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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on April 15, 2024 at 1:34 am
Blacks, charging police with brutality and racism, are increasingly strident in demanding an end to both.
On March 3, 1991, Rodney King, a black motorist, was severely beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers. Captured on video, the beating came during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated.
On April 29, 1992, the jury acquitted the officers of assault. The verdict touched off six days of rioting, resulting in 63 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses.
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, a black man, was choked to death in Staten Island by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo. His “crime”: Selling single cigarettes without a tax stamp.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white high school dropout, gunned down three black men and six black women at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
And on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a part-time security guard, was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Nationwide rioting erupted, and at least 200 cities imposed curfews. At least 27 states and Washington, D.C., activated over 62,000 National Guard troops in response to the protests.
Then-President Donald Trump, frightened by protests in Washington, D.C., disappeared into the White House bunker. Later, he ordered U.S. Park police to clear nearby Lafayette Park of a peaceful demonstration so he could stage a photo-op at St. John’s Church.
But blacks have not been the only victims of brutality by racist police or vigilantes.
Fifty years ago, whites—not blacks—-were the targets of black men intent on waging a race war.
From October 20, 1973 to April 20, 1974, San Francisco was rocked by a series of random, brutal attacks against whites. The assailant was at first thought to be a lone black gunman.
The toll finally reached 16 murders, five woundings, one rape, and the attempted kidnapping of three children.
The rampage, however, was not limited to San Francisco. Throughout California—from Bakersfield to San Diego—at least 93 other whites were murdered, according to later police investigations.
The killing spree did not end until May 1, 1974, with a surprise raid by heavily-armed San Francisco police.
What follows is an inside account of the “Zebra” death cult, as depicted through the grand jury testimony of the star witness against the killers: Anthony C. Harris.
At 28, Harris was a fifth-dan kung-fu expert who always dressed well and spoke softly. He also had firsthand knowledge of the “Zebra murders.”
Anthony Harris
Born in Long Beach, California, in 1946, Anthony Cornelius Harris got as far as the sixth grade. He clashed often with police and, on January 3, 1969, he was convicted for assaulting a policeman.
He was released from prison in May, 1970, when he won a reversal of his sentence at the California Supreme Court.
But he was once again arrested and convicted, in 1971, of second-degree burglary in Los Angeles. For this, he drew a sentence at San Quentin prison.
And he also met two of the future “Zebra” killers: Manuel Moore and Jessie Lee Cooks.
Cooks had been convicted of robbery; Moore had been sent to prison for burglary. Both wanted Harris, a fifth-dan kung-fu expert, to teach them the martial arts.
Cooks wanted to learn kung-fu so he could kill whites “because they had castrated and killed our ancestors and stomped our babies’ heads in.”
While an inmate at San Quentin prison, Harris became a devout member of the Nation of Islam.
At that time, the spiritual leader of the Nation was Elijah Muhammad, who preached a gospel of black separatism and superiority. Muhammad taught that whites were literally the incarnation of evil, a race of “blue-eyed devils.”
Elijah Muhammed
To test the worthiness of His Chosen Black People, proclaimed Muhammad, Allah had allowed their 400-year persecution by these “bleached-out, grafted snakes.”
But that great testing period would soon come to its end. Then would follow the literal, heaven-sent destruction of all whites. At the conclusion of this divine slaughter, Allah would create a paradise earth for His Chosen Black People.
Harris, Moore and Cooks had a conversation in the temporary Muslim temple in the prison–about “killing people and cutting their heads off—just white people,” Harris later testified in court.
After Harris was paroled on October 15, 1973, he drifted into San Francisco. There he made a new friend—Larry Craig Green, who helped him into a job at the Black Self-Help, a Muslim-owned, furniture-moving company in the city.
Yet another new friend he made there was J.C. Simon.
Soon he was reunited with Jessie Cooks, who had been paroled in July. The release of Manuel Moore followed in November—as did his own arrival in San Francisco.
In September or October, 1973, Harris and 12 to 13 other Muslims—including Simon, Cooks and Green—et at J.C. Simon’s San Francisco apartment.
“They asked me,” Harris later testified, “was I able to kill anyone? Did I have my mind together? They wanted me to work in the [Muslim] temple” as a kung-fu instructor.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on April 12, 2024 at 12:13 am
During his 12-year reign, Adolf Hitler was the target of at least 42 assassination plots. The most famous of these was the one of July 20, 1944.
- So far as is known, Donald Trump has not been the target of even one.
In Hitler’s case, the plotters were officers of the German general staff—who believed the Fuhrer was leading Germany into a war it could not hope to win.
After the war’s outbreak (on September 1, 1939) most of the plotters were motivated by a desire to end the war before Allied—and especially Russian—soldiers reached Germany. But many plotters were motivated by sheer horror at the wholesale slaughters taking place in Poland and Russia.
Adolf Hitler
- In Trump’s case, a non-violent method for removal existed in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This allows the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to recommend the removal of the President when he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The Vice President then becomes President.
- No Cabinet members had the courage to invoke this.
- Within the Senate and House of Representatives, Republicans acted as a rubber stamp for his every infamy. When he praised North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-On or attacked Vietnam POW John McCain, they stayed silent. When he falsely charged massive voter fraud, Republicans stayed silent or loudly parroted his lies.
- Their most notorious example of ambition-fueled cowardice occurred on February 5, 2020. That was when the Republican-dominated Senate—ignoring the overwhelming evidence against him—acquitted Trump on both impeachment articles: Obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
- At the Pentagon, American generals stood mute as Trump repeatedly sided with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency—and even gave classified CIA Intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
- And just as high-ranking field marshals in Hitler’s Wehrmacht held their tongues when he insulted them, so, too, did American generals when Trump belittled their intelligence and even patriotism.
- When Trump arbitrarily decided to remove American forces from Syria and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned in protest in 2018. But then he was simply replaced by Mark Esper.
