Another bad personnel decision by Trump:
The president announced that openly gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell will become acting director of Director of National Intelligence, the agency overseeing the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus. Austin Ruse of The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) writes:
Homosexuality caused the fall of the Roman empire. Biblical scholar William Barclay notes that "Society from top to bottom was riddled with unnatural vice. Fourteen out of the first fifteen Roman Emperors were homosexuals."
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![]() Official document: UNCLASSIFIED// ROUTINE R 071613Z FEB 20 MID110000404787U FM CNO WASHINGTON DC TO NAVADMIN INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS NAVADMIN 033/20 PASS TO OFFICE CODES: INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N3N5// MSGID/NAVADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/CNO/FEB// SUBJ/OPNAV REPORTING GUIDANCE SUPPORTING DOD RESPONSE TO NOVEL CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK// REF/A/OPLAN/NORTHCOM/DOD GCP-PI&ID-3551-13/15OCT13// REF/B/EXORD/JOINT STAFF J3/012240ZFEB20// REF/C/FRAGORD/NORTHCOM/040610ZFEB20// REF/D/FRAGORD/NORTHCOM/050525ZFEB20// NARR/REF A IS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) GLOBAL CAMPAIGN PLAN FOR PANDEMIC INFLUENZA AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE. REF B IS SECDEF-APPROVED EXORD THAT DIRECTS USNORTHCOM TO EXECUTE ITS PANDEMIC PLAN 3551-13 AND SUPPORTING GEOGRAPHIC COMBATANT COMMANDERS EXECUTE THEIR PANDEMIC PLANS IN RESPONSE TO THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (NCOV) OUTBREAK. REF C IS CDRUSNORTHCOM FRAGO 121.003 TO OPORD 01-17 PROVIDES DIRECTION FOR THE SERVICES, USNORTHCOM COMPONENTS AND SUBORDINATES, REGARDING THE USNORTHCOM RESPONSE TO NCOV. REF D IS CDRUSNORTHCOM FRAGO 121.005 TO OPORD 01-17.// POC/CDR DARYL MEEKS/OPNAV N314/703-692-8350/DARYL.MEEKS(AT)NAVY.MIL/ CDR JAKE WADSLEY/OPNAV N310/703-692-9284/JAKE.WADSLEY(AT)NAVY.MIL/ CDR MARVIN PARK/OPNAV N5I1/703-692-9119/MARVIN.J.PARK(AT)NAVY.MIL/ CDR AYESSA TOLER/OPNAV N0931D/703-571-2948/AYESSA.TOLER(AT)NAVY.MIL// RMKS/1. DOD IS IN PHASE ONE OF REF (A) CAMPAIGN PLAN. THE NCOV OUTBREAK CONTINUES, WITH THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL (CDC) REPORTING SEVERAL THOUSAND CASES WORLDWIDE, TO INCLUDE CASES IN THE UNITED STATES. DURING THE NCOV OUTBREAK DOD PROTECTS AND PRESERVES THE OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF FORCES WORLDWIDE TO MAINTAIN MISSION ASSURANCE, AND THE ABILITY TO MEET STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES. PER REFERENCE (A), USNORTHCOM EXECUTES ITS PANDEMIC PLAN AND GEOGRAPHIC COMBATANT COMMANDERS EXECUTE THEIR SUPPORTING PANDEMIC PLANS IN RESPONSE TO THE NCOV IN THEIR AOR IN ACCORDANCE WITH (IAW) REF (B). 2. REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS 2.A. IAW REF (C), ALL NAVY COMMANDS IN THE NORTHCOM AOR (CONUS, ALASKA, PUERTO RICO/VIRGIN ISLANDS, CANADA, MEXICO, BAHAMAS AND BERMUDA) SHALL COMPILE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AND SUBMIT VIA THEIR ECHELON 2 COMMAND TO USFF/NAVNORTH PERSONNEL CRISIS ACTION TEAM (CATPERS.FFC.FCT(AT)NAVY.MIL) NLT 7 FEBRUARY 2020: 2.B. IDENTIFY NAME, UNIT AND DATES OF TRAVEL FOR PERSONNEL, TO INCLUDE ACCOMPANYING FAMILY MEMBERS, WHO TRAVELED TO CHINA FROM 20 JAN-04 FEB. 2.C. ALL ECHELON 2 AND BELOW COMMANDS IN NORTHCOM AOR IMMEDIATELY REPORT IF AN INDIVIDUAL HAS BEEN PLACED UNDER QUARANTINE. SEND REPORT TO USFF/NAVNORTH BWC (BWC.FFC.FCT(AT)NAVY.MIL) AND INFO ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIN OF COMMAND. ONLY PROVIDE COMMAND NAME, LOCATION, RATE/RANK, GENDER AND AGE. 2.D. ALL ECHELON 2 AND BELOW COMMANDS IN THE NORTHCOM AOR WHO, IF SERVICE MEMBERS, CIVILIANS OR CONTRACTORS ARE SUSPECTED OF OR DIAGNOSED W/ NCOV, SHALL IMMEDIATELY REPORT TO USFF/NAVNORTH BWC (BWC.FFC.FCT(AT) NAVY.MIL) AND INFO THEIR ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIN OF COMMAND. ONLY PROVIDE COMMAND NAME, LOCATION, RATE/RANK, GENDER AND AGE. 2.E. USFF/NAVNORTH WILL CONTACT THE COMMAND TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AS NEEDED, THEN SUBMIT ALL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO NORAD-NORTHCOM COMMAND CENTER (N2C2) LAND DOMAIN AND THE NAVY OPERATIONS CENTER. DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH N2C2 FOR THIS TASKING IS NOT AUTHORIZED. 