On disinformation; Iran and murder; a suggestion for San Francisco; our photogenic Southwest; and more
A big subject, disinformation is. One that recurs and recurs. I have written my share of articles on this. One, in 2020, began, “The Russian government has various means of attack: assassination, invasion, annexation. But don’t forget dezinformatsiya, i.e., disinformation, which the Kremlin has practiced for almost a hundred years. A special disinformation office was set up in 1923.”
Recently, two Republican House chairmen — Michael McCaul, of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike Turner, of the Intelligence Committee — spoke of Kremlin propaganda. This propaganda, they said, had affected their party to a considerable degree.
(I wrote about this in a post, here.)
In an interview last month, Aaron Rodgers, the great NFL quarterback, played an oldie:
WOW… #Jets QB Aaron Rodgers says that HIV was created by the US government.
‘The gameplan was made in the 80’s’
(Via NBC)
pic.twitter.com/otSVumvvHM— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) April 16, 2024
(The Daily Mail, naturally, was on the case, here.)
Have you ever heard of an Indian newspaper called “the Patriot”? Evidently, it was set up by the KGB in 1962. Allow me to quote from another article of mine:
One of the Soviet Union’s great disinformation successes was its AIDS hoax: the claim that this virus was concocted by the U.S. government in a Maryland laboratory for the purpose of decimating black people, gay people, intravenous-drug users, and other “undesirables.” It’s amazing how many Americans believed that. The Soviets concocted a lie that lingers to this day.
Does it ever.
I will keep quoting:
You know how it began? With a single plant in an Indian newspaper (the Patriot). It built from there — paper to paper, until Spike Lee and other celebrities were trumpeting it.
Lee said, “A lot of people will have to do a lot of explaining on AIDS one day. All of a sudden, a disease appears out of nowhere that nobody has a cure for, and it’s specifically targeted at gays and minorities. The ‘mystery disease,’ yeah — about as mysterious as genocide.”
The movie director continued, “I’m convinced AIDS is a government-engineered disease. They got one thing wrong: They never realized it couldn’t just be contained to the groups it was intended to wipe out. So now it’s a national priority.”
I will also quote the Reverend Jeremiah Wright: “The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color.”
Last January, I spoke with Phillips O’Brien, the professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews. He made a statement that haunts a little: “The Russians have gained far more geopolitical leverage out of the millions they’ve spent on information warfare than the billions they have spent on the military.”
• Routinely, the Iranian government tortures and kills the people under its control. Lately, it has made a specialty of torturing and killing young women, who have risen up against the regime, unaccepting of oppression.
I think we should learn one of their names.
In November of last year, Sarah Tabrizi was arrested and taken to Evin Prison, one of the most hellish places on earth. She was tortured, of course. In January, they released her, while still holding her under threat.
On March 23, they summoned her to the intelligence ministry. The next day, they returned her to her father’s house, a corpse. Sarah Tabrizi was 20.
I look forward to the day when this regime itself is a corpse.
• In a column on Tuesday, I wrote of Gabrielle Starr, the president of Pomona College, in California. A star she is. A crowd of students rushed into an administrative building, to “occupy” it. The president gave them ten minutes to leave — and followed through.
I was thinking: Maybe she should be chief of the San Francisco PD?
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down both directions of the Golden Gate Bridge Monday and stalled a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 880 in Oakland. pic.twitter.com/bVCmqwbPHh
— TIME (@TIME) April 15, 2024
• For the last many years, some of us have worried that the Republican Party has abandoned capitalism. Here is some evidence that it’s back:
Trump supporter outside courthouse doesn’t think this should be criminal: “If he had an affair, services were paid for, services were rendered. So what are we talking about? Lots of men use prostitutes.” pic.twitter.com/1q2oYG0WiY
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 15, 2024
• Not long ago, I attended an affair in Texas. I was seated between two Republican ladies. They asked where I was from. I said that I was born and raised in Michigan but had lived most of my adult life in New York (City). The lady on my right said, “I would never set foot in New York.” The lady on my left then said, “Me neither. We won’t set foot in California either. Our daughter and her family live there, but we make them come and visit us.” The lady on my right agreed: “I would never set foot in New York or California.”
I thought of my seatmates when reading a post from an entity called “About USA”: “What’s the one US state you absolutely will never step foot in and why?”
There is no state without something to offer — many things to offer. I have not been to all 50. I think I’m missing four. One of them is Hawaii. Seems a long, long way away. But I hope to fill in my gaps. Missing, I think, are Montana, Kansas, Oregon, and Hawaii. (I have been to the airport in Portland, Ore., but I’m not counting that.)
Speaking of Oregon: When I was in eighth grade, our U.S.-history teacher said, “Kids, see the Willamette Valley before you die.” I can still see the look on her face and hear the tone of her voice. The Willamette Valley is on my list . . .
(You know the expression “Vedi Napoli e poi muori!” — “See Naples and then die!” That, I have done.) (The seeing, not the dying.) (And I am talking about Italy, not Florida.)
• Our Southwest is a peculiar, oft-stunning region. Last week, I was in Arizona, and took a few shots. Isn’t this characteristic?
How about this little lane?
This is someone’s front yard:
This whole house says: “The Southwest”:
A purple house, you can get away with in these parts:
At the University of Arizona, home of the Wildcats, a wildcat family:
At the rec center, people do all sorts of workouts, all sorts of strenuous activity. You know what I use the rec center for? Its shake bar — A+ smoothies and such.
Very, very Southwestern:
Wonder if they got the university’s permission . . .
You know who was born and raised in Tucson? Linda Ronstadt.
Speaking of music: Ads for these guys are all over the place — all over Tucson. I wonder if people still know about Lerner & Loewe . . .
(Alan Jay Lerner, the lyricist and librettist — Frederick Loewe was the composer — was married eight times. I once met the last of the wives, I believe, in Carnegie Hall.)
Something else that says, “Southwest”:
Treatsome to the eye:
(I made up that word. English works that way.)
You know what is a perfectly named animal? Perfectly? The roadrunner. He or she gets on a road and runs like the wind. This one was at rest for a bit.
A final look at the desert:
Bless you, my friends. Talk to you soon.
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