Lawrence Schnapf

FYI- there will be some more records released by June 23rd but certainly not all of the JFK Assassination records. BTW- the 2nd amended complaint should be available on the MFF website. I will be talking about it at the JFK/MLK conference in Memphis.

historically, the GOP has defended the intelligence and security state but we're now in Seinfeld bizzaro world with the dems now defenders of the "deep" or "dark" state and the GOP challenging the security institutions.

and when David Belin testified to the Abzug Committee in Novermber 1975, he was specifically asked about the shooting recreation. Here is what he said: " We reconstructed what hap­pened to the bullet passing through President Kennedy's neck. What we did not do, and what I believe we should have done, was, when we had marksman tests run, we should have run them with a moving vehicle rather than with these stationary targets.” “The argument against reproducing the exact shots was that we did not have to show that it was necessarily probable; all we had to show was that it was reasonably possible to do what was to do what was done and that is the way the tests were run”.

now if he can talk to his son who sits on some important committees, perhaps we can gain some traction.

Ben- The MFF lawsuit was filed in the northern district of california (SF). DOJ wisely did not seek an change of venue to DC District court and the matter is being defended by the DOJ office in the SF. If there is an appeal, it would go to the 9th circuit, not DC Circuit. Importantly, the Biden December order provided for the development of "transparency plans" by agencies that would establish event-driven conditions for records that are further postponed after June 23rd. Unfortunately, the Transparency Plans do not comply with the strict requirements of the JFK Records Act and would essentially remove the President from future declassification decisions (also in violation of the Act) and delegate that task to the National Declassification Board. We filed an amended complaint last week to specifically addess these points along with including new details provided to us by researchers on how NARA has handled requests for JFK assassination records. Oral argument has been pushed back to June 29th.

i cant assess Binder's statistical analysis to determine if it is validly designed. he dismisses accunts of Murray Humphreys wife and Bob McConnell as being not credible people so this is not entirely objective study. He doesnt address possibility that turnout might have been lower without their help (in other words- maintained turnout in the face of a Catholic candidate) as opposed to increasing turnout. He also dismisses the possibility that Old man Kennedy would have spoken to Sam without considering the other accounts of Joe Sr interacting with mobsters. I think the best that can be said is that if Outfit tried in Chicago, its efforts were outweighed by those of Daley. So without more, I'd say this does not discount possibility of a deal, just that Daley did a good job maintaining turnout.

The alleged Chicago vote is not the only alleged interaction between Old Man Kennedy and Chicago mob, and not even the most important claim. several authors including Davis have reported that the old man had two contracts taken out on him- first by the mob in the upper midwest for reportedly shipping booze through their territory during prohibition, and (2) a dispute with Frank Costello in NYC in the 1950s. For the latter, the story is that Old Man Kennedy went to Sam and asked Sam to talk to Costello. Sam asked why Joe Sr did not talk to Costello himself and reportedly Joe Sr said he could not because his JFK was going to run for POTUS and he (Joe Sr) could not be seen having interactions with mobsters. Reportedly Sam asked Joe Sr why he should intervene to cancel the contract. The story is that Old Man Kennedy said that if his son was elected POTUS, they would have a friend in the White House. FWIW

Jim- The car guarding Sam mysteriously left the area just before Sam was murdered. It is possible that he was killed over some dispute but the timing of the murders of Roselli and Sam just before their testimony as well as the way Sam was murdered (shots around his mouth in classic warning to those who talk) suggests the murders were related to their upcoming testimony. Sam knew stuff even if he was not actually a principle. Davis thought Trafficante may have been behind Roselli's murder.

The FBI did not have good surveillance on Marcello. If the mob had a role in the assassination, it would have been through Marcello.

The gun shops that Oswald ordered his weapons from were under investigation by Senator Tom Dodd's committee in 1963 which has caused some to wonder if LHO was working to help document how easy it was to order guns by mail. In 1963, this was a big issue to Senator Dodd because his state (connecticut) was the leading gun manufacturer in the nation and gun sales were being severely impacted by a flood of cheap, imported surplus firearms. There were several hearings held on this problem in January, March and May 1963. (Juvenile Delinquency, Hearings before the Subcommittee, to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 88th Congress, First Session,)

LHO may not have been on a "hidden intelligence mission" as traditionally understood. His defection could have been simply to test the response of the Soviets and also perhaps be some ploy by Angleton to find the suspected mole. LHO's file was in a special location so anyone looking for it would have been flagged. It would be the ultimate spy game intrigue if the Soviets responded by then having Marina hook up with LHO and return to the US to see how we responded. Dulles made a point in the WC depositions of McCone and Helms to put distance between the State Department and CIA. State could have intervened for their own agenda. No one should presume these agencies were coordinating or even informing each other of their covert activities. Reality is not that simple. And then there is the lack of cooperation by State with the JFK Records Act.

the only media that has covered this so far was Tucker Carlson after I alerted his producer.

@Stu Wexler yes, I thought i said that. I was trying to distinguish that NAA may be used for other applications but not CLBA.

another yet another explanation why 6 of the 7 mock trials held by law schools or bar associations since 1967 have resulted in either hung juries or acquitals. One or 2 could have been written off as specific to how that event was staged but 6 of 7 is quite a statement

The WC lawyers knew exactly what they were doing. they used selective evidence to build a case. this is called manufacturing the historic record.

