I was dismayed that you lumped the JFK assassination in with "silly conspiracies that Americans like to believe." Just because some conspiracy theories are absurd doesn't mean that all of them are.

This is not the Mel Gibson movie, where he didn't know which of his conjectures was real. The evidence of multiple shooters on 11/22/63 is overwhelming. Minimum of 4 bullets, at least 3 of which came from different directions, fired within seconds of each other by one guy with a bolt-action rifle? Impossible. Even a congressional investigation (1968) concluded that there was a conspiracy, though they gave up trying to get past the CIA/FBI/Dallas Police stonewall.

I'd love to discuss this is depth with you, because you're certainly smart enough to get it--I can't believe you never questioned the Warren Report mythology. But I don't want this to get tediously long.

Rachel,

I watch your show because you are the brightest, most eloquent host on TV. Tonight you spent 13+ minutes pointing to the folly of the birthers who are living in a fact free zone, listening only to those who will stoke their racism. Unfortunately, you swept those of us who question 9/11 into the same category of delusional zealots. You could not be more wrong.

There is voluminous empirical evidence that the official story of the collapse of WTC 1, 2 & 7 could not be true - the laws of physics do not allow it. In order to destroy such large buildings, at near free-fall speed, (and in the case of 1 & 2, reduce them to dust) you would need massive amounts of external energy. This isn't wild speculation, it is what the laws of physics demand. This doesn't lay blame. It questions HOW this could happen.

Anecdotal evidence from the day shows repeated reference to the many massive explosions felt in the buildings before their final destruction. Both on-the-street interviews and news coverage on that day continually refer to the massive explosions. The talking heads of the day called them controlled demolitions and opined on the need to attack the underlying structure of the buildings with explosives in order to bring down large buildings. Building 7 is the most extraordinary - a 47 story building falling neatly into its own footprint in less than 10 seconds. Not hit by a plane. Just fell into a pile of rubble late on the afternoon of 9/11. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4556787288866368337#

You are a thorough and meticulous journalist so it surprises me that you have not taken the time to at least do a cursory investigation of the available information and you do yourself a disservice by remaining willfully ignorant. Even more, hammering on the willful ignorance of the birthers while you exhibit the same attitude to the questions surrounding 911, makes you appear foolish. Given the sincerity and devotion to accuracy that you portray, when a serious investigation is done on 9/11 and the truth is revealed, you will be overwhelmed not just by the horror of the truth, but with a sense of remorse which will shake you to your core.

Please, take 30 minutes to look at some of the video records such as: http://911blogger.com/news/2011-04-27/911-explosive-eyewitness-testimony These are the words of people who have just lived this trauma and their understanding that these buildings were destroyed by explosives is unmistakable.

Please, Rachel, watch this, if for no other reason than to satisfy yourself that your beliefs are correct. I doubt that you can watch and listen to these people and not acknowledge that there were explosives involved. Perhaps that will spur your need to investigate to be certain that your beliefs are well-founded.

Steve Dondanville

Check out the Whois listing for the domain name "60plus.org" and you'll have a starting point for discovering where the money is coming from.

Hint:

Registrant Name:Domain Registrations
Registrant Organization:Gen-X Strategies
Registrant Street1:Post Office Box 58
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Woodbridge
Registrant State/Province:VA
Registrant Postal Code:22194
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.7036342432
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.7037831310
Registrant FAX Ext.:

Rachel, you are the one newscaster who is up to the task of presenting a technical distinction, perhaps a subtle distinction, in a way that makes it clear and also makes clear its significance.

Please do NOT join the rest of the media in calling the document Pres Obama revealed today the "long form birth certificate." It is NOT. It is only the HOSPITAL certificate, which has no legal standing. (When Trump waved his "birth certificate" around on TV, that was his hospital certificate too.). You cannot get so much as a driver's license with a hospital certificate. (Guess how I know.)

The LEGAL birth certificate, the one issued by the state, the one that proves citizenship, is the one Obama posted on his website in 2008. THAT is why he, very reasonably, ignored requests for his "birth certificate." It was already available. The hospital certificate was legally meaningless. And Hawaii does not have a "long form."

To ignore this distinction, to accept birther terminology, to call this "new" document a "long form birth certificate," is to turn Newt Gingrich's shameless "What took him so long?" into a legitimate question.

Even if you do not take this on as an issue on your show -- and probably it is not worth it -- PLEASE do not continue to call the legally vacuous hospital certificate a "long form" birth certificate -- as if it were in fact what the birthers have been calling for, as if their call were legitimate.

And would you speak to Ed and Lawrence?

In gratitude and huge admiration,

Kathe in Wisconsin

Please set up interviews w/ Capt. Porter and Col. Mykleby about their Strategic Narrative by Mr. Y. It is brilliant and worthy of questions that delve into the specifics behind their general concepts. I see much of what the President has outlined in their work and wonder that he hasn't read it as it seems to reflect his goals and philosophy. It will be a hard sell to those who want to see a return to the days of old w/ all its traditions and practices that reinforce might. Fascinating to see their ideas articulated so clearly and congruent with our national values. I wonder at the r esponse the Bush administration and all the neo-cons would have had if it had been available to them. I fear they would have buried it. Please pursue the ideas expressed in the narrative.

I'm now convinced that we should just leave Afghanistan. No one wants us there. Hamid Karzai is our enemy and only likes the US money. The people there will have to try and fend for themselves to fix their country. I say we put an embargo on them and leave, only offering humanitarian support to those who can reach safe locations. We're too spread out, surrounded by enemies who smile in your face just before they kill you. It's a costly war in both life and money. It's something we can not fix until the people there decide they want it fixed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, even though I'm just a non-Washington, non-political professional - raising a billion dollars will not be enough for Obama to win re-election.

