Two incidents last week saw immediate and divergent pop analysis of what had just happened, namely the raids on P. Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami, and the container ship Dali ramming into the support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. In both instances, a number of conspiracy theories surfaced, and, so far, in both cases little of actual fact is known to justify those theories.
First, the raids on P. Diddy’s homes were seen by many as the first step in a giant roll-up of pedo and human trafficking networks. Yet so far, P. Diddy has not been charged with anything. Early reports insisted he was on his way to Africa, particularly to nations with non-extradition treaties. But yesterday he was seen at a fast-fool restaurant, where he blasted the Department of Homeland Security, but otherwise offered no indication of what they might be looking for and thus provided no specific comments on any of the supposed charges.
P. Diddy’s situation was addressed for former music exec, rapper producer, and now convict Suge Knight, who said from prison that Diddy would be “Epsteined” because he knew too much about “the secret room.” Knight did not clarify if this was a room associated with Epstein Island, where Diddy reportedly had visited. What made the entire “trafficking” story plausible is that a few months ago comedian Kat Williams said on the Shannon Sharpe podcast that there were homosexual “tests” that black actors had to pass, including dressing up in women’s clothes for certain producers. Williams had said that he and rapper/actor 50 Cent were both offered multi-picture deals worth, he claimed, $50 million but that they had to be the “woman” in a sexual encounter. Neither took the bait.
Adding further plausibility to the Diddy/sex trafficking story were continual allegations—-the latest against “Joanie Loves Chachi” actor Scott Baio—-claiming widespread sexual abuse on Hollywood sets, particularly when they involved minors and especially at Nickelodeon. I was personally seeking support for a film project from a powerful celebrity in Atlanta when I was informed by someone who had worked with him that before he would help he “wants your ass . . . literally.” That came as a shock. Diddy may well be innocent of any (future) charges, but the fact that people quickly assume he is part of a broader network speaks to the suspicion that such a network exists.
That raises yet a deeper question of “Why P. Diddy? Why now?” The largest sex-trafficking operation in human history is occurring at Biden’s open border, yet there is no effort to shut that down. Is Diddy just another of Rutabaga’s distractions from his hideous and obscene administration? One would think that an administration attack on a high-profile celebrity would do nothing to staunch the bleeding of black voters from the DemoKKKrat ranks. Thus, whatever intentions there were, the raids don’t appear to be political.
With the second incident, information has been somewhat more abundant. Initially many thought the pilot of the Dali had changed course to hit the support pylon. But an extensive analysis by this veteran maritime expert shows that the vessel lost power; that normal procedures to restore power would take precious minutes; that the backup diesel could not provide enough power to turn the ship, that there were no tugboats assigned to pilot the ship past the bridge; that it was carrying some hazardous material but that every such container ship carries some hazardous material; that the black box did not “malfunction,” but that it is not the same as an airplane’s blackbox in that a bridge is up to 150 feet wide, and as personnel move around in an emergency, their voices are often not picked up.
The pilot immediately upon losing power called the Baltimore Port authority and had them shut down traffic over the bridge, saving countless lives. The anchor was dropped but such anchors are not meant to turn a ship under power, but to keep unpowered ships in their slip; and that it isn’t clear if the captain/pilot tried to restart the engines—-a lengthy procedure. Finally it is not known why the power went out, but that a side channel with a flow into the channel could account for turning the Dali into the pylon. We still do not know details of the captain/pilot, but while there are many questions, the expert noted that this accident was quite similar to the ship/Tampa Bay Bridge collision in 1980 that had the same result.
In both cases, the 48-hour rule was well employed. The Key Bridge appears to be an accident, and we don’t know enough about P. Diddy to draw conclusions yet in any direction.
Larry Schweikart
Rock drummer, Film maker,NYTimes #1 bestselling author
Link for Patriot’s History Vimeo
Link to buy larry a coffee
http://buymeacoffee.com/larrys