This is Chapter 19 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
This subject was first hinted at in an earlier chapter. After ABC’s Day One program featured a whistleblower in February of 1994, Philip Morris sued for libel. They also threatened to pull advertising. Had they just been in the cigarette business at the time, they wouldn’t have been able to do this as cigarettes were no longer advertised on TV. Yet Philip Morris had this power because they had diversified beyond cigarettes. They owned other brands such as Kraft Foods and Miller Beer, whose advertising budget was over $100 million per year.
By consolidating power, in buying up other products, they could wield more influence than had the giant corporation stuck just to cigarettes. This diversification was useful across product lines because it gave them additional leverage. Here we see just one example of how that assisted them.
Philip Morris changed their name to the Altria Group in 2003 as part of their public relations. Their spin was that this was because they had moved beyond cigarettes into a consumer-packaged goods company. But primarily it was a deflection of the bad PR they were getting. Recall that name changes are common for PR efforts.
Nowadays, Altria is “Moving Beyond Smoking™”. They’re still primarily in the tobacco business, not just cigarettes, but chew, cigars, pipes, nicotine pouches, and vape products. They hold a 10% stake in Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer.
But they’re elsewhere too that you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to be. Philip Morris Capital Corporation “is an investment company that manages a portfolio of leased assets including domestic and international aircraft, power plants and real estate.”
BAT was the one that wouldn’t dare mention the word cancer internally, so they used the code word ZEPHYR. BAT denied science behind cancer, nicotine’s addiction and secondhand smoke. BAT was caught red-handed destroying damaging documents. BAT was found guilty in the RICO case. But they’re still going strong.
PR allows for great whitewashing. Or perhaps the term greenwashing is more at play here. It appears that BAT, as part of the ESG targets (Environmental, Social, and Governance) plans to be using 100% renewable energy by 2030 and carbon neutral across their entire value chain by 2050.
In fact, in 2020, BAT was nominated as one of the top three ESG-rated companies in the top 100 largest publicly traded companies in the United Kingdom. In other words, they’re currently winning awards for their commitment to the environment and people.
What better way to do this then to jump into healthcare? “KBP has been exploring alternative uses of the tobacco plant for some time. One such alternative use is the development of plant-based vaccines,” says Dr. David O’Reilly, the director of scientific research at BAT.
It’s a plant-based vaccine so it must be better for you, right? Would you like a plant-based vaccine to go with your plant-based diet? That’s some marketing language for you there.
The facts are that this is nothing native to tobacco. But instead, scientists inserted viral genes into the tobacco plant to grow antigens and extract them out.
This genetic engineering of tobacco plants isn’t all that new. Research conducted by Brown & Williamson decades earlier had sought to use genetic engineering to double the levels of nicotine in the plants.
“Moving into human trials with both our Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone and reflects our considerable efforts to accelerate the development of our emerging biologicals portfolio,” said O’Reilly.
U.S health regulators have given them the greenlight. Phase 3 clinical trials are currently in progress at the time of writing.
Based on our “warp speed” timelines these could hit the market early 2022. Do you trust Big Tobacco is 100% above the board when it comes to their vaccines?
Nor is this the only Big Tobacco move into healthcare. Philip Morris International recently bought several biotech companies, including products that treat heart attacks and respiratory conditions. “Philip Morris’s attempted takeover of a key player in lung health products beggars belief,” said Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow health secretary.
Sadly, it only sounds extraordinary if you’re not familiar with the industry playbook. For a company, why not profit on both the cause and effects of their products? It won’t be the only time we see it happening.
Key Takeaways on Leverage
Owning food brands gave the tobacco companies leverage to threaten to pull advertising on television programs.
Companies such as Philip Morris, named Altria now, are still in the tobacco business but also in alcoholic beverages, aircrafts, power plants, real estate and more.
Big Tobacco companies are diversifying into a wide range of other businesses, including:
COVID-19 and flu vaccines that involve the genetic engineering of tobacco plants to produce plant-based vaccines
Healthcare that involves treating some of the diseases that tobacco causes
BAT is currently winning awards and acclaim for their commitment to ESG targets such as renewable energy and carbon reduction.
Please leave any comments or questions below. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
This is Chapter 18 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
The majority of this book has covered events in the 20th century extending a bit into the 21st with occasional exceptions. You might want to believe that based on losing the RICO case, finally getting under FDA regulation, the culture wars that ensued, and more that Big Tobacco reformed their ways. If that is the case, you would be mistaken. What you’ll see here is that the playbook is still working fine.
In recent years, vaping has become popular. Kids today are getting hooked on it. Very likely the history of Big Tobacco is being completely lost on them.
An article at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism by Matthew Chapman reported in 2021, “BAT [British American Tobacco] has told regulators around the world that its new products, including heated tobacco and oral nicotine, are for current adult smokers. But…it has launched an aggressive £1bn marketing campaign that leans heavily on social media, concerts and sporting events, which could have the effect of encouraging young people to pick up a potentially deadly tobacco habit that still kills 8 million people a year, notwithstanding long-established rules aimed at preventing this.”
BAT said, “All marketing activity for our products will only be directed towards adult consumers and is not designed to engage or appeal to youth…All our marketing is done responsibly, in strict accordance with our International Marketing Principles, local laws, legislation and platform policie …We only use influencers in some countries where it’s permitted, and social media platform policies allow.”
This shows the power of the country arbitrage game. In addition, you see them saying one thing in their public relations, while doing the opposite.
Their products are presented as cool and aspirational in youth-focused advertising campaigns
Even though nicotine is not allowed to be promoted on Instagram, they’ve paid influencers to do just that
Glo, BAT’s new heated tobacco product, was the sponsor of concerts for bands that are popular among teenagers.
BAT also sponsored an e-sports tournament
Use of free samples, that according to sources, have been given to underage boys and girls.
Big Tobacco has updated it’s advertising for the digital age. Velo, also called Lyft in some markets, are nicotine pouches you put in your mouth. A data analysis by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids showed that Facebook and Instagram posts regarding Velo:
40 influencers used Velo hashtags
Viewed 13.1 million times
Potential audience of 181 million
They also advertised on TikTok with an #OpenTheCan ad campaign. Interestingly, since the pouches fly under the radar of most countries tobacco laws and advertising regulations. This is because they only contain nicotine, and not tobacco itself.
An example of an Instagram influencer paid promotional post for Velo nicotine pouches in Pakistan.An influencer’s post in Kenya with #LYFT.
These stats don’t lie. What BAT is doing is clearly working is bringing new customers in.
Let’s switch gears to look at how governments are fighting against this influence. In June 2019, the WHO assessed the results of the FCTC, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the multilateral treaty that had been adopted in 2003. While they claim some successes in helping smaller countries especially, it is interesting to note some of their findings.
“Since the FCTC’s entry into force, the tobacco industry has initiated and supported litigation challenging various tobacco control measures around the world. Stakeholders in Brazil noted that every legal tobacco control measure taken towards protecting the health of its population has been challenged in court.”
Every measure challenged in court! In other words, they don’t let a single attack go undefended. They don’t concede a single inch of ground. When you understand that regulations hurt their profits, it makes sense that the lawyers are the biggest defense.
This report discusses tobacco industry influence so much so that they abbreviate it TII. They admit that in Bangladesh, “provisions of the [Smoking and Usage of Tobacco Products Control] Act were diluted due to TII.” Or in Sri Lanka that although legislation was drafted in 1999, it wasn’t passed until 2006 due to TII.
They state, “TII continues to be a major obstacle to progress on global tobacco control.”
Big Tobacco is still up to their old game using mostly the same old tricks but updated for the 21st century. Their best bet is for no one to remember this history. Forget what happened. Forget these tactics.
Robert Proctor, a historian who worked for the DOJ case, said the industry “used to control the science and now they’re trying to control the history.”
Add this to their diversification into other products, covered next, and you’ll see why Big Tobacco hasn’t gone anywhere.