- Despite the fact that many of these men regularly came into contact with Trump, not one of them apparently plotted his removal.
- Similarly, Trump repeatedly attacked the integrity of the men and women of the FBI—even firing its director, James Comey, for daring to investigate Russia’s subversion of the 2016 election. If its agents—steeped in Federal criminal law—built a case for Trump’s indictment and prosecution, it has never come to light.
- Neither did any of his Secret Service agents register the slightest protest, despite his arrogant behavior toward them. He forced them to work without pay during his 35-day government shutdown in 2018. And he forced them to accompany him to COVID-infected states—both during the Presidential campaign and afterward. Many of them became stricken with this often fatal disease as a result.
Donald Trump
On November 3, 2020, 81,255,933 Democratic voters elected former Vice President Joseph Biden the 46th President of the United States. Trump, running for a second term, got 74,196,153 votes.
Yet almost two months after the election, Trump refused to concede, insisting that he won—and repeatedly claiming falsely that he is the victim of massive vote fraud.
This toxic lie was feverishly embraced by millions of Right-wingers, and cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the Biden administration.
This refusal to acknowledge the outcome initially denied Biden access to the money, information-sharing and machinery traditionally accorded the President-elect. Trump himself was the beneficiary of such assistance in 2016, after his win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Only on November 23, 2020 was Biden acknowledged as the winner by the General Services Administration, as the Trump administration finally began the formal transition process.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the country. More than 400,000 Americans died, by the time Trump left office. Hospitals were filled to capacity, and millions faced starvation and/or eviction.
Yet Trump remained obsessed with his loss, and did nothing to coordinate the Federal response to the pandemic.
Trump’s refusal to accept reality posed an unprecedented danger to democracy: No presidential candidate had ever refused to concede defeat once all the votes were counted and legal challenges resolved.
By refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, Trump took on the classic mantle of of a dictator.
Right-wing Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase urged Trump to declare martial law and allow the military to “oversee” another election. So did disgraced ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, whom Trump pardoned for lying to the FBI about private talks he had with a Russian official.
Reports have surfaced that Trump considered doing so.
History has recorded an active German resistance movement against Adolf Hitler—including no fewer than at least 42 assassination attempts. And posterity has honored its members, many of whom died heroically for standing firm against a brutal tyrant.
To its eternal shame, the same cannot be said of America during the reign of Donald Trump.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on April 11, 2024 at 12:16 am
On July 20, 1944, Colonel Claus Schenk von Stuaffenberg tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
He had served with the Wehrmacht in Poland (1939), France (1940) and the Soviet Union (1941).
While serving in Tunisa, he was seriously wounded on April 7, 1943, when Allied fighters strafed his vehicle. He lost his left eye, right hand and two fingers of his left hand after surgery.
Colonel Claus Schenk von Stuaffenberg
Nevertheless, he now acted as the prime mover for the conspiracy among a growing number of German high command officers to arrest or assassinate Germany’s Fuehrer.
For most of these officers, the motive was craven: The “happy time” of German victories was over. Germany was losing the war it had unleashed on the world in 1939—and now they feared the worst.
This was especially true now that the numerically superior forces of the Soviet Union had gone onto the offensive.
For Stauffenberg, there was another reason: His disgust at the horrors he had seen committed by his fellow Wehrmacht soldiers upon defenseless POW’s and civilians in Russia.
Thus, Stauffenberg—more than many Germans–knew firsthand the vengeance his country could expect if the “Thousand-Year Reich” fell.
Something must be done, he believed, to prove to the world that not all Germans—even members of the Wehrmacht—were criminals.
Most of the conspirators wanted to arrest Hitler and surrender to British and American forces—well before the much-feared Russians gained a toehold in Germany.
Stauffenberg didn’t want to arrest Hitler; he wanted to kill him. A live Hitler might eventually be rescued by his Nazi colleagues.
But Hitler was a closely-guarded target. He was surrounded by fanatical bodyguards who were expert marksmen. He often wore a bulletproof vest and a cap lined with three pounds of laminated steel.
Adolf Hitler
Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1990-048-29A / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)%5D
But his single greatest protection—he claimed—was an instinct for danger. He would suddenly change his schedule—to drop in where he was least expected. Or suddenly depart an event where he was expected to stay a long time.
That instinct had repeatedly saved his life.
A series of assassination attempts had been made against Hitler. All of them involved time-bombs. And all of the would-be assassins were members of the German General Staff.
In one case, a bomb secretly stashed aboard Hitler’s plane failed to explode. In another, an officer who had a bomb strapped to himself unexpectedly found his scheduled meeting with Hitler called off. He had to rush into a bathroom to defuse the bomb before it exploded.
Stauffenberg intended to carry his bomb—hidden in a briefcase—into a “Hitler conference” room packed with military officers. Rigged with a time-fuse, it would be left there while he found an excuse to leave.
After the explosion, he would phone one of his fellow conspirators with the news.
Stauffenberg intended to direct the new government that would replace that of the Nazis—and open peace talks with the British and Americans.
With Hitler dead, the coup—“Operation Valkyrie”—would be on.
Anti-Nazi conspirators would seize control of key posts of the government. The British and Americans would then be informed of Germany’s willingness to surrender. Provided, of course, that the vengeance-seeking Russians did not have a say in its postwar future.
The Wehrmacht and Schutzstaffel (SS) had killed millions of Russians. Many had died in combat. Others had been murdered as captives. Still more had been allowed to die by starvation and exposure to the notorious Russian winter.
So the Germans—both Nazi and anti-Nazi—knew what they could expect if soldiers of the Soviet Union reached German soil.
On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg appeared at Hitler’s well-guarded military headquarters in East Prussia. Like all his other outposts, Hitler had named it—appropriately enough—“Wolf’s Lair.”
