G-d’s Master Plan – Part III – The Two Great Hoaxes Involving The Gopher State

BS”D

Astros 3^rd baseman Alex Bregman’s great-grandfather Samuel “Bo” Bregman immigrated from Russia to Washington, D.C., around 1900 at age 11 to escape Russian anti-Jewish pogroms. He was part of the ownership group with George Preston Marshall that moved the Boston Redskins to Washington, D.C., to become the Washington Redskins.

After Game 2 of the 2019 Baseball World Series , on that Thursday, the  Minnesota Vikings played the Washington Redskins and won 19-9. For some reason, I have always remembered a football game between teams from Washington and Minnesota finishing with a similar score.  The final result was 17 – 7, and Minnesota was the loser.

What reminded me was if I looked again at the sum total of those first two World Series Games, the result was exactly the same, Washington scored 17 and the opponent in this case Houston scored 7.

But the 17-7 game I am referring to was played many years ago, and not in the NFL. Rather it was a contest between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Washington Huskies playing in the 1961 Rose Bowl. In that game, Washington scored 17 points and the Gophers scored 7.

In 1961, there were only 9 college Football Bowl games, with the Rose Bowl, the only major bowl game in 1930. There will be approximately 40 bowl games played this year.

In my opinion, one incident in the 1961 Rose Bowl game stood out as a shining example of what is taking place in 5780. And that incident had nothing to do with the actual game itself-

The 1961 Rose Bowl Hoax

Hoax

A hoax is a falsehood deliberately fabricated to masquerade as the truth

The Great Rose Bowl Hoax was a prank at the 1961 Rose Bowl. That year, the Washington Huskies played the Minnesota Golden Gophers. At halftime, the Huskies cheerleaders lead the spectators in the stands in a card stunt. However, a number of students from the California Institute of Technology managed to alter the card stunt making the Washington fans inadvertently spell out CALTECH.

The prank has been described as the “greatest collegiate prank of all time”^[1] and received national attention, as the game was broadcast to an estimated 30 million viewers across the United States by NBC.^[2] One author wrote, “Few college pranks can be said to be more grandly conceived, carefully planned, flawlessly executed, and publicly dramatic” than the Great Rose Bowl Hoax.^[3]

Of course, not everyone was amused. Jack Briggs, student body president of the University of Washington in 1961, was quoted as saying, “No hard feelings, but at the time it was unbelievable. We were amazed and still feel the prank was not in the best of taste.” J. Gordon Gose, Washington’s faculty athletic representative, said, “Some thought it was ingenious; others were indignant. It wasn’t new — it had been done before — but it was a surprise”.

I was 11 years old, with my eyes glued to the TV set. I remember seeing the “CALTECH” image in the stands, but had never heard of that school before. I seem to remember the TV announcers were shocked into silence and could not explain what was happening. That truly was an event that surprised the nationwide audience and is remembered until this day.

Other Examples-

The Dayton Hudson Hoax-

Since President Trump chose the Target Center for his recent rally, which was founded and created by Dayton-Hudson, I thought the following story about the company’s stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange at that time before changing its name to Target, would be of interest to readers-

On 23 June 1987, P. David Herrlinger, a 46-year-old investment adviser working out of Cincinnati, called up the Dow Jones News Service and informed them that he represented a large private investment firm which was about to offer to buy the retailer Dayton Hudson for $6.8 billion. The news immediately triggered a $9 spike in the company’s stock price.

The news turned out to be completely bogus. Herrlinger had apparently made the call after suffering a mental breakdown.

Herrlinger, through his lawyer, later argued that Dow Jones bore the responsibility for disseminating the fake takeover bid, on the logic that they should never have believed him in the first place. In the aftermath of the hoax, many expressed concern at the ease with which a single irrational individual had been able to manipulate the market.

And with that story as background, I felt it only logical to move to the next subject that has unfortunately caused many people financial grief and in many cases mental anguish affecting those families who trusted the person responsible.

Ponzi scheme-

Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant living in Boston in the early twentieth century, is where its name originates.

A Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme involves luring in investors with promises of high returns. The con artist pays the first investors with money obtained from later investors. As long as the scam artist manages to recruit many new investors (aka suckers) the system works, but as soon as the flow of new money stops, it always collapses, sooner or later.

