Althouse: "The Umbrella Man," by Errol Morris.

October 27, 2017

"The Umbrella Man," by Errol Morris.

The strangeness of historical details... in this case, a man with an umbrella who was standing right near where John F. Kennedy was shot:

34 comments:

madAsHell said...: Never confuse outright stupidity with a conspiracy.; 10/27/17, 4:48 PM
rhhardin said...: The music is a protest of the Moonlight Sonata (1st movement); 10/27/17, 4:51 PM
TestTube said...: Has no one in these comments threads ever heard of Occam's razor?

Look, accept the simple hypothesis that JFK was knocked off by the Greys and/or Reptilians to keep their Moon bases out of the public eye, and everything else either falls into place, or is irrelevant.

LBJ's weird personality? What do you expect from a guy trying to deal with one or more species of extraterrestrial aliens in order to possibly keep the human race from being exterminated?

Why do the faked moon landings seem so real? Because they were actually filmed on the Moon (Yeah, like we developed space travel technology all by our little old selves with no help in six short years)

Great Society social programs? Cover for the government dairy program, whose main purpose was to provide the cheese and other dairy products that Greys and Reptilians crave so much (also the reason Low- and No-fat milk is so prevalent).; 10/27/17, 4:55 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I don't buy the umbrella man theory here, because it frankly seems like bullshit.

But.

A somewhat famous Bulgarian playwright - Georgi Markov- defected from Bulgaria in 1968, moved to England -- and was murdered by the KGB by a ricin-laced pellet from ..... an umbrella.

Agents of the Bulgarian secret police (Darzhavna Sigurnost; Bulgarian: Държавна сигурност, abbreviated ДС), assisted by the KGB, had previously made two failed attempts to kill Markov before a third attempt succeeded. On 7 September 1978 (the 67th birthday of Todor Zhivkov), Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge spanning the River Thames, and waited at a bus stop to take a bus to his job at the BBC. He felt a slight sharp pain, as a bug bite or sting, on the back of his right thigh. He looked behind him and saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground. The man hurriedly crossed to the other side of the street and got in a taxi which then drove away. The event is recalled as the "Umbrella Murder" with the assassin claimed to be Francesco Gullino, codenamed "Piccadilly".[5][unreliable source?]

When he arrived at work at the BBC World Service offices, Markov noticed a small red pimple had formed at the site of the sting he had felt earlier and the pain had not lessened or stopped. He told at least one of his colleagues at the BBC about this incident. That evening he developed a fever and was admitted to St James' Hospital in Balham, where he died four days later, on 11 September 1978, at the age of 49. The cause of death was poisoning from a ricin-filled pellet.[6][7][8]

People forget all the strange stuff we did and the Soviets did, during the Cold War.

Thank God, the good guys won, though.; 10/27/17, 4:59 PM
TestTube said...: Oh, and all those things that don't quite add up about the JFK assassination...Do you think that aliens have really worked all the bugs out of mind control technology? Especially when working with nutters like Ruby and Oswald as subjects?; 10/27/17, 4:59 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Has no one in these comments threads ever heard of Occam's razor?"

Occam's razor would have him using the umbrella to shield himself from the sun. The actual answer is weirder.; 10/27/17, 5:07 PM
Bilwick said...: Don't forget the mysterious umbrella man who can be seen near the gravelly road when the Magic Loogie hit Kramer and Newman moments after Newman called Keith Hernandez "pretty boy."8; 10/27/17, 5:08 PM
Bill Peschel said...: "The actual answer is weirder."

Chamberlain and appeasement? Pfffft, it's moon lizards, I tell you!; 10/27/17, 5:13 PM
Michael K said...: Edward Epstein's books about the Assassination have convinced me that Oswald had a KGB relationship but the assassination was probably only a chance opportunity and not a hit by Cuba or the KGB.

I think the secrecy was to shield the KGB connection and also the FBI incompetence,; 10/27/17, 5:22 PM
TestTube said...: Bill,

Silly to think reptilians got us into war. We can do that quite well enough ourselves. Getting us out of war...That was another story.

Yeah, like we just strapped Little Boy into Enola Gay, dropped it, and -- despite the fact that it was an entirely new weapons technology that we had never full-scaled tested, based on a brand new field of science -- it just worked. First time.; 10/27/17, 5:38 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: How did he find the Umbrella Man 15 years later? And how did he know that he really was the Umbrella Man?; 10/27/17, 5:56 PM
Chuck said...: "The deep state."; 10/27/17, 6:11 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Michael K,

Edward Epstein's books about the Assassination have convinced me that Oswald had a KGB relationship but the assassination was probably only a chance opportunity and not a hit by Cuba or the KGB.

Epstein is a national treasure. All of his books on the JFK murder are outstanding.

