W. Niederhut

Ben, I don't want to beat a dead horse about forum administration and the 56 Years thread, but you weren't even around when Joseph McBride started that thread. The same thing was true about our 2020 "Journal of the Plague Year" thread. A number of us specifically asked the administrators to allow those threads on the JFKA forum-- and we had a lot of interesting, informative discussions there, before you later joined the conversation and started redundantly posting your MAGA/Fox/Greenwald talking points-- "Patriot Purge," "Russia hoax," etc. Now you're pretending to be the voice of reason and proper censorship of non-JFKA related discussions here? Anyway, what is done is done, but I'm not happy about the way that you and Mathew Koch undermined those forum discussions with your MAGA spam and misguided indignation about accurate analyses of Trumpism and current political conflicts in the U.S. External criticism of this forum hasn't focused on our fact-based critique of Trumpism. It has focused on criticism of the fact-free MAGA spam.

Got it, Sandy. Clever. You must be an engineer. 😉

Sandy, The "Water Cooler" thread on the JFK board is closed. Are you referring to another thread? My own opinion, as I told Kathy yesterday, is that it would be helpful to have all of our "banished" JFKA threads on this Political Discussions board, so that we can all read and comment on them without having to hunt around the Education Forum to find the various "banished" threads.

Hear, hear! It can't be said any better. As for Ben Cole's utterly ludicrous claim that the 56 Years thread was an "anti-Trump sewer," I would encourage interested parties to peruse that excellent, erudite thread from the beginning. The 56 Years thread only became a "sewer" after Ben Cole joined the forum and started spamming the thread with his redundant, fact-free denials of Trump's unprecedented misconduct. And the thread was completely ruined after Mathew Koch started spamming it with multiple Fox News videos every day.

Posted without intentional irony, eh, Ben? Geez... 🙄 You're a guy who has repeatedly lambasted Hillary, Joe Biden, and the "Donks" since you joined this forum, with your poorly conceptualized concepts of U.S. political history, while denying Trump's racist ID politics and unprecedented misconduct. You're also the last person on this forum who should be censoring other members' evidence-based commentaries.

Paul, I disagree with Ben Cole's ongoing efforts to censor and banish any discussions on this forum that reference Donald Trump. Ben seems to have no difficulty finding opportunities on this forum to bash President Biden, (as he has done on this very thread) while adamantly objecting to any criticisms of Donald Trump and his cult. In fact, Ben was furious when I pointed out recently that Biden had "pulled a Trump" by declining to release the JFK records. Like Tucker Carlson and Glenn Greenwald, Ben has been using the JFK records issue to repeatedly attack Joe Biden, while ducking the subject of Trump's own history of blocking their release in 2017 and 2018. It's part of the false Fox/MAGA narratives framing Trump's crimes as victimization by the Deep State-- i.e., Obamagate, Spygate, Nunes Memo, Durham Report, etc. As for this thread, its relevance for the JFKA forum has to do with the right wing radio host, Pete Santilli, evoking the issue of the JFKA assassination, in the context of calling for a right wing militant killing spree if Trump is indicted this week for campaign finance fraud. Obviously, Fox News and the Trump cult have recently been trying to use the JFK assassination to support their bogus conspiracies blaming the Deep State for Trump's crimes, including the J6 attacks on the U.S. Congress.

Leslie, IMO, this is about more than mere partisan mudslinging. It's about the misuse of power. McCarthy and other Republicans have misrepresented the investigation of Trump's serious crimes-- Russiagate, Ukrainegate, J6-- as mere partisan politics, while "investigating" pseudo-scandals like Whitewater, Fast & Furious, and Benghazi. The current GOP Oversight Committee is now, basically trying to cover up Trump's crimes, including his Emoluments clause violations.

It's not about "optics," Ben. And it, certainly isn't about President Biden or the JFK assassination. It's about Trump's deranged, right-wing, white supremacist cult, and incitement of violence--which some have defined in terms of "stochastic terrorism." It's no accident that this right wing Trumplicon radio host singled out three prominent black people for revenge killings, in the event that Trump is indicted for illegally paying off a porn star with campaign funds. This is also a good example of the kind of "free speech" that is morally problematic in liberal democracies. Tragically, militant race-based fascism has, at times, succeeded in destroying liberal democracies-- as in the case of the Weimar Republic.

