Lufthansa Senior Managers as well as Physicians who examined Co-Pilot, Andreas Lubitz, are guilty of collusion in covering up the details regarding the terrorist pilot! 

He killed 149 Innocent Passengers from Germany, Spain, France and other countries.

From the very beginning of this tragedy on March 24, 2015, I specifically delineated this ‘suicide act’ committed by the 27 year old Andreas Lubitz’s of deliberately flying the German airline [ Lufthansa ] into the French Alps as a clear act of premeditated—TERRORISM! And not some ‘mental disorder’ which no one could pick up along the way.

Contrary to the prevailing views that this was a disturbed individual who had a history of mental illness, I specifically refused to accept that notion that the death of 149 innocent passengers was merely an act of some ‘crazy person’ who wanted just to kill himself, willingly taking 149 innocent victims with him. I said without any hesitation that Andreas actions were well thought out, even planned to the smallest detail; and could have been prevented like any other act of terrorism. 

Perhaps, no single person is more culpable of this premeditated act of terrorism than Carsten Spohr, Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa since 2007.  Spohr, an industrial engineer by training and a qualified pilot, immediately and intentionally lied to the public and the families of the victims. He was, as we say in the psychiatry/intelligence business, a clear give away when he emphatically declared “that Andreas Lubitz had passed both his physical and mental status exam without any problems”. Spohr knew differently. 

How do I know that?

Over thirty years of working in the counter-terrorism business as well as reorganizing major companies, I have learned that the CEO, whomever he/she might be, is always responsible for the ultimate acts of all of the employees. And in Spohr’s case, he had been in charge of the Lufhthansa personnel as far back as 1996 [according to his bio]. Why am I so emphatic about making this incident a criminal and not civil case?
The reason is simple!
Flying is a complicated business with multiple variables that have to be monitored. However, from my experience, I knew that the mental status of most pilots has rarely been addressed appropriately –or even at all.This tragedy highlights the fact that a plane can be an instrument of death as easy as a gun, artillery shell or bomb. In the wrong hands, a plane becomes an instrument of death and destruction as effective as a bomb.

Whether someone wants to fly the plane into a building as an act of terror as in 9/11 then it is equally plausible that same plane can be flown into the ground as an act of terror in order to instill fear in the passengers on board; as well as, the potential passengers who might want to fly one day. Terror is not the act of destruction; but the act of terror in order to instill fear into an innocent populace all over the world.

Such a terrorist was Andreas Lubitz. 

Despite the pathetic plaintive cries of clergymen from his town in Germany or individuals involved in his former gliding club, no amount of white washing can eliminate the very definite act of a man, like Andreas Lubitz, who spent countless hours, days and possibly years, mapping out the method, place and techniques by which he would eventually kill 149 innocent people, many of whom were school children. There is no mercy for him or the ‘co-conspirators’ like Carsten Spohr and Dr. Wolfgang Roller, Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lufthansa. These officious individual representing nothing more than their financial interests in a company that prides itself on “German Excellence in Engineering and Service.”

It’s time for the world to understand that every pilot flying any plane can be a potential terrorist as long as he/she is never evaluated effectively for mental illness or suicidal ideations with the intent to kill massive amounts of innocent people.

That day has not come yet.

Only after a significant prosecution of the people involved in this tragedy will the world once again trust flying and the pilots.    

  

Obamacare Starting to Fall Apart: More Medicaid Patients Use Emergency Rooms than Private Physicians! 

90% of Patients Are Sicker!
I have said very little concerning Obamacare. I knew that it would eventually implode on itself because it was based on extremely faulty premises. First, Medicaid patients could not and would not find physicians. Secondly, physicians would be reimbursed at a much lower rate than before. Thirdly, there were not enough physicians [especially American-trained ones] to take charge of all the patients who were supposed to receive the insurance. Finally, over 100 Million people have some type of insurance for mental health care yet there are not enough psychiatrists and mental health professionals to take care of a fraction of these people.

You get the idea.

