W. Niederhut

This is coming from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen. Risen worked for the LA Times and NYT before joining Jeremy Scahill and the staff of The Intercept. The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump (theintercept.com)

There have been a number of detailed commentaries posted here during the past several months on the subject of RFK, Jr.'s 2024 presidential candidacy. Three of the best have been those of progressive Democratic luminaries; Naomi Klein, Robert Reich, and Edward Curtin. Klein and Reich raised important questions about RFK, Jr.'s progressive bona fides. Curtin questioned RFK, Jr.'s endorsement of Netanyahu's Gaza genocide. Here are a few of my own observations and summaries. Why I Don't Support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for President 1) He has no legislative or executive experience in government. 2) He has stubbornly promoted disinformation about the efficacy and risk of vaccines-- even after being corrected by medical experts. 3) He has a history of impaired judgment and dysfunctional behavior, including heroin addiction. 4) He uses anabolic steroids, for body-building, which can cause neuropsychiatric side effects, including rage attacks-- 'roid rage-- and mania. 5) His own family-- the Kennedy family-- has urged Americans to vote for Joe Biden. 6) His own former environmentalist colleagues have denounced his candidacy. 7) His main source of funding is the extreme right-wing Republican billionaire, Timothy Mellon. 8 ) He has been promoted in the mainstream U.S. media by the right-wing propaganda mogul, Rupert Murdoch. 9) His own campaign staffer said recently that the purpose of his candidacy is to help re-elect Donald Trump. 10) When confronted with examples of his errors in judgment, he has denied responsibility, and blatantly lied about his behavior.

Jim, I read Secret Agenda in 2019, which is why I started this thread, at that time. I re-read and bumped this thread yesterday in response to the recent posts by Matt Cloud claiming that Daniel Patrick Moynihan was Deep Throat. Cloud's main published reference on Watergate is All the President's Men. 🙄 This thread has a lot of interesting posts by various forum members on the subject of Deep Throat's identity. Incidentally, I have noticed that some of the newcomers to the forum are making claims and raising questions that have already been discussed on the forum in exhaustive detail-- with no apparent awareness of the forum's history. As an example, Matt Cloud recently insisted that JFK was not planning to get out of Vietnam in 1963! How many forum hours--and pages--have already been devoted to debunking that premise? Due diligence might entail searching and studying the forum archives, before presuming to "educate" the forum...

After reading Matt Cloud's recent posts, in which he claimed that Daniel Patrick Moynihan was "Deep Throat," I decided to review this 2019 Education Forum thread about Jim Hougan's book, Secret Agenda. There are a lot of scholarly commentaries and references on this thread about the subject of Watergate and the identity of Deep Throat, by an array of scholars-- James DiEugenio, Shane O'Sullivan, S.T. Patrick, Joseph McBride, and others. Anthony Thorne also posted a commentary by Jim Hougan, toward the top of the thread, describing Hougan's opinions about the true identity of "Deep Throat." The consensus seems to be that Deep Throat was a fictionalized composite of Woodward's White House sources that most likely included Alexander Haig. Not sure where Moynihan may have been involved. Perhaps Mr. Cloud can enlighten us.

R.I.P. Doug Ingle-- age 78. Best known for his overplayed, often-ridiculed psychedelic rock hit, In-a-Gadda-da-Vida, Ingle actually wrote some ingenious songs, IMO. I still listen to his 1969 Iron Butterfly Ball album. Doug Ingle lived in Evergreen, Colorado in his boyhood before the family moved to San Diego. His father eked out a meager living as a church organist, and Ingle later used his childhood musical education to write songs, play the organ, and sing for his psychedelic rock band, Iron Butterfly. He was a talented organist who wrote and chanted rock songs in a distinctly Gregorian style. You can tell that he grew up listening to Gregorian-style chanting and virtuoso organ music in the Anglican church.

