"So perhaps one truth that emerges from the Kennedy assassination is how societies place unreasonable expectations on individual politicians to save us, as though running a complicated democracy were as easy as contriving the heroic climax of a movie"
For several thousands of years, the hero who saved us, has been a staple of stories we tell each other................politicians are probably the weirdest hero's we have imagined. I gave up on politicians 40 years ago as I lobbied Florida's for fisherman in the Key's and realized they never mean what they say, are only looking to leverage idea's for votes.
In the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary, there is this telling quote from President John F. Kennedy: “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our [expletive deleted] out of there at some point. But I can’t give up that territory to the communists and get the American people to reelect me.” Do I believe American politicians like JFK could be so cynical as to sacrifice the lives of U.S. soldiers for political advantage? As a Vietnam War combat vet, that’s exactly what I think. We keep blundering into death traps like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan because Republicans and Democrats base decisions to deploy or extract Americans troops on opinion polls. Whether America has strategic interest at stake or wars are winnable isn’t a factor. What matters is whether deployment or extractions increase or decrease chances of reelection.
In the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary, there is this telling quote from President John F. Kennedy: “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our [expletive deleted] out of there at some point. But I can’t give up that territory to the communists and get the American people to reelect me.” Do I believe American politicians like JFK could be so cynical as to sacrifice the lives of U.S. soldiers for political advantage? As a Vietnam War combat vet, that’s exactly what I think. We keep blundering into death traps like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan because Republicans and Democrats base decisions to deploy or extract Americans troops on opinion polls. Whether America has strategic interest at stake or wars are winnable isn’t a factor. What matters is whether deployment or extractions increase or decrease chances of reelection.
This article rambles and seems to say a whole bunch of nothing. I gave up on it two-thirds of the way through. If there was a point I didn't grasp it.
I've always thought it curious how historians and others claim JFK would have pulled out of Vietnam. Besides vague statements he may have made, there seems little evidence for it. Of course, they have to say that because the myth requires it. There is no reason to believe he would not have been caught in the same quagmire his successors were. JFK definitely escalated US involvement in Vietnam, and once troops are committed it would have been hard to disengage from all of that.
Yes. And he didn't just defect, he bragged to the American embassy on the way out about what he was going to tell the Soviets -- particularly top-secret military intelligence related to the B-52 radar base where he'd worked in the Pacific. And yet when he decides he's ready to come home, he's able to get an American passport and return with no difficulty whatsoever... despite having literally committed treason.
Qanon is like the Black Israelites or Westboro Baptist Church - they all exist and are all crazy and all have very limited, fringe influence and I’ve only read about them on the internet and never encountered anyone associated with them in real life. Meanwhile leftists in govt and academia and the media and Hollywood believe that Trump is going to become some kind of dictator warlord and respond accordingly. The latter group are all around us.
Reminds me a bit of another conspiracy about a guy who was killed by the Romans a long time ago. Some people thought that the guy rose from the dead and then was lifted up into heaven. They even think that the guy will come back some day!
There are other people who think that a guy talked to an angel in a cave and that the angel told him to write a book! And that guy rode a horse to the moon and everything!
People will believe anything.
But Americans must be really weird to believe that their government might have something to do with something bad...
Ruth Galanter, a former member of the Los Angeles City Council, once said - after first taking office and discovering the complexities of getting stuff done in the city - "I used to believe in conspiracy until I discovered incompetence."
The author can quote another author claiming that JFK would have found supply-side economics an antithetical, but the JFK Library says "... the president proposed in 1963 to cut income taxes from a range of 20-91% to 14-65% He also proposed a cut in the corporate tax rate from 52% to 47%.." Not sure why Mr. Tinline found it important to mischaracterize JFK that way. Nor can I understand how he could say without noting the irony in his claim that the right wing were conspiracy theorists and while writing "No wonder many assumed he had been murdered by 'the right.'"
This is exhausting. JFK conspiracy nonsense began as a project of the LEFT. The nutty right has joined in. But this confused piece fails to wrestle with just who has the power in this continuing insanity. It's not Roger Stone and "QAnon."
This is a thoroughly worthless essay--full of rhetoric and none of the facts. I cannot believe The Free Press published this waste of your readers' time.
