W. Niederhut

Jim, Gene sequencing and mRNA technology has come a long way in recent years. And, contrary to RFK, Jr.'s anti-vax disinformation, the COVID vaccines saved a lot of lives in comparison with un-vaccinated, older adults. RFK, Jr. blew the call in a big way. As for Ben's argument that repetitious pro-RFK, Jr. 2024 booster threads are appropriate for the JFKA forum, while contrary evidence and opinion belongs on the "Wafer Cooler" threads, it's absurd. The Water Cooler threads were established mainly because of Ben (and Koch's) redundant MAGA spam on our 56 Years thread. Now Ben simply posts his redundant tropes here.

John C'mon, man. Put on your thinking cap. The reference was to Ukrainian indepence from the Kremlin's totalitarian police state. You persist, oddly, in viewing Ukrainian resistance to Kremlin subjugation and mass murder as a proxy war.

Ben, You should probably read the Naomi Klein related op-ed in this morning's issue of the progressive Common Dreams newspaper-- home of Ralph Nader and Jeffrey Sachs. (I posted the link on the Political Discussions board.) The professor from British Columbia thinks that RFK, Jr. is a "counterfeit populist"-- an opinion possibly shared by such luminaries as Bernie Sanders, Russ Baker, and the Kennedy family. Try keeping an open mind... 🙄

Kirk, I think "punditocracy" has something to do with "full spectrum dominance" and other American abominations. Among other causes of John Cotter's dyspepsia, he has been indignant about Americans "exporting democracy at gunpoint." I share some of John's justifiable indignation about the U.S. military-industrial complex, but I also wonder if John would choose to live in North Korea or South Korea. He refuses to tell us, but I can't picture Cotter goose-stepping past murals of Kim Jong Un.

Ben, In your lead post on this new thread, did you write, "RFK, Jr. is the one candidate who would release the JFK Records?" Where have we heard that Ben Cole trope before? 🤥

Thanks, Anthony. Given the numerous inaccuracies in RFK, Jr.'s other anti-vaccine publications, I'll have to do some research on this one. For example, RFK, Jr. has promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. A few obvious holes in RFK's theory come immediately to mind. For instance, why would the Chinese government collaborate with the U.S. government on bio-weapons research? Also hasn't the alleged Ukrainian bio-weapons lab claim been exposed as Russian propaganda?

Cherry-picking the Berlin Speech, eh, John? As opposed to cherry-picking the Peace Speech to infer that JFK wasn't serious about defending democracy in Europe from Kremlin totalitarianism? Good one. 😵‍💫 Meanwhile, can you tell us the distance from West Berlin to Soviet-occupied East Germany in 1963? Not that geographic distance is the real issue here. BTW, do you support Irish independence from the British Empire? You and Rigby completely side-stepped that awkward subject yesterday.

Yes, Ben, and your daily threads with these repeated tropes about RFK, Jr. and the JFK Records are, no doubt, helpful for forum members who suffer from profound short-term memory deficits.

Ben, See our previous discussion here about Penske and Shachtman.

Jim, Can you elaborate on this Lab Leak Theory? Is the theory that the Chinese government, the U.S., another government, Bill Gates, and/or Dr. Fauci conspired to unleash COVID as a bio-weapon? Is Taibbi's latest theory that the Chinese or U.S. governments deliberately lied about COVID-19's origins for some reason?

Yes, Ben, Rolling Stone has become yet another Mockingbird propaganda mouthpiece-- after being purchased by the Penske Media Corporation, and edited by Noah Schachtman-- the counter culture newspaper that once famously published Carl Bernstein's history of CIA Operation Mockingbird. We discussed this journalistic tragedy here recently. On the bright side, it has afforded you a pretext to start your daily RFK, Jr. thread here on the JFKA forum today.

