I have closely watched him for years, since tipped to do so by St. Louis family and then when he landed in Wisconsin, where I know folks who worked closely with him, including a Vatican consultant stationed there.  They say that Dolan actually could be the first American pope -- although that could constrain his power, compared to his power now.

He is incredibly conservative but brilliantly folksy about it -- again, the consummate Irish pol.  And his presence at the convention is an endorsement that could have huge impact.  

Condi didn't perpetrate evil. Rather, in her willingness to please her bosses, she wound up enabling it -- which some might argue, with some justification, was just as great a sin.

Gawker is organized like an international money-laundering operation. Much of its international revenues are directed through Hungary, where Denton's mother hails from, and where some of the firm's techies are located. But that is only part of it. Recently, Salmon reports, the various Gawker operations--Gawker Media LLC, Gawker Entertainment LLC, Gawker Technology LLC, Gawker Sales LLC--have been restructured to bring them under control of a shell company based in the Cayman Islands, Gawker Media Group Inc.

Why would a relatively small media outfit based in Soho choose to incorporate itself in a Caribbean locale long favored by insider dealers, drug cartels, hedge funds, and other entities with lots of cash they don't want to advertise? The question virtually answers itself, but for those unversed in the intricacies of international tax avoidance Salmon spells it out: "The result is a company where 130 U.S. employees eat up the lion's share of the the U.S. revenues, resulting in little if any taxable income, while the international income, the franchise value of the brands, and the value of the technology all stays permanently overseas, untouched by the I.R.S."

The involvement at the ground, operational level of anti-Castro Cubans is usually found as part of the CIA involvement as there was a prior and trusted history there.

It's also plausible to assume some Mafia elements -- as with the obvious silencing role of mid-level Mobster Jack Ruby -- also had a hand in the assassination plot, though not a controlling one.

I would even throw in elements of US military high brass, some of whom hated Kennedy with a passion (Gen LeMay most famously; he may have even been present at the autopsy -- keeping a lid on and circumscribing the activity of autopsy surgeons).

That's elements, probably small but powerful elements, of four important groups, or about the same collection of operators which would have been involved in the CIA's clandestine efforts to assassinate Castro.  No more people than are necessary, highly compartmentalized operations. They don't need to be told to keep their mouths shut.  Those who seem no longer reliable or who become vulnerable, as with govt subpeona to testify, are dealt with.  As in the several witnesses scheduled for HSCA testimony or those identified by DA Jim Garrison as suspects who ended up dead before they could testify.

Obviously if some of the same people who arranged for the assassination are also in power, the easier it is to cover up and keep the lid on things for a very long time.  And sometimes -- as with the Lincoln assass'n and the assertions of a Confed Govt-driven conspiracy -- those in power might feel it's best to bury the truth.

No one is asserting though that it's always a conspiracy -- obviously lone nuts have acted.  Just not always quite the loner nor the nutter as initially advertised.  As with Sirhan. So too Oswald, a suspect never allowed to have his day in court, someone never plausibly put in that window with a rifle by any credible witness.  Ditto James Earl Ray, another suspicious case that makes little sense if seen through the official lens. The two patsies who were allowed to make it to trial also suffered from suspiciously bad/corrupt counsel.  I don't think that was an accident.

As for the RFK case -- one of several which prove conspiracies can hold together, at least for a good long while -- I would disagree slightly as to its consequentiality.  JFK intended to withdraw in '65 from VN; his successor gave us the war, then the country split in two b/c of his policies and perceived indifference/hostility.  RFK needed to overcome two significant political hurdles before you could even put him in the WH --beating HHH for the nom, then Nixon in the general, the latter easier than the former.  At which point you could then start to talk about how he would have governed.  

So, yeah, it was really no accident that the Lady Danes were invited to this tournament, and the girls are very excited to be here. They're used to playing before crowds of anywhere from 300 to 600 people. Tonight, they'll be playing before a crowd of over 10,000.

Since it's a round-robin tournament format, Albany gets to play three matches out here -- tonight against Hawaii, tomorrow night against Stanford, and Sunday afternoon against St. Mary's. They return to New York Sunday night.

This is going to be very high-caliber competition for them, given what they're used to back in the America East Conference -- after all, Hawaii is ranked No. 5 in the country, Stanford is No. 6, and St. Mary's is No. 25 -- but it will certainly help get them ready for conference play. And still, the Lady Danes are the defending AEC champs, and they played Stanford pretty tough in the NCAA Regionals in Palo Alto two years ago before falling, so nobody better overlook them in anticipation of the next night's match.

What Mitt Romney's cheering audience heard: "Hey, in case you haven't noticed, Ann and I are white, and those people in the White House are not."

What a disgusting and vile little man Mitt Romney has turned out to be. The fact that his own church didn't recognize black men and the equal of white men until 1978 only serves to underscore how nauseatingly sick his so-called "joke" actually was.

The late former Michigan Gov. George Romney was actually a good and decent man. I'm glad he's not alive to see his own son trash the family name like this, pandering to his own party's most extreme elements with his craven behavior.