News

FACIAL RESEMBLANCE 

Facial resemblance can be a factor in politics. I have written here about how Archbishop Desmond Tutu closely resembles Mahatma Gandhi, who lived for a long time in South Africa, even though Tutu was black and Gandhi was Indian. Also the present Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, closely resembles the long-time Soviet foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko. The top Iranian general Soleimani, who was killed on orders of Donald Trump, resembled Ayatollah Khomeini.

Silvio Berlusconi resembled Benito Mussolini in a similar way and I think Italians acted out their mixed feelings about Mussolini on him.

What about Boris Johnson? His posture looks just like that of Winston Churchill. It looks like he could be Churchill's grandson.

THE DEATH OF DANIEL ELLSBERG 

Daniel Ellsberg died this week. The U.S. Government commissioned a secret report about what was really going on in the conduct of the Vietnam War, a lot of which the public wasn't being told. Daniel Ellsberg, in the course of his work, got hold of one of the copies of the report. He took it home and secretly copied it. He was very much in opposition to the war and secretly leaked the report to major newspapers. The government figured out that he did it.

The report became known as the "Pentagon Papers". The administration of Richard Nixon set about discrediting Ellsberg. There was a June 1972 burglary into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, at the Watergate complex in Washington.

The burglars were caught. The complex was closed for the day. It had the kind of doors that could be opened from the inside, but not from the outside. A security guard noticed that someone put tape over the latch on a door and removed the tape. When he went by again the tape has been replaced. The guard called police, who found the burglars.

I am unsure if Richard Nixon knew about the burglary before it happened. But he definitely tried to cover it up afterward. It ended with Nixon's shocking resignation as president.

When I was a child we would hardly ever have dinner around a table. We would watch the news while having dinner, and now I am glad of that because I witnessed so many things that I can write about here.

In the compound posting "Investigations", December 2018, there are two investigations involving the Watergate scandal, 9) THE REAL BATMAN and "49) THE BUFFALO NY CONNECTION TO WATERGATE.

AMERICA AND ROYALTY

We saw in the posting "America And Royalty", September 2022, that America is really as royal as anywhere, despite officially being a republic. You can see what I mean in how President Biden recently closed a speech by referring to "God Save The Queen", which is Britain's national anthem.

REMEMBERING THE "SON OF SAM"

The recent death of the Unabomber reminds us of another serial killer that would send puzzles containing clues to newspapers.

What would you do to get revenge on people who allow their dog to bark outside if you had already shot and wounded the dog and sent anonymous letters threatening the life of it's owner?

What David Berkowitz did was to become a serial killer, name himself after the owner of the dog, claim that it was the dog's owner who compelled him to kill, terrorize New York City, and then claim that you thought the barking of the dog were demonic instructions being given you to carry out the killings.

But, unlike the Unabomber, the case of the "Son of Sam" has some happiness in it's ending. David Berkowitz is in prison for life. He has become a born-again Christian and carries on a ministry from prison. Other people help because he isn't allowed to use a computer. Even a serial killer has the way open to salvation if he wants it.

We saw the Son of Sam in the compound posting "Investigations", December 2018, section 1) DID THE SON OF SAM WANT TO GET CAUGHT?