It has been a while since I have heard a really crazy [new to me] conspiracy on the “Conspiracy Show” via the Michael Medved Show. So I thought I would isolate this conspiracy and even add a bit to it by inserting an excerpt of one of these CRAZY videos. Enjoy, it made my family laugh.
For more clear thinking like this from Michael Medved… I invite you to visit: http://www.michaelmedved.com/
~ Update at the bottom ~
The rumors immediately said LaVoy Finicum’s hands were up and he peaceably was complying to the FBI. He a) ran, b) he hit an officer with his vehicle, and c) was reaching (a couple of times) into his jacket (video will start close to the action) ~ Twitchy h/t:
I HATE that there is a drone involved. But at the same time I LOVE that a drone is involved BECAUSE it puts to rest the crazy conspiracy theories that would be more dangerous than these few nut jobs:
“Unfortunately, when the Attorney General, as the highest law enforcement official in the country, does not vigorously pursue justice in cases where government clearly employed improper force, a cancerous suspicion metastasizes in the body of society with potentially devastating effects. Not least of all, it encourages dangerous extremists like those in the Oklahoma City bombing.” ~ Dean Koontz on Ruby Ridge
Here you see proper government force in my opinion… more is needed… I would hate to find out that the reason LaVoy initially reached for his side was that the FBI fired and hit him.
The other day Medved gave some good commentary about the situation, here it is:
Convo Time
In conversation on Facebook I noted the following in response to the officer “jumping into the path of the vehicle,” and the FBI shooting while LaVoy’s hands were in the air:
The vehicle hitting the officer is clear… clear that if he didn’t run the officer would not be hit to begin with. Second, the officer could have thought the truck was going to hit the truck he was behind and made a last second decision to get away from the back of the vehicle he was hiding behind. He was still struck by a felony evasion driver.
In other words, if that officer jumped in front of the car on accident, it doesn’t matter, the felony evasion would cause the driver to be charged with felony assault.
[LaVoy] could have been shot first. The video does not show this to NOT be the case, which is why I said:
LaVoy said this a few days prior: “I have grown up loving the fresh air. I love the elements. And this is where I’m going to breathe my last breath… I’m not going to spend my last days in a cell. This world is too beautiful to spend it in a cell.”
This IS NOT like the power used in Ruby Ridge or the overwhelming force used at WACO instead or arresting David Koresh in town earlier. And most of the very small group of men there on this Federal land [in Oregon] were from out of state, people not vested in the real fight, and not helping the real fight to limit government in any way or stop the continued land grab in recent bills.
A wonderful post over at Red State, I will excerpt it a bit here:
…Some have said he his lost balance. I don’t know. All I can say is that I find it very hard to criticize the men at the roadblock. And yes, Finicum was armed. He carried a concealed pistol on his left side. And he had several more weapons in the automobile. The weapons on Finicum and in the auto are not, per se, illegal but context is everything. In the context of the general temper of the standoff and of Linicum’s own statements, assuming that he had made the decision to go out shooting is not all that unreasonable.
I generally agree with the description given by the FBI supervisor at the scene:
“Finicum leaves the truck and steps through the snow,” Bretzing said. “Agents and troopers on scene had information that Finicum and others would be armed. On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun in that pocket. At this time, OSP troopers shot Finicum.”
I am generally sympathetic to the struggle of ranchers in the American West and Southwest in their struggle with the federal government. As I’ve said before, if you live in the eastern two-thirds of the United States, your impression of federal land ownership is largely battlefields and forests. Out West, the story is different:
Nothing happens in a vacuum [this was Dean Koontz’s point] and it is no coincidence that the increasingly high stakes standoffs between landowners and federal agents are rooted, in great part, in the overweening arrogance and petty tyranny exhibited by the agencies that “manage” America’s public lands.