Obamacare is going to fall apart from its own structural/ functional distortions which were based on faulty premises created by legislators who never had to worry about their own health care. From the very beginning of the Obamacare, I had a serious concerns about those who created this dysfunctional healthcare system. Most of the Senators and Congressmen who voted for the Nancy Pelosi ‘grab-bag’ –“lets find out what Obamacare really entails after we have passed the bill” were spoiled, entitled people who for the most part, should have visited pediatricians rather than internal medicine practitioners.

Pelosi was, as were her congressional henchmen, completely inept in their understanding or implementation of health program that had no correlation to what these legislatives centurions were accustomed to in terms of their own health care. All legislators have the Navy Bethesda Hospital as well as Walter Reed Army Hospital at their convenience for FREE! They are cradled in a special insurance plan that could take care of dystrophic alien with total body ailments [whatever that would be] ---again for FREE!

In reality we have the weakest, most effete element of our society designing a system to work for the rest of us. It doesn’t work to entrust those least able to provide for themselves in the open capitalist markets without constantly pandering for  special favors [which is what a politician is really about] in return for nothing.

The WSJ article on May/4/2015 discusses what I have known and suspected for decades since I first started practicing medicine in 1968—the Emergency Rooms of most hospitals has always acted as the primary care facility for most patients in the USA. We, doctors, have not been able to turn away any patient once they stepped into the Emergency Room. Never in my career as a Medical Doctor and Board-Certified Psychiatrist have I turned away anyone in need of physical or mental health care.

Now, these patients who come to the ER have been older and sicker as the population of the country has aged accordingly. Also, as fewer American citizens refuse to curb their voracious diet for sweets, fats and junk food, we, doctors, are seeing a preventable epidemic of diabetes, heart disease and other symptoms of a drastically bad diet and sedentary life.

The notion of preventive medicine has not and probably will not invade our pervasive mindset, fostered by the greedy Big Pharma, that all medicines, irrespective of how expensive they were, could rescue our bodies from the inevitable destruction of “well-being” sloth and ignorance. I know of several cases where men and women patients decided that it was easier to risk surgery for a stomach band [which is paid in full by the USG] than go on a reasonable diet or exert oneself for some type of moderate exercise.

Instead, we find the easy way out.

Yet it just does not work.

One example: overweigh patient undertook a stomach-band surgery in order to lose weight. This patient developed severe bronchial asthma as a result of the obesity. This patient then went on inhaler and nebulizers which created heart arrhythmia. This patient was admitted to the hospital several times to arrest the arrhythmia and ended up with an unsuccessful ablation of the AV node.

So the story goes on and on.

The administration was so concerned about making certain that everyone had health insurance that was affordable yet the actual cost of healthcare rose dramatically. New policies that reimbursed physicians at a much lower rate so physicians now refuse to see the patients and pass them on to the ER where they were charged a significantly large amount of money for a very simple procedure which could have been treated by a primary doctor –who no longer exists because it is impossible for him/her to make a decent living. Fewer doctors are left to treat patients.

I was recently offered a full time job as a psychiatrist for the state of Maryland at about 2/3 of the money that was offered to the actor, Matthew McConaughey, for speaking at the commencement ceremony of the University of Houston for just an hour ($155K).  Also, let us not forget that Rami Emmanuel, then Chief of Staff for the Obama White House, agreed to pay over $80B to the Pharmaceutical Industries to allow the passage of the Obamacare bill. Now, that is a pretty penny.

