Paul Brancato

maybe so Ben, but just because people differ on important social issues doesn’t mean there are always two equally valid positions. I don’t mean to lecture you - I can be preachy at times - but sometimes I can’t tell if you are meaning to say that opposite perspectives are equally valid. Most southerners wanted to keep people enslaved, and they had good reasons from their perspective. Slavery is just plain wrong. I have ‘right to life’ cousins who will cheer the apparently upcoming Supreme Court decision, and then try to ban abortion in their blue state. Countries that ban assault weapons and tightly regulate others (like we regulate driving privileges) have far fewer gun deaths, and parents sleep easier knowing their school age kids are safer. Yeah, the media will play up divisive issues but for citizens it’s not just a pissing contest. There is a real history in so called Red states, which I’m sure you know. It’s just not right for white men to make the rules for women and brown people from their racist, sexist, religious perspectives. Don’t you wish for a fairer world?

This Hootkins story is fascinating. There was someone else who might have buddied around with him and might have been mistaken for Oswald - Michael Paine.

Good point Matt, but they don’t have a lot to cheer about now either.

Fine, but kinda sill to say the Democrats used to be better in the 1960’s.

I don’t think left vs right can explain anything we are witnessing. I still hold to progressive and what I call humanist ideals, but there are precious few champions, and certainly the Democratic Party, whose candidates I’ve mostly supported over the decades, do not represent me. It would be nice if Garland etc would enumerate the crimes of Assange, give him a public hearing. But I’m not holding my breath.

I’m glad someone noticed and scratched their head. It blew my mind.

Gil - that’s quite a mouthful. I really appreciate the honesty. I don’t frame it the way you do, but then again I’ve been asking questions about Deep State then and now because I don’t know exactly how to frame it. Things are changing rapidly.

News report that Garland is in Ukraine advising the government on prosecuting Russian war crimes.

Nice summation. I agree with your interpretation. how would you extend your ideas? For instance, would you put the rest of the 1960’s Assassinations in the same boat? And how do you see today’s machinations? Maybe off topic, but I bring this up because I’ve viewed the world through the lens of 11/22 ever since, and even prior. Enemies of our Empire seem to drive our foreign policy now too.

Could you try not to be condescending to me? Let’s keep the subject Deep State. You are part of this forum which is ostensibly about JFK’s assassination. Deep State as a term is relatively new, perhaps 30-40 years since Peter Dale Scott coined it. He defines it pretty well. Things got confusing when the Trump wing co-opted the phrase. No one seems to know how to interpret the 2016 election, and the ensuing years, in Deep State terms. You say it’s a misnomer. I say it’s as old as civilization. What I am struggling with is who is operating behind the scenes during this crazy time. It’s hardly business as usual. It’s more global than ever. I look at the pandemic, and the Ukraine War, and I ask who benefits? A few things seem certain - any climate change initiative, however small, that we had is disappearing while oil and gas soar. Any bargaining power of labor is dwindling while corporations price gouge, and inflation runs rampant. Budget priorities that might benefit working people are way on the back burner. Are these just a random consequences? If I knew the answer I’d share it. But I’m impelled to ask the question.

We are talking about the Attorney General not a political party. Garland should weigh the evidence and make a legal decision rather than a political one. I would also point out that when a political party becomes beholden to a wanna be autocrat who is willing to call to arms his supporters, that putting a stop to it is necessary. Think Berlin, and open your eyes a bit to the danger that Trump represents. I don’t even watch ‘news’. It doesn’t take much observation to see Trump as dangerous. Forget political corruption, forget Deep State. The last thing any of us living here want is a Trump led revolution, and that is what the Republican Party is now signing on to. And it doesn’t even matter if it’s DeSantis Trump or anyone other R in the White House in 2024, it’s infinitely worse than the current occupant for so many reasons. Partisanship? Of course I’m partisan. I’m clear eyed as to what the Democratic Party isn’t or is, and likewise the Republicans. It is the latter that is hell bent on reversing any social progress we have made, in undoing the vestiges of the New Deal, of any notion of women’s reproductive rights, any value in public education, any environmental regulation, and many other things.

