W. Niederhut

Kirk, I only responded to the popular modern trope blaming "religion" for mass murder, because most people don't know that the worst genocides in history were committed by anti-Christian atheists-- Stalin, Hitler, the Khmer Rouge, et. al. It's a subject that I have studied in great detail over the years. The truth is that Homo Sapiens have always been tribal and genocidal. It's in our DNA. But religions teaching peace and compassion, when not perverted by sociopaths, have often ameliorated our baser human instincts. Dostoevsky was right. The horrors of Naziism and Stalinism were directly linked to the collapse of traditional Christianity in 20th century Germany and Russia, respectively.

True. But, if this gentleman's account of his November 22nd meeting with Nixon is accurate, Hoover was promptly pushing that narrative.

So, it sounds like J. Edgar Hoover told Nixon, fairly promptly on November 22nd, that the assassin "was someone connected to Castro."

Two underrated American Christmas classics from my old neighborhood...

Kirk, Certainly, religious wars in history have resulted in terrible carnage. Some religions, like Judaism, are predicated on genocidal tribalism. Others, like Islam, have sanctioned mass murder in the interest of promoting their religion. In the case of Christianity, Sir Steven Runciman correctly pointed out, in his definitive history of the Crusades, that the Roman Catholic Papacy directly perverted traditional Orthodox Christian theology by sanctioning the murder of Muslims to promote the Roman Catholic Crusades. The Roman Catholic Crusaders were told that they could get into heaven by killing Muslims. (The Crusaders also killed Orthodox Christians and Jews in the Levant.) Similarly, Roman Catholics and Protestants massacred Native Americans in South and North America, respectively. In contrast, the Russian Orthodox intermarried with Native Americans in Alaska, and the Aleuts and other indigenous Alaskans became admirals, priests and bishops in the Orthodox Russian Empire. (I have attended Orthodox Church services in Alaska where the congregation is mostly Native American, and prayers are chanted in Tlingit.) Also, in contrast to the Papal Crusades, the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire always focused on diplomacy-- with war as an evil last resort for defending the empire. In addition, Orthodox Christian soldiers who killed Muslims (Ostrogoths, Avars, Scythians, etc.) in battle had to do a year of repentance (epitimia) before they were allowed to enter an Orthodox Church! Killing a person, for Orthodox Christians, was considered evil, even in warfare. (This is also why the Russian Empire eschewed capital punishment.) Meanwhile, the worst genocides in human history have been committed by anti-Christian atheists and Muslims -- as Dostoevsky predicted in the 19th century, when Ivan Karamazov asked, "If God is dead, will all things become lawful?" According UCLA Professor Jared Diamond, and others, the single worst genocide in human history was the 20th century Soviet genocide of Russian (and Ukrainian) Orthodox Christians-- committed by anti-Christian, atheistic Bolsheviks. It's a history that has remained largely untold in Western Europe and the U.S. The second worst genocide in history was the atheistic Nazi genocide of Jews, Slavs, and Roma people during WWII. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Hitler and his Nazi associates were contemptuous of Christianity. They paid lip service to Christianity, at first, but later promoted a kind of tribal, neo-pagan Wotanism-- which sanctioned genocide of non-Aryan people. This is why even the Roman Catholic Pope issued an encyclical in 1939 condemning Fascism as an anti-Christian heresy. Contrary to traditional Roman Catholic theology, the Nazis believed that some people (Aryans) were more valued than others in the sight of God. Then we have the atheistic Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and the Turkish Muslim genocide of Armenian Orthodox Christians. Finally, if you study Petronius's Satyricon, and the history of the pagan Roman Empire, you will realize that the advent of Christianity had a humane, civilizing effect on the pagan Roman world. Recall that the pre-Christian Romans tortured and killed people for sport in their Ludi.

I saw this weird video at DU today-- a sort of Evangelical Cirque du Soleil. It's part of the 2023 Christmas show at a mega church in Plano, Texas-- Prestonwood (Southern) Baptist. There's another YouTube clip from the show featuring live camels on stage and people in angel costumes suspended by wires-- like a scene from Verdi's opera, Aida. Fortunately, Donald Trump did not appear on a giant screen during the performance.

Trump is partly correct, Steve-- he, himself, and his children had immigrant mothers, (except for Tiffany, who was conceived out of wedlock.) The immigrant Fred & Mary (nee McLeod) Trump progeny have, certainly, poisoned the U.S.

Well said, Pat. Your comments about potentiating "wild, surprising" creative processes reminded me of an old 2013 interview of Jerry Garcia. In talking about the formative years of the Grateful Dead-- and the band's experiences during Ken Kesey's electric kool aid acid tests-- Garcia said that taking LSD gave him a sense of "infinite creative possibilities." And now-- after decades of anathematization in the U.S.-- psychedelics are being studied for their therapeutic potential.

Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed-Wanker...He'll go down in history... 😲 Live updates: Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay $148M to Georgia poll workers - The Washington Post

It's evil, Steve, and it's also nuts. Trump worships Donald Trump and the Golden Calf. He's the antithesis of a true Christian. The best essay ever written on the subject of Trump's twisted "theology" is Peter Wehner's July 2016 essay in the New York Times. Wehner nailed it seven years ago. The (Satanic) Theology of Donald Trump www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/opinion/campaign-stops/the-theology-of-donald-trump.html by Peter Wehner July 5, 2016 SINCE Donald Trump assures us that the Bible is his favorite book, it’s worth asking: Just what is his theology? After Mr. Trump met with hundreds of evangelical Christians a couple of weeks ago, James Dobson, who is among the most influential leaders in the evangelical world and serves on Mr. Trump’s evangelical executive advisory board, declared that “Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit,” by which Dr. Dobson meant the Holy Spirit. Of all the descriptions of Mr. Trump we’ve heard this election season, this may be the most farcical. As described by St. Paul, the “fruit of the Spirit” includes forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, hardly qualities one associates with Mr. Trump. It shows you the lengths Mr. Trump’s supporters will go to in order to rationalize their enthusiastic support of him. Dr. Dobson is not alone. Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, has praised Mr. Trump’s life as in many ways exemplary and said that he believes that “Donald Trump is God’s man to lead our nation.” Eric Metaxas, who has written popular biographies of William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, has rhapsodized about Mr. Trump and argued that Christians “must” vote for him because he is “the last best hope of keeping America from sliding into oblivion.” And should your conscience tell you that Mr. Trump might not be the right choice, Robert Jeffress, the influential pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, explains that “any Christian who would sit at home and not vote for the Republican nominee” is “motivated by pride rather than principle.” Continue reading the main story This fulsome embrace of Mr. Trump is rather problematic, since he embodies a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity. If you trace that worldview to its source, Christ would not be anywhere in the vicinity. Time and again Mr. Trump has shown contempt for those he perceives as weak and vulnerable — “losers,” in his vernacular. They include P.O.W.s, people with disabilities, those he deems physically unattractive and those he considers politically powerless. He bullies and threatens people he believes are obstacles to his ambitions. He disdains compassion and empathy, to the point where his instinctive response to the largest mass shooting in American history was to congratulate himself: “Appreciate the congrats for being right.” What Mr. Trump admires is strength. For him, a person’s intrinsic worth is tied to worldly success and above all to power. He never seems free of his obsession with it. In his comments to that gathering of evangelicals, Mr. Trump said this: “And I say to you folks, because you have such power, such influence. Unfortunately the government has weeded it away from you pretty strongly. But you’re going to get it back. Remember this: If you ever add up, the men and women here are the most important, powerful lobbyists. You’re more powerful. Because you have men and women, you probably have something like 75, 80 percent of the country believing. But you don’t use your power. You don’t use your power.” In eight sentences Mr. Trump mentioned some variation of power six times, to a group of individuals who have professed their love and loyalty to Jesus, who in his most famous sermon declared, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “Blessed are the meek,” who said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and who was humiliated and crucified by the powerful. To better understand Mr. Trump’s approach to life, ethics and politics, we should not look to Christ but to Friedrich Nietzsche, who was repulsed by Christianity and Christ. “What is good?” Nietzsche asks in “The Anti-Christ”: “Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is evil? Whatever springs from weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power increases – that resistance is overcome.” Whether or not he has read a word of Nietzsche (I’m guessing not), Mr. Trump embodies a Nietzschean morality rather than a Christian one. It is characterized by indifference to objective truth (there are no facts, only interpretations), the repudiation of Christian concern for the poor and the weak, and disdain for the powerless. It celebrates the “Übermensch,” or Superman, who rejects Christian morality in favor of his own. For Nietzsche, strength was intrinsically good and weakness was intrinsically bad. So, too, for Donald Trump. Those who believe this is merely reductionism should consider the words of Jesus: Do you have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear? Mr. Trump’s entire approach to politics rests on dehumanization. If you disagree with him or oppose him, you are not merely wrong. You are worthless, stripped of dignity, the object of derision. This attitude is central to who Mr. Trump is and explains why it pervades and guides his campaign. If he is elected president, that might-makes-right perspective would infect his entire administration. All of this is important because of what it says about Mr. Trump as a prospective president. But it is also revealing for what it says about Christians who now testify on his behalf (there are plenty who don’t). The calling of Christians is to be “salt and light” to the world, to model a philosophy that defends human dignity, and to welcome the stranger in our midst. It is to stand for justice, dispense grace and be agents of reconciliation in a broken world. And it is to take seriously the words of the prophet Micah, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” Evangelical Christians who are enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump are signaling, even if unintentionally, that this calling has no place in politics and that Christians bring nothing distinctive to it — that their past moral proclamations were all for show and that power is the name of the game. The French philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul wrote: “Politics is the church’s worst problem. It is her constant temptation, the occasion of her greatest disasters, the trap continually set for her by the prince of this world.” In rallying round Mr. Trump, evangelicals have walked into the trap. The rest of the world sees it. Why don’t they?