As a physician who has decided to leave my profession, I strongly suggest that if you have any type of mental ailment or dyspepsia, please call the aforementioned actor or an executive at Big Pharma that continues to insist that they can charge as much as they can and want, even for generic drugs. Ask the Big Pharma rep if she/he knows how to prevent or treat suicidal ideation with a modicum of success?
Better yet, please call up Dr James McDermott, Congressman from Washington State [paid by Boeing] and ask him why he does not identify himself as a Board Certified Child and Adult Psychiatrist rather than a Congressman? He worked for in the State Department as a Regional Medical Psychiatrist. Now, he hides behind the platitudes of palaver and process. That’s his choice!
Its time for Americans to vote in those representatives who can dismantle this absurd beached behemoth, entitled “Obamacare” ; after a costly segue of internet incompetency which marked the beginning passage of a piece of legislation which belongs to no citizens; other than those who have already been treated for free. We are not a healthy nation. We have no will power or discipline to enact anything other than indulging in immediate mental and culinary gratification. We Botox our faces. We drink beer as if it were water from a faucet. We eat as if there is no other meal will be served. We glorify our chefs as they become the new elite of our society; adoring their every word and motion in the kitchen as if culinary arts was the new religion de jour.

It is often said that an army walks in its stomach. But, I say that a nation that crawls on its stomach to the Emergency Room is destined to die a prolonged, ghastly death.

Unfortunately, there is no real recourse. Once in the ER; next in the OR; then in the mortuary.

In the words of the comedian, Woody Allen:

“I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” 

Chinese Chopsticks, Russian Borscht, and American Hot Dogs Trump the Failed SaudiArabian Military Assault in Yemen!
In a remarkable confluence of economic and political interests, America, Russia, China have quietly tempered the young Saudi Prince’s attempt to assert his desert prerogatives as royalty and decimate his tribal rivals in Yemen.

He failed!
In contrast, in a moment of glorious media silence,  American military/intelligence officers in concert with Chinese, Russia and Iranian national security advisors had conspired [that means ‘behind the scenes’] to blunt any misbegotten Saudi military initiatives in Yemen. This was accomplished through the old principles of Real Politik.

In essence, Sunni states like Egypt, Pakistan, and Jordan asked themselves what was more important: working in peace to establish a viable economic/political future in the East/Middle East or continue to harbor ancient hatreds that lead to nothing more than continued devastations?

Thanks to the quiet, mature interventions of President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia and the US military, Saudi Arabia was told in no uncertain terms that it would fail in its war against Iranian proxies in Yemen. The Chinese/Russia narrative of a newly expanded “Silk Road” through the northern tier of Eurasia has most of the leading developed Sunni Muslim countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt deciding to place their fortunes with the promise of a Chinese-led future, guaranteed by Russian geopolitical imperatives.

This means that China has promised all countries surrounding it that they all can participate in one large entrepreneurial endeavor to build large infrastructures through their countries leading in and out of China and Europe. I accept this proposition that China can and will build what it determines to be the best fit for it’s national economic/military/political future built on economic hegemony, and kinetic invasions. This has been a long time coming. Thanks to America which provided China with the technological advances needed to grow its formidable economy of 1.4 billion citizens, China is now in a more stable position to expand effectively through the development of major infrastructure projects like building new ports, highways, and civil societies.

Through its newly created Asian Infrastructure Initiative Bank[AIIB] China can compete with America’s economically flaccid World Bank and its’ subsidiary. More importantly, this complete change in the method of conflict resolution from kinetic destruction to a future laden with economic opportunities reaffirms the basic tenets that China has strongly embraced and America has lost: the benefits of capitalism over wars.

Once it was inconceivable that former communist countries like Russia and China could desire to excel economically beyond the restrictive bonds of ideology and want to enter a world that Adam Swift had defined primarily for the Anglo-Saxons. Now, the East [China, Russia, Turkey] will once again enter the pantheons of historical grandeur to assume their heritage of successful hegemony at different times in the course of history.

As for America, without a course-correction we will continue to lose our ability to successfully compete in the new economics of the global information age.We are now pre-occupied with a military that spans the globe as had the Roman Empire before its inevitable demise. We have no present or future promise of leadership which encourages me to anoint the next leader of our decaying Republic with the promise of true hope and proven past accomplishments. What we have now are stick figures like the young, immature princes of both Saudi Arabia and the undeservedly rich U.A.E who bluster and bluff into a vapor of inadequacy and incompetency.

