Michael, It has been obvious to most sane, thoughtful, and fair people for a long time that you are the real thing. Your courage to continue on the path, steering your ship in the direction of good is a service to all of us. Even to those that don't get you. We value you highly.
This does a good job of illustrating the inner turmoil that a caring, thinking, person of integrity must undergo when visiting and re-visiting his thoughts and actions. Moore is aware that he's not perfect,,no one is, but he's willing to question his own convictions even before those of others and that makes him pretty damn special in my book. The world could use many more Moores!
I am in agreement with most of what you said—-especially the 3 strikes sentencing which is the most abominable knee-jerk excuse for a law. However, there need to be sentencing classifications. There are horrendous crimes that don’t justify freedom—-ever. The recurring theme of evidence not presented during a trial is also worrisome. The information about Sirhan being one of two assassins based on recorded gunshots etc. is more than troubling—-evidence not presented at trial. Why? There were many people/enterprises that had much to lose if the Viet Nam war suddenly came to a halt, so its not a stretch to imagine “someone” inciting Sirhan and assisting. Those same people/enterprises have much to gain by reducing the Federal Government—-ergo reducing oversight. I’ve lived long enough and witnessed enough to feel fairly certain I’m not entirely paranoid. How else can one explain Ted Cruz, Marjorie Greene et al.——pawns drunk on the potential personal rewards of associating with power and money.
You conflate too many complex issues with the fact that a convicted killer, who is unquestionably guilty may be set free. I loved RFK, whom I saw the night MLK was killed a month before, and I know what Sirhan’s bullet stole from the world when it took RFK’s life. I do not want him released.
Thanks, Michael Moore, for the very thoughtful essay. My view: From the thousands of nazis who went scot-free, to the likes of Henry Kissinger and our most recent president, I'm very used to extremely wicked people evading punishment. So if this pig, who arguably played a role in putting Nixon and Kissinger and power goes free now... well, there's worse. But I would like to see every incarcerated person who committed a less violent crime than premeditated murder released first. Take a number, Sirhan. Of course if I really could have my way, Sirhan would stay in locked up in a little cell forever, sharing it with Henry Kissinger.
My stretch behind glass was only 18 months, locked up for selling marijuana. While it was the longest year and a half I have experienced, the most absolutely boring, I made it out. The worst part for me was, the City of Whitefish, Montana police department seized almost half a million dollars, 30 years of asset from working construction, pounding spikes and riding trains for the railroad. Montana legalized medical use while I was locked up and has now, along with many states, legalized recreational use. The half million hit at middle age is a hard recovery but they didn't execute me like Newt said he'd like to see. Fucking Trump said it twice that I heard too. Drug dealers. Execute them. He might not have meant marijuana but we really never knew what he meant. Let's release a bunch of people locked up, with amnesty.
Michael, Sirhan Sirhan has no memory of killing RFK as he may have been drunk or brainwashed. There also are indications that there was in fact another shooter in that crowded kitchen. He has continually stated to the parole board that he has no memory of it but having worked for the prison system in NY state I know that parole boards will NOT release an inmate unless he/she ADMITS THEY DID THE CRIME....EVEN IF THEY DID NOT COMMIT THE CRIME. The inmate cannot tell what they believe to be the truth.....I did not do it nor do I remember doing it. I have seen this in my 25 years work as a Corrections Counselor. How did a lowly Jordanian get access into the kitchen shortcut in the hotel. Like many of America's assassinations there were questions not answered, avenues of investigation not pursued. Comeon.....did James Earl Ray kill MLK and leave the gun in a doorway??? Sirhan may have no memory because he was programmed a la MK Ultra by any number of Kennedy enemies....take your pick. Sirhan is not a danger to society because perhaps he never really was.
A not-rhetorical question: what makes you so certain that Sirhan was the lone gunman or even the actual killer? I’m NOT any sort of conspiracy theorist but a reasoned historical novelist. I have been researching RFK’s assassination, and everything I’ve read points to a very shabby LAPD investigation and defense AT BEST. What do you make of the failure to match RFK bullets to Sirhan’s gun or the bullets found in the kitchen door frame that brings the total over the 8-bullet maximum of Sirhan’s gun? I’d truly prefer to hear that a lone nut job felled my childhood idol; but the evidence I’m reading doesn’t fit this conclusion. Please share any facts you know. Thanks—
Having had the pleasure of working a a consultant in Bobby Kennedy's office, trying to get adequate income to the residents of the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, where homes sometimes had 5 mortgages, I am greatly moved by this post. See ENDING POVERTY at aesopinstitute.org for today's version of the ideas involved. A way to provide everyone with $2,000 a month of Univesal Basic Income and a substantial Second Income independent of jobs and savings. All at ZERO net cost to the Treasury. Merely a loan the size of the cost of a weapons system that would be repaid from the taxes on the rising new incomes.
