There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.
1968 is an interesting "moment in time" of contrasts.
There was Bobby, who wanted to use government as a force for good. He would have taken the blatant racism, the "divide and conquer", out of LBJ's so-called "Great Society". For example, Bobby wanted to allocate social services based on need, not on the basis of skin pigmentation. And he wouldn't have decimated the black family.
At the same time, there was Eugene McCarthy who basically said, whoa Bobby, we want "Tto Seek A Newer World", but government is a monster that can and will get quickly out of hand. Let's find better ways of getting there, with government as a very last resort.
Bobby Sr is an interesting example in the potential, the capacity, for growth.
Jr didn't have to live through what his father did, hasn't had to make hard decisions in uncertain situations like his father did.
Jr does have the benefit of hindsight, of time to study and reflect. How will that bode? Time will tell.
I'd still like to find a book on RFK Sr's train trip through the USSR in the 1950s with William O. Douglas. Today, Douglas would be called an extreme Libertarian, perhaps a "Deplorable". What did they talk about, what did each learn from the other? How might that have played out in 1969 and after if things had turned out differently?
I think we've gotten far beyond trust. Remember "The Most Trusted Man In America", who lied to us repeatedly about who killed JFK, and so much more? Uncle Walter never went on TV, gave a talk, wrote an article, nothing nada, even tho he could have sparked a wildfire by getting people to pay attention to a certain lady in French Intelligence who came out with a book in 1968 and nailed it:
Can we trust DJT? Bobby? Neither? I don't know. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Don't stop with a "Plan B", but also have contingency plans/outlines C through Z as well.
Then who? Elon, to his credit, said trust no one, including him. Perot's gone, who's left? Maybe there is another peanut farmer out there that says "trust me"?
How much truth can anyone on the stage speak before they have "a tragic skiing accident" (Sonny Bono), "a tragic plane accident" (JFK Jr, Paul Wellstone), a tragic car accident (Michael Hastings)? Sex is always on the elimination table (Gary Hart, John Edwards, Cosby, Russell Brand).
How much truth can one speak anywhere? Go into Court, take an oath to tell, "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". But those willing to push the envelope find quickly that only "acceptable truths" are allowed; the rest will get you in trouble.
Tell the truth about "81 Million Joe" too loudly, and watch the Indictments fly.
"Failure", but also a tremendous amount of suppressing that potential, including knowledge of the potential of the potential.
Will we have a "Great Awakening", or are we being fed false hope and will instead go up the chimney?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1948985.Human_Smoke
There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.
-Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.
"Day Of Affirmation" speech, June 6, 1966
1968 is an interesting "moment in time" of contrasts.
There was Bobby, who wanted to use government as a force for good. He would have taken the blatant racism, the "divide and conquer", out of LBJ's so-called "Great Society". For example, Bobby wanted to allocate social services based on need, not on the basis of skin pigmentation. And he wouldn't have decimated the black family.
At the same time, there was Eugene McCarthy who basically said, whoa Bobby, we want "Tto Seek A Newer World", but government is a monster that can and will get quickly out of hand. Let's find better ways of getting there, with government as a very last resort.
Bobby Sr is an interesting example in the potential, the capacity, for growth.
Jr didn't have to live through what his father did, hasn't had to make hard decisions in uncertain situations like his father did.
Jr does have the benefit of hindsight, of time to study and reflect. How will that bode? Time will tell.
I'd still like to find a book on RFK Sr's train trip through the USSR in the 1950s with William O. Douglas. Today, Douglas would be called an extreme Libertarian, perhaps a "Deplorable". What did they talk about, what did each learn from the other? How might that have played out in 1969 and after if things had turned out differently?
I think we've gotten far beyond trust. Remember "The Most Trusted Man In America", who lied to us repeatedly about who killed JFK, and so much more? Uncle Walter never went on TV, gave a talk, wrote an article, nothing nada, even tho he could have sparked a wildfire by getting people to pay attention to a certain lady in French Intelligence who came out with a book in 1968 and nailed it:
https://jfk-online.com/farewell07.html
Connecting some dots to the present, some pictures say many thousands of words:
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41911d8c-1ad0-46e1-9566-4d3af7fba7b3_1448x2048.jpeg
Here it is in 2:47
https://youtu.be/vuhCvWu1aCQ?si=9x3Jzv-EJ9V8MLYn
For only 16:58 more, you can see Uncle Walter confess that he had long been a big pile of steaming poo:
https://youtu.be/ANiqW8F0A5c?si=Zoybe7vre10RqgDX
Can we trust DJT? Bobby? Neither? I don't know. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Don't stop with a "Plan B", but also have contingency plans/outlines C through Z as well.
Then who? Elon, to his credit, said trust no one, including him. Perot's gone, who's left? Maybe there is another peanut farmer out there that says "trust me"?
How much truth can anyone on the stage speak before they have "a tragic skiing accident" (Sonny Bono), "a tragic plane accident" (JFK Jr, Paul Wellstone), a tragic car accident (Michael Hastings)? Sex is always on the elimination table (Gary Hart, John Edwards, Cosby, Russell Brand).
How much truth can one speak anywhere? Go into Court, take an oath to tell, "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". But those willing to push the envelope find quickly that only "acceptable truths" are allowed; the rest will get you in trouble.
Tell the truth about "81 Million Joe" too loudly, and watch the Indictments fly.
https://youtu.be/b3k_exJLYJQ?si=Je0IrVqUC1vQqD6H
Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes, I despair the world will never see another man like him
https://youtu.be/EeyhKWjQaKk?si=uhZjx2kjtmtb2-la
Vicki Vale: Some people think you're as dangerous as the Joker.
Batman: He's psychotic.
Vicki Vale: Some people say the same about you.
Batman: What people?
Vicki Vale: Well, face it. You're not exactly normal, are you?
Batman: This isn't exactly a normal world, is it?
--"Batman", 1989