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R.I.P. G. Gordon Liddy 1930-2021
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Jack B. Nimble
Apr 1, 2021, 6:45:09 PM4/1/21
to
G. Gordon Liddy, former FBI agent held responsible for the Watergate
break-in, died on March 30 at 90 years of age.
As is well-known, I’m not a big fan of the feds. However, the reason I am
not a fan of the feds is because they hate America, and are working to
destroy this country. There was always a problem with instilling these
various federal intelligence agencies with the amount of power they were
instilled with. However, not all of them used the power for evil.
G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and fought
against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a great man, and
should be studied and learned from.
Liddy was born in Brooklyn, to working class Irish-Italian family, in 1930.
In 1957, Liddy entered the FBI at age 27, and by 29 he had become the
youngest ever Bureau Supervisor at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. He
then became J. Edgar Hoover’s personal head of staff. He left the FBI in
1962, and after working with his father in a private law practice for a
while, took a job working for the prosecutors office of Dutchess County, New
York.
In 1966, he led a raid on the Hitchcock House, at the time occupied by the
intelligence-linked drug guru Timothy Leary.
He also led a 1969 raid of Bard College, wherein the members of Steely Dan,
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, were caught. They later wrote the song “My
Old School” about the incident. In the song, they refer to Liddy as “Daddy
Gee.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXfNZWjot4
During this period, he was reprimanded for pulling out a revolver in court
and shooting it at the ceiling.
He then ran successfully for District Attorney, and unsuccessfully for
Congress, before serving on Richard Nixon’s campaign. After Nixon won, he
received an appointment as a special assistant fighting drug programs (all
of which we now know were run by the CIA).
After serving in several positions for Nixon, he was moved in 1971 to the
committee to reelect Nixon. In 1972, he was moved to the White House
Plumbers, which was the clandestine group who worked as Nixon’s secret
police against invasive Jewish journalists.
While working for the Plumbers, he was the mastermind behind Operation
Gemstone, a series of hilarious pranks. Among other awesome ideas, he
proposed kidnapping Democrats and holding them in Mexico until the Democrat
convention had finished.
White House counsel John Dean later described Liddy’s agenda to the
president on March 21, 1973, during the “Cancer on the Presidency”
conversation (from the Nixon tapes): “So I came over and Liddy laid out a
million dollar plan that was the most incredible thing I have ever laid my
eyes on: all in codes, and involved black bag operations, kidnapping,
providing prostitutes, uh, to weaken the opposition, bugging, uh, mugging
teams. It was just an incredible thing.”
He had bugging teams, he had mugging teams, he was bugging the mugging
teams – the man was a genius. Most of his plots involved the strategic use
of prostitutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8cvIXnADd8
In 1971, Nixon did approve his plan to break in and steal files from
journalist Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. The intention was to get the
motherlode about Ellsberg’s "neurosis" to discredit him.
Then, at some point, for reasons which to this day are still unclear, Liddy
was given a greenlight to break into the Democrat offices at the Watergate
complex. That, as we know, turned out badly. However, the reason we still
don’t know what the agenda of the break-in was is that Liddy refused to rat
out Nixon, at all, and instead just did his time. Liddy is often described
as reckless and unhinged, but he had a diehard loyalty to Nixon and to the
right-wing cause of protecting America from the forces of communism and
Judaism.
His sentence was commuted by Jimmy Carter, and he only ended up serving 4
and a half years. However, he did not go back into politics or law
enforcement after that, and spent the rest of his life involved in writing,
acting and as a radio host. He was successful in all of these endeavors.
He was great on Miami Vice: https://youtu.be/UShkD4BYYBg
Liddy at points appeared in public debate with both Timothy Leary and Hunter
S. Thompson.
I have always wanted to see the Hunter S. Thompson one, but it was
apparently not recorded. I have read the transcript, which I cannot find.
They had a lot of common ground, given that they were both nutty gun
fanatics, and both real American patriots. They both believed in living fast
and sucking the last drop out of life.
They are two figures that I admire greatly, mostly for different reasons. In
the longer scope of things, I think Thompson was smarter and more
influential than Liddy, and probably someone I’ve learned more from.
The Leary debate was filmed, and there is something quite interesting in
that (I’m not sure if this is the full video or not):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P24Y83NaVv4
Leary was almost certainly a shill (he later worked for the FBI), sent out
to get children using drugs as part of a Frankfurt School cultural
transformation agenda. He was a really disingenuous man who primarily seemed
concerned about getting laid, rather than any kind of higher ideal at all.
All of his material is very shallow, and basically just boring. (Most drug
oriented stuff ends up being boring – Thompson was the exception that proved
the rule.)
During the debate, Leary framed Liddy v. Leary as “Traditionalism v.
