American assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.
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4 episodes with James Earl Ray
5 episodes with James Earl Ray
3 episodes with James Earl Ray
4 episodes with James Earl Ray
5 episodes with James Earl Ray
2 episodes with James Earl Ray
4 episodes with James Earl Ray
4 episodes with James Earl Ray
4 episodes with James Earl Ray
Ray arrived in London in late May 1968 and, on 8 June, went to Heathrow Airport where he was detained after attempting to board a flight to Brussels using a false Canadian ...
The Conspiracy To Murder King, Part 3 The JFK Assassination Chokeholds: That Prove There Was A Conspiracy - Find here. The Polka Dot File on the Robert F. Kennedy Killing: The Paris Peace Talk Connections - Find here. Executive Action (1973) Watch here. Gold Warriors by Stirling Seagrave. Read here. Musician Dan Storper passed away last week. Dan was a JFK research financial supporter. RIP. View obituary. The JFK Assassination Chokeholds is now published in French! John Kelin sent Jim old published paperback editions of Probe Magazine. Jim will be offering some of these for sale. The Luna Committee has been extended for another six months. Perhaps they will hold open hearings in the future? Jim encourages Len to have MLK author and researcher John Avery Emison back on Black Op Radio. John Avery Emison recently published "The Deep State Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr." Find here. Are the RFK and MLK charges of conspiracy as easily provable as with the JFK case? The impact to our social structure when RFK and MLK were murdered is the same as with impact of JFK's murder. The Tet Offensive against the South Vietnamese in 1968 was from January 30 - March 20. Read more. Ted Shackley was a CIA in Vietnam. Dean Acheson walked out on LBJ after LBJ after LBJ continued to preach war. Acheson wanted real data. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford spent 2 weeks at the Pentagon. It was clear there was no plan to win the war. Johnson abdicates on the air after it was obvious he had lost public support to McCarthy. Why did Martin Luther King's advisors want him to vote for McCarthy? King said no. The Poor People's March - MLK was actually trying to change the economic balance of power in the United States. Bobby Kennedy was going to support MLK with his Presidency of the USA. This powerful duo was a threat to the CIA. Jim feels wanting to end the Vietnam War and wanting to help the repressed American people sealed MLK's fate. When RFK let the attendees in Indianapolis know about MLK's murder, he begged them not to riot. Indianapolis was the only major American city that didn't go up in flames that night. The only loss Bobby had before winning the California primary was in Oregon. Cesar Estrada Chavez helped RFK secure the win in California against McCarthy. Bobby closed his speech on June 5, 1968 with "On to Chicago, let's win there!" before being murdered. Ambassador Hotel bus boy, Juan Romero, held RFK after he was shot in the head, putting his rosary in Bobby's hands. Although Jim hates the Dulles, Angleton etc. he appreciates their technical plans to eliminate their opponents. Lillian Castellano was the first person to add up the bullet holes and wounds, realizing more than 10 bullets were shot. This information was first published in the underground paper Los Angeles Free Press on May 23, 1969. Sirhan's gun only held 8 bullets. There was a SECOND GUN firing in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel. Sirhan Sirhan was a PATSY! Just like Oswald, James Earl Ray etc.. Robert Kennedy's autopsy was performed by coroner Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi. Noguchi's findings did not uphold the deep state's fairy tale that Sirhan had murdered Robert Kennedy. Bill Harper wrote a 7 page affidavit stating all of the bullets that hit RFK were shot from below and behind RFK. Sirhan was NEVER behind RFK, making it impossible that he was the assassin who shot RFK. Fernando Faura, reporter for the Hollywood Citizen's News, helped bring the RFK case out of the shadows. Col. L. Fletcher Prouty explains how there was no "it" in the Vietnam war; there was NO PLAN to end the war. View here. The primary principle of war is the objective! If you don't know what you're doing, you have no business going to war. What are the 9 Principles of War? Read here. Len ponders if the Vietnam war an effort to control "The Golden Triangle" drug t...
This Day in Legal History: MLK AssassinatedOn April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King had traveled to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, emphasizing his ongoing commitment to economic justice alongside racial equality. His death sent shockwaves through the United States, triggering riots in more than 100 cities and accelerating the passage of key civil rights legislation.King was a central figure in the American civil rights movement, having led campaigns against segregation, voter suppression, and economic inequality. His advocacy relied heavily on nonviolent protest and legal strategies that tested the limits of constitutional protections and federal civil rights enforcement. The assassination drew intense public scrutiny to the federal government's role in protecting civil rights activists.James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, was arrested and charged with King's murder. He pleaded guilty in 1969, avoiding a trial, but later recanted and sought to withdraw the plea. Controversy surrounding the investigation and conviction has persisted for decades, with some—including members of King's own family—questioning whether Ray acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy.King's assassination directly influenced the U.S. Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited housing discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin. The legislation had faced significant resistance before King's death but was passed just days afterward. His assassination also galvanized greater federal attention to civil rights enforcement under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.A group of 12 Republican-led states, including Texas, Florida, and Missouri, has asked 20 major U.S. law firms to provide documentation on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The request, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeks to determine whether the firms' practices comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws. In a letter sent Thursday, the states referenced recent concerns raised by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which had previously asked the same firms for similar information.Paxton cited potential violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging that some law firms may use hiring policies that prioritize race, sex, or other protected characteristics. He also pointed to possible state-level violations, including those related to deceptive trade practices. The letter specifically called out programs such as diversity fellowships and hiring goals aimed at increasing representation from historically marginalized groups.The states argue they have authority to investigate and enforce laws that prohibit employment discrimination, including policies that may inadvertently or intentionally favor individuals based on race or other traits. Firms named include top legal players like Kirkland & Ellis, Ropes & Gray, and Skadden, Arps.GOP-Led States Want 20 Law Firms to Disclose Their DEI PracticesRepublicans are considering a significant shift in tax policy by potentially introducing a new top tax bracket for individuals earning $1 million or more annually. The proposed rate, currently under discussion, would range from 39% to 40%, marking a departure from the party's longstanding resistance to tax increases. This idea is part of a broader effort to offset the cost of a multi-trillion dollar tax package being developed by Trump administration allies and Republican lawmakers.Also on the table is a return to the 39.6% top income tax rate previously enacted during the Obama administration, replacing the current 37% rate for high earners. The GOP aims to pass the new tax legislation within months, renewing provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act while incorporating new deductions and reforms to appeal to middle- and working-class voters.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized the urgency of making Trump's earlier tax cuts permanent and stabilizing markets following recent tariff announcements. The evolving plan reflects a broader ideological shift within the Republican Party toward more populist economic messaging.To help pay for the new tax measures, the proposal also includes eliminating the carried interest loophole used by hedge fund and private equity managers and expanding deductions such as those for car loan interest and tipped wages. Trump's campaign promises — including removing taxes on overtime pay and Social Security benefits — are being considered for inclusion as well.Republicans Debate Hiking Top Tax Rate to 40% For Millionaires - BloombergOver 300 law professors from top institutions, along with legal advocacy groups across the political spectrum, have filed court briefs supporting Perkins Coie in its lawsuit against an executive order issued by Trump. The order, signed on March 6, penalizes the law firm for its work with Hillary Clinton and its internal diversity policies by restricting its access to federal buildings, officials, and contracts. Professors from Yale, Harvard, and Stanford argued the order is unconstitutional and undermines the independence of the legal profession.Their brief warned that targeting a firm for political reasons threatens any lawyer or firm that chooses to oppose the president in court, calling the order a dangerous precedent. Advocacy groups such as the ACLU and the Cato Institute echoed that concern, labeling Trump's action an attack on the legal system and a threat to Americans' right to legal representation.The White House responded by defending the order as a lawful measure to align federal partnerships with the administration's policies, criticizing the lawsuit as an attempt to preserve "government perks." Meanwhile, the Justice Department has requested that a Washington federal judge dismiss the lawsuit. Other firms named in similar orders — Jenner & Block and WilmerHale — have also filed suits, while some, like Skadden Arps and Paul Weiss, have made agreements with the White House to avoid sanctions.Law professors, legal groups back Perkins Coie in lawsuit over Trump order | ReutersThis week's closing music comes from one of the most innovative and influential composers of the 20th century: Igor Stravinsky. Known for revolutionary works like The Rite of Spring and The Firebird, Stravinsky continually reinvented his style throughout his long career. Born in 1882 near St. Petersburg, Russia, and passing away on April 6, 1971, in New York City, Stravinsky's life spanned continents, world wars, and artistic upheavals. While he is best remembered for his large-scale ballets and orchestral works, he also composed for smaller forms, including a fascinating piece titled simply Tango.Composed in 1940, Tango marks Stravinsky's first original composition written entirely in the United States after his move from Europe. At the time, he was living in Hollywood and adapting to a new cultural and musical environment. The piece is short, dark, and rhythmically sharp—more brooding than danceable—and carries the flavor of the tango tradition filtered through Stravinsky's idiosyncratic, angular style. It was originally written for piano, though Stravinsky later orchestrated it.Tango reflects Stravinsky's interest in blending traditional forms with modernist dissonance and unpredictability. It's a brief but compelling listen that offers a very different side of a composer often associated with thunderous orchestras and ballet scandals. Its rhythmic complexity and stark character echo the uncertainties of the time it was written, just as World War II was escalating. The piece serves as a reminder that even in exile, Stravinsky continued to experiment, innovate, and absorb new influences. As we remember his death on April 6, Tango is a fitting close—wry, lean, and unmistakably Stravinsky.Without further ado, Igor Stravinsky's Tango — enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
A manhunt is launched for MLK’s killer, James Earl Ray. After his capture he pleads guilty. With no trial the world won’t hear the facts of the case laid out in court, giving rise to decades of conspiracy theories that even the King family came to believe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This Day in Legal History: James Earl Ray SentencedOn March 10, 1969, James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray had pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty but later recanted, claiming he was coerced into confessing. His conviction came just under a year after King was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The murder of King, a pivotal leader in the civil rights movement, sent shockwaves through the nation and intensified calls for racial justice. Ray's arrest in London after a two-month international manhunt led to one of the most scrutinized legal proceedings of the era. Despite his guilty plea, Ray repeatedly sought a retrial, arguing that he was a scapegoat in a broader conspiracy. His appeals were unsuccessful, and he remained imprisoned until his death in 1998. The King family later advocated for reopening the case, believing the government and other entities were involved in the assassination. In 1999, a civil jury in Memphis ruled in favor of the King family, concluding that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy, not the actions of a lone gunman. This verdict fueled ongoing debates about the true circumstances of King's death and the extent of Ray's role. The case remains one of the most controversial in American history, with lingering questions about the extent of government involvement. The King family's pursuit of the truth highlighted their belief that justice had not been fully served. While the official record still names Ray as the assassin, many continue to question whether he acted alone or was merely a pawn in a larger scheme.A Baltimore judge ruled that Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular Serial podcast, will remain free after reducing his life sentence to time served. Despite this decision, his 2000 murder conviction for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, remains intact. Judge Jennifer Schiffer stated that Syed is no longer a threat to public safety and that his continued freedom serves the interests of justice. Syed was originally convicted by a state jury, but his case gained national attention due to concerns over trial errors and potential prosecutorial misconduct. He was released from prison in 2022 after prosecutors questioned the integrity of his conviction, though an appeals court later reinstated it. The ruling ensures he will not return to prison, though legal battles over his conviction continue. His case has fueled ongoing debates about wrongful convictions and the role of media in influencing the justice system.Adnan Syed of 'Serial' Podcast Will Remain Free, Judge Rules (1)The Trump administration fired Adam Cohen, the head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, as part of a broader effort to remove career officials. Cohen, who had just helped draft a memo expanding the task force's role in immigration enforcement, said he was shocked by the decision and insisted his work had been apolitical. His dismissal follows other high-profile removals, including three assistant U.S. attorneys in New York, two of whom prosecuted a corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams. The attorneys were placed on administrative leave after Justice Department officials resigned in protest over pressure to drop the Adams case. Additionally, Liz Oyer, the Justice Department's pardon attorney, and Bobak Talebian, who handled Freedom of Information Act requests, were also dismissed. The shake-up reflects a broader effort to reshape the Justice Department under Trump's leadership, sparking concerns over political interference in law enforcement.Trump Justice Department fires head of organized crime drug task force | ReutersU.S. immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, as part of President Trump's crackdown on certain anti-Israel activists. Khalil, a U.S. green card holder, had been active in pro-Palestinian protests and served as a negotiator with university officials. The Department of Homeland Security accused him of leading “activities aligned to Hamas” but did not provide details or charge him with a crime. His arrest was widely condemned by civil rights groups as an attack on free speech. The Trump administration also revoked $400 million in government contracts with Columbia, citing antisemitic harassment on campus. Critics argue the move is part of a broader effort to target higher education institutions and suppress pro-Palestinian activism. Khalil, who was detained at an ICE facility, had previously expressed concerns about being targeted for speaking to the media. His case has sparked legal challenges and heightened tensions over immigration enforcement and academic freedom.US immigration agents arrest Palestinian student protester at Columbia University in Trump crackdown | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
Clay interviews Hampton Sides, the author of a dozen outstanding books, including studies of Kit Carson, Martin Luther King's assassin James Earl Ray, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in Korea, and most recently, The Wide, Wide Sea, Sides' study of the third and fatal voyage of Captain James Cook. How does one write about a British explorer like James Cook in the 21st century when Cook's statues around the world are being defaced, decapitated, or torn down due to his role in disrupting the indigenous cultures he encountered in his voyages? Sides talks about his strategy of coming down somewhere in the middle on this cultural and political question. He takes comfort in that his book, The Wide, Wide Sea,has been criticized from both ends of the political spectrum. We talk, too, about his forthcoming book about the Sand Creek Massacre in eastern Colorado on November 29, 1864.
Send us a textThis week, Lauren and Amanda talk about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by James Earl Ray, who made the FBI Most Wanted fugitives list twice. This is the official story.Sources:Britannica: “James Earl Ray: American Assassin” by Britannica EditorsFBI Most Wanted: “351. James Earl Ray”Stanford Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute: “Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”Time: “What We Know About Why James Earl Ray Killed Martin Luther King Jr.” by Olivia B. WaxmanPBS American Experience: “King's Assassination: A Timeline” Truer Crime podcast: “The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”Assassinations podcast: “James Earl Ray: MLK Assassin”Historical Blindness podcast: “The Killing of Dr. King, Part One: A Dream Defied,” “The Killing of Dr. King, Part Two: The Legend of Raoul,” and “The Killing of Dr. King, Part Three: Ray's Reasons”The Conspiracy Podcast: “The MLK Assassination Revisited Part One - Episode #56,” “The MLK Assassination Revisited Part Two: James Earl Ray - Episode #57,” and “The MLK Assassination Revisited Part Three: The Conspiracies - Episode #58”Wikipedia
Author William Brashler joins the boys to talk about how basketball and a random phone call to James “Cool Papa” Bell provided inspiration for The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, the biggest difference between his book and the movie (thanks Billy Dee Williams!), being on set with Richard Pryor and hanging out in Chicago with James Earl Ray,er…Jones. This week's podcast was brought to you by Teambrown Apparel, Old Fort Baseball Co and Patrick's Custom Painting.
