Operation Northwoods- A plan to create false flag acts of terrorism against US citizens in order to provoke support for a war against Cuba. abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 (PDF of the actual document: nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf)
The Lavon affair refers to a failed Israeli covert operation, code named Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation, a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American, and British-owned civilian targets, cinemas, libraries and American educational centers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair
On 4 April 1953, the CIA was ordered to undermine the government of Iran over a four-month period, as a precursor to overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. One tactic used to undermine Mosaddegh was to carry out false flag attacks “on mosques and key public figures”, to be blamed on Iranian communists loyal to the government. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag#Project_TP-Ajax
In 1985, the French foreign intelligence services infiltrated and sank a Greenpeace ship and blamed it on terrorists. The French government wanted to prevent the ship from interfering with a planned nuclear test. One crew member died. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
The Bay of Pigs Invasion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion
Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west’s oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures. Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus. www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/sep/27/uk.syria1
NYC fudged records to show day care centers’ water was tested for lead, but no tests were performed. DOHMH — the agency that’s required to inspect all 11,000 child care centers in New York City annually — had more or less given up on the task. www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-faked-day-care-centers-lead-water-level-test-records-article-1.2686760(archive.is/qyTaC)
5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/(archive.is/DYMBq)
US authorities distorting tests to downplay lead content of water www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/22/water-lead-content-tests-us-authorities-distorting-flint-crisis (archive.is/z00lw)
“Records analyzed by The New York Times indicate that the Clean Water Act has been violated more than 506,000 times since 2004, by more than 23,000 companies and other facilities, according to reports submitted by polluters themselves.” www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html (archive.is/HOSNv)
Chicago Tribune: 11,000 Crestwood, Illinois residents were knowingly given tapwater contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals for 40 years. Federal agents raided Crestwood’s village hall, their Department of Public Works building, and the police department. archive.is/D7Ddc , archive.is/V9Btl
The Government’s influence in TV shows and movies:
Washington DC’s role behind the scenes in Hollywood goes deeper than you think. “On television, we found more than 1,100 titles received Pentagon backing – 900 of them since 2005, from ‘Flight 93’ to ‘Ice Road Truckers’ and ‘Army Wives.’ Between 1911 and 2017, more than 800 feature films received support from the US Government’s Department of Defence (DoD), a significantly higher figure than previous estimates indicate. These included blockbuster franchises such as Transformers, Iron Man, and The Terminator. www.independent.co.uk/voices/hollywood-cia-washington-dc-films-fbi-24-intervening-close-relationship-a7918191.html (archive.is/bbMwx)
“All these people that run studios – they go to Washington, they hang around with senators, they hang around with CIA directors, and everybody’s on board.” www.theguardian.com/film/2008/nov/14/thriller-ridley-scott(archive.is/N2TRT)
Over the decades, the relationship between Hollywood and the military has served the needs of both sides: Filmmakers gain access to equipment, locations, personnel and information that lend their productions authenticity, while the armed forces get some measure of control over how they’re depicted. That’s important not just for recruiting but also for guiding the behavior of current troops and appealing to the U.S. taxpayers who foot the bills. National CineMedia, which sells ads in movie theaters, paired the Army and 20th Century Fox for a marketing campaign designed to reach potential recruits. The campaign intercut footage from the Fox superhero movie “X-Men: First Class” with images of real soldiers as a voice-over intoned, “Heroes — ordinary people who discover they can do extraordinary things.” The spots played in cinemas, and exit polls of 17- to 24-year-olds leaving the movie theater found that those who saw the ad were 25% more likely to say they would consider joining the Army. articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/21/entertainment/la-ca-military-movies-20110821 (archive.is/01L57)
How the CIA Helped Make “Zero Dark Thirty” – Behind the scenes, the CIA secretly worked with the filmmakers, and the movie portrayed the agency’s controversial “enhanced interrogation techniques” — widely described as torture — as a key to uncovering information that led to the finding and killing of bin Laden… but the massive Senate torture report released in December 2014 found that the program was brutal, mismanaged and — most importantly — didn’t work. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/watch-how-the-cia-helped-make-zero-dark-thirty/ (archive.is/zIRh0)
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425 (archive.is/etdQa)
