I do not use this Substack site to link to Kennedysandking.com. But this is one case where I will make an exception since I think the audience would—and should-- be interested.
good work. media has for years been trashing kennedys to point people believe following-joe kennedy was bootlegger.Mob elected jfk.KFK and rfk had affairs with marilyn monrie.kenedy had marily killed.if there was a conspiracy to kill jfk it was the mob.
Yeah, I saved it cuz it's an excellent article. Not like some of the other stuff put out by the History Channel. JFK's dad was a savvy investor. (He may have had some insider knowledge, but no more than anyone else in his position back in the day, if he did. I didn't know that he was SEC Chairman, nor earlier in his life as the youngest bank president at the age of 25. Obviously, a smart man in the world of finance).
Pathetic. There is also the hit piece by leftwing turned right wing authors, Peter Collier and David Horowitz: The Kennedys: An American Drama. I never trust people who make radical turns in their politics.
I am curious why Bobby would work for such a scoundrel as Donald Trump, but I think he would be good in an environmental post.
Thanks for this post Jim. I don't study the posthumous character assassination of JFK or RFK, so it's enlightening, especially about the photographic proof of RFK in San Fran. (I mentioned to you about a chapter in Richard Gilbride's book Matrix For Assassination, in which he wrote that Angelton wire-tapped MM's phonelines to know when to send goons to murder MM to make it look it it was RFK after he allegedly visited her. His claims lacked any citations or supporting evidence, even for the wiretap service. While I can believe that JJA would character assassinate the Kennedys if he had the chance, that whole chapter reads like a tabloid piece).
Thank you, Jim, for your eloquent, methodical, meticulous takedown of these right-wing defamers of the JFK & RFK! I'm of the opinion that CIA's operation Mockingbird never ended.
James in your learned opinion who've been the worst most off-the-wall Kennedy bashers / trashers: right leaning ones ala Megyn Kelly & Maureen Callahan, or left leaning ones ala Chomsky, Cockburn, Rob Buzzanco, Sy Hersh & even Norm Mailer [who I believe was generally thought of as a 'liberal']?
That is a really good question. I would probably have to lean to the left leaning ones, like Chomsky and Hersh, since they have poisoned what should have been Kennedy's natural constituency.
It seems Ms Kelly & Callahan attacks on JFK & RFK are more tabloid / gossip-column style; while Chomsky, Cockburn & Buzzanco anti JFK & RFK screeds are focused on bashing JFK's policies IE: Vietnam, Cuba [including the Missile Crisis], Latin America & the 3rd World [insisting JFK was a typical imperialist cold-warrior], & his alleged lack of action on civil-rights & giving J.Edgar Hoover's FBI card-blanch to go after MLK.
And most JFK Chomskyite style 'leftist' bashers steadfastly deny JFK was killed due to a hi-level plot. Most of them just diss guys like you & me as 'conspiracy theorists'.
Yes they do. Because if you admit that there was a crossfire, its one step removed from a conspiracy. I will never forget Cockburn sitting down with Liebeler and not asking one skeptical question. And BTW, Chomsky flipped on this. In the sixties and seventies he was all for JFK being killed in a conspiracy,
Cockburn is a real piece of work! I was familiar with his name but had never read anything by him; so, I googled him & JFK and got this totally disgusting JFK smear-job article by him which he wrote just prior to the release of Oliver Stone's "JFK." He had to be a CIA plant, IMO. For anyone who doesn't know about him and his JFK trash read his aforementioned "JFK" trash piece: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-26-me-1179-story.html
His wiki page also says of him: " Cockburn wrote approvingly of the right-wing Patriot movement and militia rallies.[31][32]
IDK if the late Alex Cockburn was a CIA plant, ditto re Cockburn's long-time 'comrade' Chomsky. I will say re JFK they've effectively acted like 'left gate-keepers'. They among other 'liberal-leftists' have trashed JFK's policies, & dissed even the idea JFK could have been killed due to hi-level plot. Yet as a true leftist Michael Parenti [who took Chomsky & Cockburn to task re the implications of JFK's assassination] has said: 'They don't know a g0ddamn thing about the details of JFK's assassination & proudly admit that fact'. Jim encountered that very attitude when he debated Prof 'Buzz' a couple of yrs ago re JFK.