In addition to bad policy, the BLM has attracted managers who look upon the federal lands as their personal fiefdoms to do with as they see fit. BLM managers have used the Endangered Species Act as a cudgel to curtail or forbid off road recreational activity and ranching is large areas. In 2004, the BLM aggressively pushed to have law enforcement authority on highways that passed through federally owned land rather than having that function performed by state and county police. This would not only have wildly increased the power of the BLM but it would have created a new revenue stream for them—fines from traffic violations.
General sympathy for ranchers who are being crushed by federal agencies, though, doesn’t translate into support for every knuckle-headed thing some of these people, specifically the Bundy clan, do….
See more here in a forum discussion.
Video Description:
(Cue Evil Laughter) The original video can be found here. But the video file at LiveLeak is bad.
Here is his description from LiveLeak:
There is a popular video that pops up every now and then that has John F. Kennedy making allusions to a secret society and other kinds of woo woo.
That speech has nothing to do with the NWO people. He means communism and he was addressing the American Newspaper Publishers Association and their responsibility to consider national security when publishing articles about government activity during the cold war.
Here is a link to the full transcript, where you can also listen to the fill 19 minute recording.
This is one of the funniest conspiracies I have heard in a long time on Michael Medved’s “Conspiracy Day” (every full moon). This woman thinks she is Obama’s real mother! Funny… Michael did a bang-up-job in keeping a straight face.
_____________________________________
For more clear thinking like this from Michael Medved… I invite you to visit: http://www.michaelmedved.com/
A great, short, article can be found over at Libertarian Republican systematizing some of the differences between Democrats and Republicans:
TRUTHERS versus BIRTHERS
A 2006 Scripps-Howard poll found that 51% of Democrats believed it was “likely” or “very likely” that the federal government either assisted in the attacks of 9-11 or knew that the attacks were coming and did nothing in order to go to war in the Middle East. And, a 2011 PPP poll found that 51% of Republicans believed Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
I am going to interrupt this part of Dr. Thies’ article merely to add to the information given above, and this comes from my “Comparing Two Conspiracy Theories: Birtherism vs. 9/11 Conspiracies” as well as updated information. One should read this post of mine because the “evil” factor in these conspiracies are VASTLY different. In other words,
…Republicans at least say Obama was lying about his place of birth in order to get special preference in educational and publishing opportunities; at most saying that Obama later found out about other peoples lies in getting him over to America as a child and tried to cover it up for his Presidential run.
On the other-side of the coin, you have Democrats saying that [at least] Bush knew about the pending attack and allowed it to happen in order to financially profit from a war[s]. At most they say he was actually involved in the taking down of the Trade Towers in order to go to war. BOTH options Bush is culpable for the murder of innocent and military lives.
First the historical polling:
What is the percentage of Republicans that believed (at it’s height of belief) Obama was not born in America?
How many Democrats?
However, a third who believe him to be born out of the country approve of him…
That last sentence is also key, “…a third who believe him to be born out of the country approve of him.” And here is a poll concurrent with Clifford’s:
12 percent of Democrats think the president was born elsewhere, as do 21 percent of independents. That percentage climbs to 37 percent among Republicans. Among those who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement, 41 percent think the president was born outside the U.S.
Most American voters — 67 percent — believe Obama was born in the United States. That includes almost all Democrats (84 percent) and most independents (69 percent). Less than half of Republicans (47 percent) and Tea Partiers (44 percent) think so.
(Fox)
Can I mention as well that it was a Democrat who originated this conspiracy, Philip Berg, NOT to mention that many years prior to Berg… Obama’s own publisher had him listed as “born in Kenya” from 1995-to-2007.
Continuing:
TRADITIONAL VALUES versus ALTERNATIVE VALUES
A 2013 Harris poll found that more Republicans than Democrats believed in God, miracles, heaven, hell, Jesus, angels and life after death; and, that more Democrats than Republicans believed in Darwin, ghosts, UFOs, astrology and reincarnation.