Futurism,” which is accurate. At one point Liddy said, “we’re both convicted
felons, and it doesn’t matter what either of us say.” He also said that he
believes in freedom, just a different kind of freedom – giving the example
that he thinks people have a right to kill cops if they enter their
property. Leary was of course defending the cops.
Liddy’s philosophy, expressed in his book “Will,” is overall something I
agree with a lot. He believed in personal responsibility, in hierarchy and
loyalty, and probably most relevantly, was a kind of pioneer in what became
the self-help movement, stressing the importance of believing in yourself
and pushing yourself to your total limits.
He wrote and spoke a lot about pain, and the need to experience pain in
order to develop personally and to compete with others. Liddy was not
ultra-jacked, but he was a big time fitness guy (virtually the opposite of
the other recently deceased right-wing figure, Rush Limbaugh, who was a
glutton, and didn’t really seem to truly believe in much of anything beyond
the sound of his own voice).
Here’s a quaint clip from “Blind Ambition,” a TV miniseries about Watergate,
which features Liddy talking about strength and pain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-0BSVZfWRE
Liddy continued to be involved in media, doing talk radio and appearing on
shows to talk about things like Obama’s birth certificate. These were not
his finest hours (his finest hours were probably Miami Vice, and planning
clandestine criminal operations for Nixon), but I assume he needed the
money.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxnWfFCP8gI
NPR this week, following Liddy’s death, released a segment denouncing him as
an “unapologetic criminal.” That is not an untrue characterization,
technically, though the framing was very dishonest.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kllqVZzdnGs
He was definitely unrepentant, however. He got a custom “H20GATE” license
plate for his Corvette:
https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.667873.1617154039!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg
In other popular culture, the character of the Comedian in the Watchmen
comics was largely based on Liddy, according to author Alan Moore.
Liddy was a man of action, and I believe a good man, and a patriot, who
genuinely just wanted to destroy communism and protect the people. But this
is a great example of “even the best intentions.”
Now, this secret police power is not in the hands of patriots, but instead
in the hands of people who are literally possessed by actual demons.
When we have a new government, there needs to be a “not even for the good
guys” rule when it comes to secret operations.
The fact that we now understand that everything that Liddy was himself
fighting – drugs, communism, hippies – was actually being run by other
secretive government “law enforcement” agencies should make the need for
transparency crystal clear.
Nonetheless, Liddy was not personally responsible for the way American law
enforcement and intelligence spun out of control, and as a historical
figure, as an American icon, he should be remembered fondly, while we also
remember the context.
break-in, died on March 30 at 90 years of age.
As is well-known, I’m not a big fan of the feds. However, the reason I am
not a fan of the feds is because they hate America, and are working to
destroy this country. There was always a problem with instilling these
various federal intelligence agencies with the amount of power they were
instilled with. However, not all of them used the power for evil.
G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and fought
against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a great man, and
should be studied and learned from.
Liddy was born in Brooklyn, to working class Irish-Italian family, in 1930.
In 1957, Liddy entered the FBI at age 27, and by 29 he had become the
youngest ever Bureau Supervisor at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. He
then became J. Edgar Hoover’s personal head of staff. He left the FBI in
1962, and after working with his father in a private law practice for a
while, took a job working for the prosecutors office of Dutchess County, New
York.
In 1966, he led a raid on the Hitchcock House, at the time occupied by the
intelligence-linked drug guru Timothy Leary.
He also led a 1969 raid of Bard College, wherein the members of Steely Dan,
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, were caught. They later wrote the song “My
Old School” about the incident. In the song, they refer to Liddy as “Daddy
Gee.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXfNZWjot4
During this period, he was reprimanded for pulling out a revolver in court
and shooting it at the ceiling.
He then ran successfully for District Attorney, and unsuccessfully for
Congress, before serving on Richard Nixon’s campaign. After Nixon won, he
received an appointment as a special assistant fighting drug programs (all
of which we now know were run by the CIA).
After serving in several positions for Nixon, he was moved in 1971 to the
committee to reelect Nixon. In 1972, he was moved to the White House
Plumbers, which was the clandestine group who worked as Nixon’s secret
police against invasive Jewish journalists.
While working for the Plumbers, he was the mastermind behind Operation
Gemstone, a series of hilarious pranks. Among other awesome ideas, he
proposed kidnapping Democrats and holding them in Mexico until the Democrat
convention had finished.
White House counsel John Dean later described Liddy’s agenda to the
president on March 21, 1973, during the “Cancer on the Presidency”
conversation (from the Nixon tapes): “So I came over and Liddy laid out a
million dollar plan that was the most incredible thing I have ever laid my
eyes on: all in codes, and involved black bag operations, kidnapping,
providing prostitutes, uh, to weaken the opposition, bugging, uh, mugging
teams. It was just an incredible thing.”
