Every part of the U.S. economy has been upended by the impact of COVID19. Some have and will benefit, but tens of millions have been harmed, more will be hurt, and the death toll keeps climbing.
The viral outbreak is already a political issue, with the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden originally mocking the response of President Donald J. Trump at sealing off travel from China. Since then, there has been a pivot of sorts.
Let’s acknowledge that in the approaching 2020 election that President Trump may not win re-election. Republicans could lose the Senate. Democrats could keep the House.
Obviously the reverse of each of those is also possible. The GOP might sweep all three once the votes are counted after polls close on 11.3.2020.
Election outcomes could happen authentically or via a scheme like voter fraud by mail. Not all voting by mail is suspect, but “ballot harvesting” has occurred enough to make it a legitimate issue. Ballot harvesting is more often alleged against Democrats, but a Republican candidate was caught in a ballot harvesting scandal reported in 2019. Corruption knows no political boundaries. The point that it has been tried to some degree by both major parties is reason enough to stop that practice entirely and to insure that it won’t be part of the November 3rd, 2020 election plan. Some once ‘safe’ California GOP seats in 2018 were alleged to have been flipped due in part to ballot harvesting.
Segue noted, let’s further stress that sincere people of good will exist in major and minor parties or as political independents. MHProNews has long promoted the notion of bipartisanship.
Additionally, just as the COVID19 pandemic was unexpected 6 (+/-) months ago, so too something unusual could occur that keeps President Trump from being the 2020 Republican candidate for president. A far more likely scenario for a major party candidate to be replaced is that Joe Biden will be supplanted at some point as the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee.
Objectively, there are successes and failures that have occurred, as well as a mix of both in the matter of the handling of the Wuhan Virus. A reasonable case can be made that President Trump was effectively sandbagged by members of the federal government, Communist China, the World Health Organization (WHO), Bill Gates and others. That said, one doesn’t blame the victim of a crime.
Furthermore, if the president was blindsided and manipulated, then that was a crime against the nation as a whole. The president was just a mean to an end by those who one might suspect as manipulating executive decisions during a national emergency. That noted, the nation and each of us are where we are. There needs to be accountability, but there also needs to be a practical response to the current scenarios. Regarding accountability, the Epoch Times documentary further below on the origins of the Wuhan virus and the coverup is detailed in an non-political way.
For those hung up on the president’s style, tone, tweeting, or other alleged sins – look around and look in the mirror honestly.
- There are objective reasons why minorities pre-COVID19 increasingly supported the 45th president.
- There are objective reasons why Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious believers and leaders support the current president.
- Perhaps as important, there are reasons why the Warren Buffett and Bill Gates-type billionaires oppose President Trump. Someone is known by supporters and detractors — more specifically, by the motivations of each.
- Motivations and insights can be a blend of sincere, correct, misguided, misinformed or malign.
- These are all reasons why getting to the truth on significant topics is useful and necessary.
In principle, media is supposed to be about getting to the truth of an issue, but the well documented reality from both sides of the left-right media paradigm indicates that agendas can and do cloud reporting and objectivity.
For instance. For years, there have been voices on the political left and their media allies that dismissed as conspiracy theories the notion that the FBI, intelligence officials, DOJ and others could have set up Lt. General Michael Flynn and other members of the Trump campaign and transition team.
For years, Fox News – among others in more conservative leaning media – have reported on the evidence that the FBI, DOJ and other aspects of the federal government had been ‘weaponized’ to oppose candidate Trump, President-elect Trump and finally President Trump. One of the key pieces of ‘evidence’ for that effort was the so-called Steele Dossier. Just weeks ago, the New York Times reported “New Details Hint at Risk of Russian Misinformation in Dossier” on 4.15.2020. “Footnotes were declassified from a watchdog report that found that the F.B.I. had reason to open the Russia inquiry but made errors…” the NY Times reporting belatedly stated.
Put differently, there was – as President Trump has alleged – years of “fake news” designed to make the president and his men look like they colluded with Russia when that never happened. When the NY Times grudgingly gave a nod to that reality, that should be a wakeup call to most voters. Pretext after pretext was used in sequence to make the president and his team look bad.
That isn’t to imply that all news coming from certain outlets is spin or fake. But there is more than enough evidence for routine disinformation which numbers of media operations gladly accepted while others reported a different picture. It is precisely what former President Obama said, only in reverse.
