When Will We Learn? – part 1
by Harry Browne
Published September 12, 2001 at 1:00am

"The terrorist attacks against America comprise a horrible tragedy. But they shouldn’t be a surprise.

It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth – that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda. But sanity was a prior casualty: it was the loss of sanity that led to war in the first place.

Our foreign policy has been insane for decades. It was only a matter of time until Americans would have to suffer personally for it. It is a terrible tragedy of life that the innocent so often have to suffer for the sins of the guilty.

When will we learn that we can’t allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?

President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush, senior, invaded Iraq and Panama. President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And on and on it goes.

Did we think the people who lost their families and friends and property in all that destruction would love America for what happened?

When will we learn that violence always begets violence?

Teaching lessons

Supposedly, Reagan bombed Libya to teach Muammar al-Gadhafi a lesson about terrorism. But shortly thereafter a PanAm plane was destroyed over Scotland, and our government is convinced it was Libyans who did it.

When will we learn that “teaching someone a lesson” never teaches anything but resentment – that it only inspires the recipient to greater acts of defiance.

How many times on Tuesday did we hear someone describe the terrorist attacks as “cowardly acts”? But as misguided and despicable as they were, they were anything but cowardly. The people who committed them knowingly gave their lives for whatever stupid beliefs they held.

But what about the American presidents who order bombings of innocent people – while the presidents remain completely insulated from any danger? What would you call their acts?

When will we learn that forsaking truth and reason in the heat of battle almost always assures that we will lose the battle?

Losing our last freedoms

And now, as sure as night follows day, we will be told we must give up more of our freedoms to avenge what never should have happened in the first place.

When will we learn that it makes no sense to give up our freedoms in the name of freedom?

What to do?

What should be done?

First of all, stop the hysteria. Stand back and ask how this could have happened. Ask how a prosperous country isolated by two oceans could have so embroiled itself in other people’s business that someone would want to do us harm. Even sitting in the middle of Europe, Switzerland isn’t beset by terrorist attacks, because the Swiss mind their own business.

Second, resolve that we won’t let our leaders use this occasion to commit their own terrorist acts upon more innocent people, foreign and domestic, that will inspire more terrorist attacks in the future.

Third, find a way, with enforceable constitutional limits, to prevent our leaders from ever again provoking this kind of anger against America.

Patriotism?

There are those who will say this article is unpatriotic and un-American – that this is not a time to question our country or our leaders.

When will we learn that without freedom and sanity, there is no reason to be patriotic?"

#September11
#NeverForget
#NeverForget911
#911Anniversary
When Will We Learn? – part 2

Published September 14, 2001 at 1:00am

My article last Tuesday “When Will We Learn?” provoked more controversy than anything I’ve ever written. In case there was any misunderstanding, here is what I believe:

1. The terrorist attack was a horrible tragedy and I feel enormous sympathy for those who were personally affected by it. I wrote my article hoping that, however unlikely, it might be possible to prevent such a thing from ever happening again.
2. I hope anyone responsible for the attack who didn’t die in it will be found, tried, and punished appropriately.
3. Terrorism by definition is the killing of innocent people in order to bring about some political or social change.
4. Terrorism may cause some changes in the short term, but it never leads to a conclusive victory, because it provokes a never-ending cycle of escalating violence on both sides.
5. The U.S. government has engaged in acts of terrorism over the past few decades – bombing and starving innocent people in foreign countries, supposedly to force their leaders to make changes the U.S. government desires. Terrorism doesn’t become “policing” or “justice” merely because it is our government doing it.
6. All Iraqis are not Saddam Hussein; all Serbs aren’t Slobodan Milosevic; all Afghanis (or Saudis) are not Osama Bin Laden.
7. Killing innocent people in retaliation for the sins of other people isn’t justice – it is terrorism. The terrorists were wrong to kill Americans to satisfy their grievances against American foreign policy. And to react to them by killing innocent foreigners would also be terrorism.
8. You can’t make productive decisions at a time when your mind is clouded by anger, resentment, or thoughts of revenge.

The reactions I’ve received have been roughly 50-50 regarding my position. Here are some of the objections people have made against my position.

Timing

“This was a bad time for you to say, ‘I told you so’ in such a poor fashion.”

