71 Comments

Whenever I read how obscene Texas is in so many areas, I’m always reminded of the inimitable Molly Ivins, who famously said: “Texas is the national laboratory for bad government.” RIP, Molly

Expand full comment

Wouldn't she have had a field day skewering (repeatedly, in many columns, over a period of time) Paxton and Abbott?!! How we miss her!

Expand full comment

I recall her comment about G “W” Bush — something like, “Poor George…born with a silver foot in his mouth!” (LOL!)

Expand full comment

That one-liner belongs to the last sane Governor of Texas, the late but very much lamented Ann Richards, speaking the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

Expand full comment

Was it she or Ann Richards that called Dubya “Shrub?”

Expand full comment

I think it was Ms. Ivins...one of her anthology collections of columns was called "The Short but Happy Political Life of G.W. Bush", undertitled "SHRUB" w/ Lou DuBose.

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment

One outstanding exception: ANN RICHARDS, 45th Governor of Texas,

known for her outspoken feminism and her one-liners.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending a seminar she gave at the National Organization for Women (NOW). Unforgettable!

Expand full comment

Paxton is beloved by the MAGA base of the Texass GQP for one reason and one reason alone - he is adept at filing frivolous lawsuits against Democratic Presidents and winning victories in arch conservative courts. No one owns the libs like Paxton, and they will forgive all of the criminality as a result.

That all said, Heather Cox Richardson suggested in her column today that Paxton may be just the sacrificial lamb the Republican Party needs to claim that in spite of Thomas, in spite of Trump, in spite of Gorsuch, in spite of Kavanaugh, in spite of Santos, in spite of well, all of them, they can claim to be anti-corruption and serious about cracking down on the evil doers. Who knows, I don't think that dog is gonna hunt, but if it gets rid of the particular cancer on the country that is Ken Paxton, so be it.

Expand full comment

Yeah, "The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"! Have to start somewhere on all these multitudinous tasks, to slow the seas of American blood these {Expletives deleted!!#$#@!}

regard with a depraved indifference to human life, pain and suffering.

Expand full comment

How "adept" does Paxton need to be to win a case against the libswhen it is argued before a rabidly arch-conservative Circuit Court???

Expand full comment

Do you think the MAGAs hear that he is playing on the home court with the refs in the tank for him? Hell no, he is the avenging angel, owning the libs at every turn.

Expand full comment

Even when Paxton's "efforts" costs the state money?

Yeah, probably...how sad that Texas taxpayers condone such overtly stupid BS and are willing to cough up their tax money to "own the libs"...when no-one or nothing was actually "owned".

Expand full comment

I feel truly sorry for the Texans who don't cop to the right wing criminals in their state. They should have elected Beto. Now with voter suppression and the f'd up Supreme Court, they may be putting up with the bullshit for a very long time.

Expand full comment

Alamo? Same type of Texans claimed the legendary Texas LE were the heroes of Uvalde. And their AG was the best TX lawman since Texas Ranger Chuck Norris cuz as the AG he owned the DC libs, TX libs,the gay, and brown/black people.

Whitewashing history: Alamo aka Heroic Anglo or Gringo Narrative. No line in the sand. No to all killed (minus1) inside the Mission (Americans and the west wailed sacrilegious when #daeshbags fought on holy ground of Mosques and Churches). Mexican history has circa half of Travis's force staging a nighttime breakout only to be felled by Santa Anna's Lancers. They have the remainder of the living force eventually surrendering, then executing all including CoonCap Crockett. Whether it was done inside the Mission grounds or outside is not clear. What is clear, no Mission existed as the only building around. No towns people, no Mission cuz it wasn't a Monastery.

Some Mexican historians theorized Travis sought the historical protection of sanctuary afforded those inside a Mission's grounds. Did so to dare the all-Catholic Mexican forces to attack holy ground. And further claim Santa Anna did not attack until the final day of the siege. Keep in mind Santa Anna coulda left a force encircling the Mission, then went about his business. Perhaps his force was NOT as large as Texans long claimed. US historians? Lots of scholarship that comes closer to the Mexican storytell than to the first of many TX myths.

Expand full comment

You know what I was doing with that myth-laden analogy, right?

Expand full comment

absolutely . simply finished what you started

Expand full comment

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo

Wikipedia is erratic about some topics (godawful, including demonstrably false claims they will not correct* on anything to do with JFK assassination, for example) but this entry incorporates many of the claims you mention above, which have long been taught to high school and university students ( for at least over fifty years, because it was part of my AP American history course in high school, in Iowa though and not Texas!) but still hasn't overthrown the hagiography, that's for sure.

* This three part series of articles is a devastating, painstakingly researched and lucidly presented account of exactly how Wikipedia "moderates, censors, removes, distorts" these controversial topics:

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/will-the-real-wikipedia-please-stand-up

www.kennedysandking.com/content/the-real-wikipedia-part-two-please-mr-wales-remain-seated

www.kennedysandking.com/content/part-two-addendum-fernandez-and-the-38-smith-and-wesson

www.kennedysandking.com/content/the-real-wikipedia-the-wikipedia-fraud-pt-3-wales-covers-up-for-the-warren-commission

Expand full comment

Have an aversion to Wikipedia. Read one full link got me thinking.

Can't think of any event in hooman history that lasted all of 6seconds that in many minds remains unresolved 60 years later. That is a lot of 6second chunks.

The problem is those 6seconds. If they are resolved there is a much limited and much narrower set of how about, what if, if, and so on. Problem is people don't agree on what is known. Sound familiar?

Can 1person make those shots from the TSDB? Easily, including misses w/the same weapon and same ammo. But, but, but the Zabruder film showing JFK head wound? Or the magic bullet? Well, there is one simple and logical answer to both. People forget 2facts, fact1 the Lincoln was a limo, the jump seat was significantly lower than the rear seat which accounts for the entrance/exist wound in JFK and entrance wound in the Gov. Fact2JFK was wearing his full back brace. His body would NOT react to being struck in the same way yours or mine would. He literally was half man half mannequin. W/o the back brace there would not be the fatal shot to the head. Getting struck w/a high velocity round is like being w/a>100 pound hot sledge hammer. Forward and down one goes. The brace held him upright with only his legs giving up some ground (he slid down a bit, not forward tho.) Even the arm movements speak to the brace. He was a sitting duck for the kill shot. Autopsy drawings and suppose unreleased pics are consistent with a bullet trajectory from slight angle rear and high.

Have no feel for all-things Oswald. Most sole proprietors (never catch me say lone wolf for a 2legged) have questionable backgrounds which lend themselves to being caught more than a patsy.

An assassin-sniper would not miss from such a short range as found in the Plaza nor use that type rifle or ammo. Woulda been over in <1second. And head shots are frontal or rear. A simple naturally occurring turn when in profile invites a miss not so from front or rear. Hence no grassy knoll.

Ruby-Oswald? More of the same subject, the legend of the TX lawman applies. They sure did give Ruby ingress because he was well known to them as in hey that's Jack. LEOs luv luv strip joints. Bad policing. Bad security. Bad trauma care?