SOCIALISM versus FREE-MARKET CAPITALISM
A recent YouGov poll found that 43% of Democrats had a favorable view of socialism, while only 9% of Republicans did; and, that 79% of Republicans had a favorable view of free-market capitalism, and, that only 43% of Democrats did.
Another stark difference is noted by HotAir, and frankly, I am disappointed in the Republican number of support being so high:
At JAMES RANDI’S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, I found a great starter to a discussion that reads thus:
A fairly common criticism of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth is its quoting of the number of signers of its petition. For example I recently watched a video in which the narrator (I’m paraphrasing) said, ‘At first sight the numbers look impressive, 2000+ architects and engineers, but when you compare that number to the actual number of registered architects and engineers it doesn’t look so impressive.’
And I found this statement at http://911-engineers.blogspot.com/
Only a handful of architects and engineers question the NIST Report, but they have never come up with an alternative. Although at first blush it may seem impressive that these people don’t believe the NIST Report, remember that there are 123,000 members of ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) who do not question the NIST Report. There are also 80,000 members of AIA (American Institute of Architects) who do not question the NIST Report.
Although their field of expertise is not related to the construction of buildings – they don’t seem to have a problem with that over at AE911truth – there are also 120,000 members of ASME(American Society of Mechanical Engineers) who do not question the NIST report. There are also 370,000 members of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) who do not question the NIST report. There are also 40,000 members of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) who do not question the NIST Report. There are also 35,000 members of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) who do not question the NIST report. So who would you rather believe?
And this from Paolo Attivissimo:
…A classic Dunning-Kruger effect. In your opinion, experts are blind but the less competent have 20/20 vision.
Does it not seem strange to you that all the real experts in the field disagree with the “controlled demolition” theories?
Consider the options:
a) all the world’s structural engineers are incompetent, wrong or corrupt and you an a bunch of non-experts are right
b) you are wrong and the world’s structural engineers are right
Ask yourself which of these scenarios is more plausible. Have a nice day.
What is the bottom line? It is this…
In other words, they have a handful of “big-building” civil engineers. And the real number are not necessarily signed off on Gage’s theories.
I have posted in the past the anti-semitic connections of the “truther movement” via the last few pages of the Popular Mechanics book:
But there is also this by CLIFF KINCAID:
…Not surprisingly, as we have previously reported, Al Jazeera has been a reliable vehicle for the 9/11 “truth” movement, since blaming the U.S. government for the attacks conveniently shifts the blame away from the Arab/Muslim world.
An examination of the website of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth reveals something else that is very interesting—a Moscow-funded Russia Today (RT) broadcast promoting the theory. They seem proud that Moscow is signaling approval of their efforts.
This is not new. Like Al Jazeera, Russia Today television has seized on the 9/11 “truth” movement in the past, even running a series by one of its own “reporters” about the attacks being an “inside job” by certain unnamed officials.
The Kremlin and Arab propagandists must be laughing out loud at the thought that some Americans actually believe the U.S. government engineered an attack on itself on 9/11. They understand that the controversy distracts from the need to identify and defeat America’s real enemies…
And finally, in a recent response to ae911Truth ARCHITECT MAGAZINE notes the following (taken from a FaceBook convo I had):
I am sorry, but when “Architects” and “Engineers” [for truth, AE911Truth] are extant from the room for an official A&E event and the room is full of anti-semites… BTW, the AIA (American Institute of Architects) disowned Richard Gage:
From Architect Magazine, this recent article on the distance the American Institute of Architects wisely puts between Richard Gage and AE911Truth:
What is more interesting than these bizarre and debunked conspiracy theories is the way that Gage places his AIA membership front and center in his presentations. He seems to be attempting to cloak his organization in the officialdom of the venerable 155-year-old professional institution, even as AIA wants nothing to do with his organization. At the start of his latest film, he explains that he is “a licensed architect of over 20 years and member of the American Institute of Architects.”
