John F Kennedy Assassination

Donald Trump’s Hostility Toward And Attacks On National Security And Intelligence Agencies Could Backfire On Him

Donald Trump has declared “war” on national security and intelligence agencies, whose commitment is to protect the United States against all domestic and foreign threats.

Trump is doing this to try to end the investigation into the Presidential Election of 2016, and the evidence showing Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and the widespread corruption of the Trump family and his close associates outside the family. This includes the most incompetent, corrupt, and abusive set of Cabinet officers in all of American history.

By removing the security clearances of past national security and intelligence officials, Trump is endangering the United States in future foreign policy and terrorism threats, as the wisdom, experience, and knowledge of these many top officials would be very useful in a crisis.

This seems all contrived by Trump, who has made it clear that he is trying to shut down the inquiries into his election and actions in office.

Trump’s hostility and and attacks could backfire on him in more ways than one.

It is not wise to “mess around” with patriots who devote their lives and careers to protection of the homeland internally and externally.

The alienation that has developed could cause committed people to take action behind the scenes to undermine Trump’s ability to succeed in his conspiracy against the American people.

And while no one can say that intelligence and national security agencies plot to remove Presidents, one cannot be certain of that.

There are, after all, conspiracy theories that claim that rogue agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) possibly had plotted against President John F. Kennedy, leading to his assassination in 1963, and also to take down President Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal in 1974.

While this author totally rejects such conspiracy theories, who can say that it might not be true in the past, and might be an avenue of opportunity for those dedicated patriots who see Donald Trump as a real threat and danger to America?

IF any element felt that Donald Trump was too cozy with Vladimir Putin, and was indeed collaborating to undermine American defenses against an authoritarian dictator as Putin is, who can say it would not be seen as the “patriotic duty” of such elements to remove the threat, even at their own personal danger?

This sounds like a novel or film, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility.

“Fooling around” with national security and intelligence agencies and personnel is certainly an unwise, reckless move by an arrogant, out of control President, and he might not like the end result!

So Donald Trump, be forewarned, before you have gone over the boundaries that the professionals in national security and intelligence deem acceptable, as that might lead to tragic results!

Presidential Campaigns Lost By 15 Presidents

In our final examination of Presidents and their background and experiences for the White House, we will now examine Presidential campaigns lost by Presidents.

A total of 15 Presidents ran unsuccessful campaigns for Presidents as follows:

Thomas Jefferson lost the Presidential Election of 1796 to John Adams, but then won in 1800 and 1804.

Andrew Jackson lost the Presidential Election of 1824 to John Quincy Adams, but then won in 1828 and 1832.

William Henry Harrison lost the Presidential Election Of 1836 to Martin Van Buren, but then won in 1840.

Martin Van Buren received the most votes on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention in 1844, but failed to win the required two thirds majority, and lost the nomination to James K. Polk. He also ran on the Free Soil Party ticket for President in 1848, and finished behind winner Zachary Taylor and second place finisher Lewis Cass. However, he had won the Presidency earlier in 1836.

James Buchanan competed for the nomination of the Democratic Party in 1848 and 1852, but failed to get the nomination, losing to Lewis Cass and Franklin Pierce, respectively, but then won the Presidency in 1856.

Millard Fillmore ran on the American (Know Nothing) Party ticket for President in 1856, but finished behind winner James Buchanan and loser John C. Fremont. Earlier, he had served as President after the death of Zachary Taylor.

Andrew Johnson competed for the Democratic nomination in 1860, but lost the nomination to Stephen A. Douglas. He later served as President after the death of Abraham Lincoln.

Ulysses S. Grant competed for the Republican nomination in 1880, losing the nomination to James A. Garfield. He had earlier been elected President in 1868 and 1872.

Theodore Roosevelt competed for the Republican nomination in 1912, losing the nomination to President William Howard Taft. He ran in the general election as the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party candidate, having earlier served as President, after succeeding to the officer upon the death of William McKinley, and then being elected in his own right in 1904.

Herbert Hoover competed for the Republican nomination in 1920, but lost the nomination to Warren G Harding, but then won the Presidency in 1928.

Lyndon B. Johnson lost the Democratic nomination to John F. Kennedy in 1960, became his Vice Presidential running mate, and succeeded to the Presidency upon Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, and was elected for a full term in 1964.

