Youtube is an interesting part of life in the 21st century because it connects us to the world in an unusual manner. We can see the best of times and the worst of times through there as it makes future stars out of nobodies (see early Justin Bieber video) and dogs (see any goofy mutt video). People will relinquish any loose grip they may have on their dignity in an embarrassing effort to become stars, but sometimes stardom is simply a taped pratfall or misstep away from Youtube viral fame. . .
The Youtube adventure has reconnected me with my own kid TV roots because I can watch ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and ‘Get Smart’ any time the spirit moves me. I saw a 1956 TV game show sequence that had a 96 year old man who witnessed the Lincoln assassination as a 5-year-old. The old guy misunderstood the events in the theater as a youngster and was concerned with John Wilkes Booth’s health when he hit the stage hard following his leap to escape capture after the shooting.
But somebody recently steered me toward another historical presidential assassination account on Youtube. This one has all-too-familiar photographic evidence – with heavy emphasis on the “graphic” aspect. The famous Zapruder film was digitally enhanced and displays the Kennedy assassination in painfully clear detail.
I am old enough to remember this very dark moment in history as a kid in grade school. The news came to us in the school gym announced by our principal and followed by silence and a prayer for the late president from a bunch of kids in a small Canadian city.
Over the years the Kennedy assassination has ignited much conjecture and debate about the circumstances that surrounded the shooting. Conspiracy theorists can still get tangled up in various hypotheses on the person or persons behind the plot.
Personally I believe that Oswald was a lone gunman. How or why he arrived at his infamous connection to this case is best left to the conspiracy hobbyists. But most experts believe that his rifle shots killed President Kennedy and you will get little argument from me, particularly after I saw the digitally enhanced Zapruder footage.
The experts believe that the Italian Carcano bolt action rifle was used by Oswald for his date with destiny. The rounds were 160 grain round-nosed bullets and they were designed to inflict as much damage as possible upon their intended target. The devastation caused by a bullet built to force its way into a target was graphically evident in the film sequence. The second round that hit Kennedy was a gruesome reminder of the sheer blunt force of the impact. It is ugly to watch and it’s a reminder of the sheer power of a firearm.
Most of the historical footage of the President shows a vibrant living human being whose legacy in American history includes a showdown with the Soviets in Cuba and a call to put a man on the moon before 1970. All of that life and vitality is lost in a heartbeat by a madman with a rifle. It’s a horrific part of history that can be found very easily in the files of Youtube, but I am not sure that I needed to witness this incredibly sad piece of American history.
![By Larry Keane President Joe Biden traveled to New York City for a media event to try and show America he’s doing something about rampant crime. Instead, he blamed the Second Amendment and lawful gun owners, said nothing about holding criminals to account and repeated the same tired lies about the firearm industry he keeps at the ready – lies “fact-checked” as being false each time he’s previously recited them. It makes no difference to the president. He’s not even trying anymore. To President Biden and national gun control groups the problem is always the gun and the law-abiding members of the industry. It’s never the criminal. Blaming the ‘Resistance’ President Biden was joined by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams for a “Gun Violence Strategies Partnership” meeting to talk about how to solve the crime surge, particularly those involving firearms. Instead of real solutions, the focus devolved into blaming law-abiding gun owners and again pushing a gun control agenda. “Enough is enough,” President Biden said. “Because we know we can do things about this, but for the resistance, we’re getting from some sectors of the government and the Congress and the state legislatures, and the organizational structures out there.” That “resistance” the president spoke of is the American people. Over the past two years they’ve become fed up with police defunding policies and soft-on-crime prosecutors, like Manhattan’s Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg. They’ve invested in their own safety. The “resistance” is the 21 million lawful gun buyers in 2020, including more than 8.4 million first-time buyers, and the 18.5 million gun buyers in 2021, with more than 5.4 million first-timers. The ”resistance” has backstopped Congress from passing federal gun control that don’t address crime. It also stopped President Biden’s nominations of paid gun control lobbyist David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and banking activist Saule Omarova as Comptroller of the Currency because not even all U.S. Senate Democrats could support them. They would have turned those agencies into bludgeons to hammer the firearm industry to achieve a special interest, gun control agenda. Favorite Falsehoods The president turned his aim from lawful gun owners towards the firearm industry and repeated a lie he’s rehearsed several times before. “Imagine had we had a liabil… [sic] they’re the only industry in America that is exempted from being able to be sued by the public. Only one,” the president protested. “Why the gun manufacturers?