When a political figure is assassinated, it does get others thinking, heck I can do that. Same in mass shootings. Same in domestic killings including poisonings. And similar to suicide (after all is homicide) or a song ear room, not easy to get out of the noggin. What isn't easy to cojoin with the thought is how to get away with it. The thought to kill can override so much that to others there had to be more to it. In fact, it was all the killer thought about.

Me-thinks one of the reasons there isn't a full dump of all-things JFK is due to how far reaching the investigation went into different nations, US pols and US political groups and individuals. And what they found totally unrelated to those 6seconds how how they obtained it.

To this day the USSS hasn't learned its lesson. Think of a presidential detail the same way a law associate jumps to full partner or when a US FOGO gets a chair on the Joint Chiefs. Or more recently the golfer Block having 4 good days. The head swells in the rarified air followed by getting sloppy and forgetting or short-cutting all the basics.

That's my story and am semi-sticking to it. Oh, Remember the Alamo.

Expand full comment

'Tis my humble yet biased opinion that the writers of Red Dwarf (the greatest ever sci-fi comedy TV series - yes, better than Third Rock From The Sun) have the only truly possible real answer.

As shown in this short clip from that episode. https://youtu.be/W6naJ08Tskk

Expand full comment

So many great lines in the parody and of course the distinct Brookline (not Bahsten) accent kills it.

To this day this one article remains the gold standard pushback to JFK Conspiracy 1-100+.

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/magazine/the-warren-commission-why-we-still-dont-s-believe-it.html. ~David W. Belin, a senior partner in the Des Moines law firm of Belin Harris Helmick Tesdell Lamson McCormick, was counsel to the Warren Commission. He adapted this article from ''Final Disclosure: The Full Truth About the Assassination of President Kennedy,'' to be published this month.

That said, Red Dwarf gets their due with a silver.

Expand full comment

Every single argument about the JFK assassination you endorse here has been relentlessly debunked, starting with that "easy shooting" with the "same weapon," the same weapon that the FBI hesitated to even test at all because they were afraid it would explode!

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-fbi-s-fib-about-the-mannlicher-carcano

No one has ever been able to "replicate" the supposed Oswald sniper's nest shooting, especially considering alleged "replications" using stationary targets.

The argument you make about the back-brace and the limo goes back to the 1960s, has been debunked, the bogus Warren Commission fables about the ballistics and the head shot has been examined repeatedly and debunked - and there's the ambiguity as to which head shot you mean, is that the one tracked based on Gerald Ford's repositioning five inches up from JFK's back to his lower neck, so it could fit in with the "Magic Bullet Theory"?

Anyway here's the fast course to correcting the rest of the central mistakes:

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/case-closed-30-years-on-even-worse

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/case-closed-30-years-on-even-worse-part-2

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/case-closed-30-years-on-even-worse-part-3

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/case-closed-30-years-on-even-worse-part-4

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/case-closed-30-years-on-even-worse-part-5

Case Closed 30 Years On: Even Worse

"British researcher Martin Hay does a complete review of Gerald Posner’s 1993 book Case Closed. After a very long examination he concludes that, in light of new evidence, the book is even worse now than it was then. This is likely the most complete critique of Posner in the literature."

And this, indicating Oswald wasn't even on the sixth floor when the shots were fired:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtF1mM9gcW4

2,703 views Premiered Aug 5, 2022

'The Killing Floor', based on the book 'The Girl on the Stairs' by author Barry Ernest, is the very true story about a young woman named Victoria Adams, whose experiences stemming from her work offices on the fourth floor of the Texas School Book Depository on November 22nd, 1963 - the date and time of President John F. Kennedy's assassination - cast a whole new look as to whether or not the historically accepted killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was ever in a position to commit this heinous act. Ultimately there were four key women who had a major impact on revealing previously hidden truths in this matter. This is also the story of Barry Ernest who, as a young student dropped out of college to pursue the truth behind the murder of President Kennedy. Barry spent over 3 decades pursuing the elusive Vicki Adams, who dropped off the face of the earth following her experiences in Dallas, Texas.

My name is Rich Negrete, and I am the creator of this video. I was fortunate not only to get the blessing of Barry Ernest to share his story in a visual fashion, but to be guided by his knowledge throughout.

NOTE: My initial goal with this channel 'What Happened to JFK?' was to put out a series of videos dealing with various aspects of the JFK assassination. Due to personal circumstances, this has been put on indefinite hold. Because of this, I added some additional material to 'The Killing Floor' (such as The Magic Bullet section) that was intended for a later episode. It is my hope these additions add to the story at hand.

Hopefully, in the future, I can resume future episodes. I hope you enjoy it!

Sincerely,

Rich Negrete

\

Can 1person make those shots from the TSDB? Easily, including misses w/the same weapon and same ammo. But, but, but the Zabruder film showing JFK head wound? Or the magic bullet? Well, there is one simple and logical answer to both. People forget 2facts, fact1 the Lincoln was a limo, the jump seat was significantly lower than the rear seat which accounts for the entrance/exist wound in JFK and entrance wound in the Gov. Fact2JFK was wearing his full back brace. His body would NOT react to being struck in the same way yours or mine would. He literally was half man half mannequin. W/o the back brace there would not be the fatal shot to the head. Getting struck w/a high velocity round is like being w/a>100 pound hot sledge hammer. Forward and down one goes. The brace held him upright with only his legs giving up some ground (he slid down a bit, not forward tho.) Even the arm movements speak to the brace. He was a sitting duck for the kill shot. Autopsy drawings and suppose unreleased pics are consistent with a bullet trajectory from slight angle rear and high.

Expand full comment

We disagree. What follows is not intended to counter any conspiracy theory out there cuz am not in the game of proving a negative nor squaring their circles for them.

It is the post JFK assassination "books" and teevee interviews by know-nothings that gave birth to a new era of American conspiracies and conspiracists. Hitherto rational people lost their minds by next hitching other events to and from "their" starting point. JFK, other assaissinations same w/911 and all the truthers.

Doesn't matter what Gerald Ford says, he wasn't a forensic pathologist. Heck, the attending surgeons made errorenous statements at their first presser that they later corrected. But only after they were made aware of the trichotomy.

The weapon was outfitted w/ optics and can be easily fired in the elapsed time, all3 in a tight pattern. Oswald didn't cuz he couldn't. It is his inaccuracy that is one of many tells of him being the sole shooter. (Add to the weapon purchase, under alias, the weapon itself, prints, ammo, the brass he left behind inc the bent one. So, yes to no one can reconstruct what he did. A full miss, near miss, then finally on target. It is the order that occurs most often to non-pros. Even to semi-reg shooters w/1st 3 shots or more.

The limo crawl never got what+/- 100M away prior to head shot? With optics, 100M is right at the end of the nose. If people cannot reconstruct that, they shouldn't ever own or fire a rifle.