In this episode of Crime Time, Inc., we delve into the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. We explore his support for the sanitation workers' strike, the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and the investigation that followed. We discuss James Earl Ray's confession and subsequent theories suggesting a larger conspiracy involving the Mafia and potentially the FBI. Despite numerous doubts and unanswered questions, the official narrative remains that Ray acted alone, leaving a complex and contested story that still resonates today.00:00 Introduction: The Impact of MLK's Assassination00:48 Setting the Scene: King's Mission in Memphis02:37 The Assassination: Eyewitness Accounts and Details03:42 The Aftermath: Immediate Reactions and Medical Efforts05:05 The Manhunt: Tracking James Earl Ray06:40 The Trial: Ray's Defense and Conspiracy Theories09:30 Conspiracy Theories: Mafia and Government Involvement11:37 The King Family's Pursuit of Truth13:24 Conclusion: The Legacy and Unresolved Questions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
**Discussion begins at 3:15**Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister famous for his role in the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1968, at the age of 39. He encouraged non-violent resistance and non-violent civil disobedience, leading marches for desegregation and equal rights. He is most famous for his role in the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, and the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered his famous I have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Despite his peaceful resistance, he was incarcerated several times and was an object of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI Counterintelligence Program – which was a series of covert and illegal projects between 1956 and 1971 aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting “subversive” political organizations. They investigated him for possible ties to communism, spied on him, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI sent him a package with a letter and a tape recording alleging of King's sexual indiscretions as an apparent attempt at blackmail. On April 4, 1968 James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penetentiary, allegedly assassinated MLK Jr. However, many including MLK Jrs family, believe James Earl Ray was just the patsy. What really happened to Martin Luther King, Jr? Send us a textSupport the showTheme song by INDA
On April 4, 1968, a single bullet ended the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The official story pinned the murder on James Earl Ray—a fugitive desperate to evade capture—but for decades, the King family has fought to expose a darker truth. In this episode, we uncover the buried evidence, tangled conspiracies, and a stunning 1999 civil trial that found the U.S. government complicit in King's assassination. What does justice look like for one of history's most celebrated heroes—and why is so much of this story still left untold? Please note that today's episode includes language some listeners might find offensive as well as references to gun violence. Please take care while listening. A full list of action items, sources, resources mentioned, and photos related to the case are available in the show notes of today's episode, https://truercrimepodcast.com/mlk-assassination To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 shook the world, and James Earl Ray was named the killer. But the King family believes a darker truth lies beneath the official story. In this season premiere of Truer Crime, we delve into hidden evidence, tangled conspiracies, and a 1999 civil trial that implicated the U.S. government in King’s death. Truer Crime Season 2 drops today! From the Manson Murders to untold stories of injustice, these 10 new episodes will change the way you see true crime. New episodes every Monday here—don’t miss it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968 shook the world, and James Earl Ray was named the killer. But the King family believes a darker truth lies beneath the official story. In this season premiere of Truer Crime, we delve into hidden evidence, tangled conspiracies, and a 1999 civil trial that implicated the U.S. government in King's death. Truer Crime Season 2 drops today! From the Manson Murders to untold stories of injustice, these 10 new episodes will change the way you see true crime. New episodes every Monday here—don't miss it! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968 shook the world, and James Earl Ray was named the killer. But the King family believes a darker truth lies beneath the official story. In this season premiere of Truer Crime, we delve into hidden evidence, tangled conspiracies, and a 1999 civil trial that implicated the U.S. government in King's death. Truer Crime Season 2 drops today! From the Manson Murders to untold stories of injustice, these 10 new episodes will change the way you see true crime. New episodes every Monday here—don't miss it! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today we celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Almost fifty-seven years ago, on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was shot outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Just the night before he delivered the famous "Mountaintop Speech." History remembers James Earl Ray as the gunman but did he act alone? Was he involved at all? Join us as we journey down one of history's largest conspiracy theories and ask...who actually murdered Dr. King? Available wherever you stream podcasts! Be sure to Subscribe, Rate, & Review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Audible! Have a Hot Take? Call the NYMM Hot Take Hotline to leave it in a message: (917) 426-4262 Have a strange and/or paranormal story? Share it here! Support the show by becoming a sponsor on our Patreon: www.Patreon.com/NYMysteryMachine NYMM Merch! https://nymysterymachine.myspreadshop.com/ Don't forget to follow us on all the socials: Instagram: @NYMysteryMachine | TikTok: @NYMysteryMachine | X: @NYMysteries | Facebook: @NYMysteryMachine -- THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: AUDIBLE: Get a FREE 30 Day Trial by heading to www.AudibleTrial.com/NYMysteryMachine HUNT A KILLER: Receive 20% off your first Hunt a Killer subscription box at www.HuntAKiller.com with the code NYMYSTERYMACHINE at checkout! RIVERSIDE.FM: Looking to record podcast, but need software? Head to https://riverside.fm/?via=nymysterymachine
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 shook the world, and James Earl Ray was named the killer. But the King family believes a darker truth lies beneath the official story. In this season premiere of Truer Crime, we delve into hidden evidence, tangled conspiracies, and a 1999 civil trial that implicated the U.S. government in King’s death. Truer Crime Season 2 drops today! From the Manson Murders to untold stories of injustice, these 10 new episodes will change the way you see true crime. New episodes every Monday here—don’t miss it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Documentary Filmaker John Edginton Len first discovered John's documentaries, finding John's interview with Col. Fletcher Prouty. Intrigued, Len discovers John's library of interviews, including a BBC film on Martin Luther King. John started out as a journalist, worked as a print journalist in the early 80's, then got involved in TV. Worked on a TV series with a new television station in the UK, channel 4, promoting independence. John's big break as a filmmaker happened when in 1989 he interviewed James Earl Ray. James was in prison in East Tennessee at Brushy Mountain Prison near Knoxville. John wrote to James, asking permission from Ray to visit the prison & interview him. The prison & James agreed with the prison requesting that John not bring any recording devices. John was able to spend 4 hours interviewing James Earl Ray, without any security whatsoever. The more John talked to James he realized James was a patsy. John managed to persuade the BBC into helping fund the documentary with James Earl Ray. John & his colleague friend, researcher John Sergeant from the UK, toured the US for six months. John ended up meeting Fletcher Prouty and others during their intense tour recording interviews. Full interview with James Earl Ray Video Here At this time Dr. William Pepper was just beginning to be involved in James Earl Ray’s case. What extent was the government involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King? Col. Prouty was a wonderful source of information on deep state covert operations. Col. Fletcher Prouty interview Watch Video Here It took years for John to realize the value of his interview with Col. Fletcher Prouty. The BBC junked the documentary, but John had VHS copies he was able to recover. The documenatry "Who Killed Martin Luther King" Watch Here Len remembers watching John's documentary on Chappaquiddick when it was featured by Bill Kurtis. Everything that Col. Fletcher wrote in his book 'The Secret Team' was all about the deep state. David Ratcliffe interviewed Prouty for his book 'Understanding Special Operations'. Len was impressed seeing John's documentaries on Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, David Gilmour etc.. John's documentaries are unfiltered interviews, 'over coffee talk', completely unscripted. People told John that David Gilmour would never let him into his house, but he was fascinated by John. Len enjoys the long form interviews, that aren't rushed, similar of Joe Rogan's interview style. John has managed to capture many artists as they talked about their craft without censorship. Len found a great value in watching John's list of older interviews, including Genesis & Phil Collins! John recently found the Boiler Girl interview & uploaded it to his channel. Why did they never have an autopsy on Mary Joe Kopecky? People are really interested in all of the raw material. Kamala Harris recently had a 60 minute interview, but it was edited to 45 minutes. Why? When 'The Men Who Killed Kennedy' came out, it was a big deal, Len recalls watching the episodes. Fletcher Prouty was the 'authentic eyewitness' from inside the Pentagon. No contradictions. John recommends his 1996 HBO documentary 'Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?' Please visit John Edginton's Youtube Channel Part Two starts at 31:23 Ray McGuinnis - Author and researcher Ray's website Unanswered Questions has a number of articles about 911 & the 2022 Trucker’s Convoy. Ray attended the 2022 Trucker's Convoy hearings at Ottawa in mid July. Mid January 2022 the Canadian government implemented illegal vaccine mandates on truckers. If the truck drivers did not have their Covid vaccines, mandatory 10 days quarantine upon entry. A 10 day quarantine requirement would mean truckers could only work 2-3 days a month. Protests were incited because of these illegal vaccine mandates being enforced on Ca...
Delve into the enigmatic circumstances surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in our riveting podcast, "The Conspiracy of Who Killed MLK." We explore the lingering questions and diverse theories that have emerged over the decades, challenging the official narratives and seeking to uncover hidden truths. Join us as we examine evidence, interview experts, and delve deep into one of America's most pivotal moments, aiming to shed light on the mysteries that still captivate historians and enthusiasts alike.introduces the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, framing it as a pivotal event influenced by his role as a leader in social justice and civil disobedience.(01:08) It highlights the widespread disapproval of King at the time of his death and suggests a conspiracy involving the secret services, contrasting with the official narrative that James Earl Ray was the sole perpetrator.(05:16) The narrative covers the timeline of the assassination day, from the sighting of a suspicious individual to the discovery of the murder weapon and Ray's subsequent manhunt and arrest.(30:04) The documentary discusses suspicions of a coerced guilty plea from Ray, supported by questionable evidence and potential governmental cover-up, emphasizing the inconsistencies and alleged manipulation in the investigation.(54:06) Concludes by asserting the assassination was likely a conspiracy involving high-level power structures, advocating for greater government transparency to address abuses of power.
TrineDay's The Journey Podcast 163, John Barbour, Part One: Tribute to William F. PepperPublisher R. A. “Kris” Millegan speaks with John Barbour, actor, comic, veteran of THE TONIGHT SHOW and Las Vegas,“The Godfather of Reality TV,” creator, co-host and writer of the hit show, REAL PEOPLE, five-time Emmy-winner, celebrated movie critic for years in L.A.,Writer and director of the award-winning THE GARRISON TAPES, which Oliver Stone called, “The perfect companion piece to my movie JFK,”Writer and director of THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND THE 2ND ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, which leading researchers applaud as “The definitive film on JFK and the rise of Fake News,”Co-creator with Len Osanic of the film, GREATEST PIECE OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN 75 YEARS: Barbour & Osanic's Tribute to Wm. F. Pepper,And the author of YOUR MOTHER'S NOT A VIRGIN! The bumpy life and times of the Canadian dropout who changed the face of American TV!, his delightful autobiography available at TrineDay.com and the usual sellers.John's films, books, and more can be found at JohnBarboursWorld.com.Topics discussed:How Oliver Stone wanted to make a documentary about Jim Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw for the murder of John F. Kennedy, but Garrison said, “No. John Barbour is going to be my Boswell,” because John lost two of the greatest shows on television trying to tell Garrison's story.Len Osanic, editor and musician, took John's interviews of attorney William F. Pepper and made the film, GREATEST PIECE OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN 75 YEARS: Barbour & Osanic's Tribute to Wm. F. Pepper.Attorney Pepper petitioned for Sirhan Sirhan's release, “claiming that a second gunman fired the shots that killed Robert F. Kennedy … Pepper believes that Sirhan, who claims to have no memory of the shooting, was programmed under hypnosis to shoot and provide a distraction from the actual gunman who got away. Hypnosis expert Harvard Medical School professor Daniel P. Brown concluded that Sirhan did not act under his own volition and knowledge at the time of the shooting. He was a real ‘Manchurian Candidate'” -Wikipedia.Sirhan was always in front of Senator Kennedy, whose autopsy showed he was shot from behind with the gun very close, a couple of inches away. And Sirhan was plausibly firing blanks, not bullets. The 1973 documentary, THE SECOND GUN, shows how the shooter was probably security guard Thane Eugene Cesar.William Pepper was also James Earl Ray's last attorney, arguing that Ray did not kill Martin Luther King Jr in 1968. Pepper not only found the Memphis cop who shot King, he had lunch with him.TrineDay.comBooks that challenge official history … because it matters
Participants: John Steppling, Max Parry, Dennis Riches, Hiroyuki Hamada, and George McIntyre. Topics discussed: Exploding pagers in Lebanon, Democratic Party corruption of the presidential candidates' debates, the apparent return of CIA mind control operatives in the recent Trump assassination attempts (similarities to the strange wanderings of Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, Mark David Chapman and Charles Manson), Vietnam 1973-75/Ukraine 2022-2024, a culture of departure: the dream of colonizing Mars. Music track “Take the Wind” by Jack Littman, used with permission.
The official story is that James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King, Jr. on his own and confessed to doing so. But actual evidence shows us that perhaps none of that is true. Between the FBI surveillance on Dr. King and the finding of a civil court case affirming a conspiracy, there is plenty of reason to believe that there is more to this story than we were told. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crimecast--4106013/support.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. But was it the act of a lone gunman, or is there more to the story? From his early days in Atlanta to his rise as a national leader, we follow his journey of nonviolent resistance against systemic racism and injustice. We then dive into the chaotic final hours at the Lorraine Motel, the ensuing manhunt for James Earl Ray, and the lingering questions that still haunt King's assassination.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crimecast--4106013/support.
Edirot of Covert Action Magazine, Jeremy Kuzmarov, argues that the CIA planned and assassinated Martin Luther King, adding that James Earl Ray was set up as the fall guy. Please read: https://jermwarfare.com/conversations/jeremy-kuzmarov-on-who-assassinated-martin-luther-king Join our private network: https://jermwarfare.com/join
Book: To Live or Maybe Not Website(s): http://jongleurpictures.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/garyrevelmovies If the wicked weather we've witnessed so far in 2024 is any indication, every lyric of Gary Revel's groundbreaking 1977 song “Mother Nature” was spot-on. The singer, songwriter and author is a pioneer in raising awareness about the dangers of global warming. But those pursuits are just scratching the surface. In Gary's fascinating memoir, To Live or Maybe Not, readers are invited to see history through the eyes of a man who lived it, as Gary traces his roots from small-town America to his work in naval intelligence during the Vietnam War to his extraordinary investigations into the killings of Martin Luther King Jr., JFK and RFK. Please consider interviewing Gary Revel, who is a fascinating guest. I would also be happy to send you a copy of his book, To Live or Maybe Not, in consideration of a review or feature. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE See History Through the Eyes of a Man Who Lived It: Memoir Packed With Unexpected Gems KILLEEN, Texas, July 15, 2024 — To say that Gary Revel has led a fascinating life is an understatement. From his service in the U.S. Navy to his work for the U.S. government, to his investigations into the deaths of JFK, his brother Bobby and the formidable, iconic, Martin Luther King Jr., even Revel himself is caught off guard by his life's twists and turns. “As you read, you will come to places that you'll say, ‘No way this could be true.' Don't worry, I feel the same way when I remember some things I have done in my life,” Revel writes in the prologue of his memoir To Live or Maybe Not. The story begins with Revel's birth in the small town of Florala, Alabama. His mother and father divorced when he was 5 years old. Music became a friend to Revel, and he formed his first rock 'n' roll band when he was 15. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school, where he served during the Vietnam War. After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Revel went to Hollywood, where he cultivated a music career and became a champion for raising awareness about the dangers of global warming. He later turned from music to focus on his marriage and family, even as he eventually began investigating the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. To Live or Maybe Not takes readers behind the terrifying walls of the infamous Brushy Mountain Prison of East Tennessee, where Revel walked and talked with none other than James Earl Ray. The book ends with Revel and his family back in Hollywood, where he returns to his passion for music and writing. Today, Revel continues to release and distribute music through his Jongleur Music company as well as develop motion pictures via his Jongleur Pictures company. He is also the author of My Angel from Heaven, Milestones, Grempk and Don't Stop Dancing: Stranger Than Fiction, his investigation into the life of Michael Jackson. To learn more, please visit https://garyrevel.com, or follow him on Facebook (garyrevelmovies), TikTok (@jongleurgroup), Instagram (jongleurpicturesllc), X (GaryNealRevel) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/garyrevel). Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Maybe-Not-Gary-Revel/dp/B0D7LMZMVS
El 8 de junio de 1968 James Earl Ray fue detenido en el aeropuerto de Heathrow por el asesinato de Martin Luther King. En Esto te va a sonar rescatamos su historia.
In this episode, Rafe interviews his good friend and longtime comedy partner Eric Christiansen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode, Rafe interviews his good friend and longtime comedy partner Eric Christiansen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Rafe interviews his good friend and longtime comedy partner Eric Christiansen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode, Rafe interviews his good friend and longtime comedy partner Eric Christiansen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Var det virkelig småkriminelle James Earl Ray som drepte Dr Martin Luther King Jr? Hvorfor mener Dr King sin kone og barn at han er uskyldig? Konspirasjonspodden tar en titt. I serien "Gull fra arkivet" plukker Bjørn-Henning og Fredrik udiskutable høydepunkter fra Konspirasjonspoddens rikholdige katalog og sprer budskapet til gamle og nye lyttere. Alle episodene av Konspirasjonspodden hører du eksklusivt hos Podme.
Was Martin Luther King Jr. killed by James Earl Ray? Was it the FBI? Was it the Mob? or was it his own people? Journey down the rabbit hole with Brandon into the conspiracies on who really killed MLK.
William Pepper is an international civil and human rights attorney based in New York best known for representing Martin Luther King's accused assassin, James Earl Ray. In 1967, Dr. King had reached out to Dr. Pepper regarding an essay he had written for Ramparts magazine concerning Vietnamese victims of American napalm missions. He was present at Dr. King's famous Riverside Church speech. William was the citizens chairman for Robert Kennedy's run for the Senate in Westchester Country and also a counsel for Robert Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Sirhan arguing for a second shooter. William received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia, a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, a Juris Doctoral degree from Boston College and also studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His book -- “The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr” was the result of 39 years of research and gathering of documentation and sworn testimonies on new confirmed information that will revise the history behind the assassination of Dr. King .
Was Martin Luther King Jr killed by James Earl Ray? Was it the FBI? Was it the MOB? or was it his own people? Journey down the rabbit hole with Brandon into the conspiracies on who really killed MLK.
A Morning News Update That Takes Into Account The News Stories You Deem 'Highly Conversational' Today's Sponsor: Zenni Opticalhttps://thisistheconversationproject.com/zenni Today's Rundown:José Andrés accuses Israel of deliberately targeting World Central Kitchen membershttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/jose-andres-accuses-israel-of-deliberately-targeting-world-central-kitchen-members 2 brothers who helped fund Trump Media company plead guilty to insider tradinghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/2-brothers-helped-fund-trump-media-company-plead/story?id=108808192 Truth Social owner Trump Media sues two former ‘Apprentices,' seeking to wipe out their shareshttps://www.cnn.com/2024/04/02/business/truth-social-trump-media-sues-two-co-founders/index.html House Republicans introduce bill to rename Dulles Airport after Donald Trumphttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/04/02/house-republican-bill-rename-dulles-airport-Donald-Trump/1781712098919/ Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert undergoes emergency surgery for blood clot in leghttps://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/colorado-rep-lauren-boebert-undergoes-emergency-surgery-for-blood-clot-in-leg/ Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Leaving Her Husband Despite His ‘Fire' Pipe Gamehttps://www.ebaumsworld.com/articles/gypsy-rose-blanchard-is-leaving-her-husband-despite-his-fire-pipe-game/87527830/ Lizzo says she's not leaving music industry, clarifies "I QUIT" statementhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/lizzo-not-quitting-music-clarifies-i-quit-statement/ Charlie Kirk Blames Birth Control for Creating ‘Very Angry and Bitter Young Ladies' While Weighing in on Women's ‘Prime'https://www.mediaite.com/news/charlie-kirk-blames-birth-control-for-creating-very-angry-and-bitter-young-ladies-while-weighing-in-on-womens-prime/ Website: http://thisistheconversationproject.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/thisistheconversationproject Twitter: http://twitter.com/th_conversation TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@theconversationproject YouTube: http://thisistheconversationproject.com/youtube Podcast: http://thisistheconversationproject.com/podcasts #yournewssidepiece #coffeechat #morningnews ONE DAY OLDER ON APRIL 4:Robert Downey Jr. (59)Nancy McKeon (58)Natasha Lyonne (45) WHAT HAPPENED TODAY:1818: The United States Congress adopted the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).1968: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray.1975: Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen. WORD OF THE DAY: cryptic / [ krip-tik ]https://thebigwordsproject.morebettermediacompany.com/cryptic-4-4-2024/of an obscure nature PLUS, TODAY WE CELEBRATE: Vitamin C Dayhttps://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/april/national-vitamin-c-day-april-4#:~:text=National%20Vitamin%20C%20Day%20on,our%20health%2C%20inside%20and%20out!