Thank you - I loved Bobby Kennedy too & agree he would say that @ 77 let him out ! But I can’t stand the thought of Bobby Kennedy being dead & this guy free. Prison reform has got to start. I wish we were more like Norway! I loved your article. It makes me think about all I “hate” / dislike and my point @ forgiveness. Thanks for all you do.
I have painfully enjoyed this topic and many of the comments. Thank you for what you are doing.I was fighting the draft and had written Bobby to run for president as he had a much better chance of being elected that Eugene McCarthy (Bless his soul for being the first to stand up to end the war.) Bobby had amazing compassion and charisma. He would have so changed the course of history...as his brother John would have. I loved them both beyond words.
Our society has dark forces running through it and I believe the two assassinations were connected. And I believe both were well covered up...lasting to this very day. Why? How?
I can only guess. Many powerful people hated them for various reasons. J Edgar Hoover? The FBI? CIA? Bobby as Attorney General in his brothers cabinet was fighting organized crime...All could have had a hand in there assassinations. Who is now blocking the release of the facts? Why didn't the justice system examine every possible fact presented at the time instead of rushing to false conclusions? The real people behind JFK, RFK, MLK 's assassinations are in my mind all the same...
Back to your original subject ...one can forgive yet still keep society safe by keeping dangerous people contained. One person said on the news today, free Sirhan and it will show Trump 's crazies they can get away with murder literally and give them license to kill.
Unfortunately, despite all the good people in this country, we live in a sick schizophrenic society.
That shouldn't discourage us to be and do the best that we can. So thank you Michael for helping to lead the way.
Michael, I had forgotten some of the details of the incident.....Zaga jogged my memory about the reports of TWO gunshots in that kitchen and coupled with Sirhan's "no memory" of killing a major political figure.....have always drawn his responsibility for the murder into question.........check out the various American assasinations: MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcom X, Fred Hampton and on and on. Patsies is what persons who want important people killed look for.............a Jordanian who has said he doesn't like RFK because of his support for Israel. This recent immigrant finding himself in the basement of the Ambassador at JUST THE RIGHT time, with a gun and getting close enough to shoot Kennedy..........not plausible.......JFK's assasination even those close to the family acknowledge Lee Harvey Oswald did not do it, or do it alone!!
There is NO connection between needed prison reform, rampant ethnic discrimination in sentencing, "good" (perceived) behavior of a prisoner and time spent in prison, immaterial political significance of the target, forgiveness of those falsely accused or inordinately punished ... and the fact that Sirhan's act was that of a cold, calculated murderer. Justice - such as it is - whether as a deterrent or attempt to protect the defenseless, has ALWAYS been on a spectrum, with intentional murder properly positioned as one of the acts at the extreme end of punishment. I am still having a hard time reconciling myself to Derrick Chauvin's (George Floyd's murderer) tepid sentence. People like Sirhan and Chauvin need to be permanently separated from society. And deny them their friggin' guns.
THANK YOU FOR THIS: "Even within our prison abolition movement, most believe that the humane system we must create also has to protect society from rapists, child abusers, violent men, pedophile priests, polluters, bankers, and Blackwater. But we will not treat them the way they have treated women, people of color, and the poor. We will be understanding and kind. And we will not let them harm anyone again."
Sadly, this is not the response I have gotten from those who support prison abolition. I have been scolded as a "carceral feminist" for wanting sexual and domestic predators kept locked away from vulnerable people for life. We don't have to keep them in cruel circumstances - they can all go live in luxury on Jeffrey Epstein's island - I don't care! - just as long as they can't rape, batter, and terrorize another vulnerable person.
I am a survivor of homelessness and traumatic sexual and domestic abuse. My unhoused sisters are brutally preyed upon by sex offenders who are released from prison after mere months. They are raped multiple times a year, and sink deeper and deeper into psychosis and addiction. They cannot heal and no one is protecting them.
When I expressed to a member of Austin Justice Coalition that I wanted sexual predators kept in prison for life (rather than released downtown to prey upon unhoused women and kids), her response was "But they're human beings!"
Yes, the men are always the "human beings" but women and kids are disposable.
We must apply a gender lens to criminal justice.
Male violence against women and children is terrorism, and these predators must be treated like the terrorists they are - just like Blackwater and Dylan Roof and Derek Chauvin.
Between three and five women will be murdered in this country by the end of the day by a husband or boyfriend - usually after reporting them to the police multiple times.
Thank you for allowing us to go through your inner turmoil with you. I have the same inconsistent thoughts on our prison system. I appreciate your disuer’s idea. However, Unfortunayely I do not see that happening in the near future…if only! Thank you for a thought provoking read on a Sunday morning.