JFK was wearing a back brace and the limo jump seat is below the height of the rear seat as is the norm. Don't know who says they debunked the back brace effect on the human body including Kennedy's. His body's own response and reactions are inconsistent with NOT wearing one. Proffer that rebuts the "debunking" : Gov Connally when he took the round that passed thru JFK (soft tissue/muscle) he went-forward and down, not of his own accord. The head shot is indisputably from the rear since the entrance wound is in the left center rear of the skull massive exit wound on right side. JFK skull bone frag was found on front passenger side. Totally eliminates any shot from the grassy knoll side of the road which was forward of the limo location and on the right side. Would take a magic bullet to go around the skull from the front to the back while turning so it would exit to the right. Bullets don't lie. It's physics.

Zabruder film does fool folks cuz it is 2D, not 3D or even HD. Even HD enhanced fails due to only one perspective which creates a bias whether views in slo-mo, reg speed or frame by frame. See pro-sports and how they check ALL camera angles even when the first might affirm a call.

Warren Commission and then the Congressional Hearings/Investigations made mistakes. Mistakes not game changing errors. Heck, took reviews and re-reviews and re-reviews of re-reviews to affirm the rifle was Eyetalian made, not German. Even tho they were certain they had a gotcha.

Oswald's background is not as remarkable as it is made out. He sure isn't the only ex-mil who married a Ru or lived there. He was an odd duck yet his ping ponging and zig-zagging from an ideological perspective is not that uncommon then or now. Nor was his acting out uncommon then or now. He was unstable, not exactly a candidate to be relied upon to follow the orders/directions of others, even as their patsy. Is it possible he had a domestic or foreign handler? Sure. Is it likely and supported by any evidence? No and No. Doesn't matter if in theory he was a good enuff shot. He was that day.

If any party made a mess of chit it was the DPB and is how (you know this) national elected pols and Fed officials came to be under Federal jurisdiction. Proffer: DPB was more concerned about the killing of one of their own than that of a northeast yankee liberal elite.

Enjoy our chats very much.

Expand full comment

This to and fro did take my mind off of the dog-and-pony show the wingnut caucus's marionette Kevin McCarthy has engineered about the entirely preventable "debt ceiling game of chicken crisis,' so thanks for that, I enjoy exploring these and many many other topics, too!

Expand full comment

Agree, is good for the noggin'. Surely the Speaker and Trumpkins do not engage in any brain exercises. Nor does the media as they continue to miss frame the debt ceiling game of chicken crisis while their error of omission of being an entirely manufactured crisis by the R House go unnoticed.

Makes me wonder if the Speaker, his caucus, and the media ever read Art-1 Sec-8.

Expand full comment

Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit Paperback – June 15, 2013

“AMERICA’S NEED TO WALK INTO THE NIGHTMARE . . .”

. . . was how Norman Mailer predicted the tumultuous period that led to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 murder on a public street and the fifty years of controversy that have followed that turning point in our nation’s history. Journalist and historian Joseph McBride, a volunteer in JFK’s 1960 Wisconsin presidential primary campaign, began studying the assassination minutes after it happened. In 1982, McBride launched his own investigation. Both epic and intimately personal, Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit incorporates rare interviews with key people in Dallas, archival discoveries, and what novelist Thomas Flanagan, in The New York Review of Books, called McBride’s “wide knowledge of American social history.” McBride chronicles his evolving skepticism about the official story and shines a fresh, often surprising spotlight on Kennedy’s murder and on one of the murkiest, most crucial aspects of the case, its “Rosetta Stone,” the Tippit killing.

Joseph McBride has been a journalist since 1960, writing for such publications as Life, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and, on this subject, The Nation. An internationally renowned film biographer and historian, he has written acclaimed biographies of John Ford, Frank Capra, and Steven Spielberg. McBride lives in Berkeley and is a professor at San Francisco State University.

"Shadowcloud," we should take this to Jefferson Morley's substack or something, I know Lucian is interested in and familiar with most of these controversies, but it's getting to be a back-and-forth better placed on a comment thread where the entire community is involved:

jfkfacts.substack.com/p/the-ghost-of-hamlets-father-haunts

Expand full comment

"Bullets don't lie," but medical documents that have been altered, coerced witness statements, corrupted cops and intel agents, corrupt bureaucrats and flunkeys, and physicians who have been threatened do lie.

Remember the stakes? The killing of a U.S. president in broad daylight.

There's also this, which I ran across solely because of your posts, it's a doozy:

ourhiddenhistory.org/2018/09/19/jfk-assassination-era-dallas-and-george-hw-bush-and-the-cia-with-joseph-mcbride.html

HH: One of the stranger figures that you talk about was assistant ... I think he was an assistant district attorney. Bill Alexander.

Joseph McBride: Bill Alexander.

OHH: Right, and he specifically was ... He claimed to have actually lied to the FBI right during the investigation about important things, but to go into him, he was a member of the Minutemen, a far right organization. This'll kind of bring us into the Dallas police connection with the far-right...

Bill Alexander was a really flamboyant and kind of deranged character, who was one of the deputy DAs, and Wade sort of enjoyed having him around. He realized he was a loose cannon. He had to fire him eventually, because advocated hanging Chief Justice Earl Warren...

Joseph McBride is an accomplished professor, journalist, film historian, and author. He is the author of 20 books, including a new book, which came out in June entitled, How Did Lubitsch Do It? about Ernst Lubitsch, a famed Hollywood comedic film director. He's also the author of Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killer of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit.

Mr. McBride became prominent nationally in 1988 for uncovering an FBI document from J. Edgar Hoover listing George H.W. Bush as a member of the CIA in contact with anti-Castro Cubans at the time of the Kennedy assassination, a finding that has been basically like an earthquake in changing the way that people understand the history of the Bush family.

*****

[Henry Wade's] office had railroaded many innocent people, and sent them to be executed or put away in prison for a long time, and Watkins came in... and he freed about 300 people who had been in prison.

Joseph McBride: Yeah. Watkins was the DA from 2007 to 2015, unfortunately no longer in that office. He's a lawyer, but he was ... He set out to try to exonerate people who had been falsely convicted under Henry Wade's jurisdiction. Wade was a longtime DA. He was DA during the Kennedy assassination. I had a really interesting interview with him, quite revealing, actually, and he's also famous for the Roe v. Wade abortion case. He was the Wade in that case, who was the opponent of the woman who was trying to get an abortion. He was a former FBI agent, and a very interesting man, but very corrupt. His office had railroaded many innocent people, and sent them to be executed or put away in prison for a long time, and Watkins came in. One strange thing Wade did was he preserved DNA evidence on a lot of his cases, and that enabled Watkins to reexamine cases, and he freed about 300 people who had been in prison. It's a horrible miscarriage of justice, but he was correcting a lot of flaws, and it was great.

