General

On May 24th, the Schiller Institute conducted an interview with Mayor Castro of Cedros, Honduras. We spoke on the topic of countries collaborating against the pandemic and building an international global health system.

Daily COVID deaths reached a record high of 3,100 yesterday in the United States, with a total number of 106,600 patients hospitalized nationwide–the highest number ever according to the COVID Tracking Project. The total number of deaths has reached 289,529, and the average of daily new cases is over 200,000. Over the past week, there have been 1.2 million new cases. According to the Minnesota-based Center for Infectious Disease and Research Policy (CIDRAP), the World Health Organization’s weekly epidemiological report showed just under 4 million reported cases worldwide in the last seven days, half of which are in the Americas. 

According to the New York Times a third of Americans now live in areas which don’t have enough ICU capacity. Hospitals serving more than 100 million Americans have fewer than 15% ICU beds available. Total COVID cases in the U.S. now amount to 15,285,261 according to the Johns Hopkins COVID dashboard.

A team of 45 medical personnel has been deployed to Wisconsin by the Defense Department to augment medical staff in hospitals overwhelmed by a flood of COVID19 patients. The facilities are in an area of Wisconsin with some of the highest and most sustained rates of COVID-19 infections. The Marshfield Clinic system, which oversees the facilities receiving help, has been utilizing volunteers from a state emergency assistance program “but the need for more staff to meet patient demand remains a challenge,” Marshfield Clinic Health System CEO Susan Turney said, reported the {Milwaukee Journal Sentinel}. “Because of the prolonged and intense nature of this crisis, many hospitals are near full capacity and medical staff is exhausted,” she said in a Dec. 9 statement. Wisconsin  Gov. Tony Evers called the military support “crucial” and thanked the DOD for providing it.

The Americas showed a 12% increase in cases over the previous week After the U.S., Brazil showed the next highest number of new cases with 295,000 –a 35% increase over the previous week.  Dr. Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional adjunct of the WHO,  warned in a Dec. 9 press conference that Brazil’s health and hospital system is at the breaking point, and that Colombia and Paraguay are also struggling to deal with increasing cases. Dr. Etienne reported that the Americas are  experiencing “the highest levels of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.” It is crucial now, she said, to boost hospital capacity, and  “redouble preventive measures,” especially as the region heads into the  holiday season.

The SpaceX Starship prototype Sn8 made a test flight on Wednesday which demonstrated the maneuvers which will be used in descent and landing back on Earth from deep space destinations.  At roughly 12 kilometers altitude the stainless steel vehicle flipped over 90 degrees to become roughly parallel to the ground, and used its flaps and fins to slow and control descent before reigniting its engines and flipping back 90 degrees to be perpendicular to the ground for a propulsive landing at its intended landing pad. On the test flight the propulsion was not enough to sufficiently slow the vehicle to the intended speed of touchdown, so the vehicle hit hard and exploded. 

However, all involved were ecstatic as everything else went according to intention.  SpaceX, which aims at producing a vehicle every two weeks in its Boca Chica, Texas plant, has been rapidly testing systems to failure and is lining up the next vehicle for further testing.  Better than reading this account, would be to watch one of the YouTube videos which YouTube has not yet figured out how to ban.  Here is a good ten minute one.

In a preview of what will be the focus of this weekend’s Schiller Institute conference, Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized today during her weekly dialogue that an underlying theme will be to address the “wrong method of thinking” which characterizes most political discussion in the western world.

One cannot solve problems by applying the same mistaken method which produced those problems. That’s why it is so essential to look to the best thinkers of the past, who launched cultural Renaissances and scientific revolutions — such as Cusa, Leibniz and Lyndon LaRouche — to find solutions to the dangerous crises which threaten to destroy civilization today.

International Press Release

The International Investigative Commission for Truth in Elections met on November 28 in a hearing sponsored by the Schiller Institute to hear testimony regarding irregularities and charges of voting fraud in the U.S. Presidential election. The following is the statement issued today by the distinguished panel of jurists. A number of the members of the Commission also issued an additional individual statement of their findings.

Statement of the International Investigative Commission for Truth in Elections 

Dec. 5, 2020

Commissioners

1) Marino Elsevyf (Dominican Republic): Attorney-at-law; member of the 1995 Martin Luther King International Tribunal. 

2) Simón Levy (Mexico): Doctor of Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); former under-secretary of Tourism of Mexico. 

3) David Meiswinkle (United States): Attorney-at-law in the state of New Jersey.

4) Juan Francisco Soto (Argentina): Constitutional attorney; legal counsel to Yacyretá Binational Entity (Paraguayan-Argentinian Yacyretá Dam).

