Russell Friedman: Executive Director of The Grief Recovery Institute [www.grief.net] and co-author of The Grief Recovery Handbook, When Children Grieve, and Moving On.

Follow Russell's blog on Psychology Today

Russell arrived at the Institute in 1987 on the heels of a second divorce and a bankruptcy. At that point, he would not have known to use the word "grief" to describe divorce and financial problems. Like most people he thought grief was only about death. Now he knows that the emotions of grief attach to more than 40 life experiences. More importantly, he knows how to help people deal with the impact of all grief and loss issues, large and small.

WENDY BRAUN

Wendy Braun is an accomplished actress + success mindset mentor, referred to by many supporters as “a positive + uplifting force in the entertainment industry.”

Combining her decades of invaluable on-set experience with her passion for inspiring others, Braun founded a top resource dedicated to providing practical + empowering tools to help actors turn self-doubt and setbacks into success breakthroughs.

Wendyʼs transformational teachings + guided meditation audios have inspired countless actors worldwide, some of whom are now Emmy nominees, Broadway performers + Series Regulars on hit TV shows.

You may recognize Braun from over 60 television + film credits, including recent appearances on Itʼs Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Castle, The Mentalist, Faking It, Bones and Criminal Minds, from over 100 television commercials, or you may have heard her voice in thousands of voice-overs.

Braun gives away a free guided visualization audio mp3 to help listeners turn fear + doubt into confidence + ease in less than 5 minutes.

Wendy currently resides in Los Angeles and enjoys balancing career, family and marriage with her husband, actor, Josh Cox, and their two young + exuberantly active sons.

LA PALABRA

La Palabra is a well-respected bandleader, singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, and arranger, known for his versatile approach to music, particularly his invention of the Salsa Romantica Latin music genre and his signature style of Afro-Cuban-influenced, sensual Latin jazz. Discovered by Stevie Wonder in Detroit, La Palabra is an extraordinary performer that has shared his sound and style throughout the world.

Pushing the limits of previously recorded tropical dance ensembles with a balanced repertoire of original compositions and cover tunes, Palabra’s arrangements are unique, romantic and powerful within the genres of Afro cuban Jazz, Salsa, Cha-cha-cha, Charanga, Guaguanco, and Mambo.

Salsa Romantica introduced a new genre of music to the Latin music industry incorporating a sensual, tropical danceable beat to popular and well-known English & Spanish ballads. A few examples of Palabra’s Salsa Romantica are Lionel Richie’s “Lady,” Roberto Carlos’s “Cama y Mesa,” and Emmanuelle’s “Todo se Derrumbo.” “Lady” has topped the charts in all international airways.

La Palabra’s music has been featured in motion pictures as well as on television including the HBO film “The Liberty Kid,” the BBC TV series “Happiness,” ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” “Six Degrees,” CBS’s “Cold Case,” and FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance.” Most recently, La Palabra wrote several songs featured in the 2012 movie release “186 Dollars to Freedom.”

His most recent effort tittle “El Tun Tun de Tu Corazon” top the charts in Colombia and it was the most played song on the radio in Peru in 2011. This has brought great notoriety to this versatile artist.

Rick Simpson is a retired power engineer who worked for 25 years in the medical system in Canada.  After suffering a severe head injury in 1997 he took all the medications that the doctors prescribed, but their side effects did nothing but harm.  So in desperation he turned to the use of cannabis extracts, which he produced himself and quickly found that he had discovered the greatest natural medicine on earth.  After learning the truth about the amazing healing abilities of these extracts, he then went to everyone in authority to have its use recognised once more,  but found that in reality those who control our lives, wanted to keep the truth hidden from public view.  Having no where else to turn, he then made this knowledge public and since that time countless individuals world wide have used his information to cure or control illnesses for which our current medical systems have no solution.

Rick Simpson was giving the oil away for free, since he was growing plants in his own backyard, while he was still in Canada, until 2009, when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police did the final raid at his home. Rick was always talking about THC oil, and not CBD oil. The oil that he was giving away for free had a very high percentage of THC and it also contained low levels of CBD and other cannabinoids.  Today these extracts are usually called RSO or Rick Simpson Oil and it was the previous leader of the hemp movement Jack Herer himself who coined this phrase. Since 2013 Rick no longer lives in Canada.

Rick Simpson put up the phoenixtears.ca website back in 2004 and he made the information people need to heal themselves free for all to use at no cost. Rick did not even try to patent the oil or the method he used to produce the oil, because he felt that this is knowledge everyone should have so they could learn how they can deal with their medical problems themselves, in a sensible harmless manner. 

"I want people to know how to heal themselves." (Rick Simpson)

For more information visit: phoenixtears.ca - the only real Rick Simpson web site!  Find Rick on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ricksimpsonofficial

Darkly handsome Nick Mancuso, born Nicodemo Antonio Massimo Mancuso, was born in 1956 in Mammola, Italy but raised as a child in Canada (from age 8). During his over four decade career, films claimed him as the Antichrist (Franco Macalousso) in the Apocalypse trilogy produced by Cloud Ten Pictures (Revelation (1999), Tribulation(2000) and Judgment (2001)), and TV has him best known for his starring roles in the NBC action series Stingray (1985), which ran for two seasons, and as the title hitman who becomes a target himself in the one-season Matrix (1993). Nick performed in 300 films/TV and theatre productions over a career of 4 decades in 16 countries. He performed films with Charleton Heston, Sophia Loren, Rachael Welch, Kim Bassinger, Michelle Pheiffer, Carol Alt, Carol Laure, Catherine DeNeuve, Lindsay Waggoner, Angie Dickinson, Bonnie Bedelia, Meg Foster, Carrie Ann Moss, Cheryl Lass. Robert Loggia, Stephen Segal and many others. Nick  also produced several films and received several film awards including the Genie Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.