… It’s got to end. They’ve got to be held responsible for the things they do that are irresponsible.” He repeated the claim for emphasis. “And I find that outrageous.” This is flatly false. The president knows by now, or his speechwriters do and they don’t bother with the facts. CNN, Politicfact and Washington Post have all checked President Biden on his remark, including after he said it in the White House Rose Garden. CNN cleanly rebuked it. “This is false. Gun manufacturers are not entirely exempt from being sued, nor are they only industry with some liability protections.” Politifact rated it “false.” Washington Post wasn’t kinder, saying, “Biden is wrong to claim the gun industry is totally immune.” The firearm industry has liability protections under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), bipartisan legislation enacted under former President George W. Bush. The firearm industry cannot be held liable when unaffiliated third-parties, in this case criminals, misuse a legal, lawfully sold product. It’s fundamental tort law and is similar to an individual attempting to hold Ford and Budweiser responsible for drunk driving deaths. The law was passed in direct response to lawsuits filed against the industry by control groups and municipalities like the city of New York and the state of New York. These type of lawsuit continue to be filed, now even by foreign governments represented by the same gun control group, the Brady Center. Colonial-Era Error President Biden continued to ignore facts on the Second Amendment and its history. He even erred when speaking about the Revolution-era days and why the right to keep and bear arms was so sacrosanct. “When the amendment was passed, it didn’t say anybody could own a gun and any kind of gun and any kind of weapon,” President Biden remarked. “You couldn’t buy a cannon, and when – the – when this, uh, this amendment was passed.” It did, and does, say the right of the People “shall not be infringed.” Even The Washington Post was brutal in their assignment of “Four Pinocchio’s” to this statement. “Biden has already been fact-checked on this claim — and it’s been deemed false. We have no idea where he conjured up this notion about a ban on cannon ownership in the early days of the Republic, but he needs to stop making this claim.” In fact, the Constitution of early America – before the Bill of Rights, and Second Amendment, was even ratified – granted and encouraged “special waivers” to American merchants and sailors, “allowing private individuals to act as pirates on behalf of the United States against countries engaged in war with it.” Americans given waivers and who owned warships obviously also obtained cannons for use in battle. In fact, it is still perfectly legal to buy a cannon today. It is the presidents’ fundamental misunderstanding and blatant lying about the Second Amendment that informs his gun control agenda and misguided approach to solving the crime problem. Millions of law-abiding Americans took ownership of their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves, understanding the president won’t. Instead of mangling the meaning of the right and pushing for more gun control on law-abiding Americans, the president should keep it simple. Take on the criminals and punish them for breaking the law.](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/download-26-218x150.jpeg "Mainstream Media Lies to Cover for Kamala")
I’m not getting pictures with the posts, just an “x”. anyone else?
Pictures have been absent as of late for me as well.
On it! Sorry for the lapse.
I have the same problem. Plus the previously mentioned issues (in other threads) with Shockwave on this site causing my browser (Chrome) to crash about 20% of the time.
Sending this info to my web guy now. Sorry.
Jim,
A very poignant piece, thank you. I agree that the video is a stark and graphic record.
I, like you, have vivid memories of that day, and also of a day not five years later when JFK’s brother Bobby was killed. (In June of 1968, just two months after MLK was assassinated by another madman with a rifle.) In RFK’s case, it was a madman with an 8-shot Iver-Johnson .22 caliber revolver. For worse or better, bullets can change the course of history. I for one am glad I’ve lived long enough after the 1960s-1980s to see fewer assassinations and assassination attempts in this country.
Everyone who was around at the time of the JFK assassination remembers where they were when they heard the news. I was in high school. I remember telling a friend that the country was now leaderless. He told me not to worry, because Lyndon Johnson would do a good job. My friend could not have been more wrong.
I wonder occasionally how our national history would have progressed had JFK not been assassinated. I think that it would be a better country today, but that’s just a guess.
Never was a fan of LBJ.
Nor was anyone with a brain.
I recently read an alternate history fiction book called “Castro’s Bomb” by Robert Conroy. In the story Cuba ire takes Gauntanamo Bay by force as revenge for the Bay of Pigs. Anyways, to make a long story short, LBJ is assassinated instead of JFK. I read that and thought that it was too bad it didn’t turn out that way.
“We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
http://www.hbci.com/~tgort/kennedy.htm
Yeah, that’s what he said in public. In private, he told one of his mistresses that he’d rather see his children Red than dead.
Still, he left us with Lyndon Johnson. It wasn’t until LBJ started screwing up the country that we knew exactly what we’d lost.
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