Benjamin Cole

As with principles in the nation's Capital...I see nothing.

David A-- de Gaulle was the target of several assassination attempts. He also fought the good fight for a Free France against the Nazis, at real risk to himself. He was not an armchair moralizer. That said, his comments about cops are prejudiced. He may have reasons for his attitude, but I disagree that a conclusion about the JFKA can or should or does upon an anti-cop sentiment. In fact, I doubt the Dallas Police Department had much to do with the JFKA, although I think complicity and deference to the FBI set in. If, by "cops" de Gaulle is referring to intel agencies, he might rest on more-solid ground, but even so, I dislike blanket statements about any group of people. Not all cops are good or bad, or think alike, just as people of different religions are individuals, or different nationalities. The grounds for conspiracy in the JFKA, in my assessment, rest upon the readily observed sequence of shots in the Z film, and the timing between the second and third shot (not enough time that is), moreover verified by multiple on-scene witnesses. Add on, gunsmoke in Dealey Plaza. So, we know there was at least two guns firing in Dealey Plaza that day. This is what the SBT theory, and the removing from the public of the Z film was all about. That's my take. De Gaulle is a fascinating figure in history and he may have been right in his dark suspicions. But if he had some real-deal intel, he should have put it down on paper, and published it somehow.

Richard P.--Yes, I did not mean to imply you were on the righteousness bandwagon. I should try to not be so cynical. But I think you are right; money has bought media and academia, and the foundations, think tanks and our political parties. The put BLM on NBA basketball courts and go mute on China. BTW, the book "Trade Wars are Class Wars" by Michael Pettis is a great book

David A. Great news story. de Gaulle may even be right, but I suspect he was largely surmising, due to his own history (as I would in his shoes). I was trying to present people with close hands-on knowledge, like Dr. Shaw, or prominent US pols who might have "inside" knowledge, such as RFK, or Russell Long, who was from Louisiana, and might know the local network. The three WC members. Dr. Shaw's testimony is amazing. He says a clean, non-tumbling shot struck Connally. He enlarged the governor's back wound in treatment. This alone raises very serious issues with the SBT.

Richard P.---- Thanks for reading. I am not sure there is a clear delineation anymore between "right" and "left" in the US. We have Jacob Hornberger, a libertarian, active in the JFKA community and calling for a much smaller national security state and less globalism. And you have Hillary Clinton as a globalist warmonger in pant-suits. CNN and MSNBC stuffed full of former CIA and Pentagon officials making assessments on air. Rachel Maddow chortling with Sen. Schumer that the CIA will get Trump. When was the last time a prominent left-winger called for a much smaller global security budget? Who has revived the Russians as the Huge Boogeyman? (While mostly going mute on China, where Apple makes their phones, using some materials made with slave labor). Who has become censorious, the left or the right? No, I am not defending the worst elements of the American right, nor the right-wing of the 1960s-2000. But the US political scene has changed. I advise replacing righteousness with cynicism, when discussing either party.

Thanks for reading.

David A.---Thanks for reading. I am not sure how to characterize Bertrand Russell. He raises some excellent points in the piece to which you link.