3. IAW REF (D), NAVY INSTALLATIONS SUPPORTING REPATRIATION OPERATIONS SHALL REPORT THE FOLLOWING CCIRS IMMEDIATELY TO N2C2 LAND DOMAIN, OPNAV BWC, AND USFF /NAVNORTH BWC: 3.A. ANY KNOWN SUSPECTED INFECTION OF A DOD SERVICE MEMBER EXECUTING THE NCOV RESPONSE OPERATION. 3.B. THE DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY OF A PASSENGER. 3.C. THREATS DIRECTED AGAINST DOD INSTALLATIONS AND/OR PERSONNEL SUPPORTING NCOV OPERATIONS. 3.D. ANY ACTIVITY OR ACTION ASSOCIATED WITH REPATRIATION OPERATIONS THAT MAY DISCREDIT MILITARY SUPPORT OR GARNER UNWANTED PUBLIC ATTENTION. 3.E. UNAUTHORIZED DEPARTURE FROM THE INSTALLATION OF ANY PASSENGER. 3.F. ANY CHANGE IN THE SITUATION THAT PREVENTS DOD FROM FULFILLING ITS OBLIGATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS). 4. IAW REF (D), NAVY INSTALLATIONS SUPPORTING REPATRIATION OPERATIONS SHALL REPORT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WITHIN 4 HOURS TO N2C2 LAND DOMAIN, OPNAV BWC, AND USFF/NAVNORTH BWC: 4.A. REPORT ANY DEVIATION FROM THE PLAN OR REQUEST FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS) THAT REQUIRES ADDITIONAL DOD RESOURCES. 4.B. NEGATIVE IMPACTS AS A RESULT OF REPATRIATION OPERATIONS, TO INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO OPERATIONAL READINESS, MISSION ASSURANCE, PRIORITY MISSIONS /OPERATIONS, CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, AND FORCE HEALTH PROTECTION. 4.C. AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE FROM INSTALLATION OF ANY PASSENGER: REASON AND DESTINATION. 4.D. RETURN TO THE INSTALLATION OF ANY PASSENGER. 4.E. ANY INCIDENT REQUIRING US FEDERAL MARSHAL OR BASE SECURITY INTERVENTION. 4.F. SIGNIFICANT CONCERNS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY OFFICIALS. 4.G. ANY CHANGE TO AVAILABLE BILLET ROOMS. 4.H. ANY REQUESTED ADDITIONS TO QUARANTINE REQUIREMENTS FROM HHS/ASPR. 5. POCS FOR REPORTING. USFF/NAVNORTH IS USFF BATTLE WATCH CAPTAIN, 757-836-5397, EMAIL BWC.FFC.FCT(AT)NAVY.MIL. N2C2 LAND DOMAIN IS 719-554-2359, EMAIL N-NC.PETERSON.N-NCN2N2.MBX.LAND - OMB(AT)MAIL.MIL. OPNAV IS OPNAV BATTLE WATCH CAPTAIN, 703-692-9284, EMAIL BWC.PTGN(AT)NAVY.MIL. 6. RELEASED BY VADM P. G. SAWYER, DEPUTY CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS FOR OPERATIONS, PLANS AND POLICY, OPNAV N3/N5.// BT #0001 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED// Wall Street and the Bolshevik Bernie Revolution
By Cliff Kincaid – February 20, 2020 Michael Bloomberg’s fellow Democrats didn’t want to talk about how he has made his billions through an extremely successful computer program that analyzes global financial markets. His Bloomberg terminals represent innovations in financial technology that emerged in 1982 and have made him a billionaire. He has generated wealth for many people. But he didn’t grasp the socialist hatred for successful people. Led by a fake Indian, Senator Elizabeth Warren, his opponents used the politics of personal destruction against the only one on the stage who had started a business. “I can't think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation,” said Bloomberg about the socialist tone of the debate. “We're not going to throw out capitalism…Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn't work.” He was even asked by one of the moderators if as a billionaire he should exist. “I can't speak for all billionaires,” he said. “All I know is I've been very lucky, made a lot of money, and I'm giving it all away to make this country better. And a good chunk of it goes to the Democratic Party, as well.” It looks like he has failed to buy the party. But there are many more contests to go. And he still has billions to spend. His other zinger was directed at Senator Bernie Sanders, whose honeymoon was in the old Soviet Union. “What a wonderful country we have,” said Bloomberg. “The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses.” While Bloomberg makes computer products that are useful to people, especially investors, Sanders is a professional politician who peaches hatred of business