Citicorp (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Barclays (BCS) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) agreed to pay more than $5 billion for conspiring to fix the price of U.S. dollars and euros, the Justice Department said Wednesday. www.cbsnews.com/news/in-rare-admission-of-guilt-wall-st-banks-admit-they-rigged-markets/
Wachovia bank paid out a fine less than 2% of the bank’s $12.3bn profit for 2009 for laundering money for drug cartels www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
HSBC pays out 1.9 Billion dollar fine for laundering money for drug cartels. “Obviously, $1.9 billion is a very large number, but it’s very manageable” without affecting HSBC’s bottom line, said Ian Gordon, head of bank research for Investec Securities in London. “It’s clearly within market expectations.” www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/11/hsbc-laundering-probe/1760351/
The US department of justice said HSBC had moved $881m for two drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia and accepted $15bn in unexplained “bulk cash”, across the bank’s counters in Mexico, Russia and other countries. In some branches the boxes of cash being deposited were so big the tellers’ windows had to be enlarged. www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/14/hsbc-money-laundering-fine-management (archive.is/adOf8)
“Four Central Intelligence Agency officers were embedded with the New York Police Department in the decade after Sept. 11, 2001, including one official who helped conduct surveillance operations in the United States, according to a newly disclosed C.I.A. inspector general’s report. That officer believed there were “no limitations” on his activities, the report said, because he was on an unpaid leave of absence, and thus exempt from the prohibition against domestic spying by members of the C.I.A. Another embedded C.I.A. analyst — who was on its payroll — said he was given ‘unfiltered’ police reports that included information unrelated to foreign intelligence, the C.I.A. report said.” www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/nyregion/cia-sees-concerns-on-ties-to-new-york-police.html (archive.is/yKwIa)
“The C.I.A. monitoring of journalists in 1963, 1971 and 1972, including wiretapping their phones and setting up observation posts across the street from their offices to track their comings and goings and their visitors, was a practice that the White House itself employed during the Nixon administration.” washington.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/project-mockingbird/(archive.is/pp4YM)
Operation Chaos, Project Merrimac, and Project Resistance were three related CIA domestic spying programs. The purpose of ‘Chaos’ was to “amass files on Americans suspected of being domestic dissidents” and look into any foreign influence on leftist movements. Under Merrimac, “CIA agents infiltrated peace groups and black activist groups with the aim of anticipating attacks on the agency itself.” The aim of project Resistance was to “compile information on radical groups that might target CIA activities or assets. The program compiled information from around the country, but specifically targeted college campuses in its search for radical elements. The CIA obtained additional information from local police, and campus officials.” www.salon.com/2014/03/20/8_times_the_cia_used_american_spies_to_spy_on_americans_partner/(archive.is/GJyNa)
CBS 60 Minutes: “The top secret surveillance network is called Eschelon.” (13 minutes, reported by CBS prior to 9/11) www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdm78zcv8o
NSA ‘offers intelligence to British counterparts to skirt UK law’ www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/10/nsa-offers-intelligence-british-counterparts-blunkett (archive.is/lJDaY)
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents (archive.is/0CqqZ)
“Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency can spy on anyone but British nationals, the NSA can conduct surveillance on anyone but Americans, and Germany’s BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) foreign intelligence agency can spy on anyone but Germans. That’s how a matrix is created of boundless surveillance in which each partner aids in a division of roles. www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-documents-nsa-targeted-germany-and-eu-buildings-a-908609.html(archive.is/lZseh)
Inside the secret world of the corporate spies who infiltrate protests www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/12/inside-the-secret-world-of-the-corporate-spies-who-infiltrate-protests
Wal-Mart hired Lockheed Martin to monitor union organizing among their employees. www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-walmart-union-surveillance/ (archive.is/RIk5V)
“Cops scan social media to help assess your ‘threat rating’” blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/12/12/police-data-mining-looks-through-social-media-assigns-you-a-threat-level/
Science Whistleblowers and information about little-known problems in science:
Scientific American: How Pharma-Funded Research Cherry-Picks Positive Results www.scientificamerican.com/article/trial-sans-error-how-pharma-funded-research-cherry-picks-positive-results/
Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, recently wrote: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf
In 2009, Dr. Marcia Angell of the New England Journal of Medicine wrote: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.” www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/drug-companies-doctorsa-story-of-corruption/
