Tag Archives: conspiracy theories

local news

Conspiracy theories are for the birds

Conspiracy theories drive me nuts.

I mean it. I think I’m going crazy listening to any and all of them.

The latest spate of conspiracy theories centers around downtown Amarillo. There’s a segment of our city population — and I’m not convinced it comprises even a significant minority of residents — who keep concocting nefarious schemes dealing with business relationships within (a) city government (b) the business community or (c) between them both.

These theories are coming from individuals — or perhaps small groups of individuals — who don’t believe the city’s master plan for reviving downtown is going to work. They won’t give it a chance. They are willing to toss it out at the front end because, by golly, they just know something underhanded is going on.

I forged a fairly decent career in daily journalism over the span of 37 years. I am wired to be skeptical of matters at a lot of levels. However, I am not such a cynic as to believe out of hand that a high-dollar business deal is simply a bad thing because it involves a fair amount of money.

And yet, that’s what I keep hearing.

Conspiracy theories have this way of growing legs and even wings. They feed on themselves. They produce conspiracy spawns, that themselves grow into full-fledged conspiracies.

Here’s one that came to me today — second-hand to be sure, but I trust the source who mentioned this tidbit to me: A young member of my family told another member of my family that “it has been proven” that a Secret Service agent killed President Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. It wasn’t Lee Harvey Oswald. It wasn’t any of the other so-called conspiracy theories: the mob; the Cubans; hell, it wasn’t even Lyndon Johnson. The killer was a member of the Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting the life of the president of the United States. And it’s been proven that the Secret Service did it.

I’m glad I didn’t hear my young family member make that idiotic assertion. I would have stroked out.

That’s the kind of thing that has infected much of the discussion surrounding the downtown Amarillo story.

How about we just keep our eyes peeled and our ears open and actually witness and listen carefully to the things being discussed?

 

International news

MH 370: Still missing one year later

Conspiracy theories usually are the province of those with too much time on their hands.

Idle minds concoct notions that defy description, let alone credulity.

That all said, the mystery behind Malaysia Air 370’s disappearance from Planet Earth one year ago is sorely testing my skepticism of conspiracy theories.

I’m still skeptical of anything other than the obvious result, but man, it’s been tough to resist the notion that something truly strange happened to MH 370.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/07/asia/mh370-theories/index.html

My belief remains that the plane crashed into the drink somewhere in the Indian Ocean. No one seems to know whether it was a hard crash or a “soft” one, if that’s possible.

A hard crash would have produced debris as the plane broke apart. It was a Boeing 777, one of the airline industry’s bigger birds. It carried 239 passengers and crew members. There’s been zero sign of debris or human remains spotted, despite all the efforts of several nations’ best efforts, not to mention some of the most sophisticated search technology in use today.

A “soft” crash is another matter. Was the flight deck crew able to land the plane on top of the water, only to have the plane sink over time? If that’s the case, why was there no communication with anyone about what was happening?

The victims of this crash, beyond those on board, are the loved ones who are awaiting discovery of what actually happened to MH 370. There’s been a boatload of misinformation coming from the Malaysian government; the plane, remember, took off March 8, 2014 from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. It fell on the Malaysians to tell the world what happened to the aircraft.

A year later, nothing is known.

I shudder to think that this mystery will remain unsolved until the end of time.

Sports news

Let's change the subject; enough 'Deflate-gate'

Will someone out there please put a cork on this football inflating matter?

Please, pretty please?

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick held a press conference today. A young friend of mine here in Amarillo — a dedicated Pats fan — said he thinks the coach “put an end to it today” with his presser.

Man, I hope so.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/bill-belichick-is-angry-he-spent-a-week-studying-balls/ar-AA8xVva

Belichick says the Patriots followed “every rule” with regard to the footballs, which have become the subject of ongoing controversy and commentary — yes, including here. Someone ratted out the Patriots after they smashed the Indy Colts in the AFC championship game, saying the balls were under-inflated, which reportedly made them easier to catch in the cold, rainy weather in Foxboro, Mass.

Whatever.

The story is growing more legs than a centipede. I’m waiting now for the conspiracy theories to start hatching. Bet on it, once they do and they start getting lives of their own, this story will never die. Ever.

My solution is a simple one. The National Football League should take responsibility for inflating the balls. Inflate them identically. Pay no attention whatever the quarterback wants. Tell each QB, “Here’s the ball, buster. Take it or leave it.” Give each team their allotment of footballs as they are taking the field for their pre-game drills. And do not let anyone other than the players — and officials, of course — touch ’em before, during or after the game.

Now, let’s get ready to play the Super Bowl.

 

Uncategorized

Area 51 report will feed frenzy

Is it true that some folks believe the declassification of information relating to Area 51 is actually going quell the intrigue?

You must be joking.

http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/area-51-report-wont-stop-hollywood-those-who-want-believe-6C10936776

It’s going to heighten it. It will foster more theories — all of them bogus — about what happened out there.

Area 51 long has been the subject of myth-making from those who think that in the late 1940s creatures from somewhere “out there” crashed to Earth. Go to Roswell, N.M., and experience the carnival atmosphere downtown with all the UFO gift shops.

I’ve never really gotten into the Area 51 stuff. I’ve read all the nonsense and the fun-loving jokes about whether extraterrestrials came a’callin’ at Area 51. I’ve never given it a serious thought … not for a single second.

Then again, I tend to dismiss most conspiracies. President Kennedy’s murder? A lone gunman, a loser, a rogue Marxist pulled the trigger that day in Dallas. Robert Kennedy’s assassination? A single Jordanian-American angry over RFK’s pro-Israel stance did the deed in that Los Angeles hotel kitchen. 9/11? That was what it was: a brilliantly conceived and executed terrorist attack by terrorists.

The CIA’s declassification of these Area 51 documents won’t put a damper on anything. Hate to say it, but we have too many Americans with too much time on their hands who’ll concoct even crazier schemes about Area 51 than we’ve heard already.