James, the connection "journalists" on the Right make between RFK and the Castro plots goes far beyond Lasky, De Toledano et al. What puzzles me is the antipathy some in the research community like Joan Mellon has for RFK. She not only lays the Castro plots at his door, but also the harassment of Otto Otepka which you and Oliver Stone featured in JFK Revisited. Adding fuel to the fire, she naturally brings up the secret RFK boxes which remain off-limits at the JFK Library, implying Castro secrets are the reason. Thoughts?
I completely disagree with Mellen on this issue and I made it clear in my review of Farewell to Justice. I have never seen any credible evidence at all on this, and John Newman destroyed Sam Halpern to the point that no one should ever even bring his name up again. I also disagree with her on Otepka.
I know I'm ten years late, but where IS your review of Farewell to Justice? My search on kennedysandking isn't turning it up. Joan Mellen's writing style is certainly harder to follow than yours, but since you both hold Garrison in such high esteem your books cry out for comparison. I couldn't square 300 pages of throwing cold water on Oswald as the lone nut assassin but then ending it by trying to convince us of a sinister RFK-Oswald connection which would illumine the assassination. And then using the interview of old man Otepka as proof of this theory...it seems wildly implausible. Then again, why WAS Bobby Kennedy so hostile to Garrison? Why did he go to such great lengths to shut him down? We all owe a debt of gratitude for what Garrison undertook and sacrificed for this country, and for his conscience which he could not forsake. To me, he is right up there with St. Thomas More. I admire the hell out of him. And you!
Your Trump derangement ruins the larger point. "Republican lawyers George Conway and James Comey reviewed the trial." James Comey is just an unbiased "Republican lawyer" now? He's not the former FBI Director who President Trump fired? Do you think that the former CIA Director who President Kennedy fired was an impartial judge during the Warren Commission?
The charges against Trump are completely made up. It's a federal misdemeanor bumped up to a felony to get over the statute of limitations. A top official Biden's Justice Department, Matthew Colangelo went to DA Alvin Braggs office just to get Trump. If you want to look at a media campaign to assassinate someone's character it's happening right before your eyes. How can you not see it?
Sir, I am fully aware of the ramifications of the law and that case. I actually read the statute. And no I am not Trump deranged. When you go 12 for 12 and 34 for 34? Please.
I appreciate your work on JFK. Your answer on this subject is as honest as “Republican lawyer” James Comey. I look forward to your future posts, and I thank you for your time.
Are you kidding? The evidence of a Kennedy affair with Marilyn, JFK dalliance with Mobster “girlfriends” and Bobby’s role in cleaning up JFK sexual messes is overwhelming
Please read Don McGovern, April VeVea, Gary Vitacco Robles, and Randy T. As this is all baloney that has stuck around too long, conveyed by a group of provable liars. The tide has turned.
James, What do you think of Bobby Jr. joining forces with Trump? I know you hate Trump. And I've commented here on your Substack a couple of times to the effect that Trump, for all his many flaws, is fighting the same deep state that JFK was. I wonder if this recent development has made my position a little more clear to you, or if you will throw Bobby Jr. under the bus.
Did you hear the comment Trump made on Lex Fridman's podcast re the October 26, 2017 release of the JFK files? He said that morning several "people BEGGED me not to release them." You are free to believe what you wish, but Trump is our best shot at getting those files released in a timely manner. 1) he has publicly made the commitment to release in several media settings 2) he feels he made the wrong call on not releasing all of the files because he keeps referring to "everyone" coming down on him about his 2017 caving 2) he now feels a kinship with JFK because of the two assassination attempts. Harris will never ever consider releasing those files. You know that on Feb. 1, 2012, Kamala Harris officially recommended Sirhan Sirhan's appeal should be denied as CA Atty Gen. (I know that ultimately Newsom was the one who blocked the recommendation of his parole board, but her decision is significant.) She doesn't have the capacity or motivation to look objectively at the mountain of evidence Lisa Pease and others have amassed in this matter. And now she has even more reason to resent the Kennedy name.
I did not hear that show Erica. Thanks for telling me about it. And I agree with you about Harris, what her and Newsom did on the RFK case was simply wrong. Really inexcusable.
To the extent Trump is "fighting the same deep state that JFK was," it's with very different goals.
Trump wants to substitute himself as an autocrat.