Richard Nixon lost the Presidency to John F. Kennedy in 1960, but then won the Presidency in 1968 and 1972.

Ronald Reagan competed for the Republican nomination in 1968 and 1976, losing the nomination to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, respectively, but then won the Presidency in 1980 and 1984.

George H. W. Bush competed for the Republican nomination in 1980, losing the nomination to Ronald Reagan, but became his Vice Presidential running mate, and then Vice President, and then was elected to succeed him as President in the Presidential Election of 1988.

Donald Trump competed for the Reform Party nomination in 2000, but withdrew before Pat Buchanan won that party’s nomination, and later won the Republican nomination and was elected in 2016.

Also, two future Presidents competed for the Vice Presidency, with Franklin D. Roosevelt being the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in 1920, losing to Calvin Coolidge; and John F. Kennedy competing for the Vice Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in 1956, when Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson opened up the Vice Presidential nomination to be decided by the convention delegates, and Estes Kefauver being selected over Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy A Century Later, And 54 Years After His Tragic Death: His Legacy And What Might Have Been

Tomorrow, Memorial Day 2017, is the Centennial of the birth of John F. Kennedy.

It is nearly 54 years since his tragic death by assassination in Dallas, Texas.

The potential of what JFK could have accomplished is all speculation, impossible to know.

We know for sure that he was a dynamic leader with great goals for a nation, but under bitter attack from Southern Democrats and conservatives for his initiatives on civil rights, education, health care, the environment, and his unannounced plans for a War on Poverty.

We know that he was a fantastic orator, who appealed to our better nature, and our optimism.

We know that he was glamorous in his appearance, his wife, and his young children.

We know that he is looked back upon as an ideal time when America seemed to be moving forward, but was also entering a very difficult decade of turmoil and tumult, as his two successors, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, escalated a war in Vietnam that divided the nation in a way not seen since the Civil War.

But we also do not know that he would not have done the same thing, escalate the war in Vietnam.

And we also do not know that he would have won reelection, with the likely loss of Southern states that were crucial to a reelection victory.

If he had been running in 1964, would Senator Barry Goldwater, the right wing Republican who likely would have still been the nominee of his party, been able to win, when he lost in a massive landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson?

Or what if JFK was running, if somehow, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had somehow overcome opposition within the Republican Party for being a “New York Liberal”, and been the GOP Presidential nominee, could Rockefeller have defeated JFK?

Would a living JFK been able to wage a War on Poverty; passage of Medicare; enactment of expanded federal aid to education: promoted environmental and consumer laws; and been able to gain two major Civil Rights laws, all accomplished by LBJ?

The tragedy is that we will never know what the future would have been with a President JFK beyond November 22, 1963!

53 Years Since The John F. Kennedy Assassination: Still Not Recovered From The Reverberations Of That Event

53 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy, our youngest elected President, with all of his youth, good looks, and charisma, was suddenly shot down at age 46, shocking the world, and we are still not fully recovered from the reverberations of that event in 2016.

America lost whatever innocence it had that day, and it ushered in a whole group of assassinations and attempts over the next decade and more.

Fortunately, no President has been assassinated since then, but Ronald Reagan was severely wounded in 1981, and the problem of protection of the President and the First Family remains a constant security nightmare.

Whatever our political beliefs, we can wish good health and safety for President Elect Donald Trump and his entire family, but also realize the anger, fury, and divisiveness that has continued to escalate with recent Presidents, reaching an all time high of threats against President Barack Obama, are not likely to lessen with a new and controversial President, who speaks his mind openly more than anyone in recent memory, at least since Richard Nixon.

So the challenge to try to make the Kennedy Assassination the very last ever to occur continues to face us in the future.

I wish to remind my readers that my Assassinations book is coming out in paperback in March 2017 at the very reasonable price of $17.95 from the publisher, Rowman Littlefield, and that the Kennedy Assassination is covered in detail in Chapter 9, and the Reagan Assassination attempt is covered in Chapter 14. The threats faced by Obama are covered in Chapter 16.

It is well worth your reading.

Donald Trump, The Conspiracy Theorist, With Innumerable “Skeletons” In His Closet!

