W. Niederhut

Opinion | The GOP’s Sadistic Debt Limit Ploy Is a Direct Attack on People | Common Dreams

Jeremy, Reality check. Alex Wilson, certainly, has a sense of humor, and he is serious about history, but he also posts some things that are simply false. He's entertaining, but he's no oracle. I pointed out some specific examples (above) relating to my posts here. His comments about James DiEugenio are also, frankly, absurd.

CNN Town Hall Audience Laughs As Trump Mocks Rape Accuser | HuffPost Latest News

Yeah, Ron, Dick Dale was more or less the Godfather of surf rock. I think his family was from Lebanon, and he used a kind of Greek bouzouki flat pick style in his pioneering surf rock tunes. Meanwhile, back in '63, Dion and the Belmonts had a doo wop hit with "Ruby Baby." Then, in 1982, Donald Fagan recorded a jazzy cover of the song on his phenomenal Nightfly album, taking it to another level entirely.

Folks, I'm responding to Michael Griffth's latest, redundant nonsense in red below. When propagandists repeat lies, we're supposed to repeat the truth, right? Or so the RAND corporation has advised. Michael Griffith wrote: I repeat again that 99.9% of scientists dismiss the 9/11 Truther claims as absurd, baseless, and unscientific. I know that in your echo-chamber liberal La La World, such things don't matter, but they matter to everyone else. I'll ask again, Michael. Which "9/11 Truthers" are you referring to as "absurd, baseless, and unscientific?" Are you referring to the many Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth? Can you cite any of their scientific papers that are "absurd, baseless, and unscientific?" Also, what scientific education have you had-- on a collegiate or post-graduate level-- that qualifies you to judge the scientific merit of their research? Similarly, the claim that the Israelis were involved in the 9/11 attacks is just obscene. Radical Muslim groups began peddling this nonsense early on, and it is astounding to see it repeated in this forum. So, are you still claiming that the "Five Dancing Israelis" were not arrested near Giants Stadium on 9/11, after witnesses saw them filming and celebrating the WTC demolitions? Did you read the references posted for you on that subject? My "McAdams-esque tropes" about Prouty are "deranged"?! Funny that you should use that word, since most people who've looked into Prouty use that word to describe him. The world's leading authorities on Prouty-- e.g., Len Osanic and Greg Burnham-- have precisely the opposite opinion. Go back to the top of our recent Prouty thread and do some remedial reading.

John, Alex Wilson has, certainly, misinterpreted several of my posts here on the Education Forum, including my recent reference to Ron Unz's American Pravda article on the subject of Holocaust Denial. Among other inaccuracies, Wilson mistakenly imagines that I am some sort of Holocaust Denier, because I referenced Ron Unz's analysis of the historiography of the Holocaust. In fact, the historiography (as opposed to the history) of the Holocaust is a convoluted subject. The ghastly history of the Holocaust hasn't come down to us in straightforward, unaltered form during the past 80 years. Many historical details only gradually came to light. Unz documents that historiographic process in great detail. My first exposure to Holocaust history was by word of mouth, over 60 years ago. When I was a boy, my father mentioned a N-a-z-i concentration camp he had seen firsthand as a GI in Germany in 1945, and he told me that the starving camp survivors "had to be fed very carefully" because they were dying. That left quite an impression on my mind. In my adult life, I have also known Holocaust survivors, and children of Holocaust survivors. The father of one of my medical school housemates was a survivor of Auschwitz. I am not a Holocaust Denier. Far from it. So, my impression, after reading Alex Wilson's latest commentaries about the Education Forum this evening, is that he has a habit of making false claims about subjects that he hasn't understood in any depth. As examples, Wilson really doesn't seem to be familiar with Fletcher Prouty's career history and writings about the CIA and Vietnam. Instead, he mistakenly thinks of Prouty as a loony Liberty Lobby Holocaust Denier. Does Wilson believe the same about Mark Lane, based on Lane's association with Spotlight and the Liberty Lobby? I also have the impression that Alex Wilson has never studied or understood the scholarly scientific and forensic research about 9/11-- e.g., the analyses of David Ray Griffin and the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Yet, ironically, Wilson claims that I, myself, am an example of the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. He's simply wrong. Unlike Wilson, I'm fully aware of my ignorance about subjects that I haven't studied or understood in any detail-- including many aspects of the JFKA research. Dunning-Kruger is a phenomenon where people are unaware of their own ignorance.

John, NPR is funded by a variety of sources, including citizen donations. Would you prefer links to right wing corporate propaganda sources like Breitbart, Daily Mail, or Rupert Murdoch's media empire? NPR is merely one of many media sources that have reported on Aleksander Dugin's influence on Putin's policies. Many of you Putin apologists seem to imagine that Putin has had no pro-active foreign policy agenda of his own during the past quarter century-- as if the things he has done were merely reactions to NATO.

