In the first half, Jen Abreu, who runs Redemption Row, a prison reform group, was joined by attorney Denise Bohdan. They discussed the case of Sirhan Sirhan, who was denied parole recently after having served more than 50 years for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Realities of crimes are sometimes distorted and covered up by police departments and district attorneys at the expense of the wrongfully accused, and this is what they believed happened in the case of Sirhan Sirhan. Bohdan recounted how her father, the journalist Fernando Faura investigated the case in the 1960s, trying to track down the woman in the polka dot dress said to accompany Sirhan Sirhan. According to a witness who talked to her at the Ambassador Hotel earlier in the day, she was alleged to have known the shooting was going to take place later that night. Additionally, Faura uncovered a connection between the woman in the polka dot dress and Anna Chennault, a highly placed intermediary for Richard Nixon.
Abreu talked about the mission of Redemption Row (make a donation to the non-profit organization), and how one of the primary considerations for parole is whether an inmate is a danger to society. Sirhan has been a non-violent and model prisoner, and at age 78, is not a danger to society, she and Bohdan contended. And further, he has expressed remorse and sympathy for the Kennedy family, though he "does not remember" the night of the incident. Bohdan believes he was not in his right mind during the shooting, and it's a possibility that he was a kind of 'Manchurian Candidate' programmed to be an assassin. She pointed out that it was known that Sirhan was standing in front of RFK yet the forensic evidence shows a bullet from behind him was what killed him. During the interview, four short pre-recorded clips were played of Sirhan speaking about his situation. For more, see our recent show with Paul Schrade.
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Author Lynne McTaggart is one of the central authorities on the new science of consciousness. In the latter half, she reported on her latest experiments with the power of intention, and how it can work "out of time" and be used to heal the past or design one's future. Scientific evidence has recently shown that in a primal way, the brain doesn't differentiate between one's recall of the past and the imagination of the future, "and we create time ourselves," she continued. While "retro intention" exercises can't change a past event, they can "change your whole response to the past," such as in the case of a traumatic incident, she further explained (McTaggart will be presenting a 'Heal Your Past' retreat at UK's Broughton Hall this September).
Speaking of her various successful experiments in which meditators or groups sought to bring about a change (like reducing violent crime in a specific locale), she noted that we are co-creators of our reality and assist in its unfolding. McTaggart discovered that eight people working together on an intention can be just as powerful as a larger group. As far as setting an intention, she advised being very specific about what you want and to also start monitoring your thoughts. We have some 70,000 thoughts a day, and when she polled her students, she found that ¾ of their thoughts were negative or judgmental. We should create a more positive mindset, as that is what we are sending out into the world, she added.
News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, Steve Kates