Season's Greetings from an Old Friend

Here's to a great 2020

REMOVE THE CRIMINAL-TRAITOR-ETHICS VIOLATOR-CHILD KIDNAPPER-LIAR (TAKE YOUR PICK) FROM OFFICE

Michael Cohen indicates Trump ordered him to violate campaign finance laws to pay hush money to two women he has extra-marital affairs with.

Trump violated his oath of office by aiding and abetting Russia when he validated Putin’s denial of meddling in the 2016 election against the information he received from his entire intelligence apparatus.

Trump signs into law a Tax Bill last December that substantially benefits him and his organization, specifically it gives huge tax breaks to golf course owners and real estate developers, to the tune of billions of dollars after Republicans, and only Republicans, pushed the $1.5 trillion tax bill through the Senate without any hearings, testimony, or expert witness feedback. And on June 22, Trump signed an executive order to roll back environmental regulations to protect the world’s oceans thereby handing himself a business win in the process. It will “facilitate the economic growth of coastal communities and promote ocean industries” which will include most of Trump’s hotels and golf courses, increasing their profit margins. The order eliminates several regional planning bodies that were designed to keep an eye on local bodies of water and apply federal standards accordingly.

To date, 535 migrant children have still not been reunited with their families even after being ordered to do so by a federal court over a month ago. This is a form of terrorism endorsed by Trump to scare immigrants from coming to the U.S. by forcibly taking their children away when they cross the border. The children are innocent, yet they are ripped from their parents and put in cages in a detention camp. One has died while in ICE custody, and at least a dozen have been sexually or physically abused by ICE or HHS employees.

Immediately after Trump became the Republican nominee, the FBI provided him with high-level security information by high ranking counter-intelligence officers that the Russians were infiltrating the US election system and trying to spy on his campaign. They even warned him explicitly that the Russians were trying to contact his campaign and that if he was contacted or if he knew of any attempted contact, he should alert the FBI. This was AFTER the meeting Trump had in March with George Papadopoulos at the table who presented an offer to contact the Russians, after the Trump Tower meeting with Jr., Kushner and Manafort with at least 5 Russians on June 9^th, after Jeff Sessions first meeting with Sergey Kislyak, after Paul Manafort had offered a Russian oligarch close to Putin with a personal update on the Trump campaign, and after Carter Page had gone to Moscow at the behest of Manafort for the Trump campaign. Keep in mind this was BEFORE he became president. Yet he still claims there was no collusion. Was there a criminal conspiracy, then?

Trump’s lies? Did he ever provide his tax returns before the election which he vowed to do at least 16 times before November 8^th?  Was Don Junior’s meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower about adoptions like Trump wrote aboard Air Force One as an explanation? Didn’t Trump brag when he came back from Singapore that North Korea would de-nuclearize immediately? Didn’t the White House promise that 70% of the GOP tax cuts would go to workers when it is now confirmed that 83% has gone to the ultra-wealthy in this country? Didn’t Trump say he would hardly leave the White House to play golf because there was so much work that needed to be done? To date, he has golfed over 60 times in less than 2 years in office, far more than Obama did in 8 years.

Trump has been involved in over 1,300 lawsuits in the last 18 years, including one over his fraudulent Trump university that was still ongoing during the campaign. Nineteen women have accused him of sexual assault or misconduct, including ex-wife Ivana who once used the word "rape" to describe what he did to her in a court case. His businesses have repeatedly declared bankruptcy, including three casinos, an airline, vodka, a mortgage company, bottled water, steaks, a magazine, a dot com company, even a board game. He has told an average of 6 1/2 lies per day since taking office, for a total of over 4,000.

At the beginning of June, the Pentagon told Congress it estimates that nearly 500 civilians were killed as a result of US military actions in the first year of the Trump administration. "The Department of Defense assesses that there are credible reports of approximately 499 civilians killed and approximately 169 civilians injured during 2017." The report adds that "more than 450 reports of civilian casualties from 2017 remained to be assessed," meaning the number of civilian casualties caused by US military operations could go up. The report covers both US airstrikes as well as ground combat operations. The DoD acknowledged that civilian casualties have more than doubled since January 2017.

How many more reasons does anyone need to remove this criminal Russian asset from the Oval Office?

Hello, GOP. Anyone home?

