I don't know why I do this...
I don't know why I get involved in Facebook comment thread discussions about JFK. Differentiating between possible trolls and earnest, heartfelt people who want a discussion is so difficult.
Anyway, I posted this as a response to someone who still thinks that Lee Harvey Oswald was aided by a second shooter.
If
he was shot from the front, and there was, in fact, a conspiracy, then
you have to accept that the assassination of William McKinely by Leon
Czolgosz was a conspiracy. I mean, really, who could believe that a
known anarchist would be allowed to approach the President of the United
States? You have to accept that the assassination of James A. Garfied
by Charles Guiteau was a conspiracy. And Lincoln's...?
There
have been roughly 31 attempts or plots on current and former Presidents
that have made major headlines. Four plots that succeeded in
execution. Two others succeeded in hitting the target (Teddy Roosevelt
and Reagan). However, only one of the attempts appears to be a
government conspiracy, and that was the attempt by Saddam Hussein to
kill George H.W. Bush in Kuwait. Every single other attempt that
involved a group of people on domestic soil could only be called a
conspiracy because a group of like-minded individuals got together with a
plot to kill the president. The one that succeeded that involved
something remotely resembling a true conspiracy plot was the
assassination of Lincoln. And yet, still, that attempt was headed and
carried out by a man, John Wilkes Booth, who's own brother, Edwin Booth,
stated his brother had mental problems.
In
fact, in almost every single case the assassins were stated to be
"agitated," or seemed "unstable" prior to the shootings for years by
those closest to them. This is the one defining factor of each and
every attempt on the head of state in a relatively peaceful and stable
nation like the United States.
Andrew
Jackson had a man point 2 guns, which misfired, at him in front of the
White House. God knows how many plots tried to kill Lincoln. Theodore
Roosevelt was shot at by a true crank...when he was running as a 3rd
party candidate. Argentine anarchists tried, and failed, to kill
Hoover...before they could even get to try.
However,
Giuseppe Zangara might be the guy you're looking for. He's the guy who
tried to kill FDR, but failed. His motives have never been clearly
established. He may, or may not, have been hired by the mob to kill the
Chicago mayor and the new President then. Still, who knows...? Lone
gunmen are kind of live wires with weird motives anyway.
A guy named Stern Gang sent letter bombs to Truman. A few Puerto Rican nationalists tried to kill him too...in Washington DC.
Kennedy
had two or three other attempts on him during his presidency. One had
been thwarted just a few weeks prior that was supposed to be carried out
by four people. They wanted to shoot him while he was going under a
highway overpass. Here's a strange fact to consider though before its
suggested this proves there were several conspiracies in the works all
around JFK. It was not a federal crime to kill or threaten the
President at the time. The approach to all of this was just a shrug of
the shoulders. There was actually little the government could legally
do to monitor possible assassins. However, after 11/22/63 those
attitudes, and laws, toward such a thing drastically changed.
Still,
there was more. A guy named Arthur Bremmer wanted to kill Nixon. He
killed George Wallace instead. A guy named Samuel Byck wanted to kill
Nixon too, but got killed in a shootout instead (He took his own life
when he realized he lost).
A follower of Charles Manson tried killing Ford.
An unemployed drifter tried to kill Carter.
John Hinkley Jr. thought he had a great way to impress Jodie Foster...by shooting Reagan.
A bunch of whack jobs tried to kill Clinton. Osama bin Laden even put a bomb under a bridge in '96 to try to kill him.
An assassin for the 2nd Bush apparently had "emotional problems."
Oh, and President Obama has had a bunch of attempts on his life, some through the mail in the form of ricin.
Sorry,
for the mound of information here, with this many attempts on our
presidents' lives (and these are just the ones on Wikipedia) you
seriously think the government is hiding something from us about a
sinister second shooter? I lived in Dallas for 3 years. I've been to
Dealey Plaza. There isn't, and wasn't in 1963, really anywhere to run
to except a giant parking lot behind the now mythical Grassy Knoll.