TV and film came his way of life in the late 1970s, and he tackled roles both in Hollywood, first as TV’s Dr. Scorpion (1978), and back in his homeland, where he won the prestigious Genie award for the movie Ticket to Heaven (1981) as a man caught up in a religious cult. He impressed moviegoers as well with his moody, sexy presence in the US film Heartbreakers (1984) co-starring Peter Coyote and has also provided solid support for other stars, notably for Steven Seagal in one of that star’s best action thrillers Under Siege (1992).

More recent, films include Time of Fear (2002) Today You Die (2005), starring his “Under Siege” cohort Steven Seagal, Contract Killers (2008), Violent Blue (2011), Entity (2013) and The Big Fat Stone (2014).

Lisa Bryant is a Wife, Mother of two, Screen Writer, Playwright, Director, Producer, Published Author and Minister. Lisa moved from Oakland California to Fairfield, California in 2002.Lisa Bryant has been blessed to have four shows on television at once, On the Couch with Lisa B., Math with Maria, Spanish with Julianna, and Cooking with the Saints. Lisa is also the Owner of Lisa B. Online a full Production Company, which produces Films, Music Video's, Talk Shows...Lisa's first book, Clown In The Prayer Closet, which is the first installment of a five part miniseries was filmed in 2015 has been a great Indie Film success. Now we are proud to produce the Stage Play Clown In The Prayer Closet May 5, 2016.

She is a believer in Jesus Christ and attends Southview worship center 

“Laughing for a living - THAT is possible”! And she loves every moment.

Lotte Mikkelsen believes that there is no such thing as laughing too much.  She feels it’s important to “just laugh loads because it gives you a great set of joy-coloured spectacles for viewing life's ups and downs”.

She feels that laughter is an essential part of her. She smiles, too, without laughing, because it generates the best of mirror-effects in other people.  Laughter is like the great connecting glue.  As a Laughter Ambassador and the Laughter Yoga Master Trainer in the UK, Lotte feels it comes with a responsibility to laugh and cheer for smiles from everyone.

​If she could be anything in this world she would choose to be a Unicorn - why? Unicorns are magical of the purest nature and come with glitter and starburst and mother of pearl plus all the other features that are just out of this world!

After a spiritual awakening experience, Katharina gained the intuitive ability to see the energy of another person and link it to their state of emotional and physical health to get to the root of the problem. Through this work, Katharina realized that in order to truly heal, one must take all aspects of the Self into consideration. The physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of a person all play a role in the healing process.

Katharina's passion and life mission is to teach people how they can use energy work to heal themselves. She loves teaching the scientifically proven energetic, consciousness raising and practical tools for self-healing.

Barbara Coloroso is an international bestselling author and for the past 38 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution and restorative justice.

She has appeared on Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and NPR. She has been featured in the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Time, Newsweek, and other national and international publications.

Her uniquely effective parenting and teaching strategies were developed through her years of training in sociology, special education, and philosophy. It has also been field-tested through her experiences as a classroom teacher, laboratory school instructor, university instructor, seminar leader, volunteer in Rwanda, and mother of three grown children.

She is the author of four international bestsellers:

kids are worth it: Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline

Parenting Through Crisis—Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change

The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander—From Pre-School to High School, How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence

And, Just Because It’s Not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right—From Toddlers to Teens, Teaching Kids to Think and Act Ethically.

Barbara’s latest book is Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide…and Why it Matters.

She also has two critically acclaimed video programs Winning at Parenting...without beating your kids and Winning at Teaching...without beating your kids. 

Robert L. Weber, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and a former Jesuit. Recipient of the American Society on Aging’s 2014 Religion, Spirituality, and Aging Award, he is an advisory board member for the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology’s Center for Psychotherapy and Spirituality. He lives with his wife in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Carol Orsborn, Ph.D., is founder and editor-in-chief of Fierce with Age: The Digest of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration, and Spirituality. The author of more than 20 books for and about the Boomer generation as well as popular blogs on Huffington Post, PBS’s NextAvenue.net, and BeliefNet.com, she has served on the faculties of Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University, and Pepperdine University. She lives with her husband in Madison, Tennessee.

William Francis Pepper is a barrister in the United Kingdom and admitted to the bar in numerous jurisdictions in the United States of America. His primary work is international commercial law. He has represented governments in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia. Today, Pepper represents Sirhan Sirhan, the gunman convicted in the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968.

Bill Pepper was a friend of Martin Luther King in the last year of his life. Some years after King's death, Bill Pepper went on to represent James Earl Ray in his guilty plea, and subsequent conviction. Pepper believes that Ray was framed by the federal government and that King was killed by a conspiracy that involved the FBI, the CIA, the military, the Memphis police and organized crime figures from New Orleans and Memphis. He later represented James Earl Ray in a televised mock trial in an attempt to get Ray the trial that he never had.

