous, but it has yet to be properly investigated, much less prosecuted.

Stop and think. During both Bush and Obama’s terms in office, the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria were often hamstrung by ‘rules of engagement.’ When Trump came into office, he unleashed some of those hampering rules of engagement. Within a matter of weeks, ISIS in Syria was beaten. That was accomplished with minimal U.S. causalities, because of how Trump’s commanders executed those plans.  That lesson, and those in Afghanistan and Vietnam speak volumes.  U.S. “Boots” – when allowed to – win wars. The American military helped win a two front war in Europe and the Pacific during World War II in about 4 years. Are we to seriously believe that the even more powerful U.S. military in Vietnam and Afghanistan was unable to do what was accomplished against ISIS in Syria, against Nazi led-Germany, or fascist Japan in WWII?

The truth is hiding in plain sight.

But those dots have to be connected. The military can win when American leaders want them to do so. That means that much of the ‘official narrative’ from Washington and their mouthpieces has to be taken with more than a grain of salt.

Whatever some might think of President Trump’s style, morals, or personality, by contrast to the Biden White House, it is already clear to millions who did vote for the disputed Biden-Harris ticket regret their votes.

 

A population that tolerates too much corporate power is waiting for trouble. Warren Buffett wasn’t kidding when he said his class, the wealthy, were waging war. Buffett also said that his class has won. More recently Buffett said that politicians want more power. Business wants more power. That’s about as frank as it gets.

The truth can come from all sorts of people. Former President Barack Obama, for all of his shortcomings, nevertheless was correct in saying the following.

 

 

It is entirely understandable that minorities, particularly blacks, feel a sense of pride in the election of President Obama. In a sense, it reflects that millions of whites were and are willing to vote for a ‘person of color.’  That is a type of genuine progress.

But what 9.11.2001, the war in Afghanistan, and the quick romp through 20^th and 21^st century U.S. history above reveals is this. The financial and corporate powers have for far too long been allowed to effectively ‘rule’ America. Yes, we have a vote. Yes, we have power through the jury system to block an unjust prosecution. Yes, there are valid ways that even everyday Americans can fight back.

But so long as so much financial power is allowed to be held in a few hands, especially when that money was often accumulated by unjust if not illegal means in the first place, then there will be more of the same in the future.

While there was much wrong with the Clinton Presidency, and with “Bill” Clinton personally, he was quite right in saying that there is nothing wrong in America that can’t be fixed by what’s right in America.

 

The issues that face our nation are less about race, which has its authentic cases of injustice. The case in Ayden, N.C. that is reported below is perhaps one more vexing example of posturing one thing, but doing another in a manner that harms ‘minorities,’ who in that town are almost half of the population.  What is often near the root of our nation’s woes is how people, often but not always white, manipulate others and the system for their own gain. News is all too often manipulated. Government is all too often a tool of the money powers.

 

 

Lessons Learned?

The notion that big government will fix everything has been demonstrably disproven.  Trillions of dollars have been wasted in the U.S. and abroad on wars and schemes that have enriched a few at great harm to the many.

Honest information, plus proper understanding of the system, combined with resolve to do the right thing is how this manipulated system can begin to be undone.

 

There are millions who could care less about politics. On the one hand, that is understandable. Reading the above are reasons enough not to trust many politicians. But the answer is not to withdraw from politics or to not read the news, or to avoid learning history, etc. Distractions from reality, whatever form those distractions may take, are among the reasons why the few can get away with so much evil for so long.

 

The video below from 2016 is as relevant today as it was then.

Our nation is headed toward an every more authoritarian fascist state at an alarming rate. Biden is a demonstrable liar, a longtime closet racist who uses minorities for his own benefit and that of the corporatists and money powers that he serves. Those corporations have made the Biden’s wealthy.

 

 

 

There are people of good will in various political parties. Even people of good will have their weaknesses.

But what this walk through some slivers of American history reflects several things. In no specific order of importance are the following.