Key Takeaways on Up to Old and New Tricks
Big Tobacco is still advertising to youth, especially with tobacco-free but nicotine containing products that skirt around tobacco advertising laws.
They’ve updated their marketing to include social media campaigns from Instagram to TikTok, paying influencers, and marketing at concerts and sporting events.
These tactics are hooking a new generation of youth many of which never learned about what Big Tobacco had done in the past.
Despite the WHO’s treaty, the tobacco industry continues to fight at every single turn, in many cases quite successfully.
Please leave any comments or questions below. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
This is a continuation of the ongoing series about Systemic Collapse vs. Controlled Demolition. While touched on a bit before, this specifically looks at the topic of the economy. This article essentially follows the money, probably the #1 principle of investigating anything. (My #2 rule being follow the transparency or lack thereof.)
This money is vastly more influential in what is really going on than the perceived problem of healthcare.
Some of this will undoubtedly be review from previous articles. My articles are in one sense, building a case for conspiracy at the highest levels. So they must build and rebuild on top of each other. I can’t help to reiterate many foundational points. Plus, many new readers haven’t read everything, so that makes it useful too.
Fiat and the Grift Machine
Fiat means “an arbitrary decree or pronouncement, especially by a person or group of persons having absolute authority to enforce it.”
Fiat money essentially is fake…but backed by power. Ultimately, at the end of the day, that means force.
If you look at any and all historical examples, fiat money is unsustainable. It always collapses. This is fiat money’s fate.
This is largely due to it being part of what I’m going to call the “Grift Machine.” When you understand that monetary policy is influenced by backroom deals, consultancy fees, revolving door positions, government contracts, various legal bribes and so much more, you can see that our world operates on professional grifting.
Politicians are by-and-large professional kleptocrats, making us live in a kleptocracy, which is another word to describe our worldwide governance.
To best understand this we need to look at…
The Cantillon Effect
Richard Cantillon was an 18th century economist. He is most well known for what has come to be called the Cantillon Effect. This describes the uneven expansion of money supply. In other words, those closest to the money printers benefit from printing money. Those furthest away from the money printers lose out.
If you’re in the kleptocrat inner circle you get access to that new money first. It’s still worth what all the existing money is worth at first. But as it gets spent, inflation occurs though not all at once. The kleptocrat outer circle benefits next. Then their cronies and partners. And so on, until you get to the majority of the population that receives no benefit, in fact, just less value for their dollar.
The central bankers and their close partners (for instance the government contracts to vaccine companies so that the shots are “free” to people) come out ahead with the debasing of currency.
This is a large reason why the wealth gap has been increasing for decades.
I couldn’t find an updated chart, nor one that goes back further in time, but you get the idea. Nor is this uniquely a USA thing.
The pandemic money printing has further accelerated this greatly across the world.
The Fed partnering with BlackRock, to rollout their Going Direct plan, meant that, among other things, BlackRock was paid to purchase BlackRock’s ETF’s (exchange traded funds).
A lucrative deal and beneficial to anyone holding stocks! Professional grift yet legal in that they passed new legislation to do it. (Well sort of legal, there are still many laws that get broken in such acts, you know like those old rules in the Constitution.)
Let me be clear. I’m not against people making money or capitalism. That should be obvious. But I am against people using their money for illegal and immoral aims. I am against grift, especially of the professional kind.
Capitalism is a flawed system in that historically it always descends into crony capitalism. It always has become kleptocracy.
Those with money and power can use that money and power to secure more money and power by moving closer to the money printers…and even eventually controlling or becoming them. It’s an old game of civilization that has played out many times before.
The Cantillon effect explains why we see the billionaires wealth swell, whether or not they’re “in” on the swindle.
Meanwhile, we see poor people laid off, fired, their businesses closed and so much more.
Empires Rise and Fall
Fiat being unsustainable is largely why we see world reserve currencies shift. There’s some major systemic effects at play in here.
Ray Dalio recently released Changing World Orders which I’m reading and covers this well, from which the next two charts come.
If you want to understand the systemic effects behind such cycles this book is a good place to start.
Here you see those countries with global reserve currencies and how long they held the reigns.
The USD’s time is coming to an end, and with it at least some of its worldly power.
The thing that is different this time around, is that it looks like the powers-that-be have finally learned this historical lesson!
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that they’re going to fix it. Far from it.
But, unlike many people, I don’t think that our world leaders are stupid. Stupidity is a good cover for malice. Brushing things off as a stupid mistake when it was intentional is a good way to get away with it.
Instead, they’re intentionally allowing it to happen, neigh, actually helping make it happen. While there were signs of systemic collapse growing, this is largely a controlled demolition to move into a new system by design.
Nor do I think this is without historical precedent. We certainly saw conspiracies, such as Cecil Rhodes’ Round Table group involving the prior shift to power, as covered by the voluminous Carroll Quigley’s Tragedy & Hope.
Such actions explain how this was a great consolidation of power…just like is being attempted now.
The current Grift Machine, in various ways, was breaking at the seams such as the repo market problems occurring middle to late 2019. The pandemic miraculously came in and saved it. Fancy that!
However, it has been a fairly desperate attempt. The operation was not without flaws…and likely in part to because they were up against a ticking time clock.
A 10 to 15 Year Process?
Now, the shift of a world reserve currency isn’t going to happen overnight. Typically, it has taken take about 15 years.
My idea, before even reading Dalio’s stuff, was that this all would play out throughout the 2020’s. (Things do move faster today, so this shift could be faster too.)
If we think of 2020, with the pandemic, as the start of the process, we’ve still got a lot to go through, including many other such events in the process. Although once again there were cracks in the petrodollar before that so some might call the start earlier.
Historically, such currency shifts are categorized by wars, pandemics, natural disasters, movements of people and more.
Do not underestimate the ability to kick the can down the road. I predicted depression when the pandemic hit. In one sense, I was right. In another sense, I was wrong, because I didn’t understand the epic money printing, they’d engage in to keep things afloat (and continue the grift).
In other words, I underestimated them.
This being a worldwide campaign, with every country relying on central bankers, everyone is printing too. So, the US dollar is showing strength…in relation to others.
China is growing fast and leading the charge in CBDC’s. So maybe the Digital Yuan is the chosen one already. That is certainly a strong possibility that that could become the worldwide reserve.
It also could be something different that hasn’t quite been released yet. BIS released a report stating, “central banks collectively representing a fifth of the world’s population are likely to issue a general purpose CBDC in the next three years.” This was from January 2021.
As we’ve seen they’re going to continue to debase the current currencies, and this is going to accelerate. New trillion dollar acts every year.
The first $10 trillion+ (14 figures!) bill in the USA is likely to be in maybe 2023 because this will pick up speed.
Sadly, hyperinflation does seem to be our fate.
This needs to be acknowledged whether you believe in conspiracies or not.
I don’t think Dalio puts any stock in them, yet he arrives at a similar conclusion. I like to learn from everyone. However, be wary of listening to people that talk about economics without talking about conspiracy. That’s a huge lever that plays into the systemic effects, and certainly isn’t unique to this empire either.
This Operations is Nothing New…Except its Scale and Scope
Looking at not just systems, but also conspiracies, it’s my sense that they’re trying to steer this process in a certain direction. Again, to use a metaphor I used previously, this is threading the eye of the needle. It’s a delicate process that they may well fail at.
The coming economic shocks will lead to austerity measures as well.
And since they control the markets to larger or smaller degrees, and they control the propaganda machine, and the scientists, economists, politicians, etc., understand that they can implement economic shocks basically whenever and wherever they way.
The evidence points the powers that be having a eugenicist ideology. Therefore, their plans include depopulation. I don’t want this to be true. It’s just where the evidence leads.
(Do you want me to do an article on this topic? It’s pretty easy to see based on the quotes of the “elites” themselves. Let me know in the comments.)