He then represented the King family in a wrongful death civil trial, King family vs. Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators." During a trial that lasted four weeks Bill produced over seventy witnesses. Jowers, testifying by deposition, stated that James Earl Ray was a scapegoat, and not involved in the assassination. Jowers testified that Memphis police officer Earl Clark fired the fatal shots. On December 8, 1999, the Memphis jury found Jowers responsible and found that the assassination plot included also "governmental agencies." The jury took less than an hour to find in favor of the King family for the requested sum of $100.

William Pepper is heavily involved in Human Rights Law, for a time convening the International Human Rights Seminar at Oxford University, during which time individuals such as Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, accepted invitations to address the seminar. He lives in the US currently -not primarily- but travels frequently to England.

William Pepper’s lonely journey

Today, June 5th, is the 46th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The circumstances around his death are clear and convincing, and the evidence, including autopsy, ballistics, forensics and eyewitness clearly show that RFK was shot from behind by an unknown gunman (or gunmen) while people wrestled with Sirhan Sirhan in front of him*. There is no doubt about that.

The RFK assassination is perhaps the hardest to swallow, as it seemed at that time that hope died. There was no one else then, and none have stepped forth since to fill his shoes.

William Pepper has been Sirhan’s lawyer since 2007, and is struggling to get evidence into the legal system through an evidentiary hearing. He is blocked by a magistrate. His greatest fear is that Sirhan will be assassinated while in prison before this happens.

Pepper worked for James Earl Ray for 37 years. Ray died in 1998 from Hepatitis C. His was a preventable death – he was effectively killed by the Tennessee legal system when it refused to allow him access to health care. In 1999, having been blocked in all other venues, Pepper took on the family of Martin Luther King as clients, and sued a bar owner named Loyd Jowers (and other unknown conspirators) in Memphis court for the assassination of King. The trial lasted thirty days and over seventy witnesses appeared. The jury’s verdict was that Jowers did indeed participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King along with governmental agencies including the Memphis Police and Fire Departments, the FBI and United States military.

The transcript of that entire trial can be accessed here. Judge for yourself.

Remarkably, aside from a Memphis TV reporter, not one major American news outlet attended the 1999 trial. As Pepper says in the interview that follows, the American news media is “so well controlled” that the trial was not covered and most people don’t even know it took place.

I doubt Pepper is so dumb as to imagine we can have a real investigation of RFK’s murder in this country. We are far too corrupt, and no judge would allow a fair trial. Anyone sitting on the bench has an intuitive sense of where power lies, and knows that messing with the RFK assassination is inherently dangerous. People do not attain such positions without understanding our system. The only objective, then, is to keep the truth alive, as with passage of time lies become official history unless there are vigilant citizens working to expose them.

Below the fold here is a transcript of an interview with William Pepper from May 12 of this year. Again, as you read, please understand that the innocence of Sirhan Sirhan is not in doubt, that the evidence exonerates him in total, and that the whole of this matter is cock-blocked by both our courts and media silence.
_________________________________
*Many suspect, as I do, that Sirhan was firing blanks, since the real assassins were behind Kennedy and might have been hit by real bullets. However, there is no physical evidence to support this.
_________________________________
Host: Len Osanic
Guest: William Pepper, Attorney for Sirhan Sirhan
Date: May 12, 2014, Black Ops Radio

Osanic: Thank you so much for taking time to join me today. This coming June is going to be another anniversary of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. There are a lot of people tuning in. I have been doing the whole month, show after show, with all the various people who have been doing good work in the research, and of course I wanted to start with you.

I guess, highlight what we know about the assassination so many years later, and anything we can do about it, and of course people most likely know that you are handling Sirhan’s appeal. I guess we could start with that and go backwards. What is the latest state of the case?

Pepper: Well, there isn’t a great deal to report in that respect. The magistrate has been sitting on our petition now for going on to a year. He has refused to issue a recommendation to the court for, I guess now the last nine months. He did at one point issue a recommendation, a draft recommendation, and then invited comments, and we delivered and extensive response and comments and he has not moved since then. They changed the judge. We have a new judge. But this case is, of course, in the hands … of the magistrate. This magistrate has for all of these years been successful in avoiding [providing] an opportunity for a new trial, or even an evidentiary hearing which would enable us to put forward all of the new evidence that has surfaced.

So it’s not a happy situation for us, and we are caught in a very difficult situation because magistrates can take whatever time they need in these kinds of situations.

Osanic: I guess you would have to say this is on purpose. They don’t want to make a decision.

Pepper: I think they have a very serious problem. The evidence of Sirhan’s innocence is so overwhelming, and he was so badly represented at the original trial by a counsel who was himself under a pending indictment, a federal indictment, and who did not challenge the state’s ballistic evidence, did not put up any kind of a defense, but effectively just rolled over and allowed the guilty plea and, at that time, the capital punishment sentence to be issued. It was a horrific situation, both in terms of representation, and in terms of the evidence even then, particularly with a focus on the autopsy report that showed that Sirhan was innocent.

We have since done extensive work, bringing Dr. Dan Brown from Harvard, who a specialist in hypnoprogramming and [who] pretty much determined and put forward very strong cogent arguments that Sirhan was, in fact, hypnoprogrammed through the use of hypnotism and chemicals. And we have even, pretty much, now identified the place where that took place and the psychiatric team who were involved in programming him.