And, he was one of the only journalists to get close to legendary CIA spook, James Angleton

The problem, though, is that Epstein may have gotten co-opted Angleton, which happens when an investigator gets too close to a subject.; 10/27/17, 6:12 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Hoover mistrusted the CIA, the CIA didn't trust the Pentagon, State Department disagreed with the military, the Dallas Police didn't like the FBI, the Secret Service didn't communicate with the FBI....

There is no "deep state". There are "deep states" plural where bureaucracies fight each other and among themselves. For power, funding, turf.

It's absurd to think that the major players - and lots of minor ones - in all or most of these agencies or departments could get together and agree on what to have for lunch much less killing the president and covering it up.; 10/27/17, 6:22 PM
Pinandpuller said...: If an umbrella shades you from the sun is it a trans-parasol?; 10/27/17, 6:44 PM
AllenS said...: If the umbrella man isn't on the grassy knoll, forgetaboutit.; 10/27/17, 6:47 PM
Phil 314 said...: It only takes two points to make a straight line.; 10/27/17, 7:11 PM
StephenFearby said...: Rahm Emanuel said (in 2008):

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

And so, after the Kennedy assassination, a horde of conspiracy theorists spouted up, each pushing an explanation that might earn them 15 minutes of fame.

Now, the continuing crisis for Democrats is the unexpected election of Trump. Their response: to flog unremittingly the conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the presidency.

A conspiracy theory that now seems well on its way to biting them in the behind.; 10/27/17, 7:13 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: It was raining earlier. He got there early.; 10/27/17, 7:26 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Thank God, the good guys won, though.

How can you tell?; 10/27/17, 7:33 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Robert Cook,

Thank God, the good guys won, though.

How can you tell?

------------------------

Because the Berlin Wall fell and the evil bastards who built it (The Soviets) are gone too.; 10/27/17, 7:40 PM
Michael K said...: "And, he was one of the only journalists to get close to legendary CIA spook, James Angleton "

There is a very good book about Philby that suggests Angleton never got over his friendship with Philby and the betrayal by a friend.

The story reminds me a bit of "Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy" Le Carre's novel about Philby,; 10/27/17, 7:41 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Angleton never got over Philby, in large part, because every Western Intelligence agency had been penetrated by the Soviets, sadly, including ours - at least that's what Epstein came to believe.

With respect to the JFK murder, Angleton believed that Yuri Nosenko was a Soviet dispatched agent, not a bona fide defector, and, worse, that the fact the Commies sent him, meant there was already an existing mole in place at the CIA (an American Philby) who could give feedback on how the CIA reacted to the provocation.; 10/27/17, 8:00 PM
Paul said...: Umbrella man? Are you saying the assassin was a Kingsman?; 10/27/17, 8:36 PM
Gahrie said...: Because the Berlin Wall fell and the evil bastards who built it (The Soviets) are gone too.

I think you and Comrade Marvin have a disagreement as to just who the "good guys" were and who the "evil bastards" were.; 10/27/17, 8:46 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Robert, can I at least get the concession that we have killed fewer people than the Russians or the Chinese? We can fight me on that one for with you grudgingly accept it without digging into the math?; 10/27/17, 8:58 PM
CWJ said...: Umbrella Man?

Ha! What about the man in the hat?; 10/27/17, 8:59 PM
Gahrie said...: @Bad Lieutenant:

Omelets:eggs.

Except when it comes to the U.S. of course.; 10/27/17, 9:18 PM
Michael K said...: Angleton believed that Yuri Nosenko was a Soviet dispatched agent, not a bona fide defector, and, worse, that the fact the Commies sent him,

Oh, I agree,; 10/27/17, 9:41 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Did he have a face? Perhaps Umbrella Man was a devoted fan of Rene Magritte.; 10/27/17, 9:50 PM
Bill said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/28/17, 12:09 AM
eddie willers said...: Between Gerald Posner's book and a documentary I saw where they used computer animation to show how the jump seat installed into the Lincoln shifted where people sat and then showed how the trajectory of the Kennedy/Connelly dual hit explained the "magic bullet", I am satisfied with Oswald as the lone assassin.

The only other theory I will ever entertain is one that answers the ever present cui bono.

I lived in Austin Texas in the early 80's and I would not put anything past LBJ.

And I am also glad the Umbrella Man is now explained to my satisfaction.; 10/28/17, 1:04 AM
richlb said...: I love the doc style of Morris. I think I've seen them all. And he made the Stoner Girl advert for Apple.; 10/28/17, 6:51 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Robert, can I at least get the concession that we have killed fewer people than the Russians or the Chinese? We can fight me on that one for with you grudgingly accept it without digging into the math?"

Sure...under Mao and Stalin, respectively, China and Russia killed more people than we have, by far.; 10/29/17, 2:18 PM