Paul Brancato

Ben - What about the elections of 2000, 2004, 2016? Were you similarly wary? Ms. Clinton did not seem to me to have the support of the National Security State, at least not the FBI. Btw I’ve been an opponent of voting machines for a long time. i could and will turn things on their head. I think Trump is a crook and a xxxx. I’ve been hearing about investigations going back 15 years. Yet he’s still out there, still running for President and taking in $millions from his followers. I’d say the official effort to get rid of him is compromised.

Chris - your feathers have clearly been ruffled, and you would like me to acknowledge that I was no less insulting than the forum member who was kicked out. But I don’t agree. I backpedaled a few times, which was hard considering how he was articulating his views. I found it repugnant when he threw Soros and Antifa together, as if there is any reality to that. And Soros is an anti-Semitic dog whistle. So I could have been kinder about that, and even said so. But the video he posted that got me to use the word racist was taken down by someone, not this forum. It was clearly bad enough for me to lose my cool. I’m generally pretty even handed and I try hard not to go too far in my comments. But this particular member did in fact stalk me after that. And when I posted something which explained where I was coming from regarding racism, and using my mother as an example, he insulted her with a fact that turned out not to be a fact. Unfortunately the conversation ended there. But it wouldn’t have taken much digging for him to see that he actually proved my mother right. The families of the women who were used as the face of Aunt Jemima did not benefit. Aunt Jemima was not a real person, she was a corporate logo, possibly the first. The image is easily seen now as racist, even if it wasn’t seen that way in the 1890’s. I’d didn’t fool my mom in the 1950’s. The Mullins company which owned the brand at first wrote a script for the real person they hired to play the part at the world’s fair I think in Chicago, that talked about the good times black paper and whites had together during slavery times. I can’t imagine this woman enjoyed that. The whole history of Aunt Jemima is most certainly racist. But this forum member was intent on proving my mother to be a feckless white privileged liberal. Chris - I would not behave that way, and I’m surprised you find me equally guilty of bad forum etiquette.

i was 15. I’ll never forget it. My parents were shocked and outraged. It woke something up in me, caused me to read what coverage I could, early reports in I think the Guardian suggesting the Minutemen were behind the JFK hit. Started following Mark lane saw him speak at small NYC events a few times over the next year. Like Mark said, I’ve been here ever since.

Leslie - even though I share your fears regarding Carlson, other more moderate on air anchors aren’t yet willing to step up to the plate. Larry and co would have taken any opening they got I’m sure. If by taking up the story Carlson made it more difficult to make the lobbying bi-partisan, I doubt that was why he did so. Other nefarious reasons may exist of course. But whatever the case, it’s still necessary to build some kind of coalition. There is no going back. You asked the right question - how can we break the logjam on the Democratic side?

Well put in my opinion, and the Covid analogy spot on. The middle position became impossible, even in my social circles. I wanted to hear the skeptic voices but that middle ground got completely hijacked, and like you I don’t want to see that happen here.

The feeling is mutual - thanks

I don’t think Souetre and elements of JMWAVE are mutually exclusive.

Thanks - I was sure you were - just reaching out. The thing that Larry S said that really made sense is how much could change if some anchors on CNN, MSNBC, and the NYT or WAPO, would tackle it in the interest of full disclosure. You’d think they could get on board with that at least

Jim and Larry - will you join us in trying to forge some opening to msm on document release? I’m not sure how to do it, but we need well regarded authors such as yourselves.

Mr. Koch was very antagonistic towards me, and would not let up, even when I retracted some statements. I found his whole presentation mean spirited and only cooperative when someone gave him kudos. He wants to win, not share.

I think he meant Souetre

Perfect - thanks. I was really losing it when a few poste I was really going nuts when a few posters started pushing the idea that Jan 6 was a deep state operation to damage Trump, and that they enlisted Ukrainian Azov types to do so. I don’t recall any of those posters responding when I said that if those Ukrainians were there they must have been working for, not against Trump.

Thank you Mark and the moderators

Maybe we could enlist Spielberg to push our government to release JFK and UFO files.

Maybe so but who were they?

A most important suggestion Larry made is that we search for inroads to the liberal TV and print media. Letters to the editor in NYT might be good. What would be better is to get one or more of the MSNBC anchors on board with releasing records. It doesn’t have to be a question of what they think happened that day. It’s all about transparency, and the rule of law. Congress mandated the release of documents, and the last two presidents have blocked full release, not even adhering to the letter of the law. All of us, no matter which position we take, are for for release of documents. Entire books have been written about the MSM failure to be a voice for JFK Truth. We can’t expect Democrats in Congress to stand up if our media pundits won’t get on board. So the question is how to we get this done? We have several credible authors here. We have Oliver Stone. What else?