“Wolf’s Lair”
Stauffenberg entered the large, concrete building while the conference was in session. He placed his yellow briefcase next to Hitler—who was standing with his generals at a heavy oaken table. Then he excused himself to take an “urgent” phone call.
After Stauffenberg left the room, Colonel Heinz Brandt, standing next to Hitler, found the briefcase blocking his legs. So he moved it—to the other side of the heavy oaken support, partially shielding Hitler from the blast..
At 12:42 p.m. on July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg’s briefcase bomb erupted.
Brandt died, as did two other officers and a stenographer.
Hitler not only survived, but the plotters failed to seize the key broadcast facilities of the Reich.
This allowed Hitler to make a late-night speech to the nation, revealing the failed plot and assuring Germans that he was still alive. And he swore to flush out the “traitorous swine” who had tried to kill him.
Mass arrests quickly followed.
Among the first victims discovered and executed was the conspiracy’s leader, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Standing before a makeshift firing squad at midnight, he cried: “Long live our sacred Germany!”
At least 7,000 persons were arrested by the Gestapo. Of these, 4,980 were executed.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on April 10, 2024 at 12:13 am
“When Fascism comes to America, it will be called anti-Fascism.”
–Huey Long, Louisiana Governor/Senator
In the Twilight Zone episode, “No Time Like the Past,” Paul Driscoll (Dana Andrews), a scientist in early 1960s America, uses a time machine to visit Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II.
He’s rented a motel room overlooking the balcony from where the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler will soon make a speech. And he’s eager to watch that speech—through the lens of a telescopic-sighted rifle.
Just as he’s about to pull the trigger, there’s a knock at his door–by the maid. Driscoll hustles her out as soon as possible, then once again picks up his rifle. He—and viewers—can once again see Hitler through the cross-hairs of his weapon.
Paul Driscoll prepares to shoot Adolf Hitler
But instead of the anticipated shot, there’s another knock at his door—his time by the black-uniformed secret police, the SS. Driscoll knows the game is up, and disappears into the present just as the thugs break down his door.
And the audience is left to ponder how different the world would have been if Driscoll—or someone in Nazi Germany—had succeeded in assassinating the man whose wars would wipe out the lives of 50 million men, women and children around the globe.
One 2016 Republican candidate for President dared to invoke the menace of Nazi Germany in warning of the dangers of a Donald Trump Presidency. And to argue that Americans could prevent that past from returning.
In November, 2015, John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, was peddling a message of creating jobs, balancing the Federal budget and disdain for Washington, D.C.
John Kasich
But he remained far behind in the polls, dropping 50% in support in just one month—from September to October. Meanwhile, Trump, the New York billionaire developer, was being backed by 25% of Republican primary voters.
So, with nothing to lose, Kasich decided to take off the gloves. He invoked the “N” word for Republicans: Nazi.
He authorized the creation of a TV ad that opened with ominous music—and the face of a snarling Donald Trump.
“I would like anyone who is listening to consider some thoughts that I’ve paraphrased from the words of German pastor Martin Niemoeller.”
The voice belonged to Tom Moe, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force—and a former Vietnam prisoner-of-war.
“You might not care if Donald Trump says Muslims must register with the government, because you’re not one,” continued Moe.
“And you might not care if Donald Trump says he’s going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants, because you’re not one.
Donald Trump
“And you might not care if Donald Trump says it’s OK to rough up black protesters, because you’re not one.
“And you might not care if Donald Trump wants to suppress journalists, because you’re not one.
“But think about this:
“If he keeps going, and he actually becomes President, he might just get around to you. And you’d better hope that there’s someone left to help you.”
Martin Niemoeller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who had commanded a U-boat during World War 1. He became a bitter public foe of Adolf Hitler.
A staunch anti-Communist, he had initially supported the Nazis as Germany’s only hope of salvation against the Soviet Union.
But when the Nazis made the church subordinate to State authority, Niemoeller created the Pastors’ Emergency League to defend religious freedom.
For his opposition to the Third Reich, Niemoeller spent seven years in concentration camps.
With the collapse of the Reich in 1945, he was freed—and elected President of the Protestant church in Hesse and Nassau in 1947. During the 1960s, he was a president of the World Council of Churches.
He is best remembered for his powerful condemnation of the failure of Germans to protest the increasing oppression of the Nazis:
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists, but I was not a Socialist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
Neither “Adolf Hitler” nor “Nazi Party” was mentioned during the one-minute Kassich video. But a furious Trump threatened to sue Kasich if he could find anything “not truthful” within the ad.
Apparently he couldn’t find anything “not truthful,” because he never sued.
So threatened the man who had called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and accused President Barack Obama of being a Muslim and an illegal alien.
The Kasich ad was the darkest attack made against Trump by any candidate—Republican or Democrat. And it raised a disturbing question:
If Donald Trump proved to be America’s Adolf Hitler, would there be an American Claus von Stauffenberg?
Colonel Claus Schenk von Stuaffenberg was the German army officer who, on July 20, 1944, tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
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In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on April 9, 2024 at 12:12 am
To understand Donald Trump’s hold on American hopes—and fears—imagine the following:
German dictator Adolf Hitler loses the war he had started. But instead of committing suicide, he succumbs to pressure to resign as Fuhrer.
Despite overwhelming evidence against him, he is never brought to trial for:
- Conspiring to seize power during the Weimar Republic.
- Suppressing opposition political parties, freedom of speech, press and basic civil rights.
- Starting World War II.
- Waging aggressive war.
- Ordering the German Army to commit systematic and premeditated acts of brutality against the civilian populations of Europe.
- Being responsible for the deaths of 50 million men, women and children (including those slaughtered by his allies Italy and Japan).
- Having ordered the annihilation of the Jews, resulting in six million deaths by murder or starvation.
Adolf Hitler
Instead of facing prosecution for his crimes, he is:
- Given a lavish pension.
- Round-the-clock protection by elite bodyguards.
