330 lines
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330 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 1 Num. 85
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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EXCLUSIVE! From an upcoming interview in *Steamshovel Press*.
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Sherman Skolnick Sounds Off!
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An Interview by Kenn Thomas
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The interview below is excerpted from a longer interview
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appearing in Steamshovel Press #11, appearing on the newstands in
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about a week. Other contents of the issue include: INSLAW Octopus
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in Whitewater Currents; An Interview with Dr. Alan Cantwell
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discussing AIDS as biowarfare; part three of the JFK/CIA/LSD and
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Mary Pinchot Meyer story; a look at BioSphere 2; book reviews on
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the current crop of conspiracy books; and much more. A single
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issue of Steamshovel costs $4 plus $1 postage; subscriptions cost
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$20 for four issues. Steamshovel Press, POB 23715, St. Louis, MO
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63121.
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Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas recently had the distinct
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pleasure of having dinner with legal researcher Sherman Skolnick at
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his usual haunt, the River Flame restaurant off Highway 94 outside
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of Chicago. Sherman Skolnick has been on the scene since his early
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courtroom victories regarding the corruption of Illinois state
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courts and congressional reapportionment in that state. His
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research has made him a perennial figure in national politics. He
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helped expose the existence of a Chicago-area assassination plot
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against JFK involving a Lee Harvey Oswald. He demonstrated that
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sabotage was the probable reason for a United Airlines crash that
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killed the wife of E. Howard Hunt and eleven other Watergate
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figures. He surfaced a great deal of information regarding
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witnesses to events surrounding the Inslaw investigation. In fact,
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he continually exposes interesting and under-reported details about
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current political scandals on the hotline of his group, the
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Citizens Committee to Clean Up the Courts (312-731-1100), which
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also has helped many people with their struggles in bankruptcy
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court. Sherman also produces a Chicago public access cable
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television program that further documents the issues and cases he
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has brought to public scrutiny. Virtually dismissed entirely by
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the mainstream and often labeled a kook even by some in the
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conspiracy research community, Skolnick's work has nevertheless had
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a remarkable staying power and his successes in court and in the
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media have earned him much respect as a champion dirt-digger and
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exposer of hidden truth. This interview provided a rare opportunity
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to discuss history with him, his own as well as that of the people
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and events he has investigated over the years.
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Q: How do you make that leap from working on local court cases to
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these national things?
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A: Well, for instance, I taught civic investigation for would-be
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journalists and in the same building where the college was, on the
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third floor was a strange outfit with no name on the door. And
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they filmed or taped every talk show in the Chicago area and then
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sold the tape, the film or the transcripts to certain offices in
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Washington and the Pentagon. And the courier for that got to know
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me and he says, "I got something for you, some documents about the
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Kennedy thing." I says, "I don't have any money to go to Dallas,
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don't tell me about no Kennedy thing." This was 1970. So I met
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him and he gives me this pile of documents about the Chicago plot
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against Kennedy, that there was a plot two and half weeks before.
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So I was worried and I wrote him a $5 check for xerox expense and
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on the back I put down "For the Kennedy documents, full payment."
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The $5 check saved me from the rope, I tell you! Because what they
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wanted me to do was to blow the cover of certain police that worked
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for CIA in Chicago. And if I could they would terminate these
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police. They never intended that I as a loud-mouth would get into
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the courts.
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When I started the plan to go to courts is when I got in
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trouble. Harold Weisberg says, "Skolnick, come to my goose farm."
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I say, "I don't know you." He says, "Oh yeah, I'm a leading writer
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of books about the Kennedy assassination." I say, "I'm not into the
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Kennedy thing. I'm on the Chicago thing. I don't know nothin'
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about Dealey Plaza." I never went to his goose farm.
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These were all the secret documents that a black secret
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service agent put together, Abraham Bolden.
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Q: You got documents directly from Abraham Bolden?
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A: No, not from him. I got them from this guy, this mysterious
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courier that delivered the film and tapes to a secret office in the
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Pentagon which he thought to be the CIA.
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Q: But they originated with Bolden.
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A: What I later found out was that this was the first time in the
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200 year history of the National Archives that someone stole this
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out of the archives. So I was planning to go to court, and luckily
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I didn't go to Weisberg's thing because Weisberg, after I went to
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court, threatened to sue me that I stole the documents from him.
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Luckily, I had this $5 check endorsed by the one that I bought them
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from, full payment for the documents. David Lifton, who was just
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getting started on the west coast, I never heard of the guy, I got
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a letter in the file from 1970 saying "You stole the documents from
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me!" Lifton writes me from the west coast, Weisberg writes from his
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goose farm, both say that I stole the documents from them and I
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bought them from this strange character.
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Through my late friend, James Albright, who owned the patent
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for the high speed ice machine, he knew where to find Bolden at an
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unlisted address on the south side. So he arranged for me to meet
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with Bolden. So I went with a lady friend of mine in her car to
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meet Bolden.