It's not so mystical and when you stand there it's completely plausible
and acceptable that Oswald killed him.
The
man in the umbrella and trench coat didn't do it. Mr. Zapruder didn't
do it, or capture anyone else doing it. It was Lee Harvey Oswald,
alone, on the 6th floor. You know why? Because he was a poorly
educated, somewhat skilled marksman, with severe emotional problems. He
was 24, had been rejected for residence in the Soviet Union (and that
is an accomplishment only the most unstable mentally or intellectually
could achieve), married to a Russian woman in a somewhat volatile
relationship, had a kid, and a dead-end job. Sorry, he fits the
profile of almost every last single other nut who tried to kill the
other presidents.
Kennedy
was shot from behind. End of story. If you want a conspiracy,
apparently Zachary Taylor and Warren G. Harding may have been
assassinated. Now why aren't we talking about those mysteries? Oh
right...there was no one standing around with a camera.
Patti Smith Says NYC Is Closed, Find A New City
I got some interesting and varied responses to this posting, especially since I added my own comment: "Kind of what I thought..."
The responses it produced came from a New York based Assoicate Producer at a film company who attended Southern Methodist University with me:
"I was at a party of NYC performance artists and Penny Arcade said the same thing. Interesting right?"
"I was at a party of NYC performance artists and Penny Arcade said the same thing. Interesting right?"
NOTE - For those not in the know (I wasn't) Penny Arcade is a performance artist in New York City.
The next response was from another New York resident, someone with whom I attended Towson University, who is now the Artistic Director of a prominent theatre company:
"I think this is dogmatic. New York nourished me as a young broke artist. Certainly, it isn't the NYC rendered in Patti Smith's Just Kids but it still feels inspired and creative to me."
The following response came from an independent musician who has composed music for productions I've created in Washington DC and was referring to him and his wife and their time in New York in relation to this posting:
"It's why we left"
"I think this is dogmatic. New York nourished me as a young broke artist. Certainly, it isn't the NYC rendered in Patti Smith's Just Kids but it still feels inspired and creative to me."
The following response came from an independent musician who has composed music for productions I've created in Washington DC and was referring to him and his wife and their time in New York in relation to this posting:
"It's why we left"
The final series of responses came from an actor who lives and works in Washington DC. He offered these three replies:
1) "yup.
the young and hungry searching for artistic fulfillment end up feeding
into the service industry and are too exhausted after 16 hour shifts to
make a difference. NYC is for the established, the young who want to
struggle, and/or the wealthy."
2) "that said, I wouldn't trade my years there for anything..."
3) "dude, I'm thinking that it's Baltimore's time..."
For those of you who don't know, I live in Baltimore. I've been hearing this about Baltimore for some time. It's changed a lot over the years, but all I could initially offer as a response was this:
"Maybe."
I had a lot to say...about New York, Baltimore, and even Washington DC. There were also people who "Liked" my posting. God knows what the hell that means.
"Maybe."
I had a lot to say...about New York, Baltimore, and even Washington DC. There were also people who "Liked" my posting. God knows what the hell that means.
Do they like that artists are fleeing New York in droves?
Are they thrilled Patti Smith thinks the city is a cultural wasteland?
Do they agree with me?
Whatever.
Are they thrilled Patti Smith thinks the city is a cultural wasteland?
Do they agree with me?
Whatever.
I'll save you their partial biographies since they only shared little white thumbs rather than opinions. I weighed my options, considered some of the politics I should play with people who are both friends and professionals, and what I should write in response...if I should write any real response at all. Then I thought, "What the hell... I'll just write what's on my mind."
This was my extended response to the conversation:
I think this is less about Patti Smith's lost New York, or Sarah Jessica Parker saying it's "too pricey," or Madonna saying it's boring, or even David Byrne saying the city as he knew it is gone. It's about something else that is happening.