• One, President Trump, as controversial as his methods may have been, was faced with a near impossible task of taming a runaway government that served the elites. Trump’s policies were working. America started no new wars during Trump’s term in office, a first for a president of the U.S. in decades.
• The U.S. was increasing the rate of home ownership during Trump’s time in office.
• The U.S. was seeing the best economy for the working and middle class in decades during his time in office.
• That said, it doesn’t mean he was a perfect leader. The handling of COVID19, in hindsight, was obviously flawed. In fairness, leaders depend on good and timely information. There are reasons to think the truths about the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak were hidden from him for weeks, even per mainstream media reports. Note to those who have been misled to think that Trump is a racist, the so-called evidence for that falls apart every time the facts are carefully examined.  The classic example is the Charlottesville incident, where the edited version of the video looked bad, but the full length version of the video revealed a completely different story. Meanwhile the evidence of actual racism – people such Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, is often swept under the rug.

 

Post-Charlottesville, CfA’s Hunts Evidence of Racism, Steering, Predatory Lending Against Buffett’s Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage, and 21st Mortgage

“Revolutionaries” Warren Buffett Partner Charlie Munger Explains a Church They Created

 

Much of the good that occurred during the 4 years of Trump in office has been expunged in just 8 months.

Much of the bad, such as the handling of COVID19, has been retained and is being accelerated.

 

There is a war for the soul of America, but the champion of that war for the good is hardly Joe Biden. He is a tool of the money powers. He all but said as much decades ago, when he said that he was willing to prostitute himself for those ‘elites.’

 

 

Whoever succeeds Biden, if they have the guts, wisdom, and support ought to begin to undo the overconcentration of power in Washington, D.C. The beauty of our Constitution, as several black and women leaders and others over the years have recognized is this. That at least on paper, it protects the rights of the individual.

Big government has demonstrably not worked in America.

The U.S. Constitution was long ago subverted and twisted. But on paper, it still has many of the correct ideals.

 

The time to oust those who have corrupted America is now. It can be done legally. That can be accomplished ethically. But the need to do it is only more apparent now than ever before in the modern era. It will not be accomplished without serious, effort. That effort has to be based on an understanding of what has gone wrong and what must be done to make it right.

 

 

9.11 is a tragic day. But it is a reminder that for all of the trillions spent, 19 determined terrorists were able to commander planes and fly them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon? What does that say about the outrageous failures of big government?

19 terrorists, with ties to a man that the U.S. government once funded – Osama bin Laden – took control of four planes and flew them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, the passengers on board courageously worked together to overpower the terrorists that commandeered that aircraft. The plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, instead of perhaps hitting either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. What are the morals of that story? People working together were more effective that the massive federal government was.

The examples of failures of federal policies are simply too many to recount. Many of those policies were thinly veiled transfers of wealth and power that kept the elites in power. Those elitists are in several ways as diabolical as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Mao Zedong. They are emblematic of a new tower of Babel. They want to play the role of human gods.  We can not allow that tragedy to continue.

See the related reports to learn more.

 

 

 

 

The balance of the phrase from John 8.31 cited above is a useful way to dot the i and cross the t on these historic reflections.  John 8:31-32 NIV (per Bible.com) “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” And who are the Jews? The word has several possible meanings, one of which is the chosen people of God. Who has God chosen? Per 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV, Bible Gateway): “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, Who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” The truth is that God wants truth to be part of the process of salvation of all from all that is evil. But in our often stubborn misuse of free will, some will perish forever in perdition’s flames, while others who are purified from evil will spend eternity in heavenly joy and glory.

9.11 – and all human events – should be thought about and explored in those terms.  Whenever man violates God’s will and revealed law, it is a sure thing that something is going wrong.

 

 

As this writer is typing, the news is on softly in the background. That network just noted that people wonder, why such evil exists that can cause events like 9.11 to occur? It is a fair question. The answer is actually quite simple. God created man to be good. But God also gave humanity free will.  When people choose to do evil, evil can occur. The ultimate solutions always trace back to doing what is the Godly thing when faced with any circumstance.