- Allowed to once again become a candidate for the highest elected office in the country.
- Allowed, in campaigning for that office, to slander and/or threaten everyone he believes poses the slightest threat to his candidacy.
Now, consider the case of Donald J. Trump. During his four-year Presidency, he:
- Repeatedly and viciously attacked the nation’s free press for daring to report his growing list of crimes and disasters, calling it “the enemy of the American people”—a phrase popularized by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
- Publicly sided with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against American Intelligence agencies—such as the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency—which unanimously agreed that Russia had interfered with the 2016 Presidential election.
- Used his position as President to further enrich himself, in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
- Attacked and alienated America’s oldest allies, such as Canada and Great Britain.
- Fired FBI Director James Comey for refusing to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump—and turn the FBI into Trump’s personal Gestapo.
James Comey
- Repeatedly attacked his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not “protecting” him from agents pursuing the Russia investigation—and fired him on November 7, 2018, the day after Democrats won a majority of House seats.
- Shut down the Federal Government on December 22, 2018, because Democrats refused to fund his “border wall” between the United States and Mexico. An estimated 380,000 government employees were furloughed and another 420,000 were ordered to work without pay.
- Gave highly classified CIA Intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Specifically: How Islamic State terrorists planned to turn laptops into concealable bombs.
Donald Trump
- Identified with and coddled such ruthless dictators as China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- Repeatedly attacked Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer—after she had been targeted for kidnapping and execution by Trump’s Right-wing followers.
- Allowed the deadly COVID-19 virus to ravage the country, infecting and killing more than 400,000 Americans.
- Attacked the medical experts and governors who urged Americans to wear masks and socially distance to protect themselves from COVID-19.
- Urged his followers to illegally vote twice for him in the 2020 Presidential election.
- Fired Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, for rejecting Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential election.
- Refused to accept the will of 80,117,438 voters who had made former Vice President Joe Biden President-elect of the United States.
- Illegally tried to pressure state legislatures and governors to stop the certification of the vote that had made Biden the President-elect.
- Incited his followers to violently attack the Capitol Building where Senators and Representatives were meeting on January 6, 2021, to count the Electoral Votes won by himself and Biden. His objective: Stop the count, which he knew would prove him the loser.
After the Third Reich collapsed in May, 1945, Germans didn’t allow surviving Nazis to try to revive it. Yet that is precisely the situation the United States now faces.
Donald Trump was twice impeached. In 2019, he faced two charges:
- Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
And in 2021, he was charged with:
- Incitement of insurrection.
In both cases, the evidence against him was overwhelming. And, in both cases, Right-wing Republicans ignored it and acquitted him.
Had he been convicted in either case, he would have lost:
- His Presidential pension
- His Secret Service protection
- His legal right to hold office again
But Republican Senators—out of lust for power and/or fear of opposing Trump—unleashed on the United States a man dedicated only to his own greed, egomania and vindictiveness.
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) typified their desire to appear “law and order” tough. Immediately after Trump incited his followers to attack Congress on January 6, 2021, he said: “If this isn’t impeachable, I don’t know what is.”
Then he voted for acquittal.
And, on March 6, 2024, after Trump won a series of Republican Presidential primaries, McConnell said: “It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”
The democratic Weimar Republic of Germany (1919 – 1933) found itself menaced by ruthless Fascists, betrayed by its supposed allies, and defended by liberals unwilling to forcefully defeat its enemies.
The same combination of forces are now on full display in the United States.
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In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 27, 2024 at 12:12 am
Throughout the 1930s, Fascism seemed to be on the rise, democracy seemed to be on the wane.
The latter was especially true in Great Britain and France.
World War 1 had left Europe devastated and disillusioned. Britain had lost 880,000 men, which amounted to six percent of the adult male population.
For France, the losses were worse: About six million, including 1.4 million dead and 4.2 million wounded. This amounted to roughly 71 percent of those who had fought.
The Cenotaph, in London, honoring the unknown British dead of World War 1
Nazi Germany, by contrast, seemed robust and purposeful, not just waiting for the future but creating the future it desired: “Volk” festivals, party rallies, awards, uniforms, pageantry were everywhere—climaxed by the country’s hosting of the 1936 Olympics.
In foreign affairs Germany proved equally on the march: First retaking the demilitarized Rhineland between itself and France (1936); then annexing Austria (1938); then Czechoslovakia (1938).
Today, many Right-wing Americans believe that democracy no longer serves their needs—or even ensures their survival. They have turned to authoritarianism—rule by a strongman who demands strict obedience at the expense of personal freedom.
And the strongman they are rallying behind—for now—is Donald Trump.
In the 2023 novel, The Mitford Affair, by Marie Benedict, Sydney Bowles, the matriarch of the aristocratic Mitford family, cheers for a Nazi victory over Great Britain: “We must not win this war….What will become of your sisters if Great Britain wins?
“I mean, Diana and [her husband, Oswald] Mosley are here in England, but they’ve publicly aligned themselves with fascism generally and [Adolf] Hitler specifically. We must follow their lead and do all we can to make sure the right thing happens. And Unity—“
This is a reference to Unity Valkyrie Mitford, the sister who has spent five years in Germany hoping to seduce its Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler into becoming her own.
Nancy Mitford, Sydney’s daughter, is appalled: “Not only is she placing the needs of her two favorite children above the rest…but she’s putting them above what’s best for the entire nation. And urging me to commit treason—like her and my sisters apparently—in the process.”
During a visit to Diana’s home, Nancy is further outraged by a series of silver-framed photos of her sisters taken during their visits to Nazi Germany: “I am barraged by pictures of Diana and Unity with Hitler, [Joseph] Goebbels and decorated Nazi officers.…
Unity and Diana Mitford posing with SS soldiers
“There are my sisters giving the Nazi salute, smiling against a backdrop of soldiers, and even sharing a meal with the Nazi leaders.”