Michael, It has been obvious to most sane, thoughtful, and fair people for a long time that you are the real thing. Your courage to continue on the path, steering your ship in the direction of good is a service to all of us. Even to those that don't get you. We value you highly.
This does a good job of illustrating the inner turmoil that a caring, thinking, person of integrity must undergo when visiting and re-visiting his thoughts and actions. Moore is aware that he's not perfect,,no one is, but he's willing to question his own convictions even before those of others and that makes him pretty damn special in my book. The world could use many more Moores!
I am in agreement with most of what you said—-especially the 3 strikes sentencing which is the most abominable knee-jerk excuse for a law. However, there need to be sentencing classifications. There are horrendous crimes that don’t justify freedom—-ever. The recurring theme of evidence not presented during a trial is also worrisome. The information about Sirhan being one of two assassins based on recorded gunshots etc. is more than troubling—-evidence not presented at trial. Why? There were many people/enterprises that had much to lose if the Viet Nam war suddenly came to a halt, so its not a stretch to imagine “someone” inciting Sirhan and assisting. Those same people/enterprises have much to gain by reducing the Federal Government—-ergo reducing oversight. I’ve lived long enough and witnessed enough to feel fairly certain I’m not entirely paranoid. How else can one explain Ted Cruz, Marjorie Greene et al.——pawns drunk on the potential personal rewards of associating with power and money.
You conflate too many complex issues with the fact that a convicted killer, who is unquestionably guilty may be set free. I loved RFK, whom I saw the night MLK was killed a month before, and I know what Sirhan’s bullet stole from the world when it took RFK’s life. I do not want him released.
Thanks, Michael Moore, for the very thoughtful essay. My view: From the thousands of nazis who went scot-free, to the likes of Henry Kissinger and our most recent president, I'm very used to extremely wicked people evading punishment. So if this pig, who arguably played a role in putting Nixon and Kissinger and power goes free now... well, there's worse. But I would like to see every incarcerated person who committed a less violent crime than premeditated murder released first. Take a number, Sirhan. Of course if I really could have my way, Sirhan would stay in locked up in a little cell forever, sharing it with Henry Kissinger.
My stretch behind glass was only 18 months, locked up for selling marijuana. While it was the longest year and a half I have experienced, the most absolutely boring, I made it out. The worst part for me was, the City of Whitefish, Montana police department seized almost half a million dollars, 30 years of asset from working construction, pounding spikes and riding trains for the railroad. Montana legalized medical use while I was locked up and has now, along with many states, legalized recreational use. The half million hit at middle age is a hard recovery but they didn't execute me like Newt said he'd like to see. Fucking Trump said it twice that I heard too. Drug dealers. Execute them. He might not have meant marijuana but we really never knew what he meant. Let's release a bunch of people locked up, with amnesty.
Michael, Sirhan Sirhan has no memory of killing RFK as he may have been drunk or brainwashed. There also are indications that there was in fact another shooter in that crowded kitchen. He has continually stated to the parole board that he has no memory of it but having worked for the prison system in NY state I know that parole boards will NOT release an inmate unless he/she ADMITS THEY DID THE CRIME....EVEN IF THEY DID NOT COMMIT THE CRIME. The inmate cannot tell what they believe to be the truth.....I did not do it nor do I remember doing it. I have seen this in my 25 years work as a Corrections Counselor. How did a lowly Jordanian get access into the kitchen shortcut in the hotel. Like many of America's assassinations there were questions not answered, avenues of investigation not pursued. Comeon.....did James Earl Ray kill MLK and leave the gun in a doorway??? Sirhan may have no memory because he was programmed a la MK Ultra by any number of Kennedy enemies....take your pick. Sirhan is not a danger to society because perhaps he never really was.
A not-rhetorical question: what makes you so certain that Sirhan was the lone gunman or even the actual killer? I’m NOT any sort of conspiracy theorist but a reasoned historical novelist. I have been researching RFK’s assassination, and everything I’ve read points to a very shabby LAPD investigation and defense AT BEST. What do you make of the failure to match RFK bullets to Sirhan’s gun or the bullets found in the kitchen door frame that brings the total over the 8-bullet maximum of Sirhan’s gun? I’d truly prefer to hear that a lone nut job felled my childhood idol; but the evidence I’m reading doesn’t fit this conclusion. Please share any facts you know. Thanks—
Having had the pleasure of working a a consultant in Bobby Kennedy's office, trying to get adequate income to the residents of the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, where homes sometimes had 5 mortgages, I am greatly moved by this post. See ENDING POVERTY at aesopinstitute.org for today's version of the ideas involved. A way to provide everyone with $2,000 a month of Univesal Basic Income and a substantial Second Income independent of jobs and savings. All at ZERO net cost to the Treasury. Merely a loan the size of the cost of a weapons system that would be repaid from the taxes on the rising new incomes.