Donald Trump is a master of conspiracy theories, including:

Muslims in Hew Jersey applauded the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and is a Muslim. (The Birther Conspiracy)

Mexico is conspiring against the US, and sending drug gangs and criminals into the US.

Ted Crux’s father, Rafael Cruz, conspired with Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F. Kennedy.

Vince Foster, an aide to the Clintons, did not commit suicide in 1993, but instead was murdered on order of the Clintons, as he had dangerous information on their activities.

Hillary Clinton “enabled” Bill Clinton to commit abuse on numerous women, and set out to destroy those women’s lives in the aftermath.

These and other conspiracy theories are the work of right wing extremists who will stop at nothing to defame the Clintons and President Obama.

Meanwhile, Trump has numerous “skeletons” in his closet, but is outraged at any investigation of them, and uses reports on his “skeletons” as the excuse for his vicious personal attacks on the Clintons, Obama, Muslims, and Mexicans, along with innumerable personal attacks on everyone else imaginable!

Secret Service In Crisis Which Threatens Safety Of President, Vice President, And Presidential Candidates!

New revelations make clear that the Secret Service is in crisis, and that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and the multitude of Presidential candidates cannot feel relaxed that they are safe.

With the mounting gun violence, increase in domestic terrorism, and the rapidly increased threat from Al Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) being evident, we need a strong, disciplined, well trained, and competent Secret Service.

But many blunders have occurred, including the recent White House Jumper Joseph Caput0; the sex scandals of Secret Service agents overseas; the misbehavior of some agents including dangerous driving and too much drinking when due to go on duty in a short time frame; and the evident cronyism in the power structure of the Secret Service.

In the 114 years that the Secret Service has protected the President, there has never been awareness or knowledge of so many shortcomings and inadequacies in this most important agency.

The fear is that if the Secret Service does not improve its record very rapidly, which is unlikely, that we could witness a tragedy which would undermine national confidence and unity, similar to the John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy assassination, or the Ronald Reagan serious wounding from an assassination attempt!

Three Speakers Of The House Who Were “A Heartbeat Away” From The Presidency!

The Presidential Succession Act was changed in 1947 from what it had been in the earlier law of 1886.

Instead of the cabinet officers being next in line after the Vice President, the new law, in effect now for 68 years, has the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Congressman elected by one Congressional district, as next in line.

So therefore, three Speakers of the House have been “a heartbeat away” from the Presidency, in mid 1947-1948, November 1963 to January 1965, and October to December 1973 and August to December 1974.

Joseph W.  Martin Jr. was the first Republican Speaker in 16 years, when the law changed, and when threats against Harry Truman by the Zionist Stern Gang in 1947, as reported by Margaret Truman, occurred, and Martin was a heartbeat away.

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who had suffered a heart attack in 1955 became President, 73 year John W. McCormack was next in line for 14 months, and the recognition of this fact and his advanced age, led to the passage and ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, providing for an appointed Vice President to fill a vacancy after hearings by the House of Representatives and Senate.

Carl Albert was the third Speaker to be next in line when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in October 1973, and Albert remained so for two months until Gerald Ford was selected and confirmed as the the first Vice President under the 25th Amendment.

Again, Albert was first in line from August 1974, when Richard Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford became President, until December 1974 when Nelson Rockefeller was selected and confirmed as the second Vice President under the 25th Amendment.

So for a total of about two years, we have had Speakers of the House, and all three of the opposition party to boot, as “a heartbeat away” from the Presidency.

And although no President or Vice President has left office since 1974, the odds of such an event occurring at some point in the future is mounting, and worrisome, with three out of four years since 1947 having the opposition party in the Speakership as two heartbeats away from the Presidency!

The Constitutional Crisis We Tend To Forget: Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, And Gerald Ford In 1973

The tragedy of the John F. Kennedy Assassination in 1963 led to a decision that the nation needed an amendment to provide for a replacement Vice President, when there was a vacancy in that office.  We were faced with a Speaker of the House, John McCormack, who was 73, and a President Pro Tempore of the US Senate, Carl Hayden, who was 86, at a time when the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had had a severe heart attack eight years earlier.