So they just don’t want evidence of this sort to see the light of day. By “they” I mean forces that have buried this political assassination and want it to remain underground until Sirhan passes away, presumably, or is assassinated himself in prison.

Osanic: Are you at liberty right now to discuss any of that hypnoprogramming? You said you know the location now …

Pepper: I can’t … anyone can go to the court record and can read our filings which include the statements of Dr. Brown. Those are available.

Osanic: OK. I will make a link. [Click on “read our filings” link at this location.]

Pepper: Yeah, you can make a link to put up on the website. I don’t want to get in to discussing those details. We believe that the whole process took place over a period of about two weeks. There are two missing weeks in the course of his history there. And so we believe that’s when it took place. But in terms of some of the other details, we would like an opportunity to be able to present them before a judge or before a judge and jury. And that’s basically where we are on the case at this point.

Osanic: Going back to the actual event, how did you come to represent Sirhan?

Pepper: I, as you know, have been involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King now for 37 years, and just basically finished the third book, a trilogy of work on that came that is the end of the story as far as that case is concerned, with the degree of detail and evidence that we have now … it’s so strong. I don‘t think there is a political assassination in history that has had the amount of evidence and information unearthed that we have in that case. But I was of course still involved in that case back in 2007 when Larry Peter, who was Sirhan’s counsel at the time, passed away. [I] was approached by people who had an interest in the case and by Sirhan’s brother, and I had assumed, in the King case, that [James Earl] Ray was innocent. I first met him in ’78 and it took me until ’88 to be convinced he was an unknowing patsy.

And I guess the gut reaction was the same in the case of the assassination of Bob Kennedy. But then when I was shown the evidence, I became convinced that that evidence was stronger than I had seen in the King case … of this man’s innocence. I mean, Bob was hit with three bullets from behind, the fourth one went through his shoulder [?pad?], and three of them hit him in the back – two in the back and one behind the ear at powder burn range.

And Sirhan … we have thirteen witnesses who placed him in front of the senator, never ever behind him, and another six who have sworn that they saw his hand pinned to the table – his shooting hand pinned to the table after the second shot. And he kept pulling the trigger with his hand down there but the bullets went all over the place. There’s no way that he could have put three bullets in Bob Kennedy at powder burn range from the rear. And the autopsy report itself is evidence of that.

So I took that case on at that point in time in 2007 and have been involved with it ever since. It’s not an easy matter to crack through the criminal justice system bureaucracy and force these cases to an evidentiary hearing, but that’s basically what we tried to do in the King case. We failed. Of course, James had a liver disease, hepatitis C, and even though I arranged a liver transplant for him at the University of Pittsburgh, Starzl Institute, I was denied the opportunity to take him there in Tennessee, and that of course was the final death sentence that James faced. We were not successful, and what we had to do eventually – I represented the King family – we all totally believed, the family and I believed that James was innocent. That’s why I got involved in that one.

We eventually did a civil trial where we sued one of the perpetrators in civil court in Memphis, and in a three-day trial with over seventy witnesses and all the evidence we had then, in 1999, was put forward. Most Americans – most people – do not know that trial ever took place because the mass media is now so well controlled, being subject to consolidated control, that that trial was not covered and most people don’t even know it took place.

So, we’re stuck in a similar situation with Sirhan. I believe the evidence is very strong and we are still before the court trying to get an evidentiary hearing, at least, so that there can be a record created. If we are denied we can take it up on appeal. If our petition is denied, we of course will go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and push form there. And the outcome can be anyone’s guess.

Osanic: Now what was the item that tipped the scales for you? You said that you kind of assumed that Sirhan may be innocent, but as you dug in to the material you found even more. What would be a point that tipped the scales for you? I mean, for myself, when I heard there were powder burns on the back of his head, I thought that’s crazy – how could you be in front and shot from behind?

Pepper: Yeah, well that’s really the most powerful piece of evidence – the actual physical and ballistics record in the case and the location of the shooter, the actual assassin, in comparison to where Sirhan was, plus the fact that the witnesses saw him in front and that his hand was pinned to the table and then the long sessions, over three years, that Dan Brown spent with him indicating clearly, both under hypnosis and in free recall, that he was effectively set up for this hit, a patsy, and he was controlled by a woman who was placed on the scene for that purpose on that evening.

It’s a cumulative amount of evidence that has come forward. And when you mix it all together and you look at the job that his previous lawyer did, the defense that he had, there is little doubt that the man was railroaded and has been in prison for a crime he didn’t commit – and I imagine are many, many other people. I got involved in this one – I’m not really an assassinations buff or anything but I’ve become involved in this whole phenomenon of political assassination because one goes back and looks at it, looks how it’s been used throughout history, not just in the Untied States in the 60’s, but throughout history, to remove people or leaders who could not be controlled. It’s a pretty persuasive activity for that purpose, and unfortunately, Bob Kennedy was about to be president in most of our views. I had known both Martin King in the last year of his life and Bob Kennedy. I had worked for Bob Kennedy in ’64 when he ran for the senate. I was his Citizens’ Chairman when he ran for the senate in Westchester County. I had a connection with both of them and they were two significant leaders that had to be removed.