John, Did you even read what I wrote above, including my comment about intellectuals and "official roles" in government? As for my alleged "disruptive online behavior," the only thing I have "disrupted" in our dialogue here is your delusion that Putin's foreign policies haven't been profoundly influenced by Alexsander Dugin's The Geopolitical Future of Russia. Do some remedial reading. Russian intellectual Aleksandr Dugin is also commonly known as 'Putin's brain' : NPR

Chris, Have you ever actually listened to any of Joe Biden's historic speeches or debates-- e.g., his Inaugural Address, State of the Union Addresses, debates with Donald Trump or in the 2020 Democratic primaries? They have all been quite exemplary. The reason I mention these is that Donald Trump and the GOP/Fox Fog Machine have been relentlessly disparaging Joe Biden about his age and his alleged senility since 2019-- including the use of deceptively edited videos and monikers like, "Sleepy Joe." Yet, every major speech he has delivered has been reasonably sharp and on-target-- especially compared to Donald Trump's deranged monologues. The GOP Fog Machine used the same technique by disparaging Obama for being black, an alleged Muslim, needing a teleprompter to give a speech, etc. -- and they relentlessly smeared Hillary Clinton for being a woman, physically ill, weak, etc. Biden acquitted himself reasonably well in the lengthy, often hostile, 2020 Democratic primary debates, despite being targeted as the presumptive front runner. My own opinion was that Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, and Buttigieg were most eloquent, but Biden held his own. Comparing Biden's knowledge of policy issues, and eloquence, with Donald Trump's, is like comparing a statesman with a used car salesman.

Geez... Mike Pence, once again, wins the annual No Cajones Award for U.S. politicians. He continues to blithely defend the sociopath who tried to lynch him on January 6th. (Not that his GOP colleagues are any less dishonest.) Mike Pence Defends Donald Trump Over Sexual Abuse Verdict | HuffPost Latest News

Ron, In thinking about these popular songs from 1963, we also need to remember the critically important role of the transistor radio at that time in history. The invention of the transistor radio revolutionized our exposure to pop music-- especially after the mass production of those affordable small Sony transistor radios in the early 60s. My mother had an older version of a Westinghouse transistor radio that was about the size of a cook book. Then, by '63, my oldest sister bought a small Sony transistor radio that could fit in the palm of your hand. We used to listen to the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, and (by 1964) the Beatles, on that Sony transistor radio.

That's not an "embarrassing stance," in the context of American Presidential history, Chris. When has an incumbent POTUS ever debated a challenger outside of an election year Presidential primary?

Jonathan, Thanks for posting this. Interesting historical stuff. Two questions. 1) Do you believe that Fletcher Prouty was telling the truth about what E. Howard Hunt had told him about Butterfield allegedly working for the CIA in the White House? 2) If Prouty was, in fact, telling the truth about what Hunt had told him about Butterfield, did Prouty lie when he reported that this is what Hunt had told him?

Steve, This may be wishful thinking by Goodman and Eisen. I thought Trump's political career was finished after the Access Hollywood tape was released in 2016, but it didn't seem to dissuade his MAGA fans from voting for him. Honestly, I don't think Trump's fans really care that he is a sexual predator. The only thing Trump did that finally alienated my Republican in-laws was to hold super spreader MAGA rallies in Tulsa and Phoenix during the height of the COVID pandemic in the summer of 2020.

The three offer rather poor choices, Ben? C'mon, man. Do you really imagine that there is any meaningful equivalence between the GOP and the modern Democratic Party-- as if they were both equally unacceptable? Do you understand the GOP "Starve-the-Beast" agenda in the post-Reagan era, and its relationship to the national Reaganomic debt and the recurrent GOP efforts to de-fund healthcare in the U.S. (including the current GOP debt-ceiling debacle?) The water cooler isn't calling you, precisely because you persist in posting MAGA fiction about American history and contemporary politics. No one at the water cooler wanted to continue reading your nightly MAGA fiction installments.

