Martin Blank

benign cover up? best truth? it's all a diversion.

john i am an american citizen and i will question and comment upon the actions of my government without the permission of anyone and despite what i may or may not have done or been.

ah yes. double fantasy, an album by yoko ono and john lennon, who also was shot

why don't they put one on the grassy knoll to give us the view of the real shooters?

and we were promised transparency.

i'd even go beyond that and say if we hadn't let the french back in there would not have been a war.

i would recommend John Newman's JFK and Vietnam

vann also said vietnam was the kind of war you didn't win with artillery and bombs. instead you used a rifle so you knew who you were killing.

It was, in fact, Nixon's Pet. Ike went with it, but, curiously enough, Nixon "bequeathed" it to Kennedy. How interesting. things that make one go, "hmmm." everything was set up for nixon to be prez. jfk upset the apple cart with some help from his "friends"

maybe X and Y are the same thing

That's what I thought too. In one of JFK's meetings with the Joint Chiefs during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I don't think JFK was too appreciative of LeMay's remark (as best I recall it), "You're in quite a fix, Mister President." I remember that JFK's response was, "What did you say?" And LeMay repeated the remark. me too

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Dwight D. Eisenhower For Phase II (Lone Nut shooting from behind) to be successful once it was chosen as the option to follow, the wounds in JFK s body had to track back to Harvey Oswald shooting from the sixth floor of the TSBD, i.e., the shots fired at JFK came from behind and only from behind the president. The problem was that JFK had ridden through an ambush in which several gunmen fired from a number of directions, including the front, and hit the president in the front and the back. It was an ambush more in keeping with Phase I (international communist conspiracy) than Phase II (lone nut). In order to turn the body into the “best evidence” to account for shots from the rear and pin the crime on Oswald, it would have to be stolen, altered, and returned to Bethesda Naval Hospital for the “real autopsy.” Obviously, it would take some time to set all this up and even more time to carry it out. The decision to go with Phase II and abandon Phase I had to be made in a way that would allow the necessary time for the shell game to be carried out and the medical forgery to be completed. The time frame for doing this was fairly tight. The decision couldn’t be made too late in the day because that wouldn’t have allowed enough time to complete everything that was involved with the alterations. On the other hand, common sense dictates it could not have been made too far in advance either. Ask yourself: Who in their right mind would design or participate in an assassination plot that roughly required the kidnaping, alteration, and return of the president’s body without detection for the plot to succeed? Surely, no one would. It was too risky. So why was it done? It was done, I believe, because it had to be done. It wasn't part of the original plan. Instead, it was a reaction to something that changed or went awry. It may have had to do with Oswald still being alive. Or it could have involved the switching of the phases themselves. Or both together. Or something else entirely. I don’t know. I do know that there seemed to be a great deal of Phase I (Castro did it) in play on November 22, lasting from the morning into the evening. The triangulated crossfire ambush, rumors about Oswald’s background, and even a reporter friend of David Phillips who seemed to be checking (for Phillips?) on what the charges were based on the indictment to see what phase was in play. This was at 10 p.m. on November 22. Strange. Stranger still if the decision had been made in advance of that day to switch to Phase II. (Who can blame LBJ, no matter what his level of involvement or role in the plot, for not wanting to begin his presidency with a nuclear war and tens of millions of dead on both sides?) So, the decision could not, as has been suggested, have been made before November 22. Neither could it have been made that evening. The time that the autopsy and other associated shenanigans took place argue against both scenarios. Do all of the day’s Phase I activities suggest that the decision to switch to Phase II had not been made yet or was it something more ominous. Did some of the more hard-core plotters – those who were determined to do an invasion of Cuba the right way this time – attempt an end run? Were they saying “No we have come too far in this. Lost too many good friends. Been frustrated far too often to let this opportunity slip away. We are going to get Fidel no matter what you decide or what the cost.” Or was it a sign that the switch had not been approved or fully communicated until the morning of the assassination – too late to cover bases that could be taken care of later. This would explain Cliff Carter’s phone calls from the EOB and help explain what LBJ was up to during those times he went missing. It also has been suggested that people on Air Force 1 were talking about Oswald as the lone deranged assassin and LBJ was conferring with military and national security advisors on board the plane, which got airborne at 2:47 p.m. It would appear Phase II was initiated around the time the assassination took place – early afternoon. I just don’t know exactly when. Looking at Johnson’s movements and those of his aides may be the key here. Ultimately, Dr. Humes announced the results of the autopsy at midnight: shots from behind killed the president. At 12:20 a.m. Oswald was indicted for JFK’s murder. How convenient.

who would get involved in a conspiracy that required you to kidnap the president's body; move it to a facility where alterations to make it look like he was shot from the back, or at the least medically ambiguous enough such that you could still make the case for shots from behind; and then return the body to the hospital; and control the autopsy. quite the shell game. but count me out. maybe one of the military's responsibilities was to provide the autopsy because they could promise control.