people who make it big in society. He attacks billionaires but is selective in his outrage. Billionaire hedge fund operator George Soros, who manipulates and exchanges currencies, has escaped his wrath. Convicted of insider trading in France, his currency manipulations against the Bank of England damaged the British Pound and hurt the investments of ordinary people. With much of his wealth in the hands of tax-exempt foundations, he now says he supports Sanders’ proposal for higher taxes on the “wealthy.” Bloomberg was supposed to be different. He actually worked hard and produced useful products. At the University of Maryland last year, in a commencement address, Bloomberg described how he started out on Wall Street and got fired. But he had an idea for what became the computerized Bloomberg terminals. “I had to build a new computer from parts you could just go buy from Radio Shack,” he said. “I had to write the code to run it. And I had to string telephone lines across the country to connect them, creating the first intranet. There were a million reasons why people told me: you can’t. But I sucked it up and assembled a small, young team that believed in the idea, and together we said: we will. And we did.” Bloomberg’s main problem is that his money has gone to his head, convincing him that being a billionaire qualifies him to manage the affairs of the United States and the world. Through his massive financial “contributions,” he has major influence over such elite organizations as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission. He works closely with the United Nations and funds groups such as Planned Parenthood. He opposes Second Amendment rights and says, “I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom.” His wealth has led to a demand for power over others. As we saw in Las Vegas, Bloomberg is not a socialist. But he has become something similar -- a technocrat. These are people who believe their superior financial standing -- and alleged superior intelligence -- should qualify them as managers of our future. Like many technocrats, they admire Communist China’s method of controlling people. “Xi Jinping is not a dictator,” says the candidate. A truly frightening aspect to this attitude is what has occurred in Bloomberg’s news operation. Bloomberg, who is worth over $60 billion, is not on the “Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” distributed by Michael Bloomberg’s news service. Out of deference to his status as the billionaire owner of the Bloomberg news service, his subordinates in the organization have left him off a factual listing of billionaires in America and around the world. That’s because Bloomberg News declares that its editorial policy is to not cover Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg L.P. This is a dishonest approach to politics and makes his “journalist” employees into propagandists. Before the Vegas debate, Bloomberg released a plan for Wall Street that included a financial transactions tax. He thought this would protect him from socialist attacks on his wealth. Instead, his fellow Democrats went after him on personal grounds. Today, he’s under personal attack for comments about women and minorities, while his Wall Street tax has been exposed as affecting the stock trades of small investors with IRAs, Mutual Funds and pensions. It is also a back-door approach to a global tax. Indeed, a global financial transactions tax has been under discussion for many years among left-wing groups promoting more foreign aid or “action” on climate change. (Sanders also favors such a tax). Bloomberg is a pathetic figure who could have rallied voters under a banner of capitalism and freedom. Instead, he is trying to make a socialist political party into a personal vehicle for a power grab. His “mini” nature is not his height but his own mythical status as a great political thinker. Still, on many issues, he and Bolshevik Bernie see eye to eye. Whatever the future holds, he will undoubtedly pledge millions or even billions to the Democratic Party. Antony Sutton wrote about this kind of relationship in his classic 1974 book, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, documenting a link between certain financial and banking interests