Jim, I must confess that I have difficulty conceiving of John as "insightful," in any meaningful sense of the term, but to each his own. On the other hand, I share Greg Doudna's concerns about the recent escalation of Putin and Lukashenko's nuclear threats toward the U.S. and Western Europe. Most of us doubted that Putin would invade Ukraine last year. He is now blowing up dams and signalling that he would use nukes. Surely, we need some diplomatic initiative from Biden and NATO to de-escalate this dangerous crisis and end the violence. It seems like it would make sense to establish some sort of peace plan/partition, granting the Russian Federation control of the Russian-majority Crimea and adjacent Russian-majority regions of the Donbas.

In thinking about the Trump/Fox/MAGA/RFK attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Matt Taibbi's latest commentaries about the Wuhan Lab Leak Theory evidence, people need to recall what we all experienced during the fateful Plague Year of 2020. This lengthy Education Forum thread about the 2020 COVID pandemic is a fascinating read-- a daily blow-by-blow account of what was happening in our communities in the U.S. and around the world. Most of our moral indignation at the time was directed at Donald Trump's bizarre mismanagement of the COVID pandemic, as this 8/10/20 James DiEugenio post indicated. The Lab Leak Theory received very little notice in 2020, in contrast to the news about the pandemic and the resistance to basic pandemic management by prominent Republicans, including Trump, DeSantis, Greg Abbot, Christie Noem, and others. I, for one, was always suspicious about the claim that the pandemic just happened to originate in a marketplace near the Wuhan bio-weapons lab. Lately, the MAGA media seems to be focusing on the Lab Leak evidence to shift the focus away from the historic Trump/GOP mismanagement of the pandemic, and to imply that the COVID pandemic was some sort of nefarious conspiracy involving Dr. Fauci and (?) the Biden/Democratic establishment that worked to end the pandemic after 2020. Oddly, anti-vax disinformationist RFK, Jr. fits into this vague MAGA conspiracy theory as an erstwhile hero-- and, certainly, a defamer of Dr. Fauci. But what is the theory, exactly? Does anyone believe that the Chinese government would have unleashed a deadly bio-weapon in their own country? Is the theory that Democrats somehow unleashed the virus to undermine Donald Trump? Let's recall that Trump terminated Obama's Presidential Pandemic Response Team in (?) 2019, and even removed U.S. pandemic health experts from China. Was Trump's bungling of the pandemic response supposedly part of this Democratic/Deep State/Dr. Fauci COVID-19 plot? The "theory" makes no sense, like most MAGA rumor mongering.

Naomi Klein Rebukes 'Counterfeit Populism' of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (commondreams.org) June 14, 2023

Remember when Republicans, including MTG, heckled Biden during his 2023 State of the Union address, and called him a "l-i-a-r" for mentioning that some Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare? 🙄 Social Security Benefits Targeted for Cuts by House Republicans https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-14/social-security-benefits-targeted-for-cuts-by-house-conservatives No paywall https://archive.is/uDJi4 House conservatives on Wednesday proposed raising the US retirement age to collect Social Security, handing Democrats damaging political ammunition ahead of the 2024 election. The proposal by the 176-member House Republican Study Committee would gradually increase the retirement age, ultimately hitting 69 years old for those turning 62 in 2033. The current retirement age for full benefits is 66 and rising gradually to 67. Democrats successfully used similar proposals from fiscal conservatives to their advantage in the 2022 midterm election. Their message that the GOP was targeting old-age benefits resonated with voters and was credited with limiting Democrats’ losses in the House. Under the plan, which is unlikely to become law, benefits for current retirees wouldn’t be cut. But for those expecting an earlier retirement benefit, lifetime payouts would be lower.

Lame deflection on specious grounds, Rigby. Geez... No wonder you and John Cotter are Putin-adoring pen pals. The issue that John Cotter was posting redundant nonsense about has to do with his denial that a mass murderer of Russian journalists, critics, Ukrainians, and Russian conscripts is "evil." Cotter argues, instead, that 2+2=5. He views such old-fashioned moral judgments about trifles like mass murder as "perverse" Jungian "shadow projections." Sophistry at its worst. Perhaps you share his derangement. As for Stalin, it is by no means clear that the quote I referenced-- or some variation thereof-- has not been correctly attributed to Stalin. A Single Death Is a Tragedy; A Million Deaths Is a Statistic – Quote Investigator® More importantly, how many million Soviet citizens did Stalin murder? Do you and Cotter have the foggiest notion?