In the Kennedy case, Wade was, as you say, he gave a infamous press conference on the Sunday night after Oswald was killed, a televised press conference. You can watch it on YouTube, where he was laying out the case against Oswald, but he seemed unsure of a lot of the details, and confused, if you want to look at it that way, about some of the evidence, or as Oswald called it "the so-called evidence". He told his brother, "Don't believe this so-called evidence." I've found that so much of the, what is put forth as evidence in the case is just false, or misleading, and you have to reexamine everything very critically. You can't take anything at face value in this case, which is a good thing for researchers in a way, because it forces you to not take things because of some authority figure tells you to believe this or that. You have to really research every detail, every fact. And so a lot of what Wade said was way off the mark, and what I found out basically, I interviewed him and Jim Leavelle, who was the detective, who was the lead detective in the Tippit murder, took place the same day as the assassination within about 39 minutes after Kennedy was killed, Tippit was killed. **** It is a long interview, well worth learning from as McBride had worked on the case for over 30 years when the interview took place.

Expand full comment

The fact is Governor Connolly insisted to the day he died he was hit by a SEPARATE SHOT, that's the end of that logic fail, Connolly's movements are a separate and distinct phenomenon.

The Zapruder film simply verifies what numerous witnesses testified to, a head shot from the front, as does the medical forensics.

Here's another link you really need:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWpmN7ZEaRA

04,405 views May 22, 2015

While serving as chief analyst of military records at the Assassination Records Review Board in the nineties, Douglas Horne examined serious anomalies in the medical evidence in the JFK case.

In this film, Horne draws on his book "Inside the ARRB" to present a comprehensive overview of the missing, altered and fraudulent evidence that indicates a cover-up by multiple agencies of the government. Their mission - to hide the true nature of President Kennedy's wounds and purge all trace of a conspiracy.

www.killingoswald.com

Expand full comment

Yes, the good Gov insisted he was right. Problem is there is no disagreement of the elapsed time. Time and senses get warped when being shot. Keep in mind he was shot before he heard the shot. The velocity associated with Oswald's rife round is north of 650m/sec. The speed of sound is app. half that. Distance was less than 100m. Same with JFK. Same phenomena with his trailing detail and everyone in the Plaza. Also explains some of the confusion in number of rounds fired.

If a round is fired from behind and/or over your head or near the head whether downrange or in the line of fire...well it is sound you never forget and it is NOT the sound of a gunshot which is a controlled explosion. It is the sound of the delta of air pressure. To some hissing to others whizzing but it ain't the crack of a rifle or pop of a pistol. Is unforgettable though. So is the sound of lead/copper striking a hooman body yet the victim never hears it. Includes the good Gov. And as written it is not a feeling one expects, it is a violent red hot jar to the body as if someone stabbed or ran ya thru with a hot poker attached to a hydraulic machine.

W-Commission Chapter 3 is a good read. It covers the forensics. Again, expect hoomans under intense pressure to wilt, make common mistakes, change minds after new info comes to their attention. For example : confusing the trach as an entrance wound then logically linking it to the head wound meaning the shot was fired from BELOW the height of the door. There is no disputing the entrance wound in the back of the head. Great detail is available in the WC forensics as to location then redone by Mil ME with hundreds of autopsies involving head and other hi-velocity gunshot wounds. They even tested human skulls to re-verify what they already knew about head wounds/skull bone. The non-fatal shot didn't hit any bones in JFK mighta nicked one or two but no hit.

So, those looking at the med-docs keep forgetting changes are inevitable and typical under the conditions and circumstances and not nefarious in nature. They forget the order of who did what examination then passed JFK to the next in line, then the next.

Totally agree all info other than those that fall under nat-sec should be released. Starting with the graphic pics of the body. Without those pics those holding view contrary to the findings can continue to seed doubt. That said, even 2D pics of a head wound is awful. Even worse to see for self. Is alien looking, not hooman looking.

Nothing has changed since then. Parents do not want their little ones' pics from school shootings ever released. Same with spouses/significant in other shootings involving a high velocity rifle. Besides most never view the remains due to how horrific the wounds are inc head wounds. Authorities beg parents/spouses not to look. The closest the public ever gets is to hear a survivor say words to the effect I knew that one was dead.

One day neuroscience/AI will likely have a feel for the Oswalds et al. Hopefully learn enuff so a regular routine scan can detect the yellow and red flags before an individual acts out. Right now all we know about that type is they are certain they alone are right and they alone can right the wrongs only they can see. Their perception is their reality.

That is one reason some of us look upon Trump die-hard followers as posing a threat, Not the fan gurlz and fan boyz chasing Trump from rally to rally. The ones sitting at home convinced s/he is duty bound to act upon Trump's broad and deep enemies list. Militias? Seems the same people who didn't read the 2nd Constitution don't know how many times the word appears.

Expand full comment

"Have no feel for all-things Oswald. Most sole proprietors (never catch me say lone wolf for a 2legged) have questionable backgrounds which lend themselves to being caught more than a patsy."

Here's some of that "questionable background":

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/oswald-the-cia-and-mexico-city

An excerpt from some of John Newman's groundbreaking work on the Oswald imposter in Mexico City."

John M. Newman spent 20 years with US Army Intelligence, and served as executive assistant to the director of the NSA. After leaving government work he joined the faculty of U. Maryland where he taught Soviet, Chinese, East Asian, and Vietnam War history, as well as Sino-Soviet and U.S.-Soviet relations. He is author of two ground-breaking books, JFK and Vietnam (1992) and Oswald and the CIA (1995, republished with addendum, 2008). Dr. Newman is working on a multi-volume history of CIA covert operations involving Cuba, the first of which, Where Angels Tread Lightly, appeared in 2015. Read more here.

Expand full comment

JFK. While revenge is a reasonable consideration for JFK's murder, i have always given thought to, "benefit."

Expand full comment

Well... hate to raise issues or seem to defend the Alamo myths (which have been deservedly debunked in modern scholarship), but there are a lot of things wrong about some of these assertions. Let me just mention a couple of factual things without stirring up a hornet's nest of controversy, I hope. The Alamo mission had been de-consecrated and secularized years before the Texas revolution. The Mexican army under General Cos had in fact been the first to use it as a military stronghold during the siege of Bexar (San Antonio) in 1835, and done much to fortify and reinforce the crumbling mission compound. Santa Anna in fact made his final assault on a Sunday; there was no sense of the Alamo being "holy ground" by that time. Santa Anna certainly made some ill-judgments concerning his siege of the Alamo; for starters, his advance into Texas was made under appalling weather conditions that weakened his army, he brought virtually no medical personnel to tend to his sick and wounded (therefore many of the Mexican casualties during the battle later perished from injuries). He also declined to wait for his heavy artillery to arrive (would have taken less than a week) that would have allowed him to safely pound the mission into bits; he opted for a bloody assault in hopes of making an example that would discourage resistance, without a thought for the lives of his soldiers. Santa Anna was in fact a very poor battlefield commander, his won-lost record against organized opponents is lousy, from the Texas campaign thru the later Mexican War. Time and time again he threw away advantages and lost to smaller armies. We know very precisely how many men were in the Mexican army at the Alamo from surviving Mexican military records (also casualty lists); we have the daily unit reports and orders of battle and returns after action -- we even know about the weather for each day of the siege thanks to these records. The number of Alamo defenders continues to be unknown and a constant source of debate and discovery but we can pretty safely assume it was between 180 and 250 effectives. There is good evidence some were killed outside the walls during the final attack, having made an ad hoc or prearranged attempt to break out and escape. This does not detract from the heroism of the resistance. But it was not undertaken until the March 6 assault was already underway. And similarly, the debate goes on about how many and who was taken prisoner/surrendered and then executed at Santa Anna's order. There are entire books about this (esp. since Crockett's name comes up so often in connection with this) and the truth is almost certainly never going to be known. Again, I find it generally irrelevant and a sidebar to the bigger picture.

