Free Republic

I have never believed in conspiracy theories. Though some critics have lumped me in with conspiracy theorists excogitating on Clinton aide Vince Foster’s death in Fort Marcy Park and other such phantasmagorias, I plead innocence. It is just too difficult to keep a conspiracy under wraps. Particularly in Washington and New York, where garrulity is the rule. A conspirator sitting on a big story is likely to tell someone for money or for prestige or for the sheer fun of it. If I recall correctly, even Woodward and Bernstein eventually told their secret about Deep Throat, and that was a...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) - The Connecticut Supreme Court has overturned the 1975 murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel. The Hartford Courant reports that the Connecticut Supreme Court voted 4-3 that Skakel's trial lawyer was so ineffective, that his right to a fair trial was violated. Skakel was convicted in the murder of his friend, Martha Moxley, when the two were neighbors in Greenwich. Skakel has been free since late 2013 while the court considered this latest appeal. He is expected to remain free unless state prosecutors make what many lawyers predict would be an unlikely decision to retry him...

There is nothing like historical context to help evaluate and better understand current events. So, in regard to the mainstream media’s breathless, non-stop coverage of the self-levitating Trump-Russia collusion theory, consider this bit of trivia: In 1991, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin opened the archives of the Soviet Central Committee, Western researchers quickly descended on Moscow to plow through the treasure trove of previously classified official documents. Among those researchers was Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times and the BBC who found a May 14, 1983 letter from KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov....

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, a liberal journalist and film critic complained the new film Chappaquiddick was a "character assassination" of its central character, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. "How ‘Chappaquiddick’ Distorts a Tragedy" wrote Neal Gabler, who is working on a biography of Kennedy. Gabler complained the film, released in theaters Friday, has been "heavily promoted by conservative media outlets, and reviewers across the political spectrum have praised what they deem its damning but factual approach. Damning it is; factual it is not." There actually was no "cover-up" of Kennedy's car accident that led to the death...

On April 6, Chappaquiddick, a movie detailing the events involving Senator Ted Kennedy on Martha's Vineyard in July 1969, will be released. That incident demonstrated the depths to which the Kennedys were willing to go to salvage the political career of the last of the Kennedy sons. In subsequent years, the actions of Ted Kennedy that night were forgiven by the Democrats, as were subsequent actions as noted below. The movie is based on a book, Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Coverup, by Leo J. Damore, who committed suicide in 1995. Well, that is the official version, at least. The Kennedy...

Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the most famous members of America’s most famous family, understood that he belonged as much to popular culture as to political culture. Now, nine years after his death, comes a movie about the event that, almost as much as the circumstances of his birth, established him in the tabloid pantheon: Chappaquiddick.

On April 6, a bombshell will hit America's theaters. That bombshell comes in the form of an understated, well-made, well-acted film called "Chappaquiddick." (Full disclosure: They advertise with my podcast.) The film tells the story of Ted Kennedy's 1969 killing of political aide Mary Jo Kopechne; the Massachusetts Democratic senator drove his car off a bridge and into the Poucha Pond, somehow escaped the overturned vehicle and left Kopechne to drown. She didn't drown, though. Instead, she reportedly suffocated while waiting for help inside an air bubble while Kennedy waited 10 hours to call for help. The Kennedy family and...

“Chappaquiddick” tells the story of a relatively unknown scandal involving one of the most glorified families in American history: the Kennedys. So, it is not surprising that the cast, executive producers, and director felt some nerves taking on the project. For Byron Allen, Entertainment Studios CEO and co-founder and executive producer of the film, the pushback to tell this story came when he first decided to produce the film. “Unfortunately, there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie,” Allen said. “They went out of their way to try and influence...

Mary Jo Kopechne had been dead for several months when her parents began to have serious questions about what really happened the night of July 18, 1969. At first, Gwen and Joe Kopechne had believed Senator Ted Kennedy’s account of that evening. “They trusted him,” says Mary Jo’s aunt, Georgetta Potoski, 75. “They loved the Kennedys. But later on, they started to question what happened.” Ted Kennedy could never escape the unanswered questions about his 10-hour delay in reporting the accident to Edgartown police. “The longer it went on, more and more inconsistencies were discovered and he wasn’t telling Gwen...

