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[Bruce A. Smith]

Colbert Update

On the Morning Dose I also added another aspect - the politics of Tom Colbert's timing. This week is a good time to trash the FBI as half of DC is doing so - Comey, McCabe, Wray, Mueller, etc., for all the obvious reasons. Is Colbert piggy-backing on that? Is he trying to curry favor with the Repubs?

Colbert's press release would have more weight if I saw CCT member Asst. FBI Director William Baker's signature on it.

[Bruce A. Smith]

Colbert Update

Tom seems to be doubling-down on all aspects of his case that Rackstraw is DB Cooper. The attachments he mentions in his press release address four issues and can be found, I expect, at Colbert's website. They are:

1. Zaid's letter to FBI Director Wray, outlining the case. 2 pages long.
2. Document outlining how Rackstraw is linked to five letters: the "Core Four" and Letter #5.
3. Document composed by Colbert outlining how the FBI has covered up Norjak, and describes how DB Cooper was a CIA operative and protected by the Company.
4. Letter to Congresswoman Brownley of California from Kevin Lyons, the Asst. Deputy Director of the FBI, assuring her that all of her "constituent's" complaints (Colbert supposedly) have been received and are being duly reviewed.

[Check-Six]

On the Morning Dose I also added another aspect - the politics of Tom Colbert's timing. This week is a good time to trash the FBI as half of DC is doing so - Comey, McCabe, Wray, Mueller, etc., for all the obvious reasons. Is Colbert piggy-backing on that? Is he trying to curry favor with the Repubs?

Conincidences do happen, ya know.
I can tell you today's presser had been in the works for awhile - I was originally supposed to attend, but it got pushed back a day (conflict with post-State of the Union coverage), and I could not reschedule a work commitment, despite the pleas to my editor.
Realize, Bruce, that not everyone is playing the same game in Cooper-land. Some folks enjoy the investigative hunt, some want to see the case concluded with a smoking gun and the suspect unmasked, and some want the mystery to live on forever. To each, success is measured by a different metric. I respect TJC's fresh approach to the case, taking NOTHING for granted and challenging nearly every assumption - past and present. And believe me, I don't think for a moment that he intended the rabbit hole to lead to the places it has - it just isn't in his nature, in my experience, to seek that out. But it is where things have ended up nonetheless.
Politics have, in my observation, never played any role - just furthering the case towards a real and true outcome.

[Bruce A. Smith]

Okay, maybe the press release was coincidence with political turmoil. I can accept that.

But Colbert takes nothing for granted? Hmmm. Not sure why you would say that because:

Do you ever think the FBI guys on the CCT will ever address the inconsistencies, errors, and misleading actions in the FBI's investigation? Anybody on the CCT looking for the cigarette butts? After all, the CCT as one former Assistant Director and two supervisory agents, plus a bunch of Special Agents.

How about the guys on the CCT making themselves available to other investigators? Witnesses?

[georger]

On the Morning Dose I also added another aspect - the politics of Tom Colbert's timing. This week is a good time to trash the FBI as half of DC is doing so - Comey, McCabe, Wray, Mueller, etc., for all the obvious reasons. Is Colbert piggy-backing on that? Is he trying to curry favor with the Repubs?

Conincidences do happen, ya know.
I can tell you today's presser had been in the works for awhile - I was originally supposed to attend, but it got pushed back a day (conflict with post-State of the Union coverage), and I could not reschedule a work commitment, despite the pleas to my editor.
Realize, Bruce, that not everyone is playing the same game in Cooper-land. Some folks enjoy the investigative hunt, some want to see the case concluded with a smoking gun and the suspect unmasked, and some want the mystery to live on forever. To each, success is measured by a different metric. I respect TJC's fresh approach to the case, taking NOTHING for granted and challenging nearly every assumption - past and present. And believe me, I don't think for a moment that he intended the rabbit hole to lead to the places it has - it just isn't in his nature, in my experience, to seek that out. But it is where things have ended up nonetheless.
Politics have, in my observation, never played any role - just furthering the case towards a real and true outcome.

There is politics - in everything! Did you not wake up in the morning and put on cloths?   

I think you guys are manufacturing news. I haven't seen any of this on the national news!

What old assumptions does TC challenge? The earth is round? I havent noticed that in the national news! TC and his team make some sweeping assumptions of their own. In fact TC makes huge assumptions which aren't even necessary to his case; yet he seems compelled for some reason.  His whole case is undermined by false assumptions. Maybe that is why none of this is in the national news!    Im going back to sleep. Wake me when there is real news.       

[Check-Six]

Okay, maybe the press release was coincidence with political turmoil. I can accept that.

But Colbert takes nothing for granted? Hmmm. Not sure why you would say that because:

Do you ever think the FBI guys on the CCT will ever address the inconsistencies, errors, and misleading actions in the FBI's investigation? Anybody on the CCT looking for the cigarette butts? After all, the CCT as one former Assistant Director and two supervisory agents, plus a bunch of Special Agents.