Witnesses:

1.William Binney

2. Harley Schlanger

3. Col. Richard Black

4. Sen. Mario Scavello

5. Bennie Smith

6. Leah Hoopes

On Saturday, November 28, 2020, a virtual meeting was held on Zoom with a group of attorneys and legal experts who served as Commissioners in order to hear testimonies of six witnesses to alleged election ballot fraud concerning the recent U.S. elections, held on November 3, 2020, which included a record number of mail-in-ballots sent before the election began.

Witnesses presented testimony regarding the different problems and incidents that they were aware of that occurred in the recent general election, as well as their insights into those problems.

In summary: The witnesses recounted a host of what they understood to be violations of election law and of equal protection under the law concerning the fundamental right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.

From their observations, they believe the election law was violated and that the massive violations could have been the result of an organized and orchestrated plan to violate election law, especially in swing states, and to unfairly and illegally alter the outcome of the election, including but not limited to the following examples: 

1) The Smartmatic and Dominion companies were reported to be owners of voting machines and software that were used to alter the vote and direct that vote in favor of the Democratic presidential candidate, according to testimony presented to the Commission. Testimony was given concerning fraudulent voting results involved with the use of these particular machines in Venezuela and the Philippines, and that the Commissioners were informed that these vote tallying machines were banned from use in elections by such countries as Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Great Britain. Electronic fraud was alleged particularly in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

2) William Binney, the former technical director of the National Security Agency, testified about the security problems involving the vote tallying machines, and spoke about the evident inconsistency, in one case, of having 100,000 votes in Philadelphia which were stated to have been counted at 3:00 a.m., all for Joe Biden. Binney asserted that he believes that this anomaly cannot possibly be explained without recognizing the strong possibility of the existence of fraud.

3) Bennie Smith, a voting machine expert, testified that algorithm programs were used in voting machines which cause the fractioning of the vote in favor of Democratic party candidates, thereby violating the principle of “one person, one vote”.

4) Former Virginia State Senator Colonel Richard Black, USA (ret.) stated that the circumstances surrounding the U.S. elections and the planned protests that accompanied the elections were similar to the Arab Spring protests and government changes in the Far East and Eastern Europe.

He also highlighted the arson of St. John’s Church a few feet from the White House, the undermining of Presidential authority, and the media’s praise for the turbulence and insurrection.

He also noted articles published in {Defense One} magazine, where retired officers practically called for a coup against President Trump and his removal from the Presidency if he did not accept the current election result.

Col. Black emphasized that, in his experience as a former state senator, the vast majority of voters who indicate their preference in the category of President, go on to fill out their choices for the various other categories on the ballot. Therefore, the unusually large number of ballots that were filled out only for the office of President but which left the other lines empty seemed implausible. This indicated to him the existence of massive fraud, which made a Democrat the winner for President, but which made Republicans victorious throughout the rest of the ticket, including the election of congressmen, senators and state and local officials.

5) Harley Schlanger, a spokesman for the Schiller Institute, testified about the reported electrical blackouts in the early morning hours of the elections, which affected the voting machines. He also referred to reports of improperly linking of voting machines to the internet, as well as ballots cast with missing signatures and without verification of the same. He highlighted the developments in Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona, where narrow margins of victory for Biden were reported. 

He further spoke about the close business and political connections between Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, the Chairman of Smartmatic’s parent company SGO, and the billionaire financier of the Arab Spring, George Soros. He also stressed further the fingerprints of Wall Street, the City of London and the “Deep State” as players in this election.

The significance of so-called “glitches” was also discussed, and that “glitches” were actually indications of vote fraud opportunities in the software, as were the existence of backdoor access to the machines. 

6) Leah Hoopes, a Republican Committeewoman and poll worker in Pennsylvania, testified that starting at 7:00 a.m. on election day, many polling centers had no Republican observers present. She observed that many voting machines did not provide receipts to voters, after they cast their ballots, exercising their right to vote. She said that she had seen between 50,000 and 70,000 unopened ballots without a chain of custody. She also stated that she felt intimidated and very angry about the inability to exercise the right to vote. She stated that, as an observer, she was kept 20 feet or more away, and could not even see, and therefore was unable to challenge the ballots from where she was located. She stated that scanners were not working and that votes were being counted for two-and-a-half days in a back room without observers present to see how the ballots were being handled.

7) Pennsylvania state Senator Mario Scavello testified that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had no problems with their previous voting machines, but that the state’s governor nevertheless decertified the voting machines this year and forced the adoption of new, problematic voting machines on Pennsylvanian voters. He said that those machines are a suspected source of fraudulent voting. This 2020 general election is the first time the new voting machines were used.

8) Mexican citizen Daniel Marmolejo, a journalist, in the course of asking a question of the witnesses, spoke about the importance of scanners  in creating a voting record and the vulnerability of electronic voting. He made a reference  to the electoral crisis in Mexico in the 2006 elections, which involved fraud against Andrés Manuel López Obrador, currently the President of Mexico.