Thank you - I loved Bobby Kennedy too & agree he would say that @ 77 let him out ! But I can’t stand the thought of Bobby Kennedy being dead & this guy free. Prison reform has got to start. I wish we were more like Norway! I loved your article. It makes me think about all I “hate” / dislike and my point @ forgiveness. Thanks for all you do.
I have painfully enjoyed this topic and many of the comments. Thank you for what you are doing.I was fighting the draft and had written Bobby to run for president as he had a much better chance of being elected that Eugene McCarthy (Bless his soul for being the first to stand up to end the war.) Bobby had amazing compassion and charisma. He would have so changed the course of history...as his brother John would have. I loved them both beyond words.
Our society has dark forces running through it and I believe the two assassinations were connected. And I believe both were well covered up...lasting to this very day. Why? How?
I can only guess. Many powerful people hated them for various reasons. J Edgar Hoover? The FBI? CIA? Bobby as Attorney General in his brothers cabinet was fighting organized crime...All could have had a hand in there assassinations. Who is now blocking the release of the facts? Why didn't the justice system examine every possible fact presented at the time instead of rushing to false conclusions? The real people behind JFK, RFK, MLK 's assassinations are in my mind all the same...
Back to your original subject ...one can forgive yet still keep society safe by keeping dangerous people contained. One person said on the news today, free Sirhan and it will show Trump 's crazies they can get away with murder literally and give them license to kill.
Unfortunately, despite all the good people in this country, we live in a sick schizophrenic society.
That shouldn't discourage us to be and do the best that we can. So thank you Michael for helping to lead the way.
Michael, I had forgotten some of the details of the incident.....Zaga jogged my memory about the reports of TWO gunshots in that kitchen and coupled with Sirhan's "no memory" of killing a major political figure.....have always drawn his responsibility for the murder into question.........check out the various American assasinations: MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcom X, Fred Hampton and on and on. Patsies is what persons who want important people killed look for.............a Jordanian who has said he doesn't like RFK because of his support for Israel. This recent immigrant finding himself in the basement of the Ambassador at JUST THE RIGHT time, with a gun and getting close enough to shoot Kennedy..........not plausible.......JFK's assasination even those close to the family acknowledge Lee Harvey Oswald did not do it, or do it alone!!
There is NO connection between needed prison reform, rampant ethnic discrimination in sentencing, "good" (perceived) behavior of a prisoner and time spent in prison, immaterial political significance of the target, forgiveness of those falsely accused or inordinately punished ... and the fact that Sirhan's act was that of a cold, calculated murderer. Justice - such as it is - whether as a deterrent or attempt to protect the defenseless, has ALWAYS been on a spectrum, with intentional murder properly positioned as one of the acts at the extreme end of punishment. I am still having a hard time reconciling myself to Derrick Chauvin's (George Floyd's murderer) tepid sentence. People like Sirhan and Chauvin need to be permanently separated from society. And deny them their friggin' guns.
THANK YOU FOR THIS: "Even within our prison abolition movement, most believe that the humane system we must create also has to protect society from rapists, child abusers, violent men, pedophile priests, polluters, bankers, and Blackwater. But we will not treat them the way they have treated women, people of color, and the poor. We will be understanding and kind. And we will not let them harm anyone again."
Sadly, this is not the response I have gotten from those who support prison abolition. I have been scolded as a "carceral feminist" for wanting sexual and domestic predators kept locked away from vulnerable people for life. We don't have to keep them in cruel circumstances - they can all go live in luxury on Jeffrey Epstein's island - I don't care! - just as long as they can't rape, batter, and terrorize another vulnerable person.
I am a survivor of homelessness and traumatic sexual and domestic abuse. My unhoused sisters are brutally preyed upon by sex offenders who are released from prison after mere months. They are raped multiple times a year, and sink deeper and deeper into psychosis and addiction. They cannot heal and no one is protecting them.
When I expressed to a member of Austin Justice Coalition that I wanted sexual predators kept in prison for life (rather than released downtown to prey upon unhoused women and kids), her response was "But they're human beings!"
Yes, the men are always the "human beings" but women and kids are disposable.
We must apply a gender lens to criminal justice.
Male violence against women and children is terrorism, and these predators must be treated like the terrorists they are - just like Blackwater and Dylan Roof and Derek Chauvin.
Between three and five women will be murdered in this country by the end of the day by a husband or boyfriend - usually after reporting them to the police multiple times.
WOMEN'S LIVES MATTER!!!!
Can we please start pretending we believe this?
Thank you for allowing us to go through your inner turmoil with you. I have the same inconsistent thoughts on our prison system. I appreciate your disuer’s idea. However, Unfortunayely I do not see that happening in the near future…if only! Thank you for a thought provoking read on a Sunday morning.
As always, perfectly articulated. Thank you, Michael.