Connecticut Witchcraft

The U.S. today seems to be on a witch hunt of historic proportions. Only the witches they seek are called terrorists. If I am to believe, the FBI and others foiled a plot to blow up the fuel lines at JFK Airport in New York which would have been devastating. If this is true, it is well and good. However, it is a sorry state of affairs when I am suspicious of something that seems on the surface to be a good thing. But there you go. I have learned that the administration has ways to make threats seem real just before they launch us as a nation into yet another war. My first blush of relief at hearing this news came to a screeching halt when I subsequently heard that the "authorities" were assisted by a "tipster" who had "gone undercover" into the group plotting this heinous act. Undercover agents traditionally have a problem. How passive are undercover agents? Or rather, are they agent provocateurs? I think back in the history of the Connecticut witchcraft troubles back in the early settlement of New England. See, for example, http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/ctto1763/witchcraft.htm Many were charged with witchcraft. Notable among those charged were widows with land on the edges of the towns. Widows with land who dealt with healing, with Indians for herbs. Admittedly, there was a lot of fear of Indians because of the various Connecticut Pequot Wars. There is some speculation that Connecticut's witchcraft charges grew as the population grew and the need for land that was cultivated and Indian free became critical although those facts are tougher to document. And just as those agent provocateurs alleged witchcraft against the women living on the edges of the towns, perhaps it is a lesson to us about today's allegations. I am just not sure what the truth is today.