The Commission of attorneys and legal experts had the opportunity to question each witness concerning their testimony. The legal battle that is currently being waged in the courts of swing states was taken into consideration by the witnesses, and they expressed serious concerns over violations of election rights law, and questioned whether the Federal Electoral Commission would investigate fraud.

Finally, all the participants and the members of the Commission stated their appreciation of the Schiller Institute’s efforts in organizing this hearing on the 2020 electoral crisis in the United States.

The Commission heard testimony from six credible witnesses and concludes from that testimony the following:

1) The U.S. Presidential elections held on November 3, 2020, appear to have had serious irregularities, especially in key swing states, which raise legitimate legal and civil questions regarding the violation of both Federal and state election laws. 

2) The Commission recommends that evidence of voter fraud must be specified in each state whose validity must be determined in part through forensic tests, audits of voting machines, expert testimony, eyewitness accounts, and examination and cross examination of witnesses in the courts.

3) There must be a determination by the courts as to whether the alleged fraudulent votes which apparently occurred were so significant and appreciable, that they could have altered and impacted the results of the election sufficiently to make that election null and void in those states where the manipulation or alteration of the vote occurred.

4) The competent committees should be called into session in each of the state legislatures where there were reports of serious irregularities. Votes cannot be validated where there is a “reasonable doubt” that they may have been fraudulent. Furthermore, it is a Constitutional responsibility (cf. Constitution of the United States, 1787) that falls to each of the states, to arbitrate with all means at their disposal in order to protect votes cast according to the will of the voter. 

5) There must be a federal criminal investigation into the possibility of a conspiracy to undermine the Presidential election of 2020, not only by domestic and internal interests who may have been involved, but also by the possible connection to foreign agents and or countries that would trespass on the sovereignty and freedoms of the United States and its citizens.

Some of the questionable voting-day practices which were mentioned during the witness testimony, and which should be investigated, include:

1) Third parties voting on an untold number of unlawfully acquired absentee mail-in ballots with no signature verification.

2) Republican challengers denied the right to observe and monitor voting.

3) Republican challengers denied access to monitoring of absentee votes.

4) Ineligible ballots counted.

5) Lack of signature verification.

6) Receiving absentee ballots not requested.

7) Remote access to voting machines.

8) Remote troubleshooting of voting machines.

9) Back door possibilities on those machines.

10) Lax control of memory cards.

11) Early processing of absentee ballots.

12) Absentee ballots never requested.

13) People moved out of state voting.

14) The integrity of the voting machines and the manner in which the votes are counted.

15) Scanners not working.

16) The influence of the news media.

17) The influence of social networking platforms.

18) The influence of George Soros, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, and others.

19) The influence of Wall Street, the City of London and the “Deep State.”

While China’s Chang’e 5 mission’s orbiter and ascendor are on their way back to Earth with extensive lunar soil samples from various depths, a Japanese space capsule returning the world’s first asteroid subsurface samples has landed in the remote Australian Outback. The spacecraft Hayabusa2 (“Peregrine Falcon2”) released the small capsule on Saturday and sent it towards Earth to deliver samples from a distant asteroid. At about 6 miles above ground, a parachute was opened to slow its fall and beacon signals were transmitted to indicate its location in the sparsely populated area of Woomera in southern Australia. It is reported recovered “in perfect shape”.

Chang’e 5, after lifting off the lunar surface on Thursday, completed the ascendor’s docking with its orbiter on Sunday, on its mission to bring back lunar samples for the first time in more than 40 years. A robot arm lifted the container holding the samples into the orbiter. The orbiter will separate from the probe and leave lunar orbit on its return journey to Earth.

Nine former governors of American states met in the Fall to address what they described as “the toll a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship has had on their states.” The National Committee on United States-China Relations  and the U.S. Heartland China Association are hosting a forum on Monday, Dec. 7, with four of these former governors, who note in the promo for the event: “As localities have faced job cuts, lost markets, multiple crises in higher education, and reduced trade revenues, among others, the governors all agreed that we must work to stabilize the bilateral relationship and develop a long-term strategy that recognizes that while the United States and China inevitably will compete in some areas, it will be essential for us to cooperate in others.”

The four are: Bob Holden (Missouri, D, 2001-2005), Jon Huntsman, Jr. (Utah, R, 2005-2011), Gary Locke (Washington, D, 1997-2005), and Rick Snyder (Michigan, R, 2011-2019). Both Locke and Huntsman are past ambassadors to China. Gov. Holden, together with Sen. Adlai Stevenson from Illinois, founded the U.S. Heartland China Association in 2003, which now represents 20 states from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.