Yes, Leslie, it's more evidence of the extreme corruption of Kevin McCarthy and his GOP Sedition Caucus. McCarthy has no moral compass. Let's recall that McCarthy once openly bragged about the fact that the endless Congressional GOP "investigations" of Benghazi had succeeded in lowering Hillary Clinton's approval ratings. He was also caught on a hot mic in 2017 joking with Paul Ryan and colleagues about the fact that Trump and other Republicans had received illegal Russian campaign funding.

David, Did you hear what I think is a high frequency dog whistle-- the odd reference to Obama, Eric Holder, and Susan Rice?

Huh? Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Susan Rice? So, apparently, JFK's assassination was part of a longstanding Deep State/African American plot to prevent bigots like Donald Trump from Making America Great Again, eh? And the MAGA solution is to serve "the people" by shooting the woke libs? This is like something Nathan Bedford Forrest or Joseph Goebbels would have said.

Has anyone around here read either of these two October Surprise books-- by Gary Sick and Barbara Honegger? According to Wikipedia, Oliver Stone bought the movie rights to Gary Sick's book. October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan: Sick, Gary: 9780812919899: Amazon.com: Books October Surprise: Honegger, Barbara: 9780944276464: Amazon.com: Books

It's Monday morning. In honor of Stormy Daniels and Trump's possible indictment, I'm posting my favorite cover of the great R&B classic, Stormy Monday. They call me Stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad. This is Lee Michaels' recording from his eponymous 1969 album. I've been listening to this recording for the past 54 years. The young man from California could really play the Hammond B! It's a duet, with Barry "Frosty" Smith on drums. Worth a listen.

The alleged Reagan/Bush 1980 "October Surprise" deal with Ayatollah Khomeini's government is an interesting rabbit hole. Former Reagan/Bush staffer Barbara Hoenegger published a 1989 book on the subject entitled, "October Surprise." Oliver Stone bought the rights to another book on the subject by Gary Sick. Allegedly, GHWB and William Casey were involved in the deal with one of Poppy Bush's long-time CIA associates, (?) Donald or David Glenn. This is the first time I've heard anything about Connally being involved. Both the Senate and House investigated the 1980 October Surprise allegations and reported that there was, "Nothing to see here. Move along now."

How many times has our bloviating MAGA spammer and Daily Caller scholar, Ben Cole, started threads and posts on the EF bashing Biden for pulling a Donald Trump and declining to release the JFK records? Where was Tucker Carlson in October of 2017 when Trump blocked the release of the JFK records, on their due date for release? Fox was Trump's Ministry of Propaganda at the time. Meanwhile Ben has persistently denied Trump's J6 coup attempt and multi-decade enmeshment with Putin's oligarchs, while insisting that Donks are no different than Phants, etc., etc., etc. In any case, I'm glad that Ben now has his own MAGA Biden-bashing bloviation thread. Hopefully, he won't muck up our Trump thread the way he mucked up our 56 Years thread.

Exactly. Facts matter. Truth matters. But those of us who have tried to reason with Ben about history and current events know that facts don't matter to Ben. Ben is a guy who believes in endlessly repeating erroneous opinions that have been debunked by the facts, while ignoring the facts that debunk his opinions. No one who has studied and understood history and current events would believe that there is any meaningful equivalence between a corrupt, inept grifter like Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden. Biden has his faults, but Trump will rank as one of the very worst Presidents in American history-- probably the worst-- down there with Andrew Johnson. Conversely, Biden will be ranked by knowledgeable scholars as a fairly effective POTUS. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of the U.S. electorate today is living in a delusional Trump/Fox universe of "alternate facts" -- the MAGA-verse.

