In the first half, investigative reporter Russ Baker discussed his ongoing work on the RFK assassination and the possibility that Sirhan was hypnotized, recent claims and counter-claims about a "Deep State," and possible election manipulation via voter suppression and electronic voting tampering. A forensic study of an audio recording of the 1968 RFK shooting revealed that some 13 shots were fired, he reported, and two were almost at the same time. There were bullet holes in doorways, and people hit in multiple directions. At most Sirhan Sirhan was "one of a couple gunmen, and maybe he was not even that," Baker remarked.
Sirhan was missing for a mysterious two-week period before the assassination and was said to be highly suggestible to hypnotic suggestion. Under hypnosis, Sirhan recalled a woman in a polka dot dress pinching him on the arm in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel just before RFK entered. She spun him in the direction of Kennedy, and he apparently thought he was at the shooting range, Baker recounted. The "Deep State" is a legitimate concept, he cited, and refers to certain clandestine groups that try to rig things in their favor. He also talked about problems with electronic voting, and a concerted effort to prevent segments of the population from voting (the Supreme Court decision in favor of Ohio's purging of voters, is an example of this, he believes).
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Dr. Nick Begich has been pursuing independent research in the sciences and politics for most of his adult life. In the latter half, he addressed the dehumanizing effect of technology on many fronts including how we relate to each other, as well as how those in control can censor, manipulate, and invade privacy. Technology has become a double-edged sword, he said, both better and worse for the populace. It's now easier for these various systems to control and manipulate people, starting with television which puts viewers into a highly suggestible state. Social media and video games, he continued, are designed to become addictive, triggering certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine. "When you're watching programming," he added, "you're actually being programmed."
21st-century questions about privacy weren't really envisioned by the US Constitution, Begich noted, and people are giving up an enormous amount of their personal information to participate in the Internet, which one day may become a worldwide mind. "I don't think anyone should be able to store information on you, besides you," he stated. "Because if we don't take control and ownership of our data, then we really give up our privacy."
News segment guests: Charles R. Smith, Howard Bloom, Lauren Weinstein