“I can’t tell you exactly what percentage of the trials are flawed, but I think the problem is far bigger than you imagine, and getting worse…it is so easy to manipulate data, conceal it or fabricate it…there is almost a code of silence not to speak about it.” -Whistleblower Dr. Peter Wilmshurst www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/spiegel-interview-with-whistleblower-doctor-peter-wilmshurst-a-1052159.html
Silencing the Scientist: Tyrone Hayes on Being Targeted by Herbicide Firm Syngenta www.democracynow.org/2014/2/21/silencing_the_scientist_tyrone_hayes_on
Back in the 1960s, a sugar industry executive wrote fat checks to a group of Harvard researchers so that they’d downplay the links between sugar and heart disease in a prominent medical journal—and the researchers did it, according to historical documents reported in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. One of those Harvard researchers went on to become the head of nutrition at the United States Department of Agriculture, where he set the stage for the federal government’s current dietary guidelines. All in all, the corrupted researchers and skewed scientific literature successfully helped draw attention away from the health risks of sweets and shift the blame solely to fats—for nearly five decades. The low-fat, high-sugar diets that health experts subsequently encouraged are now seen as a main driver of the current obesity epidemic. arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/sugar-industry-bought-off-scientists-skewed-dietary-guidelines-for-decades/
Scientific American: How the FDA and other scientific institutions manipulate the media using “close-hold embargoes” and other shady tactics www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-fda-manipulates-the-media/
The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with Salmonella. A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) called Rajneeshees had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections.[2] The incident was the first and single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack
Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies. The film executive hired private investigators, including ex-Mossad agents, to track actresses and journalists. www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies
“EPA officials were aware of the severity of danger at Ground Zero in contrast to their public statements at the time.” NYC allowed people to return after the collapse of the towers because the mayor’s office was under pressure from business owners to open more of the “red zone.” www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/07/nyc.air/index.html?section=cnn_health
A suppressed report reveals that some of Britain’s most respected industries, including law firms, telecoms giants and insurance companies routinely hire criminals to steal rivals’ information. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-other-hacking-scandal-suppressed-report-reveals-that-law-firms-telecoms-giants-and-insurance-8669148.html
Volkswagen systematically cheated on U.S. air pollution tests as part of their “Clean Diesel” Scheme by dynamically modifying car performance with software that turns on full pollution controls only during official testing, a scheme that is set to cost them $18bn www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/vw-clean-diesel-scheme-exposed-as-u-s-weighs-criminal-charges
A government-controlled industry group targeted popular food bloggers, major publications and a celebrity chef as part of its sweeping effort to combat a perceived threat from an egg-replacement startup backed by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names. www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/06/usda-american-egg-board-paid-bloggers-hampton-creek
The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking” www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history
Government and Corporate control of social media, spreading propaganda and advertising disguised as average people. np.reddit.com/r/shills/comments/4kdq7n/astroturfing_information_megathread_revision_8/
In 1992, Dateline N.B.C issued an on-air apology for airing a story that claimed a GM truck burst into flames after a side-impact crash. Investigators found the truck in a junkyard and discovered an incendiary device to cause the flame. The Newsdivision president resigned and 3 producers fired. www.sfgate.com/business/article/THRIVING-ON-FAILURE-3158547.php
Child abuse documentary Hollywood ‘didn’t want you to see’ goes viral www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/01/an-open-secret-hollywood-child-abuse-documentary
Operation Mockingbird – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird (Footage of hearings from the 70s
CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/
Tulsa Race Riot – On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob started the Tulsa race riot, attacking residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in United States history. The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of the district, at the time the wealthiest black community in the nation. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 39 dead, but the American Red Cross estimated 300, a number supported by historians since then. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot
A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs — medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS — to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980’s while selling a new, safer product in the West. www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html
CIA heart attack gun that uses a frozen dart that dissolves in the body. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSEnurBApdM The toxin was undetectable in autopsies.
