Paul Brancato

It would seem, outwardly, like a teenager having fun. Heck, I can relate. But Nagell speaks of this as a girlfriend. So the question of why she is hanging around this 18 year old marine is important. In trying to get inside his head I’m trying to imagine what assignments he may have been on. Perhaps he was being trained in survival, in keeping your cool. I don’t think he was ordinary, so looking at his actions as teenage lust or pranks just feels too shallow. I mean, look what happens when he gets back home. Almost immediately he’s on assignment to Russia. He’s 19? He renounces his citizenship - but oh wait, he doesn’t actually. By this time he’s pretty fluent in Russian. How? By his own initiative? Just wanted to be a great spy, figured this was his meal ticket? It’s all the steps that happen right after he leaves the far East that make me wonder about those early adventures in the spy world of Atsugi. If I have some timeline details mixed up please correct me!

I think if Oswald had a Japanese girlfriend he met at the Queen Bee there is a strong likelihood she was Yakuza connected.

That’s the question I keep asking myself. I’ve been rereading parts of Dick Russell’s book The Man Who Knew Too Much, which is mostly about Nagell. The parts on Oswald in Japan are particularly interesting. He was 18, and according to Nagell meeting with Nicolai G Eroshkin, who he says was the subject of a CIA effort to turn him. Was Oswald trying to induce him to do so as part of this recruitment effort? Did Oswald really have a girlfriend who worked at the Queen Bee? I’m hoping Larry can answer that. So his personal beliefs remain a puzzle, and so do his actions which to me seem directed by US Intelligence. I have no doubts his move to the USSR was officially sanctioned, same goes for his actions in New Orleans. So what about as an 18 year old in Atsugi?

‘What if LHO was spying on GDM’? A question no one to my knowledge has ever asked, an interesting one. GDM had a lot to say about LHO, but how much of it should we believe? And what would LHO have said about George had he lived? It’s good to know that Hancock and Boylan are looking anew at Oswald. We’ve examined his time in the Soviet Uinion and how he got there, yet still don’t have all questions answered. We know far less about what he was up to in Japan (as an 18 yr old), or when and how he learned Russian. What occurs to me rather overwhelmingly is that when viewed in its entirety it’s an impressive resume, and for such a young man. Larry says, and I agree, to paraphrase, that the WC flooded us with words about him, yet slanted their overall picture of him to fit the facts as they needed them to be. In some way it’s a miracle LHO got to Dealey Plaza in one piece. Blind luck? I’d say street smarts, intuition, training under pressure. Whether we call him an agent or asset, he was a highly skilled one able to penetrate behind enemy lines and navigate to safer shores. It’s hard to put oneself in his young shoes at the age of 17 when he writes to the Socialist Party three weeks before joining the Marines. He was a chameleon. Descriptions of him, behaviors and beliefs, vary greatly. I recall listening to his radio ‘confrontations’ in New Orleans, and having the distinct impression he was playing a part, that in some way he and Ed Butler were on the same team. Bottom line - no dummy, hyper intelligent and clever. Even now no can say for sure what he believed.

I’ve often thought that endlessly researching Oswald was somewhat of a distraction, because rightly or wrongly I decided early on that he wasn’t a shooter at Dealey Plaza, and I was much more interested in the shooters than the patsy. But like everyone else I’ve read numerous books exploring in detail what is known about Oswald’s life. After recent conversations with the gifted Robert Montenegro I began to question some basic assumptions I had made about Oswald, such as he was clueless, reckless, not particularly bright, a pawn in someone’s game, a husband and father who could barely keep himself together, a somewhat ordinary guy who got caught up in things beyond his control, a man of uncertain morals working for an array of largely unseen handlers. Kind of a Where’s Waldo surrounded by the footprints of intelligence doing what he was told yet not understanding why. You get the picture. But is that real?

Frederic. - did Pugibet ever say who hired him?

Paul Hoch moved into the LN camp too. 30+ years ago when I was introduced to him by Peter Dale Scott, he was not.

Of course. Big waste of energy, plus it’s subtle propaganda.

Good try Ron - I’m with you

Thank you. A statesman unlike any we’ve had since.

Jim - do you have a link to the 1957 Algeria speech, filmed or text?

According to this summary of the book FDR was a bigot too. The other book you mention, the Secret War against the Jews, which I am reading now, is very interesting too.

Jim - this is incredible and much needed work. Amazing thing is that no one wants to actually discuss your well articulated and researched points. The second essay really hits home, and I’m really looking forward to the next two installments.

Robert - what is the evidence on Joseph Kennedy supporting Hitler?

Agree. And earlier when I said I thought much the same I was referring to your earlier post questioning why, if JFK could be blackmailed, would he be assassinated? So many books and movies smear him and besmirch his legacy. They seem to be part of a concerted effort. And it has by and large worked. I’m thinking of my baby boomer friends. After years of talking about JFK with them there is only one out of a few hundred that opened his mind enough to read a book I recommended, and it had a profound effect on him. It’s some kind of massive brainwashing, and these hit pieces are part of it. Headlines stick, and then everyday life intrudes and they are too busy dealing with hosts of problems. They remain unsuspecting of the true extent to which their lives today were impacted by events 60 years ago.

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when the Kennedy family sat down together and discussed the assassination of JFK, and perhaps even more so after RFK. What responses did they consider?

I’ve thought the same.

You literally never miss a chance to share your LBJ theory. I would love to see Jackie Kennedy’s personal papers, but whatever she is reported to have said to her friend it’s fair to call it her opinion. I’m not dismissive of the LBJ did it theory per se.

Ben - I didn’t see your original post. Is it your point that you think this theory isn’t worth exploring, and you just wanted to show the kind of crap that floats around on X?

A little trip down my memory lane. In 1962 (maybe ‘61) I played a youth concert in Carnegie Hall, all city JHS orchestra. Javitz was guest speaker, and us kids were made to sit on stage during his presentation at intermission. Mid way through his speech about the glories of American children and education, a voice from the upper balcony interrupted him - ‘what about the kids in Vietnam’? Twice. I knew instantly it was my father.

Doug’s ‘evidence’ is first hand.

It doesn’t belong, but that is the reason I chose to post it here

Great interview. If only I could get anyone among my friends and family to view it.

I will watch later today - thanks Leslie

Bill - one of our members - Matt Allison - says the Joannides files are not among the unreleased documents that the suit pertains to. Is that true?