Do Not Be Silent - Do Not be Fooled - Resist traitorous Donald Trump

Our Constitutional Republic is in danger due to this man. Trump is drawing closer and closer to invalidating our Founding Father’s experiment in self-government. He violated his oath of office and no one who can do anything about it in Congress or on his Cabinet is holding him accountable.
        Trump sided with Vladimir Putin against all of our intelligence gathering agencies filled with men and women who quietly defend this nation against foreign intrusion. Men and women who just want a president that has their back...not stabs them in it.
Trump does nothing to preserve, protect and defend the United States or the people who serve it.

That is not incompetence.

That is not ignorance.

THAT IS TREASON.

DON'T SUPPORT TRAITORS - BECAUSE THOSE WHO SUPPORT TRAITORS ARE THEMSELVES TRAITORS.

Philippines President Duterte’s “God” Challenge

It’s hard to imagine someone less appealing on so many levels than the current president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. He is a singularly unpleasant gargoyle-ish man who brags about murdering people himself, ridicules other world leaders, insults anyone for just about any reason, and shows no regard for the rule of law. But last week, he made a comment that finally got me cheering for him if only a little bit.

          He stated that God was stupid.

 

Referencing the nonsensical Book of Genesis, Duterte said “This son of a bitch is…really stupid.” What Rodrigo claimed is that god was stupid based on what is recorded in the Bible. If that god knows all and sees all, how did it not know what was going to happen, especially in the Garden of Eden? It’s proof that that being is stupid. For example, why would god punish Adam and Eve for not knowing right from wrong when he created them that way? And if that supposedly supreme being did know - and yet let it happen with over 99.9999999…% of all humans who would live on this planet being condemned to Hell after death…it is stupid to a degree unimaginable. Who wants to worship a god that stupid? 

 

 Then, Duterte followed that comment a few days later with a challenge - if anyone could prove to him that god existed, he’d step down from the presidency immediately.

Talk about a win-win.

If no one can prove that god exists, just as no one can prove the Easter Bunny exists, it is solid evidence that belief in a supreme being is without merit and should be abandoned for the good of the world. But if god’s existence is proven, we get rid of Duterte. (Although even if some being did introduce itself, Rodrigo would probably claim that wasn’t good enough or he’d say he didn’t really mean he’d leave office.) But I can agree with his basic premise - prove to all of us that god...any god...exists! 

So many people around the world swear that god exists; they just can’t seem to agree on which one. They can’t all be right. But as many non-believers have repeatedly pointed out, they CAN all be wrong. All we are asking is provide the evidence that a god exists. Real evidence, not words in a book that cannot be verified as anything more than the ramblings of half-educated men trying to make sense out of a world they didn’t understand. Don’t point at the trees, the mountains, or the sunset and claim “see, that’s god’s handiwork.” Setting aside the immediate problem of identifying which god created it, you can’t find god’s fingerprints, signature, or DNA samples on any of it so stop the ridiculous nodding at nature and giving it supernatural qualities it doesn’t have.

 

                Two clowns holding hands

The baffling part of Duterte’s recent statements is that he claims to believe in a god…he just doesn’t believe in religion. So if he believes, why does he want someone else to provide proof of the existence of god? You don't need evidence if you already accept there must be a god. It seems as though Duterte is simply chasing and chewing off his own tail in a search for an imaginary being, or he wants confirmation that his delusion is valid. Duterte uses "God" just like many U.S. politicians and other Americans do: convince the gullible he’s just like them and then exploit those people. Duterte and politicians like Trump use it as a tool to attain power, not as a standard of morality, honesty, or humility.

Bizarre as it seems, such a thing as a god could quickly put an end to the debate about his existence once and for all…by providing unmistakable proof he exists. The fact that he doesn’t can only lead to one of two conclusions - that he doesn’t want to be found…or doesn’t exist. Which makes more sense?

What Might Happen when Kim Jong-Un Meets Trump at the very first meeting

It was hoped the unprecedented, ground-breaking meeting set up by new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un would distract the world's news organizations from the looming threat of obstruction of justice charges against the president, the deepening Russian collusion scandal, the lawsuit brought by adult film actress Stephanie Clifford a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, the criminal charges stemming from incriminating information found in Michael Cohen's confiscated material, a lawsuit 19 women brought against Trump for serial sexual assault, 26 plaintiffs suing Trump regarding his golf courses over non payment of labor, personal injuries, and unannounced changes to membership fees, and several other cases making their way through federal courts regarding Trump's Emoluments violations, Oath of Office violations, and even overcharging the government when secret service agents had to rent his golf carts in order to protect him at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Instead, what did happen caught everyone off guard.