I’m not saying, “I told you so.” I’m trying to stop future madness – against Americans and against foreigners. Should I wait until after our military invades Afghanistan before speaking out?

__________

“Now, of all times, is the time when we must support one another for the best.”

That doesn’t mean supporting the ill-conceived policies that led to this event.

__________

“It is time for our people to pull together against these sick terrorists. We could use your help too.”

To do what? Encourage our politicians to continue doing the very things that led to this? You’re demonstrating why I had to write the article. If we stand behind our leaders now, letting them speak for us “as one voice,” nothing will change. We will continue to see more acts by our government that will lead to more terrorist attacks on the U.S.

__________

“Don’t tell me to ‘stop the hysteria.’ This event merits hysteria, anger, sadness, and fear. I will be hysterical because it is the only thing I can do to show my countrymen that I mourn them.”

Hysteria creates lynch mobs and more killing of innocent people. Grief, anger, and resentment are all natural reactions to what happened. But letting your emotions make bad decisions is not a productive reaction.

__________

“What’s done is done and now we’re in the middle of this terrible mess. Maybe you’re right, maybe we should not be surprised that something was bound to happen. But, now what? We don’t need people criticizing our past mistakes at this moment. Save that for later. Right now we need immediate action.”

If we don’t understand the past mistakes, the “immediate action” taken will simply repeat those mistakes. Is that what you want?

My Motives

“You have lost my support by your political posturing in a time of crisis.”

Political posturing? Do you really think I expected to receive adulation for writing an article that goes so sharply against current public opinion?

__________

Between 1945 and 1947, 18 people were injected with plutonium, six with uranium, five with polonium, and at least one with americium by the Manhattan Project medical team. Only one of the subjects signed a consent form. The rest had no idea what was being injected into them.… https://t.co/JDiJpC6vz1twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
They wanted to understand the dangers facing Manhattan Project workers and how to protect them. They were, of course, developing a weapon to eviscerate over 100,000 Japanese civilians. There is even evidence that Oppenheimer himself approved shipments of plutonium and uranium to… https://t.co/rxWFix2o4ftwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Operation Atlantic Resolve is the most insanely provocative move toward #WW3 by the US empire yet. Use any & all measures to avoid being part of it. Learn conscientious objection. Don't give the US war machine more enforcers of its imperial will. #NoWar with #Russia over #Ukraine If the US was invaded, deploying reservists to Europe would be even more counterproductive than it already is.

https://t.co/zFZjtvfQDc

https://twitter.com/asoiaf_ftw2/status/1679630384471093249

Who remembers this dramatic moment?

A group of lawyers and generals watching in real-time as Osama Bin-Laden is killed in a culmination to the largest and most costly terrorist case in history.

Only that may not be what happened at all. Who did they kill and why?

A thread… A few weeks ago we covered this recent filing by the Guantanamo Military Commission which outlined the CIA’s involvement in the stages that led up to 9/11.

The raid on Bin Laden’s compound was a final step in that plan, complete with a “burial at sea” to destroy any evidence.

https://twitter.com/lpmisescaucus/status/1648262213214392320

Revisionism is about challenging the historical narratives regimes use to justify their own existences

"Isolationism" is about confining State violence to minimize its destruction of life, liberty, & property both foreign & domestic

Both are vital for a robust liberty movement

https://twitter.com/DeTahmineh/status/1657421070595489800

mises.org/library/case-r…

With Larry Page on the run, it’s a good time to revisit the ties between Google and the intelligence community. At the inception of mass surveillance in the US lies the partnership between government and Google. Page and company have paved the way to more efficient methods of intelligence- reducing the need for human intel gathering and placing your every search at their fingertips.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Thread with a few highlights from the CNN Town-hall with Donald Trump.

January 6th Trump on how he would have handled the war in Ukraine.
#CNNTownhall #TrumpCNN #ukraine

The US Virgin Islands are suddenly unable to locate Google co-founder Larry Page to serve him with a subpoena in lawsuit related to JP Morgan’s enabling of the Epstein child sex trafficking ring.

Thread. There are multiple ways to subpoena Mr. Page, but the Virgin Islands are only allowing service in person, a suspicious decision considering that they are well aware that he is likely to be at his New Zealand residence instead.