A warning from her cousin, Winston Churchill, the future prime minister, finally leads her to betray Diana’s plans to set up a pro-Fascist radio station to aid Nazi Germany:
“Imagine what damage a radio station in enemy hands broadcasting across England could do—creating easy communication between the enemy within and the enemy without, as well as sending out propaganda and false information to the British people.”
Today, in the United States, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s role in placing Donald Trump in the White House is well-known. So are Trump’s sympathies with Putin. And so are those of many Republicans—such as the two men who showed up at a Trump rally in 2018 wearing: “I’d Rather Be Russian Than Democrat” T-shirts.
Repeatedly, Trump has made clear his antagonism toward NATO, the 74-year alliance between the United States and Europe that has contained Russian aggression.
Yet while Trump has viciously attacked the patriotism of Democrats generally and President Joseph Biden in particular, Democrats have been unwilling to directly call Trump a traitor.
Trump has called those arrested for violently trying to overturn the 2020 Presidential election “hostages” and “patriots.” He’s also predicted “a bloodbath” if he’s not re-elected in 2024.
It’s past time for the Biden administration to borrow a lesson from England: After Hitler launched his invasion of France, Churchill unleashed Defense Regulation 18B. This gave the government the power to detain anyone deemed a threat to the nation’s safety or subject to foreign influence.
No formal charges or a trial was necessary.
Marie Benedict ends her novel on a warning note for Americans: Fascists don’t change.
After being imprisoned separately, Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists [BUF] and his wife, Diana, are allowed to be confined together. Witnessing their prison reunion is Diana’s sister, Nancy.
“It’s really me, my darling. And we will never be parted again,” says Mosley.
“Never,” says Diana, with a fierceness that shocks Nancy, who thinks:
“I watch as my sister bestows upon her husband a wide, knowing, secret smile, and it is clear she remains entirely in his sway, just as I believe Unity was under Hitler’s.…
“I know with utter certainty that Diana could sacrifice everything—country, family, her own life—for this man and his cause.”
Similarly, there is literally no crime that Trump-–and his fanatical followers—are not willing to commit to establish a Right-wing dictatorship.
Like Winston Churchill, President Biden needs to order the Justice Department to take drastic action—now—to prevent this from happening.
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In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 26, 2024 at 12:26 am
Sometimes a historical novel can tell frightening truths about not only a past time but the present one.
Such is the case with The Mitford Affair (2023), by Marie Benedict.
The years 1933 through 1939 saw the rise of Nazi Germany and the embrace of Fascism by millions—not only Germans but those outside Germany.
Among these were members of England’s aristocratic Mitford family. As the book’s cover blurb states:
“Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes.
“Though they’ve weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister’s lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she’s become Adolf Hitler’s mistress.
“As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters’ constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.”
From 1933 to 1939, Adolf Hitler moved from triumph to triumph—rearming Germany, largely eliminating unemployment, lifting the morale of the vast majority of Germans. And as he did so, Fascism became increasingly popular, even chic.
Millions saw Fascism as their only protection against Communism. Democracy was widely regarded as too weak to compete with the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s legions.
While England was plagued by widespread unemployment and continuing disillusionment over the traumas of World War 1, Hitler’s Germany radiated a newfound pride and purpose.
Sisters Diana and Unity Mitford had their own private reasons for their attraction to Deutschland. Diane had married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). From Hitler, she hoped to gain funding for the BUF, and eventually did.
Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela Mitford in 1935
Later, she and Mosley sought the creation of a German-financed ratio station to aim propaganda at their fellow Britons. Both expected—and celebrated—the future conquest of England and its total domination by Hitler.
Unity, meanwhile, became obsessed with Hitler the man. She studied German to speak conversationally with him, and for 10 months staked out his favorite restaurant in hopes of meeting him.
Adolf Hitler
Her patience bore fruit when, after repeatedly noticing her, Hitler, through an adjutant, invited her to his table. He was charmed by her knowledge of German—and her middle name: “Valkyrie.”
In Norse mythology, Valkyries were maidens sent by the god Odin to choose the dead warriors who merited a place in Valhalla.
She won even greater favor from Hitler by giving an anti-Semitic speech at a Hitler Youth festival at Hesselberg and posting an open letter in Der Sturmer (“The Daily Stormer”), the rabidly anti-Semitic newspaper run by Julius Streicher:
“The English have no notion of the Jewish danger. Our worst Jews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will be able to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler. P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater.”
Unity Mitford
Eva Braun, Hitler’s secret mistress, saw Unity as a rival and attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and this led Hitler to bestow greater attention on her.
For five years—at dinners, concerts, party rallies and private meetings–-Hitler remained charmed by Unity and Diana. He reveled in the company of two beautiful women who were members of the British aristocracy—and proudly and openly Fascist.
And they, in turn, remained charmed by him—and excited at their proximity to his lethal power.
Yet, in the end, all three met with disaster.
Diana never got the German radio station for her husband. Instead, she and Mosley found themselves imprisoned as German collaborators after England declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.
Oswald Mosley
Unity, devastated that the two countries she most loved were now at war, shot herself in the temple with a small pistol Hitler had given her for protection. She survived, but remained a vegetable for the rest of her life.
Hitler paid her doctor bills, and when she was able to speak asked her if she wanted to remain in Germany or return to England. She chose England, so Hitler arranged her transportation by ambulance to neutral Switzerland. Her mother and youngest sister, Deborah, met her there and escorted her back to England.
She died on May 28,1948, of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet.
On April 30, 1045, having lost the war he had unleashed, Hitler shot himself in his underground bunker.
The Mitford Affair ends in April, 1941, so there is no mention of the death of Unity or Hitler, or the release of Diana and Oswald Mosley from prison in 1943 due to Mosley’s ill health. They were placed under house arrest until the end of the war and denied passports until 1949.
Although the novel centers on characters and incidents that reach back almost a century ago, it’s packed with truths increasingly relevant to America as it nears the 2024 Presidential election.
