How an ADL spy operation helped bring down the far-right John Birch Society - Kotaku In Action 2

How an ADL spy operation helped bring down the far-right John Birch Society (www.timesofisrael.com)

posted 149 days ago by BollocksToBolsheviks 149 days ago by BollocksToBolsheviks +64 / -1

How an ADL spy operation helped bring down the far-right John Birch Society

Researching his new book 'Birchers,' Matthew Dallek discovers paperwork documenting a successful espionage effort to thwart an anti-Civil Rights group deemed a threat by some Jews

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– ZeroPercentCamoIndex 24 points 149 days ago +24 / -0

I don't know much about the John Birch Society but here's a former chairman Larry Mcdonald, talking on US TV about the New World Order. Interesting how the passenger jet he was flying on was shot down in mysterious circumstances months later, officially because an autopilot error caused an incursion into soviet airspace.

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– BollocksToBolsheviks [S] 17 points 149 days ago +17 / -0

That's pretty interesting. There's a whole lot there that seems prophetic 40 years later.

Edit: especially the disingenuous pearl clutching about conspiracies.

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– ZeroPercentCamoIndex 13 points 149 days ago +13 / -0

YouTube helpfully provides a wikipedia link under the video explaining that the NWO is a conspiracy theory too, so at least we're well protected and reminded against these poisonous Birchers.

I suspect if it was a newer video or had garnered more than 150k views across 13 years, it would have trouble even staying up on YT. Good candidate for download and reuploading elsewhere just in case.

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– BollocksToBolsheviks [S] 12 points 149 days ago +12 / -0

I'm headed down a rabbit hole in regards to Tom Braden, the guy sitting across from Pat Buchanan. I was not familiar with him. It seems he was a CIA man through and through, and even wiki includes the fact he used company money to influence American politics. In line with the congressman's claims in the CNN Crossfire interview, he was funding "anti-Soviet' leftists, ie moving the US more gently to the left. This was probably not public in '83 when this interview was done. Of course, his 'journalistic' career after leaving the agency was obviously not a retirement from his previous work.

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– ZeroPercentCamoIndex 10 points 149 days ago +10 / -0

Which proves that he knew everything McDonald was saying was on the money, all the while feigning his absurd scepticism larp and trying to undermine what was being said in the minds of the viewing audience.

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... continue reading thread?

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– when_we_win_remember 4 points 148 days ago +4 / -0

That flight is a rabbit hole. On its own independently of any Birchers.

Seems like the perfect crime, though. Lead the airliner off course without them knowing it. Shoot it down. Trawl over the remains of the aircraft. Bury everything. Not the quietest way to kill Birchers so I doubt that was the goal. Don't you think these guys got on smaller planes that could hve been taken down with less fanfare?

But at the same time they had to know they could get away with it if they wanted.

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– ZeroPercentCamoIndex 2 points 148 days ago +2 / -0

Not the quietest way to kill Birchers so I doubt that was the goal.

I was skimming the details last night and as many as 3-4 US congressmen were originally meant to be flying together, potentially. It could be that Korean 007 provided the best opportunity to get all at once, however the circumstances by which they all got diverted so that only McDonald remained on the plane also seem very convoluted (flight diversion, delays in schedule, failure to persuade McDonald to switch planes)

From wikipedia:

McDonald could have boarded a Pan Am Boeing 747 flight to Seoul, but he preferred the lower fares of Korean Air Lines and chose to wait for the next KAL flight two days later.[21] Simultaneously, Hubbard and Helms planned to meet with McDonald to discuss how to join McDonald on the KAL 007 flight. As the delays mounted, instead of joining McDonald, Hubbard at the last minute gave up on the trip, canceled his reservations, and accepted a Kentucky speaking engagement. Helms attempted to join McDonald but was also delayed.[31]

McDonald occupied an aisle seat, 02B in the first class section, when KAL 007 took off on August 31 at 12:24 AM local time, on a 3,400 miles (5,500 km) trip to Anchorage, Alaska for a scheduled stopover seven hours later. The plane remained on the ground for an hour and a half during which it was refueled, reprovisioned, cleaned, and serviced.[21] The passengers were given the option of leaving the aircraft but McDonald remained on the plane, catching up on his sleep. Helms meanwhile had managed to arrive and invited McDonald to move onto his flight, KAL 015, but McDonald did not wish to be disturbed.

So I have no idea what to think.

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