You don't have to buy into the myths of EITHER side, revisionists or glorifiers, to appreciate the battle as a story of men in combat, a desperate moment in history, with tragedies and heroism on all sides and a certain epic melancholy that attaches to all last stands.

Expand full comment

I have been amazed for years now that this openly criminal powerful man in Texas has simply lived on as if nothing bothers him. I lived in Houston for six years in the late 60s into the 70s and Texas was very very different then. I don't understand anything anymore. But I understand the Republicans now see him as a threat because he will run for governor if not stopped, so it's now. Up to now he was just another Republican thumbing his nose at government and doing as he pleases with no repercussions. This isn't even over the fact he's committed crimes. It's because they don't want him as governor and he's a threat to something. Who knows what, something worse perhaps?

Expand full comment

I was born in GA, raised here, went to college and grad school in Atlanta. During the time period you cite, it was also much different in Atlanta. There hasn’t been a Democratic governor since I moved back here, 20 years ago. Guns in bars, anyone? I mean, what could go wrong? 🙄

Expand full comment

I also lived in Atlanta in the earlier 60s, then a short stint with my parents and on to Houston. Neither place is what it once was. I'm in Louisiana now so nowhere I've lived do they not now have guns for everybody and concealed carry no permit, no problemo.

Expand full comment

Indeed. The "New South" that was promised back in the 1970s failed to materialize after the 1980s set in. Whatever stirrings of progressivism had taken place in Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia -- it all ended with the Reagan revolution. Look how deeply red and reactionary the South has become since the days when the Democrats could even elect liberals in those states. Texas was always conservative -- it was just conservative Democrats that reigned, but that party did have an active liberal wing -- but it's passed wholly into the Dark Side in just the last 30 years. I was there; I saw it first hand, in Austin.

Expand full comment

Makes solid sense. Well-said.

Expand full comment

What can we do when the constitution doesn't provide tools to deal with a failed state?

Expand full comment

If beef jerky were a person it would reside in Texas (but not Austin).

Expand full comment

I thought the Texas government WAS beef jerky.

Expand full comment

Well, maybe just jerky …

Expand full comment

While legislatures and courts continue to refuse to take any action to protect us from gun violence, its time to turn to lawsuits. Right now gun manufacturers are the only industry that is immune from negligence suits, the same type of actions that gradually have brought down Big Tobacco and Big Pharma in the opioid crisis. We need to either continue to litigate around the edges of the immunity act, or repeal the immunity itself. Either way has to be a better solution than trying to persuade these idiots that their bizarre interpretation of the 2dA and belief in god-given rights can't continue to sacrifice American lives.

Expand full comment

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/27/gun-lawsuits-manufacturer-sellers-crimes

More momentum in the legal fight to reform the gun laws. ^^^^^

This is good, but Compared to what (Live at Baked Potato)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrkxrgTiVyk&list=RDRcioiWKV5pU&index=2

The Brian Auger's Oblivion express live at "Baked Potato", Hollywood 2004.

The Band is:

Brian Auger - Hammond Organ, Keyboards and Electric piano

Savannah Grace Auger - Vocals

Derek Frank - Bass

Karma D. Auger - Drums

Expand full comment

Texas is unique. You find good people but you can’t confuse open hearts with open minds. Guns as holy as a crucifix.

At least in 1970 off Fort Hood or upscale Houston. For what it’s worth.

Expand full comment

The geography is a citizen there. Vast spaces. Long, fast roads. A sense of vulnerability more than a subway night rider city kid thought possible. A sense that you were going to have to be the first one to react before any police officer could reach you in a situation. Hearing nightmare screams from the door gunner in the trailer two doors down. Other soldiers crying when we drank as they recalled fighting and fear. Road crews in shackles a few miles down.

Expand full comment

"Guns as holy as a crucifix" Brava

Expand full comment

History tells us the crucifix has killed countless more

Expand full comment

Without a doubt both indirectly and directly.

Aesop Fables > all holy books combined.

Expand full comment

Went there, followed the link, read it! Good stuff! I've always been astonished at how Paxton has been able to fend off being tried for his indictments for so long. He's like a mini-Drumpf in terms of being able to dodge and weave his way out of a courtroom. Interesting to see some of even his own party finally cracking open that blind eye to all his misdoings and corruption.

We are glad to be out from under the direct thumb of Texas' one-party despotism, but I gotta admit, it's rough being on fixed retirement incomes based on living and working in that low-wage state for so long and then moving to a much more expensive blue state. I figured out the other day we're paying at least $10,000 to $15,000 more a year, cost of living, for the privilege to have NOT stayed in Texas. That's a bite. I hope we can sustain this new lifestyle. It would be very saddening to be compelled to move back just for the sake of economic necessity.

Expand full comment

Let it never be said that Texas is a wasteland of talent and political acumen.

Two exceptions I had the pleasure of meeting at meeting of the National Organization for Women:

Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas, known for her one-liners.

Linda Ellerbee, nationally-know journalist, and TV news host.

I'm sure there are others - you just have to keep your mind open.

Dan Rather, currently age 90, fired from national news podium

for his exposure of political ineptitude of George W. Bush, the Younger.

Expand full comment

I follow Dan Rather on Substack. I love his writing. Adored Ann Richards no nonsense approach and Linda Ellerbee, one of my favorites!

Expand full comment

How long will it take for anyone with character to step up and free Texas from Republican acquiescence to the carnage of human lives?

Expand full comment

In spite of the obvious and tragic failure at Uvalde, the myth of the "good guy with a gun" saving the day continues. Hollywood certainly played a major role in propagating the archetype of the heroic gun totting cowboy who shoots the bad guys into submission. Funny (and I don't mean humorous) thing is I've seen a fair share of classic westerns in my day and in many of them the good guy brings law and order by making the citizenry turn in their guns while "in town" not by arming everybody to the teeth. I guess they've decided to ferget that part?

Expand full comment

"...the good guy brings law and order by making the citizenry turn in their guns while "in town" not by arming everybody to the teeth."

What are an inconvenient fact and truth. Same with the shoot out a high noon. Those handguns were so inaccurate. The distance between the shooters in movies? The clock, the church, a pony drinking water, and the saloon would take a round before the first man.

