Tuesday, May 21, 2024

From 2016 - John McAfee

 Curious about McAfee's qualifications for running for office, or holding office, I compiled a list of questions for him.  He never answered.  But my commentary on the research I carried out at the time was included in the article.  MP-F

Questions and Commentary

Questions are Answered by John MacAfee and the Inquiry is Closed – by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

McAfee posted a short video citing the Non-Aggression Principle soon after the questions asked in my post.    This appears to have been a response to the endorsement of Darryl W. Perry by Former Libertarian Party of Arkansas chair Rodger Paxton.   I did not take his video as a response since it was entirely on the Non-Aggression Principle.

 The questions asked previosly, and repeated below, go to the reasons McAfee is seeking the nomination, what he will do if he is nominated, if his values, habits,  and character are such that he could run a successful campaign and also do the job for which he is running. The fact he did not think his actions through, either before or during the time this was going on, worried me.  This is why I included the quote from Sun Tzu.

            Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

The attributes needed in a Commander in Chief are well exemplified in many individuals with McAfee's cultural background.  George S. Patton, Jr., was the descendant of the Backcountry.  His style of command reflected this.  He lead from the front.  He was also well known for his careful and detailed planning and effective use of staff.  This reflected in a training regimen which ensured he never sent troops into danger unless they were trained to the edge of readiness.  He also trained himself, unlike most commanders, and did not rest until his troops were bedded down for the night during training.   

The principles of running a campaign, and for life in general, benefit from careful planning.  When lives are at risk this is essential.  

In what John McAfee  provided for us to read I found nothing about those he had been associated with.  But remaining in touch with them via phone or email would be entirely possible. 

McAfee said in the article he provided, “John McAfee:  Here's what really happened in Belize, “ The people need to know, at the deepest level, the people that they choose to represent them. “   A reasonable interpretation of this statement is that he will answer questions.  This may have been incorrect.  But it did raise questions for me, moving me to re-read the article and have questions to ask.  

This year it is possible a Libertarian candidate  could be elected, given the strong negatives of Trump and Hillary. Having a president who thinks through the options open to him or her is essential as a qualification.  

This is the most potentially productive election in the history of the Libertarian Party for  moving us toward local governance at  the community level.

The candidate should, therefore, be able to do the job, which requires predicting the outcome of events in process, among other attributes. 

 

Here are the questions I asked. 

Question One: What will your goal be if you are the presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party?

Unanswered

Question Two: What steps will you take to successfully reach that goal? Be specific.

Unanswered

Question Three: Were there threats directed at your friends and employees in Belize after you left?

Unanswered

We were told:  McAfee left because, by his report, there was an attempted shake down.  To quote McAfee, “Doing business in Belize brought me quickly into direct contact with the corruption that is Belize. Government officials frequently expect a piece of the business, a share of the profits or regular bribes, which I, foolishly perhaps, declined to co-operate with.

I also foolishly began to speak openly about the system of corruption and how it kept the majority of Belizean citizens in abject poverty.”

Comment:  McAfee began threatening those in power although he asserts they were violent criminals.  What he has just conveyed should have caused him to think through his position and plan for what might happen.  This was a wake up call, if it took place.

“In 2011, I caught wind of a government plot to kill me. The following two secretly taped conversation between an agent of the Belizean government and a number of conspirators details the options that the government was considering to get rid of me. The conversations are in Creole - a barely understandable form of English, but written translations accompany each tape. The assassination methods considered ranged from a sniper attack to planting explosive devices in my car. They are very entertaining tapes (tape 1 and tape 2).

Warning Number Two

It takes more than a simple assassination plot to cause me to run. I instead beefed up my security and, again, unwisely perhaps, stepped up my verbal attacks on the government.

In April of 2012, a local representative visited my jungle compound in the interior, and discreetly suggested that a $2 million dollar donation to the ruling party could cause our impasse to simply go away. I declined.

Warning Number Three

One week later, on May 2, 2012, my jungle compound was stormed by 42 paramilitary soldiers of the universally feared GSU.

Warning Number Four

They shot my dog in front of eyes, destroyed a half million dollars worth of my property, subjected me to indignities, and arrested me on false charges which were dropped a few hours later.

Warning Number Five

The following day, I was contacted by the same representative that had originally asked for the $2 million dollars and who now asked whether or not I had changed my mind. I told him to f--- off.