 

 

###

 

Next up is our business daily recap of yesterday evening’s market report, related left-right headlines, and manufactured housing connected equities.

The Daily Business News of Manufactured Home Industry Connected Stock Market Updates.  Plus, Market Moving Left (CNN) – Right (Newsmax) Headlines Snapshot. While the layout of this daily business report has been evolving over time, several elements of the basic concepts used previously are still the same. For instance. The headlines that follow below can be reviewed at a glance to save time while providing insights across the left-right media divide. Additionally, those headlines often provide clues as to possible ‘market-moving’ news items.

 

Market Indicator Closing Summaries – Yahoo Finance Closing Tickers on MHProNews…

Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – evening of 9.10.2021 

• ‘This is unacceptable’
• A person wearing a protective mask is reflected in the window of a temporarily closed Wells Fargo Co. Bank branch in New York, U.S., on Friday, April 10, 2020.
• Wells Fargo will be fined $250 million for failing to repay customers fast enough
• Here’s who loves Biden’s vaccine mandate: The companies that have to enforce it
• United Airlines workers with religious objections to the Covid vaccine will be placed on unpaid leave
• The economy is still a long way from normal
• Microsoft abandons plan to reopen US offices during Covid
• Blackstone drops $3 billion bid for Chinese property developer
• Yahoo taps Tinder’s CEO to be its new leader
• These Trump supporters would rather go to ‘Facebook jail’ than stop sharing misinformation
• The pandemic changed the way we work. 15 CEOs weigh in on what’s next
• The new Roomba uses AI to avoid smearing dog poop all over your house
• Ford is ending production in India and taking a $2 billion hit
• Some of the most iconic 9/11 news coverage is lost forever. Blame Adobe Flash
• Why this startup is trying to sail into the eye of the next hurricane
• The Epic Games Fortnite: Battle Royale video game is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, May 10, 2018.
• In a huge upset, judge rules that Apple can’t force developers to use its payment system
• Bentley’s $2 million roofless car might be worth every penny
• These boat drones are designed to sail directly into the eye of a hurricane
• Commuters walk down stairs towards track 17 for a Long Island Rail Road train at Pennsylvania Station in New York, U.S., on Monday, May 10, 2021.
• The US workforce has gotten significantly older and more diverse
• Gig worker advocacy groups react to court ruling
• The jobs that stores are having the hardest time filling
• Companies are recruiting more HBCU grads than ever
• Credit card giant: no one should work in-person full time
• THERANOS TRIAL
• Elizabeth Holmes with a Theranos blood testing machine at the company’s facility in Newark, California, in December 2015.
• The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes: A timeline
• Elizabeth Holmes’ trial begins with opening statements
• Jury in trial of Elizabeth Holmes has been selected
• What you need to know about the Theranos trial
• Elizabeth Holmes likely to accuse ex-boyfriend of abuse

