Category: History

A Few “Founding” Myths

As with all history there myths that get passed around so much that soon become a fact….but in reality they are still a myth no matter how many times they are uttered.

As a political Historian I feel it necessary to corr4eect a bunch of the myths that we have lived with for generations.

10 myths that we all know and have heard…..

  • The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776. Though the Declaration was adopted by Congress on July 4, the document wasn’t signed by most of the delegates until August 2.
  • Thomas Jefferson didn’t sign the Constitution. Though Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence, he missed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia because he was serving as the United States’ envoy in Paris at the time.
  • Neither did John Adams. Like Jefferson, Adams was away from the United States at the time it was signed. He was in London serving as the United States minister to Great Britain.
  • The Founding Fathers didn’t originally want the turkey as the United States’ national symbol. The debate over the Great Seal began in 1776 and lasted six years, involving ideas about religious and mythical scenes. The turkey was not a close contender.
  • The Liberty Bell probably didn’t ring after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Historians say it’s unlikely the bell rung because the steeple that housed the bill was rotted at the time. It’s also unlikely it cracked that day.
  • There weren’t originally 13 colonies. Until 1776, Delaware was legally considered a lower county of the colony of Pennsylvania. It left to become an independent state in 1776.
  • There’s no proof Betsy Ross created the the first American flag. According to National Geographic, the only evidence Ross played any part in designing or sewing the American flag that made its debut in 1777 is testimony from her family. Likewise, there’s no proof Ross didn’t create the flag, and several reasons she may have done so.
  • Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. They were both written on parchment, though some early drafts of the documents could have been written on the widely-used hemp.
  • Most of the Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t sign the Constitution. Only six signed both: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read,James Wilson and Roger Sherman.
  • The Constitution doesn’t say “All Men Are Created Equal.” That language is contained within the Declaration of Independence; the original Constitution included provisions such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress.

That will do for now….

Class Dismissed

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

From Debs To The DSA

As we count down to our next election and then the next general we should start looking beyond the silliness that is this two party system that has actually given this country nothing but grief.

Just have to throw some light on the Left in this country from late 19th century and into the 20th….yes it is a boring history lesson but a lesson that should be taught and learned….there is so much we can do as Americans and we need to be reminded of our strenth and power.

Eugene Debs….a tireless fighter for worker rights and unions….jailed several times for his work and even ran for president from prison….actually he ran for president 5 times starting in 1904 through 1920 and each time he got over 3% of the vote.  He was a tireless antiwar spokeman which got him arrested again for his opposition to American involvement in WW1….his voice lead the way for countless others, like myself, to see the problems and protest for a better nation.

Much of U.S. political commentary today oozes with pessimism: red-blue tribalism, the government shutdown, the alt-right … the list of fracture points is long. But for revolutionary socialists—those of us who believe an equitable world is possible if working people rise up and end capitalism—the picture is not all bad. A historic strike wave of teachers rolled across many regions of the country last spring, followed by the recent L.A. teachers’ revolt. Class struggle remains on the agenda, and many want an alternative to capitalism.

Given the increased interest in socialism, it’s worth defining the S-word: Does it refer to European Social Democracy (a la Sweden), the early Soviet Union, Cuba or something else entirely? Many people believe that socialism is foreign to the United States, a view that only reinforces the bourgeois status quo. In reality, socialist politics has a rich tradition in the U.S. and has influenced, as well as led, a variety of social movements. Today’s generation of radicals have the challenge of rescuing the best elements of the American socialist tradition from oblivion so we can effectively learn from the past and prepare for tomorrow.

When Bernie Sanders identified himself as a democratic socialist, Google searches for “socialism” spiked. Millions want to understand the legacy of socialist politics—what was achieved and what failed. In the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America has become the greatest beneficiary of renewed interest in socialism, with membership surging beyond 50,000. As a multitendency organization, the DSA has certain commonalities with the old U.S. Socialist Party (SP), the first anticapitalist party with real influence on American soil.

