Steve Thomas

Jim, I can't speak to its results, bur I have read that DuckDuckGo doesn't retain your search history as the other search engines do. Steve Thomas

Do you give any credence to the idea that Oswald was running around south Texas in and around October 3rd? Oswald in Aliceland? A Tale of Two Days: A Tale of Two Oswalds by Chris W. Courtwright Presented to JFK Lancer's *November in Dallas* Conference on November 21, 1997 http://jfklancer.com/Courtwright/Courtwright1.html Steve Thomas

by Jefferson Morley 1/23/19 https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/heres-real-reason-the-cia-loved-george-h-w-bush/ Steve Thomas

Pam, Do you think this is the same version that Rich Della Rosa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrRbkY9gEnQ and William Reymond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSdyqDBTpeo said they saw? Steve Thomas

Jim, In the comments section of the article by Lisa Pease, a person named, "Abe" quoted a passage from the Wilson Center: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/dag-hammarskjold-his-critics-and-the-united-nations-1956 " Dag Hammarskjold was more controversial as UN Secretary-General in his own time than the afterglow of later decades might suggest. At the time of the Suez crisis in 1956, his critics denounced him as pro-Egyptian while David Ben-Gurion of Israel proclaimed that he was “our number one enemy after Russia.” Hammarskjold not only helped to resolve the Suez crisis but also set in place the UN Emergency Force, which became the conceptual centerpiece for all future UN peacekeeping operations." I looked at the Suez Crisis a little from the French point of view as a lead-up to the Algerian Crisis of 1958-1960. As I understand it, the French had a sort of chip on their shoulder following their humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. They felt they had a lot to prove. And.... As Lisa pointed out in her Consortium News article, " As the Commission’s report noted, “Katanga contained the majority of the Congo’s known mineral resources. These included the world’s richest uranium and four fifths of the West’s cobalt supply." The French exploded their first atomic bomb in the Algerian desert in 1960. More and more I am starting to look at the need for uranium as a driving force behind a lot of the political events of the 1960's. Steve Thomas

Jim, What do you think is the significance of the playing card? "And even more strangely, the commission found the evidence “strongly suggests” that someone moved Hammarskjöld’s body after the crash and stuck a playing card in his collar before the photographs of his body were taken. (The card “or something like it” was plainly visible “in the photographs taken of the body on a stretcher at the site.”)" Steve Thomas

Paul, Just out of curiosity, does Brandstetter mention anything about Lumpkin, Whitmeyer, or L.Robert Castorr in either of his books? Steve Thomas

Robert, You might be interested in this Forum thread: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/23478-revolt-of-the-colonels/ Crichton, Lumpkin and Whitmeyer were all connected to the Intelligence capacity of some branch of the Reserves, but I personally am not ready to go there as far as the 488th is concerned. Others are. Steve Thomas

