W. Niederhut

It depends on what you mean by "worse." Many people use denial of reality as a defense against anxiety and despair. As T.S. Eliot said, "Most people can't handle too much reality." But this is a forum for those of us who tend to stare into the abyss. And, speaking of the abyss, Trump's sock rocket is, indeed, crashing this morning.

"One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer." -- George Thorogood

It just hit me, as I was pondering the grim Wall Street futures data following Powell lowering interest rates to zero this afternoon. (Not to mention Trump aggressively boosting oil stocks late Friday afternoon just before the closing bell.) I don't know where the bottom is in this abyss, but Nietzsche was right. "If you stare into the abyss long enough, the abyss stares back at you." And that should be the motto of this JFKA forum, IMO. From what I have seen, this is a forum for unusual people who really want to know the terrible truth.

Jim, It's another can of worms entirely-- which probably belongs on the 9/11 board-- but I believe Kissinger was in-the-loop on the PNAC 9/11 op. IMO, that's why Dubya asked him to chair the 9/11 Commission cover up. 1) Kissinger's right hand man, (at Kissinger & Associates) L. Paul Bremer, was the first commentator in the U.S. mainstream media to announce on 9/11 (on CNN) that Osama Bin Laden and "Al Qaeda" were the primary suspects in the 9/11 attacks-- shortly after the nose cone of the first plane hit L.Paul Bremer's WTC office at Marsh & McLennan. (And, of course, Paul Bremer was later sent to Iraq as Rumsfeld's disastrous de-Baathification Czar-- in 2003.) 2) Kissinger, himself, went on Sky Television in Europe on 9/11 to announce that Osama Bin Laden and "Al Qaeda" were the likely 9/11 culprits. 3) Kissinger said on December 13, 2000-- shortly after the Bush v. Gore SCOTUS ruling that put Dubya in the White House-- “I can think of no faster way to unite the American people behind George W. Bush than a terrorist attack on an American target..." --Henry Kissinger, appearing on CNBC, 13th Dec 2000

Jim, With all due respect, I believe that there are a number of significant similarities between the political careers of Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler, in addition to some of the important differences that you have highlighted. Both men rose to power by shamelessly appealing to authoritarian, racist/nationalist sentiments and xenophobia-- scapegoating minority groups, and vowing to make the Fatherland great (i.e., white, Aryan, etc.) again. Both men aligned themselves, strategically, with the police, right wing military men, and the Captains of Industry (e;g;, Krupps, IG Farben, et.al.) Both men have employed very similar propaganda techniques (staged rallies, denigration and muzzling of the opposition press, etc.) to promote idealized images of themselves and manipulate the masses. Both men repeatedly subverted constitutional, democratic processes-- including the courts, Congress, and the Reichstag (e.g., defying Congressional subpoenas and, in Hitler's case, ultimately, banning opposition parties during a state of "emergency.") Trump has, obviously, not committed mass murder on a scale anywhere near what Hitler did in Europe, YET-- BUT Trump's administration killed more civilians in its first eight months in office (in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria) than the Obama administration had killed in eight years. Trump relaxed the military standards for prevention of "collateral" damage, and even scolded Mattis and McMaster for not killing the families of targeted Islamic "terrorists." Trump has also been putting Mexican and Central American refugees-- including women and young children-- in concentration camps. He has no moral compunction about his unethical treatment of these destitute people! True, he has not gassed them with Xyklon-B, but he has exhibited an utter lack of basic morality. His administration has even aggressively prosecuted American citizens who have left food and water for desperate illegal aliens crossing the Sonora Desert! (My sister lives in Tucson, and has kept me up-to-date on this nonsense.)

I, pointedly, disagree. Andrew's point was on target. He was getting at the essence of Trump's toxic narcissism-- his complete lack of empathy and basic morality, which is a personality defect that Trump shares with the deranged Austrian corporal who caused the deaths of millions. And, regarding Godwin's Law, let's not forget that Donald Trump used to keep a copy of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand, according to his ex-wife, Ivana. As for Trump's diagnosis, modern psychiatric diagnoses (since the advent of the DSM) are usually expressed on two Axes. Axis I describes primary mental disorders, (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar, ADHD, dementia, etc.) and Axis II describes personality (character) disorders (e.g., narcissism, sociopathy, etc.) My impression is that Trump is an extreme case of Axis II narcissism with sociopathic traits. I'm not convinced that he has a serious Axis I problem, other than possible ADHD, stimulant abuse, and early-stage dementia (including issues with expressive aphasia.)

Speaking of Camus, I think it's time to re-read The Plague. As for Elizabeth Warren, when she declined to endorse Bernie, I was genuinely surprised. Does she know something that we don't? I trust her commitment to the humanity, so I began to wonder if she has doubts about Bernie's ability get things done. Or that he can't beat Trump?

Well, Ron, it's a good thing you bought that case of bourbon. 🤪 It reminds me of Walker Percy's novel, Love in the Ruins, where the protagonist buys a case of bourbon before the Apocalypse.

But one could, theoretically, keep Sylvia Meagher's summary, Accessories After the Fact, and get a lot of TP out of the multi-volume WCR. 🤪

I remain puzzled by Warren's refusal to salvage the cause of the Progressive movement by endorsing Bernie-- before or after the Super Tuesday DNC maneuvers to advance Biden She, obviously, doesn't WANT to endorse Bernie.

Ron Bulman suggested today that he may have to use some of his Noam Chomsky books in the event of a coronavirus pandemic toilet paper shortage. (Thanks for the Friday the 13th laugh, Ron. I needed it.) 🤪 My question for the forum. Which JFKA books could be judiciously used as emergency toilet paper? I don't own Reclaiming History, and I already gave away my copy of Roger Stone's book, Nixon's Secrets, as a white elephant Christmas party gift.