The Prominent, Professional and Proximate Who Did (Do) Not Accept the Warren Commission And an easy-to-relate JFKA narrative for the public Even at this late date, there are efforts to dismiss the JFKA community, or to define the event as likely the work of long-dead Russians or Castro-Cubans. What is forgotten today is that a large fraction, perhaps a majority, of those who were prominent, professionally involved or who were proximate to the JFKA also did or do not accept the Warren Commission conclusions—including three of the seven WC members. It is striking to ponder that had someone other than ex-CIA chief Allen Dulles effectively sat atop the WC, a majority of the commission may have likely not accepted the key findings. So without further adieu, here is a list of the prominent, professional and proximate who did (do) not accept the WC or lone gunman, or even HSCA version of events— Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Shortly after the JFKA, RFK famously asked CIA Director John McCone if “they”—the CIA—had murdered his brother. RFK is quoted as saying, ”You, know, at the time I asked McCone... if they had killed my brother, and I asked him in a way that he couldn't lie to me, and they hadn’t.” Yes, the shocking reality is that a US Attorney General felt compelled to ask a CIA Director if the intel agency had assassinated a sitting US president. RFK retained doubts until his own assassination. Senator Russell Long, from Louisiana. Long’s own father, Senator Huey Long, had been assassinated in 1935. Russell Long thought New Orleans District Attorney James Garrison might be barking up the right tree. Here is fascinating footage: https://www.efootage.com/videos/90904/senator-possible-jfk-assassination-plot-1967 Warren Commission members Senator Richard Russell, Georgia; Senator Sherman Cooper, Kentucky; and Congressman Hale Boggs, Louisiana. Here is Russell, in taped conversation with President LBJ on whether LHO was the lone gunman: "I don't believe it.” LBJ responded with the words: "I don't either.” For his part, Boggs posited FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover had constantly lied the WC, and that the CIA and FBI would never admit LHO had been an asset or informant, if true. Cooper told Kennedy family members he did not believe LHO had acted alone. President LBJ. See Russell telephone call, and comments to media. Texas Gov. John Connally. Connally consistently maintained that on Nov. 22 the first shot struck JFK, the second shot struck himself, and the third struck JFK. The Z-film bears out his recollection, which was also seconded by his wife, who was seated next to him, and several Secret Service members. The insurmountable problem is that there is well less than two seconds between the shot the struck Connally and the final shot to JFK, which is not enough time to have been accomplished by a single-shot bolt action rifle of the type LHO had. Secret Service agents Clint Hill, Paul Landis, Bill Greer, all on the scene of the JFKA, all confirm Connally’s recollection of events; three shots, three hits. All have stated they dismiss the SBT. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel, HSCA (1977-78). At the conclusion of his investigation, Blakey believed there had been a conspiracy to kill JFKA, and two guns in Dealey Plaza, probably Mob-related. Moreover, by 2018 Blakely was citing anti-Castro Cubans and CIA assets Eladio Del Valle and Hermininio Diaz as possible Dealey Plaza gunman, and speaking of the CIA in scatological terms. Dr. George Burkley, JFK’s personal physician, present in Parkland emergency room, and then the Bethesda autopsy. In 1977, George Burkley’s lawyer contacted the HSCA and said Burkley “has information in the Kennedy assassination indicating that others besides Oswald must have participated,” and that Burkley was willing to talk. Inexplicably, Burkley was never asked to speak to the HSCA or the WC. George de Mohrenschildt. Admitted CIA asset, and LHO’s “friend” and possible handler in Dallas. De Mohrenschildt may have been clued in about the April 1963 “assassination” try on General Edwin Walker, which was also likely ersatz and part of the LHO biography-build. Later de Mohrenschildt wrote an unpublished book and said LHO was a patsy. BTW, De Mohrenschildt said Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell, who was also a CIA asset, was a personal friend. Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker. Member of the Church Committee, Schweiker said the WC report had “collapsed like a house of cards,” after having let the CIA and FBI conduct the investigation. Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough. Riding in car two back in the motorcade from the presidential limo, Yarborough (also a military veteran) repeatedly said he smelled gunsmoke in the wake of the JFKA, like many other witnesses. He said that about one-and-a-half seconds elapsed between the second shots and the third shots, testimony that roughly lines up with the Z-film. Parkland Hospital treating physicians, including Dr. Charles Crenshaw, who stated that “President Kennedy was shot at least once, and I believe twice, from the front.” Jeremy Gunn, General Counsel at the ARRB, declared in conversation with JFK researcher Doug Horne, “President Kennedy never had an autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital---that was not an autopsy.” David Atlee Phillips. The veteran CIA man, chief of operations for the Western Hemisphere, organizer of PR stunts. Possible handler of LHO. In July, 1986, shortly before his death, he told an interviewer, “My private opinion is that JFK was done in by a conspiracy, likely including American intelligence officers." Dr Robert Shaw, Connally’s surgeon. Often overlooked, Shaw told the HSCA the bullet that hit Connally had struck cleanly at a slight downward angle, and had not been tumbling. Shaw enlarged the back wound in treatment, confusing some later researchers (including, embarrassingly, HSCA Chief Counsel Robert Blakey). Shaw concluded Connally had been struck by a clean, separate shot from all others. FBI agents James Sibert and Francis O’Neill, witnesses to the JFK autopsy, both have dismissed the SBT, due to relatively low position on JFK’s back of a bullet entry wound, which when probed indicated trajectory of 45 degrees to 60 degrees downward. To state the obvious, the bullet would have to make an acute turn inside JFK’s body to exit the throat, but before exiting the throat would have to make another frontward 90-degree turn in order to strike Connally. And then would have to strike Connally cleanly, sans any tumble. What comes through from even this abbreviated review of the prominent, professionals, and frontline observers and evidence, is that at least three separate shots struck JFK and Connally. (There is a probable fourth shot that struck a curb near bystander James Tague, a ricochet from which lightly injured his face.) From a review of the Zapruder film frames, it appears that Connally was struck in frame ~296. That is less than one second from the final shot(s) to JFK, at frame 313. That is not enough time for both shots to have been executed by a single-shot bolt action rifle. Most experts say 2.0 seconds to 2.3 seconds is the bare minimum between shots on a single-shot bolt-action rifle. Conclusion and an Easy-to-Relate Narrative This simple evidence, that of the short time between the Connally shot and the subsequent JFK shot, presents grounds beyond reasonable doubt that there were at least two guns firing at JFK in Dealey Plaza. Add to this evidence the dozens of witnesses, many in law enforcement or military veterans, who smelled gunsmoke in Dealey Plaza in the immediate aftermath of the JFKA. That strongly indicates, arguably beyond reasonable doubt, a gun was fired or diversionary explosive device was ignited near the presidential limousine as it passed. I contend it is the above simple story line that the JFKA should consistently and repeatedly present to the broader public, particularly as we press for full disclosure of remaining documents under the JFK Records Act of 1992, and, even at this late date, a re-opening of the JFKA case. However, I criticize no one in the JFKA. To me, criticizing fellow JFKA research and community members is akin to harping on an NFL team for not scoring a touchdown on any particular play. The JFKA research community is not alone on the playing field; rather, playing against it is our own US government. The FBI has fabricated evidence (CE399), hidden documents, intimidated witnesses. US Navy officers conducted a dubious if not bogus autopsy. The CIA also has hidden documents, bamboozled investigators (Blakey), and has hired feckless mercenaries in media to do its bidding and discredit critics. The federal government has resources and lucre. In sharp contrast, the JFKA has little money and no media backing. Yet, as David slew Goliath…. Hats off that the JFKA has achieved as much as it has.