Most radicals today recognize the important achievements of the SP in the first decades of the 20th century. It led historic strikes, elected hundreds of its members to local and national offices and developed an array of newspapers—in a word, it made socialism relevant to American workers. That Eugene V. Debs, the SP’s most notable public figure, gained about a million votes for president while sitting in a jail cell for opposing World War I is proof positive that the Socialist Party is worth learning from.

https://www.leftvoice.org/from-debs-to-the-dsa-rescuing-americas-revolutionary-tradition/

The argument will be that the US is not going to embrace socialism…..and that is true only because of the distorted visions that the centrist want to present as facts.

Eighty-four percent of independent voters told pollsters last fall that “the United States is in a political crisis.” Democrats and Republicans flip back and forth on these kinds of questions depending on which team won the most recent election. But unaffiliated voters, the largest part of the electorate, are deeply concerned in ways that can’t be soothed by the next swing of the pendulum. Indeed, each “vibe shift” further convinces them that the system is see-sawing out of control.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5873079-american-dissatisfaction-political-system/

All this leaves open for a new way of politics….but will the American have enough energy to find the alternative?

AS it is today I do not think they will….they are too set ion their ways to change…..but as the society deteriorates all things are possible…..and now is the time to start the search for a better tomorrow.

Will we?

Or will we just pick ‘not the other guy”?

What will it be?

Change or more of the same?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Hate Defeatism!

“…Land of the free and home of the brave…”

When I returned from Vietnam I began my campaign of protesting the war and I was met with an amazing amount of defeatism…..I started my protests for after seeing that war first hand I could stand by and turn my head and ignore the horrors and the sacrifices.

Defeatism can be found in most aspects of life….your life, your job, etc but for this post I want to address political defeatism.

Personally I hate defeatism to me it is just throwing hands up and accepting crap and no inclination to change things.

First we need to define the term so there is NO confusion.

Defeatism….is a term used to describe an individual’s mindset or attitude characterized by a pervasive belief that failure is inevitable, and success is unattainable. This defeatist thinking can manifest in various aspects of life, including work, relationships, and personal goals. It often leads to a lack of motivation, low self-esteem, and a reluctance to take on challenges.

There seems to be a wealth of defeatism these days especially on blogs….it is fear that drives this cancerous feeling.

…

I can’t say for certain, but I got the clear sense that there is a wide-spread fear among Americans these days of openly expressing opposition to the aspiring orange tyrant in the White House. Putting an anti-Trump bumper sticker on a car could lead to vandalizing of the vehicle, saying something critical of Trump could mean losing friend, a job, or ruining a family gathering. I even heard that one of my J-School alums didn’t want to sign the Class of ‘69 protest letter or even to have a copy of it sent to his email address, explaining to a mutual friend that “I still have a journalism job” and thus even being associated with such a document!

A common comment I heard from people when I expressed my outrage at Trump’s executive orders like the blocking of already-awarded federal research grants, the revoking of already-approved Green Cards and student visas for foreign students, the deportation of children who are US citizens, and the president’s ignoring of judicial and even Supreme Court orders, has been a dismissive and resigned “Yeah, that’s the new normal now.”

I cannot recall observing that sort of defeatism and fear during the dark years of American atrocities in Indochina. When we learned of massacres of civilians in Vietnam by US troops, or of the carpet bombing by B-52s of North Vietnam and later of Cambodia, the news fueled mass marches across the country and in the nation’s capital.

…

This is the only way to stop what Shipler and I are noticing: a withdrawal from protest. That cannot be allowed to happen. As Shipler writes, “History is still in the hands of the people, for a time. Whether this enters American history as a passing phase or a fundamental turning point will depend on whether Americans mobilize. To make courage contagious. ‘In a free society,’ said Abraham Joshua Heschel during the civil rights movement, ‘some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/15/fear-of-protesting-trump-policies-spreads-in-us/

Then there is apathy….defeatism and apathy go hand in hand and to the ruination of the nation….

