James DiEugenio

One last point before I depart, the guy who has been doing some exceptional research on the Tippit case right now is Milo Reech over at Deep Politics. As far as the crime scene witnesses, he has gone beyond anyone, including McBride. Take a peek if you want to see what state of the art is.

But this has all been give over at length. By me in my essay, "The TIppit Case in the New Millennium" and in McBride's book on the TIppit case, Into the Nightmare. The ballistics in the Tippit case stink to high heaven. From my essay. Hill reported that one of the shells at the scene indicated “that the suspect is armed with an automatic .38 rather than a pistol.” This was shortly after another Dallas cop described the man escaping the scene—who did not match Oswald’s description—as being armed with an automatic. (Garrison, p. 198) Michael Griffith wrote in a review of Dale Myer's book about the Tippit case that, in 1986, Hill admitted he had picked up one of the casings for examination This is important because the shells are marked with ‘.38 AUTO’ at the base. And Hill said he specifically looked on the bottom. As Garrison went on to explain, an automatic is clip loaded from its handle and its spring action ejects cartridge cases from the spent round. A revolver keeps the cartridge shells in the chamber as the turret rotates to the next round. As several authors have shown, including Garrison, it is hard to believe that experienced policemen could mistake an automatic handgun and ammo for a revolver. (For a telling visual presentation of this key point, see Robert Groden’s book Absolute Proof, p. 298) Especially since the Dallas police used .38 Special ammo and the shells were marked at the bottom. (see again Simpich, “Jerry Hill’s Lies”) This is an important point to recall as we progress through the ballistics evidence, and later, the issue of possession of the weapon. Of the bullets taken from Tippit’s body, three are Winchester Western manufactured and copper-coated. The last is a lead bullet made by Remington-Peters. As Garrison noted, this seemed to suggest that two men might have fired at Tippit. (Garrison, p. 199) But further, the shells did not match the bullets. Two of the shells were made by Remington and two by Winchester. (Garrison, p. 201) This has led some to think that perhaps there was a shot that missed and a shell that was not recovered. The House Select Committee on Assassination suggested this but labeled it as speculation. (McBride, p. 256) But the automatic/revolver dispute and the mismatching of the manufacturers and the ammo is only the beginning of the problems with the ballistics evidence. On the day of the shooting, the police made out an inventory of the evidence found at the scene. There was no mention of cartridge cases of any kind. (Garrison, p. 200) Moreover, it is also standard police procedure to send the bullets and shells to the FBI lab the day of the crime to have them identified and matched to the weapon. In the Tippit case, the authorities sent only one bullet to the Bureau. The police said this was the only projectile recovered from the victim’s body. (Joseph McBride, Into the Nightmare, p. 244) The FBI could not match this bullet to the weapon allegedly taken from Oswald later at the Texas Theater. And further, that bullet was described by the FBI as “so badly mutilated that there is not sufficient individual microscopic characteristics present for identification purposes.” (WC 24, p. 263) There was a complicating factor to this issue. As Henry Hurt explained in Reasonable Doubt, and John Armstrong amplified on in Harvey and Lee, the Smith and Wesson .38 revolver in evidence had been altered by its purchaser George Rose and Company, located in Los Angeles. The company sent 500 of these guns to its gunsmith in Van Nuys, California. Among the modifications made were the re-chambering of the cylinder so the weapon could accommodate a .38 Special cartridge. This altered chamber made for a slight slippage upon firing and thus did not allow the usual markings to be placed on the bullet. (Armstrong, p. 482; Hurt, p. 143) When they could not get a match on the first bullet, in March of 1964, the Commission sent FBI technician Cortlandt Cunningham to Dallas to find the other bullets. The police said they had misfiled them. But they turned up in the dead files, a point that the Commission tried to paper over. (McBride, p. 254) Predictably, four months later, the same thing happened: the bullets did not match. (Garrison, p. 199) Thus, the emphasis was now on the shells. It was not until six days after the police sent the first bullet to the FBI that they finally marked the evidence inventory sheet with four shells. These the FBI were able to match to the weapon. The delay in getting the shells on the inventory list and the failure to send all the ammunition exhibits promptly to the FBI has led some to suspect that the police fiddled with the evidence—to the extent that it suggests that the original weapon perhaps really was an automatic. This is not at all a critic’s meandering speculation. Warren Commissioner Hale Boggs himself expressed similar reservations about the delay. Boggs asked Commission counsel Melvin Eisenberg, “What proof do you have though that these are the bullets?” (McBride, p. 258) But even that is not the end to the problems with the Tippit ballistics. Benavides had found two cartridge cases at the scene. He handed them to Officer J. M . Poe. Hill told Poe to mark the shells with his initials. His marks were not evident when the policeman inspected the exhibits for the Commission. (Hurt, pp. 153-54) Further, when the witnesses who found the other two shells were asked by the FBI to identify them as the ones they originally recovered, they could not. (WC 24, p. 414) One would think it could not get any worse. But, in the JFK case, it usually does. When McBride interviewed Detective Jim Leavelle in 1992, the crusty old cop tried to put the whole issue of police identification to rest by throwing a giant curveball at it. He now said that neither Poe, nor the man Poe gave the shells to, Sgt. Barnes, ever marked the cartridge cases at all. (McBride, p. 256) Consider the ramifications of this charge. First, Poe is now a xxxx. But by labeling him as such, it attempts to rid the Dallas Police of the substitution of evidence accusation. What it really does, however, as McBride notes—as if it had not been done already—is it makes the whole “chain of custody on the shells highly suspect.” (McBride, p. 256) PS To make it worse, the Davis sisters could not certify the shells they turned over when the FBI visited them later.