If the Trump Administration was a railroad train...

          In a startling development, just as the meeting with Kim Jong-Un got under way, President Trump asked for, and was granted, political asylum in North Korea. 
          Trump was accompanied to the meeting by his entire cabinet and several aides, most of whom waited just outside the hall. Trump had deliberately excluded the U.S. press from the summit meeting so it was left to North and South Korean journalists and photographers to report on what happened. They said at the very opening Mr.Trump entered the room and walked over to the table as Kim Jong-Un entered from the opposite side of the room. Breaking protocol, Trump moved around to Kim’s side of the table and kept going toward Kim and his group of advisers. The journalists were expecting Trump’s usual power-handshake when he reached Kim. But instead, Trump put his hand on Kim’s shoulder and leaned down to his ear. The North Korean security men started to close in to protect Kim when Kim’s interpreter Chun Kei-Ryong, who had walked rapidly up behind Kim, spoke quickly and then turned to the gathered officials.

Chun Kei-Ryong (left) and Kim Jong-Un moments before meeting President Trump

          “Mr. Trump says he would like to come and stay in North Korea permanently,” Kei-Ryong said. “He has asked for asylum.”

There was a loud gasp from the South Koreans lining the southern and eastern walls and many rushed outside, while two American aides who had accompanied President Trump into the room stopped in their tracks at the table and stared at Trump’s back.

          Trump again leaned down to Kim’s ear and spoke for several seconds, then reach down for Kim’s hand. Jong-Un, looking uncomfortable, hesitatingly held up his hand and Trump grasped it, shaking it in a rapid, piston-like movement and smiled as North Korean cameras began clicking away.

          “Mr. Trump says he can bring much to the North Korean people. He has offered to show how a Trump Tower can be built in Pyongyang. He would only ask to have the top five floors for himself when finished.”

          One of the Americans called out several times to the President but Mr. Trump never acknowledged him.

Still furiously pumping Kim’s hand Trump spoke more loudly. “I think this is a great day for the people of North Korea, a great, great day, and Mr. President, I will help make North Korea Great Again, that I can tell you…that I can tell you.”

Kim and Trump fist-bump to cement their bromance

          Still looking baffled and uncomfortable, Kim stared at Trump for several moments and then turned to whisper to Chun. Kei-Ryong nodded several times as four of Kim’s highest ranking generals also drew closer. Kim’s hand was still being held and shaken by the president as Kim occasionally looked back and smiled at Trump. One of the generals spoke loud enough for a South Korean news anchor to overhear. The anchor blurted out to others nearby, “He just asked if Trump is willing to supply them with the U.S. missile codes.”

          There was a distinct rise in panic of the voices of the South Koreans near the news anchor and they all noted that Trump, smiling at the generals, appeared to nod his head yes to the question, then spoke softly to Kim and his entourage.

"What are you hiding in there?" Trump and Kim enjoy an intimate train ride to Pyongyang

          “President Kim Jong-Un is pleased to offer Mr. Trump freedom in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. We know Mr. Trump had been the target of many unfair investigations in his country. He has been accused of breaking many laws, having sex with many women who were not his wife, and enriching himself with millions of dollars from American taxpayers by signing a GOP tax plan last December. Here, he will be free to live his life without such annoyances, distractions, and threats to his freedom. He said his wealth has already been transferred to a Swiss bank. He will be able to access it through our connections in Pyongyang.” 
                    Mr. Trump handed a folded piece of paper to Chun, walked over to and through the door Kim had originally entered the room from. He never looked back and never offered an explanation. It was later reported he did stop long enough out in a portico to say goodbye to Melania before leaving.

Trump and Kim upon leaving his armored rail car 

          
          Chun Kei-Ryong glanced at the paper and continued “We will make arrangements once a week to operate a flight down to Seoul to buy McDonalds and KFC food for Mr. Trump, as well as purchase however many boxes of golf balls he needs. We do not allow Fox News in Pyongyang so President Kim will have to address that issue if Mr. Trump still wants to watch Fox and Friends before he twitters when he gets up."

          Kei-Ryong then read the rest of the sheet and shook his head in disbelief. “These actions granting asylum apply only to him. This says it is specifically not to extend to Don Junior, Eric, Ivanka, Melania, Barron, Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, John Kelly, Sarah Huckaboo Sanders, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, Betsy DeVos, Mick Mulvaney, or any other member of his administration past or present. They will be responsible for whatever is left to do in Washington DC.

