HAPPENING NOW

59 YEARS AGO TODAY

59 years ago today, a barrage of gunfire forever altered the course of American history. The real mystery of President Kennedy’s murder is not “whodunnit”, but why we Americans accepted the theft of our democracy with so little protest. Today, as we honor JFK’s life and legacy, let’s also remember the handful of ordinary citizens who refused, and continue to refuse, to let the truth die along with the President. Suggested reading for today: Gaeton Fonzi’s The Last Investigation; Mark Lane’s Plausible Denial; Robert Groden’s Absolute Proof; Jim Douglass’s JFK and the Unspeakable; Abraham Bolden's The Echo from Dealey Plaza.

REMEMBERING PAUL SCHRADE

Today we mourn the passing of Paul Schrade, labor leader and tireless campaigner for the truth in the assassination of his dear friend Senator Robert Francis Kennedy. On the night of the Senator's victory in the California presidential primary, Kennedy was brutally murdered by four bullets fired from behind at point blank range. Paul was also shot that night, receiving a glancing blow to his forehead, and it was in the very nature of his injury that Paul found the thread that led him to the heart of a nagging truth: convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan could not have shot him from the front while simultaneously shooting Kennedy from behind. The nature and direction of the two men's wounds, along with the fact that Sirhan was almost immediately captured by Kennedy friends that included famed defensive tackle Rosey Grier, proved to Paul beyond the shadow of a doubt that a second gunman killed his friend. Paul did not speculate on the possibility of a conspiracy in Senator Kennedy's death. He merely stated what he knew to be true: everything from the trajectories to the eyewitnesses to the number of bullets fired proclaimed the innocence of Sirhan, whose bullets wounded Paul and four others, but who simply could not have killed the Senator. Though Paul was a victim of Sirhan's gun, he was his staunchest defender, and an inexhaustible advocate for his parole. Here is a clip of Paul from the upcoming documentary series, Four Died Trying.