Media Blackout on CIA Committee/JFK Records Act

[Benjamin Cole]

Let's see: A sitting US Congressman, prominently placed on a committee with oversight on the CIA, introduces a bill to open the JFK Records in 30 days, without exception. 

You might think the Justice for Kennedy Act bill is a news story...at least somewhere. OK, maybe not a cover story, but a story.  Page 10 on the NYT or WaPo? CNN snippet? CBS "60 Minutes" segment? Anybody? Rolling Stone? 

You would be wrong. There is almost a total news blackout on the Justice for Kennedy Act bill.

As far as I can tell (Google search), no news organization in US media is covering the legislation introduced to open the JFK Records in 30 days, with the lone exception of The American Conservative, a small 501c3 non-profit. 

Jeff Morley is covering the story, and of course Morley is a real US newsman, but not really a member of the media, or affiliated with any news organization. 

Here is coverage in The American Conservative,  3.28.23:

The Justice for Kennedy Act, introduced by Rep. David Schweikert, an Arizona Republican, mandates publication of all assassination-related records within thirty days. Prevailing law gives the House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security Committees continuing supervisory jurisdiction over the mysterious files, but several more House committees—including Judiciary and Foreign Affairs—have some form of authority. After referral to the Intelligence Committee in March, the JFK bill moved to the Subcommittee on the CIA. 

Attorney Lawrence Schnapf, on the podcast he co-hosts with assassination historian Jefferson Morley, speculated that the bill could have moved to the subcommittee either for action or “to die.”

As Congress considers Schweikert’s legislation, the case of Mary Ferrell Foundation v. President Biden and the National Archives, in which Schnapf serves as co-counsel for the plaintiffs (MFF), is appealing to the judiciary to compel executive-branch compliance with the will of Congress. By postponing—in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner—release of records related to the assassination, the defendants are violating a federal law, the JFK Records Act, passed unanimously by Congress in 1992.

---30---

Dick Russell, also a JFKA researcher, has authored a pair of articles on the co-opting of large factions of the US media, and of course, Operation Mockingbird never really went away...just got loaded up on steroids. 

Russell wrote about CIA influence and stage-managing at the Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Insider and other publications.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cia-liberal-media-outlets-the-real-anthony-fauci/

Of course, one only has to turn on the boob-tube and see intel-state talking heads all over the cable channels--fine and dandy, but are there other narratives?

No, there are no other narratives. 

The Justice for Kennedy Act bill is not a news story, not a cause celebre. 

US media has become twinned at the hip with the intel-state, and the old alt-L media, for those old enough to remember the days of paper publications, has been co-opted. 

Be advised. 

 

[Gerry Down]

Prob cause the media views the assassination as a closed case. For example, the Wikipedia page for "Dealey Plaza" states categorically that Oswald shot and killed JFK from the book depository:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dealey_Plaza 

[Lawrence Schnapf]

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

[Charles Blackmon]

How is it a "closed case" when the HSCA in 1979 declared that the assassination was likely the result of a conspiracy?

[Gerry Down]

18 minutes ago, Charles Blackmon said:

How is it a "closed case" when the HSCA in 1979 declared that the assassination was likely the result of a conspiracy?

I'm not saying its a closed case, just that is how the media views it.

HSCA based their conclusion of conspiracy on faulty acoustic evidence. The problem with the acoustic evidence was revealed in the early 1980s and so DOJ said no dice, HSCA conclusion faulty, which means the finding of the WC back in 1964 still stood. 

[Michael Crane]

 

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes.

[Benjamin Cole]

6 hours ago, Charles Blackmon said:

How is it a "closed case" when the HSCA in 1979 declared that the assassination was likely the result of a conspiracy?

Ditto squared. 

[Benjamin Cole]

6 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

I'm not saying its a closed case, just that is how the media views it.

HSCA based their conclusion of conspiracy on faulty acoustic evidence. The problem with the acoustic evidence was revealed in the early 1980s and so DOJ said no dice, HSCA conclusion faulty, which means the finding of the WC back in 1964 still stood. 

Well, yes and no. 

Blakey has said that the controversial acoustics evidence was only one piece of evidence, out of many pieces, that indicated the JFKA was the work of a conspiracy. 

Then, of course, the HSCA had been operating under the "supervision," so to speak, of George Joannides. 

Blakey also somehow came to believe that SBT had been tumbling when it struck Connally---the tumbling from having passed through JFK's neck. That was proof of the SBT.

This despite the small round hole in the back of Connally's shirt, and that Connally's wound had been "debrided"---enlarged in surgery. How Blakey was so wrong on this is...inexplicable. 

Like anyone, I have read many Wikipedia related entries re the JFKA. I sense Operation Mockingbird at work. 

And jeez, can't we at least get a page 10 story in the NYT that a sitting congressman has introduced legislation to open up the JFK records in 30 days? A 20-second segment on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, or MSNBC? 

A news blackout. 

 

 

 

[Gerry Down]

7 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Blakey has said that the controversial acoustics evidence was only one piece of evidence, out of many pieces, that indicated the JFKA was the work of a conspiracy. 

.......

can't we at least get a page 10 story in the NYT that a sitting congressman has introduced legislation to open up the JFK records in 30 days? A 20-second segment on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, or MSNBC? 

A news blackout. 

Another one of the HSCAs key "proofs" of a conspiracy was their contention that Ferrie and Oswald were together at the Clinton sighting. Like the acoustics evidence, this contention too went up in smoke when it was revealed later that Garrison hid key early testimony of the Clinton witnesses from the HSCA. This again made the HSCA report look foolish which is why it largely gets ignored. 