How about JFK arriving at Bethesda in two different coffins? Again, was a drug aerosol in the air? What can explain such conflicting testimonies about what must have been a signal event in everyone's career?

From JFK to Nixon, from Trump to Biden, no President can cross the National Security State. Whether brilliant statesmen (JFK) or self-besotted lulu (Trump), or the very picture of mediocrity and convention (Biden), or even the scheming Nixon, the Deep State runs the show. On behalf of whom? The media and Congress is busy on the Jan. 6 nut-jobs. They pose a threat to America.

Man, is it odd or what? But, as you may know, there are many directly conflicting accounts that day in Bethesda, some, like Osborne's, that are simply inexplicable. You would think Osborne, at some point in his career, would have realized he had a hallucination. Perhaps he never read other people's accounts of JFK's body. Again, it is mere speculation on my part, but there were so many conflicting accounts that day in Bethesda, by otherwise sane professionals, that maybe something was in the air. On top of all that, this was a signal event in the career of everyone involved. Sure, a guy could forget this medical event or that one, in a long career. But the JFK autopsy?

You know, this has been bouncing around the back of my head, and I ran across it again in Vincent Palamara's new book. This is from Admiral David Osborne's statement to the HSCA. He is not some lulu off the street. What to make of this? A "fully intact missile"? And JFK was "fully dressed"? If Osborne was nuts, how did he become an Admiral? Or Chief of Surgery? There are so many strange and conflicting observations at Bethesda that day, one wonders if some sort of hallucinogenic gas was afloat. How does an Admiral remember JFK arriving fully dressed? Or a intact copper-clad bullet rolling out of his coat?

Big issue here. Amazon, Google, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook have become de facto town squares. But they can keep anyone out. Sabotage anyone. Some people like censorship, when it goes their way. But that is the thing about censorship. Once the wolfhounds are set loose...

Interesting take by David Stockman, the old Reagan official: Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog, There have been few politicians in modern times who have done more to undermine personal liberty, capitalist prosperity, small government and especially world peace than the Cheney Clan. So upon Liz Cheney’s ouster from the #3 job in the US House GOP hierarchy, we say: Good riddance! And, no, we don’t begrudge her vote to impeach the Donald. The man is such an insufferable bully-boy and megalomaniac that upon his richly deserved exile from Washington her "yes" vote amounted to little more than a slightly offensive Bronx cheer. But what is profoundly offensive about the Cheneys is their central role in high-jacking the Republican Party in behalf of the demented worldview of a small priesthood of neocon intellectuals. The latter have turned the Warfare State of the now defunct cold war with the Soviet Union into a globe-spanning imperialist monster that has bled America dry fiscally and unleashed unjustified destruction and mayhem all around the planet in a manner that would have put even Imperial Rome to shame. Stockman is probably right. There are problems about 100 times larger than that of Trump, who is receding on the horizon as we speak. The real problem is the establishment Donks agree with the Cheney GOP: A globalized hyper-mobilized military and surveillance state is the way to go. By working with The Intercept, you too can join the cyber-Stasi....

Great one. Huey's son, I think. And you know what happened to Huey.

Chris B. Verily. Too bad so many decades have passed. I would bet even money that the Fernandez individual, mentioned in this thread, had some US intel backing. The guy started and owned newspapers, ends up in the US. Appears to be unemployed, while his wife works.