Those truths will be explored in Part Two of this series.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on March 22, 2024 at 1:17 am
It was the night of March 5, 1836. For the roughly 200 men inside the surrounded Alamo, death lay only hours away.
Inside a house in San Antonio, Texas, Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was holding a council of war with his generals.
For 12 days, his army had bombarded the old mission. Still, the Texians—whose numbers included the legendary bear hunter and Congressman David Crockett and knife fighter James Bowie—held out.
Now Santa Anna was in a hurry to take the makeshift fortress. Once its defenders were dead, he could march on to sweep all American settlers from Texas.
One of his generals, Manuel Castrillón, urged Santa Anna to wait just a few more days. By then, far bigger cannon would be available. When the Alamo’s three-feet-thick walls had been knocked down, the defenders would be forced to surrender.
The lives of countless Mexican soldiers would thus be spared.
Santa Anna was eating a late-night chicken dinner. He held up a chicken leg and said: “What are the lives of soldiers but those of so many chickens?”
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Santa Anna ordered his generals to prepare an all-out attack on the Alamo, to be launched the next morning—March 6, 1836—at 5 a.m.
Hours later, the attack went forward. Within 90 minutes, every Alamo defender was dead—and so were at least 600 Mexican soldiers.
“What are the lives of Americans but those of so many chickens?”
That could well be the slogan of President Donald Trump in his approach to COVID-19.
The United States has become the country worst-affected by Coronavirus—with more than 8.38 million diagnosed cases and more than 222,000 deaths.
Coronavirus
Americans are living through their tenth month with the virus, and still the Trump administration cannot—or will not—design a coordinated plan to combat it.
Trump started out 2020 by dismissing COVID-19 as a threat. On January 22 he said: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
By February 28, he had termed the disease the Democrats’ “new hoax.”
By March, he was making it clear that each state was responsible for securing its needed supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for its doctors and nurses aiding Coronavirus patients.
This resulted in a dog-eat-dog atmosphere of cutthroat competition and scarcity, with Americans not only fighting the virus but each other.
Even worse: Trump didn’t simply refuse to provide states with vitally-needed medical supplies—he ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to illegally seize those supplies that states had ordered.
Donald Trump
When states’ governors issued stay-at-home orders, Trump was forced to cancel his campaign rallies. Starting Easter weekend, he held almost 50 daily press briefings at the White House.
Their official purpose: To update the country on the administration’s ongoing response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Their real purpose: To serve as a substitute for Trump’s hate-filled political rallies, which have been likened to those staged by Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, at Nuremberg.
Eager to return to his mass rallies and reignite his support from Right-wingers, he began furiously campaigning to end social distancing and the wearing of masks. Both of these had been mandated by such governors as California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo.
He also demanded the reopening of businesses across the nation—although no vaccine nor even adequate testing and contact-tracing facilities existed. This led many states—especially in the South and Midwest—to reopen prematurely, with a resulting rise in COVID infections and deaths.
He urged his Right-wing supporters to flood into the capitols of such states as Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia—whose governors were Democrats—and demand an end to mask-wearing and social distancing. This was in direct defiance of the laws legally in force in those states.
And they did as he ordered—massing shoulder-to-shoulder, most of them not wearing masks, and with many of them carrying automatic rifles.
On April 23, at a White House press briefing, he suggested that UV light and disinfectant—such as Clorox—might prove an effective preventative or cure for Coronavirus. This prompted alarm from medical professionals—even as some Americans believed him and swallowed disinfectant to prevent COVID-19.
Unable—or unwilling—to effectively attack the virus, Trump chose to attack the medical professionals desperately trying to save lives. He accused them of hoarding scarce medical supplies and lying about the number of COVID cases they were treating.
As fall approached, Trump demanded that Americans risk the lives of their children by sending them back to school. This would allow their parents to return to work. Then Trump could claim that he had “saved” the American economy—and be re-elected.
His chief target: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. There were two reasons for this:
- Fauci repeatedly warned about the dangers of the virus—and criticized the failures of the Federal Government to effectively combat it; and
- His warnings repeatedly proved correct—while Trump’s rosy predictions proved wrong.
Finally, Trump wanted Americans to simply ignore the virus—and re-elect him.
Like Santa Anna, Trump could have easily said: “What are the lives of Americans but those of so many chickens?”
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In Bureaucracy, History, Humor, Politics, Self-Help, Social commentary on March 18, 2024 at 12:11 am
Every family has one—or several: Right-wing relations or friends who treat every word of former President Donald Trump as if it comes down from God Himself.
Who furiously assert that:
- Climate change is still a Democratic hoax.
- The Trump administration completely stopped illegal immigration.
- Legitimate media stories of Trump’s crimes and failures are “fake news.”
- Every civil and criminal case filed against Trump is part of a conspiracy by President Joe Biden to sabotage Trump’s 2024 candidacy for President.
- Only Trump can be trusted to safeguard America.
What to do?
There are three methods to cope with such behavior.
Method One: Challenge the Stormtrumper
Bring up an embarrassing incident that even the Stormtrumper can’t deny.
Example: A Stormtrumper falsely accuses Democratic President Joseph Biden of “groping” women.
Response: Mention how Trump openly bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy.” Then ask: “Would you leave your mother / wife / sister alone in a room with him?”
Donald Trump
No matter how the Stormtrumper replies, you have him.
- If he says “No, I wouldn’t,” then ask: “How can you support a candidate like this?”
- If he says “Yes, I would,” then assert: “So you’d leave your mother / wife / sister alone with an admitted sexual predator? What does that say about you?”
Odds are the Stormtrumper will back off—or try to change the subject.
If he opts for the latter, don’t let him. Keep attacking him for supporting a sexual predator until he flees or shuts up.
Method Two: Fight Fire With Fire
Trump has long relied on slanders and insults to successfully attack his opponents—in business, politics and media.