This Day in Legal History: MLK Assassinated On this day in legal history, April 4, 1968, the civil rights movement faced a tragic moment when Martin Luther King Jr., an emblematic leader advocating for nonviolent resistance against racial discrimination, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. King's untimely death occurred at the Lorraine Motel, a location that has since been etched into the national consciousness as a site of profound loss and reflection. His assassination sparked an outpouring of grief and anger across the United States, leading to widespread riots in over 100 cities and a national mourning that underscored the deep divisions and tumultuous struggles of the era.In the immediate aftermath, James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was identified and later apprehended at London's Heathrow Airport, marking the beginning of a controversial and complex legal saga. Ray was charged with King's murder, and in a move that avoided a potentially explosive trial, he entered a guilty plea, receiving a 99-year prison sentence. However, Ray recanted his confession three days later, claiming he was a pawn in a broader conspiracy, a declaration that fueled ongoing debates and investigations into the assassination.The legal reverberations of King's assassination extended beyond the pursuit and conviction of his killer. In response to the national tragedy, Congress was galvanized to enact further civil rights legislation, including the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which sought to eliminate housing discrimination against minorities, a cause King had fervently championed. Moreover, the assassination intensified efforts to ensure equal rights and justice, inspiring legal challenges and reforms that continued to shape the civil rights landscape.King's legacy, deeply rooted in his pursuit of justice and equality through peaceful means, has had a lasting impact on American legal and social fabric. His vision and teachings continue to inform contemporary movements and legal principles, demonstrating the enduring power of nonviolent resistance in the face of injustice. On this day, we remember not just the loss of Martin Luther King Jr. but the enduring influence of his life's work on the quest for civil rights and legal equality in America.Sanofi has agreed to settle approximately 4,000 lawsuits in the United States alleging that the heartburn medication Zantac, which the company previously marketed, is linked to cancer. This agreement aims to resolve most of the legal actions against Sanofi in U.S. state courts, except for those in Delaware, where the bulk of cases are still pending. Despite not admitting liability, Sanofi cited the desire to avoid the costs and distractions of ongoing litigation as reasons for the settlement, the financial terms of which were not disclosed. The company still faces around 20,000 additional lawsuits in Delaware, with both sides awaiting a crucial judicial decision on the scientific validity of the claims that Zantac causes cancer. This situation follows a 2022 victory for the drugmakers when a judge dismissed 50,000 similar lawsuits on the grounds that the plaintiffs' expert opinions lacked solid scientific support. Amidst ongoing litigation, Sanofi has introduced Zantac360, a reformulated version of the medicine, following the discovery of NDMA, a carcinogenic chemical, in some Zantac pills which led to its market withdrawal in 2020 by the FDA's request.Sanofi to settle 4,000 Zantac cancer lawsuits in US state courts | ReutersA New York judge has rejected former U.S. President Donald Trump's request to delay his upcoming trial over charges related to hush money payments until after the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a separate case regarding presidential immunity. The trial, set for April 15, involves allegations of falsifying business records to conceal a payment made to silence claims of a past sexual encounter ahead of the 2016 election, an encounter Trump denies. Trump's legal team had argued for the delay, citing the relevance of a Supreme Court case set for April 25 that will consider Trump's immunity claims related to actions taken during his presidency. However, Justice Juan Merchan dismissed the delay request, noting Trump's late invocation of presidential immunity as a defense.This trial in New York could potentially be the only one of four criminal indictments against Trump to proceed before the November election, where Trump is a Republican candidate. Additionally, Trump's lawyers have sought to postpone the trial due to concerns over prejudicial pre-trial publicity, though the court has not yet ruled on this matter. The Manhattan District Attorney's office has opposed the delay, arguing that unbiased jurors can be selected despite the extensive media coverage, much of which, they claim, Trump instigated. The decision by the Supreme Court to hear Trump's appeal in a federal case has already delayed that trial, highlighting the unprecedented nature of a former U.S. president facing criminal proceedings.Trump loses bid to delay hush money trial until US Supreme Court review | ReutersThe Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is considering class action lawsuits against the collection of website users' browsing data without consent, a practice allegedly involving tools from Meta Platforms and Google. This consideration interprets a 1960s eavesdropping prohibition, originally intended for phone and telegraph communications, as applicable to modern internet tracking. The court is deliberating on whether to allow two proposed class actions to proceed, which accuse two hospitals of violating the Massachusetts Wiretap Act by using third-party technologies that share users' activities with companies like Google and Meta. The possibility of making any ruling prospective was suggested by justices, to avoid penalizing past tracking activities not previously identified as illegal under the law.The case arises from complaints by Kathleen Vita, who alleges that her visits to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital websites resulted in the unauthorized sharing of her browsing data. A trial court judge previously determined that the wiretap law does cover such internet tracking, a decision challenged by the hospitals' legal representation as an "absurd" extension of the decades-old statute. However, the Supreme Court's prior extension of the law's coverage to cell phones and text messages in 2013 supports the argument for its applicability to internet data collection.The lawsuit has drawn attention from industry groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Retail Federation, concerned about the implications for countless website operators using common analytics tools. Despite similar cases being dismissed in other states, the Massachusetts case, bolstered by a prior $18.4 million settlement in a similar lawsuit, could set a precedent. The defense argues that the use of such data-gathering technologies falls under a business exemption, a claim met with skepticism from the court regarding its relevance to hospital operations. The court's final decision may include prospective measures to allow website operators to adjust practices accordingly, highlighting the case's potential surprise and impact on the broader web development and ownership community.Massachusetts top court considers allowing website tracking class actions | ReutersThe estate of the late comedian George Carlin settled a lawsuit against podcasters Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, who used AI to create a faux Carlin comedy special and release it on YouTube. As part of the agreement, the podcasters from "Dudesy" will remove the AI-generated content and are barred from using Carlin's image, voice, or likeness without permission. This legal battle highlights the challenges at the intersection of AI technology, copyright law, and post-mortem publicity rights, marking one of the first cases to address these issues head-on. The lawsuit, filed by Carlin's estate in the US District Court for the Central District of California, underscores the growing concerns over the misuse of AI to replicate individuals' likenesses. Kelly Carlin, George Carlin's daughter, expressed hope that this case would serve as a cautionary tale about the potential dangers of AI and the importance of establishing protective measures. The settlement, though largely confidential, is seen as a necessary step in addressing the legal implications of advancing AI technologies in the realm of intellectual property and personal rights.George Carlin Estate Settles AI-Made Comedy Special Lawsuit (1) Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
On April 4, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a revered figure in the civil rights movement and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was tragically shot and killed by James Earl Ray. The incident occurred while King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 years old at the time of his death. King's legacy as a trailblazer in the American civil rights movement remains profound. He led numerous nonviolent demonstrations advocating for racial equality, notably including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Selma-to-Montgomery marches for voting rights, and the historic 1963 March on Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Le 4 avril 1968, cinq ans après son discours historique « I have a dream », Martin Luther King, principal responsable du mouvement afro-américain des droits civiques, est abattu au Lorraine Motel à Memphis dans le Tennessee. Un demi-siècle plus tard, nombreux sont ceux qui voient dans ce drame non pas l'acte solitaire et raciste de James Earl Ray, un jeune fugitif blanc condamné pour ce meurtre, mais un complot politique. Alors qui était Martin Luther King? Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ce tragique 4 avril 1968? Et quelles sont les théories derrière cet assassinat? Avec Baptiste Zapirain et Charles Trahan Une production QUB Avril 2024Pour de l'information concernant l'utilisation de vos données personnelles - https://omnystudio.com/policies/listener/fr
This week the boys go back to April 1998 and WCW Saturday Night! James Earl Ray passes, Manning gets drafted over Leaf, and the CMAs rock! All this while we get a WCW jobber fest on a D show... So come back to 1998 with us this week on FFP!
By Davy Crockett New book on Barkley history The Barkley Marathons course (thought to be roughly 130 miles and about 63,000 feet of elevation gain) at Frozen Head State Park was the brain child of Gary Cantrell (Lazarus Lake) and Karl Henn (Rawdawg). The idea for the race was inspired upon hearing about the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. The first year of the Barkley was 1986. Prior to 2024, only 17 men had finished the entire rugged course within 60 miles, and no women had ever finished. That would change this year. Let's let Jared Beasley tell the story in his article: Barkley 2024: A Bit Traumatic and Wonderful in Ultrarunning Magazine. Subscribe or renew your subscription to Ultrarunning Magazine with a 25% discount which support Ultrarunning History. Use this form. The Barkley 2024 was predictable: after three finishers last year, no one was expected to make it to the fifth loop. The course would be toughened up. But what unfolded was something altogether different and soon we were dealing with a rash of firsts, tattoos, a Rusty Spoon, a photo gone round the world and an Italian painting from 1603. By 4 a.m. on Friday morning, almost 48 hours after the race began, Jasmin Paris was sitting in a camping chair in a small pool of light near a metal gate attached to a stone pillar. This gate has come to embody the most challenging test in ultrarunning. It's a test that Paris has been battling for years. Items litter the ground in front of her: an empty Coke bottle, a half-full Coke bottle, a gallon of Minute Maid and a pint of oat milk. Read the rest of Jared Beasley's article here. Learn about the early history of the Barkley Marathons Barkley Marathons - The Birth Barkley Marathons - First Few Years Video: Barkley Marathons - The First Year 1986
The conclusion to the three part series has the boys reviewing the major conspiracies on the murder of mlk. Why were there so many holes in the case? Why to this day does the King family believe that James Earl Ray was innocent? From the mafia to the FBI. Going over each one and then coming to their own personal opinions on what happened that fateful 1968 day in Memphis. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/subscribe Patreon -- https://www.patreon.com/theconspiracypodcast Our Website - www.theconspiracypodcast.com Our Email - info@theconspiracypodcast.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/message
In the second installment of this series on the assassination of MLK, the boys narrate the gripping tale of James Earl Ray. As an escaped convict, he faced charges for the murder and received a daunting 99-year prison sentence. Go through his early upbringing, chronicling his involvement in multiple robberies, and escape attempts that marked his tumultuous journey. The narrative then shifts to his eventual conviction. Explore the “official” investigation meticulously, unfolding step by step through the findings and help the boys determine what really happened the day MLK died. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/subscribe Patreon -- https://www.patreon.com/theconspiracypodcast Our Website - www.theconspiracypodcast.com Our Email - info@theconspiracypodcast.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/message
Welcome to the Adam's Archive, where each episode is a journey into the depths of intriguing topics. Join your host, Austin Adams, as he unravels conspiracies, explores controversial legacies, and dives into groundbreaking events that shape our world. From the dark secrets behind historical figures to the revolutionary moves by institutions like the FAA, each episode promises a captivating exploration. In today's episode, we peel back the layers surrounding Martin Luther King's assassination, exposing alleged conspiracies involving the FBI, CIA, and the military. We then shift gears to examine the debated values and controversies surrounding King's legacy. Brace yourself for a revelation as we unveil the FAA's bold move in recruiting diverse talents, exploring the impact on the aviation industry. But that's not all—tune in as we reveal the winner of the Iowa caucus and discuss the potential global concerns raised by influential figures about Trump's 2024 election prospects. With in-depth analysis, exclusive revelations, and compelling storytelling, the Adam's Archive is your gateway to the most explosive topics of our time. Don't miss out on the visual experience—head over to our YouTube channel, where Austin's charismatic presence accompanies each episode, providing a comprehensive view of the articles and videos discussed. So, whether you're on the go or settling in, join us at the Adam's Archive, where every episode takes you deeper into the stories that matter. Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and remember, the longer you're here, the deeper we get. Let's dive in! All Links: https://linktr.ee/theaustinjadams Substack: https://austinadams.substack.com/ ----more---- Full Transcription: Hello, you beautiful people and welcome to the Adam's Archive. My name is Austin Adams and thank you so much for listening today. On today's episode, we're going to be doing a deep dive in the theme of today, which is actually Martin Luther King Day. You're not listening to it on Martin Luther King Day, but I digress. It got me interested in the topic and I learned a little bit more about it. So now I want to share my findings with you. Which is the fact that Martin, Martin, Martin, Martin Luther King was actually, allegedly, not really allegedly, but allegedly, assassinated by the FBI in cahoots with the CIA and The military intelligence and the reason that this came about was because of a 1999 trial by somebody who is a whistleblower who said that he worked with the mob and was paid 100, 000 to hire a hitman for this job by those same individuals who moved all the moving pieces around. To make it happen. So we'll discuss that. We'll dive deep into the situation. We'll also have a conversation about Martin Luther King in general. There's been some controversial conversations about his values and things like that. So we'll talk about that. And when it comes to some current events, we're also going to discuss this, which is the fact that the FAA is actively now recruiting people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. As a part of a diversity and inclusion plan. Don't worry. We'll talk about it. After that, we will talk about the next thing, which is the fact that, uh, the caucus is going on tonight in Iowa. So we'll just briefly super briefly touch on that because I believe we already have a winner and we will also discuss the world economic forum coming out and saying that the idea that Trump could potentially win the 2024 election is. And I quote, and this actually came from, I believe, somebody, the, the, uh, head of BlackRock, uh, a woman there that was at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, said that it was a great concern, quote, unquote, if Trump won the election. Now, all of that and more, make sure you stick around, because the longer you're here, the deeper we get. Alright, so, before you do that, uh, go ahead and Leave a review, Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you're at, go ahead and click the five stars. If you're on Spotify or Apple podcasts, if you haven't watched the episodes before all of the stuff that I'm talking about here with you on the podcast is also available on YouTube, just with my beautiful face and all the articles and videos that we're watching up on the screen for you. So if you're working, whatever you got going on, you're cleaning up the house, whatever you're doing. Put on YouTube, man, I'll be right there waiting for you. And you'll actually be able to see everything that we're discussing all the articles and everything there. All right. So without further ado, let's jump into it. The Adams archive. All right, let's jump into it. The very first thing that we're going to discuss today is going to be that the FAA came out and said, And you're hearing this correct. The FAA said that they were going to start doing diversity hires for people who are severely and mentally incapable. That seems like the absolute worst idea in the world. If there was any job that you would do, and I can actually speak to this, uh, and I'll get into more detail on that for you. But if there's any job that you shouldn't be able to do, this should probably be on the list. So here's this article. It comes from the post millennial and it says Biden's FAA is actively recruiting people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities as a part of diversity and inclusion plan. Yeah. If you're terrified. Because when I was in the, the FAA certification process right when I was going through air traffic control school to be in the Air Force when I was in the Air Force, um, we wouldn't even when you went in and you got your FAA certification, you got this little pink card that showed that you were an air traffic controller. You had to go through all these tests. The tests were quite difficult, by the way, so I'm not sure like my class of air traffic controllers from tech school at Uh, Biloxi, Mississippi did essentially, we had 24 people or 27 people or so when we started and by the end of it, eight of us graduated. So it's, it's not like this is easy stuff. And then you go to your actual base and then even a larger amount of people wash out at their base, depending on what base you go to. Now, when it comes to the FAA, allowing severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities to be a part of this organization and these types of jobs, we're talking about. People who have your lives in their hands at all times, when you talk about air traffic controllers and pilots, you need to be mentally sharp, you need to be mentally capable, you need to be able to make split second decisions that are going to choose life or death for hundreds of people at a time. And here's how I would explain air traffic control. You know, some people, everybody thinks it's like the person with the cone sitting down on the runway. No. The air traffic controller either has one of two jobs. One's in a tower, one's in a radar facility. And if you're in the tower, you're basically working air traffic within maybe five miles around your base. And if you're working in a radar facility, like I did, you work potentially up to 20, 30, even larger. Distances than that. So you're controlling. So when, when you're doing a radar facility, you see a screen when you're in tower, it's a little bit different and you use different tools, but when you're in the radar facility, you see basically a screen and it looks like a video game. And there's little triangles on there with little, you know, letters and numbers. Next to them. And each one of those triangles could represent anywhere from two to 250 people. And your job as an air traffic controller is to, is to look and observe the altitude of the aircraft that you're looking at, check their, uh, the altitude, their speed, and then you're supposed to create. Patterns. There's already generally pre created patterns, but you're, you're supposed to keep them within the air traffic patterns, tell them when there's traffic, give them the, the distance, the speed, the altitude of the traffic. And, and at the same time, you know, there were certain times in the air traffic facility when one person would be working upwards of 20 to 25 different planes at a single given time. So you can imagine what that looks like when you're trying to maintain and track 25 small triangles and make sure that they don't hit each other, because if those triangles touch each other, you could have killed 500 people. Now, when we're talking about the FAA allowing severely intellectually and psychiatrically disabled individuals into the FAA, we're also talking about pilots. Now, I don't know about you, but I just watched a recent Netflix movie and it's the most. It's like the highest net, the highest watched Netflix movie right now. Pretty sure it's like Sons of Snow or something like that and essentially what happened is back in the 1970s there was a pilot, a perfectly capable, unmentally handicapped, or severely intellectually disabled individual, a perfectly healthy individual, who was a pilot, who was the co pilot, and he hadn't really driven this plane through the area that they were in through these mountains and During the 70s, this, this plane was commissioned through the, the military to ride these like rugby players and their families all over to go play a match. And when they did that, the co pilot was maintaining the aircraft and was lost just by 40 miles. And 40 miles seems like a really long distance, but when you're going 300, 400 miles per hour It's not. And so you could do that in 25 minutes, 20 minutes of just going the wrong direction, you're 40 miles off off path. And so when what happened was this guy lowered his altitude and did so so much that he hit the tail end of the plane on the back of a cliff, broke the plane in half, it ripped the wings off of the plane and stranded these 27 people in this Horrific, mountainous, frigid, freezing area. And those people were there for 80, 81 days. They survived in the climate where the temperatures would drop 80 degrees in one hour. It's a little graphic movie, so I'll give you that. Parental discretion. Don't watch this with the kids, and don't watch it if you don't have a or if you're a little queasy when it comes to, I don't know, cannibalism, because it's kind of a theme throughout it all, but this is a real story that happened. And the only reason that these guys survived, a certain amount of them, survived was because of their, both their heroic acts, and The fact that they ended up cannibalizing each other and the story is truly amazing and in a testament to humanity and how certain individuals in that situation can step up into leadership roles and to, uh, you know, work alongside other people to delegate tasks and all these amazing things that they did together. It's actually a really interesting case study on like almost, uh, uh, the, the antithesis of Lord of the Flies. And I think that's partially because a small portion of these individuals actually happened to be teammates prior to this. So they were already on their own side. They were all wearing a Jersey together. They had some camaraderie. And so I think that's a, that's a big piece of it. But I also think that when you're in that situation, there's always going to be several leaders