Correct. The Dow Jones was at about 21,000 in January of 2017 when Trump was inaugurated. It's back down to about 21,000 tonight. Annual U.S. GDP growth has been less than 3% during the past three years of Trump's presidency-- not terrible, but not robust enough to justify the sky-rocketing prices of stocks we have witnessed during the past three years. Coronavirus was the needle that popped the Trump Stock Bubble.

In essence, yes. It's a liquidity crisis in the $15 trillion off-the-run T-bond market. I think what is happening is that everyone is panicking and fleeing to cash, so bond dealers are having trouble liquidating their off-the-run T-bonds. It's weird, because these T-bonds have typically been viewed as a safe haven when the stock markets crash, as has gold. (Gold was down 4.4% today!) It would be good to hear from Robert Wheeler, the Wall Street guy, on this one. What is happening now with stocks, bonds, and commodities makes no sense.

Big news, folks. The Fed just intervened bigly today to try to retard the stock market crash. To put this in perspective, the DOW plunged 9% this morning before trading was halted and the Fed intervened. Fed ramps up repo operations to address disruptions in Treasury market https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-ramps-up-repo-operations-to-address-disruptions-in-treasury-market-2020-03-12?mod=home-page March 12, 2020 The New York Fed increased the size of its repurchasing operations on Thursday in order to address the "highly unusual" disruptions in Treasurys markets. It said it would offer $500 billion in a three-month repo operation on both Wednesday and Thursday. It also said it would offer $500 billion in a one-month repo operation tomorrow. The New York Fed added it would conduct one-month and three-month operations for $500 billion every week for the remainder of the month. This on top of at least $175 billion in daily overnight repo operations. As part of the repo operations, the Fed will temporarily lend out funds to broker-dealers in return for collateral such as Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. The Fed's interventions comes as market participants have worried about the difficult of trading Treasurys in the last few days.

Gary Hart had a lot of momentum after winning the New Hampshire Democratic primary in 1984-- before the "Establishment" (including Dan Rather) intervened. I remember it well because I was a medical intern that year, and I was walking down the alley behind my apartment building to Rose Hospital early in the morning after the New Hampshire primary. Then I noticed that there were police cars blocking both ends of the alley and men with rifles on the roofs of buildings. I thought that I had walked into the middle of a shoot out. Scared the cr*p out of me! A cop at the end of the alley informed me that they were guarding Senator Gary Hart, who had just returned to Denver after winning the New Hampshire Primary. Turns out that Hart owned a condo in Denver right across the alley from my apartment building.

I thought the race was over when Biden won Massachusetts on Super Tuesday. If the Progressives couldn't even beat the Wall Street Democratic Establishment in the Bay State, it was obvious that they wouldn't beat them in 'Murica.

Robert, To be honest, I sometimes wonder if you're one of the President's Active Republican Advocates of Nuttiness On Internet Domains. You have a knack for perceiving causal connections in obscure associations.

I think Robert is being paid by Wilbur Ross to launder money in Cypriot bank accounts and work for CREEP-- the Committee to Re-Elect the President. The CREEP work involves smearing Trump's Democratic rivals, and convincing people that Trump's relationships with Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin is merely a Deep State hoax perpetrated by wealthy elites whose families once owned vacation properties on Gibson Island. 😬

Yo, Robert, does this mean that you're working on contract for Erik Prince-- to infiltrate and influence "liberal" groups? 🤪

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Interrupt This Education Forum Thread To Bring You A Special Announcement From The President of The United States...

You, obviously, know the professional drill when it comes to taking money from Boot Blacks, eh, Robert? No wonder you support Donald Trump. 😬

The Fed doesn't have much room to maneuver in now. Rates are already down to 1%. They'll most likely end up printing more money, and probably looking at an array of stimulus spending measures. Trump and his GOP Goon Squad will do anything in their power to goose the U.S. economy before November-- and these are some of the same GOP goons (e.g., Mitch McConnell, Charles Grassley, et.al.) who refused to raise the debt ceiling for Obama during the Great Bush-Cheney Recession.

The way I see it, Dan Rather's disinformation and silence about the JFK assassination and 9/11 is especially inexcusable, because he was in Dallas and Manhattan when both crimes occurred, and HE WITNESSED BOTH SMOKING GUNS-- the Zapruder film, and the video of the WTC7 demolition. He, surely, knew that JFK's head was blown back and to the left by the fatal shot from the Grassy Knoll, and he also knew that WTC7 was demolished by expertly placed explosives on 9/11! Both smoking guns were largely concealed from the public-- for years. But Dan Rather saw them from the beginning. (And I say this as a guy who always admired Dan Rather-- going back to his famous Watergate era interview of Nixon.)

I sold off the last of my stocks three weeks ago-- a few days before Black Monday (February 24th.) I've got everything in bonds, cash, and gold. But gold prices have been surprisingly sluggish thus far. For example, the DOW plunged over 7% today, but the price of gold was unchanged. I got burned badly in 2000 and 2008, and I've had a bad feeling about the "booming" Trump economy for a while now. Stock prices and market capitalization had increased far beyond earnings and GDP for the past two years. What never ceases to amaze me is the stampeding "herd" mentality of these markets-- in both directions-- perpetually reinforced by the screwball reporting in the mainstream (financial) media. Most financial journalists seem to be part of the herd. I read Peter Lynch's One Up On Wall Street years ago, and I always remember the line where Lynch said that he knew it was time to sell when dentists approached him at cocktail parties with advice about buying stocks.

So, in summary, we can reasonably conclude that Dan Rather surmised, early on, that the official M$M narratives about two Crimes of the Century were false. 1) The Crime of the 20th Century-- JFK's assassination. 2) The Crime of the 21st Century-- 9/11.