These have included:
- Falsely accusing the father of Texas United States Senator Rafael “Ted” Cruz of being a party to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- Falsely accusing Barack Obama—who was born in Hawaii—of being born in Kenya, and therefore ineligible to be President.
- Falsely accusing Democratic Vice Presidential Kamala Harris—who was born in Oakland—of being born outside the United States.
Such slanders and insults can be attacked with counter-slanders and insults.
For example: It’s widely assumed that Trump’s disastrous response to the COVID-19 plague resulted from mere incompetence. But it could have been a deliberate sabotaging of the American healthcare system.
Why?
To curry favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Trump’s effusive embrace of Putin—and the monies he’s received from Russian oligarchs—are well-known. Perhaps he chose to weaken the United States to pay off that debt.
Vladimir Putin
If this assertion is false, let the Stormtrumper prove it.
And insults can be countered with insults—such as:
- Commissar-in-Chief
- Fake President
- TrumPutin
- Red Donald
- DJTraitor
- Carrot Caligula
- Trumpy Traitor
- Coronavirus-in-Chief
There’s no need to insult your Stormtrumper friend/relative (unless you want to).
Just keep jabbing at his infamous idol. If he ends your relationship because you don’t subscribe to his brand of treason and criminality, the loss is his.
Of course, if he insults you and you feel like responding, here are two replies that are always useful:
- “Everybody has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege.”
- “Do you always support criminals and traitors?”
Then walk out, hang up and/or block him if he’s on your Facebook or Twitter page.
Method Three: Use Diplomacy
But suppose you don’t want to get into a verbal (and possibly physical) combat with your Stormtrumper relative/friend—or even your boss.
At the same time, you don’t want to prostitute your integrity by agreeing with the sheer ignorance and/or treason coming out of his/her mouth. (And often it’s impossible to tell which is at play.)
In that case, you can honorably defuse the situation by simply saying: “Of course.”
Most Stormtrumpers come from the ranks of high school dropouts or, at best, graduates.
They dismiss legitimate news media who chronicle Trump’s crimes and failures as “fake news.” Thus, they remain—proudly—ignorant of what’s going on in the world.
In short, they’re not exactly the sharpest knife in the box.
So when you say, “Of course,” they will most likely think you’re agreeing with them. When what you mean is: “Of course only a moron and Fascist like you would believe that.”
This will save you from wasting your time in trying to educate them. (Remember the adage: “Never try to teach a GOPig how to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the GOPig.”)
It also allows you to preserve the relationship. (That’s assuming you want a relationship with someone who actively supports a master criminal and traitor.)
* * * * *
The key thing to remember when dealing with Stormtrumpers is what Ernest Hemingway said about Fascism: “Fascism is a lie told by bullies.”
Stormtrumpers are Fascistic bullies who tell lies. They give you two choices: You can be their slave—or their enemy.
If you choose to be their slave and you have any sense of self-worth, you will despise yourself for doing so.
If you choose to fight, you might not win, but you’ll have preserved your own integrity—which the Stormtrumper forfeited long ago.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 15, 2024 at 12:12 am
On November 22, 2019, Mark Shields—a liberal syndicated columnist—and David Brooks—a conservative one for The New York Times—reached disturbingly similar conclusions about President Donald Trump’s efforts to extort a “favor” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
DAVID BROOKS: “What strikes me [is] that everyone was in the loop, that this was not something they tried to hide.
“This was just something they thought was the way politics gets done or foreign policy gets done, that there’s no division between personal gain and public service.”
MARK SHIELDS: “What I have underestimated….is the fear that Donald Trump exercises over Republicans. I mean, people talked about Lyndon Johnson being a fearsome political leader. They don’t even approach. I mean, he strikes fear into the hearts of Republicans up and down the line. And I think that….has been eye-opening in its dimensions.”
Nor did the GOP try to reign Trump in.
In a November 14, 2019 column, “Republicans Can’t Abandon Trump Now Because They’re All Guilty,” freelance journalist Joel Mathis warned: “Trump’s abuses of power mirror those of the GOP as a whole. Republicans can’t turn on him, because doing so would be to indict their party’s entire approach to politics.”
For example:
- At the state level, GOP legislatures have passed numerous voter ID laws over the last decade. Officially, the reason has been to prevent non-citizens from voting. In reality, the motive is to depress turnout among Democratic constituencies.
- When Democrats have won elections, Republicans have tried to block them from carrying out their policies. In Utah, voters approved Medicaid expansion at the ballot box—but Republicans nullified this.
- In North Carolina, Republican legislators prevented voters from choosing their representatives. Instead, Republican representatives chose voters through partisan sorting. In September, the state’s Supreme Court ruled the legislative gerrymandered district map unconstitutional.
The upshot of all this: “The president and his party are united in the belief that their entitlement to power allows them to manipulate and undermine the country’s democratic processes….”
On November 21, 2019, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, attacked Republicans’ total rejection of the overwhelming evidence linking Trump with extortion:
Adam Schiff
“But apparently, it’s all hearsay. Even when you actually hear the President….that’s hearsay. We can’t rely on people saying what the President said. Apparently, we can only rely on what the President says, and there, we shouldn’t even rely on that either….
“We should imagine he said something about actually fighting corruption, instead of what he actually said, which was, ‘I want you to do us a favor, though. I want you to look into this 2016 CrowdStrike conspiracy theory, and I want you to look into the Bidens.’
“I guess we’re not even supposed to rely on that because that’s hearsay….That would be like saying you can’t rely on the testimony of the burglars during Watergate because it’s only hearsay, or you can’t consider the fact that they tried to break in because they got caught. They actually didn’t get what they came for, so, you know, kind of no harm, no foul. That’s absurd.