The Grifter’s Jubilee vs. The People’s Jubilee
Here’s the amazing thing for the Grifter’s. By destroying the US Dollar intentionally, they get to remove much if not all the liabilities it holds. The underfunded pensions, the social security collapse on the horizon, the USA’s global debt that recently crossed the $29 trillion mark (only $20 trillion back in 2016).
Not to mention whatever happened to the trillions that are missing from the books of the Department of Defense and so many other government agencies.
Meanwhile, they get to print new money allowing them to benefit from such, gobbling up assets. Securities, precious metals, real estate and more.
When it all collapses, they’ll be a good position to shift their assets to the new world reserve currency, whatever that happens to be. After all, the top of the pyramid whomever they are, are designing what and how it will work.
It’s not just the core conspirators but anyone sucking at the teat of power whether they’re insider’s or not will likely benefit from such a transition. The Cantillon effect once again.
In essence, they not only get away with their crimes, but gain even more so from engaging in them. As Catherine Austin Fitts has said, “Crime that pays, stays.”
Crime has paid for far too long.
Contrast this to what I believe are disinformation campaigns spreading around such as that of GESARA/NESARA. That there’s a quantum financial system in the works, that aliens may or may not be involved in, that will free humanity. That there will be a jubilee on all debt for the people.
Sadly, I think the greater chance is for the grifters to get away with their grift. A jubilee for their debts, that they’ve hollowed out such as pensions.
In other words, The Great Reset is not just controlled demo, but a controlled rebuild.
By destroying the world’s reserve currency, in a controlled demolition way, they can sucker the people into a new CBDC system that not only enslaves us, but let’s them better get away with their crimes. You’ll only get to take part if you are an obedient citizen.
US Dollars will Hyperinflate
It is important to understand inflation and hyperinflation. Get out of the “it couldn’t happen here” unthinkability bias.
If hyperinflation happens in the USA all that debt becomes easy to pay. For social security they can 1) print more money and 2) get rid of the obligation to pay any “domestic terrorist” citizens.
Understand what such actions look like on the ground from those living in the countries where it has happened before.
“The firsthand account illustrated how a sudden 3-week bank holiday left people unable to exchange, withdraw or use their funds. They could only helplessly watch as much of their wealth in frozen bank accounts became worthless. The video is also powerful advocacy for holding wealth outside your home country, your primary currency, and the financial system as systemic crisis insurance. Over the past 13 years (since the 2008 financial crisis), I have looked at the world through the lens of systemic wealth protection, and if you have not done so as well, I believe it is time that you do.” This comes from the OwnX newsletter, one of the companies I use to buy precious metals and have for many years.
And the video itself comes from Silver Bullion Singapore, a different country I will be added to my precious metals positions in the future. They have a specific policy of not complying if, say, the USA confiscates gold again.
Precious metals are considered by many as true wealth, as historically they’ve always been so.
Two things to note that tell you pretty much everything you need to know about these assets economically:
Later he more clearly specified that “[hyperinflation] will happen in the U.S. soon, and so the world.”
As a tech oligarch whose platform is clearly being used to run this psyop, I don’t trust Jack. But he’s not wrong about this.
For whatever reason, the elites do telegraph their moves. Whether this is part of the Luciferian religion as some claim (especially regarding the occult rituals that make up big public events such as the Superbowl halftime shows), or something else I can’t say for sure.
Regardless of why, for those who have ears, we can listen.
Maybe he’s not an insider, just co-opted and a “useful idiot” to the powers that be. But again, he’s not wrong about this.
Jack is big into Bitcoin. In fact, he’s said “If I weren’t at Square or Twitter, I’d be working on bitcoin.”
There are people such as Fitts that believe that any and all use of cryptocurrency is building out the jail of our future.
I greatly admire Fitts and the intel she provides. However, I do disagree with her on this.
Other freedom fighters such as Derrick Broze, discuss the nuanced understanding of this technology. They fully acknowledge how it could enslave us, but also point out how the technology could be used for good.
His analogies of the internet being a DARPA project from the beginning is a useful way of looking at it. Amazing technology that we all use and has brought many benefits to us…and it is a crucial tool of further enslavement.
It’s clear that most “elites” are anti-crypto. Hilary Clinton recently said Bitcoin was “undermining the role of the dollar” and “destabilizing nations.” The bankers actions themselves can’t be blamed for these things of course.
In one of the funniest quotes on the topic, just look at what Bill Gates has said. When asked in an interview what technology the world could do without he replied:
“The way cryptocurrency works today allows for certain criminal activities. It’d be good to get rid of that.” He then added, “I probably should have said bioweapons. That’s a really bad thing.”
To me, that’s a very telling answer for both things said.
The pandemic caused me to double down on cryptocurrencies. This was a profitable choice. The pandemic led me to diving deeper down the rabbit holes, as well as more different holes. (Have I mentioned yet how dizzying of a journey this work is?)
The greater understanding of how the world truly works, led me to triple down on cryptocurrencies at the start of this year. This also was a profitable choice.
What I see going on is basically a crypto arms race. In the next article, I’ll dive deeper into what that means, some of the narratives and conspiracies involved in crypto, and the possibilities of what I see playing out.
Now it’s time for some ads…
This article and the next in the series helps you to understand the pros and cons of cryptocurrencies in their many forms. For detailed training on how to use and profit from them:
“Comparing mandatory vaccinations to rape is insensitive to rape and sexual harassment victims.”
I’m sorry but this is wrong. You’re failing to realize how both are a horrible assaults on bodily autonomy and the psychology of its victims, with potential long-term repercussions. They are both terrible.
“Comparing compulsory vaccinations and the ever-growing restrictions on the unvaccinated to the Jews in the Holocaust is anti-Semitic.”
No one is saying it’s that bad…yet. But to not have learned the step-by-step method and propaganda that led to such is actually insensitive to the victims. To not listen to the Jews today that are speaking out against such things…
To not listen to the indigenous peoples of Australia that are literally crying out for help…these are hateful, or at the very least ignorant.
Please, I implore you, check your blind spots.
I know none of you believe that the answer is to “gas the unvaccinated.” But where do you draw the line?
Is it okay for people to be force at gunpoint to take the shot?
To have their children stripped away by CPS for failing to get them the shot?
To get fined?
To get jailed for not paying the fines?
To be forced out of their job?
To not get groceries?
To not play or watch sports?
To not travel?
Most of these things are already happening in various places across the world. Please, think about it now. Where do you draw the line? At what point has this campaign gone overboard in your mind?
For me, and many others, that line has already been crossed. That is why we are speaking out.
We are being smeared and censored by the government and their corporate partners. (Watch the overlords censor this post on social media…)
We are the new scapegoats for them to seize more power. The propaganda is ramping up…
We are being segregated based on “health status,” as if the complexity of health should be boiled down to a single variable, the moving goal post of “fully” vaccinated or not.
Have you got your booster yet? If not, you too will soon be part of the problem.
Understand this. We care about people as much as you do. We simply see the world differently as for what is dangerous. Our view is that the threat of the growing tyrannical powers is much greater than the threat of this disease.
If I am wrong we have to live with an endemic disease that statistically hurts and kills a small amount of people. That does not diminish what some people have gone through. But even 100% vaccination across the world would not get rid of this fast-mutating virus because these vaccines do not stop infection nor transmission.
If you are wrong, we have to live with a fascist takeover that will eventually see far, far, far more people dead.
How horrible a fate to be like the Germans in the post-war years who said “We didn’t know…” when the signs were all around them.
I implore you to actually listen to your friends and family who are crying out. I am pleading with you to understand where we are coming from.
This is Chapter 17 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
Legal bribes in the form of political contributions were mentioned in an earlier chapter. That is one form of it. For scientists. it can come in the way of grants. For regulators and lobbyists in the form of employment. And for pretty much anyone, it can come in the form of consultancy deals. That can all be legally done, thus making up a significant part of the industry playbook.
But legal bribes are just one part of it. We can see examples of illegal bribes too. Certainly, with everything we’ve seen Big Tobacco do, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is a utilized strategy.