Robert, Everett DeGolyer http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/degolyer-everette.pdf “He lived to be honored by the highest elective offices and to be awarded the highest decorations of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. He was a lecturer much sought after, filled distinguished positions at three universities, and was awarded honorary degrees by six. Nine or more United States Government agencies, commissions, advisory boards, and committees called on him for service which he generously contributed. This combination logically made his advice much sought after in business, and he was for many years the world's leading oil consultant. The opinion of his firm, DeGolyer and MacNaughton, on an appraisal of the worth of a property or a company was accepted as final in financial and government circles the world around. This firm was at one time or another consultant to ten or more foreign governments on subjects ranging from organizing exploration programs to the proper price for oil F.O.B. tankers in the Persian Gulf.” “As would be expected of a man of such outstanding reputation, his services were called for by the Federal Government. Starting in 1918 with a special report for the United States Treasury, he became in 1941 Director of Conservation in the Office of the Coordinator for National Defense and Assistant Deputy Coordinator in 1942. The following year he was first made Assistant Deputy Administrator for War, and then head of the Petroleum Reserves Corporation mission to the Middle East. He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Raw Materials for the Atomic Energy Commission, and filled many other important positions. He served on the National Petroleum Council from its beginning.” Lately, I've become interested in the role that uranium mining might play in the JFK story. I'm not a geologist, but uranium deposits seem to be found near oil fields. I lived in the Rangely, CO. area for a while, so I had a personal interest in DeMohrenschildt's comings and goings there. When I read that D.H. Byrd sold his interests in Byrd Oil and used the money to found Byrd Uranium, my ears perked up. Whey would a person give up the lucrative money of big oil to invest in uranium? You have to figure that in the later 50's and early 60's, uranium would have to be a pretty hot commodity. It struck me a while back that a lot of the key figures in the White Russian Community in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were not just "oil men", but were engineers in the petroleum field, and specialized in the exploration of oil deposits around the world. (Think Jack Crichton and George Bouhe among others. "Mr. BOUHE - For 9 1/2 years I was employed as a personal accountant of a very prominent Dallas geologist, and probably capitalist if you want to say it, Lewis W, MacNaughton, senior chairman of the board of the well-known geological and engineering firm of DeGolyer & MacNaughton, but I was MacNaughton's personal employee." WC testimony of George Bouhe http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/bouhe.htm) They also seemed to have ties to military intelligence. There's a woman named Linda Minor, who writes a blog called, Quixotic Joust. She explored the topic of uranium exploration among rich Dallasites here: http://quixoticjoust.blogspot.com/2011/06/other-uranium-explorers-in-texas-in.html “Other Uranium Explorers in Texas in the 1950's “ She talks about the shadowy Dallas Uranium and Oil Company in the Dal-Tex building, and more. See Paul Raigorodsky's testimony in WC testimony vol 9 on the importance of Jake Hamon, and his relationship to George DeMorghenschildt and Everett DeGolyer. Steve Thomas

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B.A., I have seriously looked at the possibility that it was Marina who ordered the rifle. It goes back to the idea that Lee Oswald freely admitted that the Selective Service card in the name of Hidell was his, but denied that it was his signature on that card. The logic of that escapes me, unless he was covering up for someone. Marina admitted to signing the name “Hidell” to “two or three things” with the name “Hidell” that were not pamphlets. CE 2726 p. 105 (26H105) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142#relPageId=141&tab=page is a June 17, 1964 letter from Hoover to J. Lee Rankin concerning Marina's signature on the A.J. Hidell signature on the Fair Play for Cuba Committee membership card. The FBI determined that Marina signed the FPCC membership card in the name of A.J. Hidell. Hoover says that Exhibits 404A, 408A, 409A and 420 are being returned to you. These are samples of Marina's handwriting. Marina's 1969 testimony at the Clay Shaw trial: http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/marinash.htm Q: Did you sign anything for him down here? A: Yes, sir. Q: What did you sign? A: Some kind of paper about something, but I don't remember what it was. Q: Would you recall -- A: The name Hidell. Q: Hidell? A: Yes. Q: You signed the name, Hidell? A: Yes, sir. Q: And what was your purpose of doing that? A: He asked me to do it and I refused, and then he forced me to do it. Q: What do you mean, forced you? A: He threatened me if I wouldn't do it he use, you know -- how shall I say? Q: Physical threats? A: Physical threats, yes, sir. Why was it necessary to get the name "Hidell" just right? In what other instance was it important that the name "Hidell" look just right? Now, you can either believe that Marina was practicing how to write the name Hidell because Lee threatened to beat her up if she didn't, or you can believe that this was a forger practicing her craft. On at least three occasions in her testimony, Marina said they were living on Neely St. in January of 1963. Mr. RANKIN. When did you move to Neely Street from the Elsbeth Street apartment? Mrs. OSWALD. In January after the new year. I don't remember exactly. Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the first time that you observed the rifle? Mrs. OSWALD. That was on Neely Street. I think that was in February. For whatever reason, this can't be true. The Oswalds moved from Elsbeth to Neely on March 3rd and according to the postal money order, the rifle wasn't ordered until March 12th. Current Section: CE 1156 - FBI report dated February 18, 1964, of interview of Marina Oswald, Dallas, Tex. (CD 735, pp. 439-445). http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1317#relPageId=227 Marina told the FBI on February 17, 1964 that she saw Oswald practicing with the rifle at the Neely Street address at the beginning of January, 1963. 9(CE 1156 p. 197). On February 18, 1964 she told the FBI that she was mistaken about the date, and that the rifle cleaning incident had taken place in March, 1963. Here are the rifle order and the Hidell Selective Service card signatures: Steve Thomas