Before he left, Trump stopped to shake Melania's hand in a farewell gesture. Aides say she had never looked happier.

          Shocked and saddened aides to Trump grabbed their cell phones and called home. But when they reported what the Korean press said had happened at the meeting, they were stunned to hear a party broke out all across the nation. Congress immediately recessed, called it a day of thanksgiving, and gave federal employees the day off. Bars stayed open all night and fireworks were shot off continuously for the impromptu three day celebration.

          A strange glitch occurred later that got little news coverage. When Air Force One and Two returned from the aborted summit, they were diverted from landing in Hawaii due to heavy fog and were sent far to the north to a small airfield just outside Unalaska in the Aleutians. There the 747s were refueled but everyone was told the weather was getting so poor they would have to stay for the night. Next day the aircraft engines could not be started and all communications on the island were inexplicably cut off. 
          No one noticed any of them missing in Washington DC for several weeks until people realized the government was working correctly again. When an inquiry was made, the press was told a temp staff had been hired and was handling government business from a small office in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building and that the remaining administration members who had been on the planes had not returned. They had been encouraged to take a long vacation after Trump defected and they asked not to be contacted in any way. To date, no one has heard from any of them. 

Making America Giggle Again – Trump Gets His Parade

          Trump can finally brag about another big win. He is about to get his long-desired military parade. After watching the Bastille Day parade in France last July 14^th, Trump came back to the U.S. and whined that he wanted one too. The Pentagon had denied him one for his inauguration and that made Trump SAD! But that is all about to change.

This is what Trump wants to see

          

          A Pentagon memo was issued the first week of March stating the parade is being planned for November 11^th, on the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War One, and will “include wheeled vehicles only, no tanks, because consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure”, meaning Pennsylvania Avenue. The event will “include a heavy air component at the end of the parade”, i.e. lots of airplane flyovers. It did not include a cost estimate but White House budget director Mick Mulvaney recently told Congress the taxpayers will get stuck with a bill between $10 million and $30 million.

Who could argue against a parade that highlights the Americans who defend our freedom and make everything else possible? Well, to answer that, how about a parade that highlights the traitor who sold out our country to the Russians to get elected and makes the nation a laughing stock around the world?

          Yep, the parade is do-able, but it can be presented at a much more reasonable cost, be far more colorful and entertaining, and make America laugh again, because here is the only parade Trump has earned…

This is the Grand Marshal for the Trump parade. Quite appropriate, don’t you think?

Here comes the band…

These are the shock troops…

And Special Forces...

We can’t forget the armored vehicles Trump wants…

Plus, the Air Force flyover…

There will even be a segment that does the “Goose-Step” just for Trump…

Trump, as you’ll recall, did not serve in the Vietnam War because he received four draft deferments to avoid the military and then in desperation made up a bone spur in his foot to get a medical excuse thereby escaping service for a fifth time. This is the nitwit that thinks he deserves a military parade. What a freakin’ clown.

Donald Trump - America's Newest Medal of Honor Winner

In a move sure to please his fan base, Donald Trump has awarded himself the nation’s highest and most esteemed military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
          What is his justification?

"I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon," Trump had said at his White House meeting with 39 governors about what he would have done at the Florida school that was the scene of the most recent mass shooting. Trump was so proud of himself for his claim and, imagining he would have saved all the students and teachers killed on Valentine’s Day at Stoneman Douglas High School, he immediately signed an Executive Order giving himself the Medal of Honor.

With Pence and Mattis' approval, Trump awards himself the medal

“I actually earned this quite a while ago,” Trump exclaimed as he fumbled with the ribbon to put the medal around his neck. “I always felt like I was a great and brave soldier back in the '80s when I was having so much unprotected sex. This is just the culmination of so many amazing things I’ve done.”

Seeing few people in the room were moved by his reasoning, Trump said “Hey, ISIS is history. I defeated them. Not even Obama could do that…and he created them!” When no one immediately applauded, Trump up the ante. “And another thing, if I hadn’t had those bone spurs in my foot, or feet…you’ll look it up in the records, it’s in the records…I’d have been the greatest soldier in the entire history of that war back in the 60s when they were drafting kids. Not one gook would have escaped my sights,” he said. “The war would have ended within a week of my arriving at wherever it was we were fighting back then. So I deserve this.”