An arts scene will always be alive in any city. The state of its health is always in flux, or defined by the eye of the beholder. It's never going to fully die, but it might find itself in periods of being on life support. Anyway, again, how one defines that is in the eye of the beholder.
The more troubling thing I keep hearing is just how expensive the city has become in such a short time. DC may not be as "pricey," but is experiencing a similar kind of "accelerated gentrification" (I think that's the term used by The Post a few months back). I agree with P-. The end point is that fewer and fewer people from the class people like Patti Smith came from can afford to live in that city and actually practice their art, craft, whatever. Hell, I know people who have "regular jobs/careers" outside of the arts and are dancing on the razor's edge of being able to afford living there, or in DC.
What to do? I don't know. Some leave. Some stay and fight. Some succeed. Some fail. Others start ashrams. Find your place. Find your fight. Find your ashram...I guess. Or a safe and affordable suburb?
As for Baltimore...?
I've lived here on and off since '98 when I first came to school at Towson University. Back then I would never have even STOOD on the corner of North and Howard in what is now called Station North. Back then I thought of it more as NO MAN'S LAND. Maybe I thought that because it looked and felt dangerous as hell...and there were these kids who rode by on mopeds and four wheelers (two kids to each vehicle) popping wheelies while holding little brown paper baggies, weaving in and out of traffic.
I saw those types of kids a couple of years ago, but now there's a pizza place on that corner. As they rode by I went into it. It's called Joe Squared. Every time I eat there I can't believe I am eating a meal at that corner. Go there. Eat there. I recommend either the Irish Pizza, or the risotto with venison and arugula. They are both divine.
Baltimore has that going for it.
This was my extended response to the conversation:
I think this is less about Patti Smith's lost New York, or Sarah Jessica Parker saying it's "too pricey," or Madonna saying it's boring, or even David Byrne saying the city as he knew it is gone. It's about something else that is happening.
An arts scene will always be alive in any city. The state of its health is always in flux, or defined by the eye of the beholder. It's never going to fully die, but it might find itself in periods of being on life support. Anyway, again, how one defines that is in the eye of the beholder.
The more troubling thing I keep hearing is just how expensive the city has become in such a short time. DC may not be as "pricey," but is experiencing a similar kind of "accelerated gentrification" (I think that's the term used by The Post a few months back). I agree with P-. The end point is that fewer and fewer people from the class people like Patti Smith came from can afford to live in that city and actually practice their art, craft, whatever. Hell, I know people who have "regular jobs/careers" outside of the arts and are dancing on the razor's edge of being able to afford living there, or in DC.
What to do? I don't know. Some leave. Some stay and fight. Some succeed. Some fail. Others start ashrams. Find your place. Find your fight. Find your ashram...I guess. Or a safe and affordable suburb?
As for Baltimore...?
I've lived here on and off since '98 when I first came to school at Towson University. Back then I would never have even STOOD on the corner of North and Howard in what is now called Station North. Back then I thought of it more as NO MAN'S LAND. Maybe I thought that because it looked and felt dangerous as hell...and there were these kids who rode by on mopeds and four wheelers (two kids to each vehicle) popping wheelies while holding little brown paper baggies, weaving in and out of traffic.
I saw those types of kids a couple of years ago, but now there's a pizza place on that corner. As they rode by I went into it. It's called Joe Squared. Every time I eat there I can't believe I am eating a meal at that corner. Go there. Eat there. I recommend either the Irish Pizza, or the risotto with venison and arugula. They are both divine.
Baltimore has that going for it.
Joe Squared's full address is:
133 W. North Ave.
133 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
They have a location in Power Plant Live, a performing arts venue in the Inner Harbor, but I hate that place...and so should you...unless you're going to the National Aquarium. Then you're fine.
They have a location in Power Plant Live, a performing arts venue in the Inner Harbor, but I hate that place...and so should you...unless you're going to the National Aquarium. Then you're fine.
NOTE - The Irish Pizza has Roasted garlic cream, corned beef, potato, caramelized onion, mozzarella and Swiss cheeses. It's really something else.