Brandt doesn’t cover this subject much beyond the rumors of the early 20th century Tobacco Trust bribing state legislators. So for this chapter we turn to 21st century examples, most of which are done by British American Tobacco (BAT).
“BAT is bribing people, and I’m facilitating it,” said whistleblower Paul Hopkins, who leaked internal documents. “The reality is if…they have to break the rules, they will break the rules.” Hopkins worked for BAT in Kenya for 13 years.
Emails revealed by Hopkins shows that they made payments to members of the WHO’s FCTC, undoubtedly for assistance in undermine the health treaty.
In an article from the BBC they write, “[A]n email from a contractor working for BAT says Mr Kamwenubusa would be able to ‘accommodate any amendments before the president signs’.” That means that the bribe was effectively buying specific wording on policy.
Of course, BAT categorically denies such actions, stating “The truth is that we do not and will not tolerate corruption, no matter where it takes place.” But when you dig deeper BAT even described some payments to three public officials in Rwanda, Burundi and the Comoros Islands as “unlawful bribes” in one document.
The INB is the FCTC’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. The TCB is the Tobacco Control Bill. This bribe was for supporting them at the meeting as well as providing the draft of the document.
The BBC lists additional cases. “Former BAT lobbyist Solomon Muyita was fired by BAT in Uganda in 2013 after he was accused of giving cash gifts to 50 people, including seven MPs. He says he was following company orders and is suing BAT for wrongful dismissal. The company says Muyita is lying.”
BAT funded a South African private security company called Forensic Security Services (FSS). They were officially tasked with fighting the black-market cigarette trade. But that is not all they did. Internal documents showed how their staff were instructed to close down three cigarette companies owned by BAT’s competitors. Bribes were dispersed in covering up when illegal surveillance was caught.
“I had to make it clear that they’re going to expect a nice thick envelope of notes,” a whistleblower said. “I would be given a lump sum of money as an operational budget and out of that I would always give a handshake and a nice wodge of cash to the principals just to warm them to the idea.”
This went all the way up to Robert Mugabe, the brutal dictator of Zimbabwe. Documents show that his Zanu-PF party was possibly paid between $300,000 and $500,000 by BAT in 2014.
These documents made their way to the Serious Fraud Office of the UK government where the case was investigated. On January 15th, 2021 they found that the “evidence in this case did not meet the evidential test for prosecution.”
This is pure conjecture, but is it possible additional bribes were paid to help make that go away?
As corruption is stronger in many countries than the USA, we see this as an added benefit of going worldwide. “These large tobacco merchants used secret payments to improperly win business and curry favor with foreign government officials around the globe,” said Christopher Conte, Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
The SEC went after two companies. Universal paid $800,000 in bribes to officials of the government-owned Thailand Tobacco Monopoly for securing approximately $11.5 million in sales contracts for its subsidiaries. Alliance One paid $1.2 million for $18.3 in sales contracts.
That was in Thailand. The SEC also alleged bribery in China, Greece, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and Mazambique.
These bribes don’t just go to politicians. In an even more recent case journalists were similarly influenced or at least attempted to.
Engage BCW said that this is against their rules, that their employees undergo anti-bribery training and the employee was suspended.
“Offering a bribe to a journalist isn’t just an attempt to undermine honest reporting and journalistic integrity, the very offer of a bribe is a crime in most jurisdictions,” said Rory Donaldson, programme manager at Transparency International, an anti-corruption charity organization. “Corporations should be aware of the activities of third parties acting on their behalf such as PR agencies. When undertaking internal investigations corporations must ensure the investigation is not a whitewash. Bringing in external investigators can help mitigate this risk.”
These are just a few examples of what has been caught. Imagine all the bribes that they have gotten away with over the years.
Key Takeaways on Bribery
There are illegal bribes and legal bribes. Both make their way into the industry playbook.
Bribery works well with the tactic of going worldwide, where in many places corruption is more rampant, and thus bribery is easier to do and get away with.
Internal documents reveal how British American Tobacco was able to influence politicians drafting the WHO’s treaty on tobacco control.
Whistleblowers reveal examples and documentation of bribery, while the companies deny any such claims always stating how ethical they are despite the evidence.
Examples show not just politicians and law enforcement, but also journalists too. Any professional worth influencing is capable of being targeted.
Please leave any comments or questions below. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
This is the second livestreamed video with my friend Josh Long, discussing what to do about the world craziness around us.
(Backup on alternative platforms will be available later.)
A lot has transpired since our last episode, with Emergency Use Approval for kids, a Biden press conference that started mass layoffs, two court rulings against OSHA and Biden, and a governor that went missing for 12+ days.
We’ll catch you up on what we’re researching, our plans and how to best prepare for the authoritarian machine that’s rolling across the world.
This is Chapter 16 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
Thus far, this book has mostly focused on the USA. That’s where most of the Big Tobacco companies were based and where so many events took place. But the USA is not isolated from the world, especially as globalization ramped up after World War II.
While legal, scientific and cultural wars did eventually turn the tide against Big Tobacco within the USA, it is important to understand what happened across the world because of this. A not-often discussed strategy of the industry playbook is to take your money and influence elsewhere.
Burson-Marsteller, PR firm for Philip Morris, stated “despite the lingering tobacco liability cases and the drop in cigarette consumption in the United States, the tobacco companies themselves have never been healthier…foreign consumption of American cigarettes continues to grow dramatically.”
Never been healthier! That’s the result of playing this country arbitrage game. Regulation, lawsuits or other events may dampen your abilities in one country. But there are hundreds of countries that are not equal playing fields. What’s more is that the money of big industry often trumps the money of nation states many times over. This gives you further outsized power.
That’s why exports from Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and Brown & Williamson went from about 50 billion cigarettes to 220 billion between 1975 to 1994. In 2018, cigarette exports from the USA totaled a value of $1.07 billion US dollars.
A tobacco industry executive honestly explained the overall strategy as such: “Demographically, the population explosion in many underdeveloped countries ensures a large potential market for cigarettes. Culturally, demand will increase with the continuing emancipation of women and the linkage in the minds of many consumers of smoking manufactured cigarettes with modernization, sophistication, wealth, and success—a connection encouraged by much of the advertising for cigarettes throughout the world. Politically, increased cigarettes sales can bring benefits to the government of an underdeveloped country that are hard to resist.”
Indeed, we can see that Big Tobacco sought this sort of influence and control outside the USA using all the other strategies already covered, not just locally but globally. Those benefits to government sometimes took the form of bribes to politicians and other influence peddlers as we’ll explore in a later chapter.
In 1981, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Brown & Williamson joined together to form the Cigarette Export Association (CEA), a non-profit trade association “to improve the competitive position” in foreign markets. The CEA would petition the U.S. Trade Representative to open restricted foreign markets to American cigarettes. It’s no surprise that, pulling political strings with lobbying and funding, they were successful in doing this. And we can see the results of this strategy playing out.
In China, Marlboro was the fourth largest advertiser in 1984. “The rise in smoking in China, where per capita consumption of cigarettes more than doubled between 1965 and 1990, mirrors what happened some forty years earlier in the United States,” wrote Brandt. “The tobacco companies bring a century of marketing savvy, intelligence, and doublespeak to their promotional efforts in these developing nations.”
In other words, the people of these developing nations didn’t stand a chance. The battle-hardened messaging, learning from successes and failures within the states, would be unleashed elsewhere.
That’s what led Surgeon General Koop to say, “I think the most shameful thing this country did was to export disease, disability and death by selling our cigarettes to the world…What the companies did was shocking, but even more appalling was the fact that our government helped make it possible.”
Enter the supranational political body, the World Health Organization. Some of the well-intentioned people there aimed to curb the abuses of Big Tobacco. In 1995, the World Health Assembly, WHO’s governing body, began looking into the possibility of an international treaty regarding tobacco.
Then in May 1996, the World Health Assembly unanimously passed a resolution for the director-general of the WHO to develop a framework convention, a type of treaty for tobacco control.