You know, this makes me wonder what Oswald wrapped his rifle in when he went to practice shooting at "Lopfield". "Mrs. OSWALD. I don't know where. I don't know the name of the place where this took place. But I think it was somewhere out of town. It seems to me a place called Lopfield. Mr. RANKIN. Would that be at the airport---Love Field? Mrs. OSWALD. Love Field. Mr. RANKIN. So you think he was practicing out in the open and not at a rifle range? Mrs. OSWALD. Yes." If my calculations are right, "Lopfield" is a good six miles from where they were living on Neely St. No blanket, huh? Steve Thomas

Denny, Thanks. Following your tip, I've done a little reading about Lopez. There's some documents in the HSCA Subject File on Lopez here: https://www.maryferrell.org/php/showlist.php?docset=1333 I'll need to find out what contact, if any, that he had with the suspects in that case. I need to read more. Steve Thomas

Douglas, or anyone, Do you know who the patsy in Miami was supposed to have been? Steve Thomas

Karl, "Maybe the file number is wrong" That's kind of what I thought. Like I said, there's nothing in that April 1, 1975 Memo about Oswald going to Cuba to kill Castro. I didn't read all 157 pages in that file.. Maybe that Memo is buried somewhere else in that file. "1. ANGLETON'S CIA RIGHT-HAND MAN RAYMOND ROCCA TELLS WARREN COMMISSION MEMBER BELIN... " "6. ROCCA LEARNS THAT HELMS HIMSELF, HEAD OF THE CIA, FED THE WARREN COMMISSION THE CIA'S PUBLIC VERSION OF THINGS, NOT THE TRUTH. 7. HE TELLS BELIN HIS DEPARTMENT WAS NEVER MADE AWARE OF WHAT THE COMMISSION WAS TOLD." So, Angleton's Department is out of the loop on what Helms is testifying to? "PS After Oswalds dead, the cover-up-team was working hard to make the world believe Oswalds MC episode was connected with the plot (his solitary plan) to kill Kennedy, while he was there as part of a plot to kill Castro." Do you think this fits in with the scenario that (I think it was Jack Anderson who first floated the idea) that Kennedy's killers were actually potential Castro killers who were turned? Steve Thomas

A copy of 104-10268-10005 can be found here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=147162&search=104-10268-10005#relPageId=1&tab=page It runs to 157 pp. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=147162&search=104-10268-10005#relPageId=6&tab=page is a Memorandum of Conversation with David Belin April 1, 1975 pp. 6-7 I don't know if that is the conversation you had in mind. There is nothing in there about an Oswald plot to kill Castro. Steve Thomas

Adam, I'd say the chances are pretty good. It would have been nice to know what they talked about. Steve Thomas

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Pamela, In an earlier post, you wrote, " Not necessarily. To keep tabs on him and, in effect, control him, to make sure he would end up what LHO said he was...a patsy... " I haven't read your blog yet, so my question might be presumptuous, but do you think it's possible that Marina was sent to the U.S. on a mission that had nothing to do with Oswald; that he was simply a means to an end - she was sent here to either give information to, or get information from someone? I ask that because I get the impression she seemed to be anxious to put as much distance between her and Oswald as possible as soon as she got over here: a) her living in various homes. b) her indifference to where Oswald was living in the late fall of 1962. c) her attempt to return to the USSR as early as January of 1963 - six months after getting here - was her mission completed? There was that weird "vacation" she took alone in Russia just six months after she and Oswald were married. Was she getting her briefing? Steve Thomas