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Q: I should say for the readers that Abraham Bolden was the first
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black Secret Service agent, appointed by Kennedy, and after the
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assassination...
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A: First black in the White House guard.
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Q: ...he was apparently thrown in jail on trumped up charges.
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A: So I came with my lady friend in her little red car and we sat
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in front of Bolden's house and I had these documents, eleven of
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them, mounted in one of those salesmen's books with the plastic
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pages, under celluloid. And Bolden sits in the back and looks at
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them and looks at each one and says, "I knew it. You are here to
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put me back in prison. I'm on parole!" I says, "Bolden, I want to
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clear you." "Like hell you do! You're part of a government effort
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to put me back." And I say, "I think Mark Lane didn't do right for
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you when you were down there in Springfield, Missouri. I think all
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your lawyers put together have not done right for you. I am here to
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clear you." "Like hell you are. You got my secret report. It's
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not supposed to be out until 2039. You got it. You stole it. And
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I'm going to be blamed that I gave it to you and I'm going to be
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sent back to jail and you are going to get publicity and I am going
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to get jail." I says, "For godssakes Abraham Bolden, I am here to
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do good for you. I'm going to court and attach all these documents
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and I'm going to confront the goddam government and I'm going to
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put in there how they framed you." I didn't know anything about
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Garrison or Dealey Plaza, I kept no clippings, I was not interested
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in that.
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Q: Garrison tried to do something and failed and here you're coming
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to this guy saying you're going to do the same thing, take it to
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the courts. If he was following the Garrison case, I could imagine
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that he would not have the same faith that you had that you could
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do something in the courts.
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A: And so I went to court and I sued, Skolnick vs. National
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Archives and Records Service and I set forth the whole thing about
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Cuba, about Kennedy, about Bolden and the fact that Bolden was
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framed. On the day we brought the lawsuit, one of the major 50,000
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watt stations here had a good young reporter that I knew and he put
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a major story out on it. He eventually was run out of Chicago.
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There aren't any happy endings to any of this. Stuart Pahn. He
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went into the brokerage business.
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Q: What was in Bolden's report?
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A: It was on the plot to kill Kennedy in Chicago by a person named
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Lee Harvey Oswald and an Oswald double, Thomas Arthur Vallee, both
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of whom were apprehended. Vallee was arrested on a $5 traffic rap
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and the traffic ticket was suppressed and put in the National
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Archives. Two blocks off the Northwest Expressway, which is now
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called the Kennedy Expressway. And they were going to go through
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a hairpin turn just like they ended up going in front of the Book
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Depository. They found a hairpin turn in the route from the
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airport to the college football game where on November 2nd Kennedy
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was to go to a football game in Chicago. He didn't come, but his
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route was to go through a hairpin turn where they had another guy
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who was working at a CIA printing office with the window looking
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right down at Kennedy. The complaining witness against Vallee was
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Daniel Groth, not listed as policeman, listed as a witness. Groth
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came with a machine gun, kicked in Fred Hampton's door and
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assassinated people there.
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Q: The Black Panthers.
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A: 1969. The same guy. But no author has ever called me to ask for
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copies of Bolden's documents. A day after I filed the lawsuit in
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April of 1970, they tried to revoke Bolden's parole. And my friend
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on a major radio station here went on the air and saved him.
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Q: So Bolden was right. They came after him.
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A: If it wasn't for the radio station, Bolden would have gone back
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to jail. I got world-wide publicity, except in Chicago. The
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Chicago press ignored it. But I also got on the crap list with
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almost every assassination researcher. Sylvia Meaghre, who wrote
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Accessories After The Fact, called me up and says , "Who the hell
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are you? Do you know about the Dallas thing?" I says, "Not a word."
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"Did you read the Warren Commission documents?" "Does not pertain
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to my thing." "You're a fraud, Skolnick." I says, "I am not
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investigating which way the bullets went in Dealey Plaza. I'm only
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on the Chicago plot."
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Q: So she took it as intruding on her turf.
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A: Yeah. David Lifton writes me a letter, and I can give you a
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xerox copy, "You are a fraud and you stole the documents from me."
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"I don't know who the fuck you are, David Lifton!" Weisberg sends
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me a thing in the form of a legal paper which he never filed,
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Weisberg vs. Skolnick, he wanted damages for me stealing the eleven
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documents from him. Nobody to this day has made an accurate
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chapter or sub-chapter on the Bolden thing.
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Q: So the researchers all converged on you even though you're
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making a contribution to a case that they're supposedly trying to
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help solve themselves.
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A: They've all got a vested interest. Peter Dale Scott for reasons
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I do not know has taken to the lecture platform and accused me of
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being a fraud. As you know, when I come to the assassination
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conferences, I'm the one they always want to throw out of the
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place. Now why is that?
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Q: Carl Oglesby still likes you, doesn't he?
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A: In 1974 or '75 I was giving a speech in Boston and I met him for
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a couple of hours while I was there. He lives in Cambridge. I
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raised the issue about Rennie Davis, the Chicago 7 and the CIA and
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I tell you, Carl almost took my crutch and wrapped it around my
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throat. He says, "That's a forbidden subject. You are not asking
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this!"