“The girl, whose testimony helped build support for the Persian Gulf war, was identified only as “Nayirah,” supposedly to protect family members still in Kuwait. Another piece of information was also withheld: that she is not just some Kuwaiti but the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S. How did the girl’s testimony come about? It was arranged by the big public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton on behalf of a client, the Kuwaiti-sponsored Citizens for a Free Kuwait, which was then pressing Congress for military intervention. Mr. Lantos knew the girl’s identity but concealed it from the public and from the other caucus co-chairman, Representative John E. Porter of Illinois.” www.nytimes.com/1992/01/15/opinion/deception-on-capitol-hill.html
1985 – Police drop bomb on radicals’ home in Philidephia. The fire spread to 50 to 60 other houses in the neighborhood. Steve Harmon, a resident of the area, said: ”Drop a bomb on a residential area? I never in my life heard of that. It’s like Vietnam.” www.nytimes.com/1985/05/14/us/police-drop-bomb-on-radicals-home-in-philadelphia.html
Overthrow of the democratically-elected leader of Iran for BP Oil in 1953. www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup
Overthrow of the democratically-elected leader of Guatemala for the United Fruit company (now Chiquita) in 1954 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences. www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html
Widespread illegal adoptions in Ireland: ““This was a crime against these people and their mothers. Mothers who were told that their babies had died.” Established cases were registered by St Patrick’s Guild adoption society between 1946 and 1969. The youngest person affected is 49 and the oldest is 72. www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/illegal-adoptions-ireland
"Excellent little exposure. " Don't you all think?
Humans have and always will conspire against each other for resources, greed, power, wealth and status.
Anyone naive enough to think otherwise....
Who invented the term "Conspiracy theorist" and why? Answers on a postcard please.
A few choice words from George Carlin.
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
“I don't like **** kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. Individualists. I often warn people: "Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, 'There is no "I" in team.' What you should tell them is, 'Maybe not. But there is an "I" in independence, individuality and integrity.'" Avoid teams at all cost. Keep your circle small. Never join a group that has a name. If they say, "We're the So-and-Sos," take a walk. And if, somehow, you must join, if it's unavoidable, such as a union or a trade association, go ahead and join. But don't participate; it will be your death. And if they tell you you're not a team player, congratulate them on being observant.”
“The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.”
Comments
Operation Northwoods- A plan to create false flag acts of terrorism against US citizens in order to provoke support for a war against Cuba. abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 (PDF of the actual document: nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf)
The Lavon affair refers to a failed Israeli covert operation, code named Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation, a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American, and British-owned civilian targets, cinemas, libraries and American educational centers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair
On 4 April 1953, the CIA was ordered to undermine the government of Iran over a four-month period, as a precursor to overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. One tactic used to undermine Mosaddegh was to carry out false flag attacks “on mosques and key public figures”, to be blamed on Iranian communists loyal to the government. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag#Project_TP-Ajax
In 1985, the French foreign intelligence services infiltrated and sank a Greenpeace ship and blamed it on terrorists. The French government wanted to prevent the ship from interfering with a planned nuclear test. One crew member died. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
The Bay of Pigs Invasion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion
Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west’s oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures. Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus. www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/sep/27/uk.syria1
Water quality:
NYC fudged records to show day care centers’ water was tested for lead, but no tests were performed. DOHMH — the agency that’s required to inspect all 11,000 child care centers in New York City annually — had more or less given up on the task. www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-faked-day-care-centers-lead-water-level-test-records-article-1.2686760(archive.is/qyTaC)
5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/(archive.is/DYMBq)
US authorities distorting tests to downplay lead content of water www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/22/water-lead-content-tests-us-authorities-distorting-flint-crisis (archive.is/z00lw)
“Records analyzed by The New York Times indicate that the Clean Water Act has been violated more than 506,000 times since 2004, by more than 23,000 companies and other facilities, according to reports submitted by polluters themselves.” www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html (archive.is/HOSNv)
Chicago Tribune: 11,000 Crestwood, Illinois residents were knowingly given tapwater contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals for 40 years. Federal agents raided Crestwood’s village hall, their Department of Public Works building, and the police department. archive.is/D7Ddc , archive.is/V9Btl