The pressure to release all the remaining documents about the JFK assassination in the National Archives needs to be aimed at Kamala Harris. The relevant law has already been ignored or side-stepped by Trump and Biden. She likely has the best shot of winning in November, and the least difficulty following the letter of the law.
The statutory burden of proof is on the Agency to show, for each document, why it should not be released in full - not on the citizenry to show why it should be released. Any possible "sources and methods" redactions (after sixty-one years?!) have to be explained and justified as well.
Indeed. And as Dan Hardway has previously explained, any exception must be specified and certified by the President (i.e., no blanket excuses for continued classification).
Any Kennedy who would lower himself to supporting the likes of a former president who has promised on air to "terminate the constitution," and who fomented, then sat and refused to call off, a violent insurrection against our Capitol intended to stop the counting of the electoral votes, has JFK & RFK rolling over in their graves!
I think it’s less deep state because everything was right out in the open. The Democrats thought Biden was going to be on the ticket so they tried to block Bobby every which way from being on state ballot to being on the debate stage to challenging him in court about his residency, because they thought there was no way Biden could win going up against Bobby and Trump. Then Biden is forced out and Bobby is furious with how he was treated. And this has nothing to do with whether I like him or or not. This is just the way I see it. he did reach out to Harris about a job in her administration and she did not want to talk to him, a lot of bad blood for sure
Whoa, I now see in your comments and profile history you agree with the totally baseless claim the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump, and the COVID vaccines ineffective - didn't realize that you swallowed that nonsense.
No, that's in Steve L's background on Substack - when you click on his name / profile and scroll down! I KNOW you are far too astute for that, no matter any disagreements on how the Russia-Ukraine war got going, Jim!
I did watch that part dealing with this subject. And Kelly was preaching this baloney even back then.
good work. media has for years been trashing kennedys to point people believe following-joe kennedy was bootlegger.Mob elected jfk.KFK and rfk had affairs with marilyn monrie.kenedy had marily killed.if there was a conspiracy to kill jfk it was the mob.
You might like this article, in case you haven't seen it. (It wasn't bootlegging like you said)
https://www.history.com/news/joseph-kennedy-wealth-alcohol-prohibition
Thanks for this Gerry, nice article.
Yeah, I saved it cuz it's an excellent article. Not like some of the other stuff put out by the History Channel. JFK's dad was a savvy investor. (He may have had some insider knowledge, but no more than anyone else in his position back in the day, if he did. I didn't know that he was SEC Chairman, nor earlier in his life as the youngest bank president at the age of 25. Obviously, a smart man in the world of finance).
Pathetic. There is also the hit piece by leftwing turned right wing authors, Peter Collier and David Horowitz: The Kennedys: An American Drama. I never trust people who make radical turns in their politics.
I am curious why Bobby would work for such a scoundrel as Donald Trump, but I think he would be good in an environmental post.
You mean like the Democrats?
Nope
Like Chris Rehr said, "pathetic"!
Thanks for this post Jim. I don't study the posthumous character assassination of JFK or RFK, so it's enlightening, especially about the photographic proof of RFK in San Fran. (I mentioned to you about a chapter in Richard Gilbride's book Matrix For Assassination, in which he wrote that Angelton wire-tapped MM's phonelines to know when to send goons to murder MM to make it look it it was RFK after he allegedly visited her. His claims lacked any citations or supporting evidence, even for the wiretap service. While I can believe that JJA would character assassinate the Kennedys if he had the chance, that whole chapter reads like a tabloid piece).
Yes I agree, and the article proves it.
Thank you, Jim, for your eloquent, methodical, meticulous takedown of these right-wing defamers of the JFK & RFK! I'm of the opinion that CIA's operation Mockingbird never ended.
James in your learned opinion who've been the worst most off-the-wall Kennedy bashers / trashers: right leaning ones ala Megyn Kelly & Maureen Callahan, or left leaning ones ala Chomsky, Cockburn, Rob Buzzanco, Sy Hersh & even Norm Mailer [who I believe was generally thought of as a 'liberal']?
That is a really good question. I would probably have to lean to the left leaning ones, like Chomsky and Hersh, since they have poisoned what should have been Kennedy's natural constituency.