Private citizen and then candidate Trump supported:
- stopping bad trade deals. He did so during Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to at least the time of President Ronald Reagan.
- controlling U.S. borders, especially the southern one with Mexico,
- creating “jobs, jobs, jobs” by removing regulatory barriers, giving tax incentives and “bringing back” American energy, steel, and manufacturing.
- He also spoke about the “rigged system” and the corruption of American politics, specifically citing other billionaires and globalist-minded corporations.
Mocked by former President Barack Obama for not having some “magic wand” with which to bring back manufacturing, President Trump’s administration did precisely that along with achieving American energy independence from Middle Eastern oil.
These aren’t pulling some RNC talking points, they are simple facts that political independents – like the management of this publication – can point towards.
Who is Responsible for COVID19?
MHProNews has previously reported that tens of trillions of dollars in lawsuits have been launched that blame Communist China for their mishandling of the CCP virus outbreak.
There is also a growing movement among GOP lawmakers to punish Beijing for their role in letting the pandemic go global when they could have stopped it early on in Wuhan. MHProNews could point to specific actions by governments in Australia, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere that dovetail with concerns raised here in the U.S. by independent minded and analytical voices in media.
That backdrop is useful in looking at this well-laced and evidence packed video by the arguably anti-communist Epoch Times. Politics is ignored in this report, but evidence is pieced together, one step at a time in a thorough fashion. The video is just shy of an hour in length.
The Epoch Times production also happens to dovetail with research provided by MHProNews in recent months that covers the same topic. That said, while there are points of overlap, our reports often used different evidence and sources, yet arrived at the same overall concerns.
But it is worth noting that there is nothing in the Epoch Times’ well-documented research above that contradicts points raised by MHProNews before or since that video was produced. Put differently, while evidence is still being gathered, facts are what they are.
COVID19 and MHVille
Early this week, March 2020 shipment data will be known. That data is – per sources – expected to reflect about a 20-to-30+ percent drop in production. Time will soon tell.
As tragically harmful as the Wuhan Virus – a.k.a. COVID19, CCP Virus (Communist Chinese Party Virus), China Virus, novel coronavirus, etc. – has been, it will create a need for more affordable housing in the USA.
You aren’t hearing that drum beat out of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) are you?
Why not?
While MHI thumps their chest about:
- a COVID19 page that others produced before them,
- or the MHI- and Clayton Homes-led demonstrably failed “CrossModTM homes” scheme, err, plan.
- But where is their action plan on dealing with what the Columbia University’s public policy studies on poverty says will be Great Depression level poverty in America? See that progressive-leaning report linked here.
The sobering reality of more poverty doesn’t change the fact that there are reportedly some 80 percent of the American population will have their jobs and incomes largely unaffected by his pandemic. It is marketing to that population segment that should have been a key part of the plan by the post-production side of MHI for years. That was our evidence-based editorial position when we were MHI members and it remains our position since leaving that trade group.
MHProNews has contended for years that the industry has been weaponized by a few firms – routinely MHI members – in a way that limited industry growth, or even caused it to decline in 2019. That’s all occurred during an affordable housing crisis.
Will industry independents tolerate plans that further harms industry outcomes?
If the smoke rising from Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation, his ally Warren Buffett and others in that camp prove to be accurate, what the CCP Virus tells us is that some “Americans” will arguably use any ploy to hurt America and independent businesses in our industry and others.
Is there evidence?
Just dive into the reports for the week. Follow the links to see the specific evidence for yourself.
Note that Clayton Homes, MHI, a Berkshire Hathaway board member that is an attorney, and others have all been given opportunities to comment and debunk the indications found in our reports. Not one of them has tried to do so publicly and directly.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been efforts to distract from our reporting, but the only serious debate so far has been by a pro-MHI supporter, Andy Gedo. Gedo’s “read-hot” digital debate defending MHI, Clayton Homes, Skyline-Champion and Cavco Industries is linked here. An analysis of that debate by Gedo with MHProNews is linked here.
More recently, Berkshire Hathaway associated Joanne Stevens has put forth her post-COVID19 vision for manufactured home land-lease communities and the rent control issue. That is found in our Saturday report among the headlines linked below.
There will be a special message after our headline review further below.