          Generals McMaster, Mattis, Dunford, and Kelly all stood by expressionless as Trump placed the ribbon and medal around his neck. Waving his hand dismissively at them Trump boasted “After talking with all the generals, they agreed that if anyone should get this medal, it’s me. I mean, no one is better at the military than me...believe me!”

          Trump added while pointing to the medal around his neck,“And this deserves a military parade in my honor this July 4^th…or on that November 11^th day, for whatever reason we celebrate then!” 

          This follows on the heels of Trump’s request, via a third party, that he be given the Nobel Peace Prize, too. An unidentified American who nominated the U.S. president reportedly cited Trump's "ideology of peace by force" (such as threatening nuclear war with North Korea) for the submission for the prize. A similar reason accompanied a nomination for Trump to win last year’s 2017 prize. Just one minor problem; Trump's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was forged, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said Wednesday February 27^th. “We have good reason to believe that the nomination we received concerning Trump has been falsified,” Institute Director Olav Njolstad told reporters.

          Henrik Urdal, manager of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told the Associated Press that even though Trump was nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, the nomination “lacks any strong academic justification”.

Trump Finally Chalks Up a Victory - He Saved a Hat

What a courageous, unprecedented and outstanding service Trump has provided the nation. On Saturday Trump retrieved a Marine's hat after it was blown off his head by a gust of wind. It's something any 5-year old would do but naturally with the bar set so low for Trump, conservatives are celebrating and treating it like Trump just won the World Series. 

A jackass trifecta

Sarah Palin tweeted “Thank you President Trump.” Former game show host Chuck Woolery added his two cents with “NOT AT ALL SURPRISED IT’S WHO HE IS…” in all CAPS no less - so we know how proud he is of Trump's hat rescue.  In case Chuck Woolery forgot, this is ALSO who Trump is...

Trump leaves Melania to fend for herself when they meet the Obamas at the White House on inauguration day.

        Fox News used the hat incident to blast Obama because at a rainy Rose Garden news conference in 2013 (yes, they had to dig back through 4 years of video) Obama’s umbrella was being held by his Marine guard, rather than Obama holding it. So Trump was praised for rescuing a Marine’s cover while Obama is chastised for rudely allowing a Marine to do what he was supposed to be doing when the Commander-in-Chief is speaking in the rain. (How dare Obama allow the president's Marine Escort to do exactly what they are supposed to be doing?) This is worthy of scorn, but if your name is Trump and you bend down to get a hat, that's presidential.

Obama thanks the Marine for holding the umbrella - how unethical is that?

A Virginia Wesleyan University student wrote about the hat pickup “It shows respect and it goes a long way when it's a president showing respect.” How about all the respect Trump showed our intelligence services over the past year, even comparing them to Nazis just a week prior to his inauguration? Or the respect he showed CPO William Ryan Owens when Trump ordered his SEAL Team 6 into Yemen on January 28^th which caused the death of Owens and Trump couldn’t even bother to be in the situation room while the mission was underway? Did Trump show any of that respect when he invented his “bone spur in the foot” excuse to get out of military service in the late 1960s? 

Trump's official "Medal of Honor" photograph.

The video of Trump went viral on Saturday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as Trump was boarding a helicopter to return to the White House. Walking along the tarmac, a Marine's hat flew into the air, prompting Trump to grab the hat, pick it up, and place it back on the Marine's head. Trump then patted the Marine's arm like he was a good dog. But the deed was short-lived. Moments later, the hat is seen once again flying into the air, sending Trump after it for a second time. This time Trump gave it to another official and then boarded the helicopter.

The second time Trump just picks it up and hands it to someone else.

             Is picking up a Marine's cover somehow akin to moral purity or upstanding citizenship? Does this compensate for his grabbing women by the genitals? Is this how the conservatives offset Trump’s less-than-stellar G-20 European visit? Will it cause Kim Jong Un to re-think developing a North Korean nuclear ICBM? Does it equate to passing meaningful legislation or coming up with health care to benefit all Americans? Does it trump (pun intended) months and months of Russian-collusion-denial that his son Jr. just admitted to on Tuesday? 

             Like father, like son...a lie is a perfect band-aid.

              So a hat flies off - 'predisent' Trump picks it up and returns it. Most children do that. When you have nothing better to rally around, picking up a wind-blown hat must be as good as conservatives can hope for to show how Trump is Making America Great Again.