It seems Ms Kelly & Callahan attacks on JFK & RFK are more tabloid / gossip-column style; while Chomsky, Cockburn & Buzzanco anti JFK & RFK screeds are focused on bashing JFK's policies IE: Vietnam, Cuba [including the Missile Crisis], Latin America & the 3rd World [insisting JFK was a typical imperialist cold-warrior], & his alleged lack of action on civil-rights & giving J.Edgar Hoover's FBI card-blanch to go after MLK.
And most JFK Chomskyite style 'leftist' bashers steadfastly deny JFK was killed due to a hi-level plot. Most of them just diss guys like you & me as 'conspiracy theorists'.
Yes they do. Because if you admit that there was a crossfire, its one step removed from a conspiracy. I will never forget Cockburn sitting down with Liebeler and not asking one skeptical question. And BTW, Chomsky flipped on this. In the sixties and seventies he was all for JFK being killed in a conspiracy,
Cockburn is a real piece of work! I was familiar with his name but had never read anything by him; so, I googled him & JFK and got this totally disgusting JFK smear-job article by him which he wrote just prior to the release of Oliver Stone's "JFK." He had to be a CIA plant, IMO. For anyone who doesn't know about him and his JFK trash read his aforementioned "JFK" trash piece: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-26-me-1179-story.html
His wiki page also says of him: " Cockburn wrote approvingly of the right-wing Patriot movement and militia rallies.[31][32]
Thanks for that link Linda.
IDK if the late Alex Cockburn was a CIA plant, ditto re Cockburn's long-time 'comrade' Chomsky. I will say re JFK they've effectively acted like 'left gate-keepers'. They among other 'liberal-leftists' have trashed JFK's policies, & dissed even the idea JFK could have been killed due to hi-level plot. Yet as a true leftist Michael Parenti [who took Chomsky & Cockburn to task re the implications of JFK's assassination] has said: 'They don't know a g0ddamn thing about the details of JFK's assassination & proudly admit that fact'. Jim encountered that very attitude when he debated Prof 'Buzz' a couple of yrs ago re JFK.
James, the connection "journalists" on the Right make between RFK and the Castro plots goes far beyond Lasky, De Toledano et al. What puzzles me is the antipathy some in the research community like Joan Mellon has for RFK. She not only lays the Castro plots at his door, but also the harassment of Otto Otepka which you and Oliver Stone featured in JFK Revisited. Adding fuel to the fire, she naturally brings up the secret RFK boxes which remain off-limits at the JFK Library, implying Castro secrets are the reason. Thoughts?
I completely disagree with Mellen on this issue and I made it clear in my review of Farewell to Justice. I have never seen any credible evidence at all on this, and John Newman destroyed Sam Halpern to the point that no one should ever even bring his name up again. I also disagree with her on Otepka.
I know I'm ten years late, but where IS your review of Farewell to Justice? My search on kennedysandking isn't turning it up. Joan Mellen's writing style is certainly harder to follow than yours, but since you both hold Garrison in such high esteem your books cry out for comparison. I couldn't square 300 pages of throwing cold water on Oswald as the lone nut assassin but then ending it by trying to convince us of a sinister RFK-Oswald connection which would illumine the assassination. And then using the interview of old man Otepka as proof of this theory...it seems wildly implausible. Then again, why WAS Bobby Kennedy so hostile to Garrison? Why did he go to such great lengths to shut him down? We all owe a debt of gratitude for what Garrison undertook and sacrificed for this country, and for his conscience which he could not forsake. To me, he is right up there with St. Thomas More. I admire the hell out of him. And you!
Just google, Jim DiEugenio reviews A Farewell to Justice. That should do it. Let me know if it does not., and thanks.
In retro, I think it was a bit too hard on her. She did some good work on Clinton/jackson.
Your Trump derangement ruins the larger point. "Republican lawyers George Conway and James Comey reviewed the trial." James Comey is just an unbiased "Republican lawyer" now? He's not the former FBI Director who President Trump fired? Do you think that the former CIA Director who President Kennedy fired was an impartial judge during the Warren Commission?
The charges against Trump are completely made up. It's a federal misdemeanor bumped up to a felony to get over the statute of limitations. A top official Biden's Justice Department, Matthew Colangelo went to DA Alvin Braggs office just to get Trump. If you want to look at a media campaign to assassinate someone's character it's happening right before your eyes. How can you not see it?
Sir, I am fully aware of the ramifications of the law and that case. I actually read the statute. And no I am not Trump deranged. When you go 12 for 12 and 34 for 34? Please.