who step up and decide that they're going to speak for the group and that they're the ones that are most capable to lead them out of a terrible situation. And you really find the character out of an individual when they're in a situation like that, and whether they step up or they look around the room to meet the eyes of somebody who's going to, and there's different people for different roles in life. And that's not to say that any one person is less than the other, but I do think that there is a certain gene within. A man or a woman that makes them more capable leaders than others. And when you're in a situation that is literally life and death, you want to make sure that you have a capable leader. In this specific instance, they actually had the captain of their team that helped. Uh, take on that initial leadership role that they all kind of looked to throughout this film. Now, it's truly an incredible film, and I know I'm getting off on a tangent here, but you should go watch it. Don't blame me, because I already warned you about the cannibalism stuff. All right, guys, like, don't, don't be messaging me, getting all mad at me for, but it's, it's a great movie, and, and it's definitely worth the watch, and it'll make you queasy for, you know, a few scenes, but. It's worth it. It's interesting. And so, when you have somebody who's a co pilot and for 10 minutes looked the wrong direction and wasn't following the right, you know, path. Like, I don't know how many people were on the original plane, but it was probably at least 70 people died as a result of this tiny little mistake. This isn't a cab driver, and even then, you probably shouldn't be a cab driver if you have severe intellectual disabilities. So when it comes to the FAA, the standards are high for a reason. Hi for a reason, and it's for your safety. So when you have Boeing with their 757s that came out flaunting in a video where all of their engineers are now women walking through a trade show in slow motion thinking they're all cool. Meanwhile, they should have been in the back of a hangar with a screwdriver screwing on the windows or the door that fell off of the The airplane like every single piece of aviation has to be handled with extreme care from the mechanics that are working on a plane, obviously, to the FAA or traffic controllers that are maintaining your traffic and giving telling people where to go and how to get there and how to get there safely to the pilots that are actually sitting in that cockpit, making sure that you and your family land. Without dying, that's a pretty important role, don't you think? And I don't think that that's somebody that I want to have severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. And when we go back to my time in the Air Force, when I was an air traffic controller, you wouldn't, if you were feeling any sort of anxiety, or depression, or any lingering mental health issue at all, you would never, never go speak with a therapist. It was a death sentence for your career. An absolute death sentence for your career. If you went to speak to a therapist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, you would not be able, they would immediately strip you of, of your, your duties. You wouldn't be allowed to go do your job because now you're, you're at a risk and they can't risk having somebody with a medical history of any mental health issues or physical disabilities or intellectual disabilities because. You can kill people, not even just like one or two. You kill lots of people in air traffic or as a pilot. And all of those decisions that you have to make are split second decisions. So, this is absolutely crazy to me. But let's, let's go ahead and watch this here. Or I'll read it for you. Which says, The Federal Aviation Administration places a priority on hiring people with severe intellectual disabilities as a part of the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. According to its website, the FAA claims individuals with targeted or severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the federal workforce. Under its People with Disabilities program, the agency says, it actively recruits, hires, promotes, retains, and develops and advances people with disabilities. The FAA targets the following disabilities as a matter of policy. Hearing. Vision, missing extremities, God, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and dwarfism. Could you imagine if you go to get into your plane and as you're boarding Delta flight, you see a blind, deaf dwarf with one arm sitting there ready to fly your plane? That doesn't sound like a good idea at all. I am immediately grabbing my luggage and turning right around and exiting the plane. Because that's, I'm not trying to be ableist or whatever the fuck you want to call it, but there are certain qualities that, that make you capable of flying a plane and being deaf, blind, missing extremities, or being deaf. Paralyzed seemed to fall under the category of the things that you wouldn't want from your pilot, I would say. Now, the FAA told Fox News that it seeked qualified candidates from as many sources as possible, all of whom must meet rigorous qualifications that, of course, will vary by position. Its website reveals that those with disabilities or those who have veteran status can be hired via non competitive or on the spot process as long as a manager files the proper paperwork, thus giving them preferential treatment in the hiring process. The aviation industry has received further scrutiny from the public in the wake of Alaska Airlines door plug being blown off the sides of its two month old Boeing 737 9 Max aircraft, causing it to make an emergency landing. In a post on X, tech mogul Elon Musk asked, do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritize DEI hiring over your safety? He added, it's actually happening. People will die due to DEI. And I wholeheartedly believe we should just switch those. It's D I E, guys. When it comes to the FAA, at least, it's D I E. It's no longer D E I. So he posted that on X and then, uh, goes on to talk about how Boeing had that situation that occurred as well. Now, they go into a whole history of Boeing's DEI program, uh, which is just as concerning as we see it all actually playing out now with the 737's door falling off mid flight. Flight, could you imagine and the people that were supposed to be sitting in the the aircraft next to that door that fell off I'm pretty sure like missed the flight or something like that Now it says the Alaska Airlines situation came on the heels of a shocking report in December Which showed that there was 19 instances where planes nearly crashed into each other at the airports in the first in the first 10 months of 2023 Wow. This was the highest number since 2016. The report noted that the FAA had struggled to hire more air traffic controllers, and as the number of flights a day has gone up, the number of fully certified air traffic controllers is down 1, 000 people from 10 years ago. And that's when I was an air traffic controller. It was literally 2013, 2014. Yeah. So interesting. Wow. Didn't know they were in that much dire difficulty that they'd hire somebody who's completely paralyzed to be an air traffic controller. The bar is Sticky tape on the ground. All right, and that leads us to our next conversation here, which comes out of, and I guess let's do this two ways. We could do one of two ways. We can start with the caucus, or we can start with the World Economic Forum. You choose. I'll wait. Oh, you said you wanted to start with the World Economic Forum? Perfect, let's do that. So it says, from the post millennial, the potential 2024 Trump win of great concern to Davos elites at annual World Economic Forum meeting. So, every year, if you didn't know, A bunch of multi billionaires of all these corporations across the world that all come together to conspire on how to control you, on how to eliminate your freedoms, on how to put you into a tinier and tinier box every year, and strip you of the ability to transport yourself from point A to point B, and figure out a way to continue to siphon money off of you, so they can pay it to themselves. Oh, and also, you know, take every single power, uh, advantage that they can over the general public. They meet. In the, I think it's like the Swiss Alps in Switzerland and at Davos and all these people get together and they conspire together and they have these fancy looking meetings and then, you know, Klaus Schwab walks up there in his Star Wars attire and talks about how you're going to eat the bugs and you're going to, uh, Oh, nothing's I'm be happy with it. Like all of that stuff, right? That's the World Economic Forum, if you didn't know. Sure you did, because you're listening to me. But, if you didn't know, there you go. Now, the World Economic Forum leaders, specifically from BlackRock, said that Trump becoming president is of great concern for them, when it comes to their annual World Economic Forum meeting. And that's again comes from the post millennial, which says in 2024 GOP front runners, Donald Trump's potential return to the white house was of great concern to one elite and stoked fears and others at the earlier work at the yearly world economic forum meeting. In Davos, Switzerland, going to the into the Iowa caucuses, Trump is far ahead of primary competition in recent polls, the potential for him to become president of the United States against burden nervous discussions, thousands of miles away from the elite meeting. You know, we've been there before and we survived it. So we'll see what it means. BlackRock Vice Chairman Philip Hildebrand said, according to Bloomberg. Certainly for a Europe, from a European perspective, from a kind of globalist, Atlanticist perspective, it's of course a great concern. You hear that, that word? Globalist, right? European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde. Thought that Trump going back to his office, it was obviously a threat in an interview this week before the elite meeting that she attends regularly. The video's in, uh, French, so I won't play it for you unless you speak French, in which case go find it and listen to it yourself and then you can tell all of us what it says. The former Swiss National Bank president also shared Lagarde's fears of Trump returning to office. Former Vice President Al Gore did not think it was a foregone conclusion that Trump would get elected. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion, he said. Yeah, well, thank you. I've Been through the process. I've run four national campaigns over the years and seen it from that perspective. I've seen a lot of surprises over the years. The yearly elite meetup started this week and goes until January 19th. And as always, I do cover that in length as well, every year. So I'm sure we will be doing that also this week. All right. Now, just because they just said that I would love to share with you that the Iowa caucus has been called and Donald Trump took just 34 minutes. To win the election or the caucus, whatever. Um, so let's go ahead and read a little bit about that here. And that is. Interesting to me because it was such a landslide that Donald Trump won in Iowa. He won by 75 percent of votes within the first 30 minutes. Now this is supposed to get dragged out a little bit, but basically everybody's already calling it because they're saying that there was so many people. And I'm sure we have even more of a definitive. Statistic now, but there were so many people that voted for Trump out of the generalized first election counting that was happening within the first 35 minutes that they just went, eh, guess it's Trump, which is scaring the shit out of a lot of people, especially if you're in Switzerland right now. Uh, so that's cool. What I found to be interesting was that following Donald Trump, at least at the time that I'm reading this was Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley. Surprised me by being in that position. And I guess she's kind of like the GOP, you know, the, if you want to use the word neocons or the, you know, the establishment conservatives, she's. Literally the face of it. She used to run, she used to work at like the NATO or UN side of things. And, you know, all of that deeply entrenched in the swamp. And it surprises me that she's in second place at all, because everything that's come out of her mouth is just warmongering bullshit. Next up after her right now is Ron DeSantis. Now, what's even more interesting than that to me is the fact that Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place behind DeSantis and Nikki Haley. For how convincing his speech is, it doesn't seem to be helping him much in the polls. There was a big spat this week and last between Donald Trump and Vivek, and I guess I said Vivek, but I'm pretty sure it's Vivek after I called him out a few times, but it's Vivek and In that spat, uh, Donald Trump basically said that Vivek is trying to go out and say that, Oh, he's, you know, there was a picture that came out of Vivek next to four individuals, uh, younger looking guys who were saying that, you know, Save Trump, choose Vivek. Which is basically the idea behind that is the fact that Trump's not gonna be able to get near the White House, and they would never let that, so you should choose me because I'm the next best option. Now, I don't disagree with the sentiment of some of that. But, that pissed off a lot of Trump voters, and it also pissed off Trump, which Made Trump respond to him and basically just obliterate the vague fairly quickly I would be really interested to see them on a debate stage together. I don't know if we will which is super sad to me Because it would be I don't know That's what democracy is is hearing two people stand up there and have an argument about their belief system so that we can decide Who's full of shit and who seems to be telling the truth? Now, the real answer is, they're all full of shit, none of them are telling the truth, but at least we get to feel like we partake in the process. At least we get to feel like we heard them speak from their own mouth and have some sort of verbal combat with the other individual that we're deciding between. And I think that's important. But it's telling, as we go into all of these debates, that there has been no Democratic debates at all. There has been no debates with Donald Trump in them. There has been no Joe Biden speaking out about what's going to happen. Now that's a super interesting one because we still have no idea who's even going to be the front runner. I believe there's more and more whispers now that it could be Michelle Obama, however, which would make for a very, very interesting election. I think that might be one of the only ways that you would see Trump have a difficult time winning. And specifically, and only because of perception. It's like, Oprah, Michelle Obama, I don't know, who else? The Rock, Mark Cuban. Like, those would be like the four people that I could see even giving Trump a hard time, potentially, if they actually showed up and debated him. Now. There you have it. There's your update on both Trump and the caucus. And I think that we will be seeing these landslides pretty consistently as the time goes on in the conservative party because Trump's just trounced absolutely destroyed the vague. And that to me is the only possible individual that It could have gone toe to toe with him in any way, shape, or form. So now it's like almost a race for second, which is what everybody's saying about this. It's like, yeah, we're watching this only specifically because we want to see who comes in second place. And, and hopefully, you know, honestly, I would rather have a vague than DeSantis or Nikki Haley. And, and I'm, I'm not against. DeSantis, his presence throughout this election cycle has just been absolutely atrocious. It was sitting on the debate stage getting just pummeled, pummeled by Gavin Newsom in their debate. Just watching that was so difficult. I just prayed. That Vivek gets the same opportunity. And again, I'm not a Vivek supporter. In that way, I have a lot of questions about Vivek and his sincerity. And, uh, there was actually even more news about Vivek that came out this week in his snaky little ways. Which is the fact that one of the companies that he owned, the one that made him much of his money, was a pharmaceutical company, right? We know that. But also, what ended up happening was he basically bought the rights to a dead pharmaceutical drug that lost all of its clinical trials, never went into the third phase of trials, and then, basically, this was for dementia, purchased the drug, and I think this was under Roivint, And purchased the drug and then put it back through trials. Only this time there was one difference in the way that he put it through trials. He put his mother on the team that was conducting the trials. Lo and behold, after a few rounds of. Running these scientific trials, suddenly there's this amazing breakthrough in the dementia world and this medication could have gone and been an amazing thing. The stock jumps up to almost 200 per share from almost nothing. Then, as it goes through the third round of trials, the stock plummets because it doesn't pass the third rounds of clinical trials. What we call that is a pump and dump the I there was their entire idea was to purchase this pharmaceutical drug make it appear through Scientific swindling which is basically all sciences today anyways, especially when it comes to pharmaceuticals over literally anything and then Pump up the stock by putting out some some PR information sending your son on a PR Trip to go to speak on all of the best talk shows and you know his Silvery slick little tongue. And then as soon as right before you're supposed to go through that third round of clinical trials, you drop all your shares and that leaves all of the money, all of the money that's lost to the individuals that don't drop it in time. And that's exactly what they did. So he's just a pump and dump little schemer. So thought that was interesting. Something I learned this week as well. All right. So, those are your main topics today, but there was one last thing that I think will segue us into the Martin Luther King conversation. And this actually is interesting because it comes from Robert Kennedy Jr. at a speech at Hillsdale College, in which he calls out another situation where the powers that be attempted to assassinate individuals who didn't fall in line, which perfectly segues us into our conversation about Martin Luther King. So, here's the video, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at Hillsdale College. And this is actually interesting because JFK is, you know, um, is actually the one who allowed, uh, the FBI to conduct its wiretapping on Martin Luther King. Now there's a reason behind that, that he was trying to basically allegedly expose. The fact that Martin Luther King wasn't a communist and all these claims and that a lot of that, but we'll get to that in a minute. But it is just funny that we're speaking to his nephew or watching his nephew speak about the topic that he was the one who, you know, allowed the wiretapping. Anyways, here we go. Watch here as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drops an absolute bombshell about the federal government and well, just watch because it's pretty wild. Then in 2001, in June, the CIA sponsors the first of its pandemic simulations. It simulates a biological attack on Washington, D. C. by Saddam Hussein. This is in June, 2001. That simulation got, got international press, and a lot of the CIA people like Judith Miller from the New York Times was promoting it, going around doing all the talk shows. It, uh, it triggered two Senate hearings, one by Joe Biden's committee. And that hearing was in September 2001. What happened in September 2001? The 9 11. So that hearing was going on during 9 11. As soon as 9 11 happened, the neocons, which were working on all this stuff with the CIA, Pulled out the Patriot Act, a 350 page statute from a shelf where it had been waiting for a while. And in one week said, we want to pass this in a week. There's only one member of Congress who read it, which was Dennis Kucinich. And he went crazy. And said, you have no idea this is the end of American democracy if you do this. It allows the CIA to spy on Americans. One of the things the Patriot Act did is it did not get rid of the Geneva Convention or the Bioweapons Treaty, but it said no federal official can be prosecuted for violating those two statutes. So it reopened the bioweapons arms race globally. And when the, a week after, when the Patriot Act was being debated, and it was being held up by two senators, There was an anthrax attack on the U. S. Capitol. It was blamed on Saddam Hussein, and although the neocons all said, see, we were right in the pandemic simulation, Saddam Hussein attacked us. And we used that as a justification to go to war against Saddam Hussein. And within two days, we passed the Patriot Act. Who got the anthrax? Two Senate offices. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, the two senators who were blocking the Patriot Act. The FBI did a one year investigation. They said this anthrax was unique. It was Ames anthrax and there's only one place in the world it could have come from, Fort Dietrich, the CIA lab. Damn. Bomb. Shell. dropped by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. there. That is absolutely insane. Now, if you grew up in the area, the era that I did, or even after you remember being terrified of anthrax, you remember hearing about how, Oh, somebody could just send you a letter and all of a sudden you're dead on the ground, dad. But now come to find out that that entire scare, the entire anthrax scare that we recall that's sifted and that's, that's seared into our memory was because two senators held out on the Patriot Act because they said it would end democracy. And as a result of saying those things and deciding not to approve it, they had of all of the senators that were there, those are the only two. Individuals who received the letters with the anthrax in it as a threat saying pass this or else and as he just said in the very end there, the fact that not only were they targeted, that was obviously blatantly clear why they were doing it, but also the only way, the only way That that could have, or the only place that that specific type of anthrax could have come from was Fort Detrick with this CIA. This is what you have to realize, is when you're dealing with these organizations, especially, you know, and I say especially back then, and that could still be perfectly well the case. That nothing has changed, and they're still absolutely conducting this type of thing. They're probably just a little smarter about it, and the documents are classified for another 30 years, right? Because every 30 years, you're going to go, Oh, that was in the 1990s. That was in the early 2000s. They wouldn't do that to us now, guys, right? They, they wouldn't do that to us now, as all the senators are in a room, looking at each other, hire a specific, uh, a specific intern to open up all your mail, right? Like, it's so crazy to see that the lengths that they went to, you know, To go to combat anybody, anybody. going against their wishes. And even that's interesting what he said about the fact that they had a 350 page bill already written for exactly this type of situation. And then they utilize that emergency situation to pass whatever bills they wanted. And they could have put anything in there. And what he said is that there was only one person who read the damn thing. Because how do you get a week to sift through 350 legal pages, which is a nightmare. But that's your job. How isn't it that everybody read through those? How is it that they didn't come with, if I'm in that position, I'm coming, I'm taking all of those documents, I'm going home, and I'm putting a flashlight down on it with a highlighter. And then I'm, I'm taking those and writing notes into a journal, and making, writing down my thoughts, and then coming back to the table and going, here's what's wrong with this, here's why you shouldn't pass this, and make an actual argument. But that's not what these senators do. They are told, here's the package, you pass it. Now when anybody has a brain in these positions, you know, we talked about Madison Cawthorne a couple days ago, or a couple episodes ago, where he spoke out against some things that were happening, and guess what? With a 95 percent general re election cycle for a senator, he didn't, he was one of the 5%. And he was super popular among the people. Um, so, if you don't do what they say, you're not They're going to make you do what they say, whether it's through blackmail, like we talked about yesterday with or yesterday, we talked about it last episode. It seems like yesterday on Friday. Um, we talked about Epstein blackmail, right? We talked about now, even physical threats like anthrax, or even what we'll see from here from Truman's, uh, FBI here is the fact that they sent Martin Luther King a letter and they sent Martin Luther King a letter basically saying kill yourself And if you don't somebody else will do it for you within 34 days, and it won't be as pleasant That's an actual letter, and actually, I'm sorry, that was Hoover, um, that sent, that sent that letter, uh, but terrifying what these organizations are, are willing to do to hold their power and to make their decisions be unquestionable, right? You can't, you can't say anything back against these organizations or else, well, or else what? Well, or else we'll kill you with anthrax. Don't even read it. Because if you do, your moral compass will get in the way. Just pass it. That's all we need you to do. That's why you're in your position. It's because we paid for you to be here. Now pass the bill. Right? That's all they want you to do. They don't want you to think. You're not there to represent the American people. You're there to represent the globalists, like we talked about with the World Economic Forum. You're there to represent the lobbyists. And you're there to represent the people that gave you your money to get there. Not the people who voted for you quote unquote To be in your position. No, because that's not how you really got there. You got there because you had a 25 million dollar donation from BlackRock And I found this to be interesting too and this is a side note while I'm waiting for some other things to pull up here, which is the fact that George Soros has traditionally gone after local level officials because the cost to lobby people into positions of power in Washington is so much more than it is to do it locally. If he wants a DA in, in, I don't know, Chicago, he can get one there. If he wants a judge in Des Moines, Iowa, he can get one there at a much lower cost than actually trying to get somebody into a presidential position and get something somebody into a Senate position. It's much easier for you to get somebody into a local run. Then you are into a national one. So this leads me to where this all started, which is the fact that on Martin Luther King day, the FBI posted on their Twitter account, which is quite ironic. First of all, but let's go ahead and read what they had to say. The FBI posted on January 15th of 2024, this MLK day, the FBI honors one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King's legacy of fairness and equal justice for all. Well, guess what? That got hit with a community note and I will share it with you because it's absolutely hilarious and I'm so glad that this exists. Here it is. Let me go ahead and share it on the screen for you here. So here's the tweet from the FBI and here is the Community note, which says the FBI engaged in surveillance of King attempted to discredit him and use manipulation tactics to influence him to stop organizing. King's family believed the FBI was responsible for his death. Praise the community notes gods that this got posted because in one community note on X, they absolutely obliterated the FBI absolutely obliterated them. This, this has to go down as the single greatest community note in Twitter X history is the fact that the FBI got community noted as being the potential perpetrator of Martin Luther King's death. Directly under their tweet. Now I would love to go look at the comments of that because that has 3. 