Osanic: Fletcher Prouty had a line, he said assassination is a business, and assassination is the business of big business. This is something that would be astounding to people see this pattern you mentioned, removal.

Pepper: I think what we now see, in these assassinations, along of course with that of John Kennedy, which I’ve not gotten involved with or done much work on, or Malcolm X – that these assassinations in particular, one could view them as being prelude to oligarchy. And I think one has emerged following the sixties and into the seventies and up to the present time. It’s the development of an oligarchic state in America. I think representative democracy I is gone, and we’re in a situation where we are truly an oligarchy. And these events have certainly made it possible for this to happen.

That’s where we are. I think Paul Craig Roberts and others have also said that.

Osanic: What are a couple of issues and items of evidence that people should know about that are in this case? You mentioned the idea of hypnoprogramming and this is probably foreign to a lot of people. They may say “I’ve never heard of this before” but there are some of the issues here that people need to know about?

Pepper: Hypnoprogramming is nothing new. It’s not a new tactic or device. It goes back to the agency in developing these guilds back in the fifties some while after being created. It’s an ability to control behavior up to the point of creating assassins whose memories can be wiped clean of things that they have done and who can be controlled by the use of not just hypnotism – that’s where there’s a lot of confusion because you’re not just hypnotizing – but it’s a combination of the use of hypnosis, certainly and electronic invasion as well as chemicals. And the combination of these things has been used in various degrees and percentages for quite a long period of time to control individuals.

So that was evident in this particular case with the particular patsy. It was not used in the King case and there was a different system and style that have been used in that case, obviously equally effective when you can control the means of information, effectively the investigation. The coverup is easy – and the media as well, by the way, that does not get involved in investigative journalism anymore – you control their results and you control history. You rewrite history and you write it for future generations. That is where we are.

In terms of the events in this case, it’s pretty clear that one can just read the autopsy report and get the details on how Bob Kennedy was killed, where the fatal bullet was, how it was fired, how close the pistol was to behind his ear as well as the shots in his back. That is powerful, powerful evidence. So we’re just looking for a chance, obviously, to put it forward and we’ve not gotten there yet, and I don’t know that we will. We struggle. We just hope that he is not killed in prison. That’s a problem.

Osanic: Sandy Serrano spoke of this woman in the polka dot dress. Are we any closer to identification of that person?

Pepper: Yes.

Osanic: OK. So that’s something that would come out in trial.

Pepper: [laughs] it could very well be, yes.

Osanic: That’s excellent news. So, the thing is that you are actually sitting on a large amount of information that exonerates him, and the legal system is actually very reluctant to let this out at all. It would just be another instance of, well, they have been lying to us about this, what else have them been lying to us about?

Pepper: Sure, that is the case. That is certainly the case. We just plug away and hopefully we will get a ruling or recommendation from the magistrate and then a ruling from the judge so we know where we can go. Obviously right now we don’t have it. That’s where we are.

Osanic: Do you have any opinion as to the motive for removal of Bobby Kennedy – he was somebody that was going to make changes, he had mentioned that if elected he would reopen the investigation into his brother’s murder? Do you have any comments about that?

Pepper: Bob Kennedy was somebody who was out of control, for the ruling forces of this society. He was going to reopen the investigation of his brother’s death. He was going to end the war in Vietnam, which would have saved probably another thirty thousand [American] lives if he had gotten in. That’s the additional number we lost between ’68 and when the war ended in ’75. He was going to go probably in a different direction in terms of the economic needs of the masses of people in this country, and would have been a vibrant force for continuation, rejuvenation of democracy.

He was unacceptable, from a whole range of standpoints, and he had to be removed. Los Angeles was the place picked for that to take effect.

Martin King was actually supposed to have been killed in Los Angeles, and they moved that one finally into Memphis. Martin was in Los Angeles, they kept James Earl Ray there for a long time, and then eventually they switched. I guess, logically, you couldn’t have two major assassinations in the same city. They had to change locales, and Memphis was always high on the list because of [former FBI agent and Director of Memphis Police and Fire Departments Frank C.] Holliman, who had run Hoover’s office and who had been special agent in charge for a period of time, and then who was returned as director of police and fire.

Memphis was a very good place this type of activity, as well as was Los Angeles, witness the official history (laughs).

Osanic: You mentioned this new book is about to be released you’ve just wrapped it up, so I’d be very interested to have you one another time to specifically talk about that. But I guess as we wrap up today, maybe wrap up Bobby Kennedy, and what he meant America at that time, and this assassination by this unknown person who turns out not to have any memory at all of the event, is – if you’re from another country you just scratch your head and wonder how can this go on?

Pepper: I think that’s true. Very difficult situation. Bob Kennedy was, in my view, one of the last hopes that could have been a force for democracy and justice in this land. When they took him from us, as they took Martin from us, we were just increasingly set back. That’s why I think that those sage voices who see us in oligarchic situation are probably correct at this point in time. It’s likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.

On that sad note, that’s pretty much where I see us.

Osanic: There doesn’t seem to be anybody on the horizon that is even a glimmer of hope.

Pepper: No.