It wasn’t until 2003 when the 192 member nations of the WHO unanimously adopt the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was the WHO’s first ever multilateral treaty.
The WHO to the rescue, except not so much as you might guess by this point. We saw earlier regarding institutions that the WHO was heavily influenced and infiltrated by agents of Big Tobacco. This treaty was no different.
Specifically, Philip Morris hired PR firm Mongoven, Biscoe & Duchin (MBD) to help make sure the FCTC wouldn’t hurt them. Summing up MBD’s strategy Brandt writes that “Philip Morris should remain an engaged participant in the process so as to co-opt and weaken the treaty” and “to inhibit consensus and disrupt the negotiations.”
The final version of the treaty was called “feeble” and “meaningless.” Just one more step in defying and even defining regulation, this time on a global stage. Brandt writes, “While WHO sought to develop transnational regulatory initiatives, the multinational companies insisted that tobacco policies must be handled at the discretion of individual governments.” It’s interesting to see the mirror of “individual” governments responsibilities, much as Big Tobacco talked about individual people’s responsibility. Whatever would ultimately help their bottom line was their talking points.
What are the results of such global action?
Based on recent events, the following line in Brandt’s book really stood out to me. “In this century, in which we have known tobacco’s health effects from the first day, the death toll is predicted to be one billion. This is a pandemic.”
That’s over the course of a century, which means that ten million people every year die from tobacco related diseases.
I know, I know, it was a common tobacco defense that people have individual self-responsibility to smoke or not smoke. Are these kids making a conscious decision?
The marketing, the propaganda, strikes people hard especially at a young age, after all youth is what so much is targeted at. The cultural influence, which is predicated on these things, influences us all.
Again, do we have our health priorities straight? Or are such priorities really reflective of industry desires and leverage?
More examples of this country arbitrage game are described in the next few chapters.
Key Takeaways on Going Worldwide
While most of the strategies and their effects described in this book focus on the USA, the playbook is used all across the world.
The influence, power and money of Big Tobacco ultimately outmatched many countries. You’ve seen how much influence they had in the states, just imagine when a company’s revenue is bigger than the GDP of a country.
Lobbying and political influence was used to make “free” trade possible across borders, supporting the market growth of Big Tobacco.
Big Tobacco was able to stall, inhibit and disrupt the WHO from developing a powerful multilateral treaty. What they did pass was called “feeble” and “meaningless”.
Please leave any comments or questions below. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
(More on this line of thinking specifically regarding the economy, and cryptocurrencies role in the transition, to follow this article.)
Armed with all of that, I projected out to what our time line could look like. While I am making some predictions, the aim here is more to look at possibilities and weigh the likelihood of them.
This is also big picture stuff, with the specific events and time frames being of lesser importance. Of course these matter…but they’re much harder to predict.
Instead, I’m looking at the overall narrative time lines of humanity here.
I’ve made some simple drawings to encapsulate what these look like. In each of these, the X-axis is time and Y-axis is both quality and freedom of human life.
And these are overly generalized. In truth, more ups and downs inherent in actual reality, in different places in different ways. The goal of this simplification is to distill down the overly complex into just a handful of scenarios.
Non-Viable Scenario – Normie Thinking
This is what normies think. Things will get better in the future.
Basically, any day now we’ll be done with the coronavirus (if only everyone got vaccinated!) and things will get back to normal. Pope Fauci is saying so.
This is the only non-viable scenario presented here. It is wishful thinking from people that have no clue how the world works.
So I wonder, can they simply about-face on the whole pandemic narrative?
I do see one possible way they could turn back. To have Pfizer or Merck’s new Covid drugs be miracles that “ends the pandemic.” This could be a way out for them.
Interestingly we see that the new Pfizer Drug works similarly to Ivermectin in one way, though Ivermectin also works via many other mechanisms too.
Of course that’s not even really needed. To reverse things, all they would have to do is stop their statistical manipulation, stop killing people in hospitals, stop testing so much, and most importantly rollout new propaganda in support of the back to normal narrative. Then they back away on vaccine mandates and passports…for now.
The great thing for the policy makers about this narrative, is that the drug companies get to claim success! They’re the heroes. The Biden admin ends the pandemic and his approval ratings would actually increase!
Everything calms down…a return to “normal”…for the time being.
Maybe there’s even some shuffling around of people in power, some fall guys to take the blame, with nothing fundamental changing.
Sadly, if this were to happen it would only be a delay tactic. Their overall plan doesn’t go in the trash bin with this. Life just goes back to normal for a short while until the next stages are rolled out…the next virus, climate lockdowns and all that.
I present this scenario first, as it would eventually lead to any of the other scenarios. To the normies, it appears that their wishful thinking is right, but it’s just a stall tactic.
That being the case, why do I like this scenario?
It gives you and me more time to prepare and ready ourselves.
It is also a sign that our rising up and standing firm was effective. It shows they’re weak and not ready for the level of pushback currently occuring.
If indeed it does happen, we can’t rest on our laurels and relax. It will instead be the time for increasing our offensive against the criminal cartel.
Sadly, I don’t think it is very likely of all the scenarios. In part this is because it would show their weakness and they know it. But it is possible.
Scenario 2 – The Non-Violent Revolution to Renaissance
But I want to start by painting a rosy picture of the future.
Imagine if we did overthrow the controllers of this world...
Imagine if science was not bought-and-sold to the highest bidder...
Imagine if we had true healthcare, not just disease care...
Imagine if forbidden truths (natural cancer cures, psychic phenomenon, etc.) were actually allowed to be explored rather than denigrated...
Imagine if we could honestly talk about the UFO phenomenon and what that means…
Imagine if we were not divided into political parties and actually worked together...
Imagine if we focused on good nutrition the world over instead of GMO’s, pesticides and the like...
Imagine if the largest charities honestly wanted to fix problems, rather than being cover for nefarious agendas.…
Imagine if we could dig into our history and talk about the truth of what happened, to dispel conspiracy theories and get to conspiracy facts openly and honestly...
By no means do I think all of humanities problems could disappear overnight. But removing the current people in power would effectively launch humanity into a new renaissance.
Not a utopia (perfection), as those tend to turn dystopian, but this idea of protopia (better). This is possible.
If enough people wake up, if proper actions are taken, the institutional control grid and those currently in power heading them can be taken down. We outnumber them greatly.
All that is needed is to reach a tipping point. From there it could happen quite quickly.
What that looks like is that things will get disrupted to a degree, we go downhill somewhat hence the dip, but launching into the upward trajectory of the new renaissance after that.
The previous scenario, the Backup, could even turn into this if the pushing back continues and doesn’t die off.
While I see this as possible, sadly, I think this might be too Pollyanna.
This is the hopium pitched by Q, Gesara/Nesara and various others narratives that the “white horse” is coming in to save us.
IF it is to actually happen, and I do see it as possible, it is only by a groundswell of decentralized support and action from people like you and me.
The question is, can that possibly happen in time?
Yet even if it does, when you back a rat into a corner, it fights back ferociously, which brings us too…
Scenario 3 – The Violent Revolution to Renaissance
I mentioned in the previous article that when propaganda fails (as is certainly occurring), totalitarian force is behind it. This has been said before by many such as the great prophet George Orwell.
The would-be controllers of the world aren’t going to simply bow out and say “you got us”. These sociopaths are lying ‘til the very end.
They’ll spin, they’ll obfuscate, they’ll run and they’ll hide. The propaganda is breaking. While that is a good thing, be careful what you wish for!
There is no doubt, they will fight tooth and nail to not go to jail or be executed for crimes against humanity. And they’ll whip up those still propagandized to fight against those coming for them.
Also covered last time, there are those that would rather fight for their captors then step into freedom and the possible renaissance. Stockholm Syndrome is strong in many.
(Translations: “I got you, vaccine refuser!” and “A big hit under the Christmas tree!”)
In Germany of all places, most do not see this for where this is going.
There are signs we’re getting to the point of violence. Truthfully, it has already begun in minor degrees with the riots and such. Whether it is limited to small pockets or becomes huge remains to be seen.