Classic Trump approach to foreign and domestic policy here-- "Give me money and I'll do whatever you want." Trump recently told Big Oil moguls that he would sabotage clean energy policies for cash. Trump Pledged to Crush Pro-Palestinian Protests May 27, 2024 at 10:16 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Donald Trump promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, telling a roomful of donors — a group that he joked included “98 percent of my Jewish friends” — that he would expel student demonstrators from the United States, the Washington Post reports. Said Trump: “One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

There has been a complete breakdown in the rule of law in many Mexican states-- and not only in northern Mexico. I used to vacation every January in Quintana Roo, for years, but I stopped going down there a few years ago after some cartel guys blew up the ferry to Cozumel (on the dock at Playa del Carmen.) Tourists have also been killed by cartel shoot outs on the Mayan Riviera. Here's a story. I was playing golf at a local Denver course a few years ago, and one of the guys in our foursome was a muscular-looking Mexican guy wearing expensive designer golf clothes and gold chains. We all chatted, on the tees, and I learned that the guy was from Ciudad Juarez, on "business" in Denver. I mentioned that I had spent a lot of time in Mexico over the years, but that I had always been afraid to visit Ciudad Juarez, because of reading about the cartel murders and violence there. He said, "Oh, that's no big deal. I've seen some guys get executed, but that only happen if guys step out of line." Our foursome got real quiet after that, and we hardly engaged in further conversation. Meanwhile, Mexico is experiencing a catastrophic heat wave, and drought, right now, and Mexico City is running out of water! It's an impending catastrophe for the city of 21 million people! Mexico City’s water ‘Day Zero’ may come even for the wealthiest residents - The Washington Post

Sometimes I go to the Wonkette website, just to read the irreverent headlines... 😂 Rally Crowd Smaller Than Trump Claims, Just Like His Wanger (wonkette.com) May 24, 2024

Kirk, My maternal grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from Slovenia in the early 20th century-- so, yes, I'm half Slovene. At the time, Slovenia was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and my grandfather was in the Austrian calvary. My grandparents downplayed their ethnicity and didn't let their children speak Slovene-- English only. Their youngest son, my uncle, was killed on the U.S.S. Lexington in WWII. (I'll fly the flag for him on Monday.) As for Nikola Jokic, I love the guy, and I was deeply disappointed by the Nuggets' collapse in the second half of that Game 7 against Minnesota. So Doncic is merely my third favorite NBA player-- after Jokic and Jamal Murray. Kudos to the Timberwolves for winning three games in Denver! BTW, I share your loathing for Ted Cruz, Abbot, Paxton, and Gohmer. Classic Trump-- he announced last week that he's considering his fellow felon, Ken Paxton, for AG! I'd file that one under, "Can't make this sh*t up..."

My Slovenian homeboy, Luka Doncic, hit the game winner for the Dallas Mavericks in Minneapolis tonight-- shooting over Rudy Gobert, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. The Mavs rallied from an 18 point deficit in the game to win 109-108.

I think Alito wrote the majority opinion in the disastrous 5-4 Citizens United ruling, but I'd have to look it up. .

I had to read up on the history of Alito's Pine Tree Flag. It dates back to colonial New England, but it has been appropriated in recent years by the MAGA movement and the J6 mob. Pine Tree Flag - Wikipedia

