War is a Racket (Racketeering)

WAR IS A RACKET 

(Racketeering)

Book written by General Smedley Butler

Book Review By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, November 22 2022

 

DEFINITION:  RACKET.  The author used the word “racket” but actually refers to “racketeering.”  This is the definition of “racketeering” that fits perfectly to the author’s intent of his writing. 

Originally and often still specifically, racketeering may refer to an organized criminal act in which the perpetrators offer a service that will not be put into effect, offer a service to solve a nonexistent problem, or offer a service that solves a problem that would not exist without the racket. However, racketeers may offer an ostensibly effectual service to solve an existing problem. The traditional and historically most common example of such a racket is the "protection racket", in which racketeers offer to protect a business from robbery or vandalism; however, the racketeers will themselves coerce or threaten the business into accepting this service, often with the threat (implicit or otherwise) that failure to acquire the offered services will lead to the racketeers themselves contributing to the existing problem. In many cases, the potential problem may be caused by the same party that offers to solve it, but that fact may be concealed, with the intent to engender continual patronage. The protection racket is thus often a method of extortion, at least in practice.

WHY DID I READ THIS BOOK?  I was watching a documentary in which the narrator described a Marine Corps General named Smedley Butler who for whatever reason was selected by the elite bankers of the world to work with them.  He apparently realized what their end goal was, to create a one-world-government and destroy America as we know it.  According to the narrator, he went along with their scheme long enough to gather evidence and then reported to the President of the United States what their objectives were.  Butler may have singlehandedly preserved the America we all have enjoyed.

Fast forward to 2022 and I have to ask the question, isn’t that what we are seeing today?  People like Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and George Soros are attempting to destroy the world’s economy as we have known it and replace it with a one-world-government run by elites who supposedly know best what is good for the rest of us who remain. 

The main goal of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and people like Schwab, Gates and Soros is to reduce the world’s population by 13 of every 14 people on the planet.  That means killing off millions upon millions of people so that those who remain can maintain a “sustainable environment.”  That has been the plan since the early 1900s.

General Butler in this book, which is very short and easy to read in about 30 minute or less, describes the process by which the elite bankers of the world were no different than the Mafia gangs of the 1920s and 30s through to today.  More importantly he talks about what the people who fight the planet’s wars experienced and how it adversely affected them for life as well as their families all while the world’s banking and corporate elites sit back and collect MASSIVE PROFITS from the Military Industrial War Machine that President Eisenhower warned us about.  Wars are fought to increase profits while at the same time reduce the world’s population.  When people like Butler point it out based upon their own experiences, it becomes quite obvious that this is and has been their plan for decades.  In this regard, please do your own research and look up Agenda 21 and Agenda 30, both written by none other than the United Nations.  It verifies exactly what General Butler has written about.

General Butler pulls no punches in this book; NONE!  He tells it exactly how is WAS in his day and continues today.  The picture he paints with words is not a pretty picture and certainly does not describe the red, what and blue America that we were led to believe existed.  On the contrary, he describes a brutal do whatever it takes to grab as much money and power as you can and leave no stone unturned in doing so by Mafia-like people sitting in the highest corporate and political positions.  People’s lives simply do not matter to such people in carrying out their diabolical schemes that they have created.

Who should read this book?  EVERYONE but be prepared to be shocked.

Would I read it again?  Actually, I think I would and sill.

Would I give it as a gift?  Absolutely!

Fairly Smooth Operator

 

Fairly Smooth Operator

Written by Caroline Walsh

A book review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, October 27, 2022

DISCLAIMER:  Like the author, I too enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard as a Seaman Recruit (E-1), the lowest enlisted grade in the service.  Unlike the author, I progressed up the promotional ladder by “striking” for Yeoman in the field in lieu of being assigned to a Class A Service School.  Over time I was promoted to Chief Petty Officer, then to Chief Warrant Officer and then to a Lieutenant, a Limited Duty Officer (LDO).  I retired from the Coast Guard after twenty years as a Lieutenant on a permanent disability retirement.  More importantly, I entered the service in 1965 and retired in 1985. Why is this important?  Because there is a total disparity in my review given the differences in our ages and to some degree also in our educational background.  The author graduated from college; I attended only two years of college.  But the time frame is what’s so very important to understanding the following review.

I will not give the book a bad review because I actually enjoyed reading it.  I personally believe that there IS a difference between sexual abuse involving actual sexual advances and/or sexual relationships as compared to the the raw military humor based on the difference between the sexes.  The author seems to me to be writing more about the later as she describes her encounters during her time in the Coast Guard.  I do not doubt she experienced what she wrote about.  All I can say is that in my 20-year Coast Guard career, I did not see the type of treatment she received.  That may be the result of being a man as compared to being a woman.  Nor did I see or experience the type of failed leadership that she was exposed to.  I have no doubt about the leadership as she described it at Montauk Point Light Station but that is just one unit and represents only 25 of the over 35,000 Coast Guard men and women.  The book is well written and definitely holds your attention.  I would simply hate for any reader to assume that the entire Coast Guard was the picture image of how she described Montauk Point Light Station.

As for her time in the CIA, I found it fascinating that she encountered some of the same failed leadership traits in the CIA that she identified in the U. S. Coast Guard.  I fear that many readers who have little to no experience in military service or government service may draw conclusions about the two types of services as being typical of the entire U. S. Government.  In this regard, I do not concur in such a conclusion which is why I felt the need to qualify my comments by defining my service in the Coast Guard.

It may sound like I did not like the book which is not the case, I did enjoy reading it, otherwise I would not have taken the time to finished it.  There is a significant age difference between the author and me but more importantly, it was a total difference in the calendar years difference when we were both 20 something and joining the Coast Guard.  Different eras, different beliefs.  Acceptable behavior in the 1960s was not in the 2000s and visa versa.  It’s important for the reader of this review to understand this difference in ages and eras.

The author wrote about the single most valuable personal trait that anyone could possibly create for themselves.  Unfortunately, she did not put it into specific words such as:  Always do your best to make yourself indispensable regardless of the situations you may find yourself in.  That is exactly what she did without saying it.  She made the best of both good and bad situations throughout the book by becoming indispensable to the people she worked for, both good and bad.  With such an attitude, she will always land on her feet regardless of what may be happening.  That very lesson definitely makes the book worth reading.

Who should read the book?  I think anyone who reads it will benefit from the read. 

Would I read it again?  No, there would be no need.

Would I give it as a gift?  Possibly, but to people who I believe would enjoy such a topic.