For the most part, the most successful leaders of China [as well as Russia] have been those who have literally fought their way to the top, stopping at nothing, except to eliminate one contender after another, sending them to prison or exile. Instead we have potential criminals who have committed more crimes than Putin and President Xi combined-- both the Bush and Clinton families—who are the pathetic representation of spoiled, entitled sycophants. Neither one of these future candidates could ever achieve a moment’s success or accomplishment without a family member vouchsafing for their non-deeds.

Americans have a Patrician Class that has not served us well and will eventually ruin the Republic and make it into a province for their own corruptions. 

  Who will rid me of these “noisome pests”? I ask in the spirit of Sir Thomas More in the brilliant play,  “A Man For All Seasons” [By Robert Bolt].

White House Creates “Hostage Czar”?

When all else fails due to WH incompetency and ignorance,  Create “American Version Of Russian Czar!” Russians and Putin should be laughing by now. They got rid of their Czar in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917! Yet we resurrected the Czar because no one knows how to negotiate a minor hostage situation here or abroad.

Unbelievable!
As someone who had dealt with hundreds of hostages  all over the world including: the USA [Hanafi Muslims Washington D.C]; Uganda [Idi Amin]; Colombia [FARC]; and in the Middle East [PLO; Habash; Abu Nidal]—it was very easy for me to coordinate all my activities with the FBI, CIA, MI, SOF, Air Force, Navy, State Department, DOD, Metropolitan Police Dept [Wash DC- Police Chief Cullinane] and even the White House [Dr Peter Bourne and others]. I do not claim anything more than the ability to take calculated risks when presented with information from all sources of intelligence ranging from sophisticated NSA sweeping ELINT/SIGINT and HUMINT from the CIA, MI, local police forces, etc. 

Once I had information, I would talk to the families of the hostage when it was necessary. Very often, I assigned competent Foreign Service Officers, CIA operatives and even military or police officials to deal effectively with the respective families that were involved in the hostage negotiations.

Now the WH is spewing nonsensical palaver concerning payments to so-called self-designated terrorist groups. Since I was one of the originators of the presently completely misunderstood state policy of ‘no payment for hostages’, I can assure you that I had a successful rate of recovery because I did whatever it took to get those hostages out of harm’s way. Whether it was money or media attention, I was in the business of negotiating with terrorists along the lines of whatever currency they or I insisted upon. That point is crucial. The key to a successful hostage rescue is rarely to go in with kinetic action and play Jack Ryan on steroids [sorry Tom Clancy].

A terrorist situations as in Washington DC in the late 1970’s involved an intricate analysis by the Washington DC police and the successful use of three very brave Muslim Ambassadors –Gen Yaqub Kahn [Pakistan]; Adeshir Zahedi [Iran]; Amb Ghorbal [Egypt] and a very brave police chief named Cullinane. Eventually President Carter’s orders to ‘stand down’ were refused and the 150 plus hostages in three different buildings were safely released thanks to the brave efforts of everyone. There was no czar or czarina in any position. There was Earl Silbert, intrepid lawyer, who gave me legal guidance before, during and after the event. There were the brave bureaucrats of the Washington DC government and the senior administration officials who provided me and my team cover from the prying media which I eventually terminated [there was no First Amendment Right to incite a hostage siege—I argued correctly].

The media, especially one correspondent from the ABC, was upset that he and the other media personnel were not allowed to cover the hostage siege. I told him and the media subsequently that they would not be allowed to ‘intercede’ as long as I was running a crisis nor would they interview anyone related to the crisis. Not during; nor after.

I was fortunate that the Washington DC judge at the time had ordered at my request a ‘gag ruling’ which meant that no one was allowed to talk about it after the episode.

The past is the past but nothing has changed. Terrorism as I have noted before has become a major business on both sides of the financial aisle. Terrorists around the world have commoditized hostages in terms of dollars and cents. These so-called Security Experts have made a fortune servicing the desperate families with all types of false promises; as well as providing Hollywood with spurious hostage situations and outcomes. Let’s not forget the new Czar position with a salary at the taxpayers expense.

