Was Martin Luther King Wiretapped ‘Because He Was Campaigning for Civil Rights’?
With attention drawn to government surveillance of citizens, some in the media are recalling that this has long been an issue. Columnist Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star, a publication of the Chicago Sun-Times, did so in a recent column, "Do you want security or freedom?":
When Communists were suspected of conspiring to undermine our country, innocent political activists were targeted in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s. The FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr. because he was campaigning for civil rights.
That was not the reason for King’s wiretap, which was carried out by the FBI after Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy authorized it on October 10, 1963. Kennedy believed that two of King’s associates had ties to the Communist party.
RFK Jr. Condemns G. Gordon Liddy as Admirer of Hitler – Kinda Like JFK!
Given that his grandfather, Joseph P. Kennedy, was one of the most notorious appeasers of the last century, you'd think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might refrain from maligning anyone else as a Nazi sympathizer.
Turns out it wasn't just Grampa Joe with a soft spot for Der Fuhrer -- so did his second eldest son and future president John F. Kennedy during trips to Germany as a young man, according to a new book, "John F. Kennedy -- Among the Germans: Travel Diaries and Letters, 1937-1945." (Audio after the jump)
One Man’s Fascination With Hitler
Here’s a story you probably haven’t heard, unless you read Drudge or
Breitbart. The Independent (U.K.) has published a story (from which I
pull freely), as have a couple of Jewish outlets. That’s all I can find.
You tell me if it qualifies as “news” that the “news “ media should be
covering.
One Man’s Fascination With Hitler
Here’s a story you probably haven’t heard, unless you read Drudge or
Breitbart. The Independent (U.K.) has published a story (from which I
pull freely), as have a couple of Jewish outlets. That’s all I can find.
You tell me if it qualifies as “news” that the “news “ media should be
covering.
The PBS Fall Season: Black History, Latino History, Streisand, and Piles of JFK Tributes
PBS has announced its new fall schedule, and it unfolds like a reinforced liberal stereotype. It includes a "landmark" six-hour series on Latino-American history narrated by Benjamin Bratt, and a six-hour series on African-American history narrated by Henry Louis “Beer Summit” Gates, from America's colonial period "up to the present day — when America has a black president yet remains a nation divided by race."
The liberal network will air a “Great Performances” special titled “Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn,” and, of course, to mark the 50th anniversary of the dark day in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot and killed, PBS is planning hours and hours of JFK specials:
Maher: ‘The Last Person in Texas to Get Near a Schoolbook Was Lee Harvey Oswald’
Bill Maher proved once again Friday that there is no floor to his indecency.
As he mocked this week’s opening of the Bush Library in Dallas, Texas, during his opening monologue on HBO’s Real Time, the host actually said, “The last person in that state to get near a schoolbook was Lee Harvey Oswald” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Harvard Law Prof Charles Ogletree Gushes Over ‘Generosity’ of Hugo Chavez
Gee, why would anyone get the impression -- GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, for example -- that Harvard Law School is fertile wetlands for left-wing politics?
In Cruz's case, his suspicions are well-founded -- the man graduated from the school in the mid-1990s. For those of us who aren't Harvard alum, its faculty members often supply evidence to bolster that perception. (audio clip after page break)
Liberal Radio Host Mike Papantonio Smears Scalia Elder as Fascist Leader
I always look forward to Mike Papantonio's appearances on radio, since he invariably says something that leaves me shaking my head in bemusement and pity.
Papantonio, an attorney and co-host of the "Ring of Fire" radio show, was guest hosting on Ed Schultz's radio program Friday and talking about the legal challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the Supreme Court. (audio clips after page break)
Media Hail JFK’s ‘Poetry,’ Ignore That His Agenda Didn’t Match His Words
With this week's inauguration, several media stories recounted past inaugural addresses. One oration prominently featured and applauded was the speech given by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
On CNN's Web site, it was listed as one of "The six best inaugural addresses." U.S. News & World Report's site included it as one of "The 5 Best Inaugural Addresses," noting that it set "the benchmark against which subsequent addresses have been measured." Just in case readers missed it, the following day the same site carried the story "What Obama Can Learn From the Greatest Inaugural Addresses," this time declaring part of Kennedy's speech "poetry." At The Washington Post, The Fix counted it as part of "The 10 most famous inaugural addresses." Politico claimed it "ranks alongside Lincoln’s two for pure eloquence."
Lies My Textbooks Told Me: Cuban Missiles and Kennedy’s Resolve
With the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis approaching and new documents surfacing about just how close to World War III the United States and the Soviet Union came in 1962, it’s interesting to look at how the incident is regarded in the media and, especially, how it’s taught as history.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is commonly portrayed as a firm display of President John F. Kennedy’s resolve in the face of Cold War Soviet aggression. President John F. Kennedy is popularly depicted as a courageous leader who forced the Soviet Union to withdraw nuclear missiles from Cuba pointed at the United States.