Jim, I have posted some comments about Kissinger, since his death, on the Water Cooler board. (The topic didn't seem directly relevant to the JFKA.) I have long wondered about Kissinger's links to the Neocons and their Project for a New American Century. Let's recall that George W. Bush originally asked Kissinger to chair the 9/11 Commission's pseudo- "investigation." And, curiously, Kissinger said in December of 2000-- shortly after the controversial Bush v. Gore ruling-- "I can think of nothing that would improve George W. Bush's low approval rating better than a terrorist attack on the U.S." How "prophetic" was that? Dubya's low approval rating soared after 9/11, and he suddenly had carte blanche to launch the multi-trillion dollar, Wolfowitz Doctrine "War on Terror." Also, both Henry Kissinger and the CEO of Kissinger Associates, L. Paul Bremer, announced to the world on 9/11 (on Sky Television and CNN, respectively) that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were most likely the work of Muslim terrorists-- Osama Bin Laden and "Al Qaeda." Bin Laden denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks, to Al Jazeera and a Pakistani journalist, but that story was carefully blacked out of the U.S. media, along with numerous other facts that contradicted the official Bush-Cheney narrative about 9/11..

Doug, I've had a lot of respect for Jeremy Scahill, after reading his book, Dirty Wars, several years ago. Most of what I know about U.S. drone warfare during the Obama years came from reading Scahill's work. He, obviously, has a less than sanguine perspective on Biden and Blinken's role in the Gaza disaster. Jeremy Scahill: Gaza "Scorched-Earth Campaign" Is a "Joint U.S.-Israeli Operation" We discuss President Joe Biden's "full support for a scorched-earth campaign" in Gaza with _The Intercept_'s Jeremy Scahill, who says the U.S. is providing "political cover and rushing weapons there and giving support to the most pernicious lies that Israel [is] telling." Despite the Biden administration's recent assertions that it is helping to restrain Israel, Israel's military and intelligence operation is significantly propped up by resources from the United States State and Defense departments, explains Scahill. "This is a joint U.S. operation militarily and politically." Meanwhile, he says, Biden continues to repeat debunked falsehoods about pictures of beheaded babies from the October 7 Hamas attack.

"Another" highly partisan proceeding, eh, MAGA Ben? Like Benghazi, for instance? 🙄 Have you figured out yet that the damning 2022 Congressional J6 Investigation of Trump's violent mob attack on the U.S. Congress was 1) excellent, 2) evidence-based, and 3) bipartisan? As for this ludicrous, evidence-free Biden "impeachment" stunt by Trump's MAGA House goons, it's a complete joke. Trump's MAGA goons, like Trump, will go down in history as shamelessly corrupt, dishonest morons.

“I want to give James Comer some credit. Because after 50,000 pages of depositions and secret hearings and closed hearings, I think if we give him enough time, he’s going to prove that Hunter Biden is Joe Biden’s son.” — Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), on the House floor/ December 13, 2023

Matt, The intransigence of hard-liners on both sides is the main reason that scholars like Jeffrey Sachs have proposed UN mediation and authority to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the UN can't solve the problem without U.S. support. Parties like Hamas and Likud will never broker a peace deal. Their charters forbid it. Meanwhile, Sachs has recently published an op-ed on the latest U.S. Security Council veto. Opinion | United Nations Honor, United States Shame in Gaza | Common Dreams

Sandy, If you read the Likud Party charter, it expressly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state. And Netanyahu recently assured his Likud Party associates that he remains their best option for preventing a two-state solution. That's also why Bibi has supported Hamas during the past decade. So, the idea that Bibi's annihilation of Gaza is intended as an intentional step toward a two-state solution is a pipe dream. In fact, Bibi is determined to prevent a unified Palestinian Authority. As for "antisemitism," let's not confuse the real thing with criticism of Likud Party war crimes.