A hostage czar, really?
http://nomorecocktails.com/post/2015/04/23/Maryland-Dem-Wants-Obama-to-Appoint-a-Hostage-Czar-in-the-Wake-of-the-Drone-Deaths.aspx

Baltimore Flares UP Once Again!
The City refuses to Resurrect Itself!
I am writing this blog with a sense of personal loss and disappointment. Most of you have already seen the rioting and looting scenes that have transpired in Baltimore in the past few days. There is no need to belabor the point as why, where and what had happened. I really don’t care why thugs are looting and arson is flaring up all over the city. The reason is quite simple: decades ago, I was one of those business owners who had purchased some major property in the city of Baltimore. I came in as an entrepreneur from Washington D.C. who had been encouraged by then Governor Shaeffer to do business in the then run down city as a matter of opportunity and morality.

Clearly, morality and business opportunity are not similar. I did not go in to do any charity work in this city abandoned by big manufacturers/sports teams but by the time I left this municipality it was bereft of any business opportunities and clear civil society mandates.  Watts, Ferguson, and now and then Baltimore, these cities have a self-destructive tendency in which the police were at best inadequate in their capacity; while at the same time, the citizenry was ready to explode at any given moment of discontent. 

Like now, the mayor at the time was an African American, Schmoke, who had no idea of what he was doing; other than pronouncing platitudes about ‘working together’ and some nonsense about ‘opportunities’. Next came the Savings and Loan Crisis of the late 1980’s where Baltimore and it’s white citizenry had been involved in all types of financial chicaneries that were eventually uncovered by the diligent work of the FBI. Needless to say, both blacks and white went to prison then. Baltimore’s history as a city has been part of vortex of white injustices and black despair. 

Do I sanction either one?

Obviously not!
However, incompetency has been the hallmark throughout the history of Baltimore as far as I can see; no matter who the governor, mayor or police chiefs were. There is a tendency,  like the Federal Government, to bloat out like a beached whale creating all types of state and city organizations with fancy initials, the meaning of which defies anyone’s concentration or interest. The bureaucracy grew while the city shrank in opportunities and people became dissatisfied with their status; whatever that might be. Those who could prosper moved out to Towson, Maryland in an aseptic community that bore no real relationship to Baltimore. Few decent people wanted to live in the heart of Baltimore.

There are many Baltimores located all over the United States. Eventually they will erupt into uncontrolled passions and fury that will be rationalized by all sorts of theories and explanations. As for me, the only explanation for Baltimore’s flagrant disregard for the law and its compulsive looting is the fact that is what the people of Baltimore do and want to do---loot! Be it in Savings and Loans or banks with fancy names or in street corners containing new CVS pharmacies! The times have come so that mulatto correspondents on TV explain why black compatriots are looting ad hominum. The truth is that this whole scenario is becoming tiresome and too familiar.

When martial law will one day be implemented, then we, Americans, will see the final chapters of the recent scenes we have seen in Baltimore. It’s only a matter of time before the U.S military declares martial law in Ferguson, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland…. And? The rest of the sentence depends on those who need to loot and burn in the name of ‘grievances’ and ‘injustice’. Those words will soon disappear from the vernacular of impatient custodians of the peace.

One more Baltimore in any other place will probably illuminate more clearly the concept of “Martial Law”. It’s just around the corner candy store that was looted yesterday in Baltimore, City. Taunt the police at your expense! But threaten the National Guard and all bets are off!

Thomas Fuller [British Author] wrote the following apt description:

“The mob has many heads but no brains!” 

The 7.8 Nepal Earthquake kills at least 5000.
In 1994, this blogger was literally in the middle of the Infamous 6.6 Northridge Earthquake in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. It was terrifying! At the time, I was out in Hollywood consulting on an Oliver Stone film, starring Al Pacino. That night I went to sleep at the Vagabond Inn and at 4:30:55 A.M  pacific coast time, I felt a huge vibration that shook the wooden framed lodging.  For a moment, I cursed the large trucks that were driving near by on the 405 Highway heading south into Los Angeles.