Osanic: Catastrophic colossal letdown of Barack Obama – the only person on the horizon is a Hillary Clinton [this is snark], the whole thing is … I’ll just leave it like that. I don’t know what to say about the state of our world. Thank you so much for your time and effort trying to do the right thing, to expose these assassinations of the 1960’s – at least if we learn from them, what is the state of research, what are the facts that are known today, and we’ll figure what we can do about that, but for now just try to make an effort to bring those responsible at least to the information age so people can realize that this is what did happen. And you certainly did that with the trial in Memphis where you brought out so much information. You can’t do anything about it now, like you mentioned, with James Earl Ray passed away, the one dollar settlement – it’s not about money. Here’s what happened.

The same thing with Bobby Kennedy and Sirhan sitting in a jail cell not having memory of it, gunshots from different directions, the evidence destroyed, maybe the [Polish reporter Stanislaw] Pruszynski tape, that will offer additional evidence as well to the number of gunshots fired. I think the timing of the shots too is very important piece of evidence.

Pepper: The direction of the shots also. That scientific study showed not only that there were about thirteen shots fired, but that they came from two different directions. That’s very important to understand. Sirhan was firing one direction, but the actual shots killed Bob were fired in exactly the opposite direction, since Bob was facing Sirhan. All of those things would be fully aired if we had opportunity to get into a court room.

So anything anyone can do to run to the federal district court and the magistrate in Los Angeles urging that we be given that opportunity would be greatly appreciated.

Osanic: How can someone do that?

Pepper: Well, they can write. They can write letters. Magistrate does not like to receive letters. I’m not really technically supposed to encourage people to bombard the magistrate, but there’s nothing to prevent people from demonstrating, making contact from actually trying to get a hold of a link – this is where you can help, to do a link to all of our filings so that anyone who is interested can follow.

by Dr. William F Pepper Esq

William Pepper was James Earl Ray’s lawyer in the trial for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., and even after Ray’s conviction and death, Pepper continues to adamantly argue Ray’s innocence. This myth-shattering exposé is a revised, updated, and heavily expanded volume of Pepper’s original bestselling and critically acclaimed book Orders to Kill, with twenty-six years of additional research included. The result reveals dramatic new details of the night of the murder, the trial, and why Ray was chosen to take the fall for an evil conspiracy—a government-sanctioned assassination of our nation’s greatest leader. The plan, according to Pepper, was for a team of United States Army Special Forces snipers to kill King, but just as they were taking aim, a backup civilian assassin pulled the trigger.

In The Plot to Kill King, Pepper shares the evidence and testimonies that prove that Ray was a fall guy chosen by those who viewed King as a dangerous revolutionary. His findings make the book one of the most important of our time—the uncensored story of the murder of an American hero that contains disturbing revelations about the obscure inner-workings of our government and how it continues, even today, to obscure the truth.

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW WELCOMES

THE LEGENDARY FEE WAYBILL OF 'THE TUBES' 

Born John Waldo Waybill in Omaha, Nebraska. The name Fee came by way of a bass player who thought Waybill looked like the King of Fiji, pictured on the cover of a National Geographic magazine, and began calling him “Fiji” which eventually was shortened to Fee.

Fee was raised in Scottsdale, Arizona where he sang and acted in elementary school assemblies which led to musical comedies in high school and then on to Arizona State University as a drama major. 

After moving to the mountains of northern Arizona to find his muse and living on brown rice and imagination he was enticed, without much difficulty, into being a roadie for the “Red White and Blues Band” on their way to San Francisco to make it big in the music business. Fee started singing background vocals and eventually the band combined with another Arizona band to become “The Tubes” in 1973 with Fee as frontman and lead singer.

The Tubes recorded ten LPs for A&M and Capitol Records from 1974 to 1985 and were headliners on their first tour, with 8 dancers, 7 band members, 6, 32” onstage TV monitors, wild acts and and entourage of 35 including a pyrotechnic advisor, a video supervisor and two costume mistresses. 

In 1984, Fee recorded his first solo album “Read My Lips” and collaborated for the first time with Richard Marx. The pair has gone on to co-write over thirty songs for their own projects as well as for other artists.

Fee left The Tubes after the 1985-86 tour to write and act and take a break from 14 years of touring. Moving to Los Angeles in 1986, Fee has since written lyrics for movie soundtracks as well as musical artists such as The Tubes, Richard Marx, Kenny Loggins, Toto, Steve Lukather, Pat Leonard, Vixen, Emerson Drive and others. Since 1991, Fee has won six BMI Performance Popularity Awards in recognition of his outstanding songwriting.

His acting credits include Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Ladies and Gentleman the Fabulous Stains, Private Eye, Bouncers, SCTV, MTV guest VJ appearances, along with three books on tape and various voice-overs on commercials. 

1994 brought The Tubes back together with Fee for a long tour of Europe and a welcome reunion. The band has continued to play their unique brand of rock and roll, adding new songs to the mix of the already popular.

“Don’t be Scared by These Hands” was released in 1996, Fee’s second solo CD, followed in 1997 by the eleventh Tubes release, “Genius of America”, the twelfth, Tubes World Tour 2001 and latest CD and DVD release in 2004, The Tubes Wild West Show. 

Fee continues to live in Los Angeles. He enjoys scuba diving, water skiing and hiking with his dog. He is also an avid polo player and owns four horses. He supports animal rights causes and participates in a number of celebrity charity events eachyear including Richard Marxs’ CF charity show, Alice Coopers’ Solid Rock Foundation Golf Tournament and ESPNs’ annual charity golf tournament. His interests also include Mayan ruins, history and art of the American West and Bikram’s hatha yoga. 