With the stakes of the Office of the President set the boundaries, a far more critical point of power than holding either the Senate or House, the GOP and its financiers will spend 3-4x that of Obama in 2012 - especially with the political head-winds we're seeing accumulate against them.

Not only will Obama's and the DNC's drive for Presidential race cash dry-up funds for down ticket candidates, but the lesson that the left needs to internalize now is that the 2012 elections will be one of shaped by 2 radically different economic models.  Obama and the Democrats will operate within the framework of legacy economics, the science of resource allocation in a world of scarcity.

The GOP will operate outside of that framework, rendered obsolete by the Roberts Court, and will instead experiment with a new form of economic model - one of true abundance where there is no concern for or constraint enforced by resource scarcity.

Everything we thought we knew about the economics of political campaigns will, definitively, be invalid in the most formal and obvious of ways as of Nov 7, 2012.  To be forewarned is to be forearmed.  And you are, Rachel, ringing the bell.  But, to paraphrase Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) from "Jaws", "you're gonna' need a bigger bell".

Rachel,

On the web version of your show, there is a commercial by ExxonMobil.

Is this a commercial for hydraulic fracturing?

Hugo Van Hove

Long before Obama could have gotten elected I gave birth to two bi-racial children.

All this racism talk is simply because Democrats don't dare speak of his policies, he has run this country into the biggest mess it's ever seen, all the time telling us all how he was the only one who could fix it. No one can ask a question about him or they are a racist. I think I know a little more about racism than many of you do and I really wanted a bi-racial or black President. However, I soon realized this guy has no idea how to do it. Democrats, rather than deal intellectually with the people or the issues will just maginalize the people. Watch not one person will have a civilized, less than hate filled answer (if they have one at all) to this comment.

Rachel,

I want to add a few things to your assessment of the threat to US trainers in Afghanistan.

- The incident yesterday was the regrettable but predictable result of a dispute between a Afghan and his mentor. For what ever reason, the Afghan officer decided to react violently. I do not know the history between the mentors and this officer but I can tell you that some mentors have very bad relationships with their Afghan counterparts. Blame goes both ways. In the US this would be classified as workplace violence.

- The incident earlier this month in the 201st Corps likely targeted US advisors. The Taliban claimed responsibility but they often make claims on everything.

- The incident at the Ministry of Defense was targeting the Afghan Leadership. It came very close to succeeding in killing very senior members. The perpetrator had all the necessary documentation to get very close to very senior people.

- Of much more concern are the recent attacks on facilities in Kabul. The government is losing control of its capital. If it cant control Kabul, how can it control the rest of the country?

If the Taliban are behind the incidents at 201st Corps and MoD they have achieved their goals. Much of the trust built over the last 2 years between mentors and Afghans has been damaged. We are back to separating from counterparts due to lack of trust. The Army in particular had made great strides building trust and 8 areas were recently turned over to Afghan control. Now much of that progress has been reversed.

Training is the only way out of here. We must give the Afghans the tools to stand on their own. Unfortunately, the main hinderance to independence is the senior leadership of the Afghan Government. Corruption is so pervasive that there is not even an effort to hide it. President Kharzi gave a speech to ANA Generals that essentially encouraged corruption. In the same speech he denigrated the US and said the ANA could defeat the US in a "fair fight." Junior leaders in the ANA see the Generals stealing everything they can and wonder why they are trying so hard. Gasoline, ammunition, weapons, vehicles are all being sold to the highest bidder - often the Taliban.

Remove the corruption and the ANA could be effective in less than a year. Instead the fighting will continue because the corruption continues. Those with their hands in the cookie jar have no incentive for this war to end and are doing everything they can to ensure it doesn't. As long as we are unwilling to remove, by force if necessary, the corrupt individuals, we will not succeed. If we are not going to play to win, we should leave now. The outcome will be no different until we stop the corruption.

I justed wanted to say Thank you for reporting the trurth.

Check out this Video

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2011/04/28/leo-berman-is-still-a-birther-still/comment-page-1/#comment-158517

I agree; however, it may very well be that some states will abandon their idea of a 'Birther' law, including Gov. Jindal who has announced some day ago that he would sign such a bill.

As a fan of your show, I'm puzzled. While you have rightly criticised Fox and CNN for their participation in the birther carnival I have heard no criticism of your own network. NBC, your parent co., continues to hire a racist and allow him to use that racism to promote his show, choosing the almighty dollar over doing the right thing. Many on air personalities have lost their jobs for racist comments which do not come close to the vulgarity of what Trump is doing.

Wil Donnelly

York, PA

I'll bet, if you iron it, it says "Kenya" in invisible ink.

"...Republicans brought a grenade" and are boasting on it. [link rated 'L' for language]

i realized watching the show, Citizens United is abbreviated 'CU' as in 'see you later, democratic America!'

i'm not really sure it's right to lump whether you belive ETs have visited Earth as a conspiracy any more than it would to belive Jesus died on the cross as one. it's just a general belief. now, if you believe some crashed in Roswell in '46 and the govt has been covering it up, that's different, more specific.

maybe somewhat similarly, i'm not sure that birtherism is a racket, per se. sure, WND makes money off of it, but that's kinda just good capitalism -- grifty capitalism -- in expoliting something that already exists. it's at least not a racket in the way that, say, Newt Gingrich's business awards or exploration committee is one.