Expand full comment

Agreed! I'm waiting for them to try and overturn the ban on fully automatic machine guns cuz the 2nd Amendment doesn't mention those. Funny how the Constitution doesn't mention organ transplants either but those are legal medical procedures.

Expand full comment

Kid on a high school campus in the PHX metro was caught this past week carrying a AR-style rifle and with it the latest and greatest gizmo to turn it into a full auto. Will keep reminding people the rifle is bad enough, it is the mil-type and grade gun and non-gun accessories that make it exponentially worse.

Expand full comment

Glad they caught this person in time. The A-hole in Las Vegas massacred a lot of people using one of those bump stock add-ons!

Expand full comment

YOUTUBE and others allow all sorts of vids on the latest and greatest way to go full auto. They do catch up and strike them down yet vid is downloaded and distributed. Plus mfg, stay ahead of ATF Regs by making them in the first place. Gun magazines often "discuss" them openly or in theory.

Vegas Slot & Shot Man found out the hard way that most US mfg ARs can't take the heat associated with full auto. US mfg don't line the barrel in chrome nor dissipate the heat by way of an operating rod gas system instead use a cheap gas tube. He watched too many war movies or Arnie/Rambo flics of long belts of ammo leaving a pile of brass ankle high.

Expand full comment

Meanwhile in Minnesota, at the opposite end of the spectrum with a six vote majority in the House and single vote majority control of the Senate Democrats have passed everything. Absolutely astounding.

BY A ONE VOTE MARGIN, here's what they did:

• Fully legalised marijuana

• Made school lunches free for all students, leading to Governor Tim Walz being adorably mobbed by elementary schoolers

• Created new protections for Uber and Lyft drivers

• Codified Roe v. Wade, ensuring that Republicans can't endanger abortion rights in Minnesota simply by controlling the courts. 

• Funded the replacement of all lead pipes in the state (another law).

• Banned noncompete agreements and created statewide paid sick leave. 

• Enacted a raft of laws to make the state a trans refuge, and ensure people receiving trans care here can't be reached by far-right governments in places like Florida and Texas. 

• Ensured that everyone, including undocumented immigrants, can get drivers' licences. 

• Made public college free for the majority of Minnesota families. 

• Dropped a billion dollars into a bevy of affordable housing programs, including by creating a new state housing voucher program. 

• Massively increased funding for the state's perpetually-underfunded public defenders, which lets more public defenders be hired and existing public defenders get a salary increase. 

• Raised Minnesota education spending by 10%, or about 2.3 billion. 

• Created an energy standard for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. 

• Minnesota already has some of the strongest election infrastructure (and highest voter participation) in the country, but the legislature just made it stronger, with automatic registration, preregistration for minors, and easier access to absentee ballots. 

• Expanded the publicly subsidised health insurance program to undocumented immigrants. 

• Expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years. 

• Gave the state AG the power to block the huge healthcare mergers that have slowly gobbled up the state's medical system. 

• Restored voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they leave prison. 

• Made prison phone calls free. 

• Passed new wage protection rules for the construction industry, against industry resistance. 

• Created a new sales tax to fund bus and train lines, an enormous victory for the sustainability and quality of public transit. Transit will be more pleasant to ride, more frequent, and have better shelters, along more lines. 

• Passed strict new regulations on PFAS ("forever chemicals"). 

• Passed the largest bonding bill in state history! Funding improvements to parks, colleges, water infrastructure, bridges, etc. etc. etc. 

• They're going to build a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Duluth. 

• Indexed the state gas tax to inflation, effectively increasing the gas tax. They actually indexed a bunch of stuff to inflation, including the state's education funding formula, which helps ensure that school spending doesn't decline over time. 

• Made hourly school workers (e.g., bus drivers and paraprofessionals) eligible for unemployment during summer break, when they're not working or getting paid. 

• Passed a bunch of labour protections for teachers, including requiring school districts to negotiate class sizes as part of union contracts.

• Created a state board to govern labour standards at nursing homes. 

• Created a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would set price caps for high-cost pharmaceuticals. 

• Created new worker protections for Amazon warehouse workers and refinery workers. 

• Passed a digital fair repair law, which requires electronics manufacturers to make tools and parts available so that consumers can repair their electronics rather than purchase new items. 

• Made huge improvements to the state's Public Employee Labor Relations Act, making it far more labour-friendly (e.g., by making staffing ratios a mandatory subject of bargaining).

• Made Juneteenth a state holiday. 

• Banned conversion therapy. 

• Spent nearly a billion dollars on a variety of environmental programs, from heat pumps to reforestation. 

• Expanded protections for pregnant and nursing workers - already in place for larger employers - to almost everyone in the state. 

• Banned price gouging in public emergencies. 

• Created a new child tax credit that will cut child poverty by about a quarter. 

• Dropped a quick $50 million into homelessness prevention programs

• Increased child care assistance

• Banned "captive audience meetings," where employers force employees to watch anti-union presentations

• Forced signal priority changes to Twin Cities transit. Right now the trains have to wait at intersections for cars

• Provided the largest increase to nursing home funding in state history

• Also bumped up salaries for home health workers, to help address the shortage of in-home nurses

• Legalised drug paraphernalia, which allows social service providers to conduct needle exchanges and address substance abuse with reduced fear of incurring legal action

• Banned white supremacists and extremists from police forces, capped probation at 5 years for most crimes, improved clemency

• Banned no-knock warrants

• Also laid the groundwork for a public health insurance option

• Created a huge new statewide paid family and medical leave program, raising the number of workers receiving paid leave from 25% to 100%

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1660846689450688514.html

TELL A TEXAN TODAY!

(p.s. almost blew my phone up putting this together, so many tabs open)

Expand full comment

(tongue-in-cheek) Minnesota home of socialist-marxist-leninist commie-atheists. All rolled into one, of course.

Expand full comment

Without the prairie populism (Non-Partisan League, etc.) component as well, and the legacy of the 1934 Teamster's strike, it wouldn't have transpired in that way, either.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_general_strike_of_1934

The Minneapolis general strike of 1934 grew out of a strike by Teamsters against most of the trucking companies operating in Minneapolis, the major distribution center for the Upper Midwest. The strike began on May 16, 1934 in the Market District (the modern day Warehouse District). The worst single day was Friday, July 20, called "Bloody Friday", when police shot at strikers in a downtown truck battle, killing two and injuring 67. Ensuing violence lasted periodically throughout the summer. The strike was formally ended on August 22.

With a coalition formed by local leaders associated with the Trotskyist Communist League of America, a group that later founded the Socialist Workers Party (United States), the strike paved the way for the organization of over-the-road drivers and the growth of the Teamsters labor union. This strike, along with the 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike and the 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite Strike led by the American Workers Party, were also important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations. *****

The Teamsters also had a number of general locals; Local 574 in Minneapolis, which had no more than 75 members in 1934, was one of them. A number of members, including several Communist Party members who had gone to the newly formed Communist League of America (Left Opposition) in the internal split following Trotsky's expulsion, became members of Local 574 in the early 1930s.