Headlines from right-of-center Newsmax – evening of 9.10.2021

• Court Rules for Florida Gov. DeSantis, Reinstates Ban on School Mask Mandates
• Florida’s governor scored a legal victory on Friday as the back-and-forth over mask mandates in the Sunshine State’s public schools continues. [Full Story]
• 11th at 20
• Trump Releases Ad Recalling 9/11
• Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax: Remembers US Unity When ‘Too Down’ on 9/11 |
• A Failure of Imagination: Could 9/11 Happen Today?
• Scars Will Never Fade for These Survivors
• 11, 2001: A Timeline of Events
• Ground Zero Rebuilding Still Unfinished, 20 Years Later
• Gitmo Prison Lingers, Unresolved Legacy of 9/11
• Poll: Most Americans Believe US Changed for the Worse Following 9/11
• Top Cop Kerik: Socialism Bigger Threat Now Than Terrorism
• Zemek: Honor Fallen, Follow 9/11 Panel’s Recs
• More Sept. 11th at 20
• Newsmax TV
• Sean Spicer: ‘Frankly Insulting’ to Have Board Service Questioned
• Murphy: Biden’s Mandates Covering Up for Afghanistan |
• Tenney: US May Be In More Danger Now Than 20 Years Ago |
• Jerome Adams: Biden Painted People, Not COVID, as Enemy |
• Tuberville: Afghanistan Testimony to Weed Out ‘TV Generals’ |
• Donalds: Vaccine Mandate ‘Gross,’ ‘Totalitarian’ |
• Peter Navarro: Biden WH Doesn’t Understand Causes of Meat Price Rise |
• Yair Netanyahu: Israeli Govt Spiraling Without Dad as PM |
• More Newsmax TV
• Newsfront
• Biden Slams ‘Cavalier’ GOP Governors for Resisting Vaccine Rules
• President Joe Biden called some Republican governors “cavalier” Friday for resisting his call for far-reaching new federal coronavirus vaccine requirements he hopes will curb the surging delta variant…. [Full Story]
• That’s a Twist: Russia Complains of ‘Election Interference’ From US
• The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned U.S. Ambassador John [Full Story]
• Biden: Fox News Already Has My Vaccine Requirement
• In his White House speech Thursday announcing vaccine mandates for [Full Story]
• Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is ‘Medical Tyranny’ – But It Could Be Legal
• The Biden administration’s plan to use an Occupational Safety and [Full Story] |
• FDA Official Hopeful Younger Kids Can Get Shots This Year
• The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief said Friday the [Full Story]
• Former Sen. Boxer Nudges Feinstein Toward Retirement
• Former Sen. Barbara Boxer hinted that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, her [Full Story]
• Biden ‘Will Most Certainly’ Rethink Iraq Withdrawal After Afghanistan Debacle
• President Joe Biden may be rethinking how best to remove the [Full Story] |
• Andrew Yang, Unhappy With Democrats, Plans Third Party
• Andrew Yang, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democrats’ 2020 [Full Story]
• A Failure of Imagination: Could 9/11 Happen Today?
• In the two decades since the 9/11 terror attacks, America has worked [Full Story] |
• Related
• 11, 2001: A Timeline of Events
• NYPD Ramps Up Security at Ground Zero for 9/11 Anniversary
• New York police say they have a “robust security” plan in place as [Full Story]
• Court Rules for Florida Gov. DeSantis, Reinstates Ban on School Mask Mandates
• A Florida appeals court ruled on Friday in favor of Florida Governor [Full Story]
• Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax: Remembers US Unity When ‘Too Down’ on 9/11
• Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who became widely [Full Story] |
• Judge Loosens Apple’s Grip on App Store
• A federal judge ordered Apple to dismantle part of the competitive [Full Story]
• Justice Breyer’s Warning to Liberals: ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’
• Justice Stephen Breyer issued a warning to progressives who want to [Full Story]
• Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Approve of Interracial Marriage
• More than nine in 10 Americans (94%) now approve of interracial [Full Story]
• Biden Orders TSA to Double Fines for Maskless Passengers
• President Joe Biden on Thursday directed the Transportation Security [Full Story]
• COVID Vaccine Creator Says Mass Boosters May Be Unnecessary
• Booster shots to extend the protection of COVID-19 vaccines may be [Full Story]
• Related
• BioNTech to Seek Approval Soon for Vaccine for 5-11 Year Olds: Spiegel
• Vaccinated Have 1 in 13,000 Chance of Breakthrough Case Needing Hospitalization
• Murphy to Newsmax: Biden’s Mandates Covering Up for Afghanistan
• President Joe Biden’s wide-reaching vaccine mandates were [Full Story] |
• 4th Person Accused of Stealing IDs From Surfside Collapse Victims
• A fourth person has been accused of stealing the identities of [Full Story]
• Trump: Downside of a 2024 Run Is That I’d Be Saving CNN
• Former President Donald Trump says the only negative about running [Full Story]
• Trump Releases Ad Remembering 9/11
• Former President Donald Trump has released an ad recalling the [Full Story]
• White House Competition Council Seeks Lower Consumer Prices
• A new White House council on U.S. economic conditions plans to hold [Full Story]
• Kentucky Scraps Statewide Mask Mandate in Schools
• Kentucky lawmakers, many not wearing masks, voted Thursday to scrap a [Full Story]
• Report: United to Put Staff With Vaccine Exemptions on Unpaid Leave
• Employees of United Airlines who have been exempted from taking the [Full Story]
• Trump-Endorsed Hageman Exchanges Barbs With Rep. Cheney
• After former President Donald Trump endorsed Harriet Hageman, and [Full Story]
• California May Require Menstrual Products in Public Schools
• California public schools and colleges would have to stock their [Full Story]
• China Slows Release of New Video Games
• China has slowed the release of new video games for the time being [Full Story]
• Peter Navarro: Biden WH Doesn’t Understand Causes of Meat Price Rise
• The Biden administration has accused the meat industry of [Full Story] |
• Yair Netanyahu to Newsmax: Israeli Govt Spiraling Without Father as PM
• Yair Netanyahu, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin [Full Story] |
• Big Change In FL Leaves Drivers Fuming
• Otto Insurance
• More Newsfront
• Finance
• US Labor Market Recovery on Track as Weekly Jobless Claims Near 18-Month Low
• The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in nearly 18 months last week, offering more evidence that job growth was being hindered by labor shortages rather than cooling demand for workers. [Full Story]
• Small U.S. Employers Frustrated by Biden’s COVID Vaccine Mandate
• Republicans Angry, Business Groups Muted on Biden Vaccine Mandate
• Fed to Hold Public Event on Pandemic Recovery on Sept. 24
• Wall Street Mixed While Apple Sinks on App Store Ruling
• More Finance
• Health
• The Lessons 9/11 Taught Us About COVID-19 and Mental Health
• As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, many Americans will relive the trauma and nightmares that were triggered by the unprecedented attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Experts say that we may experience an “anniversary reaction” to the event and warn… [Full Story]
• Health Savings Accounts Used Least by People Who Need Them Most: Poll
• FDA Bans Sale of Nearly a Million E-Cigarettes, Juul Remains
• Vaccinated Have 1 in 13,000 Chance of Breakthrough Case Needing Hospitalization
• How to Make Your Naps Healthy, Not Harmful