A new kind of plague has spread across the West: the plague of resignation, marked by diminished voter turnout and a general retreat from political engagement. People feel frustrated by a system that seems to yield little change, regardless of their involvement. But treating this “plague” requires an understanding of its cause. While it’s easy to diagnose public sentiment as apathetic and cynical, we must ask what fuels this mindset and what might reverse it.

At the heart of this apathy is a deep-seated reluctance to self-examine or step beyond comfort zones. Many, especially on the political left, hold fixed beliefs about who holds power and who bears responsibility for society’s ills. There’s a pervasive notion that those in power are inherently to blame, that the powerful are perpetually working against the interests of ordinary people. This perspective is often accompanied by the view that any issue of injustice or inequality can be traced back to the “evil” actions of the elite. The public, in turn, finds a certain comfort in this approach. It allows people to feel moral and justified, focusing their frustrations outward rather than examining their own roles and responsibilities.

Apathy and defeatism: the plague of politics

American history will be written by the people.  Will you be part of the ‘brave’ or part of the defeatism that is striking fear in Americans hearts?

Even at my advanced age I refuse to live in fear and reject defeatism in all it’s forms

Who will stand with me?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

As We Approach 250 Years

Soon we will be celebrating this country’s 250th year in existence (some say it may be the last celebration we have)…and since moist Americans are completely ignorant about our history I thought I would do my part to try and help them understand our history and why we did the things we did.

One of the best summations of our collective history was done by US Military Academy historian, Maj. Danny Sjursen…..I include his series here from the very early days to the election of Barack Obama…it is a lot to take in but it does give a complete background to the events that made this country.

If you truly love this country then I suggest to read these and see just why….

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10; Part 11; Part 12; Part 13; Part 14; Part 15; Part 16; Part 17; Part 18; Part 19; Part 20; Part 21; Part 22; Part 23; Part 24; Part 25; Part 26; Part 27; Part 28; Part 29; Part 30; Part 31; Part 32; Part 33; Part 34; Part 35 ; Part 36.

There is also another source that makes for excellent learning…..Howard Zinn’s , A People’s History Of The United States, can be found everywhere and especially on Amazon.

I want everyone to know our history all the good, the bad and the ugly for all of it is what made us what we were.

Please let me know what you thought of the series.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“Lego ergo scribo”

Celebrate 250 Years

The Hill has put together a list of the events that will be celebrating our 250th birthday….I include them here on IST in case anyone wants to join in the celebration….

All this begins tomorrow….

May 7 – Alexander Hamilton Monument Rededication

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will host a rededication ceremony for the Alexander Hamilton Monument, which has undergone a restoration process.

The bronze statue was first dedicated in May 1923 and installed outside of the U.S. Treasury Building, right around the corner from the White House.

“Fittingly, the White House has been loaned a portrait of former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and the ‘sea letter’ signed by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in honor of America’s 250th birthday,” an event bio on the organizing committee’s website said.

Sea letters were required national identification documents for ships in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 1794 document signed by Washington and Jefferson authorized the travel of a vessel involved in the slave trade from New York to Trinidad, according to the Library of Congress.

May 17 – Rededicate 250  (of course that fake christian had to inject his brand of bullshit into this celebration)

America’s 250th planning committee is hosting a prayer event on the National Mall, featuring a speech from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth is outspoken about his Christian faith, and he recently faced controversy after he drew a comparison between the media and a Bible passage.

“Join Americans from every state to give thanks for 250 years, pray for the future, and rededicate our nation as One Nation under God,” the committee said in an event flyer shared on social media.

Other speakers include former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson and President Trump-aligned Catholic Bishop Robert Barron. In addition to these speeches, the event will feature religious songs and storytelling.

(skip this one for it has nothing to do with the establishing of the usa)

May 24 – America 250 Family BBQ and Cookout

The Defense Department is encouraging all overseas installations to host cookout events at the end of May to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

The department asked these military bases to invite U.S. expatriates and local communities to engage in the events on May 24.