Gage often seems to wield his AIA status in promoting his conspiracy theories. In making his case, he also regularly cites that more than 100 AIA members and at least six AIA Fellows have signed his petition calling for a new investigation. In total, Gage says that more than 1,700 of the petition’s roughly 16,000 signatures are from architects and engineers.
During the screening, Gage was at the very least intimating that his organization had been invited to AIA officially.
…Aside from Gage, though, there was not a single other architect in the room, much less an official from AIA, or even another member. The 80-strong crowd was made up largely of members of the local 9/11 Truth movement and other political activists.
There is and never will be an AIA endorsement of these foolish and anti-rational theories of Richard Gage and AE911Truth. Buyer, beware.
It was rather nice of the author to point out the borderline anti-Semitic theories of some of Gage’s followers, theories that Gage only half-heartedly holds away from himself and AE911Truth.
See my “CONSPIRACY PAGE” for more related info.
ALL of the above means he is a weeny!
Libertarian Republican has this awful story of modern radicalism that blames the U.S. for 9/11. And as usual, the radical nature of this belief is not manifested in a radio host, a reporter, but an official [as usual] who represents the Democratic Party. Here is the story:
Muhammed Attah and his gang of merry Muslim warriors didn’t really fly those jets into the Twin Towers… That’s just fantasy don’t ya know… It was really those evil Republicans in the Bush Administration!!
[….]
Who the hell is this guy? Most certainly a backbencher of the Democrat backbench.
Meet Democrat Rep. Brian Higgins. If you’ve never heard of him, relax, nobody else has either. But he may have just made a name for himself by becoming a spokesman of sorts for the Truther movement, and aligning himself with the theory that maybe “Muslims didn’t do it” after all.
Watch and be horrified as he agrees with a caller that evidence that Muhammed Attah and the other 18 Muslim hijackers may not have flown those jets into the Twin Towers. Perhaps it was the… drum roll please… BUSH ADMINISTRATION!!!
James L. Swanson and Dennis Prager work through the negative effects conspiracy theories have on history and the public psyche:
Video Description:
Dennis Prager asks “End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy” author, James L. Swanson, about JFK conspiracies. This led to outstanding conversation that dealt more with what conspiracy theories do to important events in history that should be remembered exactly for what they are. See also the recent upload of the NYT’s article blaming both Dallas (the City) and conservatives for the killing of Kennedy: http://youtu.be/m6povYsKOxY
For more clear thinking like this from Dennis Prager… I invite you to visit: http://www.dennisprager.com/
Video Description
Hugh Hewitt interviews Uwe Siemon-Netto about the Medias proclivity to blame Republicans for violence… since the JFK days.
For more clear thinking like this from Hugh Hewitt… I invite you to visit: http://www.hughniverse.com/
Granted, it isn’t a reptile alien race that control our political leaders, but this call on Michael Medved’s show on the full moon, “The Conspiracy Show,” proved to be one of the weirdest.
In a conversation that is quite typical of those I have engaged in with Ron Paul fans, I ended up provideing evidence that Ron Paul’s views on the 9/11 are misguided by showing the people involved in the conversation themselves wee misguided. The discussion was the same-ol-same-ol… Ron Paul sends his fans to vote for radical candidates that are self-attested anti-Semites and Marxists when libertarian folk like Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman are/were lifelong Republicans, etc., etc.
What peaked my interest is that the conversation is joined by John Lofton, who is part of the site, The American View, and has many of his MP3s HERE, as well as having a blog entitled, Recovering Republican. All-in-all John and I probably agree on much. However… discussion about Ron Paul led to the 9/11 conspiracy theory. So I pick up the conversation where John hops in. (I will point out that most times I will change the name of persons from FaceBook discussions. But john is a public enough figure that I will use his full name and links):
John Lofton
Oh, and Reagan gave us O’Connor!
Me
Mr. Lofton, may I recommend a resource for you. It is seminary level study, and you may thoroughly enjoy it, “Politics According to the Bible.” We also got Rehnquist and Scalia (and almost Bork). Bush gave us Thomas. How many Justices did Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode get us? Zero.