How It Started How It's Going

If I recall correctly, Wayne January said something about that Cuban pilot at Redbird Airport telling him on 11/22/63 that "no Kennedy" would ever be POTUS again. I first read about Wayne January in James Douglass's book, JFK and the Unspeakable. (I think Larry Hancock and David Boylan have explored the Wayne January case in detail.) It's a completely different subject, but I have often wondered if the CIA set up the Chappaquiddick "accident" that destroyed Ted Kennedy's Presidential aspirations-- in addition to offing Bobby and John F. Kennedy, Jr.

I guess we can all thank Tucker Carlson & Fox Friends for the fact that over half of Republicans recently polled by the Economist believe that the January 6th attack on the U.S. Congress was a form of "legitimate political discourse." 🙄 Hurrah for "freedom of speech and expression" by the right-wing corporate media! (I'm sure JFK would have approved, eh?) More than a quarter of Republicans approve of Capitol attackwww.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/16/quarter-republicans-approve-capitol-attack-trump-legitimate-political-discourse March 17, 2023More than a quarter of Republicans approve of the January 6 Capitol attack, according to a new poll. More than half think the deadly riot was a form of legitimate political discourse.The Economist and YouGov survey said 27% of Republicans either strongly or somewhat approved of the riot on 6 January 2021, which Donald Trump incited in an attempt to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden.Nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides, have been linked to the attack. More than 1,000 people have been arrested and hundreds convicted.The longest sentence yet handed down is 10 years in prison, to a former New York police officer who assaulted Capitol officers. The statutory maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy, the most serious convictions yet secured, is 20 years.Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection, but acquitted. The House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals regarding Trump to the Department of Justice. The federal investigation continues.

John, I seriously doubt that anyone on this forum is opposed to "freedom of speech and expression," with certain exceptions. For example, few among us would support freedom of hate speech-- speech inciting violence and/or hate crimes against individuals or groups. There was a time in American history when the Know Nothing Party denounced Irish immigrants-- accusing them of, "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." The Know Nothings wanted to Make America Great Again by denigrating and persecuting Irish Catholics. (Incidentally, my Slovenian aunts and uncles told me about American kids throwing rocks at them and calling them, "Cat Lickers" in the 1920s. Not so long ago.) And what about deleterious false advertising-- false claims that endanger the public health? Should they be freely expressed? As for the Education Forum, I posted my opinion recently about a putative EF mission/agenda of discerning and reporting the truth about history, current events, and other subjects. Knowledge and truth matter here. It's an attribute that has attracted many people to this forum. It's not Reddit. So, if EF members repeatedly disregard facts and post falsehoods, is that entirely acceptable on this forum? Should there be no reasonable limits here on the "free expression" of disinformation? As for freedom of expression, I'm posting two of my 30 year-old Celtic recordings for St. Patrick's Day. I take no credit for these fine performances, other than playing the guitar and bodhran accompaniments. Dr. Steven Kick, of the University of Colorado, played the flute on Josie McDermott's Reels. My old friend, Rock Eggen, an original member of the Irish folk band, Tenpenny, of Salt Lake City, played the flute on The Butterfly Slip Jig. Erin go bragh, folks! https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14563196 https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14563198

And Ford was also the ultimate Deep State factotum -- as we saw with his Warren Commission performance. J. Edgar Hoover had him over a barrel with that Ellen Rometsch sex tape. Then, in January of 1976, Ford appointed "Mr. George Bush of the CIA" Director of the CIA.

This is an important critique of Brett Stephens recent flawed NYT op-ed-- celebrated here by Mathew Koch and Benjamin Cole, if I recall correctly. As a long-time NYT reader, I have always regarded Bret Stephens' work with skepticism. Among other problems, he has always been a major Neocon propagandist. Opinion | Deadly Disinformation – The Underreported Scandal at the New York Times | Common Dreams

Ron, Trump may be sporting a different comb over in his 2024 campaign pressers.

Len, We had an extensive, detailed discussion of the M$M censorship of Spike Lee's 9/11 documentary on another Education Forum thread-- including commentary by journalistic and film critic Joseph McBride. Rather than re-writing the details, I'll post that link.