Its surprising that the JFK records story is not getting more coverage. But there are other pressing stories at the moment with regard to trying to get documents released. The below Fox News story is just one example. Some times in the JFKA research community we can be guilty of tunnel vision thinking the only files the government is holding back are the JFK assassination files, when in reality there are a whole multitude of files people want released and ones regarding events which are far more recent than from an event 60 years ago.

 

[Benjamin Cole]

2 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

Another one of the HSCAs key "proofs" of a conspiracy was their contention that Ferrie and Oswald were together at the Clinton sighting. Like the acoustics evidence, this contention too went up in smoke when it was revealed later that Garrison hid key early testimony of the Clinton witnesses from the HSCA. This again made the HSCA report look foolish which is why it largely gets ignored. 

Its surprising that the JFK records story is not getting more coverage. But there are other pressing stories at the moment with regard to trying to get documents released. The below Fox News story is just one example. Some times in the JFKA research community we can be guilty of tunnel vision thinking the only files the government is holding back are the JFK assassination files, when in reality there are a whole multitude of files people want released and ones regarding events which are far more recent than from an event 60 years ago.

 

"Another one of the HSCAs key "proofs" of a conspiracy was their contention that Ferrie and Oswald were together at the Clinton sighting. Like the acoustics evidence, this contention too went up in smoke when it was revealed later that Garrison hid key early testimony of the Clinton witnesses from the HSCA. This again made the HSCA report look foolish which is why it largely gets ignored." ---GD

I am unaware of this. Can you expand? Maybe a post? I thought the HSCA conducted their own interviews, and so on. 

---30---

And I concede I have tunnel-vision inside a fishbowl, inside a cocoon, under a rock, when it come to the importance of the JFKA and world history or current news events.

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

Just now, Benjamin Cole said:

"Another one of the HSCAs key "proofs" of a conspiracy was their contention that Ferrie and Oswald were together at the Clinton sighting. Like the acoustics evidence, this contention too went up in smoke when it was revealed later that Garrison hid key early testimony of the Clinton witnesses from the HSCA. This again made the HSCA report look foolish which is why it largely gets ignored." ---GD

I am unaware of this. Can you expand? Maybe a post? I thought the HSCA conducted their own interviews, and so on. 

---30---

And I concede I have tunnel-vision inside a fishbowl, inside a cocoon, under a rock, when it come to the importance of the JFKA and world history or current news events.

 

 

Add on: Did the Ferrie/Oswald photo surface after the HSCA? 

[Gerry Down]

Basically Garrison passed on interviews he conducted of the Clinton witnesses to the HSCA which made it appear Ferrie and Oswald were sighted together. However it emerged years later that Garrison had two sets of interviews, early ones and ones conducted much later. Garrison hid the early interviews from the HSCA because those interviews contradicted the later interviews placing Ferrie and Oswald together in Clinton. I'm sure Litwin goes through this in detail in his book "On the trail of Delusion" if you want to read up more on it.

The HSCA then proceeded to say in it's report that it believed Ferrie and Oswald were most likely together that summer in Clinton.

[Benjamin Cole]

48 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

Basically Garrison passed on interviews he conducted of the Clinton witnesses to the HSCA which made it appear Ferrie and Oswald were sighted together. However it emerged years later that Garrison had two sets of interviews, early ones and ones conducted much later. Garrison hid the early interviews from the HSCA because those interviews contradicted the later interviews placing Ferrie and Oswald together in Clinton. I'm sure Litwin goes through this in detail in his book "On the trail of Delusion" if you want to read up more on it.

The HSCA then proceeded to say in it's report that it believed Ferrie and Oswald were most likely together that summer in Clinton.

Not to belabor a point, but HSCA'ers did go to Clinton and interview witnesses, no? 

Also, the Oswald/Ferrie group CAP photo emerged in 1993, after the HSCA investigation. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Benjamin Cole

[Gerry Down]

7 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Not to belabor a point, but HSCA'ers did go to Clinton and interview witnesses, no? 

Also, the Oswald/Ferrie group CAP photo emerged in 1993, after the HSCA investigation. 

I don't know if they did or not. But the rule is usually the earliest eyewitness accounts are the most reliable. 

So Ferrie and Oswald prob knew each other in the CAP. That doesn't put them together in the Summer of 1963. Seeing how LHO was a defector at that point, Ferrie would be unlikely to want to be friends with him then.

[Benjamin Cole]

41 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

I don't know if they did or not. But the rule is usually the earliest eyewitness accounts are the most reliable. 

So Ferrie and Oswald prob knew each other in the CAP. That doesn't put them together in the Summer of 1963. Seeing how LHO was a defector at that point, Ferrie would be unlikely to want to be friends with him then.

Correction: LHO was publicly portrayed as a defector at that point (in 1963), and Ferrie was a known CIA operative (pilot). 

There is a great deal of doubt as to LHO's true identity. A false defector? A wayward CIA asset (of which there were thousands in the US at that time, due to the Cuba situation).

A bona fide defector, who went to the Soviet Union and spilled technical national security secrets...and then came home without consequence? That could be, but seems unlikely. At the height of the Cold War? 

Someone (like Guy Banister) might have put the word in to Ferrie, ala, "LHO is one of ours." 

If I had to bet, I would bet LHO was an intel-state asset, though maybe not a good one. 

The HSCA did go back to Clinton LA and extensively interviewed witnesses. The HSCA conjectured Shaw (a proven perjurer) and LHO had been in Clinton together.

But I will grant you this: Conjectures by the HSCA---and the WC---are only that: conjectures.