The right thing is not a politically calculated decision.

I’m giving Garland a chance to do the right thing.

Ruby’s killing of Oswald convinced me there was a coverup, and I was 15 at the time. I went to three events over the next few years to hear Mark Lane speak, and to debate Melvin Belli. Ruth’s admission is absolutely shocking.

Democrats are not ‘the’ corporate party. But the center is corporate - obviously. Kirk - you seem to think I view both parties as equally bad. I’ve made the distinctions over the years many times. I don’t care whether you call it Deep State or not. Do you know somewhere deep that your cherished leaders in the 1960’s were neutralized by the same forces? Do you not see msm as wholly owned by the wealthy class? I even recall PBS not allowing an Anti Koch brothers doc to be shown. Yes, lobbyists and their lawyers are required by law to be visible. Do you recall any msm stories analyzing this in depth? Do lobbyists only have sway with Republicans? At least have a clear eyed view of the Democratic Party. From your stated position I think I’m safe in assuming you were happy to see both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden beat out Bernie Sanders for the nomination. Correct me if I’m mistaken. Do you think Assange committed criminal acts when he spilled our state secrets? What happened to the Panama Papers, or the more recent expose? Stories just died. How about Jeffrey Epstein? Of course I’d like to see a worldwide minimum corporate tax. I’m not holding my breath.

Very traumatic - hope it’s solidly behind you

Don’t know him, may have friends that do.

So in other words, the investigation was a sham. We still don’t know what happened.

While I was reading this my first thought was ‘who owned Redbook in 1964? Thanks for answering the question!

How do they control major media? Not just by ownership but by some degree of editorial control. We don’t ever get to see how they accomplish that do we? Or look at the precise relationship between editors and owners. How about Operation Mockingbird? Do you think it’s real, or just kind of faded away? We are not privy to the mechanisms by which mega corporations write congressional laws, but they do, obviously to benefit themselves. Lawyers write the laws. Who’s lawyers? What is their loyalty? Does anyone know their names or affiliations? What is the precise method by which these corporations control tax policy? How about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, or Vietnam? Qui Bono? You and I? Who suffers? Does the average person realize that their elected government works for them more than for you? Are you - Kirk and Matt - are saying you already know all this? Or are you asking me to prove it? And honestly, who killed the Kennedy brothers and MLK?

“There is no deep state in that there is nothing hidden”. You really believe that? Of course I agree with the rest of what you wrote. And there is plenty that is not hidden. But really? It’s how they exercise power that is cloaked.

David - I’m struck by Amlash-1 Cubela saying that he might seek weapons from OAS if the USG kept dragging its heels and providing them. Is there evidence on record that Cubela spent time in Spain prior to 1964? Am I correct that he was a Cuban official who was traveling around on official business?

Wheaton does mention Carl Jenkins right? CIA guys who were trying to assassinate Castro failed miserably. Amlash was a waste of time. That is why I don’t think this milieu is where we would find the actual killers. I’m fond of the co-opted false flag operation theory. I had never considered until someone bought it up here that the TSBD was the location for the group that intended to miss, but it’s a good surmise. The anti-Castro guys must have felt that had JFK lived through a failed assassination attempt linked to Castro he would play ball with them afterwards and do what was necessary to get Castro. Not so Vietnam. The JCS and military contractors knew that JFK wasn’t going to give them what they wanted.

Denis - I gather that you accept this story as true but inconsequential. You even added that Caster brought it home that same day. Do you have another source for that, or did Frazier say that?

Lots to think about. First, yes I mostly agree with your first post in this thread, for instance that the newly minted billionaires want seats at the tables controlled by old money. I think big bets financially are on commodities like farm land and aquifers. I’ve looked for ways to follow this bet but it appears mostly privately held. I wonder how Trump and his movement fit with the worldview you lay out. Was he a preordained president then, or in the future? It’s hard to imagine Cecil Rhodes in his grave rooting for a breakdown of civil society, even in service of a longer term aim of a totalitarian technocratic New World Order. The Ruling Class - forgive my Commie terminology - is also the New World Order.