“Scientia potentia est” is Latin for “knowledge is potential power.” Lack of knowledge makes you more vulnerable to propaganda, hidden agendas and spin. With no further adieu, you’re entitled to your share of the power and defense that information can yield via the headlines to reports from April 26 to May 3, 2020.
What’s New on MHLivingNews
What’s the Latest in Washington D.C. from MHARR
What’s the Latest on the Masthead
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews.
Saturday 5.2.2020
“MHI Lies, Independent Businesses Die” © – True or False? – Berkshire’s Joanne Stevens Strikes Again
Friday 5.1.2020
Thursday 4.30.2020
Wednesday 4.29.2020
Tuesday 4.28.2020
Monday 4.27.2020
Insiders Update COVID19-Skyline Champion, Financial Analyst Warns Investors Against SKY Stock
Sunday 4.26.2020
Special – Additional Facts, Analysis and Commentary
A release by The United States Institute of Peace on Monday, November 26, 2018 / BY: Zi Yang said the following.
Securing China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Summary
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative—a large-scale connectivity project encompassing infrastructure, energy, and trade—has extended China’s economic presence throughout Eurasia and around the world. It has also posed new security challenges for Chinese companies operating abroad.
- China employs three strategies in safeguarding its economic interests abroad. First, Chinese companies rely on a host country’s government for security needs. Second, Chinese companies hire local security firms. Third, Chinese companies employ a combination of Western and Chinese security firms.
- The number of Chinese security companies is growing steadily. Still, only a handful of these companies operate abroad.
- Although China’s security industry is privately operated, the Chinese government is heavily involved as both a corporate stakeholder and regulator.
- Chinese private security firms are most active in high-risk Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq. However, these companies have not expanded their reach significantly in Southeast Asia, particularly in Laos and Indonesia, despite significant Chinese investment in projects in the region.
- The Chinese government’s cautious approach to the development of the country’s private security industry stems from its wariness of paramilitary entities. Abroad, actions of rogue security contractors could jeopardize China’s overall investment plans and diplomatic standing. At home, unemployed security personnel, who are highly trained and organized, could pose a threat to social stability.
- As China’s global economic influence expands, China’s private security industry can expect continued cautious encouragement from the government. However, if the Belt and Road Initiative falters, Beijing could put the brakes on the growth of the country’s private security industry to minimize potential challenges to the government.
About the Report
As more projects associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative are launched in conflict-prone states, the need for security to protect Chinese workers and investments is increasing. This report focuses how Chinese private security firms are supplementing—and in some cases supplanting—local and Western security forces in protecting China’s economic interests abroad. Supported by the Asia Center at the United States Institute of Peace, the report is based on an extensive review of Chinese-language sources as well as interviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 with security company representatives, government officials, academic researchers, and knowledgeable members of the public in China and Eurasia.
About the Author
Zi Yang is a senior analyst in the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests include Chinese defense industry reforms, military mental health, and the information warfare capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army. His work has appeared in the Georgetown Security Studies Review, Norwich Review of International and Transnational Crime, Asia Times, and National Interest, among other publications.”
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Download of the full Securing China’s Belt and Road Initiative is linked here.
The graphic below is from another source and should not be construed to be all of the countries involved. China is engaged in at least 70 other nations, per various sources.
Thinkers since ancient times have said that the ‘first casualty of war is truth.’
- In the video by the Epoch Times, China-expert Gordon Chang cites that nation’s communist officials who said that a war was underway in 2018 with the United States. That war wasn’t limited only to a ‘trade war.’ China’s so-called Belt and Road initiative has been discussed in books and articles for years.
- Warren Buffett bluntly said the wealthy were at war with the rest of society. Believe that at face value.
- In an actual military combat situation, there are the brave and some who cower. Those cowering often die, the brave die too. But as the saying goes, the brave die only once, the coward’s fears are ongoing.
The threat to freedom in America has perhaps never been greater since the American Revolution in 1776 or the War of 1812 with Britain.
Freedom has never been free. There is always a cost to freedom. American business interests have for decades shipped U.S. money – which means American jobs – off the China. That trend accelerated to the point that China has become a serious economic and military rival to the U.S. Wasn’t that the inevitable result of searching for cheaper labor costs?
Instead of building up American businesses and uplifting American workers, internationally minded businesses invested in communist China, and other ‘emerging’ nations such as communist Vietnam. It is hard to imagine a more foolhardy policy, but it arguably has never had the serious debate needed until the 2016 election cycle began.