Even more suspicious is the Island’s history of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

You should be allowed to do heroin, but no one else should be forced to bear the consequences of that decision on your behalf.

Welfare forces responsible people to pay for the indiscretions of irresponsible ones and encourages risky behavior. People will unironically say things like this while stuffing their face until they look like a garbage bag filled with cottage cheese.

https://twitter.com/latoyab46541321/status/1655659232891469826

Publicly available radar data shows two US-linked aircraft equipped with sonobuoy in the Baltic before and during the Nordstream pipeline sabotage.

One of these aircraft was flying with no callsign or other identifiers. A Boeing PA8 Poseidon flying with no callsign appeared on the radar from the seas north of the United Kingdom, it reached the first Nordstream site at the approximate time of the first explosion. It then was refueled mid-air over Europe and went back over the Baltic at a low… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Footage of a drone attack on the Kremlin intercepted by electronic warfare. UPDATE
Russian is claiming this is a Ukrainian drone intended to assassinate Putin.

The EU is offering farmers 120% of their land value to close their farms and promise to stop production forever.

Meanwhile, a factory in Holland prints 500 tons of steaks per month on a 3D printer for hundreds of restaurants. Governments across the world are desperate to centralize food production.

https://twitter.com/joehadenuff/status/1653443313314168835

Jeffrey Epstein’s private calendar has been released which shows that he has numerous meetings with high level individuals after his conviction as a sex offender, including US intelligence officials. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… CIA chief William Burns met with Epstein three times while he was Deputy Secretary of State, one meeting at Epstein’s private residence.

Terrence Yeakey was a first responder to the OK City bombing. He saw something in that wreckage that caused him to become paranoid and went on a mission to tell everyone what he saw. He was found in a field, cut up tortured, strangled and shot. His death was ruled a suicide “Terrence Yeakey was an American hero that needs to be remembered … he didn’t kill himself”
@TowerGangJose

https://twitter.com/towergangjose/status/1624214000903806976

Take Human Action Tour - Austin - Part 5 twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

https://twitter.com/lpmisescaucus/status/1652390569878978562

Thousands have taken to the streets of Sweden to protest the country’s inclusion into NATO.

"We absolutely do not want to join this war of the great powers, in which the United States, China and Russia are involved, in which we will play the role of a vassal in the games of big… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… For those unaware, Finland will become the 31st member of NATO on April 4th and the group is pushing for Sweden to also join, offering expedited entry into the military alliance and other incentives.

See you all this weekend with the great and powerful @MarcLobliner at the Nashville stop of the Take Human Action Tour!

TakeHumanActionTour.com

https://twitter.com/lpmisescaucus/status/1640800318974840845

Don’t miss the debate between @LibertyLockPod and @TheOmniLiberal this weekend!

Richard Stengel founded the State Department’s Global Engagement Center. He is the self-described “chief propagandist” of the US government.

Richard was previously the managing editor of TIME Magazine and analyst at MSNBC.

Richard’s GEC is an interagency group within the state… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… The GEC uses government employees as salespeople to encourage private companies to join “DisInfo Cloud” an online portal where they can download and receive training on the latest censorship technology and techniques, all developed by taxpayer funded “public-private partnerships”

Below are a few leaked pages of the YouTube “controversial twiddler” blacklist. This is a list of topics which, instead of returning related results, will show the user a curated set of topics similar to but different than the content they were looking for.

Thread. As you can see from these and the above images, Google and YouTube do not want you finding content which relates to the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley.

A court filing by the Guantanamo Military Commission reveals possible CIA involvement, in violation of U.S law, in the 9/11 attacks.

Thread.





Documents show a relationship between terrorists and the Saudi Intelligence service formed by U.S. CIA officers through a group called the “Safari Club”, a secret alliance of nations the CIA uses to conduct unlawful operations.

We got the official response back from @TwitterSupport regarding our account being locked. Their position appears to be that the Ukraine Leaks are not allowed on their platform. Does @elonmusk still have rogue employees or is free speech not a priority anymore?

https://twitter.com/trhlofficial/status/1647263075484020737

Notice that they left the reason empty in their reply to us upholding the content removal. “Specifically our rules around:_____”
How about some transparency @ellagirwin