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Q: Could you restate what you said about Rennie Davis?
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A: I came out with a documented thing about all the CIA front
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foundations, which I'm an expert on. I found a way to identify CIA
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front foundations through 990AR, which is the foundation tax return
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that's a public record. I proved that the CIA financed Rennie
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Davis and the Chicago 7 to down the Democrats and put in Nixon.
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And when I raised this with Oglesby, he had been a big shot with
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the Students for Democratic Society, and when I was in Cambridge in
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'75, he got livid. So he's got this mixed feeling about me. He's
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always worried that at some public place I'm going to say something
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about that and I'm going to get around to him.
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Q: So Rennie Davis, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, all on
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the payroll?
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A: Not Bobby Seale, but the others were part of the game. They
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were getting money from CIA foundations. I got arrested
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confronting Rennie Davis on a local TV station on a live program.
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Rennie had me arrested.
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Q: The Chicago police came to the defense of Rennie Davis?
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A: Eighteen police, yeah. Channel 44.
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Q: I didn't realize until recently that it was your work that
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helped expose the story about E. Howard Hunt's role in the downing
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of the airplane that killed his wife Dorothy.
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A: I sued the National Transportation Safety Board and I didn't
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tell them that I had their file, all the pictures, all the
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documents, showing they knew it was sabotage where Dorothy Hunt and
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the eleven other Watergaters died. So in front of 250 reporters
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that gathered from all over the world for the re-opened air crash
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hearings, I laid all the documents on the table and I says,
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"Alright NTSB, now is the time to arrest me. This is your stuff.
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My friend swiped it from you. What are you going to do about?
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Arrest me in front all these reporters?" The Associated Press ran
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a story on the A wire: "Chicago legal researcher Sherman Skolnick
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presented today a heavily documented case of what he claims is
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sabotage based on government documents." Only one paper in the
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country ran the story even though it was on the international wire.
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The Seattle Intelligencer is the only one that ran the stories.
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The Tribune ran a cropped picture of me sitting at the table and
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says "Skolnick has no documents to support his contention of
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sabotage." CBS had a live thing closed circuit that they didn't
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used on the air for their executives, because UAL Incorporated, the
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parent company of United Airlines, whose flight 553 crashed,
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exactly one month after Nixon's re-election. A month before they
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killed Hale Boggs, from the Warren Commission. Dorothy Hunt and
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the eleven Watergaters who had blackmailed two million dollars out
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of the Nixon White House.
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During the hearings, on the second day I was tired and told
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this joke. I says, "I'm here to absolutely and categorically admit
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that I have no proof whatsoever that Edward Carlson, the head of
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United Airlines and Richard Nixon were on the plane with a .38 and
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shot Dorothy Hunt. I admit it!" I figured it was going to be a
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joke and everybody was going to laugh. The next day it comes out:
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"Skolnick has no proof whatsoever." And they show this cropped
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picture, I'm sitting in front of the table and I figured the
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photograph was bound to show the documents. No way: they cropped to
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where the documents are not shown.
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Following this interview, Skolnick discussed his recent work
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with the involuntary bankruptcy case of caulking contractor Joseph
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Andreuccetti, which has led to his involvement with scandals of the
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Clinton era. Mr. Andreucetti was present at this dinner table
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discussion, as was Skolnick associate Mark Sato and another person
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helped by the Citizen's Committee To Clean Up The Courts. They
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explained the connection between Mr. Andreuccetti, a descendant of
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Italy's House of Savoy, and over $10 billion in gold stolen from
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the Italian treasury by the OSS in 1943 and now located in Building
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4 of King's Point Condominium in Addison, Illinois, a western
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suburb of Chicago. The story is rich with detail and suitable for
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expanded treatment in a future issue of Steamshovel. It includes
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charges by Inslaw informant Michael Riconoscuito that gold mesh
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filters made by a company named Wirecloth Products was used as a
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currency within intelligence circles. The story also suggests that
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the gold was used as collateral in the early 1980s to support the
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opening of the Chicago branch of the Banca Del Lavoro, long
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connected to the JFK assassination, BCCI and Household
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International, a successor to Nugan Hand Bank of Inslaw infamy.
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From the gold as well, a $50 million contingency fund was
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established by the Resolution Trust Corporation to cover
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liabilities from the liquidation into Household Bank of American
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Heritage Savings and Loan, the S&L that purported to lend Mr.
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Andreuccetti money to finish the King's Point condos. According to
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Skolnick and associates, the fund disappeared and ended up in
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Little Rock to make the Madison Guaranty S&L look incompetent
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instead of criminal when its financial improprieties are finally
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examined closely. The Committee To Clean Up The Courts can be
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reached at 9800 South Oglesby Avenue, Chicago, IL 60617.
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Steamshovel Press, POB 23715, St. Louis, MO 63121.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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