Contra Review #6

Cycles of mania, a new theory on the JFK assassination, you aren't really supporting Ukraine unless you're willing to entertain nuclear war, and the return of Thomas Sowell.

“New York Restaurant” by Edward Hopper (1922)

Dear Reader,

I hope you’re enjoying the weekend.

According to the poll I published in the last issue, you want a newsletter on Friday. Going forward, that’s when this will hit your inbox.

The last issue was on the longer side; this one is a little shorter. If you are interested in certain topics and stories that I should keep an eye on, mention them in the comments below.

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Cycles of Mania and the Cancelling of the American Mind

Chris Mott

over at

AGON

has an insightful essay about how the “specter of foreign infiltration” has long been used to “discredit all anti-establishment views of American foreign policy, projecting them as secret plots by Moscow to undermine the United States.”

Wilsonianism set the precedent for mixing politics of fear with morality through the targeted use of propaganda. And with it commenced an eerie—if manic—cycle in American politics.

Cycles of Mania and the Cancelling of the American Mind

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A New JFK Assassination Revelation Could Upend the Long-Held “Lone Gunman” Theory

Paul Landis was one of the Secret Service agents assigned to security detail for first lady Jacqueline Kennedy on the day her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. He and his colleague, Special Agent Clint Hill, were the ones who had to convince Jackie to release her mortally wounded husband as she cradled him in her lap.

Landis was haunted by the sight of Kennedy’s head exploding for decades. He never interviewed with the FBI, didn’t testify before the Warren Commission, and “left the Secret Service months after the assassination and before the panel had finished its work and issued its report,” presidential historian James Robenalt wrote in Vanity Fair. So riddled with guilt and trauma was he that Landis was “unable to read anything in detail about the assassination until some 50 years later, starting in 2014, when he began to come to grips with all that he had witnessed, suppressed, and finally processed.”

When Landis finally emerged all these years later to tell his story, the account of events he provided challenged the commission’s “single bullet” theory of the assassination.

This is a fascinating inquiry. But it’s also a story about a man struggling with his conscience and grappling with trauma.

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You’re Not Supporting Ukraine Enough Until the Nuclear Blast Hits Your Face

Max Abrahms, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, is in Newsweek with a piece about how insane the stewards of liberal internationalism have become amid the war in Ukraine.

Abrahms explains how Elon Musk became the latest object of their ire:

What happened to Elon Musk this past week showcases how completely unhinged and dangerous U.S. policy to Ukraine has become. The condemnation began when the Washington Post published excerpts from a new biography on Musk revealing that he turned down a Ukrainian request to help launch a major sneak attack in September 2022 on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. There were numerous, legitimate reasons why Musk refused to activate his Starlink internet services for Ukraine to carry out the unprecedented, surprise attack on Russian naval vessels: Musk was providing terminals to Ukraine for free; he was not on a military contract at that time; the late-night request came directly from the Ukrainian—not American—government; and Starlink had never been activated over Crimea because of U.S. sanctions on Russia. Most importantly, Musk was concerned that enabling the attack could result in serious “conflict escalation.” He worried that he was being asked to turn on Starlink for a “Pearl Harbor like attack” and had no wish to “proactively take part in a major act of war,” possibly provoking a Russian nuclear response.

In response to this nuclear aversion, Musk was called “evil” by a high-level Ukrainian official and “traitor” by American war enthusiasts. Rachel Maddow on the Russia conspiracy network MSNBC said Musk was “intervening to try to stop Ukraine from winning the war.” Not to be outdone, CNN’s Jake Tapper described Elon as a “capricious billionaire” who “sabotaged a military operation by Ukraine, a U.S. ally,” an act that demands “repercussions.” For his part, chief Iraq war salesman-turned-Democrat-darling, David Frum, said that Musk must be stripped of his U.S. government contracts for not reflexively acceding to the Ukrainian Starlink request, and former “progressive,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, called for an immediate Congressional investigation “to ensure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire.”

In short, Musk has become public enemy number one because he acted to avoid a potentially catastrophic escalation of the war.

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Thomas Sowell Returns

My friend

Christopher Brunet

at

Karlstack

brought to my attention that Thomas Sowell just made his first public appearance after a long hiatus. He is remarkably eloquent and sharp at 93.

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