I appreciate your work on JFK. Your answer on this subject is as honest as “Republican lawyer” James Comey. I look forward to your future posts, and I thank you for your time.
This is very interesting news.
Did you happen to watch the two part interview Megan Kelly did with RFK Jr a few years ago?
Probably 2021/2022. Sorry, I cannot link but I'm sure you could find it on youtube.
Probably in the Children's Health Defense archives.
Are you kidding? The evidence of a Kennedy affair with Marilyn, JFK dalliance with Mobster “girlfriends” and Bobby’s role in cleaning up JFK sexual messes is overwhelming
Please read Don McGovern, April VeVea, Gary Vitacco Robles, and Randy T. As this is all baloney that has stuck around too long, conveyed by a group of provable liars. The tide has turned.
James, What do you think of Bobby Jr. joining forces with Trump? I know you hate Trump. And I've commented here on your Substack a couple of times to the effect that Trump, for all his many flaws, is fighting the same deep state that JFK was. I wonder if this recent development has made my position a little more clear to you, or if you will throw Bobby Jr. under the bus.
I am going to address this is another article soon.
Did you hear the comment Trump made on Lex Fridman's podcast re the October 26, 2017 release of the JFK files? He said that morning several "people BEGGED me not to release them." You are free to believe what you wish, but Trump is our best shot at getting those files released in a timely manner. 1) he has publicly made the commitment to release in several media settings 2) he feels he made the wrong call on not releasing all of the files because he keeps referring to "everyone" coming down on him about his 2017 caving 2) he now feels a kinship with JFK because of the two assassination attempts. Harris will never ever consider releasing those files. You know that on Feb. 1, 2012, Kamala Harris officially recommended Sirhan Sirhan's appeal should be denied as CA Atty Gen. (I know that ultimately Newsom was the one who blocked the recommendation of his parole board, but her decision is significant.) She doesn't have the capacity or motivation to look objectively at the mountain of evidence Lisa Pease and others have amassed in this matter. And now she has even more reason to resent the Kennedy name.
I did not hear that show Erica. Thanks for telling me about it. And I agree with you about Harris, what her and Newsom did on the RFK case was simply wrong. Really inexcusable.
To the extent Trump is "fighting the same deep state that JFK was," it's with very different goals.
Trump wants to substitute himself as an autocrat.
The pressure to release all the remaining documents about the JFK assassination in the National Archives needs to be aimed at Kamala Harris. The relevant law has already been ignored or side-stepped by Trump and Biden. She likely has the best shot of winning in November, and the least difficulty following the letter of the law.
The statutory burden of proof is on the Agency to show, for each document, why it should not be released in full - not on the citizenry to show why it should be released. Any possible "sources and methods" redactions (after sixty-one years?!) have to be explained and justified as well.
Indeed. And as Dan Hardway has previously explained, any exception must be specified and certified by the President (i.e., no blanket excuses for continued classification).
Here, here! Very well said, Richard!
Any Kennedy who would lower himself to supporting the likes of a former president who has promised on air to "terminate the constitution," and who fomented, then sat and refused to call off, a violent insurrection against our Capitol intended to stop the counting of the electoral votes, has JFK & RFK rolling over in their graves!
You can say that again (and I've said it out loud to people at work when we discuss such topics).
Good on you for speaking up, Jerry!
Except none or that happened.
I think it’s less deep state because everything was right out in the open. The Democrats thought Biden was going to be on the ticket so they tried to block Bobby every which way from being on state ballot to being on the debate stage to challenging him in court about his residency, because they thought there was no way Biden could win going up against Bobby and Trump. Then Biden is forced out and Bobby is furious with how he was treated. And this has nothing to do with whether I like him or or not. This is just the way I see it. he did reach out to Harris about a job in her administration and she did not want to talk to him, a lot of bad blood for sure
RFK, Jr. was more likely to take votes from Trump than Biden.
Agree. I was trying to respond to “the deep state comment”
Whoa, I now see in your comments and profile history you agree with the totally baseless claim the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump, and the COVID vaccines ineffective - didn't realize that you swallowed that nonsense.
Are you talking to me about that?
No, that's in Steve L's background on Substack - when you click on his name / profile and scroll down! I KNOW you are far too astute for that, no matter any disagreements on how the Russia-Ukraine war got going, Jim!