Steve Roe-- I welcome examination of evidence in the JFKA, and earnest civil debate. You did miss something in your brief dismissal of this strange episode. If you go to this link, you will see WC document 3067 https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_3067.pdf Next, go to the document number Pittsburgh 107-5070, dated 12/2/63, but evidently of an interview dated 11/28/63. The first words in the document "Mrs. MARGARET RAY KAUFFMAN." So, on 11/28/63, Mrs. Hoover's daughter confirms that her memory also is that handwritten names of Oswald, Ruby, Rubenstein and words "Silver Slipper," or "Silver Bell" did appear on the back of the trailer advertisement. What is curious is how many people at that early date knew of Jack Ruby's connection to the Silver Spur club in Dallas? This is six days after the JFKA. Later, the woman's daughter, evidently in a second interview, recants her initial interview. But she cannot recant that she mentioned the name "Silver Slipper" or "Silver Bell" in her initial interview. BTW, the man in question, Fernandez, is interviewed by the FBI and he turns out to have been a prolific editor-founder-owner in Cuba, and owned many newspapers and magazines before the revolution, holds a "doctorate in political and economic science" and then was chased out by Castro. The FBI appears to have queried Fernandez closely about Castro-ties, but not ties to anti-Castro Cubans. That was the conventional thinking of the time. Also note that FBI agents called the US Attorney's office to see if they would prosecute Hoover and her daughter under section 1001, Title 18. Hmmm. Recanting under pressure? The US Attorney's Office declined to prosecute. In conclusion, I would say this strange event is interesting, not conclusive. However, this event is hardly key to understanding the JFKA. Sure would be nice to know more about Fernandez. He obviously was not just some schlub. It goes without saying that the CIA has long been active in financing publications in Latin America.

Agreed. The LBJ ducking photo...well, if the shots were to be aimed at JFK, then LBJ would not need to duck. Perhaps he could be expected to stand up in his car to get a better view.

I guess Caro would be puzzled too, and his books are great reading. Just deficient in the regards I mention. As I have said, I think the JFKA was executed by a small number of people, but there was a great deal of complicity in the LHO murder, and then a tsunami of complicity in the entire WC-media cover-up. LBJ had a role in the cover-up---but in the JFKA itself? Less likely, but who knows? I enjoyed the McCullough books too. But the modern Deep State was not there in Washington's time, and just getting started under Truman.

I think you might have to read "bit and pieces" rather than whole biographies. Biographies tend to either become hagiographies, or hatchet jobs, or personality profiles, but all sidestep a key point: The postwar ascendance of the globalist security state, and globalist macroeconomic policies. Forgotten today is the US demobilized after WWII, so much so the US entered the Korean War short of certain materials and weapons. It was considered normal to limit the military in peacetime. For a window into Nixon, read Ken Hughes, "Chasing Shadows." Don Fulsome has written about Nixon and the Mob. Another interesting window. Caro's biographies of LBJ are pretty good history, but again, the angle that there is a Deep State with global ambitions, on behalf of multinationals, is just absent. The JFKA is not treated as a conspiracy. Caro's book on Vietnam is yet to be published, and Caro is entering the ninth inning of his life.... What is remarkable is how much the globalist perspective, and the attendant panopticon surveillance state has triumphed, in academia and media (and books you read). Today, it is considered normal for left- or right-wing news outlets to hire former CIA and intel guys as newspeople. The fine points of occupying Syria are debated. Some news outlets appear eager to become part of the surveillance state. Good luck and let us know if you come across some good reads. Again, I really recommend "Trade Ware are Class Wars" by Michael Pettis for a deeply insightful perspective on "free" trade, which has defined US policy since the 1960s. "JFK vs. Dulles" by Greg Poulgrain is essential also. But a whole presidential biography, which includes the "Deep State" perspective....not sure that animal exists yet. But hey, you are retired and smart. You could write such a biography.

The doctors at Parkland also. Curiously, the even the Bethesda autopsy team. Humes, for example, did not believe CE 399 could have struck Connally's wrist.

Your post would be enlivened by photographs.

Great article on Rose Cheramie. Her story has been pretty much verified, and it is chilling, remarkable. Boy, what a commentary. A troubled woman, very down on her luck, afflicted by drugs, easy for her to just keep quiet...but she tells the truth. In contrast, the combined forces of the official US security establishment, from the FBI, to the CIA, the WC....well, a different story. As they say, never judge a book by the cover. I still sit on the fence on Nagell. All his materials and documents disappear. So tough to confirm he worked for the KGB, or much of what he says. As they say, trust but verify.

Dan R- That's right. One might exclude Castro as having an agenda. de Gaulle was the Swiss Cheese president. So many attempts were made on de Gaulle the assassins must have thought they can shoot at him but not hit anything. de Gaulle's lifetime record is tremendous.

David A- Thanks for your comment. Vincent Salandria is a real smartie, but I am excluding people from the JFKA research community.