Jim, Judging from the date of the application (October 15, 1963), this looks like Oswald's job application at the TSBD. Also, there's the bit at the bottom asking the applicant if there's any skills "the company" might want to take into account when considering the applicant's skills. What a bogus job application! Carefully look at the answers Oswald provided to the questions and compare those to what we know of his life. David, is there any way you can blow up the name of the town in the two documents where Oswald went to high school? And what's with the squirly "d" in Oswald's written last name in the document on the left? Steve Thomas

If Lee Harvey Oswald (or an Oswald impersonator - I don't really care that much) was being used as bait in Mexico City; what, or who was the fish that the fisherman hoped to catch? Was the fishing expedition tied to the use of the Harvey Lee Oswald name? The earliest time I can find the name, Harvey Lee Oswald being used was in Russia in 1960. I have not fleshed this out, but I have read in the past that there was a CIA file under the name Harvey Lee Oswald, and it ties back to the Mexico City incident and Angleton's mole hunt. This Harvey Lee Oswald file may indeed go back as far as Oswald's fake defection to Russia in 1960. As Dulles was the former Director of the CIA, he would more than likely have been aware of it. Included in CE 985 is a Letter from the Department of State to the Commission, dated May 18, 1964, with attached documents. It says that 985 is a translated copy of a note submitted by Dobrynin on May 5, 1964. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=7986&relPageId=111&search=Dobrynin_December%2011,%201963 p. 111. In this letter, it says that Harvey Lee Oswald's request for USSR Citizenship was denied. It doesn't say when he applied for that citizenship, but the character reference memo from the Minsk Radio factory in CE 985, p. 433 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1135&relPageId=447&search=%22Harvey_Lee%20Oswald%22 is dated December 11, 1961 and refers to “Citizen” Harvey Lee Oswald. Documents submitted by Dobrynin on May 5, 1964: CE 985 pp. 404+ https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1135#relPageId=418&tab=page There is an application for an identity card, which was granted on January 4, 1960, 1961, and 1962, but no application for citizenship, and no correspondence from the Soviet Government denying such an application. So whose application for citizenship was denied? On page 433 of that CE Exhibit (CE 985), it says that “Citizen” Harvey Lee Oswald was hired as a regulator at the Minsk Radio Plant on January 13, 1960. Peter Dale Scott before the ARRB: October 11, 1994. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=145535&search=105-2137#relPageId=36&tab=page p. 36. “I want to suggest to you that the FBI may have been tracking all of this in a file which I am quite sure has never been seen by the Warren Commission, never been seen by the House Committee, and never certainly by me or by the Archives today. I have found a reference to it in a cover sheet which I am going to leave with you. It is Mexico City File 105-2137, which is then struck out and replaced with a different file number with a different name, Lee Harvey Oswald. I hope you will pursue that original file. I predict that it will lead to some third agency which has been protected in here...” Letter from Petr Dale Scott to John Newman http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2017/10/additional-missing-jfk-assassination.html Dear John, “In fact, the cover sheet mentioning this file is available from the Mary Ferrell Foundation website. It is NARA RIF 124-10029-10270, FBI serial MX 105-3702-254. It is from “Wesley” [SA Howard D. Wesley], has the title “Information re Allegations re Oswald case,” and (apart from still classified cross-file references) contains only this reference: “105-2137, [corrected manually in ink to “3702”] (Harvy Lee Oswald).” (It makes no reference to “Lee Harvey Oswald.”)3. 3. At the time I did not know who Wesley was. But other FBI “Harvey Lee Oswald” records identify him as SA Howard D. Wesley, then at the FBI Mexican branch office in Monterrey.” So, who, or what, was the fish the fisherman hoped to catch? Was the fish a conduit, a pipeline, for information being passed? Was the fisherman waiting to see where in Soviet circles Harvey Lee Oswald would turn up post-MC? Steve Thomas

