Forty-five years ago last month, Malcolm X was gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Moments after he was introduced to speak, someone yelled, “Nigger, get your hand outta my pocket!” Malcolm stepped forward to quell the altercation, then a smoke bomb went off and five assassins opened fire with pistols and a shotgun. [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The murder of American scientist Frank Olson has long been one of the darker corners of the United States’ decades-long dalliance with LSD. Now a new book called A Terrible Mistake by H.P. Albarelli shows just how dark that corner truly was. Here’s an interview with the author from the Swedish radio program “Red Ice,” [...]
Continue reading...Friday, February 12, 2010
The assassinations of the 60s have been on my mind of late, thanks to these Beatle mysteries I’m writing (anybody interested in finding out when they’re coming out should email mikesnewbooks[at]gmail[dot]com). One of the most persistent canards about the JFK assassination is that it’s incredibly difficult to understand, and that one must do a ton [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, October 17, 2009
The CIA, that’s who. Today’s New York Times details Agency stonewalling over 295 documents relating to George Joannides, an agent working with anti-Castro Cubans out of JM/WAVE, their Miami station. Groups under Joannides’ direction “publicly clashed with” Lee Harvey Oswald. These clashes were some of the most significant ways that Oswald’s personal politics–in other words, [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Living Dead 1 of 3: On the Desperate Edge of NowThis documentary explores how the narrative setting up World War Two as “the good war” required significant parts of the past to be buried, ordinary Germans to be made into unfathomable monsters, and the experiences of the soldiers to be forever at odds with [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, June 6, 2009
This is a talk by Jim Douglass, a peace activist and the author of the book “JFK and the Unspeakable.” Perhaps I will get a copy for my birthday. From everything I have read about “Unspeakable,” I think it gets closest to explaining why I’ve always been fascinated with the JFK assassination (from the age [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, June 6, 2009
For those (like my commenter) who desire a more conclusive discussion, one can be found in James K. Galbraith’s article here.
Continue reading...Friday, June 6, 2008
Today is the fortieth anniversary of RFK’s being shot here in Los Angeles. (He died a day later.) Though his murder is commonly thought to be open-and-shut–”crazy Palestinian enraged over the sale of fighter jets to Israel, et cetera”–unfortunately this is not the case. While it has never taken on the Byzantine permutations of his [...]
Continue reading...Friday, April 4, 2008
Spare a thought today, from the heart, for Martin Luther King, probably the greatest citizen this country has ever produced. Assassinated forty years ago today. Also consider using the phrase “by gum” in a sentence. Those interested in how the world really works should consider listening to these two podcasts, courtesy of radio station KPFA’s [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, July 13, 2006
In the midst of a summer vacation, but I wanted to direct everybody to a funny interesting piece that Jon Schwarz did for Slate, on Al Quaeda’s sworn enemy, The Rotarians…
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Monday, March 1, 2010
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