Not to mention that Neutron Activiation Analysis is no longer considered a scientifically reliable methodolgy for performing Comparative Lead Bullet Analysis.

The handling of the Walker bullet by WC is just another example of how the historic record was manufactured. The prosecutor does not call witnesses who could undermine the preferred narrative which in this case is that Oswald fired at Walker. The WC felt this shooting was "probative" because it showed a propensity of Oswald to engage in violent acts. As it was, the bullet in evidence could not be traced to the alleged assassination rifle to the exclusion of all other rifles. If the DPD witnesses testified the bullet was steel jacketed and was a 30.06 caliber, that undermines the "probative" value of the Walker shooting and then the case relies on the shaky testimony of Marina Oswald.

The DPD police did say it was steel-jacket. and Walker said the bullet in evidence was not the bullet found in his home. he even wrote a letter in february 1979 to the Attorney general telling him "I inspected it [i,e, the bullet] carefully. There is no mistake. There has been a substitution of the bullet fired by Oswald and taken out of my house- FWIW

If Trump was still president, we would have sued him. It is about compliance with the law, not who sits in the oval office.

George- The Transparency Plans are essentially secrecy plans. The event-based criteria for releasing records do not comply with the JFK Act and many would allow documents to be withheld until 2044. Others involving "strategic partners" are essentially postponed indefinitiely. Not to mention that the decision for declassification is given to the National Declassification Board which violates the JFK Act. Under that law, the president has the "sole and non-delegable duty" for making postponement decisions. Witnesses and participants to the assassination are dying and this is just another effort to run out the clock. And this is not Biden-bashing. He has a choice. He can be the real transparency president or he can choose to be like President Trump and postpone records in violation of the law he voted for in 1992.

Fox reached out to us after our press conference.

we are covering lots of topics in this thread! Geoff Shepard has written a couple of books discussing how Siricia, the special watergate prosecutor and the senate select committee engaged in sanctionable conduct during the investigation such as ex parte communications. CSPAN recently aired a program on this topic titled "Watergate Prosecutorial Documents Revisited". it is thought provoking. I still believe that Watergate scandal was related to JFK assassination. Nixon tried to pressure Helms to cut off the FBI investigation by suggesting that it could rip the scab off the "Bay of Pigs thing" which Halderman said was Nixon's code for the JFK assassination. I think intelligence community took this as a threat. Once Ford was elevated to Veep, Nixon became expendable. Jeff Morley has also reported on a October 8, 1971 recorded discussion between Nixon and Helms where Nixon raises the "Who killed John" issue. “The whole ‘who shot John’ [JFK] thing, is Eisenhower to blame? Is Johnson to blame? Is Kennedy to blame? Is Nixon to blame? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, may become, may become, not by me, but may become a very, very vigorous issue.” Nixon continued, “If it does, uh, I need to know what is necessary to protect our inquiries, the intelligence gathering, and the ‘Dirty Tricks Department.’ And I will protect it. Hey listen, I’ve done more than my share of lying to protect it. I will go, I believe it’s totally right to do it.” Apparently there remains over 500 hours of Nixon recordings that are still redacted and unreleased.

MSNBC and NBC reported in the morning after the record dump but they have not followed up despite efforts by the MFF team. And I dont remember any in-depth segments during the evening broadcast and I searched for them. a 30 second segment is not covering the issue. When I interviewed Alec Baldwin in 2017, I asked him why Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and others on progressive channels supported the Oswald as lone gunman narrative. He then told of his experience when he had a show on NBC and they cancelled a program he was going to air for the 50th anniversary. He said he was told by a senior producer that it was the policy of the network to support the official conclusion. and this is the network that refused to turn over assassination records to the ARRB and declines to allow the Darnall film to be studies using modern forensic techniques. Hence, my comments about NBC and MSNBC are based on their own actions or obstructions, and not some ring wing paranoia (P.S I do not consider myself right wing in case you were grouping me into that category).

Pat Speer- your last post about your dinner with Lifton and the "journalist" reminds me of the time I received a call from a reported from the National Enquirer. He said his editor wanted a story that the Soviets were behind the assassination and wanted some quotes from me. I explained to him why I did not believe that was the case. He said he understood but that his editor wanted the story. I told him I would not lend my name (or quotes) to the article. This form of fake news ("Yellow Journalism" as it was called in the late 19th century) has been around since the beginning of newspapers. When we were kids, checkout counters were populated with these tabloids. The First Amendment protected those tabloids in the same way that it protected Vietnam War protestors when they burned draft cards and american flags. It also allowed a rally of National Socialists in Madison Square Garden in 1939 or invalidated an injunction that would have prevented National Socialists to march in Skokie, Ill. in 1977 where many Holocaust survivors lived. The First Amendment is the most important right we have and how the right is respected is a measure of the strength of our democracy...even when the speech is reprehensible.

Joe Bauer- I agree 100% Joe. Bill Maher would be great. how about some of you contact his producers? Likewise with Chris Hayes. One thing I've learned from my recent media experience is that the producers control the shows. The hosts are simply the faces of the shows.