Author Douglas Cirignano joined Richard Syrett (Twitter) to discuss a wide range of conspiracies in America and how his research shows that mainstream histories don’t tell the real story. He began with an examination of the role of Lyndon Johnson in the assassination of JFK. Cirignano recalled that LBJ's alleged mistress Madeline Duncan Brown said the day before the assassination that Johnson told her "after tomorrow, those Kennedys will never embarrass me again. That's not a threat, that's a promise." Cirignano also revealed that a lawyer that spoke to alleged Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray for five hours said he was "a peaceful, docile, quiet man" and couldn't have been the killer.
Cirignano detailed a CIA plan that he said was instituted after the JFK assassination to make sure that the term "conspiracy theory" would always be referred to as "a pejorative term" to quash effective questioning of official narratives like the Warren Commission Report. The guest also discussed his study of the work of alternative cancer therapy researcher Ralph Moss, who was fired from his position at a major hospital because he wrote a paper on the benefits of vitamin B17 in cancer treatment. Cirignano believes that conspiracy theories flourish in part because of "the nature of military and intelligence agencies to act in secretive ways," and that despite this, the ideas of conspiracy research have become mainstream due to the widespread use of the internet.
ISIS & Iraq
Dana J. H. Pittard retired from the US Army in 2015 at the rank of Major General after 34 years of active duty service, and was a highly decorated combat leader. He discussed fascinating accounts of America's fight against one of the most barbaric insurgencies the world has ever seen - the fanatic theocracy known as ISIS. Pittard began with the history of the "surge," which was the US forces' campaign of a transition for Iraq into a peaceful democracy after the Gulf War. He said that the strategy worked because the United States worked with Iraqi security forces "block by block - where the people were." After the US forces left, ISIS forces were able to take over the major Iraqi city of Mosul, and were thought to be able to take Baghdad. Over an eight month period, and through a coordinated effort of air forces, Pittard said that the United States and its allies were able to kill "40 of the top 50 ISIS leaders," which effectively ended its reign as a territory-owning group and put them continually on the defensive, which is how they exist to this day.
Open Lines
The last hour featured Open Lines. Mike from Colorado was the first up with his opinions and descriptions of the fight for Iraq against ISIS, where he said his unit and the Americans were "outmanned, outgunned, out-intelled and out-supplied" while he was there. Blair in Arizona asked Richard about the climate issues facing Canada. He replied with his opinion that the northern part of the country should be developed to accommodate more of the population. Sean in Ohio expressed his opinion that the US "created and supports ISIS." Doug from New Jersey lamented the loss of comedians like Mitch Hedberg to drug abuse, saying "you don't have to be a rock star or a homeless guy in the gutter" to be taken by drug abuse.