Final chapter of Jefferson Morley's new ebook on JFK

[Douglas Caddy]

FINAL CHAPTER OF JEFFERSON MORLEYS NEW EBOOK ON JFK

From the chapter:

Can online civil society force top CIA officials to make public information they obviously would prefer to keep a secret?

That is the fundamental question raised but not answered by this book. Who killed JFK? is a fascinating and significant question, but I have to admit it can sound like so much banter in a Baby Boomer bar room. The JFK story has no particular urgency in millennial America. Im talking about a single homicide that happened before most of you were born. But the CIAs last JFK files raise a contemporary political issue that couldnt be more timely and relevant for the millennial generation: the role of extreme secrecy in a democratic society.

..

The only check on those senior CIA officials who wish to continue the JFK assassination cover-up in 2016 is online civil society.

Online civil society consists of citizens of the United States (and the world) who are empowered by the Internet to find and share information. Thanks to the World Wide Web, all people everywhere now have access to the historical record of JFKs assassination (via websites like MaryFerrell.org, JFKLancer.com and JFKFacts.org) and to powerful communications channels (like Facebook and Twitter).

The combination of 1) widespread public knowledge about how CIA secrecy works and 2) social media conversation about the continuing JFK cover-up could (emphasis on the conditional) raise awareness on the Internet, in Congress, in elite news organizations, and the presidential campaigns. Such public exposure might, in turn, affect the CIAs calculations.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/06/no_author/secret-assassination-files/

[James DiEugenio]

The JFK story has no particular urgency in millennial America. Im talking about a single homicide that happened before most of you were born.

This is because there has been a virtual blackout of the discoveries on the JFK case and the new discoveries about who he was ever since 1993 and the arrival of Posner's Case Closed on the 30th anniversary of his murder.

If, for instance, there was a program about Kennedy's revolutionary foreign policy, e.g. in the Middle East, you would see such interest and urgency.

But there has not been. And IMO, this is not an accident.

Edited June 10, 2016 by James DiEugenio

[Martin Blank]

The JFK story has no particular urgency in millennial America. Im talking about a single homicide that happened before most of you were born.

This is because there has been a virtual blackout of the discoveries on the JFK case and the new discoveries about who he was ever since 1993 and the arrival of Posner's Case Closed on the 30th anniversary of his murder.

If, for instance, there was a program about Kennedy's revolutionary foreign policy, e.g. in the Middle East, you would see such interest and urgency.

But there has not been. And IMO, this is not an accident.

john newsman's groundbreaking jfk & vietnam came out in 1992 and progress among media, academics, etc., has been slow to say the least as they try to obfuscate and ignore what had been ordered at the time of his death and was beginning to take place. 24 years. yeesh

[Chris Bennett]

Just as a reality check, let's remember that most college students weren't even alive when the movie JFK was released.

When I talk to high school and college students about very basic things in the case like the Zapruder film and multiple shooters, I get polite smiles and "I'm sure we studied it in school."

The current presidency is the only one they really remember.

But I do know that many millennials are very much not satisfied with the status quo. And they are much more able to sort fact from fiction in the media than people of our generations. I'm constantly impressed by the filters they have developed.

And I have hope.

[James DiEugenio]

Whenever I taught the JFK case at a high school, the students really enjoyed it.

In fact, when I co taught with another teacher who was interested in it, the room was overflowing. Kids used to get out of other classes to attend.

[Pat Speer]

Whenever I taught the JFK case at a high school, the students really enjoyed it.

In fact, when I co taught with another teacher who was interested in it, the room was overflowing. Kids used to get out of other classes to attend.

A friend of mine's young nephew called me up a few weeks back and asked me if he could pick my brain about the Kennedy assassination, as he was gonna give some sort of presentation on it in his high school history class. We were supposed to meet for an hour, but I had to break it off after more than two hours. He then called me a few nights later to ask some follow-up questions. In total we talked for almost three hours. So yeah, I'd say some young people find it fascinating, when it's presented to them in the right way.

[Gene Kelly]

Thinking more broadly, there are many things that were "done" by agencies that - in retrospect - would reflect poorly on government today. This is one reason (imho) that official JFK stories have not changed, nor are any politicians interested in dredging-up the truth and laying it out in modern times. One knowledgeable person who had worked the HSCA once told me - when asked about why the truth wasn't revealed after so many years - "why do you think that (JFK's murder) was the worst thing they'd done?"

While the perpetrators are clearer today (for me anyway), I'd venture that today's CIA and other intelligence agencies are vastly different than they were 50 years ago. Things are no doubt done which must remain dark, for ostensibly valid reasons, national security, the common good, etc. I also have no doubt there are many earnest (and honest) folks who devote their careers to those agencies; I worked in government for 17 years, and can attest to such. However, one thing that I vividly learned is that the very strongest instinct within an agency is its continuance ... and anything that threatens its existence (funding by Congress, public reputation as civil servants, mission etc.) is defended in strong terms. Federal agencies deeply believe in themselves, and their mission, and will fight to no ends to continue to exist.

