W. Niederhut

This month marked the 4th anniversary of historian Heather Cox Richardson's excellent, Letters From an American, essays. For those who are unfamiliar with Richardson's work, it is worth reading. Unlike so much of the erroneous political punditry in the U.S. media today, Richardson's observations about contemporary political issues are grounded in an in-depth understanding of American history. She is, first and foremost, a scholar-- not a pundit. Here is her 4th anniversary Letters From An American essay, from September 17th, in which she described the initial impetus for launching the series-- her 2019 concerns about Donald Trump's historic, multi-faceted assault on American democracy and the rule of law. Needless to say, she was prescient. September 17, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com)

Trump Says Mark Milley Should Be Executed September 22, 2023 at 11:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Donald Trump said on Truth Social that Gen. Mark Milley — who he called “a woke train wreck” — should be executed for treason.

It's kind of a shame that this thread devolved into yet another debate about JFK's shirt, because the 2017 survey data about JFK assassination beliefs in the U.S. raises some interesting sociological questions. Most People Believe In JFK Conspiracy Theories | FiveThirtyEight Beliefs about whether Oswald was a Lone Nut (WCR) were not statistically differentiated by age, gender, or even political party affiliation. But Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to believe (correctly) that JFK was murdered by a conspiracy. And there was an odd, statistically significant, difference in beliefs between white college graduates and white non-college grads. It seems counter-intuitive that the more highly "educated" college grads would be more delusional about the fraudulent Warren Commission Report (48%) than non-college grads (33%.) My theory is that this anomaly is a result of the college grads being more effectively duped by "sophisticated" WCR propaganda in "reputable" newspapers, (NYT, WaPo, et.al.) magazines, and other mass media. I mentioned some personal observations about several highly-educated people telling me that they consider Oliver Stone to be a "flake," (based, presumably, on articles that they have read in "high end" news sources like NYT.) It's a classic case of the old adage that, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Here's a testable hypothetical. How many college grads in the U.S. understand the pervasive, powerful influence of CIA propaganda in the mainstream media -- including prestigious newspapers like NYT and WaPo-- since the 1940s? I told a friend of mine several years ago that, IMO, understanding the Operation Mockingbird phenomenon in the U.S. media is a kind of Rosetta Stone for the proper interpretation of America's "Untold History."

Ron, There were rumors circulating a year or two ago that Lauren Boebert used to work as an escort, and that Ted Cruz may have been one of her former clients. I don't know if those stories are true, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

Pat, I have conversed in recent years with several highly educated Boomers-- including a close relative who graduated summa cum laude from a prestigious college-- who have all repeated the same trope when I advised them to watch JFK Revisited. They said, in essence, that "Oliver Stone is a flake." It's exactly what I used to think, based on articles I had read over the years in "reputable" sources like the New York Times and the Washington Post. So, I think the anomalous 48% of Lone Nutters in the college graduate demographic is more likely to be a result of educated people trusting "reputable" Mockingbird sources like NYT, rather than trusting "institutions." After all, as you mentioned, we Boomers have distrusted institutions since Vietnam and Watergate. But how many educated Boomers truly understand Operation Mockingbird, even now?

Matt Allison vs. Mathew Koch? 🤥

This is a fascinating data Cliff. I would draw people's attention to the rather surprising fact that MORE college graduates (48%) than non-graduates (33%) in this 2017 survey believed the LONE NUT theory! How do we explain that strange fact? Shouldn't college grads be BETTER informed? I have a theory-- speaking from personal experience. More college grads are likely to regularly read prestigious news sources-- e.g., New York Times, Washington Post, etc.-- which have been at the forefront of the Operation Mockingbird disinformation promoting the Warren Commission Report.

Kirk, According to UCLA Professor Jared Diamond's chapter-- in his 2019 book, Upheaval-- Allende did, in fact, nationalize Chile's copper industry, without compensating U.S. owners for their 49% share. That said, Upheaval is not Jared Diamond's best work. He isn't very knowledgeable about CIA history and black ops (e.g., in Chile and Indonesia.) Diamond is at his best when writing about science and technology (e.g., Guns, Germs, and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee.) Missing is a great flick. I remember it well.

Well, Doug, I hope the Hot Schoppe patron was correct. But I just finished reading the chapter about Pinochet's 1973 right wing coup in Chile, in Jared Diamond's book, Upheaval, and it scared me. Chile was Latin America's most functional, stable democracy in 1973, and it rapidly devolved into a right wing terror state after the Pinochet coup. Thousands of "liberals" were tortured and executed. The same thing happened in Germany in 1933, and in Indonesia in 1965. Could it happen here? I wonder.