That’s why I see this as a much, much more likely scenario then number 2. In fact, we can think of it as a spectrum from non-violent to extremely violent.
This is mirrored for instance in the Civilization Collapse Stack in how far down do we go? It won’t be evenly distributed by location or time in what happens. In other words, some places could go untouched while other pockets become complete war zones.
It could be US civil war. It could even become a true World War scenario. This very likely will take several years to play out.
If I’m being completely honest, limited or some violence is likely the best of realistic scenarios.
Let me be clear. I don’t want violence. I’m not hoping for it. But I do see it as the more likely and logical route of how these overall trends play out.
Regardless of the amount, in this scenario, we come out successfully on the other side. More violence would imply much more rebuilding to be done. And the new renaissance begins on the other side much the same. That’s the hope!
Scenario 4 – Violent Revolution Suppressed
Sadly, a positive outcome is not guaranteed.
Remember, that I do not want to underestimate my enemy.
Are they willing to kill many people to win? Absolutely. So what sort of false flags events do they have up their sleeves?
Remember that any and all of these things are on the table:
Cyber Pandemic
More Viruses (Marburg? Smallpox?)
Supply Chain Disruption
Food Shortages
Economic Collapse
Natural Disasters and “Natural” Disasters
Domestic Terrorist Attacks from the Left and/or Right
US Civil War
War with China
Not just on the table. Almost guaranteed that the next decade sees at least half this list in a big, big way.
Add to that we have to be wary of any violent acts playing into their hands. Any thing even remotely violent will be labeled as domestic terrorism, being used to control their propagandized people. Just look at the Jan. 6th capitol “insurrection” for example.
They’ll use such events to clamp down harder. With propaganda for now, but with increasing force later on.
Violent suppression begets violent rebellion and vice versa. It’s not a great escalation trap to get caught in.
While there are positive signs that the peaceful pushback is working, there are many negative signs as well.
Look at the USA-supported totalitarian regimes in third world countries over the past century for instance. Look at how the rebels were treated and painted in the propaganda.
Again, under the cover of violence, roving death squads in the USA could absolutely become a thing.
They’re likely ready and willing to do this. With these psychopaths, I bet some are looking forward to it with glee.
They’ve got the propagandized masses. They’ve got the authority of the legacy institutions. They’ve got weapons, even black ops technology we’re not aware of. They’ve got money with complete access to the printers.
This all means if it is a fight ahead, it is not an easy one.
If I’m being realistic, not only an escalation of violence very likely, but there is by no means a guarantee of success for the people.
Scenario 5 – Descent with Drop-Offs
I have a sense that something big will happen during wintertime here. With another “COVID wave” undoubtedly (linked to spikes occurring with the booster shots and 5-11 year old vaccinations and/ or just winter time in general).
But something else likely too. What exactly that is, I can’t say for sure. Just that for the propaganda falling apart, something needs to grab people’s attention once again.
For the most part, things tend to happen quite slowly. How to boil a frog and all that.
President of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division, Stefan Oelrich, talked about gene therapy openly. “We are really taking that leap [to drive innovation] – us as a company, Bayer – in cell and gene therapies … ultimately the mRNA vaccines are an example for that cell and gene therapy. I always like to say: if we had surveyed two years ago in the public – ‘would you be willing to take a gene or cell therapy and inject it into your body?’ – we probably would have had a 95% refusal rate.”.
Bayer needs to get it’s facts straight. Didn’t he get the fact check memos here and here that these vaccines aren’t gene therapy?
Understand that with the ultimate techno-fascist goal (digital ID, vaccine passport, social credit score, CBDC all tied in one) we are still a long way from that. It has to move slowly enough for that to happen. Too much, too fast pops more people out of the matrix.
And yet a few big events are needed to get us there as well.
One of those possible big events is the violent revolution as discussed. That could be ONE of the drops pictured in the above scenario.
And yet that is just one of many events that is likely to occur. To get there I’d say we need at least two or three more pandemic-sized-narratives unleashed on us. Fact is they’ve war-gamed so many options. (For instance, Food Chain Reaction discussed here or the Cyber Pandemic I discussed here.)
There are many people standing up for their rights. This is in part because the grab for power is ridiculous in light of a disease with over a 99.5+% survival rate. And it would be even better than that, if we listened to the doctors that know how to treat it, instead of inflating and causing deaths to make it worse than it is
But here is a situation to ponder…how many people would be standing up if this disease was actually as deadly as some of the normies think it is?
How many people would pushback against vaccines mandates and passports if the disease going around only had a 70% survival rate?
Far, far fewer. And that’s a scary thought.
The evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 coming from gain of function research. Some claim that it was even released intentionally. Given what you know, do you put it past “them” releasing a much more deadly virus? I wouldn’t. In fact, I would say such is probable. And this obviously continues the whole vaccine agenda. That cannot end simply with forever COVID.
Understand that for their plans to work, it plays out over the next decade.
I hope the people’s revolution, one way or another, comes out triumphant. However, I see the possibility of the controllers threading the eye of the needle with both slow and abrupt changes descending humanity into the Borg.
What we’re going through is by-and-large controlled demolition. The demolition is to re-engineer society to fit the sociopaths dreams. The scenario painted here appears to be according to their plan.
While it is their plan, that doesn’t automatically make them successful. It just shows what we’re up against.
Here are a few other things to reflect on in light of these scenarios.
Texas and Florida – Bastions on Freedom or Brought to Heel?
These are the two high profile Republican states that are pushing back against the Federal government and pandemic restrictions in a big way. Others are too, these two just get the most press.
If this is controlled demolition, and things are truly pessimistic, then these two states will be brought to heel in one form or another.
Is it biological warfare, the next virus or variant that causes real damage that is released there?
Or is it a weather event? They’re both hit by hurricanes regularly. Will a Category 7 hurricane come for Florida and/or Texas in the next few years?
Something to reflect on. If you think there is more controlled demolition going on, the powers that be have powers such as this, and you’re thinking of moving, lower profile but still freer states might be a safer bet.
And even lower profile countries which brings me to my next point.
The Worldwide Country Arbitrage Game
There’s an upcoming chapter in The Industry Playbook that involves “Going Worldwide”. That when a corporation has amassed great power and money it can get countries to bow to their will. After all, the corporation often has have more power and money then little countries. And that this country-by-country arbitrage game can be extremely lucrative.
We’re in a worldwide conspiracy. That doesn’t mean it is 100% controlled. But it does mean the tentacles make their way into every country more or less.
Canada and Australia seem to be the pilot programs for Western totalitarian regimes.
The lessons learned from these experiments, whether it goes smoothly or not, most definitely will be analyzed and applied to the next countries subjected to similar processes.
In other countries, the initial digital ID programs and CBDC’s will instruct the next countries to follow suit.
This is to say that the above time lines are not evenly distributed either.
Humanity Collectively Chooses the Manifested Time Line…
I don’t think anything is set in stone. All these time lines I do see as possibilities.
Having explored everything here, these are my concluding thoughts, many of which are reiterated.
Hope for the best. Aim for the best. But prepare for the worst.
You should get a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C going.
Plan A is for Scenarios 1 or 2 (Backup or Non-Violent Revolution)
Plan B is for Scenario 3 (Violent Revolution)
Plan C is for Scenario 4 or 5 (Violent Revolution Suppressed and Descent with Drop-Offs)
Even if just vague thoughts, that’s a start (like I have regarding moving to Mexico as Plan C). As much as you can flesh out these plans, the better.
As much as you can build adaptability into these plans, the better.
We can think along these lines with the states and countries.
If their systems of control are collapsing, the freer areas will swell and thrive.
If their systems of control are strong, such areas will be forced to bend the knee, one way or another.
As we move forward this helps us to know which time line we’re on, and strategically make better choices.
Build out your Civilization Collapse Stack. I know I keep mentioning this, and that is because it is one of the most helpful frames for preparation I’ve seen. It’s not just survival but thriving that this helps with.