(This one has all the earmarks of a political rally not something to celebrate the founding principles)

May 25 – Memorial Day National Observance

The planning committee is coordinating a “solemn, reverent and unified” day to commemorate the sacrifices of fallen U.S. soldiers on Memorial Day.

In addition to events taking place across the country on this day of remembrance, a national ceremony will be held at the Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater at noon May 25.

This will celebrate the fallen not the founding)

there iks much more faux celebrations that will be opportunities to lambast opponents of Donny and his band of idiots.

June 3 – Fish Fry

The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will host its annual Fish Fry.

The event has been held for more than 40 years, typically in June, with hiatuses in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It usually attracts more than 1,000 people and is held at the department’s Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., according to a 2020 press release.

The Fish Fry is reserved for guests of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, congressional members and Commerce Department staff. This year’s event will feature Freedom 250 decorations and a “Made in the USA” theme, according to the planning committee’s website.

June 25 – The Great American State Fair

The National Mall will serve as the grounds for the “Great American State Fair” from June 25 to July 10.

Each day of the 16-day event will center around a different theme, like military and veterans’ appreciation and health and well-being. The fair will showcase culture from federal agencies and America’s 56 states and territories.

The planning committee advertised Wyoming dust roping, CHamoru dancing from Guam, and an Arizona desert experience.

Additionally, Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a call for original art submissions from students across the country for a chance to win a trip to Washington and have their artwork featured at the event.

Students in grades 3-12 are encouraged to share art they created inspired by historical figures featured in the National Garden of American heroes. A winner will be selected from each state, and the deadline to submit artwork is May 1.

July 4 – Independence Day Celebrations

The Department of Interior will host Independence Day celebrations on the National Mall in the nation’s capital, as well as across the U.S. in places like Mount Rushmore, Gateway Arch National Park, Grand Coulee Dam, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Additionally, the grand opening for former President Theodore Roosevelt’s library in Medora, N.D., is set on America’s 250th birthday. The event will feature a drone light performance on the evening of July 4.

The presidential center will pay homage to the 26th commander in chief’s “frontier spirit” and legacy as a conservationist. Tickets for the opening ceremony have sold out, but people interested in visiting the library are encouraged to plan their trips for later this summer.

The world’s largest peacetime armada, featuring tall ships and naval vessels from more than 30 nations, will also sail into New York Harbor on July 4. The event will include a parade, naval review, fireworks and festivals near the statue of Lady Liberty.

August 21 – IndyCar Street Race

The Department of Transportation is coordinating the first-ever street race in the nation’s capital later this summer with IndyCar.

The 1.7-mile course released by the motor racing organization last month loops around several historic sites on the mall in Washington, including the National Archives, National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Trump, an avid fan of motor racing, announced the race in an executive order earlier this year to “showcase the majesty of our great city as drivers navigate a track around our iconic national monuments in celebration of America’s 250th birthday.”

Fall 2026 – Patriot Games National Competition

The inaugural “Patriot Games” is scheduled to be held some time this fall. The four-day event will feature two high school athletes — one boy and one girl — from each U.S. state and territory.

Trump announced the “unprecedented four-day athletic event” last December.

Social media users and some Democrats have drawn unfavorable comparisons between the event and “The Hunger Games,” a fictional bloody competition from the eponymous dystopian book series.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5848096-what-to-know-about-events-marking-americas-250th/

Every one of these has nothing to do with the founding of this wonderful country and everything to do with the shoddy and tacky mind of a deranged psychopath, Donny.

Nothing about the events that brought this country to the forefront of the planet as the ‘beacon of freedom’.

Even the event on the 4th sounds more like a tacky Donny reality show than a celebration.

This is all so much bovine fecal matter.

Enough said!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Why The 2nd?–Revisited

I was bored today…..so I thought I would toss a grenade and see where the damage would be…..

With all the shootings lately I expected to see some sort of revival of the 2nd Amendment debate…..so far I have been disappointed….I guess it is up to me to get the engines firing….