               Or you could say it is exactly two letters and a period too long.

John F. Kennedy's 100th Birthday - Clint Hill's Remembrance of the Assassination

May 29, 2017 is the celebration of John F. Kennedy’s 100^th birthday. For a man who was president a little less than three years he certainly impacted much of the world. He made errors, he had human weaknesses, and numerous flaws like all of us do. But he was able to motivate people and touch their hearts in a way few men have done down through history. A case can be made that it is because of his assassination that so many find some connection to him. Almost everyone who was old enough that day can remember where they were and what they were doing when the announcement was made of his murder. I cannot and will not forget him. While I was just 11 when he was gunned down, I saw and understood the traumatic impact it made on the world’s population. I didn’t understand why it had happened, just that it had. I believed the lie the government built around his assassination.

My mom came home from work that afternoon in tears. She later told me that she was devastated that day because she had voted for Kennedy in 1960. She secretly admired and supported Kennedy but said dad never knew because he was a hardline conservative and voted for Nixon. Mom felt he would get extremely upset if he knew her vote cancelled his out in that election. Mom said she never believed he was killed by Lee Oswald, but not wanting to incur dad’s wrath, she didn’t bring it up because dad believed the Warren Commission Report on the assassination. I came to the conclusion that we had all been lied to only later in life, mostly because my dad reacted scathingly toward any suggestion, from anybody, that the Warren Commission didn’t get it right. He never questioned any of it; he believed it hook, line and sinker. I was finally convinced the Warren Commission was wrong when I began reading the works of Harold Weisberg in the late 1980s at the behest of a guest that had been interviewed at a radio station where I worked.

I have never stopped reading everything I could get my hands on regarding the assassination. 

What prompted this post, in honor of JFK’s 100^th birthday, was the release in 2016 of the book Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, written by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin. I had read Clint’s Warren Commission testimony but was always fascinated by his story pre and post assassination. The book is his remembrances of his time in the Secret Service.  Agent Clint Hill was immortalized in Kennedy assassination history as the man who rushed up to the presidential limousine after the first shot was fired. He appeared to be the only agent “on the job” that day. So his observations, to me, are vital. He at least reacted. He heard the shots and knew what they were. He was a critical observer. It is important to know what he saw. His recollections have changed over time, mostly because he has been “encouraged” to reflect the official line that Oswald did it by himself from the TSBD’s Southeast 6^th floor window. But Hill did not hear the same number of shots, as he himself said back then. He also saw a different head wound than the Warren Commission conjured up.

In his book on pages 153 and 154 Clint Hill wrote “Suddenly, there was a loud explosive noise, like a firecracker, that came from behind…I saw President Kennedy grab at his throat and lurch to his left. I realized the explosive noise had been a gunshot.”

Hill heard the first shot and saw that it had hit the president. To his credit, he reacted appropriately and was the ONLY Secret Service agent to attempt to reach the president after the gunfire started. The other agents appear to be doing nothing more than bird-watching. The mystifying part is, if the shot came from the back, why did the president grab his throat and “lurch to the left”? That would suggest a shot from the front right.

Agent Glenn Bennett, sitting in the car directly behind the presidential limousine, testified that he SAW the second shot hit the president in the back, exactly where the autopsy diagram, marked at Bethesda Hospital by Dr. Boswell, shows it struck the president’s body [which means it could only have come out of his throat if it was travelling upward]. 

Agent Bennett stated it hit the president about four inches down from the right shoulder. At that angle it could not have come out the throat moving downward, as Arlen Specter reinvented it for the Warren Commission. None of the Parkland doctors who saw the throat wound thought it was an exit wound. Their testimony was eventually bent to fit the single bullet theory. But when they first saw it, every medical person in Dallas identified it as a wound of entry.

Hill continues his story with this: “While I was running there was a second shot. I didn’t hear it – perhaps because I was so focused on catching up to the car, or because of the sounds of the motorcycles on either side of me drowned out the sound – but I am convinced, from all the evidence I’ve seen, read, and studied, that this second shot was the one that hit Governor Connally.”