Warning Number Six

Thus began a war between myself and the government of Belize that went on until October of 2012, when my neighbor was murdered. To this day I believe the target was myself, and that the incompetence of the government caused the assassins to enter the wrong house.

The Belizean government, of course, in its insidious fashion, has been continuing to structure a case that will someday, force my return to Belize.

I was never charged with anything.

The day after my neighbor's murder, the Belizean police came to question me, from which questioning, I knew I would never return. There are horrors (torture, dismemberment, et.) inside Belizean jails.”

 

Comment: Frightened for his own safety, McAfee retreated.  I saw no mention of the many people he had brought into his life, professionally or personally. 

Because my only source for information is what McAfee, himself, has said I decided to look for other sources. 

From:  https://mcafeeisbonkers.wordpress.com/page/2/

The site I found at the link above reports basically on the unsolved murder.  But other links are included under 'other links,'

Here are the links I found on mcafeeisbonkers.wordpress.com:


Other links

“I guess I’m not the only one who thought of creating a blog.  John McAfee and others have created blogs.  Undoubtedly others are in creation.  I have no association with any of these blogs, so please direct any comments to content on these blogs to the respective sites.  Please reply if you discover other meaningful links.”

John McAfee’s blog:

http://www.whoismcafee.com/

 

John McAfee Story:

http://johnmcafeestory.com/

 

John McAfee/ Greg Faull’s Murder  [NOTE:  This leads to a blank page, at least it did on May 16, 2016 10:41PM]

http://john-mcafee.com/

 

John McAfee/ Greg Faull’s Murder  (with opinions not particularly charitable to John McAfee)  [Long list of links.  All I tried lead to a blank page.  But I googled the story at the link below and it appears in a news outlet, oregonlive.com.   The site belongs to an individual identifying himself as Justin Blanchard]

http://john-mcafee.blogspot.com/

     http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2013/11/john_mcafee_hit_with_protectiv.html

 

Some background on John McAfee can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee

 

The company founded by John McAfee, QuorumEx can be found at: [Blank Page]

http://quorumex.com/


Question Four: Had you taken steps to ensure the well being of your friends and employees?

Unanswered

Question Five: If so, what steps did you take?

Unanswered

Question Six: Were there repercussions for the people you were friendly with in Belize after you left?

Unanswered

Mr. McAfee said: “But my life, influenced by minds such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson while I was in college, has been a non-stop experimentation into the meaning of freedom, responsibility and our true relationship to the human structures and the living world within which we live.”

[This was to written to cite what McAfee had said which raised the question.]

Comment: I am very familiar with the work of Thoreau and Emerson, as are many Libertarians. I understood that you spent the first 36 years of your life stoned out of your mind and still experience flash-backs, at least that is what your narrative appears to convey. One could, theoretically, live a life of complete debauchery and then describe this as an inquiry into the nature of celibacy. If you believe these experiences enabled you to extract some insights into, “the meaning of freedom, responsibility and our true relationship to the human structures and the living world within which we live,” please provide more details. By using the term, “human structures,” you could be referring to any of many institutions, practices, relationships or philosophic constructs. “(T)he living world within which we live,” is also subject to multiple interpretations. Please enlarge on the benefits you derived and nail down the terms you are using.

From Mr. McAfee:
“It is not easy for the average person to gain a reference point for the evaluation of my life.”


Comment: But among those who count themselves as Libertarians there are many extraordinary individuals who will be able to understand and evaluate your life with precision and so understand you. Your life appears to have been lived very much on the model of the Backcountry warrior outlined by author David Hackett Fischer, examined in, “Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in America.” The section on your ancestors is identified as ‘Borderlands to the Backcountry.’


Question Seven: Please enlarge on your statement above so those following this thread can be sure they understand the values you are citing.

Unanswered

Question Eight: Citing this passage in your article:
“ I am seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President. Who will stand with me?” Are you offering assurances you will stand with those who stood with you until the goal is reached? Do such assurances, if being made, come with a performance bond? If so, please specify.

Unanswered

 

I am now satisfied my questions have been answered and feel no need to pursue this inquiry any further. 

Thanks for your time and the use of Independent Political Report as a place to air these questions.  - Melinda Pillsbury-Foster


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