Fee is also a member (aka “Barnie”) of The Barn Theatre in Augusta MI, the oldest for profit summer stock theatre in the US, and has reprised his role as Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show six times. 

Since Fee’s first tenure at the Barn Theatre in 1999 he has revived the theatrical presentation of The Tubes show including props and more than ten costume and character changes in the current show. After a busy summer schedule Fee is thrilled to take a break and reprise his role, for the 6th time, as Frank Furter at the Barn. Fee says, “It’s like a vacation for me to come back to The Barn to do Rocky again, it’s so much fun and I feel so welcome. I guess old “Barnies” never die they just start stumbling over their lines, and high heels”.

In July 2015, The Tubes started a 40th anniversary European tour, including dates in Germany, Sweden and the UK. Dates in the U.S. followed.

Some of The Tubes biggest hits include …"Don't Touch Me There" "White Punks on Dope" "Prime Time" "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" "Talk to Ya Later" "Gonna Get It Next Time" "She's a Beauty" "Tip of My Tongue" "The Monkey Time" and "Piece by Piece."

The Tubes continue touring the U.S and Europe in 2016. 

The Tubes Current Band Members:
    Fee Waybill
    Roger Steen
    Prairie Prince
    Rick Anderson
    David Medd

ALBERT CASTIGLIA, BLUES GUITARIST, SINGER AND SONGWRITER

​ IS THE SPECIAL GUEST ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW 

Albert Castiglia arrived on the International radar after Buddy Guy's iconic harp-blower, Junior Wells, heard the young bluesman sing and invited him into his solo band for several world tours. The gig was a shop-window, and though Wells sadly died in 1998, Albert stayed busy, joining the great Atlanta vocalist, Sandra Hall, for national tours in the late-'90s, while he held his own in onstage jams with artists ranging from Pinetop Perkins to John Primer. He has been named "Best Blues Guitarist" by Miami New Times, the respected alternative music magazine and honored by Roots Music Report with a Top Blues Album of 2011 and 2012. Castiglia was born in New York and raised in Miami to an Italian father and Cuban mother and combines all influences to create his unique style of modern day blues with a traditional core.

After five acclaimed albums and decades of blazing blues-rock shows, you might argue that you've already made his acquaintance. But by the Florida bandleader's own admission, Big Dog is the first release to truly get under his skin. "I just wanted to make a record that best represented who I am, as a musician, singer, guitarist and live artist," explains Albert. "With every release, I've come close, but this time, producer Mike Zito helped me nail it. He and label boss Thomas Ruf wanted me to make a raw, rocking blues record. That's what I'm about. That's who I am..."

Released in 2016 on Ruf Records, Big Dog confirms that Albert is a different breed to the lightweights and arrivistes who dominate the modern music scene. At 46, he's slugged his way into contention the old-fashioned way: writing from his heart, bleeding into his performances, eating up the road. "I have no illusions about what kind of guitar player and singer I am," he states. "My style is raw, unadulterated, crude and heavy. I don't have the technical proficiency of other players, but I play what's in my heart and what I feel at that moment. When I write songs, they have to mean something."

Recorded at Dockside Studios, Louisiana, there's not an ounce of fat on Big Dog's eleven tracks, with Albert darting between self-penned originals, cherished covers and co-writes with some of his closest compadrés. "You could smell the mojo in the sweet Southern air," reflects Albert, "and you could feel the mojo in the recording studio. We had a studio-savvy band with an incredible amount of soul, and Mike's role as producer was the wildcard."

In 2014, Ruf debut Solid Ground was declared "smouldering and intense" by The Blues Magazine. Now, Big Dog ups the ante, offering eleven new songs to get your teeth into, and supported by a full international tour that promises bark and bite. If you thought you knew Albert Castiglia, you don't know the half of it. "I think this album is a major game-changer for me," he says. "No matter what happens after Big Dog's release, I'll always be proud of it. When we tour this album, you can expect a balls to the wall, rockin' blues show. Expect to get what I've always given you - my 100%..."

Official Website: http://albertcastiglia.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Albert-Castiglia-Band-108882649201932/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AlbertCastiglia

Derrick Jensen has been called the "poet-philosopher of the ecological movement."

Derrick is the author of "The End Game" and several other eco-minded books.

He is also co-founder of Deep Green Resistance, an environmental organization committed to taking strong action to prevent the destruction of our planet.

JAY BRADLEY

I am an Anti-Aging, Wellness, and Lifestyle coach in Los Angeles, originally from Canada. My passion in life is helping others to LIVE longer, LOOK younger & FEEL better! I believe that in order for all of us to look and feel our best, we must start from the inside out by releasing fears, blocks, and obstacles while also taking full control of the outside…our health, lifestyle, and overall appearance.

Life hasn’t always been easy for me but I have learned to turn my challenges into opportunities for growth and I use this attitude with each of my clients along with the latest products, services, and techniques for a full Body, Mind, and Spirit approach.

I have spent many years as an international model, actor, fitness trainer, food and health industry expert, massage therapist, and energy worker and have combined all of these experiences to help YOU create zest for life while looking and feeling your best!