In other words, this helps in Plan A but also Plan C.
Hopefully you’re profiting with cryptocurrencies like I am, which then serves to build out the rest of the stack. That is the play!
Get your own house in order first and foremost, to the best of your ability.
From there figure out HOW you can stand firm with the rest of us.
Hold the line at refusal of vaccine mandates and passports. The is THE control mechanism. If that can be defeated, their plan is thrown askew.
Yes, the digital ID tied into CBDC’s is the ultimate control mechanism. Because with this they can delete you from the economy. But this is still a couple years away. The vaccine passport is key to digital ID adoption which then gets tied into CBDC’s.
If they can violate bodily autonomy everything else is pretty much effortless for them.
That’s why the vaccine mandates are being forced so hard down our collective throats. It will increasingly become the carrot and the stick as more shocks come.
The good news is that what they’re doing does reek of desperation, of overplaying their hand, which I think is a hopeful sign.
Things like government aid, food, money, healthcare, etc. with the next events will increasingly be dependent on you being a compliant citizen.
And remember, it’s not about a one-time jab, but booster after booster, and more and more added to the adult mandated schedule.
You can’t comply your way out of tyranny.
It doesn’t go back to normal if you comply. So you might as well stand firm now. That way we can aim for the backup, nonviolent or limited violent revolution scenarios playing out.
More tragic events will be thrown at us, but if we can continue to stand firm, there is cause for hope.
Do not bend the knee to the presidential decrees.
Do not bend the knee to employers turned totalitarian enforcers. Disobey the unjust rules.
Do not bend the knee every chance you get. (Thinking strategically of course, as some battles are much more worth fighting than others.)
Most importantly, speak out against the nonsense.
Aim to do so in a depolarizing way as best as possible. I’ve gotten many comments that people love to share my articles because they are just that.
Yet, recognize that what is rational or reactionary is largely in the eye of the beholder. It is not worth your time to waste it on those that fight so hard for their imprisonment…even if that is family members or friends.
On the flip side, it’s been amazing to me to talk to strangers and, often times, be able to go so deep, so fast, because so many people are already on the same page. I met some guys at my local spring the other day and within 10 minutes I was talking about this systemic collapse vs. controlled demolition stuff!
We’ve got to break the social engineering, and literally turn it in our favor. The “sheep” are followers, right? When they see more of humanity, especially in authoritative places, speaking out more will fall in line.
If you have specific questions for that, you can ask them live on the call or below in the comments.
One final thought. Keep the coming renaissance in mind. That is what I’m aiming for. Pray for it. Visualize it. Manifest it. And let’s start building it along with all the others that want to do the same.
This is Chapter 15 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
Recall all the power of public relations that has been discussed in these various strategies. Now understand that in the USA there are more than four and a half PR people for every reporter. This number has grown over the years, but PR people have outnumbered journalists since 1980.
The majority of those PR people started out as journalists themselves. Why? The pay is better and there are a lot more jobs available. But it was a long road to this position we find ourselves in today. Big Tobacco helped to pave that road.
One of the biggest plays of public relations is to get stories out to the public. If you can influence what is covered in the news and what is not you can influence the public at large.
This started as early as the 20’s, when Bernays proposed the Tobacco Information Service Bureau, a PR arm for American Tobacco. He launched the “torches of freedom” campaign in order to get women to smoke in public. One of his main goals was getting journalists to cover events, getting photos taken of women smoking cigarettes publicly. This stirred up controversy that he used to get even more press.
Fast forward to 1954 when The Frank Statement to Smokers was released. This was a PR masterstroke as it generated a massive amount of favorable press. Hill & Knowlton ran opinion research after it was released. They found that 65% of coverage of the TIRC was favorable. Only 9% was critical.
No PR campaign ends with a single ad. This was followed by the TIRC paper, A Scientific Perspective on the Cigarette Controversy. This featured eighteen pages of quotes from doctors and scientists doubting the link of cancer and cigarettes. Over 200,000 copies are distributed to doctors and media. That year the TIRC’s budget was almost $1 million which almost exclusively went to Hill & Knowlton for media ads and administrative costs.
What was this money for if not for influencing how journalists covered the topic? Journalists are taught to cover both sides of an argument. Hill & Knowlton, through the TIRC, made sure their side was out there and ever present.
“Every time the TIRC issued a press release, the Hill & Knowlton organization had initiated ‘personal contact,’” wrote Brandt. “The firm systematically documented the courtship of newspapers and magazines where it could urge ‘balance and fairness’ to the industry. Hill & Knowlton staff, for instance, assisted Donald Cooley in preparing an article entitled ‘Smoke Without Fear’ for the July 1954 issue of True Magazine and then distributed more than 350,000 reprints to journalists throughout the country.”
We can see this in 1955 when Edward Murrow covered the tobacco controversy in two consecutive broadcasts at CBS. Hill himself made sure that the coverage was a “balanced one”.
Dick Darrow of Hill & Knowlton directed his staff in 1955 to focus on the “stature-building attention on Dr. Little and his own work.” They made Little, their front man, available to journalists and the media as much as possible.
The PR defense was always ready. They sought to know about scientific findings before they were published so they could attack them as soon as they were released. Carl Thompson explained, “One policy that we have long followed is to let no major unwarranted attack go unanswered. And that we would make every effort to have an answer in the same day—not the next day or next edition. This calls for knowing what is going to come out both in publications and meetings.” Sometimes they even preemptively rebutted new science.
When the defense of “we need more research” began to fade, there were other tactics available. In the last chapter we covered the legal defense of big tobacco. Legal action, including just the threats of lawsuits, were more arrows in the quiver of Big Tobacco to control others including journalists.
ABC’s Day One program featured a whistleblower from R.J. Reynold’s in February of 1994. Philip Morris sued for libel. “This lawsuit was never about libel. It was about intimidation and discouraging other news organizations from covering them,” said Jane Kirtley, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The Tyndall Report was a journalism newsletter which tracked and analyzed nightly newscasts since 1987. The editor, Andrew Tyndall said, “In the first six months of 1994, before Philip Morris sued ABC for libel, the three broadcast networks devoted 177 minutes to the tobacco story. In the second half of 1994, after the lawsuit was filed that May, the coverage dropped to 43 minutes…There definitely was a chilling effect of the lawsuit.”
While legal action was one tactic, it wasn’t the only one. Another tactic can be used simultaneously for more leverage. This includes threatening to pull advertising. Even though at this time cigarettes weren’t advertising on TV, they still had a card to play. Philip Morris has bought brands such as Kraft Foods and Miller Beer. They were able to threaten to pull advertising on these which amounted to more than $100 million a year.
Journalism pays its bills through advertising. The threat of pulling millions of dollars per year in advertising is a powerful stick that Big Tobacco was absolutely willing to wield.
A memo between tobacco defense lawyers stated, “Through a studied investment of its advertising dollars, the industry both coerced the print media to avoid coverage of anti-smoking stories and enlisted the media’s support in opposition to proposed restrictions on print advertising.”
Ultimately, because of the lawsuit, ABC went on to apologize for their coverage in a carefully worded broadcast. They had to pay between $15 million in legal fees to Philip Morris. “Many saw the apology as an example of powerful corporate interests trumping journalistic practice,” writes Brandt. “It soon became clear that executives at Walt Disney Company, on the verge of acquiring ABC, wanted the case settled before the purchase went into effect.”
These same tactics sometimes proactively killed other news before it aired, as occurred with CBS’ 60 Minutes program featuring another whistleblower, tobacco executive and lead research at Brown & Williamson, Jeffrey Wigand.
The threat of “tortious interference” was enough to get CBS to not air the program, where they could possibly be liable for damages in Wigand breaking his confidentiality agreement. If not for producer Lowell Bergman leaking out the transcript of this interview to other news outlets it may never have seen light of day.