The Government’s influence in TV shows and movies:
Washington DC’s role behind the scenes in Hollywood goes deeper than you think. “On television, we found more than 1,100 titles received Pentagon backing – 900 of them since 2005, from ‘Flight 93’ to ‘Ice Road Truckers’ and ‘Army Wives.’ Between 1911 and 2017, more than 800 feature films received support from the US Government’s Department of Defence (DoD), a significantly higher figure than previous estimates indicate. These included blockbuster franchises such as Transformers, Iron Man, and The Terminator. www.independent.co.uk/voices/hollywood-cia-washington-dc-films-fbi-24-intervening-close-relationship-a7918191.html (archive.is/bbMwx)
“All these people that run studios – they go to Washington, they hang around with senators, they hang around with CIA directors, and everybody’s on board.” www.theguardian.com/film/2008/nov/14/thriller-ridley-scott(archive.is/N2TRT)
Over the decades, the relationship between Hollywood and the military has served the needs of both sides: Filmmakers gain access to equipment, locations, personnel and information that lend their productions authenticity, while the armed forces get some measure of control over how they’re depicted. That’s important not just for recruiting but also for guiding the behavior of current troops and appealing to the U.S. taxpayers who foot the bills. National CineMedia, which sells ads in movie theaters, paired the Army and 20th Century Fox for a marketing campaign designed to reach potential recruits. The campaign intercut footage from the Fox superhero movie “X-Men: First Class” with images of real soldiers as a voice-over intoned, “Heroes — ordinary people who discover they can do extraordinary things.” The spots played in cinemas, and exit polls of 17- to 24-year-olds leaving the movie theater found that those who saw the ad were 25% more likely to say they would consider joining the Army. articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/21/entertainment/la-ca-military-movies-20110821 (archive.is/01L57)
How the CIA Helped Make “Zero Dark Thirty” – Behind the scenes, the CIA secretly worked with the filmmakers, and the movie portrayed the agency’s controversial “enhanced interrogation techniques” — widely described as torture — as a key to uncovering information that led to the finding and killing of bin Laden… but the massive Senate torture report released in December 2014 found that the program was brutal, mismanaged and — most importantly — didn’t work. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/watch-how-the-cia-helped-make-zero-dark-thirty/ (archive.is/zIRh0)
Banking:
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425 (archive.is/etdQa)
Libor Scandal: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal
Citicorp (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Barclays (BCS) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) agreed to pay more than $5 billion for conspiring to fix the price of U.S. dollars and euros, the Justice Department said Wednesday. www.cbsnews.com/news/in-rare-admission-of-guilt-wall-st-banks-admit-they-rigged-markets/
Wachovia bank paid out a fine less than 2% of the bank’s $12.3bn profit for 2009 for laundering money for drug cartels www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
HSBC pays out 1.9 Billion dollar fine for laundering money for drug cartels. “Obviously, $1.9 billion is a very large number, but it’s very manageable” without affecting HSBC’s bottom line, said Ian Gordon, head of bank research for Investec Securities in London. “It’s clearly within market expectations.” www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/11/hsbc-laundering-probe/1760351/
The US department of justice said HSBC had moved $881m for two drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia and accepted $15bn in unexplained “bulk cash”, across the bank’s counters in Mexico, Russia and other countries. In some branches the boxes of cash being deposited were so big the tellers’ windows had to be enlarged. www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/14/hsbc-money-laundering-fine-management (archive.is/adOf8)
Surveillance:
“Four Central Intelligence Agency officers were embedded with the New York Police Department in the decade after Sept. 11, 2001, including one official who helped conduct surveillance operations in the United States, according to a newly disclosed C.I.A. inspector general’s report. That officer believed there were “no limitations” on his activities, the report said, because he was on an unpaid leave of absence, and thus exempt from the prohibition against domestic spying by members of the C.I.A. Another embedded C.I.A. analyst — who was on its payroll — said he was given ‘unfiltered’ police reports that included information unrelated to foreign intelligence, the C.I.A. report said.” www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/nyregion/cia-sees-concerns-on-ties-to-new-york-police.html (archive.is/yKwIa)
“The C.I.A. monitoring of journalists in 1963, 1971 and 1972, including wiretapping their phones and setting up observation posts across the street from their offices to track their comings and goings and their visitors, was a practice that the White House itself employed during the Nixon administration.” washington.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/project-mockingbird/(archive.is/pp4YM)
Operation Chaos, Project Merrimac, and Project Resistance were three related CIA domestic spying programs. The purpose of ‘Chaos’ was to “amass files on Americans suspected of being domestic dissidents” and look into any foreign influence on leftist movements. Under Merrimac, “CIA agents infiltrated peace groups and black activist groups with the aim of anticipating attacks on the agency itself.” The aim of project Resistance was to “compile information on radical groups that might target CIA activities or assets. The program compiled information from around the country, but specifically targeted college campuses in its search for radical elements. The CIA obtained additional information from local police, and campus officials.” www.salon.com/2014/03/20/8_times_the_cia_used_american_spies_to_spy_on_americans_partner/(archive.is/GJyNa)