Leslie - I will surely join you. Larry’s suggestion is on the money.

Thank you Matthew. Even more interesting is the Wikipedia article on Nancy Green. I agree it’s an important story. The families of two black women, Nancy Green and Anna Harrison, the second Aunt Jemima, lost their suit against Quaker Oats in 2015. Family members seem to think that the original recipe was Nancy Green’s. Maybe Quaker Oats stole her recipe, but it seems unlikely. I hope she benefitted from being the face for 20 years, but seeing as she was buried in a paupers grave I doubt it. Quaker Oats owned the name Aunt Jemima, taken from a Minstrel show, and at the recommendation of Judge Walker, for whose household she worked as a domestic in Chicago in the early 1890’s, hired her to be the face and promote the product, which she did well. So Nancy Green was real, as was Anna Harrington. Their faces were caricatured for the logo. But Aunt Jemima was a brand name invented by a milling company, later sold to Quaker Oats. None of this changes my view that my mom was way ahead of the Woke curve, knew a racist image or word when confronted with it, and had the courage of her convictions. To respond to your questions about the Redskins and other like images, I don’t think that origin story changes anything. It’s time we moved last all that. Redskins, Indians, Tomahawk chop. Bye bye. Now, having said that, I think we are in danger of going overboard here in the Woke SF Bay Area. A few years ago the SF Board of Supervisors tried to change the names of High Schools named after Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, actually voted to do so. Fortunately they rescinded their decision under fire. But I do understand the deep desire to change our racist history by bringing to the surface the myriad ways, not just the obvious ones like slavery, that racist attitudes have persisted, and are sometimes facilitated unconsciously.

Win or lose, does no one follow my point? If Fox wins, which Larry, given his legal background, thinks likely, does that make the anchors less guilty of knowingly spreading falsehoods?

Please support your assertion about Aunt Jemima

Mr Koch - do you have a profession other than posting on the forum? As I’m sitting here early this morning I’m pondering why you choose to ignore my attempts to move this war of words to higher ground? I really didn’t think I needed to go into the history of Aunt Jemima, but I now have to ask you to provide reference to your statement, a put down of my dear mother’s very well meant political beliefs, that Aunt Jemima was a real person. The brand was finally discontinued after decades of objections from all corners of society, most especially black Americans. The image is racist, even if there was a real person, which I can find no evidence of. As for the San Francisco Symphony, you speak, dare I say it, from complete ignorance. We would dearly love to have a more inclusive body of musicians. There are no racists in my orchestra. If you really cared to elevate the conversation you might try asking how we feel about this, or what we have done to try to bring more equity and inclusion? It’s a thorny problem, one we wish to solve. I have personally offered my solution to our management and Board. The problem begins with the fact that so called Classical music was a white European invention, as brilliant in its way as any other world music. Performing Beethoven Brahms Mozart etc etc does not make us racist. We are essentially a museum art, historical. In order to level the playing field we, and I believe all other American orchestras began holding auditions where the candidates are behind a screen, and not even allowed to where noisy shoes or speak, so that we cannot as judges know what race or sex our candidates are. We have done this since the early 1980’s. In that time we have gone from a primarily male institution to one that is pretty darn equally male and female. This is true globally, not just in SF. We were ahead of this curve. We earnestly try to remove race, age, sex, and age from our hiring process. I hope that explanation is good enough for you.

Would you please reconsider this post? Is winning or losing this particular lawsuit a condemnation or a justification for Fox hosts hypocrisy? And do you really think anyone here is boasting about MSNBC hosts? I object to being cast as having drunk the Koolaid, as you put it. Am I to presume that you believe that Dominion fixed the election?

And what was this now restricted video you posted? Do you recall? Any time I see someone drag George Soros into the discussion I think anti- Semite. I hope you realize it’s a dog whistle for those of us who grew up with Jews and with survivors. I did apologize for provocateur. If you are not a racist I’m glad to hear it. so will you stop attacking me, my profession, my opinions?

That’s incredibly nasty of you Matthew. You’ve got some nerve attacking me personally like this.

did not Trump encourage them to go to the Capitol?