Walter Williams Column: ‘Trickle-Down’ Attack on Tax Cuts Is, Always Has Been Intellectually Dishonest
Dr. Thomas Sowell's "'Trickle Down Theory' and 'Tax Cuts for the Rich'" has just been published by the Hoover Institution. Having read this short paper, the conclusion you must reach is that the term "trickle down theory" is simply a tool of charlatans and political hustlers.
Sowell states that "no such theory has been found in even the most voluminous and learned histories of economic theories." That's from a scholar who has published extensively in the history of economic thought. Several years ago, Sowell, in his syndicated column, challenged anyone to name an economist from any economic school of thought who had actually advocated a "trickle down" theory. To date, no one has quoted any economist who ever advocated such a theory. Trickle down is a nonexistent theory. Those who use it simply argue against a caricature rather than confront an argument actually made.
Newsweek: Obama In Top 10 of Presidents Since Teddy Roosevelt
Despite having failed to stop let alone reverse the rising of the seas, Barack Obama has made Newsweek’s newest ten best presidents list, which gives readers a top ten of the chief executives since 1900. Newsweek, whose list unsurprisingly is dominated by liberal Democrats, gave this justification for selecting Obama in a caption in a photo slide:
Picking a sitting president in a tally of the best is tricky – history hasn’t had time to put things in a more sober context. But the historic election of America’s first black president cannot be ignored. That a man whose ancestors included a slave could become the leader of a nation founded to some extent in slavery is as much an achievement for the country as it is a marker for Obama himself. Whether Obama stays or goes, his standing, as a fundamentally groundbreaking president will remain.
Fineman Lauds ‘Amazing Statesmanship’ of Eisenhower Advising LBJ to Push ‘Sweeping Liberal Agenda’
Appearing as a panel member on the weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Huffington Post editoral director Howard Fineman - formerly of Newsweek - praised former President Eisenhower's decision to advise then-President Johnson to "carry out Jack Kennedy's agenda" in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.
Fineman ended up referring to Eisenhower's advice as "amazing statesmanship and foresight." Fineman:
(Video can be found here.)
But more important and interesting is the advice that Ike gave to Lyndon Johnson about what LBJ should say before a joint session of Congress. Ike was a Republican President and really more of a conservative one in certain respects than we remember.
But what he told LBJ was that LBJ should promise to carry forth the sweeping liberal agenda of Jack Kennedy, who had been assassinated, that the best thing that LBJ could do for the country and for LBJ's own standing within his party than the presidency, was to promise to carry out Jack Kennedy's agenda.
So here, you really have, at a pivotal moment, a Republican President advocating a Democratic agenda for the good of the country. Amazing statesmanship and foresight really on Ike's part.
Camelot Magic Lives on in France Through Shrine to Pierre Salinger, Enthuses New York Times
The media mythology of Kennedy's Camelot lives on in the news pages of Wednesday's New York Times, in a puzzling tribute by reporter Ralph Blumenthal to a French village museum devoted to Pierre Salinger, the Kennedy press secretary who later served for years as chief foreign correspondent for ABC News: "Medieval French Village Echoes With the Voice Of Kennedy’s Camelot."
If the French loved John F. Kennedy, there is a special spot in their hearts for Pierre Salinger, his rotund, cigar-smoking, francophone-ish press secretary whose maternal grandfather served in the Assemblée Nationale and fought to clear Capt. Alfred Dreyfus.
So it’s not surprising that here in this medieval Provençal village east of Avignon, where Mr. Salinger spent his last years with his fourth wife, there is a temple to the jovial spokesman who traded a prizewinning journalistic career for a roller-coaster life of politics, public service, comedy and tragedy.
In a memoir published nine years before his death at a local hospital in 2004 at 79, Mr. Salinger averred distaste for what he called the “Camelotization” of the Kennedys.
Yet, on exhibit here is the leather cigar case with the gold initials “J.F.K.” that Jacqueline Kennedy presented Mr. Salinger, “with my love and appreciation for all you did to make his days here so unforgettable.” Also, Mr. Salinger’s presidential appointment certificate (“Reposing special trust and confidence in your integrity, prudence and ability, I do appoint you. ... ”), and other memorabilia of happily-ever-aftering, like his PT-109 tie clasp and prototype American Express card, color purple, No. 200.
....
But Mr. Salinger -- who went on to high-profile careers as an ABC News bureau chief, a prolific fiction and nonfiction author, a publicist and, for one brief shining moment, United States senator – remains the heart and soul of the enterprise.
Blumenthal buried the less flattering aspects of Salinger's persona in paragraph 14 of 17.
[Salinger's widow] tells how Mr. Salinger, prone to conspiracy theories, continued to believe that an errant American missile from a Navy ship, not a mechanical malfunction, brought down T.W.A. Flight 800 off Long Island in 1996, killing all 230 aboard. Mr. Salinger said French intelligence sources had given him a document pointing to a cover-up, but the F.B.I. said the account was baseless.
Completely skipped was Salinger's reflexively liberal anti-GOP hostility, like this quote from a November 2000 column, a few days before the election pitting Gov. George W. Bush against Vice President Al Gore: "I don't want any more Bush Presidents. If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France."