and the Bolshevik cause. This year, the target is America, and Bloomberg is apparently counting on backing from China, having collaborated with Beijing on an event titled the “New Economy Forum.” In the same way that Barack Hussein Obama emerged as the favorite of Wall Street interests in 2008, Sanders could become their perfect front man in 2020. Such a scenario may require the same kind of financial meltdown that happened just six weeks before the 2008 presidential election. China could make that happen. *Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org ![]() Bloomberg's Wall Street plan includes: Introduce a tax of 0.1% on all financial transactions, including stocks, bonds and payments on derivative contracts. The tax would be phased in gradually, starting at 0.02%, to monitor and minimize any unintended consequences. Such a tax would affect IRAs, Mutual Funds and pensions by taxing the exchange of financial transactions. It would hand over great sums of money to politicians in the name of bashing the big banks but ordinary Americans and their life savings would be hurt. This is a forerunner to a global tax on financial transactions that could generate at least hundreds of billions or trillions a year from the U.S. and other “rich” countries. Similarly, the bill, “Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act of 2009” (HR 4191), was a financial transactions tax introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), a leading member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed the DeFazio measure during a December 7 news conference and, according to a CNS News report, announced that the bill would have to be made “global” to keep U.S. investors from taking their business overseas and out of taxable reach. An “Open Letter from Economists in Support of Financial Transaction Taxes” has been released and signed by 200 liberal and left-wing economists. Support support for the tax comes from billionaires George Soros and Warren Buffet and such media organizations and figures as Le Monde, The Mail, The Guardian and Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Editor’s Note: When Barack Obama was a senator, he proposed a Global Poverty Act to fulfill the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals. The cost in additional foreign aid: $845 billion. As part of a G20 summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered a report on “financing for development” that proposes global taxes on America and other “rich” nations to make the Global Poverty Act a reality. The report, available on the website of the Gates Foundation, proposes a financial transaction tax (FTT) as well as taxes on tobacco, aviation and bunker fuel, and carbon (energy), by G20 countries and other members of the European Union. Dear Friends of America's Survival,
Elizabeth D. Wickham, PhD, Executive Director of LifeTree, notes that David Clark's book Transforming the Culture of Dying: The Work of the Project on Death in America, clearly explains how Soros Scholars who were strategically placed in medical centers were able to define, build, and bring to maturity a totally new field of medicine, the Stealth Euthanasia Movement, in record time. "Euthanasia Should Be Legally Painless" is the benevolent view of one Bloomberg writer. Watch the video of Bloomberg himself. The transcript from Business & Politics: “All of these costs just keep going up,” he says in the horrific video clip below. “Nobody wants to pay anymore money. And at the rate we’re going, healthcare is going to bankrupt us. So not only do we have a problem … we’ve got to sit here and say which things we’re gonna do and which things we’re not. Nobody wants to do that.” “If you show up with prostate cancer, you’re 95 years old, [we] should say go and enjoy, you’ve lived a long life, there’s no cure,” Bloomberg continues. “We can’t do anything. If you’re a young person, we should do something about it. Society’s not willing to do that, yet.” Homosexuals and others were always free to start their own organizations. Instead, however, they sought to dominate and destroy organizations training young people in the context of traditional values. Too many morally corrupted and compromised conservatives did not resist.