However, I quickly realized that the thunderous noise and the collapsing Inn were the beginning of a major earthquake. I did not stand in the doorway for protection as it is often prescribed. Instead, I ran out of the motel and went to the rented car, a large Cadillac, for which I had ‘mysteriously’ packed the night before. I say mysteriously because that was the first time in my professional life, I had not packed what little clothing I had just before I was to fly out at 11AM.

As I rushed out of the door, I encountered what I can best describe as a scene from Armageddon. The concrete beneath my feet cracked open in a wide yawn revealing flames and smoke spewing from the bowels of the pipes buried beneath the street. At the same time, live electrical wires from the overhanging telephone poles were whipping around the smoke-filled air.

I saw one police cruiser passing by with its searchlight beaming a bright light through the debilitating rancid smoke that quickly consumed what little oxygen was left. I rushed into my rented car, set on getting to the Los Angeles Airport at all cost, betting on one simple fact. I convinced myself that the different airlines which flew out of LA Airport would not leave their $40M planes on the tarmac.  I had a first class ticket, I would board whichever plane that flew out of LA to whatever destination they would take; be it China or NYC.

It was extremely dangerous driving to the airport. First I drove in the middle of the 405 Freeway as I noticed lesser sized cars than my behemoth Cadillac peeling off to the sides of the highway as the road started to buckle in front and behind me. I turned off the air conditioner because smoke from the burning buildings that I was passing had entered the air conditioning system. I was choking throughout the minutes or however long that trip took to get to Century Blvd which led to the Alamo Rental car then onto the LA Airport.

As I approached Century Blvd, I noticed a police barricade placed in front of the exit ramp. I decided that I would swerve around the barricade and try to get to Century Blvd and then Aviation Blvd at whatever cost; even if it meant I would enter a police chase or an arrest. I managed to swerve around the police barricade without injuring myself or any LA police and proceeded by rote to Century Blvd.  Next, I turned onto Aviation Blvd and then into the Alamo which had, ironically, the only lights on in the entire LA block that I was traversing.

I asked the bus driver to get me to the airport ASAP.  Of course, I gave him a significant tip; and finally I reached the United counter where the lovely lady informed me that I should head back to my hotel. I explained to her that I would not leave the airport and that I would pay extra for any United Flight that would take off any time soon.

As serendipity would have it, I boarded the next flight out of LA on First Class of an almost completely empty plane back to Washington D. C.---my original destination. When the attractive stewardess came up to me and asked me what I would have for breakfast as I watched the plane take off from a seemingly buckling tarmac, I replied “Champagne”. The rest of the five to six hours were a blur. But I know that I had never drunk as much Champagne in my life in one sitting. 

Now that I see the horror of an earthquake in Nepal where thousands of victims have been killed,  I whisper a few consoling words to myself and them, wishing them a speedy recovery. We take too much for granted when it comes to the equilibrium of our planet. We assume that the ground beneath our feet will always remain firm. We breath air that will always be only slightly polluted and not filled with noxious contaminants.

Most of all, we tend to live in places that beckon us to stay away; be it a fault line in a potential earthquake; or a combat zone in a war-weary mountainous region where no man has ever conquered man or nature. As so-called rational human beings we are completely irrational and self-delusional about our vested interest in remaining safe and healthy. We presume without reason that nature is compliant to our wishes because we can conquer the air by flying and the seas by sailing.

However, we cannot and will not subdue Mother Nature whenever her tectonic plates rub against each other at times we know not where or when. A bit more humility and  respect is required when addressing the great forces of nature which we have mistakingly assumed we have tempered.

The earthquakes in Nepal and Northridge make me realize that the internet is not the only phenomena that binds me to the world. It is also the savage rumble of a destructive force in the past that makes the Nepalese my neighbors of today.

May their recovery be swift and without even more major damage; and may our need to destroy ourselves through war be submissive to our respect of Mother Nature.

Let me end with the words of the great Roman warrior/philosopher, Marcus Aurelius: “Life is a stranger’s sojourn, a night at an inn.”