Ruining the good for the perfect… your position (to the many above who are doggedly RP fans) are no better than the utopians out there because you do not ebb the utopian dreams of the left in ANY way.
Also, there are less hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like today than generations ago. These are false stats put forward by eschatological positions of the left (and unfortunately from the eschatological positions within Christianity, with which I agree with — minus the bad information and scare tactics).
[….]
By the way John… I believe you have jumped the shark. You seem to be a truther as well. And after listening to you mp3 on the subject, I would steer you to my C-O-Nspiracy page: https://religiopoliticaltalk.com/c-o-n-debunker/
John Lofton
You a Christian, Sean?
Me
Yes.
John Lofton
Then why are you making snide, snotty remarks about being a “truther?”
Me
After listening to your mp3 on the matter, you conflate two subjects, what the 9/11 truther goals are with truth/Truth. My faith has no connection to calling a spade-a-spade. I have spent lots of $$$ and time looking into many of the claims in Loose Change and other conspiracy position. I also noticed that many of these positions are lies, the opposite of truth.
“Trutherism” doesn’t ad-hoc equal truth, and to make it is a non-sequitur/straw-man argumentation.
John Lofton
So what are the top 3 things in Loose Change that are “lies?” List them here, please….
Me
Lets do this John. Let us talk about one item you think is strong in Loose Change (since over different editions got rid of many of their previously stated evidences).
John Lofton
You made an assertion, Sean, an affirmation….please back it up. Thank you….
Me
I have written on it thoroughly already:
Pentagon:
https://religiopoliticaltalk.com/pentagon/
WTC-7
https://religiopoliticaltalk.com/wtc-7/
And my compilation of many refutations:
https://religiopoliticaltalk.com/c-o-n-debunker/
John Lofton
So, in other words, you will not reply even briefly to my simple question, right?
Me
I have thoroughly refuted Loose Changes position on two major premises, a) the Pentagon, and b) WTC-7. If you have not read a good refutations of these two major positions put forward in this “true” documentary, then choose one? Which edition? One, two, or three? How bout cell phone calls, mmm, that was in the first one. They rejected that. There are many they present, I deal with the macro one, choose one YOU feel confident about, something that would come to mind that convinces YOU or that you would like to share here as an evidence that others would be persuaded by. One. Simple, not three. One.
go…
John Lofton
“Lies” means things said to DECEIVE ON PURPOSE……list those things here, Sean….
Me
Investors with prior knowledge of 9/11 made millions buying out options on airline stock.
John Lofton
What was said in “Loose Change,” Sean, that was a “lie,” something said ON PURPOSE TO DECEIVE?
Me
That is one. There was no truth to it, and when investigated, there was no truth to it. It was stated merely to endure a conspiracy minded folk to the film. Maybe those reading this would benefit from some sanity on this topic:
Another example is the out-of-context quote from an air traffic controller who supposedly reported that they thought flight 77 was a military plane. This controllers full context (apologists should be use to this tactic used by skeptics to state certain things from the Bible but not so in context) was referring to the unsafe way the plane was flying, not that it was impossible for a civilian plane to fly like that:
★ “The speed, the maneuverability, the way that he turned, we all thought in the radar room, all of us experienced air traffic controllers, that that was a military plane you don’t fly a 757 in that manner. It’s unsafe.”
I have given you two.
John Lofton
What was said, Sean, that was said TO PURPOSELY DECEIVE is my question which you have not answered?
[….]
You have loose mouth about “Loose Change,” Sean……have documented here no “lie” that was told….
Me
They misquoted the second example IN ORDER TO mislead, deceive. They had no proof, evidence of the first example but merely invented it with no evidence. Both are willful acts to deceive and to engender people’s fears. It worked apparently.
John Lofton
And what is your evidence they sought to mislead ON PURPOSE, Sean?