These members – Ray Dunne, his brothers Miles and Grant, Carl Skoglund and later Farrell Dobbs – began by organizing coal drivers through a strike in the coldest part of 1933 that ignored both the cumbersome approval procedures established under the International's Constitution and the ineffective mediation procedures offered under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The victory gave the union a great deal of credibility among both drivers and their employers. The union began organizing drivers wherever they could be found.

The union also began preparing for the strike in a number of ways. It rented a large hall that could be used as a strike headquarters, kitchen and infirmary. It organized a women's auxiliary to staff the headquarters. Finally, it entered into discussions with the sympathetic leaders of organizations of farmers and the unemployed to obtain their support for the upcoming strike. *****

Martial law and settlement

A public commission, set up later by the governor, reported:

Police took direct aim at the pickets and fired to kill. Physical safety of the police was at no time endangered. No weapons were in possession of the pickets.

On July 26, after these deaths of protesters at the hands of the police, Farmer-Labor governor Olson declared martial law and mobilized four thousand National Guardsmen of the 34th Infantry. Following this mobilization, there was no further loss of life.

Between July 26 and August 1, the National Guard began issuing operating permits to truck drivers, and engaging in roving patrols, curfews, and security details. On August 1, National Guard troops seized strike headquarters and placed arrested union leaders in a stockade at the state fairgrounds in Saint Paul. The next day, the headquarters were restored to the union and the leaders released from the stockade, as the National Guard carried out a token raid on the Citizens Alliance headquarters."

One of several "Strike Headquarters" was some 6 1/2 blocks from here. The strikers also set up their own daily paper to counter the mass media's lies and distortions, and their own hospital to protect injured workers from being kidnapped by the cops, near what is now the Social Security administration building. {"More `full disclosure,'" I worked across the street at 1800 Chicago Ave. South, a Hennepin County facility, PT for several years.}

Expand full comment

It isn't a matter of you "disagreeing with me," it's a matter of posting bogus material that simply tracks the mainstream media's proffers of, yes, bogus material. You really have the "official Warren Commission mythology" down pat, so there's that.

But I have to stop you as soon as you come up with this gem: "Doesn't matter what Gerald Ford says, he wasn't a forensic pathologist." SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU FIGURE IT OUT, you just proved the point I was making, he wasn't a forensic pathologist, but he played one on the Warren Commission, as well as serving as J. Edgar Hoover's factotum!

Starts with "The original first draft of the Warren Commission report...."

Gerald Ford

Leslie King was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on 14th July, 1913. His parents divorced when he was an infant and his mother remarried a paint salesman in Michigan. Leslie's name was changed to that of his stepfather, Gerald Rudolph Ford.

An outstanding sportsman he won a football scholarship to the University of Michigan, before studying law at Yale University. Ford graduated in 1941 and after being admitted to the bar began work in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

During the Second World War Ford served in the United States Navy and saw action in Okinawa, Wake Island, Taiwan, the Philippines and the Gilbert Islands. By the time he was discharged in 1946 had reached the rank as lieutenant commander.

A member of the Republican Party, Ford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. He was re-elected to the next eleven Congresses. He soon developed a reputation as a right-wing politician. As Harold Jackson pointed out: "He built up an impressive record of flat-earth conservatism. He voted against federal aid for education and housing, repeatedly resisted increases in the minimum wage, tried to block the introduction of medical care for the elderly, and consistently fought any measures to combat pollution. At the same time he supported virtually all increases in defence spending."

On the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963 his deputy, Lyndon B. Johnson, was appointed president. He immediately set up a commission to "ascertain, evaluate and report upon the facts relating to the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy." Gerald Ford was invited to join the commission under the chairmanship of Earl Warren. Other members of the commission included Richard B. Russell, Thomas Hale Boggs, Allen W. Dulles, John J. McCloy and John S. Cooper.

One possible reason Johnson selected Ford was that he was under the control of J. Edgar Hoover. According to Bobby Baker (Wheeling and Dealing), who was himself under investigation for his corrupt relationship with politicians, businessmen and call-girls, Ford had been secretly taped by the FBI when he had attended meetings with Fred Black at the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel in Washington.

J. Lee Rankin became chief counsel for the Warren Commission. He then appointed Norman Redlich as his special assistant. Redlich began investigating the relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby. He was especially interested in why Oswald appeared to be heading towards Ruby's apartment after the assassination.

According to William C. Sullivan (The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI) Gerald Ford provided J. Edgar Hoover with information about the activities of staff members of the commission. "Hoover was delighted when Gerald Ford was named to the Warren Commission. The director wrote in one of his internal memos that the bureau could expect Ford to 'look after FBI interests,' and he did, keeping us fully advised of what was going on behind closed doors. He was our man, our informant, on the Warren Commission."

Hoover ordered that the FBI should carry out an investigation of Norman Redlich. He discovered that Redlich was on the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, an organization considered by Hoover to have been set-up to "defend the cases of Communist lawbreakers". Redlich had also been critical of the activities of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

This information was leaked to a group of right-wing politicians. On 5th May, 1964, Ralph F. Beermann, a Republican Party congressman, made a speech claiming that Redlich was associated with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Beermann called for Redlich to be removed as a staff member of the Warren Commission. He was supported by Karl E. Mundt who said: "We want a report from the Commission which Americans will accept as factual, which will put to rest all the ugly rumors now in circulation and which the world will believe. Who but the most gullible would believe any report if it were written in part by persons with Communist connections?"

Gerald Ford joined in the attack and at one closed-door session of the Warren Commission he called for Norman Redlich to be dismissed. However, Rankin and Earl Warren both supported him and he retained his job. However, after this, Redlich posed no threat to the theory that Oswald was the lone gunman.

{THIS:}

The original first draft of the Warren Commission Report stated that a bullet had entered Kennedy's "back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine." Ford realized that this provided a serious problem for the single bullet theory. As Michael L. Kurtz has pointed out (The JFK Assassination Debates): "If a bullet fired from the sixth-floor window of the Depository building nearly sixty feet higher than the limousine entered the president's back, with the president sitting in an upright position, it could hardly have exited from his throat at a point just above the Adam's apple, then abruptly change course and drive downward into Governor Connally's back."

In 1997 the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) released a document that revealed that Ford had altered the first draft of the report to read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine." Ford had elevated the location of the wound from its true location in the back to the neck to support the single bullet theory.

*****

"Heck, the attending surgeons made errorenous statements at their first presser that they later corrected. But only after they were made aware of the trichotomy."

No, that's just false:

Monday, 24 May 2021

The Ordeal of Malcolm Perry

Written by James DiEugenio

Using recent evidence discovered by Rob Couteau, Jim DiEugenio revisits the experiences of Parkland Hospital Dr. Malcolm Perry regarding the anterior neck wound he observed in President Kennedy and the concerted and persistent efforts to manipulate his testimony and obscure the clear evidence of a frontal entrance wound.