Martin, One possible interpretation is that Robert Oswald and the Paines were Lee Harvey Oswald's closest friends in town. --Tommy makes sense

though i had read the material previously, this literally jumped off the page: "Robert Oswald, my brother, lives in Fort Worth. He and the Paines were closest friends in town." but then there is this: (WC testimony): Mr. DULLES - Did either you or your wife, to your knowledge, know Robert Oswald? Mr. PAINE - We only met him for the first time on the night of the assassination. We both liked him at that time. what?

which oswald did what

Although, incredibly, as you can hear in that KRLD-TV video I posted above, Eddie Barker and KRLD were actually reporting that it had been confirmed as a fact that a Secret Service man had died. That mistake, by the way, was one of very few errors made by Eddie Barker and the KRLD-TV staff on 11/22/63 during the hectic first few hours of reporting the assassination story. (Another error was when Barker told the KRLD viewers that JFK had been transported to Parkland Hospital "by bus". I haven't the foggiest idea where Barker got that information from.) at least on law and order when the cops call a bus they are calling for an ambulance. may be police jargon

one word: money why did it happen when it did? let this cloud formation metaphor suffice for an answer A metaphor for JFK’s assassination Cloud formation occurs as gaseous water molecules coalesce and collect on particles of dust, sea salt and other cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere. If you were to sit long enough outside, you could actually see a cloud forming, but the results might be a bit boring if you are looking at a clear sky waiting for a cloud. In other words, the weather conditions must be conducive to cloud formation.

one must go whither the different colored shirts and the facts lead

and all you have to do is follow the different colored shirts

Not according to this: Mr. BALL - Did you see anything or hear anything of Oswald on the way down? Mr. LOVELADY - Yes; he was on the opposite side of the elevator I was on. I heard him holier to one of the boys to stop, he wanted the elevator. They said, "No; we're going down to lunch," and closed the gate I was on and come down and got ready to watch the President come by or got ready to go to lunch, and that's the last I heard of him. Mr. BALL - You were on the west elevator? Mr. LOVELADY - Right. Mr. BALL - Oswald was standing in front of the east elevator? Mr. LOVELADY - East, on back, the elevator back. Mr. BALL - Did you see him? Mr. LOVELADY - No; I didn't; I just heard his voice because---where those slats are in back of the elevator. Mr. BALL - Did you ever see him again that day? Mr. LOVELADY - No. Ron – A couple of things to consider in response: Ball never asks him to go back and name the person he was going to name before he was cut off. It's as if he doesn't care or doesn't want to know All of this is prior to assassination and not during the shooting. There is no danger/risk in having Lovelady say what he asserts about the elevators, etc. The photo of him in the police station when Oswald is brought in on that day belies Lovelady’s assertion that he never saw Oswald again that day. I understand it may be that Lovelady is talking about not seeing him again at work that day but we don’t know that.

here's what i think: Claims 2nd floor coke when Off came in To 1st floor had lunch Out with Bill Shelley in front the salient part of fritz's notes mean: Oswald claims he had lunch on the first floor and then was out in front of the TSBD with Bill Shelley (on the steps) . The important part (based on what you'll see next) is the last line. then add this to it: Mr. BALL - Who was with you? Mr. LOVELADY - Bill Shelley and Sarah Stanton, and right behind me... Mr. BALL - What was that last name? Mr. LOVELADY - Stanton. Mr. BALL - What is the first name? Mr. LOVELADY - Bill Shelley. Mr. BALL - And Stanton's first name? Mr. LOVELADY - Miss Sarah Stanton. Mr. BALL - Did you stay on the steps Mr. LOVELADY - Yes. Mr. BALL - Were you there when the President's motorcade went by Mr. LOVELADY – Right. ​I believe that Lovelady is cut off before he can say the words "Lee Oswald" ​this not only accounts for some of the alterations made to the Altgens photo, it also means that police evidence proves that both Lee Harvey Oswald and Bill Lovelady were at the doorway at the same time when Kennedy was shot, because they both identified Bill Shelley, who was standing in the doorway with them. at least that's the way i see it. its' also interesting to see how punning on the words first name and last name could cause some confusion

i want to reiterate that none of the credit for the heavyset guy goes to me. my friend has his reasons and i respect his wish for anonymity

I've never seen that photo before either! Great find! It does grab my attention too. Do you know who it's by? It appears to be a still/screen capture from a film. Do you know who took the photo - or who filmed it and/or which video it came from so i can (hopefully) see it in context with the rest of the film online to get an idea of when it was taken etc...Thanks, James! I think that's been credited to Couch, filming as he left the scene of the biggest story of his life. I saved this, no idea who from but could be Gerda and Co. ​Sorry to disappoint you Clive but i was only referring to the man in the hughes film as possibly being the gentleman that Bowers mentioned in his WC testimony. Really have no idea what you are referring to or what gave you the idea. Martin

no credit goes to me but to a friend who wishes to remain nameless.