The continuing refusal to release the JFK assassination files to the public even after 60 years makes some of us wonder if they might be trying to hide something. The speed and flawless coordination with which the Plandemic was rolled out in multiple countries that all embraced the same policies left some of us wondering if there might have been some behind-the-scenes planning that took place. The unanimity of the worthies of the Federal Reserve Board in assuring us that printing two trillion dollars would not create inflationary pressures, followed by assurances that the resulting inflation was merely transitory, led some people to wonder if the entire group of trained economists were really that stupid, or if something else was going on. The calamitous exit from Afghanistan for no discernible advantage while abandoning tens of billions of state-of-the-art military hardware to our sworn enemies is also a head-scratcher. As are the efforts of the current administration to give billions to the Iranian regime even while they continue to fire missiles at our bases in the ME. One could add open borders and the influx of millions of unvetted migrants, Soros DAs who have allowed criminals to make so many major cities unlivable, the destruction of academia, and so much more... The remarkable consistency with which destructive policies have been implemented across the board has been enough to turn some of us into—dare I say the words—"conspiracy theorists."
a lot of people wasting a lot of time and energy on the JFK assassination when they should be focusing on the Garfield and McKinley assassination conspiracies.
When I was in grade school in the late 70’s, November 22nd was like a somber holiday. every teacher would talk about where they were when Kennedy was shot. Do teachers still do that with 9/11?
There were 2 low swipes at JFK with the "sickly sex addict" label for his womanizing and his doctor prescribed drugs for war injuries, and a strawman proposal that voters are naive and stupid and believed JFK was a martyr-savior. Why does his death still haunt us? Because the voters put him in office and we will never know what he may have accomplished. Every POTUS makes a difference, for better or for worse. The "innocence shattered" was not about ignoring a horrific incident of racist mob violence but was about the possibility that some at the highest level of government may have been involved in assassinating JFK (and RFK). Then there's the idiotic "he scraped to victory." The key word is victory. Then comes another idiotic statement about RFK Jr.'s family repudiating his campaign, as if to imply the peasants are supposed to not read and think for themselves and must head bob along. "Messy real-life politics...can’t be understood through the template of Hollywood’s tidy fictions. Part of the trouble stems from the fact that this is how Kennedy was pitched to the public." There go the stupid peasants again, we just watch the tube in a trance, unlike the much smarter writer of this article. There is a load of evidence that points to CIA involvement in the assassination, and the government refusal to release all investigative documents is another nail in that coffin. The observations of the attending physicians in Dallas, along with the observations of the coroner, are in direct conflict with the lone Oswald, mythical sniper fairytale. A conspiracy theory is no longer a theory when we find people actually conspired. Too bad you weren't there for plot members Herold, Powell, Atzerodt and Surratt as they were hanging over the JW Booth conspiracy. Smedley Butler would likely have something to say if he was still with us.
"So perhaps one truth that emerges from the Kennedy assassination is how societies place unreasonable expectations on individual politicians to save us, as though running a complicated democracy were as easy as contriving the heroic climax of a movie"
For several thousands of years, the hero who saved us, has been a staple of stories we tell each other................politicians are probably the weirdest hero's we have imagined. I gave up on politicians 40 years ago as I lobbied Florida's for fisherman in the Key's and realized they never mean what they say, are only looking to leverage idea's for votes.
In the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary, there is this telling quote from President John F. Kennedy: “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our [expletive deleted] out of there at some point. But I can’t give up that territory to the communists and get the American people to reelect me.” Do I believe American politicians like JFK could be so cynical as to sacrifice the lives of U.S. soldiers for political advantage? As a Vietnam War combat vet, that’s exactly what I think. We keep blundering into death traps like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan because Republicans and Democrats base decisions to deploy or extract Americans troops on opinion polls. Whether America has strategic interest at stake or wars are winnable isn’t a factor. What matters is whether deployment or extractions increase or decrease chances of reelection.
In the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary, there is this telling quote from President John F. Kennedy: “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our [expletive deleted] out of there at some point. But I can’t give up that territory to the communists and get the American people to reelect me.” Do I believe American politicians like JFK could be so cynical as to sacrifice the lives of U.S. soldiers for political advantage? As a Vietnam War combat vet, that’s exactly what I think. We keep blundering into death traps like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan because Republicans and Democrats base decisions to deploy or extract Americans troops on opinion polls. Whether America has strategic interest at stake or wars are winnable isn’t a factor. What matters is whether deployment or extractions increase or decrease chances of reelection.
This article rambles and seems to say a whole bunch of nothing. I gave up on it two-thirds of the way through. If there was a point I didn't grasp it.
I've always thought it curious how historians and others claim JFK would have pulled out of Vietnam. Besides vague statements he may have made, there seems little evidence for it. Of course, they have to say that because the myth requires it. There is no reason to believe he would not have been caught in the same quagmire his successors were. JFK definitely escalated US involvement in Vietnam, and once troops are committed it would have been hard to disengage from all of that.
Yes. And he didn't just defect, he bragged to the American embassy on the way out about what he was going to tell the Soviets -- particularly top-secret military intelligence related to the B-52 radar base where he'd worked in the Pacific. And yet when he decides he's ready to come home, he's able to get an American passport and return with no difficulty whatsoever... despite having literally committed treason.