 

 

Manufactured Housing Industry Investments Connected Equities Closing Tickers

Some of these firms invest in manufactured housing, or are otherwise connected, but may do other forms of investing or business activities too.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • NOTE: The chart below includes the Canadian stock, ECN, which purchased Triad Financial Services, a manufactured home industry lender
                        • NOTE: Drew changed its name and trading symbol at the end of 2016 to Lippert (LCII).
                        • NOTE: Deer Valley was largely taken private, say company insiders in a message to MHProNews on 12.15.2020, but there are still some outstanding shares of  the stock from the days when it was a publicly traded firm.  Thus, there is still periodic activity on DVLY.

 

 

 

Summer 2021…

Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company to Clayton Homes, 21^st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and other factory built housing industry suppliers.
· LCI Industries, Patrick, UFPI, and LP each are suppliers to the manufactured housing industry, among others.
· AMG, CG, and TAVFX have investments in manufactured housing related businesses. For insights from third-parties and clients about our publisher, click here.
Enjoy these ‘blast from the past’ comments.

MHProNews. MHProNews – previously a.k.a. MHMSM.com – has celebrated our 11th year of publishing, and is starting our 12th year of serving the industry as the runaway most-read trade media.

 

 

Sample Kudos over the years…

It is now 11+ years and counting…

Learn more about our evolutionary journey as the industry’s leading trade media, at the report linked below.

· For expert manufactured housing business development or other professional services, click here.
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Disclosure. MHProNews holds no positions in the stocks in this report.

That’s a wrap on this installment of “News Through the Lens of Manufactured Homes and Factory-Built Housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, stock, investing, data, metrics, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)

By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship along with numerous awards in history. There have been several awards and honors and also recognition in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.