He had bugging teams, he had mugging teams, he was bugging the mugging
teams – the man was a genius. Most of his plots involved the strategic use
of prostitutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8cvIXnADd8
In 1971, Nixon did approve his plan to break in and steal files from
journalist Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. The intention was to get the
motherlode about Ellsberg’s "neurosis" to discredit him.
Then, at some point, for reasons which to this day are still unclear, Liddy
was given a greenlight to break into the Democrat offices at the Watergate
complex. That, as we know, turned out badly. However, the reason we still
don’t know what the agenda of the break-in was is that Liddy refused to rat
out Nixon, at all, and instead just did his time. Liddy is often described
as reckless and unhinged, but he had a diehard loyalty to Nixon and to the
right-wing cause of protecting America from the forces of communism and
Judaism.
His sentence was commuted by Jimmy Carter, and he only ended up serving 4
and a half years. However, he did not go back into politics or law
enforcement after that, and spent the rest of his life involved in writing,
acting and as a radio host. He was successful in all of these endeavors.
He was great on Miami Vice: https://youtu.be/UShkD4BYYBg
Liddy at points appeared in public debate with both Timothy Leary and Hunter
S. Thompson.
I have always wanted to see the Hunter S. Thompson one, but it was
apparently not recorded. I have read the transcript, which I cannot find.
They had a lot of common ground, given that they were both nutty gun
fanatics, and both real American patriots. They both believed in living fast
and sucking the last drop out of life.
They are two figures that I admire greatly, mostly for different reasons. In
the longer scope of things, I think Thompson was smarter and more
influential than Liddy, and probably someone I’ve learned more from.
The Leary debate was filmed, and there is something quite interesting in
that (I’m not sure if this is the full video or not):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P24Y83NaVv4
Leary was almost certainly a shill (he later worked for the FBI), sent out
to get children using drugs as part of a Frankfurt School cultural
transformation agenda. He was a really disingenuous man who primarily seemed
concerned about getting laid, rather than any kind of higher ideal at all.
All of his material is very shallow, and basically just boring. (Most drug
oriented stuff ends up being boring – Thompson was the exception that proved
the rule.)
During the debate, Leary framed Liddy v. Leary as “Traditionalism v.
Futurism,” which is accurate. At one point Liddy said, “we’re both convicted
felons, and it doesn’t matter what either of us say.” He also said that he
believes in freedom, just a different kind of freedom – giving the example
that he thinks people have a right to kill cops if they enter their
property. Leary was of course defending the cops.
Liddy’s philosophy, expressed in his book “Will,” is overall something I
agree with a lot. He believed in personal responsibility, in hierarchy and
loyalty, and probably most relevantly, was a kind of pioneer in what became
the self-help movement, stressing the importance of believing in yourself
and pushing yourself to your total limits.
He wrote and spoke a lot about pain, and the need to experience pain in
order to develop personally and to compete with others. Liddy was not
ultra-jacked, but he was a big time fitness guy (virtually the opposite of
the other recently deceased right-wing figure, Rush Limbaugh, who was a
glutton, and didn’t really seem to truly believe in much of anything beyond
the sound of his own voice).
Here’s a quaint clip from “Blind Ambition,” a TV miniseries about Watergate,
which features Liddy talking about strength and pain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-0BSVZfWRE
Liddy continued to be involved in media, doing talk radio and appearing on
shows to talk about things like Obama’s birth certificate. These were not
his finest hours (his finest hours were probably Miami Vice, and planning
clandestine criminal operations for Nixon), but I assume he needed the
money.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxnWfFCP8gI
NPR this week, following Liddy’s death, released a segment denouncing him as
an “unapologetic criminal.” That is not an untrue characterization,
technically, though the framing was very dishonest.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kllqVZzdnGs
He was definitely unrepentant, however. He got a custom “H20GATE” license
plate for his Corvette:
https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.667873.1617154039!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg
In other popular culture, the character of the Comedian in the Watchmen
comics was largely based on Liddy, according to author Alan Moore.
Liddy was a man of action, and I believe a good man, and a patriot, who
genuinely just wanted to destroy communism and protect the people. But this
is a great example of “even the best intentions.”
Now, this secret police power is not in the hands of patriots, but instead
in the hands of people who are literally possessed by actual demons.
When we have a new government, there needs to be a “not even for the good
guys” rule when it comes to secret operations.
The fact that we now understand that everything that Liddy was himself
fighting – drugs, communism, hippies – was actually being run by other
secretive government “law enforcement” agencies should make the need for
transparency crystal clear.
Nonetheless, Liddy was not personally responsible for the way American law
enforcement and intelligence spun out of control, and as a historical
figure, as an American icon, he should be remembered fondly, while we also
remember the context.