7 million views, but this leads us into our next conversation. Did the FBI assassinate Martin Luther King? Well, by the end of this, hopefully you have your answer because I know mine. So let's begin this at the very beginning of the situation. I'll give you a brief breakdown and then we'll walk through some of the pieces that we pick up along the way. Alright, so, I have some of this written down, so bear with me, but I wanted to organize this in a way that was easy to understand the totality of this situation, because once you get into the details, whether it's JFK's assassination, whether it's Martin Luther King's assassination, whether it's Bobby Kennedy's assassination, whether it's John Lennon, all of these become so complex and confiscated because that's the goal. All they need to do is create enough enough doubt around the situation that they can just continue doing their job. So here we go tonight. We're peeling back the layers of a story that quite frankly, the mainstream media is too timid to touch. The assassination of Martin Luther King jr. Now. You all know the official story, the one that's been neatly packaged and sold to us by the FBI for years. But what if I told you there's another side to that story? One that's been shrouded in government secrets and mystery. First, let's set the scene. Martin Luther King, the face of the civil rights movement. A man who is no stranger to the specter of death. In 1958, he survived a near fatal stabbing. In 1963, post JFK's assassination, he eerily predicts a similar fate for himself. This isn't just a footnote in history, it's a chilling prelude to what's to come. Now fast forward to 1968, King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference comrades are in Memphis, Tennessee, advocating for the rights of sanitation workers. It's a noble cause, but it turns out to be King's last. On April 4th, at the Lorraine Motel Room. Room 306, a room that practically had King's name on it. His life is tragically cut short by a sniper's bullet. The FBI story? James Earl Ray, a convicted criminal, acted alone. Sound familiar? But, let's not be so quick to swallow the narrative. Ray is captured, and the stories we're fed is that he's a lone, racist gunman. But hold on! Ray soon recants his confession, reclaiming that he was just a pawn in a larger game orchestrated by a shadowy figure named Raul. This is where the plot thickens. Consider this. The King family, not satisfied with the official account, starts digging deeper. They uncover enough anomalies and inconsistencies to file a lawsuit against Lloyd Jowers and various government entities, alleging a sprawling conspiracy behind King's assassination. And in a stunning turn of events, they win the case. Testimonies during the trial implicate not just Jowers, but also the FBI, the CIA, the U. S. Army, and even elements of the mafia. Now let's talk about the evidence. The rifle that was supposedly linked to Ray to the linked Ray to the crime scene was never conclusively matched to the bullet that killed King. So, the bullet that was lodged in King's head when he died was not a match to the specific rifle that James Earl Ray allegedly used. Now, then there's the mystery pattern of deaths and intimidations. Witnesses, key figures, anyone who dared to challenge the official narrative met with untimely and suspicious ends. Also sounds familiar to JFK's now doesn't it? Is this just a series of coincidences or does it point to a desperate attempt to silence the truth? Ray's own story, frankly, is riddled with holes. Here's a man with a limited understanding of firearms. A low military marksmanship score suddenly pegged as a mastermind, capable of executing one of the most significant assassinations in American history. We start to ask some more questions. Then there's the hasty manner in which Ray was pinned as the lone assassin almost immediately. Authorities find him in case closed. But the discrepancies are glaring. Questions about the ballistic evidence, the rush to judgment, the odd sequence of events post assassination. Is a jigsaw puzzle with far too many missing pieces. Now consider the broader context. This is the 1960s, a time of turmoil, of government distrust of agencies known for court, for covert operations and dirty tricks, the King's family lawsuit. And the subsequent verdict didn't just raise eyebrows. They blew the lid off the official story, suggesting that Martin Luther King's. Junior's assassination was not the act of a lone, hate driven gunman, but the outcome of a deep rooted, multi layered government conspiracy. So let's dive deeper. Ray's narrative of being manipulated by Raul presents a picture of a man who was unknowingly set up to be the Fall Guy in an assassination that was part of a larger and darker agenda. This Raul character, who remains shrouded in mystery, is said to have directed Ray's actions, including the purchase of the alleged Murder Weapon. It begs the question, was Rey just a pawn in a much more complex game of high stakes political chess? And let's not just gloss over the rapid response that was given in conclusion by authorities. Almost immediately after King's assassination, the focus narrows on Rey, with little exploration into any alternative leads. or motives. The evidence, such as the mismatched ballistics, Ray's lack of fingerprints in the alleged sniper's nest, and his dubious claim from escape from prison paints a picture of convenient scapegoating rather than a thorough investigation. The mainstream media also ignores the broader climate of the time, a period rife with political assassinations. Civil unrest and a deep mistrust of government agencies in this context, the idea of a government linked conspiracy doesn't seem so far fetched, does it? The King family, meanwhile, steadily, steadfastly, maintained that Ray was not the true assassin. They contended that his role was merely a diversion, a cover for a larger conspiracy involving government agencies and other powerful entities. Their victory in the civil trial against Lloyd Jowers and various government entities was just a win, wasn't just a win in court, it was a public declaration that the truth about King's assassination was far more complex than the world was led to believe. Now, let's talk about the aftermath. Before we do that, I do want to discuss one thing. Who was this Jowers fellow? Lloyd Jowers was an individual who was connected with the mafia, who alleged During this court hearing that he was given a 100, 000 to hire a hit man to kill Martin Luther King. He was told at the time that he was given that money that there would be no police presence around. They told him the exact place for him to be in. And when you look deeper and deeper into the situation with Martin Luther King, there's a ton of questions around this. First of all being they moved. Martin Luther King Jr. from his existing hotel room into another one, one with a balcony view. Interesting. Also, within this time, there was government assets on the ground in the area surrounding him. Not some security force, just random government assets on the ground. Similar to what we would say, I don't know, February 7th? Is that what they say? Or January 8th? What's that date again? Hmm. So, there's more and more questions to be asked here. Right? Now And again, the, the, the connection between the government, the CIA and the mafia is so bizarre during this time. You talk about all of the situation with Jack Ruby when it comes to JFK and the connection there. It just seems consistently a narrative that the CIA was working alongside the mafia to conduct these types of hits. Let's look at the aftermath of King's assassination and the series of mysterious deaths that followed. Key witness individuals with potentially damaging information suddenly and conveniently got out of the picture. It's a pattern that's too consistent to be mere coincidence. It's almost as if someone was tying up loose ends, ensuring the official narrative stayed unchallenged. Let's not forget the peculiar handling of the crime scene. The swift removal of potential evidence. Like the tree obscure, obstructing the alleged shooters view and the immediate intense focus on Ray as the sole perpetrator. It's as if the authorities were more interested in closing the case than covering the full story. This is where the mainstream media often fall short. They don't dig deeper. They question the narrative handed to them, but that's not how we operate here. We look at the facts, the inconsistencies, and we ask the tough questions. So, let's look at some more of these details here, november 1964, after their earlier efforts to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. are unsuccessful, the FBI prepares to send Dr. King an anonymous package containing a document that will come to be known as the poison pen letter. FBI intelligence chief Bill Sullivan himself takes some plain unmarked paper. And pretending to be an American Negro, types out an anonymous threatening letter. addressed simply King. The letter began by calling Dr. King a fraud and warned that the demise of his reputation among the public was fast approaching. The package also contained an audio tape, a compilation of FBI surveillance allegedly of King engaging in multiple extramarital affairs. The document's ominous closing, according to some scholars, Suggested that Dr. King was given a deadline of 34 days to take his own life or suffer the humiliation of the tape's release. The interpretation of this by the people that investigated the FBI later and by just about everybody who has gone through these records believes that they intended for him to commit suicide. The FBI sent the package anonymously to Dr. King on November 21st, 1964, but it went unopened for over a month because King was in Oslo, Norway, accepting the Nobel Prize. The first person to eventually open Sullivan's threatening package long after Christmas is Mrs. King. King and his associates. When they listen, there you go. So. The FBI went to blackmail, that is blackmail, blackmailed Martin Luther King Jr. to try to get him to commit suicide in order to escape the humiliation of his own infidelity. And we talked about honeypot schemes when it came to Jeffrey Epstein in our last episode, and it seems to be the case here. All they did was, you know, potentially, had somebody go and show a lot of interest into him that was very attractive for lots of money. Had them sleep with her, him sleep with her, and then recorded the transaction that was occurring. And now they have blackmail to get him to do whatever they want. Now, obviously, it's probably not a fair exchange to either die or suffer humiliation of being an adulterer. But, they thought it was enough. And so And they're still doing this today, right? We saw that with the Anthrax, like they would even go further lengths than this to get their way. And their way has not changed, whether it was back then or today. They're still doing the same things, guaranteed. Maybe it's changed technologically in the fashions that they're doing it in. This is the same old tactics, it's the same old company that has been doing this since their inception in 1947. And I think the FBI is obviously a different time than the CIA, so I'm thinking CIA there. But same difference. Right? So, that goes into the next conversation, which is surrounding who was James Earl Ray? And why do we think he's innocent? So let's bring up that and we'll discuss that video, because here it is. This is actually from the trial, which occurred that we were discussing this entire time. And he, let's go ahead and here we go. Let's watch it. Item of evidence to with the rifle that allegedly a comparison was conducted of the bullet material removed from Dr. King with the 12 test bullets that could be adequately analyzed. This comparison revealed that the gross and unique characteristic signature left on the 12 test bullets by the James Earl Ray rifle was not present on the death bullet. There you have it. If you were to say Mr. Hathaway, what are your recommendations here today? I would say I continue on, try, uh, attempt the um, cleaning. It may or may not help. And secondly, I would attempt to get those FBI tests to see the earlier tests compared to the test of 30 years later. This is them conducting the testing for the ballistics to match when they fire the rifle. Which forensic science in the 90s and earlier was such horseshit. And I'm speaking about things that sucked then and suck now. I'm sure it's not. I'm sure it's much better now than it was. But just seeing these guys sit in the lab and be like, well, there's no scratchies on here. And so there's scratchies on that one. He must have killed him. You see them now be stopping them at different points. I'm going to just take it up to slightly higher. That's what we're going to be working on. There you go. So that was just the forensic science surrounding it. Let's see if there's any other conclusion. There you go. Yeah. As you can see, we can get much better. But, you have to make your own evaluation on that. Of course, I think there's other ways you might come to, you know, the same conclusion on it. Different, different ways. All right, so there you have it. There's the video of the ballistics and forensic science surrounding the rifle, not matching either. And then to top it all off, let's finish out with this video here from 1977, listening to James Earl Ray himself. So you heard, uh, you heard the news on, on the radio, is that the way you heard it? So you were driving, you left at that gas station at 2nd and Linden. What, about 6 or? I don't have any way of knowing, I think it was around that time, but I don't even know if it's Linden, I know the approximate area it is. I've seen the map on the inquirer. And you were going back to, uh, to pick up this man that you say is Raul? No, I was just waiting the car back. So you heard all this confusion, turned and flipped on the radio, they said Dr. King's been shot. Uh, at that, did you think you were set up at that point? Uh, no, I was headed towards, toward New Orleans when I had the radio on. I used to keep the radio on. I think, uh, I didn't, I have too strong feelings about the, the shooting. When, when you met Raoul, you, did you, you didn't know any other name for him? That's the name that he said was his, and that, that's all you ever knew? Yeah, I never did. And you met him where? Canada. Up in Canada. And, uh, and you just met in a saloon, or? It was a saloon in a waterfront area of Montreal. You never became good friends, then? No, I wasn't good friends. Just business. These were all aliases, I assume. You don't think Raoul was a real name at all, then? No, I've got some pretty good information. Papers in there saying there's Raul, San Diego or something, New Orleans, supposed to be, uh, him, but I don't have the FBI, that's material from the FBI files, but I don't have no, uh, nothing to substantiate that. So you think their mind was made up when they got you? Well, it had to be made up, uh, they couldn't, uh, Um, well I don't know what, if there was any penalty for, uh, extraditing someone fraudulently or not, but So there's his discussion around who the figure was that was Raul that helped to set him up that gave him the money to purchase the hitman and basically set up the whole scheme for him. That was the liaison between him and either the organized crime organizations and the FBI. So that's. That's the story in a nutshell, right? There's lots of little minute details. There's documentaries that have been done on this, that you can go check out yourself, but I wanted to give you that higher level. There was a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things that, that came up that changed, uh, that caused, uh, Martin Luther King to find himself in that situation in that time, that was the strings being pulled by these organizations. So I had a few of them written down from some of my research on this, and it starts like this, This. So, the FBI wiretapped and spied on Martin Luther King. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover tried to blackmail Martin Luther King, and the FBI covered up his death and investigated themselves. In a 1999 civil trial, they determined the FBI was involved in his assassination. Sure, we talked about that. Then they created a federal holiday, um, in his name. Right? What is it besides that? Let's look at some of these here. The King family friend and attorney, William F. Pepper, won the civil trial, which found that the U. S. government agencies were guilty of being part of a conspiracy that resulted in the wrongful death and assassination of Dr. King. The damning positive evidence, or body of evidence, presented to the jury, During this trial suggests that US governmental complicity, which the jury obviously found extremely credible and included testimony about the following. The US 111th military intelligence group were at Dr. King's location during the assassination. The 20th special forces group had eight, had an eight man sniper team at the assassination location that Usual Memphis police special bodyguards were advised that they weren't needed on the day of the assassination. Regular and constant police protection for Dr. King was removed from protecting Dr. King. Just an hour before the assassination military intelligence set up photographers on the roof of a fire station with clear view of dr. King's balcony dr. King's room was changed from a secure first floor room to an exposed balcony room. Memphis police ordered ordered the scene where multiple witnesses reported. As the source of shooting cut down on their bush or cut down on their bushes that would have hit a sniper. So Memphis police ordered the scene where multiple witnesses reported as the source of shooting to cut down the bushes. That would have hit a sniper along with sanitizing a crime scene. Police abandoned investigative procedure to interview a witness who lived by the scene of the shooting. The rifle Mr. Ray delivered was not a match to the bullet that killed Dr. King and was not. Cited to accurately shoot so there's some additional evidence from this trial that came out and obviously that's pretty damning and It goes right alongside the situation, you know You talk about John Lennon being assassinated this way for speaking out against the the war machine you talk about JFK you talk about all of these People that were speaking out to power finding themselves in the same situation Now here's an interesting thread, and this will be fairly quick. Um, and it comes from somebody on Axe. So again, take it with a grain of salt. But it says that born in 1929, Michael King was the son of a black preacher known as Daddy King. In 1935, Daddy King renamed himself after Protestant reformer Martin Luther, subsequently changing Michael's name to Martin Luther King Jr., none of which was legalized in court. Hmm. So his real name was not Michael. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Uh, interesting. Um, there's a, uh, Martin Luther King Jr. Was a n notorious plagiarizer, so that I've typed up a few examples below. However, there are many such cases. Uh, the first public sermon that King gave in 1947 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church was plagiarized from a hully by Protestant clergyman Harry Emerson Foste entitled, life is What You Make It. Uh, the first book that King wrote, Stride Toward Freedom, was plagiarized from numerous sources, all unattributed according to documentation released and assembled by sympathetic King scholars. Four senior editors to the papers to Martin Luther King Jr. stated that Martin's writings were at both Boston University and Crozer Theological Seminary, judged retroactively by standards of academic scholarship, are tragically flawed by numerous instances of plagiarism. We get the point. Uh, As long as it's not the I Have a Dream speech, right? King's Ph. D. dissertation, A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Harry Nelson Wyman, contains more than 50 complete sentences plagiarized. from the PhD dissertation by Dr. Jack Boozer. According to the Martin Luther King papers, an official publication of the Martin Luther King Center of Nonviolent Social Change, whose staff includes Widow Coretta, in King's dissertation, only 49 percent of sentences in the section on tillage contained five or more words that were King's own. Okay, so Plagiarizer, right? Probably many people back then when they're going through school. Probably many people today using ChatGPT. This says that there's a article that says, Trained, Handled, and Surrounded by Jewish Bolsheviks. And it points to a old newspaper article. I can't exactly make out the, the, let's see if I can get in here. The Augustus Courier, the Augusta Courier, um, from August, uh, and from Augusta, Georgia. Um, it says Martin Luther King at Communist Training School. Uh, the article says, let's see, yeah, we'll move on from that, but interesting. I've talked about a few examples of the Communist infiltration of King's movement below. Most notable is the fact that every move I'm okay. Made was dictated and approved by the Jewish handler, Stanley Levinson, who referred to King as a slow thinker and refused to let him act alone. Interesting. In fact, the entirety of the civil rights movement was largely orchestrated and funded By Jews, what? Many examples of this can be found in Benjamin Ginsberg's The Fatal Embrace, I will list a few below. Hmm, I mean, I'll take it at face value, I guess, but I'd just, I'd have to do more research to substantiate that. Examples of the Jewishness of the Civil Rights Movement found in Benjamin Ginsberg's The Fatal Embrace. Jewish organizations worked closely with civil rights groups during the 1960s in their struggles. On behalf of voting rights and for the desegregation of public facilities and accommodations, Jewish contributors provided a substantial share of the funding for such civil rights groups as such as the NAACP and CORE. Jewish attorneys were at the forefront of the legal offensive against the American apartheid system and Stanley Levinson, a longtime official and fundraiser of the American Jewish Congress, became Martin Luther King's chief aide and advisor, having previously served as a major fundraiser for Bayard Rustin. Interesting. Jack Greenberg, head of the NAACP legal defense, was the most important civil rights attorney in the United States. And, let's see, uh, Jewish individuals were, I mean, okay, I don't see, okay, what does that have to do with anything? Um, because remember, diversity is such a blessing to America, it had to be enforced at gunpoint by the 101st Airpoint Division in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the forced racial integration of high schools in 1957. Uh, I mean, yeah, but it still should be done, right? Like, what? Um, Martin Luther King Jr. was also a well known sexual degenerate. Evidence was made available to the public when Trump instructed the National Archives to release documents pertaining to JFK's assassination. And again, not wholeheartedly buying much of this, although this is obviously true. The FBI documents that were unsealed. Um, but I'm not sure if it goes into detail on the sexual deviancy of him. Uh, it says he typed up some of the Information regarding King's degeneracy below. Evidence was also provided that King frequently used grant money to pay for alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes. Uh, worth noting that the man most responsible for the FBI probe in the MLK was an assistant director, William C. Sullivan. Sullivan describes himself as a liberal and says, I, that initially I was 100 percent for King because I saw him as an effective and badly needed leader. Um, okay, not seeing the sexual deviancy. Uh, in February 1968, while running a workshop on urban leadership in Miami, King hired prostitutes with funds from the Ford Foundation. He then engaged in binge drinking and group sex acts, which the FBI describes as deviating from the normal. Okay. The FBI relates how King participated in another drunken sex orgy in Washington, D. C. back in 1964. The sex acts were both natural and unnatural. Not sure what that means. According to the FBI and were performed for the entertainment of onlook. In 1960 this was a pattern for King who according to the FBI has Continued to carry on such sexual aberrations secretly while holding himself out to the public view as a moral leader and religious conviction I mean, that's fair The FBI documents reveal that King had a sired a baby girl out of wedlock with a wife of a prominent Dentist in Los Angeles, uh, King was known to participate in orgies, especially those involv