Qanon is like the Black Israelites or Westboro Baptist Church - they all exist and are all crazy and all have very limited, fringe influence and I’ve only read about them on the internet and never encountered anyone associated with them in real life. Meanwhile leftists in govt and academia and the media and Hollywood believe that Trump is going to become some kind of dictator warlord and respond accordingly. The latter group are all around us.
Wow! What a boffo story...
Reminds me a bit of another conspiracy about a guy who was killed by the Romans a long time ago. Some people thought that the guy rose from the dead and then was lifted up into heaven. They even think that the guy will come back some day!
There are other people who think that a guy talked to an angel in a cave and that the angel told him to write a book! And that guy rode a horse to the moon and everything!
People will believe anything.
But Americans must be really weird to believe that their government might have something to do with something bad...
"Williams told me she was adamant that not only John Jr. but JFK himself would return"
Yes, at the spry age of 106.
Ruth Galanter, a former member of the Los Angeles City Council, once said - after first taking office and discovering the complexities of getting stuff done in the city - "I used to believe in conspiracy until I discovered incompetence."
The author can quote another author claiming that JFK would have found supply-side economics an antithetical, but the JFK Library says "... the president proposed in 1963 to cut income taxes from a range of 20-91% to 14-65% He also proposed a cut in the corporate tax rate from 52% to 47%.." Not sure why Mr. Tinline found it important to mischaracterize JFK that way. Nor can I understand how he could say without noting the irony in his claim that the right wing were conspiracy theorists and while writing "No wonder many assumed he had been murdered by 'the right.'"
This is exhausting. JFK conspiracy nonsense began as a project of the LEFT. The nutty right has joined in. But this confused piece fails to wrestle with just who has the power in this continuing insanity. It's not Roger Stone and "QAnon."
This is a thoroughly worthless essay--full of rhetoric and none of the facts. I cannot believe The Free Press published this waste of your readers' time.
The continuing refusal to release the JFK assassination files to the public even after 60 years makes some of us wonder if they might be trying to hide something. The speed and flawless coordination with which the Plandemic was rolled out in multiple countries that all embraced the same policies left some of us wondering if there might have been some behind-the-scenes planning that took place. The unanimity of the worthies of the Federal Reserve Board in assuring us that printing two trillion dollars would not create inflationary pressures, followed by assurances that the resulting inflation was merely transitory, led some people to wonder if the entire group of trained economists were really that stupid, or if something else was going on. The calamitous exit from Afghanistan for no discernible advantage while abandoning tens of billions of state-of-the-art military hardware to our sworn enemies is also a head-scratcher. As are the efforts of the current administration to give billions to the Iranian regime even while they continue to fire missiles at our bases in the ME. One could add open borders and the influx of millions of unvetted migrants, Soros DAs who have allowed criminals to make so many major cities unlivable, the destruction of academia, and so much more... The remarkable consistency with which destructive policies have been implemented across the board has been enough to turn some of us into—dare I say the words—"conspiracy theorists."
a lot of people wasting a lot of time and energy on the JFK assassination when they should be focusing on the Garfield and McKinley assassination conspiracies.
When I was in grade school in the late 70’s, November 22nd was like a somber holiday. every teacher would talk about where they were when Kennedy was shot. Do teachers still do that with 9/11?
There were 2 low swipes at JFK with the "sickly sex addict" label for his womanizing and his doctor prescribed drugs for war injuries, and a strawman proposal that voters are naive and stupid and believed JFK was a martyr-savior. Why does his death still haunt us? Because the voters put him in office and we will never know what he may have accomplished. Every POTUS makes a difference, for better or for worse. The "innocence shattered" was not about ignoring a horrific incident of racist mob violence but was about the possibility that some at the highest level of government may have been involved in assassinating JFK (and RFK). Then there's the idiotic "he scraped to victory." The key word is victory. Then comes another idiotic statement about RFK Jr.'s family repudiating his campaign, as if to imply the peasants are supposed to not read and think for themselves and must head bob along. "Messy real-life politics...can’t be understood through the template of Hollywood’s tidy fictions. Part of the trouble stems from the fact that this is how Kennedy was pitched to the public." There go the stupid peasants again, we just watch the tube in a trance, unlike the much smarter writer of this article. There is a load of evidence that points to CIA involvement in the assassination, and the government refusal to release all investigative documents is another nail in that coffin. The observations of the attending physicians in Dallas, along with the observations of the coroner, are in direct conflict with the lone Oswald, mythical sniper fairytale. A conspiracy theory is no longer a theory when we find people actually conspired. Too bad you weren't there for plot members Herold, Powell, Atzerodt and Surratt as they were hanging over the JW Booth conspiracy. Smedley Butler would likely have something to say if he was still with us.