Many years ago while the nation was in the middle of one of our famous gun rights debates I wrote a post that was the highlights of a longer article I wrote explain why I felt the 2nd was put into the BoR.

As history buff I am always interested in the opinions on defining moments in our history….

I re-post my original for readers to get a feel of my thinking…..

Why The 2nd?

I recently came across another article that looked deeper into the 2nd than the mindless twaddle that people try to use in the debate these days….

One mass shooting after another, one accidental child death after another tears through this country on an almost daily basis. Once again, lawmakers hide behind “thoughts and prayers,” while clinging to an amendment that has been twisted beyond recognition. But to understand why the Second Amendment exists at all, we must strip away the myths and confront a brutal truth: it was not written to safeguard freedom, but to preserve slavery.

The militias it enshrined were never about defending homes from tyrants abroad but about keeping human beings in chains at home. Until America reckons with this history, we will remain shackled to its bloody legacy.

So, let’s clear a few things up.

The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says “state” instead of “country” (the framers knew the difference—see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave-patrol militias in the Southern states, an action necessary to get Virginia’s vote to ratify the Constitution.

It had nothing to do with making sure mass murderers could shoot up public venues and schools. Founders, including Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison, were totally clear on that, and we all should be too.

In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were called “slave patrols” and were regulated by the states.

In Georgia, for example, a generation before the American Revolution, laws were passed in 1755 and 1757 that required all plantation owners or their male white employees to be members of the Georgia Militia, and for those armed militia members to make monthly inspections of the quarters of all slaves in the state. The law defined which counties had which armed militias and required armed militia members to keep a keen eye out for slaves who may be planning uprisings.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-second-amendment-was-created-to-put-down-slave-revolts/

Please let your thoughts be known.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Lesson To Be Learned

Welcome to Cinco De Mayo…..

Most of my long time regulars know that I am fascinated with World War One….the carnage and the dumbass decision made by leaders….one of the biggest bone head decisions was Churchill’s attack on the Dardanelles at  Gallipoli…

A little history to help with the understanding of where I am going….

The ongoing deadlock on the Western Front led the Allies to formulate plans to attack Turkey, an ally of the Central Powers. If the Turkish capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) was attacked via the Dardanelles Straits, it might relieve the pressure on Britain’s ally Russia. It could also open a supply route to Russia through the Black Sea and at best knock Turkey out of the war altogether.

Plans were made for a naval expedition to seize the Dardanelles in February and March 1915. Given their strategic importance, the straits were well defended by minefields and fortifications. There were also many Turkish gun emplacements on the Gallipoli peninsula to the north and the Asian coast to the south.

When the naval attacks failed to destroy these defences, it became clear that troops would have to seize the peninsula and destroy the guns and minefields. Only then could the Royal Navy force the straits and push on to Constantinople.

However, the naval operation had alerted the Ottomans to the danger of an attack in the region. Any Allied landing had now lost the crucial element of surprise.

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/gallipoli

Just a little background because Donny is still thumping his chest about sending in ground troops in and around the Straight of Hormuz….but will that be the disaster that Gallipoli was?

The Iran war reminds us small strategic moves can mushroom into expanding military commitments. The United States decided to blockade Iranian ports by controlling access to and from the vital Strait of Hormuz, as a response to Iran’s asserting control over it – which it had long threatened to do if attacked.

In its list of conditions to end the war, Iran is for the first time demanding recognition of its sovereignty over the waterway – considered the world’s most critical energy corridor. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s key maritime choke points: strategic corridors where large volumes of global trade pass through extremely limited space.

A heavy price has often been paid for assuming this type of operation will be over quickly and easily.

America’s allies might wisely consider this history now – particularly as the April 25 anniversary of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, which aimed to open the way to the Black Sea during World War I, approaches.

https://theconversation.com/gallipoli-has-4-lessons-for-the-strait-of-hormuz-crisis-280723

Just like Gallipoli the Straight is about the flow of trade and keeping the lanes open.

Gallipoli was a mind numbing disaster and I feel that the Straight and Kharg Island will meet the same fate.

