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LINK Letters From An American 10/23/2021

Heather Cox Richardson

There are three stories in the news today that seem to me to add up to a larger picture.

First is the story of money laundering, which seems suddenly to be all over the news. Today we learned that federal prosecutors in Detroit have broken into a massive money-laundering operation between the United States and the United Arab Emirates called “The Shadow Exchange.” They confiscated $12 million and suggest this is the tip of the iceberg.

This story comes just weeks after the release of the Pandora Papers, which detailed the ways in which the world’s wealthy hide money. The United States is one of the money-laundering capitals of the world, and the consequences of our lax financial legislation are coming home to roost. Experts say that because of the lack of transparency required in our financial transactions, hundreds of billions of dollars are laundered in the U.S. every year.

Another story from earlier in the month by Casey Michel in Politico reveals what happened to a small town in Illinois when a Ukrainian oligarch bought a factory there apparently in order to launder money. The townspeople believed they were looking at a new, prosperous future with new investment in the town, only to watch the abandoned factory decay. And then, miraculously, another investor appeared, but that man, too, seems to have been using the purchase simply to launder money. Now, the factory is decrepit and must be dismantled at great cost to the town, along with the townspeople’s dreams.

The second story that caught my attention today is the continuing news dropping from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Today we learned that a Facebook researcher created a profile that appeared to be of a political conservative North Carolina mother and that within five days, Facebook’s algorithm was steering the profile toward QAnon, a conspiracy theory touting then-president Trump as a secret warrior against a widespread pedophilia ring in the highest levels of government.

Although the fake profile did not follow those recommended groups, the profile was then inundated with groups and pages full of hate speech and disinformation. Other stories recently have emphasized that Facebook officials knew of the radicalization of users before the January 6 insurrection but declined to address the issue.

People often make the mistake of thinking that Facebook profits from the advertising it sells to users, but in fact the system works the opposite way. A media company profits from packaging users to sell to advertisers. Facebook has sliced and diced its users so that it can sell us with pinpoint accuracy to political interests eager to divide us or drive our votes.

It appears we now have hard evidence that the company knew its algorithms were peddling disinformation to divide us, and it did not fix them.

Tonight’s third story is that former president Trump’s loyalists set up a “command center” in mid-December at Washington, D.C.’s famous Willard Hotel to try to overturn the election. Those meeting to come up with a scheme to overturn the will of the voters included John Eastman, who wrote the memo outlining how Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to count the electors for certain states and thus throw the election to Trump; Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani; adviser Stephen K. Bannon; former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, a convicted felon pardoned by Trump; One America News reporter Christina Bobb; and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.

It is significant that as this story has hit the news, Eastman, the author of the infamous memo, is running from it. He went to the respected conservative magazine National Review to argue, quite preposterously, that his memo was simply a thought exercise that he did not endorse.

The very choice of the Willard, rather than Trump's own hotel, suggests an attempt to create distance from the president, but Kerik, who rented the rooms, billed the Trump campaign for the $55,000 hotel bill. (Those participating are likely to discover that campaign activity is not part of official duties and so cannot be covered by executive privilege.)

To me, these three stories are as illustrative of this moment as the three crucial stories in the January 1903 edition of McClure’s Magazine were of the corruption that led to the Progressive Era. In that famous 1903 magazine, investigative journalists Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and Ida Tarbell exposed the political and corporate corruption that were silencing the voices of individuals in the United States and driving them into poverty.

The first two of today’s stories suggest the rise of global capital in our financial system and its power over us through the dominant influence of social media, a new technology most of us don’t understand particularly well. That power has led to the third story: the attempt of a president who has lost an election to turn to a Big Lie, spread through social media, that his victory has been stolen from him, and that his supporters must take matters into their own hands.

KIeptocrats, autocrats, and criminals are making a strong bid to control our country.

Will they succeed?

Maybe. But in a similar moment after 1903, the American people reasserted the rule of law.

HippieChick58 9 Oct 24
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4 comments

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1

If only the people like my twin sister would read things like Heather Cox Richardson. My twin's last message via FB was, she's done with me. She thinks my view of the world is stupid and dangerous because I do not see the reality. Since she won't read Heather's letters or her history of the republican party I have even plagiarized some stuff from Heather's letter to try and inform her. Her response was, "Well, since you're so versed in history why haven't you run for office." Then she informs me even her husband has bought a gun. My brother in law is the most mild mannered, avoid confrontation and nicest guy she was ever with. She must fear the hordes of invaders and and angry dems she hears about on fox and oann and now has him believing it. She knows the dark money is a problem but it's Hillary and the child sex ring and business corruption doing the money laundering.

I ask myself the same question, will they succeed?

One thing I've noticed is that the older people get the more paranoid they get. I've seen it lots of times and try to learn from others and not to allow unfounded fear get the better of me. Sounds like someone else who is not mild mannered might be a bully. Perhaps she forced him into getting a gun.

@JackPedigo I do know what you are talking about, I saw it with my mom as her health really started going down hill. It was when I went to help clean and get the house set up so mom could stay in her home and not go to assisted living I saw the mean streak and bully in my twin. It sorta scared me but mostly made me sad.

3

Funny, but one would think with all the skulduggery by the wealthy more would demand these people start paying their fair share of taxes.

The Facebook issue was the first item covered in the latest "Atlantic" monthly. It was also covered on several pages in the latest Seattle Times.

Of course all these schemes have been long traditional standards. Seems we never learn. Teddy Roosevelt dealt with a myriad of schemes by large corporations over 115 years ago. "A Progressive reformer, Roosevelt earned a reputation as a "trust buster" through his regulatory reforms and antitrust prosecutions. His presidency saw the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which established the Food and Drug Administration to regulate food safety, and the Hepburn Act, which increased the regulatory power of the Interstate Commerce Commission." It is often said the more things change the more they stay the same.

3

What's going on is an attempt, by Lawyers, to eliminate law's (many born from 1903) and remake the nation for their comforts. Finding angles which question laws are what Lawyers do (so-called "good" one's often find successful angles) and they've now figured out how to nullify the entire structure of the nation. They don't care what that means because they believe either they, or those of their family, will do the rewriting and that will then be law. They are doing this to make money and laundering it is easy in a nation with no ability to declare something unlawful.

6

The treachery of these cretins goes to the deepest depth of evil.

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