Me
Both were untrue, in the first they had no way of knowing this — even if true — however, they made it up whole-cloth. In the second, they had access to the full context, but decided to truncate it in order to engender their point. A common attack on our faith. Sort of like when they talk about WTC-7 and show a picture of a small fire in one window… but refuse to show pictures of the entire building on fire or the massive damage of the World Trade Towers destroying a corner of the building, or not talking about the 15,000 gallons of fuel in the building, etc., etc. The picture engenders what they want their viewers to believe.
John Lofton
For-the-record: I have neither said nor written ANYTHING saying I agree with anything in the “Loose Change” DVD. I do NOT, however, believe our government’s official story re: 9/11 and believe our government is capable of murdering 3000+ people because our government murders people now in our unGodly, unConstitutional wars; and the government has OK’d the murder of millions in the womb by abortion…..
SIDE-NOTE: Again, it is quite plain-and-simple John supported these conspiracy theories by a) obfuscating ideas of truth and trutherism, and b) by all-but endorsing Loose Change. FOR CONTEXT: one should listen to John’s MP3 on the “truther” movement and realize that I spoke out against Ron Paul’s admiration of truthers and John then [much like in his MP3] equated the mere mention of “truth” in “trutherism” as unassailable. His presentation is titled: Lying, Shameless Hatchet-Job On 9-11 Truth Seekers By Chris Bury On “Nightline” Scurrilous, Despicable But, Of Course, No Surprise; Also of note is his interview with Richard Gage, Founder Of Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth, Inc.; O’Reilly Lies Repeatedly About Study Re: Building 7. ON RICHARD GAGE: Here is a three part interview with Richard Gage where he is caught lying about thermite: Part 1, Part 2, and Part3. You can also see many well done articles refuting Gage’s positions quite well, HERE. While he says he doesn’t support. I would strongly suggest John does agree with Loose Change as well as Gage on these issues (after listening to his own words that is).
John Lofton
You believe the government’s story, Sean?
Me
John, proving one position by stating opinion and then supporting the “truth of it” by stating another example unrelated (you gave thee definition of a non-sequitur) is not a logical way to jump from one position to another. The Christian has to think well, and testing our own positions with this good thinking:
“I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought. But if God in whom they believe created them with intellectual and rational powers, that imposes upon them the duty to try to understand the creed of their religion. Not to do so is to verge on superstition.”
Morimer J. Adler, “A Philosopher’s Religious Faith,” in, Kelly James Clark, ed., Philosophers Who Believe: The Spiritual Journeys of 11 Leading Thinkers (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 207.
This is applicable to our discussion. Reason is not being used to its Godly potential here.
John Lofton
You believe the government’s story, Sean?
Me
Do you have a good reason for me not to?
John Lofton
Why can you directly answer a direct question, Sean? You are a bit of a windbag…..
Eric RS
Come on John…lets be gracious at least. He answered your leading question with a question, very much like Christ did many times.
[….]
Of course he agrees with the govt. story, unless we can prove otherwise.
Me
“You a Christian, John? Then why are you making snide, snotty remarks about a fellow believer?” (Adapted from Mr. Lofton)
Do I trust my government, the heroes of America, our Founders, say one should always be weary of it. And that the Christian faith is its true guide. But as to THIS topic (9/11), yes. And you have yet to show me why I should not. Again, I think you are taking a larger issue (one trusting government in the macro), and then overlaying it to our particular (micro) discussion here. Like you saying that if our government can kill “x” amount of people through abortion, then why not 3,000 in New York?
I believe many on the pro-choice side think that killing innocent lives is wrong. They agree with us on this major point. They merely redefine the person in the womb as non-human. It is imperative that we open up dialogue with them and make a strong moral argument that convicts them to change on this position.
Continuing My Thought
So yes I trust the government in this particular case. And no, as a whole the checks and balances issue is meant to try and keep government honest:
Which is why our Founders stated that, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government” (Patrick Henry); “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master” (George Washington).
John did not reply after that.