Searing Big Screen “Chappaquiddick” Thriller: Mary Jo Kopechne as First #MeToo Victim of Kennedy Family Money, Power and CorruptionI think John Curran’s masterful “Chappaquiddick” was shown once in Toronto for a handful of critics and distributors. Byron Allen was very smart to pick it up for his new Entertainment Company studio–it’s going to be a big hit. What he could never have predicted back in September that by now the movie would have a whole new layer of meaning: Mary Jo Kopechne, left to drown in the waters of Martha’s Vineyard in July 1969, was the first #MeToo victim. Her...

Democrats have an ancient holy ritual called Adoration of the Blessed Kennedy. Its latest iteration appears in the February 6 Politico Magazine in which their chief Washington correspondent, Edward-Isaac Dovere, breathlessly reports on the possibility of a new assumption of the presidency by a Kennedy... The wet-lipped Joe Kennedy III. Of course there are the obligatory denials by young Joe himself but Dovere's paean to the Prince-in-waiting is so chock full of saccharine as to give you a toothache while reading Kennedy Could Be the Democrats’ Best Hope (But May Not Want to Be):

In a statement meant to dare the Trump administration, Kennedy declared, “Build a wall and my generation will tear it down. Yet the young congressman failed to mention that generations of Kennedys preceding him have enjoyed the protections and sanctity provided by walls and extra security at compounds stretching from Cape Cod to Palm Beach.

Newton, MA – U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced that Congressman Joe Kennedy III will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress next week.   “From health care to economic justice to civil rights, the Democratic agenda stands in powerful contrast to President Trump's broken promises to American families," said Congressman Kennedy. "Our vision for this union is guided by a simple belief that equality and economic dignity should be afforded to every American. I'm honored to have been chosen by Leader Pelosi and Leader...

No, that wasn't drool on the lips of Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III. He says it was ChapStick. Twitter lit up with jibes about the 37-year-old Democrat's response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made the announcement in a statement Thursday night. They say Kennedy is “a relentless fighter for working Americans.” The 37-year-old Kennedy is serving his third term in the House.

It is almost as though Joey Gargan decided to slip away before anyone noticed. And the funny thing about it is that he succeeded. So, Ted Kennedy cousin Joseph F. “Joey” Gargan, who was Kennedy’s close companion, won’t be around to answer any questions about “Chappaquiddick,” the upcoming film about the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Joey, 87, who was at Kennedy’s side that fateful night, died at his Virginia home December 12 and hardly anybody made the connection to Kennedy and Chappaquiddick

If anybody feared that the upcoming Chappaquiddick movie would be a whitewash of Ted Kennedy, the recently released trailer should disabuse them of that notion. Legal Insurrection describes the movie as the "portrait of a weasel." Kate Erbland of IndieWire reviewed it as a Compelling Teddy Kennedy Biopic That Pulls No Punches.

By the standards of the #MeToo movement, the late Senator Ted Kennedy was a monster, far worse than anything alleged about Harvey Weinstein. And he has never been held to account, by the media and historians, for his brutal crmies against women. He not only accidentally killed one of his prey, Mary Jo Kopechne, he engaged in a vicious sexual assault in public, in the so-called “waitress sandwich” attack. Readers unfamiliar with that incident are urged to read the undisputed account of the violent attack that was witnessed by fellow diners at Washington’s expensive La Brasserie restaurant.

Coming on the heels of Darkest Hour is another biopic of note. Both Paul and I reported a while ago that there was a movie in the works on Ted Kennedy’s infamous incident at Chappaquiddick in 1969.

Lost potential is a common theme of Kennedy-family lore. It's hard not to imagine what Bobby, President Kennedy, and JFK Jr. might have accomplished, had they not died so young. John Jr. would be making a run for the White House right now, if he were still alive. At least, that's what Jackie Kennedy's former personal assistant thinks. "If her brother wasn’t gone, he’d probably be running for president," Kathy McKeon said in a new, wide-ranging profile of Caroline Kennedy in Avenue magazine. "When Caroline was growing up, she always said she wanted to be a wife and mother, and...