Dr Martin Luther King Jr was the leader of a movement in America for civil rights. His vision was protest through peace not through violence. Join the boys on MLK Day as they revisit the murder of Dr King and the events leading up to it. From the beginnings of the civil rights movement in Atlanta to the days leading up to the assassination in Memphis Tennessee on April 4 1968. A manhunt began for James Earl Ray that covered multiple states and countries leading to his arrest and guilty plea. Leading to a 99 year sentence. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/subscribe Patreon -- https://www.patreon.com/theconspiracypodcast Our Website - www.theconspiracypodcast.com Our Email - info@theconspiracypodcast.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theconspiracypodcast/message
Author, researcher, journalist, radio and podcast host William Klabber is one of the world's leading experts on the three earth-shaking 1960's assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert F. Kennedy.In this amazing interview, Bill Klabber graciously gives his time to explain the truth behind who killed Martin Luther King, Jr, and why it's nothing like you've been led to believe. Bill takes an extremely detailed and fact-based approach to all of his work, and in regards to Martin Luther Kings' death the evidence will most likely shock and disturb you. It includes the involvement of the FBI, a group often referred to as the "Dixie Mafia," and court-proven facts refuting that James Earl Ray was responsible for MLK's death.If you are intrigued by this interview, we highly encourage you to check out Bill's multi-part series on the reality of King's murder in the MLK Tapes in order to better understand the full picture. In this award-winning podcast published by Tenderfoot TV, Bill merges in detailed evidentiary explanations compiled by the late-great attorney William Pepper, and actual interviews with many of the central players involved in the plot to kill King, including members of the Dixie Mafia and eye-witnesses to the events.Because of Bill Klabber's vast knowledge of not only MLK's death, but also JFK and RFK, we've broken his interview with us into two parts. This first part deals briefly with JFK, but then centers mostly on an explanation of the truth of MLK's murder. In part 2 of the interview (soon to be published) we will go into more detail about Bobby Kennedy's assassination. Please subscribe to the show to be automatically alerted when part 2 of the interview is released.And again, if you are fascinated by the potentially hidden truths of these events, we strongly suggest checking out Bill Klabber's full podcast of The MLK Tapes, as well as his book "Shadow Play: The Unsolved Murder of Bobby Kennedy."In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this excellent interview with expert William Klabber, and ponder why we still never hear any debate or discussion of these disturbing facts in mainstream media.*New Email Alert*Contact the show at independentriot@protonmail.com*New Podcast Alert*Please also consider checking out and subscribing to our new podcast "Your Best True Story," where we'll be playing all types of listener true stories (paranormal, funny, survival, etc) from around the world, and letting the audience vote on whose is best. You can even submit your own true story to be played on the show and possibly win money!Subscribe to the "Your Best True Story" podcast on your favorite podcast player.Please subscribe to the "Your Best True Story" podcast on your favorite podcast player, and considering recording and submitting your own true story right now through this link or go to www.YourBestTrueStory.com to learn more.Thanks!Support the show
Ever since the defense in the Richard Allen case filed a Franks motion outlining their theory that a group of Odinists were responsible for the murder of Abby Williams and Libby German, the community around the case has been interested in learning more about Odinists and their ties to white supremacy.To get more information on the subject, we turned to Stuart Wexler- a great author who has investigated and written about white supremacists- including Odinists.We are including below links to his books"The Murder Sheet participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.America's Secret Jihad: The Hidden History of Religious Terrorism in the United States: Secret JihadKilling King: Racial Terrorists, James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr.: KillingShadow Warfare: The History of America's Undeclared Wars: ShadowThe Awful Grace of God: Religious Terrorism, White Supremacy, and the Unsolved Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.: KingSend tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Episode 168 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Say a Little Prayer”, and the interaction of the sacred, political, and secular in Aretha Franklin's life and work. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-five-minute bonus episode available, on "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. Even splitting it into multiple parts would have required six or seven mixes. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. Information about Martin Luther King came from Martin Luther King: A Religious Life by Paul Harvey. I also referred to Burt Bacharach's autobiography Anyone Who Had a Heart, Carole King's autobiography A Natural Woman, and Soul Serenade: King Curtis and his Immortal Saxophone by Timothy R. Hoover. For information about Amazing Grace I also used Aaron Cohen's 33 1/3 book on the album. The film of the concerts is also definitely worth watching. And the Aretha Now album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick warning before I begin. This episode contains some moderate references to domestic abuse, death by cancer, racial violence, police violence, and political assassination. Anyone who might be upset by those subjects might want to check the transcript rather than listening to the episode. Also, as with the previous episode on Aretha Franklin, this episode presents something of a problem. Like many people in this narrative, Franklin's career was affected by personal troubles, which shaped many of her decisions. But where most of the subjects of the podcast have chosen to live their lives in public and share intimate details of every aspect of their personal lives, Franklin was an extremely private person, who chose to share only carefully sanitised versions of her life, and tried as far as possible to keep things to herself. This of course presents a dilemma for anyone who wants to tell her story -- because even though the information is out there in biographies, and even though she's dead, it's not right to disrespect someone's wish for a private life. I have therefore tried, wherever possible, to stay away from talk of her personal life except where it *absolutely* affects the work, or where other people involved have publicly shared their own stories, and even there I've tried to keep it to a minimum. This will occasionally lead to me saying less about some topics than other people might, even though the information is easily findable, because I don't think we have an absolute right to invade someone else's privacy for entertainment. When we left Aretha Franklin, she had just finally broken through into the mainstream after a decade of performing, with a version of Otis Redding's song "Respect" on which she had been backed by her sisters, Erma and Carolyn. "Respect", in Franklin's interpretation, had been turned from a rather chauvinist song about a man demanding respect from his woman into an anthem of feminism, of Black power, and of a new political awakening. For white people of a certain generation, the summer of 1967 was "the summer of love". For many Black people, it was rather different. There's a quote that goes around (I've seen it credited in reliable sources to both Ebony and Jet magazine, but not ever seen an issue cited, so I can't say for sure where it came from) saying that the summer of 67 was the summer of "'retha, Rap, and revolt", referring to the trifecta of Aretha Franklin, the Black power leader Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (who was at the time known as H. Rap Brown, a name he later disclaimed) and the rioting that broke out in several major cities, particularly in Detroit: [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "The Motor City is Burning"] The mid sixties were, in many ways, the high point not of Black rights in the US -- for the most part there has been a lot of progress in civil rights in the intervening decades, though not without inevitable setbacks and attacks from the far right, and as movements like the Black Lives Matter movement have shown there is still a long way to go -- but of *hope* for Black rights. The moral force of the arguments made by the civil rights movement were starting to cause real change to happen for Black people in the US for the first time since the Reconstruction nearly a century before. But those changes weren't happening fast enough, and as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", there was not only a growing unrest among Black people, but a recognition that it was actually possible for things to change. A combination of hope and frustration can be a powerful catalyst, and whether Franklin wanted it or not, she was at the centre of things, both because of her newfound prominence as a star with a hit single that couldn't be interpreted as anything other than a political statement and because of her intimate family connections to the struggle. Even the most racist of white people these days pays lip service to the memory of Dr Martin Luther King, and when they do they quote just a handful of sentences from one speech King made in 1963, as if that sums up the full theological and political philosophy of that most complex of men. And as we discussed the last time we looked at Aretha Franklin, King gave versions of that speech, the "I Have a Dream" speech, twice. The most famous version was at the March on Washington, but the first time was a few weeks earlier, at what was at the time the largest civil rights demonstration in American history, in Detroit. Aretha's family connection to that event is made clear by the very opening of King's speech: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech"] So as summer 1967 got into swing, and white rock music was going to San Francisco to wear flowers in its hair, Aretha Franklin was at the centre of a very different kind of youth revolution. Franklin's second Atlantic album, Aretha Arrives, brought in some new personnel to the team that had recorded Aretha's first album for Atlantic. Along with the core Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, Tommy Cogbill and Roger Hawkins, and a horn section led by King Curtis, Wexler and Dowd also brought in guitarist Joe South. South was a white session player from Georgia, who had had a few minor hits himself in the fifties -- he'd got his start recording a cover version of "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor", the Big Bopper's B-side to "Chantilly Lace": [Excerpt: Joe South, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"] He'd also written a few songs that had been recorded by people like Gene Vincent, but he'd mostly become a session player. He'd become a favourite musician of Bob Johnston's, and so he'd played guitar on Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme albums: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "I am a Rock"] and bass on Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, with Al Kooper particularly praising his playing on "Visions of Johanna": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Visions of Johanna"] South would be the principal guitarist on this and Franklin's next album, before his own career took off in 1968 with "Games People Play": [Excerpt: Joe South, "Games People Play"] At this point, he had already written the other song he's best known for, "Hush", which later became a hit for Deep Purple: [Excerpt: Deep Purple, "Hush"] But he wasn't very well known, and was surprised to get the call for the Aretha Franklin session, especially because, as he put it "I was white and I was about to play behind the blackest genius since Ray Charles" But Jerry Wexler had told him that Franklin didn't care about the race of the musicians she played with, and South settled in as soon as Franklin smiled at him when he played a good guitar lick on her version of the blues standard "Going Down Slow": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Going Down Slow"] That was one of the few times Franklin smiled in those sessions though. Becoming an overnight success after years of trying and failing to make a name for herself had been a disorienting experience, and on top of that things weren't going well in her personal life. Her marriage to her manager Ted White was falling apart, and she was performing erratically thanks to the stress. In particular, at a gig in Georgia she had fallen off the stage and broken her arm. She soon returned to performing, but it meant she had problems with her right arm during the recording of the album, and didn't play as much piano as she would have previously -- on some of the faster songs she played only with her left hand. But the recording sessions had to go on, whether or not Aretha was physically capable of playing piano. As we discussed in the episode on Otis Redding, the owners of Atlantic Records were busily negotiating its sale to Warner Brothers in mid-1967. As Wexler said later “Everything in me said, Keep rolling, keep recording, keep the hits coming. She was red hot and I had no reason to believe that the streak wouldn't continue. I knew that it would be foolish—and even irresponsible—not to strike when the iron was hot. I also had personal motivation. A Wall Street financier had agreed to see what we could get for Atlantic Records. While Ahmet and Neshui had not agreed on a selling price, they had gone along with my plan to let the financier test our worth on the open market. I was always eager to pump out hits, but at this moment I was on overdrive. In this instance, I had a good partner in Ted White, who felt the same. He wanted as much product out there as possible." In truth, you can tell from Aretha Arrives that it's a record that was being thought of as "product" rather than one being made out of any kind of artistic impulse. It's a fine album -- in her ten-album run from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You through Amazing Grace there's not a bad album and barely a bad track -- but there's a lack of focus. There are only two originals on the album, neither of them written by Franklin herself, and the rest is an incoherent set of songs that show the tension between Franklin and her producers at Atlantic. Several songs are the kind of standards that Franklin had recorded for her old label Columbia, things like "You Are My Sunshine", or her version of "That's Life", which had been a hit for Frank Sinatra the previous year: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "That's Life"] But mixed in with that are songs that are clearly the choice of Wexler. As we've discussed previously in episodes on Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, at this point Atlantic had the idea that it was possible for soul artists to cross over into the white market by doing cover versions of white rock hits -- and indeed they'd had some success with that tactic. So while Franklin was suggesting Sinatra covers, Atlantic's hand is visible in the choices of songs like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "96 Tears": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "96 Tears'] Of the two originals on the album, one, the hit single "Baby I Love You" was written by Ronnie Shannon, the Detroit songwriter who had previously written "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Baby I Love You"] As with the previous album, and several other songs on this one, that had backing vocals by Aretha's sisters, Erma and Carolyn. But the other original on the album, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)", didn't, even though it was written by Carolyn: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] To explain why, let's take a little detour and look at the co-writer of the song this episode is about, though we're not going to get to that for a little while yet. We've not talked much about Burt Bacharach in this series so far, but he's one of those figures who has come up a few times in the periphery and will come up again, so here is as good a time as any to discuss him, and bring everyone up to speed about his career up to 1967. Bacharach was one of the more privileged figures in the sixties pop music field. His father, Bert Bacharach (pronounced the same as his son, but spelled with an e rather than a u) had been a famous newspaper columnist, and his parents had bought him a Steinway grand piano to practice on -- they pushed him to learn the piano even though as a kid he wasn't interested in finger exercises and Debussy. What he was interested in, though, was jazz, and as a teenager he would often go into Manhattan and use a fake ID to see people like Dizzy Gillespie, who he idolised, and in his autobiography he talks rapturously of seeing Gillespie playing his bent trumpet -- he once saw Gillespie standing on a street corner with a pet monkey on his shoulder, and went home and tried to persuade his parents to buy him a monkey too. In particular, he talks about seeing the Count Basie band with Sonny Payne on drums as a teenager: [Excerpt: Count Basie, "Kid From Red Bank"] He saw them at Birdland, the club owned by Morris Levy where they would regularly play, and said of the performance "they were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before. What I heard in those clubs really turned my head around— it was like a big breath of fresh air when somebody throws open a window. That was when I knew for the first time how much I loved music and wanted to be connected to it in some way." Of course, there's a rather major problem with this story, as there is so often with narratives that musicians tell about their early career. In this case, Birdland didn't open until 1949, when Bacharach was twenty-one and stationed in Germany for his military service, while Sonny Payne didn't join Basie's band until 1954, when Bacharach had been a professional musician for many years. Also Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet bell only got bent on January 6, 1953. But presumably while Bacharach was conflating several memories, he did have some experience in some New York jazz club that led him to want to become a musician. Certainly there were enough great jazz musicians playing the clubs in those days. He went to McGill University to study music for two years, then went to study with Darius Milhaud, a hugely respected modernist composer. Milhaud was also one of the most important music teachers of the time -- among others he'd taught Stockhausen and Xenakkis, and would go on to teach Philip Glass and Steve Reich. This suited Bacharach, who by this point was a big fan of Schoenberg and Webern, and was trying to write atonal, difficult music. But Milhaud had also taught Dave Brubeck, and when Bacharach rather shamefacedly presented him with a composition which had an actual tune, he told Bacharach "Never be ashamed of writing a tune you can whistle". He dropped out of university and, like most men of his generation, had to serve in the armed forces. When he got out of the army, he continued his musical studies, still trying to learn to be an avant-garde composer, this time with Bohuslav Martinů and later with Henry Cowell, the experimental composer we've heard about quite a bit in previous episodes: [Excerpt: Henry Cowell, "Aeolian Harp and Sinister Resonance"] He was still listening to a lot of avant garde music, and would continue doing so throughout the fifties, going to see people like John Cage. But he spent much of that time working in music that was very different from the avant-garde. He got a job as the band leader for the crooner Vic Damone: [Excerpt: Vic Damone. "Ebb Tide"] He also played for the vocal group the Ames Brothers. He decided while he was working with the Ames Brothers that he could write better material than they were getting from their publishers, and that it would be better to have a job where he didn't have to travel, so he got himself a job as a staff songwriter in the Brill Building. He wrote a string of flops and nearly hits, starting with "Keep Me In Mind" for Patti Page: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Keep Me In Mind"] From early in his career he worked with the lyricist Hal David, and the two of them together wrote two big hits, "Magic Moments" for Perry Como: [Excerpt: Perry Como, "Magic Moments"] and "The Story of My Life" for Marty Robbins: [Excerpt: "The Story of My Life"] But at that point Bacharach was still also writing with other writers, notably Hal David's brother Mack, with whom he wrote the theme tune to the film The Blob, as performed by The Five Blobs: [Excerpt: The Five Blobs, "The Blob"] But Bacharach's songwriting career wasn't taking off, and he got himself a job as musical director for Marlene Dietrich -- a job he kept even after it did start to take off. Part of the problem was that he intuitively wrote music that didn't quite fit into standard structures -- there would be odd bars of unusual time signatures thrown in, unusual harmonies, and structural irregularities -- but then he'd take feedback from publishers and producers who would tell