Here's your answer, Sandy. The short answer is that Joe Biden is no John F. Kennedy. Biden lacks JFK's humanistic moral vision, which included advocacy of justice and human rights for all people-- including the dispossessed Palestinians-- in opposition to geopolitical racism and tribalism. Notice that Biden is also repeating the false trope labeling any criticism of Likud Party war crimes as "antisemitism." President Biden tells crowd 'I am a Zionist' at Hanukkah ceremony, condemns silence on antisemitism (msn.com)

Kirk, Solving crimes by a consideration of motives is hardly, "low hanging fruit." It's good detective work. Cui bono? Who benefitted most significantly from JFK's murder? Phillip Nelson's biographies of LBJ are valuable in that regard, and worth reading. LBJ was, obviously, power hungry and ruthless-- a bona fide psychopath. Yet, by November of 1963, LBJ was facing the possible ignominious end of his political career. Even if he managed to evade prosecution in the Baker case, he was looking at an almost certain second Presidential term for JFK, (from 1965-69) most likely followed by an RFK Presidency after 1968. So, LBJ's longstanding goal of becoming POTUS was increasingly unlikely. Concurrently, LBJ had relationships with Cold War hawks in the U.S. military, the CIA, and FBI, who strongly disagreed with JFK's peace initiatives.

Precisely. And the Cold War hawks who conspired to kill JFK knew very well that LBJ disagreed with JFK's peace initiatives and decision to withdraw from Vietnam. Israel's acquisition of nukes was another critically important geopolitical issue where LBJ disagreed with JFK's position. Rather than studying and connecting the dots about LBJ and the JFK assassination, Ben is resorting to his usual O.J. Simpson criteria for determining guilt-- as he has done in the case of Trump's J6 mob attack on Congress and Mueller's aborted investigation of Trump's 30-year involvement with Putin and his oligarchs. If the scrubbed glove doesn't fit, Ben must acquit.

Ben, Let's dispense with the naivete on this thread. Cui bono? There is a vast array of circumstantial evidence implicating LBJ in the plot to put himself in the White House, and to cover up the crime of JFK's murder-- with critical assistance from his next door neighbor, J. Edgar Hoover, officials and police in Texas, and his Cold War allies in the military-industrial complex, including Allen Dulles. The Cold War hawks who conspired to kill JFK well knew that LBJ opposed JFK's peace initiatives and efforts to de-escalate the Cold War. Recall also that LBJ was on the verge of being prosecuted for serious crimes-- and most likely removed from JFK's 1964 Presidential ticket-- when JFK was murdered. LBJ had everything to gain from JFK's murder, and a great to lose if JFK lived. Phillip Nelson has written about the subject in considerable detail. Have you read LBJ: Mastermind of the JFK Assassination? LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination: Nelson, Phillip F.: 9781620876107: Amazon.com: Books

This second UN veto by the Biden administration is simply inexcusable, especially in light of the looming risk of mass starvation in what remains of Gaza. Meanwhile, 1.8 million people in Gaza are, allegedly, being compressed into a refugee camp the size of Heathrow Airport. Instead of stopping the civilian carnage, Biden and the U.S. are actively complicit in Netanyahu's war crimes.

This is a first for me-- referencing a Fox News article. Biden has desperately tried to avoid being drawn into a U.S. war with Iran and its proxies, but Bibi's relentless bombing of Gaza is making that increasingly difficult. U.S. military bases and ships have recently been under attack in Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf. And now it looks like Israel will escalate a war with Iranian proxies in Yemen if Biden doesn't. Israel says it will act militarily against Yemen’s Houthis if US wont: report (foxnews.com)

I saw this at Kevin Drum's blog today. Republican delusions summarized in a single convenient chart. The Republican worldview in one chart – Kevin Drum (jabberwocking.com)

Yes, and speaking of means, who had the oversight and authority to order the prompt scrubbing of the limo, the confiscation of JFK's corpse from the Parkland coroner, and the faux "Secret Service" confiscation of cameras in Dealey Plaza? J. Edgar Hoover? To attribute the comprehensive cover up of the JFK murder plot solely to LBJ's next door neighbor, J. Edgar Hoover, seems like a stretch. I think Fletcher Prouty commented on this issue-- i.e., that many aspects of the plot must have been managed at the highest administrative level in the Federal government.

$16 billion for 2024 political advertising in the U.S.?! 😲 We can all thank Alito, Uncle Clarence Thomas, and 3 other Republican SCOTUS judges for this Citizen' United nonsense. As Fred Wertheimer said at the time, Citizens United wiped out a century of campaign-finance reforms in the U.S. U.S. political ad market projected to reach record $16 billion in 2024 (axios.com)