4/1/05 – 4/12/05
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4/12/05
8:34 pm CST
Only in America …
Man Jailed for Passing Perfectly Legal Two-Dollar Bills
(The police department actually tried to excuse this ridiculous incident by saying,“We’re all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world.” Which prompts the question: What exactly does paying for something with Legal Tender have to do with “Terrorism”? … God, people are stupid!)
8:32 pm CST
GannonGuckertGoschGate
Rigorous Intuition: "If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself"
Also, in the "Jeff Gannon/Franklin Coverup/Hunter Thompson" thread on Jack Blood's forum, someone has posted links to purported yearbook photos of Jeff Gannon/James Guckert: LINK
4/11/05
6:41 pm CST
GannonGuckertGoschGate
The Des Moines Register article on the Gannon-Gosch question (LINK) has all the marks of disinformation; it describes the allegation that Gosch was abducted into a CIA pedophilia ring as a "concoction," yet omits the evidence that such rings exist. Although investigators Ted Gunderson and Jim Rothstein are briefly quoted, there is no mention of the Franklin Cover-Up. Similar distortions by omission occur throughout the article.
A more balanced, accurate article appeared in the Des Moines alternative weekly Pointblank. (LINK) Interestingly, the writer of the piece--the managing editor of Pointblank--was fired the day after the piece was published, and Pointblank has now merged with another Des Moines alternative weekly, CityBeat. (LINK)
In another development, last Friday MSNBC ran a story on the Gannon-Gosch question. Noreen Gosch and Jim Rothstein were interviewed. View highlights of the program at THIS LINK.
Also, be sure to tune in to Jack Blood’s Deadline Live tomorrow afternoon; he will be interviewing Noreen Gosch.
6:39 pm CST
The Unusual Condition of HST's Gun
My knowledge of guns is somewhat limited, therefore in the interest of thoroughness I asked my peace officer friend Robert for his input about the condition of Hunter S. Thompson's gun. Here is his reply:
Ref to your question concerning the Thompson death, some of the questions you bring up are not necessarily unusual.
As for the position of the hammer as reported by the investigating officer, it is possible for a handgun slide to move rearward after being fired, first cocking the weapon then not properly extracting another cartridge from the magazine when the slide moves forward. If the magazine was dirty, damaged, or the spring was weak, then sometimes the cartridges will not rise far enough up into the magazine for the slide to grab the cartridge. This condition doesn't happen often, but is possible. I have talked with others who were able to confirm this problem and have actually witnessed this type of malfunction first hand.
There are two other possibilities that come to mind. The first being, what if he inadvertently pressed on the magazine release? If he wrapped his hands around the weapon like it was believed, he could have easily hit the magazine release and caused the magazine to drop slightly, just enough that the slide coming forward, would have not picked up a round from the magazine. I have actually witnessed this type of malfunction first hand.
Another individual didn't realize that his magazine wasn't fully inserted and locked into the magazine well. When he fired, the weapon cycled and when he went to pull the trigger again, click! I would have to know more about the particular weapon and its specific characteristics to determine if this is a possibility. Some guns are tight within the magazine well, holding the magazine in place, even if the magazine release is pushed and the magazine comes unlocked from the magazine catch. Others will drop the magazine right out of the magazine well, as soon as the release is depressed.
My third theory would be that when the weapon was fired, it was dropped to the ground. As the weapon fell, it fell to the floor in such a manner as to strike hammer spur first, with the floor. If everything hit just right, I suspect the hammer could have cocked back into the rearmost position. Handguns dropped, regularly land on the hammer area of the weapon. Suspect it has to do with the balance of the weapon. There are "many" accounts of pistols discharging when dropped, due to their striking the hammer and this forcing the hammer forward into the weapon and striking the primer.
The accidental discharge would occur, mostly with older weapons or weapons that are of poor quality or defective. Most handguns today, are built with some sort of safety feature which prevents this type of discharge. But I think you get my primary point when I say that the weapon is often balanced in such a way that it falls, striking near the hammer area of the weapon.
Lastly, I wanted to tell you of a condition known as limp wristed. (Not of the gay day persuasion). When an individual fails to hold a semi-automatic handgun firmly, sometimes they will experience malfunctions. An individual who just pulled the trigger in a suicide scenario, would meet this requirement. But I would believe that the weapon should still have loaded another cartridge in the chamber, again assuming the slide's rearward travel locked the hammer rearward. Otherwise, we get back to the above possible causes for the weapon not having another cartridge in the chamber.
Hope this helps ...
Readers are invited to email me with comments on this topic.
4/10/05
6:01 pm CST
I am back.
It’s been a rough week, folks. It started last Monday with me becoming deathly ill, then on Wednesday evening just when I was feeling well enough to sit down at the computer, catch up on the news, and update this site, a power surge damaged my computer.
The fine folks at Consider It Done were able to repair the damage. (By the way, if you live in the Austin area and need emergency repair work done on your computer these are the guys to call. They do superb work; they’re friendly, honest, and extremely competent.) Also, in the wake of this catastrophe, I have installed the proper surge protectors to prevent it happening again.