B1ackwater
Apr 2, 2021, 8:20:52 AM4/2/21
to
Jack B. Nimble wrote
>
> G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and
> fought against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a
> great man, and should be studied and learned from.
Trump refused to pardon Liddy because Liddy wouldn't let Trump fellate him.
Anyone who acts in such a manner is not a great Republican.
>
> G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and
> fought against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a
> great man, and should be studied and learned from.
Anyone who acts in such a manner is not a great Republican.
Rex Libris
Apr 2, 2021, 3:31:39 PM4/2/21
to
On Thu, 1 Apr 2021 17:44:59 -0500
"Jack B. Nimble" <nos...@nospam.org> wrote:
> the reason I am
> not a fan of the feds is because they hate America, and are working to
> destroy this country.
LOL Best laugh all day!
"Jack B. Nimble" <nos...@nospam.org> wrote:
> the reason I am
> not a fan of the feds is because they hate America, and are working to
> destroy this country.
Byker
Apr 2, 2021, 3:44:34 PM4/2/21
to
"bruce bowser" wrote in message
news:61d12f62-214c-4ca1...@googlegroups.com...
On Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 6:45:09 PM UTC-4, Jack B. Nimble wrote:
>>
>> Nonetheless, Liddy was not personally responsible for the way American
>> law enforcement and intelligence spun out of control, and as a historical
>> figure, as an American icon, he should be remembered fondly, while we
>> also remember the context.
>
> "He was one of the first to jump into the conservative radio talk-show
> game after Rush Limbaugh’s success, with a show that ran for 20 years
> beginning in 1992.
>
> Liddy was among the first Republicans who had to do very little to
> rehabilitate themselves after scandals, even if it involved criminal
> conviction; he was eventually joined by Watergate figure Chuck Colson,
> Iran-contra figure Ollie North, and many more, right up to President
> Donald Trump’s grants of clemency for disgraced figures like Joe Arpaio,
> the ex-Arizona sheriff convicted of contempt of court, Dinesh D'Souza, the
> conspiracy theorist who pleaded guilty to campaign violations. Not every
> scandal-plagued Republican is welcomed back; former Speaker Denny Hastert,
> for example, is still shunned. Many don’t want to return to politics. Of
> those who do, the barrier appears to be very low indeed.
Here's a goodie that I'll always remember Liddy for: Just days after the
bombing of Pan Am flight 103, I saw this in a supermarket newsstand:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81EK7OmkCEL.jpg. I thought,
"G. Gordon Liddy writing for a SCIENCE magazine? THIS I've got to see!"
Looks like I wasn't the only one taking note:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://theswamp.media/this-fictional-memo-to-the-president-from-1989-predicted-terrorism-in-the-us
Warnings Unheeded, Disasters Incurred – A Warning From Omni Magazine, Circa
1989
Omni is a defunct monthly magazine whose writing style and articles were a
combination of scientific fact, technology and science fiction. It was in
print from 1978 until 1995. An article from its January, 1989 issue was
entitled, “Near Future Potential For Massive Terrorism on U.S. Soil” and was
written by G. Gordon Liddy, a character infamous for his Watergate
shenanigans. The article is written as a fictional memo to the President of
the United States, summarizing the cause and impact of a multifaceted terror
campaign on U.S. soil.
Given that the article was written about twelve years before the 9-11
attacks, it is interesting to see how Liddy saw the future unfolding. While
he vastly overestimated the impact that the Soviet Union and South American
influences would have in a terror filled future, he was pretty accurate in
many respects:
– “As it is, we have had to ground the U.S. civil commercial aviation fleet
for an indefinite time.” Just as Bin Laden saw it, the country’s aviation
system could be used not only to kill Americans but also be used to disrupt
the economy. Although it did not last as long as Liddy predicts, the entire
U.S. aviation system was grounded for several days after the 9-11 attacks,
inflicting further economic damage on the country beyond the actual attacks
themselves.
– “Unfortunately, all major north-south railroad traffic in the United
States funnels through two choke points: a single strategic railroad bridge
over the Potomac River between Washington D.C. and Virginia and the rail
complex at Cincinnati. On the night of August 2nd, terrorist-planted
pressure mines took out the Potomac Bridge and the Cincinnati choke point
was severed by the use of an expert combination of low order and high order
explosives.” Given some of the early information being learned form the
computers and data taken in the Bin Laden raid, it is clear the Bin Laden
also had the same thoughts as Liddy as far as terror attacks on the nation’s
rail systems.
– “While there are different estimates of the number of international
terrorist groups, here we are including the PLO, the IRA, the Japanese Red
Army, and French Action Directe, and Islamic Jihad.” Although 9-11 was still
twelve years away, Liddy did correctly identify a type of Islamic jihad that
carried out the attacks on 9-11.
