You’d think the rulers of the Western World – the greatest Empire the world has ever seen – would be smart enough to realise when they’ve gone too far. Don’t they watch the World Series of Poker on the Fox channels? Professional card-players know that they must maintain a reputation for honesty and caution, before they can expect to get away with bluffs and other bullshit. Nobody wants to get called on a busted flush.It’s card-games like bridge and whist that have given us the expression “overplaying one’s hand” to describe the situation where somebody pushes harder than he should prudently do.The little boy who cried “Wolf!” is a classic example from children’s literature; Butch Cassidy and Sundance in Bolivia, from the movies; the German Army’s invasion of Russia in the winter of ’42, from real life. The rulers of the USA in the years following JFK’s assassination… Hmm. Up till then, we outsiders bought into the bullshit; afterwards, not so much. Today, too many of us are skeptical of the official versions of everything.