While free trade has theoretical merits, the practical applications have been disastrous. The Epoch Times video above touches on this topic too. The communist regime in China’s capital of Beijing concluded that some of their best weapons against the United States would be cyber warfare, the theft of intellectual property, the use of illegal drugs on our population, and developing biowarfare weapons.
Stunningly, American money helped build and maintain the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as did some other foreign nations. What the Epoch Times video does is lace a range of facts together in a non-political way.
There are threats at home here in the U.S. and abroad. There are various euphemisms used to describe the monopolistic and manipulative tendencies of the tech, social media giants and Berkshire Hathaway, to focus on the arguably chief culprits seeking to dominate the U.S. political landscape. It is no surprise that those same giant companies have often invested in Communist China.
What the Epoch Times video above did is extremely useful. It should be shared with your friends and business contacts. But as or more important, are items that are not in that video. No disrespect to Epoch Times producers and their investigative reporter, because no one video can cover the full range of issues involved. MHProNews has increasingly tracked the problems in our industry, and years ago began to spotlight how they are part of the broader oligopoly or monopolistic efforts of the FAANGBM brands.
Antitrust activity must be ramped up to break up these giant corporations. That’s not anti-American, it is an integral part of the American way dating back to the time of Thomas Jefferson and the American revolution.
Where market manipulation and other regulatory or criminal activities have occurred due to the corporate leaders of these giant conglomerates, they must be reigned in. While they often happen to favor Democratic Party candidates in their lobbying, that doesn’t mean that the GOP is immune to its influences.
The facts and disclaimers noted, as a political independent, this publication has stated 6 months in advance our strong support for President Trump and those running for public office who support his American Worker, American Businesses, America First agenda. It was the right agenda in 2016 and is still the correct one today.
Is the president perfect? Absolutely not, but then neither are any of the readers or the writer of this article.
A massive disinformation campaign has been working in America for years. It has been at work abroad too. Earning money honestly is fine, earning money by market manipulation or selling our your own country is wrong. The case can be made that some have done so in ignorance. But the case can also be made that people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros and others have been quietly working for years to get to this point in time.
Freedom isn’t free. Part of the price is seemingly simple, getting and staying informed and then voting appropriately. Another price of freedom is the need to fight back at home and specifically in our industry against the Omaha-Knoxville-Arlington axis. MHI needs to be supplanted on the post-production side by a new post-production trade group. Thankfully, on the production side there has been MHARR which merits all the support that it can get. More on that in the days ahead.
But for now, it is clear that MHI is dominated by a relatively few big brands in manufactured housing. There may be some companies that are members because they have been quietly pushed into membership if they want to do business with the “big boys.” That’s potentially illegal. During my time in MHI, I personally witnessed dialogue to that effect expressed during the Richard “Dick” Jennison era.
Smiling faces may hide sinister agendas. The loss of independent businesses is the loss of part of the American Dream, which is more than just home ownership. Affordable home ownership is a key part of personal freedom, but that must be tied to economic and political freedom.
A new foreign and domestic policy are needed. The Obama-Biden Administration years – not unlike the Bush-Cheney or Clinton-Gore terms – only fostered the problems that led to this moment in time.
President Trump isn’t perfect, but he is arguably the best leader for this moment in time in American history. He will need support of all kinds to cross the finish line to re-election. ICYMI, the man has been remaking the GOP into a more pro-business and pro-worker party. The alternatives are too bleak to imagine.
But let’s try. Picture those protestors in Hong Kong that were silenced only the spread of the Wuhan or CCP Virus. They live next door to Communist China. They are afraid of losing their freedom. The island-nation of Taiwan has struggled economically and militarily to keep their independence despite years of pressure from China. Leaders in Japan is pushing to bring back its supply chain from China.
The cold war with the former Soviet Union ended but was replaced by an arguably more dangerous battle that involved internationalists business tycoons and Communist China. Don’t sell out the future of yourself, your children, grandchildren or other loved ones. Freedom is never free.
Do you have a news tip? Do what others have and reach out with your insights, documents, emails and demonstrable information.
That’s a wrap on this Sunday installment of “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where we blend topics of business, culture, faith, politics and more in a manner where – “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, week in review, 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 MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and 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.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
Tornado Devastates, Death Toll at Least 25 – Videos, Reports and Manufactured Housing Lessons