Growth and Collapse

Ponzi had no intention of actually putting his idea into practice. He simply wanted as many people as possible to give him their money, and then let the pyramid scheme system go into effect.

At first people were skeptical, but when he actually began paying out returns to the early investors, a Ponzi-mania set in. Thousands of people lined up to give him cash. It’s said that he had over 40,000 investors, allowing him to rake in somewhere in the region of $15 million by mid-1920.

The inevitable crash came in 1920 when newspapers and banks started to investigate him. Rumors of his criminal past emerged. Investors panicked and began withdrawing their money from his company. This caused the entire scheme to come crashing down like a house of cards.

Oddly enough, Ponzi didn’t simply take the money and run. Instead he waited around until the police arrived and ended up being sentenced to five years in jail, of which he served three-and-a-half years. Ponzi spent the rest of his life drifting in and out of trouble with the law. He died in Rio de Janeiro on January 18, 1949, penniless.

South Africans Also Affected

South African Jews recently fell victim to one of these Ponzi schemes and I knew some people who were affected.  It was a shock for me to hear who the person was that did this and I am sure a greater shock to the community involved since he had been a well-respected member, until now.

Bernie Madoff

Bernie Madoff is a name that everyone most likely heard of but unfortunately for his investors and his own family, his Ponzi scheme had a wide ranging effect on the families involved. No need to go into details, but just like the original Ponzi creator, Bernie Madoff may have lived in luxury but he hurt everyone involved with this scheme for which nothing Bernie can do will ever correct this situation.

Fast forward to 5780

Bernie Sanders-

A  Campaign In Trouble With Omar At His Side And His Negative Israel Comments

As a Jew living in Israel, I just wonder sometimes why Bernie Sanders, whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust, speaks against Israel. Standing on campus of the University of Minnesota, the school from which I earned my University Degree, together with Ilhan Omar is a depressing sight. Bernie will forever be recorded in history, at least in my history books, as the creator of the greatest political Ponzi scheme of all time.

One person after another has been taken in by nice man Bernie, but underneath that smiling face is evil – to Jews and Israel. And for Bernie to be bold enough to suggest that American money be given also to Gaza is a slap in the face to all of us who know the truth about the intentions of the Palestinians who want us wiped off of the map.

We are facing a constant missile crisis from Gaza and more money for Gaza means more missiles aimed straight at me and my children.  This is what Omar, the Palestinians and all their supporters want. And Sanders is playing right into their hands.

But Bernie, didn’t you get the message with your recent heart attack? Don’t you think G-d is sending you a signal that perhaps you should consider not making such crazy statements like giving funding to the Gaza terrorists. And also to reconsider that by standing next to Omar and accepting her support is similar to standing next to Arafat when he was alive. Arafat supported the destruction of Israel and never changed his view.

If Bernie accepts the right for Israel to exist, his statements do not support that view.

No, Bernie Sanders must never be elected President just like Omar must never be re-elected.

Nikki Haley says it best in a recent tweet-

Nikki Haley

✔@NikkiHaley

Just when you thought Bernie Sanders couldn’t get any more radical, he outdid himself. He wants to take money we give to Israel to defend itself from terrorists, and give it to Gaza, which is run by terrorists?? Unreal. Why isn’t every other Dem pres candidate saying he’s wrong?

3:54 AM – Oct 29, 2019

If An Impeachment Investigation Has Begun Against President Trump, Then Why Hasn’t A Formal Investigation Begun On Omar

There is a substantial amount of documentation available suggesting Omar committed a wide range of crimes such as fraud, tax evasion to name a few. Why is nothing being done about Omar? The Democratic Party has an obligation to investigate Omar or else this is plain and simply not justice.

Where are you Amy Klobuchar?

You were quoted recently as saying you have “grit”, well in my opinion now is the time to show it, if you want to make a serious run for President. How can you let Sanders and Omar go on stage together, without responding to what they said in your home state. I have not seen any response from you.

Omar does not represent Minnesota; you do Amy, and I think it’s about time Omar and Sanders are put in their place.

Omar claims to have graduated from the school bearing Hubert H. Humphrey’s name.  She obviously needs a refresher course about who HHH is and what he stood for.

That would be something we all could use at this time, a strong reminder of the values that HHH gave to the DFL party in Minnesota and the Democratic party in the US Congress.