Paul: its worse than that. There is no evidence that Oswald ever picked up that handgun. But even worse: there is no evidence the FBI ever went to REA to gather the evidence for the transaction, or do witness interviews. The obvious question for most normal thinkers would be : Why would the FBI not do that? Answer: because they knew what the results would be. No one would be able to ID Oswald.

I just read a summary of his testimony and you are correct.

Ron, The other guy I was thinking of for the front temple shot was Custer.

Chesser's presentation seems impressive to me. Sorry I did not that is person. He does a comparative analysis of the images and then does a qualitative based on the sum total. Very interesting about his conclusion of the frontal shot.

Who is Quentin Schwinn? Never heard of him.

This is what I mean about him being an Establishment darling. His books are limited hangouts. Therefore, he gets a lot of exposure. But anyone who still thinks Halberstam's book is the guideline to American involvement in Vietnam is either an idiot or a sell out. Caro is a sell out.

This is all over the media now. It made the LA Times, The Daily Beast and SF Chronicle today.

Caro thinks the Best and the Brightest has held up over the years? This is why I say that Caro is Establishment all the way. In my last PPoint, called Vietnam Declassified: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, I show with new evidence why Halberstam is not just wrong, but I actually think he either lied, or knew the info he was getting was false but accepted it anyway. It is one thing to make a mistake. We all do. But then you are an alleged chronicler and you get something the exact opposite of how it happened, then there is a problem there. That betrays an agenda. Halberstam's agenda was that he was a hawk at the time JFK was trying to get out. Halberstam wanted more direct American intervention, not less. Just as his idol Jean Paul Vann did. Halberstam was so rabid that JFK tried to get him rotated out of Vietnam. The NY Times refused. So Kennedy is killed. Halberstam, Sheehan and Vann get their wish of direct US intervention and loads of it. It turns into an epic disaster. In other words Kennedy was right and they were all wrong. Does Halberstam admit any of this? Try and find anywhere that he does. The Best and the Brightest is over 600 ages of filler nonsense, you will not find Halberstam fessing up to his past hawk days or Kennedy's withdrawal plan. Halberstam was a cover up artist, plain and simple. At Gary Aguilar's December salon up in San Francisco I said this in public and I stated I would say it if Halberstam was still alive and even in that room, and dare him to sue me. Interestingly, after I made that address, Jonathan Marshall, one of these parapolitics/deep politics Peter Scott fellows, said with typical arrogance words to the effect that I was saying Kennedy was a peacenik. No Mr. Marshall. I was just presenting the newest facts on the matter. If you don't like them that is your problem. Kennedy was not going to be stupid enough to repeat the experience that he saw the French humiliated with. I don't think that takes a lot of insight. But I will say this, what LBJ did takes lot of ignorance and stubbornness. And that part if pretty obvious.

There are even more witnesses to this right forehead or right temple wound. If you collect them its about five I think. PS I made a mistake, its Tom Robinson not Charles Robinson.