This was a delicate time, and led Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, and other legislators, to promote the 25th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1967.  And that made the constitutional crisis which followed six years later a little easier to deal with.

Richard Nixon became the most lawless President in American history, as a result of the Watergate Scandal and other scandals.  But Vice President Spiro Agnew also became the most lawless Vice President in American history, and thank goodness we found out about Agnew’s lawlessness, including bribery and accepting cash gifts in the Vice President’s office, which Agnew had also done while Governor of Maryland and Baltimore County Executive.

Instead of having Speaker of the House Carl Albert of Oklahoma as next in line, with Albert unwilling to take on the responsibility, the 25th Amendment allowed the appointment and confirmation by both houses of Congress of House Minority Leader Gerald Ford.

Ford became Vice President within two months of the Agnew resignation on October 10, 1973. and when he became President, Ford appointed and gained the approval of both houses of Congress to the appointment of former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President, although it took four months to get him confirmed.

The problem of most Speakers of the House is their lack of competence to be President, which is still a problem for a period of months until a new Vice President is appointed and confirmed.  And also, three out of four years since 1947, the Speaker and or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate have been from the opposition party of the President.

So this still requires what this blogger has suggested in the past week in the midst of the Speakership crisis—a return to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, which provided for Cabinet officers to succeed the President and Vice President, rather than the present law, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which leaves us with the crisis we face now!

Right Wing Extremist Groups Multiply Eight Times Since Barack Obama Became President!

With the tragic news of two police officers murdered in Nevada over the weekend by an extremist right wing couple connected to the Cliven Bundy showoff with the Bureau of Land Management two months ago, it is more clear than ever how dangerous so called “patriot” groups, white supremacists, secessionists, and racists are to the political stability of this country! This is the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi elements, and the John Birch Society remnants come back to life, as if they ever had disappeared!

Statisics show an over 800 percent increase in such groups since Barack Obama became President, and the Republican extremists in the House of Representatives and the Senate, plus the right wing talk shows hosts on radio and Fox News Channel and guests that encourage such bigotry, racism, and fear of the national government, are responsible for what is happening, as they make our President out to be the devil incarnate!

Respect for the government, for law, and for law enforcement officers, has rapidly declined, and more acquisition of firearms by extremists who plot against the government and the police, presents an alarming situation.

And as has been demonstrated by the Secret Service, and other sources, death threats against President Obama continue to multiply, increasing the chances that just one time, it might succeed, and lead to a horrible tragedy.

This author has stated this before, that we must stop the hate, the division, the bigotry, and condemn those who promote it, as we do not wish or need another tragedy, such as the tragedy a half century ago in Dallas, when our youngest President ever elected, and the first Roman Catholic, John F. Kennedy, was brutally assassinated, a tragedy we are still unable to recover from in a complete fashion!

Right Wing Obscenity: Trying To Claim John F. Kennedy As One Of Their Own On 50th Anniversary Of His Assassination!

The right wing has no shame, as it is now claiming, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, that he would be one of their own, and as stated by lunatic Glenn Beck, that JFK would be a Tea Party Movement radical! The nerve of Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other right wing promoters of lies and deceit, to sully the good name of our 35th President!

John F. Kennedy stated publicly that he was proud to be a liberal.

John F. Kennedy moved toward the idea of ending the Cold War in his last year in office, through promotion of diplomacy and ending the arms race.

John F. Kennedy spoke up for civil rights, planned a war on poverty, advocated the creation of Medicare, and the promotion of federal aid to education.

John F. Kennedy wanted to create a department of urban affairs to deal with the growing problems of the cities, while trying to promote racial equality and justice.

John F. Kennedy promoted the space program and the advancement of science.

John F. Kennedy advocated helping the third world nations through the establishment of the Peace Corps.

John F. Kennedy was out to promote the expansion of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Fair Deal of Harry Truman.

John F. Kennedy had brothers who promoted liberalism in his memory–Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy–and they knew, better than anyone, what he was all about.

In this, and a multitude of other ways, John F. Kennedy was a proud Democrat and liberal, and would have repudiated everything the Republican Party of 2013 represents, and would have condemned the right wing, which hated his guts in his lifetime, and he would have fought against the backwardness, the racism, and the promotion of hate and division that the Tea Party Movement represents!