How about the guys on the CCT making themselves available to other investigators? Witnesses?

You would be surprised the discussions that happen - and may still happen.
As for availability, Bruce, you and I have discussed the matter privately. I am free to talk about, and can share, what I know.
But as a professional journalist myself, I have learned when to talk and when not to. No offense intended, Bruce, but after a bit of deliberation with myself, I made the choice not to talk with you. That was my decision, no one elses... Not Tom's, not the team's; my decision.
As I have said before, people play this Cooper game for different reasons, and just because someone has a different method than others is no reason to try and tear them down. "The system that beats the system"
So, there you go...
Thanks again for the visit to Coopernite-land.

[377]

Assuming, for hypothetical purposes, that those letters really were authored by DBC, why would the cunning sociopath Rackstraw leave decodable clues as to his ID? If Colbert's crypto guy could decode the text and number strings, so could law enforcement had they consulted the right experts. I've seen nothing that suggests Rackstraw ever deliberately left clues to his identity in connection with crimes he is known to have committed. Just wondering...

377

[DavidV]

Not a lawyer but I'm curious: isn't Colbert and his team opening themselves up to legal issues by making these claims? Can Rackshaw go after them for liable or similar?

[377]

Yes, Rackstraw could sue for defamation and in the past his lawyer Dennis Riordan has threatened to do so, but never actually sued. Remember, truth is an absolute defense. Colbert could present evidence to a jury showing that his statements about Rackstraw being Cooper were true. It would essentially be a whodunnit trial about NORJACK. Maybe Rackstraw doesn't want this. Maybe he can't find a lawyer who would take it on a contingency.

Even if Rackstraw sued and won, what are his provable damages? By his own admission, these accusations have elevated the estimated value of the boat he is trying to sell. Colbert has made Rackstraw a celebrity, a guy with a story that Hollywood would pay good money for. Rackstraw's reputational damage directly arising from Colbert's publications would be very hard to prove since Rackstraw is already a convicted criminal. 

Would I take Rackstraw's defamation case on a contingency fee basis? Hell no. Not a chance. Substantial likelihood of a near-zero recovery even if I won. The only DBC case I'd take on is to defend Sheridan Peterson were he ever indicted for NORJACK. I'd do it free and I am confident I could win based on FBI spoliation of potentially exculpatory evidence.

377

[DavidV]

Thank you 377.

So to recap:
1. Rackstraw can not prove any tangible financial losses.
2. Getting a reasonable jury award from Colbert is next to zero.
3. The only way to prove Colbert wrong is for Colbert to prove himself right in front of a jury.
4. Rackstraw has nothing to gain from going after Colbert. 
 

[georger]

Thank you 377.

So to recap:
1. Rackstraw can not prove any tangible financial losses.
2. Getting a reasonable jury award from Colbert is next to zero.
3. The only way to prove Colbert wrong is for Colbert to prove himself right in front of a jury.
4. Rackstraw has nothing to gain from going after Colbert.

Rackstraw has a 40 year long precedent on his side - thousands of people have been investigated or proposed to be DBC and not one of them proved to be DBC. There is this tall wall called "hard evidence" protecting any suspect. Rackstraw has the actuarial evidence on his side, and everyone including Rackstraw knows this. Why sue when you have already won in the public mind!    That's the social-political case.

DBC fans have become a kind of self perpetuating cult. Named people run that cult - some of them here! TC joined that cult the minute he began making cult-like claims based on hearsay. TC then added in factual claims which cannot be true! If cult members and cult reporters are excited, who cares! Its a ritual we have become used to. Bring on the dancing bears - - - and the snake handlers. Its a circus of clowns. 

How many OBITS can one write for the same person and the same events!? A circling descent into Hell is assured. 

Rackstraw's reply:

 

[377]

"Bring on the dancing bears - - - and the snake handlers. Its a circus of clowns."

All welcome in the Vortex, an inclusionary community. No passport or green card required. 

377

[georger]

"Bring on the dancing bears - - - and the snake handlers. Its a circus of clowns."

All welcome in the Vortex, an inclusionary community. No passport or green card required. 

377

So, you deny the existence of an exclusionary Cooper Cult, or cults, driven by named people for the expressed purpose of satisfying their own agendas?   

Organisation and stratification in existence is automatic! For example, I like fresh donuts vs old stale ones.

[Shutter]

3. Document composed by Colbert outlining how the FBI has covered up Norjak, and describes how DB Cooper was a CIA operative and protected by the Company.

I don't believe any type of cover up, or military action used to commit this crime..it would be in there best interest to have a conclusion, quickly to the finally of the crime..they wouldn't allow it to drag on for decades..it would of been so easy for them to "catch there man" shortly after the crime..this sounds like a Bob Knoss theory...

[Parrotheadvol]

Nothing against Culbert, who seems like a nice enough guy, but anytime I see a new "news" story on Cooper and it turns out to be about Rackstraw, I quit reading. In my opinion, the case against Rackstraw is as bad as the case against Kenny Christiansen. I don't see any real evidence in either.