Gene, I beg to disagree with you about McCord. I fail to see how a guy like that deserves a measure of respect. I look at McCord as one of these extreme right-wingers who would do almost anything Helms wanted him to do. No matter if it broke the law or not. As I wrote in my obituary, McCord even lied about his role with Phillips in the anti FPCC campaign, and this was just a few months before he died. To his own minister! As one can see by reading Jim Hougan's Secret Agenda, or my article, it is quite difficult to explain his behavior the night of the break in any benign way. And does anyone who is a security consultant not sterilize the hotel rooms, and then leaves the hotel keys with the burglars? The strongest evidence of this I think is Angelo Lano's testimony for the Nixon Library interview. He goes even further and says that Schoffler, the cop, was tipped off. I did not go into that but Jim Hougan has a fascinating appendix in his book on that issue. If you have not read Secret Agenda, then you really should.

OMG, the NY Times, the W Post must have mentioned us. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/obituaries/james-mccord-watergate-dead.html Again, thanks to Rob and Stephanie, Steve Jones and Jerry Policoff.

Here is another one https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/james-mccord-watergate-conspirator-who-linked-break-in-to-white-house-dies-at-93/

Well, it took over two weeks but its finally out there and they mention K and K. https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/james-mccord-watergate-richard-nixon-impeachment/2019/04/18/id/912397/ BTW, did the Washington Post mention us also?

Thanks as I was unaware of that. There is no transcript of her in the ARRB files? Do you know who interviewed her?

BTW, I have always found Charles Robinson credible on this also. If you recall, he was the mortician sent over by Grawler's that night. After commenting on how the morgue was so full and loud it was like a party, he then got to work. He said that when he moved JFK's hair from his right temple, it looked like a bullet hole to him that he filled in with wax.

Well, Paul Chambers is a scientist and he thinks the temple shot is from the front. https://www.amazon.com/Head-Shot-Science-Behind-Assassination/dp/1616145617/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Paul+CHambers+JFK&qid=1555636253&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull Although he does not think it was the weapon in evidence. Unless one thinks the Z film is pretty much a comic book I think its pretty hard to deny the back and to the left, especially since Thompson has now come out and said the seeming slight forward motion is nothing of the kind. Dave Mantik has eliminated the other arguments eg. jet effect and Sturdivan's nutty neuromuscular reaction. So has Randy Robertson and Gary Aguilar. I don't have to repeat Arthur Conan Doyle do I?

I am not a theorist. OTOH, someone who buys the Single Bullet Fantasy, Brennan, and cannot decide if Randich and Grant showed that CBLA is a fraud--which even Blakey and the FBI have admitted--that person is living in a world of denial and junk science.

Brennan in 2019? Baker's always good for a chuckle.

I did a lot of work on this with some help from Greg Parker. I am convinced that Ruby deliberately arranged the money transfer that morning so he could be at Western Union. The feds harassed Carlin and her hubby Bruce to go along with the whole charade so it would not look that way. I don't know what Gary means when he says that you could ask for a format WU and then fill it in and have it done the next day. The money transfer was time stamped.

I never heard of her. Was she an investigator for the Church Committee?

Well, Eddy, there is little doubt that Specter knew he had a big problem with things like that. I mean if you take a look at how many questions he asked Boswell, its a joke. I think its like 14. But it was Boswell who wrote up the autopsy descriptive sheet which showed the back wound much lower than the neck and the dimensions of that wound to be much larger than the anterior neck wound. Try and find where Specter asks him about that. What makes it worse is that its signed as verified by Burkeley. Try and find where Specter questioned Dr. Burkeley. Or SIbert and O'Nneill. Or Stringer. Or Ebersole. The total number of questions that the Commission asked the three pathologists was about 300. Now compare that to how many questions they asked Crafard. Its about ten times that many. In my view, Specter knew what he had to do for his career. And he did it. He then spent the rest of his life lying about it. In fact,it was likely Specter who called up Shenon and asked him to do a cover up for the 50th.

That is pretty impressive to have read them twice. Its over 17,000 pages and they are really boring since no one ever asks the right questions.

I talked about this article on McCord for this week's installment of Black Op Radio. When you google James McCord its on the first page. When you google death of James McCord its number one. Again, thanks to Rob and Stephanie for their help.