Cory, I thought this analysis was pretty good. You have to read the details behind his conclusions: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/mystery-marina-oswald <Quote on> "Let's recap here: 1. Marina, part of the Soviet upper-middle class, reasonably educated and an attractive young woman, meets Lee Harvey Oswald and is so smitten by him that she agrees to marry him in a little over a month — two weeks of which he spent courting her from a hospital bed. 2. The Soviet government grants Marina permission to marry him in the span of 10 days, despite the fact that this is an MVD colonel's niece marrying a U.S. defector. 3. Oswald immediately decides to head back to the United States, and in spite of her uncle's supposed objections — and Prusakov could have stopped this dead in its tracks if he wanted — she is granted permission to leave the Soviet Union in the company of an American defector. The time between her formal request and receiving permission is a matter of weeks. If the Warren Commission has the facts right — and we think they do — then this is clear: the Soviet government wanted Marina and Oswald to marry and they wanted them to go together to the United States. That is crystal clear. Now, we take a leap, but a reasonable one: The only agency in the Soviet Union with the ability and interest to get this done was the KGB. If Marina wasn't KGB, she did one hell of an imitation. Endless questions flow from this, ranging from what the mission was to why the U.S. embassy permitted Marina into the country. This now enters into the realm of speculation. However, one thing is clear to us: Any theory as to what happened on Nov. 22, 1963, that does not take into careful account the role of Marina Oswald is inherently flawed. This includes the Warren Commission's own findings. If Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy, there has been no adequate explanation of Marina Oswald's role in this. The only way to dismiss the Marina question is to make the following three assertions: 1. You have to believe that Marina, the attractive MVD princess, took one look at Oswald and said, "I've got to have that man." 2. You have to argue that obtaining permission in 10 days for an MVD colonel's live-in niece to marry an American defector was no big deal. 3. You have to argue that getting an exit permit from the Soviet Union for Marina in the space of six weeks in 1961 was no big deal. If ever there was a cooked-up marriage, this was it. Now, how this fits into the assassination story is too speculative to bother with — but that no explanation is possible without building this into the story is obvious." <Quote off> Steve Thomas

David, This seems to conflict with what Fritz told the WC: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/fritz1.htm "Just about the time I started talking to him, I had just started to question him, I got a phone call from Mr. Shanklin, Gordon Shanklin, agent in charge of the FBI calling for Mr. Bookhout, and I asked Mr. Bookhout to go to pick up the extension. Mr. BALL. Was Mr. Bookhout there? Mr. FRITZ. He had just come into the lieutenant's office and Mr. Shanklin asked that Mr. Hosty be in on that questioning, he said he wanted him in there because of Mr. Hosty knowing these people and he had been talking to them and he wanted him in there right then. So, I got up from my desk and walked over to the lieutenant's office and asked Mr. Bookhout to come in, the reason I asked both of them to come in and Mr. Bookhout is in my office most of every day and works with us in a lot of cases and asked him to come in with Mr. Hosty." Steve Thomas

David, These Exhibits are in Vol XVII of the WC Hearings and Exhibits. They run from Exhibit numbers 521 through 534. (pages 228-234) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1134 My guess is that they were taken from the DPD's Case file. These photos can be found in Boxes 12, Folder# 45 and 12A. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/index.html As an example, compare Exhibit# 527 (the front of Tippit's car) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1134#relPageId=257&tab=page with the photo in Box 12, Folder# 45, Item# 4 Unfortunately, the photos in Box 12A were not scanned by the City's Archivist. Also, I can't help with the plat you showed in your opening post. I haven't run across that yet. Steve Thomas

Galveston is an interesting place... David Ferrie goes ice skating there. Rose Cheramie goes there to meet a sailor carrying drugs. Jack Ruby calls Breck Wall there on Saturday the 23rd. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/wall_b.htm Galveston is an interesting place. Steve Thomas