Doug, There is a related essay this week by historian Heather Cox Richardson, on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of her excellent Letters From An American essays. As she described this week, she began publishing these historical essays in September of 2019 in response to Trump's multi-faceted assault on U.S. democracy. Worth reading. September 17, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com)

Remarkable myopia by Ben Cole, in light of George H.W. "Bandar" Bush's longstanding close relationship with the immensely wealthy Saudi royal family, whose net worth has been estimated at $15 trillion. Does Ben know that Osama Bin Laden's brother was a major investor in George W. Bush's Arbusto Oil Company? That GHWB and the Carlyle Group were dining with Bin Laden in D.C. on 9/11? That Saudi Prince Bandar was the man who first told Secretary of State Colin Powell in December of 2002 that George W. Bush and Cheney were going to invade Iraq? (According to Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward.) That Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman loaned $2 billion to Jared Kushner-- Trump's envoy to the Middle East? That Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has recently decided to cut Saudi oil production in order to sabotage Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in 2024? Below: Trump's first trip abroad as POTUS in 2017 was to Riyadh, to do the sword dance with the Saudis

Ron, I still haven't watched that wild game. My daughter was modeling in a big fashion show here in Denver last night, (Latin Fashion Week) and she wanted me to attend. I got to practice my Spanish, but the MC was talking faster than a Mexican DJ, so I only understood about half of his monologues... 🤥 As for Ken Paxton, it sounds like Trump actively intervened to protect his fellow sociopath. Scoop: How GOP pressured Texas senators over Paxton's impeachment trial (axios.com)

Outrageous.

This is creepy as hell, especially in light of what happened at the Ambassador Hotel. IMO, there's no excuse for not assigning a Secret Service detail to RFK, Jr.

Ruh roh... 🤥 GOP Family Values Update!! EXCLUSIVE: Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski have been having a years-long clandestine affair | Daily Mail Online

US economy going strong under Biden – Americans don’t believe it www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/15/biden-economy-bidenomics-poll-republicans-democrats-independents September 14, 2023

Sandy, Something about this reminds of Utah's Dead Horse State Park. IMO, the topic is the ultimate JFKA forum example of "beating a dead horse." It is important, and historic, but so are many JFKA subjects-- and we have already had more than 20 redundant forum threads about the "Biden snuff job" on the JFK Records. What more can be said? Perhaps any real newsworthy developments on the topic could be posted on a thread by Larry Schnapf. Also, my prediction is that a thread on this topic that is pinned to the top of the board will devolve into a redundant Biden snuff job MAGA spam thread-- accompanied by a great deal of whining about any moderator efforts to delete the anti-Biden tropes.

Amazing!! Hunter Biden has accomplished what no other Democrat has ever been able to do. The GOP is finally concerned about an American citizen buying a gun!! 🤥 Hunter Biden indicted on federal gun charges (usatoday.com)

The Liberal Redneck discusses Lauren Boebert's eviction from Denver's Buell Theater on Sunday. Need some comic relief? 😂

Matt, According to today's Atlantic article, (above) Romney was warned by Senator Angus King on January 2, 2021 that intel sources were concerned about a possibly January 6th mob attack on the Capitol. Romney immediately sent a message to Mitch McConnell asking about security issues for January 6th. McConnell never replied. More evidence that people in the Trump administration had intel about the impending J6 attack on Congress and, apparently, obstructed appropriate security.

WHAT MITT ROMNEY SAW IN THE SENATE In an exclusive excerpt from my forthcoming biography of the senator, Romney: A Reckoning, he reveals what drove him to retire. September 13, 2023 No Paywall https://archive.ph/BneOO

Trump wants a judge to recuse from the Jan. 6 case. It's a dangerous attempt to thwart a conviction. (slate.com)

I have been reluctant to post anything on this horrifying, traumatic subject-- and I was reluctant to post anything on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 yesterday. And, in my opinion, most Americans are still not ready to talk about what happened on 9/11. The psychological wounds are too deep. Speaking personally, I still have occasional post-traumatic flashbacks of the collapsing Towers, and people leaping from the buildings. The serial explosions that pulverized the WTC Twin Towers on 9/11 are plainly visible (and audible) on film and audio recordings, and the serial explosions have also been described by numerous 9/11 witnesses whose testimony was suppressed in the mainstream media, and in Phillip Zelikow's 9/11 Commission Report. The suppression of this critical 9/11 witness testimony-- which contradicts the official government narrative about 9/11-- is similar to what happened in the case of the Warren Commission's suppression and alteration of the testimony of numerous Dealey Plaza witnesses. The most famous witness of the WTC explosions is William Rodriguez, but there were numerous other witnesses of the serial explosions that demolished the Twin Towers, including a number of NYFD firemen who were in the Twin Towers before they collapsed. NYFD personnel also described liquified steel "flowing like a foundry" at Ground Zero-- a phenomenon that could not have been caused by burning jet fuel (or burning office furniture.) Most people today are also unaware that the bodies of many victims (more than 1,000) in the Twin Towers were never identified, because they were pulverized into fine ash, along with hundreds of thousands of tons of WTC concrete that was dispersed in explosive pyroclastic flows into the Manhattan atmosphere.