ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES

AND RESEARCH CENTER

David Talbot has suffered another health crisis

[David Talbot has served on the Board of Directors for the AARC. He is a respected author and journalist who has devoted great energy and courage to progressive and challenging issues throughout his distinguished career. His Amazon Author’s Page may be found HERE]

The Following was posted to David Talbot’s Facebook homepage today, 10 June, 2024:

We’re saddened to inform you all that David has suffered a near-fatal stroke. It happened as he and his wife, Camille, were having to move out of their family home of 30 years, and it’s left both David and Camille in a scary and precarious place, not knowing where they’ll live on top of this agonizing event.
As a result of this shocking and heartbreaking ordeal, the Talbot family is asking for your help in two specific ways:
A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover David’s medical expenses and ongoing care. Up until this point, David had been supporting himself and Camille through one small stream of income from his writing, which he will not be able to return to anytime soon or possibly ever, given the severity of this stroke. Suddenly without income or long-term housing, we’re seeking some small relief for the Talbots as they navigate this trying time.
Secondly, specifically for those of you in the Bay Area, we’re looking for any leads on an apartment in San Francisco at a reduced rate. The apartment they were set to move into is no longer suitable for David and they are not able to stay in their previous house long-term, so if you know of an apartment in the city, if you own a vacant apartment, or if you know someone who might, your help here would be a godsend and resolve one incredibly pressing, time-sensitive burden.
It’s unclear if, or how much, David will recover at this time. This stroke was unfortunately much more severe than his previous one seven years ago. He currently struggles to form words, which, for a writer and speaker of David’s stature, has been incredibly hard for him and painful for all of us to see. But we feel confidently that, against great odds, he understands much of what we’re saying and that his beautiful spirit remains astonishingly intact. After 72 years of life, David was looking forward to beginning to slow down, to write less out of necessity for once, and to begin to write simply for pleasure. This event has thrown a wrench into that plan, but we hope that through his unrelenting will, and through the generous support of you all, that he’ll be able to recover to a point where he can indeed finally rest.

Fundraiser by Connie Matthiessen : Help David Talbot After A Severe Stroke (gofundme.com)

Remembering 1968: The loss of RFK

56 years ago this week, Senator Robert F. Kennedy won the California democratic presidential primary and lost his life. Coming just two months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., these losses disrupted our political history and indelibly marked 1968 as a year of irreversible tragedy.

The following segment was broadcast by CBS Sunday Morning on 5 June, 2018:

Remembering 1968: The loss of RFK (youtube.com)

To all those whose cares were his concern, he was profoundly irreplaceable.

26 May, 2024 update on the Byrd, von Alvensleben, Doolittle Report FOIA case

CURRENT FOIA LITIGATION

Filed with the Supreme Court of the United States

As of 8 May 2024, a new docket entry, “Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 10, 2024)” has been added for Assassination Archives and Research Center, et al., Petitioners v. Central Intelligence Agency. CLICK HERE to read the entire 84 page petition.

On 24 May 2024, Waiver of Central Intelligence Agency of right to respond was submitted: Doc1

For necessary context and additional information, please review the following:

RELATED: 16 July, 2021 update on the Byrd, von Alvensleben, Doolittle Report FOIA case.

RELATED: CIA Responds to AARC FOIA suit on CIA’s 1963 study of plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler

RELATED: AARC Seeking Documents relating to D.H. Byrd, Werner von Alvensleben, Jr. and the Doolittle Report

RELATED: CIA’s 1963 Study of Hitler Plots is Back in the News

A look at assassinations and assassination attempts this century

Story by The Associated Press

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was seriously wounded in an apparent assassination attempt just weeks before a Europe-wide election that has been deeply divisive. He was shot multiple times in an attack in the town of Handlova that authorities described as politically motivated, although they said the suspect did not belong to any political groups.

Slovakia Prime Minister© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Here’s a global look at other notable assassinations and assassination attempts during the 21st century:

— Sept. 1, 2022: Argentina’s then-Vice President Cristina Fernández is targeted by a man who reportedly aimed a handgun at point-blank range toward the politician in what government ministers characterize as an assassination attempt.

— July 8, 2022: Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated by a gunman who opened fire on him as he delivered a campaign speech on a street in western Japan.

— Nov. 6, 2021: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survives an assassination attempt when two armed drones target his residence in Baghdad’s Green Zone area. While al-Kadhimi is uninjured, seven of his security guards are injured in the attack.

— Oct. 15, 2021: British lawmaker David Amess is stabbed to death by an Islamic State supporter while meeting with voters.

— July 7, 2021: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is assassinated by gunmen in an overnight raid on his Port-au-Prince home. His widow, Martine, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others, are indicted in his killing in February 2024.