Who Is RFK, Jr.'s right-wing MAGA sugar daddy, Tim Mellon? (What would Cesar Chavez have to say about this guy bankrolling RFK, Jr.?) Timothy Mellon - Wikipedia Political donations[edit] In 2010, Mellon donated $1.5 million to Arizona's defense fund to help cover the costs of legal challenges against Arizona SB 1070,[8] the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in the United States at the time of its passage.[9][3] It has received national and international attention and has spurred considerable controversy.[10][11] In the 2018 election cycle, Mellon was a major political donor, especially to the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund.[12] According to OpenSecrets, in 2020 and 2022, he was the 6th and 5th most prolific donor in the US, spending $60 million and $47 million respectively to support Republican candidates and causes.[13] Mellon's self-published autobiography describes his political views.[14][15] Mellon called social safety net programs "Slavery Redux," adding: "For delivering their votes in the Federal Elections, they are awarded with yet more and more freebies: food stamps, cell phones, WIC payments, Obamacare, and on, and on, and on. The largess is funded by the hardworking folks, fewer and fewer in number, who are too honest or too proud to allow themselves to sink into this morass." Mellon wrote that as of 1984 (Reagan's re-election campaign), "Something had obviously gone dreadfully wrong with the Great Society and the Liberal onslaught. Poor people had become no less poor. Black people, in spite of heroic efforts by the 'Establishment' to right the wrongs of the past, became even more belligerent and unwilling to pitch in to improve their own situations," and that "Drugs rose to the level of epidemic. Single parent families became more and more prevalent. The likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton pandered endlessly to fan the flames."[14] In August 2021, Mellon donated $53.1 million in stock to the State of Texas to pay for construction of walls along the US–Mexico border.[16] In August 2023, it was revealed that Mellon donated $5 million via a Super PAC to the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[17] On April 10, 2024, The New York Times reported that Mellon was the largest single donor to Kennedy's super PAC, giving $20 million over the past year and $15 million to Trump's super PAC MAGA Inc.[18]

RFK Jr. Super PAC Gets $5 Million from GOP Megadonor May 21, 2024 at 9:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 57 Comments “The super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got another cash infusion from GOP megadonor Tim Mellon in April,” Politico reports. “Mellon is the largest GOP donor this campaign cycle to date, and has now given the American Values 2024 super PAC backing Kennedy’s long-shot independent presidential bid $25 million.”

Al Jazeera reports that, as the helicopter was about to crash, the pilot turned to Ayatollah Raisi and yelled, "Holy Shiite!"

Wasn't there a pop hit in Iraq back in the 1940s, with a refrain that went something like, "Just direct your feet, to the Sunni side of the street?" 🤥

Israeli sources are claiming today that the Raisi assassination was carried out by a Mossad agent named, Eli Kopter.

Sandy Larsen lived in Iran before the Ayatollahs took over. He would probably know if the helicopter was, in fact, a "racist helicopter." Raisi was, reportedly, a right-wing theocrat.

Biden denounced the ICC today for issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. In contrast, Bernie Sanders got it right, as usual. Sanders: ICC ‘right’ to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli defense official | The Hill

Indeed, Robert, as James DiEugenio also pointed out in his essay (above) on Fetzer's foibles. Meanwhile, what is your opinion on Phillip Nelson's thesis about LBJ ducking in the limo?

My question. How many closet Trumpsters are working for the RFK, Jr. campaign in 2024, as the most effective way to put Trump back in the White House? One of RFK, Jr.'s campaign managers already admitted that their goal was to re-elect Trump. And we also know that RFK, Jr.'s biggest donors are billionaire Trumpsters.

Trump told the crowd at an NRA convention in Texas yesterday that Biden should be executed, for getting campaign funds from...uh... Russia and China. In the same speech, Trump talked about serving a third term as POTUS. Speaking of guys who should be executed... 🙄

Trump, the Kremlin, and the moronic MAGA cult have been pushing this bogus, "Biden is mentally unfit," trope for the past four years-- repeating the lie. It's like claiming that JFK wasn't planning to get out of Vietnam in 1963. Saying that, "Biden is mentally unfit," has long been a Trump/Fox News mantra-- even after Biden hog-walloped Sean Hannity and the Fox propagandists with his 2024 State of the Union Address. After the SOTU, Fox and Trump switched to arguing that Biden was too forceful, or high, and needed to be drug-tested-- Trump's latest projection. Every Trump accusation, as we all know by now, is, essentially, a confession. Trump has been using stimulants for years, including Adderall, (mixed amphetamine salts) and cocaine.