him the song could only be recorded if he straightened it out. He said later "The truth is that I ruined a lot of songs by not believing in myself enough to tell these guys they were wrong." He started writing songs for Scepter Records, usually with Hal David, but also with Bob Hilliard and Mack David, and started having R&B hits. One song he wrote with Mack David, "I'll Cherish You", had the lyrics rewritten by Luther Dixon to make them more harsh-sounding for a Shirelles single -- but the single was otherwise just Bacharach's demo with the vocals replaced, and you can even hear his voice briefly at the beginning: [Excerpt: The Shirelles, "Baby, It's You"] But he'd also started becoming interested in the production side of records more generally. He'd iced that some producers, when recording his songs, would change the sound for the worse -- he thought Gene McDaniels' version of "Tower of Strength", for example, was too fast. But on the other hand, other producers got a better sound than he'd heard in his head. He and Hilliard had written a song called "Please Stay", which they'd given to Leiber and Stoller to record with the Drifters, and he thought that their arrangement of the song was much better than the one he'd originally thought up: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Please Stay"] He asked Leiber and Stoller if he could attend all their New York sessions and learn about record production from them. He started doing so, and eventually they started asking him to assist them on records. He and Hilliard wrote a song called "Mexican Divorce" for the Drifters, which Leiber and Stoller were going to produce, and as he put it "they were so busy running Redbird Records that they asked me to rehearse the background singers for them in my office." [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Mexican Divorce"] The backing singers who had been brought in to augment the Drifters on that record were a group of vocalists who had started out as members of a gospel group called the Drinkard singers: [Excerpt: The Drinkard Singers, "Singing in My Soul"] The Drinkard Singers had originally been a family group, whose members included Cissy Drinkard, who joined the group aged five (and who on her marriage would become known as Cissy Houston -- her daughter Whitney would later join the family business), her aunt Lee Warrick, and Warrick's adopted daughter Judy Clay. That group were discovered by the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and spent much of the fifties performing with gospel greats including Jackson herself, Clara Ward, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. But Houston was also the musical director of a group at her church, the Gospelaires, which featured Lee Warrick's two daughters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick (for those who don't know, the Warwick sisters' birth name was Warrick, spelled with two rs. A printing error led to it being misspelled the same way as the British city on a record label, and from that point on Dionne at least pronounced the w in her misspelled name). And slowly, the Gospelaires rather than the Drinkard Singers became the focus, with a lineup of Houston, the Warwick sisters, the Warwick sisters' cousin Doris Troy, and Clay's sister Sylvia Shemwell. The real change in the group's fortunes came when, as we talked about a while back in the episode on "The Loco-Motion", the original lineup of the Cookies largely stopped working as session singers to become Ray Charles' Raelettes. As we discussed in that episode, a new lineup of Cookies formed in 1961, but it took a while for them to get started, and in the meantime the producers who had been relying on them for backing vocals were looking elsewhere, and they looked to the Gospelaires. "Mexican Divorce" was the first record to feature the group as backing vocalists -- though reports vary as to how many of them are on the record, with some saying it's only Troy and the Warwicks, others saying Houston was there, and yet others saying it was all five of them. Some of these discrepancies were because these singers were so good that many of them left to become solo singers in fairly short order. Troy was the first to do so, with her hit "Just One Look", on which the other Gospelaires sang backing vocals: [Excerpt: Doris Troy, "Just One Look"] But the next one to go solo was Dionne Warwick, and that was because she'd started working with Bacharach and Hal David as their principal demo singer. She started singing lead on their demos, and hoping that she'd get to release them on her own. One early one was "Make it Easy On Yourself", which was recorded by Jerry Butler, formerly of the Impressions. That record was produced by Bacharach, one of the first records he produced without outside supervision: [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "Make it Easy On Yourself"] Warwick was very jealous that a song she'd sung the demo of had become a massive hit for someone else, and blamed Bacharach and David. The way she tells the story -- Bacharach always claimed this never happened, but as we've already seen he was himself not always the most reliable of narrators of his own life -- she got so angry she complained to them, and said "Don't make me over, man!" And so Bacharach and David wrote her this: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Don't Make Me Over"] Incidentally, in the UK, the hit version of that was a cover by the Swinging Blue Jeans: [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "Don't Make Me Over"] who also had a huge hit with "You're No Good": [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "You're No Good"] And *that* was originally recorded by *Dee Dee* Warwick: [Excerpt: Dee Dee Warwick, "You're No Good"] Dee Dee also had a successful solo career, but Dionne's was the real success, making the names of herself, and of Bacharach and David. The team had more than twenty top forty hits together, before Bacharach and David had a falling out in 1971 and stopped working together, and Warwick sued both of them for breach of contract as a result. But prior to that they had hit after hit, with classic records like "Anyone Who Had a Heart": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Anyone Who Had a Heart"] And "Walk On By": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Walk On By"] With Doris, Dionne, and Dee Dee all going solo, the group's membership was naturally in flux -- though the departed members would occasionally join their former bandmates for sessions, and the remaining members would sing backing vocals on their ex-members' records. By 1965 the group consisted of Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell, the Warwick sisters' cousin Myrna Smith, and Estelle Brown. The group became *the* go-to singers for soul and R&B records made in New York. They were regularly hired by Leiber and Stoller to sing on their records, and they were also the particular favourites of Bert Berns. They sang backing vocals on almost every record he produced. It's them doing the gospel wails on "Cry Baby" by Garnet Mimms: [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms, "Cry Baby"] And they sang backing vocals on both versions of "If You Need Me" -- Wilson Pickett's original and Solomon Burke's more successful cover version, produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "If You Need Me"] They're on such Berns records as "Show Me Your Monkey", by Kenny Hamber: [Excerpt: Kenny Hamber, "Show Me Your Monkey"] And it was a Berns production that ended up getting them to be Aretha Franklin's backing group. The group were becoming such an important part of the records that Atlantic and BANG Records, in particular, were putting out, that Jerry Wexler said "it was only a matter of common decency to put them under contract as a featured group". He signed them to Atlantic and renamed them from the Gospelaires to The Sweet Inspirations. Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham wrote a song for the group which became their only hit under their own name: [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Sweet Inspiration"] But to start with, they released a cover of Pops Staples' civil rights song "Why (Am I treated So Bad)": [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Why (Am I Treated So Bad?)"] That hadn't charted, and meanwhile, they'd all kept doing session work. Cissy had joined Erma and Carolyn Franklin on the backing vocals for Aretha's "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You"] Shortly after that, the whole group recorded backing vocals for Erma's single "Piece of My Heart", co-written and produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] That became a top ten record on the R&B charts, but that caused problems. Aretha Franklin had a few character flaws, and one of these was an extreme level of jealousy for any other female singer who had any level of success and came up in the business after her. She could be incredibly graceful towards anyone who had been successful before her -- she once gave one of her Grammies away to Esther Phillips, who had been up for the same award and had lost to her -- but she was terribly insecure, and saw any contemporary as a threat. She'd spent her time at Columbia Records fuming (with some justification) that Barbra Streisand was being given a much bigger marketing budget than her, and she saw Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Dionne Warwick as rivals rather than friends. And that went doubly for her sisters, who she was convinced should be supporting her because of family loyalty. She had been infuriated at John Hammond when Columbia had signed Erma, thinking he'd gone behind her back to create competition for her. And now Erma was recording with Bert Berns. Bert Berns who had for years been a colleague of Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers at Atlantic. Aretha was convinced that Wexler had put Berns up to signing Erma as some kind of power play. There was only one problem with this -- it simply wasn't true. As Wexler later explained “Bert and I had suffered a bad falling-out, even though I had enormous respect for him. After all, he was the guy who brought over guitarist Jimmy Page from England to play on our sessions. Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, and I had started a label together—Bang!—where Bert produced Van Morrison's first album. But Bert also had a penchant for trouble. He courted the wise guys. He wanted total control over every last aspect of our business dealings. Finally it was too much, and the Erteguns and I let him go. He sued us for breach of contract and suddenly we were enemies. I felt that he signed Erma, an excellent singer, not merely for her talent but as a way to get back at me. If I could make a hit with Aretha, he'd show me up by making an even bigger hit on Erma. Because there was always an undercurrent of rivalry between the sisters, this only added to the tension.” There were two things that resulted from this paranoia on Aretha's part. The first was that she and Wexler, who had been on first-name terms up to that point, temporarily went back to being "Mr. Wexler" and "Miss Franklin" to each other. And the second was that Aretha no longer wanted Carolyn and Erma to be her main backing vocalists, though they would continue to appear on her future records on occasion. From this point on, the Sweet Inspirations would be the main backing vocalists for Aretha in the studio throughout her golden era [xxcut line (and when the Sweet Inspirations themselves weren't on the record, often it would be former members of the group taking their place)]: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] The last day of sessions for Aretha Arrives was July the twenty-third, 1967. And as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", that was the day that the Detroit riots started. To recap briefly, that was four days of rioting started because of a history of racist policing, made worse by those same racist police overreacting to the initial protests. By the end of those four days, the National Guard, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne from Clarksville were all called in to deal with the violence, which left forty-three dead (of whom thirty-three were Black and only one was a police officer), 1,189 people were injured, and over 7,200 arrested, almost all of them Black. Those days in July would be a turning point for almost every musician based in Detroit. In particular, the police had murdered three members of the soul group the Dramatics, in a massacre of which the author John Hersey, who had been asked by President Johnson to be part of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders but had decided that would compromise his impartiality and did an independent journalistic investigation, said "The episode contained all the mythic themes of racial strife in the United States: the arm of the law taking the law into its own hands; interracial sex; the subtle poison of racist thinking by “decent” men who deny they are racists; the societal limbo into which, ever since slavery, so many young black men have been driven by our country; ambiguous justice in the courts; and the devastation in both black and white human lives that follows in the wake of violence as surely as ruinous and indiscriminate flood after torrents" But these were also the events that radicalised the MC5 -- the group had been playing a gig as Tim Buckley's support act when the rioting started, and guitarist Wayne Kramer decided afterwards to get stoned and watch the fires burning down the city through a telescope -- which police mistook for a rifle, leading to the National Guard knocking down Kramer's door. The MC5 would later cover "The Motor City is Burning", John Lee Hooker's song about the events: [Excerpt: The MC5, "The Motor City is Burning"] It would also be a turning point for Motown, too, in ways we'll talk about in a few future episodes. And it was a political turning point too -- Michigan Governor George Romney, a liberal Republican (at a time when such people existed) had been the favourite for the Republican Presidential candidacy when he'd entered the race in December 1966, but as racial tensions ramped up in Detroit during the early months of 1967 he'd started trailing Richard Nixon, a man who was consciously stoking racists' fears. President Johnson, the incumbent Democrat, who was at that point still considering standing for re-election, made sure to make it clear to everyone during the riots that the decision to call in the National Guard had been made at the State level, by Romney, rather than at the Federal level. That wasn't the only thing that removed the possibility of a Romney presidency, but it was a big part of the collapse of his campaign, and the, as it turned out, irrevocable turn towards right-authoritarianism that the party took with Nixon's Southern Strategy. Of course, Aretha Franklin had little way of knowing what was to come and how the riots would change the city and the country over the following decades. What she was primarily concerned about was the safety of her father, and to a lesser extent that of her sister-in-law Earline who was staying with him. Aretha, Carolyn, and Erma all tried to keep in constant touch with their father while they were out of town, and Aretha even talked about hiring private detectives to travel to Detroit, find her father, and get him out of the city to safety. But as her brother Cecil pointed out, he was probably the single most loved man among Black people in Detroit, and was unlikely to be harmed by the rioters, while he was too famous for the police to kill with impunity. Reverend Franklin had been having a stressful time anyway -- he had recently been fined for tax evasion, an action he was convinced the IRS had taken because of his friendship with Dr King and his role in the civil rights movement -- and according to Cecil "Aretha begged Daddy to move out of the city entirely. She wanted him to find another congregation in California, where he was especially popular—or at least move out to the suburbs. But he wouldn't budge. He said that, more than ever, he was needed to point out the root causes of the riots—the economic inequality, the pervasive racism in civic institutions, the woefully inadequate schools in inner-city Detroit, and the wholesale destruction of our neighborhoods by urban renewal. Some ministers fled the city, but not our father. The horror of what happened only recommitted him. He would not abandon his political agenda." To make things worse, Aretha was worried about her father in other ways -- as her marriage to Ted White was starting to disintegrate, she was looking to her father for guidance, and actually wanted him to take over her management. Eventually, Ruth Bowen, her booking agent, persuaded her brother Cecil that this was a job he could do, and that she would teach him everything he needed to know about the music business. She started training him up while Aretha was still married to White, in the expectation that that marriage couldn't last. Jerry Wexler, who only a few months earlier had been seeing Ted White as an ally in getting "product" from Franklin, had now changed his tune -- partly because the sale of Atlantic had gone through in the meantime. He later said “Sometimes she'd call me at night, and, in that barely audible little-girl voice of hers, she'd tell me that she wasn't sure she could go on. She always spoke in generalities. She never mentioned her husband, never gave me specifics of who was doing what to whom. And of course I knew better than to ask. She just said that she was tired of dealing with so much. My heart went out to her. She was a woman who suffered silently. She held so much in. I'd tell her to take as much time off as she needed. We had a lot of songs in the can that we could release without new material. ‘Oh, no, Jerry,' she'd say. ‘I can't stop recording. I've written some new songs, Carolyn's written some new songs. We gotta get in there and cut 'em.' ‘Are you sure?' I'd ask. ‘Positive,' she'd say. I'd set up the dates and typically she wouldn't show up for the first or second sessions. Carolyn or Erma would call me to say, ‘Ree's under the weather.' That was tough because we'd have asked people like Joe South and Bobby Womack to play on the sessions. Then I'd reschedule in the hopes she'd show." That third album she recorded in 1967, Lady Soul, was possibly her greatest achievement. The opening track, and second single, "Chain of Fools", released in November, was written by Don Covay -- or at least it's credited as having been written by Covay. There's a gospel record that came out around the same time on a very small label based in Houston -- "Pains of Life" by Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio: [Excerpt: Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio, "Pains of Life"] I've seen various claims online that that record came out shortly *before* "Chain of Fools", but I can't find any definitive evidence one way or the other -- it was on such a small label that release dates aren't available anywhere. Given that the B-side, which I haven't been able to track down online, is called "Wait Until the Midnight Hour", my guess is that rather than this being a case of Don Covay stealing the melody from an obscure gospel record he'd have had little chance to hear, it's the gospel record rewriting a then-current hit to be about religion, but I thought it worth mentioning. The song was actually written by Covay after Jerry Wexler asked him to come up with some songs for Otis Redding, but Wexler, after hearing it, decided it was better suited to Franklin, who gave an astonishing performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] Arif Mardin, the arranger of the album, said of that track “I was listed as the arranger of ‘Chain of Fools,' but I can't take credit. Aretha walked into the studio with the chart fully formed inside her head. The arrangement is based around the harmony vocals provided by Carolyn and Erma. To add heft, the Sweet Inspirations joined in. The vision of the song is entirely Aretha's.” According to Wexler, that's not *quite* true -- according to him, Joe South came up with the guitar part that makes up the intro, and he also said that when he played what he thought was the finished track to Ellie Greenwich, she came up with another vocal line for the backing vocals, which she overdubbed. But the core of the record's sound is definitely pure Aretha -- and Carolyn Franklin said that there was a reason for that. As she said later “Aretha didn't write ‘Chain,' but she might as well have. It was her story. When we were in the studio putting on the backgrounds with Ree doing lead, I knew she was singing about Ted. Listen to the lyrics talking about how for five long years she thought he was her man. Then she found out she was nothing but a link in the chain. Then she sings that her father told her to come on home. Well, he did. She sings about how her doctor said to take it easy. Well, he did too. She was drinking so much we thought she was on the verge of a breakdown. The line that slew me, though, was the one that said how one of these mornings the chain is gonna break but until then she'll take all she can take. That summed it up. Ree knew damn well that this man had been doggin' her since Jump Street. But somehow she held on and pushed it to the breaking point." [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] That made number one on the R&B charts, and number two on the hot one hundred, kept from the top by "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" by John Fred and his Playboy Band -- a record that very few people would say has stood the test of time as well. The other most memorable track on the album was the one chosen as the first single, released in September. As Carole King told the story, she and Gerry Goffin were feeling like their career was in a slump. While they had had a huge run of hits in the early sixties through 1965, they had only had two new hits in 1966 -- "Goin' Back" for Dusty Springfield and "Don't Bring Me Down" for the Animals, and neither of those were anything like as massive as their previous hits. And up to that point in 1967, they'd only had one -- "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the Monkees. They had managed to place several songs on Monkees albums and the TV show as well, so they weren't going to starve, but the rise of self-contained bands that were starting to dominate the charts, and Phil Spector's temporary retirement, meant there simply wasn't the opportunity for them to place material that there had been. They were also getting sick of travelling to the West Coast all the time, because as their children were growing slightly older they didn't want to disrupt their lives in New York, and were thinking of approaching some of the New York based labels and seeing if they needed songs. They were particularly considering Atlantic, because soul was more open to outside songwriters than other genres. As it happened, though, they didn't have to approach Atlantic, because Atlantic approached them. They were walking down Broadway when a limousine pulled up, and Jerry Wexler stuck his head out of the window. He'd come up with a good title that he wanted to use for a song for Aretha, would they be interested in writing a song called "Natural Woman"? They said of course they would, and Wexler drove off. They wrote the song that night, and King recorded a demo the next morning: [Excerpt: Carole King, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (demo)"] They gave Wexler a co-writing credit because he had suggested the title. King later wrote in her autobiography "Hearing Aretha's performance of “Natural Woman” for the first time, I experienced a rare speechless moment. To this day I can't convey how I felt in mere words. Anyone who had written a song in 1967 hoping it would be performed by a singer who could take it to the highest level of excellence, emotional connection, and public exposure would surely have wanted that singer to be Aretha Franklin." She went on to say "But a recording that moves people is never just about the artist and the songwriters. It's about people like Jerry and Ahmet, who matched the songwriters with a great title and a gifted artist; Arif Mardin, whose magnificent orchestral arrangement deserves the place it will forever occupy in popular music history; Tom Dowd, whose engineering skills captured the magic of this memorable musical moment for posterity; and the musicians in the rhythm section, the orchestral players, and the vocal contributions of the background singers—among them the unforgettable “Ah-oo!” after the first line of the verse. And the promotion and marketing people helped this song reach more people than it might have without them." And that's correct -- unlike "Chain of Fools", this time Franklin did let Arif Mardin do most