Conservatives who have done their homework will recognize the BSA takeover as the Gramsci strategy of marching through the institutions, named after the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci. If they can conquer the Boy Scouts, there’s not much left. The churches and the religious believers who attend them constitute one possible last line of defense. William A. Donohue recognized what was happening as far back as 1993, in his booklet, “On the Front Line of the Culture War: Recent Attacks on the Boy Scouts of America,” which was updated in 1996. The rest, as they say, is history. Consider what it means to be “morally straight,” which is a phrase in the Scout oath. As Donohue’s booklet notes, the Official Boy Scout Handbook once explained the meaning of “morally straight” in the Boy Scout Oath in these terms: “[w]hen you live up to the trust of fatherhood your sex life will fit into God’s wonderful plan of creation. Fuller understanding of wholesome sex behavior can bring you lifelong happiness.” This has been reinterpreted. The BSA now says, “You stay morally straight when you do the right thing and live your life with honesty.” The new politically correct language cannot disguise what is happening here. Children have become guinea pigs in social experimentation that is endorsed by the “new class.” Commenting on the BSA decision to admit girls who claim to be boys, John Stemberger, Chairman of the Board of Trail Life USA, a pro-morality alternative to BSA, said it was simply stunning. He explained, “…knowing that boys and biological girls will be showering, dressing and camping in tents together create a clear child protection issue which is being ignored.” The decision of the BSA is indeed stunning. But it’s worse than stunning for adults to participate in this fundamental transformation of America’s youth. It’s morally disgraceful and corrupt. They are permitting children to be taken away from their parents and used as cannon fodder for the next phase of the Cultural Revolution. The children are being encouraged to use dangerous chemicals and surgeries in order to impersonate members of the opposite sex. The inevitable results will be mental and physical suffering, suicide and death. ![]() The State Department has issued a press release, The United States and Angola: Deepening an Important Strategic Partnership, highlighting a former communist dictatorship that has pretended to be a democracy. Technically, the oil- and diamond-rich country has a "new democratic process" being undermined by corruption. Isabel dos Santos is the billionaire former first daughter of Angola. José Eduardo dos Santos was the leader of Angola and the communist "Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola" (MPLA.) A Marxist movement, the MPLA still rules Angola but now claims to be opposed to corruption. The State Deartment notes: In August 2017 the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party won presidential and legislative elections with 61 percent of the vote. MPLA presidential candidate Joao Lourenco took the oath of office for a five-year term in September 2017, and the MPLA retained a supermajority in the National Assembly. On the matter of corruption, State admits: The government took some steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses; however, accountability was limited due to a lack of checks and balances, lack of institutional capacity, a culture of impunity, and widespread government corruption. In other words, Angola is still a corrupt dicatorship. The book, Strategic Intelligence: Understanding the Hidden Side of Government, notes that the Soviet KGB supported the MPLA until its surrogate the Cuban DGI took over. The Soviets brag about this. See Unsung Heroes: The Soviet Military and the Liberation of Southern Africa, by Vladimir Shubin. Ronald Reagan had a policy of aid for anti-communist freedom fighters, known as the Reagan Doctrine, but the George W. Bush Administration abandoned one of those freedom fighters, Jonas Savimbi, the legendary guerrilla leader of UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola). UNITA had been fighting the MPLA for control of Angola. Angolan government forces ambushed Savimbi and his troops in 2008 in a remote region of the southwest African country and he was reportedly shot 15 times. CNS News reported: Howard Phillips, Chairman of the Conservative Caucus called Savimbi a "great Angolan patriot, truly a man who served as a loving, self-sacrificing father to those of his countrymen who shared his love of freedom and who were willing to die to escape the bonds of Portuguese colonialism and communist tyranny." But [the late] Phillips thinks the United States betrayed Savimbi. "Unfortunately, many Americans betrayed Savimbi's heroic friendship. Chevron and other oil companies and their minions in the top ranks of both major political parties degraded themselves for filthy lucre, even consenting to have their employees in Angola guarded by Fidel Castro's communist troops," Phillips said in a statement. The State Department openly proclaims:
Official press release from Senator Tom Cotton: Cotton Condemns U.N. BDS Blacklist