CBS 60 Minutes: “The top secret surveillance network is called Eschelon.” (13 minutes, reported by CBS prior to 9/11) www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdm78zcv8o
NSA ‘offers intelligence to British counterparts to skirt UK law’ www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/10/nsa-offers-intelligence-british-counterparts-blunkett (archive.is/lJDaY)
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans’ data with Israel www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents (archive.is/0CqqZ)
“Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency can spy on anyone but British nationals, the NSA can conduct surveillance on anyone but Americans, and Germany’s BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) foreign intelligence agency can spy on anyone but Germans. That’s how a matrix is created of boundless surveillance in which each partner aids in a division of roles. www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-documents-nsa-targeted-germany-and-eu-buildings-a-908609.html(archive.is/lZseh)
Inside the secret world of the corporate spies who infiltrate protests www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/12/inside-the-secret-world-of-the-corporate-spies-who-infiltrate-protests
Wal-Mart hired Lockheed Martin to monitor union organizing among their employees. www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-walmart-union-surveillance/ (archive.is/RIk5V)
“Cops scan social media to help assess your ‘threat rating’” blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/12/12/police-data-mining-looks-through-social-media-assigns-you-a-threat-level/
Science Whistleblowers and information about little-known problems in science:
Scientific American: How Pharma-Funded Research Cherry-Picks Positive Results www.scientificamerican.com/article/trial-sans-error-how-pharma-funded-research-cherry-picks-positive-results/
Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, recently wrote: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf
In 2009, Dr. Marcia Angell of the New England Journal of Medicine wrote: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.” www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/drug-companies-doctorsa-story-of-corruption/
“I can’t tell you exactly what percentage of the trials are flawed, but I think the problem is far bigger than you imagine, and getting worse…it is so easy to manipulate data, conceal it or fabricate it…there is almost a code of silence not to speak about it.” -Whistleblower Dr. Peter Wilmshurst www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/spiegel-interview-with-whistleblower-doctor-peter-wilmshurst-a-1052159.html
Silencing the Scientist: Tyrone Hayes on Being Targeted by Herbicide Firm Syngenta www.democracynow.org/2014/2/21/silencing_the_scientist_tyrone_hayes_on
Back in the 1960s, a sugar industry executive wrote fat checks to a group of Harvard researchers so that they’d downplay the links between sugar and heart disease in a prominent medical journal—and the researchers did it, according to historical documents reported in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. One of those Harvard researchers went on to become the head of nutrition at the United States Department of Agriculture, where he set the stage for the federal government’s current dietary guidelines. All in all, the corrupted researchers and skewed scientific literature successfully helped draw attention away from the health risks of sweets and shift the blame solely to fats—for nearly five decades. The low-fat, high-sugar diets that health experts subsequently encouraged are now seen as a main driver of the current obesity epidemic. arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/sugar-industry-bought-off-scientists-skewed-dietary-guidelines-for-decades/
Scientific American: How the FDA and other scientific institutions manipulate the media using “close-hold embargoes” and other shady tactics www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-fda-manipulates-the-media/
Miscellaneous:
The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with Salmonella. A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) called Rajneeshees had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections.[2] The incident was the first and single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack
Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies. The film executive hired private investigators, including ex-Mossad agents, to track actresses and journalists. www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies
“EPA officials were aware of the severity of danger at Ground Zero in contrast to their public statements at the time.” NYC allowed people to return after the collapse of the towers because the mayor’s office was under pressure from business owners to open more of the “red zone.” www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/07/nyc.air/index.html?section=cnn_health
A suppressed report reveals that some of Britain’s most respected industries, including law firms, telecoms giants and insurance companies routinely hire criminals to steal rivals’ information. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-other-hacking-scandal-suppressed-report-reveals-that-law-firms-telecoms-giants-and-insurance-8669148.html