Geez, John, this is simply ridiculous. First of all, I was only joking about poteen, based on my familiarity with the old Irish folk song, The Humors of Whiskey. Then, after misinterpreting my humor about whiskey as an "ad hominem" attack, you proceeded to launch into another one of your erroneous ad hominem diatribes. As for the substance of my reference about Dugin, are you the only guy on the planet who still doesn't know that Aleksander Dugin has been called, "Putin's Brain?" Does a scholar require an official government post to influence a nation's foreign policies? The "Dugin Dodge?" Surely, you jest. I think you got hoodwinked by some Russian propaganda published to deny the significance of Dugin-ism in Putin's RF. Putin and his inner circle have held Dugin in very high regard, and his 1997 textbook, The Geopolitical Future of Russia, has been studied in Russia military circles during the past quarter century. As for my alleged "perversity," it's a apt description of your illogical, ad hominem post (above.) Time for you to re-visit some basic facts about Dugin's famous textbook.. You have dodged Dugin far too long. “The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia” by Aleksander Dugin was written in 1997. Since then, it has risen to the rank of textbook for the Russian military’s “Academy of the General Staff”. It lays out a Nationalist, Eurasianist political ideology and strategy for Russia to rebuild its influence and rise to world dominance. The strategic objectives laid out in the book are clear and systematic. The textbook believes in a sophisticated program of subversion, destabilization, and disinformation spearheaded by the Russian special services. The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of Russia's gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries. First off, the textbook says that the United States need to be weakened internally. Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics". The book also recommends: • Isolating the United Kingdom from the rest of Europe • Annexing Ukraine • Dismembering Georgia • Creating a vital alliance with Iran • Destabilizing Turkey

Huh, John? Have you been drinking too much poteen lately? Go to the Political Discussions board and read my old thread about Aleksander Dugin's 1997 textbook, The Geopolitical Future of Russia-- "Putin's Playbook."

John Cotter still hasn't figured out that the Bear has been planning for the past quarter century to re-establish totalitarian hegemony over its former haunts. It didn't need to be "poked" for motivational purposes.

Ben, Thanks for sharing your bizarre perspective from the MAGA-verse. Reading your strange concept of the 21st century history of Donks and 'Phants, one could easily forget which party has largely created the gargantuan U.S. national debt by cutting taxes for billionaires, (in 2001, 2003, and 2017) while repeatedly trying to sabotage healthcare funding (including Medicare and Medicaid) for America's beleaguered working class. What do Kevin McCarthy and the GOP Sedition Caucus want, at present, in exchange for raising the debt-ceiling-- which they raised three times for Donald Trump, (the "King of Debt") and seven times for Bush and Dick ("Deficits Don't Matter") Cheney? Any clue? Meanwhile, have you figured out yet that the right wing corporate media has directed a "Niagra of feculent invective" at President Biden for the past three years, while simultaneously promoting Trump's Stop-the-Steal hoax, and undermining a constructive public health response to the COVID pandemic in Trump-voting counties? When historians look back on current U.S. events, I think they will fairly conclude that Biden ranks among the most underrated of U.S. Presidents, and Trump among the most bizarrely overrated. As a POTUS, Trump was an unfit, inept, unmitigated disaster.

Most of what you post on this forum is complete bunk, Griffith-- like your ludicrous claim that the arrest and FBI incarceration of the "Five Dancing Israelis" on 9/11 is a "wingnut myth," and your tropes about 9/11 research scientists, engineers, and architects being "nutcases." It's the kind of blatantly dishonest bunk we see in the M$M, and on government-funded disinformation websites. Your McAdams-esque tropes about Fletcher Prouty are similarly deranged. In a nutshell, you are a purveyor of disinformation, and a shameless defamer of honest, educated scholars who have worked on their own dime to debunk false M$M narratives about U.S. military and intelligence black ops. It's truly a pity that you ever joined this forum, and spent the past ten months flooding the zone here with bunk.

Very informative, David. Any implied disagreement may simply be a question of semantics. I was using the term "organize" (above) to refer to what you call, "facilitation" of the JFKA "mechanics."

My question for David Josephs and the forum. Has any U.S. agency other than the CIA ever organized a political assassination op -- other than the Navy SEALS hit on Osama Bin Laden?

Yeah, where are the flying custard pies when we could really use one on a JFKA thread? 🤥 "Griffith, you military-industrial slut!"

Ron, Here's what I find puzzling. Greg Abbott, and other opponents of gun control, have tended to blame our epidemic of mass shootings on mental illness. But, if that is the case, why don't these guys support red flag laws and stronger background checks, to regulate access to guns by the mentally ill? Their position makes no sense. The cases where mentally ill shooters fall through the cracks are legion. Time and time again, we see a pattern where angry, mentally ill young men are able to acquire guns and commit mass shootings without effective interventions. One of the worst recent examples was the guy in Colorado Springs who shot people at the LGBT nightclub. The guy was being treated for a mental illness, and had threatened to murder people, including his own grandparents. He had even been arrested for making bomb threats, but the El Paso County police did not confiscate his guns! And his mother bought him some body armor for Christmas, while hiring a lawyer to expunge his arrest record! LIke the mother of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, this guy's mother (in Colorado Springs) often went to the shooting range with her son. The red flags were everywhere in that case, but no one intervened. In fact, the Republican El Paso County Sherriff expressed opposition to red flag laws!