I find that telling friends, family, co-workers and others the true JFK "story" is met with mixed results. Some are fascinated, some are uninterested, and some cannot countenance this would happen. Its difficult to keep their focus and attention for too long. I too teach, and students have less patience today for books, research and deeper inquiry. They like their news in snippets and their stories in one simple summary paragraph. When you lay some enigmas and sub-plots out clearly (pictures help, like umbrella man or Tippit's murder scene) they are fascinated, but its like driving by an accident on the highway... a brief fascination and then quickly move on.

[David Andrews]

The JFK story has no particular urgency in millennial America. Im talking about a single homicide that happened before most of you were born.

This is because there has been a virtual blackout of the discoveries on the JFK case and the new discoveries about who he was ever since 1993 and the arrival of Posner's Case Closed on the 30th anniversary of his murder.

If, for instance, there was a program about Kennedy's revolutionary foreign policy, e.g. in the Middle East, you would see such interest and urgency.

But there has not been. And IMO, this is not an accident.

If there can be a multi-part ABC/ESPN documentary on O. J. Simpson as a cultural figure, from cradle to cell - and I'm not saying there shouldn't be - then there could be the same intensive treatment of Kennedy's foreign policy and anti-colonialism, warts and all. There's no question that the failure of Kennedy's interests to become an American political legacy is a story relevant story to our post-1963 political development. But it's not going to happen. Nobody's going to present that as history.

[Joe Bauer]

Thinking more broadly, there are many things that were "done" by agencies that - in retrospect - would reflect poorly on government today. This is one reason (imho) that official JFK stories have not changed, nor are any politicians interested in dredging-up the truth and laying it out in modern times. One knowledgeable person who had worked the HSCA once told me - when asked about why the truth wasn't revealed after so many years - >>> "why do you think that (JFK's murder) was the worst thing they'd done?" <<<

Dear God ... what could be worse than the bloody head exploding slaughter of a sitting president in broad daylight just feet away from hundreds of innocent citizens and inches from his wife's face?

While the perpetrators are clearer today (for me anyway), I'd venture that today's CIA and other intelligence agencies are vastly different than they were 50 years ago.

Vastly different?

In some ways perhaps however, I think the same main great worry among citizens who care about the health of our society and constitutional form of government has not changed.

And that is the real and rational fear that these secret, massive budge, limited oversight agencies ( and the unknown people and groups who control them ) have acquired more real power and influence than our elected officials.

That the ominous message conveyed in Eisenhower's MIC warning farewell speech has possibly become our new reality.

I also have no doubt there are many earnest (and honest) folks who devote their careers to those agencies; I worked in government for 17 years, and can attest to such. However, one thing that I vividly learned is that the very strongest instinct within an agency is its continuance ... and anything that threatens its existence (funding by Congress, public reputation as civil servants, mission etc.) is defended in strong terms. Federal agencies deeply believe in themselves, and their mission, and will fight to no ends to continue to exist.

Again, your take forces one to ask the logical and ominous question of how far these agencies would go to defend their existence? And when JFK said he was going to scatter one of them to the winds ... what would they honestly do in response to this threat?

I find that telling friends, family, co-workers and others the true JFK "story" is met with mixed results. Some are fascinated, some are uninterested, and some cannot countenance this would happen. Its difficult to keep their focus and attention for too long. I too teach, and students have less patience today for books, research and deeper inquiry. They like their news in snippets and their stories in one simple summary paragraph. When you lay some enigmas and sub-plots out clearly (pictures help, like umbrella man or Tippit's murder scene) they are fascinated, but its like driving by an accident on the highway... a brief fascination and then quickly move on.

Young people not caring about the JFK event is natural. But I always felt sad that with each ten years passing, this detachment was greater and greater.

I couldn't keep my kids ( now adults) interest in this story if I paid them. Well ,maybe if I could pay off their crushing student loans.

I was 12 on 11,22,1963 and to me it was truly "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

Starting the afternoon of 11,22,1963 I watched TV every minute for 4 straight days except when the late-at-night black and white TV light about made me blind with eye strain and leep deprived exhaustion.

Of course none of saw the Zapruder film at that time which would have shocked and traumatized us even more, but seeing Mafia connected, strip joint owning Jack Ruby whack Lee Harvey Oswald on "live" national TV inside a major city police department building crawling with over 70 armed and highest alert in their lifetimes security personnel was so powerfully effecting, those of us who witnessed this can't help but feel this the rest of our lives.

And it was so illogical that you also were rationally forced to be very suspicious about the whole JFK affair also for the rest of your life.

[Douglas Caddy]

Robert Tosh Plumlee recently wrote on Facebook that the assassination of JFK was one of a number of government Black Operations that were underway at the time.

http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKplumlee.htm

[Martin Blank]

haven't gotten to the last chapter yet but every other one has fanned my outrage at our country's institutions