We can all live with more happiness, health, balance, inspiration, and vibrancy. It is my mission to share my expertise with you inspiring you to live a stellar life, put a smile on your face, de-clutter your world, discover your personal style, get lean and toned, create a harmonious home environment, and experience fewer wrinkles while you’re at it!

JON GARTNER

Jon Gartner, or Jon G., was born in Detroit and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. He studied Chinese, Linguistics, and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He started working as a ‘digital nomad,’ editing and translating Chinese Academic work and traveling in Asia and South America, meeting shaman, monks, and yogis, and learning about the healing arts—all the while bringing a guitar along and writing songs. After moving to New York and working for National Geographic, Jon began exploring the powers of meditation and Raja yoga. The songs that started coming out were a combination of the rap records he grew up listening to and the esoteric knowledge he had picked up in his journeys—it is Alt-Folk Swag-Rap.

Four years later, Jon has labored over learning a mixing deck and recording studio and is able to share his songs with the general public at a commercially competitive level. His first release, The Demonstration EP, is completely written, produced, mixed, mastered, and published by Jon, and has the confidence of southern rap records with the spirit of protest found in 60s folk records, combined with the worldly knowledge of his travels and some fancy guitar work.

Guy McPherson is an energetic speaker and talented moderator. He has been labeled an anarchist and eco-terrorist by senior members of the Obama administration. He readily pleads guilty to the former and probably also the latter, depending upon how it is defined.

McPherson has appeared before countless audiences to speak about the two primary consequences of our fossil-fuel addiction: global climate change and energy decline. Because these phenomena impact every aspect of life on Earth, his talks reach a wide variety of audiences such as universities, associations, nonprofits, and numerous educational and scientific symposia and conferences. Selected presentations are available at McPherson’s YouTube channel or, more recently, Nature Bats Last’s YouTube channel, but each presentation is uniquely prepared for the specific audience. A host’s perspective in the wake of Guy’s departure.

Guy is professor emeritus of natural resources and the environment at the University of Arizona, where he taught and conducted research for twenty award-winning years. His scholarly work, which has for many years focused on conservation of biological diversity, has produced more than a dozen book and hundreds of articles. He lives in an off-grid, straw-bale house where he puts into practice his lifelong interest in sustainable living by fully engaging with his rural human community.

Guy developed a comprehensive set of durable living arrangements in response to the ongoing collapse of the industrial economy and global climate change. He shares property in a rural area developed specifically to provide abundant supplies of food and water as well as maintaining comfortable body temperature in the absence of fossil fuels. He is available for consultation if you are serious about doing the same.

Because the topics of his presentations sometimes induce despair, Guy became a certified grief-recovery specialist in January 2014. The certification came from The Grief Recovery Institute.

Guy McPherson on Extinction Dialogs: How To Live With Death In Mind

Amena Ashkar, the granddaughter and great granddaughter of other Nakba survivors, who has known no other home than refugee camps.  Amena is here with Mariam, now 86 years old and respectfully known as Umm Akram (mother of Akram), has spent the last 68 years in crowded, makeshift refugee camps in Lebanon. She has raised three generations in the same camps, all waiting to return to their home in Palestine. She has lived through five Israeli invasions of Lebanon, as well as the 1976 Tel al-Zaatar camp massacre that killed more than 2000 of the refugees there.

On May 14, 1948, as Zionist leader David Ben Gurion was proclaiming a Jewish state in Palestine, his heavily armed troops seized the ancient Palestinian Arab town of al-Zeeb and drove out most of the inhabitants. 18-year-old Mariam Fathallah was one of them. She and her young husband Mohammed Atayah and their families were forced to flee to Lebanon, along with most of the town. By the end of the year, the 4,000 year old community had been leveled to the ground. More than half the Arab Palestinians in Palestine were killed or expelled and more than half of the cities, towns and villages of Palestine were made to disappear, a crime that Palestinians call al-Nakba (the Catastrophe).

Amena and Umm Akram have a different message from other Palestinians.  They are among six million Palestinians not living in Palestine – more than those who are.  They are citizens of no government at all, not even the Palestinian Authority.  They are not living under Israeli occupation. Israel does not allow them to visit their homes, much less live there.  Amena has never met an Israeli, and Umm Akram not since 1948. As exiles, they have a different perspective from Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the part of Palestine that became Israel.

MICHAEL RIVERO is the webmaster of whatreallyhappened and host of the What Really Happened radio shows on the Republic Broadcasting Network. The whatreallyhappened website is now in its 18th year.

Formerly with NASA, Michael transitioned his image processing skills (along with a brief stint as an actor) into the then-new motion picture computer animation field and has worked on films such as "Star Trek", "The Day After Tomorrow", and has supervised visual effects on "Brainscan", "LOST", and "Hawaii Five-0". Michael has taken a sabbatical from film work to focus all his efforts on peace activism.

Michael's foray into blogging began before the word was even invented, and happened almost by accident when he spotted a suspicious photograph being broadcast on ABC news in 1994 related to the death of White House deputy Council Vincent Foster.

Since that sudden beginning, Michael's website has expanded to cover diverse topics including the JFK assassination, the accidental shoot-down of TWA 800, election fraud, health issues, Saddam's non-existent nuclear weapons, 9-11, the economy, and of course, the lies used to trick the United States into wars of conquest on Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Iran.

Michael resides in Hawaii with his wife Claire, who is a composer and creates much of theme music used on the What Really Happened radio show.