Brown and Williamson also went on the offensive against Wigand. They hired private investigators to dig up any and all dirt they could on him creating a 500-page dossier that included sub-headings such as “Wigand’s Lies About His Residence,” “Wigand’s Lies Under Oath” and “Other Lies By Wigand.”
Many news organizations used this dossier to run what amounted to hit pieces on Wigand’s credibility. Further checking on the stories, as TheWall Street Journal found that “many of the serious allegations against Mr. Wigand are backed by scant or contradictory evidence. Some of the charges — including that he pleaded guilty to shoplifting — are demonstrably untrue.”
Interestingly enough it turns out the CBS Chairman was Laurence Tisch and his son, Andrew Tisch, was CEO of Lorillard tobacco. All of the CEO’s, at that time, were under investigation from the justice department for committing perjury in front of Congress. Whether or not this played any role in CBS’ decision I cannot say for sure, though relationships such as this should be looked at with a skeptical eye.
What was clearer was how money influenced such decisions. Like ABC being sold to Disney, CBS was looking to be acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation for a sum of $5.4 billion. The possibilities of a huge lawsuit could be enough to stop the sale. The general counsel for CBS, Ellen Kaden, who argued against airing the program, was set to receive $1.2 million from the sale herself.
The New York Times reported, “Without putting up a fight, CBS has managed to create an ugly precedent. ‘Tortious interference with contract’ has now been added to the legal armory of enemies of the press without so much as a single decision endorsing it.” They also wrote, “The most troubling part of CBS’s decision is that it was made not by news executives but by corporate officers who may have their minds on money rather than public service these days.”
Another tactic useful for influencing journalism is paying high profile people that can make news for you in opinion pieces and such.
British philosopher Roger Scruton criticized the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control put forth by the WHO (which will be explained more in the next chapter), saying “It cannot be the function of a health bureaucracy to cure us of such self-imposed risks…to classify as a dangerous disease what is in fact, a voluntary activity and a source of pleasure, the risk of which falls entirely on the smoker…Big tobacco is an easily demonized opponent, and one currently as defenceless as a chained and baited bear.”
It turns out Scruton was working for Japan Tobacco International, one of the world’s biggest producers and exporters. Leaked emails were revealed by The Guardian. Scruton sought to get a £1,000 raise on his existing £4,500 monthly fee because he was providing “good value for money.”
“We would aim to place an article every two months in one or other of the WSJ [Wall Street Journal], the Times, the Telegraph, the Spectator, the Financial Times, the Economist, the Independent or the New Statesman,” says an email from 2001, from Sophie, Scruton’s wife and business partner. “While one or more of these articles might be written by RS, we would do our best to get other journalists to join in.”
Lastly, you can go straight after the journalists themselves. Philip Morris paid a CBS TV anchor to do a mock TV show at one of their conventions. Later, she co-hosted a newsmagazine segment on tobacco taxes. This segment contained factual errors and prominently featured an interview with a paid consultant to the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council. This conflict of interest was not disclosed in the program.
Influencing journalism is a mainstay strategy that involves a wide variety of tactics. The sad fact is that today, with heavy consolidation and links across industries, journalism has suffered far more from these tactics than in Big Tobacco’s zenith.
Key Takeaways on Influencing Journalism
There are more PR people than journalists, who receive higher pay for their duties.
The overall journalism strategy involves to get more favorable coverage and downplay or squash any negative coverage. Getting more favorable coverage includes:
Staging PR events that push your agenda forward
Distributing positive coverage in one media source to other media sources.
Using a network of media contacts to get coverage far and wide.
Using opinion polling to gauge your effectiveness, and tweaking campaigns from there.
Building up the credibility of your front people and their research or other efforts.
Pay to have high-profile people write puff pieces about you.
Pay journalists themselves through consulting, speaking fees, etc.
Downplay or squash any negative coverage includes tactics such as:
Being aware of science or other negative threats before they’re published so they could be attacked right away or even preemptively.
Lawsuits for libel, tortious interference and more, including just the threat of lawsuits.
Pulling advertising dollars, including the threat of pulling advertising.
Opposition research to smear opponents.
Relationships among industry executives and news executives might be used to influence media coverage. This becomes even more likely with greater business consolidation.
Please leave any comments or questions below. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
In 1956, Dr. Henry Welch was the chief of antibiotics at the FDA. He’d been awarded a Distinguished Service Gold Medal from the US for his development of a system of testing and approving penicillin during the war.
Dr. Welch was the keynote speaker at a conference, the Fourth Annual Symposium on Antibiotics. This event was co-sponsored by the FDA with all expenses paid by MD Publications. This company was run by a psychiatrist Felix Mari-Ibanez. It published two technical journals, Antibiotics and Chemotherapy and Antibiotic Medicine and Clinical Therapy. Dr. Welch co-edited these along with Marti-Ibanez.
At the conference, Welch in his speech said, “We are now in the third era of antibiotic therapy” and that “synergistic” antibiotics would be successful were traditional antibiotics weren’t.
This was basically the launch party for Pfizer’s new wonder drug, Sigmamycin. Pfizer advertised as the “Third era of antibiotics.” One ad read: “More and More Physicians Find Sigmamycin the Antibiotic Therapy of Choice”. This ad included business cards with eight names, addresses and phone numbers of physicians, touting it was “highly effective” and “clinically proved.”
John Lear was an investigative journalist and science editor at the Saturday Review. Lear tried contacting these doctors in the ad by mail and phone. His mail came back undeliverable. The phone numbers didn’t reach doctors. They were fake.
Pfizer’s own medical director found that 27% of people experienced side effects from Sigmamycin. Their promotions of the drug touted no side effects.
Lear would go on to discuss Dr. Welch about his connections. Welch said, “Where my income comes from is my own business” and that regarding MD Publications, “My only connection is as an editor, for which I receive an honorarium.”
But he was lying.
In a congressional investigation, a copywriter for Pfizer would go on to explain that Welch had submitted his speech ahead of the conference to approval from Pfizer. This copywriter punched it up specifically with talk of the “third era of antibiotics” which was the main claim they’d use in their advertising.
After the symposium, Pfizer purchased 238,000 reprints of Dr. Welch’s speech. As part of Welch’s deal, he received half the income from these reprints. While Pfizer gave a few of these out, most ended up in the garbage. It was simply a legal bribe.
Further investigation revealed the numbers. The FDA paid Welch a salary of $17,500 per year. And between 1953 and 1960 an average of $35892.75 was made from his publishing ventures. He made twice as much from his extra activities than his main job, so who do you think he was ultimately loyal too? Just an honorarium, ha!
When these numbers came out, Dr. Welch resigned in disgrace. He retired to Florida with his pension intact.
This was not an isolated incident. A drug examiner turned whistleblower named Barbara Moulton had spent five years at the FDA before she resigned in protest around that time. She said the agency “failed utterly” in policing the way drugs were marketed and sold. That the FDA bowed to those it regulated. She had even been reprimanded for not being “sufficiently polite to members of the pharmaceutical industry.”
The aforementioned ad for Pfizer was put out by an advertising agency owned by Dr. Arthur Sackler, the main man behind Pfizer’s advertisements, in fact most of those of various pharmaceutical companies. Sackler was also the financial backer for MD Publications.
Subpoenaed letters later revealed that Sackler and Welch communicated personally. That Welch asked for “a little outside help” in funding a new journal.
If the name Sackler sounds familiar to you, it is because of the headlines of the Sackler Family that owned Purdue Pharma, one of the major players in the opioid epidemic. Arthur Sackler was the patriarch, and the playbook they followed was started a long time ago. This story comes from Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Now reflect on this.
Is this same drug company involved in misleading advertising, overstating the benefits while downplaying the side effects?
Has the buying of reprints in medical journals legal bribery loophole ever been closed?
Are there people at the FDA resigning in protest even in the last couple of months?
Are there similar financial connections going on between a web of companies, individuals, and regulators?
Different decade, different people…
Same companies, same regulatory body, same tactics…
Unfortunately, the same story over and over again. That is until we all learn better.