– “The entire Louisiana attacking force (of terrorists) was recruited
citizens of Communist African nations…and that groups of blacks could pass
unnoticed in Louisiana. This led to the white commanding officers ignoring
the input of competent black police in the South, who detected the presence
of black aliens immediately and submitted their field intelligence reports
on this matter…but when they reported them to their white superiors they
were either ridiculed or ignored.”
Much like 9-11, in Liddy’s view, FBI field law enforcement officers
correctly recognized various threats and reported their findings and
theories which were ignored by their superiors. The Phoenix FBI office,
among other offices, reported numerous accounts of suspicious activity by
people that eventually ended up hijacking the planes on 9-11, accounts that
were never acted on by their superiors.
– “The how is relatively simple. The terrorists were outfitted with
appropriate clothing, alias documentation, and pocket money and infiltrated
into the nation with the most porous border on earth.” Looks like our border
security was just as bad back in 1989 as it is now.
– “Even without resorting to such high tech weapons, it is relatively
straightforward to get a standard-construction gun through the airport
magnetometers and roentgen machines, which are a joke.” Given that the 9-11
terrorists also used low tech weaponry (box cutters) and easily got them
through airport security, it appears that Liddy foresaw this possibility
also.
– “The people expect their government to do something about it: to fix the
problem and punish those responsible. And the American people are not
patient. Their faith in what the Founding Fathers wrought is ebbing fast.”
Sounds like this applies today, not only to terror attacks but to the
overall incompetency of government and the political class to fix any
problem, not just terrorism. Another good prediction from Liddy.
– “Gradually, over the past few administrations, as Congress passed law
after law for the people and the executive branch to follow but excepted
Congress itself (the Civil Rights acts, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the
minimum wage laws, etc.) and as Congress continued to act as if the rest of
the laws of the land did not apply to them…” Sound familiar, 22 years after
Liddy made his prediction?
Seems like Liddy got most of the general concepts right relative to
terrorism and 9-11 even if he was a little off on some of the details. He
also predicts terror attacks on the country’s electrical power grid and the
country’s natural gas distribution network, all of which, when combined with
a grounded aviation system and a crippled rail system, results in all types
of other crises including food shortages and spoilage, sanitation problems,
martial law, etc.
For the most part, the political class has not made any of these other
catastrophes less likely since 1989, that our power grid, transportation
networks, our gas and oil pipelines, etc are just as vulnerable today as
when Liddy made these predictions.
A related side article by Peter Kornbluh also has some pretty accurate
quotes and predictions:
The enemy no longer wears a uniform, drives a tank, or man’s a battleship.
He is a terrorist who takes hostages in the Middle East and plots attacks
inside the United States.
The evolution from conventional to unconventional warfare does not mean that
the world will be a safer place.
“We can expect that CIA covert paramilitary and political operations…will
continue in every country where U.S. policy makers arrogantly believe they
can shape events.
The proliferation of U.S. intervention in low-level conflicts around the
globe will not advance U.S. national interests in peace and security.
Looks like both Liddy and Kornbluh got the future right. Too bad that the
political class and the government it runs did not get it right and make the
proper anti-terror defensive plans, based on their insights. Maybe if they
had read the article, 3,000 Americans would not have died on 9-11.
Maybe we would not find ourselves having fought a useless war in Iraq and
are probably fighting a losing war in Afghanistan.
But should we expect anything different from these career politicians?
Michael Lewis, a typical Wall Street type, foresaw the coming Great
Recession, driven by bad securities from the real estate industry, and made
a lot of money off of his insights besides writing a successful book
describing what he foresaw. However, no one in the political class or the
agencies responsible for economic oversight (e.g. SEC, Treasury Department,
Federal Reserve, Congressional committees) saw the coming economic collapse.
In 1999, Wall Street trader Harry Markopolos wrote to the SEC and stated:
“Madoff Securities is the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.” However, the scheme
went on for many more years and robbed many more Americans of their life
savings before the political class and the government ever got around to
doing what Markopolos did many years before.
The list goes on and on. There are many smart Americans in this country but
it seems like their input never gets appreciated and used. Whether it is
preventing terror attacks or financial crises, the political class always
seems to be late, always coming up with an ineffective, expensive solution.
Heck, Liddy gave them the terror blueprint for 9-11 twelve years before it
happened and they still could not get it right. Lewis and Markopolos gave
them the financial scandal and economic collapse blueprint years before they
actually appreciated what they were being told. Liddy told them in 1989 that
our borders were insecure and 22 years later they are still unsecure. The
list goes on and on.