Anyway, I am now up and running once again; however, the damage to my computer caused the loss of all data. Luckily, I had done some backups, but (so far) I have not been able to locate my email backups. Therefore, I’m asking all of my correspondents around the world who are reading this to email me ASAP so I will have your email address.
One more thing: Today (after getting back on line) I downloaded over 50 emails that have been sent over the past several days. It will take me a little while to reply to all of you, so please forgive my tardiness; I will reply ASAP.
4/3/05
9:04 pm CST
Tonight’s edition of RADIO MACK has been uploaded. There’s new music, along with new commentary from myself and veteran newscaster Raymond Dogg. The 3:18 program will recycle throughout the week. Hope you enjoy it.
3:32 pm CST
A READER WRITES:
Mack,
Great work on the Hunter S. Thompson story. Awesome website too. I've been following the HST 'suicide' story from the beginning and many things about it seem odd to me.
I'm not sure if you thought about this being odd or not, but in the police report on page 6 Investigator Ronald Ryan states that:
"I pulled the slide to the rear and observed there was not a round in the chamber, which is consistent when a Semi-automatic handgun is restricted from its normal motion when fired."
This means (IMO) that when HST supposedly put the barrel of the gun into his mouth, he probably gripped the back of the gun with both hands possibly restricting the slide from traveling completely to the rear-most position.
However, if you go back and read Ryan's full description of the gun that he examined at the crime scene he first reported that:
"..the gun had an external hammer that was in the rear-most position."
Just thought that sounded strange to me. Please let me know what your take is on that if you get a chance.
Take care …
Thanks for writing and bringing yet another apparent anomaly in the police report to my attention.
If I understand correctly, when the slide moves back, this causes the shell to be ejected from the chamber and the hammer to move to the rear-most position, cocking the gun. Then the slide automatically moves forward, sending another round into the chamber. Therefore, if the slide was restricted by Thompson gripping the barrel with both hands, this would have prevented the gun from cocking and slipping another round in the chamber. It cannot prevent just one of these things from happening; if the gun is cocked (hammer in rear-most position, as Riley describes), it is impossible for the chamber to be empty.
4/1/05
7:12 pm CST
The
Mysterious Death of the Gonzo Doctor:
Summarizing the Questions So Far
Part 3
There is another anomaly in the police report; it concerns the police officers’ handling of the shotgun Juan used to fire his tribute. Officer John Armstrong states: "I picked up the shotgun and carried it into the next room so as not to leave the weapon unattended. Juan led Gibson and myself into the combination kitchen/office of Dr. Hunter Thompson. I set the shotgun on the floor and surveyed the room."
This makes perfect sense. But a few pages later, Officer Brad Gibson states that it was he who found the shotgun in the living room and carried it into the kitchen where he set it on the floor.
Surely both officers did not carry the shotgun into the kitchen. Therefore, one of them is making a false statement, unless of course both are making false statements, in which case someone else took the shotgun into the kitchen. But why falsify such an apparently small matter?
There are two more interesting details about the death scene.
Thompson's body was found seated in front of his typewriter, both hands in his lap. This raises the question: If Thompson dropped his gun to the floor after firing a .45 slug into his mouth, how likely is it that his gun hand would be lying in his lap alongside the other hand and not dangling to his side?
Also, in the typewriter was a sheet of Fourth Amendment Foundation letterhead (this foundation was founded by Thompson to protect people against unwarranted searches and seizures). In the center, at the top of the sheet, the date February 22, 2005 had been typed (the actual date was February 20) and lower on the sheet one word: "counselor."
Anita stated that she heard what she believed was Thompson typing after he set down the phone. If that was what she heard, then this must be what he was typing. But what exactly was he typing?
The use of Fourth Amendment Foundation letterhead and the date at the top of the sheet suggest it was a letter, and the word "counselor" suggests it may have been addressed to a lawyer (if not a therapist or adviser). Therefore, it would appear that, in the midst of the “good talk” with his wife, Thompson suddenly became concerned over a legal matter—concerned enough to abruptly set down the phone without the normal goodbye, yet (oddly) without hanging up, thus enabling his wife to hear him type the letter.
What legal matter could have so focused his attention at that moment? Was he preparing to divorce his wife despite their “good talk”? Was he changing his Last Will and Testament? Alas, we will never know, because he did not finish the letter. Either he changed his mind and decided it would be better to kill himself rather than write the letter, or someone interrupted his typing by killing him.
But who did it? After the 67-year-old Thompson’s 33-year-old wife went to the gym, there was no one in the house besides his 41-year-old son, his daughter-in-law, and his six-year-old grandson. Surely none of them would do such a horrible thing.
Therefore, if one of them did not do it, someone else must have been in the house. Yet we are told this is not so. But then, we have also been told that Hunter S. Thompson suddenly ended a “good talk” with his wife to write a letter, that he suddenly stopped writing the letter to kill himself so he could die while he was happy, that his wife heard only clicks, that she heard clicks followed by a loud, muffled noise, that after shooting himself he dropped the gun to the floor yet his gun hand fell into his lap, that two cops carried the same shotgun into the kitchen, and that a bullet failed to cycle into the chamber of a Smith & Wesson .645 …
(to be continued)
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