of the arrangement work -- though she came up with the piano part that Spooner Oldham plays on the record. Mardin said that because of the song's hymn-like feel they wanted to go for a more traditional written arrangement. He said "She loved the song to the point where she said she wanted to concentrate on the vocal and vocal alone. I had written a string chart and horn chart to augment the chorus and hired Ralph Burns to conduct. After just a couple of takes, we had it. That's when Ralph turned to me with wonder in his eyes. Ralph was one of the most celebrated arrangers of the modern era. He had done ‘Early Autumn' for Woody Herman and Stan Getz, and ‘Georgia on My Mind' for Ray Charles. He'd worked with everyone. ‘This woman comes from another planet' was all Ralph said. ‘She's just here visiting.'” [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"] By this point there was a well-functioning team making Franklin's records -- while the production credits would vary over the years, they were all essentially co-productions by the team of Franklin, Wexler, Mardin and Dowd, all collaborating and working together with a more-or-less unified purpose, and the backing was always by the same handful of session musicians and some combination of the Sweet Inspirations and Aretha's sisters. That didn't mean that occasional guests couldn't get involved -- as we discussed in the Cream episode, Eric Clapton played guitar on "Good to Me as I am to You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Good to Me as I am to You"] Though that was one of the rare occasions on one of these records where something was overdubbed. Clapton apparently messed up the guitar part when playing behind Franklin, because he was too intimidated by playing with her, and came back the next day to redo his part without her in the studio. At this point, Aretha was at the height of her fame. Just before the final batch of album sessions began she appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and she was making regular TV appearances, like one on the Mike Douglas Show where she duetted with Frankie Valli on "That's Life": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin and Frankie Valli, "That's Life"] But also, as Wexler said “Her career was kicking into high gear. Contending and resolving both the professional and personal challenges were too much. She didn't think she could do both, and I didn't blame her. Few people could. So she let the personal slide and concentrated on the professional. " Her concert promoter Ruth Bowen said of this time "Her father and Dr. King were putting pressure on her to sing everywhere, and she felt obligated. The record company was also screaming for more product. And I had a mountain of offers on my desk that kept getting higher with every passing hour. They wanted her in Europe. They wanted her in Latin America. They wanted her in every major venue in the U.S. TV was calling. She was being asked to do guest appearances on every show from Carol Burnett to Andy Williams to the Hollywood Palace. She wanted to do them all and she wanted to do none of them. She wanted to do them all because she's an entertainer who burns with ambition. She wanted to do none of them because she was emotionally drained. She needed to go away and renew her strength. I told her that at least a dozen times. She said she would, but she didn't listen to me." The pressures from her father and Dr King are a recurring motif in interviews with people about this period. Franklin was always a very political person, and would throughout her life volunteer time and money to liberal political causes and to the Democratic Party, but this was the height of her activism -- the Civil Rights movement was trying to capitalise on the gains it had made in the previous couple of years, and celebrity fundraisers and performances at rallies were an important way to do that. And at this point there were few bigger celebrities in America than Aretha Franklin. At a concert in her home town of Detroit on February the sixteenth, 1968, the Mayor declared the day Aretha Franklin Day. At the same show, Billboard, Record World *and* Cash Box magazines all presented her with plaques for being Female Vocalist of the Year. And Dr. King travelled up to be at the show and congratulate her publicly for all her work with his organisation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Backstage at that show, Dr. King talked to Aretha's father, Reverend Franklin, about what he believed would be the next big battle -- a strike in Memphis: [Excerpt, Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech" -- "And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right."] The strike in question was the Memphis Sanitation Workers' strike which had started a few days before. The struggle for Black labour rights was an integral part of the civil rights movement, and while it's not told that way in the sanitised version of the story that's made it into popular culture, the movement led by King was as much about economic justice as social justice -- King was a democratic socialist, and believed that economic oppression was both an effect of and cause of other forms of racial oppression, and that the rights of Black workers needed to be fought for. In 1967 he had set up a new organisation, the Poor People's Campaign, which was set to march on Washington to demand a program that included full employment, a guaranteed income -- King was strongly influenced in his later years by the ideas of Henry George, the proponent of a universal basic income based on land value tax -- the annual building of half a million affordable homes, and an end to the war in Vietnam. This was King's main focus in early 1968, and he saw the sanitation workers' strike as a major part of this campaign. Memphis was one of the most oppressive cities in the country, and its largely Black workforce of sanitation workers had been trying for most of the 1960s to unionise, and strike-breakers had been called in to stop them, and many of them had been fired by their white supervisors with no notice. They were working in unsafe conditions, for utterly inadequate wages, and the city government were ardent segregationists. After two workers had died on the first of February from using unsafe equipment, the union demanded changes -- safer working conditions, better wages, and recognition of the union. The city council refused, and almost all the sanitation workers stayed home and stopped work. After a few days, the council relented and agreed to their terms, but the Mayor, Henry Loeb, an ardent white supremacist who had stood on a platform of opposing desegregation, and who had previously been the Public Works Commissioner who had put these unsafe conditions in place, refused to listen. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who could recognise the union, and he wouldn't. The workers continued their strike, marching holding signs that simply read "I am a Man": [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Blowing in the Wind"] The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP had been involved in organising support for the strikes from an early stage, and King visited Memphis many times. Much of the time he spent visiting there was spent negotiating with a group of more militant activists, who called themselves The Invaders and weren't completely convinced by King's nonviolent approach -- they believed that violence and rioting got more attention than non-violent protests. King explained to them that while he had been persuaded by Gandhi's writings of the moral case for nonviolent protest, he was also persuaded that it was pragmatically necessary -- asking the young men "how many guns do we have and how many guns do they have?", and pointing out as he often did that when it comes to violence a minority can't win against an armed majority. Rev Franklin went down to Memphis on the twenty-eighth of March to speak at a rally Dr. King was holding, but as it turned out the rally was cancelled -- the pre-rally march had got out of hand, with some people smashing windows, and Memphis police had, like the police in Detroit the previous year, violently overreacted, clubbing and gassing protestors and shooting and killing one unarmed teenage boy, Larry Payne. The day after Payne's funeral, Dr King was back in Memphis, though this time Rev Franklin was not with him. On April the third, he gave a speech which became known as the "Mountaintop Speech", in which he talked about the threats that had been made to his life: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech": “And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."] The next day, Martin Luther King was shot dead. James Earl Ray, a white supremacist, pled guilty to the murder, and the evidence against him seems overwhelming from what I've read, but the King family have always claimed that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy and that Ray was not the gunman. Aretha was obviously distraught, and she attended the funeral, as did almost every other prominent Black public figure. James Baldwin wrote of the funeral: "In the pew directly before me sat Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis, Eartha Kitt—covered in black, looking like a lost, ten-year-old girl—and Sidney Poitier, in the same pew, or nearby. Marlon saw me, and nodded. The atmosphere was black, with a tension indescribable—as though something, perhaps the heavens, perhaps the earth, might crack. Everyone sat very still. The actual service sort of washed over me, in waves. It wasn't that it seemed unreal; it was the most real church service I've ever sat through in my life, or ever hope to sit through; but I have a childhood hangover thing about not weeping in public, and I was concentrating on holding myself together. I did not want to weep for Martin, tears seemed futile. But I may also have been afraid, and I could not have been the only one, that if I began to weep I would not be able to stop. There was more than enough to weep for, if one was to weep—so many of us, cut down, so soon. Medgar, Malcolm, Martin: and their widows, and their children. Reverend Ralph David Abernathy asked a certain sister to sing a song which Martin had loved—“Once more,” said Ralph David, “for Martin and for me,” and he sat down." Many articles and books on Aretha Franklin say that she sang at King's funeral. In fact she didn't, but there's a simple reason for the confusion. King's favourite song was the Thomas Dorsey gospel song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", and indeed almost his last words were to ask a trumpet player, Ben Branch, if he would play the song at the rally he was going to be speaking at on the day of his death. At his request, Mahalia Jackson, his old friend, sang the song at his private funeral, which was not filmed, unlike the public part of the funeral that Baldwin described. Four months later, though, there was another public memorial for King, and Franklin did sing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at that service, in front of King's weeping widow and children, and that performance *was* filmed, and gets conflated in people's memories with Jackson's unfilmed earlier performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord (at Martin Luther King Memorial)"] Four years later, she would sing that at Mahalia Jackson's funeral. Through all this, Franklin had been working on her next album, Aretha Now, the sessions for which started more or less as soon as the sessions for Lady Soul had finished. The album was, in fact, bookended by deaths that affected Aretha. Just as King died at the end of the sessions, the beginning came around the time of the death of Otis Redding -- the sessions were cancelled for a day while Wexler travelled to Georgia for Redding's funeral, which Franklin was too devastated to attend, and Wexler would later say that the extra emotion in her performances on the album came from her emotional pain at Redding's death. The lead single on the album, "Think", was written by Franklin and -- according to the credits anyway -- her husband Ted White, and is very much in the same style as "Respect", and became another of her most-loved hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Think"] But probably the song on Aretha Now that now resonates the most is one that Jerry Wexler tried to persuade her not to record, and was only released as a B-side. Indeed, "I Say a Little Prayer" was a song that had already once been a hit after being a reject. Hal David, unlike Burt Bacharach, was a fairly political person and inspired by the protest song movement, and had been starting to incorporate his concerns about the political situation and the Vietnam War into his lyrics -- though as with many such writers, he did it in much less specific ways than a Phil Ochs or a Bob Dylan. This had started with "What the World Needs Now is Love", a song Bacharach and David had written for Jackie DeShannon in 1965: [Excerpt: Jackie DeShannon, "What the "World Needs Now is Love"] But he'd become much more overtly political for "The Windows of the World", a song they wrote for Dionne Warwick. Warwick has often said it's her favourite of her singles, but it wasn't a big hit -- Bacharach blamed himself for that, saying "Dionne recorded it as a single and I really blew it. I wrote a bad arrangement and the tempo was too fast, and I really regret making it the way I did because it's a good song." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "The Windows of the World"] For that album, Bacharach and David had written another track, "I Say a Little Prayer", which was not as explicitly political, but was intended by David to have an implicit anti-war message, much like other songs of the period like "Last Train to Clarksville". David had sons who were the right age to be drafted, and while it's never stated, "I Say a Little Prayer" was written from the perspective of a woman whose partner is away fighting in the war, but is still in her thoughts: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] The recording of Dionne Warwick's version was marked by stress. Bacharach had a particular way of writing music to tell the musicians the kind of feel he wanted for the part -- he'd write nonsense words above the stave, and tell the musicians to play the parts as if they were singing those words. The trumpet player hired for the session, Ernie Royal, got into a row with Bacharach about this unorthodox way of communicating musical feeling, and the track ended up taking ten takes (as opposed to the normal three for a Bacharach session), with Royal being replaced half-way through the session. Bacharach was never happy with the track even after all the work it had taken, and he fought to keep it from being released at all, saying the track was taken at too fast a tempo. It eventually came out as an album track nearly eighteen months after it was recorded -- an eternity in 1960s musical timescales -- and DJs started playing it almost as soon as it came out. Scepter records rushed out a single, over Bacharach's objections, but as he later said "One thing I love about the record business is how wrong I was. Disc jockeys all across the country started playing the track, and the song went to number four on the charts and then became the biggest hit Hal and I had ever written for Dionne." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Oddly, the B-side for Warwick's single, "Theme From the Valley of the Dolls" did even better, reaching number two. Almost as soon as the song was released as a single, Franklin started playing around with the song backstage, and in April 1968, right around the time of Dr. King's death, she recorded a version. Much as Burt Bacharach had been against releasing Dionne Warwick's version, Jerry Wexler was against Aretha even recording the song, saying later “I advised Aretha not to record it. I opposed it for two reasons. First, to cover a song only twelve weeks after the original reached the top of the charts was not smart business. You revisit such a hit eight months to a year later. That's standard practice. But more than that, Bacharach's melody, though lovely, was peculiarly suited to a lithe instrument like Dionne Warwick's—a light voice without the dark corners or emotional depths that define Aretha. Also, Hal David's lyric was also somewhat girlish and lacked the gravitas that Aretha required. “Aretha usually listened to me in the studio, but not this time. She had written a vocal arrangement for the Sweet Inspirations that was undoubtedly strong. Cissy Houston, Dionne's cousin, told me that Aretha was on the right track—she was seeing this song in a new way and had come up with a new groove. Cissy was on Aretha's side. Tommy Dowd and Arif were on Aretha's side. So I had no choice but to cave." It's quite possible that Wexler's objections made Franklin more, rather than less, determined to record the song. She regarded Warwick as a hated rival, as she did almost every prominent female singer of her generation and younger ones, and would undoubtedly have taken the implication that there was something that Warwick was simply better at than her to heart. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Wexler realised as soon as he heard it in the studio that Franklin's version was great, and Bacharach agreed, telling Franklin's biographer David Ritz “As much as I like the original recording by Dionne, there's no doubt that Aretha's is a better record. She imbued the song with heavy soul and took it to a far deeper place. Hers is the definitive version.” -- which is surprising because Franklin's version simplifies some of Bacharach's more unusual chord voicings, something he often found extremely upsetting. Wexler still though thought there was no way the song would be a hit, and it's understandable that he thought that way. Not only had it only just been on the charts a few months earlier, but it was the kind of song that wouldn't normally be a hit at all, and certainly not in the kind of rhythmic soul music for which Franklin was known. Almost everything she ever recorded is in simple time signatures -- 4/4, waltz time, or 6/8 -- but this is a Bacharach song so it's staggeringly metrically irregular. Normally even with semi-complex things I'm usually good at figuring out how to break it down into bars, but here I actually had to purchase a copy of the sheet music in order to be sure I was right about what's going on. I'm going to count beats along with the record here so you can see what I mean. The verse has three bars of 4/4, one bar of 2/4, and three more bars of 4/4, all repeated: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] While the chorus has a bar of 4/4, a bar of 3/4 but with a chord change half way through so it sounds like it's in two if you're paying attention to the harmonic changes, two bars of 4/4, another waltz-time bar sounding like it's in two, two bars of four, another bar of three sounding in two, a bar of four, then three more bars of four but the first of those is *written* as four but played as if it's in six-eight time (but you can keep the four/four pulse going if you're counting): [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] I don't expect you to have necessarily followed that in great detail, but the point should be clear -- this was not some straightforward dance song. Incidentally, that bar played as if it's six/eight was something Aretha introduced to make the song even more irregular than how Bacharach wrote it. And on top of *that* of course the lyrics mixed the secular and the sacred, something that was still taboo in popular music at that time -- this is only a couple of years after Capitol records had been genuinely unsure about putting out the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", and Franklin's gospel-inflected vocals made the religious connection even more obvious. But Franklin was insistent that the record go out as a single, and eventually it was released as the B-side to the far less impressive "The House That Jack Built". It became a double-sided hit, with the A-side making number two on the R&B chart and number seven on the Hot One Hundred, while "I Say a Little Prayer" made number three on the R&B chart and number ten overall. In the UK, "I Say a Little Prayer" made number four and became her biggest ever solo UK hit. It's now one of her most-remembered songs, while the A-side is largely forgotten: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] For much of the
Killing King: Racial Terrorists, James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. by Larry Hancock and Stuart Wexler (2014) VS The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe by Jay Novella, Steven Novella, Cara Santa Maria and Evan R. Bernstein (2018)
Doubts about James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King's lone assassin, arose almost immediately after the civil rights leader was fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. From the start, his aides voiced suspicions that a conspiracy was responsible for their leader's death. Over time many Americans became convinced the government investigations covered up the truth about the alleged assassin. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder.However, today's guest, Mel Ayton, believe the answers to the many intriguing questions about Ray and how conspiracy ideas flourished can now be fully understood. Missing from the wild speculations over the past fifty-two years has been a thorough investigation of the character of King's assassin. Additionally, the author examines exactly how the conspiracy notions came about and the falsehoods that led to their promulgation.Mel is the author of The Man Who Killed Martin Luther King, the first full account of the life of James Earl Ray based on scores of interviews provided to government and non-government investigators and from the FBI's and Scotland Yard's files, plus the recently released Tennessee Department of Corrections prison record on Ray.In the short-lived freedom he acquired after escaping from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967, following being sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses, he traveled to Los Angeles and decided to seek notoriety as the one who would stalk and kill Dr. King, who he had come to hate vehemently.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3101278/advertisement
The following is a list of historically famous prison escapes, and of people who escaped multiple times:John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber who operated throughout the Midwest during the Great Depression. He broke out of the Allen County Jail in Lima, Ohio by having his gang pose as officers and infiltrate the prison. Only a few months later, the gang was re-captured when the hotel they were staying in caught fire. He was incarcerated while waiting to stand trial for the murder of a police officer in a bank robbery.On April 29, 2022, Alabama murder suspect Casey White managed to escape Lauderdale County Jail aided by correctional officer Vicky White (no relation). The two were captured in Evansville, Indiana on May 9, 2022. Vicky died hours later that day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered just prior to capture.On 10 June 1977, the convicted murderer of Martin Luther King Jr., James Earl Ray, escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee, along with six others. Ray was recaptured after two days. He had been running and hiding in the mountainous forest surrounding the prison.On 30 December 1977, serial killer Ted Bundy escaped from prison while most of the guards were off for Christmas. He did so by sawing through the vent of his cell with a hacksaw blade, ending up in the chief jailer's apartment (who was away on Christmas break). He then stole some clothes from a closet and left the building. Earlier in June he escaped from a courthouse by jumping out a window in the court's law library.In 1244, whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr crafted a makeshift rope made of bed sheets and cloths, lowered it, and climbed down. However, because he was heavy, the rope broke and he fell to his death.[Japanese prisoner Yoshie Shiratori broke out of prison four times, first from Aomori Prison (1936), Akita Prison (1942), Abashiri Prison (1944), and Sapporo Prison (1947). A novel and TV-drama Hagoku was based on his true story.In the Alcatraz escape on June 11, 1962, American criminals brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island using an inflatable raft, never to be seen again. It was never determined by the FBI whether they succeeded in their escape or died in the attempt.
Uncover the truth behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in this video. Was it really just James Earl Ray or a darker conspiracy involving the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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