“The difference between [Watergate and Trump’s attempted extortion of Ukraine] is not the difference between [Richard] Nixon and [Donald] Trump. It’s the difference between that Congress and this one. And so, we are asking, where is Howard Baker? Where are the people who are willing to go beyond their party to look to their duty?
“But the other defense besides ‘It failed, the scheme failed, they got caught,’ the other defense is ‘The President denies it.’ Well, I guess that’s case closed, right?
“….This President believes he is above the law, beyond accountability. And in my view, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical President who believes they are above the law.”
* * * * *
The United States has indeed become a polarized country. But it’s not the polarization between Republicans and Democrats, or between conservatives and liberals.
It’s the polarization between
- Those intent on enslaving everyone who doesn’t subscribe to their Fascistic beliefs and agenda—and those who resist being enslaved.
- Those who believe in reason and science—and those who believe in an infallible “strong man” who rejects both.
- Those who cherish education—and those who celebrate ignorance.
- Those who believe in the rule of law—and those who believe in their right to act as a law unto themselves.
- Those who believe in treating others (especially the less fortunate) with decency—and those who believe in the triumph of intimidation and force.
Those who hoped that Republicans would choose patriotism over partisanship got their answer on February 5, 2020. That was when the Republican-dominated Senate—ignoring the overwhelming evidence against him—acquitted Donald Trump on both impeachment articles: Obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power.
It’s natural to regret that the United States has become a sharply divided nation. But those who lament this should realize there is only one choice:
Either non-Fascist Americans will destroy the Republican party and its voters that threaten to enslave them—or they will be enslaved by Republicans and their voters who believe they are entitled to manipulate and undermine the country’s democratic processes.
There is no middle ground.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
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WHEN BLACKS SLAUGHTERED WHITES: PART ONE (OF FIVE)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on April 15, 2024 at 1:34 amBlacks, charging police with brutality and racism, are increasingly strident in demanding an end to both.
On March 3, 1991, Rodney King, a black motorist, was severely beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers. Captured on video, the beating came during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated.
On April 29, 1992, the jury acquitted the officers of assault. The verdict touched off six days of rioting, resulting in 63 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses.
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, a black man, was choked to death in Staten Island by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo. His “crime”: Selling single cigarettes without a tax stamp.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white high school dropout, gunned down three black men and six black women at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
And on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a part-time security guard, was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Nationwide rioting erupted, and at least 200 cities imposed curfews. At least 27 states and Washington, D.C., activated over 62,000 National Guard troops in response to the protests.
Then-President Donald Trump, frightened by protests in Washington, D.C., disappeared into the White House bunker. Later, he ordered U.S. Park police to clear nearby Lafayette Park of a peaceful demonstration so he could stage a photo-op at St. John’s Church.
But blacks have not been the only victims of brutality by racist police or vigilantes.
Fifty years ago, whites—not blacks—-were the targets of black men intent on waging a race war.
From October 20, 1973 to April 20, 1974, San Francisco was rocked by a series of random, brutal attacks against whites. The assailant was at first thought to be a lone black gunman.
The toll finally reached 16 murders, five woundings, one rape, and the attempted kidnapping of three children.
The rampage, however, was not limited to San Francisco. Throughout California—from Bakersfield to San Diego—at least 93 other whites were murdered, according to later police investigations.
The killing spree did not end until May 1, 1974, with a surprise raid by heavily-armed San Francisco police.
What follows is an inside account of the “Zebra” death cult, as depicted through the grand jury testimony of the star witness against the killers: Anthony C. Harris.
At 28, Harris was a fifth-dan kung-fu expert who always dressed well and spoke softly. He also had firsthand knowledge of the “Zebra murders.”
Anthony Harris
Born in Long Beach, California, in 1946, Anthony Cornelius Harris got as far as the sixth grade. He clashed often with police and, on January 3, 1969, he was convicted for assaulting a policeman.
He was released from prison in May, 1970, when he won a reversal of his sentence at the California Supreme Court.
But he was once again arrested and convicted, in 1971, of second-degree burglary in Los Angeles. For this, he drew a sentence at San Quentin prison.
And he also met two of the future “Zebra” killers: Manuel Moore and Jessie Lee Cooks.
Cooks had been convicted of robbery; Moore had been sent to prison for burglary. Both wanted Harris, a fifth-dan kung-fu expert, to teach them the martial arts.
Cooks wanted to learn kung-fu so he could kill whites “because they had castrated and killed our ancestors and stomped our babies’ heads in.”
While an inmate at San Quentin prison, Harris became a devout member of the Nation of Islam.
At that time, the spiritual leader of the Nation was Elijah Muhammad, who preached a gospel of black separatism and superiority. Muhammad taught that whites were literally the incarnation of evil, a race of “blue-eyed devils.”
Elijah Muhammed
To test the worthiness of His Chosen Black People, proclaimed Muhammad, Allah had allowed their 400-year persecution by these “bleached-out, grafted snakes.”
But that great testing period would soon come to its end. Then would follow the literal, heaven-sent destruction of all whites. At the conclusion of this divine slaughter, Allah would create a paradise earth for His Chosen Black People.
Harris, Moore and Cooks had a conversation in the temporary Muslim temple in the prison–about “killing people and cutting their heads off—just white people,” Harris later testified in court.
After Harris was paroled on October 15, 1973, he drifted into San Francisco. There he made a new friend—Larry Craig Green, who helped him into a job at the Black Self-Help, a Muslim-owned, furniture-moving company in the city.
Yet another new friend he made there was J.C. Simon.
Soon he was reunited with Jessie Cooks, who had been paroled in July. The release of Manuel Moore followed in November—as did his own arrival in San Francisco.
In September or October, 1973, Harris and 12 to 13 other Muslims—including Simon, Cooks and Green—et at J.C. Simon’s San Francisco apartment.
“They asked me,” Harris later testified, “was I able to kill anyone? Did I have my mind together? They wanted me to work in the [Muslim] temple” as a kung-fu instructor.
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