Volkswagen systematically cheated on U.S. air pollution tests as part of their “Clean Diesel” Scheme by dynamically modifying car performance with software that turns on full pollution controls only during official testing, a scheme that is set to cost them $18bn www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/vw-clean-diesel-scheme-exposed-as-u-s-weighs-criminal-charges
A government-controlled industry group targeted popular food bloggers, major publications and a celebrity chef as part of its sweeping effort to combat a perceived threat from an egg-replacement startup backed by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names. www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/06/usda-american-egg-board-paid-bloggers-hampton-creek
The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking” www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history
Government and Corporate control of social media, spreading propaganda and advertising disguised as average people. np.reddit.com/r/shills/comments/4kdq7n/astroturfing_information_megathread_revision_8/
In 1992, Dateline N.B.C issued an on-air apology for airing a story that claimed a GM truck burst into flames after a side-impact crash. Investigators found the truck in a junkyard and discovered an incendiary device to cause the flame. The Newsdivision president resigned and 3 producers fired. www.sfgate.com/business/article/THRIVING-ON-FAILURE-3158547.php
Child abuse documentary Hollywood ‘didn’t want you to see’ goes viral www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/01/an-open-secret-hollywood-child-abuse-documentary
Operation Paperclip en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip
Operation Mockingbird – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird (Footage of hearings from the 70s
CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/
Tulsa Race Riot – On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob started the Tulsa race riot, attacking residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in United States history. The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of the district, at the time the wealthiest black community in the nation. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 39 dead, but the American Red Cross estimated 300, a number supported by historians since then. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot
A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs — medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS — to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980’s while selling a new, safer product in the West. www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html
CIA heart attack gun that uses a frozen dart that dissolves in the body. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSEnurBApdM The toxin was undetectable in autopsies.
“The girl, whose testimony helped build support for the Persian Gulf war, was identified only as “Nayirah,” supposedly to protect family members still in Kuwait. Another piece of information was also withheld: that she is not just some Kuwaiti but the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S. How did the girl’s testimony come about? It was arranged by the big public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton on behalf of a client, the Kuwaiti-sponsored Citizens for a Free Kuwait, which was then pressing Congress for military intervention. Mr. Lantos knew the girl’s identity but concealed it from the public and from the other caucus co-chairman, Representative John E. Porter of Illinois.” www.nytimes.com/1992/01/15/opinion/deception-on-capitol-hill.html
1985 – Police drop bomb on radicals’ home in Philidephia. The fire spread to 50 to 60 other houses in the neighborhood. Steve Harmon, a resident of the area, said: ”Drop a bomb on a residential area? I never in my life heard of that. It’s like Vietnam.” www.nytimes.com/1985/05/14/us/police-drop-bomb-on-radicals-home-in-philadelphia.html
Overthrow of the democratically-elected leader of Iran for BP Oil in 1953. www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup
Overthrow of the democratically-elected leader of Guatemala for the United Fruit company (now Chiquita) in 1954 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
Jan. 17, 1893 | Hawaiian Monarchy Overthrown by America-Backed Businessmen learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/jan-17-1893-hawaiian-monarchy-overthrown-by-america-backed-businessmen/?_r=0
The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences. www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html
Widespread illegal adoptions in Ireland: ““This was a crime against these people and their mothers. Mothers who were told that their babies had died.” Established cases were registered by St Patrick’s Guild adoption society between 1946 and 1969. The youngest person affected is 49 and the oldest is 72. www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/illegal-adoptions-ireland
Humans have and always will conspire against each other for resources, greed, power, wealth and status.
Anyone naive enough to think otherwise....
Who invented the term "Conspiracy theorist" and why? Answers on a postcard please.
A few choice words from George Carlin.
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
“I don't like **** kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. Individualists. I often warn people: "Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, 'There is no "I" in team.' What you should tell them is, 'Maybe not. But there is an "I" in independence, individuality and integrity.'" Avoid teams at all cost. Keep your circle small. Never join a group that has a name. If they say, "We're the So-and-Sos," take a walk. And if, somehow, you must join, if it's unavoidable, such as a union or a trade association, go ahead and join. But don't participate; it will be your death. And if they tell you you're not a team player, congratulate them on being observant.”
“The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.”
Whats up, sh1t the bed?