Faux News televised Trump's lie-filled rant at Bedminster yesterday, while referring to Biden as a, "Wannabe Dictator." God help us. Trump’s defense after his indictment and arraignment: Lies and victim narratives - Vox

John, As an Irishman, surely you, of all people, should understand that Ukrainians don't want to be ruled and oppressed by their larger imperial neighbor. It isn't a proxy war in their view. It's a war to maintain their independence and sovereignty. As for your repetitious tropes about "perversity" and "shadow projection," please tell us what is perverse about referring to a mass murderer and war criminal as "evil." Do you, perchance, share Stalin's perverse opinion that, "One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic?"

You need to get educated. Is NATO to blame for the Russo-Ukrainian war? It's complicated, explains historian Serhii Plokhy (theconversation.com) Putin and his FSB goons are directly responsible for the mass murder of Ukrainians and Russians in Ukraine. Meanwhile, what is "childish" about acknowledging that a mass murderer is evil? Do tell.

Jim, My answer to the question was implicit in my post (above) about the instability of Russia --a nuclear super power-- following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the apparent KGB anticipation of the collapse, and their strategy for reconstructing a totalitarian police state in the former USSR (as outlined in Catherine Belton's book, Putin's People.) The answer is simple. Eastern Europeans, obviously, feared a future Russian invasion and occupation. They didn't want to repeat their post-WWII experiences under the Russian yoke. Meanwhile, for those who still have brain-lock about the Kremlin propaganda narrative blaming NATO for Putin's invasion of Ukraine, there is a new book by Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy. Is NATO to blame for the Russo-Ukrainian war? It's complicated, explains historian Serhii Plokhy (theconversation.com)

Paul, Would you agree that the former Soviet Union experienced serious instability following Gorbachev's ouster? Meanwhile, the thesis of Catherine Belton's history of Putin-ism (Putin's People) is that Putin and his KGB associates had anticipated the collapse of the USSR, and had intended to re-construct a totalitarian police state on the ruins of the bankrupt USSR. Putin initially posed as an enlightened democratic leader in the late 1990s, before gradually destroying the foundations of a democratic Russia, subverting the constitution, and re-establishing a totalitarian police state. He was always contemptuous of liberal democracy. Next, he proceeded to re-construct the Soviet empire, in opposition to Western democracy in Europe. Did it have to happen that way? Could Russia have, instead, developed as a free, prosperous, convivial member of the European community? Why not? Was Russia's regression to anti-democratic totalitarianism in the 21st century NATO's fault? And under the circumstances, should NATO have ceased to exist?

Russia State TV Warns U.S. a Nuclear Strike Will Happen—'In the Crosshairs' (msn.com) After reading today about Putin's latest threats to nuke the U.S., I immediately wondered if Trump had shared top secret U.S. intelligence about our nuclear defense capabilities with Kremlin agents. If I recall correctly, a lot of Russians congregate at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties.

Roger, Your thread was, in essence, a repetition of Jeff Carter's previous thread about the Jeffrey Sachs JFK Peace Speech op-ed. And the Sachs op-ed was an implicit criticism of Biden's Ukraine defense policy. Ergo, discussing the specific historical details of Putin's Ukraine invasion, and Biden's policy, does not constitute "hijacking" of your redundant thread. My posts were precisely on topic. See if you can figure that one out. You and Ben Cole seem to have a strange notion that posting redundant criticisms of Biden's administration on the JFKA forum is entirely acceptable, but any on-topic response to the criticism constitutes "hijacking" of your threads.

Why ask me, Paul? Ask the people in eastern Europe who have been so desperate to join NATO during the past 30 years. Why have eastern Europeans, themselves, wanted NATO and the EU to expand eastward, in your opinion?