Kennedy: Behold a Pale Horse 217-223

Last week Cooper was droning about the aliens and in between the section we covered he introduced his theory about the Kennedy assassination. Then after a few pages, he went right back into his conspiracy theory about the UFOs. I've been saying this for a while now, but Cooper needed an editor. Keep the Majestic 12 conspiracy in its own thing, and place the tangents somewhere else. Perhaps, he could have devoted a chapter to the Kennedy assassination, when this book comes out Oliver Stone's movie would have been in the cultural Zeitgeist. An entire chapter detailing his own theory might have gotten him coverage on a newsmagazine show. 

Kennedy is a weird figure in right-wing extremist circles. They tend to lionize him even though he was their opponent during his presidency. They claimed he was soft on Communism because he had discussions with Khrushchev. One of the John Birch Society's central conspiracy theories was that the civil rights movement was a Soviet Plot to undermine "Real America (read that as: White America);" and Kennedy was a supporter of the civil rights movement. He was also, famously, Catholic and while it seems odd today--Catholic is the wrong kind of Christian for these people. However, a lucky break on a third shot from a Marine Sharpshooter erased all of the sins of President Kennedy. Follow the assassination with the disastrous war in Vietnam, then Watergate, and it starts to look like the government doesn't have the citizens' best interest in mind. 

All of that being a prelude: the Kennedy stuff doesn't come out of nowhere. It's just odd that it is such an important event for conspiracy theorists that four-ish pages aren't enough. By burying his theory in the Majestic chapter we should understand the theory is connected to the alien invasion. 

Cooper writes, "At some point, President Kennedy discovered the portions of the truth concerning the drugs and the aliens. President Kennedy assured them that if they did not clean up the drug problem, he would."

Once again (not for this book but in all of the conspiracy books I've covered so far), we have a problem of internal conspiratorial consistency. The CFR (or whoever the name is irrelevant) is using the drugs to fund the alien program, but they also control the elections and everything else. If President Kennedy was not going to play ball they could have prevented him from being elected. Instead, he gets elected in 1961 and at some point in 1962 he finds out (we know this because Cooper tells us that he was going to reveal the aliens to the US within a year), so they have him killed in public with Oswald as a patsy. 

This is irresponsible of the conspirators. Kennedy had a series of health complications. He suffered from two endocrine conditions (Addison's disease and hypothyroidism) as well as chronic back issues. His health was bad enough that only a cocktail of drugs kept him functioning when the back condition was severe enough. If the conspirators wanted him dead, a public assassination is just stupid. 

But, you might ask, don't they need to send a message? No. 

Who would that message be for? The next president who gets into office because of the assassination? He would know already what happened. Kennedy could have died in numerous amount of ways, the only thing that the public shooting did was raise suspicions. 

Kennedy was not a member of the CFR, Cooper really stresses this information. Again, conspiracy theorists must stress that Kennedy was an outlier. No one can become president without the Illuminati's permission, except Kennedy (and contemporarily Trump). We do know that Kennedy was not a member of the CFR because that membership roll is public. However, Kennedy's father had direct connections to Britain and Nevill Chamberlain (so much so that it was the reason "Umbrella Man" was doing his thing the moment Kennedy was shot); which, in anyone else, would be a damning relationship. 

So, who did it? Not Majestic or the CFR, but who specifically? I always appreciate a unique conspiracy theory. The Illuminati controls Taylor Swift/Katy Perry/Lady Gaga/Britney Spears/etc. yawn. The CIA killed Kennedy with a shot from the grassy knoll? Boring. At least the X-Files but the shooter in the sewer. Here, Cooper gives us a good one:

"President John F. Kennedy was murdered by the Secret Service agent who drove his car in the motorcade and the act is plainly visible in the Zapruder Film. WATCH THE DRIVER AND NOT KENNEDY WHEN YOU VIEW THE FILM."

Cooper's claim is that William Greer, the driver, turned around and shot Kennedy in the head. There are many problems with this theory, but it's different, I'll give Cooper that. 

The most obvious problem is that it is implausible to the point of impossibility. As a philosopher, I cannot call something impossible unless it contains an inherent contradiction, but this is close. The main issue lies in the film Cooper gives us instructions on how to order from him--The Zapruder film. 

Kennedy is on the passenger side of the limo, and Greer is on the driver's side (obviously). Cooper's claim is that Greer turns around and fires a gun (he doesn't tell us what kind of gun here) at Kennedy which then impacts the back right part of Kennedy's skull...--the part exactly opposite of Greer. Does Greer have a literal magic bullet? Is he using the gun from the Fifth Element? This shot is physically impossible. 

Two pages later Cooper, still talking about the conspiracy theory, is now airing his grievances of an internal conspiracy schism between himself, Lars Hanson, and John Lear (of Lear jet fame). It's just petty bullshit about who found what first and this only matters only because it is illustrative of why Cooper was exiled from the UFOlogy/conspiracy circuit. He became too difficult to work with, and here he accuses Lear, Hanson, another man named Grodin, and Leslie Watkins of all being CIA operatives involved in the coverup. 

This aside about Kennedy ends with Cooper discussing his invitation to the nightly tabloid shows "Hard Copy" and "Inside Editions" to discuss his theories. In both cases, the segments never aired. The former, Cooper claims is the result of executive interference from the network while the latter he claims to have turned down. I'll buy the former before I'll buy the latter. 

Even if, as Cooper puts it he was being set up by these CIA operatives to be made to look like a fool on national TV, a guy like Cooper would still love the exposure. I'm quite skeptical of this story. 

Then, this whole thing just stops. Cooper challenges anyone to debate him, provided it is in front of a live audience, on his Greer theory. After this, it's right back into alien minutiae. 

My main problem, to reiterate, is that this could be and should be its own chapter. Cooper's had two-page chapters already in this book, so it would not be out of place. The theory itself is just odd and however Cooper came up with it, ignores where everyone is sitting. I would like more explanation for how this theory works, perhaps we will get it in a later chapter.