— April 20, 2021: Chad President Idriss Deby Itno is killed while battling rebels in the north. Hours earlier he had been declared the winner of an election that would have given him another six years in power.

— Aug. 4, 2018: Drones armed with explosives detonate near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt while he is delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers being broadcast live on television. Six people are later arrested in connection with the attack.

— Dec. 19, 2016: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is shot dead by a Turkish policeman shouting condemnation of Russia’s military role in Syria, in front of a shocked gathering at a photo exhibit. The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.

— July 15, 2016: A group of Turkish soldiers using tanks, warplanes and helicopters launch a plot to overthrow Turkey’s president and government. The coup attempt fails. One year later, 40 people are sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on charges that include attempting to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

— June 16, 2016: British lawmaker Jo Cox is shot and stabbed to death by a far-right supporter in the English village of Birstall, part of her constituency.

— Feb. 6, 2013: Tunisian left-wing opposition leader Chokri Belaid is fatally shot outside his Tunis home. His killing — followed six months later by that of another left-wing leader, Mohammed Brahmi — plunged Tunisia into political chaos. Four people are sentenced to death and two others to life in prison in March 2024 for their roles in his death.

— Oct. 20, 2011: Longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is hunted and summarily killed by insurgents after being toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.

— Jan. 8, 2011: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survives an assassination attempt after being shot by a man in an Arizona grocery store parking lot while meeting with constituents. Giffords’ injuries are so significant that she has to re-learn how to walk and talk. The attack kills six other people and wounds 11 more.

— March 2, 2009: Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira is killed by renegade soldiers in his palace, hours after a bomb blast killed his rival in the West African nation.

— December 27, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister in a Muslim-majority country as well as Pakistan’s second nationally elected prime minister, is shot at and then fatally attacked by a suicide bomber at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

— Feb. 14, 2005: Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is killed by a suicide truck bomb on a seaside boulevard in Beirut. Another 21 people die and 226 are wounded in the attack, which is seen by many in Lebanon as the work of neighboring Syria.

— March 12, 2003: Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is shot dead in front of the Serbian government headquarters in Belgrade. He was a key leader of the revolt that toppled former President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000. Twelve people are later convicted in connection with the killing, which was carried out to halt his pro-Western reforms, according to a Serbian court ruling.

— July 2, 2002: French President Jacques Chirac survives an assassination attempt by a far-right right supporter who shoots at him and misses during Bastille Day celebrations on Paris’ Champs-Elysees. Chirac is uninjured.

— May 6, 2002: Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is gunned down in a northern Netherlands city, days before a general election in which he was a candidate, by an animal rights activist.

— June 1, 2001: Nepal’s King Birendra is killed when his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, opens fire on his family in the royal palace. The dead include Queen Aiswarya, a prince and five others. Officials said the shooting followed a dispute over the prince’s marriage.

— Jan. 18, 2001: Congo President Laurent Kabila is assassinated in the presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa, by one of his bodyguards, who is killed minutes later by security forces.

READ MORE AT MSN.COM

13 May, 2024

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht

1931 – 2024

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, an indefatigable force of nature who defined his life through action and integrity, has died at the age of 93. America’s most prominent forensic pathologist, Dr. Wecht consulted on many high-profile cases and was perhaps best known as an articulate and passionate critic of the JFK autopsy and of the lone assassin findings of the Warren Commission. He was past president of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American College of Legal Medicine and sat on the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine. He served in Pittsburgh, Pa. at various times as County Commissioner, Allegheny County Coroner & Medical Examiner. He was the distinguished Professor of Pathology at Carlow University. High-profile cases he worked on include Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Brian Jones, The Symbionese Liberation Army shootout, President John F. Kennedy, The Legionnaires’ Disease panic, Elvis Presley, Jon Benét Ramsey, Dr. Herman Tarnower (the Scarsdale diet guru), Danielle van Dam, Sunny von Bülow, the Branch Davidian incident, Vincent Foster, Laci Peterson and most recently Daniel and Anna Nicole Smith. During his career, Dr. Wecht performed more than 14,000 autopsies. He was a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of law at Duquesne University. He served on the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations, Forensic Pathology Panel, and participated as a consultant for Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK. In 1982 he was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate opposing John Heinz. Wecht fiercely contested the official government conclusion that a single bullet caused seven non-fatal wounds to President Kennedy and Governor Connally and emerged in nearly pristine condition. In the fall of 2000, the Duquesne University School of Law established the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law. He was founder and president of Citizens Against Political Assassination (CAPA). He was a dedicated and inspiring educator, speaker; an advocate of reason and principle who played a visible and leading role within the JFK assassination research community.

LISTEN to Alan Dale’s JFK Conversation with Dr. Wecht by clicking HERE.