Agent Hill only heard two shots and surmised there was a third, not because he heard it, or saw its effects, but because of what he read and studied afterward. From this it is apparent that Hill, like all other members of the Secret Service, claims all three shots hit their targets; shots one and three hit Kennedy and shot number two (that Hill didn’t hear) hit Connally. If that is their official assessment, how do they explain the shot that ricocheted off a curb near the triple underpass and injured bystander James Tague? This has never been answered, and for all intents and purposes, it has been ignored because it doesn’t fit their speculative story. Nor does it square with the official Warren Commission version which has the first or second shot missing (to the Warren Commission, this wasn’t an important point) but one of those shots was re-cast as hitting Kennedy high in the back/lower neck area, passing through his neck to continue in a downward trajectory to slam into Governor Connally hard enough to shatter his rib, punch out of his chest, smash the radius bone in his right wrist and then in almost pristine condition, slide backward into his left thigh, coming to rest next to the thigh bone. Even that deep in his leg it was still able to work its way back out at the hospital and roll underneath the gurney mat the Governor had been wheeled into the hospital on. And the second bullet that hit Kennedy - supposedly the same caliber from the same rifle as the previous shot  - hit Kennedy in the skull against a much less dense bone (than a radius bone) and shattered into so many small pieces it appeared as dust and minute particles in X-rays.

               The most damning part of Clint Hill’s recollection is this from page 155 “The president’s head was in Mrs. Kennedy’s lap, his eyes fixed, and a gaping hole in the back of his skull.”

Clint Hill indicates where the gaping gunshot wound was on President Kennedy's head.

Other than Mrs. Kennedy, no one but Clint Hill had a closer look at the damage to the president’s head only moments after it happened. No one. This observation is in complete accord with what the Parkland Hospital doctors also said. They described it as a 4 to 5 centimeter blasted out area in the back of the head, in the occipital-parietal area. Which means the killing shot came from somewhere to the president’s front. Lee Oswald did not fire that shot.

Agent Hill stated this description of the head wound to the Warren Commission, even telling Arlen Specter “The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car.”Yet that wasn’t part of the Warren Commission’s conclusion. They decided the Bethesda autopsy doctors were right that the damage to the president’s head was on the right side over his ear. It is still a mystery why the Warren Commission did not call Kennedy’s personal physician George Burkley, M.D. as a witness. He was the only physician to observe the president at Parkland and at the Bethesda proceedings. His exclusion from the Warren Commission hearings was a conscious omission on Warren’s part. We can only speculate as to why.

Roy Kellerman, the agent who was in the right front seat of the limousine stated that the last two shots came almost one on top the other, and his testimony is backed up by Constable Seymour Weitzman who was in the lead car, by reporter Mary Elizabeth Woodward who was the closest reporter to the presidential limousine at the time of the assassination, by Abraham Zapruder and his secretary, and by Linda Kay Willis among others. All of those people testified to the Warren Commission that the second and third shots were very close together, and ALL of their testimonies...ALL OF THEM...were ignored. Agent Hill says he only heard two shots, but modified that to three after reading and studying the assassination. Or, he heard only two because the second and third shots were so close together that they blended into one over the sound of the motorcycles, his footsteps, and his hard breathing to catch up with the president’s car. He was trying to do his job. Ascertaining how many shots were fired wasn’t his top priority at the moment.

Agent Hill, center, in the dark suit, moments after the first shot was fired.

I recommend this book for those interested in the work of the Secret Service. On that point it is fascinating. I wish I could recommend it because of revelations about JFK’s assassination. But Clint makes it clear he supports the Secret Service/FBI story that the first and third shots hit Kennedy and the second one wounded Connally. The injury to James Tague is ignored. The Warren Commission Report says that Clint Hill’s assessment is wrong. The Commission invented the correct scenario - where Tague’s blood loss was caused by one of the shots that missed - The first or second shot goes through both Kennedy and Connally, and the last one practically blows the right side of the president’s head off. That is impossible based on the existing evidence…i.e. the location of the earliest gun shot wound in the upper back as marked on the autopsy diagram - that was signed by the president’s physician, - the X-rays of Kennedy’s head wound as compared to the official photographs of the same area, the virtually pristine bullet, CE399, which contained no blood, viscera, marks from the clothing it passed through or even lost much of its weight after injuring two people and smashing two hard bones. The discrepancies exist to this day and there has been no attempt to correct them.

John F. Kennedy deserves much better treatment from the U.S. government, especially on the 100^th anniversary of his birth. I consider us fortunate to have had him as our president if only for those few fleeting years. His death sent our country on a path it was never meant to tread. We can never repair the damage that has been done. But we can strive to get the country headed back into the right direction. It won’t happen under this current (Trump) administration. But it is something we can all aim for when the time is right.