That is why we need to make substantial changes to our political processes
so that we finally get people into office that can anticipate crises and
problems and then have the problem solving skills to attack would-be
problems before they become crises. Many steps are needed to improve and
overhaul our political processes, whether it is campaign finance reform,
term limits, Congressional committee accountability, primary election
reforms, etc. The current way we do things politically in this country is
not working. Even with ample warning, disasters still hit us constantly
because of our politicians’ incompetency or complacency.
We need to get to a point where warnings are heeded and disasters are
averted. Until then, we will continue to be amazed that 22 year old
magazines are more accurate and timely than today’s politicians in
Washington D.C.
news:61d12f62-214c-4ca1...@googlegroups.com...
On Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 6:45:09 PM UTC-4, Jack B. Nimble wrote:
>>
>> Nonetheless, Liddy was not personally responsible for the way American
>> law enforcement and intelligence spun out of control, and as a historical
>> figure, as an American icon, he should be remembered fondly, while we
>> also remember the context.
>
> game after Rush Limbaugh’s success, with a show that ran for 20 years
> beginning in 1992.
>
> Liddy was among the first Republicans who had to do very little to
> rehabilitate themselves after scandals, even if it involved criminal
> conviction; he was eventually joined by Watergate figure Chuck Colson,
> Iran-contra figure Ollie North, and many more, right up to President
> Donald Trump’s grants of clemency for disgraced figures like Joe Arpaio,
> the ex-Arizona sheriff convicted of contempt of court, Dinesh D'Souza, the
> conspiracy theorist who pleaded guilty to campaign violations. Not every
> scandal-plagued Republican is welcomed back; former Speaker Denny Hastert,
> for example, is still shunned. Many don’t want to return to politics. Of
> those who do, the barrier appears to be very low indeed.
Here's a goodie that I'll always remember Liddy for: Just days after the
bombing of Pan Am flight 103, I saw this in a supermarket newsstand:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81EK7OmkCEL.jpg. I thought,
"G. Gordon Liddy writing for a SCIENCE magazine? THIS I've got to see!"
Looks like I wasn't the only one taking note:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://theswamp.media/this-fictional-memo-to-the-president-from-1989-predicted-terrorism-in-the-us
Warnings Unheeded, Disasters Incurred – A Warning From Omni Magazine, Circa
1989
Omni is a defunct monthly magazine whose writing style and articles were a
combination of scientific fact, technology and science fiction. It was in
print from 1978 until 1995. An article from its January, 1989 issue was
entitled, “Near Future Potential For Massive Terrorism on U.S. Soil” and was
written by G. Gordon Liddy, a character infamous for his Watergate
shenanigans. The article is written as a fictional memo to the President of
the United States, summarizing the cause and impact of a multifaceted terror
campaign on U.S. soil.
Given that the article was written about twelve years before the 9-11
attacks, it is interesting to see how Liddy saw the future unfolding. While
he vastly overestimated the impact that the Soviet Union and South American
influences would have in a terror filled future, he was pretty accurate in
many respects:
– “As it is, we have had to ground the U.S. civil commercial aviation fleet
for an indefinite time.” Just as Bin Laden saw it, the country’s aviation
system could be used not only to kill Americans but also be used to disrupt
the economy. Although it did not last as long as Liddy predicts, the entire
U.S. aviation system was grounded for several days after the 9-11 attacks,
inflicting further economic damage on the country beyond the actual attacks
themselves.
– “Unfortunately, all major north-south railroad traffic in the United
States funnels through two choke points: a single strategic railroad bridge
over the Potomac River between Washington D.C. and Virginia and the rail
complex at Cincinnati. On the night of August 2nd, terrorist-planted
pressure mines took out the Potomac Bridge and the Cincinnati choke point
was severed by the use of an expert combination of low order and high order
explosives.” Given some of the early information being learned form the
computers and data taken in the Bin Laden raid, it is clear the Bin Laden
also had the same thoughts as Liddy as far as terror attacks on the nation’s
rail systems.
– “While there are different estimates of the number of international
terrorist groups, here we are including the PLO, the IRA, the Japanese Red
Army, and French Action Directe, and Islamic Jihad.” Although 9-11 was still
twelve years away, Liddy did correctly identify a type of Islamic jihad that
carried out the attacks on 9-11.
– “The entire Louisiana attacking force (of terrorists) was recruited
citizens of Communist African nations…and that groups of blacks could pass
unnoticed in Louisiana. This led to the white commanding officers ignoring
the input of competent black police in the South, who detected the presence
of black aliens immediately and submitted their field intelligence reports
on this matter…but when they reported them to their white superiors they
were either ridiculed or ignored.”