Do we want such another failure on our all but stellar record of war?

I say screw it!  Time to end this stupid non-productive war and recall all our troops and ships and let diplomacy (if they remember what that is) do what it was designed top do.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribol”

May Day 2026

Happy May Day!

Today is the first of May and the International Day of the Worker….how many know the history behind May Day?

You know me any chance to drop some history and I am there…..

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is a holiday celebrating workers and the history of labor organizing. Every year on May 1st, working people around the world join together for a day of remembrance and demonstrations. The holiday is a significant display of international solidarity and worker power. In Los Angeles, May Day unites the labor movement with advocates for immigrant rights and other community organizations.

The origins of May Day can be traced back to international labor organizing in the late 19th century. The holiday originated from a movement demanding improved working conditions and greater recognition for workers’ contributions. In 1884, a national federation of unions announced a campaign to establish an eight-hour workday by May 1, 1886. Workers in cities across North America went on strike leading up to that date in one of the era’s largest and most tumultuous periods of worker unrest.

In May 1886, police in Chicago shot striking workers, prompting activists to organize a protest in the city’s Haymarket Square. When a bomb exploded at that protest, killing one police officer and wounding others, police opened fire into the crowd, resulting in the deaths and injuries of both police and protesters. Eight protesters were arrested for inciting violence. The ensuing trial was considered by many to be unfair and resulted in the execution of seven of the eight men (1). This series of events would come to be known as the “Haymarket Incident” or “Haymarket Affair.” The image below is a newspaper clipping reporting on the executions from the Watertown Republican, November 16, 1887. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress’ “Chronicling America” digital project (2).

In the years following 1886, international labor groups and socialist advocates endorsed the commemoration of May 1 as International Workers’ Day or May Day. In some places around the world the “Chicago Martyrs” are still memorialized in May Day activities. But in the U.S., May Day celebrations became less common during the height of the Cold War.

What is May Day?

May Day should always be about the worker and their place in society.

Do not let some pseudo-intellectual tell you any different.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Shameful Experimentation

Time for some history….(this is where you can tune out if so desired)….

Most of us old farts remember the horrific medical experimentation done by the likes of Mengele, Eichmann, Himmler, et al.,…these quacks used prisoners as guinea pigs….and they were condemned by the rest of the world as purveyors of genocide.

The sad part is the younger generation cannot seem to come up with one prison camp name…..

In 2025, 48% of Americans ages 18-29 could not name a single concentration or death camp, according to a survey by the nonprofit Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which works to secure compensation and restitution for Holocaust survivors.

Another 53% of surveyed Americans said that they had encountered Holocaust “denial or distortion while on social media.”

Given their ages, approximately 70% of living Holocaust survivors will likely die by 2035. As they do, more and more people will never hear firsthand experiences about the atrocities Nazis perpetuated during the genocide of European Jews.

My research shows that Holocaust education and awareness, though, doesn’t always follow a linear path.

How sad is that?   6 million dead and no one can be bothered to remember them.  But I guess you gotta be old to remember this shit.

The US and others were just as guilty of unethical experiments like Tuskegee Syphilis Trials, the UK’s Porton Down Chemical Trials, and others were also involved…..

Research involving human subjects is littered with a history of scandal that often shapes people’s views of the ethics of research. Often the earliest cited case is English physician Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, where he injected an eight-year-old child with the pus taken from a cowpox infection and then deliberately exposed her to an infected carrier of smallpox.

Although Jenner’s experiment was, fortunately, successful, the method of exposing a child to a deadly disease in this way would undoubtedly nowadays be seen as unacceptable. Perhaps the most notorious cases of unethical research were revealed during the Nuremberg trials concerning Nazi experiments on concentration camp prisoners. This “research” included involuntary sterilisation, inducing hypothermia, and exposing subjects to diseases such as tuberculosis.