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) released the following statement after the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a BDS blacklist designed to punish certain companies that do business with Israel: “The UN Human Rights Council persecutes Israel while it protects the world’s worst tyrants. It ought to investigate the crimes of its own members instead of obsessing over the Jewish State. U.S. federal and state governments should fully enforce existing anti-boycott laws to punish entities that comply with this blacklist.” The UN press press release is here. The UN Human Rights Office is headed by Michelle Bachelet, a Chilean socialist. She was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, another socialist. ![]() Dr. Paul Kengor's article, "Mayor Pete: Red Diaper Baby," is generating controversy. It's subtitled, "As 'moderate” Democrats rush to disqualify Bernie Sanders, they might want to notice how much their hero Pete Buttigieg has in common with his one-time hero… Bernie Sanders." Referring to Pete's father, a disciple of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, he writes that Pete’s work here was clearly a help to his old man; his dad said there were "countless ways" that Pete “enabled” him “to realize this work.” Drawing the comparison to Obama, he adds: Much of this reminds me of a young Barack Obama — likewise influenced by Marxists as a young man, from Frank Marshall Davis (an actual member of Communist Party USA) to his far-left mother — who would in his 40s run for the presidency as something fresh and new, not daring to mention those radical roots and how they might have helped shape him. And just like Obama, Pete will be protected from talking about those roots by a loving media, leaving conservatives alone to raise the matter and to be vilified for doing so. Fighting Communism With Socialism Won’t Save Venezuela
UPDATE By Cliff Kincaid All freedom-loving people support the overthrow of the tyrannical socialist Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela. But President Trump’s replacement, Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido, is also a socialist. His Popular Will party is a “progressive” party and a member of the Socialist International. It was President Trump who told the United Nations, “All nations of the world should resist socialism and the misery that it brings to everyone.” Yet, Trump has been convinced by his advisers to intervene on behalf of Guaido, a socialist “alternative” to Maduro who has pledged an amnesty for virtually all officials of the Maduro regime, including its most corrupt bureaucrats and military officials. Now the State Department reports: The United States Condemns Detention of Interim President Guaido’s Family Member 02/15/2020 10:39 AM EST Morgan Ortagus, Department Spokesperson -- The United States strongly condemns the detention of Juan Jose Marquez, uncle of interim President Juan Guaido, and demands his immediate release. The preposterous charges that have been put forward further exemplify the increasing desperation of Maduro and his corrupt associates. Manufacturing evidence to justify arbitrary, politically-motivated detentions is a common tool of the illegitimate former Maduro regime. We have seen it used against Roberto Marrero, Juan Requesens, Gilber Caro, and Ismael Leon, who make up a small portion of the over 350 political prisoners in Venezuela today. Such deplorable acts only delay a resolution to the tragic crisis in Venezuela that Maduro and his collaborators insist on perpetuating. The crisis in Venezuela is what happens when the State Department uses its funding agencies, including USAID, to support “opposition” groups. Rather than promote anti-communist groups which embrace American ideas of limited government and free enterprise, USAID programs subsidize left-wing political figures and movements, often described as “civil society.” The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a federally-funded entity, does the same thing on a much larger scale. It spends more than $150 million a year on “democracy assistance” in foreign countries. President Ronald Reagan started the NED program in 1983 and figured it would maintain an anti-communist bent. But neoconservatives with socialist backgrounds who support globalism and American intervention in foreign countries quickly took charge. The NED’s president, Carl Gershman, who took control in 1984, is a socialist who has been associated with the Young People's Socialist League and Social Democrats, U.S.A., an offshoot of the U.S. Socialist Party. Gershman and his NED seem to have operated on the false but common assumption that communist ideology is dead and that, in the words of liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger, “democratic socialism was the most effective bulwark against totalitarianism.” Trump, a skeptic of the intelligence he gets from the CIA, should demand answers from Mike Pompeo, his Secretary of State. He can’t continue to oppose socialism, as he did in that U.N. speech, if his administration supports a new socialist regime in Venezuela. |