Much like 9-11, in Liddy’s view, FBI field law enforcement officers
correctly recognized various threats and reported their findings and
theories which were ignored by their superiors. The Phoenix FBI office,
among other offices, reported numerous accounts of suspicious activity by
people that eventually ended up hijacking the planes on 9-11, accounts that
were never acted on by their superiors.
– “The how is relatively simple. The terrorists were outfitted with
appropriate clothing, alias documentation, and pocket money and infiltrated
into the nation with the most porous border on earth.” Looks like our border
security was just as bad back in 1989 as it is now.
– “Even without resorting to such high tech weapons, it is relatively
straightforward to get a standard-construction gun through the airport
magnetometers and roentgen machines, which are a joke.” Given that the 9-11
terrorists also used low tech weaponry (box cutters) and easily got them
through airport security, it appears that Liddy foresaw this possibility
also.
– “The people expect their government to do something about it: to fix the
problem and punish those responsible. And the American people are not
patient. Their faith in what the Founding Fathers wrought is ebbing fast.”
Sounds like this applies today, not only to terror attacks but to the
overall incompetency of government and the political class to fix any
problem, not just terrorism. Another good prediction from Liddy.
– “Gradually, over the past few administrations, as Congress passed law
after law for the people and the executive branch to follow but excepted
Congress itself (the Civil Rights acts, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the
minimum wage laws, etc.) and as Congress continued to act as if the rest of
the laws of the land did not apply to them…” Sound familiar, 22 years after
Liddy made his prediction?
Seems like Liddy got most of the general concepts right relative to
terrorism and 9-11 even if he was a little off on some of the details. He
also predicts terror attacks on the country’s electrical power grid and the
country’s natural gas distribution network, all of which, when combined with
a grounded aviation system and a crippled rail system, results in all types
of other crises including food shortages and spoilage, sanitation problems,
martial law, etc.
For the most part, the political class has not made any of these other
catastrophes less likely since 1989, that our power grid, transportation
networks, our gas and oil pipelines, etc are just as vulnerable today as
when Liddy made these predictions.
A related side article by Peter Kornbluh also has some pretty accurate
quotes and predictions:
The enemy no longer wears a uniform, drives a tank, or man’s a battleship.
He is a terrorist who takes hostages in the Middle East and plots attacks
inside the United States.
The evolution from conventional to unconventional warfare does not mean that
the world will be a safer place.
“We can expect that CIA covert paramilitary and political operations…will
continue in every country where U.S. policy makers arrogantly believe they
can shape events.
The proliferation of U.S. intervention in low-level conflicts around the
globe will not advance U.S. national interests in peace and security.
Looks like both Liddy and Kornbluh got the future right. Too bad that the
political class and the government it runs did not get it right and make the
proper anti-terror defensive plans, based on their insights. Maybe if they
had read the article, 3,000 Americans would not have died on 9-11.
Maybe we would not find ourselves having fought a useless war in Iraq and
are probably fighting a losing war in Afghanistan.
But should we expect anything different from these career politicians?
Michael Lewis, a typical Wall Street type, foresaw the coming Great
Recession, driven by bad securities from the real estate industry, and made
a lot of money off of his insights besides writing a successful book
describing what he foresaw. However, no one in the political class or the
agencies responsible for economic oversight (e.g. SEC, Treasury Department,
Federal Reserve, Congressional committees) saw the coming economic collapse.
In 1999, Wall Street trader Harry Markopolos wrote to the SEC and stated:
“Madoff Securities is the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.” However, the scheme
went on for many more years and robbed many more Americans of their life
savings before the political class and the government ever got around to
doing what Markopolos did many years before.
The list goes on and on. There are many smart Americans in this country but
it seems like their input never gets appreciated and used. Whether it is
preventing terror attacks or financial crises, the political class always
seems to be late, always coming up with an ineffective, expensive solution.
Heck, Liddy gave them the terror blueprint for 9-11 twelve years before it
happened and they still could not get it right. Lewis and Markopolos gave
them the financial scandal and economic collapse blueprint years before they
actually appreciated what they were being told. Liddy told them in 1989 that
our borders were insecure and 22 years later they are still unsecure. The
list goes on and on.
That is why we need to make substantial changes to our political processes
so that we finally get people into office that can anticipate crises and
problems and then have the problem solving skills to attack would-be
problems before they become crises. Many steps are needed to improve and
overhaul our political processes, whether it is campaign finance reform,
term limits, Congressional committee accountability, primary election
reforms, etc. The current way we do things politically in this country is
not working. Even with ample warning, disasters still hit us constantly
because of our politicians’ incompetency or complacency.
We need to get to a point where warnings are heeded and disasters are
averted. Until then, we will continue to be amazed that 22 year old
magazines are more accurate and timely than today’s politicians in
Washington D.C.