"On the afternoon of the JFK assassination, within an hour or two after his death, there was a press conference at Parkland Hospital. Three important pronouncements were made. In fact, they were so important that they should have shaped the case in a permanent manner.

First, acting press secretary Malcolm Kilduff talked about how Kennedy had died.

PHOTO:

Malcolm Kilduff at Parkland press briefing

When he did so, he pointed to his right temple and said something like: it was a matter of a bullet through the head. Very shortly after, Chet Huntley said the same thing live on NBC television. On the air, he revealed his source to be Dr. George Burkley, President Kennedy’s own personal physician.

Dr. Kemp Clark, chief of neurosurgery—the man who actually pronounced Kennedy dead—said he observed a large gaping hole in the rear of Kennedy’s skull. (Michael Benson, Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination, p. 80) Dr. Malcolm Perry, who cut a tracheostomy across the bullet wound in Kennedy’s neck, said that the wound was one of entrance. (James DiEugenio, The JFK Assassination: The Evidence Today, p. 367)

Therefore, from these three pieces of evidence, one would have had to conclude that Kennedy was hit from the front. That implication would be almost inescapable. Therefore, some strange things happened with this key press conference. First of all, there is no film available of it today, which is remarkable in and of itself, because, as one can see from pictures and film snippets, there were many reporters in that conference room. It is very hard to comprehend how not one of them called for a film camera to cover the initial public pronouncement of President Kennedy’s death. Second, initially, the Secret Service told the Warren Commission that they did not even have a transcript of this conference. According to former Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) analyst Doug Horne, there are two real problems with the Secret Service saying this. First, according to Horne, the Secret Service went around collecting the films of this press conference. Thus making it disappear. (See Horne at Future of Freedom Foundation conference of May 18th. This is at the FFF web site.)

*****Parkland doctors were pressured and threatened, some with anonymous calls stating they would lose their medical licenses. *****

www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-ordeal-of-malcolm-perry

Expand full comment

This is good discourse. Respect your word. We see the same yet our individual takeaway will remain different. Ain't a bad thing. Is healthy for both.

Learned long ago history cannot be changed by discourse. JFK* was shot dead which changed the direction of history, Same with Bobby. Same with MLK and other civil right leaders. Those years were extremely violent. We learned little that is a benefit to people and unlearned even what isn't. Know well killing is way too easy and gets easier and easier so it will continue.

*JFK-luv when Rs/cons say IF JFK was alive today he would be a Republican. Cracks me up. If he were alive he would be extremely old. That is the only thing one can say with certainity.

Enjoyed this. All of it. Fed my brain.

Expand full comment

History is constantly changing and discourse of various kinds - including distortions, both willful and done out of ignorance of a fuller factual context, changes it, that's my view for now, anyway!

That's historiography summed up as the history of historiography, anyway! and meta-level claim, with Orwell's 1984 featuring one version:

Citation Text:

Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past. . . . The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever they Party chooses to make it. [Quoting George Orwell, 1984.]

See also this ancient dispute:

Challenges to Metaphysical Realism

First published Thu Jan 11, 2001; substantive revision Mon Jan 25, 2021

According to metaphysical realism, the world is as it is independent of how humans or other inquiring agents take it to be. The objects the world contains, together with their properties and the relations they enter into, fix the world’s nature and these objects [together with the properties they have and the relations they enter into] exist independently of our ability to discover they do. Unless this is so, metaphysical realists argue, none of our beliefs about our world could be objectively true since true beliefs tell us how things are and beliefs are objective when true or false independently of what anyone might think.

Many philosophers believe metaphysical realism is just plain common sense. Others believe it to be a direct implication of modern science, which paints humans as fallible creatures adrift in an inhospitable world not of their making. Nonetheless, metaphysical realism is controversial. Besides the analytic question of what it means to assert that objects exist independently of the mind, metaphysical realism also raises epistemological problems: how can we obtain knowledge of a mind-independent world? There are also prior semantic problems, such as how links are set up between our beliefs and the mind-independent states of affairs they allegedly represent. This is the Representation Problem.

Anti-realists deny the world is mind-independent. Believing the epistemological and semantic problems to be insoluble, they conclude realism must be false. The first anti-realist arguments based on explicitly semantic considerations were advanced by Michael Dummett and Hilary Putnam. These are:

Dummett’s Manifestation Argument: the cognitive and linguistic behaviour of an agent provides no evidence that realist mind/world links exist;

Dummett’s Language Acquisition Argument: if such links were to exist language learning would be impossible;

Putnam’s Brain-in-a-Vat Argument: realism entails both that we could be massively deluded (‘brains in a vat’) and that if we were we could not even form the belief that we were;

Putnam’s Conceptual Relativity Argument: it is senseless to ask what the world contains independently of how we conceive of it, since the objects that exist depend on the conceptual scheme used to classify them;

Putnam’s Model-Theoretic Argument: realists must either hold that an ideal theory passing every conceivable test could be false or that perfectly determinate terms like ‘cat’ are massively indeterminate, and both alternatives are absurd.

***** This is essentially "straight outta my Philosophy 5xxx Metaphysics course" from the late 1980s and remains a perennial source of ongoing controversies, including through films like The Matrix.

plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-sem-challenge/

And here's Wiki article with my own one and only contribution to wikipedia, simply because

I began reading the previous version and realized it contained a common mistake:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan

Raymond Merrill Smullyan (/ˈsmʌliən/; May 25, 1919 – February 6, 2017)[1][2][3] was an American mathematician, magician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist, and philosopher.

Born in Far Rockaway, New York, his first career was stage magic. He earned a BSc from the University of Chicago in 1955 and his PhD from Princeton University in 1959. He is one of many logicians to have studied with Alonzo Church.[1]

***** Scroll down to -

Logic problems

Many of his logic problems are extensions of classic puzzles. Knights and Knaves involves knights (who always tell the truth) and knaves (who always lie). This is based on a story of two doors and two guards, one who lies and one who tells the truth. One door leads to heaven and one to hell, and the puzzle is to find out which door leads to heaven by asking one of the guards a question. One way to do this is to ask, "Which door would the other guard say leads to hell?". Unfortunately, this fails, as the liar can answer, "He would say the door to paradise leads to hell," and the truth-teller would answer, "He would say the door to paradise leads to hell." You must point at one of the doors as well as simply stating a question. For example, as philosopher Richard Turnbull has explained, you could point at either door and ask, "Will the other guard say this is the door to paradise?" The truth-teller will say "No, " if it is in fact the door to paradise, as will the liar. So you pick that door. The truth-teller will answer "Yes," if it is the door to Hell, as will the liar, so you pick the other door. Note also that we are not told anything about the goals of either guard: for all we know, the liar may want to help us and the truth-teller not help us, or both are indifferent, so there's no reason to think either one will phrase answers such as to provide us with the most optimally available kind of comprehension. This is behind the crucial role of actually pointing at a door directly while asking the question. This idea was famously used in the 1986 film Labyrinth.

plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-sem-challenge/

Expand full comment