There are also examples of government-run research that took advantage of the vulnerability of the subjects to ensure their participation and which resulted in the subjects experiencing severe harms, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis trials or the UK-run Porton Down chemical experiments in which 11,000 military personnel were exposed to mustard and nerve gas between 1939 and 1989.

https://theconversation.com/human-experiments-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-39876

But one of the most horrendous experiments was done by the CIA, the MKULTRA….

MKUltra[a] was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in altering human behavior.[1] The term MKUltra is a CIA cryptonym: “MK” is an arbitrary prefix standing for the Office of Technical Service and “Ultra” is an arbitrary word out of a dictionary used to name this project. The program has been widely condemned as a violation of individual rights and an example of the CIA’s abuse of power, with critics highlighting its disregard for consent and its corrosive impact on democratic principles.[2]

Project MKUltra began in 1953 and was halted in 1973. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects’ mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals without the subjects’ consent. Additionally, other methods beyond chemical compounds were used, including electroshocks,[3] hypnosis,[4][5] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.[6][7]

Project MKUltra was preceded by Project Artichoke.[8][9] It was organized through the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[10] The program engaged in illegal activities,[11][12][13] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as unwitting test subjects.[11]: 74 [14][15][16] MKUltra’s scope was broad, with activities carried out under the guise of research at more than 80 institutions aside from the military, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[17] The CIA operated using front organizations, although some top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA’s involvement.[11]

Project MKUltra was revealed to the public in 1975 by the Church Committee (named after Senator Frank Church) of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford‘s United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (the Rockefeller Commission). Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA director Richard Helms‘s order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the small number of documents that survived Helms’s order.[18] In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings.[11][19] Some surviving information about MKUltra was declassified in 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra

Read this if you are not familiar with the tactics of the CIA and how they manipulated American citizens with horrific experiments.

Do not condemn anyone until you see what the CIA is capable of doing….

Korean prisoners of war in the 1950s were subjected to early MK-ULTRA experiments while in American custody, according to recently declassified CIA documents which confirm these experiments for the first time.

The only reporting that previously referenced Koreans being used as guinea pigs for these experiments was journalist John Marks’s landmark 1979 book, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate.” Using CIA documents, Marks traced the now-infamous MK-ULTRA project to its start, when it was known as Project Bluebird. In the book, Marks describes how, in October 1950, 25 unnamed North Korean POWs were chosen as the first test subjects to receive “advanced” interrogation techniques, with the overt goal of “controlling an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against such fundamental laws of nature as self-preservation.”

CIA Ran MK-ULTRA Experiments on Prisoners of War in U.S. Custody, Declassified Docs Confirm

I wish I could say that this type of human abuse has been eliminated but I bet that it still goes on and under tight secrecy……use Iraq as an example.

Before you set about condemning the nazis just look around the US has been no better.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It Could Be 1892

I know when I go off on one of my historic perspectives there are a bunch of eye rollings and altogether indifference…..but you could learn something and why is that a bad thing?

You read that right….1892….that was when the Populist Party came into national view…..and the preamble says it all…..in that year and as well as our year….

The conditions which surround us best justify our co-operation; we meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled to isolate the voters at the polling places to prevent universal intimidation and bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self-protection; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn despise the Republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and millionaires.

…

We have witnessed for more than a quarter of a century the struggles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people. We charge that the controlling influence dominating both these parties have permitted the existing dreadful conditions to develop without serious effort to prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now promise us any substantial reform. They have agreed together to ignore, in the coming campaign, every issue but one. They propose to drown the outcries of a plundered people with the uproar of a sham battle over the tariff, so that capitalists, corporations, national banks, rings, trusts, watered stock, the demonetization of silver and the oppressions of the usurers may all be lost sight of. They propose to sacrifice our homes, lives, and children on the altar of mammon; to destroy the multitude in order to secure corruption funds from the millionaires.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/populist-party-platform-1892

Tell me we are not reliving those dark days yet again.

Those words written over a hundred years ago could have been written yesterday.

If you want a closer look at what these people were proposing…..then look no further…..

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-populist-party-platform/

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”