Byker
Apr 2, 2021, 3:46:05 PM4/2/21
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Yak
Apr 2, 2021, 5:24:03 PM4/2/21
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Rex Libris wrote
Liddy was a homo
They should have shot him years ago.
They should have shot him years ago.
Yak
May 24, 2021, 6:17:58 PM5/24/21
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Rex Libris wrote
B1ackwater
May 24, 2021, 7:05:30 PM5/24/21
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Jack B. Nimble wrote
>
> G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and
> fought against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a
> great man, and should be studied and learned from.
>
> G. Gordon Liddy was a good and honest man who loved his country, and
> fought against agendas of drugs, communism, and journalism. He was a
> great man, and should be studied and learned from.
Jeff Rubard
Oct 11, 2021, 5:12:52 PM10/11/21
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Oh man, Liddy is dead?
I forgot how good life could be.
Jeff Rubard
I forgot how good life could be.
Jeff Rubard
Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 11, 2021, 12:34:42 PM12/11/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 16, 2021, 2:43:02 AM12/16/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 17, 2021, 1:55:00 AM12/17/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 17, 2021, 12:25:59 PM12/17/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 20, 2021, 2:23:48 AM12/20/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 21, 2021, 12:00:50 PM12/21/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 22, 2021, 12:19:45 PM12/22/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 23, 2021, 2:55:41 AM12/23/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 23, 2021, 4:53:39 PM12/23/21
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Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 25, 2022, 11:40:46 PM1/25/22
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Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 26, 2022, 1:39:53 PM1/26/22
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 15, 2022, 9:36:06 PM12/15/22
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Jeffrey Rubard
Dec 16, 2022, 11:51:14 AM12/16/22
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Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 8, 2023, 2:01:50 PM1/8/23
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"It's like that."
Yeah, huh. I think in French they call those *faits accomplis*...
"It's not a homophone, dummy."
No, but it's a can't-change-it kind of thing.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 13, 2023, 12:00:09 PM1/13/23
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Jeffrey Rubard
Jan 27, 2023, 4:50:53 PM1/27/23
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"That's generally how that works."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jun 28, 2023, 4:51:02 PM6/28/23
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"Still."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jun 29, 2023, 11:19:01 AM6/29/23
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"It's not that controversial, really."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jun 30, 2023, 2:27:35 PM6/30/23
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"Basically, yes, of course that's right."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 1, 2023, 4:54:34 PM7/1/23
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"In my book, inadequate or conflicting information about the event in question."
I guess I agree with you, then.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 2, 2023, 5:47:54 PM7/2/23
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I really think I think so too, yes.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 3, 2023, 2:48:24 PM7/3/23
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Sure.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 7, 2023, 4:58:39 PM7/7/23
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There'd have to be some, I suppose.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 8, 2023, 11:53:41 AM7/8/23
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Hey, let's not go nuts here.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 9, 2023, 6:15:29 PM7/9/23
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Okay, I'm okay with that.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 10, 2023, 11:32:38 AM7/10/23
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I think that's more substantially true of many historical figures than I realized as a younger person.
He's still dead though, right?
"It looks like that's so."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 10, 2023, 3:07:51 PM7/10/23
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"Why yes, yes I do."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 11, 2023, 11:22:10 AM7/11/23
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"This is where practical discourse gets 'fuzzy', of course, and you personally seem highly dense. But yes, sure, in the way it could be meant. Did you graduate from high school?"
Yeah, I did.
"And the like, but you really do seem dense about how we talk about these things."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 12, 2023, 11:39:10 AM7/12/23
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And someone deceased, like G. Gordon Liddy, is soo dead?
"Yeah, that's true too."
So things done in the past, *faits accomplis*, would be like that?
"Man, you're getting boring."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 12, 2023, 11:40:44 AM7/12/23
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Really, it's as though I couldn't *unwrite* ones I in fact wrote, I'd have in reality written them, you'd just "talk about them funny"?
"Yeah, could you cope?"
With objective realities like that? Some. I can cope some.
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 13, 2023, 11:12:53 AM7/13/23
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Well, as regards any full-length texts of a fictive or nonfictive character actually composed by me...
"Oh, I get the point."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 17, 2023, 11:23:16 AM7/17/23
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Do you think I can 'go back in time' and tear up the MSS. so they don't make it to book form, though?
"No."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 18, 2023, 11:48:33 AM7/18/23
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Do you really think you can go back in time and stop people from doing something they did at a previous point in recent history?
"No."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 18, 2023, 11:49:02 AM7/18/23
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"No comment."
Jeffrey Rubard
Jul 19, 2023, 2:22:58 PM7/19/23
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"Sounds crazy."
Because it's illogical, or because it's a crazy thing to *have* to say?
"The latter, honestly."
Jeffrey Rubard
Aug 14, 2023, 4:20:46 PM8/14/23
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